The Most Important Thing

If people want to please God, they must understand what is important to Him. The root of it all can be found in Hebrews: “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.” That is a simple statement with profound implications. The most basic question is faith in what. Again, the Hebrew writer explains: “The one who approaches God must believe that he exists and is a rewarder of those who seek him.” No surprise there. Jesus said those who seek will find. James said those who seek wisdom need only to ask. The Bible is the source of wisdom. Ignorance of what is important to God can only be the result of failure to seek to know.

It is depressing to read the current statistics regarding Bible reading among people who profess to be Christians. Although the Christian pollster George Barna has found a resurgence in weekly Bible reading, the American Bible Society reports that less than ten percent of people they polled read the Bible daily. I would hazard a guess that the weekly readers are largely Sunday readers, and I wager they read while in church. As if the poor reading numbers weren’t bad enough, Barna found that only one in three Bible readers affirm the Bible’s teachings as authoritative. Ouch!

A Pew Research study found that 54% of Americans say they believe in the God of the Bible. That is curious since Barna reveals that so few of them read their Bibles regularly. How can they believe in a God they hardly know? It is no wonder that our society is so rapidly abandoning the founding principles that have made America what she is. Our founding documents assert that proper government must be centered on “natural law,” which to them meant things that were ordained by their Creator. The founders believed that our rights are “unalienable” precisely because they are mandated by God not man.

It is easy to understand why our increasingly secular society is willing to leave behind godly principles. What is most disturbing is how many self-described Christians behave similarly. I believe the pollsters have uncovered the reason for that: even people who read the Bible are not concerned with aligning their behavior with the requirements God ordained in the Scripture. Why would they when even their preachers discount the Bible’s authority? In “Wise up, America,” I paraphrased Jeremiah: “I am against the [preachers], declares the Lord…. They are leading you into futility; They speak a vision of their own imagination not from the mouth of the Lord.”

The practices and principles America has begun to abandon form a list of the things God considers to be important. Allegiance to God is important; family is important; marriage (one man, one woman) is important; sexual purity is important; civil order is important; obedience is important. The Ten Commandments sum up what God requires: the first four describe a proper relationship with God; the last six the relationship between people. Jesus summed them even further when He said, “Love God; love your neighbor.” He said the entire Old Testament law rested on those two ideas, as do the original documents that defended America’s founding. That also explains why so many American institutions once proudly posted the Ten Commandments for all to read.

The Ten Commandments were explicit. But there is more to what God considers important if you read through the Bible carefully, with an eye for the subtleties. In chapters two and three of Genesis, you can see the importance of marriage, family, and obedience. Had Adam and Eve not strayed, they would have grown from one couple to a family that ruled the earth under God’s hand. In Genesis 9, the record of the flood, and again in chapters 18-19, with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, we see how important sexual purity was. Throughout the books of Israel’s history, we see God demanding civil order and obedience to His commands.

If you read between the lines, you can see how important children are to God. Read about Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel, Manoah and Samson, Hannah and Samuel, Elizabeth and Zechariah, and of course, Mary and Jesus. In each case, God miraculously provided a child who was destined to accomplish His purposes. Even David’s adulterous relationship with Bathsheba brought forth a child who would become one of God’s chosen kings of Israel. Neither David nor Solomon were perfect – far from it. Yet God used them to accomplish His plan.

This may be a stretch, but I can see the importance of civil order in God’s promise to David that one of his descendants would sit on the throne of His kingdom forever. King Jesus, born in the line of David, now rules God’s kingdom on earth. Christ’s body, the church, when it is faithful, spreads Christ’s kingly rule, transferring people from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Christians like our founding fathers tried to apply God’s principles of civil order through a constitutional government. I would like to think that America’s prosperity through 250 years is evidence of God’s blessing for their efforts.

It is not hard to figure out what is important to God. We may occasionally hear the still, small voice or the whisper beneath the whirlwind. We can certainly sense the prompting of the Holy Spirit if we pay attention to His voice. Without doubt, conscientious, regular reading of the Word of God aided by the Spirit of promise will make God known to us. Jesus revealed what is most important when He prayed to His Father: “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” The only question is whether it is important to you to learn what is important to God.

Related Posts: Through the Bible in Seven Minutes; Lessons From History

What’s the Power For?

Years ago, when I was first introduced to the idea that our prayers were meant to exert power over circumstances, someone cautioned that we weren’t to use the power indiscriminately. The example he gave was that we should refrain from using it to blow out the tires of the car that just rudely cut us off in traffic. Hah! I should hope not. Yet, some of the prayer requests I remember from that time are equally frivolous. I remember someone praying that her kitchen blender would be miraculously repaired so she wouldn’t have to buy a new one. Another reported laying hands on his car when it refused to start. I don’ t recall if that prayer worked or not.

Let me be clear: I do believe that God is intimately involved in our day-to-day lives. I also believe that He is able to accomplish miraculous things with inanimate objects. Jesus turned water to wine; he stopped the wind and calmed the raging seas. However, when Paul said that the same power that rose Jesus from the grave gives life to our mortal flesh, I think he had something more significant than blenders or automobiles in mind. The word Paul uses to ascribe life to our flesh is zoe (ζωή); its New Testament use is almost always with reference to the life that comes from God: spiritual life. Paul told the Ephesians when they were, “Dead in trespasses, [God] made [them] alive together with Christ.” Same word: zoe.

Jesus said that He had come to provide abundant life to His followers. It’s that word again. There are those who would twist His words to mean Jesus promised an abundance of material possessions. If that were the case, Jesus would not have used zoe. When a man asked Jesus to intervene to provide his material wealth, Jesus remarked, “Not even when someone has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” Zoe is not about physical life. Nor is the power we are given through Christ about physical reality, though there may be instances of crossover because spiritual life is of a higher order than physical life.

So, what is the power for? The old hymn “Power in the Blood” spells it out nicely. The wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb, according to the hymnist, is so we, “would be free from the burden of sin,” and “Over evil the victory win.” Those two verses summarize what the Christian life is all about. Christ’s atoning death on the Cross of Calvary removed our guilt, the burden of sin. We are freed from the penalty of sin because Jesus paid the price for us. That same sacrifice also allows us to triumph over evil. “God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.” “Greater is He that is in you.” “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” That reminds me of another great hymn: “Victory in Jesus.”

Another aspect of our victory over evil is the call to spread the good news of our victory to all the lost souls around us. “Send the light, the blessed gospel light; let it shine from shore to shore.” There was a good measure of sound biblical teaching in those old hymns! They also taught us that our condition would not always be restful. “Onward Christian Soldiers Marching as to War.” The enemy of our souls will do whatever he can to thwart our efforts to announce his defeat at the Cross. We are not at a picnic; we are at war. The power Jesus grants will come in handy when we face the enemy.

There is a more subtle aspect to the power we have through Jesus: our forgiveness rests on His work on our behalf. Although we have the power to overcome temptation, the Bible clearly teaches that we will still sin occasionally. It has always confused me that while Calvary provides forgiveness of all our sin, we are still told to ask for forgiveness. John MacArthur explains that there are two types of forgiveness: judicial and parental. God the judge grants us judicial forgiveness on the basis of our union with Christ. God the Father requires us to ask for forgiveness to restore the parent/child fellowship that is hindered by our sin.

We can see this played out in our human relationships. When my son sins against me, by disobedience for example, he does not cease to be my son. However, our relationship is damaged. By asking my forgiveness, our healthy parent/child bond is restored. If I sin against my wife by failing to honor her as I should, she does not stop being my wife, but I can say from personal experience, she will not be happy with me unless I ask for her forgiveness. The power to forgive is an important part of the image of God’s grace that followers of Christ are called to.

If you are having trouble seeing forgiveness as an aspect of the power we have in Christ, look at what Paul said to the Galatians. He said that the spirit and our flesh are at odds with one another. After contrasting the works of the flesh with the fruit of the spirit, he says, “Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh together with its feelings and its desires.” Our union with Christ in His death, symbolized in our baptism, gives us the power to “follow the Spirit” as Paul advises.

When you sing the contemporary chorus that says, “The same power that rose Jesus from the grave lives in us,” it refers to spiritual power. Far from being less welcome than physical power, it represents the ultimate power in the universe: God’s power. I said before that spiritual power is of a higher order than physical power. That is because our physical universe is a subset of the spiritual “universe.” God stepped down from Heaven to create the world as we know it. Another old song says, “He’s got the whole world in His hands.” As such, He has the ultimate power to accomplish His will here on earth as the Lord’s Prayer seeks.

When Paul wrote repeatedly that we are to live, walk, follow the Spirit, he was inviting us to make use of the power that God provides. Rather than trying to blow out the tires of the guy who crosses you, use your power to calm your own heart and offer forgiveness to the guy who offended you. That’s what the power is for: making us more like Christ.

Related Posts: Powerful Meekness

Don’t Be a Poser

Some people are going to stand before Jesus on judgment day and insist that they did what He had asked them to do. To some He will say, “Depart from me; I never knew you.” It is not enough to say you know Christ; you must be known by Christ. “I know my sheep,” Jesus said, “and my sheep hear my voice.” The critical part of that is the voice. Jesus speaks to His sheep through His Word. The reason there will be surprised “followers” on judgment day is because many make little or no effort to read and know His Word – to hear His voice. Either through ignorance or malice, they pose as Christians but fall short of the real thing.

People who pose as Christians are not harmless. I think there are two classes of Christian posers. In one case, you have people who are doing what they have been told by other people. The problem is that they have not been told the truth. (See “Lies We Have Been Told”) For example, some people think  regular church attendance is not necessary for believers. If they mean that going to church won’t save anyone, they are correct. However, the Bible does command that we “not abandon our meeting together.” More than this, there are scores of biblical commands to do things for one another that, practically speaking, will only happen regularly in a gathering of believers.

As another example of believing what you have been told, many Christians think that the ground of their salvation is their good deeds. “I’m a good person; God will surely allow me into Heaven when I die,” according to many people. If you hear something often enough, you tend to believe it must be true. This is clearly not Bible truth. “There is none righteous, not one.” “No one good but the Father alone.” “Their deeds are like filthy rags.” That’s what the Bible says. It is also plainly stated that the only way to gain Heaven is to be found in Christ. Salvation is not about what you do but who you know. Naturally, if one truly knows Christ, good works will result, but they are a result of salvation not the cause.

These two examples show how ignorance might cause a person to think they are in Christ, but they may hear Him say otherwise at judgment. The second class of posers is more sinister: they pose as Christians knowing that their position is not biblical. Worse than that, they often deny the Bible’s authority. It baffles me why people would call themselves Christian while denying the only thing that defines Christianity. Ever since the beginning of time, Satan has been trying to get people to worship anyone or thing except the God of the Bible. The biblical record of Israel repeatedly describes the nation’s penchant for idolatry. They couldn’t seem to resist following the gods of the nations surrounding them.

At one point in Judah’s last years before captivity, they were claiming the protection of the Temple of the Lord while blatantly worshipping Queen of Heaven. Through the prophet Jeremiah, they were told that God saw them as the posers they were. He orchestrated their deportation to Babylon as promised. He explained through Isaiah that they had profaned the name of Yahweh by claiming His name while worshipping idols. There are posers today doing similar things. They explain away the miracles recorded in Scripture. They rewrite God’s prohibitions against sexual sins. They deny the historical truth of Jesus’ earthly mission. They erase God’s impending judgment of unrighteousness by preaching only His love. They preach worldly prosperity as the highest good.

These are the idol worshippers of today. They don’t have golden calves or Asherah poles in their homes. However, they worship at the altar of science that denies miraculous intervention. They worship human lust and encourage violation of God’s sacred design for sexuality. They bow to the intellectuals who don’t believe the Scripture is the inspired Word of God. They cater to the god of ease by denying the consequences of unrighteous behavior. They openly worship mammon – material prosperity – in spite of Jesus’ condemnation of it.

I should probably admit that God has been known to use posers for His purposes. Samson had all the marks of God on his life. He was born of a formerly barren mother. He was dedicated from the womb as a special class of person: a Nazarite. He was granted incredible strength which he used to hold back the Philistines in their subjugation of God’s people. However, as the record shows, he was selfish and irreverent in the use of his special gift. God accomplished His purpose through Samson, but he is definitely not a model to be imitated.

We could mention how Abraham posed as Sarah’s brother to protect her from Pharoah. Then there’s the deceitfulness that characterized Jacob’s life: stealing his brother’s inheritance rights and the blessing of their father; the subterfuge he used with Laban to obtain his large flocks. Many of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day were major posers; the Messiah called them what they were: hypocrites. But God used even them to set the stage for what was inevitably to come. Even Judas posed as a true disciple, yet his treachery was used by God to bring the Lamb of God to the sacrificial altar on Calvary.

I find comfort in knowing that in His sovereignty, God can accomplish His will with anyone He chooses. Doubtless, the people Jesus would not claim as His own in spite of their profession also accomplished some good in the world. But as we know, being good is not what earns God’s favor; it’s being known – belonging to Christ. That is why Paul said to the Corinthians, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize regarding yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you are unqualified?” On the day of judgment, I want to be qualified to hear, “Well done good and faithful servant,” and not “Depart from me [you poser]; I never knew you.” You too?

Can You Trust Your Bible?

I have been having an online discussion with a former friend who was educated in a fundamental Bible college and served as a youth pastor for several years. Sadly, he has fallen under the spell of modern intellectuals who have convinced him that the Bible texts we have today cannot be trusted to deliver the truth of the original authors. Their argument is that after centuries of copying and recopying the text, and with the influence of human thinkers down through the years, the Bibles we read today bear no resemblance to the original text. They are not truly God’s Word.

When we began our interchange, I quoted 2 Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.” I argued that if God was invested in the original writing through His Holy Spirit, it was only reasonable to assume that He would continue to superintend the transmission through the years. His response was (I paraphrase) that evil men developed the concept of inspiration to prompt obedience to their version of the truth. Naturally, since I was arguing from the Scripture as we have it today, he rejected the idea completely. He doesn’t believe our Bibles are reliable, so using them to prove a point is pointless.

I also used a defense of the Bible that is common today; we have thousands of very ancient manuscript fragments that in total represent every New Testament book. The sheer volume of manuscript evidence leads honest Bible scholars to the conclusion that while we don’t believe we have any copies of the originals, the fragments we do have push their reliability to a very high degree of confidence. We also have the written records of men we call the Apostolic Fathers, many of whom were acquainted with men who either came from the same generation as the Apostles, or they knew someone of that age. The Apostolic Fathers quote from most New Testament books, and their writings agree conceptually with the ancient fragments of Scripture we do have.

Even that defense of the Scripture failed to sway my friend; he believes the modern apologists who say the Gospels were written many decades after the events they record and therefore have no basis for belief. In his opinion, the authors could not have been eyewitnesses as they claim to be. The fact is that a contemporary of the Apostle John, Polycarp of Smyrna, (writing around 110-140 AD) is known for quoting or alluding to about 20 out of the 27 New Testament books. The textual arguments in favor of the reliability of our New Testament are decisive. Other ancient texts lack this volume of documents, yet scholars accept their writings without question.

I can see only one reason for choosing the modern dismissive view of the text of Scripture over the testimony of numerous ancient writings which give credence to its validity. God’s arch enemy has been using intellectual arguments ever since God first created Adam and Eve. The Serpent basically said to Eve, “Use your intellect woman; did God really say that?” Instead of looking to her heart and choosing to believe God, she fell for Satan’s intellectual ploy. She reverted to her soulish, fleshly appetite and disobeyed. Sadly, Adam joined her in her deception. Because of their disobedience, their spiritual connection with their Creator was severed, and they were left with nothing but worldly, soulish wisdom which James identifies as demonic.

You will note that the Bible record, which I choose to believe, paints a sad picture of the results of following worldly wisdom. First, things got so bad that God had to destroy virtually the entire human race and start over with Noah and his family. Soon after, the people became so proud of their worldly accomplishments that God had to confuse their language and leave them to their own devices as scattered nations. God chose one man, Abram, to become the father of a chosen nation which was supposed to become the people of God. They repeatedly chose to ignore the wisdom of their Creator and “did what was right in their own eyes.” The results were disastrous.

Paul tells us that God’s chosen people were never simply physical descendants of Abraham. The faith of Abraham, his choice to believe God, is what prompted God to call him righteous. Paul continues to identify faith – belief in God – as the sine qua non of God’s people. Without faith, the Hebrew writer says, it is impossible to please God. What my former friend has done is to disbelieve God by dismissing the Bible as authoritative in its present translations. He is saying no to God and yes to his intellectual friends.

I should clarify something at this point. It is not my opinion that the modern translations of the Bible are identical to the original manuscripts. All you have to do is read one passage in several different versions, and you will notice that many words are translated differently from version to version. This is inevitable when going from the original language (Hebrew or Greek) into the target language. Often, there is no exact English word for the original word. Translators use a word that they believe best represents the meaning of the original. Even though the different words are usually synonymous, the connotations of each word may differ. For example, “work” and “labor” are virtually synonymous. However, their meaning varies slightly depending on the context they are used to describe.

Versions also differ due to the underlying purpose of the translators. A direct word-for-word translation will sometimes sound quite different from a thought-for-thought version. When translators move away from direct literal translation, the occasion for commentary increases. (For a more detailed discussion of Bible versions, see “The Best Version of the Bible.”) It is also likely that the personal views of the translator will come into play, especially when deciding whether a passage is meant to be taken literally, or if it is figurative in some sense. I have covered this aspect of translation in several previous articles. (See Related Posts)

My deluded friend accused me of gatekeeping; he believes that we who trust that the Bibles we have today are sufficiently accurate to demand belief are closing our gates to people of different opinions. I suppose he is correct in a way. The Bible recommends discernment; it says we should have nothing to do with those who deny its truth. The Bible cautions us to beware of those who will believe anything that fills their itching ears. Paul warns Timothy that people will come to the church bringing teachings of demons. It’s hard to imagine anything more demonic that undercutting a person’s belief in the trustworthiness of Scripture. When I shared that idea with my fallen friend, he accused me of being the one who is misleading people.

I am sorry that my friend has lost his faith in the inspiration and accuracy of the Word of God as it is recorded in our modern Bibles. I still believe that with discernment and careful study, a modern version of the Bible can lead a person to saving faith and the truth about who God is and what He requires. As I wrote previously, “The Bible is a supernatural book. Reading the Bible without seeking the Holy Spirit’s help is a waste of precious time. Not reading the Bible at all is a waste of life.” The reason I can say this with confidence is that I believe the same Holy Spirit who inspired the original authors can use the words of today’s Bibles to convey God’ truth. Jesus did say the Holy Spirit will be our guide to the truth. That is a faith statement I am willing to die for. I will have to wait for the resurrection to know how my friend fares with his opinion.

Related Posts: Take the Bible Literally; The Vulture Has Landed

Thy Kingdom Come

The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven is not well understood by most Christians. There are two primary reasons for that in my opinion. First, many misunderstand what the word used in the New Testament for kingdom (βασιλεία) means. It is not a physical thing with borders, hills, plains, rivers, cities, etc. The best translation of βασιλεία would be rulership or dominion. This is why Jesus could tell Pilate that while He is a king, His kingdom is not of this world. His kingdom consists of all those who choose to come under His dominion – His kingship.

The second misunderstanding that many people have is that we are waiting for Jesus’ second coming for Him to establish His kingdom. If you read Jesus’ words carefully, you will discover that He spoke of His kingdom as if it already existed. “The kingdom is within you,” He said, using the present tense. He could say that because even while He walked the earth, people were putting their faith in Him as their king; they were subjecting themselves to His rulership. True, His main purpose was to announce the coming of the kingdom, but those who chose to follow Him then were “charter members” of the coming kingdom.

The formal commencement of the Kingdom of God took place through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When Jesus spoke the words, “It is finished” on the cross of Calvary, they were loaded with centuries of meaning. The beginning of what He “finished” was in the Garden of Eden when Adam chose to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit. Adam’s disobedience brought death to the entire human race. Paul put it like this: “Just as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned.” Everyone born of Adam (that’s all of us) is born under the curse of death. This is why Paul often refers to people as dead before they come to Christ. Death reigned from Adam until Christ.

God did not abandon His children after Adam brought death into the world. He immediately announced a plan to redeem them from the curse through the “Seed of woman.” In the fullness of time, Paul tells us, God sent His Son, born of a virgin (to escape Adam’s curse) to redeem those who were under the curse. The result of that curse was a death sentence, and Jesus nailed it to His cross, removing it from our record. He disarmed those who had ruled us, namely death and the devil, and triumphed over them. He led captivity captive, Paul told the Ephesians, and gave gifts to men. Foremost among those gifts is the grace-gift of salvation: the removal of the curse.

Ever since that day, there have been two kingdoms coexisting on earth: the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of the light. They coexist, but they are not coequal in power. The king of darkness, Satan, has no power over those who are subjects of King Jesus. Greater is He who is in us… resist the devil and he must flee… the strongman is bound in order to wrest the power to rule on earth from Him. Believers in Christ walk the earth as ambassadors from another realm – a spiritual realm – another kingdom. Unbelievers still walk the earth too, bound to their king, Satan, the god of this age. They are still under the curse of death.

This is why Paul calls us ambassadors from another kingdom. We must tell those still bound by death that God has provided deliverance from death and reconciled them to Himself through Christ. All they have to do is renounce their allegiance to the kingdom of death and step into the kingdom of life. Those of us in the Kingdom of God have no fear of death because when we pass from this earth, we move immediately into the presence of God. “Absent from the body is present with the Lord.” “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” These promises and more tell me that death is not an end; it is a blessed new beginning.

There is still the issue of those alive at the second coming who have not trusted Christ and remain under the curse of death. Jesus may have been referring to them when He said, “At the end of the age, the Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all the causes of sin and those who do lawless deeds and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” This may coincide with the judgment scene in Revelation 20. Like most of the events pictured in Revelation, the timing is open for debate, but I see this as a real possibility.

There is another curious feature of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said that the Father gave Him the people the Father chose. He said that no one could come to Him unless the Father drew them. Paul says that when Christ has abolished the enemy’s power and conquered the last enemy, death, He [Jesus] will hand the kingdom over to the Father. He will give back to the Father the people the Father gave to Him.

This adds a dimension to the Father/Son relationship that I had not seen before. Jesus became the first fruits of a new race of people: kingdom people. He is the eldest of many brothers (and sisters.) I believe that ever since Jesus’ resurrection from the grave, He has remained in His exalted, divine/human state, dwelling in His spiritual body while seated at God’s right hand. At the end of this age, the church age, He will give the fruit of His labor (and sacrifice) to His Father, just like the High Priest He is. Amazing!

John says that upon our resurrection, we will be like Jesus because we will see Him as He is. I think this means we will be walking the New Earth with the same Jesus who walked the dusty roads of Palestine centuries ago although we will all have new spiritual bodies. A perfect world filled with perfected people ruled by a perfect Brother/King in the Kingdom without end. May the Kingdom come indeed!

P.S.

My belief – shared by some, not by all – is that when we “die,” we pass out of time. Time is an integral part of God’s creation of this universe. When we leave this reality, we step into a different reality where time has a completely different meaning. I believe that when I die, I will step into eternity with everyone who has died before me and all those who may die after me all at once. We will all enter God’s presence at the same “time.” At that “moment,” Jesus will turn with all believers who died toward those who remain on the earth, and with a shout and the sound of a trumpet, those who remain on earth will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and the redeemed who are alive at His coming will meet Jesus “in the air.” And thus, we shall ever be with the Lord.

Pray Like You Mean It

In my last post, I suggested a way to add richness to your prayer life. In this post, I want to share what I do to give as much meaning as possible to my prayers. I am not saying this is the best way for everyone, but it is one way to build a habit of prayer. Jesus told His disciples that they should always pray; Paul told his readers to pray constantly. I don’t think they meant that we should be saying prayers every waking hour but that an attitude of prayer should undergird all our activities. Whatever happens in our daily lives, we must be aware that God is in it, and we should respond accordingly.

Along with an attitude of constant prayer, I believe Christians should have set times of prayer every day if possible. For the person who claims to have no time for prayer, I must ask if their relationship with God is genuine. Can anyone honestly say they love another deeply but refuse to communicate with them when the means are readily available? If the daily schedule truly is full, I suggest setting the alarm a little earlier; God will reward the effort far beyond the loss of a few minutes of sleep.

I will admit that being retired allows me the privilege of spending considerably more time in prayer than I could while working. However, anyone who really wants to can carve out a bit of time to attempt something like I am going to suggest. I am going to draw from my book, A Life of Prayer, for these suggestions. I adapted them from the well-known acronym ACTS for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. I added an “I” for intercession. I follow the ACTSI pattern every day with the people and circumstances currently on my heart.

“A” is for adoration. I have expanded this to include several more “A” words. I begin my prayer time expressing my adoration for God because of all He has done for me. I acclaim Him as my Lord. I admire Him for His excellence. I often use Scripture passages such as 1 Chronicles 29:11-14 or Revelation 5:12-13 or others to recite the glory due to God. I then turn inward to accept God’s grace and mercy I so badly need; I affirm His authority over my life and my family; I align myself with His will for my life. I often pray Scripture that supports each of those actions. That’s a bunch of “A” words to ground my prayers in God’s Word and His will for me.

The “C” in ACTS is for confession. I begin by agreeing with Scripture that I am not worthy to receive all the wonderful things God has granted me. I confess that without the robe of Jesus’ righteousness upon me, I am a needy, fallen creature. I try to recall any faulty actions or inactions that occur to me and ask for forgiveness. I confess that without the Spirit’s help, I am powerless to live as I am supposed to as Christ’s brother. This is the essence of confession: we tell God what He already knows about us. This act has a cleansing effect for me.

What follows naturally from confession is the “T” for thanksgiving. I thank Jesus that He bore my sin – paid the penalty that I owed. I thank the Lord for His time on earth demonstrating how I am supposed to live. I thank the Father for being willing to send His Son. I thank God for giving us the Word so we can get to know Him and learn what He expects of us. I thank God for the innumerable blessings He has bestowed throughout my life: my wife, my children and grandchildren, our financial security, our health (relative though it may be), my opportunities to serve Him, the air I breathe, the beauty of the earth, and even the trials He sends because I know they are designed to help me grow up into Christ.

The “S” in ACTS is for supplication. As you might imagine, by this point in my morning prayers I have already spent a bit of time. I believe this is important because I need to have the right attitude before I ask God for anything. The “A” and the “C” and the “T” should have put me in my place relative to my Heavenly Father: His humble servant expecting nothing but reveling in His incredible grace. I try to follow the advice of Graham Cooke who said we should seek God’s will concerning our requests before we begin to pray for them.

This practice should be used before praying for someone’s healing, I ask God several questions before I begin to pray for healing. Is He calling the person home to be with Him; healing would postpone that wonderful reality. Has He allowed the sickness to bring about growth in the person or someone around him. If you are praying for a person’s deliverance from another type of trial, the same approach would be appropriate. If you are asking for a material blessing – a car, a new home, or anything physical – you should wait to hear from God whether it is something He wishes you to have. If you truly believe prayer is a dialogue, you can wait for God’s response before you pray for anything specific.

While you are waiting for clarity about a request, you can still pray “generic” prayers such as God’s blessing or the person’s openness to whatever God is doing or for peace within the circle of the person’s family and friends. It is possible to pray that God’s will be done even when we don’t know what it is. That is how we align ourselves with whatever God wants to do in the situation. This underscores the need to be listening as well as speaking during our prayer time.

 I once had a dear friend who had terminal cancer. Our whole church prayed fervently that God would miraculously heal him. He did not. In the midst of those prayers though, we saw our friend’s witness grow immeasurably as he testified to God’s grace in his life, and we turned our prayers into thanksgiving. That man undoubtedly affected more people in his last couple years than in all the time before that. We still miss him, but we marvel at the living lesson of God’s grace that he showed everyone he came in contact with because of the cancer he ultimately succumbed to.

I have added an “I” to ACTS to emphasize the intercessory nature of many prayers. It is a form of supplication, but it involves asking on behalf of someone else. When someone else is undergoing a serious trial, I can intercede on their behalf by asking God to strengthen them. When someone is seeking God’s will about a life circumstance, I can ask God to make His plan known. When someone is undertaking a vital ministry task, I can pray for God’s special anointing on their work. As my prayer life has grown over the years, I find myself asking less for myself while increasingly interceding for others. There is nothing wrong with asking God for personal blessings. However, as the Spirit grows agape-love in your heart, you will find you are more concerned with the welfare of others than of your own.

There is another type of intercession that my sister introduced me to years ago. I think it perfectly fulfills the command to pray continually. My sister told me she prayed what she called prayer bombs. For example, when she hears a siren, she immediately prays that the blood of Jesus would cover the situation whatever it may be. When she sees people arguing or being difficult in public, she prays God’s peace upon them. I took the idea to heart, and as one example, every time I drove past an abortion clinic on my way to school, I prayed that the women inside would change their mind and keep their baby. I admit I also prayed that the whole place would go out of business. (No, I did not pray for a real bomber to make that happen.)

There is one other type of prayer that I occasionally use: warfare prayer. The Apostle Paul often uses warfare imagery to describe our lives as believers. One of the clearest examples is in Ephesians: “Put on the full armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil, because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” We are in a cosmic battle against God’s arch enemy. There are times when rather than praying for something, I feel led to pray against something. Sometimes I must pray against the enemy’s efforts in my own life. Other times, often lately, I feel compelled to pray against the powers of darkness at work in our society either specifically or generally. These prayers are a necessary part of our work on behalf of the Kingdom of God.

That is how I make prayer meaningful in my life. I have a prayer prompter in my computer version of the Faithlife/Logos Bible study program that presents my list of prayer concerns daily, weekly, or on a custom schedule. I pray for each of them as they come up and add whatever else God lays on my heart. I am not suggesting you copy my practice exactly. However, I can testify that being intentional in my prayers and being disciplined to do something every day has been a blessing to me, and I trust that many others have also been blessed because I prayed. Whether you have only a few minutes each day or you have hours to give to prayer, doing so will make your life better, and the kingdom of God will advance if you pray like you mean it.

Related Posts: A Prayer Primer; In Jesus’ Name; Moving Mountains

Tri-Power God

I recently wrote an article mentioning that some people don’t believe in the three-fold nature of God. They correctly point out that the word “trinity” is not in the Bible. What they seem to ignore is the repeated mention either by name or by appearance of three entities represented also God. I asked in that article if refusing to believe in the trinity was sufficient cause to exclude one from God’s saving grace. I’m not sure, but I do know that there are some basic facts that must be accepted for salvation. (See How Wrong Can You Be )

I also know that denying what the Bible clearly describes as the three-fold nature of God hinders one’s ability to experience the fullness of the godhead. Understanding that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit provides three distinct avenues of access to the one God. We see glimpses of multiple approaches in the Old Testament. The Yahweh God of Israel declared Himself to be one; at the same time, He gave or withheld His Spirit at various times. There are also mentions of the Angel of the Yahweh which in context can be seen to be God Himself. The Psalms and the prophets often speak of the coming of a Servant or a Son who would have the attributes of God as well.

In the New Testament, the distinctiveness of each presentation of God becomes more easily understood. For example, Jesus, the self-declared Son of God, prayed often to His Father. He directed His disciples to ask nothing more of Him after He left, but they were to ask the Father in His name. James encourages asking for wisdom from God and a few verses later identifies “the Father of lights” as the one who gives “every good and every perfect gift.” In his epistles, Paul uses the phrase “God and Father” a dozen times; James, Peter, and John use the same phrase once each. If you search for “God and Father” in the New Testament, you will find numerous ways to bless and be blessed by your heavenly Father.

None of that is to say that you cannot pray to Jesus. When you remember all that He did as the Incarnate Son of God, you will find many things to say to Him. First and foremost is naturally to thank Him for His unbelievable willingness to go to the Cross to bear your sins. The shame and pain He endured was for the joy set before Him; that joy was knowing that the curse of Adam’s sin had been removed – the curse that you bore as Adam’s descendant. As if that isn’t enough, think of all the things He demonstrated by living a human life perfectly pleasing to God. As Paul says, we have a model to imitate to please God as Jesus did. Finally, you cannot forget the teachings recorded in God’s Word, without which we would have little guidance on the path of righteousness. Those things and more should lead you to speak to Jesus Himself with awe and thankfulness.

What I am about to suggest may sound foreign to some, but I believe it is part of experiencing the fullness of God: we should also pray to the Holy Spirit. First, He is a being with personhood – a person with mind, emotions, and a will. Most anti-trinitarians deny this aspect of the Holy Spirit; they consider the Spirit to be an “it,” a power or force. I will grant them that in the Greek of the New Testament the pronoun used for “Spirit” is neuter in gender. However, a deeper knowledge of the language reveals that pronouns must agree in gender and number with their antecedent. Because “spirit” is neuter, the pronoun referring to spirit must also be neuter.

But gender is only a linguistic matter; it has nothing to do with the reality the word represents. The truth is that the Holy Spirit is neither masculine nor feminine. Shockingly, neither is God the Father. We attach masculine attributes to “Father” because in our human mind, a father must be male. In truth, that is just another way that our infinite Yahweh God bows down to our level so that we might get a peek at who He is. (See God Made Small) In eternity prior to His incarnation, the Son was not masculine either, in my opinion. However, He now exists in eternity future as the exalted, glorified human Son. Whether He will appear masculine is unclear. His disciples certainly recognized the man they spent three years with when He returned after His resurrection. I don’t know if that will be the case when we join Him in Glory.

I hope I made the point that the Holy Spirit is a person. As such, we can speak to Him as we would speak to any other person. And we should have much to say. Jesus promised that the Spirit would guide us into truth; thank you, Spirit. Paul asserts that the Spirit grants us the fruit necessary to live a godly life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Thank you, Spirit. Paul also says several times that as Christians, we are all given supernatural gifts to do the work God requires of us in the body of Christ. Thank you, Spirit. We are told that the Holy Spirit confirms to our spirit that we are God’s children. Thank you, Spirit. The Holy Spirit in us is the down payment on our eventual glorification. Thank you, Spirit.

Because it is impossible to please God apart from the Holy Spirit’s presence in us, and because we are told time and again to walk in the spirit, pray in the spirit, be led by the Spirit, be filled with the Spirit, and more, asking the Spirit directly to help us is a legitimate request. I don’t mean to suggest that if we ask the Father for help from His Spirit or thank God for Jesus it won’t be accepted. I imagine you can pray a “generic” prayer, and Heaven will direct it to the correct person. What I am saying is that your prayer life can be enriched by a fuller understanding of to Whom you are praying. Our God is infinitely powerful to answer any prayer offered within His will. For me, imagining the tri-power of God adds another dimension to my prayers. Why not tri it?