To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.(2 Corinthians 12:7-9)
There is speculation about what that "thorn" in Paul's flesh was, but we can agree that the Apostle's problem helped keep him humble. Paul pleaded with the Lord to have it taken away, but the Lord said, "My grace is sufficient for you..." Because the abundant grace we receive from God every single day will always be greater than all of the problems we encounter in our lives.
Self can get in the way of the flow of the grace of God, so the Lord allows problems to come into our lives in order to help keep us humble – to put us on our knees.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Psalm 23 Literary Elements
Imagery: When our imagination is activated by Psalm 23, the green pasture can form a mental image of the peaceful existence of the children of God as they are led by the Lord. The imagery, along with the understanding of Psalm 23, is comforting.
Metaphor: The green pasture represents: the grace of God because it is green, alive and plentiful; the peace of God because the sheep live in harmony – guided and protected by the Shepherd. "The Lord is my shepherd" is a clear metaphor.
Parallelism: Psalm 23 contains much parallelism:
(a) "I will fear no evil, for you are with me"
(b) "your rod and your staff, they comfort me"
Personification: The characteristics of the children of God are applied to sheep led by the shepherd through a green pasture. The sheep grazing to restore their energy; the children of God having their souls restored. The sheep rest near a silent body of water; the children of God live in peace and harmony in the presence of God.
Metaphor: The green pasture represents: the grace of God because it is green, alive and plentiful; the peace of God because the sheep live in harmony – guided and protected by the Shepherd. "The Lord is my shepherd" is a clear metaphor.
Parallelism: Psalm 23 contains much parallelism:
(a) "I will fear no evil, for you are with me"
(b) "your rod and your staff, they comfort me"
Personification: The characteristics of the children of God are applied to sheep led by the shepherd through a green pasture. The sheep grazing to restore their energy; the children of God having their souls restored. The sheep rest near a silent body of water; the children of God live in peace and harmony in the presence of God.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Pride and Humility
In the account of king Nebuchadnezzar, we find the a great example of how a “haughty spirit [goes] before a fall”.(Proverbs 16:18) The Babylonian king proclaimed, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” After that, in order to fulfill the word of God: “He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.”(Daniel 4:30-33)
You can contrast pride and humility. When pride concerns self it puts man in a false position before God because it attributes the benefits of the grace of God to self. On the other hand, humility and meekness is a true position before God because it wisely acknowledges that man is nothing without God, and totally dependent on Him.
You can also consider pride and meekness as stages of a process. First, out of the abundance of his grace, God prospers a people, which can cause them to become haughty in their material splendor. The Lord then breaks their pride into pieces. They gain wisdom to become meek before God. Solomon said, “with humility comes wisdom.”(Proverbs 11:2)
Proverbs 16:18; Daniel 4:30-33; Proverbs 11:2
You can contrast pride and humility. When pride concerns self it puts man in a false position before God because it attributes the benefits of the grace of God to self. On the other hand, humility and meekness is a true position before God because it wisely acknowledges that man is nothing without God, and totally dependent on Him.
You can also consider pride and meekness as stages of a process. First, out of the abundance of his grace, God prospers a people, which can cause them to become haughty in their material splendor. The Lord then breaks their pride into pieces. They gain wisdom to become meek before God. Solomon said, “with humility comes wisdom.”(Proverbs 11:2)
Proverbs 16:18; Daniel 4:30-33; Proverbs 11:2
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Deceitful Above All Things
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”(Jeremiah 17:9) God can.
God knows about all of the sin hidden in the heart of man - He can see it. The Lord can plumb the depths of the soul; He is able to understand the heart completely because He made it.
He has foreseen all sin, but He will search for it because that is how perfect justice works - just as angels were sent to the perverted cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to see the sin first hand. Only afterward were the Cities of the Plain incinerated.(Genesis 19) Even today physical evidence of the true justice of God can be witnessed there. Sulfur balls can easily be found by just about anyone who searches for them.
“The heart is deceitful above all things” because deception springs out of a sinful heart. A neighbor's tongue can drip with deceit. David wrote: “Everyone lies to his neighbor; their flattering lips speak with deception.”(Psalm 12:2) Has everyone always had kind words for their next door neighbor?
The deceitful heart is “beyond cure” because there is nothing any of us can do to completely cure it. Humanistic psychology thinks it has a cure for man; treatment is based on the premise that genes are the problem and modern medicine is the cure. But they have left the soul out of the equation - man is a spiritual being as well as physical. God loves us and is willing to heal our whole hearts:
“For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”(Matthew 13:15; Acts 28:27)
God knows about all of the sin hidden in the heart of man - He can see it. The Lord can plumb the depths of the soul; He is able to understand the heart completely because He made it.
He has foreseen all sin, but He will search for it because that is how perfect justice works - just as angels were sent to the perverted cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to see the sin first hand. Only afterward were the Cities of the Plain incinerated.(Genesis 19) Even today physical evidence of the true justice of God can be witnessed there. Sulfur balls can easily be found by just about anyone who searches for them.
“The heart is deceitful above all things” because deception springs out of a sinful heart. A neighbor's tongue can drip with deceit. David wrote: “Everyone lies to his neighbor; their flattering lips speak with deception.”(Psalm 12:2) Has everyone always had kind words for their next door neighbor?
The deceitful heart is “beyond cure” because there is nothing any of us can do to completely cure it. Humanistic psychology thinks it has a cure for man; treatment is based on the premise that genes are the problem and modern medicine is the cure. But they have left the soul out of the equation - man is a spiritual being as well as physical. God loves us and is willing to heal our whole hearts:
“For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”(Matthew 13:15; Acts 28:27)
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Wisdom Contrasted
A distinction can be formed between the carnal wisdom of the world, and the divine wisdom of God. When the mind is set "on earthly things", the person does not "have in mind the things of God."(Philippians 3:19; Matthew 16:23) When someone sets their mind to worldly wisdom, shadows of doubt enter their thinking. James said, "he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind." But the wisdom of God keeps people from becoming "double-minded" and "unstable" in all of their ways.(James 1:6,8) This is why a person "must believe and not doubt", because where there is doubt, there is a reliance on the wisdom of man - the cause of the doubt. There must be a total reliance on the wisdom of God.
James states: "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." Good motives are aligned with the purpose and plan of God. "Wrong motives" are aligned with personal satisfaction, self-gratification and selfish desires.(James 4:3)
If the wisdom of God is pouring in through your eyes and ears, then demonstrations of such wisdom should come out through the mouth and the hands. James characterized divine wisdom: "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere."(James 3:17)
If you are asking for wisdom from God, you are asking for true wisdom - comparatively, the "wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight."(1 Corinthians 3:19) The wisdom of God lines up perfectly with the will of God. The word of God will be taught in the kingdom of heaven, but the combined wisdom of men - the tons and tons of books - will be forgotten in the kingdom of heaven.
Philippians 3:19; Matthew 16:23; James 1:5-8; James 3:17; James 4:3; 1 Corinthians 3:19
James states: "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." Good motives are aligned with the purpose and plan of God. "Wrong motives" are aligned with personal satisfaction, self-gratification and selfish desires.(James 4:3)
If the wisdom of God is pouring in through your eyes and ears, then demonstrations of such wisdom should come out through the mouth and the hands. James characterized divine wisdom: "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere."(James 3:17)
If you are asking for wisdom from God, you are asking for true wisdom - comparatively, the "wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight."(1 Corinthians 3:19) The wisdom of God lines up perfectly with the will of God. The word of God will be taught in the kingdom of heaven, but the combined wisdom of men - the tons and tons of books - will be forgotten in the kingdom of heaven.
Philippians 3:19; Matthew 16:23; James 1:5-8; James 3:17; James 4:3; 1 Corinthians 3:19
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Sign Language
A man might come across a passage that is like a riddle to him - something prophetically puzzling. He might stack some books on the side in order to decipher a single verse in his personal quest for understanding. But profound truths will only be revealed to man when revelation is sent - then he rightly understands.
Maybe the pastor at the church I attend made a mistake once, but would I even notice it? He is much more enlightened by the wisdom of God than any of us in the congregation. He was called and gifted by grace. We need such guidance of the rhema Word because the world keeps casting shadows of doubt at our feet; we are tripping over each other down here.
Christ is the light and life of man - light that reveals. Every time true spiritual understanding sparks to life in man, it is a sign of the infinite wisdom of God. Who could provide chapter after chapter of prophecy in a sequential order that leads to divine wisdom like stepping stones? What man could come up with such sign language? No man could ever do that!
Maybe the pastor at the church I attend made a mistake once, but would I even notice it? He is much more enlightened by the wisdom of God than any of us in the congregation. He was called and gifted by grace. We need such guidance of the rhema Word because the world keeps casting shadows of doubt at our feet; we are tripping over each other down here.
Christ is the light and life of man - light that reveals. Every time true spiritual understanding sparks to life in man, it is a sign of the infinite wisdom of God. Who could provide chapter after chapter of prophecy in a sequential order that leads to divine wisdom like stepping stones? What man could come up with such sign language? No man could ever do that!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Iron Mixed with Clay
"And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay."(Daniel 2:43)
That verse refers to the last confederation of nations that will invade Jerusalem - they will be controlled by the Antichrist.
The "legs of iron" represent the Roman Empire; the "feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay" represent the revived Roman Empire, which will occupy the area of the former empire.(Daniel 2:33) The nations we see there today represent many different peoples and levels of strength. They will not hold together like the original Roman Empire did.
That verse refers to the last confederation of nations that will invade Jerusalem - they will be controlled by the Antichrist.
The "legs of iron" represent the Roman Empire; the "feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay" represent the revived Roman Empire, which will occupy the area of the former empire.(Daniel 2:33) The nations we see there today represent many different peoples and levels of strength. They will not hold together like the original Roman Empire did.
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