Praying Pint

 

 

Whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

–Philippians 3:7

How to develop a content heart.

First of all, regularly express gratitude to God. If you’re not content with your finances, your family, or your job, the best way to extinguish your dissatisfaction is with gratitude. You can’t be thanking God for what He has given you and cursing God for what He hasn’t given you at the same time. One of the best ways to develop a content heart is to thank God regularly.

Second, resist the oasis illusion. Picture a guy crawling across the desert. On the horizon, he sees palm trees and a beautiful spring. He thinks, If I can just make it there! But when he arrives, he finds that it was just a mirage. That’s the oasis illusion–the idea that when you arrive at a certain place, you will finally be satisfied. Sooner or later, we must realize the oasis is a mirage. The true joy of life is the trip. Paul said, “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need” (Philippians 4:11–12).

Third, adopt a purpose bigger than yourself. There was a time in the apostle Paul’s life when he was chasing after advanced degrees and a higher place in the Pharisees’ hierarchy. But his encounter with the risen Jesus changed all that. In Philippians 3:7, he said, “Whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” After Paul became a Christian, his life purpose changed. No longer was he self-focused; he was God-focused. Paul’s one passion was to share the gospel with as many people as possible. And that purpose gave him a new lens through which to view his circumstances.

What is your life purpose? What are you chasing? What are you trying to achieve? If the answer is prosperity, pleasure, or freedom from conflict, then any problems you run into will be roadblocks. But when your life is God-focused rather than self-focused, you’ll be able to see how God is using even negative circumstances to fulfill that grander purpose. That’s what it means to have a content heart. (jeffress)

 

 

Psalms 73:25    Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

 Psalms 16:11     You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

 Psalms 16:5     The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.

 Psalms 17:15     As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.

 Psalms 37:4     Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

 Psalms 43:4      Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.

 Psalms 63:3    Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.

 Psalms 89:6     For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD

 Matthew 5:8     “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

 Philippians 3:8    Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

 

 

John 6:53-68  So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.  For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.  Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.  This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”  Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”  But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?  Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.  But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)  And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”  After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,

 

 

Ecclesiastes 3:11 haunts the human mind that pretends to be secular:

[God] has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

At first blush, secular answers — that is, those that refuse to acknowledge any religious or spiritual basis for human life and our world — may attract those aching to suppress the truth that God has made plain in his creation (Romans 1:18–20). But soon the sparkle wears off. Secular life does not prove satisfying — emotionally or intellectually. Secular “believers” may enjoy the initial thrill of feeling free from divine oversight and the wages of sin. But the wishful thinking of cosmic rebels proves empty sooner or later. As it always has.

God made us, and made us for himself. The Potter has designs. In our sin, we want to spin away from him. Yet in the very clay of our humanity, we were made for him and cannot get around or beyond his purposes, no matter how much sin pressures us to flee.

While Christians in this generation may feel a new acuteness in secular pressures, the Christian faith has always required the look of faith to the unseen. Some forces seem new; the fundamental realities of the Christian life remain unchanged. Long have we been a people with a different kind of vision, mindset, and joy than our surrounding society.

1. A Different Kind of Vision

First, we have a different kind of vision than our unbelieving age. We live by faith. Believers the world over may dispute or variously read a number of passages, but every stripe of church and tribe of Christians confesses, with Paul, “We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen” (2 Corinthians 4:18).

From where does such faith come? “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). And oh how counter-secular are such invisibilities! Against a visibly focused age, our invisible faith — arising in the inner, unseen person — comes from hearing the audible yet invisible word: the good news about Christ. And that through an unseen Helper we call the Holy Spirit (Galatians 3:5).

2. A Different Kind of Mindset

Second, we have a different kind of mindset than our world’s. Faith in the unseen God frees our minds from the prison of “the immanent frame” — that small slice of reality that we can see, hear, touch, taste, and feel. Christian faith liberates us from the earthly mindedness into which we are born as natural humans. As the Holy Spirit, dwelling in us, helps us to see through and behind and beyond the phenomena of our world, he also makes us increasingly spiritually minded.

If we coast, the world will have its way with our minds and their frame. We might still read our Bibles and frequent churches and even speak in pulpits; we might still quote verses and expound Christian doctrines. But from what mindset and to what end? Have our world’s terms and ends infected and seized our minds? Pretending there is no God or unseen, our world can’t help but fill the void with politics, sports, decadence, and trivia. If our own hearts have been captured by this mindset, our dreams and greatest joys will look very much like the world’s, and very little like the different kind of joy on offer in Christ.

3. A Different Kind of Joy

Finally, we have a different kind of joy than the world’s — a joy that flows from our different vision and mindset. As we see the unseen God (vision) and see our world through his eyes (mindset), our joy rises far beyond the joy rooted merely in this world we can see.

Surely, the world has tasted and talks about a kind of “happiness” — one that is fleeting, unpredictable, impulsive, and superficial. And it’s a happiness that dishonors God, diminishes Christ, ignores Scripture, and leads to damnation, not final, eternal bliss. But in Christ, ours is a different sort of happiness — one that is lasting and deep and soul-satisfying. It is rooted in God and expands through loving others and doing them good.

“The end and goal of all things,” says John Piper, “is the glory of God reflected in the gladness of his people in God.” Isaiah spoke of this different kind of joy seven centuries before Christ when he said Christ’s people will “go out in joy and be led forth in peace . . . and it shall make a name for the Lord” (Isaiah 55:12–13).   (Mathis)

 

Titus 2:14   who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works

For people who lived during the time of Jesus, the cross was not a cute piece of jewelry or a decoration to hang in their home. Rather, it was a barbaric instrument of torture and execution.

The cross was intended to not just bring agony and death, but to do so in such an obscene, traumatic, humiliating, and public fashion that everybody knew the punishment they would receive should they disobey Rome. No one, and I mean no one, wanted to end up on a cross.

As I consider the cross of Jesus Christ, I’m often tempted to ask: Why would Jesus submit to being rejected, beaten, ridiculed, and crucified on my behalf?

This question often leads me to Paul’s letter to Titus. In Titus 2:14, Paul writes of Jesus: “… who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”

This short passage encompasses incredible truths about Christ’s great sacrifice on our behalf.

First, we see that Jesus died because of His deep love for us. He showed the depths of this love when He “… gave Himself for us” (2:14a). It wasn’t Pilate, the religious leaders, or even the Romans who ultimately took His life. No, Jesus voluntarily laid down His own life on our behalf. 1 John 3:16a says, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.”

Second, we see that Jesus died so that He could redeem us. Redemption means to buy back at a price. The term has been used in relation to the slave market, when a slave would be redeemed out of bondage and set free. And since we were slaves to sin and under sin’s control (see John 8:34, for instance), Jesus died in order to purchase our true and lasting freedom.

Why did He have to give His life? Because that was the price. Leviticus 17:11 states, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” The only way for Christ to purchase us was to die for us and shed His own blood.

Finally, we see that Jesus died so that He could purify us. This means that we are in a process of being made holy and set apart for God as we draw ever closer to Him. He died so that we could be freed from the power of the bondage of sin. Now we are His!

Jesus went to the cross because of His deep love for us, in order that He may redeem and purify us for His good works. He took away our sins and placed them on Himself, and in return He gave us His righteousness and salvation. This is how we can be assured of eternity in heaven, not because of anything we’ve done, but because of what Jesus did for us.

At the cross, Jesus offered you the gift of eternal life. If you have not yet accepted that gift and surrendered to Him as your Savior, I encourage you to do that today.

 

 

Revelation 2:19    know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first.

The natural order in all creation is growth: Seeds become plants, infants become adults, calves become cows, acorns become oaks, and minnows become fish. When something doesn’t grow, it is a cause for concern; something abnormal is happening. Growth is also the expected progression in the spiritual life: Babes in Christ grow into mature followers of Christ.

When the apostle Paul wrote his first letter to the church at Corinth, he addressed their lack of spiritual growth (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). Instead of acting like mature spiritual adults, they were acting like carnal infants. He could not address them as mature adults because they had not grown in their faith. Such was not the case with the church in the city of Thyatira. When Christ addressed this church, He commended them for their spiritual growth. They were displaying greater spiritual works in the present than they had in the past—a sure sign of increasing maturity (Revelation 2:19).

Take a moment to assess your spiritual growth. Is it increasing? Declining? Has it plateaued? Ask God to show you areas in which you can focus your growth in the future.  (Jeremiah)

 

 

Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

–Hebrews 11:6

God desires for each of us to have a heart that is obedient to Him. But our lives will never be characterized by consistent obedience to God until we learn to trust Him.

The Bible uses “trust” as a synonym for “faith.” When we talk about trust, we’re really talking about faith. For example, in Matthew 17:20, Jesus said, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.”

If we’re going to have the kind of faith God wants from us, we have to know what faith is and what it isn’t.

First, faith is not the ability to predict the future. Somebody might say, “I’m trusting that God will give me this job,” or, “I’m trusting that God will heal me.” Unless God has given you a specific word that He is going to do those things, that is not faith; that is presumption.

Second, faith is not the absence of doubt. Years ago, I took a group to Turkey and Greece to retrace the missionary steps of the apostle Paul. However, my wife and kids were not able to go with me. So before I left, I called a friend and said, “In case something happens, I want you to make sure Amy and the girls are taken care of.” Now, I had enough faith to take the trip. I believed our transportation would go smoothly. But my belief was not enough to erase all doubt. I had just enough faith to take action.

Faith is believing that God is going to do what He promised to do and acting accordingly. It’s not the quantity of our faith that matters but the object of our faith. Remember, Jesus said a teeny-tiny amount of faith is enough to move a mountain. Think about Abraham. He had just enough faith in God’s promise that he was willing to move to a country he had not seen. I imagine he had a few doubts, but he had just enough faith to move his family. Or think about Noah. He had just enough faith that God was going to destroy the world by a flood that he was willing to build a boat. I imagine he had doubts, but he had just enough faith to do what God told him to do. That’s what God wants from us too.  (Jeffress)

 

 

 Luke 12:47-48     And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating.  But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

 Matthew 11:20-24    Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.  “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.  But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.  And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.  But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

 Hebrews 12:25   See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.

 1 Peter 2:8    and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

 Galatians 3:1    O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

 Galatians 5:7    You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?

 2 Thessalonians 1:8   in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

 Heb 2:1-4  Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.  For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,  how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,  while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

 

 

 1 Peter 4:17     For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

 Isaiah 3:8     For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD, defying his glorious presence.

 Jeremiah 13:17-18    But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears

 James 4:14     yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

 Jeremiah 25:29   For behold, I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the LORD of hosts.’

 Malachi 3:5    “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts.

 Matthew 3:9-10     And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.  Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

 

 

 Isaiah 20:6    And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’”

 Jeremiah 22:22-23   The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds, and your lovers shall go into captivity; then you will be ashamed and confounded because of all your evil.  O inhabitant of Lebanon, nested among the cedars, how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you

 Lamentations 1:9    Her uncleanness was in her skirts; she took no thought of her future; therefore her fall is terrible;

 Ezekiel 22:14     Can your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.

 Zephaniah 2:2-3    before the decree takes effect —before the day passes away like chaff— before there comes upon you the burning anger of the LORD, before there comes upon you the day of the anger of the LORD.  Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the LORD.

 Isaiah 47:7    You said, “I shall be mistress forever,” so that you did not lay these things to heart or remember their end.