Put this in the category of “contradiction” or maybe “oxymoron.” However you want to classify it, the phrase just doesn’t make sense to the natural mind. Jesus tells us to die so that we might live—
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24)
We are to deny our agenda, to follow His.
We are to not seek our advancement, but His.
We are not to pursue our passions, but His.
We have to die to self to live for Him.
We have to live dead.
I’m going to be diving into this topic beginning this Sunday. Many have already purchased a Live Dead journal, in order to take a 30-day journey of building our understanding of what it means to live dead. If you are near Cedar Springs, please join me this Sunday. If you live elsewhere, I encourage you to check out the live dead materials (click here to go to their website), and begin your own journey of dying to yourself so that you might live for Christ.
Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.(vv. 23-24)
Notice that Jesus says that your brother has something against you. Since the first word of this verse is therefore, we have to back up a couple of verses to get the context. In the preceding two verses Jesus talks to us about our anger, our harsh words, and our rash judgments leveled at others. In other words, things we have done to others which has made them upset at us.
In our prayer time, the Holy Spirit will help us remember what we have done. Now what are you going to do about it? Excuse it? Justify it? Or will you rectify it? Will you be obedient to go and make it right?
Until we do, we’re keeping our offended brother or sister in bondage to us. But as soon as we ask forgiveness, we set them free.
I love what C.S. Lewis said about recognizing where we may have offended someone—
“When I come to my evening prayers and try to reckon up the sins of the day, nine times out of ten the most obvious one is some sin against charity; I have sulked or snapped or sneered or snubbed or stormed. And the excuse that immediately springs to mind is that the provocation was so sudden or unexpected. I was caught off my guard, I had not time to collect myself…. Surely what a man does when he is taken off guard is the best evidence of what sort of man he is. Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth. If there are rats in the cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness did not create the rats; it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way the suddenness of the provocation does not make me an ill-tempered man: it only shows what an ill-tempered man I am.”
When the Holy Spirit shows you the rats in your cellar—when He helps you remember how your ratty words or behavior hurt someone else—take care of it immediately! It’s the fastest way to freedom!
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
In probably the best-known prayer, the one Jesus taught us to pray, there is a line I have breezed past way too many times without thinking more about it. It says, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13).
This prayer is addressed to our Heavenly Father, the One Who is all-loving and all-powerful. God loves us and He gives us His power. Even power to defeat temptation.
Sometimes we have to battle the same temptation again and again and again. Perhaps we have seen that we are overcoming that temptation more times than we’re being overcome by it; perhaps not. Sometimes it’s a totally new temptation that sneaks up on us each time. In either case, God knows what temptation we are going to face.
This line of the prayer is really saying, “God, please don’t bring me into battle with a temptation I’m not ready to face. Help me to be ready to overcome that temptation when it comes” (see 1 Corinthians 10:13; James 1:13-17).
NEWS FLASH—Instead of waiting to pray for help until I’m facing a temptation (a reactive prayer), I can pray for God’s help before I even face the temptation (a proactive prayer).
In my mind, proactive is way better than reactive!
Check out what John Bunyan learned about this—
“…I did not, when I was delivered from the temptation that went before, still pray to God to keep me from the temptations that were to come; for though, as I can say in truth, my soul was much in prayer before this trial seized me, yet then I prayed only, or at the most principally, for the removal of present troubles, and for fresh discoveries of His love in Christ, which I saw afterwards was not enough to do; I also should have prayed that the great God would keep me from the evil that was to come. … This I had not done, and therefore was thus suffered to sin and fall, according to what is written, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And truly this very thing is to this day of such weight and awe upon me, that I dare not, when I come before the Lord, go off my knees, until I entreat Him for help and mercy against the temptations that are to come; and I do beseech thee, reader, that thou learn to beware of my negligence, by the afflictions, that for this thing I did for days, and months, and years, with sorrow undergo.”
What would happen if the next time you are facing a temptation you could say, “Hello, temptation! I’ve already prayed about you, and my Heavenly Father has already given me strength to defeat you”? Don’t you think you would be much more successful? I do!
Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth AGREE about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in My name, there am I with them. (Matthew 18:19-20)
The word for agree has an interesting definition. It literally means to be in harmonious agreement. If you’ve ever listened to a piece of music, I’m sure you know the difference between melody and harmony. Melody is typically the notes you sing along to; harmony is made by the accompanying notes which fill in the musical number.
So Jesus doesn’t tell us to simply pray the same words as someone else, but to be in harmony with them… fill in their prayer with complimenting notes.
But the Greek word itself is very suggestive too. The Greek word translated agree is symphōneō, from which we get our word for symphony.
Again, you probably know that one person is not a symphony, but a solo artist. But when other instruments are added, the music swells and builds and becomes a masterful piece of art!
So too with our prayers. How beautiful it is when we pray together. It is literally a symphony in God’s ears! And not only that, but He says “There I am with them.” God Himself stops to hear this beautiful sound.
I hope you have a prayer partner with whom you can harmonize and make beautiful music together.
In Matthew 25, Jesus shows how very practical acts of service are also very spiritual acts of service. Quite simply Jesus says,
If someone’s hungry, give them food.
If they’re thirsty, given them water.
If they need a visit, go visit them.
What makes these practical acts spiritual is this word from our Heavenly Father: “Whatever you did for those in need, you did for Me.”
So here’s a very practical—and spiritual—thing Calvary Assembly of God is doing this Christmas: A Bottom Blessing. We’re accepting donations of diapers, pull-ups, and wipes to take to the Alpha Family Center. This crisis pregnancy resource center in Cedar Springs helps so many young families, so we want to help them in a very practical way. Anytime between now and Christmas Day, bring your diapers or wipes to the church, and we’ll deliver them to Alpha.
If you don’t live around Cedar Springs, find a practical way to help others in need in your community. As you do, you’ll be doing something very spiritual as well… something to which God says, “Well done!”
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Just a couple of hours before He would be arrested and so cruelly mistreated, Jesus had one last meal with His disciples. The meal began after Jesus had assumed the lowest of all positions, and washed all of His disciples’ feet.
Then He took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.” (Matthew 26:27)
Do you realize that this “all of you” included Judas the traitor?
Judas, the betrayer of Jesus, was there. He ate the bread and drank the wine of the first Communion. Jesus washed Judas’ feet. The traitor was right there when Jesus said, “This is My Body broken for you. This is My blood spilled for you.”
But it’s even heavier to think that He also said to me, “Drink of this cup, Craig.”
For Jesus surely saw my sin and my betrayal before He went to the Cross. I was the traitor, and He washed my feet. I betrayed Him by my sin, and He told me to eat and drink the reminders of His suffering for me.
How can I ignore such wondrous love?
How could I ever treat lightly such a sacrifice?
How could I ever hang on to my betraying sins in light of the forgiveness He purchased for me?
Jesus loved me—the traitor, the betrayer—and died for me. What a beautiful Savior!
My friend Dilip has released his debut album The Great Reversal (I hope you will buy this amazing CD), but I love the words of his song Beautiful Jesus:
All my words cannot describe just how beautiful You areEarthly love cannot compare to the Perfect Love that bled and diedBeautiful Jesus, I stand in awe of YouBeautiful Jesus, I’m captivated by Your wondrous loveSo I bow my knee, humbled by this mysteryHow can it be? King of Majesty, You rescued meYou gave it all for meMore than I could ask forAll I ever need is You, Jesus, Lover of my soul
►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? ◀︎◀︎
Prepositions are interesting words: they tell us the position of something relative to something else. Changing just one small preposition changes the whole meaning—“I left my wallet in the car” or “I left my wallet on the car.” In the first case, you can probably find your wallet again. In the second case, your wallet could be anywhere along the side of the road!
She has done a beautiful thing TO Me. (Matthew 26:10)
Most of the time we think we do things for Jesus. But He really doesn’t need us to do anything for Him, does He? After all, He is all-sufficient, all-powerful, all-knowing.
But Jesus loves when we do something beautiful TO Him!
We often praise God because of what He has done; that is, we praise Him for His deeds. But what if we praise God for Who He is; that is, give praise TO Him?
For is good, but TO is best.
I’m going to be watching my prepositions, to make sure I’m not only doing things for Jesus, but to Him as well—not just giving praise for what He’s done, but praise TO Him for Who He is.
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.
Publicly Holy
Try and develop a holy life in private, and you find it cannot be done. Individuals can only live the true life when they are dependent on one another. …
In the early Middle Ages people had the idea that Christianity meant living a holy life apart from the world and its sociability, apart from its work and citizenship. That type of holiness is foreign to the New Testament; it cannot be reconciled with the records of the life of Jesus. The people of His day called Him “the Friend of publicans and sinners” because He spent so much time with them.
He didn’t tell us to separate, but to season and shine.
We cannot influence people from a distance. We must live and work and interact where they are.
Jesus taught us: “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
Jesus prayed for us: “My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. … As You sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world. (John 17:15, 18)
I must be around people who need to see The Light.
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.
Not To Tell Us, But To Make Us
Our righteousness has to be in excess of the righteousness of the man whose external conduct is blameless according to the law—what does that produce? despair straightaway. When we hear Jesus say “Blessed are the pure in heart,” our answer, if we are awake is, “My God, how am I going to be pure in heart? If ever I am to be blameless down to the deepest recesses of my intentions, You must do something mighty in me.” That is exactly what Jesus Christ came to do. He did not come to tell us to be holy, but to make us holy.
Does it ever bother you that Jesus tells us, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”? It bothers me, because it sounds too hard, even unrealistic. Okay, let’s be honest: It sounds impossible!
It is impossible if I try to be perfectly righteous on my own. But the death and resurrection of Jesus paid for my atonement—my “at one-ment” with God. And Jesus has also asked the Father to send me the Holy Spirit. He is sanctifying me — making me into a holy, perfectly righteous saint in the eyes of my Heavenly Father.
When you’re starving, a crumb doesn’t seem to satisfy you.
When you’d like a special dessert, a crumb seems so unfulfilling.
What about when you are asking God for something big? Will a crumb satisfy you?
A Canaanite woman came to Jesus with a pressing need. Her daughter was possessed by a demon and was absolutely miserable. It looked as though nothing short of a major outpouring from Jesus could help this woman.
But she said, “Just a crumb from the Master’s table is enough for me.”
A crumb?!? The smallest of pieces, yet this woman knew that Christ’s power was so sufficient, that just a crumb would be more than enough!
How many times do I wait around for a feast? I say, “God, do something huge!” How small is my faith that I think God has to do something earth-shaking to answer me.
I want to be at the point where I know that just a crumb is more than enough. Just one word—one crumb—from His mouth can meet my every need.
Put this in the category of “contradiction” or maybe “oxymoron.” However you want to classify it, the phrase just doesn’t make sense to the natural mind. Jesus tells us to die so that we might live—
Craig T. Owens 