Today’s blog is Minister Jo Wright’s prayer to open the Kansas senate.
The prayer is worth sharing and cuts to the heart of modern life.
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Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Prophetic Prayer- a cry for justice
Monday, May 3rd, 2010Why Jesus would hate the prosperity gospel?
Sunday, April 25th, 2010“Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God: so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing and wrapped a towel round his waist. After that he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” (John 13:3-5)
Jesus was performing the duty of a slave or ‘doulos’. One of my Lecturers in ancient Greek, years ago, gave us a handy hit for remembering the word ‘doulos’, meaning slave. She said “remember slaves do lots”. They were the lowest of lowest slaves responsible to one Lord and master. In fact, the Greeks and Jews in Jesus day considered the word an insult. A ‘doulos’ (slave) did the worst jobs, jobs others pushed onto them. So when Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, he was performing the work of a doulos, the lowest slave in the household. Jesus used this event to teach his disciples one last lesson before he went to the cross. He impressed on them the important lesson of living a doulos life.
Today Bible translators use the word “servant” instead of “slave”, it softens the meaning, almost giving it a respectable feel, but in Jesus day it was a harsh strong term identifying a ‘doulos’ as the least respected member of society, someone at the bottom of the social pecking order. Jesus teaches us this shocking truth with the wiping of a towel across dirty feet, but this act should not have surprised the disciples, he repeatedly used the word ‘doulos’ mentioning it more than seventy times in his teachings. It was major teaching point not a minor one.
Today, false prophets have us naming it and claiming it, telling us we deserve material blessing as children of the king, encouraging us to believe in success and prosperity. They are silent about matters of social justice and go on to value luxurious living and self-esteem. They tell us we are adopted children of the highest God, but they fail to relay Jesus’ words that we are also ‘doulos’ slaves to Christ.
We are ,in fact, royal heirs who belong to the family of the most High but we are also slaves in exile in a world at war with God. The false prophets want us to accept ‘worldliness’ to seek worldly success in money, fame and position. It might be helpful to remember Jesus’ third temptation:
“Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. All this I will give you, “he said if you will bow down and worship me” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” (Matthew 4:8-10)
The success and prosperity of this world according to Matthew’s gospel comes from the devil. “The kingdoms of the world and their splendour” comes under the authority of Satan, by deceiving mankind, he manipulates and controls markets and even holds sway over governments. The scripture even goes as far as pointing out that worldly prosperity comes from false worship.
The false prophets encourage us to lust after worldly success disguised as Godly prosperity; telling us mammon is not so bad, being proud, superior and self confident is good. They encourage social recognition and grandstand in the spot light; they sell the gospel like snake oil. But above all, they want the look of worldly success, and they will do anything to avoid looking like or being a ‘doulos’ We are princes and princess in rags, told by Jesus to love, care and bless the poor and call the rich to repentance. Tony Campolo gives us great insight about a Christian’s relationship to the world, when he said:
“In reality, Babylon, as described in the book of Revelation, refers to any societal system in which Christians dwell as they struggle to live out their faith. For those in modern-day England, Babylon is English cultural system. For Christians in America, Babylon is American culture, and for those in Australia, their Babylon is the culture and economic system that stands over and against those Christians who constitute the new community of faith established by the Omega man, who is Jesus.” (Tony Campolo, Forward for Sharpening the cutting Edge, John Smith)
Jesus taught us to be “doulos” He never called us to be worldly kings, barons of the stock market, rock gods or sports super stars. Jesus never taught us how to get rich, but he did tell us to sell what we have and give to the poor. He never taught us how to look like a super model but he did tell us not to become white washed tombs full of dead bones. He never showed us how to be famous, but he told us the greatest in the kingdom of God would be least of all. They will be doulos!!!
“Whoever wants to be first must be your slave (doulos) just as the son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:27-28)
My friends, if you are at peace with this world then you are at war with God!
What’s the point in making an oath to God? Part 4 of Grace Killers
Thursday, April 15th, 2010Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne, or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. Matthew 5: 33-36
Oaths are nothing more than a formal promise made to either God or man. It’s usually heartfelt and it evokes a curse on yourself if you do not fulfil your promise. Oaths were really popular in the Old Testament and even God made an oath to Abraham. Genesis 15:10
Jesus in Matthew’s gospel questions a man’s ability to fulfil an oath to God; I see Jesus shaking his head with a combination of disbelief and anger. They are but men making empty promises to God and inviting God’s punishment on them. In reality, an oath to God tells God how much you don’t know about him and how blind you are to your own self- importance and arrogance.
In Jesus’ day oaths or promises to God were very common, in fact, it was one of the main ways you could worship God. Oaths became one of the ways people big noted themselves. They were making out how spiritual or righteous they were. Oaths became a public practise and it was done often for show to seek respect from others.
Jesus told us not to make any promises to God, but let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and ‘no’,’’ no’. In other words, just respond to the grace of God, don’t try and big note yourself to God and others, your already valued and loved by God. Don’t try and prove how good you are to everyone including God because it’s the path to evil.
Jesus said, “Simply let your ‘yes’ be’ yes’ and your ‘No’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”(Matthew 5:37)
It is wise advice not to seek popularity in a public promise to God or man, but just keep it simple, work at putting Jesus’ words into practise. Remember we don’t have to work hard or try to prove we are loved by God, the cross tells us we are all valued and loved by grace.
Giving Money and the Motive of Praise – Part 3 Hypocrisy the Grace Killer
Monday, March 29th, 2010“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in Heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets to be honoured by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6: 1-4)
In Jesus day giving to the poor was seen as ‘Acts of Righteousness’ the godly made it a priority as an act of faithfulness to God. You could not say you had faith without giving to the poor. This attitude is rooted in Ezekiel chapter 18
“He does not oppress anyone, but returns what he took in pledge for a loan. He does not commit robbery but gives his food to the hungry and provides clothes for the naked.” Ezekiel 18:7
You might like to read the chapter, to Ezekiel the faithful soul looks out for the poor, while the ungodly neglects the needy.
Jesus’ backs Ezekiel’s call to give to the poor and needy but he is highly critical of giving with the motive of getting praise from others. He associates this type of giving with hypocrisy. You might remember my earlier post of Hypocrisy the grace killer http://bit.ly/9DfRZJ
You can see that ‘hypocrisy’ the word came from the profession of acting with masks. The hypocrites had a public image or “personal branding” They became preoccupied with the appearance of righteousness and not heartfelt relationship with their heavenly Father. Jesus was attacking false worship. They gave to the poor but the motive was to hunt for praise from others. They were worshipping themselves not God.
What Jesus is telling us is that all giving is between you and your Father, God. It’s an act of worship to God! You give to God for the benefit of the poor and needy. The heart remains pure, linking you and God together in blessing the poor. This creates intimacy with God.
I believe Jesus would be equally critical of churches who collect money with no intention of giving to the poor and needy or helping them in any way. Some ministries encourage giving with applause and cheers with pats on the back. Then they spend that money on marketing the image of the church. They not only encourage hypocrisy in its members, but steal from God and the poor.
A good and faithful heart knows grace but fancy packaging leads to hypocrisy!
Part 2 Grace Killing Prayer – What Stops The Grace Of God?
Friday, March 19th, 2010It may sound strange but seeking praise in prayer is a grace killer. Jesus gives us a clear picture in Matthew’s gospel of what stops us from experiencing the grace of God. When we give our hearts to seeking praise, honour and status we are in a dangerous place.
In Jesus’ day there was four main ways you expressed your faith:
- Prayer
- Giving to the poor
- Fasting
- Oath taking
Jesus warns his followers not to seek personal praise in prayer.
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogue and on street corners to be seen by men. I tell you truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father” (NIV Matt6:5-6a)
Making prayer a show to assert your own personal esteem is offensive to Jesus and God the Father. It makes prayer a way of building your own ego, showing everyone how wonderful you are! Hunting for others’ praise at church is an attempt to steal worship from God.
In truth, it leads you away from God’s grace; it makes prayer a way to gain “brownie points” with the congregation and to show the world how spiritual you are! A fancy wordy prayer for public show makes people think you are special; more spiritual, in fact, the opposite is true. It produces the fruit of pride and arrogance which God finds insulting. It also makes others feel like their prayers are not valued by God, unless they are showier and cleverly worded. “My prayers are not good enough?”
All God wants is for us to talk with him, Just picture a father with his kids, he does not want a fancy speech in front of guests, but he wants an intimate time in private, and to hear “I love you dad”. It’s all about a heart relationship with God!
May I suggest the iceberg as a way to understand prayer? You might avoid public prayer altogether unless your prayer life is like an iceberg in the ocean. The tip of the iceberg should be public prayer, which makes up about 1 to 2% of all your prayers and the 98% of prayers should be made up of private prayers, submerged like the bottom of the iceberg.
Make public prayer the tip of the iceberg!
Part 1 Hypocrisy the Grace killer- What stops the grace of God?
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish but inside they are full of greed and self –indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.” Matt 23:25-26 NIV
When we hear the word, ‘Hypocrisy’ we automatically think of double standards. Where someone says one thing and does the opposite! However, in reality it means much more than this. This idea of hypocrisy in popular culture came from the lips of Jesus. Jesus borrowed the word from the Romans. In Jesus’ day, a hypocrite was a Roman actor, someone who wore a mask, who acted in a Roman theatre. The Actors wore masks either with a smile or frown and would show the opposite face to the audience. A smiling face might show a frown, or frowning mask might hide a hidden smile.
After reading though the gospels countless times I am struck by this major issue that troubled Jesus. Jesus did not candy coat his words in his criticism, calling the hypocrites: Snakes, Broods of Vipers, White Washed Tombs and so on. I wonder what Jesus would say today?
We value fashionable looks and sexy bodies more than personal integrity. We are encouraged by helping professionals to build a ‘positive self image’; by downsizing our negatives and upside our positives. We are taught to find our value in our self-esteem and not in God!
Never before in human history has personal image been so important, , If you doubt this just ask an image consultant, PR firm or marketing agency?
I believe the reason why Jesus was so opposed to the over emphasis of “the public image” was that it prevents us from coming to God. It stops us from experiencing the grace of God. It keeps our eyes and ears focused on the praises of men and women. We Play the praise game and hunt for praise instead of coming to God on a heart level. We seek our personal value in the esteem and praises of others instead of finding our personal value in the unmerited favour of a loving God.
Part 1 of Hypocrisy the Grace Killer is about seeking esteem in one’s self image instead of finding our esteem in grace. Next week in part 2: I will look at Jesus’ teaching on what causes us to over value our public image of ourselves and make us into hypocrites?
It may sound strange but seeking praise is a grace killer. Jesus gives us a clear picture in Matthew’s gospel of what stops us from experiencing the grace of God. When we give our hearts to seeking praise, honour and status we are in a dangerous place.
In Jesus’ day there were four main ways you expressed your faithfulness to God:
- Prayer
- Giving to the poor
- Fasting
- Oath taking
Over the next four weeks I will look at how seeking praise in: Prayer, Giving, Fasting and Oaths will stop us experiencing the grace of God.
Next week: The Danger of Praise & Prayer
GIDEON HAD LOW SELF-ESTEEM BUT HEAPS OF GOD ESTEEM- JUDGES 6 & 7
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010The Bible tells us that Gideon was found hiding in a wine press, cowering in fear and self doubt. He’s hardly a picture of confidence! Gideon, like most who lack confidence withdraws from the world, hiding away from the world. I am sure Gideon felt powerless; the Midianites had crushed the spirit of the nation’s hopes and dreams. Gideon is a picture of hopelessness in today’s terms; he’s a loser with seriously low self-esteem.
An Angel of the Lord finds Gideon hiding like a chicken and calls him a mighty man of valour! Was he being sarcastic? The Angel tells Gideon to save Israel,” to go in the strength you have! “I could just imagine what Gideon was thinking. Go in the strength I have, can’t you see I am hiding in a wine press grinding wheat?” Gideon speaks up:
“But Lord Gideon asked, “How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family”
“Not only am I hiding but out of the twelve tribes of Israel we are known as a fighting joke, our tribe couldn’t fight our way out of a wet paper bag. Then to top it off, I am the joke of our tribe, I am the one every wants to arm wrestle. In the heat of battle, I am the one shaking with fear in my designer sandals!
“The Lord answered,” I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.”
Gideon asked for a sign or two but God built Gideon’s confidence, step by step. He pulled down his father’s tribute idol of Baal and he trusted the supernatural being. He believed his word! Gideon a self confessed weakling picks a fight with his family. Sneaks off at night he sacrifices a prize bull and destroys the idol and Asher pole and makes a new altar to the Lord. Gideon takes a stand in his family, he risks losing not just respect but his life. The town’s men want to kill him. Gideon’s confidence comes from trusting God. He knows he is weak even powerless but God is on his side.
Soon afterwards, the Spirit of the Lord enters Gideon and he blow’s the war trumpet, calling Israel to war. Now Gideon, a man who could hardly handle a sword was calling everyone to battle! The Israelite army arrives and God tells Gideon you have way too many men. In the end, he takes 300 men into battle. To fight an army he could not count, the Bible compares them to a plague of locust- over 125,000 swords men. The valley was full to overflowing. Gideon and the 300 night fighter, smashed pots and blew trumpets and the rest is history, confusion came over their enemy. They started fighting each other and in the end 15,000 men were left alive.
The great lesson from Gideon is that if he just had self esteem he would have failed, it was with God’s help and his belief in Gideon. He stepped up to the plate and accepted God-esteem. God’s grace allows you to do the impossible, when it is in his will!
If you have a big challenge you need God confidence not self confidence. Most self-confidence evaporates like mist under testing and pressure. But you only need God to believe in you!
- What do you think?
- How does this lesson from Gideon help you?
GRACE BASED CONFIDENCE
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010Grace not only esteems us, it empowers us with a Godly confidence!
The story of David and Goliath is a brilliant expression of grace empowered confidence in action. A young boy named David follows his older brothers slowly creeping behind, careful to keep his distance as they march off to war. When David arrives he sees the Israelite army scared witless. His brothers are trembling in their boots alongside the other solders. He looks up to see Goliath, a brute of a man, dressed in full armor and his shadow blocks the sunrays. David hears arrogant words insulting his countrymen and worse even slighting God himself.
David compelled by his deep love for God decides to defend God’s honor and elects to fight Goliath. David’s compatriots were surprised because no-one was brave enough to face the giant in a one-on one battle. His brothers try and talk him out of it, telling him it is suicide, but, David holds one incredible secret he has a person relationship with God. His value, his strength and his confidence came from the grace of God. So David walked into battle with a hand full of stones and a homemade sling shot.
Goliath laughed at the spectacle and David carefully moved with stealth into the battle with God by his side. Goliath felt no fear; he was full of self confidence and watched this boy run towards him. Then before he could feel fear a stone hit his head and the giant of a man then collapsed. I am sure everyone’s mouths would have hung wide open in amazement. David knew God was with him, he knew God loved him and would help him. To the world David had no chance but to God he was unbeatable.
David sets us a great example, he did not trust in his gifting, talent, his looks or size on an earthly level, he had no chance in comparison to Goliath. He had nothing but the grace of God and His personal relationship with God. He knew with God’s strength Goliath was a beaten man. David had God-esteem and all the men on both sides of the battle looked on with self-esteem. Goliath was full of self-esteem; in fact he was so full he never questioned the possibility of defeat. Meanwhile David knew it was God’s victory he did not do it in his own strength.
We can find our strength and confidence in God’s grace, it will allow us to scale mighty mountains and overcome massive challenges that self-esteem would never provide. God’s grace will give us confidence but keep us free from pride and arrogance. It keeps us humble.
Let us know
- Where do you find confidence?
- Have you ever thought of God as a source of confidence?
- Can you see the difference between Godly confidence and the lie of self-esteem?
- Tell us about the time you found your confidence in God?
BRETT GLOVER’S NEW BLOG ABOUT GRACE.
Sunday, February 7th, 2010The blog is dedicated to all who are into grace, our ministry is called in2grace, and it’s a play on words. So you will find in the future plenty of dynamic blogs about grace full living. There will be a focus on relevant social issues and the word of God. The blogs will include such things as:
- What stops the grace of God?
- What are grace killers?
- Is self-esteem a counterfeit of Grace?
- How does the self-esteem teaching line- up against Jesus teaching?
- How to use grace to fight violence, greed, mean spiritedness, poverty, depression, and suicide?
- Grace is the message of Jesus?
- Hunting praise is antichrist behaviour?
- Grace the unmerited favour of God?
- The first shall be last and last shall be first?
- Positive reinforcement is of the devil?
- Agape is the unconditional love of God?
- Fighting the good fight against elitism?
- Secular schools deny prayer but encourage self-esteem?
- The self-esteem teaching fosters elitism and inequity?
The in2grace blog site encourages questions and comments. Of course there will be guest bloggers from time to time. As the feature blogger I need to tell you a little about myself. My Name is Brett Glover. I am a theologian and author, who has served as a pastor, a manager of a residential Youth and family therapy program as well as spending time in the business world.
Our slogan is: We are a voice of Grace: for a world free of injustice and suffering.
Public Awareness – Church and Public dialogue – Social Justice Campaigns – Spiritual education
Brett Glover
I’m Brett Glover a theologian and author who is into grace. I write about the awe-inspiring grace of God. The grace, Jesus lived and taught about! I am especially concerned about, what kills the grace of God? What stops God’s beautiful grace from growing in our: hearts, churches, communities and our world?
Grace V Self-Esteem
Self-Esteem is a counterfeit gospel
Learn how the self-esteem philosophy has become a counterfeit of the gospel of grace? See what stops us loving God and others? Discover how the self-esteem teaching makes us; arrogant, self absorbed, greedy, depressive, abusive and loveless.