SHUT THE DOOR....Patz's Message 1/29/12

MATTHEW 5:6

"When a woman bakes a cake, at some point, she has to close the oven door so the cake will actually bake." 


Before we can fight the darkness,  plant these churches or free the oppressed, we need to shut the door. 

Why is shutting the door so important:

1. It guards your heart against hypocrisy: There's a temptation to pray extra-spiritual prayers, but it's ok to pray short prayers, or to even use white out on some prayers. The devil doesn't want you to pray, and even if you do pray, he wants you to pray in a way that isn't really heartfelt. Jesus said, when you pray be careful that you don't babble.

When you go into the secret place, rote memorization becomes real.  The secret place is where you get rid of the hypocrisy of having to please people.

Secrecy is the antidote for the hypocrisy gene that we have.


2. Shutting the door saves my mind from complexity: In a world when there's so much going on around you, Jesus said, shut the door! You've turned off the cell phone, you're not looking at your emails, it's just you and fazher. 


Shutting the door is like your Sabbath, it's where you find your rest.


"Jesus is a better Savior than you are a sinner." So, when you say, "I'm not faithful" that's exactly why you need him.

If you don't shut the door, you're gonna work so hard and you're never gonna find your rest. 

3. Your heart needs you to shut the door because that's what leads you to your Father:
There's a way in which God manifests himself in the secret place in a way that he doesn't manifest in another place.

Mike's example of Isaiah sneaking a cell phone away to say hi and get his buddy to talk to Mike.
"I love this kid so much, he has this curly hair and this little lisp...sometimes when he's asleep, I just touch his hair or speak into his ear 'Isaiah, your Father loves you."

What if your Father in heaven feels this way about you? I like my son's hair, Jesus, apparently has numbered your hairs..."number one, number two..."

Behold the manner of love the Fathe has bestowed on us, that we should be called sons of God.

Hebrews 4:16, Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace.

I don't know how Jesus did this, but  after sweating blood, going to the cross and praying "Father forgive him" he made the throne of justice a throne of grace. Now when you approach , you don't approach on your own righteousness, you approach because of that one who died.

Shut the door, not because you're worthy, but because he is. Not because you're a better sinner, but b/c he's a better savior.

Shutting the door is not a command, it's an invitation.

Psalm 18: 6-7

"In my distress I called to the Lord. I called to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice, my cry came before him, into his ears. The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountain shook; they trembled because he was angry."

Medidation
These are such crazy verses. I love them. The image of me, or David, calling out to God in distress and having him respond with such passion and anger on my behalf. I guess it's the way any parent would respond to their child's cry for help when being attacked by bullies...I don't have any kids yet, but I can just imagine my indignation and anger. I felt a littlebit of it when i found out my nephew was being buillied; my whole body got tight and uncomfortabale because of how outraged I was on his behalf. I imagine that's how God must feel, but more. It's such a beutiful thought to know that the most powerful, awesome person allows my cry to come before his holy throne; among a crowd of beggers and praisers and whatever else, he hears me and attends to my requests. Moreover, he doesn't just respond, he feels deeply my distress and is angry on my behalf. Kind'a reminds me of that verse: "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord."

Application
Lord I'm distressed about work. Not full out worry or anything, but still, I'm a little concerned. I don't know why I don't seem to get promoted. I don't know why I haven't gotten any trials; I'm a little nervous and scared at the prospect of them, but I know that I need to do them, that's the whole reason I took this job in the first place. And yet, here I am, preparing case after case, and nothing goes. Worse than that though, I've got the dissapointment of this JOA hanging over my head.

My application of this verse is now, right here. I'm in distress Lord, about this situation, and also about my parent's medical condition. I'm in distress and I'm crying out to you. And as I cry out right now, I am assured by your word because I know that you hear my voice from your temple and that you care and respond, one way or another, I know you hear me and care.

Memorization
In my distress, I called to the Lord. I called to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice, my cry came before him, into his ears. The earth trembled and quaked and the foundations of the mountain shook; they trembled because he was angry.

Psalm 18: 2-5

I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me."

Meditation
I: not somebody else, not my friend, or my mom, or my sister
Will: I'll do it, not gonna leave it to chance, going to will myself
Call: I'll cry out for you Lord, I'll say your name and ask for you
Upon the Lord: I'll cry out for you, not for anything else to save me, just you, b/c you alone are Lord
Who is worthy to be praised: I'll call upon you because you are God, and you inspire praise in every situation just by the fact of your Deity and also by your wonderful acts
So: in this way, and this is the only way
Shall I: It's not a matter of question or a matter of chance, it's a sure thing
Be saved: you will deliver me, you will rescue me
From my enemies: from everything that is against me, from the orchestrations of hell, from the traps of my flesh, from the people who seek to do me evil



Application
If I was in this situation, I don't know what I would do right now. If death encompassed me and "sorrows of hell" were all around me, I'm not sure how I would stand. God, I need to learn to call upon you more often. When I am at work faced with a distressing situation, when I am in bed struggling with my flesh to get up and seek you....That's when I need to call upon you. Even if these things aren't as serious as death, they're still my enemies seeking to rob me of joy and of my communion with you. Stress and laziness are my enemies. 
And in the future, when i am scared and facing a situation like death I will also call upon you and be confident in the fact that I will be saved.

Memorization
I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,so shall I be saved from mine enemies. 

Thanksgiving Psalms, Psalm 18: 1-2

Thanksgiving Psalms
18, 21, 30, 32*, 34, 40:1-11, 66:13-20, 92, 108*, 116, 118, 138
http://www.crivoice.org/psalmtypes.html

A study based on Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods (Devotional Study Form)

I love you Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer. My God is my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.  Psalm 18:1-2

Meditation

I love the Lord, so much because among other things, he is the strength of my life. He is my source of life and the reason life is worthwhile.

Application

My actions speak louder than my words. If the Lord really is the strength of my life and I love him as I say, then I need to be communing with him every day. If he is my source of life and the reason that life is made worthwile, then why no speak to him and draw from his strength and goodness? I need to make a strong resolution to seek you. I will wake up tomorrow to pray as well.

Memorization
I love you Lord, my strength.  Psalm 18:1

New Year...

Yes, it's a new year. Shame on me, I haven't even written about it...life's been so busy with this new job and this incessant commute. I will try to catch up by writing with more frequency in the coming weeks...

My Decision to Become A Morning Person

I decided to become a morning person. I've made this decision several times. Each time, it's been   triggered by the same thing...my prayer life, my absolute failure in establishing a constant, steady and fixed prayer life. I hate it. I hate that about me, how I can't seem to pray for longer than a few weeks at a time without ceasing. So here I go again one more time.

My goal is to get up with sufficient time to spend at least one hour in quiet time. The problem with this is that I've discovered that I don't function very well unless I have eight hours of sleep. The hours of a day, are working against me. I'm thinking 7 1/2 will have to do. So here's the plan, from now until March 22 (I hear it takes six weeks to form a habit)...

1.  I will go to bed at 9:30 every weekday.

2.  I will wake up every morning (including the weekends) at 5:00 a.m.

3. I will read my Bible in my quiet time.

4. I will eat breakfast every day.

Ok, so there it is. I made this resolution at the beginning of the year but I messed up already. Let's see how I fare this second time...God, please help me.