Monthly Archives: April 2010

Physical affects spiritual

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I thought the Scripture verses for today, were a good selection by Selwyn.

Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians 5:12-28 (NLT): “Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work.

And live peacefully with each other. Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone. See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people. Always be joyful.

Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil. Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.

Dear brothers and sisters, pray for us. Greet all the brothers and sisters with Christian love.

I command you in the name of the Lord to read this letter to all the brothers and sisters. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

Paul gives a lot of advice on what we should do: to exercise wholehearted love, to live peacefully, to be tender, to be patient, always try to do good, always be joyful.

‘It’s too hard to follow these instructions”,  is that what I hear you say? No – they’re are not hard to do – if you don’t stifle the Holy Spirit. In the same way, it’s not hard to stay away from every kind of evil provided we never stop praying. Paul. I think, is being exhaustive in ensuring that we understand that  the various kinds of evil - cover all aspects of our person – spirit, soul and body.

I wont say much about what Selwyn has written – mainly because I don’t agree with the main point that he is making.

Paul’s letter to the Romans 8:31b-39 (NLT): ” … If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one – for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one – for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”)  No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,  neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below – indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I’m convinced that sickness cannot separate us from God’s love – our motivation might be dampened – our enthusiasm may be temporarily smothered – we may feel too tired and exhausted to do anything; but none of these conditions will automatically cause us to feel abandoned by God. On the contrary, it’s often during these times  – when we are forced to sit and be still, in God’s presence – that we grow, through suffering –  to become more Christ-like.

Any comments?

‘The dark night of the soul’

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Selwyn continues to discuss the feeling some people have – that they have been abandoned by God.

Like, Selwyn – I’ve never been through such an experience – so, I can’t really comment on this type of feeling. However, I have, on a few occasions felt totally abandoned by family and friends – and, the only thing that held me together during those times –  was that, no matter what, I always had a relationship with Jesus.

The only other situation that I can refer to – is that at times I’ve felt distant to God; yet, that has always been through my own fault. I’ve wondered off the narrow path; and, then I have a sense that I’ m in a wilderness. Such a feeling for me – provides an inbuilt warning – a type of red flag – that something I’m doing or not doing – is not aligned to God’s will for my life.  As soon as I’m aware of the reality of this type of situation; I quickly seek God’s guidance to back-track to that place where I went off by myself; knowing that my Lord will be waiting to lead me along the right path.

Selwyn has used the following Scripture, to provide an example of being abandoned by God – but, I think that this is a very special case, and none of us will ever find ourselves, in the same situation – I think it was an unique moment in history, never to repeated.

Matthew 27:45-46, 50-54 (NLT) [The death of Jesus - on the cross.]: “At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice,‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

… Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people.

The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “This man truly was the Son of God!”

I think Psalm 22, holds the key to the meaning behind Jesus’ words, called out on the cross; I recommend that you read the entire Psalm. Here are a couple of excerpts [Psalm 22:1-5, 11, 25-31]: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief.

Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. Our ancestors trusted in you, and you rescued them. They cried out to you and were saved. They trusted in you and were never disgraced. …

Do not stay so far from me, for trouble is near, and no one else can help me.

… 

I will praise you in the great assembly. I will fulfill my vows in the presence of those who worship you. The poor will eat and be satisfied. All who seek the Lord will praise him. Their hearts will rejoice with everlasting joy. The whole earth will acknowledge the Lord and return to him. All the families of the nations will bow down before him. For royal power belongs to the Lord. He rules all the nations.

Let the rich of the earth feast and worship. Bow before him, all who are mortal, all whose lives will end as dust. Our children will also serve him. Future generations will hear about the wonders of the Lord.

His righteous acts will be told to those not yet born.They will hear about everything he has done.”

I think Jesus, felt both the horrific pain, suffering and loneliness of His death and His pending glorious resurrection - when His vows would be fulfilled and His victory recognised by the whole world, when all creation will bow to His authority (as foretold in Scripture, eg Psalm 22). All who feel abandoned and cry out for salvation – will know from Scripture, together with their belief in Jesus that through His death –  they will be saved – and, they too – will rejoice, with Him, at their resurrection. If you ever feel distant to God, then dwell on these words from Psalm 22 –  ’They cried out to you and were saved. They trusted in you and were never disgraced.’  Then pray – ‘I place my trust in You, my Lord!’

Your views?

Never forsaken

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Selwyn now looks at a difficult issue - the experience of feeling abandon and forsaken by God.

As Selwyn mentions in his conclusion – some may experience such a feeling but it’s a feeling bought on by our own frail imagination or Satan.

We know, from the Scriptural reference provided in today’s study – that Jesus will never leave us or forsake us.

Hebrews 13:1-9a (NLT): “Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.

Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.

Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” So we can say with confidence: “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”

Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace, … “

We may,‘at times, be tempted to believe that God has forgotten or abandoned us’ - especially, ‘if we pray for something that seems of certainty to be within the will of God’, yet we find our prayers – appear to go unanswered.

Selwyn’s conclusion is absolutely correct: “It must be made clear right at the onset, however, that although a Christian may feel abandoned by God, the feeling is the result of illusion, not reality. We are never really abandoned, even though we may feel abandoned.”

The feeling of abandonment – is, I think, an attack on the trust we hold, in God’s love. Such an attack – is in the interests of those who are God’s enemies  – it is a fundamental assault on the integrity of God’s love for us. Consequently, it must be dealt with a sense of extreme urgency – with lots of persistent prayer –  holding onto the knowledge that God will never let us go through any trial that is too great for us. His love will always lead us out of such dark nights. Do you agree?

‘When other helpers fail … ‘

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I mentioned in previous studies, leading up to this one – that there are two general types of misunderstandings. The first and most common type, occurs when the words we use, are misinterpreted by others for a whole range of reasons – starting with our selection of imprecise words and ending with cultural or age differences between the speaker and his or her listeners.

The second type, is mainly spiritual – it’s when we use the right words in their correct context but some of our audience cannot understand the spiritual significance of our words.  In this case the difference is that those who misunderstand us, are still in bondage to Satan and they are not able to hear the message as delivered by the Holy Spirit (at that point in time).

Consequently, I agree with Selwyn if he is discussing the second type of misunderstanding – the spiritual sort. He writes, the following, in today’s study: “Probably no one in history was more misunderstood than Jesus Christ. He came to earth offering love, pouring it out passionately and prodigally on all who were in need, but the more He ministered, the more He was misunderstood. … Take comfort in the thought that when other helpers fail and comforts flee – there is always Jesus.”

In Matthew 13:10-17 (NLT), we read: “His disciples came and asked him, “Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?”

He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.

That is why I use these parables: For they look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.

This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says, ‘When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes – so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’

But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it.”

Some people have difficulty accepting the reality that people with hardened hearts cannot understand God’s Word. In every case, with you and with me,  it’s the work of the Holy Spirit that enables spiritual understanding. We, without the Holy Spirit’s help, can never understand Scripture based on our own intellectual reasoning. Do you accept this truth?

We are not orphans

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I thought that the material Selwyn has written, in today’s study – to be excellent.  A lot of Christians, I feel, say that they believe that God is with them as they daily follow Jesus – but they don’t live in a way that demonstrates the reality of their belief.

Consequently, I agree with Selwyn when he says: “We return to the thought that we can actually grow through misunderstanding. It hurts when it happens, but it has a way of causing us to depend on the Lord in a way that perhaps we have never quite done before.

… Ask Jesus to be your defence (regarding misunderstandings and other hurts). Don’t just think about it – talk to Him about it. Ask Him to take of you and then you can lie down at night knowing that although the tongue of your accuser might be busy, God is taking care of the situation.

Far too many of us forget that when we become Christians, we enter into the family of God. We have a new Father who delights in taking care of our (spiritual) needs and becoming involved in every detail of our lives. We are not orphans, we are children of the living God.”

I can’t stress this point enough – Jesus loves you – with all His life.  He is not a distant God, one who only checks on you every few years to see how you are going.  Rather, He is with you, all the time – He is so close to you that He can hear your every heartbeat. 

In 1 Peter 4:1-11 (NLT), we read about a different type of suffering – and one, that is not to be confused with the normal trials of life that everyone experiences. I’m talking about the hurts you experience, caused by others; because you are a Christian: ” … So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy – their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols (celebrities, status, money and consumer goods).

Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you. But remember that they will have to face God, who will judge everyone, both the living and the dead. That is why the Good News was preached to those who are now dead, so although they were destined to die like all people, they now live forever with God in the Spirit.

The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.

God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.”

At all times look for opportunities to respond in a Christ-like way, to the trials and misunderstandings that come our way – because we have only one life, to choose to bring glory to God through Jesus Christ.

I also liked, today’s prayer: “O God, my Father help me grow gracefully, beautifully and creatively. Let everything that happens to me be used to increase Your likeness in me. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.”

Your thoughts?

 

Handling misunderstanding

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Psalm 140 is another one of those great Psalms of David – the words are marvellous.

Psalm 140 (NLT:  “O Lord, rescue me from evil people. Protect me from those who are violent, those who plot evil in their hearts and stir up trouble all day long. Their tongues sting like a snake; the venom of a viper drips from their lips.

O Lord, keep me out of the hands of the wicked. Protect me from those who are violent, for they are plotting against me. The proud have set a trap to catch me; they have stretched out a net; they have placed traps all along the way.

I said to the Lord, “You are my God!” Listen, O Lord, to my cries for mercy! O Sovereign Lord, the strong one who rescued me, you protected me on the day of battle. Lord, do not let evil people have their way. Do not let their evil schemes succeed, or they will become proud.”

Let my enemies be destroyed by the very evil they have planned for me. Let burning coals fall down on their heads. Let them be thrown into the fire or into watery pits from which they can’t escape. Don’t let liars prosper here in our land. Cause great disasters to fall on the violent.

But I know the Lord will help those they persecute; he will give justice to the poor. Surely righteous people are praising your name; the godly will live in your presence.”

And, here’s what Selwyn had to say – in today’s study: “The first thing to notice is that David recognised his predicament has been caused by exaggeration. When people misunderstand you, they exaggerate what you said or what you did and make it something you did not intend.… Next, David gets in touch with his feelings and acknowledges his sense of vulnerability. … In verse 6 (of the above Psalm) - “I said to the Lord, ‘You are my God!’ Listen, O Lord, to my cries for mercy!” Notice, he spoke to our Lord, he did not just think it. Our dependence on God must be verbalised (that is, must be actioned), if it is to be realised. Talking to Him not only gets something out of us; it opens us up to God so that He might get something into us.”

[Note: In the following paragraph - I'm only talking about misunderstandings, which have a spiritual aspect.]

Handling misunderstanding  is only possible if we give the entire matter over to Jesus – it’s He – His Spirit within us – that is being misunderstood. Consequently, it is only through His power that we can be rescued from such a situation – this aspect is well demonstrated by David’s words in Psalm 140. David never depends on his own strength to survive the wicked plans of evil people – he puts his life in God’s hands - David is totally depended on God’s protection – and, so should we! 

What do you think?

Learning how to be a king

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Selwyn continues to look at the issue of those misunderstandings that can arise from an innocent word or implication.

In particular he examines the case where King Saul misinterpreted the motives of David. Selwyn concludes today’s study, by saying: “The innocent acts of David were so misinterpreted by Saul that thereafter David’s life became almost unbearable. If it’s any comfort, being misunderstood, it seems, has always been the standard operating procedure for those whom God appoints to special service.”

I like the following verses (a subset of those set for reading and meditation), 1 Samuel16:10-13a (NLT): ” … In the same way all seven of Jesse’s sons were presented to Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” Then Samuel asked, “Are these all the sons you have?”  “There is still the youngest,” Jesse replied. “But he’s out in the fields watching the sheep and goats.” “Send for him at once,” Samuel said. “We will not sit down to eat until he arrives.”

So Jesse sent for him. He was dark and handsome, with beautiful eyes. And the Lord said, “This is the one; anoint him.” So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on. … “

The reason (for me), why these verses are so powerful is because they show that God does not choose his ‘ambassadors’, based on age, knowledge or status – His choice, ofen appears to run counter to what we would expect. Consequently, for me, it’s amazing grace that I heard His voice say, in effect,  ‘follow Me’.  Don’t you agree with me, as you look at your own life?