Category: religious bondage

Praying Like Elijah #19

Sunday, March 8, 2015

“Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months” (James 5:17 KJV).

Why did Elijah pray like this, what was so special about his prayer that God answered it, and how can we have our prayers answered of God?

When we pray for things and do not get them, it is not because God is unconcerned or unloving. Oh, dear saint, never entertain such foolishness! Unanswered prayer results when we demand He do for us what He said He would do only for Israel. Rather than praying as denominational tradition encourages—asking God to remove or protect us from problems (“give me good health, safe trips, ‘miracle debt cancellation,’” and so on)—we remember God’s attitude concerning contentment, that Jesus Christ strengthens us to handle all circumstances, good and bad (Philippians 4:11-13).

Father God is concerned, for He gave us His power to endure our difficulties. We find value in tribulations, for these troubles work patience, which works experience, which works hope, and hope makes us not ashamed, “because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Romans 5:1-5). Troubling times remind us that we are weak, insufficient in and of ourselves; however, God’s grace, love, and power will get us through them. We rely more on Him, experiencing more fully and using the provisions He gave us in His Son: His peace consoles us in our difficult circumstances (2 Corinthians 1:3-11).

Our focus should not be on what we can see (physical circumstances), but, by faith, seeing what we cannot physically see—God’s Word working in us as we endure those troubles (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18; see also verses 19-28).

The indwelling Holy Spirit takes this sound doctrine that we believe and pray (Romans 8:26,27), and activates it (1 Thessalonians 2:13; Hebrews 4:12), causing us to not only understand it but enabling us to have the life the doctrine describes….

Praying Like Elijah #18

Saturday, March 7, 2015

“Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months” (James 5:17 KJV).

Why did Elijah pray like this, what was so special about his prayer that God answered it, and how can we have our prayers answered of God?

Some have erroneously concluded that unless we use the same words Elijah used, we will not see results from God. The greater fallacy, however, is to mix our Dispensation of Grace with Israel’s Dispensation of Law. While we can pray for God to demonstrate Himself as when He did with Israel (signs, miracles, wonders), God will not do it because He never said it to us. As we saw “long ago,” God hearkened to Elijah because he was quoting Scripture that applied to him. Elijah valued (believed) God’s Word, he wanted God’s will accomplished, and because he prayed for God to do what He had already said He would do, Elijah saw God’s response!

What is God’s will in this the Dispensation of Grace? “[God our Saviour] Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). Today, God wants lost people to trust Jesus Christ (Paul’s Gospel; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4) to be saved from a devil’s hell, and He wants saved people to trust His Word to them (Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon; Romans 11:13) to be saved from a devil’s lifestyle!

Firstly, we should pray for lost people to be saved from their sins by trusting Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork as the sufficient payment for their sins. Secondly, we need to pray for fellow Christians to learn how to understand and enjoy the Bible. Thus, we will be motivated to share the Gospel of Grace with lost people, and share dispensational Bible truths with Christians. God wants law-abiding leaders and citizens, godly husbands and fathers, virtuous wives and mothers, obedient children, hardworking employees, benevolent employers, and faithful saints who maintain the local assembly. Beloved, honestly, we Christians need to quit wasting our time praying denominational prayers and we need to start praying for these things!

Just imagine such transformation….

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Should Christians participate in yoga?”

Praying Like Elijah #17

Friday, March 6, 2015

“Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months” (James 5:17 KJV).

Why did Elijah pray like this, what was so special about his prayer that God answered it, and how can we have our prayers answered of God?

Friend, have you ever wondered why, even after people pray for angelic protection (citing Psalm 91:11,12), they are injured or killed in some accident? Or, why the sick die after they are anointed with “holy oil” and prayed over for healing (quoting James 5:13-15)? Or, why people pray for God to send them “miracle checks” in the mail to pay their outrageous bills (citing Deuteronomy 8:18), and they receive no such checks? Why prayers for vehicles, spouses, houses, job promotions, et cetera, usually never come about? (Unfortunately, these precious people lack dispensational Bible study, the key to Bible understanding, and desperately seeking a resolution to the confusion, they fall prey to “ministry” shams and scams.)

Paul’s epistles never mention guardian angels. Angels have no ministry to us: they do not serve us as they did Israel. Paul and his ministry companions suffered a variety of problems. No “guardian angels” rescued Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:22-27 (a passage replete with stonings, beatings, shipwrecks, ambushes, imprisonments, hunger, thirst, weariness, painfulness, poverty, nakedness, and cold)! After experiencing this partial listing of problems, Paul’s life ended… with evil Emperor Nero beheading him!

The Apostle’s extensive abuse and excessive torture endured over his 30 years of travelling, he undoubtedly had health issues (massive scar tissue, maiming, maybe broken bones and/or lameness). Some of his “infirmities” are in 2 Corinthians 12:10 and Galatians 4:13-15. How did Paul ever survive those hardships? How did he not give up? It was God’s grace working in him. He remembered God’s grace was sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9). God’s grace was sufficient for ill Timothy (1 Timothy 5:23) and sick Trophimus (2 Timothy 4:20), and for the poor Macedonian Christians (2 Corinthians 8:1,2). This grace is sufficient for us too, and we are mindful of it when praying in our circumstances, good and bad….

Praying Like Elijah #11

Saturday, February 28, 2015

“Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months” (James 5:17 KJV).

Why did Elijah pray like this, what was so special about his prayer that God answered it, and how can we have our prayers answered of God?

All too often today prayer is reduced to mere posture and procedure—kneel at the railing, or enter your prayer closet, cross your heart, close your eyes, bow your head, use prayer beads or prayer wheels, and recite what you have read in a prayer book. Dear friends, prayer at its fundamental level is none of those things. “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Are you going to stay kneeling literally every moment? Should your eyes be closed every second? Is your head to be bowed 24 hours a day, seven days a week? If prayer is kneeling, closing eyes, and bowing heads, then yes, yes, and yes. The truth is, prayer in the Bible is not some formalistic practice, so no, no, and no!

When barren Hannah prayed to the LORD, she told the priest Eli, “I have poured out my soul before the LORD” (1 Samuel 1:15). David wrote to Israel, “Ye people, pour out your heart before him” (Psalm 62:8). Romans 10:10 says, “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” The “heart,” our soul, our innermost being, is that which we use to believe God’s Word. Prayer is speaking to God what is in our hearts, and if we have studied and believed our Bible, then we will be speaking to God what He told us. Again, this is consistent view of prayer, regardless of dispensation.

Brethren, we are to be constantly reminding ourselves of Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon. “Meditate on these things” (1 Timothy 4:15). “Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things” (2 Timothy 2:7). Day in and day out, we should be thinking about God’s Word to us, reminding ourselves of what He said to us. This is Pauline prayer. This is answered prayer….

Our special edition 125th Bible Q&A: “Should we observe the Lord’s Supper?”

Praying Like Elijah #9

Thursday, February 26, 2015

“Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months” (James 5:17 KJV).

Why did Elijah pray like this, what was so special about his prayer that God answered it, and how can we have our prayers answered of God?

Elijah could no more make God bring in a global flood as in the days of Noah, than we can make God fulfill Israel’s verses in our Dispensation of Grace. As Elijah recognized the dispensational boundary between his day and Noah’s day, so we acknowledge the dispensational boundary between Elijah’s day and our day. As a friend and coworker in the ministry always says, “We have never been big enough a day in our lives to make God do something He is not doing.”

“Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). “Continuing instant in prayer” (Romans 12:12). “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6). Certainly, prayer is a vital part of Christian living, but unfortunately, too many believers pray like Israel or like heathen. There rarely is any genuine Christian prayer, so there rarely is any answered prayer!

So, if we are not to pray like Israel, and not to pray like heathen, how then should we to pray? Just as Elijah let God’s spokesman to him, Moses, teach him how to pray, we turn to God’s spokesman to us, Paul, and let him teach us how to pray. However the Holy Spirit prayed for us through Paul, how Paul prayed in the Holy Spirit for us, is how the Holy Spirit will pray for other Christians through us, how we ought to pray in the Holy Spirit.

Friends, Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, make it so plain what God is doing today. His will has been clearly revealed, and we are to study those books and make it our will to pray that His will be accomplished. We are not making God doing anything, but rather reminding ourselves of what He already said He would do….

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Did David’s father Jesse have seven or eight sons?”

In Evil Long I Took Delight #5

Thursday, February 12, 2015

“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24 KJV).

The fifth verse of John Newton’s classic 1779 hymn “In Evil Long I Took Delight” highlights today’s Scripture.

“A second look He gave, which said,
‘I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid;
I die that thou mayst live.’”

Our God-given conscience makes us aware of our daily sins (Romans 2:13-15). We also know that there is a Creator God whom we will face in judgment (Romans 1:17-20). What will we do with those sins when we stand before Him? Can we open our wallets and purses and pay off God? Would He let us into His heaven if we simply showed Him our church-membership card, or our baptism record, or our confirmation certificate, or our annual-giving receipt? Religious people have been taught, “Yes!” If they can just give God something good, they assume that He will be happy with them and give them the grace to do good and make up for their wrongs.

Saul of Tarsus learned all about the “value” (nothing!) of his religious performance before God: “[8] Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, [9] And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” (Philippians 3:8,9).

What are religious works before God? “Dung!” (How “flattering”—activity not done by faith in God’s Word to us is likened to waste product!) What are our righteousnesses before God? “As filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6)! God offers His forgiveness to us “freely by his grace” (absolutely no cost to us) because we have nothing with which to pay our sin debt (today’s Scripture). Jesus shed His sinless blood and died that we might be free from sin, redeemed, bought out of the slave market of sin. He shed His sinless blood and died, that we might truly live to not delight in evil….

In Evil Long I Took Delight #2

Monday, February 9, 2015

“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ” (Philippians 3:7 KJV).

The second verse of John Newton’s classic 1779 hymn “In Evil Long I Took Delight” highlights today’s Scripture.

“I saw One hanging on a tree,
In agony and blood,
Who fixed His languid eyes on me,
As near His cross I stood.”

Saul of Tarsus, a proud, self-righteous religionist “verily thought with [himself], that [he] ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth” (Acts 26:9). He saw Jesus as an imposter, a blasphemer. Figuring that he was doing JEHOVAH a favor by putting all those Jesus-lovers to death, Saul decided that all of His followers had to be punished! Yes, so infatuated with his religion, he was willing to physically eliminate “competition” at whatever the cost.

One of the most learned Mosaic scholars of his day, Saul had it all—religion, education, fame, and fortune. The context of today’s Scripture describes him perfectly: “[4]… If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: [5] Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; [6] Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.”

Outside of Damascus’ city gates, Saul lost it all (or, rather, he realized he was destitute of what really mattered!). He heard JEHOVAH speak to him audibly, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? I am Jesus whom thou persecutest” (Acts 9:4,5). Imagine how overwhelming the shock was—the God he thought he was serving was the Jesus he was persecuting! It was in today’s Scripture that he remembered these events of all those years ago (over 30, actually). He gained it all in religion only to lose it all in Christ—he lost his religious “goodness” and gained Jesus Christ’s righteousness by faith! In that doctrine revealed to him, he saw and trusted the efficacy of Christ’s finished crosswork as total payment for his sins. Saul of Tarsus took his eyes off of himself and looked to Jesus….

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Should I be concerned about the four ‘blood moons?’”

In Evil Long I Took Delight #1

Sunday, February 8, 2015

“And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women… and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished. And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me” (Acts 22:4-6 KJV).

The first verse of John Newton’s classic 1779 hymn “In Evil Long I Took Delight” highlights today’s Scripture.

“In evil long I took delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopped my wild career.”

While some of us trusted Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour at a very early age, others among us did not do so until well into their earthly life. Saul of Tarsus was of the latter type. Blinded by religious fanaticism, today’s Scripture says that Saul did not think twice about using his prominent position in Israel’s religion to do away with every single Jesus-adherent. If it meant personally tracking down and literally dragging back to Jerusalem every last Jewish man and woman who had trusted Jesus as Messiah, Saul was all for it. He would have them imprisoned and then slaughtered! There was no shame, no fear, just religious zeal and delight (has religion changed at all since then?).

One day (Acts chapter 9), Saul left Jerusalem (the last time as a lost man), bound for Damascus up north, ever so eager to capture the Messianic Jews who had sought refuge there. Jesus Christ Himself stared down from the third heaven, watching every move of Saul en route to Syria. When Saul was just outside the city of Damascus, Jesus Christ made a surprise appearance and “captured” Saul before he could capture His saints. A mighty light shown from heaven—a light so intense that Saul is actually struck to the ground; Jesus Christ has permanently ended that worthless ministry! Now humbled, Saul sees something so much better than his vain works-religion; he sees Jesus Christ, the Saviour of sinners, of whom Saul is chief….

But It is Scriptural!

Friday, February 6, 2015

“But [we] have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully…” (2 Corinthians 4:2 KJV).

If only more religious leaders would join with Paul in today’s Scripture!

Recently, I watched a “Christian” television program in which the preacher cunningly said, “The Holy Ghost is telling me to instruct you to send us a $10 donation. We will mail you a vial of Israeli holy olive oil. Then, anoint the doorways of your house, your sick loved ones, and your business, and believe and receive God’s healing and wealth.” His wife then cleverly interjected to reassure their wary viewers, “It is Scriptural! James 5:13-15 says believers should call the church elders—that’s us!—and use anointing oil.”

Yes, if you want to be thoroughly confused, just watch TV preachers! This pastor and his wife, promising wealth and physical healing, were not practicing what they were preaching. The man was bald and wearing eyeglasses, and his wife had obviously had extensive cosmetic surgery. They were suffering the effects of old age—the “snake oil” they were peddling was not effective for them. They should use the oil themselves, receive God’s wealth, and then they would not have to beg for and extort donations from their television audience!

Dearly beloved, one of Christendom’s greatest blunders is to assume “Scriptural” equals “God’s will for me.” Suppose a Jew in Moses’ day claimed, “Moses, I hate following these kosher food laws that God had you write in Leviticus chapter 11. You wrote in Genesis 9:1-4 that I can eat anything I can catch. It is Scriptural to eat all animals! I will follow those instructions instead!” This Jew, although “Scriptural,” would be outside of God’s will for him. He would be ignorant of the dispensational change: Genesis chapter 9 was for Noah to follow, not Israel!

Let us not handle God’s Word deceitfully. Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, are God’s Word to us as Gentiles (Romans 11:13): our dispensation, set of divine instructions, is Paul’s epistles (Ephesians 3:2). We must be both Scriptural AND dispensational. Beloved, if you bear those simple verses in mind, you will spare yourself much confusion, extortion, headache, and heartbreak!

His Blood Be Upon Us… Not!

Monday, February 2, 2015

“And when they had brought them [the apostles], they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them, Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us” (Acts 5:27,28 KJV).

Did not Israel’s religious leadership remember that they condemned themselves long before the Lord’s apostles did?

Several months prior to today’s Scripture, Jesus’ trial occurred: “[24] When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. [25] Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children” (Matthew 27:24,25).

Luke 23:20-24 supplements Matthew’s account: “[20] Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them. [21] But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. [22] And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found no cause of death in him: I will therefore chastise him, and let him go. [23] And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed. [24] And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required.”

At Jesus’ trial, Israel’s religious leaders cried, “His blood be on us, and on our children!” Today’s Scripture says they now, nearly a year later, are recanting their “guilty plea.” Now, they pretend to be innocent! In today’s Scripture, Israel’s high priest admits he greatly objects to the apostles’ preaching that Israel killed Messiah Jesus (cf. Acts 2:22-24,32,36; Acts 3:12-18; Acts 4:10-12). Rather than admitting wrong-doing, they blame-shift and say the apostles’ message is flawed. Peter, in the verses following today’s Scripture, again reaffirmed Israel did indeed kill her Messiah (verses 29-32).

Friends, do not be surprised when lost people—especially religious people—tell you they are “not that bad.” Israel’s religious leaders tried to use the same “escape-hatch” with the apostles. Let us not be discouraged, but preach God’s grace in love, meekness, and boldness! 🙂