Tag Archives: Kingdom

PRAYING GOD’S WAY – 5b

Prayer, ,

A SECOND QUALIFICATION

‭1 Corinthians 4:2 NLT‬
[2] “Now, a person who is put in charge as a manager must be faithful.”

‭Luke 18:8 NIV‬
[8]… “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith (pistis – faithfulness) on the earth?”

The word ‘pistis’, here translated ‘faith’, can also mean ‘faithfulness’.

‭Matthew 25:23 NLT‬
[23] “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ “

Faithfulness to one’s calling and duty is a common theme in Scripture. God penalised King Saul heavily because he was unfaithful to His instructions on more than one occasion. Saul lost his position as king and that of his descendants because of his disobedience.

‭Acts of the Apostles 13:22 NLT‬
[22] “But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’”

Where Saul failed, David qualified and became the role model for all of his descendants in his dynasty.

Since faithfulness is included in Paul’s description of the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit…

‭Galatians 5:22 NLT‬
[22]”But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness… “

… obedience to the leading and work of God’s Spirit in our hearts is imperative. He will produce faithfulness to God, to His Word and to our participation with Him in preparation for our place with Him in His eternal kingdom that qualifies us for our reign with Him.

Jesus told a story about a manager who was about to be fired for his wasteful use of his master’s money. The manager thought up a scheme to curry favour with his master’s debtors when he was out of work. He reduced their debt to his master, (which was also a dishonest move!).

However, Jesus commended the manager, not for his dishonesty but for his clever use of money to gain favour with the debtors.

What does the manager’s behaviour teach us about faithfulness with worldly goods?

Jesus was not telling His disciples to manipulate people by the use of money. He was showing them how to use money to serve our purposes.

‭Luke 16:9 NLT‬
[9] “Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.”

Luke 16:10-11 NLT
[10] “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. [11] And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? [12] And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?”

We see, then, that God included the way we use our resources in His evaluation of us. The crux of the matter is…we will use our money to serve the one we love.

‭Luke 16:13 NLT‬
[13] “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”

The way we think of and use our money is a good test of what is in our hearts.

‭Matthew 6:21 NLT‬
[21] “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”

It seems, then, that the quality of our faithfulness will be judged by the way money serves us or we serve money.

How, then, does faithfulness for into God’s way of praying? Look at it this way, if God cannot trust us with the resources He has provided for us, why should He trust us with answers to the prayers that affect the administration of His kingdom?

Paul’s counsel to Timothy is a good guide for us to follow.

‭1 Timothy 6:17-19 NLT‬
[17]”Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. [18] Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. [19] By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.”

21 – ENGAGING THE POWERS OF THE KINGDOM – THE POWER OF PRAYER

Christian Life, ,

21 – ENGAGING THE POWERS OF THE KINGDOM – THE POWER OF PRAYER

Now this is a huge subject! So many streams of thought, but in this context, let’s look at prayer as it contributes to learning to live with God as our Father and in the love and harmony of God’s family in the environment of a hostile world. Remember, we are living in God’s kingdom in the middle of enemy territory.

First of all, what is prayer?

We have unfortunately made prayer a formal activity confined to specific times and places, when we pray aloud or in our minds, starting with “Dear Lord Jesus…” or “Dear Heavenly Father…” and ending with “…in Jesus’ name, amen.” You must end with “Amen” so God knows you’ve finished praying! It’s almost like signing off a radio communication, “Over and out.”

That’s not prayer. That’s our idea of prayer. It actually contradicts Paul’s instruction to “pray without ceasing” or, better, “never stop praying.” How can we pray all day and all night if we pray our “dear Heavenly Father” prayers?

  1. Prayer is a family activity

More than anything else, children need a father. He gives them the security of an identity, and protects and provides for them in their weakness and vulnerability.

A good father is always available for his children. He listens and understands, gives good counsel and does not judge or criticise. We talk to our dads about everything. We tell him stuff, we ask advice, we make requests, we share our ideas, we go to him for comfort, reassurance, help, even affirmation and praise.

God is our Father and He is always with us. He wants us to treat Him and trust Him as our perfect Father. He wants to be part of the most personal and intimate details of our lives. He’s always available.

  1. Our Father knows what we need

Much of our “praying” is taken up with needs. We have to inform, explain and advise God about our needs in case He forgets. After all, He does have a world full of people to take care of, who also have needs.

This kind of praying comes from a low view of God as our Father. We see God through our earthly father which is a bad perspective, not a Biblical one.

Our Father is more to us than the checkout at a grocery store. He is our Father, the one who has our best interests at heart and has the wisdom and power to care for us in every way.

  1. Prayer is our access to all the resources of the kingdom

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:19-22 NLT

Everything we need to live as God’s children in a hostile environment, a depressed economy, and a disease-riddled planet is at our disposal.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 NIV

Living in this world is a dangerous business

A father’s role is to protect his children from danger. Earthly fathers can’t always do this, but our Heavenly Father can. He has legions of angels at His beck and call.

“Therefore, angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.” Hebrews 1:14 NLT

He dispatches them in a flash to stand between us and danger.

“For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.” Psalms 91:11-12 NLT

He never permits anything that does not work for our good.

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” Romans 8:28 NLT

As much as we need protection from the natural and physical dangers around us, how much more do we need to guard our minds from the deception that can destroy us and our destiny in this life.

“Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 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.” 1 Peter 5:8-9 NLT

How can we be safe from Satan’s devices?

God has provided armour that protects our thoughts… God’s armour is found in God’s Word.

“Put on all of God’s armour so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.” Ephesians 6:11 NLT

There is protection in humility.

“And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:6-7 NLT

  1. Our Father understands our hearts

Sometimes it’s difficult to understand with our finite minds the meaning of what the Bible is saying. Take this Scripture, for example.

“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.” Romans 8:26-27 NLT

The Holy Spirit is God’s presence in us. We know that but what does it mean? There is such an intimacy between the Holy Spirit, the Father and us that the Holy Spirit who understands our frail humanity, takes the jumble in our minds and hearts and presents it to the Father with perfect clarity.

I don’t understand all the details of this interaction but it comforts me to know that my muddled mind and emotions never hinder God’s responses to me. This produces a peace inside me that is unaffected by the chaos around me.

  1. Prayer allows us to participate in God’s business

What is God’s business?

4.1. The kingdom is God’s business.

“… Your kingdom come, your will be done,  on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10 NIV

We make prayer so much about ourselves, our needs and wants that we forget that we are here to fit into God’s bigger story. We know that Jesus spent time finding out what the Father wanted Him to say and do.

“Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” John 5:19 NIV

When we pray for God’s kingdom to come, we are not dispassionate spectators but enthusiastic participants, involving ourselves in the Father’s business as partners with Him.

Jesus gave us this instruction,

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” Matthew 6:33 NLT

The greatest blow to Satan and his thirst for control is to do whatever we can, by word or deed, to represent the kingdom of God where we are. In partnership with the Holy Spirit, like Jesus, we should be on the alert for opportunities to put God’s kingdom on display.

4.2. God’s family is His business

The New Testament is dotted with “one another” instructions. Why is this? Caring for one another is one of the only two commandments in the New Covenant.

“And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us.” 1 John 3:23 NLT

I don’t think we can be more loving than by praying for one another. Paul’s letters are full of examples of the prayers he prayed for his fellow believers. His concern for them was  reflected in what he prayed for them. We can learn much from him about what to focus on when we pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” James 5:16 NLT

There are no examples in the New Testament of prayers for the salvation of unbelievers. I wonder why? Was Paul not concerned about their salvation? Of course he was, but Paul viewed them from God’s perspective. A study of Romans 10 reveals that it is believing the gospel, not prayer, that saves people.

So, prayer for the coming of God’s kingdom on earth and for our fellow believers is a powerful weapon in our arsenal of weaponry against our common enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil. We are in this together. We have one goal, to fulfill God’s purpose for us.

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” Ephesians 6:18 NIV

“In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” Hebrews 2:10-11 NIV

We are one family in Christ, living together in love and harmony, preparing for our eternal home with the Father by living under His authority in this evil world.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

All Scripture quotations in this series

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

 

 

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – A HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF

Bible Study, ,

A HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF

20 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”

23 So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. Mark 3:20-25

So set on discrediting Jesus in the eyes of the crowd were these religious leaders that they did not think about the implications of their accusations. Jesus was smart. He got it immediately, and shot their own foolishness back at them. Unity is a powerful force and Jesus knew that. God disrupted the unity of Babel right in the beginning of history because there was no telling what those who rebelled against Him could do if they did it together. By contrast, disunity is destructive. For Satan to have divided forces would spell doom to his kingdom.

However, there was something far more serious in this accusation. To attribute to Satan the work of the Holy Spirit was to cut themselves off from every benefit of Jesus’ incarnation and work on earth. What Jesus came to reveal and to do is useless without the inward work of the Holy Spirit. He brings light and understanding, and enables a person to believe and to embrace the life and work of Jesus.

God is one – ECHAD – but He is also three persons, each distinct in His function within that unity. The Holy Spirit administers and applies the work of Jesus to the human being. He comes to indwell and release all the benefits of Jesus’ sacrifice. To deny Him is to be cut off from every facet of Jesus’ work.

There is no conviction of sin, no understanding or experience of grace, no forgiveness, no hope of glory, no knowledge of God as Father, no fruit of the Spirit, no guarantee of the resurrection or eternal life, no being made alive, no understanding of the Word of God, no knowledge of the truth, no revelation of Jesus, no help in prayer, no comfort or consolation and on and on, without the Spirit.

What terrible consequences for the person who denies the Holy Spirit! The Spirit is responsible for every bit of connection we have with Jesus and the Father and everything we understand and experience of increasing wholeness in our lives. Wow! To deny Him and His work is to end up with nothing,,,zero… including God Himself!

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – STEEP YOURSELVES IN GOD

Bible Study, ,

STEEP YOURSELF IN GOD

”What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, not to be so pre-occupied with getting so that you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way He works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how He works. Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Don’t be afraid of missing out. You’re my dearest friends! The Father wants to give you the very kingdom itself.” Luke 12:29-32.

There is fervour in these words of Jesus. What He is talking about here is the very foundation of life. Until we get this right, our experience of God will always yo-yo between doubting and trusting. Our worries and cares come from our being so us-aware and so close to the circumstances that we cannot step back, as Jesus always did, and look at the big picture.

The first thing to settle in our hearts is the non-negotiable truth that God loves us. Since He has taken the trouble to come Himself to redeem us at the cost of His own life, our physical needs and wants are miniscule by comparison. He did this for one reason, to restore us to His family as His sons and daughters. Settle that one too! Everything God has promised and does for us fits into that context – family.

Jesus urged us to approach the Father as little children, not teenagers who always think they know better but as little children who are helpless without their father. This is the amazing thing about life in God’s family. He is not training us for independence as human parents do their children. God is training us for complete dependence; in fact, in His scheme of things, the more dependent we are on Him, the more mature we are in the faith!

Jesus insisted, “Without me you can do nothing.” John 15:6 (NIV). To God, maturity means going back to infancy! Why has He built such a contradictory principle into our relationship with Him? It takes us right back to His dream – to create beings who would be one with Him (echad) because oneness in the Godhead is who He is. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Deuteronomy 6:4 (NIV), Israel’s creed.

Although He gave us the gift of choice, He knows very well where it takes us when we use it to enforce our independence. The same capacity to choose becomes a powerful tool when we recognise our dependence on Him and align ourselves with Him as helpless infants. The benefits of this attitude are ‘out of this world’ – access to the limitless supply of God’s resources, a carefree life in the care of God, and the inexpressible joy of being responsible partners in His kingdom, bringing His rule of love and truth into the mess we humans have made because we insisted on being independent.

If we keep on viewing God as a blown-up version of our human fathers, we will forfeit the most unpredictably exciting life. Instead we will spend our lives chewing our fingernails, chasing ‘things’ as though this life were all that mattered, and missing the journey that takes us deeper and deeper into the heart of the Father. If we are to be the disciples of Jesus we claim to be, then we have to learn to think like He did. Jesus was joined to His Father at the hip. He was a mature Son who depended on His Father like a new-born infant. That’s the paradox of the Christian life. Growing up means becoming more and more like little children. In this way, Jesus said, the kingdom is ours.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – WHEN YOU PRAY, SAY…

Apologetics, ,

WHEN YOU PRAY, SAY…

Then He said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Father, hallowed be your name; your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.'” Luke 11:2-4.

I wonder how well the disciples understood what Jesus was teaching them about prayer. Did they grasp the underlying truth of God as their Father?

Unlike Matthew 6, there is no preamble to this version of the prayer. Although Jesus taught them that prayer is not about words, words are used to express the thoughts and emotions of the heart. What a world of meaning is wrapped up in the word ‘Father’! There is no prayer outside of this relationship which was made possible through Jesus.

“Yet to all who received Him, to all who believed in His name, He gave the right to be called children of God…” John 1:12.

Prayer is the way sons communicate with their heavenly Father. Prayer is the conscious turning of the attention away from self to the One who is our source and sustainer, changing the focus of our attention from self and our issues to God and His attributes. Whatever words it might take to do this, they are only the vehicle through which this change of awareness happens. Therefore, when a son focuses his attention on Father God, he is praying.

This Father with whom human beings are privileged to have a relationship because of Jesus, is not outside our realm of existence and experience. Heaven is not a place up there or out there but a dimension that completely saturates the physical realm as air saturates the earth. God is everywhere and He is therefore as near to us as our breath.

Prayer is therefore, firstly, a change from my environment to the environment of God, of His presence and nearness. Secondly, it is an awareness of who He is. To hallow His name is to concentrate on His glory, “the sum of His magnificent attributes and the eternal fame of His mysterious works”.  Where my attention was taken up by the issues of my life, I deliberately change my focus to the greatness of the God with whom I am engaging in love and trust as a son.

To engage with Him in this way is to put my personal concerns into the context of the bigger picture of His kingdom and will. It is also to put my failures into the context of His mercy. Since He has dealt with my load of guilt and the barrier of sin that separated me from Him, I dare not hang onto the offences that separate me from my fellow man.

Just as I am dependent upon Him for every crumb that passes my lips as a little child, I too, I depend on Him for the “bread” of heaven that nourishes my soul. And, knowing how tainted I am with the self-centred greed that has infiltrated my soul from birth, I look to Him to save me from my self-destructive ways that would ensnare and destroy me without the grace of His Spirit who is constantly at work in me.

This simple pattern prayer teaches me the essence of the attitude and disposition of a son to the Father, submitting to Him and being involved in the things that are on His heart. This is not about putting God first. This is about putting Him in the centre of my thinking and living.