If you were to meditate on this portion of Psalm 1, what would you get from it?
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season, And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. Psalm 1:1-3
The last sentence tells the benefit of meditation. It is of interest that we don't teach more on this discipline if that is the reward. "In whatever he does, he prospers". Wow!
March 27, 2007
March 21, 2007
Paul continues in Romans 12 with his discourse of worship and the role of the Believer when he writes, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect".
The description of the clean animal was the cloven hoof illustrates "not being conformed to this world" and, chewing the cud, "being transformed by the renewing of your mind".
Renewing of the mind is the crux of the Christian life. This is the only way to transform the life of the Believer. Behaviors, that we try to change in our own power, will be modified by God through the power of His Word. The writer of Hebrews reports this when he pens, "For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart".
The process is simple, taking a section of Scripture, reading it, thinking about it, its meaning, the setting and pondering it. Bringing it back up later, to think about it again, put it in the context of your life and the lives of those around you. Critique it, test it, ask what God meant by it. Challenge it. Argue it. God's Word stands the test.
This is meditation. This will change your thinking which in turn will change your behavior.
"You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. Deut. 11:18
The word transformed (by the renewing of your mind) is metamorphoo, the origin of the English word, metamorphosis. The changes are sometimes not noticeable and changes take time.
The result of not conforming to the world and transforming the mind is that we will know or discern what the will of God is.
This is the most asked question in the church, "What is God's will for my life"?
When we meditate on the Word, the benefit of making this a habit is that you will begin to know what God's will is for your life.
The description of the clean animal was the cloven hoof illustrates "not being conformed to this world" and, chewing the cud, "being transformed by the renewing of your mind".
Renewing of the mind is the crux of the Christian life. This is the only way to transform the life of the Believer. Behaviors, that we try to change in our own power, will be modified by God through the power of His Word. The writer of Hebrews reports this when he pens, "For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart".
The process is simple, taking a section of Scripture, reading it, thinking about it, its meaning, the setting and pondering it. Bringing it back up later, to think about it again, put it in the context of your life and the lives of those around you. Critique it, test it, ask what God meant by it. Challenge it. Argue it. God's Word stands the test.
This is meditation. This will change your thinking which in turn will change your behavior.
"You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. Deut. 11:18
The word transformed (by the renewing of your mind) is metamorphoo, the origin of the English word, metamorphosis. The changes are sometimes not noticeable and changes take time.
The result of not conforming to the world and transforming the mind is that we will know or discern what the will of God is.
This is the most asked question in the church, "What is God's will for my life"?
When we meditate on the Word, the benefit of making this a habit is that you will begin to know what God's will is for your life.
March 18, 2007
What is worship?
When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well, as recorded in John 4, He said, "… true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers".
Paul clarifies this in Romans 12 when he writes, "…to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship".
He says that worship is presenting yourself as a living sacrifice.
A clean animal, fit for eating and sacrifice, in Leviticus, is described as, "Whatever divides a hoof, thus making split (cloven) hoofs, and chews the cud…".
When we combine Paul's instruction, "to present your bodies as a 'living and holy (set apart) sacrifice' and God's description of the sacrifice, 'cloven hoof and chews the cud', we can surmise that God wants us to be identified by two specific characteristics, which is worship: those who are separate from the world and those who meditate on His Word.
The cloven or split hoof is an illustration of one who has "come out from their midst and be separate," (2 Cor. 6)
It is imperative that the Believer be in the world but not of the world. We are to be separate in our thinking which will result in our being separate (from the world) in our behavior.
Clean animals have several stomachs for the purpose of digestion; they ruminate or chew the cud. The animal will eat grasses and swallow it into the first stomach. It will later regurgitate and once again chew the pre-digested grass. The process continues until the grass is broken down into cellulite which can be digested. It is then passed to a second stomach to continue the process of digestion. Thus, ruminating on grass is taking a large area and eating from it, swallowing and bring it up later to process it further. God specifically uses this animal to depict the process of meditation on the Word. We take large sections, eat (read) from them, then bring them up in our thoughts, ponder (chew) them, swallow, bring them up again in order to digest and benefit from the food.
We see several times in Scripture where the Word is described as food, milk, meat, something to be eaten.
In conclusion, our worship of God, that which is of spirit and truth, is done by offering ourselves to Him as a living and holy sacrifice. It is one who separates himself from the world and who meditates (ruminates) on the Word. This is worship.
Paul clarifies this in Romans 12 when he writes, "…to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship".
He says that worship is presenting yourself as a living sacrifice.
A clean animal, fit for eating and sacrifice, in Leviticus, is described as, "Whatever divides a hoof, thus making split (cloven) hoofs, and chews the cud…".
When we combine Paul's instruction, "to present your bodies as a 'living and holy (set apart) sacrifice' and God's description of the sacrifice, 'cloven hoof and chews the cud', we can surmise that God wants us to be identified by two specific characteristics, which is worship: those who are separate from the world and those who meditate on His Word.
The cloven or split hoof is an illustration of one who has "come out from their midst and be separate," (2 Cor. 6)
It is imperative that the Believer be in the world but not of the world. We are to be separate in our thinking which will result in our being separate (from the world) in our behavior.
Clean animals have several stomachs for the purpose of digestion; they ruminate or chew the cud. The animal will eat grasses and swallow it into the first stomach. It will later regurgitate and once again chew the pre-digested grass. The process continues until the grass is broken down into cellulite which can be digested. It is then passed to a second stomach to continue the process of digestion. Thus, ruminating on grass is taking a large area and eating from it, swallowing and bring it up later to process it further. God specifically uses this animal to depict the process of meditation on the Word. We take large sections, eat (read) from them, then bring them up in our thoughts, ponder (chew) them, swallow, bring them up again in order to digest and benefit from the food.
We see several times in Scripture where the Word is described as food, milk, meat, something to be eaten.
In conclusion, our worship of God, that which is of spirit and truth, is done by offering ourselves to Him as a living and holy sacrifice. It is one who separates himself from the world and who meditates (ruminates) on the Word. This is worship.
March 11, 2007
The Conundrum of the Believer Who Falls Away
Have you ever been frustrated that you go one step forward and two steps back in your effort to "walk the walk" of the Believer?
Have you seen people fall away and ask yourself, "why"?
I have.
A frustrating part of the Christian life is that when we are "born again" we desire to have our actions and behaviors reflect what we think is the way a Christian should behave. However, we continue to cut people off when we drive, gossip, curse at our children, devote ourselves to things that are of no value…
In all honesty, we see little to no change.
What we have seen is that we tend to "clean up our act", to model our behavior after what we see other Christians doing.
We used to cuss, so we try to stop. We smoked, so now, even though we are still smoking, we feel guilty. The problem is that the change is only temporary. And, we have no power to make behavioral changes in our own efforts.
The common error of the church is to pursue outward changes in the behavior which is supposed to illustrate a change in our life. This causes one to change on the outside but there is little to no inward change, in our thought processes.
This results in frustration.
These often 'fall away' because they see no change. They often hear the mantra quoted, "Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come". 2 Cor 5:17 . When a Believer sees that the "old" has not passed away, he abandons his beliefs and retreats.
We want others to think we are Christians and want them to see our change often using our good behavior as a 'witnessing' tool i.e. "God can make you a better person, too". But, we need to allow God to change us first in our thoughts then our thoughts will change our outward behavior.
The cure to this dilemma is to keep His Word.
This appears to be one of those nebulous ideas that you hear in the church, spoken in the language of Christianese.
In John 14:23 Jesus said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him.
The NIV erroneously translates the word 'keep' as obey. In the Greek, it actually means to watch over, keep a guard on. The implication is to keep before ones eyes or in practical terms, to meditate on.
God wants to change our thinking by meditating on the Word thus, our change in thinking will, by its nature, change our behaviors. The bottom line is, God's Word changes our thinking which in turn changes our behaviors for as a man thinks within himself, so is he… Prov. 23:7.
How does one 'meditate' on the Word?
Have you seen people fall away and ask yourself, "why"?
I have.
A frustrating part of the Christian life is that when we are "born again" we desire to have our actions and behaviors reflect what we think is the way a Christian should behave. However, we continue to cut people off when we drive, gossip, curse at our children, devote ourselves to things that are of no value…
In all honesty, we see little to no change.
What we have seen is that we tend to "clean up our act", to model our behavior after what we see other Christians doing.
We used to cuss, so we try to stop. We smoked, so now, even though we are still smoking, we feel guilty. The problem is that the change is only temporary. And, we have no power to make behavioral changes in our own efforts.
The common error of the church is to pursue outward changes in the behavior which is supposed to illustrate a change in our life. This causes one to change on the outside but there is little to no inward change, in our thought processes.
This results in frustration.
These often 'fall away' because they see no change. They often hear the mantra quoted, "Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come". 2 Cor 5:17 . When a Believer sees that the "old" has not passed away, he abandons his beliefs and retreats.
We want others to think we are Christians and want them to see our change often using our good behavior as a 'witnessing' tool i.e. "God can make you a better person, too". But, we need to allow God to change us first in our thoughts then our thoughts will change our outward behavior.
The cure to this dilemma is to keep His Word.
This appears to be one of those nebulous ideas that you hear in the church, spoken in the language of Christianese.
In John 14:23 Jesus said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him.
The NIV erroneously translates the word 'keep' as obey. In the Greek, it actually means to watch over, keep a guard on. The implication is to keep before ones eyes or in practical terms, to meditate on.
God wants to change our thinking by meditating on the Word thus, our change in thinking will, by its nature, change our behaviors. The bottom line is, God's Word changes our thinking which in turn changes our behaviors for as a man thinks within himself, so is he… Prov. 23:7.
How does one 'meditate' on the Word?
March 08, 2007
The Double-Minded Man
But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. James 1:6-8
When you ask, do it in what you are persuaded, not going back and forth in your convictions. James compares this double minded conduct with the ocean's waves which are driven and moved by an outside force. Otherwise, don't expect anything, because you have two different thought processes.
Recently, I had been praying for someone to have a mind change concerning something they were doing. One way that I have been double-minded in my thinking is that when I finish praying, I tend to think, "Well, if God doesn't answer within a certain time, then I will talk to the person about my desire for their change".
This type thinking puts me in the category of the 'double-minded' man. I ask God, believing He can do it, and then get off my knees and think, "how can I accomplish this".
"…unstable in all his ways"
The instability then moves to other areas of my life, my job, relationships, etc. I tend to ask God for something, believing Him to accomplish His will and then I try to manipulate the circumstances or grumble if it didn't go the way I wanted.
The double-minded man, who is unstable in his thinking and conduct, who wishes to change, needs only look to James 4:8 where he says, "purify your hearts minds you double-minded". This indicates that the one who has these "double-minded" behaviors need only meditate on the Word. This is the process of "purifying the heart".
James says, "but let him ask in faith...". Doubting leads to double-mindedness. Faith is the opposite of doubting. We know that "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God". So as we build our faith through the Word, it opposes and dispels doubting and double-minded thoughts and conduct.
When you ask, do it in what you are persuaded, not going back and forth in your convictions. James compares this double minded conduct with the ocean's waves which are driven and moved by an outside force. Otherwise, don't expect anything, because you have two different thought processes.
Recently, I had been praying for someone to have a mind change concerning something they were doing. One way that I have been double-minded in my thinking is that when I finish praying, I tend to think, "Well, if God doesn't answer within a certain time, then I will talk to the person about my desire for their change".
This type thinking puts me in the category of the 'double-minded' man. I ask God, believing He can do it, and then get off my knees and think, "how can I accomplish this".
"…unstable in all his ways"
The instability then moves to other areas of my life, my job, relationships, etc. I tend to ask God for something, believing Him to accomplish His will and then I try to manipulate the circumstances or grumble if it didn't go the way I wanted.
The double-minded man, who is unstable in his thinking and conduct, who wishes to change, needs only look to James 4:8 where he says, "purify your hearts minds you double-minded". This indicates that the one who has these "double-minded" behaviors need only meditate on the Word. This is the process of "purifying the heart".
James says, "but let him ask in faith...". Doubting leads to double-mindedness. Faith is the opposite of doubting. We know that "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God". So as we build our faith through the Word, it opposes and dispels doubting and double-minded thoughts and conduct.
March 03, 2007
Witnessing to Cults
Many have asked why I don’t study or teach on the cults or the occult. To that I give the following answer:
In the Garden of Eden there were two trees, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God allowed man to eat from the tree of life. It was a “type” of Christ. It caused him to live forever.
Man was commanded not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was not a tree of knowledge that he could not eat from but a tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God does not want us to know evil with our intellect. He will cause us to know evil with our spirit.
GEN 2:9 And out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die. "
GEN 3:5 "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
Like Eve, we see that the knowledge of evil “is desirable to make us wise”, “to make us equal to God, knowing good and evil”. Knowing about the cults gives us an edge when talking to people, both Christians and those in the cults. It makes us feel a sense of pride. Scripture says, however, “knowledge makes us arrogant but love edifies”.
God does not want us to “witness” to the cults through our knowledge of their beliefs but rather, He wants us to “witness” through love. Again, it says, “They will know you are my disciples by your love for one another” not by your knowledge of their beliefs.
It has been my experience that Christians find it difficult to “witness” through love. It is easier to witness through knowledge.
Another area of contention is the belief that we are to “witness” to cultists who come to our door. We should look at the next verses to give us the definitive answer to this idea.
2JO 1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the Antichrist. Watch yourselves that you might not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.
Again, it is the pride of knowledge, not the love of people, which forces us to “witness” to these strangers. Perhaps, if we truly loved them, we would be going to their homes on Saturday mornings and telling them the gospel.
Scripture clearly says that we are not to greet them nor are we to invite them into our home. They come in pairs for a purpose. There is strength in numbers. They feed off each other’s presence. They are rarely persuaded to the truth. An interesting statistic reveals that a great number of Southern Baptists have been persuaded to Mormonism as a result.
EXO 23:13 "Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be on your guard; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard from your mouth.
God desires for us to know evil only by our spirit, His Spirit within, not by our soul, mind, will or emotions.
HEB 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
In the Garden of Eden there were two trees, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God allowed man to eat from the tree of life. It was a “type” of Christ. It caused him to live forever.
Man was commanded not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was not a tree of knowledge that he could not eat from but a tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God does not want us to know evil with our intellect. He will cause us to know evil with our spirit.
GEN 2:9 And out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die. "
GEN 3:5 "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
Like Eve, we see that the knowledge of evil “is desirable to make us wise”, “to make us equal to God, knowing good and evil”. Knowing about the cults gives us an edge when talking to people, both Christians and those in the cults. It makes us feel a sense of pride. Scripture says, however, “knowledge makes us arrogant but love edifies”.
God does not want us to “witness” to the cults through our knowledge of their beliefs but rather, He wants us to “witness” through love. Again, it says, “They will know you are my disciples by your love for one another” not by your knowledge of their beliefs.
It has been my experience that Christians find it difficult to “witness” through love. It is easier to witness through knowledge.
Another area of contention is the belief that we are to “witness” to cultists who come to our door. We should look at the next verses to give us the definitive answer to this idea.
2JO 1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the Antichrist. Watch yourselves that you might not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.
Again, it is the pride of knowledge, not the love of people, which forces us to “witness” to these strangers. Perhaps, if we truly loved them, we would be going to their homes on Saturday mornings and telling them the gospel.
Scripture clearly says that we are not to greet them nor are we to invite them into our home. They come in pairs for a purpose. There is strength in numbers. They feed off each other’s presence. They are rarely persuaded to the truth. An interesting statistic reveals that a great number of Southern Baptists have been persuaded to Mormonism as a result.
EXO 23:13 "Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be on your guard; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard from your mouth.
God desires for us to know evil only by our spirit, His Spirit within, not by our soul, mind, will or emotions.
HEB 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
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