Praying Pint

 

 

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
Matthew 5:6

It is not necessary to remind newborns that it is time to eat. Newborns don’t know much, but they know when they’re hungry! And adults know the same thing. Yes, at times we may be so busy that we forget to eat when we should, but our body soon reminds us. When we are physically hungry, we know only one solution: food.

But the same is not true with spiritual hunger. We may think we can satisfy spiritual hunger with materialism, advancement, entertainment, or other worldly intake. But spiritual hunger—lack of purpose, identity, meaning, or fulfillment—can only be satisfied by taking in more of God. It was Blaise Pascal who said, in essence, that there is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person that can only be filled by God. Just as there is a “food-shaped vacuum” in the human stomach that can only be filled by food, so God is the only Bread of Life that can satisfy our spiritual hunger.

Jesus said that those who hunger for the righteousness of God will be blessed by the fullness of His presence. Satisfy your spiritual hunger for Him today. (jeremiah)

 

 

The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

–Genesis 3:21

We have a big problem. Specifically, we have a sin problem. The Bible says we have all inherited the sin virus. Not one person is righteous. On the other hand, the Bible describes God as “Holy, Holy, Holy” (Isaiah 6:3). God has no sin in Him. Habakkuk 1:13 says about God, “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You can not look on wickedness with favor.” A holy God cannot allow sin to go unjudged. That means there is a great chasm between God and us because of our sin.

We tend to downplay the breadth of this chasm. We might not be as close to God as the church fathers were, but we’re certainly closer to Him than mass murderers are, right? That’s an illusion. Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon? The south and north rim are separated by an average of ten miles. Imagine all of humanity gathers on the south rim of the Grand Canyon to try to jump to the north rim. First, some mass murderers and terrorists jump. They make it about six inches before falling to the bottom of the canyon. Then some pastors and missionaries take a running leap, and they make it three feet before they fall. Then the apostles manage to fly ten feet over the chasm, but they, too, fall to the bottom. There’s a measurable difference between how far the murders and the apostles jumped, but compared to ten miles, the difference is inconsequential.

Only God can span the chasm between holy God and sinful humans. Alexander Pope famously wrote, “To err is human, to forgive, divine.” Forgiveness is part of the heart of God. Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” We see God’s heart of forgiveness in the garden of Eden. After Adam and Eve sinned, their first instinct was to cover their guilt, so they sewed together fig leaves to try to hide their nakedness. But there is nothing we can do to cover our own guilt.

Genesis 3:21 says, “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.” When God killed an animal for its skin, He was teaching us two important lessons. First of all, only God can provide a covering for our sin. Second, that covering involves something innocent dying for the guilty. What God did for Adam and Eve was pointing to what Jesus would one day do for us by dying on the cross–God’s radical solution to our sin problem.  (Jeffress)

 

 

Jeremiah 15:16    Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.

1Pe 2:2  Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—

Heb 5:11-14  About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Mat 4:4  But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Psa 19:9-11  the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

There’s no question about the healthiest food for the mind. It’s the manna of God’s Word. For the prophet Jeremiah, it was survival food. He said, “When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies” (Jeremiah 15:16, NLT).

Spiritual hunger is a requirement for growth. That hunger spurs us on to discipleship and walking with God. We need the constant intake of Scripture for our inner nutrition. Ask the Lord today to ignite that hunger within you; then find God’s words and devour them. They will strengthen you with joy and rejoicing.

 

 

Romans 3:10–11     There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God.

There are many people, including many Christians, who believe sin is not that big a deal; after all, we’re all flawed. But the Bible says we’re not just defective; we are spiritually dead.

Romans 3:10–12 lays out our spiritual condition: “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.” In other words, humanity is totally depraved. Some people might wince at that description. But as theologian J. Dwight Pentecost explained, total depravity doesn’t mean we’re all as bad as we could be, but we’re all as bad off as we could be. We’re all separated from God because of sin.

Let’s look more closely at two aspects of our spiritual X-ray:

There is none righteous, not even one. We have trouble with this because we see a great difference in human beings. In our eyes, there’s a considerable gulf between a man who murders his family and a firefighter who heroically saves people. But in God’s eyes, the difference is negligible. Let me illustrate that for you. If you were to walk the streets of New York City, you would notice buildings of many sizes, from one-story structures to skyscrapers. But if you were to look down at all those buildings from outer space, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. That’s how God views us. From His perspective, the difference between humans is negligible. No one is righteous.

There is none who seeks for God. You might say, “There are thousands of religions in the world. Isn’t that proof that people are searching for God?” No, the fact that there are many so-called approaches to God is a sign of our unrighteousness. Romans 1 says every person has an instinctive knowledge of the one true God, but when they reject that knowledge, they create their own gods to follow. There’s no one who seeks for the true God; instead, we try to create the god we want.

That’s the reality of our spiritual condition. We are in horrible shape, so we need a radical solution to our problem. In John 6:44, Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” It is only by the grace of God that anyone can be saved. (Jeffress)

 

 

Romans 5:16     On the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.

A good magician is a master of distraction. He distracts the audience from what he’s really doing by pointing their attention in another direction. In a way, Satan was the original magician. He distracted Adam and Eve from God’s blessings and pointed their attention toward the one restriction God gave them.

Satan said to Eve, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). No, God had said, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” (2:16–17). But Satan caused Eve to doubt God’s Word by twisting what He had said. Then Satan caused Eve to doubt God’s character. “You surely will not die!” he said. “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (3:4–5). In other words, “God is trying to withhold something good from you.” Satan successfully convinced Eve, and she and Adam ate from the forbidden tree.

In Romans 5:12, we find the result of Adam and Eve’s sin: “Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” Everybody has inherited the sin virus, and physical death is the proof. Do only mature adults die? No, even babies die. All of humanity dies because all of humanity has inherited the sin virus. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we’re sinners. When God says yes, our first instinct is to say no. We have inherited Adam’s guilt–and every time we rebel against God, we confirm Adam’s choice as our own.

If you think it’s unfair that everybody is held accountable for one person’s sin, Paul had an answer in Romans 5. He said, in essence, “The only thing more unfair than everybody being held guilty for one man’s sin is one innocent man being held guilty for everybody’s sin.” Paul wrote, “If by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ” (v. 17). It may seem unfair that we suffer the consequences of one man’s sin. But it’s even more unfair that God offers us forgiveness because of one man’s righteousness. That’s the free gift of God–for those who receive it. (Jeffress)

 

 

Jas 1:21  Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Prior to his encounter with Jesus Christ, no one would have mistaken Saul of Tarsus, who became the apostle Paul, for a meek or humble person. His focus in life was his personal advancement as a Pharisee in Judaism (Philippians 3:4-6). He was not teachable; his heart and mind were closed to the Gospel.

Nicodemus was also a Pharisee, a “ruler of the Jews” (John 3:1), but he had a teachable heart. He met with Jesus at night to try to understand who Jesus was. He was not too proud to ask questions and consider that perhaps his understanding was limited. In fact, he accompanied Joseph of Arimathea to bury Jesus after the crucifixion (John 19:38-42). One of the marks of humility (meekness) is a teachable spirit, a willingness to learn from God and from others who know Him well. The psalmist prayed, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law” (Psalm 119:18).

A good way to practice meekness before the Lord is to pray that prayer when you open God’s Word. Ask Him to show you more of Himself and how to conform your life to His will. (Jeremiah)

Meekness is having a teachable spirit.

 

James 4:7    Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Matthew 4:3-11          And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”  But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”  Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple  and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”  Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”  Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”  Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”  Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

 Ephesians 4:27     and give no opportunity to the devil.

 Ephesians 6:11-12    Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

 Revelation 12:9     And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world

How can we have spiritual victory over demons? Let me give two suggestions from the Bible.

First, be alert to Satan’s attacks. A lot of Christians walk around in a spiritual stupor, not aware that they are in Satan’s crosshairs. But those who are not alert to the attacks of Satan and his demons become spiritual roadkill. That’s why 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Be alert to his attacks.

Second, be aware of God’s provision. We don’t have to feel paranoid about Satan and his demons. God has made provision for us to have victory over Satan and his forces. We would love to think there is a prayer or ritual that will remove Satan’s power over our lives forever. That’s why many people are attracted to the idea of exorcism. However, in the Bible, the gift of exorcism is attached to Jesus and the apostles. There’s no passage indicating that Christians as a whole are supposed to engage in exorcism. Any verses suggesting otherwise do not appear in the earliest manuscripts, so we would be wise not to base our actions on them.

Our responsibility is not exorcising demons from other people or ourselves; it is exercising the spiritual power God has already given to us in order to resist Satan and his demons.

James 4:7 says, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Submitting your life to God and resisting the devil are related. Any area of your life that has not been submitted to God is open to Satan’s influence. To neutralize demonic forces, diminish their real estate in your life. Submit to God in your moral life, your family life, your work life, and your finances. The more of your life you submit to God, the less of a foothold Satan will have.

An acquaintance once told me, “For so many years of my Christian life, I was trying to live according to my plan and my agenda, and it was like swimming upstream. Everything was so hard. But then I discovered the secret of submitting to God and His will. It has not eliminated my problems, but it sure has made life easier.” Submitting to God’s will for your life is the only way to emerge victorious in this cosmic battle. (Jeremiah)

 

 

Matthew 16:23    [Jesus] turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

Is it possible for Christians to be demon-possessed? Non-Christians are demon-possessed–or, more accurately, possessed by Satan. The Bible teaches that we are born into this world as Satan’s prisoners. It is only when we trust in Christ as Savior that God rescues us from the kingdom of darkness and places us in the kingdom of His Son, Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:13). When we become children of God, He seals us with the Holy Spirit, marking us as His possession (Ephesians 1:13). Believers can’t be owned by Satan because we are owned by God. And God is very stingy about His possessions–He doesn’t share them with anyone. So if by possessed you mean owned, then it’s impossible for Christians to be possessed by demons.

But it is possible for Christians to be influenced by demons. Let me give you two examples from Scripture. In Matthew 16, Jesus outlined God’s plan for Him to the disciples: He must go to Jerusalem, suffer at the hands of the religious leaders, be crucified, and be raised on the third day. Peter said, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You” (v. 22). Jesus responded fast and furiously. He said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s” (v. 23). That’s pretty harsh! Was Jesus saying Peter was satanically possessed? No, but Peter was being influenced by Satan. By putting his own interests above God’s interests, Peter was being a mouthpiece for Satan.

We see the same thing in Acts 5. Ananias and Sapphira lied about the amount of money they were giving to the church. So Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?” (v. 3). Ananias and Sapphira were believers. But in that moment of weakness, they were not being controlled by the Holy Spirit; they were being controlled by Satan. That’s why Paul said in Ephesians 5:18, “Be filled with the Spirit.” The word translated as “filled” means controlled.

If you’re a Christian, you cannot be owned by Satan, but you can be influenced by him. There is no such thing as a spiritual vacuum–any part of your life that you haven’t surrendered to God and His will is open to Satan’s control. (Jeffress)

 

1Pe 5:5  Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

Php 1:15-17  Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.

Acts 20:19    Serving the Lord with all humility.

Billy Graham said, “In Heaven there will be many believers who never received any acknowledgement while on earth, yet they faithfully prayed and humbly served Christ. I believe their crowns may sparkle with more jewels than the philanthropist who endowed the church and whose name is engraved on the plaque in the narthex.”¹

When we realize we are spiritually poor, we’re able to come to Christ in a spirit of humility and receive the riches of His grace. That disposition of heart leads to effective service. Some people serve Christ to impress others, and they “preach Christ even from envy and strife” (Philippians 1:15). But those who are humble of heart are able to serve the Lord in a way He truly blesses. Peter said, “Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility” (1 Peter 5:5).

Are you poor in spirit? One of the ways you can tell is by evaluating your daily service for Christ. Let’s all rededicate ourselves to serving the Lord with all humility. (Jeremiah)

May our gratitude find expression in our prayers and our service for others, and in our commitment to live wholly for Christ.

 

 

What is truth?” This was the question that Pontius Pilate asked Jesus in John 18:38. It’s such a pivotal, eternity-altering question that I have this page marked in my Bible so I can find it immediately.

Many believe that truth is relative—truth for you is not necessarily truth for me. For instance, if I believe the world is flat, that’s my truth. Questioning my truth would be considered intolerant and would infringe on my rights, at least according to today’s accepted norms. (By the way, I do believe the earth is round!)

However, the Bible has a lot to say about truth which directly contradicts much of what the world believes about the matter.

First, truth is not an idea or an opinion, but a Person.

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6, ESV). All truth comes from God, because He personifies truth. As we delve into His Word and are attentive to the Holy Spirit, we can and should know The Truth.

Second, the truth won’t always be popular. Remember Jesus was the embodiment of truth and they hated and murdered Him. The truth can be offensive because it tells us what’s wrong with us.

Imagine going to the doctor and being told you have cancer. You may not like it—you can disagree and get angry—but it’s the truth, and ignoring it can lead to death.

In Galatians 4, Paul addresses the church in Galatia, to whom he had ministered previously. He confronts them with the fact that—though they claim to know God—they are embracing worldliness. He then says, “Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?” (Galatians 4:16, ESV).

Paul was willing to stand up when he saw believers compromising, even if it brought conflict with those he considered friends.

Finally, why is it important to proclaim the truth as set forth in the Bible? Because the truth will set you free.

“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’” (John 8:31-32, ESV). Jesus goes on to say that those who are in sin are slaves to sin, but those who find hope in Him are released from that bondage. “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36, ESV).

What is Truth? Truth is Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection. Truth is the Word of God, the Bible. Truth may not be popular, especially in our world today, but Truth will set you free … and not just for today, but for eternity! (Graham)