Instead of writing our Bible studies here on the Website, I now record them and post them as videos on our YouTube channel. We are currently studying the Book of Galatians. Archived there on YouTube are over 1,300 Bible Study Lessons. Come and dine …
Dr Mike Bagwell
My Wife was driving (we take turns at the steering wheel, returning each week from our most recent Revival Meeting – this week from Fletcher, North Carolina) … and I had reached for the ever-present Book in the back seat of our van. I there saw a few quotes from Preachers of yesteryear on the subject of a broken heart, “tears” really.
One said, “Prayers and tears are the Church’s amour!” Pretty good, isn’t it? Yet where are the tears that used to mark the real men of God?
Paul wept.
Jeremiah was known for his tears, “the weeping Prophet.”
And again John 11:35, Jesus’ tears.
But are “tears” worth a whole Devotion on a Website?
God might think so!
Psalm 56:8 suggests that God has a “Bottle” in which all our tears are kept! And believing the Bible is Absolute Truth in a Book … I concur.
“Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?” Yes, God really cares!
Do we?
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
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I was reading earlier this morning a little devotional Book about prayer. Mostly taken from the works of godly E. M. Bounds, if I remember correctly.
One day’s thought was “God’s Factory on Earth.”
This title line fertilized my thinking …
Yes, our great God is Creator, Carpenter, Manufacturer! Genesis 1:1 is absolutely true … “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
But God also “builds” souls! He makes “new creatures,” creations!
And once a man or woman is saved, God does not quit “working” in his or her life.
Philippians 2:13 succinctly explains: “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
That verb “worketh” is in Greek “energe’o,” a factory word! God using His Energy to “build” into our lives His very Character!
Maybe Ephesians 2:10 says it best: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” His “workmanship,” His craftmanship, His “POEM,” literally in Greek!
Yes, Poets build poems, using words as timber and stone!
My job in the factory?
Simply to “yield” to His Mighty Hand. “Obey” the nudges of the Holy Spirit. “Focus” on Jesus the very Author and Finisher of our faith!
Add to that much prayer … maybe even using the words of the hymnwriter:
“Have Thine Own Way, Lord!”
“Thou art the Potter!”
“I am the clay!”
“Mold me and make me!”
“After Thy Will”
“While I am waiting”
“Yielded and Still!”
God’s Factory on earth … YOU and ME dear Christian friend!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
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Books have been written, many of them, on the subject “Textual Analysis.” Other studies have been made (to narrow the subject) on the New Testament’s use of the Old Testament.
Earlier this morning I saw a prime example to illustrate the fascination (delightfully so) awaiting the Bible student concerning this subject.
In Psalm 8, a Psalm of praise for sure, we unexpectedly fine this verse: “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.” (Psalm 8:2)
God can take little babies and from them ordain (establish) “strength.” In other words, God can make strong (against His enemies) the most naturally weak elements of the world!
John the Baptist, still in the womb: “And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost.” (Luke 1:41)
Jeremiah, still unborn: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)
STRENGTH, POWER, BOLDNESS … actual translations of the Hebrew word for “strength” …. in the King James Version anyway.
Now … watch how Jesus uses this Verse in the New Testament, obviously quoting Psalm 8:3 and adapting it to His situation one day.
“And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Matthew 21:16)
Jesus refined the Old Testament noun “strength” and expressed it as “PRAISE!” This is intertextuality, interpretively speaking.
Wow!
Jesus literally changed the word “strength” in Psalm 8 to “praise” in Matthew 21! And mind you, Jesus never makes a mistake. He knew the Bible. Actually, He wrote the Bible!
Let’s think a minute. What’s the background, the basis, for this tactic of our dear Lord?
Could it be that there is a correlation between “strength” and “praise?” Could it be that if I lose my praise (joy, delight in the Lord) I will also lose my strength?
YES, that is the case!
And if I were pressed to give a “proof” Verse, it would be Nehemiah 8:10. “The joy of the LORD is your strength.”
My point in this discussion?
Strength and joy are companions. Languish in one and the other will fade as well!
Lacking in strength today, in determination, in steadfastness?
Check you “joy” guage!
And the source of joy?
The Holy Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, etc.
The Word of God, 1 John 1:4. “These things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.”
Hear Jesus on this matter: “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” (John 15:11)
Be strong!
Be joyful!
These spiritual graces are twins, according to our Lord!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
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It is a known fact that we Christians often do not know how to pray. Better worded, do not know how to frame our exact requests, needs.
That’s one of the many, many Ministries of the Holy Spirit. “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us …” Romans 8:26
But it occurs to me that one way of praying exists that always gives us the right kind of prayer topics. And that is … praying Scripture, praying the very Word of God.
One example, and please note the underlined and capitalized verb …
“And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, SAY, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.” Luke 11:2-4, King James Version
Has Jesus here not instructed us (at least at times) to pray the very Words of the Bible? “When ye pray, say …!” I recall reading that the great Christian of the past named George Mueller, during his lifetime, read through the Bible over 200 times! On his knees! Praying Scripture as he read!
Personally, my prayer list is loaded with Bible Verses. Like Psalm 86:17, a favorite. “Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me.”
The little Epistle of 3rd John (Verse 2) is another idea … “I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” I underline “be in health” every day, nearly every day. God is the great Physician, remember!
And what’s wrong with the old Jabez Prayer? God answered those requests according to 1 Chronicles 4:10. One single Verse in the middle of a long, detailed chronology, genealogy: “And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.”
Another possibility!
I even pray against the ultra-wicked of the world: “Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man.” A direct quote (Prayer) from Psalm 10:15. This simply asks the Lord to judge the ungodly, something He has already pledged to do anyway.
My point … turn the Bible you love and read into a prayer list. Surely this will keep you praying “in God’s Will.” Not any longer praying “My will be done!”
Another “guardrail” I use to keep my petitions in line is taken from Jude Verse 20: “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.” I hereby ask the Holy Spirit to motivate and guide (and curb when necessary) my prayers before Almighty God.
Maybe I have at least left you with a fertile idea!
PRAYING GOD’S WORD!
“Class is over!”
Now let’s all go “practice” what we may have learned.
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
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