Anxious? To be or not!

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 

(Mat 6:27) KJV

How "powerful" am I really?  Sometimes i find myself thinking I'm pretty powerful.  That is a mistake!  Not that i have no talents, skills of abilities but I forget who they come from and who makes them effective.  

It's hard to keep in mind, when we are doing good stuff, that it is all totally dependent upon Him - totally - utterly - of Him.

I was once advised to; "Pray as though it all depended upon God and to work as though it all depended upon me."  Not good advise!  I now "Pray because it all depends upon God and I work (or try to) in utter dependence upon Him."

I can't help but think of Saul (later to be known as Paul).  He was "the man" (or at least one of them) in the Jewish religious institutions.  He knew god, the Law, the traditions and by his own statement he was "the man."  All that talent and training and effort--etc. and he still went the wrong way.

I think, that among other issues, Saul depended upon Saul a lot.  I think it was something he dealt with through out his life and ministry.  This is common to most of us and yet we need to pray for a sensitivity to it or accept the thorn that reminds us of it.

As i consider this passage from Matthew and the issue of anxiety I am mindful of what James wrote:

From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.   (Jas 4:1-3)

Now if our lusts can cause such distress among us surely they will cause the same within us.  I can't help but consider that this is a great source of anxiety within the individual believers life.  

What if, in affliction I struggle with praying for God will to be done and/or my relief/comfort/rescue/etc.   I struggle with the fact that God is glorified in my weakness - even in my affliction and yet I want it to be over.  This conflict just adds to the anxiety i experience.

It's the, "not my will but thine," conundrum.  I get anxious concerning His will and my will being - well - different.  It's not easy!  Certainly I do not face the same cup Christ faced but our "cups" are always BIG to us.  

But, there is one thing I find comfort in even in the cunnundrum!

Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. 
(Luk 22:42-43)

Two things here.  First, Jesus did not hesitate to take His concern to His Father.  He quite clearly asks for this "cup" to be removed.  So I take that to mean I may do the same.  It also means I need to be willing to pray the whole prayer with one addition --- that we may have missed.

I will also pray for God's strengthening whether by the appearance of an angel, the presence of an angel, direct from God or through the Word and the Spirit (not to leave out the Body).  

Father,
You know my anxiety and fretfulness in the current circumstances.  You know I want You to make them go away.  You know my weakness - my fleshiness - my self-centeredness.  You know much more of my struggle than even I do.

I want to run from the circumstance but I fear that I would be running from You as well.  That I do not want to do.  I have been there and done that and I know it is not good.

I would ask for Your strengthening and Your comfort.  I would also ask You to show me You in all this.  The enemies assail my heart and torment my head and I need to hear You more clearly.

I am sadly afraid - but I take comfort in my Savior's prayer and His surrender to You will for us.  I want very much to do the same but my feet feel frozen and I grow anxious - very anxious.  I want to ask You to "help my unbelief," for I can't pretend there is no unblief in my mind and heart.  I believe - help my unbelief!!!

Sound bites from God ;-}

I've been reading Psalm 119 a lot recently and it suddenly came to my mind that I was reading them more like a long list of proverbs that one continuous Psalm.  No, I'm not coming up with some new theory on Psalm 119 but I find it interesting how some verses really speak to where I am and others, well, don't.  

I't kind of like "sound-bites" only inspired.  

Take  Psalm 119:49-50 ESV
Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope. [50] This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.

I really love that passage and I find it gets my head and heart back on track when I am distracted or distressed.  But it is followed by:


Psalm 119:51 ESV
The insolent utterly deride me, but I do not turn away from your law.

Which does not, as far as I can tell, speak to my circumstances.  So there is kind of a "disconnect" in the flow of my reading.

Then the Psalmist writes:


Psalm 119:52 ESV
When I think of your rules from of old, I take comfort, O LORD.

Which gets my closer to sensing a flow.

Now, we can't be picking and choosing our verses willy-nilly.  We need the whole counsel of God.  However, sometimes it's not the "flow" of our reading that the Spirit desires to lay on our hearts but just a smidgen (small piece) of it.  

Having said that I would suggest, as came to mind, that the "insolent" who "utterly deride me" are always identifiable as the world the flesh and the devil.  So the "disconnect" is "spliced" back together.

All this is to merely suggest that when we are going to the Word we should not go looking for what we want as much as looking for what He/His Spirit knows we need.  Once our spirits are affected by a verse or two it will do us well to consider why that might be and how, even if it strains our brains, the verse before and after play a part in that.

We should be reading the Word in a studious manner but we may read it as a love letter as well.  Studying His word is work and we should all be about that as we are able.  But, I think that His Word should also be a "scavenger hunt" as well.

We should always feel free - even compelled - to go to His work to find His provision for our need.  Sometimes we may well be preparing some strong theological lesson - but other times we just need a - well - hug from His Word.  That's what I've learned from my reading of Psalm 119.  

I love the emphasis Alistair Begg makes of the "main and plain" things of scripture.  I have no problem believing that God is not playing hide and seek with us in His Word.  What He has for us, what He desires for us, what He desires from and of us is plain.  It may be in right in the middle of one of Paul's mighty theological statements but it is that one verse (not abusive of the context) that God desires us to have.

I got to this as I was looking through scripture concerning the promises of God.  That's how I stumbled upon Psalm 119:49&50.  and that;s how I started reading the whole Psalm.  But I still am encouraged and humbled and joyful when I read (actually remember) -


Psalm 119:49-50 ESV
Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope. [50] This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.

This is my "sound-bite" that expands into comfort and encouragement as I struggle wait upon Him.  

Soooooo, don't go willy-nilly to the Word but go trusting Him to lead you to the main and plain Word that you need.

Finger Thinking 010513 A Certain Darkness

Finger Thinking 030513

There's a certain darkness
which some of us know.
It is just part of us
not flesh
but wounds
not sin
but the effects.
There is relief
but rarely
release.
We carry it
like a secret
ashamed
and afraid.
We pray
for healing
and yet
we hear "No."
So,
we keep going
forward
as best we can.
Walking towards the light
even if just on its fringe.
Wanting to know
it is OK
knowing it may not be
until the finishing is finished.
Most of us
hang on.
Some don't.
But we all know
He knows
and cares
and provides.
We can't escape the truth,
His truth.
We may not feel His love
but we know it.
We may not experience His joy
but His promise is enough.
It's harder
for us than for some
but we know it is harder
for others.
So we learn
to pray in a different way
for what we sometimes don;t know.
But we pray
knowing He hears
knowing He has a plan
and a purpose
and in that
we hope. 

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.