"If Only" Regrets Part 2: Condemnation vs. Conviction, and Developing New Habits (chapters 1-7)

Note to anyone who is following the alignment series with First Assembly of God—I am a little behind the church's schedule in this study. I'm chalking that up to a busy life with two little girls! Momma doesn't always get to write and present in a timely way. Also, I felt that some of these concepts could be more deeply explored in various ways on the blog, as we expand upon the themes taught by the pastoral staff at First Assembly.

In the book If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities, all of the concepts author Mark Batterson focuses on are centered around Romans 8, what theologian and pastor John Piper calls "the Great 8." This is because, as Batterson and Piper put it, Romans 8 is "the greatest chapter in the Bible." (page 15)

When I was in my early 20s, I "almost-memorized" a big chunk of Romans 8. I was working with a church youth group and decided to present a dramatic reading of a few sections of the Bible, pieced together. I think a lot of things I did in those days were pretty darn dramatic, and not in a good way! This little piece of drama, however, was one of the best things I think I could have done for myself. I spent a lot of time with my typed-up script becoming as familiar with it as possible. In readings like this, the presenter holds the script as they read, but generally, most of the content really is committed to memory. In spite of what might have been grandiose intentions on my part, the fact is, large chunks of Romans 8 became written on my heart. (Isn't it good to know that God can take the weirdest things we do and work them for our good?)

The Great 8, therefore, has a special place in my heart.

Here is where Batterson devotes a lot of attention, when he talks about "if only" regrets:

Romans 8:1 (NIV)
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Batterson very rightly calls this a life-changing statement. He defines for his readers what condemnation is, versus conviction:

• Condemnation is guilt over sin you have already confessed to the Lord.
• Conviction is healthy "pressure" from the Holy Spirit regarding your unconfessed sin.

In my last blog post, I talked about how important it is for us to be fully surrendered to God, that falling on your face before Him is one the greatest things you can do for yourself. At the end of your life, you will be able to say that you have NO REGRETS about complete and total surrender to the Lord.

God can be completely trusted with everything in your life. When you let go of your doubts and fears about what He wants for you, what His purpose is for your life, then you can see His purpose in your life realized!

My friend, that is the greatest hope I have for my life. I do not want to lie on my deathbed wishing that I had surrendered to Him, knowing that if only I had done that, I could have had that purpose fulfilled.

The enemy wants to distract you from that. He wants to do everything in his power to ensure that you are not fully surrendered to God. The act of surrendering requires focus, and he wants to get your focus off God and onto something else...

...like...the past you have already repented of?

Exactly.

Condemnation, Your Heart, and Developing New Habits

If you find your past sins rising up in your memory, and painful pressure hitting you about them, and then you find that terrible feeling growing...then THAT is the enemy of your soul, testing the waters, looking for a way to paralyze you, to keep you from the purpose God has for you.

Now, your own heart, apart from the enemy, plays a part in this, of course. Your own heart is usually the culprit initiating the condemnation. The Bible says:

Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV)
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

Even without the enemy lobbing his condemnation bombs at us, really, we do pretty well all by ourselves. We as humans with our fallen hearts and sinful natures have a very nice way of condemning ourselves. But that enemy is smart. That condemnation from my own heart creates a little opening, a little stone out of place in the wall. The enemy is always testing the wall, looking for the holes, the cracks, anything where he can get his claws in and start tearing down the defenses.
And once he gets in, he's going to take that thing your heart started and make it grow. The condemnation can get overwhelming and become paralyzing...

If you allow it.

You don't have to allow it.

If you have placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and have received the forgiveness of sin that He offers, then YOU are now royalty. You are a child of the King. You have special privileges and rights as His child. If you fall under attack, you can call upon the name of Jesus and He will provide everything you need to fend off the attack.

Don't let the enemy gain a foothold in your life through condemnation of things from your past. Learn to recognize that random thought that crosses your mind, and IMMEDIATELY take it to Jesus. You may find that you have a lot of battling to do with your own heart, if time and time again that condemnation comes up. You, however, can make it a habit to recognize and push back.

The tendency to allow your heart to condemn you can itself become a bad habit, if you allow it. To put a stop to it, you must develop some better habits. Where do those better habits come from? The Lord has given us a good place to look for them:

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Let's recap those new habits:

• Rejoice always.
• Pray continually.
• Give thanks in all circumstances.

I used to find this daunting: "Pray continually." How in the world does that happen? I heard a story once about Corrie Ten Boom. (If you do not know who she is, please Google her!) She had learned to incorporate into her life the habit of talking to Jesus all the time, just as she would talk to anyone else around her. While there are definitely times when you want to be heads-down in your prayer closet, the fact is, you cannot always be in that "prayer closet posture."

But the Lord is always with you. (Hebrews 13:5) You can make a habit out of talking to Him as you go about your day. That is continual prayer.

Likewise, you can practice rejoicing throughout your day. Thanking God throughout your day. No matter what circumstance you are in, discipline yourself to find the things to be thankful for and to rejoice about. If you fill your mind with these good habits, there won't be any room for your heart to condemn you. And if there is no room for your heart to condemn you, then that will be one less crack in the wall for the enemy to squeeze through.

Conviction

We stated earlier that conviction is healthy "pressure" from the Holy Spirit regarding your unconfessed sin. Batterson describes the Holy Spirit's voice as comforting or guiding, but also convicting. Part of the Holy Spirit's work in your life is to help make you more like the Lord. Did you know you are always under construction? And the Lord is your contractor!

Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Ruth Bell Graham, the wife of Billy Graham, passed away in 2007. Her headstone reads: "End of construction—Thank you for your patience." As long as we are alive here on earth, the Holy Spirit will never stop working on us, perfecting us, making us more ready, more fit, for the purpose He has for us. We definitely have an earthly purpose in the here and now, but we also have an eternal purpose after our time here on earth is over. We will reign with him. He will have more and more for us to do, even after this life is over. You are being prepared on so many levels!

Because of this, when you have unconfessed sin in your life, the Holy Spirit will convict you of it. It's the Lord's way of continually working on you.

When you detect this conviction, it is very important for you to heed it and pray. Confess that sin to God and ask Him for His help with overcoming it.

Earlier we talked about replacing bad habits with good ones. We also talked about the importance of complete submission to the Lord. Here is why it is so important for us to develop the good habits and completely submit to God:

• If we do not, if we stubbornly refuse to heed the conviction of the Holy Spirit, that can become a bad habit.
• If we allow that to become a habit, something we just get used to doing over and over, the Bible says that we will become deaf to the voice of the Holy Spirit—our hearts will harden.
• If we become deaf to the voice of the Holy Spirit and develop a hard heart, His work in us cannot continue.

That leaves more gaps in the wall, and provides the enemy with a lot more opportunities.

I was going to make sure to quote scripture here about how the hardness of heart happens and the consequences of it, but when I researched to find a single scripture to present here, I was overwhelmed by the number of times the Lord speaks about this in His Word, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament! Clearly, if we want to grow in the Lord, if we want to see His purpose for our lives fulfilled, we MUST NOT be hard-hearted. We must learn to submit to the voice of the Holy Spirit when He convicts us, because He is trying to perfect us. The choice to do so is ours.

A Few Final Notes

There is so much to say about the work of the Lord in us! I cannot possibly blog every piece of it. But I do want to leave you with a few things you can think about—in the video that goes with this section on "if only" regrets, Batterson has a few excellent sound bites for us:

• Tune in to the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit. But tune out the condemning voice of the enemy. Turn the dial to Romans 8:1 and stay tuned.
• Each time the enemy reminds you of your past, remind him of his future! (Revelation 20:10)
• Christ is no longer nailed to the cross, but your sin is! See 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV): "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
• Half the gospel is the forgiveness of Christ. The other half is that the righteousness of Christ is given to us. So when the Father looks at us, He sees only the righteousness of His Son! THAT is why there is no condemnation coming to us from God!

He loves you! He has the very best in store for you!

In the next post, we will continue to look at Batterson's book and videos and talk about "as if" faith. I am excited about this. I love watching God grow my faith!

Prayer

Jesus, learning more and more about you is such an enriching, exciting experience! I pray for anyone who is reading this blog and following along with this teaching—I pray that the truth of Your Word would sink down deep into them. Make them overcomers, Lord. Make them strong and mighty in you. Grow them in Your Wisdom. May they seek you for the power You want to give them as they go after a life submitted to You. If anyone is reading this and does not yet believe in You, Lord, then I pray that they would accept You as their Lord and Savior. May they believe in You. May they confess their sinfulness before you and accept the forgiveness you freely offer them. I ask all this is the incredible name of Jesus—Amen!

"If Only" Regrets Part 1: Avoid the "If Only" Regrets – Seek God's Purpose (chapters 1-7)

For our study from the book If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities, I am writing the material in these blog posts based on the content both in that book and in the accompanying study videos author Mark Batterson supplies on Right Now Media.

About Regrets

There are two kinds of regrets: regret for the bad things you have done, and regret for the things that you did not do—missed opportunities.

The longest-lasting regrets people have are more often the things they didn't do. In the shorter term, yes, we all have regrets about bad actions we have taken, but as the years go on, we feel more deeply the things we really wish we had done.

I tackled one of those things for myself this year. For various reasons, I have not been very happy with myself in my inability to love others the way I think I should. I am definitely a selfish creature by nature! Some time ago, I began to wonder what life would "look like" if I were somehow able to love others a little better.

I am a mom to a couple very active, enthusiastic little girls, a wife to a brilliant, good-hearted man who devotes his heart, time, and energy to many worthy endeavors, and a full-time employee in a demanding corporate work environment. Taking time to love others has been a huge challenge. Time is limited...what am I do? How might I add "love others" on top of all this?

In the If book, in a later chapter, Batterson will encourage his readers to select a word for the year—the idea is to create for yourself a focus, an ideal you can concentrate on for the year. This is a small action that can provide you with something to strive for, something to live up to. I was happy to read his "take" on it, because early this year, for the first time, I had done that. When January 2017 rolled around, I had pulled out my journal and prayed, then I wrote down the word "encourager."

You see, I might be hard-pressed to take lots of time to perform loving actions for a lot of people, but I knew with a little effort on my part, I could shift my interactions with anyone I would come in contact with and be very deliberate in offering encouraging words to them, rather than giving them heaping helpings of pain.

I have heard it said that your feelings can follow your actions. I wondered, if I made the effort to be encouraging, maybe I would find that I was actually starting to feel better about people? Maybe I would actually feel more loving towards them? I have also heard it said that praying for a person does the same thing...first you pray for the person, then you wind up feeling better about them.

Well, it's mid-October. I had prayed that God would make me an encourager this year. And to date, He has honored that! I haven’t been perfect. I definitely have had my selfish, angry, petty moments. But I have observed the Holy Spirit moving in me, in response to that prayer. If I have been able to love on people, to encourage them, it is because of His power at work in me.

I committed this aspect of my life to Him as a discipline, then I took a few hard steps to look at how I interact with others. The Holy Spirit has helped me form more positive thought patterns in regards to other people, to see the good in them, and to choose to enhance that goodness in them by verbally speaking it aloud to them. The fight against my own selfishness will go on, for sure, but if I stay the course and do not revert, this is one potential end-of-life regret that I can kiss goodbye!

Do you see how when we talk about the "if onlys," we are not necessarily talking about big, huge actions, like quitting your job or going back to school? Sometimes, the actions can be internal, more subtle. For example, maybe you start a new discipline—every morning, as you wake up, you make God the first person you say hello to. What would that do to your day? To your week? To your year? Would that make you draw closer to Him? Would that translate into an end-of-life observation, that you drew closer and closer to God every day? You, too, could then kiss an "if only" regret goodbye!

Sins of Commission vs. Sins of Omission

Batterson observes that so much of what we as a body of believers focus on are sins of commission—don't do this, don't do that. Huge portions of the Bible describe these sins and help us understand that these are things that harm our spirits and pull us away from God, who is Holy. Sins of commission hurt us, hurt God, and hurt others. We definitely regret what we've done when we sin like this.

But what about sins of omission? That is, what about the things we are called by God to do, but we deliberately do not do them?

This is a scary one for me to talk about. It's the idea that you can move along in life doing nothing wrong, but still do nothing right. These are the things that I'll lie on my deathbed and feel keenly as deep regrets...unless I do something about them.

As you and I grow in our walk with Jesus, we must be willing to fall on our faces before Him and ask Him to fulfill His purpose for us.

When we are thrown into a horrible pit of grief and pain—perhaps because of a debilitating illness, the loss of someone we love, or an act of betrayal committed against us—during those times of deepest distress, we likewise must deny ourselves and just fall on our faces before Him. We must place our lives in His hands as an act of surrender and submission.

My friend, I want you to experience His heart in this...if there is anything you are going through, you must hang on to the knowledge that God doesn't abandon you in the middle of it. Your sin of omission during the worst times of your life will be not clinging to him. It will be not believing that He loves you.

If you are going through something horrible like that...if you are in a pit, fight the urge to blame God, and instead cling to Him. Your action of deliberately grabbing ahold of God in these terrible times will make all the difference in how you recover and what your life will "look like" when you emerge from the pit.

But what about when times are good? When you are just going along, enjoying life, and, as I stated earlier, not doing anything wrong?

You still must fall down before Him in His sovereignty, asking Him, petitioning Him to reveal His purpose in your life. He has a purpose for you. He has good things He wants you to do. You can just go along and live your life and never concern yourself with any deeper purpose the Lord may have, but at the end of your life, you may look upon your inaction to seek Him as a deep regret.

Do you want to kiss that "if only" regret goodbye? I keep repeating this, but I'll say it again...

Fall on your face before Him. Ask Him to reveal His purpose to you. Draw as close to Him as you possibly can...do not hold Him at arm's length! That would be an "if only" regret, your sin of omission.

Once you have surrendered to Him, then if He asks you to do something, do it.

OK, I said this one was scary for me to talk about, because I say all this, and I have no idea what He might call me to tomorrow. I sometimes feel like I have to force myself to trust Him. What if He takes my fondest dreams away from me and instead wants me to do something painful or hard? What if He wants me to go through something difficult in order to reveal a greater purpose for me?

How am I supposed to trust in Him? How can I achieve that kind of rock-solid faith? I don't want to go through life waiting for the other shoe to drop!

This is why we established our premises at the start of this study. God is all-knowing. God is love. The Bible is true. The Bible says that Jesus is our Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Jesus gives us perfect peace, no matter what is going on. We take every fear to Him. Let me show you what the Bible says:

Isaiah 26:2 (NIV)
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

The Holy Spirit within us gives us peace and fills us with His power to take captive our fear and replace it with our faith. It is through a close walk with Jesus and asking the Holy Spirit to give us His power that we become people of solid faith.

This....this!!!! This is what is going to head off any "if only" regrets. This is what is going to enable us to go where the Lord calls us, and do what the Lord calls us to do. Get ahold of this, saints!

There's a story in the Old Testament that I think of sometimes when I feel like I need to get ahold of some aspect of God, some principle of life...

In Genesis 32:22-32 there's this very weird story about Jacob. Jacob was not necessarily a super-righteous guy. He had done things in his past that weren’t so great, like conspiring with his mother to deceive his father and receive the blessing that belonged to his brother Esau. Esau had been so angry that he had planned to kill him, but Jacob had run away and stayed away for years with his father-in-law Laban. A whole lot of stuff went on during those years (Genesis 25-35 tells the full story of Jacob), and there came a time when Jacob took all of his family members and possessions, his flocks, his servants—everything—and left Laban. Laban was not happy about that at all, so Jacob had reason to be worried about Laban coming after him now, too.

Now Jacob was taking the whole kit-n-caboodle and was getting ready to go back and see Esau, and he was a little concerned about how that was going to go, too. At this point, we can see that Jacob is probably one exhausted individual. Jacob was an aggressive character whose name essentially meant "deceiver." His dealings with his family hadn't always been on the up-and-up, and now he was probably pretty darn stressed about what was both before him and behind him.

Jacob sent everyone on ahead of him and was spending the night alone, when the Bible says, "a man" wrestled with him throughout the night:

When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 

Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." 

But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." 

The man asked him, “What is your name?” 

“Jacob,” he answered. 

Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” 

Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” 

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. 

So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

Jacob wrestled with God! Tough, aggressive Jacob refused to let go until he got a blessing. And God gave it to him.

Our God is all-powerful, so why does it say that "the man" could not overpower Jacob? I think God was testing Jacob's mettle. It sounds to me like God purposely put a physical limitation on Himself so that He could verify how stalwart this character Jacob really was. Not only that, but maybe God knew that Jacob needed to see it in himself that night. Jacob must have picked up on this, because he stubbornly refused to let go until he received a blessing. It was during this wrestling match with God that the Lord:

1. Tested Jacob.
2. Injured him.
3. Blessed him with a new name, and thus, a new purpose.

Do we trust God enough to get stubborn with Him about his purpose for us? Even if it means that we might need to suffer in the process? Jesus wants us to be stubborn about seeking him. He says to us:

Matthew 7:7 (NIV)
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Jesus even told a parable about the stubborn person who, in the middle of the night, refused to stop knocking on his friend's door until the man got up and gave him what he asked for:

Luke 11:8 (ESV)
I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.

Friends, this can be scary and hard...we have to dig in, grab ahold of God, and show our mettle. Don't let go of Him until He reveals your purpose. He develops us in this way. Yes, we might suffer in the process—maybe worse than a hip out of joint—but we must trust Him enough to continue to hang on tight, knowing that the blessing of His purpose is coming.

Remember what Jesus said:

Matthew 7:9-11 (NIV)
Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

God will always give us the very best. If we ask Him to reveal His purpose for us and bless us in it, then we can totally trust how He goes about doing it. He loves us deeply and has in store for us the very best He can offer. Actively petition Him for it, and as we have said previously, we can kiss that "if only" regret goodbye!

In the next post, we will talk more about "if only" regrets and more about the good things God has for us!

Prayer

Dear Lord, I continue to lift up to you the readers of this post. I pray that they would be encouraged by it, and that they would eagerly desire to seek Your purpose for their lives. May Your Word penetrate their hearts. I pray that they will draw ever closer to You and be blessed by Your promises and Your Word. Go before them, Father, and do great and mighty works in them. May they seek Your wisdom and Your power for every circumstance they face. I ask this in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen!"

"If" Introduction

This is the text from the introduction to our study based on the book If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities.

If

It’s a tiny two letter word, but it’s pregnant with possibilities.

There are 1,748 ifs in the Bible. Most of those ifs function as conditional conjunctions on the front end of God’s promises. If we meet the condition, God delivers on the promise!

So all that stands between your current circumstances and your wildest dreams rests on little if.

One little if can change everything.

One little if can change anything.

We are going to study four ifs:

• If only regrets
• As if faith
• What if dreams
• No ifs, ands, or buts about it courage

Prayer

Lord, thank you so much for establishing a purpose for each of us. I pray for anyone who reads this blog or participates in this discussion. My greatest hope for them is that they will grasp a sense of purpose and petition You for it eagerly. May Your purposes for them be fulfilled, and may they grow in You! May the pursuit of Your purpose for their lives be their highest aspiration. May they develop the habit of seeking You daily for it. Bless them, oh, Lord. Bless them mightily and greatly. Protect them from the tactics of the enemy. Grow them in wisdom and in power. I ask this in the awesome name of Jesus! Amen!

Study Premises Part 2: Aspects of the Nature of God

Now that we have described the premises for how we approach Scripture, let's talk about some aspects of the nature of God. This will help us understand how we must regard Him and get to know Him. Understanding the nature of God helps us understand a lot of the "whys" of our Christian living.

Not only will this help us understand, but this apostate culture we live in is full of people who simply will not take the time to really consider Who God is. When we are confronted by others regarding what we believe and why we believe it, having a basic understanding of God's nature helps provide us with the answers we need.

Please note that the aspects of God highlighted in this post do not constitute an exhaustive list. Many theologians have written extensively about the nature of God...this post would go on for a long, long time if I attempted to talk about every aspect of God's nature!

God is...

Holy

"Holy" means "set apart" or "separate." God is separate from evil, separate from sin. We are born with a sinful nature, and that sin within us is therefore what keeps us separate from God. But Jesus died to atone for our sin. That atonement has been made and is a free gift to us. If we accept it, then we can be with God because He no longer finds sin within us.

There is no evil in God whatsoever—he is completely pure. He wants us to be as much like Him as possible, which is why the Bible says "be holy, because I am holy."

Leviticus 11:44, 45 (NIV)
"I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy... I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy."

If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, then you have accepted His gift of forgiveness and salvation. We who have been forgiven must not continue to sin. There is somewhat of a paradox here, because we still have that sinful nature, and as fallible human beings, we do continue to sin. Yet, the Holy Spirit within us enables us to avoid sinning, if we continue to ask for His power to be at work in us. If we stay in that close fellowship with Him, then our propensity to sin can diminish, even as our walk with Him grows.

Thus, we strive to be holy—set apart—but do not always succeed. Thank the Lord that He is gracious and forgiving. Our sins are already covered!

These are my own thoughts on this matter based upon the studying I have done over the years. I think Scripture supports this, but it is a tough concept. Paul struggled with his own sin nature and expressed his frustration in Romans 7. He expressed it as an illustration to his audience...the grace of God is absolutely necessary for us as we battle our sin nature.

Part of knowing how to be "set apart" is to understand what sin is. God's got it covered, though. The Bible contains everything we need to help us understand what sin is—the Law of God defines sin. The Bible also describes for us how to avoid sinning. So as God has commanded us to be holy, He has provided for us everything we need to accomplish it.

Finally, I wanted to share with you a sample of some of my favorite passages about the holiness of God. They are found in the book of Revelation, where we observe the inhabitants of heaven praising God and calling him holy:

Revelation 4:8 (NIV)
"...Day and night they never stop saying: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.”

It's an amazing picture, and it demonstrates for us how important this aspect of God is. His holiness is so important that he receives never-ceasing worship for it.

Incredible stuff.

Absolutely Sovereign

God reigns over the universe. No one judges Him. He has absolute authority.

The human experience may make this seem problematic. Human beings who are given absolute authority over a nation are often corrupt and evil, making lives miserable for those under them. But that is not who God is. Because of God's holiness, because there is not even a trace of evil in Him, He can be fully trusted as our sovereign.

And since He is our sovereign, we must live in full submission to Him, without rebellion. It is a privilege to be fully submissive to God, because He reigns righteously and justly and always has our best interests at heart. The very best thing we can do for ourselves and the world around us is to be fully humbled and submissive to God.

Please note that if you are unwilling to regard God in this way, then really, any discussion we might have about God and His will for your life is moot. The sin nature in human beings makes them prone to rebellion, and they tend to put themselves on the throne, rather than God. But today, right now, in this life, God is using your own tendencies to sin to train you for your future destiny as the Bride of Christ! There are several places in the Bible that state we will reign with Him...consider this life's trials and temptations to be your training ground for that future. (For more on this topic, I highly recommend the book Destined for the Throne by Paul E. Billheimer.)

Just

God is perfectly just. His judgments are completely right.

As I described above, because of His holiness, He cannot tolerate evil. In fact, there is not a trace of evil in Him. His nature will not allow sin to go on unatoned for. Therefore, if a person rejects Jesus and His gift of forgiveness, then the sin in that person's life goes unforgiven, unpaid for.

That means that the sinner who has rejected Christ will have to pay for their own sin. The Law of God is absolute in this regard. Evil will not be allowed to continue. It must be eradicated.

The absolute rightness of God's judgments means that at some point, the wrath of God will be justly applied. Those who have accepted the gift of forgiveness that Jesus has supplied do not need to fear the wrath of God—it does not apply to them:

1 Thessalonians 5:9 (NKJV)
For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Those who reject Christ are probably blissfully unaware that wrath awaits them. This saddens me. I know it saddens God, who loves them. God doesn't want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9). Jude urged believers to "save others by snatching them from the fire." (Jude 1:23, NIV)

Like so many other aspects of the nature of God, humans struggle with this. It seems appalling that such wrath should fall upon anyone. But then we consider people who have done truly horrible things, and we suddenly feel that THOSE people should indeed suffer wrath (think Hitler). We are fickle in our judgments, perhaps because we do not fully understand the concepts of God's Law. God tells us to trust Him, to trust in His righteousness, His holiness, and His perfection.

This is why He wants us to leave final justice up to Him. We as humans do the best we can, but no system of human justice is perfect. Our all-knowing God (another aspect of His nature) sees and understands everything, and therefore has the capability to be perfectly just in all His actions, and in His wrath.

All-Powerful (Omnipotent)

There is nothing God cannot do. My favorite Scripture about the all-powerful God is the second half of Romans 4:17 (NIV):

...the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

That Scripture has given me so much HOPE. When I have been faced with circumstances that seem simply impossible to overcome, I have gone back to this passage. It's helped remind me that I have direct access to THE all-powerful God, and I can ask Him for anything! He tells us that as long as we are operating within the confines of His will, we can rest assured that He hears us and will answer.
Let me just tell you...I have watched Him do things that men have deemed "impossible." I am so thankful that He is all-powerful!

Much like the concept of God's absolute sovereignty, the fact that He is all-powerful causes problems to those who look at God as having a nature similar to the fallible nature of humans. They want to impose upon Him the actions they feel He SHOULD take because, after all, He can do anything. But yet, He doesn't always act as humans feel He should.

It is at this point that many, many people reject His existence utterly, because it doesn't fit the schema in their way of thinking: "If there were an all-powerful God, surely he would [insert opinion here]!"

Fortunately, God is also patient! See the book of Job—this kind of thinking might have gotten poor Job into even deeper trouble than the mess his life was in, but the Lord instead corrected him. Job's attitude was perhaps understandable, given the circumstances, but when the Lord spoke to him, ultimately, Job fell on his face before God and repented. Job indeed recognized God's all-powerful nature.

The story of Job allows us to hear God expressing His own nature to us and how we must relate to Him. To take any other stance is downright unbiblical.

One final thought on the omnipotence of God that I touched on in my last post about the Bible...an all-powerful God is fully capable of ensuring that His Word is passed to us without error. This is where a lot of people trip up when they affirm that God is all-powerful, but that the Bible is full of errors and therefore is not our final authority. If God is indeed all-powerful, and if He wants us to have His Word as the final authority on all matters, then nothing could ever stop Him from making sure that it has been passed on to us intact throughout the centuries.

All-Knowing (Omniscient)

The Psalmist praised God for the fact that He is all-knowing:

Psalm 139:1-4 (NIV)
You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.

I take tremendous comfort in the fact that God is all-knowing. It means that He knows me better than I know myself. It means that He thoroughly knows everything that is going on with me, and therefore I can pray rather simply when I need to ask Him for something—I do not need to explain myself to Him. He welcomes us talking to Him about anything that's going on in our lives, of course! But we don't need to explain things to Him. We can rest in this knowledge, that because He already knows what's going on, He already knows the best situation or solution for us. We can simply ask Him to do it.

It also comforting that God knows not only the past, but the future, as well. World events might be frightening to us, but when we understand that our all-knowing Father sees it all, we can trust that He has us in the palm of His hand.

There is so much more we could say on this subject, but there are just a couple more points I'd like to make...

Regarding our personal lives...Why do we fool ourselves into thinking we can sneak anything by Him?

Regarding Biblical prophecy and some of the discussions we will have on it in later sessions...Our all-knowing God has provided prophetic proclamations in the Bible to help us understand the things that are to come. The Bible is about 27% prophecy. Studying prophecy in the Bible helps us get to know God better and helps us make sense of what we see happening in the world around us.

Again, I cannot tell you how comforting this aspect of God is to me! The God who KNOWS me so well, loves me. We want desperately to be known...guess what? We already have that in God!

Immutable (Unchanging)

God does not change. The Bible says:

Hebrews 13:8 (NIV)
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Malachi 3:6 (NIV)
"I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed."

James 1:17 (NIV)
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

This means that we can absolutely count on Him. If His nature is always the same, then anything we find in the Bible about Him and about His promises is still true today.

Ever-Present (Omnipresent), Eternal, Transcendent...etc.

There is a whole lot more to say about the attributes of God. None of what I have presented here is complete. In this section, I have clustered together a few aspects of God because we find them summed up in the incredible way God described Himself to Moses in Exodus 3: "I Am."

He is the great I Am. He has always been and always will be. He is always present, everywhere, all at once. He is not confined by anything, time nor space.

And He is transcendent—while a lot of the attributes of God are knowable, there is MUCH about him that is unknowable. He transcends all boundaries we as humans might want to put upon Him, simply because WE are bound to them, and we do not know any other way.

God tells us that His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8). We may not understand them, but He wants us to rest in Him, to trust in Him: "Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10, NIV)

Essentially, God is telling us as much about Him as we need to know, and for the rest, He is telling us to trust Him. The Bible tells us that He is light and in Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). It tells us that He is good (Psalm 34:8). It tells us that He is love (1 John 4:8).

Knowing all of this about Him, we can accept the aspects of Him that are mystery to us, because we know that we can trust Him fully.

Final Thoughts

You can completely trust God. You can completely rely on His Word. He is Your Creator. He knows you thoroughly. He loves you completely. No human can live up to that...there is no substitute for God in your life. Full submission and worship is the natural outcome of knowing God, so do everything you can to get into His Word, get into prayer, and get to KNOW Him!

Prayer

Father God, you are amazing. I worship you for Who You are. I pray for all who read this, that You would make Yourself very real to them. Speak to their hearts and minds. If they have not accepted the free gift of salvation Jesus offers them, may they do so. May they truly come to know You and live the life You want for them. I ask this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen!

Study Premises Part 1: Our Approach for Reading the Bible

I wanted to take a little time to establish our premises for this study. In this post, I highlight a few important aspects about the Bible, including how to approach reading it.

There may have been a time when some of these premises did not have to be clearly stated. However, many Christians have strayed from the path of sound teaching, and now no longer believe these things are true. Because of this, I feel stating them up front is necessary for our collective understanding.

Here are the foundational premises about the Bible:

• The Bible is the Word of God and is therefore is our authority on all matters.

• The Bible is infallible in the original language. We look to the original language to help us better understand, but God has supplied us with reliable translations in our own language—God is all-powerful and therefore is able to ensure that His Word is delivered to all humans throughout the centuries. (We will talk more about the all-powerful God in a later post)

• We must interpret the Bible with a literal reading, not a "spiritual" or subjective reading—that is, we must not superimpose subjective meaning upon the words of scripture.

The General Council of the Assemblies of God routinely examines various doctrinal issues and has reports generated and presented to the General Presbytery. Among those is a Position Paper on the Inspiration, Inerrancy, and Authority of Scripture. This short paper is a good resource if you would like more information.

Literal Reading vs. Subjective Reading

If we allow subjective interpretation of the words of the Bible, then anyone can make it into anything they want it to be.

A literal reading—reading each word for what it actually means—is done unless we have a good reason to read the text in a symbolic way. For example, we know that many literary genres use symbolism to convey meaning. The Bible contains several genres, such as poetry (Psalms) or apocalyptic literature (Revelation). We therefore must take the genre into consideration when we read a passage of Scripture.

Yet, even within these symbolic-type genres, we must first apply a literal reading, then use the context to determine if the content is being symbolically conveyed.

If we determine that the content is symbolic, then to interpret the symbolism, we must rely on the context and upon other portions of Scripture to show us how authors in that era similarly used such symbolism. Basically, we use the context of the entire Bible to show us how to interpret any symbolism we find.

Ron Rhodes, a Bible scholar and founder of Reasoning from the Scriptures Ministries, provides an excellent explanation of how to read and interpret the Bible. Here is an excerpt:

Instead of superimposing a meaning on the biblical text, the objective interpreter seeks to discover the author's intended meaning (the only true meaning). One must recognize that what a passage means is fixed by the author and is not subject to alteration by readers. Meaning is determined by the author; it is discovered by readers. 

Our goal must be exegesis (drawing the meaning out of the text) and not eisogesis (superimposing a meaning onto the text). By using eisogesis instead of exegesis, a Marxist interpreter could, for example, so skew the meaning of the U.S. Constitution that it came out reading like a socialistic document. 

Cultists have done the same type of thing with Holy Scripture. They so skew the meaning of the biblical text that it comes out saying something entirely different than what was intended by the author. Only by objective methodology can we bridge the gap between our minds and the minds of the biblical writers. Indeed, our method of interpreting Scripture is valid or invalid to the extent that it really unfolds the meaning a statement had for the author and the first hearers or readers. http://ronrhodes.org/articles/rightly-interpreting-the.html

The Holy Spirit Illuminates the Word of God and Speaks Through It

Determining whether symbolism is being conveyed in the Bible might sound complicated, but most of us have enough experience with our own language to understand how to do this. Not only that, but as with everything else we have talked about so far, there is good news...God WANTS us to understand exactly what He is saying to us through His Word.

This takes us back to our foundations for growing in Christ...seek wisdom. Seek the work of the Holy Spirit. Any time you read the Word, first ask the Holy Spirit to give you wisdom and illuminate the Word for you. It is, after all, His Word. It is Him speaking to you.

In the article I cited above, Rhodes also states the following:

Scripture tells us that we are to rely on the Holy Spirit's illumination to gain insights into the meaning and application of Scripture (John 16:12-15; 1 Corinthians 2:9-11). It is the Holy Spirit's work to throw light upon the Word of God so that the believer can assent to the meaning intended and act on it. The Holy Spirit, as the "Spirit of truth" (John 16:13), guides us so that "we may understand what God has freely given us" (1 Corinthians 2:12). 

This is quite logical: full comprehension of the Word of God is impossible without prayerful dependence on the Spirit of God, for He who inspired the Word (2 Peter 1:21) is also its supreme interpreter. 

Illumination is necessary because man's mind has been darkened through sin (Romans 1:21), preventing him from properly understanding God's Word. Human beings cannot understand God's Word apart from God's divine enablement (Ephesians 4:18).

Here is what Paul says about the Bible:

Hebrews 4:12 (NIV) "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

The Bible is the living, active Word of God. When you read it, He pushes you, challenges you, nudges you closer and closer to Him, to be more like Him.

Because of this, I think now and then when we come across challenging language in the Word, God is likewise challenging us to go deeper, to seek out more and more. Some parts of the Bible are very clear and are often used as starting points for new Christians. New Christians are sometimes called "baby" Christians, and therefore need to start with "milk." But later, as they grow, they move on to the tougher stuff, or the "meat."

Paul used this metaphor in Hebrews 5:12 and 1 Corinthians 3:2 when he stated that it was high time the believers should move beyond the elementary things of God and move into the deeper things of God-—"milk" vs. "meat."

More Information

More information about sound practices for reading Scripture can be found in the Ron Rhodes article Rightly Interpreting the Bible. Rhodes also has a very thorough statement of beliefs in the section What We Believe. I highly recommend Rhodes's ministry and writings to help educate you about the Word of God.

Introduction: God's Wisdom, Holy Spirit Power

Welcome to Get Wisdom, Receive Power!

My name is Tracy L. Tiritilli. I am the small group leader. I encourage anyone reading or following this blog to enter into a discussion about what we are studying. The purpose is to help believers grow and gain everything they need from the Holy Spirit to spread the gospel and "save others by snatching them from the fire..." Jude 1:23 NIV

No matter what study materials we will select for the group, we will always go back to these two vital aspects of growing and spreading the gospel: Get Wisdom, Receive Power.

Why "Get Wisdom, Receive Power"?

Power

Though we mention wisdom first, we're going to start with talking about power.

Jesus, after His resurrection and prior to His ascension into heaven, did not immediately tell His apostles to spread the gospel broadly. Instead He commanded them "wait."

Why? What were they waiting on?

Acts 1:4-8 (NIV)
"On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: 'Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' Then they gathered around him and asked him, 'Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?' He said to them: 'It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'" (emphasis added)

He wanted them to wait because He did not expect them to try and do this work with human strength. He expected them to do it through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. He promised to send them the Holy Spirit to empower them to see to it that the gospel would be spread throughout the earth. He knew the opposition and even persecution they would face.

The persecution started in Acts chapter 5. As the narrative goes on in Acts, the persecution grows. The apostles needed the boldness the Holy Spirit gave them so that they would not shrink back in fear. They needed boldness to help them speak the gospel in the face of torture and death. The power of the Holy Spirit also provided them with the words to speak when they were needed. Overall, the power of the Holy Spirit provided them with everything they needed to be Christ's witnesses.

That hasn't changed! Jesus does not expect that you can live a holy life or be His witness on your own "steam." To be successful, you must receive the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit lives in you, if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and savior:

1 Corinthians 3:16 (NKJV)
"Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (emphasis added)

1 John 4:4 (NKJV)
"You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." (emphasis added)

This is good news...all you have to do is ask "He who is in you" to continually empower you. You need to ask, though—He won't force it on you. One reason you need to do this because it keeps you sharp and mindful of your need of Him! (We may at another time talk about other reasons why you must ask for the continual in filling of Holy Spirit power.)

The Holy Spirit never leaves you. But if you ask, any time you need His power, He will give it to you for whatever situation you face. We know that when we ask, we WILL receive because He has promised this to us.

Matthew 7:7 (NIV)
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened  to you."

Wisdom

With all the lies the enemy has devised and thrown at us, the acquisition of God's Wisdom is vital. 

The culture is rife with lies that are intended to keep people from embracing the truth of Jesus Christ and being saved from an eternity in hell. This is the result of Satan's great hatred for God. We mean so much to God that the enemy uses us to hurt Him. If he can blind a human being to the truth of God, then he can ensure they go to hell and suffer for all eternity. And since the person is so beloved by God, this hurts God terribly.

People have listened to the lies and are blinded to the truth of God. But this falls in line with what Scripture says about apostasy in the last days:

1 Timothy 4:1‭-‬2 (NIV)
"The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron."

2 Timothy 4:3‭-‬4 (NIV)
"For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."

A primary lie the enemy has told the world—one that many, many have believed, both believer and nonbeliever alike—is that the Bible is not truly the word of God. Part of this lie is that the Bible is filled with error and cannot be relied upon as absolute truth. Even those who call themselves believers are utterly rejecting what the Bible says (about MANY things) in favor of what the culture says.

The culture says how you FEEL is what is important. The culture says that how you FEEL drives your reality.

The culture rejects the notion that people are fallen, sinful. Therefore the culture asserts that what you FEEL is never wrong, and that people don't need to worry about notions such as sin. The culture would rather be lovers of themselves (humanism) than lovers of God. The culture preaches a love of pleasure (hedonism) rather than a love for holiness, which is the nature of God.

Notice that Paul prophesied about this in his instructions to Timothy:

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NIV)
"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people."
If you have been paying attention, I think you can recognize our current world in Paul's prophecy!

Hebrews 11:25 states that sin is indeed pleasurable, but not for long. The pleasure of sin is fleeting. If we turn to the wisdom of the world and rely on how we FEEL, then we will follow the whims of pleasure and set ourselves up for letdown after letdown. But if we deny ourselves and embrace the truth and wisdom of Christ, we will find a satisfaction that endures.

This is why we must resist the urge to embrace the messages of the culture and instead seek the wisdom of God. Here are some Scriptures about the wisdom of God vs. the "wisdom" of the world:

1 Corinthians 3:18‭-‬19 (NIV)
"Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become 'fools' so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: 'He catches the wise in their craftiness'."

1 Corinthians 1:18‭-‬21 (NIV)
"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.' Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe."

The world does not seek the wisdom of God. They reject God and rely on their own wisdom, and therefore are vulnerable to Satan's lies—they buy into them, fall for them hook, line, and sinker. Satan has managed to convince even believers that what the Bible says isn't actually the truth.

Do not fall for this.

The arguments are VERY convincing, and refuted only through the wisdom of God. If you are not seeking His wisdom, you are in danger of falling for the lies and falling into apostasy. Wisdom is vital. Though it cost everything you have, get it!

How do you get the wisdom of God? Here is the good news:

James 1:5 (NIV)
"If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you."

Yup, just as with Holy Spirit power, to get wisdom...all you have to do is ask!

God WANTS to give us His wisdom. Simply ask Him! And do not doubt that He will give it to you. He promises that you WILL have it if you ask for it. Keep seeking, keep knocking, keep asking.

Luke 11:9‭-‬10 (NIV)
"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Remember, too, that when you utterly reject the message of the culture, which sounds so good, you are not actually giving up anything good. You are choosing to embrace the actual good stuff God has for you: 

Luke 11:11‭-‬13 (NIV)
"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

If you want to grow in your faith, in your walk with Jesus, and protect yourself from falling into the enemy's trap of lies, you must seek wisdom.

Final Words for this Introduction

I cannot adequately express to you the depth of God's love for you. He loves you more than you can possibly imagine. He wants very, very much to be with you forever, and He wants very much to see you GROW in Him. He has an amazing eternal destiny for you, and in the here and now, He has a wonderful purpose for you.

The Word of God is full of instruction for us so that God's purpose can be fulfilled in us. If you are ready to move deeper into your relationship with Him and grow into the purpose He has for you, then stick with His growth plan. If life gets hard or overwhelming, don't give up! He has the very best in store for you.

Other than the Bible :-)  the primary text we will use for our study is the book If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God's What If Possibilities by Mark Batterson. This book is really good! You do not have to read this book yourself, if time is an issue, but I will often refer to it and quote from it over the next few weeks.

In the next post, I am going to describe for you a few premises for how we study scripture in this group, and then we will dive into some key pieces of the book If.

Prayer

Dear Lord, I pray over this post and all those who read it. I pray that it ministers to their hearts and helps them understand the richness of Your love, Your power, and Your wisdom. I pray for Your blessing over this teaching. I pray that it will bear much fruit in the lives of the readers and hearers. I pray for them, Father, that as they desire to grow in You, that You would honor that desire as you have promised and work in them in a mighty way. Open eyes and ears. May we earnestly seek You and hear You when You speak to us. We love you, precious Lord, and we ask these things in the mighty name of Jesus! Amen!