When the Body Rebels, His Spirit Prevails!

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Paul stated in Romans. “ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do…….For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. “ (Romans 7:15&18)

How well I understand that passage! Discipline, ugh, oh how the body rebels! Discipline is definitely not a natural behavior. I don’t perform it readily. It requires intentionality. However, discipline becomes merely legalism when we try to do it all on our own. There are times in my walk I feel the discipline slipping and the excuses brimming, shall we say! It manifests in those midnight desserts, missing days at the gym, or procrastination in areas where I know I shouldn’t. And eventually, in my frustration, I cry out as Paul did, “ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate doing I do…….For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” Paul knew that if he abandoned his dependency upon Christ and attempted to live the Christian life out of his own resources, He would never prevail. Although we can renew our minds through studying God’s word, we can never elevate our flesh to a place where it can fulfill God’s purpose in our lives in our own strength. When we lack understanding, personal weakness causes us to beat ourselves up, and hang our heads in shame. However, the Word states, “When I am weak, then I am strong.”( 2 Cor 12:10) Why? Because when I am weak then I yield myself to Him and He meets me there. Through His Spirit, strength abounds in me. And finally, that which I cannot do on my own, He does in and through me, simply because I am His daughter and I ask for His help…My Father loves me and sustains me and when my Body rebels, His Spirit prevails!

 

August 24, 2014

1) Gym √

2) Bible study √

3) Healthy breakfast √

4) Work √

 

Hindrances to Bible Interpretation

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Language, context and culture are significant in affecting our overall interpretation of scripture. Lets begin by using a cultural example.

If our cultural blind spots affect our reading of the Bible, then they may also affect our application of the Bible. The story of The Prodigal Son serves as a perfect example. Americans tend to treat the mention of the famine as an unnecessary part of the plot in this story. We may notice the mention of a famine and may even believe that it makes matters worse for the young son. However, since, he committed his sin, it goes without being said for us that the main issue in the story is his wastefulness, not the famine. This is evident from our traditional title for the story: the Parable of the Prodigal (“wasteful”) son. We apply the story as a lesson about willful rebellion and repentance. The boy is guilty of disrespecting his father and squandering his inheritance. He must now ask for forgiveness. However, many Christians in other parts of the world view the story differently. In cultures more familiar with famine, like Russia, readers consider the boy’s spending less important than the famine. The application of the story has less to do with willful rebellion and more to do with God’s faithfulness to deliver his people from hopeless situations. The boy’s problem is not that he is wasteful but that he is lost.(reference: E. Randolph Richards;Brandon J. O’Brien. Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible) This is not to suggest that one view is more right than another, but removing cultural blinders does help to expand our view and our overall understanding.

The following is a list of common Biblical misunderstandings attributed to language, context and culture. I pray that this list will provide Biblical insight and clarity to your study of the Bible:

 

1) Misunderstandings may occur in genealogical sequences in the use of the term father. If you ask me who my father is, I am very likely to identify one individual man. Father to an American is the person involved in conception. To the ancient Jew, father was any male blood relative who was of significant influence. In Matthew 1:1 the writer tells us “Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Does this mean that Jesus was the grandson of Abraham? Just reading the rest of the chapter tells you that this is not the case. A Jew regarded father to be a term that indicated lineage, but not necessarily the person involved in conception.

 

2) Individual words can have different meanings. The word for create (bara in Hebrew) was a word that could only be used in reference to God. When Genesis says “In the beginning, God created (bara) the heaven and the earth, “the significance is lost if one does not understand that the statement could only be used in reference to God. If it was an ordinary process that perhaps even man could do, the word that was used was asah (to make).

 

3) When Western readers hear Paul exhorting women to “dress modestly,” we automatically think in terms of sexual modesty. But most women in that culture would never wear immodest clothing. The context suggests that Paul is more likely concerned about economic modesty–that Christian women not flaunt their wealth through expensive clothes, braided hair and gold jewelry.

 

4) According to some cultures, readers might assume that Moses married “below himself” because his wife was a dark-skinned Cushite. Actually, Hebrews were the slave race, not the Cushites, who were highly respected. Aaron and Miriam probably thought Moses was being presumptuous by marrying above himself.

Prayers for our Children

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Father, Thank You for the gifts that our children are to us. You said they are rewards from the Lord. (Psalms 127:3-4)

 

We receive them today as gifts that have come from the Father of Lights with Whom there is no variation, no shadow cast by His turning. (James 1:17)

 

We receive them as good, faithful gifts from You. We call our children, “disciples,” “taught of the Lord,” that are “obedient to God’s will”, “of great peace,” and “undisturbed composure.” (Isaiah 54:13)

 

I pray today that You would contend with those that contend with our children, and bring safety and ease to them. (Isaiah 49:25)

 

I thank You, Father God, that their hearts are in Your Hand as a watercourse, and You turn them wither so ever way that You will. (Proverbs 21:1)

 

I thank You that You have promised that we would never be pale with fear or disappointment over our children’s degeneracy, but they would walk in the ways of virtue and piety, and we would rejoice in the God that causes them to do so. (Isaiah 29:22-23)

 

Father, bring our children back from the land of the enemy. We refrain our eyes from weeping and from tears, for we know our labor and prayer will be rewarded, and they will come again. (Jeremiah 31:16)

 

You’ve promised us, Father, that if we train our children in the way that they should go, that even when they are old they will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)

 

Father, where we’ve had the ability to train them, or if we’ve raised our children without them knowing You, we thank You that it’s a new day, and a new time, and that You make all things new, and begin a work in our children that saves them from the destruction of the enemy. We call them from the north, the south, the east and the west. We say, “they return again from the land of the enemy,” and we thank You for Your hand upon our children. In Jesus’ Precious Name, Amen.