Ask, Seek, Knock… and Repeat – I Want to Know What Love Is– Purity
754
Purity 754 06/10/2022 Purity 754 Podcast
Good morning,
Today’s photo of Sunset over what I believe to be Anclote River
Park in Holiday, Florida comes to us from a friend’s recent family vacation to
the Sunshine State. Although we won’t
enjoy an extended weekend this weekend, we can still thank God it is Friday and
may find comfort in this “last regular weekend” that we may know for months to
come!
What are am I talking about?
Well, while I don’t look too far ahead as a rule, a glance at the
calendar tells me the “times they are a changing”. Next weekend is Father’s Day, so no matter
what your situation is or how you feel about that Hallmark Holiday to recognize
your dear old Dad, next weekend is not a normal weekend. And the following week? School is out for the
summer, kids, and with the end of the school year the season of Summer is
undeniable and all the regularity that accompanies the school year is gone.
While it is relief to some, it is a burden to others. And even if your kids are out of school, or
you don’t have kids. You are still affected by the school, because of the changes
in traffic patterns as buses are off the road and you have to be aware of the
fact that kids could be darting into traffic because they aren’t safely locked
away in school.
So hey, enjoy this last “regular weekend” because you really
won’t see another one until after labor day! But that’s okay, as this will be
my 50th summer, I am sure that we will settle into our summer
routine pretty quickly as we are remarkably resilient at adapting to change
even though we may not like it or feel we aren’t good at dealing with
changes. The truth is life is rolling
with the punches and in my almost 50 years of life, I have discovered that we don’t
have to grin and bear the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” alone.
Last night, I met with the Men’s Freedom in Christ
Discipleship group and we discussed the process of “Renewing the Mind”, where
we recognize the lies we have believed and the worldly coping mechanisms we
have developed in our lives before coming to Christ and how we can change the
way we think, the way we live, and the way we feel by learning what God’s word
says about who we are in Christ and how we can experience the peace, joy, love,
goodness, faithfulness, kindness gentleness, patience, and self-control, the fruit of the Spirit,
that comes from a life dedicated to “walking in the Spirit”.
Some of the advice the Christ gave His disciples is found in:
Matthew
7:7-14 (NKJV) where He said:
7
"Ask,
and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be
opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds,
and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who,
if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if
he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11
If
you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much
more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Here Jesus encourages his disciples to trust that God is good and that if they pursue a life of faith their “Father who is in heaven” will give them “good things”.
Notice Jesus didn’t say, He will “give you everything you want”. I would say that although the blessings we will receive in this life of faith will vary greatly between individuals, according to God’s purposes, the “good things” things all of us can experience are those fruit of the Spirit. Those “good things” indicate God cares about our character a lot more than giving us a bunch of stuff.
I’m not saying the Lord won’t provide other good – material and experiential – things when you decide to follow Him but I would state that God is not necessarily out to make all Christians “rich”. God wants us to “ask, seek, and knock” – He wants us to be rich in faith and have a rich relationship with Him.
The way I
look at that three fold encouragement to seek the Lord and the “good things” He
has for us is like this:
Ask – To ask is ” to say something in order to obtain an answer or some information.” Or to make a request, - to do something, to receive something, or to give something” The verbal component in asking indicates a conversation and a relationship. With God we are seeking information and help. To ask, we have to talk with God. With Him we can speak out loud or converse silently in prayer. Jesus is telling us to talk to God.
Seek – To seek is to attempt to find something. Seeking God is to seek the truth: the answers to the questions of life, death, purpose and meaning. Jesus us telling us to take personal responsibility to get to know God and His will for our lives, to make our relationship with Him based on our love for Him that is demonstrated by our seeking to know Him and do what He would have us do. In seeking the Lord, we read His word, examine our experience, and try to apply His wisdom to our lives moment to moment.
Knock – To knock, means to “strike a surface noisily to attract attention, especially when waiting to be let in through a door.” So knocking is seeking to be let in. The implication is that Christ is encouraging for us to “want to be let in” to all that God has for us. But knocking, points to action. It is more that a “hoping and a praying” and it is more than “seeking”. Knocking is acting. We take our hands and reach out and exert force to demonstrate that we want in! It’s putting our “best hand forward” in attempt to be let in to a life with God. “Knocking” is a step of faith where we say, I want it and I am going to “do something to get it”. “Knocking” points to acts of faith. And believe me, that is when you get “let in”, when you follow the Lord’s leading and “do something”, when you stretch yourself, step out of the box, and try something in faith and leave the results up to God. It’s up to God to open the door, but we have to demonstrate that we are serious about getting let in by knocking, and some times we have to be persistent.
I love the way the NLT puts Matthew 7:7. It says:
Matthew 7:7
(NLT2)
7
“Keep
on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will
find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
So Ask, Seek, Knock and Repeat and as we enter into the weekend, remember to enjoy this last “regular weekend” but let me encourage you to also attempt the make what is ordinary, extraordinary by showing the Lord that you “want in” to all that He has for you.
The process of asking, seeking, and knocking is the process of trusting the Lord and pursuing the “good things” He has for you, but knowing that this process involves seeking His answers, accepting them, and shaping our lives to be in accordance to them rather than pounding on a door demanding that the Creator of the Universe give us “what I want!!”
So keep walking
and talking with God, and you will discover that the good things He has for you
were not the things that you expected but they are much better than anything
than we would have thought to ask for.
______________________________________________________________
Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book
for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (NLT2)
4 Love is patient and kind.
Love is not jealous or boastful or proud
5 or rude. It does not demand
its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.
Today’s
Bible verses on love are descriptive of how we would properly what love
is:
“I
want to know what love is! I want you to show me!”
You know, I cring when I think of the 80’s, but not for nothing, I looked at the lyrics to that Forigner song from 1984, and unlike most of the decade of decadences shallow and lame offerings, it was pretty deep.
‘I've gotta
take a little time
A little time to think things over
I better read between the lines
In case I need it when I'm older
This mountain,
I must climb
Feels like a world upon my shoulders
Through the clouds, I see love shine
Keeps me warm as life grows colder
In my life,
there's been heartache and pain
I don't know if I can face it again
Can't stop now, I've traveled so far
To change this lonely life….”
And you know
what He wants to know, that’s right what love is!
Homeboy needs
Jesus. He’s needs to know the embodiment of love.
John 3:16
(NLT2)
16 “For
God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone
who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
That’s love, to save that which is lost because of love.
And today’s verse gives us more truth
on love. Love is “patient and
kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its
own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.”
Hate to say it but obviously God is sharing these truths
about love because we get it wrong. When
love become possessive and controlling, we will be irritable, keep ongoing records
of the wrongs done, become jealous, and we lose our patience and be
unkind.
God is telling us that love is not supposed to be that way so in our “love relationships” we have to remember these truths on love and not be boastful, proud, or demand our own way and instead apply the truth of what God says love is. And who demonstrates what love is, and follow His example.
You want to know what love is? Study these two verses from 1st Corinthians and try to live them.
As
always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from
prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and
sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today
we Begin sharing from Clinton E.
Arnold’s “Powers of Darkness”
As always, I share this
information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase Clinton
Arnold’s books for your own private study and to support his
work. This resource is available on many websites for less than $20.00.
PART
I
First-Century Belief in the Powers
Paul
preached the gospel and planted churches among people who believed in the
existence of evil spirits. This fact had an impact on how he preached the
gospel and on what he taught those new Christians in his letters.
The belief in spirits crossed all
religious, ethnic and geographical boundaries. The Jews, Greeks, Romans, Asians
and Egyptians all believed in spirits who populated the heavens, the underworld
and the earth. Many were thought to be good spirits, or gods, who were worthy
of worship and could be trusted. Others caused people to tremble in fear
because they were believed to be wicked and injurious. Everyone, however,
agreed on one thing: The supernatural realm exercises control over everyday
life and eternal destiny.
Our goal in this section will be to
uncover the world view of the populace—the kind of people who were becoming
Christians and to whom Paul ministered. What specifically did the average
person believe about gods, spirits, demons and the like? This task is not easy.
Most of the Greek and Roman literature that we have comes from the educated
elite and, with the finest rhetorical craftsmanship, presents philosophical
understandings of existence that are often quite removed from what common folk
believed. Fortunately, some literature gives us a glimpse into the folk belief.
Scholars are increasingly recognizing the value of papyri, inscriptions and
archeological evidence for piecing together a picture of folk belief. We will
begin by taking a look at an aspect of first-century life that many scholars
believe gives us the greatest insight into the beliefs of the populace about
the spirit realm—magic.
1
Magic and Divination
One of the clearest windows for seeing
what ordinary people believed about supernatural powers in the New Testament
era is the realm of magic and divination. Magical beliefs and practices were a
part of all religious traditions (and even came to have a share in Christianity!).
In Western culture we have come to
think of magic as harmless trickery in the context of entertainment. When we
speak of magic during the period of the New Testament, however, we must realize
it was not the art of illusion. Magic represented a method of manipulating good
and evil spirits to lend help or bring harm. Magical formulas could be used for
such things as attracting a lover or winning a chariot race. Black magic, or
sorcery, involved summoning spirits to accomplish all kinds of evil deeds.
Curses could be placed, competitors subdued, and enemies restrained.
These practices were widespread and
reflect the common views, or “folk belief,” of the age. Magic was not something
separate from organized religion. It was an important part of the official
religions, though in many cases, not a sanctioned part. For example, the cult
of Artemis did not have an official magician attached to the cult.
Nevertheless, this goddess was invoked in magical formulas, the ornamentation
on her cultic statue was interpreted magically, and magical words were even
inscribed on her image. Many of the people who worshiped Artemis also practiced
magic.
Scholars have learned much about
Hellenistic magic in recent years. Virtually hundreds of papyrus texts have
been discovered over the past century in addition to numerous magical amulets,
lead curse tablets (defixiones) and a
variety of other magical sources. Arthur Darby Nock, the famous classics
scholar, strongly underscored the value of these sources for providing insight
into the folk belief of the time. He advised his fellow scholars that “we may
and must make use of the magical papyri in our attempt to reconstruct the
religious attitude of the mass of mankind in the Roman world.”
While virtually all of the magical papyri
that have been discovered were found in Egypt, this does not imply that people
practiced magic only in Egypt. The climate and conditions of Egypt were well
suited to the preservation of papyrus materials. In fact, our papyrus fragments
of the Greek New Testament were found in Egypt. Although the country was indeed
famous in antiquity for being a hotbed for prolific magical activities, there
is plenty of evidence that magic was practiced throughout the Mediterranean
world.
Many accounts about magical practices
exist in the literature of the first century. Even in our own New Testament,
Luke tells us about magical activity in Palestine, Cyprus, Asia and Northern
Greece, which we will discuss later. In addition, the thousands of magical
amulets, gems and defixiones (lead
curse tablets) uncovered by archeologists were discovered in all of the
Mediterranean lands. Whereas most of the papyrus texts date from the second
century A.D., the texts recorded on the more durable materials (stone, metals,
etc.) date throughout the Hellenistic period (beginning c. 330 B.C.). All these
texts are basically of the same character and encompass much of the same
vocabulary. They are also based on the same assumptions regarding the spirit
world—people and situations can be influenced by invoking the help of
supernatural, powerful spirit-beings.
The supernatural nature of magic may
be seen clearly by looking at the content of a few magical recipes. We will
take a close look at three magical recipes that provide a good overview of the
nature of magic and its close connection to the realm of spirits and demons,
principalities and powers. A typical magical formula consisted of three parts:
1. Instructions
for a magical rite.
2. A
list of the proper names to invoke.
3. A
statement of the command.[1]
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
Join
our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in
Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can
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These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You
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Email
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My
wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group:
Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask,
Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)
Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1]
Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness: Principalities &
Powers in Paul’s Letters (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint
of InterVarsity Press, 1992), 19–22.
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