Vision of God Apostolic Ministry - VOGAM

25/11/2021

MEN OF FAITH ARE MEN WHO FIGHT

Men professing faith in Christ have been walking away from him since the church began.

“Some have made shipwreck of their faith,” the apostle Paul reports in his first letter to Timothy. In fact, the language of leaving is all over 1–2 Timothy: men were wandering away from the faith, departing from the faith, swerving from the faith, being disqualified from the faith (1 Timothy 1:19; 4:1; 5:12; 6:10, 20–21; 2 Timothy 3:8). There seemed to be something of a small exodus already happening in the first century, perhaps not unlike the wave of deconversions we’re seeing online today.

We shouldn’t be surprised; Jesus told us it would be so: “As for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature” (Luke 8:14). Those same thorns are still sharp and threatening to faith in our day. In fact, with the ways we use technology, we’re now breeding thorns in our pockets, drawing them even closer than before.

This context gives the charge in 1 Timothy 6:11–12 all the more meaning and power, both for Timothy’s day and for ours:

As for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

“Men professing faith in Christ have been walking away from him since the church began.”
Who are the men who will fight the good fight of faith? Who will stay and battle while others fall away? In the words of 1 Timothy 4:12, which young men will step up and set an example for the believers in faith?

Fight of Faith
That faith is a fight means believing will not be easy. It won’t always feel natural, organic, or effortless. We could never earn the love of Christ, but following him will often be harder than we expect or want.

“If anyone would come after me,” Jesus says in Luke 9:23, “let him deny himself and take up his cross” — and not the light and charming crosses some wear around their necks, but the pain and heartache of following a crucified King in the world that killed him. If we declare our love for Jesus, God tells us, suffering will expose and refine us (1 Peter 4:12), people will despise, slander, and disown us (John 15:18), Satan and his demons will assault us (John 10:10), and our own sin will seek to ruin us from within (1 Peter 2:11). If we refuse to fight, we won’t last. The ships of our souls will inevitably drift, and then crash, take on water, and sink.

The verses before 1 Timothy 6:12 give us examples of specific threats we will face in the fight of faith, and each still threatens men today.

ENEMY OF PRIDE
When Paul describes the men who had walked away from Jesus, specifically those who had been teaching faithfully but had now embraced false teaching, he points first to their pride. These men, he says, were “puffed up with conceit” (1 Timothy 6:4). Instead of being laid low by the grace and mercy of God, they used the gospel to feel better about themselves. Like Adam and Eve in the garden, they seized on the love of God to try to make themselves God. Many of us do not last in faith because we simply cannot submit to any god but ourselves, because we do not see pride — our instinct to put ourselves above others, even God — as an enemy of our souls.

ENEMY OF DISTRACTION
Pride was not the only enemy these men faced, however. Paul says they also had “an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people” (1 Timothy 6:4–5). It’s almost hard to believe the apostle wasn’t writing about the twenty-first century. Were these distractions really problems thousands of years before Twitter, before the Internet, before even the printing press? Apparently so. And yet the temptation explains so much of our dysfunction today.

In our sin, we often nurture an unhealthy craving for controversy. Faithfulness doesn’t sell ads; friction does. As you scroll through your feeds or watch the evening news or even monitor your casual conversation, ask how much of what you’re allowing into your soul falls into 1 Timothy 6:4–5. How much of our attention has been intentionally, even relentlessly, steered into passing controversies and vain debates? How much have we been fed suspicion, envy, and slander as “news,” not realizing how poisonous this kind of diet is to our faith?

ENEMY OF MORE
Greed is a threat we know exists, and often see in others, but rarely see in ourselves — especially in a greed-driven society like ours in America. The insatiable craving for more, however, can leave us spiritually dull and penniless.

Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. (1 Timothy 6:9–10)

When you read “those who desire to be rich,” don’t think elaborate mansions in tropical places with pools beside the ocean; think “those who crave more than they need.” In other words, this isn’t a rare temptation, but a pervasive one, especially in wealthier nations. The temptation may be subtle, but the consequences are not. These cravings, the apostle warns, “plunge people into ruin and destruction.” Their life is choked out not by pain or sorrow or fear, but by the pleasures of life (Luke 8:14) — things to buy, shows to watch, meals to eat, places to visit.

“The more we see how much threatens our walk with Jesus, the less surprising it is that so many walk away.”
Do we still wonder why Paul would call faith a fight? The more we see how much threatens our walk with Jesus, the less surprising it is that so many walk away. What’s more surprising is that some men learn to fight well and then keep fighting while others bow out of the war.

How to Win the War
If we see our enemies for what they are, how do we wage war against them? In 1 Timothy 6:11–12, Paul gives us four clear charges for the battlefield: Flee. Pursue. Fight. Seize.

FLEE
First, we flee. Some have been puffed up by pride, others have been distracted by controversy, and still others have fallen in love with this world — “but as for you, O man of God, flee these things” (1 Timothy 6:11). Spiritual warfare is not fight or flight; it is fight and flight. We prepare to battle temptation, but we also do our best to avoid temptation altogether. As far as it depends on us, we “make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:14). If necessary, we cut off our hand or gouge out our eye (Matthew 5:29–30), meaning we go to extraordinary lengths to flee the sin we know would ruin us.

PURSUE
Spiritual warfare, however, is not only fight and flight, but also pursuit. “Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness” (1 Timothy 6:11). We could linger over each of the six qualities Paul exhorts us to pursue here, but for now let’s focus briefly on faith. Are you pursuing faith in Jesus — not just keeping faith, but pursuing faith? Are you making time each day to be alone with God through his word? Are you weaving prayer into the unique rhythms of your life? Are you committed to a local church, and intentionally looking for ways to grow and serve there? Are you asking God to show you other creative ways you might deepen your spiritual strength and joy?

FIGHT
Third, we fight. “Fight the good fight of the faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). We avoid temptation as much as we can, but we cannot avoid temptation completely. Whatever wise boundaries and tools we put in place, we still carry our remaining sin, which means we bring the war with us wherever we go. And too many of us go to war unarmed. Without the armor of God — the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit — we will be helpless against the spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6:11–12). But having taken our enemies seriously and strapping on our weapons daily, “we wage the good warfare” (1 Timothy 1:18).

SEIZE
Lastly, men of God learn to seize the new life God has given them. “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called” (1 Timothy 6:12). This is the opposite of the spiritual passivity and complacency so common among young men — men who want out of hell, but have little interest in God. Those men, however, who see reality and eternity more clearly, know that the greater treasure is in heaven, so they live to have him (Matthew 13:43–44). Their driving desire is to see more of Christ, and to become more like Christ. They may look like fools now, but they will soon be kings. They wake up on another normal Wednesday, and seize the grace that God has laid before them.

Some men will lay down their weapons before the war is over, even some you know and love. But make no mistake: this is a war worth fighting to the end. As you watch others flag and fail and leave the church, let their withdrawal renew your vigilance and fuel your advance. Learn to fight the good fight of faith.

20/10/2021

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE PURE IN HEART?

The Sermon on the Mount, the traditional name for what Jesus spoke in Matthew chapters 5-7, begins with nine blessings known as the Beatitudes. These blessings are full of rich meaning for our Christian life today.

In a previous post, we discussed the meaning of the very first blessing recorded in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”

In this post, we’ll explore the meaning of another blessing. Matthew 5:8 says:

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Today we’ll read verses and notes from the New Testament Recovery Version to help us understand what it means to be pure in heart, and how this results in seeing God.

The meaning of pure in heart
Let’s first see what it means to be pure in heart. Note 1 on pure in Matthew 5:8 in the Recovery Version is very helpful. The first part explains:

“To be pure in heart is to be single in purpose, to have the single goal of accomplishing God’s will for God’s glory (1 Cor. 10:31). This is for the kingdom of the heavens.”

When we’re single in purpose and have only one goal for God’s glory, we’re pure in heart.

Now let’s read 1 Timothy 1:5:

“But the end of the charge is love out of a pure heart.”

Note 3 on this verse in the Recovery Version says:

“A pure heart is a single heart without mixture, a heart that seeks only the Lord and takes the Lord as the unique goal.”

Here again we see that a pure heart is one that’s single, without any kind of mixture.

A substance is pure only when it’s not mixed with any other material. For instance, a gold ring may be described as pure gold if the ring has no other element besides gold in it. But if it’s gold plus something else, it’s not pure; it’s an alloy, or a mixture.

To be pure in heart means our heart doesn’t seek anything other than the Lord Jesus. It means we take Him as the unique goal of our life.

Why do we need to be pure in heart?
The next part of note 1 on Matthew 5:8 tells us why we must be pure in our heart:

“Our spirit is the organ by which we receive Christ (John 1:12; 3:6), whereas our heart is the ground where Christ as the seed of life grows (13:19). For the kingdom of the heavens we need to be poor in spirit, empty in our spirit, that we may receive Christ. Also, we need to be pure, single, in our heart that Christ may grow in us without frustration.”

When we believed in Jesus Christ as our Savior, we received Him into our human spirit and were born again with the divine life of God. But Christ doesn’t just want to be received by us; He also wants to grow in us, in our heart.

The Bible tells us our heart is composed of our mind, emotion, will, and conscience. In order for Christ to grow freely in us, we need to be pure in heart, that is, single in our purpose and our goal. This is for the kingdom of the heavens and accomplishes God’s will.

What causes our heart not to be pure?
Our heart can be made impure by all kinds of things, not just sinful or evil matters. Actually, our heart is not pure if it seeks anything other than the Lord Jesus.

For example, let’s say we want to achieve a certain advanced degree, attain a certain career milestone, or possess something we long for. These things aren’t wrong or sinful in and of themselves. But it’s possible for us to allow any one of them to occupy our heart more and more. Eventually, it can become the main objective in our life, and then everything we do is driven by our desire to obtain it. We may even ask the Lord to help us, not realizing we’ve lost sight of accomplishing His will and seeking Him as our unique goal. We start living for that thing, and the Lord is frustrated from growing in our heart.

So how can we be pure in heart?

How to be pure in heart
We’d probably all admit that our heart can be very complicated. We may not even be able to tell when we’re not pure in heart. So what should we do?

Instead of trying to self-diagnose the condition of our heart, we should come to the Lord Jesus and open to Him. We need the Lord to shine on us and speak to us about anything in our heart that competes with Him for our affection.

John 1:4 says:

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

The light that can show us where we are comes from the life in us, which is just the Lord Himself. That’s why it’s so important to spend time in the Lord’s presence in prayer and in His Word. We can ask the Lord to make our heart pure by praying something like this:

“Lord Jesus, thank You for coming into me as life. Thank You, Lord, You are the light in me. I want to be pure in heart. Show me if I have any goal or aim other than You. Lord, I want my heart to be single for You and Your will so You can grow in me.”

When the Lord points out something that’s occupying our heart, we shouldn’t be discouraged. We should simply respond to Him in prayer and tell Him that we don’t want that thing to take His place in our heart.

As we respond to His shining in fellowship with Him, the Lord will continue to speak more to us. Responding to the Lord is how we cooperate with Him and give Him the way to make our heart pure for Him. Then He’ll have the opportunity to grow in us.

They shall see God
The Lord Jesus said that the pure in heart are blessed because they shall see God.

In the Recovery Version, note 2 on see God in Matthew 5:8 says:

“If we are pure in heart in seeking God, we will see God. Seeing God is a reward to the pure in heart. This blessing is both for today and for the coming age.”

The reward of seeing God is a tremendous incentive for us to cooperate with the Lord so He can have the room and the freedom to grow in us.

How can we see God?
But what does seeing God mean for us today? Does it mean we have some kind of an outward, supernatural vision of Him?

We can see God today in two ways. One is by seeing Him in the face of Jesus inwardly, and the other is by seeing Him in the Word of God. Let’s look at some verses that show us how we can see God in these two ways.

In the face of Jesus Christ
Let’s first read 2 Corinthians 4:6:

“Because the God who said, Out of darkness light shall shine, is the One who shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

The eternal God became a man, our Lord Jesus Christ, and lived on this earth among mankind. No one ever lived, acted, or spoke like He did. In every way, in every situation, and with every kind of person, Jesus expressed God. People saw the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But since Jesus is no longer physically on earth, how can we see Him today? Verse 6 says God shines in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

So for believers today, seeing God isn’t something outward, physical, or supernatural. Instead, it’s something inward, in our hearts, since now Jesus dwells within us. When nothing in our heart competes with the Lord for our affection, we have an inward sensation of seeing and beholding the Lord. To see God in the face of Jesus Christ is an indescribable joy.

In the words of the Bible
In addition to inwardly seeing God in the face of Jesus in our hearts, we can also see Him in the words of the Bible.

In John 5:39, Jesus said:

“You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that testify concerning Me.”

When we read the Bible with a pure heart while exercising our spirit, our deepest part, the Scriptures testify concerning the wonderful person of Jesus to us. As we read and pray with the words of the Bible, God’s light shines, and we see Jesus in all His beauty and glory. Then spontaneously we’re filled with love and praise for Him.

May the Lord help us open to Him daily so He can make us pure in heart. We’re truly blessed and happy when we have the delight of seeing God, and Christ is happy when He has the free way to grow in our hearts.

19/10/2021

CAN SATAN READ OUR MINDS?

We all know that Satan is our adversary who seeks those who he may devour. I would say that in our spiritual battles sometimes we give Satan too much credit and often blame him or ascribe to him power and authority that he simply does not have. One of those areas deals with when we ask ourselves, can Satan read our minds? You will be happy to know the answer to this question is, no, he can’t, but saying it is not enough. We need to consider Scripture to understand this topic better.

What does Satan know about us?

In order to answer the question can Satan read our minds, we need to understand what Satan actually knows about us. When the Bible speaks about the mind it is often referring to the heart. They are often tied together and sometimes used interchangeably. A very famous proverb says this.

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he… - Proverbs 23:7

Since this is true here is what Satan knows about us. He knows our tendencies, our weaknesses, and our areas of temptation that we may be prone to. This type of information that he knows about us is not because Satan can read our minds, but because he is a master at studying our behavior. Satan can’t read what is in your mind, but he can see what you do and the choices and decisions you make. If he should attack you, he creates his plan of attack based on the areas of your life he has seen, by your behavior and choices, where you are most vulnerable.

How does Satan engage people?

There are not a lot of places in the Bible where we can read about Satan’s interaction with humans but there is one very famous incident that gives us some insight.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” – Genesis 3:1-5

I am sure you are probably aware of this story regarding the fall. I want to show you one thing about Satan from this encounter that will help you learn a little more about him and reveal whether or nor Satan can read our minds.

Can Satan read our minds, or is he a thought influencer?

In this encounter with Eve, there is no indication that Satan can read minds. There is however every indication that Satan can influence thoughts. In his opening question in this conversation notice that he asked Eve a question. “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The purpose in asking the question was simply to begin to influence her thoughts and her thinking. This is not unusual because he still uses the same tactics today. He may bombard you with questions with the sole purpose of influencing your thoughts. For example, here are some thought influencing types of questions.

# Do you think God still loves you after what you did?

# Everyone else is getting credit and recognition, don’t you deserve recognition too?

# That person is a Christian and they are doing it, so it must be okay for you to do it as well?

# You know this is what you really want so why not go and get it?

The list of these types of questions can go on and on but they are all designed to influence your thoughts. When these questions pop up in your mind it may appear Satan can read your mind, but the truth is he is responding to your demonstrated patterns of behavior. Remember Satan is not a mind reader, but he is a thought influencer.

Why is thought influence so important?

Knowing that Satan will attempt to influence your thoughts may cause you to ask why this is so important? Let’s remember what I said earlier about the heart and mind often being used in scripture interchangeably. With that consider this verse from Proverbs.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. – Proverbs 4:23

The reason Satan seeks to influence your thoughts is because he knows that is your control center. Everything you do comes from the things you think about. There has never been a decision or choice you have made without thinking about it. Some you have thought about momentarily and others you have thought about for long periods of time, nevertheless the choice you made was after you thought about it. The same thing was true of Eve in the garden. Satan influenced her thoughts. She considered the options, and she made a decision based on the influence that happened on her thoughts. This doesn’t just happen to Eve this happens to all of us. Consider what James says.

But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. – James 1:14-15

This pattern of sin begins with an enticement or an evil desire. Guess where that evil desire comes from? You got it, from your thoughts. Therefore, Satan will attempt to influence your thoughts because if he can do that successfully, it will ultimately lead to your actions.

How does Satan know what to tempt us with?
When Satan is trying to influence our thoughts, he is going to make an appeal to three areas of our lives.

1. An appeal to our flesh.

For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. – 1 John 2:16

Typically, when we fall into sin it will come under one of these categories because these are the things our flesh gravitates towards.

2. An appeal to our fears.

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. – 1 Peter 5:8

He will seek to appeal to our fears because he knows that when fear kicks in, anxiety and worry go up and often we will shrink back from what or who we are supposed to be.

3. An appeal to our faith.

He will seek to get us to question, as he did with Eve, did God really say?

I want you to understand why he uses these tactics and how they play into his ultimate goal. Let me sum these three up like this.

When you fall into sin, it will destroy you.
When you are overwhelmed with fear, it will disarm you.
When you are overcome by doubt, it will discourage you.
The bottom line whether it is sin, fear, or doubt his goal is to render you ineffective for the kingdom of God. If you are in Christ, he knows he can’t have you, so he opts for the next best thing. He tries to make your witness and testimony of no value, or to discourage you with fear and doubt so you lose all desire to share your testimony with anyone else. He cannot do that by reading your mind, but he can do that by influencing your thoughts.

Final Thoughts
So, can Satan read our minds? No – but he is a formidable opponent, and it is up to us to be aware of his methods and schemes. Hopefully you will stop wondering if Satan can read your mind and start realizing that he will attempt to influence your thoughts. When you recognize this, then you can begin to put up a barrier and be aware of all the thoughts that flow in and out of your mind. That’s why God’s word is so important and why you must pay attention to everything that you allow in and what you spend time dwelling on. As you guard your heart you setup a defense so that Satan cannot breakthrough, because while he cannot read your mind, if he influences your thoughts eventually it will show up in your actions. So, guard your heart or mind because this is one way you can overcome the schemes of the enemy.

13/10/2021

13/10/2021

Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart And do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him, And He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way].

Proverbs 3:5‭-‬6 AMP