Category: Uncategorized

How Fasting Can Cultivate the Fruit of Humility

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Devotional and prayer

The reality of belonging to Jesus comes with many indications of our new identity in Christ. The reality of Christ’s own personality shows us many unearthly things that are “given” for what the believer will one day look like (Rom 8:29a  for those whom He foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…). He will share certain characteristics with us and these characteristics for those born again have become part of our new nature and were planted within us at the time of salvation and shape the direction of our growth which is from God. From this we can know that to study the personality of Christ is strategic and greatly beneficial for us because it focusses our eyes on the eternal Savior.

The characteristics of God are either incommunicable attributes or they are communicable. The ones he shares with us are the communicable characteristics and those that he doesn’t are the incommunicable characteristics. A short list of incommunicable attributes God possesses are his sovereignty, omnipotence, omnipresence, and his omniscience, which are all traits that as mere people whom God has created we will never possess, because to possess any of those characteristics would make one God-like. However, the communicable attributes from the personality of God that he intends for us to share exist because he has destined us to look like Christ. John 1:12-13 reads “But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God— children born not of blood, nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God.” So, it is clear that if we are born of God, we should be aimed by God to resemble Christ and to possess those certain attributes of God that distinguish us as his children.

A short list of communicable attributes of God includes his righteousness, (Ephesians 4:22–24), which says we “are created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness”, His love, (1 John 4:16God is love..) peace, (Isaiah 9:6b And He will be called …Prince of Peace) patience, (1 Cor 13:4 Love is patient, Joel 2:13b …Slow to anger) kindness, (Gal 5:22) and humility (John 13:1-17, Jesus stooped down to wash the disciples’ feet, and Ps 18:35b…You have stooped to make me great.)

We have been predestined to the praise of the glory of his grace—the only thing that will praise him is that we would end up looking like Jesus in our hearts. John MacArthur said several things worth quoting in his message “The Benefits of Being a Saint (https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/1811/the-benefits-of-being-a-saint) that “You are sanctified” – it’s the same root word as saint – “you are called saints” – in order to make them aware of the fact that the foundation for his exhortation to their behavior is in the fact that they are saints.”…. “The fact of who we are is the premise upon which the word of God bases the fact of what we ought to act like. You might put it this way: the indicative, you are, is the basis for the imperative, you ought…In fact, it tells us that we are holy because of what Christ is; therefore, we ought to be like Him. We ought to act like Him. Our lives ought to conform to Him.” 

I venture to say humility is not natural to any of us, because pride is at the heart of sin. Pride was the sin that caused Satan to fall, and pride just may be what Satan might most often tempt us with. To counter this reality, the motivation to put forth a concerted effort to exercise humility by the act of crucifying our pride through the act of fasting and prayer, can address a very real need and be a part of a very natural way of life for the person who would prize the goal of becoming Christlike.

Because we ought to conform to Him we have a long way to go. Now although we can be assured the fruits of the Spirit listed in Gal 5:22-23 and other communicable attributes of God were placed within us at salvation, and a tree does not strain itself to bring forth its good fruits, but we also can be assured that we must at times put forth our own effort since Christ himself put forth spiritual effort to exercise the fruits of the Spirit being manifested in him. So even more so for us, it is a good rule of thumb to say that if there is an attribute of Christ that is not natural to us, (surely all of them, but some more noticeably not natural!) we ought certainly put forth effort as Christ did that we should aim for whatever in our flesh may be prone to oppose the nature of Christ would be crucified or wounded by the Spirit which opposes our flesh, as we lean on God for the spiritual efforts we must put forth, of course by receiving the Spirit’s help for this warfare.

So based on these things I have written, I challenge us all again to humble our souls with prayer and fasting. (Psalm 35:13, 69:10-20) We should be ready for those days where Jesus calls us to do as he did, to “take off our street clothes, make time in our schedule to get down on our knees, and walk out the humility of washing the feet of the saints”. This was not optional, but a command. Would we discern his voice, if we heard him call us to this humility? If we submit to the training of humbling our souls, fasting indeed can be one strategic way to prepare for such days ahead that will certainly come.

Prayer:

Dear Lord, may we be willing to do whatever you are calling us to do, and may we be preparing for with abandon of whatever you have for us that demands the crucifixion of our pride, and through this steady warfare seek the growth and development of humility in our lives. Amen!

Keep growing in the Word! LG

Finding the Power to Do Hard Things

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Devotional and prayer

I have 3 simple truths about the joy of the Lord for us to consider today. It is the knowledge of this joy that can help us to do hard things with a joyful momentum. They are:

  1. We get to rejoice and bring our joys to the Lord because we are chosen by God for serving the Lord, and this is invigorating that our rejoicing blesses him.
  2. We get to receive joy from the Lord even doing hard things as we are serving the Lord
  3. And as we bring our service to the Lord and recognize the grace from God upon our lives to live a changed life by his power, our actions can help serve to feed our joy in the Lord and create a joyful momentum, that seems to “come back to kiss our faces”.

To show these truths I bring us a glimpse of Psalm 119:4-5. These 2 scriptures give us a very simple reason we can rejoice in the Lord steadily even while doing hard things. Let’s read: 119:4-5 “Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, 5 which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.”

God’s strength and power are surely seen in the stability of the sun and with the immensity of heat and light it carries by radiating day after day almost seemingly without fail. It is something to consider the strength of the sun’s shining and it’s rising at one end of the sky and setting in another as if the sun were “rejoicing as a strong man to run his course”.

God is declaring his glory through the heavens in this Psalm. Although Psalm 119 is about how the glory of the sun is pictured as a strong man, its poetry gives us the feeling that there is a picture we can have about how powerful the knowledge of God’s glory is to propel us forward along with anything else touched by his glory. I can believe as we picture the application of truth from verses 4 and 5 we see that being touched by the glory of the Lord as the sun, can give those touched by God’s glory the expectation and experience of being propelled forward with strength and rejoicing by God’s declaring his glory in our lives.

If a Christian is saved for any length od time, we have recognized we can safely believe that God is consciously in the habit of providing all his children a strength comparable to magnet like adherence to a run a course for God with power and indistinguishable light although the sun is less touched by the glory of God inasmuch as Jesus didn’t die for the sun to be saved; he died for us to be saved. We may not keep to the path perfectly, to which we aree called, but the glory of God’s forgiveness and cleansing touches us, and we are revived and go on rejoicing stronger to run our course with God. God’s gravitational pull on us so to speak is a strong “gravity” or “staying power” he gives to keep us on course with him as a gift to pull us to him and a power to run in the path of his commands. Truly God makes us radiate his truth and love along our path as we rejoice, and he propels us forward with a powerful joy in our course in the Lord.

So, lets recap our 3 truths:

  1. We get to rejoice and bring our joys to the Lord because we are chosen by God for serving the Lord
  2. We get to receive joy from the Lord even doing hard things as we are serving the Lord
  3. And as we bring our service to the Lord and recognize the grace from God upon our lives to live a changed life by his power, our actions can help serve to feed our joy in the Lord.

Prayer: Oh God, may these truths with scriptural meditations serve to give us the joyful momentum to do hard things like fasting before you Oh God, and even long term or regular fasting Oh God. And may it also serve to give us a joyful momentum to do the hard thing of praying continuously before You Lord with gladness and willingness and find power and joy to fulfill our callings, and like a magnet “keep to our course” empowered with the heavenly touch of Your glory. Amen  Lord, Amen!

Keep growing in the Word! LG

Pains Christians Encounter That Are Unnecessary

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Devotional and prayer

God definitely has some thoughts about what should be happening on the Earth, at any given time and we can be confident that the One who created the Heavens and the Earth is also running the show. God is in control of what is allowed to happen on the earth. God is Sovereign and has a plan for “making all things new”, for “vengeance is mine, I will repay” He says, and a plan for “healing of the nations”, for “healing the brokenhearted”, for “redeeming people from the curse” that is “found upon the face of the earth”. God has “broken the power of sin” and “put sin to death in the body of Jesus”, and “came to save his people from their sins”. God has promised a future place where there is no strife, where people “will no longer learn war”, where people will be generous, loving, good to their neighbors, serving one another, live long and healthy lives, where people work to “rescue the helpless, and help rebuild broken cities”. God in scripture has gone on record saying that for man to be alone is not a good thing. He hates when His people are isolated from Him and others in the family of God, and he has gone on record saying he hates injustice, immorality, and inequality. God hates it when people in the world are hurt by other people’s sin.

Proverbs 6:16-19 There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

The facts are that sin does hurt people. Even the sin that a person may commit when he is alone may eventually end up surfacing and hurting someone else, as far as something like pornography being viewed, or of a person ruminating over any selfish, prideful, or bitter thoughts. The Bible says God hates those things. Getting hurt is such a common experience that everyone on the face of the earth can unfortunately experience this multiple times a week, if it were not simply getting hurt by the “sin” that we see around us that is described to “vex” one’s soul, as in “Rivers of waters run down mine eyes,
because they keep not thy law” (Ps 119:136). And righteous Lot was vexed, which is to say, greatly distressed with the depraved and sexualized words and conduct of the wicked Sodomites (2 Pet 2:7). One of the qualities that is spoken about of God’s wonderful promises for the future telling that he will one day “make all things new” is a wonderful place to start ruminating over all the hope we can have in a trustworthy God who is aware of our circumstances, our pains, our needs and knows every injustice we have ever suffered, so that meditating on his promises surely can shape our perspectives of what is happening presently all over the globe, shape our understanding of the past and can shape our understanding of what will happen in the future.

1 Corinthians 13:7 says “(Love) always protects….” And “1 John 4:16 says “God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” Or, “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” So, to see the ways God protects people in scripture and in the world around us is surely a picture of his loving heart. Needless to say, some scholars say at least 5 and possibly 6 out of 10 of the 10 commandments were laws God made to keep us free from the pains of sin, and from hurting one another, and in the OT there are many additional laws God put in place to bring aide to the hurt or defrauded, where the scripture tells in detail how to go about paying restitution.

Therefore praying for protection and/or avoidance of pain can be one of the most prayed-for topics that exists: “God I ask for safety for my patients”…from the lips of a surgeon… “God, please keep my classroom safe today…” from the lips of a school teacher, “God please keep all food bourn illness away from my business…” from the lips of a restaurant owner, or butcher. God please protect this person, we ask for traveling mercies…” from the lips of all who travel, and bus drivers and airplane pilots. “God please keep the campground safe today…” from the lips of state recreation area workers, just to name a few.

But for those who believe in the Sovereignty of God, we can be sometimes taught wrong or tempted to think “everything” that “just happens” is His will, so that means therefore we just simply need to “embrace everything” as coming directly from Him. The idea that we should “be completely humble and not try to fight against anything” so as to be relieved from our duty of imploring God through our belief in the God who protects is an all too deeply accepted half-truth/half-lie that has served to make lame and impotent the Christian church today.

So, here is just a snapshot or short list of “unnecessary pains” the church should not enable by the sin of not thinking it necessary to pray and fast, or enable by the sin of omitting prayer and fasting at times!

Unnecessary Pains:

  1. The pain our sin causes. We need to fight our sin and not accept it, even though our righteousness has been paid for in full not by our works, God has called us to follow him. We should not “shrink back” in our fight of faith. There may be times when we need to “re-coup” and “regain strength” but we should not become passive in our fight against our own sin.
  2. The pain of bad treatment from others. We should not accept all treatment from others as always something needed to keep us in God’s will. God’s people prayed for deliverance from Egypt. Paul was let down by a basket over a wall and was taken to a place where he would be safe from death threats. King David fought many fights against the armies of pagan nations and God gave him and Israel the victory many times over. Esther did not accept the idea of genocide for the people of Israel, and was called on by God to trust Him although her life could be at stake going before the King to ask for a law to be changed. And she called on the nation of Israel to fast and pray for 3 days, and they did, and God granted that the law be changed, by touching the heart of the king of Persia. God rallied the King to literally kill the corrupt person who wanted a nation  killed and this shows that her refusal to “accept” what was already in place for genocide of the Jews to happen in the law. So we see it was her knowledge of the God she knew and loved as a God who delivered his people from death, proved again to be the living and active part of the personality of the God who massively is able to save nations full of people!
  3. The pain of misused authority from husbands or religious leaders. Issues where scripture is taken out of context by abusive husbands and tell their wives that they must submit even when the husband has no interest in protecting the welfare of his wife or family. To counter this, we must remember God does not put authority on the totem pole above the safety of innocent people. God is the God who protects. Issues where leaders take scripture out of context and tell their congregants “they must submit” even when there may be questionable practices or questionable attitudes by the leadership of the church is another place and time people must remember the “God who always protects” and prayers should be made regarding how God would like to reveal truth to save people from getting hurt.
  4. The pain of not being able to preach the whole truth of the Bible because of some “anti-Christ societal norm creeping in”. Issues where “people who seem to want peace, and equality for everyone” in the secular world who may try to shut down the preaching of God’s word or the speaking of Biblical truth is another thing today’s Spirit filled Christian should not accept but fight against through prayer and fasting.
  5. The pain of corrupt laws like legal abortions, the legalization of marijuana, and the legalization of homosexual marriages cause people to sin more freely than when those sins were not legal. The pain of these legalized sins warps the collective mind of society. Therefore, these things enable greater numbers of people to get hurt by those sins, simply by looking on at what is  happening in society. We must keep before our minds that the Bible shows us corrupt laws CAN change through prayer and fasting EVEN though God might be allowing suffering under these sins for a season! We have many opportunities to see our whole world change even down to some laws that can be pivotal in turning our society away from sin, and with the hope of maintaining a more truthful collective mindset in discerning good from evil.
  6. The pain of corrupt laws trying to prevent the true communication of God’s word, and God’s standards. Evil people do not want God’s word to go forth. Corrupt people have tried to shut down his truth since the garden of Eden and the jealousy of Cain. When God’s people pray to keep the Christian Church to continue worshipping Him and serving Him as we should, God often averts the plans of the enemy and preserves his Name, His reputation, and His Truth in the land!

All the above are injustices and evils the Bible mentions we should not accept and should not be lazy in standing against in our Christian walk. Although God is completely Sovereign and can use what the enemy meant for evil for the good of someone or for all his people, can use hardship to sanctify his people, and change the oppression or injustice, let us remember the many Biblical accounts where God changed something, some battle, some law, the heart of some elected official, or some famine or pestilence from shutting down the people of God he has sent to proclaim the kingdom of God. May we remember from which stock we come from, and remember our calling and election and make it sure through a firm footed and steady fight of faith! Pray with me against the above evils!

Prayer:

Oh Gracious Heavenly Father! Many or all of the evils I have listed are happening even as I speak at any time in the world and the enemy has been rampaging against the body of Christ! It’s as if our society has shifted into some grey and nebulous callous and warped un-reality zone! It’s as if there is an underlying message that unless the church shows anything besides being meek and mild we are labeled as “hateful intolerant bigots who need to be quickly woke!” Many times the “wives submit to your husbands card” is played under wrong circumstances, and my heart Lord is not to say that scripture is wrong, but to say it can be used by those with spiritual authority over God’s women and make them stripped of emotional sanity. And likewise, the “submit to your spiritual authorities” card is played under false pretense to suggest they belong to an “right and only right group of spiritual know-it-alls”. Please Lord teach the body of Christ how to address these evils so we can protect the body of Christ more like Jesus does! Teach us how to be loving in our messages proclaiming the word of God without compromising on truth, and may the pains of society screaming for us to “stop preaching the word of God as it is in the Bible”, be quenched and silenced! Oh God, may you bring your will to be done in our nation and other nations to establish your Kingdom and to revise and abolish the corrupt laws put in place by corrupt people to kill innocent children, to brainwash our society out of their God given sexual identities, and to steal our minds through drugs, Oh God! Please undo the pains we Christians have caused or allowed our nation by our passivity toward the corrupt laws now in place, and may Your will be established, and Godly laws put in place in our world to correct the unnecessary pains that I have just mentioned! And Lord, we know it is our personal sin that you overcame on the cross and that we can surrender to you for part of the reborn heart environment in which you have given the Christian to live. Many or most who are reading this know Lord we live in a world birthed by your Spirit, and by your Spirit we have been given a heart to love You, and be grieved by our own compromise!  Oh God may we be granted progress by your Spirit within us, grant us true strength from heaven to go forward by your Spirit as we grow by absorbing your virtue, like the rain and snow from heaven! And may You feed us Lord with your truth so we may proclaim its many benefits and glories, and may you utterly change the face and heart of our lives, of our families and our country, and all the world around us so that You would be seen and glorified more and more in our world on a more massive level Oh Lord Our Lord, for You are Mighty to Save Oh God!

Amen!

Keep growing in the Word! LG

The “Necessity” of Christian Hardships

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Devotional and prayer

The gospel when proclaimed in a Biblically sound way does and should, bring peace to us all. While this is true there also seems to be a notable number of scriptures that inform us that the God who sent Christ to earth to pay with his blood for peace to be established between the believer and God is also the one who deserves our trembling and shaking before him. He is the same Jesus who said in Mathew 7:13-14 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.

With the many topics that the Lord introduces to his people in the NT that seem hard, “fasting” would fit the bill. Perhaps you’re a little like me, who have compared the OT plan of drawing near to God with the NT plan for such a work. We think the OT plan should be hard, and, we, —should be done with “hard” in the NT. I believe because we have a nuanced gospel, and can be so prone to settle for a quick and “easily explained” definition for telling what our Christian habits should be, and can get tempted to think that for us NT folks, if each part of our walk with God is not “ease producing” then it also cannot be “peace producing”, but that is simply not true. “Ease” for the Christian is not synonymous with “peace”. To use our distinguishing abilities, we will have to pull the reference cards out of our minds for these two words and closely examine some similarities and differences for discernment purposes on them, mentally write details to edit our definitions with important markers on them and file them away again for future use. We so much need to glean from the many “holy difficulties” that are either sent by Providence, or captured by God for His divine purposes having been sent from the “drizzle” attack of our blind Enemy.

Isn’t it true the Bible says in Luke 13 to make every effort to enter by the narrow gate? Luke 13:23-24 says, “Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them, 24“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.” 

We can take the word “narrow” in this sentence to be an invitation from the Lord to do hard things. And we can take it as an invitation from the Lord that some hard things The Lord introduces to us are absolutely necessary for us to embrace and “take in” to make a regular part of our lives for a walk with God that stays on the narrow path.

1 Peter 2:20-21 CEV “You don’t gain anything by being punished for some wrong you have done. But God will bless you, if you have to suffer for doing something good. 21. After all, God chose you to suffer as you follow in the footsteps of Christ, who set an example by suffering for you.” I don’t bring up this short passage to suggest we need to be told about the subject of being punished for wrong doing but to suggest that if God would allow others to cause us to suffer and to “capture” different conditions of the suffering the enemy might like to dish out to us and have it all somehow be woven into part of His genius plan for us for our sanctification, then this plan that He has had from before the foundation of the world, just magnifies the amazing qualities of foreknowledge and Providence of our redemptive Shepherd King.

May we travel the hard road of the desert/wilderness with Christ, fasting as often as He may lead, and laying down “every weight and burden, and the sin that so easily besets”, so that we may go swiftly with Him and with perseverance, even running with Him as He leads!

Prayer:

Dear Lord, some days I feel nothing that excites me about going through the routines of the day, of getting out of bed, doing the morning rituals , hopping in the car and going to work, that I much consciously “spit out the lukewarm aftertaste” left from dinking of the world too much, remember that you have called me to yourself, think of your jealousy, and count the cost you paid again to “cleanse my palate to taste again what is truly true”. Help me Oh God, to not be slow to show up for prayer, and as much as only you can cause my drawing near to you to be a taking in of your substance Lord, and a breathing out of your goodness; may I ever keep my eyes on you to wash myself from the world, over and over and over again until others see really clearly, Christ in me. Amen!

Keep growing in the Word! LG

Learning the Fear of The Lord as Mentioned in Psalm 34:11

Author: Lisa Groen

Category: Unpacking Scripture

According to Britannica.com, post-modernism is “… a late 20th-century movement characterized by broad skepticism, subjectivism, or relativism; a general suspicion of reason; … (objective, natural) reality as there is, according to postmodernists, is a conceptual construct, an artifact of scientific practice and language. …the rejection of an objective natural reality—is sometimes expressed by saying that there is no such thing as Truth.”

The thinking habits produced by postmodernism—skepticism, subjectivism, relativism, and the rejection of truth are traps that can become direct assault weapons used against a person’s faith, or at a minimum can handicap it—unless those same people learn to stand up with effective thinking habits that can keep our mindsets healthy and free from error.

There is a general reluctance of certain groups of society to have an interest in cultivating an environment in which the fear of the Lord is treasured. There is also in our world today a famine in knowing what the fear of the Lord is–and in knowing what it means to walk in the fear of the Lord.  To try to start a conversation with your unsaved loved ones about the importance of revering God if you have not done so lately, will quickly bring about question marks, and other un-sought-after results! Reactions you might get could range from people getting offended at you for suggesting they need to fear The Lord, because it is a common belief that “God is only loving and does not want us to be afraid of him—he just wants you to feel good vibes from him!” Or you may get people thinking you are some kind of zealous religionist who is in love with the idea of religion and doing religious things with no particular purpose, and who wants to breed a suspicious paranoia of doing “bad things”, to gain control over society or over themselves. You might get the reaction of someone thinking you have more in common with a Martian who recently landed on earth than a citizen of today’s America, which ironically used to be a Christian nation. Or, you might get a reaction of someone thinking you have some kind of strange archaic tradition that is understood to have been outdated simply because they think that you also are behind the times because of your fashion or the age of your car or of your hairstyle and the idea that modern people understand God far better than the uncultured people of Bible times.  Modern people are in touch with their true selves and believe that fear in any relationship is harmful and have the unspoken question rolling around in their minds —“Who out there actually believes God COULD EVER or WOULD EVER WANT us to fear him?” He is after all the big Santa Claus in the sky, giving out hugs and marijuana to smoke—right?” So how do we begin that conversation about the importance of walking in the fear of the Lord—and how do we let them know the fear of the Lord is healthy and keeps our relationship with God healthy?

We must recognize ourselves and so live as ones who know there is a good use for the fear of the Lord as it produces a good posture for us to be able to approach God in the right spirit. It has a function for everyone and can produce benefits in our lives ranging from keeping a person alive and not burnt to a crisp when in communion with The Holy God, (Lev 10:2), to ranging to keeping a person from sinning (Exodus 20:20), and numerous other functions. It enables one to take the right approach in prayer for communion with God (Psalm 22:23), and for possessing a good understanding of people and life (Psalm 111:10), to God ever having his eye upon us for protection (Psalm 33:18). Because of the fear of the Lord we reap the benefit of having the angel of the Lord encamping around us (Psalm 34:7), and because to have been given the benefits of life and peace from God which are catalysts that can also produce the fear of the Lord (Mal 2:5) so God’s goodness is a circular cycle; as we receive God’s goodness it produces the fear of the Lord, and as we are given and live in the fear of the Lord, it positions us to be recipients of God’s goodness. (Ps 112)

Simply having skepticism or unbelief in God are two of the foundational reasons that much of our society is not recognizing or valuing the treasure of the fear of The Lord. Simply having subjectivism—thinking a person’s truth is only true for the person, and having relativism—thinking truth is a moving target, we can never know it–are two reasons we doubt the existence of solid Bible truth today. Yet it is only in the Bible that we are told of this glorious gift that does so much for God’s people and goes along with explaining the identity of our God and creator because by telling us to fear him is actually demonstrating to us the personality of one who is worthy to be feared.

In our world today, now that we live in a postmodern society, many have lost the ability to think through objectively that which for centuries past was believed by ancient Israel. They believed sin was sin because God said it was sin, and they believed sin had consequences, because God said sin had consequences and because of many graphic consequences that followed the warnings  But we fail today  sometimes to get the whole picture of the fear of the Lord as presented to us in the Bible, because we think “those were the sins of those people—I don’t do those sins! Nothing bad will happen to me! No reason to fear God! A proper response to this is that God is worthy of our fear regardless of anyone’s having sinned. On our BEST days God is worthy of our fear. When we read about Moses who went up to Mount Sinai to receive instruction from God in Exodus 19, it is plainly written that “Everyone in the camp trembled.”, and Moses was one of them. How did we get from there, to where we are today? We need to go back and look at the elements that surround a relationship with God based in a healthy fear of God.

Here we will look at the prospect of “learning the fear of the Lord”: Psalm 34:9-11 O fear the Lord, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing. Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. I firmly believe the more we study the works of God, the more that the fear of the Lord will be implanted within us, and the more we will have a good root system of the fear of the Lord in our hearts, and minds and in our consciences.

Proverbs 19:23 reads, “The fear of the LORD leads to life, so that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil.” So, if people are lacking in the fear of the Lord, it can send them AWAY from life, possibly touched by evil, and to places they really and truly are not prepared to go. We must learn from Old Testament examples in which the fearfulness of God has been made known, and one of these examples is in the account of the sin of Nadab and Abihu.

Leviticus 10:1-3 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the Lord spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.’” So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.

There were more warnings from God in this chapter towards his righteous servants, warning that they WOULD DIE in verse 6, and to prevent the outcome of God’s WRATH BEING POURED OUT on the congregation -MEANING DEATH FOR THEM even though it would be only a priest who’s sin God gave preventative warning about in verse 6, telling them how they should not mourn for the evil priests, or they WOULD DIE another way in verse 7, and that the priests were not allowed to drink strong drink, nor any of their sons or they WOULD DIE in yet another way in verse 9.

Leviticus 10:4-11 Moses called also to Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come forward, carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to the outside of the camp.” 5 So they came forward and carried them still in their tunics to the outside of the camp, as Moses had said. 6 Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, so that you will not die and that He will not become wrathful against all the congregation. But your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, shall bewail the burning which the Lord has brought about. 7 You shall not even go out from the doorway of the tent of meeting, or you will die; for the Lord’s anointing oil is upon you.” So they did according to the word of Moses.

8 The Lord then spoke to Aaron, saying, 9 “Do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting, so that you will not die—it is a perpetual statute throughout your generations— 10 and so as to make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean, 11 and so as to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them through Moses.”

God gives us the medicine of demonstrating his fearful acts “so as to TEACH THE SONS OF ISRAEL ALL THE STATUTES WHICH THE LORD HAS SPOKEN TO THEM through Moses.”

By the fear of the Lord leading us and giving us understanding about these things we are allowed to see God as both the ferocious and terrifying Lion of the Tribe of Judah but still the altogether Good Aslan.

One habit that we can learn from Moses in his search for nearness to God and to hear direction from God for himself and for all of Israel, that showed he possessed the fear of the Lord was that he persistently fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. I believe long-term fasting helps us put our flesh down and put on humility which cultivates a healthy and deepened relationship with God. Numbers 12:3 reads “(Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any person who was on the face of the earth.)” We see that Moses was counted by the God the narrator in Numbers to be humble. God wanted this to get our attention. Moses would not have bragged about this himself.  We can observe from the many different successful occurrences of fasting in the Bible, that fasting helps our minds wrap around the acts of God, and thus CAN develop in us a deepened exposure to God, a deepened understanding of God and deeper fear of God. Because Moses met with God in his fasting and prayers, I believe it bolstered his spirit and submerged him in the Spirit of God to know what to do and what to say in all his leading Israel, when Nadab and Abihu sinned. I believe it enabled him to keep the right reverent attitude in what must have been a terrifying crisis for Israel, and which we can believe it provided the right example for the rest of Israel to follow to keep reverent as well, in the midst of witnessing the wrath of God.

The bottom line is sometimes you will need to fast to navigate successfully around the sins of other people without getting sucked into their sins along with them when the wrath of God falls.

We should be encouraged about Jeremiah 32:40b “…I will put the fear of Me in their hearts, so that they will not turn away from Me.” This gives us the view of the reality of God letting us see the tender desire he has for us in his heart —that He is making us his own and keeping us for himself, so he and we can enjoy a deeper and abiding fellowship of nearness, all simply with his putting the fear of the Lord into our hearts.

Prayer:

Dear Lord, when we look at the vast difference between ourselves and Moses, we can be encouraged about the sustained trait of meekness. Meekness was preserved in the life of Moses, although the people he led were under a covenant of sacrifice. And that meekness you used Oh God was part of what you used to make Moses powerful and successful in his day.  May our hearts be open to cultivating a nearness to you facilitated by fasting and prayer so we may also benefit from the strength that comes with stripping the flesh of indulging pleasures. For we know that if we were to leave our flesh alone and not bother with attempts to crucify it, it would drag us away in ungodly directions! We know that you keep us, and yet there is a mystery in our responsibility verses your sovereignty, and we must be led by you in these areas of growth and sanctification by your Spirit, otherwise if we do it in our flesh power, we gain nothing. Please Lord, guide us in what you see is our responsibility, help us to see it too, and to receive the grace we need for putting off the flesh, and help us to put on the strength of humility, to walk in meekness and gentleness, because I believe it carries the power to draw people to follow you. Preserve us in the attitude of your Spirit, so we can be fruit bearers, if need be among acts of your wrath being poured out, big or small in our days, but may we ever keep our eyes on you Oh God our Heavenly Father, and glorify you forever through our love for you and through our right approach to draw near to you! Oh God, we don’t deserve these things, but you said we could ask and when we seek the kingdom, these things would be added unto us oh God! May your Kingdom come, and may your wonderful will be done Oh God in our midst! Blessed be the name of the Lord! Amen!

Keep growing in the Word! LG

24 Biblical Blessings From Fasting for Today

Author: Lisa Groen

Why did OT believers or I, myself have to do anything to “get” God’s presence? As fasting is an approach that is taken by some to draw near to God, we can see similar postures of heart comparable to fasting were prescribed and even ordained by God in the Old Testament. Fasting goes hand in hand with mourning or taking a heart posture of sorrow, self-denial and self-control. Are developing these truly a good work for the believer? This sorrow of fasting is not a type of play acting that God is telling us to do like a child play acts sad and cries with fussy “tears” to manipulate their parents. Fasting is not a process comparable to the “refusal of food” a child might do to try to get the parents to do something the child wants in order to make the child happy. Biblical fasting is for “the believer” (at a minimum) because fasting isn’t needed by God to help God hear us more effectively. There is nothing deficient in God’s hearing. God is not dependent on us, but he does enable pathways by which the believer can draw nearer to God. But let’s examine how is it used to help a believer draw near to God.

Let’s first read how God addresses the lack of self-denial, entitlement, and several other self-gratifying attitudes spoken of in Isaiah 58:

Isaiah 58:3 Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’—-this is entitlement
Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, —-this is entitlement
And oppress all your workers. —-This is an absence of self-control
4 Behold, you fast for contention and strife, and to strike with a wicked fist. —-This is an absence of self-control
You do not fast like you have done today to make your voice heard on high!—maybe they were fasting physically but in their hearts they had wrong attitudes.
5 Is it a fast like this that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself?—short lived “humility” or “an outward spiritual show”
Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed— short lived “humility” or “an outward spiritual show”
And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? —this is all outward show but doesn’t mention heart attitudes changing.
Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?

God’s fast appears to be the solution God gives for breaking the entitlement attitude off of us (vs. 3) and appears to be God’s solution for breaking off of us the menacing lack of self-control.(behold…you find your desire, vs 3), and appears to restore back godly self-control. Fasting appears to deal with getting rid of the wrong attitude of the heart, like the heartless using physical force against people. (vs. 4) Fasting deals with getting rid of the wrong belief that just bowing yourself to God like a reed for a day (the pride of a spiritual appearance) that related to the idea they will get noticed by God for their spirituality. They were wanting their voices to be heard on high, and Isaiah doesn’t say that that was a bad pursuit, but just that the way they were going about it was bad. A list of actions in Isaiah 58:1-5 were fruitless, or wretched, and self-indulgent and fasting is shown to be the hatchet that would cut them away. Fasting can build the discipline of maintaining a longer-term posture of humility instead of just humbling yourself for a day (vs. 5). Next, fasting can make our prayers more effective in causing or letting the oppressed go free (vs 6) undoing the bonds of wickedness (vs 6) and undoing the bonds of the yoke and that every yoke of wickedness would be broken (vs 6).

Let’s look at a more extensive list of 24 direct blessings from fasting:

6 Is this not the fast that I choose:
To release the bonds of wickedness,  —blessing 1
To undo the ropes of the yoke, —blessing 2
And to let the oppressed go free, —blessing 3
And break every yoke? —blessing 4
7 Is it not to break your bread with the hungry
And bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, to cover him;
And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then your light will break out like the dawn, —blessing 5
And your recovery will spring up quickly; —blessing 6
And your righteousness will go before you; —blessing 7
The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. —blessing 8
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; —blessing 9
You will cry for help, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ —blessing 10
If you remove the yoke from your midst,
The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
10 And if you offer yourself to the hungry
And satisfy the need of the afflicted,
Then your light will rise in darkness, —blessing 11
And your gloom will become like midday. —blessing 12
11 And the Lord will continually guide you, —blessing 13
And satisfy your desire in scorched places, —blessing 14
And give strength to your bones; —blessing 15
And you will be like a watered garden, —blessing 16
And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. —blessing 17
12 Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; —blessing 18
You will raise up the age-old foundations; —blessing 19
And you will be called the repairer of the breach, —blessing 20
The restorer of the streets in which to dwell. —blessing 21

13 “If, because of the Sabbath, you restrain your foot
From doing as you wish on My holy day,
And call the Sabbath a pleasure, and the holy day of the Lord honorable,
And honor it, desisting from your own ways,
From seeking your own pleasure
And speaking your own word,
14 Then you will take delight in the Lord, —blessing 22
And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; —blessing 23
And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, —blessing 24
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

God shows us He is truly responsive to a mournful heart, and tears of repentance and sorrowful seeking of Him, as people knew their brokenness and need for Him. In Isaiah 58, God gives at list of 24 spoken blessings God that come with the right heart attitude of self-denial that goes with fasting and does not  take away these 24 promises for the believer after Jesus went to the cross. The promises of Isaiah 58 are still active and alive today. Isaiah 58 seems to be about the theme of self-denial and self-control in seeking the Lord, and the lack of self-denial and self-control. The desire to build these back again and making room for self-control and self-denial leads were possibly the singular cause and best reason today in the New Testament for God’s people to resort to fasting.

Keep growing in the Word! LG

Prayer of Dependence on God-4

For Those With Covid:

Lord, we come to you with humble and contrite heart, you alone have all authority and all power to answer our prayers. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you that one of your Hebrew Names is Jehovah Rapha “I am the LORD, who heals you.'” Exodus 15:26, I thank you that Lord you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. I thank you that your desire is for us, and that Mathew 10:30 says, “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” I thank you that you grant us everything we need for life and godliness, and that we have grace from 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 which gives us eternal encouragement and good hope. I ask Lord that you’d encourage the hearts and strengthen those who have Covid with your word. We ask you would be the glory and the lifter of their heads, and that their hope would be fixed in you and that you would grant them strong consolation and the joy of the Lord, and give them the grace to rest in you and find your arms of love and safety surrounding them with help in this time of need. We ask that this would be just a light and momentary trial working in them a glory that far outweighs all the trials they go through and that you would fix them with deep roots in your peace and joy. We ask for their spiritual nourishment and that you would grant their minds to be at peace and that you would take away the sharp pains in the lungs and chest and the fever and the cough and that you would remove all the bacteria and virus populations from their systems and open the alveoli in their lungs. Open up the bronchial passages to where they need to be for safe, peaceful, relaxed and undisturbed breathing. Lord, please watch over them and raise them up from their sickbeds and bring them to yourself. May you do something in this time of recovery that would make the most of this time, and that there would be a drawing near to you and a deepening of awareness of your presence, and that they would lose nothing of value in this time. May they find that you are a fountain of life welling up to eternal life, and may they sing and make melody in their hearts if it is too much for them to sing with their lungs at this time. May you renew their minds, and give them understanding in the word, and may their meditation of you be sweet. May your words and grace be ever speaking to them giving them life and sweet meditations, may you cheer them up with your kindness, and hope. Grant thee doctors the knowledge and know how to deal with specific situations that may require added medical provisions, and grant them to focus, and carry out the safest protocols and best practices that are out there. May you restore them in your care, physically, mentally, emotionally, and grant them to trust in your grace and goodness. Restore to them what the enemy is trying to steal, Oh Lord and may you be their governor and umpire and advocate through this trial. Please remove from them all forms of worry and anxiety, may they remember Lord that you are the God who heals all our diseases and the God who routes the enemy for our sake and that you are the One who grants the promise in 1 Peter 5:10 which says, “after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore you, secure you, strengthen you, and establish you.” Please grant that your peace would override every form of doubt, angst, and frustration and please renew in them the relationship that will establish them in love and contentment, hope, and strong faith by your spirit. Lord, may you use what the enemy meant for evil for the good of these folks and bring a blessing out of this time of need that they have. May you teach them you respond to faith, and that you hear their prayers. May you encourage them by growing them up in the faith in your timing and in your care. May you soon crush the enemy underneath their feet.

We ask these things in Your Name Lord, Amen!

Keep growing in the Word! LG

Revision to “If Christians Are Free From Condemnation, Why Do Many Struggle With It?”

Author: Lisa Groen

Through my interactions with other Christians over the years I have noticed a deep need. Many times, a person who is dealing with shame may be battling it because it has stemmed from a history of abuse suffered in childhood or later in life. If the abuse was long term or serious, the shame may be deep rooted. This shame can be heavy and even paralyzing for some.

The source for much and even most healing for our emotional needs will come to the Christ follower through the word of God. I have experienced this both personally and seen it in the lives of wounded friends who have received healing over the years. The word of God heals us through the very things it says to us about The Lord, about our faith and what our faith brings us, and about our progress in the faith. We will end up through the perseverance God provides, looking like Jesus in our spirituality. God means for us to be whole, stable, fruitful, and to be filled with Jesus.

If we have repented but still feel guilty, shame indeed can be exclusively an attack from the forces of darkness. The believer just like Jesus was, is equipped by with the word of God to fight against lies the enemy tried to send us and by believing the word of God we fight the good fight of faith.

What hope can we find in the scripture that leads us out of the bondage of shame? We first must look to who Jesus is and see plainly in scripture what he has promised the believer and intends for the believer to possess. We possess traits from the Lord because of our faith in Him that work themselves into our personality, emotions, our motives, and thinking. Embracing who the Lord is through our worship of Him is a normal way of life for the Christ follower. Seeing and looking into His traits brings freedom to us one scripture at a time, and we will look more and more like Jesus.

A great statement that John the Baptist made to his disciples in discussing how Jesus was baptizing more followers than he, is found in John 3:27 “John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.”” If we truly think about this statement, we can know the Lord would not have his people holding onto anything unless it has been given to them from heaven. The statement by John the Baptist was referring to the ministry that a person receives can only come from heaven. But in the broader application of the scripture, I think this would include that a person can receive only what heaven would have us to receive, and this includes food, shelter, clothing, friendships, love, purpose, work, spiritual strength, truth, etc.., but also would mean that it is not within the will of God for his people to receive any thing of any sort from the kingdom of darkness. That would mean it would not be right for us to receive lies, oppression, or faultfinding attitudes, fits of rage, backbiting, or other types of “equipment” from the enemy.

Even if the scripture John 3:27 was meant to have a very narrow context, it is still correct to say that it is not God’s will for his people to carry around a shame-based nature. We know this because of the promise of Romans 8:1 which says “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

The very first thing we should ask is “do I know of any sin in my life I need to repent of? “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” James 4:17. The good thing regarding this is that God will give a person the grace to repent of their sins. Sin can and must be dealt with in the life of the Christ follower. God does provide help for us to become free from sin.

Romans 6:18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

Romans 6:20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.I

Romans 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood

Hebrews 7:25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

If sin is not the reason that is opening the door to the shame or guilt we may be dealing with, why do we struggle so long with it at times then? If we have repented of all known sin, there may be a spiritual attack of condemnation or accusation from the enemy. A demon of shame or condemnation could be at fault. Our enemy would like to send lies and accusation our way to get us to doubt the truth about the Lord and our Christian identity. The enemy wants us to doubt our faith, he wants us to doubt our relationship with the Lord, and he wants us to doubt the faithfulness of our God.

God’s work in a Christ follower is powerful. Since there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:1 a relevant question to ask is “how does one get into Christ?” This question is about salvation. We must learn about the work of Jesus and what he has called his own people to. To simplify the question of election and predestination, let us assume a person is a seeker of the Lord. Seek, ask, and knock, and it will be opened to you is what the Lord Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:7-11  “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!” I believe a person who seeks to be saved will be saved. I believe the Lord is the One who gives a person the inclination to begin with to seek salvation in the first place.

There seems to be a tension in our walk with The Lord to keep fighting the good fight of faith, and to keep our hearts pure before The Lord. We are commanded to abide in Him. He expects us to go about our daily lives doing and being led by Him to take care of our affairs. Right along with the normal every-day work, relationships, housekeeping, care for our belongings, etc.. we are concurrently responding to The Lord. He is looking for those who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. This is the place a believer abides in the Lord—in a place of respect for what the Lord has done for us where we take those realities into our minds and hearts which helps us to be in a place of worship of Him as we go about our days.

The second big part of abiding in Him is to be ever mindful of His word, because His word is truth and His word has much to say about the new nature of Christ followers that we received as a gift when we became born again. We are told in Proverbs to listen to the teaching of the Lord to gain wisdom. Here is a small sampling of just 3 verses with a blessing and/or benefit as a result attached to the command to listen:

Proverbs 1:33 “But he who listens to me shall live securely and will be at ease from the dread of evil.”

Proverbs 8:32 “Now therefore, O sons, listen to me, for blessed are they who keep my ways.

Proverbs 8:34 “Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, Waiting at my doorposts.

Jesus said in John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

When we listen to the words of God and we abide in the word of God, we let it be what we listen to and hear, and it inspires our faith. We can then ask for whatever we wish (as long as it is within his will) and it will be done for us. God’s will for us includes to think the thoughts the Lord thinks about us as forgiven and redeemed. This would include having our hearts made sure with confidence of being rooted and grounded in him. Isaiah 45:17 says of Israel representing all of God’s people: “But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.” We can then ask in faith to have untrue condemning beliefs about ourselves removed (if we have repented) that may be there not from the result of our sins, but from the attacks of the devil. When we get forgiven by God, we get washed by God, and the guilt and shame he removes from us. A big reason to seek God for this if you do struggle with condemnation, is that condemnation is not part of our God-given Christlike identity we received at salvation. The Lord does not mean for us to carry condemnation because Christ bore our sin and shame. Some believers may struggle a lot less with it and some may struggle a lot more with it than the average Christian.

The Lord has designed the identity and nature of His followers to be one that does not get its definition from or partner with shame. Lets look at the following scriptures which mention shame or reproach to understand what we have been delivered from in Christ:

We are to abide in Him so that we will not be put to shame at His coming:

1 John 2:28 Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.

We renounce hidden sins:

2 Corinthians 4:2 but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

We presently have hope the Lord will be exalted in our bodies with the mindset to not be put to shame:

Philippians 1:20 according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

We are to be sensible, pure in doctrine, dignified, and sound in speech so as not to be put to shame:

Titus 2:1,6-8 But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.  6 Likewise urge the young men to be sensible; 7 in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, 8 sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

We are to keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which we are slandered those who revile our good behavior will be put to shame:

1 Peter 3:16 and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.

Proverbs says that sin causes a reproach.

Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.

If a person’s sin was deep, or they fell out of fellowship with God, they may sense a need to get back into fellowship with the Lord and to believe in his atonement through faith in Christ. Then God’s grace is applied and the person in need is moved by God out of a state of condemnation and into a state of righteousness.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But, if we walk in the light (in Jesus) we will can get free from sin and not stumble (sin):

John 11:9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, (sin) because he sees the light of this world.

1 John 1:7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

How do we keep walking in the light? Keep going to Jesus and abide in his light.

What happens in the born again life is that the believer is brought from darkness to light, from the state he was in before being born again–spiritual death to spiritual life in Christ. Those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus for salvation are positionally no longer in a state of condemnation. The believer is positionally in a state of righteousness. This free gift of righteousness and state of being righteous is not earned nor maintained by the good works of the believer. God has changed the believer’s heart to love God and love his righteousness. The unbeliever however is in a state of condemnation already. God is the keeper of his people, and keeps them in a state of righteousness. The presence of the Holy Spirit is given to the beliver and abides in him and if the believer sins, he will likely have a sense that he has sinned and be moved by God to seek forgiveness, and cleansing, and to turn from that sin.

However, when the believer has sinned, he does not slip into positional condemnation. Positionally, the believer although he has sinned is still positionally righteous by faith in Christ. At that time the Holy Spirit prompts the believer to repent of their sin and seek cleansing. To contrast the unbeliever is positionally in a state of condemnation.

When the Lord may be working to bring about the salvation of the unbeliever they might either sense their need for God or might not sense their need. God might allow the unbeliver the awareness of their state of condemnation and along with that, God might grant them faith in the Savior. God is at work to draw people to himself.

If a believer is experiencing a sense of guilt, and they have already repented of their sin, it might be that they are experiencing some level of spiritual warfare. In that case, the believer can simply ask God to remove the feeling of condemnation because they are in a state of positional righteousness.

In the Bible we see the Lord has provided the believer the spiritual disciplines to strengthen them in the faith. We must remember that the Lord said “My yoke is easy and my burden is light”. To keep condemnation out of our minds might need some healthy Spirit led work. This is a work of God’s grace when he strengthens the believer. With the help of the Spirit we are told to renew our minds by meditation on the word of God. We do our part and God will do His part in renewing our mind so then we are able to be more set free from old carnal mindsets. Definitely, through the process of God at work in the heart and mind of the Christian, leading them in sanctification, they will become free from mindsets or thoughts that are of a condemning kind.

Our part in renewing our mind:

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Ephesians 4:23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

More details are written about renewing the mind in Ephesians 4:19-22:

19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20 But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind…

God’s part in renewing our mind:

Colossians 3:10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

The Lord has set the renewal in motion!

Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

Again, the renewal he has set in motion is done by the Holy Spirit.

Condemnation is part of the old man that we were delivered from in Christ. Laying aside the old man and its thinking is simply what we have to do. We must be aware that many of our battles are won through the help of the Holy Spirit, and through believing God’s word. The main point I am sticking to is that through a born again relationship, our following the Lord by faith, repentance, and forgiveness, we close the door on positional condemnation. We receive righteousness from God through faith in Christ, and this is what God’s forgiveness supplies us with in a positional sense. Now, because of what the Holy Spirit does in renewing our minds we make progress in our security and intimacy with God and stand firm in faith against the lies and fiery darts shot at us from our enemy the devil.

Keep growing in the Word! LG

Prayer of Dependence on God-2

Author: Lisa Groen

The title of the song is a good one to follow to draw close to God-“Come ye Christians poor and needy”. With that posture let us look to the Lord in prayer:

Dear Lord, we your people live in a world of many seductive pulls and glitter. You alone know the reasons you have created us. You sent Jesus into the world to rescue us from the sin that would try to feed us. May we turn from the many shiny and sparkly attractions of this world to see you. May we have ears to hear you as we look up to you. May we magnify you and abide with you. Lord we must hear your voice above the attractions of this world, and we must ween ourselves from the abundance of comforts in this world to hear the only one who tells us the truth about everything. May we stay long sitting before you. May we quiet our rebellious flesh as we pursue the opportunity to meet with you. May we turn our heads away from the whining of our appetites and from the growling of our stomachs to gain something far better which is the life from your voice and the life that is in your word and your touch. May we turn our heads away from the pull of the TV and the internet to settle our spirits as needy children in your all wise grandfatherly arms of love. May we strip from ourselves as we discern any layer –even if there may be many –layer after layer of idolatrous habits. May our idols become less and less, not because we do less searching for them but may our self-examination be illuminated by you and not be diminished but let us keep looking through the lense of the gospel at our lives. May we as we keep our eyes on you keep striving to line up this area and that area, and more areas of our lives with the word of God, and our gospel examples. And this is only possible through the gifts of grace which are the basis of our relationship with you. And may our idols become less attractive to us as we begin to see them for what they are and as we strip them away by your help because we are enabled by your vision to do  more searching for you and and less gazing at temporal “answers”. May we put into practice being led by you more habits of self-denial. Our world is full of the gospel of me, mine and more!! May we seek the pure milk of the word and may our taste buds be cleansed from the world by drinking in the pure water of the word. Lord where our taste buds have gotten off track from too many options of flavors of the world, and too many thrilling worldly temptations may we still desire the pure milk of the word for cleansing us and the water of the word to satisfy us.

Jesus, I am impressed with the Israelites and how you brought them through the wilderness eating simply one kind of meal from heaven for 40 years, and that was manna. You are not a God who had a goal of boring your people on purpose with one choice, but I believe you were building the taste buds toward the bread from heaven into the consciences of the people as a simple and holy staple of a plain but pure heavenly food. May we simply recognize the temptations to the Israelites in the wilderness was not prostitutes, heavy drugs, or a life of crime, or drunkenness, –things we consider vulgar or obnoxious sins, but the simple foods of cucumbers, melons, leeks, and onions and garlic. Because of not having these things, they grumbled and fell in the wilderness. (Numbers 11).

They were made to “fast” in this way by you for their good—that you would do good to them in the end, and you wanted them to treasure you, your word, feed upon you, your provision, your love, your care, your shepherding and your baptizing them, even if the food choices were not in abundance for them at that time. You were building them although you stripped away their comforts.

Help us Lord as we apply what we can learn from the Israelites in their times of testing and trial and in their times entering the promised land though it may seem like a long and sort of monotonous and bland journey for us and them both (although their life may have been very much more difficult, and inconvenient and much more harrowing than ours, and for many more years!) Hebrews 4:11 NIV states “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.” (See all of Hebrews 4) May we be strengthened in our fasting and learn directly from scripture the needed disciplines and heed the warnings of weaknesses seen in the Exodus so that we do not follow the same pattern of disobedience and unbelief. And build in us a sweet and tender abiding in You even if we are uncomfortable in the process.

Amen

Keep growing in the Word! LG

How Effective Could Fasting Possibly Be? I Mean, Can’t We Just Pray and See Results?

Author: Lisa Groen

It is my aim that today’s devotional will be motivational and show us the difference fasting can make for the believer, based on the first instance of fasting in the Bible that I came across after looking at a few different translations.

It begins in Judges 20:4 where a Levite tells of the death of his concubine, and later in the chapter Israel fasts and finds victory, but they have a slow and painful start until they add the corporate fasting.

Judges 20:4 And the Levite, the husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge. He tells how some men from Benjamin had raped her all night and murdered her and how evil it was that this happened. (And strangely the Levite doesn’t take responsibility for not protecting her… but that point is for another day…)

The response of “Israel” is to “go up against Benjamin”.

Problem #1 was even though they had unity as stated in verse 11, (So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man) They were overpowered by Benjamin and had a lot of loss of life of 22,000 Israelite soldiers. They prayed again to God for what to do….and encountered another problem

Problem #2 was even though they sought the Lord and got an answer from the Lord to “fight them” they were still overpowered by Benjamin and had more loss of life–18,000 more Israelite soldiers died.

Then in verse 26 they add the fasting solution: 26 Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. 27 And the children of Israel enquired of the Lord, (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, 28 And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days,) saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And the Lord said, Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver them into thine hand.

When we read from verses 29-48, we can see the Lord providing his people the strength and fighting power and overcoming ability to overtake their enemy and to deal out justice against wayward Benjamin for the horrible acts of rape and death that several of the men from Benjamin did against the innocent concubine.

This chapter is a clear picture of the power fasting gives in following out the command of God to fight the good fight of faith. For Israel to do nothing in response to finding out about what happened to the Levite’s concubine, would have been another atrocity and deep injustice because of the sin, but also the people of God, when united, when having the arc of God in their presence, and when having the go-ahead Twice from God to fight the enemy, should have been able to win! But they were wounded in battle, and had a lot of loss of life and the ONE solution that worked in their favor was to FAST.

Now, I know the Old Testament is not an exact parallel to the New, but Jesus never tells us in the New Testament that fasting is UNNECESSRY, but does the opposite, when he says “This kind only goes out with prayer and fasting…” So, based on our Old Testament example, we must consider the cost of not fasting (40,000 unnecessary deaths) and the rewards for fasting as seen here, and logically count it as well worth doing …

It is very probable that this story in the OT represents some of the battles in the NT that need to be fought with heavenly power and WILL require fasting in order to win. And some battles may possibly need a whole army to fight an injustice against maybe one single person when that person represents Christendom today. May we be people dedicated to being available for God to use to fight with victory and be ready to fast and pray when circumstances call for it that His message will travel like an army spreading righteousness across the land.

Amen!

Lord may we fast at your leading!

Keep growing in the Word! LG