Who is living your house?

¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  Ephesians 3:16-17 NIV

Who is the most important person of notoriety that has visited your home?  If they spent the night with you, where did you let them sleep?  Did you offer them one of their favorite home cooked meals?  Did you find out what dessert or coffee they enjoy drinking? For some this person(s) may have been your parent, grandparent, cousin or school friend.  Others may have never invited anyone to spend the night at your home. 

If you have had someone stay, we make adjustments so that they can feel as comfortable as possible.  We want to make sure that they feel welcome in our home.  We spend time cleaning and putting things in order so that they feel “at home” with us. We take the time to rearrange our lives, furniture and schedule for the person who is coming to visit.

In our verse today there is an important distinction in the verb tense of the word dwell that we need to understand.  The Greek word is an aorist infinitive active verb.  I know too much info that sounds Greek to you.  But, it may perhaps change your understanding of the verse.  The active aorist verb tense means that the subject will carry out the action.  In other words, CHRIST will make your heart ready for his dwelling.  It is not primarily your work to “change your heart”.  Through the power of the Spirit, Christ will come to dwell.

We need power of the Holy Spirit so that we can by faith allow Christ to make our heart ready for him.  Perhaps you feel as if your life is in disarray and not ready for such important company.  Perhaps there are sins or bondage of addiction that would be embarrassing for Christ to see.  Perhaps you might feel uncomfortable with someone so important being that close to you…what would you talk about?  Would you even acknowledge His continual presence?

The key is that the Holy Spirit will strengthen our inner man so that our faith level rises to understand that this is His doing.  He who began a good work in you will continue to make it happen until he returns.

Christ is dwelling in your heart.  The is the very seat of your conscience, your emotions, your passions, and your will.  Let him pull up a chair, drink some coffee and chat with you about life….O what a conversation that will be.

Blessed and not cursed

How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced? Numbers 23:8

I know that you think A=B.  You can remember all the sins that you have committed.  You say to yourself often that you deserve “what’s coming to you”.  You may even say, “I expect that God is mad at me and I am just reaping what I have sown”.  You may try to lecture Me on how you think I should treat you each day, how I should withhold my blessing, how I want to keep you needy, how I step back just a little so that your peace is removed, or how you think I am silent to your problems.

BUT, You must remember again the depth of my mercy.  My Son, received all of the curses upon himself that you could walk in the favor and blessing that I bestowed on Abram.  His blood shouts out to me that all punishment is finished.  His sacrifice was totally sufficient. 

Balaam was asked to curse the children of Israel.  I would not let him…not because their actions were perfect for they were rebellious many times.

 But, when I bless, I do not change my mind as the winds change.  Those I love, I bless with my presence.  My Spirit will never leave you.  I am committed to you from the beginning to the end.  I will accomplish all the good things in you that I have purposed from the beginning.  You are the object of my affection.

Whispers from your Father, God.

The Art of Asking - "Finding Neutral" Part 3

³⁹ Going a little ahead, he fell on his face, praying, “My Father, if there is any way, get me out of this. But please, not what I want. You, what do you want?”  Matthew 26:39 The Message.

Probably the hardest place to find in prayer is neutral.  You may think “if God is going to do it his way anyway, why should I pray?” Or, being full of emotions and a heart bent toward selfishness, “how can I ever know for sure that I am neutral about my request?”

If you have ever driven a manual transmission vehicle, then you understand how important it is to find neutral.  Yes automatics have a neutral position, but neutral for a manual is found while moving between every gear.  On older motorcycles the gear shift is under your left foot.  You have to find neutral in order to know the bike’s present gear.  Neutral for a manual transmission is a place of rest and a pause for the gears to reconnect while moving to another speed.

Think about our verse for one moment.  Jesus “asked” his Father to find another way besides the cross.  He was about to endure “drink” suffering, humiliation, pain, desertion, being completely helpless, isolation from his Father (which he had never ever experienced before), experience the shame and guilt of sin (not just his, but the full weight of all of our sin), public nakedness, ridicule, physical torture, and finally death.  Twice it is recorded that he prayed for the same request.  The third time ended in a resolve to follow the path set before him.  In some respects Jesus was denied his request in order that God’s purposes would be fulfilled.  On the other hand, Jesus request included finding neutral so that he trusted his Father to help him walk the path to death on the cross.

So why is it so hard to “find neutral” when we bring our prayers before the Lord?

1.    We want to control the outcome of our prayers.  Many times we are asking God to meet our request, but we have consciously or unconsciously already determined how God should answer our request.  Conversations with God which include listening will allow God to filter through any hidden motives or agendas.  God is willing to wait as long as it takes for us to see our selfishness in our prayers

2.   We want to live life by sight and not faith.  Faith is the evidence of things unseen.  We want to see the answer first and then apply our faith to it.  Faith comes from hearing God’s word which means both reading and listening to the Holy Spirit.  Boldness in the request comes when you know already by faith that God is stirring the waters.  Peter and John said “silver and gold we do not have, but we will share what we have (authority and power from God to ask for healing in Jesus name), rise and walk.

3.   Fear.  Fear dominates some lives more than others.  Some will not even begin to ask God for things, because they are afraid of how He might answer.  Our relationship with our earthly dads has a direct impact in the way that we approach God with request.  If we grew up being unsure (afraid) how dad would respond to our request, or if there was very little conversation, or if he appeared to always say no, then we might approach God with the same attitudes.  We might feel that God doesn’t want to help us, he is too busy, or he might get mad at our request.  We surmise that if it is going to get done, we will just have to do it ourselves.  All of these emotions and fears are road blocks for us to “find neutral”.

Can’t we just ask God for things, why is important that we “find neutral”?

One of God’s desires for us as his children is intimacy in relationship.  This special bond usually occurs when doing life together.  It is more than just shared events,  it also includes all of the dialogue and laughter during that time together.  However, much of what we call prayer is more like approaching God like a vending machine.  We hope to uncover the right sequence of coins in order to push the button and receive our request.  That is not relationship.

“Finding neutral” helps us to know God better and to understand ourselves better.  Sometimes God waits to answer our request, because of our request.  If I keep telling God to give me a coke, when in reality he wants me to have a lemonade.  He may just not answer my request until I get to the place of asking him what I should have.  When I drink the lemonade, which is super fantastic with just the right amount of strawberry flavoring, I understand that He knows me better than I know myself.

The uncovering of our hidden attitudes leads us to a place of brokenness and trust.  This position allows God to move in our behalf in which He receives all of the glory in bringing about the answer to our request.

Let me close with a story.

Katy transferred to a private college to finish her last two years of college.  My path of ministry did not produce large savings for my children’s tuition.  New laws keep banks from providing loans to cover the full amount of the difference between school sponsored scholarships and the full tuition…at least that is the way it appears.  Students or parents have to make up the difference each semester.  This private college needed several thousand dollars each semester.

As we went to move in weekend, I was so excited for her to enjoy college life.  But I also knew, that I had little to no money to help make this a reality for her.  I did not even know how to ask God.  I was discouraged. “Why didn’t I chose a more lucrative path that would provide for my family?”  “Does God really provide for his children?” “What good is it to help people in ministry and fail at providing for my family?”  I felt very low as a father in providing for our family.

During that weekend, I confessed my lack of faith and repented for my lack of trust in God as provider.  I “found neutral” in that I gave up trying to figure out a solution and recommitted my faith in God who loves me.

About 1 week later I drove up to my property and a man in a truck was looking at my property.  He introduced himself as working for Alabama Power.  He wanted to buy the back of my property to expand the right of way for new power lines.  He said that he would have to remove the trees along that right of way.  He offered a price.  I asked him which trees and he went higher on the price.  We walked up to the fence line and he offered a higher price.  When we returned to his truck, he offered an even higher price for the purchase of the right of way.  I NEVER asked for more, I was just asking for understanding of what would happen and how they would remove or cut the trees.  We signed papers and he told me that a check for $6000 would arrive in about 4 or 5 days.  It was SURREAL.  God provided.  The one who owns cattle on a thousand hills, found a few trees to provide for my needs. 

There was NO WAY I could have made this happen, BUT GOD loves his children.

So, what about you?  How do you “find neutral”?  How do you relinquish your will and desires so that God may have his perfect way in and through your life? 

The Art of Asking Part 2 Persistence in Prayer

“When the Son of Man comes will he find faith on the earth?”.  Luke 18:8.

What do you think Jesus was referring to when he asks this question?  For some the answer would include being faithful to all the religious activities such as going to church and Bible study.  Others might take it literally and confess their faith in Jesus as their savior.   Their hope would be that when He returns their faith in Him would be strong on that day.  But the immediate context of the verse is in reference to a parable from Jesus to encourage his disciples to always pray and not give up.

18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ² He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

⁴ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

⁶ And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸ I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”  Luke 18:1-8.

When it comes to our premise about is the art to asking there are some principles that we can glean from this scripture passage.

1.    We are presenting our request to a loving Father God who is bent toward answering the request of his children.  He is not an unrighteous judge.  He is not aloof.  He is not uncaring.  He is not detached from our need.  He is not unwilling to answer our request.  Jesus says that God wants to answer and answer quickly.  This starting point of knowing that God cares encourages us to continue to ask.

2.   Persistence in prayer is expected.  Jesus knew that we have a tendency to give up too quickly when it comes to prayer. Many times if the answer is slow in coming, we assume that God does not want to help in “this situation”.  So we stop asking. BUT Jesus is telling us to continue to present our request.

3.   God is the judge…you are not.  The word justice is used 4 times in this parable.  Another Greek meaning for the word is “legal counsel”.  In other words, God will make sure that there is a covering and protection against the adversary.  If you have already determined how to address the problem…you are not letting God bring his counsel into the situation.  You are acting as judge and wanting God to enforce your verdict.

a.    A widow had no one to represent her in society if she had no family.  She was totally vulnerable to whomever desired to take advantage of her. Having the judge make a decision to cover her need was no small action.  She now had protection.

b.    Allowing God to be the judge covers our vulnerability.  Fear wants to dominate us by revealing our weak spots.  God as judge covers, shields, defends those areas that we are uncappable of defending.

4.   This passage limits our request in asking for justice from our adversary.  Other passages of scriptures are going to reveal what specific requests we can bring before the Lord. Don’t tell God that he has to meet your request just because you continue to ask…make sure that what you are asking for is in agreement with God’s will and desire.  James says that we do not receive our request because we ask wrongly wanting to spend it on our own passions.  James 4:3

5.   Finally this persistent prayer must be linked with faith.  Repetition is only part of the equation as is persistence.  But Jesus linked faith to the parable.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.  Add appropriate scriptures to your continuous prayers before the Lord.

a.    For example, you might be in need of a job to provide for your family.  Matthew 6 reveals that God knows our physical needs for clothing, food, and housing.  We are instructed not to worry, but seek the kingdom of God first.

b.    So your prayer before the Lord might go like this. “Father, I am scared and worried.  Forgive me for not trusting fully in you to provide for my needs.  Your word says not to worry, and I am struggling with that right now.  As best as I know how, I am seeking you and all that your kingdom has.  Please help me find the right job for my family.  Your word in Matthew says that you will provide for those basic needs if we seek you first.  Thank you that you care intimately about my fears and cares.  Today, I trust that you are moving situations in my behalf.  To you belongs all of the glory. In Jesus name, Amen.

c.    Faith is expressed in words and revealed in actions.  Your prayer should include that trust in God to meet your need.  God is pleased by faith and rewards those who come to him in faith.

The art of asking would include persistence.  Don’t give up to quickly on your request.  It would also include faith.  Faith reveals our vulnerability and insufficiency to bring out the result of our prayer.  We are in need and it is fully appropriate to ask God to help meet our need.  See if you can make a list of answered prayers in which you prayed repeatedly and how did God answer them.  Faith grows stronger through the testimony of God’s involvement in our affairs.  David saw God’s hand in helping with the lion and the bear…now he was ready for Goliath.

Mix faith in your persistent prayers toward a loving Father God…he is waiting for you to ask.

Next we will look at some biblical people who “asked” God for things.

The Art of Asking

Suzy was weary.  If she had to endure one more sermon when a Pastor encouraged the people to “ask and they shall receive”, she would probably quit church altogether.  It is not that she disliked church or even that she did not see herself as a Christian, but it was the uncovering  of the pain of unanswered prayer.  Suzy was still barren after years of asking God to help bring forth a child.  With not much conviction, she enters that sensitive arena one more time, “God, would you please help us have a baby?”

Joe goes to the altar every week for prayer asking for the same request.  The church initially gave great support to Joe with comments of agreement for his request and meaningful “pats on the back”.  With the passage of time, now they hardly notice his consistent crying out before the Lord.  Joe had married an “unbeliever” years early.  Eventually she left him with the children, saying that she did not want a divorce, but she had “irreconcilable differences”.  Once again Joe is at the altar, “God, will you please restore my marriage?”

It was a major physical experience just to get out of bed every day.  Bill endured daily the pain of extensive fibromyalgia.  This sickness has little to no outward appearance as to alert others of the degree of hurt.  Many think Bill is just “making it up” for sympathy’s sake.  Bill believes God can heal his body, he has seen miracles at his church.  Doctors have “practiced” with medicines that have helped him cope, but also brought many discouraging side effects that are more irritating than his sickness.  Once again Bill prays, “Lord, with one touch from You, I can be healed.  Why are you not healing me?  Would you do it today?”

No easy answers to hard questions, and the “Why” questions are probably the most difficult for us to endure.  Yet, we are encouraged throughout the Bible to “ask of the Lord”.  Is there a “secret” to how we are to ask?  Why does it seem that some people ask of the Lord and receive their answer immediately?  Does God have an agenda for making people wait for them to receive their answer?  Are there some principles or guidelines in the scriptures that can help direct a better “ask”?

Throughout the next series of blogs, we will explore the “art of asking” as found in the scriptures.  We will look at examples of people asking of Jesus to help them, and his teaching for us to “ask”.  We will try to outline some roadblocks of our request and look at the power of asking in agreement.  Hopefully, God will strengthen our resolve in teaching us to “keep on asking”.  Be encouraged even this article has brought you back to the right ball field to find your answers.

So today let’s look at one story when some men asked a question.  ²⁰ Some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration ²¹ paid a visit to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee. They said, “Sir, we want to meet Jesus.” ²² Philip told Andrew about it, and they went together to ask Jesus. John 12:20-22 NIV.

The Bible does not record Jesus talking with these gentlemen.  What better question to be asked than for people to meet with Jesus.  Jesus reply to Philip and Andrew was to point them to the Father and his plan for the world.  Jesus pointed them to cross.  Jesus expressed great wisdom and had authority to perform miraculous signs, but his primary goal was to glorify his Father through his sacrificial death on the cross.  The underlying theme of the Greek’s request appears to see Jesus “show off his giftings”.  But God boomed forth from heaven into the earth’s atmosphere “Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, “I have already brought glory to my name, and I will do so again.”  John 12:28.

First principle and not at all in order of importance,

1.    All questions ultimately lead to the cross. 

a.    At the cross, God’s power and plan for our lives is fully demonstrated.  Pride, as in making a name for ourselves apart from God, is dealt the final blow.  We all stand humbly and in need at the foot of the cross.  None of our old self makes it past the cross.  Jesus said a grain of wheat has to fall to the ground and die in order for it to bring forth life.  Not our will, but his be done.

b.    Healing, both for now and the ultimate restoration of our bodies, is secured through his crucifixion experience.  By his stripes we were healed.  Death and decay is not our end.

c.    Salvation and new birth are secured in the agony of Jesus payment for our death sentence.  Jesus desires that none perish, and he made a way, a path for sinners to become clean.

When life seems overwhelming and you are frustrated and weary, ask to “see Jesus”.  Look to the cross and follow his footsteps to the throne of God where He is making intercession for you right at this moment.  He is asking God to remember his faithfulness to his children. 

The cross is the firm foundation.  It is the rock where we can gain the strength to engage our unanswered request.  It is the place where the struggles of life find their place of unimportance.  It is the place where we see the full expression of love in the face of Jesus toward us.  In that while we were yet sinners (totally undesirable and unwanted) Jesus died for us.

Next, Jesus encourages us to “keep on asking”.