Tag: Prayer and the Spirit of God - Philippians 1-2

Philippians 1:19

... for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance,

Tag:  Prayer and the Spirit

Paul is in prison and he is writing to the Philippian Christians to encourage THEM.   That just seems odd.  Here we have a man in prison who is writing a letter to his friends to encourage them to not be discourage, but to be filled with JOY.   That is upside down!!   Paul is in chains and thinking this may be his last circumstance to deal with and he is the one encouraging others.  He has not lost hope, however, as the above verse shows us.  He believes that God still has work for him.  He tells us that their are to factors that will contribute to his release for the work:  Their prayers and the power of the Spirit.   That is a powerful combination in the Christian Church.   When the Saints pray, it moves the Spirit of Christ to work in the lives of the unsaved and saved world alike.   God works in our lives by the Spirit.  The Spirit is moved by our prayers.   We are given the responsibility in the Christian faith and journey to call upon God through faith in prayer.  That moves the Spirit of God to act on our behalf to accomplish God's plan.   The ironic thing is that it is the Spirit of God in us that actually prays.   Note:

Romans 8:26-27

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

As we yield to Christ the Spirit moves us to pray for the things we should in the way we should.  That activates the Spirit of God to move in the lives of the non-believer and believer alike to accomplish the will of God.  That is how the prayers of the Saints and the Spirit of God work in partnership.  The Spirit is the power and the presence, we are the conduit of faith.  

Tag: Confession and Repentance - Luke 15-16

Luke 15:17-21

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

Tag:  Repentance and Confession

In 1 John 1:9 we are told to confess our sins because God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins:

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The above passage is the story of the prodigal son.  The son, in his exuberant youth, thought it best to take his inheritance and run off to a far country for fun and a life of party, party, party.   He wasted the money and, eventually (as it always happens), realized his life with prostitutes and debauchery would end.  He found himself feeding the pigs as a hired hand.  He comes to his senses and goes home to Mae the above confession to his father.   The is a story of a sinner coming to God through Christ.   We squander the life gave us and find ourselves living with pigs.   When we come to our senses (God reaches down to save us) we must come to "our" Father in heaven and confess those sins.  Once those sins are confessed, however, God saves us.  In the above story the father embraces the son, clothes him (he probably smelled like pigs) and has a party for him.  That is what it is like for a sinner who comes to God.  God cleans us up and puts new clothes on us. We confessed the sin and it is now gone.   Now this son lost his inheritance and will never get that back.  The running around will have a lasting "circumstance" impact on his life. But, positional (in regard to his sin) it is gone.   Note that in the story the son confessed that he sinned before "God" and before his earthly father.  There is a sense of restitution of wrongs done in the past, where possible.   But, the key is his confession.  He said it with words and God wipes it away. What does God do with our sins? God is all-knowing, doesn't He always know them?  Note what the Psalms tell us:

Psalms 103:12

as far as the east is from the west,

so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

God so removes our sin from us that HE no longer remembers it.  When we remember it (and we will) we are to simply confess it to God again to tell Him, "God, I gave this to you once and recognize and agree with You that it is sin.  Thank you for forgiving me and help me now live in light of that forgiveness.  Help be to be clothed with new garments and enjoy the freedom I have in Christ over this specific sin!"   When we confess He PROMISES to forgive!!  

Tag: God Changes Things - Ezekiel 14-18

Ezekiel 17:24

And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.”

Tag: God Changes Things

To really understand this verse you have to read the previous 4-5 chapters.   God has just told Ezekiel to speak to the false prophets who are prophesying hope to the nation of Israel and told them that God sees their sin and God WILL punish their sin.  God gives them rebuke after rebuke in this section.  However, in these last couple of verses God offers them hope and reminds them that He alone is God and He alone can bring down or build up.  He alone punishes and He alone restores.  God can reverse the positions of anyone He chooses.  He can take a green tree and dry.  He can make the high tree, low.  He can make the dry tree flourish.   He is God and He CAN DO IT!  God is the God who turns things upside down.  God changes things.  God brings the dead to life.   God changes things.   God brings the high and lofty, low!  God changes things.   We don't need to worry about circumstances and positions and attitudes because God changes things.  God has a plan and He will DO IT!!  You can't stop God's plan and the lofty authority can't stop it.  God has a plan and the lowly and disappointed are part of it.  God doesn't take the swift and the mighty.  God takes the lowly and the meek and makes them great.   God is not afraid of the powerful.  God can diminish the powerful with a word.  God can take the weak and make them powerful.  God is the God who Changes Things!!

Tag: Sin's Allure - Proverbs 7

Proverbs 7:15

“Therefore I have come out to meet you,

To seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you.

Sin always makes you think you are special.   Sin (here, personified as an adulterous women) introduces herself to the simple one as though she had a particular purpose to attract him.   However, earlier we read that she is on every street, on every corner:

Proverbs 7:12

now in the street, now in the market,

and at every corner she lies in wait.

Sin wants us to believe we are special.   Sin wants us to believe we are the center of the universe.    Here the simple one thinks he has some special place in life now.  However, we are not special when it comes to sin.  We are simply one of many victims of her cruel trap.   Note the end of this chapter ... "many are lead astray by her" ... "numerous are the slain" by her.   

Proverbs 7:26

for many a victim has she laid low,

and all her slain are a mighty throng.

We are not special to sin and when we fall to her trap we simply join many others who are equally deceived by her.  Let's not let sin deceive us into thinking we are alone and special in the sin equation.   She hasn't found us or come out to meet us ... we stumbled into her world because of a lack of discipline and lack of direction.  If we spend our life doing the things God told us to do we won't have time to let sin attract and entice us.  Sin appeals to our vanity.  Remember, this young man in the story was a simple youth or lacked understanding:

Proverbs 7:7

and I have seen among the simple,

I have perceived among the youths,

a young man lacking sense,

This "being found" by this adulterous woman must have seemed so special.  He was at the center of her universe.  We love to be made to feel like we are special.   Sin, however, simply uses us and entices us through our vanity only to destroy us in leave us in depravity.   We are not special to sin because we are simply sinners.  It is only adhering to God's Word to make us free from the allure of sin. 

Tag: Sovereignty of God - Psalm 75-77

Psalms 75:2-5

“At the set time that I appoint

I will judge with equity.

When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants,

it is I who keep steady its pillars. Selah

I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’

and to the wicked, Do not lift up your horn;

do not lift up your horn on high,

or speak with haughty neck.’”

Tag: Sovereignty of God

Psalm 73 is about God giving assurance to the believe that He is in control even when we think the earth is about collapse on its axis.  God is holding it all together.   In Psalm 11 we read a similar theme where God is assuring of a similar fear as in the above passage:

Psalms 11:1-3

In the Lord I take refuge;

how can you say to my soul,

“Flee like a bird to your mountain,

for behold, the wicked bend the bow;

they have fitted their arrow to the string

to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;

if the foundations are destroyed,

what can the righteous do?”

If the "foundations are destroyed" what can the righteous do?   In the Psalm 73 passage we read that in such times we are to remember that God is in complete and utter control of the situation.  It might feel like the earth is about to tip over.  However, God assures us that He is in control.  As the earth totters out of balance God states, "... it is I who keep steady its pillars."  What a great theme to rejoice over!!  When everything feels like it is falling apart it is God who says, "It is I who keep steady its pillars." When my life is crashing all around me I must remember God is saying, "It is I who keep steady its pillars!!"  

Tag: Knowing God - 1 Kings 17-22

1 Kings 18:36-37

And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”

Tag:  Knowing God

God desires to be known!   Throughout the Old Testament we have the phrase, "that ________ my know that you, O Lord, are God ...".  Or, something like that phrase.  God revealed Himself to Abraham, to Moses, to the Nation of Israel, to Pharaoh of Egypt, to Nebuchadnezzar to Elijah later in this same book, and, here, to the prophets of Baal.   God wants to be known.  The mystery that Paul writes about in Colossians it the revelation of Christ to the Church as Christ makes Himself known to us:

Colossians 1:24-26

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.

God wants us to know Him!!   Paul desired to know more and more of Christ:

Philippians 3:10

that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

God wants to be known and will make Himself known to us in the miracles He performs in our lives.  

Tag: Restitution for Guilt and Shame - Leviticus 7-9

Leviticus 7:2

In the place where they kill the burnt offering they shall kill the guilt offering, and its blood shall be thrown against the sides of the altar.

Tag:  Restitution for Guilt and Shame

There were many types of offerings for the Hebrews.  One of them is mentioned in the above verse: The "guilt" offering.  It is sometimes referred to as the "reparation" offering; or, to "make amends."   As compared to the other offerings listed in Leviticus, the "guilt" offering was actually the result of someone who did something wrong and then, later, felt guilty about it and came to make "reparation" with God for the wrong done.  Instead of an offering brought on by a command of God to do, it was brought on by the shame and guilt of someone in the nation who realized they did wrong and their guilt drove them to repentance.   This is a true repentance offering.   It shows that when we do wrong and are overcome by guilt, we need to make amends for that wrong via sacrifice.  A simple, "I'm sorry," does not remove the guilt.  There must be a sacrifice attached to the offering.   Most commentators simply discuss the difference between the sin offering (when we have sinned and it is known) and the guilt offering (whew we have sinned and only we know it) as what happens with the blood during the offering.  In the sin offering it is placed upon the horns and in the guilt offering it is thrown against the sides of the alter. Whereas that is significant, the real observation is that the guilt offering is motivated by guilt.  God gives us guilt to show us our secret sins.  God gives us guilt and expects us to respond in restitution.   Got gives us guilt, but a way to deal with it in repentance.  Unconfessed guilt and guilt that has no sacrifice of restitution, will result in shame, which will result in physical and psychological damage.  God expects guilt to cause us to worship Him in a way that we employ the sacrifice of Christ in our lives.  Unconfessed guilt can only result in unwanted shame.