imwalkingonwater2 - Homeschool Blogger

FEED your SPIRIT!

Tue, 5 May 2009 22:13:00 -0500

I was searching the web tonight, looking up the topic, Feed Your Spirit on google and found this site.

I'm not familiar with this ministry (Tim Greenwood Ministries), and never heard of them before this evening, so I'm not sure of their doctrines, etc. But I found this and it blesses me and I wanted to
share it here, in the hopes that it may bless someone else too:

You Are The Temple of the
Holy Spirit

1 Cor 3:16-17(NIV) Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

God, through His Word, says that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit!
If God says that you are something then:

1. You ARE what He says you are. and...
2. You should want to KNOW what you are!

Before we start this study take a few moments and look the following diagrams.
The first is a diagram of the tabernacle (temple) that the lord gave Moses detailed instructions how to build. The reason the plans were so detailed, was that Moses was to build an earthly representation of the real temple in heaven. The second diagram is of the tabernacle (or structure) of man (the Temple of the Holy Spirit). Notice the remarkable analogy between the two.

Diagram 1:

Diagram 2:

The reason I feel that this is so important is simple. The Christian life is predicated upon “change” and it is very difficult to change something when you have no idea how it works.
There are many more intricate little details that I don’t have the space here to go into. So it is the goal of this article simply to help you more clearly understand how God has designed you to operate and grow while here on the earth.

First you need to grasp the concept that scripturally you are a ‘spirit;’ that you have a ‘soul’ (which contains your mind, will and emotions) and you live (dwell, abide) in a ‘body.’ Also, according to scripture, you have a heart (not your blood pump, but your heart of hearts that contains both your spirit and your soul). And you also have your words and your works. You will note in diagram 2 (above) that the nine (9) parts of man are listed.

HEART
According to Luke 4:18 Jesus stated: “The spirit of the lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me (and sent me) to … heal the brokenhearted.”

Your heart of hearts, before you were born again, was completely broken. Scripturally your heart has two (2) chambers: your spirit and your soul. (Locate your heart in diagram 2.)

Here are some attributes of the heart.
The heart:

Can be clean, honest and good.
Is where your treasure is. (Is a treasury.)
Can contain an abundance of good and/or bad. Including good thoughts, faith, belief, the Word of God, love and hope or evil thoughts, doubt, sorrow, murders, adulteries, fornications, wickedness, deceit, pride, foolishness, lawlessness, thefts, lies and blasphemies.
Things from there can defile a man.
Can become calloused, hardened, slow and dull.
Can receive the seed of sown words there good and/or bad.
Can rejoice.
Can be repentant.
Can be distant from Jesus.
Can be gentile and humble.
Can think and consider.
Our words can come from there.
Can be filled (furnished) by Satan (to lie to the Holy Ghost).
Can be broken or whole (healed).
You can love the Lord with it.
You can say things from there.
You can keep sayings (rhema) there.

We must guard our hearts as to what we allow to enter our heart.

THE VEIL
Your heart may have a veil.

Lam 3:65 Put a veil over their hearts, and may the curse be on them!

2 Cor 3:14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It (the veil) has not been removed, because only in Christ is it (the veil) taken away.
2 Cor 3:15 Even to this day when (the books of ) Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.

In the tabernacle, we see the veil as a heavy curtain separating the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.
This was known as the "third veil" or "the Life." The Hebrew word for this veil was 'Poreketh' and translated to "the separation". This veil was part of the curse, from which we were redeemed by Jesus.

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

If you remember Jesus said, "I am "the Way" (the 1st veil), "the Truth" (the 2nd veil) and "the Life" (the 3rd veil). In retrospect we understand that "the Life" is the Way of Life - eternal life with Jesus.

I believe this 3rd veil - to be the SAME Life that we are to CHOOSE over death. Or put another way, This veil can mean life, or the Lack of life.

Deu 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

Jer 21:8 And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.

The Bible teaches that there is a surgically sharp sword which we know to be the Word of God, (the Rhema Word of God).

Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick (living), and powerful (effective), and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing (penetrating) even to 'the dividing asunder' ("the separation") of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The Greek word for the 'two-edged' sword is 'distomos' and at first may seem very odd - because it translates to "two-mouthed" sword. The Rhema Word of God is the 'spoken' (or mouthed) Word of God. And the sword is two-mouthed because first God spoke (or revealed) His Word, and then we speak His Word, which activates it. So the emphases here should be that it refers to the spoken, revealed Word of God.
The Greek word for 'piercing' is 'Dukneomai' which translates to "penetrating".
The Greek word for 'the dividing asunder' is 'Merismos' and translates to "the Separation". The same as the Hebrew word for veil. So Heb. 4:12 could be translated like this:

The Word of God is alive, effective, comprehensive and decisive - taking the place of (or exceeding) any double-edged blade (or sword) penetrating the separation (the veil) between the soul and spirit. ...

So the Rhema, the spoken, revealed Word of God can perform spiritual heart surgery; Dividing, splitting, cutting away, opening or removing that veil when we turn our heart to the Lord Jesus Christ!

- revealing your spirit to your soul (your mind, will and emotions).
- revealing that your spirit is real.
- revealing your spirit's connection to the Holy spirit who abides there.

1 Cor 2:9-10 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.

The Greek word for 'revealed' here is 'Apokalupto' and means "to unveil." So vs. 10 could be translated like this:

God has revealed to our mind, will and emotions by His spirit, by cutting down the veil that previously obscured our view and blocked God's plan from our sight.

The Old Covenant veil was a veil of separation FROM God and his plan.
The New Covenant veil is a door, an opening, a passageway TO direct contact, revelation and communications from and with God, through His Holy Spirit.

When we read 2 Cor 3:1-17 and 2 Cor 4:3-4 together we begin to see the prophetic type and shadow of this veil.
When Moses came down from the mountain where he in the presence of God received the tablets of the old covenant, his face shined too bright to look directly into. Glorious! So he placed a veil over his face to cover and hide the glory from the children of Israel. It says that Moses was actually hiding the REAL purpose of the written law which has now been voided.

It says that the children of Israel's collective minds were made or rendered "stupid, petrified and hardened" or "made hard-headed". (Don't get mad at me, I just translated it straight from the Greek.) And that even to this day that same veil (hiding cover) covers their collective hearts never having been cut down or unveiled - while reading Moses (the first five books of the Bible) that includes the old (worn out) covenant - which is made void through Christ. But that WHEN their collective hearts turns (converts) to our Lord, that veil (hiding cover) will be cast off (removed & unveiled).

But was it God that made or rendered the people "stupid, petrified and hardened" or "hard-headed"? No! 2 Cor 4:3-4 says, "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost and dying in this world whom the god of this world (Satan) hath blinded the minds of them which are unbelievers, lest the shining light of the gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine-forth unto them."

SPIRIT
When you received Jesus as your lord and savior you were ‘born-again’ and at that instant your spirit was renewed (or made brand new). And if you invited him to do so, the Holy Spirit moved in to live, dwell and abide in your spirit. So that half of your heart is healed and made whole. (Locate your spirit in diagram 2.)

SOUL
Now the soul is a different matter. Remember your soul contains your mind, will and emotions. And it does not automatically become renewed. The renewal of the soul begins with the renewal of the mind, which is your responsibility.

Rom. 12:2 and be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The “will of God” here is just talking about what God has already said in the Bible. That’s what it takes to renew the mind – to the end that you get rid of the way that you used to think and begin to think the same way that Jesus thinks. Once your mind starts becoming renewed, your will and emotions will follow. (Locate your soul in diagram 2.)

HEART AND WORDS
You can tell when your heart is being healed from being broken – when you open your mouth and your words are now God’s words. Diagram 2 doesn’t show it, but your words originate in the soul, go out the door through the body and out the gate (or your mouth). Mat 12:34 says, “… out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” If what is in you heart is good, then your words will be good. Conversely if what is in your heart is bad then eventually bad, (negative, non-productive, idle) words will come out of your mouth.

In mat. 12:36-37 Jesus says, “… Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment. For by your words thou shall be justified, and by your words thou shall be condemned.”

BODY, SPIRIT AND WORKS
James 2:26 says, “for as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”

Here we see several things. When your spirit leaves your body, your body dies. 2 Cor. 5:8 says that to be absent (you the spirit) from the body is to be present with the lord.

In the same way (it says) faith without works is dead (faith). Or to say it another way, you can know and believe in your mind what the word of God says, but if you don’t believe it in your heart and act upon it (works), your faith is worthless, totally ineffective (as good as dead).
Works are also “good works” that is to say doing what Jesus said to do and doing the same things (works) that Jesus did during his earthly ministry – teaching, preaching and healing.

THE HOLY SPIRIT
Let’s look at how the Holy Spirit interacts with your spirit.

God not only created you as a spirit with a soul and body, but he designed you so that you (the spirit) would take ascendancy, dominion and authority over your soul (mind, will, emotions), body, heart, words and works. We refer to this as being in proper alignment. Unfortunately, all to many Christians are totally ignorant of that fact. And some of those that do know fail to act upon it due to fears, and oppressions (mostly demonic or religious in nature).

The Bible word “submit” really just means, “come under the protection of.” When we are in proper alignment, all the other parts of man submit (come under the protection of) the spirit. This makes you (the spirit) the head of the body. You (the spirit) were designed to submit to the lord Jesus Christ – the soul, body, etc… will not on their own, submit to anyone or any thing – especially God. Rom 8:7 says, … “The carnal mind is enmity (hostile) against God.” Being in proper alignment is called ‘walking in the spirit’ while being out of alignment is called ‘walking in the flesh.’

When you (the spirit) are in control, the Holy Spirit can ‘direct connect’ with you (your spirit). This makes it easier to hear God speak to you, easier for the Holy Spirit to teach you, lead you, and operate through you in the form of the anointing. Being out of alignment stops or hinders the flow of the anointing and disconnects from the Holy Spirit and the voice of God. It takes you out from under the protection of the blood of Jesus because the soul will not only exalt itself over the spirit but even the blood of Jesus.

In order for the spirit to become strong it needs to be fed. Scripture teaches that there are two ways to edify (build up) the spirit – by reading (hearing) the word of God and by praying in tongues (in the spirit). Why? That’s just the way God designed it.

An emaciated spirit can take authority and dominion but it takes a strong spirit to keep (or retain) it. Faith or believing and acting on the word of God is the outward manifestation of a strong spirit and a heart full of the word of God.

You feed your body three times a day – how often do you feed your spirit? As we Christians get closer and closer to the return of Jesus Christ, we must get on a spirit-building program in order to develop and strengthen our spirit. Remember, the devil has to get you into the flesh to touch you – you have to get into the spirit to touch the world!

The Definition of a Hater ~AND~ My Name is Pride. I AM A Cheater

Sun, 7 Dec 2008 20:10:00 -0600

These are two poems that I've taught our children (as I am learning/learned myself :o) and they are SUCH a blessing to me AND our children. I wanted to share them with you--perhaps you may want to teach these tremendous poems/writings with your children too?

THE DEFINITION OF A HATER

A hater is someone who is jealous and envious and spends all their time trying to make you look small so they can look tall.

They are very negative people to say the least. Nothing is ever good enough!

When you make your mark, you will always attract some haters…That’s why you have to be careful with whom you share your blessings and your dreams, because some folk can’t handle seeing you blessed…

It’s dangerous to be like somebody else…

If God wanted you to be like somebody else, He would have given
you what He gave them! Right? You never know what people have gone
through to get what they have.

The problem I have with haters is that they see my glory, but
they don’t know my story… If the grass looks greener on the other side
of the fence, you can rest assured that the water bill is higher there
too!

We’ve all got some haters among us! People envy you because you can:

Have a relationship with God
Light up a room when you walk in
Start your own business
Tell a man / woman to hit the curb (if he / she isn’t about the right thing)
Raise your children without both parents being in the home

Haters can’t stand to see you happy, Haters will never want to
see you succeed, Haters never want you to get the victory, most of our
haters are people who are supposed to be on our side.

How do you handle your undercover haters?

You can handle these haters by:

1. Knowing who you are & who your true friends are (VERY IMPORTANT!!)

2. Having a purpose to your life? Purpose does not mean having a job.

You can have a job and still be unfulfilled. A purpose is having
a clear sense of what God has called you to be. Your purpose is not
defined by what others think about you.

3. By remembering what you have is by divine prerogative and not
human manipulation. Fulfill your dreams!

You only have one life to live…when it’s your time to leave this earth,
you ‘want’ to be able to say, ‘I’ve lived my life and fulfilled
‘my’ dreams,… Now I’m ready to go HOME! When God gives you favor, you can
tell your haters, Don’t look at me…Look at Who is in charge of me…’

I advise anyone who read this to use these words of wisdom to heal your heart / give you courage to go on. Do not use it to strike at your haters, or with that purpose in mind, instead share this poem with a person who can appreciate and cherish this poem.

***************************

MY NAME IS PRIDE
by Beth Moore

My name is Pride. I am a cheater.

I cheat you of your God-given destiny...because
you demand your own way.

I cheat you of contentment...because you
"deserve better than this."

I cheat you of knowledge...because you already
know it all.

I cheat you of healing...because you're
too full of me to forgive.

I cheat you of holiness...because you refuse to
admit when you're wrong.

I cheat you of vision...because you'd rather look
in the mirror than out a window.

I cheat you of a genuine friendship...because
nobody's going to know the real you.

I cheat you of love...because real romance
demands sacrifice.

I cheat you of greatness in heaven...because you
refuse to wash another's feet on earth.

I cheat you of God's glory...because I convince
you to seek your own.

My name is Pride. I am a cheater.

You like me because you think I'm always looking out for you.
Untrue. I'm looking to make a fool of you.

God has so much for you, I admit, but don't worry...
If you stick with me

You'll never know.

Lord, please help me to remember the ugliness of pride as I go about my day. Thank You for showing me the dreadful effects of this sin. How I want to live a righteous life, in the name of Jesus! Take out my prideful heart and give me instead a genuinely humble heart that is pleasing to You. I love You, gracious Lord. Amen.

Adapted from Praying God's Word, by Beth Moore, pages 57-60.

Training The Flesh--Mission IMPOSSIBLE

Sun, 7 Dec 2008 18:43:00 -0600

Hi~

I found this website on the web and boy-oh-boy, this article really BLESSED me. There is a LOT of other tremendous articles/encouragement/helps from his website as well. As with other ministers, authors...I do believe in/Agree with everything he does (Examples: generational curses, etc.) , however, I am still BLESSED by lots of things he says here. Also, just because I don't believe in things...doesn't mean they are wrong and I am right--necessarily!

Training The Flesh

The Impossible Mission
Basil Frasure Ph.D.,

Many people come to me for counsel wanting to train their flesh, trying to break various habits. They want to train their bodies not to overeat. They want to train their minds to think the right thoughts, their wills to make strong positive decisions, and their emotions to feel good at the right time. Almost everywhere we go, those in authority teach us some method of training the flesh. We are taught to train the flesh at home, school, work, and sometimes even at church. Some years ago when I surrendered to pastoral ministry, various ministers instructed me to build up my body and train my soul that I might become the minister that God wanted me to be. I tried it, but it did not work.

The problem is that we can not train the flesh to live the Christian life. Why? The Flesh can not please God. "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Romans 8:5-8). God did not create us to live the spiritual life with physical strength or soul power. When we try to do so, the result is death, opposed to life and peace. The carnal mind stands against God. It is not under the authority of the law of God. It can never be trained to perform.

The flesh not only stands against the Spirit, it enters into conflict with the Spirit. The Flesh wars against the Spirit. "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul" (I Peter 2:11). The flesh is in contention with and even is an enemy of the Spirit. Furthermore, it brings hurt to the soul. The world says, "Have a few drinks. It will do you good." However, in reality, it destroys our ability to think clearly. The world says, "Get even. Someone needs to put him in his place." The problem is that bitterness is like cancer destroying our emotions.

God did not mean for us to complete in spiritual battles in the flesh. Our flesh can not fight the spiritual war. "(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (II Corinthians 10:4-5). Do you remember what happened to the sons of Sceva (Acts 19:15)? The went into a house to cast out a demon from a man. The demon said, "Jesus, I know and Paul, I know, but who are you?" The men ran out of the house naked! It does no good to try to counsel with a demon. I know. I have tried it. It doesn't work! Allow me to list twelve spiritual weapons that I have found. They are: (1) The Word of God (Ephesians 6:17), (2) mediation (Isaiah 26:3), (3) revelation knowledge (Daniel 11:32), (4) the prayer of faith (Ephesians 6:16), (5) praise (Psalm 149:6-9), (6) the name of Jesus (Mark 16:17-18), (7) the blood of Jesus (Revelation 12:11), (8) a submitted life to God (James 4:7), (9) obedience to God (Deuteronomy 28:1, 7), (10) a pure conscience (I Timothy 1:18), (11) unity of Believers (I Timothy 1:18), and (12) the fulness of the Spirit (Zechariah 4:6). These are all spiritual in nature.

Consequences and Responses

There are always consequences for trying to live the spiritual life in the flesh. There will be both outward (social) and inward (within the soul) struggles that will often lead to fatigue and ultimate spiritual failure, followed by moral failures and addictions. Some people become spiritual dropouts, while others become floaters, moving from one church to another. Still other people get into a fringe spiritual group that emphasizes fanatical thinking with some opening the door for demonic control. Some people become anger, bitter, depressed, and even suicidal. These will often exhibit antisocial behavior. Other people move into deep self-deception. Some pick up drug, sex, or work addictions to cover their feelings of failure and rejection. Some people even withdraw from society because of the fear of failure. Many will wrestle with anxiety.

Overcoming The Flesh

Since we can not train the flesh, what are to do? First,we are to make no provision for the flesh."But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof" (Romans 13:14). When we stop to think about it, we plan for most sin. We plan to buy the extra food that we should not eat. We plan to watch the movie that causes us to think lustful thoughts. We plan to say things to hurt others. We plan ways to hurt others who have hurt us. You may ask a friend to come to church. His response may be, "Well, I will have to see about it." What is he saying? He is trying, most likely, to plan a way that he does not have to be in church. "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Proverbs 14 12). We set ourselves on one road or another. Then we start walking down that road. We may go farther down the road than we thought that we would, but we set ourselves on whichever road we are walking. Remember the words of Paul to Timothy, the young minister, "For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." (I Timothy 4:8).

Second, we are to bring the flesh under subjection. This means that we are to make the flesh a slave to God. Paul wrote to the carnal church of Corinth, "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway" (I Corinthians 9:27). We should see that we are either serving God or we are serving the flesh (self). Jesus therefore said, "No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Luke 16:13). We can't walk down two roads at the same time. Furthermore, we, as Believers, don't have to be a slave to sin. "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" (Romans 6:12-16). The question is, "To whom have I made myself a slave?" We are either a slave to self, the devil, or to God.

It is as if there is an executive board meeting. At that meeting is the flesh that says, "I desire such and such." The mind (intellect) says, "I think such and such." The will says, "I will do it, I can do it, I will not do it, or I just can't do it." The emotions say, "I feel such and such." The Spirit is also there. The Spirit says, "You should do such and such." Now the will is the chairman of the board and can take charge itself (I will) or it can yield to any other party that is there (the flesh, mind, emotions or the Spirit). The will should do this! It should yield to the Spirit. We should say, "Not my will, but Thy will be done." "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). We should make our will the servant of the will of God and do His work by His power.

Third, we are to take off the old man and put on the new. Paul wrote to the Ephesian church,
"That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" (Ephesians 4:22-24). Have you ever tried to put two coats, the same size, on at the same time? It doesn't work very well. Jesus illustrated the point when he said, "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell" (Matthew 5:28-30). We must take off the coat of the old man before we put on the coat of the new man in Christ. "A" must come before "B".

Fourth, we are to deny the flesh. Listen to the words of Jesus. "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:24-26). We all know people that have lost control of their mind, will, and emotions. However, if we hold on to self, we lose self. The reason secular psychologists have such a booming business is that they try to help people find themselves. "And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:34-37). We are not to go about trying to find ourselves! First, we are to put self on the shelf. We are to lay it aside. We are to put self behind us. Then, second, we are to take up our cross. This is a picture of dying to self. Then, third, we are free to follow Jesus and should follow him. Steps one and two must come before step three. Otherwise, there will be World War III between self and following after Jesus.

Fifth, we are to mortify the members of the flesh. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry" (Colossians 3:1-5). We are to focus our attention on what God would have us do, and we are to put to death those things that lead to death. We are not to allow fornication (sex outside of marriage) live in us. We are not to allow burning lust to live within us. We are not to allow our minds to be turned over to evil thoughts. We are not to allow covetousness to remain alive within us. Paul again says, "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live" (Romans 8:13). One way that we put to death the members of the flesh is to focus our attention on what God would have us to do.

Sixth, we are to reckon the flesh crucified. Paul wrote to the performance oriented, Corinthian church, "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (Galatians 5:24-25). We are to consider it a past experience. When we, as Believers, committed our lives to Jesus, we were spiritually united with Jesus. Therefore, when Jesus died, we died. When Jesus was raised from the dead, we were also raised from the dead. Paul explains, "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:6-11). We should know that we have been crucified! We should understand this, acknowledge this, believe this, and confess this truth. We can see a two sided coin. On one side is our death with Christ, but on the other side is a resurrection to a righteous new life in Him.

Seventh, we are to live an exchanged life. We are not to prop up the old man and try to fix the flesh, but we are to exchange our old life for the new life in Christ. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). The new life is to replace the old life. Paul further said, "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16). Again, we can't be doing two things at the same time. You have see the picture of a little angel sitting on one shoulder and a little demon sitting on the other. When one obeys the one (either the angel or the devil), he will be disobey the other. We are to obey the Spirit so that we will not obey the flesh.

Finally, we need to understand that we must give up everything to follow Jesus. This is the condition for discipleship. Look at the words of Jesus, "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26-27). We should understand that one can be a born again Believer without being a disciple. The word "disciple" means a "disciplined one". Jesus makes his point clear when he said, "So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:33). Being a disciple is more than just being a Christian. There may be many Christians, but few disciples. There may be many carnal Believers, but few Believers walk in the Spirit. To be a disciple, we must lay down everything that pertains to our lives. Furthermore, we must be willing to do this every day. Are you willing to do that right now?

Prayer Of Commitment

Please pray the following prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, I realize that I have been trying to live the Christian life in the flesh by my will and my power. I have tried to train my flesh, but have failed. I now realize that I can't train the flesh; therefore: I purpose...

to make no provision for the flesh,
to bring the flesh under subjection,
to take off the old man and put on the new,
to deny the flesh,
to mortify the members of the flesh,
to reckon the flesh crucified,
and to live an exchanged life.

Today, I choose by the grace of God to forsake my life and to follow Jesus. Amen.

Basil Frasure, Ph.D.

Basil Frasure is an Ordained Minister and Counselor. He currently serves as a Pastoral Counselor with Whole Person Counseling of San Angelo, Texas. Whole Person Counseling is under the covering of Freedom Fellowship Church. He has a Master of Divinity Degree and a Ph.D. Degree in Christian Counseling. He is a faithful minister, an effective counselor, and an able teacher of the Word of God. He is also licensed as a Christian Counselor through ZOE Chapel, Jacksonville, Florida.

He has previously authored How To Destroy The Evil Tree, an informative book on overcoming generational curses. More recently, he has authored Bringing Every Thought Captive, Vol. 1, an informative manual on Whole Person Counseling and also a great self-help book. He also has designed and taught competent counseling courses.

Led by the Holy Spirit, Basil unashamedly applies Biblical principles to his counseling ministry with a high degree of success. He has a unique, compassionate ministry in working with spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical problems. Basil also counsels in the areas of personal relationships and finances.

Basil and his wife, Elayne, have three daughters and ten grandchildren. He has a strong conviction about the permanency of marriage and the blessing of children and grandchildren.

Please visit his website for A LOT more anointed and wonderful messages/teachings/encouragements~!~

Anger Management !!@@!!*&%-=][';;!@#@!#$$#@#$#%^&:o)

Wed, 3 Dec 2008 11:00:00 -0600

Anger Management
By Andrew Wommack

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Have you ever been mad at God? Certainly, everyone has had anger rise up against a person. And there are a lot of people who are angry with themselves. Anger is a problem all of us have to deal with.

Many people come from backgrounds where strife was just normal. Our culture is so full of envy and strife that it's become part of life. We don't realize how deadly it is. But realize it or not, strife will kill you. Listen to what James had to say about envy and strife:

"For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work." (James 3:16)

Think about what this verse is saying for a moment. Envy and strife bring EVERY evil work. That is quite a revelation! You could be giving tithes and offerings and trusting God in the area of your finances, but if you're living in strife, you are opening the door to poverty. You could be trying to take care of your body and meditating on healing scriptures, yet envy and strife will negate all of that and bring sickness and disease. No one who is trusting God for victory in any area of their life can ignore dealing with anger and expect to succeed. It's that important.

This doesn't mean we are supposed to be emotionless or totally passive people. There is a proper use of anger. If we don't understand this and try to completely do away with anger, we will not succeed, and we will become passive in a way that allows Satan to run over us. There is a godly purpose for anger.

GODLY ANGER

Think of this: Every person on the planet has a temper. Why do you think that is? Do you think the devil created anger? No way! Satan never created anything. He doesn't have the power to create. All he does is pervert the godly things God created.

It's God who gave us the capacity to get angry. Anger has a godly function. But with most of us, it's been perverted. We don't need to get delivered of a temper; we need to learn how to manage that anger and direct it the way God intended — not toward people, but toward the devil and evil.

There is a well-known passage of Scripture that talks about a positive use of anger. Yet this passage is most often interpreted in a way that loses the true intent of what Paul was saying. Ephesians 4:26-27 says,

"Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil".

This is usually interpreted as, "God knows you are only human, and you will sometimes get angry. That just happens. But it doesn't become sin unless you let it persist. So make sure you confess and forsake your anger every night before you go to bed."

There is no doubt that getting over anger quickly has great benefit. Confessing and forsaking anger before you go to bed every night is a good thing to do. But that is not what this verse is teaching. It's nearly the opposite.

Paul is saying there is a godly anger that is not sin. God gives us a command to get angry with a righteous anger. Then he says, "Let not the sun go down on your wrath". What happens when the sun goes down? Typically we stop working. The day winds down, and we rest and go to sleep. Paul is saying, "Don't let this godly anger ever stop working. Keep it awake. Stir it up and keep it active!" Then verse 27 continues, "Neither give place to the devil". If we don't keep a godly anger active within us, we are giving place to the devil. What a revelation!

There is a righteous use of anger. Not understanding this has rendered many Christians so passive, they don't get mad at the evil in this world. Therefore, Satan is having a free shot at everything we hold dear and holy. Our society is under attack, and our righteous anger that God has given us as a weapon is kept in its sheath and not used. This needs to change.

Look at what the Word of God has to say about a right use of anger:

"Ye that love the LORD, hate evil". (Psalm 97:10)

"The fear of the LORD [is] to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate". (Prov. 8:13)

"The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of wisdom". (Psalm 111:10)

"The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of knowledge". (Prov. 1:7)

"Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good". (Rom. 12:9)

These are just a few of the scriptures that speak of a righteous use of hate and anger. Look again at Proverbs 8:13: "Pride and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward [literally, perverse] mouth, do I hate". Do we really hate those things? We should, but Christians as a whole do not hate evil. We don't like evil, but few would argue that we literally hate these things. Some Christians don't believe that we are supposed to hate anything, but that's not what God's Word says.

Jesus was sinless, but He had hate and anger. In John 2:14-17, which took place at the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry, and then in Mark 11:15-17, which took place the last week of Jesus' earthly ministry, Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple. He didn't approach them meekly and say, "Guys, I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt any of you, but I have to do this to obey my Father." NO! He made a whip and beat the people and animals and turned over their tables. He was mad.

Where were the temple guards? I'm sure they were there, but Jesus was in a holy rage that paralyzed them from action. It's certain that Jesus never sinned, but it's also certain that He got very angry to the point of action. Therefore, there is a righteous anger. We need to discover the righteous use of anger and channel all of our aggression in the proper way. So, there is a right place for anger. But what about the wrong use of anger? All of us have to deal with getting mad at people. How do we overcome our unforgiveness and anger toward people?

UNGODLY ANGER

Have you ever prayed that the Lord would remove someone from your life who makes you angry? Have you ever prayed that your circumstances would change so that you would be delivered from those things that make you mad? If you have, you are not alone. But it's not what others do to you that makes you angry. You will never be able to remove all aggravating things and people from your path. That's unrealistic. Satan has more than enough people under his control to keep an endless parade of annoying people coming across your path.

You can't always change circumstances, and you don't have the authority to change others. But you can change what's on the inside of you that makes you angry. That's right. Our anger comes from the inside, not the outside. I know most people don't like that. At first, it's comforting to think that it's what someone else did that made you angry, but that's not true. If what other people do makes you angry, then you will always be angry because there will always be someone that treats you wrong. That makes you a victim and not a victor.

Accepting responsibility for your ungodly anger puts you in the driver's seat. You only have total authority over yourself. You are the only one that you can really change. If you are trying to remove all the people and things that make you mad from your path, you will never win. But if you deal with the things inside you that cause your anger, you will never lose, regardless of what others do. That's the example that Jesus gave us. He was able to look at the very ones who crucified and mocked Him and say,

"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do". (Luke 23:34)

Jesus not only suffered more than any of us ever have, He suffered more unjustly than we have. As God, He could have come off the cross at any time and wiped all of His accusers out. Yet He humbled Himself and even forgave His enemies. Some people think, "Well that was Jesus. I'm certainly not Jesus." But Jesus wasn't the only one who forgave those who wronged him. Stephen acted just like Jesus in Acts 7:60. As he was being stoned to death, he knelt down and cried with a loud voice,

"Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep".

Paul commanded us to do the same thing in Ephesians 4:32:

"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you".

Not only are we supposed to resist anger, but we are commanded to forgive those who trespass against us. We can't control others, but we can control what's inside of us that makes us angry. The key is found in Proverbs 13:10:

"Only by pride cometh contention".

It's not what others do to us that makes us angry; it's the pride inside of us that causes us to get mad. I know that's not what most people believe, but that's what God's Word says. This verse doesn't say that pride is one of the major reasons for anger — it's the only reason. What a statement!

I ministered this in Pueblo, Colorado, many years ago, and a man came up to me after the meeting and said, "I've got a lot of problems, but pride isn't one of them. If anything, I have such low self-esteem that I hate myself. Yet I have a lot of anger. I just don't understand how my pride is the source of my anger." What this man was missing was a proper definition of pride.

Many people think of pride only as arrogance. But that's only one manifestation of pride. Timidity and shyness are extreme manifestations of pride. Pride, at it's core, is simply self-centeredness or selfishness. Timid and shy people are extremely self-centered people. I know this to be true because I was an introvert. I couldn't look at people in the face and talk to them. I was so consumed with me that I was always thinking, "What are they going to think of me? Am I going to make a mistake and look foolish?" That self-centeredness made me shy.

If you have a testimony about what the Lord has done for you that could help someone, yet you would be timid about getting on radio or television and sharing it because everyone would be looking at you, then you have some pride issues that haven't been settled. You may not be called to broadcast on radio or television the way I am, but we are all called to, "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." (1 Pet. 3:15)

So, pride is not only thinking we are better than others; pride can be thinking we are worse than others or just being self-conscious. It doesn't matter if self is always exalting itself or if it's debasing itself. It's all self-centeredness, which is pride. Like it or not, understand it or not, pride is the source of all of our anger. As we deal with our own self-love, anger toward others will be defused. The only reason we are so easily offended is because we love ourselves so much. As we die to ourselves, we will be able to love others the way that Jesus did.

I have a lot more to share on this than what I was able to put into this article. I have a teaching entitled Anger Management. This is a three-part album that deals with truths I've never heard anyone else teach. I'm sure others teach this, but it's certainly not common. The first teaching, entitled "Godly Anger," will show you the proper use of anger. This is necessary in resisting Satan and his evil. The second teaching, entitled "Ungodly Anger's Source," will explain how self-love is the root of all of our ungodly anger. This is a must for anyone who struggles with a temper (all of us). The third teaching is entitled "Anger Toward God, Others, and Self."

"Christ's Precious Promise � to Those Who Will Pray" by Barbara Smith

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 08:15:00 -0600

"Christ's Precious Promise — to Those Who Will Pray"
by Barbara Smith

The Lord Jesus then reminded His disciples of the tenderness and care which they gave their children. (Luke 11:11-12) They would not tease them nor would they give them anything that might harm them. If men, whose hearts are evil, can give goo gifts, how much more will their heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit?

God Initiates the Call to Restore COMMUNICATION!
As much as God wants you to call Him, it is He who calls you to pray. His heart breaks for a generation that seems to know Him not: "For we shall surely die and are like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life, but plans ways so that the banished one may not be cast out from him. (2 Sam 14:14)

God has done the work, taken the first steps, and waits upon us to talk to Him. You are connected — the heavenly phone is ringing, friends.

He doesn't want to avoid me, but I want to avoid HIM!

HE means our conversation to be a two-way conversation, enabled by the indwelling Holy Spirit who prays when words fail me; who knows what I need when I don't. (Rom. 8:26-27) Through the work of the Spirit — God hears our humble prayers, He strengthens our hearts — and inclines God's ear in our direction. (Ps 10:17)

The moment when I want to avoid prayer, is the very moment to stop what I am doing and PRAY! It is said that Martin Luther, when he was too busy to pray, added an extra hour to his prayer time -- He did not trust his personal sense of priorities.

Comprehension of Christ's simple teaching about prayer, I learned, does not mean immediate answers or split second mastery of spiritual truth. E.M. Bounds noted that, "God's acquaintance is not made hurriedly." He certainly will answer a desperate believer's "arrow prayers," but "He does not bestow His gifts on the casual or hasty comer and goer. To be much alone with God is the secret of knowing Him and of influence with Him."

Now, may I ask, when was the last time you were "much alone" with God? Remember as we go through this material and as we work in the small groups and when you go home from this weekend: "God's acquaintance is not made hurriedly."

This is not a guilt trip — but if you give God a portion of your day, HE will redeem your time. Redemption is HIS business! Jesus had the same twenty-four action packed hours we do, and HE managed to pray. Yes, it takes time — and I know you are busy, but a woman who is to busy to pray, is busier than God wants her to be.

God Enables Our Prayers and Always Answers
God says: "If the people who bear my Son's name will humble themselves -- get down on their knees and ASK, SEEK, KNOCK, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (2 Chr. 7:13-14) Do you believe that?

What will you do with this great invitation and powerful resource that God gives to all believers -- not just the eloquent ones?

Study the word to find what God's will is — for it is revealed in His promises —
Study a promise of God; don't fixate on what you think you must have.

Ask Christ for the strength to obey what the Word shows you: Divine guidance is available to every believer. Christ walks as closely with us as HE did with the disciples (Galatians 5:16) He will never leave us, and He is concerned with our whole manner of living. He is not a psychic friend, telling us what to do. He wants to give us faith to live out HIS commands. We know what to do: He has written His law in our hearts. We need His strength to obey what He has commanded us to do.

God Monitors Our Hearts and Screens Our Calls
God will always answer the prayers of HIS people. The Bible also tells me that He promises to answer prayer. " . . . This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." (I Jn 5:14-15)

If we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. Ask anything according to His will, He hears us. Pray for fulfilment of the promises God has made in the Bible.

The Bible tells us that He has revealed His will to us: "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law. Deut. 29:29 How can we observe what we won't read or study or memorize? What we don't know about all the words of this law may be hindering our prayers.

God is always at work -- creating a stronger connection. The Bible comforts us, explaining that Christ is praying for us: "He always lives to make intercession for us." (Heb 7:25) Perhaps this summer He is praying for me to become a more diligent prayer warrior and Pray without ceasing.

Why we resist praying
If the words, "Yes, but — " are still warring with your spirit, may I encourage you? Give even what distracts your prayers to God. Your problems are not a surprise to Him. NOTHING is in your life or my life that did not pass through HIS hand. When you come to Him, He will bring to mind Scripture or direct you to Bible passages. HE makes the time to talk to you — won't you?
Overcoming resistance to prayer
Let's pray through four topics, four "R's" that can wreck our prayers: relationships — responsibilities — reactions — and righteousness.

Praying about Our Relationships
God built women to relate. If no man is an island, neither is a woman! But many of us are alone — even in marriages or large families or big churches. Yet not one relationship — or the lack of one — in your bundle surprises God. Each one He has permitted, or withheld for your good and HIS glory. If you believe that, right now, take a few minutes: what do you long for God to do with the different relationships in your life?

Praying about Our Responsibilities
God built women to work. He gave us brains and brawn, albeit distributed differently, to be uniquely used as co-laborers with men to cultivate HIS Creation, to be fruitful and multiply. Not one of your duties, obligations or responsibilities staggers God. He is allowing you take on whatever your heart desires. Right now, take a few minutes: ask yourself, what do you long for God to do with the different duties, obligations and responsibilities in your life?

Praying about Our Reactions
(Better known as our emotions: we can't live without them and others can barely survive with them!) God built and wired each of us when HE knit us together in our mothers' wombs. (Psalm 139) Before a word was formed on our tongues HE knew what it would be.

He heard the grumble, the sly murmur, the stinging rebuke.
HE heard the whispered plea for comfort and anguished cry of grief.

How do you react when twice a month your body goes nuts? How do you react when you run out of money three days before payday — or when an unexpected phone call changes your life?

God has permitted every situation and suffered every one of your reactions to every situation in your life. If you believe that, what do you long for God to do with your emotions?

Praying about Our Righteousness
What is the source of your righteousness? You may be new to the Body of Christ, having spent long years drawing water from the well at noon, like the Samaritan woman. You may be sitting here with the unique privilege of a godly heritage: mothers and aunts, grandmothers and great-grandmothers who taught you to fear God and keep His commands.

Understanding how and why you are standing before God, will make a difference in your prayer life. "For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away." (Isa 64:6)

Do you know the garment that Isaiah is referring to is not the garment worn to do chores that might get soiled and need washing? Here, Isaiah uses the word for stained menstrual garments — rags that would never be recycled — but burned outside the camp!

What would you like God to do with your personal righteousness? Ask for the righteousness that comes from Christ alone: "For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ . . . each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire. (1 Cor 3:11-15)

Christ actively prays for you. Christ agreed to engrave YOUR name on the palms of His hands, so that when He prays for you, your needs are ever before Him. "Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before me. (Isa 49:16, Hebrews 7:25) NOTHING has gotten by your broken defenses that God doesn't have a plan to rout the enemy!

Remember you have a prepaid, unlimited private connection, and Christ bids his disciples to "Ask . . . seek, . . . and knock . . . For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened."(Matthew 7:7-8)

Are you still dawdling outside the Throne because you don't have the right words? What would you say? Well — nothing is wrong with awe-struck silence. Nor is it wrong to fall face down and worship. Silent worship is acceptable until the Holy Spirit prompts us to speak. And the Spirit may do all the praying: "for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." (Rom 8:26-27)

Prayer is the mechanism that keeps me in touch with my God. It is the soul's desire for God, expressed in praise and petition. Now just like there is a right way and a wrong way to use a phone — I am learning there are better and worse ways to pray. D. God is completely trustworthy.

Christians address the Holy One of Israel as Father through faith in Christ. The Christian faith is unique in that we pray because God invites us to pray so HE can talk to us.

When you are praying, remember: Don't hang up if you think you hear static — or if you think the line is dead. Deposit some more time in your conversation — Speak clearly and distinctly, repeating the great promises from Psalms and the prophets, reading and singing the great old hymns — He will pick up.

One major concern we women have, is those we love. We want our loved ones to know the Lord Jesus Christ!

"Oh God save my husband, my parents or children!" is a worthy plea. Racing into the Throne Room with this upon our hearts is not wrong — but, like the child who won't sit still long enough for a conversation about the family's plans, you may miss the joy of being a part of God's plans for your loved one when you won't sit still long enough to talk through what God has in mind.

Has God made a promise -- said anything in the Bible -- upon which you can base a conversation about a loved one's spiritual well-being?

Praying intelligently is reminding God of HIS words. His words comfort me and challenge me: His Holy Spirit searches my heart, revealing unbelief, wickedness, rebellion.

Use God's own words to talk to God about the burdens you have for the lost whom you love. Consider applying what Paul and Peter said about those we love. "For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy." (1 Cor. 7:14) "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." (2 Pet 3:9)

Oh God, thank you for your word — your promise, "not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." I bring before your Throne _________. God I want them to know you, please — to enjoy you forever. In your time Father, reveal yourself- -make them see YOU for who you are — Gracious God, sanctify me — forgive my sins which drown out your message of Grace in ______'s life. Thank you that while there is life there is hope.

Another major issue for women is fretting — being fearful — being "concerned." We are very, very good at that, aren't we? Do you know some promises from Scripture that cast out fear and build faith?

O God, I know that the fear that is paralyzing me now is a snare, because I fear man, not You. (Prov. 29:25) Whatever the source of my anxiety and fear that threatens me, You know the end. (Isa 7:4-7) And You mean not to harm me. (Jeremiah 29 11)
God, although my heart is anxious, I believe your promise in Isaiah: "Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; the recompense of God will come, but He will save you." (Isa 35:4)
O God, Be the shield for me you promised to be for Abram and may the comfort of Your protection be my great reward. (Gen 15:1)
God I believe that as You rescued Moses and the Israelites from the hand of the Egyptians, You will protect me from those seeking to harm me. (Exod 14:13) Cause my eyes to see what You have placed before me . . . and take away the blindness of fear and dismay! (Deut 1:21)
God, your servant David walked through the valley of the shadow of death and did not fear evil for he knew Your real presence, your comforting rod and staff. (Ps 23:4) Therefore, I will rely upon your discipline and guidance, trusting your comfort in these perilous times.
O God, I fear You more than I fear my circumstances. Please grant that I may I instill a Holy fear of YOU in my children. (Deut 4:10)
And Father, that whatever befalls me, you are making me a fisher of men! (Luke 5:10)

God understands the burdens of women in this day and age. From your small group discussion, you see that He did in the Bible biographies you read. Praying to Him and with Him through our burdens, instead of hiding them, frees our souls, and allows us of serving Him and those we love.

In the Bible, God gave us several examples of women with heavy burdens. HE will make the time to talk to you — why won't you? (See the Proverbs 31 Prayer)

Remaining a Woman of Prayer
No issue brings believers more grief , or even doubt, as quickly as God's seeming refusal to answer our prayers. Doesn't He care? What are we doing wrong? Is God really REAL? When your prayers are unanswered, don't be so quick to assume that God's off in China or just plumb distracted. If He can keep HIS eye on the sparrow's needs, HE will keep a watch on you! His slowness is part of the perfect plan HE is working on YOUR behalf for His glory. Would you consider the following as you wait upon the Lord? What do you learn from these points that might strengthen your prayer life, especially if you are tired and hurting?

Ask the Lord to examine your heart using Ps 139:23-24 as a guide: Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.
Do you believe God listens or answers your prayers? Then how could you apply this verse? "And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. (Deut 8:2)
You have listened to His gracious invitation to pray — now personalize James 1:5-8 ". . . Let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." Now, can you honestly record your doubts — He knows what they are; He wants you to see your apprehensions for what they are. If we confess our doubts and repent, HE is faithful to forgive and cleanse us from doubt.
How do you express your gratitude to God? Are your thanksgivings to God as specific as your requests? How much time do we spend meditation with thanksgiving upon the word? Look at David's prayers--Paul's and Peter's. Indeed it was Christ's manner of THANKSGIVING that made Him recognizable! Only one leper thanked Jesus for healing (Luke 17:17) In the past twenty-four hours, God has sustained you. Can you think of 24 praises? Or, is it easier to recount 24 problems? Hmmmmmm. — Selfish motives damp out our prayers — It is *OK* to ask for specific things — what are we intending to do with them? Sometimes we have not because we ask not — and when we ask, we ask with the wrong motives. If we confess our selfishness, HE is quick to forgive when we repent, and cleanse us from our selfishness.
Have you and placed silly idols on His throne? (An idol is anything that we think about or love more than God. Regarding our children's pleasures or comforts above God's glory is idol worship -- His silence — apparent deafness to our desperate prayers may be He's sick of seeing us worship false gods.) Consider and apply this verse: "Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Should I be consulted by them at all? (Ezek 14:3)
If we examine our hearts -- and they do not condemn us -- check out your giving — yes I mean time and money! "He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be answered. (Prov 21:13) Powerlessness in prayer may be tied to downright stinginess — It was said of George Mueller, what he received from God never stuck to his fingers - What's sticking to your fingers that God gave you so that you would bless others? How are you acting upon: "And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." ( Phil 4:19)
As our great grandmothers' "hobble skirts" — limited the range of a woman's gait — so an unforgiving spirit hobbles a prayer warrior and may disqualify her from praying.
Husband-wife relationship — as well as other close personal relationships — can foil our prayers. "Hang up and dial again," God may be whispering, if you are not tending the relationships HE formed in your life.
- Are you submitting and honoring your husband, letting go of anxiety and fear in all relationships? (1 Pet 3:6-12)
- Are your attitudes and your actions harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit? (1 Pet 3:8) Or are you returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, while withholding a blessing? (1 Pet 3:9)

"Let [the woman] who means to love life and see good days Refrain [her] tongue from evil and [her] lips from speaking guile. And let [her] turn away from evil and do good; let [her] seek peace and pursue it. "For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." (1 Pet 3:10-12)

More Ideas to keep praying —

When you approach the Throne of Grace — where Jesus is positioned, pleading for you, what do you want HIM to do? How does this passage interface with your prayers:
"What do you want Me to do for you?"
"And the blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!" (Mark 10:51)
Cry for mercy and He will bid you come close. Jesus asks those who call out to Him:

Is your prayer:
"Give me sight, Lord! Open my eyes to see wonderful things from thy Law." (Ps. 119:18) Note: the blind beggar cast off his cloak when Jesus called him: when Christ calls you, take off any encumbrances, such as a sense of your own sufficiency or worth. Also, note, the beggar then followed Christ. Is your passion to continue with Jesus to Calvary, where you will put to death your sin nature?
Prayer prepares us to participate in God's plans — it protects us and others too. Prayer prepared Christ for his ordeal in the Garden — rest defeated the disciples who could not watch one hour. Though they were rested -- they were unprepared. What areas in your life need prayer protection?
Fear for their personal safety caused them to flee. Peter's zeal overrode his purpose, which was to serve Christ. Prayer steadied Him and enabled Him to keep His own counsel and restrain Himself — so that God's purposes could be accomplished — What is going on in your life now that is creating fear in you — or agitating you past common sense? If you are so burdened, read Matthew 11:28-29. What is your hope?

© Barbara W. Smith 1998, all rights reserved
Selected from material prepared for a prayer conference at the First Baptist of Alto Loma's Women's Prayer Retreat. Permission is given to reprint any of Barbara's articles in non-profit publications as long as the article is reprinted in full and contains the copyright information and Web site address.

Please send a copy of the publication to:
Third Floor Publishing
PO Box 827
Arnold, MD 21012

We hope our thoughts encourage you in the Lord Jesus Christ who has enabled us to do exceedingly abundantly more than we could have asked or imagined -- please let us know what YOU think. E-mail us at workbook@toad.net. (Please don't forget to include your e-mail address with in the body of the message--we've had some of our responses returned due to insufficient e-mail addresses.)

Barbara & Douglas Smith
"This hope we have as an anchor of the soul ..."
Hebrews 6:19
Post Office Box 827 • Arnold, MD 21012 • (410) 974-1111
E-mail: workbook@toad.net • URL: http://www.chfweb.com/smith/
© Third Floor Publishing 1998-2000 all rights reserved

Taking the Lord at His Word "Don't Skip Over Your Privileges and Rights!" by Barbara Smith

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 08:16:00 -0600

Taking the Lord at His Word
"Don't Skip Over Your Privileges and Rights!"
by Barbara Smith

For me, explaining prayer is a lot like me trying to explain how a telephone works: I can tell you who invented it. I can define it, describe it, and tell how folks use it. However, I cannot tell you how it works. I can tell you this, however: God — the Creator and sustainer of the Universe delights to hear His children pray from their hearts where Christ rules. I cannot explain how the Sovereign Lord receives the prayers of mortals, but He does - actively.

"Call upon me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor me." (Ps 50:15)

"He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him, and honor him." (Ps 91:15)

"Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know." (Jer. 33:3)

Hundreds of verses in Scripture answer these questions; I warrant many of us have volumes of helpful and thought-provoking material about prayer on our shelves at home. However, I will focus on the first thirteen verses in the eleventh chapter of Luke.

First, however, before Luke recounts the Lord Jesus' teaching about prayer, the good doctor reports that the Lord Jesus and his disciples were dinner guests of a woman named Martha. Luke reports that she was a frazzled hostess, distracted with all her preparations. (I wonder who was Luke's source for this story?)

While Martha worked, her sister Mary chose to sit quietly at Jesus' feet, listening to His words. The Lord Jesus commended Mary's priorities. (Perhaps the memory of Mary's posture, peacefully sitting at Jesus feet, prompted the disciples to ask Jesus to teach them how to pray?)

And it came about that while He was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples."
And He said to them, "When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation."
And He said to them, "Suppose one of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and from inside he shall answer and say,' Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything. '
"I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him {anything} because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
"And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.
"For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.
"Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish; he will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he?
"Or {if} he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?
"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall {your} heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"
(Luke 11:1-13)

Jesus gave His disciples a PATTERN for prayer — and illustrated how to use this pattern by telling them a PARABLE about PERSISTENCE. Next the Lord gave them a PRAYER PROCEDURE: Ask, seek, and knock. And with that PROCEDURE, He explained its PURPOSE: the one who asks receives, and one who seeks, finds and to the one who knocks, it shall be opened. Finally, the Lord Jesus Christ gave His disciples a great and precious PROMISE: That God would send the Holy Spirit to those who ask. God gives to those who ask and seek and knock, the power and purpose of His Holy Spirit.

Picture, now, Mary, composed and attentive at her Lord's feet, not busy, bustling — accomplished -- Martha, and let's explore briefly the pattern of prayer that can bring us peace.

Christ's Pattern for Prayer
With five simple sentences, Jesus gave His disciples such a simple prayer pattern.

Father, hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.

His pattern is as easy to remember as your phone number. However, when we frequently dial a familiar phone number, we rarely think about the complexity of the phone connection. So too, when we pray through this pattern, it is tempting simply to overlook the deeper and broader implication: we too often forget how Christ established our connection to the Throne of God! When we apply the pattern for the disciples' prayer to our prayers:

Hallow God's name

Don't dishonor Him by taking God Almighty for granted, especially when we pray. Spend time thinking about Who God is and the wonder of what He does. Let what you learn change your conversation with your Heavenly Father. If I began most conversations with my husband the way I launch into my prayers, he would be turned off! (See I Kings 19:28)

We spend more hours reading newspapers, reading magazines, "chatting" with folks to understand our world, than we spend with God, don't we? How much time do you spend marveling with the Creator of your world? This might be a clue if you "feel" like you aren't getting through to your Father. The *truth* is He is always listening: "Now . . . My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place." (2 Chr 7:15)

Obey His word. We may not know the whole Bible — but what we do know we must obey.

Pray about GOD's Kingdom -- not our own

The needs and limitations of our own little fiefdoms consume so much of valuable prayer time. Do you doubt this? Review your prayers for this day. Are you praying about His Kingdom or yours if you never get around to mentioning your church or pastors or our missionaries? If you do not routinely pray for your neighbors or your enemies, are you praying about God's Kingdom, or your own?

Genuinely longing for HIS kingdom to come, means we must be willing for ours to go.

Pray that HIS will is done

Pray that HIS will is done because if we cannot expand our horizons beyond the boundaries of our personal peace and affluence, we cannot know what others need!

Express gratitude and contentment with your "daily bread."

"Thank you, God, for my toast?"

Yes! Remember to thank God especially for the little things specifically that you think you are buying for yourself. Perhaps because of affluence and Biblical ignorance, gratitude for even the next breath we draw is a low priority on many modern prayers before the Throne of Grace.

Are you content with the daily ways in which God answers and provides for you?
Make a little list and thank God for everything He has done for you in the past twenty-four hours. Can you think of 24 praises?

And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

Are you accepting God's gift of forgiveness, but withholding your forgiveness from those who wronged you in real or imagined ways? If so, you don't understand Calvary's cost.

If you have something against a brother, or suspect someone has a grievance against you, go and make it right! (Matthew 5:24; 18:15-20)

The most common temptation is wanting *our* way in place of God's rule.

Sometimes this is blatant, but sometimes our rebellion is oh so subtle and oh so deadly. Unforgiveness is sin and cherishing sin in our hearts displeases God; hanging onto the chains from which Christ freed us leads to more temptation and more sin.

Shouldn't we pray then for God to keep us off the throne of our own hearts?

Christ gave us such a simple pattern for effective prayer, yet, we will spend the rest of our lives learning to pray His words, truthfully! So, something more is required to pray — something more than just knowing the right words.

Exercising Your Rights: Becoming a Woman of Prayer
God has shown us what HE wants HIS women to be like, so he carefully recorded information about many women for a reason. They were not perfect — they had problems — they struggled with unbelief — but they obeyed at a critical point in their walk with God — and HE blessed them. Their faith was the assurance of the things they hoped for, the conviction of things they could not see. For by faith in God the women of old gained approval. (Heb 11:1-2)

What He said about these women may help you to pray more intelligently. In your small groups, discuss one or two of these women for thirty minutes.

What about her life impresses you?

How does the record of her life encourage your prayer life?

Then break up and pick one or two women and listen for God to form some specific prayers about issues in your life:

Tamar: (Her name may mean "like a palm." Because of the value of palm trees in the East, the idea of this name connotes wealth and beauty)
Scripture references Genesis 38:6-30; Ruth 4:12; 1 Chronicles 2:4; Matthew 1:3
Rahab:
Scripture references: Joshua 2:1, 3; 6:17-25; Matthew 1:5, Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25
Ruth:
Scripture references: The Book of Ruth, Matt. 1:6
What about Naomi's life impresses you?
Bathsheba:
Scripture references: II Sam. 11:2,3; 12:24; I Ki. 1:11-31; 2:13-19; I Chr. 3:5; Matt.1:6
Hannah:
Scripture references: I Samuel 1; 2:1-21
How does her prayer life inform yours
Abigail: The woman with beauty and brains — and a troubled marriage
Scripture references: I Samuel 25:1-42; II Samuel 3:3
In Gen 21:1: "Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised." What do you know about Sarah's life? Her life was recorded by Moses in Genesis. She became the mother of nations.
Look up Isaiah 51:2; Romans 4:19; 9:9; Hebrews 11:11; I Peter 3:6
Mary: The mother of our Lord Jesus Christ
Scripture references: Matthew 1;2; 12:46; Luke 1; 2; John 2:1-11; 19:25; Acts 1:14
Read the Magnificat. (Lk 1: 46-55) What do you learn about prayer from Mary?

Keep reading! Read about these women — Deborah, (Judges 4 & 5; Hebrews 11:32-34;) Dorcas, (Acts 9 36-43) Jeosheba, Joash's aunt, (2 Kings 11) and Salome, who wanted the best for her boys. (See Mat.20:20-24; 27:56; Mark 10:35-40; 15:40, 41;16:1,2) Build your own list! A good resource is All The Women in the Bible by Herbert Lockyer.

Remember: "The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them." (Ps 145:18-19)

Next: "Christ's Precious Promise —
to Those Who Will Pray"

Please send a copy of the publication to:
Third Floor Publishing
PO Box 827
Arnold, MD 21012

Prayer--(Daniel & Prayer, How to Pray, what is is really and a whole LOT more :o)

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 10:23:00 -0600

Here's some WONDERFUL things about Prayer I found on the Web...Selah!

Ask Him Multiple Times a Day to Heal You

I know that during the daily hour or more you spend on your knees, you probably don’t pray MUCH for “yourself” directly. However, I’d like to suggest something that has seemed appropriate to the Spirit of Christ in my life: PICK ONE PARTICULAR CHARACTER FLAW (a.k.a. SIN) YOU ARE PRONE TO, AND ASK HIM MULTIPLE TIMES A DAY THAT HE HEAL YOU OF THAT ISSUE. Multiple times each day, turn your face to Him and ask Him, “Father I REALLY need, for YOUR Glory, more Self-Control. PLEASE be my Healer. Make me a (wo)man of SELF-CONTROL, for Your Name’s sake.” Or, ask Him to Heal your greed, or fear, or negativism, or impatience, or laziness, or pride, or vanity, or hatred of authority, or _____!!! Pick your “THANG” and ask Him CONSTANTLY, by name, for Healing in that area, as a Testimony to His Greatness. Be specific, and relentless....!!!

Add that “multiple times per day, specific prayer” to your other hour or two of prayer. That is certainly a legitimate and honorable “way” to “pray for yourself.” Remind yourself to pray... by dropping to your knees before you pick up your toothbrush. You will not ever brush your teeth unless you have spoken to Him first. Or, remind yourself that you won’t pick up your car keys during the day without first turning your heart towards Him for a moment first. Remind yourself to ask Him to Free you in this “area” (and other petitions for others) by not putting on your shoes or taking off your shoes without turning your face to Him on these matters before you put that shoe on, or take it off.

“As you rise up, as you sit down, as you walk along the Way!” :)

Just felt I should pass on what has meant a lot to me..... xoxoxo

*********************************************************************

Discipline Unto Prayer

T.A. Sparks

And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; (now his windows were open in his chamber toward Jerusalem;) and he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, AS HE DID AFORETIME (Dan.6:10).

There is something tremendously impressive about a man who is beset and attacked from every side, apparently overwhelmed, and who yet maintains a quiet, dignified persistence of faith and goes on with his God, unmoved and undismayed.

Daniel’s troubles sprang from the fact that he had been marked out for advancement. “The king thought to set him over the whole realm” (v. 30). There were two presidents equal with him as well as many satraps under him. All these reacted violently to the decision about his promotion, so violently that they plotted to destroy him. At first they had a great deal of success. It seemed unlikely, or indeed impossible, that Daniel could ever obtain the supremacy planned for him. Yet he did! The evil scheme failed. The servant of God was delivered and placed over the kingdom. The means by which he was advanced must have seemed very strange. Yet they are in full harmony with all that the Word teaches us about spiritual progress. Especially is Daniel’s experience in accord with what is shown in the case of the Lord Jesus, that the way to the throne is by death and resurrection.

“As He Did Aforetime”

The lions’ den was a kind of grave. Daniel was not spared the grave; he had to go right down into it. Since, however, he was God’s man and kept true to his God, he lost nothing and gained everything by his descent. His rivals went down into the same grave, and they stayed there. By the end of the chapter we find no more mention of presidents and satraps. They could not stand the test of the grave. Daniel, on the contrary, was given his place over the whole realm, not by any effort or planning of his, but simply by his maintained position of faith in God. The lesson is for us. We, too, in His amazing grace, have been marked out for advancement, chosen for the throne. This explains for us, as well as for Daniel, the peculiar bitterness of the conflict in which we are often involved. There are great issues in view; we need to know how to behave in the midst of it all, and what is the secret which will enable the Lord to fulfill His purpose in our case as He did in Daniel’s.

We find that he came through wholly and solely on spiritual grounds. His own wisdom, his earthly authority, his influence among men, his experience, his friends—all these counted for nothing. As he was hurried away and thrown into the den, he must have been a picture of complete helplessness. There was nothing he could say, and nothing he could do. He did not try to wrestle with the lions; it would have been useless if he had. In a spiritual conflict—and ours is that—nothing but spiritual strength is of any use. For all his apparent helplessness, Daniel had a standing with God. The key to his emergence from the conflict in such complete triumph is found in our verse about his praying, and particularly in the last words, “as he did aforetime.”

He was steadfast in his faith. Yet it would not be enough to think of his having faith in a merely general way, or being a man who habitually prayed for all sorts of things. We can only understand the nature of his steadfastness if we realize that he was keeping true to a definite and God-given vision. He had understood the purpose of God with regard to His people. Moreover, he had adjusted his whole life to that vision, as the open window and the “three times a day” prayer-watch show. He knew what God wished and intended, and had given himself wholeheartedly for its fulfillment. Day in and day out, fair days and foul, he kept himself in God’s direction and stood for God’s will. No wonder that human jealously and spite were used by satan in a determined effort to silence him! But he could not be silenced. He could not be made to close his window. “Aforetime” he had persisted in his faith vigil; now that trouble was pending he refused to be turned aside from his set course with God. He had a spiritual ‘routine,’ a holy habit, a steady heart purpose. When this brought him into the crosscurrents of conflict, and the writing was signed against him, he seemed to take no notice at all, but calmly continued in his watch with the Lord —”as he did aforetime.”

We may be tempted to wish that we were that kind of man, calm, steady, unmoved—wrongly imagining that this was a matter of Daniel’s temperament. If so, it is good for us to remember the kind of man he could be. “I was affrighted, and fell on my face...” (8:17); “I Daniel fainted...” (8:27); “Then said he unto me, ‘Fear not, Daniel...’ “ (10:12). This was no man of steel, but one very like most of us, with all our inward quakings, our timidity and our tendency to faint. Yet he was undismayed. In the midst of plots for his destruction, in spite of tremendous pressure to panic or compromise, without show of strain and in quiet dignity of faith he went straight on with the Lord. And so must we. Perhaps it will help us if we try to discover some of Daniel’s secrets

The Largeness of His Vision

The first reason why Daniel was able to proceed so calmly, as though nothing had happened, was found in the largeness of his vision. If we have a vision that is chiefly concerned with ourselves, our circumstances or our assigned work, we shall be puzzled or offended when things begin to go wrong with us. We need, indeed we have, a vision of God’s universal and eternal purpose in His Son, and this alone will save us from being overwhelmed in the hour of spiritual conflict.

Daniel looked back, far beyond his own time. The open windows looked out on an original purpose for the people of God, who had had their origin long before his own generation. The Jerusalem which he remembered was a poor affair compared with the true glory of Zion. Most of us are apt to dwell with regret on things as we once knew them, and to sigh for the days of the past. But it is vain, and altogether inadequate so to limit our vision. We have been called for something much bigger than that. We have a part in the Divine purpose which was conceived in eternity and realized in Christ by His Cross. If we set our hearts only on what we have known or experienced, on the limited sphere of our own past, we shall get into confusion when for the time being everything seems to be going wrong. Our natural vision is limited to the immediate, to the present experiences or to the tiny span of our own lives. We need to be saved from ourselves, and this will be by receiving spiritual vision as to the vast range of the Divine purpose in Christ. Like Daniel, if we look back far enough we shall be kept steady by the reminder of God’s original intentions.

Daniel also looked forward. We are told that he not only prayed, but also “gave thanks before his God.” Of course there was much cause for thanksgiving in Israel’s past history, but to the man of faith, the man of vision, the real motive for praise lies in the future. He has received assurance that there was to be a future for Jerusalem, a future even more glorious than the past. He knew that God would realize His end. It mattered little to him, therefore, if all the fury of hell raged around him for the present; it was of very small importance if he, Daniel, were swept off the face of the earth. Nothing could prevent the fulfillment of the purposes of God. Whatever else happened, the Lord would go marching triumphantly on to His goal. With this conviction, and his windows opened in this direction, Daniel could afford to ignore his enemies, and to treat all the decrees of men with dignified contempt. “And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he... prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.”

The little calamities of the present time are contemptible in the light of the certain glories that are to be. We are meant to be people of eternity; we are called to view all present problems and difficulties in their larger setting. It may be true that we, like Daniel, seem to be involved in disaster, that for us the writing is signed which makes our own future quite hopeless. Our vision is not a personal one, nor is our service of God personal, so we must never allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by what is only personal. In Christ we have become closely associated with God’s eternal purpose for the greatness of His Son. This is the largeness that will lift us out of our own natural pettiness.

Daniel saw far beyond his own surroundings. He had gone to his house and entered his own chamber. It may well have been a large room, as rooms go, but in any case it was bounded by the four walls of what was essentially his. He did not look at the things around him, but away through the open windows towards the city of his God. How important it was at that crucial moment that he should not look around to what was merely local, to the unpromising circumstances in which he himself was found, but should keep well in view the Divine prospect of the God-filled glory of Jerusalem. Only the eye of faith could see that city then, but Daniel had the eye of faith. Surely it was this vision that kept him steadfast.

There is a sense in which men who are under great pressure to capitulate or compromise can only resist the temptation by remembering that their ‘cause’ is much greater than themselves. They are kept true by the realization that, provided they do not despair, the cause with which they are associated will ultimately triumph in spite of anything which may happen to them. How much more is the case with those whose ‘cause’ is spiritual! Had Daniel’s main preoccupation been about his own survival he could not have behaved as he did. If he had been thinking chiefly of how he himself could be preserved, he would probably have made terms with his enemies or in some way capitulated. To him, however, the vision was so great that his biggest concern was, not as to whether he could survive, but as to whether he could remain faithful. He felt that he had to be faithful because of the very importance and vastness of the issue.

This constraint to be faithful was noticeable in every part of Daniel’s life. It was true, not only in the prayer chamber when he was on his knees, but also in every feature of his ordinary daily life, that “he was faithful” (v.4). There can be nothing mean or insignificant in the life of a man who finds himself associated with a great Divine purpose: he realizes that this association demands a very high standard in every aspect of his daily life. Few of us can be placed in such difficult circumstances as Daniel was in Babylon. And very few indeed have kept as faithful as he did in the many tests and temptations which came his way. Perhaps it was because he had so learned faithfulness in the smaller matters that he triumphed so completely in this supreme testing.

If Daniel had considered it most important that he himself should survive, it would have been very simple for him to have refrained either from praying, or from kneeling to do so, or from leaving the windows open for all to see. After all, he was no slave in Babylon, but a man of great importance. He was no enemy of Darius, but his good friend. Had he wished he could have kept his personal safety, and no doubt he could think of many very good reasons why he should try to do so. But then what would happen to Jerusalem? What would happen to the purposes of God for His people? To Daniel it was the vision that mattered, not his own personal good. And in this very way he found his own deliverance. The man who remains true to the God-given vision can afford to leave the question of his own fate in the hands of the Giver of that vision

This, then, is the challenge which comes to so many of us, the call to be faithful to the vision. Daniel reminds us of how important it is that one man should remain steadfast to the Lord. None of us knows how much of great Divine purposes may be served by our simple faithfulness. In a sense we do not matter at all. It is not important for us to avoid the den of lions, to be saved from difficulties, to justify ourselves or fight for our own position. But in another sense it matters supremely that we should be true to the Lord. In order that we may do so, we need to keep in view the largeness of the vision

The Greatness of His God

To Daniel God was greater than all. It was as simple as that. He had many visions, concerned with all sorts of people, places and events, but he had one transcendent vision, and that was the vision of his Lord. None of the historical or prophetic allusions can be without significance, for the Word of God is never without meaning; but we shall have missed the essence of Daniel’s story if we become occupied with things or people rather than the Lord Himself. This is the second of Daniel’s secrets of a steadfast life: to him the Person of the Lord towered high above all others. Prophetic truths may interest or enlighten us, but they will never save us in the hour of testing. Daniel’s chamber was not a study—at least it was not then being used as such; it was his prayer-room, his audience-chamber with his God. As we tend to hurry to our best friend when trouble comes, so Daniel, when he knew the writing was signed, went straight home to his prayer chamber to commune with his Lord. He knelt on his knees not as a matter of routine or ritual, not to list a number of items for prayer, but to worship and to wait upon his God. As we have said, he was associated with a very great vision, but the central and supreme feature of this vision was the Person of the Lord.

This is as important to us as it was to him. When we come to the New Testament, we must be careful to give due weight to every detail of its teaching. It is very wrong for us to ignore or disobey the injunctions, the admonitions and the explicit statement of the Word of God. Yet our supreme concern must be with the Lord Jesus Himself. To follow all the teachings and methods associated with the House of God and yet lack the overwhelming Presence of the Son and Owner of the House is to substitute an empty shell for the living reality.

Daniel’s vision of the Lord was so great that it involved the eclipse of all his enemies. No doubt they were very imposing, ‘the presidents, the deputies, the satraps, the counselors and the governors’ (v. 7). Whatever Daniel thought as he considered this long and formidable list, he gave no indication of being greatly concerned by it. He went off home to meet with his Lord ...”as he did aforetime.” To have his eyes on the Lord did not mean that he ignored his enemies or pretended that they did not exist. It only meant that because of their hatred he drew nearer to his Lord, realizing that at all costs he must not be drawn away from that committal and that communion which represented the very heart of the Divine purpose. He was determined to keep on positive ground. It can be merely negative to get preoccupied with our enemies, or with the things that menace God’s purpose

Daniel refused to be diverted from the main issue. He would not even turn aside to pray about his own perilous position. He had but one answer for his foes, and that was to continue straight on in his devotion to the will of God. We need to follow his example. Satan will always try to divert us from the positive end of God. If we can be drawn out into side issues, he will always provide such for us. They may be things that provoke us, some matter that never fails to arouse our irritation or anger. If we turn aside to pray too much about them, we shall have missed the real call to positive prayer. It is true that Ephesians 6 stresses the call to prayer conflict, but it comes at the end of a letter that is devoted to the main vision of God’s purpose in His Son. It is for this, and not for lesser or personal matters, that we are called into the spiritual battle. Or the devil may even keep us busy with some side issues which we like, good things in themselves, perhaps, but diversions from the principle one. The man of the Spirit refuses to be diverted. Like Daniel, he goes determinedly on.

Daniel’s vision was so great that it also eclipsed his friends. There is no mention here of Shadrach and his two companions. We do not know where they were. Perhaps they were praying for him in secret. We do know, though, that there are times when we must go through alone with the Lord. This is no contradiction of spiritual fellowship. Such fellowship can only be healthy and vital if in all things the Lord Himself is the One we keep in view. Darius was also Daniel’s friend. As a matter of fact he did his sincere best to help him. But it is not recorded that when Daniel knew that the writing was signed he sought out Darius, to talk the matter over with him or to seek his help. No, he went straight away to the Lord. With all his apparent power, Darius proved helpless in this matter. Daniel knew the Lord as ‘high over all.’ He could not have held quietly on his way as he did if he had not known a constant walk with his Almighty Lord.

The Power of Prayer

In the third place Daniel had learned complete confidence in God’s ability to answer prayer. Nothing could deter him from waiting on God, for he knew the power of prayer. Daniel was well acquainted with power; he had lived at the seat of it for many years. As a lad, he had seen in his own land the amazing things that could be done by this world-power. Together with his fellow Jews he had been taken captive by the mighty emperor, the “head of gold” surmounting all the Gentile kingdoms; and now for a very long time he had had his place at the heart of that terrifying world authority. He knew all about the decrees of an absolute despot and about the “law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not” (vs. 8, 12). And when he had considered it all, he was more than ever convinced that one man on his knees was more than a match for it all, that there is more power in the simple prayer of faith than in the greatest empire that this world can ever produce. He had learned his lesson. To him it was no mere theory, as, alas, it often is to us. He had proved it in the past and he was content to go on proving it. It was a special occasion but he sought for no special remedy. He just went on praying “ as he did aforetime.”

When a man is up against something of satanic origin, he is forced back to prayer, for only God can deal with the great enemy. It is significant that the signed decree was based on a lie. Darius put his signature to it because of deliberate untruth. Those who brought it to him insisted that it had been agreed among “ALL the presidents of the kingdom...” (v.7). Daniel was at least equal to his fellow presidents, and he had had no part in it. Had Darius known the truth it is certain that he would never have agreed to pass the law. Wherever there is a lie, Satan is not far away. And when we get involved in his activities we do well to stand back for a moment, to consider the whole thing, and to decide—as apparently Daniel did—that only God can deal with this situation. Of course we may need to state the truth or point out the lie, but how often God’s servants have only got themselves into greater difficulties by trying to grapple with something that was too much for them, too strong or too subtle, when the very presence of a lie in the situation could have warned them that this needed not carnal but spiritual weapons. This is not a matter of opinion or judgment—we all make mistakes—but of an untruth in the realm of facts. What do we tend to do when we meet such a lie? Usually we want to fight it, to argue about it, to try to deal with it by our own actions. What did Daniel do? He went straight back to God, got on his knees and found a place of spiritual authority over it. He dealt with it all in the place of prayer

That is where it was all done. The rest was simply the outworking. A painful outworking if you like, for it did not relieve him from the necessity of going down into the lions’ den, to the great distress of his friend, Darius, who spent a wakeful night worrying about him. He need not have worried. His own power had failed to deliver Daniel—human power always does fail in the face of spiritual opposition—but the man on his knees is the man in touch with the Throne. We are not told what sort of a night Daniel had, but in may well have been one of great inward rest. And this not because he had prayed about himself, but because he had devoted himself to the Lord’s interest and could therefore afford to leave his own needs in the Lord’s hands. He did not pray because he was faced with an emergency; he prayed because he was a praying man. He believed in the supreme power of prayer, and he practiced what he believed. If only we would do the same

Daniel had had to pray in order to obtain his vision. A man is no prophet unless he is first a man of prayer—”...he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee...” (Gen.20:7). But that was only the beginning. We must not think that revelation as to the will of God is an end in itself; it is but the first phase of prayer. When Daniel had prayed through to an understanding of the ways of the Lord, he then set himself three times a day to persevere in prayer for their fulfillment. His prayer took him into the lions’ den, but it also brought him out again, and he was able to see the thing right through to its glorious end. “So this Daniel prospered...” (v.28). So—by praying through, unmoved and undismayed by plots and threats—this Daniel prospered. THIS Daniel—not Daniel of the presidential office, but the Daniel of the lions’ den—this Daniel prospered, not only in the reign of Darius but also in the reign of Cyrus the Persian, who was the liberator and restorer of Jerusalem.

This all happened in the last years of his life. That may be because the time of Jerusalem’s liberation was at hand, and satan then more fiercely attacked the man who was standing for it in prayer. If so, there is a special message for us, who surely have our testimony to give in the closing days of the dispensation. The kingdom for which we labour in prayer is not earthly, but heavenly; it concerns “the Jerusalem that is above” (Gal.4:26). Let us therefore encourage one another not to be moved by the things which threaten to quench or divert our prayer-life. And let us remember that his very experience was the way by which Daniel was brought to his appointed advancement. He went to the Throne by way of the lions’ den. Our Saviour ascended to the Throne by way of the Cross. We can only reign with Him if first we suffer with Him.

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Do I Have to Pray?

Do I Have to Pray, too??

The phrase, “Say a little prayer for me” made me sick to my stomach long before I was a Christian, except back then I didn’t know why. “Say a little prayer for me.” That is so pathetic! What does that mean? That is so much of a fallen world--superstition and sentiment, rather than Christianity as Jesus birthed it and modeled it. We don’t teach our children to “pray,” we teach our children to commune with the Godhead. That is very different. We don’t teach them to say “little prayers.” We teach them that this world means nothing. We teach them that this world is an illusion. And we teach them to speak to the author of the unseen realm and the Conqueror of everything that is in the seen world. This little papier-mâché world that you can stick your hand right through is so meaningless, so trivial. We must go past that. We must see past that and talk to the God who created all of this illusion, this cardboard world that we live in. We must talk to, communicate with, and present requests before the One who made all of this—the One who lives in the unseen realm. We don’t say our “prayers.” We look past the seen world—and THAT is what this thing called “prayer” is!

There are a whole lot of things in this universe that only God can touch. Relationships are that way. You think you can make a relationship? No way! God brings peace. God brings joy. God brings communication. God brings warmth of heart. God brings a clarity of vision and understanding. God is the only one that can make even simple things like that work. So, you had better be talking to Him, because nothing can “work” apart from God’s interaction and intervention.

Sometimes we can be so foolish as to think we are going to waltz our way through life and be “successful” by doing things the right way, knowing the right things, acting the right way, saying the right things, hanging around the right people—if you are so foolish to think that all of these “right things” are going to accomplish anything, you WILL end up very miserable and fruitless for the rest of your life. Life must be built out of GOD HIMSELF, not things about God. That’s just chaff to be blown away by the next little breeze that comes along. It won’t even take a big wind—a little breeze and poof!! Everything you ever built for yourself, or you thought you were building, will be gone.

These things have to do with God and God alone. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord. I’m begging you. Be men and women that pray desperately. “Prayer” is NOT one more little thing that you do, like your little trinkets that you line up: lucky rabbit’s foot of holiness, lucky rabbit’s foot of prayer, lucky rabbit’s foot of the right way to have church, lucky rabbit’s foot of being a good husband or wife, lucky rabbit’s foot of child-rearing principles… “My, aren’t we good at all these wonderful things?” So, THAT’s the “good Christian life” and all is well? I’m not talking about a lucky rabbit’s foot of prayer added on to all of our other things. I’m simply saying that everything you would ever think of in your wildest dreams, including the next time your heart beats, is totally wrapped up in God.

What you are feeling right now, your emotions, your health, the work of your hands—EVERYTHING belongs to God. God Himself brings judgment to your heart, or brings peace to your heart. God Himself brings joy to your heart, or He brings misery and anguish to your heart. He determines how many hours you sleep at night. He determines whether or not you can digest your food. He determines whether or not your arms and legs and eyes work from one minute to the next. He determines whether or not a person likes you or hates you. He determines whether or not you have a child, or it’s stillborn, or whether your child lives to his or her tenth birthday. All of these things are totally wrapped up in God’s Sovereign knowledge and power and love and mercy and instruction and discipline. All of these things are from God. How can the pot say to the potter, “Well, what about this? Why did you make me this way? Well, what about that? Could you explain yourself on that one?” And, “Well, I think I’ll do it my way and you’ll just have to bless me because that’s the way it is?” Man, what fools we would be to approach life that way. God is God. God is a much bigger word than you have ever imagined. So, do you want to know what “PRAYER” is? Just view GOD properly, view your life properly, and you’ll KNOW to speak with Him deeply, and from the heart, and OFTEN.

For Real

If God has given us any power to do good, let’s do it! For this is a wicked, weary world. We should not even cover a glowworm’s light in such a darkness as this. We should not keep back a syllable of divine truth in a world that is so full of falsehood and error. However feeble our voices, let us lift them up for the cause of truth and righteousness. Do not let us be “void of understanding” because we have opportunities that we do not use, obligations that we do not fulfill, and capacities which we do not exercise.

As for a sluggard in soul matters, he is indeed void of understanding, for he trifles with matters which demand his most earnest heed. Man, have you never cultivated your heart? Has the plough share never broken up the clods of your soul? Have the seed of the Word never been sown in you? Or has it not taken root? Have you never watered the young plants of desire to worship Him? Have you never sought to pull up the weeds of sin that grow in your heart? Are you still a piece of the bare common or wild heathen?! Poor soul! You can trim your body, and spend many a minute at the glass; do you not care for your soul? How long you take to decorate your poor flesh, which is but worm’s meat! And yet all the while your soul is uncombed, unwashed, unclad, a poor neglected thing! Oh, it should not be so! You take care of the worse part, and leave the better to perish through neglect. This is the height of folly! He that is a sluggard as to the vineyard of his heart is a man void of understanding. If I must be idle, let it be seen in my field and my garden, but not in my soul.

Is there such a thing as a Christian man on half-time!? A Christian man working not at all for his Lord; how will I speak of him? Time does not tarry, death does not tarry, HELL does not tarry; satan is not lazy, all the powers of darkness are busy; how is it that you and I can be sluggish, if the Master has put us into His vineyard? Surely we must be void of understanding if, after being saved by the infinite of God, we do not spend and are spent in Him. The eternal fitness of things demands that a saved man should be an earnest man.

The land will produce “something.” As long as there is soil and it is alive, it will produce healthy crops that can produce more healthy crops for more life. Or it will yield its natural produce. And what does the flesh produce when left to itself? Weeds and thorns to be dug up and burned. By doing “nothing” there is more being done for the cultivation of the thorns and nettles than for anything else. What is the natural produce of your heart and mine? What would your 6 month, 12 month and 24 month old children, loose in a house, unmonitored for a day produce? Just imagine the results of that! The natural produce of our hearts is unpleasant, no one can rest on a pillow of thorns and nettles

“O man, the garden put into your charge, if you waste your time in slumber, will reward you with all that is noisome and painful!”

“The very region which would have glorified God most if the grace of God were there to convert its inhabitants, will be that out of which the vilest enemies of the gospel will arise. Rest assured of that, the best will become the worse if we neglect it.” If you want to know the way to salvation, I must take some pains to tell you; but if you want to know the way to be lost, my reply is easy: for it is only a matter of negligence: “How will we escape if we neglect so great salvation?”

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THEREFORE!

“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses?” (Jer. 12:5).

If running on a treadmill or training is boring to us, how will we be of any use when it is time to run down the highway to get help for others whose lives are in danger??!! How far can adrenaline take us if we have not trained and disciplined ourselves for months or years previous to the life and death critical moment. LIKEWISE, if we believe we will be able to be persuasive with God and be close enough to Him to hear His Voice, and for Him to hear ours, at a LIFE AND DEATH MOMENT, we had better TRAIN NOW! When it is time for us to participate in saving the lives spiritually or physically of our children or our friends—by persuading the Father to intervene, we had better have disciplined ourselves to pray aggressively daily, OFTEN WITH OTHERS, about other “less important” matters. If we won’t pray often now we are kidding ourselves about being able to gain His ear when it matters most. We won’t be able to run far enough and at high speed to save the lives of others, if the discipline of training is not attractive to us now. And we won’t be able to pray fervently, without ceasing, in a REAL way when it matters most—if we’re not willing to initiate praying about issues of life, often with others, now!

“Exercise yourself unto godliness.”

We need to each learn to labor in prayer with others frequently, whether we feel motivated or not. It’s the right thing. Let’s not be “too spiritual” to be willing to do it. Work at it. And persist in it!

“Substantial penalty for early withdrawal.”

“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses?”

These are important days that affect all of eternity for yourself and those you love. Please don’t be a sluggard in such matters.—chs (with others : ))

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Hard Work

“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”

(Steven Spielberg)

I can’t help but think that being willing to take the time to do the Work—in PRAYER—every day—is 1000 times MORE important and 1 million times more powerful than anything this guy was thinking of!

Will we?

In the closet?

With others?

We DO what we VALUE most. Let’s make sure OUR values are the same as HIS! :)

On Prayer and Devotion

NOW is the time!!

If we won’t pray and live in Him when faced with the litany (or tyranny) of choices in daily life... then neither will we in any meaningful way when we are left with no choice (Rev.9:20, 16:9,11, 2:4-5).

Our love of the Father, our obedience, and our felt dependence on Him are only matters of the HEART, not of available time, or of circumstance, or pain

Now is the time! Today is the Day!

“And this is Eternal Life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent!” (Jn.17:3).

Let’s go to Him while He may be found!

He’s waiting for each of us with open arms, a ring and a robe!!

A new name, a new beginning.

Today, for all who will!

Free, in the Son.

GREEN Friday!!!!!!! (giggles and hmmmmm:o)

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:02:00 -0600

Hey, I was just thinking about something (oh-oh)...

How about some of you guys who are excited about Black Friday, do something weird and different?!?

How about having a Green Friday--that's where you're decide/choose to be content with such things as you have, and take ALL of the monies (no matter how much or little) you were planning to spend on black Friday and pay down on the principal of your mortgage OR a credit card bill?

For those of us who are debt free, you can take those monies and buy some food for a homeless person or give to the charity of your desire or perhaps you know of a family or two who are struggling and you can anonymously or outright give it to them! Perhaps we can pray and Ask The Lord what He would have us do with the extra monies. We homeschoolers can sit down with our children/families and explain that this year, instead of buying lots of "stuff" for one another, we're going to buckle down and be content with what we have and give and give and give til it hurts OR pay-off some debt, instead of getting into debt?????? You'll be SURPRISED at how on board your children will be!

Radical and crazy and COOL idea--huh?

Lastly, for those struggling with debt...check out my man, Dave Ramsey...I love him!

www.daveramsey.com

Thinking of this "GREEN Friday" idea makes me think of THe Lord and Dave!

WOW! I LIKE IT...GREEN FRIDAY!

You can do it...no matter how hard it seems-You CAN Obey The Lord--YOU CAN DO IT!

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:57:00 -0600

Is The Lord clearly showing you something that seems IMPOSSIBLE for you to do/obey?

Perhaps The Lord telling you to go to someone and Represent Him and offer the Right Hand of Fellowship to be His Ambassador and you feel fearful or shy... or perhaps He is Inspiring you to leave somewhere or to no longer fellowship with someone ("Shake the dust from your feet" so to speak), a person, place or thing or a group or church that you love--but you feel commited to or obligated to continue fellowshipping in or with. Obey Him and be blessed! Don't allow fear, shame or a false sense of guilt to cause/inspire you to disobey The Lord's Calling!

Has Father God CLOSED a door that you are insisting on keeping opened OR OPENED a door that you refuse to go into? OBEY Him and be blessed and a more important...be a blessing!

Is The Lord Prompting you to get involved in someone's life, join a group or organization or person and allow Him to use The Gifts that He's blessed you with to Serve them in His Name? OBEY HIM! Let your YAY be YAY and your NAY be NAY...YOU CAN DO IT!

Perhaps you are struggling with some sin--a sin that the world sees as "normal, ordinary, acceptable". A sin/spirit of anger or jealousy, impatience or compromise. The sin of unforgiveness or lust or unbelif and lack of faith in The Lord (not in ourselves--that's a NO-NO :o) PLEASE Don't go along with the crowd's way of thinking...you know, the ole--"why you're only human--you can't do thus or such" OR the dreaded...but it you do this or that, what will others think of you?"--OBEY HIM, and you will be BLESSED and a BLessing!

Phillipians 4 (NKJV)

I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Jesus Offends Our Minds In Order To Get Our Hearts

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:51:00 -0600

Jesus Offends Our Minds In Order To Get Our Hearts

A spontaneous living room conversation after watching the first 9 chapters of a “Gospel of John” video: It’s evident throughout John’s record of Jesus’ life that Jesus didn’t explain everything He said or did. People didn’t like it then and they don’t like it now. People want to understand. They want to make sense of things. But, the message today is the same as it was then. Jesus says, “You’ve gotta come through me to the Father. I’m the Way. It’s not through understanding. It’s through ME.” Christianity isn’t about understanding. It’s about being humble. It’s not about knowing things or making sense of things or understanding how it’s going to turn our or how it all fits. It’s about having a humble heart.

God was there with them. Right there! Yet they missed Him because they approached Him with their brains. Obedience is what matters, not understanding. When you approach God with your brain, you can’t get your hands around anything. So, because they approached Him with their brains, Jesus let them be confused.

He offends our minds in order to get our hearts.

“Eat my flesh and drink my blood.” He never explained Himself. He never defended Himself. “Oh, I didn’t really mean draw blood from my veins and drink it. I didn’t mean chomp on my neck. Come back and let me tell you what I really meant.” No, He didn’t do that. Even though they thought He was a whacko, He didn’t defend Himself. Think of how hard it would’ve been. Here’s a human being telling you that you can’t have eternal life unless you eat his fingers and toes. But Jesus was willing to offend them in ways that are incomprehensible.

That’s the only kind of Christianity there is: “If I can’t have your heart without you understanding every detail of who I am, then I can’t have you around.” They had to understand that God speaks a different language. They screamed, “He’s breaking the commands of God.” But, He wasn’t. But they couldn’t understand, and so they rejected Him. He was trying to offend their minds, because in the Kingdom of God you can’t figure it out with your mind. If you do figure it out, then it’s not Christianity.

“They’ve made themselves to be gods, knowing good and evil.” They were eating from the wrong tree: “It’s not fair unless...”; “If I don’t understand it, then it can’t be true...”; If I think it contradicts this, or in my mind I think the Scriptures are supposed to mean that, then I reject it because I’m in control and I’m “god.” And Jesus said, “Unless you’re as a little child, unless you come to Me because you love Me—whether you understand it or not—then it’s not really Christianity. You’re never going to enjoy Me and participate with Me in the unseen world as long as you have to be a god with your teeny-tiny little brain and figure everything out and have all the answers and have everything be fair and just and true and reasonable and provable.”

Christianity is not like that. The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob (going way back BEFORE Jesus) was not like that. He never let us figure Him out. “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it entered into the heart or the mind of man what God has prepared for those who love Him.” It’s foolishness to those without the Spirit. But the Spiritual man judges all things, discerns all things. And, we have the Mind of Christ. This distinction is about how we view things.

It’s a scandal, a stumbling stone, to the Greeks and to the Jews. The Jews hate it because it doesn’t allow them to be in charge. It doesn’t allow them to do their rituals, to find their forum, and to be able to be the “chosen people” based on their bloodline. So, the Jews are totally offended by it. The Greeks’ minds are offended. They had to have it all figured out, and if they couldn’t understand it then they’re mad. So, the Jews and the Greeks both lose out. The religious people and the people who think they have to have all the answers, they have to have it on their own terms—all those people miss it (1Cor.1-2).

Someone says, “Well this guy’s from Nazareth, but the Messiah’s from Bethlehem.”

And Jesus just looked at him, “...Okay... if that’s what you think.”

“Yeah, I can prove it. It’s right here in the Scriptures. See! Right here: ‘Bethlehem,’ ‘David’s lineage’... I can prove it. So, you can’t be the Messiah because it says right here...”

Jesus said, “...Okay... if that’s what you think.”

He made no effort at all to try to help them figure it out. None. No explanation. He never said, “But, I was born in Bethlehem.” He made no explanation because if they couldn’t get it without all of the little helps in figuring it all out, then He knew that He’d never have their hearts. If they still had to be gods, then they’re competing with Him. And He said, “I’ll have no other gods. I’m a jealous God. I’ll have no other god before Me. And, you ain’t it. So drop it, love Me, sit at My feet... or go do something else! That’s what He said in Jn.6.

He gave them every chance to see that in Him was Life and that Life became the Light of men. He gave them every chance to see Life. And if they allowed that Life to become their Light then they could walk with Him. But not many did. “Few will be those who find it.” Not many people will let Life become the Light. They have to have a handle on it. They have to have control of it, otherwise they are offended and they’re mad. And, Jesus said, “Soften up. Look to Me for Life. And if you see My Life and you see My smile and you see My Kindness and Goodness—then walk with Me and we’ll figure out the rest as we go along the way. Trust Me and we’ll figure it out as we go along the way. Trust Me NOW. I don’t have to prove it to you. I don’t have to justify Myself. I don’t have to give you all the answers and all the explanations. Trusting Me now means that I call the shots. That means that the way it IS, is the way I want it. And you’re going to have to trust that I KNOW BEST. And, until you trust that, then you can’t walk with Me.”

“You have to trust that I KNOW BEST,” saith the Lord, “and like it. LIKE it.” It goes against everything you want, everything that makes sense. But like it anyway, because He’s the Author and you know that wherever He takes you is going to be a good place. That’s trust. That’s faith. Without faith, without trust, it’s impossible to please God. So, the very nature of this thing that we signed up for (or are hanging around, for those of you who haven’t yet been born a second time) is very offensive to our little brains because the Call is to trust instead of the white-knuckled control thing that all humans want to do.

Few will be those who find it because few will be those who let Him be God. Would the pot or the clay say to the potter: “Why did you make me this way?” “Why can’t I have this or that?” “Would you please explain this to me?” “This isn’t fair because of _____” “I want this....” No! The clay doesn’t say that. The clay just rests and lets the Potter form it just as He pleases because clay is the Potter’s stuff.

That’s the big issue. We are created in God’s image so that we are capable (in the next realm, in the next era, in the next dimension) of ruling and reigning with Him, of judging angels, of reigning over a whole new galaxy, over a whole new universe, a whole different dimension. We’re created in His image so that we’re capable of doing all this stuff with Him on His level with HIM. We’re created in His image, but there is a problem with that. The problem is that we have all this stinkin’ arrogance and self-will that comes out just like lucifer, who was thrown out of Heaven. He said, “I will ascend. I will be like God. I will make my own decisions. Aren’t I pretty? Can’t I do good. Aren’t I smart.” He was thrown out of Heaven because he began looking at what God had made and he thought he was somebody. And lucifer became the devil. He became satan and was thrown out of Heaven. satan used to be an angel, but he was given the choice of whether he would look at himself or look at God.

We all have that same choice. Do we look at ourselves and play god, or do we look at God and abandon our right to make our decisions, to have our rights, get what we want, push our weight around, have our opinions, be frustrated, be disappointed, be egotistical or arrogant, or _____. Those are all qualities that the clay is not supposed to ever have. To be Christ-like is simply to be clay and let God be God.

So, we are created in God’s image and we have this capacity for seeing, knowing, feeling, and understanding. We have this capacity that animals don’t have. And that becomes a battle because now we have to turn around and lay that down. We’re created in God’s image so that we CAN rule and reign with Him. And, yet the ONLY way into that Kingdom is to abandon ourselves, make ourselves nothing, and take on the form of a slave.

“Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. Though He was an equal to God, He emptied Himself and made Himself nothing, taking on the form of a slave... even to the point of death.” (Php.2).

Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. Created in God’s image, but “let this mind be in you.” Because there’s no other way into the Kingdom of God than to make yourself nothing. But it’s a choice, because you were given certain things: capacity to see, to feel, to know, to understand, and to have a will. Of course we were given that capacity so that we could reign with Him ultimately, and be with Him on His level to do the things He wants us to do in the next era, in the next realm. But, for now, the only way to get there is to make ourselves nothing. We can’t get there as long as we’re fussing and looking at ourselves. We can’t get there as long as we’re being dominated by our own flesh, dominated by the enemy taunting us and trying to provoke us into thinking that we are somebody, and that we have rights and opinions, and we know things.

“But He wasn’t born in Bethlehem.” Do you think you know that? And, do you think you’re right just because Jesus isn’t arguing the point with you? Wrong! You’re going to lose EVERYTHING because you have opinions. You’re sure you know and you’re sure you can prove it because the “Scriptures say” and because your brain knows everything there is to know about the way it’s supposed to be, doesn’t it?

The battle has to do with this issue of trust. Will we let go of all of our rights, our opinions, and our judgments... all of that junk? Will we let go of this thing warring inside of us that wants to be a god because we were created in His Image? Will we, instead, have this mind that was also in Christ Jesus and let go of all those rights and opinions and preferences... all this kind of stuff? Will we just let God choose our path, order our circumstances, put the things and people and circumstances into our life as He’s designed them? Will we let Him do that without us having to be the ruler and judge of everybody else’s things and opinions and circumstances: “Well, I would if you would....” That’s nonsense. God is God. You are not. Let it go.

Without trust it’s impossible to please God, to bring Him pleasure, to share His Pleasure. So, as we continue through John’s account of Jesus’ time as a man, keep watching for this enigma, this irony, this mystery of incarnation, of God in the flesh. Watch and see how flesh relates to God. This is all about the Jesus that we’re giving our lives to, and “few will be those who find it.”

Just because you hang around here doesn’t mean anything. It doesn’t even matter if you’ve been around here for twenty years. It still doesn’t mean anything. You still can only get in one way and that’s to make yourself as a child. Empty yourself. Make yourself nothing. Trust Him. He knows what He’s doing. He’s God. He KNOWS WHAT HE’S DOING. Trust Him. Let go. Trust Him. Trust Him.

12/11/2003

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Delivered to Satan--Part 1

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:42:00 -0600

Delivered to Satan--Part 1

by
John MacArthur
All Rights Reserved

(A copy of this message on cassette tape may be obtained by calling 1-800-55-GRACE)

1 Timothy 1:20 Tape: GC 54-9

For this morning, I want you to open your Bible to 1 Timothy chapter 1 verses 18 through 20...1 Timothy chapter 1 verses 18 through 20. This is a very brief section of Scripture, a rather clear one as we have found out in our last two studies together. But in spite of its brevity and in spite of its clarity, it is given rise to three messages as of today and I won't even finish today so they'll be a fourth next Lord's day on this brief passage. The reason for that is because it opens to our thinking so much very important and quite profound truth. Let me read these three verses to you and then get into what it is that the Lord has given us for today.
First Timothy 1:18: "This command I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which pointed to thee that thou by them might war a good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience which some having put away have made shipwreck concerning the faith, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme."

My intention for this Lord's day was just to finish up the third point in the outline and move on next Lord's day to chapter 2. But as I began to look at verse 20, which was the final point in this brief outline looking at the passage, I was struck by the statement "whom I have delivered unto Satan." And I found myself pressed to pursue the meaning of that idea. What does it mean to be delivered to Satan? And so, as we understand the significance of verse 20, we must understand a greater context of being delivered to Satan. Then this will make good sense to us.

So, if I might, this morning and next Lord's day, I want to expand that idea of being delivered to Satan. I even desire to illustrate it with some very pointed and specific illustrations out of our own congregation so that we'll understand exactly what that phrase comes to mean. It is a frightening line, delivered unto Satan. It is a startling thought that someone would be given over to the devil himself, but that is precisely what it says, that is precisely what Paul has done to these two men and it is precisely what he is inviting Timothy to do as well to others who are worthy of such a fate. It is a portion of the ministry of the church as it is a ministry of God Himself to deliver people to Satan.

Now the word "deliver" in verse 20, paradidomi means to hand over, to give over, to commit. Or the best translation to get the sense here, to abandon...to abandon, hands off is the idea, to remove protection and abandon someone to Satan. It is the same word in Acts 15:26 that the Authorized version translates "hazarded." Because it intends to convey the idea of being exposed to great danger, to be out from under any insulation, any protection, any shelter and given over totally to Satan.

Now Paul did this at the church at Ephesus as he says and he invites Timothy to carry on the same kind of work. So it is a work of importance and it is a work of God.

There is a parallel to this, one other passage which uses the same terms and I want you to turn to it in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. First Corinthians chapter 5 speaks of a person who is guilty of a form of incest in the church and it says in verse 5 of this person, this person living with his father's wife in a fornication relationship, verse 5, "Enjoins the church at Corinth to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh." Those two places, 1 Timothy 1:20, 1 Corinthians 5:5, are the two places in the New Testament where we have the idea of abandoning someone to Satan explicitly stated in that way.

Now listen carefully to what I say because it's essential that you understand this. There are some people who go around today and say there are no conditions under which any Christian should ever be subject to Satan. I hear that from Charismatic people continually and that is not what the Scripture teaches. The Scripture clearly teaches that not only is it a possibility to be handed over to Satan but it is a ministry of the church to do that. There are times and places and circumstances under the plan of God in which individuals are definitely to be turned over to Satan. And there are times and occasions when God Himself does that very thing.

Now listen carefully as we analyze this biblically. Being turned over to Satan in both of these references that I have mentioned to you has the idea of being put out of the church, of being disfellowshipped, or in the old terminology, excommunicated. It has the idea of being cut off from any further association with the saints of God and the Lord's table. It would be in the terms of Matthew 18 to take one who has by continual sin been put out of the church and treat them like an unbeliever. It is to say then that to turn someone over to Satan means that prior to that they were not fully in his power else there could be no turning over, there could be no committing and no abandoning to Satan if they were already in his power.

Now 1 John 5:19 says the whole world lies in the lap of the wicked one. The world is already in his hands. The world has already been delivered to him by sin. The instruction to the church to turn someone over to Satan means that that someone is not at that time fully in Satan's control. So we must therefore be talking about people who are in one way or another under the umbrella of protection provided by the church. And there is in the church the insulation and the protection and the care and the love and the blessing of God. So we're talking here about people who are under the care of the church or within the community of redeemed people, under the protection of God, a part of the pouring out of His blessing who are at some point in time put out of that protection and left fully exposed to Satan.

Now, this could be true of believers or unbelievers. You say, "How so?" Because there are unbelievers in the church as there were unbelievers within the community of the redeemed in Israel who by virtue of their association with the people of God were therefore under certain amount of protection. And by virtue of a splash effect, people who are around those who are receiving the showers of blessing are also going to get wet. And so God has given even to an unbeliever by virtue of his proximity to or his involvement with the redeemed community a certain amount of protection...a certain amount of blessing.

Let's look at some illustrations of that. The first one is in Genesis chapter 18...Genesis chapter 18. And I think you're going to see some very startling things as we examine this. In Genesis chapter 18 and verse 26, God had articulated that He was going to destroy the city of Sodom, a city filled with evil, a wretched city known for its flagrant violent homosexuality. And in verse 26 the Lord says in His conversation with Abraham, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I'll spare all the place for their sakes." Isn't that amazing? You have a whole city, the sin of which has risen to the nostrils of God, gross evil, a whole city which deserves the wrath of God to be poured out and the Lord says, "If I can find 50 righteous people, I'll spare the whole city." Now that's the insulation that comes to the undeserving simply because of their proximity to the righteous.

Abraham says, "What about 45?" in verse 28. And the Lord says, "All right, if I can find 45, I won't destroy it." Abraham's on a roll at this point, so he says, "What about 40?" The Lord says, "I'll not do it for 40's sake." "Suppose 30?" "I'll not do it for 30." Gets all the way down to verse 32 and he says, "What about 10?" And the Lord said, "Suppose there shall be 10." Abraham says the Lord said, "I won't destroy it for 10's sake." Amazing. A whole city of thousands and thousands of people would be spared because of God's desire to be gracious to 10 people who belong to Him. By the way, there weren't 10 and God did destroy the city.

But the point is this, proximity to, and involvement with the redeemed people of God acts as a protection and an insulation even to unbelievers. And that can be seen in the history of Israel. There were within the nation Israel many unbelieving Jews, many--in the words of Paul--Jews who were not true Jews, were Jews by nationality but not by faith, and yet all of God's abundant blessing to the nation, giving them the promised land with all of its riches, pouring out the wondrous blessing of the ceremonial sacrificial system and the priesthood, all of God's protection and care and defeating of their enemies was a blessing to the secular Jew in that nation as much as it was in one sense to the religious Jew for it acted as a protection and insulation for the unbeliever as well.

The point is the same in the church. The church has unbelievers in it who by virtue of just being in the church visibly, by attending and associating, are therefore the recipient of the blessing that the Lord pours out on His church in a secondary sense. To see that illustrated, turn in your Bible to 1 Corinthians chapter 7 where it is most significantly made clear. And here Paul is discussing marriage and the question of whether an unbelieving partner should...a believing partner rather should stay with an unbelieving partner. If you're a Christian wife, should you stay with a non-Christian husband? If you're a Christian husband, should you stay with a non-Christian wife? And in verse 14, Paul answers the question by saying, "The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband." And then goes on to say, "Else were your children unclean but now they too are sanctified."

In other words, an unbelieving spouse and children within a family where there is a non-believer are all the beneficiaries of God's blessing. Sanctified doesn't mean they're saved, it doesn't mean they receive redemption by virtue of their family relationship, what it does mean is that there again is that splash effect. They're around when the showers of blessing come and they get wet.

So, the point that Paul is making is don't unload your unchristian spouse because of the benefit to him or her in just being around you when God pours out His grace. And even the children are blessed and often led to salvation. So the idea then is this, that there is in the shelter of the people of God a protection from the full blast of Satan's evil designs. And we could conclude in the Old Testament that an unbelieving Jew in the nation Israel was better off than an unbelieving Jew outside the nation Israel where there was no promise of covenant protection. And we can conclude in the new covenant that an unbeliever associated with the church and involved with the church is better off than an unbeliever out there under the full fury of Satan and lying in the arms of the wicked one. Simply by virtue of the fact that as God is good to His own, those who are in proximity to His own will benefit in some way from that goodness. And that explains why there are people who want to hang around the church even though they do not want to receive the Christ who is the head of the church.

Now it is important to note then that for someone to be delivered over to Satan means that they are put out of the insulation and protection of that believing community and they are given over fully to Satan, God withdrawing all of His hand of protection which they to what ever degree have enjoyed.

Now I want you to understand how this works so I want to go back to the Old Testament and I want you to see as well as the New Testament this morning that God has...listen carefully...for his own reasons personally put people out from under the protection of the believing community and into Satan's control. God Himself has done that. And I want you to see that from several biblical illustrations.

Let's go back to the book of Job. And this is where we begin, the book of Job. In Job chapter 1, we are introduced to this man who was perfect and upright and feared God and shunned evil. It describes him as a man who had ten children, 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 she asses, a great household. This man was the greatest of all the men of the east. His sons went and feasted in their houses, everyone his day and sent and called for their three sisters who eat and drink with them. And when the days of their feasting were finished that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all, for Job said it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts, thus did Job continually.

This man was so spiritually conscientiousness that he not only kept his heart right before God but he offered sacrifices for his children on just the presumption that they may have thought something in their heart that was wrong and he wanted to be sure that sin was covered. This is a good man, the best of men, as well as the most prosperous man in the east.

Now in verse 6 there is a day when the sons of God, that refers to angels, came to present themselves before the Lord. Now we don't know what day it was. We don't know what the occasion was. We don't know what the circumstances were. That's as much as we know, that angelic beings came before the Lord and Satan came with them, he being that fallen one, Lucifer. He came and the Lord said, "Satan, where did you come from?" And Satan answered the Lord and said, "From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it," which tells us where he spends his time. And the Lord said unto Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? Have you considered My servant?"

You see, Satan is always wanting to diminish the work of God, always wanting to destroy the work of God, always wanting to show God up. And I'm sure he was there to make some accusation against God before all the rest of the angelic beings that were there. He wanted to make God look bad, that's his desire. And so, God says, "Have you looked at My servant Job? And what a good man he is. And Satan answered the Lord and says, Does Job fear God for nothing?" You think he loves You and trusts You and believes in You the way he does for nothing? You think he does that just because it's in his heart to do that? Why, "You made a hedge around him and around his house and around all he has on every side, and You bless the work of his hands, and his substance has increased in the land."

Why do you think he worships You, because he's a pragmatist, he knows who's delivering the goods. I mean, it's simple, he knows how to open the flood gate, he does his thing for You and You unload on him, all the blessings, of course he's good. But not for nothing. Hmph. "Put forth Your hand now," Satan says in verse 11, "touch all that he has, he'll curse You to Your face." Take away his stuff and he'll curse Your faith.

"And the Lord said to Satan," follow this, "Behold all that he has is in your power." Underline that. Behold all that he has is in your power. God turned Job over to Satan, no question about it. God turned Job over to Satan. That was a divine act by the sovereignty of God. Only upon himself don't put your hand. You can do anything you want to his stuff, but don't touch him.

So, Satan went out of the presence of the Lord. He was turned over to Satan. "And there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house, there came a messenger to Job and said the oxen were plowing and the ass is feeding beside them and the Sabeans fell upon them, took them away." Hymph. "They have slain the servants with the edge of the sword and I only am escaped to tell you. And while he was yet speaking, there came also another and said the fire of God has fallen from heaven and has burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them and I am only escaped to tell you."

Satan did several things. He got inside and infused hatred into the Sabeans. They came and wiped out some of his animals. Satan got some people to start a fire, burned up all his crops and all of his sheep. The Chaldeans came, he motivated the Chaldeans. You see, Satan moves upon all kinds of human agencies. They fell on the camels, carried them away, slew the servants with the edge of the sword, lost it all. Verse 19, "And there came a great wind from the wilderness, smote the four corners of the house where everybody was having a banquet. It fell on the young man and they're dead and I'm the only one escaped." Just wiped him out. Just wiped him out, all of his crops, all of his animals, all of his sons.

"And Job tore his mantle, shaved his head, fell on the ground and cursed God." Is that what it says? Fell on the ground and what? Worshiped. And said, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away." Listen to this line, what? "Blessed be the name of the Lord."

And in all this, Job did not sin, nor charge God with some kind of folly. You say, "What's the point?" The point is this, God made a point to the devil and to the whole world of people who have ever read that account. And the point is this, that true saving faith is not dependent on positive circumstances. That's the point. What a point. You see, the devil thought well, these people follow You because You give them all the stuff. And what the Lord is saying is I'll tell you this, that when I redeem a life and when I transform a life and when a soul is converted and when a man truly loves Me, that love is not built on circumstances. And in a sense, Job is just almost superfluous to the point here. God is making a point with Satan and to make the point He uses Job and the point is to show the strength and the continuity and the unwavering character of true saving faith, true love for God. Tremendous.

I hear all the time out of the book of Job that Job is to teach us how to deal with suffering. Job, the whole point of Job is to show the character of a godly man. And the character of a godly man is that he loves God and worships God not because of what God has done in giving him things, but because of a pure devotion alone. He trusted God.

Satan came back. Another time there was a meeting in chapter 2 and Satan goes through the same conversation. God says, "Have you considered My servant Job? And he says, Let me at him again." And so in verse 6 chapter 2 the Lord said to Satan, "Behold he's in your hand, this time you can hit him but you can't kill him....you can't kill him. Satan went right out of the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to his crown." Mark it, folks, Satan can bring disease...Satan can bring disease. And here is Job with a broken piece of pottery, scrapping off the scabs and boils as he sits in the ash pile. And that was a symbol of his mourning and his sadness. And his very helpful wife who was not a Proverbs 31 woman, comes up and says, "Curse God and die." And he said to her, "You're a foolish woman. Shall we receive good at the hand of God and not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips."

This is incredible. God is making a monumental point about the nature of true salvation, about the nature of true godliness, about the nature of a really upright heart. The person who really loves God is not the person who loves God because of what he gets, but the person who loves God because of who he is. That's the point. And you say, "Well, it wasn't very fair to make Job the illustration just to make a point." Oh? You've got to see beyond just the life of one individual to the fact that God was making a point for all eternity. He has the sovereign right to do that.

Well, you know how the rest of the story goes. He has a bunch of well-meaning friends who come over and give him a bunch of baloney, from chapter 4 to chapter 37. That's, you know, 33 or 34 chapters of double-talk. And in the middle of it all, Job is sad and he's heartbroken. Chapter 3 through chapter 10 chronicle Job's sorrow and he's really hurting. He's in pain, "O that my grief were thoroughly weighed and my calamity laid in the balances," chapter 6 verse 2. Chapter 10, he says, "My soul is weary of life." And he says in verse 2 of chapter 10, "God, do not condemn me, show me why You're contending with me." What are You doing with me? I just want to know what's going on. I can't understand it. I can't explain it. I've lost my crops, my animals, my sons, my home. I've lost my health. All I've got left is a wife that I'd really like to trade in for a few of the other things that I lost. And in all of this, I don't have any clue about why this is going on. Why are You doing this?

There's no answer. The heavens are vaulted. They're absolutely silent. And in the vacuum in the silence of God come all these other people with their wrong answers. Finally, wonderfully in chapter 38, God speaks. And it says, "Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind." You know what the Lord said? The Lord didn't say, "Well, look, Job, I want to tell you about this. Now here's why I'm doing this, see. First of all, Satan came up there one day and he said...."

Listen, Job didn't know that until he read this book later, which he probably never did. He didn't know. He didn't know what was going on in chapter 1 and 2. That happened in heaven. He didn't know that. And when the Lord comes the Lord doesn't tell him. The Lord just says, in effect, why are you even asking those kind of questions, where were you when I made the world? Where were you when I laid out the foundation? Where were you when I created mountains and seas? Where were you when the morning stars, the angels sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy at the creation? What do you know about life? What do you know about death?

In other words, what He's saying is I'll do exactly what I want and who are you to question Me? And He just reveals Himself, His omnipotence, His character.

And finally Job gets the message in chapter 42. "And Job answered the Lord and said, O, I see, I get it, You can do everything and no thought can be withheld from You and who's ever going to hide counsel without knowledge, therefore have I uttered that which I understood not, things too wonderful for me which I knew not."

You know what he says? God, I understand, You're God, You're sovereign, You can do anything. You know everything. You have all the privileges. I'm a fool for even opening my mouth, I apologize. I've been talking about things far beyond my understanding which I knew not. Too awesome for me to understand. "So hear me, Lord, hear me, and this is what I want You to hear. I had heard of You with the hearing of mine ear, but now my eyes seeth You." What does he mean by that? I knew about You only from hearing, now I know about You from personal experience. I've seen You in action. And I hate myself and repent in dust and ashes.

This dear man showed his godliness. He had the right response. O God, he said, the sin in all of this is my sin, for not recognizing Your sovereign right to give and take away. What I said in the beginning is true, the Lord gave, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Who was I to ever question? God, You had every right to do what You did.

Listen, the whole point of this book is to show the character of genuine godliness, is to show the unbreakable reality of a redeemed soul, that under no pressure will he abandon his God, under no pressure will he deny his God, under the loss of everything he stands true. Someone came to me this morning after the first service and said, "I think now for the first time I understand why God has brought suffering into my life, I never could understand it. We've examined every single possible reason and now," he said, "people are always saying to me, I can't believe that you can have such great faith in God in the midst of this, and now I understand that that's the point."

If nothing else, it demonstrates the character of true conversion, see, of true love for God. And it led Job from a limited understanding of God to an even greater understanding for God. And, of course, God poured out blessings starting in verse 7, gave him back more than he had to begin with. God blessed him with tremendous abundance and he died, but not until he was old and full of days, verse 17 says. He had the most beautiful daughters. God gave him the most handsome sons. God gave him the finest crops. Yes, there comes a time when God will reward the faithful person. But, for a time--mark it--the Lord in His sovereign purpose may choose to turn one of His own over to Satan for His own purposes, if for nothing else then to demonstrate to a watching world the strength and character of genuine conversion so that the world will see people who love God not for what He gives but for who He is. And our weak insipid shallow pop theology of today is ignorant of that. Job was used by God to prove the character of true love for God, true devotion to God. What a thought.

And it was not without great benefit to him because he learned about God's sovereignty. And he learned a deeper love of God. He found in himself some sins he didn't know he had and he understood the necessity submitting...of submitting himself to divine rule no matter what it involved.

A true believer then can be given over to Satan to bring greater glory to God. But Satan has limits to what he can do, right? First, God said to him you can't touch him. The second time around, you can touch him but you can't...what?...you can't kill him. There's always a restraint even when one is turned over to Satan.

Do not be surprised, beloved, that within the church of Jesus Christ there are some who unable to find any reasons why end up in a situation where it looks like God has totally removed His hand of protection and blessing. And they are in the same quizzical confusion of a Job, they cannot understand why it happened, they cannot humanly explain why it happened. And the answer is somewhere on a divine level which may or may not become known to us. But God has His holy purposes. And in His grace there will come a restoration and a time of great blessing.

Now turn with me as another illustration of this to Matthew chapter 4. And I want to show you something that is equally amazing, Matthew chapter 4. Now here we find another act by which God turns over someone to Satan. And this time it's one who is even more upright than Job, one who is even more perfect than Job, one who was utterly and absolutely and totally without sin, even the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Notice Matthew chapter 4 verse 1. "Then was Jesus led up by the Spirit into the wilderness." Let up by the Spirit...Mark 1:12 says He was impelled by the Spirit. For what purpose? Notice, "For the purpose of being tempted, or tested, by the devil."

Now listen to that. God not only turned Job over to the devil, He turned Christ over to him also. That's exactly what it says. He turned Christ over to Satan. As God put Job in Satan's hands and proved the character of true salvation, and proved Job's character, so God put His own beloved Son in the hands of Satan to prove His character and to show that He would not break and that He would not waver and that He would stand true as the perfect God-man.

And you'll notice in verse 2, this temptation went on for 40 days and 40 nights. I believe that the temptation not only came at the end but I believe if you compare all the gospel records, you will find that there was temptation through all of those times. Now a fast of 40 days and 40 nights is a tremendously weakening experience. Jesus is at a highly vulnerable point. And at the end of those 40 days and 40 nights there was a great culmination to that temptation, but that is not to say that the temptation didn't come until the end. I believe He was tempted through all of that and a great culminating temptation at the end. It was a time of great weakness physically, when He did not eat or drink. It was a time of great aloneness.

And I read one of the Puritans this week who said that Satan is a pirate who looks to find a vessel that sails without a fleet. And Satan is a pirate who looks to find a vessel who sails without a fleet, to find some believer isolated and alone without the protection of others. And there is Christ alone 40 days and 40 nights, weak in a place that George Adam Smith called the devastation of yellow limestone, a place of barrenness, on the precipice over looking the Dead Sea on the backside of the plateau of Jerusalem. And there the devil comes to Him by design from God who led Him there by His Spirit and tempts Him. And tempts Him in the areas where He had a right.

First of all, tempts Him to bread. And was He not the Son of God and did He not have a right to eat and did He not make everything that was made? And if He could make bread for a multitude, could He not make it for Himself? And then tempted Him to dive off the temple and thus be hailed as the Messiah and take the right that was His, and was it not His? And then to take the kingdoms of the world, and were they not His by promise? He tempted Him in the areas where He had a right, but Christ resisted in the midst of weakness and aloneness all of those temptations. Verse 11 then says, "The devil left Him and the angels came and ministered to Him."

God put His own Son in the hands of Satan. And then blessed Him in the end with the ministry of angels for having passed the test, as He blessed Job for having passed the test. Yes, God by His own sovereign design may choose to put one of His very own, even His own Son, into the hands of Satan to bring Himself greater glory.

Second Corinthians chapter 12, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul says it's not expedient or fitting for me, doubtless to glory, or to boast, it's not right for me to boast, he says. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. And he had had so many visions, you know, he had seen Jesus Christ risen from the dead. He had revelations. He says I...referring to himself...he says, I know a man...he speaks a rather second-handed here because again he doesn't want to boast. And this man, whether in the body, I can't tell, or out of the body, he can't really define it, was caught up into the third heaven, that is the dwelling place of God. He was caught up, verse 4 says, into paradise, verse 3, he doesn't know whether it was in the body or out, he doesn't know the actual spiritual dynamics of what happened, he just knows he was there. He heard unspeakable words which are not lawful for any man to utter. But I won't glory on such a one, I myself will not glory. The only think I'll boast about is my infirmity.

I mean, there was a great temptation in the life of Paul because of his many successes and visions and revelations to be very boastful. But I won't do that. I would desire to boast, verse 6, but I'm not going to be a fool. So I'll say the truth, but now I forebear, I hold back, lest any man should think of me above that which he sees me to be or hears of me. I don't want anybody having an unfair or exaggerated opinion of me so I don't boast, even though I've had these things. But I have to confess, he says in verse 7, it's not just me that's restraining, verse 7, unless I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations. In other words, what keeps me from doing this is...watch this...there was given to me, and I believe the implication there is God has brought that, God has allowed that, this is a godly man, this is a holy man, this is an upright man like Job was an upright man, this is a man who knows the Christian experience like perhaps no man who ever lived, other than the God-man Himself. So he is not a sinful man, he deals with those areas of his life before God.

We don't really know what it was, but I want you to notice that the Lord gave him this and yet it is called in verse 7 "a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure." Listen to this, I believe that this text tells us that the Lord turned Paul over to Satan at least in this regard. He gave Satan the right to inflict him with physical pain. I don't believe that's the work of God, I believe that's the work of Satan. But I believe God intended that Satan be allowed to do that to keep Paul weak so that he would be dependent. Men with great gifts need that because they tend not to be dependent. God sent Paul into Satan's arena to be buffeted. The word "buffet" is used in Matthew 26:67 in describing Jesus on trial when they punched Him. It has a root word meaning "knuckles." And it has to do with blows of the fist that crush the tissue and the bone. And he says I've got this thorn in the flesh that drives its knuckles into my body. It is a messenger from Satan.

You think God could have prevented it? Sure. But God gave it to him so that he would not be proud but humble. Verse 8, "I asked the Lord three times to take it away...I asked Him." Somebody will say, well, some Charismatic will say to us, "Well, he didn't have enough faith." Don't give me that. That's foreign to the text. "Well, he didn't claim his deliverance." I don't buy that either. Because it tells you exactly what the Lord said. He said take it away, the Lord said no, My grace is sufficient for you, My strength is made perfect in that weakness. I'm not going to take it away because it is enough of a weakness to allow My strength to be manifest. So Paul says gladly, happily, I will boast in my infirmities. Why? Because the power of Christ rests on me. I take pleasure in my infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions, distresses for Christ's sake for when I am weak, then I'm...what?...strong.

Now, beloved, God gave to Job disaster, turned him over to Satan. Why? That Job might be living proof of the character of a godly man, that Job might learn that God was sovereign, that Job might know God more intimately and better than he had ever ever thought to know God because in his struggles he was drawn to God in ways that his prosperity could never bring him. So God turned Job over to Satan for wonderful reasons. And restrains Satan from ultimately destroying Job.

God turned Christ over to Satan to prove His purity. God turned Paul over to Satan, at least in this one area, so that Satan could be the instrument of God to keep Paul humble so that he would know where his strength was and therefore was a more effective service...isn't that...servant. So the Lord turns Job over to Satan to prove himself to be a godly man. The Lord turns Paul over to Satan that Paul may be a greater more effective servant that he may learn humility and that he may learn dependence.

I want you to turn to Luke 22...Luke 22 and verse 31. In Luke 22 verse 31, listen, the Lord said, "Simon, Simon," He's talking to Peter, "Simon, Simon." He's calling him his old name because he sees characteristics of his old self, sin. So He chooses the old name to emphasize that...that oldness that He sees in his behavior. And He says it twice because of His compassion. "Simon, Simon," it's pathos, "Behold, Satan has desired you." And I believe that is true, that is true of every believer. Satan would love to go around as a roaring lion and devour every believer and show God and show the angels. I think Satan would like the other angels to rebel. I think Satan wants to make his point. And if he could just capture the saved, if he could just have them abandon their salvation, if he could just swallow them up in his own evil kingdom, then he could win a victory over God, then he could "Checkmate" God, at least at one point.

So, Satan desires to have you, particularly did Satan desire Peter because Peter was so crucial to the development of the church, the great preacher God used in the founding years. Satan wants you. And he wants to sift you like wheat. In other words, he wants to blow you away. He wants your personality to disintegrate like wheat does when it's thrown in the air and just blows away the chaff. He wants to blow away your confidence, and blow away your usefulness and blow away your trust in God, and blow away your security, and blow away your effectiveness. He wants you.

You think the Lord could have prevented it? Of course. The same Lord who will bind Satan for a thousand years in a pit in the book of Revelation could certainly have bound him here from touching Peter, but He didn't. Look at verse 32, "I've prayed for you that your faith not ultimately fail." I've prayed for you that you're not going to ultimately lose your salvation. Just like He said you can go so far with Job and no farther, you can go so far with Paul and no farther, you can go so far with Peter and no farther, you're not going to have ultimate failure of your faith. Then He says, "But when you return," which is to say I'm going to what? I'm going to let you...I'm going to let you go, I'm going to let you go to Satan. And when you come back, do what? Strengthen the brethren.

Now what was Peter being released to Satan to learn? To learn how to what? Strengthen others, right? He being put through this situation could then come back and strengthen others. In the case of Job, God was making a point to Satan. And God was making a point to the whole world of people who read the Bible that a true lover of God will not abandon that love and devotion though he lose everything. A great profound lesson. In the case of Paul, He was teaching humility and dependence. In the case of Peter, He wanted someone who could tell others how it was to be in the clutches of Satan. When you've been through it and you come back, then God use you to strengthen others. It may be that the Lord in His sovereignty will take a believer who is in some way disobedient, sinful, boastful like Peter was and say, "All right, I'm going to let you go, you think you can handle it on your own?" Peter says, "Though I'll forsake You, I'll never forsake You, boy, I'll stand with You, I'll die with You, I'll go with You to the end."

All right, if you think you're so great, I'll just test you. And He let you go. A boasting Christian may find himself out from under the protection of God, given over to Satan and what he'll learn is that you can't do it on your own. And so, I believe, the Lord literally delivered Peter to Satan so that when he came back he would be a source of strength to everybody else. And Peter comes back in verse 33, "Lord, I'm ready to go with You to prison and to death." And, of course, when he had the chance he denied Christ three times, right? And then in verse 62 he went out and wept bitterly. And I believe he repented and I believe he got his heart right with God.

The point is this, the Scripture indicates that people who are within the framework of the community of believers, whether you're talking about 1 Timothy 1, Hymenaeus and Alexander who were pastors in the church, whether you're talking about Old Testament characters like Job, whether you're talking about Jesus Christ Himself, whether you're talking about Paul or talking about Peter, these people who belong to the Lord's kingdom one way or another who are under the protection of it can for God's own purposes of remedial instruction and correction and training and illustration of great truth be brought into the dominion of Satan unprotected for God's holy purpose and glory. Some are turned over to Satan for refining, some are... like Peter was. Some are turned over to Satan for greater effectiveness like Paul was. Some for proving the validity of their faith like Job was, but in all of those, the greater glory goes to God in praising Him for the kind of salvation that holds a Job, the kind of power that humbles a Paul and that restores a Peter. And so, God receives the glory in all those things.

Mark it, beloved, people within the fellowship of the church, be they believers or unbelievers, and in the cases that we've looked at today they're all believers, can be put out for testing...for testing, to prove whatever it is that God would desire be proven.

Now, next Lord's day we're going to see what happens to unbelievers and to some believers, also, within the church who are put out, mark this one, not for testing, strengthening and proving but for chastening and judgment, for chastening and judgment. And that's a whole different issue and that will take us right back to 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 20. Let's bow together in prayer.

Our Father, we think about Job and we are reminded that his being turned over to Satan lasted for years and years, long years, before he could know the recovery of all that he lost. And we think of the Lord Jesus Christ, we think of one who was turned over to Satan for a few weeks. For the Apostle Paul, perhaps a few years. For Peter, just a day. And, Lord, we realize that You have Your purposes and in these the purposes were for proving and refining and strengthening to Your glory that Job and Paul and Christ and Peter might be the most noble servants that they were. And so, Lord, we acknowledge that should it make us better servants, we are willing to suffer whatever the enemy might bring knowing that he can bring nothing to ultimately cause our faith to fail because we are kept in Your grace and power. And if it can enhance and enrich that ministry to which we are called, then let us suffer whatever might be and commit our souls in faithful keeping to the one who loves us and gave Himself for us, the one who says, "No man, not Satan, not anyone, shall ever pluck My sheep out of My hand." And so, Lord, if it can be for strengthening, for refining, for humbling, for greater usefulness, for the proving of the genuineness of our faith to the watching world, then do in our lives what is needful that You might receive the glory and we'll count it a privilege.

While your heads are bowed in just this parting time, I know that the Spirit of God has probed your mind and you're perhaps viewing things in your own lives in ways you've never viewed them before, even as I have. My prayer is that you'll understand the Word of God in its application to your heart. I also pray that if you're not right with the Lord, you might be right with Him because there is also that chastening, there are those who come under the power of Satan because the Lord is chastening them, to purge them from sin. We're going to see that next Lord's day, but even in what we've seen today, you can see that lingering in the background. If you are to be placed under the hand of Satan for a time, or an area of life, be sure that it's for a holy purpose of greater usefulness to God and glory to His name rather than chastening or judgment.

© 2002 Grace to You

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Delivered to Satan--Part 2

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:32:00 -0600

Delivered to Satan--Part 2

by
John MacArthur
All Rights Reserved

(A copy of this message on cassette tape may be obtained by calling 1-800-55-GRACE)

1 Timothy 1:20 Tape: GC 54-10

First Timothy chapter 1, we're studying 1 Timothy, we are not in the last three verses of chapter 1. The text says, beginning at verse 18, "This command I commit unto thee son, Timothy, according to the prophecies which pointed to thee that thou by them mightest war a noble warfare; holding faith and a good conscience which some having put away have made shipwreck concerning the faith; of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme."

In our study of this passage, as we are expositing 1 Timothy, we have been noting all three verses. But for last Lord's day and today we are focusing in one phrase in verse 20, "delivered unto Satan." A fearful thought, a terrifying reality, but one that the church must understand. Satan, the enemy of God, the hater of good, liar, murderer, demon, leader of demonic forces, despiser of Christ, hellish fiend who lives to destroy all that God designs and will be consigned ultimately to the Lake of Fire to be tormented forever, Satan, that maker of perverts, that maker of madmen and criminals, devastator of families, creator of chaos, to be turned over to him is indeed a terrifying thought.

Now I mentioned last time we studied this that in order to be turned over to Satan, we must assume that prior to that one was not fully under his control. Let me explain that a little further. All unredeemed humanity are fallen in sin and the Scripture tells us in 1 John 5:19 that the whole world lies in the lap of the wicked one. Furthermore, Romans 1:18 to 32 says that because man has fallen into sin, God has given him up. It says it again, God has given him up. And a third time, God gave him over to a reprobate mind to work all forms of evil.

What that says is that God has abandoned the human race in sin to the power of Satan. That is why Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 2 says that all unredeemed people who are dead in trespasses and sins walk according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air who is called the spirit of disobedience who works in them. The whole unredeemed human race lies in Satan's power.

Who then are those that are turned over to Satan? They must be those who have found some haven from that. And indeed we saw last time, those who are a part of the redeemed community, even if they're unbelievers who outwardly associate, have found in that association a kind of protection. First Corinthians 7 says an unbelieving wife is sanctified by a believing husband, a believing wife sanctifies an unbelieving husband, and children are sanctified in a home where there is a believing parent.

In other words, to be identified at all with a redeemed community, even if it's only outward, is to find a haven away from the full fury of the blasts of Satan. For in the church as God pours out His blessing on the truly redeemed, it splashes on some of the unredeemed who find themselves in proximity to those who belong to God.

To be turned over to Satan then is to take that believer or that unbeliever who is in the family of the redeemed, at least outwardly, and push them out into the full fury of Satan's world. And that's what we're talking about. Some people by God's design, by His sovereign purpose and as a holy act for His own intention and will are thrust out of the protected place of the church into the Satanic dimension. And we're learning about that.

Paul instructs Timothy in this first chapter that he's going to have to do that with certain people in the church at Ephesus where he is now located. Paul says I set the example, in verse 20, because I took Hymenaeus and Alexander and I put them out, I delivered them over to Satan that they might be literally, physically trained, or physically punished for their blasphemy.

Now that's the pattern for what I want you to do. The church is a wonderful haven, a place of protection for believers. It is even a place where unbelievers can come and find a certain amount of haven from the fury of Satan. But also, the Scripture is very clear, that for God's own purposes there are times and there are people who are thrown out into Satan's domain.

Now let me just remind you of what we said last week. Sometimes the Lord turns a true believer over to Satan for a positive reason tied to His own sovereignty. And we saw that in illustration in the life of Job. Job was not just a good man, he was the best of men, an upright man who honored God with everything in his life, a righteous man, a God-loving, God- fearing man. And yet it tells us in the book of Job that he was delivered over to Satan and Satan was allowed to destroy all of his possessions, to destroy all of his family and even to bring about terrible illness on his own body.

And Job never really understood why this happened. Even at the end of the book he wasn't sure specifically why God brought it other than the fact that God had revealed Himself in it to be a sovereign God. But as we look back at the book of Job we understand why Job was delivered to Satan for God to make the point that true love to Him and true faith in Him is not dependent on circumstances. Job sums it up when he says, "Thou He slay me, yet will I trust Him." When he says, "The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord."

The great truth of the book of Job is that whether or not you possess the blessings of this life or you are stripped absolutely naked of everything, true faith in God and true love for Him stands because it is not based on what we have received by way of blessing, it is based on who He is as a worthy God. So Job was a tool used by God, delivered to Satan for God to make a great truth clear.

Then Christ was our second illustration of one delivered over to Satan. He was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted of the devil, it says in Matthew 4. Literally the Holy Spirit led Him into Satan's temptation that He might be proven to be perfect and that by victory over Satan in the moment of His weakness after 40 days of fasting, might demonstrate His power over Satan that even in His weakest moment He was a match and more than a match for Satan. Which is to say that if He was victorious in that temptation, He will ultimately be victorious in the glory of His Second Coming when Satan is bound forever in hell. So, Christ was turned over to Satan also in order that He might demonstrate His perfection and His ultimate power over the enemy.

In 2 Corinthians 12 we saw our third illustration who was Paul. Paul was delivered over to Satan, given a messenger of Satan a thorn in the flesh. And he said I glory in that, or I rejoice in that, I boast in that because in my weakness His strength is perfected. So Paul was turned over to Satan with limitation, as all of these are. You remember Job was turned over to Satan but God set limits. There were limits set in terms of Christ. There were limits set in terms of Paul. But in order for Paul's case, that he might be humble and dependent, he was given a messenger from Satan.

Then we saw Peter. And Peter, also, Jesus said to him in Luke 22:31, "Satan desires to have you that he may sift you like wheat." Perhaps Satan had come to God like he did with Job and said I want Peter. I'll show you what kind of a guy he is. I'll strip him naked.

Maybe he gave the little bit of the same speech regarding Job and so Peter was turned over to Satan, not because he had committed some willful sin or lived in some defiant rebellious attitude, but Jesus said when you have come back, strengthen the brethren. And we learn in that that Peter was turned over to Satan in order that he might be able to strengthen others who would go through severe trouble.

So, in those cases of Job, and Christ and Paul and Peter, there was a positive purpose in the sovereign plan of God. I was reading also this week about those who will suffer in the great Tribulation. In Matthew chapter 24 in verses 21 and 22 it talks about those who will suffer during the Tribulation, right before the Second Coming of Christ. In Revelation 6 it shows them crying out because they've been killed in that Tribulation. There will be believers deprived of food, deprived of water, deprived of a job, deprived of their lives during the Tribulation when Satan wreaks havoc all over the globe.

But when you come to those same redeemed saints in chapter 7 of Revelation, it shows them having come out of the Tribulation, having had their robes washed, having been cleansed in the blood of the Lamb and it says they are day and night forever before the throne of God praising and serving Him. And I believe what it's saying is that there will be a whole generation of believers literally turned over to Satan's fury unleashed in the Tribulation so that when they are delivered out of that, they will have a level of praise to God that may exceed all other redeemed generations. So, God ultimately then will receive praise from those who have suffered much because their deliverance is so great, so glorious.

I want you to turn to Revelation chapter 2, for a moment, and verse 9 and 10, the message to the church at Smyrna, to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, verse 8, these things, says the first and the last who was dead and is alive, that's Christ. And Christ says, "I know your works, tribulation, poverty, but you're rich." I know what you've been through, you've been through tribulation, you've been through poverty, I know the blasphemy of them who say they are Jews and are not but are the synagogue of Satan, false teachers. For none of those things which thou shalt...fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold--now look at this--the devil shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tried and you shall have tribulation ten days, that is a brief period of time, be faithful unto death and I'll give you a crown of life.

Listen, in that little church in Smyrna, there were believers who were persecuted for the faith. They were persecuted by the devil unto death. God let the devil kill them and then rewarded them with a crown of life. God desires to reward His children and rewards most nobly those who willingly give their life in persecution.

Yes, we've seen from all of these illustrations that true believers, the best of believers, leaders like Job and Paul and Peter and congregations as the church at Smyrna and those who will come in the Tribulation can be turned over to Satan for God's sovereign purposes, for the sake of proving the genuineness and the character of saving faith, for the sake of keeping them humble and dependent on God, for the sake of enabling them to strengthen others who go through trials, for the purpose of praise throughout eternity because they've been delivered from so much and for the purpose of giving to them special eternal reward. Yes, believers can be delivered to Satan for physical problems, for problems in the family, even for death for divine purposes.

But today I want to talk about another aspect of it, being delivered to Satan not for a positive reason but for a negative one because this is the issue in 1 Timothy chapter 1. These two men, Hymenaeus and Alexander, were delivered unto Satan not in order that they might prove the truth of their faith, not in order that they might maintain humility and dependence, not so that they could strengthen others, not so that they could receive a crown of life, not so that they could give unlimited and unhindered and eternal praise to the living Christ who had spared them and brought them through a terrible tribulation. No, they were turned over to Satan for judgment...that's different...for judgment. And the Scripture illustrates this very aptly.

Let's go back to 1 Samuel chapter 16 and I'm going to show you several illustrations of this as we move through briefly. First Samuel chapter 16, Samuel comes to anoint the one God has chosen to be the new king. We pick up the narrative in verse 12. Samuel has arrived at the household of Jesse. God has pinpointed one of Jesse's sons. He sent and brought him in. He was ruddy and of a beautiful countenance and handsome. The idea was he was masculine and he was handsome. And the Lord said, "Arise, anoint him this is he." Samuel took the horn of oil, anointed him in the midst of his brethren and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day onward.

Now here was the anointing of David the son of Jesse to be the king of Israel to replace Saul. Saul had had the anointing of the Spirit of the Lord. That's not a commentary on his personal salvation or on his spirituality. The Spirit of the Lord came on David here for the role of king, just as the Spirit of the Lord had come in Judges 16 on Samson as the judge of Israel. This is for the governing of the people so that God's will would be worked out. It is not a matter of commenting on the spirituality either of Saul or David. The Spirit of the Lord had been on Saul for the reason that he was king and in order for God to carry out His will through that king. Verse 14 says that. "The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul."

Now if it had to do with his personal salvation, it would be something all together different. But the point is, when the Spirit came on David, the Spirit left Saul because the coming and going of the Holy Spirit in reference to these two men had to do with their function as king of Israel so that God's will would be affected through their ruling.

Now notice verse 14, "When the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him." People get worried about how the evil spirit could come from the Lord. It doesn't mean the Lord is evil. It doesn't mean the evil spirit dwelled in the presence of the Lord. All it means is that even the demons can't function unless the Lord allows them. And when the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, it's as if God turned him over to Satan. And Satan dispatched some very key powerful demon who went and became the constant companion of Saul. And the word "troubled," that common Old Testament word means to terrify or torment. He became demon tormented. The word "demon possessed" is not a biblical term, it's better to use a biblical term so we understand what we're talking about in reference to passages of Scripture. Saul became demon tormented...demon tormented.

In spite of having the Spirit of the Lord on him for his kingly rule, he was given to rash judgments. His decisions made under pressure were stupid. One of them almost caused him to have to execute his own son for eating honey. He fell to pride. He despised the authority of Samuel and wanted unilateral control and wanted full confidence and trust and glory from all the people rather than sharing it with anyone. He was greedy. He flaunted his injustice everywhere. He flagrantly disobeyed God. He took the role of a priest and he tried to hide his disobedience under a cloak of spirituality. He was a very wicked, very evil man.

As a result of this, the Spirit of the Lord left him and an evil spirit came to terrorize that man until his death. In chapter 18, we get a little insight into this. And David was wherever Saul was. David was the one who played the harp for Saul. You know the story. And Saul set him over men of war and lifted him up to a place of prominence. And they won a great battle, the slaughter of the Philistines mentioned in verse 6. And as they were coming back, women came out of all the cities of Israel as they marched back toward Jerusalem and they were dancing and singing and tymbrals and joy and instruments of music. And the women spoke one to another as they played and this is the song they sang, "Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands."

Now, an ego maniac like Saul is never going to be able to handle that. And Saul was very angry. The saying displeased him and he says they had ascribed unto David ten thousands, to me they have ascribed but thousands and what can he have more but the kingdom. Now he'd been anointed but he'd not yet taken the throne. And Saul was in great fear and he watched enviously David from that day and onward. And it came to pass on the next day the evil spirit from God came on Saul. He was terrorized again. He prophesied in the midst of the house, apparently some ecstatic utterances. And David played with his hand to try to soothe him as at other times. And there was a javelin in Saul's hand, he was a great warrior, a giant of a man, skilled with a javelin. And Saul threw the javelin and said, "I'll smite David even to the wall with it, I'll pin him to the wall." And David escaped from his presence twice.

And over in chapter 19 verse 9, the evil spirit from the Lord was on Saul as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand. And David played with his hand and Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin, but he slipped away out of Saul's presence. He smote the javelin into the wall and David fled and escaped that night.

Now this man is demon terrorized. The story of Saul the tormented man goes from bad to worse. When that demon was given to him and he was turned over to Satan, even though he'd been under the Spirit of the Lord, even though he'd been part of the covenant people of God and known the insulation of that, whether or not he was actually a true believer, he had known the protection of the covenant people. He had known the protection that comes from being within the framework where God is pouring out the fulfillment of His promises. He had known the presence of the Spirit of the Lord as king. But he is now thrust out. The Spirit of the Lord departs and he's all alone abandoned to the kingdom of Satan. And he becomes not just melancholy, not just despairing, this isn't some psychological disorientation, he is demonized and he is subject to the control of a supernatural evil power vile and wicked who leads him to insanity, to mass murder into the occult and ultimately to commit suicide. And as Thomas Manton, the Puritan, said, "The devil delights to vex men with unreasonable terrors. The devil both tempts and troubles."

The Lord turned him over to hellish power...not for instruction in divine sovereignty, not for him to be able to maintain his humility, he had none, not to make him dependent, not to help him strengthen others, not to give him a crown of life, not to cause him to praise for all eternity, but to punish him, to judge him. And he went right into the pit of the occult. He then consulted with a witch of Endor, delving with mediums and demon spirits. And when the Lord did come back and in the form of the Spirit in chapter 19 and cause him to prophesy, he was so out of control in the prophecy that he stripped himself naked, fell on the floor prostrate and totally exposed in total humiliation. Really, in a sense, bereft of his own understanding. Later on, he massacred a whole group of good priests because they had given provisions to David. And then ended his life as a suicide, which--by the way--is a rare act in all the annals of Israel's history, but not rare among those who are delivered to Satan.

Let's look at John 13...John 13, verse 27. It is the upper room, it is the night of the betrayal of Jesus Christ. The main character of our focus is Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. Judas who had been with Jesus for three years. Judas who had seen everything He did, heard everything He said, watched the miracles, Judas who could not deny either the truthfulness of Christ, Judas who could not deny either the perfection of Christ nor the power of Christ has rejected it all. And it says in verse 27, one of the most tragic statements in Scriptures, "After the sop--that is after taking that piece of bread and dipping it in the sop which was part of the Passover meal--Satan entered into him."

The divine timetable was set and God turned Judas over to Satan. He had been a part of the community of Apostles. He had been insulated from the full fury of Satan's world because of the protection of that group which God had so blessed by the presence of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But now he is out of that group. He is turned over to Satan. Satan enters into him. Jesus says, "What you do, do it quickly...do it quickly." And in Luke chapter 22 and verse 3, the text puts it this way just to add to the understanding you already have, "Then entered Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve and he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains how he might betray Him with them, they were glad and covenanted to give him money."

He went out energized by Satan, sold Jesus Christ. Then went out in remorse, put a noose around his neck, hanged himself. The rope broke, or the branch broke, he fell down, hit a rock and his bowels gushed out all over the place. Suicide, just like Saul. Turned over to Satan, put out of that sheltered protected place. Saul, I believe, illustrates the unbeliever who is blessed by being in the presence of God's promised people. Judas, the same. But cast out as a judgment on their evil hearts.

Let's go to Acts chapter 5...Acts chapter 5. There was a certain man in verse 1 named Ananias who had a wife named Sapphira. They sold a possession. Obviously they promised the Lord they would give Him all of the proceeds from the sale, 100 percent. But they kept back part of the price. So they told a lie to the Holy Spirit. They came, then, pretending to be giving everything, laid it at the Apostle's feet. The Holy Spirit instructed Peter about their lie. So Peter said to Ananias, "Why--here it comes--has Satan filled your heart?" When he lied to the Spirit of God, it was a result of an evil intent which literally turned him over to Satan.

Now I believe there's no reason to assume this isn't a believer. After all, it was the Holy Spirit to whom he lied and only a believer has such communion with the Holy Spirit. He lied to the Holy Spirit. The result, verse 5, he fell down and died. I believe the Lord turned him over to Satan, Satan filled him and Satan killed him. His wife showed up three hours later. Didn't know what happened. She came in, the same story went on. Verse 9, "How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of God, or the Spirit of the Lord, behold, the feet of them who have buried your husband are at the door and will carry you out." She fell down immediately at his feet and died. The young men came in found her dead, carried her forth, buried her by her husband. Great fear came on everyone.

Now here were two believers who lied to the Holy Spirit. They were turned over to Satan. Satan is the one, according to Hebrews 2, has the power of death. There are times when God turns people over for Satan to use that power. And in that case, that's what happened. Turned over to him because of sin. In the case of Judas, an unbeliever, in the case of Saul, likely an unbeliever, in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, believers, turned over to Satan for a chastening. You say, "Did they go to hell?" No, they went to heaven if they were true believers, but the judgment was nonetheless exceedingly severe and caused others to have great fear.

So, there are those within the protected community who can be turned over to Satan not for the sake of teaching some great truth, not for the sake of maintaining humility, not for the sake of strengthening others, not for the sake of gaining reward, not for the sake of eternal praise, but for the sake of judgment.

Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 5...1 Corinthians chapter 5 and a familiar passage. It's reported commonly, verse 1 says, this is common knowledge, everybody knows it. Paul says I've heard it not from one source but from many sources. There is fornication...that's the word pornea from which we get pornography. There's fornication among you. This is a church, folks, this is the church at Corinth who prided themselves, "I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas, I am of Christ." Those who thought they were kings, those who thought they knew all the answers. This is a church. And fornication is among you and the kind of fornication that isn't even discussed among the pagans.

What kind of fornication is that? Incest, that one would have his father's wife. Now there are a couple of things you need to know about this. The fact that the word fornication is used rather than adultery leads us to believe that it could mean something out of marriage so that what may have happened here is the father's wife indicates a step-mother, otherwise he would have used the word "mother", having sex with your mother. But father's wife puts it probably in the category of a step-mother. And the word fornication can take it out of marriage. So what may have happened was a son starts a sexual relationship with his step-mother. It ends in divorce and the relationship is carried on as a fornication outside marriage after the divorce. That's a real possibility.

It may well be that the woman wasn't even in the church. But instead of the church doing something about this incestuous relationship that perhaps had caused a divorce and may have been going on with an unregenerate woman, all of these things, instead of them doing something about it, verse 2 says "You're proud about it, you're puffed up and you haven't even been sorry about it. You should have taken away the one that has done this deed from among you." Should have excommunicated them. To put it simply, you should have turned them over to Satan, put them out of the church, don't let them enjoy the protection of the church.

You say, "Is this a believer?" I think it is, as we shall see. Paul says in verse 3, "I verily is absent in body but present in spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that has done this deed." I'm not there but I know what ought to be done. I'm not there but I know exactly how this person ought to be treated. I've made my judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together and my spirit with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan. What does he mean? Put him out. Here's the only other place the terms of 1 Timothy 1:20 are used. Turn him over to Satan. Which means put him out of the church, don't let him enjoy the protection of the church.

In the words of Matthew 18, you've gone through the disciplinary process of going to him, two or three going to him, the church going to him, now treat him like a pagan and a tax collector, like an outsider, put him out. The instruction comes to mind, also, in 2 Thessalonians 3:6, "Withdraw yourselves from every brother that walks disorderly." Verse 14, "If they don't obey the word of this epistle, note the man and have no company with him, put him out, turn him over to Satan." That's what church discipline is when it runs to its limit. That's why we at the communion service, when we gather together as it says in verse 4, as we gather together as we will tonight in communion, if there's discipline to be done, it's done there. We put them out. But I have noticed through my own ministry that there are some people we don't even know about that the Lord puts out. And I often wonder why people disappear and don't show up for long periods of time. And then I hear about the tragedy of the way their life is going, a messed up marriage, immorality, drunkenness and all these kinds of things and I realize that what we didn't know, God knew and what we couldn't purge, God did. Put them out, he says. Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? You can't have that in the church. Purge it out.

And then down in verses 9 and 10 he says, "I'm telling you, not to company with those people, with fornicators and covetous and extortioners and idolaters." And I'm not talking about the worldly ones, I'm talking about the ones that are called a brother who are fornicators and covetous and idolaters and railers and drunkards and extortioners, don't even eat with them.

At the end of verse 13, "Put away from among yourselves that wicked person," turn them over to Satan. Now back to verse 5. When you deliver them over to Satan it is for the destruction of the flesh. Did you get that? It is for the destruction of the flesh. What does that mean? Oh, it can mean a lot of things. Heart attack, cancer, I've seen that. Venereal disease, AIDS, it could mean adultery in a marriage, it could mean the destruction of a home, it could mean the illness of a family member. Listen, what was it for Job to be turned over to Satan? All of those things. It could mean the loss of a job, the loss of your career. When you're turned over to Satan there is no way to project what might happen. But I think we overlook the reality that that goes on a lot more than we are willing to admit. And we may chalk up diseases and disasters to a lot of other things when they belong in this category right here. The destruction of the flesh.

Notice the destruction is limited. It was limited on Job and it was limited on Paul and it was limited on Peter and it's limited here. Satan can destroy his flesh but his spirit will be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. That's why I believe you have a Christian here and also the reference to a brother in verse 11. You can't destroy a soul that belongs to God but you can sure devastate his...his physical world, his physical life. It can happen.

You don't want to be turned over to Satan as a chastening. I want to show you another passage that speaks to this, Revelation chapter 2. This is a church, this is a church, the church at the city of Thyatira in Asia Minor. And in writing to the church, the Lord Jesus Christ says, "I know your works," verse 19, "your love, your service, your faith, your patience, your works in the last to be more than the first, you're a very busy church, a very active church, but I have a few things against you and here they are, you allowed that woman Jezebel," and it may not be a woman literally named Jezebel, but a Jezebel type, an idolatrous God-hating woman, "who calls herself a prophetess to teach and seduce My servants to commit fornication and eat things sacrificed unto idols."

This woman came along, led that church into immorality and false doctrine. And He said, "I gave her and her followers, of course, space to repent of her fornication and she repented not." Immorality and false doctrine. "Because there was no repentance, I will throw her into a bed--implication, all right, if she wants to be in bed, I'll throw her in a bed all right--I'll throw her in a bed with Satan, that's what I'll do, and all them that commit adultery with her and that bed will be a bed of great tribulation unless they repent of their deeds, and I will kill her children with death."

"And all the churches will know that I am he that searches the minds and hearts and I'll give unto every one of you according to your works, but unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira--watch this--as many as do not have this doctrine--they don't follow Jezebel--and who have not known the depths of Satan." He contrasts those true believers and obedient believers from the ones thrown in the bed of trouble and fornication who have known the depths of Satan. He literally plunged them into the depths of Satan. What a phrase...what a phrase. Think of it, turned over to Satan.

Now we need to be very cautious. You that are unbelievers in the church who just come for whatever benefit you can gain are in danger of being turned over to Satan for eternal judgment. Those of us who are believers by cultivating disobedience or false doctrine or immorality are in danger of being turned over to Satan for chastening which can result in all kinds of physical devastation, the disasters that are indicated in all these texts as well as death itself. You see, Peter said the devil goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may...what?...devour, swallow, consume. And when you're turned over to Satan, you're turned over to his consuming power.

Now remember, what is Paul saying? Let's go back to 1 Timothy and I think we have it in perspective now. What is he saying here when he says "I have delivered Hymenaeus and Alexander unto Satan?" Most likely they were not believers because they had corrupted the gospel. And he delivered them that they might learn the consequence of blasphemy. Now we don't know whether it meant they would die or whether it meant some disease or the devastation of their possessions or the loss of everything they had, whatever devastation Satan wanted to bring within God's allowance would come.

But Paul is saying, "Look, Timothy, you have to fight a battle in the leadership of the church. Remember what we said first of all? You have a responsibility and accountability to the church," verse 18. You have responsibility and accountability to the Lord, verse 19, to hold faith and a pure conscience. And now you have a responsibility and accountability to deal with the enemy. And I've given you the example, what I did to them you're to do the rest of those who corrupt the church with false doctrine and unholiness.

Now let's look at verse 19 and see what he says about them. He calls them "some...some," they're the same as the certain ones of verses 3, 6 and 7. They were some pastors at the church at Ephesus and perhaps surrounding churches who were teaching falsely. But these pastors which some, "which" refers to a good conscience, were not interested in a pure conscience.

What did I tell you? Bad theology always rises out of bad morals. A man's doctrine is always an accommodation to his morality. And when people reject the truth of the Word of God, they do it because they want to substitute a system which accommodates their desire for sin. So there are some who have no interest in a good conscience. They're not at all interested in that. In fact, "which some having put away...have put away." That word apotithemi, a very strong word, means to "violently reject." It means to discard aggressively. They don't want anything to do with it. They don't want a pure conscience. They don't want to live for holiness. They don't want to live for purity. They want to live for their own lust, their own success, their own gratification. And as a result, when they throw away a good conscience, they shipwreck the faith. It's like throwing away the rudder. You're at the mercy of the wind and the sea. They confess to be Christians and pastors and teachers of God's law but with no interest in purity, no commitment to holiness. They are literally devoid of any truth. They shipwreck the truth because truth does not rise out of an immoral heart.

No, an evil conscience and error always go together. In 2 Timothy 2 we find a note that should be compared with this. It says their word, these kinds of people, eats like gangrene. It kills, of whom are Hymenaeus, here he's mentioned again and this time another fellow, Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred...have erred. And then in verse 19 it says, "Let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity." So we see error and iniquity again. These men have erred, don't you error, so depart from iniquity. The foundation out of which error comes, the soil out of which error grows is the soil of unholiness. So these men were not interested in a good conscience, they were interested in evil. And so they threw the rudder away which is the conscience that gives guidance and they were at the mercy of the wind and the sea and they shipwrecked the faith.

It names them for all time, Hymenaeus, who is also mentioned, as I read in 2 Timothy 2:17, we don't know anything about him, he's just mentioned twice. The other one is Alexander, there is an Alexander mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:14 and 15. There is an Alexander mentioned in Acts 19:33 and 34. There is no reason to believe they are the same because the name was as common as the name John is today, a very very common name.

What we have here then are two pastors, self-righteous egotists who wanted to be prominent teachers of the law but didn't know anything about what they were speaking of, substituting myths and genealogies and fables and human reason for God's revelation and living ugly ungodly lives. And Paul says I put them out. And that's the pattern, Timothy, if you're going to be a good soldier in the noble warfare, you understand your obligation to the church, you understand your obligation to the Lord and you understand your obligation to deal with the enemy.

Now when he says, "Whom I have delivered unto Satan," he means I put them out of the church. I put them out. I put those sinning people away from the protection and insulation of God's people. I put them in the domain of the devil, away from the influences of all that is good and godly. Why? That they may learn that you can't blaspheme and get away with it. And the word "learn," paideuo is to train through punishment, to train through punishment. It's a very significant word. It is used in Luke 23 verses 16 and 22, it's translated "chastise" and it speaks about the scourgings that were giving Christ. It is to train or to punish someone with the afflicting of physical blows.

In 2 Corinthians 11, you know that familiar passage, Paul talks about...1 Corinthians 11, rather, the communion service and how some were weak and sickly and some slept. And he says when we are judged, when the Lord takes our life, when he lets the devil kill us or make us sick, we are chastened of the Lord. That's that same word. We are trained through suffering, just like you have to train a child with physical pain. And that's what is going to happen to these people. That word is used repeatedly in the New Testament to speak of training through punishment, training through suffering. It's used in 2 Corinthians 6:9, it says, "As chastened and yet not killed." In other words, we get beat around physical, although short of death. Again indicating its use that way. In Hebrews 12 it's used in verse 6, 7 and 10 when the Lord chastens, He chastens through punishment suffering.

Now the point is this. You cannot see this word "that they may learn" without understanding that it carries the idea of physically inflicted punishment. I don't know what disease they got. I don't know what disaster came into their life. I don't know whether it meant their death. But they were turned over to Satan to be punished as a lesson that you can't blaspheme, a lesson to them and a lesson to everybody else. Blaspheme means to slander God, to ridicule God. The blaspheme the worthy name by which you're called, James 2:7 says. In the last days, 2 Timothy 3:2 says there will be blasphemers. But blasphemers, those who ridicule God, who slander God, are in grave danger.

Now you say, "What do you mean by that?" Anything that you do that disobeys God is blasphemy. Anything you say that speaks evil against God is blasphemy. And any blasphemy needs discipline. And you and I or anyone who does something against the will and the purpose of God, who acts in an unholy way, who slanders God's character, slanders God's person or who denies or disobeys God's Word is a blasphemer to one degree or another and therefore susceptible to having to be taught through physically inflicted punishment such lessons as might be necessary to call us away from that.

So, there are those who by God's sovereign design are turned over to Satan and God has a positive purpose in mind. There are those who under the sovereignty of God and by the direction of the church are turned over to Satan and God has a negative in mind, the inflicting of severe punishment for the sake of ultimate, final and eternal judgment or for the sake of temporal chastisement. In either case, they might learn the consequence of blasphemy. And blasphemy, I say it again, is any disobedience or any slander or rejection of the person and will of God.

Several things to remember then as we sum it up. To be delivered to Satan may be for God's sake, like Job, for God's sake, for God to make His point. It may be for my own sake, like Paul that I may maintain humility and dependence. It may be for other's sake, like Peter, that I might be able to instruct others. It may be for the sake of God's desire to reward and give a crown of life. It may be to produce great praise when such is over.

But on the other hand, it may be for chastening sake, like in the case of an incestuous brother in Corinth, or Ananias and Sapphira. It may be for chastening sake unto death as in the case of the church at Thyatira, committing fornication and listening to false doctrine. It may be also for final judgment's sake, such as in the case of Saul or Judas or Hymenaeus and Alexander.

Now what is the remedy? What is...how do you avoid the chastening part and the judgment part? By receiving the truth and the holiness of God in Christ. And that's really the message. All of that was to lead to this. It may be that God wants to turn me over to Satan. It may be that for His own purposes He wants me to suffer some inflicted wound from Satan to one degree or another in one way or another in my life. My only prayer is that it will be for His glory and my good and the strengthening and advancing of His Kingdom, not for punishment and not for chastening. And that if it need be that I have to suffer some messenger of Satan, if I have like Peter to be turned over for a period of time, I can only pray that out of it God will gain the greater glory and I'll be a more faithful servant. And that makes it a welcome turning over if that's God's design as opposed to being turned over to be physically punished for blasphemy. So as believers, we seek to avoid that by the pursuit of a holy life. Let's bow in prayer.

Lord God, we come with hearts that have literally been stirred because of what the Word has spoken to us today. We know we're in a great supernatural warfare and we know that as Christians we belong to You and however you choose to use us as Your soldiers, we want to be used. Whatever loss there might need to be in order that there can be greater gain, we can accept. But, Lord, we seek not to be chastened, to be turned over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh because of evil doing, because of blasphemy against You, because we have rejected the holy life to which You've called us and for which You have empowered us in Your Spirit. So, Lord God, call us to obedience and effect that in us by the power of the Spirit, draw us away from the world and the subtle sins which appear to us to be not sins at all but are blasphemies against You. Show those to us, those secret faults, those presumptuous sins of which the psalmist wrote that we might know Your hand of blessing in whatever may come. We want to have the wider view and that is to see the spiritual conflict and to be a part of it in whatever way we can for Your glory. Keep us from fighting poorly and help us to fight a noble war, realizing our responsibility and accountability to the church as those who are called and commissioned and confirmed for service, realizing our responsibility to You to hold the faith and a pure conscience and realizing our responsibility to deal with the enemy that the church might maintain its purity. Father, help us to find that evil in our own hearts, find that evil that is among us, and, Lord, what we can't find, would You find and remove that we may be a testimony to Your glory?

And I would pray also, Lord, for any in this congregation this morning who are already turned over to Satan, who are already suffering at his hand. If it be for a positive reason, Lord, give them great faith and strength in it, build them up, make them more useful. And, Lord, if it be in a chastening way, may they repent, may they turn from their sin that they may be recovered from the devil. If it be that they are on the brink of eternal judgment in the hands of Satan, O God, may it be that they embrace the Savior before it is too late.

© 2002 Grace to You

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur's Collection" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 119
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
Websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com
Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986
Let's open our Bibles as we look together to the Word of God at 1 Timothy chapter 1...1 Timothy chapter 1. The message that the Spirit of God brings to us today is a very strong word, one that I believe has far-reaching implications and one by no means which I can begin to fully embrace in the hour that we have together. But I want you to listen very carefully because it's not a message often heard but one desperately needed.

Be Sure You Change How You Have Been Trying to Change! How NOT to Repent!

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 18:50:00 -0500

I found this article on the web, it's a blessing to me and I wanted to share it!

Be Sure You Change How

You Have Been Trying

to Change!

—How Not to Repent!

We should feel sorrow because of sin, but God's will is a repentance that is "without regret."

Biblical repentance is not to improve yourself by making yourself feel "bad" because of what you have done wrong. Even though you may not know how to change by any other means, it must be a repentance without regret.

Making yourself feel bad about what you have done wrong may punish you into a temporary appearance of outward conformity, but it does nothing to help change your behavior long term.

The Bible says, "...the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement...are of no value against fleshly indulgence." (Col. 2:23).

Greater severity in your self-condemnation may feel religious, but it is not God's will for you to grow that way. Making yourself feel bad for what you do wrong is "self-made religion" because the pain we feel seems to justify our wrong doing.

But no amount of feeling bad will ever make the payment or justify what you have done wrong. Self-inflicted pain from guilt doesn’t justify you before God because, "God is the one who justifies;" (Rom. 8:33b).

Condemning ourselves after we have done something wrong gives us a false sense of being "good" again. Self-condemnation keeps us bent on earning a sense of right standing before God and prevents us from putting our faith in suffering of Christ and the pain He felt on our behalf.

Self-condemnation gives us a false sense of goodness before God, "for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God" (James 1:20).

Repent of Closing Yourself Off From God!

Motivating improvement by condemnation makes you want to hide from God—not draw near to Him. It closes you inside.

Jesus told the religious leaders of His day, "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people..." (Matthew 23:13; see also 2 Cor 3:17). When you try to motivate repentance and change by condemnation you are being pharisaical and are shutting yourself—and others—from the freedom necessary for experiencing closeness to God.

Underlying any philosophy of ministry is a belief about how to best help people grow. It is true toward other people—it is also true toward ourselves. The Bible refers to the old covenant of the law as a, "ministry of condemnation" (2 Cor. 3:9). It also says that, "the ministry of condemnation has glory" (2 Cor. 3:9a).

Trying to help ourselves grow by a ministry of condemnation seems religious because it has an appearance of glory. But, in contrast, it also says, "For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it." (2 Cor. 3:10). Paul asks, "how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?" (2 Cor. 3:8).

If you are demand that you repent by self-condemnation you are trying to change in a way that is according to the law and "works of the flesh." In contrast the Bible tells us, "and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses" (Acts 13:39).

If there is only one "rule" I could give you about changing according to grace it would be this: You have to learn to delight to die to a "ministry of condemnation" toward yourself. Directing your heart away from self-condemnation should be ruthless, strongly assertive, and unbending.

Don’t miss these two things. Repentance requires that you retrain your heart to stop trusting self-inflicted guilt and that you start trusting Christ's payment for your sin. Repenting also requires that you retrain your heart about what your heart believes is the best way to correct yourself and do better next time.

Observe your reaction to when you do something wrong. Do you stay away from God? What gives you freedom to draw near to God again? Are you trusting the forgiveness of God because you made yourself feel bad for long enough? You should be trusting the forgiveness of God because of power of the cross and the cleansing of God.

It won't ever be "righteous living" if it is motivated by self-condemnation!

Teach Your Heart

Discipline motivated by fear, self-condemnation, and guilt won’t change you at the levels that are needed. Earthly pursuits are too many to be dealt with by these means.

You have to repent from the heart about how you have been trying to repent.

It isn't enough for you to know in your head that self-condemnation is an ineffective and sinful way to repent. Your heart has to learn a more effective way to correct unwanted behaviors and turn to God.

Use thanks and praise to help your heart hear how good and safe it is to trust the cross of Christ. Listen to what you are thanking God about! React with thanks and praise at the slightest indication of self-condemnation or self-based righteousness. Get your heart to hear that it is far more effective to change by hearing thanks and praise for the truth.

The cross is more powerful than your sin. Thank the Lord with great joy that you don't have to put your faith in the severity of your self-condemnation.

Delight your heart by praise toward God that you don’t have to wait to trust the forgiveness of God until you are "done feeling bad."

Biblical repentance is a more effective way to grow—a way of delight toward God—not of contempt toward yourself. You have to get to the heart of the matter—without self-condemnation. Delight can help you change.

(A special note: If this page spoke to you - a very good companion page to this would be to follow the fast track button below. It will take you to a page that explains the sense many Christians have that something is wrong inside and why you shouldn't hide from this God-given spiritual awareness. You have to learn to accept that something is wrong but that you can still move forward with repentance because God loves and understands you. If you have this awareness you can be sure that God is calling you closer to Himself but that He also wants you to take steps to turn the affections of your heart more fully toward Him. Remember that you can move forward without having to punish yourself into improvement!)

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(C) Barry Hall 1999

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Other scriptures are from the New International Version or Amplified Bible as noted.

Bold emphasis in the scriptures quoted here has been added by the author of this site.

Consider it sin to feel any sense of justification or righteousness because of how much pain you feel from self-condemnation. The security you need is not from how well you protect yourself from God. Hate any sense of "righteousness" you feel because of self-inflicted pain from condemnation. Repentance by regret is self-abasement and is of "no value against fleshly indulgence."

Be Sure You Change How You Have Been Trying to Change! How NOT to Repent!

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:54:00 -0500

I found this article on the web, it's a blessing to me and I wanted to share it!

Be Sure You Change How

You Have Been Trying

to Change!

—How Not to Repent!

Change How You Change and Grow

Our theology of how change and growth happens is one of the most underdeveloped areas of understanding in the church today.

For most of us the ways we try to grow involves monitoring how well we keep from doing bad things. We monitor our love for the Lord, how much we are reading the Bible, the quality of our prayer life, the depth of our worship, how much we are sharing our faith—and at times, what can seem like a million other things. These are good things.

But while this approach is common, the improvements that result come slowly and are often very frustrating. It can also make you very tired!

It is not my intention to multiply the behaviors that you to monitor and maintain in your walk with God. I want to help make you free. So, please don’t take what I give you here and simply add it as just another area for you to monitor. Like a tire with a hole in it, you would just have to keep on pump yourself up. That won't work.

I am suggesting that you completely change the way you try to change. What I am suggesting will help you stop doing the the things you don't want to do. It will also help you find greater freedom to do the things you should be doing.

How Not to Repent

One of the first steps is that you are going to have to do is re-train your heart about how you should not try to repent.

The Bible says, "...the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death." (2 Corinthians 7:10).

We should feel sorrow because of sin, but God's will is a repentance that is "without regret."

Biblical repentance is not to improve yourself by making yourself feel "bad" because of what you have done wrong. Even though you may not know how to change by any other means, it must be a repentance without regret.

Making yourself feel bad about what you have done wrong may punish you into a temporary appearance of outward conformity, but it does nothing to help change your behavior long term.

The Bible says, "...the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement...are of no value against fleshly indulgence." (Col. 2:23). Repentance by regret is self-abasement and is of "no value against fleshly indulgence."

Greater severity in your self-condemnation may feel religious, but it is not God's will for you to grow that way. Making yourself feel bad for what you do wrong is "self-made religion" because the pain we feel seems to justify our wrong doing.

But no amount of feeling bad will ever make the payment or justify what you have done wrong. Self-inflicted pain from guilt doesn’t justify you before God because, "God is the one who justifies;" (Rom. 8:33b).

Condemning ourselves after we have done something wrong gives us a false sense of being "good" again. Self-condemnation keeps us bent on earning a sense of right standing before God and prevents us from putting our faith in suffering of Christ and the pain He felt on our behalf.

Self-condemnation gives us a false sense of goodness before God, "for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God" (James 1:20).

Repent of Closing Yourself Off From God!

Motivating improvement by condemnation makes you want to hide from God—not draw near to Him. It closes you inside.

Jesus told the religious leaders of His day, "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people..." (Matthew 23:13; see also 2 Cor 3:17). When you try to motivate repentance and change by condemnation you are being pharisaical and are shutting yourself—and others—from the freedom necessary for experiencing closeness to God.

Underlying any philosophy of ministry is a belief about how to best help people grow. It is true toward other people—it is also true toward ourselves. The Bible refers to the old covenant of the law as a, "ministry of condemnation" (2 Cor. 3:9). It also says that, "the ministry of condemnation has glory" (2 Cor. 3:9a).

Trying to help ourselves grow by a ministry of condemnation seems religious because it has an appearance of glory. But, in contrast, it also says, "For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it." (2 Cor. 3:10). Paul asks, "how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?" (2 Cor. 3:8).

If you are demand that you repent by self-condemnation you are trying to change in a way that is according to the law and "works of the flesh." In contrast the Bible tells us, "and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses" (Acts 13:39).

If there is only one "rule" I could give you about changing according to grace it would be this: You have to learn to delight to die to a "ministry of condemnation" toward yourself. Directing your heart away from self-condemnation should be ruthless, strongly assertive, and unbending.

Don’t miss these two things. Repentance requires that you retrain your heart to stop trusting self-inflicted guilt and that you start trusting Christ's payment for your sin. Repenting also requires that you retrain your heart about what your heart believes is the best way to correct yourself and do better next time.

Observe your reaction to when you do something wrong. Do you stay away from God? What gives you freedom to draw near to God again? Are you trusting the forgiveness of God because you made yourself feel bad for long enough? You should be trusting the forgiveness of God because of power of the cross and the cleansing of God.

It won't ever be "righteous living" if it is motivated by self-condemnation! Consider it sin to feel any sense of justification or righteousness because of how much pain you feel from self-condemnation. The security you need is not from how well you protect yourself from God. Hate any sense of "righteousness" you feel because of self-inflicted pain from condemnation.

Teach Your Heart

Discipline motivated by fear, self-condemnation, and guilt won’t change you at the levels that are needed. Earthly pursuits are too many to be dealt with by these means.

You have to repent from the heart about how you have been trying to repent.

It isn't enough for you to know in your head that self-condemnation is an ineffective and sinful way to repent. Your heart has to learn a more effective way to correct unwanted behaviors and turn to God.

Use thanks and praise to help your heart hear how good and safe it is to trust the cross of Christ. Listen to what you are thanking God about! React with thanks and praise at the slightest indication of self-condemnation or self-based righteousness. Get your heart to hear that it is far more effective to change by hearing thanks and praise for the truth.

The cross is more powerful than your sin. Thank the Lord with great joy that you don't have to put your faith in the severity of your self-condemnation.

Delight your heart by praise toward God that you don’t have to wait to trust the forgiveness of God until you are "done feeling bad."

Biblical repentance is a more effective way to grow—a way of delight toward God—not of contempt toward yourself. You have to get to the heart of the matter—without self-condemnation. Delight can help you change.

(A special note: If this page spoke to you - a very good companion page to this would be to follow the fast track button below. It will take you to a page that explains the sense many Christians have that something is wrong inside and why you shouldn't hide from this God-given spiritual awareness. You have to learn to accept that something is wrong but that you can still move forward with repentance because God loves and understands you. If you have this awareness you can be sure that God is calling you closer to Himself but that He also wants you to take steps to turn the affections of your heart more fully toward Him. Remember that you can move forward without having to punish yourself into improvement!)

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(C) Barry Hall 1999

Information on this site may be reproduced for personal or for instructional purposes if it is not being used for resale. If a page is distributed for instructional purposes, the web address must be included. Printed quotes must include the authors name and the web address. Quotes for use in publications intended for resale need the written permission of the author. All rights reserved.

Scriptures are taken from the updated NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1987, 1988, The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Other scriptures are from the New International Version or Amplified Bible as noted.

Bold emphasis in the scriptures quoted here has been added by the author of this site.

Using the Scriptures to Promote Relational Repentance

Sun, 8 Jun 2008 15:42:00 -0500

Using the Scriptures to Promote
Relational Repentance

by Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., www.rpmbooks.org

We often talk biblically about repentance. However, we seldom think about how to use specific biblical passages to help a parishioner, counselee, or spiritual friend to come to a point of specific relational repentance.

Such scriptural conversations are “trialogues” in which you, the person you are helping, and God through His Word join together in the process of breaking down idols of the heart (see Spiritual Friends, BMH Books, for a full development of these concepts). Consider the following sample scriptural conversations as examples of how to use the Scriptures in the relational repentance process.

What would it look like for you to return home as the Prodigal did?

Jesus commanded the lukewarm Laodiceans to open the door of their
hearts so they could return home to eat with Him. What would that look like for you?
When the floundering Ephesians left their first love, Jesus told them to
remember, repent, and return.
Can you remember your first love for Christ?
How does that first love motivate you to repent of your current love for
false lovers?
How does it compel you to return home?
Desperate, despairing, and depressed, David repented and then pleaded
for rest in the presence of his forgiving God (Psalms 32 and 51).
What would your prayer of repentance and return sound like?
Hosea 14 provides a classic biblical picture of relational return. Building upon
the imagery of Gomer’s unfaithfulness to Hosea as a symbol of Israel’s spiritual
unfaithfulness to Jehovah, Hosea concludes with the words, “Return, O Israel, to
the LORD your God. Your sins have been your downfall” (14:1).
Hosea uses this same word “return” sixteen times in fourteen chapters
beginning with Hosea 2:7a, “She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
she will look for them but not find them.”
How has your sin been like spiritual adultery? Like spiritual unfaithfulness?
Like chasing after false lovers?
What do you want to say to Jesus, the Lover of your soul, as you return home
to His heart?
What will renewed relational faithfulness look like for you?
Something else in Hosea 2:7 and 14:1 may not be quite so obvious.
Both passages present a recognition of our false lovers’ inability to satisfy.
Our sinful lovers are our “downfall;” a word suggesting weakness, lack of strength,
inability, and insufficiency. Gomer says it even more clearly when she realizes
that she was better off with her true husband than with her false lovers.
“I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now”
(Hosea 2:7b). Relational repentance is always relational return and relational
dissatisfaction. The Prodigal came to his senses realizing that even his father’s
hired servants were better fed than he. Jehovah urged Israel to recognize the futility
of her false lovers and to acknowledge that they could neither save her nor fulfill her
(Jeremiah 2).
How has your false lover dissatisfied your soul?
How has your false lover been your downfall?
How has your false lover been as despicable as eating pig slop?
Given the horrid nature of your false lover, what do you want to say to Christ,
the true Lover of your soul?
We mortify our false lovers through relational contentment in God. Returning to
Jehovah, Hosea offers us words to say to Him, “Forgive all our sins and receive us
graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips . . . For in you the fatherless find compassion” (Hosea 14:2a, 3b). We return content and amazed by Father’s grace and compassion.
Have you asked God to forgive your sins of spiritual adultery?
Have you asked God to receive you back home again graciously?
How could you offer the fruit of your lips in praise to God?
How could you offer the fruit of your lips in praise to your Father, in whom the
fatherless find compassion?

These examples highlight the simple yet profound truth that the Bible is totally sufficient
and absolutely relevant for life and godliness. In the Scriptures, we have all we need to help
our spiritual friends to turn from sin and to return to God.

Interpretation of Romans 12:2 R.C.H. Lenski

Sun, 8 Jun 2008 14:52:00 -0500

Interpretation of Romans 12:2

by R. C. H. Lenski

The textual evidence is in favor of the reading that has two imperatives rather than two infinitives. The sense, too, is against the latter, for this negative and this positive are not additions to the infinitive "to present," they elucidate what this spirit service really requires. The two imperatives are opposites not only in regard to their prepositional prefixes but also in the root words themselves. This difference is lost when we translate: "be not conformed but be transformed," for the English root word "form" is the same. [Greek] "Schema" outward conformation, fashion; but [Greek] morpha is, the essential form which fully expresses the essence or real, being. We have the latter in "metamorphosis." We can do no better in English than to follow Field (M.-M. 613): "be not outwardly conformed but be inwardly transformed."

The Greek "eon" = a great stretch of time but one that is marked and characterized and thus made a unit by what transpires in it, "world" in this sense, namely when "this eon" is referred to, dieser Zeitlaufj. This eon is "wicked," Gal. 1:4; its god is the devil, II Cor. 4:4; it is the eon of this cosmos. It is contrasted with "the eon about to come" which the Parousia ushers in, the -eon of eternal blessedness, of the new earth.

Not even outwardly are we to adopt the fashion of the eon in which we now live, the ways the of the world. The present imperative asks us to shun this conformity during the entire course of our lives. Even in outward fashion the Christian is to be different, separate from the world. Our visible conversation and life as men see us are to show that their ways are not our ways; our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven, Phil. 3:20. We are only pilgrims here and not citizens. Since we expect to go to heaven, our conduct here reflects that fact and is unlike that of men who seek their all in this eon. There is danger that the Christian may adopt at least some of the world's ways, run with worldly men (I Pet. 4:4), especially when they mock us if we do not. Christians sometimes imagine that they can do this without injury to themselves, can remain unspotted from the world amid worldly, unchristian associations, amid worldly and questionable pleasures. To howl a bit with the wolves, to do as the Romans do because we are in Rome, to avoid the abuse of the world and not to lose all this tainted pleasure and ad vantage while still holding fast to Christ, does not seem so wrong. The resultant casualties are many and exceedingly sad.

As is the case in so many instances in Holy Writ, the opposite is far more than an opposite: not even outward conformity - no less than constant inward transformation. This is what presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice and thus as our reasonable cultus means. What we do with our bodies and our whole bodily life is to be the evidence of a constant inner metamorphosis, one that is accomplished "by the renewing of the mind so that you test out what the will of God is," test out "the thing (really) good and well-pleasing and complete," making our mind conform to this divine newness and rejecting everything else as being spurious. Here there is the same concentrated richness of thought as in v. 1. The inner transformation begins at the moment of our justification and is to advance throughout life until God completes it in death.

The dative of means states that this transformation is effected "by the renewing of the mind." In 6 :4 we have "newness of life," the condition; here we have "the renewing," the process. The [Greek] chainos occurring in both terms is "new" as the opposite of "old" in our old man. And [Greek] noms is "mind" as "the organ of moral thinking and knowing" (C. K. 764) and thus matches [Greek] logukos used in v. 1. The Christian's inward transformation is effected when his moral mentality becomes renewed, the very mentality itself, so that it no longer thinks, understands, and judges as it once did but so that it cannot do so because it is in a process of renewal that advances steadily. The Christian minds the things of the spirit, a thing he never did before, and ceases minding the things of the flesh, a thing he always did before (8:5, 6); as a son of God he is led by the Spirit of God in his very mind (8:14). His use of the body shows it.

[Greek] Eis to with the infinitive, as so often (3:26; 4:11, twice; 4:18), states the result, namely what the mind does in consequence: "so that you keep testing out (durative) what the will of God is," as men test out coins or metal by accepting the genuine and rejecting and throwing out the spurious. The renewed mind is even bent and following God's will, what God wants of us; it has utterly ceased its old disregard of God's will, its old folly of contenting itself with its own will.

We do not regard the three following words as adjectives: "the good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (our versions). The second is "well-pleasing" and, as in v. 1, means "well-pleasing to God" and hence cannot modify "the will of God." The third means "complete," and the implication of an "incomplete" will of God is distressing. These adjectives are substantivized, are treated as a unit (one article), and form an apposition: test out the will of God, (namely test out) "the thing (really) good," etc. For God ever wills [Greek] to agathon, "the thing morally good and beneficial," and never anything that is not good. And this thing is the one "well-pleasing" to him; he says so in his Word which we use as our criterion in making our test. And thus also this good and well-pleasing thing is "complete," easily distinguished from, the reductions to which even Christians at times subject the will of God by claiming he does not will this or that. Worldly tendencies in the church excuse themselves in this way.

This threefold designation is an apposition: "what is the will, namely what is this thing that is at once good; pleasing to God, and complete." The renewed mind of the Christian ever seeks to prove this in life. We cannot, then, make "the good thing," etc., the criterion, the touchstone for our testing out what God's will is. We never say that only what is in our judgment good is God's will; -or what we think is well pleasing to him; or what we consider morally and spiritually complete. No; testing out what God wants is discovering the thing that is good for us, pleasing to him, complete in itself. And what God's will is, namely this thing which he wills, we discover from his Word and from that alone, and we subject all our own conceptions of what is good, etc., wholly to that Word. Every test made without the Word is deceptive and wrong.

Does v. 1 apply particularly to the Jewish Christians because it speaks of "living sacrifice"? No more than do 6:11, 13: "alive to God," "as alive from the dead." Does v. 2 apply particularly to Gentile Christians? No more than any other verse in this chapter. Just because they are now Christians, Jewish Christians are in just as great danger as are Gentile Christians of being conformed to worldly ways in a great city like Rome which offered so many temptations. It is well known that throughout the Gentile world Jews became loose and lax in their Judaism and fell into many evil, pagan ways. When Paul specifies in v. 3: "I say to everyone that is among you," the reason is not that, when he used "brethren" in v. 1, he had in mind two groups, v. 1 indicating the one, v. 2 the other; the reason lies in what Paul says in v. 3-8. Verses 1 and 2 befit the whole, in v. 3-8 individualization is necessary.

Not Slaves To The Carnal

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:57:00 -0500

Not Slaves To The Carnal

WATCH out for carnal dominance in meetings. You surely have noticed that words from one whose life is hidden in Christ are heart-rending—while the exact same words from a self-willed, uncrucified life are like fingernails on a chalkboard. Can you relate to that? The words aren't it. It has to do with "the spirit and the life."

It comes in various forms:

Mr. (or Ms.) Loud,

Mr. Opinionated,

Mr. Talkative,

Mr. Whine,

Mr. Criticize,

Mr. Control,

Mr. Know-it-all,

Mr. Scholar,

Mr. Experience,

Mr. Mega-Talent,

Mr. Insensitive,

Mr. Let's-Sing-My-Favorite-Song (I love to sing),

Mr. I-Can-Help-You-Poor-People-Out,

Mr. We've-Got-To-Be-Careful-Here,

… and a host of cousins and nephews.

Pray and fast. Be willing to speak about the difficulties, first (if at all possible) "to him and him alone." Then take it to him with two or three witnesses who can help to clarify the issue, and then tell it to the church (Mat. 18). Exercise caution here and don't "break the bruised reed" or "embitter the child." The man who Jesus described in the parable of the talents as the "one-talent man" was very carnal in his reaction: "I know that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown… so I was afraid and went out and hid your talent." That was a carnal reaction. "I don't have to put up with this stuff. I knew you would cheat me and that you're a hard master. I just knew. Man, this stuff is no fun at all and pooey-pooey on you!" Obviously, that's a very carnal reaction.

When you take an immature and dominant brother or sister aside, the typical reaction will be:

"Who do you think you are? I don't talk anymore than anyone else! If that's the way everyone feels, I just won't talk anymore! Okay?!"

You know what I mean? (In other words, "I'll just bury my talent then!")

"I knew it; I just knew it. Forget it. I try so hard and nobody appreciates anything I do."

That's the "one-talent reaction." It's carnal and you can't win either way. What they do, they do out of carnality. When you correct them on it, they want to bury their talent. Jesus' response to talent bury-ers is "you wicked and lazy servant… Throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Don't allow carnality, weakness and disorder to reign. It's a challenge because usually carnality, weakness and disorder want to usurp the throne. It's typically weaker brothers or weaker sisters in most religious groups who have the loudest voices, make the most waves, control things, and get their own way. Weakness, carnality and disorder can reign so easily, and we can't let that happen. Carnality, disorder and chaos cannot rule and reign over our meetings. It is neither loving nor compassionate to let carnality run God's Kingdom. On the other hand, do not let the one-talent (carnal) man bury his talent and thus kill himself (or herself), either.

Have fun and I wish you well.

NOTE: I found this on the web

Baby Animals with their mothers

Mon, 9 Jun 2008 10:08:00 -0500

Lovely Flowers

Mon, 9 Jun 2008 09:46:00 -0500

Friendship

Encouragement

Love

Fun

Joy

Beauty

LIVING WITHOUT A CLEAN HEART (Pls. Read--this is LIFE Changing)!

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:32:00 -0500

LIVING WITHOUT A CLEAN HEART (Galatians 5)

Sermon Transcript by Rev. Ernest O'Neill

It's so easy to say casually, "Oh Stephanie" -- and I apologize to all Stephanies but, "Stephanie is all right, but she exaggerates a little." It's so easy to say that and you think, "Yeah, what's wrong with that?" But you really are stealing her reputation, aren't you? Because actually the person that you're speaking to doesn't know quite what you mean by "she does exaggerate a little" and you may mean she exaggerates 'that' little and they may mean she exaggerates 'that' little and actually it's stealing Stephanie's reputation, it is.

Because the other person from that moment on is looking out for Stephanie's exaggeration and actually doesn't listen to Stephanie, if you're honest - and ever after that remembers your comment. So when you steal somebody's reputation like that or if you steal from the IRS by fudging on the medical expenses or the business expenses or you do something in real resentment against an associate or an acquaintance and you find that the resentment is growing almost to a hatred. When you do those things loved ones, all of those things, all of those sins, even though they may occur in your head or in your emotions or in your words, they all come from your heart. They come from your heart. That's what Jesus said you remember. He said, "It's out of the heart of man that come the things that defile him, anger and hatred and fornication and murder and adultery and slander and false witness, these are the things that come from the heart of the man and these are the things that defile him."

You may say, "No, no, no, those are just chance events in my life that are provoked by the circumstances that I live in. They don't really come from my heart", but Jesus says, "Yes, they do, and they indicate what you really are like deep down", and you and I like to say, "No, no, they don't. We just flip them off. They're flippant. We don't really mean those things. Actually we're very very nice inside", but Jesus says, "No, no. A good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit and fresh spring doesn't produce sweet water and sour water at the same time. No, what is in your outward life is an indication of what is in your heart because it all comes from your heart."

You may say, "Well, I mean what did He mean 'by the heart'?" Well, not the blood pump obviously, not the physical blood pump that we talk about in heart transplants today, but the same as what you and I mean when we say, "Look, let's get to the heart of the matter." You know what we mean when we say that, "let's get to the heart of the matter", we mean let's get to the very essence of this matter. Let's get to the inner issue in this situation, let's get to the very center of this situation, that's what the heart is loved ones, in the Bible.

Your heart is the very center of you, yourself. It's the very essence of you. It's the very inner core of your being and that's why Jesus wanted to make it so clear to us that the things we do outwardly are not just chance responses to circumstances. They're not just chance happenings, they actually do express what we are inside. Somebody has said, "When you squeeze an orange, the juice squirts out", you squeeze it and what is inside comes out, that's what happens. The circumstances and events of our lives push us into different situations, we're squeezed and what is really in our hearts, comes out and shows itself in our responses and our reactions that we did not have time to prepare beforehand.

Now the truth is of course, an out-and-out crook says, "Yeah, that's right. That's what my heart's like. I killed a guy because I hate him. I wanted rid of him", or, "I steal because it's the only way to get money. Nobody else will take care of me and it's the only way to survive in this place", so an out-and-out crook won't argue with that at all. He'll say, "That's right. What I do on the outside is what is in my heart."

It's very interesting but a respectable church-goer who hasn't necessarily dealt with Jesus will probably say the same kind of thing. He'll say, "Well yeah, I may not be perfect but I live in a dog-eat-dog world and the only way to survive is to stand up for yourself and that's what I do." So it's interesting that neither of those people will be too concerned about the problems they have with their unclean heart -- but any of you here this morning who believe Jesus is God's Son and who have confessed your sins to God and have repented of them and have some awareness of Jesus' Spirit, to you, an unclean heart within you will seem like a blatant contradiction of your claim to be borne of God.

And so an unclean heart isn't a trouble to anybody but a person who has started to be aware that God is real and has started to try to obey Him and I think many of us are in that situation. We have found that there is something inside us that doesn't seem to want to do what we know we should be doing and increasingly, as the years have passed, we found there has developed within us something that is unclean inside, something that actually does not want God and we've come to the point in our lives where we cry out a cry that wasn't spoken by a child of God at all but that was spoken by a Jew trying to live under the law and we find we're crying out, "I don't understand my own actions. I do not do the good that I want but I do the very thing I hate."

So, many of us who are born of God, who have received the Spirit of Jesus into us and who try to read the Bible and who try to pray day-by-day, many of us have found that there is still within us, an unclean heart. There's something within us that has started to make our life with God a kind of uphill struggle, that contrasts so clearly with our experience at the beginning because when we first sensed Jesus' Spirit, it seemed to be easy and natural to obey Him and we seem to just zoom along, it was so easy. What was inside seemed to be all sweet and fragrant but gradually as the years have passed, we have begun to find there's something inside, like a kind of weight inside. A kind of drag on us and we've begun to find, it's more like climbing up a steep hill to obey God. You know what you should do but you don't seem able to do it because your heart is not going the same way as your will wants to go.

For many of us it's like a kind of computer inside that has kind of a bug in the memory system and we're going along and we meet suddenly a person who is very blunt and very argumentative and we know we should be able to punch up the gentle, peaceful Spirit of Jesus from our hearts and we punch the right button but there's something wrong inside and the old memory storage seems to send up an attitude of 'Give him as good as you get' and you can't hold it back and it's as if your storage of feelings inside store different ones from the ones you used to experience. Or you're passing by a magazine stand and you see the magazine with the picture on it and you try to punch up the Spirit of Jesus' love for that dear person on the magazine cover but something goes wrong inside and that storage sends up on the screen of your imagination all kinds of lustful thoughts and actions that can't possibly co-exist with the Spirit of Jesus.

Loved ones, that's the key to the up and down life, that last sentence. That's why many of us who are Christians have an up and down, spirit and flesh, in and out Christian life because Jesus' Spirit cannot co-exist with evil. His Spirit cannot co-exist with evil. In other words, His Spirit cannot dwell in an unclean heart.

Now you may say to me, "But brother, I know that I have received the Spirit of Jesus. I know that I've sensed at times, Jesus' motivation and impulses within me. I know that. I know that I have done some things according to His will. Now, is that not real?" Yes, yes, it is real. God's Spirit did regenerate your spirit, that's why you're aware of God, that's why you can even understand the things I am talking about this morning.

God's Spirit regenerated your spirit, made it alive and made it aware of God and aware of Jesus and His Spirit made your spirit new but your spirit still separates itself from God's Holy Spirit when it chooses. That's it. Your spirit is alive to God but when it chooses, it resists God's Holy Spirit and while it has that attitude to God's Holy Spirit, God's own Holy Spirit is a guest in your heart that is driven out and brought in, driven out and brought in.

No, you're still born of God. Your own spirit is still alive. But the Holy Spirit is not able to dwell in your heart because your heart is not clean and you have not allowed it to be made clean. So there's an inconstant Christian life, up and down, up and down, not a constant Christian life that comes from the indwelling Spirit of God.

In other words, God's Holy Spirit has to act upon you from outside. Here's the way Andrew Murray puts the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Many of you have maybe wondered, "Well now, what was the difference between the working of the Holy Spirit in the Old Covenant and the working in the New Covenant?" Because that's something of the difference between a constant Christian life and an inconstant Christian life.

This book loved ones is just a good one called 'The Spirit of Christ' by Andrew Murray and I'll just read you two sentences, "In the Old Testament, we have the Spirit of God coming upon men and working on them in special times and ways, working from above without and within. In the New, we have the Holy Spirit entering them and dwelling with them" -- you see, not working upon them from without as He did on prophets and kings and priests at special times but the Holy Spirit in the New, coming and dwelling within them, working from within, without and upwards. "In the former, we have the Spirit of God as the almighty and holy one, in the latter we have the Spirit of the Father of Jesus Christ."

Now the fact is those of us with unclean hearts are somewhere between the Old Testament and the New, that's it. We've experienced the forgiveness of sins of the Old Testament and something of the regeneration of the New but not the full indwelling that God planned for us.

You remember it's what we said in that Ezekiel Chapter 36. You remember God gave the promise of the New Covenant and He said, "I will put a new spirit within you", that's, "I'll regenerate your spirit. I'll make it alive and new", and then He says, "And I will put a new heart within you because I will put My Spirit within you", that is the Holy Spirit.

Now loved ones if your heart is not clean, your spirit is renewed and you have periodic experiences of the Holy Spirit's action upon your spirit but you do not have a constant indwelling of the Holy Spirit within. He is not in fact at home in your heart. He is a guest and He cannot be at home until your spirit has finally given up the right ever to resist Him and until you have been prepared to make your heart absolutely what He wants it to be.

Now you may say to me, "Now, do you not think that in the first century, they experienced the whole ball of wax at one moment? Do you not think that? Do you not think that in the first century, the Holy Spirit came upon them, regenerated them, made them alive in their spirits, and cleansed their heart and came and dwelt with them permanently from then on?" Yes, that undoubtedly happened.

If you want to look at one of the times loved ones, it's that kind of anomaly in a way that took place in Cornelius's house, Acts 10:44. Cornelius was a centurion you remember, who certainly is talked about as a God-fearing man but there isn't clear evidence that he was a Christian though one can't be sure, but he invited you remember, Peter to speak at his house.

Acts 10:44, "While Peter was still saying this", that's while he was still preaching the Gospel, "The Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word and the believers from among the circumcised who came with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God", and so it all happened at once there. I mean it's strange but it seemed the first time they heard the Gospel, the Holy Spirit fell upon them and they were baptized with the Holy Spirit and they were baptized into Jesus' name and everything took place at once.

But as you saw in that preview you got in Acts 9:17, it didn't happen that way with Paul. Paul you remember, met Jesus first on the Damascus road and then three days later this happened in Acts 9:17, "So Ananias departed and entered the house and laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."

So it happened both ways in the New Testament. So if you're in the position where you believe you're a child of God and you're born of God and you're aware of Jesus and you regard Him as your Savior and you know your sins are forgiven and yet you still are aware you have an unclean heart, see that so were some people in the New Testament -- and yet obviously some other people entered into the whole thing at once because referring to the situation in Cornelius's household, you remember Peter said, "And God made no distinction between them and us but cleansed their hearts by faith."

So some people have experienced it all at once but many of us, and I suspect many here this morning, have not experienced the clean heart. But isn't the truth this, not how should it happen or how did it normally happen -- because that isn't going to give us any assurance anyway -- but examine your own heart. What is the state of your own heart? Does your heart immediately expel a thought or feeling of pride or jealousy or anger when it occurs, does it? Or does it welcome it and entertain it and relish it and nourish it?

Well, if it does, your heart isn't clean. That's simple, and you're walking with a heaviness inside you that you don't need to walk with and that you can't victoriously with. Do you find that your heart automatically sends Jesus' sentiments up to your will so that it is easy and natural to be like Jesus? Or do you find that your heart is sending up to your will, all kinds of things that your conscience is condemning and indeed, your will cannot handle these things and it's constantly trying to repress them and at times fails to repress them and they burst out into outward sin and stain your conscience.

Well, if that's the situation loved ones, you're living the Christian life the hard way and your heart is not clean and the truth is that the New Covenant is a message that God is able to cleanse our hearts and in fact why many of us here walk with unclean hearts for so many years is because we don't understand what the real New Covenant, New Testament Gospel is, and that's true loved ones.

I think many of us have had preached to us only the Old Covenant. Let me show you the Old Covenant and you'll know what I mean, it's the one preached by John the Baptist. Mark 1:4, and I think this will surprise you loved ones because this is the Old Covenant. This, don't forget was John the Baptist as a Jewish preacher preaching.

Mark 1:4, "John the Baptizer appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins", that was it. That was the Old Covenant. Preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Now I wonder how many of us entered into that thinking that's the New Covenant. We repent to have our sins forgiven, that's it and the joy of being in Jesus is constantly thanking Him for forgiving us our sins. Well, the Jews knew that.

The people that were baptized by John the Baptist before Jesus ever died, they knew that. That's the Old Covenant. The New Covenant is a few verses down, Mark 1:8, John makes the distinction himself. He says, "I have baptized you with water but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit", that's the New Covenant. If you want to know what baptized is, it's 'immerse' -- not the water, we're not arguing about immersing in water or sprinkling -- the Greek word means 'Immersed in the Holy Spirit'. Immersed, totally immersed in the Holy Spirit -- with the result that took place you remember, in Cornelius's household where Peter says, "God gave the Holy Spirit to them as He did to us, made no distinction between them and us but cleansed their hearts by faith." By immersing completely in the Holy Spirit, the heart is cleansed by faith.

And yet you know that our society is full of all of us bleating away to each other that "your problem is guilt, your problem if guilt. You can have your sins forgiven." We know fine well this permissive society doesn't have a great guilt problem. This permissive society has one problem, "How do I do what I know I should do?" "How do I do what I know I should do, how can I live the way I know I should live?", and loved ones, the guilt problem was what the Old Covenant took care of. The New Covenant takes care of the clean heart. It cleanses your heart through the baptism of the Holy Spirit so that you have a center of motivations and attitudes that are pure like Jesus.

But the problem with so many of us is we don't realize that it's received by faith. We believe we receive our forgiveness of sins by faith and then you know what we do. You know what we do. We say, "All right, I received the forgiveness of sins by faith. I know I am on my way to heaven, now I've got to work on my unclean heart", isn't that right?

I mean how many of us believe that we can receive a clean heart by faith? We don't. We believe we work on an unclean heart by amateur psychology and group rationalization. That's it, and because we haven't experienced the miraculous deliverance from the unclean heart, the only way we can align ourselves with the Bible standards is by lowering those standards and so that's what we do. You know we fill each other's heads with the thoughts, "Anger is okay. You can't get over it. Let's face it. It's just human. Gossip is okay. Let's face it, you can't get over it, an odd unclean thought, it's human. You can't get over those things. A little slander, a little jealousy, you can't help it. Those are normal human feelings and you'll always have them." Isn't that the way we talk? So we excuse anger and we excuse gossip and we excuse sarcasm and we excuse slick asides to other people and gradually the whole life in Christ lowers and lowers and lowers.

Loved ones, you may say, "I believe what you say. I believe Acts 15:9. I believe that God can give the Holy Spirit to us and He can cleanse our hearts by faith. I believe that. I believe it's possible to live that way. Now, how am I going to move towards that? How am I going to move towards the full consecration that enables God to do this miracle in me?"

Loved ones, first of all call sin, sin. Call sin, sin. Stop looking at things that you do wrong or feelings that you have that are wrong and excusing them as shortcomings or as little weaknesses in your humanity or as little characteristics that occur because of your background. Stop that. Stop saying, "Oh well, I am a Swede you know and I am a bit incommunicative, not unloving, just incommunicative", stop saying that.

Stop saying, "Oh well, I have an artistic kind of temperament you know, and I am a little fiery, not angry, I am a little fiery at times", stop that. Say, "I am angry", that's sin. Unlovingness, that's sin. Stop saying, "Well, I am a student you know and I am a transient, not uncommitted. I am a transient, I am just transient", No, say you're uncommitted. Call it sin. Old marrieds, "Well, no, I am not ungenerous to God financially, I am just prudent at this time of my life." No, no, just call it sin.

Young marrieds, "I am not ungenerous but we just have to get the necessities you know, get ourselves together", no, no, call that sin. Call sin, sin. That's the first thing. Call sin, sin. You can afford to do it because there's a cure for it and a remedy for it. You only have to pretend if there's no remedy. If there's no remedy but the amateur psychology and the mutual reinforcement groups then you have to avoid calling it sin, but call sin, sin, that's the first thing. Be real about the things in your life that are sin. And see secondly that sin cannot be justified. You can't justify sin.

Some of us you know, take First John 1:8, "If we say we have no sin, we lie and the truth is not in us", that is, we have never sinned and we have no unconscious sin. All of us have unconscious sin, every one of us. So in that sense, none of us can say, "We have no sin." All of us have unconscious sin that we have not seen yet and we cannot deal with until it becomes conscious but see very clearly loved ones that the normal Christian life is defined in two verses in scripture, one is in James, "Whoever knows what is right to do and does not do it, for him it is sin." So if you know something is wrong and you don't do it, that's sin, conscious sin not unconscious sin, that's still sin but conscious sin is what God is concerned about. That's what you have control of and First John 3:9, "Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin." You don't commit sin if you're born of God.

Loved ones, hold to that, hold to that. Don't justify sin. Keep calling it sin. Why? Because the door to full consecration is continual repentance, that's it. That's why the Beattitude says, "Blessed are they that mourn," -- mourn for their sin -- "for they shall be comforted." The door to full consecration is continual repentance. In other words it's not, "Well, I am the way you said I am, I am in that situation and I know it'll be a miracle so I'll wait for the miracle", no, no, the way into the miracle, the way into the place of full consecration where the Holy Spirit can cleanse your heart by faith is by continual honest repentance day-by-day-by-day.

I'll read it to you because I thought it was important to put it as exactly as I could. "Impenitence", that is lack of penitence, Impenitence, un-repentance, "Impenitence is not due simply to repeated sinning", it isn't. See, you may say, "Well, from what you're saying if I am sinning all the time, there's no hope", no, "impenitence is not due simply to repeated sinning but to the growing tolerance of that sinning as a necessity," see that?

It's not just that you're sinning repeatedly -- but impenitence, the time when your conscience become seared and when you get to the point where you can no longer come to a place of full consecration -- is when you regard that sinning as a necessity in your life and you begin to tolerate it. "Impenitence is due not simply to repeated sinning but to the growing tolerance of that sinning as a necessity -- to the acceptance of the idea that we can't stop, to the regarding of sin as normal rather than abnormal, as natural rather than alien. However often we sin if we set our hearts against it with all our being and regard it as something that we must get rid of, not only will God forgive us until 70 times 7 but He will lead us to ask the all important question which is the key to deliverance, 'Why can I not stop?' "

That's it loved ones. There's no point you know in crying out this morning and saying, "Brother, by what you're saying, there's no hope for any of us because I sin", but loved ones, it isn't the sinning. It's what the old Saint says, "It's not the falling but it's the refusal to get up and go every time you fall and to believe that there comes a time when you do not need to fall", that's it. That's what repentance is.

Repentance is not never sinning at this point in your life, before your heart is cleansed -- but it is a refusal to accept sinning as normal in your life. It is a refusal to reject the word of God. It is a constant belief that the normal Christian life is one that is free from unclean hearts and free from unclean life and that is the way into the place of full consecration.

It is a desperate crying out to God, it isn't the crying out to man. "Why? Why can I not stop sinning?" While you're crying out to man, while you're having little counseling sessions, while you're reading the books, while you're talking to other people saying, "Why can I not stop sinning even though I am a Christian", while you're doing that, you're just pretending, you're just pretending. While you're trying to justify your situation, you're not even serious. But when you're desperate enough to cry out to the Holy Spirit, "Holy Spirit, why can I not stop this? Why?" Then you're coming into the place of full consecration where the dear Holy Spirit Himself can begin to deal with you and can explain to you in what ways your heart is not clean for Him to dwell and He will explain it to you loved ones because He wants to dwell in your heart. Your heart was made for His indwelling, that's why your heart is there.

You were made for the Holy Spirit of God to stay and dwell and live within you day after day, night after night, moment by moment and the Holy Spirit's dearest desire is to come there and make that His home. You remember, it was Judas -- not Iscariot but the other Judas -- that said to Jesus, "Lord, how are You going to show Yourself to us and not to the rest of the world", and Jesus said, "I'll tell you. If a man loves Me, he will keep My words and My Father will love him and We will come and make Our home in his heart", that's it. The Holy Spirit will come and dwell constantly in your heart and fill your heart with the fragrance and the beauty and the purity of Jesus, if you will ask Him to come in and cleanse your heart of all that is self and all that is ungodly and all that is other than Jesus. Loved ones, He will do it.

So I wanted to try you know, to help those of you who wondered, "Well, how do I live with an unclean heart?" Well, the truth is, you can't live too long that way loved ones, it eventually overcomes anything that's good in you at all but the way to live with an unclean heart until it becomes clean is by constant repentance that is an attitude. It is not simply an action, it is an attitude. It is an attitude of declared, relentless antagonism to sin, that's it. That's what repentance is. It's a declared, relentless antagonism and hostility to sin that will not accept sin as normal. "I won't accept it!" I don't want to blaspheme but a bit like the guy in the movie. "I am mad as hell and I won't put up with it anymore. I won't! This is Satan within me. I am not tolerating it. Lord, I know I can be free from this and I confess this sin to You but I know Lord it goes deeper than this. This came up from my unclean heart. This came with such a surge of power that my will could not control it. Lord I ask You, Holy Spirit, will You reveal to me why I can't stop this? Will You reveal what uncleanness in my heart has to go because I know the moment I am willing to let it go, that moment You take it away", and that's it.

But I'll tell you it's a different life. It's a different life. Instead of poison coming up from inside that you have to hold down with all your power, beauty and purity and love from Jesus' own heart comes up from inside. You can see why I said to you last Sunday, "It's your own fault then if you sin", it is, because the will is receiving thoughts that are loving and kind and pure and naturally, spontaneously Christ-like. So the will is dumb if it doesn't say, "Oh, go through, go through", and that's why such an effortless life when Jesus cleanses you through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

So loved ones, will you walk on and next Sunday I'll try to talk a little more but it's not talk you know, it's you and the Holy Spirit, He will do it. He will be faithful with you as He has been with so many of us

Let us pray:

Dear Father, we thank You for the New Covenant, the New Testament. We thank You for the real Gospel. We thank You Lord that our sins were forgiven in Your name because of Your death, just as the Jewish sins were forgiven in Your name because of Your death, but Lord we thank You that since Your resurrection, there is also available to us the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. Lord that we do not need simply to experience Him from a far-off as the Old Testament people did, but that He comes and dwells within a cleansed heart.

So Lord, we want that. We want our hearts cleansed by faith so that You, Holy Spirit, can dwell constantly and uninterruptedly within us. So we ask You dear Holy Spirit to start explaining to us why there are certain things in our lives that we can't stop. Will You show us our hearts, reveal to us the uncleanness there, much of it we can't even see yet, and take us to the very bottom of our hearts until we yield it all to You and give up the right ever to resist You again. We ask this in the name of our Savior Jesus.

Now the grace of our Lord Jesus and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with each one of us, now and evermore. Amen.

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