Reliable Truth

Are you praying for God's protection over your life and for your loved ones?This is the last message in our 9-part series.I think it’s crucial that you ask God to protect your family, and for those of you who are married, to pray for your wife and your marriage. Marriage and family are truly under great attack. I really do think that one of the greatest ways that the Enemy can undermine the church and God’s people is to break up the family.Where do you start? I start with Psalm 27:1, it says that “God is the defense of my life.” I just say, "Lord, You’re the defense of my life, and there are only a certain number of things that I can do." Then there's Psalm 127:1 “Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.” I pray, "Lord I can do all these things, but ultimately, You are the defense of my life."Here are more verses that I use in my daily prayer time: Psalm 4:8 “I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O Lord, made me dwell in safety.” Psalm 18:1-3 “I love You, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in Whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the LORD, Who is worthy to be praised, And I am saved from my enemies.” Psalm 32:7 “You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.” Psalm 40:11 “Do not withhold Your mercy from me, may Your love and faithfulness always protect me.” II Thessalonians 3:3 “But the Lord is faithful and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.”That’s pretty cut and dry. But you have to claim the Lord's protection. You have to pray it, and you have to ask Him for it. My prayer is, "Lord I stand on Your promise. Because You are faithful, I pray that You will protect us and strengthen us against the forces of darkness. I thank You for doing that."Listen to what Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew 26:41: “Keep watching and keep praying that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Are you anxious about the future? David Wells, who is quite the scholar, wrote a book about 15 years ago, called Losing Our Virtue. And listen to what he says about this as we think about the future and the present. Wells says: “The world today intrudes upon us as it never has before, and one of the surest indications of this is that the levels of anxiety have never been higher in peoples lives. And why are we more anxious? There are, no doubt, many reasons, including a heightened tempo in the workplace, greater economic insecurity, too many choices, and perhaps, family breakdown.” This was before you had to worry about terrorism. This was before 9/11. He continues:“What is more, the extraordinary rapidity of change in our society powerfully fixes our attention upon the future, for we need to anticipate events that are in the making in order to avoid what will be harmful and to capitalize on what will be beneficial.” But then, listen to this. Wells says:“Anxiety, however, is nothing more than living out the future before it arrives. And modernity obliges us to do this many times over. The future is thereby greatly intensified.” Yet we’re being instructed by Jesus to live in the present. Our lives should be focused on the day at hand.

When a storm enters your life, what do you do? You know what I mean by storm, right? Something very difficult comes into your life. A hard circumstance. Adversity.How do I get it out of my life? Is there something I can do to deal with the storm? Sometimes to get out of trouble, people do things they shouldn’t do. But let’s look at the storms of life that are out of your control. A storm that creates emotional pain and fear.What do you do?In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus says, “He who hears these words of Mine, and then acts upon them.” The NIV says, “…puts them into practice, will be compared to a wise man who builds his house upon the rock, and the winds come, and the rains come and storms come, and they beat against that house, and yet it did not fall, because it was founded on the Rock.”

What is our tendency when we become really satisfied?Often times we become complacent. We think we've got life figured out. We take it for granted.When we get to a point where we think we have everything we need, instead of being thankful to God, we start becoming arrogant.Once that arrogance starts creeping in, you are well on a path to forgetting Him.In Proverbs 30, Solomon asks God to keep lies and deceit away from him. Then he says, don’t give me too much - in other words, don’t give me too much of anything. Don’t give me too much wealth. Because my problem is, once I have too much, I’m likely to forget you and say, Who is the Lord?" It’s like he was saying, give me just enough, because he sees this danger.As we sit here today, we might find it hard to believe that someone who gets really blessed would forget God, would not give thanks to God, would not be humble. But that does seem to be what happens. An attitude of thanksgiving does not come natural to us. Arrogance does comes very natural to us.

Who is the greatest Christian in the world? 18th century theologian William Law beautifully answers this question, which is the theme of this episode:“Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world?...” (And whenever we use the word saint, that means Christian.)“...It’s not who prays the most, or fasts the most. It’s not he who gives most alms, or who is most imminent for temperance, chastity, or justice, but it is to he who is always thankful to God. Who wills and wants everything that God wills, and who receives everything in his life as an instance of God’s goodness, and therefore always has a heart that is ready to praise and thank God for it.” I believe this is a big deal, and in my opinion, thanksgiving should be at the heart of our prayer life.As the apostle Paul says, our lives should overflow with gratitude, because, when that happens, it makes such a difference in our life, and in our own personal health.

What does sacrifice mean? Is it a bad thing?To sacrifice is to forfeit something of great value to you, but you do it for something of even greater value.When you understand the worth of sacrifice, it changes everything.In the Christian life, to come to Christ, you’re forfeiting your life and your will for something of much greater value - and that is God’s will - His plan for your life.But most of us don’t like that word sacrifice. It sounds so negative. We confuse it with the idea of deprivation - like I’ve just got to deprive myself of something and there’s nothing really in it for me.We need to understand that there’s a huge difference between deprivation and sacrifice.As you grow in wisdom and maturity, there are often things that you realize you need to eliminate from your life just because it’s wise and good.If you really want to know what a person’s life is really all about, what’s really important to them, all you need to do is look at two things.What are those two things?

What does total commitment mean to you?Whenever you truly commit to something or someone, you have to give up something in the process. In one sense you can see it as a sacrifice. This is where you forfeit something of great value for the sake of something of greater value. In our culture, the commitment we are most aware of is marriage. When a man proposes to a woman, he does so knowing he’s giving up all other relationships with single women. He’s giving up a great deal of autonomy and he’s giving up all of his assets. When you listen to the marriage vows, you recognize that you are giving all that you have and all that you are to that other person. You are telling them that I belong exclusively and permanently to you. All of me. But isn’t this what we yearn for? And we do it to experience union and oneness with another person, and, in the process, experience incredible joy.Jesus is telling us the same thing. That a new right relationship with Him is worth everything. However, He has made it clear that we must give ourselves to Him, to surrender to Him, and when we do, we will suddenly find everything that we have been searching for in this life.

Does how we pray matter to God? In Part 1 we discussed these 2 principles: the importance of approaching God with humility, and praying with the right motive.Today we discuss the value of persistence in our prayer life. In Luke 18:1, it says we should not lose heart and give up. Though Jesus gives us no real explanation, it does appear that persistence is important for several reasons, one being that it indicates the priority of the heart. It shows a real intent and purpose.We also discuss the final principle, which is asking God for wisdom, praying with faith that He will give it to you.“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” - James 1:5-7

What is prayer? And what does it mean to have a prayer life? The last time that we talked on prayer, I commented that in order to have an effective prayer life, there are certain crucial principles that are involved. Perhaps the most important is this truth of approaching God with a heart of humility. Prayer requires humility. Interestingly, your prayer life is the key that produces humility in your life.Humility does not come naturally to us as human beings, and therefore, it has to be cultivated in our lives. The Bible uses the phrase "humble yourself." As you read scripture, you'll see that God truly has high esteem for the humble. In Isaiah 66:2 God tells us, "This is the one to whom I esteem, he who is humble and contrite in spirit and who trembles at My Word."This is Part 1 of a 9-part series.

How can you put science with faith? In this episode, my guest is Dr. Ken Boa. He is exploring a huge topic, so get your seat belt on!​​We are discussing science, faith and reason. The typical mindset is to ask. "How can you put science with faith?" Well, first of all, the actual origin of science occurred in a context of Christian faith. In fact, science, as we know it, only appeared ONCE in human history.Y​​es there was technology in Greece and Babylonia, China etc. But there was no actual science until the period around the Renaissance in Christian Europe.I​​t was this Christian synthesis that actually provided the foundation for the idea that the universe is rational, and that it can be studied.Dr. Ken Boa of ⁠Reflections Ministries⁠ is engaged in a ministry of relational evangelism and discipleship, teaching, writing, and speaking. For 40 years, Ken has shared Scripture-based truth to help people view life from God’s perspective. He holds a BS from Case Institute of Technology, a ThM from Dallas Theological Seminary, a Ph.D. from New York University, and a DPhil from the University of Oxford in England.