Teach us to pray

Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”... And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. (Luke 11:1, 9-10)

Teach us to pray. These are words of gold to our heavenly Father. They are words that will bring down the warriors of heaven on our behalf and send the enemy of our soul running in fear. Prayer is more about coming into connection with God has for us than it is us telling God what it is we need from him. We might think it is all about the request, but God knows in the request comes the opportunity to change things within our hearts and minds that need change. Yes, we express our concerns and bring our needs to him. Yes, we are free to express our fears and hopes. But...as we do these things, God begins to work in our hearts in ways we might not have even known we needed his work!

Boldness to come before God with our needs - even when we aren't quite certain what to ask, or what specifically we have need of at the moment. This is the privilege of his children - to come to their heavenly Father, opening up to him, and then pressing into him until we receive our answer. Will our answer always be exactly as we believed it to be? Not hardly! God's answers oftentimes come in the timing and ways we didn't count on. Keep on knocking, asking, and seeking - don't be afraid to be the 'pesky' kid who just keeps bringing their need before him. Why? For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7)

Stop for a moment to consider the sequence of events Jesus shared here. Knock - there will be an answer. Ask - what we have need of is going to be fulfilled. Seek - for what is sought will be discovered. Did you ever stop to consider the answer we so desperately need might just be hinging on us having knocked, asked, or sought with this type of tenacity? James 4:2 reminds us we have not because we ask not. Don't be intimidated by the 'door' you see in your full view right now. Instead, pound hard upon it. Seek to have it opened. Ask and keep on asking. Perhaps that door isn't really blocking your answer - it might just be helping you to realize how much you need it and are willing to go after it! Just sayin!

Don't neglect this important step

So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into "the Holy Place." Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The "curtain" into God's presence is his body. So let's do it—full of belief, confident that we're presentable inside and out. Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.

(Hebrews 10:19-25)

The context of this passage comes upon the summation of the necessity of Christ's birth, death, and resurrection.  Unfolded in these passages are the truths behind the old covenant of the Law of Moses (a set of sacrifices, feasts and ways of worship) and the total fulfillment of that Law by Christ.  The shedding of his blood was the perfect sacrifice, negating the need for any other work, sacrifice, or performance of feast days in order to approach the throne of a holy God.  Now, we are about to learn we can walk right up to God - into the place God calls holy - his presence. We do this without hesitation because we have been made pure in Christ's sacrifice for our sins, We may not look pure to the outsider (I know I don't) - but IN CHRIST all things are new, the old is passed away, and all that remains is new in him (even though what comes across at times still seems a little 'tarnished' by bad behavior).  It is at the moment of salvation that we are made "presentable" inside and out.  God takes messed up lives - lives focused on our own destruction - and turns them inside out.  In the doing of that, he purifies our lives by the blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins.

That very action of Christ's sacrifice gives us the ability to be both full of belief and confident in our approach to a holy God.  So many times, we form thought patterns that "limit" our approach to God because we don't feel "good enough" or "worthy" to enter into his holiness. So, we go about the day trying to "work" ourselves into a place of "worth" - through good deeds, pumping ourselves up with words that 'tell us' we are 'good enough' and the like. That was never God's intention for us - he provided the perfect sacrifice, opened the doors wide into his courts, and stands ready to embrace even the worst of sinners IN CHRIST. The worst includes even those who may not see themselves as needing a Savior - even those who consider themselves 'the best'. 

It is in the presence of a holy God that we become acquainted with his very nature.  His nature is always focused on provision - he provided what we were incapable of providing by any action of our own and that provision never ceases.  His nature is one of compassion - he reached out to us even before we knew we had need of his love - that is a true heart of compassion, for reaching out to someone who doesn't want to be reached might just seem a little futile to some, but he does it time after time again.  His nature is one of fullness - he opens the very throne room of his presence in order that we might have full and immediate access to all he is and all he provides.  Let's not lose sight of the fact that his nature is such that he cannot go back on a promise - he is fully and completely trustworthy. Unlike we humans, it is impossible for God to break his promise and when he gives it, it is with purest of intent.

No wonder we can be both bold and fully convinced of the love and care of our God!  It is time that we do our part in this salvation experience - God has done the rest!  Our part is clearly defined for us in this passage - keep encouraging one another in living right, making right choices, being built up in the faith.  How do we do this?  By frequently gathering together, taking accountability for the growth of each other through specific times set aside to really focus on relationship with each other, and by continual openness to being renewed both inside and out.  We are to be instruments of encouragement and exhortation at the same time.  Spurring one another on to the fullness of salvation - being transformed day by day into the very image of the Son of God. 

We need to take this warning seriously - DON'T forsake the gathering of ourselves together - nor relationships that require our focus and intentional engagement in order to be nurtured! The Body of Christ is a place of safety, but it is also a place of intimate encounter with the holiness of God.  We need each other - so don't neglect the relationships God has placed you in. Especially those he has given you as unique, challenging, and nurturing. For me, that is my BFF - she knows who she is. We need to be as bold in our relationships with each other as we are in our boldness we now possess in Christ to enter fully into all that God intends for us. Just sayin!

B.O.L.D.

14 But Jesus the Son of God is our great High Priest who has gone to heaven itself to help us; therefore let us never stop trusting him. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses since he had the same temptations we do, though he never once gave way to them and sinned. 16 So let us come boldly to the very throne of God and stay there to receive his mercy and to find grace to help us in our times of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16 TLB)

We need to be bold in our faith - bold believers through and through. I know there are times when we face uncertainties and somehow all our boldness flies out the window like some vapor ascending into the unknown. If we are be 100% truthful here, we ALL need a little lesson in boldness! Why? We get doubt in the driver's seat and faith merely becomes a passenger. Passengers don't control the car - although they may try to tell you where to turn, stop, or what's just around the bend, you are under absolutely no obligation to heed their advice. You are driving. Boldness isn't about us driving, but us being willing to allow another to drive us!

BOLDNESS isn't about us having it all together - it sometimes about us recognizing we actually don't have all the pieces in order. It isn't going to hurt us to admit we struggle with boldness - it will only hurt us when we refuse to be honest about our struggles in areas of BELIEF, OBEDIENCE, LEARNING, OR DISCIPLINE.

BELIEF might just be the starting place for boldness to begin to blossom in our lives because every action has some basis of belief behind it. We almost take for granted some of the stuff we believe, but have come to trust in fully. We don't think twice about our next breath most of the time because we just trust it will be there - until one day we find ourselves plunged into icy cold water through a crack in the ice and have to hold our breath until we can find our way to surface again! We don't want to take for granted where we put our trust, do we? We want assurances our trust is well-placed, yet when we take for granted anything (or anyone) we place our trust in, we create an environment where we are just assuming upon the 'good graces' of that person or object. Boldness begins in recognizing God's graces are always to be trusted, but never to be taken for granted.

OBEDIENCE is not an outcome of boldness - it is the outcome of belief. The one who understands where his trust is placed is determined to align his actions with the one he has given his allegiance to by such an alignment. Heart, mind, and body - aligned perfectly so as to take actions based upon trustworthy evidence. Obedience is more than conformity - it is inward strength in action even when outward circumstances don't seem to paint the picture we might want to see. What we believe determines how we stand when asked to go any other way than that which grace would pull us. 

LEARNING is an inward expression of our belief. To learn, one has to trust either the one doing the teaching, or the subject being taught. I don't know why I trusted my elementary school teachers when they told me one apple plus another one apple will yield me two apples, but I did. Before my eyes, I saw one shiny red apple and then another. In my mind I thought those amazingly crisp and juicy objects were good eating! I didn't care why one plus one equaled two, but trusted that more than one apple in the bowl was a very good thing! You see, we don't always question what we learn when we trust the one doing the teaching so very well!

DISCIPLINE is the outcome of having solid beliefs, a committed heart of obedient service, and an open heart to being taught the truths that will keep us safe in life. Discipline is merely focus - it is determined action that won't allow an opportunity for wavering. Nothing bespeaks boldness better than an unwavering ability to stand. Just sayin!

You bold enough?

If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open. (James 1:5 MSG)

We have been looking a little at what it means to pray - the posture we should take is one of boldness, not timidity. The purpose of prayer is relationship - to strengthen our heart's connection with the one who already loves us so very much. The pathway to prayer is submission - in laying ourselves down, even for just a little while, we "make room" to take in a little of the presence of God and to bask it in a little while, listening and absorbing. The productivity of prayer is found in what we leave and what we receive - it is in "bringing" and "leaving" that we have room to now "receive".

The process of prayer begins a lot of times simply in us not knowing what we are going to do about something that is troubling us, or that we need another perspective on in order to see things in a new light. When I am struggling with a solution to a particular problem, I spend endless hours just thinking on the solution. I wanted to have a workshop - a dream of about a two years in the making. That is a reality now, but not without a whole lot of pondering, reconsidering, planning and purposeful preparation. 

We all deal with problems a different way. Maybe we face them head on, in a rush of emotion and quick response - but I have to ask - how's that been working for you? We could be planners - taking such a long time to act on anything that the problem is now magnified because we needed the "perfect plan". The issue isn't that we have problems - it is in how we deal with the problems we have! We rob ourselves of great resources and tremendous insight when we are too proud, passionate, or pessimistic to bring them to the Lord first!

Just a couple of thoughts on prayer:

1) WE often don't have the solution. WE need a different perspective in order to see the solution. If we don't ask, we might not ever find that "additional" or "different" perspective that brings the right solution WE need.

2) We aren't admitting defeat every time we come to God for his perspective on a matter - we are deferring to his wisdom - to his awareness of what exactly we NEED at that very moment. To defer is not to take action - it is to yield to the direction that supersedes our present knowledge.

3) We are bold about some things that aren't as important as prayer - so why aren't we as bold, or bolder in prayer? Just askin!

It is finished - cross over!

If you were raised Catholic, you probably have a "view" of the priesthood a little different from someone raised in a non-denominational background.  For example, the Catholic church has a set of rituals the priest must perform on a regular basis - everything from blessing ordinary water to turn it into holy water to saying the mass each day.  In the Old Testament (OT), there was this idea of the religious leaders being called "priests" - not exactly in the sense of what the Catholic church may require, but similar.  The most important thing about the OT priest was that he was "set aside" from the rest of the community in which he dwelt for the specific purpose of all the duties associated with worship and sacrifice.  Their duties included such things as preparing the offerings each day which were to be burnt on the altar, intervening for the people of Israel before God in prayer, and the like.  There was also this office of "High Priest".  Basically, he was over all the other priests and saw to it they all knew their duties, but he had some duties of his own that the other priests could not perform.  For example, he had the role of wearing the "Urim and Thummim" - something ancient Israelites used to cast lots to determine God's perspective on a matter.  He also had the important duty of being the one to offer the sin offering for the people - on the Day of Atonement.  It is this role as High Priest that "foreshadowed" the work of Christ on our behalf as our one true High Priest.

So now we have a high priest who perfectly fits our needs: completely holy, uncompromised by sin, with authority extending as high as God’s presence in heaven itself. Unlike the other high priests, he doesn’t have to offer sacrifices for his own sins every day before he can get around to us and our sins. He’s done it, once and for all: offered up himself as the sacrifice. The law appoints as high priests men who are never able to get the job done right. But this intervening command of God, which came later, appoints the Son, who is absolutely, eternally perfect.  (Hebrews 7:26-28 MSG)

As High Priest, Jesus perfectly fulfilled all the duties and requirements of the High Priest, but as our perfect sacrificial lamb, without spot or blemish, he also performed the role of the perfect sacrifice.  Once and for all, the sacrifice was offered - leaving no need for further sacrifice.  His role in dying for mankind's sin made all the OT required sacrifices null and void - no longer necessary.  In fact, his role as High Priest also did away with the need for the priest as the one to be the "intercessor" between God and man.  Two "systems" of known religious occurrences were done away with in his life, death, burial and resurrection - the role of the priesthood on earth as a kind of "mediator", and the need for sacrificial offerings to continue.

As the perfect offering, his blood was shed - in so doing, his blood made full and complete atonement for our sins (covered over, never to be remembered again, removed as far as the east is from the west).  As the High Priest, he is the only one now who stands making intercession for us before the heavenly Father, having opened the door of full access to God by those who will believe in him as their Savior.  No longer needing a mediator - we enter into God's presence with boldness and confidence.  Even the High Priest of the OT times did have a boldness or confidence, for if there was any impurity in his life, he could be struck dead in the presence of God in the Holy of Holies.  

No other confidence is as great as that which we know because of our position IN Christ Jesus.  No other position gives us such boldness.  In ourselves, we could never get the "job done right" as it applied to making a permanent sacrifice for our sins - that is why the OT Law of Moses included the provision for the yearly sin offering during the feast known as the Day of Atonement. It was offered over and over again each year - because the sacrifice of the young bull could never accomplish the forgiveness of our sin.  It was a "type" of what Christ would accomplish as he was lifted up on that cross so many years ago. It "foreshadowed" his shedding of blood on our behalf.  The perfect given for the imperfect.

Two things our High Priest does for us - makes a way for us to enter into God's holy presence, and ends all need for "works" on our part as a means of making us righteous.  Instead, we enter into the finished work he provides and in so doing, we stand righteous before God.  Here is the challenge for many of us - we don't fully comprehend the magnitude of Christ's finished work on our behalf, nor do we trust it as enough to give us such boldness and free access to the Holy God.  It is tough to give up on a "system" which seemed to be so ingrained for so many years, so maybe that is one of the reasons Israel had a tough time embracing Jesus as Messiah when he came. They became very anchored to the way things had been done for all those years and forgot that the "type" could be set aside once the "real deal" was in their midst.

I think God wants us to remember that we "set aside" anything we might have counted on in the way of religious performance in our past and to enter into fully the place of right-living God provides in his Son Jesus.  In so doing, we are free to enter into what he has prepared for us - including free access to his presence, with boldness and confidence, and the ability to stop "trying" to be righteous.  Instead, he declares and makes us "fully righteous" in Christ Jesus - what we do now is walk in the position we are placed into.  If we want to continue in the old way of "trying" to live righteous when we are given freely "full righteousness", we probably don't fully understand the completed work of our High Priest.  Just sayin!

You a little hesitant?

Hesitation - a delay due to uncertainty of mind or fear; a state of doubt.  How many times do we simply avoid doing something just because of our fear?  If you and I are honest, it may be more than most would think.  We avoid saying something when we feel impressed to do so, or don't act on what we know simply because we are reluctant to take that first step.  Hesitation is the cousin to procrastination.  While procrastination is the delayed action, hesitation is the uncertainty which sometimes is the cause of the delay. This hesitation can keep us from some pretty awesome stuff, though.  Especially as it deals with coming into the fullness of what God has planned for those who are bold enough (not overtaken by fear or doubt) to walk straight into his presence and spend some time getting to know him!

So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into “the Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The “curtain” into God’s presence is his body. So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:19-25 MSG)

After explaining how the Old Testament tabernacle and subsequent temple were just symbols of the old "system" of worship, we find the invitation to enter boldly into what Christ accomplished by his sacrificial death.  If we were to read the two chapters just prior to this one, we'd see Christ's death accomplished the end to the old and the beginning of the new.  What had been off-limits because of our inability to "clean up" our sin under the "old" was totally declared "full access" under the new because did the "clean up" of our sin with the shedding of his blood on our behalf.  If such a provision is made on our behalf, then why are we so hesitant to enter into the fullness of all God has designed for us?  It might be fear, or even unbelief, but regardless of the "reason" we give, none stands in the face of this truth:  We are declared righteous in Christ Jesus.  We are made righteous in Christ Jesus. We stand righteous in Christ Jesus.  We cannot diminish our righteousness because in Christ Jesus we are fully and totally righteous!

Many of us spend a great deal of time being presentable on the outside. Each morning, we spend countless minutes in front of the mirror, grooming, applying this or that, putting each hair into place.  We pick out the clothes with care, discarding some things which makes us look to heavy, frumpy, or just doesn't fit the mood of the day.  We turn this way and that, getting a view of ourselves in the mirror and applying any last minute touches.  So, why is it we spend so much time on the outward appearance and almost forget to spend any time in the Word, prayer, or just simple worship?  Maybe it is because we think what can be "seen" is what gives people the impression we have life together even when we are falling apart on the inside!  I'd like to challenge that idea, though, because I believe what is on the inside, receiving frequent care and tender touches from Jesus will eventually trump whatever is on the outside!

What we can count on is the faithfulness of God regardless of our behavior, although it may not be as consistent as it should be - he is consistent.  His love extends beyond our inconsistencies, but to really "come into" that love we have to push past our hesitation and enter into his presence.  The delay in action on our part is often just because of our misperceptions - we don't understand how much God has done on our behalf to ensure we have access to him and can boldly enter into his presence.  We get a little insight into how we accomplish this when we consider the verse:  Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching. First, we have to know what has been promised and then stand on it unwavering.  Then we have to believe with all our ability that God does what he says.  This may be the hard one since we have learned to NOT trust because trust has been violated by some person in our lives. Truth is, God cannot lie - it is against his nature.  It is impossible for him to not fulfill his promises because that would be equivalent to him telling a lie.

Probably one of the most overlooked portions of this "boldness" to enter into God's presence is the encouragement of others to help us develop this comfort of entering into all God has for us.  If we really see what is being said here, we will recognize it is about the company we keep.  Those who can spur us on are invaluable to helping us enter into all God has for us - moving us beyond our hesitation and into a place of bold, bounding faith.  The challenge to us is in being "inventive" in our encouragement - through loving actions and sacrificial deeds.  We don't do these to gain access to God - we engage in demonstrating God's love so others will develop a boldness to enter into the fullness of his love themselves.  There is no room for hesitation in us experiencing God's love.  We are beckoned into his love, provided a means by which we might enter into his love, and then we are given encouragement of others to help us maintain our consistency in experiencing his love.  Isn't it about time we enter into what God has taken such great pains to prepare on our behalf?  Just askin!

Not just the "B" list

Yesterday we began a discussion about some character traits which we seldom focus on when really examining ourselves in the mirror, but which are really what makes us very appealing to God, and honestly, they make us pretty "appealing" in all other respects, as well.   As I mentioned, these traits are interwoven, almost dependent and coexistent with each other.  One trait just doesn't stand alone.  It would be like having one hair on the top of your head, one on your chin and an errant hair growing from your big toe.  It just makes no sense for hair to be on your big toe!  It makes perfect sense for it to be on your head, and only makes sense for it to be on your chin if you are a man!  Yet even one hair on the top of the head is kind of out of place, isn't it?  It needs its "sibling" hairs in order to really make a "display" of the beauty of our hair.  So it is with these character traits - they need each other in order to put on "perfect display" the work of Christ in our lives.

Today we explore our "B" list of traits, not because they didn't rank high enough to be on our "A" list, but because I am doing this discovery alphabetically!  We will consider two traits today:  Blamelessness and Boldness.

Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. (Philippians 3:14-15 MSG)

Blameless:  Most of us have a little bit of trouble with this one - at least this is my impression from talking with people.  You see, the scripture lays out some "traits" which are inherent in all of us - bickering and second-guessing.  If you have a little bit of a bent in life toward the occasional bickering, you know how difficult this can be at times to actually NOT get involved in the little spats which are based on nothing more than wanting to be right, or have your say in a matter.  It is like trying to control the flow of water by putting a cork in a dam.  It just doesn't hold back too very long!  

Second-guessing is another thing I think more of us struggle with than we sometimes admit.  We go through life looking back - "second-guessing" our decisions.  We wonder "what if" a lot - but this doesn't help us move on, it anchors us to the past.  Another form of second-guessing is when we are almost paralyzed by the decision we have to make, always "weighing our options", but never really taking a step forward because we just keep "running the options" over and over.  Look at what Paul says to the Philippian believers - when there has been a change in focus from needing to be right and constantly "running our options", we actually stand out to the world as "blameless" or "uncorrupted".  Another word for blameless is guiltless.  Now, think about it for a moment - when we are always trying to prove our point by bickering about the smallest thing, or get so hung up in the "what ifs" of life, don't we also deal with a little bit of guilt when all is said and done?

Blameless people hold themselves accountable for their actions - allowing them to be dealt with immediately, so as not to allow any wrong actions to become the way others see God in them.  Blameless people aren't hung up in the what ifs of life - they embrace the present, making the most of it with God's help, and move on.  We all make decisions on occasion which are not the best for us, nor the testimony of God in our lives, but when grace is embraced, even the wrong decisions show the beauty of God through us to a world who so desperately needs to see how failures can be handled in a positive manner.

The wicked are edgy with guilt, ready to run off even when no one’s after them; honest people are relaxed and confident, bold as lions.  (Proverbs 28:1 MSG)

Boldness:  If you have ever lived a little close to the edge of guilt, you know what this passage means.  Guilt has a way of holding you back, making you feel like you cannot do things, or even just keeping you from ever dreaming in the first place.  Bold people don't get hung up by past issues.  They allow them to be dealt with, left in the past, and move on.  Look at how they face life - relaxed and confident.  Where does this relaxed and confident attitude of heart and mind come from?  No place other than at the throne of grace.  There is no place other than at the throne of grace to take guilt and have it completely and thoroughly removed.  Why do we live with anything less than valiant boldness in the presence of God and our fellow man?  Isn't it because we fear exposure?  When we finally realize God already knows, we might just realize how silly our fear really is!  If we'd learn to take our failure to God first, what our fellow man would see was the power of grace to restore, renew, and regenerate the fallen. 

Blamelessness and Boldness go together - they are both based on grace, deal with similar "hang ups" in our lives, and are two traits which actually provide a means for us to move forward in life.  Alertness, attentiveness, and authenticity pave the way for us to stand blameless and bold.  Indeed, when we begin to become alert to our environment, attentive to the voice of our Shepherd, authenticity begins to become the reality of  how we live life.  Authentic people deal with real stuff - like the tendency to bicker too much, wanting to be right or heard, and then they deal with the guilt associated with wrong decisions.  Yet...authentic people also know the authenticity of God's grace and how it becomes the basis for us to deal with our guilt.  Just sayin!

You listening?

When I took my business classes in school, one of the things I was taught was how to write a formal business letter all the way through an informal memorandum.  You learned the various components of each because you never knew what you'd be called upon to draft.  In a formal letter, there is a structure to it - the heading, inside address, salutation or greeting, introduction (or purpose), the body, the conclusion or complimentary close, and the signature line.  In essence, the introduction gave you a synopsis of what the body would elaborate upon.  The complimentary close was just a short ending to the letter, often thanking the reader for their consideration, and driving to some action.  One of the things I have observed in the epistles (or letters to the believers at the churches of the First Century) which make up our New Testament is the opening comments which outline the purpose of writing and the concluding comments which summarize the information outlined.  

My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he’s listening. And if we’re confident that he’s listening, we know that what we’ve asked for is as good as ours.  (I John 5:13-15 The Message)

John is concluding his epistle to the churches.  He opened the letter with an introduction which outlined several things:

- We were witnesses of the great stuff that happened while Christ walked this earth.  We saw it with our own eyes and verified it with our own hands.  Now, this is speaks to the reliability of the testimony which we are about to receive in the body of the letter.

- God took shape right before our eyes.  Their testimony will confirm the fact Christ was indeed God made flesh.  No doubts, arguments, or contradictions - he was the real deal!

- We want our testimony of what we saw and heard to affect our readers.  The purpose for writing is very evident in this introductory statement.  The hope of the witness was to persuade the readers to experience all they have experienced by being touched by the life of Christ.  

Now, John is concluding his letter.  In a short synopsis, he lays out the purpose for his having written these short five chapters.  His intention has been to give us enough evidence of the reality of Christ's birth, death, and resurrection so we come to the place of absolute certainty in our own belief that Christ was made flesh, dwelt among us, died for our sins, rose on the third day, and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father.  No bones about it - - Christ is real!  

In fact, he wants his readers to be assured of what this means for them.  It secured forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God the Father.  No more is there a barrier between us and God.  No longer is there a need for an atoning sacrifice - it has been offered and fully accepted by the sacrifice of his only begotten Son.  

As he concludes this letter, several points are left with us - to assure us, challenge us to take a stand, and to open us to the possibilities we have in our position IN Christ.

*  We have eternal life - not eternal hell, but eternal life.  All will experience some type of eternal life - but not all will experience it at the feet of Jesus.  This eternal existence with Christ is based upon his redemptive work on the cross - his overcoming work over death, hell, and the grave.  Hell no longer beckons us.  The grave no longer can hold us bound.  Death has no sting or victory.  Christ has seen to this!

*  There is a freedom and a boldness in God's presence because of the work of Christ.  Let me begin with the idea of freedom.  When a person feels "free", they behave differently than they might when their "freedom" is questionable. For example, a wild animal may be "caged" inside a habitat created by man as a "display" within a zoo.  The animal would normally "run free", but even in the wild, they have certain "territorial markings" which act as boundaries for them.  They stay within these boundaries, knowing full well they might not fair well when they leave those boundaries.  Sometimes these boundaries are because of the provision within them - such as a watering hole and a source of food.  Sometimes they are imposed by others, such as when a male marks the boundaries of their territory so no other male takes control of the herd.

Freedom is both a belief and a fact.  It is a belief as it applies to as much as what we "feel" about our boundaries influences our actions.  We stay within boundaries we "feel" are safe for us.  We avoid boundaries which we "feel" may not be as "safe".  The facts of our freedom have to be understood in order for them to influence our feelings.  Once the facts and feelings coexist on the same plane, there is a liberty which is produced.  It is this liberty that John turns our attention to today.  We have a liberty to enter freely into the presence of God.  This liberty gives us the boldly ask of God the tough things we do.  

*  We can be assured he is listening.  No amount of exerted effort on our part gets him to listen any better!  I know I only "half-listen" sometimes to what is being said in conversation with others.  If something catches my attention, I focus in a little harder.  We all do this.  Yet, God acts differently - he is an "all-the-time" listener!  

*  When we realize he is listening, we ask differently, don't we?  If we know we have the ear of someone, we might just ask for something we might not have been bold enough to ask for otherwise, right?  The good news is - we ALWAYS have God's ear!  The liberty we enjoy is evident in his listening ear!

Just a few final thoughts from the epistle of I John.  Hope you were listening!

Shy or Bold?

Shyness is often thought of as "cute" when you see a small child burying themselves in the shoulder of their daddy, or hiding behind the skirt of their mommy.  They pull away, thinking hiding their faces will keep them from having to interact with the stranger making a big fuss over them at the moment.  In reality, they are quite visible!  They may have "postured away" from the "thing" they see as a threat, but they are really still present!  There are times I imagine we take this same "stance" with God - such as when he asks us to do something we may not feel entirely comfortable doing.  


God doesn't want us to be shy with his gifts, but bold and loving and sensible. (2 Timothy 1:7 The Message)  


Shyness is really us being timid, or easily frightened away by whatever it is we are being asked to do.  If we were the small child in the arms of our parent, we may be frightened by having to interact with someone we do not know.  In the case of being asked to do something by God, we often turn away because it frightens us - we just get petrified in taking the first step!  


Shyness also carries the idea of being a little suspicious and distrustful.  For example, if the last "stranger" the child interacted with took their pudgy little cheeks in hand and gave them a good squeeze, causing a little discomfort, they may distrust all "strangers" as being of the same motivation!  The next time God asks us to do something, we may pull away in a little bit of distrust - because things did not go as well as we hoped the last time.  


These are two very real circumstances of faith - being frightened by what comes next and being repelled because the last experience did not work out as well as we'd imagined.  God's instructions through Paul to Timothy are quite clear - don't be shy with the gifts God gives us!  Instead, be bold, loving and sensible.  Now, how do we move from being leery of the "strangeness" of the circumstance we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of, or overly cautious because of the "uncertainty" of the success of our next steps?


What is boldness?  When we think of coffee, we proclaim the coffee has a rich and bold flavor when it is strong enough to stimulate us.  Now, think about God's movement in your life.  When he is strong enough to stimulate us, he is also strong enough to overcome our fears of the unknown!  The Bible is riddled with all kinds of stories ranging from one individual up against insurmountable odds (David and Goliath) to an army realizing the insufficiency of their resources considered against the resources of their attackers (Israel and any nation they faced).  Why do you think we have all these stories recorded for us?  I believe it is so we see the struggle of others as they take huge steps of faith.  God wants us to know this is "natural" - there is nothing wrong with admitting we struggle with the unknown.  When the "unknown" causes us to "bury ourselves", we need to listen to the "coaxing" of our heavenly Father as he gently "turns us" to face the thing we fear so much!


Why does Paul remind Timothy of being loving in his gifts?  This one is easy.  We often "bumble" the first time we leave the gate!  We step out in faith, encounter a hurdle we did not imagine, and then we recoil in the face of resistance.  As I used to run track, my coach used to remind me the hurdles were only "big" in my mind.  When I became "one with the track", I fell in love with the hurdles, sailing over them with ease.  As long as I feared them, I drug my feet, catching the hurdle each time.  When I learned to see them as one with the track, they were less in my focus as something I feared.  I learned to love the "leap" it took to scale their height.  He started me at hurdles all the same height, but in time, they took on differing heights.  In learning to love the "rush" of sailing high over the short ones, I faced less of a challenge in facing the higher ones!  I already knew I could scale them, too!  Love is the exact opposite of fear - overcoming fear begins in learning to love what it is we fear.


Paul adds one other piece of advice - be sensible in the use of your gifts.  I guess the most important aspect of sensibility is in learning who and what to trust.  God is reliable - people are not.  His Spirit is ever-present.  Part of being sensible is learning to "read" the situation through the prompting of the Holy Spirit.  As I ran the track, I learned to "read" the track.  I knew the pace I'd have to set in order to run well against my opponent.  I had to "pace well" if I was ever to "out-pace" them in the end.  It was in listening to the advice from my coach on the sidelines where I learned the "skill" of "pacing well".