Don't give up! Keep praying!

Matthew 7:8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Reasons why not to give up but to keep on praying
Yesterday we considered Matthew 7:7 and the three different levels of prayer.  If you look at that verse, Jesus is not just laying out guidelines, He is commanding us to pray in accordance to the ask, seek and knock levels.  But now He is switching from commands to pray to certainties of prayer. 

In God's word we find commands.  For every command of scripture there is always at least one provision of grace.  There are promises to claim.  The commands are issued from Jesus due to the fact that grace is required and available to carry out such a prayer-life. 

What enables you not to give up and keep on praying
When we ask, in accordance to God's will, He hears us (1 John 5:14-15).  Scripture warns us of the dangers and futility of asking with the wrong motives - don't expect God to answer! (please compare James 4).  However whenever our desire matches with what God's word lays out to us, we will know how to pray and what to ask for. 

Illustrations of those who did not give up but kept on praying
The same goes for the seeking and knocking levels of the prayer life.  The emphasis in this verse is on the continual nature of the asking, seeking and knocking.  We cannot give up after one or two times.  Too often the child of God grows discouraged after praying once or twice.  What of those saints of God in the scriptures? 

Abraham prayed for 25 years before Isaac was born.  Isaac, when he got married, prayed for 20 years before God opened the barren womb of his wife Rebecca.  As we grow in prayer, we move through those stages - asking,, seeking and knocking.  We also have the chance to grow deeper in God - resulting in us reaching higher with God.  I believe this is why God delays in answering our prayers. God desires us to desire Him.   As one preacher once put it - God's delays are not God's denials. 

Don't Give up! Keep on Praying!
Don't give up! Keep on praying!  As you and I wait for the answer, we all the time are being drawn into and up into the very heart of God Himself.  As Christ does this, we find that the need was created to prompt us so that in the midst of our asking, seeking or knocking, we would learn what it means to have relationship with God the Father.  May the Holy Spirit so teach us what it means to pray with that goal in mind. 

A living, breathing prayer-life

Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

In the first of five sermons preached by Jesus in Matthew's Gospel, we find the Lord unfolding for us the purpose and nature of the prayer-life.  In the same sermon (called by many "The Sermon on the Mount") Jesus mentions prayer in this chapter and in the previous.  What we find out about prayer is that there are three different levels of prayer:

Level One: Asking Prayer

This is where many Christians start their prayer-life - in the realm of asking.  When I am asking God for things in prayer, my circumstances shape much of how I pray.  Now in this type of praying, Jesus is not specifying "what we ask for" so much as He is emphasizing "how we ask".  Clearly in this type of praying, how I ask will determine the certainty of whether or not God will grant the request.  I must know His will, that is - His desire, wish or mind on the given matter.  How do I discover that?  His word - the scriptures. When I combine the scriptures with my prayer-life - I'll know exactly what to ask the Father for and how to pray more effectively. 

Level Two: Seeking Prayer

This level of prayer is a little more aggressive.  This is where we begin to cross the threshhold in our prayer life from seeking "things" from God to "seeking God".  As much as burdens still play a role in the shaping of our prayer life, the life of prayer, when seeking God, becomes more interested in meeting Him than in Him meeting the need.  Jesus says: "Seek and you will find".  Notice again, He is not defining what we are seeking, only that when we seek, we will find.  In the same sermon, in the previous chapter, Jesus tells us this in Matthew 6:33 - "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all of these things will be added unto you." So when I seek, I seek after God, and what He wants, and lo and behold whatever I'm praying for, God will show up. (please compare 1 John 5:14-15)

Level Three: Knocking Prayer

In this final level of prayer, we are focusing on a particular purpose with a resolve to hear and commune with God.  "Knocking prayer" is where we want Jesus to open the door.  How often do you hear people talk about "closed or open doors"?  Often they are speaking about opportunities that have come or gone.  But in Jesus' words we find that knocking prayer is where our prayer life has gone from duty to desperation.  Knocking prayer will stop at nothing until the soul has found its rest in the presence of the Lord. (please compare Psalm 73:25).  This is where we only want Him - since it is in God's showing up that our answer is obtained. 

I find Jesus' words here penetrating - since He reveals a living, breathing prayer-life. 

Making selfless Godly decisions

1 Corinthians 10:23  All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.

In this series we have been exploring important foundations for making Godly decisions.  Thus far we have gleaned the following scriptural principles:

1. Choose based upon what builds up or promotes Christian harmony (Romans 14:19)

2. Choose based upon what will yield the greatest benefit for the glory of Christ (1 Corinthians 6:12a)

3. Choose based upon what will yield to Christ's control, rather than to the control (or mastery) of another person or thing

Today we will look at one last principle: Choose based upon what will spiritually build-up others

Christianity must be self-less if it is going to succeed
Jesus tells us in John 13:35 that the world will know we are His disciples by our love for one another.  Putting one another ahead of our own self-interests must be evident if we are going to name the name of Christ.  But there is more.  To say that I am putting others ahead of myself is not enough.  Many non-Christians advocate such an idea.  However this idea must be aimed at a particular purpose.  Only Christianity fulfills this important principle of selflessness by suggesting that the aim is not focusing back upon the person who did the act, but rather pointing to one's love for Christ as the reason.

The difference between "hero-ism" and Christianity
Who doesn't like heroes?  We are living in a day and age where people aim to escape through the idea of heroes.  Heroism is based in the realm of ancient Greece.  The Greeks had four cardinal ideals that they used to mark a hero: courage, self-control, virtue and moral purity.  The Greek culture developed dramas to depict various characters playing out these roles.  Once Greece was conquered by Rome, Rome adapted these ideas to their culture.  Once Rome collapsed, in its wake Europe took up much of these same ideas.  As we are inheritors of this long-standing cultural heritage (more or less), we today still talk about heroes - as seen in movies and books and comic books.  Now heroism is not a bad idea; however it does not adequately describe the selflessness outlined in the Bible.

The scriptures give us three other concepts that distinguish self-less Christianity from mere "heroism" - namely "faith, hope and love".  1 Corinthians 13 and other New Testament scriptures bring out these three important elements that are essential to a self-less Christianity.  Heroism does not go far enough since despite the noble efforts of the hero, the applause goes to man.  Whenever we consider "faith, hope and love", these uniquely Christian traits reveal that selflessness is a "means", with the "praise of Jesus Christ" being the end. 

Base your decision making upon what will increase "faith, hope and love" in others
In order for Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 10:23 to be accomplished, we must edify or build up others in these three spiritual virtues.  Whenever I put others ahead of myself in this way, I am evidencing Godly decision making.  Truly the way I know I have made the right decision is when Jesus Christ's presence is seen more clearly by others. 

Godly decision making and defeating addictions

1 Corinthians 6:12b All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

Over the course of the past couple of days we have been discovering the foundation necessary for making godly decisions.  So far we have discovered two such principles as guidelines for godly decision making:

-Choose based upon what builds up or promotes Christian harmony (Romans 14:19)
-Choose based upon what will yield the greatest benefit for the glory of Christ (1 Corinthians 6:12a)

Today we consider the third principle in Godly decision making:
Choose based upon what will not master me

Addictions and the idea of "who is your master?"
Now when we consider things that master us - we enter into the realm of addictive behavior.  We understand that at salvation, Jesus not only becomes our Savior, but also our Lord. (Luke 9:23-24; Romans 10:9).  As Jesus Himself notes, you cannot serve two masters, you will love the one and hate the other, or despise the one and cling to the other, you cannot serve God and money. (please compare Matthew 6:24). 

So for the Christian, the most fundamental question to ask is this: who owns the rights to my life?  Scripture makes it plain that we are not our own, we have been bought with a price. (1 Corinthians 6:20)  Thus no other person, thing or influence should have mastery over me.  As Paul explains in Romans 6:16 - "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?"

All addictions have their beginning in the thought-life
The Holy Spirit states through Paul in Romans 6:14 "For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace."  Grace is what God does for me that I cannot do for myself.  Grace is given to every believer in Jesus Christ.  Thus when you are dealing with an addiction - you are dealing with a lifestyle that had its root in your thought-life.  Remember this: A thought reaps an action; an action, done repeatedly reaps a habit; a habit done repeatedly reaps a lifestyle; and a lifestyle reaps a destiny.  Now that statement applies postiviely to the things of God, and negatively to addictions. 

The first step to defeating addiction - Deal with "what you don't have to do"
The first step towards defeating an addiction is recognizing that you don't have to do it.  When I am mastered by a controlled substance, or certain lifestyle, or another person, I'm convinced that I have no choice.  Dear friend, if you are a child of God, you can claim the above passage - "I will not be mastered by anything."  Now Paul makes that statement in the realm of lawful things.  However he recognizes that whether they be lawful, or unlawful, being mastered by anything else other than Jesus Christ leads to ruin. 

The second step to defeating addictions - "Understand that you can get out of the addiction"
So if you believe you don't have to be mastered by anything other than Christ, then do you believe that you can get out of that addiction?  This second part is harder than the first.  When Paul makes the statement that he will not be mastered by anything, he is basing that upon the power of God that he has at his disposal.  Every Christian has this  -we call it the scripture.  Philippians 4:13 for instance states - "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength".  Do you believe that?  Say it to yourself, repeatedly.  Romans 10:17 tells us that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ".  As one preacher friend of mine has said: "There is no chain forged in hell that Jesus can't break".

The third step to defeating addictions - use the scripture to get a hold of your thought-life
In this final step, you have agreed with God that you don't have to be mastered by anything other than Christ.  You have agreed that in Christ, you can get out of that addiction.  But now lets deal with the thought pattern that began it.  All behaviors, all addictions, are rooted in the heart and fed by the mind.  If we can cut off the food supply to that addicition, your heart will change, leading to a change in behavior. 

2 Corinthians 10:5 states - "We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ."  Again as we take our principle of "choose based upon what will not master me", we look for those thought patterns that are pressing us into the opposite direction of Christ and His word.  By His grace we can control what we think.  We can tell our eyes: "We won't watch this today, rather we'll watch this".  We can tell our ears: "I'm not listening to that, rather I'm going to listen to this".  These are the "gates" to our mind.  Scripture tells us to "be transformed by the renewing of our mind" (Romans 12:1-2).  

Thus this principle, when combined with what we learned from the previous two blogs, gains us entry into a solid foundation for Godly decision making and Christian victory. 

Godly Decision making that truly profits

1 Corinthians 6:12a  All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable.

Yesterday we began exploring ways in which we can make informed godly decisions in areas that can be deemed debatable areas.  We also discovered that using a principle - a universal standard from God's word that can be applied to specific situations - is the best way to approach decision making.

The first principle we looked at was: Choose according to what builds up and promotes Christian harmony

Today we look at the second principle, gleaned from the text above: "Choose based upon what is the most profitable" 

Choosing what is most profitable in the area of food and drink
I find it interesting that Paul uses food and the area of physical relationships as his test cases for applying this general principle - since it is those areas that many people are challenged with in today's world in the realm of godly decisions.  When it comes to eating or drinking - too often people choose according to their desires, rather than according to what is most profitable or beneficial.  Other scriptures speaks of the Christian's body as "the temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19).  If Christians looked at themselves not as mere physical beings - but as God's temple - we would change what we take into our bodies, as well as how we use them.

Choosing what is most profitable in the area of physical relationships
Likewise in the realm of physical relationships- the scriptures make it clear that in marriage is found to be of sole benefit to both man and woman as a husband and wife.  Once again, many people will chart their moral course in this area based upon what feels good.  What about what is most beneficial?  Outside of the marriage relationship, physical relationships are frought with emotional and relational problems, as well as medical disease.  Whenever we live in the revealed will of God as it pertains to marriage - we will find that what He deems most beneficial is what leads to the best benefit.

Taking this principle along with the last principle as the building blocks for godly decision-making
Now if we take what we learned today and combine it with our last lesson - choices based upon what builds up and promotes godly peace, we begin to build a solid - biblical foundation for Godly decision making.  For instance - is what I am eating or drinking going to lead to building up and promoting harmony, as well as benefiting others?  If not - then I need to conclude that I can't pursue that course.  Likewise - biblical marriage is the only context in which I can have a relationship wherein the highest benefit is attained for the other person.  Finally, marriage, as biblically followed, will achieve the building up of the other person as God originally planned. 

Tomorrow we will look at the second part of 1 Corinthians 6:12 as we continue in this blog series - "Principles for Godly decision making".

Principles for Godly decision making

Romans 14:19 then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.

What happens when you are faced with a decision that might be considered by some to be a so-called "grey area"?  Now even though I firmly believe in moral absolutes (there being a system of right and wrong that is the same no matter where you are), there can be those situations that many would say are subject for debate.  Debatable areas - such as "Whom should I marry?" or "What school should I attend?" are areas the we need insight from God's word in knowing what to do. 

In the next several blogs I want to point the reader to scriptures that can greatly aid in making decisions that might not always seem obvious.  Whenever we apply scripture, the best method is to discover what we call "principles".  Principles are simply those universal standards that can be readily applied to specific situations.  

In the above text we discover our first pricinple for Godly decision making:

Will this decision build up or tear down others 

Often when we are faced with decisions, we will usually asked: "How will this affect me".  The better starting place, according to this text, should be -- "How will this decision impact others?"  If we aim to make our decisions on the building up of others in Christ, or for the sake of promoting the peace of God in a given situation, this pricinple will helps us sort out the lesser alternatives.

Paul even uses a specific example - what many consider to be a "debateable area" - namely alcohol consumption.  He writes -"It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles."  Will taking that drink lead to a tearing down or building up of others?  Willl it promote more or lesser harmony in my home.  Then in a more personal application - will drinking alcohol or eating certain food help my body or hurt it.  WIll I be left with a clearer mind or a more cloud one?

What we have just done is take a general principle and apply it directly to a specific situation.  According to scripture - it would be far better to abstain, since the outcome will lead to a lesser building up and a lesser promotion of harmony. 

In tomorrow's blog we will consider another passage that gives us further principles for guiding us in our daily decision making. 

Jesus Christ in the Old Testament

1 Peter 1:11 states concerning the Old Testament Prophets -  "Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." 
The testimony of scripture concerning the pre-existence of Jesus Christ before is virgin birth in Bethlehem is abundant.  To appreciate the richness and value of the Old Testament, one must understand it in light of Christ's coming to earth as God who became man, and understand His appearances in types and shadows in the Old Testament.  

By the time we come to the New Testament, we discover that 109 Old Testament scriptures predicted events surrounding his 1st coming and hundreds more speak about events that will have to do with His future second coming.  Some examples below from the Old Testament gives evidence of Christ's Pre-existence and appearance throughout the Old Testament:

1. Melechizedek, the Kingly Priest of Salem in Genesis 14, is stated to be Christ appearing to Abraham in Hebrews 5,6,7.

2.  The Rock that gushed forth water for Moses and the people of God in the wilderness is stated to be somehow an appearance of Christ in 1 Cornthians 10

3. The Tabernacle, with its types, ceremonies and symbolism pictures Christ

4. The Passover celebration is a pictureof Christ, the sacrifice for sin (Exodus 12-15 and 1 Corinthians 5:7

5. Joshua and the people of God conquering the seven Canaanite nations in the book of Joshua is a picture of Christ leading Christians to take possession of their Christian walk (Joshua and Hebrews 3 & 4)

These are but just a few examples of what Bible teachers call "Christophanies" or "appearances of Christ in the Old Testament".  Jesus stated to His disciples in Luke 24 that the Old Testament scriptures speak about Him.  Let us turn to them and listen, since they too are scripture and point us to our crucified, risen and exalted Lord.