“In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath made the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.” KJV
“When the times are good be happy; but when times are bad consider: God has made the one as well as the other; therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.” NIV As we have seen in earlier articles, Ecclesiastes, written by King Solomon, is unpredictable. Solomon was writing as a world-weary fellow who had everything that his heart desired and he found it rather boring and empty. The idea was that the full meaning of life is found in fearing God, or as we would say from the New Testament perspective, reverence and trust in God. In this verse he reminds us that good and bad will happen, and that we will have uncertainty about the future. His first advice is be joyful when things are going good. This seems like unnecessary advice, but is it really? Sometimes we can’t enjoy the good things because we are worried about a lot of other things. Like Martha, we are sometimes “careful and troubled about many things.” (See Luke 10:38-42) Or like the seed in the parable of the sower that fell among the thorns, we become choked up by the cares of this life that we are so negative that we can’t really rejoice over the good things. We need to adopt the verse from Psalm 118:24: “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” It could be that some people might be so depressed that they can’t recognize the good and prosperous times even in the midst of them. His second advice was when we face days of adversity that we consider. You might want to ask at this point, what does this mean? In my estimation it means several things. One is when we face adverse times we need to consider that adverse times are bound to come, and consider, or think about it and find out what God is trying to teach us. When Paul was enduring his “thorn in the flesh” he went to God in prayer and was told that he would keep his “thorn in the flesh,” and that Christ’s grace would be sufficient to see him through it. Considering this answer Paul saw that through his weakness he could better discover God’s strength. In other words, he saw his complete dependence on Jesus. A second thing is that we need to consider that other people have experienced adversity. In other words, we are not the only ones who have gone through times of adversity, and that we are not too good to have them. Sometimes they might be reminders from God that we need to make some changes in our lives. Another thing that I have discovered is that the adverse times will end. One of my favorite sayings when I am going through adverse times is to say, “this too shall pass,” and it always does. Some adverse things last longer than others, but they, too, will eventually pass. These up and down changes in our lives can make us wonder about the future. This is when we need to say: “I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.” (I know, I know, that is an old cliché, but it is still true even if it has been quoted over and over again.) This will cause us to realize that God is with us and ministering in our lives through the good times and the bad. It will also help us to know that the God of the present is the God of the future. There will never be a time that He will forsake us, whether things are going uphill or downhill in our lives. Solomon is right, we do not know what is in the future or what we will have to face in the future. That is why it is ultimately important to face each day with faith in Jesus Christ. Faith does not help us know what the future will be for us, but it does make us realize that we do not have to dread the future, for God will be a part of it. It is my prayer that whether you are prospering or in adversity, the One who holds the future will hold you and see you through. Bro. Joe
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“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.”
This verse was written by Paul in reference to the battle that we have with the forces of Satan. In verse 12 he wrote them: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” In other words as believers in Jesus Christ we are war with an implacable foe, and we need help in this war that is waged daily. Paul told them to “be strong in the Lord.” He did not advise them to just “be strong.” I’m afraid that a mistake that make too often in our daily bouts with temptation is that we try to be strong but the strength that we depend on is our own. There is something about us that makes us want to believe that we are sufficient within ourselves to fight the spiritual battles of life, but it is just not so. We want to think that we can stand against anything in our own strength. It is like a person who sees a tornado coming and says, “I think that I can stop that thing if I will just use my strength.” You know that this is impossible. It is certainly true, then, that we cannot stand up against Satan and his demons on our own strength. Paul admonished the Ephesians to “be strong in the Lord.” Being “strong in the Lord” refers to being strong in Him in daily life through faith, prayer and daily doses of the word of God. Being “strong in the Lord” is a reference to a lifestyle, not just a weapon to be used in emergencies. Since the battle that we are in with Satan is a daily battle, we need to depend on the Lord’s strength daily. It should be our practice to depend on the Lord’s strength in everything that we do. When we do this, we resolve that we will live each day for the Lord and in His strength. For example, when David engaged in battle with Goliath, he did not come to the battle without prior preparation. As young as David was at the time, he had spent time with God, and had been close to him on a daily basis. The faith that fight’s Goliath, is not faith that is roused up in the heat of battle. It is faith that is lived daily in relationship with the Almighty God. Our foe is even stronger than Goliath; therefore, we should make sure we are “strong in the Lord” on a daily basis. Too often we fight against disconcerting temptations and habits with the idea that we can overcome ourselves. It is quite possible that we can overcome some things, but the victory will be complete only when we use the strength of the Lord. How do we get that strength? To begin with, we ask for it, and we dedicate our lives to the Lord to obey Him and serve Him daily. Jesus has given us His Holy Spirit to live within us, and He has given us the armor that we need to stand against the foe. (Read verses 13-18 of Ephesians 6 to see what this armor is comprised of.) We are to be “Strong in the Lord, in the power of His might.” The Lord wants us to depend upon His might in our fight with Satan. He expects us to lean on His might in order for us to see what only He can do. The Israelites had to depend upon God’s might when they came to the Red Sea. With the sea in front of them and Pharaoh behind them, there was not a whole lot they could do in their own might, so they had to trust God to do something about it. Only God could divide the Red Sea and let them through. I think that we do not see the power of God at work in our churches sometimes because we try to do the Lord’s work on our own power. We work to see what we can do, not what God can do. We forget that we have a resource that the world does not have. We have the power and might of God. This is true in our churches and it is true in our personal lives. We encounter an implacable foe each day, and we need to just throw all caution to the wind, trust God and see what He can do. Try it! Bro. Joe “Devote yourself to prayer, being watchful and thankful…”
In Colossians 4:2, the apostle Paul was encouraging the church at Colossae to be a praying church. We would do well to heed this advice in our own churches. There is a desperate need today for praying churches. Years ago, W.W. Dyer wrote: “The quickest way to get a church on its feet is to get it on its knees.” How true! Colossians 4:2 reveals to us what makes a church a “praying church.” I found a study of the Greek words used in this text to be helpful in interpreting it. My source for the study of Greeks words was the Analytical Greek Lexicon.” Paul advised them to: “Devote yourselves to prayer.” The King James Version’s translation of this is, “continue in prayer.” The root Greek word can be translated as “to persist in adherence to a thing.” The Colossians are admonished to adhere to prayer. By the same token we are not to let anything keep us from praying. No one can really stop churches from praying but churches themselves. The same is true of individual Christians. If you want your church to be a praying church, promote prayer in every aspect of its life. Encourage individual church members to have daily devotions. Encourage families to pray together, and encourage prayer when the church is gathered together. Set aside times in worship services for prayer, and pray for missions, the ministry of the church in the community, a deep impression of the moving of the Holy Spirit and pray for the infirm. Most church prayer lists only list those who are on the “sick list.” I do not mean to diminish the importance of that, but we should pray for much more. Take Paul’s advice and “Devote yourselves to prayer” as individuals and the corporate body of your church. Paul advised that they be “watchful” in their praying. The Analytical Greek Lexicon gives two translations of the Greek word for “watchful.” The first is “to be awake.” Steadfast prayer will keep a church alive, awake and alert. Alert to what? Alert to many things, but one good example is to try being alert to ego matches in churches that make their witness null and void in the community. The second is to be “vigilant.” Constant prayer will keep a church “on its toes." It will keep a church from letting its guard down on moral matters, in visitation and witness or in a dull sameness that kills the spirit of church worship. The implication of Colossians 4:2 is that if a church is steadfast in prayer, it will be a watchful church. As physical exercise keeps our physical bodies alert, so prayer keeps churches alert. Paul advised the Colossians to be thankful. A little bit of thankfulness goes a long way in keeping our prayer lives alive and aware. A translation of the Greek word for "thankful" is to be “mindful of benefits.” A praying church will not forget the source of all of its benefits and blessings, such as, salvation, fellowship, or corporate witness. A church cannot be defined as a praying church if at the same time it forgets the source of all of its benefits – namely Jesus. A church cannot be defined as a praying church if all of its focus is on itself instead of on witness and ministry to the community and to the world. The church that is focused on Jesus, and people, is a thankful church. A thankful church is a praying church, and is probably a growing church. What makes a church a “praying church”? The obvious answer is that the members of a praying church are praying people. They pray when away from the corporate body of the church, and when they are gathered together. Prayer is not an afterthought in a praying church, but is an integral part of the life of the church. If you want your church to be a praying church, you should be a praying person. Bro. Joe “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is Mine; I will repay says the Lord. 20. Therefore if your enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21. Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Of course, the answer to the title question is never. All of our human instincts are not bad, of course, but there are some instincts that we should not encourage. One of the main ones of these is the desire to take vengeance on people who mistreat or insult us in some way. Before you accuse me of self-righteousness, allow me to go ahead and confess that I have to battle this instinct just like you do. There is something about our competitive natures that makes it difficult for us to accept that we have been defeated in some way. “I’ll get you for that” is almost an automatic reflex, but one that the Bible forbids. Let’s take a look at the text from Romans 12:19-21 and see what it says to us about avenging ourselves. Paul wrote that rather than avenging ourselves, we should “give place to wrath.” The NIV translates this: “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: It is mine to avenge; ‘I will repay’ says the Lord.” Why would the Lord want to take vengeance? For one thing, He knows who is really right and who is really wrong in human relationships. We are not likely to be objective in our desire to take vengeance, and God might think that we are wrong. At this point, it might be a good idea when we feel vengeance coming on to count to 10. That’s not very spiritual advice, but it works for me. It is also true that God’s vengeance will be redemptive for that person, i.e., God will mean well for him or her and use that moment to teach them something. Whereas, we will just be “getting back” at them, which is really a waste of time, for they will probably want to get back at us, setting an endless cycle of vengeance. Paul actually gave better advice than mine about counting to ten. What he wrote was: “Therefore if your enemy hunger feed him; if he thirsts give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.” That seems to be telling us that if we are nice to our enemies, it will really get back at them and we can feel vindicated. That’s not the way I see it. I think that when we return good to those who would consider themselves our enemies, they will be convicted of their mistreatment of us, and want to make it up to us. A word that is not used here, but understood, is “forgive.” When we forgive people and do nice things for them, we are doing what Jesus did when He went to the cross. Jesus could have called “12 legions of angels” (Matthew 26:53) to avenge His rough treatment by sinful humanity, but instead, Jesus forgave and subsequently died on the cross that all of those who crucified Him, and all others who trust in Him might be saved. Now, we come to what I consider the main point of this text. What we are supposed to do instead of taking vengeance is to “overcome evil with good.” In our human nature, we are likely to be “overcome with evil,” and Paul wrote: “Be not overcome of evil.” When we are angry and in a vengeful mood we are likely to be overcome with evil if we give in to our negative feelings. The devil will certainly pounce on a chance to get us to sin. When we have a real desire to get back at someone, it is not God who is encouraging us; it is the devil. That’s why we are told to feed a hungry enemy and give drink to a thirsty enemy. Also, Jesus told us how to handle this desire to get back at our enemies: “But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, and do good to them which hate you. Bless them which curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.” This is how we overcome evil with good: Instead of surrendering to our baser instincts, we surrender to the Spirit of God, who will enable us to do good instead of evil. There might be someone at this time that you really want to get back at. Don’t entertain the idea. Think of something good that you can do for them and do it. You’ll feel better and you’ll be a better person for doing it. Really!!!!!! Bro. Joe FYI: Mary and I will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary on Sept. 1 at FBC Camilla, in the fellowship hall from 2:00-4:00 p.m. “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye may also have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
This is truly an exciting and inspiring verse to me. John had walked and talked with Jesus for three years, and he had a lot to share about Him. John offered to share his personal experience with Jesus in fellowship with the recipients of his letter - including us. He used the word “fellowship” to describe his Christian relationships. Unfortunately, today one of the prevailing views of fellowship is something like: ”getting together after church.” As much as I enjoy this kind of fellowship, it is not New Testament fellowship. Fellowship is an important aspect of the Christian faith; therefore, we need to ask and answer “What Is Real Christian Fellowship?" The Greek word for fellowship means sharing, partaking, partnership and communicating. These definitions can vaguely mean “getting together,” but they mean much more than that. Real Christian fellowship begins with our fellowship with the triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As John put it: “and surely our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ." After all, Jesus did promise to be with us until the end of the ages. Fellowship with God means that we have Him with us through the Holy Spirit all of the time. The song says: “My God is with me all the time…” How true this is. The wonderful thing is that even in the midst of your workday you can have fellowship with God through prayer. I don’t mean “get on your knees” prayer. I mean just think of things that you need to talk to God about and He will hear. You can do this any time, all day, every day. John knew this fellowship in a way that we never will, for he walked and talked with Jesus for three years, saw his crucifixion, took Jesus’ mother in at the cross, and saw Him and talked with Him after the resurrection. He longed for us to enjoy daily fellowship with Jesus, not as he did, in the flesh, but as we can by just reminding ourselves that He is with us. The fellowship that we have with God reaches over into the lives of our fellow Christians. In the text, John invited his readers to join him, and, ostensibly, each other. Notice in verse 3: “that you also may have fellowship with us," and in 1:7: “We have fellowship with each other.” The sharing of our lives with, “the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ,” draws us together to share life with each other. In doing this, we become partners with God and with each other. We manifest this fellowship by worshiping together,and, yes, by getting together. But I also want to add that our fellowship is just as real when we are not together. We do not just “have fellowship,” we are a fellowship and are connected by the Spirit of God, even when we are not together. We share Jesus both when we are together and when we are not together. Don’t make the mistake that a lot of people make in their church relationships. Fellowship is not the same as friendship. Friendship is a good thing, and I have many Christian friends, but in friendship we have a close relationship that can include others or not. But when we are a fellowship, we enjoy it so much that we want to invite other people into this fellowship with God and with us. We read in the Book of Acts that the first church had daily fellowship and worship. They ate together, and no doubt had fun together, but they were not establishing an exclusive club; rather, they were constantly inviting people into fellowship with them. Acts 2:47 tells that they were: "Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” I believe that people saw this fellowship of love for God and people and were eager to become a part of it. Doesn’t this tell us what our fellowship should be? This is real fellowship. Bro. Joe “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.”
Someone wrote that “life is like a bowl of cherries, eat one and you want another.” This is what Solomon meant in Ecclesiastes 5:10. Another translation of the text is that “he who loves money shall not be satisfied with money.” We can actually put anything that we can hold, touch or possess in the place of silver and it will be the same. Try this: “He that loves food will never be satisfied with food.” Anyway, you get the idea, and you know that it is true. Here is the principle: There is nothing on this earth that can bring us total satisfaction. Think back on your life: Did you ever tell your parents that if they would buy you one thing or another you would never ask for anything again? You thought at that moment that this “thing” would give you total satisfaction, only to discover that it really did not? I’m almost certain that you did, at least I know that I did. Your parents were probably like mine and knew better, so they did not give in to your whims. God is like that too. He knows that we are never totally satisfied, and that is another reason why He doesn’t give us everything that we want. You can include any human desire, or whim, and this principle will hold true. Life just goes on and we go from one desire to another. The point is that we have to look beyond this earth to find true satisfaction. The real values of life are spiritual. In the place of trying to satisfy our whims and wants, we should seek to find contentment in God. Contentment means that we have come to grips with our human greed and have decided that that "things" are not the “be all and end all” of life. In Philippians 4:10-13, Paul gave us the principle of contentment: “But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again: wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. 11. Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”Paul was in prison at this time and had received a monetary gift from the church at Philippi. He wanted them to know that he was truly grateful, but that He had found contentment in something much higher than money. At some point in our lives we have to ask ourselves where our real satisfaction, or contentment, lies? If our satisfaction lies in what we possess, then we are cheating ourselves out of the richness that God’s blessings can bring into our lives. I think of people whose lives are built around one pleasure after another. Earthly pleasure can become so addictive that we move from one pleasure to another, and usually end up digging a deeper hole as we go. We need to find our satisfaction, or contentment, in the “riches of God’s grace.” Paul wrote about this in Ephesians 2:4-7: “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us. 5. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. (by grace are you saved;) 6. And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7. That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” While many are pining away here, wanting to “win the lottery” in order to fulfill their earthly desires, God has acted on our behalf through His Son to help us find contentment in the “riches of His grace.” Now, there is real satisfaction that will last for eternity. Bro. Joe “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is so are we in this world. 18. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”
Verses 17-18 reveal to us that because of Love we need not fear judgment or anything else. Of course, this is not some willowy nymph called “love” that comes and goes, but it “agape”(ah-gah-pay) love, eternal love. It is the kind of love that God has for us. It is a sacrificial, selfless love. According to this text, when we live in the love of God – by faith in Jesus Christ- we need not fear the eternal wrath of God. Only those who shun the love and grace of God should fear the wrath of God. Those who refuse to accept God’s love tell God that what He did in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was not important and they did not need it. What is the greatest cause of fear? It is anxiety about the unknown future. Many people live in constant dread and fear about what might happen to them. Those who live in God’s love, and practice that love, do not need to fear the future, for the God who holds them in the present will hold them in the future. Even if bad things do happen, people of faith who live in God’s love, know that God will be with them today, tomorrow and eventually forever. Many years before John penned the words of our text, David penned these words: “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” When we live in fear, we do not meet the goal of God’s love for us. “The man who fears is not made perfect in love.” (NIV) This does not mean that we will never be afraid, but that we will not live habitually in dread and fear. God’s love takes the dread out of life and replaces it with joy. Good news: God’s love can free you from fear. My interpretation of this text is that God’s perfect love enters our lives when Jesus enters our lives and indwells us with the Holy Spirit. I see perfect love as more than a principle. God’s agape love is real and is not to be taken lightly. There are times that we “feel” more loved by God than we do at other times, but those are our feelings, not God’s. God’s agape love is not based on feeling alone; rather, it is based on God’s action in our lives. God loves us so much that He acts on our behalf in our fight with Satan and the world system. When Jesus enters our lives, fear is replaced by a dynamic faith in Jesus Christ to do what is best for us. Love and faith work hand-in-hand to make our lives better. Paul stated this reality succinctly in Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” (This is not the first time that you have read this verse in my writings.) Jesus replaces fear with a confident hope in what God will do in our lives and how He will use us in His service. Instead of fretting about what life might bring, we look for ways to serve Jesus. God’s love for us, our love for Him and for each other compel us to reach out to others. People who do not have this confident hope spend a lot of time worrying about themselves. When Jesus enters our lives, fear is replaced by a changing emphasis from ultimate concern about our physical well-being to pleasing Him in all of life’s circumstances. This is the way believers should be, and if you are not above unreasonable fear, you need to get right with the Lord. All of Jesus’ apostles, and other Christians in the first century, lost their livelihoods in order to follow Jesus. They were not afraid to step out on faith, and I know that God’s love for them had a lot to do with that. What about you? This does not mean that you will never be afraid again, but it does mean that you will not be ruled by fear. Bro. Joe There will be a new post on Saturday morning instead of Friday night. Verse 1: “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
Verse 8: “A time to love, and a time to hate: a time of war and a time of peace.” Solomon is awfully fatalistic and pessimistic in Ecclesiastes, but if you look beyond what is written you can make sense of his fatalism and pessimism. We have to remember that the Bible was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and what is written is truth whether we understand its complete meaning or not. I do have to admit that verse 8 of Ecclesiastes 3 has been off-setting to me at times. I don’t have any problem with “a time to love,” but I have to give some thought to “a time to hate.” Actually, I did give some thought to it, and it was really simple. Solomon did not write that there is a time to hate people. Jesus, especially, never told us to hate people, but there is a time to hate and some things that we need to hate. We should certainly hate the things that God hates. We find one of these things in Jeremiah 44:4-5: “Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominablething that I hate. 5. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other Gods.” God hates idolatry of all kinds, but Israel could not seem to stay away from it. God does not want us to put anything ahead of Him, not because of His insecurity, but because He knows that it is better for us to give Him first place. Therefore, we should hate the things that might call our attention away from God. I could go on and on with this, because there are a lot of things that we know God hates, e.g., adultery, lying, cheating, stealing etc. In other words, we should hate sin in general because God hates sin. We should certainly hate things that keep us from being the best that we can be. There are a number of things that can do this. Some obvious things are alcohol and drugs. Until people learn to hate what these substances are doing to their bodies, they will not give them up. I don’t mean to be an old fuddy-duddy here, but our choices of entertainment and reading might keep us from being the best that we can be. I am certainly not against entertainment, and I am definitely not against reading. I love to read novels as well as other literature, but there are some things that we can read that do not help us be better people. I don’t know what that might be for you, but I know what it means for me. At least we should learn to hate what the wrong kind of entertainment and reading can do for us. I can share with you something that it is always time for me to hate, i.e., when I want to feel sorry for myself. (Oh, come on, you know what I mean.) I think that this is one of Satan’s tools that he uses against us, because when we give in to self-pity, we are not any good to God or people. I have always said that every minute that we spend feeling sorry for ourselves is a wasted minute. The same could be said of hours, days, months and years. I don’t remember that I have ever done anything good or uplifting when I have been inside the trap of self-pity. After years of having plenty of opportunities to feel sorry for myself, I have learned to hate it and to bat it down before it takes hold in my life. I want to recommend the same to you. If you are having a “pity party” at the present time, you need to "man (or woman) up," and get over it. Learn to hate anything that makes you shrink into yourself. I once read that the “smallest package in the world is a person wrapped up in himself or herself.” I don’t know about you, but I do not love feeling small in my heart. There are plenty of other things that we should hate, but people are not in that category. Bro. Joe “Bless them that curse you, and pray for those who despitefully use you.”
The NIV translates this verse: “Pray for those who mistreat you…” Jesus taught a lot of things that seemed to run counter to human nature. This text is one of the best of those. It is a good message for us, for our inclination is to take vengeance on those who mistreat us, or, if we pray for them, we pray for God’s vengeance on them. This is not exactly what Jesus had in mind here. He encouraged us to pray for those who mistreat us in a positive way. I want to share with you a few reasons why I think Jesus encouraged us to pray for those who mistreat us. This kind of prayer will change us. When we pray for those who mistreat us, the process of change has already begun. It means that we have, at least for that moment, overcome the temptation to get back at those who mistreat us. We have all heard testimonies of those who have prayed in the selfless manner, and how their prayer changed them more than anyone else. If we are really serious about being like Christ, we need to change how we look at those who are against us. How can we love our enemies as Jesus did if we do not pray for them as He did? Jesus even prayed for the forgiveness of those who were crucifying Him. Jesus did not need to change in this matter, but He knows that we do. If we are honest, we will admit that this is not an easy prayer to pray and really mean it, but it will do us good if we will. This kind of prayer will change those who mistreat us. The question that we need to ask ourselves is whether or not we want vengeance on these people or whether or not we want them to change. Vengeance does not change anyone for the better. There is no way to get back at people, for they will, in turn, get back at us, then we have to get back at them…..ad infinitum, ad nauseum. This cycle of vengeance will not change until one or the other of us has a change of heart. As Christians, we should pray that we would be the ones who would put a stop to the cycle and do the right thing as Jesus would. This kind of prayer turns people over to God and lets Him begin His work in them. Our prayers for these people open up the possibility of His changing them. It is true that prayer changes things. It is also true that prayer changes people. If we pray for people who mistreat us, they might be converted and we will have lost an enemy and gained a Christian brother or sister. If they do not change, the change that takes place in us will give us the grace and character to live above their insults and mistreatments. At least we need to let God do a work of grace in us, even if the other person refuses it. This kind of prayer can change Christian fellowship. Most of the problems in churches are the result of plain old personality conflicts. Christians sometimes imagine that they are being mistreated by other Christians, and it is possible. How can we stop this vicious cycle? Jesus gave the answer in Luke 6:28: "Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you." We need to heed His advice. Fellow Christians are also fellow human beings, and human beings can have problems when there are differences between them. We just need to remember that we are Christian human beings who represent the Living Christ, and that our lives and our fellowship should reflect Jesus and not our humanity. What could be the result if all parties stopped fighting each other and started praying for each other? Christian peace would result and Christian fellowship would grow and flourish. The ultimate result would be that the world would take us more seriously. Praying for those who mistreat us is not easy, but it is Christian. What you need to do is to think of people who are mistreating you or not getting along with you and pray for them. You will be obeying Jesus if you do pray for them. Do it! Bro. Joe “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives and treat them with respect and the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”
The Bible encourages us to pray. We are promised that when we pray God will hear and answer- as we saw in the post yesterday about the power of prayer. But we are reminded in 1 Peter 3:7 that our prayers can be hindered. Nothing is worse in a Christian’s life than to have their prayer power hindered. Prayer is our life line. I want to share with you some ways that our prayers can be hindered. (You will understand that the hindrance is our problem and our cause, not God’s.) According to 1 Peter 3:7, bad family relations can hinder our prayers. Husbands are to treat their wives with respect, or their prayers will be hindered. I think that this is true of all family relations in principle. Our spirituality can be gauged by how we treat family members. If we are nice to everyone else but act like tyrants at home, God sees it and is not pleased. If the wife demeans and belittles her husband, she is not doing what the Bible tells her to do. If children do not obey their parents, they are not doing what the Bible tells them to do. If parents are harsh on their children without real love, they are not doing what the Bible tells them to do. We must try to keep things right within our families. It would be virtually impossible to have an open, honest relationship with Jesus and treat members of our family disrespectfully. I think that the Bible clearly indicates that bad family relations can hinder our prayers. According to 1 John 5:5, ignoring the will of God can hinder our prayers: “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” To me, this is the bottom line on prayer. Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:10: “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Being in the will of God is absolutely necessary in all matters in the Christian’s life, and answers to prayer are no different. There are people who say that if you pray in order to accept the will of God, you lack faith. To the contrary, I think it means that we are taking our faith in the sovereignty of God seriously. When we petition God in prayer, our goal should not be what we want but what God wants. Would we want to consciously do anything that would be counter to the will of God? Would we want to claim anything by prayer that was contrary to the will of God? Would we want to pray to go somewhere that took us out of the will of God. Would we want God to do anything in the lives of people for whom we pray outside of God’s will. This is closely tied to James 4:3:“When you ask you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” When we pray, we need to remember what Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Not my will but thy will be done.” Mark 11:24 indicates that lack of belief can hinder our prayers: “Therefore I (Jesus) say unto you, what things soever you desire when you pray believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.” (When you read this, don’t forget the discussion on 1 John 5:5 about the will of God. ) Belief, or faith, is the key that unlocks the door to prayer power. We do not cross our fingers and pray, expecting God to answer our prayers. When we pray, we should open our hearts to God in profound trust that He will hear our prayer and answer according to what He deems best for us. The answers that I have had to prayer were always for the best and brought victory into my life. It is of utmost importance that we believe that God hears and answers our prayers. There are other hindrances to prayer but these are among the most common hindrances. Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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