You Pray For Me and I'll Pray For You

There is a gospel song, I believe, that has the words of this article's title in it. To me, this is just one of the many mysteries of prayer. God hearing everyone at once, as if each were the only individual praying, is beyond my finite comprehension. But when we come to these baffling things concerning prayer, it is good to remember, as Moses said, "The secret things belong to the Lord." One of the great hindrances to answered prayer today in this scientific age, I believe, is taking our prayers into the laboratory instead of the closet. Dissecting your prayers will only leave you with a mess and none the wiser. As the old camp meeting preacher said about salvation, "It's better felt than telt." And so it is with prayer, it is better experienced than explained.

Paul told the Colossians in the first chapter of his letter that he prayed always for them, and in the last chapter he requested they pray for him. And this to many who had not seen his face, or he theirs. Likewise, in his epistle to the newly converted Thessalonian believers, right off the bat, he states that he makes mention of them in his prayers. And again, before closing his correspondence he writes, "Brethren, pray for us." Some might think that this is the greater asking the lesser for their help in prayer. But Paul had no such superior attitude. As far as he was concerned, he was "just one of the boys." In fact, "less than the least of them." I learned a long time ago to ask prayer support from any and all of God's people. Somebody might just get through I chose to leave out! 

James tells those scattered saints of his day, "pray one for another." I like to call it, "The Golden Rule of Prayer." That is, you pray for me like you'd have me pray for you. You know the principle, like Ezekiel said, "I sat where they sat." 

They Just Can't Get It

“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned."

The latter part of I Corinthians chapter two is all about the “Natural Man”. Paul teaches us that no matter how learned, scholarly, brilliant, practical, intelligent, religious, or well-meaning the unregenerate, they cannot understand the things of God. True, he or she may have knowledge by reading the “letter,” but they will never, ever, get the “spirit” of what God is saying.

You could study me in minute detail, interview family and friends, read all my correspondence through the years, yet never know the real me. The apostle tells us the only way one man can completely know another is by having that man’s spirit. And so it is with God. Without His Spirit indwelling you, neither can your eye see, your ear hear, nor can it enter into your heart, the things God has prepared for us, His Elect.

It’s embarrassing how totally ignorant of Spiritual things this pseudo-intellectual world is. Once I ordered a desk plaque with the words “HE CARETH” engraved on it. When I went to pick it up, the manger was furious. After a few choice curse words about the engraver, he apologized to me. “Mr. Careth, I’m so sorry, we’ll have this re-done for you. They forgot to put a period between your initials.” And they laugh at us!

Revelation Twenty Two Twenty

“Surely I come quickly…Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Here we have the last living apostle, writing in the last book of the Bible. In the last chapter and next to the last verse he records for us the last promise and last prayer in the Holy Writ. The promise comes from the lips of our Lord, and the prayer proceeds from the mouth of John the Beloved.

The Second Advent of our Lord is at the very heart of the Christian faith. Apart from His return, His redemptive work remains forever incomplete. His coming again is the only hope for the future of the world. Of all the coming events prophesied, His return will be the most remarkable. Is it any wonder all creation is groaning for this culminating event?

The expectation of the early Church was not death, nor even the hope of Heaven, but rather in His parting words, “I will come again” and, “I will see you again.” This is what filled their hearts and minds! They believed he would come again, literally, personally, physically, and visibly.

Two millenniums ago, on the Isle of Patmos, this is what Jesus promised and old John prayed for. When was the last time you or I prayed for His coming? It goes without saying, if one is not longing and looking for His coming, it’s certain he or she is not praying for it. And if one is not praying for it, be assured, either their theology is wrong, their heart, or both!

The Second Coming of Christ is the medicine our condition needs. 

(C.S. Lewis)

Parental Pain

"...a sword shall pierce through thy own soul..."How agonizing for a parent to stand by and watch as a grown child suffers for his or her sins. In Mary's case, her child was suffering because of others' sins (He had none of His own.) But, in the case of many of our children, it comes as a result of theirs. Nevertheless, this giant, razor-sharp sword pierces through our souls as well. It passes, as it were, through our very soul, slicing the heart until it bleeds so much we feel our very life is being drained from us.

The Bible gives us examples of parents who experienced such piercing pain. What mother or father cannot relate to the prodigal's parent as he patiently, but painfully, waits, watches, and wonders if his wayward child will ever return? And what of the deep agony of David's soul when he cried, "Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!

I realize the picture is not the same as Mary's; but the principle is. Though the comparison of our children to Mary's Child is unthinkable, yet there is some comfort in the story. Just as Mary's faith was grounded in the Word of God, which sustained her, so it can be with us. She was promised that, although her child was set for a fall (for others), yet there would be a rising again. Is there not a promise lying somewhere dormant within the pages of God's Holy Writ just waiting for us to draw from it's strength? Perhaps, one such as: "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.....And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children."

Parental pain for prodigals is forgotten when they are sitting around the table again.

How To Eat Fish

I love fish, just about any kind. That is why, as a young Believer, when I was told by a preacher who was also an avid fisherman how to read my Bible, I understood his homespun metaphor. He said, when reading the scripture and coming to a text I don't understand, it's like eating fish. When you come to a bone, you don't stop, but simply lay the bone aside and keep eating. Through the years, I've found this to be advantageous, in both eating fish and reading my Bible. Their is much more meat, in both cases, than bones.

This can also be applied to secular and religious reading. We can forfeit a lot of knowledge by neglecting writers who do not cross all their "T's," and dot all their "I's," as we would like. Most certainly, it is important to read such books discretionally, but read them we must. That is, unless we choose to spend all our lives presenting a stubborn narrow-minded individual to others. Such people are not difficult to recognize; they wear a bright colored dunce's cap that all can see. They are ignorantly proud of their self-imposed intellectual limitations.         

Many of my readers were, or are, associated with some elitist group that discourages the reading of any literature other than what is produced or approved by them. I like a line in the dedicatory of the 1611 King James Bible which describes this type as  "...self-conceited Brethren, who run their own ways, and give liking unto nothing, but what is framed by themselves, and hammered on their anvil." 

I find great solace in the fact that possibly the greatest Spiritual mind that ever graced this earth, Paul the Apostle, read after the poets of his day, and was familiar with the teachings of science. I would think from this "the books" Paul asked Timothy to bring to him while in prison included both secular and spiritual.   

The Consistency of Inconsistency

The above is the title of a sermon I have. When I first preached it, I was asked how long it took me to prepare it; my answer was, “Twenty-five years.” Christians spend a lifetime trying to be consistent, not realizing God and His Word are consistently inconsistent. To list just a few of these inconsistencies: Don’t kill; Kill; Go not to the Gentiles; Go to the Gentiles; Marry not an harlot; Marry a harlot; No man hath seen God; Moses saw God; [Hezekiah] will die; Thou shalt not die; Build the Temple, don’t build it; “Answer not a fool”; “Answer a fool”; Don’t eat the shew-bread; Eat shew-bread; No human sacrifices; God sacrificed His Son.

An old preacher once said, “Consistency is the virtue of fools." To illustrate this, only a fool who deposits large sums of cash at the local bank travels the same route daily. The more a Believer becomes Christ-like, the more inconsistencies will be seen in his or her life. There are basically three reasons for these irregularities: First, to see if you’re willing to bear His reproach. It was for this (inconsistency), that the world criticized Him. Secondly, to confuse and confound the carnal and ungodly. The Bible is written to the Spiritually minded. And thirdly, to see if we will obey God without understanding or knowing why. Even when it goes against our, so-called, convictions.

Life is paradoxical, full of inconsistencies. Therefore, we need to “roll with the punches,” so to speak. Great peace comes to those who cease to consistently “put all their ducks in a row.” For one thing, being “all things to all men,” does away with a consistent life. Don’t let the world and fleshly brethren intimidate you into their consistency mold. If you do, you’ll miss God’s plan and will for your life. We are not to be the same all the time, situations change, thereby changing the way in which we meet them. At one time, Jesus “looked on them with compassion”; but at another occasion “He looked on them with anger.” He refused to be cast into the world’s mold of consistency! And so should we.

Big Little Prayers

The following story is told by Elisabeth Elliot in her book entitled, "Keep a Quite Heart."

Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing.

Although she was scared to death, she went with her group to a tremendous granite cliff. In spite of her fear, she put on the gear, took hold of the rope, and started up the face of that rock. Well, she got to a ledge where she could take a breather. As she was hanging on there, the safety rope snapped against Brenda's eye and knocked out her contact lens. Well, here she is on a rock ledge, with hundreds of feet below her and hundreds of feet above her. Of course, she looked and looked and looked, hoping it had landed on the ledge, but it just wasn't there. 

Here she was, far from home, her sight now blurry. She was desperate and began to get upset, so she prayed to the Lord to help her to find it.  When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but there was no contact lens to be found. She sat down, despondent, with the rest of the party, waiting for the rest of them to make it up the face of the cliff. She looked out across range after range of mountains, thinking of that Bible verse that says, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth." She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me."

Finally, they walked down the trail to the bottom. At the bottom there was a new party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?" Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across the face of the rock, carrying it. Brenda told me that her father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a picture of an ant lugging that contact lens with the words, "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You." 

At the risk of being accused of being fatalistic, I think it would probably do some of us good to occasionally say, "God, I don't know why you me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy.  But, if you want me to carry it, I will." 

Laughing With God

"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion."

We have all heard the little quip about getting the last laugh. Well this will literally come true in God's case, He will get the final laugh. But it will not be so funny for those He laughs at. All the godless potentates and peoples of this earth will hear this deafening "Ha! Ha! Ha!" coming from the eternal throne of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Because they were against Him and His Christ, He is against them. They wanted to break all His and His Son's restraints in this world, but will now find they will be everlastingly confined in the next. 

This younger generation of professing Christians, who have been bottle-fed on a syrupy pseudo love of God, will not take kindly to this article. There is no place for "sentimental saints"; when the Scriptures go contrary to emotions, the latter must be abandoned. Sentimental susceptibility is a weakness when it is at odds with the Word! It would be advantageous to any who believe in an anything-goes God to ponder what He said to the wise man in reference those who reject Him. "Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh." 

Far too many of God's people, I find, are swallowing what the slick religious shyster's, politicians, and news media feed them, instead of "What saith the Lord." As a result they're influenced by the world instead of the Word. Don't let this world's noise upset you; "But be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long." If you want a good laugh, just imagine a numerous amount of toy soldiers, one-inch high, gathering themselves together, with their play weapons, against their creator. What a hilarious sight Armageddon will be to Almighty God! 

I find nothing cheers my heart like having a good laugh with a friend. God is my friend!    

Secure Insecurities

Honesty about our inner feelings, idiosyncrasies, and short-comings, I find, is one of the best ways of dealing with our inbred insecurities. These are not sins, but faults. And James tells us to, “Confess your fault one to another.” Christian or non-Christian, you will find mature people are generally “generous to a fault.” That is, toward those who do not try to “whitewash” their failings. But I find most folks have a difficult time being tolerant and forgiving with hypocrisy.

Openness and sincerity about one’s flaws are characteristic of a person of great strength, a person strong enough to face their imperfections. Any individual on the receiving end of such confessions, who would abuse and misuse such trust, would be considered “wicked,” in the true Biblical sense of the word. Paul was not afraid for people to see his blemishes. He wanted them to always be conscious of his humanity, “lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me [to be], or [that] he heareth of me.”

Once a person sees and admits to their own frail humanity, it is not difficult to be longsuffering with others in the same ship. It is the pseudo superman or woman who is intolerant with the poor and needy in spirit. This type denigrate the others’ humanness. But as C.S. Lewis says, “God knows what a wretched machine you are trying to drive.” It is well to remember that when others do not accept or understand our fragile conditions, Christ does. That is one reason He came. He walked in our shoes; He grew tired, was thirsty, and felt pain.

Jeremiah said, “I sat where they sat.” That’s a good place to sit!

Street People

Jesus said, “In my father’s house are many mansions.” He went on to say, “…if it were not so, I would have told you.” Not “rooms,” nor “dwelling places,” but “mansions.” If not, He would have told us. The “Word” never had a problem with expressing Himself with words.

You’re not going to impress “Street People” by offering to put them up in a room somewhere, or by allotting them some small space to dwell in; that would be appalling. But to present to them a “mansion,” well, you must admit, that’s appealing.

I cannot believe the one who created this world, along with the sun, moon, and all the stars and galaxies, has only the proposition of a room to entice the down-and-outer with! A worldly philanthropist does better than that. If you’re thinking I’m “making much ado about nothing,” you don’t know very much about the poor of this world, or the Creator.

Personally, I like my translation (K.J.V. 1611). I believe it has more to offer than the others do. Of course, that’s just my own opinion. On the other hand, I think “Street People” might also agree with me.

The Oldest Trick in the Book

“Ye shall be as gods.” Here we see from the very beginning, Satan’s subtle way of getting man’s undivided attention. Dirt becoming Divine was very persuasive then, and still is today. The rallying cry of all those who fall for, and swallow, this ancient trick is, “Glory to man in the highest.”

But this godless humanism has now evolved from “Ye shall be as gods,” to “Ye are gods.” It is now taught by these sons of Satan that all are born with a spark of deity in them. The Biblical teaching that every man and woman is birthed totally depraved is loathsome and unacceptable to their degenerate way of thinking.

This New Age teaching is not new at all; it is as old as the Bible itself. You might say, “It’s the oldest trick in the Book.” And as P.T. Barnum said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

Barefoot at the Bush

"Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, [even] to Horeb. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush [was] not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here [am] I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest [is] holy ground. Ex.3:1-5

Moses’ bush still burns, but it’s only to be found in the lonely, barren, wilderness. Scrub bushes do not generally grow in the environment many of us are accustomed to. Like most valued things in life, you can’t find the right thing in the wrong place. The mass of today’s professing Christians will never have a bush experience, for one of two reasons. First, they detest spending time in the desert; they don’t like the heat. And secondly, if by some strange circumstance they are dragged to a wasteland, they have little or no interest in a common scrub bush, even one with an eternal flame.

Moses had something that has been lost in this present generation: a holy curiosity. Anyone who will take the time to “turn aside to see,” will find God still speaks. The little three lettered word “awe” is found three times in the Bible. All in the book of Psalms. We are no longer awed by a sense God; we use the term flippantly about everything and everyone that is of little or no value. It is difficult to find intelligent inquirers who want to discuss “the bush that burneth with fire.” Second hand religion is in vogue among God’s people. We’re like those of Moses’ day, who said, “Speak thou with us …but let not God speak with us.

Moses never got over his bush experience. Years later, when speaking to Israel, he mentions “Him that dwelt in the bush.” Our God is a “consuming fire.” Get close enough to allow yourself to be turned to ashes. If you will, then He will “give unto [you] beauty for ashes.”

The Truth About Ourselves

Having pastored twenty, out of a fifty-five year ministry, I found many who came to me for advice actually were seeking agreement. It is difficult to tell someone what they need to know, when they want to know something else. It’s tragic but true, the people of Isaiah’s time still exist, “Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.”

In the movie “A Few Good Men,” Jack Nicholson, playing a Marine officer, says to the character played by Tom Cruise’s, “You can’t handle the truth.” I wonder if this could not be said of many of us. The acid test in knowing the truth about oneself is not when we say it of ourselves, but when others say it to us. That sick felling we get inside, and the justifying spirit that so quickly rises up to defend, proves we can’t handle the truth.

At times God chooses “Dumb Donkeys” to speak to us. Some of us, like Baalim, can’t handle it when He does.

Pygmy's and High-Jumping

In the high-jump contest, the horizontal bar the jumper is to clear is generally known as the "high bar." In my opinion, contemporary Christianity has set the high bar so low that a pygmy could step over it with no effort at all. When I started out on my pilgrim journey with Christ over fifty-five years ago, the reason sinners gave for not becoming a Christian was, "I can't live it." Meaning, they believed God had high standards for low-living people.

Today, we no longer hear old-time sermons on subjects such as, "The High Cost of Low Living." The reason to any thinking person is obvious. When something becomes the norm, society and professing Christendom are apt to accept it as the rule; even if the results are ruin. There is a grace that is a disgrace, a love that is lascivious, and those who preach and practice such heresies are 'professors' of the Christian faith, not 'possessors' of the "Pearl of Great Price."

I am appalled at seasoned saints who are taken-in by these 'cotton-candy' Christians. They are elated whenever one of the pseudo-believers, who is usually a loved one or close friend, mentions the name Jesus, Church, Bible, or God; but who continue in their wicked life-style. Without repentance or acknowledgement of their sinfulness, they are accepted back into full fellowship in families and churches by simply, "...sewing a piece of new cloth on an old garment." Which Jesus said makes it worse!

"My backslidden members thirty-years ago would be considered my best, by today's standards." 

(quote by my late pastor friend, Jim Barnes)

Old School Christianity

I had a dear evangelist friend, now with the Lord, who depicted today's Christians as people who think they should always have the "warm fuzzies." Christianity to many today is made up of fun and games, its always, party time with them. To strip these happy-go-lucky campers of their outward glittering lights and tinsel would be unbearable. To have a religion that must be lived a great part of the time in the raw, that is, with no trappings, is unthinkable.

But authentic Christianity is just that, according to the New Testament. I like the way George MacDonald describes a real-honest-to-goodness saint. "That man is perfect in faith who can come to God in the utter dearth of his feelings and desires, without a glow or aspiration, with the weight of low thoughts, failures, neglects, and wandering forgetfulness, and say to Him, "Thou art my refuge." 

In my humble opinion we need to throw out this contemporary "giddy" Christianity for some old school, "gutsy" Christianity!   

Christ Without Clutter

I like to refer to the book of Hebrews as, “The Him Book.” Those early Jewish believers had turned their backs on the Temple, with all its relics and trappings, for Christ and Christ alone. In place of Temple worship, small groups met in homes. This went on for centuries. One of the main things they left behind when leaving the Temple was their religious ritualism.

This simple type of Christianity is always a threat to Micah’s Clan (Judges 18), as well as those who emulate his religion. Some years ago one of “Micah’s ministers” put out a pamphlet against us “Plain Protestants”. It reads;

A religion which has:
No priest, no Holy Mass, or Communion,
No Jesus in the Tabernacle, no Crucifix,
No blessed Virgin, no Mother, no Rosary,
No Saints and no statues of them,
No baptism for your babies,
No visible forgiveness for sinners,
No last Sacraments for the dying,
No prayers for the beloved dead,
No purgatory to ready for heaven,
No blessing in life or in death,
Not a candle, flower, or bell,
No head, no rule, no catechism—­­
But only preaching and singing—only a Bible and a song book.
Such a religion is not, cannot be, the religion of Christ.

What a blessed condemnation! My Primitive Baptist granny, who chewed twist tobacco and smoked a corn-cob pipe, used to go to church carrying only her song book, with her Bible on top of it. As the song goes, “It was good for my Granny, and it’s good enough for me.” That is, the Bible and song book. (smiling)

The Widow and the Rich Man

"A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked."

We are told by Jesus the poor widow woman who gave into the treasury, "...threw in two mites, which make a farthing," (the Greek mite was 1/2 cent; the Roman farthing 1 cent; she put in a penny). Hence our Lord tells us, "...she of her penury (poverty) hath cast in all the living that she had." According to the wise man in our text (and the Rich Fool in Luke), her little penny was better than the rich man's plenty. She put in, we would say today, "Her last cent." 

Jesus doesn't look at what we give, but rather what we have left. The Pharisees gave out of their abundance, but had much left; the Poor Widow gave out of her poverty and had nothing left. The greatest day in a child of God's life is when he or she can come to God and say, "Lord, I truly do not know of anything in my life I have not given you, and humbly say with Christ, 'All mine is Thine.'"

Paul tells the early believers, and us, it is alright to have as long as we're not possessive. He instructs them, " they that buy, [be] as though they possessed not." That is, they could have things as long as the things didn't have them. In our relationship to God, I have found it wise to keep, what I like to refer to as, an "open-handed" relationship. Or as the little saying goes, "LET GO AND LET GOD!"

"You can't lose what you've given to God!"

Looking Past the Cross

"Looking unto Jesus...who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him..."

It is true Jesus never lost sight of the Cross, but just as true is the fact that from our text, He endured it, He didn't endear it. It is dear to us but was distasteful to Him. It was a cup, humanly speaking, He asked the Father to remove from Him. But, thank God, the great word, "nevertheless," was always a part of His prayer vocabulary. 

The Cross was something in God's Will for Him on earth as He journeyed Home. It was one of the unpleasantries of life we all, in a lesser form or fashion, must face as we travel life's pathway on the way to our everlasting abode. The Cross was not His final destination, nor is it ours, but the Father's House!

If we 'consider' Him when faced with our own miniature Gethsemane and Calvary, we'll look past the gruesomeness before us to the glory that awaits us. Remember always those most encouraging words of one who was very much acquainted with suffering, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are
eternal." 

Paul pitted twenty years of suffering against eternal bliss and came to the conclusion the former was, "but for a moment."  

In-Step or Out-of-Step?

A Christian should always be out-of-step with the world, and in-step with God. But sad to say, from my observation, most of God's people today keep in perfect step marching to the world's cadence. Rather than, like Enoch of old, walking with God, they walk, as Paul puts it, "according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air "Amos, the prophet, tells us we will never be in-step with the Lord until we are in agreement with Him. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"

We are told one of the twelve tribes of Israel, "Of Zebulun, such as went forth to battle, expert in war, with all instruments of war, fifty-thousand, which could keep rank: they were not of double heart." The rank and file of Jehovah's warriors march to a different drumbeat than that of the Philistines. If you can stay in step with the enemies of Christ, you're in the wrong army! As the saying goes, "A man, or woman, is known by the company they keep."

I joined the Air Force at seventeen, at the outbreak of the Korean war. During marching times, I was consistently out of step with the rest. When their left foot came down, my right one did. The drill instructor said, "You need to learn the difference between your left and right foot." So he put a two pound rock in my left hand till I knew the difference. Many who are keeping in tempo with this godless world need to pickup a two-pound rock and carry it around until you know better.

Five Keys to Opening the Holy Scriptures

The Fourth Key...The Scriptures Must Be Obeyed

Thus saith the LORD God...Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant"

It is a serious thing indeed to take lightly the obeying of the scriptures. Saul lost a kingdom, the power of the Holy Spirit, and even his life, because he did not take them to heart. All his "spiritual" excuses for not adhering to God's Word did not hold up under Samuel's, "To obey is better." There is no better thing in this world than for a man or woman to obey their Creator and God! In the Bible, we find all of creation obeys God, from the sun and moon to a dumb ass; with one sad exception, mankind. 

The little book of James was written for the purpose of challenging the people of God to be, "Doers of the Word, and not hearers only." He explicitly tells us, it is only the "doers," who are blessed of God. God's promise to obedient doers of His Word is, "Obey my voice (Words), and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God." Accordingly, it would seem, there is no legitimate reason to believe one belongs to the people of God, or that God is their God, who does not obey His revealed Word.

A little boy applying for an adult position in a country store was asked by the proprietor, "And just what can you do son? His answer, "I can do what I'm told, Sir."  

Five Keys to Opening the Holy Scriptures

The Third Key...The Scriptures Must be Opened

"Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures."

  

It is not difficult to know when Christ is opening the scriptures to us. Our testimony will be like that of the disciples, "And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us...while he opened to us the scriptures?" Holy Ann, an old Irish scrub woman, could miraculously read the Bible, but nothing else. Her employer teasingly showed her a newspaper in which the word "Lord," referring to a politician, was found. When shown, she recognized the word, but said, "This 'tis not speakin' of me Lord, for me heart does not burn within me when me reads it." 

Great Bible saints, both in Old and New Testament, were fully aware of this. David, a man after God's own heart, penned, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." And Paul prayed for his converts that God would open the eyes of their understanding. We need to pray the Holy Spirit that he would apply the eyesalve spoken of in Revelation, to our eyes, when reading the scriptures, that we might see. May our request be always that of the blind man, when Jesus asked, "What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight." 

Open my eyes that I may see

Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;

Place in my hands the wonderful key

That shall unclasp and set me free.

Silently now I wait for Thee,

Ready, my God, Thy will to see;

Open my eyes, illumine me,

    Spirit Divine!

  

Five Keys to Opening the Holy Scriptures

The Second Key...The Scriptures Must be Believed

"...when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe."

Just as a stick of dynamite, the Bible lies dormant until the fuse of belief is lit. It is the power of God to everyone that believeth. The preserved Word of God, the A.V. 1611 KJV, consists of 3,566,480 letters. But all of these remain in the 'dead letter' bin until given life by the spirit of belief. It is at this time the explosion occurs: walls fall down flat; lions' mouths are closed; mountains are moved out of their place; violent storms are calmed; fiery trials are quenched; bitter waters are turned into sweet, etc.

But if God is to blow the hinges off the prison gates that hold us captive, there must first be belief in His Word! The writer of Hebrews tells us, speaking of our forefathers, "but the word...did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." Satan's purpose from the beginning was to destroy all belief in the Word of God. The Psalmist plainly tells us we can "limit the Holy One of Israel," by unbelief. We are told of Jesus' ministry, "He could there do no mighty works because of their unbelief." 

My favorite New Testament story is found in John's gospel, chapter four. It illustrates what I've been attempting to get across. 

"There was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death.Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth. Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house."

"Act as though it were, and you'll experience it as it is." - rds

   

Five Keys to Opening the Holy Scriptures

The First Key...The Scriptures Must Be Read

"And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written..."

Familiarity with a subject precedes understanding your subject. It is no wonder then that Jesus challenged the people of His day to follow His example: "Have ye not read what David did; have ye not read in the law; Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning; have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God; And have ye not read this scripture; have ye not read in the book of Moses; Have ye not read so much as this..." 

Jesus was literally saturated with the scriptures, so much so that He is refereed to as, "The Word of God." My wife can attest to the fact that my constant prayer is, "Lord, I want to be 'soaked' in the scriptures." Paul admonishes us to, "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly." I fear many, if not most, professing Christians are paupers when it comes to storing up God's treasure in their "earthen vessels." A sad testimony is this: "I have nothing to set before them."

I'd like to give you, my readers, the same good advice Isaiah gave the people of his day, "Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read." I doubt seriously anyone can be in the Will of God without making much of the Word of God! I want to encourage any and all who have grown weary of the Word, to read David's one-hundredth and nineteenth Psalm. I guarantee, if you're a sincere believer, you will say with darling David when finished, "O, how love I thy law! 

Jesus, Lover of My Soul

In H.A. Ironside's little book on Song of Solomon, he presents a most blessed and precious devotional teaching to this misunderstood book. He shows that the bride's shepherd lover is secretly her king, in disguise. When brought into the royal banqueting hall to be married to the king, with amazement, she finds her lover was her king all the time; they were one in the same. For the Spiritually minded I need not expound or apply this truth any further. Your heart is already leaping, I'm sure.

In my devotional time, when possible, I like to go through a book at one sitting. That way I get a hold on the book's overall teaching; but whats even more important, it gets a hold of me. Recently, as I was listening to this book being read by the golden-voiced Alexander Scourby, I was impressed with one great truth. No matter one's interpretation, there is one overriding fact, above all else. These two lovers could talk of nothing else other than each other; they were hopelessly and helplessly in love. Whenever a friend or acquaintance of one met the other for the first time, I'm sure they said, "So glad to meet you, I've heard so much about you!" 

In Job chapter twenty-six, he describes some of the mighty workings of God and ends by saying, "but how little a portion is heard of him? Some years ago a young church pianist asked what my favorite gospel song was, that he might play it that night during our revival meeting. My answer was, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul." His answer, "O, I don't think I've ever heard that one." Enough said.  

The Prison Break

“Bring my soul out of prison.” There were stocks, chains, iron bars and gates, along with the guards. But God delivered His saints from their prisons. To name just a few: Joseph, Jeremiah, Peter, and Paul. But there is something worse than being held physically in prison, and that is for the soul to be imprisoned.

Thank God, David tells us the Lord can deliver us spiritually as well as physically. Many of us are held in the prison house of despair. We are confined to a cell that is dark and suffocating. There is no morning light or fresh air. There are no windows or doors for any hope of escape. It holds us with its icy embrace. It’s a castle of gloom—a castle of captivity.

But there is, “good tidings.” We are told Jesus came, “to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” Dear ones, He can open the door of the cage that has held us for so long in captivity. Let us take the wings of faith and fly into the Heavenlies!

Fear not: the key He holds can open any door; it’s the Master Key.

Contented...Right Now?

"But godliness with contentment is great gain."

Our text teaches us it is possible to live a godly life and at the same time be void of a contented life. Peter writes in his second epistle that godliness can have additives. And so Paul tells us that when a Believer adds contentment to his or her godly life, it is a great gain. Contentment has to do with our present circumstances, that is, whatever surrounds us at any given time. It does not primarily have to do with the past or future. The question to continually ask ourselves is, "Am I content right now, at this very moment?"

Contentment doesn't cancel out improvement, which is an ongoing process; but we do need to be content with who we are, where we are, and what we're doing, at any given instance. If we are surrendered to God's will, we need to realize it is He that's been making us who we are, up to this present hour. And it is He who has led us to where we are, at this period of time. Also, what we are doing now in our life, He prepared the work and qualified us for it. I have found over these many years in my own life, when discontented, I can trace the cause back to not being content with God.

"My crown is called contentment; A crown it is, that seldom kings enjoy". ~William Shakespeare