Be Persistent!

Be persistent!  The Bible instructs believers to “…not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9 ESV).  Thomas Edison said, “The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.” President Calvin Coolidge stated, “Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence.”

Be persistent in excellence. Excellence is striving to do your best. Excellence is not perfection because perfection is an attribute held only by God. Nevertheless, excellence is a self-imposed expectation to excel to your very best in every endeavor.

Be persistent in good works. Paul encourages the Galatians not to grow weary for in time they would reap, if they didn’t give up (Galatians 6:9).  The Psalmist in the 73th Psalm expressed weariness in doing good because he lost sight of the eternal benefits of doing good. Apply stick-to-itiveness to you good works and keep your heart “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2 KJV).

Be persistent in word. Jesus taught “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’” (Matthew 5:37 ESV).  If you say it, then do it. Nothing reveals the character of a man like his word. As much as is possible, be persistent to your word. Napoleon Hill said "Persistence is to the character of man as carbon is to steel.”

Be persistent in prayer. Jesus taught that we “ought always to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1 ESV). Persistently and boldly bring your request to the Lord. Jacob wrestled with the Angel of the Lord and would not let go until he blessed him (Genesis 32:24-26).  Do not grow weary in praying but persistently bring your prayers to the Lord. Follow @pastorbarr

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Remove From Me and Grant Me

Today we share with you an excerpt from the book For His Glory: 31 Daily Meditations. We pray that Bishop Andrewes’ Prayer for Grace will quicken your spirit and bless you as it has us. We encourage you to examine the eBook For His Glory: 31 Daily Meditations. -JB

Bishop Andrewes’ Prayer for Grace:

Remove from me

   1. All iniquity and profaneness, superstition, and hypocrisy.
   2. Worship of idols, of persons.
   3. Rash oath, and curse.
   4. Neglect or indecency of worship.
   5. Haughtiness and recklessness.
   6. Strife and wrath.
   7. Passion and corruption.
   8. Indolence and fraud.
   9. Lying and injuriousness.
   10. Every evil notion, every impure thought, every base desire, every unseemly thought.

Grant to me

   1. To be religious and pious.
   2. To worship and serve.
   3. To bless and swear truly.
   4. To confess meetly in the congregation.
   5. Affection and obedience.
   6. Patience and good temper.
   7. Purity and soberness.
   8. Contentedness and goodness.
   9. Truth and incorruptness.
   10. Good thoughts, perseverance to the end.

Lancelot Andrewes

Prevailing Prayer

I Appointed You That Ye Should Go and Bear Fruit, and That Your Fruit Should Abide: That Whatsoever Ye Shall Ask of the Father in My Name, He May Give It You—John 15.16

Today's Reading is a selection
from my book For His Glory:
31 Daily Meditations

In the first verse of our parable, Christ revealed Himself as the true Vine, and the Father as the Husbandman, and asked for Himself and the Father a place in the heart. Here, in the closing verse, He sums up all His teaching concerning Himself and the Father in the twofold purpose for which He had chosen them. With reference to Himself, the Vine, the purpose was, that they should bear fruit. With reference to the Father, it was, that whatsoever they should ask in His name, should be done of the Father in Heaven. As fruit is the great proof of the true relation to Christ, so prayer is of our relation to the Father. A fruitful abiding in the Son, and prevailing prayer to the Father, are the two great factors in the true Christian life.

That whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.—These are the closing words of the parable of the Vine. The whole mystery of the Vine and its branches leads up to the other mystery—that whatsoever we ask in His name the Father gives! See here the reason of the lack of prayer, and of the lack of power in prayer. It is because we so little live the true branch life, because we so little lose ourselves in the Vine, abiding in Him entirely, that we feel so little constrained to much prayer, so little confident that we shall be heard, and so do not know how to use His name as the key to God’s storehouse. The Vine planted on earth has reached up into Heaven; it is only the soul wholly and intensely abiding in it, can reach into Heaven with power to prevail much. Our faith in the teaching and the truth of the parable, in the truth and the life of the Vine, must prove itself by power in prayer. The life of abiding and obedience, of love and joy, of cleansing and fruit-bearing, will surely lead to the power of prevailing prayer.

Whatsoever ye shall ask—The promise was given to disciples who were ready to give themselves, in the likeness of the true Vine, for their fellow men. This promise was all their provision for their work; they took it literally, they believed it, they used it, and they found it true. Let us give ourselves, as branches of the true Vine, and in His likeness, to the work of saving men, of bringing forth fruit to the glory of God, and we shall find a new urgency and power to pray and to claim the “whatsoever ye ask.”

David’s Statement of Faith

I said unto the LORD, Thou art my God: hear the voice of my supplications, O LORD. Psalm 140:6  

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David was no stranger to danger. The plea of David in Psalm 140 reveals he is once again in a place where the odds appear to be against him. He calls on the Lord to intercede in his behalf; and he can do so because his LORD is his God.

Three simple truths are to be discovered in this simple statement of faith.

• David looks to Yahweh [LORD]. The God who is and God who redeems!  Yahweh is the name of God that is often translated LORD in small capital letters. The name Yahweh declares God to be the God that exists and is used to highlight his redemption capabilities.  We too should remember that we can call on the LORD, the redeemer. We can and do look to Him for deliverance.

• David declares God to be his personal God. David had more than simple head knowledge of God. He had a personal relationship with God. In times of troubles, we need to have a personal relationship with our God.

• David did not doubt that God hears his request and will answer his request. Verse six is a statement of his faith. We too must approach our Lord with the confidence that God hears our prayers and answers our prayers. “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:  And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (1Jo 5:14). Follow @pastorbarr 

Life-Experience: The Hiccup Curse!

By Pastor Jim Barr Follow @pastorbarr

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For the last six days, I have had the hiccups.  I am not talking about the ordinary and annoying kind. I am talking about the rapid-fire kind that chokes you, makes you sick, and disables you. They have moved in and no doctor, nor hospital, nor high-priced pill, nor shot, nor any of the seventeen different home remedies have been able to convince them to leave me.  Needless, this is a “Life-Experience” I that would rather skip and one that I pray will end shortly.

Like all experiences, good or bad, there can be some powerful lessons taught by the Spirit through the Word in times like these. For example, I learned that you can pray long and hard while holding your breath while seeking immediate relief before you pass out.  The lesson I learned from these breathtaking experiences is that you better put “nevertheless not my will but your will be done” on the end of every prayer.
 

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I also learned that willing something to be so doesn’t make it so. Occasionally, we believe that if we will something hard enough that somehow that translates into super faith and God must act. God does not move according to our will; but rather we move towards his will.  Faith is an important element that is required in every prayer; but we must remember, we are placing our faith in God – the God who holds the perfect will for our life and only gives good gifts to His children. Real faith, super faith, trusts in the only God that knows what is best for you. Our will doesn’t move mountains. God is the mover of mountains and He does so only when it is for the best.  I must and I do place my faith in Him.

The curse of the disabling hiccups has also taught me humility.  Think on this for a moment, you walk into a clinic seeking urgent medical attention and the check-in nurse ask you, “And what seems to be your problem today?” First, you want to knock her in the head because you have been hiccupping all the way to the room; and then she wants you to confess, the reason you are there is because of the hiccups. “I ha—ve—th—hic—hic—ups,” you reply. She then gives you that school nursery look and says with all amazement, “The hiccups???” You replay the same scene at the ER three or four times and get the same you-have-got-to-be-kidding look. You know humbleness.

I would like to finish this little self-indulgent piece with a particular cornerstone of wisdom that I have learned; but since I am up at one o’clock in the morning writing this between hiccups, I can only share this current wisdom lesson in this affair so fat: God can be trusted and He never leaves you.

Maybe someday when the hiccups are but a bad memory, I will write more about this simple truth and all that went on in my mind and my heart. For now it is enough to simple say God can be trusted – even when the thorn remains in your side  ̶  and He never leaves your side.

The Apostle Paul Said:
So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:7-9 ESV) 

A Case of the Blues

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I should have foreknown that as soon as I started writing that there would be a shortage of time. The last week has been both rewarding and tasking. As I sit at the computer this morning, I am weary.

Weariness can have a terrible toll on the spirit of a person. It can be used by the devil to gain a foothold into a person’s life. The devil came to tempt Jesus after he had fasted forty days. His first temptation was to turn rocks into bread. When I am tire. I am tempted to bathe in the pool of self-pity and cloth myself in the “blues”, neither of which help me shed the weariness. What am I to do?

I follow the example of Jesus and spend time in the word and prayer (Mark 1:35) and I choose to engulf myself in joy! Today my clothing will not match. I will wear a wild funny tie or no tie at all. I’ll dance with my wife before she goes to work, walk the dogs longer, smell the roses, and treat myself to a morning at the computer writing about Lord. Follow @pastorbarr

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. (Galatians 6:9)

Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. (Philippians 4:4)

This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalms 118:24)

If you enjoy Pastor Jim's Wit and Wisdom, then you will love his book For His Glory: A Kaleidoscope of Wisdom. Take a peek on the inside and see what others have said.