Tue, Oct 24th - 4:39AM

Temptation

Submitting Ourselves to God

By Nicholas Trapp 

Resist the Devil and he shall flee...Js. 4:7

            How many times have we heard someone say this to us or to someone else when struggling with a particular temptation in life only to see ourselves or that person continue to struggle or succumb to that temptation and hear that the resistance wasn’t enough?  I’ve heard it many times and experienced it in my own life.  Struggling and failing, kept in spiritual bondage by forces we come to believe we are not strong enough to overcome.  I’ve got news for you.  You’re not strong enough.  But don’t despair, because “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”  1Jn. 4:4 

Is that enough to overcome your temptations?  Depends on your knowledge and understanding of God’s word.  Now let’s look at James chapter 4 to understand what the whole scripture says that was quoted at the beginning.  James 4:7  See it doesn’t just say “Resist the Devil and he shall flee,” it says “submit yourselves therefore to God, Resist the Devil and he shall flee...”  We must humble ourselves and submit to God, who dwells within us through His Spirit.

James speaks of the fight starting in verse (1).  “From whence come wars and fightings among you?  Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your  members.  (2)  Ye lust, and have not:  ye kill and desire to have, and cannot obtain:  ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.  (3) Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”  See, if we didn’t have ungodly desires at times in our lives, we couldn’t be tempted.  James understood this and points it out.  We struggle with temptation because of any number of reasons but mainly because we refuse to submit to God and His plans for our lives, His power to overcome ungodliness and His guidance to a better spiritual life.

Verse 5 – “Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?”  (speaks of the spirit of the carnal mind) (v.6)  “But he giveth more grace.  Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”

            When we humble ourselves and submit ourselves to God, He empowers us to overcome the lusts of our flesh to defeat the temptations that occur because of those lusts.

            (v.7) “Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the Devil and he shall flee from you.  (v.8)  Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.  Cleanse your hands, ye sinners;  and purify your hearts, ye double minded.  (v.10)  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He  shall lift you up.”  

God resists the proud, that is those who think they can go it alone, the ones who think the problem is too small for God to be troubled.  There are no small problems for God if that problem is keeping you in spiritual bondage.  That’s the mind of the proud person.  “Don’t worry God, I can handle this one.”  No you can’t!  Once you start believing you can overcome temptation on your own, you are already defeated.  The Devil wants you to believe you can overcome on your own, so he can get you away from your reliance on God, and defeat you alone, dragging you down into despair, guilt and hopelessness.  This is why we must humble ourselves before God and  submit ourselves to Him, so that he can guide us through the many troubles that will come our way to a holier walk with our Lord.  Truly “Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.”  But the only way to experience that is to submit yourself to God, allowing Him to work in you, to guide you and lead you into victory in all aspects of your life that you make him in charge of.

            The areas that we get into trouble in this life, are the areas that we withhold from God, believing that they are under control.  Just ask yourself, “Under whose control are they?”  If the answer isn’t God, then give it to God, or the Devil will creep in and start to create havoc in your life.  Remember, any area in your life that isn’t in submission to God, is an open invitation to the Devil and his forces to come in.  So, “submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the Devil, and he will flee from you!”  because you are then under God’s care and He does care about you.  God bless!

     Note:  Nick is a dear friend who is now incarcerated at Great Meadow Correctional Facility, Comstock, New York.  We became acquainted a number of years ago when we were both locked up in the same prison here in Colorado.  Our paths parted and we later became re-acquainted after we had both been released and Nick had been re-incarcerated here.  I began writing him and our old friendship was renewed.  After he was released again I learned that he had done much to save me from a conspiracy to kill me back when.  He then returned home to New York State where he was more recently locked up again and is now serving a ten year term there.  He just sent me the above study he wrote and won't know immediately that I have published it here.  During my time of incarceration a lady in my home church corresponded with me and graciously copied and sent me much of what I had written for a period in prison.  As most prisoners do, I had a deep desire to communicate with people outside and express my thoughts.  Nick's humble repentance before God is very evident in the above essay.

Sat, Oct 21st - 1:15PM

Thoughts on Tradition

The Significance and Value of Tradition

Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.  (2Th 2:15)

Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.  (2Th 3:6)

The word “tradition” is used thirteen times in the Authorized (KJV) New Testament in either its singular or plural form.  In at least ten of those instances it is given a negative connotation by the Lord Jesus Christ or by one of the authors of the epistles.  The apostle Paul uses the word four times, twice in a favorable sense, and twice in a negative or in a possibly negative way.  The essential hindrance to the Lord’s ministry to the Jewish people was the traditions that were developed and handed down over time by their forefathers, and propagated by the contemporary leaders of His day. 

And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.  (Mar 7:9)

We see, then that Jewish religious tradition had actually supplanted the counsel of the word of God by the time of Christ’s appearing.  The Mosaic Law given to the people upon their departure from Egypt many generations previous to this gave very strict prescriptions for living their lives morally, ceremonially and civilly.  God had a definite purpose in providing this narrow and often rigid code for them.  But underneath and behind that set of rules and regulations was always a desire for relationship with them, relationship that was personal at the heart of it.  The greater part of the history of Israel was characterized by their continual lapses into very blatant forms of idolatry in imitation of the peoples surrounding them.  When, at last they had “served their time” in captivity to the Chaldeans and Persians as a chastisement for this spiritual-moral defection from Him, the rabbinical traditions came to be established so as to preclude the possibility of falling back into this idolatry.  The object of the teachings of the rabbis was apparently to instruct the people regularly, in small groups in the proper understanding of God’s law and to thus, reinforce its immediate implementation in their lives.

            I suppose it all seemed like a good way to avoid the gross sins and errors of the past in departing from God’s commandments; but we can see in retrospect, that the issue was much deeper than they realized and were willing to address in their hearts.  Even though, as was pointed out to me recently, idolatry, as such ceased in their nation from the time of the captivity, the rejection of God by the Jewish people has been, nonetheless just as real up until the very present.  Since they, as a nation had no real love for their God, there had to be something other than God for them to place their affections upon.  That something was their man-made tradition. In a real sense, they exchanged their pagan idols for a religious one made in the image of God’s holy law.   In their minds, of course they were able to justify this by tying these traditions to the commandments of God, and deceive themselves into believing that it was really God whom they were loving and worshiping.  Jesus exposed that quite aptly, and thus earned their disapproval and hatred.

Even though tradition had become a very bad thing in this case for the nation of God’s people, we see from the writings of Paul in his epistles that there was a good and legitimate tradition that he and the other apostles had established in the early New Testament churches.  This “Apostolic Tradition” consisted of the essential doctrines of grace toward sinning mankind, as well as, I’m sure some customs in the local assemblies that reinforced those doctrines to make them a vital part of the lives of their constituents.

Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. (2Thess. 2:15)

Paul does, however give a warning in one epistle about adhering to humanly derived tradition rather than to Christ Himself.

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.  Col. 2:8

The N.T. Christian, (ideally) sees Christ as the embodiment of all belief and doctrine and looks to Him directly for understanding, rather than the systems and customs established by men.  These systems may or may not be in full accord with the principles of grace as comprehended in the New Testament; and so a great measure of discernment is here recommended by the apostle in dividing human tradition from the truth that emanates from Jesus Christ Himself.  This is no easy task for the growing believer who is connected with other believers in some form of organized fellowship and having some measure and degree of tradition to which it holds.

            It is an obvious and admitted fact that nearly all of the contemporary Evangelical churches have radically departed, in a number of ways from many of the traditions established generations ago in Europe after the Reformation and later in the United states.  Their thinking is to reject what they have perceived as the dry, dead formalism and the rigid legalism and judgmentalism of the former generations, and to achieve a more original form of loving Christianity.  The problem with their approach to the perceived problem is that they have, as they might put it “thrown the baby out with the bath water.”  In their radical approach to eliminating all of the undesirable elements of former church structure and custom, they have removed from their midst much of that which is good and sound in doctrine and practice.  For example, supposedly former generations of Christians in their old fashioned and bigoted churches have cast a harsh and disapproving eye upon many a poor woman who has left and divorced an abusive husband.  Even though the Lord Jesus Himself laid out a fairly strict standard for marriage in a number of places in His ministry, it is asserted that God is gracious, forgiving and “the God of second chance” for people who make mistakes.  Therefore, in the modern churches (for the most part) divorce and remarriage is not judged and is accepted without any question. Thus, the new attitude toward divorce in the churches has helped to bring them on an even par with the non-Christian world in divorces.  This radical switch from one “extreme,” if it truly be an extreme, to the other extreme in this particular area is an example of what has occurred in a host of other practical matters in the churches.

 It must be noted in our discussion of the concept of tradition that there is a vital link between doctrine and custom (or tradition).  In other words, what we believe must be and is, in fact directly related to how we act and live.  In the case of the modern churches this is very obvious because the change in customs and habits of worship have, of necessity forced a change in the theology that underlies these customs.  Again, the example of marriage and divorce serves a good illustration.  In their zeal to “win” people to God and fill the church pews (or folding chairs as the case may be) it has become apparent that this issue has needed attention.  Many people in today’s society find themselves involved in divorce and the prospect, at least of remarriage.  I’m quite sure the problem really wasn’t any different in earlier times when Jesus and the apostles walked the earth, except, perhaps for the proportions of people in this situation.  But the contemporary churches (not all of them, but many) have seen fit to adopt a more tolerant position on the issue and, consequently have had to re-think their beliefs on it.  The resulting laxifying of doctrine concerning the holiness of the church and of the individual believer in this matter has opened up other avenues of looseness in living amongst church members.  Divorce is now looked upon as not only an unfortunate, but perhaps an unavoidable reality amongst Christians, even though it may not come directly from the pulpit as such.  Singles ministries and “divorce recovery workshops” have come about to help address the problem.  A casual browsing of on-line Christian dating sites reveals that nearly all their participants fit into the divorced category.  It would appear that if only "never-married" or "widowed" persons were the only ones looking for mates these sites would not have come about.  Other beliefs, attitudes and practices concerning sexual conduct have been affected, either directly or indirectly by this shift in doctrine.

However, the noteworthy fact in this discussion is that in abolishing old traditions that may or may not be in accord with Scripture and the will of God, the modern churches have, in fact established new traditions that , likewise may or may not conform to the Bible.  Many naively believe that their church is entirely free of bondage to any tradition, and that pure grace is the only guideline in effect in the corridors of their contemporary sanctuary.  Christian bookstores are filled with volumes decrying “phariseeism,” and “legalism,” to help to purge us from any vestige of the traditions of the past.  Many Christians reject denominational labels, but as in the case of the “Calvary Chapels” across the country and world now, they have formed “non-denominational” denominations.  How foolish and vain is their thinking.   It reminds me of those young (and not so young) people I see who pierce and tattoo themselves frequently, and when queried about it reply that they want to be different or unique.  But they look exactly like all of their fellow social rebels.  Actually they aren’t really rebels anymore because that ornamentation has not only become socially accepted, but has also nearly become a standard of acceptance amongst the young today.  And so it is with the church.  “We’re not gonna be like those “traditional” churches with their deadness and lack of love.  We want to be alive and caring for everybody, even the unkempt, fornicating and blaspheming sinner.”  So what they do is lower standards or drop standards altogether in order to show them the “real” love and acceptance of God.

            It’s not, however just the progressive minded churches with their new traditions that are in need of criticism and correction today.  The Devil has, indeed done much to undermine the true faith of God’s people today by deceiving them into setting aside the commandments of God for their new traditions, and the loosening of true, Biblical standards of holiness.  But the older churches have often given fuel to the license and looseness of the newer ones by setting aside the commandment to love by rigidly holding to some of their human traditions too.  In either case the commandments to be holy and to love stand true as the standard of righteousness for all Christians.  There is a way to “speak the truth in love,” that is to hold fast the holiness of life that has been passed down from the Lord and His disciples, and to also let each other and the world know, with meekness and gentleness that repentance and faith are both needed to enter the kingdom of heaven.  May holiness be restored to the modern churches, and love, as needed to the few remaining older churches.  Each factor is vital to the testimony of Jesus Christ to the world, and a balance of the two is much needed in our day.  Tradition is good and proper, if it originates in the word of God and is maintained with a proper attitude as coming from God.  But it can easily become an idol and a snare to those who lose their first love of Christ and desire to rest upon something other than a continual, vital connection to Him.

And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.  Mark 7:9

Wed, Oct 11th - 6:02PM

Revival:  Part 2

Acknowledging Our Need

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.  (Psa. 138:7)

Blessed [are] the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  (Matt. 5:3)

Trouble is a very real and inescapable part of life, everyone’s life at one time or another.  In the hand of God, trouble can be a blessing because it may serve His purpose in bringing a man low and demonstrating His power  and our weakness.  The Psalmist above cries out in helplessness at His condition and acknowledges, by faith the faithfulness of God.  Unfortunately, most do not turn to God in their troubles and are therefore missing the opportunity they have of seeing the greatness of God and learning to find shelter and repose under His mighty arms.  Jesus stated the point very simply in His Sermon on the Mount by saying that to the poor in spirit belong the kingdom.  To reverse that, the rich, that is those who have everything going for them in this life and in their own minds cannot obtain and possess His kingdom. (Rev. 3:17,18)  In reality everyone is poor in spirit, but few see it.  We all lack the essential resources, morally and spiritually to have favor and fellowship with our Creator.  We’re darkened in ourselves and grope about in the proud vanity of our futile, fallen minds.  Our hearts are full of selfish greed, conniving mischief, lustful imaginations, arrogant conceit and many other manifestations of the sin that has been passed on to us from our original parents.  “Original sin” is the sanitized term used by theologians for this condition, but “utter wickedness” is a more apt expression.  All are equal in this depraved and condemned state, both abuser and abused, male and female, adult and child.  Not only that, but we are also unable elevate ourselves above our low moral estate, and to make matters worse, in and of ourselves we love it and don’t possess any desire or inclination to change.  Oh, we’d like to justify ourselves, and doll up our appearance so as to look relatively clean and wholesome to others.  But as far as that goes, we could rightly compare ourselves, in a spiritual sense to sows wallowing in mud and slop, and not alarmed at all about it.  Complacent is the word, very well satisfied with what and who we are.  Yes, we are all poor, but few of us see it, and even fewer will admit it.

Jesus illustrated the point very well in His little story about a Pharisee and a publican.  These two went to the temple to pray and the words they uttered to God betrayed the true condition of their hearts.

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men [are], extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.  (Luk 18:12)

          How nice of this man to let God know what a good fellow he was!  Unfortunately God didn’t agree.  On the other side of the temple though, was a publican, a despised tax collector.  His prayer was quite different.

And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as [his] eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.  (Luk 18:13)

Jesus said that this man went home justified rather than the self-sufficient religious ruler that hadn’t a clue concerning his true spiritual condition.

          Before we can experience this thing of spiritual renewal and refreshing we call revival, we need to have an honest and accurate look at ourselves as God sees us, as we really are in His sight.  We may believe what the Bible and Bible teachers tell us about being sinners.  But intellectual assent to given facts is not sufficient to carry us on the narrow road to heaven.  It is only when we truly see that we are poor in spirit and O so needy before our Maker, that we can begin to experience the beginnings of a life that is eternal in quality as well as in duration.  Perhaps some very deep and persistent soul searching is in order for some or all of us in this fundamental matter.  Outward reformation without inward transformation is a sure prescription for hypocrisy.  The true joy of knowing God in Jesus Christ issues from a heart that has been awakened first to its own neediness and inability.

Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.  (Rev. 3:17,18)

O gracious God, whose name is holy and lifted high above the sinful state of all the sons of Adam!  Help us; Help me, Michael Clark to see myself as I truly am apart from your wonderful grace.  Help me to walk in a genuine humility always with awareness of my neediness and Thy abundant and sufficient ability to help and save me from my sin.  Amen.

Mon, Oct 9th - 6:09PM

Spiritual Renewal

Revival :  Part 1

For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name [is] Holy; I dwell in the high and holy [place], with him also [that is] of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.  (Isa 57:15)

re.vive (v.i.) 1. to come back to life or consciousness after real or apparent death.  2.  to come back to health and vigor.  3.  to flourish again.  4.  to recover from a state of neglect or disuse; to restore, reestablish.  5.  to raise from languor, depression or discouragement.  6.  to renew in the mind or memory; to reawaken; refresh.

            That there is a very definite need amongst Christians for spiritual revival in their hearts is generally accepted.    Exactly how such a widespread renewal of faith and love toward God would arise in the churches today, and what manifestations it would make is not so clearly defined and accepted amongst professing believers.   Moreover, the recognition of the need for general revival is much greater than the acknowledgment of such a need by Christians individually.  So we hear some talk of revival, but not much genuine activity to promote it in our individual lives.

The definitions of the word revive given above are somewhat a composite from three dictionaries I have, the essential idea being to come back to life.  We see the word used seven times in the Authorized Old Testament and not at all in the New.  My text from the prophet Isaiah is a statement about the nature of God and His disposition toward mankind, especially that element of the human race that is in a condition to see Him accurately and therefore, be revived.  It is a fairly encompassing statement and worthy of our attention in considering this subject: "Revival."  Those who would see God must see Him as He truly is, and it is only the humble and contrite who are able to do so.  Others, that is most of mankind, whether or not they claim their knowledge of Him by Scripture, perceive and define God through the filter of their own darkened, depraved hearts and fashion Him an idol in their own image.  But the true follower of God, the believer in and worshiper of Him in Spirit and in truth has an accurate view of God and an honest assessment of himself.  God is holy; God is humble and many more things that are foreign to the fallen nature of man, and He is therefore not able to be seen and believed by fallen man apart from a work of grace imparted to a renewed heart. True revival restores not only an accurate view of God, but also a proper relationship with Him according to His criteria of such. 

Now the prefix at the beginning of the word “revive” implies that there once was life within the one being revived, and that somehow it has diminished or disappeared altogether.  So, in using this term, we are obligated to refer to those who are now and have been Christian believers for some amount of time.  The unbeliever cannot be revived because he never has obtained spiritual life to begin with.  But believers may have fallen or slipped in some way from their spiritual first love of God back into a form of living that is less that worthy of the name disciple.  Such a person might not have the closeness to God nor the desire for intimacy with Him that he once possessed.  His life may contain patterns of thought and action that are not in keeping with the sound teaching and principles taught in the Bible, and he may be very dull of spiritual discernment, or even deceived about his own spiritual condition.  These are the ones in need of revival.  The church, the body of Christ as a whole cannot experience revival except in the measure of revival enjoyed by its many individual members.  Corporate revival or some form of outward reformation of organizational structures is quite meaningless unless genuine spiritual renewal has taken place in individual hearts.  Jesus condemned the Pharisees because of their efforts at manifesting a good outward appearance that betrayed an inward moral decay.  (Matt. 23:25). 

A third category of persons is those who profess to be Christian believers, but who by the testimony of their lives are not what they claim to be.  (Matt. 7:22,23; Titus 1:16)  This unenviable group stands in peril of judgment and wrath just as their non-believing cousins do, but are under a spell of delusion about their eternal security.  In a sense, revival is what they need, but more accurately it is a genuine conversion that they have great need of.  Sadly, the contemporary churches have lowered their standards in a number of doctrinal and practical ways so as to foster such false profession.  It is hoped that genuine revival amongst genuine believers, as well as a consistent witness of godliness by genuine Christians, who perhaps have no need of revival would bring conviction to those in such a state and help them see the need of repentance in their lives.   May the Lord help me to set forth some thoughts about revival here that will stimulate a desire for it in those who read in the coming days!

Wed, Oct 4th - 1:24AM

More About Hope

To whom God would make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory...(Col 1:27)

     The word "hope" is mentioned fifty-three times in the Authorized (King James) New Testament.  In nearly all of those cases, hope is used in reference to the Christian's hope of glorification in the resurrection at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  So there are nearly 53 reminders for us as we read through our New Testaments of the hope that we have in Christ.  Hope is the deciding and determining factor in our response to the evil in this world and the many obstacles set before us in our journey through life.  It is not a reason to ignore these things, but rather, a reason to press on despite them.  Isn't there a character in Christian literature somewhere called "Hopeful?"  This ought to be a nickname for every one of us who names Christ as Lord.

     Discouragement is the greatest adversary of hope.  David, in the Psalms seeing the crucifixion and burial of the Lord Jesus prophesies on His behalf: