Verses to meditate on

  As I have been reading this week a book about meditating on scripture and letting it really become a part of your belief system and thinking these verses have stood out to me as ones I want to meditate on.  Dr.Smalley emphasizes in his book "Change Your Beliefs, Change Your Life" that our thoughts lead to our beliefs and that leads to behavior changes.  This is why it is so important what a person allows themselves to dwell on.  We have that choice everyday of our lives. 

"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." Colossians 3:3, NIV

  "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."  Galatians 5:24-25, NIV

   "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who he has given us." Romans 5:3-5, NIV

   "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." Eph 4:22-23, NIV

   "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own."  Matthew 6:33, NIV

   "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV

    "So I say to you: ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks the door will be opened."  Luke 11:9-10, NIV

 

Revive or Renewal

   I know I haven't posted much on here lately and I want to get back to writing more often.  Lately, the subject of renewal or revival has interested me.  Mainly because I feel the need in my own life for renewal of my faith and reviving of a stronger spiritual life in me.  I want to experience again as i did when I was a much younger christian the victories over sin and the insight and growth that I saw.   For quite a while now, it seems my spiritual life has been on auto pilot, if we can even call it that.  It might be better described as going backwards and not forwards.  I don't think it is really possible to stay still much like trying stand still on a moving escalator or conveyor belt.

    So, I was looking at some passages on renewal and revival to see what the Bible has to say about it.  From the very beginning, the verses I read made it clear that the whole possibility of being renewed is based on the mercy and greatness of God and not because we deserve it.  The first passage I turned to was in Romans 12:2

   "Do not be conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will."

    And I noticed as I looked at this that the ability to test and approve what God's will is is based on first renewing your mind.   Renewal is a condition that allows us to see things from God's perspective rather than our own.  It is the Spirit which gives insight as it says in 1 Corinthians 2:12.

   I looked at a number of other passages on renewal and revival such as Psalm 119:50; Psalm 103:5, 2 Corinthians 4:16, Psalm 80:18, Psalm 85:6, Isaiah 57:15 and Psalm 19:7 and Colossians 3:10.  All of these are good passages that attempt to add to our understanding of what it means to be renewed.  Again, the emphasis is on what God is doing by his mercy and not due to our goodness or deeds.

   The verses that stood out to me tonight are in Titus 3:5-7 which says

  "he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy  Spirit, which he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by his grace we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life."

    Here we see again, that the work of regeneration and renewal is the work of the Holy Spirit.  He is the one who is grieved when we sin and walk away from God or allow sin to go unconfessed and undealt with (Ephesians 4:30).  He is also the one who works to convict us of sin, righteousness and judgment.  This is the work of the Holy Spirit our sanctification and regeneration.  Regeneration is the act at the time of salvation.  But sanctification is also a process as well as an event.  It has a past, present and future tense.  He is in the act today of renewing and regenerating our minds and hearts just as he was the day you were saved.  Our role in all of this is to trust Him and to surrender our will to His.  We acknowledge that we are depending on his mercy and grace and that His will is best.

Verses to meditate on

     These are some verses I am working to commit to memory to help transform my thinking and help me to walk more closely with the Lord. 

    "For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.  We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ",  2 Corinthians 10:4-5, NASV

     I picked this because I am convinced that the battle for our affections and attention start in the mind.  There are lofty fortresses that must be torn down, so that they do not take a place of priority that belongs only to Christ.  If we are not careful to take these thoughts captive they can become idols.  They are raised up not against us, but against Christ and the knowledge of Him.

     "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."  2 Corinthians 5:21

     Two thoughts here, one is that of Jesus' sacrifice to become sin on the cross for us.  His death was a substitution for what I deserved.  By doing this, God now sees me in a different light.  We become the righteousness of God because of his taking our place.  Therefore, this should encourage each of us to lay aside the old nature and old ways.

     I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."  Galatians 2:20, NIV

     In reading this, I have to ask myself have I truly crucified myself to the flesh.  Am I living in the body the life of faith that God would have for me.  Or I am living very much by sight and only by my limited understanding.  It is due to his love for me that Jesus gave of  himself.  Is my love so lukewarm that I cannot give of myself to Him?  Am I willing to lay down everything and all the burdens of this world for him?  Or am I still clinging to things around me.  God fills those who have emptied themselves of themselves.  Am I still living or does Christ live in me?

     "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ." Php 3:8

     This is somewhat repetitive, but it is a theme that is part of my devotions right now.  Paul was saying that everything else is rubbish, literally trash, compared with knowing Christ.  Am I pressing on in my faith to know Him more and more each day.  Is my attitude the same way that in comparison to knowing Him everything else is trash?

   "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will"  Romans 12:2

    Even as a child of God, my thinking needs to be transformed.  I can too easily be conforming to the pattern of this world.  I need to transform my thinking and also my devotions to what is God's priority and his heart.  In doing this, I can finally know and be confident that I am approving and understanding what is God will and what is pleasing to Him.  When we conform to be more comfortable we can lose sight of His will because we are compromising our view. 
 

Immersed by James T. Martin

   I recently read a book written by a pastor named James T. Martin called "Immersed" published in 1996.  Part of what caught my eye about it because it appears that at the time of writing the book he was at a Methodist church not far from my home.  He starts the book by describing to us our life as pictured as a circle with a throne in the middle of it.  The throne represents who is in charge and in authority of our lives.  James' conclusion not surprisingly is that Jesus should be on that throne.  But, then he asks "Where should we picture ourselves?"  The answer he says is not on the outside or at the feet of the throne, but simply not there at all.  The author goes on to say that Jesus is to be so immersed in our lives as believers that when people see us they see him. 

   The author goes on to give a number of points about how to do this, but the main point that I got over and over is that this comes by our surrendering our will and authority to him.  This may be why one of the favorite terms that the apostles had to describe themselves is one of a slave.  The slave no longer has a will of his own.  The slave exists to please the one who is his master.   Jesus does call on us to surrender.  There are a number of scriptures that support this.  Just look at

   "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.  For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's shall save it."  Mark 8:34b-35

   "I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me"  Galatians 2:20

    If we are going to be honest, the difficult thing about this is that there is a part of us that simply wants to be in charge and feels like we have the right to be.  There may even be part of us that believes deep down that we know what is best.  Our own worst enemy is our own sinful nature in this regard.  Our flesh wants to be in charge and not God.  We have problems letting God take over "all' areas of our lives.  We may give him some, but then hold something back.  The author went on to say something about how God cannot fill us with His Spirit when we are not empty.  When we are so full of self that it makes it impossible for God to fill us.  God wants a full and unconditional surrender.

    This is not to say that we will achieve this goal of surrender all of the time.  The Lord knows that I fall far short of this most of the time.  My own sinful nature wants to constantly take back control of my thoughts, my will, my actions.   Paul himself did not claim to have arrived.  He said in Philippians 3:13-14  "Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do; forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lives ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."  I believe this should also be our attitude also as a runner running to the finish line, pressing on to the goal.

2 Peter 1:1-4

Unlike many of my posts, I am simply going to upload my notes from my study in 2 Peter 1:1-4. 

2 Peter Bible Study

Background:  Simon Peter is the writer who claims to have been present during the transfiguration (2 Peter 1:16-18).  The object of this epistle is to guard the reader against false teaching and to exhort them to grow in the “knowledge of our Lord and Saviour” (2 Peter 3:18).  The emphasis in this epistle is of Jesus future reigning, present power and future kingdom.  It was most likely written by Peter in Rome before Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. sometime around 66 A.D..

2 Peter 1:1-4

Peter describes himself both as a bond servant and also an apostle.  The word bond servant is doulos which means a servant, metaphor for someone who gives himself up to another’s will. Paul and Peter both referred to themselves in that manner.  They had died to the world and their own desires and were seeking His.  The word apostle is the word “apostolos” which means a delegate, a messenger, one sent forth with orders. 

 Verse 2-Peter wishes for them to have grace and peace multiplied to them.  Grace is the word charis which means a lovingkindness, favour.  God has blessed up with an unmerited favour due to His own great power and goodness and not our own. 

Verse 3- His power is what grants to us everything pertaining to life and godliness.  It is not by our own wisdom or goodness.  It is not by our own power or ability to live out the Christian life.  It is through a true knowledge of him  This might be in contrast to the gnostics who claimed to have knowledge, but had a false knowledge.  He calls us by his own glory and excellence, not our own.   The word “true knowledge” is epignosis which means precise and correct knowledge.

Verse 4- He has granted us promises epaggelma, a promise, in order to escape the corruption of this world by its lusts.  The idea of corruption includes the perishable nature of this world.  As Peter has stated in 1 Peter several times that the world is perishing and fading away compared to the things of God which are uncorruptible. (1 Peter 1:18, 23)

The fruit of the Spirit - love

 Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law"

      Paul has been talking to the Galatians about walking the Spirit and here in Galatians 5 he contrasts what this means by first mentioning the deeds of the flesh in verses 19-21 (things like impurity, immorality, sensuality, outbursts of anger, jealousy etc) with the things of the Spirit.  You will note that these are called the fruit of the Spirit.  The word fruit is the greek word karpos which means that which originates or comes from something.  In this case, these qualities don't come from within us, but from the Spirit.

      The Lord had a lot to say about bearing fruit.  He told his disciples that good trees bore good fruit and bad trees bore bad fruit.  This should be obvious, but the lesson for us is that all of us bear some type of fruit Luke 6:44.  This is a result of either walking in the flesh or in the Spirit.  By abiding in the Lord as it is talked about in John 15 or relying on self.  When the Bible talks about how we are the light of the world we should remember that it is a reflected light.  In other words, it isn't a light that is generated from within, but a reflection of being near the Lord.

      In John 15:2,4,5,16 it says that those branches that do bear fruit the Lord prunes.  This is so that those things that are dead and not helpful can be clipped away, so that we can be even more fruitful.  One of the things that we should remember is that this is a lifelong process.  We never come to the point where there is nothing left to prune.  The Lord is always cutting away dead things trying to promote growth.  And what for us can seem like a painful process at times is really for our benefit.  Because it is impossible for us to bear fruit in ourselves John 15:5.  The Lord says that apart from Him we can do nothing.

     One of the qualities that the Lord says that we can bear through Him is love.  Love is the word apage which means a brotherly love, benevolence, good will.  In 1 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul goes on the describe this kind of love in more detail.  One of the characteristics of this love is that it is unselfish.  It is always looking out for the other, always believing the best, hoping the best, forgiving, patient and kind.  This one characteristic is at the heart of the greatest two commandments in the Bible and at the heart of God himself for God is love 1 John 4:8.  It is more than an attribute of God, it is who God is.  If we are going to love like the Lord wants us to that we must abide close to him with trust and faith and allow Him to grow within us that kind of love for others.

1 Peter 5 An Unfading crown of glory

"And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory" 1 Peter 5:4

     Peter was writing to people in 1 Peter those who were suffering or that had suffering coming very soon upon them.  He wanted them to know that their suffering was not in vain.  We also need to remember that God sees the heartache and trials that we go through.  He sees when we don't return an insult, give generously, have compassion and pray for the hurting.  Peter also wanted them to be very aware that the attacks that they experienced had their origins not only in people, but in demonic and unseen forces at work.  Peter makes that very clear here in 1 Peter 5.  The chapter begins in the first three verses with a word to those who had oversight duties.

     Peter tells those who were shepherds over God's flock to exercise oversight with eagerness and being a good example.  I tell parents all the time when talking about their children in counseling sessions that many things such as a way that the parent has with dealing with anger is more caught than taught.  In other words, children learn by watching our example.  They are like little tape recorders going about watching how we react to things.  Their sensitive little souls take in every slight, hurt and wound and it has profound effects on children.  Likewise, many of us learn how to be a christian or what it looks like by godly examples of others around us.  Of course, our primary example is Jesus, but we also look to others for daily help in how to live out our faith.  It is so important that those of us who have been believers for a while realize that we are being watched.

      Peter follows with three commands in rapid succession  First, humble yourselves before God.  The reason for this is that God opposes the proud.  Jesus said in Luke 14:11 "For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted."  This exhortation comes with a promise that God will lift you up at the right time.  Also notice in 1 Peter 5:10 it says that at the right time God will perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

     The second command is in verse 7 "casting all your anxiety upon HIm, because He cares for you."  This is repeated throughout scripture (Ps 37:5, 55:22).  We aren't to keep our concerns bottled up to ourselves.  The line of communication is open between the believer and heaven.   It reminds me of what it says in Hebrews 4:16

    "Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need."

Also

    "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  Philippians 4:6-7, NASV

   The third command is similar to what Peter said in 1 Peter 1:13 when he encouraged them to be "sober in spirit".  The reason that Peter gives for this is that the devil is roaming like a lion looking for someone to devour.   This is similar to what Paul said in Ephesians 6:10-16   The christian road is a narrow road and not one that is promised to be without difficulties.  But, there are so many promises available to the believer that there is reward and blessings for being faithful.  Peter refers to this in verse 4 when he says that the Chief Shepherd will appear and you will receive the unfading crown of glory.  The word crown there is a greek word stephanos which is Peter's way fo saying a blessedness for being a genuine follower of HIs.