Tag Archives: be alert

PRAYING ALWAYS – 20

Prayer, ,

Ephesians 6:18-20 NLT‬
[18] “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. [19] And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike. [20] I am in chains now, still preaching this message as God’s ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should.”

There are two principles we need to examine in Paul’s final words to the Ephesians church.

  1. Pray in the Spirit for all believers everywhere.

How can it be possible for us to honour this instruction? We live in a world population of billions. It’s impossible for us to keep track of what’s happening to God’s people everywhere, so how can we pray intelligently for them?

Let’s go back to our previous principle to guide our praying. “Pray the pattern, not the problem.” It does not matter that we know little or nothing about the church in general. God has given us the pattern for His church – maturity.

‭Ephesians 4:12-13, 15-16 NLT‬
[12] “Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. [13] This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
[15] Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. [16] He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”

We have two requests in this passage, for leaders to function in their gifts, and for the body to come to maturity in Christ.

If this is God’s pattern, then, it is also His promise and His intention… for the whole church, everywhere, and for every leaders and every believer, even if we don’t know them. How do we pray for them? We say “Amen!” to God’s promise and “Thank you,” for His answers! Since the Spirit and the Word are intimately connected, there is no better way to ‘pray in the Spirit’ than to pray God’s word.

‭2 Corinthians 1:20 NLT‬
[20] “For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.”

No long recital of problems or giving God advice! Simply, “Thank you for your promise. Do as you have said.”

  1. ‭Ephesians 6:18 NLT‬
    [18]… “Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.”

This second principle is the one we often neglect. Stay alert! Alert for what? For Satan’s tactics. Where do you think the devil or his minions are when we pray? Sitting around waiting for us to finish? I don’t think so? He cannot be in the throne room with God but he can wait outside, looking for an opportunity to trip us up.

‭1 Peter 5:8-9 NLT‬
[8] “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. [9] Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are.”

Why does a lion roar? The male lion roars to guard his territory and to warn off opponents. He does not roar on the hunt. We need, therefore, to be alert in those times and places where we are subjected to temptation. Somewhere, a lion roars. He’s not on the hunt, he’s proclaiming his territory. If you trespass there, you will be attacked.

The lion is an ambush preditor, hiding under cover, silently waiting for an opportunity to pounce on unwary prey. Satan’s best opportunity is the time when prey is preoccupied with other things, especially when they are either feeding on the world’s delicacies or wrestling with some trial or trouble.

Perhaps our greatest danger comes in those times when we are being harassed or tormented by some form of suffering. In Peter’s day, it was persecution from unbelieving Jews and pagan Gentiles. At these times, when God’s enemies are against us, we are tempted to turn back or to retaliate in some way.

Peter urges us to be alert at these times so that we and all our fellow believers do not compromise our faith in Jesus. We have opportunity to grow stronger. Let’s be alert enough to recognise the source of temptation and to hold on tightly to the one in whom we believe.

When we are made aware of the suffering our fellow believers are going through in other parts of the world, our tendency is to pray that the testing will stop. Paul asks his readers not to pray like that. If Christians are suffering, God is allowing it for a purpose.

“I am in chains now, still preaching this message as God’s ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should.”

How, then, are we to be alert and pray for our fellow believers in the face of danger? Paul says, “Be alert to the danger but don’t pray against it. Pray for courage, perseverance, and boldness to continue preaching the truth, no matter what.”

This is not about safety and security. This is about obedience to the task in the face of danger, trusting God for the outcome.

THE GOSPEL OF MARK- KEEP WATCH!

Bible Study, ,

KEEP WATCH!

32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’” Mark 13:32-37

What was Jesus’ main message to His disciples then and to us now? “Be alert, keep watch for deceivers.” He was never ready just to give out facts or to satisfy curiosity. He taught for a reason and this time it was to prepare them for hard times ahead.

Jesus often used the illustration of the landowner or householder going away for a season, but always coming back, either to claim his share of the harvest or the householder or businessman coming back to receive what his servants had managed for him while he was away. All of these illustrations draw our attention to the stewardship responsibility and accountability of those left in charge. We must live as those to whom has been entrusted someone else’s property and who are waiting for the master’s return so that his property can be handed back to him either with increase or in a better condition that when he left.

In this illustration Jesus emphasized the watchful, alert attitude of His servants. Those who have been faithful and obedient to the Master’s charge will be ready and will be eager to welcome Him home. Like the bridegroom who returns for his bride, they will be waiting for Him and He will recognise them as His own.

Jesus has no time for the attitude that lives carelessly with the idea that, when the Master comes, there will be time enough to mend their ways. The time of His coming is unknown and unexpected. That is why He has not given us specifics. He is just as interested in the way we conduct ourselves while we wait as whether we are ready for Him when He comes.

What are we to watch for? Two things are specified: watch out for deceivers and watch for the Master’s return. Deceivers will always try to make us feel comfortable in our procrastination or they will lure us away into self-centredness and greed. Jesus is our Rabbi and our model. To be ready for His coming is to be focussed on imitating Him.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – FORGIVENESS IS A LIFESTYLE

Bible Study, , ,

FORGIVENESS IS A LIFESTYLE

“‘Be alert. If you see your friend going wrong, correct him. If he responds, forgive him. Even if it’s personal against you and repeated seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I’m sorry. I won’t do it again,’ forgive him.'” Luke 17:3-4.

What Jesus is advocating here is not reluctant and sporadic forgiveness but a generous and open-hearted attitude to people who offend us as a reflection of the Father’s attitude towards us in spite of the way we behave towards Him.

Forgiveness is the foundation of our relationship with God, and His forgiveness stands securely on what Jesus did on the cross. He paid the debt of all the sin of all people for all time when He gave up His life as a sin offering for us.

When we sin against another person, we sin against God. David understood this. He had Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, killed in battle to justify his lust and adultery but, when his sin was exposed, he cried out to God, ‘Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.’ Psalm 51:4 (NIV).

Sin incurs an unpayable debt and only because of God’s mercy, made available to us through Jesus, can He cancel our sin and clear our record of guilt. There is nothing that can separate us from His love because the blood of Jesus has washed us clean of sin for all time.

However, God requires a reciprocal attitude from us. Since He has already forgiven the sin of those who sin against us, we have no right to hold them guilty. To do so is to act illegally because we cannot demand payment for what had already been paid for. If we refuse to forgive another, we automatically cancel God’s forgiveness of us. Now that’s a scary thought! That means that we will experience separation from God and have to bear our own guilt.

Not to forgive our fellow man for the paltry things he does against us is to misunderstand the greatness of the debt we incurred against God and the enormity of His mercy that provided a way of forgiveness at the cost of His own Son’s life. Because we tend to focus on what the other person has done to us rather than on what we did to God, we hold on to our offences instead of letting them go because we can.

But there is something deeper to this issue of forgiveness. God forgave us through the death of Jesus to restore the unity between Himself and us because the entire universe can only function properly as a unit. When the relationships between humans remain fractured through offenses and unforgiveness, the whole of life unravels, leaving in its wake chaos and destruction.

Forgiveness is God’s way of restoring unity with Himself and unity between people. When we forgive and reconcile, we contribute to the healing of our world. When we refuse to forgive, we fail to co-operate with God in His work of restoring everything to its original purpose of reflecting Him in the universe. We add to the destruction of our world.

Since God has already cleared the debt of the one who sins against us, all that is required of us is to look the guilty person in the eyes and declare, “You owe me nothing.” It’s not about making excuses for their failure. It’s about setting them free from their debt and restoring the unity that expresses who God is. And that is not only an act but a lifestyle.