Prayer doesn't work, it's merely words, God works He is a person and cares about those who are His.
When we pray it matters very much who we pray to. If we pray to a false god then the prayer goes into the air and falls to the ground. Many people are praying to false gods or into the air thinking all they have to do is speak something and it comes to them by their sheer willpower. These are useless new age banterings that mean nothing but make the person speaking feel better.
The same attitude is employed with speaking at grave sites to the person in the ground. People think that the dead person can hear them, when they cannot. The practice of speaking to dead people is pagan, having no value at all except to bring good feelings.
When a born again believer speaks to God, beginning with the statement that we are desiring His will, no matter what it is, then we will hear from God. He will say, either yes or no or wait. Whether or not we accept His will, shows us what our faith is really all about.
Are we praying to get what we want from God while caring little if anything about what He wants for us? Or, are we praying to God to bring our requests and including our desire to be in His will, even if it means not getting what we want?
1 Thessalonians 5:18 -" In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
1 Thessalonians 4:3 - "For this is the will of God, [even] your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:"
1 John 2:16-17 - For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."
Romans 12:2 -" And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
John 6:38-40 - For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me."
Christ Who is God obeyed the Father's will and He expects us to seek His will too.
Luke 6:46 - And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Romans 12:1 - "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service."
Matthew 28:19 - "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:"
Matthew 7:21-23 -"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
Matthew 6:33 -"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
Repentance does not mean to turn around and go the other way as so many of us used to believe, it means to "change one's mind."
When we realized that Christ does all the work in us, then changing our actions does not save us or help us, it is changing our mind toward sin and toward Christ, desiring to be changed by Christ that is in the heart of someone whom God will change.
When we stop trying to be good of our own effort, is when Christ will begin His work in us. Our futile efforts just lead to the sin of pride. However, confessing to God that we are unable to be good enough, is the first step in humility and submission.
Without humility and submission God will not work in us. He must first remove all pride and self sufficiency from us, then He can do His work in us.
James 4:6 "But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."
James 4:7 "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
I have been encountering, once again, people who love to display pictures of a man depicting Christ. I cannot understand why some people do not get this whole matter of idols.
One person said in disgust of modern Christianity, that we would not know Jesus if He came to our door, while showing a picture of a man who was suppose to represent Christ. It seems reasonable to accept this unless one knows the Word of God. My answer to her was this:
"If a man came to our door claiming to be Christ we would know it was not Him because of the scripture that says this: Luke 17:20-25 "20 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’[a] For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
22 Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’[b] Do not go after them or follow them. 24 For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. 25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation"
It is important to know the word of God. Far too many people are resting their faith on human thinking because they do not know their Bibles, these are the people who will be fooled into following a man or doctrine that is not of God.
The Word of God is our standard for all our thinking, not emotional desires. I shiver when I looked at that photo because I came out of the Catholic church and left behind all the idols, statues, pictures and rituals that permeated that religion. I am finished with anything fleshly. God is Spirit and we must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. If we need something to see we lack faith.
Hebrews 11:1 "11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things NOT seen."
Those who must see a material idol, lack faith and need to go back to the Word to discern what true faith looks like.
John 4:24
"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."
The best way to become close to God is to read His Word, pray frequently and obey what He tells us. We can learn to hear the Holy Spirit, when we walk closely with Him we know when He is speaking, and we can discern when we are thinking fleshly, or Spiritually.
Romans 8:1
"8 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Galatians 5:25
"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."
Matthew 12:39
"39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:"
If we require idols of any kind to help us believe, or to remind us of Christ, then we lack faith. Christ lives in every believer, He is Spirit and we walk in the Spirit, therefore we should have no need for a physical sign, except when we lack the faith that Christ lives in us.
Are we ready to eliminate all idols from our lives in favor of that powerful faith in Christ alone.
John 6:28-29
"28Therefore, they said to Him, "What shall we be doing so that we shall be working the works of God?" 29Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you* be believing [or, trusting] in Him whom that One sent."
Objects have no value in our relationship with Christ or our worship, the are detractors from the work of Christ in our Spirit.
Words do not save us. A desire to be cleansed from our sin by Christ is a show of placing faith in Him. He will only change a person if they want to be changed by Him.
Those who would rather change themselves through their own effort, will only see a humanly temporary change, not the change that Christ can do. God will let us do things our own way, but it will not be lasting because our flesh gets weary from the trying.
Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Psalm 46:10
"“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
If anyone just wants His blessings and the safety He has to offer, then He will not change them into a new creation and they will not have His blessings.
Proverbs 23:6
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
Psalm 51:17
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise."
Do we want Christ? OR Do we just want His stuff?
"8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
10 And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
12 Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?
13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."
Too many people are trying to reach God by their own efforts, some even demanding of Him as though He owes them something, when in fact, we owe Him everything.
Christ is not a puppet to demand things from nor someone to be ignored except when we need Him. He is not there to help us be a better person, He is the one to change us into what He wants us to be, an entirely different creation from what we were before we trusted Him.
To many think their character is their own project for God, this is wrong. God works in us He makes us new, we cannot make ourselves new because it is done from the inside out, a matter of spiritual change. When we are spiritually changed, then our flesh will follow.
Ephesians 2:10
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them."
A very good explanation as to the confusion about the loss of salvation is in the following excerpt from a sermon by John MacAruthur. So many are falling into the trap of works salvation through the belief that we can lose, what God died for us to have, complete salvation through Him alone.
Here is what MacAurthur said:
"The branches that abide in the true Vine represent those who are truly saved.The others are not properly connected to the Vine. You have seen shrubs that have weeds growing in them. The weeds are intertwined with the branches of the shrubs and appear to be part of the same plant, but in reality they are attached to a different root. They are like people who have only a superficial relation to Christ.
Tragically, some people pretend to be Christians but have no real connection to Christ. They might regularly go to church or be involved in a Bible study. They might even talk about having a relationship with Jesus. But they aren't genuine branches in the Vine. Evangelical churches are filled with false branches. Some husbands come to church only because their wives want them to. Some young people come to church to be involved in a youth program, but they are not interested in knowing Christ personally. In fact, many outwardly spiritual people never go beyond mere association with Christians.
Jesus pleads with people who are superficial branches. He says in verse 4, "Abide in Me." He is saying to those who are like Judas, "Be genuine; abide in Me and show that your faith is real; bear fruit and remain on the vine." It is like saying, "You superficial branches: be saved; have a genuine relation to Christ."
Abiding in Christ is a mark of true salvation. Sometimes a person who is active in the church leaves suddenly and never goes back to church again. Or a leader in the church may become apostate. People in the church wonder what happened. The explanation is in 1 John 2:19 "They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us."
If a person's relationship to Christ is genuine, he remains. First John 2:24-25 says, "As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life." Those who abide inherit eternal life.
That is not to say that you can be saved by being steadfast. The point is that if you continue in the faith, you are showing that your connection to Christ is real; if you depart, you demonstrate that it never was."
John MacArthur
Some people have taken their Christianity the way we take a vaccination for a disease. We get a little of the disease placed in us to prevent the disease from becoming full blown. Have we taken a little of the gospel, just enough to know about it and pretend we belong to God but are vaccinated from the effects of it. John MacAruthur makes a very good point when he used this example.
Many people are full of head knowledge, they have tasted the principles of God and His glory by sitting under preaching about Him, even mouthing words at times that are truth and seen God's power but have never become born again.
Those who belong to God and have been changed into a new creation by God are brand new in their spirit and they grow good fruit. Those who claim to be believers but have not been born again, do not grow, they remain stagnant for a time and then they regress in their walk and will at some point walk away, even if only in their hearts while all the time spending time among the gathering of believers, yet they are not one themselves.
Matthew 7:16-18
"16 By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit."
1 John 2:19 "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."
The Lord's Supper is the only celebration God mandated for the Believer.
I do not observe the holidays because they were not ordained of God, there was only one celebration God mandated and that was the Lord's supper. Notice that very few people observe the celebration God ordained, but are much involved in following the man made holidays.
So often we try to please God our own way instead of searching His Book to find how He wants us to please Him.
The "Christian Holidays" are a misnomer since God never told us to celebrate these man made holidays. They were a concoction of the Catholic church and have slopped over into the denominations over the years. Catholics took much of their tradition with them when they left the church. They became born again by faith but didn't want to give up their holidays so they attempted to Christianize paganism.
Notice that the "death, burial and resurrection" are celebrated in the Lord's supper and very few people want this celebration because it involves worship without the trappings. We do not need a separate man made "Easter" celebration, God already told us how to celebrate the resurrection in the Lord's supper. Notice too that the word used to describe that, so called Christian holiday, is a pagan word used to describe the goddess of fertility.
The man made holidays offer selfish things, entertainment, gifts, self glory and revelry. They are all about self.
God's ordained celebration of the Lord's supper is all about Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:23-34
"23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat;[b] this is My body which is broken[c] for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
Examine Yourself
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood[d] of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner[e] eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s[f] body.
30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
33 Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
34 But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come."
