Proving God's Will

I just happened to be reading a scripture the other day when one of the words jumped out at me and said ... "whoa, what a minute."  Well honestly, no it didn't speak, but it drew my attention back to it.  The word was "prove" and it's found in Romans 12:2, the Apostle Paul's letter to the Christian Jews living in Rome.  

He wrote ... "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

Okay, how do we prove what God's "will" is for our lives?

In this scriptural setting, the word prove in English came from the Greek word "dokimazo" (pronounced dok-im-ad'-zo) and means ... to test, examine, try or prove.

I am going to stray a little from that word ... "prove" ... but I'll come back to it later.  Right now I want to examine and reflect on the direction this scripture is leading us too.

By following all that Paul is suggesting, will put us on the only pathway I know of that will allow us to find and prove God's will.

The first point of instruction Paul is making is basically this ... we must change our thinking if we want to keep our lifestyle from being conformed with the world.

"Conformed to this world" means ... to the same pattern, to fashion yourself according to the world, including habits, manner, dress, or even style of living. 

In other words, if people were watching you, and they are; will they see a difference in your lifestyle, how you act and live daily, compared to the unsaved they see in the world?

Paul said to be able to keep from living and acting the same as the world, we need to "renew our mind" ... stop allowing fleshly desires to dictate our thoughts and feelings.  We might even have to clean house by removing all the garbage that has accumulated over time.  If our heart and mind is full of only the things the world has to offer, then we need to make room for spiritual things.  Grab your spiritual broom and start sweeping.  I've used mine so many times over the past 50 years that all I have left is a wooden stick. 

What's wrong with the basic human thinking of the mind we are born with?  Mainly because it is just that ... base.  It's a low starting point.  It's all about the satisfaction of the flesh.  We start out as a fallen creature with a sin nature.  It's this base, fallen, natural humanistic outlook that shapes our system of thought, attaching base, primal importance to the desires of the flesh rather than to the spirit.

Renewing our mind?  It begins with you taking control of your mind.  Just as you control what goes into your mouth, control what goes into your mind.  Don't let just anything in and take over your thoughts.  It really, truly is your choice ... you have free will.  The Apostle Paul suggests this in ...  

2nd Corinthians 10:5 ... "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."

Notice first of all what this scripture is speaking about ... things of the mind.  It alludes to, or speaks of ... "mind games" ... imaginations, forming concepts and images, things you perceive as important.  Notice Paul said, every high thing; that's all of them, not some of them.  High things are anything that has been elevated in rank or importance in your thinking, taking up part of the room in your heart and mind that God should have.

It's up to us to cast or pull down and bring every thought into captivity.  We should control our thoughts, not our thoughts controlling us.  While it is true that we cannot always control the things we hear or see, we can control what we do with the things we don't want to remain in our thoughts.

Nicholas Herman, the seventeenth century Carmelite monk from French Lorraine said the following about controlling his thoughts.      

"At times wandering thoughts would invade my mind and take possession of the place of God; when that happened, I proceeded straightway to expel them."

Both he and Paul were not speaking only of evil thoughts, but any thoughts that distract from God or take God's place in your heart and mind.  I am not saying that you must only think about God and nothing else; that would be impossible.  When I watch the Super Bowl, my mind and attention is on it mostly ... but at the same time I know that the Lord is also with me.  My heart is still open to His voice.

I think this scripture is speaking about the subtle, cunning deceptions that the enemy of your soul tries to work into your thinking.  The devil knows which devise or type of argument will work best on each one of us.  A lot of them will be ... "imaginations" ... as Paul said, lies that exalt themselves against the true knowledge of God.  These things can be seeds that when planted in your mind can grow into a very tough weed to pull out later.  There are good seeds and bad seeds ... know the difference.

In another pastoral letter, Paul gives further instruction on our quest in ...  proving God's will ... as I stated earlier, the object and intent of this article. 

Ephesians 5:8-10 ... "For you were (in the past) sometimes darkness, but now you are light in the Lord: (so) walk as children of light.   For the fruit of the Spirit (in your life) is ... proving what is acceptable unto the Lord."  (edited for clarity)

If the produce (the fruit of the Spirit) of our lives ... "proves what is acceptable unto the Lord" ... may I conclude then, that this would be the same as God's will for us?  Paul tells us in Galatians 5:22-23 what that fruit production is...

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."  (How or why would anyone be against these qualities in your life?)

I believe it takes a renewing of the mind to be able to grow and produce this kind of fruit ... which if you really come down to it ... are just the characteristics and attributes possessed by Jesus.  

So ... how do you prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God?

Act like ... Jesus.  That should keep you busy for a lifetime.  

There Went Out a Sower

The words of Jesus ... "Hearken; Behold ..."

Today if we wanted to get people's attention to some life changing information we would say something like ... "Listen up people, I have a word you need to hear."  That was exactly what Jesus was saying to what is described by Mark as, a great multitude, a large company of people, perhaps several hundred to a thousand who came to listen to Jesus speak and teach about the things of God. 

There were so many that Jesus thought it best to speak from a fishing boat out a little distance from shore.  His voice would project and carry much better over the water than on the shoreline.

Mark 4:1-20 relates that Jesus began His talk with the word ... "Hearken" ... meaning, "to hear and understand." 

Then Jesus adds ... "Behold" ... which means, "look and see."  

Jesus was about to tell one of His remarkable stories that are called "parables," a proverb or a narrative of common life that those listening could relate too.  Jesus wasn't the only one who taught in parables; most Rabbis also taught the common folk through parables to explain the difficult points they wanted them to understand.  Jesus just perfected the art of story telling like no other.

So, what did Jesus want His contemporaries (and we by extension) to "hear and understand?"  A simple truth that had been going on for thousands of years, which most people ... if they were paying attention ... could "see and understand" exactly what He was saying.

We hear about fishing quite often in scripture; not so much about farming.  Most of the common folk may not have been fishermen or farmers, but I'm sure they had their own vegetable gardens that helped feed their families.  Because gardening was prevalent in most communities, this parable would have been easy for most to "see and understand."   

"There went out a sower ... to sow." 

Although Mark doesn't say who the sower is, Matthew declares the sower is ... "the Son of man" ... referring to Jesus.

Because this parable is so well known, I will speak very little of where the seed fell, except to say, it all fell basically on the same stuff ... dirt.  Yep, the same stuff we are made of.  Isn't that an interesting parallel?  I'm not sure the dirt was really the problem.  It was where the dirt was and what was mixed in and around the dirt.

The sower intended to cast the seed in his field to produce a crop.  The fertile Jordan Valley usually yielded a crop of 20 to 100 harvested seeds for every seed the sower planted.  But in this story there is a problem.  Some seed fell on the wayside or the road, the hard path around or through the field.  Part of the field had thin ground; part of it was too rocky and dry.  Thorns grew in other parts of the field.  Even though Jesus said nothing grew in these parts of the field ... all was not lost to the sower.  There was some good ground that received the seed.

We don't know the percentage of good ground compared to the bad non-yielding soil, but the good ground did produce a hundredfold.  Doesn't this sound like the world today?  It seems like half the people produce nothing, while the other half produces all that we must share together.

Jesus ended His parable to the multitude of people with ... "He that has ears to hear, let him hear."  In other words, observe and take notice of what has been said as being of great importance.

Later in private, He speaks to His disciples and explains what the sower was sowing. "The sower soweth the Word."

Let me speak now to the character of the people (the soil) that the seed (the Word of God) fell upon.  When the Word is sown in a heart that does not understand it, when it produces no feeling or consciousness between that heart and God ... the enemy takes it away and it does not remain in the heart.  The devil is as busy snatching the word from careless, half-hearted hearers, as are the birds of the air devouring the seed that lies on top of the soil.   

Whatever causes the heart of man to see his true self as if in the presence of God, (which is always a serious thing) whether drawn by need, hope, or grace ... if his soul and conscience (his inner voice acting as a guide) is reached ... the seed (the Word) will take root.

At the end of this parable, Jesus explains that ... "the good ground, are those that hear the Word and receive it" ... not just hear it.  You must receive it before it will take root and produce fruit.

So ... what has Jesus sown in your heart?  Or is the seed still in the process of making it through perhaps dry soil, or thin rocky soil?  Or, are you like many people who have been stepped on for so long that nothing can penetrate your hard ground.

Or could it be ... immediately upon hearing the Words of Jesus, did Satan come and steal the Words of grace and mercy that He was speaking to you?

I pray that the Words of Jesus have already taken root in your heart and are producing great things in your life.  

All Power

The following scripture came to mind the other day, and I have been pondering it ever since.  Jesus is speaking in Matthew 28:18 ... "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth."

All power.  Not just some, not just enough to do the job, but all power.

I guess what I have really been thinking about are the two words ... all power.  Can you imagine what men would do if they really did have "all power" granted to them.  Think of it ... a man with no limits, having total control.  We need to thank God that He has never allowed that.  But that was said to have happened with Jesus.

He said all power, or to say it another way ... "All authority in heaven and in earth is given unto me."

When I start pondering on scripture I usually dig below the surface, so I looked up the original Greek these words were translated from into English.  The word all means ... "the whole of whatsoever."  Most of us can understand that okay.  All ... the whole thing, with nothing held back.

So I moved on to the word power and found that it means ... "in the sense of ability or privilege" ... such as, "delegated influence and authority."

In Heaven, as the Word, Jesus was God, therefore equal with God, and part of God.  But here on earth, after being born of Mary ... Jesus was a man.  So, how could He say that He had all power?  Many people believe Jesus emptied Himself of all that was God when He became man.  But I don't think so.

I believe that God ... cannot become less than He is ... ever.

I have no problem with the Apostle John saying that "the Word was made flesh" and that "the Word was God."  So as God in the flesh ... why wouldn't Jesus have all the same abilities that His Father had?  Jesus said in Luke 10:22 ... "All things are delivered to me of my Father ..." 
 
God gave Jesus, as man ... the influence, authority and ability to operate in, and use all of God's power on earth that His Father had in Heaven.

This was proven many times by the influence He had over the multitudes of people who followed Jesus and filled the houses wherever He went.  Here in this scripture, after feeding five thousand, the people would have taken Him by force and made Him a king according to John 6:15 ... "When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone."
   
The phrase take by force means literally ... "to snatch away, or to carry off."  Those who use violent efforts, generally use force to get whatever they want for themselves. 

Men often attempt to dictate to God, and suppose that they understand what is right, better than He does.  The people Jesus had just fed "had it in their mind" to take Him, whether He wanted them to or not, and by force proclaim Him Messiah and King to deliver the nation of Israel from the Romans.

Jesus said in Matthew 11:12 ... "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."

Honestly, I have no idea what the true meaning of this verse is.  The true meaning.  I have read what others have said about it ... but not to my satisfaction.  It may have something to do with how the people pushed and shoved to hear both John the Baptist and Jesus when they spoke about sin, repentance and God's love.  But that is just conjecture on my part.

I think for today, when it says ... "the violent take it (the kingdom) by force" ... Jesus is telling us to be spiritual warriors with a mission because ... the battle is real.  The souls of your loved ones may be the very ones you must fight for.

Now then ... who's going to win this battle?  The one who has all power or the one who has already been defeated?

1st John 3:8 ... "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil."  And in John 19:30, Jesus said ... "It is finished."  He did what He came to do.

In Colossians 2:15, Paul states that after Jesus had "... spoiled principalities and powers ... (He) made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it."

John 13:3, speaking of Jesus states, "... that the Father had given all things into his hands ..."  This scripture sounds a lot like my key verse, Matthew 28:18 that started me pondering just what having all power really means.

Paul is in agreement with John and puts it this way in Ephesians 1:17-22 by praying ...

"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know ... what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things ..."

To sum up Paul's extended declaration of Jesus, his last phrase does just that ... God has given Jesus the control over all things.  It's just that simple.  All things.

The following statement may be one of the best explanations describing exactly what this power was that Jesus was given.  It is from the old English Baptist biblical scholar John Gill.  He wrote ...

"This power ... which is to be understood of Jesus the man, (not as God) who had the same original power and authority over all creatures and things in heaven and earth as the Father has; but rather as mediator ... all power for doing miracles, and forgiving sins, which He had, and exercised before His death and resurrection ... and this power of His reached to things in heaven; He having the angels in heaven subject to Him, as ministering spirits to be sent forth by Him at His pleasure; and all the gifts of the Spirit to dispose of as He thought good; and to things on earth, not only to the saints, but to all flesh, to kings and princes, who rule and reign by Him;  and even to all the wicked of the world, who in some shape or another are made subservient to His kingdom and government.  And this power is not usurped power, but what is given Him, and what He has a right to exercise."

Hebrews 7:25 ... speaking of Jesus as our mediator (seated on the Mercy Seat at the right hand of God) states ... "He ever liveth to make intercession for the saints."

Jesus has been given all power both in heaven and in earth ... but what is most important to those of us who are alive today is ... the power to make intercession for us when needed, as our mediator between Almighty God and man.

A Still Small Voice

As most people are aware of, God has many ways of speaking to mankind as a whole and to His children in particular, who are at least attempting to walk in His ways.  That last part is usually where I fit in ... attempting ... to follow Him in my walk.  Sometimes I'm successful, although the majority of times it feels like I'm not.

That's why I need Jesus to make intercession for me.  At times we all fail don't we ... even the Old Testament prophet that I want to look at today.  He was a "man of God" ...  yet he ran and hid in a cave for his own safety.

Elijah had just challenged the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal to call down fire from Heaven and burn up each of their sacrifices to prove which God was the true God.  All morning the prophets of Baal called on their god but nothing happened.

At noon, Elijah said, "Your god must be busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping.  You better cry even louder if you want to wake him up."

So Elijah built his alter to the Lord God of Israel, called down the fire of the Lord and it consumed the burnt sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dust, and all the water that had been poured over the alter.  The God of Israel answered, not Baal. 

Next Elijah's men took all four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal down to the brook Kishon, and slew them.  It was a great victory for Elijah through the power of God. 

If so, why did Elijah lose faith and run and hide?  Maybe he wasn't as faithless as it looks.  It could be that he used wisdom after all.  He ran from the anger of a woman named Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, the King of northern Israel.  She wanted to take Elijah's life for killing the prophets of Baal.  Jezebel it seems, was the real power behind the throne.

We pick up the story in 1st Kings 19:9-12 ... where Elijah finds a cave in which to hid from Jezebel.  Wouldn't you just know it, God finds him there and says ... "What are you doing here Elijah?" 

Elijah responds to the Lord ... "The children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, I'm all that is left serving you, and they seek my life, they want to kill me."

So God tells Elijah to go out of the cave and stand on the top of the mountain, "before the Lord."  God then shows Elijah ... real power.

"And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire ... a still small voice."

The scripture isn't very clear, but it appears that Elijah goes back to the entrance of the cave after this magnificence display of God's power over nature and the world, and hides his face with his mantle, which was a cloak or cape of sheepskin.

Again, Elijah hears the voice of the Lord asking him the same question ... "What are you doing here Elijah?"  Elijah responds to the Lord with the same answer ... "They seek my life." 

Elijah, a man of God has just proven that he was just like we are ... slow to perceive, slow to understand, and slow to learn.  The purpose of all this was to show that not only could God clean up the evil in the world and change things by His power and might ... but that He doesn't always have to do so through fire and wind and shaking.

God was showing there is a gentle way He also can change the hearts of men.  There is a mildness in His nature which God pursues; He is long-suffering and patient ... God doesn't always speak to us thru the tempest.  After the wind, after the shaking, after the fire,  there was ... a still small voice.

This lesson was for Elijah; but not for him alone.  This lesson is also for us, for believers today.

Psalm 46:10 ... "Be still and know that I am God ... "

It seems as if all we hear is the wind, or the noise of war and hate in the world.   May we cease from trusting our own strength and our own works.  Let's stop once in a while and listen for His voice.  "Be still and know" ... listen for that ... "still small voice."

To "know" means to own and acknowledge God and His promises.  Jesus said in John 10:27 ... "My sheep hear my voice ..."

I don't know about you, but when the Lord speaks to me, it's usually in a still small voice ... and I have to listen real close or I can miss it.

So loved ones ... learn to recognize which voice is the voice of the Lord.

He is speaking to you.