Tag Archives: Hebrews

Being honest in our prayers to God

Posted on April 1, 2014 by | Comments Off on Being honest in our prayers to God

man-praying

Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit outside on one of the concrete tables near the building where I teach my history classes.  It was a nice, cool, and sunny day and the feel of the sun was something that I have really missed over the winter months.  I pulled out my pocket-sized Bible and began reading through Psalms when I had a student approach me to ask me some questions about a recent assignment.  When she saw that I was reading the Bible, she began to ask me questions about my faith, how I “fit it in” my life, and some other questions.  I explained to her that I do not define my faith; my faith defines me, she immediately began to ask questions about my understanding about prayer.

Since 2006, I have become more serious about my faith in God.  I also began to take literally the things that I read in the Bible so that I will not have to stand ashamed of my life in front of an Holy God. When she asked me that question, the first verse that came into my mind was: But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and 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 (I Peter 3:15). Although the apostle Peter was referring to the times when Christians will be brought before kings and judges to explain their holding to the faith in Jesus Christ, I believe that this verse has an application that we are always, as Christians, to be ready to explain any aspect of our faith to those that genuinely ask for understanding.  In this case, this student was asking about my understanding of prayer; as a Christian, I owed her the explanation of my understanding.

I began (as I will begin here) to explain that God does not hear every prayer but only hears the prayers of those who have, through faith, been redeemed. While the world holds on to the erroneous belief that God hears all prayers, this is not the case, as taught by Solomon as he was led by the Spirit of God to write: The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous (Proverbs 15:29).  Even the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah understood that God will not hear the prayers of the wicked and unredeemed: Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them (Jeremiah 11:11) The first prayer that God hears from anyone (except the Lord Jesus Christ when he was on Earth) is the prayer of repentance.  The apostle Paul understood this: For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13) and That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved (Romans 10:9).

God does hear our prayers, but that we have to first understand the condition of our heart.  David, a man after God’s own heart, understood this as he was led by the Spirit of God to write, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me (Psalms 66:18).  Another Old Testament prophet, Micah, explained why God would not hear the Jewish people, although they were his own chosen people: Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings (Micah 3:4). This is not just an Old Testament principle that has no relevance to today’s New Testament believer; the apostle James explained to the Christians of his day why their prayers were appearing not to be answered: Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts (James 4:3). During Jesus’ earthly ministry, he also taught there was another reason why prayers to God seemingly go unanswered: And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive (Matthew 21:22).

Continued on next page.

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Posted in Discipleship, Our relationship with God

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Wherever you are at in your storm, God is there

Posted on March 18, 2014 by | Comments Off on Wherever you are at in your storm, God is there

Young-black-man-with-head-007

This morning as I was doing the daily posts to The Daily Walk‘s Facebook page, a theme began to develop that I have felt led to continue into today’s discipleship study. Today, there are Christians out there who are struggling through the storms, they are wandering through the valleys, or maybe feeling like their entire life is on trial.  It is at these times when we feel the most forsaken, alone, unloved by our fellow Christian and at times, we can even feel abandoned by God.  It’s hard to remember the promise, Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee (Hebrews 13:5) when it seems no one cares.

The apostle Peter learned this lesson the hard way and in the storm of his own choosing.  The story begins as Peter and the disciples see  Jesus walking across the Sea of Galilee to meet them as they journeyed across. The account, as recorded in the book of Matthew, tells of the apostles debating if it were a spirit or some other entity and not Jesus.  As Jesus identifies himself to the men in the boat, And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? (Matthew 14:28-31).  Although Peter had chosen this trial his own self, he still took his eyes off the Lord Jesus Christ and and not depending upon his faith in God, he chose to rely on his own understanding.  It was only when he became broken and cried out for deliverance that Jesus restored him.

It is easy in these times to take our eyes off the Lord Jesus Christ. Almost all the storms I have faced in my life since surrendering to Christ has been because I chose the storm or the valley.  At first, I had a hard time admitting that many of the circumstances I found myself in were because of my own doing and not some test or tribulation sent to try my faith. It is too easy for Christians to excuse the consequences of their sins and claim that God had let these things happen as a means of testing our faith.  Yes, as a Christian, God does forgive us when we do fail him; we have His promises: My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (I John 2:1), If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9), and As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us (Psalms 103:12). But just because the sin is forgiven does not mean that we still will not have the repercussions of those sins.  Even though Jesus lifted Peter from the depths of the waves and restored him to the sea’s surface does not mean that Peter’s shoes and clothes were made dry.  He still had to bear the wet clothing that was the results of his doubts.

I am not saying that every storm we encounter is because of choices we have made.  There are some that we will endure that will be nothing more than tests of our faith.  Several are recorded in the Bible – Paul and Silas, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Job, and Abraham all had their faith tested.  Each one was victorious and have something in common – the storm was a test of faith that brought glory and honor to God. We learn not only about ourselves, but we learn that God does not abandon us during our times of need.  He waits for us to call out and look: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Psalms 46:1). It is during these times of storms and tribulations – ones that were not caused by our indulging of the flesh – that God’s glory is made visible to all. It should be these times that we easily choose to call upon God yet many of us still rather try our own solutions and come to the end of ourselves before we call upon God to deliver us from these times.

Whether it is a storm of our own making or one that is sent to try us, the one thing that is the same is that God has not moved.  He is still there, with an outstretched hand offered to us if we will only reach out to Him.

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Posted in Chrisitian Philosophy, Difficulties and Trials

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Learning from a winter storm

Posted on March 4, 2014 by | Comments Off on Learning from a winter storm

Winter 004

In my hometown of Henderson, Kentucky, we’ve had another round of winter weather.  While the winter storm is long gone, the snow and ice still remain. While many people see the snow and ice as an inconvenience, for me, I welcome the lessons that God teaches me through something as simple as a winter storm.  Being a bit hard-headed in my early Christian walk, I had to learn the hard way that God does not use a loud and booming voice to communicate to us.  In fact, I feel in good company.  I Kings records the lesson that God had to teach the prophet Elijah: And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice (I Kings 19:11-12)

Oftentimes, we miss the methods that God uses to teach us because we are not waiting to hear the still small voice.  We claim that if God would just speak to us, give us some physical sign and with that we would listen and be obedient to Him. Jesus taught on this very thing that big wondrous signs will not make a difference.  In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead (Luke 16:27-31). Although Jesus is talking about the lost coming to God, there is still a similar theme to these two passages of scripture.  In both, God loudly proclaims that it is not through great and mighty miracles where He does His work of touching the hearts of people.  Even if He did allow Lazarus to go and witness to the rich man’s family, they would not believe that God had done such a miracle and would demand that God do another.  Look at the number of miracles the crowds saw Jesus doing; look at the numbers of followers that remained near him on Golgotha.

It is through our quiet time that God truly speaks to our hearts.  We cannot expect to hear the still small voice that God chooses to use if we are doing so amid the distractions of the television, traffic, and the other experiences of day-to-day chaos?  Solomon wrote, Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee (Proverbs 7:15). In other words, it’s never going to be during the “normal routine” of the day where we actually can hear the voice of God.  It is only when, in the case of Ezekiel, where we diligently seek to hear his voice that we will find Him. The apostle Paul understood this very thing too, writing to the Jewish Christian converts of his lifetime, But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6). Again, this idea of only through our diligent efforts will we hear God speak and reward us.  In my own experiences, the times where I diligently sought after the Lord, I had to come to an end of my own understanding of the situation and had to truly seek out God’s counsel.

As the winter storm began to hit Sunday morning around 6:30, I began to think how the storm would cause people to slow down; perhaps that was what I and others within the tri-state area affected by the storm needed.  Often times we allow life to run ahead of us and we forget what it is like to simply slow down and wait upon God. David understood this as the Holy Spirit led him to write, Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass (Psalms 37:7). Again, this idea of waiting, of diligently seeking Him and waiting patiently for Him is something that does not come natural to us in this microwaved, smart-phoned, and multi-tasking generation.  We want instant results and when, as in the case of a winter storm, life requires us to slow down and to be patient, many of us have a hard time doing that.  Let the electricity and cable television go out, and our problems are even worse. The lesson from this winter storm:  slow down and enjoy the time with friends, family, and the Lord.

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