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2017 40 Days of Prayer, Day 24

The Abiding Presence of God:
A Life of Complete Dependence

Day 24

“For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?”  Romans 8:24

The Nature of Hope

Why does God make us wait?  Why do redemption, adoption and glorification involve the “now but not yet?”  There are several reasons why God has us experience some of His salvation gifts now but then has us wait for other aspects of it.  Much like a parent who makes a child wait for just the right moment to open gifts at Christmas, so too God knows just the right moment for us to experience all of the gifts of His salvation.  This is one reason for the delay in the ultimate experience of God’s salvation.  God loves hope.  God loves hope, especially a hope in Him that He will fulfill His promises with absolute certainty.  God loves keeping His promises against seemingly impossible circumstances.  This divine drama motivates God to orchestrate all of human history and His creation in order to maximize His story.  God receives glory in the hopeful lives of His children.  God receives glory as we set our affections on the promises of what He will do.  If we received everything that God has promised in the instant we believed, hope would be unnecessary.  There is no such thing as hoping for what we already possess.  As Paul says in this verse, “…but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?”  As the writer of Hebrews said, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  (Hebrews 11:1)  Hope requires a confidence in what we cannot see.  God’s timing is perfect.  He knows just the right time for fulfilling our hope in His promises.  Abraham believed God’s promises to him.  God made several specific promises to Abraham, most of which Abraham would not see in his lifetime.  Abraham had hope of a future offspring, a future nation, a land and a future Messianic promise.  God fulfilled these promises to Abraham at just the right time.  David believed in God’s promises to him.  God made several specific promises to David.  David had hope of a future Messianic kingdom where an everlasting King, who was an offspring of David, would occupy David’s throne forever.  Isaiah and Jeremiah believed in the promises of God.  These prophets believed that God would redeem Israel even in the face of a nation crumbling under the rebellious weight of idolatry.  God made several promises to them.  They had hope in a future restoration of the nation and the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises for the salvation of Israel and the coming Messianic Kingdom.  God will fulfill all of His promises at just the right time.

God does not leave us on our own in this battle for hope.  He gives us His Spirit to verify that this hope is real, even in the midst of frustrating times.  As Paul said in the previous verse, Romans 8:23, “…having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”  Though we struggle in this life, we have confidence in what God has already accomplished.  The Spirit bears testimony that we are children of God.  We possess the “first fruits of the Spirit.”  “First fruits” is a phrase used to describe the very beginning of the harvest of a new crop.  Certain areas of farmland produce their harvest a few days sooner than the rest of the crop.  These “first fruits” of the harvest provided an indication to the farmer as to the nature of the rest of the crop.  If the “first fruits” of the field yielded impressive results, then the farmer would know with confidence that the final harvest of the field would be exceptional.  In this case, the “first fruits of the Spirit” means the first experience of God’s salvation plan in our lives.  The “first fruits of the Spirit” indicate to the believer that the rest of the crop of salvation will be incredible.  The “first fruits” are the work of the Holy Spirit.  He has transformed us in so many ways.  Take a moment to think back on the experience of salvation in your life.  The moment we believed in Christ, we were reborn.  The moment we believed in Christ, God forgave us all of our sins; we were justified in God’s eyes; we were adopted into His family; we were brought into the church; the Spirit came to dwell within us.  All of these incredible benefits were ours the moment we believed in Christ.  Having experienced the initial work of God, we now have hope in what God will still accomplish in the future.  God loves this in the hearts of His children.  The Spirit cries within us that our hope in His future work is not in vain.  Do we possess this hope?  If the initial work of God is this spectacular, just imagine what His final work will be when we see Jesus face to face.  With this in mind, hope springs eternal. 

Prayer Focus

My hope is in You, Oh Lord, my God.  I hope in the promise of my ultimate redemption and adoption.  Help me to live as if my hope is in You and not in myself.  The troubles of this world battle against my dependence upon You.  My pride wars for control of my life.  I give You complete control of my life, my future, my dreams, and my passions.  Take my life and make it Yours.  Work through Your Spirit to sustain and strengthen me today.

From DL Moody’s Secret Power

WHAT IS TESTIMONY?

If we hold back the Gospel of Christ and do not bring Christ before people, then the Spirit has not the opportunity to work. But the moment Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost and bore testimony to this one fact, that Christ died for sin, and that He had been raised again, and ascended into heaven - the Spirit came down to bear witness to the Person and Work of Christ. He came down to bear witness to the fact that Christ was in heaven, and if it was not for the Holy Spirit bearing witness to the preaching of the facts of the Gospel, do you think that the Church would have lived during these last eighteen centuries? Do you believe that Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension would not have been forgotten as quickly as His birth, if it had not been for the fact that the Holy Spirit had come? Because it is very clear, that when John made his appearance on the borders of the wilderness, they had forgotten all about the birth of Jesus Christ. Just thirty short years. It was all gone. They had forgotten the story of the Shepherds; they had forgotten the wonderful scene that took place in the temple, when the Son of God was brought into the temple and the older prophet and prophetess were there; they had forgotten about the wise men coming to Jerusalem to inquire where He was that was born King of the Jews. That story of His birth seemed to have just faded away; they had forgotten all about it, and when John made his appearance on the borders of the wilderness it was brought back to their minds. And if it had not been for the Holy Spirit coming down to bear witness to Christ, to testify of His death and resurrection, these facts would have been forgotten as just as quickly as His birth.

2017 40 Days of Prayer, Day 23

The Abiding Presence of God:
A Life of Complete Dependence

Day 23

“And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”  Romans 8:23

The First Fruits of the Spirit

Creation groans because it waits eagerly for our final redemption.  Our ultimate redemption will mean freedom from the consequences of sin and death.  Our complete redemption will mean complete freedom from the futility of this broken world.  The creation groans, longing for this freedom.  Our redemption will be the creation’s freedom.  Just like the creation groans, we also groan because we also eagerly await our final redemption.  What prompts this eager anticipation?  The Spirit is the “first fruits” of God’s redemptive work, meaning that the indwelling Spirit bears witness to our relationship to God.  The Spirit bears witness that we are children of God.  The Spirit bears witness that the work of God is not yet complete in us.  Paul told the church at Ephesus, “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance…”  (Ephesians 1:13-14)  The Holy Spirit functions as “a pledge,” “a down payment,” “a promissory note,” or “a deposit.”  He is God’s initial deposit into our account.   We know with confidence that our inheritance is secure because God has made a massive deposit into our lives through the presence of His abiding Holy Spirit.  In Romans 8, we see that the Spirit of God is the very one who brought Jesus Christ back from the dead.  We see that the Spirit of God that brought Jesus back from the dead now lives in us.  Just as He completed the work in Christ, so also He will complete the work in us.  Just as Jesus Christ died and then rose again from the dead, so we too will rise again.  Since the Spirit brings life to our souls, we can have confidence that our physical redemption is coming just as God did in Christ and just as God has promised for us. 

Waiting for Our Adoption, the Redemption of Our Body

Verse 16 declares our status before God.  We ARE children of God, and the Spirit bears witness to that reality.  Why then does Paul now say that we eagerly wait for “our adoption as sons?”  We have received only part of the gift of our status as adopted children.  We have received the first portion of life and peace through the spiritual life brought about in us by the Spirit.  We already possess all of the spiritual blessings that are ours in Christ.  We do not long for the spiritual redemption, for God has already granted it to us.  However, this verse says there is something still waiting for us.  Just as the creation is longing for a renewal, so do we.  Just as the creation is suffering under the weight of the fallen world, so are we.  The creation is longing for a physical renewal, a redemption for the creation itself.  We too, long for a physical renewal that is still yet future.  There is still a physical redemption to come.  We are children of God, but the full expression of this relationship is yet future.  When we receive a physical redemption that corresponds to our spiritual redemption, then we will have received the full inheritance of our adoption.  In this way, Paul can speak of the now and not yet.  We are the adopted children of God and yet we await the full privileges of our adoption as children of God.  We have been given life, and yet we await the final step in this life-giving work of God, a resurrected body.  The following verse (verse 24) describes God’s motive in the now and not yet of redemption which will be our focus tomorrow. 

Now for a question, are we eagerly awaiting our full redemption?  Do we long to see Him face to face?  Are we longing to experience the gathering of the saints for the worship of our King?  This verse almost seems out of place in the modern church with the emphasis on maximizing our current life now and while giving little attention to our future life.  With much of modern church-life focused on maximizing our current enjoyment in this life, we may be reducing our future enjoyment of our time in the presence of God.  If we are eagerly awaiting the completion of God’s redemption, then our lives will reflect this eternal perspective.   

“The fact that Paul refers to ‘the first fruits of the Spirit’ rather than simply the Spirit shows that he is thinking of the Spirit’s role in anticipating and pledging the completion of salvation rather than as merely the agent of present blessing… We possess the Spirit as the first installment and pledge of our complete salvation that we groan, yearning for the fulfillment of that salvation to take place.  The Spirit, then functions to join inseparably together the two sides of the ‘already-not yet’ eschatological tension in which we are caught.  ‘Already,’ through the indwelling presence of God’s Spirit, we have been transferred into the new age of blessing and salvation; but the very fact that the Spirit is only the ‘first fruits’ make us sadly conscious that we have ‘not yet’ severed all ties to the old age of sin and death.  A healthy balance is necessary in the Christian life, in which our joy at the many blessings we already possess should be set beside our frustration at our failures and our intense yearning for that day when we will fail no more – when ‘we shall be like him.’” (From Douglas Moo’s The Epistle to the Romans in the New International Commentary on the New Testament)

Prayer Focus

God, give me a clear and urgent passion for my eternal reward.  Place an eagerness within me to see You face to face.   Loosen my grip on the things of this world while tightening my grip on the eternal things.   Protect our church from too much focus on temporal matters.  Make us obsessed with Your glory, Your glory declared to others and experienced in our worship.  Protect my eyes from the lust of the sinful nature, which screams in my ear to love this present world more than I love You.

From DL Moody’s Secret Power

WITNESSING IN POWER

The subject of witness-bearing in the power of the Holy Ghost is not sufficiently understood by the Church. Until we have more intelligence on this point we are laboring under great disadvantage. Now, if you will take your Bible and turn to the 15th chapter of John and the 26th verse, you will find these words: “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceeds from the Father, He shall testify of me; and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.”

Here we find what the Spirit is going to do, or what Christ said He would do when He came; namely, that He should testify of Him. And if you will turn over to the second chapter of Acts, you will find that when Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost, and testified of what Christ had done, the Holy Spirit came down and bore witness to that fact, and men were convicted by hundreds and by thousands. So then man can not preach effectively by himself. He must have the Spirit of God to give ability, and study God’s Word in order to testify according to the mind of the Spirit.

2017 40 Days of Prayer, Day 22

The Abiding Presence of God:
A Life of Complete Dependence

Day 22

“For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.” Romans 8:22

Creation Groans

The evidence of this verse is continuously unfolding right before our very eyes.  Hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, fires and the other troubles we see all around us. Consider this quote from George Whitefield in his sermon, The Method of Grace.  “I have often thought that if there were no other argument to prove original sin, the rising of wolves and tigers against man, or even the barking of a dog against us, is a proof of original sin. Tigers and lions would not rise against us, if it were not for Adam’s first sin; for when the creatures rise up against us, it is as much as to say, ‘You have sinned against God, and we take up our Master’s quarrel.’ If we look inwardly, we shall see enough of lusts, and man’s temper. There is pride, malice, and revenge, in all our hearts; and this temper cannot come from God; it comes from our first parent, Adam, who, after he fell from God, fell out of God into the devil.”  The creation has taken up the Creator’s quarrel with us.  This is the continual reminder that the universe buckles under the weight of human sin. 

In Romans 8:22, the great apostle continues his argument.  Do not despair because of suffering in this present time.  Even creation itself is groaning under the weight of human rebellion.  However, the creation groans, in part, because it knows that the story is not completed.  Creation groans because it knows God is at work in the groaning.  We also must know the conclusion of this divine drama.  If creation groans with the pains of childbirth, then there is a coming birth, a birth of something new.  We should also understand our current suffering in this vein, as mere birth pains.  God is birthing something new, the glorified, eternal lives of His adopted children.  Paul wanted the church at Rome to see that all of creation views these troubling times from divine perspective.  There is trouble.  However, just as the beginning pains of childbirth is trouble, the end result of the pain of childbirth is the joy of the parents and the bringing forth of new life.  This is our destiny as God’s adopted children.  We have a future hope of freedom from the pains of this fallen world.

Prayer Focus

God, please hear my prayer today.  Father, I see the evidence all around me that the world is not as it should be.  I see in Your Word that the creation has been subjected to the futility of human sin.  I also see in Your Word that the creation is longing for our final redemption.  Thank You for adopting me into Your family through faith in Jesus Christ.  I confess that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.  I confess that my sins can only be forgiven through His death and resurrection.  I believe that I will be with Him forever because He has defeated sin and death.  Father, please help me to remain faithful to You when the ease and pleasures of life are around me.  Oh, righteous Father, also keep me faithful when the troubles of this life surround me, knowing that You will redeem all things, even my troubles.  In the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord, I pray.  Amen.

From DL Moody’s Secret Power

MASTER AND SERVANT

There is a very sweet story of Elijah and Elisha, and I love to dwell on it. The time had come for Elijah to be taken up, and he said to Elisha, “You stay here at Gilgal, and I will go up to Bethel.” There was a theological seminary there, and some young students, and he wanted to see how they were getting along. But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and your soul lives, I will not leave thee.” And so Elisha just kept close to Elijah. They came to Bethel, and the sons of the prophets came out and said to Elisha, “Do you know that your master is to be taken away?” And Elisha said, “I know it; but you be still.” Then Elijah said to Elisha, “You remain at Bethel until I go to Jericho.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives and my soul lives, I will not leave you.” “You shall not go without me, “says Elisha. I can imagine that Elisha just put his arm in that of Elijah, and they walked down together. I can see those two mighty men walking down to Jericho. When they arrived there, the sons of the prophets came and said to Elisha, “Do you know that your master is to be taken away?” “Hush! keep still,” says Elisha, “I know it” And then Elijah said to Elisha, “Remain here awhile; for the Lord hath sent me to Jordan.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives and my soul lives, I will not leave you. You will not go without me.” When they came to the Jordan, Elijah took off his mantle and struck the waters, and they separated. The two passed through like giants, dry land, and fifty sons of the prophets came to look at them and watch them. They didn’t know it but Elijah would be taken up right in their sight. As they passed over Jordan, Elijah said to Elisha, “Now, what do you want?” He knew he was after something. “What can I do for you? Just make your request known.” And Elisha said, “I would like a double portion of your Spirit.” I can imagine now that Elijah had given him a chance to ask; he said to himself, “I will ask for enough.” Elisha had a good deal of the Spirit, but, says he, “I want a double portion of your Spirit.” “Well,” says Elijah, “if you see me when I am taken up, then you will have it.” Do you think you could have enticed Elisha from Elijah at that moment? I can almost see the two arm in arm, walking along, as they walked, there came along the chariot of fire, and before Elisha knew it, Elijah was caught up. As he went sweeping towards the throne, the servant cried, “My Father! My Father! The chariot of Israel and the horsemen!” Elisha saw him no more. He picked up Elijah’s fallen mantle, and returning with that old mantle of his master’s, he came to the Jordan and cried for Elijah’s God. The waters separated, and he passed through dry-land. Then the watching prophets lifted up their voices and said, “The Spirit of Elijah is upon Elisha;” and so it was, a double portion of it. May the Spirit of Elijah, beloved reader, be upon us. If we seek for it we will have it. Oh, may the God of Elijah answer by fire and consume the spirit of worldliness in the churches, burn up the dust, and make us whole-hearted Christians. May that Spirit come upon us; let that be our prayer in our families and in our own hearts. Let us cry out to God that we may have double portion of the Holy Spirit, and that we may not rest satisfied with this worldly state of living, but let us shake ourselves and come out from the world, that we may have the POWER OF GOD.