Encouragement

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“The greatest problem with the Christian isn’t that he is weak, but that he doesn’t believe he is weak.” This is perhaps one of my favorite quotations I have ever heard spoken by Paul Washer. There is so much truth in that one statement. As Christians we know that if we abide not in Christ we can do nothing. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me (John 15:4). Therefore, if any good deed be committed by us, it is God working in us, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). Grace is unmerited favor. One of my greatest struggles as a Christian was to glory in my acquisition of knowledge in expectation that it would lead me to a more sanctified life in Christ. This attitude in essence isn’t necessarily wrong; knowledge and wisdom can be a great thing in its proper understanding. But knowledge or wisdom apart from the fear and reverence of a holy God is futile; indeed, a form of Gnosticism

It is common for many Christians when dealing with the practical issues of life and temptation of sin to consciously or subconsciously rely upon themselves as the means to the end of sanctification. Prayer is easy when there isn’t any known sin in the forefront of a believer’s conscience. We often feel in this state that we are qualified/approved to approach God in intercession and supplication. We view our standing with God through the figurative timeline of chronological victories over sin. The more temptations we conquer the greater God’s favor is upon us and our intimacy with Him grows. However, the moment we willingly sin against God the reset button on sanctification is pushed, the chronological timeline of spiritual devotion is broken, and inevitably the process must begin from nothing. I honestly believed not only had my walk with God been marked with discontinuity (not cessation of salvation but rather spiritual edification and maturity), but also a decline into the initiation of my rebirth. This was my mindset anyways for a long time. I began with a sovereign presupposition of God in my initial salvation experience; however, in regard to sanctification I presupposed an Armenian/Deistic god. Paul washer described this as idolatry. Upon first hearing his statement it seemed really harsh and belittling to me personally. How can one’s best efforts at living a devout life in accordance with the scriptures be considered idolatry? This is how, Christians, and I myself know we are weak in the flesh and we daily battle sin; but has that knowledge of our weakness had any effect on how we live our lives? The extent of belief in one’s weakness will be evident in the strides he or she takes in praying for the grace of God to resist sinful temptations. To what extent do glory in your weakness?

I have read biographies of great Christian leaders throughout church history who would awake before sunrise just to pray for hours so that they may be well equipped with the grace of God to overcome battles with sin on a daily basis. Matthew Henry would often awake in the middle of the night and couldn’t sleep. He would meditate upon the word of God in prayer until he fell asleep because he believed Satan would most often times find something for him to do when he did nothing else (sin doesn’t sleep). If the incarnate Son of God (being fully man, took upon Himself a cursed natural body that possessed the effects of sin and its temptations) saw the importance of praying and fasting for 40 days in the wilderness so that He might conquer the temptation of the greatest of tempters; how much more should we as finite sinful men devote ourselves to prayers for victory over sin? The disciples witnessed Jesus walk on water, raise the dead, preach as no man had ever preached before (as one with authority), heal the sick/blind, change water into wine, cast out demons, calm a the stormy waters, etc. What I find fascinating is there was something else Jesus did that impressed them and moved them in a way that none of the above did. The disciples didn’t ask Jesus teach us to preach, walk on water, or so on. The disciples simply asked the Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Can you imagine what it must have been like to hear the incarnate Son in communion with the Father? The disciples wanted to be imitators of Jesus no doubt; what is amazing is that they sought not the ability of metaphysical miracles to be taught to them but prayer.

“And when they had come to the multitude, there came to Him a certain man, kneeling down to Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is lunatic and sorely vexed; for ofttimes he falleth into the fire and oft into the water. And I brought him to Thy disciples, and they could not cure him.” Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to Me.” And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, “Why could we not cast him out?” And Jesus said unto them, “Because of your unbelief; for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, ‘Remove hence to yonder place,’ and it shall remove. And nothing shall be impossible unto you. However this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting (Matt. 17:14-21). Prayer is the leverage that moves mountains. Mere cognitive affirmation of man’s weakness must be surpassed by a belief in weakness that leads a spirit of poverty. E.M. Bounds, in his book Thy Will Be Done, comments on Matthew 5:3 observing, “The Greek word for poor means a pauper, one who lives by begging. The real Christian lives on the bounties of another, whose bounties he gets by another.” Blessed are those who realize that without Christ they are nothing. Blessed are those that live as beggars relying upon the sovereign hand of God to sustain them. “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41).”

The devil among many other names has been referred to as the great deceiver. In my life despite my diligent attempts to acquire knowledge, missed the greatest problem in the whole Bible. God is holy and I’m not. God created man to be His holy representatives on earth bringing everything into the subjection of His will. After the first Adam sinned, God’s redemption of the earth was pronounced by the gospel. “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel (Gen. 3:15).” “He hath put all things under His feet.” But when He saith “all things” are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted, who did put all things under Him (1 Cor. 15:27-28).” “(God) hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed Heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:2-3).” We now under the New Covenant have an everlasting High Priest who constantly makes intercession for us. We should always approach the throne of God in confidence that our sins have been purged, and make bold our request to the Majesty on High. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner; but be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel according to the power of God, who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but in accordance with His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son Himself also be subject unto Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all (2 Timothy 1:7-10).” Where is thy sting oh death? Hath Christ not abolished death through His death, burial, and resurrection? There is no condemnation for anyone who abides in Christ.

Keeping all this in mind, often the moment we sin Satan wants us to feel like we are unworthy to come before God and commune with Him, even in the asking for the forgiveness of a particular sin. May it never be! The first response of a born again believer after committing a sin should be to run with all fervency to Christ. It is Christ’s righteousness and perfect obedience to the law that God imputes to us so that we may be justified in His sight. “For it is witnessed of him, ‘You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.’ For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him: The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever.’ This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant (Heb. 7:17-22).”

Our prayer should be that God be glorified in our weakness. That we may be sanctified through the confessing of our sins and repentance. American culture today shuns the idea of weakness; it teaches the antithesis humanistic self-sufficiency. Humility and a broken, contrite spirit aren’t allowed in today’s culture. But we know that the poor in spirit possess the kingdom of heaven. Unfortunately for today’s power-religions they are living in the midst of this kingdom. Their social theories are proving themselves incompetent to sustain a progressive and prosperous society. On the contrary, the Kingdom of God cannot be thwarted; indeed, it is an everlasting Kingdom which has back of it Christ whom has All power in heaven and earth. All Humanist, Marxist, Socialist, etc. will in history become His footstool. Note, whatever attempt we make at reconstructing this nation, the church, our families, and ourselves to God’s law-word will be unsuccessful without unceasing prayer for the grace of God to assist us in that very task. For all things are possible through Christ who strengthens us; including the Great Commission.

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