It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, 43Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body.(Mark 15:42-43)
Joseph of Arimathea did something the Bible described as bold - he asked for Jesus' body so He could bury it. Boldness I've realised doesn't come easily for me. On the occasions I'm bold, or a risk-taker, it's because I've decided the downside doesn't matter. Like at work. My biggest achievements have typically occurred when I took huge risks - which paid off. The irony is that the only reason I dared to take the risks was that I was prepared - in the event of spectacular failure - to leave the workplace. In other words, I was prepared to hang on to what was dear to me loosely.
It strikes me that the same must surely be true of life. It's only if we hang on to life very loosely that we dare take big risks for God. In other words, boldness will only come if we believe like Paul does that 'To live is Christ, to die is gain.' That, whatever happens, there is no downside in pouring our lives out for God.
Prayer today: Father God, I know I am not bold for the cause of Christ. Give me the grace so that I may live like Paul did, knowing that 'To live is Christ, to die is gain'. That when we live courageously for you, whatever happens, we win. For when we have Jesus, we have everything and more that we need. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
When prayer and God's word meet
Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown." (Mark 4:13-20)
One of my resolutions this year is to go through the bible teaching of Don Anderson for six books of the bible (I set the target fairly modestly, although 2 months into the year, I've only just about finished 1 John - a very short book! ... ) But I've also realised that there are days when I listen to his preaching, and my heart is pierced. There are days when nothing penetrates my heart of hard soil. I've always thought it was the preacher. I've come to realise it's the listener that makes all the difference.
While the Word seems to be the central idea in Jesus' "Parable of the Sower", I see it slightly differently these days. I see prayer as even more central. Because prayer is needed to plough the soil first, so that the seed doesn't fall on the path, the rocky place or the thorny ground. Unless God ploughs my heart first, I hear but do not listen. My mind is a thousand miles away and totally unreformed.
So it seemed like God was speaking direct to me when I read these words by A. Murray. Murray put into words the niggling feeling I've been harbouring of late:
"Little of the word with little prayer is death to the spiritual life. Much of the word with little prayer gives a sickly life. Much prayer with little of the word gives more life, but without steadfastness. A full measure of the word and prayer each day gives a healthy and powerful life."
Prayer today: Father God, help me not to forsake your Word, or prayer, that I may have a healthy and powerful spiritual life. In Jesus' name, Amen.
One of my resolutions this year is to go through the bible teaching of Don Anderson for six books of the bible (I set the target fairly modestly, although 2 months into the year, I've only just about finished 1 John - a very short book! ... ) But I've also realised that there are days when I listen to his preaching, and my heart is pierced. There are days when nothing penetrates my heart of hard soil. I've always thought it was the preacher. I've come to realise it's the listener that makes all the difference.
While the Word seems to be the central idea in Jesus' "Parable of the Sower", I see it slightly differently these days. I see prayer as even more central. Because prayer is needed to plough the soil first, so that the seed doesn't fall on the path, the rocky place or the thorny ground. Unless God ploughs my heart first, I hear but do not listen. My mind is a thousand miles away and totally unreformed.
So it seemed like God was speaking direct to me when I read these words by A. Murray. Murray put into words the niggling feeling I've been harbouring of late:
"Little of the word with little prayer is death to the spiritual life. Much of the word with little prayer gives a sickly life. Much prayer with little of the word gives more life, but without steadfastness. A full measure of the word and prayer each day gives a healthy and powerful life."
Prayer today: Father God, help me not to forsake your Word, or prayer, that I may have a healthy and powerful spiritual life. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Wholeheartedness
Not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times- 23 not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. 24 But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. (Numbers 14:20-24)
One generation of Israelites perished in the desert instead of crossing over to the Promised Land because of unbelief. In contrast, Joshua and Caleb inherited the wonderful promise. In singling Caleb out, God said one thing about him that struck me, "My servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly."
Wholeheartedness. That is how the Bible describes Hezekiah too, and is the reason it gives for why he prospered.
This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God. In everything that he undertook in the service of God's temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered. (2 Chronicles 31:20-21)
Wholeheartedness. That is God's condition for findng Him.
God promises 'Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart' (Jer. 29.13).
Andrew Murray says, "Prayerlessness cannot be overcome as an isolated thing. It is in the closest relationship to the state of the heart. True prayer depends on an undivided heart.
The good news as Murray puts it is that we cannot give ourselves the undivided heart that enables us to say 'I seek God with my whole heart.' No, that is impossible for us, but God will do it.
"However weak the desire may be, if there is but the sincere determination to strive after what God holds out to us, then he will himself work in our hearts both to will and to do. It is the great work of the Holy Spirit in us to make us willing and to enable us to seek God with the whole heart.
May there not be found in us confusion of face because, while we have given ourselves to so many earthly things with all our heart and strength, yet if anything is said about fellowship with our glorious God it so little affects us that we have not sought him with the whole heart."
Prayer today: Father God, I desire to have that undivided heart. I no longer want to lack focus, running after many things. I long to seek you with my whole heart. Help me O God, for I cannot will myself to this; only cause the Holy Spirit to awaken my spirit that I may pursue hard after thee. Amen.
One generation of Israelites perished in the desert instead of crossing over to the Promised Land because of unbelief. In contrast, Joshua and Caleb inherited the wonderful promise. In singling Caleb out, God said one thing about him that struck me, "My servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly."
Wholeheartedness. That is how the Bible describes Hezekiah too, and is the reason it gives for why he prospered.
This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God. In everything that he undertook in the service of God's temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered. (2 Chronicles 31:20-21)
Wholeheartedness. That is God's condition for findng Him.
God promises 'Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart' (Jer. 29.13).
Andrew Murray says, "Prayerlessness cannot be overcome as an isolated thing. It is in the closest relationship to the state of the heart. True prayer depends on an undivided heart.
The good news as Murray puts it is that we cannot give ourselves the undivided heart that enables us to say 'I seek God with my whole heart.' No, that is impossible for us, but God will do it.
"However weak the desire may be, if there is but the sincere determination to strive after what God holds out to us, then he will himself work in our hearts both to will and to do. It is the great work of the Holy Spirit in us to make us willing and to enable us to seek God with the whole heart.
May there not be found in us confusion of face because, while we have given ourselves to so many earthly things with all our heart and strength, yet if anything is said about fellowship with our glorious God it so little affects us that we have not sought him with the whole heart."
Prayer today: Father God, I desire to have that undivided heart. I no longer want to lack focus, running after many things. I long to seek you with my whole heart. Help me O God, for I cannot will myself to this; only cause the Holy Spirit to awaken my spirit that I may pursue hard after thee. Amen.
Faith and what the mind can conceive
But Moses said, "Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, 'I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!' 22 Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?"
The LORD answered Moses, "Is the LORD's arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you." (Numbers 11:21-23)
Moses couldn't conceive how God could feed 600,000 men meat. He thought he knew how many cattle and fish there were - not enough. He thought He knew how big God was, but God confounded him.
It is written: No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
I think we always conceive wrong because our vision of God is too small. Our faith is too small. This too is my problem. Which is why I love so much these words I read a few weeks ago in an autobiography of Charles Finney, the great revivalist.
In the book "Power, Passion and Prayer", Finney's great faith is described. "But may we attain unto his great Faith? How did that faith come to be so great? Was it conferred outright, as a gift of God, or was it cultivated?"
Says the author: "We answer that his faith fed and grew upon the Word of God. He searched his Bible on his knees and grouped its promises, until unbelief fell, smitten, before the combined blaze of their testimony. It grew again, by the experience of prayer. Experiment is the most convincing argument. God bids the doubting soul, "Enter into thy closet;" there "handle me and see!" there "prove me, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing until there be none left to pour out." Faith is confirmed by every new promise that the prayerful soul grasps, and especially by every new experience of prayer answered."
The line "Experiment is the most convicing argument" resonates with me. I can attest to it. I believe giants of faith are built not overnight, but because they dare to ask God. When God answers, they become bolder in their asking. When God answers again, they begin to think to themselves, Our God answers! And they become even bolder in asking...
Prayer today: Father God, too often, my perspective is too earthbound, my vision of you too small, my faith too weak. Yet, you bid the doubting soul, "Enter into thy closet, there handle me and see!" Help me to be like the great revivalist Finney, who did just that, and found you to be faithful. In Jesus' name, Amen.
The LORD answered Moses, "Is the LORD's arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you." (Numbers 11:21-23)
Moses couldn't conceive how God could feed 600,000 men meat. He thought he knew how many cattle and fish there were - not enough. He thought He knew how big God was, but God confounded him.
It is written: No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
I think we always conceive wrong because our vision of God is too small. Our faith is too small. This too is my problem. Which is why I love so much these words I read a few weeks ago in an autobiography of Charles Finney, the great revivalist.
In the book "Power, Passion and Prayer", Finney's great faith is described. "But may we attain unto his great Faith? How did that faith come to be so great? Was it conferred outright, as a gift of God, or was it cultivated?"
Says the author: "We answer that his faith fed and grew upon the Word of God. He searched his Bible on his knees and grouped its promises, until unbelief fell, smitten, before the combined blaze of their testimony. It grew again, by the experience of prayer. Experiment is the most convincing argument. God bids the doubting soul, "Enter into thy closet;" there "handle me and see!" there "prove me, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing until there be none left to pour out." Faith is confirmed by every new promise that the prayerful soul grasps, and especially by every new experience of prayer answered."
The line "Experiment is the most convicing argument" resonates with me. I can attest to it. I believe giants of faith are built not overnight, but because they dare to ask God. When God answers, they become bolder in their asking. When God answers again, they begin to think to themselves, Our God answers! And they become even bolder in asking...
Prayer today: Father God, too often, my perspective is too earthbound, my vision of you too small, my faith too weak. Yet, you bid the doubting soul, "Enter into thy closet, there handle me and see!" Help me to be like the great revivalist Finney, who did just that, and found you to be faithful. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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