Verse:
Ephesians 6:18
"... praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit ..."
Lesson:
1. As we continue on in our intercession for others, we may find that our obedience to God in interceding is going to cost those for whom we intercede more than we ever thought.
2. The danger in this is that we begin to intercede in sympathy with those whom God was gradually lifting up to a totally different level in direct answer to our prayers.
3. Whenever we step back from our close identification with God's interest and concern for others and step into having emotional sympathy with them, the vital connection with God is gone. We have then put our sympathy and concern for them in the way, and this is a deliberate rebuke to God.
4. It is impossible for us to have living and vital intercession unless we are perfectly and completely sure of God. And the greatest destroyer of that confident relationship to God, so necessary for intercession, is our own personal sympathy and preconceived bias.
5. Identification with God is the key to intercession, and whenever we stop being identified with Him it is because of our sympathy with others, not because of sin.
6. It is not likely that sin will interfere with our intercessory relationship with God, but sympathy will. It is sympathy with ourselves or with others that makes us say, "I will not allow that thing to happen." And instantly we are out of that vital connection with God.
7. Vital intercession leaves you with neither the time nor the inclination to pray for your own "sad and pitiful self." You do not have to struggle to keep thoughts of yourself out, because they are not even there to be kept out of your thinking. You are completely and entirely identified with God's interests and concerns in other lives.
8. God gives us discernment in the lives of others to call us to intercession for them, never so that we may find fault with them.
Most Meaningful Statement :
It is not likely that sin will interfere with our intercessory relationship with God, but sympathy will.
Thoughts :
1. When we intercede for people, it may cost them dearly because God is going to do a deeper, and often painful, work in their lives. Chances are we will begin to sympathize with them emotionally, which in turn impacts the way we pray for them and related to God. This is not good as it is a rebuke to God.
2. To do intercession means with have no time or inclination to continually look at our oen situation. We become completely identified with God's interest.
Thursday, August 26, 2004
Thursday, August 19, 2004
The Supreme Climb
Verse:
Genesis 22:2
"Take now your son ... and offer him ... as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."
Lesson:
1. A person's character determines how he interprets God's will (see Psalm 18:25-26). Abraham interpreted God's command to mean that he had to kill his son, and he could only leave this traditional belief behind through the pain of a tremendous ordeal. God could purify his faith in no other way.
2. If we obey what God says according to our sincere belief, God will break us from those traditional beliefs that misrepresent Him. There are many such beliefs which must be removed — for example, that God removes a child because his mother loves him too much. That is the devil's lie and a travesty on the true nature of God!
3. If the devil can hinder us from taking the supreme climb and getting rid of our wrong traditional beliefs about God, he will do so. But if we will stay true to God, God will take us through an ordeal that will serve to bring us into a better knowledge of Himself.
4. The great lesson to be learned from Abraham's faith in God is that he was prepared to do anything for God. He was there to obey God, no matter what contrary belief of his might be violated by his obedience.
5. Abraham was not devoted to his own convictions or else he would have slain Isaac and said that the voice of the angel was actually the voice of the devil. That is the attitude of a fanatic.
6. If you will remain true to God, God will lead you directly through every barrier and right into the inner chamber of the knowledge of Himself. But you must always be willing to come to the point of giving up your own convictions and traditional beliefs.
7. Don't ask God to test you. Never declare as Peter did that you are willing to do anything, even "to go ... both to prison and to death" ( Luke 22:33). Abraham did not make any such statement — he simply remained true to God, and God purified his faith.
Most Meaningful Statement :
Abraham .... simply remained true to God, and God purified his faith
Thoughts :
1. We often have some preconceived beliefs about God or about His vision for us. The devil can use this to prevent us from rising up to the next level in knowing God.
2. That is why God needs to take us through an ordeal to break the moulds of our minds (which are shaped by the world's perspectives) and lead us to a greater knowledge of Him.
3. Are we devoted to our convictions? How about our traditions? Our beliefs? Sometimes we can't tell the difference between that and devotion to God.
Genesis 22:2
"Take now your son ... and offer him ... as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."
Lesson:
1. A person's character determines how he interprets God's will (see Psalm 18:25-26). Abraham interpreted God's command to mean that he had to kill his son, and he could only leave this traditional belief behind through the pain of a tremendous ordeal. God could purify his faith in no other way.
2. If we obey what God says according to our sincere belief, God will break us from those traditional beliefs that misrepresent Him. There are many such beliefs which must be removed — for example, that God removes a child because his mother loves him too much. That is the devil's lie and a travesty on the true nature of God!
3. If the devil can hinder us from taking the supreme climb and getting rid of our wrong traditional beliefs about God, he will do so. But if we will stay true to God, God will take us through an ordeal that will serve to bring us into a better knowledge of Himself.
4. The great lesson to be learned from Abraham's faith in God is that he was prepared to do anything for God. He was there to obey God, no matter what contrary belief of his might be violated by his obedience.
5. Abraham was not devoted to his own convictions or else he would have slain Isaac and said that the voice of the angel was actually the voice of the devil. That is the attitude of a fanatic.
6. If you will remain true to God, God will lead you directly through every barrier and right into the inner chamber of the knowledge of Himself. But you must always be willing to come to the point of giving up your own convictions and traditional beliefs.
7. Don't ask God to test you. Never declare as Peter did that you are willing to do anything, even "to go ... both to prison and to death" ( Luke 22:33). Abraham did not make any such statement — he simply remained true to God, and God purified his faith.
Most Meaningful Statement :
Abraham .... simply remained true to God, and God purified his faith
Thoughts :
1. We often have some preconceived beliefs about God or about His vision for us. The devil can use this to prevent us from rising up to the next level in knowing God.
2. That is why God needs to take us through an ordeal to break the moulds of our minds (which are shaped by the world's perspectives) and lead us to a greater knowledge of Him.
3. Are we devoted to our convictions? How about our traditions? Our beliefs? Sometimes we can't tell the difference between that and devotion to God.
Monday, August 16, 2004
Do You Worship the Work?
Verse:
1 Corinthians 3:9
"We are God's fellow workers ..."
Lesson:
1. Beware of any work for God that causes or allows you to avoid concentrating on Him. A great number of Christian workers worship their work.
2. The only concern of Christian workers should be their concentration on God.
3. This will mean that all the other boundaries of life, whether they are mental, moral, or spiritual limits, are completely free with the freedom God gives His child; that is, a worshiping child, not a wayward one.
4. A worker who lacks this serious controlling emphasis of concentration on God is apt to become overly burdened by his work.
5. He is a slave to his own limits, having no freedom of his body, mind, or spirit. Consequently, he becomes burned out and defeated. There is no freedom and no delight in life at all. His nerves, mind, and heart are so overwhelmed that God's blessing cannot rest on him.
6. But the opposite case is equally true — once our concentration is on God, all the limits of our life are free and under the control and mastery of God alone.
7. There is no longer any responsibility on you for the work. The only responsibility you have is to stay in living constant touch with God, and to see that you allow nothing to hinder your cooperation with Him.
8. The freedom that comes after sanctification is the freedom of a child, and the things that used to hold your life down are gone. But be careful to remember that you have been freed for only one thing — to be absolutely devoted to your co-Worker.
9. We have no right to decide where we should be placed, or to have preconceived ideas as to what God is preparing us to do. God engineers everything; and wherever He places us, our one supreme goal should be to pour out our lives in wholehearted devotion to Him in that particular work.
10. "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might ..." (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
Most Meaningful Statement :
The only concern of Christian workers should be their concentration on God.
Thoughts :
1. Sometimes in the midst of serving God, we begin to worship the work and not the Lord of the work. We must beware of any work or even service that prevents us from concentrating on God.
2. Any Christian worker who serves but does not concentrate on God is prone to becoming over burdened, burnt out. If we do this, we become slaves to our own limits. Always overwhelmed and not experiencing God's blessings.
3. Those who have God as their primary focus will be the ones that last.
4. It is interesting that the moment we concentrate on God, all the limits on our life are free. That is because our life now comes under the mastery of God alone.
5. The best thing is that we no longer have any responsibility for the work. The only responsibility we have is to stay in constant touch with God, and to see that nothing hinders our cooperation with Him.
6. Many times we ask God to place us where we would like. We also have preconceived ideas of what God is preparing us to do. Whatever or wherever He wants, He engineers. All we need to do is to pour our lives out in devotion and obedience to Him.
1 Corinthians 3:9
"We are God's fellow workers ..."
Lesson:
1. Beware of any work for God that causes or allows you to avoid concentrating on Him. A great number of Christian workers worship their work.
2. The only concern of Christian workers should be their concentration on God.
3. This will mean that all the other boundaries of life, whether they are mental, moral, or spiritual limits, are completely free with the freedom God gives His child; that is, a worshiping child, not a wayward one.
4. A worker who lacks this serious controlling emphasis of concentration on God is apt to become overly burdened by his work.
5. He is a slave to his own limits, having no freedom of his body, mind, or spirit. Consequently, he becomes burned out and defeated. There is no freedom and no delight in life at all. His nerves, mind, and heart are so overwhelmed that God's blessing cannot rest on him.
6. But the opposite case is equally true — once our concentration is on God, all the limits of our life are free and under the control and mastery of God alone.
7. There is no longer any responsibility on you for the work. The only responsibility you have is to stay in living constant touch with God, and to see that you allow nothing to hinder your cooperation with Him.
8. The freedom that comes after sanctification is the freedom of a child, and the things that used to hold your life down are gone. But be careful to remember that you have been freed for only one thing — to be absolutely devoted to your co-Worker.
9. We have no right to decide where we should be placed, or to have preconceived ideas as to what God is preparing us to do. God engineers everything; and wherever He places us, our one supreme goal should be to pour out our lives in wholehearted devotion to Him in that particular work.
10. "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might ..." (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
Most Meaningful Statement :
The only concern of Christian workers should be their concentration on God.
Thoughts :
1. Sometimes in the midst of serving God, we begin to worship the work and not the Lord of the work. We must beware of any work or even service that prevents us from concentrating on God.
2. Any Christian worker who serves but does not concentrate on God is prone to becoming over burdened, burnt out. If we do this, we become slaves to our own limits. Always overwhelmed and not experiencing God's blessings.
3. Those who have God as their primary focus will be the ones that last.
4. It is interesting that the moment we concentrate on God, all the limits on our life are free. That is because our life now comes under the mastery of God alone.
5. The best thing is that we no longer have any responsibility for the work. The only responsibility we have is to stay in constant touch with God, and to see that nothing hinders our cooperation with Him.
6. Many times we ask God to place us where we would like. We also have preconceived ideas of what God is preparing us to do. Whatever or wherever He wants, He engineers. All we need to do is to pour our lives out in devotion and obedience to Him.
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