Sharing the Keys

 

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

—Matthew 16:19

“You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it.”

—John 14:14

Do you remember, perhaps many years ago when you had just earned your driver’s license, how very grown up you felt? You likely felt carefree and in charge. Whenever your dad or mom handed you the keys to the family car, you knew you were trusted with great responsibility. You knew that you now must be especially careful because of the tremendous confidence your parent had placed in you.

To those us whom God has called to Himself and redeemed through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, God has handed us the “keys” to His Kingdom. One of those keys He has given us is His precious Name, that He has given us to use in prayer.

I like what Andrew Murray wrote in his little book, With Christ in the School of Prayer: ¹

What is a person’s name? That word or expression in which the person is called up or represented to us. When I mention or hear a name, it calls up before me the whole man, what I know of him, and also the impression he has made on me. The name of a king includes his honor, his power, his kingdom. His name is the symbol of his power. And so each name of God embodies and represents some part of the glory of the Unseen One … Jesus solemnly gives to all His disciples a general and unlimited power of the free use of His Name at all times for all they desire. He could not do this if He did not know that He could trust us with His interests, that His honor would be safe in our hands. The free use of the name of another is always the token of great confidence or close union.

When I took my father’s car out for a drive, or to attend a meeting, I knew that nearly everyone in our small town knew to whom that car belonged. Would I want people to see me driving recklessly, or parking in a no-parking zone, or parking in front of an establishment my father himself wouldn’t frequent? Of course not!

Again, here’s Andrew Murray: ²

When the Lord Jesus went to heaven, He left His work, the management of His Kingdom on earth, in the hands of His servants. He could not do otherwise than also give them His Name to draw all the supplies they needed for the due conduct of His business … The use of the Name always supposes the surrender of our interests to Him whom we represent.

If my father needed a part for a broken piece of farm equipment, since I was his oldest child, he would often ask me to go to town for that part. Since we lived several miles from town, it would have been useless for him to have asked me to get that part for him and not allow me the use of his car. Likewise, Jesus gives us His work to do in the world. When He ascended to heaven, He equipped us with His Holy Spirit and the power of prayer, using His Name, so that we could do His work.

Once my father asked me to go on an errand, I never decided to take his car and, rather than doing that errand, chose instead to hang out with my friends. No! I knew the purpose for which I had been given the keys. Likewise, we should clearly know the purposes for which God has given us His precious Name. We need to stay in constant touch with our Father and, relying on the leading of the indwelling Holy Spirit, ascertain truthfully His will through our study of His written Word and through our prayers. The more we understand God’s purposes, the more readily we will pray for that which He wills.

Let us intentionally remember the responsibility of “the keys” to His Kingdom that God has given us. And, let us take that memory to heart every time we go to God in prayer. As we pray, we should ask ourselves:

• Am I praying for that which my Father would have me pray?
  
  
• Do I represent my Father in this prayer?
  
  
• As led by the Holy Spirit, have I determined that what I am asking matches His divine will in this particular situation?
  
  

As God’s grown up children, we need to understand the grave nature of prayer. And, we must use that power to do His work in the world to the glory of His matchless Name.

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1 Murray, Andrew. With Christ in the School of Prayer. Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming Revell Co., 1953. Pp. 133-134.

2 Ibid.

Please note that, in each case, whenever a citation of any Copyrighted material is made within a post on this blog, such a citation is made strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

 

Wrestling

 

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

—Luke 18:1

I know very little about the sport of wrestling. I do know, however, that wrestlers must struggle from the beginning to the end of their match. In another sport, such as when a basketball team has 30 points more than their opponent, wrestlers can’t ever say: “OK. I’m ahead now, so the rest should be easy.” Until the very end of the match, wrestling requires persistence, perseverance, use of every muscle, and the application of every tactic that a wrestler knows.

In Genesis 32:24-32 we read the story of Jacob, terrified of the danger that lay ahead, for its effect on him and his family. First, Jacob prayed and asked God to protect him and his family. Then, he strategized a way to approach his estranged brother, Esau, with humility, represented by various gifts borne by Jacob’s servants.

The text then tells us that having sent his servants and family on ahead, Jacob remained where he was, waiting on an answer to his prayer. The answer came in the middle of the night. Suddenly, Jacob found himself wrestling with a man that he later learned was actually an angel of God. They wrestled all night in answer to Jacob’s prayer. In fact, even after daybreak came and the angel suggested they end the struggle, Jacob said to him: “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” Jacob wouldn’t stop until his adversary both blessed him and dislocated Jacob’s hip. Jacob strained every muscle until he received the blessing for which he had prayed.

In a New Testament passage found in Luke 18:1-8, Jesus took up a similar theme. He told the parable of a woman who kept coming to a judge who could care less about her case. She bothered him and struggled against his apathy until he gave in and gave her the justice for which she was asking.

The accounts of these kinds of prayers strengthen our faith and encourages us that in our persistence we, too, will receive victory from God in response to our prayers. God, unlike the apathetic judge, is not unjust, nor bothered by our persistence in coming to Him in prayer. But, sometimes, God withholds His blessing until we learn to how to wrestle with all that constrains us.

Andrew Murray, in his book, With Christ in the School of Prayer, dedicates a chapter to this parable of the Persistent Widow. He writes the following: ¹

The husbandman does indeed long for his harvest, but knows that it must have its full time of sunshine and rain, and has long patience … And it is the Father, in whose hands are the times and seasons, who alone knows the moment when the soul or the Church is ripened to that fulness of faith in which it can really take and keep the blessing. As a father who longs to have his only child home from school, and yet waits patiently till the time of training is completed, so it is with God and His children.

When we compare this kind of waiting to wrestling, we begin to see how we need the exercise of the struggle, the straining of every spiritual muscle, and the perseverance of all our human modalities—heart, soul, mind, and strength—to win the victory.

When we pray, we often must wait for an answer much longer than we at first expected. But, in response, we must take Jesus’s admonition to “pray and not give up!” If we do, He will come and will come “quickly” in accordance with His perfect will for us.

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1 Murray, Andrew. With Christ in the School of Prayer, Old Tappan N.J.: Fleming Revell Company, 1953. Pp.88-89. Please note that in each case, whenever a citation of any Copyrighted material is made within a post on this blog, such a citation is made strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

 

Living on Popcorn

 

The Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Call to Me and I will answer you, and tell you [and even show you] great and mighty things, [things which have been confined and hidden], which you do not know and understand and cannot distinguish.”

—Jeremiah 33:3 AMP

As a teen, I remember hearing lessons and sermons in which teachers or pastors referred to short prayers of the “God, please help me now!” variety as “popcorn prayers.” They encouraged our spiritual formation by teaching us that God loves and cares for us, and that in His omniscience—His ever-abiding presence—He listens to every prayer we pray. When we get into confusing or difficult circumstances, we should, first of all, go to Him.

I send up “popcorn prayers” all the time. But, I know from my longtime experience that I can’t base my life on those quick requests for help. Instead, I need to seek out the God of heaven and earth in His holiness and power on those daily occasions when I sit down with Him for a “full meal” of His written Word and, in my inner being, listen to discern His explanation for what I am reading.

Please let me illustrate by relating this account from the first chapter of Nehemiah:

Nehemiah, one of the exiles who lived in Persia, had risen in importance within the government to the place where he served King Artaxerxes as his cupbearer. The king trusted Nehemiah with his very life. In turn, Nehemiah knew that the king expected him to come in good spirits and a friendly heart in order to deliver poison-free refreshment.

One day the king questioned Nehemiah because he looked sad. Now, if we go back in time a bit, we learn that Nehemiah had heard from a fellow Jew, who had traveled to Jerusalem, that the walls of the city had been ruined and torn down.

As a result of hearing this bad news, God gave Nehemiah such a burden for this former vital city of the Jewish nation—a city that Nehemiah had never seen, but a city that was the seat of his ancestry—that Nehemiah wept over this news. Then, Nehemiah fasted and prayed for four months about a solution.

We get a glimpse of the kind of prayer that Nehemiah prayed from reading one of those prayers in this passage of Scripture. Nehemiah worshiped God as the covenant God, reminding Him of the sins of His people, and also reminding Him of the promises given to Moses. By the time Nehemiah finished this prayer, he felt he had heard God calling him to go and serve in Jerusalem.

These events had taken place immediately before this encounter over the wine with Artaxerxes—the very day when Nehemiah went to the king with a sad face, causing the king to ask Nehemiah about his countenance. Perhaps the king thought Nehemiah had tasted something that wouldn’t have been healthy for the king! But no, the conversations went like this, as recorded in Nehemiah 1:2-5. The king said to Nehemiah:

“This must be sadness of heart!”

Nehemiah explains: I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, “May the king live forever!” Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”

The king said to me, “What is it you want?”

Then I prayed to the God of heaven and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city of Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.

As you read this account, did you see it? Nehemiah prayed a “popcorn prayer”! But, we must remember that this prayer came after four months of long, thoughtful, submissive, listening prayer. Of course, God heard and answered Nehemiah’s prayer.

I suggest that “popcorn prayers” shouldn’t make up the totality of our prayer life. We need to have them handy in the moment we come up against a problem. But, only after we have built a relationship and a life of long, extended prayers with our Heavenly Father.

God longs for us to come in quietness to commune with Him. Yes, He listens to all our prayers. But, God also waits for us to come to the place where we have time to listen to Him. At such a time He will tell us great and mighty things which we do not know. We may need them from time to time. But, we can’t live on “popcorn prayers.”

 

 

Tapping Into Power

 

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

—Ephesians 3:20-21

Have you ever tried to use an electric tool or an electric appliance and found that it wouldn’t work? After checking it over and finding nothing awry, did you then notice that you forgot to plug it into the electrical outlet on the wall?

How often have you wondered why you had so little compassion, patience, peace, joy, forgiveness, and so forth, for the people in your life? Have you come to realize that your lack of these important qualities probably has something to do with the fact that you haven’t been “plugged in” to the fullness of the Holy Spirit? In our human nature, at times we can express those good human traits. But, they hold little power unless fed by that divine Power that accomplishes divine works.

To take the illustration further, we could also compare our powerlessness to the battery running low because we haven’t connected it to the battery charger. Without coming to the Source of our real Power at the beginning of our day, we will not have the divine ability to live in the way we want to for our Lord.

Jesus referred to this connectedness in His vine and branches illustration in John 15. In that passage of Scripture, Jesus was expressing that if His disciples, as the branches, were to bear fruit, they needed to “remain attached” to Him, the Vine.

When we pray, we plug into the Source and can rest in the knowledge that we will be able to do great things by His power. Puritan preacher, George Swinnock, put it this way: ¹

Every saint is God’s temple and may pray anywhere. Every house is a house of prayer. Prayer is pouring out the soul to God in the name of Christ, crying, “Abba, Father!” A prayer in a moment can fly to the highest heavens. It is a sweet savor to God, a terror to the devil, and a shelter to a Christian. Bernard calls it the conqueror of him who is invincible, and Luther says that it is omnipotent. By prayer fire has been quenched, water divided, the mouths of lions stopped, iron gates opened, the windows of heaven opened, the course of nature overturned, diseases removed, health restored, sin subdued, grace bestowed, kingdoms supported, enemies scattered, the blind restored, and devils cast out. Prayer is the midwife to bring mercies to the believer that were conceived in the womb of promise.

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1 From “Works” by George Swinnock, as quoted in Rushing, Richard, editor. Voices from the Past. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2009. p. 315. Please note that in each case, whenever a citation of any Copyrighted material is made within a post on this blog, such a citation is made strictly for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

 

Distilled

 

“For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver.”

—Malachi 3:2

Definition of to “distill”: to purify or refine (a liquid) by vaporizing it, then condensing it by cooling the vapor, and collecting the resulting liquid: to extract the essential meaning or most important aspects of it.

It occurs to me that God is in the business of making things, situations, even people, “distilled.” He looks for a final product that He has boiled down, made sweet, and fashioned as useful. He wants to bring out the essence of His work in and through us. This process, stated in religious language, is called “sanctification.” It begins the moment we acknowledge that God has called us to Himself and redeemed us through Christ’s sacrifice. This process of sanctification only ends when our earthly life is over and we graduate to spend eternity in heaven.

As a teacher, I practiced the distilling process every time I presented a lesson to my students. I certainly never taught my second graders about thirds and fifths, and chord progressions—lessons I learned in college music theory class. I distilled what I knew down to “so-mi” patterns and “so-do” endings for them to use in their reading of simple songs.

Along the pathway of sanctification, God brings us through a rigorous distilling process. He guides us through fiery trials that help us see Him and His will more clearly. Each trial distills us, in order that we may live purer lives, and so that we may discard the foolish things we so long thought were important. The contaminants and impurities have to go, to allow us to become more like our Savior.

When we arrive at old age, God expects that we will pass the knowledge of His goodness and power on to the next generation. Psalm 71, a prayer from the heart of an older person, recalls youth and a lifelong knowledge of God’s ways.

• The Psalmist asks God for His ability to: “declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.”
  
  
• The Psalmist recalls the trials: “Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again.”
  
  
• The Psalmist promises to: “shout for joy” and to: “tell of [God’s] righteous acts all day long.”
  
  

When we reach a certain age, we have a lot to distill from the experiences of our lives. We should consider daily, the lessons we have learned through God’s distillation process. We should take note of what the fire has boiled away and what He has for us to share with others about His goodness to us.

We might find that keeping a journal would help us to recall God’s work in us, the Scripture passages that He has taught us through personal experience, the prayers He has answered and through which He has shown us His love and mercy.

Each day, we should ask ourselves: “What distilled product has God brought forth from me?”

 

 

Old and Flourishing

 

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in their old age, they will stay fresh and green.

—Psalm 92:12-14

Our culture has numerous ways of casting a different view of old age than the Psalmist did in the Scripture verse at the beginning of this blog post. Today, when choosing people for important work in the marketplace or church, more likely than not, the younger person gets the nod.

When even the older people view retirement, instead of hoping for a useful and productive time in their lives, they far too often gravitate toward filling their lives full-to-overflowing with “the good life”—the country club, the golf course, the garden, visits with family and friends, or a pleasureful season of constant cruises and perpetual vacations.

When we look into what the Bible has to say about this matter, we see that God used very old people to accomplish some of His most important work. For example:

• Abraham and Sarah, nearing 100 years of age, became parents of a son who would become a key individual in the birth line of the Messiah.
  
  
• King David wrote Psalms from the perspective of old age.
  
  
• Moses carried out his most impressive assignment after the age of 80.
  
  

After Moses had endured the Israelites’ wandering in the desert for forty years, he penned Psalm 90, which in verse 17, he asked God to “establish the work of our hands.” Even then, Moses didn’t “go into retirement” and quit. He asked God for something new to accomplish. He had seen what appeared as futile drifting by his people, and he wanted to warn them that life is short, and God had work for them to do.

When we study the young mind of Moses in the Book of Exodus, we quickly learn that, although God prepared him to some degree for the work ahead of him, God wanted a mature, seasoned man, who had experienced the sad disappointments of life. Eventually, these disappointments would prepare Moses for the task of leading an entire nation to a new home.

By that time, inspite of all the opportuities that God had given Moses to learn and become mature, he still felt very inadequate! Over the many years, Moses had gone from self-assured at forty (see Exodus 2:11-14) to a humble, cautious man, whom God could use at the age of eighty (see Exodus 3). Then, close to 40 years later, Moses penned Psalm 90, in which he was asking God to establish his, and the Israelites’ work for them!

When we feel as though God can no longer use us at 65, or 75, or 95, we need to take a look at His servants in Scripture. Read Psalm 71, a Psalm, probably by David, about old age. In verses 17 and 18, David prays:

Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.

Certainly, we can say that God used Moses in the very manner that Moses’ prayer had requested. In like manner—whether we are young, or middle aged, or old—God wants to use us, as well. Moses, the great intercessor for his people, shows us that even when physical limitations may persist and may hamper our efforts, God can do great things through our prayers.

 

 

Believe It!

 

When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

—Judges 6:12

How many times in Scripture has God proven that He makes the most out of the weakest people? Think of the virgin teen, Mary of Nazareth. Consider Sarah, Abraham’s wife at 90 years old. Remember Moses at age 80. Think about Ruth, a foreign barren widow. Ponder the life of David, a shepherd boy. In the lives of each one, God has elevated these individuals to places of significance in His Kingdom.

As yet another example, I would like to zoom in on the Bible character, Gideon. In those long ago days when Gideon lived, the Israelites had once again cried out to God because of the oppression of the Midianites.

One day, Gideon, the son of a farmer, was threshing wheat in a winepress for his father. He did this in order to hide the wheat from the enemy. As he worked, Gideon was visited by the angel of the Lord, who addressed Gideon as a mighty warrior! Gideon’s response definitely spoke of his lack of faith because, as recorded in Judges 6:13-15, Gideon replied:

“If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?” … The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel.” Gideon responded, “How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

Has anyone ever called you a “trooper,” or a “prayer warrior,” or some other name you know couldn’t possibly define you? Your first thought might be:

“Prove it! Show me in what way you can say that about me!”

Gideon just would not believe that God could do through him what God had asked. Gideon asked for signs, which God graciously gave him. But, as we read in Judges 6:27, even when Gideon obeyed God:

Because he was afraid of his family and the men of the town, he did it at night rather than in the daytime.

The story takes even more twists and turns. But, once Gideon had called all his men together, God whittled the army down even more. God did this so that His power might be seen in the outcome of this attack.

We read in Judges 7:12, that even against the Midianites with the Amalekites, who came:

… thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore …

Using Gideon’s small army of 300, God proved His power and defeated the enemy.

In dramatic terms, this narrative from Scripture teaches us that God loves to use the weak to do His greatest work. If we come to God with fear, with very little to offer, in weakness and need, but with a willing spirit, He can use us for mighty things.

In 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, the Apostle Paul expounds on the lesson:

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

If we desire for God to use us, let us please take heart. When we feel weak, God can use His strength in us. When we feel inadequate, God will make us adequate to do anything to which He calls us. Believe it! We can’t, but He can.