They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator

Romans 1:25

The Ancient Gentile Wasteland

The Apostle Paul does not describe the Gentile nations as harmless peoples quietly searching for truth in their own sincere way. He writes with dreadful clarity: we were “separated from Christ,” “alienated from the commonwealth of Israel,” “strangers to the covenants of promise,” “having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). These are not gentle words. They describe a humanity outside the covenant household of God, cut off from the promises, far from the Messiah, estranged from the people among whom God had set His name, and wandering beneath the dreadful darkness of divine judgment. This is the world from which we, the Gentiles, have come.

Our fathers were not merely cultivating different customs. They were not innocently decorating the world with cultural variety. From Europe to Africa, from Arabia to the Americas, from the great empires to the scattered tribes, mankind built temples, altars, priesthoods, myths, calendars, sacrifices, and whole civilisations of worship apart from the living God. Men bowed before Thor and Odin, Anubis and Ra, Baal and Molech, Artemis and Zeus, the spirits of the dead, the powers of nature, the gods of fertility, war, harvest, blood, and empire. They kissed idols. They carved images. They chanted before demons. They consulted the dead. They burned their children. They worshipped ancestors. They sanctified lust. They deified kings. They bowed before created things while refusing the Creator. This was not spiritual neutrality. This was a rebellion with liturgy.

The nations did not lack evidence of God. “His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived” in the things that have been made (Romans 1:20). Yet man suppressed the truth in unrighteousness. He exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. He exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator. Therefore, God gave the nations over. He gave them over to dishonourable passions. He gave them over to a debased mind. He gave them over to the bitter harvest of their chosen gods. This is the heathen wasteland of the Gentile world: not empty of worship, but overflowing with false worship; not empty of religion, but enslaved to corrupt religion; not empty of gods, but without the true and living God.

The Modern Gentile Wasteland

And we must not imagine that this wasteland belongs only to the ancient world. The old gods have not vanished. They have simply learned to speak with modern accents.

Man still suppresses the truth in unrighteousness. He still exchanges the glory of the immortal God for images of created things. He still refuses the Creator and gives himself to the creature. The ancient idol had a carved face; the modern idol has a glowing screen. The ancient shrine stood in the high places; the modern shrine sits in the palm of the hand. Social media has become a vast liturgy of self-exaltation, envy, lust, outrage, vanity, false witness, and restless comparison. Men and women are catechised daily to curate the self, worship the body, perform virtue, despise authority, pursue desire, and measure their worth before the watching eyes of men.

The old Babel also rises again. The nations still seek to make a name for themselves apart from God. Through globalist dreams of unity without Christ, peace without repentance, justice without righteousness, and humanity without the image of God, fallen man labours to build one house while rejecting the Father’s house. He imagines a world healed by human management, technological control, economic engineering, and political salvation, yet he will not bow before the King whom God has installed in Zion.

The confusion of our age descends even deeper. When man rejects the Creator, he also rejects the created order. Male and female become burdens to be escaped rather than gifts to be received. The body is no longer regarded as a divine trust, but as raw material for self-definition. Sexual desire is enthroned as identity. Rebellion is renamed courage. Disorder is renamed freedom. Shame is renamed pride. Like the nations of old, modern man sanctifies what God condemns and condemns what God has sanctified. This is not progress. This is paganism with electricity.

From Rebels to Sons

From the beginning, mankind was created for sonship. Adam was a son by creation, made to live before the Father in obedient fellowship. But through sin, mankind forfeited the blessedness of that household life and became alienated from God.

Adam was made to live before God, under God, and with God. He was not created to wander through the world as an orphan, nor to build his own house apart from the Lord. He was made for communion with God, obedience to God, and life in the presence of God.

The wonder of adoption does not begin with the sinner seeking a home. It begins with the Father’s eternal purpose. Before the foundation of the world, God did not merely determine to forgive His people, nor merely to rescue them from wrath, nor merely to cleanse them from guilt. He predestined them “for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will” (Ephesians 1:5).

This means that adoption is not an afterthought in salvation. It is not a decorative blessing added after the greater work has been done. It belongs to the very purpose of God in redemption. The Father chose a people in Christ not only that they might be pardoned, but that they might be sons.

This should humble us deeply. By nature, we were not sons drawing near, but rebels running away. We were not worthy children waiting to be recognised, but children of wrath deserving judgment. Yet the Father, according to the purpose of His will, determined to bring the far-off near, to give His name to the nameless, to bring strangers into His household, and to make sons out of rebels. Adoption restores more than Adam lost, because believers are brought into sonship in the eternal Son Himself.

The Blood of the Son

The Father’s purpose is accomplished through the Son. Paul writes:

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Galatians 4:4–5

The Son of God came into the world so that enemies might become sons. He was born of a woman, entering our humanity. He was born under the law, placing Himself under the very law we had broken. He obeyed where Adam failed. He fulfilled what Israel did not. He bore the curse that belonged to the guilty. He died outside the gate so that those who were outside the household might be brought in. The cost of adoption was the blood of the Son.

God did not adopt us by ignoring our rebellion. He did not bring us into His house by pretending that our idolatry, uncleanness, and guilt did not matter. The Father sent the Son to redeem those under the law, so that the guilty might be justified and the justified might be adopted. We receive the status of sons because the true Son stood in our place.

Christ is the Son by nature. We are sons by grace. Christ is eternally beloved of the Father. We are beloved in Him. Christ has the right of sonship in Himself. We receive the right to become children of God through Him.

The Son Makes Us Sons

This is why adoption cannot be separated from union with Christ. God does not become our Father apart from His Son. No man comes to the Father except through Him. The Father does not look upon the believer as an isolated individual standing on the strength of his own name, his own obedience, or his own worthiness. He sees him in Christ. The beloved Son brings many sons to glory.

This gives adoption its security. If our sonship rested upon our feelings, we would lose heart. If it rested upon our obedience, we would fall into despair. If it rested upon our ability to keep ourselves worthy of the household, we would never sleep in peace. But our adoption rests upon Christ. The Father receives us in the Son, loves us in the Son, names us in the Son, and makes us heirs with the Son. When the Father looks upon those who are in Christ, He sees sons.

The Spirit of Adoption

What the Father planned and the Son purchased, the Holy Spirit applies and confirms. Paul writes:

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’

Romans 8:15

The Spirit of adoption does not make the believer careless before God. He does not make the holiness of God seem small. Rather, He teaches the believer to approach the holy God rightly: not as a condemned criminal, not as a terrified slave, not as a stranger outside the door, but as a child coming to his Father.

This cry, “Abba! Father!” is not a shallow sentiment. It is the Spirit-wrought language of sonship. It is the cry of those who were once far off but have now been brought near. It is the cry of those who were once children of wrath but have now received the right to become children of God. It is the cry of those who know that the Judge who justified them is also the Father who receives them.

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. He assures us that adoption is not fiction, metaphor, or wishful thinking. We truly belong to God. We truly have access to the Father. And if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.

Conclusion

Though there is far more to explore concerning the privileges of adoption, we may fittingly conclude with a hymn that captures the heartbeat of this great reality. Stuart Townend’s How Deep the Father’s Love for Us gives voice to the wonder of the Father’s love:

How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory

The post Ordo Salutis: Adoption appeared first on TGN.

What About the Great Tribulation?

Donnie’s post places the great tribulation immediately after the rapture, referencing the mark of the beast (Revelation 13) and restrictions on commerce for those who refuse it. This is another area of debate. Let us examine where the Bible itself places this event.

We turn first to Matthew 24:3–31, subtitled in the ESV: “The Signs of the End of the Age.” The conversation here is a direct response to a question posed to Jesus by his disciples: “what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (v3).

As part of the events that will precede His coming, Jesus speaks of wars and rumours of wars, tribulation for believers, the rise of false prophets, and the worldwide proclamation of the gospel. He then refers to the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel. And, He says, immediately before His arrival:

“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.” (Matthew 24:21–22)

Critically, Jesus speaks of cutting short the tribulation for the sake of His elect—that is, believers will endure it, though preserved by God throughout.

John, writing in 1 John 2:18, notes that “the antichrist is coming”, and places his appearance before the Lord’s return. Paul, in 2 Thessalonians 2, is explicit:

“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him… Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.” (2 Thessalonians 2:1–4)

Note that the man of lawlessness—the antichrist—must be revealed before the day of the Lord’s coming. This aligns with Daniel’s abomination of desolation, referenced by Christ as a sign preceding His return. Revelation 20:4 further confirms this sequence, describing those who will reign with Christ as including “those who had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands” – meaning some will face and resist the Antichrist before Christ returns.

So, we conclude that the biblical teaching places the great tribulation and the rise of the antichrist before Christ’s second coming, not after.

A Glorious Future

We now turn our attention to the events that will take place at Christ’s return, and immediately thereafter. The primary proof text is Revelation 20.

As argued in the previous article, 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 describes the dead in Christ being resurrected and believers still alive being transformed and caught up together to welcome the returning Lord. Notice “the sound of the trumpet of God” (v16b) at Christ’s return. This is the same trumpet Paul references in 1 Corinthians 15:

“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:51–53)

The order is clear: at the trumpet’s sound, the dead in Christ are raised with resurrection bodies; then those still alive are transformed to receive glorified, imperishable bodies as well. Together, they are caught up to meet and escort the Lord back to earth (see the prequel).

Paul continues in the same chapter:

“Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” (1 Corinthians 15:24–25)

Upon His return, Christ will reign over a mixed people—including those described as His enemies. This is the millennial rule described in Revelation 20. It is worth pausing to examine what Revelation 20 actually says, since this passage is the primary text in the debate between the millennial positions.

In the preceding chapter (Revelation 19:11–21), John has described Christ’s return in glory—the rider on the white horse, the defeat of the beast and the false prophet. The very next scene opens:

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years” (Revelation 20:1–2).

The sequence is instructive: the binding of Satan follows immediately upon Christ’s return and the defeat of the Antichrist—it does not describe the present age. John then sees thrones set up, and those who had been martyred for their witness to Jesus “came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4). This, John declares, “is the first resurrection” (Revelation 20:5–6): the resurrection of the righteous that precedes the final judgment.

The Amillennial and Postmillennial views

It should be noted that Amillennialists (those who hold that the millennium is not a future, earthly reign but a present, spiritual reality already underway since Christ’s first coming) and Postmillennialists (those who believe Christ will return after a future golden age in which the gospel triumphs and the millennium is realised) understand this passage differently.

Amillennialists typically read the binding of Satan as referring to the present age since Christ’s first coming, and the “first resurrection” as the believer’s spiritual resurrection at conversion, or the state of the departed saints reigning with Christ in heaven. These are not frivolous readings; they are held by serious and godly interpreters. However, the premillennial reading (which I hold) commends itself on several grounds, as outlined below.

First, the passage follows chronologically from the return of Christ depicted in chapter 19. The “first resurrection” is presented alongside physical martyrdom. Beheadings are bodily realities, and the plain sense of the passage suggests a corresponding bodily resurrection in response. Second, the binding of Satan is described in vivid, concrete terms—a chain, a pit, a seal, with an explicit beginning and ending point—and sits uneasily with the present age in which Satan is elsewhere described as actively prowling and opposing the church (1 Peter 5:8). And finally, the subsequent earthly reign of Christ aligns with the prophetic vision that runs throughout the Old Testament, some of which we will touch briefly below.

Glorious, But Not Yet Eternal

Several scriptures describe a state in which the earth is deeply renewed, yet sin and death have not been entirely eradicated. Isaiah 65:20, for example, speaks of dramatically extended lifespans alongside the continued reality of sin and death:

“No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.”

Isaiah 11:6–9 similarly depicts a time when the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea; when the wolf and the lamb will dwell together, the leopard lie down with the kid, and a little child will lead them. Yet the subsequent verses (Isaiah 11:10–11) indicate that some will still come to the Lord for salvation during this era—a time of magnificent renewal, but not yet the final, eternal state of absolute righteousness (see also Psalm 72:8–14; Zechariah 14:5–17).

We know for a fact that the eternal state will be marked by the complete absence of sin (2 Peter 3:13) and death (Revelation 21:4). Since these conditions are not yet present in the era described by Isaiah and Zechariah, this must refer to the millennial reign rather than the new creation. Recall that immediately before this millennial reign, Satan will be bound for a specific period of a thousand years (Rev. 20:1-4), so that ‘he might not deceive the nations any longer’.

Amillennial and Postmillennial interpretations of Isaiah 65

It should be acknowledged that Amillennial and Postmillennial interpreters would not generally grant Isaiah 65 as straightforward evidence for a future earthly millennium. Amillennialists often understand such passages as describing the new creation in figurative terms, or as prophetic language fulfilled spiritually in the church (present) age. Postmillennialists may read them as anticipating a golden era of gospel advance prior to Christ’s return.

Even granting this range of readings, however, the continued presence of sin and death in Isaiah 65— “the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed”—sits uneasily with any description of the eternal state, which Scripture uniformly presents as entirely free from sin and death (2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:4). The contrast between the conditions in Isaiah 65 and those of the new creation points toward an intermediate period of magnificent renewal—which is precisely what the premillennial framework calls the millennium.

Revelation 20:1–4 tells us that immediately before this millennial reign, Satan will be bound, so that “he might not deceive the nations any longer.” And yet, even with Satan restrained, the fact that Christ will rule with a rod of iron (Psalm 2:9; Revelation 19:15) further suggests that during this period, there will be those who submit to His authority outwardly but not inwardly—compliance borne of compulsion rather than genuine transformation of heart.

Nonetheless, Christ will rule with perfect justice and righteousness (Psalm 72:8–14), and creation will be dramatically renewed – a breathtaking preview of what the world looks like when the rightful King is finally on His throne.

Conclusion

At the close of the millennium, Satan will be released for a season, will incite a final rebellion, but will be decisively and permanently defeated. Then will come the second resurrection (Revelation 20:5, 13), in which the unbelieving dead will also be raised, followed by the final judgment before the great white throne. And then, at last, the eternal state. But these are matters for a separate article.

What we can say here is this: what awaits the people of God is not a fearful escape from a world in chaos, but a glorious homecoming—resurrection, reunion with Christ our Lord, and the renewal of all things under His righteous rule. That is a hope worth holding firmly, and worth being ready for!

The post A Biblical Perspective on the Rapture – Part II appeared first on TGN.

The post has since gone viral, drawing thousands of views, likes, and comments.

While I am not here to evaluate the authenticity of Donnie’s dream, certain theological claims embedded in his post warrant careful biblical examination. Can genuine believers miss the rapture? Will the rapture be a secret event? What follows the rapture? What about the rise of the Antichrist and the great tribulation?

These questions belong to the branch of theology known as eschatology—from the Greek eschatos, meaning “last things”, and logia, meaning “study of” or “doctrine”—the doctrine of the end times and the future. My aim in this article is to provide biblical clarity on each of them and, in doing so, to offer genuine comfort to believers who have wrestled with them.

Some aspects of eschatology are genuinely complex, about which we cannot speak dogmatically, and we should extend grace to those who hold alternative views. Nonetheless, certain things are clear. Rather than surveying all the competing positions, I will begin with what Scripture teaches plainly, then move into areas of legitimate controversy. I invite the reader to weigh the arguments and judge for themselves by Scripture alone.

What Is the Rapture?

The term rapture refers to the taking up or snatching away of believers to be with Christ when He returns. It derives from the Latin rapio, meaning to seize, snatch, or carry away. The primary proof text is 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17. The same concept appears in our Lord’s teaching in Matthew 24:40–41: two men in the field, one taken and one left; two women grinding at the mill, one taken and one left—all of it grounded in His promise that He will come again and take His followers to be with Him forever (John 14:3).

Could Believers Miss the Rapture?

In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul is emphatic: believers who have died in Christ will rise first, and those still alive will be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air. Who are those who are “alive and left”? Given that the criterion for those who rise first is that they are “in the Lord,” it follows that those still alive who are caught up must likewise be in the Lord—believers living at the time of Christ’s return.

“In the Lord” is the New Testament’s shorthand for all who have placed saving faith in Jesus—a description of the union believers share with Christ and with one another. This is clear from the immediate context: verse 14 states, “since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.” Paul is plainly addressing those who believe in the death and resurrection of Christ. He calls them brothers throughout the letter—the standard New Testament term for fellow believers—and describes them in 1:1 as “the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.“

Union with Christ: the deepest assurance of salvation

When one comes to saving faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit miraculously and irrevocably unites the believer to Christ Himself. Through this union, the believer receives all the saving benefits Christ merited by His life, death, and resurrection.

This spans their election in Christ before the foundation of the world, and by it they participate in everything that Jesus did during His earthly ministry as their representative. This means that when Jesus died, the old nature of the elect was crucified with Him (Galatians 5:24). By this Union, the believer’s sins were imputed to Christ, He atoned for them, and, in turn, the righteousness of Christ was imputed to the believer (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Notably, the believer’s union with Christ guarantees our security as Christians. Once united spiritually with Christ, one cannot be ‘unjoined’ from Him. The Union is an inseparable one. It is as irreversible as one cannot be unborn. This is what it means to be in Christ.

Justified in Christ by Union with Christ, free from condemnation

We can therefore conclude that the sole criterion for being raptured is the fact that we are in Christ, not works, achievement, or a particular level of spiritual zeal. To be precise, the reason no genuine believer can miss the rapture is not that he has met some subjective standard of spiritual readiness, but that God has already declared him righteous in Christ.

This is the doctrine of justification—the gracious and judicial act of God whereby He removes the guilt of sin and declares the sinner righteous in His sight, not because of anything done by them, but because of the righteousness of Christ imputed to him and received by faith alone. It is a forensic verdict, spoken from the throne of the eternal Judge. And it does not change.

Paul presses the point in Romans 8: 33–34 “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn?“. God does not justify by degrees. When He declares a sinner righteous, the verdict is final. The case is settled. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

The assurance we need is not a better assessment of our recent spiritual performance, but a clearer view of our objective standing before God in Christ. The question is not, “Have I been holy enough?” but “Has Christ truly atoned for all my sin, and am I clothed in His righteousness as a result?” And the answer to that second question, for every genuine believer, is an unequivocal yes.

Reading the comments on Donnie’s post, one cannot help but notice that many of the fears being expressed are not fundamentally eschatological—they stem from a lack of assurance of salvation. Many seem to be evaluating their standing before God in terms of recent spiritual performance rather than in light of the finished work of Christ. The remedy for such fear is not a more anxious inspection of one’s spiritual record, but a more confident resting in what Christ has already accomplished on our behalf.

Dear reader, as a sinner, have you come to Christ in faith? Then you are in Christ. And they who are in Christ will be caught up to meet with Christ upon His return. 

What then is the place of ongoing holiness?

We ought to take seriously our Lord’s command to remain watchful, like servants who do not know when their master will return (Matthew 24:45–51). But this warning should not be read to mean that a genuine believer can somehow miss the rapture. I suspect this is precisely the implication in Donnie’s post—that if the Lord returned while you were in the middle of committing a particular sin, you might be left behind.

I am not dismissing the importance of sanctification or holy living; quite the opposite. However, we must distinguish between our good works, which demonstrate that we are saved, and the fact that it is not our good works that save us.

What, then, do those warnings accomplish? Believers have been set free from slavery to sin (Romans 6). The warning passages of Scripture, therefore, call them to be functionally or experimentally what they already are positionally in Christ: holy (Galatians 5:1; Philippians 2:12–13).

Thus, the warnings of Scripture serve as the means by which God calls His people to watchfulness, not to be seen as a threat of exclusion, but as a means of sustaining those He has already secured (Philippians 1:6).

Will the Rapture Be Secret?

Here we enter an area of controversy. Donnie’s post implies that the rapture will be a secret event—a view held by those who believe the church will be quietly snatched away to escape the coming tribulation, after which Jesus will return to establish His millennial reign, followed by final judgment and the eternal state.

My difficulty with this view is that it requires not one but two future returns of the Lord: a second coming to remove His people secretly, and a third coming to establish His kingdom. But does the Bible teach two second comings?

Nowhere in Scripture do we read of two separate future returns. When Jesus ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives, the angels told the disciples plainly: “He will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). In Matthew 24, speaking of His return, Jesus says:

“So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man… Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.” (Matthew 24:26–27, 30)

His coming will be visible to all—as unmistakable as lightning splitting the sky. Every person on earth will witness it. On my part, I cannot reconcile a secret return with this. 

Caught Up to Meet the Returning King

If the second coming is not secret, and there can be only one future return of Christ, then 1 Thessalonians 4 must be read accordingly: believers who have died and those still alive will be caught up together to meet the Lord as He arrives—not to be whisked away to a different location, but to welcome Him back.

The Greek word Paul uses for “meet” here—apantēsis—was used in the ancient world to describe the formal civic procession in which citizens would pour out of their city to welcome and escort a returning dignitary, conquering general, or king.

Similarly, the word Paul uses in 1 Thessalonians 4:15 for Christ’s coming—parousia—was the term for a royal visit: the arrival of a high-ranking official, even Caesar himself. Whenever such a figure approached, the people would go out to meet him with fanfare and celebration, then escort him through the city gates.

The direction of travel is telling: the citizens go out to the approaching figure, then turn back and accompany him in. We see the same pattern in Matthew 25:6, where the bridesmaids go out to meet the bridegroom, and in Acts 28:15, where Roman believers travel out to meet Paul on the road and then accompany him into the city.

Paul’s use of apantēsis, therefore, strongly suggests that believers meet Christ in the air not to be permanently transported away, but to escort the returning King back to earth as He takes His throne. This reading is supported by Revelation 20, which indicates that upon His return, Christ will immediately establish His millennial reign, with believers reigning alongside Him on a renewed earth (more of this in the subsequent article). 

Conclusion

We have established that no genuine believer can miss the rapture; not because of any spiritual achievement on their part, but because their standing before God rests entirely on the finished work of Christ. We have also seen that the biblical evidence points away from a secret rapture toward a visible, glorious return, in which believers are caught up not to escape to heaven, but to escort their returning King back to earth.

Much remains to be said: what happens next after the rapture? The questions of the great tribulation, the Antichrist, and the millennial reign of Christ all bear directly on how we read the times we are living in, and how we ought to live in them. We will take these up in the next article.

For now, let this much be settled in your heart, dear reader: if you are in Christ, you have nothing to fear. The God who justified you will glorify you. The Saviour who died for you is coming back for you. And when He comes, He will not lose a single one of those the Father has given Him.

Notes

1. For further reading on the doctrine of the believer’s Union with Christ, see this previous article and this series of articles and resources from Ligonier Ministries.
2. For further reading on the doctrine of Justification, please see this article.

The post A Biblical Perspective on the Rapture appeared first on TGN.

Recently, I have been reflecting on Christian families of our time. My reflections have mainly been about how God works through families today to continue his work of restoring humanity. My wife Joyce and I are blessed with a son and a daughter. My desire for our children to repent and believe the gospel has awakened these reflections.

In this article, I plan to share my reflections on how God uses a Christian home as a means of dispensing his grace. I hope to show that God uses a Christian home as a means of his grace (1) to a husband and wife, (2) to their children, (3) to other believers, and (4) to non-believers. Seeing this, I pray that this truth will strengthen your commitment to building and sustaining a sound Christian home.

What is a Christian Home?

What makes a Christian home? In short, it is the gospel. It is useful to describe a Christian home in its context of family and marriage. More precisely, in the context of the Christian family and biblical marriage.

Genesis 2:24 acknowledges that every biblical marriage establishes a new Christian family. Today, because of Ephesians 5:31-32, a biblical marriage necessarily involves an exclusive union between one man and one woman, both of whom are believers. The moment a husband is joined to his wife in a biblical marriage, the two establish a Christian family—right then and right there.

However, a Christian home is a physical and spiritual environment that a Christian family can build over time. While a Christian family is established automatically, a Christian home requires deliberate efforts to build and sustain. A sound Christian home is a safe and healthy dwelling place for both adults and children. Also, it is an atmosphere where the gospel flourishes, is lived out and can be encountered. Both the physical and spiritual dimensions are necessary for a sound Christian home.

On Means of God’s Grace

Christians usually understand that they ultimately do not deserve their salvation. We have received our salvation through faith as a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). This is what Scripture refers to as God’s grace.

Out of his wisdom, God has appointed some mundane things as means to communicate his grace to us. Question 88 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism names Scripture, sacraments (i.e., the Lord’s table and baptism), and prayer as means of grace:

“The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption are, his ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer; all which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.”

It is critical to grasp that such means of grace do not communicate God’s grace to us by virtue of something inherent in them. Instead, they are effectual because God has appointed them and uses them. For instance, what makes baptism special is not the water used, but the authority that Christ has given to a local church in Matthew 28:18-20 and the faith of the baptised.

Christian Home is a Means of God’s Grace

I desire my son and daughter to grow up to become believers with “boring” testimonies.^[1] I mean testimonies without twists and turns, and devoid of extravagant sins. Testimonies that sound like:

I grew up in a Christian home. We had regular family devotions. Our parents were members of a local church where we heard the gospel every week. We were always around other Christian families. I do not remember an exact day but …

Nothing obviously dramatic. Only God’s grace at work—quietly, consistently, and surely.

Such testimonies bear witness to a means of grace that is easy to overlook: a Christian home. As noted before, a sound Christian home is the fruit of a faithful Christian family founded on a biblical marriage. Such a home is a blessing to the husband, wife, children if available, and other outsiders.

First and foremost, God uses a Christian home to graciously mature a husband and a wife in Christ. This happens as husband and wife build and maintain their home; their home, in turn, will be building and sustaining them too.

For example, a Christian home demands a husband who leads his family. As the husband leads his family, say in hospitality, God will use their hospitable home (like mealtimes shared with others) as a means to grow the husband and wife. I can personally testify to this.

Second, God uses a Christian home as a means of his grace to children. A Christian home is a haven for children. It protects children and provides a stable environment for their growth. More importantly, a Christian home consistently exposes children to the gospel.

In a Christian home, children witness their parents live out the gospel. This is remarkably important for children. Among other things, children need to witness their parents forgive one another, trust their God through life circumstances, and prioritise gathering with saints even when it is not convenient. God uses all these to form children and call them to Himself.

Thirdly, God uses a Christian home to bless other believers. Believers need to live in constant fellowship with other believers. Very little of this fellowship can happen when saints gather weekly on the Lord’s Day. Most of the fellowship should take place throughout the week, when saints are scattered. My favourite place of fellowship during the week is in Christian homes. There, saints can freely press into each other’s lives and apply the gospel appropriately—”Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” (Romans 12:15).

Finally, God uses a Christian home to reach out to non-believers with the gospel. The Bible expects and commands believers to be hospitable to strangers (Hebrews 13:2). Like children, a Christian home provides non-believers with an opportunity to witness the gospel being lived out.

What All This Means for You and Me

Seeing a Christian home as a means of grace is a huge first step. It orients our hearts better toward viewing our homes biblically. It shapes our attitude and the level of effort we are willing to invest in building one. I would encourage you, saint, to reflect on the importance of a sound Christian home and commit to investing your time and effort in improving yours—by God’s grace.

For the most part, building a sound Christian home involves a husband and wife striving to be faithful to what Scripture requires of believers and a married couple. I hope that recognising how God uses a Christian home to bless a Christian family, and others, will motivate you to honour, cherish, and work to build a Christian home. This is one of those areas that always has room for growth.

Notes

^[1] Now, I should highlight that calling any testimony “boring” is simply for a lack of a better word. All testimonies bear witness to the extraordinary work of God’s grace over the sinner.

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Recently, Joe Mettle, a seasoned gospel musician in Ghana, released a single entitled ‘This Year’, in which he gave musical expression to these very promises. In the song, Mettle declares the unfolding year to be one that will overflow with testimonies and signs and wonders on every side. He sings of swimming in abundance, of waking up with spiritual fervour, and of personally living out every promise God has ever spoken. Doors, he declares, will swing open at his approach; favour will meet him at every turn; every valley in his path will be transformed into a highway; and every prophecy spoken over his life will come to pass—all of this decreed and declared over himself in Jesus’ name.

The wealth and health gospel

The theology that animates this song belongs to what is commonly known as the Word of Faith movement, or the wealth-and-health—or prosperity—gospel. In brief, this teaching frames faith as a currency with which one transacts with God. The logic runs as follows: if you have sufficient faith, you may legitimately demand from heaven’s resources—perfect health, financial abundance, and essentially anything else one desires.

In this framework, faith becomes a guarantee of success, whether in job interviews, business contracts, or even sporting outcomes. One does not ask God; one commands Him, on the basis of one’s faith. This is precisely the spirit behind Mettle’s song: I decree and declare it.

Does God actually promise these things?

What does “a year full of testimony” actually mean? What is “swimming in abundance”? In Word of Faith phraseology, terms like testimony, favour, and blessing are interpreted almost exclusively in terms of wealth and health—material prosperity. Signs and wonders, in this framework, translate to having everything you want and never being in want. The question is therefore straightforward: does the Bible actually promise believers a life of uninterrupted abundance?

The answer is no. There is not a single verse of Scripture that makes this promise. It is, plainly stated, deceptive teaching. The song invites listeners to expect to “live every prophecy and word God has spoken.” Very well. Let us take that seriously and examine what God has actually spoken.

What Jesus promised

Jesus was unambiguous about what His followers should expect in this world:

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Note the words carefully: you will have tribulation. Not “you might”, not “you will if your faith is weak”, but you will. This is a promise as certain as any other Jesus made. The comfort He offers is not the removal of hardship, but His own victory over it.

More striking still is the cost of discipleship Jesus sets out in Luke 9:23-25. The language here is arresting. Daily self-denial. A cross. The willingness to lose one’s life. This is the path Jesus calls every believer to walk—not a highway of unbroken favour, but the narrow road of self-surrender. It is also a direct rebuke to the prosperity gospel’s core logic: Jesus Himself asks what profit there is in gaining the whole world, if the soul is forfeited in the process. The very thing the prosperity gospel promises—worldly abundance—is the thing Jesus warns us not to live for.

One looks in vain for these promises in the Word of Faith repertoire.

What the Apostle Paul experienced

“I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:12–13)

Paul—who was caught up to the third heaven and authored much of the New Testament—knew seasons of genuine hunger and need, not merely as a passing phase on the way to abundance, but as a recurring reality of his apostolic life. The famous verse that follows (“I can do all things through him who strengthens me”) is not, as it is so often used, a promise of limitless achievement; it is a declaration of contentment in hardship, sustained by divine strength.

What the Apostle Peter taught

In his letter to Jewish Christians scattered across the Roman world, Peter offered no promise of comfort and ease. Instead, he called them to follow Christ’s own example of suffering:

“For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly… if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2:19–21)

Peter goes on to say that it is blessed to suffer for righteousness’ sake (3:14), and that it may sometimes be God’s will for His people to suffer for doing good (3:17). Suffering, in Peter’s theology, is not a sign of weak faith or divine disfavour—it can be the precise pathway along which God leads His children.

The testimony of the early church

“…strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22)

This was the message the apostles brought to young churches: not a guarantee of ease, but a call to persevere through tribulation. It is worth noting the word must—tribulation is not presented as an unfortunate possibility for those without faith, but as a normal feature of the Christian journey.

It is precisely in the seasons of lack, the trials of faith, and the furnace of tribulation that genuine faith is proved. Anyone can profess trust in God when life is comfortable. The question that suffering asks—and that the prosperity gospel cannot answer—is whether our faith is in God Himself, or merely in the blessings we hope He will provide.

But how about Job 22:28?

A verse frequently cited in defence of the decree-and-declare approach is Job 22:28: “You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways” (NKJV). The ESV rendition reads: “You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways.”

Already, the ESV translation is telling: decide on a matter carries none of the mystical, commanding force that Word of Faith teachers read into this verse. On the surface, however, the NKJV rendering appears to lend credibility to the notion that the believer has the authority to speak things into existence—to decree prosperity, health, and success, and expect them to materialise.

John Gill, one of the most thorough biblical expositors in the history of the church, addresses this passage directly. His commentary is instructive. Gill notes that strictly speaking, unfrustrable decrees belong to God alone—it is God whose counsel stands and whose purposes cannot be overthrown. When the verse speaks of a person decreeing a thing, Gill argues it is best understood in one of three ways: as a just leader whose wise decisions are ratified by heaven; as a person who, having committed their plans to God, finds them prospered and established; or—most fittingly—as a person of prayer, who lifts their requests to God in genuine faith and receives accordingly. The light that shines upon their ways is not the light of their own authority or declaration, but the light of God’s grace within them, God’s word guiding them, and God’s favour blessing their endeavours.

In other words, Job 22:28 is a promise to the person who humbly commits their ways to God—not a licence for the believer to stand in the place of God and decree outcomes into existence. The authority here belongs to God; the posture required of the believer is faith and dependence, not command and entitlement.

This reading is confirmed by the verses immediately preceding:

“Then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver. For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you…” (Job 22:25-27)

Notice the portrait of the person whose decisions are established by God. This is someone for whom God Himself is the treasure—their gold, their precious silver. Because they delight in the Almighty above all else, their desires and decisions naturally align with His will. It is no wonder, then, that God establishes them. The text offers no support whatsoever for the idea that any believer, by the force of their declaration, can command God to produce outcomes on their behalf.

A conspicuous omission

It has not escaped our attention that the song ‘This Year’ is entirely silent on the call to holy living. From beginning to end, it is preoccupied with claiming blessings, with no word of exhortation to holiness—which is, in fact, the explicit will of God for every believer (1 Thessalonians 4:3–5).  It is therefore far from uncommon to find professing Christians living in open disobedience and yet fully expecting—and enthusiastically claiming—God’s blessing.

Conclusion

The theology embedded in the song This Year is a fundamental distortion of Biblical Christianity. It replaces petition with presumption, substitutes entitlement for faith, and promises what God has never promised. When Scripture is examined accurately, a different picture emerges: one in which believers are called to endure tribulation, follow a suffering Saviour, learn contentment in seasons of plenty and want, and trust a sovereign God whose ways are higher than ours.

This does not mean God is indifferent to our circumstances, or that prayer is futile. On the contrary—the Bible is full of encouragements to bring every need before God, ask boldly, and expect His faithfulness. But God’s faithfulness does not mean the removal of all hardship. It means the presence of God within it, strength sufficient for each trial, and an eternal inheritance that no earthly suffering can diminish.

The prosperity gospel does a profound disservice to Christians—particularly those in contexts of genuine poverty, illness, and suffering—by implying that their hardship is evidence of insufficient faith. It is not. Some of the most faith-filled people in Scripture suffered the most deeply: Job, Paul, Peter, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Their trials did not contradict God’s promises; they were part of them.

We call on Christian leaders, musicians, and influencers—particularly across Ghana and the wider African church—to handle the word of God carefully and accurately. The gospel is genuinely good news: not the promise of a trouble-free life, but the promise of a Saviour who has overcome the world, and who walks with His people through every valley until He brings them safely home.

Notes

• https://tgnghana.org/dont-fall-for-it-this-31st-december/
• https://tgnghana.org/new-years-eve-vigil-services-auspicious-moments-or-gospel-merchandise/

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“Generational curses, simply put, is the belief that individuals inherit judgment for the sins committed by their forebears. Central to this belief is the word “curse,” which makes it a weighty matter. It means that many sufferers consider themselves cursed—even cursed by God.”¹

The Bible records a fascinating event in Numbers chapters 22 to 24 that speaks directly to this subject. For context, Israel is en route to the Promised Land. At a certain point in their journey, they needed passage through another nation’s territory. Balak, the king of that land, was terrified by Israel’s history of conquest (Numbers 22:1-3). His response? He contracted Balaam son of Beor, to curse God’s people in exchange for a reward.

Balaam is something of an enigmatic figure. In the New Testament, Peter compares false teachers to Balaam, “who loved the wages of wickedness” (2 Peter 2:15). Jude echoes this, associating Balaam with the selling of one’s soul for financial gain (Jude 1:11). His character is further exposed when he “taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality” (Revelation 2:14). He was evidently a man who practiced divination for a fee (Numbers 22:7).

From the very outset, God told Balaam: “You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed” (Numbers 22:12). Yet in his greed and covetousness, Balaam persisted — and rather than curse God’s people, he ended up pronouncing blessings over them instead (Numbers 23:8-12; 19-25; 24:6-10).

You Are Blessed in Christ

Before you read further, dear believer—regardless of your struggles in life or with sin—know that in Christ, your life is lovely. Do not be discouraged. Keep believing God.

There is a phrase in Numbers 23:21 that deserves our full attention, one that paints a picture of God’s blessings over his people: “It pleased the LORD to bless Israel.” What a wonderful statement. God’s enemy sought to curse God’s people, yet God’s promise of blessing remained immovable. The intended curses were negated by the faithfulness of God. Balaam looked upon a lovely people whom he was powerless to curse. This is something every Christian must internalize and believe: no one can bring a curse upon God’s people (Numbers 22:8; 23:19-20).

In Ghanaian Christianity, there is much talk of generational curses, spells, and juju. Faith has, in many places, given way to superstition. But if you are in Christ, no evil power—by whatever name it is called—has authority over you. You are in Christ and you are secure. Never allow anyone to explain your circumstances as evidence of a generational curse or as the work of evil spirits in your family. Shake off that bad theology. This narrative shows us plainly: God’s blessings on his people cannot be revoked.

Perhaps you have believed some of these lies about generational curses or family evil. Perhaps you are quietly entertaining the idea that your challenges in life are somehow linked to your family—a generational curse passed down. I call on you to renew your mind and remind yourself of your standing in Christ. In Christ, God has blessed you, and nothing can overturn it. Your greatest blessing in Christ is this: you have been saved from your sins, justified, and reconciled to God—”canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Colossians 2:14-15).

You Are Fruitful in Christ

How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your encampments, O Israel! Like palm groves that stretch afar, like gardens beside a river, like aloes that the LORD has planted, like cedar trees beside the waters. (Numbers 24:5-6)

Balaam paints a picture of God’s people using agricultural imagery—the language of fruitfulness. “Like palm groves that stretch afar, like gardens beside a river.” This text calls to mind Psalm 1, which describes the person planted by streams of water: “He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers” (v.3).

The believer has been called to go forth and bear fruit for the Lord (John 15). A life planted in Christ does not wither—it bears fruit. And notice this: the fruitfulness pictured here is tied to where the people have been planted. “Like aloes that the LORD has planted.” Your fruitfulness is linked to your connectedness to Christ.

You Are Set Apart for God

We know the story of Israel—delivered from captivity in Egypt, a picture of deliverance from the world of sin. Speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, Balaam noted that they had been brought out of Egypt. That is the picture of a saved community. God delivered them from Egypt to fulfil his promise to them.

God brings them out of Egypt and is for them like the horns of the wild ox. For there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel. (Numbers 23:22-23)

God is for them. Dear believer, God is for you. The God who saved you in Jesus Christ is for you. No charge can be successfully laid against you: “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies” (Romans 8:33).

Despite their rebellion, murmuring, and disobedience in the wilderness, the Israelites remained God’s people; a people over whom he would not permit a curse. How much more, then, are we who have been washed by the blood of Christ secure in him? Despite our shortcomings, weaknesses, and sins, the Lord Jesus died for a church he is washing and cleansing to present to himself as a holy bride without spot (Ephesians 5:25-27).

Jesus Christ: The Victor Over All

In this narrative, Balaam glimpsed a final Conqueror over evil. He saw, prophetically, Jesus Christ:

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth. Edom shall be dispossessed; Seir also, his enemies, shall be dispossessed. Israel is doing valiantly. And one from Jacob shall exercise dominion and destroy the survivors of cities! (Numbers 24:17-19)

This was a prophecy pointing forward to the Lord Jesus. He is the One who died to break the curse of sin and redeem us from its clutches through faith: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged upon a tree’—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:13-14).

“In his fourth oracle, Balaam predicts the advent of a royal conqueror who will triumph over Moab and Edom. An initial fulfilment of this prophecy is seen in David’s victories over these nations (2 Samuel 8:2-14), but David’s accomplishments were themselves a foreshadowing of the greater conquests of Christ (cf. Colossians 2:15).”²

Dear believer, if you are in Christ, believe this with your whole heart: you are blessed beyond curse in Christ. This is not a triumphalist boast—it is a humble, settled reality from which we are to walk the Christian life in faith, and not in fear.

References

¹ Charlie Rampfumedzi, “Break the Power of Sin, Not a Generational Curse,” TGC Africa Edition, https://africa.thegospelcoalition.org/article/br

⁠ ⁠² R.C. Sproul, ed., Reformation Study Bible, Orlando, Florida: Reformation Trust, 2015

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In the traditional Ghanaian worldview, you keep good news to yourself for fear that an ‘enemy of your progress’ might jeopardise it through witchcraft or sorcery. People do not share when they are attending interviews, expecting a child, making visa applications, or about to travel. The Ghanaian lives in perpetual fear of being harmed by the ‘evil eye’—even from within their own family.

A Biblical Worldview

The first audience of the New Testament was not so very different from us. Many had come from pagan backgrounds, having been exposed to sorcery, witchcraft, and the worship of false gods (see for example, Acts 19:19). It was therefore all too easy for them to import the practices and beliefs of their former lives into their newfound faith in Christ.

Several passages in the New Testament call for a new perspective and worldview, using the pattern: ‘you used to walk in these ways, but now…’ (Eph. 5:8; Col. 3:7–8; Titus 3:3–5). We need our minds—our perspectives, our entire worldview—to be transformed through knowledge. This is what Romans 12:2 calls the renewing of the mind.

A God-Entranced Perspective on Biblical Warfare

In Part I of this article, we called for a God-entranced worldview, saturated in the sovereignty of God, to permeate our prayers. This does not mean denying Satan’s power. The Bible acknowledges that Satan and his demons are always at work (1 Pet. 5:8–9), and that he has the power to instigate painful persecution and, at times, even to kill Christians (Rev. 2:10). But the great comfort is this: Satan cannot do anything apart from God’s sovereign permission.

The biblical worldview is that spiritual warfare is normal—there is nothing extraordinary about it. Ephesians 6:16 calls us to:

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.

The way to extinguish Satan’s darts—the way to do warfare—is simply to stand firm in our faith. It is faith in the Sovereign God that quenches Satan’s missiles. And the way we go on the offensive is by wielding the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Eph. 6:17). This means believing everything God says about Himself, about us as His children, and about Satan. The truth is that God is sovereign over Satan and his cohorts; we are hidden in Christ in God; and Satan is a defeated foe.

Doing Warfare Biblically

In light of God’s sovereignty, prayers for protection or deliverance need not dwell unduly on Satan. Our Lord once said to Peter: ‘Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers’ (Luke 22:31–32).

The word ‘demanded’ in the ESV can be easily misunderstood. The Greek root is equally rendered ‘to ask earnestly’ or ‘to request insistently’. In other words, Satan is asking God’s permission to have Peter delivered into his hands—which means he does not have the power to touch Peter in the first place. This reaffirms what we said earlier: whatever power Satan wields is entirely within the limits of God’s sovereignty. He cannot touch any child of God unless God permits it.

A text that unequivocally cements our security in Christ is John 10:28–29, where our Lord declares:

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

All Scripture is precious—sweeter than honey and the honeycomb (Ps. 19:10)— yet I confess I am tempted to call this the sweetest promise in all Holy Writ. Jesus here assures believers that they will never perish: their salvation is eternally secured. And as if that assurance were not sufficient, He adds that this security is doubly guaranteed in the might of the Father—there is none greater than He; the Father’s grip on His people ensures that no power can destroy them or wrench them from His sovereign, loving protection. Satan may do his worst, but he can destroy only the body; he can never touch the souls of God’s people (Matt. 10:28). And even that limited power is always constrained within the bounds of God’s sovereignty.

It is for these reasons that I believe the approach to ‘warfare’ propagated by the ‘dangerous prayer’ movement we talked about in Part I of this series does not square with the biblical perspective. When the Bible speaks of ‘weapons of warfare’, it points to standing on the truth of God’s Word in order to demolish strongholds of false belief—the distorted thinking that held sway when we were ignorant of God’s promises (Eph. 4:17; 2 Cor. 10:4–5).

⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. ⁵ We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, (2 Cor. 10).

God Is Glorified When We Depend on Him

One final thought regarding praying for our needs. At the close of Part I, we asked whether God-entranced prayer precludes praying for our daily needs. In response, we turn to the Lord’s prayer, a model prayer Jesus gave His disciples. Of its six petitions, only one concerns physical provision—yet from this we understand that our Lord fully expected His people to bring their daily needs to Him: food, shelter, clothing, and all that is necessary for life. God is glorified when we depend on Him in this way, as creatures who look to their Creator for sustenance. Psalm 145 says as much:

The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you! They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds and the glorious splendour of your kingdom… The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing… He fulfils the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.

The Psalmist celebrates the goodness and mercy of God, summoning all creation to give thanks and His saints to bless Him. And among the glories of His kingdom that they are to proclaim, the Psalmist lists God’s faithful provision to all who look to Him. There is, then, a way of asking for provision that glorifies God—a posture of utter dependence and reliance that honours Him. He delights to fulfil the desires of those who fear Him.

Conclusion

Too often our prayers fixate on Satan, inadvertently giving him more credit than he is due. While we do not deny that Satan is at work to frustrate God’s agenda—which he cannot, we have clear biblical warrant that he cannot act outside of God’s sovereign rule and reign. We resist him, therefore, by standing firm on God’s promises. That is how we wage war as believers — wielding the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Such prayers are saturated with the sovereignty of God.

And it is God’s honour to provide for His creation. As His children, He is glorified when we depend on Him for our needs.

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And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9-11)

It has been said that if you want to know a man’s theology, listen in on his prayers. This has certainly been true in my own life. Back in my secondary school days, there was a little book in circulation called Dangerous Prayers, which  taught a style of prayer that attacked the ‘source of your problems’ – namely, Satan and his minions.

Armed with select verses, you would ‘go to war’ against the demonic forces militating against your progress. The book then led you through ‘battle’ after ‘battle’ against ancestral curses, anti-miracle forces, anti-prosperity forces, spirit guards, spiritual spouses – the list was endless.

In retrospect, , I have realised that what I read as a teenager shaped my prayer life for years to come. Many of the prayer meetings I attended fuelled such prayers. We had sessions badged ‘Spiritual Warfare’ where all we did was bind Satan and his cohorts. The implication was clear: Satan was responsible for anything that looked amiss in one’s life—from besetting sins to joblessness, singleness, barrenness, poverty, poor academic performance, ancestral curses—you name it.

Super-spiritual But Shallow Prayers

Those prayers sounded super-spiritual. But they were founded on a false theology of God, prayer and what it means to be a Christian. Is it possible for a Christian to be cursed? Could Satan hold back my marriage, job opportunity, academic excellence, or promotion? If so, then our God must be powerless and weak  for Satan to toy with His children as he pleases. Does Scripture even teach this?

Reading the New Testament, I find that this approach to prayer is completely alien to the apostolic model. There’s not  a single example of apostolic prayer addressed to witches and wizards or demons, prohibiting them from tampering with a believer’s progress in life. Rather, I see an abundance of prayers focused on God’s greatness, growing in holiness, discerning the will of God, pleasing God, and representing Him well as ambassadors of Christ who shine as lights in a dark world.

God-entranced Prayers

Take, for example, our opening verses from Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi. These are his partners in the gospel, he says; people who are dear to his heart and for whom he prays always (v3-5, 7). He loves them deeply (v8). The description so far has been sweet and intimate.  Paul  cares affectionately for them. And so, we can be sure that his prayers for them must be equally meaningful and powerful, caring deeply for their their wellbeing. For this reason, it’s instructive to glean from his prayers for these Philippian Christians.

But what does he pray for them? “That your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

In the original classical Greek, the word translated ‘approve’ here referred to the assaying of metals or testing of money for authenticity (see Luke 12:56; 14:19). In essence, Paul is praying that the Philippians grow in their ability to discern those things that are truly important, so they can establish the right priorities. He prays that they will bear fruits of righteousness as Christ works in them and shines through them – and all of these things will result in one ultimate end: to the glory and praise of God. (This paragraph I believe should follow immediately after the text because you are explaining the word approve.)

Paul is concerned for their  growth in love and knowledge and all discernment. That is because Christian belief (termed here as knowledge and discernment) expresses itself in how we love and behave. “As we grow in our understanding of what it means to follow Jesus,we will increasingly be able to affirm and practice what is excellent.” Consequently, he prays that they will choose what is excellent and, by so doing, live pure and blameless lives as they await the second coming of our Lord.

Paul here summarises what it means to live as a Christian: to live for God’s glory. Everything else flows from this. A cursory look at the New Testament reveals that this is the ultimate goal of the Christian life: the glory of God. Jonathan Edwards calls it the end for which God made all things. And this is the grand theme of all that God does in redemptive history. Rightly, it permeates the Apostle’s prayer for these Philippian believers.

A ‘Dangerous Prayers’ pandemic?

Reflecting on the Ghanaian and African Christian landscape, there have emerged a number of influential prayer movements that have drawn large followings on social media and transcend nations, even continents. If what ardent followers of these movements share on social media is anything to go by, the focus and drift look very similar to the Dangerous Prayers model I was introduced to back in secondary school in the 90s.

Attendees are led to pray fervently for an end to financial stagnation, marital issues, childlessness, etc., and prayers and ‘decrees’ are issued promising an end to any forces militating against their progress. It is always Satan or some other force linked to him that is supposedly frustrating believers’ rise to glory.

Was Satan Less Active in the 1st Century?

Was Satan less active  when Paul wrote his epistles? Is that why he does not directly confront Satan in his prayers or battle for the deliverance of the saints to whom he wrote? I don’t think so. The world back then was not unlike the world today.

Church history tells us that the early Christians faced persecution far more severe than anything most of us will ever experience. Emperors like Nero viciously persecuted believers, burning some as torches to light his games and throwing others to lions for entertainment. Yet we don’t find a single apostolic prayer binding the demons supposedly motivating these despotic emperors or blaming Satan for the intense persecution the church experienced. The apostles saw God as Sovereign over all history, even in their suffering, yet their prayers remained God-centred, not Satan-focused.

We know from his letters that they often faced intense persecution on account of their faith and experienced diverse trials and temptations. In this very epistle, Paul recounts how Epaphroditus, a co-worker whom the Philippians sent with aid for him, fell ill and almost died. Yet Paul simply comments, “Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.” Even in the midst of affliction with sickness, the focus quickly shifts to God, not Satan.

Thus, we are given an insight into Paul’s theology: He was deeply saturated by a high view of God’s sovereignty. Nothing happened to the believer except by God’s permission (see the first question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism and accompanying Scriptural basis); and all things, Satan included, are subservient to God’s will (recall Job and see here). And so, Satan doesn’t take centre stage in Paul’s prayers – God’s glory does. And so should it permeate our prayers as well.

Praying Like Paul

In 2014, when I was exposed to Reformed theology, the first thing that gripped me was a profound sense of the sovereignty of God. And what a transformation a God-entranced, sovereignty-saturated view of God has made to my prayers! My ‘dangerous’ approach of commanding and decreeing things in prayer gave way to a more sober and humble reverence and awe for the majestic sovereignty of the One to whom I come when I approach the throne of grace.

Now I don’t waste precious time on Satan and his minions. God has taken care of them and takes care of me, so I don’t need to. Rather, inspired by Paul, I spend my meditations and prayers on how to grow in love and knowledge and discernment, to bear the fruit of righteousness, and to represent Christ well to those around me – living for His glory as He powerfully works His grace within me.

Does this mean praying for my needs and Christian warfare is unbiblical? We’ll address this in the sequel to this article.

The post Learning to Pray Like Paul appeared first on TGN.

¹ LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; ² many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God. Selah ³ But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. ⁴ I cried aloud to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah. ⁵ I  lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me. ⁶ I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. ⁷ Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.⁸  Salvation belongs to the LORD; your blessing be on your people! Selah (Psalm 3)

One of the recent coup d’états that hit the African continent was staged by the Presidential guard¹. The person paid to protect the President plotted against him. This was perhaps his closest ally—a friend who became a foe, a complete betrayal of trust. Psalm 3 reflects something similar. But it is even worse. David, a king, in this Psalm is being pursued. His own son has staged a coup against him. The heading of Psalm 3 in my Bible reads : ‘A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.’

Here is a son revolting against his father to overthrow him from the throne. This betrayal is far more despicable than a Presidential guard staging a coup against a President. But all this pales in comparison to the worst revolt in human history—humanity’s rebellion against their Creator: (Romans 1:21). All human beings are rebels who will have nothing to do with God. Like Absalom, we have all revolted against God. We have kicked God out of our lives. But out of His mercy, God sent Jesus to redeem rebels such as we.

Threat of The Enemy

The events of Absalom’s revolt are recorded in detail in 2 Samuel 15:1–6, 12. It is out of It is while in flight that David wrote this Psalm. In this Psalm, we see David overwhelmed by the threat of the enemy. His faith in God is being mocked. Notice how he expresses the threat: “LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me. many are saying of my soul, ‘There is no salvation for him in God'” (vv. 1–2). His problems are rising and overwhelming.

Like David, we do get overwhelmed sometimes—if not often—by life challenges. It could be health, finances or a besetting sin we are dealing with. Then in the midst of all that, doubt sets in. The devil, the accuser of the brethren, is at your heel assailing you with unbelief. You can hear the accusation: “Many are saying of my soul, ‘There is no salvation for him in God'” (v 2)

David is being told God has forsaken him. God will not deliver him. He is being told he deserves whatever is happening to him (2 Samuel 16:5–8)

What did David do in the situation? He…

Turned to God in Prayer

Psalm 3 is a Psalm of Lament where we see David pour out his heart to God. “LORD,” the Psalm begins in v.1. That is a desperate cry to God for help. And see the number of times he appealed to God: “LORD” (v.1), “But you, O LORD” (v.3), “I cried aloud to the LORD” (v.4), “Arise O LORD, Save me…” (v.7). David cried out to the God who could save him. But David didn’t end at prayer—he continued in trust.

Trusted God in Prayer

In the midst of all his increasing problems, he trusted God. There is a remarkable contrast between vv. 1-2 and verse 3. In verse 1-2 David cries out about his pursuers. Then in verse 3, the language changes to trust: “But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head…“ (v.3a).

A shield is a common biblical picture of protection. So, David is affirming that despite his pursuers, he trusts in God for protection. God indeed protects his own. He preserves his own. He is a shield to those who have put their trust in him. In his prayer and trust, David further encouraged himself in God: “my glory, and the lifter of my head” (v.3b). This is a language of encouragement. His head was bowed in shame. His enemies taunting him. But “David strengthened himself in the Lord” (1 Samuel 30:6).

Whenever you find yourself in any overwhelming situation, do what David did: “encourage yourself in the Lord.” Don’t encourage yourself in your abilities or skills or wisdom. Rather, encourage yourself in the Lord—because…

God Answers Prayers

There is a reason David turned to God in prayer. There is a reason he trusted Him: because God answers prayer: “I cried aloud to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah” (v.4). David prayed, because God hears prayers and answers them. There are indeed many biblical promises of answered prayers (Psalm 50:15).  Dear child of God, do not linger long in your problems. Call out to God in prayer.

Peace In Prayer

Now, when you have prayed, let go of your worries. David did that. Verses 5–6 paint a picture of peace and tranquillity for David. “I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me” (v.5). In the midst of his enemies pursuing him, David can sleep. This is total peace and confidence in God. Do not lose sleep over your problems. Trust totally (Philippians 4:6-7).

By the time we get to verse 6, there appears a turn of events.  Compare verse 6 with verses vv. 1- 2 where David laments his fears. In v.6 he expresses total confidence in God: “I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.” What happened? David can now say this because he has committed everything to God in prayer. He is no more afraid. His fear of his enemies is gone.

Triumph In Prayer

As we near the end of the Chapter, verses 7-8 paint a picture of Triumph for David. David is triumphant. He calls on God to administer justice “Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked”. David did not take revenge. He left vengeance with God.

And finally, in contrast to the mockery of the enemies in v.2, “there is no salvation for him in God”. David pronounces his salvation in God in verse 8: “Salvation belongs to the Lord”.

Salvation indeed belongs to God and God can save us from the enemy. Now, our greatest enemy is sin. It is what has caused us to rebel against God. John tells us Jesus came to his own, but his own did not receive him(John 1:10). We are like Absalom, unwilling to submit to submit to the authority of our Father. So, we have rejected God’s authority. We have rejected his king—Jesus. We need to return to God through faith in Jesus.

Note

¹ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34277989

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Oh what peace we often forfeit

Oh, what needless pain we bear

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer

In a previous article, the prayers of Paul, we pointed to a collection of the apostle Paul’s prayers as it is recorded in the New Testament. This article follows on from that and will examine some prayers of biblical characters. Being the first in the series, we will examine a prayer from the belly of a fish (Jonah 2:1). Does this sound familiar? It is the story of Jonah—called and sent by God, but he fled (Jonah 1:1-3). He didn’t get far before God intervened and stopped him in his tracks:

And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days  and three nights (1:17).

What did he do in there? He  prayed. “Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish (Jonah 2:1). Jesus, in Luke 18:1 told a parable to point to the necessity of prayer.“…[we] ought always to pray and not faint.” Job certainly exemplifies this.

What Does Jonah’s Prayer Teach Us?

Prayer is offered to God

Jonah, alone in the belly of the fish prayed: “Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish” (Jonah 2:1). What we observe in these words is that the object of the Christian’s prayer is God. When in trouble, it is God we pray to. We don’t pray to dead  relatives, dead saints, Mary or  our ancestors. We pray to God—the Creator of the  heavens and earth. Take note of  the spelling of LORD in the text. The all capital spelling is the translators way of pointing to God’s proper name in Hebrew: Yaweh, meaning the “self-existent one” (Jonah 1:9). We pray to only God. He is the object of our prayer. The Westminster Shorter Catechism captures this aptly:

Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q98)

Prayer Is Personal

Jonah’s prayer teaches us that we can talk to God personally. He is a God we can relate with on a personal level. Jonah’s prayer is instructive. He prayed to “The  LORD his God”. He prayed to God because he had a relationship with God. He was a covenant child of Israel. The only grounds by which we can approach God in prayer is covenant a relationship with him. And Jonah had that personal relationship. And for us as Christians, on the grounds of our relationship with Jesus, we can pray to God because he is our Father (Matthew 6:9).

Prayer Is Not Limited By Geography

Before we proceed, let’s remind ourselves where Jonah is praying from: the belly of the fish: “Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish. What an unusual place for prayer! This reinforces the omnipresence of God and because of this, our prayer is not  limited by location or geography. All of Jonah’s prayer were offered from the belly of the big fish. There  is no limitation to where prayer can be offered. Whereever we find ourselves, we can offer up prayer – and that should encourage us to pray.

Prayer is A Plea

If you have paid attention to many of the prayers been offered these days, you will hear much about commanding, decreeing, declaring, positive confessions and much more. Perhaps, dear reader, you may be guilty as charged. But these kind of prayer are wrong and unbiblical. Prayer is a plea! We call out to God to help. We bring our petitions before him, and that is no passive thing.

Imagine Jonah in the belly of the fish – suffocating, struggling to catch his breath, drowning in the midst of water, acid and everything else there is in the belly of a great fish.  He is in distress: “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress… out of the belly of Sheol I cried…” Jonah is in a real, face to face  encounter with death (vv 5;6;7).  You don’t command and declare your way out of a situation  like what Jonah found himself in. You cry out. You call out to God. You plead—God please save me! And we see it in the very next line “out of the belly of Sheol I cried”.

Sheol is depicted as hell or the grave. It brings clearly into view the picture of what Jonah was experiencing. To be people of prayer, we must plead our cause to God and turn away from the unbiblical prayers that have become so rampant among believers. Plead with God. Don’t decree and declare.

Prayer Must Be According To God’s Will

Prayer is no mere collection of wishes and desires—it must be according to God’s will. And where do we find God’s will? In the Scriptures. If you consider Jonah’s prayer carefully,  you will notice that it is saturated with the word of God. Jonah prays the Psalms. He prayed the word of God (Ps 18:4-6;42:7;130:1;31:22). Donald S. Whitney, in his book Praying the Bible, offers a compelling reason why we must pray the words of Scripture—especially the Psalms:

To pray the Bible, you simply go through the passage line by line, talking to God about whatever comes to mind as you read the text…If you don’t understand the meaning of a verse, go on to the next verse. Just speak to the Lord about everything that occurs to you as you slowly read his word

On some occasions, while leading a pastoral prayer in the church I pastor, I have prayed from a Psalm – and it has been deeply encouraging. It improves your prayer life and keeps you from being repetitive, from saying the same things every time you pray. Jonah prayed the Psalms.

Prayer Must Be Offered In Faith

From vv.2-3, Jonah expresses his distress. He feels driven away from the presence of God. But in the midst of it, he still had faith:

Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple. The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head. To the roots of the mountains I went down, to the land whose bars closed upon me forever. Yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple (Jonah 2:4-7)

Jonah feels a sense of separation from God, but two words points us to his faith: “yet I shall again look upon your holy temple” (v.4a). Despite his overwhelming experience—the feeling of complete separation from God—he still garned the faith to look towards him.  Verse 7 equally paints a picture of faith: “when my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord…”

Have you ever experienced a sense of separation from God? It’s just a feeling. Don’t live by your feelings—cry out to God in faith. Jonah in the belly of the fish is grappling with this illusion that God has drawn away or cast him aside. Yet he cried out to God. Regardsless of our feelings, we must always turn to God in prayer, in faith.

Prayer Must Be Offered With Thanksgiving

In Luke’s gospel, the story is told of Jesus healing ten lepers, and only one returned to thank him. Jesus’ response tells something about thanksgiving: “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?” (Luke 17:17). This speaks volumes aboutthe place of gratitude in our faith walk. In the midst of all his petitions, Johan paused to thank God. In prayer, we don’t only bring our petitions, we bring our thanksgiving as well: “But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you;what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”(v.9).

We must be a grateful people for what God has done for us.

God Answers Prayer

 I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice (v.2)

To the roots of the mountains I went down, to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; Yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God (v.6)

And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land (v.10)

The greatest motivation for which we must pray is that God hears us, and he answers prayer. We see this powerfully in Jonah’s prayer and in his being cast out upon dry land. Do you need any further motivation to pray?

God answers prayers. So pray.

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