Expensive Exercise

Many Spirit-filled Christians do not realize that there are five (5) "spiritual senses" which are as active and operative as any of the five physical ones. Allow me to list them.

Body senses: ("soma" Gr.)

• Sight
• Smell
• Hearing
• Taste
• Touch

Soul senses: ("psyche")

• Imagination
• Conscience
• Memory
• Reason
• Affections

Spirit senses: ("pneuma")

• Faith
• Hope
• Reverence
• Prayer
• Worship

Until a person is born again, the spirit part of him/her is dead. (SEE Ephesians 2:1) . After salvation, with the body we (that is, the soul, the real us), touches our physical world. With the spirit we (that is, the soul), touches God and the spiritual world. As we physically exercise by the five physical senses, we spiritually exercise with the five spiritual ones.

In each event, the more we "exercise" any of the senses, the stronger (or weaker, as the case may be) we become. Strong Christians are that way because they spiritually exercise more.

This week's discussion addresses only one of a Christian's spiritual exercises - that of prayer - and especially, intercessory prayer.

According to 1 Timothy 2:1-8, there are four levels of prayer, and anyone interested may have this complete study, "Paul's Recipe For Prayer", gratis by requesting it from: W. L. Boone, P.O. Box 2487, Orofino, ID 83544, or, e-mail: lesboone @ juno.com. [No spaces.]

Intercessory prayer differs from other kinds in that it is in behalf of other persons or interests other than ones own. Intercessory prayer is an expensive exercise, for the cost to God exceeds any human concept of value. Intercessory prayer is at the expense of the sacrificial, intermedial blood of our Jesus.

Each thought, each breath, each heart-cry, each sigh, each tear, and every yearning prayer of intercession draws on the redemptive resources deposited by Jesus at Calvary.

The throne of grace referred to in Hebrews 4:16 widely opened to all believers when the veil of the temple was split from top to bottom, providing constant and instant access through Jesus' death.

When we intercede, we bow on the holiest of heaven's places; we kneel in the most sacred territory of God's realm; we pray in a vaulted aura of hushed, glorified ambiance attended by millions of angelic beings (SEE Daniel 7:9 & 10). Intercessors do what angels cannot! It is a strictly human right and effort!

And angels are awestruck by such incredible authority entrusted - and restricted - to humankind! And they wonder why we waste and misuse it!

Intercessory prayer is the greatest earthly power, and is restricted and assigned to Spirit-filled believers only. Does any reader wonder why it is so severely contested by the powers of darkness? Do we question why Satan will place every barrier and hindrance in our way to keep us from using it?

An intercessor's greatest encouragement comes from our Helper, God's Holy Spirit, Who is the Prompter, the Director, and the Energizer in the art of intercession. "Thank You, Lord!"

"The Rump Lump"

Introductory Comments: I live every day of my life, in all that I do, with one supreme goal, and this is to bring glory to the God of the Bible... in this world and the one to come. I earnestly urge the reader to continually keep this in mind as this true - and lengthy - story unfolds, as the use of the first person is obviously necessary. WLB.

Jesus, or one of his attending angels, was in my bedroom early one recent Saturday morning, and I did not even know that I had been visited by an unearthly Being until about the twelve noon hour.

Some twelve to fifteen years past I noticed an irritation to my behind, about where my wallet rested in the right hip pocket. During long driving, it was necessary to continually keep shifting away from that sore spot to ease the discomfort.

In time this became infected and involved a trip to our dermatologist. He said his necessary "A-has" and "O-hos" and identified it as a large fatty tumor, non-malignant, but badly infected, and made an appointment for me to see a surgeon.

After the rather undignifying prepping by his nurse, and with both of them "Oo-ing" and "Ah-ing" as they viewed the offensive tumor on my right gluteus maximus, he concluded that he could either cut it out or lance it. If he excised it, it would necessitate a surgery at a later date, repeated packing for awhile, and a lengthy healing process. If he lanced it, it could come right back again if I did not protect and care for it.

Upon opting for the immediate lancing, and after a couple of local shots, he proceeded... to which the nurse rather gleefully reported to both of us, "Oh, wow! Just like a volcano!" It appeared they enjoyed the show.

From that day I carefully guarded my "rump lump," following the surgeon's suggestion to stop wearing the wallet in a hip pocket, and protecting it - as best as possible - from serious bumps and irritations. As with many of us with similar "physical irregularities," eventually my "rump lump" became just another part of my body.

This "rump lump" - though generally forgotten and accepted as merely an inconvenience - was an ever-present reminder of something to be protected, and an obvious protrusion each time I showered.

This summer I started experiencing sharp, severe, stabbing current of pain in my right lower abdomen. One surgeon described it as "just above the pelvic bone." They occurred periodically... Thank You, Lord! ...and briefly... Thank You again, Lord! ...but intensely! No comment, Lord. They came so suddenly and intensely that all I could do was double up and grab!

My unprofessional diagnosis: appendicitis, of course. A battery of blood tests disavowed that, along with with a long list of possibilities, finally settling on a pulled groin muscle. I was told to "take it easy for awhile."

These sudden, intense attacks continued in an off-again, on-again manner for 5 or 6 weeks, with days filled by momentarily wondering, "When will the next attack come?" Days and nights this eroded peace of mind for our household, any semblance of normalcy, and all the while chewing away at faith's flickering light.

A crisis occurred on a recent afternoon while I was doubled over seven times in a five hour period. That resulted in a spirited call to a surgeon friend whose immediate advice was to insist on a CT scan at a local ER. All of us "participants" were running out of options, and the scan revealed no kidney stones that "just had to be there." After it appeared that every conceivable test discovered no tangible reason for such intense, stabbing jolts of pain, I drove home through the dark in deep disappointment, wondering before my God, "Lord, what shall I do now?"

I dreaded going to bed... wondering if tonight I will be again suddenly awakened to sharp, stabbing pain?

On September 27, 2008, about 1:30 or 2:00 a.m., sure enough! I was again awakened by three sharp, stabbing jolts of pain, but not in the accustomed bladder area at all! Instead they were on the right side of my behind... gluteous maximus, posterior, whatever. Even in half asleep reason I thought, "What on earth are these (not unpleasant at all!) shocking jolts of pain doing on my behind?" Then I went right back to sleep.

The hour of 4:00 to 5:00 each morning is my scheduled prayer time, and as I prayed, the early morning incident never even penetrated the edge of my mind, but God did help me to place every affected area of my body in His hands, pain or no pain. I felt better, but actually had no more of a sense of Divine touch than at scores of other times over the past number of weeks.

Regular Saturday duties were perfuctorily performed until close to the noon hour. As impossible as it may seem to me now, those early morning jolts of "whatever" to my right bun had completely slipped my mind... until I began to soap myself in the shower.

As I soaped... praying and talking to Jesus about "my lower abdominal pains and what to do now about them?", through my mind flitted the thought about that ever-present lump. I could not feel it as I soaped. I rubbed and felt... and felt and rubbed... and into my mind instantly flooded the early morning puzzling "jolts," out of place on my backside.

Tears sprang into my eyes as the realization that the lump was totally gone!!! Quickly drying and re-drying confirmed the truth. That lump was gone, and no amount of probing or investigating could discover it!

I cannot explain why God does what He does - the way that He does - or the timing or meaning of it all. I came to see the entire, painful groin area as a battleground - as a grueling test to my faith. This was where I was. This was where I had been praying for weeks for His touch. This was where I needed an answer to my flagging faith. This was where I needed help.

But He touched and instantly healed something else - something that I did not ask for or was even thinking of. He wanted me to know that He was aware - that He was involved - that He was in control - that He knew I was at the end of my rope. It made me smile inside, and I had to wonder if He was smiling with me? What a wonderful, gracious Lord!

What the Angels Know

There is but a thin veil between what we can see and what we cannot. What we see is not real, for what we can see is here today and gone tomorrow. What is real is what endures. What is real is what remains when everything else slips from our earthly view. What is real is what stays on our records when earthly recognitions fade, and human memories grope, and reputations dim, and achievements and accolades diminish.

What is real are facts - those actualities that are known only to us... and to our God... and to His ministering spirits, the angels... those incredible beings who are Divinely commissioned to serve and observe the saints while we live and labor here below. Paul goes so far as to state that we are "a spectacle to angels," and our Lord said of His humble servants that "their angels do always behold the face of the Father," and Peter records the fact that "the angels desire to look into" this saving, cleansing and keeping grace.

So, as the Holy Spirit might help us, we ask Him to briefly open our minds as we slip behind the veil of our present, visible lives and reflect upon what the angels know, realizing that what they know is free of distortion and error.

The world we cannot visibly see is the realm of angelic beings commissioned to minister to us, and help us, and enable us as we fight the good fight of faith. They are silent witnesses to our unseen world in which we momentarily pray and ponder and reason and choose.

Though materially unseen, it is nonetheless our world of reality where there is no pretense or supposition or manipulations or coverup or rationalizing. It is an environment of such pure truth that even embellishments and nuances are absent. "Advantages" and "edges" and "inside tracks" are as foreign to the angelic realm as lying - their better known parent.

The serious Christian pulls down such heavenly integrity into his earthly, everyday living with the realization that it is not the standards and values of men that measure us at all. It is not this world's standards that judge us at all, for the saints live by a higher law - the law of grace. Serious Christians spend much of their time and thought endeavoring to reconcile the two, that is, what is important to God compared to human behavior - ours and that of others around us. Serious Christians always place God's Word as the final authority in their minds and souls.

It is here suggested that what the angels know about us should clamor for our attention. While we do not pray to angels, it helps us to know that they are rooting for us, fighting for us, and that eyes that behold the face of God are also watching you and me. Since they are constantly and actively involved in all who we are and do, our conduct in their presence should seek investigation. What do they know about you and me? Among the dozen or so issues that quickly come to mind, we take time for just one - our talking - to other, earthly persons and to our heavenly Father.

Are we known in the unseen realm as a frequent visitor? Is our voice regularly heard among the angels? Is our name commonly confessed there? Are we well known in heaven's throne room? Are we known as someone who stubbornly sits at His feet and keeps knocking at His door? Is our personal presence at the Father's throne of grace so consistent that the angels have heavy duty as we - in company with, and led by, the faithful Holy Spirit - confront the "spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms"? Have the angels come to count on our intercessions? Can they "set their watches" by the time we are on our knees? Years ago I heard the daughter of a godly man say of her father, "Daddy's wick is always lit." I hope that our children and grandchildren and close friends can say that about you and me.

The angels know. They know whether we have been, and are remaining, true to "the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." They know if we have kept the faith, and if we are still keeping it. They know whether we are clinging to the unchanging truth as it is left to us in God's Word. They angels know if we have accepted responsibility personally, or if we have left it for someone else to protect and maintain.

Down through the changing, challenging eras of church history, we have the ageless, comforting words of our brother, Paul, "Therefore my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

Scripture references: Hebrews 1:14, I Peter 1:10-12, I Corinthians 4:9, Matthew 18:10, Ephesians 6:12, Jude 3, I Corinthians 15:58

Will You Quit?

"The boss criticized my work once too often today, so I just told him to write out my time! I was looking for a job when I found this one!"

"I've listened to his last complaint of burnt dinners, undone laundry and unpaid bills! I am suing for a divorce!"

"So the church board does not like my idea! Maybe they can get along without my tithe and membership too!"

Yes, quitting is just that easy and is usually accomplished with about as much reason or possible result. The savored satisfaction of separation from responsibility is just about as momentary and disappointing as the independence of estrangement is solitary and imaginary. The ardent, persistent and dedicated construction of years and tears can be toppled to a ruinous heap in a single sweep of a hasty decision.

The most dangerous desertion is that from Christian faith, for it may occur within and not be outwardly noticeable. A believer can continue to "perform" church functions and have a heart that is cold and dead spiritually.

There are definite reasons why personal faith in God is so severely tested. Primarily it is because of its priceless value, for faith is the single connection and transmission line to God. Faith is the vehicle to eternal life.

A further reason, perhaps more of an enlargement of the primary one, is that there is such great gain or loss involved. Satan will do his worst to destroy, and the Holy Spirit will do His best, to encourage, our faith.

When in the traitored embrace of temptation to quit, be assured if there were nothing to lose, yours and mine would be the pathway of ease. The grueling tests of faith certify the existence of properties that are certain, and far above our greatest imaginations.

We must remember that the fires of testing are meant to refine and not destroy. In His infinte wisdom, God matches the test with the degree of resistence. He knows how much we can bear, and this is so encouraging in the great tests.