In step

[RiverOL]

Grace upon grace

For reading & meditation: John 1:1-17

"And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace." (v.16, RSV)

Today we ask: What purpose does God have in leading us into situations which are uncertain and ambiguous?

He does so in order that we might learn to depend on Him and not on ourselves. Just as in times of loneliness we learn to realise His presence, so in times of uncertainty we learn to realise His power.

The major reason why our lives are unfruitful lies right here: we depend more on our own strength than we do on His. How can God teach us dependence unless He puts us into situations which are so uncertain that we are compelled either to choose the way of frustration or the way of faith?

And if we draw back from entering such situations, we will miss a valuable spiritual education and our lives will become barren. A statement I came across some time ago sums up what I want to say concerning ambiguity and uncertainty. It is this: "God's purposes are always God's enablings."

In other words, when God steers you into strange and uncertain situations, He will keep you very much in the dark concerning His purposes, but He will not leave you bereft of His grace.

The purpose of God and the grace of God are two sides of the one coin. If you accept the purpose, you get the grace; if you refuse the purpose, you annul the grace.

Anything God purposes for you, He gives you the grace to perform. John speaks in our text for today of "grace upon grace". One preacher I know translates that text like this: "Use the grace I give you and rest assured - there will always be more to follow."

Prayer:
O Father, how wonderful it would be if I could master this lesson today, and become a living illustration of "grace upon grace". May it be so, to the honour and glory of Your peerless and precious Name. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

The final battle

For reading & meditation: 1 Timothy 6:3-11

"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil '" (v.10)

We now start examining some of the areas of life into which we are led by God in order that He might make our lives more fruitful and profitable to Him. First we focus upon the problem of cramped financial circumstances. No one can deny that money plays an enormous part in our lives.

It was Balzac who said more than a century ago: "The final battle for Christian discipleship will be over the money problem: till that is solved there can be no universal application of Christianity."

It comes as a great surprise to many new Christians that the Bible talks a good deal about money, and more than one preacher has pointed out that when Jesus was here on earth, this was one of the subjects He talked about most.

One of the most interesting aspects of money to a Christian is that through either the giving or the withholding of it, God is able to steer our lives into the areas in which He wants us involved.

Do you find yourself in financial straits at the moment? Does your bank account need month-to-month resuscitation? Then dont panic - God may be allowing this financial stringency in order to teach you some valuable lessons about Himself.

Thousands of Christians will testify that God has no more certain way of getting our undivided attention than by withholding money or putting us into tight financial circumstances.

How strange that when our pockets are full, often God has to shout to get our attention, but when they are empty, we are alert and ready to hear His faintest whisper.

Prayer:
O Father, if it is true that the final battle for Christian discipleship will be over the money problem, then help me resolve this issue once and for all in these next few days. Help me to make whatever I own the instrument of Your purposes. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Gods four purposes for money

For reading & meditation: 1 Timothy 6:6-19

"But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that."(v.8)

Before we can understand what God may be trying to achieve in our lives by putting us into tight financial circumstances, we must know something of our Lord's purposes for money.

Many Christians think that the purpose of money is to provide security, establish independence, or create power and influence, but this is a very worldly view of the subject.

The Bible shows us that God has four basic purposes which He wants to achieve through money - and understanding these purposes is crucial if we are to be fruitful and productive Christians.

The first purpose of money is to provide basic needs. Its surprising how little money we need in order to sustain the basic needs of life. These needs can be summed up in the words food, clothing and shelter.

And God demonstrates His loving care by assuring us of His help in obtaining these basic essentials: "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin ' will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" (Matt. 6:28-30).

Since the dawn on time, humankind has tried to become independent of God. There are tendencies in our fallen nature to be self-sufficient and self-supporting.

We would much rather pray, "Give us this month our monthly pay cheque" than "Give us this day our daily bread." And why? Because it doesn't bring us face to face with our need to be daily dependent on the Lord.

How wise was our Lord in including that phrase in the model prayer He gave His disciples. He knew the recognition of daily needs would help to produce daily dependence.

Prayer:
Father, I pray that You will bring me under the complete sway of Your Spirit so that my spiritual dependence will not be year by year, month by month or week by week - but day by day. This I ask in Jesus' Name. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

True contentment?

For reading & meditation: 1 Timothy 6:6

"But godliness with contentment is great gain."(v.6)

We continue meditating on the first of God's four purposes for money - to provide our basic needs.

We saw yesterday that God longs for us to be dependent on Him. This is not because God is possessive, but because He knows that we experience our greatest happiness and freedom when we rely on Him alone. When we fail to recognise our need for God, we tend to lose our love for God.

And the more we lose our love for God, the more we come to depend upon ourselves. Permit me to remind you again of the text we looked at yesterday: "If we have food and clothing, we will be content" (1 Tim. 6:8).

Contentment is the satisfaction we get from knowing there will be provision for our basic needs. We begin to lose our contentment when we compare what we have with what others have - and then before long expectations dominate our focus. To the degree that our expectations increase, contentment diminishes.

One of the great advantages of being content with basics is that it equips us to resist the alluring advertising which seeks to convince us that we are able really to enjoy life unless we buy some new commodity. A contented person feels wealthy because he knows that what he already possesses is all he needs for daily living.

A veteran missionary, meeting some new recruits to the mission field, surprised them by saying: "The first thing I would like you to do is to make a list of all the things you think you need - then I will spend some time with you showing you how to do without them."

Prayer:
O my Father, I see that material things can be a good servant but a bad master. Deliver me from the bondage of the material and help me to become a truly contented person. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Presumption versus faith

For reading & meditation: Psalms 37:1-26

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him '" (v.7)

We look now at God's second purpose for money: to confirm His loving direction in our lives. God will use the supply of money or the lack of it to confirm His direction and guidance for many of the decisions we make in our lives.

I constantly meet Christians who tell me that one of the biggest lessons they have learned in the Christian life is that of discerning God's guidance through His giving or His withholding of money.

Some years ago, a minister shared with me how he had asked God to guide him over a certain project, and part of his prayer, he said, went like this: "Lord, give me the money to do this, or else it just cannot be done."

The money didn't come, so the minister went ahead and borrowed money for the project. A few weeks later, the project got into difficulties and he was declared bankrupt.

I said to him: "Do you know what made you go ahead even though God did not provide the money?" He paused for a few minutes, and said with tears in his eyes: "I had not then learned the difference between presumption and faith." "What is the difference?"

I asked. He replied: "Faith is trusting God to achieve His purposes through us, presumption is deciding what we want to accomplish and trying to get God to do it for us." It is so easy to claim that Christ is Lord of our lives, but, as someone put it: "His Lordship is only confirmed when we are obedient to the promptings and limitations which He places on our daily decisions."

Prayer:
My Lord and my God, You know my proneness to "nudge" You when I don't think You are working things out right. Make me sensitive to the promptings of Your Spirit and the limitations that You set upon my life. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Generosity generates

For reading & meditation: Romans 12:9-21

"Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality." (v.13)

Today we look at God's third purpose for money: to bless and enrich other Christians. One of the characteristics which God wants to develop in us is that of generosity, for our generosity will determine how much spiritual light we have in our being.

Take this verse: "If your Eye is generous, the whole of your body will be illumined" (Matt. 6:22, Moffatt).

If your "eye" - your outlook on life, your whole way of looking at things and people - is generous, then your whole personality is illuminated, is lighted up.

If you have a greedy or selfish "eye", your whole being will be filled with darkness. In Acts 11:27-30 we read about a severe famine that caused suffering to many Jewish Christians.

The church at Antioch - made up mostly of Gentiles - sent an offering to their fellow believers in Jerusalem, and that offering was an important means of tearing down national and cultural barriers between them, and building bonds of genuine Christian love.

God likens generous giving to reaping a harvest: "He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully" (2 Cor. 9:6, RSV).

Perhaps the greatest benefit of generous giving to other Christians, however, is this - it results in "an overflowing tide of thanksgiving to God" (v.12, Phillips).

Yes, God will give you much so that you can give away much, and when you take your gifts to those who need them they will break out in thanksgiving and praise of God for your help. Giving to the needs of fellow Christians means that many will thank God and fill His Church with praise.

Prayer:
O God, help be to become a truly generous person, for I see that when I am generous, then my generosity generates generosity in others. I ask this in the peerless and exalted Name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

What is a financial miracle?

For reading & meditation: Malachi 3:1-12

" 'Test me in this,' says the Lord Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven '' " (v.10)

We look now at God's fourth purpose for money: to show His divine power. God is a supernatural God - something Christians seem to forget - and He delights to demonstrate His reality and power among His people.

One means through which God has chosen to do this is through His miraculous provision of money. What is a financial miracle? It is a supernatural event whereby God provides one of His children with the money required to meet a financial need - and usually it involves such precise timing that it cannot fail to point to the Lord's direct intervention.

When a Christian prays about a financial need, for example, and an unexpected gift is given to him by someone who knows nothing about the need, the supernatural power of God is demonstrated. In the days of Elijah, the nation of Israel tried to worship God and serve Baal at the same time.

Elijah knew that this would inevitably lead to God's judgment, so he proposed a simple test. The test involved building two altars, one for God and one for Baal, and whichever answered by a display of supernatural power was the one whom they would worship.

The prophets of Baal cried out to their non-existent deity all day, but nothing happened. Then Elijah prayed, and in response to his prayer God sent fire from heaven.

One of the biggest of the false gods of this age is money. It has become an idol because people expect from it what only God can give - true security. As the world hankers after money, God wants to prove to those who seek Him that they will not lack any good thing.

Prayer:
O Father, help me to see that I grow into the image of the god that I serve. I don't want to be like money - hard and metallic; I want to be like You - gracious and beneficient. Help me to keep my focus only on You. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

The day you "die"

For reading & meditation: Genesis 22:1-14

"Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love '" (v.2)

Having seen God's four purposes for money, we are now ready to ask: What part does money play in our lives? Does it draw us closer to God, or drive us further away from Him? Is our security in silver - or in the Saviour?

Most of us would claim that we are serving God. We would strenuously deny that we have a greater love for money than we do for the Master.

God, however, is aware that what we believe to be the situation is not always so. Sometimes He has to bring us into cramped financial circumstances so that we realise where our true security lies.

Although the story of Abraham and Isaac does not have a precise application to what we are saying here, there are certain similarities which I consider do apply.

First, God singled out in Abraham's life the thing he most loved - his only son. God often starts His test of our character with the thing that we love the most. Is money one of your greatest loves?

If so, recognise and acknowledge it right now. Second, God pinned Abraham down to a fixed time and place. God's way of doing business always involves a specific time and place. "Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering" (v.2). Let the place where you are sitting now be your meeting place with God.

God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son. Abraham could never have lifted the knife over his son unless he had "died" to him in his emotions. Without this emotional break, the offering is only a meaningless ritual. This must be the day on which you "die" to the bondage of money.

Prayer:
O Father, Your timing is perfect. Today, by faith, I "die" to all emotional attachments to money, and lay every financial bondage on Your altar. Father, it's done - Im free. Help me now to live out that freedom. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Problems? No, prods!

For reading & meditation: 2 Thessalonians 1

"' God ' is using your sufferings to make you ready for his kingdom." (v. 5, TLB)

We pause at this point to remind ourselves of the principle we are seeking to understand, namely that in God's order of things, life is always preceded by death.

A grain of wheat has within it the potential of becoming many grains of wheat, but first the solitary grain must fall into the ground and die. It is only after death that its potential is released, and out of the dying comes an abundant harvest.

That principle is not just to be seen as an interesting fact of nature; if our lives are to be fruitful, then we, too, must be willing to die to our own purposes so that we might live to God's. The next sphere of life we examine is the area of obstacles and opposition.

Would you like your life to be free of those potentially frustrating situations that block your way or impede your spiritual development? Then let me say at once, you could be worse off without them. The obstacles and opposition you face can turn out to be prods - prods toward your spiritual growth.

A minister friend of mine who was going through a period of great difficulty once asked me to pray with him that God would remove all the obstacles from his ministry.

I put my hand lovingly on his shoulder and replied: "If He does, it will make your ministry less effective." He saw the point, and instead asked me to pray that God would help him to die to his own concerns. I did, and from that day to this, his ministry has flourished and become extremely fruitful. And so, my friend, can yours.

Prayer:
O Father, more and more the conviction grows that it is not what happens to me, but what I do with it, that is important. Deepen this conviction within me so that it becomes a controlling one - today and every day. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Aquiescence - or control?

For reading & meditation: Philippians 4:10-20

"I am ready for anything through the strength of the one who lives within me." (v.13, Phillips)

Day by day, as we unfold this thrilling theme of The Corn of Wheat Afraid to Die, it is becoming increasingly obvious that God gives us a choice - a choice of either to live or to die. We can live for the fulfilment of our own desires, or we can die to our desires and live for His.

This is perhaps the moment that we should come to grips with the question which people often ask when this issue of "dying to self" is raised: "Isn't this a terribly passive attitude to life? And doesn't it tend to diminish personal responsibility and self-control?" John Dewey, the famous American educator, held that view.

Once, when lecturing to his students, he drew a line down a blackboard and on one side listed those systems of thought which teach control, and on the other those systems that teach acquiescence. On the "control" side he put "science", and on the "acquiescence" side he put "religion". To be fair, he should have written, "Some forms of religion".

The religion of Jesus Christ does not produce passive and acquiescent disciples, but surrendered disciples - surrendered to God, but surrendered to nothing else.

They rise from the dust of self-surrender to lay hold on the raw materials of life - good, bad and indifferent - and use them. Would you describe the early Christians as passive and acquiescent? I wouldn't. Surrendered - yes. Acquiescent - no.

Surrendering to God so that He may work in and through us may at first seen passive, but actually it represents the most amazingly positive and active method of dealing with life. Other ways are possible, but no other way is as powerful.

Prayer:
Gracious and loving heavenly Father, I am so thankful that You show me a way of life that doesn't demean me, but develops me. I fall at Your feet, and lo - I rise to new purposes and new achievements. I am eternally grateful. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Rise up and walk

For reading & meditation: Acts 3:1-16

"In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." (v.6, AV)

We said yesterday that when we die to self-interests we rise to meet life, not passively, but actively. In fact, self-surrender is the most amazingly active method of dealing with life. Take, for example, Peter and John. When they met the man asking for alms, they were, as we say, "financially embarrassed" and unable to help in that way.

Most of us would have let the incident go at that, for what can you do if you have no money in a world like this? Not these men, however - they took up this poverty into the purpose of their lives and used it.

What do I mean? This: if they had had some money, they might have tossed him a coin and that would have been the end of it - their adequacy on that level would have blocked the higher good. Instead, conscious that they could not minister to him at one level - the financial - they sought to minister to him at another level - the spiritual.

The result was that the obstacle on one level was turned into an opportunity on another. "Rise up and walk," they said to the man - and rise up he did. Nothing passive about that! As one wag put it: "The lame man asked for alms, but instead he got legs!"

Forgive me for extending this illustration beyond the bounds of proper biblical exposition, but there are many of us who need to look at the things lying lame around us, and perhaps even within us - higher ministries, spiritual aptitudes - and say to them, "Rise up and walk." Then together we shall walk on into the temple of wider and more effective living.

Prayer:
O God, forgive me for failing to see the opportunities in every obstacle. Help me to understand that when I am blocked on one level, then I can break out on another. Nothing can deter me when my will coincides with Yours. Thank You, Father. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

The divine - human partnership

For reading & meditation: Colossians 1:15-29

"To this end I labour, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me." (v.29)

We spend another day focusing on the question: Does self-surrender mean that we become passive and acquiescent? At first sight, it seems to be so - we surrender to Another.

Do we resign ourselves to whatever comes, letting this "Another" do everything for us? We talked a few days ago about John Dewey's suggestion that "science" encourages control, while "religion" encourages acquiescence.

Actually, when we surrender to Christ, we experience, not passivity, but a new type of control. Jesus said: "My Father is always at his work ' and I, too, am working" (John 5:17).

In God's universe, there is always work to do - creative work. But what sort of creative work? Listen to this: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God" (Rom. 8:28, AV). How can that be? We know that all things do not of themselves work together for good.

The Revised Standard Version puts it like this: "In everything God works for good with those who love him." Note the change - "with those who love him". Not "to", but "with". Can you see the truth underlying this text?

Given our consent and co-operation, God is able to retrieve some good out of everything that happens to us. Given our consent and co-operation - ah, there's the rub.

In order to achieve good out of bad, God requires us to work "with" Him - this is not acquiescence, but control. Look again at the text for today: "I labour, struggling" - the human; "with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me" - the divine. What a picture - the human and the divine working together - in "control".

Prayer:
My Father and my God, what can I say? I surrender to You, and the next thing I know is that I am taken into partnership with You. It just seems too good to be true - but too good not to be true. Thank You, Father. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

There's always the "next"

For reading & meditation: Luke 9:51-62

"' and they went to another village." (v.56)

What are we discovering? We are seeing that nothing is lost when we surrender ourselves to God - indeed, everything is gained. When we lose ourselves, we find ourselves. We throw ourselves at Christ's feet, and end up by sitting with Him on His throne, where He invites us to co-operate with Him in turning chaos into cosmos and bringing good out of everything.

What a way to live! I wouldn't change it for anything. When we fully understand what "dying to self" means, we then face obstacles and opposition in an entirely different frame of mind. We see them in the way Jesus saw them - not as obstacles, but as opportunities.

When the Samaritans refused to receive Jesus and His disciples, the account says that, after Jesus had rebuked the disciples for wanting to retaliate, "they went to another village". Life always has "another village". If you are opposed in this one, then you pass on to the next.

If there is one lesson I have learned in life, it is this: there is always a "next". And that next village was, in fact, nearer Jesus' final goal. He didn't have to go so far the next day.

He advanced toward His goal by way of the snobbery and fear that He encountered among the Samaritans. Thank God life always has "another village". Is the way ahead strewn with endless obstacles and opposition?

Then, providing you have died to your own instinct for self-preservation, you and God are able to team up and make the obstacles into new opportunities. Nothing can frustrate the Christian who has died to himself, and lives out the purposes of Another. Nothing.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, You who were never deterred by the blocking of Your plans, help me to approach life with that same attitude. Show me that when one "village" remains closed to me, there is always the "next". For Your own dear Name's sake. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Victim - or victor?

For reading & meditation: Ephesians 1:11-23

"' the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe, according to the working of his great might '" (vv.19-20, RSV)

Permit me to ask you: What will the obstacles and opposition you meet do to you today? Will they make you bitter, or will they make you better? The last word is not with them, but with you.

If your own concerns and interests are well and truly "dead", and you are committed to pursuing God's purposes, then the issue is not so much what your circumstances will do to you, but what you will do to your circumstances.

The Christian who understands this has the power to say to life - do your worst, I have the resources to take every negative and turn it into a positive. Nothing successfully opposes the believer whose life is hidden with Christ in God.

Jesus once faced great opposition in His ministry: "They were filled with madness, and began to discuss with one another what they should do to Jesus" (Luke 6:11, Weymouth). Here was opposition in its most terrifying form. What did Jesus do? Listen again to the Weymouth translation: "About that time He went out ' into the hill country to pray" (v.12).

Prayer, that powerful means of communicating with God and controlling, not so much the situation as the outcome of the situation, made Jesus, not a victim, but a victor.

One of the major purposes of God seems to be that of producing character in His children. Not their ease, not their happiness - except as a by-product - but their character. And how is character produced?

One way it is produced is through overcoming difficulties. So don't groan at the obstacles and opposition that face you today - grow in them. They help to sharpen your character - and your wits!

Prayer:
O God, forgive me that so often I cry to You for tasks equal to my powers. Help me to pray instead for power equal to my tasks. I ask this, not for my sake, but for Yours. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Attacked but not injured

For reading & meditation: Matthew 10:5-20

"I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." (v.16)

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only faith that dares to say to its followers: "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves" (AV). It is as if Jesus is saying: "You will have as much chance of escaping difficulties and opposition as sheep have in the midst of wolves."

If you are a Christian, you can expect people to oppose you - even hurt you. Notice what I say: "hurt" you, but not "harm" you. Sometimes God may not protect us from being hurt, but He will protect us from being harmed.

One writer puts that same thought in this way: "At times God may suffer His children to be attacked, but providing they are fully abandoned to Him and His purposes, He will never suffer them to be injured." He is using the words "attack" to mean physical or verbal abuse, and "injury" to mean the scarring of the soul.

In that sense, no attack from without can injure us; we can only be injured from within by wrong perspectives and wrong choices. Some time ago I quoted a maxim that goes like this: "No man is safe unless he can stand anything that happens to him."

A young student wrote to me and said: "Then there aren't many people who are 'safe' - are there?" I point you now to another verse to lay alongside our text for today: "For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd" (Rev. 7:17, RSV). Christ's being on the throne is the pledge that we, too - somehow, some way - shall pass out of the midst of the "wolves" of people and things, to victory over both.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, Master of every situation - even on a cross where You dispensed forgiveness to Your crucifiers - give me this mastery over circumstances. Help me to see I am not beaten until I am beaten within. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Stay in the kitchen

For reading & meditation: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

"God ' will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but ' will provide the way of escape '" (v.13, NASB)

We turn now to another sphere of life from which many of us might long to be exempted - the area of strong and unrelenting temptation.

Most of us, if we are honest, would like to be excused from having to face temptation, but temptation has its uses: it can work in Gods hands to the development of character, and help perfect the image of Christ in our lives. Mark Antony was called "the silver-throated orator of Rome", but he had the fatal flaw of not being able to resist a temptation.

That indictment, I'm afraid, applies not just to Mark Antony, or to the ranks of the unconverted, but to many in the Church also. We all face temptation, and unfortunately far too many of us fall beneath its power. The root meaning of the word "temptation" (Greek, peirasmos) is that of testing.

The dictionary defines temptation as the act of enticement to do wrong, by promise of pleasure or gain". Charles Swindoll commented: "Temptation motivates you to be bad by promising something good." Isn't that just like the devil? Are you facing a particularly fierce temptation at the moment?

Then take heart - you have all the power you need to stand up under the blast. Harry S. Truman, a former President of the United States, is famous for saying: "If you don't like the heat, get out of the kitchen."

But I've not found anyone who was able to stay strong without spending time in the "kitchen". If you can't stand the heat, stay in the kitchen - and in God's strength, learn to handle it."

Prayer:
O Father, show me how to experience continual victory over temptation. And help me, in this area of life also, not to be "a corn of wheat afraid to die" I face the fire in Your strength, knowing that You never allow what You cannot use. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

The original quitters

For reading & meditation: Psalms 78:1-11

"They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them." (v.11)

We ended yesterday with the advice: "If you can't stand the heat, stay in the kitchen - and in God's strength, learn to handle it." The psalm before us today begins by commanding us to listen: "O my people, hear my teaching." You have only to read a few verses of this psalm to see that the psalmist Asaph is recalling the disobedience which characterised the Jews during their forty years' wandering in the wilderness.

Then a strange verse appears: "The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle" (v.9). These Ephraimites were equipped with all they needed for warfare, but on the day of the battle - that is, the first day of the fray - they "turned back". Although well armed, in the moment of testing they were overcome by fear.

Doubtless they paraded well and looked fine as they marched out to battle, but when they came face to face with the enemy, the only weapon they used was a cloud of dust as they retreated en masse - and in a hurry. A preacher I once heard referred to the Ephraimites in this verse as "the original quitters". What an indictment.

The Ephraimites live on, you know; they are to be found in the rank and file of many a modern-day congregation. They look fine in church on Sunday mornings with a hymn book and a Bible in their hands, but let the hot rays of temptation beat upon them - and they run.

They surrender to temptation because they have never learned how to surrender to God. As I've said before - when we surrender to God, then we need not surrender to anything else.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, help me clarify to myself whether I am surrendered or not. For I see that if I do not fall at Your feet, then I fall at the feet of things and circumstances. Show me at whose feet I am lying. For Your own Name's sake. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

"No" to self - "Yes" to God

For reading & meditation: Colossians 3:1-17

"' seeing that you have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on the new nature '" (vv.9-10, RSV)

We continue from where we left off yesterday, saying that the reason why many of today's Christians surrender so easily to temptation is because they have never really learned how to surrender to God. Many (not all) of the people who come for counselling are struggling with the fact that they have never understood how to die to their own purposes and live for God's purposes.

Time and time again in counselling, it has been my experience to watch a person slowly recognise that his problem is due, not so much to what is happening to him as his reactions to what is happening to him - and then decide not to do anything about it. I am saddened by the trend to treat biblical principles as optional rather than obligatory.

It is amazing to notice the casualness with which so many approach Scripture and say: "I suppose I shouldn't really be living like this; I had better try to change - if I can." When that attitude is present, there is little hope of change.

You see, if there is no experienced death, there can be no experienced life. When a person does not see the importance of recognising, albeit painfully, that God's way is the way of obedience, irrespective of whether we feel like it or not, and involves death to wrong patterns of thinking and wrong patterns of behaving, there will be no victory and no change.

Putting on the new nature requires first putting off the old nature by asserting, with all the conviction possible, that one is going to go God's way no matter how much the carnal nature argues to the contrary.

Prayer:
O Father, help me shout a thunderous "No" to anything that is contrary to You, and a mighty "Yes" to all You want to do in my life. And when my carnal nature argues back, help me to put it in its place - under my feet. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Be a nonconformist

For reading & meditation: Romans 12:1-13

"Dont let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould '" (v.2, Phillips)

We must spend some more time focusing on the fact that many of today's Christians are like the Ephraimites we spoke of a few days ago - good at parading, but not so good in battle.

They cry out for help with their problems, but when confronted with the demands of Scripture, one of which is to die to self, they scurry like rats down the first bolthole they can find.

They want a medicine man with a quick cure, not direct advice about how to repent of their egocentricity. I sometimes wonder to myself whether this trend in todays Church is the result of our being brain-washed by an age that tends to make quitting a way of life.

Anna Sklar, in her book Runaway Wives, uncovered an incredible statistic of American life when she said that a decade ago, for every woman who walked away from her home and family responsibility, 600 husbands and fathers did so.

Today, for each man who does that, two women do. My purpose in making this statement is not to take sides with either group, but simply to point out that, more and more, the modern trend is to choose the way of escape as the method of dealing with problems.

Things that were once viewed by society as a stigma are now accepted without the flicker of an eyelid. "Let's just quit" are almost household words.

A marriage gets shaky, hits a few rough patches and the solution is: "Let's get a divorce." How much of today's worldly patterns are affecting our thinking, I wonder? And how much are we letting the world squeeze us into its own mould?

Prayer:
Father, make me a nonconformist - not in a denominational sense, but in a dynamic sense. Forgive me if I have allowed the world to squeeze me into its own mould. Change my way of thinking to Your way of thinking. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

The greatest temptation

For reading & meditation: Luke 4:1-13

"Jesus ' was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil." (vv.1-2)

I am often asked the question: What is the greatest temptation a Christian faces? My reply is usually this: the temptation to avoid the way of the cross.

It was temptation that constantly faced our Lord Jesus Christ, and it is one that constantly faces us: It is the way the Master went Should not the servant tread it still? There were two outstanding periods in Jesus life when He was greatly tempted to face the sorrow and sin of the world in some way other than the one He took.

One such time was the temptation in the desert, and the other was at the coming of the Greeks. As we have already looked at the latter incident - and will briefly examine it once more before we conclude - we shall focus our thinking over the next few days on our Lord's temptation in the desert.

Following His baptism in the River Jordan, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted (or tested) by the devil. He got away from humanity in order to prepare Himself for the ordeal of giving Himself to humanity. In a sense, the temptation began as soon as He entered the desert.

What temptation? The testing of His purposes to see whether, being the Son of God, He would also be the Son of Man. For to be the Son of Man would mean that He would take upon Himself all that falls on the sons of men.

Yet on that issue, He never wavered. The Son of God willingly accepted all that was involved in becoming the Son of Man, so that the sons of men might become the sons of God.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, Son of God and also Son of Man, how can I ever sufficiently thank You for aligning Yourself with this sinful human race? I cannot understand it, but yet I stand upon it - and stand upon it for all eternity. Amen.