It is official, my blog has moved to my new website. You can read my latest blog here.
Prayerlife?
Recently I decided to launch a website for my writing after years of prayer. The process wasn’t as easy as I hoped even with God on my side. The designer I wanted was booked. I reached out to another designer, at first things were great, a week later we parted ways.
Let me clarify, there is no such thing as “unanswered” prayers, God always answers prayer, just not how we like. Sometimes it is yes, but more likely it will be “no” or wait!
Therefore, we must learn to be patient. Remember Lazarus? He was Jesus’ friend Jesus allowed to die for God’s glory (John 11:1-44!) I don’t think that’s what Martha and Mary wanted.
After praying for God’s will, I decided to use a marketing team near where I live. Once again everything was going smoothly. My designer was preparing to send me the contract, so I went for a ride, being outside is one of my favorite places to be quiet and listen to God.
While I was out biking, I received an email from the designer, and it wasn’t what I expected. Unfortunately, it was the same story, they didn’t want to do the work either and I hoped that’s a joke. I turned to God. After a prayer, I sensed God say, this isn’t about what you want.
Convicted, I rushed home and emailed my designer and offered to compromise. To my surprise they agreed. Things worked out better than I had hoped, not because I got what I wanted—because I listened to God.
I wasn’t getting my way, but God’s best—which is His will, not ours. God willing, this will be my last blog post on Blogger, beginning next month read my blogs at MartinThomasJohnson.com. Prayer reveals if we have faith or fire insurance. Nothing reveals spiritual maturity like our prayer life.
Prayer life?
While in the garden, Jesus prayed for God’s will. This is interesting because it shows Jesus didn’t want to go to the cross—He didn’t want to suffer—yet He wanted to be obedient to God. Jesus said a lot about praying.
His teachings contradicted Jewish tradition, even the church’s. Nothing stunts spiritual growth like tradition. The Jewish community has prayer for everything, and they aren’t short.
Jesus taught His disciples not to pray long public prayers, but to go to God with their needs, even though God already knows what we need before we ask (Matthew 6:8.) Prayer was never meant to be a magic wishlist of dreams, that is what the lost do (Matthew 6:7.) Prayer has always been about seeking God’s will over ours. Like a loving Father, God wants us to come to Him for our needs, He wants to know we need Him, keep on holdin’ on.
Despite popular church teachings, prayer does not change things or an invincible God (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8.) Prayer changes us and our desires, it aligns our hearts with God’s, He isn’t a puppet. The psalmist pleaded with God to give him a new heart and new desires (Psalm 51:8-10.)
If anything changes, it isn’t because of us or our pleading, it is because it is God’s divine will. I can testify God performs miracles, but it isn’t because of any of man’s doing, it is an act of God. God wants to give us a new heart for Him and new desires.
Andrew Murray explains, “God is able to do for us exceedingly abundantly above what we ask or think, and we are in danger of limiting Him, when we confine our desires and prayers to our own thoughts of them.”
Our hearts are made of flesh and believers do not to live by the flesh, but by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-17.) That’s why I am against chasing desires of our hearts; it isn’t biblical. Just because some money hungry television evangelist says so, doesn’t mean it is biblical.
As a Christian man one of the biggest turnoffs is a woman who only regurgitates what she has learned from her parents or from watching TV. Paul challenged believers who are mature to live by the Spirit, because they know how God works (1 Corinthians 2:6.)
I thank God He doesn’t always answer my prayers like I want, I’m still blessed. We’ve all experienced God’s divine intervention in sparing us from bad relationships, situations, and jobs. When I was in my 30s, I experienced a heartbreak when a friendship and budding relationship didn’t work out, which led to the betrayal of church family.
The situation almost killed me, I reached out to my mentor who reminded me that, it wasn’t my first heartache or disappointment and wouldn’t be my last. That wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but I knew it was the truth. God was speaking to me through more mature believers than I was.
Intercessory Prayer!
A church’s prayer life reveals their spiritual maturity, mature believers know God knows best and sometimes that means “no” to our deepest desires. What are you afraid of? What blows my mind is when prideful popular teachers say it is the enemy trying to discourage us and make us feel guilty.
It’s further evidence that they are not true followers of Jesus, Who told His disciples they wouldn’t be rich and famous (Matthew 8:21.) Not only are they blind to the truth, they don’t even know the voice of God. Scripture is clear that the Holy Spirit will convict us of our sin and lead us into the truth when we listen, listening is part of praying.
God will nudge us when we are going the wrong way, He cares too much to remain silent. A few days after I spoke on the phone with my mentor, I received a letter from him in the mail, it was a letter from his men’s group encouraging me to trust God. The letter came with the picture above I keep in my bedroom to remind me how God works through our prayerlife!
The Whole Truth!
Growing up with an Army Sergeant as a father was difficult and the best thing, he loved me enough to discipline me and to tell me the truth.
When I lied to him I felt sick and empty, he didn’t just discipline me, he taught me about truth.
He told me how lies made him feel, disrespected and unloved. When I caught the dog house on fire, I told a half truth and he knew it. Before spanking me, he explained to me what could have happened and why I was wrong.
What if I burned the whole house down with a little fire? He also taught me that half-truths are whole lies, half-truths are no more than deception, Satan used a half truth in the garden (Genesis 3:1-6.)
Deception is a twisting of the truth, which makes it so appealing; part of it is true, better not fall for that!
When we were little kids we told little lies, most of us learn as we mature those lies slowly become big lies. That is why the little kids must be disciplined; it helps them to grow up. Some people never learn and take lying to an extreme because they have lost touch with reality and no longer understand truth. There are no layers of truth—only the whole truth!
The Whole Truth?
The sad reality is most Christians don’t know or want the whole truth, but there’s nothing new about that; God’s people have a history of only wanting to believe what they want to believe about God.
As I write this, we are celebrating Palm Sunday, the prophesied arrival of the Messiah to the holy city of Jerusalem on an ordinary donkey ( Zachariah 9:9, Matt.21:1-11.) Yet, because He didn’t live up to their expectations of a mighty King, the Jewish people rejected Him as they cried out Hosanna in the highest. Jesus promised His disciples after He was gone, the Holy Spirit would come and continue to lead them in truth.
Hosanna literally means “Save us, I pray” in Hebrew; for centuries the Jews had dreamed of a Messiah who would rule the world and establish them as co-rulers—so much for feel-good dream theology!
His own people forgot God doesn’t work like man; this is why Jesus declared Himself as the truth, the Pharisees and other Jewish rabbis taught lies. They puffed up God’s people and taught them to seek greatness, they were overdosin’. But, we have something the world ain’t got. Jesus Declared Himself as the Truth (John 14:6) and reminded the Pharisees their father Satan was the great liar from the beginning (John 8:44.)
Every time Satan tells lies he twists truth to satisfy man’s desire (Genesis 3:1-6, Matthew 4:1-11.)
Truth doesn’t always feel good and surely doesn’t always make us happy—it makes us holy when the Spirit moves. Jesus confronting the religious leaders of His day is warning to the church today, we must walk in the whole truth, not just the parts we like or want to hear; the bad things of life are part of truth.
The church often prides itself on being heirs of the kingdom, almost perfect in and of ourselves. We live in a fabricated world of comfort. This is why a lot of Christians flock to feel-good teachings.
Instead of meaty sermons, they want motivational speakers like Joel Olsteen and Joyce Meyers to tell them what we want to hear, they don’t terrify the dark.
The truth is we are sinners and rotten to the core, even our acts of righteousness are filthy before a perfect God (Isaiah 64:6.) We can’t even trust our own hearts (Jeremiah 17:9.)Without the hope of God through Jesus’ sacrifice, like the lost we wouldn’t stand a prayer, this world is broken.
Answered Prayers!
The sad truth is most believers want worldly lies to satisfy their selfish and stubborn ways more than the truth. The 2020 presidential election proved this. Most Christians flocked to the side of a candidate who not only admitted to lying to Americans about the Covid-19, but ran on a platform of greed and greatness, neither of which are Christian values, what a beautiful lie.
The so-called conservative party (GOP) has put their confidence in greed and earthly visions of grandeur. It only serves to make conservatives happy. Personally it makes me sick every time I hear Christians chop up the Word of God like chainsaws just so they can be lucky and justify their stubborn worldly dreams they pray for. Newsflash, their guy wasn’t the favorite candidate.
The dissent of conservatives is evidenced in the “conservative” news outlet. It makes me want to scream each time I hear a Fox news commentary. Fox News is just as slanted and one-sided as CNN, they both only tell one side of the story; the only difference is Fox News is tilted towards positive feel-good news that conservatives want to hear as if this world is Paradise.
I live in the Bible Belt where there is a saying, “I’ve read the end of the Bible and the good news is we win.” I cringe each time I hear this because, if they really read the end of the Bible, they would know that if anyone adds to God’s Word or takes away from it, they don’t win—they don’t go to Heaven (Revelation 22:18-19,) that is the whole truth!
Refiner's Fire!
Last month as I began working on some writing projects, I had a major appliance tear up on me. The stress from the virus stunted my creativity and I couldn’t get anything accomplished.
It wasn’t that I didn’t have the money to replace the appliance; it was the idea and battles of getting everything finished. Honestly, there was a bit of sentimental value in the appliance I inherited it from my parents.
Frustrated I turned to God, He is a God Who listens. Why did I have to endure this hardship right now? Why does the devil keep attacking me? I sounded like an ungrateful child. Truth is I didn’t want to make a big boy purchase, but I knew God has His reasons to chisel me.
I wanted things to go smoothly, but I knew that it was time to do something and God is right beside me. I reached out to my mentor; like a man, I also checked with my local appliance repair man for advice. I’m not one who has to have the latest and greatest.
Jesus taught His disciples to die to themselves daily, not just for 40 days or a brief period of time as many do in this season of Lent. This is why I have a big problem with the modern teachings of God’s “blessings” of grandeur and greatness, they aren’t biblical.
When I was in college I lived for the moment, pleasure was my god, it’s no wonder I stopped growing as a Christian, because I was more focused on comfort than commitment to God.
I was confident about my salvation while I was comfortable in my sin, I was coming in hot. This is why God went to extremes to make me into a masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10.) I wasn’t interested in growing as a believer because I knew it was difficult.
Winston Churchill said, “Personally, I am always ready to learn although I do not always like to be taught.” I believe I was in my accident because pain is the best teacher, that is why parents spank bad children; it’s not bad news, save your tears .
Refiner’s fire!
The Jewish culture understood the power of pain, because God allowed them to pass through many fires. They understood how the refiner’s fire works.
The Jewish patriarch Job was tested in the fires of life, yet never cursed God(Job 2:1-10.) Fire is destructive, but its power can be harnessed to purify and bring change. This is what happened when God allowed fire to rain down on Sodom and Gomorrah, God can bring beauty from ashes.
The prophet Malachi described God as a refiner refining His people (Malachi 2:17-3:9.) And in the final judgment the world will be destroyed by fire, as a final purification of God’s people—His love never will end.
The Jewish rabbis taught of God’s refining process. On one occasion Jesus even told the rock of the church to hold on, Satan would sift him (Luke 22:31-32.) Discipleship requires purification and that can only come through the fires of life.
Perhaps this is why Jesus taught His followers they would suffer many trials in this world (John 15:18-19.) We can be comforted in knowing God has a purpose for our pain and that Jesus is with us in the fire. Much like God was with three Jewish boys in Nebuchadnezzar’s fire (Daniel 3:16-28.)
The refiner’s fire is not comfortable, but it’s conforming us to the likeness of our Rabbi and Lord. The saying is the gold isn’t refined until the refiner can see his image in the gold. The more we become like our Heavenly Father, the less we will look like and depend on the things of this world—the fire reveals our true colors. Instead we will say all to You, God.
God will test us in the fire to refine us. True disciples do what their rabbis does, not what other rabbis do. This is why it is important for church leaders and teachers to be 100% biblical in all teachings (2 Timothy 3:16.)
Unfortunately most churches teach a comfy fluff and stuff gospel instead of the hard truth of the Bible. Christianity is more about becoming like God than it is about being comfortable in this world; any teacher who teaches worldliness isn’t a Christian teacher and that’s the hard truth, they have no idea how God works!
The hard truth!
It’s okay to have nice things, but it is idolatry when we let things have us, our worship. The Christian way isn’t always coffee shops and daydreams. Our Rabbi didn’t teach earthly prosperity, He taught meekness and simplicity.
As we near Easter, we need to remember Jesus in the fire of the garden of Gethsemane, the first Adam failed the test in the garden—but the second Adam aced the test when He prayed not that my will but God’s!
The hard truth is most of us don’t really want God’s will, we want our will with His help. Believers cannot incorporate worldly living into Christian living, that is a lie from the deceiver himself, he will let you down. Like gold in the furnace, the fires of life refine us of our selfish desires.
Twenty-four years ago this month God used my accident to begin refining me and I am still being refined in the refiner’s fire!
Tough Love
Twenty-twenty was a crazy year, if the pandemic wasn’t enough; the election made things worse. Everyone was crying about losing their freedoms to the pandemic, most people were afraid.
When the results came in, the faith community started protesting. After seeing the hateful reactions in my local community, I posted something on Facebook to remind everyone our Heavenly Father is still on His throne, what an awesome God.
Jews view God as the Father of all creation and the nation of Israel (Psalms 103:13, Proverbs 3:12, Isaiah 1:2.) In the Jewish community, the father has specific duties: provider, protector, comforter, and teacher.
This is why God gave specific laws to a chosen people about honoring their mothers and fathers (Exodus 20:12.) A father’s love is tender, yet firm and respectful to his children; because he is the head of the household. Sometimes that means giving tough love. Godly love doesn’t look like worldly love, it helps us grow.
Tough Love!
A father’s love is unconditional, it’s his job to correct his children, not give them wounds. Scripture is clear discipline is one of the most loving things a parent can do for a child (Proverbs 13:24, Hebrews 12:11.) God loves you too much to leave you where He found you!
We don’t make Christian love clear in the church with our feel-good only version of Jesus. Most pastors skim over the times when Jesus rebuked people for not obeying God (Matthew 21:12–13, Luke 10:41–42.)
Correction and rebuking have become lost doctrines in the church today (Proverbs 15:10, 2 Timothy 3:16.) With this understanding, we see discipline isn’t punishment, but teaching; God’s not done with you.
I grew up with an Army Sergeant, a father who didn’t hesitate to discipline me. I didn’t understand or like it at the time. However, as a man, I am grateful for all of those times that thick Army belt met my behind.
It taught me how to act, respect my parents, and kept me alive a lot longer. I remember one time when I was five years old and we lived in Italy when I caught our dog house on fire playing with matches and lighters.
It is easy to remember because at that point my father’s discipline didn’t hurt and I laughed at him as he tried to spank me harder. Somehow the pain didn’t hurt as much anymore, I had been up that road before.
Pain is one of the best teachers in life, no wonder our Heavenly Father allows it into the lives of His children. After spending six years living in sin and out of the church, it took me nearly dying in a car accident for God to get my attention.
It is a time of discipline I will never forget. We get our word discipline from the same root word disciple comes from, mathētḗs (μαθητής,) one who engages in learning through instruction from another, pupil, apprentice.
After the hard lessons I learned from my accident, I was able to hear what God was saying like He was next to me. It became easier to learn how God works and understand His ways.
I was tired of drowning in my selfish desires. Jesus called His disciples and disciplined them in His teaching. His teachings weren’t the same as other rabbis and often went against the teachings of the Jewish Pharisees.
Jesus used Scripture to correct both the Pharisees and His disciples. On one occasion He rebuked His cousins about seeking positions of greatness in God's kingdom (Matthew 20:23.)
They asked their Rabbi to do what they wanted (20.) Discipleship doesn’t work that way, students don’t tell the teacher how things work, they learn from Him. Jesus quickly told them, no, no, no. Only God the Father could do that, woo—real love!
After years of studying Jewish scriptures and learning from Jesus, His cousins failed the test. Every good teacher tests his disciples, like fathers test their children, they won’t stop. A faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted and there is no victory.
Tested?
Good God Almighty, testing is part of learning, it verifies we have been learning from our teachers. We cannot learn from others and not use it, which is foolishness.
Tests don’t always feel good. But, for believers, it serves a specific purpose. We were never meant to just get saved and live a fairy tale life on earth, and our salvation isn't just so we can go to heaven and be lazy for eternity.
Pastor Brady Boyd says it best, “Christians aren’t sent to Disneyland, they are sent into the world for a purpose.” Comfortable Christianity doesn’t pass the test of true discipleship. I don’t care how popular it is.
True Christianity is dangerous, Jesus told His disciples He was sending them into a world like sheep to the wolves (Matthew 10:16.) Discipleship prepares us for the hard times ahead.
Jesus promised we would have trials in this world because our Rabbi had trials in this world (John 16:33.) When I was in high school I was told that if the devil wasn’t after you, it was because he already has you. If you aren’t facing trials in this life, then you’re not a child of God.
This is why I and many theologians abhor false teachers like John Hagee, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyers, and Paula White; they are teaching another Jesus (Mark 7:3-9, 2 Corinthians 11:4, Galatians 1:6.) They teach worldliness not godliness and have failed the test; God allows false teachers, to see who loves and follows Him (Deuteronomy 13:1–6.)
In the Old Testament false teachers and prophets were to be dragged into the streets and stoned for their lies (Deuteronomy 13:5,) now that’s tough love!
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