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2017 40 Days of Prayer, Day 36

The Abiding Presence of God:
A Life of Complete Dependence

Day 36

“Just as it is written, ‘FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.’” Romans 8:36

Persecution Does Not Nullify His Love

Notice the capitalization usage in this verse.  The New American Standard Bible uses all capital letters to indicate an Old Testament quotation.  The reality of suffering for those who follow God goes back a long ways.  This quote comes from Psalm 44:22 where the psalmist, in a similar discussion about faithful Jews who refuse to bow to false idols, described the persecution they faced because of their faithfulness to God.  God’s faithful followers have always faced persecution because their relationship to Him.  This was true of the first family as Cain murdered Abel because of Abel’s righteous standing before God.  Throughout the history of Israel, God’s prophets experienced great persecution because of their messages, even when their messages were intended for the good of their hearers.  The church has always faced this same persecution.  From the Day of Pentecost until now, 2,000 years of human history has been marked by various times of persecution of Christians.   The faithful put up no resistance to the assault, but are as sheep led to slaughter.  However, even this ultimate expression of persecution, the death of a follower of Christ, cannot separate the follower from the love of Christ.  When Paul wrote Romans chapter 8, not only had Paul personally experienced persecution, but the church in various places throughout the Roman Empire had experienced persecution.  Consider I Thessalonians 1:6. “You became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit.”  Consider Peter’s words written to the church in Asia Minor, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;  but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation,” I Peter 4:12-13. In both of these passages, I Thessalonians 1 and I Peter 4, the suffering and persecution of the church connects to the suffering of Jesus Christ Himself.  Paul and Peter wrote to churches who were undergoing persecution because of their faith in Christ and the suffering of the churches mimicked the actual suffering of Christ.  Both Paul and Peter suffered martyrdom in Rome around AD 65.  The persecution of the church only intensified in the generation of believers that followed the first Apostles’ deaths.  As the persecution of the church intensified, these texts, Romans 8, I Thessalonians 1, and I Peter 4, along with several other New Testament passages, encouraged the church during those difficult times.  Today, many Christians around the world still face persecution and even death.  However, the horror of that reality cannot stop the love of Christ, for in their loss, they receive the eternal reward from their Savior. 

Prayer Focus

God, we pray to You on behalf of the persecuted church throughout the world.  We are thankful for the many freedoms that You give us in this country.  However, we realize that many believers in the world face dire circumstances because of their faith.  Some this very day face death because of their association with You.  Grant boldness to the church even in the face of persecution.  Give each believer who is suffering at the hands of evil men a special measure of Your grace.  Break our hearts for their plight. Lord, give us a boldness in the midst of a life of freedom.  Help me not to squander my opportunities to share Your Gospel freely to others.  In the name of Christ I pray, Amen.

From DL Moody’s Secret Power

WHAT WINS

A great many parents have inquired of me how to win their children. They say they have talked with them, and sometimes they have scolded them and have lectured them, and signally failed. I think there is no way so sure to win our families and our neighbors, and those about whom we are anxious, to Christ, than just to adorn the doctrine of Jesus Christ in our lives, and grow in all these graces. If we have peace and joy and love and gentleness and goodness and temperance; not only being temperate in what we drink, but in what we eat, and temperate in our language, guarded in our expressions; if we just live in our homes as the Lord would have us, an even Christian life day by day, we shall have a quiet and silent power proceeding from us, that will constrain them to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But an uneven life, hot today and cold tomorrow, will only repel. Many are watching God’s people. It is just the very worst thing that can happen to those whom we want to win to Christ, to see us, at any time, in a cold, backslidden state. This is not the normal condition of the Church; it is not God’s intention; He would have us growing in all these graces, and the only true, happy, Christian life is to be growing, constantly growing in the love and favor of God, growing in all those delightful graces of the Spirit. Even the vilest, the most impure, acknowledge the power of goodness;

they recognize the fruit of the Spirit. It may condemn their lives and cause them to say bitter things at times, but down deep in their hearts they know that the man or woman who is living that kind of life, is superior to them. The world don’t satisfy them, and if we can show the world that Jesus Christ does satisfy us in our present life, it will be more powerful than the eloquent words of professional reformers. A man may preach with the eloquence of an angel, but if he don’t live what he preaches, and act out in his home and his business what he professes, his testimony goes for naught, and the people say it is all hypocrisy after all; it is all a sham.

Words are very empty, if there is nothing back of them. Your testimony is poor and worthless, if there is not a record back of that testimony consistent with what you profess. What we need is to pray to God to lift us up out of this low, cold, formal state that we have been living in, that we may live in the atmosphere of God continually, and that the Lord may lift upon us the light of his countenance, and that we may shine in this world, reflecting His grace and glory. The first of the graces spoken of in Galatians, and the last mentioned in Peter, is charity or love. We can not serve God, we can not work for God unless we have love. That is the key which unlocks the human heart. If I can prove to a man that I come to him out of pure love; if a mother shows by her actions that it is pure love that prompts her advising her boy to lead a different life, not a selfish love, but that it is for the glory of God, it won’t be long before that mother’s influence will be felt by that boy, and he will begin to think about this matter, because true love touches the heart quicker than anything else.

2017 40 Days of Prayer, Day 35

The Abiding Presence of God:
A Life of Complete Dependence

Day 35

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”  Romans 8:35

Who Will Separate Us?

Who can condemn us?  No one can condemn us.  No one can condemn us because of Christ.  No one can condemn because of His work of justification, whereby the sinner is declared to be righteous in the eyes of God, even while still in our sinful state.  This legal declaration is based on the work of Christ.  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who have put their faith in Christ. 

With today’s verse, Paul changes the conversation.  He moves us from the rather technical, legal world of justification to the more personal world of the love of Christ.  Who will separate us from the love of Christ?  No one.  God demonstrated His love by Christ dying on our behalf.  He affirms His love for us through the abiding Holy Spirit.  However, Christians are not exempt from trouble in this life.  Sometimes, Christians are even subject to greater trouble in this life purely because of their faith.  Consider all the ways that the world may attempt to separate us from His love.  The world uses tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword.  However, none of these threats can undo the great work of God.  Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.  It may look like separation.  It may even feel like separation from Christ when we, even as the church, face such difficulties.  However, the love of Christ overcomes any and all such trouble.  There is nothing in this life than can separate us from Christ and His love.  NOTHING!  Paul bore a particularly personal testimony to this claim as all of the troubles listed in this verse happened to Paul.  All of these troubles happened to him because he followed Christ.  Paul made his claim to the inseparable love of Christ while living with unending suffering because of Christ.  See II Corinthians 11:26-27 as an example of the types of suffering Paul endured because of his faith.  The last item on this list, “sword,” was Paul’s final destiny, as he was martyred in Rome.  Paul sent this letter to the church at Rome only to have his life ended by sword in the very city in which this church resided.   The sword ended his life.  However, the sword did not end the love of Christ for Paul, but in that moment, he experienced the fullness of the love of Christ as he had never experienced before.  That is our destiny as well.  He loves us even in our difficulties.  He will bring us safely to Himself despite our difficulties.  There will come a day when the troubles of this life will end and the fullness of the love of Christ will finally be realized. 

Prayer Focus

Your love, Oh Lord, is glorious.  I confess that the trials of this life sometimes cause me to lose sight of Your love.  I confess that Your love is greater than all of my troubles.  I long to share Your love with others.  I want the world to know that nothing in this life can defeat Your love.  I confess that the Gospel is the only means by which “nothing can separate us” from Christ.  Make me an instrument to share this love with others.  Make the church an instrument to share this love to the whole world.  Be glorified in my life.  We praise You God! Amen.

From DL Moody’s Secret Power

LOVE, PEACE, AND JOY

When a man who has been living in sin turns from his sins, and turns to God with all his heart, he is met on the threshold of the divine life by these sister graces. The love of God is shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Spirit. The peace of God comes at the same time, and also the joy of the Lord. We can put the test to ourselves, if we have them. It is not anything that we can make. The great trouble with many is that they are trying to make these graces. They are trying to make love; they are trying to make peace; they are trying to make joy. But they are not creatures of human planting. To produce them of ourselves is impossible. That is an act of God. They come from above. It is God who speaks the word and gives the love; it is God who gives the peace; and we possess all by receiving Jesus Christ by faith into the heart; for when Christ comes by faith into the heart, then the Spirit is there, and if we have the Spirit, we will have the fruit. If the whole Church of God could live as the Lord would have them live, why Christianity would be the mightiest power this world has ever seen. It is the low standard of Christian life that is causing so much trouble. There are a great many stunted Christians in the Church; their lives are stunted; they are like a tree planted in poor soil - the soil is hard and stony, and the roots cannot find the rich loamy soil needed. Such believers have not grown in these sweet graces. Peter, in his second epistle, 1^st chapter and 5th verse, writes: And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge self-control; and to self-control patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things are in you, and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, if we have these things in us, I believe that we will be constantly bringing forth fruit that will be acceptable to God. It won’t be just a little every now and then, when we spur ourselves up and work ourselves up into a certain state of mind or into an excited condition, and work a little while and then become cold, and discouraged, and disheartened.  However, we shall be neither unfruitful nor barren, bringing forth fruit constantly, we will grow in grace and be filled with the Spirit of God.

2017 40 Days of Prayer, Day 34

The Abiding Presence of God:
A Life of Complete Dependence

Day 34

“who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”  Romans 8:34

No Condemnation

This verse brings us back to the opening verse of the chapter.  “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  Who can condemn us?  If we are in Christ, no one can condemn us.  If we are in Christ, no hint of condemnation can ever touch us because of His work.  He died in our place and rose again from the dead.  Condemnation has been paid in full.   

Our Never Ceasing Defense Attorney

Not only does the Spirit of God intercede for us (verse 27), but the Son of God also intercedes for us.  “Not only has Jesus died to secure our justification – ‘more than that’ He has ‘been raised’ and has also ascended to the right hand of God, so that he may intercede for us, ensuring that the justifying verdict for which he died is applied to us in the judgement…because Christ lives and has ascended, he is able to ‘intercede’ for us, acting as our High Priest in the very presence of God.”  (Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, NICNT)  Just as the Spirit continually intercedes for us to help us as we struggle with suffering, the Son continually intercedes for us based on our legal standing before His Father.  The different aspects of intercession for the Son and the Spirit connect to their roles within the Trinity.  The Son of God is our Redeemer, purchasing us from the bondage of sin and death by granting us His righteousness.  The Spirit of God is our Comforter, strengthening us in our walk with God.  As their function within the Godhead differs, so also does their emphasis in prayer on our behalf.  The Son takes our requests to His Father.  He continually pleads our case before the Father.  No one can condemn us because we are in Christ.  Christ took away any condemnation that might come against us.  Now, He lives to intercede on our behalf.  He is our never-ceasing defense attorney.  As the writer of Hebrews said in Hebrews 7:24-25, “Jesus…, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

Prayer Focus

Christ Jesus, You alone can plead my case before Your Father for my justification.  You are perfect, righteous and holy.  You alone have paid my debt.  I trust in Your perfect life, Your death and Your resurrection for my salvation.  I trust in You as the only way for me to have a right standing before the throne of God.  I trust in You continually as You intercede for me before the Father.   Thank You, for taking my brokenness and for making me whole.  Now, take my weaknesses and make my dependence on You in my weaknesses to be places of Your strength. 

From DL Moody’s Secret Power

POWER IN OPERATION

The power we have been considering is the Presence of The Holy Spirit. He is omnipotent. Power in operation is the actions of the Spirit, or the fruit of the Spirit. This we shall now consider. Paul writes in Galatians 5:16-26: “This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary, the one to the other; so that you cannot do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control against such there is not law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”

Now there is a life of perfect peace, perfect joy, and perfect love, and that ought to be the aim of every child of God. That ought to be their standard.  They should not rest until having attained to that position. That is God’s standard, where He wants all His children.

These nine graces mentioned in this chapter in Galatians can be divided in this way: Love, peace and joy are all to God. God looks for that fruit from each one of His children, and that is the kind of fruit, which is acceptable with Him. Without that, we cannot please God. He wants, above everything else, that we possess, love, peace and joy.  

Then the next three, patience, kindness and gentleness, are towards others.  That is our outward life to those that we come in contact with continually; daily, hourly.

The next three, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are in relation to ourselves.  In that way we can just take the three divisions and it will be of some help to us. The first thing that meets us as we enter the kingdom of God, you might say, are these first three graces.