Be still and know that God is God.

Psalm 46:10

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

God reigns. He is King over all of the universe and over all of our lives. He is in control of everything that happens. Therefore we don't need to worry. We don't need to freak out about life, about what happens next, about money or friends or family or anything else.

All we need to do is trust God. To be still and know that whatever happens, whatever goes on, God is the same as he always has been. He does not change and he is faithful to all his promises. That he is with us (his people, christians), he loves us, and he works everything for our good (Romans 8:28).

He will be exalted. He will work everything for his glory. That should be a comfort to us, because God is glorified in showing his love, mercy and grace to us if we have turned to him.

We don't need to worry about life. We don't need to get caught up in the countless tsunamis and hurricanes of woe that assail us. We don't need to freak out when the waters reach our necks. We need to be still and know that God is who he is. That he always saves his people - be it from or through death.

Be still. Trust Go
d. He is worthy of all praise. He is trustworthy. He is faithful.

Blessing those who persecute us.

Romans 12:14

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.

I find with a lot of commands in the bible that in my head I acknowledge that it is a good thing to do before superficially looking at myself and deciding that I am doing alright at it, then moving on. But when I spend some time mulling it over and thinking about the wider implications of God's commands I usually find that I'm not obeying him very well at all.

This is one of those commands. It's easy enough to say that I don't treat those who persecute me badly (aside from the fact that I'm not persecuted by many people at all). But how about those people who don't like me? How about those people who try to make life terrible? How about preparing for when I do face those people.

And maybe there's even a bigger question: Is the reason that I'm not persecuted much because I'm not standing firmly and unwaveringly on God's words?

The Basic Command.
The main command here is to not seek revenge on those who hurt us. When we are persecuted, especially for our faith, instead of trying to get back at those people we need to seek their good. We need to bless them, to care for them. We need to love them so much that we will want them to have true blessing: salvation in Jesus, and therefore we should share the gospel with them.

That's hard enough - when people hurt us we usually want to get back at them. At the very least we want to avoid them. We certainly don't want to help them out or bless them. And there's also the fact that if they are persecuting us for our beliefs, if we share those beliefs with them, we'll probably suffer even more.

What we need to remember is that it is God who judges. We don't have the need or the right to take revenge. God will judge justly. He will vindicate us. Trust in him!

But what about if we aren't persecuted?
There are many reasons that someone wouldn't be persecuted. It doesn't automatically mean we aren't living godly lives. It is a blessing from God to have peace with others - and it is a blessing to be persecuted, because by those sufferings God brings us closer to him.

If we aren't suffering at all for our faith though, then it might be a good idea to honestly evaluate how we're living. Am I following God's commands even if it means I don't fit in? Am I telling people about Jesus, even if they may think I'm an idiot and never talk to me? The second of those things is the one I struggle most with - sharing the gospel and trusting God instead of fearing man. But we need to do it. We are commanded to do it (Matthew 28:18-20). God is more than capable of looking after us. Trust him and tell people the good news!

But there's more...
If we should have that much love for those who hate us, how much more should we love other people. Those who don't hurt us, but are on the outside of our social circles. Those who most people don't like. Those who it will cost us socially to be around - the uncool people, the dirty, smelly people. The people we don't like.

So here are the questions to consider:

• How do I treat those who hate me? Do I reflect the love and forgiveness I have received from Christ through my actions and attitude?
• How do I go at loving those around me who are harder to love? Do I love them even though I might be persecuted for it?
• Am I being persecuted? Am I living in a way that shows I am a Christian? Am I sharing the gospel, even if it costs me in this life?

They're hard questions, but good to consider honestly and act on.

God Bless,

Nat.

Hope, Patience and Trust (Part 3).

Romans 12:12

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

In the previous two posts (Here and Here) we looked at the reason we have to rejoice in our hope, and what it means to be patient in tribulations. Both of those things involve trusting God - we need to trust that his word is true, that Jesus has saved everyone who puts their faith in him and that he will keep his promises.

Image source

Be constant in prayer.

This command follows the similar thread: to pray to God is an expression of our trust in him. If we don't trust God then we won't pray for his help, we won't praise him for his grace and we won't be constantly turning to him with every need, fear and joy.

Why should we pray? We pray because it is us talking to God. When we read his word we are hearing God's words to us, and when we pray we are speaking to him. In doing so we are glorifying him by showing him we trust him. We are also (hopefully) being humble - realising that we cannot save ourselves and that we need his help for everything we do.

We also pray because it is God alone who can change things. James 1:5 says

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

The fact is that we cannot change our situation. We need God to change us, and we ask him for that help through prayer. As Christians it isn't our effort that changes us, it is God using our effort and working in us through the Holy Spirit to make us more like him. It's God through the Holy Spirit who initially saves us and convicts of sin (John 16:8-9, 2 Thessalonians 2:13), and it's him who changes us to make us more like him (Romans 5:5, Galatians 5:22-23). Therefore, since God is the only one who can save us and change us, we need to trust him and pray for his help.

Praying to God also shows that we have faith in him - we wouldn't pray to him if we didn't think he existed or if we didn't think he ever does anything for us. Therefore by constantly praying we would be constantly trusting in God. Constant prayer is also about praying to God about everything - everything we face, everything we enjoy, everything we fear and struggle with. God wants to hear us praying to him about these things because he loves seeing us trust in him.

But we shouldn't just pray about ourselves. God isn't our personal genie who will give us three wishes if we have enough faith. We need to pray out of trust in him, but we should also pray as a way of praising God. We should pray to thank him for all he has done and for who he is. We should pray in tribulations to help us be patient, and we should pray as part of our rejoicing in hope.

The question for us is this: how much do we pray? Does that reflect our trust in God?

I find it easy to sit down and go through a prayer list, and that is useful, although I struggle to make it genuine and it sort of becomes routine after awhile. But how much do we pray at other times? It shouldn't be a chore to pray - it should be a joy and a privilege that we use constantly.

I hope they were some helpful thoughts!
Soli deo gloria!
Nat.

Hope, Patience and Trust (Part 2).

Romans 12:12

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

In the previous post we looked at the reason for our hope and our joy, and today we'll look at the next command: Be patient in tribulation.

Image source

Persevering in hardship. 

The greek words used here mean persevering with hope under a crushing load. In life we will face hardships - regardless of if we are Christians or not. The difference is that if we are Christians we can expect them (because God tells us we will be persecuted in 2 Timothy 3:12) and we can endure them with hope. We will suffer in this life, but we can rejoice knowing that no matter how bad things get here for us,m we have eternal life in heaven because if we have truly put our faith in Jesus we are completely forgiven.

As a result, even though we sometimes will face hardships that will tear us apart, we can trust in God's promises. What are those promises? There are many, but here are a few:

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

This verse tells us that God is with us, and so we know that whatever we go through we have a faithful saviour, king and friend who can guide us through it and is with us. We can also know that he understands - Jesus, who is God also suffered and he can empathise with us in our hardships and weaknesses (Hebrews talks about that)

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps. (Proverbs 16:9) 

This verse shows us that God is in control. And we know from Romans 8:28 that he works everything for our ultimate good. No matter what we are suffering God is good and he will work it to bring us closer to him and make us more like him (James 1:2-4 also supports this).

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Although this verse is primarily about temptation, I think it still applies. Yes we will suffer. Yes it will sometimes get to the point of being unbearable. But God is good. He is faithful, and he will not give us more then we can bear. He won't give us so much that we have to disobey him or end it ourselves. He will always provide - trust him. It won't be easy. But it won't be impossible.

Life is tough. And God doesn't promise it will get any easier here. But he does promise to see us through this life and to bring us into his kingdom at the end.
Trust in him, he is the only one who can save us.
God Bless!
Nat.

Overcoming Evil

Romans 12:21

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

 There is a lot of evil in the world. That's undeniable if you just look around. Death, murder, rape, starvation, sexual immorality, homosexuality, abortion, slavery, lying, coveting, stealing, hatred, manipulation and selfishness are just a few examples. It's all around us and Satan uses it all to try to devour us and overcome us.

It's easy to see everything going on in the world and just be overwhelmed and depressed by it all. It's easy to give up and wonder why God allows any of it to happen. It's easy to get disillusioned. On the other hand, it's easy to see all the evil in the world and get drawn into it, because it is attractive and it promises so much in this life.

But what does Paul command us to do?

"Do not be overcome with Evil, but overcome evil with good."

Don't let all of the evil in the world swallow you up, and don't become part of it. Don't let yourself slip into sin and temptation and don't let yourself slip into depression and disillusionment about the world. But we can't really do either of those on our own strength. We are sinful and we are naturally drawn to sin. Only by relying on God and trusting in him can we achieve this. Seek to obey him and he will bless that and help you.

Instead of giving into evil we need to do the opposite. We need to overcome it with good. When tempted to fall into sin, instead submit to God and obey him. Do good even when the world is shouting out for you to join it in doing evil. Do good even when Satan is trying to tangle you into a web of depression about the evils around you. Do good and submit to God, trusting him because he is good.

Are you being overcome with evil, or overcoming it with good through Christ?

Reflections on Graduating.

This morning I'm going to graduate from school (Then i'll have 3 weeks of study before my HSC). 13 years are officially coming to an end and the system of my life that has been in place for more then 2/3 of it is about to change. 

To be honest, that's a bit scary. The world moves on, dragging us with it whether we want to come or not. But at the same time, it's exciting. My world is changing, it's about to expand, it's about to morph into something different then it has been. That's good!

In our lives it seems to me that God blesses us with a great number of good things. The problem we face isn't that we have good stuff from God, the problem is that we are sinful and so easily love these things more than him. I have always loved being at school - for sure, it hasn't always been brilliant, but overall I've loved my class and my teachers and I love learning and I've loved being challenged from the scriptures daily.

That's about to end. In fact, it ended yesterday since today is just going to be devotions and then set up for the assembly. But instead of being overly sad about it, I think I should be focussing on God, praising him for all he has done and rejoicing in his rich mercy and grace. He has seen me through 13 years of school, and he will see me through the rest of my life in the same way. He has proven himself faithful for all of my life this far - I don't need to fear the future because he will be with me (Zephaniah 3:17).

That doesn't mean I'm not sad about it. It doesn't mean I won't miss it. It just means that instead of mourning over this change I need to rejoice over it and look to God's sustaining grace and mercies in both this and the rest of life. I have no doubt that I will come to points like this quite frequently in life - points where everything, or even just small, beloved things, will change. That's usually neither good or bad - it's just a chance to trust God and rely more fully on him because he never changes and we can trust him.

Numbers 23:19

God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind.Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

When stress gets to you.

This week is shaping up to be an extremely busy and stressful one. I have my trial HSC exams next week and up to this point I've been busy doing assessments and haven't really had much chance to study. I've done my best with my time, but the question remains: what if it isn't enough? What if I don't get time to study everything I need to? What if the essay questions are terrible? What if my music performances fall apart on Wednesday? What if? How can I know?

Stress is a powerful force, it can be helpful (it's certainly a good motivator), but it can also be very harmful.

So what should my response be to stress according to the bible?

1 Peter 5:6-7

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Humility

I have to say, it's nice to go well in exams. It's nice to see that you've done a good job at something. And it's also nice to get puffed up about those things - but that isn't good. It is sinful.

What I need to realise is that all I can do is my best. The rest is up to God. Nothing I do can make me go better, what I'm called to do is just to trust God.

That's pretty humbling. It's not about me, and it's not about my effort, it's about God, and its all for his glory. God is mighty, and he will achieve his perfect plan, so we don't need to stress about all this stuff. Just trust God.

Cast all your anxiety on him.

This is tied to being humble. We trust God, and therefore we trust him with our anxieties. We trust him with our stress. We pray for his help, we spend time honouring him and learning about him (even though that time could go into studying) and then we use our time wisely to honour him as well.

God loves us, and he cares for us. He calls us to cast our anxiety on him - You and I don't need to carry it on our own. God knows what we face and what we are struggling with and he wants us to trust him enough to cast it on him.

Don't get weighed down with the things of the world. Trust God, be humble and cast all your anxiety on him - he cares for you.

What are you anxious about? 

God is strong enough to deal with it and he is good. Cast t all on him.

God Bless!
Nat.

P.s. Prayers would be greatly appreciated over the next few weeks!

The riches of God's word.

Romans 12:12 

        Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 

Here's a short, simple verse that's packed with good stuff. I love how God's word cna be so succinct and yet so full of treasure, and how different verses all link up.

Be Joyful in Hope 
It's pretty simple: Be joyful because of the hope you have. Be hopeful. Praise God. Jesus came to earth, he who was and is God became a man for our sakes. He lived perfectly and died to take our sins if we turn to him. Through him we are completely, 100% saved. Our sins are forgiven and even though we still stuff up he forgives. Therefore rejoice! Even if the world is falling apart, even if the mountains are falling into the heart of the sea, you have reason to rejoice (Psalm 46:1-3).

Our sure hope is that God works everything for his glory and our good (Romans 8:28) and that ultimately he will bring us to heaven, to be in his presence forever. That's a blessing we cannot fathom.

Philippians 4:4

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Patient in Affliction
Paul isn't a prosperity gospel preacher. Everyone who has any sense can see that Christians, like everyone else in the world, face hard times. Not only that, but we are often (or at least can be) persecuted for our faith. 2 Timothy 3:12 tells us that every Christian will be persecuted. The question isn't if, it's when will you be persecuted?

We will suffer, But be patient, the eternal glory we will receive is far better than any suffering we can face here. It's worth it by far (Romans 8:18). Trust God, be joyful and be patient.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Faithful in Prayer
Just because God's in control doesn't mean that we aren't called to trust him and pray. We should pray for ourselves and the situations we are in, and we should pray for those around us, both Christians and non-Christians.

Prayer is an expression of our trust in God. It is a proof of our faith. So keep praying, keep trusting God and keep serving him. Even if he doesn't seem to be answering. We know that God does answer our prayers - not always how we want or would expect, but he always hears us and works for our good in it all (Romans 8:28 again). 

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 

Soli Deo Gloria
Nat.

Psalm 62

Psalm 61:3, 5-8

How long will you assault me?
Would all of you throw me down—
this leaning wall, this tottering fence? 

Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
my hope comes from him.
 Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
 My salvation and my honour depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
 Trust in him at all times, you people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.

 The lesson I want to draw out from these verses is simple: We are weak and have nothing to boast in, but God is all powerful and we can trust in him.

David was the king of Israel, the most powerful man in in a powerful nation. Instead of boasting about this, he instead sees his true condition before God - he is a "tottering fence", a "leaning wall" that is about to fall over.

No matter who we are, we are weak. We sin, we stuff up and we don't really have that much power or influence on the events around us. We deserve God's wrath and we cannot change that ourselves. We are surrounded by things that could go wrong, and we can't really save ourselves out of them or control them. We can try, but we won't succeed anything except maybe false assurance.

Yet there is hope - If we are Christians then our sins are forgiven. We can find rest in God. He forgives us and he protects us. He is our fortress, our salvation. He is the rock that we can set our feet on and trust in because he does not change and he is all powerful. Trust in God at all times!

Don't set your eyes on yourself. Don't be proud or self-righteous. Instead look to God who is all powerful and who offers true salvation. We can be confident in him, but any confidence we have in ourselves is not well grounded. God is all powerful, we are weak. God saves, we sin and cannot save ourselves or even change our actions to serve him without his help. It is truly foolish to ignore God and to continue to trust in yourself. It is foolish to choose to be protected by your own tottering fence then God's mighty fortress that never fails.

We have nothing to be proud about. Praise God and put your trust in him!

Psalm 62:1-2

Truly my soul finds rest in God;
my salvation comes from him.
Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

Psalm 141

 I call to you, Lord, come quickly to me;
hear me when I call to you.
 May my prayer be set before you like incense;
may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.


 Set a guard over my mouth, Lord;
keep watch over the door of my lips.
 Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil
so that I take part in wicked deeds
along with those who are evildoers;
do not let me eat their delicacies.


 Let a righteous man strike me—that is a kindness;
let him rebuke me—that is oil on my head.
My head will not refuse it,
for my prayer will still be against the deeds of evildoers.


 Their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs,
and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken.
 They will say, “As one plows and breaks up the earth,
so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave.”


 But my eyes are fixed on you, Sovereign Lord;
in you I take refuge—do not give me over to death.
 Keep me safe from the traps set by evildoers,
from the snares they have laid for me.
 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
while I pass by in safety.

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Psalm 61:2-3

From the ends of the earth I call to you,
I call as my heart grows faint;
lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the foe.

Have you ever been in a position where your "heart grows faint"? Where life just seems too hard and every step seems like it takes double the effort? Maybe you were extremely stressed about something? Maybe you were facing family problems or relationship breakdowns? Maybe someone who you were close to had just died. Most of us go through those times.

We can learn from David. When his heart grows faint, when he can't seem to see past the mountains of trouble surrounding him he calls to God. And he knows that God hears him. He knows because in the past God had been his refuge and his strong tower. He knew that wherever he was in the world, he could call to God and God would hear him.

The thing about anxiety and depression is that so often it comes from focussing on ourselves and our situation. Maybe you feel life's too hard, maybe you're realising that you can't make it on your own and that we all fall short. Maybe you're stressed, worried and frustrated about friends who are struggling. Maybe it's something else. 

Instead of focussing on himself here, David looks to God. He says: "lead me to the rock that is higher than I." He knows that he falls short. He sins, he is imperfect, he fails. I fail, you fail. We all stuff if up. That's evident in our own lives and it's shown to be true throughout the bible. That's why when we focus on ourselves we fall into depression, because there is nothing good in us, nothing in us that truly deserves saving. Yet God is merciful. He is a refuge and strong power for his people.

Our prayer should be for God to lead us to the rock that is higher than ourselves. To lead us to Jesus. He was perfect and through his death we can be perfect and forgiven for our sins entirely. If you're not a Christian then you need that savation. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15).

If you are a Christian then focus on Jesus. Life may not get better right away - it may not even get better at all. But through Jesus we don't have to make it to God on our own. He saves us entirely and nothing we can do can ever undo that. If you are truly a Christian then your salvation is based 100% on what Jesus did and 0% on yourself. Don't focus on the troubles of this life, focus on God, focus on Jesus and focus on heaven where we will be with him eternally. 

I read this Psalm the other night when I was feeling pretty down. Not depressed, just stressed over school and a whole range of other issues. Even so the reminder hit me square in the face - it's not about me, it's not about what I do. It's about God, it's about Jesus. I will fail - I have failed in so many ways. But Jesus is perfect and God by his grace has led me to that rock. He is my strength and my refuge, he protects us against sin and satan and our enemies. Trust in him.

Lord please lead us to Jesus and help us to realise all you have done for us more fully and know him better.

Resisting Satan's temptations (Part 2)

You can see part 1 here.

Temptation 3

The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’

What is Jesus tempted with?

Here he is tempted to test God. Once again Satan asks him to prove that he is God's son, the messiah. Satan asks him to prove that the promises of the Old Testament are about him. This wasn't in itself a bad thing - to prove that he was God, but once again it would involve taking things to his own hands and not waiting for God's perfect timing.

Satan is tricky. He often will tempt us Christians by making something seem right from God's word. He'll make us think: "Lying isn't sinful, because the commandment just says that we shouldn't give false witness against our neighbour", causing us to ignore other bits of God's word like Colossians 3:9. He did it to the Pharisees in Mark 7:9-13.

How does Jesus respond? He counters simply with God's word and doesn't do it. 

What do we learn?

• We need to rely on God's timing, not our own
• We need to know our bibles well to both respond to Satan's temptations and know when he is tempting us by taking verses out of context.
• We need to be alert and on guard - Satan is crafty, we are slow.
• We shouldn't test God. We should just put our faith in him, trust that he is good and that he will keep his promises. 
• Satan knows that he is tempting us with evil, he doesn't need us to explain God's word. When we are talking to people it is good to explain how verses fit together, even when they sound like they contradict. With Satan we need to just fight him with God's word, not our own. 

What was the Result?

"When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time."

Satan lets up for the time being, but he doesn't give up. He is stubborn and persistent, he is like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour, and he waits for the right time. He is crafty and we need to be on guard because he is good at what he does. He is the father of lies (John 8:44) and he's been lying since the beginning.

James 4:7 says: "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." God always keeps his word and if we resist Satan he will flee from us. He has no power aside from what God allows him to have, and he cannot tempt us beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13). That means that we can resist him and that he Will flee from us when we do. 

He may not flee straight away. He may tempt us a lot, he may make it very hard for us, but he will flee - not because we are strong (we aren't), but because God promises it and God never breaks his promises. Nevertheless: Stay on guard - he is always looking for opportunity to attack us, God's people.

How do we resist him? We submit to God. We know and obey his word. We live entirely for him, not ourselves. Most of Satan's temptations here came down to not trusting God or his timing. Likewise with us, they are usually about not trusting that God's way is best. He tempts us to put ourselves in God's place.

I hope this study has been helpful to you - I enjoyed looking into it and thinking through it a little.

How are you resisting the devil in your life? Are you submitting to God?

Resisting Satan's temptations (Part 1)

Luke 4:1-13

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spiritinto the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 

In this passage we see the temptation of Jesus, and from it we can learn a few things about how we are meant to "resist the devil" so he will "flee from us" (James 1:7).

Temptation 1

 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” 

 What did he tempt Jesus with?

He tempted Jesus with two things: firstly to prove that he was the Son of God, to show his power in a way that God had not told him to and secondly to satisfy his hunger.

There is nothing wrong with either of those at face value: It is good to eat, and it's good to be honest about who you are. But that's one of Satans many tricks - he offers us good things at times where they are not good. For example: Sex outside of marriage. Sex is a good thing, but out of its context it is sinful and damaging. He was asking Jesus to take thing into his own hands and to not rely on God to provide and work his plan.

Jesus responds with God's word - "Man shall not live on bread alone". We don't survive because of food, we survive because God mercifully sustains us every minute of every day. We need to trust in him and rely on him for our needs, thanking him when he provides.

What an we learn?

• Wait for the proper time to do things, don't take it into your own hands. Something may not be directly sinful, but in a certain context it could be sinful. e.g. drinking alcohol when you're with someone who is opposed to drinking alcohol or struggles with being an alcoholic)
• Often our motives also come into play. For example praying out loud in church is definitely not wrong, but if you do it to get attention instead of doing it to pray to God then it's sinful.
• Trust in God's plan and don't try to take it into your own hands. He knows best, trust him and obey.
• Use God's word to battle temptation. God is true, he is good. Know him and know his word. That means we have to spend time getting to know God's word.
• Rely on God. Everything we need to serve him is provided by him. Trust that he will provide and resist Satan.

Temptation 2

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” 

Here Satan tempts Jesus again. He tempts him to again step outside of God's plan and take things into his own hands. He tempts him with pride, offering him authority and power. He tempts him with riches and luxury instead of God's plan which was that he would die to save all who put their faith in him. He also tempted him with Idolatry, to place another in God's place. Though it isn't always obvious, idolatry is always putting Satan before God. It's listening to his temptations and not submitting to God above all else. It is worshipping creation instead of God.

The thing is: God already owns everything. Sure, Satan has a limit of power, but he can only do what God allows (see Job 1). Satan was tempting God with what God already owned - creation. He was tempting Jesus to take back his glory that he had before becoming a man. Tempting him to "live his best life here" and not trust God. Wait a second - isn't that exactly what the prosperity gospel is? Live well here, God will give you everything you ever wanted. It is lies from Satan. Don't believe it. 

Jesus responds again with God's word: We are to only worship God.

What should we learn?

• Satan's temptations can be multi-facetted. Be on your guard and be careful of resisting one thing just to fall into another part of that temptation.
• If we trust God, it is worth more than what Satan offers. Satan offered Jesus the world, whereas he owns the universe. Satan offers us pleasure and riches here, but we (christians) are adopted as God's children and have eternal life with him.
• Don't love the things of this world more than God. He needs to be first in our lives.
• Satan lies. He offers the world, but it is not really in his power to give it. Even if he does give it, in the scheme of eternity what is it worth? Nothing.
• Beware of the prosperity gospel! God never promises us health, wealth and prosperity here, he promises all of that in heaven if we obey him.
• Humility is key in obeying God. Jesus is God, yet he submits to God the father, worshipping him only. Jesus has every right to rule to world. Yet he submits humbly to God. Pride is often (for me at least) the root of most sins. We think we know best, we think we deserve something specific, and so we take it, not being humble, not trusting God, not waiting for his timing.
• Again: Know God's word and use it! It is the "sword of the spirit", it is our only weapon in God's armour (Ephesians 6)

We'll return and look at the rest of these verses tomorrow, but I hope those points were helpful.

God Bless,

Nat.

Jesus' Genealogy

The Passage I'm going to be referring to can be found in Luke 3:23-38. I haven't copied it out here because it would probably be unhelpful.

Jesus' Genealogy is full of grace. It shows forth God's faithfulness, his promises and how he has fulfilled them. I used to find it extremely boring to read through lists of names like these, but there s so much that can be learnt here.

Before we come to the promises though, there's something I want to discuss. This Genealogy, and the one in Matthew 1 are both of Jesus. Yet they are very different. Some have suggested that this is just because in those times people sometimes had more than one name. That's definitely possible, and the genealogies do meet up and match each other eventually.

Another suggestion that I have looked into a little is that the Genealogy is actually from Mary's line. Matthew was establishing to the Jews that Jesus was a descendant of David and the fulfilment of God's promises, and by legality that had to be through the Male line. Luke isn't writing to the Jews, so he establishes it through Mary's line.

"...the son of Zerubbabel"

In the book of Haggai, God promised Zerubbabel a number of things, and there are links to his promise of the Messiah coming from Zerubbabel's line. The promise isn't explicit, but it is there, and God kept it. Either way, Zerubbabel was faithful to God and God honoured him by making him part of Jesus' family line.

"...the son of David"

2 Samuel 7:11b-16 is a double promise for David. First it points to Solomon, who would build God's temple. Secondly it points to Jesus, who was the promised king. Jesus came and he reigns eternally, therefore David's line is established forever. God Keeps his promises!

"...the son of Boaz"

This isn't a promise as such, but it is God's grace and plan in action. Who was Boaz Married to? Ruth. A Moabite. She left her people and went home with Naomi, accepting God as her God. As a result fo her faithfulness God, God was faithful to her, not only allowing her to be accepted into Israel but also to be in the Messiah's line. God always planned to save the Gentiles if they would put their faith in him. His mercy and grace is free to us all. Trust him, Repent and Believe. He saves!

"...the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham"

God also fulfilled his promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He promised Abraham Land, Offspring and Blessing. He fulfilled that with Israel, taking them to the promised land, making them plentiful and blessing them with his law. He also fulfilled it in Jesus, making both Gentiles and Jews who put their faith in him part of his family, who have an eternal home in heaven. Through Jesus all nations are blessed. God never forgets his promises, he even remembered those he made to Abraham thousands of years before Jesus' birth. God has a plan, he does that plan, and we can trust him to do it fully. (See Genesis 12:1-3)

"...the son of Shem, the son of Noah"

Firstly Shem: Noah mentions in Genesis 9:26-27 that Shem worshipped God. God honoured that and Jesus came from his line. Noah also trusted God and built the ark even though he only had God's word to go on. In fact the Ark is a foreshadow of Jesus - he saves and protects us from God's wrath. God keeps his promises. He preserved Noah from his wrath on sin, and he saves us also through faith in Jesus, his son.

"...the son of Adam"

God gave Adam and Eve children even though they had rejected God. He gave them the promise of salvation even when pronouncing his just judgement on them in genesis three, saying in Genesis 3:15  

"And I will put enmity between you [the snake] and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”

Even in just judgement, God is merciful. He provided a way to be saved, as was always his plan.  Jesus is that salvation. He defeats Satan. What's more he is...

"the son of God."

Not fearing Man.

Luke 3:19-20

But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.

 A bit of context to these verses to begin. John the Baptist has been preaching God's word by the Jordan. He's been rebuking the people of their sin and telling them to repent and turn to God. In essence he's been preaching the gospel, even though Jesus hadn't died for sins yet. He trusts in God's promises of salvation and he preaches them.

What happens here is that John comes into contact with Herod, who was one of four governors in the province. He's a very powerful man. But John preaches the same gospel. He tells him he's sinful, using a specific, obvious example and rebukes him, and though it's not written here part of that would most probably be telling him to repent for the forgiveness of sins since that has been his message (see Luke 3:3).

What I want to focus on is that John the Baptist did not fear man.

He knew the truth - everyone sins, and everyone needs the gospel. Everyone needs to repent and put their faith in Jesus because he is the only way that we can be forgiven. We are all in the same boat - no one is better than anyone else, even if they have a 'better' position in society.

The Prime minister of Australia, the President of the United States, the Queen, Your favourite movie actor (e.g. Hugh Jackman), your favourite band, your best friend, the person who lives next to you - everyone is in the same boat. We all sin, we all deserve God's wrath, we all need salvation. Jesus alone can save.

John knew that and he was willing to preach it to Herod because Herod needed to hear it as much as we do.

So my question to you is: Do you fear man? 

I know I do.

Here are a few thoughts on some reasons that we fear people so much. They're generalisations and maybe I'm wrong about some:

• We want approval. We want to be liked and we want people to enjoy being around us.
• We love this world. We enjoy our privileges (which is good), but we don't want to give them up for Jesus.
• We don't grasp the significance of sin and hell, so we don't look to tell people of them.
• We don't realise just how much Jesus has saved us from, so we dont value it as much as we should and we don't tell people as much as we should.
• If it's not the above two then we are too selfish: Once saved, we don't look for others who need saving, but sit still and get comfortable in our own salvation.

Maybe not all of those apply to you. I think they all apply to me though.

The challenge has to be: Do you fear man? If not, then are you sharing the gospel? Are you telling people that they are sinful and deserve hell, but that Jesus is God and that through him God's wrath is taken away and we are forgiven?

If, like me, you do fear man then what are you doing about it? Don't let that stop you from sharing the gospel! I've found in my life that the more you do something that scares you, the less scary it becomes. For example at my school we have a school wide assembly every week. Over the last two years I've had to lead some of those assemblies and do some devotions on them. That terrified me to begin with, I was shaking the whole time. Now I get a little nervous, but I'm alright with it.

How do we work at not fearing man and sharing the gospel?

• Spend time praying and in the bible, asking for God's help and seeking encouragement (and rebuke) from his word as to what you need to be changing.
• It takes awhile, but the more you try to share the gospel and take opportunities, the easier it becomes. 
• What's better than that is that we have God with us. He protects us and he strengthens us. he will provide what we need to obey him (1 Corinthians 10:13). 
• Honour God with what you have and he will work through that. 
• Don't feel like you have to become some superhero preacher. God uses the ordinary, the weak, the foolish to shame the strong and wise. Take small steps, pray constantly and just do your best. Even our feeble attempts, if done for God, glorify him.
• Trust God. Don't get all worried about it. Just do your best and trust God.

Do you fear man? Do you share the gospel?  


Proverbs 29:25

 Fear of man will prove to be a snare,  

but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.