for some things, it’s not hard to figure out what God’s will is. We only have to look at Jesus and what He did.
in John 14 Jesus says:
he that hath seen me hath seen the Father
and
the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
so if we see Jesus doing something, that sort of thing is what God’s will is.
my old church sends out prayer requests via email. mostly for people sick or in the hospital with injuries. i’d be sitting at home and when I got one of those emails, most of the time i would pray for that person whether i knew them or not. i would say something to the effect of “Lord I pray that you would be with this person and that they would be healed and made well” but then i would feel like i needed to tag on at the end “if it’s your will.”
and you know, i started to feel like it was actually useless to be praying for that person. because if it was God’s will, then it would happen, and if it wasn’t, then they wouldn’t get better and what difference did my prayer make in the situation?
for one thing, God’s will can’t be manifested unless there’s some one here on earth that He can work through, and we are supposed to pray in any situation, but that’s another topic. what would have helped me during those prayers though was knowing God’s will for the circumstance.
so back to looking at Jesus to see God’s will. let’s take a look specifically at healing.
Jesus healed a lot of people. in fact, Jesus healed everyone that came to him. if you read through the Gospels, never once did He turn somebody away who came to him or say “it’s not the Father’s will that you be healed.” and sin was never a cause for not receiving healing. Jesus healed first, and after that said “go and sin no more.”
so, if Jesus’ action = God’s will, then we know that it is God’s will to heal those that come to him for that. Jesus didn’t scour the cities searching for all the sick to heal, but he never turned away those that did come. Also an important thing to point out is that Jesus often would ask “what would you have me do for you?” It may have been obvious that the two blind men in Matthew 20:30 were indeed blind, but instead of just giving them their sight Jesus asked them what they wanted.
i know i used to be confused about God’s will and my part in it. but it’s really helped to know i can go to the bible and see what Jesus did in situations that might be similar to what i’m encountering.
here’s a verse i came across and found interesting
I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
here’s a great example of how Christianity and interaction with God should be viewed from the point of family. Just like we see our dad’s doing things and we learn from them, Jesus acted because He knew what God would do.
Religion is rules. Religion is “if you want God to bless you, you must do things this way.” Religion has confused and oppressed and misled people for a long time. Good intentioned, God-loving people perpetuate this because it’s what they’ve always been taught.
If you’re on a ship traveling across the ocean, and you happen to turn one degree off course without realizing it, it’s not that big of a deal at first. But once you’ve traveled 1000 miles, you’re going to end up a long way from where you thought you were going. All it takes for Satan to throw us way off course is to get us pointed just a little bit off course. Just get us to believe a little bit of false doctrine. The only defense is to know God’s will.
So read your bible. end.
“your intellect is no safeguard against deception”
i’ve heard Gary Carpenter say that a few times now, and i think it’s absolutely true.
just because you’re smart doesn’t mean you can’t be tricked, deceived, or lied to, especially by the father of lies.
this is why there are so many well educated, PHD-holding, and respected pastors, bible interpreters, and the like who don’t agree on what the Bible is saying. their brains can’t keep them from misconceptions. all their studying of greek and hebrew and other Bible literature is no guarantee they’re getting it right when they decide on what the Bible means.
i think a large part of this comes from trying to fit what the Bible says into the way life is today. i don’t mean to say that they aren’t taking historical context into consideration, because i’m sure that they are. i mean that they are looking at the state of circumstances today(standing on them) , then looking at the Bible and saying “well, that must have changed since back then” (and i’m more specifically referring to the new testament, post resurrection when we Christians have become new creatures). instead, we should all look to the Bible first, standing on the Word, then look out at our world today and see that things are supposed to be different.
i’m talking about healing. miracles. demons cast out. the lame getting up and walking. the dead being raised back up (not to start any sort of zombie army, just saying). things that Jesus did and His followers have done since He came and went. I haven’t read anywhere in the Bible that God’s children (us) will do miracles among men for a while and then that will be it. no more miracles. God intended us to walk in power. More importantly in love, but also in power. Paul said to the church in Corinth:
1 Corinthians 2:4
My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.
can you think of anyone who you would want to minister to with the same strategy that Paul had? can you think of anyone that you never get anywhere with through words? that no matter how much you present God’s truth and his love and any other proof of God that you can come up with, they won’t believe? how about a demonstration of God’s power… think that might change some minds? (and i admit, it probably won’t change every mind. but when you’ve got someone that says “my god is greatest among gods” and you say “ok, bring me your sick mother (the Holy Spirit told you that their mother was sick) and you pray to your God and I’ll pray to my God (Elijah style) and we’ll see which God has the power to heal her. When you pray and she is made well, that is an effective testament to the Lord our God.)
also in Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, he is telling them that he wishes to come inspect them because of what he’s heard about them. they are a pretty prideful people in that church, with puffed up talk and all. but Paul says he is coming to inspect their power…
1 Corinthians 4:20
For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
this power in God wasn’t just meant for the early church. the Bible doesn’t say the power will leave after a time. Jesus said that we, his disciples, would do the same things He had been doing. and greater things! (John 14:12)
how do we get to the place where God can show His power in us? we need to have the faith that He will. how about starting with what Paul wrote about Abraham:
Romans 4:20
Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.\
this faith doesn’t say “well i guess God will do it eventually in me then if that’s what he promised…” no, it’s about being “fully persuaded” that God can and wants to do this in you and through you. lukewarm faith will get you nowhere.
i look at the Bible, with God’s promises to us and about us and the things his disciples did in the early church, and then I look at Christianity at large today, and i conclude that we must be doing something wrong. and i’m pretty certain that it’s because we are living under the teaching of men whose intellect is no safeguard against deception. if they who are so smart can be deceived, then how much easier is it for others to believe the wrong things, especially if they are taught by those smart men?
what’s wrong is we’ve gotten out of contact with our real teacher, the Holy Spirit. John writes about it like this:
1 John 2:26-27
I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.
He’s talking about the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, who Jesus talked about in John 14:25. We need to be in contact with Him the way we were meant to be. Jesus didn’t leave saying “it’s better for you that i leave” and intend for it to be hard for us to be taught. He meant it would be better because they would have a teacher with them everywhere instead of having to be in the same physical location as Jesus. we’ve lost touch with that teacher over the years. The Holy Spirit is the one who teaches us about God’s will and plan and how to release His power in our lives and others. We should be taught by Him and if we are taught by men, they better be learning from Him too.
It’s about Good ideas vs. God ideas. Tell me which of these two thoughts is more like a God idea:
Say you have a heart for and eager desire to help disabled or blind people. You also happen to be a dog person.
Idea 1: Train dogs to assist people and give them a better quality of life with their companion. We all get warm fuzzies and they are grateful. While showing them how to work with their dog you talk about God with them. 3 out of 10 people believe and come to Christ.
Idea 2: Heal them. Tell them about God and his love for them. That Jesus died and suffered every affliction and result of sin so that we can be healed and saved and reign with Him forever in Heaven. 10 out of 10 people believe. (maybe 9 out of 10, people can be really stubborn).
One of them is your idea. and it’s a really good one by human standards. one of them is God’s idea, and it goes beyond your own ability and absolutely is God moving through you. which is better?
i desperately want to talk about this with my friends. i want to know what they think. does this ring true? does it sound too radical? (i’ve got more radical to come, just you wait.) i believe wholeheartedly that this is true.
i liken myself to John. he was known as Son of Thunder back in the day, and then he became known as the Apostle of Love. i know that i’m a little bit too thunderous when delivering this message, especially when defending this message. i need to do it more in love, because that’s what God’s message really is. He wants to talk with us (really, talk. converse. guide. instruct) more than we want it. He is our father. Doesn’t a father want to give his advice to his children more than they want to hear it?
We’ve lost the way to talk with our teacher. and at some point i’d like to write about how i believe we go about getting that back. it’s something i’d love to talk about more.
lately i’ve been learning some really wonderful things about the Bible.
it’s beautiful how throughout different books of the Bible, there’s the same threads of thought and meaning woven throughout. i find it fascinating to see how passages in totally different areas are connected or explain the same thing.
for instance:
in the garden of Eden, after Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and before they were sent out of the garden, God made clothes from them out of animal skin. God sacrificed an animal to cover them. This is a parallel to what God would do with Jesus years later, make a sacrifice that covers us. Cool yeah?
I think so,
so you know how we are now the temple of God right?
1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
but did you know how closely our being mirrors the temple of old?
in the temple there were three main areas. the outer court, the inner court, and the holy of holies.
this is a reflection of the three parts of our being, the flesh, the soul, and the spirit.
our flesh is the outer court, where we interact with the rest of the world.
our soul is our mind, our thoughts and decisions. it’s more subdued from the outer world.
our spirit is the holy of holies. it’s where God resides. it’s where we communicate with Him. but unlike the temple holy of holies, we can go there any time we want. we can talk to God at any time.
and what about the temple curtain tearing when Jesus died? when Jesus died, he died so we could have a reborn spirit. so we could be a new creation. before Jesus came, our spirit, our nature, was carnal and sinful. if we followed it we would destroy ourselves and others. we had to use our soul, our reasoning, to make conscious decisions to not follow our urges in all situations. we had to keep that spirit separate. but now that we have a new, reborn, pure, God-birthed spirit, we can let that influence come back in and mingle with the rest of our being. we need to retrain ourselves to follow not our head, but our Spirit, which is in communion with God.
Hebrews 11:1
1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
faith is the essence, the material, the matter, the concrete stuff, that makes up what we hope for. it’s the building blocks that produce our hoped-for things.
but the important thing to note is that hope is a necessary part of this process. if you pray without a hope that your prayer will be answered, then faith has nothing to make happen.
you need to get your hopes up. you can’t be defeatist and negative about it. praying and asking requires believing.
Last time I talked about Sons vs Sharecroppers, which is really a parallel of Christianity vs Religion.
To understand God, and be able to judge what is true about him, you need to understand that Christianity is a family, not a set of do’s and don’ts (religion). When you were born again, you were born into God’s family, given a new spirit from Christ. There are rules in a family, yes, but following those rules isn’t how you stay in the family. You’re part of the family simply because you’re part of the family. You’re kin. You’re blood. You can’t change it, nor can anybody else.
Do you know why God wants to provide for us and our needs? Just because. Because we’re his sons and daughters, and because that’s what a loving father does for his children.
we have a rich daddy. a king. and we are the princes and princesses, heirs to our father’s fortune. see here, Romans 8:14-17:
14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
and Galations 3:28-29
28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
29And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
exciting right!? now you may be thinking, “that’s all well and good, but i’m not seeing any of this inheritance, and i certainly don’t live the life of a prince or princess. have you seen my house/car/job/clothes/bank account?”
firstly, shame on you for thinking the way things appear to be is how they are supposed to be or really are in truth. God’s word is Truth and trumps all facts as they seem to be. What God says is true because God cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18). so there’s gotta be a reason for this situation, and we can safely assume that God is not the one doing things incorrectly.
Galations 4:1-7
1What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. 4But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 6Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba,[a] Father.” 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
the part to take note of is in the beginning. the KJV puts it this way:
Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
we are still children! we have to grow up to receive our inheritance. it belongs to us, but we can’t handle it yet. God has finances and wisdom and power and more, all for us, but we are still babies. we cry and make messes. God still loves us, but we aren’t mature enough to really love each other. meaning no strife, gossip, grudges to or towards any person. do you want to know what a fully mature son of God looks like? It’s Jesus.
that’s what we’re working towards. maturing to be like Christ. and that maturity comes through feeding yourselves the right things. you are a seed, a little mustard seed, so small yet capable or growing so large. everything you surround yourself with is food and water for the seed. you absorb it all in. this is why it’s important to read your Bible. to pray. to worship. to speak good things. to speak true things. it’s why you need to be aware of what influences you.
God loves you regardless. If you’re born again, you’re in the family and there’s no getting out. Don’t ever be afraid of losing your salvation. If you couldn’t receive it through works of any kind, do you think you could lose it because of any works or lack of? Give the blood of Jesus a little more credit. it’s stronger than that.
being a child may be a barrier to receiving your inheritance, but it does not interfere with God providing for your needs like He promised. for that kind of provision you need only to step up to the Father’s table, in faith, and say “please pass the daily bread.”
This part really boils down to Religion versus what being a Christian is really about - family.
If you can understand what God is like and just how much he loves us, you’ll be in much better shape to understand his will and intent for our lives.
I’m going to paraphrase a story from Gary Carpenter that he told as an example of our relationship with God. (it’s part of a really great series of teachings on being a steward for God, you can find it Here under the “Stewarding the Pound” heading.
Gary’s grandfather owned a family farm with his sons and daughters working on it. there were many different jobs to do on the farm, but each of them was vitally important to the operation of the farm as a whole. each morning the family would eat breakfast together and grandfather would give out his instructions for the days work. each son or daughter would receive instructions based on their qualifications for the work. the oldest son would be operating the bigger farm equipment; tractors, combines and other things that required training and a good deal of responsibility. the youngest son might be tasked with greasing the wheels and gears of the equipment, which is a small job but absolutely necessary to prevent the machines from seizing up and breaking down. some children would be tilling the fields while others planted or tended to the animals. there was a lot of work to be done and each person had to do their part.
everybody worked hard for grandfather. while mostly the sons were working outside, the daughters were helping their mother. everyone had been working up a good appetite and dinner was a great family time. even before the dinner bell rang they could smell the country cooking coming form inside the house. they had real country food that came from their own farm. fried chicken, steak, mashed potatoes covered in country gravy, corn on the cob with real butter. definitely something to look forward to during the day.
now imagine this scenario. as the family gathers around the table for dinner, grandfather takes some time to review the work accomplished that day. he turns to one son and says “son, how many acres did you sow today?” the son replies “4 acres.” grandpa says “ok, here are two chicken wings, some potatoes with gravy, and milk.”
then he turns to the next son and asks “how many acres did you sow?” and the son replied “well, i only managed to get half an acre done today.” and grandfather says “for you, water and a cold biscuit.”
does that seem even remotely likely? grandfather is not an evil man, he loves his sons. he doesn’t feed them based on how much they did that day. they eat their fill from grandfather’s table just because their sons. if they want another chicken wing, they only have to ask “could you please pass another chicken wing.” now if one son is repeatedly not getting his work done each day, then grandfather is going to have to have a talk with him, maybe a stern one, but he’s not going to starve the kid.
now here’s an important point. all the while those sons are out working in the field, they have no confusion about who the field belongs to. it belongs to their father. and when the harvest comes, that belongs to their father. all of the sons needs will be supplied for, but they are working for their father and the fruits of their labor belong to him. and after the harvest comes and the season is over, grandfather will take into account the work the sons have done for him and how much they’ve grown or matured, and he will hand out promotions. the younger son that had been greasing the wheels might now be deemed capable of running the machine he had been assigned to take care of. the eldest son might start learning the business side of farm in order to oversee it better and become less involved in the field work.
but what if during the sowing season one of the sons sectioned off some of the grandfather’s land for his own and started working in only that plot. grandfather is going to think that’s a little strange but he’ll let it go for his son. and when the harvest comes, the son takes everything from his sectioned off plot and goes to market himself to sell it and make a profit. at this point grandfather is not going to be very pleased with the son. when it comes promotion time, it’s plain to see that this son will receive nothing more from his father. he’s using the fathers supplies and equipment for his own selfish benefit.
now lets say a family comes through town and sees grandfather’s farm and his large amount of land. the family needs work to support themselves, so they approach grandfather and ask if he will allow them to work some of his land for them and use his equipment, but be allowed to keep some of the harvest to take care of their own family. grandfather is a kind man and agrees to let the family become sharecroppers. they do good work on their part of the land and take good care of the equipment that’s loaned to them, but when that dinner bell rings they do not come into the house to eat. they aren’t sons and daughters, they are sharecroppers. grandfather doesn’t provide for their needs, they provide for themselves using his land and supplies. when the harvest comes, the sharecroppers give grandfather a portion of it from their land (a tithe, if you will) but they will not receive any kind of promotion. they have what they have and if they want more they are going to need to use their profit wisely to perhaps buy some land and supplies of their own.
a son and a sharecropper are two very different roles. they do the same work with the same goal in mind, a harvest. but the sons need not worry about their provision and needs, they have only to ask to receive. the sharecropper must provide for himself while also working to give a portion back to the grandfather. he will never rise above his station unless he accomplishes it on his own effort. a son has only to grow, mature, and do what his father asks to receive his promotion.
in our Christian lives, a son or a sharecropper is a mentality. do we work for our Father and trust He will provide for our needs as well as blessing us with more for our faithful following of instructions, or do we work for ourselves and give some of what we’ve accomplished to Him?
let me assure you, one way is better than the other.
-part b to come.
Luke 18: 1-8
“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: ‘In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!”
And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?’”
in summary, a woman brings her case before an unjust judge repeatedly and only because he was getting tired of her did he give in, not because he wanted what was right.
here’s the key to this passage: the unjust judge is your soul.
the reason Jesus told them this parable is stated clearly at the beginning, to show them that they should pray and not give up. this is not for God’s benefit. He is not hard of hearing nor does he have a poor memory, so the praying without giving up must be to help us.
God is already convinced that He wants to bless us with good things, but I don’t think that we often are. If we down believe it enough and have enough faith, then we often don’t get results from our prayer. This is why we need to pray and not give up. We need to convince ourselves, our souls/minds that God really does desire to provide for us and give us justice against all the evil that satan throws our way.
So how do you go about doing the convincing and wearing your soul out enough to where it gives up and lets you really faithfully believe? Well, what do you do when going before a judge? You prepare a case.
What makes your soul unjust is that it will accept evidence from any source, no matter how reliable that source may be. If you’re praying for some financial help from God right now, and your soul is judge over the situation, he’s going to take in many things to make his ruling. your soul is going to accept circumstances and put them on equal ground with evidence from scripture. You’re going to pray “Lord, I know you are God and nothing is impossible to you and that you love me, so I’m just praying that somehow I would get enough money to feed myself and pay the rent this month.” and that’s great. but your soul is going to look at your bank account and say, “well, doesn’t look like the Lord is providing very well for you. i don’t think we’ve got any money coming our way.” and so you are unconvinced.
so we need more evidence in favor of God’s promises to us. how about verses like these:
Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you … for everyone who asks, receives.”
Matthew 21:22 “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Psalms 34:10 The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.”
2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.”
Phillipians 4:19 “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
I’d say Gods words mean a lot more than a bank statement, or your checkbook, or even the contents of your wallet or purse. Maybe it would help to memorize these verses and say them to yourself every time something comes up that tries to tell you that you are lacking. You need to bring your evidence and your case against your soul time and time again until it gives up and gives you justice. until it lets you live like you really are a son or daughter of the most high God, and you share a limitless inheritance with your brother Jesus. because you are an heir.
and another thing. when you pray, it might help you to treat God like he’s real. If you ask him for something you need, he will hear you and he will remember. Jesus says that you’ll receive what you ask for, so after asking for it, just thank God that it’s on the way to you. pray using those verses as evidence and thank God that he heard you and is providing for you.
also, evaluating your motives for asking for something is important too. God’s not gonna smite the guy that bumped your car in the parking lot (leaving a large dent and no note) just because you ask for it. remember God loves them too.
this one will be shorter, promise. the first part ended up kinda ridiculously long, but i hope you read it all.
so we know a bit more about ourselves now. that we have a body, a soul, and a spirit. lets take a look at who we were, and along with that, how God does work.
once again i encourage you to grab your Bible.
John 1:1-2
”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” skip a few verses to 14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
Just so we’re clear, the Word is Jesus, and he was right there with God in the beginning. Now lets go to the beginning.
Genesis 1:1
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters”
So the Holy Spirit is there over the earth, not doing anything, just waiting. waiting for what?
cont. “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”
The Holy Spirit was waiting for the command from God to act and make whatever universal/molecular/physical changes happen that needed to happen for light to be. You can understand how the three parts of God work here like this:
God the father conceives the thought, the idea of what He wants. The Word, Jesus, the Son, speaks the command. The Holy Spirit accomplishes the work. pretty nifty. Since the Holy Spirit, the Counselor, the Comforter, is the only part of the trinity that is always directly with us (John 16:7 “but I tell you the truth: it is for you good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”) it might be good to take note of how He operates. He acts on the words spoken by God.
This is why God cannot lie. It is something he can’t do, because if he were to speak it, it would become true. If God were to look at the grass of the Earth and say it was orange, then the Holy Spirit would act and all the grass would become orange.
Now let’s see how one man changed many generations by his faith, and how.
Abram was promised something pretty great. to be the father of many nations. Only there was a problem. His wife was unable to have children and had been that way since her youth. It was going to take a miracle, and Abram needed faith to make it happen. Here’s how God got it done.
From Genesis 15:
Abram had no sons to be his heir, just a servant named Eliezer who would inherit everything once Abram died. God told Abram (verse 4) “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” Then God did something important. He gave Abram a visual aid in seeing the promise, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them… So shall your offspring be.” and earlier in Gen 13:16 God had already said “I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.”
So whether by night or day, Abram had something to remind him of God’s promise. The dust of the earth and the stars of the sky. God gave him hope.
Hebrews 11:1(KJV) “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”
it took me a while before this verse sunk in. faith consists of hope. hope is what faith is made of. if you don’t have a hope that something is true or real, how can you have faith in it? God gave Abram hope, to bring faith.
God also did something else with Abram. He changed his name.
Gen 17:5 “No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.” (and of course the name Abraham means “father of many”)
There goes God again saying things are true that don’t look true in the fact of the moment, but because God spoke it, it was true.
Now imagine you’re the newly named Abraham. You’re good farming buddy, Barry, strolls by your land one day as you’re just coming out of your tent in the morning. Barry sees you and greets you with a “Mornin’ Abram.” and then you have to tell him that you’re not going by Abram anymore, that you’re name is now Abraham. Now Barry has known you for a long time, and he knows what that name means, so being the good friend that he is, he takes a look around you. then another glance around and back to you. and he looks again at the open space around you where there are certainly no tents with sons in them, and then back to you. and he stares at you (you’re at least 99 years old by the way(read all chapter 17)). “you sure about that?” he chimes in.
and you have to explain to him that God changed your name and gave you a promise. he also changed your wife Sarai, to Sarah, which means princess. not queen, which would seem more elderly(though Sarah was now 90) but she was to view herself as a youthful, beautiful princess.
so God did some interesting things here.
He gave Abram a visual reminder of God’s promise so he could keep it on his mind. something to look at and hope for so that it would bring faith.
He changed Abram’s and Sarai’s names to reflect the truth He had in store for them. They now needed to speak the truth of God’s promise daily. They were to put God’s word in their own mouth.
more on this next time. it’s taken me too long to write this out and i’d like to keep posts from getting too long.
:)
i would grab your Bible and follow along for this. it’s good for us to see things with our own eyes, and it’s never a bad thing to be in the Word. Since you’re most likely on a computer reading this, you could just open up Bible Gateway in a new tab/window too. i might go back and forth between King James Version and New International Version, and Bible Gateway lets you go between the two on the fly. now hear me out.
have you ever asked God for anything? have you ever been disappointed when what you asked for never came about, even if it was completely unselfish and was without a doubt a good thing? Jesus said in Matthew 7:7-11
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks , the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asked for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
so it’s pretty plain to see that Jesus has said that God will give good gifts to those who ask Him. it’s safe to say then that it’s God’s will to give good gifts, as he is our Father, who happens to be in heaven. so why do we pray and not receive the gifts? i don’t think the problem has to do with God, so it must be us. to learn more about what we might be doing wrong, we’ll need to learn a bit about ourselves.
i’m assuming that you are familiar with the Trinity, God in three persons. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. well, I present to you now something you may have never heard of before, and for remembrance’s sake I’m going to call it “Man in three Persons.” Let’s go to the beginning.
Genesis 1:26
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…’”
us being created in God’s image means more than we just look kinda like He does. i think that just as God is one being, manifested in three persons, we are also one being with three parts to us.
Part 1: Flesh. this is our body. the physical aspects of us. it’s the easiest to see, to judge, to hurt, to die, to understand. we all know we have a body.
Part 2: Soul. our soul is like our consciousness. it consists of our thoughts and emotions, our mind and memories. it’s our reasoning and our intellect.
nothing really groundbreaking there, but the third part is what is normally bundled in with the second.
Part 3: Spirit. just like God is a Spiritual being, we have a spirit in us. our spirit is the part of us (along with the soul) that goes on after our flesh passes away, they are our eternal aspects. Jesus actually talked about this in a story that is different from other parables.
Luke 16:19-31 : the story of the rich man and Lazarus.
I won’t write the whole thing out, just what i need to illustrate my points, but you should read it all for yourself, it’s not long. I’ll provide commentary through it, distinguished by non-italics. The significance of this story is that Jesus uses an actual name; Lazarus. In all the other parables, he uses just a type of person, somebody with a role. This is not just a parable, it’s about an actual person. Jesus is describing an event that took place.
22”The time came when the beggar[Lazarus] died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. [so the flesh is gone in both of these men, it’s out of the picture]In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up[the KJV says “he lift up his eyes.” if the soul is only your consciousness/mind/emotions, then it must be the spirit part of you that has eyes. your spirit has eyes!] and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger [your spirit has tips of fingers!] in water and cool my tongue [and a tongue too!], because i am in agony in this fire.’”
it goes on to say that the rich man asked Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers who were still alive, which shows that the rich man had his memories with him still as well. so if our spirit has eyes, and tips of fingers, and a tongue, i think we can conclude that it also has whole fingers with hands and arms and teeth and a head and all the rest of the things our flesh also has (with some possible exceptions seeing as in Christ there is neither male nor female).
pretty intense stuff. still not convinced our spirit is separate from our mind/soul?
Paul writes about this too. 2 Corinthians 5:17:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
once we are saved, we are a new creation. born again. but what part of every Christian who believes and repents is made new? it’s not our body, which should be obvious. we don’t suddenly grow taller or lose weight or things like that. it can’t be our soul, because we don’t suddenly stop lusting or getting angry or jealous. it’s still our old mind and emotions. it must be our Spirit, our very nature that is born again and made new. let me explain a bit.
i think you’re going to like this. i did when i learned it.
i forgot to mention that part of our spirit is our conscience. we are all born of the flesh, and born with a death nature in us. we are all born selfish. in the history of man, i don’t think any parent ever had to teach their child how to lie. the kids started on their own. nobody had to teach a child how to steal, how to take things they wanted even if it didn’t belong to them. this is our nature, our corrupt conscience.
when we get born again, our nature is changed to one that is heavenly. our spirit is born from above, from God. that’s when he becomes our real Father in Heaven. if we follow our reborn spirit we will live the way God wants us to and come into the Fruits of the Spirit. but you’re probably wondering why it’s not that simple to do. here’s why.
if you had good parents, you were trained for years not to operate by your spirit, your corrupt conscience. if you lied, you were punished. if you stole, you were punished. you began to live by your mind and emotions (soul). you learn that “if i steal that other kid’s toy, i’m going to get spanked. getting spanked hurts more than the fun i get from that other kid’s toy, so i guess i shall not steal.“ (you may have just realized that this sort of guidance by rules(10 commandments) and punishment was how God had to deal with Israel, because with their death nature in them, there was no other way.)
all the laws in society are to protect man from man. if we let our death natures run rampant without consequences, we’d end up with more hitlers.
so we’ve been conditioned to ignore our spirit in favor of our soul. to pursue pleasure and avoid pain(if you hadn’t thought of it yet, this shows that animals can have souls too, but they don’t have an eternal spirit to house their soul in after their flesh dies) but now once our spirit is good and pure, we don’t know how to listen to it anymore because we’ve kept it locked up for so long. our corrupt spirit has been leaking into our soul for so long, that our mind still acts with the selfishness of our old nature. this is why Paul talks about the renewing of your mind in Romans 12:2
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
it’s not our spirit that needs to be renewed, it’s our soul. once we can get our consciousness, our thoughts, and our emotions into the purity of our new spirit, then comes the last part of that verse
12:2 cont.”Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
we need to be taught by our new conscience and spirit how to live the way God wants us to. so if we can fully renew our mind, we can know God’s will. isn’t that exciting!?
i have more to teach on how to help your spirit affect your soul, but i’m not ready to tell it yet. partly because it’s not quite on the topic of Praying and Receiving, and mostly because i feel like it’s too hard for people to accept at first. i want you to see that all the other things i’m saying is true and lines up with God’s Word before i show you about some other things. it can be hard to throw out things we’ve been taught our whole life, even if they are wrong.
more to come in a later installment. i’m sure this was a long enough read for now.
if you liked this, if it rang true, or if it blessed you, please like and reblog so more people can learn from this.
