Like Jesus

God has not said that He wants a improved you when you decide to follow Him. He doesn't want someone who is a better version of themselves. He gives us an example of what He wants us to be in this life. He wants us to be like Jesus. When I compare myself to Jesus I realize that I am not even close. It isn't as if I can fix a little bit here and tweak something over there and then I will be like Him. I can't do it. But Jesus told us how God wants to bring this about in our lives. He told us that He is the vine and we are the branches. The vine gives life to the branches. The branches die on their own. But when we are connected continually to Jesus, His fruit is what comes out. The character of Jesus is what comes out of us when we stay connected with the vine. When we disconnect from the vine our fruit becomes rotten. We can't bear fruit apart from Jesus. We can't have Jesus' character apart from Him.

Relying on God

I firmly believe that God uses our circumstances and trials in life to bring us to a place where we rely only on Him. In the beginning of the summer I began to ask God to move in my life. And He has answered that prayer time and time again over the last few months. He has brought to my attention areas that I need to change. He has allowed things to happen around me that make it so I can only rely on Him. I can't rely on myself because what He has asked me to do is far beyond my abilities. I don't have the strength or talents to do this on my own. But through yielding to God's will and allowing Him to work through me is how He is getting things done. I tell God quite often that I can't do this (whatever this is at the time) but He can through me and I ask Him to do it. And He does. He meets me and works through my weaknesses and my strengths to move. This week, ask God to work through your situation and see how He does it for you.

The Lord's Prayer Wrap Up

One of the things that I do as I pray through the Lord's Prayer is to also pray these same things for my family. I pray that God would be glorified in their lives. I ask that His rule and will would take place in their lives. I pray that God would meet their needs. I ask Him to forgive them and help them confess their sins and to forgive others. I pray that He would not lead them into temptation but if they are tempted to deal with it properly and I pray that God would deliver them from evil. As I finish praying through the Lord's Prayer I also then lift up anything that comes to mind. It may be is praying for others that come to mind or things in my life I want God to work on today. Try it for a few weeks and see if this helps you pray and seek God more consistently. I know it has helped me.

The Lord's Prayer "but deliver us from evil"

We now come to the end of the Lord's prayer. Now we ask for deliverance from evil or from the evil one. We pray to God for protection from evil. I take this time to put on the armor of God that Paul talks about in Ephesians 6. If you think about this armor that God has given us, it is like we are clothing ourselves with God. That He covers us and protects us from every evil as we depend on Him. I also pray against that attacks of the enemy in my life. I stand as a child of God under His kingdom rule and authority. Think of it this way, if someone were to attack an ambassador of our country it would be viewed as an attack on the nation itself. We are God's ambassador's and attacks against us are attacks against God. As Elisha says in 2 Kings 6, those who are with us are more powerful than those who are with the enemy. Depend on God to deliver you from evil and trust His guidance.

Lord's Prayer "lead us not into temptation"

This is a very important part of the Lord's Prayer. We ask God to not lead us into temptation which God will not do because according to James 1:13 God cannot be tempted and does not tempt to evil. If we are walking in God's will we will avoid most temptations but sometimes we stray and end up facing temptation. Sometimes the enemy will bring temptation to us. When we face temptation we have a few things we can do to overcome it. First, we can flee. Time and time again we are told to flee immorality and other sins. Sometimes you can't flee for some reason or another. We also have the promise that God will provide a way out from any temptation that we face (1 Cor 10:13). So we pray and ask God to show us the way out. We ask the Holy Spirit for help and guidance. We can go to God's word and see what it says about our situation and how to handle it. We can cry out to God for His help. There are times when we need to seek help from others when dealing with temptation. We need to find someone we trust who we can share our weaknesses with and have accountability for our actions and thoughts. Put all of this into practice and you will begin to see victory over temptation. But you have to want victory and to hate the sin. Until you hate your sin you will continue to fall. Ask God to open you eyes to the sins that you love and for Him to show you how damaging it truly is to your life and the lives of others.

Lord's Prayer "as we forgive those who has trespassed against us"

Last time we looked at how we need to ask for forgiveness. Then Jesus goes on to something that is critical as a follower of Jesus Christ. We need to forgive others. We need to forgive anyone who has sinned against us. Now that seems like a pretty tall order. Jesus clarifies this statement further in Matthew 6:14-15. He basically says if you forgive others, then God will forgive you, but if you don't forgive others, then you won't be forgiven. What does this mean? Think of it this way. Forgiveness is like a snorkel. If you go snorkeling you have a tube that you stick in your mouth that allows you to breathe in and out. If you clog the tube, you can't breathe. Forgiveness flows in the same way. If you have clogged the tube with unforgiveness then you are going to have a difficult time receiving forgiveness from God. The tube needs to be clear for forgiveness to flow. Ask God to reveal to you where you are holding something against someone, where you need to forgive others.
Now remember that forgiveness is an active process. It is not forgetting which is passive. You may remember how that person hurt you for the rest of your life. Forgiveness is making 4 promises. The first is that you will not dwell on this incident. You will not continue to stew and get angry about what happened. You will not get bitter. This promise is the one that needs to be made even when the other person has not sought forgiveness or admitted that they are wrong. Do not dwell on it. The other promises are for when someone has sought forgiveness from you. The second one is that I will not bring up this incident again and use it against you. Once you have forgiven someone and you bring the problem back up again you are showing that you haven't forgiven them yet. There are some times when there are exceptions to this rule when you have noticed a pattern of behavior and to not be able to speak about what happened in the past may hurt the person long term. The third promise is that I will not talk to others about this incident. Stop telling everybody and their sister about what this person did to you. You are damaging them in someone else's eyes and may need to seek forgiveness yourself. Th fourth promise is that I will not let this incident stand between us or hinder our personal relationship. Things need to go back to the way they would have been had this problem not intervened. It doesn't mean that you have to be best friends with someone if they were not close before the problem occurred. This is what God does with us and what He wants us to do with each other. None of these promises are easy. But our God is a powerful God who has promised to help us when we seek Him for help.

Lord's Prayer "forgive us our trespasses"

The word that Jesus uses here is also translated as debt. It is something that we are obligated to pay for because we transgressed. We are asking for forgiveness from the wrong that we have made. All sin even when it is against someone else is ultimately rebellion against God. When we pray through the Lord's prayer we first realign ourselves under His rule and will then we ask for removal of the debt that we owe our Lord. We owe God a debt that we cannot in a million years pay. In fact we have no way of repaying this debt at all. There is no currency with which to pay it back with. God knows this and sent His son to die on the cross and rise from the dead as payment for our sins. God has already forgiven your sins when you come to Him. He has already taken care of them but until you confess your sins and ask for forgiveness you cannot experience the freedom that He offers you. When I pray through this I ask God to remind me of the sins in my life that I may overlook as nothing. I ask for Him to bring my sins out into the light so that they are exposed where they can whither and die in the light. God will do this when you ask Him to expose your sin that you have been hiding or ignoring. Confess your sins to God, ask for forgiveness and ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate any areas that need work.

Lord's Prayer "give us this day our daily bread"

When I am praying through the Lord's prayer and I get to this part I begin to lift up my needs and wants for the day. This part of the prayer comes after we remember who God is, how great and powerful He is and how He want His kingdom to rule in our life and His will to be done. Now we get to lift up our needs to Him in light of all of this. We get to come before our Father, who has all the power that exists with our small needs and wants. I ask for my needs for the day to be met. My physical, emotional, mental & spiritual needs. That there would be enough money to pay for the needs and some of the wants as I hear His will for my stewardship of what He has given me already. This part of the prayer cannot be separated out from the rest. It is an integral part of seeking God. Jesus said to seek His kingdom and His righteousness first then all these things will be added unto you. In the Lord's Prayer He shows us how to go about seeking the things of God first in the order He places the phrases. We don't start with our needs but with who God is and God's desires for us then we can move to lifting up our needs from our viewpoint. As you pray through the Lord's Prayer, remember to look for the answers He gives and praise Him for it. This past week I was praising God that I have never been homeless or without food of some sort. The Father has seen me through this far and that gives me faith for future provision.

The Lord's Prayer "on earth as it is in heaven"

When we pray that God's kingdom and His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven there are a few things to think about. The first thing is how does His kingdom work in heaven? His rule is fully over the realm of heaven. His rule is realized by all who reside in heaven. We pray that this world would feel the greatness and majesty of His rule. We ask that He would institute His rule over all of us.
The second thing to contemplate is how does His will work in heaven. I would surmise that when His will is made known in heaven that there isn't any argument, any second guessing, any unwillingness to complete His will. In heaven, God's will is done without delay. So when we pray that His will would be done on earth, we are asking that His will would be accomplished without hesitation. That we would do His will immediately as it is made known to us.
Take some time to contemplate what God Kingdom and His will would look like if they ruled your life. What would you do different knowing that God wants you to do His will without argument or indecision?

The Lord's Prayer "your will be done"

I have been praying this prayer a lot recently. I have asked for God's will to be done. Sometimes it is easier said than done. It can be hard to determine God's will for my life and how I should go about fulfilling it. I believe that this prayer is part of figuring out what God wills. When we ask for His will to be done and during the day we have something happen that was unexpected, a phone call, an interruption that really messes up our day, how do we respond? We asked for God's will to be done and now something seems to be getting in the way of our plans. Maybe, just maybe it is God interrupting our plans so that His will could be done. We need to be aware that when we pray this prayer that God will bring about His will. We should look for it to happen instead of looking at our plans and wondering why they didn't happen. Expect God's will to become known to you throughout the day and get on board with His will. Pray that you will see interruptions and disruptions as divine appointments in your day that God planned for you to see His will completed. Be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit throughout the day.

The Lord's Prayer "your kingdom come"

What is God's kingdom and how should we understand it? When we think of a kingdom we tend to think about a geographical domain that in under control of a leader or country. Or a realm of control. The United States of America has clearly defined borders where you can look on a map and say there it is or isn't. This isn't how the kingdom is used in the New Testament. When Jesus and the apostles use the word kingdom they mean something else. The kingdom is the right to rule and not real estate. When Jesus prayed for God's Kingdom to come he was asking that God would exercise His authority, His right to rule based on His might, power and glory. When we pray this prayer we are asking God to bring abut His right to rule on this earth. We want God to display His kingly rule and power over all of creation. We are asking Him to destroy the kingdom of darkness. We seek that He would be ruler over all. One day He will rule over all the realms of this earth. We pray that His rule would expand until the day comes when He takes the entire realm. Is His rule expanding over your life? Pray that He would rule in all your affairs this week.

The Lord's Prayer "hallowed be thy name"

Jesus continued the Lord's prayer with "hallowed be thy name." This is not meant to be a statement of praise. It is a request in the original language saying: "Father... sanctify your name!" You could paraphrase it like this. Father, lift up, exalt, single out, manifest and reveal Your name to all who inhabit the earth. Become famous for who you really are. Make the people of the earth come to know and adore you.
Jesus was in effect asking, and telling us to ask, His Father to glorify His own name. We need to recapture this meaning of hallowed be thy name. We are asking God to make His name known and praised in all the earth. It is a reminder that God is the one who does the work in and through us as we follow Him to make His name known in all the earth. So go ahead and praise God, but also ask Him to make His name known so that the whole world would praise Him also.

The Lord's Prayer "Our Father"

When Jesus was asked to teach his disciples he started out by saying "Our father." This is significant because God was not seen as a father figure. God was an almighty, most powerful God who created everything and had a list of rules and regulations to follow. Jesus introduces us to God, the Father. He includes his disciples in this when he uses the word our. God is our Father. He isn't a remote God who you cannot approach except in dire circumstances or with specific rituals. He is a father who cares deeply for his children. A father who sees exactly what they need and gives it to them. A father who is perfect. More perfect than even the best of fathers. Many of us can't even grasp what kind of father God is because our own earthly fathers have not been good examples of God's love. Take some time in the next few days to ask God to show you how he cares for you as a child. Look at your own earthly father and be honest with yourself in where he failed you and don't expect God to fail you in the same way. God is the Father that all of us fathers should strive to be like but fail so short of time and time again. Ask God to open your eyes to His love for you. He is Our Father.

Vacation

I feel like it's been forever since I last posted and it has been. I have been on vacation. I realized when I thought about it that I haven't taken a vacation in just about 2 years. Not since the summer of 2008. That is a long time to not take a break from the normal every day stuff and spend time exploring new places and spending time that if focused on my family to the exclusion of most other things. We had a great time, met people all over the country, took part in a wonderful wedding and bonded with many great memories that we can pull out in years to come. We all need a break sometime from our crazy pace of life. We need to be reminded of the beauty of this place that God created for us. We need to know that the world is much bigger than the little part of it we see on a daily basis. We need to experience that our God is so much bigger than our problems. This vacation helped me gain some perspective on all of God's creation.

Romans 14:13

Paul says in Romans 14:13 "but rather determine this - not to put an obstacle of stumbling block in a brother's way." I keep coming back to the this verse and asking God if I am doing this in anyway. Am I by my actions or words putting something in front of other followers of Jesus Christ that would cause them to fall into sin? This is something we all need to be aware of in our daily life. Some people believe that certain kinds of music should not be allowed in church. I believe that God is ok with those same forms of music. If I were to go to their church and make them listen to it I would be putting up a stumbling block before them. Something to trip them up in their walk with God. I pray that God would reveal to me and to you if we are doing this and that we would be willing to stop so that our brother or sister in Christ is not led into sin.

Romans 12:1-2 continued

In verse 2 of chapter 12 of Romans we receive some commands from Paul. First he says that we are not to be conformed to this world. Conformed means to take on the same pattern. If you were to patch a piece of clothing you would want the pattern to match up so that the patch disappears. To use a patch that does not match the pattern would be for it stand out glaringly. We are not to blend in with the world. We should not be able to just fit into the patterns of this world. I am afraid that we do this to easily. But Paul doesn’t stop with just telling us what not to do. He tells us how to not be conformed.

Paul says for us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. We once were the same pattern as the world and maybe we haven’t changed much. We think the way everyone else does and we act out of that.  But we can be transformed into something else. The word here has a root that means to metamorphose which is involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure which is usually accompanied by a change of habit or behavior.  As our mind is renewed through spending time in prayer and searching out the word of God we are transformed. And it should result in a change of behavior. Our pattern, what we look like and where we fit in should change. If it hasn’t then you need to take some time to examine where you stand with God.

The reason you need to be transformed is so that you may prove what the will of God is. As your mind is renewed you are better able to determine God’s will in all areas of your life. The word prove means to test or examine. As decisions and choices come before you and you decide what to do and where to go you are able to determine what God wants to do in this situation and how God wants you to respond. And His will is good, it is acceptable or well-pleasing and it is perfect.  We stand on this, that God’s will for our lives is good. 

Do not be conformed to this world, but let your mind be transformed so that you can do the will of God.

 

 

 

Romans 12:1-2

I was reading Romans 12:1-2 one morning this week and I took some time to think about what it was really saying. I have probably read this passage at least 30 times before this time. Yet I never stopped to ponder what it meant. Sometimes I get so caught up in making sure I read a passage that I never stop to find out what it means for me.

A couple of things jumped out at me. It says for us to present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice that is acceptable to God. It sounds like a good idea but what does it mean? Obviously we can’t present our bodies as a traditional sacrifice since we still need to live afterwards. Once a sacrifice is offered to God it is no longer in your control or under your authority. When we present our bodies as living sacrifices we are giving authority over our flesh to God on whose altar we have placed ourselves. A sacrifice once offered cannot be used again for other purposes. Only for the purposes of God. Our bodies, our flesh are offered up to God and should not be joined into sin anymore. We are saying in effect we are dead to sin and all else except God’s will for our lives. This is how we worship God. We submit not just our spirits or mind to Him but also our very flesh to His will.

Next time I will go into what verse 2 spoke to me.

 

 

Sometimes the Bible is confusing

Take Proverbs 26:4-5 ⁴ Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself. ⁵ Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes. (NIV) At first read these two verses seem to contradict each other. In verse 4 is says to not answer a fool according to his folly and in verse 5 it says to answer a fool according to his folly. What do you do when you come across something like this? Well, there are several things that you can do. The first thing I would recommend is to pray about it. God has given us the gift of His Holy Spirit living in our hearts. God can and will illuminate the meaning of a passage as we ask Him to do so.

The second thing I would suggest is to read the passage through in a few other versions. www.biblegateway.com allows you to look at many of the versions out there for free. It we applied this to the above passage we see this from the NASB translation.  “⁴Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will also be like him. ⁵ Answer a fool as his folly deserves, that he not be wise in his own eyes.” In this translation verse 5 becomes much clearer. It doesn’t contradict the earlier verse. In fact it tells us to answer a fool as his folly deserves. Don’t answer according to his folly but give him what he deserves which may not be the answer he was looking for at all, but with the goal of making sure he realizes his own foolishness.

Another thing you can do when you have trouble understanding a verse or passage is to do some research. There are many sites on the internet that allow you to look at commentaries that examine the meaning of the passage. Places like net.bible.org or www.biblegateway.com . You can also do an internet search on the passage. I would put a caution here when searching. Not all of the pages you come across will be helpful or correct. You should always go back to a trusted source. One program I use often is called Bible Explorer 4. It allows you to download many commentaries and other study helps to your computer.

The last suggestion I have is to ask others. There are many people in our church who have vast amounts of knowledge of the Bible from years of study. Use them as a resource. Ask your house church leader or pastor. Seek out the answer. Don’t let the hard questions or things you don’t understand stop you from learning more about God. Seek out answers to your questions so that you can better understand God’s grace to you.

Sin's reign is over

Romans 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

We face many choices each day whether to let sin reign in us and be our master or to present ourselves to God. Each word spoken, each action taken falls into one of these two categories. Either we serve God or we serve sin. There is no in between. There is no grey area. We are to consider ourselves dead to sin. If we are dead to sin then it cannot reign over us and we are no longer subject to it. We don't have to sin anymore. Let me repeat that, you don't have to sin anymore. When we do sin we are choosing to do it whether we admit it or not. If we live like we are truly dead to sin we can then use our members, our bodies, as instruments of righteousness to God. Count yourself dead to sin today and live the life that God has called you to live.

Dead to sin but alive to God

What does is mean for you in Romans 6:11 when Paul says “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. “ When we are baptized we are symbolically dying to sin and raising to new life as Christ did before us. Now, Jesus is living a life unto God. The old way is dead and gone and the new way of living is in its place. Count yourself dead to sin. Sin has a hold on you as long as you are alive. But when you become a follower of Jesus Christ something happens. You are now identified with the death of Christ and also with the new life that Christ brings. You are now dead to sin. Sin does not have a hold of your life. You are dead to it. When it comes to knock at your door you can say, “Who? That person died.” It is like a bill collector who keeps calling and you know they have the wrong house but sometimes you answer and get all caught up. You are dead to sin. I am dead to sin. But do I live like it? And further more do I live my life to God in Christ Jesus? Are all my post death actions ones that are for God and not myself or sin? Sadly, I fall short in this area also. This is part of getting our thinking right about God. We are dead to sin and alive to God. Before we were dead to God and alive to sin. The tables have been reversed. Things don’t have to be the way there always were and in fact aren’t the way they always were. We need to adjust our thinking to the new reality we have in Christ that we are DEAD to sin and ALIVE to God in Christ Jesus. Live like you know this truth today!