I was perusing website the other day, compliments of a like-minded friend of mine, and came across a number of articles that set me off. This one in particular caught my attention because of the subtlety of its deceit. Most people can spot blatant falsehood, and therefore I find a great necessity to speak out concerning falsehood that is not so blatant. What makes this hard is that due to the less obvious nature of the falsehood, I run the risk of tossing grace to the side and saying “thus saith the Lord” when the Lord has not said thus. But in this case, I feel I am justified in this written form of my anger. For reference, you can read the article for yourself HERE.


My first point is not especially critical to me, however it is something that annoys me from time to time when people say it. The writer says “Sunday is a very important day. It is the Lord’s Day and is when so much spiritual work is accomplished in the lives of God’s people as well as the unconverted.” I hate this. Not that God does work in people’s lives on Sundays, but that Sunday is so often set apart as “God’s day” as if God doesn’t really work as much throughout the other days of the week. Sure, it’s the day when Pastor preaches. Sure it’s the day when we all congregate. These are great things. But 1. The church should be congregating on their own in brotherly love, biblically, any and every day of the week. And 2. The day the Word is preached is no better than the days that the Word is lived out or experienced on a more personal level through the reading of the individuals. In short, Sunday is NOT set apart as the Lord’s day. Every day is set apart the Lord’s day.

Second, he blames Sunday ill spirits on the devil: “Satan wants to affect my attitude so as to affect the preaching of the Word of God.” The devil is not ultimately responsible. Too many people attribute their sins to the devil, when in reality it’s just their own immoderate, unchecked flesh. And this flesh continues to go unchecked as long as you think it’s the devil pushing you over the edge. Does the devil go throughout the earth seeking to devour? Yes. But I really believe that most of our sins are not due to his involvement. They are due to our own futility. Isn’t it the heart of man that is deceitful and desperately wicked? So stop blaming the devil.

This is just from the introduction. And granted, I think the author has good intentions for writing this article. Doubtless he wants pastors to be the best they can be when they are preaching the Word. But my problem is with his foundations. One of these foundations is the level of involvement the devil has on our attitudes. I think he is over the top. Like I said above, I believe that our own heart has a far greater affect on our attitudes than the devil does.

That said, you can see where the rest of this is coming from.

The author suggests several points throughout the article that emphasize running from any external influence that might aggravate your spirit. But is it not better to have the kind of spirit that is not so easily aggravated in the first place? Are you seriously angered to the point that you can’t properly minister the Word because you can’t find your belt or shoes? Then you’ve got problems! The author is right that “Preparation brings confidence.” But sometimes things happen that are beyond the control of our preparations. These times are “tea bag” times. They are the hot waters that reveal what’s inside of us. If that is ugly, then you are the one with the problem, not Satan. And this I believe is the overwhelming false premise of this article. Reactions come from within, initiated by things that are without. They are not initially caused by what is outside of us. Reference my previous blog about immaturity and moderation for more on this. Most of the points this author makes are actually pretty good points…if you’re living according to the flesh. They are good external restraints. But they are external restraints that overlook the power of the flesh and the need for a deeper spiritual walk.

The second great fallacy of this article is very emphasis of a few of his points. He’s basically saying “stay away from people.” Really? In order to handle the Word effectively I have to stay away from people because they might exacerbate my attitude? Put on your man pants (or, gird up your loins). Stop being so delicate, because it’s ruining your cross-centered ministry. And if I’m not mistaken, the same Word tells us to be intimately involved with people. The same Word emphasizes personal exhortation, not proper pulpit pounding. Being personally involved with people, pointing them towards Christ, is your first priority. Not the pulpit. The pulpit is great, and we need to hear a properly divided Word. But this cannot be separated from being personal! Referencing point 6, no conversation is “unnecessary.” Even the casual ones are necessary. Every conversation is a chance to edify, even the ones that start out about yesterday’s game or the weather. Your tactic is not to flee conversations that might distract you from God’s Word, but to be the kind of person who reflects God’s Word even during these conversations.

So, in conclusion, tend to your relationship with Christ rather than cover up your personal failures with these boundaries.

Moderation.


I think that a sign of maturity is an increased tendency to show moderation. I think of college kids who consistently drink their hearts out, run up their credit card bills with incessant expenditures, and drown out homework with their insatiable thirst for video games. Not to mention social interaction (which varies in degrees of morality). Why is this problem with moderation such a popular problem in college? Because college, for many, is a place where immaturity goes mostly unchecked and their lifestyles are moderated by nothing better than the wind.

But college students are not my primary focus. I use them as an example of moderation being a soul mate of maturity. Moderation is an issue from birth until death. My one-and-a-half year old daughter does not know when to stop eating snacks, and neither do many adults. They simply will not moderate themselves. The ability to say “no” to one’s self is a sure sign of some sort of maturity. On the flip side, the inability to say “no” is a sure sign of some sort of immaturity. And this moderation is not just something that deals with food and drink, but a plethora of life issues. Take anger for example. Some people cannot moderate their anger. Is this related to a chemical imbalance? Maybe it is sometimes, but probably not in your case. I believe it is mostly a sign of immaturity. You may be good at business, a great pastor, extremely intelligent, or awesome working with people. But if you cannot moderate your emotions, you yet have immaturity to deal with. If you always take things personally, you struggle moderating your emotions. You allow your emotions to convince you of whatever they say.

I would here define immaturity as it pertains to this lack of moderation as the inability to react to your surroundings in any way other than what comes naturally according to the flesh. 1 Corinthians 2:6-7 shows that maturity is something that surpasses the natural man: “Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.” Paul paints a beautiful picture of maturity in Philippians 3:12-21. He speaks of “pressing on” and an “upward call.” He calls the “mature” to do the same, rather than minding earthly things like those who make their belly to be their god. Who is this person? The person who follows natural passions. This same person is the person whose end is destruction. But we have a higher calling. Maturity is not just a social attainment. It is not graduating to the adult table at thanksgiving gatherings. It is not earning a master’s degree in something awesome, getting married and having kids, or being voted in as an elder by the laying on of hands. Maturity, as defined by Hebrews 5:14, is trained discernment which distinguishes between good and evil, aka being “skilled in the word of righteousness.” It separates between the natural and the spiritual and chooses what is spiritual. Now this “skillfulness” is not a skillfulness that is attained through college Bible degrees or becoming efficient in the arena of blogs, commentaries, Bible versions, Greek, Hebrew, public speaking, management, or any other element attainable by any human whether lead by the Spirit or not. This skillfulness is not known by the things of the flesh. It is only known by those in a thriving walk in the Spirit.

Paul uses his own personal example as an illustration of moderation in 1 Corinthians 9. In Verses 25-27 he tells us that he practices self-control in all things. He does everything he does deliberately. He does not just let himself “be Paul” and follow every feeling and desire. He says this would disqualify him. And perhaps this disqualification would not necessarily be because of one thing in particular that he did that got him “kicked out of the race.” But just like any athlete, if your lifestyle is not conducive to a victorious run, you will never be the type of person who is going to do well. You will never accomplish anything worthwhile, at least not to the extent that you are intended to had you lived in the Spirit and mastered your flesh. While accomplishment does not bring a Spirit filled life, a Spirit filled life will undoubtedly bring accomplishment of some sort. And I believe a lot of Christians are living mediocre lives because they simply are not mature due to following what is natural for them to feel and do.

“Be yourself” is certainly a trendy saying these days. The saying has even made it into a 7up slogan: “Be refreshing. Be yourself. Be 7up.” While there is truth that can be applied to “be yourself,” ironically enough, I’m sure the saying, inhibited by the flesh, has also kept many from coming to know Jesus. I’m not talking about people are not accepting Christ because of the philosophy. I’m talking about Christians not winning other people to Christ because they are more into “being themselves” (natural) than being the redeemed (spiritual). Don’t get me wrong…I believe you should express yourself in the way God made you. You should let your personality shine. But I believe that the only goodness found in this is if you are walking in the Spirit Who makes all things new, Who redeems the fallen and sanctifies the chosen. There is nothing good about your personality if its fruits are bitter, rotten, and useless. But this is what our expressionistic culture is emphasizing. Even if you are immoral and evil or even just an average floater who just wants to get by, as long as you stay true to who you are and accept yourself, you’re good to go. And Christians are adopting this philosophy.

The truth is this: Christ takes you in. Christ loves you. If you are born again, then Christ has redeemed you and set you free to be you without reproach. You once were lost and condemned buy now you are found and received. Nothing will separate you from the great love of God. But Christ’s intent is to renew you day in and day out! You cannot glory in your immaturity (fleshliness) and say you are an active disciple of Christ at the same time. But yet we justify our emotional instability or our gluttony (of food and of all other immoderate indulgences). These are the very things that are keeping us from maturing in Christ. These are the very things that are keeping us from knowing fullness in Christ.

So examine your steps – do you find yourself lacking moderation in various areas of your life? TV? Internet (not just the cites, but the frequency)? Food? Cell phone? Other types of addictions? Well, there really is one answer. Follow Paul as he follows Christ. Say no to the flesh and yes to the Spirit. Practice this day in and day out. Simply put, but seemingly impossible to do! But that’s where consistency joins the battle. No athlete ever won because he woke up early one day, did his 50 push-ups and sit-ups, jogged around the block, and then went out and took a Marathon by storm. Spiritual maturity is found in being unnatural. In other words, being who you are in Christ. Claiming your new identity and forgetting those things which are behind you. That is, the things of the flesh.

I’ve gotten a little off-topic. But I had to talk about the flesh. You can’t discuss moderation properly without talking about the flesh.

We could go on and on about how moderation affects the very details of our lives. Spiritual growth includes moderation. Moderation affects our money and time management, shopping experiences, parenting, marriage, emotional stability, daily activities, diet, and an abundance of other facets of our lives. So many of our problems could be bypassed if we’d only walk in the Spirit! We do not need therapy for these areas of our lives. We need the Gospel that gives us a new life in Christ and consistently reminds us of this life and enables us to live this life day by day – the Spiritual life!

But one must still ask the question: “What’s the difference between spiritual moderation and fleshly moderation?” Doubtless there are many people outside-the-camp that live moderate lives, right? Sure there are. Just like how there are unsaved individuals who love their families and neighbors. There is a part of us that can still reflect God’s nature in which we were created. But I would say the difference is this: while you can be planted and watered in the flesh, you remain fleshly until God gives the increase. If you are the redeemed, God will give a flesh-mystifying increase to your life. There will be an effectual swell in both the inner man and the outer affects of your work because God is working for you. Isn’t that amazing? God works for you, in you, and through you unto His glory. God doesn’t do this for anybody else. He gives you His increase. Justifying our immaturity is like turning down a stock that has a consistent past of high return on your investment. Of course in this case it is God which works in us both to will and to do His pleasure. Even better. He gives us the money and then gives us the world’s greatest stocks. So tell me again, why do we wallow in the defeated shame of our immature flesh?

I’ve been doing some thinking about the subject of “real life.” I’ve held many conversations with people about this subject, and generally those conversations are recollections of past situations where we felt there may have been some excessive sheltering or brainwashing going on, or in some way our surroundings were not what we preferred our life to be comprised of. We felt needlessly restricted. We felt like captives in one way or another. After a lengthy description of that life, the conversations turn the page to the chapter entitled “but then I entered REAL life.” I was thinking about the meaning of “real.” Were we incorrectly defining “real” during those conversations? Was it just a matter of semantics? I will be dealing with “dreams” and “real life” in a fairly broad sense, as I do not want to paint everyone’s picture. Make your own strokes on the canvas.
I think that I have had a bit of right and a bit of wrong in those discussions. What I am now realizing about my involvement in those conversations is that I was complaining way too much about something that was merely one season in a life that includes many seasons. Perhaps my ideals were and are correct. Perhaps the situation I was in was truly incorrectly guided by the institutions involved. But where do we find it really necessary to complain? Would I really have come to hold to what is ideal if I had not endured those seasons of life?
Bringing it back to the discussion of “real life” more specifically, I think we all have dreams about what we envision reality to look like, and a lot of those dreams generally are things that are not a part of present reality. And there is nothing wrong with dreaming. I believe God has created us to be creative - to create and develop our lives and to pursue progress. I believe that we are essentially built to build. And dreams are the first step. However, dreamers are often complainers. Complainers because their dreams are still nothing but dreams. How they think things should be is not how things are. They begin to feel that their proposed utopia is the only way where things are acceptable.
And I must say that I think I have a lot of dreams and visions for how things should be in various arenas of life. And here is where I find myself getting discouraged. I want things to be in order the way I order it. Often I find myself discouraged and discontent because what I want my life to be comprised of seems so far away. I begin to lose sight of all the good that God has already formed into my life. I complain about things of the past – a past that was handcrafted by God for my proper development. My present is where my past has brought me. And my present will take me to a future that God has already mapped out. “Real life” is the life God has already given you. You do not need to seek another reality. My wife often tells me “be fully where you are.” This is great advice. We must remember that fulfilling our dreams does not make life better. Only God is the author of our story. We need to be fully committed to whatever life God has us in right now. But do not forget that you are a creative being. Maybe our creativity will not bring us to build the second Eiffel Tower or have several pieces in the Louvre or write the next big novel series worthy of Hollywood. But our creativity, enabled and developed by God (and only trifled with by our own laziness) is just enough to be who we are meant to be in any season of life. Do you have dreams? Then press toward their fulfillment. Maybe things don’t always turn out the way we want them to. Maybe our situation isn’t ideal. But be the influence God has developed you to be in the situation He has put you in. Show the passion that everyone else is afraid to show. Say the things that everyone else probably thinks but is too afraid to say. If anything you will stir waters that need to be stirred. And sometimes that is enough. Sometimes the plan for our life is to be a water stirrer. It’s amazing what the broad, long term affects can be when waters are consistently stirred. Sure, maybe your immediate vision does not become anything. But you have done a lot more good than you think because you’ve gotten people thinking. You’ve gotten people accustomed to seeing someone show passion for something. And no matter your situation, passion is viral. It’s just a matter of time. And passion gets things done. Nobody cares what you have to say if you don’t show passion and put feet to your passion. You’ve seen it in various churches time and time again. It doesn’t matter what your pastor says. If he doesn’t seem to care that much about it, then it means very little to you. On the flip side, maybe you pastor just has one simple thing he wants to get across. It’s not studied out through hours of preparation. But it’s something he’s got a passion for. That is what you are prone to connect with. You aren’t going to connect with a message that, while perhaps put together professionally with all the historical background, exegetical enlightenment, and systematic development, still lacks genuine, unprocessed, unpracticed passion.
This is the person you should be. Spiritualize “grab life by the horns.” Put your back into it. Get serious about Christ. Get real with God. Get passionate about His kingdom. Get reconnected with your family. Get intimate with your church. Get involved in your surrounding community. Your consistency in these areas will grow over time, and as it does you will begin to realize that real life has been around you all along, and the ability to develop your dreams into reality has always been right there in front of you. It was just hiding behind all your complaining, laziness, and insecurity in your relationship with God - and His relationship with you.

I have a bone to pick with myself. I have a bone to pick with American culture. I am annoyed how I have let this aspect of American culture to influence my thinking.
I have developed within myself a belief that any worthwhile occupation will inevitably include a consistent high level of pressure. I use “occupation” in the broadest sense within which it is not limited to your job, but rather those things that occupy your time more definitively. I have found myself attributing the most value to professions and agendas that necessitate constant strain. I feel that this is a product of culture rather than a product of actually attaining a better understanding of how things really are. I have come to understand that this is a lie from hell that leads even the most devout pastors and Christian laymen to pursue achievement rather than God, put faith in efforts rather than the Spirit, imitate the culture rather than Christ, and to find sufficiency in personal accomplishment rather than Christ’s.
When we seek the Kingdom first the vanity of earthly achievement becomes far more apparent.
When we rely on the Spirit we recognize the vanity of our own naked efforts.
When we would rather imitate Christ than meet cultural expectations we find ourselves really living real life that is reflective of God’s glory and grace.
When we find our sufficiency in Christ’s accomplishment we become far less dependent on our own accomplishments.
I think that high-level stress lives quench the above three qualities. Not that no person is ever called to have these jobs or that God cannot protect us from this quenching and provide enablement to glorify him through the prolonged circumstances. My point is more that we should be careful not to follow the American culture in believing that demanding and pressure-filled occupations are more worthwhile than those that are not such. While these occupations generally come with more accomplishment, we must remember that no person has ever been defined by personal accomplishment. We are only defined by our association with the accomplishment of Christ.
There ought to be no division in our minds between a job that comes with massive responsibility, pressure, and 6 figures and a job that comes with free time, enjoyment, and 4 figures. There ought to be no division in our minds between the southern backwoods pastor of a church of 12 and the urban mega-church pastor of 25k. Neither of these men is accepted on behalf of any accomplishment of his own. In either case, we must be the person who is guided by the 4 above steps rather than guided by fleshly thinking that builds our lives into something that will only die. The 4 guiding principles above will lead any person live a life that lives and means something beyond the grave. Maybe you can’t pay your bills if you got a job that you feel would free you to get more involved in your family, church, and community, or to get a job within which you can really express your God-given abilities. So sell your house and get a cheaper one. Sell your SUV and get something with 4 cylinders and ride your bike to more places. Stop buying Starbucks every day. Regardless of what the flesh tells you, you don’t need those things to be happy. See success through God’s eyes. For me, I feel like being over-pressurized during the day drains me and leaves me empty when I get home where my family is. My family, my church, my community, and my God deserve more than the leftovers! And still, the leftovers are often spent on amusement. There are many ways you could define a failure. I think this is one of those definitions.
Take the example of Sabbath. This is proof that God is not ultimately concerned about our efficiency and having a full calendar all the time. Take the example of Christ who showed us that sometimes it’s far better to go to a mountain and pray or wander in the wilderness rather than engage the multitudes. Sometimes it’s better to not have a place to lay your head, but live with your heavenly residence in mind. Take the example of the still small voice that Elijah found God in, or the single, sincere, short prayer with which he called down fire from heaven, rather than imitating the ruckus of his desperate, idolatrous nation. In Christ we are not in such a desperate condition where we have to run around frantically until God does something.
The moral of this post is – we give ourselves far too much credit and give far too little to God. It is not enough to say “praise God” when success comes. We must be the kind of person who means it and does it whether he says it or not, and doesn’t just say something he was told to say since he was as a 2nd grader when he first played special music in Church! We really rely on ourselves far too much to make life work. We think life our little world is far bigger than it really is and it would all stop spinning if we don’t do this or that. Or that the things we are involved in will fail if we weren’t there. We need to live in God’s reality! Get to know it! Get to know Him! Give Him the first fruits of your being, not your occupation! When your occupation, even if it’s being a pastor, takes the first fruits away from God and restrains your ability to influence your family and community like you should, it’s time to reevaluate your situation.

I've noticed, both from my own involvement and from my perception of the involvement others have in philosophical arguments, that the deeper one gets into a certain philosophy the greater the tendency to lose one's peripheral. When you focus on only one detail of a picture you have a tendency to forget what part that detail plays in the whole picture. When you step back and take a look at the whole picture, sometimes you get a different perspective on why that detail is there, which you never would have had if you had just focused on the single detail. Opening yourself up to take in the big picture, understanding original intent, and getting to know the rest of the picture will help you gain a better understanding of the individual parts - both their purpose and other abstract implications.
I find this dilemma to be especially potent in the minds of young, aspiring ministers such as myself. Especially while I was in college. You probably already have a pretty vivit picture of the typical "college dorm debate." A few guys or girls sitting in the basement or someones dorm room debating something useless like whether or not the human being is made up of 2 or 3 parts, or if God's omniscience and omnipresence suggest that He exists in multiple dimensions. But sometimes these debates touch things that are not quite so useless. And any person who philosophizes, even famous intellectuals, can cause much damage by focusing so intently on a single point that their conclusions are obscured by their lack of peripheral. When studying the Scriptures, we call this peripheral "context."
I could say some more things on this but I want to move on to my point. I think that we all need to be carefull not to err in basing conclusions off of context-free discoveries...discoveries that are probably not discoveries at all. Just mislead conclusions - mislead by putting a philosophy into the context of our own understanding rather than in the context of the real authority. For example, I just read Hebrews 6:4-6, a passage imfamously harolded by those who believe you can lose your salvation. Years worth of debate has been spent philosophizing over the intricate details of this passage, and I know that whenever I've read over the passage in the past I would focus on that passage and do my own philosophizing in my head, completely forgetting to prayerfully acknowledge the surrounding context. This time, by the Spirit's enablement, I read it afresh and discovered verses 7-12, which do a phenominal job defining the elements of verses 4-6, erasing any influence of confusion I have ever had in the past. I encourage you to read this for yourself and I will therefore not speak of my conclusions here.
All this to say, do not depend so much on your ability to dig into deep philosophy based on minute elements. Sometimes the best way to make true discoveries is, by the enablement of the Spirit, to see surface level things as they correspond to other surface level things. Read like a hunter - who only takes focused aim through his scope once he has already found his target through constant use of his peripheral.

As a typical evangelical Christian, you’ve always heard it preached “your faith will reveal itself through your works!” You’ve always wanted to be the kind of person who did more. You wish you were more unconventional and stuck your neck out in tough situations. You’ve been longing for more – more joy in your service, more motivation to initiate good works unto the Glory of God, and a greater sense of the bountiful harvest around you that is waiting to be reaped. You wish you cared more. But the hard fact is – you don’t. You aren’t the person you wish you were. When you do serve, there’s little fulfillment in it. It’s not very effective work, as it pretty much dies with the day, and the types of services that you participate in are pretty easy and require little initiative. It’s been a while since you’ve led a soul to Christ, and when you did your soul did not throw much of a party, and you never heard from that person again. You cannot say you really participated in the great commission as you never put forth effort to create a disciple. You just created a Christian, and who knows what that means anymore.
Now you have this acquaintance. Perhaps it’s an atheist, or a Muslim, or an agnostic, or a Mormon. You know they do not believe a Biblical Gospel. But it seems like their life looks more like a Gospel life than yours. They are always involved in other people’s lives. They are always there for their friends. They are the first ones to cry with someone who is hurt. They tend to the pain of others. They are the ones who are the most concerned when even you are experiencing trouble, and will willingly come to your aid and provide their version of genuinely supportive counsel. They seem to be fulfilled when they have an opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life.
Right now you are probably taking this a direction that would include motives, intentions, and goals. And this, though it may be true, is not the direction I wish to take this. It is important to understand this: that we are made in God’s image. While sin has severely marred this image, we are still capable of loving. But the fact that we CAN love is not the issue. The issue is, what value is that love? Is it a detriment to the Gospel to say that an unsaved person can genuinely love his neighbor as himself and treat him that way?
I answer this question with a “no.”
In fact, an unbeliever could actually live a more impressive life than a redeemed individual, even though the redeemed are the ones who alone receive the Spirit’s enablement for redeemed daily living. Does this imply a weak Holy Spirit? Again, “no.” It implies weak faith among the redeemed. It implies lives that do not capitalize on the Spirit’s enablement due to fear and a sense of weakness. This is due to lives lived according to a false Gospel wherein we possess all available power within our flesh and bones to accomplish eternal work. Though we hear different every Sunday and shout our Amen’s to the proclamation of God’s almighty power, when we get to the grind, we buckle under the pressure and abandon hope in the One who sustains us.
Which gets me to my point. How is it that an unbeliever’s works are seen as unworthy, but the works of the redeemed, though perhaps weak in faith and less potent, are considered worthy? What if you did the exact same works as the atheist or the Muslim? When you stood up before God side-by-side with that unbeliever, what compels Him to choose you rather than him?
One word: Association.
And this is what hurts pride. When God accepts you, He is accepting Christ. He is not accepting you because of you or anything you’ve done or said. He is accepting you because of your ASSOCIATION. You are guilt-free by association. It’s a liberating thought to know that it doesn’t matter what you do, you are never going to be a better person to God. You don’t have to try. You left to yourself are, and always will be, putrid. So claim your stench as a person. But claim God’s love in Christ. He loved you and chose you even though you are offensive. The only way we can truly be liberated from the pressure of having to make ourselves into something good is to admit that we will NEVER make ourselves into something good no matter how hard we try. We will never make up for or cover our own offensiveness. But with that, as we are in Christ, we will NEVER be rejected. We are now righteous because of Christ’s cleansing blood. Those who stand up against us and look better are still guilty because they are associated with only themselves and themselves alone, leaving them very alone. They stand before God with all their good deeds, but they mean nothing to God. They provide no atoning influence on God’s wrath. Christ was sent as the atonement, taking God’s wrath so we could be free from it. What more do you want?
So stop living a heresy. You are not making yourself a better person. It’s not going to happen! Suck it up, humble yourself, and find liberating rest in your ASSOCIATION rather than yourself. This will give you the drive to live an eternally successful life. Stop looking for inspiration in 140 characters or less, self help books, exciting preaching, or magazines to drive you to be a better person. People looking for employment hate this reality, but for eternity it’s actually a good thing: “It’s all about who you know, not your resume.” So don’t live like you have to bring your accomplishments to God. That hasn’t worked for anyone…ever. Let Christ bring you to God. And with that, read John 17. What better authority than the testimony of our Great High Priest?

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately on the matter of prayer. I know it is far more important than it has been in my life lately, and I feel continually challenged. Let me start at the beginning of my journey:
Making the Bible relevant to today’s culture has relatively little to do with the music we sing or the methods we use. Relevant Christianity is believing that the God who involved Himself with the Patriarchs is the same God who involves Himself in our lives today. The Jesus that called and worked in and through the lives of the 12 disciples is the same Jesus that calls and works in and through us today. The same Holy Spirit that made apostles out of common men is the same Holy Spirit that transforms common men into bold witnesses today. This is Biblical relevance: God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Our application of this relevance is found in our prayers. Much of the work God did through both the patriarchs and the disciples was rather unreasonable. Many of the expectations God placed upon His people have been unreasonable. Take a series of miracles Jesus performed: fed the 5k, walked on water, calmed the water, fed the 4k, did many healings therein. But at the feeding of the 4k the disciples still didn’t get it. Jesus says “are you yet without understanding?” Our problem is, we want to understand according to human terms before having spiritual faith. We want some sort of reasonableness in our leap. We want to have a list of ways God could work it out. When the disciples doubted, it wasn’t that they were doubting Christ specifically. They were just thinking with natural minds which naturally doubt what they cannot see. And Christ rebuked them as though they were forsaking the obvious – and they were.
But we somehow justify the disciple-ness of our prayers…we neglect to be bold in asking for unreasonable things. Consider the syro-phonecian woman who asked Christ to heal her child. Christ said “no, the children need fed first. Why should I give to the dogs what is reserved for the children?” But even though the woman agreed that her request was unreasonable – Christ was the Jews’ Messiah. But she still asked, even though 1. Her request was unreasonable, and 2. Christ already said no. She had the boldness and humility to expect Christ to do something unreasonable, even after hearing “no.” This is a faithful prayer. This is a prayer coming from someone who knows far more of Christ than one who can only bring himself to request things that he finds to be reasonable.
Bringing it back to relevance, I’ve been continually challenged that even in my life, no matter how common I am, God is not limited. He still wants us to trust that He is the same God to us that did unreasonable things to those we sanctify in the Bible. They were all common men who would have no place in history if it were not for God’s work in their lives. And we would have no place in His future if it weren’t for His work in us, and because of who He is, we can be free to ask for what is unreasonable and know that He will fulfill it unto His glory. The only two reasons we have not is that 1. We don’t ask, or 2. We ask amiss – we ask stupidly and selfishly. I don’t think God is in the business of saying no all the time. We’re just faithless. We’d see a lot more yeses if we’d just ask and know that God is more desirous of His glory than we are, and more desirous to bring men to Christ than we are. More desirous to build His church than we are. More desirous to build up Christians (like us) than we are. More desirous to build up families than we are. You get the idea. The prayer of submission. Why can’t we even ask for those unreasonable things that we already know are his will? Like for our family to visibly grow in grace? For our local church to grow in grace?
Not to mention (funny…I’m mentioning it) that God rarely does things in a way that we had already mapped out ourselves. This often is a key point on which we lose faith. We didn’t see an answer, so obviously God must be silent, right? Or perhaps you’re not seeing the answer because you’re only looking down one hallway, when God worked it out down another hallway. Instead of listening for Him plainly, we listened for noise in the hallway that we thought He’d do His work in. Even if we hear noise somewhere else, we will not turn to look because of our self-imposed sovereignty. Therefore we never turned to look and see that God did the work somewhere and perhaps somehow differently than according to our prognosis. And sometimes God works in a hallway in a completely different building, so we will never see it. Just because that person didn’t get saved during your time of influence doesn’t mean they’ll never get saved. You just won’t see it happen. We too easily lose hope in what we can’t see. We too often lose hope because we impose our sense of complete comprehension upon a sovereign God.
And sometimes the answer is indeed “no” and will never see a “yes.” Does God not exist? Or does God hate us? No. Rather, though we do not understand why, these times are times in which we are to submit.
Too many people have left the faith or given up on prayer merely because they have prayed falsely. Many nominal Christians have turned atheist merely because God did not answer their impersonal, sacramental, check-list prayer that lacked faith anyway. At least now their claims match the level of faith they always had. Now they can really be reached. You cannot reach someone who thought they already had faith. You cannot redeem those who are already righteous in their own eyes. At least now they are reachable.
But simply, let God be God. You be you. You, as you, come to God through Christ our redeeming mediator, and let Him be God.