The Stages of Temptatation

Temptations grow in stages (James 1:13-15).The first stage is seduction (being "dragged away and enticed"). Temptation begins with desires. You believe you need something in addition to Christ in order to be happy. It could be anything - someone's approval, a possession, a pleasure, a job, a family, etc. A temptation might be obviously sinful, but often it can be a good thing. Your greatest opportunity to triumph over sin is at this beginning stage of temptation. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see what you are drawn to besides Christ.

The second stage of temptation is conception ("after desire has conceived"). Now the initial desire is lodged deep in your heart and you start to plan how you can get it. What you want is becoming more important to you than God. You haven't committed the outward sin, yet your desires are sinful.

The final stage is birth ("birth to sin; and sin...gives birth to death"). The result of your desire for something besides Christ is being caught in full-blown sin. Notice that the birth is really a death - you are mastered by something other than Christ.

At any time during these different stages of temptation, you can run to Christ, repent of your sin, and learn from you failure how to withstand temptation. God can change your heart so that, instead of a particular sin dominating your life, bit by bit you will be tempted by it less and less.

- Timothy S. Lane in Heart of the Matter

Guidance on Prayer

This will be my last post from The Glenstal Book of Prayer. This post is a Benedictine rule providing some guidance on prayer:

If when making suggestions to men in power we do not venture to do so except with humility and deference, how much more ought supplication be made to the Lord, God of all, with all humility and pure devotion. And let us realise that we shall be heard not in much speaking, but in purity of heart, in compunction and tears. And that is why a prayer should be brief and pure, unless perhaps it be prolonged by an inspiration of divine grace.

I don't think this ought to be the final word on prayer, but sometimes our words flow from an empty heart. It may be better at times to prayer fewer words from a fuller, more humble heart.

Rule of St. Benedict

As I've mentioned, I received a copy of The Glenstal Book of Prayer which follows the Benedictine Order. In the back of the book, it includes a few of the rules of the order. I thought there was wisdom in many of them and wanted to share them.

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RB 3: Do everything with consultation and you will have no regrets when the deed is done.

RB 6: To speak and to teach, indeed, befits the master; to be silent and to listen becomes the disciple.

RB 7: A man is recognized as wise when his words are few.

RB 52: ...if...he wishes to pray more secretly by himself, let him in all simplicity go in and pray, not with a loud voice but with tears and an attentive heart.

RB 72: Let no one seek his own interests but those of his neighbour. Let them with purity offer the love of brotherhood. Let them fear God lovingly.

Blessing for a Family

Lord, we ask you to bestow on this family the riches of your blessing. With the gift of your grace, sanctify those who live here, so that, faithful to your commandments, they will care for each other, ennoble this world by their lives, and reach the home you have prepared for them in heaven. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
                                - The Glenstal Book of Prayer

Blessing for a Home

Lord we ask you to bless those who live in this home. Be their shelter when they are at home, their companion when they are away, and their welcome guest when they return. And at last receive them into the dwelling place you have prepared for them in your Father's house, where you live for ever and ever.
                                      - The Glenstal Book of Prayer

Prayer of St. Basil of Caesarea

Steer the ship of my life, good Lord, to your quiet harbour, where I can be safe from the storms of sin and conflict. Show me the course I should take. Renew in me the gift of discernment, so that I can always see the right direction in which I should go. And give me the strength and the courage to choose the right course, even when the sea is rough and the waves are high, knowing that through enduring hardship and danger we shall find comfort and peace.

Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
 where there is hatred let me sow love,
 where there is injury let me sow pardon,
 where there is doubt let me sow faith,
 where there is despair let me sow hope,
 where there is darkness let me give light,
 where there is sadness let me give joy.
O divine master, grant that I may
 not try to be comforted but to comfort,
 not try to be understood but to understand,
 not try to be loved but to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
 it is in forgiving that we are forgiven,
 and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Prayer of St. Patrick

I found a website that posted a number of prayers from ancient Christian writers. I really like this one from St. Patrick:

Lord, be with us this day,
Within us to purify us;
Above us to draw us up;
Beneath us to sustain us;
Before us to lead us;
Behind us to restrain us;
Around us to protect us.

(Patrick c389-461)

Message to Servicemen on D-Day 1944

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war and placed at our disposal great reserves of fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than a full Victory!

Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Love is a Person

This is another devotional from The Heart of the Matter by Winston T. Smith. Read 1 Corinthians 13 first.

We know specific things about love. In 1 John 4:9-10, we learn that love became a human being named Jesus who lived among us. Ultimately, love is a person, not an experience. When you need help loving someone, you can look to Jesus and learn from him. Jesus, as love, took action. He spoke and acted in ways that made a difference, ways that made love visible among us. As we trust him and learn from him we can do love too.

There are two critical ingredients to loving in a Christlike way. The first ingredient is connecting with and depending on Christ, not as a religious man who lived two thousand years ago, but as God's own Son who is with you and able to help you. The second ingredient is knowing what love looks like in the details of the moment. Jesus does not just motivate us to love; he teaches how to love in the moment - what it looks like and how to do it. Remember that faith is only a prelude to action. You need faith that Jesus will help you every step of the way, but you also need to take concrete action.

Lovingkindness and Faithfulness

Here is another devotional from the Heart of the Matterbook. Read Psalm 86 first.

Share God's steadfast love and faithfulness. In the Old Testament two Hebrew words are often used to describe God: chesed and emet. Chesed is translated in the Old Testament as "lovingkindness," or "steadfast love." It means committed kindness, a chosen generosity, a resolution to do good to another person no matter what. Emet is translated as "faithfulness" or "truth." When we say of someone, "She was a true friend," we're using the word true in the sense that the Bible uses the word emet. It's someone who's looking out for your well-being, who is genuinely concerned for your welfare (Philippians 2:20). God is full of chesed and emet - steadfast love and faithfulness - toward you. Chesed and emet are also used in the Bible to describe human relationships. Most people seek their own interests, and instinctively do things that create distance and destroy intimacy in their close relationships. But when you are committed to treat someone with kindness, when you are genuinely concerned for someone else's welfare, you will start to be and do the kinds of things that actually build trust, intimacy, and companionship. Chesed and emet are what God is fundamentally like toward us. He is a God who keeps his promises, a God of kindness, a God who forgives. And chesed and emet are also the attributes you need to make your closest relationships deeply joyous and intimate.

God in the Midst of Tragedy

No doubt almost all of you have heard about the horrific shooting that took place Friday evening at a building near our city’s courthouse. Tragedies like this are always difficult to process, especially when they involve such senseless violence and occur so near to where we live.

In the aftermath of such events, God’s people are called to remember two Biblical truths – truths that bolster our faith and also provide us with ways to speak about tragedy to those who might ask.

The first truth is this: God is sovereign over all things, including acts of evil. Though this a mystery, our God, who is untouched by sin and corruption, is able to use the evil actions of men and women for His own purposes. Passages like Isaiah make this plain.

Isaiah 45:6b–7 - 6 …That there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, 7 The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these.

The second truth we must remember touches on God’s purpose for decreeing evil. While we do not have all the answers for why the Lord sovereignly allows human sin to break-out and cause great harm, we can be confident that God’s intentions are always good, despite the wicked intent of fallen sinners. Joseph’s words to his brothers about their terrible sins against him remind us of this.

Genesis 50:20 - As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.

So as we think to ourselves about yesterday’s shooting or speak about it to others, let us not hide behind lies like “God was not there yesterday” or “God did not want this to happen.” Instead, let us remember that God was very present at that moment, directing all of it as He does all things. Yet let us also remember that the wicked intent in that horrifying moment belonged to the shooter alone. The shooter meant it for evil; but, somehow, our God meant it for good.

Finally, may we also never forget that we do not serve a God who stands aloof from the tragedy He has ordained to be part of this world’s history. Rather, our God, in the God-man Christ Jesus, entered into our world, lived a life of suffering, and, as the Innocent One, bore the sins of the world upon His own body on the cross. But thankfully, our Savior didn’t stay dead. Three days later, He rose bodily from the tomb to give us hope of two glorious realities: 1) that our sins can be forgiven and 2) that one day God’s people will be raised to live eternally with our Lord on a renewed earth where tragedies like Friday’s shooting will never ever occur again.

[From the pastor of New Life Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia on the mass shooting that took place on May 31, 2019.]