When we live in "humble adoration" of our Lord there is no time to think about self.
Those who love the Lord do not read the word to gain knowledge to appear superior, they read the Word to learn the heart of Christ, that they might please Him.
Our knowledge about the word is not an indicator of our closeness to Christ. Many unsaved scholars who know a lot about the Bible, even having read all the way through, but they do not understand what they have read.
Many pastors in the pulpit today have knowledge about God, even vast knowledge about the stories, the facts and other things, but they do not have His heart. We can judge this by the foolishness that goes on in the churches that grieve the heart of God. They lean on their own understanding deeply committed to notoriety for themselves.
Psalm 51:10
"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Jeremiah 17:9
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"
Jeremiah 17:10
"“I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
Matthew 5:8
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."
Hebrews 4:12
"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."
Proverbs 4:23
"Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life."
Proverbs 3:5-6
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
How Do We Pray
When we pray, there is no special prayer that has more power than another. God looks at the heart, wanting to communicate to us through His Word while we speak to Him, he hears us if we are not walking in sin.
I gave up all canned and rote prayer when I left the Catholic church.
When Christ was showing the apostles "how" to pray, He was not giving them the words to pray nor a formula, He was giving principles that show us the mindset of our prayers.
1 John 5:13-21
"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. ..."
Matthew 6:5-7
"5 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their reward.
…6 But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.…
Matthew 6:9-13
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 ‘Give us this day [a]our daily bread.
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]
The principles of the Lord's Prayer, should be called the Lord's instruction.
Address the Father in our prayer
Praise and honor Him
Ask for HIS will to be done
Present our requests
Ask forgiveness for sin
Ask for strength to resist temptation
Deliver us from evil
Notice one of the things that many Pentecostals leave out, "Your will be done." When someone demands from God their own will, "claiming" they have a right to it, they are acting like spoiled entitled children who are not in submission to Christ.
God's will looks very different from our will often. We have tiny little child like brains compared to God. A child wants what they want the way they want it, God has a greater purpose than our fleshly desires. When we seek the mind of Christ, then we stop demanding things from God and desire to have His mind, even willing to go through hard things for His will to be accomplished.
When we are walking with Christ everyday, our desires become His. When we pray for a need, say a car or other physical possession, we don't pray specifically, we tell God our need and wait to see how He chooses to fulfill it. Perhaps we will have to wait and make do to stretch our faith and resolve to trust Him.
Those who demand things from God through the "claiming" mentality are not trusting God at all. These people go through life expecting to get whatever they want as spoiled children without caring what God wants for them. They are often disappointed, their faith is shallow, they run hot and burn out fast.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
Romans 12:2
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
1 Thessalonians 4:3
"For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;"
Jeremiah 29:11-13
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart."
Notice in Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you."
How silly to think we can tell God what His plan for us should be. We are to seek Him for His plan and praise Him for it!!!
Here is His plan:
Hebrews 13:20-21
"Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."
God does answer physical needs, but they are not His focus as much as our Spiritual growth!
I gave up all canned and rote prayer when I left the Catholic church.
When Christ was showing the apostles "how" to pray, He was not giving them the words to pray nor a formula, He was giving principles that show us the mindset of our prayers.
1 John 5:13-21
"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. ..."
Matthew 6:5-7
"5 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their reward.
…6 But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.…
Matthew 6:9-13
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 ‘Give us this day [a]our daily bread.
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]
The principles of the Lord's Prayer, should be called the Lord's instruction.
Address the Father in our prayer
Praise and honor Him
Ask for HIS will to be done
Present our requests
Ask forgiveness for sin
Ask for strength to resist temptation
Deliver us from evil
Notice one of the things that many Pentecostals leave out, "Your will be done." When someone demands from God their own will, "claiming" they have a right to it, they are acting like spoiled entitled children who are not in submission to Christ.
God's will looks very different from our will often. We have tiny little child like brains compared to God. A child wants what they want the way they want it, God has a greater purpose than our fleshly desires. When we seek the mind of Christ, then we stop demanding things from God and desire to have His mind, even willing to go through hard things for His will to be accomplished.
When we are walking with Christ everyday, our desires become His. When we pray for a need, say a car or other physical possession, we don't pray specifically, we tell God our need and wait to see how He chooses to fulfill it. Perhaps we will have to wait and make do to stretch our faith and resolve to trust Him.
Those who demand things from God through the "claiming" mentality are not trusting God at all. These people go through life expecting to get whatever they want as spoiled children without caring what God wants for them. They are often disappointed, their faith is shallow, they run hot and burn out fast.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
Romans 12:2
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
1 Thessalonians 4:3
"For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;"
Jeremiah 29:11-13
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart."
Notice in Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you."
How silly to think we can tell God what His plan for us should be. We are to seek Him for His plan and praise Him for it!!!
Here is His plan:
Hebrews 13:20-21
"Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."
God does answer physical needs, but they are not His focus as much as our Spiritual growth!
Whom Do We Fear?
One of the ways we can test ourselves to see if we have narcissistic tendencies is to watch our response when we are mildly corrected or challenges about our behavior or attitude. Taking note of what comes out of us when we encounter the challenge will tell us if we have an issue with pride.
If we rage, we have our answer that we may be a narcissist. If we are reasonable and discuss a matter then perhaps we do not have a problem with arrogance, at least not as a continual response to life.
Everyone has displayed a tendency toward arrogance from time to time, however, it is those who walk continually in the stance of pride that need to repent from a lifestyle of self exaltation.
The narcissist who rages will do it every time their perfect view of themselves is threatened. There will never be a reasonable encounter unless the narc is getting everything they want. They value only those who elevate them and devalue everyone who does not hold them in godlike status.
Those who are reasonable and humble do not become unglued when challenged about anything. Those who become enraged or offended to the point of tears, are those who are deeply invested in their own appearance, often relying on others viewing them as special.
When there is a deep need to be considered superior, there is arrogance, sin and an inability to look inwardly for spiritual change. There can be no change in the heart of a narcissist until God brings them to the end of themselves, until they are broken over their sinfulness and God changes them into a new creation.
Another test for ourselves is, are we easily offended over small matters, even when we know we could be wrong. Many people know they are wrong, but cannot bring themselves to admit it while holding grudges against those that have offended them through honesty in calling things what they are to resolve a matter.
Narcissists are not interested in resolving anything, their only aim is to make others submit to their way, even making excuses for themselves when they know they have failed in some area. After which they accuse their target of the very thing the narcissist is doing but the target is not. False accusation is a favored technique of the narcissist. Often a narcissist will actually look for things to be angry about to appear superior.
If we suspect ourselves of being a narcissist on a regular basis there is only one solution, that is to humble ourselves before God, ask forgiveness for being so full of self, then asking Christ to change in us that which dishonors Him.
If a narcissist thinks they can get away with fooling people, they are right, but they will never fool God, He sees everything. Those who think they can fool people are often, if not always, lacking understanding that God sees all that we do and are. They really do not believe or they would fear God more than they fear men.
Acts 5:29 "29 But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging Him on a tree.…"
Proverbs 9:10 "10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
When self is on the throne, God cannot be. Those who are into appearances more than substance, cannot walk in holiness no matter what their outer life appears. Substance is in the heart and is demonstrated on the outside.
When there is a continual pattern of arrogance, there is a strong possibility that the person who is controlled by their emotions does not know Christ.
Philippians 3:10
"that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;"
John 17:3
"This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."
Philippians 3:8
"More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,"
1 John 5:20
"And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal life."
2 Peter 3:18
"but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen."
1 John 2:3
"By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments."
If we rage, we have our answer that we may be a narcissist. If we are reasonable and discuss a matter then perhaps we do not have a problem with arrogance, at least not as a continual response to life.
Everyone has displayed a tendency toward arrogance from time to time, however, it is those who walk continually in the stance of pride that need to repent from a lifestyle of self exaltation.
The narcissist who rages will do it every time their perfect view of themselves is threatened. There will never be a reasonable encounter unless the narc is getting everything they want. They value only those who elevate them and devalue everyone who does not hold them in godlike status.
Those who are reasonable and humble do not become unglued when challenged about anything. Those who become enraged or offended to the point of tears, are those who are deeply invested in their own appearance, often relying on others viewing them as special.
When there is a deep need to be considered superior, there is arrogance, sin and an inability to look inwardly for spiritual change. There can be no change in the heart of a narcissist until God brings them to the end of themselves, until they are broken over their sinfulness and God changes them into a new creation.
Another test for ourselves is, are we easily offended over small matters, even when we know we could be wrong. Many people know they are wrong, but cannot bring themselves to admit it while holding grudges against those that have offended them through honesty in calling things what they are to resolve a matter.
Narcissists are not interested in resolving anything, their only aim is to make others submit to their way, even making excuses for themselves when they know they have failed in some area. After which they accuse their target of the very thing the narcissist is doing but the target is not. False accusation is a favored technique of the narcissist. Often a narcissist will actually look for things to be angry about to appear superior.
If we suspect ourselves of being a narcissist on a regular basis there is only one solution, that is to humble ourselves before God, ask forgiveness for being so full of self, then asking Christ to change in us that which dishonors Him.
If a narcissist thinks they can get away with fooling people, they are right, but they will never fool God, He sees everything. Those who think they can fool people are often, if not always, lacking understanding that God sees all that we do and are. They really do not believe or they would fear God more than they fear men.
Acts 5:29 "29 But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging Him on a tree.…"
Proverbs 9:10 "10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
When self is on the throne, God cannot be. Those who are into appearances more than substance, cannot walk in holiness no matter what their outer life appears. Substance is in the heart and is demonstrated on the outside.
When there is a continual pattern of arrogance, there is a strong possibility that the person who is controlled by their emotions does not know Christ.
Philippians 3:10
"that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;"
John 17:3
"This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."
Philippians 3:8
"More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,"
1 John 5:20
"And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ This is the true God and eternal life."
2 Peter 3:18
"but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen."
1 John 2:3
"By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments."
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