Showing posts with label heart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heart. Show all posts

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Uses of Afflcition 02 031314

Uses of Affliction 02  031314

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.

Monday, March 10, 2014

Heart Keepers 06 031014

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

Heart Keepers 05. 030914

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

Heart Keepers 04 030614

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

Heart Keepers 03 030514

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.

Friday, February 7, 2014

"We" Prayers

I was praying this morning about some folks I'm involved with and was asking God to help me as I served them.  I was using a lot of "I(s)" and "me(s) which bothered me but I persisted in prayer.

Then I was praying for one paricular person and I said, "May we be a blessing......."

It may be a silly point - it may be trivial but that "we" got to me.  I think what got to me was how much I prayed that God would enable me to do this of that - or be this or that and I forgot that it has to be a "we."

It's not "I" who does anything.  It's He and I, emphasis on the He.  It was a shocker for me to realize how even in prayer my self-ish-ness, my self-focus comes into play.  I realized that I was asking Him to help "me" istead of asking Him to allow me to help Him,  serve Him.

I realized that in my corrupt and wandring heart I was using Him like somekind of a supply post where I went and got what i needed (or thought I needed) and then went on my merry way doing my thing - even though I did it for Him.

I came away from that time with a new perspective on my prayer and my service.  I don't want to serve Him but rather serve with HIm.  Maybe that's just a distinction He needed to make for me but it has been a good one.

Think about it - how often you pray "I" instead of "we."  How often you go to Him for provision and then wander off kind of without Him.  The Spirit is not in us for no purpose - so it's always gotta be a "we."

Friday, January 17, 2014

Quarrle and Fight #1 James 4

James 4:1a
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?

This is an universally appropriate question.  However what we need to have in mind is that this question is being asked of believers, of the church.

We are all aware of the "big" quarrels and fights that divide and destroy churched and we are all appropriately distressed by them.  Whether the issue is critical or seemingly trivial it will destroy the church when it is allowed to.  Sometimes a local group must pass through such a time of pruning and distress but that should be the exception not the rule.  Just as there are blessed additions to the Body so too there are sanctified subtractions.

However we will not be addressing this passage (James 4:1-10) from some corporate viewpoint.  If the "you in verse 1a is plural than we can extrapolate it's application to each and everyone of the "you(s)." it touches.  The seed of quarrels and fights is the sin abiding in each one of us.  We are the cause.

But just knowing the cause and not addressing it is a distressing sign of the ambivalence that may lurk in our hearts.  I meet with many believers who harbour ambivalence and apathy in their hearts concerning the holiness God calls us to and works toward in us.  It is as though they have found some comfortable and manageable place of compromise where their hearts are more at peace than not and they are willing to bear the incongruity of their position and the difficulty it brings.

God's call on our lives is not to "radical living," or even "radical faith>"  His call is to holiness - plain and simple.  Certainly our lives and beliefs will seem radical as we strive with His Spirit toward holiness but the point isn't to Wow the world but to grow in holiness after the image of Christ.

We've sadly forgotten and in some ways forsaken the quest for holiness and godliness and exchanged it for a display of radical distinction on the outside - in public and come to think that what we do will change what we believe.  It won't.  Only a deep and humble commitment to godliness/holiness and an utter humiliation before God in seeking it will produce in us His desired objective.

Again, though this applies to the big quarrels and public fights we see in the church, they are simply symptomatic of the little quarrles and fights we have against the will and providence of God.  I hope and pray you are open to and seeing your guilt in this and how insidious our sinful hearts are even as we are being conformed into the likeness of Christ.

I close with this quote from John Flavel from his work, Keeping the Heart:

To repress the outward acts of sin and compose the external part of thy life in a laudable manner, is no great matter; even carnal persons, by the force of common principles, can do this:  but to kill the root of corruption within, to set and keep up an holy  government over thy thoughts, to have all things lie straight and orderly in the heart, this is not easy.  John Flavel

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Finger Thinking 091113

Psalm 73:25-26 ESV
Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. [26] My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

How often is this a statement that we make or even consider?  It is so very easy to get caught up in the everyday to the point that we forget the only hope that we have.  It is so very easy for us to become numb to this truth.

Caught between the World and the Devil our flesh is so easily empowered and our hearts so easily benumbed.  It is only in those providential acts of merciful affliction that we desire to cry out as David does.  It is only in the loss or hindering of His mercies that we see how very precious they are.

There are no small blessings, so insignificant mercies and yet we are so very prone to treat them so.  We miss so very much of His wonder and lovingkindness simply through inattention and diversion.  We hope for heaven and miss the awesomeness of His providence in the everyday.

It does us little good to determine to not be diverted - there is little strength in our determinations.  It does us less good to approach Him as though it were some business or social goal we have set for our selves.

No, it is only in His strength that the distractions of the World and the Devil can be dispelled and we can regain the sight we need to whole-heartedly adore Him and see the value of all the mercies He pour out upon us moment by moment.  

We are to live in and by the Spirit and not the flesh - but this takes - no, demands a submission, a humbling that we are not prone to give.  We are so very oriented to achievement, to works that we bow not our knees for the common and the ordinary.  We have been fooled into thinking that we can deal with those things and only need Him for the "big things."

There is none in heaven for us but Him.  There is truly nothing here of any comparative value.  But we don not live that out in the everyday.

Pray that He will strengthen your heart, your soul, to bend your knees for the common and everyday things we have seen as the products of our efforts.  Do not be fooled into thinking that you accomplish anything apart from His providence.  

There and there alone will we find the peace He has for us.


Friday, June 28, 2013

Good luck? Not hardly.

Prov. 16:33, The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.

Just a thought for today.

How often do we wish folks, "good luck?"  Do we really know what we're wishing them?

What we're doing is suggesting that somehow it is a good thing to trust in fate or fortune instead of the sovereign God.  We're encouraging them to idolatry.  We're proposing that they put their faith in a false god offering no hope what so ever.

"Good luck," "Good fortune," even "May the force be with you," may seem innocent but they are not.  They are sinful proposals, invitations to hopelessness.

We would be better encouragers if we blessed them with "I pray God's providence for you concerning X."  But that's a little dangerous too.  it leaves it totally in God's hands to say "Yes," or "No."  AND whatever the answer it is His providence.

More than that, it is His blessing - yeah, "NO!" can be a blessing if it's a "No," from Him.

Even when we say, "may God bless you,"  we have to keep in mind that a "No," from Him is just as much a blessing as a "Yes."

James make it plain:

James 4:15-16 NASB
Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." [16] But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.

I could go on and on and on but I think you can get my point.  If what comes from our mouth comes from our hearts then wishing someone good luck tells us something about our hearts - they may be good intentioned but they err and the "why" of that error needs to be examined and rooted out.

Prov. 16:33, The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Free slaves?!? Faithful Master!!!!


Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.   (1Pe 2:16)

Free!
Free?

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.   (Rom 6:22)

This is the whole of our freedom.

Whether Peter is referring to a freedom from the Law is not certain, but we know that Paul references it:
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.   (Gal 5:13)

We are free from the bondage of sin and free from any pretense that we can in and of ourselves resolve the conflict we had with God when we were still unredeemed. 

We are free but it is not a wide-open freedom rather it is a freedom in Christ, by Christ and for Christ.  What we undertake, that we cannot undertake in His name, is never an act of freedom.

Jesus said:
"Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.  (Joh 8:34-36)

Sin and freedom are mutually exclusive.  We are free from the imposed rule of sin but when we sin, we are submitting to that which has no rights over us.  When we sin, we are re-shackling ourselves – binding ourselves to that from which we have been loosed.

We receive our freedom for we have been redeemed, forgiven, saved.  But though the grace of God has no limits for us, to abuse and misuse it, to rebel against His rightful authority over us, is to bring into question the surety of our redemption. 

Consider:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,   (Heb 12:1)

Forgiven we may be – free of sin’s bondage we may be – but free of Christ, never. 
It is sometimes the way of believers to see themselves so utterly apart from the “world” that they may do or say what they will for they are “saved.”  Yet ours is a freedom that is defined by the One who provided it, the One into whose hands God has delivered all things.

Many use their freedom to vilify unbelievers.  Many use their freedom as a red cape to a bull.  Many use their freedom as an excuse to disassociate from those to whom they are called to witness.  Many use their freedom to – just go along as they have – only avoiding the grosser types of sins.

But this verse has a catch.  We are free – free servants of God.

But – that word “servants” is troublesome.  The “authorities” I regularly consult in my studies hold that it is more accurately translated slave.

One reason for this is quite simply:
for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.   (1Co 6:20)
and 
For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.   (1Co 7:22-23)

We were bought out of our bondage to sin to be the slaves of Christ.  In this we have great freedom – freedom from sin and freedom to serve God as His.

Though it may irritate some, our freedom in Christ is far beyond any freedom a document written by man can give – anyone.  The tough side of our freedom is that we are free to be oppressed, harassed and even killed because of it. 

In chains, on the rack, in dungeons, on desert islands, and even in the flames we are free.  We have to keep in mind that this freedom is not of man and indeed is often opposed by man.   With this freedom we need to accept:
Luk 21:17  You will be hated by all for my name's sake.

Father, help me understand and appreciate my freedom as well as Your ownership of me.  Make me quiet and trusting under Your loving hand.  Teach me, patiently, to be a good and faithful servant.  Teach me Your faithfulness as my Master.

Calm my heart and still my mind with the assurance of Your sovereignty and grace.

Amen

Monday, February 4, 2013

Psalm 30:6-7


Psalm 30:6-7 ESV
As for me, I said in my prosperity, "I shall never be moved." [7] By your favor, O LORD, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed.

Oh my, how many of us can say "Amen," to this?

I take special not of the words, "my mountain."  

I have to admit it's convicting because it never was, "my mountain," it was His.

But isn't that common to our struggle?  When things are going well we get a little tunnel vision.  We see us and ours and my and mine and we do not look to Him as constantly as we need to.  We get a little cocky about things and our duties to and for Him slip on our priority list.

Of course the opposite is true as well.  When He hides His face (or seems to) we run the danger of curling into a little ball in the corner and doing nothing in terms of our duties to and for Him.  

Perhaps this is why we need to be a little more tough on ourselves when it comes to our duties.  I'm no proposing some legalistic, rigid, heartless process but rather a commitment to pray and study, etc. daily and intentionally.  

We eat, we go to the bathroom, we go to work, we pet the dog - we do so many things regularly.  Perhaps we need to begin to view (and pray for help to) our "duties" as not quite so lofty and unreachable.  Maybe we need to see these duties as simply the common and simple things believers do.  Which, I am coming to believe they are.

Though we have a special privilege in these things they are not unusual to the believer - or shouldn't be.  

Recently I spoke with some friends and we all were "feeling" kind of numb in our walks.  The temptations was to do something "special" for Him.  But we realized that He is the  one who does the special things - we are simply called to do simple things.  Pray, study. worship, give, encourage, comfort ---- simple things.

If, and he has, God has put His Spirit in us to reside forever then we have all we need in terms of right and ability to engage these duties.  Regardless of our "feeling" when engaging in them we should be about them.  It's hard when we don't "feel" like doing them or they don't make us "feel" better but that in no way decreases the value of them.

Father, it is so easy for us to be tempted to try to bargain with You.  It is so easy to wonder what we need to do to get on Your "good side."  We know this is a deception, a trick Satan wants us to fall for and we really need Your help to fight it.

We struggle with Your assurance of our salvation and our needs here.  Our needs here have a nasty habit of overwhelming us and keeping us from knowing the "joy of Your salvation."  We don't know what to "do" about this - so we ask You to do what needs to be done.  

Whether we need a change of heart or mind, we ask You to heal and help us to engage You in the ways You have provided - regardless of how we "feel."  You know our deepest need and indeed you know our true hunger.  Please keep us from being seduced by opportunity and despair into doing nothing.  Help us - make us - faithful in as much as we can be right where we are.

Amen.........