teachers – Praying Pint

22.q. “Search me, O God, and know my heart!”

1 Corinthians 15:34 Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

Hebrews 5:11-12 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,

Jeremiah 9:3

“They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.

Matthew 22:29

Jesus answered, “You are mistaken because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.

Psalms 119:11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Psalms 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Wake Up! Stop living like a drunk person who is unable to reason with a sound mind. Have you lost all of your senses? You are living in ways that are sinful. Can’t you see it? Are you aware that some of you have no knowledge of God for you are disgracefully ignorant of Him, and ignore His truths. Paul is making a point. “Test and evaluate yourselves to see whether you are in the faith and living your lives as [committed] believers. Examine yourselves [not me]! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves [by an ongoing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test and are rejected as counterfeit?”

We can all get sideways in our walk with God. When His Word is put aside and our interests seem to leave no time for it, is when we fall into a void and subject ourselves to wrong thinking and acting. Test what you do against what is written in God’s Word. Have a heart that asks God to show you where you are not honoring Him and be willing to receive instruction through His Word and leading. It is a lonely path leading to a void of instruction when we choose to put aside His Word for the interest of other things.

22.n. Continuation of Saturday’s devotion – I His Word only

1 corinthians 12:15 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts.

22.f. “I could not address you as spiritual people”

1 Corinthians 3:1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

1 Corinthians 14:20   Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

Ephesians 4:13-14    until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,  so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Hebrews 5:12-14    For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,  for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.  But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Surely, Paul is telling us that there should be a “spiritual growth” realized in each of us. It is written in Isaiah “For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.” Throughout our lives, we are to be spiritually growing. This growth requires watering and feeding in the Word of God. It does not come through osmosis. Time must be spent both reading it and thinking about it and applying it. The fruit of the Spirit does not grow without being watered and fed. Do you have peace, joy, love, long-suffering, kindness, patience, gentleness, rest, courage, hope….? The world will offer everything under the sun to replace what God will give to the hearts and minds of those who seek and desire to humbly surrender fleshly desires. Spiritual maturity comes with constant watering and feeding in the Word of God with a heart and mind choice to grow and live to honor and glorify Jesus Christ.

21.r. “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

Corintians 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Jeremiah 8:9 The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken; behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?

Psalms 119:98-100 Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts.

When we hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ there are many implications to consider. The path of wisdom begins by believing in God with reverent fear and confident trust and reliance. The path of foolishness denies and rejects that God exists and has reached out to mankind and made himself known to His creation.

The path of wisdom becomes aware of sin and confesses, repents, and turns away from it. The path of foolishness rejects and denies sin has eternal consequences.

The path of wisdom feeds on the Word of God and continues to desire and seek to humbly know, honor, and glorify God by and through His Word. The path of foolishness rejects the Word of God and denies it has any power or wisdom.

The path of wisdom seeks God first and tries to understand the world we live in through Him. The path of foolishness seeks worldly wisdom first and then tries to prove and eliminate anything of God.

The path of wisdom begins with and ends with God. Any attempt to find wisdom apart from Him is foolishness. When a heart seeks and desires wisdom from God, God will give it. Trying to find wisdom in God’s word but never spending any time in or meditating upon it is foolish.

19.q. “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked”

Romans 6:21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

Proverbs 1:30    Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.

Proverbs 5:13 I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.

Jeremiah 17:10     “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Romans 1:32  Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Galatians 6:7-8    Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

The fruit of disregard, disobedience, indifference, and careless neglect of God, God’s Word, and things of God will fill the stomach of the hungering soul of the self-serving, self-worthy, and self-reliant. In their heart, they feed on that which is pleasing to themselves without a single thought of God’s ways. They determine within their own minds what is an acceptable and right way to live. The driving force behind every decision is to bring pleasure and satisfaction and purpose to themselves. They can appear to be good people and have others’ best interests behind their motives. Yet deep down there is no thought of God, God’s Word, or things of God. They are slaves to sin, their sinful nature, and to worldly passions. Paul sends this letter to Roman Christians and tells them; “What fruit did you reap while you were pleasing the desires of your sinful nature? You know very well that since you have come to the saving grace knowledge of Jesus Christ you became aware of how much you were enslaved to sin and when you look back at how you were living, you see it clearly and are ashamed of how selfish, self-reliant, self-worthy, and self-righteous you were.”

It is very hard to tell a slave to live like a free man, but certainly, you can tell a free man to keep from living as a slave. We should not revert back to sinful thoughts and actions. We have been set free from the bondage of sin. We have been set free to live to honor and glorify Jesus Christ. We have been set free to rely on, cling to, and trust in Jesus Christ. We have been set free to find purpose and satisfaction in Jesus Christ. We have been set free to find peace, hope, and joy in Jesus Christ. We have been set free to know the difference between things of God and things of this world. It is in this freedom we choose what master we will serve. We have been set free and we would do well to ask God every morning to expose what He sees in our heart that is not pleasing or honoring to Him, and to lead us on single-purpose paths away from sin and toward bringing Him honor and glory.

10.u.”The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart”

Micah 2:7 Has the Lord grown impatient? Are these his deeds? Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly?

Psalms 19:7-11    The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;  the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;  the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.  More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.  Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

Proverbs 2:7     he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

Proverbs 10:29     The way of the LORD is a stronghold to the blameless, but destruction to evildoers.

Hosea 14:9    Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.

Jeremiah 15:16     Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.

Psalms 119:99-103   I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.  I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts.  I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word.  I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me.  How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

God’s word is a light unto our path, a beacon to our soul, a delight to our heart, wisdom to our mind, shield against our fears, a stronghold of courage, a fortress of rest, joy, and peace, and a sure foundation throughout eternity. Through His Word, we find hope, and our faith is continually strengthened. His Word exposes the intent of our hearts and leads us onto paths that honor and glorify Him. His Word will revive a tired and broken soul. His Word will convict our hearts. His promises become our stronghold against the devil. Spend time in His Word, hungering, and thirsting for His truths to be revealed to your heart, mind, and soul. In them, the things of this world grow strangely dim and eternity grows brighter than the sun.

53. That the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Deuteronomy 17:18 “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.

Joshua 1:8     This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Psalms 1:2     but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

Psalms 119:97-100    Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.  Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me.  I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.  I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts.

2 Timothy 3:15-17     and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,  that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

There are benefits to obeying God in reading His word and keeping it close to your heart and mind. Your faith will grow, you will begin to mature in things of God, you will recognize when you are being temped, you will recognize and become aware of sin in your life, you will begin to know the will of God for your life, you will begin to understand and experience joy, you will begin to hear the quiet whispers of God’s leading, you will begin to see the spiritual warfare in the world, you will have a better chance of not backsliding or drifting away, and you will begin to humbly serve, honor, glorify, follow, and obey God.

There really are no down sides to cherishing and reading God’s word each and every day of our life. However this are numerous downsides when God’s word is not cherished in your heart and read everyday.

Still not ready

Psalms 119:97 Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.

“This is a pure song of praise. It contains no single petition, but is just one glad outpouring of the heart.” (Morgan)

The superficial Christian may read and understand and even, in an outward sense, obey the word of God. But only the spiritual man loves it; they live as if they could not live without it. To the superficial Christian it is a duty to satisfy the conscience; to the believer it is food and medicine, light and comfort – the word of God is life.

If one wants to, they can increase their love for God’s word. You can’t make yourself love something or someone; but you can cultivate love towards someone or something.

· Give it your time; set it before you constantly.

· Give it your attention and care; look after the word of God (it is my meditation all the day).

· Give it a truly listening ear.

· Give it your honor and your obedience.

· Give it your appreciation; value it for all the good it has done for you and be thankful for all that good.

· Give it your dependence and trust; let it care for you.

· Give it your praise; speak highly of it before others.

When we truly love someone, we don’t wish to change them. “You cannot bend the Bible to your mind; how much better it would be for you to bend your mind to the Bible, and to say, ‘O how I love thy law, – the doctrines of it, the precepts of it, the promise of it, the ordinances it enjoins upon me, the warnings it sets before me, the exhortations it gives me!’ Love the whole Bible from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation, and be prepared even to die rather than to give up half a verse of it.” (Spurgeon)

“I beseech you to let your Bibles be everything to you. Carry this matchless treasure with you continually, and read it, and read it, and read it again and again. Turn to its pages by day and by night. Let its narratives mingle with your dreams; let its precepts color your lives; let its promises cheer your darkness, let its divine illumination make glad your life. As you love God, love this Book which is the Book of God, and the God of books, as it has rightly been called.” (Spurgeon)

“We may hear the wisest teachers and remain fools, but if we meditate upon the sacred word we must become wise. There is more wisdom in the testimonies of the Lord than in all the teachings of men if they were all gathered into one vast library. The one book outweighs all the rest.” (Spurgeon)

Boice tells a story about the life of Harry Ironisde, the pastor and author and Bible commentator. Ironside went to visit a man near death, suffering from tuberculosis. The man was almost dead and could barely speak. As Ironside spoke to him he asked, “Young man, are you trying to preach Christ, are you not?” Ironside said that he was, and the man replied: “Well, sit down a little, and let us talk together about the Word of God.” Then the man opened his Bible and spoke with Ironside until his strength was gone; he shared insights from the Bible that Ironside had not appreciated or even seen before. Ironside was stunned, and he asked the man: “Where did you get these things? Can you tell me where I can find a book that will open them up to me? Did you get them in seminary or college?” The old man replied: “My dear young man, I learned these things on my knees on the mud floor of a little sod cottage in the north of Ireland. There with my open Bible before me, I used to kneel for hours at a time and ask the Spirit of God to reveal Christ to my soul and to open the Word to my heart. He taught me more on my knees on that mud floor than I ever could have learned in all the seminaries or colleges in the world.”

The Bible is the description of our heavenly inheritance.

The Bible is the instruction manual for wise and blessed living.

The Bible is a telescope where we see the heavenly city that is our destination.

1 Corinthians 3:2 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. I gave you milk,not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready, for you are still worldly.

I am sending the promise of my Father

“And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you”

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

John 16:7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

Acts 2:33 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

Ephesians 4:10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

Jude 1:17 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

The promise of the Helper, Holy Spirit, and Spirit of Grace and Mercy has been given to all who believe. The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to lead, guide, teach, convict, comfort, and encourage our heart, mind, and soul. The Holy Spirit’s influence in our life is not through some mystical void but rather through bringing God’s word alive and flooding our inner soul with understanding and knowledge of God. The Holy Spirit produces fruit in our lives. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives us peace. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus“. Staying in His word gives fertile ground for it to be brought to life and being led into action by the Holy Spirit for the purposes of God. The promise of God for the Helper will equip us for all of God’s plans and purposes this side of eternity. It will also equip us for everything we experience this side of eternity. Stay in His presence, study His word, be open to hearing His whispers of leading, pray, and above all desire and commit to humbly serving, honoring, following, and obeying Him.