Willing to be willing
Scripture tells us that it is God that is at work in us both to will and to do of this good pleasure. Sometimes, when I’m battling with some sinful attitude or practice, it is more a problem with the desire to change than the power to actually make the change. When we pray for God’s help in such times, it seems to me we could start with asking for a change of the will. We need to be willing to be made willing.
The start of a new year is often the time when many Christians commit to being more disciplined about their Bible reading. Bible reading plans abound, and you can easily find one that will help you read the Bible through in a year if that is your goal.
Some of you may be like me, in that you fall behind in a very short time and are tempted to give up. You may get to late February and March and get bogged down in Leviticus or Numbers. After you get a week or two behind, the temptation is to shelve the whole project and make it your goal to start anew next January. You become very familiar with Genesis and Exodus, but the rest of the Bible is still sort of in the dark for you.
A missionary friend of mine gave me the simple solution to this dilemma. Use a book mark! Use a book mark like you would when reading any other book. If some time has gone by, just open the Bible to the book mark and begin reading again. Don’t worry about how many days you are behind. Just keep at it and read as much or as little as you want on any given day. You’ll eventually make it through and it will be well worth your while.
Let me tweak that advice a little more. Many Bible reading plans have you reading something from the Old Testament, something from the Psalms and Proverbs, and then something from the New Testament. What I do now is use three bookmarks. One goes at the beginning of Genesis, another at the beginning of Psalms, and the third at the beginning of the New Testament. Then simply rotate through the sections as time and interest allow. Use the Psalms bookmark to work your way through Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. Then move it back to the beginning of the Psalms again.
If you can develop the habit and routine to read the Bible like this, it won’t matter how long it takes you to read through the entire Bible, but you will do it, and your spiritual life will be strengthened as a result.
Next time we’ll talk about how to take it a little deeper.
Paul writes the following in Romans 10:2-3: “For I testify about them [his Jewish people] that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For not knowing about the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.”
He’s writing here about his desire to see his Jewish friends and relatives come to know the salvation that is found in Jesus the Messiah. But what he teaches us here about their error in thinking, could be said of most religious people, no matter what the religion.
He says that they “have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.” The Christian faith is built on truth and on knowledge of that truth. God has acted in history by sending his son Jesus into this world for the purpose of dying on the cross to pay the price for the sins of the whole world. The events surrounding all of what took place, happened on this earth in space and time. On the day Jesus was executed, the sun came up and a new day had arrived. When Jesus died, it was a specific time of day and his heart stopped beating. On the third day his heart began to beat again, and his entire body came alive. These are real events. Having a zeal for God outside the truth of these events is futile. Our faith must be according to knowledge of the truth, not just religious wishful thinking.
What did these religious Jews not know? They did not know about the righteousness of God. This is the plight of all human beings. We know a god exists and we also know we are not perfect, but we do not recognize or realize how righteous and perfect God is. That’s the problem. Further, these people, not knowing the righteousness of God, sought to establish their own. And that’s what we do. We establish our own standard of righteousness, making sure that it is a standard that we can attain. We say we treat others fairly and kindly, but what we mean by that is that we treat them as fairly and kindly as our own standard specifies. We never compare ourselves to the standard of kindness God requires.
And here is what Paul writes as the conclusion of the above passage: “They did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.” We subject ourselves to our own righteousness which has a standard we can meet, but we don’t subject ourselves to the righteousness of God because we know that we can never reach that level of perfection. We recognize immediately that if we are subject to God’s standard, we are doomed! In Romans 3:23, Paul tells us that everyone has sinned and falls short of God’s glory. That’s the truth that we have to accept to be able to receive God’s solution to our problem.
What is God’s solution? The Bible speaks of the righteousness of faith. In Romans 10:9-10 he says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, leading to salvation.” According to the Bible, God counts believing as righteousness. What we do is try to earn our salvation by trying to be righteous enough. But as we have seen, that is an impossible goal. There is a righteousness separate and apart from the list of rules. Romans 3:21-22 tells us that “the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and upon all who believe.”
God’s righteousness is given to all who believe what God has said. This is a crucial thing to understand. When we believe what God says about himself and about the accomplishment of his son on the cross; and when we believe the solution God has provided in Jesus the Messiah, our believing is counted by God as righteousness. It’s a gift from God because of his amazing grace toward us.
Here’s what Paul writes in Philippians 3:9 with my comments added in brackets: “I want to be found in Him, not having my own righteousness [because my righteousness will never ever measure up] which is from the law [the list of rules God has laid down for us to obey], but [the righteousness] which is through faith in Christ [believing that Jesus Christ bore all of my guilt on the cross], the righteousness which is from God by faith [by believing God and his word].
In other words, when we believe what God has said about his son Jesus, God declares us righteous and we are assured of Jesus’s life living through us here and now, and a home in heaven when we die, and the promise that there will be no condemnation for us ever! (See Romans 8:1). Rule-keeping plays no part in this righteousness. It is righteousness as a free gift from God when we believe the record that God has given of his son. Do you believe this?
The other day, I was listening to a song with the simple title, “Come!” Have you ever been at one of those points in life when you feel like you’re carrying a greater load than you can manage? You feel like you can’t multitask at a fast enough pace to meet the demands of life. Jesus issues an invitation recorded in several passages of the New Testament. His message is this:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
The song I was listening to uses the text of verses such as this from the Bible where Jesus lays out the invitation and challenge, “Come!” I’ve known these passages for years, but for some reason, those words along with the musical setting made quite an impression on me as to how clear and simple and all-encompassing the invitation is.
This invitation from Jesus is for those who labor and are burdened down. It is for those who are thirsty to experience real life. It is for those who feel like everything is just too hard. Maybe we would use the expression “I’m stressed out.” Does that sound like anyone you know, maybe even yourself? Look at what Jesus says in another place:
“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’” John 7:37-38
Who is Jesus that he can make such promises? The Bible tells us that Jesus is the creator of the universe. He is God and the Messiah. He has all authority in heaven and earth. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. In other words, it is God himself who is inviting anyone who is weary, burdened, or desperate to really live and to be free from the weight that comes with life, to come to him. God is the source of everything that is good, and he invites each one of us to come to him for relief. In fact, the verse we just quoted promises that whoever believes in Jesus will have rivers of living water flowing from them. Jesus later explained that he was talking about the Spirit of God himself who will come and live in us and be that living water.
Look at what Revelation 22:17 says, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.” To me, this is an amazing reality to grasp. Jesus calls out with a loud voice, “Come!” The Holy Spirit calls out, “Come!” The bride (which is the church) says, “Come!” And those who hear are so excited that they start yelling, “Come! Come! It’s true! Whoever wants to can come and drink of the water of life freely.”
At the beginning of Revelation 22, just before the invitation to come, Jesus says, “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
When Jesus comes back again, he will give to each person according to what he or she has done. The problem is that we haven’t done so well. The Bible says no one is good and no one seeks God. Every one of us has sinned and broken God’s law. What Jesus shouted at that festival was that the rivers of living water would flow in those who believe on him. Believing is the key. It’s not just believing in something, as in “I believe for every drop of rain that falls a flower grows.” That kind of belief accomplishes nothing. Believing in Jesus means believing that he is who he said he is, that his promises are true, that his death on the cross really did pay the full penalty of all of our sins, and that he actually did come to life again three days after he died, and is now in heaven at the right hand of God, and that he is now the ruler and judge of the universe. Believing is not just saying you believe these things; it is actually believing them!
It’s that same Jesus who says, “If you are weary and burdened down, and if you desire to have all your sins, failures, and shame forgiven forever, come to me. I will forgive you and begin to restore you to the person I created you to be.” Believing this is what it means to come.
So, what did he say? He said, “Take my yoke upon you.” A yoke is the thing that joins two oxen together so that they can plow together. Jesus said we should take his yoke because his yoke is easy. It’s not a hard, difficult pull. I take it to mean that he carries the bulk of the load for us. In another place in the Bible Jesus says, “Throw your cares on me, because I care for you.” (1 Peter 5:7) He’s not only saying that he cares about us, he is saying that he’ll do the caring instead of us having to it ourselves.
The other thing that Jesus said in Matthew 11 is that we should learn from him. We take his yoke, and we learn. What do we learn? We learn how to live life God’s way, with Jesus as our yokefellow and his word as our teacher. His word is what we read in the Bible. What is Jesus’ promise? You will find rest for your souls. You will have rivers of living water, i.e., the Holy Spirit, living within. We believe, take his yoke, and learn from him. The result? Rest for our soul. This is the best news anyone could ever hear!
Jesus, the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, the creator and king of the universe invites you to come. You will find in him all you truly need to face the ups and downs of life successfully. He does not promise that all your problems will go away; but he does promise to be there, helping you and guiding you each step of the way. Come!
In case you were wondering, the song that got me thinking about this is called “The Spirit and the Bride” sung by Joshua Aaron. It’s partly in Hebrew so turn on the closed captioning. https://youtu.be/W5BFmx7SdOY?si=cMscb_jR8fYyTF35
21 So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will tell you everything. 22 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts. 23 Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.
I love these final greetings because they give us insight into what is going on behind the scenes. Even though Paul has many enemies, he also has many friends and brothers in ministry that help him and encourage him along the way. It’s important for us to be a band of brothers, as it were, as we seek to live for Christ day by day.
In these final verses we find that Tychicus is a faithful friend who will transmit Paul’s greetings to the Ephesians and will let them know how Paul is doing. To what end? For the purpose that they be encouraged.
And then as he usually does, Paul emphasizes the peace, love, and grace of God that come from both the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
It’s good for us to remember that if we are in Christ, we have peace with God. God loves us and continually extends His peace and grace toward us day after day after day.
Amen!
Exported from Logos Bible Software, 11:35 AM January 9, 2023.
19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
After Paul’s request that the Ephesians pray in the Spirit with perseverance and supplication for all saints, he asks for prayer for himself as well in verse 19.
We can no longer pray for Paul, but we can pray for our pastor and missionaries we know along these same lines. So what does a preacher/pastor/missionary need?
Paul asks for prayer that he would have the words given to him so that he would speak what he ought to speak. Have you ever considered praying this way for your pastor?
In addition, he wants to proclaim the word boldly. We need courage as we try to be a witness for Christ, and certainly pastors and missionaries who have a more public ministry need to be bold. There is so much input from media in our world that only bold preaching will break through.
And what is it that he wants to boldly proclaim? The mystery of the gospel. He knows this message needs to be boldly presented loud and clear to anyone who will listen. This same message needs to be proclaimed by every pastor and missionary everywhere. Let’s pray that God will give the words and the boldness to every man of God who faithfully preaches the Word.
Exported from Logos Bible Software, 11:31 AM January 9, 2023.
Ephesians 6:18 (ESV)
18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
I started writing a personal commentary on the book of Ephesians a long time ago in order to provide myself a focus for my Bible reading and study. If you look at the dates of my postings, you’ll notice that it didn’t help much with a daily focus. Just like a lot of things in life, this project has been subject to procrastination.
We’ve just about finished with the section on the armor of God and have arrived at verse 18. The verse begins with “praying always.” What this means to me is that prayer should be a regular activity for us as well as on the tip of our tongues, so to speak, so that our communication with God is ongoing. Elsewhere the Bible says “Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
The next phrase speaks of praying with “all prayer and supplication.” Supplication seems to be the kind of praying we do the best. Supplication is asking and pleading with God to meet some need. But there are obviously several different kinds of prayer. Sometimes the word “prayer” as in this verse is just a general term for all kinds of different prayers. Prayer can include confession, thanksgiving, and praise. You may be able to think of others.
The verse concludes with the challenge to be watchful. A soldier on the night watch is ordered to be watchful. We need to be alert because the enemy is roaming around looking for someone to devour. We need to be alert to circumstances of life and the needs of our friends and neighbors so that we can bring these things to the God of heaven. And we can be especially alert for the temptation opportunities that the devil puts in front of us because this prayer instruction is given as part of our spiritual warfare.
Our praying is to be with perseverance. We should not give up. Even though we are told not to pray meaningless vain repetitions, we are nevertheless admonished to be persistent in our praying. See Jesus’ teaching on prayer in Luke 18 for example.
Besides perseverance, we are to pray supplication prayers for all saints. According to Paul in 1 Timothy 2:1-2 “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority.” So, our prayer list probably should be a lot longer than it is. Praying for all the saints we know includes our family, people who go church with us, other friends who are believers, missionaries, etc. Than, as Paul told Timothy, we need to pray for the President and other leaders who are in authority over us.
To be honest, I find praying difficult. The list always seems so long that my endurance in prayer is not what I would like it to be. Paul talks about striving in prayer (Rom 15:30), and that is what it feels like to me much of the time.
Pray for yourself and for your brothers and sisters, that all of us would be able to be more diligent in our praying. This is not a legalistic thing where you check it off your list and say, “I’ve achieved that goal for today. I’m good.” No, it is a matter of communicating with the God who loves us and letting Him know how great He is, what you’re thankful for, and what you need. The throne room is open. We should go in without fear and bring our requests to Him.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
This is our second article on Ephesians 6:17. Last time we discussed the helmet of salvation. The other piece of armor listed in this verse is the sword of the Spirit.
This seems to be the only offensive weapon listed among the pieces of armor. Of course it is used defensively as well. The first thing we need to note is that the verb at the beginning of the verse says to take the sword. In other words we need to pick it up, have it with us and use it when needed.
What is this sword? This passage tells us that the sword is the word of God. How do we use it? Well, I think the example of Jesus during his encounter with Satan when the devil tempted Him gives us a good example.
Satan tempted Jesus in three areas which would almost certainly trip us up: The lust of the flesh — “turn these stones into bread;” the lust of the eyes — “look at all this land I will give you if you worship me;” and the pride of life — “cast yourself down and the angels will come and rescue you. Won’t that be dramatic?”
But each time, Jesus countered with a specific passage of scripture which aimed at the specific temptation Satan hurled at Him.’
Jesus’ example gives us the pattern. First, we need to memorize as much Scripture as we can. Psalm 119:11 says, “I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” The Psalmist is clearly trying to store up God’s Word in his memory so that when temptations came he would be able to counter them.
To take up the sword and have it with us means we also need to meditate on it, and commit it to memory so that you have it available when needed.
Then, we need to actually use it. When the enemy attacks, we not only want to be sure we have the shield of faith as a defensive weapon, but we need to quote the Scripture to ourselves as well as as to our adversary to resist his onslaught. The Bible says that we should resist the devil and he will flee from us. But resisting requires scriptural fortification with the sword. Otherwise we are just standing out there on the battlefield precariously unprotected.
Think about what steps you can take to make a serious effort of memorizing Scripture and internalizing its meaning well so that you will be able to defend yourselves and attack the enemy head on when he threatens you.
Exported from Logos Bible Software, 12:50 PM October 17, 2022.
“and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,”
The helmet of salvation….
The helmet protects the head, the brain, the control center for the body. Certainly one can’t live without the heart and other vital organs of the chest cavity intact, but neither can one function effectively if the brain has been damaged. So, the helmet is an essential piece of equipment.
In this verse, Paul tells us to take up the helmet of salvation. I think there are two aspects to this. The first is that certainly we need to be saved, otherwise we are not even in the battle. But in addition to that, we need to have confidence, assurance, and hope of our salvation. Taking up the helmet means we are purposely studying, understanding, and taking to heart the reality of the salvation God has given us. It has to be something that we are convinced of, otherwise we will be wimpy in battle and not fight with our full assurance of the victory God has given us.
There are a couple of parallel passages that are worth quoting here. In Isaiah 59, the Bible says that there are none righteous and that all have gone astray in every way. In verse 15 it says, “Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice.” Since there was no human solution, God took matters into His own hands, and the Bible tells us in verse 17 that He “put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation in His head.”
God’s head didn’t need protecting, but as a picture of a conquering, saving captain, clothed with righteousness and salvation, He proceeded to do the saving Himself. It’s an image of God on the move, taking charge, and accomplishing salvation on our behalf.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:8, Paul writes, “But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.” There it is, the hope of salvation. It’s not just the salvation itself, but the hope of it, the anticipation of it, the confidence of being saved now and throughout eternity. This hope and confidence of our salvation gives us a level of bravery, and discernment, and wisdom to engage ourselves in the battle against the enemy of our souls.
So what is this salvation of which we speak? If someone is saved from drowning or from a burning building, what does that mean? It means that the person is removed from the danger of drowning or being burned to death. They have been rescued.
All of us were born in a lost and condemned condition. By nature, we are enemies of God and subject to His condemnation in Hell forever. To us that seems like an awfully severe and perhaps unjust sentence. But we think that way because we don’t understand the seriousness of our violations against the rule of God, and we don’t realize the holiness of God. His character is amazingly, and almost frighteningly pure. One violation is enough to condemn us forever. But we commit way more than one violation. We simply don’t even desire to submit to His rule and authority. In spite of that, God graciously gives us life and breath and all things.
How is salvation obtained then, if the standards are so high? God came here to earth in the person of Jesus Christ, lived a perfect life, and ultimately was executed even though He had done nothing worthy of death. Here’s the good news: God offers to credit Jesus’ perfect life to us and to count our disobedience and rebellion as though Jesus was guilty. The sentence of death was executed on Jesus in our place, and we are set free. How are we to receive such an offer? God simply asks us to believe Him, to accept His offer by faith. We believe God’s statements about who Christ was and what He has done for us, and we yield to His reign and follow Him. When these things are true of us, God forgives all of our sins because the penalty has been paid, and He promises to come into our lives by His spirit and guide us as we live here on this earth.
This is what it means to have the helmet of salvation. As we fight the battles of life, we have the confidence that we are on the winning side because God has promised victory to those who love and serve Him.
I’ve just noticed the date of my last post and I can’t believe it’s been over two months. I guess I need to put my nose to the grindstone and be more faithful in my meditation and commentary on God’s Word. Hopefully you all have had a good summer so far and are learning and growing in the faith. Today we look at Ephesians 6:16
“In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;” (Ephesians 6:16, ESV)
We have now come to the shield. This, of course, is the piece of armor that protects the chest and abdomen where the vital organs are. But, it is a moveable piece of armor. the breastplate is in permanent position, but the shield can be turned one way or another to defend against incoming arrows from many directions.
The Christian’s shield is faith. It is interesting to me that these various pieces of armor must be taken up or put on. A Christian isn’t just automatically equipped and fitted with this armor. It must be consciously and purposely put on or taken up. So in the case of the shield, when is it to be taken up. The Bible says in all circumstances or at all times. We remember that the enemy is constantly on the prowl to defeat the Christian. We must be ready with the shield at all times.
This is the shield of faith. Faith, in its simplest definition, is believing God, believing what He has said. Abraham was “fully convinced that what [God] had promised He was also able to perform” Romans 4:21. God has given us “exceedingly great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4), and faith is personalizing and believing those promises. Believing something is true produces response in us. It produces anticipation, hope, assurance, and a number of other feelings. In addition, believing a promise produces action. As James says, “Faith without works is dead.” This is true of all faith whether it is Bible-based faith or simply believing something someone has said. Believing always produces a response.
In our passage, then, taking up the shield of faith means believing what God has said and acting on it. Satan is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). In every situation, we are to believe God and reject what the devil and his world system are saying. The darts he shoots at us are fiery. They are set aflame by hell itself, and because of there ferocious nature, it’s easy to be intimidated into believing them. Taking up the shield of faith means that in every circumstance, with every lie hurled at us no matter from what direction, we are to claim God’s statement of truth and act on it. This is a purposeful, conscious, intentional action. It is “taking up the shield of faith.”
Exported from Logos Bible Software, 9:38 AM August 22, 2022.