Five Aspects of a Good Devotion Part IV

We are taking time to look at some important components or parts of a good devotional period with the Lord. A devotion time with God is very important for any disciple, or child of God. It is during this time that you have the opportunity of coming into the very presence of our God, sharing your heart with him, speaking with him, as he is speaking to you through his word.

We have looked at the first three components, which I have chosen to call Confession Communion, and Connection. You can read those posts in the archives and know what has already been said. We will now move into the fourth aspect of a devotion and that is what I call…

CONVICTION

There are many reading plans available today. It seems everyone from organizations to churches have developed some sort of plan or method designed to read the bible through in a year. Reading is certainly better than not reading. Reading is not the end result that is of the greatest benefit to you. You must read, re-read, study, meditate, and pray through the text that you have chosen. It is now time for the word to be convicting to you.

When you come to the reading portion of your devotion, choose a book of the bible that interests you, or contains principles that you want to explore or implement into your life. I recommend that you alternate between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Once you have selected a book then slowly work through the book a paragraph at a time. It is very difficult and often unproductive to try and meditate through a chapter or two at one sitting.

As you read and re-read the paragraph, you are going to have to examine everything in that paragraph in order to answer at least three questions:

What Is Being Said?

As you are reading, you must answer this question. We call this observation. Look for repeated words or phrases, look at the nouns and verbs in the sentences and see how they relate to one another. Ask who is speaking, who is being spoken to, and what is being said. In this stage of your reading you are attempting to determine the main idea, the main thought, or the over-arching principle that has been disclosed. Once you have narrowed down the main idea or the main topic of what is being said, write it out in a single sentence. Now you can answer the second question:

What is meant by what it said?

In other words, now that you know what it says what does this paragraph mean by what it says. What are the principles that helped you define the main idea? What do we derive from what has been said? What did the author want you to understand from what he said? Here is where you pray through the text, asking God through the Holy Spirit for insight, wisdom, and understanding. Check your cross references, examine related passages, scripture will interpret itself.

By the way, resist the temptation to use a study bible for your devotion and commentaries. This is not the time to let others think for you. This process is not easy. Many times wild and unbiblical teachings and doctrines have developed out of undisciplined times of trying to find out what a paragraph says. Trust God and the Holy Spirit to reveal his word to you.

Once you have determined what it says by observation, and you have determined what it says through the principles that you developed through interpretation, and you have crossed referenced your findings you can now check with a commentary or help to determine if your findings are correct. (Sorry for the lengthy sentence.)

So, now you know what your paragraph says and you know what it means by what it says, now you move to:

What does it mean to me?

Here is where the conviction comes into the picture. What am I going to do with what I have learned? In other words, how do the truths I discovered in this passage apply to me?

You have mused over the passage, you have taken notes on what has been said, you have spoken the words of the paragraph out loud, you have contemplated/pondered over the words and you have pray the paragraph in conversation back to the Lord, what do you do now?

You can’t be the guy who looks in a mirror and sees broccoli in his teeth and never brushes the broccoli out! When you look into the word you must discover the principles that you will add to your life, the changes that must be made, or the behaviors to put on or off.

There you have it, conviction. We must begin with confession, move into communion, pray for connection and be changed through conviction. Next time, Lord willing we will conclude with a look at Consecration.

Five Aspects of a Good Devotion Part III

We are taking time to look at some important components or parts of a good devotional period with the Lord. A devotion time with God is very important for any disciple, or child of God. It is during this time that you have the opportunity of coming into the very presence of our God, sharing your heart with him, speaking with him, as he is speaking to you through his word.

We have looked at the first two components, which I have chosen to call Confession and Communion. You can read those posts in the archives and be brought up to speed. We will now move into the third aspect of a devotion and that is what I call…

CONNECTION

Someone once said, “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” I think we can apply this phrase to our bible reading at times. If we are not aiming at hearing from God or seeking specific results we probably will not hear from God. This is how devotions become dry, boring, unproductive, or non-beneficial. The end result is that we stop having quiet times or devotions altogether.

You must come to your time of bible reading and studying, first, expecting to meet God, and second, with some specific desires in mind that you believe God will meet or fulfill. Naturally, there is any number of specifics that you can seek from God as you ask him to bless your time of reading. I want to look at just four (4) at this time. These four (4) principles are found in Psalm 119: 33-40. As you move from you’re speaking to God concerning confession and your desire to commune with God, move into what I call…

1. The Inclination towards the Word

The Psalmist prays that God would incline his heart towards God’s testimonies or towards God’s word. The word incline gives us the idea of bending or stretching something. In this case the desire is that God would bend the Psalmist’s heart towards God word. Why? Our hearts are not bent toward the word of God naturally. The Psalmist is asking God to create a desire, to create a motivation, and to bend his heart toward God’s word because there is no natural desire towards it. You must recognize that you do not naturally desire Gods’ word therefore you must ask him sincerely to supply you with a deep desire for the effective working of Gods’ word in your heart.

2. The Instruction by the Word

In verse 33, the Psalmist prays that God would “Teach me, O LORD the way of your statutes.” He is specifically asking God to teach him the meaning of his word. He is not asking to learn for the mere sake of learning, he gives the reason in the second part of the verse – “…and I will keep it to the end.” Always seek instruction in order to be obedient to what you have read. Sincerely, in our own words, ask god to teach you his word because you have been given a desire by God to obey his word.

3. The Interpretation of the Word

The Psalmist also prays in verse 34 for understanding of what he has been instructed in. Here is where you must exert some energy and effort. Sometimes little golden nuggets will be easily found on the surface of God’s word. However, most learning comes from hard work.

First – prayerfully read the text you are studying a number of times. Observe all that you can. Ask some open ended questions such as; who is speaking, whom is being spoken to, what is being said? Look for repeated words, phrases, or principles and mark them.

Second – determine what the passage or paragraph is saying within its context. This will be the main point of the paragraph. Write out this main idea in a sentence.

Third – determine what the passage means by what it says. Scripture is always its own best interpreter, it will never contradict itself. How does the meaning fit within the context – examine what was said previous to your passage and what was said subsequent to your passage. After this point in your reading – not before or during – you may check a commentary or help to see if your observation and interpretation is correct.

4. The Implication from the Word

The Psalmist prays in verse 35 that God would, “lead me in the path of your commandments for I delight in it.”

It is now time to determine the application of the passage. Now that you know what the passage says and what the passage means, what is God saying to you? In other words how does this passage apply to you? What will you do with the principle and truth that you discovered?

Meditate on the passage and its meaning. Ask yourself what have I learned about God or about Jesus Christ? What does God require of me today?In order to connect with the word of God you must sincerely ask God to open your eyes to his word.

The Psalmist prays in verse 18 that God would, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” The things of God are spiritually discerned and we are not naturally inclined to them. We are dependent upon God to reveal himself and the principles of his word to us. We must trust God and ask him to help us connect with his word!

Next time, Lord willing, we will look at Conviction.

Five Aspects of a Good Devotion (Part II)

In our last post, I wanted to lay the ground work and reason behind the next five posts (unless providentially interrupted). I wanted to add my bit of insight into one of the most important aspects of the walk of a Gospel Driven Disciple; which is our devotional walk with the Lord.

There is no doubt of the extreme value and necessity of a spirit-filled and biblically based devotional time with our Lord. I wanted to share with you some insight into a beneficial and God honoring devotion by looking at five aspects of a devotional time. . Again, I must say we are not talking about a performance or a ritual that is conducted legalistically, hypocritically and without the involvement of your heart. Last time we looked at the first aspect of a good devotional and that was what I simply called the CONFESSION. If you missed that post you can read it and be up to speed. In this post we will talk about the second aspect of a good devotion and that is what I call… COMMUNION There seems to be at least three invitations included in this portion called Communion: 1. The Invitation to Delight in our God Psalm 37:4 states: “Delight yourself in the LORD…” One of the main and distinct purposes of our devotional time is to come to a place in our Christian life that we delight in our God. The Hebrew gives us the idea that we are to take pleasure in God, we are to enjoy God. We don’t have a problem understanding pleasure or finding pleasure. We delight in many things; from children to food to physical pleasure. We delight or take pleasure in sunsets, sunrises, beaches, mountains, the rain, or a good song. Our sin lies in the fact that we rarely take pleasure in God. Job 22:26 – “For then you will delight yourself in the almighty and lift up your face to God.” Isaiah 58:14 – “then you shall take delight in the LORD…” Phil 3:1 – “…rejoice in the Lord…” Phil 4:4 – “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say rejoice.”

C. S. Lewis wrote: “[I]t would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” We need to delight in the Lord and be pleased with Him. Ask God to teach you how to delight in him, express your desire to delight in him. Ask God to take your weak desires and pleasure in mundane things and to give your strong desires for him. Learn by his grace to delight and take pleasure in your God! 2. The Invitation to Discover our God Psalm 33:8 - “Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!” As you pray and read the scriptures during your devotional time, pray that God will teach you about himself. Pray that you discover the glorious character and nature of God. As you discover various aspects of God’s character and nature you will become awe-struck! You will be amazed at this glorious, majestic, indescribable God who has saved you and given you eternal life. It is during this time that you are communing with God and discovering all that you can about him. God is a God who loves color, texture, design, pleasure, glory, and variety. He created sea monsters to play in the ocean to amuse him; he created thousands of varieties of flowers, trees, and animals-all for his glory and for his pleasure. God is glorious and majestic! He has chosen to reveal himself to us! Forget about all the Chamber of Commerce commercials to Discover Arizona, Utah, or California – discover your God in all of his infinite glory! 3. The Invitation to Dally with our God I know we don’t use this word very often. But let’s use it today. By it I mean fellowship or commune with God. Devotions are a time when we “sit” with God and we speak to him and then we listen to him. In other words we take our time with him; we dally. We speak to him during our times of prayer and we listen to him as we read his word. Resist the temptation to view your devotion as a must do item on your to do list, without which completing you will have a bad day. (Jerry Bridges has a lot to say about this aspect of devotion.)

This is not a performance or ritual that is to be dry and void of any value. It is a time of fellowshipping personally, privately, and pointedly with God. Take time to fellowship and commune with him. As you read, pray and talk to him about the passage you are reading. Thank him, praise him, and seek him during this time. Take time to hear from him through the Word of God as the Holy Spirit unfolds God’s word to you. 1John 1:3 – “that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

Learn to drink long and deep at the well of God during your devotional time as you enjoy and take pleasure in communion with God. Learn, by his grace to delight in God, discover God, and to dally with God

Five Aspects of a Good Devotion

When I began this blog it was because of a post I read on the Desiring God Website called “Six Reasons a Pastor should blog.” That post intrigued me and inspired me, which led to the birth of this blog.

My main motivation and reason for calling it the Gospel Driven Disciples was two fold; the first was a more biblical approach than the so called “Purpose Driven phenomenon” and the second reason was my commitment to the maturing of God’s people. Matthew 28:18-20 compels me to “make disciples…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

Colossians 1:28-29 also compels me with a burning passion to teach all men: “Him, we proclaim, warning everyone, and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” (ESV) So having said this, I wanted to lay the ground work and the reason behind the next five posts (unless providentially interrupted). I want to add my bit of insight into one of the most important aspects of the walk of a Gospel Driven Disciple; which is our devotional walk with the Lord. There is no doubt of the extreme value and necessity of a spirit-filled and biblically based devotional time with our Lord. I want to share with you some insight into a beneficial and God honoring devotion by looking at five aspects of a devotional time.

I want to look at the Confession, the Communion, the Connection, the Conviction, and the Consecration as vital and viable parts of a good devotion. Mind you now, we are not talking about a performance or a ritual that is conducted legalistically, hypocritically and without the heart. As you begin your devotion, it is good to begin with prayer. I suggest first, that you give thanks to God for a good night of sleep and rest (provided your devotion is in the morning). Thank God for the protection that you experienced during the night and that you are looking forward to meeting with him. This can lead you into thanking God for the blood of Jesus Christ which makes this time possible. As you are thinking on the blood of Christ and thanking God for the blood you can transition in the first part of your devotion which I call… CONFESSION This is the place to begin. There seems to be at least four elements included in this portion called confession. 1. The Realization of the Propitiatory Sacrifice of Jesus Christ Here you are confessing from your heart to the Lord that you know apart from the sacrifice of Jesus Christ which satisfied the wrath, justice, and righteousness of God you would have no grounds for coming into the presence of the Lord. You are acknowledging that without this sacrifice you would be unable to stand before the Lord, for you would have nothing to offer to cover your unrighteousness and satisfy his righteousness. The good and gracious news is that the curtain, the veil, which had separated man from God has now been torn in two; a way has been made for us to come into the presence of God. “whom God put forward as propitiation by his blood…” (Romans 3:25 ESV) “…that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (I John 4:10 ESV) 2. The Reaffirmation of the Mediatorial Work of Jesus Christ As you are thanking God and meditating on the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ you are then lead into the reaffirming of your absolute and complete trust in the full mediatorial work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. In other words, you are trusting solely in what God accomplished through Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross for your soul’s salvation and nothing else. This is a time of remembering that it took the cross and the death of Christ to purchase your salvation and all the blessings that come with his death. “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (I Timothy 2:5 ESV) “Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.” (Hebrews 9:15 ESV) 3. The Recognition of Personal Sin of Yours Truly Now, you are able to move into another element of confession, the confession of your sin. Here, by God’s grace, His Holy Spirit, and His word you recognize that you have sinned. You have been freed from the penalty of sin and you are freed from power of sin, but you are not yet delivered from the presence of sin. Confession is built upon admitting your guilt and naming your sin as sin. The Greek word for confess in I John 1:9 mean to “say the same thing.” We are to say the same thing about our sin as God says. We are not to overlook sin, sugar-coat sin, give sin “cute” little names, excuse sin, or otherwise refuse to recognize it and call it what it is. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9 ESV) “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” (Psalms 66:18 ESV)

4. The Response to the Awareness of Forgiveness This element of confession is very important. Here you are confessing that you accept the forgiveness of God that is provided by the death of his dear son. You cannot progress through the remainder of your devotional time if you are not convinced of the fact that you are forgiven of your sin. “But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” (Psalm 130:4 ESV) “Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything” (Acts 13:38 ESV) “…to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” (Acts 26:18 ESV) “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace…” (Eph 1:7 ESV) This shouldn’t take long or a major part of your devotional time. However, adequate time must be made for confession; confession that you are only approaching God because of the propitiatory work of Christ, confession that you are fully trusting in the mediatorial work of Christ alone, confession that you have sinned against God, and a confession of your realization that you are clean and cleansed by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. This confession then will lead you into the next portion of your devotion which is Communion with God. We will cover that tomorrow, Lord willing.

10 Things I Wish Jesus Never Said

There is no doubt that when Jesus arrived on the scene that the religious crowd was in for a surprise. The events that surrounded his birth and the few insights that we have as he grew older were certainly disturbing. How he lived, what he said and what he taught was far different than what the Pharisees, Scribes, and Priests had been teaching. We can call his teachings controversial, mind boggling, or even shocking. He made tremendous demands on those who followed him. He made it patently clear what it was that made the majority of religion his enemy. The way to eternal life and happiness was a difficult path. Victor Kuligin does a masterful job of tackling 10 difficult and shocking statements of Jesus and applying them to our everyday lives. He takes just 10 teachings of Jesus and breaks them down for us to clearly see the instruction and implication for each one of us. Kuligin says: “With the rise of the health-and-wealth gospel and prosperity teaching, we have become accustomed to a comfortable, ‘What a Friend we have in Jesus’ Messiah. It is a picture of Jesus I call ‘Jesus-lite.’ Great taste, less demanding.” He goes on to say: “The teaching of Jesus was often harsh. He was not a preacher of convenience, but hardship; not a preacher of comfort, but suffering.” I have read and re-read this book. It is quite challenging and I highly recommend it. Reading this book will change the way you think about how you “do church.” Reading it can transform your thinking about the cost of true salvation and discipleship. Please, pick up a copy today!

Victor Kuligin is a professor and Academic Dean at Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary, as well as an international lecturer, author, and assistant pastor. He and his wife Rachel, have served with Africa Inland Missions for the past twelve years in Namibia, Africa. They have five children.

Enlisting Your Prayers

I trust that one of the many blessings that I unworthily reap from writing this blog, is that I receive the benefit of your prayers for me. One major prayer request that I share with you and desire your prayers is the burden I have in my heart to plant a church.

I desire to plant a truly New Testament church that is committed to inspiring believers to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things, for the glory of God and for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.

It is my vision that this new church plant joins God our Father in magnifying the supremacy of His glory through our Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit by: treasuring all that God is, loving all whom God loves, praying for all of God's purposes, meditating on all of God's Word, being fully sustained by all of God's grace and by believing and preaching the gospel of the free and sovereign grace of God for the salvation of sinners and the sanctification of saints in order to bring the greatest glory to God.

The five main values of this new plant will be: exegetical/expositional preaching, doctrinal teaching, powerful prayer, fervent fellowship, and awe-inspiring worship.

So, may I ask you to pray that God will engineer and bring together the pieces that would enable this vision to be born? I thank you in advance.

Treasuring Christ in Catastrophic Situations Part III

In the last post we looked briefly at the fact that God is at work developing at least five attitudes in each of his dear children. Rather than being a God for our convenience and supplying all of our carnal wants and wishes, God has a far greater purpose as he works in our lives. It seems so incongruous to us that God would use such painful things like trials, tribulations, and testings to burn away the dross that is in our lives, but he does. The first attitude that we looked at was; we are to love our God with all of our heart. This is a tough task since this world has so many things to offer to us to love. Through various means God is ever at work wresting these things from our hearts drawing us nearer to him. He is ever at work showing us his worth and beauty, giving us ample reason to love him and him alone. Like Pilgrim, when he looked on the one hanging on the tree and his burden dropped from him, he loved him, so we too, love him. We are not to love the things of this world. However, it seems we can; on page 5 of Olsteen’s book, you will come across this line which by the way is the main basis for his book. There he says, “God wants to pour out his favor and beyond favor. God wants this to be the best time of your life.” He encourages the reader of his book to dream the following on page 5: “Someday, I’ll earn more money, and I won’t have to worry about how to pay the bills.” Again, on the same page Olsteen writes, “God wants to increase you financially.” On page 9 he says, “Even if you come from an extremely successful family, God still wants you to go further.” On Page 11, he writes, “Get rid of that small-minded thinking and start thinking as God thinks. Think Big. Think increase. Think abundance. Think more than enough.” And on page 23 he writes, “Many people settle for too little. I’ve gone as far in my career as I can go. I’ve hit the peak. I’ll never make any more money than I’m making right now.” But that is not what God wants for you, says Olsteen. What does God say? God is at work in our lives to instill important attitudes in each of his children, and that is … 2. To make Him your greatest treasure Mt 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” Mt 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field”. Why? So that he can have that treasure that he discovered! Is God your greatest treasure? Most of the time He is not our greatest treasure. You must ask yourself what is your greatest treasure? 3. To live as a pilgrim passing thru this life Heb 11:13-16 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from where they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: 1Pe 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 4. To set your affections on things above not on things below Col 3:1-3 If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Why are we to set our affections on things which are above? The answer is actually rather simple. In a spiritual sense, we have left this life and the loves of this life. We have been moved to a new domain where Jesus Christ lives. This brings a new understanding to us. Among several things that Paul is calling the Colossian believers to, is to have a proper mind about themselves. It is just more than a way of living, but it includes the ideas of values and our loves or our affections. So Paul commands (thru an imperative) that these believers, it applies to you and me as well, that they focus on things or matters that relate to the rule of Christ in the world. God’s concerns should occupy each Christian. Why is that? Creation and everything in this world will pass away; the things of God will remain. So we have the responsibility of having values and loves that are focused on Christ and our energies are to be devoted to making the things of Christ a reality on this earth until the earth passes away. So, get this, please don’t miss it, the task of the church is to call people to Christ and away from earthly things. Now here is what is important. Paul is not calling us to abandon the things that God has created in this world, but when our spiritual devotion is properly focused on Christ, we will be able to see, value, and use the things on this earth with God’s perspective rather than a perspective that merely satisfies, comforts, or pleases us carnally. Do you see that? God has created beautiful lakes, rivers, mountains, and valleys. We have material and the know how to build houses, cars, trains, and beautiful things. We have been given children and friends. God has graciously given us so many wonderful things in this world – not to love and use for our own selfish or self-centered pleasure, but to use them to further the gospel, expand His kingdom, demonstrate His Lordship and sovereignty, and to magnify His glorious nature. There is nothing wrong with having a house, but why do you want or have that house? Wow, God is at work cultivating or developing our love for Him, bringing us to a point where we treasure Him above all things, enabling us to live as pilgrims or strangers in a foreign country; and to think in terms of God in relation to all that is on this earth. 5. Live in the light of eternity not the temporal II Cor 4:16-18 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. Did you see what he said? Our light affliction; what was this light affliction he was talking about? We see this in verses 7-15 · Hard presses on every side · He is perplexed · Struck down · Carrying in his body the death of Jesus Christ · He faces death regularly These are just some things that both you and I know that the apostle Paul experienced in His ministry for Jesus Christ. But he considers it light, what is light? Why would he consider trials, tribulations, afflictions, trouble, anguish, and even persecution as light or almost noticeable? Vs 17 – these things he says, “… is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” What these things produce in the life of a believer is almost unnoticeable in comparison to what they are working in the believer as far as eternity is concerned. Let me ask you: what do you consider your trials, tribulations, or temptations to be? Do you consider them to be nuisances, or a major bother, an interruption to your life? Or do you see them as God working in your life to make you love Him with all your heart, to treasure Him above all things, to wean you from the love and desire of the things of this life and world, to cause you to live as a pilgrim or stranger and not as a citizen, and to live in the light of eternity rather than the here and now? So the proposition stated is simply this; no Joel, God’s best for us in this life is not necessarily wealth, health, financial success, or a freedom from pain, suffering, trials, tribulations, or temptations. God’s best is our sanctification, our progress in holiness.