Prayer

This is dedicated to Matt

I pray with my eyes open. When I close my eyes to pray, I always start imagining things, what God looks like, what heaven looks like, what angels are doing because I'm praying, etc. I've always associated closing my eyes to speak or think with my imagination. I know I'm weird, I've always had a vivid imagination.

Anyway, God is not make believe, therefore I do not close my eyes. Usually I kind of cover my head with my hands and look at the ground so no one knows my eyes are open. But, I've always wondered why we, "Bow our heads and close our eyes" to speak with God. There is absolutely no biblical mandate for it. To the contrary it seems proper to have our eyes open. David wrote;

"To You I lift up my eyes, O You who are enthroned in the heavens! " (Psalm 123:1, NASB95) [1]

and

"For my eyes are toward You, O God, the Lord; In You I take refuge; do not leave me defenseless. " (Psalm 141:8, NASB95)[1]

Also, in the longest recorded prayer in the Bible, John writes;

"Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You,... " (John 17:1, NASB95) [1]

So, the man after God's own heart and Jesus both prayed with their eyes open. They also prayed with there heads lifted up towards heaven. Why do we pray in an opposite manner today, heads down, eyes closed?


[1] New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. The Lockman Foundation: LaHabra, CA

Communion

Do you ever question the things you've done the same forever? For the past year or so, I've been putting all of the "routine" things under a microscope. I've thought about the topic of communion a lot over this past year and I can't help but think that we've got it all wrong.
Do you think that on the "feast" of Passover, when Jesus was eating with His disciples, when he instituted what we call communion, He had in mind us eating a microbe of a cracker and drinking thimble of grape juice and then saying "Do this in remberance of me"?
I mean, what was Jesus saying to do in "rememberance"? The actually verse reads like this;
"And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you; do this in remeberance of Me." (Luke 22:19 NASB)

Do what? Was it breaking bread and passing it out? Was it eating bread? What?

I think that it was the whole event. Passover was a huge celebration that memorialized God saving the first born of every household that had the blood of the lamb on its' door posts. This was an event that pointed forward to the very night of the first "communion". Jesus was going to be the slain lamb so the God's judgement would pass over all of those who are covered by His blood. I think Jesus is saying celebrate this! Every time you have a meal with people, celebrate this! Everytime you have something to eat and drink, remember Jesus. I think Jesus wanted us to come together, to eat together, to truly commune with both Him and fellow man. I think the thing we do on Sunday's with the little cup and piece of cracker is kind of funny. I don't think it even remotely resembles Jesus' last meal. An intimate dinner with Christ and His closest friends is now portrayed by a bunch of virtual strangers nibbling on crackers and doing grape juice shooters (It's funny isn't it?).

I only write these things to encourage us to seek out true communion with God and one another. Everytime you eat or drink, remember Jesus and remember His sacrifice.

Who Do You Fear

Most Christians understand what repentance is. You might rightly say it is turning from sin. You may even go a step further and declare that it is a turning to Christ. This is absolutely correct. Not only is it correct, it is essential to salvation. Now, wait a minute, salvation is from faith alone! Again, you are right. Read this quote I stumbled upon from James Orr;
“Disputes have arisen in theology as to the priority of faith or repentance, but unnecessarily, for the two, rightly viewed, are but the positive and negative poles of the same state of the soul. There can be no evangelical faith which does not spring from a heart broken and contrite on account of sin; on the other hand, there can be no true repentance which has not the germ of faith in God, and hope in His mercy, in it. The Law alone would break the heart; the Gospel melts it. Repentance is the turning from sin; Gospel faith is the turning to Christ for salvation. The acts are inseparable.”

The reason I bring this up is that in my experience there is a tremendous amount of importance placed on faith, but in our Christian culture today repentance is very much secondary. It’s like faith is essential and you should, when it’s not inconvenient, live like Christ. James wrote that “Faith without works is dead”. A dead faith! This doesn’t mean start doing outward actions to prove your salvation, it means be introspective. What do you look like internally? Has there been a change? Your outward actions can be the result of genuine change, but they can also be a façade. On the inside, you are either more like Christ or you’re not. You either continue in the spirit of the flesh and reason like the world or you’ve been reborn and you are directed by the Holy Spirit, you are constantly being changed into the image of the very Jesus you say you have faith in. Consider this familiar verse;
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you-- unless indeed you fail the test? (2 Cor 13:5 NASB)

This test is essential! Repentance is essential, without it, what would you be testing? We are to be concerned with the state of our soul, not just once and not just on Sundays but, daily. If we are not growing, then we are dying. Let’s spur one another to more Christ centered lives.

I only write on this subject because I battle every day with my flesh. Actually some days I don’t battle at all, I just give in. When I stop to think, I realize what dangerous ground I am on.

Peace,

Harold

"Others May, You Cannot"

“Others May, You Cannot” G.D. Watson 1845-1924

If God has called you to be really like Jesus, he will draw you to a life of crucifixion and humility, and put upon you such demands of obedience, that you will not be able to follow other people, or measure yourself by other Christians, and in many ways He will seem to let other good people do things which He will not let you do.

Other Christians and ministers who seem very religious and useful may push themselves, pull wires, and work schemes to carry out their plans, but you cannot do it, and if you attempt it you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.

Other’s may boast of themselves, of their work, of their success of their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing, and if you begin it, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.

Others may be allowed to succeed in making money, or may have a legacy left to them, but it is likely God will keep you poor, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, namely, a helpless dependence on Him, that He may have the privilege of supplying your needs day by day out of an unseen treasury.

The Lord may let others be honored and put forward, and keep you hidden in obscurity, because He wants you to produce some choice, fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade. He may let others be great, but keep you small. He may let others do a work for Him and get the credit of it, but He will make you toil on without knowing how much you are doing; and then to make your work still more precious, He may let others get the credit for work which you have done, and thus make your reward ten times greater when Jesus comes.

The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings, or for wasting time, which other Christians never seem distressed over. So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign, and has a right to do as He please with His own.

He may not explain to you a thousand things which will puzzle your reason in His dealings with you. But if you absolutely sell yourself to be His…slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love, and bestow upon you many blessings which will come only to those who are in the inner circle.

Settle it forever, then, that you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, and that He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that He does not seem to use with others. Now when you are so possessed with the Living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of Heaven.

Trinity,a question

Okay, don't call me a heretic when you hear this question (if anyone even reads this anymore). This is a serious question, but it questions something that is so ingrained, at least in me. Here it is;

How important is it to believe in the doctrine of the Trinity?

Let me explain. Mainline Christianity basically says that it is very important, that our salvation hinges on it. Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons both do not believe this doctrine the same way "we" do. And let me emphasis, I do believe this doctrine, I do believe that Jesus is God, and I do believe this can be found in the Bible (John 1 for example). But, at the same time, I see where someone else might not come to the same conclusion. It really is a hard, humanly speaking, doctrine to understand. Most people cannot explain this doctrine in a way that is the least bit convincing. The Bible doesn't spell it out in plain language and it never emphasis' it as an "essential" doctrine. In fact, there are many other things that are emphasized more that we've disregarded, i.e.: repentance(really turning from your sin(Luke 13:2)), baptism (Acts 2:38), selling your possessions (Luke 14:33), and the list could go on.

So, why has the doctrine of the Trinity been made so important? If someone believes that Christ is the Son of God, that He died for their sins, and they except this personally and live their lives accordingly, but don't believe that Jesus and God were one, the same way I do, will they go to heaven? The way I've been taught, the answer would be "NO". But now, I'm not sure. How important is our overall understanding of these things? I mean there are basic truths, but how much beyond that are we required to fully comprehend? Do you understand why Jesus had to be baptized with the Holy Spirit or baptized at all (Mt 3:16)? How about this verse:

"The Child (Jesus) continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him." (Luke 2:40, NASB95)[1]

Was Jesus all knowing, always? Is it essential for me to know that answer? Again, how important is it to believe in the doctrine of the Trinity and why?

I'd love feedback if anyone is still out there (anonymous is fine).

^[1] New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. The Lockman Foundation: LaHabra, CA