Bless Me Indeed!

Yesterday's post I began with a song.  Let's do that again today.

'Bless me Lord! Bless me Lord!'
You know, that's all I ever hear.
No one aches, no one hurts,
No one even sheds one tear.
But, He cries, He weeps, He bleeds
And He cares for your needs
And you just sit back and keep soakin' it in...

The ground-breaking Christian musician, Keith Green, wrote these words back in the 1970s.  The song, a powerful anthem to the Church, was titled, "Asleep in the Light".  Keith's point is that, when we communicate with God, our usual aim is to get His "blessing" on our lives.  "Oh Genie God, gimme this and this and, oh...especially THIS!"  Everyone wants that, right?  Even those who do not worship and follow Jesus Christ want that!  God's blessing.

Today, I was reminded of a Biblical character who also desired God's blessing, but not for selfish purposes as Keith described in his song.  Let me introduce you to him. His name was Jabez.  The only mention we have of him in scripture is from 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (NKJV).

⁹ Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez,^[a] saying, “Because I bore him in pain.” ¹⁰ And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.

So, we see here that Jabez asked for the Lord's blessing.  In fact, he asked for a heaping helping of blessing!  He asked that God would give him more "territory" (land) and that God's hand would be on him throughout his life. Finally, he asked that God would keep him from the pitfalls of evil so that he would not cause pain to others or bring it on himself.

About that last part: the Hebrew verb is translated as "do grieve" - - so that evil might not "do grieve" or "wreak havoc".  Some translations say "cause pain to me" and others say "cause pain to others".  I believe the actual language indicates both.

Regardless, God granted Jabez his request.

Now, it is clear that Jabez had a relationship with God.  If you have never talked to God or don't have a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ, this is the #1 blessing God is longing to give you. Before you can receive God's additional blessings, it is required that you come to know Jesus as Savior.  This momentous, life-changing decision was the topic of yesterday's post.  But, Jabez was already a follower of the one, true God.  The remainder of my post today, then, is to believers, Christ-followers.

Some would say that Jabez was praying selfishly.  A careful examination of the passage though indicates that he wanted to "be more and do more for God".  He wanted God's hand to be on him.  His desire was to serve the God of his fathers, the Israelites.  His desire was so great and the blessings God gave him so massive that Jabez became clearly distinguished from his many brothers. We see these 2 verses in the middle of a monotonous roll call (a chronicle, if you will) of many dusty, dead Hebrew people.

What application does Jabez's example have for Christians today?  We can learn from him the following:

1.  Your starting point is unimportant.  Look at the four remaining GOP presidential candidates (if you are reading this in "real time").  One was "born with a silver spoon in his mouth": born into great wealth.  The other three were not.  One had a father who was a postman.  The parents of the other two came to this country as immigrants. Yet, all four are running for the highest office in the land.  Who do you think put them in the running?  That's right!  God did.  He is the one who sets kings on their thrones (Daniel 2:21).  So, my point is that Jabez came from humble beginnings.  He was one of several brothers, probably not even the firstborn son.  His mother had such trouble birthing him that she gave him a somewhat derogatory name to commemorate the experience.  "Hello!  I'd like for you to meet my son, Pain!" Jabez was, in the world's eyes, a "nobody."
Names tend to define a person.  Having a name that meant "pain" did not paint a rosy future for Jabez.  Did he let his name limit his future walk with God?  No.

2.  God wants to be asked.  He has, of course, all earthly blessings in His hands, at his disposal.  He wants us to ask Him for them.  Jabez boldly asked and that he was deemed "honorable" because he did!  Jesus said in Luke 12:32 that "it is God's good pleasure to give you the kingdom". That does not mean He will give us anything we ask for.

3.  God wants our hearts to be turned toward Him, in line with His priorities, bonded to His mission for the salvation of mankind.  When we ask with a sincere heart that wants to expand His kingdom, to make a bigger impact for Him, He opens His hand.  Beyond asking God to "enlarge his territory", Jabez didn't get more specific.  By faith, he trusted God to direct and use him as He saw fit.

4.  We must be watchful for and desirous of avoiding the traps and trappings of evil, even as we ask God for His supernatural protection.

I got to experience this recently, actually this morning!  You may think that I'm going to mention the directions this blog has taken, as I referred to that a day or two ago.  But, no.  God has opened another door of opportunity for another avenue of ministry in which I'm privileged to serve.  It was such a miraculous occurrence that it has been obvious it's a work of God and a blessing from Him! How thrilling is that?!

God's blessing is not just for Christians who are "in ministry".  (All of us should be in some sort of ministry; but, that is a whole 'nuther blog post!)  When our hearts are Christ's, He wants to use our everyday endeavors, our jobs, our family life, our hobbies - - - all of it, to bring Him glory!
Christian, if your heart longs to do more for God, ask Him.  God longs to use you to make His name glorious, through all the Earth!

Father, we so often put hindrances on our lives...fear is a big one.  May we learn from Jabez's example and boldly lay our lives at Your feet, for Your glory.  Enlarge my territory today, Lord. Make Your name famous!  Please keep Your hand on me so that evil doesn't wreak havoc in my life to cause pain to me or to others.  In Jesus' name, amen.


Source:

Bruce Wilkinson wrote a short, little book about 16 years ago.   I highly recommend it!

Wilkinson, Bruce. The Prayer of Jabez: Breaking through to the Blessed Life. Sisters, Or.: Multnomah, 2000. Print. 

Evangelists, Activists and Paper Tigers

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday weekend is on the horizon, and mentioning him here today fits with a verse I want to hone in on this morning (Galatians 4:16).  Growing up in the South, I remember not so much of when Dr. King was evangelizing and actively campaigning for social change.  (I was in the single digits of years...) But, I do remember the controversy surrounding making his birthday a national holiday. And, back then in the South, especially, there was a lo-o-o-ot of controversy.

The main reason for this was that Dr. King advocated for social change, and in so doing, made many enemies (including the one who assassinated him).  As he lay dying, he could have mouthed Galatians 4:16 - - -

16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?

Now, not all versions of "social change" are good.  You can argue with me about whether Dr. King's version of the truth was the whole truth or not. That would be a distraction, and not at all the point of my illustration.  The point is that the truth changes people and often makes the truth-teller a target.

This is what was happening in Galatia, concerning Paul.  Paul had started the Galatian church, but found himself (and the truth) being marginalized and fiercely criticized after he moved on to deliver the gospel elsewhere.

I admire Paul and others like them, whose hearts burn with the message they've been given to share. No shrinking violets are they!  Even if I disagree with the content of the message, I admire those who are willing to take a stand and "put it out there".  Paul says a couple of verses later ... (Galatians 4:18 KJV)

It is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing!

Or, as The Message puts it:

It is a good thing to be ardent in doing good.

As far as the gospel is concerned, it is not a good thing to keep quiet about it.  We were commanded by the Master to be bold in sharing it, with everyone (Matthew 28:19-20).  What we often fail to anticipate, though, is the opposition we will face when we do.  Jesus saw that coming, and told us so in John 15:18-19...

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

No surprise, right?  The message of the gospel is antithetical to the ruling philosophies of this world.

The false teachers of Galatians wanted to shut the baby Christians out of the freedom that is God's grace, so that they would always be dependent upon the Judaizers for approval and direction (4:17).
The Galatians were unprepared for the battle, apparently, because look at their response to the law-bringers, the rule-peddlers, the enemies of the truth.  Paul says in 4:8-11 (The Message) ...

Earlier, before you knew God personally, you were enslaved to so-called gods that had nothing of the divine about them. But now that you know the real God—or rather since God knows you—how can you possibly subject yourselves again to those paper tigers? For that is exactly what you do when you are intimidated into scrupulously observing all the traditions, taboos, and superstitions associated with special days and seasons and years. I am afraid that all my hard work among you has gone up in a puff of smoke!

Not an effective battle strategy, I'm afraid, this bowing down to paper tigers, this returning to enslavement.  Yet, it is one that the redeemed of the Lord, Christ-followers, sometimes devolve to, losing ground in the process.  Our spiritual progress is sometimes "two steps forward, and one step back".  We willingly enslave ourselves to forces which have no power over us.  I know I've been guilty.  Old habits die hard.  Often the truth dies on the altar of the comfortable.

In response to the Galatians' veering far off the path, Paul was fearless in proclaiming to them (again) the liberating truth of the gospel.  The character trait of truth-bearers: fearlessness in the face of opposition, courage in delivering an unpopular message.

The same God who told us to "Love one another" (John 13:34) also told us repeatedly to "Fear not" (Luke 12:32, e.g.)  So, I'm not talking about those who just love to be disagreeable.  I'm talking about being fearless in telling the truth, but doing so with love in our hearts.  Soon, we'll be examining the fruits of the Spirit, in the next chapter, in fact.  They are indispensable for all Christ-followers, all of whom are, like it or not, truth-bearers.

Lo! the hosts of evil ’round us,
Scorn Thy Christ, assail His ways.
From the fears that long have bound us,
Free our hearts to faith and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
For the living of these days,
For the living of these days.1
     God of Grace and God of Glory, Henry E. Fosdick, 1930.

Lord, give us wisdom, courage and opportunity to share the gospel.  Empower us with your Sprit and deliver us from our backsliding into the more familiar, unrighteous ways of living.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Source:

http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/g/o/godgrace.htm

The ACTS of Prayer

Good morning!

Yeah, that's a weird title for the post, right?

Many people, both Christian and non-Christian, are intimidated by prayer.  Let's break this down.

First of all, the unbeliever, the non-Christian:
God promises to hear only one prayer from the unbeliever and that prayer is the prayer where the person confesses his/her sin and invites Jesus in as Savior.  At that point, of course, the unbeliever immediately, supernaturally, eternally becomes a believer, a child of God.
Does God hear other prayers from unbelievers?  Yes, of course He does.  Does he answer them by granting the petitions/requests?  Yes, sometimes, He does.  However, He does not promise to do so.

For the Christian, you are His very own beloved.  He not only hears you but he answers you.  It may not be the answer you were expecting.  We'll talk more about that tomorrow.

But, what are the ACTS of prayer?  These letters represent an acronymn which reminds the believer of the key components of prayer.  You will find all of them in The Lord's Prayer, in Matthew 6:9-13.  This was a prayer that The Lord gave to us as a model for us to use; but, there was one of the letters He never had to pray.  Can you guess which letter it is?  :)  Let's see.

The A stands for adoration.  We should spend some time in our day adoring our God, praising Him for who He is, for His various characteristics/attributes such as:  holy, unchangeable, unchanging, all-knowing, ever-present, merciful, loving, just, indescribable, unfathomable!  Our God is amazing!  He loves to be praised!  I believe that God has given us many prayer models for this in the book of Psalms.  Some of the best examples are:  Psalms 100, 103 and 104.  Jesus modeled this in The Lord's Prayer when He prayed:  "hallowed be thy Name" and "for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever!"

The C stands for confession.  We should regularly be examining our heart before God and confessing our shortcomings to Him.  "Why should we do this", you may ask, "when all of our sins are forgiven?"  There are several reasons, which could make an entire blog post.  So, I am not going to go off in that direction this morning.  But, let me give you just one reason, for now.  God calls us to confess our sins to Him on an ongoing basis because doing so acknowledges our dependence and constant need for more of Him.  Although the believer's sins are forgiven - - - past, present and future - - - we cannot achieve our goal of becoming more like Christ on our own.  We still dwell in our mortal bodies for now.  The Apostle Paul was so anguished over his sin that he exclaimed, "O wretched man that I am!  Who shall deliver me from this body of death?"  (Romans 7:24)  Our flesh still wars continually with our redeemed spirit.  We get dirty, spiritually, and need to "get clean"!  Only by confessing our sins to Father and by receiving His assurance of forgiveness can we walk in true freedom, pressing on to become more and more like our Savior.
By the way, did you guess it?  This is the only one that Jesus did not have to pray, because He was perfectly sinless.  However, He modeled it for us when He prayed:  "forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us".  The ancient word "trespass" basically means "wrongs".  We should ask to be forgiven of our "wrongs" as we forgive those who "wrong" us.

The T stands for thanksgiving.  There are also many psalms of thanksgiving (#s 111, 113, 138...), which goes hand-in-hand with adoration.  It just naturally follows.  Also, the apostle Paul is always thanking God for the young churches, to whom he writes his letters.  We must always be mindful to thank God for everything.  Yes, you read that right.  We sometimes forget to thank Him for the "good gifts", but almost never want to praise Him for the not-so-"good" gifts, right?  What does the Scripture say, though?  In  I Thessalonians 5:18, we read that we are to "give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God concerning you."  That really flies in the face of popular wisdom, doesn't it?  The natural tendency of humans is to rail against God when things don't "go our way".  Remember Job's wife?  She unwisely recommended that he go ahead and curse God for his misfortunes and then just die.  This is recorded in Job 2:9-10.  Instead, he told her that she was talking like one of the godless women, and he responded by making a strong statement of his faith in God, thereby maintaining his integrity as a Jehovah-follower.
Even though it does not always seem like it, God brings all things to us for our good AND for His glory!  We, at those difficult times, must trust Him as Job did, because we never know what is going on behind the spiritual scenes.  Our job is not to know all or to understand all; our job is to trust and thank Him in all things.  God IS good, ALL the time.

The S stands for the most "popular" aspect of prayer and that is the big, fancy word "supplication".  (Well, "gimme, gimme, gimme" just did not fit in the acronym!)  Most of the time, when people pray, they are praying out of desperation:  "God, please deliver me from this awful situation!"  They treat God like some big "genie in the sky".  Even some Christians make this the cornerstone of their prayer life, and this does dishonor to our great God!  It is not wrong to ask God for things;  but, it is wrong to limit your prayer life to this aspect.
Now, on a more positive note, Jesus said that "it your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom". (Luke 12:32)  In other words, God wants to give us good things.  And, He wants us to ask Him.  Again, Jesus said, "ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you..."  In another place, He said, "if you ask anything in my name believing, you will receive it"  (Mark 11:24 and similarly Matthew 21:22.)  This is why Christians often close their prayers with "In Jesus' name, Amen".
There is one important thing to remember here, in conjunction with these verses. Jesus gave us the key in the Lord's Prayer when He prayed, "thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven".  The umbrella overarching and undergirding all of our prayers of supplication should be that God's will will be done in any given circumstance, that He will receive the glory and honor in every situation.  This desire should supercede any other earthly desire for which we pray.
Supplication does not mean only asking God's favor for ourselves, but also for others and their needs.
Jesus modeled this in The Lord's Prayer when He prayed:  "Give us this day our daily bread", "and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil".

I hope that this little ACTS tool will help you as you live out this admonition from Paul:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV "

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
Dear Jesus, I praise You today for who You are, although my understanding of you is so grossly imperfect and incomplete.  The fact that You chose to love us poor, lowly people amazes me.  Thank you for your incomprehensible love, made manifest in your redemption of us, The Otherwise Irredeemable..  Thank you for redeeming me, so unworthy.  Thank you for using me and my brothers and sisters to expand Your kingdom, Father!  May Your will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven! O Lord, you know our needs even before we ask, but I ask that You meet our every need today, beginning with our extreme need for "more of You".  Let every word we speak, every move we make today be done as a praise offering to You.  May every thought we think today be brought into conformity with Your will, and may every action we take today glorify You!  I lift up to You today, Lord, all those who are in need of a direct touch from You, whether that be a rescue, a healing, or whatever the need may be.  In particular today, I pray for the persecuted church around the world, but particularly in the Middle East, as they find themselves in the nexus of  jihad.  I also pray for Israel, even at this moment being attacked by rockets, fired from Gaza and other Palestinian-controlled governments.  Supernaturally protect those who are Your own, and call out of blindness and apostasy Your chosen people, Israel.  Teach us to pray, Lord!  Teach us to pray!  
In Jesus' name, Amen.