There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
The Bible is disgusted by false teaching and is strong on pure doctrine. Why? The consequences of error are dire.
Scottish Divine James Durham said, “Error destroys the soul (2 Peter 2:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:12). In fact, it brings on swift damnation ( 2 Peter 2:1). It overthrows the faith of many (2 Timothy 2:18), perverts Scripture to people’s destruction (2 Peter 3:16), and deceives many (Matthew 24:11). For this reason, it is also called damnable and pernicious (2 Peter 2:1-2).”
Further, Durham wrote, “No titles carry greater indignation and abomination than the titles given to such people. They are generally called dogs and evil workers (Philippians 3:2); wolves, or rather grievous wolves (Matthew 7:15; Acts 20:29), deceitful workers; ministers of satan, as if they were expressly commissioned by him (2 Corinthians 11″13); deceivers and liars (Revelation 2:2); evil men and seducers, who wax worse and worse (2 Timothy 3:13).“
False teaching is not to be overlooked, dismissed, watered down, or ignored. It is serious, serious business. There is correct doctrine and there is incorrect doctrine. One pleases the Lord. The other provokes His wrath.
The problem is ancient, it began in time immemorial past in heaven when satan, puffed with pride and ambition to unseat God, lied and enticed many holy angels to quit following God and to follow him. They took the swap and thus they fell and became demons. Satan brought the problem to earth in the Garden where he tempted our first parents and they fell, bringing the future entirety of humankind with them. Satan’s deceptions have continued, with warnings and prohibitions to us from God, through the Old Testament to the New, and into this very day.
That’s one path, the wide one. One side of the light vs. dark saga.
Alternately there are those on the narrow path. God raises up ministers for His name in every generation who are stalwart, true, persevering, and edifying. After Jesus came the Apostles, then the church fathers, the medieval men like Wycliffe and Hus, the Reformation men like Luther and to the Puritans and post-Puritans like Edwards, and the mid twentieth century men like Gerstner, Sproul, Lloyd-Jones. Today we have the new men like Riccardi, Pickowitz, Buice, James Coates…
The Lord always raises up good men, and aside from the ones mentioned, there are thousands and millions more He raised up that we never heard of but who labored faithfully to their end, and were brought to the bosom of their Priestly Shepherd to enjoy rest from ministering and to the bliss of being with the leader of the true Church.
This dichotomy of false teaching vs. true was brought to mind this week as I noticed two famous people are having birthdays a few days apart.
John MacArthur and Beth Moore. I have been involved at a distance with both these folks for a long time. I’ve seen the trajectories. I’ve read and listened to their works. And the starkness could not be more clear. Beth Moore’s output has damaged the faith and in many cases brought it into disrepute, while MacArthur’s has strengthened it and honored the Lord’s name.
John MacArthur will turn 85 years old on June 19. He has been ministering as pastor-teacher at Grace Community Church for 56 years. He was ministering 5 years before that as an associate pastor. He has been actively serving the Lord for 61 years. The Lord is gracious to give us all these decades with him, and surely his impact has been great.
He has never wavered on the authority of scripture, cessationism, young earth creationism, complementarianism, dispensationalism, the Lordship of Christ, proper Christology, and gender and sexuality. He has preached through every book of the New Testament verse by verse, which took 45 years to accomplish. He has written over 150 books which have been translated into myriad languages, faithfully shepherded his congregation week after week, withstood the covid closures, led a solid seminary, and has been acknowledged by Christianity Today as one of the most influential preachers of his time. His MacArthur Study Bible has sold more than one million copies, receiving a Gold Medallion Book Award. That Study Bible has been in the hands of pastors from the icy Faroes in the Arctic Circle to dusty back roads in Africa, to the jungles of Peru.
Certainly there are many other private ministrations in Jesus’ name that only MacArthur and the Lord know about between them. He is in a long line of blood-bought pastors who have risen to public knowledge and have edified many who learn from him and watch his godly life as one to imitate. Paul said “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ”. (1 Corinthians 11:1). This means, “he was instructing us as believers to carefully examine our Savior’s life and the lives of His faithful servants. He gave a similar command earlier in 1 Corinthians 4:16: “Therefore I urge you to imitate me.” In the original Greek, the verb translated as “imitate” in 1 Corinthians 11:1 and 1 Corinthians 4:16 is mimētai and means “become a person who copies the words and behaviors of another.” (Source GotQuestions).
Perhaps the Lord has left MacArthur on earth so long in order to demonstrate His sustaining power in a faithful life that started and so far is ending well. The Lord is good to us.
For 45 years Beth Moore has been speaking here, there, and everywhere she possibly could. Regrettably, her speaking engagements have been laced with error and deception. She began, by her own words, in her early 20s as a “Christian Motivational Speaker”. She never left that profession, really. Then when she was 27 she began teaching a Sunday School class, but she said she was also “learning the scriptures” at that time. It’s a tragedy that they put her into a position where she was simultaneously learning the Bible AND teaching. She wasn’t ready.
Again by her own words, her class was “packed” and they all “had a blast” but “we weren’t really studying the scriptures”. Why? Because Beth said she “just thought up things to talk about and then I got panicked on Saturday because I think where is a scripture to go with it.” She never grew out of that improper hermeneutic even with “the doctrine class” she took. It was still motivational speaking but with with a thin Christian overlay of out of context sprinkled verses.
Did you know that Beth briefly attended seminary but dropped out? Why? She was “reading the environment and coming to the realization of what my opportunities would and would not be.” She chafed against the biblical hierarchy of male led faith, she has been clear about that. She obviously wasn’t in seminary to learn about Jesus and to parse the scriptures correctly. She wanted “opportunities” for herself and quit when she saw she couldn’t go rogue.
Yet she was teaching a packed Sunday School class of 2000, including men. She was preaching Sunday Night at the request of her then-pastor. She’d started teaching ‘Bible classes’ outside of her church interdenominationally. Her first ‘Study’ was published by Lifeway. What other “opportunities” was she looking for? What other “opportunities” remain? I leave it to you to surmise the answer.
Beth Moore will celebrate her 67th birthday on June 16, which at this writing is tomorrow. She has been actively ‘ministering’ for about 44 years. The Lord has His reasons for allowing false teachers to persist, and one of them is in order to see who is approved, and by contrast who is not. (1 Corinthians 11:19). Another reason perhaps is also to demonstrate His grace and mercy and patience in allowing such people to exist on His earth, in order to give opportunity to repent.
Jesus considers false female prophetesses an abomination. See His threatened condemnation to the false prophetess of Thyatira, but consider His grace, as He said He gave her time to repent. (Revelation 2:21). But she did not want to repent. Here, Matthew Henry is commenting on Revelation 2:21, the false prophetess of Thyatira-
They made use of the name of God to oppose the truth of his doctrine and worship; this very much aggravated their sin. They abused the patience of God to harden themselves in their wickedness. God gave them space for repentance, but they repented not. Observe, Repentance is necessary to prevent a sinner’s ruin. Where God gives space for repentance, he expects fruits meet for repentance. Where the space for repentance is lost, the sinner perishes with a double destruction. Source Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible (commenting on Revelation 2:21).
The problem with false teachers is that spreading error teaches others to lie. (Matthew 5:19). This is evil because error has its origins in the devil.
Please do not let Beth’s Christianish veneer and firehose gushing about Jesus distract you from the greed and ambition that lies underneath. Just as the Pharisees made a show of prayers on the street corners and attended banquets (so they could be honored for the chief seats), at Beth Moore’s core is a career minded, Jesus-using deceiver on a fast trajectory to hell. (2 Peter 2:1).
Wheat and tares grow together – for a while. Then comes the reaping.
The Lord is good to give us faithful pastors, He is also good to give us faithless wolves. He s always good. We learn who to imitate and who not to. We learn true doctrine and practice discernment by seeing what is false.
Psalm 100:5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
In shady, green pastures, So rich and so sweet, God leads His dear children along; Where the water’s cool flow Bathes the weary one’s feet, God leads His dear children along.
Refrain
Some through the waters, Some through the flood, Some through the fire, But all through the blood; Some through great sorrow, But God gives a song, In the night season And all the day long.
Sometimes on the mount Where the sun shines so bright, God leads His dear children along; Sometimes in the valley, In darkest of night, God leads His dear children along.
Though sorrows befall us And evils oppose, God leads His dear children along; Through grace we can conquer, Defeat all our foes, God leads His dear children along.
Away from the mire, And away from the clay, God leads His dear children along; Away up in glory, eternity’s day, God leads His dear children along.
Atheists, like evolutionists, are forced by virtue of their worldview, to believe that creation came about through the following process: Nobody times Nothing equals Everything! In fact, without even realizing it, atheists must exercise a great degree of faith to believe their creation mantra. No wonder the psalmist proclaims: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” (Psalm 14:1). Not only that, but for the atheist he must also believe that he came from nothing and when he dies he goes back to nothing. His task is therefore to find meaning in between these two states of nothingness.
For the atheist when life throws him a difficult trial he has no way to make sense of the suffering he has to endure. In fact, he can’t even blame or curse God for his suffering because he doesn’t believe He even exists. Since the atheist has no god to believe in he places himself as the supreme person in his universe and spends the rest of his life searching for a reason for his existence. Searching every pathway, every byway, overturning every stone, examining every philosophy, and experiencing every feeling, as he comes to the end of his journey, the answer he finds is that none exists!
The next time you confront an atheist you might want to use some of the logic contained in the following quotes to hopefully show him the folly of his belief system.1
“The more thoroughly I conduct scientific research, the more I believe that science excludes atheism.” – Lord Kelvin
“Atheism is so senseless. When I look at the solar system, I see the earth at the right distance from the sun to receive the proper amounts of heat and light. This did not happen by chance.” – Isaac Newton
“The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank.” – Dante Gabriel Rossetti
“Christians believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. Materialists believe in the virgin birth of the cosmos. Choose your miracle.” – Glen Scrivener
“I am persuaded that men think there is no God because they wish there were none. They find it hard to believe in God, and to go on in sin, so they try to get an easy conscience by denying his existence.” – Charles Spurgeon
“It always amuses me that atheists often argue for the existence of extra-terrestrial intelligence beyond earth. Yet they are only too eager to denounce the possibility that we already have a vast, intelligent being out there: God.” – John Lennox
“As Christians we accept one big miracle: God, and everything else makes sense. An atheist denies God and has to have a miracle for every other thing.” – John MacArthur
“To be an atheist you must have infinite knowledge in order to know absolutely that there is no God. But to have infinite knowledge, you would have to be God yourself. It’s hard to be God yourself and an atheist at the same time!” – Ron Carlson and Ed Decker
“The believer in God must explain one thing, the existence of sufferings; the nonbeliever, however, must explain the existence of everything else.” – Dennis Prager
“This option, that the universe created itself, is fraught with problems. The idea that anything could create itself is absurd. For it would have to exist and not exist at the same time. Friends, that’s irrational. For something to create itself, it would have to be before it was. Well, this violates an ironclad law of knowledge: the law of non-contradiction. The law of non-contradiction states: A cannot be both A and non-A at the same time and in the same relationship. For example, you can’t be at church right now and not at church right now. You are either HERE or NOT HERE. So then, it’s absurd to suggest that the universe existed (A) and didn’t exist (non-A) at the same time. But that is precisely what would be required for the universe to have created itself. So surely, the universe did not create itself.” – Charlie Campbell
Herod Agrippa was a persecutor of the ancient church. He even put Jesus’ disciple James to death and imprisoned Peter. In this sermon, R.C. Sproul draws us into the scene when Herod basked in his own glory before a crowd seeking to worship him. Dr. Sproul contrasts God’s judgment upon Herod’s idolatry with the flourishing growth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This sermon was preached by R.C. Sproul at Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, FL. Hear sermons from his series in the book of Acts:
Even those who are black belts find it worthwhile to do the most white belt katas despite knowing the most rigorous moves and expert-level defenses. For the Christian the Lord’s Prayer finds a similar role. Whenever we get confused about how we can go about asking God for help the Lord’s Prayer is the perfect place to rest in familiar words which express in beautiful prose the elements of a believer’s faith.
Nearly all Reformed and Presbyterian churches say the Lord’s Prayer every week as a part of their order of service. I’d even venture to guess that those who do recite it, do so in unison as a congregation with the minister or an elder leading that devotional exercise. The catechism is asking us today some questions, and providing some answers, as to why we do that, why it is a good thing, and how we can ensure to do that better and with more feeling as the time rolls on.
I’ve said before that prayer is the lifeblood of a church. A church that does not pray does not really believe in God. That sounds harsh, but to be fair how can you say that your faith has made you well if you don’t talk to the one who healed you? People, and especially groups of people, who don’t pray together are like the nine lepers who did not return to say thank you to Jesus. Prayer expresses our heartfelt desire to be the Lord’s sons and daughters by the adoption of grace. Our Heavenly Father, as the preface of the Lord’s Prayer makes obvious, is the source of all joy, love, and peace which we experience in the Christian life. He has shown us that not only in giving us eternal life despite our wickedness, but has, as Q.187 notes, granted us a foolproof way to witness our thanksgiving through prayer. He provides not only the means, but the manner as well. Here is one way that Jehovah shows His love for us, and His fatherhood in protecting and supplying food for faith.
Here are the Q/A’s for today:
Q. 187. How is the Lord’s prayer to be used?
A. The Lord’s prayer is not only for direction, as a pattern, according to which we are to make other prayers; but may also be used as a prayer, so that it be done with understanding, faith, reverence, and other graces necessary to the right performance of the duty of prayer.
Q. 188. Of how many parts doth the Lord’s prayer consist?
A. The Lord’s prayer consists of three parts; a preface, petitions, and a conclusion.
Going back to the basics is always helpful in life, as much as it is in the grace of Christ.
My father died in 2014. He was 81. He had never said “I love you” to his daughter.
Now he never will.
It’s a truth that doesn’t get any easier the older one gets. It’s actually harder to get used to the longer one drifts in time away from his death date, not easier.
He was a hard working man. He was a gifted raconteur. He was a wealthy man. He was a lot of things. But a father? Not so much. His ignoring of his kids as they grew, his intermittent but frequent abandonment of them as adults, his final, legal disownment of them as he aged all were stunning betrayals in the lives of three children, with untold consequences.
Every daughter can tell a different story about her father. Some stories are good, some are bad. Some are neutral. Some are bitter and some are sweet. Fathers, dear reader, have an effect.
There is a short film called The Father Effect. It is good.
The producer of this movie lost his own father to suicide when he was a boy. As he stated in the movie’s Mission page, the resulting film is his attempt
to educate, equip, & encourage men to be the dads God created them to be
Many of the people with whom I am connected through media and in real life have great parents who they honor and feel blessed to have grown up under. Others have disappointing stories they share, either freely or privately. Whatever the case with you, you know fathers have an effect on you for life. I worry for the fatherless who don’t have the solace of Jesus. For those among you who have had a less than blessed childhood, but are now safely home under Jesus’ wings, you know you have a REAL father. Jesus will love you forever, never abandon you, and is in fact, perfect. What a blessing this is. He is not only as Prophet, Priest, and King, but friend, brother, and Father.
The Encouraging Dads Project was an idea that came out of John’s experience in making The Father Effect Movie. As John talked to dads from all walks of life, he heard heartbreaking stories about how dads feel beat up, discouraged, and frustrated with their lives as dads. John was moved to do something to help encourage and inspire dads and The Encouraging Dads Project was born.
Take some time to encourage your Dad. Encourage a dad. Encourage a man who was a dad to you. Encouragement is free, and only takes a few moments. Send a letter, make a phone call, send a text, make a date to take him out for coffee. Tell him how special he is to you.
Dads, do the same for your daughters. If some time has gone by since you talked to her, take a moment to let her know how much she means to you, how proud of her you are, that you love her. My dad in all probability never confessed and repented and probably died outside of Christ. It was a sudden hit in a car crash. Boom. Gone.
He and I will not meet again, and I’m sorrowful for that. Eternity will go on and I will be loved perfectly by many fathers, and THE Father. I will forget the former troubling things, including Dad. He will remember everything, forever. If there is sorrow over your relationship with your dad, if you are on opposite sides of the salvation fence, let that fact weigh on you, and as the men in The Father Effect say, forgive.
Caption: “Our purpose in making this film is to create an awareness in fathers about the significant impact their words and actions have on their children and to help them become better fathers.”
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. (Matthew 19:29).
Our God is a warrior who trains our hands for battle:
Oh dear, it never ceases to amaze me how woke weirdness has contaminated the churches. That secular left ideology and agendas have long been infiltrating into the churches is well known. But as political correctness and woke lunacy ramps up in the West, we see even more Christian leaders and pastors being sucked into all this.
Before giving you one glaring recent example of this, I had better explain what Marcionism is for those of you struggling with that term. It simply refers to an old church heretic, Marcion. As I wrote in an earlier article:
He was a second century bishop who was condemned for his heretical teachings, including his views on God and the Old Testament. In brief, he regarded the God of the Old Testament as a vengeful, harsh, vindictive and judgmental God, who in fact was not the same as the God of the New Testament. On the other hand, he taught, the God of the NT was a loving, compassionate and gracious God.
He not only posited a radical disjunction between God as found in the two Testaments, but between the OT and the NT itself, and between Israel and the church. His utter rejection of Judaism and the OT was just part of his heresy. He was a major proponent of Paul – or as one historian put it, he had an “exaggerated Paulinism” – so much so that he chopped the NT canon down to just 11 books: ten epistles of Paul and part of Luke. https://billmuehlenberg.com/2012/02/27/modern-day-marcionism/
So what does worship have to do with this heretic? Well, it seems a couple that leads worship in Canada are having real problems with the Old Testament, especially with anything having to do with the military, or violence, or weapons, or warfare. So they are wondering about deleting or expelling worship songs that take part in this.
As one short video of this says: “Canadian worship leaders Jodi and Chris King are having a difficult time singing songs with ‘violent language’ in church, including references to weapons, because ‘Jesus is a peacemaker,’ so they skip over lyrics.” See it here: https://x.com/Protestia/status/1801976805995229417
What are we to make of all this? Well yes there are indeed hundreds of Old Testament examples where military language, talk of weapons, and dealing with enemies, etc., are found. And that includes heaps that are found just in the Psalms. As you should know, the psalms were all sung as part of Israel’s collective worship of God. Just think of a few of these ‘militaristic’ passages:
Psalm 18:34 He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
Psalm 18:39 You armed me with strength for battle; you humbled my adversaries before me.
Psalm 24:8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle!
Psalm 144:1 Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;
But since it seems these worship leaders are worried about all this, let me just deal with what is found in the New Testament. There are dozens of military metaphors, allusions to soldering and warfare, and related terms and ideas found in the NT. And none of these biblical authors for one moment were concerned about using such imagery and language. Indeed, they were inspired by the Holy Spirit to do so. Consider just some of these:
Luke 14:31-33 Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
Romans 7:22-23 or in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
Romans 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
1 Corinthians 9:7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk?
1 Corinthians 9:26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.
1 Corinthians 14:8 Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?
1 Corinthians 15:24-27 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.”
2 Corinthians 2:14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.
2 Corinthians 6:7 in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;
Ephesians 4:8 This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.” (Ps 68:18)
Ephesians 6:10-18 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
Philippians 2:25 But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs.
Colossians 2:15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
1 Thessalonians 5:8 But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet
1 Timothy 1:18 Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight,
1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
2 Timothy 2:3-5 Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer. Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules.
2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Philemon 1:1-2 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church that meets in your home:
Hebrews 11:33-34 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.
Revelation 2:16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Revelation 9:7-11 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.
Revelation 13:4-7 Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?” The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.
Revelation 19:11-16 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
Oh dear. If this couple is really serious about weeding out all refences to warfare, to fighting, to weapons, to killing, to violence, to enemies, to battle, and so on, then they are going to have to jettison huge amounts of the New Testament, just as they want to do with the Old.
And as to biblical texts that speak about ‘drowning enemies’ and the like, they are not only fully inspired by God, but they are part and parcel of who God is: a holy and just God who does deal with real evil and real enemies. And those passages I mentioned from Revelation are more of the same. But see more on the imprecatory psalms here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2012/02/02/the-imprecatory-psalms-part-one/
It seems that people like this couple are sadly giving old Marcion a real run for his money here. But I for one will keep affirming ALL of Scripture, and I will keep singing the classic hymns as well, including “Onward Christian Soldiers,” “Stand Up for Jesus, Ye Soldiers of the Cross,” and “A Mighty Fortress is our God.”
And a terrific Black gospel hymn I recently came upon I will keep enjoying as well: “Soldier in the Army of the Lord” by the Blind Boys of Alabama: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovt8Be_Uk54
A Contented Person Is Independent from Circumstances
I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. (4:12)
Paul expands on what he alluded to in the previous verse. The twice-repeated phrase I know how … I also know how reveals that he had learned by experience and spiritual maturity to live above his circumstances and not to let them affect his contentment. That is an important lesson for believers to learn, for it is the difficult circumstances in life that most frequently steal our contentment.
Paul’s statement I know how to get along with humble means, to be hungry, and to suffer need indicates that he had had his share of poverty. He knew what it was to get by with meager material things. He also knew how to live in prosperity, to be filled, and to have an abundance when God graciously granted him more than he needed. All six of those terms refer to the material, earthly needs of this life, not to spiritual needs.
Paul was no ivory tower theologian; he had lived and ministered in the trenches. His life was not exactly a testimonial for the prosperity gospel. The apostle’s trials began at Damascus shortly after his conversion. Enraged that Paul
kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ, … the Jews plotted together to do away with him, but their plot became known to [Paul]. They were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death; but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket. (Acts 9:22–25)
At Lystra on his first missionary journey, hostile “Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead” (Acts 14:19). Many of the Philippian believers no doubt remembered what happened to Paul and his fellow preacher Silas in Philippi:
The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. (Acts 16:22–24)
Things did not get much better for the apostle in Thessalonica, where
the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the market place, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and attacking the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people. When they did not find them, they began dragging Jason and some brethren before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have upset the world have come here also; and Jason has welcomed them, and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” They stirred up the crowd and the city authorities who heard these things. And when they had received a pledge from Jason and the others, they released them. The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. (Acts 17:5–10)
Trouble, in the form of hostile, unbelieving Jews, followed Paul from Thessalonica to Berea: “But when the Jews of Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds” (Acts 17:13). Forced to flee Berea, Paul went to Athens, where he was mocked and ridiculed by the skeptical Greek philosophers gathered on Mars Hill (Acts 17:18–34). From Athens the apostle went to Corinth where, “while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat” (Acts 18:12). After ministering for three months in Greece, “a plot [to kill Paul] was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria” (Acts 20:3). When he got to Jerusalem, Paul was attacked and savagely beaten after Jews from Asia Minor recognized him in the temple (Acts 21:26–30). Rescued from certain death by the quick action of a Roman officer (Acts 21:31–35), Paul began his long stay in Roman custody. Two years later, after hearings before the Sanhedrin and the Roman governor failed to resolve the situation, Paul exercised his right as a Roman citizen to appeal to Caesar. After a harrowing sea voyage, which included a terrifying, two-week-long storm that ended in a shipwreck (Acts 27), Paul finally arrived in Rome (Acts 28). As he penned this letter to the Philippians, Paul was again a prisoner in Rome.
Summing up his arduous, difficult, painful life Paul wrote,
Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern? If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me, and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands. (2 Cor. 11:23–33)
In all Paul’s unique and constant sufferings, he had learned the secret of rising above them. In the midst of all his trials, he kept his focus on heavenly realities (cf. Col. 3:1–2). In 2 Corinthians 4:17, the apostle wrote, “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.” With that perspective, is it any wonder that no amount of pain, suffering, or disappointment could affect his contentment?[1]
12 The explanatory sentences in this verse are typically balanced, and somewhat rhythmical. He begins with the broader vocabulary of want and plenty, “I know both how to be humbled;39 I know also how to abound.” Although these will lead to the more specific matters of material needs, there is every good reason to think that by starting with these verbs, he intended, “to be humbled and to abound in every which way,” including in the specific ways he will pick up next, but not limited to these.41 After all, to be “humbled” is not the ordinary verb for “being in want”; moreover, it is a thoroughly non-Stoic word. Some Stoics may have reveled in “want”; none of them could tolerate “humiliation,” which often headed their lists of attitudes to be avoided. Whether deliberately chosen over against them or not, and that is moot, for Paul this verb not only indicates “poverty,” but embraces a way of life similar to that of his Lord (2:8; cf. Matt 11:28), a way of life that finds expression elsewhere in his various “hardship lists.”
Thus, “in every and in all circumstances,” and now in reverse order, Paul specifies: “I have learned the secret”44 of what it means “both to be well fed or go hungry, both to abound and to be in need.” Although the verb “learn the secret” is primarily a technical term for initiation into the mysteries, Paul is obviously using it metaphorically. While others have been “initiated into the mysteries,” he says, “I have been initiated into both having a full stomach and going hungry.” This passage joins others to make clear that, although Paul often ate well, he also knew very little of the cultural equivalent of our “three square meals a day.” But the addition “to abound and to suffer need” probably point—on the “down” side, as do his hardship lists—to other material deprivations or supply, such as clothing (being in “rags”), shelter (homelessness), and less material ones such as toil and lack of rest.46
What is striking, of course, is his insistence that he knows the secret of both plenty and want. His various “hardship lists” make it clear that he has experienced “plenty” of “want.” But in contrast to some of the Cynics, he did not choose “want” as a way of life, so as to demonstrate himself autarkēs; rather he had learned to accept whatever came his way, knowing that his life was not conditioned by either, and that his relationship to Christ made one or the other essentially irrelevant in any case. Where we otherwise lack direct evidence from him are situations in which he “abounded” in “plenty”—at least on the material side of things, although in this letter he may very well be alluding to the generous patronage of the Philippians, both when he and his co-workers lived in Lydia’s household and when they repeatedly supplied his material needs in Thessalonica and Corinth, and perhaps elsewhere.[2]
4:12 Having stated his contentment no matter the situation, Paul now further explains what he has learned. Using a common literary device, he begins by noting two things he knows, followed by a secret that he has learned. The focus in this verse is not on intellectual learning but rather on the experiential.19 This knowledge is not merely abstract, but rather has the sense of knowing how to do or be something.
The first thing Paul knows is how to be brought low. This same verb is used in 2:8, where it refers to Christ humbling Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. It was because of this ultimate act of humility that believers are to ‘in humility count others more significant than yourselves’ (2:3). In a culture that prized honor and avoided shame at virtually all costs the notion of being brought low was greatly frowned upon. In this instance Paul uses the verb to express the idea of making do with very little. His usage here may stem from the OT, where one finds multiple places that refer to a person humbling his soul (e.g., Lev. 16:29, 31; 23:27; Pss. 34:13 [Eng 35:13]; 43:26 [Eng 44:25]) or more generally in the sense of experiencing some form of hardship whether physical, spiritual or emotional (e.g., Pss. 37:9 [Eng 38:8]; 87:16 [Eng 88:15]). Paul’s point is that he has lived in circumstances that were minimal at best (cf. his list of hardships in 2 Corinthians 6:3–10), and that his emotional and spiritual condition is not tied to these realities.
The second thing Paul knows is how to abound. This same verb (perisseuō) occurred in 1:9 where Paul prayed that their love would abound and in 1:26 where he anticipates the Philippians’ boast abounding as a result of his return to them. Here in 4:12 the verb has a specifically financial sense, referring to circumstances where Paul had more than enough to meet his basic needs. Just as his emotional and spiritual condition is not tied to suffering lack, so too it is not tied to times of relative prosperity.
Next Paul reveals how it is he can live this way: in any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret. In saying that he has learned the secret, Paul uses a verb (mueō) that often refers to being initiated into the secrets of one of the mystery religions. In contrast to the many public religions and deities commonly worshiped in the ancient world, mystery religions tended to be smaller, close-knit, and more private. Often these mystery religions included secret rituals known only by those who had been initiated into the mysteries of that particular group. But this same verb could also have the general sense of being taught or instructed.22 Paul uses this verb ironically to indicate that ‘the concrete stresses and gifts of daily life are the place where Paul undergoes the mysteries, i.e., experiences the power of Christ.’ That is, in contrast to the secretive rituals of the mystery religions that initiated one into a special spiritual status, Paul describes his everyday experiences of abundance and deprivation as the means by which he experiences the power and presence of Christ in his life. The perfect tense of the verb stresses that Paul is in a state or condition that arises from learning this secret. The everyday nature of these experiences is emphasized by the expression in any and every circumstance. Paul has in view both individual events as well as various kinds of experiences that have initiated him into this secret.
The specific content of this secret is found in two pairs of contrasting experiences that together communicate the same idea. The first pair is facing plenty and hunger or more literally ‘to be full and to hunger.’ These same two ideas are paired together in Psalm 107:9, where the psalmist says of God, ‘he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.’ In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus states: ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied’ (Matt. 5:6). The final contrast uses verbs with similar semantic domains to the first contrast. Paul asserts that he knows abundance and need, or more woodenly ‘to abound and to lack.’ By stating the two extremes of having plenty and being hungry Paul encompasses the entire range of human experience. Paul likely has this secret in mind when he writes that he and his ministry co-workers are treated ‘as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything’ (2 Cor. 6:10). The Epistle to Diognetus picked up this theme when it described the early Christians: ‘They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all’ (5:13).
Because of his ministry Paul was well acquainted with these extremes, though it was far more common for him to experience hunger and need than abundance and satisfaction. But his spiritual and emotional status did not depend on these varying circumstances. In describing his own experience, Paul is presenting himself as a model for other believers to emulate. Like David, who expressed his trust in the Lord as his shepherd (Ps. 23:1), so too Paul will communicate his own reliance upon Christ in the following verse.[3]
4:12 / Paul had had long experience of having less than sufficient at some times and more than sufficient at other times: it made little difference to him. I have learned the secret of being content, he says, borrowing a term from the vocabulary of the mystery religions (“I have become adept” is F. W. Beare’s rendering), whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. What Paul would have regarded as plenty may be guessed at—anything above the minimum requirements of food and clothing, no doubt. For a man brought up in Paul’s environment, his conversion meant an initiation into a new way of life. One could not be a citizen of Tarsus without possessing substantial means. But for the sake of Christ Paul had “lost all things” (3:8), including (we may be sure) his material heritage; he learned henceforth to live on what he could earn by his part-time “tentmaking” (cf. 1 Thess. 2:9; 2 Thess. 3:8; Acts 18:3; 20:34).[4]
Ver. 12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound.—The Christian—
I. Expects vicissitude.
II. Knows how to adapt himself to all circumstances.
III. Is instructed by the Spirit of God. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
How to be abased:—During the periods between the paroxysms of the fever, Cromwell occupied the time with listening to passages from the sacred volume, or by a resigned or despairing reference to the death of his daughter. “Read to me,” he said to his wife, in one of these intervals, “the Epistle to the Philippians.” She read these words: “I know both how to be abased, and”—the reader paused. “That verse,” said the Protector, “once saved my life when the death of my eldest born, the infant Oliver, pierced my heart like the sharp blade of a poignard.” (Lamartine.)
The knowledge of properly using abundance:—Paul had the double knowledge, “How to be abased” and “how to abound.” The two are not distinctly separable—each in some way conditions the other. There is far too little of the knowledge how to abound. Few men who abound come asking how to abound. Men think it hard enough to get rich, but a very easy thing to be rich. No man has a right to be anything unless he has the knowledge of how to be that thing. When Paul says, “I know how to abound,” he is thinking of anything which makes life pleasant and ample—of money, of scholarship, of friendship, of great spiritual hopes and experiences. Paul did not have all these, and yet he had the knowledge of how to use them. The power by which he could rob abundance of its dangers was the knowledge of the true perfection of a soul in serving Christ. All men do not know how to be rich. The generous, sympathetic, active, kind, rich man knows how to be rich. What is more pitiable than the blunderer who holds wealth and knows not how to use it? There is also needed a knowledge of how to know truth. Here is a scholar who can give you any information, and yet you feel no enrichment. He has no deep convictions, no faith. He has grown less human. He values his knowledge as a botanist his specimens, and not as a gardener his plants. The highest knowledge comes by reverence and devotedness to God. (Phillips Brooks, D.D.)
The difficulty of managing prosperity:—Manton says: “A garment which is too long trails in the mire and soon becomes a dirty rag; and it is easy for large estates to become much the same. It is a hard lesson to ‘learn to abound’ (Phil. 4:12). We say such a one would do well to be a lord or a lady; but it is a harder thing than we think it to be.” It is hard to carry a full cup with a steady hand. High places are dizzy places, and full many have fallen to their eternal ruin through climbing aloft without having grace to look up. The simile of the trailing garment used by Manton is simple, but instructive. (C. H. Spurgeon.) I am instructed.
Initiation into the mysteries:—Formerly rendered: “I have been instructed,” it is given in the Revised Version, “I have been taught the secret;” while Lightfoot still more adequately brings out the meaning: “I have been initiated, I possess the secret.” That is what the Greek word means. And here we have one of many examples where a word of strong heathen association is baptized afresh, and consecrated to signify a new and loftier range of thoughts. What these words meant for a serious and good man, from the heathen point of view, was that he had been admitted to communicate in the mysteries, as the great sacramental services of Paganism were called. He had taken part in solemn baptisms, expressing the need of the purification of the soul. He had listened to an awful proclamation from an officiating minister, warning off all murderers and all barbarians, and, in later times, perhaps, all atheists, and Epicureans, and Christians. For these secret sacred rites were intended only for men of Greek blood; and it was thought neither pleasing to the gods nor good for the State that strangers should intrude upon these solemnities. And then, in these ceremonies themselves, he had been made to pass through experiences which could never be forgotten as long as he lived. His imagination was appealed to both through eye and through ear. He saw the representation of wanderings through the darkness, as amidst some maze; shapes of horror were revealed, and his soul was filled with trembling and terror. He was made to pass through a kind of mental proof or purgatory. Then all was changed. There was a sudden illumination; the scenery of beautiful pastures was disclosed; there was music, and dancing, and joy; and he walked in sweet converse with the pious and the good. At the crowning point of the service he was rapt away in an ecstasy of “beholding,” a species of beatific vision. He seemed to see the meaning of life, its beginning and its end; he beheld the wicked wallowing in filth and the righteous in Paradise—a blessed climate, where all the conditions of spiritual and physical good were realized. On the whole, these sacramental services exerted a very wholesome effect upon the consciences of the people. They learned to meditate on death and eternity, on the need of the soul being prepared for its future, on the punishment of the wicked and the blessedness of the just. One of the Athenian orators, in boasting to his fellow citizens of the glories of their native land, refers to the great mysteries as imparting “good hopes for eternity.” If we ask the question how it was that these institutions died away in course of time, the simple answer seems to be that, in part, they were overcome by the superior spirituality and energy of our own religion; partly that they had themselves waxed corrupt, and had become sources of corruption, though originally good. However, the rites of which we have been speaking went on for a long time, for several centuries after Paul. When this letter was read in the Church of Philippi many, possibly all, of the Gentile members were initiated persons. And when this solemn word: “I have been initiated,” fell upon their ear, it must have vibrated in all its power through their imagination. They must have felt that their beloved teacher was giving a quite new turn to the word. The old sacramental and pictorial associations had vanished; and in place of them there was a deep, central, spiritual truth spoken of as the secret of Paul. What was this secret? It is expressed again by a single word, “content.” (Prof. E. Johnson.)
The secret of contentment:—It was the beautiful expression of a Christian, who had been rich, when he was asked how he could bear his reduced state so happily, “When I was rich, I had God in everything, and now I am poor I have everything in God.”
The value of contentment:—Contentment is the best food to preserve a sound man, and the best medicine to restore a sick man. It resembles the gilt on nauseous pills, which makes a man take them without tasting their bitterness. Contentment will make a cottage look as fair as a palace. He is not a poor man that hath but little, but he is a poor man that wants much. (William Secker.)
The secret explained:—Making a day’s excursion from Botzen, in the Tyrol, we went along the very narrowest of roads, mere alleys, to which our country lanes would be turnpike roads. Well, you may be sure that we did not engage an ordinary broad carriage, for that would have found the passage as difficult as the needle’s eye to the camel; but our landlord had a very narrow chaise for us—just the very thing for threading those four-feet passages. Now, I must make you hear the moral of it, you fretful little gentlemen. When you have a small estate, you must have small wants, and by contentment suit your carriage to your road. “Not so easy,” say you? “Very necessary to a Christian,” say I. (C. H. Spurgeon.)[5]
12. It is to be noted that this contentment or soul-sufficiency (see on 1 Tim. 6:6) is derived not from any resources which the soul has in itself. Paul is no vain boaster who exclaims, “I am the Captain of my soul.” He is no Stoic who, trusting in his own resources, and supposedly unmoved by either joy or grief, endeavors with all his might to submit without complaining to unavoidable necessity. The apostle is no statue. He is a man of flesh and blood. He knows both joys and sorrows, yet is content. But his contentment has its cause in One other than himself. The real Source or Fountain of Paul’s soul-sufficiency is mentioned in verse 13. And that Fountain never runs dry, no matter what may be the circumstances. With reference to the latter Paul continues, I know what it means to live in straitened circumstances, and I also know what it means to have plenty. In any and allcircumstances I have learned the secret, both to be filled and to be hungry, both to have plenty and to be in want.
Paul has learned the secret (a verb used only here in the New Testament and related to mystery). He has been thoroughly initiated into it by the experiences of life applied to the heart by the Holy Spirit. To those who fear him God reveals this mystery (Ps. 25:14). Those who reject Christ cannot understand how it is possible for a Christian to remain calm in adversity, humble in prosperity.
The words in the present passage which require some elucidation are the following:
to live in straitened circumstances
Again and again Paul had been “brought low,” same verb as used with reference to Christ in Phil. 2:8, the Christ who humbled himself. That the apostle indeed knew what it meant to be reduced to such straitened circumstances is clear from the following passages: Acts 14:19; 16:22–25; 17:13; 18:12; 20:3; Chapters 21–27; 2 Cor. 4:11; 6:4, 5; 11:27, 33. He knew what was meant by hunger, thirst, fasting, cold, nakedness, physical suffering, mental torture, persecution, etc.
to be hungry
Hunger and thirst are often mentioned together (Rom. 12:20; 1 Cor. 4:11; 2 Cor. 11:27; and cf. for spiritual yearning, Matt. 5:6). In glory there will be neither hunger nor thirst (Rev. 7:16), and this because of Christ’s submission to these afflictions for his own children (Luke 4:2).
to be in want
The apostle had often fallen behind. He had suffered from lack of such comforts as many other people would have considered necessities. He had come short. Yet, none of these things had deprived him of his contentment.
Over against the expressions indicating poverty and affliction are those referring to riches and glory:
to have plenty
Before his conversion Paul has been a prominent Pharisee. The future looked bright and promising. Paul had had plenty, and this in more ways than one. Yet, he had lacked the greatest boon of all: Christ-centered peace of soul. But even after his conversion there had been moments of refreshment when even physically he had experienced what it meant, in a sense, to have plenty (Acts 16:15, 40; 16:33, 34; 20:11; 28:2; Phil. 4:15, 16, 18), and now no longer apart from but in connection with peace of soul. Now, to carry oneself properly in the midst of plenty is no easy matter (Prov. 30:8; Mark 10:23–25). As the adage has it, “In order to carry a full cup one must have a steady hand,” Paul, however, by the grace of the Holy Spirit had been schooled to abundance as well as to want.
to be filled
This word, though used at first with respect to the feeding and fattening of animals (of which meaning there is an echo in the clause: “all the birds gorged themselves with their flesh,” Rev. 19:21), and applied to men chiefly by the Comic poets, was gradually losing its depreciatory sense and is here simply used as a synonym for to have plenty.[6]
[1] MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2001). Philippians (pp. 300–302). Moody Press.
Heavenly Father, thank You for my children’s salvation. Thank You for choosing them to be children of mine and Yours. Thank You that You have lavished Your riches and Your inheritance on them, although they could do nothing to earn it or deserve it.
I pray for my children’s legs to walk always with You, not racing ahead, not lagging behind, not wandering off, but day-by-day walking with Jesus, so that He is their constant companion. God, take them where You want them to go and keep them from the places they shouldn’t go. Give them strength to continue when they feel weak. Give them courage to keep on walking with You, even when the road ahead looks uncertain and dim. Give them grace to bridge gaps, to leap walls, to span the separations between people and groups.
I pray for my children’s feet, that You would place them where You want them to stand. Plant their feet on the immovable rock of Jesus. Talk to them when storms come or the world’s attractions try to lure them down its path. Whisper in their ears and to their spirits, “Stand firm.”
Through my children’s arms, always do Your work. Strengthen them, hold them up, and direct them to do whatever You want them to do. Make their time valuable for eternity, not just the quick flash that is the span of their days on earth.
I pray for my children’s hands that they will often fold them in prayer. Make them mighty in prayer. Teach them to pray after Your own heart. Enable them to live their lives so that everyone will see Your signature, “This one is the Lord’s.”
Give my children the patience to wait on You, Lord, so that You may renew their spirits and they may soar as on eagle’s wings.
By Your enabling power, make my children’s will as strong as iron for clinging to what is good and resisting evil. Cause them to be unyielding in following righteousness and rejecting anything not pure, holy, and completely from You. Make their wills toward You as pliable as spun silk when You convict them of sin or following their own ways. Give them tender hearts and teachable spirits for You, God.
I pray for my children’s character, that You will make it strong and godly. Use godly men and women to mold, shape, and weave their character, beliefs, and views of You as You want to make them.
Enable by Your grace that their conscience will be clear. I pray they will keep a short list of accounts with You and quickly acknowledge sin to You and confess their wrongs. Give them the humility to seek forgiveness from the ones they offend. Enlarge their hearts to grant forgiveness freely, even before it is asked, when they are wronged.
I pray for my children’s heart, that You would guard it. Keep them protected, covered, shielded, and sheltered from all harm that seeks to touch them. Make their hearts soft when they should show compassion, firm when “tough love” is required, and always holy.
By Your power, protect their bodies. Keep them well and safe, and heal them when they are sick or injured. Hold them and comfort them when they are afraid, lonely, sad, or discouraged. Give them the strength and the courage to keep on keepin’ on when they feel they cannot any longer.
I pray for my children’s minds, that regarding the things of Christ they will be full of knowledge and wisdom, and regarding the things of sin they will be ignorant. Give them Your wisdom and discernment to evaluate what they see.
Light my children’s eyes with the light of Christ shining within them. Filter what they will see through holy filters. Protect them and keep them, for the devil masquerades as an angel of light. Give them holy understanding to see past the surface, to see the world from Your perspective, and to respond as You would.
Father, put Your Word in my children’s ears and in their hearts frequently. I pray that they will not listen to unwise counsel or foolish talk and will seek Your wisdom and Your ways all their days.
I pray for my children’s mouths, that words of praise and prayer will be on their lips always. Curb them from speaking rashly or without thought, so that they will bring honor and glory to You. I pray for my children’s countenances, that they will reflect Your glory and the radiance of the hope that is alive within them.
Sanctify their pocketbooks, and teach them to be good stewards of what You give them. Teach them the principles of Your economy, the way to manage and use the things that You loan them. Beyond finances and possessions, make them good stewards of their talents, time, and opportunities You send. Help them to acknowledge that everything is Yours, and because of that, they need not worry or fear loss.
I pray that they will abide in righteousness and live worthy of the One who purchased their lives from destruction and eternal death. Show them that life is in Christ alone, that there is no other source of life, joy, light, peace, comfort, love, or truth that can endure forever, and no other is pure or holy but You.
Father-God, I place all these things in Your hands in the name of the One who is able to do all things, beyond anything we ask or imagine, to whom is all glory, honor, and praise, Amen.
-Charley Gunter, praying for Richmond and Margie Louise
Looking at a picture of your children or grandchildren, or with the indelible memory of them before your mind’s eye, pray for them. Set them apart from head-to-toe for God’s purposes and glory. You might include their future mates in this prayer.
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, But to Your name give glory, Because of Your lovingkindness and truth. (Psalm 115:1)
It is good to give thanks to the Lord And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High, To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning And Your faithfulness at night. (Psalm 92:1–2)
Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! Who will not fear You, O Lord, And glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You, For Your righteous acts have been revealed. (Revelation 15:3–4)
O sing to the Lord a new song; Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation day after day. Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all people. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, But the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him; Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. (Psalm 96:1–6)
Pause to express your thoughts of praise and worship.
Confession
This is the one You esteem: He who is humble and contrite of spirit, And who trembles at Your word. (Isaiah 66:2b)
Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed is better than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22)
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. (Psalm 51:17)
If I confess my sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive me my sins and purify me from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
The Lord does not see as man sees. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)
Ask the Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness.
Thank You that You have said: Come now, let us reason together. Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red as crimson, They shall be like wool. (Isaiah 1:18)
Renewal
Lord, renew me by Your Spirit as I offer these prayers to You:
By Your grace, I want to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” (Matthew 25:21)
May I be careful to lead a blameless life. May I walk in the integrity of my heart in the midst of my house. May I set no wicked thing before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away; May it not cling to me. (Psalm 101:2–3)
With regard to my former way of life, may I put off my old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of my mind; and may I put on the new self, which was created according to God in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:22–24)
May I consecrate myself and be holy, because You are the Lord my God. May I keep Your statutes and practice them, for You are the Lord who sanctifies me. (Leviticus 20:7–8)
Pause to add your own prayers for personal renewal.
Petition
Father, using Your word as a guide, I offer You my prayers concerning dedication to You.
Since I have been raised with Christ, I should seek the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. May I set my mind on the things above, not on the things on the earth, for I died, and my life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is my life appears, then I also will appear with Him in glory. (Colossians 3:1–4)
In view of God’s mercy, may I present my body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is my reasonable service. May I not be conformed to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of my mind, that I may prove that the will of God is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1–2)
May I cast down arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of You, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5)
He who does not take his cross and follow after You is not worthy of You. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for Your sake will find it. (Matthew 10:38–39) May I take my cross and lose my life for Your sake.
May I trust in the Lord and do good; may I dwell in the land and feed on Your faithfulness. When I delight myself in the Lord, You will give me the desires of my heart. I will commit my way to the Lord and trust in You, and You will bring it to pass. You will bring forth my righteousness like the light, and my justice like the noonday. (Psalm 37:3–6)
Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life And loves many days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil And your lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are attentive to their cry. (Psalm 34:11–15) May I learn the fear of the Lord.
Show me Your ways, O Lord, Teach me Your paths; Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation, And my hope is in You all day long. Remember, O Lord, Your compassions and Your mercies, For they are from of old. (Psalm 25:4–6)
O Lord my God, may I fear You, walk in all Your ways, love You, and serve You with all my heart and with all my soul. (Deuteronomy 10:12)
Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come; Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give me today my daily bread, And forgive me my debts as I also have forgiven my debtors. And lead me not into temptation, But deliver me from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. (Matthew 6:9–13)
Pause here to express any additional personal requests, especially concerning growth in Christ:Greater desire to know and please Him Greater love and commitment to Him Grace to practice His presence Grace to glorify Him in my life
My activities for this day Special concerns
Intercession
Lord, I now prepare my heart for intercessory prayer for churches and ministries.
May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and has given us eternal consolation and good hope by grace, comfort our hearts and strengthen us in every good work and word. (2 Thessalonians 2:16–17)
We should bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2)
Confess your sins to one other and pray for one other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much. (James 5:16)
In the spirit of these passages, I pray for:My local church Other churches Evangelism and discipleship ministries Educational ministries Special concerns
Affirmation
Feed my mind and heart, O Lord, as I affirm these truths from Your word concerning salvation:
You are the resurrection and the life. He who believes in You will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in You will never die. (John 11:25–26)
I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus my Lord. (Romans 8:38–39)
By grace I have been saved through faith, and this not of myself; it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast. For I am God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand for me to do. (Ephesians 2:8–10)
Your sheep hear Your voice, and You know them, and they follow You. You give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of Your hand. The Father, who has given them to You, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand. You and the Father are one. (John 10:27–30)
The Father has qualified me to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. For He has rescued me from the dominion of darkness and brought me into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom I have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:12–14)
Pause to reflect upon these biblical affirmations.
Thanksgiving
For who You are and for what You have done, accept my thanks, O Lord:
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; My soul will be joyful in my God. For He has clothed me with garments of salvation And arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)
My soul silently waits for God alone; My salvation comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my stronghold; I will never be shaken. (Psalm 62:1–2)
I will both lie down in peace and sleep, For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4:8)
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God is my rock; I will take refuge in Him, My shield and the horn of my salvation, My stronghold and my refuge— My Savior; You save me from violence. (2 Samuel 22:2–3)
Pause to offer your own expressions of thanksgiving.
Closing Prayer
Satisfy us in the morning with Your loyal love, That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. (Psalm 90:14)
The God of all grace, who called me to His eternal glory in Christ, after I have suffered a little while, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish me. To him be the glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5:10–11)
To You who are able to keep me from falling and to present me before Your glorious presence faultless and with great joy—to the only God my Savior, through Jesus Christ my Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all ages and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 24–25)
Boa, K. (1993). Handbook to prayer: praying scripture back to God. Atlanta: Trinity House.
MATTHEW HENRY’S “METHOD FOR PRAYER”
Acknowledge the Great Evil of Sin, its Sinfulness and Foolishness
Confession 2.12 | ESV
We must acknowledge the great evil that there is in sin, and in our sin; the malignity of its nature, and its mischievousness to us.
The sinfulness of sin.
O that sin might be shown to be sin to me and appear in its own colors; and through the commandment may I see it to be sinful beyond measure, Romans 7:13(ESV) because it is lawlessness. 1 John 3:4(ESV)
By every willful sin I have in effect said, “I do not want this man to reign over me.” Luke 19:14(ESV) And, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice?” Exodus 5:2(ESV) And thus have I reviled the LORD, Numbers 15:30(ESV) and cast his law behind my back. Nehemiah 9:26(ESV)
The foolishness of sin.
O God, you know my folly; the wrongs that I have done are not hidden from you. Psalm 69:5(ESV) I was foolish in being disobedient, Titus 3:3(ESV) and my desires are senseless and harmful. 1 Timothy 6:9(ESV)
Folly was bound up in my heart when I was a child; Proverbs 22:15(ESV) for though vain man would be wise, he is born like the wild donkey’s colt. Job 11:12(KJV)
•Because of all You have done for me, I present my body to You as a living sacrifice for this day. I want to be transformed by the renewing of my mind, affirming that Your will for me is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1–2)
ADORATION AND THANKSGIVING
•Offer a brief word of praise to God for one or more of His attributes (e.g., love and compassion, grace, mercy, holiness, goodness, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, truthfulness, unchanging character, eternality) and/or works (e.g., creation, care, redemption, loving purposes, second coming). •Thank Him for the good things in your life.
EXAMINATION
•Ask the Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness. (Psalm 139:23–24)
MY IDENTITY IN CHRIST
•“I have been crucified with Christ; and 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 delivered Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
*I have forgiveness from the penalty of sin because Christ died for me. (Romans 5:8; 1 Corinthians 15:3) *I have freedom from the power of sin because I died with Christ. (Colossians 2:11; 1 Peter 2:24) *I have fulfillment for this day because Christ lives in me. (Philippians 1:20–21) *By faith, I will allow Christ to manifest His life through me. (2 Corinthians 2:14)
FILLING OF THE SPIRIT
•Ask the Spirit to control and fill you for this day. •I want to be filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18) When I walk by the Spirit, I will not carry out the desire of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16) If I live by the Spirit, I will also walk by the Spirit. (Galatians 5:25)
FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
•Pray on the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22–23) •“Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:4–7)
PURPOSE OF MY LIFE
•I want to love the Lord my God with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my mind, and I want to love my neighbor as myself. (Matthew 22:37, 39) My purpose is to love God completely, love self correctly, and love others compassionately. •I will seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness. (Matthew 6:33) •I have been called to follow Christ and to be a fisher of men. (Matthew 4:19) •I will be a witness to those who do not know Him and participate in the Great Commission to go and make disciples. (Matthew 28:19–20; Acts 1:8) •I want to glorify the Father by bearing much fruit, and so prove to be Christ’s disciple. (John 15:8)
CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE DAY
•I will trust in the Lord with all my heart, and not lean on my own understanding. In all my ways I will acknowledge Him, and He will make my paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5–6) •“God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28; also see 8:29) I acknowledge that You are in control of all things in my life, and that You have my best interests at heart. Because of this I will trust and obey You today. •Review and commit the events of this day into the hands of God.
PROTECTION IN THE WARFARE
Against the World: Renew
•I will set my mind on the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8:5) •Since I have been raised up with Christ, I will keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. I will set my mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. (Colossians 3:1–2; also see 3:3–4 and Hebrews 12:1–2) •I will be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving I will let my requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus. Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, I will let my mind dwell on these things. (Philippians 4:6–8; also see 4:9)
Against the Flesh: Reckon
•I know that my old self was crucified with Christ, so that I am no longer a slave to sin, for he who has died is freed from sin. I will reckon myself as dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. I will not present the members of my body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but I will present myself to God as one alive from the dead, and my members as instruments of righteousness to God. (Romans 6:6–7, 11, 13)
Against the Devil: Resist
•As I submit myself to God and resist the devil, he will flee from me. (James 4:7) •I will be of sober spirit and on the alert. My adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But I will resist him, firm in my faith. (1 Peter 5:8–9) •I will take up the full armor of God, that I may be able to resist and stand firm. I put on the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness; I put on my feet the preparation of the gospel of peace; and I take up the shield of faith with which I will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one. I take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition I will pray at all times in the Spirit and be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:13–18)
THE COMING OF CHRIST AND MY FUTURE WITH HIM
•Your kingdom come, Your will be done. (Matthew 6:10) •You have said, “I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. (Revelation 22:20) •I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to me. (Romans 8:18) •I will not lose heart, but though my outer man is decaying, yet my inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for me an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while I 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. (2 Corinthians 4:16–18) •My citizenship is in heaven, from which also I eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 3:20)
(Also consider 2 Timothy 4:8; Hebrews 11:1, 6; 2 Peter 3:11–12; 1 John 2:28; 3:2–3.)
Boa, K. (1993). Handbook to prayer: praying scripture back to God. Atlanta: Trinity House.
Truth2Freedom's Blog 