another article on how to get the power we need to conquer sin work save souls edify sainst etc.
It has been said that "power is nothing without control". Though we might strongly doubt whether power out of our control equals nothing, it is certainly not as useful to us as power precisely controlled and directed to a specific aim.
Our God has specific purposes and He plans to accomplish them in the way that He has decided. So He especially gives power to those He hopes will co-operate with Him and He takes it away from those who abuse their God given position of power and authority. This is illustrated again and again in the books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles (books which contain detailed information on the lives of the leaders within Israel.)
God doesn't dish out raw power with which to do as we please. He gives power and gifts for us to use them in the way that He has planned and required of us. Though God may not give any of us the power to govern and protect the 12 Tribes, He may well give power to walk free of besetting sins, power to bring back wanderers and power to ask souls for Christ. All Christians have seen the power of God at work if only in their own conversion.
From God comes power to live Christ-like lives and to turn upside down (right side up from the Christian perspective ) the lives of those around us. The power to change the world resides in God. This power that we seek to investigate here. This power is commonly said to be available in Christ. But how do we move from possessing it in theory to possessing it in fact.
Union with God (Godliness, Pure prayer, Fervency) X Dependence on God = POWER
We must search the scriptures individually. I have found that the more we understand and obey the God revealed in the Bible, the more we depend on this God and not on ourselves or other things, the greater our experience of the sort of power revealed in the Bible will be!
Now we know that do cannot do just anything.
God cannot lie (titus1:2),
Cannot deny Himself (2Tim 2:13),
Cannot pardon sins without the appropriate sacrifice death (Hebrews 9:22,Mat 26:39, 42&45).
So the desires we bring before him in prayer must be pure. They must be things that He can approve of. We have to bring before God His own desires! (This requires an understanding of the heart and mind of God.
I could get to know the things that were on your heart and mind by spending time talking to you and watching to see how you used your time, what things you gave priority to. In the same way as we read the Spirit of truth I enlightens our minds to the truth. Enabling us to understand the book that has taken Him thousands of years to complete.
In it we can hear the very words God spoke and see the very things that God did and so understand the very heart and mind of God. god is the same yesterday today and therefore the things we learn about His character are still true of Him now and will be forever.
As we go deeper in our spiritual understanding we will be transformed (by the renewing of our minds) in every department of our Christian life including the area of obedience. In our whole life we will display our deepening knowledge and familiarity with the Godhead and when we come before Him our prayers will be purer, will flow more easily as we will be talking to a familiar friend. They will increase in beauty in the eyes of and increase in importance in the schedules of God, be more and more successful and bring down more and more power and joy on ourselves and the world around us. If we desire to draw deeply from the ocean of God's power we must enter deeply into relationship with Him. Look out for terms like the righteous, those who fear th Lord etc. in promises regarding answered prayer, there are many e.g. (Psalm 24:3 and 4, Psalm 18, James 5:16-17.)
THE PRAYER AND WHAT THEY PRAY MUST BE PURE
The desire we bring before the
Almighty cannot be in lip only. The prayer must be a true expression of the burning of our heart so even if we cannot properly express our hearts He knows and understands Through the parable in (Luke 18:1-8.) Jesus taught that we often need to persist in prayer once we know it is pure. How difficult this is! We need to have depth of desire to keep on. We can aid each other by meeting up and praying with each other, reminding each other of its importance primarily by example. So not only must we seek deep unity between our minds and Gods, we must also seek regular unity between our hearts and lips. Making the prayers of our lips the prayers of our hearts, not waffle, as God does not delight in empty talk/hypocrisy every word must be real.
These three factors
- making the personality presenting the prayer acceptable in Gods sight
-making the prayer pure, acceptable to God
-making the prayer real and fervent
seem closely mirrored in the offerings that were commanded to be presented before God by the priests to obtain His blessing in the Old Testament.
The Priests had to be specially chosen anointed and prepared clothes, washing, etc.
The offering had to be without blemish
The offering was burnt ( Leviticus 4:3&12)
It is interesting to note that the priests were doing the work to obtain blessing for others as Christ does for us. We should be moving away from only thinking of self in our prayers. We have been instructed to pray our Father:God's Glory is at the heart of all effective praying and so as we develop our prayers should thus encompass large circles and problems than our own personal life.
IT HAD TO BE A SPOTLESS LAMB, SO SEEK YE PURITY OF DESIRE BECAUSE IT BURNT IT SMOKE REACHED HEAVEN, SO OFFER UP YOUR PRAYERS WITH FIRE. DEPENDENCY ON GOD LESS TRUST IN OURSELVES
The world says if it feels good do it. The Trinity says actually if you want to start on the path of real life the first thing you need to do is recognise how bad you are. Then a sure sight that you're doing well and really approaching the divine being is when you feel even worse! ( a definite decrease in our happiness with ourselves i.e. Our pride and a definite increase in our joy in God's mercy and power is the right balance) Blessed are the poor in spirit . (Matt 5:3)
Rejoice in the Lord always
until you realise you're a sinner, while you remain self righteous you will not turn to Christ to save you from your fate and if you don't remember and go on in your appreciation of your inability by nature to keep the commands of God,to be holy, endure suffering, build His Kingdom your Christian life will be one of constant effort and failure.
Now God may not call us who trust in Jesus sinners but saints, children and brethren of God, because God has this estimation of us we call Him Wonderful and each other children of the king of the Universe ( and beyond). However if we give ourselves an honest look we must call ourselves; of little faith, of little love to God, of much gross unthankfulness, of preoccupation with the things of this world, of much natural desire to sin and little natural desire to serve God and pray to Him, read His word or suffer for his name's sake. In short though God and the saints may look upon us holy or advanced, as the Apostle Paul, responsible for much of the New Testament and the initial spread of the gospel among the Gentiles (i.e. Us non Jews) our estimation of ourselves is to decline. His did from the least of the saints until in AD 64 in his first letter to Timothy he calls himself the chief of sinners. This self depreciation is only the deep darkness before the sunlight burst into sight not merely of our glorious eternal status but also of our deliverance and receiving of strength from God in this life!
The modern pop world proclaims things such as search for the hero inside yourself. However the word of God testifies that the hero isn't there (Romans 7:24.) Once we've graped or re-grasped that and only then can we move onto verse 25...
O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Once we have grasped or re-graped that and only then can we move onto verse 25... I thank God through Jesus Christ Our Lord.
Its definitely ironic but its definitely there Romans (8:2,2 Cor. 12:9.) Christ said that the poor in spirit, along with those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled i.e. Those who appreciate their needs. God is no liar
GOD LET US DEPEND ON GOD AND NOT ON OURSELVES
If you dsire the ministry of the priest. The role of calling down the blessing of God on yourself and those around you then praise God that's all part of becoming a Christian
ye are a royal priesthood. (1 Peter 2:9)
How are we to find joy and success and go forwards in it?
1.) Increase our closeness to God and Godliness
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. (John14:13&14.)
It has been said that "power is nothing without control". Though we might strongly doubt whether power out of our control equals nothing, it is certainly not as useful to us as power precisely controlled and directed to a specific aim.
Our God has specific purposes and He plans to accomplish them in the way that He has decided. So He especially gives power to those He hopes will co-operate with Him and He takes it away from those who abuse their God given position of power and authority. This is illustrated again and again in the books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles (books which contain detailed information on the lives of the leaders within Israel.)
God doesn't dish out raw power with which to do as we please. He gives power and gifts for us to use them in the way that He has planned and required of us. Though God may not give any of us the power to govern and protect the 12 Tribes, He may well give power to walk free of besetting sins, power to bring back wanderers and power to ask souls for Christ. All Christians have seen the power of God at work if only in their own conversion.
From God comes power to live Christ-like lives and to turn upside down (right side up from the Christian perspective ) the lives of those around us. The power to change the world resides in God. This power that we seek to investigate here. This power is commonly said to be available in Christ. But how do we move from possessing it in theory to possessing it in fact.
Union with God (Godliness, Pure prayer, Fervency) X Dependence on God = POWER
We must search the scriptures individually. I have found that the more we understand and obey the God revealed in the Bible, the more we depend on this God and not on ourselves or other things, the greater our experience of the sort of power revealed in the Bible will be!
Now we know that do cannot do just anything.
God cannot lie (titus1:2),
Cannot deny Himself (2Tim 2:13),
Cannot pardon sins without the appropriate sacrifice death (Hebrews 9:22,Mat 26:39, 42&45).
So the desires we bring before him in prayer must be pure. They must be things that He can approve of. We have to bring before God His own desires! (This requires an understanding of the heart and mind of God.
I could get to know the things that were on your heart and mind by spending time talking to you and watching to see how you used your time, what things you gave priority to. In the same way as we read the Spirit of truth I enlightens our minds to the truth. Enabling us to understand the book that has taken Him thousands of years to complete.
In it we can hear the very words God spoke and see the very things that God did and so understand the very heart and mind of God. god is the same yesterday today and therefore the things we learn about His character are still true of Him now and will be forever.
As we go deeper in our spiritual understanding we will be transformed (by the renewing of our minds) in every department of our Christian life including the area of obedience. In our whole life we will display our deepening knowledge and familiarity with the Godhead and when we come before Him our prayers will be purer, will flow more easily as we will be talking to a familiar friend. They will increase in beauty in the eyes of and increase in importance in the schedules of God, be more and more successful and bring down more and more power and joy on ourselves and the world around us. If we desire to draw deeply from the ocean of God's power we must enter deeply into relationship with Him. Look out for terms like the righteous, those who fear th Lord etc. in promises regarding answered prayer, there are many e.g. (Psalm 24:3 and 4, Psalm 18, James 5:16-17.)
THE PRAYER AND WHAT THEY PRAY MUST BE PURE
The desire we bring before the
Almighty cannot be in lip only. The prayer must be a true expression of the burning of our heart so even if we cannot properly express our hearts He knows and understands Through the parable in (Luke 18:1-8.) Jesus taught that we often need to persist in prayer once we know it is pure. How difficult this is! We need to have depth of desire to keep on. We can aid each other by meeting up and praying with each other, reminding each other of its importance primarily by example. So not only must we seek deep unity between our minds and Gods, we must also seek regular unity between our hearts and lips. Making the prayers of our lips the prayers of our hearts, not waffle, as God does not delight in empty talk/hypocrisy every word must be real.
These three factors
- making the personality presenting the prayer acceptable in Gods sight
-making the prayer pure, acceptable to God
-making the prayer real and fervent
seem closely mirrored in the offerings that were commanded to be presented before God by the priests to obtain His blessing in the Old Testament.
The Priests had to be specially chosen anointed and prepared clothes, washing, etc.
The offering had to be without blemish
The offering was burnt ( Leviticus 4:3&12)
It is interesting to note that the priests were doing the work to obtain blessing for others as Christ does for us. We should be moving away from only thinking of self in our prayers. We have been instructed to pray our Father:God's Glory is at the heart of all effective praying and so as we develop our prayers should thus encompass large circles and problems than our own personal life.
IT HAD TO BE A SPOTLESS LAMB, SO SEEK YE PURITY OF DESIRE BECAUSE IT BURNT IT SMOKE REACHED HEAVEN, SO OFFER UP YOUR PRAYERS WITH FIRE. DEPENDENCY ON GOD LESS TRUST IN OURSELVES
The world says if it feels good do it. The Trinity says actually if you want to start on the path of real life the first thing you need to do is recognise how bad you are. Then a sure sight that you're doing well and really approaching the divine being is when you feel even worse! ( a definite decrease in our happiness with ourselves i.e. Our pride and a definite increase in our joy in God's mercy and power is the right balance) Blessed are the poor in spirit . (Matt 5:3)
Rejoice in the Lord always
until you realise you're a sinner, while you remain self righteous you will not turn to Christ to save you from your fate and if you don't remember and go on in your appreciation of your inability by nature to keep the commands of God,to be holy, endure suffering, build His Kingdom your Christian life will be one of constant effort and failure.
Now God may not call us who trust in Jesus sinners but saints, children and brethren of God, because God has this estimation of us we call Him Wonderful and each other children of the king of the Universe ( and beyond). However if we give ourselves an honest look we must call ourselves; of little faith, of little love to God, of much gross unthankfulness, of preoccupation with the things of this world, of much natural desire to sin and little natural desire to serve God and pray to Him, read His word or suffer for his name's sake. In short though God and the saints may look upon us holy or advanced, as the Apostle Paul, responsible for much of the New Testament and the initial spread of the gospel among the Gentiles (i.e. Us non Jews) our estimation of ourselves is to decline. His did from the least of the saints until in AD 64 in his first letter to Timothy he calls himself the chief of sinners. This self depreciation is only the deep darkness before the sunlight burst into sight not merely of our glorious eternal status but also of our deliverance and receiving of strength from God in this life!
The modern pop world proclaims things such as search for the hero inside yourself. However the word of God testifies that the hero isn't there (Romans 7:24.) Once we've graped or re-grasped that and only then can we move onto verse 25...
O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Once we have grasped or re-graped that and only then can we move onto verse 25... I thank God through Jesus Christ Our Lord.
Its definitely ironic but its definitely there Romans (8:2,2 Cor. 12:9.) Christ said that the poor in spirit, along with those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled i.e. Those who appreciate their needs. God is no liar
GOD LET US DEPEND ON GOD AND NOT ON OURSELVES
If you dsire the ministry of the priest. The role of calling down the blessing of God on yourself and those around you then praise God that's all part of becoming a Christian
ye are a royal priesthood. (1 Peter 2:9)
How are we to find joy and success and go forwards in it?
1.) Increase our closeness to God and Godliness
- Be careful about the sort of requests we present before the Holy Lord, dread sovereign of the Universe . (He cannot do just anything.)
- Let us not say more than we mean, He does not delight in hypocrisy but when we believe what we are praying is right in His sight let us cling on in true fervency.
- TRUST FULLY IN GOD YOUR LOVING HEAVENLY FATHER AND PUT NO CONFIDENCE IN THE FLESH.
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. (John14:13&14.)
