A common question asked when Christians gather (sadly, because we should be jumping at every opportunity) is, “Who wants to pray?”

1 Timothy 2:8: “…the men should pray” 🙂

It’s probably a terrible interpretation of the passage, but it works – somehow.

In a mixed group of men and women, the men should pray. Man up. Then for an all-men group, well… this separates the boys from the men. Real men pray. Haha.

In a more serious note, the last part of this chapter – on how women should be in church – is usually the focus of many debates. I won’t (can’t) get into that. For me, as a man, I feel that while the passages are addressed to women, there is actually an underlying charge to men. Man up. Take the charge. Take the responsibility and be responsible. 

Back to back difficult passages.

Supplications, Prayers, Intercessions, and Thanksgivings… what is the definition of each? From a quick web search : Supplications are requests that we can get involved in, Prayers (the particular type of prayer used in the original text) are requests only God can fulfill, Intercessions are requests / petitions in behalf of another person, Thanksgivings are “thanks givings” ^_^

Be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions… pray for everyone, though leaders get a special mention. Maybe because while we are comfortable to pray for our peers, leaders are sometimes neglected. We maybe don’t want to pray for them because we might think they already have so much, that they seem to be able to handle things on their own, or simply because we don’t like them, or that they are heavy-handed on us. It’s tough to be a leader. 

The purpose of this “First of all” command is so that we are able to, “lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified.” Sounds like a great way to live. 

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (‭1 Timothy‬ ‭2‬:‭3-4‬ ESV)

It is important to note that this is in the context of corporate worship. We can apply this right away.

(to be continued)

Took me two weeks to write again.. Have to admit that I didn’t know how to react to this chapter. I’ve read some commentary that made sense, but still..

“Avenge the people of Israel… execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian” > the people have been wronged, and worse, God was wronged.

All the men of Midian died in battle. The women, the Israelite soldiers kept alive – which made Moses angry. 

Behold, these, on Balaam’s advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the Lord. (‭Numbers‬ ‭31‬:‭16‬ ESV)

After this, was the command that rattled me. It was harsh. Why?

Some clues.. after this, the men were considered unclean and were commanded to stay outside the camp and purify themselves.

There were other specific commands, and the Israelites obeyed. Then something amazing was reported:

[The officers] said to Moses, “Your servants have counted the men of war who are under our command, and there is not a man missing from us. (‭Numbers‬ ‭31‬:‭49‬ ESV)

Not a man missing. Out of the 12,000. Whereas all the Midianite men died.

What was the “incident at Peor”? That it had to come to this?

The answer we can find in Revelation 2:14. Apparently Balaam of Numbers 22-24 wasn’t the good guy that we thought he would turn out to be. Even after his experience with God, he still gave advice to Balak on how to defeat the Israelites. He knew that the way for Israelites to lose favor with God is to cause, to tempt, them to sin. And that’s the background story of Numbers 25.

Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. (‭Psalm‬ ‭145‬:‭2‬ ESV)

Every day. 

One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. (‭Psalm‬ ‭145‬:‭4‬ ESV)

Recently I felt overwhelmed with the current problems of the world, especially in my country of birth and my country of residence. I am anxious for my family, my son especially, with the danger, temptations and sin that seem to be everywhere. 

But then I get encouraged. In the midst of these problems, God is moving. In families, people are passing on their faith journeys from one generation to another. In my own family particularly, by God’s grace, we are blessed to be part of a generation of believers — and I intend to pass it on. In spiritual families as well, from generation to generation we see God’s faithfulness. There is hope. Greater things are yet to come. 

The rest of the Psalm is a very good list of some of the qualities of God that can be taught to the next generation.

Timothy’s mission: to remain and be “in charge” of the Church of Ephesus

Charge: to instruct, command, warn, admonish

That which we devote our time with when we are with believers, we must ask ourselves, what does it promote? Does it promote speculations or vain discussions? Or does it promote love?

Love is a natural byproduct – of a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. We have to check ourselves.

Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. (‭1 Timothy‬ ‭1‬:‭6-7‬ ESV)