There is no cheating on the Spiritual Diet!

At some point in time I believe each of us has had the conversation with ourselves regarding the body. You probably have thought that you either need to go on a diet, or have a balanced diet to keep the rock body you have been blessed with. At some point you may have had to talk with yourself about changing your diet because of things like diabetes, cholesterol, high blood pressure and so on. I truly believe that all have had to have some sort of conversation with themselves about the food they eat. Nevertheless, I will refrain from using that absolute statement and stick to saying that “Most” of us have had this conversation.

There have been many times that I have had to have a discussion with me about the food going into this mouth and what it is doing to this body. I have always been heavy, except for several brief periods of time. My junior and senior year in high school, my early days in the army, and a couple years in my late twenties where times when I enjoyed being thin. Being thin had a lot to do with my diet, my exercise, and my attitude.

Why is it that we care more about our bodies than our souls? We think so much of our bodies that we will read and read about what is good and what is not good for it. We will go to doctors to discuss with experts what is good for it, and what we are to do to it if it is failing. More importantly, most of will listen to them. We will listen to people we do not even know, just because they said they went to school for it. It is amazing to me the stock we put into the words of strangers about the condition and care of our bodies, but we will not seek out the wisdom of experts on how to take care of the soul. In fact, we come up with excuses (unacceptable- each and every one of them) as to why we do not need to go and see an expert.

If we are smart enough to understand that there are behaviors that are not good for our bodies, and refrain from them, then why can’t we understand that there are behaviors that are not good for our souls and refrain from them? If we can seek help when the body tells us it’s in trouble, why can’t we seek help when the soul is in trouble? If we care so much about our bodies to go on diets, then why don’t we care for our souls enough to put it on a diet?

First, we have to know we have a soul. Believers know we have a soul, but do non-believers? Evolution would have us to believe that we have no souls because we evolved from nothing. How can nothing have a soul? But we did not evolve, we were created. And the process of how we became to have a soul was recorded for us in scripture.

Genesis 2:7- And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Ecclesiastes 12:7- Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

So we see that God who created man breathed life into man and we see that when the life is over that breath will return to God who owns it. For those who ask what a soul is exactly, you see here the answer. The soul that is in you is the breath of God. It does not belong to you. It belongs to God. When your days are over, God will collect it from you. The body that we all worry about so much will return to the earth. With all of its diabetes, fatness, arthritis, cancer, and whatever ails you, it will all return to the earth from whence it was originally formed. So I ask again, just to keep us on track here, why do we spend so much time concerned about the diet for the body, and so little time providing the healthy diet for our soul? We take better care of cars that do not belong to us than the soul that is not ours but is Gods.

So if we know that the soul is God’s breath, and He will collect His breath when we leave this earth, why wouldn’t we want that soul to be in the best condition possible when He collects it? What do we do to care for it?

Well, first we have to understand that there is nothing we have that it needs. God has what it needs. So we must connect our souls to the Father. Those who ask, “Why do I need God?” “Why do I need to be saved?” This is your answer. First, you have nothing that feeds the soul. Therefore, you cannot save it yourself, you can only destroy it by not making the right choices. And since you did not create it, you cannot sustain it, you cannot grow it, you must realize that the only thing that you can do is ruin it by believing that you can do all these thing which we just learned you cannot do. There is nothing that man has to offer the soul. You are not in control of your life, basically because it is not your life. You belong to God, your soul, your being, your purpose, YOU PERIOD, you belong to God. To believe that the bible is false and that there is no God is to cut off the soul from its food source. That would be like saying that the body does not need water. Do you know that the body needs water more than it needs food? You will eventually need food because water does not have the nutrients the body needs. But the body is made up of mostly water and needs it to prevent dehydration more than food. The soul is God’s breath and it needs God’s word to be in good condition. It will not die, God will collect it, and either that soul is going to be in an acceptable condition, or it is not.

Psalm 23 tells us that the LORD restores our soul. Accepting Christ as your savior and having Him as the head of your life means that he “restores my soul”. Jesus Christ is the doctor to the soul. He restores it. Thus, His word feeds it. Listen to man all you want, read all of man’s books, NOTHING takes the place of meditation over the scriptures. Follow the directions of man, and priests. NOTHING takes the place of obedience to the LORD’s commands. Jesus says, “If you love me, you will follow me.” That means if you love Him, you will be obedient to him.

You can feel spiritual weakness just like physical weakness. You don’t feel like going to church, you don’t want to talk about God, you feel no conviction when faced with ungodly things, there just doesn’t seem to be any joy in anything you do, you find no contentment and always want more, and even you cannot muster any happiness in your life. These, just to name a few, are symptoms of a weak soul. You need healing!! You need soul healing and restoring. You need the medicine of scripture. Your condition may be so critical, you need to put yourself on a diet. You are letting to much garbage in, and too much garbage is coming out. Just like a regular diet, I used to think that if I lost two or three pounds, what is one night of pasta binging going to hurt? That’s how diets fail. When you commit to a diet, you have to commit. That’s why most people fail, commitment is too hard. The same is true spiritually. Committing to Christ means cutting out the garbage. Most people don’t want to do that. They hold on to sinful ways and believe that because they cry out LORD LORD they are on a diet. Not so! This diet is an all or nothing way of life. There is no cheating on the Spiritual Diet! It is all Christ or nothing. You cannot have Christ for five minutes in the morning and an hour on Sunday and then suck in the garbage of the world during the rest of your day, and think you are on a diet. You cannot talk about the program all day every day and then not follow the recipes/directions and be on the diet. You have to follow the instructions!

The diet of the LORD is specific. There is no room, not even an inch for your thoughts. God has told us what he thinks of man’s thoughts.

Isaiah 55- 6 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Mark 7- 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

To this verse John Gill comments, “The inside of man is very bad, his inward part is not only wicked, but wickedness itself, yea, very wickedness, in him dwells no good thing naturally, his heart is wicked, and desperately so; it is full of evil; and out of the abundance of it, proceed the evil things hereafter mentioned; all its powers and faculties are vitiated, there is no place clean; the understanding and judgment are dreadfully corrupted; the mind and conscience are defiled; the affections are inordinate…”

1 Corinthians 3- 18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. 20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

Adam Clarke comments on “The Lord Knoweth the thoughts of the wise” and his comments are beautiful, “They are always full of schemes and plans for earthly good; and God knows that all this is vain, empty, and unsatisfactory; and will stand them in no stead when he comes to take away their souls.”

Our thoughts, independent of the spirit, are wicked and vain. Letting the spirit into our soul restores is, feeds it, and strengthens it. Put yourself on a diet of the gospel for your own souls sake. Feed your soul that it may be healthy and drive you earnestly towards a deep and life sustaining relationship with Christ!!

If you stand in the mirror what will the reflection tell you about your relationship with God, and what are you going to do about it? May the peace of God be abundantly heaped upon you and your home, straight from the cross to the Christian!

Let go of that Rail!

I have been spending most of this week on a roller coaster of emotions. It is funny that when emotions stir up regarding one issue, you seem to be overly sensitive to emotions attached to other issues. Meaning, what you thought you were dealing with well can be totally derailed by the wrong “one more thing”. It has caused me to stand in the mirror and admit to myself, ‘for as easy as it sounds, it sure is hard.’

Matthew chapter 6 speaks to how we as foolish men worry about all details of life. We worry and think about them as if we are the manager of them, as if we have control over them. We think about how we can manipulate circumstances. We really try hard to be in control of our lives. Matthew delivers that message strong in chapter 6. That is why verse 33 is so powerful and true, yet so difficult.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

“Seek ye FIRST!!” This means before anything else. No exceptions!! No ‘yeah but’!!! Turning to God is the first and only answer. We are told here that by having the faith and strength to resist the flesh and seek the divine we will have all the things talked about previously in chapter 6, food/clothes/drink, added unto us. This chapter is all about the lesson of trusting on the LORD and not ourselves. We are seriously being told to stop. Just stop!! The LORD provides for the least of the earth’s creatures, He will provide for you!

Truly making the LORD the head of our lives and truly turning ALL things over to the LORD seems easy, but man, it is really hard. I feel confident in saying that most would probably declare that they do turn all things over to God. But I would be equally confident to say that as those same people get up off their face from prayer, they picked issues back up and continue to try to solve it on their own. What I mean is, show me an issue that you truly left at the foot of the cross, and I will, most likely, be able to show you an issue you don’t care about very much. I don’t mean to insult, as there are people who have great faith and know what it means to truly leave it at the foot of the cross. I would feel confident about that because I know it happens to me about those things that really mean something to me. We know we should leave it at the cross because the bible says we should.

1 Peter 5: 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

There are many more verses that encourage us to endure through our trials. I love James 1 as he tells to rejoice in our diverse temptations. But I war with my flesh. Because you are human just like me, I am certain that you do as well. The flesh focuses on the trial, making us forget that there is a power greater and more capable than we. The flesh tells me, “I got this”. Then that “one more thing” comes and I realize I don’t have a thing!! In his letter to the Church of Rome Paul talks about this higher power.

Romans 13 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

As I ride my roller coaster, I learn that when I am high and enjoying life I love to talk of God. As I descend into the valley I grip harder onto the rail and trust in my own strength to keep me in my seat. The same things as those “Whip” type rides. You grab that rail and you try to stay in your position. But God’s naturally created forces are too strong. I don’t know about you, but I usually go sliding out of position. It is this urge to grip harder to the rail we must resist. Why is it important to separate yourself from the world? Because the more time you spend there, the less time you spend with God. The less time you spend with God translates to less trust in Him. The more time you spend in the world translates into you trusting in more worldly things, like your own strength. To build that relationship with God so that, even in those valleys when your body really wants to grab that rail, you can let go and say that God is truly in control, which is the faith that truly sets a believer free. The bottom line truth is that God is indeed in control. He always has been and he always will be. Another bottom line truth is that most of us know and believe that. We just cannot seem to come to the place where we are comfortable with obedience to God.

1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

We must make our minds pure by thinking on only God. We cannot have our minds corrupted by the earthly thoughts, the fleshly desires, and the sinful ideas of acquiescence to the world and its standards. We must meditate on God’s instruction, seek submission to His standards, and then we must behave accordingly.

Matters of work, marriage, parenting, and all manners of relationships, we cannot allow the trials of these relationships to cause us to turn away from God. Whether we are turning to ourselves or the assistance of worldly advice, we must remember that it is God who is the source of power; He is the source of the right answer. God is the source of the love and discipline that will bring our endurance. We must remember that it is us who departs from God; God does not depart from us.

I love Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. 5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

How we set ourselves up for failure is that we do not rejoice in the LORD always. Sometimes we think he has no idea what he is doing, and we try to do it ourselves. That is not what the LORD says. I will give one quick example. Men think they should love their wives only when the wife is submissive. The wife believes she should submit only when the husband loves her like Christ loves the church. Neither of that is true. We think these things because we put the wife and the husband first. What is true is that the husband will never be worthy of the wife’s submission, and the wife will never be worthy her husband’s love. Yet, God commands us to do both anyway. Why, because He is worthy and He knows that this is what will make a marriage work. With the divorce rate being what it is today, I am convinced that man certainly does not have the answer. Being divorced myself, I have personal knowledge and can say with great confidence that man controlling his own destiny will result in utter failure.

It takes practice! God knows I fail, and I am pretty sure that you fail too. In fact, I am pretty sure we all fail repeatedly. But get back up, remember that God is there, reset your thoughts to his power and not yours. Have a sincere heart, meaning every word of your prayer, and seeking with great desire the exclusive relationship with the Father. Let go of that rail! I love Charles Ellicott’s take on this.

“But the emphasis laid on it here, coupled with the constant references to joy in the Epistle, show that St. Paul designed to call attention to its strict meaning, and to enforce, again and again, the Christian duty of joy. It is, of course, a “joy in the Lord:” for only in the Lord is joy possible to any thoughtful mind or feeling heart in such a world as this.”

Only with the deepest and truest of relationships with God will we find that true joy that goes with us through trials. We will never be able to manage our emotions appropriately independent of God. If you depend on any other source, your power will consistently be insufficient.

If you stand in the mirror what will the reflection tell you about relationship with God, and what are you going to do about it? May the peace of God be abundantly heaped upon you and your house, straight from the cross to the Christian!

Are You ‘Declared’ to Receive a Crown?

I was in a bible study just a couple weeks ago and the preacher teaching the class directed us to the book of Romans, and proceeded to teach the first seven verses. My attention was grabbed by the beautiful words in verse 4.

4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

I am drawn to the word declared. Sometimes the idea of God being both man and God can confuse a person. It is certainly a piece of our faith that non-believers point to and say, “How can that be?” As man, as flesh, I understand how that can be a distraction. This particular idea is more meat than milk, and if you are looking for ways to disprove or dilute the word of God by way of confusion, this is a useful idea that will bewilder a babe on the milk. But I ask, “Are you ‘declared’ to receive a crown?”

First let’s look at the word ‘DECLARE’. If you are to read this verse like you read a novel, or the newspaper, you will read right over the word and attach the meaning regarding speech. To most of us, ‘declare’ means I said something. However that is not what it means here.

The Greek word here is Horizo. It means to define, mark-out, appoint, and determine.

Adam Clark writes of this word, “The word ορισθεντος, which we render declared, comes from οριζω, to bound, define, determine, or limit, and hence our word horizon, the line that determines the farthest visible part of the earth, in reference to the heavens. In this place the word signifies such a manifest and complete exhibition of the subject as to render it indubitable. The resurrection of Christ from the dead was such a manifest proof of our Lord’s innocence, the truth of his doctrine, and the fulfillment of all that the prophets had spoken, as to leave no doubt on any considerate and candid mind.”

The son of God has always existed, just as the spirit has. The trinity was in existence at the time earth and man was created. This is the reason for the pluralism, ‘our’, when we hear that man was made in ‘our’ image. Jesus was not defined the ‘Son of God’ during his life on earth, but long ago. However, the resurrection, an activity that only ever happened once (Lazarus was resurrected by Christ, Christ resurrected himself) is undeniable proof that Christ is who he says he is, and was ‘declared’ to be. If you go back to verse 3 you see Paul describing Jesus as flesh when he refers to him as the ‘seed of David’. Paul points to his humanness at a period of time, life of David, when Jesus was not yet born from the virgin Mary. But yet Jesus ‘was made from the seed of David’. Christ has always been as he was prophesied to be since the old testament. This is important to observe because we as man need to fully understand and believe that Jesus was man and is our example as to living according to the Father’s will and not our own. Jesus had to be man, he had to be just like us so that we could not say, “yeah well he was God and I am not”. He was tempted like we are, hungry like we are, thirsty like we are, hurt and alone like we are, and if anyone reads about his walk to the cross with any amount of sincerity, you have to admit that his body was broken like ours are.

To this point, Charles Surgeon said, “He is as much the Son of God as he was the Son of man. The humanity is as true as the divinity, the divinity as true as the humanity.”

Why is this so important to understand? Because just like Christ was flesh, so are you. Christ is God, and you are not. You and I, we are sinners. We are the children of man, and a creation of God. We have no power and authority over our flesh, and to ward off satan. However, because Christ came and sacrificed himself on the cross, we have the opportunity to accept the spirit into our flesh. At that moment, this part of Paul’s teaching becomes paramount in our faith. It is a teaching to the difference of being a man open to the sin of the world without Christ and being a redeemed soul in Christ living in our flesh. The difference between being alive in flesh, and being dead in flesh. With the acceptance of the spirit, we become appointed, marked out for heaven. Man is broken and needy. We are poor and sinful. We have no hope, just the coming of death. In the spirit we are rich. We have hope in the promise of Christ. We have the coming of a transition to eternity. We are the called of Jesus, because we saw the flesh and warred with it, losing every time. Until that day we called on Jesus, the son of God, and requested to be filled with the spirit so that, as the war against the flesh continues, we may turn that war over to Him, for He already has be victorious.

The proof of this meaning is noted in verse 6 of Romans 1, “Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:”

Calling on the LORD with the sincere repenting mind, we too become a child of God. Reflecting back to verse one Paul said that he is, “separated unto the Gospel of God.” There is a pattern here. Christ was always marked-out as the son of God, Paul received the spirit and was therefore “separated”, or marked out, unto the Gospel. Our flesh is not to be held onto. Understand that this part of your body is not the priority. The soul is. It is not what we are that should drive us, but rather what we are defined and determined and marked-out to be that drives us. We are marked-out to have fellowship, a true relationship, with God the father. We cannot do that when we allow our flesh to get in the way. We cannot do that when we do not see ourselves as marked-out, as different from the rest of the unredeemed world. We are not better than anyone, we are separated because we know how weak we are, how defenseless we are, and how much we need Christ. We separate ourselves because that is the example of Christ, and the apostles.

I am grateful that Jesus came in the flesh to show me being in the flesh alone is not good. I must have a power inside me, His power. I am glad that Paul recorded this message, that I might see the importance of knowing that I am appointed for something greater than just living in sinful flesh, so that I can understand, and help others understand, that the flesh is broken and useless, that I can doing nothing to save myself but confess to the Father that I want to be marked-out for His Glory and His plan.

If you stand in the mirror what will the reflection tell you about yourself, and what are you going to do about it? May the peace of God be abundantly heaped upon you and your house, straight from the cross to the Christian!

 

 

 

 

 

Are you ‘dependent on’ or ‘independent of’ your Shepherd?

I heard a Sermon the other day that really interested me, and stirred up my soul. The pastor was preaching on Psalm 23. This is a famous psalm in that even non-believers are familiar with it.

Psalm 23- 23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Now the pastor preached about the whole psalm, but I am focused on one word, “Shepherd”. Why is the King of Kings, LORD of LORDS, Host of Hosts, the Great I AM, also referred to as The Good Shepherd? And why are we as individuals referred to as a sheep, and collectively as a “flock” of sheep. I wanted to tear this apart and break it down.

In order to understand, fully, the great Shepherd, we need to understand fully the sheep. Do you know that sheep have poor eye sight? They have excellent hearing, discerning the sounds distinct to their mother. Did you know that they do not have sharp teeth? In fact, they only have teeth on the bottom front for pinching vegetation, like grass, and 30 or so back teeth for grinding. There is certainly no defense mechanism in the teeth of sheep. Did you know that a sheep has no nails or claws to defend itself? Did you know that, if a sheep is not sheared and its fleece is allowed to grow, a sheep cannot get up if it falls down and could die? A sheep sounds like a pretty defenseless animal. If you are a sheep herder, and you have even a few sheep, and they are important enough to a farmer, that herder will employ the services of a sheep dog to protect the flock from foxes, wolves, and coyotes, as well as other predators. Why? Because a sheep is pretty defenseless!

So let’s look at the shepherd of a flock of sheep. What does a shepherd do for his sheep? He has to make sure he leads the sheep to pastures for food, to water for drink. Because of the big fleece a sheep produces, there is grooming involved to prevent disease in the sheep and in the flock. Sometimes they help bring new lambs into the world. They protect the flock from predators. They lead the flock from one area to another. And to a good shepherd, when one sheep goes astray, he goes and gets that sheep. Again, most shepherds do employ the service of a sheep dog to help with the herding. One interesting observation I have made is, as I looked into shepherding, I saw many photos of shepherds “driving” the flock from behind the flock. An interesting note as we continue.

When we read the bible we have to remember that a lot of the analogies written therein are about activities that the people knew of, were a way of life, and could relate to. Today, sheep herding is still going on, but probably not in the same way, and not as a way of life. There are many city folk who probably never saw a ewe or ram, let alone know how defenseless they are. That is why I chose to write about this. I think we forget the true meaning of biblical stories and how they identify God’s will for us in our present day.

Jesus Christ is our Shepherd. That means we are his sheep. Do you fully understand just how vulnerable you are to the great predator, who walks to and fro seeking out those who he may devour? Do you fully understand that you have no defense of your own? I often think that as we get saved, and grow in our faith that we get to thinking that, somehow, we no longer need the shepherd. When I go to church, and I go to many different churches, on a Wednesday night there are so many programs and activities going on independent of but at the same time of the Shepherd’s teaching, or as I would say, his leading/feeding the flock. I cannot help but wonder, every once in a while, do these people not need prayer? Is there no one for them to pray for? Since there is a Wednesday night bible study, I also wonder, do they already know the whole bible and all of God’s will that they do not need to be in with the shepherd? On Sunday, I see people out in the hallways talking casually to one another and some running in and out of offices tending to “business” matters of the church while the Shepherd feeds his flock. Do you not need to hear the sermon? Are you that secure? Is it because you are an officer or elder in the church that you no longer need a shepherd? According to what I understand, according to what this Psalm teaches, you are a sheep and you have no defense against the devil. Either you are a wondering sheep or you are of His flock. Which one is it?

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

I think this verse; along with the soothing sound of the shepherd leading me to green pastures, sometimes gives us a misleading sense that we are not susceptible to sin. That somehow it is you who is doing the miracles and not the Holy Spirit; that it is you who wards off evil, and not the Holy Spirit. You alone are not the strength; you alone are not the power. You alone are not the safe sheep. You can do all things WITH Christ. The SHEPHERD leads you. You are a follower, and you are to be obedient to the leader. You cannot act divinely independent of Christ. If you recall, satan tried that once, it didn’t work out all that great for him and he was the most powerful and beautiful angel. You cannot fight satan without the blood of Christ. In fact, you don’t fight satan, you call on the Spirit, and it is the Spirit that fights satan, not you. Not any part of you.

Matthew 9:36  But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

You are helpless. Being a follower of Christ, being obedient to His will, is totally and completely incumbent upon you humbling yourself as to understand that you are nothing. You cannot do anything on your own. You are totally dependent on your shepherd. The sinful world believes that believers in Christ think we are better than everyone else. Quite the opposite!! We true believers know and accept that what we really are is broken useless vessels without Christ. We are doomed, insufficient, incapable, deficient, and destined for hell.

Many people say, “I don’t have to go to Church to have a relationship with God.” You’re right, you don’t. But do you realize that as Christ is the shepherd of His flock, meaning all followers- the universal body/universal church of Christ, and, in the same regard, shepherds are anointed by God to be shepherds of the local churches. Look at what he told Peter. If you are at home, how do you enjoy the benefits of a flock? How do you benefit from being fed by the Shepherd Christ appointed to feed you?

John 21:15-17 15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. 16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

Now there are particular meanings to using ‘Lamb’ and then ‘Sheep’ twice. That is a lesson for another day. Here, for my purpose of writing, we need to focus on the fact that Christ sends to the sheep, shepherds. You cannot be your own Shepherd!! Even the shepherds need shepherds. I know that there are “Pastors to the Pastors” “Ministers to the Ministers”. We all need to be fed and groomed and led and protected. I made an observation earlier that the pictures of shepherds that I saw as I studied this showed shepherds “driving” the flock from the rear. Our Shepherd leads from the front of the flock. Following Him is a choice made from free will. How then can a man who made a choice to follow act independently of the leader? Is that true following? I don’t think it is; I think you are leading yourself in your own direction. We need Jesus Christ for our salvation. Stop standing in the halls during church service and go into the sanctuary (the green pasture) and be led by the shepherd anointed and appointed by the Good Shepherd. We are to be so humble as to admit that we are in need. You cannot be truly saved if you don’t think you need to be saved. How then can you claim a Shepherd if you think you are the shepherd? Let’s look more on this subject in the continuing verses regarding the lesson of being a shepherd in John 21.

6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. 7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. 15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

We have a great Shepherd in Jesus Christ. None other can lead to the rest of the green pasture that he leads us to. No other shepherd can protect us from the predator satan. No other can deliver on the promise that Christ has made for and to us. Are you a true sheep in His flock? Have you humbly admitted that you are defenseless, that you can do nothing, and that you are nothing without the Shepherd? That is where it all starts my brethren.

If you stand in the mirror what will the reflection tell you about yourself, and what are you going to do about it? May the peace of God be abundantly heaped upon you and your house, straight from the cross to the Christian!

Do You Care For The Inner Man As Much As You Do The Outer Man?

The pastor of a local church I attend gave a sermon recently on the wonderful verses in Ephesians 3:14-21. I found one bit of the sermon very interesting. So much so, that I could not help but think about studying it in more depth as soon as possible. By the grace of God I was able to do just that, and I share the results with you now.

Ephesians 3

14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

The pastor spent a bit of time on this text. However, when he got to expound on verse 16, and talked more about the inner man, the spirit woke me up. I paid attention with great interest and walked away with the desire to learn more.

First let’s remember that the letter to the church of Ephesus was intended to encourage the church, to motivate them to be firm in their faith and in the purpose of the church. And that is what he means in his first three words, “for this cause”. Paul has spent some time talking about the unity of the church in Christ, the wonderful blessings of God, and praying for God to give wisdom and knowledge so that they, the church, can be enlightened. He talks to them about how we are made alive in Christ, that there is grace and mercy to be had from the hands of God. So Paul tells the church that it is for this cause that he prays for them.

Paul prays that God, according to His will, strengthens each of them by way of the might of the Holy Spirit that dwells in them. It is the “inner man” that amazes me in this verse.

Adam Clarke comments, “…Every man is a compound being; he has a body and a soul. The outward man is that alone which is seen and considered by men; the inward man is that which stands particularly in reference to God and eternity. The outward man is strengthened by earthly food, etc.; the inward man, by spiritual and heavenly influences. Knowledge, love, peace, and holiness, are the food of the inward man; or rather Jesus Christ, that bread of life which came down from heaven: he that eateth this bread shall live and be strengthened by it. The soul must be as truly fed and nourished by Divine food as the body by natural food…” I am absolutely in love with this, as it is the reason why I feel I need a church that has both, a morning Sunday school class, and a service. I thirst for the word and simply cannot understand any self-proclaimed Christian who is totally fine with one hour of soul feeding per week. I wonder what the outward man would do if it were to eat and drink for only one hour a week, hummmmmm!!!

Now in his sermon, the pastor spoke briefly about a practice that most believers engage in regularly. That is, we normally, and rightly, pray for external things. We pray for unbelievers to get saved and become believers. We pray for the sick to be healed. We pray for finances, children, households, jobs, political leaders, and so on. Most of us do pray that God strengthens the leaders of the church. But the question is this, “How often do we pray for the strengthening of the inner man of our brothers and sisters?” I pray for your situation because I know your struggling. That is NOT at all the same as praying that God, according to His will and according to His infinite supply, strengthen the spirit in you that you will be encouraged to press on through your own trials. In addition to praying for the desired outcome, we are reminded here by Paul of the importance to pray for the strengthening of the power of the spirit that is inside the brethren.

John Gill commented, “Believers in Christ need fresh supplies of strength to enable them to exercise grace, to perform duties, to resist Satan and his temptations, to oppose their corruptions, and to bear the cross, and undergo afflictions cheerfully, and to hold on and out to the end….” I highlighted ‘cheerfully’ because even I, most of the time, do not endure temptation and persecution cheerfully. I dislike it and let everyone know I dislike it. I am wrong about that, and need to work on that. Another lesson for another day, but I did have to stop for a second and give this very important Christian characteristic its due attention.

Henry Ironside commented, “Do you sometimes feel your limitations, your weakness, your lack of purpose, your powerlessness when it comes to living for God and witnessing for Him? Do you feel as though you might as well give up for the little you accomplish? Do you say, “If I only had more strength, how different it might be”? Listen! Then Excellency of the power is of God, not of us, and the Holy Spirit who dwells within us is ready to work in and through us to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ…..”

I think we often forget that we are not the source of our own power. If there is one idea that kills this lesson, if there is one action of man that prevents the total understanding of this thought it is the idolatrous thought that we create our own power. It is idolatry to believe that it is our own workings that enable and empower us. It is Idolatry that causes us to believe that I can pray for your circumstances and that prayer will be effectual because of the power that I generate within me. This lesson works only when we realize that we are NOT the source of the power, that God is the source of the power and that it does our souls well to request replenishment from the divine storehouse of power. In my more common and blunt words, get out of your own way and let God do His thing!! I think that Ironside says it quite well here. If we remember that the power comes from God, then we will remember that we have to go to God to be replenished of that power. Then, as Gill points out, we are refreshed to battle satan and all his advances on the redeemed. We are refreshed to continue in our services to God. We are refreshed to have patience and give grace to those who persecute us. Only by the Grace of God are we empowered to do such things.

Albert Barnes comments, “…..Every Christian needs grace given each day to enable him to bear trials, to resist temptation, to discharge his duty, to live a life of faith…..”

Notice that Paul says, in the beginning of verse 16, “that He would grant you…” Paul indicates that it is well to pray for one another, but as saints it is important that you pray for your inner man. You need to request the power, and Paul states that he prays God will grant it. James 4:2 tells us we do not have because we do not ask. We must also pray for ourselves. When you are on the plane, you get the lecture about traveling with children and oxygen masks. Put yours on first. Take care of yourself first so that you are able to serve others. Pray for your inner man first. In the military the leaders are told they are no good to the troops if they are dead. There is a reason why generals are not on the front lines. Who will lead if the leader is dead? Take care of yourself first s that you may lead the fight, so that you may lead the troops. Pray for your inner man first! Plug into the power, refresh, replenish. Be at full strength before you pray for others.

Charles Ellicott comments, “….St. Paul emphasises this prayer very strikingly by asking that the gift may be “according to the riches of His glory,” unlimited as the illimitable glory of the Divine Nature itself. Moreover, a greater closeness of communion is clearly indicated here. For light is a gift from without; strength comes from an indwelling power, making itself perfect in weakness, and continually growing from grace to grace….”

My closing thought…. if you stand in the mirror what will the reflection tell you about yourself? Have you been truly seeking the replenishing power of almighty God, or have you been ignoring that thinking you are the source of the power? Perhaps your reflection is indicating that you never gave the source of our power much thought before. However, you now clearly understand what Paul was saying to the churches of Ephesus, and want to partake of riches, be empowered by His might, be rooted and grounded in His love, be able to comprehend the breadth, length, depth, and height of His love, and be filled with the fullness of God. What does the mirror say, and what are you going to do about it? May His divine peace be with you and your house!!!