In this series on prayer, I have dealt with a number of reason why people struggle so much with having a fulfilling prayer life. In this article I want to talk about two very big hindrances to Christians having real faith when they pray. These two subjects have been taught by many pastors and teachers over the years because in the body of Christ no one wants to be labeled as a teacher of wrong concepts or theology, and because these teachers have been trained to embrace reformed theology in particular. In my mind, these teachings are damaging to not only the practice of prayer but to evangelism and reaching unbelievers.

This article comes from a devotional subject I posted a few days ago on my Facebook page entitled “Are You Being Deceived?” in which I posed the question of wether we are discriminating in the kind of people we fellowship with, or are we allowing people who lie to us and others into our lives? One person asked the question of “Is It Always Wrong To Lie” or are there situations in which lying is allowed by God. So let’s get started!

When the early church got started, after the resurrection of Christ, many people were afraid to identify themselves as “Christian” because that put them at odds with the religious community of elders and pharisees who hated Jesus, and the political community that believed Caesar was god and didn’t tolerate dissent. How things have changed since then in America. we are now at the point where rappers and other musicians, who curse all through their songs, wear chains with large crosses as a status symbol of style and populatity. It seems Christianity is no longer a threatened religious group in America but rather a badge of idenity that is supported by the current culture. That is, unless it’s Christianty based on scripture and not just feelings.

But what if Christianity is not being embraced in it’s original form and content? What if the Christianity we hear about today is no more than a shell of the original faith of the early church and the church throughout the ages until now? What if the word Christian has been “Hijacked” by a humanistic culture and branded as the real deal?

There was a recent study by the Pew Research Center that stated that 468 of the 531 members of the 117th Congress discribed themselves at Christian. Now we should expect anyone that professes Christ as their Lord and Savior would be governed with Godly intent and pass laws that make our nation truly an example to the world. Instead we have seen just the opposite. Why the difference between their profession and their fruit, you may ask? The only answer must be that they are merely following the teaching of the churches they attend and are never held accountable to any real Christian standards. Consider just one law that has been on the books since 1973 and the consequences of not rejecting such a law. Roe v Wade has been responsible for killing over 62 million babies. Why? Partly because the professing Christians do not feel convicted to change that law.

So many people who profess Christ as their savior have little to no knowledge of what that profession means or embraces. Many professing Christians have little to no knowledge of the qualifications of claiming Christ because they don’t read the scriptures for themselves, nor do they read the stories and biographies of genuine Christians from the past. How can a person believe they follow Jesus when they don’t truly know what Jesus believed or taught? It’s like claiming to be a doctor but never going to school to train as one. That would and should be labled as either a fraud or decived.

I worked as an auto mechanic while planting and pastoring churches. The reason for this is I didn’t want to burden these new churches with a financial drain, and I felt it was a good witness to unbelievers to offer the preaching and pastoring at no cost. The interesting thing is I found many guys working in automotive shops who should have been classified as “Parts Changers” rather than mechanics. They either had no training or they had no mechanical gifting, or both. They only knew how to replace parts. There are a lot of “Professing Christians” who have learned the Christian lingo but who don’t have the experience of yielding to the Lordship of Christ.

There was a movie in 2002 called “Catch Me If You Can” with Leonardo DiCaprio who played the part of a young man named Frank Abagnale who ran away from home as a teen and pretended to be an airline pilot, a doctor and a lawyer. He learned enough about each profession that he fooled many people about who and what he did in life. Just like in the movie, I believe there are a lot of people like Frank who have learned to “Pretend” they are followers of Christ when in fact they have merely learned to mimic Christian behavior often eventually fooling others, including themselves.

King Saul, Israel’s first king, started out well but soon compromised his values to gain an advantage with his followers. God had to remove him because of his compromise and bring David in as a king who would honor him and his Word. David had a real understanding of what it meant to believe and follow God. Granted, he made a lot of mistakes in his life, yet the core of his life was founded and anchored in a deep trust of God that shaped and guided his life. God’s confession of David was that he, unlike so many others, was a man after God’s own heart. That means he had the same values and pursuits as God. To have God testify this about us as true followers of Christ is what we should hope and long for.

1 Samuel 13:13-14

Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, for now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. “But now your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”

So many professing Christians don’t read the Old Testament and thus fail to understand what God’s character is or what he is looking for in his followers. Jesus is not looking for fair weather followers who compromise their faith at every turn. He is looking for faithful people who, when they make mistakes, ask for forgivness and repent. David understood God’s heart and his need for God to examine him regularly lest he drift from being a true follower of God.

Psalms 26:2-4

Examine me, O LORD, and try me; Test my mind and my heart. For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in Your truth. I do not sit with deceitful men, Nor will I go with pretenders.

David’s position is he wanted God to examine his heart and mind to verify his intent in life, and he boldly states he doesn’t want to listen or hangout with pretenders. How different it is today when many are taught to not judge others and accept everyone without exception, believer or nonbeliever. When Christianity has no standard other than acceptance we have no standard at all. How we are suppose to love everyone and accept everyone even if their lifestyle and behavior conflicts with our own or the Bible. Now I know we are to love everyone, but to embrace wrong behavior purely because someone claims to be Christian is foolishness. Look at what David prophesied about God’s desire for his people and about what happens to those who merely pretend faith.

Psalms 81:13-16

Oh that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways! I would quickly subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their adversaries. Those who hate the LORD would pretend obedience to Him, and their time of punishment would be forever. But I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Let me leave you with a sobering thought and example of the difference between those who profess faith but have very little fruit to back up their claims, and those who have surrendered their lives to Jesus to lead them each and every day.

Consider once again what the apostle Paul says about the last days, which I believe we are currently in:

2 Timothy 3:1-3

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, Holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. 

Questions:

1) Is your faith built on scripture or feeling? Only faith built on the Word of God will endure and be accepted by God on the judgement day

2) Would your faith convict you in a court of law? If it was against the law to believe in Christ and trust him? Jesus said by our fruit will we be evaluated.

May God help us to surrender daily to the Lordhsip of Christ so that our profession is justified before a watching world.

Pastor Dale

We have been exploring the idea of how easy it is to get stuck in “Yesterday” and fail to move forward in today and tomorrow. Our memories are a wonderful thing that God gave us but some memories can be a hindrance toward gaining the inheritance that God’s Word promises us. Those memories can be good or bad.  Sometimes good experiences cause us to reject new ones and cause us to get stuck. Bad experiences are generally used by the enemy to trap us in the past.  If you haven’t read the first part of this series,please read that one first.

All of us have a past, and from my experience we all have at least one major event that has the potential to keep us stuck in pain and disappointment. If you find yourself heading there, or are currently stuck, read on and learn from one of the greatest men of the Old Testament.

I opened the first article about dealing with doubt by saying that doubts are a part of life, even when we come to faith in Christ. There are “Road Blocks” to faith that happen to all of us, even strong believers, because we have imperfect sight and information. One of the main reasons we are encouraged to read scripture regularly is because all scripture is like a chain link fence of interconnected verses, stories and principles. If we are missing verses, or even whole chapters, we get only a partial understanding. Then we can come to distorted perspectives of who God is and what he is trying to do in our lives. Faulty assumptions don’t just come from things that are untrue, but also can come form misapplied information or truth.

In this study I have proposed a few key attitudes and behaviors that gain favor with God. In the first article we learned that having favor with God is developed and acquired through choice and discipline. Proverbs 12:2 states that “A good man obtains favor from God.”  In other words, our choices and conduct affect our standing, either good or bad, with God.

We have been looking into what the “Favor” of God means as well as the importance of how you grow in Favor with God. From my experience, this subject is rarely talked about because so many pastors and teachers are afraid of being labeled a “Works” person. The subject of God’s grace is so hammered into most Christians that people are often blind to the obvious truth that what we do matters. If you haven’t read the first two article in this series, please read those first before continuing with this one.

The incorrect belief about grace and works clouds the ability of many to reason out the scripture with common sense. In Romans, Paul challenged young believers to be renewed in their thinking because their pagan upbringing clouded their reasoning and judgement. By challenging believers to get “renewed” or “rewired” they could think more clearly and reason out the scripture as they were intended to be understood. The Jews in days of Jesus thought much like the religious people of our day who learn scripture but never really apply them.

Christians often wonder why God doesn’t respond to their prayers. They believe that God loves them and yet there seems to be a disconnect when it comes to answered prayer. Maybe there is a problem with how we conduct ourselves since becoming Christians? Maybe there is more to ordering our lives in ways that please God and thus “Gain Favor?” In my opinion, this is one of the major misconceptions of our walk with God. We believe in God and embrace that Jesus died for our sin but often our understanding of how and why God operates eludes us. If you haven’t read the first article on “Favor With God” please read before reading this article. It will make more sense.

Words matter a lot! But what if the culture we find ourselves living in changes the meaning of a word?  Today, words are thrown around with a disregard to their true meaning. If the new, incorrect definitions are spoken by enough people then the actual words develop a new emotional meaning.  If we lose sight of what words and concepts in scripture actually mean, then we are bound to stumble.