You may be familiar with the verse in I Corinthians 10:13 that says, "God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." That is a powerful thought, that God makes an escape route for us; that He is personally involved in our lives that much. And as great as that is, I believe there is an even more powerful opportunity for us. Here goes:
In the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6:13, Jesus taught us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." I am convinced for two reasons that this means that God will take us away from temptation before it ever occurs, if only we ask Him to do so. The two ways are that I understand the Bible to say that, and secondly I have seen it work too many times in my life. It works! Notice this passage in Jude 24. "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless in the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen!!!" God can keep us from stumbling. The secret is to want to be kept from stumbling and then to pray about it. That is why Jesus taught us to pray, "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." As I said at the beginning of this treatise, it is nice that we have a way of escape, but even better that He will "deliver us."
I will have to admit that there have been times and circumstances in my life when I didn't want the temptation to be removed before it ever appeared. But especially in the last few years I have prayed for deliverance and gotten it. If I saw a particular temptation coming, and often we can see ahead to a potential problem, I would ask God to just remove it. And amazingly, He took it away. I didn't even have to rely on my strength or on God's strength. It just disappeared.
God communicates with us through His word, the Bible, and He affects our lives in that way. But He also takes a direct role in our lives if only we will have complete faith in Him and if we will but ask Him. As Jude says, He will "keep you from stumbling, and present you faultless..." Praise be to God!
Thank you for reading. See you next week.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Who Impressed Jesus?
Jesus interacted with lots of people during His ministry. But who impressed Him?
Certainly He had friends like Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. And there was the apostle John whom He loved. But what strangers impressed Him? When He called His apostles from their jobs and lives, He said, "follow Me." But He doesn't praise them especially; He expects obedience. The men on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24 had good conversation with Him, but we don't see Jesus praising them.
So who received great praise from Jesus? I like what He said to the centurion in Luke 7:1-9. The centurion's servant was near death. The centurion said to Jesus, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof....Say the word and my servant will be healed." "When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, 'I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!'"
Another case is with the woman in Matthew 15:28. Her child was demon-possessed. She had a conversation with Jesus asking for mercy, and saying, "Lord, help me." (Isn't this what we often pray?) Jesus recognizing her deep faith concluded with, "O woman, great is your faith. Let it be to you as you desire."
So, to me, the answer is faith; that is what impresses Jesus. In the Bible we see that faith and trust go hand in hand. We must trust Him enough to do what He says, to live as He says live. We must not be too in love with this world, or with ourselves, or in a single word, self. As Hebrews 11:6 says, we must "believe that He is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." It sounds simple enough, but it isn't really. It means changing the whole order of priority of our lives. But remember this: He is the "rewarder." Nothing else in this world rewards like Jesus does. Let's do it!
Certainly He had friends like Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. And there was the apostle John whom He loved. But what strangers impressed Him? When He called His apostles from their jobs and lives, He said, "follow Me." But He doesn't praise them especially; He expects obedience. The men on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24 had good conversation with Him, but we don't see Jesus praising them.
So who received great praise from Jesus? I like what He said to the centurion in Luke 7:1-9. The centurion's servant was near death. The centurion said to Jesus, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof....Say the word and my servant will be healed." "When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, 'I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!'"
Another case is with the woman in Matthew 15:28. Her child was demon-possessed. She had a conversation with Jesus asking for mercy, and saying, "Lord, help me." (Isn't this what we often pray?) Jesus recognizing her deep faith concluded with, "O woman, great is your faith. Let it be to you as you desire."
So, to me, the answer is faith; that is what impresses Jesus. In the Bible we see that faith and trust go hand in hand. We must trust Him enough to do what He says, to live as He says live. We must not be too in love with this world, or with ourselves, or in a single word, self. As Hebrews 11:6 says, we must "believe that He is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." It sounds simple enough, but it isn't really. It means changing the whole order of priority of our lives. But remember this: He is the "rewarder." Nothing else in this world rewards like Jesus does. Let's do it!
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