Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Prayer Begins With Adoration

“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father, who is heaven, Hallowed be Your name.’” Matthew 6:9

Many people today ask the question: “How do I pray?” There are also people that pray, but they pray in the wrong way. Some even view prayer as a selfish way to get what they want. They view prayer as though God is some cosmic Santa Clause and He will give them everything they want. When people view God as someone who gives only what we want, they often walk away from God when they don’t get what they want. The person who doesn’t pray because they don’t know how to pray, so they don’t, miss out on all that God has for them (John 16:24). These next few blogs I want to spend some time talking about prayer, so that you can be confident in your prayer life and will revolutionize your walk with the Lord.

When Jesus was on the earth He set an awesome example of prayer. He would pray often and at times all night long (Lk.6:12). Jesus also taught how to pray. The Sermon on the Mount was one of the most important teachings of Christ on prayer (Mat. 6:5-15). The Bible is full of prayers, but Jesus spent some time teaching us how to pray and so it’s important to pay attention to what he tells us about prayer and how to do it. When you see this model, you can see it play out in effective prayer throughout scripture. What is called the Lord’s Prayer is a model prayer, it is not necessarily a prayer we need to pray, but it is an example we need to follow when we pray.

Jesus starts this example of prayer by acknowledging who you are talking to. We must call on the name of the Lord. Address the Lord and address Him with praise. The name of the Lord is holy. God is Holy, and His name is to be held in the highest regard. Sometimes I think we overdo the word holy and so it loses some of its meaning. How do we hold the Name of the Lord? In the Ten Commandments we are told not to take the Lord’s name in vain (Ex.20:7). We are told that we are to keep the name of the Lord sacred and hold it in highest esteem, yet when I walk around I hear it used all the time. When we say things like “Oh my god” are we not taking down the name of God. If we say “Good God” when we are not talking about something good that God has done, are we not losing the meaning of God?

If you read your Bible much you have heard about scribes. Scribes were the people who copied the scriptures by hand so that we would have them today. They worked so carefully that we find no real error in their works. They took the most holy name for God very seriously. We see it in our Bibles in all caps as “LORD”. They held the name in such high honor that they would do things like wash their hands before writing it. They would write it and break the pencil so that it could not be used again. To make sure their thoughts were pure they would write it without the vowels to help ensure they didn’t take the name in vain. Yet today Lord and God are used as though they are nothing and meaningless.

Proverbs tells us, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Pr.1:7). This fear is more than just an awe fear, but also the fear that the LORD could do great and powerful judgements to me and others. Take time and look at the Old Testament and even at the transfiguration of Christ and see how people reacted in the presence of the LORD. When we add this all together with what the Lord Jesus taught when He said pray, “Our Father who are in heaven, Hollowed be YOUR NAME” it will change everything we know about prayer. It puts the focus on the Lord and not on us.

This week take time to think about the LORD and who He is and value His name when you pray. Maybe take time to pray a prayer that asks for nothing. Just take time to acknowledge the LORD and who he is. I have done this, and it is powerfully humbling to see who God is and who we are in comparison. Prayer starts with the Name of the LORD and is about Him!

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All scripture is from The New American Standard Bible, copyright 1995 by the Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA

Photo by Thomas G Carter

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Jesus Is Anointed By Mary

“Therefore Jesus said, ‘Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.’” John 12:7

We are coming up on what is known as Holy Week. Holy Week is the week-long celebration of the work Christ did for us on the cross. It will end on Easter Sunday the day Jesus was resurrected from the dead. There is a lot written about this week in the four gospels. Many churches will have things going on to remember the works and teaching of Christ each of the days of Holy Week. The day before the week began Jesus is in Bethany at Lazarus’ house. This is the same Lazarus that Jesus raised from the dead. Martha is there serving the people and Mary will take some perfume and anoint Jesus’ feet with it.

As we examine the story we see that the perfume is pure nard. Scripture in verse 3 tells us that it was a pound, or about 12 ounces. Pure nard is an extract from India and at the time was very costly. Mary is taking this perfume and putting it on Jesus’ feet while he is reclining at the table. What an act of humility on her part. The smell would have filled the whole house, and everyone would be aware of what Mary was doing.

Judas knows that it was worth lots of money. He was the keeper of the money for the Apostles and was also a thief. The love of money, as everyone knows, can be the root of evil and for Judas he loves money. Judas will stir up the apostles about the value of this perfume and how it is being wasted when there are poor people who need food and things. Judas doesn’t care about the poor people only the money, but he does get the people around Jesus to talking about what was going on.

Jesus will correct those in the crowd around Him. What she is doing is preparing Him for what is going to come by the end of the week. There are always going to be poor people, but Jesus would not always be on the earth and she is preparing him for His burial. Money is temporary, but what Jesus was about to do was going to be everlasting. The Apostles don’t now understand what is going to come, even though Jesus did teach that He was going to die and be raised to life again.

Sometimes when people are put into their place it can lead to bitterness and even anger. This can lead us to do things that are not good. Everyone needs to learn to deal with correction and rejection, because if we don’t we can end up doing damage that goes beyond ourselves. Judas does not handle this correction well. He wanted Jesus to make Him rich and because Jesus does not elevate making money from this perfume, Judas will go for money another way. Judas will sell Jesus to the Chief Priests for 30 pieces of silver.

The Chief Priests are looking to put Lazarus or Jesus to death because they are losing the people to Jesus. They, like Judas, want a Jesus to elevate and give them glory. But Jesus instead has been driving a change that does not drive people to them and elevate the good works that they do. Jesus even teaches them to love the people that they do not love. We all need to have ourselves checked in how we view Jesus. Selfishness is something we all can struggle with, as well as the desire to be the one in control instead of Christ. It should always be about Jesus, not about ourselves and we should all be about Jesus’ will, not our own.

As we come to Easter let us examine our lives as to how we serve Jesus. It was Jesus’ plan to come and die for us, yet His Apostles and those around Him had other plans for Jesus. We need to live our lives by the word of God. If we want to be what Christ wants us to be, that means following His word through the power of the Holy Spirit. Love for how Christ loves needs to dominate our lives. Too many times we make God and Jesus as a Santa Claus that we can somehow control to get our way and then we leave the faith when it doesn’t go our way. If we want to be blessed, we should always seek Christ’s will for our lives through the Bible. Easter is all about Jesus and the work of the cross not about ourselves.

Photo by Brina Blum on Unsplash

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Make Decisions In Prayer

“It was at this time He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.” Luke 6:12

“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” James 1:5

In life we have many forks in the road and big choices that we will have to make. Sometimes those choices can be hard and have far reaching consequences. Many a time, though we have all probably made these decisions without prayer or only a short prayer, to seek guidance of the Lord. Yet, Jesus set an example for us in how he made decisions. We should seek to follow that in our lives. Even though Jesus was fully God, He was also fully man and being in that form spent many a time in prayer before making any big decisions. Let’s examine one case of this from Luke chapter 6.

Jesus has come to the point in His ministry that He needs to appoint apostles to train, to later build His Church. At this point opposition has been growing to His ministry that will climax with Jesus being crucified and so this was not a decision to be taken lightly. He felt it was time to get the guidance of the Father in the selection of the 12 Apostles and the future of the church. Are you coming up on some big decisions in your life? Do you plan to seek wisdom from God?

Prayer, as it has been pointed out, was a big part in the decisions of Jesus. It was not just here, but has been seen elsewhere in the life of Jesus. (Lk. 3;21; 5:16; 9:18, 28, 29; 11:1; 22:32, 40-46). In Jesus’ example here, we can see some important things to add to our prayer time. Jesus withdrew to a desolate, lonely place to pray. This was a place that He could have uninterrupted communication with God. In Matthew 6:6, Jesus teaches us to pray in secret and here we see that is what Jesus did. We need a place of prayer where we can go, that it is just us and the Father, where we are free from distraction and we can just focus on the Lord. We all need to find that place we can pray.

Prayer time is as long as it needs to be. For Jesus this decision was not something to be made by a short prayer. Here he prayed all night long. As a young Christian I was amazed at people who could pray that long. I was puzzled about the scriptures that said to pray without ceasing (1Thes. 5:17). When you grow in Christ you will see, as I have, more what this passage means. In relation to Christ’s example here, we need to pray about our decisions as long as it takes to get the peace and wisdom about the choices we need to make.

Wisdom in making hard decisions will come when we ask for it. James the brother of Jesus taught, through the Holy Spirit, that when we lack wisdom we need to ask God for it. God will give wisdom generously without holding it back when we ask it in faith. Jesus told us that with faith the size of a mustard seed we can move mountains (Lk 17:6). Why then don’t we seek that wisdom when we make difficult decisions? Even more important what about all decisions? We know that God’s wisdom is greater than ours and yet often we don’t seek that great wisdom. Jesus was fully God and He still went to the Father for wisdom.

It is okay to admit to God if we don’t know how to pray. When we do ask Him to teach us how to pray and look to scripture for the answers on how to pray. It is so important to pray. God wants us to talk to Him! He is our Father and He loves to hear from His Children. Just like if we have good earthly parents we seek advice from them, we need to seek it from our Heavenly father. Don’t forget just how much He loves you and will answer your prayers and sometimes we need to seek out that wisdom and not do just do it in passing. Like with any person we might need to go through the whole decision process with Him. That does take time, but doing so will strengthen your walk with God and your wisdom from the Father will grow. Jesus Loves to hear from His people!

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Who Needs A Doctor

“And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance,’” Luke 5:31-32

A few weeks ago, I received a piece of mail from my health insurance provider about when to go to the emergency room. For many people they go there, when they aren’t that sick, to see a doctor. We know that when we are sick, we need to see them to get better. Most doctors, we see, are there for us when we are sick. I know I don’t think about going when I am well. It was Christ’s mission to go to those in need of spiritual healing, people who need Him.

In the above scripture, Jesus is answering a complaint that religious leaders were giving about Him. Jesus had just called a tax collector, named Matthew, to follow Him. Matthew then invited him over to eat along with fellow tax collectors. Today we might not think this was a big deal, but back then, it was. Jewish people, at that time, had a deep hate for Romans and gentiles. Rome was the ruler of the nation and tax collectors were hired from the people to collect the taxes. The Jews however, labeled them sinners by the religious people and would not associate with them.

We know that the religious leaders didn’t come directly to Christ with their complaining, but to Jesus’s disciples. I think that is often what we do as people. We have a compliant about something, so we talk to others about it instead of going to the source. Often, we do this when we know that we might be wrong in our complaints. Jesus, being God, knows their thoughts and he answers them. The answer may not be what they wanted to hear though, but it shows He truly is from God. Remember, God knows what we are thinking and saying to others.

If you look at the Old Testament, which is all they had then, nowhere does it say the Jewish people were the only people. It says they are to be a blessing to the world and show God to the nations. By this point they were a closed off nation and not willing to let anyone in. Evangelism was not part of what they did and even worse, they felt that they were saved by just being a Jew. They had gotten very religious, but for the most part it was meaningless practice and was doing no one any good. This is a danger that happens all the time in churches. Some churches are dying because they refuse to change from practices and traditions not found in the Bible. They push others away who find no meaning behind what they do and even call them unbelievers and sinners for not wanting their traditions.

Jesus, was very gracious in His response to them. He points out that His mission is to call sinners to repentance. Righteous people have already repented of their sins and don’t need the message He has. This was not a time for Him to address the kind of people the Scribes and Pharisees were. He was pointing out indirectly that they should be caring for the souls that aren’t righteous in His response. It’s easy to judge others instead of loving them. We all can become so caught up in ourselves, that we forget the message of the cross. Who is it that we should be having a dinner with, but don’t because we don’t like them or what they are doing? They need Jesus too and we are called to spread the message of Jesus to the world.

We know that Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Remember, that we too were once lost, and Jesus saved us. Sometimes we can let our “righteousness” keep us from reaching out to those who need Jesus. Remember, those without Jesus are facing death! Will we let our traditions, though we might love them, become a stumbling block and keep others from Jesus? How about our personal feelings for certain people keeping us from wanting them in church to hear the gospel? Who does Jesus save, needs to be the question we ask. Finally, we need to ask, is Jesus welcome in our church? Most would say yes, but really think about what you know about Jesus from the Bible, when answering that question. God Bless!

Photo by Piron Guillaume on Unsplash

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Love

"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1Cor. 13:1-13

February is often thought of as the month of love since Valentines Day is during the month. We could also, as Christians, because we start to celebrate the great love of Christ for us with the beginning of Lent. Many will even sacrifice something, so they can focus on the love of Christ when they fast from what they love. The above scripture contains what many feel as the greatest definition of what love is. It takes up the whole chapter and though, in a short blog I can’t pull out all the awesome things from these verses, I want to point out a few things to think about this week.

Scripture always builds off scripture. In the previous chapters Paul was dealing with spiritual gifts. Some gifts are more noticeable by men than other gifts and can lead to pride in the person who has it and jealousy in the ones who don’t have it. Paul, in the first 3 verses, is pointing out that gifts don’t have value if they don’t have love. Pride, selfishness and jealousy do not show love, so when these are present in the ministry of the gifts they make the gift or ministry useless. Think about how we feel when someone does a good work only for show, not out of genuine love.

Love is one of the hardest things to define. Yet, Paul does a very good job of defining it as what it is and is not. When you look at verses 4-7, which is Paul’s definition of love, it is all actions not feelings. Today, we hear people say all the time that they don’t feel loved. People break up or even get divorced because they don’t feel the love as they put it. We show love by our actions, not by how we feel. Sometimes feelings come out of our selfishness and not from our hearts. This week take a few moments to go through this definition of love and ask, does my love for others demonstrate this kind of love?

“Love never fails,” is how verse 8 starts out. Paul takes time to say the spiritual gifts will someday come to an end as all things do but love does not. Love is what will bring us to eternity with Jesus! We need to all become grown up in the faith to know that love is more important and should be demonstrated by our actions, because that is what truly matters in the end. The world is a hard, dark, and selfish place, but the church and its people should be different and truly be all about true love! Jesus set the example and his love still endures and so too can yours. Are you focused on your actions or are your actions coming out of your love for others?

When it comes to all of Christianity, the most important things are faith, hope, and love and the greatest of them is love. Loving God with our everything is the greatest commandment, followed closely by loving others as ourselves. The ten commandments are all about loving God and loving others. Jesus gave us the greatest example of love. Are we following it? Set a goal this week and keep it up all year, to love God more today than you did yesterday, and it will cause you to love others more than yesterday too.

Scripture is from The New American Standard Bible, copyright 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Making Jesus Known

“’Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Jesus, of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!’ But Jesus rebuked him saying, ‘Be quiet and come out of him!’” Luke 4:34-35A

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have command you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19,20

People today love sports and are quick to talk about their favorite teams. Super Bowl Sunday had 111.3 million people watching according to CBS New. Even though that wasn’t a record, there were still a lot of people watching and talking about a sport. 75 percent of Americans claim to be Christian (Newport 2015). Yet, Christianity Today reports one in five non-Christians claim to not even know a Christian. (Stocker 2013) When I hear stats like that, it reminds me how important it is to get excited about Jesus and live for Him. It’s so important that we tell people about Jesus by our words and actions. When I look at the above scriptures there are a few important things to notice that should help motivate us to share our faith with others.

The Devil and his Demons know who Jesus is. Take a moment and let that sink in. They also know that Jesus could destroy them and what will happen to them in the end. Jesus came to save people, the demons don’t want people to know Jesus and be saved. Because they know the truth about Christ, they can also distort the truth about Him. That is why it’s important for us to proclaim that truth, so those around us know it. Media, the internet, and even education can and are, influenced by the Devil. Truth is hard to come by, but the truth does set people free.

Many think that it’s only a job for pastors or missionaries to proclaim Jesus to others, but that is simply not true. The scripture is clear we are all to be out there proclaiming the gospel to others. We may not all be called to be pastors or missionaries, but we can all talk about our love for Jesus like we do our favorite sports team or even our favorite hobby. If we all got excited about Jesus, like fans of the super bowl, think of the impact it would have on the world. Remember that often times it’s our friends that have the biggest impact in our lives.

Jesus is always with us and the Holy Spirt is in our lives. It can be scary at times to tell people about the Lord. Many will say, “I don’t know what to say”, but because we have Jesus in our lives, he will direct our path and words if we let Him. When I was younger, I remember telling people about the Lord in ways that, some might say, were not theologically correct. I still lead people to Christ, because God used me and guided me. Even if your words are not perfect, Jesus, through the Spirit, can use those words to make an impact in the lives of those around you. Jesus is with you, take strength in that. The Devil wants you to be scared, so that you will be silent and think you can’t do it, that way the Devil will keep your friends out of heaven.

Many of us worry that we don’t have answers to questions that will come up. As you grow in Christ you will discover that you never will have all the answers. That will keep you in the word of God seeking more growth. When people ask you a question you can’t answer, that is an opportunity for you to learn more and will strengthen your relationship with them and God. Tell that person you will seek the answer and do just that. For many people salvation process that can take time. It is also why we must teach others to observe all that Christ has command us. The mission field is right outside the door.

References

Newport, Frank. 2015. http://news.gallup.com/poll/187955/percentage-christians-drifting-down-high.aspx. December 24. Accessed February 6, 2018.

Stocker, Abby. 2013. Christianity Today. August 19. Accessed February 6, 2018. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/august-web-only/non-christians-who-dont-know-christians.html.

All Scripture is from the New American Standard Bible copy write 1995, The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA

Photo by rawpixel.com on Unsplash

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Being Golden

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard others as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own interests, but the interests of others.” Philippians 2:2,4

“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12

In Arizona’s Superstition Mountains, is a gold mine that no one has yet found. It’s the Lost Dutchman’s Mine. The Dutchman, when he died, left some clues and riddles as to where the mine is located. As far as anyone knows, no one has found the mine. Many have even lost their lives in search for this valuable gold mine. Gold is something that has value, but we too can have value to others. The Bible has many great pieces of advice that, if followed, will make us golden to others.

First, we need to become selfless people. Have you ever been around someone who only cares to do what they want? People who are focused only on themselves push away others because we too have things we like to do. When we focus on others we show that we care about them. It doesn’t mean we have to only do what our friends want, but we need to care about what others care about. Make sure though, that you are genuine about it because we can pick out the fake person too. Attitude about it is important.

Second, humility is important. Humility is to know that we have faults and we need to have an attitude that shows that others are better than we are. What are your faults? Do you know them? We know that imperfection runs deep in everyone and so we have have to approach others with humility and love when talking to them about their faults. We need to show them the love of Christ and show them the victory we have won in your own lives. Jesus loved us and we should love them with that same love. "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

Finally, we are to look out for our interests too, but we need to do it in a way that also considers others. In business and in life we may try to run over others in our race to the top or to get what we want, hurting those around us along the way. Getting ahead in business and life is not a problem, but how we get there can be. True leadership is the ability to gain followers. Leaders are better than bosses because a leader has them following because they want to follow. A boss you follow because you have too in order to keep your job. When we make friends, and help others along life’s pathway we gain friends, followers, and helpers when life can be hard on us. Even though the world says get what you want fast, sometimes the long way to get what we want, might be the right way. We need to seek to lead like Jesus in every area of our lives.

The golden rule found in Matthew 7:12 is still being taught to children today: “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.” This rule should still apply to everyone young and old today. How you want to be treated should be reflected in how you treat others. If you want to be a person of great value, treat others as if they have great value. When I go shopping I love to go to places that show great customer service. I want the places I spend my money to value me and take care of me. Though sometime I don't get treated with value I can still treat those there with the value I want to be treated. We may never find the Lost Dutchman’s mine, but we can be people worth more than his gold mine, or any gold mine is.

All Scripture is from The New American Standard Bible copy write 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA