Category Archives: Epistles

Refusing the Temptation of Take Matters into Our Own Hands

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This is not the first time that I buy a book on Kindle, start reading it and end up buying a “real” copy to be able to underline it and write my notes -with real pens-, and truly make it my own. The book I am now talking about is by A.W. Pink and it is entitled Gleanings from Paul: The Prayers of the Apostle.

I plan to share some portions of it with you as I read through.

In Romans 1:8-12 we read one of the prayers of Paul, and among other things he asks the Lord to make it possible for him to visit the Christians in Rome  (v.10). Pink comments on this passage,

“Let it be duly noted that he refused to take matters into his own hands and act upon an inward urge. Instead, he subordinated his own longings and impulses to the will of Him whom he served. This is very striking and blessed. Paul did not consider what many would regard as ‘the Spirit’s prompting’ a sufficient warrant. He must first be assured, by His providences, that this journey was ordered by His Master. Accordingly he spread his case before God, committing the matter to His decision and pleasure.”  (emphasis mine)

I don’t know about you, but for me the temptation to take matters into my own hands is real, which means that reading these words was convicting.

However, as with all temptations, there is way out; and we the effectual remedy against the temptation of taking things into our own hands is Prayer.

I read once that dependency is the heartbeat of prayer; and now think about this, when we decide to take things into our own hands -instead of praying and trusting in God and in His Providence- we are in a sense saying, “God, I don’t think you can handle this. I know which things need to be  done and I will start doing those few things that must be done right now -before it is too late-.” Sisters, as we start acting in urgency, responding to our own longings, impulses, and feelings we are in reality denying our dependency on God.  And that, we all know, is a sin from which we need to repent.

 

Really, Sisters, if we keep insisting into taking all the difficult circumstances into our hands instead of bringing them in prayer to God we will only going to make up messes. A.W. Pink reminds us, “Unless we ‘rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him’ (Psa. 37:7) only confusion and trouble will ensue.”

Prayer is the only way to resist and overcome the temptation of taking things into our own matters because in prayer we say, “God, I cannot handle this on my own. I need you. Give me patience to wait in you, in your Providence; draw me to your Word, Oh Lord. Grant me a humble heart to seek advice, and a quiet heart to trust in your timing. I am wholly dependent on you, my sovereign Lord.”

Praying with you as we learn to be wholly dependent on Him at all times,

Becky

Praying Ephesians – Ephesians 4:17-32-

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©Shiloh Photography

Father, I praise your name, your goodness, your mercy which lead us to repentance. Thank you, because you draw us to you and in drawing us to you You change us. Thank you for your Word, a double-edge sword, that pierces into our soul dividing darkness from light. I praise your steadfast love, my Lord, the one that pursues us until we are transformed!

My God, help me not to walk in the futility of my mind only let your light, your Truth shine in me, into my mind and heart delivering me from a darkened understanding. Oh, Father, how I pray that you will give me a humble heart willing at all times to admit and repent from all sin and error in me so that I may not grow a hardened and callous heart. Deliver me from all sensuality, from a greedy desire to to practice sinful habits that I have welcomed many times as “part of my natural way of being.” Oh, that I may not forget, not for a moment, the way I have learned Christ! Father, I ask you today to help me put off daily my old self which is full of deceitful desires that draw me away from your Kingdom of Light. Give me discernment and a heart willing to obey what I know that the Holy Spirit is calling me to do; help me to be diligent in the habit of practicing discernment, first and foremost, within my own heart which is deceitful above all things. Create in me, day after day, a heart that is willing to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Yes, in true righteousness and holiness, not in the one that is deceitful, fake, and raises from a puffed-up heart filled with nothing but filthy self-righteousness.

Help me, today, Father of Truth, to put away all kinds of falsehood: lies, slander, deception, flattery, gossip, and to be diligent in pursuing truth. Lord, that I may be true to the Word, true to myself, true to my convictions. That I may be willing at all times to speak the truth with my brothers and sisters remembering that we are indeed members one of another. Help me remember that spoken truth should always be spoken with the goal in mind to help each other grow in every way into the likeness of Christ.

Oh God, give me a quiet and gentle spirit, one that has learned to overcome the kind of anger that makes me sin. Father, that I may always have a heart whose natural response is to forgive and forgive, and forgive. Transform me daily in the light of your Word, that I may be in all areas of my life, different than the one I used to be when I did not know you nor the Gospel who transforms and gives life.

Deliver me, Lord, from all corrupt talking which only brings death and kindles enormous fires. Help me day after day, situation after situation, to speak -and write- only those words that are good to build up others, words that give grace to those who hear them. Help me to fill my heart with your Word even more, so that out of the abundance of my heart I may always speak.

Oh, Lord, deliver me from grieving your Holy Spirit by whom I have been sealed for the day of redemption! Deliver me from having deaf ears and blind eyes that won’t let me hear and see where your Spirit is leading me. Deliver me, oh Lord! That all my life, even the deepest meditations of my heart may be pleasant to you.

God, only you, through the power of the resurrection and the power of the Holy Spirit within me can help me put away all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander, along with all malice. Only in you can I overcome sin, and I give you thanks for the provision you have made for us to conquer and not live in bondage of any kind of sin anymore. Let my life, Father, be characterized by kindness, by forgiveness never forgetting that God in Christ forgave me.

In Christ, my Redeemer who lives and reigns forever more,

Amen

Becky

Praying Ephesians -Ephesians 4:1-16-

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@Katie Lloyd Photography

Father, thank you for your Word which is perfect and pure, and which teaches us how to walk as Christians in this fallen word. Father, I ask you to forgive me because many times I have not walked in a manner worthy of the calling to which I have been called with all humility and gentleness, with patience.

Oh Lord, help me, through the Grace that saved me and sustains me, to walk every day with all humility. Forgive the many times I have looked down on someone; forgive when I let pride and self-righteousness have dominion over me. Forgive me when I walk haughtily, with a heart blind with arrogance. Give me a humble heart, a teachable heart, the heart of a servant.

Forgive me when I don’t walk or speak with all gentleness. Forgive me for my harsh attitudes, for my rudeness. Work in me, Oh Lord, and create in me a humble and gentle heart. Let my words be sweet to you and to those around me.

Father, forgive me when I lose my patience, when I want things to be done promptly and my way. Lord, help me! That I may not see my loss of patience as something that is not grievous to you. Help me to see how it shows the condition of my heart that doesn’t want to wait for your perfect time. Father, help me to wait in silence knowing that my hope is in you. Help me to trust in you at all times knowing that you are sovereign over the time frame in which we live.

Lord, teach me to bear the burdens of my brothers and sisters in love, help me to persevere in prayer for them, to intercede, to remember with a compassionate and grateful heart those who are going through trials. Help me to reach toward them in love to help them with their burdens. Help us, Lord! Forgive me, O Lord, when I have turned and have decided not to bear with my brothers in Christ with love. Give me a heart that reaches in prayer and hands that reach to serve promptly and with a joyful heart.

Father, that I may eagerly seek to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That I may not forget that there is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. That I may not forget that you alone are over all, and through all and in all. Help me, please, Oh Lord. Help me, to be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace without compromising the Truth as revealed in the Scriptures. Lord, help me, because this is so hard to do in this era in which many voices are raised and a dense cloud of confusion makes it hard for us to discern how to do this. I need you, Lord. I need you, so much!

Father, thank you for the grace that you have bestowed upon each one of your children. Thank you for the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, the teachers, all given in time to equip us for the work of the ministry, to build up the body of Christ until we all -each one of us- attain the unity of the faith and come to the full knowledge of your Son, Jesus Christ. Father, thank you because in the Word, in the prophets and the writings of the apostles, through the exposition of your Word, we can grow in grace into mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Graceful Father, help me to hold fast to the Truth, to the words that have been revealed in the Scriptures, deliver me, deliver us from an apathy towards your Word, which will restrain us from growing in grace. Help me, Lord, to hold fast to your Word in a time in which deception keeps knocking at our door disguised as piety and is adorned with seductive words. Help me, help us, so that we may not be like children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried away by every new wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes that seems so inviting.

Oh, God, help us, help me! That I may dare to speak the truth in love for the sake of building and not tearing down. Help us, help me, to hold fast to your Word, to the unchangeable Truth in a time in which people, even in the Church,  are trying to redefine what your Word clearly teaches. Lord, it would be so easy to fall into deception, help me!

Father, this Lord’s Day I intercede for your Church. Help us grow joined and held together by your Truth. Help us, work properly and function as one body. Make us grow in all submission to our Head which is Christ Jesus, and help us build ourselves in love to bring glory to your Name.

In Jesus’ Name, our Lord and Savior,

Amen

Becky

Walking the Christian Life

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Walking is not that simple. It takes practice.

Walking like the world… that looks easy.
You create your own truth
and then you live by your own standards
always trying to choke back guilt.

Walking like a nominal Christian… that is not so easy.
You choose what to believe from the Truth,
and then you live by your own
standards most of the times trying to suffocate the Truth.

Walking like a Christian… that is not easy.
You don’t get to define Truth,
and then you are called to live by its standards
and proclaim Truth, never drown it.

I think of my children when they were little, and how their brains and legs knew how to walk. I loved to be there to hold their hands, and push them a little bit, and  hug them happily whenever they took a step. I was there too when they were insecure and fell, and cried, and were afraid to take a new step. And this is how our Christian life is.

We, Christians, are born of the Spirit. We can walk in Truth, our new nature is built for that, but it is also true that we need help and encouragement, someone to hold our hand and teach us. Someone who will hold us tight when we want to avoid the Truth. Someone who will pray with us whenever we are afraid to take another step.

Our Father in his goodness provides us with relationships that help us walk this Christian life; but more importantly, He has given us His Word and the Holy Spirit to teach us and encourage us to walk in the Faith.

Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gave us some instructions on how our walking should look like. As I read his epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, I marked down these verses, and I encourage you to read the whole epistles (not only the verses! That would be like cheating 🙂 ) to find them, meditate on them, pray about them, and put all diligence to walk in them:

Ephesians 2:1-2; 2:10; 4:1-3; 4:17; 5:1-2; 5:8-10; 5:15
Philippians 3:17
Colossians 1:10; 2:6-7; 4:5
I Thessalonians 4:10

Today is Saturday and maybe it is a good time to do this; read the epistles in one sitting, just like your favorite book, that one that is hard to put down, and find your delight in abiding in the Word.

I will be digging in the rest of the epistles this weekend to search more about how this walking in the Lord should look like.

We must be ready, this walk is not always easy, let us hold tight to the Father’s hand and depend on Him.

“Growth in grace is to know more of Christ, His excellence, preciousness, and fullness, through the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Growth in grace is to know more of our wretched, lost condition, our helplessness and unworthiness.” Mary Winslow

Have a most blessed weekend,

Becky

Praying Ephesians -Ephesians 3-

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Probably Valentin de Boulogne, Saint Paul Writing His Epistles

Father, I praise today your glorious grace and give you thanks for revealing the mystery of redemption to your church: that now we, Gentiles in the flesh, who were once separated from the commonwealth of Israel and were strangers to the covenants of promise, are now -through the blood and resurrection of Christ Jesus- fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. How wonderful these news are! Because of this, because it pleased you to made for yourself a people out of the midst of the unworthy, is that we are alive and have been made your children. Thank you, Father! And I join the voice of a saint who said after meditating on this passage of the Scriptures, How great our obligations to sovereign grace!

Lord, thank you for the gospel. I ask you to please have mercy on me and give me grace to proclaim the gospel, the unsearchable riches of Christ with all diligence. Help me so that in every word that comes out from my mouth, in every work I do, I will be a testimony of the grace that saves. Help us, each one of your children, to live a life that will not bring shame but glory to your Name. Oh Lord, help us make known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places that Jesus is Lord of lords and King of kings!

Thank you, Father, because we can come before you with all boldness and confidence through our faith in Jesus. Thank you for calling us by name to enjoy fellowship with you. How is that we sometimes neglect to come before you, when it was through the blood of Jesus, through that enormous sacrifice, that we can now have access to your presence! Forgive us for so often neglecting prayer and instead embracing anxiety and fear!  I ask you to help us endure through trials and tribulations and to continue to pray for one another as we proclaim the good news to the broken world. Help us, Father through your Holy Spirit, to grow in the grace and in the saving knowledge of Jesus, our Lord. Help us to seek you with all diligence through out our day.

Father, because of the way that now is open for your own children, because now we can come with all boldness to lay before you the petitions of our hearts. I humbly bow my knees before you, Father, and pray for my husband, for my children and their future spouses. I pray that according to the riches of your glory you may grant them today to be strengthen with power through your Spirit in the inner being, so that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith. Oh Father, help us to be well rooted and grounded in love so that we all may have strength to comprehend (what is humanly impossible) with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that we may be filled with the fullness of God. That knowing You in the Scriptures becomes the daily longing of our heart until we awake to you likeness.

Father, what a blessed assurance it is to know that you are able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think. Let you glory shine forth in your Church and in the future generations, forever and ever amen.

Becky

Truth and Love -Ephesians 4:15-

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John Stott writes in his commentary on Ephesians (referring to Eph. 4:1-16):

“Thank God there are those in the contemporary church who are determined at all costs to defend and uphold God’s revealed truth. But sometimes they are conspicuously lacking in love. When they think they smell heresy, their nose begins to twitch, their muscles ripple, and the light of battle enters their eye. They seem to enjoy nothing more than a fight. Others make the opposite mistake. They are determined at all costs to maintain and exhibit brotherly love, but in order to do so are prepared even to sacrifice the central truths of revelation. Both these tendencies are unbalanced and unbiblical. Truth becomes hard if it is not softened by love; love becomes soft if it is not strengthened by truth. The apostle calls us to hold the two together, which should not be difficult for Spirit-filled believers, since the Holy Spirit is himself ‘the spirit of truth,’ and his first fruit is ‘love.” There is no other route than this to a fully mature Christian unity.” (emphasis mine)

I read the Word of God and the words of godly men like Stott and Bonhoeffer, and many others, and I still feel like a broken vessel which knows not how to love others while embracing His Truth, while upholding God’s Word, while giving it preeminence and not compromising it. Stott says that “this should not be difficult for Spirit-filled believers,” I think that is the only line in this quote with which I do not agree. I find it one of the most difficult things to learn. I pray I will always be brave enough to stand strong on the Truth that is so often changed, but humble enough to recognize when I am not loving like Jesus would.

The more I ponder on these things, the more I recognize that only in God we can find perfect justice and perfect love.

Learning under His sun and by His grace,

Becky

*Thanks to Tim Challies who shared this quote on his blog today and to my friend Melissa who pointed it to me.