A Prayer for Knowing and Being in God’s Will by Scotty Smith

In his hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. Prov. 16:9
These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. Rev. 3:7
Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. Prov. 19:21
I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’ Isa. 46:10

Sovereign Father, these promises about our knowing and being in your will, bring immeasurable peace and comfort, humility and joy. I praise you for affirming your engagement in determining and directing every one of our steps—for numbering our hairs and determining our days. We don’t have to be afraid of making the wrong choices, or be paralyzed by second guessing our plans. The pressure is off! You love us and are in control, and that is enough.
Indeed, you are faithfully working all things together after the counsel of your will—no exceptions. You are working in all things for your glory, and for our good. You open doors no man can shut and you shut doors no man can open, on behalf of your beloved children. Whatever you purpose, it will stand. Again, I declare the comfort, peace and joy this brings me.
Many years I labored under the arrogance and anxiety of assuming that if I prayed hard enough, was “single-minded” enough, and had confessed all known sin—that if I was really filled with and “tuned in” to the voice of the Holy Spirit, I could know the specifics of your will for my life, well in advance of any decision that needed to be made. My assumption being, that if I was in your will, life would be enjoyable, pleasant, and hassle free. How self-centered a notion…
If I bought the right car, it would never break down. If I bought the right house, the roof would never leak. If I married the right person, we would never disagree. If I went to the right college, I’d get the right job. If I sent my kids to the right school, they would never act out destructively, and would end up serving you with all their hearts. But, Father, if this was the way life worked, I wouldn’t really need you.
You’re certainly honored when we work hard to make good plans and choices, in keeping with our understanding of the Scriptures. And it’s important for us to seek and heed the wise, prayerful counsel of good and godly friends. But help us to live with more confidence that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, not a consulting partner; a very present Lord, not an absentee landlord; the reigning King, not a hands-tied bystander.
Because of the person and work of Jesus, we can be confident your will is being done, on earth as it is in heaven. Hallelujah, many times over! So very Amen I rest and pray, in his glorious and grace-full name.

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Article printed from Heavenward by Scotty Smith: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/scottysmith
URL to article: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/scottysmith/2013/09/04/a-prayer-for-knowing-and-being-in-gods-will/

The Eighth Commandment: You Shall Not Steal

Stealing fails to acknowledge that God is the owner of all things and entrusts to each of us possessions for our wise management. Furthermore, stealing is not limited to things we take but may also involve deception, cheating, and failing to give an honest day’s work to our employer.

God is a giver. He gives and he entrusts to us things. He gave the children of Israel land to possess. He has given things to us not merely for our gain but for his purposes and glory. He gives to us so that we might be givers as well. Stealing violates the very character of God and takes from others what God has entrusted to them.

The Old Testament word for stealing “covers all conventional types of theft: burglary (breaking into a home or building to commit theft); robbery (taking property directly from another using violence of intimidation); larceny (taking something without permission and not returning it); hijacking (using force to take goods in transit or seizing control of a bus, truck, plane, etc.); shoplifting (taking items from a store during business hours without paying for them); and pickpocketing and purse-snatching. The term also covers a wide range of exotic and complex thefts… [such as] embezzlement (the fraudulent taking of money or other goods entrusted to one’s care). There is extortion (getting money from someone by means of threats or misuses of authority) and racketeering (obtaining money by ay illegal means) (Rob Schenck, The Ten Words that Will Change a Nation: the Ten Commandments, p155).

God speaks very seriously about stealing and its consequences.  The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “If anyone sins and commits a breach of faith against the LORD by deceiving his neighbor in a matter of deposit or security, or through robbery, or if he has oppressed his neighbor or has found something lost and lied about it, swearing falsely—in any of all the things that people do and sin thereby—if he has sinned and has realized his guilt and will restore what he took by robbery or what he got by oppression or the deposit that was committed to him or the lost thing that he found or anything about which he has sworn falsely, he shall restore it in full and shall add a fifth to it, and give it to him to whom it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt. And he shall bring to the priest as his compensation to the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flock, or its equivalent for a guilt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD, and he shall be forgiven for any of the things that one may do and thereby become guilty” (Leviticus 6:1-7).

Stealing is forbidden by God and the consequence is a spiritual matter so that one needs atonement before the Lord. God lists the serious consequences of taking that which does not belong to us. In some passages such as Exodus 22, restitution is required as much as fivefold. You steal one ox and you repay with five oxen. David was so angry by the parable Nathan told him regarding the rich man with many sheep who stole from the poor man his only lamb that he demanded restitution as well as the man’s life (II Samuel 12:1-6). The parable was about David’s adulteress relationship with Bathsheba and having her husband Uriah killed to cover up his sin. This teaches us that adultery is also stealing. One steals someone else’s wife or husband or steals the purity of the unmarried from a future mate.

Paul identified stealing as characteristic of the one who does not know Christ. Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness…Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need (Ephesians 4: 17-24, 28).

We may be guilty of stealing in ways we have not considered. Do we give an honest day’s work to our employer or do we use our time at work, for which we are being paid, for personal matters? Do we steal from the government by not reporting all our income? Are we dishonest in answering questions on our tax forms? Do we claim deductions that are not accurate? We often times attempt to justify our dishonesty with claiming unfairness, overwork, inadequate pay, overtaxing, etc. God wants us to be honest and fulfill our responsibilities, regardless of our view of “fairness” or cost.

Paul reminded us of this truth: Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap (Galatians 6:7).

The Sabbath and the Lord's Day

“Christ’s saving work has transformed the weekly Sabbath. It is no longer the seventh day of the week, but the first, and it is no longer called the Sabbath, but the Lord’s Day. This is because the apostles observed their day or worship and rest on the day that Jesus rose from the dead (John 20:19; Acts 20:7; I Corinthians 16:2). Already by the end of the first century, Ignatius was able to write that Christians ‘no longer observe the Sabbath, but direct their lives toward the Lord’s Day, on which our lives are refreshed by Him and by His death.’ B.B. Warfield explained it like this: ‘Christ took the Sabbath into the grace wit5h him and brought the Lord’s Day out of the grace with him on the resurrection morn’” (Philip Ryken, Written in Stone: The Ten Commandments and Today’s Moral Crises, p111).

Ten Reasons Why Christians Should Focus More on the Gospel than Politics by Greg Stier

1. Politics change. The gospel doesn’t (Matthew 24:35.)
2. The gospel will transform our politics, not vice versa (Romans 12:1, 2).
3. It’s what Jesus calls us to do (Acts 1:6-8.)
4. We are citizens of a different kingdom (Philippians 3:20.)
5. It’s what the early church focused on (Acts 4:23-31.)
6. It attacks the root of evil and not just the fruit of it (Romans 1:16.)
7. Politics can divide the body of Christ while the gospel will unite us (Philippians1:27).
8. The gospel calls us to pray for politicians we disagree with, not hate them (1 Timothy 2:1-4).
9. The gospel brings political action soaked in love and humility, not pride and arrogance (Romans 13:1-8.)
10. Politics are a reflection of the moral compass of a society. The gospel gives society a new compass that is accurate (Titus 3:1-5.)

*My point is, not that we should avoid politics as Christians, but that we should focus more on the gospel (Greg Stier, 10 Reasons Why Christians Should Focus More on the Gospel Than Politics, The Christian Post, May 16, 2012).

WE ARE A PEOPLE FOR GOD’S OWN POSSESSION

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (1 Peter 2:9-10).

Someone called me last week and, in true humility, spoke about his unworthiness as a believer. He didn’t want anyone to think of himself higher than they ought to think. I read him this passage. Think about this for a moment.. God knows us. He knows what we have done. He knows the true condition of our hearts. He knows that we are prone to malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander (verses 1-3) and every other sin that’s out there. He knows that we do these things habitually, even after we have believed in his Son. Yet he caused us to be born again; he called us; he gave his Son for us who purchased us with his precious blood. And now he looks upon us as a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession.

Just think that as unworthy as we are, Christ redeemed us with his precious blood. God chose us. God treasures us. We were not his people and he showed us mercy. We are royalty to him. He considers us a holy nation. We are his possession. He called us out of darkness, that is, everything that is opposed to him and called us into his marvelous light, everything that characterizes him. He has called us to proclaim his excellencies. This is our God!

When you are going through the dark valleys, these words give us hope. We are children of the king. We belong to the sovereign God of the universe. The creator of the universe laid down his life for us and shed his precious blood on the cross for our sins.

WHY BIBLE STUDY DOESN'T TRANSFORM US http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/05/07/why-bible-study-doesnt-transform-us/

The Man Behind the Ministry

The Man Behind the Ministry