Tag Archives: understanding

FOUNDATION STONES – 8

Christian Life, ,

TRUST IN THE LORD

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.”

Solomon was reported to be the wisest man who ever lived. Wisdom was God’s coronation gift to him at his request. The two books in the Bible attributed to him are packed with wise statements and wise counsel. We would do well to heed what he wrote and build on the foundation stones of wisdom he left for us.

However, there is one attribute of Solomon that overrides all his wisdom which we should never follow…his disregard for his own counsel. Ironic, isn’t it, that Solomon was guilty of transgressing the three prohibitions God gave to the kings of Israel. They were forbidden to amass wives, wealth, and horses. Solomon’s great kingdom was split in two because he failed to heed his own God-given wisdom.

How important, then, that we heed Solomn’s words but do not follow his example!

Another solid rock to build on is the counsel to put God in the centre of all our decisions and actions. Adam fell from fellowship with God and dragged the entire human race with him for transgressing this basic truth. He thought he was choosng independence but he inadvertently fell for Satan’s lie. He didn’t gain independence…he changed allegiance. To his loss, and the loss of humanity, he fell into the clutches of the worst of slave-drivers, God’s arch enemy, the devil.

We are privileged, as redeemed children of God if we have submitted ourselves to Jesus as Lord, to have God’s Spirit in us. Jesus promised that He, the Spirit, will guide and empower us to live under God’s direction, free from the clutches of Satan who wants to drag us down with him into eternal punishment.

However, God leaves that decision to us, whether we will trust Him and do His will or continue to drive ourselves into punishment and loss if we choose self-will over His will.

Our decisions will depend on what’s in our heart and what influences our understanding. We have already laid one foundation stone…to guard our hearts. Now we must also allow truth to guide our understanding.

We must choose the boundaries around our hearts that keep in the good values that guide our lives. We must also protect our minds from allowing into them the bad influences that will lure us away from the values and practices that keep us on track towards our destination.

Trusting the Lord with all our heart is essential to a life under Jesus’s authority. A divided heart will disqualify us from receiving God’s guidance and protection. He will not respond to a heart that flip-flops from trust to doubt, from faith to fear when the going gets tough.

James 1:5-8 NLT
[5] “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. [6] But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. [7] Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. [8] Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.”

So, we do well to follow John’s counsel…

1 John 2:15-17 NIV
[15]”Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. [16] For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. [17] The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”

…and to pray David’s prayer which as relevant to us as it was to him.

Psalms 86:11 NIV
[11]”Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”

As we examine the truths upon which we build our lives, our foundation stones, the counsel of God’s Word is beginning to form a solid platform for a godly life! Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom! To fear the Lord, we need an undivided heart. Reliance on God with an undivided heart will open us to God’s guidance and counsel. To reach our destination, we need a straight path. God will make our paths straight when we rely on Him, seek His counsel, and do what He tells us!

God’s Word comes together and makes sense!

PRAYING GOD’S WAY – 11

Prayer, ,

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

‭Philippians 1:9-11 NLT‬
[9] “I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. [10] For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. [11] May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.”

‘Knowledge and understanding’, are the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of our faith! Paul connects the ‘what’ and ‘why’ together as the foundation for our lives on earth as believers in Jesus. You see, despite the criticisms of unbelievers that our faith is based on myths, Jesus and His life and death are proven historical facts. His history is the knowledge we need about Him that is provided for us in the Gospel records.

Part of our knowledge of God, the three persons, is provided by experience. In Jesus high-priestly prayer, He describes eternal life as ‘knowing God’ and ‘knowing Him’.

‭John 17:3 NLT‬
[3] “And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.”

This knowledge implies that the experience we have of God in His interaction with us increases our love for and trust in Him as we find out more and more about Him and His ways. It’s the counterpart of the relationship between husband and wife. They get to know each other as they live together and interact with one another.

However, knowledge must lead to understanding. If we don’t understand why the Father sent the Son, and why the Son lived, died, and rose again, we will still remain in the dark about what we experience in our daily lives. Only when we are enlightened about the Holy Spirit’s work in us to help us overcome our sinful nature and become like Jesus will we learn to co-operate with Him. Our life experiences will begin to mean something, not just just random chance happenings but purposeful purifying and training for our eternal life with God.

God is always working in us to achieve His goal, a family of sons and daughters like His Son. He has planned for us to share with and under Jesus’ authority, in the administration of His rule over all the kingdoms on earth.

‭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.”

If our KNOWLEDGE of God, and especially of Jesus, is in the Gospels, then our UNDERSTANDING of the purpose of His coming is given to us in the letters written by the apostles under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Trouble is that much of the time, people interpret God’s Word from their own perspective instead of allowing the Word to interpret itself. I learned a valuable lesson at Bible College…

“The New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed.”

Now that’s a good way to approach our understanding of the Word!

So, knowledge and understanding are hand-in-glove. As we pray for ourselves and our fellow believers, let’s follow Paul’s pattern. Let’s pray as Paul prayed…

‭Ephesians 1:16-19 NLT‬
[16]…”I pray for you constantly, [17] asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. [18] I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. [19] I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him….”

PRAYING GOD’S WAY – 9

Prayer, ,

UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESS

‭Colossians 1:9-10 NLT‬
[9] “So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. [10] Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.”

Here is the first of the many prayers in Paul’s letters that give us glimpses into the way he prayed and the way God wants us to pray. In his prayers, he gives examples that help us understand how to pray.

We mostly learn to pray by listening to others pray. So, we continue in the mistakes others make instead of learning from the Bible itself.

As we have already noted, New Testament prayers are concerned with our ‘inner man’ more than with our outward circumstances because our lives now are a preparation for the life to come and a witness to the unbelieving world of God’s grace in us.

Let’s look for a moment at God’s goal for every believer. He is calling people into an intimate relationship with Himself to be a family and to administer His kingdom with Him. Therefore, to achieve His goal, He has a twofold training programme. He must teach us how to overcome our old sinful nature and He must mature us in obedience and submission so that we become like Jesus, His perfect Son.

If these are on His agenda for us in this life, then our prayers for ourselves and others must concentrate on accomplishing what He has designed us to be and to do.

Paul’s written prayer for the Colossians Church has these elements in it.

  1. He prays for knowledge and understanding. How important these are in our journey through this life! If we don’t know what God is doing and if we don’t understand why He is doing what He is doing in us, our lives will continue to be a chaotic muddle.

Our first step in this journey, then, is get where God is going with us so that we learn to cooperate, not fight against, our circumstances and His work in us through them.

  1. He prays for good fruit. Fruit means the visible evidence of the root and nature of the tree. When we are rooted in Jesus, we bear the fruit of our new lives in Christ in two ways; by the work of God’s Spirit in us, who changes the way we relate to God, to others, and to ourselves…

‭Galatians 5:22-23 NLT‬
[22] “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”

…And by the way we pass on this new life to others. We sow the seeds of God’s Word into other lives and they, in turn, take root, grow, and produce fruit.

  1. He anticipates growth and maturity in believers. When believers understand who they are and why they are here, and cooperate with God in His work of growing mature sons in His family, God accomplishes His purpose in us and He is glorified.

Our role in prayer, then, is to partner with God in His programme. Instead of praying ‘circumstancial’ prayers, always caught up in the moment and battling our issues, we begin to understand what God is doing and work with Him through faith and patience, praying ‘amens’ to His promises and trusting Him for the grace to persevere.

‭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.”

‭2 Peter 1:4 NLT‬
[4] “And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.”

When we understand this process, our prayers for our everyday circumstances will fit into God’s programme and enable our trust in Him to grow us as He graciously meets our needs on our journey.

19 – ENGAGING THE POWERS OF THE KINGDOM – THE POWER OF LIGHT

Christian Life, ,

19 – ENGAGING THE POWERS OF THE KINGDOM – THE POWER OF LIGHT

Light, and its counterpart, darkness, is one of the major themes of Scripture.

John declared:

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.” 1 John 1:5 NLT

God is the source of all light. This includes physical light as well as revelation, enlightenment, understanding and righteousness.

In the beginning, before God sorted out the darkness and chaos that existed on the earth…

“The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” Genesis 1:2 NLT

… He spoke “light” into the situation. This light was not physical. We know that because He spoke the sun, moon, and stars into existence on the fourth day.

“Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years. Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened. God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And evening passed and morning came, marking the fourth day.” Genesis 1:14-19 NLT

What was this “light” that separated “day” from “night”? Sometimes we have to decide whether the Bible is speaking literally or figuratively. If it makes no sense to interpret a statement literally, we must look for its meaning in another way.

If there was no sun or moon to reflect God’s light, since He is the source of all light, this light must have come directly from God. Does the Bible confirm this idea?

John begins his gospel record by taking us back to the beginning of time. He wrote a commentary on Genesis 1 that clarifies what Moses wrote.

‘In the beginning, the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” John 1:1-5 NLT

So, it seems that John is telling us that the Father and the Son were involved in creation together. Of course, everything came about by the power of the Holy Spirit. All three persons of the Godhead were active in creation.

However, it is the Son’s presence in creation that brings enlightenment to us since the Son’s role is to explain the Father to humans. Jesus came to earth as a human being to explain the Father and His purposes for us so that we would receive the truth by faith and be restored to our position as God’s children in His family.

“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. 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.” Hebrews 1:2-3 NLT

“So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.” John 1:14 NLT

John called Jesus “the Word”. God spoke the word and the Word brought what God said into being through the Spirit.

I think that what John was getting at here is that Jesus, the light of the world, brings enlightenment, understanding, and meaning to what God did in creation and in all His dealings with us as part of His creation.

“The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” John 1:9 NLT

Before John started telling us his version of the story of Jesus, he made it clear that everything we need to know about our relationship with the Godhead only gets its meaning through the life and teaching of Jesus. He is the only one who can make sense of life for us. Every other philosophy or religion is nonsense, brings confusion and leads us away from what God purposed for the human race… true life as children in the family of God.

When we believe that this is true…

“To all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.” John 1:12-13 NLT

… therefore, Jesus could say…

“I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” John 8:12 NLT

LIGHT AND DARKNESS IN THE SPIRITUAL CONTEXT

We have looked at “light” in the context of revelation and enlightenment. Now we add to our understanding by seeing light and darkness in the context of righteousness and sin.

When Adam chose to disobey God, he stepped out of light into darkness. He lost his status as innocent and became guilty. His mind became confused and he could no longer receive or live according to God’s light.

“For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.” Romans 1:20-22 NLT

Adam, and the human race that was born through him, became God-haters. Their thoughts and lives functioned in the realm of sin, “darkness,” Jesus called it and, because of this, judgment will come on all who hate the light.

“And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.  All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.” John 3:19-20 NLT

Therefore, according to Jesus, everyone who has not received “the Light” is under judgement.

Jesus is “the Light of the world” but how can we be sure that we are walking in this light and following Him?

There is a close and intimate connection between the written Word of God and Jesus, the Word who became human. Everything that Jesus embodies for us was written down so that we would have a permanent and infallible point of reference.

Psalm 119 uses a simple illustration.

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

“The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” Psalms 119:130 NIV

Paul told Timothy

“But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:14-17 NLT

So, once again, we come back to the importance of filling our minds and hearts with the written word of God.

Jesus assured His disciples that His departure would be of great benefit to them because He would send His Spirit to live in them.

“But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you…. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.  He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.  All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’” John 16:7, 13-15 NLT

It is the Holy Spirit’s role to imprint God’s Word on our hearts from which source He will bring to mind whatever we need to guide us on our journey to the Father with Jesus. He can only do this if the Word is in us and available to us when we need it.

We have been exploring two major interlinking themes in this series on engaging the powers of the kingdom. We are learning how to be true sons and daughters of God by overcoming the environment and influence of the world, the evil desires of our flesh and the lies of the devil that try to lure us away from our trust in God.

As children of light

“For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.” Ephesians 5:8-9 NLT

… we are called to walk in the light. According to John, the test is simple….fellowship with our fellow believers shows that we are in fellowship with the Godhead.

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:5-7 NLT

As we live our daily lives guided by the truth of God’s Word which the Holy Spirit helps us to remember, we will also be in harmony with our Christian family. The blood of Jesus will keep on keeping us clean from the effects of sin in our lives.

This leads us to our next topic… the power of unity.

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 LUKE – A TOTAL LIFE CHANGE

Bible Study, ,

A TOTAL LIFE CHANGE

“He went on to open their understanding of the Word of God, showing them how to read their Bibles this way. He said, ‘You can see now how it is written that the Messiah suffers, rises from the dead on the third day, and then a total life change through the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in His name to all nations – starting from here, from Jerusalem! You’re the first to see and hear it. You’re the witnesses…'” Luke 24:45-48.

Finally! It’s all out in the open, as clear as daylight to the disciples. Three years of listening, watching and puzzling culminate in the most profound Bible study they had ever experienced. Step by step, Jesus took them through the Scriptures as He had done with the two on the road home to Emmaus.

It was imperative that they understood the message because they were the first ones to proclaim it to the world. They would stand up against the might of Rome and the false and arrogant claims of the emperors that they were Son of God, Lord and Saviour. They were eyewitnesses of a story they were seeing and hearing and their testimony would impact their generation and echo down through history as the truth.

In a nutshell Jesus gave their commission. They were to tell the facts of His death, burial and resurrection, and the meaning of it for the whole world. It was the culmination of a plan God put into operation from the beginning of time, and spoke about the Messiah through the prophets before it happened so that there would be no mistaking who He was and what His coming was all about, and completed it in the things that had just happened.

It was a daring plan to reverse the consequences of the first man’s rebellion, to deal legally and justly with the barrier of sin that keeps God and man apart and to extend an open invitation to the whole world to return to the Father because He has no more issues with His estranged children.

But they still needed one more piece to complete the puzzle. God’s people had His presence and His Word. He had chosen them to be His people, in covenant with Him and in contact with Him through their system of worship and the prophets who spoke to them from God. In spite of these things, they were still far from Him and lacked the inner power to respond to everything He had done for them.

He had given them the message but they lacked the energy to make it effective. He was about to put the final piece in place, at the exact moment when the high priest’s prophetic action of pouring oil through bread made with yeast, would take place, the coming of the promised Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.