PT-2 "When Are We to be Thankful" (Eph. 5:20)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/28/2019 8:25 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                  Focus:  PT-2 “When Are We to be Thankful?”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 5:20

 

            Message of the verse:  “20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;”

 

            We looked at the first two levels of thankfulness in our last SD, and said we would look at the third level in today’s, which is thanking God in the midst of the battle while we are still undergoing trouble or testing—and even when it looks like we are failing or being overwhelmed.

 

            There is an example of this found in the 6^th chapter of Daniel as Daniel learned that the king had signed a law that for so many days (I think 30) that no one could worship any god but the king.  Daniel “entered his house (no in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously” (Daniel 6:10).  Daniel knew his life was a risk, yet Daniel thanked God because God deserved his thanks, not matter what his circumstances were.  I think that you have to believe knew that even if he died that he would be better off.

 

            Jonah was a man who man full of prejudice and also disobedience, but in the belly of the fish he concluded his prayer with these words:  “But I will sacrifice to Thee with the voice of thanksgiving.  That which I have vowed I will pay.  Salvation is from the Lord” (Jonah 2:9).  Johan does not ask for deliverance but he praises God for past deliverance as he acknowledges his own sinfulness and unfaithfulness, and closes with a declaration of thanks for the Lord’s goodness.

 

            The disciples had just been flogged because they were speaking in the name of Jesus as seen in Acts chapter five, and yet after being released they continued to give thanks to the Lord that they were worthy to suffer shame for the Lord.  While Paul was in a prison cell he wrote to the Philippians in which he gave thanks for their faithfulness and for the work of God that continues.

 

            John MacArthur writes:  “If we can only thank God when things are going well, our thankfulness is on the bottom rung of faithfulness.  If we can thank Him in anticipation of what He will do in the future, we show more spiritual maturity.  But to thank God while we are in the midst of pain, trials, or persecution shows a level of maturity that few Christians seem to know but that our heavenly Father wants all His children to have.

 

“Being thankful is not a Christian option, a high order of living that we are free to choose or disregard.  As Joni Eareckson Tada, a quadriplegic author, has observed, ‘Giving thanks is not a matter of feeling thankful, it is a matter of obedience.’”

 

Quotation for today is from President Calvin Coolidge who said “Press on:  Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence, talent will not…genius will not…education will not…persistence and determination alone are overwhelmingly powerful.”

 

7/28/2019 8:45 PM

PT-1 "When are we to be Thankful?" (Eph. 5:20)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/27/2019 10:03 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  When are we to be Thankful?

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                             Reference:  Eph. 5:20

 

            Message of the verse:  “20 giving thanks always for all things unto God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” (KJ21).

 

            The answer to the “focus” question is “always,” as our verse tells us that we are to “give thanks always.”  John MacArthur writes “To be thankful always is to recognize God’s control of our lives in every detail as He seeks to conform us to the image of His Son.  To be thankless is to disregard God’s control, Christ’s lordship, and the Holy Spirit’s filling.  Nothing must grieve the Holy Spirit so much as the believer who does not give thanks.  In King Lear (I.ii.283, 312) Shakespeare wrote, ‘Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted friend!...How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child!’  When God brings trials and difficulties into our lives and we complain and grumble, we question His wisdom and love as well as His sovereignty.”

 

            We have just looked at three attitudes toward thanksgiving and now we want to look at three levels of thankfulness.  The first is that we are thankful when all things are going our way, when we are blessed.  Perhaps we have an answered prayer from God over getting a new job, or perhaps getting over an illness, and then we are thankful.

 

            An example from the Old Testament comes from Exodus 15:1-21 when the children of Israel sang a song to the Lord over the destruction of the Egyptian army being drowned in the Red Sea after chasing them through the dry land that God had made for Israel to go through, but not for Egypt to go through.  Exodus 15:1-21 is a song sung to the Lord, a song of thankfulness.

 

            The second level of thankfulness is that of being grateful for the hope of blessing and victory yet to come.  We see that the first level is after the fact, while this second level is anticipation of the fact.  This is more difficult than the first level, and this requires more faith and spiritual maturity.  MacArthur writes “This second level is where faith and hope begin, because it involves the unseen and the yet unexperienced.  As He stood over the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus prayed, ‘Father, I thank Thee that Thou hearest Me. An I knew that Thou hearest Me always; but because of the people standing around I said it, that they may believe that Thou didst send Me’ (John 11:41-42).  Because He knew His heavenly Father always heard and answered His prayers, in total confidence He thanked Him in advance for what He knew would be done.”

 

            I think that one of the things that believers can do to show their faith in the Lord before things happen can concern death, the death of the believer or perhaps the death of a loved one as we believe the promise of the Lord that one day we will be with Him.  Paul wrote “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”  Romans 8:37 gives us another example “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.”

 

            In the OT when Judah was about to be attacked by a more powerful Moabite and Ammonite armies their king “Jehoshaphat” proclaimed a fast and prayed before all the people, earnestly proclaiming the Lord’s power and goodness.  We see his prayer in 2 Chronicles 20:1-12, but I will not quote it at this time.  At any rate God gave a great victory to Judah just as Jehoshaphat asked and believed that He would.

 

            We will look at the third level of thankfulness, Lord willing in our next SD seeing how it is a Sunday, a busy day for me.

 

The verse that goes along with Spurgeon’s quote is from 1 Peter 5:10 “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.”

 

7/27/2019 10:45 AM

The Consequence Toward God: Giving Thanks (Eph. 5:20)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/26/2019 10:35 AM

 

My Worship Time                                    Focus: The Consequence Toward God:  Giving Thanks

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 5:20

 

            Message of the verse:  “20 Thank God the Father at all times for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

            Let us look at three possible attitudes about thanksgiving as we begin this SD.  The first attitude is that thanksgiving is unnecessary.  I remember when my parents were living in a mobile home park in Florida and they had a pretty close friend who certainly did not know the Lord.  They were at his mobile home for supper and mom wanted to pray before her meal.  The man told mom that she could pray, but as far as he was concerned it was him who provided the food that they were about to eat.  He certainly did not realize that by God’s common grace that it was Him who allowed this man to have food on his table.

 

            The second attitude about thanksgiving is that of the hypocrite, and this can be seen in a parable that Jesus told about a Pharisee who was very self-righteous:  we read from Luke 8:11-12 “11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ’God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 ’I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’”  As we see the other man was a tax collector and this man said the following to the Lord in his prayer:  “13 "But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ’God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’”  Jesus said the following about both of them:  “14  "I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.’”  John MacArthur adds:  “Like the rest of his life, the Pharisee’s prayer of thanksgiving was hypocritical sham and pretense.”

 

            The third attitude about thanksgiving, and you knew that we had to get to this one, is that of a truly thankful person.  This can be seen in something that happened in the life of Jesus when he healed ten lepers.  The only leper who came back to Jesus and gave him thanks for healing him was a man who was truly thankful for being healed, and this man was a Samaritan who desired to give glory to God for his healing:  “18 "Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?’”

 

            John MacArthur tells of a medieval legend showing that people desire to ask God for something more than they like to give thanks for what the Lord gives to them.  Two angels were sent to earth to bring back prayer requests and thanksgiving to the Lord.  The one who collected the prayer requests could hardly get all of them to heaven while the other angel collecting thanksgiving held them in one hand. 

 

            I have just began to teach through the Psalms in our Sunday school class and there are many Psalms instructing us to give thanks to the Lord.  The word “thanks” is found 49 times in the book of Psalms from the NASB95 version.  The word thanksgiving is found 11 times.  This is a good book to help us better understand thanksgiving along with a good reminder for us to give thanks.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I know in my heart that everything that I have comes from the Lord, and yet I suppose that I do not give thanks to the Lord for the many blessings that He gives me each day.  I have air to breathe, food to eat, a house to live in, and many other blessings that I do not give thanks to the Lord for on a consistence way.  To this I am ashamed and am thankful for the reminder that Paul wrote in our verse today.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Learning humility should teach me to give thanks to the Lord and not be like my parents neighbor in Florida who was more proud than humble.

 

Today’s quotation comes from Charles H. Spurgeon who states “The Lord gets His best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction.”

 

7/26/2019 11:05 AM

 

 

A Bridge over Troubled Waters (Ps. 3:2)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/25/2019 9:49 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  A Bridge over Troubled Waters

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Psalm 3:2

 

            Message of the verse:  “Many are they who say of me, "There is no help for him in God." Selah (NKJV)

 

            We are moving away from Ephesians today and I want to share with you some things that I am learning as I prepare my Sunday school lesson for this upcoming Sunday.  It comes from Psalm 3 which is a Psalm of David when his son Absalom was trying to take the kingdom away from him.  God had not chose Absalom to take over after David, but He chose Solomon and so this was an attempt from the evil one to destroy the promises that God gave to David about having a king on the throne of Israel, the kings that God would chose and eventually through the Davidic line would come the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

            David writes this psalm when there was a battle about to take place, a battle between the forces of David, and the forces of Solomon.  David turned to the Lord at this time, something that as a believer that we all ought to do, but because of our enemies we fail to do so.  The following is a part of my lesson that goes along with Psalm 3 and I hope and pray that if anyone who reads this is going through difficult times that this will aid you.

 

            David is going through adversity as seen in these verses, both human adversities and as we will see adversity from our enemy.  I am sure that we as believers go through things similar to what David is going through, oh maybe not having one of our children trying to destroy us, but perhaps things at work or even family issues.  Donald Williams writes the following that seems to be able to aid us if or when we go through difficult times like David is going through.  “The bottom line of our adversity lies not simply in the strength of our opponents but also in the charge ‘there is no help for him in God.’  Here is the threat of practical atheism.  It bears so many nuances.  First of all, from God’s side, practical atheism charges that God is impersonal, at best a ‘first cause.’  He is aloof; He doesn’t care.  Or God is so holy, He must be angry with us.  Or, God is unable to help; He is weak and impotent.  Second, from our side, practical atheism laments, ‘there is no help for him in God.’  We are too evil, too faithless, too unworthy—God certainly wouldn’t help us!  The consequences for us are clear.  The first attack is that God has abandoned us; the second attack is that we aren’t worth His attention anyway.  The third attack is in the conclusion that we should give up our faith in Him and turn elsewhere for help.

 

          Thus the skepticism of others and our own self-doubt do battle against the faith in our hearts.  As the evil in the world explodes upon us, and as our own frailty and compromise become more and more evident, the lie ‘there is no help for him in God’ sounds like the truth.  If we are going to fight against this lie we must remember its origin. Jesus says of Satan, ‘He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources [or nature], for he is a liar and the father of it [or the father of lies]’ (John 8:44).  Our human attack against God, therefore, is ultimately satanic in its origin.  Thus Paul exhorts the Ephesians to take ‘the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one’ (Eph. 6:16).  This is exactly what David does in verse 3.  We must turn from the lie to the living God.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Trust the Lord in troubled times, and not lean on my own understanding.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  It takes humility to trust the Lord, realizing that He is the only One to give me help in troubled times.

 

Verse that goes along with our unknown person’s quotation from yesterday is from 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

 

7/25/2019 10:03 AM

To Whom do Believers Sing (Eph. 5:19)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/24/2019 9:58 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  To Whom Do Believers Sing

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ephesians 5:19

 

            Message of the verse:  “Sing among yourselves psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, your voices making music in your hearts for the ears of the Lord!” (Philips).

 

            The last part of verse 19 answers the question to whom do we sing to, and that is for the ears of the Lord as seen in the Philips paraphrased Bible.  I think that when we sing praises to the Lord in our churches that we do it to God as an audience of One, even though we do sing among ourselves.  There are other times in our walk with the Lord that we sing praises to the Lord just because that is what we desire to do.

 

            Here is what happened at the dedication of the first temple as seen in 2 Chron. 5:12-13 “12 and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and kinsmen, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps and lyres, standing east of the altar, and with them one hundred and twenty priests blowing trumpets 13  in unison when the trumpeters and the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glorify the LORD, and when they lifted up their voice accompanied by trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and when they praised the LORD saying," He indeed is good for His lovingkindness is everlasting," then the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud,” and then verse 14 adds “so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.”  Verse 14 gives us the fact that the Lord was pleased with their singing and the playing of the instruments before Him.  MacArthur adds “It should be the heart desire of all Christians that their praise of God in music, and in every other way, be ‘in unison’ and that they ‘make themselves heard with one voice to praise and glorify the Lord’—because that is the only way God’s people can acceptably praise and glorify Him.”

 

7/24/2019 11:37 AM

 

            The following is a quote from Johann Sebastian Bach, who probably is the greatest musician of all time and he said “The aim of all music is the glory of God.”  I would say that this is a great statement and something that we can trust.  I want to say that when God created the earth that everything was perfect, but since sin entered into the world things that God made perfect can become sinful when used in the wrong way.  God gave us food to eat, yet we can eat too much and cause our bodies to become sick.  God gave us the gift of music, and yet when music is not sung to the glory of God then it is not done for the purpose that God gave it to us.

 

            We have been talking and studying about two issues that are controversial and I have done my best to write what I believe are things that honor God.  The drinking of wine and the music that Christians sing has always been controversial issues within the church and so I hope the things that I have written on these two subjects will be a help to all of those who read them.

 

            John MacArthur concludes this first main section on being filled with the Holy Spirit with the following “It is not possible to submit the spiritual effects of music to scientific testing, but it is beyond question that music that focuses the heart of praising God can help heal the spiritual ills of His people.”

 

Today’s quotation is from another unknown author:  “Fear knocked, faith answered.  No one was there.”

 

7/24/2019 11:52 AM

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Where Do Believer's Sing (Eph. 5:19)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/23/2019 10:10 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                              Focus:  From Where Do Believers Sing

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 5:19

 

            Message of the verse:  “19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;”

 

            As seen in the highlighted portion of this verse the salvation songs originate “with your heart.”  John MacArthur explains:  “The Greek form of this phrase allows for several meanings.  There is no preposition here in the Greek, and in such cases the preposition is determined by the case of the noun—which here has several possibilities, all of which seem appropriate to the context.  If the case of ‘heart’ is taken as an instrumental of cause, the idea is that our hearts cause us to sin and make melody to God.  As an instrumental of means, the idea is that our hearts are the channels through which we sing praises.  As a locative, the idea is that the singing is centered in our hearts.”

 

            The Spirit-filled believer sings from his heart as his heart is where his songs originate from, but a person who is not a believer cannot sing from his heart, only from his lips.  I mentioned about whether angels sing or not and the reason why people believe that they do not sing goes along with what we have just stated, that is a person has to be born-again, to be saved from his sins in order to be able to truly sing to the Lord.

 

            In John MacArthur commentary he once again gets into what kind of music is suitable for believers to sing, and as stated in an earlier SD I have my opinion on what kind of music believers should listen to and sing, and others have their own idea.  There are pros and cons for each side of the argument.  I have listened to a couple of DVD’s that originated from Israel believers and their singing and playing of musical instruments gets pretty loud and there are also some dancing to the Lord in these DVD’s. I have to say that this appealed to me as I watched and listened to this and before looking at this on the DVD I had bought a CD of the music and it is one of my favorite CD’s that I own.

 

            I have to say that some of the Christian “Rock” music seems a bit too much for me and although it does appeal to younger people, of which I am not, there seems to me to have some red flags arise as I listen to some of it.

 

            We have one more sub-section to look at and Lord willing will do it tomorrow.

 

7/23/2019 10:30 AM

 

How Do Believer's Sing (Eph. 5:19)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/22/2019 10:24 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  How do Believers Sing?

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ephesians 4:19

 

            Message of the verses:  “19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;”

 

            When believers are filled with the Holy Spirit they will fulfill what is written in verse 19.  The word “speaking” from this verse includes any sound offered to God from a Spirit-filled heart.  MacArthur adds “The music from an organ or choir is no more acceptable to God than the sounds of a guitar or home-made flute.  The sound that pleases Him is the sound that comes as a result of a heart submissive to His Spirit and that sings or plays to His glory.”

 

            When we see the word Psalms it refers mostly to the Old Testament Psalms that are put to music, however the term was also used of vocal music of any sort including solos and anthems.  I mentioned in our last SD that the early church and even some churches today used the Psalter put to music for their worship services.  This is not as prevalent in our churches today.  In studying the Psalms I can see that they bring glory to the Lord which is what our singing and worship is to do.

 

            When we look at the word “hymns” it speaks of songs other than that came from the Psalter which exalted God. MacArthur adds “Many biblical scholars believe that various New Testament passages (such as Col. 1:12-16) were used as hymns in the early church.  ‘Spiritual songs’ were probably songs of testimony that covered a broad category that included any music expressing spiritual truth.”

 

            More from MacArthur:  “In the church today we could classify renditions of Psalms 23 and 84 as psalms, ‘A Mighty Fortress is Our God’ and ‘The Old Rugged Cross’ as hymns and ‘O How He Loves You and Me’ and ‘I’d Rather have Jesus’ as ‘spiritual songs.’  The intent of the writer here, however, is simply to give latitude for all kinds of musical expression to exalt the Lord.”  Martian Luther is who wrote “A Might Fortress is Our God” and that songs comes from the 46^th Psalm.  He would often say to his partner in ministry “Let us sing Psalm 46.”

 

            The word “singing” is from ado and this simply means to sing with the voice.  However in the New Testament it is always used in relation to praising God as seen also in Col. 3:16; Rev. 5:9; 14:3; 15:3.

 

            I have never had a good voice for singing, however when I sing praises to the Lord I believe that the Lord hears me singing in a better voice than I sing with here on earth. 

 

            MacArthur adds “Psallo (‘making melody’) is related to the term from which we get psalm and literally means to pluck on a stringed instrument, particularly a harp, with the fingers.  The word, however, come to represent the making of an instrumental music.  The Spirit-filled heart expresses itself in any sort of vocal or instrumental music, in both ‘singing and making melody.’”

 

            I want to close this section with Hebrews 2:12 “He says, "I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises’” (NIV).  This verse tells us that one day we will hear the Lord sing to us.  I am looking forward to that very much.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Singing is good for the soul, and I have always enjoyed good music, and since I became a believer I enjoy different kinds of music that brings honor to the Lord.  Gospel music has always appealed to me.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Humility is still something that the Lord is teaching me.

 

Psalm 51:10 is the verse that goes with Billy Sunday’s quotation from yesterday:  “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast Spirit within me.”

 

7/22/2019 10:53 AM