Forsaken Affections

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

-James 1:14-15

God call us to turn from sin. This is not a cold calling to turn from something just for the sake of removing a sin in our life. God doesn’t desire obedience just for the sake of obedience. He looks for His followers to serve Him out of love, not just for the sake a duty. When a man looks to turn from a sin in his life, and blocks every opportunity to dive into it, does this please God, I think not. God is looking for His children to turn from sin, not only in actions, but from their hearts. A man, who blocks sinful opportunities, only turns from sin because it is commanded. A turning from what he loves, for the sake of obedience. God is pleased when the man turns from the sin not because of a cold obedience, but from a warm obedience because of his love for the Father. He turns from the actions, and from the affections. Actions are external forms of repentance, but true repentance comes from the heart. A true turning away is a turning away from which keeps us distance from God. We may turn from our sin by our actions, but we still yearn for that particular sin in the heart. The man looks obedient on the outside, but inside he longs with affections for what he has turned from. He is a man who forsakes a love outwardly, but hides his true affections in the deeper part of his heart. We fight sin by changing our actions in the world; we think if we stop doing this, and begin doing that, God will be pleased; as if God is interested in what we do on the outside only. Many fail at overcoming sin not because of effort, but because of their lack of affection. Our affections are bound to the heart. Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21). If we continually fail at overcoming sin, it is because we hold tight to our sin affections, and hold loose to our affections towards God. We secretly long for the enticement of sin, and only turn from it on the outside. As to think we are fooling God. We look to be obedient on the outside, but God is looking for an inner obedience based on our love for Him. This love needs to be based on looking towards Him, looking to serve Him in ever facet. Sin is not a sinfully act, it is a sinful attitude. Sin does not come about by what we “do.” It comes about by who we are. Temptation comes upon us by what we see, think, feel, and entertain. A temptation may come from the outside, but it is in the mind and the heart where it is conceived. Our hearts and minds long for its embrace, we look to be enticed by its affections. We wait for a conversation with the tempters words. We are not senseless victims, who fall for the lies. We have heard the lies all our lives, we know enough about temptation, but we still rush to see it fulfilled. If it were not so, then why do we run to sin so much in our lives?

The question arises, how do we fight against these affections? When we hear about fighting against sin, the focus is upon our actions, and sometimes our thoughts. Mostly we look at behavior, instead of the spiritual forces that fight against us. But remember the word temptation when we think about overcoming sin. How can someone or something tempt us with something we don’t desire? We are tempted by something we want. And if our affections are strong, then how much more strength will the temptation be. Looking at how detestable a sin is will not win the fight, neither will trying to avoid it, will work either. We must overcome it with a stronger affection. Thomas Chalmers said, “The most effectual way of withdrawing the mind from one object, is not by turning it away upon desolate and unpeopled vacancy – but by presenting to its regard another object still more alluring.”[1] Sin is alluring, certain sins are tempting to us, our own desires look to entice us, but we can fight against these things which look to draw us away from the love of God. We must fight it with a new affection. If you don’t think this is true, then think about when someone has overcame a sin, but only to fall into the grasp of another. Many would shake their heads and look at how weak they are. They didn’t overcome a sin; they just took the hand of another sin, to give up the former one. The heart does not live in a vacuum. When it is emptied of one thing, it is because it is filled up by another. This is true when it comes to sin. We can overcome one sin, by refilling it with another one. Usually this is done because we choose to participate with a more acceptable sin in our life. We replace one vile sin, with something which is not so hideous to others. We may give up promiscuity, drinking, or drugs, but we replace it with gluttony, gossip, and bitterness. These can be covered up much easier then other sins. And those around us may participate in these also, which gives us the ability to practice them without a rebuttal from our associates. Our sin moves from rags, and is now wearing a suit. We can dress it up to look respectable, and is even seen in the church as permissible. As long as it is not one of those big sins, which those outside the church are doing, then it is fine. But sin, no matter how well dress up it is, is still sin. No matter how well hidden we think we may have it in our heart, it still raises it ugly head. Jesus said, “You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34) Another thing is we cannot hide our sin from God. David said, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night," even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.” (Psalms 139:7-12) Our secret affections cannot be hidden from God in the darkness of our hearts. He knows what we hide from others, and ourselves. He knows what we may not even realize, and makes it know to us by His light.

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[1] Thomas Chalmers – The Expulsive Power of a New Affection

The War with Impatience, Waiting on the Lord

When we look at our world, our society, and our lifestyles, what one thing comes to mind that gets in our way when we desire peace? What four-letter word do we hate to hear more than anything in the world? That word is WAIT! We are an impatient society that thinks it has to have everything now! We have drive-thru banking, fast food restaurants, quick divorces, and faster and faster computers. The more we have to speed up our lives in conveniences, the more impatient we have become. This century is a time of the most impatient people whoever have lived. If we don’t get what we want when we want it, then we grow angry and through fits of rage at others in front of us. But when it comes to our spiritual life things change, right? Wrong, we are just as impatient when it comes to spiritual matters also, how many times have you seen people while listening to a 30-minute sermon, check their watches to see how long till its over. (Good thing they didn’t live in the 1700’s when sermons where an average of 90-minutes long) How about when our prayers are not answered, in our time, do we then give up on God? Maybe we say were waiting on God, but we already have a plan in their head on how things “should” go. What does patiently waiting on the Lord like? What does patient endurance look like in the life of the believer? I want to look at this subject more carefully and see how our impatience can destroy the plan God has for our lives.

First let’s look at some definitions before we go on any further. The American Heritage College Dictionary states impatient as: “Unable to wait patiently or tolerate delay; restless. Unable to endure irritation or opposition; intolerant; impatient of criticism. Expressing or produced by impatience. Restively eager or desirous; anxious.”[i] On the opposite side we have the word patient. Scripture defines it as, long-suffering, slow to anger, hopeful, enduring, remaining, waiting, and abiding.[ii] And John Piper says that patience is “a deepening, sweetness, and willingness to stand where God has appointed you, and to go at a pace He has appointed.”[iii] In other words, “Standing in your appointed place, and going to His appointed place.”[iv] When you look at these definitions, which one defines your ability to wait on the Lord? Is it patient endurance, or impatient restlessness?

Before we look at impatience, let’s take a look at what waiting looks like. When you think of waiting what comes to mind? When you think of waiting on God does that look about the same? We might think of waiting as sitting around with our arms folded, looking for something to happen. I would argue that waiting on God is much different. For example, the story of John Bunyan comes to mind. He was a preacher in the 1600’s that was imprisoned for 12 years because he didn’t conform to the Church of England. “He told local magistrates he would rather remain in prison until moss grew on his eyelids than fail to do what God commanded.”[v] Some of us might say that he wasted his life while sitting in jail. On the contrary, while he was waiting on God to deliver him, he penned nine books during those twelve years. One of those books was Pilgrims Progress. “Eventually, it became the best selling book (apart from the Bible) in publishing history.[vi] John Bunyan didn’t just fold his hands and sit there waiting on God’s deliverance. He did the Lord’s work while waiting on further instructions. He was away from his wife and four children during this time, but he stayed diligent to the cause of Christ. How about us? What do we do in our times of waiting? Maybe we are waiting on a new job, or a spouse. We could be waiting on others to grow in the spirit. We could be waiting for our circumstances to improve. I think most of us are waiting for something in our lives. But the more important issue is what are we doing in our time of waiting?

Are we spending time complaining and griping about what God has not done for us? Are we at odds with others and whining about what they have and become envious of them? Are we waiting and becoming impatient and bitter about life? Maybe we are sitting there with our arms folded in anger because we haven’t received what we think we should. Ask yourself one question, has waiting built character and patience in your life? Or have you allowed bitterness to grow in your soul because you resent this time of delay?

Now let’s look at what impatience does to our walk with God. As we look at a story in the book of Isaiah, we see that Israel was under a threat from the Assyarian Army. Instead of waiting on the Lord to deliver them, they fled to Egypt. This is the response God gave them for not trusting and fleeing from His providential care.

”Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit, this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant. It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern.” This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ Therefore you will flee! You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’ Therefore your pursuers will be swift! A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.”[vii]  (Isaiah 30:12-17)

Did you notice the words cracked, bulging, collapse, break, and shattered.  How is that like our own lives as we run from God’s plan of waiting? How many shattered dreams do you have littering your past because you ran ahead of God’s timing? I know in my life there are plenty of them. I have been left alone like a banner on a hill because I refused to look to God for direction. I looked only to what I thought was my own wisdom but instead it was only worldly foolishness. If we wait on God we have the promises of Isaiah 30:18 which states. “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!”[viii] He longs, He rises, and He blesses those who wait on Him. It is a theme all through the Bible that God desires us to wait on Him, to turn over our impatience to Him and place our trust in His wisdom, not our own.

Just because we wait on the Lord doesn’t mean we will be delivered from suffering. As Charles Spurgeon said “Jesus does not suffer so as to exclude your suffering. He bears a cross, not that you may escape it but that you may endure it. Christ exempts you from sin, but not from sorrow.”[ix] Our attitude needs to be that of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in the book of Daniel. They refused to bow down to an idol made for the King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and were threatened with a fiery furnace if they refused too. Their response to him was “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”[x] (Daniel 3:17-18) I think this story relates to our time of endurance. Will we bow down to the pressures and serve our impatience? Or will we wait on the Lord even when it means to wait in the fiery furnaces of this world? We need to wait on the Lord even when others, including Christians say not to. Because waiting on God always looks like weakness to others, but the opposite is true. “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” [xi] (Isaiah 40:31) When we are impatient, we will only see destruction, while on the other hand if we wait on God He will work for us as we see in Isaiah 64:4. “Who has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait on Him.” We all need to make our minds up. Are we determined to run ahead of God as thou we know better then He does? Or will we wait on Him and allow Him to work for us as we wait on His plan for our lives.

“I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.”[xii]  (Psalm 130:5-7)

Discussion Questions:

How has your impatience brought division in your relationships with God, family, and friends?

Has your impatience brought about negative consequences in your life? Such as anger, division with others, etc. Give examples.

Has the impatience of others made you anger, frustrated, and stressed? Why?

How do you deal with the impatience of others? Give examples

What does waiting on the Lord look like to you?

Give an example on how you have run before God instead of waiting on Him. And has that brought negative or positive results?

In those times of waiting on the Lord, do you tend to blame Him for your impatience? And also blame Him for the circumstance that you are in?

What could you do this week to be more patient with others in your own life?

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References 

[i] The American Heritage College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, Copyright 2002

[ii] James Strong, LL.D., S.T.D.,  The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville TN 1990.

[iii] John Piper, Sermon on Battling the Unbelief of Impatience, Minneapolis MN

[iv] John Piper, Sermon on Battling the Unbelief of Impatience, Minneapolis MN

[v] Mark Galli and Ted Olsen,  131 Christians Everyone Should Know, Broadman & Holman Publishers,

   Nashville TN, Copyright 2000, p 116.

[vi] Mark Galli and Ted Olsen,  131 Christians Everyone Should Know, Broadman & Holman Publishers,

   Nashville TN, Copyright 2000, p 116.

[vii] The NIV Study Bible New International Version, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI.                       

    Isaiah 30:12-17

[viii] The NIV Study Bible New International Version, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI.

    Isaiah 30:18

[ix] Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, April 5^th Morning, Hendrickson Publishers, Copyright 1991,

[x] The NIV Study Bible New International Version, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI.

   Daniel 3:17-18

[xi] The NIV Study Bible New International Version, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI.

   Isaiah 40:31

[xii] The NIV Study Bible New International Version, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI.

    Psalm 130:5-7

Who’s to Blame?

A lady told me that God wasn’t going to ask what someone else did to me, for me to act in a certain way. He is going to keep me accountable for my action and not allow me to keep placing blame on others for my choices. We live in a society that teaches that we aren’t responsible for our actions. We live in a world that views people as victims. If murder is committed it isn’t the person’s fault; it is blamed on someone else. If somebody is unhappy it is someone else’s responsibility, not their own. If a person commits adultery it is their spouse’s fault, because they weren’t there for them. In America today we see court cases, politicians and civic groups placing blame on everything, and everyone under the sun. If you do wrong, the message is that it wasn’t your fault, someone else is to blame.

But that view is unbiblical and won’t hold water in God’s court. The Lord calls us to be responsible and to live life according to His Word. He desires us to live a life that is a light to the world, not shifting blame. Finger pointing will not due. How much time do we spend looking for faults in others, instead of clearing up our own mess? "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.  Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:1-5) (ESV) As long as we look at the problems of others, and deny our own, we will not grow as a child of God. We need the help of God to show us a proper perspective on our fellow man and ourselves.

When it comes to church, do you expect others to serve you, or to do what you think needs to happen, instead of getting up out of your comfortable seat to make a change. Do you yell, “The leadership needs to… this ministry needs to… the preaching needs to…, instead of, I need to…” When we say the church needs to do something, we must remember that we are the church. It is not the responsibility of leadership to hold our hands and fulfill our needs. The body of Christ needs to work together; it doesn’t need more complainers, masking themselves as reformers. A reformer is one who initiates change with their own hands; a complainer looks to change the world by pointing out what’s wrong, and doing nothing, sitting around waiting for someone to fix it for them. We don’t need more committees, more ideas without action, more petitions, the church needs Christians to be disciples who are willing to put their hand to the plow, to be doers of the Word, not just listeners. A true disciple is one who follows so close that the dust of the Master’s feet gets on them. Are you willing to get dusty for your Master? Or will you sit around wondering when things are going to change?

The Love of Aloneness

We long to have someone intimately close, one to reveal ourselves too, to know us as to be known. BUT, we love our aloneness, we only allow others so close, because we want to be hidden, we want to have our space, we love to have our time alone, we love to be alone. We guard ourselves from open love of another by chasing a dream of what we want them to be, and when the dream is shattered we cry foul. What happens when someone is willing to be close and love, what do we do? We run, we hide, and we hurt them to bring about separation, this separation is what we truly want, to be separated and be by ourselves. Augustine said, "Whatever is allowed, we do not want, but that which is not permitted us, we burn all the more fiercely to posses it. Whatever follows me, I flee; but whatever flees me, I pursue." How we run on the treadmill of misery, we pursue what we cannot catch, and we run from being caught. Oh, how want love without risk, but how can one love another without risking?

Jesus didn’t call us to love others as we love ourselves, to set limits on our love, but to love without limiting. Our problem isn’t we love too much, but we love to little. We love others on our terms. We love others at a distance; we restrain our love for others but desire others to love us without risk. Have you ever though how life would be if you loved others without concerning yourself with the risk? Not living a life of fear that says,”If I love someone, what will happen to me?”  If we say we love someone and we are only concerned about what will happen to us, then we need to ask ourselves do we really love them, or do just love the way they make us feel. If we truly love someone without risk we tend not to concern ourselves about only ourselves. We look to the desires of those we love. When I use the words without risk, I mean to love without worry, without fear, without concerning ourselves about what will happen if I give my love to another. Think to yourself and see if there was ever a time when you gave yourself to a friend. When you didn’t look to your fears for their counsel on love? Was it a love that was rewarding instead of being laden by fear? Was it a love that was filling instead of being emptied out by the words, “what if?” Could it be that our pain from love is more about restraining ourselves because of what others have done to us? John Piper said, “It is not that we are all trying to please ourselves, but that we are all far too easily pleased. We do not believe Jesus when He says there is more blessedness, more joy, more lasting pleasure in a life of devoted to helping others than those in a life devoted to our material comfort.”

How would our love for others be if we didn’t live in the fear of losing it? When we desire to love others, and fear doing it because we might lose it; then we already have missed it if we choose to live that way. Once we fear and restrain our giving, we have nothing to lose because we have never possessed it. Christ said it is better to give then to receive. How would our relationships be if we gave our love to others without expecting something in return? For God loves a cheerful giver.

Now let us turn our attention to our love for God. Do we do the same to Him? Do we fear giving our hearts over to Him? When it comes to human relationships we know that those fears are possible, even though it should not control us, or make our decisions for us. With God we need not fear at all. He has promised He will never leave us or forsake us. The question we need to ask ourselves is why do we still run from God? Why are we afraid to put our trust in the One who has given all for us? What will happen if we love God with as much intensity as we want others to love us? How would our lives change if we would open our hearts up to Him and allow His love to transform us? I think we would be surprised with the change in our own hearts. Maybe if we would allow Him in, we may even allow others in also, but only if we try.

Mike Mason says, "For given this natural bent of ours towards isolationism, how vital it is for us to know, to come to terms with and to discover again and again the shattering truth that we indeed are not alone in the world! This is precisely the work of marriage, as it is of true religion; to remind, daily, that we are not alone. We are not alone when it comes to other people, and neither are we alone when it comes to God. However much we may wish at times to be left alone, it is not as option. It is one thing that God and marriage refuse to allow us. They will not simply let us be. In one way or another, they are always on our backs, forever admonishing us that there is no such thing apart from relationship, which is to say, no life apart from the sharing of ourselves with another."[i] It is true to say when we get hurt we want to be left alone in our pain. Oh, how the one we longed for now becomes our source for isolation. We hate the loneliness, but hate even more to be near others because it is too hard to give. A vicious cycle, we hate being alone, but at the same time we don't risk loving others because of the pain of rejection, and disappointment of being hurt by them. Then we also long to love and be loved, and ache for others, a cycle which puts us in discontentment with God. Oh, deep down He is the one we blame, He is the One who should fix our situations, but since we are discontented with Him, we push His and His love away. Keeping us in the cycle of longing, and leaving, a cycle that keeps us in a perpetual isolation from what we need the most, the love of God and the love of others.

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[i] Mike Mason, The Mystery of Marriage

Spiritual Hunger

When hungry hits we feed ourselves to gratify the pain. We can fill it with something that nourishes us, to build us up, or something that just fulfills the hunger with something quick, but not good for our bodies. The same is true with our spiritual condition. What do we do with our spiritual hunger? Do we fill ourselves up with what godly pursuits such as fellowship, worship, Scripture study, prayer, meditation and solitude with God. While these are just a few things we can do, it is not the extent of spiritual conditioning, and not a list of a way to works towards God. We can fill our spiritual hunger with something quick. We can fill ourselves with passions, lust, judging others, pleasures of this world and anything else outside the will of God. While one way builds the spiritual body, the other squelches the spirit. How we feed our spiritual hunger will direct us down the road in life. Not just in this world, but the next one also. So how are you feeding your spiritual hunger?

Waiting on God

Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame."  (Isaiah 49:23b)

Our attitude towards God is not one that states He owes us something because of our service, obedience and discipline. We don’t pray, serve, and study so that God will work for us. But we wait on Him in humility and in the attitude that God’s plan is best. While if our attitude is self-serving, it looks to give only when something is promised. This kind of love only looks to give the minimum for the maximum return. A love that limits is a love that focuses on the promised reward. If that return is small or nothing at all, then that tells us how much to give. This is a contradiction to Christian love. It is not focused on what will be given but how much is needed. The definer of love is not oneself but by God. If love is limited by the return then is it really love at all? “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?   And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:46-48)  Love is not based on the other person in how much to give but it is based on the character of the giver. That character is developed into the likeness of Christ by His transforming love.  And that love looks, listens and waits on God.

Are You Content or Comfortable?

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

 (Philippians 4:11-13 NIV)

When I think about the word contentment, I believe I have it mixed up with being the word comfortable. Think for a minute, what’s the difference? Both seem to have a sense of rest, even peace. But does this mean that contentment and comfort are about inaction, or are they about action? I can be contented and comfortable at the same time, but what happens when one of them replaces the other? What happens when our contentment grows to a place of comfort which then looks for satisfaction, rather than dependency on God? These are all important questions to ponder over, these are also questions we cannot answer for others because we may see their efforts as being comfortable, while truly they maybe living in contentment. So let’s not focus on what others are doing, or not doing, but look to our own lives to see if we are truly searching for the secret of contentment.

What is your personal definition of contentment? Think to yourself about what it means to be content. Has your definition come from others, or have you made one up? Since we are thinking about contentment from a biblical perspective, let’s look at some definitions. In the Old Testament, contentment was defined as, show willingness, to resolve, yielding to, accept, and being pleased to agree. As we look in the New Testament we see it defined as, independent of external circumstances, to be satisfied, and to be strong. Webster’s give us another definition of contentment. “Rest or quietness of the mind in the present condition; satisfaction which holds the mind in peace, restraining complaint, opposition, or further desire, and often implying a moderate degree of happiness. State of resting in mind; quiet; satisfaction of mind with any condition or event.”

When I read these definitions a few phrases jump out at me. We are to be resolved, independent of external circumstances, satisfaction which holds the mind in peace, quiet, and restraining complaints. As I think about these I see that contentment is not only a state of rest, but a place of action. Not in a physical movement of the body, but a resting of the soul and mind, with an active participation in a pursuit of contentment. When I think of Paul, I see a man who was one of action, but not an action apart from God, but one who pursued and longed for contentment in God.

Contentment can be disrupted by outside forces. Think back to a time when you were content with a situation, then something or someone disturbed your peaceful state. For example, the husband who is contented in his marriage, until his eyes come upon a model on television. Or a wife who loves her husband and is satisfied until she reads a romantic novels and wonders why her husband can’t act the same way to her. The child who loves the Christmas gift he received from his parents, until his best friends shows up with his new toy, he then is dissatisfied with what he has. I could go on; many times in our lives when we what others have and this brings about discontentment in what God has given us.

But contentment is not about comparisons, because that is the enemy of contentment. Do you think while Paul was in prison he looked over at the other inmates and wondered why they had a better cell, more companions, or more food on their plate? No, he didn’t look around at what he didn’t have, but he focused upward at the peace Christ had given him. His satisfaction was not in the possessions of this world, but in whose hands his life was kept in. His strength didn’t come from self-determination, but from Christ Himself. The secret of contentment comes when we focus on God and His goodness, mercy, and strength. It is when we turn our eyes on to the things of this world, then we start to lose our footing, and slid down the slope of discontentment, self-pity, and bitterness.

We can become discontented not only from comparisons, but also when God moves us from our restful state. Some of us may see the need for contentment when we are facing trials and tribulations. But we can deal with the same issue when God blesses us also. Think about an area in which you worked hard at being content with life. Maybe a job, a relationship, lack of relationship, your spouse, or many other areas in which God may move you with a blessing of answered prayer. We might have grown accustomed and comfortable in our situation. We final came to a place in which we not feel content. But God stirs up the nest by giving us what we wanted at one time.  Now we have to deal with change, change is hard, especially when we have come to a place where we don’t expect and anticipate getting what we once wanted. Now we have to deal with the decisions, responsibilities, and expectations which we may have buried. We come to a place which test our faith. We come to a place which moves us from our comfort and convenience, to a place which needs to trust God again. Yes again, because when we live in contentment, we most likely didn’t have to long for God as before, now we must roust our faith to see where His is bring us to in a new direction. A direction where God is calling to us to trust Him at a deeper level, a place in which God is calling us out of our comfort, no matter how truly uncomfortable it really is.

Now let’s look at comfort. There is a difference between being comforted, and being comfortable. Being comforted is when we are in pain, or trouble. God and others give us support and strength, and rest. Comfort is something we need at times and is temporary. Being comfortable is when we enjoy the place of rest, but this rest can be a place we overstay. Our bed is comfortable, but when the alarm goes off we must rise from our temporary place. A recliner is comfortable, but it is not a permanent place to live. We all need to rest, relax, and enjoy life, but if this is a place we long to live in, we will become more than comfortable, we will live an ineffective Christian life.

So when it comes to contentment and comfort are we exchanging one for the other? Or do we see a difference in the two when they are in contrast to one another. So what is the difference? Is it safe to say that being comfortable has more to do with a state of rest, a place of inaction? While contentment is an active state which rest but battles against, and restrains complains and negative attitudes; being comfortable focuses on our wants and needs, while contentment focuses on God’s provision during difficult times. I think we can also say that contentment is a learning process which looks to Christ for strength and direction. While comfort is something we don’t have to learn, but look for in ways that please ourselves. So where are you today? Are you in the process of learning, in the position of relaxing? Are you growing in godliness with contentment, or avoidance from life for the desire to be comfortable? These are hard questions to address, and we might not even know where we are at, but God does. We need to look to Him to see where He is moving us, and growing our faith. We need to ask God as the psalmist did in Psalms 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalms 139:23-24 NIV)

We could rephrase it like this, Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my comfortable places. See if there is any discontented way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. This is a question only God can answer, that is if we have the courage to ask Him.

Love Without Risk

Jesus didn’t call us to love others as we love ourselves, to set limits on our love, but to love without limits. Our problem isn’t we love too much, but we love to little. We love others on our terms. We love others at a distance, we restrain our love for others but desire others to love us without risk. Have you ever though how life would be if you loved others without concerning yourself with the risk? Not living a life of fear that says, ”If I love someone, what will happen to me?”  If we say we love someone and we are only concerned about what will happen to us, then we need to ask ourselves, “do we really love them, or do just love the way they make us feel.” If we truly love someone without risk we tend not to concern ourselves about only ourselves. We look to the desires of those we love. When I use the words without risk, I mean to love without worry, without fear, without concerning ourselves about what will happen if I give my love to another. Think to yourself and see if there was ever a time when you gave yourself to a friend. When you didn’t look to your fears for their counsel on love? Was it a love that was rewarding instead of being laden by fear? Was it a love that was filling instead of being emptied out by the words, “what if?” Could it be that our pain from love is more about restraining ourselves because of what others have done to us? “It is not that we are all trying to please ourselves, but that we are all far too easily pleased. We do not believe Jesus when He says there is more blessedness, more joy, more lasting pleasure in a life of devoted to helping others than those in a life devoted to our material comfort.”[1]

How would our love for others be if we didn’t live in the fear of losing it? When we desire to love others, and fear doing it because we might lose it; then we already have missed it if we choose to live that way. Once we fear and restrain our giving, we have nothing to lose because we have never possessed it. Christ said it is better to give then to receive. How would our relationships be if we gave our love to others without expecting something in return? For God loves a cheerful giver.

Now let us turn our attention to our love for God. Do we do the same to Him? Do we fear giving our hearts over to Him? When it comes to human relationships we know that those fears are possible, even though it should not control us, or make our decisions for us. With God we need not fear at all. He has promised He will never leave us or forsake us. The question we need to ask ourselves is why do we still run from God? Why are we afraid to put our trust in the One who has given all for us? What will happen if we love God with as much intensity as we want others to love us? How would our lives change if we would open our hearts up to Him and allow His love to transform us? I think we would be surprised with the change in our own hearts. Maybe if we would allow Him in, we may even allow others in also, but only if we try.

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[1] John Piper, Desiring God, pp110

Who is Tempting Whom?

As we look at our day to day lives, are we waning to be tempted? Do we invite sin into our lives by keeping it on our calendar? Have we desired and longed for the sinful things of this world while not longing for the things of God? One way to see if this is true is to look at our time with God. Do we rush through our time or see it as something we must do? Or is it a time that we enjoy? Is being discipline with the things of God becoming something of drudgery instead of a time of joy and learning? To be honest about these things is what we need to do. Not giving the Christian answer because it sounds good because we can lie to each other and to ourselves for a season, but we can’t lie to God. If we are honest with ourselves about our time with the Lord we will see why we desire the things that are outside of God’s Will. We need to ask God to give us a desire to spend time with Him and a love for His Word. We need to ask God to help us love Him, more that we love our sin. Most of us wouldn’t say we love sin more than we love our eternal Father, but if that isn’t true than why are we drawn to sin more then we are drawn to God? We have a relationship with God as much as we have a relationship with sin. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t long for it. Sin couldn’t entice us as it does; we would desire to be with God, more than we would want to be with our favorite sin. Look at your life today, how many times do you see yourself tempting Satan, to tempt you? How many times do you long for an opportunity for sin and pleasure? Are you looking to fulfilling your appetite through sinful ways, verses looking to God to fulfill them in His way and in His time? If so, who is tempting whom? 

Does Prayer Change Things?

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

[Philippians 4:6 (ESV)]

“Why should I talk to God anyway? God already knows what I need; it even says so in Scripture. And if God designed the universe and controls all that happens in it, how could I expect my prayers to make any difference? Isn’t prayer presumptuous, as if my puny human mind could remind God of something he hasn’t already though of? Why should I ask anything of God? God will do whatever he chooses anyway. Right?”[i] Sound familiar?

Do we sometimes feel as if your prayers are of little or no importance since God is going to do what God is going to do? Or can prayer change things? Understanding God from this side of heaven is impossible for us to comprehend and how our words to Him could ever change things. Are the first series of questions at the beginning of this paragraph a biblical idea about prayer? Should we give up and give in to the belief that our prayers will not change a thing in this world? If that is true then prayer is powerless, but if that idea is wrong and we live without prayer, then our lives will be powerless to change the smallest thing.

A lot depends on your definition of prayer. I am sure most Christians would say that prayer is just about asking. Look in your dictionary to see what it says about prayer. The words supplication, asking, request, beseech, and petition are most likely found. And most would say that is true, but that is not what prayer is all about. Prayer is about a relationship and communication. One good definition I found was in The American Heritage College Dictionary, which states “An act of communication with one worshipped, as in devotion or thanksgiving.”[ii] If we look at the life of Christ we see Jesus getting away from the crowds to spend His days and nights in prayer. As in Luke 6:12, “In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.” [Luke 6:12 (ESV)] We don’t know much about what Jesus prayed about but if He needed something, all He had to do was command it to happen. So if His prayer life was only to ask God for something, then what did He do all night long in prayer? Or was His prayer life one of spending time alone with God. He used His time to enjoy the presence of His Father. Just as we do when we enjoy spending time alone with those we love. Not that asking is wrong but if that is the only thing we use prayer for then our spiritual prayer life will be a very empty one. Prayer for us needs to be part request, part intercession for others and part transformation. As R. A. Torrey puts it, “Your growth and mine into the likeness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be in exact proportion to the time and to the heart we put into prayer.”[iii] Scripture also address the idea in this way “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” [Romans 12:2 (ESV)] One area most of us probably need a transformation in is in our prayer life. We need not see it as a duty but a pleasure. As Andrew Murray says “Let Your wonderful revelation of the Father’s tenderness free all Christians from the though that prayer is a burden, and lead them to regard it as the highest privilege of their lives – a joy and a blessing.”[iv] Just think how our walk with Christ would be transformed if we saw prayer as a pleasure and a privilege, instead of a burden. Seeing communication with the Lord of creation as a gift that will bring our walk with Him closer. And to see that it does not only change the world around us but also the heart within us.

Now let’s turn our attention to the part of pray called petition. Some will say we shouldn’t ask for ourselves, that it is selfish and self-centered. But that idea is not a biblical one. Jesus didn’t say that if you ask God for something that you were selfish, in a matter of fact He encourage it. In Matthew 7:7-11 Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.  Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” [Matthew 7:7-11 (ESV)]  And in the Old Testament it says, “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. [Psalm 34:15 (ESV)] And in the life of Hezekiah who was the King of Israel who was told by Isaiah the prophet to “Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover." [Isaiah 38:1 (ESV)]  Hezekiah didn’t just wait to die, he believed prayer was affective. He turned to the wall and prayed to God. And it did change things because God answer his prayer as we see in Isaiah 38:5 "Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. [Isaiah 38:5 (ESV)]  

But what about us, do we believe that God will answer our prayers? Do we persist in asking over and over even though an answer has not come yet? Do we grow impatient and think that our request isn’t important or that God will not even listen to us? That is an area each and every Christian struggles with. We all wonder if our requests are worth the time of the Creator of the universe. Or are they so small that we need to take care of them ourselves in our own way. But that is not true of God, He does care and He does desire for us to communicate our needs to Him. As in James 4:2 which states, “you desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.” [James 4:2 (ESV)] And Matthew 6:26-30 says, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” [Matthew 6:26-30 (ESV)] God loves His children and longs to give them all that they need, but His children don’t seem to ask Him for such things. And we run, chase and pursue what we think we need and lose heart because we miss out on what is most important. And that is our relationship with God who gives with a loving heart. “The eyes of God are awake to assist the blind in their necessity, but he is likewise pleased to listen to our groans, that he may give us the better proof of his love.”[v] God desires to use our difficulties and the difficulties of others to show us His abounding love for us. He is not a God of a clinched fist but of an open hand as we read in Psalm 145:15-16: “The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.” [Psalm 145:15-16 (ESV)] We need to look to Him as the filler of our needs and to turn to Him not only in our desperation but also in our times of plenty. As we long to strive in our weakness to grow past our infirmities, we need to remember that God is the true source of our strength. That He is here to bring us relief from such pains of life, but we need and must use the vehicle of prayer to communicate them to Him. Not because He is blind to such concerns but that we come to Him humbly in order to turn our situations over to Him for His glory not our own. He longs to be our provider as John Calvin said in his book, The Institutions of Christian Religion. In which he states, “use and experience confirm the thought of his providence in our minds in a manner adapted to our weakness, when we understand that he not only promises that he will never fail us, and spontaneously gives us access to approach him in every time of need, but has his hand always stretched out to assist his people, not amusing them with words, but proving himself to be a present aid.”[vi] So do we look to ourselves to provide the fix for our problems or do we turn to God and release control to Him. A decision all mankind must make, and a decision that will eventually bring us to our end, or bring us to God’s beginning for our lives. A decision you must make, and live with the consequences. Consequences that will be good or bad, but your choice to make. Will you use the vehicle of prayer to propel you into a deeper relationship with God or will you live a life like the opening statement of this lesson. Go back and read the first part again. And ask yourself if that is how you want to continue to see prayer. Or you can ask God in prayer what John Wesley did, he said:

Deliver us, O God

from a lazy mind,

all lukewarmness of heart

and all depression of spirit.

We know that these must deaden

our love for you;

mercifully free our hearts from them all.

And give us such a lively, fervent,

and cheerful spirit

that we may vigorously perform

whatever you command,

thankfully suffer whatever you choose for us,

and always be eager to obey your holy love

in all things;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.[vii]

-John Wesley

Discussion Questions:

1.  What is your attitude towards prayer?

2.  How has prayer changed your life? And how has God used 

     prayer to change you?

3.  Do you believe God is interested in the small concerns of

     your life? Or is He not concerned with your situation?

4.  Is your prayer life one of asking only? Or is it a 

     combination of asking and transformation?

5.  Do you see praying for yourself as selfish and 

     self-centered? Why?

6.  Does daily prayer produce patience or anxiety? And how 

     does that affect your time in prayer?

7.  What do you see missing in your own prayer life?

8.  How can you in this coming week incorporate prayer into 

     your daily life?

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[i] Carolyn Nystrom, John Calvin – Sovereign Hope, Intervarsity Press,

     Downers Grove, IL., Copyright 2002, pp 20.

     (This quote was not written by John Calvin but by the author,

     Carolyn Nystrom to challenge the readers attitude towards prayer.)

[ii] The American Heritage College Dictionary - Fourth Edition,

      Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston MA,

      Copyright 2002, pp 1094

[iii] Reuben Archer Torrey, The Power of Prayer, Whitaker House,

       New Kingsington, PA, copyright, 2000 pp17.

[iv] Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer,

       Whitaker House, New Kingsington, PA, copyright,

       1981 pp 29.

[v] John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, Chapter 20, #3

[vi] John Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, Chapter 20, #3

[vii] David Schubert, Personal Prayers of Christians Through the Centuries,

        Dimensions for Living, Nashville, TN., Copyright 1991, pp 62.