JULY 3, 2014 THURSDAY MORNING 3:45 A.M. “...WHEN THE MIND AND THE SPIRIT ARE UNITED...” ...P A R T O N E... I have written many documents on the MIND,and I have read quite a few teachings also...And there have been quite a few that I was impressed with. Watchman Knee wrote an excellent “thesis” on the MIND. But, in all that I have written and have read, I still am left with still an emptiness, that is, there was something that has not been addressed yet! Man, as it goes, is made up of three kinds of “stuff”---The “physical” is the BODY...The non-physical are made up of “TWO”...THE SPIRIT & THE SOUL... Somewhere I had read where someone said that MAN is made up of ONLY TWO...S P I R I T...and...S O U L..Let us try to see the truth in all of this! OUR THOUGHT LIFE WHERE DOES IT COME FROM ? We all have “THOUGHTS”, we have our own thoughts that come from within our OWN SPIRITS or our OWN SOUL..And then we also get DIRECT THOUGHTS FROM THE LORD GOD..and also please remember..You also get thoughts [ mostly UNCLEAN ONES ] that come from SATANS thoughts.. Have you ever been in a BAD MOOD? Well, that [ as being a Christian ] is directly channeled to you by “satan”. Say you got up one morning and you were irritated and didnt know why! Then if you did not get that wrong attitude adjusted THROUGH PRAYER..It will be with you all the day long, and a lot of times it will manifest through your “work habits”, the “people you are around”, “your wife and also your children”. So, you had a “BAD DAY AT THE OFFICE”...One thing...Do not bring it home with you...If you had a BAD DAY AT HOME..Dont take it to work with you. Example: At home...you and your wife are discussing a subject and it “hits” a place in your SOUL...And it, according to what was said to you..You did not like it..And instead of discussing is..BRING IT OUT IN THE OPEN,,and GET RID OF IT... So, here you both are..You are getting ready for bed and you havent said ONE WORD, not one word to your poor wife..Maybe it was her fault...But you both as Christians should SHOULDER THE FAULT..Go on “take it”, then OPEN THE DOOR to communications...Above all things DONT LET SATAN PUT YOU TO SLEEP WITH THAT ON YOUR SPIRIT AND SOUL... WHY ARE SO MANY PRAYERS HINDERED ? The Bible explicitly says to the MARRIED COUPLE at most:”...BE YE ANGRY, AND SIN NOT: LET NOT THE SUN GO DOWN UPON YOUR WRATH: NEITHER GIVE PLACE TO THE DEVIL...” Ephesians 4:26,27 THAT YOUR PRAYERS BE NOT HINDERED There are many, many times ESPECIALLY WHEN THERE ARE TWO WORKING PEOPLE BRINGING HOME THE “BREAD”...In which, that is PART OF THE PROBLEM..A MARRIED WOMANS PLACE IS IN THE HOME..Oh! Oh! I am treading on “very, very thin ice here”..Nevertheless IT IS THE TRUTH.. “...MISSING THE MARK ON MARRIAGE...” Why are so many, many young peoples MARRIAGES CRUMBLING TO PIECES? The Heritage Foundation believes it knows. Women, according to the think tank, want to get married and stay home, tending to the housekeeping and kids while their husbands get paid for their work. And if more women would just realize what they really want, instead of doing what a bunch of feminists have convinced their silly, addled minds they should do, well, they’d all be happier and wealthier. Oh – and the Republican Party would do better in national elections. As the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank reports, a female panel hosted by Heritage (and attended largely by men) said that women have been sold a bill of goods by feminists and are horribly unhappy working outside the home and getting paid for it, when what they really want is to get married. Further, the panel said, most women with small children want to stay home or work part time. And mothers without a husband in the picture struggle more economically. FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHILDREN IT IS During World War II, women entered the work force out of necessity. While the majority of men were fighting overseas, women were relegated to fill the vacant positions. Without women performing these jobs, America would have been incapable of victory. However, when women entered the work force, juvenile delinquency began to skyrocket, divorce began to skyrocket, and the social catastrophes we still face today can be linked directly to this period. With no parent at home to care for their children, the children are the ones who suffer. Women are capable of performing nearly all the same jobs as men, but it doesnt mean they should. IT IS QUITE COMMONE THESE DAYS FOR WOMEN It is quite common these days for women in some countries to stay home after getting married.The reasons for this trend may involve the recognition that there are so many things for women to do after they get married, particularly for those who decide to have babies, raising children, taking care of her family and keeping house all is very tired and time consuming. Therefore, if the women can stay home, it will be easier for them and even for their families...ogibogi/node/1397 for details. HEAR THE EXCELLENT WORDS FROM THE APOSTLE PAUL ABOUT A WOMANS PLACE 1st Timothy 5:14-15, “I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. For some are already turned aside after Satan.” It is a shame that women today no longer want to be mothers and homekeepers as the Bible teaches. Communist propaganda has lured women into the workplace, and the criminal Federal Reserve has rigged our economy so that women cannot go back due to lack of finances. Its all a part of the New World Orders plan to destroy America. I do know that I kinda got off maybe a little bit..But then..NO! This really is where a lot of MARRIED COUPLES PROBLEMS STEM FROM..NOT OBEYING THE WORD OF GOD.. I will MAKE ANOTHER MESSAGE ON THIS....”THE MARRIED COUPLE” PETERS WORDS ON PRAYER In Peters first letter—that we have been focusing on since last September—Peter mentions prayer three times. What is remarkable about these three instances is that there is something common to each of them. Let me read them to you and see if you can detect the common thread running through each. The First Mention First, Peter has a word for husbands about prayer and their relationship with their wives (3:7): You husbands likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman; and grant her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. The Second Mention Second, in the very next paragraph he speaks to all believers (in v. 8) about being brotherly and kindhearted and humble and (in v. 9) not returning evil for evil but instead giving a blessing. Then to support these admonitions he quotes Psalm 34 in vv. 10–12: For, Let him who means to love life and see good days refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile. And let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. The Third Mention Third, in 1 Peter 4:7 he says, The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer [literally: for the sake of prayers]. SO..WHAT IS THE COMMON THREAD HERE ? Now what is the unusual common thread running through those three references to prayer? What struck me is that all three teach us not that praying helps us live right, but that living right helps us pray. Now its true that praying is one of the ways God has appointed to help us live the way we should (cf. Colossians 1:9–10). But Peters point in every one of these texts is that its true the other way around: God has appointed a way for us to live which will help us pray. There are ways live that hinder prayers and there is a way to live that helps prayer. Right Living Helps Our Praying Lets look at these similarities again and you ask this time: what is Peter telling us about how living helps praying. The first one in 3:7 tells us husbands that there is a way to live with our wives that can clog our prayers, and a way to live with our wives that will help our prayers. You husbands likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman; and grant her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. MY WIFE AND I HAD A VERY, VERY HAPPY AND SUCCESSFUL 55 YEARS OF MARRIAGE MY DEAR WIFE WENT ON TO HER REWARD ON MARCH 31, 2010 I used to preach it is a 50/50..That is, I used to say it was a 50 % GIVING FROM THE HUSBAND..AND A 50% FOR THE WIFE..But after I gave that some thought..I re-instated what I believed in more strongly..I say now IT IS 100% FROM BOTH HUSBANDS AND WIVES..Amen! And Amen! If you want your prayers to be helped and not hindered you have to live with your wife in a certain way. There has to be an effort to understand her so as to know her needs. There has to be a special solicitousness of her weaknesses and what she especially needs from you. There has to be a recognition that she is a fellow heir of the grace of life and an accompanying bestowal of honor rather than any belittling or demeaning. When we husbands live like this (with understanding, tender care, and honor), our prayers will not be hindered. If we do not live like this, our prayers will be hindered. Heres the way one good commentary put it: So concerned is God that Christian husbands live in an understanding and loving way with their wives, that he interrupts his relationship with them when they are not doing so. No Christian husband should presume to think that any spiritual good will be accomplished by his life without an effective ministry of prayer. And no husband may expect an effective prayer life unless he lives with his wife in an understanding way, bestowing honor on her. To take the time to develop and maintain a good marriage is Gods will; it is serving God; it is a spiritual activity pleasing in his sight. (Wayne Grudem, 1 Peter, p. 146.) There is a way to live with our wives that clogs our prayers and ruins our spiritual impact. And there is a way to live with our wives that frees our prayers and helps empower our spiritual impact. HOW ALL BELIEVERS SHOULD LIVE Second, Peter goes on in verses 8 and 9 to call all of us, not just husbands, to be sympathetic, and brotherly and kindhearted and humble, and not to return evil for evil but to bless those who are unkind to us. Then he gives a reason for why we should live like this. Its a quote from Psalm 34 and in verse 12 the reason comes to a climax with the same kind of argument as in 3:7, namely, prayers are hindered if you dont live this way. God has a special openness to the prayers of those who pursue peace and whose lips are pure and who dont use guile (deceit). Verse 12: For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. God listens to the prayers of those who live like this: keep the tongue from evil, refrain from guile, seek peace, do righteousness. So here again Peter is telling us how to keep our prayers from being hindered. Its the same thing Jesus was teaching in the Lords Prayer when he told us to pray, Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us (Matthew 6:12). Not forgiving those who repent will clog our prayers. Thats Peters point too. There is a way to live that hinders our prayers and a way to live that helps our prayers. Special Endeavors We Can Make Third, in 4:7 he says, that there are special endeavors we can make so that our prayers will be helped and not hindered: The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the sake of prayers. Two things: first, be of sound judgment for the sake of your prayers; second, be sober for the sake of your prayers. In other words, there is a way to think and live that will hinder your prayers and there is a way to think and live that will help your prayer. So there is a doctrine—a biblical truth—that we can now state with great confidence from these texts: Christians must endeavor to live in a way that does not hinder their prayers. IT HAS THREE PARTS 1.It implies that prayers can be hindered. Our prayer life can be clogged, blocked. 2.What blocks prayer is often our lives—the way we live, the way we relate to wives or husbands or kids or parents or colleagues or neighbors. 3.Opening the way of prayer to God involves a conscious endeavor. In each of these texts Peter is telling us to resolve to do something so that our prayers will not be hindered. In other words a free, open, real, satisfying life of prayer is not automatic. It doesnt just happen to you while you are passive. If it did, these three texts would be pointless. Your prayer life in 1994 depends in part—under God and his enabling grace (1 Corinthians 15:10)—on how you choose to live at home and at work and in your private life of solitude. So another way to state the doctrine weve seen in these verses would be: do whatever you must do so that your prayers are not hindered. Form the resolution right now in your heart while I am preaching that you will not be passive about your prayer life this year; that you will take some active steps to make it good. IN CLOSING W H Y D O E S I T M A T T E R ? Let me ask a question that might increase your incentive to do that. Why does it matter that your prayer life not be hindered? There are a lot of tremendously important answers to that question. You dont want your prayers to be hindered because when your prayers are hindered, it means you are not connecting with God, and that God himself starts to seem distant and unreal. Now for an unbeliever who has never known a peaceful, personal walk with God, that would not be so unusual. Unless the Holy Spirit is at work in their lives, they have deadened themselves to it. But for a person who has known God and loved him, and tasted the sweetness of peace and fellowship, and a sense of being right with God, nothing is more terrifying than the growing feeling that God does not seem to be there anymore. To wake up in the morning or to go to bed at night and to lie there and stare at the ceiling and feel, Its not real. Hes not listening. To feel like all the bolts in your mind are coming loose and it wont hold still long enough to focus on anything, let alone God. Theres just an uneasy rattling and slipping of instability. To try to formulate a prayer and feel utterly phony because your mind is so full of worldly stuff and earthly feelings and fleshly desires that a sweet, peaceful, confident communion with God in prayer seems about as possible as flying to the moon. These are terrifying experiences for a Christian who has known peace with God, and unhindered communion with him. And so I am saying that Peter wants to spare you that. I want to spare you that. I want to avoid it myself at any price. PLEASE TAKE PETERS TEACHING FOR YOUR SAKES So Peter tells us: endeavor to live in a way that does not hinder your prayers. (Note: it almost goes without saying that this endeavor is not an effort to earn wages from God but is an effort to follow our Good Physicians loving prescription because we trust him.) Resolve this morning that during Prayer Week, you will take his teaching seriously and seek to do whatever you need to do to unclog your prayers and set them free. It may be that changes need to be made at home. Nothing is more important than unclogging the streams of prayer and power that are clogged at home. It may be that changes need to be made in the wider circle of relationships where there is bitterness or guile. Or it may be that there are simple awakenings that need to happen concerning the pattern of prayer in your life. When Peter says in 4:7, Be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the sake of prayers, he means that there are disciplines of the mind and the spirit which can preserve unhindered prayer in your life. JESUS DOES NOT KISS A DRUNK WIFE Jesus does not kiss a drunk wife. He may carry her off the street and back to bed. He may be utterly patient with her, and set before her hot coffee and fresh starts. But he will not kiss a drunk wife. What do I mean? I mean that when the bride of Christ, the church, is drunk with the world, she may turn to him for a brief kiss of prayer, but her breath wreaks so bad of worldliness that he turns his face away. THERE IS NO ONE THAT COASTS INTO SOBRIETY THERE IS AN HONEST HEARTFELT WANT TO Be sober for the sake of your prayers, Peter says. But whoever sobered up by coasting? Nobody coasts into sobriety. Not physical sobriety, and not spiritual sobriety. Sobriety happens when we begin to use sound judgment about our lives. Sound judgment about how we spend our time. Sound judgment about the spiritual climate of our homes. Sound judgment about the worldliness of our leisure. Sound judgment about the music we listen to, the movies we attend, the TV we watch. Nobody sobers up without intentional steps to get the bottles of worldliness off the shelves, out of the cabinet, and out of the house. When that happens, then the spiritual breath begins to clear up and the kiss of prayer is not hindered. HONESTLY HELPING EACH OTHER TO THIS END There are so many ways we can be helpful to each other at this point. There are so many things God has been teaching some of you recently, several of you have told of examples. I want us today to teach and exhort and encourage and if necessary rebuke each other. I invite you to pray this afternoon about what God might be wanting you to say to each other this evening. Invite questions & struggles to be shared. You need to hear about the real world of warfare that each are waging. A Special thanks to Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org WE WELCOME YOUR THOUGHTS ALSO, PLEASE VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT: dhdh421.wix/donhuff OUR E-MAILS ARE AT: Dhdh421@aol & Apostledhbh@gmail & ghgraydon93@gmail MAY THE GOOD LOORD JESUS CHRIST BLESS YOU AND YOURS
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 22:38:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015