Category Archives: christianity

License or Love? Lordship or Leniency?

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I just started reading John MacArthur’s book, The Gospel According to Jesus.  What I am reading there definitely is shaping my thoughts today.

This book addresses a point of doctrine over which I was unaware there was any controversy.  I will not pretend to understand all of the theological nuance regarding the question, but the question is basically this: Does salvation require submission to the Lordship of Christ?

Interestingly enough, my morning readings seemed to speak to this question.  Hebrews 12:2 begins, “fixing our eyes on Jesus…”  When I read this, it took me back to the days when I trained my dogs and a few horses.  When a dog or a horse has acknowledged you as their master, they will watch you intently whenever you are around.  They want to please their master, they watch you so they can understand what it is you want them to do, so they can do it!  Dogs especially will avert their eyes when they know they have done something wrong.  The verse goes on to say that Christ is the author and the perfecter of our faith.  OUR faith – He put the seed of faith in our hearts, and He is the one who will perfect the faith within us.  He is King, He is Lord, He is our master – keep your eyes on Him!  Why?  Because we have acknowledged His lordship over our lives, and we want to know how to please Him.

“A new commandment I give to you…” Jesus says in John 13:34-35.  Who commands us?  Our master, our Lord commands us.  All others give us suggestions, good ideas, instructions – our master commands.  What does He command here?  That we love one another as He loves us.  A quick aside – I know I believe myself to be lovable, and Christ loving me does not, at first glance, to be so unbelievable.  Indeed, sometimes I find myself thinking it would be unbelievable if He didn’t love me!  Isn’t that a pretty egocentric, or me-centered, way of looking at this relationship?  He knows my thoughts, He sees my actions, He knows every weakness…all those things I hide from everyone else so the will love me.  Why do I hide them?  Well, because I know those thoughts, those actions, those weaknesses are particularly unlovable!  Now let’s re-examine my attitude:  Christ is without sin, He hates sin.  He sees everything in me; even the things I don’t want anybody else to see, because those things are so unlovable.  How can I expect Him to love me?  He does, and that’s the miracle of it all, He does love me.  Now He, as my Lord, commands me to love others that same way.  Not because they are lovable, although some are, not because I feel like it, but because He love me, He commands me to love, and He is my Lord, my master.

Then in John 14:15 Christ says, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”  Can we believe in the redeeming power of the blood of Christ, His sacrifice, His being and eternal presence as Creator God and NOT love Him?  I don’t know how that could be possible.  And if we love Him, we are to keep His commandments.  There’s the beauty.  He is our master, we are His slaves, and yet – He loves us, and we love Him.

Jesus tells us He is coming back for us, John 14:3.  He doesn’t tell us that He will be passing through and if we want to go along, we’re welcome to hitch a ride.  No, He says He is returning to take us with Him.  He is our master, we are His slaves, He will take us with Him!  Where?  To a place He has prepared, in His Father’s kingdom.  He takes us into the sovereignty of God…and this happens without me yielding to that sovereign God?  I think not!  He takes us into the presence, into the everlasting kindom, of the One to whom we are in subjection.

Peter says that we are aliens and strangers, 1 Peter 2:11.  In Hebrews 11:13-16 we are seeking a different, a better country.  And Hebrews 13:14 says we do not have a lasting city on this earth.  Christ is taking us from this earth, this life, where we are strangers and aliens…where we no longer fit in, or belong.  He is taking us to a better country, the Kingdom of God.  Why are we aliens here?  Why is Jesus taking us to His kingdom?  The answer to both is this: because we are now citizens of the Kingdom of God, subjects of the King, slaves to our Lord.  We don’t fit in because our thoughts and our actions are different, we don’t do what that great king, Everybody Else, commands.

We are under the Law of Christ, Romans 8:2, the law of His kingdom.  We are no longer under the law of sin and death, the law of this world.  We are no longer slaves to this world, we are slaves of Christ.

“Out of the fullness of the heart, the tongue speaks”, Matthew 12:34.  Jesus is making a general statement to point out the wickedness in the hearts of the Pharisees.  If our hearts are filled with Christ, we speak of Christ…we speak love.  If our hearts are filled with this world, we speak death and corruption and temporary vanities.  Out of the fullness of the heart…if we are truly saved, if we truly believe in our salvation and our Savior, if we understand our position before God – can we help but have our hearts filled with that?  I don’t mean to say, if we are saved, then our hearts are always filled with good, with Christ, with love.  No, but what I do mean to say is that faith in our salvation HAS to mean a filling of our hearts with something different from what was there before.  This filling of our hearts, according to the truth spoken by Christ, will direct and affect our talk. 

It seems to me, that even if it is possible to be saved without becoming a slave to Christ, making Him the Lord of our lives…even if it were possible, then it would be a spectacularly empty, hollow, unfulfilling salvation without Christ as Lord.  If I do the same things, I am caught up in the same vanities and wickedness, I am not acknowledging the King of the kingdom I am saved to inhabit…  If everyone else is doing the same, then we are looking forward to heaven, where everyone thinks and acts like they do on earth – because we haven’t learned differently – which means that the perfection of heaven will be corrupted by the selfish, venal behavior of man.  I think that’s been done before…

Why Salvation?

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In an uncharacteristic move, I am posting a second personal study.  This morning I was struck by a thought in a book I am reading, Getting to No by Erwin Lutzer.  A quick aside:  I recommend this book for all Christians.  The subtitle is “How to Break a Stubborn Habit” – and there may be some who don’t believe they have a stubborn habit to break.  I won’t argue that here, and that is not the reason I recommend it for all.  As the author works through the power of God, how to acquire it, how to ask the Holy Spirit within us to move on our behalf, how to approach God in prayer, how to live our day in prayer – these are powerful instructions for every Christian.  In this book, Lutzer makes the statement that we are saved in order to have a relationship with God.  That isn’t an earth-shattering thought.  It fits perfectly into Christian belief, and yet, as the thought sank into my mind, I realized that it meant a shift in my view.  With a little thought, it is obvious.  We are not our own 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.  In a previous post, I spoke of Timothy Keller’s description of a dance we are invited to join.  It seems clearly evident now, but I didn’t notice it then, that we are saved in order to join in that dance.  Not for any other purpose!

Yes, our purpose is to glorify God, but as I mentioned before Christ is the glory of God.  We glorify God by living Christ in our lives.  What does that mean?  What do the words “…Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27 mean?  In light of the knowledge that Christ came to earth to suffer and die to save me, in order that I might have a relationship with God; join the dance of love with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; I have a slightly different perspective – one that builds on my previous viewpoint, but changes my viewpoint in an important way.

So, the relationship we are called into is a relationship of love.  That seems evident.  Christ was God made flesh.  God is love.  Christ was the embodiment of love.  Our only hope of glorifying God, is Christ in us, or the perfection of love in us, through us to all we meet.  So glorifying God is being filled with His love, and expressing that love through our lives.  That is also our relationship with God, our dance of love, our communion, our conversation, our security in Him.

I remember, a few years back, being struck by the peaceful, confident attitude of my young nephew, and I confided to a friend that he, my nephew, seemed so secure and sure of his place, rocked in a cradle of love.  That picture of contentment and security is how I picture our relationship with God.  Surrounded, protected, nurtured in love.  With that attitude, with faith in God, in His love, we are able to face difficulties with confidence and trust.

We know that God cannot be in the presence of sin or wickedness.  Before we can begin our relationship with Him, we must be cleansed.  Christ became the atonement for sin, creating the condition, sinlessness, by which, and only by which we can approach the Father.  John 14:6 the only chance we have for a love relationship with Him.  Our only hope of glory.

If, then, the very reason for salvation is to enter a relationship with God, then our lives should be dedicated to that relationship, should it not?  We are not saved to pursue our own ideas, desires, pleasures – confident in the security of our salvation.  That does not glorify the Father, that does not show our gratitude and love for the gift we have been given, that does not express an understanding of love, made human, in order that we might dance.  And not dancing, we miss the whole purpose of our existance and our salvation.

Fear, Anxiety and Sin

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Today my study brings me, by a different path, to previously discussed verses.  I was brought again this morning to Philippians 4:6.  God evidently sees anxiety in me, an unwillingness to trust Him completely – and I guess that’s true.  The thanksgiving portion grabbed me.  “…with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”  I tend to express my worry, to bolster the reasons for my request, before, during and after I make my request.  But here’s the thing, I worry because I don’t understand the future.  God does.  When I go before Him with worry I’m saying, “I’m not sure you’ve planned this out for my good.  Maybe you missed something, maybe you forgot about me.  Here’s what I want to make sure of; please [grant my request].”  That’s not really praying in His will, is it?  It’s getting my own ideas pushing out ahead of His in my conversation with Him.  It’s almost like interrupting God, isn’t it?  God sees the future, and I am in His perfect plan.  In prayer, God wants to comfort, reassure, strengthen, direct me; and here I am, fretting about my problems and interrupting God to make sure I’m not left out!  He wants me to trust Him.  How often in the past while has trust and faith been a major part of my study?  Enough that I think it is an issue.

The great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 12:1 are witnesses to us, by their example of faith, but they are also witnesses of our race, our faith.  It makes me think of Matthew 17:3, during Christ’s transfiguration when Elijah and Moses are with Him.  They were witnesses to encourage Christ as He faced His crucifixion and they were witnesses of His life, His ministry, His crucifiction.

Without going into mundane details, I want to mention something here about process.  I get my verses ready each day, and I get the order of them ready.  Sometimes I don’t understand why the order is what it is – and today something changed how I would have normally arranged these verses.  Today I listed the verses in the order I put them in my journal.  I was not seeing a coherent progression through them, but I started writing my thoughts anyway.  It was only after I had written about the cloud of witnesses that Christ’s transfiguration came to mind, so I included it there.  Now, notice the next verse in the order I wrote them down – and I didn’t even think of this transition, until I looked at my next verse.  It seems like just a little miracle to me.

Romans 12:1-2 “…present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice…And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”  A living sacrifice is acceptable to God.  That sacrifice is our worship.  We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  This seems to me to be the description of prayer.  Coming before God, and presenting ourselves to Him in worship, in gratitude – regardless of the circumstances; thankful for the circumstances – and THEN we are able to be transformed, to get a course correction from our natural tendency to conform to what others around us are doing, by renewing our minds.  So that we can live God’s will.  Isn’t that prayer?  And as we pray, as we present ourselves, and are transformed anew as God renews our minds, we are surrounded by that great cloud of witnesses encouraging us by the example of their sacrifice and their transformations, and encouraging us by their presence, by us knowing they are watching in love.

Back to my reading in Exodus.  In Exodus 32 we read of the incident of the golden calf.  I was astonished to read about Aaron’s active participation in this idolatry.  I had missed that the times I had read it before.  Then Aaron tries to deflect blame by saying he was trying to stop the making of the calf by collecting all the gold and throwing it in the fire, and the golden calf just popped out of the fire!  Notice the layers of sin:  He chooses idol worship.  He tries to shift blame away from himself.  In shifting blame, he lies.  And he doesn’t lie just a little bit, he lies blatantly. He was actively seeking out the artisans to make this calf (I wonder if these were the same artisans that God blessed with skill to make the parts and pieces for the Tabernacle?); but he says he was trying to stop it by throwing the gold into the fire.  THEN in his lying he attributes power to the idol; power that belongs to God.  Or he is claiming that God blessed the idolatry by shaping the idol in the fire.  It is staggering – and this is shortly after Moses has delivered God’s commandments that begin:  You shall love the Lord your God…

In Exodus 33 God withdraws His presence from the Israelites.  He appoints an angel to lead them instead of His glory and His presence.  Moses, then, is desperate.  In verses 11-23 he pleads with God to be with them, to lead them personally, or to leave them where they are.  He points out that it is only God with them that declares His glory to all the other nations.  God is moved by Moses’ impassioned prayer, and God agrees to lead the people again.  It is Moses’ prayer that returns God’s presence to the people.  Prayer is the passionate pleading for God’s presence, knowing that we are helpless without it; I need to face each day with that attitude, that unless God is leading, I cannot move.  Moses also asked to see God’s glory, and God showed His back to Moses as He passed by, because no man could see the glory of God’s face and live.  But God reassured Moses by giving him a glimpse of His holy presence.

Luke 3:21-22 – Jesus is baptized, “…and while He was praying…”, another short passage that I had never noticed before.  It was while Jesus was praying that heaven was opened.  I had always pictured Jesus coming up out of the water and heaven opening and the Spirit descending, all in one glorious moment;  then God’s voice declaring His pleasure in His son.  But I noticed that Christ was praying, and the heavens were opened, the Spirit descended and God was pleased.  We know, that since the ascension of Jesus, that the Spirit dwells in the redeemed.  As we pray, we pray in the Spirit within us, through Jesus Christ, and by God’s pleasure in His son, through whom we pray, heaven is opened to us.  The power of the Spirit, the love of Christ, the glory of God can be poured into and through our lives through the miracle of prayer.

Now, we go forth.  Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit was led into the wilderness to be tempted Luke 4:1-13.  Two points here, seeing God’s people full of the Holy Spirit enrages satan, and he attacks with fury.  Also, God prepares us for those attacks by filling us with the Holy Spirit.  We can rejoice in our temptation knowing that God has filled us, and recognizing this, satan is angered, increasing the ferocity of his attack.  By faith in God, and His promises, and the power of the Spirit, we can be confident and calm in the storm of satan’s assault, knowing that His grace is sufficient for us – 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.

Go forth today, stong in His strength, filled with the Spirit and guided by His love.  Don’t be afraid, for He is with you always, even to the end of the world Matthew 28:20.

 

Love, Forgiveness and Understanding

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The first passage today is a continuation of one of yesterday’s passages.  I didn’t plan it that way, but that’s how it happened.  Romans 5:6-11 reminds us that God loved us when we were sinners, rejecting His instruction and guidance, sometimes rejecting His very existence – and definitely rejecting His claim to Lordship in our lives.  He loved us so much that He committed the single greatest act of love the world has ever known.  He chose to become human, and die for our sin, to allow us into His presence so He could pour His love onto and into our lives.

In a conversation with my good friend, Dan Biggs, last night I made a comment that I want to explore more in the days ahead.  The comment was made in the flow of our conversations, and without the opportunity to meditate or give serious thought to the idea.  I welcome your thoughts on this matter, and will dig into it deeper going forward.  Here is the idea:  Begin with the passage I have quoted here before – God is Love – 1 John 4:8, I proposed to Dan that this is an equation.  If we fully understood God, and fully understood love, they would be exactly the same.  That the essence of God is Love, and the entire being of God is love.  Dan reminded me of justice, which is in God’s nature.  My question is, is justice something different from love, or is it our lack of understanding of love that might make it seem so?  I don’t know for sure.  Does God hate sin as He does because He loves us so much?  Help me explore this by providing comments, please.

1 John 1:5-10 warns us first that if we claim to be in fellowship with God, but walk in darkness (sin), then we are lying.  That’s pretty stern.  But, John continues, if we walk in the Light, as He is in the Light, then we have fellowship and Christ’s blood cleanses us from ALL sin.  He makes further comment – that if we say we have no sin we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us (we are walking in darkness)  Then, John calls us to confess our sins, and God is faithful to forgive it and wash it away.   Then John says again, if we say we have not sinned then we lie and the truth is not in us.  John was VERY concerned about anyone who would claim to be without sin – he equates it to walking in darkness…hiding our sin, pretending we are without sin, hiding from God, removed from His forgiveness and love.  Distant from God for two reasons – we are hiding our sin and ourselves from Him, so we run from Him.  And by not confessing our sin and bringing it into the Light, we keep ourselves soiled in and by sin – repulsing God, causing Him to turn His face from us.  He had to turn His face from Christ for the exact, personal sin that He must turn away from in our lives right now, if we are hiding it!  Christ took my very acts of sin, the act, the moment, the sin – to the cross.  Because he bore the stain of the sin I just committed, God had to turn away His face.  Who am I to dishonor that sacrifice by both Father and Son, that I try to pretend the sin is not there (because I don’t want to confess it, give it to God, and turn from it) and force my God, my love, to turn His face from my sin AGAIN?

 

The sinner hiding his sin in darkness

The sinner hiding his sin in darkness

To end, Psalm 119:169-172 asks for understanding according to God’s word. Understanding of anything outside of God’s word is not understanding at all, is it?  And doesn’t understanding lead us to lay down our burden of sin in God’s light, turn from that putrid pile we’ve been carrying (the ring and Schmiegle) and doesn’t it bring us through His forgiveness into His glorious presence, the glory and fullness of love?  So I will study His word as I try to understand more about God and love and the God is love equation.   

“The Lord Gave and the Lord Has Taken Away; Blessed Be the Name of the Lord”

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It is likely that no man is better qualified to say these words than Job. After hearing that he had lost all of his cattle, his sheep, his camels and all of his children, Job’s response is recorded here: Job 1:20-21.  Then to add emphasis the Bible tells us in Job 1:22, in spite of all this Job did not sin nor blame God.  I confess here, I have blamed God in my thoughts for an untimely rain!  But I appreciate the philosophical foundation of Job’s response:  God gave it all to me in the first place, what is there for me to complain about?  That truth is easily obscured if we focus too intently on ourselves, our desires, our comforts, our wants.

Paul exhorts the Philippians to rejoice, Philippians 4:4-7.  He is so urgent in this he repeats it.  He then says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God.”  The formula for escaping the sin of anxiety is to make our requests known to God in everything.  Not some things, not most things, but everything.  Make our requests known to God with thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving for our difficulties as we read yesterday, and thanksgiving for the love and generosity with which God gives, even for our enjoyment 1 Timothy 6:17-19.  (Paul is giving instructions for the wealthy Christians, to be rich in doing good, and storing eternal treasures).  And, importantly, thanksgiving that God gives beyond our expectation, and always for our eternal good.

Paul repeats this theme in 2 Corinthians 9:8-11 – God gives to us generously.  Therefore we should also be generous.  God gives to us what is His.  All we have is from God, as Job eloquently stated – so generosity is required from us.

As I have said here before, I am currently reading through Exodus.  Exodus is nothing if it isn’t about God’s generosity to His people.  Today I read Exodus 31.  In verses 1-11 God tells Moses how he is going to give special gifts to two specific men, in order that they can perform the work God asks for in chapters 25-30.  If Moses was anything like me, hearing what was being asked in the previous six chapters would have him wondering and worrying – anxious – about how in the world he could ever get something built, worthy to be God’s dwelling.  But God, in His generosity, gave Moses what he needed in chapter 31.  Yes we face trials.  We are told over and over that we will.  But God provides.  2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you.”  Abraham was probably asked the most difficult thing that could be asked of any man, to sacrifice his only son – but his faith was in God to provide as sacrifice Genesis 22:8. 

God created it all.  God owns it all.  God gives it all.  Read Genesis, Exodus, the Gospels, the Bible.  From nothing He created everything.  Everything we enjoy, everything we need, everything we have, everything we are – belong to God.  Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Putting a Little Mustard (Seed) in My Walk

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Matthew 17:14-21 tells us that if we have faith the size of a grain of mustard seed, smaller than the head of a pin, we could move mountains!  How big is my faith, how full of faith (faithful) is my walk?  I am defeated daily by molehills!  Jesus tells us, Matthew 19:16-26, that with God all things are possible.  This is in the context of the rich young ruler.  Christ used the example of a camel passing through the eye of a needle to illustrate the difficulty of a rich man entering the kingdom of God.  So, what are we to have faith in?  The ability to move mountains?  That our trials will end? That we are saved?  I read that we are to have faith in God, and His ability to do all things.  As an aside:  It is generally assumed that the rich young man was sorrowful because he would not give up his possessions in order to follow Christ.  I don’t want to cut too hard against the grain, and I am not dogmatic about this point, but isn’t it possible that he was sorrowful for all the possessions he was going home to sell?  It doesn’t say for sure, but looking at it from both sides gives me a better understanding of the camel/needle statement.  It is HARD for flesh to give up its things (as if anything is ours in the first place).

Jesus rebuked the disciples, saying, “Oh ye of little faith” (Of course, He spoke in Old English, as written in KJV!  I just like the poetry of this familiar phrase) when they were afraid of the storm at sea, Matthew 8:23-27.  “Why are you afraid?” He asks.  Fear comes from lack of faith.

James tells us to be joyful when trials come, James 1:2-8, and this passage takes me back again to that double-minded fellow that I can’t seem to shake!  Trials testing our faith – oh joy!  Here is an opportunity to apply our faith, and thereby strengthen it.  Gain wisdom, by asking in faith.  James tells us to resist the devil and he will flee, right?  Not so fast, James 4:7, first submit to God.  That takes faith in God.  THEN resist the devil.  If I am trying to resist the devil, but he seems to maintain the upper hand, I probably have my order wrong.  I’m not submitting first, and I’m probably not submitting because of my lack of faith that God has the best in store for me.  Ephesians 2:8 tells us that we are saved by grace, how?  Through faith!  Faith in God to do His work in our lives.  Faith in His greatness, His love, His mercy and His plan.

Philippians 1:27-29 starts with these words, “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ…”  ONLY!?!  That was my first reaction – this is not a small thing!  But now I look at it from a slightly different angle: Don’t conduct yourselves in any other manner, only in a manner worthy of the gospel.  My oh my!  That is a tall order.  But as we read further, we see that the expectation is that we stand together, helping one another, “striving for the faith of the gospel” and “in no way alarmed by your opponents” (see the previous paragraph above).  And we have been granted, not only to believe in Christ, but for His sake to suffer also.  Suffer by trials?  The testing of our faith, and an occasion for joy!

In Luke 17:3-6 we see faith compared to a mustard seed again.  I find these verses interesting, Jesus tells us that we should rebuke a sinning brother, forgive him if he repents; and to do that seven times in one day, if he sins against us, and repents of that sin and rinses and repeats – 7 times!  (In Matthew 18:21-22, Jesus answers Peter that we must forgive seventy times seven!)  The very next verse, the apostles ask Jesus to increase their faith.  It is not clear if this was a reaction to the previous verse, but it does take faith to forgive a repentant brother over and over and over.  We must have faith that God will protect and provide.  Humanly, we are fearful of being hurt or wronged again – but we must trust God in this.

Ephesians 3:14-21 speaks of Christ dwelling in our hearts through faith; allowing us to comprehend the love of Christ and be filled with the fullness of God.  It ends with praise to “Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think…”.

I must then go to the faith chapter, Hebrews 11.  A listing of all that was done down through the ages by faith – and it says they all gained approval through their faith, and received far more than what God had promised.

Immediately following Hebrews 11 is this familiar passage of Hebrews 12:1-2:  Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Then Romans 5:1-5 tells us that being justified by faith, we have peace with God, we exult in the hope of the glory of God, and we also exult in our tribulations because we know that they bring perserverance.  AND hope does not disappoint because of the love of God poured out within our hearts. 

And finally, the great love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13 ties it all together for me.  Faith, hope and love – but the greatest is love.  Why do we have faith in God?  Because we love Him.  What is our hope? The redemption and salvation we claim through the sacrifice given by the love of Christ.  Our faith is supported and encouraged by His love.  Our love for Him is because He first loved us, by faith we love Him, and our love for Him increases our faith in Him.  If my faith is weak and small…  Without love I am without faith, and without faith I am without hope.

A Tribute to Trisha – On Mother’s Day

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I know a lady.  Beautiful, very smart (smart enough to give me a run for my money, anyway!), sweet, kind and a great mom.  She has two exceptional boys.  Gage, 9 years old, and Kayden, 6.  Boys I love dearly.  Boys I would proudly call my own, if I had been so blessed.  They are who they are because of their mother, Trisha.  She has raised them by herself for the last 6 years, after the tragic death of their father, Robbie.

Trisha is the kind of strong woman who is determined that her boys will have the childhood she did not have.  I am forever amazed at her courage, determination, and her love for her boys.  She is sunny and cheerful – even though life delt her some tough cards. 

I just wanted to declare publicly that I admire Trisha as a person, as a woman and as a mother.  I am honored to call her my friend.

To Trisha – your loveliness that gives you a from-the-inside-out glow, your intelligence that can challenge the best minds, your sweet nature that draws everyone into your presence, your deep and lasting love for Gage and Kayden, and most of all your love for, and your faith and trust in, Jesus Christ.  Happy Mothers Day.

Lord, Teach Us to Pray

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God’s promises are to those who seek Him, Matthew 7:7.  In light of that, I need to understand prayer better; and recent events have driven me to prayer.

The apostles asked Jesus to teach them to pray, Luke 11:1-13.  Jesus’ response is the sample prayer.  He also explains the heart of God by example:

First, by our persistence God is moved to respond

Second, in responding, God gives us good gifts, as a father gives his son.  But we know that God gives for our eternal benefit.  He sees the whole picture, and He wants the very best for His children.  Like the prodigal son Luke 15:18-24, when he asked to be made a servant, his father restored him to his inheritance; because the father wanted the best for his son.  If a child asked his father for a poisonous snake, what father would hand it to him?

Aren’t the above passages that Jesus gave us examples of “effective, fervent prayer”?  James 5:13-16   But James also tells us that we cannot be double-minded and expect anything from God, James 1:5-8.  Which makes me ask, “Exactly what is a double-minded man?”   Jesus tells us that we cannot serve two masters, we cannot serve God and [insert the thing(s) that divert(s) our loyalty, our love, our service from God].  In Matthew 6:19-24, He speaks about our heart being where our treasure is (and “treasure” is not necessarily wealth), then He speaks of the second master being wealth.  1 Timothy 6:10 tells us that the love of money is the root of all manner of evil.  Many evils and sins that we might be enslaved to, can be traced to that common origin – loving money instead of loving God.  But in reality, loving ANYTHING instead of, or more than, loving God is being double-minded and ineffectual in our prayer.  I know this from my own experience.

We see another problem in prayer life in James 4:2-8 (James seems to take prayer pretty seriously!).  James tells us that we don’t have because we don’t ask, OR in asking we don’t receive because we ask with ungodly, selfish motives.  James then goes into description of the double-minded man.   But he also gives us one of the most powerful instructions ever: “Submit therefore to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”  That doesn’t even need comment, does it?

In Psalm 130 we see an example of effective, fervent praying.  “Out of the depths I have cried…”  Isn’t that often the place we do our most effective praying?  The Psalm then acknowledges God’s preeminence, greatness and mercy.  Then we are to wait on the Lord.  Wait for His timing, wait for His answers, wait for Him to speak.  This is often my biggest struggle.  In the morning, I often feel rushed to mail my letter, but I don’t have time to wait for the answer.  In the evening, once I tell God my heart, I fall asleep waiting. Matthew 26:38-46, invited to watch with Christ, the disciples could not.

In Deuteronomy 8:3 God is instructing His people that they require more than bread, they need the words of God in order to live.  How do we receive God’s words?  We definitely have the Bible, and we all know that having the Bible is not enough, we must read, and we must read with understanding .  Acts 8:30-35 – notice that in understanding what he read, the Ethiopian understood, and was brought to, Christ.  The word of God also comes to us in prayer (confirmed in scripture) if we wait for it.  We know God’s Word is Christ, John 1:1, our High Priest, Hebrews 23-25, who makes intercession for us.  He pleads our case, even when we don’t know how to ask: He sees.  He knows.  He understands.  He intercedes – “I died for this soul.”

Finally, I was drawn to the account of Peter walking to Jesus on the water, and his simple, effective prayer.  Matthew:14 28-31  Peter first asks “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”  Then Peter waits for the Lord’s voice saying, “Come”.  Peter responds to that voice, and obeys it.  But his faith falters when he looks around at the rough seas, and then Peter’s wonderful prayer, “Lord, save me!”  Effectual and definitely fervent.

It’s a Jungle Out There!

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Today’s post is difficult for me.  I know the messages are to me, but the verses seem so heavy, as I work through them.  I feel myself brought low, then lifted up.  The bringing low seems to me to be very direct, and very obvious.  The lifting seems more obscure, less direct.  Since my intent here is to encourage my Christian brothers/sisters, not to condemn or burden them, I am struggling with this study.  I KNOW it is for me, and I am encouraged as I have worked through this.  I want everyone who reads this to be lifted and encouraged…but it just occurred to me:  I will put this in God’s hands, and ask His message to be conveyed.

Sunday morning, part of the pastor’s message hit me pretty hard.  Hebrews 12:5, 6  I know I am being chastened, and I know it is mostly for repeat offenses.  That’s what hit me.  Proverb 26:11  The pastor suggested that if we know we are repeating our sin, and do not feel a heaviness or a burden on our hearts, if things are going well, then we need to ask ourselves if we truly are His child.  Shame – knowing that I have repeated my offenses, and that God knows I have – Satan uses this shame to discourage me from going before God for restoration again.  Revelation 12:10

Just an aside – Christ, our Lord, the only sinless one, is fit to accuse any and all of us…yet he doesn’t.  He forgives us, and calls us to His loving embrace.  Satan, on the other hand, filled with evil of every kind, possessing within his being, in abundance, everything he hurls in accusation at any of us; Satan, on the other hand, never ceases to accuse.  Remember, when Satan accuses, he tries to tell us we aren’t worthy of God’s love, that we cannot be cleansed, that we are too dirty to come before God – when Satan accuses, he is accusing as the great hypocrite and the great liar.  When God chastises, He calls us to himself for restoration. He calls as the Great Redeemer, the Great Lover of our souls, as love itself.  The voice is different, the response in our hearts is different.  If we want to run to God, then it is His voice calling us.  If we want to hide from Him, it is Satan beguiling us.  John 6:66-68

Driving home after church, in a somber mood, I turned to a Christian radio station for encouragement.  Billy Graham was preaching the parable of the sower, and he tossed in this quote from Fred A. Allen, which was repeated several times in the “teasers” leading up to that point in his teaching: “Most of us spend the first six days of each week sowing wild oats; then we go to church on Sunday and pray for a crop failure.”  I felt convicted again.  Then, in my study later in the day, after reading a couple of chapters in Exodus, I opened my Bible randomly to…Luke 8:4-15.  As Bill Engvall says, “Here’s your sign”. 

John MacArthur in my study Bible references Isaiah 6:1-8 from the parable of the sower.  I hope you all understand why this passage lifted my heart.  I was deeply convicted by my pastor’s words, followed by Billy Graham, particularly the Fred Allen quote, reinforced by my Bible taking me to Luke 8, finally being led to Isaiah 6.  Isaiah 6 is not a pleasant chapter!  It does begin by praising the greatness and glory of the Lord, but it speaks mostly of destruction and catastrophes and desolation.  Jeremiah is confessing his sin – “woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips…”  But in the depths of Jeremiah’s despair, the angel comes to him with a burning coal from the altar (Calvary?).  He cleanses Jeremiah’s lips with the coal, and God speaks, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Jeremiah’s response, “Here am I, send me.”  Here I am, ruined, sinful man – but for the glory of God, send the forgiven, redeemed me.

After Jeremiah, my attention was drawn in succession to John 16:33 – These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you might have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.

James 5:16 – helping one another by confession, restoration and the prayers of righteous men.

And the great uplifter! John 15:15  We are no longer slaves to sin.  Bound to return again and again.  And Jesus, the Son of the Living God, calls us “friend”!  He saw us as slaves.  He knew our condition – but He brought us out of that and we are friends of God, and heirs with Christ!

For some reason, Ecclesiastes 8:12 shows up.  Is it because I see the sinful, wicked man prosper as I am chastised?  “…still I know that it will be well for those who fear God…” or Romans 8:28 “And we know that [a]God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

Then to 1 Corinthians 15:50-58  Death is swallowed up in victory!  Death, where is YOUR victory? Oh Death, where is your sting?  Triumphant words!  Then Paul says, the sting of death is sin.  Sin and death are conquered, swallowed up in victory!  Oh glorious day!  Oh glorious day!

Then finally, I’m sent out with Ephesians 6:10-18.  The armor of God, and the exhortation to pray always..

I hope you are encouraged, I pray that your spirit rallies to Christ’s call to fight!  There’s a war raging, my brothers.  Be watchful in the Spirit, be brave in Christ, be strong in the strength of Almighty God!

I Could Hear My Daddy’s Voice

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Last night I spent some time with my nephew, Dustin.  He is coaching his baseball team (the pitchers actually), Menlo College Oaks, in their conference tournament in Portland.  I took him for Vietnamese at one of my all-time favorite restaurants, Hanoi Kitchen on Glisan Street.  We both raved about the food, during and after the meal.

When I finally got home, I sat down to listen to Tennessee Ernie Ford sing How Great Thou Art through the link on my last post.  While listening, I noticed other familiar hymns.  When the first had finished, I selected “In The Garden“, and I wasn’t prepared for what happened.  At the opening chorus – “He walks with me and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own” – I heard my Daddy’s own voice singing, as he often did, those wonderful lyrics.  I cried.  I missed Daddy.  (We always called him “Daddy”, as he did his own father.)  I could see his face as he sang.  I could see him walking down the dirt road beside the almond orchard singing, as I followed behind, stepping in his footprints, stretching a little and matching the outward kick of his right toe. I heard his voice, I saw his face aglow as he sang…and I cried, and I missed my Daddy.

I spent my late night listening to several Tennessee Ernie Ford hymns that Daddy loved, and sang often though my childhood.

In memory of Daddy, Bernard James Bone, his love for God, and some of the hymns he sang to declare that love.

Precious Memories

Whispering Hope

What a Friend We Have in Jesus he actually sang the words of Jesus Only is Our Message, but to this tune.  The album cover shown on the video is from one of the albums we had at home.

The Old Rugged Cross

Just As I Am When I hear this, I think of the church convention at Grandpa’s farm in Gilroy, under the big tent on Friday and Saturday nights.

Blessed Assurance

Bringing in the Sheaves which, as a child, I sang as “ringing in the trees”.

When They Ring Them Golden Bells  I only heard him sing this song a few times, but he sang it with joy and a smile across his whole face.

Who at My Door is Standing, Rock of Ages, Softly Tenderly all three are on the same link.

Finally, there was the old hymn that I think Daddy loved to sing more than any other.  He would put a bounce in his step, a little extra out-kick with his right foot, and he would emphasize the word “power” with a thrust of his fist as he marched along to his drummer, his band, his singer and his God.  There’s Power in the Bood.