Monday, March 31, 2014

Getting a Grip 01 In Him

Getting a Grip 01 In Him

Psalm 44:6 ESV
For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me.


As I read this verse this morning I was struck by how often I do trust in my bow and/or my sword.  It's a really bad habit for me and is a constant issue in my prayers.  I think I can - and that I can without His help.

It's like I want to show Him how I can do things without Him.  A lot of it is the old "Look at me Daddy," needs we grow up with.  I want Him to be proud of me and to see me do (on my own) amazing things.  I don't think it is as much rebellion as it is immaturity, an echo of a childhood of never being good enough.

Do you know what I mean?

I titled this Getting a Grip becasue this is something (among others) we all need to get a grip on.  We need to have Him bring us to the place where we can accept and be comfortable with our every present NEED for Him.

It's is not a matter of inability - we all have abilities - but rather it is a matter of recognizing and accepting that serving Him is a cooperative effort.  We bring what He has gifted us with and He makes it accomplish what He wants the way He wants.  It is about using our talents to bring the glory to HIm.  Perhaps we could say it's a, "Look at God folks," thing.

I am too full of myself too often.  I want God (or at least I act like I do) to sit and watch me do for Him and have Him applaud.  But I am learning that although He does value all I do for Him, if I do it on my own it may be good and nice but it will always be, in some way, deffective and deficient.

 John 15:5 ESV
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

We make much of being branches but too often we act as though we were vines.  It is only in being attached to the vine that allows the brach to be fruitful.  What a branch produces apart form the mine is simply kindling for the fire.  That's a tough thing to realize and accept but it is true.

We want to glorify God in all we do but we can't do that until we are willing to accept that He glorifies Himself in and through us.  He needs no help - but graciously allow us to be a part of His workings.  We need the humility, the awareness and the willingness to be second fiddle.  It's hard work and takes consistant watching and prayer.  But in those moments when we are indeed being branches we have a sense of it.  As we work we see the fruit and revell in it - it's His fruit but He used us in producing it.

John 15:5 ESV
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

I read this verse and the last part always strikes me.  I find myself rewriting it - for  my own benefit - to make the point to myself.  Here's my version:

"Apart from me, anything you do, is nothing."

That's an "ouch" but isn't it true.  Isn't everything - anything we do apart from Him simple self-loving attempts to get noticed?  Are not our attempts to show God we can do it on our own subtle attempts to show Him we don't really think we need Him (ouch).

I recommed you commit to memory two verses.  Of course one if John 15:5 and the second is:

Philippians 4:13 ESV
I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Use these as book-ends for your prayers and planning. Stay between these two hedges - on the right path.

Do nothing - Do all things.

Which would you prefer?

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Making the Most 05 The "rest" of the Lord's Day 032913

Making the Most
of the means of grace
05
5.  The "rest" of the Lord's Day

Sunday, the Lord's Day, the one day of the week we are to gather together and come before the Lord to worship and praise His name as a Body.  The Puritains were very strict about the Lord's Day and perhaps they had a valid point.  For them is was to be treated much like the Jewish Sabbath and to be a day of prayer and reflection.

But today it's a day mostly used to get stuff done around the house, to be entertained, to do for ourselves.  No, it is not to be some legalistic, cold and dry time nor is it to be considered a part of any works righteousness but isn't it to be more than just a day for our own interest and pleasures?

Don't we really need one day in seven when we can fight off all the distractions and diversions and focus on the Lord, to really "rest" in Him?  Can we be disciplined enough to set aside all the concerns and interests that keep our minds off of Him and simply relax in His goodness and grace?  Does it not seem right that we sacrifice one day of "me" to have a day for "Him?"

I mentioned the way the Jewish people would have counted days, from sunset to sunset, in the last blog.  Could we not begin to train ourselves to do the same.  Could we not begin to focus on His worship and His rest at sunset Saturday and set aside the mundane and common things of life until sunset Sunday?  Do we think we would really be losing anything by such an effort and practice?

Bible reading, prayer, spiritual discussions, faith related DVD's and programs are all means to keep our focus on Him and His grace for a mere 24 hours.  Would this not revolutionize our lives?  Of course it would and the blessings of doing so would be great.

The Lord's Day is meant for us to rest in Him.  And we all have to admit we need that rest - that rest in Him.  We need to have a time when we intentionally let go of our little worlds and cling to the hem of His garment.  Coming to Him on such a regular and disciplined basis will relieve us of much of the running to Him we have to do in a crisis.

This is not an easy thing to do.  It takes commitment and discipline and the mercies of the Holy Spirit but when done it will produce a greater sense of His peace and presence.  It's not some drab and monkish practice but rather a joyous giving on one day to Him and the things of His Kingdom.  One day, just one day.

The means of grace are great gifts He has provided so that we may consistently be growing in Him.  They are, well, essential practices He has given us so that we may facilitate, to whatever degree our efforts can, our being conformed to His likeness.  They are indeed means of grace -- and growth -- and hope -- and love.

Let me encourage you to begin making use of these means.  Seek the power of the Holy Spirit in making them an integral part of your life.  Accept the gifts and learn to enjoy them.

Finally, if you decide to indeed take up the means of grace I encourage you to follow the advise of one of the Puritain fathers.

"Do it as you can in order that yoou might do it better."

God bless you and keep you.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Making the Most 04 The Lord's Supper 032714

Making the Most
of the means of grace
04

4.  The Lord's Supper

I won't even try to get into the issues surrounding the exact nature of the Lord's Supper.  Not only are they too broad for this brief devotion but they are pretty much too deep for me.

Let us lean on Paul for our understanding:

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 ESV
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, [24] and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." [25] In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." [26] For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

For me the key to the grace of the Lord's Supper is found in with phrase, "in rememberance of me."

This rememberance is not just about His death though Paul focuses us on that in verse 26.  Rather I think that it is a broader rememberance which encompasses all of what it means to be the Christ, the Promised One, the Redeemer.

This would take us all the way back to Genesis and the promise to Eve.  It would include the Exodus, David's reign, the Prophets, John the Baptist and so very much more.  The rememberance should overwhelm us as it stems all of the history of redemption and not just three years of ministry.

This rememberance is created by the Word, understood better through prayer and is indeed an act of Worship.  Now we see how the "means of grace" work together supporting and enhancing one another.  They are five pillars if you will upon which we build and which build one another.

But back to our "rememberance."  It is a shame that we have so little time in worship for remembernance.  The plate and cup are passed and it's over in just a few moments.  Hardly time to remember anything.

That is why I suggest strongly that we prepare prior to even getting to the worship meeting.  We all usually know when we will celebrate supper and so we can all prepare for partaking as we prepare for worship.
Now I'm going to get wierd.  The Jews counted days from sunset to sunset and this was certainly critical in their preparation for their Sabbath rest and worship.  Let me suggest that we consider emmulating them at least one day a week.  Let our "Sabbath" or Lord's Day begin at sunset on Saturday and run till sunset on Sunday.

My rational is simple.  Let us prepare for worship the night before, especially when we know we will be partaking of the Lord's Supper.  I know we are used to Saturday being "our" day but maybe we can plan it better and use the evening more productively.

*NO - I'm not trying to create a new "law" just a new and beneficial habit.

The Lord's Supper, the rememberance of His redeeming us, the proclamation of His death with the promise of His return should never be a common endeavor.  It is not a "magical" moment but it is in a sense a mystical moment.  It is, at least for me, the moment when I desire all of me to be focused on Him, what he accomplished and what He has promised.  I can't really do that in the typically all too brief "communion service," but I can do that ahead of time so that in those few moments whenI am actually partaking I am truly remembering Him.

Let us take very seriously Pau's admonition:

1 Corinthians 11:27-29 ESV
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. [28] Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. [29] For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

Prepare, oh dearest brothers and sisters, prepare your minds and hearts for those moments when you are partaking.  Do not allow your partaking to be just an act in the moment but make good use of the time before - the night before - to set yoour mind and heart on Him and all there is to remember.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Making the Most Prayer 02 032714

Making the Most
of the means of grace
02

2.  Private prayer

This is not just "private" prayer - it is penetrating prayer.  It is prayer that calls upon God to show us, not just Himself, but our selves as well.  It is prayer that cuts through all the "I want," "I need," "Please give," and gets down to the, "have mercy upon me a sinner."

Most of us know the acronym ACTS
Adoration
Confession
Thanksgiving
Supplication

Now there nothing wrong with this as a reminder of the components of prayer but I think if falls short of the whole of it.  There is no explicit "letter" for seeking God's exposure of our hearts.  It's easy to run through these parts of prayer without ever seeking God's exposure of our true and hidden spiritual needs - the nitty gritty.  There is no depth demanded and I suspect (for I find it true in me) that there is no depth sought.

Prayer is, fundamentlly, a conversation - a two way conversation.  Certainly we ought go to God with the common and even mundane requests that we are aware of but to do this and only this is perhaps a great waste of a great opportunity.

Most of our private prayers could be prayed in public with little alteration.  They are shallow and halt - usually.  Private prayer, as the Puritains saw it, was deep, gut wrenching, no-holds-barred, open your soul and heart and seek to expose the deepest of corruptions kind of prayers.  They were blood-sweating prayers.  They were prayers for holiness and righteousness of life - here now - for Him.

Oh, we may get close to that when we pray the "C" (confession) but God desires so much more of and for us and we must dig deeply into prayer to touch it.  David asked God to "test," or "try" his heart to see if there was any wicked way in him.  That's "any" wicked way not just the easily seen and comfortably remembered evil ways that we are at ease acknowledging.

I think sometimes that we are too comfortble in our redemption and justification.  We wear it more tike a windbeaker than a heavy coat.  What I mean is that we are more than willing to see our easy sins and rejoice in their forgiveness but we are rarey willing go dig deep into the cold and dark recesses of our souls to find what the Puritains called "heart sins" or the sins under the sins that are uder the sins.  We fail to ask to see the utter corruption for which Christ came and suffered.

Private prayer is the time when we need to be digging deep.  We need to be seeking God's exposure of just how badly we need Christ - just how very very much we need Him.  It's the place where we drop the "I'm not so bad," approach to our sin and cry out to see exactly how "bad" we really are.

PS
Are these posts of any benefit to you?  If they are or are not I would like to hear from you. Your input and/or encouragement would be a blessing and mercy.  You can comment on the blog page of, if you want, you can email me at sheepdog.ms@gmail.com.

Bless you for your help!
Michael

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Making the Most - 01 Scripture 032614

Making the Most
of the means of grace
01
The Puritains write quite a bit about the "means of grace."  This is a strange phrase for us today which is unfortunate.

The "means of grace" are,
"....means which God has graciously appointed, in order to convey grace to man's hear by the Holy Ghost, or to keep up the spiritual life after is has begun."  JC Ryle, Practical Religion (Kindle loc. 264)

To keep it simple we will look at five "means of grace in this series.  We don't intend to write an in-depth treatise on each but rather too write devotionally - commonly - concerning these means.

The five means of grace are:
The reading of Scripture
Private prayer
Public worship
The Lord's Supper
The "rest" of the Lord's Day

1.  The reading of Scripture

God has promised that His Word will never be void of some effect.  It will accomplish His will in the llives of the reader.  For the believer the Word is the fundamental component of their spiritual nutritional system.  In the Word we hear from God and about God.  In the Word not only is the character and will of God revealed but His relationship to man (believer and unbeliever) is revealed.

We can all sit and "read" the Word but we must consider the "manner and spirit" in which we do so. (We must do the same with all the means of grace.)  Ryle writes about the difference in using the means of grace, in this case the Word, in a regular and formal manner without any sense of enjoyment but rather simply as a duty.  He holds that to make use of the means of grace in this manner is "utterly worthless and unprofitable."  And we must agree.

Time in the Word should be a time of expectant joy and even a holy curiosity.  The Word is not an "instruction manual" but rather a love letter in which God reveals all of Himself we need to know and all or our selves as well.  One must never go to the Word to just check it off as a duty but rather one should go hungry and expecting to be fed.

Psalm 119 is replete with requests that God teach the writer His statutes, commandment and most importantly His "ways."  His ways are the revelation of not only how He relates to us but how He calls us to relate to Him.  His ways are the boundaries and expectations inherent in a relationship with Him.  Nowhere else can we get the full and unadulterated direction we need to walk in His "ways' except in the Word of God.

Indeed the Word, reading the Word, is a means by which God communicates His grace and He also gives us example after example of that grace operating in the lives of real men and women like you and I.  But do we go to the Word to find that - or, do we go to find what feeds our flesh, scartches our itch or tickles our fancy?

Grace can grow cold when the fire is not stoked and in reading the Word we feed that fire - or in some cases that one little ember.  To forsake the reading of the Word and/or to approach this means of grace as a work is to cut oneself off from the promise of and in the Word - vanity makes all things void, self-love steals grace from our hearts and we live shallow and cold lives.  

PS
Are these posts of any benefit to you?  If they are or are not I would like to hear from you. Your input and/or encouragement would be a blessing and mercy.  You can comment on the blog page or, if you want, you can email me at sheepdog.ms@gmail.com.

Bless you for your help!
Michael

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Broken Hearts and Bruised Souls 032514

Broken Hearts and Bruised Souls
032614

There are, in every congregation brothers and sisters who live with broken hearts and bruised souls.  They sit quietly, usually alone in the back, pray haltingly and have a look of deep yearning on their faces.

They long to have a sense of being a part of the body but they sense that their "difference" somehow excludes them.  They are alone in the crowd and being in the crowd makes their loneliness even greater.  They sit and even with a frozen smile on their faces they weep rivers of tear inside.

I'm writing about the melacholy (depressed), the Bi-polar, those who suffer anxiety disorders and the like.  They live in our world and go to our churches and yet they never have a sense of being a part of any of it.

Shame is a big part of their lives.  They can't run, do, work or even feel as other do and so they have a sense of being aliens and strangers in a way you can only imagine.

They look OK, they even socialize ok but the cost of doing either or both is great.  One hour in church and they are exhausted, they feel rode hard and put up wet.  They are drained and so their hearts and souls ache regardless of the joy and hope that is theirs.

Imagine waking up each morning with a sense that your life is not worth living.  Imagine waking up each morning terrified of what evil or difficulty might come your way.  Imagine feeling like every odd look is an accusation, a confirmation of your difference.  Imagine yearning for heaven more to escape your life than to be with the Lord.

These are broken hearts and bruised souls.  These are some of the bruised reeds and smoldering wicks Jesus promised to not break or snuff out.  But even that assurance does little to aleviate the pain and ache of being so very different and trying to fit in.

"Hi, my name is Fred and I want to die."  Think about having that thought several times a day.  Think about having to resist introducing yourself that way.  Think about having that feeling and not being able to tell anyne about it.  No, I don't mean they want to kill themselves, few do; but they live with a tension that tears at their hearts and souls every minute of every day.

No one understands except their counselor and even they are clueless apart from their objective clinical training.  Their pastor does not understand.  Their famiies do not understand.  Worst of all, they do not understand.

Imagine having a wonderful blessing happen to you.  You know it's a blessing.  You see God's hand in it and yet instead of lifting your heart and soul you find yourself fighting a downward spiral.  What would lift another up casts you down.

Imagine yearning for relief you know, short of a miracle, will not come.  Imagine happiness making you sad, joy terrifying you and kindness seeming like condecention - pity of the pathetic.

Imagine having to live your life in your head because if you let it our people will flee.  Imagine fighting every moment to just hang on and not give up.  Imagine just wanting to sit in a darkened room until life fades away.

These bruised reeds need to be able to be who they are and live in the open.  They need to be understood and their condition must be appreciated as real and terrible.  They dont need pampering but they need to be able to speak their pain to someone(s) other than the folks they have to pay to listen.

They desperately need to have others understand that for them, their condition is as normal as it gets.  Yes, they need sound biblical encouragement and admonishment and lots of other good and godly input.  But most of all they need to be accepted, embraced.

Being a part of the life of a bruised reed is tough, trying and costly.  Which is why so few of us are willing to be a part of their lives.  They can be demanding and depressing, frustrating if not infuriating but that's more a factor of our limitations than their condition.  It is more a part of our wanting to be comfortable and at our ease instead of involved in a messy ministry.

No, we are not all called to minister to these beautiful bruised reeds but we are all commanded to love them and they take a different kind of love.  None of us are exempt from loving them up close and personal.

Fear keeps us at a distance and fear causes them to withdraw.  Perfect love casts out fear - right or maybe?

Monday, March 24, 2014

Faith in Affliction Weak or Strong 032414

Faith in Affliction  Weak or Strong

"If it never proves great, yet weak faith shall save; for it interests us in Christ, and makes Him and all His benefits ours.  For it is not the strength of our faith that saves, but the truth of our faith, nor weakness of our faith that condemns, but the want of faith; for the least faith lays hold on Christ and so will save us.  Nor are we saved by the worth or quantity of our faith but by Christ - who is laid hold on bu a weak faith as well as a strong - just as a weak hand that puts meat into the mouth shall feed and nourish the body as if it were a strong hand, but by the goodness of the meat."  John Rogers, The Doctrine of Faith

In Affliction we are confronted with the strength or weakness of our faith.  Indeed I think it is more often the latter than the former.  But as Rogers writes even our mustard-seed faith is sufficient to lay hold of all that Christ provides and promises.  The difference, perhaps, is more in our sense of faith than its sufficiency.  

How often do we, in afflictions, find ourselves confronted with the laziness of our faith and consider it a sign of no or weak faith.  This is not to be done.  The exercise of our faith will indeed be commensurate with its strength or weakness but yet whether one or the other it is sufficient.

If our faith is weak, afflictions are great torments and trials and yet Christ is not stingy in His providence regardless.  It is the object of our faith that is of the greatest import and what we often confuse with a weak faith is actually a misplaced faith.

We tend to trust God to provide according to our own reason and insight and when we do not see that happening we , in our distress, consider our faith to be too weak to have its effect.  But brother and sister, by God's own Word, this cannot be.  His promises are to those who believe whether small or large.

"Lord I believe, help Thou my unbelief," should be a fundamental prayer we pray in affliction.  For we all have areas where our faith struggles to settle upon its true object and grow upon that object.

And, we must remember that our faith is a gift and gifts are given according to the desire of the giver and the need of the gifted.  That one has what they consider a "small faith" is simply an invitation to stand amazed as God grows that faith in time and space.  Indeed, once we are with Him there will be no weak of strong faith for our trust in Him will be complete.

In affliction we will find that we question the strength and veracity of our faith - or at least we seem to.  However I find among believers that it is rarely a question of whether or not God will provide but rather how and when.  This shows that we have faith in Him even if we struggle in the details.
But some believers do struggle with whether or not God will provide.  Wondrously and happily this doubt is usually based upon their view of their own worthiness to even get God's attention much less His provision.  This is "works" thinking and we all do it.  There is nothing like an affliction to kick us into the old, "I'm not worthy," or to bring to our remembrance every jot and tittle of our sins.

Well, we are not worthy -  period.  But in and through Christ we are - but only through Him.  Yes, God may indeed, through some affliction, chastise us for sin.  But this is a mercy for first it falls far far short of what any sin deserves and second it is meant to cleanse, to refine the dross out of our hearts and lives.  Yet we often fail to see the blessedness of God's heavy hand upon us and we miss praising Him for that mercy.

Trusting God in affliction is simple but it is not easy.  The world mocks, the flesh wrestles with shame and the devil accuses and taunts.  That's a tough trio to contend with.  But knowing the source should drive us to look to God more intensly and humbly and - sometimes - desperately.

But, isn't the bottom line our redemption?  Isn't that the aim of our faith as Christ who provides it is the object?  Do we want heaven of relief more?  Do we want the comfort of our salvation or the comfort of things?  Do we want the praise of men or the "well done" of Christ?

Faith in affliction looks to its object and the priorities held by that object.  Which means that our priority should be the glory of God and our ultimate home with Him.  Everything else is NOT unimportant but it is secondary if not tertiary.

Therefore let us turn to Christ in our affliction and to His Word and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in getting our priorities back in line.  Let us allow the anxiety of trials to wash over us and away from us as we call out to God in supplication and thanksgiving.

"Though I am not pleased with God's chastisement, I will be pleased with its effect.  Though I struggle to thank Him for this testing I praise Him for loving me enough to test me.  Though I am assailed with fear let me be filled with His comfort.  May I accept this affliction as a mercy and blessing from my God who is determined to transform me into the likeness of my loving Savior."  ms

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Uses of Affliction 09 032214

Uses of Afflictoin 09

FINI

"Oh how unskillfull and unwise am I to manage a suffering condition, to discern God's ends, to find out what God would have me to do, to moderate the vileness of my own passions, to apply the counsels and comforts of the Word for their proper ends and use."
Thomas Case, A Treatise on Afflcitions

God never allows affliction into the lives of His people for no good purpose.  As we have briefly seen there are uses for aflictions and they are indeed mercies.

However as Thomas Case wrote (above) we are unskillful and unwise in managing a "suffering condition."  But perhaps this is the greatest usage of afflictions, to provide us with the opportunity to gain the skill and wisdom we lack.

The Word and the Spirit are suffcient for us to begin (and continue) to develop the requisite skills and wisdom to make blessings our of buffetings.  If we will ony make use of these graces we will find that no matter how dark and difficult the affliction we can and will learn to bear up under it.  But we must make use of God's providence!

Sin, of course, is at the root of all affliction.  The corruption of the whole creation is both the catalyst and continuance of all we suffer.  Perhaps we fail to understand this or resist accepting this.  Were the whole of creation not so corrupted, well, we'd still be in the garden wouldn't we?  But we are not and so we MUST learn, we must seek the skill and wisdom we need.

It is an oft repeated, much misused and wonderful admonishment to us to, "Trust in the Lord with all your might and lean not on your own understanding.  In ALL your ways acknoledge Him and He will make your paths straight."  Note it is straight paths we are promised not smooth and easy ones.  Why, oh why will we not yield to His will in all conditions and circumstances and trust His love and power?

We love our ease and comforts too much and have been infected with a view of our faith that is diluted with falsehood and evil.  We are PROMISED tribulation, persecution, hatred, etc. in this world.  Why do we fight against what the Lord has made clear?

We are promised His presence and His provision to live for Him in this world but it is prayer to change our hearts not prayer to change our world that is needed.  Oh we can pray for an change of condition and circumstance but I think that if our focus is on that we have missed the whole point and our afflcitions do not accomplish what He intendes.

We sing;
Have Thy own way Lord.
Have Thy own way.
Hold or my being
absolute sway.

But do we simply mouth the words instead of singing the prayer?

We sing;
Create in me a clean heart
Oh Lord
and renew a right spirit within me

But we are unwilling to allow Him to do so if it causes us any dis-ease or loss of comfort.

Affliction are, whether we will or can see it, mercies, indeed blessings for in them we are made more like our Master for we merrely share in the afflcitions He suffered for us.

Are we willing for God to bring and use afflictions to conform us to our Master's likeness?

Friday, March 21, 2014

Uses of Affliction 08

Uses of Affliction 08

7.  The exercise of grace in the children of God

Grace must apply to something.  Grace is given for a purpose.  We could write long on the purpose of grace but others are better suited to undertake such a profound work.  For us, here, grace is given that we may be free but freedon is not free.

The freedom God calls us to cost Him much and once He calls us into it, it will cost us all.  All our self-love, all our selfish fears, all our selfish demands, all our self-focused worship, all our self-directed service.  What the application and exercize of grace costs us is our sin.  It relentlessly digs and digs to remove the root of our sin.  This is a work of grace, a free gift and yet a costly one.


Are we willing to see and accept that afflcitions - all afflictions are indeed intended to exercize grace in our lives?  Are we willing to accept that no matter how dark and difficult the affliction it is God is working for our good and His glory?

There is no requirement for God to work thusly in our lives except for His character, His love for us.  So we must pray to understand that even afflictions are gracious and wonderful acts of God in our lives.

No, they are not pleasant but they are necessary for our sanctification.

I read a great deal in the Puritains and they all speak of sharing in the suffering of Christ (as do the Epistles).  Why are we so very resistant to this?  Where have we gotten the idea that being His menas a trouble free life when He promised us tribulations.  And where do we ever get the idea that a trouble free life means that we must be doing something pleasing to Him when a trouble free life more often indicated an apathetic existance.

Afflcitons drive us to Him and when we are His afflictions serve to keep us close.  Rare is the believer who stays near (or even is near) to Him when in comfort or at ease.  Comfort and ease have been mistaken as relating to our blessedness when indeed they are traps of apathy and faithlessness.

Paul tells us that God is a God of comfort in all our afflcitions.  One might assume (cautiously) that being afflicted is the norm for the believer.  And indeed, if we are truly aliens and strangers here afflictions are the norm.  This is not home - this life is not the point - and God'ss gracious afflcitions keep us mindful of that.

Let us keep in mind the "uses" of afflciton and embrace them with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Uses of Afflictions
The trial of one's state, whether one is in the state of grace of not.
Excitation to duty, weaning one from this world, and prompting him to look after the happiness of the other world.
Conviction of sin.
Correction and punishment for sin.
Preventing sin.
Discovery of latent corruption whether in saints of sinners.
The exercize of grace in the chidren of God


Thursday, March 20, 2014

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Uses of Affliction 07

6.  Discovery of latent corruption whether in saints of sinners.

Oh yes!  Murmur - murmur - murmur - - -

Peek-a-boo sins are tough ones.  They lie quietly in the shadows just waiting for their trigger.

Take our afflcition.  We never susupected we were lukewarn and lazy - but we were.  We never thought of ourselves as materialistic - but we were.  We would have been aghast had anyone told us we were prideful - until pride raised its ugly head.  We would never have thught our trust in God was alloyed with a trust in stuff and people - but it was.  We never would have seen how our wills were still competing with His - but they were.  (OK -you can change and the "weres to "ares" for the sake of full disclosure).

Our latent sin is exposed by our affliction.  We are convicted of that sin.  We repent.  We are restored and continue in our growth.

We struggle and will struggle with latent sin until He comes.  And strugggle we must if indeed our goal is to be conformed as God wishes us to be conformed to His likeness, to be holy as He is holy.

Afflistions will turn up the heat to bring those latent sins to the surface and this is a great mercy.  God could leave us to hopelessly struggle but His grace and mercy provide for our need in this and His Holy Spirit will battle for, with and even agwinst us (our flesh) to root out such sinfulness and cleanse our hearts.

Please, please consider the wonder of a sin hating God who will do all in His great power to relieve us of this toxic remainder.  He is willing to do whatever He must to expose and then address that sin that lurks beneath our awareness.  Though sometimes hard and unpleasant the result is merciful and magnificent.

I will tell you that most likely what the affliction will expose is the depth of our self-love.  It is not behaviors that afflcitions expose here but those deep and abiding roots of pride and self-ness that result in the sinful behaviors and attitiudes.  It is the ehart that God wishes to heal and relieve.

Uses of Affliction 06. 031914

Uses of Affliction 06

5.  Preventing sin.

Oh what a blessing such an affliction proves to be!  These are so dear that we might well call them blessed afflcitions.

How often does an afflcition prevent us from falling into or continuing in a sin?  We will never know this side of heaven.  What love, what mercy is this that is willing to test our faith for our protection and good?  Can we really complain?  Can we really withhold praise?  No.

Of course we must be mindful of Paul's "thorn in the flesh" which is perhaps the clearest example we can find of such a blessed affliction.  But we do not want to miss the point.  Certainly the affliction was to prevent Paul from being conceited BUT it also taught him that his strength was to be perfected through the afflcition.

Now, here's a question.  Are we willing to not just accept be even pray for afflcitions that will prevent our sinning?  Are we willing to ask God to afflict us that some unseen danger might be removed?  Are we willing to call upon our loving Father to do whatever He deems best for our security and wholesomeness -  our holiness?

In preventing afflcitions we can usually see a thwarting of our prideful wills.  We make our plans, we devise our schemes and then God inflicts some affliction that brings all our plans and schemes to nought.  Are we willing to accept, whether we see it or not, that this is His good provision for our good?  Are we willing to see the blessing in the afflcition?

I know this is hard!  I know this is work!  I know that this can be very confusing!  But until we are willing to learn and accept that all things work for the glory of God and until we are more (much more) focused on that end we will find ourselves wrestling with God and not in a good way.

I love John 9.  It is without a doubt my favorite story in the Bible.  I have read it almost too much if that is possible but in doing so I have seen the blessedness of affliction.  The man, being born blind, was prohibited from commiting some sins.  We see a humility and a yieldedness in him.  We see in his reaction to his healing a gratitude and commitment.  Would it have been the same had he not been born blind?  I don't KNOW but I suspect not.

How could we ever complain of anything that hinders the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life from blossoming in our lives?  Should we not rather, when under some afflcition, look closely for its preventative purpose (not just its corrective purpose)?  Should we not consider what God is keeping us from and how great a blessing that is.  Should not God's pro-activity be a casue for joy and gratitude - not to mention awe?

"Lead us not into temptation but deliver us...."  And if God chooses to use and afflcition to respond to this prayer are we willing to accept it and thank Him for it?  This is not easy - it goes against our abiding corruption and too often makes us mumur against God.

When Jesus says we should be willing to poke our an eye or cut of a hand is He not demonstrating the blessedness of those afflictions that keep us from sin?

In our current time of afflcition there are many things we can not do.  Most of all we can't engage in temporal pastimes and comforts.  Is there a puspose to this?  Yes and as we move through it we see what wrong choices we would make or at least be tempted to make were we not under this afflcition.   We also see how, where we comfortable and at ease, we would fall back into that apathetic faith in which we had previously walked.  Every plan/scheme we have considered had been demonstrated to be for naught - Every "hail Mary" interevention we have looked for has come to nothing.  And why?  Because He would have us depend upon Him in an unemcumbered, raw manner - God and God alone.

Let me encourage you - beg you - to look for the preventative blessing God brings with afflcition.  It is not a minor use but one of great value and lasting effect.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

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Uses of Affliction 05

4.  Correction and punishment for sin.

For those who do not think God punishes our sin here perhaps a re-reading of the OT would be appropriate.  We like to avoid that word punishment by using words like correct or discipline but changing the word does not change God's purpose.  Nor is it any better to talk of God allowing us to suffer the consequences of our sin as opposed to saying He punishes them.  Allowing us to face the consequences of our sin is in and of itself a form of punishment.

Sorry folks, but God not only forgives but He punishes as well.  Afflictions are His means of conveying His displeasure, correcting, applying discipline - punishing sin.  It is His mercy and grace that limits the intensity of the affliction for we all know quite clearly what we actuallly deserve for our sin.

I know few believers for who a simple note concerning some sin they are trapped in would suffice.  It seems the bigger and deeper the sin the bigger and deeper the punishment.  Wow - aren't we distressed by the idea of God punishing us for our sin?

Now many of you will have a hard time with this idea and I can sympathise.  For many of us punishment means an excessinve act of arbitrary anger on the part of someone in authority.  It does not seem so much like correction as revenge for some wrong we have committed hence we have a terrible time thinking of God's punishment.

But, at least for me, the important thing is that God's punishment has a point, a purpose and it is done in love.  God's punishment is intended for our sanctification - our being conformed to the likeness of Christ - which should be a point and purpose for us as well.

Grace is NOT a free pass, a get out of jail free card.  Grace is the turning away of the eternal punishment we deserve onto Christ so that we may never never need fear it.  But in our daiy lives, in our daily sanctification God will punish us for sins especially those sins which are deeply set in our hearts.

You love temporal tiing too much, they are little gods in your life?  That is sin and god may well see the need to punish you for your idolatry.  He may well see that only exile will bring you back from the edge.  Perhaps He may allow or impose some physical issue or impairment.  Perhaps you will suffer the loss place or position.  Perhaps, as seems more and more likely, you will suffer imprinsoment, a loss of freedom for your sin.

But punshment is a mean God uses to correct and discipline His children in love and a deep unknowlable desire that they be comformed to Christ's likeness.  Punishment always has a point - a purpose.

I struggle with this as Patti and I pass through the affliction we are facing.  I used all the soft words (correction, discipline, refining, etc) for what is taking place but as time passes and my sin was made clearer.  I ceased to be shocked by the idea that God might be punishing me - I certainly deserved it and I don't know that anything less would have made the impact this punishment did.

I struggled with the idea that God was mad at me and was rejecting me even that I had never believed in the first place.  But the more I prayed and read the Word the more I came to see that God was never closer to me than when He found it necessary to punish me to bring me out of sin.

Not all afflcition must be seen as punishment.  It may very well be simple correction or common discipline but we can not afford to refuse the idea that God does and will punish His erring children for His glory for their good.

Punishment is not the absense of grace or mercy.  Indeed I've come to think that, for the believer, God's punishment for sin is an act of mercy and a great reminder of grace.  There is a certain sweetness to the rod when we see it as an act of mercy.  He loves us that much.

When my father used to punish me he would always tell me "This hurts me more that it does you."  I neve believed him - don't believe it even today - but what I feel about that is not what I feel about God's punishment.  His love is so mighty, so intense that I do believe that when He punishes one of His, it does hurt Him more than it does us.

One of the uses of afflcition is indeed to punish - to show us in a very up close and personal way if not the wages of sin then the pocket change.

Monday, March 17, 2014

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Uses of Afflcition 04

3.  Conviction of sin.

Now we quit preaching and go to meddleing :0.

There is nothing like an afflcition to clearly expose the depth of the remaining corruption we need to address.  Nothing can expose the sin still lurking in our hearts like a good ol' afflcition.

Over the past 15 months or so as we have dealt with a certain amount of afflcition.  Through it I have discovered sinfulness I never would have named as being my own.  I have never known the depth of my self-love and selfishness until the Lord brought our afflcition.

Even as I was examining my faith and my attachment to the world (Uses 1 and 2) I was overwhelmed by the insidiousness of my sin.  My pride and resentment, my presumption, my poor stewardship - it all was exposed to a degree I had never experienced.

Prayer was the first to fall.  I discovered that many of my prayers were a redundant chorus of "me me me my my my mine mine mine IIIIIIII."  I was shocked to say the least.  But I would not have noticed had we not been under an affliction.  They tend to get your focus on yourself in a real unhealthy way.

It took real focus and effort to correct my self-absorbed prayers but they were sin and had to be confronted and corrected - it certainly was convicting.

But more than the mechanics of our walk, afflcitions really drill down into our hearts and expose the silt and "stuff" - the sin - that still resides there.  Anger, pride, resentment, presumption are just a few I've found and they were there in very subtle forms - but they were there.

They say that the most important thing to a shepherd is the fence that keeps the sheep in.  That, from my experience, is very true.  Afflictions come where and when we are outside the fence and they come to draw us back in.  That's how good Shepherds work with their sheep.

We need to pay serious heed to the fact that "conviction" means we have been found guilty.  Conviciton is a fact.  Yes, we may have feelings that attend it but it is not a feeling.  It is a cold hard fact!  And affliction should bring conviction.

We need the heat of afflcitions to expose and draw off the dross in us, the sin in us.  Without the refining heat of afflcition the dross simply keeps accumulating until we are full of it.

I read a piece today that stated something on the order of, 'In Christ we never lack anything we need.  If we do not have it we may assume we do not need it (yet, if at all).'
Inversely may we not assume that if God takes something away it is becasue we need for it to be taken away?  I think so.

But funadmentaly and critically afflictions bring (or should bring) conviction of sin.  God is getting our attention and calling us to a deeper examination of our hearts.  Do not assume yu will not find any sin there!  You must!  And in finding it you must accept the conviction (fact of your guilt) and then repentantly address the sin.

Friday, March 14, 2014

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Uses of Afflcition 03

2.  Excitation to duty, weaning one from this world, and prompting him to look after the happiness of the other world.

There is one wonderful scipture that encourages us in this:

1 John 2:15-17 NASB
Do not love the world nor the things in the world If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. [16] For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. [17] The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

We recently experienced some bad weather here and many people lost power.  Nothing big but a good reminder of how attached we become to the comforts of this world and to the minimization of our looking to the comforts of the next.  Afflictions, whatever their nature, are one way God not only gets our attention but moves us to action be it service, simplicity or paying more attention to the promises of the next world.

We need to be moved to duty.  It's too easy to become complacent and lazy even in our duties.  We get into a very comfortable rut and we just run along it day in and day out until we have become numb to what we ought to be about.  Even in our duties we can become comfortable to our hurt.

Prayer can become perfuntory, Bible Study can become bland and worship can become worthless in the comfortable ease of the day to day.  But God won't have that.  He will and does bring afflictions that reveal the weakness and wantonness of our service.  When God seems to withdraw we tend to draw closer.

This is a sad commentary on many of us - many many of us - so many of us that it seems to be the norm.  And so God will bring a crook to our lot so we will see our error and repent.

Affilctions also wean us from the world.  I made the comment while our power was on and our internet was off that there didn't seem much point to having power if we didn;t have the net.  This is an example of how comfortable we can get with all the geegaws and gadgets we have and how we begin to rely upon them for way too much.

The loss or thereatened loss of material blessings can really demonstrate for us our dependence upon them to a neglect of depending upon God.  And NO cheating - don;t try to tell me you depend upon God for your web connection - that's a stretch.

How many "things" do you really depend upon that get in the way of your dependence upon God.  What would hurt the worst to lose?  What can you not see yourself giving up?  If you have "bad hair" days - days that are just ruined over the trivial material things then you may look for an affliction to wean you away from it.

Can you see how use 1 ties into use 2?  Afflictions lead us to examine our faith and that examination has much to do with our attachment to this world and the "things" of it.  Not only that but the "things" of this world have much to do with, "the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life."  Which in turn has much to do with how much our hearts are set on the next world as opposed to being stuck on this one.

James writes:

James 1:2 NASB
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,

And if we a serious about our faith we will wlecome these trials as God's gracious providence.  Even with only uses 1 and 2 we can see how afflictions are, what I call, "left-handed blessings."  They don't look like blessings, they don't feel like blessings, and they do not even small like blessings - but if they drive or move us to seriously examines, our service, our attachment to this world and our longing for the next they are indeed blessings.


Thursday, March 13, 2014

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1.  The trial of one's state, whether one is in the state of grace or not.

When we are under any affliction it is quite common for us to do a lot of questioning.
One of the uses God makes of affliction and a use we can use is in questioning whether or not we are indeed in a state of grace (saved) or not.  This is not a doubting of God's willingness or ability to save us but whether or not our confession is genuine.

Is this legitimate?  It would appear from scripture that indeed it is.
 In 2 Chronicles we read concerning Hezekiah:

2 Chronicles 32:31 NASB
. . . .God left him alone only to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart.

In afflictions we have a sense that God has "left" us and it is normal for us to be in distress.  But one of the uses of afflcition is certainly that we might know what is truly in our hearts.  Not to be trite but the questions in this instance might be, "is Jesus really in my heart?"  "Is my confession of faith true?"  "Am I really a child of God?"

Difficult and distressing questions - but questions that need to be asked.

We know how evil and fickled our hearts are and we know there are many whose confessions are mere ascent to a set of facts and not true faith (trust) in the saving power and Lorship of Jesus.  Afflictions provide us with a context where these quesitons are not only appropriate but vital.

Consider the following:

1 Corinthians 11:28 NASB
But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

2 Corinthians 13:5 NASB
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?

Galatians 6:4 NASB
But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another.

2 Peter 1:10 NASB
Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;

None of these passages are directly connected to any afflcition.  We are admonished to consistantly examine ourselves and our faith to determine its veracity, it's soundness.  If we are so admonished to do so outside of any affliction how much more so in afflcition.

By afflcition God tests us.  Not for His benefit but for our own.  We need to know two things.  That God is real and all He says He is and we need to know that our faith is genuine.

We should learn the blessing of afflcitions by embracing the opportunity for greater assurance of our faith.  Afflictions are on the one hand tests - tests for us.  They are tests that strip away all the comforts and causes of our ease so that we may determine wherther or not our faith/trust is truly in Him or whether it is mixed with our trust in other comforts and causes of ease.

I have grown to see afflcitions as a kind of second calling.  When I stray, as all sheep tend to do, I get into trouble (which God ordains/allows to happen).  I have learned to view the afflcition as God calling me either back to Him or to a unslullied trust in Him.  Afflcitons are never pleasant but they do have purpose and there can be no greater purpose than for us to grow in our assurance that we are indeed His.

This is one of the reasons James can write:

James 1:2-4 NASB
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, [3] knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. [4] And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Isn't is interesting that God will lead us into a place where we lose much of our comforts and there casues so that we may lack nothing - but that's for a later blog.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

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Uses for Afflictions  01  031214

We all at one time or anthor (at least) find ourelves suffering some sort of affliction.  It may be transitory, it may be permanent; it may be small, it may be great, but we all will indeed suffer in this world.

So what's the point?  Why does God allow us to suffer?  Is there a good use of afflictions in which we can find comfort and encouragement and strength.

Thomas Boston in his work, A Crook in the Lot, give us a list of seven ways in which we and God can use afflcitions for good.  Submitting to God, trusting in Christ and depending upon the Holy Spirit afflictions can bring blessings.

Below you will find a paraphrased list of the uses Boston suggests.  I hope to address each of them in a practicle and personal manner in this new series of blogs.

Uses of Afflictions

  1. The trial of one's state, whether one is in the state of grace of not.
  2. Excitation to duty, weaning one from this world, and prompting him to look after the happiness of the other world.
  3. Conviction of sin.
  4. Correction and punishment for sin.
  5. Preventing sin.
  6. Discovery of latenet corruption whether in saints of sinners.
  7. The exercise of grace in the chidren of God

I will attempt to expand and illustrate these points in the coming weeks.  They are not easy points and certainly they are not comfortable but I believe that we need to work hard at understanding the uses of affliction in order to be betterr able not only to endure but to encourage.

1 Corinthians 10:13 NASB
No temptation ((trial)) has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted ((tried)) beyond what you are able, but with the temptation ((trial)) will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

May God bless my efforts and yours as we look at the uses of afflictions to the glory of God.

Please don;t hesitate to email me questions or comments:
sheepdog.ms@gmail.com

Monday, March 10, 2014

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Heart Keepers 06

6.  The realizing of God's presence with us and setting the Lord always before us.

God is always with us.  The Holy Spirit indwells us.  All this is true but do we intentionally set that in the forefront of our minds and the center of our hearts?

Are we desirous of being obnoxiously aware of and desperately desirous of His being always and all ways before us?

Without the practice of the disciplines of the faith, without partaking of His means of grace and His mercies this will never never be the case.  We are but babes in holiness (in many ways but especially in terms of separation from the world).  As babes we need goood food and good exercize.  Without both we will not grow or we will grow poorly.

But we have too much to do.  Too much to worry about.  Too much of too much.  So we nibble a breakfast bar of faith thinking it will provide the nutrition we need for our daily walk.  We crave spiritual fast food and just the occassional healthy meal and think we will be OK.

We set God before us when we are in need; not accepting that we are always in need.  Prosperity and comfort keep us fat, sassy and lost.

Keeping the heart takes work - focused and diligent work - but who has the time?  Who makes the time?  So we stubble along bringing ridicule to the name of God by our shallow, ignorant and intermitant faith.  We violate the first line of the model prayer since we do not "hallow" His name as it should be hallowed.

We do not keep our hearts and so our lives are warped and twisted all the time we claim to be serving the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Jesus made it very very clear that it is our hearts that are the source of evil and it is our hearts we must keep.  It's not a feeling, its facts.  It's not a disposition, it's discipline.  It's not neat, it's necessary.

Saturday, March 8, 2014

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Heart Keepers 05

5.  A constant and holy jealousy over our own hearts.

This is a tough one.  "Jealousy," isn't that a sin?  And yet shouldn't we be jealous of anything that would woo us away from the Lord?

Think of the power (albeit evil) of sinful jealousy.  It's the Great Green Monster.  It sparks anger and bitterness, even fury and odd behaviors.  Shouldn't anything that comes between our hearts and God be seen as an interloper, a seducer, a harlot attempting to lead us into adultery?

"My heart is God's, leave it alone!"  "It is His do not intefere!"  Even, "I hate you for trying to come between God and I!"  Should not this be our stance?  Should we not pray for this holy jealousy over our hearts?

Indeed God is jealous for our hearts.  He responds mightily when anything seeks to woo or win us.  He hates - yes hates - that which would come between you and Him.  We see it over and over again in the history of Israel.  God is a jealous God and will not tolerate our having any others.

Exodus 34:14 NASB
--for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God--

Deuteronomy 4:24 NASB
"For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Psalm 78:58 NASB
For they provoked Him with their high places And aroused His jealousy with their graven images.

1 Corinthians 10:22 NASB
Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?

James 4:4-5 NASB
You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. [5] Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"?

We need to be just as jealous for God as He is for us.  I know it seems odd and is quite a tough nut to crack but we need to pray that the Holy Spirit will give us insight.

These are His eyes, you may not enter.
These are His ears, you may not sound.
This is His mind, be ye gone.
This is His heart, there is no place for you here.
ms

Thursday, March 6, 2014

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Heart Keepers 04

4.  Imposing strong engagements upon ourselves to walk more carefully with God and avoid the occasions whererby the heart may be induced to sin.

Most of us know where danger lies.  We know, or should know, what tempts us and where we are weak.  Flavel makes the point here that we have to set clear and sound boundaries for ourselves if we indeed want to keep our hearts.

Knowing what "engagements" we need to set is critical and if more subtle than we think.  I can think of no better example that TV as a place where we need to engage ourselves to greater caution.  It is so easy to become numb to the world and its philosophy than TV.

We used to watch a detective show in which there was some romatic tension between a female detective and a writer of mysteries.  All was well until we the two main characters had begun sleeping together in the same house as the writers teenage daughter.

Even though there were no graphic love scenes we became concerned that we had not been concerned about the "fornication" that was implied by the show.  Here we were watching a show where sin was not only taking place but being celebrated as a good thing and we had missed that somehow.

Well, we had to set a boundary.  Why?  Because we had been so enamoured with the show that we were allowing the blatant sin to go unaddressed.  In being fans we were, in the privacy of our own home, somehow endorsing the illicit relationship between the two characters.  Not being sensitive to this, being so slow to be convicted by this concerned us for our hearts and how they had been numbed or even hardened to what we were watching.

Can you see Flavel's point in this?  We can not affort to allow our hearts, or consciences for that matter, to become numb or hardened.  We need sensitive hearts and consciences so we may not be led into heart sins.

OK, it may seem hokey but the question is, "Would I be doing this if Jesus was with me?"  What you would n't do in His physica resence we shouldn't do period.  It may seem sillly but that's a very simple way to impose upon your heart that which will keep your heart.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

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Heart Keepers 03

3.  Earnest supplication and instant prayers for purifying and rectifying grace when sin has defiled and disordered the heart.

Two things here are worthy of notice.  The first is "earnest supplication."  When we go to God in prayer we need to go with a full acknowledgement of the curruption that yet abides in our hearts.  Our prayers must reflect the fact that we are still battling self-love and the fear of man and that even our best prayers are susupect.

Especially when under trials or afflictions our prayers can be mercenary to say the least.  We want relief for our pain and struggle so badly that we will often find ourselves bartering with God for His provision.  We are so focused on the immediate need that we can often hinder our own prayers by not praying fully and wholly.

Fully and wholly?  There is so much to pray for, so many needs of the Kingdom and its citizens - so many brothers and sisters in distress.  There is the church to pray for, those whose needs we know to pray for and in our distress and concern for our situation it is easy - all too easy - to just pray for ourselves without regard to the broader picture.

We can also find ourselves praying, "If" prayers.  You know, "God if You will just X I will Y."  This is bartering with God, trying to strike a deal.  This hinders the effectiveness of our prayers by it's assumption that God "barters" His blessings and provision.  This sullies and minimizes our prayers making them shallow and , well, wrong.

Secondly we need to be sensitive to the needs for "instant prayers," or timely prayers.  These are prayers in and of the moment especially when it comes to heart sins.  I know I have gone to God with my needs and failing to recognize the heart sins yet needing to be dealt with I have prayed ill and been sticken because of my shallowness and self-love.

Sin defiles and disorders our hearts to a greater extent than we see, so our prayers must seek His cleansing and ordering of our hearts.  I would suggest that this needs to be the first part of our prayers.  Praying about praying may sound strange but if our hearts are not in the right frame we will pray amiss.

Praying for purifying and rectifying grace may well need to precede any if not all our prayers.  If you have ever (and I assume you have) been under affliction and in pain you know how the corruptions of the heart can twist your thinking and affect your praying.  Taking time to pray about praying is one good way to discover and root out this sins that would hinder and hamper your prayers.

When you find that your heart is not right, when it is struggling with heart sins, there are always the Psalms that you can pray.  The writers of the Psalms experienced the difficuties of life much as we do.  They felt abandonded by God as we do. They felt overwhelmed by affliction as we do.  They felt all was hopeless as we do.  And yet they always return to trusting the Lord even when the motivation is that there is no one else to turn to (which asctually there isn't).   They struggled with the same ehart sins we struggle with and their guidance in our rpayers can be a great blessing and instruction.

Heat sins will always be a struggle for God's people here.  However we can not allow their commonness to go unaddressed.  Keeping the heart is nowhere more critical than in the areqa of prayer.  Prayer is fundamental to our relationship with God and we need for that relationship to be open and whole from our side as it is from His.  Heart sins, an unkept heart, will hinder and disorder our prayers which in turn will hinder and disorder our walk and witness.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Heart Keeping 02 030414

Heart Keepers 002

2.  Deep humiliation for heart evils and disorders.

Paul exposes himself and us in Romans when he speaks of his own struggle with sin.  For some of us this is, well, embarassing.  Paul, the author of 2/3 of the New Testament; a man to whom Christ revealed Himself after His ascention - this pillar of the faith had a constant and pernicious battle with heart eveils and disorders?  Wow, do we even stand a chance?

Yes, we do!  We most certainly do!

But we only have a chance if we desire a chance.  What I mean is we must be motivated somehow to battle (with the aid of the Holy Spirit) each and every heart evil and disorder.

How can we be so motivated?  Flavel uses and interesting term, "Humiliation."  Not humbling but humiliation.  This is a most uncomfortable idea.  We work hard - very hard at never being humiliated and here it's presented as a necessary element in keeping the heart.

But can we be anything other than humiliated when we consider the cross?  When we reflect upon the suffering both physical and spiritual that our Master was willing to endure for our sakes?  Can we not find humiliation in our refusal to be humbled and made contrite?  Can we not find humiliation in our failure to faithfully pursuer godliness and holiness in the face of the cost?

Humiliation requires exposure.  Our deepest sins and secret desires must be exposed for us to have a sense of humiliation.  It is not a casual thing not a common thing.  We work very hard to resist and abait anything that might expose us to humiliation.  We sneak and lie to avoid it.  We critisize and complain to divert attention.  We work very hard to fool others and ourselves.

Humiliation is hard to bear.  But if the cost of not being humiliated is faithlessness, a hindered sanctification or a constant questioning of the veracity of our faith - isn't it reallly worth it?

Note though, it is not the sinful actions that Flavel calls us to humiliate - It is the sins in the heart.  The deep deep recesses of our hearts need to have the light of the Word shone into them so that we may expose - to oursevles at least - the depth of our remaining depravity and disorder.

This is not to be done causally or lightly.  It will be painful and irritating.  You will suffer and struggle.  But is we truly desire to live in the freedom Christ has bought us this must be done.  Without it we remain wounded and bound, cheating ourselves of the freedom Christ paid for.

How?  What are the "mechanics" of such a deep search and the resulting humiliation?  I wish I had an easy answer, a simple "how to."  But each of us much pray earnestly that God will first convict us of the need for such a search and will, by His Word, Spirit and perhaps the guidance of a godly mentor show us our "how."

I can only suggest some things.  The first is, of course, prayer and not a short simple prayer.  This is heart work and a great battle and demands great effort and submission.  I have thought that actually stretching out of the floor in a postion of submission might be of help.  Humbling ourselves physically can be an aid to humbling ouselves spiritually.  Focusing on the target - a deep humiliation for heart evils and disorders - would be critical.  Perhaps, should being prostrate on the floor not seem seemly to you, you could sit and write out your prayer for God to expose these twists in the heart.

Saturating yourself with the Word will be necessary.  The Psalms are replete with prayers of this nature.  Seek them out.  Meditate on them.  Ask God to make these prayers your prayers.

Foremost in all this is to beseach the Holy Spiriti to be the Holy Spirit in this.  Claim the promise of His advocacy and His comfort.  Demand - yes demand, that He work in your heart and your mind to bring the humiliation of exposure so that you may seek God's relief and release form these evils and disorders.

Paul was willng to "beat" his body daily to make it his slave and if he was willing to do that (figuratively) what are we willing to do that our hearts might know the blessed peace of Christ?

I don't believe there is any "magic means" to this goal.  There is no formula, no recipe.  But we have an arsenal of means for communicating with God and hearing from God that we may take up and use in this quest.

I have come to believe that if I take my faith seriously and truly desire to be conformed to His likeness that not only my mind but my heart must be renewed and renewed consistantly and constantly.  I encourage you to pray earnestly for the conviction to seek that deep humiliation for the evils and disorders of the heart that as they are exposed and God addresses them we may be freed so we may remain free.

Monday, March 3, 2014

Heart Keeping 01 020314

6 Heart Keepers 01

John Flavel in his work Keeping the Heart offers six things we ought to be doing in order to keep the heart.
Frequent observation of the frame of the heart.
Deep humiliation for heart evils and disorders.
Earnest supplication and instant prayers for purifying and rectifying grace when sin has defiled and disordered the heart.
Imposing strong engagement upon ourselves to walk more carefully with God and avoid the occasions whereby the heart may be induced to sin.
A constant and holy jealousy over our own hearts.
The realizing of God's presence with us and setting the Lord always before us.

In this series I hope to go through each one of these and help us understand how and why these are important.

Needless to say we should all recognize the imperative of "keeping" or "guarding" our hearts.  Jesus made is very clear that it is out of our hearts that all evil springs.  Even in our redeemed state and in the midst of God's sactifying work we still have that remnant of the corrupt nature in our hearts and we must live and act on that fact humbly submitting to God and resisting and fleeing the Devil.

1.  Frequent observation of the frame of the heart.

"PAY ATTENTION - ON PURPOSE!"
The word heart in the Bible typically is synonymous with the word "soul."  So we need to be clear that we are not talking about either the muscle or the emotions.  This isn't the seat of your feelings or affections but rather the seat of your faith that we are dealing with.

The "frame" of your heart can best be seen as like steel beams that support any massive structure.  Though they are not visible yet they are the key to the structural soundness of any building.

What are the "steel beams" of your heart?  Are they submission to, dependence on, worship towards and trust in God?  If these are not sound then your structrue is in danger.

It's not a matter of having one or two of these but having all four as the frame of your heart - and hopefully the only frame.  Anything other than these four basic "beams" and your structure is not sound.  You will have weak spots and vulnerabilities.

Trusting in things, people, position; taking comfort in prosperity or favorable circumstances; harboring self-love or the fear of man are all examples of the weak beams with which we tend to frame our hearts.

It is well written in Proverbs:
Proverbs 3:5-8 ESV
[5] Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. [6] In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. [7] Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. [8] It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

Verse 5 = the heart
Verse 5b & 6 = the mind
Verse 7 = the choices
Verse 8 = the blessing

It all begins (and ends actually) in the heart.  Is the Lord actually the Lord of your heart?  Do you struggle in your heart with doubts and sin?  Is your heart aimed at and centered upon the Lord and what He has done for you - desires from you?

We know that the answer to the question above is, "Not so much as I would desire."  And so we must intentionally and regularly and consistantly examine our hearts - the frame of our hearts - to make sure they are framed with the right stuff.

Psalm 26:2 ESV
Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind.

Psalm 51:10 ESV
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Psalm 119:10 ESV
With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!

Psalm 119:34 ESV
Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.

Psalm 141:4 ESV
Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity, and let me not eat of their delicacies!

We examine our hearts through the Word of God and prayer.  Not to mention the necessary reliance upon the work of the Holy Spirit.  Being consistantly and prayer fully in the Word with an aim to the condition of our hearts is critical.  Think of the intensity nd awesomeness of open-heart surgery.  This work of keeping the heart is not less so and perhaps even more so.

I encourage you to pray for the conviction, strength and intention of keeping your heart.  This is the way of sanctification that the Lord has established so it is the way we should commit to go.