Posts Tagged ‘Christian’
A little while ago I was invited to become part of an international ministry network. I visited their web site, and found information about the organization and its leaders, but nothing to indicate what they actually believed. When I enquired about this, I was told “We just preach the whole Gospel.”
Unfortunately, as I pointed out to them, the interpretation of what constitutes “the whole Gospel” varies widely. In a perfect Church, to say “we preach the whole Gospel” would be enough, but in a sadly divided, often backslidden and definitely far from perfect Church, I want a somewhat clearer definition of beliefs before I sign on the dotted line.
When Paul wrote about the armor of God in Ephesians 6, the first item he mentioned was the belt of truth. This was for a very good reason. For a Roman soldier, the belt was not just the thing that held his toga up! His weapons hung on his belt, and it even had straps going over the shoulders so that his breastplate also hung on it. For us also, everything hangs on truth, both our weapons and our breastplate of righteousness.
Very simply, what we do, and how we live, depends on what we believe. If we believe that Jesus was just a good man, then we will never look to Him for salvation, because we know that no man, no matter how good, is able to save us. If we believe that satan does not exist, we will not be prepared to resist his attacks; on the other hand, if we believe that he is so big and powerful that we don’t stand a chance against him, then we will give up the fight before we even start.
Some time ago there was a popular song that said, “You and me baby ain’t nothing but mammals, so let’s do it like they do on the Discovery Channel.” That song, and the sentiments it expressed, was a logical result of a belief in evolution.
What we believe matters, and defining what we believe matters. If we don’t define what we believe, we can never define what we don’t believe. If we don’t define that Jesus is God in the flesh, then we have no defence against those who say he was just a good man, or a prophet. If we don’t define that the Bible is the Word of God, we have no defence against those who say it only contains the word of God, which means by definition that some parts are not (and generally results in people discarding the bits they don’t like.)
We do not have the liberty – or the responsibility – to determine for ourselves what is truth. God has already presented it to us in His Word. What we need to do is to become so familiar with the Word that it becomes an integral part of our lives, so central to our thought processes that everything we do flows out of it.
Truth will then become the belt of our armor, holding up our weapons and supporting the righteousness that is ours in Christ.
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There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
WP-Bible plugin)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
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9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,
WP-Bible plugin)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Eph. 6:12Eph. 6:12
English: World English Bible - WEB
12 For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
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Often in our Christian walk we find people are opposed to us. They may ridicule us or ostracize us. They may thwart our plans and make our lives difficult. If we live in one of the countries where Christians are in a minority, they may do far worse, denying us employment or education, even throwing us into prison and killing us.
As we face that opposition, however mild or severe it may be, we need to understand that our primary problem is not the people, but the forces that lie behind them. Certainly, the people have a free will and have chosen to align themselves with those forces. But having made that choice, they are now captives. (What, you’ve never made a wrong choice in your life?)
What lies behind them is nothing less than the army of satan – an army which has its generals and commanders, and ranks right down to the lowest private (demon). This army is highly organized, mercilessly disciplined, and bent on just one thing: world domination. In the effort to achieve that end, its forces will manipulate and maneuver the people who are available to it to attack the people of God in every possible way.
The closer we get to the return of Jesus, the more active the forces of satan are in the world. I see it as I read the news from the persecuted church: more Christians are suffering torture, imprisonment and death for their faith today than have at any other time in church history.
If we try only to deal with the human side of the equation, we are only putting Band-aids on a cancer. The truth is, Jesus Christ defeated satan at the Cross. Satan continues to get away with his attack on God’s people only because we are silly enough to waste our time battling with people, instead of standing in the victory that Jesus has already won for us, taking up the Sword of the Spirit, and tearing down the demonic strongholds that are our real opponents.
Called to Battle Spiritual Warfare Seminar
Find it at http://christianspiritualwarfaregtk.com
Free e-course: Put on the Armor of God
Find it at http://armorofgod.lynnbfowler.com
There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
WP-Bible plugin)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,
WP-Bible plugin)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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”Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Ephesians 6:11Ephesians 6:11
English: World English Bible - WEB
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
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Down through the ages, many people have used talismans to protect them from the forces of evil. Even the cross has at times been used as a talisman, with the wearer believing that just by putting it on she is protected from whatever may come against her.
Unfortunately, many people use these verses about the armour in the same way. They pray them glibly each morning, “putting on” the armour, and rest happy and comfortable in the thought that they are protected.
That is not what Paul was talking about. In telling us to “put on” the armour, he is not suggesting that we simply say a “lucky charm” prayer, but rather that we adopt a lifestyle that will truly enable us to stand against every attack of the enemy.
To put on the belt of truth is to have our lives girded, in every area, with both the eternal truth of the Word of God and the truthfulness of a child of God, created in the image of the God who is Truth.
To put on the breastplate of righteousness is to know that our heart is protected both because God has declared us to be righteous in Christ, and because His righteousness is being worked out in our lives.
To be shod with the Gospel of peace means to be able to walk safely in any area, secure in the knowledge that the Gospel has brought us both peace with God and the peace of God, and that we are upheld by the God who is Peace.
To take up the shield of faith is to meet every attack with faith in God’s faithfulness; a faith which has been soaked long in the water of the Word.
To take the helmet of salvation is to have our mind, our eyes, our ears and our mouth shielded by the totality of God’s salvation for every aspect of our lives, allowing nothing to enter that has not been filtered through that salvation.
To take the sword of the Spirit is to allow the Word of God to permeate our lives, so that we can use it to answer the devil’s temptations, just as Jesus did in the wilderness.
None of that is a quick, “lucky charm” prayer. It is a lifestyle, and it takes work.
Lord, teach us to live in Your armour, always fully clad and equipped to meet the worst that the enemy can throw at us.
Called to Battle Spiritual Warfare Seminar
Find it at http://christianspiritualwarfaregtk.com
Free e-course: Put on the Armor of God
Find it at http://armorofgod.lynnbfowler.com
There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
WP-Bible plugin)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,
WP-Bible plugin)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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“Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10Matthew 6:10
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10 Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.
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We all know these words so well. Many of us pray them every day – in some cases, several times a day – as part of what we know as the Lord’s Prayer. Yet I wonder whether we really think about what we are saying.
Jesus made it quite clear that He had come to establish a kingdom. His ministry was ushered in by John the Baptist, proclaiming “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” (Matt 3:2Matt 3:2
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2 “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”
WP-Bible plugin), and Jesus began His own ministry with those same words (Matt 4:17Matt 4:17
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17 From that time, Jesus began to preach, and to say, “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
WP-Bible plugin). He was crucified, albeit mockingly, as “King of the Jews.” In between, He lived the lifestyle and taught the precepts of a Kingdom unlike any the world has ever seen.
What is a kingdom? Very simply, it is a group of people governed by a king. It is not subject to geographical boundaries, for wherever the people of the kingdom remain under the king’s government, there is the kingdom. It is only when the people of the kingdom submit themselves to a different government, that they cease to be part of the kingdom, and the kingdom ceases to be represented.
Jesus showed us clearly what the Kingdom of God is about in the second part of this verse: it is about God’s will. God’s Kingdom is a people who live according to God’s will. Every inhabitant of heaven lives perfectly according to God’s will in every area. That is the ideal, also, for this earth. The more closely God’s people here on earth live to that ideal, the more fully God’s Kingdom is established on earth.
So what is God’s will? It is not something arbitrary, outside of God Himself, but is tied to His character. God is holy, so His will is that His people should live in holiness. He is love, so His will is that His people should live in love. This much is obvious.
Perhaps it is not so obvious that Kingship is also part of God’s nature. Kingship is not something that was bestowed upon Him. He did not inherit it through a line of succession. Nor was He voted in to the position of King. To be King is part of His nature – if He were not King, He would not be God.
His Kingship was further enforced and established by Jesus victory at Calvary.
That means that He rules over everything. Every being, every power, every force in heaven, earth and hell must bow the knee before Him. What is the significance of that in the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth, for which Jesus commanded us to pray? Simply this: satan and all his forces are subject to God as King. They have been once and all defeated at the Cross. Every time we allow the enemy to prevail in any area of our lives or the lives of those around us, we are failing to establish God’s Kingdom in that situation.
If we want to know what the Kingdom of God should look like on earth, then we need only look at heaven. Is there injustice in heaven? Is there oppression? Poverty? Sickness? If not, then it has no place in the Kingdom on earth. We need to take up our spiritual weapons, and the authority that has been given to us in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and enforce the victory of Jesus over the spirit of injustice, oppression, poverty, sickness, and whatever else defies the rule of the King of kings.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Called to Battle Spiritual Warfare Seminar
Find it at http://christianspiritualwarfaregtk.com
Free e-course: Put on the Armor of God
Find it at http://armorofgod.lynnbfowler.com
There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
WP-Bible plugin)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,
WP-Bible plugin)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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The fledgling church had gathered in Jerusalem following the ascension of the Lord into heaven. Their first order of business was to appoint someone to stand with the twelve apostles, replacing Judas. Speaking to the assembled group, Peter told them that the one appointed had to be someone who had been with Jesus throughout the time of His earthly ministry, and that the purpose of the appointment was that he should be, with them, a witness to the resurrection of Christ.
Whilst this was specific to the appointment of the twelfth apostle, it is also applicable to us. We, living two thousand years after, cannot claim to have physically witnessed the great event of the resurrection. Yet our very existence as Christians is witness to it. Imagine if the Biblical account closed with the placing of Jesus’ body in the tomb! What we would have would be no more than a particularly sad, and particularly inspiring, martyrdom. Other than stirring our hearts, it would not have the power to change us. We would have no assurance that Christ’s death was in our place, or if it was that it had been acceptable to the Father. We would never have heard, either individually or corporately, those words, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” It would be like a man who won a victory over his enemy, but died before he could tell anyone about his triumph.
Fortunately, the Bible does not leave us at the cross, or even at the tomb. It takes us on to Easter morning, and from there to the ascension and Pentecost. We know that through His death Jesus bore all our sins, paid in full the price of our redemption, and defeated satan and all his hordes. We know it because the resurrection proves it. The resurrection tells us that our God is alive, and that we are safe to put our trust in Him.
So why is it that so many Christians live at the cross? Don’t get me wrong. The cross is and always will be central to our faith. I love all those old hymns – The Old Rugged Cross, Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross, Lead Me to Calvary – the ones we very rarely sing these days, even in churches where they sing hymns rather than choruses. Yet the cross is only half the story. The cross dealt with our death, but the resurrection assures us of life. Not only life, but a totally different dimension of life. After Jesus’ resurrection, He was recognizably the same person. But He was also recognizably different. He still had “flesh and bones”, but He could walk through walls.
When we live with an attitude that the best we can expect from our Christian life is an endless cycle of sin-repentance-forgiveness; when we accept regular rhythms of defeat and picking ourselves up to start again; when we regard powerlessness as normal; we are living on the wrong side of the resurrection. That’s bad for us, but it’s even worse for the world to which we are supposed to be witnesses of the resurrection.
That world is all-to-familiar with dead, powerless gods. They need to see that our God – the true God – is alive, victorious and powerful. They will only see it, as they see it in us.
My daily reading recently included the story of Elisha and his servant. The king of Aram was at war with Israel, but whenever he plotted an attack, God revealed the plans to the prophet Elisha, who in turn told the king of Israel. Understandably, this made the king of Aram quite upset. Eventually he decided that he should deal with Elisha once and for all, so he gathered an army and sent them down to attack Elisha.
When Elisha and his servant woke up, they looked out to see a great army, complete with horses and chariots, encamped around them. And they were just two men!
It reminds me of an old war movie I saw once. The heroes had made a successful attack against an enemy fort, and were trying to make their getaway across the harbour in a tiny boat. Guns were firing at them from the shore, planes were flying overhead trying to bomb them, and somewhere offshore a ship launched a torpedo. All this against a tiny boat with a handful of men!
Life seems like that sometimes, doesn’t it? As we seek to go about our business of serving the Lord, we feel that we are surrounded by a massive force of enemies, and that we are being fired on from every side. We feel so small and helpless in the midst of it.
However, the massive army surrounding Elisha and his servant was less than half the story. Elisha’s servant was overcome with fear, and cried out in distress to his master. Elisha, however, saw beyond the natural. He prayed for God to open the servant’s spiritual eyes also, and when He did the servant saw the mighty army of God encamped around the army of Aram. It was not Elisha’s army, for Elisha to command, but God’s army of which Elisha was himself a part. And because he was part of that army, it would defend him.
Are you part of God’s army? Are you under His command, carrying out His orders and submitted to His will? Then you need never fear, no matter how great a force the enemy brings against you, or how strong the attack may be. Because you are part of God’s army, that army will always be there to defend you.
God’s army will always be greater than anything the enemy can muster, for four reasons:
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God’s army goes forth in God’s power and authority. The best the devil can manage is bluff and illusion.
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God’s army outnumbers the devil’s army two to one. Scripture tells us that when the devil rebelled one third of the angels rebelled with him. That means two-thirds remained faithful to God.
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God’s army is not fighting to achieve victory. Victory has already been won by the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross. His army fights only to enforce the victory which has already been won.
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The General of the army, the Holy Spirit, lives within each of the human members of the army.
We are not in command, but the one who is in command lives in us! No wonder the Bible tells us that “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”
Got an army camped against you? Fear not, God’s army defending you is bigger. Being attacked from every side? Fear not, the battle has already been won, and you are on the winning side.
Some time ago, as we were praying over Glory to the King Ministries International and the Apostolic Network, the Lord gave us a word that He wanted to release over the Network an anointing of a martyr heart. He gave us the Scripture from Revelation 12:11Revelation 12:11
English: World English Bible - WEB
11 They overcame him because of the Lamb’s blood, and because of the word of their testimony. They didn’t love their life, even to death.
WP-Bible plugin, “They overcame him (satan) by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death.” I saw a great army rising up, an army which is the end time church, an army which will be absolutely unstoppable because they have nothing left to lose.
What is a martyr heart? In our world today there are those of some world religions who call themselves martyrs, but they are not really so. Their heart is not a willingness to lay down their own lives, but a desire to destroy the lives of others – and if, in doing that, they have to lose their own lives, then they are willing.
The martyr heart which the Lord wants to give us – not just GTK Apostolic Network, but the whole end time church – is very different. We must be willing to lay down our lives, not in order to destroy as many others as we can with us, but to bear witness to our Lord and Saviour. We are to be martyrs not to bring death, but to bring life.
To have a martyr heart does not just mean being willing to face physical death. Some will face that ultimate decision, many will not. All of us need to have the same kind of heart that Jesus had. Before Jesus ever faced the Sanhedrin, before He endured the whip and the thorns, before the nails secured Him to the cross, He had entered repeated levels of death.
Just being born, for Jesus, was a form of death. For all eternity He had enjoyed the love and fellowship of the Father and the Holy Spirit. He had rejoiced in infinite power, infinite knowledge and infinite holiness. He had filled all of existence, unlimited in space or time. From the beginning of creation He had been acclaimed, honored and worshiped by the host of heaven and the creatures of the earth. Yet to rescue the one species on earth that did not serve Him faithfully – man – He laid all that aside, died to all His power and prerogatives, and became a helpless infant. He did not love His life as God so much that He was unwilling to lay it down. That’s a martyr heart.
Do we have position, power, privilege? Do we reason that it has been given to us by God, and therefore we should not have to let it go? Do we cling to it, offended that anyone would even suggest that we may need to step down? God wants to give us a heart which will willingly lay aside all that is ours, in order that we may rescue those who are perishing without Christ.
In coming to earth, Jesus left the perfect world with which He was so familiar, to come into a world which was totally alien to Him. A world made filthy by sin. A world made ugly by man’s hate and greed. A world thrown into chaos by man’s disobedience. Have you ever pondered how uncomfortable this world must have been for the sinless Son of God? How difficult it must have been for Him to live with the attitudes and behaviors of even the best of His friends and acquaintances, never mind those who blatantly opposed Him? He had to die to His own comfort, in a sense even to His own standards of acceptability – not that those standards were ever lowered.
Do we hold on to our comfort, clinging to what is familiar? Do we feel it would be beneath our dignity to walk among those who do not conform to our standards? Do we have trouble tolerating the shortcomings of others? God wants to give us a heart which is willing to die to those things we hold most dear, in order to reach those very people.
Scripture tells us that Jesus “became obedient.” Not that He had ever been disobedient, but because He had never before known what it was to have to obey. There was no disharmony between Him and the Father, so His life in eternity had not been a matter of obedience. With the Father and the Spirit, He had framed the laws by which the universe operated. From the beginning of creation, He had been the one who was obeyed. Now, He was placed in a position of subjection, not only to the Father, but to His earthly mother and stepfather, and to the governing authorities of both Israel and Rome. He had to learn to choose to follow the will of another, even when that will was contrary to His own, even when He knew that what was being asked of Him was mistaken, or foolish, or unnecessary. That obedience reached its ultimate conclusion at Gethsemane when, with every fibre of His human nature screaming that it should not be so, He nonetheless bowed before the Father’s will and accepted the cup of human sin and guilt. That was a death far more potent than the physical death which He was about to face.
Do we cling fiercely to our own will? Do we want to “do it our way”? God wants to give us a heart which will be totally submitted to Him, willing to accept His will, plans and purposes for our lives even when everything in us wants something different.
In short, God wants a people who are dead: dead to their own power and privilege, dead to their own comfort, dead to their own will. When we come to that point, the question of whether we are willing to face physical death becomes a non-issue.
There is a story of a young man in the 19th Century who was going as a missionary to one of the wild countries of Africa. Some of his friends were horrified, and tried hard to dissuade him. “You could be killed!” they told him. His reply was simple: “I am already dead. I died when I came to Christ. Whether He chooses to allow this body to continue on earth or not, is His prerogative.” That’s a martyr’s heart.
We have been doing some cleaning up around the hall where we meet for church. An old Scout hall, it has been sadly neglected for a long time, and what were once garden beds are very much overgrown weed patches. Unfortunately, predominant among the weeds is blackberry.
Blackberry is a particularly aggressive weed. Most garden plants – and even most weeds – are content to sit where they are, going through their life cycle in one spot, and relying on their seeds to spread their presence further afield. Not blackberry. It grows rapidly, and can put down a new set of roots just about anywhere where a stalk touches the ground. It can take over whole gardens in no time at all. There are stories of people finding complete buildings buried under massive blackberry patches.
When I was a kid, I thought blackberries were wonderful. We would dress up in our oldest, thickest clothes and our sturdiest shoes, and set off with buckets for the blackberry patches in the local bushland. I knew of a couple of particularly fruitful ones, and it was very rarely that we came back with anything less than a bucket of berries – often, we had several buckets.
Sure, we had scratches galore, and the odd embedded thorn, but the feast of those luscious berries was, to our young minds, more than worth the price.
Strange how our perspectives change. I still love the taste of blackberries, but as I attacked those thorn bushes this morning, I saw them as nothing but very annoying weeds. I saw them also as something of a metaphor for the work of sin in the world.
Like blackberry, sin bears fruit that, to the immature, seems wonderfully attractive. Yes, we may recognize that the very thing we find so attractive is hurting and scarring us, but the price seems little compared to the pleasure.
But, like blackberry, sin is an aggressive weed in our lives. It is not content to sit in one spot and “bloom where it is planted.” No, it spreads out, ever claiming more ground in our lives, and turning what had been fruitful areas into unproductive prickle patches.
Blackberry is particularly difficult to eradicate. This morning the best I could do was to cut it back, chasing the prickly stems back to the ground and chopping them off. It is only a stop-gap measure, and very soon the blackberry will begin to grow back. Pulling them out by the roots is just about impossible. Apart from their very tenacious hold on the soil, even one small bit of root left in the ground will soon send forth shoots to begin a whole new blackberry patch.
No, the only way to deal with blackberry is to poison it.
Sin is much the same. We chop it back in one area of our lives, and next thing we know it has popped up somewhere else. Before we can even turn around again, the sin that we cut back is again beginning to sprout. Likewise, pulling sin out by the roots is an almost impossible task. We just don’t have the strength to do it, and even if we have some measure of success, in no time we find that old root is again beginning to send forth shoots.
Sin, like blackberry, needs to be poisoned.
What is poison to sin? The blood of Jesus, for a start. It prevents sin from setting its fruits of destruction. Then there is the Word of God. When we commit ourselves, as Jesus did, to live according to the Word no matter what, we put a covering over our lives that makes it impossible for sin to spread and put down new roots. There is the powerful poison of repentance. It goes right to the root of sin and makes it shrivel in the ground. Prayer and the life of the Spirit work together to remove sin and replace it with the character of God.
It’s hard work clearing blackberry, but far better than seeing a whole garden disappear under a prickle patch. It’s even harder work clearing the sin from our lives, but infinitely more satisfying.
Stress – it’s the buzz word of our modern society. It seems everyone suffers from it, from the busy executive working 70 hour weeks to the housewife coping with the demands of children and husband to the student overpressured by homework and exams. Many of our modern diseases are, if not caused, then certainly exacerbated by stress.
Yet stress is not really new. In 2 Cor. 1:82 Cor. 1:8
English: World English Bible - WEB
8 For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, The word for “brothers” here and where context allows may also be correctly translated “brothers and sisters” or “siblings.” concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life.
WP-Bible plugin, the apostle Paul writes “We were under great stress, far beyond our ability to cope. We despaired even of life.” Paul’s stressors, of course, were very different from ours – his were shipwrecks, beatings, persecutions, imprisonments (somehow I think I prefer mine!) However, Paul rose above them, and in doing so he gave us a way to rise above our own.
Firstly, Paul acknowledged that he couldn’t cope. There are things which we simply can’t handle on our own. To acknowledge this is not a sign of weakness. In order to tap into God’s power, the first thing we have to do is to need it. (If we think we can stand on our own, God will let us try till we find we can’t.) In fact, Paul said that the pressure came to stop him from relying on himself and cause him to rely on God (v.9).
Secondly, Paul declared that in spite of all appearances, God’s promises stand. (v20). What God has said He is, He is. What God has said He will do, He will do. No matter if the world is falling apart around us, no matter if God seems to have retreated to the outermost corner of the universe, no matter if every man on earth and every demon in hell is against us, God has said He will never leave us nor forsake us, so He will not.
Sometimes we simply have to cling to that truth in blind faith.
Thirdly, Paul acknowledged that the battle is already won. In Chapter 2 vs 14 he gives a picture of a Roman triumphal procession. Now, this did not happen as the army was going out to wage war. It happened as they returned home, victory won and the spoils in their possession. Jesus is not going to win the battle with Satan at some time in the future – He has already won it at Calvary. We are already victors in Him – we simply have to enforce that victory in our circumstances.
The skirmishes we fight today are much like the small enclaves of Japanese soldiers who, for years after the end of World War II, were being found on isolated islands. They had no idea that the war was over and they had lost. In holding their positions they could, and sometimes did, inflict casualties, but they could never win the war. The devil is in exactly the same position with Christians today.
Finally, Paul tells us to keep an eternal perspective. It always amazes me that in Chapter 4 vs 17 he can describe his troubles as “light and momentary”, but he is looking beyond this world. In all the ups and downs of life, one thought has kept me going more than any other: “this too will pass”. If there are bad times, there will eventually be light at the end of the tunnel – even if we have to dodge a few oncoming trains along the way. If there are good times, they too will pass – so we shouldn’t get too comfortable.
Most importantly of all, in a thousand years time very little of what we are experiencing today will matter at all. What will matter is the relationship with Jesus Christ that sustains us through it.
Recently a team of scientists decided to test the power of prayer in relation to healing the sick. They took a group of sick people and divided it in two. One half of the group would receive prayer, the other would not, and neither group would know whether they were the receivers or the non-receivers. They then asked people around the world to pray for the first group. At the end of the experiment, the group which had received prayer had not made any better recovery than the group that had not, so the scientists in all their wisdom concluded that prayer for the sick simply does not work.
What could have caused this outcome? Very simply, the terms of reference given to those who were asked to pray. They were told to pray to whatever god or supreme being or spiritual force they worshiped. Thus many prayed to false gods, some prayed to dead people, and some “prayed” to no god at all, simply “directing good wishes” toward those for whom they were praying. No wonder it didn’t work!
In a very real sense, the scientists’ conclusion was right: Prayer doesn’t work! There is nothing in the act of prayer itself which has any ability to release power into any situation, other than the psychological comfort of “having prayed”.
The power is not in the prayer, but in the One to whom the prayer is addressed.
We see this graphically illustrated in the Old Testament in the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18). All day these false prophets danced around, shouting and even cutting themselves in an effort to get Baal’s attention. If prayer worked, the outcome of this story would have been very different than it is! The point of the story is, you can’t get the attention of someone who does not exist. If the object of your prayer is not real, then you can pray till you turn blue, but you will never get an answer! Likewise, if the object of your prayer has no power, then no amount of prayer will invest it with power. Prayer, in and of itself, does not work.
How different when Elijah prayed! He did not need to scream and shout and jump around. He simply presented his cause to the Living God, and God’s power – not the power of Elijah’s prayer – did the rest.
Prayer is like a pipeline. When the pipeline is connected to a water supply, you can turn on the tap and expect to get water. If the pipeline is connected to nothing, then no matter how fully you turn on the tap, nothing will flow.
The flip side of that, of course, is that even when the pipeline is connected to the right Source, we still need to turn on the tap. The water will not flow until we do.
There is only one God. He is the God of the Bible, the God who manifested Himself in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only source of life, of wholeness, of power, of supply, and of every other good thing. If you are praying to any other god, your prayers will not work. Your pipeline is connected to emptiness.
If, however, you have a relationship with the Living God through the Lord Jesus Christ, then your prayers to Him have the ability to release His power into whatever situation you are bringing before Him.
Very simply, prayer in itself doesn’t work. Our God does.