Content vs. Complacent

~ A Prayer Life ~ 2 Comments

” I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content” ~ Phil 4:11

What is the difference between contentment and complacency? One word carries positive connotations while the other is looked down upon. We are taught to be content, but not complacent. What then, is the difference?

Outwardly, both contentment and complacency look very similar. A person who is either content or complacent can appear to be acting the same. On the surface contentment and complacency can look identical. The definition of both seems to suggest being satisfied with where you are or what you have.

Therefore the difference between contentment and complacency is not in what it appears to be on the outside, but rather what it actually is on the inside. When the Apostle Paul said that in whatever state he was in, he’d learned to be content, he was saying this from a grateful heart for what he had been given. With humility and thankfulness, Paul was at peace with who and what he was. He was content in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The difference between contentment and complacency then is one of the heart. Being content implies being satisfied with where you are, but with a willingness to move forward. While complacency implies a lack of desire to grow, improve or better one’s self.

Christians should learn to be content; thankful for what God has done for them and to avoid complacency. We should always be willing to grow and be used of the Lord in different ways while already thankful for who we are in Him. This is the key to true contentment.

~ apl

Prayer Life Pause: Father, help me to find my peace and contentment in this world from You. Help me to love You and serve You with a view toward my place with You for all eternity. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Men of Prayer

~ A Prayer Life ~ 6 Comments

“What the Church needs today is not more or better machinery, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use – men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men – men of prayer.”

~ E.M. Bounds

Prayer Life Pause: Lord Jesus, grant Your church more people of prayer. May it please You to fill all of our hearts with a desperate hunger and thirst for You that can only be filled by deep, earnest and faithful prayer. In Jesus’ name, amen.

All Are Welcome

~ A Prayer Life ~ 2 Comments

“The cross of Jesus displays the most awful exhibition of God’s hatred of sin and at the same time the most august manifestation of His readiness to pardon it. Pardon, full and free, is written out in every drop of blood that is seen, is proclaimed in every groan that is heard, and shines in the very prodigy of mercy that closes the solemn scene upon the cross. O blessed door of return, open and never shut, to the wanderer from God! How glorious, how free, how accessible! Here the sinful, the vile, the guilty, the unworthy, the poor, the penniless, may come. Here too the weary spirit may bring its burden, the broken spirit its sorrow, the guilty spirit its sin, the backsliding spirit its wandering. All are welcome here.”

~ Octavius Winslow

Prayer Life Pause: Dear Lord, thank You for welcoming me into Your presence. I bring all my burdens, sorrows and guilt and lay them at Your feet of forgiveness. How glorious You are! In Jesus’ name, amen.

Excellent Grace

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“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

~ Romans 8:1

One of the most glorious truths of the Gospel is that faith in Jesus Christ removes the sin guilt we naturally incur. That is, by nature, we are children of God’s just wrath and rightful condemnation (Eph. 2:3). The penalty for sin is nothing less than eternal separation from God and condemnation for sin. Yet, the good news is there is hope! Those who “are in Christ Jesus” are cleansed, justified, sanctified and delivered from such a terrible condition. We are those who no longer “walk” [that is live] according to the flesh [in sinful ways] but we can be those who walk according to the Spirit [that is in faithful humble living unto God]. And it is the same to whom Jesus promised eternal life (John 3:16). May we praise the Lord for His excellent grace!

~ apl

Prayer Life Pause – Father, thank you for saving me from my sins. Now please help me to live according to Your will and Spirit each and every day. In Jesus’ name,. amen.

Be Free

~ A Prayer Life ~ 4 Comments

“Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

~ John 8:36

I love music, but I never learned to play an instrument. Yet, one of my favorite pastimes is listening to music. And though I never personally learned to play a guitar, the drums, a saxophone or piano, I can certainly appreciate the amazing talent, commitment, hard work and devotion that goes into mastering one of these or many other instruments.

Though I love music, I am not free to make music on my own. At least, not through instrumentation. Those who first train on those instruments, and take lesson after lesson for years, are the ones who are free to produce the wonderful sounds of rhythm and harmony who others, like myself, are not free to make on our own. In other words, it is only through the confining discipline of submitting oneself to the rigors of apprehending the musical instrument that one is truly free to play whatever they choose.

Likewise, it is only through submitting yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ that one becomes spiritually free. Until then, we are in bondage, in bondage to sin and confined to the limitations of our own sinful nature. Limited in our freedom to spiritually enjoy the richness of Christ. It is by discipline, apprehending, and submitting oneself to God that one truly tastes freedom.

The world will try to offer you it’s version of freedom. But it is a false freedom. It will seek to entice you with freedom from discipline, from responsibility, and from accountability to God and others. But this is not real freedom. Like the concert pianists who only through years and years of disciplined training is he free to play whatever he chooses, it is only through discipleship to Jesus that spiritual freedom ever comes. Freedom to love, serve and honor the Savior. But, once Christ sets you free, be assured dear friend, you are free indeed.

~ apl

Prayer Life Pause: Father, help me to experience the freedom and joy that comes from turning from worldliness and living and serving my Lord Jesus. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Full of Grace & Truth

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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 

That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

~ John 1:1-14

Prayer Life Pause: Father, help me to receive and embrace Christ as my Light that He might shine through me. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Certainly Not!

~ A Prayer Life ~ 1 Comment

“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!”

~ Romans 6:16

Those who would use the grace of God and the gift of eternal salvation as license to sin understand neither grace nor salvation. Though sadly, I fear many, practically, do just that. We rationalize our sin. We think to ourselves, “I’m saved, I go to church, I’m a basically good person – surely God won’t count this sin against me”. And yet once this kind of depraved thinking has crept into our hearts and minds, then just about anything is free game at that point.

Should we think because we have tasted the wonderful grace of God it’s ok to go back and drink the bitter waters of sinful living? The Scriptures are clear: Certainly not! Some translations render that phrase “God forbid!”. The grace of God is freedom, but it is freedom from sin and strength for holy living and faithfully serving the God and Christ of our salvation. Grace is license, not to sin, but to serve. What then? Will you use the grace of God to sin or to serve?

Prayer Life Pause: Father, help me to walk away from sin and to walk more in Your grace each and every day. In Jesus’ name, amen.

~ apl

You Lord, Are Good

~ A Prayer Life ~ 2 Comments

For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; And attend to the voice of my supplications.

~ Psalm 86:5-6

Here in this passage we find one of the mightiest appeals for answered prayer – God’s own goodness. David could seek no higher ground upon which to lay the basis for his petitions than the Lord’s own character. “You, Lord, are good”. What a testimony! Such a declaration! It is because of the goodness of God that His servant, can, by faith, approach the Lord for forgiveness, healing and restoration of his heart and soul.

And if we think this view of God’s good character is limited to just this one Biblical witness, listen to the testimony throughout Scripture. In 1 Chronicles 16:34 we read, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” Elsewhere the Old Testament prophet Nahum writes, “The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble” (1:7). Mark, the Gospel writer, would also declare, “No one is good but One, that is, God” (10:18).

A.W. Pink, in his classic work on the attributes of God, describes the Lord’s goodness this way, “God is summum bonum, the highest good… The “goodness” of God refers to the perfection of His nature… There is such an absolute perfection in God’s nature and being that nothing is wanting to it or defective in it, and nothing can be added to it to make it better… The goodness of God is the life of the believer’s trust. It is this excellency in God which most appeals to our hearts. Because His goodness endureth forever, we ought never to be discouraged…”

Rather than being discouraged, David pled God’s goodness as his greatest encouragement while approaching Him in prayer and supplication. Do you find God’s innate goodness as a reason to come to Him in prayer? Do you trust that the Lord is good, just and holy and always ready to listen? May we rest upon the character of God and His goodness as the high ground while seeking His face during seasons of communion, fellowship and prayer with our Lord.

~ apl