Examine yourself - Contentment 004

Examine yourself -  Contentment 004

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. (Philippians 4:11 ESV)

LEARNED

Just a little backing up.  If you want to begin to study the Word, I have a few simple suggestions.  First, get a good translation of the Word and get one that has cross-references.  The Thompson-Chain Reference is a good option and it comes in several translations.  Second, get a good Bible Atlas.  I like the ESV Bible Atlas.  An Atlas will really help you understand the context of the scriptures you are reading.  Finally - and this is a biggy for me - get a copy of William Ames' book, The Marrow of Theology.  This is a very simple and clear outline of theology - not full of arguments, etc.  

These resources will be a big help as you begin your studies.  Stay away from "issue specific" books - especially those which tell you "how to," or get all wrapped up in areas of speculation, i.e. Revelation, millennial issues, demons, even money.  You don't want to get so hung up on one tree that you miss the forest!

OK - LEARNED

Let's talk Holy Spirit.  We can get into all kinds of long and tedious discussions about the Holy Spirit and the fruits and gifts but - let's not!

The Holy Spirit is both Comforter and Reminder.  He is given in sufficient and necessary measure to every believer.  There is no necessity for any more-than-ordinary signs of Him being given.  He is given - and that is that.

So???????

How He works is not a concern of mine.  That He works in us is.  He is sent to comfort us and to remind us.  Yes, I know He is the "seal" of our salvation, but He is also active in us.  

OK, He is active in us and if we pay attention with intention, we will see His working.  No thunder or lightening but some very curious moments of comfort and remembering.  I know - I seem to be getting a little weird.   But a couple of things I've experienced make me lean towards being weird.

Every once in a while I will have someone relate something they heard me say in a lesson and I am clueless about having said it.  It's not in my notes and it is unfamiliar to my recollection.  Thankfully, it is something true and sound but it is not something "I" thought up.  Now you can get as skeptical as you want, but I KNOW I didn't come up with it and so I "blame" ;-) the Spirit for a timely word for me to speak that - well - I didn't know I spoke.  I'm not trying to get all mystical or even miraculous here - it just has happened and I cannot lay claim to it.

I've also been reading the Word – something I’ve read time and time again and "Bam," I realize something I never saw before.  Of course I run to some good resources to check myself.  But I believe it's just (just????) the Spirit doing what He does in the hearts and minds of believers.

On the flip side, I have found myself convicted out of the blue and embarrassed (ok, more chagrined) that I had never seen that issue as an issue - if I saw it at all.  It's wonderfully humbling and assuring when that happens - It's not fun but it does get the job done.

My point, I guess, is this.  You don't need all the bells and whistles that are commonly attributed to the Spirit for Him to be working in your life.  He works in many, many ways, but we've somehow gotten diverted by all the yeeehaaaw things that are seen to be His.  I believe that He is more often the "still small voice," as opposed to the attention grabbing event.  

He can and has provided much for believers in the way of knowledge and insight when there was little to work with in the first place.  But folks, I believe that the more of the Word we get in our minds and hearts, the more He has to work with.  I believe the more we exercise our faith in the simple and mundane things like prayer, study and worship, the more regularly He works in us.

Hey, I'm more than willing to be absolutely wrong here.  But what I know to be true has served to undergird and confirm what I have experienced which is what I build my belief and trust on.  

It's not sitting around waiting for Him to do or say or impart something.  It's slowly, deliberately, regularly and earnestly engaging in the "disciplines," of our faith that makes us more sensitive and available to His working.  Now, that's my carefully determined view - it does not have to be yours.

But we all need to desire His working in our lives.  He is the only means of our growth - it is by His power working on and in us that we must rely upon for any kind of progress along the Way.  You can quote the Bible from cover to cover but without Him and His work - that's all you can do.

I don't believe you have to pray for Him to "come," or "be present."  I just think you have to be faithfully obedient and available and PAYING ATTENTION to see how He is in you and works in you.  You are "filled" by Him - everywhere you go and in everything you do He is present - think on that one.  Every poke of conscience and every inspiration to serve comes from Him.  Most of all, the power to keep going is all of Him and none of us.

I had a coach whose rule was - "You don't come to practice, you don’t get in the game."  He knew that unless we practiced individually and as a team, victory was dubious at best.  Practicing our faith, engaging in the "exercises" of our faith makes us fit and hail to be put into the game.  Trust me, God calling someone out of the bleachers to play is the exception, never the rule.

Promises of God: Principal and Less Principal

The Puritans viewed God's promises as being noted in several categories.  These were (in general):
Legal
Evangelical
General
Principal (and less principal)
Direct (also deduced or implied by consequences)
Absolute/Conditional

They firmly believed that we were to engage these promises in our prayers.  To seek the promisor for that which He promised.

Today - unfortunately - there is little distinction between the promises on the basis of their context and intent.  Hence we suffer from a mis-appropriation of these promises in our prayers.  I would have us look at one category, that of the Principal (and less principal) promises of God

The Principal promises all concern the promise of righteousness and the remission of sins.  Herein we have the, if you will excuse to term, ultimate promises, the aim of the coming, death and resurrection of Christ.  These, for me, are the promises beneath which all other or in which all other promises must be viewed, considered, contemplated and sought.  Outside the context of redemption the "promises" are either mute of very bad news.

In seeking God's provision or keeping of His promises men tend to prioritize them on the basis of their "felt-needs."   This is not unexpected because the flesh is still strong in us and it would have itself comforted.  But, it is not been,   nor will it be the purpose of God to satisfy our fleshly desires (which we tend to elevate to the level of needs.)

His promises "fulfilled," - are those regarding our salvation and all that contains - we do not need to seek them.  We do however need to start with those fulfilled promises in order to qualify or govern our seeking all the others.  To seek the provision of what God has promised apart from those principal and fulfilled promises creates the danger of praying in the flesh - or worse, for the flesh.

Directly related to the Principal promises are what is referred to as the Less principal promises.  Among these we find promises like the deliverance from affliction, safety in danger, health and even prosperity.  It is hoped that one does not have any difficulty in seeing why these would be principal yet "lesser," promises.

The lesser-ness of these promises, for me, is seen in the overall purpose of the redeemed to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.  With that is the duty of the redeemed to serve God in His purposes whether those purposes are agreeable to our "flesh" or our comfort.

The question to ask is, "Would I stand in the way of God's principal promises to others (as if I could) in order to have a lesser principle promise met in my life?  Or, "Would I balk at adversity and a lack of comfort if that was His means of blessing me and/or others?"

 Getting practical I ask, "Will I pray for prosperity if, in my lack of it, I grow in dependence upon Him and others are blessed by His faithfulness in my lack of it?"

"Will I pray for health if, in my dis-ease I am a witness to Him?"

"Will I pray for anything that might hinder my being conformed to the likeness of His Son?"

Or will I always begin with, "Lord I know that Your grace is sufficient for me and Your strength in made manifest in my weakness?"  Or to put a fine point on it, will I always begin my prayer not just with the words but with the intent of the words, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done"?

"If it be Thy will," is not some prayerful cop-out.  It is not some
"covering our bets" in the matter of faith.  No indeed, "If it be Thy will," is the greatest statement of faith a believer can make.  Especially when under trials and difficulties.

"If it be Thy will," is the declaration by the believer that not only is God sovereign but that God is - in our belief - only good.  AND that whatever is part of His working out His purpose in the world and in (or through) our lives is THE greatest good.

There is a spirit (I use that word guardedly) of evil presumption abroad in the world when it comes to the promises of God.  Men and women are encouraged - sometimes commanded to pray with a spirit of presumption with little regard for the will of God as we find it in the Word.

It is God's will that I enjoy health and wealth - it is His promise to me.  But for me to presume I may have it here and now and now there and then is hubris of the most malignant sort.  God owes us nothing.  Too many pray as though He did.  In that praying I worry that they can't see that their very presumption minimizes what God has done for us in Christ.  It just smacks of a "Not good enough God."

May we pray for health and even wealth?  Certainly!  But we must remembers that our God is a good God and that the bread we seek may indeed be a snake we should avoid.

We must always consider that though we may not "like" the circumstances He has placed us in - they are for His glory, the edification of His Body and our conforming into the likeness of His Son.

If you struggle in keeping the Principal promises clear and correctly prioritized seek His help - whether in healing, correcting or refining.  The flesh will demand what it wants and sometimes through the warping of the Word of God its demands seem legitimate.  We must pray that this delusion be removed from our thinking, that our flesh be subdued and that our understanding and appreciation of ALL the promises of God to ALL His people are ALL important but not all "our" priorities align with His fulfilling His will (which is the fulfilling of His promises).

As I work with men and women who dearly desire to be conformed to His will I am never surprised to find a battle between hubris and humility.  Indeed I can find it all the way back to Adam - Let us sincerely pray for the sincere ability to pray - "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done," and for the hearts to accept the answer whatever its form.

In the wilderness Satan confronted and tempted Jesus with the promises of God.  Seems he still using that trick - only we keep falling for it.  If you d not know the Word - the context of the promises - you'll fall for it every time.

This and That: Pour it all out to God!

Pour out to God in prayer those fears which the devil and your own unbelief pour in upon you in times of danger. Prayer is the best outlet to fear: where is the Christian that cannot set his seal to this direction?   Flavel, John (2010-08-03). Keeping the Heart (Kindle Locations 669-670).

Psa 118:5 
Out of my distress I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me free.  ESV

In times of danger – no matter its magnitude – fear is natural.  Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the acting upon it.  What greater thing could we do than to go to our Father with all our fears.

Isn’t Christ, our intercessor and Great High Priest, seated with the Father speaking of us and for us?  Does not Christ appreciate and understand our weaknesses and vulnerabilities’?

If, as we see in the quote above, Satan knows and exploits our fears, does not our Father know more and better?  In all things fearful is it not enough that nothing can separate us from the love of God?  Surely upon that assurance we can stand.

But we are weak as babes in our walk with Christ – as we should be. Though we lived in the wiles of the Devil and the fantasies of the flesh, we do not know living in the security and power of our Lord.  So we tremble and quake as Satan and our budding/immature faith both work to our distress.

Trusting God is not something that just comes.  It is gained by experience, informed by His Word and enhanced by His Spirit.  I have trusted God in many situations and yet every new situation raises the hair on the back of my neck.

I wonder, “God was faithful there and then but this is here and now.”  Even though I know that when it was then and there for me, He was already readying here and now for me.  But I still fear.

I’ve noticed something, though, about that fear.  It is characterized by the question, “What am I (or we) going to do”?  Perhaps that’s where we get tripped up.  We face a circumstance and supposing we must or can do something, we start with ourselves.  Seeing no help for or in ourselves, we fear.  Because we are already afraid we think we don’t have faith.  Because we think we don’t have faith we doubt God will help us.

Perhaps we’re starting at the wrong place.  Perhaps we need to take the circumstance (and our fear) to Him immediately and ask Him what we need to do (if anything).  Perhaps we need to slow down, examine the circumstance and take our thoughts and concerns to Him and have a talk. 

I wonder if at times I irritate Him (LOL).  I try to take circumstances to Him and leave them with Him but it doesn’t work very well.  I’ve found that I need to stay before Him and take the time to pour out my ideas and thoughts concerning the circumstance.  If I don’t, I find myself fretting and distracted.  So I try to go to Him and just babble out my ideas, my tangential concerns, my solutions, my fears.  It seems that this process has a quieting effect on my soul.

But just recently, I’ve discovered that I rise from prayer too swiftly.  I’ll pray and then get into bed and I’ll just go on trying to fix the problem in my head.  I think that, at those times, I need to get back on my knees and continue the conversation – obviously, I wasn’t done (or maybe He wasn’t). 

Ok – for those of you who are thinking, “Do I have to be on my knees,”  I’ll just tell you that I do.  As I’ve intentionally worked on my prayer life, I’ve discovered that it just feels more like prayer when I’m kneeling.  Do I have to?  I don’t think I have to for Him – but I do for me.  That’s just me – and we all know I’m just not right. 
Prayer is worship – but it is conversational worship.  I speak, He listens.  How He responds is unclear to me – I haven’t heard voices yet.  But I trust Him to respond because He always has.  Either through the Word, a change of circumstance, another believer, a random sermon I hear, a random book I read, or even a random thought, He answers.  Oh, I know none of those things are really “random.”  They are intentional and purposeful – so maybe utterly unexpected is a better term.  But the point is, He answers.

Concerning the verse I used above.  Notice that the writer says that God set him free.  The term distress has the sense of “tightness,” like when your chest gets tight when you are anxious.  Now the writer doesn’t say what his freedom looked like.  Was the circumstance changed or was his anxiety relieved?  But would we complain of either?  I hope not.

Don’t let yourself think that you should only do this for the “big stuff.”  Make it a habit to do it with everything.  “Pour,” it all out to God.  What seems trivial today may loom large tomorrow, so you may as well get a head start on it. 

Peter's Pen 1st Peter 4:7

1Pe 4:7  The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.  ESV
1Pe 4:7  But the end of all things has drawn near. Be of sound mind, then, and be sensible to prayers;  NASB
1Pe 4:7  But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. KJV

Three translations?  Yeah, wasn’t that happy with the ESV.

Rationale:  The end of all things is near.
Yeah, I know, the end has been near for 2000 years – but it’s just a close as it ever was.

Look, God delays to condemn because He desires to save.  What that means exactly, I don’t know but:

2Pe 3:8-10  But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  (9)  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.  (10)  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

All we can do is know that He knows “when” and that He will keep us in Him for “then.”

But I think we all agree that it can come none too soon for us who believe.  However, if you could trade the salvation of Uncle Fred for Christ to come now would you send Uncle Fred to hell just so you could benefit?

I also wonder what has happened to our belief that He could return at any minute.  We want tornado warnings, ice-storm warnings and food contamination warnings so we can be prepared and safe.  But what about our warning others of the judgment to come?  Have we fallen into the trap of, “I’m saved – so come Lord,” without any concern for those who aren’t prepared?

Somehow the fact that without the Gospel, without faith, His coming will be the end of hope for so many seems to have eluded us.  Is it the idea of predestination – of election that makes us so unconcerned?  Or is it we are saved so who cares?  Or is it that we do not want to pay the price for being His witnesses?  I think the answer is,

“Yes!”  Three times, “Yes!”

So, God has His “elect.”  So no one is going to hell that isn’t supposed to – right?  But what of His command that we preach the Gospel?  Consider the following:

Mar 16:15  And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.

Rom 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

1Co 9:16-17  For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!  (17)  For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship.

Well, I’ll forgo a rant on these passages.  But where has our mourning and concern for the lost gone?  Where has our desire to be His instruments gone?  Why aren’t we sharing the Good News any more?

Sometimes I fear our attitude is, “The end is near, to h***with it.”

Be self-controlled:  to think and act soberly, discreetly, to use sound judgment and moderation.
Not controlled by the self but rather in control of one’s self.

Be sober minded: OK, “minded” is an editorial addition – the Greek just says sober meaning watchful, discreet:  to refrain from the abuse of it (alcohol) which leads to intoxication.

The whole idea here is that of diligence, watchfulness, awareness, sensibility; as opposed to unsound and intoxicated.

And we are to be so, “for the sake of your prayers.”

Paraphrase = the end is near – be sound minded and clear headed in your prayers.

With the situations we see around the world it is imperative that we pray - and pray more than ever - for His will to be done - His people to be faithful and for each of us to be ready to be His witnesses, to actually share the Gospel regardless of the cost.

This and That: Coveting 092312

I consider covetousness as the most generally prevailing and ensnaring sin, by which professors of the gospel, in our materialistic society, are hindered in their spiritual progress. A disposition deeply rooted in our fallen nature, strengthened by the custom of all around us, the power of habit, and the fascinating charm of wealth-is not easily counteracted.  

The language of faith, when in exercise, will not be, "What is most conducive to my temporal ease and prosperity?" But "What will give me the best opportunity of glorifying him, who has bought me with his blood, and called me out of darkness into his marvelous light?

John Newton July 1725 1807

Luk 12:15 And he said to them, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

Rom 7:8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.

Eph 5:3  But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.

Col 3:5-6  Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.  (6)  On account of these the wrath of God is coming.

Covetousness:  pleonexía; from pleíōn, more, and échō to;  to want more.

Yesterday Patti and I went looking at computers.  Hers, being about 6 years old is on its last legs and we are selling stuff to get her a new one.  Between editing my blogs and working on her photography it’s about time she had a new machine.  Being able to do this is a blessing.

But – the looking, for me, was crushing.  I did not realize the covetousness that yet lingered in my heart until we started the search.  Trying to get an answer to, “what is the bare minimum she needs?” from a salesman was like pulling teeth.  Of course he recommended the “on sale” super machine with all the bells and whistles she doesn’t need.

However that wasn’t the problem.  The problem was that as we looked I found myself growing dissatisfied with my computer.  Now my computer meets all the needs of which I can think.  Needing little more than a machine on which I can do my writing and the occasional Power Point presentation I actually probably have more than I need.  That’s just the fact.

Yet as I looked I lusted and as I lusted I could literally feel myself slipping into turmoil over not being able to have the latest and greatest, coolest and neatest.  Why?  Well, at the root is my fallenness.  Next is my lack of examining me heart for this covetousness.  Finally it is the good old:  1Jn 2:16 “the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions.”

I did not have a need, I knew I did not have a need and yet somehow I felt irritated that I could not get what I did not need.  I felt insufficient, less than, hindered, hampered even cheated.  Now, is that nuts or what?  Well, it’s nuts but it is also sin.

How can we (ok, I) begin to root out this, as Newton calls it, “most generally prevailing and ensnaring sin?”

Newton writes, “The principle of this evil is so strong in us, and so powerfully nourished by almost everything around us, that it is seldom suppressed, but by a course of sharp discipline.”

Newton writes well when he writes: 

I am where he has placed me; and the calling in which his mercy found me, (if it be a lawful one,) is that in which, for the present, I am to abide, as the best for me. When it ceases to be so, I may depend upon him to appoint me another. But, until then, I desire to be contented with such things as I have, and to be thankful for them. He knows my frame, my feelings, my needs, and my trials; he permits, yes, invites me to cast all my cares upon him. He assures me that he cares for me, and therefore I only wish to do or to suffer according to his will today, and to leave the concerns of tomorrow in his hands. While I live-may I live for him! And when I die-may I go to him! May his grace be sufficient for me-and all shall be well."

The key in the above quote, at least for me is his comment, “I desire to be contented with such things as I have, and to be thankful for them.” 

Since James tells us that, Jas 4:1  “. . . .Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?”  I must conclude that it is my “passions,” that is “pleasures” that are the, or at least a, source of my stumbling.  So I have to ask, what brings me pleasure?  Is it staying in vogue?  Keeping up with the Joneses?  Having the latest and greatest? 

I have to confess it must be.  And I must repent.  But repentance comes hard for it, in this case, must be continuous and consistent.  I must fix my heart and mind on engaging this failing and examine as minutely as possible what I allow to bring me pleasure.  What makes me feel OK, safe, secure, valuable, meaningful and good enough?

Here again, Newton provides a key: 

“He knows my frame, my feelings, my needs, and my trials; he permits, yes, invites me to cast all my cares upon him. He assures me that he cares for me, and therefore I only wish to do or to suffer according to his will today, and to leave the concerns of tomorrow in his hands.”

I would only add one thing to this; that I remember and be grateful that He provides me with not only everything I need as I need it but, what I want if I need it.  So as well as wishing to do or to suffer according to His will, I also wish to have or not have what He wills.  Everything outside of that can hardly be counted a blessing.

A favorite, and until now obviously meaningless prayer of mine has been.  “Dear God please do not allow me to want that which You do not want me to want.”  I have to take that prayer more seriously, trusting Him to work in my mind and heart to make it so.

Jesus asks us: Mar 8:36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?  From this I must learn to ask, when I sense covetousness stirring, “Of what benefit would this be to my soul?”

If our Redeemer and Sustainer can be counted on to provide a way out of temptation how much more will He provide what we need, be it computers, cars, cash or cookies, for us to effectively do the work He has given us to do?

So, if like me you struggle against covetousness.  If it surpasses you by sniping or ambush press your attack in the strength of the Lord.  Say, “No, no, a million times no!”  And trust that your desire to overcome, to be free of this, “most generally prevailing and ensnaring sin,” is His as well.

Peter’s Pen 1st Peter 3:9-12

1Pe 3:9-12  Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.  (10)  For "Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;  (11)  let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.  (12)  For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

Do not - For to this you were called – For – For – But

Vs. 9 & 10

We are called to turn away from evil AND do good – by seeking peace – even pursuing it.

“Called,” – great word.  Indicates being called by name.  We were “named” to turn away from evil.  That evil referred to here is repaying evil with evil.  Curse for curse.  Reviling for reviling.

I wonder when we lost that?  There is just too much returning evil for evil going on from within the Body of Christ.  Yeah, there are the wing-nuts who claim Christ and use that for an excuse to hate – but are they really believers?  I doubt it.

But – in our private conversations how much anger – indeed evil - do we speak of those who oppose, revile and/or do evil to believers and the cause of Christ?

Early on, the very name “Christian” was a reproach, a type of reviling and yet we don’t see any return of that reviling coming from the believers. 

Now please don’t go thinking that if you are not cursing those who hate you, then you are doing ok.  Ambivalence towards our enemies is just as big an evil.  Dismissing, ignoring, much less making snide and hurtful comments (especially among ourselves), is just as bad.  It may be an indirect return of evil but it is evil.

We are to bless!  We are told that if we “love” (agapao) life (zoe/ a kind of life – our life in Christ) then we will labor to keep our, “tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;  let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.”

Ahhh the tongue.  See James 3. No, really, look it up and read it – three times at least.

Jas 3:9-10  With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.  (10)  From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

Any questions?  What part of, “ought not to be,” is hard to grasp?

Mat 15:18  But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.

Does that help you, “get it”?

This is not a matter of “doing,” as much as it is a matter of the heart. 

So, how’s your heart?  Check your mouth and you’ll get the scoop!  Actually, consider what you think and don’t say – that’s a good indicator.

So how do we get our hearts right?

Let me get at this left-handedly.

1Co 7:36-38  If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry--it is no sin.  (37)  But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well.  (38)  So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.

Three things about a healthy heart:

• It is firmly established – set upon and under the sovereignty of God.
• It is under control – both by the believer and the Spirit.
• It is determined – both by the believer and the Spirit and the Word.

We have new hearts.  We have old flesh.  They don’t get along.  But the flesh has only the power and influence we give it.  The Spirit is more powerful.  The flesh can provoke but the Spirit controls – or does He?  That you must ask God, yourself and your faith family.

If the worst thing you say about unbelievers – especially those who revile you – is that they need to be redeemed – then you have said all you can appropriately say.  When you allow the flesh to launch you into either thoughts of speech that demeans, insults or devalues an unbeliever – especially one who opposed you – you have gone too far. 

Look, unbelievers are exactly the way they are supposed to be, sinful.  I don’t really concern myself with WHAT there sinfulness looks like and I certainly can’t allow my personal prejudices allow me to vilify anyone – they are simply sinners – just like me without Christ.  The only critical difference is that I have the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word to work God’s ways into my life through Christ.  I am free of the bondage to sin, they aren’t.  They don’t and aren’t – so I do not ever expect Christian behavior or opinions, etc. from those who are not His.  Regardless of how we “feel” about their sin – their “lostness” is their biggest – BIGGEST problem and should be our main, if not only, concern.

How do we ‘bless” them?  By prayer, by kindness, by helping, by sharing the Gospel; and to do that we have to ask God to work in our hearts so that we are heart-broken for them, about them and with them.  

This and That - Occasional faith-faithfulness?

And it is an argument of very mean attainments, of a low and weak degree in this frame of heart, or in our being spiritually minded, when our thoughts of spiritual things do rise or fall according unto renewed occasional convictions. If when we are under rebukes from God in our persons or relations, in fears of death and the like, and withal have some renewed convictions of sin in commission, for omission of duties, and thereon do endeavor to be more spiritually minded in the constant exercise of our thoughts on spiritual things, which we fail in, and these thoughts decay as our convictions in the causes of them do wear off or are removed, we have attained a very low degree in this grace, if we have any interest in it at all.

Owen, John (2011-09-27). Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded [Illustrated] (Kindle Locations 468-473).  . Kindle Edition.

Does your attention to the duties and disciplines of our faith wax and wane according to the nature of your circumstances?  Mine did – and I pray won’t any longer.

It is a commonly accepted thing that we are never more active in our faith than when it becomes obnoxiously obvious that we are not in control.  When things hit the oscillating blades we are very quick to hit our knees – but where were we before?

Faith may have medicinal benefits but it’s like many medicinal remedies – you have to stick to the regimen for the medicine to be effective.  Or consider physical exercise – if it’s not regularly engaged in then its value and effect is irregular – even useless.

Faith must be exercised or it will atrophy.  Prayer, study, fellowship, worship and good works are all part and parcel of our faith.  At its most basic it is a matter of obedience.  If we believe that Jesus is Lord of lords and that He is our Lord then we have to believe that obeying Him is the only course we may take.

This has been written of and debated to the point of silliness.  A King is a King is a King.  A subject is a subject is a subject.  A subject OWES the King their allegiance, their obedience.  When they withhold it, it is treason, rebellion.  When this happens it is in the King’s authority to have the rebel executed, banished from the Kingdom or at the very least denied the benefits of being a subject of the King.

When our obedience, “do rise or fall according unto renewed occasional convictions,” we are not faithful subjects – we are rebels and justly deserve to be seen and treated as such. 

To deflect the just and rightful response from the King we are prone to engage in hyper-loyal activities and attitudes.  But, when the King restores us we are prone to lay aside the duties and obligations we own our King.

Owen rightly states that, “these [spiritual, obedient, submissive] thoughts decay as our convictions in the causes of them do wear off or are removed, we have attained a very low degree in this grace, if we have any interest in it at all.”

For me it was a painful cycle of hitting a wall – getting all Christianly energized, calling out to my sovereign Lord to intervene and then when I felt I was over the wall I told Him, “Thank you, I’ve got it from here.”  To which I’m sure He must have snickered and thought, “Yeah, right, will you never learn?”

It’s a failure on our part to really work to see, “What God has done for us lately.”  We look for the goodies we want from Him the kudos even worldly kudos and when we don’t see them, we don’t think He’s done anything for us lately.  OK – at least I did.

But, for me, this last wall has been different.  Not worse than any previous wall but different.  The big difference is that I have recognized that since I hit that wall I have not had a single day when He did not provide everything – and I mean everything I needed for that day.

Oh, I have needs I see out ahead of me but He’s there, I’m not, so it must be His problem.  If He shows me what I can do today to prepare of next Thursday then I will do it.  But today at 11:30 am I am simply preparing for 11:31 am.  I might not be alive at 11:31 am but I’m preparing for it.  I am asking Him for all I need for (ok time moves) 11:32 am because I don’t know I will be alive at 11:33 am.

In my work as a consultant and counselor I cringe when people tell me they are really good under pressure.  That usually means they work to keep themselves under pressure so they can be “good.” 

When we get in the rut of doing it on our own and not exercising our faith obediently, regularly and diligently and we get used to falling to our knees in desperation we are in deep trouble.  I’ve had folks say things like, “Every time I outrun God He rescues me,”  “Every time I get in trouble I go to God and He helps me.”  Ultimately I have to ask – “Why don’t you go to Him all the time – regularly and work to live obediently.”  They don’t like that – so I’m a legalist.

Yes, things come our way that are tough but we don’t need to be unprepared.  God does not have to be the last resort when He’s the everyday resort.  We don’t have to run to the throne if we live at the foot of it.  We don’t have to run around seeking God it we keep ourselves continually in His presence.

I used to brag that God had to hit me in the head to get my attention.  A brother who loves me said, “That’s pretty stupid Michael – why do you make Him do that?”  Ouch!  But my brother was absolutely right.  If I pay constant attention to Him, He always has my attention.  If I am dutiful in my duties them I am always ready. 

In his huge but wonderful book The Christian in Complete Armour, William Gurnall makes the point that we are told to put on the whole armor of God but we are never told to take it off.  His point being that we must put it on and keep it on – 24/7/365-.

Peter's Pen 1 Peter 2:17

Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.   (1Pe 2:17)

Honor?

This is a busy word.  We find it 55 times in the NT.  It is applied to much, from “God”  to “everyone.”

So we may rightly struggle with its meaning.  Fundamentally it means to value, esteem.

I consider it to be a word whose meaning and import is define by what it is applied to.  Much like the word lust.

Certainly, we must see that there is a difference in the value and esteem we place upon God and that which we place upon everyone.

But I think the Holy Spirit is clear here in this verse that we are to honor everyone – even the emperor - yet we are to fear God.  This is a value/esteem far beyond mere honor.  This gives an edge to it.

Notice the distinction:

HONOR – everyone and the emperor
LOVE- fellow believers
FEAR-God

Note also:
Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.   (Rom 13:7)

What we need to do is to pray and work through to whom what is due.  This is not something we regularly (if at all) submit to prayer, the Word or our minds and hearts.  We can’t just read it and assume we will do it – at least not well.

I think that praying over the question, “What is due to who?” is a very important topic for much prayer.  Living in an age where “celebrity” is much more meaningful than it merits it is easy to find our attention and praise directed wrongly and even over energized.  When uneducated “celebrities” (especially unbelieving ones) at paid attention to and their opinions and views are given force just because of their celebrity – Houston, we have a problem!

I encourage you – even challenge you to look closely at those whom you honor – especially why and how you do so.  Pray – please!
I am reminded of that song, We Don’t Need Another Hero.  We never have needed a “hero” and perhaps we are wrong in looking at anyone as a “Hero.”  Certainly people do things we can consider heroic but once it’s done they are once again just people.
What we need, we have, a Redeemer.  He wasn’t a “hero.”  He did nothing out of character, nothing extra ordinary for Him – He simply did what He intended to do since forever.  There is nothing special about the Redeemer redeeming or the Savior saving.  Seeing him as a “hero” somehow diminishes that.
OK – back on point –
Honor, love and fear.  Pray about this verse and it’s meaning and demonstration in your life.  Are they in order?  Properly and biblically applied?

This and That – Us in Him 0908112

Well – tomorrow night is the night, 6 pm is the time and Caribou Coffee is the place.

We are prayerfully offering Him an opportunity for Him to bring folks to a place and time where they can learn of Jesus.  We’ve worked very hard to stay out of His way in this and to only move when we were confident in His leading.

Of course all the typical fleshly stuff has raised its head.  Will anyone come?  Will they come back?  Who will come?  Will it be “successful?”  Who do we think we are?  Where do we get off starting a study?   But – we’re pretty familiar with all these questions and the doubt and fear that come with them.  For the three of us, they are old nasty companions.

What I’m asking of you – is that you pray that we will not forget for a minute that this is an offering to Him, for Him and about Him.  “We,” are just secondary instruments for Him to work His providence.  It ain’t about us – it’s about Him.

Don’t think for a second that your prayers are a requested as some “vote for us” kind of thing.  We know many things we need to be careful about but YOU know some we don’t.  It is those things we ask you to pray about.

Oh, EGO – (whatever that really is :-&).  Pray that our flesh will not interfere with our service !

We all have hopes and dreams concerning the study.  Our imaginations run hot and cold.  Pray that our imaginations will be sanctified by His Spirit and that they do not become, in any way, the controlling factor in this.  This must be His work or it will not work!

Pray that in all ways and all circumstances He will be glorified in what we are doing.  We know He has equipped each of us and us as a team to do works of ministry.  Pray that we do not forget that our gifts are His to be used for His glory and honor.

We have invited, “The wondrous, the wondering, the wandering and the wounded.”  Pray that we are enabled to be with and for them what He needs us to be.

We are keeping in mind:

2Co_4:1  Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.

2Co_5:18  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

2Co_9:12  For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.

And

Heb 13:18  Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.

Puritan Prayers - recommended

Give me a deeper trust, that I may lose myself to find myself in Thee, the ground of my rest, the spring of my being. Give me a deeper knowledge of Thyself as saviour, master, lord, and king. Give me deeper power in private prayer, more sweetness in Thy Word, more steadfast grip on its truth. Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action, and let me not seek moral virtue apart from Thee.  Anonymous (2010-07-01). Puritan Prayers (Kindle Locations 37-39).  . Kindle Edition.

How blessed we are to have recorded for our benefit the honest searching prayers of those who have walked with Him before us!  How clear and deep are these pools of grace.  How sweet the waters held within.  How simple and yet mighty are these petitions.

If we but borrow these might not our prayers be altered, made higher from a lower place?  Might we not find in them that for which our hearts yearn to express?  Might we not more readily seek the Holy Spirit of God with a greater hunder and yearning?  Might we not be blessed beyond measure?

I believe these prayers are ours not by divine inspiration but by His providential preservation.  From Him to them and down to us they come to raise us up and join us to the saints now in His presence.  In them we are joined with the hearts of our forefathers in the faith and in them we find the depth of our need expressed.

They need to be prayed not merely read.  They might be prayed slowly, reflectively seeking how they might call from our hidden or murky needs. 

Who knows from what specific circumstance they were prayered?  And yet, who cares?  I do not need to know the writers need but rather to find his expressed need my own.

What assurance we find here:  that we are not alone in our struggles; we are not alone in our need.  That we are not alone and never have been in seeking to be more faithful servants, submitted to the King.  Indeed there is nothing new under the sun, not even our weakenesses and fears as His servants. 

We are told to be bold and of good courage and yet we shrink and cower.  It is in prayers like these that we see the remedy for this.  We see that we need only seek Him, to pound upon the door insistently while we await His providence.   He will find us, He will answer the pounding for so He has promised.

Borrowed prayers are not some spiritual form of plagiarism.  Not when we ask Him to make them our own.  Not when we ask Him to use them to dig deeply into our hearts and minds and where we find a lack of one thing asked for we cry out louder for its provision.

Often I do not know the “what” or “how “of my prayers.  I am confounded by the cacophony of the flesh.  Yet in borrowing these prayers I find the cacophony stilled and silent and I hear my need expressed. 

I recommend this little book to you all.  To keep by your bedside or bettr yet to keep with you at all times.  Some of the prayers will instantly lift your spirit and heal your wounds, while others at first may not touch your heart, they will as He makes you ready. 

Puritan Prayers

Walk with P & me 12

Walk with P & me  12

Another weekend of net mending and To Do’s.  But what’s new is prayer. 

We had been remiss in our prayers together and had been talking about fixing that and we did.

Patti is a silent prayer and I, being used to offering public prayer, am not – but I can be.  So we hit the middle ground.  We discuss what we have on our hearts and then we kneel together and pray silently yet simultaneously.  It’s a meaningful time for us and it’s without struggle.  We are blessed.

I have just finished reading Let Us Pray which is a book of articles from various sources like R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur and John Piper.  It has been a real blessing is getting my focus back on prayer and back in prayer. 

The one thing that really stands out is that all the authors touch on the model prayer.  Now I know this isn’t news to most of you and it wasn’t “new’ to me but reading through this work crystalized a very important point.  It is the context set in that model that needs to be in our minds as we pray.

It begins with “Our Father in heaven.”  That’s the “to.”  He’s the one to whom we take our prayers.  I know – duhhhh.  But I had never thought of praying about that short phrase and it meaning and import.  So I began to take time in prayer to actually pray about my Father in heaven. 

It is interesting to me how all the “needs” on the list want to get out in front of doing that.  It takes work – at least for me – to focus on Him and tell my “needs” to hang on.  But it has been a great help in calming my head and heart and focusing on all the blessings I have.  Doing this even brings one to the point where in light of all the blessings I’ve enjoyed and in some cases abused I am a little abashed when I get to my “needs.”

Next I pray about, “Thy Kingdom come.”  That’s kind of a two pointed prayer.  It brings to mind His Kingship in and over me as well as the promise of being in His eternal Kingdom for real one day.  This too brings thanksgiving and conviction.  Thanksgiving for the eternal security I have in Him and conviction concerning my struggle to live as a good citizen of His Kingdom.

Finally I pray, “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  Here I am amazed at the conundrum of His will being done.  Greatly thankful for His sovereign will,  I struggle against my flesh wanting my will to be done or at least His will to be done my way in my time. 

Through this I find I am able to get myself out of the way and then pray without pretext.  I am able to yield (?) – yeah, yield my petitions to Him knowing He know and will do what is best.  Don’t get me wrong, I still make suggestions but He and I don’t pretend they are right –  they are just my ideas – or struggles.

I am growing more convinced that we can never pray too much and we tend towards doing way too much.  I used to read of the old saints and the time they spent in prayer and thought they were – well, kind of weird, kind of monkish.  But I am growing more and more jealousy of time to pray – to sit and shut out everything and take the cares on my heart for His people and His work to Him and have a talk.

Well, that’s where we are in net mending – pray we will grow more and more jealous of time to pray and that we will indeed stay in Him as we do so.

Here’s a prayer that I find very helpful when I have too much on my mind to pray well.

From:  Puritan Prayers

Holy Lord, I have sinned times without number, and been guilty of pride and unbelief, of failure to find Thy mind in Thy Word, of neglect to seek Thee in my daily life. My transgressions and short-comings present me with a list of accusations, but I bless Thee that they will not stand against me, for all have been laid on Christ.  Go on to subdue my corruptions, and grant me grace to live above them. Let not the passions of the flesh nor lustings of the mind bring my spirit into subjection, but do Thou rule over me in liberty and power.

I thank Thee that many of my prayers have been refused. I have asked amiss and do not have, I have prayed from lusts and been rejected, I have longed for Egypt and been given a wilderness. Go on with Thy patient work, answering 'no' to my wrongful prayers, and fitting me to accept it. Purge me from every false desire, every base aspiration, everything contrary to Thy rule. I thank Thee for Thy wisdom and Thy love, for all the acts of discipline to which I am subject, for sometimes putting me into the furnace to refine my gold and remove my dross.

No trial is so hard to bear as a sense of sin. If Thou shouldst give me choice to live in pleasure and keep my sins, or to have them burnt away with trial, give me sanctified affliction.  Deliver me from every evil habit, every accretion of former sins, everything that dims the brightness of Thy grace in me, everything that prevents me taking delight in Thee. Then I shall bless Thee, God of jeshurun, for helping me to be upright.

Anonymous (2010-07-01). Puritan Prayers (Kindle Locations 5-15).  . Kindle Edition.