The prayer of faith

These verses are a good antidote to the self-centered prayers we often slip into. May God be glorified in our prayers!

David M’Intyre, The Hidden Life of Prayer: The Lifeblood of the Christian (original, 1891), chapter 6:

It is a divinely-implanted persuasion, the fruit of much spiritual instruction and discipline. It is vision in a clearer light than that of earth.

The prayer of faith, like some plant rooted in a fruitful soil, draws its virtue from a disposition which has been brought into conformity with the mind of Christ.

1. It is subject to the Divine will—”This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us” (1 John 5:14).
2. It is restrained within the interest of Christ—”Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13).
3. It is instructed in the truth—”If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7).
4. It is energized by the Spirit—”Able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Eph. 3:20).
5. It is interwoven with love and mercy—”And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:25).
6. It is accompanied with obedience—”Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:22).
7. It is so earnest that it will not accept denial—”Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Luke 11:9).
8. It goes out to look for, and to hasten its answer—”The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working” (James 5:16, RV).

All of life in Exodus 20

In this post I will be articulating several things that I think the first 3 commandments to be teaching.  I want to preface this by saying that many of the things I say I know to be foundational biblical truth.  However a few of them I am still working thru and may not be very solid.  Critiques are, as always, desired.  Even more so on this post, as I am learning this and desire to hear the thoughts of the saints.

Exodus 20:1-7

And God spoke all these words, saying:

² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

³ “You shall have no other gods before Me.

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; ⁵ you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, ⁶ but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

⁷ “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

The first three of the ten commandments.  When I first heard these, as a young child, the whole list just seemed to be a series of do’s and dont’s.  I did not see the differences that I saw later, between the ones that are directed Godward, the first four, and the ones that are between men, the last six.  But as time went on I learned this.  Later still I learned that there is a greater depth to the concept of the name of God than I previously understood, but that I will articulate further below.

Just today, while mulling over the word, some things began to click together in my head and I want to lay them out here for the saints to be edified if they are correct, but also so that if I am wrong in this, God, via His church, can rein me back in.

What I am going to put forward is that these three commandments  are not just intended to give three do’s and dont’s.  They are intended to establish the boundaries of a worldview.  They are intended to address all of life.

#1  I am God, you shall have no other.

The ten commandments were not just random, because our God is not random.  All that He does He does with purpose originating in the only perfect mind there is.  So, God, in His perfect will chose to start His law with a declaration of His own deity and His exclusive rights to that title.  This command is a proclamation to humanity that God is God.  There is no attempt at any justification of this statement, or any reasoning up to it.  Just a simple declaration of Deity.  God does not at any point thru scripture stoop down and try to prove to fallen man that He is God.  He states it clearly, and His creatures are under obligation to believe and act accordingly.

“You shall have no other gods before me”, is a claim of the exclusive rights of God.  There are no others so you are not to live as if there are.  He alone is God and commands that we are to acknowledge this in our thoughts and lives.

#2 You shall not make an image for worship. Not a likeness of anything in …heaven ….earth… or… water.

This condemns the constructing of any images of any sort to any created thing with the intent of worship.  Idolatry in its most obvious form is here explained and forbidden.  The creating of a physical idol is making outward an internal act of idolatry.  God has already been deposed and a created thing placed on that throne.

Now, of course every act of idolatry outwardly directed toward something outside of the person has its origin in an act of idolatry within the person.  Already the person has exalted Himself in His own mind to sit and judge over God.  He, the person, has determined that God is not to be worshipped as God, thus exalting His own mind to the idolatrous position of being in judgement over God.  Romans 1 is clear that fallen man knows of “His eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse”.  Even those within false religions have been clearly shown the truth… but… “because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”  They may not necessarily at the present time be conscious of the fact that what we proclaim to them is true.  Still, their idolatry is without excuse.

There is another point to be made out of this command.  God phrases this command in such a way as to make the Creator/creature distinction very clear.  He went thru the list of things in heaven, earth and water to make a point.  Everything here, everything on this earth, everything not God, is NOT to be worshipped.  Why?  Because it is not God.  It is created.  It is distinct and different from its creator and it would be idolatrous for us to worship anything this side of the Creator/creature distinction.

#3 You shall not take God’s name in vain.

Men with far greater wisdom than I have written very well on this command.  I recommend you go and read some of them.  But still, I need to address it as well.

Very often we read this and assume that it merely means we are not to use God’s name as a curse word.  This misses most of the point.

When a Hebrew thought of someone’s name, it was not limited to the vocal or written construct that signified that person.  It identified all that that person was. Their worth, reputation, and honor were all tied up in their name.  Furthermore, there was a sense in which when wrongdoing was done by a member of a particular family or tribe, it brought dishonor on the name of that family or tribe.  If a jew were to commit a terrible crime that would bring dishonor to the name of His tribe and family.  It would entail a deep lack of respect for the dignity of those dishonored.  It was to diminish them in the eyes of others, to pronounce them as unworthy of respect, honor and obedience.

When God says not to take His name in vain, there is nothing there in to indicate that this is speaking of something merely verbal.  It is saying that if we are taking on the name of God, proclaiming we are His servants, we are to behave in a way befitting that claim of allegiance.  We are to honor God, and not take up His name in a trite, or vain manner.  We are to be serious about the fact that we, as followers of the one true God, have taken up His name and His honor in the eyes of the world is in a sense tied to the way that we behave.  We represent Him.  In essence, do not think of God as trivial when you claim to be His, but live according to His ways and thus glorify Him.

 

These three commands seem to me now to be so much more than just a few do’s and dont’s.  They provide the foundation for all of life.

#1 God and God alone is Deity.  Only recognize Him as Divine.

#2 No created being is Deity. You may worship none of them. 

#3 Do not defame the character of this God.  Do not take up His cause lightly.

 

These truths are absolutely foundational.  Bank on them.

I would greatly appreciate feedback, especially from those older and wiser than I.  Am I accurately bringing up the underlying points to these commands?  Am I taking some too far?  Am I not taking some far enough?

God bless!

Conservative Talk Radio Drivel

I might have given away my feelings about Conserative Talk Radio (hereafter CTR) in the title… maybe.

I am not a liberal.  I am not a moderate.  And in the American culture of today, I find it hard to label myself a conservative.

Maybe I will just have to stick with the term “Christian Extremist”.

But anyway, back to the point.

I do not like CTR because it is one of the clearest pictures of moralistic humanism you could ever get.  When men stand up and strongly decry how immoral our nation is becoming, or how wrong Obama’s desicion on this or that was without grounding that morality strongly in the Word of God they end up without fail appealing to the false standards of pragmatic moralistic humanism.

For instance, many of these men will ramble for hours about the current economic system, how horrible socialism will be, how good capitalism is, how nasty the debt crisis is, and almost without fail the grounding of those comments is in how bad things will be for us or our children.   For hours they speak on the evils of Obama and the greatness of Romney, and while brief mention may be made of “conservative christian values” in the end it all boils down to pragmatism.  Obama will hurt this country.  Romney will help it.

A step back may be in order.

America is:

Killing more than one out of four of its children in the womb.

The number 1 exporter of Porn.

Broadcasting its rank secularism to all the other countries in the world thru Hollywood.

Parading its sexual deviancy in the streets and teaching its kids that this is wholesome and good.

Not to say that we have not been blessed and that there are not many great things about our country.  We are very blessed.  God has been good to us.  But this does not excuse the fact that in America is in dire straits morally.

In the midst of all this, the talk show hosts play their little game of blaming the democrats for everything and crowning the republicans as kings of all things good.  They blame Obama, they blame the democrats, they blame this dude or that dame, but all the while the truth is crystal clear.

America is a nation where God has been knocked off the throne  by a people who are starving for sensual pleasure and luxury.  We will not accept responsibility for our own sin.  Our government is a reflection of our people, just as our talk show hosts are a reflection of the humanistic misdirection of conservative America.

A call to repentance that is grounded in God’s word is in order.  This fight cannot be led by polytheists striving for their own planets, but must be led by men of God that know the Word and lay the blame where it is due.  Men who will preach the law of God clearly and without apology till we are doomed, then exalt the good news til God saves!

My stinkin’ heart and God’s way

All too often I get caught up in my day and allow my emotions and “heart” to take me where they will.  Instead of walking in the spirit, taking care to discipline my thoughts and feelings I let them seize control and pilot me wherever they will, inevitably in a sinful and selfish direction.

There is a lot said in scripture about the human heart and none of it is very positive.  It seems when we read thru the bible we see a grand story of God’s amazing works outside of men in the world, but also inside of men and using them.  Whenever a man or woman submits to God and crushes self God uses them in good ways.  Whenever we do it our own way and contribute something original to the picture (sin) we always mar ourselves and the world around us.

Popular culture preaches to us from every corner that we should follow our hearts.  It is amazing how many childrens movies celebrate the young person who rebels against his society and “follows his heart”.  We are so surrounded with false thinking about our hearts that the natural tendency is to loosen our grip on our shields and get swept away in the flow.

If I, as a follower of the Lord, am to walk in holiness there are a couple things I need to see very clearly about my own heart.

Though regenerated my heart is still deeply deceptive and self-oriented.

As Jerry Bridges said, “Even our best works are shot through with sin–with varying degrees of impure motives and lots of imperfect performance.”

If we want to grow as believers, if we want to glorify God in our thoughts we must learn to evaluate our own hearts honestly.  It is not enough just to try to do what feels “good” or “unselfish”.   Our minds are chock full of wrong thinking from many years of hearing lies from the culture surrounding us, not to mention our own conniving hearts trying to look out for number 1.  We must find what is right from a source outside of ourselves and, sadly, Dr. Phil doesn’t cut the mustard.  God’s Word is the only standard we can look to.  Soak in it.  Dig in daily.  There is no other path to reorganizing your mind according to God’s thought patterns.
May the God who saved you give you the strength to heed His commands!

 

Back on! (hopefully)

After a long absence from the blogosphere I am hoping to get back in the game.  For 2 reasons:

1st To tell stories from my life, speak on truth, and share scripture, all with the motivation that those reading will be spurred on towards Christ.

2nd  So that I can by writing semi-regularly build up my ability to do so in a good way, also in so doing it will systematize my disorderly thoughts in an orderly fashion.

Its been too long.   I got engaged, got married, honeymooned and am now back home with my gorgeous wife learning to be a husband.  I have changed, greatly.  God has brought my and mi amor thru some crazy, horrible things that I pray have been and will be used to sanctify us and prepare us for our lives together.  To clarify, I’m not saying my engagement, honeymoon and marriage so far are those horrible things.    My woman is amazing and it has been great on that front.  Other things, those type of things that are so so hard while in the thick of it, but that bless so much later on, are what I was referring to as crazy and horrible.

As I said, married life has been great.  My wife has to be the greatest thing since canned corn.    Her continual sacrifice for me is a constant reminder to me of how precious a possession she is, and how great a need there is for me to press into Christ in order to be who she needs.

Work has been steady.  My own business is slowly but steadily growing.   Also I took on a side job as a millwright.  I know you guys dont know what that is…. so…. google it. 

My hope and prayer is to live a life out with my wife where our eyes are on the crucified Son of God and our feet walk His ways.  May we ever glorify Him in all we do!

“Your worst days are never so bad that you’re beyond the reach of God’s grace.  And your best days are never so good that you’re beyond the need of God’s grace.”

Jerry Bridges “The Discipline of Grace”

Overly critical???

This is not a post about an attitude of general criticalness, though it does relate.

This is about our attitude of criticism towards other believers for the “spiritual” things they do.

There are two extremes we can slip into.  On the one hand there are many who are so uncritical that anything they hear or see, they accept as Gospel Truth and as a result are blown about “with every wind of doctrine”.  Then there are those whose minds are like brick walls.  They attack everything and claim to have a monopoly on truth.

Going into personal experience here for a sec, I believe I can see God working on me in this area in the past few years.  I remember how hard I was on other believers in my thoughts in the past.  I remember constantly critiquing them, their prayers, their preaching, their lives.  I thought I could do everything so much better.  A good dose of reality, the reality of my own failure drug me out of a lot of that, though it is and probably always will be a struggle.

And then we can take the young woman whom I am courting as an example for a bit (I pray she will forgive me for this).  A little back, as she recounted it to me, she used to tend much more towards the side of accepting whatever came down the pike without analyzing it carefully.  Since then, she has matured greatly and attempts to think more about what she sees and hears in the light of scripture.

Two types of people can be imagined here.  Mr. Blown-About and Mr. Critical.

Mr. Blown-About will face the challenge of a great lack of growth because he has no focus to grow towards.  As every new thing comes down the pike he latches on and that is everything…. until something newer comes.  This is repeated ad nauseum and Mr. Blown-About is exactly at the same spiritual depth as he was ten years ago.  Shallow.

Mr. Critical will face the same challenge of a lack of growth, but in a different sense then his counterpart.  His critical spirit will not allow him to see when he can learn and grow from something different.  Mr. Critical will stay in stasis because, after all, the old way is the best way and boy, does he know the old way!

Both of these men will not grow.  How can we get around their shortcomings and grow?

I am convinced there is no answer other than that of a firm commitment to God’s Word.  When we dive in the word we find two answers.  First, that in the word there is a sure guide, a solid guide and that all must bow to its teaching.  Thus we will interpret all we hear through the grid of scripture vigilantly.  But second, we will see ourselves as the scriptures see us, as fallible beings that can learn from each other how to better understand that word.  Thus we will seek to find ways to understand scripture better as we listen to and view our fellow brothers and sisters.

There is no sure fountainhead of truth other than scripture and all in our lives must bow to this.  But our understanding of that Word can be faulty and a sense of humility should be present.

So, we must be critical, but humbly critical, not thinking that our ways are the best, but always trying to seek Christ’s ways in His word.  There is not surefire method to this.  Just honest seeking of the truth.

 

How does God judge those who have never heard His law?

Just a few short remarks to clarify.  What Francis Schaeffer says below is not a comprehensive analysis of what the scripture says to this topic.  Much more could be said.  However it is very clear and to the point and in my opinion quite thought-provoking.
I may write further on this topic but that will have to come later.  Till I see you next, keep glorifying the Lord of glory!

Begin Francis Schaeffer quote:

If every little baby that was ever born anywhere in the world had a tape recorder hung about its neck, and if this tape recorder only recorded the moral judgments with which this child as he grew bound other men, the moral precepts might be much lower than the biblical law, but they would still be moral judgments.

Eventually each person comes to that great moment when he stands before God as judge. Suppose, then, that God simply touched the tape recorder button and each man heard played out in his own words all those statements by which he had bound other men in moral judgment. He could hear it going on for years—thousands and thousands of moral judgments made against other men, not aesthetic judgments, but moral judgments.

Then God would simply say to the man, though he had never head the Bible, now where do you stand in the light of your own moral judgments? The Bible points out . . . that every voice would be stilled. All men would have to acknowledge that they have deliberately done those things which they knew to be wrong. Nobody could deny it.

We sin two kinds of sin. We sin one kind as though we trip off the curb, and it overtakes us by surprise. We sin a second kind of sin when we deliberately set ourselves up to fall. And no one can say he does not sin in the latter sense. Paul’s comment is not just theoretical and abstract, but addressed to the individual—”O man”—any man without the Bible, as well as the man with the Bible.

. . . God is completely just. A man is judged and found wanting on the same basis on which he has tried to bind others.

—Francis Schaeffer, The Church at the End of the Twentieth Century, 2d ed. (Crossway, 1985), pp. 49-50.

Consider the principles set forth in Romans 2:

1 Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2 We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3 Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? . . .

14 . . . When Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.