2020-01-03
Good Morning Dear Ones,
As I am led, I will continue to write about prayer’s impact on sin. This is done as I present support Scriptures for the book of Colossians, also examining the vertical relationship between God and mankind and the horizontal relationship between humans. Some of Judah’s history will be revealed in IS 1: 1-20, especially verse 15. Isaiah, son of Amoz, was the prophet of God at the time when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah (approximately 300 years before Christ’s birth). This was the time when God was reprimanding His people for their disobedience [vv 1-3]. The people have rejected God and rebelled against Him. Their wounded hearts of evil and corruption have not been treated to heal [vv.4-6]. Foreigners take over the land, and the cities are being besieged. Jerusalem is left defenseless and would be destroyed, like Sodom and Gomorrah [vv 7-9]. “Pay attention to Me,” God says. The animal offerings to God are useless, in the face of this sinning. The smell of their incense disgusts God. Their New Moon Festivals, gatherings, and Sabbaths are corrupted by the people’s sins [vv 10-14]. “When the people lift their hands in prayer, God will not look at them. No matter how much they pray, God will not listen, for their hands are covered with blood” [v 15]. God told the people to stop doing evil, learn to do right, stop injustice, and help the oppressed, widows, and orphans [vv 16-17]. The people are stained red with sin, but God will wash them whiter than snow. With their obedience to God, they will eat the good things the land produces. If the people defy God, they are doomed to die [vv 18-20].
We can’t help but see how dangerous the people’s rebellion against God was. In view of Israel’s existence today and the disappearance from the scene of her enemies over the years, we can understand that God loves His people and is brokenhearted over their sinfulness. He has no intention of destroying Israel, as He has her enemies. But, those of us with an eye on mankind’s history know that God would be forced to punish His children to set them right with Himself. It helps our understanding if we look at RO 3: 25-26, “God offered Him [Christ], so that by His blood, His people should have their sins forgiven. In the past, God was patient and overlooked people’s sins; but in the present, He deals with their sins in order to demonstrate His righteousness…He puts right everyone who believes in (the Lord), Jesus.” No one would believe in the truth of Christ’s teaching, if He never did or said anything to encourage sinners to stop their sinning. Sinning has a cost to it.
The story of the rich man and Lazarus, LK 16: 19-31, is Christ’s way of conveying the consequences of serial sinfulness. The rich man lived in the lap of luxury, while Lazarus, who was covered with sores and very poor, came to the rich man’s door for bits of food. Even the rich man’s dogs licked Lazarus’ sores. Both Lazarus and the rich man eventually died. Lazarus was taken by angels to sit next to Abraham at the feast in heaven; the rich man was taken to Hades, where he was in great pain. The latter could see Abraham and Lazarus far away and called to Abraham. “Send Lazarus to dip his finger in some water and cool off my tongue. Take pity on me, I’m in such great pain from the fire here.” Abraham reminded the rich man of his past behavior toward Lazarus, and that there is a deep pit lying between them that prevented anyone from crossing over it. Once Abraham said that, the rich man asked him to warn his five living brothers not to make the same mistake as he did and end up in the pain for Hades, i.e. to turn from their sins. Abraham said, “Even if someone were to rise from death, that is no guarantee your living brothers would listen to the teaching of Moses and the prophets.”
IS 59: 1-2 repeats these concepts. We mustn’t think that God is too weak to save us or too deaf to hear our prayers for help. When he doesn’t respond, it means our sins are keeping us apart from Him when we are worshipping Him. 1 JN 3: 21-22 adds further support. “And so, my friends, if our conscience doesn’t condemn us, we have courage in God’s presence. We receive from Him whatever we ask, because we obey His commands and do whatever pleases Him.” From these citations, we can see a clear relationship between the extent of our right living and receiving an answer to our prayers. It must be also understood that there are times when God will delay answering our prayers in order to maximize a lesson, He wants us to have. Faith in Christ, obedience to Him, willingness to acknowledge the importance and power of prayer, and eventual outcome of our earthly lives are all relative to each other.
PRAYER: O Lord, we come before Your mighty throne having been taught Your will for our lives and the practices of our spiritual existence. We acknowledge how important Your teaching is to, whether or not we gain eternal life with You. You are a loving and generous God, One Who wants what is best for us in the eternal sense. We want to obey You and offer You thanks and praise for showing us that we have a choice when we profess faith in Your Son, Jesus. When we study Your word, Your love letter to us, and faithfully obey You, You are pleased. When we reject You and Your teaching, we disappoint You and follow a path that will lead to the same outcome that the rich man in the story above had. Belief in Biblical truth and willingness to obey it, gives us the inner peace that having our prayers answered yields. We must understand that You can speak to us in response to our prayers in many ways. It’s necessary for us to count our blessings and rehearse our history of experiences with You, rather than focus only on our trials and tribulations. We are eager to offer You thanks for listening to all our prayers at any time of night or day, any day of the week. We offer up this prayer in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I have been commanded by the Holy Spirit to continue the larger goal of supplying supporting Scriptures to the book of Colossians and also that of examining the relationships between God and man, man and other men. This time we will look at the effectiveness of prayer. Prayer has become both a habit with me personally and professionally. Over the years, the Lord has put me in a position of leading others in prayer, in addition to whatever prayers I offer up for myself, my friends, and my family. Often, I pray when I’m alone at home. God has blessed me with many wonderful friendships wherever I’ve lived, ones that are lasting. That is why He made it possible for Peter and me to travel 7000 miles around the country, going through many states just before Peter’s kidneys failed. The latter made dialysis three times a week necessary and greatly complicated traveling. We connected with friends in almost every state we went through on that last trip. I remain in touch with them, as I do with many people within and outside of our congregations by e-mail, texting, phone calls, and Skype visits. Via de Cristo has also led to precious friendships with others who have gone through this wonderful four-day retreat program. Other people are my “teachers;” they show me how to be a better believer and bring me closer to our Lord. That blessing and extends to my study of the Bible and witnessing to others willing to listen about my faith. I wish the same wonderful blessings for each of you too! Praise and thanks to God for all He is and all He does!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2019. All Rights Reserved.
<-- Back to Archives