Bible Studies

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Imagine what life would be like if, in an act of obedience, everyone did what they are supposed do, and did so without complaining.

Act of obedience? Where is that commandment written down?

“Do all things without complaining or arguments (Phil. 2: 14 NASB2020).”

It’s the “all” part of this commandment (not an option) that challenges us.

There is a time, the means, and a place for an advancing disciple to “vent” before the increasing pressure results in a destructive emotional explosion or implosion. The time, means, and place is during our private prayer sessions with the Lord.

Having many times benefited by personal and intercessory prayers of others, I would never dispute the power of prayer, but prayer is NOT to be seen as a problem-solving device.

To qualify as a problem-solving device, it must result in the desired outcome 100% of the time, such as in the case of 1John 1: 9 confession of sin, or the John 3: 16 means to secure eternal life.

All of us have, or will, receive “No” responses to some of our prayer requests. The further away that we, the people, or the things we are praying for, are from the plan of God, the more “No” answers to our prayer requests we can expect to receive.

Praying “in the name of Jesus” does NOT obligate God to grant our prayer requests. Such thinking is a misunderstanding of the “ask anything” principle of John 14: 13, 14.

This can happen when we base our position on isolated verse(s) of Scripture to the disregard of other verses that address the same subject.

ALL prayer requests are subject to the will and plan of God. His response to our prayer requests should be anticipated with that principle in mind.

Many Christians frequently pray for THY will to be done (1), but what we often want is for MY will to be done.

God is not there to be subservient to our plans. We are here to be subservient to His.

For an advancing disciple, His plan IS our plan. The advancing disciple has set aside his or her plans along the road to spiritual maturity. His or her interests in the things of this world, and the world’s interest in him or her, became a thing of the past.

You cannot simultaneously live for self and for God (2).

Perhaps by beginning our prayer requests with the phrase, “Father, if you are willing… ”, as Jesus did (Luke 22: 42 NASB2020), it would help us maintain the right perspective when it comes to making our prayer requests.

Concluding our prayer with the phrase, in Jesus’ name we pray, is acknowledging our access to the throne of grace because of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

It is not for the purpose of insuring a desired response to our requests.

When what we request in prayer is not consistent with His will, the answer will be “No,” or at the very least, “Not right now.”

When we get what we pray for, we say God has answered our prayers. The truth is that God immediately answers ALL prayers, addressed to Him, with a yes, no, or not right now response.

Admitting our own faults and areas of weakness to others can be endearing to some people (3), but be careful with whom you bare your soul.

Jesus had His spiritual enemies and so will those who follow Him.

With some people, the dirt they hear will be all they see when they look at you (or the person(s) you malign), from that point forward. Sad to say, but the devil uses the tongues of many “Christians” to dispense this poison.

God forgives confessed sin and allows us to move on, whereas Satan will use whatever negativity he can get his hands on to poison the minds of those you might otherwise be used to evangelize or to edify other people.

Any present and ongoing sin must be addressed, but If past sin disqualified a born-again believer from later participating in the Great Commission (4), no one could take part in the primary work that our Lord gave His Church to do.

Some believers will use their sinful past as an excuse not to participate. The fact is that some of the greatest sinners become the greatest saints (5).

“For all sinned have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (ROM. 3: 23 NASB2020).”

When the devil can’t dispute the message, he will attack the reputation of the messenger.
. . .

Becoming a constant complainer plays right into the hands of the devil, who, “… prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1Pet. 5: 8 NASB2020).”

Constant complaining can severely damage the unspoken testimony of our daily lives. Observers take notice when we don’t handle adversity any better than our unbelieving counterparts. There are people out there who live for the day they can see an advancing disciple stumble. .

. . .

Being in the need of, or being a caregiver over an extended period of time, can be an especially challenging, but opportune, time to glorify God by serving and appreciating others.

Opportune?

“And when did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you? And the King will answer and say to them, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me (Matt. 25: 39, 40 NASB2020).”

For the proud among us, it is difficult to accept a helping hand. Spiritually mature disciples can become impatient with weaker believers who mock their faith and divine wisdom, while they do nothing but moan and complain about their situation for which they have no solutions.

For the weak (unprepared) believers among us (6), the storms of life puts them on a collision course with a Matt. 7: 27 disaster. Sad to say, but many of us have to learn things through repeated negative experiences.

One of the definitions of insanity is to keep on doing the same thing the same way, while expecting a different outcome.

In the care-giving scenario, there is the need for both the provider and the one being served to acknowledge and overlook the inevitable manifestation of the human limitations of each other.

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(1) Matt. 6: 10 (2) Matt. 6: 24 (3) James 5: 16 (4) Matt. 28: 19, 20) (5) 1Tim. 1: 15 (6) Matt. 7: 26, 27 End of Part 0ne

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