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How to Understand the Importance of Thanksgiving and Prayer

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Thanksgiving and Prayer

© 2021 C. O. Bishop revised 2025

1st Thessalonians 5:16-18;

Introduction:

Throughout the Bible, God calls us to thanksgiving and prayer. It is important to realize that the call to thanksgiving is in spite of circumstances, not because of circumstances. The call to Prayer is similar, in that God does not guarantee that we will get what we want. We are the ones asking, but it is God who replies. And, we ask in our ignorance, and our relative blindness. Therefore, He, in His sovereign knowledge and His infinite wisdom, sometimes must refuse our request. Remember that His knowledge, His wisdom and His purpose are not only all higher than we can hope to understand. All also are better, from the perspective of eternity.

Prayer in the Old Testament

In ancient Judah, even after bad leadership split the nation, a king would occasionally proclaim a National day of Prayer, and usually a fast, as well. He did so, desiring the mercy and blessing of God for his nation. Or, perhaps desiring the direction and protection of God, for an upcoming challenge or threat.  As far as I can recall, in every single case, God answered those prayers. He did not always answer how they had hoped, but He always answered.

God has recorded those histories for us to learn from them. But we must be careful not to “learn the wrong lesson,” so to speak. There were a few people (prophets) to whom God gave special authority. What came out of their mouths really was His will, and they really did occur. It was not that they were “special saints,” but that God put them in a special position.

Moses is a classic example. He called for the ground to split and swallow up some rebels in the camp. And it happened exactly as he said. But it was for God’s purpose, not some personal vendetta of Moses. As a rule, God uses miracles to draw attention to, and to validate His message. And, right then, Moses was the messenger of God.

Thanksgiving Was Part of the History

At least for the moment, when God stepped in and rescued Israel, it usually resulted in national giving of thanks. But they soon forgot the blessing, and they began to grumble again. Sometimes they abandoned all pretense of following Him.

Numbers 21:5-9 tells about when the Jews were scarcely out of Egypt. They already forgot the Salvation that was poured out upon them while the Judgment was being poured out on Egypt.

Unthankful Hearts Draw Judgment

They grumbled and were very ungrateful toward God, failing to appreciate His supply in their lives. He sent Judgment on them in the form of venomous vipers, migrating across their desert path, and killing many of the people. But God used even this calamity to demonstrate His Grace, in a prophetic “picture.” The bronze serpent on the pole represented the judgment for their sins, and God’s solution for sin.

That image predicted the Cross, where our sins were judged forever, and Jesus’s blood served as the eternal satisfaction for God’s Justice and holiness. It represented the Grace extended to Man, in payment for the sins of the Whole World, forever! In regard to that particular history, Jesus said, “As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

So, even our ingratitude and our unbelief are under the blood of the Cross.

Unthankful Hearts Result in Spiritual Darkness

Romans 1:21, we see one cause of God’s judgment for sin: “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened.”

Humans fail to recognize the authority and Grace of God. We fail to Give Thanks…and because of this, our hearts are darkened. We fail to see the truth that, when God’s reply to our prayer is “NO,” The reply is just as worthy of thanksgiving as when He gives us the desire of our hearts. We need to thank Him for His wisdom and grace in those times, too.

So, What about Prayer?

In Luke 18:1, Jesus taught that we “ought always to pray and not faint.” The apostle Paul reiterates this command in 1st Timothy 2:1-4, saying that we are not only to pray for ourselves and for one another, but for unbelievers as well, and especially for national and civic leaders, so that we might reap the benefits of “a quiet and peaceful life.”

Today, we live in the only nation in the history of the world which was originally founded upon specifically Christian values, and grounded in the whole truth of God’s Word, the Bible. It was not founded upon greed, or nationalism, but upon humility and public awareness of our utter dependence upon the Almighty Creator God. Perhaps the unbelieving world around us has forgotten this, but we as believers have no excuse: We are to remember; we are to pray, and we are to give thanks, regardless of the circumstances.

God’s Word and His Values are Eternal

We live at a time when those Christian values upon which our Nation was founded have largely been set aside as “old-fashioned,” or “outmoded,” or “irrelevant for the realities of today.” However, the Word of God will stand for all time and Eternity, and it does not depend upon the opinions of humans for validity. The Law of Gravity will (literally) cease to exist before God’s Word will fail to be relevant. In Ps 119:89, the psalmist says, “Forever, O Lord, thy Word is settled in heaven.” In light of eternity, the values of the humans of today are merely a passing aberration, while the values of God are the principles upon which the very Universe is founded.

Daniel’s Example

A heathen king ordered the Prophet Daniel to cease praying to his God. He immediately went to his balcony, opened the doors, and in public view, he prayed toward Jerusalem, as was his habit. You know the rest of that story, from Daniel chapter 6: Daniel “spent the night at the zoo,” as it were—specifically, in the Lion’s Den. But in the Morning…in the morning, the king released Daniel, and his enemies took his place. He had been under the protection of God—they were not…(It was “feeding time” at the zoo!)

We have a “Morning” coming, too! The Apostle Peter tells us in 2nd Peter 1:19, that we are to focus our attention on the written Word of God as the only light in this dark world, “until the day dawns!”

Jehoshaphat’s Example

King Jehoshaphat, under threat of an invading army, declared a national day of prayer and fasting, and God answered through a local prophet. The troops of Judah went to the battle, all right, but they were led by the national choir, singing, and praising the beauty of holiness. They were giving thanks in advance, and worshipping the God of their salvation! The resulting battle was fought by God alone. The people of Judah never lifted a weapon. And every single enemy soldier died that day.

Modern Examples

Today we are still called to prayer, by God Himself. It is possible today, as always, in times of trouble, that some of the human leaders who may make that call are not believers, themselves. We should not be deterred from the privilege of prayer by those who do not know the God who answers prayer. Let us continue in prayer, undismayed. We also should remember that while prayer can “change things,” prayer definitely does not “control things!” Believers under fire are praying, but many of them die.

It is OK to pray and die!

An American missionary in the Philippines (Martin Burnham) along with his wife (Gracia Burnham) was kidnapped by Islamic rebels, there. They prayed daily for deliverance, and they prayed faithfully for their captors as well. But the day finally came when a firefight broke out between the national army and the rebel force. Martin threw his own body across that of Gracia, trying to shield her. Both were praying, but only Gracia came home alive. Martin was shot and killed, protecting his wife.

How do we respond to that sort of answer to prayer? Can I give thanks when the result was not what I wanted?

God’s Command

1st Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice evermore; pray without ceasing; in every thing give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus, concerning YOU!”

God says His will for us is that we should rejoice evermore, that we should pray without ceasing; and that in every circumstance we should give thanks.

Let’s look at that passage, point by point:

  1. Rejoice evermore,
  2. Pray without ceasing, and
  3. In every thing give thanks
  4. For this is the Will of God, in Christ Jesus, concerning YOU!

Rejoice Evermore

Notice that He did not say, “Feelhappy,” or “feel Joyful!” He said “rejoice!” This directly ties into what Jesus commanded in John 16:33 “These things have I spoken unto you that in Me ye might have peace: in the World ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the World.”

Joy is a choice: Habakkuk chose joy in the face of the sure knowledge that his nation was about to fall to foreign invaders in judgment as a result of Israel’s sin. He said, “Yet will I rejoice in the LORD: I will joy in the God of my Salvation!”It was an act of the will, not a result of emotion. His emotion was grief at the collapse of Israel, but his choice was Joy!

Pray without Ceasing

God gives a clear command, that, just as Jesus commanded, we are not to give up on prayer: we are to “press on,” praying in the face of devastating news, in the hope that we will be delivered. And as the young Hebrew men under the threat of the furnace replied, “God IS able to save us: but even if He does not, we will not worship your idol!” They knew they faced death. They did not know for certain that God was going to deliver them.

Martin and Gracia Burnham knew they potentially faced death, and did not know that only one of them would be delivered. But they prayed and they chose the Joy of the Lord in response to their trauma. Afterward, Gracia shared her story in a book: “In the Presence of Mine Enemies.”

Perhaps we can learn from her example, and seek to find the “table” God has prepared for us in the presence of our enemies, The World, the Flesh, and the Devil. Hopefully, in the presence of our enemies, we can choose by faith to rejoice because of His supply. Perhaps we can choose to pray faithfully, in recognition that His supply is perfect, even when we fail to understand it.

In Every Thing give Thanks

Notice that God does not say “for everything give thanks!” Rather, He says, “in every thing give thanks.” Martin and Gracia Burnham surely did not “feel happy and satisfied” as the prisoners of a murderous band of Islamic terrorists. But they chose to rejoice IN that reality, rather than deciding that “God must have ignored their needs.” God calls us to do that, as well.

Was I “happy” that my mother had an incurable disease? Absolutely not! But could I rejoice in her testimony and the legacy she left behind? Yes, I really could, once I quit whining and crying to God, insisting that He change His directive Will for the benefit of my desires. But it took a while. (We can grieve; that is OK. It is OK to hurt, but it is not OK to allow the hurt to make us bitter.) Mom simply graduated early.

(Odd thing: she was valedictorian in both high school and college. She was the eldest of her siblings and the rest all lived well into their eighties, while she died at 65. So, once again, she “graduated at the head of her class!”) It caused us grief to lose her, but she blessed all those around her, by the overflowing Grace of her walk with God.

Is Martin Graham unhappy today with God’s decision to take him home and leave Gracia here? Absolutely not! Martin is rejoicing before the Lord, as we speak! Is Gracia unhappy with His answer to prayer? Not today: At that moment, Martin’s death filled her with grief! But God healed her of her grief, and she once again walked in the sure knowledge of God’s Grace.

Making it Personal

We are called to do the same: we are not told that we will always understand God’s will, nor, obviously, that we will always get what we desire. There have been times when I was certain that I was praying according to the will of God, but my hopes were dashed. There have been other times when I gave up hope, because of the circumstances, and God delivered, anyway.

It would be easy to “learn the wrong lesson,” here, and decide that “there is no point in praying, as God is just going to do His own will anyway.” But that attitude ignores that fact that we are commanded to pray; and, to “not faint”…not give up on prayer; and to “pray without ceasing:” How can it be within the will of God for me to disobey those clear commands?

The fact is, we simply have to admit that we do not know what is best. And, if we truly want what is best, then we need to subject ourselves to the will of the One who not only knows what is best, but desires to bless us to the utmost.

It IS Personal!

The final word in that passage is very personal: He says, “For this is the Will of God, in Christ Jesus, concerning YOU!”

Don’t succumb to the temptation to “shuck that aside,” thinking, “Well, that was to the believers at Thessalonica!” Of course, it was! And it is also to you, personally, just like the rest of the epistles! Take this personally, and apply it to your life: the result will be a greater sense of peace and joy, as you learn to trust the Creator and Judge as your Savior, your Shepherd and your Friend.

Lord Jesus, please draw us close enough to you that we can feel your arms supporting us and hear your heartbeat for the lost around us, and be transformed into your likeness, sharing that care for the lost world.

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What is Our Mission, from God’s perspective?

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Our Mission, from God’s perspective

© C. O. Bishop 8/15/14 THCF 8/17/14 (revised 2025)

Ephesians 6:18-24

Introduction:

Communication is a critically important factor in any relationship as well as any endeavor or business. But we often set aside communication, saying “They don’t need to know that!” We could avoid many conflicts by clear communication: Both sent and received. Perhaps this is one reason God calls Jesus the “logos”—the Word—the “ultimate communication” of God. And we do need to know that!

Hebrews 1:1 says, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son…” and then it goes on to demonstrate that Jesus was and is God’s greatest communication of Himself to Mankind. We could say that is “a given communication”…but there has to be a reception, of course.

The Word Became flesh. God communicated in human form. He had sent signs in the creation, judgments, prophets, visions and dreams…all as communication. Finally, he showed up in person, God in the flesh: Jesus himself—God’s best communication.

When we receive Christ, we have believed God—received His communication. When we obey his Word, we are demonstrating faith: (received communication again.) John 1:11, 12 says that the Word “Came unto his own (Israel) and his own received him not, but to as many as received him to them gave he power to become the children of God.” 

As a nation the Jews refused to believe. But God gave the ones who did believe the new birth, and they received the Holy Spirit to indwell them forever.  Communication is critically important…let’s look at some of the different kinds:

Four Kinds of Communication

Here in Ephesians 6:18-24, We find four kinds of communication listed:

  1. Prayer—communication from us to God
  2. Witnessing—communication from us to unbelievers—to “make known the mystery…”
  3. Sharing with believers—feedback—prayer requests, sharing answered prayers—both joys and sorrows, “that ye may know…” (By the way,we must distinguish this from Gossip. This is “…so that ye may know our affairs.” Gossip is crossing over into talking about other people behind their back…one must learn the difference.)
  4. God communicating His peace, his love and His living Grace to the believers, every day.

All four of these forms of communication are to be part of the daily Christian life. All are part of the job Jesus gave us to do. So: What is the job?

What is the Overall Mission of the Church—Our Reason for Existing?

The Great Commission is literally our “marching orders,” and World Evangelism is the only job Jesus has assigned to the Church. Everything else is how we are to carry out that One Assignment.

Consider: Everything else He told us to do, we could do better out of the world than in it. (Do you think you “love one another” better now than you will after you are finally rid of your old sin nature?) But the job of being an ambassador can only be done here in this life. And that is why He keeps us here: He wants us to do that job! So, how does each of the types of communication fit into the overall job?

Prayer: Communication with God

Many passages tell us how to pray, how often to pray, how not to pray, etc. But, Paul gives some specific commands and requests, here: He commands us to pray continually in the Spirit, for the brethren, with all supplication and perseverance. He asks prayer for himself, too, and I think it is important to see exactly for what it was he asked for prayer.

It had nothing to do with his finances, his work, his home, his health, etc. It only involved his doing the job God sent him to do.  He asked that “utterance may be given”—that he would be able to communicate the Gospel. He specifically asked twice that God would allow him boldness, so that he could speak as he ought to speak, and that he could “make known the mystery of the Gospel.”

Make Known the Mystery of the Gospel

If you don’t give someone enough information that they could make a decision for Christ,then you have not “made known the mystery of the gospel!” Sharing the Gospel with unbelievers has to be from the desire to feed them the bread of life. If you are afraid to give them the whole truth (Bad news and Good news,) then ultimately, you are not giving the Good News. We need to pray this same thing for ourselves, for boldness to make known the mystery of the Gospel.

Is it OK to pray for our physical circumstances? Yes! But how you pray reveals your priorities. If the main things we pray for are good health and good income, how do we differ from the folks who are actively preaching a “prosperity doctrine?” (Teachingthat “if you are right with God, then He will make you healthy and wealthy!”) We know that is false teaching, but our prayer life reveals that we really think that way somewhat, ourselves. Paul’s prayer life, on the other hand, is very instructive. He prayed for the physical well-being of others only a few times, and, at least once, when he prayed for his own physical health, God said, “My Grace is sufficient for thee!”

But God commands us to pray—for the world leaders, for all believers, and for the lost. He invites us to pray for ourselves, as well: Just realize that not all “hard times” are outside the will of God. Some suffering is a gift from God. We need to be in submission to God. But He tells us to “cast our cares on him,” to “pray without ceasing,” and to “pray, believing that He hears us.”

Evangelism: Communication With a Lost World

What about evangelism? We already talked about it a little, but the truth is, Evangelism is supposed to be part of every believer’s life. We are Ambassadors for Christ. How will an ambassador of a country function if he is not making contacts “for his nation,” as his job dictates? (Or “for God,” in our case?)

We are sent as the messengers of eternal life. We are to share the bread of life, the water of life, the free gift of God’s Grace. Every bit of that requires communication. Can some of it be non-verbal? Certainly it can! But it cannot all be non-verbal. The Grace your unbelieving friend, co-worker or family-member may see in your life still has to be explained!

Peter said in 1st Peter 3:15, “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…” That requires verbal communication. And the Lord simply says “be ready”…it’s going to happen. That is part of the job…it’s part of the Christian life.

Remember that though the overall goal is to reach the World with the Gospel, it still requires meeting the unbelievers one by one, as a rule. You meet them where they are, and you feed them where they are hungry. You go beyond the “normal” world standards for generosity and kindness, and you share the reason for your faith at every opportunity.

Fellowship: Communion—Sharing With Other Believers

Who do you like to “hang out with,” and why? Who are your real friends? And when you are visiting with other believers, do you ever include the Lord in your conversations? Or is He “shut out until Sunday?” Can you really be “carrying out the mission of the Church” if you are not also fellowshipping with other believers around the person of Christ?

I remember reading in an account of Paul Fleming (one of the founders of New Tribes Mission), how, prior to the founding of New Tribes, he had gone to Malaysia with a different organization. He was fervent in his desire to reach the lost, and excited about the opportunities that seemed to surround him.

Not Everyone wants to “Share” in the Ministry.

At a “missionary gathering,” he unrolled a map and began sharing with a group of men about a tribe that he’d heard of in the back-country hills of Malaysia. He didn’t get far before one of the other men shut him down, saying, “Fleming, let’s not talk shop!” He was shocked and hurt to discover that to the rest of the group, yes, this was “the job,” but to them it was “just” a job; they did not want to talk about it “on their own time.” What does this suggest about the reality of their “servant-to-master” relationship with Christ? It was not a reality: This was their “day off.”

I once telephoned a pastor on a Monday, enthusiastic about something in the church. He answered the phone and angrily reproached me for calling him “on his day off.” I was shocked, but I quietly apologized, and finally said, “I don’t have a day off.” He called back later and apologized for his response, but still later, I  came to realize that the first response had accurately reflected reality. The second response was only covering his social error. It was “just a job” to him.

Bad Communication

We do need to be aware that not all “Christian communication” is of God. I have frequently heard communication that obviously is just gossip, but it is prefaced with “Let me tell you this so you can pray about it…” (Do you want to know something? God says he hates gossip!) Be careful that your communication is of a sort that would honor God and edify the rest of the believers. Do make a point of sharing your own prayer requests and those that are public information…just be wise about what is discussed. It is easy to cross over into gossip.

Sharing your OWN joys and needs is Not Gossip

Notice that what Paul shared with them through Tychicus was information about himself: “…so that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts.” Was Tychicus talking about Paul? Surely he was…at Paul’s direction, and with the express intent of sharing the results of their earnest prayers on his behalf, and the work that he was doing.

The result was not “fun stuff to know and tell,” but rather joy and comfort for the believers. It was exactly the information that Paul would have told them if he had been personally present. Tychicus was doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing. (By the way, he was the scribe who wrote the letter, as Paul dictated, and the one who hand-delivered it as well.)

We share with others freely when we know that they are faithful brothers and sisters. Paul said Tychicus was a beloved brother and a faithful minister. That is why he was entirely comfortable with Tychicus speaking on his behalf. I have had people who I barely knew, and with whom I had virtually no relationship, let alone a secure one, enticing me to share very personal information about my private life. Warily, I firmly but respectfully said that I did not think that would be profitable.

I later found out that my hesitation was well-founded—that individual ultimately proved to be a gossip, deliberately using against other people things that were supposedly shared with him in confidence, as a pastor. That is a sad story, but it is all too common among believers. Don’t allow yourself to fall into that trap, either on the “telling end” or the “listening end.”

Received Blessing:

God Completing the Cycle and Communicating with His People

So, how does God communicate with the believers? We know He communicates through the Written Word, and via the Holy Spirit, but the things Paul prays for here are gifts from God, communicating His love and blessing to the saints:

Paul prayed for peace, and love, with faith, for the brethren. All three in this context are not associated with salvation, but rather the blessings associated with walking in obedience and fellowship with God. The fact that they were “brethren” precludes any thought that he was praying for them to achieve peace with God. Peace with God was achieved at the Cross, and was eternally theirs the moment they trusted Jesus as their Savior. (Ephesians 2:14-16; Romans 5:1)

The Grace Paul prayed for, in this passage, for the believers, as well as the peace, and love with faith, are the necessary commodities we need, to live the Christian life. We walk by faith. We walk in Love. And, we experience the peace of God, as we daily experience the living Grace of God.

Conclusion:

Paul gave a benediction, directed at believers, but narrowing the field just a little. He said “Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.” If I interpret this to simply mean that “because my new nature can do no wrong, and that it truly loves Jesus completely,” then I might conclude that it only says “…because you have a new nature, as a believer, the Grace of God is always with you.” And, in a way, that is certainly true.

But Paul is saying something more direct and with deeper implication: It is a promise of God’s living Grace upon and with every believer who actually walks with God. Jesus said, “If you love me you will obey my commandments.”  I really doubt that any of the disciples said, “Heh, heh! Well, you know, because we have a new nature that can’t sin, we are always obedient at heart…”

God Takes Sin Seriously

No, God takes sin seriously, even in a believer’s life…in fact, more so, in a way: Though the punishment for my crimes against God was carried out at the Cross, there are still consequences for sin, and rewards for obedience. God specifically says that he disciplines his children.

So, the promise here is actually “narrowed” a bit—all the promises in chapter one were positional in nature—they are true of us simply because we are born again. But this one, like others, is conditional. It is conditional upon consistent obedience and a sincere Agapé Love.

It is interesting: the English word, “Sincere,” comes from the Latin word “sincerus,” which literally means “without wax”—untainted, unadulterated. But there are about six different Greek words from which the translators got the English word “sincere”—and none of them mean “without wax.” None carry precisely the same idea as the English word. In this particular case, the Greek word is “aphtharsia,” meaning “without corruption.”

A Conditional Promise

So, Paul held out a conditional promise: Agapé love is not “mushy feelings” or even “fondness:” It is an act of the will whereby the person doing the loving, acts entirely in the best interest of the person (or principle) receiving the love. Look at 1st Corinthians 13…every single example given in defining Agapé love is an action: It is not about feeling at all, but rather, doing.

So, what does it mean to “Love the Lord Jesus Christ without corruption?” If you saw a marriage within which one party was surreptitiously cheating on the other, or at least constantly getting dangerously close to adultery, wouldn’t you see that as corruption in that marriage?

Think about how frequently you teeter on the edge of sin, or even plunge into outright rebellion and sin, because of anger, or greed, self-gratification, laziness, or whatever. When we choose to go our own way, we are putting our own selves above God; our own desires above His. That is precisely what Paul is quietly warning against. He is holding out a special promise for those who put Jesus first in their lives, across the board, without hedging.

It is worth pursuing, and it is possible to attain, or he wouldn’t have offered it. I suspect it is a “you get out of it what you put into it” arrangement: “Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7-9 read it)

Give this some serious thought, and consider how you can claim this conditional promise in your own life.

Lord Jesus, help us to purify our hearts and to love You without corruption. Teach us to become the Ambassadors You have called us to be, serving as Your hands and feet and voice in this dying world. Amen!

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Approach God on His Terms: How Did Paul Pray?

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Learn To Pray as Paul Prayed: How DID Paul Pray?

How Should We Pray? How Did Paul Pray?

© C. O. Bishop 2013 THCF 12/15/13

Read Ephesians 3:1, 14-21
(With 1st Timothy 2:1-4; Psalm 68:18; Ephesians 4:11-17, 6:19; Ezekiel 34)

Introduction:

We frequently say, “Prayer is simply talking to God!” And that is true, as far as it goes, but maybe “talking with God” is a little deeper than just “talking to one another.” Even when we are just talking with one another, we extend certain courtesies. In their absence, we see certain negative things. For instance: utter self-centeredness in other people offends us. Arrogance offends us. Guess what? Such things offend God, too!

Have you ever noticed that your prayers begin to sound like a child’s letter to Santa Claus? Full of “gimmes”, and not a lot of depth? Or maybe, sometimes, you have the feeling that God might not be listening—or that you are somehow “not getting past the ceiling,” so to speak?

New Testament Prayer

So how should we pray? The Disciples asked Jesus that question, and they received a model prayer that we recite together every week, though I am convinced that was not the intent—it was simply a model to be used, and a principle to apply. But, today; we are reading the book of Ephesians. Paul makes several prayers there, so we should examine the kinds of things he prayed for.

Paul was speaking by the Holy Spirit when he wrote this letter—he didn’t have any unconfessed sin, so he didn’t begin there. But I remember Psalm 66:18, which says that God won’t hear me when there is sin between me and Him. Along with 1st John 1:9, that tells me that confession is a good place for me to begin.

So, I begin there. If I examine my heart and nothing currently stands between me and the Lord, then I can move on…but I begin there, anyway. I keep in mind the acronym, “C.A.S.T.”—Confession, Adoration, Supplication, and Thanksgiving; Those things ought to be in our prayers; so, I don’t want to leave any of them out. (The word “cast” is taken from 1st Peter 5:7, where we are told to “Cast all our cares upon Him…”)

Praise is part of Adoration—Worship—so I haven’t forgotten that, either. The problem is that if I do not remember this format, I tend to drop anchor in “Supplication”, and forget that The Lord is worthy of so much more than being treated like a heavenly vending machine. And please don’t forget to say Thank You! That is good manners, even when dealing with other humans.

So… let’s take a look at what Paul prays for:

Prayer for Unbelievers

How did he suggest we pray for unbelievers? 1st Timothy 2:1-4 states that prayer is to be made for all men (all people), especially those in authority. This is partly so that they will make decisions that allow the Church a quiet and peaceful life; and partly because God desires that all people be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. So, one thing we can always pray for unbelievers is that they will be saved.

God has already stated that this is His desire. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world…He didn’t do it for fun…He did it because he loved the people of the whole world, and He still desires that they be saved. You can at least pray for their salvation, and that you can be used to reach them. In that regard, it seems appropriate to pray that God will make us usable in His service. He uses clean vessels…not fancy ones, or specially gifted ones, but clean ones that are yielded to His will—committed to obedience. Give that some thought: “Am I usable for God?”

Prayer for Believers

Ephesians chapter 3 is divided into two major parts. We will touch on one of them today: the part where Paul prays for us. (Ironically, verse one begins a statement about prayer, based on all that went before, in chapter 2…but the second verse begins a parenthetic explanation that takes up twelve verses…which we will address at a later time.) In verse one, Paul says, “For this cause…” (Because of at least the previous four facts from chapter 2) he prays for certain things.

The Facts:

  1. That you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but rather
  2. Fellow citizens with the saints (in fact, he has already stated that you, yourself ARE a saint—called to be separated unto the service of God), and you are
  3. Part of a growing body of believers that collectively form a habitation of God—a Temple, specifically, and because
  4. You are part of what is making it grow;

He then prays certain things…but we have to skip all the way down to verses 14-21 to see what he prays, because of the parenthetical remarks in the intervening 12 verses. In verses 14-21, he lists

Seven Specific Things:

  1. He prays that God would grant that you be strengthened inwardly, spiritually, by the Power of God, via the Holy Spirit (Did you know that you can fight against God and fail to see this blessing in your life? Jacob did…until God broke him, to bring him into submission to Himself. You don’t want that—choose to submit to God early.) …so that
  2. Christ may dwell in your heart (katoikeo—“to settle in—make himself at home!” Yes, if you are a believer, He already “lives there,” in the Person of the Holy Spirit (if you have received Him as your Savior.) But is he comfortable with how you are treating Him? Can’t you choose daily to make him feel at home?) That Christ may dwell in your heart by faith (believing God, responding to Him, day by day), so that
  3. You, being “rooted and grounded” in Love (Those are botanical terms—“rooted”—”grounded:” In Psalm 1, the believer is likened to a tree, planted by rivers of water, and bearing fruit in its season, his leaf never withering, because he was meditating in God’s Word, day and night) He prays this for you, so that you may
  4. Be able to comprehend (katalambano—“completely receive”—really grasp) with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height. (Of what?….and why four dimensions? Is it because we need to know the length to which God has gone to save us, the breadth of his salvation, and the height to which He will take us…as well as the depths from which he has saved us? Do you fully grasp all those things? Spend some time meditating on those ideas, and read what God has to say about each of them!)
  5. And to know (ginosko— to be personally familiar with—experientially knowing—not just knowing about) the (agapé) Love of Christ, so that you may be
  6. Filled with all the fullness (pleroma—utter completeness of fullness) of God, so
  7. That God would receive glory through the Church, by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, forever.

So: speaking of the Church, how should we pray for the Church?

Seven-fold Prayer for the Church

When Paul prays for, or perhaps just speaks about the Church, it seems that he is simply stating what is God’s will for the Church as a whole: (Read Ephesians 4:11-15) He states that God gave gifted individuals to the Church at large, who were to accomplish one central thing:

  1. The equipping of the believers for
  2. The work of the ministry; (the believers are to do the work of the ministry…which is)
  3. Building up the Body of Christ (for how long?)
  4. Until we ALL come into the
    • unity of the faith, and the
    • knowledge of the son of God,Unto a perfect man (completion of the church?),
    • Unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, with the result;
  5. That we be no more children (Grow up!) so that we will not be
    • Tossed and driven back and forth by every stray breeze of doctrine. (Why is it that the Church is easy prey to every charlatan huckster on TV, but is nearly immune to the Word of God, plainly taught, and the quiet urging of the Holy Spirit?)
  6. But (instead) that the Church will speak the truth in Love, (sound preaching and teaching) and
  7. That the Church will grow up into Christ.

Prayer for One’s Self

It is OK to pray for yourself, too! What did Paul pray for himself? We can see some very human things: He prayed for relief for himself and/or those around him (and sometimes was denied, as it was not in keeping with God’s will). Yes, God answers prayer—but He reserves the right to answer according to His own will and His own timetable.

Sometimes we have to wait. Paul evidently prayed for healing for Epaphroditus, (Philippians chapter two) who was extremely sick, and who nearly died. Epaphroditus eventually did get well, but not through “miraculous healing,” as far as we can tell; he just finally “turned the corner” and got well. And, Paul gave thanks for God’s Mercy in that case. You see, ultimately ALL healing is from God.

And sometimes He simply says, “No, my child.” Paul prayed for healing, in the circumstances that produced 2nd Corinthians 12 (about the “thorn in the flesh”) and God flatly refused him: God told him to “soldier on” by God’s Grace. So, what else did Paul pray for himself?

Paul’s Prayer

He asked for prayer by others, for himself, that he would be used of God,

  • That utterance would be given him,
  • That he would open his mouth boldly, to
  • Make known the mystery of the Gospel. (Ephesians 6:19)

If God has called you to leadership (of any sort) then you should read and meditate on Ezekiel 34, where God states the job description of shepherds. Furthermore, even if you do not think He is calling you that way, you need to read that chapter, because that is also where he says how believers are not to treat each other—and that He judges those who mistreat other believers.

Each of us can pray as individuals, for understanding of God’s Word. We can pray that God would change our hearts and that He would make us usable in His service. Probably we should also confess our unwilling hearts, and ask that He will cleanse us and fill us with His love: both for Himself and for others.

We can give thanks for all the ways that He already meets our needs, instead of always demanding more and more. As a matter of worship, we can give praises and thanks for His perfect character, His perfect wisdom, and His eternal Love and Grace. We can glorify Him for the beauty of the Creation, and the incredible variety around us. Obviously, we can also glorify Him for His unimaginable power, by which he rules the Universe. And, we can Worship Him as our Creator, Savior, and King. Again, we can pray for one another, in a sincere heart of love. We can give thanks for answered prayer.

Collectively, we can pray that God will grant us a collective understanding of His Word. Together, we can give thanks for the answers He gives us from His Word. He tells us to be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make our requests known to God. And the result will be that the Peace of God, that passes understanding, will keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-9

Concluson

Do you already pray this way? Good!

But, if not, then perhaps you need to reconsider what Prayer means. Yes, it is talking to God; but just remember who God is: Remember His Holiness and His Authority: Prayer is not “just like talking to any other person.” Consider how God would have you focus your attention and desires, and then, “Pray without ceasing.”

Lord Jesus, draw us to Prayer. Draw us to Focus on Your holiness and love, and to pray with clean hearts, asking for Grace according to Your will.

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We are Called to Prayer and Service

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We are Called to Prayer and Service

© 2023 C. O. Bishop

2nd Thessalonians 3:1-5

1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: 2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil. 4 And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you. 5 And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.

Introduction:

Last week we ended our study of 2nd Thessalonians 2, We were looking at the last three verses. We asked, “What should be the result of our having become chosen in Christ?”

As you know, this epistle was a letter to the church at Thessalonica. It had no chapter or verse divisions. So, whatever was being discussed at the end of one chapter usually led into what would begin the next. (For example, we read the teaching about the Rapture, back in 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18. But it leads directly into the Tribulation, in 1st Thessalonians 5:1-11.)

So, let’s go back and see the transition between the end of 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 and the beginning of 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3:

What Should the Result Be? (2nd Thessalonians 2:15-17)

15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. 16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, 17 Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.

He says we are to stand fast, and to hold to sound doctrine. We are to be obedient to the Word of God as we have been taught. We are taught by the Holy Spirit, by Christ Himself, and by whatever teachers He has sent to us.

Ephesians 4:14, 15 says we are to “grow up into Him!” We are to grow to be like Him!

And Ephesians 5:1-20 tells us what that “looks like.” We are to leave behind our old ways, along with all the “unprofitable works of darkness.” We leave the darkness behind, because we now are “children of the light.”

Children of Light

He says that because we are children of the light, we are to walk as the children of light. Behave like a child of God because you have become one, by the new birth. You were born again through placing your full trust in His blood alone for redemption. (Behaving that way as an unbeliever will not save you. But if you truly are a saved child of God, then the results should begin to show in a changed life.)

And (v. 17) as we continue to learn to walk with Him, we can expect that He will “comfort our hearts and establish us in every good word and work.” The result will be that our work and our words will all prove to be to His Glory.

2nd Thessalonians 3

Prayer is Part of That Result

Paul said, “1 Finally, brethren, pray for us.” But, take note of what Paul asks the Thessalonian believers to pray for his sake:

“…that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:

He asked prayer that the Word of the Lord would have “free course,” and be glorified. Flowing water, as in a river or a stream, when unrestricted, is said to have “free course.” The stream’s course, or water-way is not obstructed by anything.

Numerous farmers have had to remove beaver dams. The dams had stopped the flow of water in their irrigation systems. (I am thrilled by God’s creation: that a rodent could instinctively know how to build dams of sticks and mud. And I’m amazed that the dams can hold back thousands of tons of water!) But… I can sympathize with the farmers, who only want the beavers to go somewhere else!) All the farmers hoped to do was to restore the “free course” of the water. That way, the water could freely flow to their fields. In some cases, they needed the water to flow away, draining their fields to prevent flooding.

Praying for “free course” for the Word of God means Paul asked for the obstructions to be removed. He desired that the effect of the Gospel would not be diminished. Also, he said that the unrestricted Word would be glorified in those who heard it. He said, despite their persecution, that the Gospel had  “free course” in Thessalonica.  So, we can see that persecutions are not the “obstructions” to which Paul referred. The obstructions are the arguments of “unreasonable and wicked men.”

2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.”

Looking Back to Berea

Remember what happened in Acts 17:10-14…

“10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. 12 Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.

13 But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people. 14 And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea: but Silas and Timotheus abode there still.”

The Bereans

We can see in Acts 17:11 that the people of Berea were receptive. The Word had “Free Course” there. The people “received the Word with all readiness of mind and they searched the scriptures daily, whether these things were so.” That is what we call “free course.” That is the best we can hope for. We want people to hear the word, and go check their Bible to be sure we told them the truth. (Wonderful! That is exactly what we want!)

But, in Acts 17:13 we see that the unbelieving Jews of Thessalonica were not content to have “run Paul out of their own town.” They sent a delegation over to Berea, to do the same thing there! And it worked! The “unreasonable and wicked men” were able to stir up the unbelieving Jews of Berea, just as they did in Thessalonica. So, Paul left town, because he was the one they were mostly clamoring against, but he left Silas and Timothy there to continue teaching the new believers. Paul moved on to Athens, and then to Corinth.

So, How Do We Respond?

Some churches, still today, name themselves after that little town, calling themselves the “Berean Bible Church,” or the “Berean Baptist Church,” or the “Berean Brethren” or some such thing. Why? Because they want to be associated with, and (hopefully) to emulate those who were “noble” in their behavior, at Berea.

Do they actually maintain that attitude? Well…I’m sure it varies. It is easy to start off receptive and obedient to the Written Word. But the tendency is to gather together and work out some sort of  “set-in-stone, no-longer-to-be-questioned DOCTRINAL STATEMENT.” That in itself is not a problem, provided that all it really says is “this is what we have gained so far.”

The problems begin later: The believers may become complacent in their “solid teaching.” And, after that, they frequently quit being receptive. They just “drop anchor” on that document, saying, “This is what WE believe,” and they neglect to “search the scriptures daily, whether these things are so.” At that point, Jesus, the Living Word, no longer has “Free Course” in that assembly, even if the “doctrinal statement” is completely correct. They feel they have “arrived,” and that they no longer need to “Feed on the Word of God.” They have set Jesus aside!

The Hidden Trap of Being “Orthodox”

The word “orthodox” just means having “correct opinions.” But you can have “correct opinions” and still be dead. The whole point is to have those “correct opinions” because the Living Word of God has free course in your life! We need to have those “correct opinions” because we have been born again, and because the Holy Spirit has had the freedom to teach our hearts, not just our minds.

Remember, some time ago, we talked about “having the truth in our library, but not in our living room.” It is entirely possible to “mentally agree” with correct Bible teaching, but not be willing to apply it to one’s own life. Some people claim to “believe the Gospel,” but when they are questioned, it becomes clear that they have never applied it to themselves, personally. It is a good thing for everyone else!

I pray the Lord will grant that we do not make such an error as to become complacent in our “doctrinal correctness.” We must keep feeding on the Word, and searching the scriptures daily. In this way, as we study the Written Word, the Living Word will have “free course” in our lives. We want to eliminate the obstructions in our lives, so that the Holy Spirit is free to flow through us to the world around us.

So, How Can We Avoid the Traps?

3But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil. 4 And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you.

Our only Hope is in the Person of Christ! In Philippians 2:13, Paul said, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” God both gives us the desire to do His will and carries us through to the doing of it. All we need to do is to be willing, and to make ourselves available to Him for His service, so that we follow Him and obey Him.

Here, in 2nd Thessalonians 3:3, 4. we see the same Hope. Our Hope is in the Person of Christ. As we feed on Jesus, the Living Word, it says, “the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you and keep you from evil.” He is the one to build our “solid teaching” and our “sound doctrine,” and He is the One to continually guide us into deeper truth, and safe relationships and behavior.

We Are Not Alone

We are not left on our own to “build the Church.” In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said, “I will build my Church.” Yes, He will use us to accomplish His will, as we submit ourselves to Him, but it is His Church, and He will build it!

In Psalm 23, it says that He makes us lie down in green pastures, and He leads us beside still waters. I am told that sheep only lie down in the pasture when they have been fully fed. They were eating that green grass, and now they are resting in it peacefully. We can rest peacefully because He has fed us on His Word. He “makes us to rest” in that “green pasture.”

Also, we are led by means of His Holy Spirit, the Living Water, because He “leads us beside still waters.” The Holy Spirit does not stir up fear and resentment and chaos among us. There are many loud voices in the world, demanding that we be alarmed. We need to realize that the voice of God brings peace.

The Spirit of Fear or the Spirit of God?

The Holy Spirit does not bring fear and timidity. 2nd Timothy 1:7 says, “God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of Love, and of a sound mind.” Remember this when you “hear news” that disturbs you. We are “called to action,” but we are called in Peace.

Gideon was called to do something that would have been terrifying to anyone, in their natural strength. But God provided Strength and Peace. In Judges 7:15, He sent Gideon into the enemy camp at night, along with his servant. There he heard a message from God, through an enemy soldier! That message caused him to worship the Lord for having given them the victory. As a result, he was in complete peace, as they launched an attack against a vast enemy force. He was only allowed to use three hundred men, and all of them had their hands full so that they could not use a weapon!

They were given the same three-fold task as we are given!

  1. Stand fast,
  2. Shine a light, and
  3. Sound the Alarm!

We are to stand fast in Christ, shining the light of transformed lives, in the midst of a dark world. And, as we shine, we are to sound the alarm that Judgment is coming, but that Jesus Saves! And as we do those three things, we can rest in Him.

Current Events and Our Future

Many of you have heard terrible news in the last two days, and we may feel fearful about the outcome. But they had much worse news back then. What did Paul say about responding to their circumstances?

5 And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.

We are not called to fear the future, but rather to delve deeper into a loving relationship with the Holy God we serve. We are to live in cheerful expectation of His soon return. That is it! And this idea was not new.

Old Testament Truth

Habakkuk expressed this truth in Habakkuk 3:17-19, His “current events” were far worse than ours! In his case, there was no “warning that judgment might fall.” Instead, it was God’s promise that Judgment would fall, and very soon, at that! But Habakkuk chose to find his Peace and Joy in the Person of Christ. He said, “Yet will I rejoice in the LORD. I will joy in the God of my Salvation!”

We are called to that same Peace and Joy, regardless of our “current events.” We are called to live every day knowing that He could return today. The only way to do that is to feed daily on His Word, and walk with the Shepherd daily, as His flock, and as His servants.

Lord Jesus, please call us to the three-fold action of Bible Study, Prayer, and Discipleship. Make us aware that the time is short, and that we have only this one opportunity to work with You. Thrill our hearts with the privilege of that opportunity and move us to do Your Will!

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Here are Seven General Commands for all Believers

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Seven General Commands

© 2023 C. O. Bishop

1st Thessalonians 5:16-23

16 Rejoice evermore. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 19 Quench not the Spirit. 20 Despise not prophesyings. 21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.

23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

Introduction

I first studied this passage years ago, and the latter clause of verse 18 caught my attention. Paul says that this list of commands is “the will of God in Christ Jesus, concerning ME.”

This revelation is very personal. And, I had problems with it: I wasn’t consistently obeying any of the commands he listed. I did not deliberately disobey them: I truly didn’t know how I could rejoice all the time. Life wasn’t much fun! I could not see how to rejoice in the midst of hard times.

I did not pray without ceasing. My prayer-life was very sporadic. (It still is, compared to some of the prayer-warriors we have in this assembly!) But what caught my attention the most, initially, was that God commanded us to give thanks, regardless of circumstances.

(Notice that He did not say “for everything give thanks,” (though that would be a good thing, too.) Rather, He said, “IN everything give thanks.”  Paul and Silas didn’t necessarily give thanks that they were “bleeding and in pain, in manacles, in a prison!” They gave thanks for the privilege of joining Jesus in the work of the Gospel. And they included the privilege of suffering for His sake.

But I was most shocked that it seemed to be specifically directed to ME. I read, and I could not escape the probing finger of God, pointing me out and saying, “Yes, I mean you!”

“Unpacking” the Content:

  1. Rejoice Evermore
  2. Pray without ceasing
  3. In Every Thing Give Thanks
  4. Quench Not The Spirit
  5. Despise Not Prophesyings
  6. Prove (test) All Things: Hold fast to that which is Good.
  7. Abstain From all Appearance (all forms) Of Evil

The whole list falls under the title “God’s will in Christ for YOU.” So, if you (the reader) are “in Christ,” then, as a saved individual, all these things are directed to You.

Rejoice Evermore

This one caused me to stumble, initially, too. I read it as “feel happy all the time.” (I’m sorry, but I just can’t do that!) Later, I saw other passages which showed me that it was perfectly acceptable to feel bad about circumstances, and to weep and grieve over losses, and defeats.

I read Habakkuk 3:17-19, and I saw that Habakkuk was deeply grieved by the corruption in his nation. He was even more alarmed at the predicted judgment of God upon His nation. But he accepted it as being from God. And in the face of losing everything, he chose to find his Joy in the Savior. He said. “Yet will I rejoice in the LORD; I will joy in the God of my salvation!” And verse 19 said he made a song about it so that others could share that joy!

I began to realize then, that “Joy is a choice. ” It is not dependent upon circumstances. We can choose to find Joy in the person of Christ, and in His character, and in His constant, faithful presence. The Psalmist said, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me….” It was a choice!

Pray Without Ceasing

I thought I could figure out this one pretty easily, on my own. I knew that you don’t have to “fold your hands and close your eyes” to pray. So I also knew I truly could be in constant communication with God.

But, I also knew that I am easily distracted. I will suddenly realize that I have become “sidetracked,” and not only am I not in prayer, but I am in a furious imaginary argument with some person who isn’t even there! (Usually, it is someone who wronged me years ago, and, because I never truly forgave them, their memory plagues me still today.) So, then I have to confess my anger and confess my unforgiveness. I try to obey Jesus by praying for that person. (Remember? He said, “Pray for them that despitefully use you!”)

And, you know what? Sometimes while trying to pray for them, I would circle right back into being angry all over again, because of how they had wronged me! Our old sin nature is a very “slippery” enemy! It turns out that “pray without ceasing” is harder than it sounds!

Distractions!

Forgiveness means “accepting whatever wrong has happened to you as having been allowed by God, and then absorbing the cost or the loss, without blaming the other person or demanding retribution.”

Jesus endured to the Cross in order to take our place under the judgment of God. He had to absorb the cost, himself, in order to offer true forgiveness! (Give that some thought!)

What injury have you received? How do you have to “absorb the loss or the cost,” in order to forgive those who have wronged you? Was it truly a greater injury than what Jesus bore at the Cross? (Probably not, right?) So we can choose to follow in His steps and learn to forgive, just as He has forgiven us.

In Everything Give Thanks

As I said earlier, this one was hard because I read it wrong. It does not say “give thanks FOR everything, but rather “give thanks IN everything.” I can give thanks for his mercy and for His constant provision in my life.

And when things truly seem bleak, remember Job. Having lost everything, he tore his clothes in grief, and shaved his head in mourning for his dead children. But then, he fell on his face before the LORD, and worshipped, saying “naked came I from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return. The LORD giveth, and the LORD hath taken away. BLESSED be the Name of the LORD!” He lost all his belongings and all his children in the same day! And, his response was worship!

The very least we can do is to give thanks for the perfect character of God, and His Mercy and Love, by which He provided salvation for a lost World. We can thank Him for the incredible privilege of working with Jesus, “pulling in double harness,” to accomplish the work of God on earth.

Quench Not the Spirit

in 1789, William Carey, a Baptist minister in Leicester, England was preparing to go to India with the Gospel. He was at a meetingof ministers and he was advocating the work of Evangelism. Another minister (the chairman of the meeting Carey was attending) retorted, “Young man, sit down! When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do so without your aid or mine!”

That is about as classic a “quenching of the Spirit” as I have ever heard. But there are worse. Whenever God stirs the heart of one of His children, to attempt something for Him, there will be someone there to say “it can’t be done, it won’t work, etc.”

David was volunteering to kill Goliath. Remember what ALL the other men said: they all scorned him, shamed him or warned him that he would surely be killed. At best, in “being supportive,” they loaded him down with such heavy body armor that he couldn’t move!

Goliath cursed him, and promised to feed his body to the birds! His answer to the giant was, “You have come to me heavily armed. I come to you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied!”

Ancient “Weapons“

Goliath was a “human tank,” for that time in history! He was huge, heavily armed, and heavily armor-plated! And, like a tank, he made a lot of noise! As a result, all of Israel’s armies were terrified!

David, on the other hand, was wearing no armor at all, beyond the divine protection of God. His only power was found in the Name of the LORD of Hosts (that’s Jesus, by the way!) And his only physical weapon was a sling…two cords, and a pouch to hold a stone. But slings were the “bazookas” of that time in history! And God guided his hand so that the rock not only hit Goliath’s only unprotected place (his forehead) but so that it struck with enough force to actually punch through and sink into his forehead.

Now: Was it entirely miraculous? Perhaps…or God could have just given the stone an extra push and supernatural accuracy. Or: we can consider the fact that a major league pitcher can heave a baseball in excess of 100 miles per hour…and the cords of the sling more than doubled the length of David’s arm, and thus doubled the speed of his delivery! (Yes, a egg-sized rock, hitting a forehead at around 200 miles per hour could surely be fatal!)

But, if the naysayers had persuaded David to just go home, then that whole victory would have been cancelled! Thank God that He did not allow the Spirit to be quenched, in this case!

Despise Not Prophesyings

Don’t reject out-of-hand a message delivered as being from scripture. Someone has taken time (assumedly) to study, and prepare a lesson, a sermon, a testimony, or something. Be respectful, and hear them out. But the next verse tells the “rest of the story.”

Listen critically, comparing what is being taught to what we know of the Word of God. If they are teaching false doctrine (Not just a misunderstanding…deliberate twisting of scripture) then we have to take a stand against it.)

Prove All Things: Hold Fast to That Which is Good.

The Bereans (in Acts 17:11) were commended for their response to the teaching of the Apostles: “These were more noble-minded than those of Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness of mind, AND searched the scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”

They were not “rejecting” the apostolic message (not “despising prophesyings”) but they also were not easily won over by clever speech, or persuasive argument: They wanted GOD’S Word on the matter. So, they searched the scriptures to find His answer!

Ephesians 4:11-14 says that the purpose of the leadership gifts is to draw the flock along into spiritual maturity, including that that (v.14) we are no longer are to be like little children, believing every new thing, so that we are blown back and forth by every convincing argument. Hold fast to that which is good.

Abstain from all Appearance (all Forms) of Evil

People frequently misunderstand this passage to mean “if something looks bad, then avoid it.” That potentially places us in an untenable position of feeling obliged to please everyone. I am not obliged to please everyone. For example, the Gospel offends most people at one level or another.

One Christian woman very firmly told me that she believed it would be morally wrong for her to attempt to share her faith with someone else. How can obedience to God be morally wrong? (It cannot!) But she had subjected her own values to those of the World, where it “appears evil” to tell people about Jesus. I have known believers to lose their jobs for (on their own time) telling a coworker how they can have eternal life. But they were doing right.

The idea, here, is to avoid every form of evil: Everywhere Evil shows its ugly face, abstain! Don’t be partners with evil. Feel free to “let the World pass you by!” You want no part of where they are going!

The Result?

23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

Our confidence is not in ourselves: But God lays out seven general commands for all believers and Paul offers his confidence, praying that, if the believers followed these things, they would continually grow in Christ, and that God would preserve and keep them blameless.

Paul’s conclusion is that his confidence is in the faithfulness of God, not the “worthiness” of those believers, nor their productivity, or any such thing.

The Children of God

Having placed your trust in Jesus as your Savior, and in His shed Blood as the full payment for your redemption, you have become a child of God. Yes, I am aware that many people try to teach that “everyone is a child of God.” Jesus said they are not! He said one has to be born again to become  a child of God (John 1:12, 13) or to even see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3) And in John 8:44, He told the people, “You are of your father, the Devil!”

But as a child of God, we can expect His guidance, His blessing, His chastisement, and His care. And regardless of whether we flourish or struggle, He will not lose us, under any circumstances! He said, “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.”

Lord Jesus, we ask that You would continually sharpen our focus, to see Your will for our lives, laid out in black and white, right here in Your Word! We are not left without instruction: You have given us the Written Word and You have given us the indwelling Holy Spirit. Teach us to follow you in sincerity and in faithful service.

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If Ye Continue in My Word, then are Ye My Disciples, Indeed!

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If Ye Continue in My Word

© 2022 C. O. Bishop

John 8:30-32, 36

Introduction:

We can see that, in the previous verses, there was a division forming amongst the Jews. The “better educated” (and proud) Pharisees, along with the Scribes, the Levites, and the Priesthood all tended to reject Jesus: He wasn’t one of them!

The less-educated, usually less prosperous people, because of the miracles, were increasingly aware that He was actually doing something. There was substance to His ministry! The other leaders “talked a good fight,” but mainly excelled in taking the money and the flocks of the poor.

Jesus was actually teaching people to know God. The Priests, the Scribes, and the Pharisees said that was what they were doing, but in fact only laid heavier and heavier burdens of Law-keeping on the people. That only left them further away than ever, knowing their inability to walk in the Holiness of God. But Jesus pointed out, in front of all the people, that the Scribes and Pharisees made no attempt to lift that load themselves. (Matthew 23:4 “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.”)

As a result of this division growing among them, many of the people had begun to truly believe in Jesus (verse 30.)

30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.

But notice the change in verse 31.

Speaking to Believers

Jesus is no longer speaking to unbelievers: He is speaking to believers! This is an important shift: To the unbelievers, He had just warned, “Ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins.”

But to these new, baby believers, He had a different admonition: He did not warn of a coming judgment, but rather exhorted them to move forward from being just believers, and to become disciples.

31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

Being born again does not guarantee that a person will become a disciple; a follower of Jesus. We are called to follow Jesus. We are called to be obedient to His Word. We are called to feed on His Word, as newborn babies nurse hungrily to obtain their mother’s milk. (1st Peter 2:2)

We are called to continue in His Word: press on to maturity, following Him as dear children, but growing as we feed on His Word, to become the mature believers He calls us to become, teaching others, functioning as ambassadors, and shining as lights in this dark world.

What happened when they believed? What changed?

Back in John 1:12, we saw that people who believed on His name became children of God. In John 3:3, and  John 3:14-16, Jesus told Nicodemus that unless he (Nicodemus) was born again, he was not going to enter into the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus was confused by that, so Jesus reminded him of the account of Moses making the bronze serpent in the desert. (You can read all about it in Numbers 21:5-9.)

He was told to hang it up high on a pole, so everyone could see it. God’s promise was that if anyone was bitten by one of the thousands of deadly snakes He had sent to punish them for sin, they were to look to that serpent on the pole and they would not die. They were still sinners; they still had the bite marks on their leg, but they were not going to die of that bite. Jesus explained to Nicodemus that, in the same manner, those who looked to Him in faith, would escape the eternal judgment of God.

Changed Permanently

When we first believed, the judgment of eternal separation from God in the lake of fire was permanently lifted and we became children of God. That has permanently put you into the family of God. But if you want to be a working part of the “Family Business,” reaching out to see precious souls rescued from that final judgment on sin, then it requires that you get out of your “comfort zone” and follow Jesus!

Peter was called several times, before he finally broke free from his old life and faithfully served Jesus. John Mark was rejected for service by Paul, because of an uncommitted life: Because of unreliability. But “Uncle Barnabas” stepped in, took John Mark under his wing, so to speak, and made a disciple of him. (You can read all about that in Acts 15:36-39. Incidentally, John Mark is the fellow we know as Mark, the writer of the Gospel according to Mark.) You see, people have to grow into being a mature disciple. They aren’t “born that way,” as a rule.

Position versus Condition

The position of these believers changed forever, the moment they placed their faith in Jesus as their Messiah. They were permanently saved, just like the thief on the Cross. But once that position has been secured, the focus changes.

Throughout a pregnancy, all of the mother’s family and friends are solicitous for the health of the mother and baby, and a safe delivery. Once the child is born, however,the focus begins to change! Now they are watching the child grow and develop into a walking, talking, strong and mature human being. They feel joy to see that child increasing in size, strength and ability.

Jesus was refocusing their attention on the next step: Becoming disciples. Their position in His family was secure forever, but in order to see and understand that security, they needed to begin feeding on the Word and walking in the Word and Growing in the Word. That would change their condition.

They would grow into a knowledge of Christ that was more and more full. Then they could know the freedom from fear and the confidence that comes with a stable walk with God. They could become free of the entangling sins that once tormented them. Your condition can change, for better or for worse. Your position in Christ is secure forever, from the moment you trusted Him as your Savior.

Knowing the Truth

32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

This verse has been misused by believers and unbelievers alike, for different reasons. The believers claim that if you know (as a fact), that the Bible is true, then you will be free (from the ravages of sin.) The unbelievers say the opposite, that if you know (as a fact) that the Bible is a collection of myths and fairytales, then you will be free from the slavery to a mythical God.

The issue, in both cases, is that the word in this verse, which has been translated as “know,” is a form of the Greek word “gnosko.” It specifically means a relational, growing, experiential knowledge of a person or a concept…not simply “accepting something as a fact.”

Jesus was inviting the people to get to know Him! Verse 36 confirms this, saying “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” Later on, Jesus will confirm that He, Himself is the Truth (John 14:6.)

How can we relationally know Jesus well enough to be “Free?”

The Christian experience is called “walking” for several reasons, but primarily because it is not “gliding, or coasting.” We have to “march along,” one step at a time, every day, in order to “walk with Jesus.” Sometimes it may feel as though all we are doing is “plodding.” It is not always exciting, nor will it always feel “fun.” It requires effort on our part, if for no other  reason, just because it is hard to maintain faith when we are under constant attacks on our faith.

The World Hates Jesus

I find it interesting that the World does not attack the cults in this way. It doesn’t care about them. It does not attack myths, or superstitions in this way: it doesn’t care about them.

It attacks the Gospel and the Person of Christ: because the Gospel is true, and the Jesus Christ we serve is not only our Savior, but is also the Judge of all the Universe! The World hated Jesus and it hates us along with Him.

No one is attacking Islam, or constantly mocking it. They are afraid to do so. Look what happened to Salman Rushdie! 33 years after he was foolish enough to publish a book of satire, mocking Mohammed, and 33 years after some Imam wrote a “Fatwah” against him (putting a contract out on him) he was attacked in public by a Muslim man with a knife…and has at least lost an eye…and still may die of his other wounds.

No one is going out of their way to attack the many “Swamis and Gurus” coming out of India to claim an “inside connection to God” and get rich off of foolish Americans. Unless they break some law and can be prosecuted for that, the fact is, no one cares!

No one is going out of their way to attack the Hari Krishnas…why? Because they are part of the “comfortable darkness of this world” and the world simply doesn’t care about them.

Called to Walk

We are called to “walk by faith.” We are also told that “If we walk in the light as He is in the Light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanseth us from All Sin.” (1st John 1:7) We are called to shine as lights in the darkness…and the darkness does not appreciate it!

We are called to Walk with Jesus! And, as we do so persistently, in that, after the world has tripped us, or dragged us down, we keep on “getting up and walking again,” we “get to know Jesus.” As we walk with Him, we gain experiential, relational knowledge of the Person of Christ, of His Love, His Forgiveness, His Faithfulness, and His Truth.

We get to see, personally, how Jesus keeps His promises. And as our faith grows, we become increasingly free of the baggage of our old sins, and free from the “twin, yapping dogs” of self-condemnation and guilt. We learn to set aside our old sin nature, and to rejoice that Jesus has lifted the Curse of the Law, taking it off of our shoulders completely, and bearing it all on Himself at the Cross. We find that we are truly made Free. We are free to serve Him out of Love and gratitude.

Not a “Self-Help Scheme”

This is not something we can “plan out and accomplish on our own:” In John 15:5, Jesus said, “…apart from Me ye can do nothing.” It was the simple truth: We are facing invisible enemies in a universe we do not understand, and attempting to function in what is effectively a “maze,” most of which we cannot see at all. The only thing we can do is walk by faith!

We can’t decide for ourselves to “become wise:” We can obediently study and meditate upon God’s Word and He can begin to change our foolish hearts so that we become wise: but God’s Word accomplished the change, not us!.

When we choose to walk with Jesus, we begin to discover what He has chosen for us to do. As we continue walking with Him, we discover the Joy of being part of His work, in the fellowship of the Gospel.

Only to Believers

The promise in John 8:32 is only to believers. To unbelievers, the invitation remains: “Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish.” And “Whosoever will, let Him come!”

Once you have been born again, the call is to immerse yourself in His Word, and continue in His Word, so as to become true disciples, and to be set free from your old slavery to Sin and fear. An unbeliever cannot receive that, without first being Born again into God’s family. That is when spiritual life begins, from God’s perspective. But believers are called to Feed, to Walk, and to Grow.

Lord Jesus, we ask for Your Grace to be poured out upon us. Transform our hearts through Your Word. Change us into Your likeness, and allow us to be Your representatives, here on Earth. Change our hearts so that we may shine as lights in the World.

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Thanksgiving and Prayer

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Thanksgiving and Prayer

© 2021 C. O. Bishop

1st Thessalonians 5:16-18;

Introduction:

We are called to thanksgiving and prayer, throughout the Bible. It is important to realize that the call to thanksgiving is in spite of circumstances, not because of circumstances. The call to Prayer is similar, in that we are not guaranteed to get what we want: We may be those who ask, but it is God who replies. And, because we ask in our ignorance, and our relative blindness, He, in His sovereign knowledge and infinite wisdom, sometimes must refuse our request. We must remember that His knowledge, His wisdom and His purpose not only all are higher than we can hope to understand, but also all are better from the perspective of eternity.

In ancient Israel, particularly in Judah, even after the nation had been split by bad leadership, occasionally a king, desiring the mercy and blessing of God for his nation, or, desiring the direction and protection of God, for an upcoming challenge or threat, would proclaim a National day of Prayer, and usually a fast, as well. As far as I can recall, in every single case, God answered those prayers; not always in the way they had hoped, but He always answered.

He has left those histories for us to learn from them, but we don’t want to “learn the wrong lesson,” so to speak: There were a few to whom God gave special authority, and what came out of their mouth really was His will, and it really did occur. It was not that they were “special saints,” but that God put them in a special position. Moses called for the ground to split and swallow up some rebels in the camp: and it happened exactly as he said. But it was for God’s purpose, not that of Moses. God uses miraculous intervention, as a rule, to draw attention to and to validate His message: and Moses, right then, was the messenger of God.

Thanksgiving was Part of the History

The times when God stepped in and rescued Israel, at least for the moment, usually resulted in national giving of thanks. But they soon forgot the blessing, and began to grumble again, or, worse yet, they turned to other gods, the heathen idols of the nations around them.

We have the history of Numbers 21:5-9, when they were scarcely out of Egypt, and were already forgetting the Salvation that was poured out upon them while the Judgment was being poured out on Egypt.

They grumbled and were very ungrateful toward God, failing to appreciate His supply in their lives, and He sent Judgment on them in the form of venomous vipers, migrating across their desert path, and killing many of the people. But God used even this calamity as an opportunity to demonstrate His Grace, in a prophetic “picture”—the bronze serpent on the pole, represented the judgment for their sins, and God’s solution for sin: The Cross, where our sins were judged forever, and Jesus’s blood served as the eternal satisfaction for God’s Justice and holiness, for the sins of the Whole World, forever! In regard to that particular history, Jesus said, “As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

So, even our ingratitude and our unbelief are under the blood of the Cross.

In Romans 1:21, we see the nature of God’s judgment for sin: “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened.”

Humans fail to recognize the authority and Grace of God. We fail to Give Thanks…and because of this, our hearts are darkened, and we fail to see the truth that, when God’s reply to our prayer is “NO,” it is just as worthy of thanksgiving as when He gives us the desire of our hearts. We need to thank Him for His wisdom and grace in those times, too.

What about Prayer?

In Luke 18:1, Jesus taught that we “ought always to pray and not faint.” The apostle Paul reiterates this command in 1st Timothy 2:1-4, saying that we are not only to pray for ourselves and for one another, but for unbelievers as well, and especially for national and civic leaders, so that we might reap the benefits of “a quiet and peaceful life.”

Today, we live in the only nation in the history of the world which was originally founded upon specifically Christian values, and grounded in the whole truth of God’s Word, the Bible. It was not founded upon greed, or nationalism, but upon humility and public awareness of our utter dependence upon the Almighty Creator God. Perhaps the unbelieving world around us has forgotten this, but we as believers have no excuse: We are to remember; we are to pray, and we are to give thanks, regardless of the circumstances.

We live at a time when those Christian values upon which our Nation was founded have largely been set aside as “old-fashioned,” or “outmoded,” or “irrelevant for the realities of today.” However, the Word of God will stand for all time and Eternity, and does not depend upon the opinions of humans for validity. The Law of Gravity will cease to exist before God’s Word will fail to be relevant. In Ps 119:89, the psalmist says, “Forever, O Lord, thy Word is settled in heaven.” In light of eternity, the values of the humans of today are merely a passing aberration, while the values of God are the principles upon which the very Universe is founded.

The Prophet Daniel was ordered by a heathen king to cease praying to his God: he immediately went to his balcony, opened the doors, and in public view, prayed toward Jerusalem, as was his habit. You know the rest of that story, from Daniel chapter 6: Daniel “spent the night at the zoo,” as it were—specifically, in the Lion’s Den. But in the Morning…in the morning, he was released, and his enemies took his place. He had been under the protection of God—they were not…(It was feeding time at the zoo!)

We have a “Morning” coming, too! The Apostle Peter tells us in 2nd Peter 1:19, that we are to focus our attention on the written Word of God as the only light in this dark world, “until the day dawns!”

King Jehoshaphat, under threat of an invading army, declared a national day of prayer and fasting, and God answered through a local prophet. The troops of Judah went to the battle, all right, but they were led by the national choir, singing, and praising the beauty of holiness. They were giving thanks in advance, and worshipping the God of their salvation! The resulting battle was fought by God alone. The people of Judah never lifted a weapon. And every single enemy soldier died that day.

Today we are still called to prayer, by God Himself. It is possible today, as always, in times of trouble, that some of the human leaders who may make that call are not believers, themselves. We should not be deterred from the privilege of prayer by those who do not know the God who answers prayer. Let us continue in prayer, undismayed. We also should remember that while prayer can “change things,” prayer definitely does not “control things!” Believers under fire are praying, but many of them die.

It is OK to pray and die!

An American missionary in the Philippines (Martin Burnham) was kidnapped along with his wife (Gracia Burnham) by Islamic rebels, there. They prayed daily for deliverance, and they prayed faithfully for their captors as well. But the day finally came when a firefight broke out between the national army and the rebel force. Martin threw his own body across that of Gracia, trying to shield her. Both were praying, but only Gracia came home alive. Martin was shot and killed, protecting his wife.

How do we respond to that sort of answer to prayer? Can I give thanks when the result was not what I wanted?

God’s Command

1st Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice evermore; pray without ceasing; in every thing give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus, concerning YOU!”

God says His will for us is that we should rejoice evermore, that we should pray without ceasing; and that in every circumstance we should give thanks.

Let’s look at that passage, point by point:

  1. Rejoice evermore,
  2. Pray without ceasing, and
  3. In every thing give thanks
  4. For this is the Will of God, in Christ Jesus, concerning YOU!

Rejoice Evermore

Notice that He did not say, “Feel happy,” or “feel Joyful!” He said “rejoice!” This directly ties into what Jesus commanded in John 16:33 “These things have I spoken unto you that in Me ye might have peace: in the World ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the World.” Joy is a choice: Habakkuk chose joy in the face of the sure knowledge that his nation was about to fall to foreign invaders in judgment as a result of Israel’s sin. He said, “Yet will I rejoice in the LORD: I will joy in the God of my Salvation!” It was an act of the will, not a result of emotion. His emotion was grief at the collapse of Israel, but his choice was Joy!

Pray without Ceasing

This is a clear command, that, as Jesus commanded, we are not to give up on prayer: we are to “press on,” praying in the face of devastating news, in the hope that we will be delivered. And as the young Hebrew men under the threat of the furnace replied, “God IS able to save us: but even if He does not, we will not worship your idol!” They knew they faced death. They did not know that God was going to deliver them.

Martin and Gracia Burnham knew they potentially faced death, and did not know that only one of them would be delivered. But they prayed and they chose the Joy of the Lord in response to their trauma. Afterward, Gracia shared her story in a book: “In the Presence of Mine Enemies.” Perhaps we can learn from her example, and seek to find the “table” God has prepared for us in the presence of our enemies, The World, the Flesh, and the Devil. Perhaps we can choose to rejoice, in the presence of our enemies, by faith, because of His supply. Perhaps we can choose to pray faithfully, in recognition that His supply is perfect, even when we fail to understand it.

In Every Thing give Thanks

Notice that He does not say “for everything give thanks!” but “in every thing give thanks.” Martin and Gracia Burnham surely were not “happy and satisfied” to be the prisoners of a murderous band of Islamic terrorists…but they chose to rejoice IN that reality, rather than deciding that “God must have ignored their needs.” We are called to do that, as well.

Was I “happy” that my mother had an incurable disease? Absolutely not! But could I rejoice in her testimony and the legacy she left behind? Yes, I really could, once I quit whining and crying to God, insisting that He change His directive Will for the benefit of my desires. But it took a while. (We can grieve; that is OK. It is OK to hurt, but it is not OK to allow the hurt to make us bitter.) Mom simply graduated early. Odd thing: she was valedictorian in both high school and college. She was the eldest of her siblings and the rest all lived well into their eighties, while she died at 65. So, once again, she “graduated at the head of her class!” We were grieved to lose her, but she blessed all those around her, by the overflowing Grace of her walk with God.

Is Martin Burnham unhappy today with God’s decision to take him home and leave Gracia here? Nope! He is rejoicing before the Lord, as we speak! Is Gracia unhappy with His answer to prayer? Not today: at that moment, she was filled with grief! But she was healed of her grief, and once again walked in the sure knowledge of God’s Grace.

We are called to do the same: we are not told that we will always understand God’s will, nor, obviously, that we will always get what we desire. There have been times when I was certain that I was praying according to the will of God, but my hopes were dashed. There have been other times when I gave up hope, because of the circumstances, and God delivered, anyway.

It would be easy to “learn the wrong lesson,” here, and decide that “there is no point in praying, as God is just going to do His own will anyway.” But that attitude ignores that fact that we are commanded to pray; and, to “not faint”…not give up on prayer; and to “pray without ceasing:” How can it be within the will of God for me to disobey those clear commands?

The fact is, we simply have to admit that we do not know what is best. And, if we truly want what is best, then we need to subject ourselves to the will of the One who not only knows what is best, but desires to bless us to the utmost.

The final word in that passage is very personal: He says, “For this is the Will of God, in Christ Jesus, concerning YOU!”

Don’t succumb to the temptation to “shuck that aside,” thinking, “Well, that was to the believers at Thessalonica!” Of course, it was! And it is also to you, personally, just like the rest of the epistles! Take this personally, and apply it to your life: the result will be a greater sense of peace and joy, as you learn to trust the Savior and Judge as your Shepherd and Friend.

Lord Jesus, please draw us close enough to you that we can feel your arms supporting us and hear your heartbeat for the lost around us, and be transformed into your likeness, sharing that care for the lost world.

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Problem Passages in James (Part 2)

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Some Problem Passages in James (Part 2)

© 2020 C. O. Bishop

James 5:12-20 Healing, Confession, Prayer, Conversion, and “Saved from Death”

Introduction

We are finishing up our study in the Book of James, and last week we discussed some passages with some small problems for us in terms of how to apply them. But the following verses give me serious trouble:

Healing

I am not at all sure that I understand the last seven verses, here. I’ve heard them preached, and seen them put into practice, but unless my memory fails me (and my wife remembers the same few times I recall), every single time I have seen this done, the patient has not been healed, but rather has died. So, perhaps we need to give serious thought as to what is being taught here.

14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

So, what should we get from this? To begin with, I can definitely say that the sick person is the one to call for the elders. It is not for the elders to volunteer. They are told to pray over the sick individual, and anoint that person with oil in the name of the Lord. (OK, so far…) But then, verse 15 makes a clear statement that “the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, AND if he has committed sins they shall be forgiven him.

In legal terminology, the word “shall” is a very strong word: it is the word that makes an issue mandatory, without exception, unless otherwise stated. It would seem, then,that the passage has to be a “blanket promise for healing” so long as some certain conditions are met. So…in the cases where the sick was not healed…what should I assume? What were the “conditions?”

  • Was their prayer not “the prayer of faith?” In other words, “Was it the fault of the elders?” I can’t blame the patient for a lack of faith: all they were told to do is call the elders; and they did so! So, let’s say the elders have “doubts about” this passage: if they lack faith, then, should they disobey and not follow through and pray? Jonah wasn’t “full of faith,” but God used him! Namaan the Syrian wasn’t “full of faith” when he took “seven dips” in the Jordan. He had just enough faith to go and do it! Seems to me they need to go and do it when called. But then…what is the “prayer of faith?” (I guess I don’t know!)
  • Is there some sort of “formula” not being correctly followed? (If so, it is not stated.) A special kind of oil, for instance? Special liturgy to follow?
    • Dr. McGee points out that the Greek word for “anoint,” here, is not the word “chrio” which is used in the sense of a spiritual “anointing” and from which we get the word “Christos” or “Christ…the anointed one…the Messiah.” Instead, it is the Greek word “aleipho” which just means “put oil on something,” often for a practical reason. His commentary says that since it was sometimes used in a medicinal sense, he has concluded that this must mean to “go get medical attention in addition to the prayers.” Sorry…it simply doesn’t say that: Grammatically, it says that the elders are to pray over the sick person, anointing that person with oil, in the name of the Lord! (The doctor would not do that!) There is no teaching here of getting separate medical attention, though I agree that the oil may not be a “ritual anointing.” I just don’t know how to understand this. I certainly believe in going to doctors for help. (Jesus said “he that is sick needeth a physician.”) That is not what this passage is about.
  • I do think it is worth noting that it says “…the prayer of faith shall save the sick…” It does not say the oil will do it. (Regardless of what the oil may mean.)
  • So, then, is this only for sicknesses caused by sin? Verse 15 does bring up the possibility that sin was involved. And if it is for “sicknesses caused by sin”, then why would it not heal some of the modern, fatal diseases that definitely are caused by sin?
  • Is the Lord no longer offering this promise? (It does say the Lord shall raise him up…) Has that offer been revoked? There are people who truly believe this to be the case; that this promise is no longer in force. How would we know, for sure?
  • Was the promise only for a select group of believers? Well, the book was originally written to Jewish believers. But, I don’t believe that healing is only promised to Jewish Christians. There were lots of Gentiles healed in the New Testament.
  • Does the fact that the word translated “sick” in verse 15 is not the same as the one in verse 14 make any difference? (In verse 15, the Greek word is “kamnonta” and it means “exhausted one”, or “faint one,” and it’s only used four times in scripture, and only translated “sick” in this verse. The Greek word in verse 14 is “asthenei”, which is frequently translated “sick”, or “infirm,” but also could be translated “faint” or “weak.” The word “asthenei” is the one used in regard to Lazarus, who was so sick that he died… and Jesus raised him from the dead. John 11:1-44)

The fact is, I have no solid answers to any of the above questions, and I am not willing to jump to anecdotal “proofs” of any sort. Either God gives light in His Word, or He does not. The claims made by so-called “healers” usually end up proving false: some very shamefully, publicly false, which leads unbelievers to blaspheme the Lord, and claim that the scriptures are false, and that all who believe the Bible are fools. And I can’t blame them, when that’s what they see!

For the moment, I have to confess, I simply do not know what to make of this passage. I don’t like to “skip a verse”, and I am not inclined to pretend to have knowledge, when I can’t back it up with God’s Word. So…that’s where it stands for right now. I’m sorry!

Confession

The next verse seems to tie in with the previous two, with the exception that it does not mention oil or prayers of the elders, at all: it does mention confessing our faults to one another, and praying for one another. It again mentions healing, but seems to be a general principle, not necessarily a specific incident of sickness.

16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

The word translated “faults” here, is not the usual Greek work “hamartias” which is translated “Sins,” (as in 1st John 1:9.) It is the Greek “paraptomata”, and it means “offenses, trespasses, faults, etc.” This is not grounds for the practice of the “confessional”, as in some religions. It means that if I have offended, I should confess it to the offended party, and if it is a public matter, I should confess it publicly; not necessarily in a formal setting, as though it were a courtroom, but simply addressing the fact that (for example) “I wronged this brother when I was angry. I said harsh words about him. It was unfair of me to speak that way, as he was not at fault. I have already spoken to him, and asked his forgiveness, but many of you heard me, and I want your forgiveness too.” That sort of honest transparency “keeps the decks clear,” so to speak, and perhaps keeps our communication with God more open as well, because Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the LORD will not hear me.”

Prayer:

It also says, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” This passage is constantly quoted as proof that “prayer changes things,” and I agree that it does. I believe that we are commanded to “pray without ceasing,” (1st Thessalonians 5:17) and “in everything.” (Philippians 4:6, 7) We have examples in the lives of the apostles, as well as Old Testament saints, and the life of Jesus Himself. They all seemed to have pretty intense prayer-lives.

17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

This is a good reminder that prayer can make a difference: It is important to read what the rest of the scriptures say about prayer, too, though: 1st John 3:22; and 5:14, 15 give some admonitions regarding God’s reply to prayers. There are some keys given, in regard to answered prayer. We do not always “get what we want.” The passage in 1st John 3:22 suggests that we have to be living in God’s will in order to have confidence in prayer. If we aren’t even walking with Him, why should we hope for Him to do what we want? And the one in 1st John 5:14, 15 lets us know, that God still reserves the right to veto our idea. Remember that He is God!

He does answer prayers, but He reserves the right to answer “No”, or “Wait” as well as “Yes.” We say, “God didn’t answer my prayer,” unless He immediately answers “Yes!” That is a bad response on our part, and certainly not one that expresses faith. “No” is a legitimate answer, too, and sometimes it is the best answer God can give. “Wait” is also a good answer, in many cases.

Consider how many times a young child asks his parents about something he or she wants to happen. Little children are asking from a child’s perspective, and cannot understand all the ramifications of their requests. Like those little children, we have very limited understanding of the things of God, and the eternal issues He considers in responding to our desires. We need to trust that He will make the best choices for us, but also remember that He does want us to ask. And, finally,

What does “Convert” mean? What does Death mean?

19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; 20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.  

Is this about evangelism? Or is it in regard to restoring a sinning brother?

There are three keys to understanding this passage:

  1. The first is the phrase “if any of you do err from the truth”
  2. The second is to find the meaning of the verb, “to convert.”
  3. The third is to determine which of the three possible meanings of the word “death” is intended in this passage.

In the context (“Brethren, if any of you…”) I would have to say that it is regarding a sinning brother (or sister) who is erring from the truth, not an unbeliever who has never been connected to the truth. Remember that Jesus said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life…” when we sin, we are “erring from the truth”…wandering from the way, and temporarily separated from the life of Christ. Not lost, but acting as though we were lost…and, for all practical purposes, living as if we never knew Him.

But, in that case, I also have to ask, what does it mean to “convert” someone else? I certainly cannot “save” someone else, nor can I even force them, through strength of argument, to voluntarily receive the Lord. They have to make that decision themselves. Remember that the door to the truth is the will, not the intellect. (“Whosoever will may come!”) So, in what way are we “saving a soul from death?” What does “conversion” even refer to?

In our culture, we have long referred to salvation as “conversion:” possibly even because of this passage. But Jesus addressed Peter (already a believer) and said “ … Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” (Luke 22:31, 32)

How could Peter, who was already a believer, expect to be “converted?” Perhaps some people would use this verse to support the idea of a believer “losing their salvation and being saved over again:” But it says, “I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.” So, if Peter’s faith did not fail even though he denied the Lord, and he felt that his faith had failed, and he acted as though his faith had failed, what would his subsequent “conversion” entail?

The English verb “convert” (from the Greek, “epistrepho”) means to “turn back”, or “return.” It is the same word used when the shepherds “returned” after seeing Jesus in the Manger, and they “went back” to their flocks, glorifying God. (Luke 2:20) It was also the word used when the demon in Jesus’s parable decided to “return to his house,” meaning to “go back and repossess the man who had been freed from demonic possession.” (Luke 11:24) So Peter was expected to return to his strong faith. Could the word be used to denote salvation? Possibly…but the primary use simply means to return…go back! An unbeliever has never been a child of God: he cannot “return” to being one. Only a sinning brother or sister can “return” to the Lord. So, that leaves the last question, “What kind of death?”

Is this simply the “separation from fellowship” …a spiritual deadness which occurs every time we are out of fellowship? Or are we talking about the eternal “second death,” warned against in the Revelation? (In which case this would definitely be about evangelism, not restoration.) Or, is it actually about physical death? (Which indeed can result from a continuing pattern of rebellion in a believer’s life.)

To begin with, I am sure that this is a believer in question: it says, “Brethren (that means believers), if any of you do err from the truth…” So, let us assume there is no further question that the individual is already saved. That settles the issue with death, as well, then, because it is impossible for a believer to die, spiritually, although they can live as if they were spiritually dead, if they are out of fellowship. So, the only possible choices are either the “spiritual deadness” that results from unbelief and disobedience, or, more likely, physical death.

There are several examples in scripture of believers whose lives were taken by God, because of rebellion, or some flagrant sin. Perhaps that is the warning, here. John says that “there is a sin unto death.” (1st John 5:16) And John was talking about believers. In 1st Corinthians 11:17-34, Paul stated that some in the church at Corinth—believers— had physically died because of their sins regarding the Lord’s Table. They had dishonored the Lord by their actions and attitudes, in what is intended to be a solemn, holy memorial and celebration.

Ananias and Sapphira, in Acts 5:1-11, were believers too, but their sin of publicly lying to God, about something so mundane and trivial as money, cost them their lives. Peter demonstrated how pointless the whole thing had been; saying that the money was theirs, the land was theirs: they had been free to keep it, give it, or do whatever they wanted with it. But they lied to God about it, and judgment fell. They did not lose their salvation: they lost their lives.

King Josiah, one of the best kings Judah ever had, lost his life in an unnecessary battle with an Egyptian king who had no quarrel with Judah. (2nd Kings 23) We can lose our lives because of sin, too. Anger or lust or envy can drive us into situations that become deadly: in traffic, water-sports, or other life-situations. As we try to out-do a rival, or pass another driver, or show off for someone we want to impress, we take unnecessary risks. Many young men lose their lives through foolish behavior, but it is not limited to the young, nor only to men.

Left to ourselves, we can allow sin to fester until it erupts into a catastrophe. Murders have often occurred because of hurt feelings, anger, jealousy, etc. That possibility is not just for unbelievers. Christians are capable of every sin, the same as unbelievers. Suicides frequently occur because the individual turns in upon himself in a tighter and tighter “vortex” of frustration, guilt, fear, despair or anger, until there seems to be no escape. Sometimes (but not always) someone else can draw alongside the suicidal person and turn them away from the trap into which they are falling. That is what we are called upon to do, here.

We are told to care for one another, and to help turn one another away from such snares. I have personally known believers who allowed themselves to be drawn into sin that eventually cost them their lives. I don’t know what could have been done to turn them back from that sin, before it was too late. I do know that their family (also believers) desperately tried, but finally gave up trying. I heard about the results long after the fact. But we are told, here, that if we can “turn them back,” it will save their life, ultimately.

Believers are not immune to the attacks of the Evil one. In fact, we are his primary target. He really doesn’t need to do anything to unbelievers: he already has them. We are members of the Body of Christ, and Satan attacks us, in order to fight against Jesus, the King.

This closing admonition from James is to remind us of the battle we are in, and to urge us to take it seriously. I pray that we will do so. We are to function together as a team, as a body, and work to strengthen and bless one another. If we fail in that regard, the enemy is always looking for an opportunity to attack. We are told to “be sober, be vigilant, for your enemy the devil walketh about as a roaring Lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1st Peter 5:8)

Lord Jesus, we ask that you will feed us on Your Word, and give us the Wisdom to apply it to our lives, even when we feel that we don’t fully understand.  Shape us into your likeness and help us in our weakness and our ignorance.

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Problem Passages in James (Part 1)

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Some Problem Passages in James (Part 1)

© 2020 C. O. Bishop

James 5:12-20 (Oath-taking, Prayer and Singing)

Introduction

The remaining verses in James are difficult for me: Quite honestly, I am not entirely sure how to teach them. I know what they say, and I know what the words mean, but I do not know how to apply them all, especially the verses about healing.

Even verse 12, many (including myself, in the past) have taken to be a prohibition against oath-taking of any sort. (And, perhaps it is: I can’t rule that out completely.) But, when a public official (even a police officer) in our country takes office, they are required to take oath to uphold the law, to uphold the constitution, to protect and to serve, etc. Is that a bad thing? I really don’t think it is! They are being required to state, for the record, that they are bound by this oath to actually do the things in that oath. The same goes for marriage vows. So we need to talk about this verse and what implications it might hold for us.

Oath-taking

12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

(Remember that in Matthew 5:33-37, Jesus taught the same concept, nearly word for word.)

I have known of people who habitually used the name of God in everything they did, not even disrespectfully, but perhaps too casually, as if it were a charm, or a magic phrase to make things come out right. Perhaps they knew the verse that said to “do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,” so they simply “said those words” with everything they did. A Latino friend told me how his father did that: throwing a bag of seed into the back of a truck, he would say “En el nombre de Dios!” He told me that his father did everything that way! I can’t speak to that, because I can’t see the man’s heart. Perhaps it was an honest effort to “do everything in the name of God.” But saying those words does not make it actually be in the name of God: it strikes me that this is very likely to become “taking the name of God in vain,” even if the intentions may have been good.

I have frequently heard unbelievers say something like “Jeeezus help me!” in a frustrating, but somehow humorous situation. All of us have heard unbelievers cry out “God help me!” in a bad situation…an emergency, of some sort. (That is where the aphorism comes from, saying, “There are no atheists in foxholes!”) This takes the form of profanity, though, in many cases, to the extent that people only use the name of Jesus or of God, as a curse. That is not what this verse is referring to, but there are plenty of other passages that address that idea and the “cursing” aspect is also supposed to be “left behind” in the darkness of our old life.

This passage, however, is about taking oaths. Cursing is a separate issue. Remember, when Peter was confronted by the Jews at the crucifixion, (Matthew 26:74) “…he began to curse, and to swear, saying I know not the man!” The cursing was one word…the swearing (oath-taking) was another. He was terrified that they were going to crucify him along with the Lord, and felt helpless to change the course of events. Perhaps he was even angry at Jesus for allowing it to happen? I don’t know. But, in that circumstance he was both cursing and making a false oath. And both things are clearly forbidden.

Butt seems to me that taking true oaths should not be a light thing, either. I don’t really think this verse (nor the passage in Matthew 5:33-37 where Jesus said nearly exactly the same thing) is a prohibition against all oath-taking, since God demonstrated in Genesis 15 that an oath can be appropriate. (The passage in Genesis 15 predates the practice laid out in Jeremiah 34:18 wherein two people walked between the pieces of a sacrifice, confirming an oath before God. In Genesis, God alone walked between the pieces of the sacrifice. He alone bore the oath.)

Some believe that this passage in James really is a prohibition against all oath-taking, and will refuse to take oath in court, for instance. (I used to think that!) Our laws make room for that specific belief, allowing a witness to simply affirm that their statements will be entirely true.

But there are sufficient righteous oaths taken in scripture to make me believe that this verse is more likely a prohibition against “casual” oath-taking. (Abraham required an oath of his servant in Genesis 24, for example.)

“Swearing on a stack of bibles” that something is true, is pointless, when simply stating that “you are convinced of” something is more honest. There is no need to invoke some “higher authority” to validate your given word. It seems that the Jews had become habitual “oath-takers,” and needed to go back to just giving their word, as a general practice. (Which may explain the Matthew 5 passage as well.)

But I think this verse would also preclude any of the ugly, pagan oaths take by people who join secret societies, or certain cults. I have read some of them, and they are truly gory, ungodly oaths. Why are they requiring such oaths, in order to join their organization?

You did not “take an oath” in order to become part of the Body of Christ: you simply placed your faith in His Word, and in His blood. God made the promise: He promised to save you and to keep you, forever. He required no oath from you! Remember, in Genesis 15, He made the oath; He required nothing of Abraham! He also requires no oath from you.

As a member of the Body of Christ, you are expected to find a group of like-minded believers and attach yourself to that assembly, and then faithfully function there as all believers are called to function:

  1. You are a priest before God, and you are expected to pray and offer praise and thanksgiving to the Savior, both for yourself and for others.
  2. You are an ambassador for Christ, and are expected to reach out to the lost as well as to the saved, to offer the Grace of God to the lives around you.
  3. Finally, there are specific gifts you have been given as a believer, that are to be used to bless the assembly, and to serve, and to build up that assembly.

We hope that everyone who attends this assembly will take all these things seriously. But no “oaths” are needed! This is simply what God expects of all believers, in every assembly!

Prayer and Singing

Here is where things begin to be a little more difficult, though they ought to be easy:
13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.

This seems pretty straightforward. I can easily teach the practice of praying, as it is taught everywhere in the scriptures; We are commanded, in Philippians 4:6, 7, to “be anxious for nothing, but in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God; and the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

So the part about being afflicted, and praying, I can teach, for sure. Affliction could be physical, mental, emotional, or financial (or maybe something else.) But we are told to give ourselves to prayer, both here and elsewhere. This is to be prayer from the heart, by the way, not reciting written prayers from a book of prayers, but actually talking to God about what is on your heart.

But there are people who say that “Prayer doesn’t change anything: God is just going to do His will anyway!” This passage teaches us otherwise! In verse 16 we are told it can accomplish a great deal. But most roads have two ditches, and this is no exception:

The other extreme is people who think that we can literally “order God around,” telling him what to do…specifically not “asking,” as (they say) that displays a lack of faith. But we are absolutely told to ask. We are absolutely told that, at least sometimes, we “have not because we ask not.” (James 4:2) And we are absolutely told that the reply depends on several things:

  • Our relationship with God at that time, (1st John 3:21-24)
  • The faith with which we ask, (James 1:6, 7) and
  • Whether, in fact, the thing we ask is within God’s will. (1st John 5:14, 15)

God always reserves the right to reply “Yes, No, or Wait.” The Lord is very definitely in control as God…He is not a “celestial vending machine:” (where you just put in your prayer, pull the appropriate lever, and automatically get your wish!) He is God! Yes we are to pray, and freely come to His throne to receive help in time of need, but do remember who it is you’re talking to! He is the Authority! He is God!

So both of the above ideas about prayer are mistaken: yes, “most roads have two ditches,” but the idea is to stay out of the ditches, and preferably in your own lane! Prayer definitely will at least change your relationship to the One you serve, and may change the world around you, as well. But remember that the Lord is sovereign: He always has the final say!

Something I frequently do, in prayer, because of 1st Peter 5:7, where we are told to “CAST” all our cares on God, is to use that word as an acronym, to remind me to begin with

  • Confession of my sins, and my frequent unbelief, then moving on to
  • Adoration and Worship, Praising God for who He is, then making requests, in
  • Supplication (praying for my needs and those of others,) and not forgetting
  • Thanksgiving for answered prayers and the constant faithfulness of God.

So, What about Music?

The singing of hymns (or specifically psalms as some churches insist on doing) to express joy, worship, praise, thanksgiving, fellowship and faith is clearly taught as well. I think it is well to remember the rest of what the scriptures say about singing, too: Jesus and the disciples “…sang a hymn, and went out to the Mount of Olives.” (Matthew 26:30)

The scriptures encourage us to “sing unto the Lord a new song”, in several places. And some of us may feel encouraged that the psalmist also says “make a joyful noise unto the Lord!” There is no restriction as to our innate gifts in music, or our skill as musicians. There also does not seem to be a restriction as to what sort of music, as it varies wildly from culture to culture, nor is there a restriction as to what kinds of instruments, as far as I can see. But it seems clear that the lyrics must honor the Lord. (It would seem reasonable, as well, that the music should be of a sort that draws a person into a serene, joyful worship of Christ, not stirring them to a frenzy of emotions, though perhaps that is also a matter of perspective: we will discuss particulars later.)

There are churches which completely forbid the use of any musical instruments in the church, just because there is no mention of them in the New Testament. But the Old Testament has many references to musical instruments: some were used for the glory of God, some were not: but the difference was in who was using them, and for what purpose. There is no mention of them in the New Testament, except in the Revelation; but there is no prohibition against them, either.

The three types of music mentioned in the New Testament are “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” and they are grouped together as “singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:19) All these are commanded and encouraged.

The problem with “trying to decide what kind of music is permitted” is that in other cultures, when the believers “sing unto the Lord a new song,” it does not sound like western hymns at all! And, as cultures change, the style of music frequently shifts along with the changing culture. That is not necessarily a bad thing. The “old” hymns we love were once “new songs.” And not everyone approved of them! The churches which demand that we only sing psalms forbid making new lyrics. And the really old churches did not approve of what we now consider the great hymns of the faith. But one thing that stays consistent, throughout the centuries, is that the Holy Spirit always speaks to glorify Jesus. So, if the “new songs,” and the “spiritual songs” are actually coming from Him, then the lyrics have to clearly honor the Lord.

My youngest son sadly, quietly told me once, of being condemned by the pastor of his church (in the presence of his friends) for listening to “rock” music. The man said “I’m a man of God! You are a man of the World!” I felt especially bad about it, because my son was a very young believer, and such harsh condemnation is hurtful in any case, but especially in the case of a young believer, and doubly so, in front of a group of friends. (I still grieve for the damage done by this pastor: the entire exchange was wrong!)

But a few days later, I was accompanying my son somewhere in his car, and he started a song on his music system, that was unquestionably “rock” music. I had a little trouble understanding the words, and really wasn’t listening too carefully, until my son asked “What do you think of the song?” I answered honestly, “Good music!” as there was nothing inherently wrong with it, though it was not what I might choose. Then he said, “That’s the song I was listening to when the pastor chewed me out.” So I “perked up my ears,” so to speak, and listened more intently. I found that I actually could understand the words if I listened carefully. Do you want to know what they said?

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right Spirit within me…cast me not away from thy presence…restore unto me the joy of your salvation….” Do you recognize those words? Yes! It was the 51st Psalm put to music! That is what he had been listening to, and that is what was condemned by his pastor.

I’m not sure those wounds ever really healed. And they were inflicted by someone who, I am sure, thought he was doing something “righteous.” But James 3:18 says, “…the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” That encounter did nothing to create or maintain peace, and the fruit it bore was not righteousness, but bitterness. We need to think carefully about how we use God’s Word, and how we treat the people around us.

Now, in another case, when I was in welding school, I myself was singing or humming the tune (not the lyrics, because it was in Latin, and I didn’t know the words) to Schubert’s “Ave Maria.” A younger friend, a brand-new believer to whom I had been teaching the Bible, heard me, and confronted me, in shock, demanding “Why are you singing that song!?” I was astonished, and said, “It’s a beautiful song! I like it!” He asked again, “Do you know what that song is?” I said, “Yes, it’s Schubert’s ‘Ave Maria.’”

He persisted, though, saying, “But don’t you know what that is??” I said, “I guess I must not!” He said “That is the ‘Ave Maria!’ The ‘Hail Mary’ put to music! It is a worship song to Mary!”

I simply had never thought of “what the song was about.” I certainly did not intend to sing a worship song to Mary, even if the music was beautiful! And this young man was a recent believer, who had been saved out of Roman Catholicism, so he was very sensitive to this particular thing. I answered on the spot, “I just never thought of that! I won’t sing it anymore!”

You see, the “beautiful, worshipful music” of that song was specifically written to worship a human being, as if she were deity. Mary herself confessed that she needed a Savior. She is not to be worshipped. And in my friend’s mind, I was singing worship to Mary! I was literally causing him to stumble, and I didn’t even know it. The “beautiful music” did not make it acceptable, nor did the “rock music” in the previous case make it wrong. The lyrics, in both cases, made the song what it really was.

So these two concepts of prayer and singing ought to be a total blessing to us, but they can be problematic as well. We need to think about them and what they really mean, and how we are to use them to honor the Lord.

Is there a Conclusion?

If nothing else, I hope that we can come away with a commitment to “Love one another,” and not to condemn each other for innocent differences of opinion regarding God’s Word.

But the remaining verses in James are about “healing,” and something called “Converting a sinner” and “saving a soul from death.” All of these ideas can be easily misunderstood, and are controversial enough that many commentators sharply disagree over them. I’m not certain I have all the answers, but we will address that passage next week, as these also are subjects people may struggle over.

Lord Jesus, please give us light to read your Word in the teaching of your Holy Spirit, so that we are not confused, but rather drawn closer to yourself. Use your Word to cleanse our hearts and transform us into your likeness.

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“Unanswered” Prayers?

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Practical Holiness and Unanswered Prayers

© 2020 C. O. Bishop

James 4:1-7

Introduction:

We often wonder why our prayer life seems ineffectual, and either bemoan that “God doesn’t answer,” or cynically declare that “prayer makes no difference, because God will just do whatever His plan was, anyway.” Both ideas are wrong, and the truth is more related to the character of our relationship with God than it is anything else. James begins by backing up and asking a rhetorical question, and then answers it, and begins to build upon the answer.

Human Sin

1From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

Here, the “you” (plural) to whom James speaks, is the whole human race. There had been no instance (at that time) of literal wars happening between believers, though it has happened more recently. But the history of the human race is absolutely riddled with warfare, raids, murders, enslavement, etc., in every nation, and in virtually every culture, at one time or another. And James recognized the source of the problem: that, far from being just some “force of nature”, or “artifact of human imperfection”, those wars and evil behaviors specifically come from our sinful desires.

Whether the desire is for political ascendancy, more land, more power of any sort, natural resources, or any other thing, the fact is that we, the human race, are willing to commit violence to satisfy our desires. That forces the other party to commit violence in defense: they really have little choice. But invariably, they end up wanting revenge, not just defense. So the cycle goes on, and repeats itself. If we want to see the original source, we can read Isaiah 14:12-15. There we see how Lucifer, the “Light-bearer,” through his desire for power and glory, became Satan, the “Adversary.” We have adversarial relationships with one another because of our sinful, selfish desires, and, ultimately, we, as a race, are adversaries of God thereby as well.

Romans 5:10 agrees with this idea, stating that we were enemies of God (prior to being saved) and that Jesus died for us while we were in that status, not after repentance or because of some “pre-christian” status. (There is no such thing as a “pre-christian,” by the way. We start off as enemies of God, and, if we die in that position, we are eternally lost. If God can bring us to repentance then we make a full transition to being children of God, and are credited with the righteousness of Christ.)

So, this passage tells us why the state of man is so filled with violence. God made a point of this clear back in Genesis 6:12, noting that the earth was corrupt and filled with violence. He also stated, (Genesis 6:5) that every thought of the imagination of man’s heart was only evil continually. “Well (we may protest) that was before the flood. We are all sprung from Noah, today!) So then, after the flood, things should have improved, right? Let’s see what God said: (Genesis 8:21) “…the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth…” The only people present were Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their respective wives! Eight persons comprised the world’s entire population! And God said they were full of evil!

So…if that is the state of man, what chance do we have for improvement? On our own effort? None at all! That is why Jesus became a human being, lived a perfect life so as to qualify as our redeemer, and willingly became our blood-sacrifice at Calvary. He did this so that we could be born from above…born again, with a new nature, which is capable of living for God. What about that old nature? It is still there, otherwise all the warnings of the New Testament would be pointless, as believers would be incapable of sin!

But the truth is that our old nature is completely incapable of being transformed, healed, or salvaged. It is not only corrupt but it is still actively being corrupted. When we sin, we feed our old nature, and it is strengthened. But our new nature is completely holy, like the One who created it. So we are left with a perpetual fight to maintain a Christian life.

James knew all of this, but rather than go into detail explaining it to fellow-Jewish Christians, he built on their knowledge of the Word, and moved forward. (We Gentiles frequently have to go back and read the Old Testament Scriptures in order to catch up.)

Unanswered Prayer

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

When we think of prayer, our opinions may run everywhere from “prayer is a waste of breath, because God is just going to do what He wants to do, anyway” all the way to the idea that God is a “celestial vending machine” who will give us whatever we ask for, if we either ask often enough, or ask with the right formula, or something. Both of those ideas are sadly mistaken, though both have elements of truth.

God does commit Himself to righteousness, and to His own perfect plan, though His plan may seem chaotic to us. We need to realize that what seems rather random and directionless, to us, is actually quite controlled, but so unimaginably complex as to easily evade our understanding. We humans can create machines, computer programs, to produce “random” numbers, but the fact is that they are simply taking whatever micro-millisecond that the computer clock is at, at the moment you give the command, and applying an extremely complex formula to that number, so rapidly that we cannot hope to follow it. Since we have no way to know the exact time we gave the command, and no way to track the math, the resulting number seems completely random to us, but, in reality, it was completely planned: we are just unable to see the plan.

Isn’t it odd that we are willing to entrust our lives and money and health to a computer, designed, built and programmed by humans, who, in turn, were programmed by their own sin, but we are not so willing to trust the God who designed and built us, though He is not contaminated by our sin? Give that some thought!

Prerequisites to Answered Prayer

Over in Hebrews 11:6, it says that “without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh unto God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” We have to begin with the conviction that God exists, and that He is good, beyond comprehension: that He is the creator and designer of all good, and that even the evil in the world is not “outside” His oversight.

We live, today, in the ruins of what was created a perfect world, but which was devastated by sin: we live with the evidence of that destruction all around us: even in the majesty of the peaks, where we see the layered sediments as mute testimony of the flood, and the broken, ragged ridges; evidence of the continental breakup still in motion today. So, within the wreckage of “life after the Fall of Man” we need to realize that God’s ultimate good is still in control, but there are still the ugly realities to deal with: life in a fallen world; life with fallen humans as our fellow-travelers. When we pray, we need to realize that sometimes the things we want are not in keeping with a greater plan of God.

Therefore, we are admonished over in 1st John that there are some prerequisites to answered prayer:

  1. We, ourselves, have to be in obedience to God, so that we are not already at cross-purposes to His sovereignty. (Yes, it is not only possible to be at cross-purposes to God, it is so common as to be nearly universal. 1st John 3:18-24)
  2. We have to ask in accordance with His revealed will. (1st John 5:14, 15) This takes some study and growth, on our part, to even know, as an over-arching concept, what that will is, let alone His will for any given matter. But God does reserve the right to reply in one of three ways:
    1. “Yes,” which is what we always want.
    2. “No,” which is what we really mean, when we claim that “God didn’t answer me!” or,
    3. “Wait,” which is very commonly perceived as “no;” but we need to be patient and find out whether our petition has been denied for cause, or simply deferred because a better occasion is coming soon.

So, how does God see our Allegiances with the World?

Finally, here in James, we see that we frequently are turned away because of wrong motives. The wrong motives, whatever the reason, would automatically place us in the category of “not praying according to God’s Will.”

4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Remember that we all begin as the enemies of God: Romans 5:8-10 made this clear. So, having been born again, and no longer being citizens of this world, we need to change our allegiances, as well. It is not that we are not to befriend the people of the world…Remember? “God so loved the World….” But we are to sever our allegiance to the world’s system of thought, and its values and morals.

The people in the world, every single one of them, are created in the image of God, and are precious souls for whom Jesus has already shed His blood. And yet, even there, we are encouraged to make friends of God’s friends. King Jehoshaphat, in 2nd Chronicles 19:1-3, was rebuked for having allied himself with King Ahab, an evil man, in a war (previous chapter.) God eliminated Ahab through a “random” arrow, but Jehoshaphat had survived the battle.

On his way back home, a prophet, named Jehu, met him on the road, and delivered God’s rebuke. The alliance was the issue; the military partnership with a nation that was already at odds with God. We are not to make alliances or partnerships with people who are at cross-purposes against God. 2nd Corinthians 6:14-18 spells this out very clearly: we are not to be “unequally yoked” with unbelievers. (This includes, of course, the partnership of marriage. Believers are not to knowingly marry an unbeliever. Have there been people who were tricked into believing that their intended spouse was a believer, only to discover later that it was a lie? Certainly there have been, and God knows that. He addresses that elsewhere.)

This caution against “Friendship with the World” in no way cancels our “debt” to those around us, to offer the love of God, and the Gospel of Christ. (Romans 1:14-16; 13:8). Most will reject the Gospel, and we know that, but we still have the obligation to make the offer of eternal life and the forgiveness of sins to those around us.

But, if we continue to embrace the world’s way of thinking, then, at least at a functional level, we are still behaving as the enemies of God. This is the practice and mindset that we are to abandon, wholesale, and avoid completely. The attitude and arrogance, and duplicity of the world, along with its constant message of self-importance and self-will, is completely repugnant to God. We need to guard against being drawn back to those values. When we find that we are setting aside known directives and values of God in favor of what seems appropriate from a human perspective, then we have already crossed the line, even if we think we are doing something “good.”


Grieving the Holy Spirit

5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

I am given to believe that the “Spirit,” here, is the Holy Spirit (in spite of the lack of capitalization in the KJV): and that the desire the Spirit has, is for us to learn to devote ourselves completely to God. We tend to only see the word “lust” as referencing sexual desire, but it actually means any strong desire, and not necessarily even an evil desire. Our own spirit is never said to “dwell” in us, as it is truly part of who we are (body, soul, and spirit, see 1st Thessalonians 5:23.) Since that is the case, then I do not see this as our own human spirit, since the Holy Spirit is said to dwell in us, and as the third member of the Godhead, He certainly has some strong desires where God’s Will is concerned. Over in Galatians 5:17, it says that “the flesh (old sin nature) lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh…” In that context, at least, the spirit in question is definitely the Holy Spirit. I believe it is, here in James 4:5, as well. But even if that is settled, and if I am correct, I still have to decide what the “desire” of the Holy Spirit is, for us:

In the Old Testament, God claims to be a “jealous God,” desiring his people to serve Him alone, and not go after other gods. In fact, he refers to this sinful practice as spiritual adultery. He considered Israel to be wedded to Himself, and, as a husband, He was jealous of her attention to the foreign, false, evil gods of the nations around her.

We, as the Church-age believers, are called the “Bride of Christ.” Is it surprising, then, that the Holy Spirit jealously calls us to separate ourselves from our old ways and walk with Him alone? Specifically, that He calls us to drop our “friendship with the World”, and draw close to the Lord who bought us out of slavery to sin? I think it is perfectly understandable, and right. In Ephesians 4:30, we are cautioned to “…grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” If we are grieving the Holy Spirit by our attitudes, our actions, or our allegiances, then we definitely should not expect that our prayers will be received as we want them to be. The Psalmist (Psalm 66:18) says “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” It does not say that He cannot hear, but that He will not hear us.

How can we overcome this pattern? Humility!

6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

This is a hard passage to apply: we never like to admit to ourselves that we are “proud people.” But, when our pride is causing arguments, division, and a stiff-necked disobedience, then we are not in a condition to be blessed by God. Instead, He has to resist us at every turn. The scripture never lists pride as a “positive” trait. It sometimes lists it as an “ordinary” thing, for example, he mentions a strong man glorying in his strength, but even then, he cautions that it is a temporary, fleeting glory. Pride and self-will are, simply stated, in opposition to God, so He has no choice but to oppose us, and resist us, in our pride. If we want to enjoy God’s Grace, then we need to willingly humble ourselves, so that He does not have to do it, teaching us humility the hard way.

The next verse is easy to misunderstand, as well:
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

This verse must be taken in its entirety: Satan is not “afraid of believers.” But He cannot stand before God. So, a believer, not only indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but also in submission to Him, and thus able to resist Satan, is not just a helpless sheep, ready to become the prey of Satan, but, instead, is a powerful partner of Christ, and is at least dangerous to the plans and programs of the evil one. Consider a wild animal…a coyote: though he is unafraid of a horse alone, when it sees the same horse with a man in the saddle, he runs for cover. It isn’t the horse that frightens him; it is the man directing the horse that is dangerous. The coyote knows that people are his enemies and that they are quite able to kill at a distance.

When we are in submission to God, we are dangerous to the kingdom of darkness. But without that first clause in verse seven (submit yourself therefore to God,) the second clause would be a laughable fallacy. In our own strength, we cannot resist the evil one. We are automatically submitted to him, in fact, when we are not submitted to God.

We only have two natures: Either we will submit ourselves to the Lord Jesus, and see His power working in our lives, or we will, by default, submit ourselves to the evil one, and we will increasingly see him damaging our lives, our testimony, and our happiness.

Where are you now?

There is no middle ground: when we were unbelievers, we thought that we were “free” from the influence of either God or Satan. Indeed, we counted ourselves the “masters of our fates, and the captains of our souls,” as the poem “Invictus” boasts. But we were deceived, and, in fact, were completely, blindly, under the sway of the evil one. We had no conscious knowledge of our plight, and we thought that we were free. Now we have freedom to choose, but there is still no middle ground. We will either serve Jesus, consciously, and willingly, or we will serve Satan, unconsciously, and whether we like it or not.

I frequently think of Samson: Because of his inconsistent, continually “sloppy” walk with God, in spite of the fact that he was a genuine believer, and a man of God, who is even listed in Hebrews 11 as a hero of the faith, he ended up being physically blinded, and working as a prisoner and a slave, under the Philistines, his mortal enemies. A believer today can end up being spiritually blinded, and working for his great enemy, Satan…and not even know that he has again become a slave to sin.

All I can do is look and see where I am: what does the fruit in my life look like: am I being a blessing to the people around me; and am I a “fragrance of Christ,” or am I a curse and a stumbling-block? Do I pray for them with an honest heart, desiring the best for their lives, or am I mostly praying for them to change, so I will be more comfortable? Do I see the people around me as precious souls for whom Jesus died, or do I see them mostly as an irritation, causing me inconvenience and distress? What are my real motives in life? Are they the same as those Jesus displayed, or are they self-centered, just like those of the World?

These are things we can think about, as we examine ourselves in the mirror of God’s Word. These are the things we need to consider, when we question the effectiveness of prayer, and when we wonder where our joy in life has gone.

Please consider carefully, and choose rightly how to respond.


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