Glorified Through Death

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

Now my soul is troubled and What shall I say, save me from this hour? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.  Father glorify your name.

John 12:23, 27-28

I’m going to use Jesus as our example for engaging in this process of “denying self, take up your cross and follow me”.  Jesus endured His cross because He had a joy set before him.  I personally believe His joy was seeing the fruit “much fruit” that would come from the seed of his life sown through death.

‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.’   John 12:24.

Jesus went on to say that if we hold a greater love for our life in comparison to the love we hold for him it will actually cause us to lose our life.  It is only by keeping our love for him first and foremost that enables us to follow him in service and receive the Fathers honour.

‘If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honour him.’  John 12: 26

My personal place of stumbling, through these moments of dying to self, are always centred around me paying too much attention to what I perceive as my loss.  Yet, I think this is the process.  Our souls are troubled.  There must be a revealing of what lies in our hearts; the thing(s) we treasure above the following, serving, dying.  We examine the fear that would cause us to draw back.  We wrestle with spiritual forces that would assault the Fathers will. We enter the press until we stand submitted and joyfully obedient to move forward as we have conformed to His will.  We have committed all to the one who judges righteously and trusting Him we rise to glorify His Name.

Many of Jesus ‘followers’ left in mass when the greater commitment to intimacy (eat my flesh, drink my blood) was required.

The rich young ruler stumbled over his great riches and turned away.

Pharisees stumbled over their traditions.

And we won’t know where, or if, we will stumble until we are met with our hour.

What shall we say when it comes; “Father save me from this or help me walk through it?”  Our souls will be troubled.  Jesus, in an agony, prayed more earnestly as he sweat great drops of blood.  Hebrews points out “we have not yet resisted to the shedding of blood.”  Jesus’ prayer here from the gospel of Mark highlights his sorrow. Understanding the Father could change everything, yet willing to submit to the Fathers greater purpose, He arose.

The gate is narrow and the path is hard that leads to life.   

Like Jesus we must also hold the joy of knowing that much fruit, birthed from our willingness to embrace His grace, enduring and allowing the seeds of our lives to fall into the soil of His purpose and ultimately dying bring forth life unto His great glory.

Jesus sets before every disciple the narrow gate with a ‘hard way’ that leads to life and  only a few choose this path.

Helps word Study reveals ‘hard’  as #2346 thlíbō (the root of 2347 /thlípsis, reflecting an original "b"/bēta) – properly, rub together, constrict (compress), i.e. pressed together; (figuratively) oppressively afflict (distress), i.e. like when circumstances "rub us the wrong way" that make us feel confined (hemmed in); restricted to a "narrow" place. See 2347 (thlipsis).

Could Jesus’ statement, ‘many are called but few are chosen’ hinge on our choices?

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him..…… Philippians 2:5-9

Glorified through death.

The Fear of Death

The fear of death

“…and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

Hebrews 2:15 ESV

• NIV ~ “and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”

• NLT ~ “Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.”

HELPS WORD STUDY

Slavery:  Cognate: 1397 douleía (a feminine noun) – bondage, a brand of slavery (enslavement). See 1401 (doulos).

1401 doúlos (a masculine noun of uncertain derivation) – properly, someone who belongs to another; a bond-slave, without any ownership rights of their own. Ironically, 1401 /doúlos ("bond-slave") is used with the highest dignity in the NT – namely, of believers who willingly live under Christ's authority as His devoted followers.

Thayers Notes ~

ἔνοχος, ἔνοχον, equivalent to ὁ ἐνεχόμενος, one who is held in anything, so that he cannot escape; bound, under obligation, subject to, liable: with the genitive of the thing by which one is bound, δουλείας, Hebrews 2:15; used of one who is held by, possessed with, love and zeal for anything; ……. which makes me mindful of Jesus saying you can’t serve two masters!

We look at this verse and think of the physical aspect of death and while there is that, I do believe the great reality is the death processes we work out daily.  The invite to “deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Jesus”, is something we all must choose on every occasion our will is crossed with His.

This invite; to deny self, is the first of three steps ~ deny self; take up your cross and then follow Jesus.  We are to follow exactly as prescribed for wholeness. You can’t do three before one and two.   We find divine order set before us.  His way is narrow and there is a press to unload every thing that would hinder our entrance.

Hebrews 2:15 touches the problem we face in step one; the fear of dying that must be dealt with.  This fear of death touches so many areas of heart and mind, thoughts and feelings where the process of dying leaves one vulnerable and exposed; but without doing so, I cannot follow Jesus.  He, for the joy set before Him, endured all the shame, betrayal, rejection of man and friend as He yielded Himself to the Fathers greater purpose.  I’ve always been a tad bit disturbed by Isaiah 53:10 and thankful for the end of verse 11.  What Jesus chose to endure does benefit all of humanity.

Our death to self worked through in Jesus will always yields a greater benefit for the greater good - mine and others.

The process always begins with the willingness to acknowledge my fear and then and only then can I begin to allow and receive His perfect love to dispel my fears.

Hebrews tells us it is through this fear of death, that we are held in bondage, held in a position of slavery. My desire to ‘care’ for me is my greater love.  Revelation reminds us those who overcome did not love their life to the extent it prevented their obedience.

Please go back and note Thayer's comments;  “one who is held by, possessed with, love and zeal for anything;”

We face our true love every time we meet the crossroad of His will and mine. There is nothing about the process that enables us to escape pain free.  It sometimes seems to come with as much agony as we saw displayed by Jesus in the garden.  We must not only know, we must also believe, with the temptation, He provides a way of escape.

We are not left helpless or alone as we die to self.  We have help, grace and peace flowing to us from the Godhead.  The question is whether or not I will come to Him and receive what He has to give.

Again, it is only his perfect love that has the power to dispel this fear of death.  We can’t serve two masters. I die daily, that’s my choice and the road to abundant life.

We've Left Everything

Then Peter said to him, “We’ve given up everything to follow you. What will we get?”   

Mt 19:27  NLT

A very relatable sentiment, and one I’ve certainly felt and asked in forty-seven years of being a disciple.  We don’t necessarily come into salvation understanding the cost required to follow Jesus.  I know I didn’t.  I came full of expectations of what Jesus was going to do for me.  As I grew in the knowledge of His word, I began to see what was required.  Every further step demanded I increasingly adopted John’s truth of there being less of me and more of Him.  A process of dying to self in order to become a yielded vessel fit for His use.  The funny thing (not haha) about this process was that I was in absolute control of how long it took.  I understand the wilderness journey of one more time around Mount Sinai.  The longer I insist on keeping my interests in the centre of all my questions, the harder it is to hear what He is saying.

So Peter’s question, “What will we get” is met basically with Jesus saying, ‘nothing now.’

“Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.”

While we understand there are benefits to serving Him here and now, we don’t live and work for those.  We strive in our service for all things that have eternal value, laying up for ourselves treasure in heaven.

• We are to spend and be spent ~ 2 Corinthians. 12:15.

• We are to lend expecting nothing in return ~ Luke 6:35.

• We are to be the servants that have simply done our duty ~ Luke 17:10.

Through it all, we live with an understanding that a life of willing obedience does come with blessings both here and now but since eternity is, well forever, how much more shall we set our hearts on those rewards.

Jesus reminds us that the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things simply rob our attention and thus our devotion.  We end up serving another with our fear and cares. It is a day to continually be pruning any place we are tempted to love the things of this world that pull us away from the reality of the eternal rewards that come from leaving everything to follow Him.

If we who are [abiding] in Christ have hoped only in this life [and this is all there is], then we are of all people most miserable and to be pitied. If we live for only this life, we are of all men most miserable.  1 Corinthians. 15:19 Amplified 2015

What do you see?

You might be familiar with this old hymn we taught to children  “Be careful little eyes what you see, Be careful little ears what you hear …”.  It highlights that our Father up above is watching so be careful what you attend to.

We are familiar that Proverbs admonishes us to attend to the word of God.  King David wrote a Psalm saying he would not set any wicked thing before his eyes.  Jesus did say in Matthews gospel, if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.

The reality is that we see, what we look at and consider long enough, does give influence to our lives. So beyond the brief glance I am really focusing on the things we give ourselves liberty to continually look at.  Some things are better left unseen all together but like Paul wrote, we would then need to go out of the world.

Jesus, from his sermon on the mount in Matthews’ gospel chapter six tells us,

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, [*good, single, clear, sound] your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.“ Verses 21-22

With the analogy on the eye, Jesus from Matthew 6:19,  begins his teaching with the treasure of the heart. Treasure’s shaped by what our eyes see and our heart’s value.  Proverbs tells us the eye of man is never satisfied and thus we are to guard what we give our attention to.  Where our treasure is, there we find our heart.  James wrote the   lust of the eyes is a temptation in this world.  All that glitters is not gold.  Jesus reminded his church in Laodicea, though they said they were rich and had need of nothing, they were really wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked.  His counsel was to anoint their eyes so that they might see their true condition.

The eye is the entrance to this earthly temple.  We see, we think, we feel, we believe.  It’s a natural process God created.  What and how we see, ultimately moves through these God designed channels and drops into our hearts.  Then out of the abundance of our heart come the issues of life and the words that we sow unto life and or death; it all begins with what we were looking at.    

Never allow yourself to be deceived into thinking you do not have the ability to choose what you give your attention to. For the normal individual ‘I can’t help it’ is a deception. For the Christian it is a blinding lie.  Short of an extreme forced upon us, we all live with the  power of choice.

The story from Numbers 21 about the bronze serpent set on a pole for healing tells us that those who had a fixed stare lived.  It wasn’t enough to just run to the pole and glance at it but they had to intently look at it and consider.    We find the same condition  when Eve considered the fruit of the tree.  How long did she have to look at the fruit to change her mind about it being good, right to eat?

The ‘not to bad’ we allow in our lives do carry a power to change us.   

The cares of this world work to demand our attention.  We try to find a way of escape without actually coming to the one who can provide the confidence and rest we really seek.  We are invited to lift up our eyes, to behold the Lamb, to consider Jesus, and to come up higher.  All invites we are familiar with.  Ones we must heed.

Matthew wrote, ‘if our eye is healthy our whole body will be full of light’. It is the light that dispels darkness.  Jesus is the light that illuminates.

• The entrance of his word gives light.

• He sends his word and heals us and delivers us from all destruction.

• If our eye is bad the whole body will be full of darkness.

• If our eye is good our whole body will be full of light.

Let us consider those things that do not lead us into life. Let us consider the foxes that spoil the vine and choose to lay aside all that does not profit us nor build up His body.

Author and Finisher

I would like to continue this week with thoughts on God’s building program with a reminder from Hebrews 3:4, “every house is built by someone but the builder of all things is God.”

“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”  Phil. 1:6 NLT

“For it is God at work in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure, therefore do all things without murmuring and complaining so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world…” Philippians 2:13

Let us never lose sight of the fact that what God has authored, He will finish.  He holds the master plan of returning and setting up His glorious kingdom.  As simple vessels created for His use, we should be mindful that we are used as long as we are useful to Him, therefore, do all things without murmuring and complaining.  We do hold admonitions about being faithful stewards, stedfast and enduring.  Mindful of these, we do not cast away our confidence or allow weariness of heart and mind to settle in.

I think sometimes our mindsets towards a benevolent God, gracious, loving and kind, overlook the reality of a returning King who will judge all according to His standard of righteousness. His judgment will be upon all sin.  We do not want to be found living with any practice that God calls sin.  It will be a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God, especially if we have squandered our stewardship in this earthly realm, giving ourselves to the pleasures of this world.   

There is a press we all live in.  A press that draws us to Him, a press that pulls us away.  I suppose it’s the same press, just our response to it that either enables us to increase with the increase of God or creates such disappointment and discouragement we invariably draw back.  Hebrews reminds us we are not those who draw back unto perdition but those that endure to the saving of our souls.  We press on to the prize of the upward call in Christ.

We live mindful of duty and service to our King.  Each created vessel is fitted and equipped, perfectly prepared for the masters use.  We are set into what He has authored.  Fitted into the body of Christ, we are individual members, living stones, set as it pleases Him to work towards the finish.

As long as it is called today, He continues to work on His spiritual house providing for Him a dwelling place with man now, here on the earth.  His plan, His purposes shall be fulfilled.  We are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken.   

“For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, 'I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

2 Cor 6:16

The Father continues working and instructs his sons and daughters. I grow increasingly more grateful for the work He is doing these days, choosing to believe that what He has started He will finish.

The little suitcase

BY DAVID MCGREW

One day, decades ago, I heard a knock on the door.  It came so late it was unexpected but I got up and opened it out of curiosity.

It my astonishment, outside on my shabby and worn front porch, leading into the messy and thrown together living room common to the seventies and 20 year old’s barely making it through life, stood Jesus…seemingly oblivious to where He was or whom He was talking to; except that He seemed enormously happy to be there, with that one little suitcase in His hand.

Not knowing what to say, as He stood smiling, I eventually muttered “Please come in.”

So, with suitcase in hand, He walks on in, looking for all the world like He’s called ahead and is prepared to stay. No one was more surprised than I.  Not the least of which, over that one little suitcase. It seemed…out of place.

As we sit and make small talk, He opens the case and says “ I want you to look at this.”  It’s a Bible. It’s the only thing in it.

Probably unbeknownst to Him, I think, I’ve just coincidentally had some kind of spiritual experience that for some reason makes this idea unexpectedly attractive. So, I pick it up and for the first time in my life, the words pour off the pages like music notes and sing a harmony to my soul. It was like water to the desert of my heart. That was REALLY unexpected. (I think, I should do this regularly. I might even learn how to play a chord or two someday.)

Well, a day’s visit turns into a week’s stay. I think he’s staying on now cause He Reallllyyy seems to like Jeanne and is way more than passingly kind to our infant daughter. He seems to have made and is making Himself home.  I dont know what to think cause His appearance has changed everything and everyone in my life, but I know it’s good.  But I don’t know how long this can go on. I’m sure I need to be somewhere else…eventually.

In just a short matter of time though, He’s opened His case and taken out more books. He asks me to look at them and tell him what I think. Well, the bible was so good I say “sure”.  Again He’s proven right.  They were really good books and we had good talks. You would’ve hardly known He knew more than me but as gentle as He was, that did eventually come clear.

While I was busy reading, He said “I’ve got some other friends in town I’d like you to meet. Can they come over?” Of course I agreed but I couldn’t help notice how he seemed to be taking over. I caught him looking at my wall feature particle board on cinder block bookcase. When he knew he had my attention He said, “You mind throwing this away so I can have some room here?”  Well, I wasn’t too particularly attached to any of it- fact is, I wasn’t too particularly attached, though I wasn’t aware of it, to much of anything in those days,so I said again “sure”.  His friends came over. We went to their house. He seemed to actually know a lot more people than I had ever imagined.

He never did go home. Or, at least He never took His stuff and left. I don’t honestly know what He did. Every night, I went to bed He was still up. Every rising, He was there as if patiently waiting on me. I’vs no idea what He does when I’m not looking. I’ve often thought in these years, “ I wonder who He thinks I am, cause He’s certainly got to have better friends than me” -but to this day, regardless of when I awake or how I come out of that room, He’s sitting there looking at me with that same wide eyed expression of joy He met me on the porch with those decades ago. I’ve given up on the unreasonable fear that one day He’d see through me and say “Hey! I thought you were someone else. I’m leaving.”

Whew.  As I look around me now, I no longer recognise my home- I don’t say house as I’ve had many houses in many different locations since then, I say home intentionally. ( yes, in case you’re wondering, He did follow me from house to house…more than once, he even suggested and encouraged some of those moves. In truth, when I tried to slip off elsewhere assuming He might stay behind, when I got up the next day, He’d followed and found me wherever on the planet I had escaped to.  At times He’s been more committed to being my friend than I was His.)

My home now; as I look around, somewhere wall by wall, floor-space foot by foot, paint colour, paintings, pictures, maps, books and cases, furniture- the refrigerator (and what was in it) has all changed. But I don’t know how or when.

Seemingly, one thing at a time as I remember back, He’d look around and say “I need a little more room.”  Opening that same little suitcase, He’d say “Do you mind If we take that down so I can hang this in our house?, you don’t have to if you don’t want to of course.”

Sometimes I had to think about it a while. I was always worried about what my friends might say but after a while, His friends became my friends and my friends who didn’t like Him actually stopped liking me and quit coming around.

I don’t know how He got all that stuff out of that one little suitcase.  For that matter, I don’t know what He did with all the things we took down from the walls, out of the refrigerator or off of the bookcase. I didn’t do much with any of it after that.

As I sit and look around, my bookcase has become massive and massively filled with all sorts of books I had never known to have been printed. These days, He and I read a lot. We sit with a book, of some kind, on one of our laps and one reads aloud to the other. He makes comments, I ask questions. Well, sometimes I make comments but He usually just gets another book out to read an excerpt from.

I can’t really explain how I got here. I’m not even sure of where I’m at. I just know I like it a lot.

Looking back, I can’t imagine what my life would’ve been had I not invited Him and His little suitcase into that little house that was still learning to become a home. I can’t imagine ( beyond where all that stuff came from!) what would’ve become of me, and my home, had I said ‘No- you’re taking over. Can you just put that back. I like my own stuff.’

What I especially marvel at is how He knew just what and when to ask me to replace.  The extraordinary patience He exercised to wait and see for myself that I really did like His things better.

And all out of that little, and rather worn,  suitcase.

Building

Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way. When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin his heart rages against the Lord.

Proverbs 19:2-3

I’ve been thinking about building lately and specifically building His Church .   Psalm 127.1 reminds us that building is a vain work unless the Lord constructs.  We know Jesus is the one who is building his church and all the examples we are given throughout the Old Testament show us God’s involvement in the things He has destined to build and establish. We have the example of Noah and the ark, Moses and the tabernacle, David and the building plans for temple. God is the Master Builder.  We work for him.  Each OT story shows us the instructions and the preparations that came with the building process.

Within the developing new work God established

through the death and resurrection of his son, Jesus Christ; we see and discover something that has never existed before, “we’ve not gone this way before.”  This great work of building His church was initially committed to the oversight of twelve men, discipled and trained by the Lord himself.  Jesus ascended but did not leave them alone.  The Helper has come and empowered them.  He now brings to remembrance all things Jesus has said.  He is the Spirit of truth who promises to guide them into all the truth.  He will show them things to come so they are prepared.  This helper is the revealer of the heart and mind of God who continues to teach them.  Their dependency upon this Helper was absolutely vital to the building of His church and has set precedence and pattern for the continued building process so that the gates of hell will not prevail against.   They will attack but shall never prevail because He has decreed it so.

Thus we have our admonition from the book of Proverbs.

Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin his heart rages against the Lord.  Proverbs 19:2-3

Hasty actions with no knowledge brings ruin and we are…..mad, offended, disappointment,  casting off, quitting….you pick, but the condition of a raging heart can only be resolved through repentance.  We know from the book of Nehemiah when mens hearts fail them they cast off the work given.  Lack of knowledge, wrong knowledge, opens all of us to potential disappointments.  Please note the verse in proverbs hinges, not on hasty work, but hasty work that holds no knowledge.

How many ‘good ideas’ have we put our hands to, without taking the time to determine His activity in them. The Tower of Babel is a good example.  We are to move “with” him. Called to be “with” him, “sent” by him and we find faith begins where the will of God is known.  Every word He decrees is filled with potency to produce.

  Once we hear, we have the wisdom of God.  We hold knowledge and understanding as we add our yes and amen to His instructions.  Step by step, faith to faith, we walk this process of building with Him and with His Helper….. and no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for His Kingdom.

The faithful witness

“The faithful witness”

Revelation 1:5

Helps Word Studies ~  Faithful (4103/pistós) describes the Lord Himself (1 Cor 10:13; 2 Cor 1:18; 2 Thes 3:3; 1 Pet 4:19; Rev 1:5) as well as the believer remaining full of (and obedient to) faith.  Heb 11:11: "By faith (4102/pístis), also Sarah herself . . . since she deemed (the Lord) faithful (4103/pistós) . . . ".

Jesus is described as a faithful son over his Fathers house from Hebrews 3:6…

Now Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be spoken later. (6) But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house.

He is described as Faithful and true from Rev.19:11 and this very nature has been imparted to us.  We are partakers of this divine nature and with this truth we find faithfulness a fruit of the Spirit.  So, unfaithfulness would be our unwillingness to commit our lives to His service.

Matthews gospel reminds us the faithful and wise servant is the one whom his master has set over his household to give food at the proper time. Blessed is that servant who his master will find so doing when he comes.  Truly I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.

Remaining stedfast and enduring hardness while facing tribulation are dynamics that  can create opportunities to cast away our confidence or become complacent in our service to the Father.     

Paul's admonition to us to run our race requires a forgetting of those things that lie behind and a pressing on for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

When Jesus asks the question about the son of man finding faith on the earth when he returns, he means that he will be looking for those who have remained faithful in their commitment and obedient service to the end. We don’t want to just “endure to the end’’.  We want to endure while we press. That’s the faith he’s talking about.

Our English word ‘faithful’ is described as remaining loyal and steadfast.  Proverbs 20:6 tells us many will proclaim their own loyalty, but can you really find a faithful man?

The ability to commit ourselves to a faithful God is difficult for us when we assign our own imperfect level of faithfulness to God.  We might mentally assent to God being faithful but I guess we know we believe if we don’t keep trying to solve our own problems and control every event of our lives by trusting in ourselves or others.  What we have committed to Him, we have yielded our right to order and construct.  We live from hearing and obeying. Understanding is nice to have but not necessary for obedience.  Faithfulness is seen through continued obedience

There are many plans in the heart of a man but it’s the purpose of the Lord that prevails.

Proverbs 19:21

Just as Jesus continued entrusting himself to the one who judges justly, we are exhorted in Peters Epistle to entrust our souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

Please remember faithfulness, as a Christian, is not a lack of ability, it is rather a lack of willingness to commit ourselves and our purposes to him.  So, todays question ~ Am I a faithful child over my Fathers House?

That's hard to hear

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying: who can listen to it?” 

John 6:60

HELPS Word-studies on the words ‘hard’ and ‘listen’ ~

skléros: hard, rough, violent, harsh, stern.

4642 sklērós – properly, hard (because dried out); (figuratively) stiff, stubborn (unyielding) describing people who "won't budge" (bend, submit), or what is unyieldingly harsh.

akouó: to hear, listen; comprehend by hearing;

191 akoúō – properly, to hear (listen); (figuratively) to hear God's voice (akoúō) is the root of the English term, "acoustics."]

Ultimately the Father’s goal is to grow us up into Christ in all things, all ways, all areas, mind, body and spirit.  Since he is always at work in us to will and obey his purposes, this activity will be an ongoing and eternal working.  What I won’t hear and receive now, I will hear and receive ‘there’ (eternity).  We are to increase with the increase of God and grow from glory to glory.  With every season and age holding, not only the potential, but the grace to increase with the measure given to each of us for our times.

So, what is it that Jesus is saying to us that we are finding hard to hear? I think in most cases it would be ultimately rooted in some kind of fear.  Fear is a driving force and most of ours are built from a sense of self preservation.  We build things in our lives based off of the negative experiences we’ve suffered with a false believe that these will protect us, AND they do.  Unfortunately, what they protect us from is this growth process that is ordained for us in God.

It isn’t until we come into this understanding and acceptance of ‘perfect love’ that fear can be driven out from it’s stronghold.  Jesus works at all times, in all ways, through all resources to bring us into this place of perfect liberty.

For where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.  It’s a human dynamic we all want freedom, but we want it on our terms.

Jesus is freedom, but we have to accept him and it on his terms.  It’s the hearing, receiving, and obeying the hard things he says that produce growth in us.

The Apostle Paul, meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus, Acts 9:5; 26:14, learns “it is hard for you to kick against the goads”. Where we meet the opposition in our lives, it is necessary to know that we can never fight against God and win.  Submission is the key to victory.  God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.  Sometimes I wonder how many of us have our own “Balaam’s ass” moments.  What are we harming through our own stubbornness before coming to a place of receptivity with repentance and obedience.

The scary part of John 6 to me personally is how the Lord allows each of us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.  He does not change the word he proclaims to make it ‘easy’ for us to hear it, but rather acknowledges our right to choose.

This whole scenario occurred with his ‘disciples’ so, we all have issues to deal with.

He Sends Out His Word

He sends out his word…

Psalm 147: 18

I think the majority of you ‘Good Word’ readers have a heart that treasures the word of God understanding the value and place it holds in our lives but today I want to add a further thought I had as I meditated on Psalm 147:18-20.

In context verses 18-20 read:

He sent out his word, and melts them, he makes his wind blow and the waters flow. He declares his word to Jacob, his statues and rules to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his rules.  Praise the Lord!

I’m impacted today with not only the need, but desire as well, to allow this truth to deeply saturate my soul. It speaks to me of the overwhelming love and care God has displayed through the covenant He made with his people. He has not dealt thus with any other nation.  They do not know his rules.  I will be their God and they will be my people.  Almighty God, faithful to the words He has decreed, has blessed his chosen people with the favour of the words He has and does send out.    

He sent his word as a two edged sword.  It is the word decreed and the word made flesh. It’s the seed sown, watered, nourished in good soil that brings forth fruit unto life. cp. Mark 4:14  Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12.

His declarations provide life to all who receive and believe them. His words established boundaries to keep them safe, healthy, and provisioned. Many would say they are the boundaries that prevent them from enjoying life, but that would only be those who are lovers of darkness and sin.

He declared his word to Jacob, his statues and rules to Israel.  He has not dealt thus with any other nation, they do not know his rules.  Praise the Lord!

The favour that has come upon His chosen ones through the words He has spoken becomes the life line for all.  No man is limited from receiving these words, except by his own dis.belief.

From the Old Testament into the New, we find abundant life contained in the power of these words.  Abundant life, held within a structure that establishes boundaries for us.

The Old Testament shows a history of Kings, priests, prophets, and people, who having removed themselves from the instruction that His sent word brought, suffered the consequences of their dis.belief and dis.obedience.

The history of Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, from 2 Chronicles 17:7-10 shows us the value he placed upon God’s ordinances.  He took officials, certain Levites and two priests and sent them throughout all the cities of Judah teaching them the law of the Lord and the fear of the lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah.

It wasn’t until they returned to the sent words that life improved for them.  This reminds me of the prodigal son.  History, especially bible history, is simply a story for each of us to glean from.  The trials and errors of others are to teach us the good way to walk.  A wise man will learn from others.

How can a young man cleanse his ways, by taking heed to your word.

Psalm 119: 9

  We see this in David’s confession of his sins regarding Uriah and Bathsheba.

“ Against you and you alone have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” Psalm 51:4

He sent His word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction, has been, will always be the heart of God to those who will receive it. He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the precious gift of His son as we hold the value of the word He has sent.

The Power of Restraint

This weeks conversation ~ The power of restraint, OR developing the character of meekness: power under restraint.

Helps Word Studies defines the Greek word 4239/praüs ; meek, as ~

Being meek, in Scripture, is not being weak.  Rather it refers to exercising God's strength under His control – i.e. describing power used without undue harshness.

[The English term "meek" often lacks this blend of gentleness (reserve) and strength.]

1. ("gentle while strong") describes the blend of: insisting only on what is necessary (in God's eyes), and all that is necessary. This divinely-produced balance reveals "active submission" by the believer who responds to people, God's way.

I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.  John 8:26

From Jesus’ own testimony we learn in Matthew’s gospel he is ‘meek and humble in heart’.  His invite is to come and learn from him His quality of meekness and humility.  Our scripture today gives us a glimpse into the discipline Jesus exercised over his own will and speech.  If there was ever a moment we would yield to - it would be when we felt the need to defend and justify ourselves, yet Jesus shows us here power under restraint.

From the Epistle of James we are reminded, “…if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.”  From Hebrews we find Jesus “learned obedience by the things he suffered”.

How do you learn to say ONLY what you are hearing from your Father?  I think it starts by developing the ability to be slow to speak.  My own opinions, unchallenged, leave opportunity for me to ultimately express them.  Solomon’s wisdom stands us in good stead here -

‘In the multitude of words, sin is not lacking but he who restrains his lips is wise’,

Proverbs 10:19.

The psalmist cried ‘put a guard over my mouth, keep watch over the door of my lips!’  Ps. 141:3.

The flip side of slow to speak is quick to hear.  Where I am unwilling to hear what he wants to say, I am unable to join with Him in His righteousness and justice.

From John chapter 8 we learn that Jesus had much to say and much to judge but the time was not in the moment he then stood.  Take time to examine John 5:30 where Jesus displays the standard for righteous judgment. Rees Howell’s comment. “only the impartial can know the will God” has served to remind me of the many times I am personally guilty of holding opinions, and in some capacity, self-serving judgments.

The will to hear and obey; for true submission is only seen through the act of obedience,  yields the fruit of righteousness where we are able to join with Jesus in only hearing and saying what we have heard the Father say - EVEN when we have many things to say and judge. This is the power of restraint and the quality of meekness,

The church.4

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Matthew 4:17 ESV

John the Baptist prepared the way of the Lord, Jesus continued with the same message and showed us the way into Family.  His death and resurrection has secured this eternal place for His body, the church, now left here to carry on His ministry and His message for the ultimate purposes of making disciples of Christ. 

This message begins with repentance. A very neglected word revolving around another neglected word ~ sin. Both leading to uncomfortable conversations within the construct of church, yet absolutely necessary to provide the ongoing transformation into the state of “holy and without blemish.”   

Every child of God enters salvation through repentance.  Repentance only occurs with the acknowledgement of sin.  

Lets define sin, from the Greek hamartia (ἁμαρτία, 266) is, lit., “a missing of the mark,” but this etymological meaning is largely lost sight of in the NT. It is the most comprehensive term for moral obliquity. It is used of “sin” as (a) a principle or source of action, or an inward element producing acts

 (Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). In Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Vol. 2, p. 576). T. Nelson.)

And from Helps Word Study ~ hamartía (a feminine noun derived from 1/A "not" and 3313/méros, "a part, share of") – properly, no-share ("no part of"); loss (forfeiture) from not hitting the target; sin (missing the mark). 

Now the Greek word for repentance ~ metanoeo~ lit., “to perceive afterwards” (meta, “after,” implying “change,” noeo, “to perceive”; nous, “the mind, the seat of moral reflection”), in contrast to pronoeo, “to perceive beforehand,” hence signifies “to change one’s mind or purpose,” always, in the NT, involving a change for the better, an amendment, and always, except in Luke 17:3, 4, of “repentance” from sin. 

 (Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). In Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Vol. 2, p. 525). T. Nelson.)

Helps word Study notes metanoeo focuses on the change of behaviour after a change of thinking.  3340 (metanoeō) brings "about face" in behaviour 

John the Baptists message demanded ‘fruit meet for repentance’ and herein lies the absolute need for discipleship.  

…Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you… Mathew 28:18. 

How does one know, without being taught?  Instruction comes in two forms - words and demonstration, precept and example.  The apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians, those things that you have learned and received, heard and seen in me, do. Phil.4:9.  His constant exhortation to the churches was to ‘be followers of me’ even as I am of Christ, 1 Cor. 1:11. 

My personal belief is that a saving message carries with it the commitment of discipleship.  Jesus called forth his twelve to be with him and they followed Him, learned from Him and were given opportunity to do what He did, always with encouragement, instruction and correction. This is discipleship, growing up into Him in all things.  

While we live in a culture that values independence and privacy, we find the the church in Acts a different and very intimate community.  Living closely enough to know the true condition of a neighbour’s soul; like family.  The concept of extended family is the simplest and perhaps greatest expression of community; an intimate sharing of lives.  

This message, ministry and method within His true church has not changed. We have been left with this Great Commission and been empowered to do all that He has assigned for His body to accomplish.

We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work.  John 9:4

There is so much left unsaid in these good words regarding the church, but I trust they have been sufficient to cause us all to stop and examine mindsets and practices and align ourselves with His heart and mind. 

May His grace and peace be upon us all as we continue to faithfully work with Him as He builds His house for His glory.

The Church.3

So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.  21. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

Ephesians 2:19-22 NLT

These verses give us a very clear idea of who we are as ‘the church’. Remember the ekklesia are those ‘called out from and called into’. I stress this because once called out  we can never allow ourselves to look back. We are no longer of this world. ‘No one having put their hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the Kingdom for the Kingdom of God’.  It was a snare to the children in the wilderness to hold a longing for the things left behind.

These verses from Ephesians emphasize a membership in God’s family, which has been carefully joined together in him.  This family has become a holy temple where God lives by his Spirit, declaring that we too, are a holy people.

From Helps Word Studies we learn this Greek word for holy is…

[40 (hagios) implies something "set apart" and therefore "different (distinguished/distinct)" – i.e. "other," because special to the Lord.]

Holy describes to us what the ekklesia is ~ those ‘called out from and into’ have now been ‘set apart for’.

We have been ransomed and redeemed by Father with the price of His son’s life.  We have been set apart, different, distinct, special and now we are no longer our own.

1 Cor. 6:19 …do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?  You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.  So glorify God in your bodies.

Our entrance into this family, this community, came by invite from the Father.  Once we accept, we find were called unto His full sonship.  Once received, it is recognized sonship comes with discipline, learning to yield our will, submitting to the Father of spirits.  Jesus learned obedience through the things he suffered and we learn the same way.  Discipline doesn’t seem pleasant at the time it is administered but when submitted to, yields righteousness.  These things are to be freely and willingly embraced.   

 “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Matthew 16:24

Every disciple chooses to follow.  It is the first requirement of becoming a part of the ekklesia. Calling upon His name indicated a surrender of our rights to self.  We didn’t abdicate our will, we submitted it to the Father of Spirits for life.  He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.  Discipline trains us unto the peaceful fruit of righteousness, Hebrews 12. 7-1, thereby enabling us to express to the nations what is right in the heart and mind of God.

We ‘know’ this but we need to actually show it, for this world holds great criticism against ‘the church’. We are called a peculiar people; a chosen generation to show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness and into His marvellous light.

Citizens along with all of God’s holy people, we are now members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord and through him we are being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

May we live in the grace He pours our enabling us to live holy.

The Church. 2

I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

1 Timothy 3:14-15 ESV

• KJV :…the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

• NASB:…the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

• NIV:..the household of God. This is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and foundation of the truth.

The church of the LIVING GOD is a household, a family, a community of people.  Again,

ekklēsía(from 1537 /ek, "out from and to" and 2564 /kaléō, "to call") – properly, people called out from the world and to God.  Every family in heaven and on earth derives its name and nature from God  according to Ephesians 3, Hudsons Translation.

This ekklesia is the household of God and is the pillar and buttress of the truth.

A pillar is defined as something used as a support.  The word buttress (ESV)  is defined as something that increases the strength of or justification for; reinforce.

With this we can begin to understand our role within the ekklesia.  We support and reinforce by our very lives, words and actions the character and nature of the living God.  The privilege of being chosen and invited into this family now carries with it a responsibility to express not ourselves but Him, his thoughts, his ways, his truth.

I would like to consider, from Bishop Elliott’s commentary, the following thoughts ~

First, In the house of God.—The image is from the Old Testament, where “the house of God” denotes, in the first place, the Temple of Jerusalem, and, in the second, the covenant-people. It is here used (in our verse today) for the congregation of believers among whom God dwells—the true and enduring Church of living souls.

Next, The pillar and ground of the truth.—The imagery is here changed, and the “house of God” which the Apostle had just defined to be the Church, or congregation, belonging to the living God, and in the midst of which He was pleased to dwell, is now defined to be “the pillar and ground” (or, basis) “of the truth.”

In the first picture, the Church is painted by St. Paul as a vast congregation, with the living God dwelling in its midst: in the second, the same Church is painted as a massive pillar, holding up and displaying before men and angels the truth—the saving truth of the gospel.  (Ellicott).

The Jamieson, Fausett, Brown Bible Commentary adds this thought ~

It is no objection that, having called the Church before "the house of God," he now calls it the "pillar"; for the literal word "Church" immediately precedes the new metaphors: so the Church, or congregation of believers, which before was regarded as the habitation of God, is now, from a different point of view, regarded as the pillar upholding the truth.

The summation of these thoughts would be, we as His household, now steward His truth.  This is not subjective.  A subjective truth is a truth based off of a person's perspective, feelings, or opinions. His household supports and reinforces His truth.

• The psalmist wrote ~ Forever O Lord you word is settled in heaven, 119:89.

• From John 17:17 Jesus prays for us to be sanctified in truth, declaring ‘God’s word is truth’.

As those who are a part of His household we have been commissioned by God to carry out His purposes here on this earth.  We are the pillars and the supporters of His truth.  We are to be his workers here on the earth able to correctly handle the word of truth.  We are to be lovers of truth and grow in the knowledge of His truth.  We are to proclaim the gospel of truth so others will know the truth, so that the truth they will know, will set them free.

His church ~ a pillar and buttress of the truth.

The Church

And he (God) put all things under his (Jesus) feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Ephesians 1:22

“The church” is not the building we attend on Sunday mornings BUT RATHER an -

1577 ekklēsía(from 1537 /ek, "out from and to" and 2564 /kaléō, "to call") – properly, people called out from the world and to God, the outcome being the Church (the mystical body of Christ) – i.e. the universal (total) body of believers whom God calls out from the world and into His eternal kingdom.

[The English word "church" comes from the Greek word kyriakos, "belonging to the Lord" (kyrios). 1577 /ekklēsía ("church") is the root of the terms "ecclesiology" and “ecclesiastical."]

HELPS WORD STUDY DICTIONARY

The first  New Testament reference to this Greek word, ekklesia, is found in the words of Jesus from Matthew 16:18, where, following Peter’s revelation, Jesus says he will build ‘my church’ and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

I believe if we hold a right biblical mindset about what ‘his church’ actually is, we would align our expectations with what is required of us as His body corporate and members individually. Throughout the coming weeks, I would like to examine with you some biblical realities of His church so we could, knowing and believing, become something greater than mere men and women.

This week, let us simply note the Greek word for church again -

ekklēsía(from 1537 /ek, "out from and to" and 2564 /kaléō, "to call") – properly, people called out from the world and to God.

From Colossians 1:13 we actually see the reality of ‘out from and into’

He has delivered us from darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son….

From Colossians chapter one we learn all things were created through him and for him, (speaking of Jesus).  He is before all things and in him all things are held together.  He is the head of the body, the church and his creative and redemptive work has given him the right to be preeminent in everything.

Jesus is the head of his body, the church, and we become the ekklesia as members individually of his body, called out from the world and into His kingdom.

We did not choose him, but he chose us; Ephesians 1:4, John 15:16, and our decision to acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour gave us entrance into His family. Under his leadership and direction, Jesus begins building his church.

We are the living stones Peter writes about in 1 PETER 2: that are being built into a spiritual house.  We have become the temple of the living God who desires to live in and among us, expressing His life and nature into the world through us. Just as Jesus physical body was the express image of God as he walked on the earth, ‘the church’ now has this role and responsibility.

Romans 12:1 reminds us therefore, to present ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and and acceptable to God which is our reasonable service or true spiritual worship.

Being born again is the first step we take ‘out from’ and ‘into” Him.  The next steps begin a lifetime of becoming sons and daughters conformed to His image and growing up into Him in all things.

Next week -

I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

1 Timothy 3:14

IF ANYONE HAS EARS TO HEAR…..

“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Mark 4:23

The stumbling times of prayer in my life have come when I’ve heard the Holy Spirit, ever so quietly, endeavouring to lead me places I don’t want to go.

• John 16:12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

I am convinced once we do hear, His grace comes with His instructions enabling us to do.  The thing required from us is believing and obeying. Thats why Hebrews 3:7 warns us, “…as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts…”

He will not speak and instruct us in things we are not able to bear but when he does speak there is a truth he wants us to know that will prepare us in some way for the purposes of God.

I suppose the real question for us would be, are we willing to hear the truth.  The apostle Paul’s life by his own admission was filled with hardships, persecutions, trials and through them all Gods answer was “ my grace is sufficient”.

• John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, …. And he will show you things to come.

Jesus’ ministry began with being led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Matthew 4:1.  Jesus knew when his time was up.  Jesus knew how he would suffer and die.  Jesus ‘set his face’ to Jerusalem and did not turn aside from his willing obedience to serve the Fathers purpose.

In the same way, the Holy Spirit directed Paul’s life, declaring things that were to come.  Paul’s ministry began with God showing him the things he must suffer for his name sake.

• Act 20:22-24 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

• Act 21:10-13While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “ Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, ‘What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.’ ”

I guess my real thought today is, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, will lead us, guide us and reveal to us all things necessary for life and godliness IF we are prepared to hear even the hard unpleasant realities we may be destined to face.  So, this place of prayer must always include a hunger for hearing the truth, a willingness to hear things you don’t understand and perhaps don’t even align with your personal theology.

• John 8:32 And you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free

Sometimes the greatest freedom I need is the freedom from fear.  Fear of the unknown, fear of loosing control, but knowing the truth comes with freedom in it because with the truth and in the truth is the reality of Jesus.

Labouring

Epaphras who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salutes you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

Colossians 4:12

There are many things we think another should be, or do, but safe and effective prayers are aligned closely to ones already spoken/written for us in scripture.   It is always right to believe for others to conform to the image of Christ, to grow up into Him in all things.

Our problem comes in with our perceptions held by seeing with the natural eye.  Without bringing these first before the Father for right judgments we are again presumptuous in our prayers, assuming what we ‘see’ is what needs to be prayed.  While external displays are indicators of internal workings, we can still misjudge what God is touching in someones heart.

We can’t lean into prayer when there is no grace.  So again, right praying; effective prayers, begin with our alignment with His will.  We are going with Him into His work.

Epaphras labours: (75 agōnízomai (from 73/agōn, "conflict/struggle," the root of the English term, "agonize") – properly, to struggle, like when engaged in an intense athletic contest or warfare (Souter). Epaphras labours in prayer.

Many times our labours are ‘counsel’ rather than prayers.  Early in our pastoral ministry, David and I spent more time counselling people through their circumstances than praying them through. We ended up carrying burdens that were beyond the grace to carry. While we gave sound counsel, it wasn’t always received or implemented.

Only God can work these things in and through us and that simply requires prayer. Is any afflicted? Let them pray.  Sometimes our brothers greatest need is for help labouring in prayer.  Often, what we want is not what we actually need.

Nothing changes until there is a receptive and willing heart and that simply takes time before the Lord to break up our fallow ground.  Meanwhile our job for one another is to labour until the hearts are receptive so the Lord can sow righteousness into them.  Labour for open ears that are dull of hearing.  Labour for eyes to see where they have been blinded by the God of this world.  Lies and deceptions and strongholds can only be broken through revelation. Again, so much of our labouring is to help people come to a place of receiving the word God is doing their lives.

God is long-suffering, not willing for any to perish!   As we join with Him in our labours we do not become weary in well doing.  His yoke is easy and His burden is light.  As we learn of Him, his ways, we enter into a rest of soul while we labour; understanding God is the one doing His work, using our abounding labours and thankful prayers.

Thankful Prayer

“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”

Colossians 4:14

I would suppose all faith filled prayer holds a note of thankfulness.

Knowing Him, whom you are bringing the request before, brings a thankfulness for His  goodness, mercy and love.

Being confident about His words and ‘your ask’ gives assurance and joyful expectation of fulfillment.

If we begin with His “Yes and Amen” we can be confident about the end.  Our job then becomes to continue watchfully over our prayer.  A double mind man is unstable in all his ways. Being watchful in it, with thanksgiving, constantly holds check over our hearts state.  Is there evil unbelief lurking? Are there weeds that need pulling, rocks needing removal?

Where there is no thanksgiving there can be no believing.

Thanksgiving is simply acknowledging that God is at work to will and do His good pleasure.  He is working all things together for His good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

Thankfulness is the appropriate response of believing.

The Apostle Paul seems to have a theology regarding thankfulness.  We are hard pressed to find it absent in his letters.  His thankfulness to the Father for those he watches over is paramount in his prayers.

Our discipling around prayer had taught us to pray His word.  From Old Testament to New there is someone’s prayer written covering every known condition that could be met this side of heaven.  When we found ourselves in a place of not knowing — ‘We don’t know what to do but our eyes are on you' (Jehoshaphat from 2 Chronicles 20).  We were taught to lean into the Holy Spirit who knew the perfect will of the Father.  These two dynamics have stood our test of time these forty plus years of ministry.

‘We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you….…’

Paul’s places of thankfulness were around his disciple’s growth, their increasing love for one another and their faithfulness to Christ in the midst of sufferings. This moved Paul to continuing in prayer on their behalf, often labouring until Christ was formed within them.

“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Col 1:9-14

Like Paul, our desire is for Christ Jesus to be received as Lord.  Our walk being rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith, as we are taught, always abounding in thanksgiving.

With this place of watchful, consistently thankful prayer, I am confident we are able to continue stedfast in prayer, never losing heart!

Presumptuous Praying

We know not how to pray as we ought ~

The last few Good Words written about prayer have been with the hope it has confirmed or enlarged our understanding about communing with the Father.

Concerning prayer, let us remember He isn’t looking for perfection, rather simple engagement.  He’s quite comfortable with hearts desiring and engaging while learning and growing.

Prayer is not a formula.  Prayer is not a six step principal you tick off to make sure you’re getting what you want.  Prayer is the intimate communion we’ve been invited into with Almighty God as our heavenly Father.  We approach with reverence and awe, yet we hold this child like wonder of knowing the very special relationship we have with Him as Abba Father.   

This week I want to write about presumption being a danger to effective prayer.

Psalm 19:13. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous [sins]; let them not have dominion over me, then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.  KJV

From Strongs Concordance on ‘presumptuous’ ~ Zed: H2086 - proud, arrogant, insolent, presumptuous, over-confident; Presumption (behaviour) audacious or arrogant behaviour to which one does not have a right.

From vocabulary.com we read; ‘The noun presumption pretty much means jumping to conclusions. It is taking something for granted — an idea, an answer, an event — without having any real knowledge about it, and that is usually not a good thing.

Making a presumption means assuming something is true or false without getting all the information necessary for verification. You can decipher this from the prefix pre, which means "before," together with the sume — from the Latin sumere, "to take." Because so many times a presumption turns out to be false, the word has a negative connotation to it; there's something reckless about making up your mind before you know all the facts.’

It’s a wise believer who doesn’t assume before he seeks.  Jesus invites us to ask, knock, and seek with the promise that we would find and receive, Matthew 7:7-8.  While we know all authority has been granted to us, it is still His authority.  We are invited to rule as He is ruling. We are invited to decree what He is decreeing.  Jesus with his disciples in the midst of a storm, rebuking wind and waves, does not do this presumptuously, but rather from the place of intimacy already birthed with His Father; knowing what to say and how to act.

The phrase given to us; ‘in the name of Jesus’ was never intended to be a blanket approval for our every thought and whim but rather a statement that decrees I am here in His place, doing AND saying EXACTLY what he is.  I’m actually declaring the knowledge I have about His purpose and His will in this moment.   Can we do that with confidence? We have many scriptural precedents we can copy but are they right for that moment?  We hold knowledge of many promises from the word, but are they the creative word of God for those situations?  Are we quick to lean into agreement with others asks without taking the time to understand first the ‘ask’ and then bringing that to the Father for His input and direction?  Presumption is not something we want attached to our prayer life.     

We want to be found ‘in Christ’ declaring with Him: “The words I say to you, I do not speak from my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does His works.”  Then, like Jesus, we know when our prayers are released they come with the creative working of God.

Lord, teach us to be effective in our prayers.

Prayer at Work

“An upright man’s prayer when it keeps at work, is very powerful.”

James 5:16 Charles B. Williams translation

My thought’s here on effectual prayer began with something my husband David had written; “You won’t/don’t have any grace to lead someone you won’t pray for.”  He went on to say,  “At best, without prayer, you could only lead them into being a little different version of yourself. And that usually has a lot of conflict along the way. You cannot, without prayer FOR them, lead them into the objective growth, found only in Christ. And….you won’t pray for someone you don’t love.  You may pray ABOUT them but that position of prayer is already tainted with your judgments and disappointments regarding their life and spirituality.  Leading Christians into growth requires the leader to love those being discipled, with the love and mind of Christ himself, to move either one of the players past their mutual sticking spot.” DW McGrew

This kind of love and heart requires us to be absolutely free of all opinions and judgments that would hinder.  I’m mindful of Jesus saying from John 5:30, I can do nothing on my own.  As I hear, I judge and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

Rees Howell remarked on John 5:30 this way, “Only the impartial can know the will of God.”

Our position of quiet submission before Him, allows Him to lead, instruct and write upon our hearts.  What flows from His will is effectual and dynamic in its work. Our prayers for others to be effectual must have His thoughts on all matters.   

Isaiah prophesied about Jesus holding the Spirit without measure, as we find written in chapter eleven, verse three, “…His delight is in the fear of the Lord.”  From this place, “He does not judge by what His eyes see or decide disputes by what His ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge…”.

Did you notice William’s translation uses the phrase “keep at work” in our chosen verse? For our prayers to be fervent and effectual we must keep working at prayer.  It’s not that we keep asking God for the same things over and over but rather that we our purposeful about remaining united with Him in our prayerful oversight.  His words are creative. As we join with Him in speaking His desire, we join with Him in creation.  He watches over His word to perform it.

I suppose our weariness and temptation to give up is in being moved over what we see and hear; i.e., nothing changing, getting worse, etc.  BUT, we are to fix our eyes on what is not seen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  2 Cor. 4:18. Paul went on to say, now we are to know no man after the flesh. 2 Cor. 5:16.  NLT reads ~ So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view.

Jesus help us!   God carries eternities view of his workmanship, so then to pray effectively for one another, we must hold His perspective. I can’t ‘know’ without becoming one with him at the very beginning of my supplications for others.  Again, ‘I can do nothing on my own’ is the position of humility and submission required for ongoing, effective prayers.