slaves!

δούλος ο. (doulos)

Often times translated "servants" or "bondservants" but more accurately translated "slaves".

In fact John MacArthur says that there are 6 greek words for "servant", however "doulos" is not one of them. "Doulos" ALWAYS means "slave".

Here is what Johnny Mac says about what it meant to be a slave:

"Now if you don’t grasp that idea of slavery and a lot of us, we miss it because it’s been hidden from our English text, it’s hard for us to really understand the essence of what it is to be a Christian. You are a slave of Jesus Christ. You are owned. You have been purchased by His blood, Acts 20. You have been bought, not with silver and gold, but with...what?...1 Peter 1:18 and 19, the precious blood of Jesus Christ. You have been purchased, Revelation 5:9. You have no independent rights. Slaves had no rights. Slaves owned nothing. They could not own their own property. In the eyes of the law they were not citizens, they could hold no public office. They were completely under the discretion and the provision and the protection and the care and the abuse in an earthly sense of their owner."

This is what it all came down to in my life. Submitting to Christ's rule of my life. I am enslaved. I was enabled to submit to Him by his effectual grace... and it is by grace that I rejoice at being His slave. I live to be his slave! It is my JOY!


I long to hear the words of Matthew 25:21: "Well done good and faithful.... SLAVE."

the valley.

The Valley of Vision

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see Thee in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold Thy glory. Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision. Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter Thy stars shine; let me find Thy light in my darkness, Thy life in my death, Thy joy in my sorrow, Thy grace in my sin, Thy riches in my poverty, Thy glory in my valley.

Taken from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, edited by Arthur Bennett

decisions.

Check out today's article at SF Pulpit. It is coincidental that they post on this topic today, considering the decisions that I am facing this week.

I posted on the same topic not too long ago... Finding God's Will.

A verse that keeps coming to my mind:

Proverbs 3:5-6

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths."

blinding love.

Romans 12:1-2

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

I think living in Los Angeles has clouded my understanding of what God's will is. Im not saying that this is what Los Angeles does to everyone, but it is what has happened to me . I have lived here my whole life and now I don't want to let go - I'm in love with it. This selfishness has led to another problem - conforming to this world. I have found myself so consumed with caring for the vanity and the ideals that this world calls important. This in turn has made it hard to present my body as a living sacrifice. It makes me forget that I was bought with a price.

However, the more God reveals Himself to me, the more it transforms me. God renews my mind through the Holy Spirit. Then the cloudiness of the world/self begin to dissipate and God's will becomes more clear. This is what I long for. This is what wish would last forever... Seeing God's will - His perfect will.

haggai 1

Has anyone done any reading of Haggai lately? I know, it's not a commonly read book. I have grown to love it recently.

It a great book that shows God's sovereignty and man's sinfulness.

After God had allowed the children of Israel to return home to Israel from captivity in Babylon, they began to rebuild. However, they got caught up (once again) focusing on themselves by ignoring God's temple that sat in ruins, while they rebuilt and detailed their extravagant homes.

Check out what God says:

Haggai 1:2-4

"Thus says the LORD of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD." Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?

God basically says: "oh, so you guys say that it isn't time to rebuild my house... i see... so, you're saying it IS time to relax in your own ornate houses..."

How often do we say what the Israelites said. "God it isn't time for me to do that yet." "God, the time isn't right to serve in that way yet." "I'll do that God, but not yet" or even "I'm waiting on a word from the Lord on that..." but at the same time we plan out our vacations, we focus on projects for school or work, we budget for our family or personal life. Did we wait on a "word from the Lord" regarding those things?

Hey, I'm not pointing fingers, I'll be the first to admit that I do this myself.


Let's act today!

God's Glory

Romans 11:36

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

"God and His Kingdom are, simply put, about God-the triune God, the Holy One of Israel. What are the Triune God's needs? He has no needs. He is completely fulfilled. The Father loves the Son. The Son is ecstatic about the Father and wants nothing but the Father's will. God's greatest pleasure is himself. How could God be consumed with anything less than his own perfect, holy being? For God to be consumed with anything else woud be idolatrous. It would be exalting the creature above the Creator. God's goal is to exalt himself and his own glory. He intends to magnify his great name."
-Edward Welch

We should not just glorfiy God because of what he has done for us, we should glorify God because of who he is. We should honor God because of his glory, his radiance, his beauty, his splendor, his majesty, and his holiness.

God's will???

How can I know God's will for my life?

1. The Bible

Sounds cliche, but it's true. Now, you might say, "but it doesn't say anything specifically for my life personally, like if i should be a doctor." But the Bible gives us various commands and instruction. The question we need to ask is "what decision would allow me to obey these commands more or more effectively?"

For example: The Bible commands us to be committed to our local church. If we are trying to decide between two jobs, and one of them will prevent us from attending church, then it most likely wouldn't be God's will to take that particular job. You can always ask "which job would allow me to be more committed to my ministry?" - because that is essentially what a secular job would be for anyways - to be a support for our ultimate priority.

2 Timothy 3:16 "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,"


2. Check Yo-self

Is there any sin in your life that may be preventing you from seeing God's will. If we are living in sin, we most likely won't be desiring God's will in the first place. Romans 12:2 - "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

3. The Holy Spirit

Are we being led/controlled by the Holy Spirit? This will be going hand in hand with checking sin in your life.
Ephesians 5:17-18 "Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit"

4. Suffering

How committed are we to being obedient to God's word? The Bible promises that if we are being obedient to Christ, that we will be suffering.
Philippians 1:29 "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,"
2 Timothy 3:12 "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted"

5. God's glory

What will bring God the most glory? This goes back to the first point.

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12: "To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."

Psalm 50:15: "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."

1 Corinthians 10:31 "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (It seems we often use this verse to justify what we wantGod's will to be)

6. Our Desire

If we have done 1-5, then I believe that God will often give us the desire to do His will. So the last question would be "what do i want to do?" Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord,and he will give you the desires of your heart."

But be careful with that one. There are many cases in the Bible where God wanted people to do what they didn't want to. (Moses, Jonah, Peter) But that is most likely because they weren't doing steps 1-5!

the call

Revelation 7:9

"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,"

Matthew 24:14
"And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."

Revelation speaks about every tribe, tongue, and nation will be represented in heaven. To this day there are still many unreached people groups. In fact there are many people groups who have yet to have the gospel translated into their language. If this is the case, how can Christ return and there be a representative from every tribe, tongue and nation in heaven? I believe that Matthew 24:14 is the answer to that question. I believe that this gives the church a great responsibility accompanied with a great urgency.

Obviously the church hasn't really stepped up to the challenge/responsibility. Only .0001% of Evangelical Christians go into missions!!! And only 4% of them actually go to a people group that is unreached! I think too many Christians think that they are called by God into full-time secular careers. They feel that serving in church once a week (maybe), and sharing Christ with their co-workers once a quarter (maybe) is fulfilling God's great commission.

Luke 9:23-24

"And he said to all, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it."