IT’S GREEK TO ME: ROMANS 8:26-27

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses.” “Helps” is from the Greek, sunantilambano, which is three conjoined Greek words with a three part meaning: sun= together with, anti= against, lambano= to take hold. The Holy Spirit takes hold together with us against any weakness of body, soul or spirit.  “For we do not know what to pray for as we ought.”  “As we ought” is the Greek, katho dei, what is necessary in any given case. The thought here is not that we “should know”, but that we do not have the fullness of knowledge required to know the particular “what” requiring prayer in each prayer circumstance, and we never will.  “But the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us…”   The Holy Spirit of God Himself pleads our case before the throne of God.  “Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is.” This “He” has the definite article which identifies the “He” as God (1 Chron. 28:9; Jer. 17:10), and in the present participle denotes a continuous, moment by moment activity.  God, the heart searcher, continually searches our hearts for movement toward Himself, knowing fully the intentions of the Holy Spirit.  “Because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”  This “He” contextually is the Holy Spirit who pleads our weaknesses, our needs, before God and prays the Father’s will, His Kingdom, into our circumstances.  His intercession for us is deeply intimate – He shares all that is hidden, the desires, mistakes and pain of our condition, with the Father then pleads for grace and mercy on our behalf in harmony with God’s will for us.  And Christ, our Lord and Savior, who also searches our hearts (Rev. 2:23), and “ever lives to make intercession” (Heb. 7:25) for us, is personally making this same intercession “at the right hand of God” (vs. 34). With Jesus and the Holy Spirit both interceding for us before the Father, we need only join in on their petition. We are truly blessed! 

BE STILL AND KNOW

"I never knew you” (Matt. 7:23): “Know” here is the Greek word ginosko which denotes knowing gained through experience... relationship and intimacy; we must really “know” Jesus and be “known” by Him.  Relationship and intimacy are birthed and mature through time spent together.  To really know through experience that there is another person with us in our “empty” room takes a disciplined Stillness before God where we learn to hear His voice... for His sheep “know His voice.” Man punctuates his speaking with silence but God punctuates His silence with speaking, so chances are we will drown out God’s still small voice with our constant mental and verbal patter.  “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10). “Know” here is the Hebrew word yada which means to know intimately. It is in Stillness before God that we truly come to intimately know God. “Be still” is really a divine “shut up”! God is much more polite than we people-kind. We must learn to stop our flow of endless petitions, turn off our incessant earth-bound mind set and rest in deep meditation and awe-struck wonder before our God. If awe-struck wonder seems a little strong than we simply need to learn more about this all powerful, all knowing, everywhere God who for some unfathomable reason has decided to lavish His pure-passion love on us. And when our mind wanders, and it will, wander after it and bring it back... Stillness is a discipline, and disciplines are learned!  The day will come when we will be able to step into our inner man in quite meditation before our Father at any time and place, finding immediate peace in the intimate presence of God. Be still and know...

IT’S A DISCIPLINE

AN OPEN WINDOW

Prayer is an invitation for our Father to intervene in our life circumstances, an open window to let His will prevail over our will. By granting Him Lordship over our soul, we submit ourselves to His concerns, and ultimately align our hearts with His passionate heart, joining ourselves to His righteousness in our everyday lives. Herein is our love for God demonstrated and proven, in our passion for the things that have captured the heart of our King... willing to do His will... for love without works is dead. The New Testament records no fewer than fifteen different passages where prayer is tied to God’s will. Jesus said He came to do God’s will and did not seek His own will but the will of the Father, which He called His food. James taught we should submit our daily plans and activities to the Lord’s sovereign will – ‘If the Lord wills.” Paul four times submits his travel itinerary in prayer to the will of God, indicating God’s will directed his ministry labor. John boldly proclaims the Lord hears and answers prayers that accord with His will, with the strong implication these are the only prayers He hears and answers. The Disciple’s Prayer, often miss-referenced as The Lord’s Prayer, encourages as a model prayer the proclamation “Thy will Be Done.” And then there is The Lord’s Prayer: “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but always Yours be done.” David had it right in his Psalms: “I delight to do Your will, O my God … Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.”

PRAYER IS FINDING OUT

WHAT GOD WANTS TO DO

THEN ASKING HIM TO DO IT

SOMETHING TO SHOUT ABOUT

We praise God for what He has done for us but we worship God for who He is. We tend to be thankful to God for the tangible interventions and blessings of this life, but seldom take the time to come before God’s throne in thankfulness for the unchanging things that are settled in heaven: That we are in Christ, in the Beloved, that we can come boldly to His throne of super-abounding grace, that He will never, ever, ever leave us or forsake us, that He is faithful even when we are unfaithful... loving us unconditionally, eternally and without prejudice. God loves us too much to leave us as we are, no matter how good we look to ourselves... no matter how much we whine, He is constantly, passionately willing and working to manifest Christ in us... our hope of Glory! He always gives us good gifts because He gives us what we need, not what we want, and works out all things together for good in accordance with His divine purpose, our perfection. Think about that for a moment: God’s good is quite different than the human kind, not merely physical and temporal, but purposeful within His divine will... provoking transformation in us, and it has an eternal warranty attached... an eternal weight of glory. Behind, under, beside, above, in and through human free agency runs God’s sovereignty. All “things”, blessings, adversity... the good and bad “things” of life, are within His purposes. The God of All is personally orchestrating every circumstance, every detail in our life to bring about His purpose, not ours, allowing in His wisdom what He could easily prevent in His power... making us into His jewels. Monetary light afflictions, the difficulties encountered along the way, are but the predestined rendering of our nature into the derived likeness of His nature, perfecting us in preparation for forever with the Perfect One.  When Jesus commanded, “You must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48; Moffatt’s trans.), He was having a very serious moment. His truth penetrates the callus of our heart, truth that sometimes makes love hurt. If God heals our diseased body we have only gained a tiny sliver of time – we will still die. But when He seated us in the heavenlies with the Son of His love, when He said”This one is Mine” – that’s eternal. That’s now until forever! That’s something to shout about!  

PREDESTINED TO BE PERFECT

DIONYSIA STILL SPEAKS

Jerusalem, 38 AD: Dionysia had lost control of a piece of property she owned, as a result of a local court ruling, and had appealed the case to a higher court in Alexandria,  sending her slave to Alexandria with a stone box containing the legal documents which would prove her claim of ownership.  Unfortunately, the slave lost his life in a fire which destroyed the inn where he had put up for the night.  For 2,000 years the sands of the desert covered the ruins of the inn, the charred bones of the slave and the stone box.  When archeologists, recently uncovered these remains, they read the note Dionysia had sent with her legal documents to the judge in Alexandria.  “In order that my lord and judge may know that my appeal is just, I attach my hypostasis”.  The legal documents which Dionysia referred to as her “hypostasis” were, in fact, the title deed to the disputed property, the evidence of her ownership.  “Hypostasis” is the Greek word translated “substance” in Hebrew 11:1, “ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”,  and its technical meaning in the business world of the first century church was “title deed.” Three other words in this passage need clarification: Evidence (gr. elegchos) means demonstrated conviction, things (gr. pragma) means a thing done, and hoped (gr. eipizo) expresses continuous action. Heb. 11:1 literally translated: Now faith is the title deed of things already done and therefore continually hoped for, the demonstrated conviction of these things which are not yet being seen. God has already decreed “things” done in eternity and determined the timing for when they will appear in time.  Our faith is our title deed of ownership and is demonstrated by our conviction while we wait. This faith produces real hope, expectant desire, not a rash, feebly grounded wish or a dream of hope; not the child of a wish but a firm grasp on an unseen fact, making the unseen as real to us as the seen.  “For we walk by faith not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7).
 

NOW FAITH IS THE TITLE DEED

YHWH

The famous 18^th century German philosopher Kerkagard once stated “If you label me you negate me”; I think our God agrees with this and intentionally inspired the writers of the Bible with many names of Himself to communicate to mankind His nature and character. It is impossible to capture the essence of an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient “infinite in all things” God with a one word name label. There are 21 Hebrew words, 14 compound Hebrew words, 16 Jehovah titles and 18 other names for God, just in the Old Testament. Much discussion has been given to the tetragrammaton, YHWH, which is translated over 6,000 times in the Old Testament as Lord, and appears in the original texts without vowels – we really don’t know how to spell or pronounce  God’s  most common name – He literally has no common name. The ancient Hebrew rabbis thought the tetragmmaton was so sacred they would not attempt to utter a sound for it, and the scribes copying the Bible would stop to fast and pray every time they came to it in the text. The Jehovah Titles used for God are:

Jehovah-Elohim : The Eternal Creator

Adonai-Jehovah : The Lord Our Sovereign

Jehovah-Jireh : The Lord Will See Or Provide

Jehovah-Nissi : The Lord Our Banner

Jehovah-Rapha : The Lord Our Healer

Jehovah-Shalom : The Lord Our Peace

Jehovah-Tsidqenuw : The Lord Our Righteousness

Jehovah-Mekaddishkem : The Lord Our Sanctifier

Jehovah-Sabaoth : The Lord Of Hosts

Jehovah-Shammah : The Lord Is Present

Jehovah-Elyown : The Lord Most High

Jehovah-Rohi : The Lord My Shepherd

Jehovah-Hoseenu : The Lord Our Maker

Jehovah-Eloheenu : The Lord Our God

Jehovah-Eloheka : The Lord Thy God

Jehovah-Elohay : The Lord My God

Notice the last three, The Lord is our God, your God, and my God – no one is excluded. God called Himself “I Am” to Moses, “I Am Who I Am.” I Am the cloud by day, the fire by night, the rock flowing forth water, I Am whatever I need to be whenever and wherever I need to be it... I Am. There’s much comfort in that, much comfort!

REGARDLESS

Luke 1:26-38 describes the meeting between Gabriel, the archangel who stands in the presence of God, whose name means “Hero of God”, and Mary, the humble peasant girl God sent him to visit. We all know the amazing truth that the GOD OF ALL chose to become flesh and dwell among men, my point here is to look at Mary’s submission to God’s will. “How will this be since I am a virgin”? Notice the lack of doubt in these words, only wonder at how Gabriel’s words would be fulfilled – the mechanics of the miracle was all Mary questioned, not the message or the miracle itself. “Let it be to me according to your word.” God’s word is His will so in essence Mary was praying “Let it be to me according to your will.” The honor bestow on Mary was staggering, but the responsibility was overwhelming. Mary’s submission to God’s will was at great personal cost for at worse she could be stoned to death, at best she would be ridiculed and she could forget about her reputation and whatever dreams she held as a young Jewish girl on the threshold of marriage, family and a normal life. Gone forever was “normal.” She risk it all as she willingly stepped into God’s mysterious life changing will. Listen to Ken Gire’s take on Mary’s courage: “Her faith was courageous. We know that because her decision was quick, and her obedience complete. She would submit to God. Regardless of the questions it would raise. Or the eyebrows. Regardless of the cost. Or the consequences. Regardless if it meant losing her reputation. Or the man she loved. Even her life. And maybe, of all the favorable qualities this young woman had, maybe it was this “Regardless” quality that made her most suited to the task of raising such a wonderful promise. For “Regardless” had to be a quality that was instinctive if promise were ever to grow up and reach fulfillment as Savior of the world.” There is much we can learn from Mary: “Lord, I am your servant. May it be to me as You will... Regardless.” This prayer opens the windows of heaven and tickles our Daddy’s heart. This is more than a model of how to pray, it is a model of how to live heart to heart with the Father.

LIVING HEART   TO HEART WITH GOD

JUST GIVE ME JESUS

The only way to live is the way of the Spirit. The Spirit is the Third Person in the Trinity. He knows the Father. He issues forth from Him. He knows the Son. He is the literal Spirit of Christ.  The Spirit is God in the same sense that Jesus is God, and He is “another comforter” – just like Jesus!  He is therefore holy and He is love. Every time He speaks, it is to point to the Holy Path, to the way into God’s presence. Every feeling He feels, as He searches our heart and sees so much that wants God’s blessings more than God, is saturated with kindness, and hope. His passions stir Him to stir our passion for Christ, to turn our heart toward home, to position our feet on the road into God’s presence, to let us see the sparkle of the radiant diamond that is Christ.

Jesus came to earth to tell us He is the way, the truth, and the life. His death opened the way into God’s presence, the greatest blessing of all. His teaching made clear the truth that life does not consist in a return to Eden’s comforts; it doesn’t even consist in graduation to heaven’s bliss.  True life is knowing God. Jesus said so. And this life is Christ Himself, not the bread He could multiply or the corpse He could resurrect, but Him. Being in Him, abiding in Him and having Him abide in us, living with His energy, chasing after His purposes, loving what He loves, seeing Him formed in us until we’re actually like Him – that is the abundant life. And it can be enjoyed in bankruptcy or affluence, from a hospital bed or a deck chair on a cruise ship, at the graduation of our child from law school or our child’s graveyard interment, or when we walk out of a divorce court we never thought we would see or into a surprise party celebrating fifty years of wonderful marriage.

The Spirit always points to the Christ of the Bible, the One who offers no guarantees that my marriage will survive, that the biopsy will yield good news, or that I won’t lose my job. The Spirit exposes a problem in my soul worse than my suffering, than reveals the God of Grace. He tells me I can know this God; I can know His heart, rest in His power, and hope in His purposes.  And I can see it all in Christ. He keeps stirring my heart to say, “Just give me Jesus!” 

TRUE ABUNDANT LIFE

WHEN MY HEART IS OVERWHELMED

Psalm 61: “When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock… for you have been a shelter for me.” In times of adversity what distinguishes the saint of God is what forms our thought processes and shapes our reaction to bad. When our heart is overwhelmed, our mind fainting, we immediately turn to Jesus who is the Rock of our salvation, our high tower, our shelter from the storms of life. But, and this is my main point, we get there by a particular path whereby the Holy Spirit floods our mind and heart with the truth treasures of God’s word we have ingested and buried in our heart. Precepts, promises, and divine understanding, like the loving nature of our Daddy and His promise to never ever leave or forsake us, burst into our conscious thoughts as the Holy Spirit sorts through our repository of God Stuff and tosses real time revelation into our conscious: “Oh, that’s a good one, here John, wrap your mind around this truth!”  In times of difficulty we must avoid the pitfalls of our “Self” and it’s never ending desire for control, which will try to take us where our fleshly mind and emotions want to go. We can only do that if we have “tasted the good word of God”, and tasted and tasted and tasted … What comes out of us when our heart is overwhelmed, our mind fainting, is what we have been diligently putting into our heart day by day, for such a time  as this. The pathway to Jesus during adversity is an informed path: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…” The crux of the issue is simply a matter of taste, taste for the things of the world or taste for the things of God. And remember, God does not promise us understanding, He promises us peace which is better than knowing why, and guards our heart and mind with it.

TASTE AND SEE THAT THE LORD IS GOOD

THE PRODIGAL FATHER

God holds nothing back in His love for us.  His “agape” love is passionate, self-sacrificing; fully committed and all consuming, a deep, constant, unchanging love for us.  His first commandment to His followers is to love Him with this same “agape” love - with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mk. 12:30; 22:37) - with everything!  Some have tried to define loving God as obeying God.  Obedience is surely a part of loving God, but we all know that you can obey someone without really loving that person.  Love is not only obedience but it is also passion.  Obedience without passion for God is not love; it is only discipline.  And if discipline is all we have, in the end discipline will fail us.  Webster’s unabridged dictionary defines “passion” as a “powerful, compelling and extravagant emotion”.  This is why Christ’s willful sacrifice of Himself on the cross is called “The Passion of Christ”.  This is more than what mere mortals call love - this is way over the top supernatural love!  Another example of the passionate love of God is seen in the parable commonly called the “Prodigal Son” (Lk. 15:11-24).  “Prodigal”, according to Webster’s, means “lavishly abundant, profuse, and wastefully extravagant”.  Who is the real prodigal in this story?  Not the boy although he is wasteful with his resources.  But the Father is extravagantly “wasteful” with His love.  The Father abundantly and profusely lavishes his love on the undeserving son.  The Father (God) is the prodigal.  Passionate love is not simply God’s choice - passionate love is His nature.  He loves us with a perfect love - an everlasting love - a relentless, unquenchable, insatiable, immeasurable, inexhaustible, irrepressible, irrational, inescapable sacrificial love... a selfless love seeking nothing in return...

There is nothing we can do

To make Him love us more

And nothing we can do

To make Him love us less

He doesn’t love us for what we do

* Thank God *

He loves us for who we are

* His children *