Goodbye

No, I'm not going to stop blogging. But, this Sunday the Spring 2008 semester of the North Star Bible Institute is beginning. This will be my last semester, by the favor of God, and Pastor Brado willing! That being said, I have a very busy semester coming up, and I do not know how coherent any of my lunch time thoughts may be. Who knows, maybe they'll be better!

Anyway, Study to shew [(pronounced SHOW, just like when you 'sew' it is not 'sue' nor is 'shew' 'shue')] thyself approved unto God... one more semester!

Just Thoughtless...

Ok, the fact of the matter is that I have no original Lunch-Time thought to post today. But rather than having all of my faithful readers checking back regularly, I decided to post saying that I am not posting...

Then I was thinking that I could share with you how last night went. It went well, I guess. My conclusion that I tried to narrow down to the kids to help them understand what it means to pray in Jesus name was this:

To pray in Jesus' name means to ask for what Jesus wants and expecting to receive it because of Who He is.

I used an illustration from I Samuel 25 when David sent some young men to Nabal, In David's Name, to request some provisions. Anyway...

Just thoughtless...

In Jesus' Name. Really?

Scenario 1: Little Brother walks up to Big Brother and says with authority: "Go clean your room." Big Brother begins to pound on Little Brother.

Scenario 2: Little Brother walks up to Big Brother and says with authority: "Daddy says, Go clean your room." Big Brother begins to clean his room.

What's the difference? In Scenario 2, Little Brother spoke "in the name of Daddy." When we pray in the name of Jesus, we are going to the Father and saying, "God, Your Son would like you to... [request goes here]."

Now, what if Little Brother goes to Big Brother and says, "Daddy says clean your room," but Daddy never said that? He actually misrepresented the name of Daddy. Do you think we ever say, "In Jesus name I pray" when the reality is that Jesus would not have requested what we requested? Does it happen that we say, Father God, Jesus, Your Son, asks that you would do such and such a thing, and the Father looks over at Jesus, and He's saying, No I don't! But, I think that is what happens when we pray for something that God doesn't want, and we tack on at the end, "In Jesus Name I pray."

Now, if Jesus is in agreement, then we can be sure that the Father will be quick to answer the request of His Son! He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, How shall He not, with Him, freely give us all things!

So, my charge for the day, Make sure that Jesus is in agreement with your prayers before you tell the Fater that He is, by claiming His name on it.

Now, if I can pass this same understanding and challenge to the kids at AWANA tonight, we'll be all set!

Just a thought.

Four Year Old Answer to Prayer

Now, all of my kids are good looking (take after their mom), but Joseph has been especially 'cursed' with having these adorable dimples! His name means: Increase or Addition. Joseph was the first-born of Rachel after she had been barren for a while (not that case in our family!)

Joseph being born to Rachel was the answer to many long prayers. Genesis 30:22 says that God remembered her, and hearkend to her. Our Joseph was also an answer to prayer. When he had still not been born, the doctors told us that an ultrasound showed a cyst on his brain. They said, sometimes it goes away, but sometimes it can be the sign of worse stuff. Well, we prayed about it, a lot. I remember going to Men's Prayer Meeting on a Tuesday night, and the men prayed about it. And you know what? That cyst never did show up again. We do serve a great God.

Anyway, now he's 4! No longer in the Dyjak's Sunday School class. And if your name wasn't Sammy, you weren't invited to his birthday party! (inside joke, I guess)

Just a thought

Mighty Arrows

Babylon, the great Empire led by King Nebuchadnezzar, unstoppable in their conquest of the lands in the Mid-East, reigning supreme over even God's chosen people (at God's directive, but that's another issue). This great Babylon, the epitomy of wickedness and sin in the world, was to be destroyed... by arrows.

(Jeremiah 50:9) For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.

The arrows as those of a mighty expert man. The arrows went out! They went out and did not return in vain!

Ok, since all of you are lost as to where I'm going with this, let me continue :) Last night at Kevin Pestke's ordination service, he mentioned his godly heritage. It reminded me of the passage in Psalm 127.

(Psalms 127:3) Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
(Psalms 127:4) As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
(Psalms 127:5) Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

The Bible says that children of the youth are as arrows in the hand of a mighty man. That's the same description of the arrows used to destroy the great Babylonian Empire. Yet our children, the children of the youth, are supposed to be just as effective. We are to be 'shooting them out.'

I suppose it is more natural for us to build castle walls around our children, great bullwarks that will never be penetrated. We end up protecting our arrows, and we make sure they are nice and cozy. We provide the nicest carrying case for our arrows, with nice velvety lined pillows, to make sure that our arrows don't get damaged. But to shoot them out? No way! They might get scratched!

Children are a heritage of the Lord. They are the Lord's reward to people. The man that has his quiver full of them (like me!) is happy! But, they are not supposed to sit in the quiver only.

The man that has children (again, me!) is supposed to prepare his children to be sent out. Every Christian father in the world has the charge of training up missionaries in his home. There is no exception to that. He is to train them up to be ready to go out. He is to shoot them out, and when they are ready, you will find that: "they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate."

Are your arrows ready to attack the enemies in the gate? If not, are they being prepared for that purpose? To go out and attack the gates of hell? They will not prevail against Christ's church, you know.

The heritage... I have a great heritage, and I want my children to carry on the same heritage. I am newly exhorted to prepare my children to be sent out... May I be that mighty expert man, strengthening my bow, readying my arrows.

Just a thought...

Why Word?

Ok, I have my ideas on this question, but I'd like to hear what all of my faithful (and unfaithful) readers think on the subject.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

My question is this: Why did God use the word Word there?

John penned the Gospel under the insipration of the Holy Ghost. John wrote it in the Greek language, and the one Greek word that almost everybody knows is this word, logos. That word, logos, carries with it the idea of 'reason' as well as 'word' as it is most accurately and perfectly translated in the King James Bible. We get our word 'logic' from it.

So, when God the Son incarnated, took on human flesh, He was given the title "Word." He could have been given any title, and in fact He was given many titles, but why this one? John thought it important enough (under inspiration) to repeat it in His 1st Epistle.

What does it mean that Jesus, God the Son, is and always was, the Word?

Remember...

Too often we are out looking for the newest thing in the Bible... we like the teachers that show us something from God's word that we had never seen before. But as I was reading in 2 Peter, I realized that Peter kept bringing to remembrance the things that he had said. He could have spent time and time showing them all sorts of new things: telling them things about Jesus; describing stories found in the Gospels; telling of deep meanings to things... But instead he put them in remembrances things like: Lust is the cause of your sins. Once you've taken care of that (by faith), add to that- virtue, etc. The Lord is coming back again. He taught them the fundamentals of Christianity.

I wonder if we spend too much time looking into the hidden, deeper things, and failt to bring to remembrance the basics.

Just a thought...