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How exactly should we pray for those who have so badly mistreated us? There’s a natural response, and then there’s a supernatural response that Jesus calls us to.
In the New Testament, the Greek word for “bless” is eulogeo. The prefix eu- means “good” and the root logos is “word.” So, in the New Testament context in which we now live, to bless someone literally means to say good words both to them and about them. So when Jesus tells us, “Bless those who curse you and pray for those who mistreat you,” He is telling us to say good words to them, and to say good words about them in prayer to our Heavenly Father. …
Commenting on Psalm 109:4, my friend Kevin Berry said, “While they accuse me like satan, I will pray for them like Jesus.” This is the highest level of Christian maturity: To pray like Jesus did for those who insulted Him, slandered Him, and crucified Him, “Father, forgive them for they don’t understand what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).
I truly believe that When Sheep Bite will be a healing resource for shepherd leaders who are still feeling the pain of their latest sheep bite. Please pick up a copy today!
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Can we trust our Bibles? There are some things that skeptics point to that we need to be able to defend—even in this model prayer that we have been studying. We come to the last verse of this prayer, which many of you probably learned or heard as, “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” Yet some Bibles have a footnote here that notes that this doxology is not seen in all biblical manuscripts.
We don’t have the autographs (original writings) but we have manuscripts (copied by a trained scribe from the autograph, and then copied from by yet another reliable scribe, and so forth). The oldest calfskin manuscript we have goes back to 1500 BC, and the oldest papyrus manuscript goes back to 2400 BC.
The scribes were incredibly talented and disciplined men. They became a recognized group called the Sopherim (scribes) in about 500 BC. By AD 100, the Talmudic scribes eclipsed them, and then the Masoretic scribes—the most stringent scribes of all—dominated from AD 500-900.
Let’s turn our attention first to the manuscripts that compromise what we call the Old Testament. What did Jesus—and others that lived in His time—call those 39 books of the Old Testament? They were called Scripture. Those books were not in doubt even before Jesus was on earth.
Dr. Peter Flint notes, “The biblical Dead Sea Scrolls are up to 1,250 years older than the traditional Hebrew Bible, the Masoretic text. We have been using a one-thousand-year-old manuscript to make our Bibles. We’ve now got scrolls going back to 250 BC. … Our conclusion is simply this—the scrolls confirm the accuracy of the biblical text by 99 percent.”
In the New Testament era, the disciples of Jesus went out in pairs. Their oral transmission of the news of Jesus and the quoting of Scripture was verified by their traveling partners. Even for those who happened to be by themselves (e.g. Philip in Samaria), there was always follow up by other church leaders.
So the New Testament epistles were written to verify the spoken words—James was the earliest (probably AD 45). The number of manuscripts we have of these New Testament words are simply astounding!
After the canon of the New Testament was completed, the church fathers quoted so much of the New Testament in their letters and books that we could completely reconstruct those 27 books just from their writings.
With this many manuscripts in existence, is it likely that there would variations in manuscripts? Yes. But none of the variations ever discovered have been fundamental enough to change anything in the meaning. Josh McDowell states, “Compared with other ancient writings, the Bible has more manuscript evidence to support it than the top ten pieces of classical literature combined.”
So how do we handle these places where scholarly footnotes tell us of a discrepancy in the existing manuscripts?
Get the context—does this fit with what is happening around it?
Is there corroboration—can we cross-reference it from elsewhere in the Bible?
In the conclusion of the powerful model prayer Jesus has given us, the closing words appear to be a doxology. But I think we can trust this because for three main reasons:
This doxology seems to come full circle with how the prayer begins in: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven (vv. 9-10).
These words are found almost verbatim in the words of David: Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is Yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; You are exalted as head over all (1 Chronicles 29:11).
As we have noted throughout this prayer series, the focus of this prayer is two-fold: It is both an acknowledgement of the awesome, praiseworthy glory of our God, and it is a petition for our lives to be empowered to help others see our glorious God and Savior for themselves.
For these reasons, this doxology, I believe, is an indispensable part of this majestic prayer.
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There is a way we can keep the door cracked open for the devil to whisper his slander to us, and there is a way to slam the door shut! Jesus said one of the best ways to shut the door on the slanderous lies of the devil is to forgive people who have injured us.
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I did a series of Advent messages a few years ago called “The Carols of Christmas” with the premise that many of our old familiar carols had become too familiar and we had lost the true meaning in those beautiful songs.
I think the same is true with the sentiment of wanting to experience the glory of God. Sometimes you will hear people say, “We just want to see God’s glory!” but I’m not sure they really mean this or really want it.
Throughout the Bible, “glory” comes from the Hebrew word which means weightiness. When God appears—or even one of His angels glowing with His glorious presence—people collapse under the weight of His glory. Look at the examples of Moses, Isaiah, Daniel, and even John the beloved disciple of Jesus (Exodus 3:6; Isaiah 6:3-5; Daniel 8:15-17; Revelation 1:12-17).
In the light of Christ’s glory everything is exposed. We have no excuses for our sin. We are seen exactly as we are, and the fear of God’s judgment causes us to collapse under that weight.
But the First Advent story is filled with the phrase “Fear not.” Let me show you two examples. First, notice the strong emotions when the angels appear to the shepherds—
An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.” (Luke 2:9-10)
What was this good news that would turn their fear into joy? Listen to the angelic message to Joseph—
Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins. (Matthew 1:20-21)
Notice the phrase, “HE will save His people from their sins.” Part of what contributes to our fear of God’s glorious presence is knowing that we are helpless to remove our sins. The fact that Jesus would do this for us was foretold in prophecies like Isaiah 25:7-9 and 59:15-16.
How will Jesus do this? In 1 Corinthians 15:53, Paul says that in order to enter into God’s presence our perishable, mortal lives have to be exchanged for something imperishable and immortal. We are unable to do this, but in the Incarnation, the immortal God put on mortal flesh!
Paul goes on in 1 Corinthians 15 to say, “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55)!
If our sins were still clinging to us, spending eternity in the presence of the King of Glory would be torturous! Our fear of His weighty glory is only changed into joy when we accept that He has saved us from the penalty of our sins. Now our fear of His glory isn’t a crippling fear, but as we worship Him for His salvation our fear becomes reverential worship.
Or we could say it this way—When we fear the King of Glory we fear nothing else!
Charitie Lees Bancroft captures that idea in these stanzas of her poem:
When satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God the Just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.
Behold Him there! The risen Lamb,
My perfect, spotless righteousness;
The great unchangeable “I AM,”
The King of glory and of grace!
One with Himself I cannot die,
My soul is purchased by His blood;
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ, my Savior and my God.
With our sins forgiven by our faith in Jesus, we can now enjoy an eternity in the weighty, awesome presence of the King of Glory!
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It would be nice if complainers were satisfied just complaining to themselves, but they’re not. Do you know the cliché misery loves company? It’s just as true for complainers: They really want others to join them in their bellyaching!
I think a good word for what these negative people do is ambush. The dictionary says that means to lie in wait with hostile intent. Jesus told His followers that this ambushing behavior was going to happen. In Luke 6:22, He uses the word “when” not “if”—
Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.
We see this vividly portrayed in the life of Daniel. This man had done nothing but helpful things since the moment he arrived in Babylon. He faithfully served foreign kings, never wanted any recognition for himself, saved lives, interpreted dreams, and explained confusing things. He had a great work ethic and impeccable integrity. But the complainers still wanted to ambush him (see Daniel 6:1-5).
One psalmist described these ambushers in terms of a hunting lion: His mouth is full of lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue. He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent. His eyes watch in secret for his victims (Psalm 10:7-8).
Doesn’t this sound like what the devil does too? Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).
Jerusalem was surrounded by three armies that were lying in wait to ambush the Israelites. After God told the people of Jerusalem that He would deliver them, King Jehoshaphat sent out his army with the worshippers at the front of the ranks. Then listen to how worship not only thwarted the ambushers but boomeranged their evil plans back on themselves—
As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another. (2 Chronicles 20:22-23)
When we worship God and sing our grateful praise to Him, we put the sword of God in our mouths. And there isn’t a more effective sword against the darkness than the (S)Word of God (Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 1:16; Ephesians 6:17)!
Paul told the church at Colosse that singing our praise to God with other saints was an encouragement to all who heard those worshipful songs (Colossians 3:15-17).
So when the ambushers are surrounding you, use your thankful songs as a shield, as a sword, and as an encouragement to others!
If you’ve missed any of the other messages in our series The Great Attitude of Gratitude, you can find them all here.
The Holy Spirit loves to give us those “lightbulb moments” when the Word of God almost leaps off the page! I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
It has long been believed that some migratory animals use the earth’s magnetic force to help them navigate. Some researchers discovered that moths can see both the magnetic fields and the stars to plot their course. The lead researcher wrote, “If you have this tiny insect with a brain a tenth the volume of a grain of rice and eyes smaller than a pinhead, that they can do this is surprising.” The protein in their eyes that allow them to do this is unevolved—it’s always been there, implant from the beginning by our awesome Creator!
In the God Speaks Science reading plan on YouVersion, John Von Sloten wrote, “Creation is God’s first book. To read it we need science. Science is not the enemy of the Christian faith; it’s an ally! … We need to read biblical creation references with the Author’s omniscience and original intent in mind. To do that, we need science. … What if you try to connect the next scientific truth you encounter to an attribute of our ever-near God? If everything comes from God’s mind, then everything has something to say about God’s nature.”
Competitive leaders need to keep both winning and losing in perspective. Check out the full conversation Greg and I had about competition on The Craig and Greg Show.
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The main point in Hebrew literature is usually found in the middle. In Psalm 122 that would be verse 5 where we seethe keyword in this verse is thrones—“thrones for judgment” and “thrones of the house of David.” Before this, we have the call to go up to Jerusalem (the City of Peace) in the first four verses, and after this, we have overwhelming, saturating peace in the last four verses.
But I wonder: How do thrones—especially a throne of judgment—bring about peace?
Remember that these are songs of ascent: we are called upward. I think “up” implicitly appears in verse 1—“I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go UP to the house of the Lord,’—and “up” explicitly appears in verse 4—“That is where the tribes go UP, the tribes of the Lord, to praise the name of the Lord.”
There is clearly a longing to go up to meet with God, but I also detect a note of uncertainty. Let me show you what I see. First of all, verse 3 in the New Living Translation says about Jerusalem that “its seamless walls cannot be breached.” And yet the walls were breached in 586 BC when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians. So anyone singing this song of ascent after the time of exile would have known that the walls weren’t as secure as David hoped they would be.
Second, verse 4 in the Contemporary English Version says that “every tribe of the Lord obeys Him.” And yet it was the disobedience of every tribe of the Lord that led to their defeat and then their 70-year exile. So, again, anyone singing this song of ascent after the time of exile would know about the punishment for disobedience.
In an earlier Psalm, David asked God who could go up to the Holy City, and then he answered his own question like this—
The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others; who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind; who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. (Psalm 15:1-5)
That description also sounds a bit unachievable to me, because who has ever fulfilled all of the items on that list perfectly?
So we get to verse 5 and read about the thrones. The word “throne” means the seat of honor, authority, and power. It represents the place where the final and unchallengeable word is spoken. There is a final day of judgment before God’s throne, which John records in Revelation 20:11-15.
And yet, that day of judgment is not here yet. Jesus quoted the prophecy from Isaiah about Himself in His first sermon, but He purposely left off the last phrase about the day of judgment. He, instead, ended with the phrase where He had come to “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Isaiah 61:1-2; Luke 4:17-21). We see this thought again in John’s Gospel—
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. (John 3:16-17)
If we try to earn our own way into the Eternal Jerusalem, we will find that the walls can be breached, our obedience is not consistent, and that we are unable to keep that full list in Psalm 15. As a result, we face a throne of judgment.
But when we place our faith in what Jesus did for us on the Cross, where He paid the price for our sin, took away our unrighteousness, and gave us His righteousness in its place, then we will stand before the throne of shalom.
In the second half of Psalm 122, the words we read are peace, secure, peace, security, brothers and friends, peace, prosperity. That word “peace” is the Hebrew word shalom, which means nothing lost, nothing missing. Jesus wants us to be in the Eternal Jerusalem with Him for ever and ever.
Christ’s desire is that none should be separated from Him (see 2 Peter 3:9-14), so we could also say that shalom means no one lost, no one missing. We should want everyone—every tribe, nation, and people—to be with us in the Eternal Jerusalem forever!
I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go UP to the house of Lord.” Let’s not go alone. Let’s bring as many people with us as we can to enjoy the eternal shalom of God’s Holy City!
If you’ve missed any of the other messages in our look at the Psalms of Ascent, you can find them all here.
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Douglas Carmel from Rock Of Israel ministries shared an amazing overview of the seven Jewish feasts that are listed in the Book of Leviticus, and how Jesus is the fulfillment of all of these feasts. Doug was born into a Jewish family and became a Christian in his late teens, so he has firsthand knowledge of both the traditional celebrations and the Christian understanding of these feasts.
One of the things I appreciated was Doug’s explanation that the feasts were merely a shadow of the reality—Jesus is the Reality!
Passover—celebrated on the 14th day of the first month
Leviticus 23:4-5
Matthew 26:17-29; Mark 14:12-26; Luke 22:7-20
Jesus was crucified on the same day that the Passover lamb was being sacrificed
Unleavened Bread—celebrated on the 15th day of the first month
Leviticus 23:6
1 Corinthians 5:6-9
Firstfruits—celebrated on the 16th day of the first month (or the day after the Sabbath)
Leviticus 23:9-14
1 Corinthians 15:12-26
Seven Weeks—celebrated 50 days after Firstfruits
Leviticus 23:15-21
Also known as Pentecost
Acts 2:1-41
Doug called our attention to the calendar on which these feasts appeared. Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, and Seven Weeks all happen in the spring. All four of these feasts have already been fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
There are no feasts in the summer months, as these are the months of field work (Leviticus 23:22). This is where we are now, which is why Jesus told us, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field” (Matthew 9:38). This is the time for us to tell others about Jesus the Messiah!
The final three feasts appear in the autumn—Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles. These are feasts that are still to be fulfilled at Christ’s Second Advent.
Trumpets—celebrated on the 1st day of the seventh month
Leviticus 23:23-25
This is also known as Rosh Hashanah when the shofar is blown
1 Corinthians 15:51-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18
Atonement—celebrated on the 10th day of the seventh month
Leviticus 23:26-32
This is also known as Yom Kippur—the one day of the year the high priest goes into the Holy of Holies
Romans 11:25-32; Matthew 23:39
Tabernacles—celebrated on the 15th through the 21st days of the seventh month
Jesus said of Himself, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). Jesus is THE Reality and THE Fulfillment of all of these celebrations!
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Do you talk to yourself?
Of course you do. We all talk to ourselves: it’s called “thinking.”
But do you talk out loud when you talk to yourself?
An unhealthy habit for most of us is that our thoughts are only a one-way monologue. That is, we are listening to our thoughts but we are not talking back to them. As a result, everything negative we’ve heard from our enemies is bouncing around in our heads. The more we hear it, the more likely we are to believe it.
In Psalm 42, we hear from a psalmist who is longing to experience God’s presence but at the same time there’s a nagging thought implanted by skeptics: “Where is your God?” The psalmist reminisces how it used to be, which means there is a nagging doubt in his mind that it may never be like that again.
But finally, the psalmist does the mentally healthy thing: he talks back to his thoughts. He asks himself a question and then he gives a new response—a response that is hope-filled instead of doubt-plagued.
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember You. (Psalm 42:5-6)
When the nagging thought of “Where is your God?” comes up again just a couple of verses later, he doesn’t linger or brood over this doubt-inducing thought but immediately talks back to that negative voice with hope-filled words (vv. 10-11).
The devil has a singular agenda: to separate you from God. He does this through lies and doubts. Jesus told us the devil’s native language is lies: “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
The Bible tells us that the devil can also put thoughts and desires in our hearts, but they are all lies (see John 13:2; Acts 5:3).
We cannot let these lies go unchallenged, so here’s our battle strategy:
For the weapons of our warfare are not physical weapons of flesh and blood, but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, inasmuch as we refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the true knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ—the Messiah, the Anointed One. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5 AMP)
There are five questions we need to use to talk to ourselves about the thoughts we hear:
Is this thought unbiblical? (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
Does this thought rob God of the glory due His name (Psalm 29:1-11)?
Does this thought stifle my love for God or others (Mark 12:28-31)?
If I linger on this thought, does it rob me of peace (Isaiah 26:3-4)?
Does this thought make me apathetic toward sin (Genesis 4:7)?
If we answer “yes” to any of these questions, we must capture that thought and put it to death, which requires the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17). Because of what Jesus has done for us on the Cross, every promise in God’s Word is “yes and amen” in Jesus, and therefore is an invincible weapon against lying thoughts (2 Corinthians 1:20).
Here’s how we use those promises:
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb AND by the word of their testimony. (Revelation 12:10-11)
Listen to your thoughts, but don’t listen too long before you start to challenge them with these five questions. Then demolish those lies—triumph over them by the blood of the Lamb and your spoken testimony. Speak the truth out loud for all to hear.
This is part 4 in our series on a Christian’s mental health. If you’ve missed any of the other messages I’ve shared, you can find them all by clicking here.
Craig T. Owens 