“Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything
give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” My title today is a little unusual and maybe impertinent to some. There are a lot of people who take how you say “amen” seriously. I remember praying for an elderly saint several years ago, who took me to task for saying “ahmen” instead of “amen.” It was important to her for me to say the long vowel. That was not a problem, and would not keep her out of heaven. (lol) What I mean when I write that it is not necessary to say “amen” is that we are told to “pray without ceasing.” Does this mean that we have to stay in our “prayer closet” on our knees at all times? It certainly does not. We do need a special time of prayer, but that is not all of the praying we are to do. I take time out during the day to pray for missionaries by name, to pray for people who are ill, to pray for our country, etc. I hope you have a similar schedule of prayer. Jesus often “went apart” to pray, especially for special needs. For example, on the night before He called His disciples the next morning, Jesus spent all night in prayer. If Jesus felt the need to pray, we certainly should. We should bathe everything in prayer. To do so would keep us out of a lot of trouble, because if we have taken something to God, we will be careful to either do or not do whatever it was we prayed about. Now, let’s take a look at what it means to “pray without ceasing.” It means that the window to prayer is open to us 24/7. There is never a time when we cannot pray. If we can think, we can pray. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you cannot pray, because that would be impossible. Don’t tell your children that they can’t pray in school. Maybe they are not allowed to pray a vocal prayer, but they can talk to God silently. If you can’t do anything else you can pray. I have read of many people who were so infirm that they were bedridden. They could no longer go out and serve, but they could pray, and they did. They ministered to people from their beds through prayer. We are told to “come boldly to the throne of grace.” This does not mean that we are to be brash when we talk to God. It means that there is never a time that we cannot pray and that we need to take advantage of opportunities to pray. Let me give you an example of what I mean. You will encounter people all day long. Some of those people will need to be prayed for. You can stop right where you are and pray for them then and there. You will encounter all kinds of circumstances during the day which will call you to prayer. If you feel an urge to pray for some person, or for some circumstance, it is probably the Holy Spirit telling you to pray. I have felt the urge to pray for people as they passed me in my car. I might not have known the people, or what they were going through, but God did, and he said to pray for them. I could go on and on about examples of “praying without ceasing,” but I think that you have the idea by now. So, “pray without ceasing.” You don’t have to say “amen,” or if you dare, “Ahmen.” :-) Bro. Joe
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“For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have abundantly for you.”
Paul and the church at Corinth were having some relationship problems. He had written some harsh things to them and was concerned that they might think that he did not love them. He wanted to assure them that he really loved them and that he cared. It occurred to me that we are often like the Corinthians, i.e., we sometimes wonder if anyone cares. I guess we all feel unloved at some time or other. If you never feel this way, God bless you, for you are a fortunate person. Anyway, Paul declared an abundant love for the Corinthians. You see, he had written negatively to them because he cared. Just because someone disagrees with us, or speaks harshly to us does not mean that they do not love us. In fact, it might mean that they love us abundantly. We sometimes call this tough love. For example, I knew that my parents loved me, but when they came down hard on me at times, I really wondered if they loved me. Looking back, I can see that my parents came down hard on me because they had my best interests at heart. They came down hard on me because they loved me abundantly. It is important that we know that people who speak harshly to us probably have our best interests at heart. I want to broaden this discussion. We might go through periods when we feel that no one cares. I want us to get this down good: There is never a period that we go through that no one cares. First, we need to understand that God cares. How can we not know this when out of the love in His great heart, He sent His Son to die on the cross for us. He might speak harshly to us through His word, the Bible, but it is not because He doesn’t love us, rather, it is because He loves us abundantly. He loves us too much to let us get by with less than we can be and do. Whatever you are going through today, know that God loves you and wants the best for you. (Incidentally, the very best for you is to accept His Son as your Savior if you haven’t already.) Second, there are people out there who love us and we do not realize their love for us. During my recent bout with cancer, I was surprised at the people who wrote to me about their love for me. I knew that they knew that I existed, but I did not really know that they cared. How delightful this discovery was for me. In fact, it was a life-changing discovery. When I was lying on my couch feeling sick and lowly, there were people out there, whom I hardly knew, concerned about me, loving me and caring for me. I have shared this highly personal experience with you to remind you that this is true of you too. There are people in your family, at your work, in your church, wherever, who care for you and love you and you do not even realize it. Third, I think that one of our greatest needs is to feel loved. That is why God put us into families. That is why we are surrounded by other people. I do not want to convince you that everybody out there cares for you, but there are plenty of people in your life who do. There are probably family members that you hardly know who care about you. There are fellow church members, if you are in a church, which care for you. You see them at church, maybe even shake hands with them every Sunday, but you do not know that they care. Then something happens in your life when you need people and they are there, caring for you and loving you. What a delightful surprise and discovery that is. Let me encourage you to never feel unloved and uncared for. As already written above, there is always God who cares, but we need to know that God has put people in our lives who care as well – always. I heard a story several years ago about a little boy who was afraid to go to sleep in his bedroom because he was afraid of the dark. His mother assured him of God’s presence. Finally, the little boy said, “but right now I need someone with skin on.” God has these “skin on” people in your life. Now, what we need to do with this knowledge is to go out into life and be that person who cares for someone else.There are people around you who need to know that you care. Bro. Joe "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten, Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." I have become concerned about the tendency to take one Biblical concept of God and act as though it is the only concept. We are either heavy on the side of love or wrath. Those who come down heavy on wrath look seem to look as God as some kind of angry monster who loves nothing better than to destroy people. On the other hand, those who are heavy on God’s love look at God as some benevolent grandfather who would not harm a flea. Either of the two extremes misses the very essence of God. We should balance what the Bible says about God, for it is important what the Bible says about God. The Bible tells us that God is love, but it also tells us about the wrath of God. To those who only stress God’s love, repentance is a strange and distant doctrine. They act as if God is always just delighted with people, no matter what sorry lifestyles they might be living. This is certainly contrary to what the Bible teaches. The same Bible that stresses God’s love also stresses His concern that we live righteous lives. I do not mean that he intends for us to live self-righteous lives, because Jesus came down hard on the Pharisees for being self-righteous. But one can live a righteous life without being self-righteous. I think that Jesus Himself illustrated that rather well for us in the way that He conducted Himself. The Bible stresses the need for repentance. If sin is not a problem for us, why are we told in 1 John 1:9 that if “we will confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins.”? If there is no such thing as sin, and that means the way we live our lives why does the Bible demand repentance? For example, when Simon, the Magician, tried to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit, Peter said to him: “Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.” If God loves us so much that he smiles even at sin in our lives why does the Bible mention God’s discipline? Hebrews 12:5-6 mentions this: “And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons (children): My son do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or faint when you are reproved by Him, for the Lord disciplines the one He loves and punishes every son He receives.” Proverbs 3:11-12 HCSB Both God’s great love for us and His wrath toward sin are valid Biblical doctrines. We need to balance these two realities. The Bible admonishes us to preach and teach the whole counsel of God. If all we talk about is God’s love, we are leaving out half of the picture. If all we talk about is God’s wrath, we are also leaving out half of the picture. It so wonderfully true that God loves us and wants the very best for us in our lives. It is also true that He wants us to live lives that are pleasing to Him. It is not really difficult to see both doctrines in the Bible. As Christians, our aim should be to do God’s will for our lives. If we do that, we will love people, serve God and learn to eschew sin. Both are important Biblical doctrines. Rejoice that God loves you, and be glad that He will forgive you when you repent of sin, confess and ask His forgiveness. Bro. Joe |
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