The President is Not the Commander-In-Chief

Yes, the president of the United States holds in his hands great power and authority.  There is no single human being more powerful than he in the governments of the world.  However, ultimately, it is not the president who is in charge of the world, or even the United States.  Rather, it is God.         

God is the ruler of the United States

The kingdom is the LORD'S and He rules over the nations.  Psalm 22:28
God is not just the ruler of heaven, but he is the ruler of all the nations on earth.  He is the one in charge of all political entities.  On the surface, it may look like that He is not doing a very good job of ruling—things seem chaotic.  However, the Lord’s rule is much like the president’s—if people chose to have an attitude against him, there is little that he would chose to do.  God is rarely in the business of controlling the world, or in sending in the troops to punish a rebel.  Rather, God’s choice is to wait and call people to His ways.God is not only the one in charge of the governments of the world, but he also watches who is ruling every nation in the world, including the United States.  There are some he particularly places in power in order to rule righteously, or to punish the wicked.  There are others he deposes because they have acted in opposition to the Lord, because they were arrogant or because they were excessively violent.  The Lord allows each nation to rule its own affairs, until he sees terrible injustice or oppression—and then he will act swiftly.

God’s purposes are not the president’s purposes

The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation. Psalm 38:10-11

Any president, any ruler in the world, sees things differently than God.  Rulers of a nation desires to have their nation succeed, to have their agenda passed and to have their nation be secure.  However, God does not look at the world through the perspective of one nation alone, but he sees all the peoples of the world.  The Lord wants to have his glory be known throughout all the earth—and the Lord can see today that there is much work that needs to be done in this.  God wishes to have all people on the earth live according to his will and his principles of devotion and care for all people—but few wish to live in accord with that.  The Lord desires his chosen people (those faithful to Him) to be secure—but he can see persecution and hatred against his people.

            A ruler’s goal of establishing peace in his nation may in fact be in accord with God’s notion—depending on who the president wishes to punish in order to obtain that peace.  Also depending on how much violence he is willing to use to obtain a peace.  God does not see one nation or one group of people as being unworthy of forgiveness, as long as they repent.  And it is the Lord’s agenda to see that all people have an opportunity to repent.  This plan is rarely in agreement with a president’s idea of security.

God’s plan is not the president’s plan

 “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

The current president has certain plans for Iraq, certain plans for social security and certain plans to boost the economy.  He is sure that he can make the United States a strong country through economic and military might.  God’s plans for the U.S. are completely different, because he is looking at a different perspective.  The Lord knows that ultimately, strength and wealth come only from him, not from a military or economic power of the world.   God’s plans are for making the U.S. more righteous, and so to obtain strength and wealth from Him.  It is the Lord’s plan to see those who despise him repent, so he can offer inner peace to them.  It is God’s plan to personally judge those who oppress the poor who cry out to him.

Knowing this, how are we to respond?

a. Give Honor to the President

Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.  I Peter 2:13-17

The president does, in a way, sit in God’s seat, and so we are always to honor him and to submit to him, even if he is an evil man, and especially if he is not.  We are not to be disrespectful, but we are to follow the laws as we can and be good citizens, doing good to everyone.  No matter how bad we consider a president to be, as followers of Jesus we should not insult a president or spread rumors about a president. 

 

b. Depend on God to do justice

Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; In that very day his thoughts perish. How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, Whose hope is in the LORD his God.  Psalm 146:3-5

There are two focuses of justice and law.   One is to fulfill the earthly-focused purposes, and that is done through men’s laws—this is what the president focuses on.  The other is to fulfill God’s desire (divine justice) and that is done through God’s law.  If we really want to gain well-being, security and wealth in our lives, we need to focus on God accomplishing his own justice, and not through frail men.  Humans are weak and they will mess up in numerous ways to create justice.  God sees all and knows all truth and will make sure that justice is done to those who ask him to judge on earth (Luke 18:1-8).

            Even if a president is Christian and he prays a lot, that does not mean that he is necessarily righteous.  Praying to God by itself does not mean that one is focused on the law and justice of God—it just means that they want to have God do what they want.  The only kind of prayer God will answer is the prayer of faith.  This prayer is not just believing enough, but being faithful in God and desiring his desires and being willing to do whatever he says.  The only Christian who is worth focusing on is the one who fully obeys the law of Christ—to love his neighbor as himself, to be humble in his leadership, to be devoted to God before his country. 

            c. Change the President’s mind

The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.    Proverbs 21:1

The Lord can take even the most wicked king, and control decisions he makes—for good or for judgement.  Even as every ruler is weak in some ways, the Lord will assist them at times to make decisions that will ultimately be for God’s glory.  This is an amazing process and God is at work at it all the time.  And he also invites us to participate in this powerful political process.  He invites his faithful people—those who have God’s glory and the good of humanity at the front of their minds—to mediate for decisions that need to be made.  All changes of a ruler’s heart is ultimately determined by the Lord, but he welcomes the input of those who are faithful.

The final result

The Lord is at Your right hand; He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath. He will judge among the nations, He will fill them with corpses, He will shatter the chief men over a broad country.  Psalm 110:5-6

Eventually, one president or another will rebel against the Lord.  They will stand against God’s people and persecute them.  They will look at the oppressed and laugh and cause them to die.  And when it happens, the United States will be judged by God.  This is not unique,  God will eventually judge every nation of the world.  He awaits the nations to show their selfish focus by oppressing the poor, either in their own nation or in others.  The U.S. has already oppressed the poor in the past, yet the patience of the Lord is the only thing that has kept Him from judging the U.S.  The Lord showed patience as the U.S. were oppressing the Native Americans and the African Americans.  That patience bore out, for the U.S. is treating those groups much better now. 

But the U.S. is continuing to oppress other nations around the world, and the Lord’s patience is only so long.   Let us pray for God’s glory.  Let us pray for the good of God’s people.  And let us pray for the gospel to be spread so all will have the opportunity to repent before the final day arrives.

The Truth of the Trinity

A.W. Tozer scoffs at those who deny the Trinity of God because it does not make logical sense. “Some persons who reject all they cannot explain have denied that God is a Trinity. Subjecting the Most High to their cold, level-eyed scrutiny, they conclude that it is impossible that He could be both One and Three.” He goes on, rightly, to explain that God is incomprehensible, and it is good for our humility to remember that we cannot understand everything.

However, in the matter of the Trinity, most Trinitarians and most Christian anti-Trinitarians have forgotten their humility, their stand with the word of God, in order to say about God only that which Scripture says. Scripture says there is one God, only one. Scripture says that the Father is God. Scripture says that Jesus is God. And Scripture implies that the Holy Spirit is God. That we can stand with. But when, in the fourth century, it was determined by a council that anyone who denies that the Father and the Son is of the same essence is a heretic, outside the church. Yet Scripture no where gives this explanation for the unity of the Father and the Son. In fact, Jesus prays that the Church “may be one, even as You and I are one.” The Church does not share in the essence of the Godhead, does she? No.

Part of the problem comes in with how Scripture uses the word “god”. We want to use the term strictly for the single, unified, all-powerful being that created the universe. However, as even Jesus himself pointed out, Scripture uses the term “god” in different ways. It is used for angels, it is used for pagan gods—or demons—frankly, it is used even for Satan! And so we cannot say that because the term is used for one being that the being is of the same essence as another. Scripture just doesn’t give us enough information.

I affirm the mystery of God. In this I also affirm the mystery of the trinity and how Jesus is God and the Father is God yet there is one God. Are they the same essence? No one knows. Does Jesus have a beginning? No one knows. Is the Holy Spirit of the same essence of the Father and the Son? No one knows. Orthodox theology, while affirming mystery in general, denies many mysteries that exist in Scripture, acclaiming and affirming that which is unknown by God’s revelation. Some authorities of the church have put themselves above God’s own word in declaring when God is silent. And they have made the worse mistake by judging those who affirm that silence.

Let us repent of our rejection of those who see Scripture differently, when we have no reason to say that they are wrong. Let us repent of our high-mindedness, and humbly admit that God truly is unknown, and yet he reveals himself to us through His Son.

Why Doesn't God Answer My Prayer?

Have you ever had a time when you were praying, but it seemed as if God was distant? Perhaps this was your own feeling, or perhaps you had something to really base that feeling on. If we pray at all, there will be times that we know that God isn’t answering our prayer. Doesn’t he promise to deliver us from our troubles, doesn’t he look at our sorrows and wipe them away? Then why are we still living in them?

When we are going through difficulties, and we cry out to God, but God doesn’t seem to be answering, then we could be looking for blame. And either we will blame God or blame ourselves. If we blame God, we may think that He doesn’t really care about us. Or perhaps he doesn’t understand what we are going through. Or perhaps He isn’t as strong as we were led to believe. Maybe God doesn’t actually exist at all, but we are just praying to thin air.

At other times, we might look at ourselves and think that we are not good enough for God. Maybe we don’t belong to the right church, or something in the past is displeasing to God. Perhaps God doesn’t like our family or the community in which we live. Maybe we didn’t pray the right words or in the right manner.

Be confident

According to God’s word, all of these tracks are the wrong way to look at it. God doesn’t care about whether we pray correctly, our past or our community. And God DOES care about us and our troubles. He will listen to us, no matter what we’ve done or how separated from Him we were. God is also powerful enough to do whatever He wants.

And yet, still, God often will not answer our prayers. He listens, but does not act. He pays attention, but we do not receive what we want. Why is this? Why doesn’t prayer just work when we want it to? According to the Bible, there are a number of different reasons why our prayers may not be answered—why God may ignore our requests. Not all of them are easy to hear, but we should look at them carefully, to see if any of them apply to us:

Prayer requires a relationship with God

Maybe, for some reason, our prayers really are blocked. Maybe God knows our requests, but He isn’t going to answer us now. This would be because something is blocking our relationship with God. God is attentive to everyone, but some people have issues that God cannot see, for He is a pure God and cannot abide impurity. There are certain things that people do that will stop any communication between them and God. Some of the things that are mentioned is: Not meeting the needs of those under one’s authority (such as children, wives or employees); living a sexually immoral lifestyle; to cheat in business; those who cause strife between people; and those who tell lies in God’s name. As well, God will reject those who refuse to listen to his Son, Jesus, who is Lord over the earth. God does not listen to these people, nor will listen to their prayers.

If we are caught up in any of these lifestyles or if we refuse to listen to Jesus, then the answer is simple—we need to repent and change our ways. God will listen to our prayer, but only if our prayer is: “Father, I was wrong, please forgive me.” We need to admit that we were in a bad place, and we want to be different people, people to whom God will listen. We need to ask God for help to change our lives and to focus on His ways. If we do, then God will listen to our prayers and answer them. This is devotion, this is faith in God and trust in his ways.
(I Peter 3:7; I Corinthians 6:9-10; Proverbs 6:16-19; Deuteronomy 25:13-16; John 15:7; John 5:38; Acts 2:38)

Prayer requires the right motive

Another thing we look at when we pray is the reason we pray. James says: “You ask and you do not receive because you ask with the wrong motives—You ask in order that you may obtain your own pleasures.” (James 4:3). Many of us pray because of our own needs, our own wants. We don’t pray because of what is really right, but because we feel a certain way and think that only one thing will help us, and so we see God as a wishing well, who will give us whatever we desire.

However, Scripture is clear that when we pray it is not our own desires or motivation that we need to be looking at, but God’s. The Lord’s prayer is unique in that the first three requests are prayers for God, not for humans. Psalm 37:4 says that if we put God’s desires first in our heart, then God will give us whatever we want—not because we want it, but because we are reflecting God’s will. Prayer is not about getting what we want, but about God establishing his justice and mercy on the world for everyone.

Prayer is about Giving God Sovereignty

At the creation of the world, God gave each human rule over the earth and over themselves. However, He made it clear that we are to remain under His authority and listen to His choices. The truth is, however, that usually we make our own choices, apart from God’s recommendations and so we establish our own control over our lives. God loves us and wants to help us, but He also respects our choices and will not stand against them. Sometimes we are praying for God to deliver us from ourselves, from our own choices that we are still making. But God will not do this, for to do this is to make Him unfaithful to His promise that we are in charge of our lives.

If we wish to have God’s help, despite ourselves, we need to turn ourselves over to Him. We can pray, but it is a prayer of surrender to God’s control and a desire to reject our past choices. If we completely surrender ourselves to Jesus, and make him Lord over our lives, then God will begin to change our own wills, our own choices to make us a better ruler over ourselves, with His help. (Romans 12:1-2; Psalm 8; Judges 10:10-16)

Prayer Sometimes Takes Time

But perhaps we are in a good relationship with God. Perhaps, as far as the Bible says, God really is listening and we are praying prayers that He agrees with—maybe even prayers that He commanded us to pray! Why, then, are there many prayers that aren’t answered. If God wants them prayed for, shouldn’t he answer them quickly?

Of course he should. But some prayers just take time to answer. God often is not rejecting our request, but is waiting for the right time to answer it with action. Prayers are not microwave popcorn—put it in the oven and four minutes later, boom, there it is. Prayer is about God’s timing and what is best for everyone. Sometimes our timing is not God’s timing, but it doesn’t mean that He’s forgotten.

So what can we do? Many just stop praying because “God knows what I need and I don’t want to bug him about it.” Yes, God knows what we need, but he wants us to keep bugging him about it. If we don’t stop praying about something—once an hour, once a day, or once a week, depending on the request—but keep on praying, it shows that we haven’t forgotten about the issue and we still trust that God will resolve it. (Luke 11:5-10; II Peter 3:8-9)

Prayer Sometimes Isn’t Answered How We Like

God always sees our need. God always wants to answer prayer. But sometimes God doesn’t answer us in the way we expect. Perhaps we expect God to just take away our suffering and pain. Perhaps we expect God to give us the certain thing we need to meet our needs. And then it doesn’t happen. It just doesn’t.

Does this mean that he didn’t answer our prayer? Suppose my child comes up to me and says, “Daddy, I’m really hungry—could you go out and get me some candy to eat?” Of course, I know that a rock isn’t what my child needs, so I get him good food instead. Maybe she will cry because I didn’t give her what she wanted, but I know a little better about what kind of food is best for her. This is how God acts with us. He knows better what we need. Sometimes we think that God is ridiculous, and God just needs to listen to what we want—but He refuses to give us what is bad for us.

If we are in difficulties and it seems that God isn’t answering our prayer, then we need to just trust in God. God is the one who knows what is best for us, and will give us what is best. Sometimes what is best for us comes in the form of difficulties or problems or temptations that we just want to go away. But God is the one who loves us more than we love ourselves, and so will help us in accord with what we need, not according to our childish requests. (Luke 11:11-13: Hebrews 12:5-11; James 1:13-17; II Corinthians 12:7-9)

Trust in God and He will give us what is good—always.

Relating To The Spirit

The Trinity As A Story
Many people focus on the Trinity as a theological doctrine, full of the nature of God and the relationship of the three persons within a unity. The problem with this is that though the NT speaks of God as one and names Him as three, the relationship between them is not clearly marked. All too often, theologians, pastors and lay leaders have focused on what the Bible does NOT say about the Trinity, rather than what it does. The Trinity is not a theology of nature, but a story of love.

God the Father desires intimacy with people. He always has, from the very beginning, but the very ones He created, chose and sought relationship with have rejected Him. So He sent His Son, Jesus, to live out God’s love and deliverance. Jesus was God in human flesh, beginning a nation where people are both chosen to come in and choose themselves to participate. These learn about what God desires from God who was also human and they choose to live their lives as a divine path, as Jesus himself.

Jesus said that it was better for us that He leaves us. This seemed so wrong to his disciples at the time, but Jesus further explained that the Spirit could only come upon us if He leaves—we must have an absence before the Father fills us.

Although Jesus does not live among us anymore, He leaves His Spirit to all those who choose to be in Jesus. The Spirit then is God inside us, God with us, God continually dwelling. The Spirit is the promised blessing of God (Ezekiel 36; Jeremiah 31; Joel 2), who creates a people that is listening to God and is faithful to God. The Spirit is the final link for the chosen to be those who are intimate with God.

If the Spirit is the means of God’s ultimate blessing—intimacy with Him—then how do we achieve it? How do we live out this intimacy?

1. Listen to the Spirit
Jesus’ words are the foundation of what we know about God and how we live in God’s presence. But they are still only words from a distance. When we have a drunk come to our house in the middle of the night, how do we live out “do unto others as you would have them do to you”? Should we invite them in? Should we give them food and send them on their way? Should we decide that we need to protect our family? When someone steals from us, how do we practically live out “love your enemies”? Should we call the police? Should we give them more? Should we give them the gospel and let them go on their way? Jesus’ words don’t always give us the practical counsel we need in order to fully and precisely live out the way of God.

This is where the Spirit comes in. The Spirit gives us the wisdom we need when we need it. The Spirit talks to us and gives us the truth and the practical application to live the life of Jesus in the particular circumstances we are in. The Spirit is Jesus walking beside us, living with us, giving us continual counsel and direction to live in God’s ways.

Most importantly about listening to the Spirit is that in order to obtain a word from the Spirit we must ask. If we do not ask, then we will receive nothing. Even so, if we want the Spirit or any wisdom, we must ask God for that wisdom. This means that while God initiates the conversation with Him by offering the Spirit, we must ask for the Spirit in order to receive it. Then, once the Lord has given us the Spirit, we must ask for the wisdom we desire and God will answer us. Thus is the conversation with God continuous. (I Corinthians 2:11; Romans 8:5; John 14:26; Colossians 1:9; Luke 11:11-13; James 1:5-8; James 4:2-3; Acts 16:9-10; Acts 4:29-32)

2. Pray in the Spirit
One of the most common commands about the Spirit in the Scriptures is to pray in the Spirit. Many people directly relate this to speaking in tongues. But speaking in tongues is only one form of praying in the Spirit. Prophecy is also praying in the Spirit, as is listening in the Spirit, as is praying the Lord’s prayer.

When we pray in the Spirit, first of all, we are recognizing that we are not praying in the place where we seem to be, but we are in reality praying before God’s throne (Hebrews 4:16). When the prophets were “in the spirit” they were in the spiritual realm, in the presence of God, being led by the spirits directed by God. Even so, when we pray “in the spirit” we are not reciting dead words, nor are we praying by rote. Rather, we are before God himself, in intimate conversation with Him, and our prayers have power, not just hope.

To pray in the Spirit is to pray in God’s presence. We can say “papa” to God, because He is before us and asks us to call him by that intimate name. In the Spirit, we know our prayers and heard and God can answer us immediately. In the Spirit, we go before God with a situation that we don’t know how to pray for and the Spirit will lead us to pray rightly before the Father. In the Spirit, we can cry out to God to change His mind. In the Spirit, prayer is not just an activity, it is a conversation with the King of the Universe. (John 4:23; Jude 1:20; Ephesians 6:18; Romans 8:17, 26).

3. Rely on the Spirit
Our final intimacy with God is reliance. The Scripture has many different ways of saying this, “walk in the Spirit”, “live in the Spirit” “be raised in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24-25; Romans 8:4, 11). God tells us what to do through the Spirit, and we seek God’s power in the Spirit through prayer. God delivers the power to do His work through the Spirit and so we are able to do as He pleases.

Without the Spirit, we are weak, for we are only human. But in the Spirit, we are strong, able to do all the things that God asks us to do, without hesitation, because it is He who empowers us, He who strengthens us.

But this empowerment is not the end of the process. When God gives us the power to live for Him, we then need to live, relying on that power.

There are two ways we could fail in this. First of all, we could decide that we don’t really have the power of God, and so refuse to do as He asks. We can say “it’s too hard” or, “no one can do that”—and we would be right, except that God already gave us the ability to do it. If we deny God’s power to do His will, then we will think that we are unable to do His will, and so refuse to do it. But this is our stubborn rebelliousness getting in the way. God HAS given us the power, if we ask for it, and all we need to do is to rely on it and so do God’s will.

The other thing we often do is to ask for God’s will and then do it on our own power, which is inadequate. We think that since God told us to love our enemies, to be gentle, to heal the sick and to raise the dead and to resist the devil that we can do all of this according to the strength of our will. But we can’t. We are as weak and helpless in the spirit world as a baby. We can’t obey God, nor do miracles. We have to rely on the Spirit. This means we need to ask for the Spirit and rely on God for that Spirit, rather than relying on ourselves. We are merely human, and to be human is to be weak. But if we pray, we can have the Spirit, and He is all-powerful and ready to help us in our times of weakness.

To live in the Spirit is to affirm our own weakness, because all good things happen through the Spirit. And it gives glory to God because His strength is revealed through our weakness. (I Corinthians 2:4-5; II Corinthians 12:7-10; Mark 14:38)

Dealing With The Middleman: Relating To God the Son

Close To You
God wants to relate to humanity, to be intimate with humans, as He once was with Adam. But humanity has again and again rejected His calls to relationship. Finally, God has placed himself at a distance from humanity, simply because of humanity’s rejection of Him. God, just like all of us, can only deal with so much rejection before He realizes that the relationship is just meant to be distant.

But God realized that it was the whole of humanity that wanted to keep God at arms’ length. Even though it was the majority, it was not everyone. Some humans longed to be in intimate relationship with God, to connect with Him, to love Him, to daily commune with Him. Not everyone was asking God to be quiet, allowing other humans to speak for Him. So God made a plan—He would send His Son, His perfect representative, God himself, to live with us and to commune with us. (John 1:14)

Jesus died to end the old, distant means of relating to God and to initiate the new kingdom of God, which one communes with God in spirit and truth, not in a physical place and a physical presence (John 4:20-24). We decide ourselves to enter God’s kingdom, and if we do, then we can boldly approach God’s throne, being purified by Jesus, given a new chance to make up with God as a new nation of people who want to love God intimately as no people ever had before. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Going Through The Middleman
But if we are going to relate to God through Jesus, how is this done? How is our relationship with God through Jesus better than if we just relate to God directly? The key to our intimacy with God through Jesus has to do with the power of the incarnation. Jesus being God, became a human. This means that he is the perfect bridge, the perfect mediator between God and humanity, for he understands both sides of the dark veil that blocks true intimacy.

Submit to the authority of Jesus
Only a human could be king of the world—emperor of God’s people who want to be intimate with Him. God promised the rule of the earth to humanity (Psalm 8) and God is faithful to keep his promise, no matter what humanity has done (II Timothy 2:13). So Jesus became a human so he could be king over God’s people. And we have a ruler who understands our weaknesses and temptations, as well as understanding God’s holiness and power.

If we were to sum the whole of the Christian faith into three words it would be these: Jesus is Lord (I Corinthians 12:13). Jesus is the King of Heaven and Earth, sitting at the right hand of the Father, ruling over the nations of the earth (Hebrews 2:6-8). Jesus has not yet taken up the entire rule, for his enemies are still ruling huge portions of the earth. But Jesus is taking control over the world one person at a time.

So if we are to take advantage of the intimacy that God is offering us through Jesus, we have to submit to Jesus. To have faith in Jesus is not just to believe in Jesus, but to put our faith in Jesus’ lordship. Jesus isn’t our buddy, our friend or our comrade. Nor is Jesus just a philosopher, one of many teachers who has a number of good ideas that we should listen to besides others. Nor is Jesus just a Savior, a healer who wants to help our needs and pat us on the head and let us go.
Rather, Jesus is our Lord, our Sovereign, our Emperor, our King. We need to treat Jesus as our superior in every way, and give him every honor and praise. And most of all, we should put no other human—no matter how great—beside Jesus. Jesus is the great God, the great Lord and even though there are many other great women and men, Jesus is above them all (See Revelation 2-3).

Learn the teaching of Jesus
Through Moses, God gave Israel a number of very specific laws. God was very particular, giving 618 laws about how one ought to live one’s live. Unfortunately, it became impossible to continue to live according to those laws. Not only was the place of sacrifice—the Temple in Jerusalem—destroyed, but many of the laws about cattle and roofs didn’t really apply to those who lived in an urban, Gentile context. Having specific laws became problematic, for cultures change.

When Jesus came, he didn’t see life through a single culture, but he saw a variety of many cultures and ideals all working together. Despite this, He knew that God’s principles still applied to all people. But instead of just updating the laws, Jesus spoke of the general principles of God’s law so that it could be applied to anyone, anywhere.

Instead of talking about returning an enemy’s ox, Jesus said we are to love our enemy.

Instead of talking about just murder, Jesus spoke of hateful acts and speech.

Instead of talking about adultery, Jesus spoke of lustful looks

Instead of talking about not working on the Sabbath, Jesus spoke of doing works of mercy on the Sabbath.

Instead of talking about killing the sinful, Jesus spoke of not judging, but coaxing the sinner to return to God. (Matt. 5:15-17)

Instead of talking about just not slandering one’s neighbor, Jesus spoke of loving one’s neighbor.

Jesus changed the whole face of the law, so that it was something that applied to every human being, no matter where they lived or who they were.

Our manner of relating to the incarnate God, then, is to obey his commands. Jesus said that if we are to love him, then we are to keep his commands. If we ignore Jesus commands, then we are not really loving Him, nor the Father. (John 15)

To obey Jesus’ commands, we must first learn them. The early disciples memorized Jesus’ sayings so that they could know how to live. If we could memorize even a summary of Jesus’ teaching, we would have a step ahead in obedience.

Live the life of Jesus
Jesus is God in the flesh, but not just God. Jesus’ life is the life of God, God as a human being. Jesus was holy as God is holy, but tempted as a human is tempted. Jesus had great power as God is powerful, but he was dependent on the Father as a human is dependant. Jesus is merciful as God is merciful, yet he was also angry as a human is angry.

It is easy to look at Jesus and say that He was the epitome of God, and that He is so far above us that we can never attain His standard of life. If we say this, then we have again distanced ourselves from God. Jesus became human so that he could show us a human life that is divine. A human life that anyone could live, should they be dependent on God.

Some people say that we couldn’t be as ethically pure as Jesus because we are basically sinful. But Jesus was weak even as we are weak, but without sin. Why is that? Because He knew the truth that God wanted Him to live up to, and He had the power to live out that truth. If we are in Jesus, then we too could know the truth of God’s life through Jesus’ teaching. And if we are in Jesus, then the Holy Spirit empowers us to live the life we should live.

Others say that we do not have the power of Jesus because we are not God. But Jesus had no more power than we do. Jesus was fully human, and limited to human strength. Jesus instead relied on the authority of God. Jesus used the authority and the Father used His power. This is the same as us, if we command, in Jesus’ name, then we can use Jesus’ authority. We could walk on water, we could command demons, we could raise the dead, we could heal the sick. Not because we have power, but because we can use that power in Jesus’ name.

Jesus’ life is not just an option for us. It is a source of being intimate with God. To live God’s life is not to be God, but it is to live in God and for God in a way we could not otherwise.

Imitation of God is the sincerest form of worship.

Relating To God the Father

Bless Yahweh, O my soul
And all that is within me, bless His holy name
Bless Yahweh, O my soul
And forget none of His benefits
He who forgives your iniquities
Who heals all your diseases
Who redeems your life from the pit
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion
Who satisfies your years with good things
So your youth is renewed like the eagle.
Yahweh does righteous acts
And judgments supporting the oppressed.
He has made his ways known to Moses
His deeds to the sons of Israel
Yahweh is compassionate and gracious
Slow to anger and abounding in faithful love.
He will not always fight with us
Nor will He keep his anger forever. (Psalm 103)

Hooking Up With God
God is the King of the Universe. He is Lord of Heaven and Earth and all that is between. Jesus called Him Father, but He has many other names beside that. His name is Yahweh. He is also called El, Adonai, Lord, Savior, King, the most Holy, the all powerful and more.

At times God seems so distant, so remote from out lives. But God, all throughout history has tried to be intimate with humanity. In the beginning, He would walk with Adam (“the human”) in the garden (Genesis 2-3). He spoke directly to the children of Israel and showed himself to them (Exodus 20, 24). He tried to rule over Israel as their only king (I Samuel 8:6). He offered himself to Israel as her Husband (Hosea 3:10).

But every time God tried to be intimate with a people, they rejected His intimacy. Adam rebelled against God and refused His daily counsel (Genesis 3). Israel begged that God no longer speak to them directly (Exodus 20:19-21). Israel rejected God as their king, but wanted a human king (I Samuel 8). And Israel sought other gods instead of seeking Yahweh alone.

God remained separated from humanity, when what He really wanted was intimacy.

Making Up Is Hard To Do
Through Jesus, we have a new opportunity to be intimate with God in a way that Israel never did. We can individually relate to God through the kingdom of God that Jesus established. We ourselves have an opportunity to connect with God in a way that Israel never did. But how do we do this? How can we relate to God who is the all powerful king of the universe, when we are a part of a race that had rejected Him? How can we do this when we ourselves had rejected God in our actions so many ways, so much of our lives?

God himself gives us the pattern to relate to Him, even though we may be distant from Him, we are still to connect with Him directly in some ways:

1. Remember
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Almost all of us remember that passage right at the beginning of the Bible. The majority of the Bible is about just that—remembering what it is that God has done. And this is one of the best beginning ways to relate to God—to remember His great deeds. We need to remember the creation, we need to remember his deliverance of Israel, we need to remember his judgments, but most of all we need to remember his great mercy. (Psalm 103:1-6; Exodus 13:13; Exodus 32:13; Deuteronomy 8:2)

Sometimes it is easy to remember all the things we had without God and how “wonderful” they were, and so we complain to God that we wish our lives would be like before (Numbers 11:5). But instead we need to remember that we were once slaves to our own passions and drives and oppressed by all those around us and that God delivered us from all that (Deuteronomy 5:15). What we remember determines what we desire and what we will hope in.

If we remember the Lord and His great works, we will live our lives in Him and for Him, away from the tyranny we lived in before. And God at times establishes memorials with us to remember what He has done in the past and what He has done for us. Sometimes the memory could be held in a ceremony, a piece of clothing, a song, a tradition of some sort. But the memory has to be real to us, to reflect a reality, not just an empty piece of symbolism. This means that filling our lives with memorials should be significant, but it often isn’t something that we can pass on to others.

2. Have Faith
God is the almighty, the merciful, the great, the holy. And we can remember this, but sometimes it is hard to see it as being significant for our lives. “Sure, God is all-powerful, He created the world, but what does that have to do with me?” Perhaps nothing. We can believe intellectually about God all the right things—the Apostle’s Creed or whatever—but if we just keep it in our head, then it is meaningless. As James said, even demons have right believe, but it doesn’t do anything for their ethical conduct, and so it is meaningless (James 2:17-24)

Abraham was one who had true faith in God. He didn’t just believe the right things about God, but he acted on that faith. He left his father and inheritance, which should have been his security for his future. He trusted that God would give him a son when he was an elderly man. He knew that God had the power to destroy a city and so prayed to Him to deliver it. He knew that God had the power to raise a person from the dead, so he was prepared to kill his son (Genesis 12:1-10; 15:1-8; Genesis 18; Hebrews 11:8-19). It wasn’t that Abraham had received the promises yet and then believed. No, he acted on the promises before they happened.

Even so, if we believe that God is all powerful and that He listens to prayer, how often do we really act on it? Do we trust that God will answer our prayers for deliverance for us and others, or do we neglect our prayers? Do we trust that God will create justice or do we wallow in self-pity? Do we trust that God can overcome our enemies, or do we feel the need to kill in order to be safe?

God doesn’t help those who help themselves. He helps those who depend on Him.

3. Cry Out
When God looked at Israel, slaves to Egypt, he did not see a nation that was a moral nation. Nor a powerful one. Nor particularly impressive in any way. Rather, he saw a nation in need. He had sympathy for them, and wanted to help them. But he waited to help until they were ready to cry out. Once they called out to God, then He was immediately ready to act for them. (Exodus 2:23-25; Deuteronomy 7:6-8)

God is the God of the oppressed and needy. He looks upon peoples who are starving and wants to give them food. He has sympathy on people in prison and wants to free them. He has compassion on those who have no justice and wants to grant them shalom (Psalm 145, Psalm 146, Isaiah 61:1-5). But He holds back, waiting for just one thing—their request.

If God’s people would just cry out to Him for the oppressed, he would act, and quickly. If God’s people would identify with the needy and seek Him about them, He would do something dramatic. If God’s people would look to God instead of armies and missiles and diplomacy and sanctions and human rights and civil disobedience—if only we would see the power in God instead of humanity! Then God’s power would flow out of the heavens and change the earth in such a way that we have never seen it before! (Psalm 107; Luke 11:1-13; Luke 18:1-8;

But we need to ask. We can’t just expect it to happen. We can’t just hope for it. We can’t just discuss it. We have to cry out, and God will stand with the needy once again.

God is ready to relate to us, right now. All we have to do is put ourselves in a position to receive it. We need to admit our poverty, our loss, our shame, our need and then cry out to God for it. We need to allow God to be our Father, and He will provide for us. But if we separate ourselves from God through our lack of belief, through our self-dependence, through our laziness in not wanting to pray—then we are like the people of old.

God is reaching out to us right now, seeking out our love and connection. But it is up to us as to whether we will receive God’s fatherhood.

Our Daily Bread-- The Lord's Prayer #5

God is the provider of all food
To pray the Lord’s prayer may, at times, seem pointless. After all, why should we pray for God to give us our bread today? What does God have to do with it? Food comes from the farm, is processed in factories, arrives in the store and we buy it. God seems far removed from the process. But without God we would have no food. God is the heart of all the food we eat. All food comes from the earth, and is allowed to grow through water. And God provides the earth, he provides the water (Ps 24:1). If God took away the water or the land, we would have no food to eat. So it makes sense to be grateful to God. Everyone depends on God for their food—that’s the way it is. (Ps 145:15)

God promises food to the obedient
But God is not just a distant provider of food, he also is concerned about some people’s food. Those people who have made an agreement with God to follow Him and to live according to His ways, God specifically makes sure that they have food. He has made many promises that those who are faithful to their agreement to Him, He will provide their food. They need not worry about it—ever. (Lev. 26:3-6 ; Ps. 37:25; Isaiah 33:15-16) God’s people will never lack food, He is always providing for them.

Hunger is the opposite of salvation
But, of course, not everyone has food. Many people go hungry. In fact, approximately one fifth of the people in the world today are starving to death—some slowly, some quickly (that’s much more than a billion). And another fifth of the world do not have the ability to get enough food to meet their nutritional needs. That isn’t choice on their part, they just can’t get it. And yet this is in a world in which the wealthy, industrialized nations need to pay farmers not to overproduce their land and so drive the prices down. In other words, farmers in the West must grow less, while those in the South are in greater and greater need.

Of course, this is terrible. The Bible has much to say about hunger, and it places the source of hunger—whether someone is starving, or just doesn’t have enough food—to one of four causes:

a. Famine—a widespread hunger due to bad crops. This is pretty common, especially in Genesis (Genesis 41, etc), and it is just a fact of life. But, at the same time, it seems that God provides other regions of the world with abundance so a famine might not be too severe.

b. Man’s oppression—withholding what one needs from the needy. Hunger occurs simply because of people’s stinginess. Some people have abundance, while others have need, but if the ones who have abundance refuse to share, then there is hunger. God always provides enough food in the world, but not everyone decides to share as God commands. (Proverbs 13:23)

c. Laziness—not wanting to work for food. Some people are hungry in the midst of abundance because they refuse to work. If a farmer doesn’t plant, no matter how much land they have, they will never have crops. Even so, everyone who wants to eat will have to do some kind of work. This doesn’t necessarily mean a “job” per se, but some kind of work. (Proverbs 12:11;20:13; 28:19)

d. God’s judgment—Some people who have made a covenant with God will go hungry. But this is only because they have ignored God’s covenant and been disobedient to God. (Lev. 26:26; Isaiah 3:1) This might be with individuals, or a whole nation—if a people have an agreement with God through Jesus or someone else and they disobey God—by worshipping a false god, by ignoring the poor in their midst, by being impure—then God may give them a judgment of hunger.

Food is God’s blessing
Hunger, then, is just the opposite of God’s salvation. It is almost the worst thing that can happen to a person—the very thing that sustains life, you cannot have. But God’s salvation is tied to food again and again—
• God blesses a nation that follows Him with abundant crops;
• When there is abundant food for everyone, it means that the needy are provided for by the people who are generous and loving.
• When there is abundant food, it means that our sins are forgiven by God, for He is providing us with the food we need.

A Prayer for the Contented Poor
Again, then, why should we ask God for our basic food? It seems like a self-sufficient system. But it isn’t that easy.

The Lord’s prayer is a prayer for the poor—those who aren’t sure where their bread is coming from on a worldly level. How many people, when their refrigerator is full of food and they have a pantry stocked with food and they have plenty of money in the bank—would they honestly pray “give us this day our bread”? They already know where their food is coming from! They know that they have food this day and the next and the next. They don’t have to be concerned for food, so why would they sincerely pray that prayer? They wouldn’t. So this prayer is not for those who know where their next meal comes from. It is for those who aren’t sure, on a worldly level. It is for the poor.

And this prayer isn’t for the greedy. After all, most of us, when we pray, we want our needs all taken care of—“Lord help me to not be poor anymore!” “Father, give me permanent housing!” “Father, give me a pantry full of food and money in the bank.” But that’s not what this prayer is about. It is praying only for the food one needs this day—not tomorrow or next month. It is recognizing that when God gives food, he gives it to people one day at a time—just like the Israelites in the wilderness. If they collected more than a day’s worth—knowing that the next day they would get more—the food would spoil and get worm in it. God was training them to trust in Him every day to provide the food they needed that day. This isn’t normal for an agricultural society—they usually think of food in a year-by-year basis. But Jesus was training his disciples to focus on trusting God for their food every day.

So the Lord’s prayer isn’t for the greedy, nor for those that have more than they need. It is for the poor who are contented to trust in God daily.

A New Standard of Living
But this isn’t how we are trained to think in our society. Our ideal is to have the big, permanent house, with the big, full pantry, and the huge yard and entertainment center and complete medical insurance and more and more. It is the American dream to have everything you need at your disposal all the time. But this isn’t Jesus’ ideal, it’s not the Christian dream. The Christian dream is to have God constantly providing for your every need every day. It may not mean having huge storage and a lot of possessions—but it does mean living without worry about basic needs, because we have experienced God’s provision on a daily basis. Even as Paul said, “With food and covering we shall be content.” (I Timothy 6:8)Any more than that is greed.

Does this mean that God is opposed to us having lots of stuff? Not necessarily. God often provides some people with lots of stuff and a huge house and a huge pantry full of food. But he provides it to people so they can provide to others. He gives excess so those who have excess can share with those who have less. The American way of life is having more than we need so our needs are all provided for. The Christian way of life is trusting in God for our needs, and being generous to those who do not have enough when we have more than we need.

Never Be Hungry Again
So how, according to Jesus, can we never be hungry again? Simple:
Pray to God for food—(Matthew 7:9-11) God promises to provide food for us, but we need to ask Him. God will provide if we ask. Thus, we need to learn to ask. This is why Jesus commanded us to pray for our daily bread—that way we are daily asking God for our food.

Seek God’s kingdom and righteousness— (Matthew 6:25-33) If we are focused on righteousness, then God will provide our food—that has always been his promise. If we will do what is right in the Lord, be faithful to him in all of our ways, he will never allow us to go hungry. All we need to do is to trust in Him.
Provide for others out of our excess—(Proverbs 11:25; Luke 12:33) If we are generous with what God has given us, especially to those who are poor and needy, then God will provide us even more. We will not be limited to just our daily bread, but God will provide us with much more to share with others. Our pantries will be full—but it will be for the many whom we provide for on a daily basis.

Our Father-- Lord's Prayer #1

Foundations for Prayer
Jesus, in giving us the Lord’s prayer, isn’t just telling us what words to pray, but he is telling us the way God wants us to pray. Right at the beginning, Jesus makes a radical statement—that we are to begin our prayers with “our Father.” But what does this mean, what is he implying? There are two basic questions that need to be answered in understanding what Jesus means in teaching us to address God as “our Father”: What does “father” mean, and who are God’s children?

Which Father?
In the first century, when Jesus taught the Lord’s prayer, there were many people called “father.” Of course, there was one’s male parent, but also his grandparent or anyone else who was an ancestor. Also, the ruler of one’s nation or one’s ultimate authority was called “father”. What did Jesus mean?

First of all, of course, Jesus stated clearly that we are not praying to any earthly father, but to our Father in heaven. This is the Most High God, the king of the universe. (Matthew 23:9) But when we are praying to God as Father, what does that mean, apart from praying to Him as Lord or as God?

Concern—A father is concerned about his children, and so wants to meet their needs. He isn’t distant or have apathy, but he is always there, always ready to help if the need arises. This is different from a distant Lord or an uncaring God. Luke 11:11-13

Protection—A father cares about his children and so he protects them from harm. If anyone is attacking his children, he is always there to deliver them from that attack.

Provision—A father wants his children to have everything they need, so he provides them with food, clothing, warmth—everything they need. Luke 12:22-30

Teaching—A father not only is concerned about his children’s physical needs, but also their social and moral ones. He wants to make sure they know the right way to live and will provide them with what they need to live that life. Ephesians 6:4

Leadership—A father guides his children, sometimes with wisdom and sometimes with commands.

Discipline—A father allows his children to go through hardship at times, not to punish them, but to help them live the life that he wants them to live. Hebrews 12:5-7

Care—But ultimately, even if he disciplines or is training them and the situation the father places his children in seems difficult, he is constantly displaying his care to them, giving them his great love and compassion toward them. I Peter 5:7

Thus, when we call God “Father”, we are not praying to a distant god or an uncaring Lord—God is with us and in tune with what situations we are in and what we really need and is ready to give that to us (Matthew 6:8, 31-33)

Which Children?
Everyone wants to recognize themselves as God’s children. And, in a sense, every human on earth is a child of God. We have all been created by God, and God provides food for all of us. God loves us all and has given us all his Son to die for us. However, does this really mean anything to us, really? After all, God loves every human, even Adolf Hitler and the man who spits on the ground at every mention of God’s name. Are we really equal children of God with these?

Jesus distinguishes those whom God loves generally from those whom God desires to grant great blessings upon. The kingdom of God and all the blessings that come with it are not for everyone, but only for some whom Jesus called “sons of God.” Who are these children, who will receive all that God has to give them?

Relationship with God—These children are those who seek God to have a relationship with Him. They do not just passively accept God’s blessings, but thank God, praise Him and act out of their love for God. Mark 10:28-30

Dependence—These children are openly dependant on God and will sometimes refuse the easy way in order to have a better relationship with God. When they refuse the easy way, they are dependant on God for his provision—taking the chance that if God does not provide, they are in trouble. Luke 18:1-8

Trust—These children trust God for his provision, asking him for what they need and relying on him to provide it to them. They know that God rewards those who love him and wait on his reward in His time. Matthew 6:31-33; Hebrews 11:6

Obedience—These children listen to God and do what he says because they know their Father cares for them and will not command them to do something that is harmful to them. Matthew 7:21; 12:50

Likeness—These children not only do what God says, but they even act like God in some ways. They love everyone as God does and they refuse to have anything to do with evil as God does. John 8:39-44; Matthew 5:9

Thus the children that cry “our Father” are not just the run of the mill children of God—they are God’s chosen, God’s people and kingdom in Jesus.

OUR Father
One last thing needs to be pointed out. When Jesus told us to call God “Father”, he told us to recognize that the Father is not just “mine”—as if a relationship with God is just between two people. Rather, Jesus told us to pray “OUR Father”—we are a part of a community of children, not just an only child trying to figure out our relationship with our parent on a solitary basis. We are not independent individuals—we are a part of a community. This means that we need to act like it. We need to be with people who are our Father’s children, pray with them and depend on them, even as we are all dependant on our Father.

Is God Concerned About Global Warming?

Okay, we know about “global warming” that should really be called “climate change” (If not, then watch “An Inconvenient Truth” already!). Scientists tell us we should we worried about these couple degrees increase. But is God really worried about it? Is this any real concern at all? Does the Bible have anything to say about this?

God rules over the whole world
“The earth is the LORD'S, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it.
For He has founded it upon the seas And established it upon the rivers.” Psalm 24:1-2
God is the Emperor of the world and there is nothing that is not under his command. Of course He cares, after all He’s in charge of the world. Shouldn’t He be concerned with what someone else does with His world?

Men are commanded to care for the world as a good ruler
“What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?
Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!
You make him to rule over the works of Your hands.” Psalm 8:4-6
Even though God is ultimately in charge of the world, He put the world into the hands of humanity, for them to rule as they see fit. Some think that this means that humanity can use up the world in whatever way they want to. However, when God gives someone to be a ruler of something, He doesn’t just say, “Sure, go ahead and use this resource up as selfishly as you want to!” God establishes humanity to be a ruler like Him—a ruler who cares about His sovereignty so much that He is willing to set aside his own needs and desires for the good of those under Him. If humanity treated the earth the same way that God treats His people, then the world will be in good shape, for humanity would be willing to sacrifice their own needs for the sake of creation.

Climate change isn’t about the earth so much as about people
“Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?” Matthew 6:26
If the climate change happens that scientists have been predicting, the earth will be just fine. Sure, there will be some weather changes, and some edges of land masses will be covered with water, but overall, it’s like the earth will have a rash. It’s uncomfortable, but doable. Heck, the world went through worse in the ice ages!
No, the ones that will be greatly effected is people. Large populations of people who live on coastlines and deltas and in hurricane areas will be effected. We are talking about hundreds of millions of people whose homes will be covered in water.
And does not God care about His people? Oh, yes He does. He cares about people dying. And he cares about it especially if it can be avoided by people just taking better care.

Humanity will be judged for not caring for the world when they knew what they were doing
“If you say, "See, we did not know this," Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to man according to his work?” Proverbs 24:12
We are not responsible for what we don’t know. But we are responsible for what we do. If we know that there is an evil to people and we refuse to do anything about it, we will be judged for it. If our society doesn’t do something about the pollution and the problems on the earth that we know we are doing, then we will judged for it. God will not only judge our motives, but He will judge whether we acted on our knowledge.

God will fix whatever crap men did to the world
But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. II Peter 3:13
When the Bible says that God will make a “new earth” it doesn’t mean that He will wipe out the atoms that make up the current planet and then replace it with another one. Rather, it means that He will re-form the planet and the rulers that currently exist. All the evil that humanity has done to the earth will be made up for. Perhaps it will happen immediately, or perhaps it will take a long time. But in the end, God will right the wrongs. But we should do what is right not because there will be harm from doing wrong. We should do what is right because it is right.

We should never be willfully ignorant of the love that God has commanded us to live.