Monthly Archives: July 2024

LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY

Prayer, ,

Luke 11:1-4 NIV‬
[1] One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” [2] He said to them, “When you pray, say: “ ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. [3] Give us each day our daily bread. [4] Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation. ’ ”

Have you ever asked the Lord to teach you to pray?

As little children, many of our prayer lives began with, “Dear Lord Jesus…” That’s a good beginning for a five-year-old but, as mature believers, we should have advanced beyond the ‘toddler’ stage in our Christian walk.

The disciples saw something in Jesus’ prayers that fascinated them. They recognised an intimacy with the Father that was missing in their own lives.

Why did they want to learn from Jesus what John was teaching his disciples about prayer? Was John doing more to train his followers than Jesus was doing for His? This cannot be so, there must be another reason for their request.

What did John teach his disciples about prayer? We don’t know. However, since John had disciples, followers who lived with him wherever he went, and learned to imitate him as their rabbi (teacher), he must have passed on to them what he had been taught from childhood. The ‘tanach’, their Old Testament Bible, was their textbook, and its written prayers, which there are many, was their pattern. They would have recited set prayers from the tanach on many different occasions and for many situations and reasons.

However, I think that intimacy with the Father may have been foreign to them and missing from their prayers. This was something unusual and compelling that Jesus exemplified in His prayer life.

Sometimes, Jesus went out alone before dawn to pray, sometimes all night, for example, before He chose His disciples.

‭Luke 6:12-13 NLT‬
[12] “One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. ‭
[13] At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles…

Sometimes, He prayed in His disciples’ hearing, for example, before His death.

‭Mark 14:35-36 NLT‬
[35″+ He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. [36] “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

Our Scripture, quoted at the beginning, reveals Jesus conversing with the Father in His disciples’ presence. Prayer was such a significant part of His life that He spoke to the Father anywhere and everywhere in any and every situation.

What He saw, heard, and learned from the Father, as a Son, He put into practice in His earthly life.

‭John 5:19-20 NLT‬
[19] “So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. [20] For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing…”

The Iove and unity between Father and Son was so strong that Jesus did everything He could to protect that bond by the intimacy He shared with the Father, and miracles happened.

Before He fed a crowd of hungry people, Jesus thanked the Father for the food…

‭John 6:11 NLT‬
[11] “Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted.”

and everyone had enough to eat!

When He stood outside Lazarus’ tomb, He thanked the Father for hearing Him…

‭John 11:40-44 NLT‬
[40]” Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” [41] So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. [42] You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” [43] Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” [44] And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”

and Lazarus came out of the tomb, alive!

What does this witness say to us?

Prayer is not about getting God on our side. Prayer is, at best, getting ourselves onto God’s side. When we look carefully at Jesus’ reponse to His disciples’ request, it’s all about where we fit into God’s plan. This requires humility, submission, and intimacy with the Father.

Jesus gave His disciples a pattern prayer, not so much to be recited but to guide them and to help them understand how to experience intimacy with the Father.

Why, then, did Jesus wait to be asked, on this occasion, to teach these men to pray? Did He want to arouse a desire in their hearts, to show them, first, through His own life, that prayer is the expression of union with the Father?

Jesus lived out the prescription of Solomon…

‭Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT‬
[5] “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. [6] Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

That’s true prayer in a nutshell, perfectly modelled by Jesus and given to us as the only way in which to live the life here and now that prepares us for the life to come.

GOD TICKS ALL HIS BOXES

Christian Life, ,

Ephesians 1:11 NLT‬
[11]”Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes EVERYTHING work out ACCORDING to his PLAN.”

God’s story is fascinating! Written over millenia by many different authors, only God could have pre-wriiten His book and then made a living ‘movie’ of the script which follows the book to the letter.

Since God is omniscient, He saw the whole of history played out before it happened. So, through visions, dreams, and prophetic insights, He could tell His chosen prophets what would happen, in detail, before it happened, to forewarn and prepare them for coming events. Through prophecy and its fulfillment, He could also provide evidence that He is God by being able, accurately, to foretell the future.

Not only does He know how, when, and where history would unfold, but He can also guide people and events to do His will as He has decreed.

So, this means that He has the wisdom and power to tick all His boxes as they happen. This also means that God is never taken by surprise or out of options when stuff happens.

Isaiah’s prophecies, especially from chapter 40 onwards, give us many assurances of God’s foreknowledge and divine plans.

‭Isaiah 41:25-26 NLT‬
[25] “But I have stirred up a leader who will approach from the north. From the east he will call on my name. I will give him victory over kings and princes. He will trample them as a potter treads on clay. [26] “Who told you from the beginning that this would happen? Who predicted this, making you admit that he was right? No one said a word!”

‭Isaiah 42:8-9 NLT‬
[8] “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols. [9] Everything I prophesied has come true, and now I will prophesy again. I will tell you the future before it happens.”

‭Isaiah 43:9, 11-12 NLT‬
[9] “Gather the nations together! Assemble the peoples of the world! Which of their idols has ever foretold such things? Which can predict what will happen tomorrow? Where are the witnesses of such predictions? Who can verify that they spoke the truth?…
[11] I, yes I, am the Lord, and there is no other Savior. [12] First I predicted your rescue, then I saved you and proclaimed it to the world. No foreign god has ever done this. You are witnesses that I am the only God,” says the Lord.”

So, we can go on through the book of Isaiah, chapter after chapter assuring the reader of God’s foreknowledge and control of history, matching history perfectly with the script.

What can we derive from these observations?

God’s Word is true.

We have the amazing witness of prophecy that reveals God’s wisdom and power to us. God ticks every box in His unfolding story, not one detail missing or out of place.

God’s word is trustworthy.

Scripture give us enough evidence of its trustworthiness from its records of the past that we can equally trust its predictions of the future and its promises for now and forever.

God has written the story of nations and individuals.

David wrote, with great confidence, about himself.

‭Psalms 139:16 NLT‬
[16] “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”

Just as every detail of history is planned and executed to the letter, so it is with every person on earth. Before their birth and after their death, all is planned and done.

‭Revelation 20:11-13 NLT‬
[11]”And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. [12] I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. [13] The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds.”

God’s word is practical.

‭John 8:31-32 NLT‬
[31]”Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. [32] And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The Bible is not a book of theories or theology. It’s a book of life, teaching and guiding us in God’s way.

He has set out His instructions for living through the lives and witness who wrote it down for those who followed them. Their experiences helped them to understand God’s ways so that they could urge others to follow them.

‭1 Corinthians 11:1 NLT‬
[1] “And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.”

‭Psalms 119:105 NLT‬
[105]” Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”

God’s word is powerful.

‭Jeremiah 23:29 NLT‬
[29] “Does not my word burn like fire?” says the Lord. “Is it not like a mighty hammer that smashes a rock to pieces?”

‭Hebrews 4:12 NLT‬
[12] “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.”

No other book has the power, not only to expose but also to change the heart and destiny of all who believe it.

‭1 Peter 1:23 NLT‬
[23]” For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.”

God’s word created and sustains everything.

‭Psalms 33:6 NLT‬
[6] “The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born.”

‭Hebrews 1:2-3 NLT‬
[2] “And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. [3] The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.”

So, dear brothers and sisters, ought we not to treasure, read and obey this Word? Through it, we are assured that God will tick our tiny boxes among all the boxes He is working on to complete His story.

THE GREAT DECEPTION

Bible Study, ,

Genesis 3:1, 4-5 NLT‬
[1] “The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
[2] “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. [3] “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”
[4] “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. [5] “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

What was this all about? In a subtle way, Satan, masquerading as “light”, introduced to the first human pair the greatest deception ever perpetrated on humankind.

The devil’s ambition was to replace God as the sovereign of the universe. He tried this ploy before the beginning of time but God very smartly put him in his place.

‭Isaiah 14:12-14 NLT‬
[12] “How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world. [13] For you said to yourself, ‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north. [14] I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.’ “

Who is this ‘shining star, son of the morning’?

According to Scripture, God created an order of spirit beings whom He called ‘gods’, sometimes ‘sons of God’ or ‘princes’, to whom He assigned the nations over which to govern in partnership with Him.

‭Deuteronomy 32:8 NLT‬
[8] “When the Most High assigned lands to the nations, when he divided up the human race, he established the boundaries of the peoples according to the number in his heavenly court.”

This is an amazing insight into God’s heavenly parliament. Each of His ‘cabinet minsters’ in His ‘heavenly court’ was given a nation to govern under His authority. Daniel’s prayer, in Daniel 10, refers to a being called ‘the Prince of Persi’ who fought against Michael, one of God’s chief angels. This ‘prince’ must have been Persia’s ruler.

A high-ranking member of God’s angelic divine counsel, eventually called ‘Satan’, meaning ‘adversary’, led a rebellion against God and was cast out of heaven, taking with him those angelic beings who sided with him.

‭Ezekiel 28:12-17 NLT‬
[12] “Son of man, sing this funeral song for the king of Tyre. Give him this message from the Sovereign Lord: “You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty. [13] You were in Eden, the garden of God. Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone— red carnelian, pale-green peridot, white moonstone, blue-green beryl, onyx, green jasper, blue lapis lazuli, turquoise, and emerald— all beautifully crafted for you and set in the finest gold. They were given to you on the day you were created. [14] I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian. You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire. [15] “You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you. [16] Your rich commerce led you to violence, and you sinned. So I banished you in disgrace from the mountain of God. I expelled you, O mighty guardian, from your place among the stones of fire. [17] Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty. Your wisdom was corrupted by your love of splendor. So I threw you to the ground and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings.”

Was this ‘king of Tyre’, possibly the angel assigned to rule over Tyre, the one who led the rebellion?

God has pronounced His judgment on the heavenly rebels, assigning them to eternal death, as He did the human race, because of their rebellion.

‭Psalms 82:1-2, 6-7 NLT‬
[1] God presides over heaven’s court; he pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings: [2] “How long will you hand down unjust decisions by favoring the wicked?…
[6] I say, ‘You are gods; you are all children of the Most High. [7] But you will die like mere mortals and fall like every other ruler.’ ”

God created a man and a woman in His image, to begin to populate the earth with the human race. He decreed that they would manage His planet with and for Him, and eventually take over the function of the rebellious heavenly beings in God’s divine counsel.

‭Daniel 7:27 NLT‬
[27] “Then the sovereignty, power, and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be given to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will last forever, and all rulers will serve and obey him.”

‭Genesis 1:26-28 NLT‬
[26] “Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” [27] So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. [28] Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

He gave mankind authority to manage the physical creation, excluding the nations which were under the rule of the gods, princes, sons of God…His heavenly council,

The plan was working well until….

this Satan, now functioning on the planet God prepared for His human family, disguised as a serpent, and determined to undermine God’s authority and position over creation, approached His human representative on earth, Adam, through his wife, Eve, with a subtly disguised deception….

“Perhaps God didn’t mean what He said”!

And a counter offer,

“You can be like God, make your own rules, and live without Him!”

True, they could, but Satan didn’t tell them the small print. God said they would die if they disobeyed Him. Satan said they wouldn’t die. Instead they, like God, would have experiential knowledge of good and evil.

Here is the subtle deception. God made man LIKE HIMSELF with His life in them. Humans were able to know and have fellowship with Him and live in harmony with Him and His creation through His Spirit in them.

Satan offered them a likeness, not to God but, without saying so, to himself, apart from God, without God and all that He is, cut off from God, and trying to be God. The devil offered man a life that was completely independent of God, so-called ‘free’ from God’s authority and, so they thought, of accountability to Him.

This offer sounded attractive, so they fell for it. Of course, Satan didn’t tell them that they were now at his mercy, under his influence, and subject to the same consequences of disobedience to God as he was.

Simply because he said so, Satan could not cancel the death sentence.

‭Romans 6:23 NLT‬
[23] “For the wages of sin is death…”

Satan has control over the world system which is dominated by selfishness and greed. Everyone without God, dead to God and without His Spirit in them, lives under his influence. He keeps people in the dark by continuing to lie to them with his great deception,

“You don’t need God. You can be God,”…

just as he chose to do when he rebelled. Since he lost his bid to unseat God, he was determined to ruin God’s plan for the human race by claiming authority he did not have and luring them away from union with God.

‭2 Corinthians 4:4 NLT‬
[4] “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.”

Independence, the great deception, still rules in the hearts of all people. Until, by God’s gracious intervention, His mercy extended to those who believe what He says, everyone is spiritually dead and under His eternal death sentence.

Only God can undo what Satan has done…ansd He did, through His own Son, Jesus.

Stated very simply…

‭John 3:16 NLT‬
[16] “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

MOLLY AND ME – LOVE

Christian Life, ,

I haven’t written a “Molly and me” episode for a while.

There is something very special about this human/dog relationship. We struggle to understand one another because we are of different species, but real love is the glue that binds us together.

Molly shows her love (in her doggy way) mostly by her body language. She does verbalise her delight, with little sqeaks and squeals when I return home from an outing or when we visit her doggy friends. Before the car stops, she explodes with excited barking because she knows where we are.

However, her body language is reserved for me and for those she loves the most. She adores my son and daughter (in law) and refuses to rest until her love is acknowledged and returned with profuse cuddles and kisses.

What prompts this response of very obvious gestures of affection, loyalty, and pleasure when we are together? I don’t understand dog psychology, but it’s real, it’s there, and it works!

John wrote, in his first letter, his profound insight into the way this works in our fellowship with God.

‭1 John 4:19 NIV‬
[19] “We love because he first loved us.”

When I think about it, I believe it’s true of dogs. We show our love by caring for them, providing for them, taking them for ‘walkies’, bathing and grooming them, giving them treats, looking after their health, spoiling them, and all the bits and pieces that go with pet care. They return our love by their companionship with their faithfulness and loyalty. Molly often lies in her bed and gazes at me through her soft brown eyes! I can feel the adoration in her look.

How good God is to us! I could tell you endless stories of His goodness, provision, intervention, miracles and…and…and. What He asks of us in return is to love Him by our obedience to His Word and loyalty to Him above all else.

‭John 14:21 NLT‬
[21] “Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”

When Peter fell so badly, Jesus didn’t reprimand him, or put him on probation. He asked him one simple question.

‭John 21:15 NIV‬
[15] “When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”…

Loving Jesus is the energy that drives our trust, submission, and obedience. In fact, so important is it that we love Jesus that Paul made a shocking statement.

‭1 Corinthians 16:22 NIV‬
[22] “If anyone does not love the Lord, let that person be cursed! Come, Lord!”

What did he mean? I don’t think that he was putting a curse on or calling a curse down on anyone. I think he was stating a fact. If a person does not Iove Jesus, he is already under a curse.

When we dwell on God’s love for us with all its implications and ramifications, we cannot do anything better than to love Him in return, aided by the Holy Spirit, who helps us to love Him fervently.

NOTHING… YET EVERYTHING

Christian Life, ,

The Bible sometimes seems to make contradictory statements but, if we read deeply into them, profound truth emerges that shapes our lives. Let’s look at two examples.

In John 15:5, Jesus stated that we can do nothing….

Yet, Paul insisted that he could do everything!

Was Paul being arrogant and self-sufficient? Not at all if we factor in one provision common to both declarations.

“Without me” (Jesus) and “through Christ” (Paul).

“Jesus Christ” makes the ‘nothing’ real and the ‘everything’ true. Without Jesus, our Iives have no meaning, purpose, direction, or power. God intended a life for us on this earth that combines His presence in us as His temples with an eternal purpose to be transformed through His power and grace, into replicas of Jesus. We have a destiny in eternity, begun in time, that is bigger than the human mind can imagine. However, it must be fleshed out in human experience first, here and now.

It takes the power of the Holy Spirit in us to combine our ‘nothing’ with His ‘everything’ until we are ready to take up our role with Him in His eternal kingdom. It is this important truth that must influence the way we live and how we deal with life’s challenges and adversities, like Jesus did.

‭1 John 2:5-6 NLT‬
[5] “But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. [6] Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.”

Our life’s journey is all about becoming like Jesus. It’s about ‘piggy-backing’ onto Jesus in such a way that we become one with Him.

‭Colossians 1:27 NLT‬
[27]”For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: CHRIST LIVES IN YOU. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.”

Only through the union of heaven and earth through faith in Jesus can our ‘nothing’ become ‘everything’ in a way that prepares us for eternity.

The second apparent contradiction is the ‘life versus death’ situation.
Martha and Mary’s beloved brother, Lazarus, had died and been decaying in the grave for four days. Yet Jesus assured Martha that her brother would live again.

How is it possible that a dead body, reduced to dust again, can come back to life? Death is so final. Funerals are so frustrating. The body is in the casket but so dead that no communication is possible. Burnt in the fire or buried in the ground, they are gone.

Yet, Jesus assured Martha that her brother would live again. By the awesome power of His word, Lazarus walked out of the tomb, reconstituted as a human being, the old Lazarus alive and breathing. No doubt, Lazarus died again. The body that came out of the tomb was not his permanent resurrection body. He was still subject to physical death but….

‭John 11:25-26 NLT‬
[25] “Jesus told her, (Martha), “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. [26] Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”

Die but never die? How is this possible?

Once again, everything is possible when it hangs on Jesus’ authority and power. He declared that those who died physically, woud live again forever through faith in Him, never again held prisoner in the grip of death.

‭John 6:40 NLT‬
[40] “For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”

‭John 5:25 NLT‬
[25] “And I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear my voice—the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live.”

Oncenly with Jesus in the mix, can we be assured of eternal life.

‭1 John 5:11-12 NLT‬
[11] “And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. [12] Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.”

With Jesus at the helm, death’s reign will come to an end….

‭1 Corinthians 15:24-26 NLT‬
[24]” After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power. [25] For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. [26] And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

And the fear of death which holds us captive, is broken.

‭Hebrews 2:14-15 NLT‬
[14]”Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. [15] Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.”

Can you see, then, how these apparent contradictions find their solution only in Jesus? Through Him, delivered from the fear of death by His death for us, and from the power of sin, we can live our lives now in union with Him. We are being changed into His image by faith in Him and the power of His Spirit in us. Our destiny in eternity is assured and secured only by living in union with Him now that joins earth’s weakness with heaven’s power to perfect God’s purpose.