Freedom is Good News Part 143

Picking up where we left off last week; Solomon, in 1 Kings 8:29, asks that God’s eyes would always be opened toward His temple night and day.  The temple Solomon built existed 3000 years ago; the temple God dwells in today is within His chosen ones.  Solomon’s words were prophetic.  He spoke of the physical temple that was a type of the spiritual temple today.

We can see this connection in the book of Hebrews 3:1-6: “Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus; who was faithful to him who appointed him, as also was Moses in all his house.  For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who built the house has more honor than the house. …. But Christ is faithful as a Son over his house; whose house we are.”

In view of this, let us consider this prayer of King Solomon; he asks God to listen to the prayers of His servants and to “hear from heaven, your dwelling place and when you hear, forgive.” (8:29-30) Again and again, Solomon beseeches God to hear the prayers of His servants for their several sins: “When a man wrongs his neighbor …” (Verse 31).  “When God’s people have been defeated by an enemy (Satan?) …” (Verse 33).  “When there is no rain - because of sin (the spiritual rain of blessing?) ….” (Verse 35).  When famine, plague or blight come (a famine of the Word?) … (Verse 37). … Etcetera. 

Solomon finishes this prayer with these words, “And if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul … and pray … toward this temple I have built for your name, then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven, your dwelling place, and maintain their cause; and forgive your people who have sinned against you.” 1Kings 8:48-50)

A couple of weeks ago we tied this prayer of Solomon to the topic we were considering, namely, “walking humbly with our God”.  And we led into this topic with this quote, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart.”

Walking in the presence of God with all of our heart – what an awesome responsibility this is.  It is the answer to the question we asked several weeks ago, “How do we walk worthy of the calling we have received?” 

If we are serious in our desire to honor God; if we really want to understand what it is like to be in God’s presence; then we must learn to “walk humbly with our God”.

Oh, how I wish that all of us who are reading these articles could get together and discuss this “Christian adventure” we have been embarking on.  I find that nothing on earth has delighted me more and I hope you will feel the same!!

Until next time, may your reading of the word of God bring you good news!

Freedom is Good News Part 141

We have been considering, in these articles, the topic of walking worthy of the calling we have received.  We have seen that it is a very important topic, one which Paul “urges” us to do.  We have seen that the Apostle tells us to “be completely humble and gentle”.  He tells us to be patient and to bear with one another in love.  This is the kind of “worthy walk” we are to take.  Most times the things that are of greatest value, take the greatest effort.

I want to walk with my Heavenly Father!  Do you have that desire?  I want to know what it is like to be in His presence. 

I suppose we all have to decide what our priorities are in this life.  It does not take too much wisdom to look around and see that the world, in general, has tossed aside the ways and things of God.  We find ourselves surrounded by a secular society that, more and more each day, looks toward itself to solve the problems it has created!!

God really does have all the answers.  This should be the starting point for all Christians.  We are told in the scriptures that Solomon was the wisest man on earth.  Very early on in his book of Proverbs, we read, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” (Pro. 3:5&6) 

I want to walk with my Heavenly Father!  Do you have that desire?  I want to know what it is like to be in His presence. 

Early in his reign as King of Israel, Solomon took upon himself, the commission of building a temple for God.  When it was finished and he set about to dedicate it to “the name of the LORD”, we read that “a cloud filled the Temple of the LORD so that the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled His temple.” (1 Kings 8:10&11)

And then he asked a prayer over the temple.  This prayer, in its entirety, is found in 1 Kings 8:22-53.  Solomon knew that every answer to every problem resided with this God who created all things, this God who rules over all the universe, this God who would indeed, dwell with His creation!!

Shall we look at this prayer?  “Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven, and said, ‘O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart’” 

Solomon wanted to walk with his Heavenly Father for he knew what it was like to be in His presence.  Let us consider this prayer in future articles.

Freedom is Good News Part 92

In our previous article we took a look at a couple of prayers given by a couple of prominent men of the bible – David and Daniel.  So, we know that they were men of prayer.  But how often did they pray? 

We are all familiar with the episode in the book of Daniel concerning him being thrown into the lion’s den.  But do we know why this happened?  A decree was issued by the king of the Medes and Persians that anyone found praying to any god or man beside Darius the king, would be thrown into the lion’s den.  This episode is found in the book of Daniel, chapter 6.  In verse 10 of this chapter we read, “Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem,  Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had once before.”  Daniel’s practice was to pray three times a day and he did so openly, even though it might cost him his life.

And what about King David?  This man who wrote the lion’s share (excuse me Daniel, no pun intended) of the Psalms tells us this in Psalm 55, “Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me for my thoughts trouble me and I am distraught … But I call to God, and the LORD saves me.  Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress and He hears my voice.”  We find here that David prayed as Daniel did, three times a day!!  Do you pray three times a day?  Let me include myself here – do I pray three times a day? 

How near do we want to draw to our Heavenly Father?  The bible tells us in several places, to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, all of our strength and all of our life. (Deut. 6:5, Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30)   It tells us to serve the Lord our God with all of our heart and with all of our soul. (Deut. 10:12)  It tells us to seek the Lord our God with all of our heart and with all of our life. (Deut. 4:29)

I once brought up these examples of praying three times a day and a listener raised his hand and pointed out what Paul had to say.  In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17 Paul writes, “Be joyful always, pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  In Colossians 4:2 he writes, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”  In Philippians 4:6 he writes, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  In Romans 12:12, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, devoted to prayer.”

Paul sets the bar pretty high for us as we consider our relationship with our Heavenly Father and talking with Him in prayer.  But, let us remember where we started out;  “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  Everyone was filled with awe …” (Acts 2:42)  Oh, this “awe” thing, and being filled with it; I am sure it is good news!!  Don’t forget to pray.

Freedom is Good News Part 91

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  Everyone was filled with awe …” (Acts 2:42)

We picked up this scripture in our previous article as we began to examine ourselves to see if we were “all in” when it came to wholeheartedly serving our God.  We touched on the first three items: the apostles teaching, fellowship and the breaking of bread, in that article but saved the fourth item, prayer, for today.  So let’s consider the concept of a “prayer life”.

If we begin by looking into the Old Testament for the word prayer, we will find the first use of the word in Genesis 20:7.  God tells the king of Gerar that Abraham is a prophet and he will “pray for you and you will live”.  We find in verse 17 of this same chapter that “Abraham did pray to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife … so they could have children again”.  This first use of the word prayer expresses the idea of interceding on behalf of another.  We may use this type of prayer when we find that someone near and dear to us has become ill or has lost a job, etc. and we intercede with God for them. 

Another type of prayer may be for ourselves because we have sinned before our God and we need forgiveness.  We find this type of prayer in what many consider the book of prayers, i.e. the book of Psalms.  In Psalm 51 (of David) we read, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your lovingkindness; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.  Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”  We see an example of both types of prayer in the book of Daniel, chapter 9.  Here Daniel is interceding for the people of God who have been exiled to Babylon because of their sins. In verse 4 we read, “I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed:  ‘O LORD, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant of love with all who love Him and obey His commands, we have sinned and done wrong.  We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. … LORD, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame … .’”  In humility, Daniel includes himself here.

In these two prayers – of David and of Daniel – we can almost hear how sincere they are and how from their innermost being they pour out their hearts to God.  In this prayer of Daniel we begin to get into a third type of prayer, a prayer of praise and adoration to the great and awesome God who has created all things.  In considering this type of prayer, I would like to take you to my favorite prayer in the entirety of the bible.  This is a prayer of David in 1 Chronicles 29:10-20, “Praise be to you, O LORD, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.  Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours.  Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.  Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things.  In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.  Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.”  David goes on from here with more praise and thanksgiving but I will let you read it for yourself so you may be lifted up with his words.  They are good news indeed.

Freedom is Good News Part 80

Picking up from our last article, we see that Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6)  Notice that He did not say, “I will show you the way, reveal to you the truth and give you life.”  This is a very significant detail.  We see a very similar thing when Jesus spoke with Martha, the sister of Lazarus who had just died.  He told her, “I am the resurrection and the life.” 

The spiritual reality here is that God does not just give us gifts; He is the gift.  Our God is the sum of all things and He has given all this to His Son.  Jesus tells us this in verse 11 “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”  There is a relationship here that goes beyond our human understanding.  And yet we are called into that relationship as Jesus offers up His prayer in chapter 17; we see in verse 21, “As you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, that the world may believe that you have sent me … may they be one as we are one; I in them and you in me.”

Jesus did not just give us these words and then go off to heaven to be with the Father, leaving us to wonder what He meant and so fend for ourselves.  No, he tells us, starting in 14:15, “If you love me you will obey what I command and I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to abide with you forever – the Spirit of Truth.”  This same “Counselor” is spoken of in verse 26, “the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”  Wow!  What a promise.  Please remember that we started this study with the words, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart, I have overcome the world.”  (John 16:53) 

Going back to 16:16 Jesus says to the disciples, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”  The disciples were confused about this statement and it brought them some grief.  But Jesus told them, “Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice and no one will take away your joy.”

And so in chapter 17 Jesus offers up that most famous prayer: for Himself (verses 1-5), for the disciples (verses 6-19) and for us who believe (verses 20-26).  Jesus ends this prayer with these words, “I have made your name known to them, and will continue to make it known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

It is the time of year to reflect upon these things.  There are a thousand lessons in these few chapters.  But of a truth, the greatest lesson is found when the two Marys go to the tomb, see the stone rolled away and encounter two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning.  And the two men said, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here; He has risen!” (Luke 24:1-6)

Freedom is Good News Part 71

We have been engaged, for the past couple of articles, in Paul’s prayer to the Ephesians found in Eph. 1:16-20.  This is not his only prayer for this church group.  We find a second prayer in chapter 3 verses14 through 19.  In the book of Romans Paul offers two short prayers for that church in 15:5-6 and 13.  He offers two short prayers for the Philippians in 1:3-4 and 9-11.  For the Colossians, he offers a prayer in 1:9-14.  In both letters to the Thessalonians there are prayers: 1 Thes. 3:12-13 & 5:23 and 2 Thes. 1:11-12 & 2:16-17.

Why do I mention them?  I think it is instructive to read the things that Paul thought were important for the churches.  In my own prayer life I will usually pray for the physical and emotional needs of a friend or brother, (health, finances or mental wellbeing) but I tend to forget the spiritual needs which are perhaps of greater importance.

We all have needs and wants.  In our congregation we have a prayer book that is passed around during our worship service so that requests for prayers may be written down.  Toward the end of services the written requests are read aloud and a prayer is offered for them.  Most often the prayer requests mention family members, acquaintances, co-workers and members of the congregation.  The concerns mentioned are most often physical.  It is the physical realm of which we are most aware and so it is there that we usually focus our time and efforts.  But, is it not in the spiritual realm of our lives that things are of utmost importance?  Yes – one’s need to “walk worthy of the calling we have received” (Eph. 4:1) so as to serve God in our lives, must come before the physical requests we have.

And what about ourselves?  Do we remember to pray for ourselves?  Do we need spiritual enlightenment, wisdom, better knowledge of the path God wants us to walk or an understanding of God’s word?  Or how about the joy and peace in our lives to overflow with love for God and for our neighbor.  Do we find ourselves getting angry, offended, or filled with pride and vanity?  It is hard to pray for someone else if we are in a bad mood or filled with vanity.

Perhaps I have mentioned this before but I liken it to the speech the stewardess gives before each and every flight; “In case of a loss of oxygen in the cabin, a mask will drop from the compartment above you.  Make sure you place the mask on yourself first so that you may be able to help a child or neighbor with theirs.”  I suppose it should be obvious, but if we are struggling with a lack of oxygen, we are no good to ourselves or others.  And so it is in the spiritual realm.  We need to be in a good relationship with our heavenly Father so as to better help a friend who needs us to pray for them.

I have given you many references to Paul’s prayers.  I encourage you to get your bible and read all of them.  Perhaps in your on-going reading, you may find other prayers that Paul or Peter or one of the other writers in the bible used.  I find these prayers very uplifting.  And that is good news.

Freedom is Good News Part 69

In almost all of Paul’s letters to the churches, he includes a prayer for them.  Let’s take a look at one the prayers that Paul includes to the church in Ephesus.  “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.” (Eph. 1:18)  Some time ago we talked about how we all need God’s help in having our hearts opened to His enlightenment. 

The Word of God can sometimes be a mystery.  I have, in the past, likened it to a jig-saw puzzle – you need to put this piece in place before you can see where this other piece fits.  So it was for me when I began reading the bible almost 42 years ago.  Friends and brethren, there are still many pieces lying on the “table” that I haven’t fit into place yet.  And there are some pieces that seemed to fit many years ago, but as I learn, read and studied, I realize they were in the wrong spot!  My admonition to you – don’t ever be afraid to question your knowledge of God’s word.  May God enlighten the eyes of all of our hearts!

The first petition of Paul’s prayer is: “That you may know the hope to which He has called you…”  This is an interesting request by Paul for his beloved brethren in Ephesus.  At first blush one may wonder why they did not understand the hope of their calling.  But I must ask the question, “Do you?”  The Greek word Paul uses here is an interesting one.  There are two words used in Greek for “knowledge”.  Without getting too deep here, one simply means, “an inception or progress in knowledge”; as in, “I am coming to a knowledge of Spanish”.  In other words, it’s an ongoing thing.  While the one Paul uses in this prayer (oida) suggests “fullness of knowledge”.  This “hope” to which we are called, must be fully known or better said, fully understood.  This is a much stronger word. 

Sometimes we might look at the word “hope” as a “maybe kind of word”, “I’m going fishing and I hope to catch some fish; maybe I will catch some and maybe I won’t”.  But the hope that God calls His children to is never a maybe thing.  This word that Paul uses here has a meaning of “having a favorable expectation with assurance”.  We can expect a certain outcome and we are assured of it.  Paul wants God to give his readers a true and full knowledge that His promise is assured.  In other words, no doubts! 

The second petition that Paul prays is that you may know “the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints”.  No strange Greek word here.  We all know what an inheritance is.  God has promised us a portion of His estate.  Wow!  I mentioned to a group recently that in the known universe, if God wanted to divide equally among the 7 billion residents of the earth, all the stars, each of us could have 2 trillion of them.  That’s a lot!!!  But His inheritance to His children is worth even more than that. 

Stay tuned, there’s a lot more to talk about.

WHAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE? PART 4

I must share with you that since I have started looking into this topic; God has shown me again and again how I fail to have in mind the things of God.  In my dealings with co-workers, brethren, family and even the kids on my school bus, God has shown me the deviousness of my wanting to have my way!  It is not that I must give way to the will of those around me – for that would also be idolatry – but the will of God is my prime directive.

In the previous installment we looked at a curious example of idolatry found in Matthew 16:21-25.  Let’s consider another – perhaps unusual – example of idolatry found in the bible.  This one is found in 2 Samuel 6:6.  King David wants to move the ark of God and Uzzah has the task of guiding the cart that is hauling the ark.  The oxen stumble, Uzzah reaches out to steady the ark and he meets with death.  Is he guilty of idolatry in this action?  Uzzah had the things of man and not the things of God in mind.  His work met with death.  I’m going to go with idolatry.  But let’s not forget David.  In 1 Chron. 13 we read that David conferred with “his officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds” – uh oh!  He did not consult the word of God for this endeavor which commanded that only the Levites may carry the ark of God.  This is a good example of the scripture, “There is a way which seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death.”  There is here a spirit of idolatry that can influence our decisions.  These examples have nothing to do with idols of stone and wood but with flesh.  It is a spirit of idolatry that resides within the human nature.

And so let us look at David’s act with Bathsheba.  Was it his sin with this woman or his sin with her husband that might be considered idolatry?  It was both.  Remember, we have spoken of the fact that the idol is “eliyl”, it is nothing.  David did not idolize Bathsheba or Uriah the Hittite.  His idol was his own will; his ego and vanity. 

We could go on and discuss Saul and his failure to obey God’s command to destroy the Amalekites and all their livestock.  He did not have the things of God in his heart.  All of these examples have one thing in common – they failed to have that perfect love for God in their heart, their strength and their life.  These examples show forth a love of the world that John tells us to avoid in 1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

Many times a brother or sister in Christ will refer to a certain scripture in Proverbs as a hallmark for their life.  Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in YHVH with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.”  Note the emphasis on the word “all”. 

Trust in YHVH with all your heart (Prov. 3:5); love YHVH with all your heart (Deut. 6:5); serve YHVH with all your heart (Deut. 10:12); seek YHVH with all your heart (Deut. 4:29) – throw in the fact that you should do this with all your strength and all your life and you have a recipe for avoiding idolatry.

Simply put, this life is not about us.  It is wholly and totally about the God we serve.  It’s funny, isn’t it?  We are toward the end of a four part article and I just stated the gist of it in two short sentences.  If we find ourselves with a spirit of idolatry, we cannot love.  We cannot love God and we cannot love our neighbor, pure and simple!  And indeed, it is not always easy to see.  A brother or sister may be in some kind of trouble and we rush in to help.  Was God testing this person in some way and we just overstepped our bounds because we decided to help?  I’m sure that Uzzah felt that he was just doing a good deed in steading the ark – his work was a dead work. 

So, perhaps you’ve been wondering, “Is this series of articles about the opposite of love, as the title suggests; or is it about renewing your mind so as to have the mind of Christ, as the start of this article seemed to indicate, or is it about keeping ourselves from idols, as 1 John 5:21 warns us?”  And the answer is …. YES!!

Allow me to quote Paul in his letter to the Romans (Ah, the very letter where we began this study).  Romans 8:5-8 says, “Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the flesh; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on the Spirit.  The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace; the mind set on the flesh is hostile to God.  It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

If we have our minds set on the things of the flesh, we cannot love God.  If we have our minds set on the things of the flesh, we are not renewing our minds.  If we have our minds set on the things of the flesh, we are not keeping ourselves from idols.

Paul goes on to encourage the Roman church in verse 9, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells in you ….”  Oh my, you might as well read the entirety of this chapter.  It all fits here.

I must assume that all of you who are reading this are striving to have your minds set on the Spirit and not on the flesh.  But sometimes the “old man” gets in the way.  After all, we know how some things should turn out for the best.  We should have our own way.  The Boss, the neighbor, our relative, our spouse, etc.; they just do not know how it should work and we need to have our opinion served.  And maybe we are right; but to what cost? 

“Continue to work out your salvation within fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to desire and to work according to His purpose.  Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation in which you shine like stars in the universe.” (Phil. 2:12-15)

So, perhaps you have read this far and you are wondering, “Where do I go from here?”  Simply put; down on your knees.  How should you conduct your life with this info in mind?  I don’t know, but God does!  Ask Him to show you.  And when He places a contrary spirit in your path, in your life – do not plead for deliverance, pray for insight.  Let Him lead and direct your path.  “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight.” 

P.S.  You might just begin with Psalm 115.  May God bless you with insight!