James 1:9-11 Pray Scripture

James 1:9-11  "But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position;  and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.  For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away". (NASB)

A few weeks back Sam Ingrassia came to speak to our men.  Men had been encouraged to come and many did to what I had thought would be a motivational call to leadership in the church and at home.  What I found instead was a challenge for me to lead my wife in a prayer life under our own roof.  Sam pointed out the obvious; you can have the best intentions and even start all gung ho in praying with your wife but before long you will notice that your prayers begin to be repetitive.  After you pray the same old thing time after time you’ll begin to wonder, “Why am I doing this” or you maybe just quit all together.  Praying together was something I had been challenged to do many times before and knew I should.  Besides the guilt trip however, I had never been given the tools to accomplish the task.  That is until that Saturday with Sam.  Sam’s simple solution – pray Scripture.

Sam’s full message in three parts is on You Tube linked below.  Here is the simple four step process:

1)Read a section of Scripture together

2)Think about what it means allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to you

3)Discuss what you are seeing and how it may apply to your lives

4)Pray

Sam was clear, “You won’t do this every day” he said.  And he was right.  With my travel schedule and the way our household works, Sharon and I have done this now exactly three times.  But we know when we are going to do it and we know what will come next as we work through the book of James one section at a time.  It is remarkably simple and very rewarding.

Last night we came to the passage above – James 1:9-11 speaking of brothers of humble means and another, the rich man.  We read the passage and came up with the clear contrast of the two men.  We were reminded of the Scripture about the challenge of the rich man entering into heaven, thus the “High Position” of the “Brother of humble means”.  We were also reminded of the brevity of life, “Like flowering grass he will pass away” and “For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed”.  This also reminded us of the preciousness of life and the need to make the most of the time we have.

Then we prayed, Sharon first and then me and thanksgiving for the blessings of a recent bonus were shared along with thoughts of reliance on Him as an expected raise had not come through.  We prayed about the brevity of life and thought back to our prayer time last in seeking wisdom for life events taking place and our reliance on Him.  We thanked Him for this precious life and asked Him to constantly remind us to frame it for us in the context of eternity; to keep our priorities right and to help us with parenting in that regard.

So, the passage prompted our prayer; we prayed Scripture.  You can too following the simple formula and allow the Holy Spirit to prompt you from there.  And this is a NO GUILT ZONE!  Sharon and I have done it three times, but we have done it. You should too!  AMEN!

Romans 14:20-23 My Confession

Romans 14:20-23 “Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God.  Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.  It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.  The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God.  Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.  But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith.  For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin”.  (NASB)

Ok – I have to confess I blew it last night.  I have been at a company meeting here in Minneapolis all stinking week and we had a big dinner with about 180 managers.  It was a big deal.  When it all finally broke up some of us from our unit thought it would be a good idea to go somewhere alone.  We did.  Around the block was a place we had actually found the night before, “Ike’s”.  And, like the night before we each ordered a drink.  ONE!  “Last call” the waiter said and out we went back to the hotel.  There we found the group that had left the restaurant had reassembled in the lobby lounge adjacent to the elevators and there was no escaping the gravity.  So, we joined back in the social revelry of the company banter over another beverage.  “Last call” there was indicated when the lights went up and we all scattered back to our rooms.

So what’s wrong Dale?

Here’s what is wrong.  After my reminding all to “Shoot Straight or Don’t Shoot” very recently I managed to come back to the room and give the glamorous FaceBook rendition of the evening.  “Closed two pubs tonight, haven’t done that in awhile”, I wrote.

Yep!  I blew it with that post because it violated the Scripture shown above.  I had not behaved in violation of my conscience and understanding of Biblical standards of conduct for myself for the evening.  But, I may have led others to believe that I had with that post.  And, I have to confess I thought it was kind of cool that a just turned 53 year old guy that barely can stay up past 10 could actually stay up late enough to close not one but two establishments.  Of course “Pub” was a stretch too in reference to the hotel lobby lounge.  So, I was off the reservation with my comments.

No excuses, I blew it and someone may have read that and wondered, “What the heck” I thought this Dale Nicol was the guy that wrote all this stuff about the Bible and here he is out getting drunk and closing down pubs all over Minneapolis.  Although that isn't what happened someone might have thought so, and then taken liberty they believed wrong but since Dale did it ...  That's causing, "Your brother to stumble".   

The key violation was not my behavior but allowing it to be viewed or misconstrued or even twisted by my own hand into something it was not that could have tripped someone up.  
“Do not for the sake of food, destroy the work of God”.

Well, here’s maybe the biggest lesson.  We all blow it, and I did.  You will too.  If so, suck it up and admit it. It's not so easy but here's my confession in black and white. And ... don’t do what I did.  It's easier to avoid the problem than have to explain and confess it!  AMEN!

Luke 8:4-8 Sown for Maturity

Luke 8:4-8  When a large crowd was coming together, and those from the various cities were journeying to Him, He spoke by way of a parable:  "The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled under foot and the birds of the air ate it up.    "Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.   "Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out.  "Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great." As He said these things, He would call out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (NASB)

Maturity, or perhaps the antithesis of it, Immaturity is the prompt for today’s BLOG.  Perhaps you wouldn’t think of the parable of the sower when you think of maturity but it is there plain as day.  As Christians, Scripture challenges us to a life of Spiritual growth.  Doctrinally this is referred to as sanctification.  Simply put, sanctification is the process of growing up into Christ likeness.  In the modern sense it is living out that WWJD bracelet for real in your life.  When you have done that perfectly, (not that you can) you are fully sanctified.

The Easton Bible dictionary defines it this way:  Sanctification, “Involves more than a mere moral reformation of character, brought about by the power of the truth: it is the work of the Holy Spirit bringing the whole nature more and more under the influences of the new gracious principles implanted in the soul in regeneration.  In other words, sanctification is the carrying on to perfection the work begun in regeneration, and it extends to the whole man (Rom_6:13; 2Co_4:6; Col_3:10; 1Jo_4:7; 1Co_6:19). It is the special office of the Holy Spirit in the plan of redemption to carry on this work (1Co_6:11; 2Th_2:13)”.

So how does maturity or sanctification come to life in this parable?  Most often we look at this parable and analyze, what is the seed, who is the sower etc. etc.  By the time we’re all done with that, there is little time to look at the seed that took root and grew in the “Good soil”.  What happened?  Or better said, what is supposed to happen?

Before we get ahead of ourselves, this parable speaks of the Gospel message being shared and received by some.  By the power of the Holy Spirit that message comes to live in the new believer and takes root in this fertile soil prepared from eternity past to hear and receive the Word of God.  That is the, “Other seed (that) fell into the good soil”.  But my friends the message does not stop there.  The parable of the sower does not stop with germination and a sprout popping out of the ground.  In fact, Other seed did that.  “Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away.”  So that is not to be the fate of seed falling on the fertile soil.  That is not to be the fate of Christians.

"Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great."

Christians are to grow up through a process of sanctification into Christ likeness.  No, not all at once but steady progress over a life time is the design.  Paul rebuked some long time Christians who failed to grow up.  Here’s what he had to say.  ”For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.  For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.  But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil”. Hebrews 5:12-14  (NASB)

So how do I do this Dale?

That is the beauty of the Christian experience.  If you will just surrender and admit you don’t get it but open the Word and pray to the Holy Spirit to teach you.  He will!  That is the work of the Holy Spirit, to teach.  Pray when you are under the teaching of trained Bible teachers that you will “Get it”.  But you have to take some responsibility.  If you fail to attend services or studies, if you choose not to open the Word, If you choose not to pray for the Holy Spirit to teach you, how do you expect this to happen?

The Lord wants you to grow up spiritually, His word says so.  He will help you do it.  AMEN!