Tag Archives: weakness

PRAYING GOD’S WAY – 5a

Prayer, ,

THE ADVOCATE WITHIN

‭John 14:26 NLT‬
[26] “But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.”

‭Romans 8:26-27 NLT‬
[26] “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. [27] 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.”

Before we examine some of the examples of praying God’s way in the New Testament, we must complete our pursuit of the role each member of the Trinity plays in our partnership in the administration of God’s kingdom.

Not only do we have an Advocate who represents us to the Father, Jesus, but we also have an Advocate within us, the Holy Spirit, who represents Jesus, our Advocate to us and who represents our faulty prayers to the Father. Can anything be more watertight than this!

Think of it, we come to the Father at His invitation because He has held out the golden sceptre to us. We approach Him through His appointed mediator, Jesus the Son, who offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sin according to the Father’s will, AND we have the Holy Spirit in us who understands our weakness and our groans and, who filters, refines, and presents our prayers to the Father in harmony with His will.

What could be more secure than that!

If the three persons of the Trinity are so intimately involved in our praying, then God must regard prayer as a most significant part of our lives here on earth.

He did not intend prayer to be the low purpose for which we often use prayer, a safety valve for our stresses or a means to get what we want or need. God intends prayer to be His way of including us in His reign on earth.

He created humans to manage the earth with Him, to rule over nature and its creatures.

‭Genesis 1:26 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.”

Despite human rebellion, He has never indicated in His Word that He has revoked this purpose. Not only were we created to manage the earth, but He has also included in His plan our participation with Jesus in the administration of His kingdom.

‭Daniel 7:13-14, 27 NLT‬
[13] “As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. [14] He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed….
[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.”

‭Revelation 20:6 NLT‬
[6] “Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. For them the second death holds no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him a thousand years.”

What this reign means for us in eternity, we have yet to discover. However, the Bible makes clear that reigning with Jesus in this life means subduing and putting to death our unruly old nature by His grace and through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us.

‭Romans 5:17 NIV‬
[17] “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!”

‭Romans 8:12-14 NLT‬
[12]” Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. [13] For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. [14] For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”

Since God requires us to share in His holiness, it seems clear, then, that our rule over unruly hearts is the first preparation for sharing with Jesus in His reign over His kingdom.

To be continued…

WHAT WAS PAUL’S THORN?

Christian Life, ,

WHAT WAS PAUL’S THORN?

Many interesting theories have been suggested in answer to the question, “What was Paul’s thorn?” Some suggest that it was a physical ailment, a sickness, or a serious eye condition, backed up by his use of a scribe to write his letters.

Does Paul himself answer this question? What lessons can Paul’s “thorn” offer us in our walk with the Lord?

Firstly, where in the Bible does the idea of a thorn originate?

55 But if you fail to drive out the people who live in the land, those who remain will be like splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will harass you in the land where you live. 56 And I will do to you what I had planned to do to them.”

Numbers 33:55-56 NLT

Befote Israel’s occupation of the Promised Land, God warned His people not to tolerate idol-worshippers among them. If they failed to rid the land of the Canaanites, the Canaanites’ idolatry would be both a constant irritation to them and a lure to participate in their ungodly behaviour.

In the New Covenant, what the Canaanites were to Israel, the flesh is to the believer. The Apostle Paul warned the Galatians that there is a relentless war going on between the flesh and the spirit, triggered by the people and circumstances in our lives that rub us up the wrong way, and our reactions to them.

The flesh demands that we retaliate while the Spirit calls us to resist the temptation to react by remaining in the love of God because He is the supreme authority in all our circumstances. Through these uncomfortable or trying circumstances, God calls us to reign over our flesh by receiving His grace to overcome.

The bottom line in this war between flesh and spirit is the issue of idolatry. When we allow our flesh to dictate our responses to the tests, we declare ourselves to be god. We think we know better than God; we make our own rules and are, at that moment, eating “the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”, declaring independence from God and no need of Him to help us in this war.

What is idolatry?

18 I am making this covenant with you so that no one among you—no man, woman, clan, or tribe—will turn away from the Lord our God to worship these gods of other nations, and so that no root among you bears bitter and poisonous fruit.

Deuteronomy 29:18 NLT

The writer to the Hebrews speaks of idolatry as a poisonous root of bitterness.

14 Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. 15 Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.

Hebrews 12:14,15 NLT

Idolatry is that attitude that I don’t need God. I am self-sufficient; I can navigate life’s problems on my own. However, by doing so, I inadvertently put my confidence in some other source. most often money or some person or thing I lean on for support. I am essentially my own god because I replace the true God with my own solutions and act on my own wisdom.

When I react in anger or bitterness to some affront to the god I am, I compound my accuser’s sin with my own which does not solve the issue. It only makes it worse.

During Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles, which was his calling, he was confronted by hostility from the Jews, the Gentiles, the Roman government and even the geographical environment in which he worked. He was tired and frustrated by all these hindrances, this “thorn in his side”, these ungodly people who interfered with his ministry. He begged the Lord three times to take it (the thorn) away.

What Paul did not realise that, though the “thorn” was from Satan, designed to stop him from doing God’s will, it was the very instrument the Lord was using to teach Paul how to overcome the danger of his flesh.

God was using the very hatred and opposition to the gospel Paul was experiencing to protect him from the danger of thinking that his “supernatural revelations” made him better than others. Pride would cut him off from fellowship with Jesus.

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

1 Peter 5:6 NLT

Paul’s greatest asset was not the revelations that gave him understanding of the message he was called to proclaim or the eloquence with which he preached and taught. He was not to revel in the visions of heaven and eternity he was privileged to experience. His greatest asset was the “thorn” of opposition and persecution, of hardships and deprivation that kept him in intimate touch with his Lord because of his need for humble dependence on Him.

Paul would never fully experience the power to overcome his fleshly responses without the tests that exposed his weakness. The very weakness of his flesh qualified him to receive all the grace he needed to maintain his close connection to Jesus and to draw his life from Him.

God knows exactly what form our “thorn” should take to keep us dependant on the power of His grace to overcome our weakness. Instead of viewing our thorn as a hindrance, we should recognise that God gift-wraps His grace in a package that appears distasteful to us.

The wrapping may appear unsightly, but the gift within is valuable beyond understanding. Only as we open the package and unwrap the grace, will we appreciate the love that gave us the gift. God’s passion is to bind us to Him in loving trust and unity. He will do whatever it takes to keep our hearts in submission to Him.

LESS IS MORE

Bible Study, ,

LESS IS MORE

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” Romans 8.26-27.

Prayer is a mystery, isn’t it?

Prayer is simple and yet complex. It is the interaction between the Father and His child but, at the same time, it is God’s way of ruling the earth through us. He gave the mandate to the first pair to manage the earth for Him. This mandate has never been withdrawn, even though man changed allegiance in the Garden of Eden. Ever since then, human beings have been exploiting and destroying the earth rather than caring for it through their self-proclaimed independence.

People who reject God in favour of some deity they have created or some god someone else has created and persuaded them to follow, still believe that they need to “pray”.  How else can they get the attention of their god? But does their god hear? Does their god respond? What are they asking? What is the purpose of their prayers?

As I said, God and His children communicate through an activity called “prayer”. It needs no rituals or accessories to get our God’s attention. He is as near to us as our breath. Contrary to the idea that He is in “heaven”, wherever that is, He is Immanuel – God with us. In actual fact, He is even nearer that that. He is in us! By His Spirit, who is also God, The Holy Spirit has taken up residence in our spirits and He represents the Father and the Son within us. He speaks to us and He speaks for us.

Have you ever been in a situation so terrible that you felt absolutely helpless? You didn’t even know what to pray. All you could do was to turn to God, cry out His name and groan or weep. Your only prayer was, “Oh God!” or “Jesus, help!” That was also prayer. The Holy Spirit was right there, in the situation with you, taking your wordless groaning and interpreting it to the Father as a request.

The Holy Spirit has many roles in our hearts. We have already talked about His role as the Spirit of sonship. Without Him we could never understand who we are nor could we utter the cry, “My Abba!” We would never have the assurance that we are God’s children and we would never be able to put to death the fleshly appetites that pull us away from God.

His role as Intercessor is without parallel in any man-made religion. He speaks from within us to the Father as the interpreter of our groans. It is not as though the Father does not know what our hearts are saying at a time of deep distress. That would make the Him less that God because there would be things He does not know. However, the Father and the Spirit are in such close communion that they interact on the most intimate level in their love for and participation in the lives of their people.

Not only does the Holy Spirit intercede for us but He does it in a way that communicates His feelings for us. He transfers our groans – the only way we can communicate the depth of our distress – to the Father with groans of His own. Our groans are the language of emotional pain which God knows and speaks and, in His compassionate love, answers.

“During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help went up to God. God heard their groaning and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So, God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.” Exodus 2:23-25.

God always responds to our groans. They are sweet music in His ears because they tell Him that we need Him. As a Father, He wants to be wanted. Like little children who want to be independent, we try to fix the things we break.  In our foolish and immature independence, we make things worse until all we can do is groan and cry out to God for help. 

The pathway to maturity for believers in Jesus, strangely enough, is not to become more independent but to become more helpless, like a new-born baby at its mother’s breast.

So, sometimes our groans speak more eloquently to the Father than many words. He does not need words to know and understand our hearts.

Acknowledgement

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

Less Is More

Christian Life, , ,

LESS IS MORE

“In the same say, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” Romans 8.26-27.

Prayer is a mystery, isn’t it?

Prayer is simple and yet complicated. It is the interaction between the Father and His child but, at the same time, it is God’s way of ruling the earth. He gave the mandate to the first pair to manage the earth for Him. That mandate has never been withdrawn, even though man changed allegiance in the Garden of Eden. Ever since then, human beings have been exploiting and destroying the earth rather than caring for it.

People who reject God in favour of some deity they have created or some god someone else has created and persuaded them to follow, still believe that they need to “pray”.  How else can they get the attention of their god? But does their god hear? Does their god respond? What are they asking? What is the purpose of their prayers?

As I said, God and His children communicate through an activity called “prayer”. It needs no rituals or accessories to get our God’s attention. He is as near to us as our breath. Contrary to the idea that He is in “heaven”, wherever that is, He is Immanuel – God with us. In actual fact, He is even nearer that that. He is in us! By His Spirit, who is also God, He has taken up residence in our spirits and He represents the Father and the Son within us. He speaks to us and He speaks for us.

Have you ever been in a situation so terrible that you felt absolutely helpless? You didn’t even know what to pray. All you could do was to turn to God, cry out His name and groan or weep. Your only prayer was, “Oh God!” or “Jesus, help!” That was also prayer. The Holy Spirit was right there, in the situation with you, taking your wordless groaning and interpreting it to the Father as a request.

The Holy Spirit has many roles in our hearts. We have already talked about His role as the Spirit of sonship. Without Him we could never understand who we are nor could we utter the cry, “My Abba!” We would never have the assurance that we are God’s children and we would never be able to put to death the fleshly appetites that pull us away from God.

His role as Intercessor is without parallel in any man-made religion. He acts from within us to the Father as the interpreter of our groans. It is not as though the Father does not know what our hearts are saying at a time of deep distress. That would make the Him less that God because there would be things He does not know. However, the Father and the Spirit are in such close communion that they interact on the most intimate level in their love for and participation in the lives of their people.

Not only does the Holy Spirit intercede for us but He does it in a way that communicates His feelings for us. He transfers our groans – the only way we can communicate the depth of our distress – to the Father with groans of His own. Our groans are the language of emotional pain which God knows and speaks and, in His compassionate love, answers.

“During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help went up to God. God heard their groaning and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.” Exodus 2:23-25.

God always responds to our groans. They are sweet music in His ears because they tell Him that we need Him. As a Father, He wants to be wanted. Like little children who want to be independent, we try to fix the things we break.  In our foolish and immature independence, we make things worse until all we can do is groan and cry out to God for help.

The pathway to maturity for believers in Jesus, strangely enough, is not to become more independent but to become more helpless, like a new-born baby at its mother’s breast.

Acknowledgement

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