Biblical Moments with Frank King

It’s easy to be confident about something you can see and over which you have total control. But neither is true when we pray to God. Prayer is an act of faith. We can’t see God. And we have no control over how the outcome of our prayer will unfold. So the question is, what must we do or what can we do to move into the realm of being confident toward God when we pray? That is what Frank King addresses in today’s episode.
In chapter  3 of John’s first epistle, he reveals that to have confidence toward God we must show love toward others. He writes, “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18, NASB).
God requires us to do more than talk love. Some people are good at that. They are always talking about how much they love you, but they never come through for you when you need them to. That’s just talk. And as they say, talk is cheap.
We must not love in tongue and words but in deeds. But not only in deeds but also in truth. That means God wants us to show genuine love toward others. Not some pretentious display of love but true love. Sometimes, people do impressive acts of love, but their motivation is wrong. That is still not genuine love.
Prayer and Love
According to John, genuine love is the means by which we know we are of the truth (verse 19). if you are not walking in genuine love, you are not walking in the truth. No matter how much you talk love, if you don’t show it, you are not of the truth. Everything in the Scriptures hinges on love. Moreover, genuine love is the means by which we “assure our heart before Him” (verse 19b). That means it instills confidence before Him.
When our life is characterized by genuine love, our heart does not condemn us before the Lord. John writes, “If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God” (verse 21). This is how love promotes confidence toward God when we pray.
Prayer was never meant to be a guessing game. It was never meant to be something that leaves us wondering if God hears us or whether He will do something about what we have prayed about. What assures our heart before Him when we pray is genuine love as opposed to love in tongue and words only.

Jesus taught a lot about prayer when He was with His disciples. That’s a good thing because prayer is the means God has given us for making our requests to Him and for receiving from Him. The more we learn about how to pray effectively, the more effectively we can pray. In this episode, Frank teaches on the importance of praying with the right attitude.
Jesus taught a parable about two men who went to the temple to pray. This parable was directed at those “who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt” (Luke 18:9, NASB).
In the parable, Jesus talked about a Pharisee and a publican. These were two extremes in the Jewish community. The Pharisees were an elite group, or they considered themselves to be an elite group of religious leaders in the Jewish community. They despised Jesus because His message and teachings were considered a serious threat to their prominence.
The publicans, on the other hand, were tax collectors, or collectors of public revenue. They were usually Jews, but the taxes they collected went to the Roman government. Needless to say, publicans weren’t the most popular people in town.
The Pharisee was self-righteous. He boasted to God that he was not like other men. “I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get,” he boasted (verse 12). By contrast, the publican acknowledged he was a sinner and threw himself upon the mercy of God.
Jesus' Verdict on the Two Men
To emphasize the importance of praying with the right attitude, Jesus said regarding the publican, “This man went down to his house justified rather than the other” (verse 14, KJV). “For everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted,” He continued.
Think about it; the Pharisee journeyed from his house to God’s house just to pat himself on the back. In the end, he returned home just like he came. And based upon what the Scriptures reveal about the Pharisees, you know this man had some flaws he needed to pray about. The publican simply submitted himself to the mercy of God.
Accordingly, if we want to have an effective prayer life, and we all should, we must pray with the right attitude toward others and about ourselves. That does not mean we cannot pray with confidence and boldness and faith. We should pray that way. But we must learn to pray that way void of pride, condescension and self-righteousness.

In Christianity, we regard the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as three distinct persons that together make up the Godhead. We serve one God, but He manifests himself in three distinct persons.
By distinct persons, we mean you can distinguish one from the other. For instance, God the Father resides in heaven. Then God sent Jesus as His Son on earth to be the Savior of the world. And while Jesus was on earth, He prayed to the Father in heaven. Then on the day of Pentecost, God sent the Holy Spirit to indwell us. In this episode, Frank King focuses on the person of the Holy Spirit.
The reason the Holy Spirit is so important to us is because He is the one who helps us to accomplish the work of the church and to live a victorious Christian life. We can’t do either of those without the help of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
Before Jesus left His disciples, He promised to send the Holy Spirit to abide with them. “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever,” Jesus promised (John 14:16, KJV).
Two notable things Jesus reveals about the person of the Holy Spirit here. One, He will be another Comforter. Not all versions of the Bible use the word Comforter in the verse. The NASB renders Helper. The NIV uses the word Counselor. Some other versions of the Bible may use a different word.
A key word in the verse above is the word “another.” In the Greek language, two words for another exist. One means another of the same kind. The other word means another of a different kind. In this verse, Jesus uses the word αλλος  (AL-loss), meaning another of the same kind.
In other words, the Father would send them another Comforter (or Helper, Counselor, Friend, or whatever word your Bible uses); and He would be just like Jesus. Secondly, Jesus said in the verse, the Holy Spirit would abide or remain with them forever. He would not leave them like Jesus was about to do, but He would stay with them until the end.
The disciples were saddened by the news of Jesus leaving them. But what they could not even imagine was how radically changed their lives would become through the person of the Holy Spirit. That miraculous change is clearly seen in the book of the Acts of the Apostles.

No matter who you are, it’s harder to pray when you are bearing a heavy load in your life. We tend to go through the routine of prayer when all is well. But when we pray under a load, it causes us to pour out our heart and emotions to God. The heavier the load, the more you tend to pour out your inside to God.
Prayer is vital because it is the means through which we communicate with God. Prayer is how we petition God. In this episode, Frank focuses upon the importance of praying through the difficult times in our life.
No one has ever gone through a trial as difficult as Jesus did when He faced the cross at Calvary. He even prayed to God that “if it were possible, the hour might pass from him” (Mark 14:35, KJV).
Moreover, Jesus told His disciples, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Mark 14:34, NIV). This was the human side of Jesus manifesting itself. Even He found it more challenging to pray because of the load that was upon Him. It is important to remember that He didn’t minister as God but as a human being while on earth. He was no exception; like us, He found it more burdensome to pray because of the heavy load that God had allowed to be placed upon Him.
But in the end, Jesus chose to obey the will of His Father in spite of how He felt. “Not what I will, but what thou wilt,” He prayed (Mark 14:36, KJV).
Jesus is our perfect example for how to pray through a trial. Facing the cross, bearing the weight of the world on His shoulder, sorrowful in spirit, abandoned by His closest friends on earth, He prayed through and pressed His way. Thank God that He did! Our eternal fate rested upon His obedience to the cross.
When you are praying through a trial, you do well to remember the words of Jesus to His disciples in the garden. “The spirit truly is ready but the flesh is weak” (verse 38). The point is that when you are in Christ, the Spirit of Christ indwells you. So, even though you may be weak in the flesh, remember that the Spirit of Christ within you is always ready to go with God.

According to the book of Hebrews, chapter 10, we should exhort one another. Moreover, we should do that even more as we approach the day of the Lord. So, by default, all of us have been given the ministry of exhortation. To exhort means to encourage.
The local church is uniquely equipped for the ministry of exhortation. That’s because fellow believers understand each other in terms of their desire to learn of Christ and to follow Him. We understand the unique challenges of being in this world but not being of it. In this episode, Evangelist Frank King focuses on the need to encourage yourself.
In the days of King David, he and his army came from war to find that the Amalekites had destroyed their city and taken their wives and children captive. David and his men were devastated. Furthermore, “And David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of the people was grieved…(1 Samuel 30:6a, KJV).
Why did the men of David’s army want to stone him? They were looking for somebody to blame and to direct their anger toward. David was the king, so they all blamed him. If he hadn’t taken them out to war, the Amalekites would not have been able to carry out their ambush. But of course, David was just as hurt as the rest of them. He had two wives. And both were gone. But the people were hurt so they directed their anger toward their leader.
So, how did David respond to the wrath of his army? “David encouraged himself in the Lord his God” (verse 6b).
The Choice is Yours
It’s those times like the one David found himself in that reveal what we are made of. If you want to persist in feeling sorry for yourself, there is little anyone can do to help you move forward. If you want to wallow in pity, no one can make you feel encouraged.
You can attend church every week and have people calling and pouring into you, and you can still stay in the dumps--if you want to. But if you choose to respond that way, it says something negative about your relationship with God. Why should you abide in despair when you serve the living God?
It’s good that we can come to church and be encouraged by the Word of God and the people of God. But when nothing else will do, you must know how to encourage yourself—in the Lord.

In this episode, Evangelist Frank King encourages believers to stay with the truth found in God’s word. How often do we encourage other believers to do that?
First, we must know what the truth is before we can stay with it. One thing we know is that not every faith is of the truth. If they were, everyone’s faith would agree with everybody else’s. And we know that’s not the case. But Jesus said to God, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17, NASB).
In Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia, he rebukes the believers there for their abandonment of the truth for another gospel. He writes, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel (Galatians 1:6, NASB).
One takeaway from these words of Paul is that just because a person has been presented with the truth does not safeguard that person from ending up in error. To prevent the latter from happening, it is incumbent upon the individual to stay with the truth. The Galatians had been presented with the gospel of Christ. But they chose to turn away from the truth to embrace another gospel.
A Warning for These Last Days
This episode is entitled, “Staying with the truth. That’s what we are talking about. That’s what Paul was challenging the church at Galatia to do. Also, in his first epistle to Timothy, Paul issued a related warning concerning the last days.
“The Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,” Paul wrote (1 Timothy 4:1, NASB). Note how those believers whom he refers to will end up departing from the faith. They will give heed to demonic spirits and teachings.
We do well to heed Paul’s abovementioned words to the Galatians and to Timothy. Again, just because a person has been presented with the truth does not safeguard that person from ending up in error. To safeguard oneself from that undesirable fate, it is incumbent upon the individual to stay with the truth.

We live in an increasingly dangerous world. We must give due attention to our personal protection. On the other hand, there are serious limits to the extent we can protect ourselves. In this episode, Frank King addresses God’s ability to protect you.
The mounting dangers around us are changing our way of life and the landscape of our cities. We have security systems in our houses. Because of hackers, we have multiple layers of security on our computers. Due to threats of terrorism, we have physical barriers around our high-risk facilities, etc.
The reason our faith in God is important in this matter is because faith gives us a healthy response to the dangers at hand. And the goal of this episode is to encourage you to believe that no matter what you see going on around you that God is able to protect you.   
In Psalm 91, the psalmist addresses the subject of divine protection. But this psalm does not apply to every believer. That’s an important point because sometimes we embrace promises in the Scriptures that don’t apply to us. Or promises that we have not properly positioned ourselves to receive the fulfillment of.
As for the applicability of the psalm, the psalmist writes, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1, NASB). Those who dwell in “the shelter of the Most High” are those who have chosen to make the Lord their dwelling place (verse 9). These are they that Psalm 91 applies to.
How God Protect Us
The psalmist makes some phenomenal statements about God’s ability to protect us. The question is, how does He accomplish that protection? According to verse 11, God gives His angels charge over us to keep us. We can’t see them, but angels are all around us. They are under divine orders to protect those who love and fear the Lord.
Some people may say that they will just be super careful and protect themselves. But being super careful is not enough. We don’t have to go looking for danger, but danger will come looking for us. Of course, we should do what we can to protect ourselves from danger. But that alone is not nearly enough. In times like these, only God has the absolute ability to protect us.

We must never become stagnant in our relationship with the Lord and in our knowledge of Him. One important aspect of our spiritual growth is spiritual insight. As the term implies, spiritual insight refers to insight into or knowledge of spiritual things, particularly those things that have bearing our relationship with Christ. That is the subject of this podcast episode.
In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul said he made mention of the congregation in his prayers (Ephesians 1:16). He prayed that God would give them “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” (verse 17). This was to the intent that their understanding would be enlightened (verse 18). In effect, Paul prayed for the people’s spiritual insight to be increased.
Paul mentioned three areas he wanted the people to increase in understanding (verses 18-19):
That they may know the hope of God’s calling.
That they may know the riches of the glory of the inheritance
That they might know the exceeding greatness of His power toward them
As Paul the apostle prayed for the church at Ephesus, we do well to pray that God will impart to us the spirit of wisdom and revelation. No matter where we are in Christ, there is always room for our understanding to be more enlightened.
Without spiritual insight from God and His Word, we are left with our own understanding of who we are in Christ. Our thinking will be far below where God’s thinking is because His ways are so much higher than ours.
When we read what God says for us to do, at times we may be tempted to say, I can’t do that. But as we gain spiritual insight and get the right revelation of who we are in Christ, we learn that we can do what God says that we should.