The Old Testament indicates that there are two different types of towers. The first of these is the Strong Tower or High Tower, two of Bible's many pseudonyms.
Solomon said, "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe" (Proverbs 18:10, NKJV).
David, the psalmist said, "For You have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from my enemy" (Psalm 61:3).
David also said, "Blessed the the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle - my lovingkindness and my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer, my shield and the One in whom I take refuge, ..." (Psalm 144:1, 2, emphasis added).
The second type is the watchtower or tower.
Isaiah, talking about the Lord's vineyard, said: "He (God) dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, ..." (Isaiah 5:2).
Spiritually speaking, the watchtower is the Church, a refuge from the world.
General situation today
The Strong Tower (the Lord) and the watchtower (the Church) both serve a similar function in that they are always to provide a refuge from the enemy. However, only one of these is functioning at full capacity today - the Strong Tower, the invincible, eternal Tower (God). The watchtower is growing weak and crumbling, no longer offering the saints a refuge where they may enjoy thoughts that mirror God's thoughts and ways that are the ways of God. If a Church adopts the ways of the same world it is supposed to oppose, the saints can no longer receive the relief they used to in their Church.
Today believers do not pray as much as they should and so they cut themselves from God. Consequently, they lose the knowledge of the Holy God. Yet, at the same time a few believers sense a need to return to seeking the Lord in prayer. These are the ones that regularly attend the Church prayer meetings. They want to know and experience their Lord, not just promote a moral way of living. What unavoidably ensures is a split between those who attend prayer meetings and those who do not.
The watchtower divided against itself
The most basic cause of all these splits is a lack of unity. The contemporary believers lose their unity when they begin to develop vastly different convictions. This potpourri of convictions surfaces because most of the believers base their convictions on elements they do not share in common: their respective pasts and feelings. Everyone has a different past. If everyone bases his convictions on his past, his convictions will, therefore, be as distinct as his past. The same is true of feelings, whcih are both unique and fickle. Believers are living their lives in the soul realm instead of in the spirit realm. They are divided because they were not led by the Spirit of God.
The early New Testament believers, on the other hand, were of one mind, sharing common beliefs and convictions. These common convictions became the mortar that held their tower together, without which it would have crumbled. They shared common convictions because they received them from a common source - the Holy Spirit. As I shared in an earlier message - "Victory in seeking God", convictions are established by the Holy Spirit (John 16:7 - 11). Not only they shared common convictions, but also shared everything together:
"And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayer" (Acts 2:42).
Notice that instead of Church split, the following verses (Acts 2:44 - 47) say many were added to the Church daily!
Transformation brought by the Strong Tower
God will always be a refuge for His people. He will always be a strong tower. This means if the Church does not also act as a refuge, we will go to God for our protection from the world. This can happen if the world gets into the Church and the Pastors and leaders have no communication with God - not seeking God in prayer.
A transformation takes place when you spend time with God. Slowly, you begin to think the way God thinks. Your thoughts become His thoughts. For example, Solomon, talking about the wisdom of God, said:
"The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate" (Proverbs 8:13).
The above teaches that God hates evil and that the one who truly fears the Lord will hate evil. Yet today very few believers hate evil. Most of us can't even grasp the notion of despising and loathing evil as God does. We don't hate evil. We tolerate it. We form indifferences toward it. Sometimes, we even flirt with it!
The word "hate" is a very strong verb. It transcends "dislike" by miles and not even in the same category with "indifference". Hate indicates strong, passionate, sometimes uncontrollable emotion. The believer who spends time with God will understand and know this hatred of evil. The believer who neglects to spend time with God will never know or even begin to understand it.
A bond strengthens in prayer between God and the believer. As he begins to think and act more like God, issues around him become very black and white in contrast. For him, "to live is Christ" (Phil. 1:21). Either issues around him are for God, or they are against God. Nothing is truly neutral for him. Whatever is not for God is against Him (Matt. 12:30). He sees no middle ground because he evaluates life on God's scale of importance - eternity.
Isaish said, "Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are are the desire of our hearts. My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness" (Isaiah 26:8, 9, NIV).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. Isaiah was following God's law, doing things God's way. Futhermore, he said that he wanted God, he wanted His Name to be know, and he wanted God to be remembered.
2. Isaiah wanted God, day and night. There was nothing in the world that he wanted more. His spirit was contnually longing after God; his spirit was continually seeking Him.
3. According to Isaiah, people only learn righteousness when judgments of God come upon the earth. I believe the presnt economic crisis is God's way of teaching the poeple of the world righteousness! Amazing!
Calling sin, sin
As far as the people of the world are concerned, sin is not big news. After all who doesn't sin? The news is judgment. That which the world discovers as sinful in the Church is not the problem. The problem is how the Church handles sinfulness. Once a Church stops dealing with sin, it no longer show the world the majesty of God.
A Christian who spends time with God and seeks Him in prayer develops the sensitivity of the prophet Isaiah. He has the eyes and ears of a prophet. He wants his God glorified; he wants his tower (the Church) to remain strong, a refuge from the world. His whole thought is that the Church must call sin, sin!
A person's concept of the Strong Tower
Most people receive their concept of God from their Church or denomination. A believer is generally able to have faith in God only to the degree that his Church does. For example, a believer who attends a Baptist or Lutheran Church will not believe in divine healing or speaking in tongues. Why? It is because his Church does not teach it. On the other hand, a believer who attends a Charismatic or Pentecostal Church will believer most fervently in such divine manifestations. It is because his Church teaches it.
Your faith in God is limited to your concept of God. No Church can rise above its own level of faith. If your Pastor preaches that divine healing is a manifestation of God limited to the days of the apostles, then it is likely that you will believe this also. Consequently, you will not have the faith that would lead you to pray for healing.
Elisha's and Moses' concept of God
We need to develop our own concept of God and not to rely on another person's concept of God. I discovered, with amazement, that even Elisha failed to have his own concept of God in the beginning of his ministry.
Elisha was following Elijah all the way from Gilgal to River Jordan. He had just witnessed the power of God in parting the waters and in taking Elijah up in a chariot of fire. The Scripture says:
"Then he (Elisha) took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, 'Where is the Lord God of Elijah?' And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over" (2 Kings 2:14, NKJV, emphasis added).
Now, why didn't he cry, "Where is the Lord, my God"? It is because Elisha was dependant on Elijah for his concept of God. he has no concept of God of his own yet.
Similarly, God revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush as a third Person for the simple reason Moses and the children of Israel had no concept of God of their own yet.
"God said to Moses, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: 'The Lord God of your fathers; the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations'" (Exodus 3:15, NKJV, emphasis added).
The danger of an inaccurate concept of God
The contemporary Church, in general, has been focusing on the Word of God to the exclusion of prayer. This has resulted in a very human concept of God. The Word of God deals with the fleshly aspect of God - the Word became flesh. Because of a focus on God's Word only, we have developed a very fleshly approach to God. Our worship of Him is also fleshly. We need to understand that the Word of God gives us the human concept of God. Prayer reminds us of the deity of God. Today, because of the lack of prayer, we have lost sight of the deity of Christ. From the lack of prayer and the Word, we have developed a concept of God that is off-center. Ministries that have a wrong concept of God then develop wrong concepts of God in the lives of those they bring to Christ. Mistakes like these are very serious because our concept of God determines how we worship God.
If we are not seeing God as He is and developing a concept of Him that is true to His nature, then we will see Him as He is not. The result will be that we will offer Him offensive worship - strange fire. There is a good example of offering strange fire to God recorded in the Book of Leviticus:
"Nadab and Abithu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. And Moses said to Aaron, 'This is what the Lord spoke, saying: 'By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified.'" (Lev. 10:1 - 3, NKJV, emphasis added).
Moses was telling Aaron not to be surprises at what happened to his sons because God has said that anybody who worships Him must treat Him as holy. Aaron's sons came before God offering Him strange fire or worship that is not in character with who God really is. God will not accept worship that is contrary to His true nature.
Revelation of the Strong Tower
Whenever God revealed Himself afresh to His people, it changes their concept of Him and their worship of Him. Isaiah had a supernatural revelation of God in which the Lord was surrounded by seraphim crying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of host; the whole earth is full of His glory" (Isaiah 6:3)! With this revelation, Iasiah became a great prophet of God, and he said to God, "Here am I! Send me" (Isaiah 6:8).
Many Church revivals started with a fresh revelation of God. For example, Charles Wesley received a fresh revelation of God and this enabled him to write many classic hymns. Those hymns were a result of a concept of God that was based on the revelation knowledge he received from God. His brother Jonathan was bringing the revival in with his anointed preaching.
God wants us to have our own revelation of Him, not some warmed-over revelation that was somebody else's. The only way we'll ever have our own revelation of God is through seeking Him in prayer and the Word. There is no short cut. If we don't see God as He is, how can we show others who God really is? We may be leading them into false worship!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Victory in Seeking God
Most of us have heard this story - "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp". It is a story about a boy, named Aladdin, who found a magic lamp in which a genie resided. The genie granted Aladdin three wishes, and the rest is history. What baffled me is the lack of any real relationship between Aladdin and the genie. Aladdin and the genie never socialized and never really developed a friendship. Their only communication was initiated by Aladdin when he was in a tight spot and needed something. He was interested only in getting as much as he could out of the genie. Surely you will agree with me that Aladdin was a very selfish and insensitive person.
Our Lord is not a genie
It is easy to see that many contemporary Christians are guilty of the same selfishness and insensitivity of Aladdin. Tragically, we treat the Lord, our God, like a genie in a magic lamp. Like young Aladdin with his genie, we often have very little relationship with our God. We call on Him only when we are in a tight spot and need something.
Many of us are seeking things from God under the pretense of seeking God. When we are sick, we seek healing from God. When hard financial times hit, we seek money from God. We call this seeking God, but in reality we are light years away from seeking God. The one who truly seeks God expects only one thing: God. He is looking for God, not just the things God. The prayer of his life is, "God, I just want You".
I believe we share a common trait with God in relationships. Any time we begin a new relationship we are hesitant to reveal very much about who we really are. However, if that relationship begins to develop and we recognize that this person is truly interested in who we are, we begin to tell this person things about ourselves that we would tell no one else. In the same way, God is hesitant to reveal very much of Himself to any casual seeker. However, when a person is truly interested in knowing who He is, he will seek Him in prayer. To such a person, God will reveal Himself in dynamic ways.
The urgent or the important
In contemporary Christianity, the demand of time in our work life, family life, Church life and social life is so great that we do not find much time in a day to pray. But when one of our children is seriously ill, or we receive a salary cut at work, or we are diagnosed as terminally ill, the day seems to expand. Suddenly, there is time enough to pray.
If we only pray when we are in the midst of a crisis, we develop the idea that prayer is just an "SOS" to God. Consequently, we never pray unless there is a disaster so great that we need to transmit a distress call to God. We are left with the misconception that prayer is a communication used exclusively as a remedy to overwhelming tragedy.
During tragedy we focus our prayers on the urgent and tend to ignore th important. It may be urgent that we receive a healing, but is is very important to just sit back and tell God how much we love and need Him. During a crisis, praying an "important" prayer is difficult. That is why we need to pray in non-crisis times. There is nothing wrong with praying during a crisis (in fact, we must), but if that is the only time we pray, there is something wrong!
Inferior substitute for the Gift of God
When Simon, who practiced sorcery, saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money saying: "Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive that Holy Spirit" (Acts 8:19, NKJV).
Peter said to him, "Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money" (Acts 8:20).
The Holy Spirit, the gift of God which speaks of the Anointing, is not a marketable commodity. We need to invest time in God's presence to receive that divine touch - the Anointing. In other words, we need to seek God continuously if we want to be used by him to touch lives.
Paul said, "I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speeech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God" (1 Cor. 2:3 - 5).
Paul was convinced that the Holy Spirit would confirm his preaching without making use of his own human wisdom. Yet many of today's preachers depend solely upon their showmanship and eloquence or human wisdom. There is no substitute for the gift of God's Spirit which comes only with much prayer.
Seeking God in prayer develops conviction
Jesus said, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; ..." (John 16:7, 8).
Clearly, convictions are established by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicts in three areas: in sin, in righteousness, and in judgment. We need to give good thought to the area of righteousness. Many Christians today claim to be - "In the world and not of the world" and yet there is very little righteous living, even among the believers in the Local Church.
The key to our conviction is having a consistent prayer life. When there is no prayer, there is no Holy Spirit to convict. You can base your convictions on the Bible, but only if you are a person of prayer. If you are not a person of prayer, you will not have the guidance and instruction from the Holy Spirit that you need.
The Scripture has never been a source of conviction apart from the Holy Spirit. The New Testament Pharisees are ample proof of this. They knew and could quote all the Old Testament Scriptures, but that knowledge was useless to them because they had a wrong spirit. With their knowledge of the Old Testament, they were able to crucify the Son of God. That is why Jesus said it was to our advantage that He lieves to send the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit we can end up no better than the Pharisees!
God working in us
Paul said, "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, ..."(Eph. 3:20, NKJV, emphasis added).
Paul also said, "... for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13, emphasis added).
Paul understood that God only does things in accordance with His power at work in us. Paul did not say "according to the power that works through us". There is a great difference here.
Most contemporary Christians want to be used mightily by God. In other words, they want God to work through them. But the fact is that anyone desires to be used by God. God has to work in him and not work through him. To desire God to work through him is a selfish desire.
How many of us are not tempted to pray for the gifs of the Spirit? Our fleshly nature tells us that if we are going to attract big crowds and to become a popular minister, we have got to have the Word of Knowledge; the Word of Wisdom; and the gifts of healings. We want God to work through us while God wanted to work in us. Wanting God to simply work through us is a pursuit for our own satisfaction and glory. On the other hand, wanting God to work in us is a pursuit of character development.
The fact is that we don't have to earn gifts and we don't even have to pray for gifts because we don't deserve any gift at all! The whole thought of being used by God is very appealing to the flesh. However, God can use anybody. God can work through a donkey. God's working through us is not the problem; God's working in us is!
We need to understand the connection between Jesus and the gifts. If seeking Jesus is our way of life, we will receive His gifts. Consequently, we must not focus on more of God using us than God Himself. We must not concern ourselves with the gifts as much as the fruit of the Spirit - Love, Joy, Peace, ... (Gal. 5:22, 23).
Paul said, "And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another" (Gal. 5:24 - 26, NKJV).
Conseder what Paul said to the Corinthians: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but I have not love, I am nothing" (1 Cor. 13:1, 2).
Paul's emphasis here is on character (the fruit) rather than the gifts. The gifts are of no value without the character (love) of Christ. Even if the gifts are in operation, the thing that impresses God is not what He can do through us but rather what He can do in us.
The gifts of the Spirit never prove a ministry. They work through us and can work in the life of any person to whom they are given. The fruit of the Spirit, on the other hand, proves who we are. Keep in mind that gifts are received, but fruit is developed!
To be used by God effectively
As we have seen above the key to effectiveness in our ministry is God working in us. When we spend great amounts of time in seeking God in prayer, it changes our ministry. We become far more effective because through spending time in the presence of God, people tend to see Jesus in us. It is not that fasting and prayer make a person a better speaker; it is that prayer and fasting denote self denial and character is developed through self denial.
When we focus on God's working through us, we primarily concern ourselves with what man sees. When we focus on God's working in us, we primarily concern ourselves with what God sees. We must develop a deep love for God, for God is love (1 John 4:8) and love is His fruit in us.
Jesus said, "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad treee bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them" (Matt. 7:17 - 10).
The kind of fruit we produce is determined by how much time we spend in the presence of God. God must always be our objective and never the gifts. We must let the gifts flow out of a right relationship with God.
Genuine Authority
One of the most prominent qualities of Jesus' preaching and teaching was the authority with which He spoke.
"And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes" (Mark 1:22).
Many contemporary Christians do not understand what is meant by "authority" in this context. We must first acknowledge that this genuine authority is granted to us because of our position, not because of our vocal power. Since we are in Christ (that is our position), we have authority. One man's ability to project his voice further than another man does not means he has greater authority. In prayer, for example, if we are required to pray for something a second time, we will do so, only more loudly than the first time. If we are required to pray a third time, we will shout.
Jesus said to the Sudducees, "You are mistaken, not knowing the scripture nor the power of God" (Matt. 22:29).
Jeus mentioned two constituents of authority here - authority through knowledge of Scripture and authority through God's power.
Authority through knowledge and Power
We have the authority that Jesus spoke abut if we seek Him in prayer and in study of God's Word. God's Word provides us knowledge about God, while prayer will help us to know God.
A preacher might understand the Scipture and able to quote God's Word in both Hebrew and Greek; able to preach with great eloquence and fabulous style, but if he failed to let God working in him through seeking Him in prayer, he is a talented but powerless preacher. And his preaching lacks power and authority to change lives.
Proverbs 2:1 - 5 shows us the importance of the combination of God's Word and prayer. Through the practice of these two elements will result in the knowledge of God. Therefore, a preacher must discipline himself to pray diligently and to study God's Word diligently. Then only will he know God. Then only will signs and wonders manifested in his ministry.
God spoke to Jeremiah: "Call to me, and I will answer, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know" (Jeremiah 33:3).
God has promised you those great and mighty things if only you will call to Him. When you are seeking and communing with Him, you are developing an awareness of His power. However, you will not see and experience that power until you transfer your head knowledge about God's power into heart knowledge through prayer. After much prayer, your intellectual assent will blossom into a life-changing reality which will permeate your life and ministry!
Our Lord is not a genie
It is easy to see that many contemporary Christians are guilty of the same selfishness and insensitivity of Aladdin. Tragically, we treat the Lord, our God, like a genie in a magic lamp. Like young Aladdin with his genie, we often have very little relationship with our God. We call on Him only when we are in a tight spot and need something.
Many of us are seeking things from God under the pretense of seeking God. When we are sick, we seek healing from God. When hard financial times hit, we seek money from God. We call this seeking God, but in reality we are light years away from seeking God. The one who truly seeks God expects only one thing: God. He is looking for God, not just the things God. The prayer of his life is, "God, I just want You".
I believe we share a common trait with God in relationships. Any time we begin a new relationship we are hesitant to reveal very much about who we really are. However, if that relationship begins to develop and we recognize that this person is truly interested in who we are, we begin to tell this person things about ourselves that we would tell no one else. In the same way, God is hesitant to reveal very much of Himself to any casual seeker. However, when a person is truly interested in knowing who He is, he will seek Him in prayer. To such a person, God will reveal Himself in dynamic ways.
The urgent or the important
In contemporary Christianity, the demand of time in our work life, family life, Church life and social life is so great that we do not find much time in a day to pray. But when one of our children is seriously ill, or we receive a salary cut at work, or we are diagnosed as terminally ill, the day seems to expand. Suddenly, there is time enough to pray.
If we only pray when we are in the midst of a crisis, we develop the idea that prayer is just an "SOS" to God. Consequently, we never pray unless there is a disaster so great that we need to transmit a distress call to God. We are left with the misconception that prayer is a communication used exclusively as a remedy to overwhelming tragedy.
During tragedy we focus our prayers on the urgent and tend to ignore th important. It may be urgent that we receive a healing, but is is very important to just sit back and tell God how much we love and need Him. During a crisis, praying an "important" prayer is difficult. That is why we need to pray in non-crisis times. There is nothing wrong with praying during a crisis (in fact, we must), but if that is the only time we pray, there is something wrong!
Inferior substitute for the Gift of God
When Simon, who practiced sorcery, saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money saying: "Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive that Holy Spirit" (Acts 8:19, NKJV).
Peter said to him, "Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money" (Acts 8:20).
The Holy Spirit, the gift of God which speaks of the Anointing, is not a marketable commodity. We need to invest time in God's presence to receive that divine touch - the Anointing. In other words, we need to seek God continuously if we want to be used by him to touch lives.
Paul said, "I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speeech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God" (1 Cor. 2:3 - 5).
Paul was convinced that the Holy Spirit would confirm his preaching without making use of his own human wisdom. Yet many of today's preachers depend solely upon their showmanship and eloquence or human wisdom. There is no substitute for the gift of God's Spirit which comes only with much prayer.
Seeking God in prayer develops conviction
Jesus said, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; ..." (John 16:7, 8).
Clearly, convictions are established by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicts in three areas: in sin, in righteousness, and in judgment. We need to give good thought to the area of righteousness. Many Christians today claim to be - "In the world and not of the world" and yet there is very little righteous living, even among the believers in the Local Church.
The key to our conviction is having a consistent prayer life. When there is no prayer, there is no Holy Spirit to convict. You can base your convictions on the Bible, but only if you are a person of prayer. If you are not a person of prayer, you will not have the guidance and instruction from the Holy Spirit that you need.
The Scripture has never been a source of conviction apart from the Holy Spirit. The New Testament Pharisees are ample proof of this. They knew and could quote all the Old Testament Scriptures, but that knowledge was useless to them because they had a wrong spirit. With their knowledge of the Old Testament, they were able to crucify the Son of God. That is why Jesus said it was to our advantage that He lieves to send the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit we can end up no better than the Pharisees!
God working in us
Paul said, "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, ..."(Eph. 3:20, NKJV, emphasis added).
Paul also said, "... for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13, emphasis added).
Paul understood that God only does things in accordance with His power at work in us. Paul did not say "according to the power that works through us". There is a great difference here.
Most contemporary Christians want to be used mightily by God. In other words, they want God to work through them. But the fact is that anyone desires to be used by God. God has to work in him and not work through him. To desire God to work through him is a selfish desire.
How many of us are not tempted to pray for the gifs of the Spirit? Our fleshly nature tells us that if we are going to attract big crowds and to become a popular minister, we have got to have the Word of Knowledge; the Word of Wisdom; and the gifts of healings. We want God to work through us while God wanted to work in us. Wanting God to simply work through us is a pursuit for our own satisfaction and glory. On the other hand, wanting God to work in us is a pursuit of character development.
The fact is that we don't have to earn gifts and we don't even have to pray for gifts because we don't deserve any gift at all! The whole thought of being used by God is very appealing to the flesh. However, God can use anybody. God can work through a donkey. God's working through us is not the problem; God's working in us is!
We need to understand the connection between Jesus and the gifts. If seeking Jesus is our way of life, we will receive His gifts. Consequently, we must not focus on more of God using us than God Himself. We must not concern ourselves with the gifts as much as the fruit of the Spirit - Love, Joy, Peace, ... (Gal. 5:22, 23).
Paul said, "And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another" (Gal. 5:24 - 26, NKJV).
Conseder what Paul said to the Corinthians: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but I have not love, I am nothing" (1 Cor. 13:1, 2).
Paul's emphasis here is on character (the fruit) rather than the gifts. The gifts are of no value without the character (love) of Christ. Even if the gifts are in operation, the thing that impresses God is not what He can do through us but rather what He can do in us.
The gifts of the Spirit never prove a ministry. They work through us and can work in the life of any person to whom they are given. The fruit of the Spirit, on the other hand, proves who we are. Keep in mind that gifts are received, but fruit is developed!
To be used by God effectively
As we have seen above the key to effectiveness in our ministry is God working in us. When we spend great amounts of time in seeking God in prayer, it changes our ministry. We become far more effective because through spending time in the presence of God, people tend to see Jesus in us. It is not that fasting and prayer make a person a better speaker; it is that prayer and fasting denote self denial and character is developed through self denial.
When we focus on God's working through us, we primarily concern ourselves with what man sees. When we focus on God's working in us, we primarily concern ourselves with what God sees. We must develop a deep love for God, for God is love (1 John 4:8) and love is His fruit in us.
Jesus said, "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad treee bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them" (Matt. 7:17 - 10).
The kind of fruit we produce is determined by how much time we spend in the presence of God. God must always be our objective and never the gifts. We must let the gifts flow out of a right relationship with God.
Genuine Authority
One of the most prominent qualities of Jesus' preaching and teaching was the authority with which He spoke.
"And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes" (Mark 1:22).
Many contemporary Christians do not understand what is meant by "authority" in this context. We must first acknowledge that this genuine authority is granted to us because of our position, not because of our vocal power. Since we are in Christ (that is our position), we have authority. One man's ability to project his voice further than another man does not means he has greater authority. In prayer, for example, if we are required to pray for something a second time, we will do so, only more loudly than the first time. If we are required to pray a third time, we will shout.
Jesus said to the Sudducees, "You are mistaken, not knowing the scripture nor the power of God" (Matt. 22:29).
Jeus mentioned two constituents of authority here - authority through knowledge of Scripture and authority through God's power.
Authority through knowledge and Power
We have the authority that Jesus spoke abut if we seek Him in prayer and in study of God's Word. God's Word provides us knowledge about God, while prayer will help us to know God.
A preacher might understand the Scipture and able to quote God's Word in both Hebrew and Greek; able to preach with great eloquence and fabulous style, but if he failed to let God working in him through seeking Him in prayer, he is a talented but powerless preacher. And his preaching lacks power and authority to change lives.
Proverbs 2:1 - 5 shows us the importance of the combination of God's Word and prayer. Through the practice of these two elements will result in the knowledge of God. Therefore, a preacher must discipline himself to pray diligently and to study God's Word diligently. Then only will he know God. Then only will signs and wonders manifested in his ministry.
God spoke to Jeremiah: "Call to me, and I will answer, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know" (Jeremiah 33:3).
God has promised you those great and mighty things if only you will call to Him. When you are seeking and communing with Him, you are developing an awareness of His power. However, you will not see and experience that power until you transfer your head knowledge about God's power into heart knowledge through prayer. After much prayer, your intellectual assent will blossom into a life-changing reality which will permeate your life and ministry!
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Victory through God's Word
To live according to God's Word is to live in victory. In fact the Bible says Jesus Himself is the Word of God. Jesus is the Word made flesh - "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14, NKJV).
The Word became a man and lived among those who believed in Him. When Jesus speaks, the Father Father speaks through Him, revealing eternal truth to us. Jesus' words are spirit, life and truth.
Moses said to the children of Israel: "So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord" (Deut. 8:3, emphasis added).
Therefore Jesus also said, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63).
If you are to live by faith, every Word that proceeds from God's mouth you will have to live by. If you are to live by faith you will not base your decisions on your own intellect or rational thought, nor on your senses, but on what God says in His Word. His Word will be a constant source of life for you and the foundation upon which you structure your life.
Rock and Sand
Jesus told a parable to his disciples toward the end of His Sermon on the Mount:
"Therefore whoever hears these sayings (words) of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall" (Matt. 7:24 - 27, NKJV).
A man built his house on the rock and another built his house on the sand. The one who built on the rock heard God's Words and put them into practice. The other heard God but did not do what He said.
The obedient one experienced victory when the storm came. He was able to withstand all the pressures that came against him. The one who had built on the sand had heard what God said, but had not obeyed. He suffered the loss of his house in the storm.
If you are to be a man or woman of faith, you will need to apply God's Word to your life. There is no point in possessing a Bible, reading it and even saying that you believe what is written there, if you are not prepared to put the Word into action. The one who lives the Word will be victorious.
Faith is not knowing a series of promises which you claim for yourself. These promises are part of the Covenant God has made with His children. He will certainly keep His side of the covenant and will bless you abundantly. He expects you to live by your side of the Covenant: to live according to His Word and by the power of His Spirit. This can only be done by faith.
The man of faith realizes that the whole revelation of God's Word is for him. He cannot pick and choose what he fancies. These are words to obey and promises to believe. Both belong together.
God intends you to be able to withstand whatever storms batter you, whatever difficulties confront you. Faith and obedience form the way of victory: hearing God, believing what He says and do it.
Being set free by the Truth of His Word
The words of Jesus are the answer to every human need. It is through His words that believers are set free:
Jesus said, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31, 32).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. Notice the conditions for being set free by the truth of the Word. Only those who uphold the truth of His Word are true disciples (true believers or true Christians).
2. Only true disciples (true believers or true Christians) understand the truth of His word.
3. Only true disciples (true believers or true Christians) shall be set free by His Word.
4. Many believers (true or otherwise) try to find liberty and freedom from their needs and problems in other ways - through philosophy and psychology, through techniques in the ministries and prayers of "great" men of God. But none of these methods will work for them. It is only the truth of God's (Jesus') Word and what He had accomplished, that will actually liberate people.
The Holy Spirit guides us into all Truth
The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth and one of the functions of the Holy Spirit is to reveal the Truth of God's Word to us. Without the help of the Holy Spirit there is no way we can understand the Scripture.
Jesus said, "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you" (John 16:13, 14).
The Holy Spirit does not act in independence. He "will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I (Jesus) said to you" (John 14:26).
When the truth of God's Word becomes revelation in our hearts, faith will be created within us. Only then can we be motivated to obey Him. Then we are able to act upon his words. When we do so, we experience peace. Failure to live God's Word leads to conflict. We then have no confidence before God. Our prayer life will be affected because we lack confidence of receiving answers from God. And such doubt and lack of confidence prevents both faith and victory.
Faith and Obedience
Faith within you is inspired by hearing God's Word in you heart. The Holy Spirit takes the words of the Scripture and speaks them to you, so you know you have heard directly from God (though not audibly).
The Holy Spirit will not convict a believer of sin and promise blessing at the same moment. What the Lord does, both in Scripture and in Christian's experience, is to give promise of blessing if there is repentance first.
Moses said, "All these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the Lord your God" (deut. 28:2).
To recognize Jesus as your Lord is to respect His authority over you. When your soul and body are submitted to the influence of His Spirit you will be mightily blessed, and will have confidence before God in your Christian walk (please read my earlier posting - The Spirit, Soul and Body of man).
To walk in obedience and submission is to walk in love for the Lord. This is not to be a begrudging submission coming from a rebellious heart, but a willing response to His love. It is love answering love. In His love God gives; in your love you submit willingly to His authority and obey.
John said, "Beloved, if your heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight" (1 John 3:21, 22, NKJV).
Allowing Jesus to be the Lord in the daily circumstance of your life gives you confidence before Him. You want to obey Him and do what pleases Him. In response, he wants to bless you and grant the desire of your heart.
Psalmist David said, "delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart" (Ps. 37:4).
Those living a victorious life walk in obedience to Jesus and the truth of His Word. This is true fellowship. He is the Victor. He is the Answer to your every need. And you can live in close harmony and fellowship with Him. Not only will you be blessed as a result, but others will be blessed because of you. When your life is submitted to Jesus, His Spirit flows out of your life as rivers of living water (John 7:38). And others are blessed with God's love and power because of you.
Faith, feelings and Reason
It is common to find believers contradict the Truth of His Word with their reason.. There will be occasions when their feelings seem utterly oppose to what God says in His Word. At such time they will have to choose whether they will trust their feelings, or believe the truth of God's word.
This is one of the most important aspects of a life of faith. The temptation to believe the natural reason rather than the supernatural power of God will always be with you. Reason limits the Lord in your life; faith releases His activity in your experience.
Life's experience tells us that it is easier to believe reason than revelation; it is easier to believe feelings than the Word; it is easier to listen to your doubts than to the Lord! Yes, easier - but not right.
This is the point of struggle for many Christians. It is so much more reasonable to believe what you can see, touch or feel. But faith is believing what you do not see (Heb. 11:1). Are you going to adopt the easy way, or live by faith?
A problem of the children of Israel (Numbers 13, 14)
The children of Israel wandered around the wilderness for a whole generation because of their lack of faith. When Moses sent the spies ahead into the Promised Land, ten of the twelve believed what they saw rather than the promises God had given them. They listened to their fears instead of to their faith.
Only Joshua and Caleb listened to the Lord, believing His words. To Joshua was given the privilege of leading the people into their inheritance. But those who listened to their fears perished in the wilderness. For them the promises of God and their own ambitions remained unfulfilled.
God is not opposed to reason; He is beyond reason. His thoughts and ways are much higher than your thoughts and ways (Isaiah 55:9). Do not limit the Lord by your reason. If God says one thing and you say another, someone has to be wrong! Whenever you contradict the Lord you can be sure He is right. He will not change His Word to accommodate your reason or feelings. It is your ideas and attitudes which will need to be changed and be brought into line with His Truth.
Many do not walk in victory and experience triumph in their Christian lives because they choose to believe themselves; to believe what they think or fear, rather than to agree with God's revelation of truth and the promises He gives in His Word. You have to make the decision whether you believe waht God says or whether you trust your own wisdom instead.
For true believers, there can be no compromise on this point. You cannot mix a little of the Word with your own wisdom and expect to see great things from God. Your mind will need to be submitted to His Spirit. And He will reveal the truth to you. What He wants from you is - hear the truth; believe the truth and obey the truth.
The wise man built on the rock. If you are wise you will listen carefully to the Lord and put His words into practice. If on the other hand, you choose to be foolish, you may hear what He says but trust in your own "wisdom" instead. Then you will build your house on the sand and it will not be able to withstand the storms of life. The choice is yours - are you going to be wise or foolish?
The Word became a man and lived among those who believed in Him. When Jesus speaks, the Father Father speaks through Him, revealing eternal truth to us. Jesus' words are spirit, life and truth.
Moses said to the children of Israel: "So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord" (Deut. 8:3, emphasis added).
Therefore Jesus also said, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63).
If you are to live by faith, every Word that proceeds from God's mouth you will have to live by. If you are to live by faith you will not base your decisions on your own intellect or rational thought, nor on your senses, but on what God says in His Word. His Word will be a constant source of life for you and the foundation upon which you structure your life.
Rock and Sand
Jesus told a parable to his disciples toward the end of His Sermon on the Mount:
"Therefore whoever hears these sayings (words) of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall" (Matt. 7:24 - 27, NKJV).
A man built his house on the rock and another built his house on the sand. The one who built on the rock heard God's Words and put them into practice. The other heard God but did not do what He said.
The obedient one experienced victory when the storm came. He was able to withstand all the pressures that came against him. The one who had built on the sand had heard what God said, but had not obeyed. He suffered the loss of his house in the storm.
If you are to be a man or woman of faith, you will need to apply God's Word to your life. There is no point in possessing a Bible, reading it and even saying that you believe what is written there, if you are not prepared to put the Word into action. The one who lives the Word will be victorious.
Faith is not knowing a series of promises which you claim for yourself. These promises are part of the Covenant God has made with His children. He will certainly keep His side of the covenant and will bless you abundantly. He expects you to live by your side of the Covenant: to live according to His Word and by the power of His Spirit. This can only be done by faith.
The man of faith realizes that the whole revelation of God's Word is for him. He cannot pick and choose what he fancies. These are words to obey and promises to believe. Both belong together.
God intends you to be able to withstand whatever storms batter you, whatever difficulties confront you. Faith and obedience form the way of victory: hearing God, believing what He says and do it.
Being set free by the Truth of His Word
The words of Jesus are the answer to every human need. It is through His words that believers are set free:
Jesus said, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31, 32).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. Notice the conditions for being set free by the truth of the Word. Only those who uphold the truth of His Word are true disciples (true believers or true Christians).
2. Only true disciples (true believers or true Christians) understand the truth of His word.
3. Only true disciples (true believers or true Christians) shall be set free by His Word.
4. Many believers (true or otherwise) try to find liberty and freedom from their needs and problems in other ways - through philosophy and psychology, through techniques in the ministries and prayers of "great" men of God. But none of these methods will work for them. It is only the truth of God's (Jesus') Word and what He had accomplished, that will actually liberate people.
The Holy Spirit guides us into all Truth
The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth and one of the functions of the Holy Spirit is to reveal the Truth of God's Word to us. Without the help of the Holy Spirit there is no way we can understand the Scripture.
Jesus said, "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you" (John 16:13, 14).
The Holy Spirit does not act in independence. He "will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I (Jesus) said to you" (John 14:26).
When the truth of God's Word becomes revelation in our hearts, faith will be created within us. Only then can we be motivated to obey Him. Then we are able to act upon his words. When we do so, we experience peace. Failure to live God's Word leads to conflict. We then have no confidence before God. Our prayer life will be affected because we lack confidence of receiving answers from God. And such doubt and lack of confidence prevents both faith and victory.
Faith and Obedience
Faith within you is inspired by hearing God's Word in you heart. The Holy Spirit takes the words of the Scripture and speaks them to you, so you know you have heard directly from God (though not audibly).
The Holy Spirit will not convict a believer of sin and promise blessing at the same moment. What the Lord does, both in Scripture and in Christian's experience, is to give promise of blessing if there is repentance first.
Moses said, "All these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the Lord your God" (deut. 28:2).
To recognize Jesus as your Lord is to respect His authority over you. When your soul and body are submitted to the influence of His Spirit you will be mightily blessed, and will have confidence before God in your Christian walk (please read my earlier posting - The Spirit, Soul and Body of man).
To walk in obedience and submission is to walk in love for the Lord. This is not to be a begrudging submission coming from a rebellious heart, but a willing response to His love. It is love answering love. In His love God gives; in your love you submit willingly to His authority and obey.
John said, "Beloved, if your heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight" (1 John 3:21, 22, NKJV).
Allowing Jesus to be the Lord in the daily circumstance of your life gives you confidence before Him. You want to obey Him and do what pleases Him. In response, he wants to bless you and grant the desire of your heart.
Psalmist David said, "delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart" (Ps. 37:4).
Those living a victorious life walk in obedience to Jesus and the truth of His Word. This is true fellowship. He is the Victor. He is the Answer to your every need. And you can live in close harmony and fellowship with Him. Not only will you be blessed as a result, but others will be blessed because of you. When your life is submitted to Jesus, His Spirit flows out of your life as rivers of living water (John 7:38). And others are blessed with God's love and power because of you.
Faith, feelings and Reason
It is common to find believers contradict the Truth of His Word with their reason.. There will be occasions when their feelings seem utterly oppose to what God says in His Word. At such time they will have to choose whether they will trust their feelings, or believe the truth of God's word.
This is one of the most important aspects of a life of faith. The temptation to believe the natural reason rather than the supernatural power of God will always be with you. Reason limits the Lord in your life; faith releases His activity in your experience.
Life's experience tells us that it is easier to believe reason than revelation; it is easier to believe feelings than the Word; it is easier to listen to your doubts than to the Lord! Yes, easier - but not right.
This is the point of struggle for many Christians. It is so much more reasonable to believe what you can see, touch or feel. But faith is believing what you do not see (Heb. 11:1). Are you going to adopt the easy way, or live by faith?
A problem of the children of Israel (Numbers 13, 14)
The children of Israel wandered around the wilderness for a whole generation because of their lack of faith. When Moses sent the spies ahead into the Promised Land, ten of the twelve believed what they saw rather than the promises God had given them. They listened to their fears instead of to their faith.
Only Joshua and Caleb listened to the Lord, believing His words. To Joshua was given the privilege of leading the people into their inheritance. But those who listened to their fears perished in the wilderness. For them the promises of God and their own ambitions remained unfulfilled.
God is not opposed to reason; He is beyond reason. His thoughts and ways are much higher than your thoughts and ways (Isaiah 55:9). Do not limit the Lord by your reason. If God says one thing and you say another, someone has to be wrong! Whenever you contradict the Lord you can be sure He is right. He will not change His Word to accommodate your reason or feelings. It is your ideas and attitudes which will need to be changed and be brought into line with His Truth.
Many do not walk in victory and experience triumph in their Christian lives because they choose to believe themselves; to believe what they think or fear, rather than to agree with God's revelation of truth and the promises He gives in His Word. You have to make the decision whether you believe waht God says or whether you trust your own wisdom instead.
For true believers, there can be no compromise on this point. You cannot mix a little of the Word with your own wisdom and expect to see great things from God. Your mind will need to be submitted to His Spirit. And He will reveal the truth to you. What He wants from you is - hear the truth; believe the truth and obey the truth.
The wise man built on the rock. If you are wise you will listen carefully to the Lord and put His words into practice. If on the other hand, you choose to be foolish, you may hear what He says but trust in your own "wisdom" instead. Then you will build your house on the sand and it will not be able to withstand the storms of life. The choice is yours - are you going to be wise or foolish?
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Victory in Christ
Most Church-going believers talk about the victory of the Cross, the resurrection and the ultimate victory of Jesus when He comes again in glory. They hear many sermons concerning these topics from preachers and Pastors in their Local Church. But in reality you will not find many of them speaking about living in personal victory in Christ. Why? Is it because of unbelief? Do they have the right kind of faith which believes the right doctrines, but makes little difference to their daily lives?
John said, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God" (1 John 5:4, 5, NKJV)?
Jesus said, "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).
We are born of God and we overcome the world just as Jesus overcame the world. And we overcome the tribulations that are in the world. Therefore if you believe Jesus is the Son of God you can overcome whatever problems confront you. You can be victorious no matter what the world does to you.
Let us consider some areas of personal victory in Christ:
Victory over Opposition
The believer can expect opposition because those of the world live by an entirely different set of values to his own. In fact, Jesus said the Christian is blessed when he meets with opposition, even of an unjust kind:
"Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven" (Luke 6:22, 23, NIV, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. It certainly takes a man of faith to react by leaping for joy when confronted with such opposition.
Paul, being a man of faith, could sit in prison and write to the Thessalonians telling them to rejoice in the Lord always. He teaches that we are to give thanks in all circumstances, because this is the will of God for us in Christ Jesus (1 Thess. 5:16 - 18).
2. Jesus wants us to keep our eyes not on the opposition, but on the Kingdom. We cannot expect understanding, or even justice, from a fallen world. But we know that Jesus has perfect understanding of every predicament in which we can find ourselves. We can be sure that the Lord will always treat us with justice, love and mercy.
3. Jesus emphasizes that our reward will be in heaven (Read also Luke 6:35, 36).
Love your enemies
Jesus tells us to love our enemies and do good to them:
"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you" (Luke 6:27, 28).
Love, do good, bless and pray! What a contrast to the way people usually react to opposition and hatred. The natural reaction is to complain, return the hate, feeling bitter and resentful, demanding revenge and punishment for those who have caused the problem. All such reactions belong to the world and not to God's Kingdom.
Victory through Forgiveness
Life seems full of problems. Some of these may be of our own making. We have disobeyed the Lord and our sin has created difficulties we would not have had otherwise.
Problems are often people and people are often problems. We live in an imperfect world among imperfect people. The sins of others can influence our lives, sometimes in significant and even disastrous ways. By the same token, our sins can have serious repercussions in others' lives especially those who are close to us at home, work or in the Church. Even unbelievers believe that sin is a social disease with social consequences.
Love expressed in forgiveness
Love conquers all. This is the Christian message. Jesus' love on the Cross overcame sin, sickness and even death. He sends His disciples into the world with the message of love.
Peter said, "Above all, love each other deeply, because love overs over a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8, NIV).
I believe at the heart of love is forgiveness. You could not know God's love for you without experiencing His forgiveness. It is our Christian duty to extend that forgiveness to others, whoever they may be, regardless of what they have done. This is the heart of the Gospel message!
The message of forgiveness is expressed through the Lord's Prayer:
"Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matt. 6:12, NIV).
Mercy and forgiveness
Jesus gives us the parable of the unmerciful (unforgiving) servant to reinforce His teaching on mercy and forgiveness (Matt. 18:23 - 35). He tells the story in response to Peter's question as to how often he should forgive his brother. He suggests seven times as being appropriate. But Jesus responded: "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times" (Matt. 18:22) - signifying an infinite number.
As the Lord has had mercy on us, we should live with an attitude towards others of love, forgiveness and mercy.
Victory in Relationships
We are to forgive others. We are also to encourage them and build them up in love. Paul gives clear, practical instruction about relationships:
"Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another ... Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep...." (Romans 12:9 - 21).
"Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law" (Romans 13:8).
"Let all that you do be done with love" (1 Cor. 16:14).
If we are to do what Paul said, we shall have victory in our relationships.
God is Love
John said, "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:8).
John further said, "And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:16).
Therefore, when Jesus baptized you in His Holy Spirit, He is, in effect baptized you with His love. He flooded your heart and life with His love. If you think you lack such love, ask Jesus to fill you with His Spirit. He promises that everyone who asks receives (Matt. 7:8).
Paul said, "Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, ..." (Eph. 5:1, 2, NKJV).
This love is a response to God's love for you. If you are an imitator of God you are an imitator of His love. If you walk in love you will love others and merciful to others just as the Lord loves you and merciful to you. This is the relationship that God wants you to have.
Victory over Oppression and Depression
Oppression can take different forms. There are the times when your personal worth and faith seem under attack. The devil wants you to believe you are no-good, a spiritual failure, that God does not want anything to do with you. He might suggest you have failed so miserably even your ultimate salvation is far from certain or secure.
If you listen to the devil you will lose all your confidence before God and then you willl feel trapped by your circumstances. Everything seems hopeless, you feel helpless and the Lord seems far removed from your concerns. Oppression is like a rope with which the devil wants to bind you. In actual fact you should bind him instead of being bound by him.
An extreme form of the state of Oppression cause Depression. The person has believed so many of the devil's lies, and has thus become so negative in his thinking; he no longer knows how to be positive. His eyse are not on the truth of God's Word, but on himself and his feelings. He becomes self-centered with self-pity, and becomes over emotional in his thinking, action and reaction.
Freedom in Christ
You can expect the devil to oppose you, but you do not need to allow him to oppress you, to make you feel that either he or your circumstances are on top of you. Listen to what Jesus Himself said:
"Therefore if the son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).
Paul said, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Gal. 5:1, NIV).
The enemy even tries to oppress you through your Christian activitie. He wants to limit the freedom of the Holy Spirit among God's people, through tradition, conformity and legalism.
The Gospel message is damaged severely by religious prejudice, self-righteousness, denominationalism and judgmental attitued towards other believers.
Be on your guard
One way of discerning the voice of the enemy is to remember the following:
1. The devil accuses you; Jesus does not.
2. He tries to condemn you; Jesus does not.
3. He undermines faith; Jesus gives faith.
4. He diverts your attention on to your problem; the Holy Spirit directs you to Jesus.
5. He blames God; Jesus offers help.
Victory over Temptation
It is not a sin to be tempted. What you do in response to the temptation is what matters.
Paul said, "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it" (1 Cor. 10:12, 13, NIV).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. In the context, Paul was admonishing the Corinthians not to be proud and arrogant like the children of Israel who tested (tempted) Christ in the wilderness. Even when you are standing firm you need to be on the watch.
2. Whatever temptation you suffer is experienced by many others. The devil plays the same cards again and again, because he knows the weak, vulnerable points at which to attack.
3. God is in control. He will never allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. He does not want you to fall from grace.
4. No matter what the temptation, the Lord will always provide you with an escape route. God loves you and He will not allow the devil to attack you in such a way that you have to yield to his demands.
5. God ensures that you are able to withstand the temptation and you can be victorious.
The devil is the tempter, not God
James said, "When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone, but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it give birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, give birth to death" (James 1:13 - 15, NIV).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. God allows the enemy to tempt you because temptation exposes your vulnerable area. You see the ways in which you need to trust God, and be built up in His strength. But God Himself does not tempt you. He wants you to stand firm in faith against temptation.
2. Temptation does not create sin; it smply exposes the sinful desires which exist within you. It exposes the fleshly desire that is in your heart.
3. If you allow evil desires to entice you away from God's purposes, you will inevitably sin.
Your help comes from Jesus
Jesus can help you to overcome temptation
"Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted" (Heb. 2:18, NIV).
John said, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God" (1 John 5:4, 5, NKJV)?
Jesus said, "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).
We are born of God and we overcome the world just as Jesus overcame the world. And we overcome the tribulations that are in the world. Therefore if you believe Jesus is the Son of God you can overcome whatever problems confront you. You can be victorious no matter what the world does to you.
Let us consider some areas of personal victory in Christ:
Victory over Opposition
The believer can expect opposition because those of the world live by an entirely different set of values to his own. In fact, Jesus said the Christian is blessed when he meets with opposition, even of an unjust kind:
"Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven" (Luke 6:22, 23, NIV, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. It certainly takes a man of faith to react by leaping for joy when confronted with such opposition.
Paul, being a man of faith, could sit in prison and write to the Thessalonians telling them to rejoice in the Lord always. He teaches that we are to give thanks in all circumstances, because this is the will of God for us in Christ Jesus (1 Thess. 5:16 - 18).
2. Jesus wants us to keep our eyes not on the opposition, but on the Kingdom. We cannot expect understanding, or even justice, from a fallen world. But we know that Jesus has perfect understanding of every predicament in which we can find ourselves. We can be sure that the Lord will always treat us with justice, love and mercy.
3. Jesus emphasizes that our reward will be in heaven (Read also Luke 6:35, 36).
Love your enemies
Jesus tells us to love our enemies and do good to them:
"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you" (Luke 6:27, 28).
Love, do good, bless and pray! What a contrast to the way people usually react to opposition and hatred. The natural reaction is to complain, return the hate, feeling bitter and resentful, demanding revenge and punishment for those who have caused the problem. All such reactions belong to the world and not to God's Kingdom.
Victory through Forgiveness
Life seems full of problems. Some of these may be of our own making. We have disobeyed the Lord and our sin has created difficulties we would not have had otherwise.
Problems are often people and people are often problems. We live in an imperfect world among imperfect people. The sins of others can influence our lives, sometimes in significant and even disastrous ways. By the same token, our sins can have serious repercussions in others' lives especially those who are close to us at home, work or in the Church. Even unbelievers believe that sin is a social disease with social consequences.
Love expressed in forgiveness
Love conquers all. This is the Christian message. Jesus' love on the Cross overcame sin, sickness and even death. He sends His disciples into the world with the message of love.
Peter said, "Above all, love each other deeply, because love overs over a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8, NIV).
I believe at the heart of love is forgiveness. You could not know God's love for you without experiencing His forgiveness. It is our Christian duty to extend that forgiveness to others, whoever they may be, regardless of what they have done. This is the heart of the Gospel message!
The message of forgiveness is expressed through the Lord's Prayer:
"Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matt. 6:12, NIV).
Mercy and forgiveness
Jesus gives us the parable of the unmerciful (unforgiving) servant to reinforce His teaching on mercy and forgiveness (Matt. 18:23 - 35). He tells the story in response to Peter's question as to how often he should forgive his brother. He suggests seven times as being appropriate. But Jesus responded: "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times" (Matt. 18:22) - signifying an infinite number.
As the Lord has had mercy on us, we should live with an attitude towards others of love, forgiveness and mercy.
Victory in Relationships
We are to forgive others. We are also to encourage them and build them up in love. Paul gives clear, practical instruction about relationships:
"Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another ... Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep...." (Romans 12:9 - 21).
"Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law" (Romans 13:8).
"Let all that you do be done with love" (1 Cor. 16:14).
If we are to do what Paul said, we shall have victory in our relationships.
God is Love
John said, "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:8).
John further said, "And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:16).
Therefore, when Jesus baptized you in His Holy Spirit, He is, in effect baptized you with His love. He flooded your heart and life with His love. If you think you lack such love, ask Jesus to fill you with His Spirit. He promises that everyone who asks receives (Matt. 7:8).
Paul said, "Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, ..." (Eph. 5:1, 2, NKJV).
This love is a response to God's love for you. If you are an imitator of God you are an imitator of His love. If you walk in love you will love others and merciful to others just as the Lord loves you and merciful to you. This is the relationship that God wants you to have.
Victory over Oppression and Depression
Oppression can take different forms. There are the times when your personal worth and faith seem under attack. The devil wants you to believe you are no-good, a spiritual failure, that God does not want anything to do with you. He might suggest you have failed so miserably even your ultimate salvation is far from certain or secure.
If you listen to the devil you will lose all your confidence before God and then you willl feel trapped by your circumstances. Everything seems hopeless, you feel helpless and the Lord seems far removed from your concerns. Oppression is like a rope with which the devil wants to bind you. In actual fact you should bind him instead of being bound by him.
An extreme form of the state of Oppression cause Depression. The person has believed so many of the devil's lies, and has thus become so negative in his thinking; he no longer knows how to be positive. His eyse are not on the truth of God's Word, but on himself and his feelings. He becomes self-centered with self-pity, and becomes over emotional in his thinking, action and reaction.
Freedom in Christ
You can expect the devil to oppose you, but you do not need to allow him to oppress you, to make you feel that either he or your circumstances are on top of you. Listen to what Jesus Himself said:
"Therefore if the son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).
Paul said, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Gal. 5:1, NIV).
The enemy even tries to oppress you through your Christian activitie. He wants to limit the freedom of the Holy Spirit among God's people, through tradition, conformity and legalism.
The Gospel message is damaged severely by religious prejudice, self-righteousness, denominationalism and judgmental attitued towards other believers.
Be on your guard
One way of discerning the voice of the enemy is to remember the following:
1. The devil accuses you; Jesus does not.
2. He tries to condemn you; Jesus does not.
3. He undermines faith; Jesus gives faith.
4. He diverts your attention on to your problem; the Holy Spirit directs you to Jesus.
5. He blames God; Jesus offers help.
Victory over Temptation
It is not a sin to be tempted. What you do in response to the temptation is what matters.
Paul said, "So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it" (1 Cor. 10:12, 13, NIV).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. In the context, Paul was admonishing the Corinthians not to be proud and arrogant like the children of Israel who tested (tempted) Christ in the wilderness. Even when you are standing firm you need to be on the watch.
2. Whatever temptation you suffer is experienced by many others. The devil plays the same cards again and again, because he knows the weak, vulnerable points at which to attack.
3. God is in control. He will never allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. He does not want you to fall from grace.
4. No matter what the temptation, the Lord will always provide you with an escape route. God loves you and He will not allow the devil to attack you in such a way that you have to yield to his demands.
5. God ensures that you are able to withstand the temptation and you can be victorious.
The devil is the tempter, not God
James said, "When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone, but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it give birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, give birth to death" (James 1:13 - 15, NIV).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. God allows the enemy to tempt you because temptation exposes your vulnerable area. You see the ways in which you need to trust God, and be built up in His strength. But God Himself does not tempt you. He wants you to stand firm in faith against temptation.
2. Temptation does not create sin; it smply exposes the sinful desires which exist within you. It exposes the fleshly desire that is in your heart.
3. If you allow evil desires to entice you away from God's purposes, you will inevitably sin.
Your help comes from Jesus
Jesus can help you to overcome temptation
"Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted" (Heb. 2:18, NIV).
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Understanding Regeneration and the Rebirth
The rebirth or the born again experience involved the whole process of regeneration initiated by God and not by man. Whatever action a man takes, is the result of the conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit. In other words, regeneration is an act that only God can perform. We are no more able to regenerate ourselves than a blind man is able to see by a sheer act of the will. A blind man can decide to see, but he cannot see unless his eyes are healed.
What is "regeneration"?
Regeneration does not take place in stages. It is instantaneous. It is accomplished by one touch of the Holy Spirit upon our human spirit. It is a sovereign work, a thoroughly effective work accomplished by the immediate power of the omnipotence of God. Only God can bring something out of nothing and life out of death. Only God can quicken the dead human spirit.
The Nelson's Bible dictionary defines "Regeneration" as:
"The spiritual change brought about in a person's life by an act of God. In regeneration a person's sinful nature is changed, and he is enabled to respond to God in faith. The need for regeneration grows out of humanity's sinfulness. It is brought about through God's initiative. God works in the human heart, and the person responds to God through faith. Thus, regeneration is an act of God through the Holy Spirit, resulting in resurrection from sin to a new life in Jesus Christ (Please see 2 Corinthians 5:17)."
By studying the Book of John and the Book of Acts carefully, you will understand that there are four stages of initiation as a result of divine activity of regeneration. These stages of the rebirth are initiated by God and not by man's effort. Taking these four stages of initiation as a whole we have the new-birth or the born again experience. As a result of this, the person becomes a Christian.
In my opinion the term "Born again Christian" should not be used because it is a misnomer or redundancy. The fact is that if one is born agin, then he is a Christian. If he is a Christian then he is born again. There is no such thing as a "non-born again Christian" and no such thing as a "born again non-Christian" - it sounds ridiculous!
The four stages of the new birth
In the Book of Acts after Peter preached his first sermon to the men of Judea and all who dwelled in Jerusalem, they were "cut to the heart" - They were sorrowful.
"Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?' Then Peter said to them, 'Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Chrsit for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy spirit'" (Acts 2:37, 38, NKJV, emphasis added).
The above passage of Scripture contains the four stages of the new birth.
1. Repent - God Himself grants repentance, it is a gift of God. Even though repentance is an act of will, a person can only have the desire to repent if God grants him repentance first.
"Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins" (Acts 5:31, NKJV, emphasis added).
The writer of Hebrews said, "For you know that afterward, when he (Esau) wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears" (Heb. 12:17, emphasis added).
2. Believe - God bestows the gift of faith to a person to believe.
Paul said, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of work, lest anyone should boast" (Eph. 2:8, 9, emphasis added).
Similarly, it is true that to believe is also an act of will, but a person can only believe if God grants him the gift of faith first.
3. Be baptized (Water baptism) - In the act of water baptism, the believer identifies himself with Jesus in His death, burial and resurrection.
Paul said, "... buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead" (Col. 2:12).
4. Receive the Holy Spirit (Baptism of the Holy Spirit) - God poured out His spirit upon us.
Paul said, "... not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior" (Titus 3:5, 6).
The fourth and final stage of the new birth is the process of regeneration, marking the end of the new birth and the beginning of the new life for the Christian. These four stages are called initiation stages of the new birth because at this point the Spirit-filled Christain starts his life of sanctification through the power of the Holy Spirit in him until the Lord returns for His Bride (Eph. 5:26, 27).
Being born again according to the Words of Jesus Christ
Many Christians claimed to have been born again but most of them failed to understand fully what Jesus said about being born again.
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus, by night. The following is John's record of their conversation (John 3:3 - 8):
Verse 3 - "Jesus answered and said to him (Nicodemus), 'Most assuredly, I say to you unless one is born agin, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'
Verse 4 - "Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?'
Verse 5 - "Jesus answered, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Verse 6 - "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Verse 7 - "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'
Verse 8 - "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everone who is born of the Spirit'" (NKJV, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. The Greek words translated "born again" mean "born from above". Nicodemus could not understand it or he would not ask Jesus the question in Verse 4.
2. According to Jesus, "born again" or "born from above" means "born of water and of the Spirit".
I believe many believers fail to understand how "water" has anything to do with being born again. Even John Wesley did not wish to explain what is meant by "born of water and the Spirit" in his sermon "Marks of the New Birth" (From Forty-four Sermons, Sermon XXXIX). This was what he said:
"We know these privileges are ordinarily related to baptism, which is termed by Jesus in the preceding verse: being born of water and of the Spirit. Now we want to know what these privileges are. Perhaps it is not necessary to give a definition of this because the Scripture gives none".
3. Verse 5 is an expansion of Verse 3. In Verse 3 Jesus stated that one must be born again. In Verse 5 He explained how to be born again. In other words, both Verse 3 and Verse 5 described the born again experience only. Jesus was not talking about the first physical birth. We need to add the word "again" to clarify what Jesus said. This is my paraphrase:
"Jesus answered, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born (again) of water and (born again of ) the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God'".
Jesus essentially said that, a person needs the rebirth using water and the Spirit in order to see and enter the Kingdom of God.
Here are two common misinterpretations:
(1) Some Bible teachers make the error in interpretation by assuming that "water and the Spirit" means, "The Word of God and the Holy Spirit". They say water refers to the Word of God. In ohter words, according to them, a person who is born again is born of the Word and born of the Holy Spirit. The fact is that "water" does not speak of the "Word of God" in Scripture. But, the "cleansing effect of water" does speak of the "Word of God" in the process of sanctification!
Paul said, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, ..." (Eph. 5:25, 26, emphasis added).
Now, if the Word has anything to do with the born again experience, then the Word must be heard or read first. And we know that a person who is not regenerated can never understand the Word of God. The Word of God was written by the Holy Spirit and it needs the Holy Spirit to reveal the things of God to us (2 Tim. 3:16).
(2) Some other Bible teachers also make the error in interpretation by assuming that "born of water and the Spirit" means "born of water and born of the Spirit". This phrase then has two parts. The first part - "born of water", then indicates the physical birth. To these Bible teachers "water" is considered a synonym of "water in the womb". The second part - "born of the Spirit", means the rebirth. But the fact is that "born of water and the Spirit" is one single spiritual event (the rebirth) and has nothing to do with the earlier physical birth! Hence, we must rule out this interpretation.
4. Verse 6 - "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, .." means, "The physical birth". And "... that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" means the "rebirth" or "second birth". Notice that the rebirth makes a person spiritually alive instead of spiritually dead.
5. Verse 8 - When a person is born again by the Spirit of God, there is no change in him physically and no one can see what is happening to him physically. It is like the wind; one can hear the sound but one cannot tell where the wind comes from and where it goes. The rebirth is not the result of man's power nor man's wisdom. It remains the mystery and the sovereign work of God. But one thing we know - the rebirth is a spiritual and not a physical rebirth. The redemption or salvation of our physical body happens when Jesus comes again:
The writer of Hebrews said, "So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation" (Heb. 9:28, NKJV).
True Biblical Born again Experience
Based on the expalantion above I think it is reasonable to believe that Jesus was telling Nicodemus that he needs the second birth or the born again experience. The second birth is the spiritual birth with both the physical and spiritual aspects. "Water" refers to the physical act of "water baptism". But, this of itself and by itself cannot bring about the new birth if it is not accompanied by the divine activity (a spiritual act) of the Holy Spirit in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. In other words, a believer without the both aspects of the born again experience will neither see nor enter the Kingdom of God. He will not be saved with only one aspect of the experience - either only Baptism of the Holy Spirit or only water baptism (please read my earlier message, "One Baptism")
I fail to understand why most Christians, even leaders in the evangelical, pentecostal or charismatic circles, either think Baptism of the Holy Spirit is unnecessary or it is a second experience for those who need power to share the Gospetl to the unbelieving world. Not only this is a blatant deception, but also ignorant of the teaching of Jesus Christ!
Study the Book of Acts and the Epistles carefully you will notice that every one who believed and repented had been baptized in water and in the Holy Spirit. When Pentecost had come every one was baptized in the Holy Spirit and on the same day baptized in water. It does not matter which comes first - baptism in water or baptism in the Holy Spirit. Notice that no one ever comes to the Church to get baptized. Why? The answer is simple. The Church is for born again believers and unless they are both baptized in water and the Holy Spirit they are not born again yet! People who cannot see or enter the Kingdom of God cannot enter the door of the church! Can you see how men made a mess of everything?
What is "regeneration"?
Regeneration does not take place in stages. It is instantaneous. It is accomplished by one touch of the Holy Spirit upon our human spirit. It is a sovereign work, a thoroughly effective work accomplished by the immediate power of the omnipotence of God. Only God can bring something out of nothing and life out of death. Only God can quicken the dead human spirit.
The Nelson's Bible dictionary defines "Regeneration" as:
"The spiritual change brought about in a person's life by an act of God. In regeneration a person's sinful nature is changed, and he is enabled to respond to God in faith. The need for regeneration grows out of humanity's sinfulness. It is brought about through God's initiative. God works in the human heart, and the person responds to God through faith. Thus, regeneration is an act of God through the Holy Spirit, resulting in resurrection from sin to a new life in Jesus Christ (Please see 2 Corinthians 5:17)."
By studying the Book of John and the Book of Acts carefully, you will understand that there are four stages of initiation as a result of divine activity of regeneration. These stages of the rebirth are initiated by God and not by man's effort. Taking these four stages of initiation as a whole we have the new-birth or the born again experience. As a result of this, the person becomes a Christian.
In my opinion the term "Born again Christian" should not be used because it is a misnomer or redundancy. The fact is that if one is born agin, then he is a Christian. If he is a Christian then he is born again. There is no such thing as a "non-born again Christian" and no such thing as a "born again non-Christian" - it sounds ridiculous!
The four stages of the new birth
In the Book of Acts after Peter preached his first sermon to the men of Judea and all who dwelled in Jerusalem, they were "cut to the heart" - They were sorrowful.
"Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?' Then Peter said to them, 'Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Chrsit for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy spirit'" (Acts 2:37, 38, NKJV, emphasis added).
The above passage of Scripture contains the four stages of the new birth.
1. Repent - God Himself grants repentance, it is a gift of God. Even though repentance is an act of will, a person can only have the desire to repent if God grants him repentance first.
"Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins" (Acts 5:31, NKJV, emphasis added).
The writer of Hebrews said, "For you know that afterward, when he (Esau) wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears" (Heb. 12:17, emphasis added).
2. Believe - God bestows the gift of faith to a person to believe.
Paul said, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of work, lest anyone should boast" (Eph. 2:8, 9, emphasis added).
Similarly, it is true that to believe is also an act of will, but a person can only believe if God grants him the gift of faith first.
3. Be baptized (Water baptism) - In the act of water baptism, the believer identifies himself with Jesus in His death, burial and resurrection.
Paul said, "... buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead" (Col. 2:12).
4. Receive the Holy Spirit (Baptism of the Holy Spirit) - God poured out His spirit upon us.
Paul said, "... not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior" (Titus 3:5, 6).
The fourth and final stage of the new birth is the process of regeneration, marking the end of the new birth and the beginning of the new life for the Christian. These four stages are called initiation stages of the new birth because at this point the Spirit-filled Christain starts his life of sanctification through the power of the Holy Spirit in him until the Lord returns for His Bride (Eph. 5:26, 27).
Being born again according to the Words of Jesus Christ
Many Christians claimed to have been born again but most of them failed to understand fully what Jesus said about being born again.
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus, by night. The following is John's record of their conversation (John 3:3 - 8):
Verse 3 - "Jesus answered and said to him (Nicodemus), 'Most assuredly, I say to you unless one is born agin, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'
Verse 4 - "Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?'
Verse 5 - "Jesus answered, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Verse 6 - "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Verse 7 - "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'
Verse 8 - "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everone who is born of the Spirit'" (NKJV, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. The Greek words translated "born again" mean "born from above". Nicodemus could not understand it or he would not ask Jesus the question in Verse 4.
2. According to Jesus, "born again" or "born from above" means "born of water and of the Spirit".
I believe many believers fail to understand how "water" has anything to do with being born again. Even John Wesley did not wish to explain what is meant by "born of water and the Spirit" in his sermon "Marks of the New Birth" (From Forty-four Sermons, Sermon XXXIX). This was what he said:
"We know these privileges are ordinarily related to baptism, which is termed by Jesus in the preceding verse: being born of water and of the Spirit. Now we want to know what these privileges are. Perhaps it is not necessary to give a definition of this because the Scripture gives none".
3. Verse 5 is an expansion of Verse 3. In Verse 3 Jesus stated that one must be born again. In Verse 5 He explained how to be born again. In other words, both Verse 3 and Verse 5 described the born again experience only. Jesus was not talking about the first physical birth. We need to add the word "again" to clarify what Jesus said. This is my paraphrase:
"Jesus answered, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born (again) of water and (born again of ) the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God'".
Jesus essentially said that, a person needs the rebirth using water and the Spirit in order to see and enter the Kingdom of God.
Here are two common misinterpretations:
(1) Some Bible teachers make the error in interpretation by assuming that "water and the Spirit" means, "The Word of God and the Holy Spirit". They say water refers to the Word of God. In ohter words, according to them, a person who is born again is born of the Word and born of the Holy Spirit. The fact is that "water" does not speak of the "Word of God" in Scripture. But, the "cleansing effect of water" does speak of the "Word of God" in the process of sanctification!
Paul said, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, ..." (Eph. 5:25, 26, emphasis added).
Now, if the Word has anything to do with the born again experience, then the Word must be heard or read first. And we know that a person who is not regenerated can never understand the Word of God. The Word of God was written by the Holy Spirit and it needs the Holy Spirit to reveal the things of God to us (2 Tim. 3:16).
(2) Some other Bible teachers also make the error in interpretation by assuming that "born of water and the Spirit" means "born of water and born of the Spirit". This phrase then has two parts. The first part - "born of water", then indicates the physical birth. To these Bible teachers "water" is considered a synonym of "water in the womb". The second part - "born of the Spirit", means the rebirth. But the fact is that "born of water and the Spirit" is one single spiritual event (the rebirth) and has nothing to do with the earlier physical birth! Hence, we must rule out this interpretation.
4. Verse 6 - "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, .." means, "The physical birth". And "... that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" means the "rebirth" or "second birth". Notice that the rebirth makes a person spiritually alive instead of spiritually dead.
5. Verse 8 - When a person is born again by the Spirit of God, there is no change in him physically and no one can see what is happening to him physically. It is like the wind; one can hear the sound but one cannot tell where the wind comes from and where it goes. The rebirth is not the result of man's power nor man's wisdom. It remains the mystery and the sovereign work of God. But one thing we know - the rebirth is a spiritual and not a physical rebirth. The redemption or salvation of our physical body happens when Jesus comes again:
The writer of Hebrews said, "So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation" (Heb. 9:28, NKJV).
True Biblical Born again Experience
Based on the expalantion above I think it is reasonable to believe that Jesus was telling Nicodemus that he needs the second birth or the born again experience. The second birth is the spiritual birth with both the physical and spiritual aspects. "Water" refers to the physical act of "water baptism". But, this of itself and by itself cannot bring about the new birth if it is not accompanied by the divine activity (a spiritual act) of the Holy Spirit in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. In other words, a believer without the both aspects of the born again experience will neither see nor enter the Kingdom of God. He will not be saved with only one aspect of the experience - either only Baptism of the Holy Spirit or only water baptism (please read my earlier message, "One Baptism")
I fail to understand why most Christians, even leaders in the evangelical, pentecostal or charismatic circles, either think Baptism of the Holy Spirit is unnecessary or it is a second experience for those who need power to share the Gospetl to the unbelieving world. Not only this is a blatant deception, but also ignorant of the teaching of Jesus Christ!
Study the Book of Acts and the Epistles carefully you will notice that every one who believed and repented had been baptized in water and in the Holy Spirit. When Pentecost had come every one was baptized in the Holy Spirit and on the same day baptized in water. It does not matter which comes first - baptism in water or baptism in the Holy Spirit. Notice that no one ever comes to the Church to get baptized. Why? The answer is simple. The Church is for born again believers and unless they are both baptized in water and the Holy Spirit they are not born again yet! People who cannot see or enter the Kingdom of God cannot enter the door of the church! Can you see how men made a mess of everything?
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
God's Purpose of Redemption
What is God's purpose of redemption for Israel and for the Church? This is an interesting question. God Himself gave us the answer in the Old Testament and the apostle Peter explained it in the New Testament.
Old Testament redemption
Exodus 19 contains a message God gave to Moses for the children of Israel after He had redeemed them from slavery in Egypt, brought them out by tremendous miracles and brought them to the foot of Mount Sinai and from there He proposed to enter into a Covenant with them.
Let us look at some verses of Scripture:
"You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and holy nation" (Exodus 19:4 - 6, NKJV, emphasis added).
Notice what God said to the children of Israel - "I brought you to Myself". This I believe is the primary purpose of Israel's redemption - To bring His chosen people to Himself! God first revealed His primary objective before He went on to outline the rest of His purpose. You can read the rest of Exodus which contains the details of His Covenant and the conditions attached to His Covenant with Israel.
New Testament redemption
Notice also that the words spoken by God are not merely relevant to Israel after their redemption out of Egypt, but they are not less relevant to Christians today. I believe most of the Jews have never discovered the purpose of their redemption, not even today. The Scripture says because of their unbelief and their rejection of God, salvation has come to the Gentiles (Romans 11).
Since Israel failed to understand the purpose of their redemption God simply restated the same purpose for the Church of Jesus Christ consisting of both the Jewish and Gentile believers.
Peter wrote to believers in Christ:
"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy" (1 Peter 2:9, 10, emphasis added).
Notice the similarity of both passages of Scripture (OT and NT). Both the children of Israel and the Church are special people of God and both are kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
God's primary purpose in redemption
God's primary purpose in redemption is always this - To bring His people (Israel and the Church) to Himself. Anything else is secondary.
How does God bring His people to Himself? He does that by preparing His Church as a bride for His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, in Ephesians 5, gives a picture of Christ's love for the Church:
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:25 - 27, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. The two processes of cleansing and sanctifying are closely related but they are not identical. It is possible to have purity or cleanness, without sanctification, but it is not possible to have sanctification without purity or cleanness. Thus cleansing is a essential part of sanctification. Sanctification is directly connected with the word "saint". The word "saint" means "holy". Therefore the literal meaning of sanctification is "making saintly" or "making holy".
2. The one main definite purpose for which Christ redeemed the Church is that "He might sanctify and cleanse her".
3. The means which Christ uses to cleanse and sanctify the Church is "washing of water by the word". The operation of God's Word is compared to the washing of pure water. Even before Christ's atoning death upon the cross had actually been confummated, He had already assured His disciples of the cleansing power of His Word which He had spoken to them:
Jesus said, "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you" (John 15:3, NKJV).
4. Only God's Word (written or spoken) has the cleansing power. The Church cannot be cleansed by any other means - like observing Church doctrine, Church custom, Church tradition and the doctrine of men. The Church that is not clensed by the Word will not be holy. She is full of spots or wrinkles and full of blemishes and therefore fails to be the bride of Christ. This is an extremely serious matter and that is the reason why James said, "My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment" (James 3:1).
Jesus' ultimate purpose for the Church
After the preparation of the bride (the glorious Church), Jesus' ultimate purpose for His Church is to bring her to the Father's hous for the marriage of the Lamb.
Jesus said, "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:2, 3, emphasis added).
1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15 give a picture of what will happen. A day will come when all true Christians will be caught up bodily and alive to meet the Lord in the air. The souls and spirits of those who had previously died believing in Christ, having been consciously with Him in the interim, will come with their Lord from heaven to rejoin their glorious resurrected bodies. Those (true believers or true Christian) alive at the time of His return, their bodies instantly transformed as well, will be caught up together with the saints of all ages to meet Christ somewhere above the earth and He will bring them to the Father's house of many mansions. This is what most Bible teachers called the "Rapture". This is what John 14:3 means, "I will come again and receive you to Myself".
The "Rapture" is a word to which some critics object because they say it isn't in the Bible. In fact, it is in the Latin translation of 1 Thessalonians 4:17. The Latin word "rapturos" means, in English, an "ecstatic catching away".
I believe the first event in heaven after our Lord has taken us up there, will be the judgment of true believer at the Judgment Seat of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:12 - 15; 2 Corinthians 5:10). This will not be a judgment for condemnation but a judgment for reward. We must all give an account to our Lord for every action (good or evil) or failure to act; for every idle word and secret thought.
Solomon said, "For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil" (Eccle. 12:14, NKJV).
In Christ's days the Jewish bride was taken to the house of the groom's father where the two were in seclusion for seven days (one week). Christ must have had that custom in mind when He promised to take His bride to His Father's house. During these seven years (the 70th week of years in Daniel's prophecy - (Daniel 9:24 - 27), the earth is going through the Great Tribulation period under the reign of the Antichrist! But, at precisely the same time in heaven, the marriage supper of the Lamb is being prepared (Rev. 19:7, 8)!
He brings His Church to Himself
The Bride of Christ escapes the wrath of the Antichrist. That is the way God protects His true Church, fulfilling what Jesus said to Peter:
"The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18).
Jesus said this because He will bring His Church to Himself to be His bride!
On the other hand, the gates of Hades shall prevail against the "church" that is left behind under the reign of the Antichrist. I believe the Antichrist together with his false prophet and his "elder" and "pastors" will be sitting at the gates of Hades!
The "church" that fails to be the bride
In both of his epistles, Paul warned Timothy that a time will come, in the lsat days, that believers will depart from the faith:
"Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons" (1 Tim. 4:1, NKJV).
"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away" (2 Tim. 3:1 - 5, NKJV).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. The Last days are "perilous times" - Time of persecution, stress, danger and trial. I believe we are in the last of the last days now.
2. Paul listed 18 moral blemishes. Notice that the bride of Christ (the glorious Church) is to be without blemish (Eph. 5:27).
3. The key to all forms of moral blemishes is - Men become "lovers of themselves". Because of this they become lovers of money, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God and so on.
4. Paul considered "having a form of gidliness but denying its power" as one of the moral blemishes. These "believers" are churchgoers, maintaining only a form of religion (being religious in the sight of men), but they are not true Christians. They may not be apostates, but they lack the real power of Christianity - power of the Holy Spirit which leads to a changed life and to holy living.
5. True Christians should turn away from such people.
Prophecy concerning end-time God's people
An angel of the Lord said to John who was banished to the isle of Patmos converning the Church of Jesus Christ toward the end of this age:
"Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be more filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still" (Rev. 22:10, 11).
Notice that the Book of Revelation is written for God's people, the Church. John was commanded not to seal the prophecy given to him because it will soon be fulfilled. On the other hand, Daniel was commanded to seal up his prophecy because the prophecy relates to a far-distance time (Daniel 12:9).
The angel told John, a time will come when there will be a line of separation and a departure of ways, attitudes and characters among God's people. Those who are wicked will be become more wicked; those who are righteous will become more righteous. The difference between those who are in darkness and those who are in the light will become more distinct as a testimony for all to see before the Second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is never the intention of God to confuse His people. He wants to make it clear to us that the righteous will receive His reward but the wicked will miss it all!
I believe at the close of this age there will be just two groups of God's people in the Church. One group will be the bride and the other willl be the harlot! Every person has to make a personal decision which group he or she will be found in. The decision is now! If you are not the bride then you are the harlot. The line of separation is clear and there is no grey area! If you are sitting on the fence, you are also a harlot.
The bride has the bridal attire. She has the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10). She has the garments of praise and the crown of life and she receives many beautiful gifts from God. She loves her Lord and yields herself Him. She loves the truth of God's Word and obeys His commandments. She overcomes persecution and remains faithful to her Lord until death.
The harlot has many things that man in his wisdom can produce. She has the knowledge and wisdom of the world and she loves the things of the world. His church is a "prosperous" and worldly mega-church. There is no true shepherd to lead her. The pastors in her church are highly qualified eloquent professional preachers, the product of a "reputable" Seminary. They have a proven track record of building "successful" mega-churches. The harlot is under the deception that whatever her pastors do is of God. To her all church work is God's work; all church programs are God's programs. She loves the church of Christ instead of the Christ of the church. She serves the pastors instead of serving the Lord!
The ways of the bride and the ways of the harlot are contrary one to the other. Every one of us has to make the choice. As for "me and my house" we will serve the Lord. We want to be the bride. We want all that God has to offer us; we take hold of His promises and live by His Word!
Old Testament redemption
Exodus 19 contains a message God gave to Moses for the children of Israel after He had redeemed them from slavery in Egypt, brought them out by tremendous miracles and brought them to the foot of Mount Sinai and from there He proposed to enter into a Covenant with them.
Let us look at some verses of Scripture:
"You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and holy nation" (Exodus 19:4 - 6, NKJV, emphasis added).
Notice what God said to the children of Israel - "I brought you to Myself". This I believe is the primary purpose of Israel's redemption - To bring His chosen people to Himself! God first revealed His primary objective before He went on to outline the rest of His purpose. You can read the rest of Exodus which contains the details of His Covenant and the conditions attached to His Covenant with Israel.
New Testament redemption
Notice also that the words spoken by God are not merely relevant to Israel after their redemption out of Egypt, but they are not less relevant to Christians today. I believe most of the Jews have never discovered the purpose of their redemption, not even today. The Scripture says because of their unbelief and their rejection of God, salvation has come to the Gentiles (Romans 11).
Since Israel failed to understand the purpose of their redemption God simply restated the same purpose for the Church of Jesus Christ consisting of both the Jewish and Gentile believers.
Peter wrote to believers in Christ:
"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy" (1 Peter 2:9, 10, emphasis added).
Notice the similarity of both passages of Scripture (OT and NT). Both the children of Israel and the Church are special people of God and both are kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
God's primary purpose in redemption
God's primary purpose in redemption is always this - To bring His people (Israel and the Church) to Himself. Anything else is secondary.
How does God bring His people to Himself? He does that by preparing His Church as a bride for His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, in Ephesians 5, gives a picture of Christ's love for the Church:
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:25 - 27, emphasis added).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. The two processes of cleansing and sanctifying are closely related but they are not identical. It is possible to have purity or cleanness, without sanctification, but it is not possible to have sanctification without purity or cleanness. Thus cleansing is a essential part of sanctification. Sanctification is directly connected with the word "saint". The word "saint" means "holy". Therefore the literal meaning of sanctification is "making saintly" or "making holy".
2. The one main definite purpose for which Christ redeemed the Church is that "He might sanctify and cleanse her".
3. The means which Christ uses to cleanse and sanctify the Church is "washing of water by the word". The operation of God's Word is compared to the washing of pure water. Even before Christ's atoning death upon the cross had actually been confummated, He had already assured His disciples of the cleansing power of His Word which He had spoken to them:
Jesus said, "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you" (John 15:3, NKJV).
4. Only God's Word (written or spoken) has the cleansing power. The Church cannot be cleansed by any other means - like observing Church doctrine, Church custom, Church tradition and the doctrine of men. The Church that is not clensed by the Word will not be holy. She is full of spots or wrinkles and full of blemishes and therefore fails to be the bride of Christ. This is an extremely serious matter and that is the reason why James said, "My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment" (James 3:1).
Jesus' ultimate purpose for the Church
After the preparation of the bride (the glorious Church), Jesus' ultimate purpose for His Church is to bring her to the Father's hous for the marriage of the Lamb.
Jesus said, "In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:2, 3, emphasis added).
1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15 give a picture of what will happen. A day will come when all true Christians will be caught up bodily and alive to meet the Lord in the air. The souls and spirits of those who had previously died believing in Christ, having been consciously with Him in the interim, will come with their Lord from heaven to rejoin their glorious resurrected bodies. Those (true believers or true Christian) alive at the time of His return, their bodies instantly transformed as well, will be caught up together with the saints of all ages to meet Christ somewhere above the earth and He will bring them to the Father's house of many mansions. This is what most Bible teachers called the "Rapture". This is what John 14:3 means, "I will come again and receive you to Myself".
The "Rapture" is a word to which some critics object because they say it isn't in the Bible. In fact, it is in the Latin translation of 1 Thessalonians 4:17. The Latin word "rapturos" means, in English, an "ecstatic catching away".
I believe the first event in heaven after our Lord has taken us up there, will be the judgment of true believer at the Judgment Seat of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:12 - 15; 2 Corinthians 5:10). This will not be a judgment for condemnation but a judgment for reward. We must all give an account to our Lord for every action (good or evil) or failure to act; for every idle word and secret thought.
Solomon said, "For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil" (Eccle. 12:14, NKJV).
In Christ's days the Jewish bride was taken to the house of the groom's father where the two were in seclusion for seven days (one week). Christ must have had that custom in mind when He promised to take His bride to His Father's house. During these seven years (the 70th week of years in Daniel's prophecy - (Daniel 9:24 - 27), the earth is going through the Great Tribulation period under the reign of the Antichrist! But, at precisely the same time in heaven, the marriage supper of the Lamb is being prepared (Rev. 19:7, 8)!
He brings His Church to Himself
The Bride of Christ escapes the wrath of the Antichrist. That is the way God protects His true Church, fulfilling what Jesus said to Peter:
"The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18).
Jesus said this because He will bring His Church to Himself to be His bride!
On the other hand, the gates of Hades shall prevail against the "church" that is left behind under the reign of the Antichrist. I believe the Antichrist together with his false prophet and his "elder" and "pastors" will be sitting at the gates of Hades!
The "church" that fails to be the bride
In both of his epistles, Paul warned Timothy that a time will come, in the lsat days, that believers will depart from the faith:
"Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons" (1 Tim. 4:1, NKJV).
"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away" (2 Tim. 3:1 - 5, NKJV).
Here are some statements of truth:
1. The Last days are "perilous times" - Time of persecution, stress, danger and trial. I believe we are in the last of the last days now.
2. Paul listed 18 moral blemishes. Notice that the bride of Christ (the glorious Church) is to be without blemish (Eph. 5:27).
3. The key to all forms of moral blemishes is - Men become "lovers of themselves". Because of this they become lovers of money, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God and so on.
4. Paul considered "having a form of gidliness but denying its power" as one of the moral blemishes. These "believers" are churchgoers, maintaining only a form of religion (being religious in the sight of men), but they are not true Christians. They may not be apostates, but they lack the real power of Christianity - power of the Holy Spirit which leads to a changed life and to holy living.
5. True Christians should turn away from such people.
Prophecy concerning end-time God's people
An angel of the Lord said to John who was banished to the isle of Patmos converning the Church of Jesus Christ toward the end of this age:
"Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be more filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still" (Rev. 22:10, 11).
Notice that the Book of Revelation is written for God's people, the Church. John was commanded not to seal the prophecy given to him because it will soon be fulfilled. On the other hand, Daniel was commanded to seal up his prophecy because the prophecy relates to a far-distance time (Daniel 12:9).
The angel told John, a time will come when there will be a line of separation and a departure of ways, attitudes and characters among God's people. Those who are wicked will be become more wicked; those who are righteous will become more righteous. The difference between those who are in darkness and those who are in the light will become more distinct as a testimony for all to see before the Second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is never the intention of God to confuse His people. He wants to make it clear to us that the righteous will receive His reward but the wicked will miss it all!
I believe at the close of this age there will be just two groups of God's people in the Church. One group will be the bride and the other willl be the harlot! Every person has to make a personal decision which group he or she will be found in. The decision is now! If you are not the bride then you are the harlot. The line of separation is clear and there is no grey area! If you are sitting on the fence, you are also a harlot.
The bride has the bridal attire. She has the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10). She has the garments of praise and the crown of life and she receives many beautiful gifts from God. She loves her Lord and yields herself Him. She loves the truth of God's Word and obeys His commandments. She overcomes persecution and remains faithful to her Lord until death.
The harlot has many things that man in his wisdom can produce. She has the knowledge and wisdom of the world and she loves the things of the world. His church is a "prosperous" and worldly mega-church. There is no true shepherd to lead her. The pastors in her church are highly qualified eloquent professional preachers, the product of a "reputable" Seminary. They have a proven track record of building "successful" mega-churches. The harlot is under the deception that whatever her pastors do is of God. To her all church work is God's work; all church programs are God's programs. She loves the church of Christ instead of the Christ of the church. She serves the pastors instead of serving the Lord!
The ways of the bride and the ways of the harlot are contrary one to the other. Every one of us has to make the choice. As for "me and my house" we will serve the Lord. We want to be the bride. We want all that God has to offer us; we take hold of His promises and live by His Word!
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
The Problem of Unanswered Prayer
Many Christians think of the problem of unanswered prayer as asking God for something but not getting what they asked for. This happens very often, but this is not what I mean by the problem of unanswered prayer. I believe the real problem for most of us is not that we don't get what we asked for, but it is when we don't get a reply from God. This is what we want to discuss here.
There are many ways by which God may answer my prayer. I may be in a situation that I am quite convinced that I want something and I ask for it. The answer that God gives me may be, "No, you can't have it, it's no good for you". Or, His answer may be, "Wait, the time is not ready yet". But that is not the real problem because there is an answer and I know for certain that God heard my prayer. The problem is, when the heaven seems like brass and I feel God is not listening and I am not gettign through to Him! There must be a hindrance somewhere.
It is certainly no fun having a one-way conversation with God. That is the major reason why some of us give up praying. That I believe is the most discouraging thing in prayer - when you feel that you are engaging in a one-way conversation. And a one-way conversation is not a conversation at all! How long can you keep up a conversation if the other person you speak to would not open his mouth? I mean, even with people it is so difficult, and therefore with God it is very discouraging if there is no reply! It seems that life has gone out of your prayer!
Biblical examples of unanswered prayer
Paul's problem
Consider Paul's "thorn in the flesh" experience (2 Corinthians 12:7 - 10). Three times Paul prayed that the Lord might remove it from him. The Lord did not reply him at first but finally the Lord said:
"My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9, NKJV).
Paul was happy because it was not an unanswered prayer. It was not the answer he hoped for, but it was an answered prayer! The Lord did hear his prayer and answered him.
Job's problem
Job went through the experience of hindrance in prayer for many months.
Job complained to the Lord, "Then call, and I will answer, or let me speak, then You respond to me, How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin. Why do You hide Your face, and regard me Your enemy" (Job 13:22 - 24)?
"I cry out to You, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You regard me" (Job 30:20).
"Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my mark. Oh, that the Almighty would answer me, that my prosecutor had written a book" (Job 31:35)!
The psalmist's problem
In the Book of psalms we read of the psalmists crying out to God for response to their prayers. The following passages are from the psalms of David:
"Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; do not be silent at my tears; ..." (Ps. 39:12).
"Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me"(Ps. 27:7).
"Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer" (Ps. 61:1).
So we see, even David, the master of Psalm, prayer and praise, had his share of this problem of silence from God.
Major causes of the problem of unanswered prayer
There are many causes of the problem, but we are only concerned with the major ones. I believe it is important for us to search the Scripture to find out what are the causes of the problem of hindrances in our prayer. Otherwise, we may even blame God for keeping silense and we may easily think like Job that God is in the wrong when we can't get through to Him.
There are five major causes of the problem of unanswered prayer and we can be certain that God is not to be blamed for any of the five. Three of these are a breakdown in communication on the human side or on the earthly side of the conversation. Two of them are a breakdown in communication on the heavenly side.
The breakdown in communication on the earthy side is due to sin:
The psalmist said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear" (Ps. 66:18).
Isaiah said that sins and iniquities have separated God from His people:
"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear" (Isaiah 59:1, 2, NKJV).
Breakdown in communication on the earthly side
The three major causes of the breakdown in communication on the earthly side are:
I am not right with God
There are two ways in which this can happen. My feeling about God may be wrong. That means I sin against Him in attitude. On the other hand, God's feelings about me may be wrong. That means I sin against Him in action. In other words, God may not approve of what I am doing. In either ways I sin against God.
I sin against God in attitude
My feelings about God may be wrong. I may be resentful toward Him and this may be a blockage. I can build up resentment against God because of the way my circumstances has turned out. The Scripture says, "In everything give thanks" (1 Thess. 5:18). But, I become too proud to thank Him in everything. Instead, I am in the habit of complaining against God if things do not go my way!
A good example of this is found in Job, who, at one stage of his suffering, complained to God:
"I cry out to You, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You regard me. But You have become cruel to me; with the strength of your hand You oppose me. You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride on it; You spoil my success" (Job 30:20 - 22).
God's response to Job came later and this is found in Job 38 and Job 39. Job changed his attitude toward God when he heard God said:
"Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer" (Job 40:2).
Job did not sin in action but he certainly sinned in attitude and God dealt with that - Job repented and God restored him (Job 42).
I sin against God in action
The other way in which I may have a blockage and not be right with God is in my action. That means I am consciously and deliberately continue to do something of which He does not approve. I can act against the truth of His Word or do things in contrary to His will for me.
Peter said, "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil" (1 Peter 3:12, emphasis added).
If I am in the habit of doing things that are evil in His sight and not pleasing to Him, He will not hear my prayer. The word "evil" here indicates something that God disapproved. Those who hold on to things that are disapproved by God sin against God in action.
I am not right with others
This is a very common hindrance to our prayer.
Peter said, "Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayer may not be hindered" (1 Peter 3:7).
If a husband does not treat his wife right, his prayer may be hindered. In other words, the husband cannot pray effectively.
There are two ways by which I can be wrong with people:
I cannot forgive someone
It may happen that I cannot forgive someone for what he has done to me. But Jesus said I must forgive him, otherwise He would not forgive me:
"And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses" (Mark 11:25, 26, emphasis added).
The only condition in the Lord's Prayer is:
"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" (Matt. 6:12).
Notice that Jesus considered this so important that He repeated saying it immediately after He had finished teaching His disciples how to pray (Matt. 6:14, 15)!
My brother cannot forgive me
This is not so easy to understand and it surprises me, at first glance, to discover this in the scripture and that Jesus did say this:
"Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. Fisrt be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift" (Matt. 5:23, 24, emphasis added).
We need to take note of the difference between the above two passages of Scripture (Mark and Matthew). In Matthew 5 Jesus was speaking about a "brother" who has something against you. But in Mark 11 Jesus was referring to "anyone" (a believer or an unbeliever) who might be offended by you. Jesus used the word "brother" to refer to His covenant people who do His will (Matt. 12:49, 50). In other words, a brother is a true Christian.
The word "therefore" indicates the conclusion of something Jesus said a verse earlier (Verse 22). This brother was insulted because of two things - being called "Raca" which means "worthless one" in Aramaic, and being called a "fool".
Therefore, if I have insulted my brother in Christ and because of my wrong doing he cannot forgive me, then I must take the initiative to reconcile with him. Failing which there is a breakdown of communication with the Lord.
I am not right with myself
This I think is the most extraordinary problem. Many of us are too busy to pray or read the Bible daily. As believers we are expected to spend quality time with the Lord daily. We are not right with ourselves if we fail to do that. We are always too busy for the Lord if we fail to put our priorities right.
Martin Luther was a very busy man. When someone asked him his plan for tomorrow, he answered, "Work, work, and more work from early until late. In fact, I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer".
Luther knew that prayer paves the highway of accomplishment. To this end he prayed, often and persistent. Through prayer and Bible study Luther learned that Satan's goal in fighting the people of God is to make them think they pray too much and work too little! Martin Luther, examining his Church, noted a frightful emphasis on works, but little on prayer and faith. From this burning conviction sprang the Reformation - a movement shifting balance from the physical to the spiritual and from works to faith.
In my opinion, it is good to let our prayer life be integrated with the rest of the daily demand of our life if we wish to see our prayer getting through to God without hindrance.
Breakdown in communication on the heavenly side
There are two hindrances that can come from the heavenly side and break down the communication from that end.
Satan is fighting me
It is far too easy to blame Satan for the first three hindrances. This could happen, but not necessarily so. It is more likely, becuse of our flesh (the "old man" or the carnal nature in us), that we are not right with God, not right with others, or not right with ourselves. After having exhausted those three causes we can be quite certain that Satan is trying to discourage us.
The Bible clearly tells us Satan has, in his command, legions of evil angels or demons. They are intelligent spirit beings without bodies and they get in the way of our prayer. We have seen this in Chapter 10, the Book of Daniel. When Daniel was praying he had God's angel and Satan's angel fighting over his prayer. The answer to Daniel's prayer came only after Michael, the Archangel of God had overcome Satan's angel.
As we have seen in many of my recent messages, Spiritual Warfare is going on all the time. My prayer is not getting through because warfare tends to break lines of communication. If I feel that Satan is hindering the communication I must against Satan in the Name of Jesus and use every weapon I can from the armory of God.
God deliberately not replying me
It is difficult to understand why would God deliberatly not reply when I am right with Him, right with others, right with myself and resisting Satan. To me there is only one possible answer - He wants me to move up in "The School of Prayer"; He wants me to increase my prayer effort; He wants me to pray a little harder; He wants me to exercise more of my faith in Him and He wants me to grow spiritually.
Andrew Murray, a great man of prayer once said, "When the Lord wants to lead someone to great faith, He leaves his prayer unheard".
Finally, I believe when you know God and when you have God, you have the answers to all your prayers, irrespective whether He acknowledges you immediately or He wants you to go through a season of waiting. That is the reason I believe the goal of all prayers is to know God!
There are many ways by which God may answer my prayer. I may be in a situation that I am quite convinced that I want something and I ask for it. The answer that God gives me may be, "No, you can't have it, it's no good for you". Or, His answer may be, "Wait, the time is not ready yet". But that is not the real problem because there is an answer and I know for certain that God heard my prayer. The problem is, when the heaven seems like brass and I feel God is not listening and I am not gettign through to Him! There must be a hindrance somewhere.
It is certainly no fun having a one-way conversation with God. That is the major reason why some of us give up praying. That I believe is the most discouraging thing in prayer - when you feel that you are engaging in a one-way conversation. And a one-way conversation is not a conversation at all! How long can you keep up a conversation if the other person you speak to would not open his mouth? I mean, even with people it is so difficult, and therefore with God it is very discouraging if there is no reply! It seems that life has gone out of your prayer!
Biblical examples of unanswered prayer
Paul's problem
Consider Paul's "thorn in the flesh" experience (2 Corinthians 12:7 - 10). Three times Paul prayed that the Lord might remove it from him. The Lord did not reply him at first but finally the Lord said:
"My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9, NKJV).
Paul was happy because it was not an unanswered prayer. It was not the answer he hoped for, but it was an answered prayer! The Lord did hear his prayer and answered him.
Job's problem
Job went through the experience of hindrance in prayer for many months.
Job complained to the Lord, "Then call, and I will answer, or let me speak, then You respond to me, How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin. Why do You hide Your face, and regard me Your enemy" (Job 13:22 - 24)?
"I cry out to You, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You regard me" (Job 30:20).
"Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my mark. Oh, that the Almighty would answer me, that my prosecutor had written a book" (Job 31:35)!
The psalmist's problem
In the Book of psalms we read of the psalmists crying out to God for response to their prayers. The following passages are from the psalms of David:
"Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; do not be silent at my tears; ..." (Ps. 39:12).
"Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me"(Ps. 27:7).
"Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer" (Ps. 61:1).
So we see, even David, the master of Psalm, prayer and praise, had his share of this problem of silence from God.
Major causes of the problem of unanswered prayer
There are many causes of the problem, but we are only concerned with the major ones. I believe it is important for us to search the Scripture to find out what are the causes of the problem of hindrances in our prayer. Otherwise, we may even blame God for keeping silense and we may easily think like Job that God is in the wrong when we can't get through to Him.
There are five major causes of the problem of unanswered prayer and we can be certain that God is not to be blamed for any of the five. Three of these are a breakdown in communication on the human side or on the earthly side of the conversation. Two of them are a breakdown in communication on the heavenly side.
The breakdown in communication on the earthy side is due to sin:
The psalmist said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear" (Ps. 66:18).
Isaiah said that sins and iniquities have separated God from His people:
"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear" (Isaiah 59:1, 2, NKJV).
Breakdown in communication on the earthly side
The three major causes of the breakdown in communication on the earthly side are:
I am not right with God
There are two ways in which this can happen. My feeling about God may be wrong. That means I sin against Him in attitude. On the other hand, God's feelings about me may be wrong. That means I sin against Him in action. In other words, God may not approve of what I am doing. In either ways I sin against God.
I sin against God in attitude
My feelings about God may be wrong. I may be resentful toward Him and this may be a blockage. I can build up resentment against God because of the way my circumstances has turned out. The Scripture says, "In everything give thanks" (1 Thess. 5:18). But, I become too proud to thank Him in everything. Instead, I am in the habit of complaining against God if things do not go my way!
A good example of this is found in Job, who, at one stage of his suffering, complained to God:
"I cry out to You, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You regard me. But You have become cruel to me; with the strength of your hand You oppose me. You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride on it; You spoil my success" (Job 30:20 - 22).
God's response to Job came later and this is found in Job 38 and Job 39. Job changed his attitude toward God when he heard God said:
"Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer" (Job 40:2).
Job did not sin in action but he certainly sinned in attitude and God dealt with that - Job repented and God restored him (Job 42).
I sin against God in action
The other way in which I may have a blockage and not be right with God is in my action. That means I am consciously and deliberately continue to do something of which He does not approve. I can act against the truth of His Word or do things in contrary to His will for me.
Peter said, "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil" (1 Peter 3:12, emphasis added).
If I am in the habit of doing things that are evil in His sight and not pleasing to Him, He will not hear my prayer. The word "evil" here indicates something that God disapproved. Those who hold on to things that are disapproved by God sin against God in action.
I am not right with others
This is a very common hindrance to our prayer.
Peter said, "Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayer may not be hindered" (1 Peter 3:7).
If a husband does not treat his wife right, his prayer may be hindered. In other words, the husband cannot pray effectively.
There are two ways by which I can be wrong with people:
I cannot forgive someone
It may happen that I cannot forgive someone for what he has done to me. But Jesus said I must forgive him, otherwise He would not forgive me:
"And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses" (Mark 11:25, 26, emphasis added).
The only condition in the Lord's Prayer is:
"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" (Matt. 6:12).
Notice that Jesus considered this so important that He repeated saying it immediately after He had finished teaching His disciples how to pray (Matt. 6:14, 15)!
My brother cannot forgive me
This is not so easy to understand and it surprises me, at first glance, to discover this in the scripture and that Jesus did say this:
"Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. Fisrt be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift" (Matt. 5:23, 24, emphasis added).
We need to take note of the difference between the above two passages of Scripture (Mark and Matthew). In Matthew 5 Jesus was speaking about a "brother" who has something against you. But in Mark 11 Jesus was referring to "anyone" (a believer or an unbeliever) who might be offended by you. Jesus used the word "brother" to refer to His covenant people who do His will (Matt. 12:49, 50). In other words, a brother is a true Christian.
The word "therefore" indicates the conclusion of something Jesus said a verse earlier (Verse 22). This brother was insulted because of two things - being called "Raca" which means "worthless one" in Aramaic, and being called a "fool".
Therefore, if I have insulted my brother in Christ and because of my wrong doing he cannot forgive me, then I must take the initiative to reconcile with him. Failing which there is a breakdown of communication with the Lord.
I am not right with myself
This I think is the most extraordinary problem. Many of us are too busy to pray or read the Bible daily. As believers we are expected to spend quality time with the Lord daily. We are not right with ourselves if we fail to do that. We are always too busy for the Lord if we fail to put our priorities right.
Martin Luther was a very busy man. When someone asked him his plan for tomorrow, he answered, "Work, work, and more work from early until late. In fact, I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer".
Luther knew that prayer paves the highway of accomplishment. To this end he prayed, often and persistent. Through prayer and Bible study Luther learned that Satan's goal in fighting the people of God is to make them think they pray too much and work too little! Martin Luther, examining his Church, noted a frightful emphasis on works, but little on prayer and faith. From this burning conviction sprang the Reformation - a movement shifting balance from the physical to the spiritual and from works to faith.
In my opinion, it is good to let our prayer life be integrated with the rest of the daily demand of our life if we wish to see our prayer getting through to God without hindrance.
Breakdown in communication on the heavenly side
There are two hindrances that can come from the heavenly side and break down the communication from that end.
Satan is fighting me
It is far too easy to blame Satan for the first three hindrances. This could happen, but not necessarily so. It is more likely, becuse of our flesh (the "old man" or the carnal nature in us), that we are not right with God, not right with others, or not right with ourselves. After having exhausted those three causes we can be quite certain that Satan is trying to discourage us.
The Bible clearly tells us Satan has, in his command, legions of evil angels or demons. They are intelligent spirit beings without bodies and they get in the way of our prayer. We have seen this in Chapter 10, the Book of Daniel. When Daniel was praying he had God's angel and Satan's angel fighting over his prayer. The answer to Daniel's prayer came only after Michael, the Archangel of God had overcome Satan's angel.
As we have seen in many of my recent messages, Spiritual Warfare is going on all the time. My prayer is not getting through because warfare tends to break lines of communication. If I feel that Satan is hindering the communication I must against Satan in the Name of Jesus and use every weapon I can from the armory of God.
God deliberately not replying me
It is difficult to understand why would God deliberatly not reply when I am right with Him, right with others, right with myself and resisting Satan. To me there is only one possible answer - He wants me to move up in "The School of Prayer"; He wants me to increase my prayer effort; He wants me to pray a little harder; He wants me to exercise more of my faith in Him and He wants me to grow spiritually.
Andrew Murray, a great man of prayer once said, "When the Lord wants to lead someone to great faith, He leaves his prayer unheard".
Finally, I believe when you know God and when you have God, you have the answers to all your prayers, irrespective whether He acknowledges you immediately or He wants you to go through a season of waiting. That is the reason I believe the goal of all prayers is to know God!
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Supplication and God's Mercy
My previous messages covered many areas concerning prayers - intercession, prayer of petition, agressive and authoritative prayer, binding the strongmen and warfare prayers. There is a type of prayer which I believe has not been given enough emphasis in the contemporary Local Church. It is called "supplication".
In our prayer life there may come a time when we are faced with a situation where there is a desperate need for prayer. But what are we to do if we do not know how to pray in that particular situation, or when we are alone and do not have the authority to exercise against the evil forces operating in our situation? The situation could be in your family, your job or your ministry in the Local Church. If you are a woman you may also ask, "I would love to pray, I love to see the situation change, but I don't have the authority"?
There is another way to pray and I believe anybody in desperation can pray this prayer. This prayer is called "supplication" which simply means desperately calling out to God for mercy. You will discover that in many occasions God almost instantly answer this type of prayer.
The importance of Supplication
God's people in the Old Testament seem to place more importance to supplication than believers in the New Testament. The word "supplication" occurs 35 times in the New King James Version of the Bible, of which only 4 times are in the New Testament. Similarly the word "supplications" occurs 20 times in the New King James Version of the Bible, of which only 3 times are in the New Testament. In most occasions the words "prayer" and "supplication" are used together to describe desperate prayer. Here are some examples:
1. In time of distress, David, the psalmist said, "The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord will recieve my prayer" (Ps. 6:9, NKJV, emphasis added).
"Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications! In Your faithfulness answer, and in Your righteousness" (Ps. 143:1, emphasis added).
2. At the dedication of the temple, Solomon prayed. "Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today; ..." (1 Kings 8:28, emphasis added).
Solomon's same prayer was recorded in 2 Chronicles 6:19.
Solomon continued to pray, "... then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You" (2 Chron. 6:39, emphasis added).
3. Daniel prayed for Jerusalem and the people of God who sinned against the Lord:
"O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord's sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate" (Daniel 9:16, 17, NKJV, emphasis).
Immediately(Dan. 9:21) after Daniel's prayer and supplications, Gabriel, the archangel, came with the following words:
"O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therfore consider the matter, and understand the vision; ..." (Dan. 9:22, 23, emphasis added).
4. The Upper Room Prayer Meeting
After Jesus had ascended to Heaven, 120 of his disciples, including Mary, the mother of Jesus and other women went to a prayer meeting in an upper room:
"These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers" (Acts 1:14, emphasis added).
We all know about the outcome of this prayer meeting.
5. Pray all kinds of prayer with perseverance
Paul said, "... praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints" (Eph. 6:18, emphasis added).
Believers are expected to pray always with all kinds of prayer with perseverance. Also, to pray for one another, led by the Spirit of God, to pray in understanding and pray in the the Spirit.
Paul also gave us this wonderful promise of God:
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6, 7, NKJV, emphasis added).
The above passage of Scripture includes all forms of prayer - prayer, supplication, thanksgiving and requests (petition). "In everything" means "in every situation or every circumstance - in repect of afflictions, conflicts and trials".
What Paul means is that, in any given situation, no matter how depressing it may be, we should not worry, and we will have the peace of God if we pray with all forms of prayer, including supplication.
6. Jesus' prayer and supplications
The writer of Hebrews said, "... who (Christ), in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet he learned obedience by the things which He suffered" (Hebrews 5:7, 8, emphasis added).
Jesus, in His humanity, prayed, supplicated, and cried out to God, the Father, at the garden of Gethsemane (Matt. 26:39). Feeling that God had the power to save Him from the mode of dying, the burden of His supplication was that, if human redemption could be accomplished without such sufferings, it might please His Father to remove that cup from Him.
His prayers and supplications were heard and were not discarded though it was not literally answered. The cup of suffering and death was not taken away, but His suppliction was not diregarded.
The two important things we learn from the above examples concerning supplication are: One, prayer, in general, is different from supplication which is desperately entreating God's favor. Two, God will not disregard or discard any supplication. he hears our supplication, but we might not receive the answer that we expected.
The benefits of Supplication
Basically, I believe supplication is the place where most of us have to begin before we go on to other forms of prayer. This is because anyone, with or without authority, can supplicate before the Lord. We can supplicate alone or in a group of two or more believers. We can do it in the privacy of our prayer closet or in a Church prayer meeting.
I believe God's people, especially the ladies of the Local Church, should get involved in supplication whenever they are faced with problems in the Church. They should humble themselves, get together and forget about Spiritual Authority in this type of prayer. Primarily, they should be the ones on their face before the Lord crying out for God's mercy on the Pastors, Elders and leaders of the Church who are facing various types of problems - slandering, sexual immorality, discouragement, rejection, lack of integrity, lack of honesty, lack of loyalty and the like.
They should cry out to the Lord, "O merciful God, we don't deserve Your mercy, but we come to You for it. We ask of You Lord to be merciful to all of us and help us! You are the only source of help we have! We are not asking You for justice but asking You for Your mercy!"
This form of prayer is precisely what the writer of Hebrews referred to:
"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:15, 16, NKJV, emphasis added).
God's throne is called the throne of grace. The reason we can come boldly to the throne and obtain mercy and grace is because we have a great High Priest, Jesus Christ, who sympathizes with our weaknesses.
In my opinion, the only reason that we do not obtain mercy is that we do not come for it. We are too proud to kneel down before God. And yet the safest place to be in, is on the floor, for when we are there we cannot fall any lower! It may take a bit of boldness and struggle to get there. We may begin to think about our dignity, about what other people may say about us, but we will feel secure when we are on the floor!
A Biblical pattern of supplication
A wonderful pattern of supplication is found in the life of Rahab, the harlot who lodged in Jericho (Joshua 2:1 - 13). Rahab had no authority or had any claim on God. All she did was to cast herself upon the mercy of God. She could not ask for justice because she was not an Israelite and furthermore, a harlot! But all she asked was mercy and not justice. That is the essence of supplication.
Her supplication is found in Verse 12 and 13: "Now therefore, I beg you (the spies), swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father's house, ..."
When Joshua and his people went in to Jericho, Rahab received mercy from God and whatever she asked for was given to her (Joshua 6:22, 23)! Joshua spared her life and the lives of her father, her mother, her brothers and all that she had. Ultimately, Rahab found herself (a harlot and not an Israelite) in the genealogical line of our Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:5)! The key to Rahab's success was that she knew how to lay hold of God for mercy and she knew how to supplicate!
A prophetic picture of Israel and the Church
God is going to open the eyes of Israel and the Church through the prophet Zechariah:
"And I (the Lord) will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn" (Zechariah 12:10, NKJV, emphasis added).
I firmly believe that this Scripture will be fulfilled in the history of Israel. Nevertheless, it also has pattern for the Church. I believe God is going to pour out the Spirit of Grace and the Spirit of Supplication to Israel, His chosen people and to the Church, also His people. Without the pouring out, the eyes of the children of Israel and the Church will not be opened. The first outpouring is the Sprit of Grace. As we all know, grace cannot be earned because you and I will never deserve it. Believers are accepted by grace. It is important to realize that without God's grace we cannot even pray a prayer that is worth praying! He will not hear us because we are not worthy to have our prayer heard, let alone receiving an answer from Him. Therefore, the first thing we need is grace. And if we have received grace, then in the appropriate situation God will pour out the Spirit of Supplication. When we begin to cry out to God with the depth of supplication, intercession and agony that we couldn't believe would be possible, and then I believe we will get the revelation of what the Church need most - the wonderful revelation of the One we "pierced" (grieved) - The Lord Jesus Christ!
The Spirit of Supplication will reveal to us how much we have grieved our Lord Jesus by our disobedience, prayerlessness, indifference, apathy and general wickedness. In our natural mind we can't understand the extent to which we have grieved Him. We are very much blinded by our stubbornness, our rebellion, our pride, our arrogance, our sectarianism and our personal ambitions. I believe we will not see this unless we are on our face before God in supplication. I do not believe we could stand the revelation unless the Lord gave us, first of all, His grace. And if we want to see the situation in our Church changed, we need to put this before the Lord, on our face and let Him bring us to a place where we can contemplate what will be the end, unless God visits the Church. The Church is in serious danger of going the wrong spiritual pathway, because God's people are taking their eyes from the Scripture. They neither know the truth nor practice the truth because there is no true shepherd to lead His people.
Jesus (quoting Isaiah) said, "These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" (Matt. 15:8, NKJV).
I believe God is willing to visit His Church but we must first meet His condition. We must repent and cry out to Him for mercy in our supplication. We must turn from our wicked ways and seek His face. We must deny ourselves and carry the cross and follow Him daily!
In our prayer life there may come a time when we are faced with a situation where there is a desperate need for prayer. But what are we to do if we do not know how to pray in that particular situation, or when we are alone and do not have the authority to exercise against the evil forces operating in our situation? The situation could be in your family, your job or your ministry in the Local Church. If you are a woman you may also ask, "I would love to pray, I love to see the situation change, but I don't have the authority"?
There is another way to pray and I believe anybody in desperation can pray this prayer. This prayer is called "supplication" which simply means desperately calling out to God for mercy. You will discover that in many occasions God almost instantly answer this type of prayer.
The importance of Supplication
God's people in the Old Testament seem to place more importance to supplication than believers in the New Testament. The word "supplication" occurs 35 times in the New King James Version of the Bible, of which only 4 times are in the New Testament. Similarly the word "supplications" occurs 20 times in the New King James Version of the Bible, of which only 3 times are in the New Testament. In most occasions the words "prayer" and "supplication" are used together to describe desperate prayer. Here are some examples:
1. In time of distress, David, the psalmist said, "The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord will recieve my prayer" (Ps. 6:9, NKJV, emphasis added).
"Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications! In Your faithfulness answer, and in Your righteousness" (Ps. 143:1, emphasis added).
2. At the dedication of the temple, Solomon prayed. "Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today; ..." (1 Kings 8:28, emphasis added).
Solomon's same prayer was recorded in 2 Chronicles 6:19.
Solomon continued to pray, "... then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You" (2 Chron. 6:39, emphasis added).
3. Daniel prayed for Jerusalem and the people of God who sinned against the Lord:
"O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord's sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate" (Daniel 9:16, 17, NKJV, emphasis).
Immediately(Dan. 9:21) after Daniel's prayer and supplications, Gabriel, the archangel, came with the following words:
"O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therfore consider the matter, and understand the vision; ..." (Dan. 9:22, 23, emphasis added).
4. The Upper Room Prayer Meeting
After Jesus had ascended to Heaven, 120 of his disciples, including Mary, the mother of Jesus and other women went to a prayer meeting in an upper room:
"These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers" (Acts 1:14, emphasis added).
We all know about the outcome of this prayer meeting.
5. Pray all kinds of prayer with perseverance
Paul said, "... praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints" (Eph. 6:18, emphasis added).
Believers are expected to pray always with all kinds of prayer with perseverance. Also, to pray for one another, led by the Spirit of God, to pray in understanding and pray in the the Spirit.
Paul also gave us this wonderful promise of God:
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6, 7, NKJV, emphasis added).
The above passage of Scripture includes all forms of prayer - prayer, supplication, thanksgiving and requests (petition). "In everything" means "in every situation or every circumstance - in repect of afflictions, conflicts and trials".
What Paul means is that, in any given situation, no matter how depressing it may be, we should not worry, and we will have the peace of God if we pray with all forms of prayer, including supplication.
6. Jesus' prayer and supplications
The writer of Hebrews said, "... who (Christ), in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet he learned obedience by the things which He suffered" (Hebrews 5:7, 8, emphasis added).
Jesus, in His humanity, prayed, supplicated, and cried out to God, the Father, at the garden of Gethsemane (Matt. 26:39). Feeling that God had the power to save Him from the mode of dying, the burden of His supplication was that, if human redemption could be accomplished without such sufferings, it might please His Father to remove that cup from Him.
His prayers and supplications were heard and were not discarded though it was not literally answered. The cup of suffering and death was not taken away, but His suppliction was not diregarded.
The two important things we learn from the above examples concerning supplication are: One, prayer, in general, is different from supplication which is desperately entreating God's favor. Two, God will not disregard or discard any supplication. he hears our supplication, but we might not receive the answer that we expected.
The benefits of Supplication
Basically, I believe supplication is the place where most of us have to begin before we go on to other forms of prayer. This is because anyone, with or without authority, can supplicate before the Lord. We can supplicate alone or in a group of two or more believers. We can do it in the privacy of our prayer closet or in a Church prayer meeting.
I believe God's people, especially the ladies of the Local Church, should get involved in supplication whenever they are faced with problems in the Church. They should humble themselves, get together and forget about Spiritual Authority in this type of prayer. Primarily, they should be the ones on their face before the Lord crying out for God's mercy on the Pastors, Elders and leaders of the Church who are facing various types of problems - slandering, sexual immorality, discouragement, rejection, lack of integrity, lack of honesty, lack of loyalty and the like.
They should cry out to the Lord, "O merciful God, we don't deserve Your mercy, but we come to You for it. We ask of You Lord to be merciful to all of us and help us! You are the only source of help we have! We are not asking You for justice but asking You for Your mercy!"
This form of prayer is precisely what the writer of Hebrews referred to:
"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:15, 16, NKJV, emphasis added).
God's throne is called the throne of grace. The reason we can come boldly to the throne and obtain mercy and grace is because we have a great High Priest, Jesus Christ, who sympathizes with our weaknesses.
In my opinion, the only reason that we do not obtain mercy is that we do not come for it. We are too proud to kneel down before God. And yet the safest place to be in, is on the floor, for when we are there we cannot fall any lower! It may take a bit of boldness and struggle to get there. We may begin to think about our dignity, about what other people may say about us, but we will feel secure when we are on the floor!
A Biblical pattern of supplication
A wonderful pattern of supplication is found in the life of Rahab, the harlot who lodged in Jericho (Joshua 2:1 - 13). Rahab had no authority or had any claim on God. All she did was to cast herself upon the mercy of God. She could not ask for justice because she was not an Israelite and furthermore, a harlot! But all she asked was mercy and not justice. That is the essence of supplication.
Her supplication is found in Verse 12 and 13: "Now therefore, I beg you (the spies), swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father's house, ..."
When Joshua and his people went in to Jericho, Rahab received mercy from God and whatever she asked for was given to her (Joshua 6:22, 23)! Joshua spared her life and the lives of her father, her mother, her brothers and all that she had. Ultimately, Rahab found herself (a harlot and not an Israelite) in the genealogical line of our Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:5)! The key to Rahab's success was that she knew how to lay hold of God for mercy and she knew how to supplicate!
A prophetic picture of Israel and the Church
God is going to open the eyes of Israel and the Church through the prophet Zechariah:
"And I (the Lord) will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn" (Zechariah 12:10, NKJV, emphasis added).
I firmly believe that this Scripture will be fulfilled in the history of Israel. Nevertheless, it also has pattern for the Church. I believe God is going to pour out the Spirit of Grace and the Spirit of Supplication to Israel, His chosen people and to the Church, also His people. Without the pouring out, the eyes of the children of Israel and the Church will not be opened. The first outpouring is the Sprit of Grace. As we all know, grace cannot be earned because you and I will never deserve it. Believers are accepted by grace. It is important to realize that without God's grace we cannot even pray a prayer that is worth praying! He will not hear us because we are not worthy to have our prayer heard, let alone receiving an answer from Him. Therefore, the first thing we need is grace. And if we have received grace, then in the appropriate situation God will pour out the Spirit of Supplication. When we begin to cry out to God with the depth of supplication, intercession and agony that we couldn't believe would be possible, and then I believe we will get the revelation of what the Church need most - the wonderful revelation of the One we "pierced" (grieved) - The Lord Jesus Christ!
The Spirit of Supplication will reveal to us how much we have grieved our Lord Jesus by our disobedience, prayerlessness, indifference, apathy and general wickedness. In our natural mind we can't understand the extent to which we have grieved Him. We are very much blinded by our stubbornness, our rebellion, our pride, our arrogance, our sectarianism and our personal ambitions. I believe we will not see this unless we are on our face before God in supplication. I do not believe we could stand the revelation unless the Lord gave us, first of all, His grace. And if we want to see the situation in our Church changed, we need to put this before the Lord, on our face and let Him bring us to a place where we can contemplate what will be the end, unless God visits the Church. The Church is in serious danger of going the wrong spiritual pathway, because God's people are taking their eyes from the Scripture. They neither know the truth nor practice the truth because there is no true shepherd to lead His people.
Jesus (quoting Isaiah) said, "These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" (Matt. 15:8, NKJV).
I believe God is willing to visit His Church but we must first meet His condition. We must repent and cry out to Him for mercy in our supplication. We must turn from our wicked ways and seek His face. We must deny ourselves and carry the cross and follow Him daily!
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