Desiring the Pure Milk of the Word

Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.--1 Peter 2:1-2


Desiring the pure milk of the word...Praying, Father, that this would be my desire. That your word would be both my love and my delight.  That I would put aside all else and long for it.  That it would be more precious to me than anything else.  Let this desire not only to delight in your word but to obey it be the dominating force in my life...let this be the expression and craving of my heart...because that is how I become more like You...that is how I grow.  I want to say with David: "I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.”  I want these verses...the verses that follow to be my prayer and the desire of my heart.


Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
    Nor stands in the path of sinners,
    Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
    Planted by the rivers of water,
    That brings forth its fruit in its season,
    Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.--Psalm 1:1-3



The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.--Psalm 19:7-12


And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.--Romans 12:2


For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.--Romans 7:22


I have not departed from the commandment of His lips;I have treasured the words of His mouth
More than my necessary food.--Job 23:12


Your words were found, and I ate them,
And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart;
For I am called by Your name,
O Lord God of hosts.--Jeremiah 15:16


From Psalm 119


I shall delight in Thy statutes, I shall not forget Thy Word. 


Thy testimonies also are my delight.


Make me walk in the path of commandments for I delight in it. 


I shall delight in Thy commandments which I love. 


I shall lift up my hands to Thy commandments which I love. 


The law of Thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.


If Thy law had not been my delight, then I would have perished in my affliction.


O how I love Thy law, it is my meditation all the day. Thy commandments make me wiser than my enemies for they are ever mine. I have more insight than all my teachers for Thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged because I have observed Thy precepts. I have restrained my feet from every evil way that I may keep Thy Word. I have not turned aside from Thy ordinances for Thou Thyself has taught me how sweet are Thy words to my taste. Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth. From Thy 
precepts I get understanding.  Therefore I hate every false way.


I have inherited Thy testimonies forever for they are the joy of my heart. 


My soul keeps Thy testimonies and I love them exceedingly.




I long for Thy salvation, O Lord, and Thy law is my delight.  

Love is Central...Love is What is Needed.

That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.--Ephesians 3:17b-19

Many years ago my husband and I opened our house for a bible study on Friday nights.  He would teach the adults and often I would teach the little ones that came.  I do not remember much of what I taught but I remember this one lesson.  I had been reading through Galatians and had reached the fruit of the Spirit.  (Galatians 5) As I studied I realized that there really was one one fruit, love, from which all the other fruit flowed.   In fact, without love, the other fruits would not even exist. God's love shed abroad in our hearts at the moment of our salvation is what enables us to love as He loves.  Without Him...without love...we are nothing but a clanging cymbal.  He is the foundation...without Him no lasting fruit could be grown.  Here is how I demonstrated this to the kids.  I took a black marker and long rectangular blocks from the girls' block box.  On each block I wrote a fruit of the Spirit.  I included an extra block with Jesus' name .  This was the first block I put on the table.  The rest of the fruits were placed on the Jesus block....love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Each child was asked to try to remove the Jesus block without toppling the tower.  It was, of course, impossible.  They understood what that meant and so did I.


Love is central.  Love is what is needed.  Love is the only thing we owe anyone.  Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore, love fulfills the law. When we abide in love...in Him, the fruit grows.  Where love is present, John MacArthur rightly says, sin is absent.  Biblical love is always an action word and it is always self-sacrificing.  It is the highest kind of love...the love of the will...loving others is an act of obedience...It is the greatest commandment and in one sense the only commandment.


Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” 


In order to be rooted and grounded in the love that Paul speaks to here, we first must be rooted and grounded in God.  We must be saved.  His love must be at the very core of our being. We can't comprehend His love until we know Him and we can't know Him until we immerse ourselves in His word.  At salvation His love is poured out in our hearts....that is the only way we can love rightly...by and through His love poured out in our heart.   It is His Spirit that produces this love..it is not something we can grit our teeth and do...it is a love that ALWAYS comes from Him.  It is not external or compelled legalistically...it comes from within...it comes as we desire to be controlled not by our own selfish desires but by His Spirit moment by moment. As we surrender to the Spirit of God by obedience to His word,  He produces this supernatural love in our hearts and uses it to reach those He Himself has placed in our life for that very purpose!  In this way we can love to the limit!  We can love fervently as Peter says...like a rubber band stretched to its breaking point.


If you want to know the breadth, length, depth and height of His love...If you want to know the fullness of God all you need do is ask. BE PREPARED though, because in beginning to understand the depths of his love you will also begin to know with heart knowledge the depths of His sacrifice.  You will begin to identify with Him because you will be walking a path similar to your Master's, who when He walked this earth, was despised and rejected...a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief.  Remember, however, the big picture of what His suffering and death wrought...your salvation and mine.  His darkest hour became His greatest glory. So go ahead and ask...His perfect love will cast out fear and His grace will be sufficient for your every need.  


Ask Him first and foremost to give you a love for His word and a desire to let it root deeply in your heart.


Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.--Jeremiah 15:16


Be like Job who treasured God's word more than His necessary food or like the Psalmist who meditated on them both day and night.  Pray that His testimonies would be the rejoicing of your heart. 


Next, ask Him to answer the prayer found here in Ephesians 1:17 in your own life.  Ask Him to give you the desire to have your life under the control of the Spirit of God. Tell Him that you want to love as He loves.  Spend time with your Father in Heaven.  Renew your mind with His truth.  Receive the word that He ministers to you each day with meekness (no argument) and allow it to work in your heart.  Let Him empty your heart of you and fill it with Him and His love.  Watch Him do this work daily in your life to conform you into His image.... AND as you watch,  may the beauty of the Lord our God be upon you and may HE establish the work of your hands.

Locked in by Misery but God...

And I said, “This is my anguish;
But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
I will remember the works of the Lord;
Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
I will also meditate on all Your work,
And talk of Your deeds.
Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary;
Who is so great a God as our God?
You are the God who does wonders;
You have declared Your strength among the peoples.
You have with Your arm redeemed Your people,
--Psalm 77:10-15a

Psalm 77 is an antidote for depression.  In verses 1-9 David  is pretty locked in by his own misery. Even when he thought about God he was bitter...but then in verse 10 his mood begins to reverse.  He purposes in his heart to meditate on God's tender mercies to him in the past.  He remembers all the things that the Lord had accomplished..all the deliverances that He effected.  He recalls the years of the right hand of His God when His strength and power encompassed him and he begins to rejoice!  Nothing in David's situation had changed except his own outlook.  Therein lies the application for us.  Sometimes to grieve is our lot...sometimes God puts us in a very tight place...our job is to wait on Him and meditate on who HE IS rather than our circumstances. God is the ruler of events and much of what He does in our lives now will not be understood this side of heaven. Change belongs to the right hand of  God who not only does all things well, but for our good and His glory.  The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him.  I am His...and He is good.  Rejoicing today in His salvation...my joy is in Him!

 Psalm 116:12-13 says this:

What shall I render to the Lord
For all His benefits toward me?
I will take up the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the Lord.

The Imagination of our Hearts...

"Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ; for He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory so that your faith and hope are in God."--1 Peter 1:18-21


by John MacArthur excerpted from The Wonders of Our Redemption

"What were we redeemed from? What were we redeemed with? Who were we redeemed by? And what were we redeemed for? Let's answer the first question at least, okay?

Question number one, what were we redeemed from? What's the obvious answer? From what? Sin, good. Scripture certainly supports that men are in bondage to sin, that men and women are slaves to iniquity. I don't want to belabor the point because I know you understand it but I want to be true to an explanation of the passage so let me give you some refreshing reminders of this."

John goes on here and discusses Romans 6, Galatians 3, Ephesians 1 and Hebrews 9 in explanation.  Skipping down to the Hebrews 9 explanation here..

"One other verse comes to mind, I think it's verse 15 of...yes, Hebrews 9. It says there, "And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant in order that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant." And again we have the idea that we are redeemed from sin. Okay? That's the general thought. Now let's go back to our passage and let me show you some specifics. And the news is all bad, first of all, as we look at what we were redeemed from. Okay? Four elements characterize unredeemed sinners. If this is what you were redeemed from this is what you used to be characterized by, okay? So did I. Four words I want you to draw your attention to.

The first one appears in verse 14 and we reach back a little bit to pick this one up but it helps us understand the sinfulness of sin and its character. In verse 14 it says, "Do not be conformed now that you are obedient children to the former lusts." Okay. The first characteristic of sin is lust...lust. This is an element of the sinfulness of unredeemed sinners. They are basically controlled by lust. Now what is lust? Epithumia, strong desire, strong desire in the heart for what is evil...that's the basic idea. It has to do with a compelling driving passion for what is evil. And so the character of unredeemed sinners is that they are driven by strong desires.

The character of those desires is further defined in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 where it says in verse 5 that we are not to behave in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God. And again he says that this lust is a passion and it is a godless passion. So unredeemed sinners are driven by unrestrained desire for what is evil.

Now I want to dig into this a little bit because I think it's very very fascinating. Do you remember Genesis 6:5? Do you remember that verse? Genesis 6:5, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only...what?...evil continually." Now let me get that verse down for you, write it down somewhere because it really characterizes unredeemed sinners. God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and here is a definition of that wickedness. Every imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continually. That is a graphic to the point description of the driving impulse of lust. What is it? It's every imagination of the thought of his heart.

Now let me help you see what that means, okay? The heart is the mind...the heart is the mind basically, where you think. So we understand what it means when it says the thoughts of his heart. But what does he mean "every imagination of the thoughts of the heart?" He adds another dimension here, something, somehow distinct from thought, something, if you will, that energizes thought, something that compels thought. Could it be lust? It can be. Lust is certainly associated with the imagination. Basically the same idea comes through in James 1, listen to these words. "Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own...what?...lust. Then when lust has conceived it gives birth to sin." Same idea. There's something else in you beside thought, it's lust. And it works in your imagination. I love that word, we don't use that word much. Many of the old writers in Christian literature used the word imagination, it's a tremendous word. In many of the new translations they don't use the word imagination, but they do in the King James and I think it keeps the perspective clear. Let me just give you an illustration of how it's used and I can do that by looking at nothing beyond the book of Jeremiah alone.

I was studying this and just digging into it, just listen to this, for example,Jeremiah 3:17, "At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord," and this is looking ahead to the glories of the future, "and all the nations shall be gathered unto it to the name of the Lord to Jerusalem...now listen...neither shall they walk anymore after the imagination of their evil heart." Chapter 7 down about verse 24, yes, "They hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels...follow...and in the imagination of their evil heart." Chapter 9 verse 14, talking again of disobedient people, "They have walked after the imagination of their own heart," then he brings up Balaam as well. There's another one in chapter 11 I believe, verse 8, "Yet they obeyed not nor inclined their ear, but walked everyone in the imagination of their evil heart." Over in chapter 13 and verse 10, "This evil people which refused to hear My words which walk in the imagination of their heart." Chapter 16 verse 12, "And you have done worse than your fathers for behold you walk everyone after the imagination of his evil heart." Chapter 18, I think it's the same verse 12, it says, "We will everyone do the imagination of his evil heart." And then at least one more I can give you, chapter 23 verse 17, yes, "You shall have peace, they say unto everyone that walks after the imagination of his own heart no evil shall come upon you."

In looking at the Authorized Version and going through just that one book, you can see that the concept of the imagination was very much a part of the thinking. Now let me tell you how sin works. Sin works in your imagination. And in the imagination of a person is where he or she builds the fantasies. That's where you develop the fantasies that are the impulses to behavior. For example, I am tempted let's say to do something wrong. The temptation comes to me. If I don't deal with it immediately it enters in to my thoughts. I think of it as a temptation. I think of doing it. "Oh I could do that, that might feel good." And then if I continue to think about it it goes from that thought into my...what?...my imagination. And pretty soon I am building the scenario of forbidden pleasure and I'm feeding that thought. It's now in my imagination and I have created the fantasy that...listen to me...will move my emotions which will activate my will which will create the action. That is why so many of the ancient writers said you have to control the imagination. The problem with unredeemed humanity is it can't. Sin works in the imagination. And, of course, the imagination is totally dominated by sin...totally. What else could it be dominated by?

In Luke 1:51 Mary gives that great Magnificat as she magnifies the Lord and she says of the Lord, "He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts." Sin starts out as a thought. It is fed in the imagination. And when the imagination concocts the fantasy scenario, lust is excited and it moves the emotion and emotion activates the will and conduct is a result. Listen carefully, in dealing with sin imagination becomes more fundamental in thinking in some ways. And I don't want to split hairs here but I want you to understand it. Imagination becomes more fundamental than thinking and it is what energizes the thought into fantasy that activates the emotion which moves the will. So it is in the imagination that our flesh comes to consciousness in the form of mental pictures of pleasure...mental pictures of certain experiences we believe will make us happy, or certain experiences we believe will fulfill us.

And by the way, the flesh controls the imagination in the unredeemed. And it can control yours too as a Christian. And the flesh controlled imagination produces distortions and lies about everything. Lies about oneself, lies about the world, lies about relationships, lies about God, lies about the nature of things, lies about pleasure, lies about fulfillment, lies about joy. And those lies and distortions in the flesh-controlled imagination lead directly to gross sin, depression, hardness of heart, bitterness, all kinds of sinful behavior and greater and greater misery. And the imagination is where lust conceives.

Let me give you an illustration. This is true for us as Christians so let me move into that realm for a moment. You're a Christian, right? Let's say you're a Christian young person and you're out alone with someone that you care very much about of the opposite sex, you're very attracted to that person. And you are in a situation where you are tempted. This thought will be in your mind. This sin will feel good if I do it. That's a thought, I want to do that it will feel good. If you're a Christian this thought will also be in your mind, this sin will displease God. Will you not have both thoughts? Of course you will, both thoughts. So the issue is not thoughts. Your behavior is not controlled simply in that area of thought, it is controlled in the imagination. You see, both of those are facts in your mind at that time. If I do this it will feel good. If I do this it will displease God. Both of those are thoughts so thought alone isn't going to control what you do. Something is going to energize one of those thoughts. And what we would hope is that all of a sudden the thought "this will displease God" will be energized and your imagination will begin to say "this would bring dishonor to the Lord who loved me and bought me and gave Himself for me, this would grieve the Holy Spirit, this would hinder my testimony, this would strike a fist, as it were, in the face of God, this would rebel against the one I love and who died for me and the one that I live for and love deeply," we would hope that that would be the energizing imagination. On the other hand, you might just create the fantasy of what would feel good.

So, we could, I guess, reduce it to the point where we could say when this sin will feel good if I do it, my flesh wants that thought. And the thought that says if I do it it will displease God, my spirit wants that thought. So I face the conflict. Which will control me? Which ever one does will move my emotions. Which ever one moves my emotions strongly will activate my will and determine my behavior.

You say, "Well which one will be the one?" Which ever one controls your imagination. Now you can't split it anymore than that, we're getting pretty technical right here. Whichever thought is made most instantly vivid to you will control you. Whichever thought pulls you most dramatically, what ever your imagination energizes and if you're dominated by the Spirit what's going to happen? Your imagination is going to be dominated by the Spirit too and you're going to build a case in your mind for what pleases God. And if you're functioning in the flesh your flesh is going to catapult your imagination into that thought and spin the fantasy of what feels good. You've got to take care of your imagination.

That's why we live in a dangerous world, my dear friend. You sit in front of televisions and movies and all of that kind of trash long enough and you won't even be in control of your imagination. You will have played out vividly before your very eyes so many compromising scenes that you don't even need an imagination. You feed that illicit fantasy world and you will have a problem.

I've had people actually say to me, "I have a terrible problem with immorality."

And I've said to them on a number of occasions, "Do you read pornography?"

"Well, yeah."

"What do you expect, you have stuffed your imagination with fantasies." Do you see why it's so important to do what the Bible says? You've got to protect your imagination, my friend, don't expose it to that trash. Joshua 1:8, "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth...listen to this...you shall meditate on it...what?...day and night." Psalm 19, do you know it? "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be...what?..." that's talking about your imagination, you meditate in your imagination. You feed the imagination a steady diet of sin and you're going to have a hard time controlling it. You feed the imagination a steady diet of biblical truth and it will control your behavior.

So, beloved, we were redeemed from the state of being controlled by lust and evil imagination. I mean, look at the world, is it any wonder they act the way they act? Is it any wonder? You want to know why we've got so much garbage in this nation, why we've got so much sick sin everywhere? You want to know why we've got so much debauchery in this nation? Because everybody's imagination is filled to the hilt with it. There's no way to restrain it. Every imaginable fantasy is not even a fantasy anymore, you can look at it and it's a reality...polluted minds beyond description, evil imaginations. If it was true inGenesis 6:5, it's certainly true today. From what were we redeemed? We were redeemed from an evil imagination. Isn't that a wonderful truth? And we certainly ought to protect our imagination. We certainly ought not to be in a situation where we just continue to feed it filth and then wonder why we fall all over the place trying to live the Christian life.

Listen to 1 Chronicles, I'll close with this, 1 Chronicles 29...I didn't get very far, did I? First Chronicles 29:10, "Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation," he's dedicating the temple here and his son Solomon, and David said, "Blessed be thou Lord God of Israel, our Father forever and ever," then 1 Chronicles 29:11 says, "Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine, Thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as head above all, both riches and honor come of Thee and Thou reignest over all and in Thine hand is power and might and in Thine hand it is to make great and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank Thee and praise Thy glorious name. But who am I and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort for all things come of Thee and of Thine own have we given Thee, for we are strangers before Thee and sojourners as were all our fathers, our days on the earth are as a shadow and there is none abiding. O Lord, our God, all this store that we have prepared to build Thee a house for Thine holy name cometh of Thine hand is all Thine own."

Now listen, "I know also, my God, that Thou tryest the heart and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me in the uprightness of my heart, I have willingly offered all these things and now I have seen with joy Thy people which are present here to offer willingly unto Thee. O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and of Israel our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of Thy people and prepare their hearts unto Thee and give unto Solomon, my son, a perfect heart, to keep Thy commandments, Thy testimonies and Thy statutes and to do all these things."

You notice that little phrase in verse 18, "Keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of Thy people." David prays, "O God, keep their imagination focused on You, on Your truth, on Your greatness, on Your power, on Your glory, on Your victory, on Your majesty, on Your exalted headship, on Your sovereignty as the source of riches and honor, on Your power and might, on Your ability to make great and to give strength, praise Your glorious name." What's he saying? He's saying, "O God, may the imagination of the heart of my people be on You."

How do you do that? Feed that imagination, feed that part of you by meditating day and night on the Word of God and don't wonder why you are battling losing to sin if you expose your imagination to things sinful. It's inevitable...it's inevitable.

No enough just to have the thought because when you're tempted you're going to have as a Christian both thoughts, the good one and the bad one. But what compels you and what energizes one or the other is what's feeding your imagination. And if your imagination is filled with the fantasies of sin, it will activate lust. If it is filled with meditation on the Word of God it will activate virtue.

Beloved, when you were redeemed from lust. And that's why Paul says don't walk in it anymore, there's no need to, no need. You were taken out of that, that's his whole message in Ephesians 4, Colossians 3. You were taken out of that. Don't walk in it anymore. The key, guard your imagination. So we were redeemed from lust that conceives in the imagination. Well, we'll have to pick it up from there next time and see what else we were redeemed from. Let's bow in prayer.

My Heart...His Home.

So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.--Ephesians 3:17a

My heart is Yours, Father....I  surrender it completely to You.  You are building in me a holy habitation. You, the high and lofty One, the One who inhabits eternity whose name is holy, dwell in MY heart!   May it be a dwelling place fit for You...a place where you feel at home...a place where You and You alone have pre-eminence.   I want to say with Paul:

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.--Galatians 2:20

You, my Jesus, are my sun, my moon and my stars.  You are my everything.  You make even the night light about me.  Take all of me.  Help my inner man to submit to the strengthening of Your Spirit by my obedience to Your word.   Perfect your love in me.  Fill me with all of Your fullness.  My desire is to live, move and have my being in your perfect love.  Root in my heart.  Envelop it completely. I want you to increase and me to decrease.   Cast out myl fear and make me brave and strong...able to bear the trials that this life will inevitably bring.  Make me like the tree in Psalm 1 that is planted by rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither and whatever he does prospers.   You, Father, are my firm foundation.  I am trusting You...exercise Your Lordship over every aspect of my life.  

If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our home with him. --John 14:23

Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: ⁴⁸ He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. --Luke 6

Wounded Spirits

The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?--Proverbs 18:14

If the spirit of man will sustain his infirmity how much more will the Spirit that is from God sustain us as He works in our hearts!!  Griefs of the spirit are very hard to bear...they are heavy and burdensome.  Our spirits can be wounded by so many things:  unconfessed sin, disturbances in our reasoning,  trials and trouble, rejection and dejection, fear of death,  fear of what is beyond death...who can bear this???    We who are in this world are all wounded spirits...helpless and hopeless without God...unable to save ourselves.    Jesus says this in Matthew 11:

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.--Matthew 11:28-30

None of us were meant to bear this life alone.  Go to Him.  Let Him make His home with you.  His Spirit will sustain you and guide you even unto death and bring you into His kingdom in glory.  His grace is sufficient for your every trial and your every need.  God will heal your broken heart and bind up your wounds.  He is sovereign and all that He does is good!  He will work in you what is well pleasing in His sight.  The "light" affliction you face here is truly just for a moment and is working in you a far more exceeding weight of eternal glory. 

The unbeliever...the one that refuses to come...the one who is foolish and twists his own way...the one who frets against God...does not have this hope...he gains nothing but damnation as he goes through the trials of this life.  His spirit may be able to sustain him but to what end??  God will take away his soul some day and his cry will not be heard when trouble comes.  He cannot delight himself in God and his feet have no resting place.

Beloved...Hope in God...it is His love that has been shed abroad in our hearts and His power that preserves us through this life and brings us to Him in glory.  Draw near to Him.  Let your rejoicing be in the testimony of your good conscience before Him....that you walked through this world in simplicity and godly sincerity by His wisdom and grace.  Through Him our strength will be renewed.  Through Him we are more than conquerors!  For I am persuaded, says Paul, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  

Those who wait upon God will never be put to shame. 

For This Cause I Bow My Knee...

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,  Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,  That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.  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,  Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.--Ephesians 3:14-21


Chapters 1-3:13 of the book of Ephesians are filled with doctrine and truth regarding the Christian life.  The rest of the book is about living them.  Sadly, these knowing the truth and living it can be mutually exclusive.  For the next  couple of studies we will be looking at Chapter 3:14-21 which contains the 2nd prayer found in the book of Ephesians...it is a beautiful prayer.

Paul's desire here is for the spiritual well being of others and therein lies the application.  Paul, like Jesus, did not pray much for himself as for those God had placed in his life.   Paul is writing this letter while he is in prison and instead of spending the majority of his time beseeching God for himself, he spends his time interceding for others.  Specifically here, that the spiritual blessings in Christ that they have received would strengthen them with power...that the word of God would so penetrate their hearts that they would understand the depths of of His love and in understanding this they would be enabled by His power to live more and more for Him and less for themselves.  Beloved, make this your prayer not only for yourself but for those He has placed in your life.  Our outward man is perishing...that is its destiny.  Our inward man, however, can be renewed daily and strengthened with might as we surrender to the word of God and allow it to penetrate and permeate our hearts.  The nearer we draw to God, the further we go from sin.


For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,  Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,  That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;--Ephesians 3:14-16


Father,

For this reason:  Because I have been given all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places.  Because I was chosen in You before the foundation of the world and predestined for adoption by Jesus Christ.  Because I have been brought nigh unto You by the sacrificial death of my Jesus.  Because through belief in Your Son I am accepted in the Beloved.   I belong to You!  I bear Your name...I amYour child!  You, the infinite, all knowing, all powerful and everywhere present God dwells in me...a finite fallen human being.  You have made Your abode with me and are building in me a holy habitation.

Because of all this and more...I BOW MY KNEE...I BOW MY HEART in GRATEFUL  surrender to You, my God.  I pray, Father, that I would feel and know the fullness of Your power in my life.  That I would be strengthen with might in my inner man and be enabled to live through You and for You.  My outer man is perishing...but Father nourish me and strengthen me according to Your word!  Help me to receive it with meekness and submit to it by Your Spirit.   I want my life to be spirit controlled not "jean" controlled.  I want my spirit strengthened not my flesh.    I approach You with boldness and confidence, knowing that you desire me to come to You...knowing that You are tender and compassionate....knowing that You will not turn away from me, but will instead open Your arms of love and envelop me.  I am accepted in You.  I want to walk in complete awareness that it is You who dwell in me...You are my source of power and strength.  Through my obedience and submission, You strengthen, perfect, establish and settle me.   Without You I can do  nothing.  Strengthen me according to the riches You, Father, have blessed me with.  I want my manner of life to honor and glorify You and reflect all Your blessings.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.--2 Corinthians 4:7-12; 16-18

Held in Contempt by Bill Lilley

Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented-- of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. (Hebrews 11:36-38, NKJV).

It is unlikely, in this sophisticated and oh-so-tolerant era, that a Bible-believing Christian well be held in high-esteem by the world. In fact, you can almost be completely assured that such a person, however pure and harmless, will be held, not in high regard, but contempt.  

And the more vocal that person is about his or her faith, however circumspect and sensitive, the more this contempt will accrue, like compound interest on a bad debt.

It has always been so. 

These are what the writer of Hebrews terms, trials of mockings - scathing, scoffing ad hominem attacks on a believer's intelligence, ancestry, character, and humanity.

Know this, however, that while there are undoubtedly obnoxious, hypocritical, contentious, and cold-hearted so-called Christians out there, who deserve such scorn from the world, the vast majority of these attacks are not truly aimed at the person, but at Christ. 

And He feels these attacks, as we discover in one the earliest accounts of persecution in Scripture - the Apostle Paul before his conversion and renaming, on the road to Damascus to help put and end to this upstart Christian sect.

He saw a great light, and was knocked off his high horse. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4, NKJV).

Note the Lord's intimate identification with His followers. When you persecute us, who are largely powerless, you are, in reality, persecuting Him who has all power and authority, and will one day cause every knee to bow, and every tongue to confess to God. (Ro 14:11; Php 2:10).

He is the One held in foolish and insane contempt. He is the One who is the object of thinly veiled hatred. And He is the One who will, on That Day, judge the world and hold each soul accountable for every single word and deed, and thought and intent of the heart.

The rebellious God-haters, for that is what those who hate you are, at heart, are furious at the impending judgment, and they vent that hatred and terror upon you, as if to pretend their fear and unacknowledged guilt are your fault.

When you are mocked for Christ's sake, and not for any evil you have done, you are standing in a long line of venerable saints who have lived and been targeted beforehand. This is good to know, because it makes the inevitable self-questioning and self-doubt less intense.

The Lord, through His Word, desires that you know these things for your own sake, to ease the feelings of betrayal and hurt.

Mockery is a cruel practice, especially when it comes without warning, and from those closest to you, perhaps even in your own household. It can bring its victim to humiliated tears, sometimes as hard to bear as physical pain.

If perpetrated enough, it can harden the heart of the victim, and become a self-fulfilling prophecy, so that he takes on the vile characteristics attributed to him. Or it can lead to abandonment, isolation and bitterness, such that the Christian is no longer a witness to the world.

And that is the real purpose - to get you to shut up about Jesus; to shut your mouth and cease condemning what the world holds near and dear to its evil heart.

Don't succumb. The very people who come at you the hardest are the ones who would benefit most from the truth.

Remember Saul the Persecutor who became Paul the Apostle, and his encouraging exhortation:

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13, NKJV).

Encouragement and Exhortation in Trouble...

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." 

There is the encouragement. As Jesus overcame the world and its tribulations, so might we do the same.  Paul taught the same lesson and exhorts us to continue in the faith...that


"we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.  "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."  "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

Bow before Him...do as Christ did during the time of His greatest trial...

"who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, 8though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,"

Surrender to Him and allow Him to accomplish the highest end for your trials and the greatest value for your trouble.  Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation and above all continue steadfastly in prayer." 

Good things come from tribulation...much fruit and much grace flows from it.  Allow Him to work your hard times for His glory and your good!

"And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.  To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

More to encourage:  Chastistement is not evidence of God's displeasure or anger but a strong evidence of his love.  Hebrews 12 says this:

For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.  You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.  And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

      “ My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD,

      Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;

       6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens,

      And scourges every son whom He receives.”

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?  But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.  Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.  Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Allow the troubles of life to arrest your attention...allow them to permit you to see your own helplessness and need....your own sinfulness.  "Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects."  Our troubles lead us to His throne of grace...truly the man who sees and understands this is blessed among all men and for him, heaven looms large and the earth wanes smaller and smaller.

E. M. Bounds says this to comfort beloved children of God who are in the midst of trouble.

"Oh, children of God, you who have suffered, who have been sorely tried, whose sad experiences have often brought broken spirits and bleeding hearts, cheer up!  God is in all your troubles, and He will see that all shall "work together for good,"  if you will but be patient, submissive and prayerful."

When God Builds Up....by Rebecca

“All the labor of man is for his mouth,
And yet the soul is not satisfied.” ~ Ecclesiastes 6:7

Ecclesiastes is a great tear-down book. It consists of twelve chapters that focus almost exclusively on how futile, empty, and unsatisfying this life is. For example - the verse above. All man's life he labors just to stay alive, and yet living does not satiate the gnawing spiritual hunger of his soul. If anything, it increases that hunger.

But God DOES NOT INTEND for man's soul to go unsatisfied. He put that hunger for Him (because He is the only one who can satisfy our soul's desire) in our hearts so that it could be satisfied, so that we could rejoice in being filled to the full and overflowing by the God who loves us. In a post-sin world, where the rightful order of things has been perverted and the entire creation suffers for it, our spiritual hunger serves another purpose. If we let it, it will lead us to salvation and redemption. But you've got to be torn down first. You've got to give up on living for this life alone and hoping in this world. If you don't give up, if you aren't torn down, God cannot build you up. There's a poem, "Treasures," by Martha Snell Nicholson, that expresses this beautifully, using a different metaphor: 

"One by one He took them from me,

All the things I valued most,

Until I was empty-handed;

Every glittering toy was lost.

And I walked earth's highways, grieving.

In my rags and poverty.

Till I heard His voice inviting,

"Lift your empty hands to Me!"

So I held my hands toward heaven,

And He filled them with a store

Of His own transcendent riches,

Till they could contain no more.

And at last I comprehended

With my stupid mind and dull,

That God COULD not pour His riches

Into hands already full!"

Ecclesiastes is a great book! It knocks you down so God can build you up. It destroys your misery-sustaining illusions so you can have the freeing, glorious, JOYOUS truth. It shows you the world for what it is so that your eyes are lifted up to the better world that is to come. It exposes the false hopes of this life so that you can have the sure and certain hope that is founded in Christ. It drives home the realization of your unsatisfied and maddening spiritual yearnings so that your soul may be filled. It takes away your pitiful works and replaces them with God's perfect work. I LOVE Ecclesiastes! I love that God loves me enough to knock me down so I get to have Him build me up. Most of all, I love my Lord.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 16-18, NKJV, "We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—...Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

The Loaded Parenthesis...

Again, as stated in my previous study, Paul is attempting to begin a prayer for believers here....but he does not actually get to the prayer until verse 14 where he repeats the phrase that he began this chapter with...for this cause  It is best to see verse 2-13 as a parenthesis wherein Paul speaks once again of the truths he wrote about in Ephesians 2:11-22....that the Jew and Gentile are one in Christ...that there is no longer any distinction between them. The Gentiles are now fellow heirs, of the same body and partakers of His promises in Christ by the gospel.  


Verses 5-6: Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;  That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: This truth...that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel....was not made known to anyone prior to the church age. It was given to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit and not to any other persons before or after them.  The meaning of several passages in the Old Testament were not clearly understood until Paul revealed them through the inspiration of the Spirit of God in his letters.  John MacArthur mentioned a couple examples in his commentary on Ephesians Chapter 3.


Genesis 12:3 -  God's promise to Abraham:  I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you;  And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  No one knew the full meaning of this which is explained in Galatians 3:8:


And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”


Likewise no one knew the full meaning of Isaiah 49:6:   Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant  To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;  I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles  That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’”


Acts 13:46-47 explains it to mean that the gospel would be offered to the Jew and the Gentile alike. 



Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.  For so the Lord has commanded us:  I have set you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.


Bringing the Jew and the Gentile together in one body, the church, was something the Old Testament saints could not have even imagined...even the Jews in the early church...even Peter to whom the revelation was also given (Acts 10)  had difficulty with it.  John MacArthur likens it to saying that lepers were no longer to be isolated, that they were now free to intermingle and associate with everyone else as normal members of society.  In the mind of the Jew, their separation from the Gentile was so true and so right that the thought of equality before God was inconceivable.   For this reason, Paul explains,  states and restates this same truth many times.   


Verse 7-8:  Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.  Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;...Paul understood that he was who he was by the grace of His God.  No one can make themselves a minister of God because the grace, calling and the power to fulfill are all from Him.  Paul considered himself the chief of sinners and the least of all the saints.  And yet...to him...it was given to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentiles!  It was God who made Paul a minister and it was God who always led Paul into triumph and diffused the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.  


Verse 9:  and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;...the Jew and the Gentile are one in Christ...much was written on this.  See Ephesians 2:11-22


Verse 10-11:  to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,  according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,...The church is to glorify God...we are to show His wonderful works and manifold wisdom not only to the people of the world but to the angels...holy and unholy...to powers and authorities because all have been made subject to Him.  There is joy among the angels of God the Gospel of Luke says, when even one sinner repents.  Let the angels praise Him when they see the glory of God in the church!  


1 Peters 1 says this:


Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you,  searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.


Verse 12:  in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. We have access to God in Christ!  Read Hebrews 4:14-16


Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.


We can come boldly to His throne to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need!  


Verse 13:  Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. Paul tells them not to lose heart because of the tribulations he faces...they are for their glory...his tribulations are being used to bring them to Christ and to glory!  Paul rejoiced in his sufferings knowing that God was doing exceedingly abundantly above all he could ask or think in bringing the Jew and the Gentile together as one in the body of Christ.  God produces glory through trials and suffering!  They are not for nought.  He uses them mightily in each believer's life.  Paul understood what he wrote in the Book of Romans...For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 


Next up...Paul's prayer.