Examine yourself - Contentment 005

Examine yourself -  Contentment 005

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

The Word and the Spirit - our two key blessings for learning - our two essential and necessary blessings.

But - we don't have to be passive.  Actually we shouldn't be.

Remember that old song, I Fall Asleep Counting My Blessings?  Well it's better to count them before you fall asleep.

Now for most of us, keeping a journal or diary is just not something we consider.  But it is a valuable investment of time and effort.  Just as God has recorded His will and work in the Bible, we can record His will and work in our lives in a diary or a journal.

I think this works best if we keep it simple - and I've tried just about every method possible from a voice recorder to a "cloud" journal.  After a lot of stops and starts, I ended up back at paper and pen.  

Here's what I use.  I have a Moleskine Monthly Notebook - the pocket size.  I have two pages for the current month and two blank lined pages after the two monthly pages.  I keep my calendar and then on the two blank-lined pages I keep track of what God is doing in my life.  

I don't go into great detail - I write just enough to inform myself later.

Why?

If we don't keep some kind of record, we will forget and miss opportunities for prayer, repentance - opportunities for growth.

Ever been in a meeting and spoken ill?  Well you can "jot" that down in the notebook without making a big deal of it.  

Ever had someone ask for prayer and then much later you remember?  Jot it down in the notebook.  Heard a great insight in a sermon?  Jot it down.  Ever been blindsided by your sin?  Jot is down.  Even gotten an unexpected blessing?  Jot it down.

It is said that those who fail to learn from the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them.  Well, if there is no history kept, we're just going to keep making the same mistakes and sinning the same sins.

OK - so someone out there is going to ask where I keep my business notes if my personal notes are in the notebook.  Simple, I use 3x5 cards for meeting notes.  They fit in the notebook cover I got from, Levengers for my Moleskine - no problem.  The cards get filed in a small 3x5 index file box and there ya go.

The main point is that in order to effectively examine ourselves we really do need to keep some kind of record.  Ever gone to worship feeling like it was the last place you wanted to go and then left worship walking inches off the ground?  That needs to be recorded and examined.  Ever had a sermon or lesson "hit you the wrong way”? (yeah - as if we get hit a right way) -- Anyway, this is something worth noting and examining later --- "Why?"

Look, you're going to find sin when you do this - and that's good.  It should be no great shock anyway - godly dismay yes - shock no.  This isn't about beating yourself up.  It's about getting to know, understand and appreciate you and your walk in the Way.

Another great use for recording this is that it really does "preserve" the evidence that you are His and growing in Him.  With my counseling clients, I always keep a sheet in their file that lists all the wonderful and powerful things they share - ya know why?  Because they don't - so they forget the very evidence the experience.  It's really wonderful to testify to someone about the Lord working in and through them from evidence they themselves gave me weeks or months before.

Think about this - sin is sin is sin - right?  Growth is growth is growth - right?  But you are utterly unique - totally unique by God's design.  So your sin and your growth are totally unique - there are no cookie-cutters on the Way.  We get made of the same stuff but every mold is broken after one use.

If you are the object of God's grace and mercy, you certainly can pay a little attention to yourself - right?

Write it down - examine it - rejoice and/or repent - but, examine yourself.

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.

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