The Providential Power of God Helps His People!

"Providence-there is a great mystery here that we may never fully understand. Though God is not the author of sin, yet He allows for sin and directs every sin and act of evil for His own glory (purposes). He is sovereign!"

"...the rise of the Nazi Third Reich, the death of Able, the boils of Job, even
the presidency of Bill Clinton and the horror of 9/11 were all providential
events." -Doug Phillips 2003

I know that today many of us are experiencing troubles that we never thought we would ever have to deal with. In such a time it is such a great comfort to know and understand that we serve a providential God. He works all things for good for those of us in Christ Jesus.

"Our love to God arises out of our want: His love to us is out of His
fullness." -C.H. Spurgin

God speaks through prevailing prayer! "He will call upon me, and I will answer HIm." (Psalm 91:15)

In the Webster dictionary it defines prevail as "to produce or achieve the desired effect; to be effective; succeed." How do we achieve this desired effect with God....by being in good fellowship with Him. In this way He speaks to us and answers our prayers. Something that we don't think about much is listening to God first and then pray based on what He said. This will change the perspective of our prayers. We might find that when we first kneeled down to pray it was all about us. However, after listening to God and meditating on His word, we direct the focus of the prayer on Him and His glory no matter what our circumstances are.

As Christian dads and husbands we must continue in a spirit of prayer at all times. Jesus said, "Men ought always to pray and not to faint..." (Luke 18:1) This does not mean we walk around with our hands folded, but just in each quiet moment whether it is short or long we can simply just speak to God about that moment...whatever that may be.

God assures us through His precious promises! "Whereby are given unto us exceedingly great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature." (2 Peter 1:4)

Many of us tend to forget the promises of God for some reason. We trod along daily without much thought of His promises. He has promised not to forget about us, yet we set around whining about how God has forgotten us. We are forfeiting the benefits of God by doing this. Memorize the promises of God on a daily basis.

Some of His greatest and most used promises are His protection and provision. His provision is every moment of our lives, men. He has not seen anything that shocks Him or catches Him by surprise. If you find yourself today without a job, He knew about it before the foudnations of the earth. This was not an event that caught Him off guard and now He must react to it.....He is working His perfect plan in our lives at all times. God never sleeps!
Review, reflect, and rely on the promises of God. This is what gives us men our assurance for our families success. He helps us at every turn of our lives.

Our personal peace in God is calming! "Peace I leave with you, my peace I
give to you." (John 14:27)

Guys we are all searching daily for meaning and purpose. We are searching for that personal peace. If we are not searching God's word for this peace then we will come up empty everytime. Our world is overrun with illicit sex, drug abuse, and even terrorism. These are unsuccessful attempts to find that peace. Real and lasting peace is found in Jesus Christ and only in Jesus Christ. He offers us this peace if we are obedient to His calling and trust Him for all the results of our lives. Guys our kids will turn out alright by God's grace inspite of us. We are all bent out of shape trying to make sure we do everything right. Dads we are simply to do as God would have us do and leave the results of our kids up to Him.

Jesus said, "My peace I give to you." (Joh 14:27) We need to accept His personalized peace in our lives today. This seems much easier to say than do, I know, but it is the only way.
God assist us through His providential power! "And we know tha tin all things God works for the good of those who love Him." (Romans 8:28)

All of us dads and husbands are subject to various trials, troubles, and testings just like anyone else. We are not exempt from this. As a matter of fact God has told us we will encounter various trials and tribulations. Why is it that we are constantly trying to escape them as though we should be put above everyone else on a cloud? The trial is not evidence that God hates us...He is shaping us as a tool for His kingdoms glory.

God works by helping His people through providential means. He works everything, good or bad, together for their benefit and His glory. We miss out on His benefits if we do not encounter trials and testings. This is when we see our God at His most powerful it seems. Bringing each us through these times as we labor and suffer through the pain is a means to display His massive providential power.

Often we will experience God's rescue of His saints. He uses His angels to assist us and rescue us many times. I can remember numerous times that I have been about at the end of my rope and ready to check out when this peaceful ringing in my head will calm me down so I can think rational and focus back on His promises to me. It is a battle, a struggle. This is not a cake walk, gentlemen. This is life as a Christian. (Psalm 91:11)

God is at work, guys! You can trust this statement. He has not forgotten any of us that are laboring here and it will not be a labor in vain.We can trust in His word at a time when the world seems to have checked out on His word, including the church. Sing His praises. Sing the Hymns of old and study the deep transforming testimonies that are embedded in those hymns. God inspired those like any other song written to Him. I encourage you to read the songs, read God's word and meditate on His promises for a successful life in Christ.

-Scott Bailey (c) 2007

What Is Truly Valuable to You?

"We live in a world that knows little about what’s truly valuable. People all around us are pursuing things that have no lasting value. That pursuit is ably treated by Anton Chekhov in his classic short story The Bet. This story gives us great insight into the value system of most people.

The plot involves a wager between two educated men regarding solitary confinement. A wealthy, middle-aged banker believed the death penalty was a more humane penalty than solitary confinement because “an executioner kills at once, solitary confinement kills gradually.” One of his guests at a party, a young lawyer of twenty-five, disagreed, saying, “To live under any conditions is better than not to live at all.”

Angered, the banker impulsively responded with a bet of two million rubles that the younger man could not last five years in solitary confinement. The lawyer was so convinced of his endurance that he announced he would stay fifteen years alone instead of only five.
The arrangements were made, and the young man moved into a separate building on the grounds of the banker’s large estate. He was allowed no visitors or newspapers. He could write letters but receive none. There were guards watching to make sure he never violated the agreement, but they were placed so that he could never see another human being from his windows. He received his food in silence through a small opening where he could not see those who served him. Everything else he wanted—books, certain foods, musical instruments, etc.—was granted by special written request.

During the first year the piano could be heard at almost any hour, and he asked for many books, mostly novels and other light reading. The next year the music ceased and the works of various classical authors were requested. In the sixth year of his isolation he began to study languages and soon had mastered six. After the tenth year of his confinement, the prisoner sat motionless at the table and read the New Testament. After more than a year’s saturation of the Bible, he began to study the history of religion and works on theology.

The second half of the story focuses on the night before the noon deadline when the lawyer would win the bet. The banker was now at the end of his career. His risky speculations and impetuosity had gradually undermined his business. The once self-confident millionaire was now a second-rate banker, and it would destroy him to pay off the wager. Angry at his foolishness and jealous of the soon-to-be-wealthy lawyer who was now only forty, the old banker determined to kill his opponent and frame the guard with the murder. Slipping into the man’s room, he found him asleep at the table and noticed a letter the lawyer had written to him. He picked it up and read the following:

'Tomorrow at twelve o’clock I shall be free . . . but before leaving this room .
. . I find it necessary to say a few words to you. With a clear conscience, and
before God, who sees me, I declare to you that I despise freedom and life and
health and all that your books call the joys of this world. . . . I know I am
wiser than you all. . . . And I despise all your books, I despise all earthly
blessings and wisdom. All is worthless and false, hollow and deceiving like the
mirage. You may be proud, wise and beautiful, but death will wipe you away from
the face of the earth, as it does the mice that live beneath your floor; and
your heirs, your history, your immortal geniuses will freeze or burn with the
destruction of the earth. You have gone mad and are not following the right
path. You take falsehood for truth, and deformity for beauty. To prove to you
how I despise all that you value I renounce the two million on which I looked,
at one time, as the opening of paradise for me, and which I now scorn. To
deprive myself of the right to receive them, I will leave my prison five hours
before the appointed time, and by so doing break the terms of our compact.'
The banker read the lines, replaced the paper on the table, kissed the
strange, sleeping man and with tears in his eyes, quietly left the house.
Chekhov writes, “Never before, not even after sustaining serious losses on
change, had he despised himself as he did at that moment.” His tears kept him
awake the rest of the night. And at seven the next morning he was informed by
the watchmen that they had seen the man crawl through a window, go to the gate,
and then disappear.
Some people have to learn the hard way what is of value,
and there are some who never learn."

MacArthur, John: Alone With God. Wheaton, Ill. : Victor Books, 1995

I have been studying and meditating and reading through Matthew 6:9-11. This model prayer or the world calls it "The Lord's Prayer" is a true model of how we as followers of Christ should pray. Yet, how meaningless we have lifted up prayers on a daily basis. Our prayer are full of all our wants from financial security, to health beyond any-ones dreams, to a large house, to a car, to more and more and more stuff. Why is it that after years and years we have ever figured out that our prayer life is all about God and not about us. This is the time to spend verbalizing what God wants us to declare from our hearts that is in one accord with His heart. When Jesus said "ask and you shall receive" He was not saying to ask for all the worldly junk that has no place in the Kingdom of God. If it is not from the heart and mind of Christ then do not ask for it. Most of us can understand at least this minimal amount of our prayer life.

Who is our Father in heaven? Is He an old white bearded man on dusty throne pointing His golden staff in the air sentencing some to death, some to prosperity, some to judgement, some to prison, some to starvation, etc.? This is what has been pictured for centuries and is not even closely accurate. Our Father in heaven, who is God Almighty, one part of the Trinity, is our glorious God, most loving Father, protecting Lord, and reigning King! He is the parent that all of us wish we could be towards our children. He is the most perfect parent of all.
In Heaven is the abode of God. This is an eternal place that exist in continuance and is where God the Father resides. This is the most royal realms we could ever imagine and I doubt our imagination could even come close to understand what it is like where God lives. However, we can only catch a small glimpse from scripture of where the future abode of God will be and we will be a part of it.

Revelation 21:10-27 (NIV):

10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed
me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone
with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious
jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall with twelve
gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names
of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on
the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14 The wall of the city had
twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the
Lamb.
15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure
the city, its gates and its walls. 16 The city was laid out like a square, as
long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000
stadiaa in length,
and as wide and high as it is long. 17 He measured its wall and it was 144
cubitsb thick,c
by man’s measurement, which the angel was using. 18 The wall was made of jasper,
and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The foundations of the city
walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was
jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20 the
fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl,
the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth
amethyst.d 21 The twelve
gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of
the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.
22 I did not see a temple
in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The
city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God
gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light,
and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will
its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor
of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it,
nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose
names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

a That is, about 1,400 miles (about 2,200 kilometers)
b That is, about 200 feet (about 65 meters)
c Or high
d The precise identification of some of these precious stones is uncertain.
The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Re 21:10-27

Just think this description does not even come close to the splendor of our future eternal home. For now, we are living in a trash heap compared to the Holy City or New Jerusalem to come. However, in our prayer life we can prepare ourselves for this future home in heaven. Jesus left us with this model prayer in order to prepare us, not so that we can dump our laundry list on God everyday and then blame Him because nothing came true on our wish list. This is juvenile praying.

Some might ask, "What is hallowed be thy name"? That sounds like a foreign term for movie flick, yet, it is profound. "Hallowed" means holy and "thy name" is God Almighty. It is the "Holiest Name of All". There is no other name in heaven or on earth that is more holy than Elohim and Adonai and Jehovah and any other name that is strictly reserved for our God. When we enter into prayer we are speaking to the holiest person that will ever exist or has ever existed. As a believer in Christ Jesus we have access to the most important being ever. Do you understand the meaning of this? You do not have to go through a priest on earth or any other person on this earth....Jesus Christ is our high priest and it is through Him that we go before our heavenly Father. He wants to hear directly from His people, not from another fallible man on earth.

As the prayer goes on to ask that God's will be done. This is the key to the entire prayer. This is the key to our prayer life. We must pray that God's will be done and not our own. One of the difficulties that most of us struggle with in our prayer life is getting to the point to where we desire God's will over our own. This is a huge nail in the coffin of our Free Will over God's Free Will. Our prayer life will go no where as we exercise our will, but rather once we understand that our prayers are to be reflecting the will of our heavenly Father, then our prayer life takes on new meaning that experiences results. As men we are so result oriented anyway...we have a drive that compels us to get results. This is a God-given drive. However, Jesus is telling us how results are achieved here...the achievement is not in ourselves nor is it about ourselves. The achievement is getting to the point that we prefer God's will to reign above our own desires and will. In short, God's will becomes our will and God's will becomes the desire of our heart. It is at this moment we stop bleeding selfishly and start bleeding righteously for the glory of our heavenly Father. To further the Kingdom of God, our prayers need to reach a higher place that is high above the earthly mindset.

We should set our minds on heavenly things in order to be of some earthly good. The wrong saying is "Don't be so heavenly minded that you become no earthly good". That is incorrect! If this earth is to improve, believers must become more heavenly minded to be of some earthly good.
What is truly valuable to you? In your prayer life, what is it that you pray for the most, yourself, your family, happiness, joy, money, job security, groceries, devine revelation, safe travel, an easy life, and so on? I know that none of us pray for a car accident tomorrow, marrital troubles in June '08, to loose our job in the Fall! That would be crazy, but why do we pray in defense of these types events in our lives? All we need to focus on is God in our lives at any given moment regardless of the circumstance. Come to grips with the fact that the only thing secure for us on this earth as believers is our salvation in Christ Jesus....nothing else is secure. We must live the remainder of our life outside of that committment in total faith that God will see us through to the other side into eternity.

-Scott Bailey 2008