Fri, Jul 29th - 1:26PM

PRAYER - What Good Is It?

Jesus Christ made it clear that the life of a born again believer in Him would lead a life filled with intense conflict, a lifelong contest.  It is a conflict fount against invisible adversaries who are ever alert and seeking to entrap, snare, deceive, and ultimately ruin the souls of men and women.  God calls people to life, not to financial prosperity, not to a picnic or fine holiday.  It is not a calling as to a pastime, hobby, or pleasure cruise.  It involves effort, wrestling, and struggling.  It requires a person to exert all of the energy of their spirit in order to counter their foe and at the last become more than just a conqueror.  Jesus did not promise us a rose garden!  From beginning unto the end it is war.  Satan has control of this entire world and does not wish to return control to God or His ambassadors. 

What misconceptions people have about the Christian life!  How little does the average church goer appear to understand about the nature of the conflict, and what is demanded of him/her.  How ignorant they seem to be about the enemies they must face if they are to genuinely serve Christ.  How else shall they earn the "crown of life?"  Too many believe that Satan is simply a metaphor for evil forces in the world, that he does not actually exist as a "being."  Yet evidence is abundantly available each and every day that supports the fact that Satan must exist for evil happens in so many places around our world.  And it seems to be ever more focused and organized.  The average believer does not realize that these forces will overwhelm them completely, unless they give themselves to constant vigilance and unceasing prayer for discernment.

Ephesians 6:12 informs us that we struggle against spiritual beings and not humans.  Verse 11 tells us how to withstand Satan.  Verses 14-17 tell us what the armor of God is.  Verse 18 then commands us to pray at all times in the Holy Spirit.  The following verses then implore us to pray for all saints which includes our pastors, deacons, elders, etc..  If we embrace becoming a prayer warrior we can then enter into the spiritual warfare and support those who are right out on the front lines confronting and dealing with wickedness and evil.  We can be supporting, through prayer, those who are having to deal with confusion in their relationships and family.  We must recognize and accept that there are wicked spirits in high places, that they are doing their utmost to transform our world into a cesspool of morality and depravity.  They are doing their best to ruin families, marriages, and entire believing congregations of believers.  I am confronted with a fearful spread of forces that are set directly against me as I attempt to journey through this wilderness of a world on my way to the gates to the Celestial City.  For these reasons Paul was inspired to exhort all of us to put on the entire armor of God.  Paul had once been part of the enemy camp, he clearly understood the nature of those whom he stood squarely in opposition to.  He had stood nearby as Stephen was stoned to death. He had actively gone about arresting believers and persecuting them unto death.  He knew about evil and wickedness firsthand.  He knew that it was very real.

Today there is very little soldier mentality evident in Christianity.  We all have been lulled to sleep by society.  "There is no God, there is no Devil, and there surely is no such thing as sin."  It has been repeated so frequently that believers have begun to get sucked in to the deception.  Christians have bought into the anti-military rhetoric so that we now deny our reality.  We choose to believe what society says rather than what God has said to us here in Ephesians 6.  We are soldiers, marching off as to war.  As to war, not physical war but spiritual war.  There is the huge difference.  When I accepted Christ I placed myself squarely upon a new beachhead where Satan immediately began shooting at me.  Sometimes there were landmines, sometimes artillary shots, but much of the time snipers were taking shots at me from all sorts of angles.  I am just thankful that I understood that I was now in defiance of the ruler of this world, Satan.  It was open season on Eric, 24/7, 365 days a year, no holidays. 

That is all for today beloved.  Keep me in your prayers as I am finalizing my sermon for Sunday evening.  It is my first sermon since back in the 1990's when I taught at a Christian school.  May grace and peace be yours today, and always!

~Eric

Thu, Jul 28th - 1:17PM

PRAYER - What Good Is It?

How many misconceptions there are today about the true elements and functions of prayer!  Many people earnestly desire to get an answer to their prayers, yet go unrewarded and unblessed.  They focus upon some promise of God, try by stubborn perseverance to summon up enough faith to grab hold of and claim it.  But what is lacking in this equation is obedience to God.  Who is able and competent to do such praying except the man/woman who readily, cheerfully, and continually obeys God? 

Faith, in its highest form, is the attitude as well as the act of a soul surrendered to God.  His Word and His Spirit dwell in that soul.  Neither can be missing in action and still expect prayer to be effective and answered.  Faith in its strongest form and in greatest results is the fruit of prayer itself.  It is true that faith increases the ability of prayer.  But it is also true that prayer increases the ability of faith.  Prayer and faith work in tandem, reinforcing each other with each and every usage.  Leave them up on a dusty shelf, seldom if ever used,  and they wither away and die.

Obedience to God helps faith like nothing else can.  Once one recognizes that the validity and the supremacy of the divine commands exists, faith no longer is an almost superhuman task for us.  We no longer must strain to believe.  Obedience to God makes it ever so easy to believe and trust God.  Where there is a fixed, unchangeable purpose to obey God faith then becomes almost involuntary.  The difficulty in prayer then is not with faith but with obedience which is faith's foundation.

Lack of obedience in our lives erodes our praying.  It eats away at our resolve to pray.  We become rebellious to the deeper things of God.  Our faith remains superficial at best, rotten at the core at worst.  Praying effectively is almost impossible under these conditions.  Disobedient living produces poor praying.  We become like the Pharisees and the Sadducees, all about formalized prayers and public displays of praying to show how righteous we feel we are.  Disobedience to God locks and bars the doorway to the Holy of Holies.  No person can pray, really pray, who does not obey God.

Is our loyalty surrendered to God, or not?  If we choose to sing the hymn "Trust and Obey" then we must live out those words.  There is no other way to be happy in Jesus: but to trust and obey!

I wish to touch briefly upon prayer and spiritual warfare.  Apostle Paul gives us a dscription of the Christian soldier in Ephesians 6 which is compact, concrete, and comprehensive.  This person is viewed as always being in the conflict, up on the front lines.  For this person there are seasons of prosperity and adversity, light and dark, victory and defeat/failure.  The Christian soldier is to pray in all seasons and with all prayer.  This is in addition to the "armor" that is to be worn while going into battle.  At all times they are to have the full armor of prayer.  In order to be victorious they must pray a lot.  It is through this means that they will be able to defeat their ancient adversary, Satan, and his innumerable agents.  "Praying always with all prayer" in verse 18 covers all seasons and includes all manner of praying.

Fighting the good fight of faith, believers access a place of retreat where they continually go for prayer to God.  The person who prays many kinds of prayers continually, wins out in fighting the good fight of faith over their adversaries.

Here is the entire passage from Ephesians 6:18-20, "Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak."  You can see that we are expected to speak boldly in proclaiming the gospel of Christ.  Each of us needs to be given the inspiration to open our mouths and speak for God, for we are His ambassadors here on earth.  It is why He has not taken us to be with Him in heaven.  Praying for each other to speak boldly about Christ and the Word of God is of necessity!  I need your prayers, you need my prayers.  Don't think that your pastor or priest is preaching boldly enough?  Then get down and begin praying fervently from your heart for God to give them utterance so that they can speak boldly of God's Word.  Don't go and tell them that they are not speaking boldly enough!  Be obedient to God and take it to Him in earnest prayer!

That is all for today beloved!  Perhaps I will spend a bit more time writing about spiritual warfare and prayer.  This world of ours is in desparate need of more prayer warriors!  Maybe God is speaking to your heart, asking why you can't become one of His spiritual warriors?  Pray about it!  Grace and peace of Christ our Lord and Savior be with you all.

~Eric

Wed, Jul 27th - 1:36PM

PRAYER - What Good Is It?

"Many exemplary men have I known, holy in heart and life, within my four score years.  But one equal to John Fletcher---one so inwardly and outwardly obedient and devoted to God---I have not known."

                      ~John Wesley 

John Fletcher obviously engaged in holy prayer and not just rote prayer.  He engaged in the prayers of the saints and of the holy men of God.  He was entirely devoted to God.  He was entirely separated from sin and completely separated unto God.  He gave energy, force, and strength to praying.

Jesus Christ excelled in praying because He was supreme in saintliness.  He is our example to model ourselves after.  Entire dedication to God and full surrender; pushing all of our pile of poker chips into the middle of the table as we bet all on God being who He says He is.  Such a surrender opens up the door to the throne of grace. 

"Lifting up of holy hands" does not mean I only dedicate a "closet" to God.  It does not mean that I only set aside one hour to Him.  It is something which takes grasp of all of me, it is something which dedicates my whole life to God.

If we look at Hebrews 7:26 we see that Jesus was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners."  Christ had ready access to God in prayer, not just because He was God but because He was unquestioningly obedient to the Father in Heaven.  Everything which Jesus did was to do His Father's will in heaven, to be about His Father's work here on earth, to do the will of the Father and not His own.  Everything Jesus did was to provide us with the picture of how God wanted us to behave, of how we were to be motivated in our choices.  This supreme obedience to the Father in heaven enabled Jesus to draw near to the throne of grace with unlimited confidence. 

If we are obedient and pray as we have been taught by Christ, we place ourselves into the realm where we can "ask anything in His name" and that "He will do it."  We receive the riches of Christ's grace through the Holy Spirit who abides within us. 

King Hezekiah was dying.  He prayed fervently to God, asking Him to remember how he had walked before Him in truth and with a perfect heart.  God heard his impassioned prayer, He listened carefully to Hezekiah's petition, and Hezekiah gained fifteen more years of life.  Obedience partners with righteousness and a godly person can pray effectually, fervently, and accomplish great things from upon their knees.

Prayer is not simply words.  It is not just calling upon a name.  Prayer is obedience.  Behind the praying must be the doing.  Otherwise God will not heed our call.  That is what Christ pointed out in Matthew 7:21-23, "Not every one which says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of My Father which is in heaven.  Many will say unto Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your Name? and in Your Name have cast out devils? and in Your Name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from Me, you that work iniquity!"  Obviously Christ was also speaking to them about never having received salvation.  That is the first step of obedience, but Christ was speaking about obedience being more important than simply going around doing things that were good.  He spoke of the necessity for us to be completely given over to obeying Him. 

That is all for now, beloved.  May this day find you obedient to Christ, dedicated to praying to God for great visions, asking God for the ability to carry out the tasks He has placed before you, and assured that He will answer your petition exactly how you have asked.  Grace and peace be with you all.

~Eric

Tue, Jul 26th - 12:28PM

PRAYER - What Good Is It?

If I have an earnest desire to pray well, I must learn how to obey God well.  If I have an earnest desire to learn to pray, then I must also have an earnest desire to learn how to do God's will.  If I want to have free access to God in prayer, then all sin or disobedience must be removed.  I must have an all-consuming desire to obey Him.

We must realize that God delights in the prayers of His obedient children.  Requests coming from those who delight to do His will incline Him to answer them promptly and abundantly.  Tears alone are unrewarding.  Yet they do have their place in prayer.  Tears ought to baptize my place of supplication.  I would eliminate any misunderstandings about what I mean by supplication.  It is to make a humble entreaty; to ask humbly and earnestly of God; to beg.  To be supplicant before God means I am bowed before Him, my heart is breaking with the amount of feeling which fills it as I make known my requests. 

I do not know about you, but the night that I prayed to God about my sin and why these hurtful things were happening to me was a night filled with tears.  My entire being was involved in the praying, and it is just this heartfelt involvement which I need today when I engage God in prayer.  To never shed any tears while praying means that I have not really prayed at all.  But tears must lead to something else at some point in time.  There must be the next step taken.  That step is unquestioning obedience of God.  Until I take that step, prayers for blessing and continued providence will be of absolutely no use.

Throughout Scripture God is illustrated as disapproving disobedience and condemning sin.  It is true for both sinners and God's elect saints.  Nowhere does God approve sin or excuse disobedience.  God always places emphasis upon obedience to His commands.  Obedience brings blessing, peace, and long life.  Disobedience ushers in disaster.  This is true from the very beginning of the Bible up to the very end of it.  Because of this, righteous men who prayed to God fervently had immense influence with God.  Obedient people always are the ones closest to God.  Their prayers have brought about great things in this world.

To attempt to plead for a faith which tolerates sinning is simply chopping the ground out from underneath effectual praying.  To excuse sinning because obedience to God is not possible to unregenerate men is to utterly discount the character of the new birth and to put men where effective praying is not possible.  Jesus Himself spoke directly to this positional argument:  "Why call Me, Lord, Lord, and you don't do the things I say (Luke 6:46).?" 

I wish to pray?  Then I must become obedient to God and His will.  The spirit of disobedience is not of God and does not belong to God's praying people.  I can now say that obedience is a necessity to prayer.  Absence of obedience makes prayer an empty ritual, devoid of any sweet fragrance to God.  A repentant sinner seeks pardon and salvation, receives an answer to his/her prayers even with a life utterly stained with sin.  But royal intercessors must come before Him with royal lives.  Holy living promotes holy praying.  Meaningful sacrifice comes after we become obedient. 

That is all for today beloved.  I hope that these posts are as beneficial to you as they have been to me.  May grace and peace be abundant in your life today!

~Eric

Mon, Jul 25th - 1:17PM

PRAYER - What Good Is It?

"Prayer is the gymnasium of the soul."

                           ~Saumel M. Zwemer

"Whoever only speaks of God, but never or seldom to God, easily leases body and soul to idols.  The Christian thus places his whole future in jeopardy by a stunted prayer life."

                          ~Carl F. H. Henry

"Trouble and perplexity drive us to prayer, and prayer drives away trouble and perplexity."

                          ~Phillipp Melancthon 

People today complain that because of the fall of mankind we are all too weak and helpless to obey the very high commands of God.  The obvious answer to such complaints is that, through the atonement of Christ Jesus, man is able to obey.  The atonement is God's enabling action.  Through regeneration and the action of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we receive the enabling grace which is sufficient for all that is required of us under the atonement.  This grace is furnished without limit in answer to prayer.  Again, "You have not because you either ask amiss or ask not!" 

So we see that while God commands He also simultaneously pledges to give us all the necessary strength of will and grace to meet His demands.  Because of this man has no excuse for disobedience.  Whatever lack of necessary grace might exist within a person is only there because of either refusing or failing to secure necessary grace for serving God.  By securing this necessary grace through prayer we may be able to serve God with reverence and godly fear.

Another vital truth from Scripture is that through prayer and faith, man's nature is changed and made sharer of the divine nature.  All reluctance to obey God is removed from a person.  The natural inability to keep God's commandments is gloriously removed!  This radical transformation in a person's moral nature means that they receive power to obey God in every way and to surrender to full and glad allegiance to Him.  Not only is rebellion of the natural man removed, but he receives a heart which will gladly obey God's Word.

So, without argument I say that the unrenewed man can't obey God.  But to say that after a person is renewed by the Holy Spirit and has become a child of the King that he/she can't obey God is to make a ridiculous claim.  Such a declaration shows a tremendous ignorance of the work and implications of the atonement of Christ.

Absolute and perfect obedience is the condition to which the person of prayer is called.  I Timothy 2:8 points out this condition, "Lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting."  This is the condition of obedient praying.  Here is showcased loyalty and love together with outward/inward cleanliness, both being fruits of acceptable praying.

Why will we receive answer to our prayers?  John gives us the reason for answered prayers: "And what soever we ask we receive of Him because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight."  Do not be deceived by the legalists who claim that in order to please God we must obey all Ten Commandments.  They ignore all that Christ taught during His earthly ministry just to make themselves "special."  They deny the power of grace and redemption.  They simply imprison themselves all over again after Jesus has set them free.  Who shall enter into the kingdom of heaven?  Those who do the will of Jehovah which is in heaven. 

Luther once said that the Christian's trade was prayer.  But before any of us proceed to learn the secrets of prayer we must learn the trade of perfect obedience to the Father's will.  Obedience follows love, and prayer follows obedience. 

The person who comes to God praying for pardoning mercy and peace for his/her soul with tears of confession and a penitent heart will be heard by God and answered.  But this is not to be the sort of praying done by a child of God.  Tears of confession and asking for mercy and the peace of Christ comes from the unjustified soul seeking salvation. 

Obedience to God promotes prayer.  The obedient child of God will pour out their heart to God, asking for what has been weighing down their heart.  Unquestioning obedience counts for much in the eyes of God.  It pushes our requests past others to the front of the line, our ticket number keeps reducing itself until it is the lowest available and puts us first before God's throne of grace.  An obedient life is not the old life "fixed up and repainted."  It is not superficial attendance at church or engaging in godly activities.  It is not conforming to public morality.  All of these things and much more are involved in a truly obedient Christian, God-fearing life.

An obedient life is settled upon the most intimate terms with God and thus offers no resistance to praying.  How often did Christ stop and pray?  Are we stopping and praying anywhere near as often in our lives?  Where the heart and soul of a person is in full conformity to God's will there will be unquestioned committment to praying before doing just about anything and everything. 

That is all for today beloved.  Next time I shall point out still again how a failure to pray means that I am being disobedient to God, that I am not obeying His commandments.  I am not living out my love of Christ when I fail to stop and pray.  Grace and peace be yours.

~Eric

Fri, Jul 22nd - 1:13PM

PRAYER - What Good Is It?

Surrendering My Will

So does God give commandments which no one can obey?  Is God so arbitrary, so severe, so unloving, that He utters commandments which simply are impossible to obey?  Our answer is that in all of the recorded Scriptures there is not a single instance of God commanding anyone to do a thing which was beyond his power.  To infer that God is so unjust and inconsiderate as to require of a person something which he/she is unable to do is to slander the very character of God.

Do earthly parents who demonstrably love their children require their children to perform duties which they can not possibly do?  Any parent who requires such of their child does not love that child.  Is God then less kind and just than faulty earthly parents?  Are they then better and more just than a perfect God?  Of course not.

In principle, obedience to God is the same quality as obedience to biological parents, or earthly parents.  There is the giving up of one's own way to follow that of another.  It requires the surrender of the will to the will of another.  It implies submission of oneself to the authority and requirements of a parent.  Commands, either from God in heaven or an earthly father, are love directed.  Hopefully these commands from our earthly father are in the best interests of us and not themselves.  God's commands are issued with the intent to benefit us in some fashion.  God's commands are spoken in love and not severity or tyrannically.  It then becomes important for us to pay attention and obey them.  God has spoken His commands to us in order to promote our good.  Obedience brings its own reward/s.  The obedient child lives a much more peaceful life than the disobedient child.  It could even end up meaning a long-lived life versus one cut short in death.  If I command my son to duck, and he chooses to be disobedient and ask "Why?"  he will be struck by the bullet that I saw being fired from a gun behind him and he will die.  Disobedience can cost us our life while obedience can save our life.  Questions can be asked later, or comprehension of the command's necessity will be revealed.  And so it is with God.  His commands either save us from something or else cause us to live more fully and abundantly. 

Obedience is love expressing itself.  Love delights to obey and please whom it loves.  There are no hardships in love.  There may be demands, but no irritations, and there are no impossible tasks for love.

Thus we return to the keeping of God's commandments.  "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight (I John 3:22)."  How simple it can be!  There is love.  Anyone who says that men are bound to commit sin because of their environment, heredity, or tendency make a great error.  God's commands are pleasant and lead to peaceful living.  God's commands are not a great burden to a person, "For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light (Matthew 11:30)."

Becoming a servant, or slave, of Jesus Christ is neither a hard, or austere, thing.  He is not a severe Master to serve.  He does not ask anything of His servant which He will not enable them to accomplish, if they will but ask.   In actuality, it is far easier to please God than it is to please men.  Men are variable in their thinking, they change their mind frequently; God remains the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  What pleased Him yesterday still pleases Him today, and it will do so tomorrow as well.  We also can know when we have pleased Him.  His Holy Spirit dwelling within us witnesses this divine assurance. 

God's commandments are righteous and founded in justice and wisdom.  "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good (Romans 7:12)."  This is also found in Revelation 15:3.  All who seek grace which enables them to obey can find the ability to obey the commandments, for they must be obeyed.  Christ Jesus is the King and His kingdom will be ruled by His commandments.  God's saints, His children, are under obligation to obey God.  He has purchased us with His own life, His own blood was shed in payment; we no longer are our own.  Disobedience can't be permitted in the kingdom.  The spirit of rebellion is the very essence of sin.  It is denial of God's authority and can't be tolerated. 

"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Romans 8:3-4)."  This is what God's attitude toward rebellion and sin has always been.  Part of the reason Jesus Christ was made manifest among mankind was a declaration of God's attitude toward sin, disobedience, and rebellion against the Living God.

I would like to point out that Christianity is not all about taking up social causes and marching for justice for all people.  Christ did not come to begin sit-ins or love-ins or social protests at state capitols or national capitols.  He came to change one heart at a time, to turn one heart at a time back to God and away from disobedience.  That is what Christians are to be about today: spreading God's Word and seeking out those who repent, who turn back to obeying God.  If we do this then society will begin to change from the inside out, not from laws being enforced upon it from the outside in.  Do speed limits on automobile travel work successfully?  Of course not.  Generally in America today you can go anywhere and observe people traveling up to ten miles per hour over the posted speed limits.  It is because the police choose to not enforce due to expense and lack of manpower.  People do not have a spirit of obedience and hence they break the law. 

Next time I will look at how we can obey God's commandments.  I hope that you remain keenly aware of the heat that blankets a large portion of America and that you take the proper precautions to stay healthy.  Drink the waters of life!  Bask in the shade of the tree of life!  Remain near the cooling effects of the running and living waters of God!  Grace and peace be with each of you today!

~Eric

Wed, Jul 20th - 1:22PM

PRAYER - What Good Is It?

We as believers must come to realize that all prayer which does not result in right thinking and right living is simply a farce.  If prayer fails to purge character and correct conduct, then we have totally missed the entire point of praying.  It will mean that we have failed to recognize the virtue of prayer if it does not bring about the transformation of our life.  As I have already stated, we must either quit praying or quit our bad behavior.  Formal, unfeeling, prayer may exist side by side with bad conduct, but it is, in God's eyes, not praying at all. 

The state of our inner lives becomes a condition of effectual praying.  Lack of character internally will be reflected in how we pray.  An inconsistent life hinders praying and even neutralizes what praying we do engage in.  Wish your prayers to be most effective?  Then heed James 5:16, "the prayer of the righteous man which avails much."  Quite rightly we can claim that it is only the prayer of the righteous man/woman which will avail anything at all, at any time.  Having a view to God's glory and to be possessed by an earnest desire to please Him in everything that we do gives a heavy influence and power to prayer. 

Our praying must come from out of a clean heart, presented with a lifting up of holy hands.  Where am I to look for my salvation and for help?  I am to look to the mountain of the Lord, towards the heavens from which Christ shall return on the clouds, just as He left this earth so long ago.  Prayer is strengthened by my life aiming continually to obey God, to strive to conform to His divine law, and to submit myself to His divine will.

We can't forget in all of this that while life is a condition of prayer, prayer is also the condition of righteous living.  Prayer promotes righteous living and is a great aid to uprightness of heart and life.  A fruit of genuine praying is right living.  Prayer sets a person about the business of working out their salvation with fear and trembling.  It sets a person to watching their temper, conversation, and conduct at all times.  It causes them to walk carefully and seek to redeem the time.  It helps a person to walk humbly and meekly as they pursue their pilgrimage towards heaven's shore.

Now we must consider what prayer has to do with obedience for many today believe that to love all people equally means that they have obeyed Jesus Christ command to love our fellowman.  They desire to offend no one, to accept all into fellowship without exception, simply in order to be sure that they are loving everyone equally.  This is not biblical. 

Under the Mosaic law, obedience was looked upon as being better than sacrifice.  In Deuteronomy 5:29 Moses represents God declaring Himself which left no doubt to the importance of obedience to Him.  Unquestionably obedience is a high virtue to be found in a Christian.  This is a military term.  It is a soldier's duty to obey.  It is his/her first and last lesson.  The soldier obeys without question or complaint.  It is faith in action.  In relation to God it is the test of love, "He that has My commandments, and keeps them, it is he that loves Me (John 14:21)."  And again in John 15:10, "If you keep My commandments, you shall remain in My love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and remain in His love."  Here is stated clearly what our relationship with the Living God will be.  The Son of God is embraced by the Father's love by virtue of His obedience!  Jesus always did those things that pleased the Father in heaven.  For us to remain within the loving embrace of the Father we must remain obedient to God's commandments, all of His commandments.

What is Obedience?

Being obedient according to our dictionaries means to follow the commands or guidance of someone; to conform to or comply with an order; to be willing to obey.  Obedience to God is a condition of spiritual thrift, inner satisfaction, and stability of one's heart.  It opens the gates of the Holy City and gives access to the tree of life.  Obedience provides us with the gift of the Holy Spirit in fullest measure available to any of us.  "If you love Me, keep My commandments.  And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever (John 14:15-16)."  To love Christ means to obey Christ in all things, not just some things.  If people are sinning then they must repent and be transformed by the washing of their minds with the Word of God.  All that which was old has passed away, all has become new through the regeneration of our minds in Christ Jesus.  In this regard homosexuals must repent upon accepting Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior and begin regenerating their minds through reading and studying God's Word.  Their old behaviors must change and be replaced with new ones which are pleasing to God and will lead them on to holy, pure, living.

"Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city (Revelation 22:14)."  What is obedience?  It is doing God's will in our lives.  It is keeping all of His commandments.  It is not an option to only obey half of His commandments.  James 2:10 addresses this issue: "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point is guilty of all."  We see here that clearly the believer in Christ needs the Holy Spirit to dwell within them to enable them to obey all. 

Nothing short of absolute obedience will satisfy God.  But can we keep all of God's commandments?  By prayer man can get the ability to obey all of God's law.

That is all for today my friends.  Next time I shall write about surrendering my will to God.  Come on back and see what else we can learn together as we open up God's Word!  Grace and peace be with you today!

~Eric

Mon, Jul 18th - 1:28PM

PRAYER - What Good Is It?

Prayer is based on character!

It was the inner character, not the outward appearance, of men like Abraham, Job, David, Moses, and all others who had great influence with God in the past.  Today, it is what we really are that counts with God.  Conduct affects character, of course, and counts for much in our praying. 

Meanwhile, character affects conduct to a far greater extent and has a superior influence over prayer.  Who we are inside is what gives "color" to our praying.  Wicked living means bad praying and, eventually, no praying at all.  As we live feebly so we pray feebly.  The force of our prayer within our prayer closet is made up of the energy which flows from how we are living our daily lives.  Weak living stems from the shallowness and lack of character within us.

If we are not living for God faithfully and truly, then we simply are unable to talk strongly, intimately, and confidently to God in prayer.  Our prayer "closet" can't become sanctified to God when our life is alien to God's laws and purpose.  Righteous character and Christlike conduct give us a preferential standing in prayer before God. 

So what hinders prayer?  It seems that I have already asked that question once, but here it is to be asked again.  Perhaps some scriptures are called for here.  "Then shall you call and the Lord shall answer; you shall cry, and He shall say, Here I am.  If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity (Isaiah 58:9)."  "And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide My eyes from you: yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood (Isaiah 1:15)."  "Therefore pray not for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto Me for their trouble (Jeremiah 11:14)."  As we see, unholy conduct is a hindrance to successful prayer.  In order to gain complete access to God in prayer, there must be a complete abandonment of conscious and premeditated sin.  Will there be no sin?  No, just a repentace from committing premeditated and conscious sin.  In I Timothy 2:8 we are commanded to pray with uplifted holy hands and minds free of wrath and doubt.  We must conduct ourselves properly, keeping ourselves unstained from sin, in order to retain our privilege of calling upon God the Father in prayer.

James declares that we ask and receive not because we ask amiss and seek only the gratification of selfish desires.  Jesus commanded us to watch and pray always for it is the way to cover and guard all of our conduct.  As we vigilantly keep guard over our lives we secure the force necessary for our prayer closet to reach the ears of God in heaven.

"And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares (Luke 21:34)."  Surfeit means an immoderate indulgence in something such as food or drink to the point of disgust due to the excess.  How many of us today suffer from eating too much "junk" food?  It surrounds us on every side, at every turn of the road, on every channel on the television, on billboards, and upon buses and taxi cabs.  An ever growing proportion of the Amercan public is either overweight or obese.  Sure some of it has to do with not being physically active enough to burn off the excess calories, but one of the first steps is to reduce the amount of calories being consumed each day.  Surfeitness.  Drunkenness is an ever present danger for it creates lowered inhibitions which leads to actions being taken that normally would not be even considered.  The cares of this life is one which not very many people make a connection with on a level with being a Christian.  Satan has chosen to attack humanity via pace of life, surfeit, and the varied cares of this life.  Should I care about paying my bills?  Should I care about protecting the environment?  Should I care about recycling resources?  Should I be concerned about child abuse?  Should I care about my husband's clothing, meals, and business partners?  Should I care about my children's school curriculumns?  Should I care about what we are to have for lunch, supper, and breakfast tomorrow?  Should I care about how green my lawn grass is compared with my neighbor's?  Should I care about how large of a house I have?  Is it important to make sure that I have six figures saved for my retirement?  Is it important to make sure that my family wears the best brand name clothing at all times?  Is it important to make sure that I can afford to belong to the country club?  All are the cares of this world and they all steal away our time, energy, money, and our hearts.  We tend to allow these things to become number one in priority rather than putting God first.  So we must remain intensely aware of how we conduct our daily lives otherwise they will become ugly things in the sight of God.  A pious life is one that really counts.

In days long gone by, preachers were ordered to preach by their lives or not preach at all.  Today, we need to pray like our very lives depend upon it, or else do not pray at all.  The most effective preaching is that which is proclaimed quietly, humbly, and consistently.  Example preaches a far more effective sermon than instruction.  Even in the pulpit, the best preaching is that which is strengthened by the preacher living a godly life, visibly living out what is preached.

The person who desires to pray must already have severed themselves from committing sin, separated themselves from the world, and begun living a holy life.  That person has chosen to accept what God has stated as being the factual truth about mankind's basic nature.  They have realized that they must lean completely upon God for their strength, for their ability to do the work of the Lord. 

It must be realized that the best prepared, most eloquent sermon can be marred and rendered totally ineffective simply because of questionable conduct in the preacher.  Accepting inconsistency of life, worldliness of spirit, and political correctness of speech, leads to a total weakening of the labor of our hands and/or lips.  Sermons are delivered, lessons are taught, but the principles must be visibly lived out before others in order for there to be power invested in them.

The prayer of repentance is acceptable to God, He delights in hearing from repenitant sinners.  But repentance is not simply being sorry or full of regret.  It means turning away from wrongdoing and learning to do well in its place.  There must be a visible change in one's life, conduct and character must change.  Old things must pass away, all things must become new.

That is all for today in this study beloved.  Next will be some words concerning effectual prayer and also obedience as relating to prayer.  May Christ's grace and peace overflow in your hearts and in your lives!

~Eric

Thu, Jul 14th - 1:27PM

PRAYER - What Good Is It?

EXAMPLE OF MOSES

When Israel set up their golden calf out in the wilderness, God's wrath increased fiercely against them all.  Jehovah said to Moses when He told him what He purposed to do to them, "Let Me alone (Exodus 32:10)."  But Moses would not let Him alone.  Moses flung himself down before God in the necessity of intercession on behalf of the sinning Israelites.  Forty days and nights Moses fasted and prayed.  That is persistence!

Jehovah was also angry with Aaron, who had acted as leader in the idolatrous business of crafting the golden calf.  But Moses prayed for his brother as well.  Without the prayers of Moses, Aaron and the Israelites would have perished right then and there under the all consuming fire of God's righteous wrath.

That long period of protracted prayer left a lasting impression upon Moses.  His character became so much greater after interceding on the behalf of the people.  Persistent, fervent, prayer heightens our character and moves God.  If we would only enter this place, we too could exit with our faces glowing brightly from exposure to God.  Our lives would possess a richer quality and would bring much glory to the Name of God.

General Charles James Gordon was the hero of Khartum, Sudan many years ago.  On his tomb are etched these words:  "He gave his money to the poor, his sympathy to the sorrowing, his life to his country, and his soul to God." 

Prayer governs conduct, and conduct makes character.  Conduct is what we do and character is what we are.  Conduct is the outward life which all men may see.  Character is the unseen, inner life, hidden within a man/woman, yet is evidenced by that which is seen.  Conduct is external, character internal.  Character is the state of the heart while conduct is its outward expression.  Character is the root of the tree/vine while conduct is the fruit which it bears.

Prayer helps to establish character and molds conduct.  Both of these depend upon prayer.  One may have a certain degree of moral character and conduct independent of prayer, but there can't be distinctive religious character and Christian conduct without it.  The more we pray, the better we are, and the purer and better our lives become as a result. 

More prayer means more faith is being flexed in our hearts and souls.  More faith means deeper trust in Christ to do what He promised to do in our lives.  "Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works (Titus 2:14)."  It is not simply works of charity and deeds of mercy which He is insisting upon.  Christ is demanding inward spiritual character. 

The New Testament Epistles make one thing quite clear:  the insistence upon holiness of heart and righteousness of life.  There is no promotion of "personal work."  The focus is upon the condition of the human heart and the blamelessness of the personal life of the believer.

God is overwhelmingly concerned about our character and conduct.  Christianity deals with people who are lacking spiritual character and are unholy in life.  It desires to change them so that they become holy in heart and righteous in life.  It seeks ever to change bad people into good people.

This is where prayer enters the picture.  Prayer drives inexorably to this very end and can't be prevented by anyone outside of the one praying.  Without prayer no supernatural change in moral character can probably be expected to come about.  Wish someone to change?  Without asking God to work on their heart you will never receive the blessing of them changing.  The change from badness to goodness is not brought about by "works of righteousness which a person does."  It does not happen by "turning over a new leaf."  Or by voicing a New Year's resolution to be a better person in the coming year.  Change comes through the work of fervent, persistent, prayer.   Hoping for change any other way is delusional and a trap.

The object of prayer is to change the character and conduct of people, specific people.  The mission of the Church is to change human nature and character, influence behavior, and revolutionize conduct through prayer.  The Church is presumed to be righteous and should therefore be engaged in turning people to righteousness.

The primary duty of the Church is to spread the Gospel and to reproduce righteous character in those people who "hear" the call of God.  Its work is not to amass members, money, property, or to engage in deeds of charity or works of mercy.  It is to primarily produce righteousness of character and purity of conduct.  Do this, and all of the other things will be done as well for they will be the fruit that all may see.

The "product" ought to reflect and share the character of the manufacturer which makes it.  Christ produces a righteous Church, which with a righteous purpose makes righteous people.  Prayer produces cleanliness of heart and purity of life.  Unrighteous conduct produces prayerlessness.  Prayer and sinning can't keep company with each other.  One, or the other, must stop.  Get people praying and they will quit sinning for prayer creates a growing distaste for sinning.    Evil doing becomes repugnant to the person praying.  It is because prayer draws the person ever closer to God.

That is all for today my friends.  May Christ inspire you to pray fervently for the desires of your heart!  Ask Him freely, for He shall give freely. 

~Eric

Wed, Jul 13th - 1:13PM

PRAYER - What Good Is It?

Persistence is composed of intensity, perseverance, and patience.  All apparant delay in getting answers to prayer is the building block of persistence.  In Matthew 9 we find the first recorded instance of the miracle of one who was blind.  It illustrates what we must do when our petitions to the Lord appear to be going unnoticed.  The two blind men continue their crying and follow Christ with their continual petition saying, "You Son of David, have mercy on us."  But Jesus did not answer them and went on into the house.  The two men followed Him and finally gained their eyesight and their plea from Him.

Then there is the case of blind Bartimaeus.  His first crying was done as Jesus entered Jericho.  He continued crying until Jesus came out of the place.  It illustrates again the necessity of persistent prayer, persistent supplication.  It also illustrates the success which comes to people who stake their "all" on Christ and do not quit until they receive their heart's desire.

Mark places this meeting plainly in front of us.  Jesus seemingly does not hear at all.  The gathered crowd rebukes Bartimaeus.  But the blind beggar continues to cry out to the Lord.  Rather than diminish in intensity, his petition becomes louder until at last Jesus responds.  Bartimaeus wins his case, receives his heart's desire, and the crowd is taught a valuable lesson which only a few will probably put into practice.  Pray fervently and persistently even in the face of popular derision and mockery when no immediate answer is coming from God. 

As I have already pointed out, faith works in conjunction with prayer, and it is inseparably connected with persistence.  A persistent spirit brings a person to the place where faith grabs hold of the blessing and claims it.

The necessity of persistent prayer is plainly stated in the Word of God and obviously needs to be stated and restated to today's crop of believers.  Our culture today is too much in love with ease, leisure, laziness, amusements, and religious indifference; all of which work against fervent prayer to God.  Energy must be placed into our prayers, we must pursue God in order to gain what we pray for. 

Before deciding to pray for something we must prepare ourselves for the inevitable facts about praying.  There will be delays, denials, and seeming failures related to its execution.  We need to be prepared to deal with these as they must occur.  But we must not stop praying.  At these moments we increase our urgency in praying, we increase our outcry to God, in effect we must fall at God's very feet and cry, "Help me, O Lord!" 

That is all for today my friends.  Next time we shall see how Moses provides us with an example of persistent prayer.  May you walk closely with your God, may He richly bless you in all things!

~Eric

Tue, Jul 12th - 1:05PM

PRAYER - What Good Is It?

MOTIVATING GOD?

Clearly, the teaching of Christ Jesus is to declare to us that people are to pray earnestly.  Heaven hears only the wholehearted and deeply earnest petitions.  Energy, boldness, and perseverance must bolster our prayers in order for heaven to respect and hear them.

What do we learn from another parable, the one about the man who went to his friend for bread at midnight?  We are told in Luke 11:5-13 that this man went out on his errand in confidence.  Friendship promised him success.  His cry was pressing, important.  He could not go back empty-handed.  His friend's flat refusal shamed and surprised him.  Friendship had failed!  Did he surrender to this failure?  No, he did not!  He tried resolution and determination, he stayed and pursued his demand until the door was opened and the request granted.  By determination and persistent he received fulfillment of his petition which otherwise would have gone unfulfilled. 

Success achieved in the face of flat, utter, denial.  Jesus Christ used this example to illustrate the need for demanding in humble prayer before the throne of heavenly grace.  When the answer is not immediately coming, the praying Christian must remain faithful and courageously move forward in prayer.  He/she must urgently go before the throne of grace until the answer does come.  If he/she has the faith to press their petition with vigor, the answer is guarenteed.

What then is fatal to our prayers?  Negligence, faintheartedness, impatience, fear, and doubt.  God's heart, hand, infinite power, and infinite willingness to hear and give to us is waiting for our fervency and persistence in asking.  "You have not because you ask not!"  Effectual prayer is done earnestly as an inward movement of our heart toward God.  We must fling our entire being into our petition/s.  Isaiah lamented that no one did what?  Stirred himself/herself to take hold of God.  It remains too true to this very day.  Much praying does indeed happen within Christendom, but it is of the easy, indifferent, complacent, and nonspecific kind.  Where are the mighty movements of souls toward God?  Who is seeking to move their sanctified souls upon reaching and wrestling with God, as Jacob did?  Forceless prayers fall by the wayside.  They do not win impressive results nor do they gain complete victories.  We must win God before we can win our prayer before God.

Isaiah the prophet looked hopefully towards the day when faith would flourish and prayer would be heartfelt and fervent.  When those times come the "watchmen" will not lessen their watchfulness, but they will cry day and night.  Those who would be the LORD's remembrancers would give Him no rest from their cries.  Their urgent, persistent efforts would keep heaven's host busy and would make ever increasing demands upon God's endless bounties.

Fervent prayer is never discouraged.  It never yields to fear nor to despair.  It is fueled by a faith that will not let go, ever.  It has the patience to wait and the strength to continue.  It refuses to give up until an answer is given.

Where can we find the ringing challenges of Christ Jesus regarding prayer?  In Matthew 7:7, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you."  These are God's key that true prayer must remain and advance in effort and urgency until such time the prayer is answered and the blessing sought is gained. 

Looking at three words, "ask, seek, knock," we can see that Jesus placed them in distinct order  to urge the necessity of persistence in our prayers.  Asking, seeking, and knocking are ascending levels of successful prayer.  Think of them as rungs on a ladder.  Here is Christ's estimate of the highest and most successful form of praying:  unbeatable courage, ceaseless courage, and stability of purpose.

That is all for today beloved.  Next time I will write more about how persistence of prayer moves God.  Hope you come back to read more!  Grace and peace be yours today!

~Eric

Mon, Jul 11th - 1:53PM

PRAYER - What Good Is It?

I wish to give you several examples of how persistence has paid off in the past.  The repeated intercessions of Abraham for the salvation of Sodom and Gomorrah are an early example of the necessity for and the benefits arising from persistent prayer.  Jacob wrestled all night with the angel of the Lord and gave us a picture of persistence resulting in receiving a blessing from God.  It shows that in spiritual matters, persistence succeeds just as effectively as it does in matters related to time and sense.

Moses prayed forty days and forty nights to stop the anger of God against Israel.  His example and success are a stimulus to our present day faith in its bleakest hour.  Elijah repeated his prayer seven times before the rain clouds appeared in the heavens and heralded the success of his prayer and the victory of his personal faith in God.  On another occasion, Daniel pressed his case three weeks before the answer and the blessing came from God.  Persistence pays off. 

During our Lord and Savior's earthly ministry He spent many a night in prayer.  In Gethsemane He presented the same petition three times with unshaken, urgent, yet submissive persistence.  His prayers involved His entire being and elicited tears and bloody sweat from Him.  His life crises were distinctly marked and His life victories were all won in hours of persistent prayer.  And so the servant is not greater than his Lord, as Jesus pointed out to the believers.  As it was with Christ, so it is to be with each of us.

Then we come to the parable of the persistent widow before the unjust judge.  "And He spoke a parable to them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: and there was a widow in that city; and she cameto him, saying, Avenge me of my adversary.  And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.  And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge said.  And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?  I tell you He will avenge them speedily (Luke 18:1-8)."  This parable stresses the central truth of persistent prayer.  If we fail to pray passionately day and night then we forfeit obtaining answer to our prayer.  The widow had absolutely zero influence with the judge.  Yet her persistence before him finally caused him to choose to avenge her against her adversary.  Persistence is the bottom line to take from this passage.  That, and the fact that if an unjust judge could choose to avenge a powerless widow, then how much more so shall God avenge the saints of Christ?  But it requires passion and persistence in prayer.

Finally we come to the account of the incident of the Syrophenician woman and Jesus.  This woman came to Jesus on behalf of her daughter.  She did not come to be rude or disrespectful.  She came in humility, sincerity, and fervency.  We get to see her faith, her grief, and her spiritual insight.  Christ Jesus went to the Sidonian country just so that He could meet up with this woman in need.  In like manner, Christ Jesus will come to where you are just so that He may meet up with you, in your hour of need. 

The persistence of this distressed mother won her the victory and gained her her request.  And instead of being offensive to Jesus, her persistence elicited a word of wonder and joy: "O woman, great is your faith: be it unto you even as you wish (Matthew 15:28)."  Her fervent, persistent intercession on the behalf of her daughter's plight resulted in the blessing from God.

He who does not push his plea does not pray at all, really.  Cold, formal, prayers have no claim on heaven and no hearing within the courts of heaven.  Passion is the life of prayer, and this is the way to gain heaven's ear. 

God waits patiently for His elect to cry out to Him.  He is obviously moved by our requests a million times more than the unjust judge.  What limit can be placed upon God's waiting?  Perhaps by the persistence and passion of the praying done by His people.  God seeks to find faith in His children.  He honors this faith which stays and cries by day and by night, seeking out the face of God.  He rewards those who offer up fervent, effectual prayers. 

Sometimes we pray as if we are afraid to disturb God in His importance-filled moments up in heaven.  But look!  The Syrophenician woman through heroic faith and persistent spirit broke through Christ's purpose, violated His privacy, and attracted His attention.  Upon accomplishing these feats she then poured out to Him her distressing appeal of need and faith.  Her very heart was in her prayer to God.

At first Jesus appears to pay no attention to the woman.  He neither looks at her or speaks to her.  All that greets her initial request is silence.  Did she give up?  No!  She holds on.  The disciples begin to interecede on her behalf due to a perception of unseemly noise coming from her, they want her to be silenced.  But they are the ones silenced by Christ's declaring that the woman is entirely outside the scope of His mission and His ministry.

Did she give up now?  No!  She is not deterred by being informed that she is being noisy or that she is outside of the benefits of His mission on earth.  These failures only serve to lend intensity and increased boldness in her approach to Christ.  Are we this intense and bold in our approach to Christ when we pray?  She came closer to Jesus, reducing her prayer in half, and fell at His feet.  Worshipping Christ she made her daugher's case her own and cries with extreme brevity:  "Lord, help me!"  This is what earned her an answer to her request of God.  The very same hour her daughter was healed.  This is what persistent prayer is all about beloved.  Passionate and persistent. 

Jesus explains to us through these parables the serious difficulties which stand in the way of prayer.  Yet He also teaches us that persistence, along with passion, conquers all unfavorable circumstances and gains a victory over all manner of obstacles.  Answer to prayer is conditional upon the amount of faith that goes into the petition.  Superficial prayers are dropped upon not receiving an immediate answer.  Silence confirms the seeds of doubt they harbor within their minds and hearts.  But the person of prayer hangs on.  They increase their passionate petitions before God, boldly approaching the throne of grace, worshipping God with all of their being, and remain so until such time as they receive God's answer.  This is what God recognizes and honors:  faith. 

That is all for today my friends.  Next time I hope to write about what motivates God.  Come on back and find out more about prayer!  The grace of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior be with you today!

~Eric