Where Is The Word Of The LORD?

"Behold, they say to me, 'Where is the word of the LORD?  Let it come!'" (Jer. 17:15, ESV).
"And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?"  (1 Cor. 14:8, ESV).
"... When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.  Let all things be done for building up"  (1 Cor. 14:26, ESV).
 
NOTE TYPES OF PROPHET CALLS
Micah's commission:  "But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin"  (Micah 3:8, ESV).
Jeremiah"s ordination:  "... 'Look, I have put my words in your mouth!'" (Jer. 1:9, NLT).
Jonah's call:  "'Get up and go to the great a city of Nineveh.  Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are'"  (Jonah 1:2, NLT).  
Isaiah's dedication:  "The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary"  (Isaiah 50:4, NKJV).   
Amos's conscription:  "But Amos replied, 'I'm not a professional prophet, and I was never trained to be one.  I'm just a shepherd, and I take care of sycamore-fig trees.  But the LORD called me away from my flock and told me, 'God and prophesy to my people in Israel'"  (Amos 7:14-15, NLT).  
Admonition:  "Don't be like your ancestors who would not listen or pay attention when the earlier prophets said to them, 'This is what the LORD of Heavens Armies says:  Turn from all your evil ways, and stop all your evil practices" (Zechariah 1:4, NLT).  

Amos prophesies of a coming time when men will thirst for a word from the LORD and not be satisfied:  "... they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it"  (Amos 8:12, ESV).  Yes, there shall be a famine in the land, but not for food, but for the hearing of the Word of God (cf. Amos 8:11), because there will no prophets to warn the people of their sin and denounce it. Ezekiel says:  "... for they hear what you say, but they will not do it.  When this comes--and come it will!--then they will know that a prophet has been among them"  (Ezek. 33:32-33, ESV).  Truly, "... a people without understanding will come to ruin"  (cf. Hosea 4:14, ESV).

When we pass on what we hear from God He reveals more and we must keep the channel turned on to His frequency; i.e., keep in touch and stay in fellowship--abiding in Christ!  Actually, with the rise of prophets, we see the light and there is also the rise of false prophets, saying just what the people of God want to hear with their itching ears.  Lack of prophets in the land can be a sign of judgment, and even in the church we have those who prophesy in the Spirit, edifying the body, lifting up the Lord and speaking forth the Word; for prophets don't just foretell the future, but they forth-tell the Word to edification (i.e., building up--telling it like it is!), even denouncing sin and afflicting the comforted in Zion (those with complacency), while comforting the afflicted (those who see their need per Isa. 40:1)) with the good news from the Lord.  "Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly?"  (Micah 2:7, ESV).

We all need to be built up in the faith and the prophet can interpret the times and often warns the body, able to discern truth (note 1 Chronicles 12:32, NKJV, which says, "of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were 200....").  The official office of prophet was instituted by Samuel, the first of the prophets and last of the judges, as it were, and the primary task they had or job description, was to speak to the people on behalf of God, while the priest primarily spoke to God on behalf of the people, often interceding and offering corporate confession for Israel or Judah.  We don't have the office of prophet in the church or body of Christ, but we have the gift to prophesy in the name of the Lord to edification.

The prophets had a thankless job that was to tell news no one wanted to hear, it was rarely good, but pronouncements of judgments and sometimes they were even known as doomsayers.  If the prophet spoke against Jerusalem it was considered unpatriotic, like what happened to brave Jeremiah, who was subsequently thrown into a pit. The Israelites and Jews rejected the prophets, they killed most of them, and Jesus was their last chance to respond (cf. Deut. 18:18), and they rejected Him.

The fourfold purpose and calling of a prophet was to expose sin, call people back to God, warn of impending judgment, anticipate the Messiah (prophecies had present and future implications and interpretations).  The church doesn't have the office of prophet per se, but the gift of prophecy to edify and interpret the times is still available and valid. If you have heard of the time-interpreting expository preaching of Charles Colson, you'll realize what a modern-day prophet he was. 

Hosea says, "... the prophet is a fool; the man of the spirit is mad"  (Hosea 9:7, ESV).  You may have heard that in a mad world, only the mad are sane--well, the prophet was the only one who was right, and the whole nation was often in rebellion--God challenged Jeremiah to find just one just man in Jerusalem!  The end result is that the rebels won't find the Lord:  "... they shall go to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them"  (Hosea 5:6, ESV).  We get the prophets, teachers, and leaders we deserve, according to Micah 2:11!  The principle lesson to heed is that, when light is ignored or refused, it's taken away!   Soli Deo Gloria!  Hallelujah!  Amen!

By Nature Children Of Wrath

VERSES FOR PONDERING AND MEDIATION REGARDING DEPRAVITY: 


"The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually"  (Gen. 6:5, ESV, emphasis mine). 

"They have gone deep in depravity ...  He will remember their iniquity, He will punish their sins"  (Hosea 9:9, NASB). 

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"  (Jerimiah 17:9, ESV, emphasis mine).

"Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart"  (Prov. 21:2, ESV, emphasis mine).  

"No man can justify himself before God by a perfect performance of the Law's demands--indeed it is the straight-edge of the Law that shows us how crooked we are" (Rom. 3:20, J. B. Phillips, emphasis mine).

"The LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts"  (cf. 1 Chronicles 28:9). 

"... God withdrew from Hezekiah to see what was really in his heart"  (cf. 2 Chronicles 32:21).

"... God left him [Hezekiah] to himself, in order to test him and to know all that was in his heart"  (2 Chron. 32:31, ESV).  

"Being made then free from [the power of] sin, ye became the servants of righteousness [Christ]"  (Rom. 6:18, KJV).

NOTE THAT WE ARE SINNERS BY NATURE, BY BIRTH, AND BY CHOICE! Augustine said we are, in Latin, non posse non peccare, or we're unable not to sin--all we can do is sin!

WE ARE SINNERS NOT BECAUSE WE SIN.  RATHER, WE SIN BECAUSE WE ARE SINNERS, ACCORDING TO A FAMOUS THEOLOGICAL AXIOM.

Paul said in 1 Cor. 15:10, ESV,   "But by the grace of God I am what I am...."  We are what we are by nature, just like a pig is only acting according to its nature when it wallows in the mud after cleaned, we act consistently with the nature God gave us:  whether we are sanguine, choleric, melancholy, temperamental, even easy-going, or happy-go-lucky!  The good news is that our God always acts according to His nature and that means He acts perfectly according to a perfect nature, and He cannot act contrary to it.

"See,  this alone, I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes"  (Eccl. 7:29, ESV).  For all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory (cf. Rom. 3:23)!  If sin were a color like red, we'd be all red--you cannot be only a little depraved, no more than a little pregnant. We are radically corrupt, with no peripheral goodness to boast of in God's presence--our righteousness is as filthy rags and His gift to us, not our gift to Him. We are as bad off as we can be with our hearts totally evil and corrupt, that includes our will, mind, and affections.  They say we are totally depraved, but not utterly depraved--we're not as bad as we can possibly be, but as bad off.

We soon find out in life that we all have feet of clay and the adage that to err is human and that no body's perfect.  But we tend to compare ourselves with others and the run-of-the-mill sinner seems to estimate himself a saint compared to the likes of Hitler, the paradigm of evil in our times.  We have solidarity in Adam, sharing original sin and the effect of that sin in the perfect environment of the Garden of Eden.

Depravity is God's estimation of man, not our own self-estimation!  Some people indeed think they're okay in their estimation and don't even think they've sinned.  However, man is not basically good, but inherently evil and our sin permeates our very core of being.  The complete heart is depraved: the emotions in Psalm 37:4; the will in Exodus 7:20; and the intellect in Matt. 15:19.  In other words: Sin permeates our very being and our reasoning power is dead (cf. Rom. 8:7); our conscience is corrupt (cf. Tit. 1:5); our will is stubborn (cf. Rom.1:32); our desires are selfish and base (cf. Col. 3:5); and our thoughts are evil (cf. Gen 6:5).  Our minds, wills, bodies, and spirits are corrupt--our total soul and being.  We must expose the dark side to see ourselves for what we are--fallen creatures!   We have no intrinsic goodness nor intrinsic merit nor value nor dignity, but only extrinsic worth and dignity because we are in the image of God and are clay in the Potter's hands.

The trouble, someone has said, is that most people don't see how bad they are, and the catch-22 is that we must see how bad we are to be good and qualify for goodness, and we don't know that till we've tried to be good and seen the futility of the attempt without God.  Man never ceased to be man with the power of choice, but ceased to be good!   Indeed we are bad, but the good news is that we are not too bad to be saved, if we will only confess it and confession or homologeo in Greek means to say the same thing as we need to agree with God and come clean with Him.  Man's basic problem in thinking he's good is that he thinks he does good deeds (Isa. 64:6 says they are filthy rags!), and God says no one does good, no not one!  He is delusional in his self-estimation and is only being self-righteous.

"Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?  Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil"  (Jer. 13:23, ESV).   None of us even lives up to our own standards and perfectly obeys his own conscience:  Ovid said, "I see the better things and approve them, but I follow the worst."  All you have to do is read Romans 7:24, ESV, which emphatically says: Wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?") to see Paul's struggle with evil within.  We are great sinners, but there is a Great Savior!

The point in salvation is that we cannot clean up our act and that Jesus sees through and penetrates our veneer or masquerade.  We must realize that we are never good enough to be saved, but bad enough to need salvation by grace with nothing we can do to contribute to God's accomplishment on our behalf.  We assume God grades on a curve, but we are all in the same boat known as the universality of sin and all have fallen short of the ideal standard set by God through His Son.  We can't play games with God or fool Him!  God judges our motives, and even good deeds can be done for selfish reasons or evil motive, even to gain the approbation of God.  "And he [Amaziah] did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart"  (cf. 2 Chronicles 25:2).  Our solidarity in Adam always gives us away!

God sometimes lets man go his own way:  "But they say, 'That is in vain!  We will follow our own plans, and everyone act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart'"  (Jer. 18:12, ESV);  "'But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.  So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels"  (Psalm 81:12, ESV).

The reality, which is a paradox, is that man is not born free, but born a slave and in bondage to sin and the old sin nature; "... People are slaves to whatever has mastered them" ["... For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved"  (2 Pet. 2:10, ESV)]  (cf. 2 Pet. 2:19);  "... You belong to the power you choose to obey" [... "you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness" (Rom. 6:16, ESV)] (cf. Rom. 6:16). We "by nature children of wrath," according to Ephesians 2:3.

We need to be set free from our own wickedness and nature, and this can only be done by the power of Christ transforming our souls upon salvation.  "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36, ESV).   Paul says, "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace"  (Romans 6:14, ESV).

However, the problem of man is that he doesn't see his own sin and must be convicted (only the Holy Spirit can do this too), because man instinctively justifies his own sin and fails to see his shortcomings, but tends to think too highly of himself, in the best possible light, and that he is basically good, and not inherently evil through and through with no inherent goodness intact.

As Christians, we have been set free from bondage to Satan and our sin nature and don't have to obey sin or be its slave.  "... [A]nd let no iniquity get dominion over me"  (Psalm 119:133, ESV).  "Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me!"  (Psalm 19:13, ESV).    Soli Deo Gloria!

Life With A Capital "L"

ARE YOU EXISTING OR LIVING, IF YOU DON'T KNOW CHRIST YOU HAVE NO LIFE, PERIOD.  TO KNOW HIM IS TO LOVE, HIM AND THE HAPPIEST, MOST FULFILLED PEOPLE ARE THOSE IN LOVE AND HAVE PURPOSE FROM GOD, THAT IS BIGGER THAN LIFE.
Christians don't have to sin and have the power to overcome by faith:  "Being made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness"  (Rom. 6:18, KJV).  


Jesus came to bring us life, and life to the full, i.e., a more abundant life per John 10:10 and most Christians are living defeated lives, succumbing to the so-called Anfectung (German used by Luther), or attack of Satan, our adversary, and opponent. Eternal life isn't just in reference to time but begins upon salvation and we share in God's very life!   Christians don't have the right to live in the flesh, but the power to live in the Spirit!  When we sin, we don't show our freedom, but demonstrate our slavery, if we are overcome by a sin, and if any brother is caught in a sin (Gal. 6:1, ESV, says, "Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted"), not leading to death (1 John 5:16, ESV, says, "If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask...") we should pray and restore him.  To live the abundant life you must learn to walk with God like Noah did:  "Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God."  "Enoch [also] walked with God, and was not, for God took him" (i.e., raptured him to heaven!).

We don't just have the selective indwelling, but the permanent residence of God in our hearts to stay in sync with God and on the same page as the Spirit!  We are filled by God in order to accomplish a God-ordained and given task to His glory; we don't walk around on cloud nine or with our heads bowed in holiness.   We must cultivate the fruit of the Spirit and it is grown by grace, not all at once, but over time--we must be patient.  Love is the ultimate fruit of the Spirit, and the other eight winsome graces are but manifestations of it in various forms.  We walk in love, speak the truth in love, do deeds in love, and demonstrate God's love by loving our neighbor and people will know we are disciples by our calling card of love as the keynote.  ("They'll know we are Christians by our love!")

God gives us richly all things to enjoy per 1 Tim. 6:17 and will withhold no blessing from us that is for our own good (cf. Psalm 84:11 ) "... no good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly [walk with God!]").  We are blessed in all our endeavors and God makes it fruitful as we bear fruit that honors God in our work, which is done to bear the image of God.  There is a false,  prosperity theology, that says we can cash in on God's riches and we are automatically guaranteed riches and financial prosperity if we are right with the Lord.  But this is not what being prosperous and successful is.  Mother Teresa of Calcutta says, "God doesn't call us to success, but to faithfulness."

God doesn't want our achievements, he wants us and our obedience!   We don't do anything for God, He only uses us as vessels of honor to accomplish His will and glory; for our purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, according to  The Westminster Shorter Catechism (ca. 1646).  God says for us to open our mouths wide and He will fit it in Psalm 81:10 and many times says He will satisfy our needs and meet them when we are in His will (cf. Phil. 4:19).  God satisfies us with good things to enjoy, just as He gives food to all creatures.  Even our appetite comes from God, for some people have lost theirs and no longer enjoy food, which was meant to be our portion of blessing, along with our work, according to Eccl. 3:13.

This is our portion: to find purpose and meaning in life through Christ--there comes a time of maturity when we aren't looking for fun, but meaning and impact, and we want to leave a legacy, not just be thrill-seekers, living for the here and now; we are to live in light of eternity and live for something bigger than ourselves--that's the key, not to just live for yourself, in your own little world and reality. Living for self or having selfish ambition is a recipe for disaster and a formula for suicide.  We are meant to love others, not just ourselves!  Albert Schweitzer said that the only truly happy persons are those who have learned to serve others.

When God gives us a ministry to our brethren and/or a mission to our lost friends and neighbors, we commence to live and realize our potential in with the aid of the Spirit's filling and anointing. Paul sums it up in Col. 1:10, ESV, as follows:  "... bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God [Note that good works and knowing God are correlated!]."  Soli Deo Gloria!  

By The Grace Of God

"[H]e predestined us ... according to the purpose of his will"  (Ephesians 1:5, ESV). 

Paul would not boast, but in the Lord, but he was forced to tell of his sufferings for Jesus (cf. 2 Cor. 11) as if they were the marks of Jesus, a crown, and not just a feather in his cap.  Jesus warned him of the great things he must suffer for sake of His name upon his salvation experience in Acts 9:16.   We are all that we are by the grace of God, not just Paul. "By the grace of God, I am what I am..." (cf. 1 Cor. 15:10).   George Whitefield said, upon seeing a man dragged to the gallows, what he thought:  "There but for the grace of God, go I." That's humility, thinking of others rather than yourself, (if God were to withdraw His restraining grace from us, we'd be all worthy of prison or worse!), and thinking of your unworthiness compared to the grace of God.

None of us was elected conditionally, but unconditionally, and not according to anything we did or didn't do, or any work or righteousness in the flesh.  "Grace reigns through righteousness." (Cf. Rom. 5:21), and that means that grace is sovereign and when God decides to send grace it's irresistible and effectual in its purpose according to the will of God. God's sovereignty is over everything and absolute and is not limited by our freedom--what He says and decrees will happen according to plan! We have "believed through grace" (cf. Acts 18:27), and God quickened faith within us, as we received faith or were given it,  and didn't achieve it--it's a gift, not a work!  If it were a work we would have merit to boast of.  Merit is opposed to and counter to grace; we cannot earn salvation, didn't deserve it, and can never pay God back for it.

It is important to be grace-oriented to get away from the paralysis of legalism and the mentality that we have a performance-based faith and works earn favor with God or that we can ingratiate ourselves with Him.  "The faith you have is the faith you show, they say in theology.  Christians aren't saved by good works, but unto them and in order to do them as a result of gratitude and a changed heart.  We are indeed saved by faith alone, as the Reformers taught, but not by a faith that is alone!  Faith without works is dead, according to James 2:17 and we are not saved by them, nor without them, for they prove our faith as fruit--as a sign of a good tree.  (Ephesians 2:10 says we are "saved unto good works, which God ordained beforehand, that we should walk in them.")   God's providence guides us to a productive life of good deeds and works.

We cannot believe, except by grace, because Jesus said that we can do nothing apart from Him:  "Apart from Me you can do nothing"  (cf. John 15:5).  Every good thing comes from God, the Ultimate of Goodness or Supreme Good (of Plato), and source of all blessings; and every perfect gift is from grace to us to be stewards of.  Our righteousness, then, is not a gift or offering to God, but His gift to us!  "Who makes you to differ?  What do you have that you didn't receive?"  (Cf. 1 Cor. 4:7).  If left to ourselves, none of us would've chosen Christ (cf. Matt. 22:14, "Many are called, but few are chosen" and cf. John 15:16, "You did not choose me, but I chose you"). We weren't inclined to come to Him, and our destiny is ultimately in the hands of God, not ours!

The good works we do are God working through us as vessels of honor doing His bidding and will.  "I will not venture but to speak of what Christ has accomplished through me"  (cf. Romans 15:18).  "... you have done for us all our works"  (Isa. 26:12, ESV).  Our fruit is from God per Hosea 14:8 and the fruit of the Spirit is God's blessing on our lives as He cultivates us and causes us to grow; gifts are given, fruits are grown.  We don't automatically exhibit all the fruits as infant believers, but must grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, as 2  Pet. 3:18 exhorts.

Understanding grace is paramount to comprehend that salvation is all grace  (the work of God according to John 6:29, ESV, which says, "... This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent..!) and not our work:  "Salvation is of the LORD," according to Jonah 2:9 and that means it's not synergistic or a cooperative venture with God, nor a work of man alone apart from God's aid, but wholly accomplished by God;  salvation is the accomplishment of God, not the achievement of men, which is religion trying to gain the approbation of God and reach out to Him--Our God took the initiative and reached down to us in grace, seeing our hopelessness, and desperateness without His intervention.  He called us, not because of our works [of righteousness or pre-salvation works], but according to His purpose and grace (cf. 2 Tim. 1:9).  Works say "Do," while God says, "Done."

 No one can pat themselves on the back or give themselves kudos for achieving salvation as if they were wise, good, virtuous, or even intelligent!  It remains a mystery why God chooses some and not others ("the elect obtained unto it and the rest were hardened" according to Roman 11:7 and Acts 13:48 says that "as many as were appointed unto eternal life believed."

The Golden Chain of Redemption from Romans 8:29-30 makes it patent that God loses no one in the shuffle from foreknowledge to glorification--all who are called are justified, not some lucky ones who endure through trials or don't "lose their salvation." These verses militate against the prescient view that God elected us because we had or would have faith, instead, we are elected unto faith, not because of it--there is no room for any merit in our salvation.  You must distinguish between the inward call of God, which is always effectual, and the outward gospel call given by us to the lost to exhort them to repent and believe in Jesus, which can turn on deaf ears and be ineffectual.

And so none of us has the right to get a big head, even Paul had a thorn in the flesh to keep him from getting one, and we are all one in Christ, with no elite believers who are privileged or especially blessed--God is no respecter of persons and shows no partiality (cf. Rom. 2:11; Acts 10:34).  If we think we came to Christ on our own and by our own ability without being wooed, we probably left alone too and don't have the Spirit.  If we don't need regeneration or grace to believe, what good is it and who needs it?  The only ones who get the call are the ones the Father grants can come to Him and the ones He draws or woos (elko or to drag in Greek--implying force). 

There is no second blessing, or higher life, or work of grace, as some holiness-movement believers (Neo-Pentecostal or charismatics) will have you believe--nowhere are we commanded or exhorted to seek the "baptism" of the Spirit.  "We are all baptized into one body by the Spirit"  (cf. 1 Cor. 12:13).  There is one Lord, one faith, and only one baptism according to Eph. 4:4!  Soli Deo Gloria!  

Who Does Jesus Think He Is?

"And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes"  (Mark 1:22, ESV).

"The officers answered, Never man spake like this man" (John 7:46, KJV), who reported to the authorities.  Jesus was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God (cf. John 10:33), even claiming that the Father and Him were one [in essence].  In one sense the triune God is a threesome or three (in one), but in another, it is a unity of one being with three persons in a relationship.  Elohim, the plural of God (El) is used by God in Genesis and God refers to Himself as a unity of one in Deut. 6:4, using the Hebrew echad, meaning one as in a cluster or unity.  They are one in Spirit and one in purpose and will, but three in self-distinction and personality.

Jesus didn't go around advertising that He was the Son of David, or the Son of God, though He never denied it (He was forced to confess it at His trial as the Son of the Blessed One). Note that with all due respect to the founders of all the other world religions, only Jesus claimed to be God (cf. John 8:58, says, "Before Abraham was, I AM" and  John 8:24 really says, "Unless you believe that I AM, you shall die in your sins" and in John 14:9 He says, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father"), and this is why the authorities despised and hated Him and were jealous of His powers and influence of the people--they knew what He was claiming!  "If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him..." (John 11:48, ESV).

Jesus usually used figures of speech, but He didn't always beat around the bush by indirect claims but spoke plainly enough for his disciples to recognize Him as the Messiah or Christ the Lord.  Peter confessed Him as the Son of God.  His favorite title for Himself was Son of Man (cf. Daniel 7:13), showing Him identifying with us as the Messiah, as this was a known messianic title from Daniel. George Gordon, Lord Byron said that "if ever man was God, or God man, Jesus Christ was both." He wasn't half God and half man, but the God-man (theanthropos in Greek), being all God and all man in one permanent incarnation or personification.  Some find it incredible to believe a man could become God or deified, but they can accept the historical fact of the incarnation when God became man! They besought Him to tell them plainly and He did, but they wouldn't listen or understand. John 12:37 says that even though he performed many signs, they would not (not could not) believe in Him.

The most striking aspect of His teaching and some just saw Him as a good teacher ("... Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God:  for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him"  (John 3:2, KJV). It is patronizing to think of Him only as a good teacher or moral leader or even martyr for a good cause--these are not valid options to consider concerning Him.  "You call Me Lord and teacher, and so I am."  He never prefaced His teachings with "thus saith the Lord" but directly said it as if speaking as God, not for God.  He didn't speak by authority, but with authority, and no man ever spoke so audaciously before; others would commonly quote the authorities, like renowned and learned teachers and Pharisees.  When He spoke it was not introduced by phrases like "It is said," but "I say unto you."  The critics would just mutter, 'Who does He think He is?"  In respect to His teaching:  "[F]or he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not their scribes"  (Matt. 7:29, ESV).

About calling Himself the Son of God and not denying it (John 1:49 says, "... Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel"), He pointed out that we are all sons of God in the sense of being His creatures and challenged them: who was David's Son? When He referred to Himself as the Son of Man, the Pharisees knew very well that this was a messianic title and just who He was claiming to be.  Indeed, the teachers and Pharisees got the message and weren't as clueless as they pretended--they even remembered that He predicted His resurrection, which the disciples didn't understand or anticipate.  Even Nicodemus, the so-called "teacher of Israel," didn't know where He was coming from at first, but after the encounter at night came over to sympathize with His cause, and took His side--even helping to anoint and bury Him.

Normally you don't believe someone who makes claims of deity or divinity which they can't substantiate (Father Divine of Philadelphia, now deceased, and Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church of Korea and whose followers are called Moonies, for instance), but Jesus' claims were consistent with his credentials and the witness of signs and wonders.  There have been numerous wannabes and would-be messianic figures, but they are easily dismissed.   If Jesus had been a devil, a madman, sincerely deceived teacher, or a liar, wouldn't the disciples had figured it out and had Him pegged after three years of close contact; familiarity normally breeds contempt!

People will die for what they believe is true, but these men were in a position to know the truth, fanatics and religious extremists aren't.  Napoleon thought he could conquer Europe, but languished on St. Helena in exile, reading and studying the Bible, contemplated Jesus:  "I know men, and I tell you Jesus was no mere man." When anyone considers the evidence the only credible hypothesis is that Jesus is the Son of God, but acknowledging this is not salvation, you must know Him, love Him, and follow Him as you trust in Him as Savior and submit to Him as Lord.

Other religious leaders are self-effacing, while Jesus was self-advancing or promoting and His teaching was self-centered.  You can take Buddha out of Buddhism and the faith remains intact, but Christ is what Christianity is all about; its essence is that Christ is God in the flesh!   Actually, the whole of Scripture is all about Jesus on every page and in every book.  It wasn't just Jesus who was His own witness: the Father and Holy Spirit gave approval of Him, and said, "This is My beloved Son...."

His miracles were really signs of His deity and were consistent, not helter-skelter, for prestige, personal gain, showy, fantastic, haphazard, capricious, without any reason, ostentatious, nor for personal gain or profit, but out of love as the motive to confirm faith.  He did everything that you would expect a God-man to do and was everything you'd expect Him to be.  I rest my case: there's no reason to doubt due to lack of evidence or irrationality.  If one is willing, God will authenticate the truth--He's no man's debtor--"seek and you will find" (cf. Matt. 7:7).

The conclusion of the matter is that anyone can make claims and do to be a somebody, and many have claimed to be Israel's Messiah, but their lives have to be consistent with their testimony and not belie it.  Jesus' life was of such caliber and moral uprightness that there is sufficient reason to believe he wasn't a deluded madman, lunatic, liar, or mistaken because he invariably practiced what He preached and preached what He practiced.  Usually, familiarity breeds contempt, but not in this case, the disciples recognized His holiness and no one could convict Him of sin or convince Him of it, they verified in their writings that He was without sin.  One disciple says to Christ:  "Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man."

They willingly verified and proved the veracity of their witness to His resurrection by the sacrifice of their lives in martyrdom--people don't normally lie when threatened with death.  Just like Elvis impersonators are easy to spot, it is easy to realize that Jesus will never be surpassed or equaled (neither by predecessor nor by disciple nor by wannabe nor even rival).  You don't compare others with Him, but you contrast them with Christ.

Fanatics and religious extremists will die for what they believe is true, but they are not in a position to know the truth, as the disciples were, and they died to prove their veracity concerning their witness of the resurrection and the risen Jesus.   You don't normally believe someone was born of a virgin either (Buddha claimed his father was a white elephant and Alexander the Great and Augustus Caesar claimed their fathers were serpents!), but if they lived like Jesus there would be ample reason to believe it. Soli Deo Gloria! 

Heart Of Worship

"... [Shout] unto God with the voice of triumph"  (Psalm 47:1, KJV).
"I WAS glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD"  (Psalm 122:1, KJV).
"Blessed is the people who know the joyful sound..."  (Psalm 89:15, KJV).
"Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with song of praise" (Psalm 95:2, ESV).
"Blessed are the people who know the festal shout [call to worship]"  (Psalm 89:15, ESV).

The heart of the matter of worship is that it's a matter of the heart; it reflects the condition of your heart and the extent of its surrender and offering to God, not how much of the Spirit you have, but how much of you the Spirit has.  When someone says that he didn't get much out of worship, it only reveals his ignorance of its purpose--to glorify, extol, and lift up the Lord--that your motives are wrong and your worship for the wrong reason.  The reason we worship is that we are designed for it and it is only natural--we are called homo divinus, or homo religiosus, meaning we are fulfilled and meant for worship as religious beings--much more, we will worship someone or something, if not God; however, God is the only one worthy of our worship.  "Worthy are you ... to receive glory..." (Rev. 4:11, ESV).

Worship is about having an encounter with the God who is there; in fact, Christianity is not about believing in God,  but the God who is is there.  Francis Schaeffer says, "He is there, and He is not silent."  Indeed, God melts us, molds, fills us and then uses us in worship as we recharge our spiritual batteries and get our checkup in the corporate worship experience of the local body of believers that we congregate and assemble with regularly. There is no one-size-fits-all for worship and that's probably why there are so many worship experiences; some are demonstrative, some stoical, but God sees the heart, while man looks on the outward appearance (cf. 1 Sam. 16:7).  Posture and gestures can be important, but mere lip service is vain and fruitless.  We don't want to be  like Israel:  "... 'Is the LORD among us or not?'"  (Ex. 17:7, ESV).

Worship is what church is all about, even in our giving we are doing it.  And going to church should not be considered something on our to-do list or something we do perfunctorily, but something we gladly and willing do; you could say we "get to" worship God, not that we have to.  Some say that they can worship God in the cornfield, so why attend church?  Worship is more than music (Jubal invented in in Gen. 4), and some think they only go to church to hear a sermon, but we must realize that there is a purpose for each part of the service in our worship experience.   They haven't discovered the power of corporate worship and that whenever two or three are gathered together in His name, Jesus promises to be present.  Hebrews 10:25 exhorts us not to forsake the assembling together of ourselves--this is a command--God gives no advice, suggestions, or hints.

Worship is important to us because we learn to connect with God and it changes us, not God--God invites us to join Him in His joy and gladness (cf. Neh. 8:10).  The call to worship is to focus on who God is and what He has done as we thank Him for His actions, and praise Him for His being.  We have the right attitude when we are in awe and humble ourselves before Him in Spirit and in truth.  Remember, worship is about God, it's not about you!  We learn to seek the presence of the Lord and His face and to be used by God in our surrender to bring Him joy.

We need to be reminded of the Spirit on a regular basis to keep in touch and not lose track of our fellowship--it's easy to drift off and backslide without regular fellowship and corporate worship--none of us is a rock or an island that needs nobody else--we all need each other for expression and mutual ministry  Remember, worship is active and not passive, not something we listen to, but take part in and put all that we are able into it.  Some have a form of godliness in so-called will worship, but deny the power thereof (cf. 2 Tim. 3:5).

Church, then is not a place for the goody-goodies to gather or those who think that it's a crutch for weak people or losers--indeed, no perfect people need apply, as God calls not the righteous, but sinners to repentance and church should be viewed as a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints.  They say that it's filled with hypocrites too, but we should tell them to join in because they'd feel right at home!   We don't abandon church or Christ as believers, but we can drift away slowly and should know the warning signs, like our worship becoming routine and perfunctory and hypocritical.  The church is our lifeblood and the means of our renewal because the body needs each member and we are all in it together to glorify God and fulfill the Great Commission.  The church is not meant to be a comfortable place for sinners to feel at home, but where the gospel is preached and people are enjoined to come to a decision, and making no decision is making a "No!" decision.

We must realize that "God inhabits the praises of His people"  (cf. Psalm 22:3) and that we enter His gates with thanksgiving, His courts with joy (cf. Psalm 100:3) and that we should bless Him with all that is within us--all our being (cf. Psalm 103:1)--and be ourselves, not hypocritical.  God thrives on worship and "The Lord takes pleasure in His people"  (cf. Psalm 149:4a, CEV).  We must worship God "in Spirit and in truth" (cf. John 4:24).  The essence of worship is bringing joy and pleasure to God, and whenever we feel this joy in the Spirit, no matter what our endeavor--even working--it is worship and brings glory to God. "... [W]hatever you do, do to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31, ESV).  When God smiles on you, or you feel His pleasure, you're worshiping.

You can go to church to worship God or you can go to the factory to worship Him, for authentic worship is the offering of ourselves the way we are in our daily lives--we live and breathe worship! We must see the whole world as His temple and fertile territory for worship.  Wherever we sense awe, love, respect, and fear we have the right attitude to come before His presence in thanksgiving for what He's done and praise for who He is and put ourselves in the frame of mind to worship.  Our life is an offering to God as we present ourselves to Him in devotion and live to His glory as vessels of honor!   Let all that is within us praise the Lord!

Just like prayer, worship should change us, not God, and one should say that they realize we have been in the presence of God or have been with the Lord, as your "cup overflows."   Finally, we must realize our need for worship and that it is a litmus test of our spiritual growth and condition, and we cannot thrive or grow without it having its rightful place. Soli Deo Gloria! 

Out Of The Slave Market Of Sin

Please reflect on and ponder the following verses relating to our freedom in Christ! 

"Being made free from sin, ye become the servants of righteousness"  (Rom. 6:18, KJV).

"Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything [namely, sin]"  (Acts 13:38, ESV).

"For freedom [liberty] Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke [bondage to] of slavery [to the Law or legalism]"  (Gal. 5:1, ESV).   

"Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin.  But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is" (1 John 3:6, NLT).  [Carnality is temporary.]

"Those who have been born into God's family do not make a practice of sinning, because God's life is in them.  So they can't keep on sinning, because they are children of God"  (1 John 3:9, NLT).

"So if the Son [only Christ can liberate us from sin's power] sets you free, you will be free indeed [from sin's bondage]"  (John 8:36, ESV).

"Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything"  (Acts 13:38, ESV). 

INTRO IN ITALICS:
Note that it's the prerogative of the Holy Spirit to convict of sin, performing an open-and-shut case, while the adversary, the devil, merely accuses us of sin.  We are only responsible for what God reveals to us and convicts us of, not any vague sense of guilt or having a guilt-complex.  Jesus challenged the authorities and Pharisees to convict Him of sin (cf. John 8:46), and He knew no sin, did no sin, and had no sin, yet Christ became sin on our behalf and suffered its full penalty.   But He had to live for us also a life of obedience to the Law of Moses, in order for God to impute His righteousness to us.


Theologians define our situation of depravity as follows:  "We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners [we can't help but sin and only do what's natural to our nature]."  We are not basically good but evil: inherently and thoroughly tainted from the image of God:  "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots  Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil"  (Jer. 13:23, ESV).   Paul says in Romans 3 that there is none that does good, no not one! Saint Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, proclaimed our predicament:  non posse non peccare or that we are unable not to sin--we can only sin as natural men, even our good deeds are tainted and have wrong motives, our righteousness is as filthy rags per Isaiah 64:6 and our righteousness is not our gift to God, but His gift to us (cf. Isa. 45:24).  Our fruit is from Him (cf. Hos. 14:8) and "... [He] has done for us all our works" (Isaiah 26:12, ESV).  Paul said in Romans 15:8 (ESV):  For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me...." 

At salvation, we are redeemed from the slave market of sin and set free, no longer in bondage to our old sin nature as its slave, but given the power to overcome.  Indeed if we remain in our sins or continue in them we are not free. There is no category of believer who is in perpetual sin or carnality if he is unrepentant, he is lost--the believer may fail his Lord, but he yearns to obey.  Obedience is the only true test of saving faith, as a Lutheran pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was martyred by the Nazis, said, "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes." However, we see the result of salvation:   "For sin shall have no dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace"  (cf. Rom. 6:14).

As believers, we are saved from the penalty of sin at salvation, the power of sin in time, and the presence of sin in eternity.  We are born to become overcomers and be masters of our own domain, and comfort zone, not like fish out of water.  Who is it that overcomes the world, but he who believes in the Son of God? (Cf. 1 John 5:5).  We also know that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one (cf. 1 John 5:20).  We ought to consider ourselves dead to sin, no longer obeying that cruel taskmaster.

Romans 6:16 (NLT) says, "Don't you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey?  You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living."   And 2 Pet. 2:19 (NLT) says, "They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption.  For you are a slave to whatever controls you."    Jesus said that unless you believe He is who He says He is, you will die in your sins (cf. John 8:24).  

We are to examine our fruit regularly (cf. 2 Cor. 13:5) to see if we are walking in the Spirit and following on to know the Lord in fellowship and obedience.  We have been rescued from Satan's power and the power of our own selves because we are our own worst enemy.  The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us to overcome sin and set us free:  "[That] I may know him and the power of his resurrection..." (Phil. 3:10, ESV).

However,  the adversary knows our weaknesses and vulnerabilities and exploits them to catch us at an opportune time after a victory or on a spiritual high.  Epictetus appropriately said that we are never free till we have mastered ourselves.    Everyone has some easily besetting sin (cf. Heb. 12:1) or even pet sin that they find difficult to stop committing and keeps tripping them up.  But the good news is that there is always an escape clause and way to defeat it because no sin is a temptation Christ didn't face and overcome--He is able to sympathize with our weakness and even intercede for us when we do sin.

The whole purpose of repentance is not to change your opinions about your sins, but to come to a change of heart, which means mind, feelings, and will.  It will result in the fruit of a changed life and conduct (cf. Acts 26:20; Luke 3:8).  We "must prove [our] repentance by [our] deeds" (cf. Acts 26:20).  We must also bring forth fruit worthy of our repentance.  No fruit, no repentance.  The key to overcoming sin is genuine repentance, and confession, which implies saying the same thing about as God says and being willing to stop it;  we must be sorry enough to quit!  Our commission:  "... [That] repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem"  (Luke 24:47, ESV).

The trouble with the sinner is that he doesn't see his own sin, according to Martin Luther,  and even flatters himself too much to hate it (cf. Psalm 36:2).  We don't have the power in ourselves to overcome sin, but must learn to walk in the Spirit--the secret to that is to keep short accounts of your sin with regular and frequent confession.  Walking with God is only possible with progressive and continued repentance--it's a way of life, not something we go to confession to do and be absolved by a priest.

We can fall from grace, but not the state of grace, and not absolutely; however, we can and do backslide, but God can heal us of it and restore us (cf. Hos. 14:4).  Paul told the Galatians just that and to stand fast in the liberty they had in Christ.  The whole point of salvation is to be saved from the tyranny of sin and live a transformed life in Christ:  "... [And ] you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins"  (Matt. 1:21, ESV).

Religion is an exercise in futility as one lifts himself up by his bootstraps and reforms himself and engages in a do-it-yourself proposition, while Christ gives us the power for change by grace [a foreign word to world religion]. Conversion is not an acceptable way to have a nervous breakdown, but a transformed life, not done by self-help, an AA-like pledge, nor self-reform, but God changing one from the inside out.  When sin abounded, grace abounded all the more (cf. Romans 5:20).

Victorious living is then learning to put off the old man, and put on the new man, made in the image of Christ. "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom"  (2 Cor. 3:17, ESV).    In sum, when we sin we are not showing our freedom, but demonstrating our slavery!
Soli Deo Gloria! 

Answering God's Call

 "Those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified..."  (Rom. 8:30, ESV). [Note that no one is lost in the shuffle of salvation!] 
"This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent" (cf. John 6:29).
"... Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice"  (cf. John 18:37). 
"... [A]s many as were appointed to eternal life believed"  (Acts 13:48, ESV).  

"I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision," (cf. Acts 26:19). 

Man gives the outward, general call  (cf. Titus 2:11) of the biblical evangel to the world, exhorting repentance and faith via the preaching of the Word's gospel message--to preach the Word.   Man's call is often rejected and ineffectual, and can fall on deaf ears!  They say that the convert hears the gospel and rejects it 7.6 times before coming to saving faith.  Even the demons believe and tremble (cf. James 2:19) and God requires a faith that is alive with worship and devotion, but also discipline and obedience.  No fruit--no faith (the instrumental means)--no salvation (no evidence)!  We may say in resignation, "Let the chips fall where they may!" but God is the sole primary cause of the universe--we're merely secondary causes used by God to accomplish His will and bring Him glory!  We exist, to bring glory to God (cf. Isa. 43:7):  "The chief end of man is to glorify God, and enjoy Him forever" (cf. The Westminster Shorter Catechism).

Some people merely produce foliage, not fruit, because they aren't abiding in the vine and they will be pruned.  It is important to note that the gospel in vogue isn't necessarily the one Paul preached--and he pronounced an anathema on those false teachers who watered down the gospel (a different gospel or dumb-downed version) or mixed it with works, and forsook the way of grace alone.  Grace and works don't mix!  We are indeed saved by grace alone, through the channel of faith alone, and this must be invested in Christ alone, all according to the authority of Scripture alone, so as to ensure the glory going to God alone.  There's no merit system in our salvation--God doesn't grade on a curve.

We must respond to the inner calling of the gospel to our souls (cf. Romans 8:30) that must respond to the so-called wooing or drawing of the Holy Spirit.  John 6:44 makes it clear that the Father must "draw" one, and John 6:65 makes it clear that God must "grant" the privilege of believing in Him.   God grants faith and salvation (cf. Phil. 1:29) and it is a gift and not a work (a meritorious one)!  If it were a work we would have reason to boast, but Titus 3:5 says we're not saved "by works of righteousness which we have done."

Paul says in Eph. 2:9 that we are not saved by works--the reason being to eliminate boasting or bragging before God.  Now, the wooing of God is necessary and sufficient to bring us to Christ: no one would come to  Him without it; if we came to Him alone, we will leave alone!   God's call is irrevocable and efficacious, meaning that it is a permanent call and God gets His desired effect."As many as were ordained to eternal life believed" (cf. Acts 13:48).  AND WE HAVE "BELIEVED THROUGH GRACE." (CF. ACTS 18:27).  We receive our faith, we don't achieve it  (cf. 2 Pet. 1:1). 

Some believe that God woos all men, this would make God out to be a failure; however, those whom He woos do come and without regret--no one who believes is ever disappointed in God. (cf. John 5:24).  If you are inclined to ascribe universality to wooing, then does He woo equally?  And why do only some respond?  There is no way to avoid this doctrine without assigning merit.  Our salvation is a pure act of grace and there is no room for works--we are not saved by works, but not without them!  This doctrine refers to the irresistible grace of God--God's grace is sovereign and reigns (cf. Rom. 5:21).  Christ is Master of our fate, and Captain of our soul.

Our destiny is ultimately in God's hands, not ours (cf. Psalm 31:15; Job 23:14)!  If we had to do anything for it, we'd fail, and so God does everything in our monergistic salvation--we do not take part in it nor contribute, nor cooperate with "pre-salvation" works either.   God must regenerate us by quickening faith and granting repentance  (cf. 2 Tim. 2:25) in order to save us--we don't save ourselves--if you put faith ahead of regeneration, you are effectually saving yourself.   If you can believe without being regenerated, what good is regeneration? If our salvation were in our hands and up to us, we'd blow it or botch it!   Salvation is grace from beginning to end as Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith.  It is not a human achievement, but divine accomplishment!  God makes us willing and able to believe and repent: Scripture says, "For God is at work with you, both to do and to will of His good pleasure" (cf. Phil. 2:13; cf. Col. 1:29; Heb. 13:21).

God calls and we answer, those who are of the truth hear the words of truth and hear God's voice and calling.   Jesus said that His sheep hear His voice and follow Him.  It is not the calling that saves on, nor faith in the calling, but faith in the One making the call:  "Many are called, but few are chosen" (cf. Matt. 22:14) refers to the general call of the gospel message to the world at large. "The elect attained unto it, the rest were hardened [blinded]" (cf. Rom. 11:7).   We must always remember that we didn't choose Him, but He chose us (cf. John 15:16).  We are the elected ones, and remember this point of doctrine:  We are elected unto faith (see the ordo salutis and the Golden Chain of Redemption), not because of faith, which is the false prescient view--Romans 8:29-30 militates against it.   For whom He calls, He regenerates unto faith and repentance (cf. 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Thess. 2:13), and simultaneously justifies them.  We don't get any credit for believing, it is given or received, not achieved, and we cannot conjure it up--it comes by the hearing and the hearing of the Word of God (cf. Rom. 10:17).

Christians have answered the call and will be fit for being His vessels of honor, we all have to make sure of our calling and election (cf. 2 Pet. 10), though, because assurance is not an automatic fruit of salvation.  "Have mercy on some who doubt, [offer reassurance from the Word]" says Jude 22.  John writes to give assurance of salvation; obviously, it's not a sure thing (John 20:31; 1 John 5:13).  Paul said that if we are faithless, He remains faithful (2 Tim. 2:13).  In the final analysis, we must not divorce faith and works, they are distinguished but not separate--we are saved by faith alone, but no by a faith that is alone (from the Reformer's battle cry) as James 2:17 says, "Faith without works is dead"  (can that faith save?).

In sum, God reserves the right to call whom He will and to have mercy on whom He will and harden whom He will (cf. Rom. 9:15).   Some sinners receive mercy, some receive justice, but God is unjust to no one.   God predestined us according to His good pleasure and the purpose of His will, not according to anything we did (cf. Eph. 1:5; Titus 3:5).

Finally, let me sum up citing three verses:  "[W]ho saved us and called us to a holy calling not because of our works but according to his purpose and grace..." (2 Tim. 1:9, ESV); "God in heaven appoints each man's work"  (John 3:27, NLT).

"... 'A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven'"  (John 3:27, ESV).   Soli Deo Gloria! 

No Plan B

"I am the LORD; if I say it, it will happen"   (Ezek. 12:25, NLT). 
"No human wisdom or understanding or plan can stand against the LORD"  (Prov. 21:30, NLT).   
"It is useless for you to fight against my will [kick against the goads]"  (cf. Acts 26:14, NLT).  
"I will tell you the future before it happens"  (Isa. 42:9, NLT). 
"Have you not heard?  Long ago I did it, From ancient times I planned it, Now I have brought it to pass:  (Isaiah 37:26, NASB--cf. 2 Kgs. 19:25).  

God has no backup plan in case the church is remiss to fulfill the Great Commission!  But God's purposes are fulfilled regardless, and He cannot fail:  "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand" (Prov. 19:21, ESV).  God sees history as a sure thing, under His control and there can be no surprise.  God does uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all things, actions, and creatures, from the smallest sub-atomic particle to the largest galaxy (cf. from the divines of The Westminster Confession of Faith, 1646)!

There are no so-called fortuitous events, but only decreed ones, and the blind kismet of Islam is fatalistic and impersonal; both are unsuitable and unfit to our God. God oversees and superintends:  "Can anything happen without the LORD's permission?"  (Cf. Lam. 3:37).  God need not figure the odds, because He reigns.  "Only I can tell you the future before it ever happens"  (Isa. 46:10, NLT).  "The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples" (Psalm 33:10, ESV).

We can see God's fingerprint everywhere:  There is order, purpose, and design--He is "before all things and in Him all things consist" (cf. Col. 1:17).  You may wonder if you have missed the boat for God's will, and you were left behind and will pay the price for the rest of your days:  "The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me..." (Psalm 138:8, ESV).  "I cry out to God Most Hgh, to God who fulfills his purpose for me"  (Psalm 57:2, ESV).  The doctrine of Providence is largely ignored by preachers today, but knowing it gives proper orientation to God's sovereign plan for us.  Never forget that God reigns, and is in control--"Dominion belongs to the LORD, and He rules over the nations" (cf. Psalm 22:28).  There is no detail too minute or trivial that escapes His attention, and no problem too big for God to handle--every thing's small to Him! God is not our spectator!  There are no flukes to history as His story!

God is never thwarted and frustrated by His creatures:  "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted"  (Job 42:2, ESV).  God took everything into consideration!  God gets His way and does as He pleases!  "For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it?  His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?"  (Isa. 14:27, ESV).  "The LORD of hosts has sworn:  'As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand"  (Isa. 14:24, ESV).  God isn't taken aback by us because He is pansophic and knows all--He doesn't just see the future, but controls it and plans it!  God cannot fail nor make mistakes, because He has all power over His creatures, as well as creation itself.

We are part of some grand scheme of God, some chord that will vibrate into eternity, some intricate plan in which God is the main actor who appears front and center, we merely have roles in His play.   There is nothing haphazard in God's plan, there's no happenstance, but all are come to pass of necessity according to John Wycliffe. There are no coincidences, and no chance events, but God even controls the role of the dice (cf. Prov. 16:33).  As Einstein said, "God doesn't play dice!"  He doesn't have to because He also knows all that possibly could be and every contingency.  His sovereignty isn't limited by our freedom, because He wouldn't be completely sovereign then, and things could be up in the air and open to chance occurrence.  But there is no chance event, because He doesn't merely reign as a do-nothing God, but rules on His throne.  Fortunately, God deals in certainties, not possibilities or conjectures. Our future is thereby assured and determined as secure as His throne.


We are not worshiping our sovereign God, but at the altar of Almighty Chance when we don't recognize God's guidance of all events, "who works all things according to the counsel of his will" (cf. Eph. 1:11, ESV).  Nebuchadnezzar cried out, "... [A]nd none can stay his hand or say to him, "What have you done?"  (Dan. 4:35, ESV).  The only reason one needs a backup plan is because of lack of foresight or power to follow through on your intentions--God knows all and is able to take all into consideration, and His omnipotence or plenipotence is able to have all power over His creation and manipulate it at will. God certainly governs in the affairs of men and orchestrates all history as His grand story of our redemption--the redemptive narrative.

God cannot fail and the prime example of this is how He defeated Satan on the cross by turning a seemingly evil and calamitous event into good and to bring Him glory.  "Surely the wrath of men praise [God]'  (cf. Psalm 76:10)--this is God's way of defeating evil.  We can see from the crucifixion that God can work with the most diabolical of events (cf. Acts 2:23; 4:28), the short-term evil for the long-term good, as He allows and permits them.   There are no "accidents of history" and God means it for our good, when evil happens like Joseph told his brothers in Gen. 50:20, "... [Y]ou meant evil against me; but God meant it for good...."

We are all here for a purpose and that means we should find purpose in what we do, a life without purpose is a waste of time and trivial.  "For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep..."  (Acts 13:36, ESV). We are but vessels of God to be used for His glory and He gladly rewards us for what He accomplishes through us:  "For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me..."  (Romans 15:18, ESV). Indeed, "... God has done for us all our works" (Isa. 26:12).  It is an honor to be used!

God leaves nothing to chance--He is sovereign over all creation, and what kind of God wouldn't be?  Albert Einstein said, "God doesn't play dice!"  God works to accomplish His will through vessels of honor and dishonor, nevertheless, it's His will that is completed.  God is not confined nor defined by the time-space continuum in which we are bound and He created, He sees what the future holds and is outside of our dimensions and can control them, meaning He can know all by virtue of His sovereignty and omnipotence and can control all by virtue of His omnipotence and sovereignty--they're distinguished, but not separated, meaning you cannot divorce these attributes!  

Bear in mind God is "too wise to make a mistake, too kind to be cruel, and too deep to explain Himself!"  Newsflash:  All is going according to plan!  David says confidently trusting in God:  "The course of my life is in Your power" (Ps. 31:15, HCSB).  We may not know the future, but we know who holds the future!    Soli Deo Gloria! 

When God Says "No"

"Before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear"  (Isaiah 65;24, KJV)
"Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things, that you have not known"  (Jer. 33:3, ESV).

Ephesians 5:17 tells us not to "be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is."  Yes, it has been granted unto us the right to know God's will and it is our esteemed privilege to seek it and our joy to do it even as David delighted in the will of God (cf. Psalm 40:8) and was called a man after God's own heart.  We must know God's will to pray in the Spirit and the only prayers that He is obliged to answer are those according to His will (cf. 1 John 5:14).  James tells us that we ask and do not receive because we ask amiss--not according to God's will, with wrong motives of our own pleasures (cf. James 4:3).  It is a sin to be lax in this godly discipline, a sin of omission.

The whole joy of prayer is prayer in tune with God's will and in sync with the Lord, or being on the same page as the Divinity.  The "whole purpose of prayer is prayer" and to attain to the throne room of God and approach the throne of grace with boldness (cf. Heb. 4:16).  The primary reason many do not pray is that they don't know God's will and are not seeking it.  Also, you will never know God's will if you are unwilling to do it and go where it may lead; thus surrender is a key to prayer as we pray in relinquishment, "Thy will be done [Matt. 6:10]."   The easy yoke Jesus was talking about, as opposed to the Law of Moses, was to know, follow, and do God's will in the filling of the Spirit.

God reserves the right to nix our prayers and to decline any will of our own that is interposed on His divine plan and will.  God isn't in the business of naysaying for naught but must honor the harmony and perfect will that has His glory in mind--the end result of all is to the glory of God.  There are many reasons God may refuse to answer according to the way we see things in our limited reality:  He knows the future and time is no essence to Him; we don't know what is good for us, but our Father does; God is not our "genie" and doesn't exist to do us favors; God's wisdom trumps ours; and sometimes God is just saying "Wait."

Finally, it is the love of God that puts divine restraint on Him to always give us what we want.  God may not answer the way we want because of a lack of faith, because this is the primary condition of prayer along with asking in Jesus' name or what is consistent with His nature and will glorify Him accordingly.  The spirit of unforgiveness closes the door until we seek reconciliation with our brother.

Primary reasons God doesn't answer our prayers are that we fail to meet the conditions of prayer:  Jesus said, "If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you"  (John 15:7).  Familiarity, even continuing in the Word (cf. John 8:31) is a prerequisite to knowing God's will, and thus of prayer! One often overlooked the conditions of prayer are obedience and fellowship, for the Lord will not hear us if we regard iniquity in our heart or are willfully disobedient  (cf. Psalm 66:18; Ezek. 8:18).

It is an exercise in futility to fight or attempt to manipulate God and insist on your own way;  God may grant it and say, "Okay, have it your way!" (Psalm 81:12, NASB, says:  "So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, to walk in their own devices.")   This is what we don't want, believe it or not, because our way is of chaos and will not result in blessing--the Father knows best and we ought to trust Him!   When  God says "No" we must accept it as the grace of God and His refusal is always merciful, as a doting parent withholds candy from a baby.

The problem we have is that we are captives of time, and "time and tide wait for no man" (Sir Walter Scott); however, God is independent of the time-space continuum and sees and knows all, and is the only one in position to answer prayer wisely.  We must realize that most of our prayers are self-serving if we don't commit to God's will and we pray with strings attached, wanting something out of God.  When God says "No" we shouldn't feel disheartened, for the Father said "No" to Jesus at Gethsemane, much to Jesus' dismay. We all have to accept that God knows best and relinquish ourselves--without being fazed or dismayed in our faith--and we should never react or waver because of a negative answer.

One chief reason that God doesn't answer our prayers is that we give up and resign to accept fate, as it were.  "We should always pray and not lose heart" (cf. Luke 18:1).  That is, persevere or be persistent!  The point Jesus made in the Sermon on the Mount is that we should keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking (cf. Matt. 7:7).  Cotton Mather prayed for two or more hours every day for twenty years, and the revival he prayed for came the year he died.

And so, it seems that sometimes God isn't' saying "No" to us, but testing our patience and waiting till the time is right.  Only He knows when the time is right and the future is in His hands according to His timetable, not ours.  Knowing God's will is paramount; for if you knew that all that happened to you was to the glory of God, and ultimately served to the advance of the gospel, wouldn't you rejoice and be glad?  Aren't you glad that sometimes God had something better in mind for you? If God answered all our prayers as we wanted, we'd soon mess up our lives if God were to always say, "Okay, have it your way!" 

The motivation to pray is not to get something out of God or to get what we want, but to allow God to display His glory.  We don't pray to get our will done in heaven, but God's will done on earth, it is said.  The joy is in praying or enjoying fellowship and in the secure knowledge that He hears us, not that an occasional prayer is nixed or denied.   Nevertheless, rejoice that God hears you and has inclined His ear to your petitions and that He even answers one of them is a "bonus" or fringe benefit of knowing Him.

The essence of prayer, then, is aligning ourselves with the will of God to achieve His glory.  So get in harmony with God and it will be no problem when He says "No." Your prayers will avail with God, and accomplish His glory and will when you meet all requisites for praying in the Spirit.  The miracle and wonder are that He is inclined to hear us and answer any of our prayers, not that He refuses one petition.   We must realize that fact that prayer is not some abracadabra or mantra to get our "wish list" accomplished by following some formula that God is obliged to obey. There is some type of protocol like praying to the Father, in the name of the Son, in the Spirit (per Eph. 2:18) and know that God is no debtor of man and will answer all prayer that glorifies Him and is according to His plan.  Soli Deo Gloria!