Faith Bible Blog

On Sunday at Kaleo, as we looked at Jesus’  teaching on persevering in prayer, and I mentioned my use of prayer cards.  I started using them this year after reading about them in Paul Miller’s excellent book A Praying Life (BTW: get and read this book!).  John asked me to post this here to share it with the rest of the church as well.

I became convinced that I needed some sort of lists if I was really going to persevere in bringing the same requests before God long term.  A small stack of 3×5 cards has many advantages over a big sheet of requests.  I find it less overwhelming to look at just one category at a time.  A stack of 3×5 cards with a clip also travels well in a pocket.

Some people asked on Sunday night for some sample categories.  Mine are:

• Spiritual Formation – These are areas in my own life where I want God to change my heart.  I pray over specific verses that describe what I’m after
• Areas of Surrender -On this card I put all the areas of my life that tend to cause me anxiety.  When I pray over this card I am surrendering these areas over to God’s care.  I will sometimes do this flat on my back, arms stretched out with palms up as a physical display of my surrender.  TMI? 
• Weekly Goals – These are specific things I want the Spirit-empowered discipline to accomplish every week, including: reading, praying through the cards, time with each kid, exercise, etc.
• My Wife and Kids – each has a separate card with specific requests for each
• My Parents, Brothers, In-Laws, Nieces and Nephews – listed with specific requests
• Extended Family – listed with specific request
• A Few Close Friends – each have their own card
• Kaleo People - if you ask me to pray for you, you’re on it
• People I’m Currently Discipling/Counseling – each has their own card
• Our Church Elders/Pastors – listed with specific needs next to their names
• Pastors/Writers – listed on one card – some I know personally, others are big names I don’t know personally – if they have had an impact on me they are on here
• Kaleo Leadership - listed on one card with specific needs next to their names
• Kaleo – specific things we would like to see God do  with us
• Work – for patients, clients, office staff and colleagues
• Kingdom – persecuted church, revival, the poor, human trafficking, church planting, stewardship of the environment, unreached peoples, end to abortion
• President Obama - for him personally, his family, for wisdom and protection
• Salvation – a list of people that don’t know Jesus but I’m praying God will save
• Missions – a list of specific missionaries and missions agencies that God has put on my heart
• Our Neighbors – listed on one card with specific needs next to their names

Here are Paul Miller’s general guidelines for using his prayer cards (pp. 225-226, A Praying Life):

1. The card functions as a snapshot of the person’s life, so use short phrases to describe what you want.
2. When praying, I usually don’t linger over a card for more than a few seconds.  I just pick one or two key areas and pray for them.
3. I put the Word to work by writing a Scripture verse on the card that expresses my desire for that particular person or situation.
4. The card doesn’t change much.  Maybe once a year I will add another line.  These are just the ongoing areas of a person’s life that I am praying for.
5. I usually don’t write down answers.   They are obvious to me since I see the card almost every  day.
6. I will sometimes date a prayer request with the month and year.

I set Google calendar to send me an email each day that reminds me to get through them at some point each day.

Using cards has really helped me a lot.  The goal is to become the kind of people that keep bringing the same requests before God like Jesus taught us to.   And I majorly stink at this naturally.

It has also been awesome to see how many things God has already done in response to prayer – something I would not have noticed without these cards.

Hope this helps you to pray more each day

Erick Bible Issues & Questions, Lifestyle prayer

Question: Why will there be a temple during the millennium? Will there be sacrifices and if so, why?

Answer:

Good question! On the surface, it seems a bit strange that a “physical temple” would exist in the millenium since God, the Son, will be “physically present” with us.  And, given that Christ personally fullfilled the Old Testament law and made  an eternally sufficient atonement for sin on our behalf, why continue the sacrificial system in the age to come?

Biblical theologians have grappled with this  interesting question over the centuries.  But all are left with the same dilemma… Scripture seems to indicate that, in fact, there will be a renewed physical temple and a system for worship practiced in the millennial kingdom! Read more…

Peter Bible Issues & Questions eschatology, TXT Question

Question:The premillennial position was not held by early church fathers, reformers and some great scholars today. Why?

Answer:

 Actually, I would encourage you to rexamine the early church fathers’ stand on premillenialism.  A review of  2nd century church history demonstrates that in the  immediate, post -apostolic era, church leaders such as Polycarp (ca. 69-155AD), Justin Martyr (d.138AD), and Irenaeus of Lyons (d.177AD) were premillenial.

Why? First off, because that was the singular view taught by the apostles.  :-)  Secondly, these early church fathers were faithful to pass on the teaching of the apostles. They fought hard to “defend the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

Many of them died as a result of the apostolic faith they proclaimed!  Church historians have  established that Polycarp was personally discipled by the apostle John – the Spirit-led, human writer of the book of the Revelation (who, we can rest assured, knew a few things about the end of the age and God’s plan for the future!).  Polycarp was later marytred for his faith.

So, that begs the question… When did premillenialism start? When and why did the church  develop differing views regarding end-times?  Let’s look at it… Read more…

Peter Bible Issues & Questions eschatology, TXT Question

Question: How can we show non-believers that Daniel was written before the predicted events and not after?

Answer:

 As we heard from the pulpit, the historical events that are predicted in Daniel  represent what biblical scholars call a “dual” or “near -far” fulfillment  pattern.  Within many of the predictions found in Daniel, there are dual or near-far prophecies presented in the same  flow of thought and/or chapter (see Dan 11:1-35 vs. 36-45).  This “interpretive principle” is essential to clearly understand the predictions set forth in this prophecy-saturated OT book!  It is one of the things that makes accurate  interpretation of  this type of literature in the bible so challenging , especially establishing the dating of  predictive prophecy!

Therefore, it is important to appreciate this principle for a couple of reasons.  Namely, to provide context and clarity because  1) a portion of the predictions are yet future (Dan 7:1-8 and Dan 11:36-45) .  And 2) to accurately understand “when” and “how” these events happened vs. those yet future we must use other validation methods like archaeology and recorded human history as well as the Bible.  This is where most of the confusion lies for believers (e.g., Dan 11:36-12:13).

To use Daniel as a means to demonstrate the supernatural  nature of the Bible to unbelievers can be a good tool.  It can be a useful means or segue to sharing the gospel because many today are troubled by the state of the world and mankind’s future on earth.  So… Getting to the gospel is the key!

Read more…

Peter Bible Issues & Questions TXT Question

It looks like the NIV is going to be updated.  That’s not a bad thing at all.  Of more concern is that the base for the revision will be the TNIV, but at least they will be reexamining all the areas where that translation ignited such a firestorm.

Here’s a helpful analysis by Al Mohler that provides more details.

John Bible Issues & Questions

Question: Does the Antichrist know of his eventual defeat to Christ, like Satan does?

Answer:

The Bible declares that the final Antichrist, the “man of lawlessness” pictured in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, is one who is energized by Satan as a counterfeit Christ (2 Thess 2:9).  The Scripture does not explicitly state the Antichrist knows, or is aware, of his eventual doom.

Based on the personal characteristics of the “man of sin” described in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, we can safely draw some inferences about him:

1. He opposes and exalts himself above everything, even the one true and living God (v.4a)
2. He proclaims himself  to be God (v.4b)
3. He is completely influenced by and reflects the nature and character of Satan (v.9)

Scripture declares that Satan is the father of pride, the father of lies and the deceiver.  As a part of God’s sovereign plan for redemptive history, Satan is allowed to use this final “son of perdition” to carry out his evil attempt to usurp Christ and be worshipped as God.  Satan will do anything to oppose God’s rightful rulership and glory.  Therefore, one can safely argue that the Antichrist, in a way and depth unmatched by any of  the other preceding megalomaniacal world leaders, is blinded, self-deluded and completely given over to evil through Satanic influence.   (Far more than Antiochus Ephinanes or Adolf Hitler!)

Like Satan, he is completely consumed with pride and self-idolatry. I  believe the Antichrist will be shocked when he swiftly incurs his ultimate fate - the just and eternal wrath of God.

“And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming” (2 Thess 2:8)

Peter Bible Issues & Questions eschatology, TXT Question

Question: Many scholars today say that the antichrist will come out of the papacy.  Is there truth to this?

Answer:

So you’re asking, ‘who is the antichrist and what do we know about him?’  Well, Revelation13:4-8 says…

and they worshiped the dragon, because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 8 And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.
[Will he be a religious leader to be worshipped?]

Daniel 9:26 says,

and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.
[Will he be a Roman/Italian?]

And Daniel 11:36-37 says,

Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god, and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done. 37 “And he will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all.
[Will he be homosexual OR celibate?]

The biblical descriptions above definitely COULD point to the Antichrist being a Roman Catholic Pope in the future.

Chris Bible Issues & Questions eschatology, TXT Question

Question: What is the difference between the lake of fire and hell?

Answer:

Good question! The Bible assigns a unique name to the ultimate place of judgment for those who reject the gospel of grace.  To best answer your question, let me define a few things…

First, those who have died without repenting and trusting  Christ’s  payment for their sin (thereby receiving the  imputation of His righteousness to them see – 2 Cor 5:21) are awaiting “final judgment” of their lives (Rev 20:11-15).  In contrast, the believer’s sin was judged at the cross through Christ’s atoning death (1 Cor 15:1-4).  So there is no judgment of  our sin at death because Christ’s perfect payment cancels our unpayable debt of sin to God!  (Jn 19:28)

The Bible states that when the unsaved die, they await final judgment of their sins in a place called Hades (the Greek word for the Hebrew word sheol) – c.f., Matt 11:23, 16:18; Lk 10:15, 16:23; Rev 6:8.

Hades is not the ultimate destination of the unrepentant (i.e., Hell). Read more…

Peter Bible Issues & Questions eschatology, hell, TXT Question

Question: How do we know Hitler is not the Antichrist?

Answer: Hitler was not the Antichrist.  This is clear because the prophecies concerning the Antichrist remain unfulfilled.  For example, look at 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10 and Revelation 13:2-8.  We see that the coming Antichrist will seat himself in the temple and declare himself to be God.  He will perform signs and false miracles to convince people of his claims.  He will even appear to have come back to life from the dead.  He will be killed by the Lord, without human agency, when Christ returns.   None of these things found fulfillment in Hitler, so he cannot have been the Antichrist.  But, as Paul says, “the mystery of lawlessness is already at work” (2 Thess 2:7).  Evil men will come, “even now many antichrists have arisen” (1 Jn 2:18), but they will all be eclipsed by the man of lawlessness (the Antichrist) described in Scripture.

John Bible Issues & Questions TXT Question

Question: When we get to heaven, what happens to your spouse?  Are you still married?

Answer:

This is a question that often causes some unnecessary confusion!  Matthew 22:30 is often cited as the proof text that there is no marriage in heaven:

“When the dead rise , they will neither marry nor be given in marriage.  In this resepect, they will be as the angels in heaven”(Matt. 22:30)

Scripture does not teach there will be no marriage in heaven! In fact, it clearly teaches there will be marriage in heaven.  What it says is that there will be one marriage, between Christ and His bride- and we’ll all be part of it! (Rev 19:9; 21:1-2)

The one-flesh marital relationship which we enjoy on earth is a signpost pointing to our relationship with Christ as our bridegroom.  Once we reach our ultimate destination, the signpost becomes unnecessary (i.e., earthly marriage).  That future marriage – our marriage  or union with Christ – will be so infinitely and completely satisfying that even the most wonderful earthly marriage could not be as fulfilling.

Many happily married believers struggle with this , but they really shouldn’t!  I fully expect that my wife, Linda, and I will be closer than ever in heaven.  We will enjoy one another in ways that we can’t yet imagine or conceive of  in this earthly realm! All believers will overflow with joy, being part of the same marriage – an eternal marriage – to Jesus Christ, our bridegroom.

“As the Scriptures  say,”A man and women leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife and the two are united as one.” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the Church are one” (NLT, Eph 5:31-32)

Peter Bible Issues & Questions, Marriage & Family