Volume 4 Post/Email 6 – Faith(#6)
Something that helps me to believe in the practice of prayer is angels. Not only are there hundreds of references to angels in Scripture, but there are several in the context of prayer. Often when praying I envision God releasing an angel or angels to attend to my request(s). Sometimes I even ask God to send an angel or angels as part of my prayer. Below are three Scriptures pertaining to faith, prayer and angels. (I will share two others in the next post!)
May these increase our faith, refresh our praying, and renew our worship. -Brian
Psalm 34:6-7 > "This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them."
Luke 22:43-44 >"An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground."
Revelation 8:3-5 > "Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake."
Volume 4 Post/Email 5 – Faith(#5)
Ephesians 3:20 reads, "Not to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power at work within us."
Prayer is an act of faith. We pray because we believe in the presence and power of God, and that God responds to our prayers from faith.
We cannot quantify the power of God, nor the power of prayer. God can do "immeasurably more" than anything we can ask or fathom. But we can believe in God's power and accessing this power through prayer.
Yet, sometimes we neglect prayer. Why?
And sometimes, we pray puny prayers. We do not expect much. Why?
We should believe in and pray to the God who moves mountains.
Furthermore, we should not give up on others, nor ourselves. God's Spirit can bless and change anyone. Scripture has numerous examples of people, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, but nevertheless, people who are positively transformed by the Holy Spirit.
Whenever spiritual conversion and spiritual change/growth occur, this is concrete evidence of the power of God at work in us.
For whom have you witnessed God's answer to pray in your past?
Believe in and practice Ephesians 3:20. It is a promise from God, who is faithful.
A good application/reflection question: Who am I currently praying for?
-Brian
Volume 4 Post/Email 4 – Faith(#4)
Peter mentions (in 2 Peter 1:4) that God has given us "very great and precious promises."
In the last post I referenced the aspect of faith being precious, from Peter's opening statements in his first letter.
Now I want to highlight from Peter's opening statements in his second letter the aspect of his promises being precious.
God has promised us all that we need for this life and everlasting life. We can trust in his promises, even when our circumstances are negative, difficult, and even make us feel despair.
Faith in God's promises produces hope. The Bible is full of words of faith and encouragement for us. We have every reason to be optimistic!
Our future is as bright as the promises of God!
-Brian
Volume 4 Post/Email 3 – Faith(#3)
Faith is precious, especially when dealing with adversity.
Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:7, "These (v. 6 'trials') have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold (NKJV 'much more precious than gold'), which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."
Whether it is sickness, loss, or other forms of suffering, faith in God is what propels us forward with a positive attitude and actions of perseverance. Faith says "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)
I honestly don't know how people without faith deal with problems and trials of life.
The longer I live, the more grateful I am for faith, and the more I realize how precious my faith is to me.
-Brian
Volume 4 Post/Email 2 – Faith(#2)
Do you navigate toward believing matters are possible, or impossible?
In Matthew 17:20 Jesus states, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
What an incredible concept! Mustard seed faith moves God to move mountains.
Jesus is looking for faith. Discipleship requires trust.
Consider some of the many challenging teachings of Jesus - forgiveness, not worrying, loving an enemy, generosity, servanthood, accepting ridicule and persecution, and prayerfulness.
Whether or not we do all of these hinges upon the issue of faith. When matters don't make sense, or we would tend to worry, faith is what transforms us and causes obedience to these teachings.
Faith and prayer are lifestyle choices and habits of Jesus-followers. Believing "the impossible" is to be typical for Christians. Jesus says, "Nothing" will be impossible for you.
Remember that whatever mountains are in your life are not nearly as big as the God in your life!
-Brian
Volume 4 Post/Email 1 – Faith(#1)
Greetings ELGUY readers,
I plan to do an entire volume on this topic.
Faith is essential to life, including pleasing God (Heb. 11:6).
And yet, it is a spiritual quality that can be lacking in our lives.
We can struggle to believe, or trust. We can even doubt entirely.
It seems that Jesus challenges his disciples lack of faith continually in the Gospel Narratives. When in a boat during a storm, He says, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" (Mk 4:40) He asks Peter, "Why did you doubt?" when he sinks in the water. (Matthew 14:31) Jesus states that the entire generation is unbelieving (Matthew 17:17), and asks, "How long shall I put up with you?"
When the disciples question Jesus as to why they couldn't drive out a demon, he replies, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20)
The positive aspect is that God responds to even a tiny measure of faith. The negative aspect is that many then (and now) lack even this.
Churches today desperately need leadership. Churches desperately need leaders with faith and vision.
How many of us trust God to move mountains? How many of us believe that we can be Christians who walk on water? How many of us believe that we can be churches that walk on water?
There is a Church of Christ in Nashville that has grown from 40, to 80, to 500 in less than 7 years. They attribute their growth to God, and to members and leaders with vision and faith. They are willing to take risks. They are willing to trust God to move mountains, to provide for them, and to bless them.
In contrast, why are so many churches dying? While there might be some unique situations, and perhaps more than one or two variables that affect some situations, a primary reason in most cases is a lack of faith, a lack of leadership, a lack of vision, and a lack of prayer.
Perhaps God is calling more Christians and congregations to repentance, revival, vision and faithfulness?
Jesus commissions you and me to a lifestyle of discipleship and faith that moves mountains.
-Brian
Volume 3 Post/Email 7 – “Disturb us, Lord”
Below is a prayer Deanna passed along to me some time back. "Disturb us, Lord" isn't your typical, comfortable prayer. May the thoughts and perspective of this prayer be a blessing to us this day. -Brian
Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
[Sir Francis Drake]
Volume 3 Post/Email 4 – Hebrews 7:25
Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
Isn't this a tremendous truth? Jesus is able to save "completely"!
You and I are 1000% saved by the interceding blood of Jesus Christ!
We do not earn even a fraction of a percent of our salvation!
Anything good or religious that we do is a result of the merciful work of God. We do not worship and serve to be saved, nor to remain saved. We are always completely redeemed by Jesus. We worship and serve out of love and joy because we are redeemed!
Another way we can think about and apply this verse is with regard to religious differences.
I have Christian brothers and sisters who I consider to be considerably more liberal than I am on some of their religious views. Likewise, I have Christian brothers and sisters who I consider to be considerably more conservative than I am on their religious views. Who is in right standing with God? Am I for my more conservative views than some, or for my more progressive views than others?
As we all seek truth, wisdom and growth in Christ, we are still always saved completely by Jesus! For all of our misunderstandings and misapplications along the way, trust in the grace of Jesus is what continues to cleanse me of my sins.
God loves us, even in our moments of misunderstanding, mediocrity, incompetency, and inconsistency!
Praise God! Jesus always lives to intercede for us!
-Brian
Volume 2 Post/Email 12 – 1 Peter 2:7-8a
Peter writes, Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,' and, 'A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.'
Ultimately, this matter of the rock is out of our hands.
We will all be broken by it.
Our only choice is when, but all will experience brokenness.
Philippians 2:10-11 mentions that every knee will bow and every tongue confess.
If we wait until judgment day to bow, Scripture teaches it will be too late for being blessed.
If we choose to submit now, while the rock still causes us to stumble and break, the rock also becomes the capstone of our lives, and the foundation upon which we build.
And so, we conclude the theme of spiritual formation with the One who makes it all possible, Jesus Christ.
If you and I are trusting in him and having our beliefs, character, and lifestyle changed because of him, then we are experiencing formation from God.
1 Peter 2:6 reads, For in Scripture it says, 'See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.'
Jesus makes abundant life in God's kingdom available! Trusting him, learning from him, and accepting undeserved and unlimited forgiveness from him is our lot.
And verse 7a again - "Now to you who believe, this stone is precious."
Indeed, Jesus is precious!!!!!
He gently, lovingly, patiently and compassionately breaks us from everything sinful and unnecessary. He takes unholy filth and builds us into holy worshippers (priests).
-Brian
(Below are the lyrics to the song "We Fall Down")
We fall down, we lay our crowns, at the feet - of Jesus.
The greatness of, Your mercy and love, at the feet - of Jesus.
And we cry, Holy Holy Holy.
And we cry, Holy Holy Holy.
And we cry, Holy Holy Holy, is the Lamb.
Volume 2 Post/Email 11 – 1 Peter 2:5
The final 2 posts on the concept of spiritual formation will be from First Peter Chapter 2.
1 Peter 2:5 reads, "You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
In post 3 we reflected on the first three verses of this chapter and growing as spiritually newborn babies.
Likewise, verse 5 implies gradual spiritual growth.
Our spiritual life is indeed, a journey. We "are being built" into a spiritual house.
I believe the tense of the verb is a present participle, indicating a continual reality.
The Christian life is always to be a "present tense" matter.
We have the daily privilege of being holy priests, and living before a loving and holy God.
We have the daily honor and opportunity to express love to God in worship.
How much of our lives involves any sense of God?
If we model Jesus, we will not compartmentalize our lives into the secular and spiritual.
Therefore, we should not think this verse applies only to spiritual acts like prayer. Intentionally befriending and doing good to others during the day, because of a heart oriented towards God and his will, is also spiritual.
Hebrews 13:16 reads, "And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased."
We should not reduce spiritual living, worship, and honoring God to a minimum amount of occasions. We should not think God is only interested in when we pray, study, etc.
He is pleased when we go to work, and how we work. He can be pleased by a conversation we initiate with a co-worker. Perhaps God smiles as we initiate a friendly conversation with a child?
Maybe God is just as honored when we adults play and interact with the kids before a Wednesday night class as he is when we are singing in the auditorium?
Is God not glorified when we share a meal with our family? Is it not spiritual (of God, God-like) to devote some energy to helping a kid with their homework, or to coaching a team, or teaching music, or being involved in a camping trip?
When a wife or husband cooks the meal for the evening [usually when we guys step up it's with the grill 
], can that not be with a godly, grateful, generous heart?
Are these matters supposed to be in a spiritual (God) context or not?
Jesus honored the Father with a heart oriented to worshipping His Father and doing His will through the nitty gritty of daily life! When Jesus spent time with children, or enjoyed a meal with some adults, or spent time in a boat with the disciples, these were also spiritual moments!
When the routine of our day is not spiritual is if we choose to not allow the heart, will and Spirit of God to impact certain moments of our schedule.
As we experience spiritual transformation into the likeness of Jesus, our eyes become more aware and astute to the spiritual realities and opportunities of the present moment.
It may be a moment to relax, to read, to sing, to pray, to visit, to eat, to play, etc. - but all in God's presence joyfully living our life with Him.
Am I missing something?
-Brian