1 Corinthians 10:1-5

"Now I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the desert.
The Holy Bible : Holman Christian standard version. 2003 (1 Co 10:1-5). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.

In self examination one of the questions we shoud be asking ourselves is how we are complaining against the Lord. When we ask "Is the Lord with us, or not?", and this is our implicit statement, we are testing the Lord. But just as God showed His prescence to the children of Israel when Moses was leading them to the promise land, we know also the proof of the prescence of Christ being in us. When Paul was speaking to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 13:2-4), he admonished them.: "I gave warning, and I give warning — as when I was present the second time, so now while I am absent — to those who sinned before and to all the rest: if I come again, I will not be lenient, since you seek proof of Christ speaking in me. He is not weak toward you, but powerful among you. In fact, He was crucified in weakness, but He lives by God’s power. For we also are weak in Him, yet toward you we will live with Him by God’s power."

Paul did not need to not speak much in proof of Christ being in himself, their minister (2Co 13:3), "for if ye try your own selves ye will see that Christ is also in you" [Chrysostom], (Ro 8:10). "Finding Christ dwelling in yourselves by faith, ye may well believe that He speaks in me, by whose ministry ye have received this faith" [Estius]. To doubt it would be the sin of Israel, who, after so many miracles and experimental proofs of God’s presence, still cried (Ex 17:7), “Is the Lord among us or not?”

What is your "waters of Meribah"? Is the Lord with you? If the Spirit of Christ indwells you, then the answer is "Yes, the Lord is with me". Now, if the Lord is with you, why do you contend against Him. Why do we find it necessary to test Him constantly? Do you lack patience? "My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. 11 Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful."
The New King James Version. 1982 (Jas 5:10-11). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Pass it On

Handling God’s Word
These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
Deuteronomy 6:6–7

Spiritual growth cannot occur without the regular intake of God’s Word, just as physical growth cannot occur without regular food intake—that’s why eating is a daily necessity! Going to church on Sunday to hear a message and then hoping that it is enough to last for the whole week is like eating dinner on Sunday and expecting it to sustain you until the following Sunday. You need to eat every day of the week. The same is true spiritually: there must be a daily feeding on the Word of God for optimum growth.
Mature Christians know that there is even greater glory in giving out the Word than in feeding on it. As you proclaim the Word, you cement it in your life. In this way, the saying “The more you give away, the more you keep” is true. I have found that I tend to remember the things I teach to others but forget the things I read and never pass on. So give a high priority to passing on to others what you’re learning from God’s Word each day.

MacArthur, J. (2001). Truth for today : A daily touch of God's grace (69). Nashville, Tenn.: J. Countryman.

Views of Humanity

The first of these competing views of man is the outlook of classical antiquity, that is, the dominant perspective of the Greco-Roman world. Classical views of man, though varying in points from thinker to thinker, nevertheless had one idea in common: since the highest element in the human being was the nous or reasoning faculty, a person was to be understood primarily from the standpoint of that characteristic. A human being thinks or reasons; and that, according to Plato, Aristotle and other Greek thinkers, sets him apart from the rest of the visible world. In Aristotle the nous is something that comes to us primarily from without. In Plato the nous is the highest element of the soul. But in both of these thinkers reason is the crucial element in which women and men find their uniqueness.
The consequences of giving such unique value to reason are well known. First, that emphasis tends to deify reason, making it the God-element in a human being. The justification for such deification is in the essential characteristics of reason, namely, its ability to rise above what it sees, to evaluate, to criticize, to form, to create. Each can be thought of as a “godlike” characteristic. A second consequence of the classical elevation of reason is a resulting dualism in which the body becomes something evil. If mind is good, matter is bad. Hence arises that eternal conflict between spirit and mind on the one hand, and flesh and matter on the other, which gives substance to the most characteristic expressions of Greek art, drama and philosophy.
Another strain in Greek thought, seen most clearly in the mystery religions, viewed human nature in mechanical or materialistic terms—but that was not the dominant view of antiquity.
Two more facts may be noted about the classical view, as Niebuhr points out in his analysis. First, there is a basic optimism in the classical outlook. If reason is good and man is essentially reason, then man is essentially good. He is linked to the divine at the most fundamental level of his personality and has no defect there. On the other hand, there is a strange but unmistakably tragic note in the classical perspective. Thus, in the Iliad of Homer, Zeus is quoted as saying, “There is nothing, methinks, more piteous than a man, of all things that creep and breathe upon earth.” Or as Aristotle comments, “Not to be born is the best thing, and death is better than life.” That pervasive pessimism is particularly marked in the Greek tragedies. They portray man as the victim of circumstances or of his own tragic flaws, neither of which he can change. The classical world saw no meaning to history.
A variation of the classical outlook is one of the competing views of man in modern culture: simple rationalism. In harmony with the major Greek thinkers, modern exponents of this view emphasize the supremacy of our reason as setting us apart from the remainder of creation and assume that we are essentially good at the core of our beings. But the tragic element, perceived so clearly by the Greeks and Romans, is missing. Its lack does not mean that modern rationalists regard man as actually better than the ancients perceived him or that man has become better over the intervening centuries, but rather that modern thinkers are strangely unwilling to face all reality. Georg Friedrich Hegel’s theory of historical development through thesis, antithesis and synthesis leaves no room for any real stalemate or regression due to human sin. The same is true of Karl Marx’s dialectical materialism and Charles Darwin’s biological evolution. Each assumes unending and inevitable progression. In recent years, as an aftermath of two world wars and current international unrest, there is enormous difficulty in maintaining an unlimited optimism. War, hatred, starvation, sickness and turmoil must be reckoned with. Nevertheless, the dominant contemporary view is that such problems can all be handled, granted the opportunity for us fully to employ our reason.
Only a few perceptive thinkers seem aware that the root problems of this and every age are not in circumstances alone or in lack of education but rather in the very make-up of the human being. The rational faculty is important, as the Greeks saw it to be, but it is neither divine nor perfect. And the body, like the mind, is of inestimable worth, though fallen. Such thinkers see that in all parts of our being, we are simply less than we were intended to be.
In the modern world, however, another perspective on man is competing, with increasing success, with the classical view. It is linked to the minority view of the ancients mentioned earlier, reflected in the mystery religions and in such thinkers as Heraclitus, Pythagoras and Epicurus. In this view man is essentially flesh or matter rather than mind or spirit. That is to say that the entire universe, including us, is mechanistic. There is nothing apart from matter. There is no universal mind or higher reason with which we are linked and which gives form and direction to human life. Consequently, life is the inevitable working out of basic but impersonal laws.
The modern world has various expressions of the mechanistic view. One is the deterministic stance of Charles Darwin, according to which evolution proceeds by the laws of natural selection. Another example is communism, which views history as the outworking of the fixed laws of economics and class struggle. The behavioral psychology of B. F. Skinner of Harvard University also fits this category. Obviously, as in the ancient world, there are many variations among those who hold to a materialistic nature of things, but they are united in their commitment to an essential and amoral naturalism. Man is an animal—that is the argument—and an animal is only an exceedingly complex machine.
Most people cannot be content with that kind of naturalism, just as they cannot be content with the modern version of the classical perspective. In fact, they are caught in a dilemma leading to deep perplexity. Niebuhr analyzes it, saying:
If man insists that he is a child of nature and that he ought not to pretend to be more than the animal, which he obviously is, he tacitly admits that he is, at any rate, a curious kind of animal who has both the inclination and the capacity to make such pretensions. If on the other hand he insists upon his unique and distinctive place in nature and points to his rational faculties as proof of his special eminence, there is usually an anxious note in his avowals of uniqueness which betrays his unconscious sense of kinship with the brutes.
Nothing in modern life explains our nature except the truths of Christianity, for both the greatness and tragedy of man exceed the comprehensions of our culture. We sense that we are more than matter. We sense that we are made in God’s image, to be his companions. But we are also aware that we have lost that image and that the bond that should exist between ourselves and the Creator has been broken. Hence, “Under the perpetual smile of modernity there is a grimace of disillusion and cynicism.”
Where should one begin in one’s effort to achieve self-understanding? Formally we must begin with the Bible, for there God reveals our true condition to us (at least according to the convictions of Christianity). More specifically, we must begin with the Bible’s analysis of the Fall of man, for there, above all, we see not only what man was intended to be but also what he has unfortunately become because of sin.

Boice, J. M. (1986). Foundations of the Christian faith : A comprehensive & readable theology (190). Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.

Know Thyself

The folly of conditioning conduct by the thoughts or wishes of other human beings is apparent in the light of this fact. To the declaration of John that “No man hath seen God at any time” (John 1:18), we all agree. Not so readily do we assent to the assertion that no man hath seen man at any time, yet it is equally true. The outward form and tone of voice are familiar, but my essential friend who tabernacles in the body I touch, and conveys his thought through the medium of the speech I hear, I have never yet seen. No man knows perfectly and completely his fellow-man. The mother that bore me, the wife of my heart, the children of my love, do not know me. They are all familiar with the sound of my voice, the touch of my hand, and the fall of my foot on the stair; but all the deeps that lie behind, held for ever sacred from the possibility of intrusion, of these they have no final and complete knowledge.
And yet, forsooth, we are perpetually in danger of taking our law of life from the opinion of some mortal who has no adequate knowledge of the perils and possibilities of our complex nature. Oh, the folly of it! As well let the blacksmith repair our watch, or the collier tune our harp, as allow man, ignorant of the essence and intention of our complex life, to arrange for its conduct. The interference of a human being between another and God is an impertinence and a blasphemy, whatever the name by which the interferer is called, whether it be priest, or teacher, or friend.
Equally foolish is man’s attempt to govern himself, for it is equally true that no man has seen himself, neither does any man know himself. The old Greek philosopher said his last and best thing when he said, “Man, know thyself,” because he thus brought man face to face with the impossible; and when a man is brought there, he is in the place where it is possible for him to acquaint himself with God and be at peace.

Morgan, G. C. (1998). God's perfect will

God's Will

The one and only law of life that sets a man free from all the forces that blight and destroy is the Will of God. Show me a man who lives for one day wholly, utterly, in word and thought and deed in the Will of God, and I will show you a man who is antedating heaven, and who for that day reaches the plane of life which is at once broadest, freest, and gladdest.
The word of God is given to man not that he may have a correct theory, but that he may have the truth. Truth is a sanctifying force, and a man holds the truth only when he is held by the truth. When truth possesses a man, all its glory and beauty are manifested through his life and character. The truth the Bible reveals is the Will of God for man. Sanctification by truth is the bringing of man into the Will of God.
“The means of grace” are means to an end, that end being the realization of the Will of God. Every one of them tends to that issue.
“The hope of glory” is the hope that ultimately the Will of God will be done upon the earth as in the heaven, or that the spirit of man, passing into the heavenly state, shall realize all the full blessedness of that Will.
All prayer lies within the two petitions of the pattern prayer the Master taught His disciples: “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done.” There is no prayer beyond that. It may be divided into sentences and syllables, and made to fit the necessity of the hour; but when prayer moves the heart of God, it is because it is confined within that compass.

Morgan, G. C. (1998). God's perfect will

Faith......in Prayer

12. This necessity our opponents do not at all consider. Therefore, when we say that believers ought to feel firmly assured, they think we are saying the absurdest thing in the world. But if they had any experience in true prayer, they would assuredly understand that God cannot be duly invoked without this firm sense of the Divine benevolence. But as no man can well perceive the power of faith, without at the same time feeling it in his heart, what profit is there in disputing with men of this character, who plainly show that they have never had more than a vain imagination? The value and necessity of that assurance for which we contend is learned chiefly from prayer. Every one who does not see this gives proof of a very stupid conscience. Therefore, leaving those who are thus blinded, let us fix our thoughts on the words of Paul, that God can only be invoked by such as have obtained a knowledge of his mercy from the Gospel, and feel firmly assured that that mercy is ready to be bestowed upon them. What kind of prayer would this be? “O Lord, I am indeed doubtful whether or not thou art inclined to hear me; but being oppressed with anxiety I fly to thee that if I am worthy, thou mayest assist me.” None of the saints whose prayers are given in Scripture thus supplicated. Nor are we thus taught by the Holy Spirit, who tells us to “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need,” (Heb. 4:16); and elsewhere teaches us to “have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Christ,” (Eph. 3:12). This confidence of obtaining what we ask, a confidence which the Lord commands, and all the saints teach by their example, we must therefore hold fast with both hands, if we would pray to any advantage. The only prayer acceptable to God is that which springs (if I may so express it) from this presumption of faith, and is founded on the full assurance of hope. He might have been contented to use the simple name of faith, but he adds not only confidence, but liberty or boldness, that by this mark he might distinguish us from unbelievers, who indeed like us pray to God, but pray at random. Hence, the whole Church thus prays “Let thy mercy O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee,” (Ps. 33:22). The same condition is set down by the Psalmist in another passage, “When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know, for God is for me,” (Ps. 56:9). Again, “In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up,” (Ps. 5:3). From these words we gather, that prayers are vainly poured out into the air unless accompanied with faith, in which, as from a watchtower, we may quietly wait for God. With this agrees the order of Paul’s exhortation. For before urging believers to pray in the Spirit always, with vigilance and assiduity, he enjoins them to take “the shield of faith,” “the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” (Eph. 6:16–18). Let the reader here call to mind what I formerly observed, that faith by no means fails though accompanied with a recognition of our wretchedness, poverty, and pollution. How much soever believers may feel that they are oppressed by a heavy load of iniquity, and are not only devoid of every thing which can procure the favour of God for them, but justly burdened with many sins which make him an object of dread, yet they cease not to present themselves, this feeling not deterring them from appearing in his presence, because there is no other access to him. Genuine prayer is not that by which we arrogantly extol ourselves before God, or set a great value on any thing of our own, but that by which, while confessing our guilt, we utter our sorrows before God, just as children familiarly lay their complaints before their parents. Nay, the immense accumulation of our sins should rather spur us on and incite us to prayer. Of this the Psalmist gives us an example, “Heal my soul: for I have sinned against thee,” (Ps. 41:4). I confess, indeed, that these stings would prove mortal darts, did not God give succour; but our heavenly Father has, in ineffable kindness, added a remedy, by which, calming all perturbation, soothing our cares, and dispelling our fears he condescendingly allures us to himself; nay, removing all doubts, not to say obstacles, makes the way smooth before us.

Calvin, J. (1997). Institutes of the Christian religion. (III, xx, 12)


Too many believers have weak prayer lives because they don’t believe their prayers accomplish anything. They petition the Lord for something and then forget about it, acting as if they knew in advance that God wouldn’t be at all compelled to grant what they had requested. Even in the early days of the church, when faith generally was strong and vital, prayer could be passive and unexpectant. When the Apostle Peter was imprisoned in Jerusalem, a group of concerned believers met at the house of Mary, John Mark’s mother, to pray for his release (Acts 12:12). As they were doing so, an angel of the Lord miraculously delivered Peter from his chains (vv. 7–10). While the believers were still praying, Peter arrived at the house and knocked on the door. A servant girl named Rhoda answered the door, and upon recognizing Peter’s voice, she turned around and rushed to tell the others before letting Peter in (vv. 13–14). The others did not believe her, however, until they finally let Peter in. Then “they saw him and were amazed” (v. 16). They apparently had been praying for what they did not really believe would happen.
Prayer is not a vain duty to be performed for the sake of obedience only. That may seem like a good motive, but its effect is no different from the hypocritical Pharisees who prayed for show. We must pray in faith, believing that our prayers do make a difference to God. To guard against such passive and unspiritual resignation, Jesus told the disciples the Parable of the Importunate Widow—“to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart” (Luke 18:1).

MacArthur, J. (1995). Alone with God

Answered Prayer

Assuredly it is not without cause our heavenly Father declares that our only safety is in calling upon his name, since by it we invoke the presence of his providence to watch over our interests, of his power to sustain us when weak and almost fainting, of his goodness to receive us into favour, though miserably loaded with sin; in fine, call upon him to manifest himself to us in all his perfections. Hence, admirable peace and tranquillity are given to our consciences; for the straits by which we were pressed being laid before the Lord, we rest fully satisfied with the assurance that none of our evils are unknown to him, and that he is both able and willing to make the best provision for us.

Calvin, J. (1997). Institutes of the Christian religion. (III, xx, 2)


For Christians prayer is like breathing. You don’t have to think to breathe because the atmosphere exerts pressure on your lungs and forces you to breathe. That’s why it is more difficult to hold your breath than it is to breathe. Similarly, when you’re born into the family of God, you enter into a spiritual atmosphere wherein God’s presence and grace exert pressure, or influence, on your life. Prayer is the normal response to that pressure.
MacArthur, J. (1995). Alone with God. Includes indexes. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.

The Irradiating Light of the Holy Spirit

34. But as Paul argues, “What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God,” (1 Cor. 2:11). If in regard to divine truth we hesitate even as to those things which we see with the bodily eye, how can we be firm and steadfast in regard to those divine promises which neither the eye sees nor the mind comprehends? Here human discernment is so defective and lost, that the first step of advancement in the school of Christ is to renounce it (Mt. 11:25; Luke 10:21). Like a veil interposed, it prevents us from beholding divine masteries, which are revealed only to babes. “Flesh and blood” does not reveal them (Mt. 16:17). “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned,” (I Cor. 2:14). The supplies of the Holy Spirit are therefore necessary, or rather his agency is here the only strength. “For who has known the mind of the Lord? or who has been his counselor?” (Rom. 11:34); but “The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God,” (1 Cor. 2:10). Thus it is that we attain to the mind of Christ: “No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” “Every man therefore that has heard, and learned of the Father, cometh unto me. Not that any man has seen the Father, save he which is of God, he has seen the Father,” (John 6:44, 45, 46). Therefore, as we cannot possibly come to Christ unless drawn by the Spirit, so when we are drawn we are both in mind and spirit exalted far above our own understanding. For the soul, when illumined by him, receives as it were a new eye, enabling it to contemplate heavenly mysteries, by the splendor of which it was previously dazzled. And thus, indeed, it is only when the human intellect is irradiated by the light of the Holy Spirit that it begins to have a taste of those things which pertain to the kingdom of God; previously it was too stupid and senseless to have any relish for them. Hence our Savior, when clearly declaring the mysteries of the kingdom to the two disciples, makes no impression till he opens their minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:27, 45). Hence also, though he had taught the Apostles with his own divine lips, it was still necessary to send the Spirit of truth to instill into their minds the same doctrine which they had heard with their ears. The word is, in regard to those to whom it is preached, like the sun which shines upon all, but is of no use to the blind. In this matter we are all naturally blind; and hence the word cannot penetrate our mind unless the Spirit, that internal teacher, by his enlightening power make an entrance for it.

Calvin, J. (1997). Institutes of the Christian religion.(III, ii, 34)

Faith (Confident)

16. The principal hinge on which faith turns is this: We must not suppose that any promises of mercy which the Lord offers are only true out of us, and not at all in us: we should rather make them ours by inwardly embracing them. In this way only is engendered that confidence which he elsewhere terms peace (Rom. 5:1); though perhaps he rather means to make peace follow from it. This is the security which quiets and calms the conscience in the view of the judgment of God, and without which it is necessarily vexed and almost torn with tumultuous dread, unless when it happens to slumber for a moment, forgetful both of God and of itself. And verily it is but for a moment. It never long enjoys that miserable obliviousness, for the memory of the divine judgment, ever and anon recurring, stings it to the quick. In one word, he only is a true believer who, firmly persuaded that God is reconciled, and is a kind Father to him, hopes everything from his kindness, who, trusting to the promises of the divine favor, with undoubting confidence anticipates salvation; as the Apostle shows in these words, “We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end,” (Heb. 3:14). He thus holds, that none hope well in the Lord save those who confidently glory in being the heirs of the heavenly kingdom. No man, I say, is a believer but he who, trusting to the security of his salvation, confidently triumphs over the devil and death, as we are taught by the noble exclamation of Paul, “I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” (Rom. 8:38). In like manner, the same Apostle does not consider that the eyes of our understanding are enlightened unless we know what is the hope of the eternal inheritance to which we are called (Eph. 1:18). Thus he uniformly intimates throughout his writings, that the goodness of God is not properly comprehended when security does not follow as its fruit.

Calvin, J. (1997). Institutes of the Christian religion. (III, ii, 16)