We need to lift him up in prayer, and uphold him!
If I could talk to him I would encourage him! Bonhoeffer spoke of our need for one another being ordained by God! It’s by his design that we need one another… the world says we need to be strong and independent! Gods word talks about being in Christ… about being members of one another… Bonhoeffer goes so far as to say that the word of Christ in the mouth of my brother is stronger than the word of Christ in my own heart.
But God has put this Word into the mouth of men in order that it may be communicated to other men. When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others. God has willed that we should seek him and find his living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of a man. Therefore, a Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain, his brother’s is sure.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
Each of us, in humility, need to consider this: we need to submit to one another, out of reverence for Christ, see Ephesians 5:21-33. I usually think of this as us leading one another… but I see today, perhaps, God is letting me know, we need to tell one another when we’re under attack! When we are experiencing suffering. Paul does this in 2 Corinthians 1:8-11, he is talking about the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and he suddenly tells them just where it is that he is coming from. His own battle!
The Amalekites had attacked Israel… they’d just been delivered from Egypt’s tyranny… and were on the way to the promised land. They were a new nation in one way… before this time Egypt came between them and any other enemy. I’m seeing farmers, sheep herders, but they had an army!?!
Joshua was in battle against the Amalekites… and Moses had sent him to do the job! He was up on the hilltop…
“Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”
When ever his hands dropped, the battle was being won by the enemy whenever his arms were raised, the battle was for the Lord!
“When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.”
Work It Out
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
What is this work that is going on within us?
In my own case, I have anxieties and doubts, I have faith, I have discouraging words from others, I have the “shoulds” of the world . . . the shoulds that come from listening to social media posts, from my own upbringing, from what I see in others… all of these things need to be purified through washing it in God’s word,
that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
I submit to God’s Spirit at work within me, by responding to, and dealing with all these “voices” within us. I sort them out! Those that discourage, and lessen me, I can safely say its not from God. Those that build me up, even if its an exhortation > which is a correction > I know these are from God. As I seek the Lord about each one, his word is where he takes me. I have hidden his word in my heart by meditating on it both day and night…
How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
I can memorize God’s word! I can also meditate upon it. But the Lord himself promised us the helper Holy Spirit to teach and remind us…
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Whenever I am meditating like this, or with other believers, and a scripture comes to mind, I make a habit of looking it up. Invariably, the WHOLE word is the written word, and only part of it is remembered. The memory of it is like a thirst for some water, and the reading of the actual scripture in context is the water itself.
So the work of God is him at work in us, and our response to that work.
Finally, lets see about this verse:
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
Another version, JB Phillips, for example translates “right to become” as “power to become” and both bring to my mind that a way is made available, and our stepping into that is our obedience to his invitation, his enabling. See John 5:8-9
“Get up,” said Jesus, “pick up your bed and walk!”
At once the man recovered, picked up his bed and walked.
That man had to respond with getting up off his bed in order to REALIZE God’s gift!
Romans 14:23 says whatever does not come from faith is sin, so by this I see that whatever does come from faith is not sin. It is in fact pleasing to God. See Hebrews 11:6.
Amen
Running Down Vimy 