LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, August 2, 2018

Matthew 6:12  Forgive us our trespasses, as we also have forgiven those who trespass against us.

Mark 11:25  And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

In Philippians 4:6, Paul tells us to bring everything in our lives to God in prayer. Prayer is the word used in Scripture to describe all communication with God. Intimate relationships require various forms of communication: terms of endearment, comments of care and concern, expressions of encouragement, words of confession and sorrow, and questions of request are just some of the ways that people who are in love talk to one another. On Tuesday we began a study of the various types of prayers that Scripture encourages us to use as we communicate intimately with God. We started with discussions of praise and thanksgiving.

The next type of prayer that must be a part of an intimate relationship with God is confession and repentance. Consider the importance of this in your most intimate human relationship. True intimacy cannot be experienced without true humility, manifested by taking personal responsibility for wrong and admitting fault. That is what we call confession. But confession alone is not sufficient to bring intimacy to a relationship: there must be repentance as well. Of what value is admission of sin if there is not a turning from the sin and a commitment to not do it again?

As children, our parents tried to teach this to us. We were not only required to apologize for what we did, but we had to promise not to do it again. As immature children we probably said those things without meaning them. Many of us do the same with God. We may say we’re sorry, but our confession seems to have an accompanying asterisk, with the footnote containing the reasons we want expressed to justify our action. Such rationalization of behavior falls far short of true confession and most certainly does not include repentance. True confession and repentance takes full responsibility for the behavior and sincerely commits to never doing it again.

When we study the word confess in Scripture, as used in 1 John 1:9 which states, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” we discover that it means to come into agreement with God. True confession of sin requires us to see it from God’s perspective and not ours. Our perspective is motivated by self-protection. We attempt to justify our actions to preserve self-worth and protect our image. All such responses require shared responsibility for the behavior.

This is not a new concept – it has been around as long as humans have sinned. When Adam was first confronted by God with his sin, he immediately blamed the woman. He even blamed God who gave him the woman. Eve in turn blamed the serpent. We still try to weasel out of personal responsibility today, blaming our dysfunctional or abusive upbringing, our poverty level social status, racial discrimination, or even God himself for allowing us to be in such situations. We quickly agree with the world’s assessment of our situation and our response to it, but we stop short of considering God’s assessment of our choices. We live in a culture that idolizes choice, and we have chosen to make choice our God.  It is time for us to come into agreement with God about our choices and their consequences. It is time for the people of God to confess their sin.

But if forgiveness is to be offered, repentance is inseparable from confession. God does not extend forgiveness without repentance. (Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out. Acts 3:19) To repent is to turn from the sin and proceed in a different direction, specifically the direction of agreement with God.

When we confess to a sin, we admit that our action was not in agreement with God. When we repent of that sin, we admit that we want to be in agreement with God. But the simple act of admission is not sufficient: there must be an accompanying action, and that action is to make new choices that are in agreement with God. This brings true depth of intimacy to our relationship with God. All dysfunctional issues of self-protection, self-worth and image disappear when we experience the forgiveness of God as a result of our humble confession and repentance of sin. Our fear of rejection that motivates justification of our choices is abolished in the love of God.

We must learn to truly confess sin and repent of it. Every prayer we pray depends upon it. God does not hear the prayers of people who harbor unconfessed and unrepented sin in their hearts. (If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; Psalms 66:18)

Maybe the reason we are not experiencing the power of God in prayer is that we are not praying with pure hearts. Make a specific effort today to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you any sin that is hindering the intimacy of your relationship with Christ, and then pray with confession and repentance. God’s presence and power will be revived in you.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

1 Chronicles 16:8, 34 ⁸Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; …Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Our current study of Philippians has brought us to the subject of prayer. The Apostle Paul commands us in Philippians 4:6 to pray about everything. Yesterday we discovered that prayers of praise focus on the nature and character of God. The second type of prayer we want to consider is that of thanksgiving. Prayers of thanksgiving focus on the activity of God.

As we make our way through the day our attitudes are influenced by two different types of activities: those that turn out right and those that don’t. We categorize every event of our lives as either a blessing or a bust. And because we tend to respond most easily to the flesh, our attitudes are more easily affected by the activities that don’t work out for our benefit. That’s why we tend to be anxious and worry. But that response is more serious than just a bad attitude: it really reflects a weak understanding of God’s activity in our lives. When we allow worry to be our response to the circumstances of life, we are really denying the activity of God in that circumstance. That’s why Paul states that we are not to be anxious about anything, but in every situation of life we are to pray with thanksgiving that God is at work to bring about His good.

Thanksgiving is vital in all our prayers. There are so many things that God has done, and it encourages our hearts to think on them and thank Him for them. King David reminded us to make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.

The first thing I am thankful for is my salvation. What event or circumstance of life can possibly take away the joy of being a child of God? Again, David reminds us that we should give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Can anything in this life separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? Can any trouble you are currently experiencing undo your spiritual birth into the family of God? Of course not! So, in everything you bring to God in prayer, be thankful.

After you have thanked Him for your salvation, the list of things for which to be thankful will be unique to each individual, because God’s activity in your life is unique. But remember this – God is always active and is always working all things out for good.

I was reminded by God one morning to count my blessings rather than focus on the problems. It was rather funny the way God did it. I had been having problems with my laptop computer, and because I had an appointment out of the office, I planned to write a devotional from home. I turned on the laptop and said a quick prayer that it would work. When I clicked on my word processing program to bring up the devotional I had started the night before, my computer did what I asked it to do – and more. It loaded 57 blank documents before I could get it to stop. A button on my keypad had stuck. At that moment God said to me, Are you going to focus on what’s wrong with your computer or are you going to see that when you ask Me for something I will give you more than you thought you needed. It was a simple reminder that even during a problem, God is actively at work to make all things good. We need to notice the blessings He provides even when things are going bad.

Yesterday I talked to a Godly woman who is having some real difficulties that have affected her ability to rejoice and have brought on some anxiety. I recognized that she seemed to be trying to manage tomorrow’s activities along with today’s. It was obvious that her plate was full, but the problem was that she was already working on filling up tomorrow’s plate as well, and trying to carry them both. I reminded her that God promised to provide sufficient grace for today only, and that His activity in her life would handle everything on today’s plate. She needed to let go of all she hoped God would do tomorrow and start being thankful for what God was doing today. It is a reminder we all need.

To use the words of a great old hymn, “count your many blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings see what God has done.”

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. 

In everything be thankful. God has not stopped His activity in your life. 

Pastor John