Reflections

Should Temptation Be Avoided?

Should we take any steps to prepare ourselves to meet temptation, or should we just go into it, head on, trusting God to help us overcome it? Luke 11:4 seems to suggest that we  should ask God to keep us  from all kinds of temptation. Bus is this really what is saying ? Dr. Fosdick, a famous American preacher, said that, out of many thousands of letters he received, he was asked more questions about

this one text than any other portion of the Bible.

We know that God does not tempt, but He can and does lead us to the place of temptation. We know also that temptation can be the means in His hands of refining our souls and  developing our characters. Why then should we ask not to be led into it?

The real answer, I believe, lies in the fact that, when Jesus framed this prayer for His Disciples, He took into account that there would be times (as He experienced it in the Garden of Gethsemane) when the human heart would seek to draw back from the time of test. At such times, we can either pretend, and put on a mask, or say,'If it is possible let this cup pass from me'. This need for self- honesty is so important that Jesus built it into this classic prayer so that, when we pray it, are we really saying, 'Lord take into account my human weakness, my frailty, and my fears of being tested, and if it is possible let it pass from me'. Courage does not mean that we can never be afraid. It means doing what

 we are supposed to do in spite of it.

 

Reflections

Guidance

We cannot proceed along the Christian path unless we are guided, and God has not left us to wander in doubt, for He has provided a number of ways by which we can be sure the route we are taking is in accordance with His will.

 How are men guided in general? 

1. by what others do, 2. by chance happenings 3.by superstitious beliefs, 4.by impulses 5.by conscience 6.by God.

Those who take their guidance from God must recognise that His guidance is given on certain conditions. He desires to guide us in a way that develops maturity in our beings. Imagine how underdeveloped we would be if every morning we would sit down with pencil and paper and receive by dictation from God the orders for the day. Our growth would be stunted and we would never develop into mature persons. In guiding us, God has in mind our maturity and He desires to bring us to a place where our characters are so much like His that we follow His principles almost automatically, because our thinking is based on His own pattern. "Thy hands made and moulded me, to understand thine orders" (Ps. 119:73)

We are inwardly made to respond to the "orders" of God and when we do them there is an inner sense of freedom, functioning the way we were designed. God's guidance then is intended to bring us to our highest development and achievement , and unless we know His will then something vital is missing from our personalities. The main thing to remember in guidance is this - don't concern yourself too much about where God wants you to be, but what He wants you to be. When you are what He wants you to be then He can put you where He wants you to be.

Reflections

Getting the Best out of the Bible

How can we use the Bible to obtain the maximum benefit from its pages? Approach it in an attitude of prayer. As you take it in your hand, recollect that it is an inspired book and just as it required Divine inspiration to write it, so  requires Divine inspiration to write it, so it requires Divine inspiration to understand it.

The you must read it unhurriedly.However restricted your time, your reading of the Bible, (if it is to yield spiritual profit) must be without haste. There is little value in scanning a portion of God's Word, then quickly diverting the mind to something else. Better one text taken in at leisure than a whole chapter hurriedly scanned.

Then read it with an inquisitive mind, Ask yourself two basic questions."What did this portion of Scripture mean at the time it was written?", and "What does it mean to me at this present moment?" Sometimes, of course, the two answers will coincide. Sometimes the answer to the first question might elude us, while the answer to the second will have deep personal impact. The practice of opening the Bible at random and receiving the first word one reads as a personal message from heaven is to be discouraged. God sometimes speaks in this way when our hearts are deeply troubled or overwrought, but it is more the exception than the rule. Gog guides most those who read His Word most.

Reflections
The real you.
How do we deal with this crippling problem of inferiority? There are a number of approaches to this question but the one I have found most helpful is the one I am going to share with you now. See yourself in Christ!
There were three persons in Simon Peter: 
1.The person whom his friends and associates saw, 
2. the person  whom Simon Peter saw  
3. The person whom Jesus saw. (John 1:42)
Each thought he saw the true Simon. Who was right? The person whom Jesus saw was the true person for he turned out to be what Jesus predicted - not a reed but a rock! 
 Similarly, there are three people in you: the one your friends see; the one you yourself see; the one whom Jesus sees. Everything depends on which 'you' you focus upon. If you focus on the 'you' your friends see, you will get into bondage over the question of what others think about you. You will become an echo  rather than a voice . If you focus on the 'you' that you yourself see you will become downcast and discouraged by your inhibitions and your problems. But when  on the 'you' that Christ sees, then what a difference! It is a 'you' that is surrendered to God, linked to His Omnipotence and reinforced with divine energy. It is a 'you' that achieves things beyond your own capacities, and driven by a power outside of yourself.
You become what you focus upon. See yourself in Christ. You are wrapped around by His infinite resources. This the real 'you'.  Christ sees you as a complete in Him. See yourself in that position and you will become it.

Reflections
Our Resources In Christ.
  Let us take s look at our resources in Christ. This is very necessary, for in looking at problems we can, unless we are careful, allow those problems to get inside us, and then we become a problem both to ourselves and to others. We must gaze at Christ full-faced until His divine resources fill and flood our whole being, and until we are wholly and entirely possessed by His life-sustaining power.
  Someone has said, "The early Christians did not say in dismay, 'Look what the world has come to', but rather, 'Look what has come to the world'". They saw their problems as possibilities and their setbacks as springboards. They were realists, of course, and faced the fact that sin abounded, yet as true realists they also recognised that "where sin abounded grace did much more abound". On that assurance the early Christians went out and turned the world upside down, and this same attitude must possess you and I as we turn to consider the things which seek to destroy and invalidate our abundant life in Christ.
  I must explain that this positive attitude is not simply self-hypnosis (a fool's paradise) nor even
positive thinking,  but rather the confidence that comes from realising that our lives are linked to the God who created and sustains this vast universe. Someone has said that the whole secret of abundant living can be summed up in this sentence, "Not your responsibility, but your response to His ability".

Reflections

 Dealing with Guilt

Reflections
Getting the Best Out of Our Quiet Time
We look now at how to get the best out of our daily Quiet Time so that we develop an intimacy with the Almighty and that our souls may become sensitised to His guidance. It is important to fence off a part of our day so that we may commune with God, but we ask ourselves now: How should our devotional time be spent?
It should begin with the Bible. George Mueller regarded this simple fact as one of the most important discoveries he had made in fifty years. For the first ten years of his Christian experience he went straight to prayer, but the results were disappointing. He says: "I often spent a quarter of an hour, or half hour or even an hour on my knees before being conscious to myself  of having derived comfort, encouragement or humbling of soul; and often, after having suffered much from wandering of mind for the first ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, or even half an hour, I only then began really to pray. I scarcely ever suffer now in that way." Beginning with the Bible brings us swiftly into the Presence of the Lord. It prevents mind- wandering  and makes prayer that much easier. When you pray remember three aspects of drawing nigh to God, namely, confession, adoration and intercession. Prayer is not complete, however, unless having talked to God you let God talk to you. This is when you quietly wait upon God for the gentle impression of His Will to be imprinted on your mind. Remember, the Book first, prayer second, and listening third.

Reflections

Difficult Circumstances

Difficult circumstances  present no real problem to the man and woman in whom the life of Jesus Christ resides. Of these Edwin Markham says:
Defeat may serve as well as victory
To shake the soul and let glory out.
When the great oak is straining in the wind,
The boughs drink in new beauty and the trunk
Sends down a deeper root on the windward side.
Only the soul that knows the mighty grief, 

Can know the mighty rapture. Sorrows come

To stretch out spaces in the heart of joy.

Hudson Taylor knew this more than anyone. One day seated with a new missionary in a home in China he filled a glass full of water and then struck the table heavily with his fist. As the water splashed over he said to the young missionary. 'You will be stuck by the blows of many sorrows and troubles in China, but remember, they will only splash out of you what is in you'.

It was said of the quaint Cornish preacher Billy Bray that the more troubles he had the more he would shout 'Glory'. On one occasion he is reported to have said. "If you put me in a barrel I will shout 'Glory' through the bunghole." Troubles and difficulties bring out what is inside us. An old Christian travelling in a train stood up to get his suitcase as the train pulled into the station. It came to a sudden stop causing him to lurch from one side to the other. When he hit one side the passengers heard him say "Glory", and when he hit the other side, "Hallelujah"! The jolting shook the Glory out. Does it do the same in you?