Why Pray?

Is your prayer life anemic?  "When it is hardest to pray, one should pray the hardest," according to Bill Bright.  Are those prayer muscles deteriorating and atrophying? If you start out small in manageable exercise, you will get where you want to be with effectual prayer--"The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much"  (James 5:16).  For some people they know enough about prayer, they just need to pray; for others, they need a little stimulus to get them in the mood or to find a starting point of encouragement.  This post may help you to hone your innate potential as a natural prayer warrior that Satan has just discouraged and you need to get back into the swing of things--I cannot emphasize enough:  Prayer is where the action is!  If you want growing intimacy with the Almighty, read on!

It is said that God is sovereign and will get His way regardless, so why bother?  Don't forget that we are his moral agents representing Him and are the means to His ends. God ordains the means as well as the ends--He has willed or decreed that prayer to be His channel of blessing. The greatest prayer we can pray is of relinquishment ("Thy will be done!").  Jesus prayed this in the garden of Gethsemane--much more should we!  Surrender is the key to an effective prayer life--it has yet to be seen what a fully surrendered life can do!  If you want to be a prayer warrior extraordinaire, and that is where the action is, you must be a fully devoted follower of Jesus (good leaders have first learned to be good followers).

What kind of things should we pray for?  "Let your requests be made known unto God..." (Phil. 4:6). There is nothing too big for God's omnipotence and nothing too small or trivial for His love. Habakkuk complained to God in His book (which is a prayer or dialogue with God)--if we do complain, it should be to God, and we shouldn't become whiners, but be ready to accept His will.   The goal is to pray God's will, but most believers don't know that they just think God is a vending machine and we can go to Him with a wish list of carte blanche (Jesus said in John 14:14, "If you ask anything in My name..."). And the only way to know God's will, and I am not talking about God micromanaging your life, but the divine viewpoint that comes from an understanding of Scripture and a deep relationship with God--knowing God.

Wisdom is the gift of God and freely bestowed on His children who ask and seek for it diligently according to Proverbs. For example: Don't pray for an easy life, but to be made strong!  We shouldn't pray the easy path but the path that Jesus would take (narrow is the way that leads to eternal life--the road less traveled).  Jesus dared to march to the beat of a different drum and upset the applecart, invading the turf and job security of the praying Pharisees.  Practice usually makes perfect, but in their case, they only got showier and didn't even know it!


God is concerned about all our legitimate needs, but has nowhere promised to make provision for our felt needs or wants (Paul says in Phil. 4:19:  "My God shall supply all your needs...").  In my experience, it is good to pray about everything, just to get the prayer muscle in shape and getting used to using that faculty.  For instance, keep telling Jesus how much you love Him and make intercession for every person you see in need if you cannot directly come to their aid.  God wants to give us direction in life but expects faith and common sense and He doesn't want us to ask about every little detail (e.g., "Should I go to bed now, or stay up?" and "Should I skip breakfast or go out to eat?") The  commonsensical and saintly Quaker woman, Hannah Whitall Smith, said she knew of a woman who prayed about every detail so exactly like that she stunted her ability to make decisions.


Prayer is not about a wish list to get our will done on earth but to get God's will done on earth as it is in heaven.  The better informed you are of God's will, the better your prayers--be in step with God and in tune with His dimension!  It is not about praying hard, but smart, and to keep on praying without giving up.  "It is better to have a heart without words than to have words without a heart," says John Bunyan. eloquent with no passion.   The more you see God answering your prayers, the more encouraged you will be to be a consistent and, more importantly, faithful prayer warrior.  It's fun to pray and to see God's answers, but remember, if you are a skeptic, God makes it so that answers can be explained away.

Someone has said, "All I can do is pray!" (I can't help but think of those commercials where they say, "This is all we do, and we do it well!")   I'd like to meet that person!  This is the greatest of all ministries in my estimation because that is where the power is to get God's will done.  Sometimes, God is just testing us to see if we are willing to do His will:  God will grant our request, but we must submit to His will first and be surrendered in spirit. We learn to trust Him and grow in our faith by accepting God's answers and His will.

They say that the way to become a success is to find a need and fulfill it:  The M.O. to effective prayer life is to see need and pray for it!   Talk to God like you know Him!  Exercise your prayer muscles, because prayer doesn't come naturally, but is a divine trait.  To illustrate: Muslims don't really pray, they must prostrate and face Mecca five times daily and repeat rote verses or confessions (called the salat), not even believing they can know God, or that He is a personal God that loves us.

Knowing God is not just a matter of Bible knowledge, because prayer is a two-way dialogue--God mostly speaks to us in the Word and we must keep up the conversation with prayer.  Brother Lawrence, a Carmelite monk in a Paris monastery, wrote a book, The Practice of the Presence of God, in which he demonstrated how to keep the conversation going and the line open to God, no matter what--to pray with ceasing means just that!  There are many things you can pray for if you have a Christian worldview and divine viewpoint and know basic Bible doctrine.  We can see God's will in relationships, circumstances, crises, personal problems, major decisions, et al.

The point in prayer is not to impress us or others, but to impress God!  If you aim to impress others it goes contrary to the Spirit, is counter spiritual, and cannot be Spirit-led. Be yourself in prayer, and not an imitation of a leader. We don't want to pray like the Pharisees, who were very wordy and thought that this was impressive.  We should pray as we are, and not as we aren't--be ourselves and know that God's power is made perfect in weakness.   Let's not assume we know God's will for someone else and try to tell them what we think God's will is, but bring it to the throne room in prayer and boldly approach the Father and leave it to Him to run His universe--we are all wired differently and cannot project God's will onto others--they have their own unique relationship with God.

Only when you are familiar with God in prayer can you say you "know the Lord" and not just because you know what the Bible teaches "about" Him.  We must put our learning into action (turn our creeds into deeds) and learn to wrestle with God at times.  I like Abraham Lincoln who said, "I have often gone to my knees, simply because I had nowhere else to go." C. S. Lewis said, "Satan laughs at our toiling, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when he sees the weakest saint on his knees."  Crises are meant to keep us on our knees--they say that if you can't stand life, kneel!

The main constituents of prayer are praise, thanksgiving, confession, petition or supplication, and intercession.  To neglect prayer is a sin according to 1 Sam. 12:23 because we are all believer-priests called to the ministry of prayer for one another.  We have the privilege to go to the Father without a priest and to represent someone or some cause to God. We are a kingdom of priests in other words and God has called us into fellowship with Him through prayer as the avenue.  God always answers prayer either yes, no, or wait.  Sometimes He has something better in mind:  We would mess up our lives if we had our way all the time--why not trust the Creator?  The Greeks would say that when the gods are angry at us they answer our prayers.  Some of the philosophers said to only pray for good things and let God decide what is good! We simply don't know how to pray as we ought and need the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Yes, prayer is a privilege too and we have the God-given, divine right to go directly to the Father in the name and authority of the Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit.  We are "family" and God wants to hear from us, it is not a bother or bummer to Him!   Whenever we close our prayers, we should pray "Thy will be done" and be praying in Jesus' name is actually asserting that it is not a formula to tack onto our prayers--God wants us to know if we have His interests in mind or ours.  Never feel you are out of your league in praying, because God hears all the prayers of the saints and is no respecter of persons and plays no favorites--it is the prayer in faith that can move mountains. In sum, prayer is the acid test or the litmus test of our relationship with God--is it all in our head or do we actually love God?   Soli Deo Gloria!

How I Know I Am A Christian...

"The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith"  (1 Timothy 1:5, cf. 2 Tim. 1:5, ESV).
"Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall"  (2 Peter 1:10, ESV).

God does not require perfect faith, but sincere faith.  It is the object of the faith that saves, not the amount of it.  We don't have faith in faith per se, but faith in Christ.  You can be sincerely wrong too. You can be 100 percent sure and still go to hell because the faith was misguided.  God wants no feigned, pretended, pseudo-faith but an honest faith in Christ. Muslims can be 100 percent sure (by dying in a jihad) and still go to hell because they are misguided. Like Romans 10:2 says the Jews had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.  In other words, you can have a lot of faith in the wrong thing and be lost.  Our faith gets strengthened by trial and tribulation as our faith is tested by God since it is more valuable than silver or gold.  Bear in mind that we are saved through the instrumental means of faith (but in Romanism the instrumental means are the sacraments, i.e., baptism, etc.), but our reward is based on our works (Rom. 2:6), not our faith!  Faith and faithfulness can be distinguished, but not separated (they are the same Hebrew word in Habakkuk 2:4).

Now, I have had no heavenly vision, divine visitation, dream, heard voices, have had any divine revelation, or existential experience whatsoever to my knowledge, yet I know I am saved.  This begs the question:  How can I be so presumptuous, as it were, and be so positive without any doubts whatsoever, being convinced 100 percent?  After all it is our duty to be sure and find assurance because of the command in 2 Peter 1:10; however, it is not just to satisfy idle curiosity!  Without assurance, you will be stunted and paralyzed in your walk and remain an infant in Christ.

The reason most believers doubt (and assurance is not an automatic fruit nor of the essence of salvation, according to The Westminster Confession of Faith, ca 1646, but only for the benefit of its well-being), and this is because they confuse works and faith or fact and feeling. They may also just be ignorant of the Word or even fail to take God at His Word in light of the gospel message!  Once they get a biblical view of the subject of assurance they may be reassured.  It is not the evangelist's job to give or grant assurance or to certify salvation--that is the domain of the Holy Spirit.

It is because I know the Scriptures and they are a part of my soul and spirit and I know they are dependable and reliable for faith, as the psalmist declared in Psalm 119 so many times.  God wants us to be sure and to know, but He wants us to have faith and not be dependent on experience which is so subjective. We can have reassurance in many ways to increase our faith though.  No one has the same experience and there is no common ground for faith and fellowship.  "For without faith it is impossible to please God."  Thomas was gently rebuked by Jesus because he doubted and he had to see Jesus believe (believing is seeing, not seeing is believing!) because Jesus said that "blessed are those who have not seen [or heard] and yet believed [they have more faith]."

1 John 5:13 says that the reason he is writing is so that we can know that we are saved--he doesn't mention any type of O.B.E. or out-of-body experience, near-death experience, hearing of heavenly voices, visits of angels,  visions, or dreams, but quotes the Bible.  We are to rely on God's plain and simple Word, the way a child would.  We need childlike, but not childish faith!  Take Him at His Word!   This is known as having "spiritual birth certificates." There are other reasons I know I am saved, besides relying on verses like John 6:37 ("He who comes to Me I will in no wise cast out") and John 1:12 ("As many as received Him gave He the right to be the children of God, even them that believe on His name"). I know that Christ died in my stead and rose again on my behalf!  God has more to lose than I do if I don't get saved, because His Word says so:  "God says it in His Word, I believe it in my heart, that settles it in my mind."  I know what God says and believe Him  (as 2 Tim. 1:12 says, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able...").  As Michael Faraday said, "I'm not resting on conjecture, but certainties."

There are other factors that reassure me:  The way God is changing my life and making me more in the image of Christ; the way God speaks to me through the Bible and many other ways; and especially in fellowship and witness the way the "Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God" (cf. Rom. 8:16).  An obvious sign is that I live an abundant, complete, and fulfilled life in Christ that has meaning and purpose and is very rewarding and inspiring, producing fruit. In short, my life has not only been changed, but exchanged, surrendered, renewed, and transformed, and I have not just turned over a new leaf, but my mind, will, and emotions have experienced a complete and total about-face, a complete turnaround, an overhaul of my soul and spirit,  a 180-degree turn! It's not that God made me "good," but He gave me life and made me "alive!"  However, no matter my experience, I like the refrain:

"My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name."  (Edward Mote)

I know that I have "the Spirit!"  I have tested the spirit like it says in 2 Cor. 13:5 (ESV): " ... Test yourselves.  Or you not realize this about yourselves, that  Jesus Christ is in you? ...."  We are to examine ourselves and I have done this to "test the spirit."  In other words, we are to examine our own fruit and be fruit inspectors (no fruit--no faith!).  Search your own heart--do you love Jesus?

Only God can inspire me as He does and open my eyes to the Word as He does, and guide my life providentially as He does (like in meeting my daily needs)--there is no mistake God is at work in me--anyone that has known my life story could testify to this--my life is a miracle!  I have witnessed so much in my life and been the recipient of so much grace that, if I were to ask God for a sign or more evidence, He would simply say, "My grace is sufficient for thee!" I was indeed saved long before I became fully convinced because you don't have to know you're saved to be saved!  We are all "works in progress" as it is commonly said.  Like Paul says in Philippians 2:13 (ESV) to conclude: "For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."  Soli Deo Gloria!

The Metaphorical Proof of Eternal Security

This will not be by prooftexting:  It is too simplistic to prooftext your way in order to demonstrate the doctrine of eternal security of the believer, because the Arminian can cite verses per contra that he believes contradicts them when they take them out of context and don't understand what salvation is--we must take this debate to a new level and dimension: Salvation is the restoration of our relationship with God into His family as His children by adoption, whereby we are born again spiritually after being dead and alive in the Spirit to have fellowship with Him, and the Holy Spirit is given us as a down payment of our salvation and the intention of God to be the Ultimate Promise Keeper who never reneges on a promise, and to keep His Word that He will make good on what He began and finish making us in the image of Christ. (Eternal security, it is argued is not a biblical term, but the words "eternal salvation" and "eternal redemption" are in. Heb. 5:9; 9:12.)

But note this:  eternal life begins in the here and now, and it is not something that is future or pie in the sky--it begins forthwith!  We have (present tense!) eternal life (per John 6:37)!  Eternal means that it is eternal and not provisionally based, or on a probationary status.  It begins at salvation and continues on throughout eternity.  Our salvation began in eternity past, is realized in time, and is consummated in eternity future.

If you understand what salvation is you will never misconstrue this doctrine.  Romans 8:29-30 is called the golden chain of redemption and shows that God loses none whom He calls to justify (save) and to ultimately glorify.  "And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified." Those whom He calls (the inward call), not whom we call (the general call), get justified or saved!  All who are saved get glorified--none get "unjustified"  there is no such a term in the Bible--none get lost in the shuffle!

Seeing the biblical metaphorical language, no one is "un-born, un-adopted, un-justified, un-found, un-sealed, un-anointed, un-quickened from the dead, eyes un-opened," or what have you. We are either sheep or goats!  No one in the Bible loses their salvation!  (Judas was a devil from the beginning and never did believe.)   [God was] "...thus securing an eternal redemption" (cf. Heb. 9:12) for us, and this is something to see as a "done deal." Fait accompli.  There's nothing we can add to or subtract from God's work:  "It is finished."  It is His masterpiece!  The debt He paid that He didn't owe for us who couldn't pay the debt we owed is PAID IN FULL!

Now, if you realized that salvation is a gift, you will realize that you cannot earn it (it is grace all the way).  And if it is a gift you didn't earn it, don't deserve it, and cannot pay it back, and you don't ever have to give a gift back, do you?    In a works religion, you never know how much is enough or how little is too little--you can never be sure. Exactly what sin will ensure the loss of salvation if it is possible?  No one can say for sure!  The beautiful thing about our salvation is that "Salvation is of the Lord" (it is not of us and God, or of us alone)  according to Jonah 2:9.  That means it is not a joint or cooperative venture (synergistic) with God or one of our own works, but a gift completely is done by God (monergistic) by grace (that's the only way it could be by grace)--He just wants you to accept it freely as a right (cf. John 1:12).

Finally, if there is no eternal security, there can be no assurance of salvation, because the person puts himself under the power of his own efforts rather than God's power to redeem and keep us as our Keeper (cf. Jude 1:1).  If you deny this doctrine, you must also deny the assurance of salvation and see it as mere presumption as Roman Catholics do.  These doctrines go hand-in-hand and can be distinguished but not separated--they must go together like faith and works (faith without works is dead) and these two must be connected.  In plain language they are the flip side of each other--you cannot have one without the other logically.      Soli Deo Gloria!

How To Catch The Spirit

"All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come:" (Job 14:14).
"So you by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God"  (Hosea 12:6).
"Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!" (Psalm 27:14).

This is how to be filled with the Holy Spirit 101--a primer and very elementary for those who haven't been around the block theologically. You don't catch the Spirit like you catch a cold or by just hanging around well-meaning and Spirit-filled believers (though this may be a contributing factor). Sometimes it may seem like someone has "more" of the Spirit because of his personality or charisma--be leery of this kind of stereotyping and be on guard!  The first order of the day:  (fellowship) Go where the Spirit is!  (For most people this is church.)   May we all join the apostle John:  "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day."

There is a common misconception pertaining to the filling.  Whenever you are led by the Spirit to do something, you are simultaneously filled to the necessary measure (He gives the Spirit without measure)--they go hand-in-hand, i.e., they can be distinguished, but not separated. Being led by the Spirit is another way of saying that you are controlled by the Spirit and not yourself--Jesus is on the throne of your life and you are lifting Him up in service.  The filling is not for your own benefit, but for the building up or edifying of the body of Christ at large. Everyone's personal experience varies and no one can define what it is for another.  "For as many as are led by the Spirit of Christ, these are sons of God."

It is a simple matter to enter into His divine presence via the ministry of the Holy Spirit in order to gain entree or access into that heavenly dimension where the throne of God resides.  It sounds like a surreal experience, but it is for real.  We "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise!" (Cf. Psalm 100:4, ESV).  The power of praise is the route of holiness to have an audience with the Heavenly Father, in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Attitude is often the inhibiting factor in our experiential holiness and lifestyle.  We choose to have an attitude of gratitude and to thank God for what He has done and will do and to praise Him for who He is.

The Spirit affects different people in different ways and we are to welcome the diversity and even celebrate it.  Some people are highly contemplative and find pleasure and meaning in adoration of spiritual ideas and doctrines, some people are highly intellectually inclined and find pleasure in using their minds and figuring things out or studying, while others may be caregivers and are given to lending a hand and meeting a need, that others may not even see. Note that above all we are not to compare ourselves with ourselves, but be faithful to our own calling and gifting (cf. 2 Cor. 10:12). Bear in mind that some people are stoical and some are rather demonstrative and free-spirited in expressing themselves--but there will be feeling--and there's no one-size-fits-all approach to spirituality--don't judge!

Don't get into the trap of gift-projection (thinking everyone should be like you), or gift-envy (thinking you need to be like someone else or have their gift). There is no personality profile to look for (except you may be accused of being inebriated or euphoric--"...the prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit is mad," says Hosea 9:7, ESV), you must be ready to accept whatever God throws your way and whom He puts in your path.

Every believer has a different experience with the Holy Spirit and may have private M.O.s to get excited in the Lord.  For me, intense Bible reading always puts me in the mood because God really speaks to me and this instigates prayer response and dialog.  For some, I hear they listen to praise or worship music or Christian radio and get lifted in the Spirit via this medium.  The best channel of blessing, in my opinion, is a variation or combo of methodologies and not to be too dependent on anyone.  But, if it works for you I won't knock it!  The goal is to get filled and to be equipped for service.

Elisha prayed for twice the Spirit of Elijah and he got it, but that is not normative.  The way it works is that we are all filled with the Spirit upon salvation and this is subject to the grieving that we do by sinning, and when we get out of fellowship we need to rebound back by confessing any known sin or sins, i.e., keep short accounts with God and walk in the Spirit or what Brother Lawrence wrote about in a famous book called The Practice of the Presence of God.   It isn't how much of the Spirit you have--it's how much of you the Spirit has!  Like John the Baptist said:  "He must increase, I must decrease."  The way up is down!

Before filling comes emptying and this is done by examining ourselves and judging ourselves so that we not be judged--leave no sin unjudged or unconfessed is good counsel, and agree with God or say the same thing as the Bible says (the literal meaning of confessing or call a spade a spade!). Newsflash:  We all are filled upon salvation, but remember your first love and the love and relationship you first had with Christ--many brothers have left their first love.  God's power can change your personality as well as your character and God won't give up until He sees Himself in you (a work in progress). So don't hold out on God, He has bought you with a price and owns you.

No believer is a Rock or Island like Christ, and we all need each other's fellowship and encouragement.  Barnabas was called a "son of encouragement!"  We can lift each other up when we are strong and someone is weak and needs us.  Look for opportunities to minister to one another and edify and encourage each other!  No amount of hanging around the right crowd will save you or give you the filling of the Spirit (you must already be saved and in fellowship with God), you must individually make reconciliation with God and settle all accounts, leaving no rock "un-turned."

God promises to give the Spirit to all who ask sincerely because He is a good Father who delights in giving to His children anything that is good.  Do we ask for a filling?  Basically, fillings are for doing God's will and some specific calling or anointing. God commands us to continually and constantly (cf, Eph. 5:18) to be filled with the Spirit--through the manifestation of it will vary according to the need of God's ministry.

There are signs to look for:  joy, love, peace, and patience come to mind--look for the fruit of the Spirit comes alive in your life and in your brothers as the witness of salvation--no fruit, no salvation! We are commanded in 2 Cor. 13:5 to examine ourselves [not each other]. Mind your own business! Consecrate and offer yourself to the Lord to do His bidding and will, whatever the cross to bear! Surely, you must have a passion that is the desire of your heart--"Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you," says James 4:8.  To be filled we must be willing to do God's will and submit to it in relinquishment and surrender.  The most ideal prayer is what Jesus prayed at Gethsemane: Thy will be done.

Focus on this:  Wherever two or three are gathered together in Christ's name, He is present spiritually, so it helps to be around other Christians and not live like a hermit or recluse--we need each other and are all part of His body. Fellowship with God the Father and Jesus Christ as well as our brethren are all part of the bonus and fringe benefit of being saved.  Just as the Godhead is expressed in a tripersonality, or in three persons, so the filling of the Spirit has expressed in the complete body of Christ--no one person is the embodiment or personification of the Spirit-filled believer.  This is why the church is an organism, not an organization--all the members work intricately together to the same end of glorifying Christ.  In sum: In God's economy, emptying comes before filling and confession before forgiveness and restoration.    Soli Deo Gloria!

The True Place of Fear

"The fear of the Lord" is the beginning of wisdom.  Christians have learned a healthy respect and awe for God (Hebrews 10:31 says, "For is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God").  If we fear God we need not fear man.  "The LORD is my strength and my salvation, of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psalm 27:1).  Jesus did mention that we need not fear man, but Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.  Jesus mentioned hell twice as much as he did heaven and believed it to be literally a place of eternal torment ("where worm does not die and fire is not quenched" and "there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth")--sounds frightening, doesn't it?

There is a place for caution and respect for danger, and not to tempt God or others.  Perfect love does cast out fear and we do not have a spirit of fear like the unbeliever, but we can overcome it by the power of the Spirit and we truly have nothing to fear, but fear itself as FDR famously said.  Don't let the enemy dominate your thinking into being fearful, instead of courageous.  We don't flirt with danger or tempt fate as they say, or purposely go into harm's way apart from God's will.

Satan uses scare tactics to get his agenda and plays on our fears to manipulate us, (he holds the sinner captive by the fear of death [Heb. 2:15] and this is a sin), but there is only one legitimate fear:  The fear of God!  It is much like parental fear in that we don't want to disobey because we know there may be severe consequences ("For whom the Lord loves, he chastens", per Heb 12:6).  The Christian isn't just worried about God punishing him and hurting him--though this is a reality--but he doesn't want to hurt God!  Our sin hurts God more than it does us! This fear is the true beginning of wisdom.

I know that they say you shouldn't become a Christian for "fire insurance" as they say, but I was greatly convicted of the reality of hell when I was 19 and it sobered me up to repent of my sins--there does come a time when we will meet our Maker at judgment and that should be a scary thought for some.  Jonathan Edwards preached a fiery sermon in 1743 entitled "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," and it woke up the Colonies from their dogmatic slumber and began the Great Awakening that shook America.  People were in fear of hell because Edwards made it so real to them.  There is a DVD out about a man who was granted "thirty minutes in hell" to tell the world of its horrors and that no one should want to go there--avoid it at all extremes, at any cost.  The cost of being a Christian is high, but the cost of not being one is even higher.

There is quite a bit of preaching out there these days that there is no literal hell, but only annihilation awaits the dead without Christ.  This makes the urgency of the gospel message seem less important and the motivation is lessened.  The true motivation for evangelizing is "[knowing] the terror of the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:11).  We need to "sober" up the masses and make them realize that the majority is usually wrong and that "narrow is the way" that leads to life.   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Place Of Sound Doctrine...

To theologians:  Don't be content or satisfied just to be right in your doctrine, because there is more to the Christian abundant life than knowing all the answers, in being right all the time, or your "philosophy," because love is what makes us distinct--not orthodoxy, which can be a sham or pretense.  You can have all your theology correct and be hollow and shallow inside amounting to nothing spiritually, and then again you can know very little about doctrine (I assume you know the basics of a standard credo) and have a very strong faith.  However, if the doctrine you do believe in is not sound, your walk will not be either:  You can have a sound doctrine without a sound life, but not a sound life without sound doctrine--you cannot be a heretic, or out on a limb.

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To be a theologian is not a spiritual gift and we are all theologians; some are just better at it than others or are more serious about it.  It is not whether or not you are a theologian, but what kind of theologian you are--your doctrinal viewpoint reflects your theological school of thought and you see in this light in a sort seeing the big picture through a lens.  Without doctrine, you get tunnel vision and don't have any perspective.  A lot of theological skill is just plain academic skill and that is why all the great theologians have been men of great learning and expertise. A word of wisdom:  We are not rewarded according to how much we know, but how much we sow.

Doctrine is not everything, but it is still necessary, and if you realize that it means "teaching" you will not object to the nomenclature.  The early disciples were devoted to the "apostles' doctrine" according to Acts 2:42.  Paul urges Timothy to "watch your doctrine closely...."  There will come a time according to 2 Timothy 3 that men will not endure sound doctrine, but will "bail out theologically" to use Chuck Swindoll's wording.  No matter what, you cannot avoid facing up to theology or you commit spiritual suicide--this is not an option for the believer, according to R. C. Sproul, renowned theologian.

We are not all professional theologians and the reason they get such a bad rap is basically the distrust of theologians, and their reputation as being eggheads, intellectuals, and scholarly, and not realistic or applicable. To cite three well-known examples:  Where would we be without St. Augustine of Hippo, the greatest theologian of the first 400 years, of the church after the closing of the canon? It was Tertullian who first termed and taught clearly the doctrine of the Trinity.  "All Scripture is profitable for [what?] doctrine..." (2 Tim. 3:16); Athanasius was called the Father of Orthodoxy because of his diatribe with the Aryan heretics and defense of the triune Godhead.  

That is a loaded question since most people have a preconceived idea of what doctrine is. Doctrine is important; don't bail out theologically (cf. 2 Tim. 4:3). We all have a credo; we all have doctrines; some of us just don't have sound doctrine. Usually, they think of something dogmatic or doctrinaire or narrow-minded. They want to avoid doctrine. Actually, if we realize that all doctrine means is "teaching" then half the problem is solved. Who's against teaching?

Doctrine isn't just for intellectuals. You don't commit spiritual or intellectual suicide when you join a ministry or church. You are committing spiritual suicide if you ignore doctrine: It is a given and we are all theologians in a sense. We cannot avoid doctrine: "All Scripture is profitable for doctrine..." (cf. 2 Tim. 3:16). "Those who are wayward in spirit shall gain understanding; those who complain will accept instruction [doctrine, as it were]" (cf. Isa. 29:14).

There is value in knowing the scoop, as it were, or being "clued in," because this gives us confidence and these two, according to Charles Swindoll, are like Siamese twins. Doctrine feeds the soul and is the spiritual bread that Christ referred to when He said, "You shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God" (cf. Matt. 4:4). Just because we are privy to some doctrine doesn't make us a cut above other Christians. " The mere presence of doctrine can leave us cold, even if it is sound doctrine." It is necessary for spiritual wellness but not sufficient.

We don't have the right to believe what we feel is right but must obey rules of hermeneutics and logic that apply to any other book as well. Avoiding controversy is un-Christlike because Christ didn't shy from controversy: "To avoid controversy is to avoid Christ" (see John Stott's book Christ the Controversialist) The early disciples were devoted to the apostles' doctrine or teaching. Remember, God wants us to be "mature in our understanding." Ignorance is not bliss! It is a childish faith that balks at learning Scripture in depth. The meat of the Word is for those who "have their senses trained to discern good and evil" (cf. Heb. 5:14). I rest my case!    Soli Deo Gloria!

The Power Of The Gospel

As Paul said, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes..."  (Rom. 1:16).  Our faith does not rest in the wisdom of man nor of the energy of the flesh, but in God's power; [we] "... were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God"  (John 1:13, ESV).   I am appalled at the present-day presentations of the gospel message of giving a heaven without a hell, a salvation without repentance, an abundant life without lordship, and a joy without sin.  If a minister's outreach is fading or not as effectual, possibly it is because there is no passion for the gospel--the power is there unto salvation and also as the message never gets old to believers, it gives power in preaching to deliver the goods.

There is the flip side to every coin.  They only preach half the gospel who preach only the good news of Christ without telling the bad news first (get them lost first!):  they are lost in sin and headed toward hell and eternal damnation apart from Christ.  We are depraved and cannot save ourselves or get our act together; we need a work of grace or unmerited favor on our behalf.  There are some preachers who refuse to "go there" when it comes to the "killjoy" word of "sin." They preach what can be termed "gospel light" (a truly dumbed-down version of the evangel).  Why raise eyebrows and make the donors feel uncomfortable and uneasy they say? We don't want to be "people-pleasers" or "crowd-gatherers," but gospel preachers.  Don't "domesticate" the gospel, but preach it in all its power and authority!

When we preach the simple gospel message it has power and we must just leave the results to God--it is a win-win situation. The gospel doesn't just inspire or motivate, it radically alters our life from top to bottom and does an overhaul on our system to make us new creatures in Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17).   God's Word "will not come back void" according to Isaiah 55:11.  (No one has our story and can tell it like we can; we are all one in Christ and individually members of His body, each for a particular function.)  Proclaim the gospel, don't debate it!  Let the world know you are a satisfied customer and a happy camper! "Let the redeemed of the LORD say so" (Psalm 107:2).

We are saved by grace: Christ paid the debt He didn't owe for a people who couldn't pay their debts they did owe.  Some people stress that grace is sufficient, and indeed it is--but it is also necessary!   No one can say that they are good enough to get saved or can prepare themselves for it; it is work of grace all the way from beginning to end.  We wouldn't have come to Christ apart from grace and we are saved by the grace of God--it's all grace from beginning to end (the Father has to draw them or woo them per John 6:44,65).  Apart from His sovereign grace (cf. Rom. 5:21): and  "...grace reigns through righteousness," none of us would've believed!  We are no more qualified nor wiser, but can only say as we see another sinner lost in sin:  "There, but for the grace of God, go I."

Grace is necessary because we cannot merit God's mercy nor can we demand it--it would be justice and not mercy then. We have no claims on God--He didn't have to save anyone!  We don't deserve it, we cannot earn it, and we can never repay it!  They say in theological terms that grace is the sine qua non of salvation or that it is the thing without which we cannot have.  It is necessary and sufficient. This is important because Romanists will admit grace is necessary, but that you have to had merit to it or that it isn't sufficient. They add works to faith, and merit to grace; thus confusing the work of salvation on our behalf.

Jesus is in the business of changing lives from the inside out and the gospel has the power and authority to do it. Shakespeare may inspire but the gospel transforms!  (As Paul said:  "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection" in Phil. 3:10.)  He's still in the resurrection business! All religion says, "Do."  Christianity says, "Done." Religion has good works as an "in order to." Christianity has them as a "therefore."  Viva la difference between a "have to" and a "want to."   Religion is a do-it-yourself proposition, but Christianity is a done deal or fait accompli.  Christ said on the cross: "Teltelestai" or "It is finished." Religion is man reaching out to find and gain the approbation of God, while in Christianity God reached down to find man; we didn't find God--He found us!

The one concept that distinguishes Christianity is the idea of grace or unmerited and undeserved favor (that we aren't saved by our works or good deeds being weighed against our bad ones).   Because of this only Christianity gives us the assurance of salvation (if salvation depends on works you can never know for sure how much is enough) and that no other religion can offer in the here and now assurance to live the Christian life--sure the radical Muslim believes that, if he dies in a Holy War or Jihad, he will go to paradise; however, he doesn't live his whole life in that hope--you won't find a Muslim who is sure he will go there beyond a doubt.

When we add to the work of Christ, it is as asinine as putting a mustache on the Mona Lisa and thinking you improved it, or have the gall to think you can improve the Sistine Chapel art by Michelangelo!   It insults God to the max!   What if you invited someone over to dinner and afterward they said, "What do I owe you?"  Wouldn't you be offended?   God wants us to accept His grace salvation by faith and just be thankful and live our lives accordingly.

We don't want to be accused of watering down, domesticating, dumbing down, or toning down the gospel by our sensibilities by making it too easy to get saved: what is known as easy-believism, libertinism, or Antinomianism. Whereas, one doesn't have to be an obedient Christian to have faith--faith and obedience are eternally equated and linked (Rom. 1:5; 16:26; Acts 6:7).  "They were obedient to the faith."  There is a cost to discipleship--Christ tended to discourage half-hearted seekers and not encourage them.  We must take up our cross and go where ever He leads and bloom where he plants us.  We don't have to be so apologetic about the gospel because it has intrinsic value to change hearts and lives and open eyes. Would you defend a caged lion?  Well, the gospel can take care of itself too!

The power of preaching is in the presentation of the gospel message and in the cross of Christ, as Paul proclaimed in 1 Cor. 2:2:  "I strive to know nothing but Christ, and Christ crucified."   The devil doesn't like to hear about the passion and Via Dolorosa of Christ and how he shed His blood on our behalf.  The devil will do everything in his bag of tricks to keep this from transpiring.

I'm not saying that the only job of the preacher is to preach the gospel, but that he comes to the realization that God honors only the power of the gospel message to change lives. Believers never get tired of hearing the gospel message in a different light or text.  If no one's heart was stirred in an eternal manner during a sermon and it was just "interesting" or "thought-provoking," and not utterly challenging and even offensive or upsetting, the preacher has missed the mark and preached in vain. Christ was not merely interesting; He upset the applecart; He was divisive, invading the turf of the Pharisees, challenging, and even offensive to some--no one was unaffected or remained neutral after an encounter--their true colors showed.   But note well:  It should be Christ and the gospel that should offend and not us as just obnoxious Christians--He is the Rock of Offence and Stone of Stumbling.    Soli Deo Gloria!

A Dysfunctional Personhood...

Some well-meaning brothers gratuitously tell us to "get our act together."   It really hurt me when someone who knew me well told me that--touche--it hit home!   We don't have to get our act together to get saved, contrary to popular opinion.  We come as we are to God  ("Come as you are!  But don't stay that way!), because He accepts us with all our foibles, discrepancies, failures, idiosyncrasies, and weaknesses--the whole package!

It is common axioms that no one is perfect and to err is human, but few of us are willing to make this known publicly--we are just like Mark Twain quipped:  "Everybody is a moon; and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody," or like the double personas in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  It is assumed by the present-day Secular-Humanist philosophy, which elevates or deifies man, and dethrones God, that we are basically good or inherently good--born innocent with a blank slate.  If we start off perfect how did the world get so depraved and why isn't there anyone perfect?

The fourth-century British monk Pelagius was one of the first heretics of Christendom and he believed that Adam's sin affected only him and that since God commands us to be perfect, we must have that inherent ability or the command doesn't make sense--why tell someone to do something he can't do? This doctrine of perfectionism or that we can attain unto it, was condemned at the Council of Carthage in AD 418, and even Rome sees it as a perversion of the gospel. It is been revived recently as "entire sanctification" or that we can reach a point in our walk that we no longer purposely sin or are "perfect,"  like it says in Matthew 5:48 to be "perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect."

It is assumed that some people are too bad to be saved or that they have gone too far. No one is beyond the reach of the grace of God. If you do the unforgivable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit you simply are unconcerned about repentance and salvation. "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:13, ESV).  You can drown in 7 feet of water just as easily as 700 feet.  It just takes one sin to make a person deserving of hell and eternal damnation at the Great White Throne Judgment.  We must learn not to depend or rely on ourselves and stop trying to save ourselves.  The Secular Humanists proclaim that no deity will save them, so they must save themselves!

Well, this begs the question:  How bad off are we as unbelievers from being saved?  How far is a blind person from realizing the beauty of a Rembrandt, or simply the beauties of nature of-of mankind? How far removed is a deaf person from appreciating a Mozart or Beethoven symphony?  We are not as bad as we can be; you can always say that God grades on a curve and that you are better than Adolf Hitler or Saddam Hussein and think you have an edge, but this is false assurance because the plumb line or measure of standards is Jesus Christ Himself and we all fall short of His example of fulfilling all righteousness and living for us to prove it.  We are not as bad as we can be or what you would say "utterly depraved." However, we are as bad off as we can be or totally depraved.  Every part of our inner being is affected with evil and sin, and if sin were blue we'd be all blue--that includes our minds, wills, and affections or feelings-our complete soul.

We are dead spiritually to God and cannot communicate or have a relationship with Him, but must be reborn in the Spirit to become God's children and have fellowship with Him.  The point is that we are as bad off as we can be, but salvation is as great as can be and no one is too bad to be saved--it isn't that we are good enough to get saved, but that we are bad enough to need salvation.  According to C. S. Lewis:  We don't know how bad we are till we try to be good, and we can't be good till we know how bad we are (what a catch-22!).  Soli Deo Gloria!

Helping A Brother In Need

It is quite admirable to be able to notice a brother in need and be in the position to help out.  When you've done it to the least of Christ's brethren, you've done it unto Him (cf. Matt. 25:40).  The question Christ will ask at judgment is when you saw the naked did you clothe them, or the hungry did you feed them, etc. Paul said that "My God shall supply all your need..." (Philippians 4:19).  God doesn't promise to provide our felt needs or wants, just our needs.  Some need more than others, but the purpose is to do the will of God, not our will.  If you need it to do God's will, He will supply.

"Saint Theresa was going to build a convent with a sum the equivalent of twelve pence as her complete resources.  Someone said to her, 'Not even Saint Theresa can accomplish much with twelve pence.'  'True, she answered, 'but Saint Theresa and twelve pence and God can do anything.'" (anecdote quoted from William Barclay's The Letter to the Romans.)  The fact is that God has unlimited resources and we don't work for Buddha:  God has nothing against rich people or riches per se.  But when we are not rich toward God (see Luke 12:21 and the parable of the foolish tenant) it is foolish to put our trust in riches.  Our life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions, and we are to be content with what we have, and not be envious of what others have.

Greed is the driving force in modern society as a rule in a materialistic age, and some people who love money never seem to have enough and aren't satisfied no matter what.  They ask a millionaire how much would make him happy:  Just a little more!  They always want a more than they have, no matter how much they have.  We are all stewards of what God has assigned us and have different degrees of responsibility and are all accountable both in this life and at Judgment Day.  We also reap what we sow and it seems like the evil get rich and prosper, but the Bible says in Psalm 17:14 that it is because their reward or portion is in this life.  I would rather go to my reward when I pass on than leave my riches behind.

Although it is true that it does no good to help some people because they are irresponsible and will spend it unwisely if you give a beggar on skid row a dollar, he will buy a bottle of wine and if you offer to take him to a restaurant to get fed, he will decline.  Helping someone in need isn't just financial, it may be of your time because everyone knows the cliche that love is spelled T-I-M-E. When absentee fathers don't spend any time with their children no wonder they grow into delinquents and live maladjusted lives searching for an identity.

Each person should decide in his own heart how much he is to give and be faithful to that, and not feel that he must give of his money--it is completely voluntary for the Christian and not to be "under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver" (cf. 2 Cor. 9:7).  The church's responsibility is to use some of the money to give to those in need, to help the poor, and make good use of their resources. "The point is this:  whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly..." (2 Cor. 9:6, ESV).  Tithing can be seen as a test of generosity, a principle of stewardship, and a sign of faith giving back to God some of His blessings to us-- but it is not a mandate for Christians--not mentioned in any epistle as imperative.          Soli Deo Gloria! 

What Destroys A Church...

Nothing destroys a church like problems within party politics!  The Corinthians, for example, were on the verge of a church split and Paul begged them to get along.  Some quarrels are not worth the adrenaline and you don't have anything material to gain in the struggle:  like Gen. George S. Patton's book Patton's Principles:  A Handbook for Managers Who Mean It, where he posits that you should pick your battles; some just generate more heat than light!   Don't fight and quarrel (and the servant of God must not quarrel according to 2 Timothy 2) over non-issues that have to vital doctrinal significance!  Remember, above all Saint Augustine's dictum:  "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity."

A true believer, who belongs to the universal and catholic church of Christ should be in fellowship with all members of the family worldwide, and not just his own sect or denomination or party or even clique.  What this boils down to is the tendency to judge and criticize and Paul warns against both of these weaknesses of man.  It has always been from within that the enemy makes the most inroads:  domestic terrorists, the syndicate or organized crime, traitors, double agents, spies, and even ourselves as Pogo said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."  John said, that the enemy is the world, the flesh, and the devil--that is our carnal nature or old man is working against God's will and is always present to defeat us and take away our victory.

Sometimes we can't agree on a leader, and we must realize that the only true leader is Christ, the only head of the church, who acts through the entire body of Christ, where no member can despise another.  Sometimes it is the leader's fault for not mediating because often the buck stops there!  If we can't agree on a leader like the Corinthians, then maybe we can agree on an arbiter like when they chose Paul to settle their dysfunctional family feud. As you may know, many families are very dysfunctional and as a body in Christ we are family, so there are likely to be jealousies, competitions, rivalries, contentions, etc., in the body, as sure as there is sibling rivalry and similar problematic relational situations.  There may be some member who has a gift of wisdom and experience to settle a matter and be a daysman, middleman, or mediator in the dispute.  We are all called to a ministry of reconciliation and to represent Christ to the world.

In sum, we can learn to walk hand-in-hand or to be in fellowship, without seeing eye-to-eye or agreeing on everything.  There has to be room for disagreement (no one has a monopoly on wisdom and is infallible--not even the Pope) and we must learn to disagree without being disagreeable, contentious, argumentative, judgmental, or divisive.  The reason we should strive for unity is because God is a unity or a union of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--they are one in essences and will ("I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.") and there is no conflict in the Godhead--division is against the nature of God and we should be aware of red flag issues and not go there if it is likely to upset people--they must be ready for the meat of the Word before it is fed.  "[To equip the saints] until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood" (Ephesians 4:13, ESV).  Finally, Ephesians 4:3 (ESV) says:  "[I urge you to be] eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."   Soli Deo Gloria!