“Bugsy’s Prayer?”

(a repeat from 2015)

"Bugsy's Prayer?"

    I'm sure you've heard the story about Bugsy hesitating as his accomplices jumped out of the car to rush in and rob the First National Bank.  "Mugsy, Thugsy, wait!" shouted Bugsy.  "We forgot to pray for God's blessing on this caper!"

    Well, maybe you didn't hear about this (hope not!).  Bank robbers rarely seek Divine aid when plying their nefarious trade.  Even if they believe in God, they realize He would not involve Himself in anything so obviously contrary to His will.  They're right about this, and I suggest the silly scenario above to serve as an extreme example that illustrates the truth that prayer, while involving our requests, actually serves to fulfill the will of God.

    "This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him" (I John 5:14-15).

    True prayer requires devotion to the glory, will, and eternal purpose of God in the Lord Jesus Christ.  "Thy will be done" comprises the holy atmosphere and attitude of genuine communion with our Heavenly Father (Matthew 6:10).  As a good friend often suggests, "The Lord is not our concierge waiting to serve us at our beck and call."   Believers are rather His servant sons and daughters who seek His guidance in all things, including our prayers.  This does not preclude our own desires, even as the Apostle Paul taught the Philippians: "It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).  We recognize, however, that not all our desires coincide with the will of God.  "The flesh lusteth against the spirit… Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your own lusts" (James 4:3).  Thus, we must fill our hearts and minds with the Scriptures if we are to avail much in our praying, seeking to know the will of God as based on the Word of God.  

    The Bugsys, Mugsys, and Thugsys of the world don't do much praying.  They know better.  We must know better also, seeking to avoid asking for God's blessings without first considering who and what His character and purposes will allow Him to bless.  Prayer requires the seriousness that leads us to consider our requests in the light of our Lord's revealed truth and will.  Just as we don't expect Him to bless bank robberies, we shouldn't expect Him to bless that which fails to accord with His glory, will, and eternal purpose in the Lord Jesus.

"He said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth."

(Luke 11:2)

Weekly Memory Verse

   Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me."

(John 5:39)

"First Of All"

"First Of All"

   

    "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all" (I Timothy 2:1-6).

    The Apostle Paul begins his charge to his protege Timothy with the "first of all" exhortation to the "good and acceptable" calling to pray.  How could Paul begin with any other charge considering the overwhelming responsibility of life and ministry to which the Lord calls all His trusting children in Christ?

    "Who is sufficient for these things?… Our sufficiency is of God" (II Corinthians 2:16; 3:5).

    Only God can enable us to effectually exemplify and communicate the Lord Jesus Christ to needy human hearts.  He must work to prepare both the soil and the sower if spiritual seed is to be planted and ultimately yield a bountiful harvest of grace.  Prayer leads to the Lord's plowing of the field in preparation for planting.  It also results in our enabling to administer the seed of God's life and truth precisely where it will germinate, take root, and grow.  We have good seed, perfect seed in the living Word the Lord Jesus, and the written Word the Bible.  However, we must wisely and skillfully fulfill our calling to plant, water, nurture, and harvest.  Who indeed is sufficient for these things?  Only God, and the stewards who recognize that "neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase" (I Corinthians 3:7).

    Pray "first of all", Timothy, exhorts Paul.  Then go forth in the leading, enabling, and effectual ministry that seeks the working of God as the power of our labors.  Such a calling involves every believer as we work in the particular venue of the Lord's vineyard to which He calls us.  How could it be otherwise?  God alone knows human hearts.  God alone knows how to sow the seed of His Word in the precise manner that applies directly and personally to the soil we till.  And God alone can enable us to fulfill the role for which we cannot, in and of ourselves, perform.  Paul well knew this was the case with Timothy.  However, he also knew how true it was of himself.  Thus, he requested prayers for the help and hope only God can provide to both the sower and the field in which he labors…

"Pray always and with all supplication in the Spirit… that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel."

(Ephesians 6:18; 19)

Weekly Memory Verse

   Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me."

(John 5:39)

“The Root of the Fruits”

"The Root of the Fruits"

   

    The decline of Western culture should trouble us and break our hearts.  Scripturally influenced standards, traditions, perspectives, and practices that founded and sustained our culture for centuries have been cast aside, based on turning away from the supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Bible.

   "Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them" (Romans 1:28-32).

    We would be more disturbed, however, if we were not seeing the aforementioned fruits.  The Apostle Paul revealed that God Himself gives people over to such expressions of unbelief when they reject Him and His truth.  He doesn't determine the sins, of course, but rather allows the wicked to go their own way and practice that which brings momentary pleasure in themselves and others.  Abandoned standards, traditions, perspectives, and practices therefore confirm the truth of God's Word.  This does not make it less disturbing to see such flight into darkness.  It does, however, explain the unholy source of what we presently see, namely, the rejection of God and His Word. The recognition sharpens our focus and prayerful attention on the root of our culture's demise.  This enables us to share the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ not merely as an exercise in changing behaviors, but in leading people to faith in the One who changes both heart and behavior.

    "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).  People and cultures do not dance away scot free from the determination to reject God and His truth.  Consequences ensue, consequences used by the Lord to bring people to their senses.  Thus, we maintain proper concern when we see people embracing the sins that lead to the wages of death.  Again, however, we realize that God Himself gives people over to the bearing of such fruit when they turn away from Christ and the Truth.  Thus, we rejoice in the confirmation of His Word, even as we mourn our generation's rebellion.  And, we look for opportunities to share the Gospel with people ravaged by the darkness of the day, but redeemable by the Light of the Ancient of days.

"This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil."

(John 3:19)

"The Light shineth in darkness."

(John 1:5)

Weekly Memory Verse

   Search the Scripture, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me."

(John 5:39)