How to Get on Praying Ground

This classic sermon from Dr. Adrian Rogers should be mandatory for any discipleship 101 relationship. Listen in and then come on back to this blog for the rest of the story.

Click Here to Listen

The Scriptures he quoted are tough to take and he admits that. Read them again and then we will ponder a few more questions.

Isaiah 59:1-2
Psalm 66:18
Proverbs 15:29

We have talked about this subject a lot in this blog. Dr. Rogers examined the typical response of human nature when presented with these verses, "But my prayer is so beautiful...." He uses generic sarcasm to point out that the flesh can get in the way of our prayers. Proverbs 15:29 describes our flesh with a harsh term - wicked.

Human nature again steps in and violently denies the label, "No not me!" Or we would rather soften it a little with more seeker sensitive wording. But we cannot escape the fact that God calls us (in the flesh) wicked. Yes, Christians who walk in the flesh can be downright wicked. Evil. As Dr. Rogers points out again with no holding back, Christians in the flesh can be servants of the devil. He asks, "So why should I pray for you to be healed just so you can go on serving the devil?"

Ouch. What do we do with that? Allow the Word of God by the dagger of the Holy Spirit to do its Hebrews 4:12 work. It is a good thing from the goodness of God. Fight the urge to deny and see your flesh as God does, or allow Him to show you.

Even though we are saved, God did not do anything to our flesh. It is still the same as it was before Jesus saved us from our sins. It is still completely capable of wickedness, evil, and sin. The point Dr. Rogers (and I) want to get across is for us to recognize and admit the utter depravity of the flesh and its consequences. It's solution is simple - walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).

Rather than delve into just how wicked we can be, better I think it is to realize the consequences instead. It is enough that God will not hear our prayers. That means more than communication is shut off. It means that our "one" relationship with Him is also compromised (John 17:23). It feels almost like we are not saved. It feels just like we are wicked sinners again. The conscience feeling is correct. Don't ignore it. Instead, allow God to take it to its necessary conclusion - death.

I go back to what I have shared many times on this blog - die to self and sin (Romans 6:11). The victory over the flesh was enabled at the cross and it is our responsibility to do it - reckon yourself dead; I am crucified with Christ. Life in God only arises through death to the wicked flesh. If we let the flesh have its way, then I agree with Dr. Rogers. Why pray for things that will ultimately bring dishonor to God's name?

Pastor Rogers' next series on the Six Keys to Answered Prayer is an excellent follow-up. I encourage you to listen to that message as well. It's playing today here.

Japan or Philly. Which do I Prefer?

I should have been in Japan right now. But instead, I attended the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writer's Conference. Japan was the plan before I lost my job. God had another plan. Her name is Marlene Bagnull, the founder and director of that conference.

You see, God really does talk to people these days. I mean He honest to goodness says personal things, stuff you don't find in the Bible. Last week Marlene e-mailed me and asked if I would attend the conference. I told her my story. She wrote back and said, "I am so glad Father nudged me to write to you." She didn't have to ask twice. I heard God's voice too and off I went.

Unlike the Colorado Christian Writer's Conference I attended back in May, this time I had no plan. I did not know why God wanted me to go. I never asked Him since I never intended to go up until one day before the start. God did not wait to tell me exactly why He wanted me there.

Wednesday night found Marlene up front before a small early-bird crowd of attendees. Her first words were something like this, "The Church is asleep. The problem is sin. Father has us here to write His answer to wake up the Church and bring Him the glory." You my readers know that this is my call. God had my full attention. Over the next three days He told me exactly what He wanted of me.

From the May conference He wanted me to finish up the Christian Mythology manuscript. Now He wants me full time. This has to be a commitment. The stakes are too high.

Jim Watkins, one of teachers, challenged us to summarize our manuscript in just three words. My manuscript is over 50,000 words. How was I supposed to boil it down to three and why? He explained. Make every sentence, paragraph, and chapter focus on those three words. Drive the message home. My message - God seeketh such. That's from John 4:23.

Did you know that God actively seeks His children to worship Him? I fear in these last days it is almost out of desperation (dare I say). There is so little worship of our holy Father that He has to go out looking for it. I know He had to work very hard to find me. A Christian for thirty years now, I have only been awake in the last five, and just in the last year did He find me finally where He wanted me to be - humble, holy, worship. Nothing has been the same since.

From worship pours the filling of the Holy Spirit, my "One" relationship to God, the fullness of Jesus'joy, the complete knowledge of His will, effectual and fervent unceasing prayer. These are the results of worship in spirit and truth.

One night at the conference dinner table I sat alone since I came a bit early. I prayed for some folks to sit with me whom God was seeking such. Two men and two ladies sat. For the next forty minutes we fellowshipped around the truth of Father's Word on worship and communion. The holiness around that table was beautiful. I know some of those who heard will bring much fruit and even abundant glory to God.

Out of worship God will provide for me to go full time into this ministry. As I look back, I can see that His preparation was perfect. I have over 100 blog entries which I can rewrite into article submissions. I have three book manuscripts going to four editors and agents very soon. I have the prayers of the saints like Marlene encouraging me on. I have the perfect will of God to faithfully follow.

Sayonara Japan. Amen Lord Jesus. Come quickly!

Does God Know What He is Doing? Do You?

I recently wrote as a guest blogger on Awkward Christianity. If you missed the post, "What is This Bible?" you can click on the blog from my Roll. Otherwise, on with this post which my Awkward host prompted by suggesting a book to me, Decision Making and the Will of God: A Biblical Alternative to the Traditional View.

The Amazon listing asks these questions:

"Does God have a perfect will for each Christian? Can you be absolutely sure you’ve found God’s individual will for your life? Most Christians have been taught how to find God’s will, yet many are still unsure whether they’ve found it. God does guide His people, but the question is, 'How does He guide?'"

Without having read the book, I nevertheless would like to answer these questions, having read the Book.

Since the author deals with questions concerning God's individual will, I will address them as well. But know this, God has His priorities, and His perfect will comes first. So frame your questions appropriately, for whatever happens in your life afterwards, no matter to Whom or what you attribute your guidance, if you do not first submit to and obey God's perfect will, the rest happens by his permissive will.

His perfect will is this for all Christians. We are His witnesses and His discple-makers. Period. How we go about it gets into both His personal and permissive will. The best route to choose is the personal one. That is the one I shall discuss first.

God's personal, individual will is unique to you. Nobody else has the inside scoop on it. The only will you have in common with other believers is that perfect will given in Acts 1:8 and Matthew 28:19-20. God wants to personalize that perfect will for you. He uses two methods. First, He has given you spiritual gifts. Every one of them is for the doing of His perfect will (Ephesians 4:12). How you use them is best up to His personal will. If you leave it to yourself, then that is His permissive will. I do not recommend leaving God out of this most important role of your life.

The second method, and the focus of this post, is found in Romans 11:36-12:2. Not a big surprise to my regular readers. Do you want to know God's will? Start with worship. Be right with God, filled with His Spirit, seeking His wisdom from above. That is Romans 11:36. Next, die to self and offer your body a living sacrifice. You can only obey Romans 12:1 if you first obey Romans 6:11. Let God consume you in His holy fire. As you emerge, as Him for His will like in Romans 12:2.

The major hangup that young people have with this is they expect to have to ask this question just once and then be done with it. Sometimes God will answer and tell you His personal will for you and the rest of your life. But other times He will not. He may only tell you His will for the day, or the next hour. Make Romans 11:36-12:2 at least a daily practice. At most, do it every time in follow-up to obeying God's last response.

Jesus calls this being One with Him and the Father. Read John 17 over and over until you get this.

Now if you insist that you just have to know whether or not to go to this Christian college or that one, to date this guy or that gal, or some other major life decision, then take comfort. God is definitely interested. All in good time. I will simply say that if your priority for answers to these questions trumps God's perfect will for you to be a witness and a disciple maker, then you may not have perfectly obeyed Romans 11:36-12:2. You may have come to the throne with your own agenda. Satisfy what you know is God's will first. Then you can boldly come to the throne and ask in Jesus' Name.

It took me a long time to learn these simple truths. I spent years wading through God's permissive will (read "my will"). God may bless at times in all this as He certainly did me. But then we mistakenly interpret that as confirmation that God is in it. Not necessarily. Get after God's heart; don't look for signs. Get your relationship with Him down to just you and Him. Get rid of the expectations, the traditions, and all the other worldly conformance stuff that gets in the way of you offering yourself as a holy, living sacrifice. You come to Him with all your heart and He will tell you His good and acceptable and perfect will.

Unholy Worship

Early this morning I had a terrible dream. I saw three horrible, monstrous men shackled. One by one they emerged from a door and walked past me. The third one walked closer to me than the others, leaned over, and gave a menacing look. I did not move – just stared him down. Before and to each side were armed guards. Before that, I was in a washtub and the water backed up because the drain clogged with beans. The water rose over the tub and covered the floor. I shrieked in uncharacteristic terror. Later in a shower room no one could figure out how to turn on the water. A beautiful clothed woman strode by the naked men. The last thing I saw was her face, in particular her eyes.

I asked God what this dream meant as it was so real, so vivid, and unlike any I had ever had before. He told me that the three men were the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, released and soon coming to earth. The last one who looked at me as a particular enemy – the false prophet against God’s prophet. I knew I had power and victory in Jesus over this one.

The overflowing washtub was sin finally overflowing this world. It was sickening. No more drain. God awoke and took notice.

The shower room was the kingdom of unbelievers, not clothed with righteous wedding garments, but naked and expecting to be cleansed. But no water will come – only the whore to lead them with her eyelids to destruction.

I wonder how it will be that millions will worship the beast and his image in the last days. At least in this country, bowing the knees or prostrating oneself in worship is nearly non-existent. There will come a day – alas too late for most – when every knee will bow and every tongue confess to the glory of God that Jesus is Lord. But few will do that today.

We say we worship in our hearts, bow in our hearts, worship in song, prayer, and tithing. But none of this is worship according to the law of God. The Bride must ready herself on bended knee or prostrate waiting for the Bridegroom. It may be that some of us will have to force ourselves to appropriate this position before we realize its magnitude of humbleness before our God.

Do we, the Church, really know and practice lawful worship? God describes it in only one way and after Deuteronomy He gives no further information until one spot in Philippians and the rest in Revelation. Everything in between is simply exemplary. How long will you wait O Bride of Christ to worship our LORD Jesus in spirit, in truth, in the beauty of holiness, and either on your knees or prostrate? There are no other options. All other efforts are stiffnecked, not humble, and dangerously misworded and misapplied.

I am convinced that Jesus is coming soon and He will look for His Bride, those who have adorned themselves in the fine white linen robes of Jesus' righteousness, ready with lamps full of oil, pure, blameless, and without spot. Don't wait any longer. Get right with God. He will renew a right spirit in you. He will wash you. He will purge you. Yes, pray that Psalm 51 to our Father now. Pray it every time you sin. Every sin, no matter how "small" makes you guilty of all the law. All ten commandments - every time. So great a miss of the mark that only Jesus can forgive. Only His blood can wash clean. Only the gift of His repentance can purge. Only His love for you as His child can keep you in His hand forever.

The unholy trinity has been loosed and they are on the way. Only those who do not receive the mark, nor worship the beast or his image, will God save from the wrath to come.

Could you still thrive as a Christian without your Bible?

My Father's Day Message

Yesterday driving to work I prayed about my blog just posted, "Why Ask?". I thought about the prayers of some friends. They pray for revival. Like me, they pray for the awakening of the saints. They keep writing these prayers on Facebook. I like the prayers. I agree with them. But the frequency started to bother me. The lack of an answer bothered me. The focus on tears and brokenness bothered me. I wondered if all these prayers are really what God wants or have they become subtlely of the flesh. I pictured my friend and myself crying out all these years for these good things. Why God? Why so long? When will You arise? Are we asking amiss, that we may consume even good things like revival and an awakening upon our own lusts?

It is possible I suppose. We do grow weary of this world. We do want things set right. We do want Christians to act like Christians. But is that what God wants? Maybe. Maybe not.

So I asked God, "What do you want?" I was not prepared for His answer.

"I want all the glory, all the praise," He said.

That changed my prayer and my actions. But not instantly. God was after something deeper in my heart. I asked Him to search me and reveal this hidden thing. A day later I cannot recall the picture He used. But He was after my praise, something I have been begging Him to help me with.

There are certain things God will not help us with. He never says He will help us with the things that He plainly says are our responsibility. Praise is one of them. The only thing that comes right to mind that God will help us with is prayer. The disciples asked Jesus, "Teach us to pray." He did indeed.

Ten minutes later I was in the parking lot singing and shouting and crying and praising God. I am revived. I am awake. These are mere byproducts of glorifying God and praising Him.

Why Ask?

Yesterday I caught the radio message of someone I never heard before. Ron Moore, of The Journey, was preaching on prayer. He said that the reason some Christian's prayers are not heard or answered by God is because of insincerity. The prayer never makes if from the lips to the heart. He mentioned Jesus' rebuke of the Pharisees in Matthew 15:8 (a quote of Isaiah 29:13).

Is that what it means? Is prayer really that simple? We just have to be sincere? What if an unsaved sinner hears that? Will they get saved just because their prayer of salvation is sincere?

Folks I hope you know the truth. A heart far from God is far because of sin. Not sincerity. Isaiah 59:2. This is more than just a subtle difference in words.

Awake unto righteousness, and sin not.

A program earlier in the day from Dr. Adrian Rogers (Love Worth Finding) was also about prayer. Dr. Rogers quoted heavily from Matthew 7:7. He also spoke an oft-heard phrase, "If God already knows the answer to our prayers, then why pray at all?"

Have you ever heard this answer before?

The question is rhetorically reflexive. The reason why we pray is because God knows the answer. That's why we ask Who we ask. This is ever so much more important than what we ask. The "what" is what God already knows.

Dr. Rogers went on to give a few examples which will also illustrate my point.

He quoted Luke 11:5-8 and provided an excellent amplification of it. The man went to his neighbors house not to ask for bread. He went asking because he knew his neighbor had the bread and was obligated to give him some.

He also quoted Jesus' prayer parable about the widow who would not stop troubling the judge to avenge her of her adversary. Jesus was teaching his disciples to always pray and faint not. How often we make the point of this parable the necessity of persistent prayer. Even Dr. Rogers said so! But that is not the point.

You see, the widow knew who to ask. She didn't just ask anybody on the street to avenge her of her adversary. The man did not ask a friend in the next town for bread. No. They asked of whom they knew had what they needed. The widow knew only the judge had the power to avenge righteously.

Instead of asking, "If God already knows the answer, then why pray?" we should say instead, "Since God already knows the answer, I will ask Him for it."

Now we are getting somewhere! God knows the answer and we don't. So we have to get to Him to get the answer He alone knows we need. How do we do that?

Dr. Adrian Rogers preached an outstanding sermon on that as well. I have quoted it many times in this blog. He brings us to Romans 11:36 to start. It is our prayers in heaven that get answers.

God tells us about our prayers that stay here on earth in James 4:3, Romans 8:26, Proverbs 15:29, and Isaiah 59:2. It is our prayers in heaven as we converse as one with God that is effectual and fervent, availing much. The fruit (answers) of prayer come from abiding in (asking) Jesus.