Things We Are To Do

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Hello, my name is Paul, and I am the voiceover for a ministry provided to you by Jim Pugh at God is Government called Your Daily Bread. Taken from Christ's teaching of the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6, verse 11. This is a daily devotion ministry focused not only on uplifting scripture, but scripture that will grow your spiritual connection with Christ. We hope that you receive these devotions to uplift you, encourage you, but most importantly, advance your knowledge base of the Holy Scriptures. Today's focused discussion will be things we are to do. Paul talks about some very practical things that we are to do. We are, in chapter 5, to be imitators of God as beloved children. We are to walk in love as Christ loved us. Verse 8 of chapter 5 says, Since we dwell in light, we are to walk in light. Chapter 5, verses 15 and following says, Be careful how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise. We're to talk in love, we're to walk in light, we're to walk in wisdom, we're to walk in the fullness of the Spirit. Verse 18, be being kept filled with the Holy Spirit. We have the power of the Spirit, for every relationship and marriage, family, work, every relationship. And finally, he comes down to chapter 6 and verse 10 and says, We have received armor. Though we have all these things, we have a formidable foe, and we need to be armed to have victory over him, and we're given the armor. On top of all the things we're given through the five chapters, we're also given this added armor to defend ourselves against the onslaught of Satan as he works the world system against our sinful flesh. Bottom line, we have all things that pertain to life and godliness, we lack nothing. But it is precisely at this point that there is a potentially destructive problem. You might call it spiritual overconfidence. Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. By the time you got to verse 17 of Ephesians 6, if you just swept through it with me, there might be a sort of a sense of invincibility. Since you have all blessings, all power, all resources, all grace, and since victory is guaranteed, triumph is settled. And you have the Spirit as a seal of that final triumph and a full inheritance. Since you are secure forever, since you have all of these things, you might think that that is in itself enough. But I remind you, we are still human, we still have remaining sin. We still operate with the principles of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, in their death throes. Though we are a new creation, we are incarcerated in that flesh. And we cannot become smug and feeling adequate, think we can just march on in the understanding of these theological truths with no need of God. When all is said and done, when all is in place, verse 18 brings us to the culmination. Take all this armor, put it on. With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit. You might think that there's nothing you lack, but that would be wrong. We are all vulnerable, we can all stumble, we can all fall into sin. We can all be defeated along the way. We can bring dishonor on the Lord and shame on his church. We can wound ourselves in the matter of sin and disobedience to the degree that we destroy our personal testimony and our opportunity for service and usefulness to the Lord. We can forfeit our joy. Paul says, at the end of everything, you must realize that even with all that you have, remaining sin is so powerful, and Satan himself has devised such a mighty force in the evil in the world system that you need constant submission to God in prayer. You have to depend on him. I think it's a latent danger that Christians who have a knowledge of doctrine, who have a very strong knowledge of doctrine, a fairly effective grip on principles of living the Christian life, can become satisfied, and that sort of heart-rending, passionate, constant dependence on God isn't there, and that is sin, and that is dangerous. So Paul closes this great letter, the final crescendo, the music peaks out in a call to prayer. Prayer is the breath of the Christian's life. Prayer is the air which we breathe. As the human body exists in an atmosphere and takes in the air because the air forces its way in, so the believer should be living in an attitude of prayer, in which the need to come before God forces its way in. You don't have to try to breathe, the air makes you breathe. Just try holding your breath. It's easy to breathe, it's hard to hold your breath. For the believer, it's easy to pray, it's hard not to pray. You have to work at it, because this is our communion, this is how we inhale spiritually. A Christian is like a special class of animal called cetaceous animals I read about, neither fish nor fowl, inhabits the depths of the sea. The sea is their home, they never leave the sea, they swim in the darkest depths of the sea, and yet are compelled at certain intervals to rise to the surface, to grasp some air. That is how it is for us. We might live at the depth of theological understanding, but we need to come up for that air that sustains our life. The Christian, only by ever ascending to God, rising to breathe in constant prayer, maintains the fullness of spiritual life. All of us need to be moving throughout all the days and hours of our lives in the presence of the Lord. That's the general essence of what this is coming to. And if you just looked at Ephesians and you just sort of plopped down at verse 18, it might not have the impact that it would have if you were able to understand everything I've told you tonight. This, in some ways, is the culminating reality of the book, and without an understanding of what comes before, you don't get that. You might treat this statement about prayer like so many other statements about prayer. Prayer seems, for most people, to be something of an option. But here, it's the culmination of everything, on top of everything, with all your blessings and all the armor, praying at all times. So let's talk about this instruction for a minute. Pass, the Greek word for all, is used four times in this verse. Four times, all, all, all, all. We understand then that this is pervasive, this is important, this is far reaching. So let's talk about the elements that fall under the category of all. First of all, the frequency of prayer. Pray at all times. Pray at all times, that's the frequency of prayer. What does that mean? Just exactly what it says. There doesn't need to be an explanation of that. Jesus said in Luke 21.36, watch and pray always. It was said about Cornelius in Acts chapter 10 that he prayed to God always. Paul, in Romans 12.12, says, continue diligently in prayer. In Colossians 4 2, continue in prayer. Philippians 4 6, be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And famous, 1 Thessalonians 5 17, pray without what? Ceasing. Pray without ceasing. Paul did that. 2 Timothy 1 3, without ceasing, he says, I have remembrance of you in my prayers night and day. The idea here is constancy. Now this stretches us beyond just some recited prayer. This cannot mean some focused, isolated prayer experience. That would have been typical of Judaism. Formula prayers, hours to pray, times to pray, places to pray, postures in which to pray. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about a life pattern. We're talking about a consciousness of God's presence at all times that leaves my heart open fully to Him. That's what this is all about. To be so God conscious that you see and experience everything with reference to Him. You see all events in life as related to God. If you see something good, what is your immediate response to what is good? It is to offer God thanks and praise and adoration. You see evil, you see sin, what is your response? You ask him to make it right. You confess it, you pray for the sinner, you grieve that God is dishonored, that his name is reproached. You ask God to vindicate himself, to bring righteousness where there is only iniquity. You see trouble, you see people in distress. What is your initial response? To go to God and ask that God will somehow be honored in the distress and bring a deliverance that can glorify his name. It's simply living your life in that kind of dominant God consciousness, so that God is the filter through which every experience passes. I see everything that way, absolutely everything, good, bad, indifferent, minor, major, big picture, small picture. I see everything that way. If you will, I have God colored glasses. Everything I see is viewed through my understanding of God. David said that I have set the Lord always before me. I have set the Lord always before me. Everything in life is filtered through that God enhanced vision. There's no waking moment then that prayer cannot rise. It isn't a time that you wait for, it's the life that you live. It's a God conscious life. It's not just finding a list of requests and going over it, although that's part of it. It's not just having a prescribed prayer time, although that's certainly part of it, private place. It's much more than that. It's that every single thing in your life is something to talk to God about. Everything. Everything. When Paul said in Colossians 4 2, continue in prayer, he used the verb katario, which means to be steadfast and constant. It's the same verb used in Hebrews 11 27, speaking of Moses enduring. It's the enduring attitude of prayer. It's to hang in there with strength. Now we're not talking just about an easygoing God consciousness. We're talking about a strong, persevering, vibrant, even struggling, God consciousness. Sometimes that says, Lord, why did you choose to do that? Why did that happen? Help me understand. It's a struggle for me, I can't understand it. Why do you tolerate that? I can't tell you how many times I ask the Lord that. I just, there are things in the church, there are things in the name of Christ that I do not understand why God allows. I don't understand it. There are things that happen that I don't understand. People ask me, why did this happen? I don't know. I trust God, but sometimes I struggle with the reality of what's going on. And all I can say is, like the martyrs under the altar in Revelation, how long, O Lord, how long, until you will be vindicated, and things like this will no longer have to happen. It's not, then, an easy-going God consciousness. It's a struggling, persevering love of righteousness, and love of the honor of God, and desire to see God exalted and glorified. And that's where the struggle lies. And so the prayer is always, Lord, glorify yourself somehow through this. I may not understand it, it may be against the grain of everything that I think makes sense. So show yourself powerful, bring honor to yourself. This is part of the persistence in prayer that Jesus talked about in the story of the man who kept knocking and kept knocking and kept knocking, and because of his much knocking, he received what he wanted from someone who didn't even care about him. And the point that our Lord is making, if somebody who doesn't care will give you what you want just because you bug him, what will God give you when he loves you? If you're persistent. Prayer is a constant God consciousness, but it's not an easy-going God consciousness. It's a struggling God consciousness, because you're struggling with the world and the way it is, because you love to see God honored. You love to see him glorified. Thank you for joining us in this exploration of things we are to do. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world. To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way.