mattpapa.com - Latest Comments

Re: The Story of God

Jessi — Sun, 24 Aug 2014 21:50:37 -0000

Is there anywhere to download the sound track to the reading?

Re: Look & Live (Worship or Die)

woodybailey — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 07:02:54 -0000

Wow, I agree with Mia Koehne. I am getting kicked in the gut too though I have known about you, through Tim Challies, for over a year. You put it to where the rubber meets the road Matt!

Re: Clean, but not organized

Haven Yates — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 01:55:46 -0000

Thanks for the word! I just discovered your music like 3 minutes ago and I love it, and the fact that you are not only a songwriter but also a preacher. Keep spreading the gospel!

-Your new fan

Re: May I kill it?

Kathryn — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 17:00:06 -0000

also, pray The Lord will change me--to not be like the stiff necked people who always resist the Holy Spirit. Is that foolish to ask him to make me that way? Or, again, is It just disobedience?

Re: May I kill it?

Kathryn — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 16:56:11 -0000

I haven't read the blog post yet, I'm weirdly fearful to. Will you pray I will gladly see myself as undeserving and Jesus as worthy and that he will crush my resistance to grace? I need to have faith stronger than my feelings and repentance stronger than my pride. Will you plead for me? Though maybe I'm just being disobedient asking you to pray but remaining stubborn? Please pray. Thank you.

Re: The problem with seeking God’s will

Angela Sackett — Tue, 20 May 2014 08:48:03 -0000

Ah, yes, this is SO the cry of my heart, as I dig deeper into His nature and His work in my life... realizing with every step more of my own broken tendency to make the things of my Maker my idols... to want His success more than Him. thank you for sharing, Matt!

Re: The problem with seeking God’s will

Mike — Wed, 14 May 2014 09:28:53 -0000

"Maybe God doesn’t want your life to be epic.
Maybe He wants it to be normal.
Maybe He wants your heart to be epic. And the path to seeing this accomplished is….your heart made more like his….will actually not come through the achievement of your plans but through their mutilation. " ... Yes and amen. Look at what the apostles endured to the death... Why has God's name been expunged from the scriptures? It has been replaced with LORD over 6,000 times in the scripture... Think about it. In Hebrew, Yoshua's name (Jesus) contains the name of God! The scriptures connect the two names in the Hebrew language, but in the translations the connection is LOST! Why?1

Re: The problem with seeking God’s will

David — Tue, 13 May 2014 15:58:55 -0000

Good question that most of us can relate to

Re: The problem with seeking God’s will

David — Tue, 13 May 2014 15:55:49 -0000

Good reply

Re: The problem with seeking God’s will

EWF — Fri, 09 May 2014 09:05:51 -0000

“You have been asking God what He is going to do
(what His will is for your life), God isn’t going to show you what He is going
to do, He wants you to know Him.” Oswald
Chambers

Re: The problem with seeking God’s will

CAT — Tue, 06 May 2014 10:32:17 -0000

Thanks for the encouragement. I am still in the process myself of learning to stop worrying and have peace. It's good to know that it doesn't just happen overnight. It certainly would be better if it could, though :)

Re: The problem with seeking God’s will

Rachel Monger — Tue, 06 May 2014 01:33:47 -0000

Thinking the same thing ... when things are out of our control it is an opportunity to see things are in God's control! Seek ye first the Kingdom of God ... Thank you. http://themongers.blogspot....

Re: The problem with seeking God’s will

John Gresh — Mon, 05 May 2014 21:25:08 -0000

Seeking God's will for our lives is to align ourselves, our desires, with the the desires of God. Psalm 37:4 -"Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart." That occurs through Salvation, Submission, Sanctification,Spirit Filled, Suffering in His Name, Thanksgiving to Him. Then the desires of your being come into alignment with God's desires, & you live your life doing God's will. however, it's a never ending process.

Re: The problem with seeking God’s will

Lynn Rutledge — Mon, 05 May 2014 18:33:03 -0000

Also there are several examples in the Psalms of prayers asking God for guidance. I think Matt is trying emphasize the motivation behind praying for God to lead us. Are we doing it for selfish reasons, or because we are seeking him? We should be praying like Ps. 61:2, "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I."

Re: The problem with seeking God’s will

Out in the Cold — Mon, 05 May 2014 17:18:49 -0000

Well said.

Re: The problem with seeking God’s will

woodybailey — Mon, 05 May 2014 16:03:23 -0000

Some really good perspective here.

Re: The problem with seeking God’s will

Maxine Hackerson — Mon, 05 May 2014 14:20:47 -0000

Great article. When we give up our need for control and let God be in control and seek only after Him life becomes meaningful. This is one of the hardest things we have to learn. We can take it to God but we have the hardest time leaving it there. The older I get the more I find myself giving it to God and walking away with assurance that he has my life and what He desires will become my desire too. I'm finally learning to stop worrying about it and feel peace.It only took me 61years and I still have to scold myself from time to time. I am so looking forward to a garden stroll through Heaven with Jesus, but until then I will enjoy what He has for me here.

Re: The problem with seeking God’s will

Juli — Mon, 05 May 2014 13:43:34 -0000

I don't think it's a coincidence that I am reading a comment of yours again. We seem to be struggling with the same thing. Why shouldn't we act like pagans? But giving up, or hanging on are not our only options. Dying to self is not like giving up. It's one of the basic practices of Christianity. We pick up our crosses and follow Him. It's not a popular idea. It's hard. Calling it tenacity, we'd rather angrily hang on to what we know. We don't know what is on the other side of the death of our dreams. He may give us our dreams back. He may not. It just puts Him in the position of sovereignty, instead of us.

Re: The problem with seeking God’s will

Out in the Cold — Mon, 05 May 2014 10:03:01 -0000

So, how do your ideas balance with David Murray's recent post '7 Lessons I Learned from My Failure'?

On one hand we are told to "never give up" and then on the other hand that God's will might be our plan's annihilation. Because the world does not have the category for "God's will" there is no adversity that is interpreted as them needing to 'die to self' or to change course, they just keep trying ... and with talent and a good attitude and work ethic success is always just a matter of time when someone refuses to quit.

As a Christian, is there a point where we quit amidst constant failure, or like the world, do we 'never give up'? How do we interpret career related adversity as just the normal way of life or God frustrating our plans? If it's the latter then the "never give up" mantra is a platitude.

However, the way of life is just hard, apart from God's discipline, and requires perseverance for Christian and pagan alike. The Christian is filtering every hardship through God's discipline and making life-altering decisions based upon a subjective 'message from God' through the circumstance, the pagan is filtering every hardship through "hey, that's life" and they refuse to give up. It too often seems that the latter perspective ends in a better result than the former.

TL;DR At what point in constant failure should a Christian give up following their dreams, in a world that says "never give up"?

Re: The problem with seeking God’s will

Lew Ayotte — Mon, 05 May 2014 08:32:14 -0000

How does this jive with Jesus' example prayer in Matthew 6:9-13?

Re: The problem with seeking God’s will

Elldee — Mon, 05 May 2014 08:30:25 -0000

This is crazy timing...my prayer this morning was a realization that I need to stop asking God for direction but to TRUST that He is directing me and OBEY his leading. I realized my prayers have been asking God for something He already promises to do (lead, guide, direct) and that it is MY responsibility to trust that He is doing just that. And that led to a heartfelt confession of how hard it is for me to let go and trust His leading instead of telling Him what I want and hoping He'll bless my wishes. Yep, like you said, more like a genie than a treasure!

Re: The problem with seeking God’s will

Stephen — Sun, 04 May 2014 19:56:55 -0000

Christians speak of God "condescending" to man, in several ways. Two big ones: He condescends to speak to us in the understandable words of Scripture, because we could never understand his thoughts. As J.Michael said, he also condescended physically in the form of Jesus Christ, so that Christ could be our savior and our priest having endured temptation and condemnation for our sake. "Condescend" literally means "go down with." Parents condescend to young children and teachers condescend to students so that they might understand. It does not have to have a negative connotation.

Re: The problem with seeking God’s will

J.Michael — Sun, 04 May 2014 13:24:23 -0000

Jesus condescended to the earth so that we might become blameless, so that we might learn to live. The most high became a pauper among his people. In Matt's usage of the word he is likely indicating that. Phillipians 2:5-8

Re: Look & Live (Worship or Die)

Mia Koehne — Fri, 02 May 2014 22:19:23 -0000

So being new to your blog and just devouring them., I feel as though I am getting kicked in the gutt with every piece of writing that you do. Thank you for that. Every word hurts and pierces. I must be a mess. I am reading through the Bible this year and worship and rebellion through out the old testament has been a constant in my daily study, good thing I am reading the NT too, otherwise I would be a complete mess!

Re: The problem with seeking God’s will

Mandy — Fri, 02 May 2014 21:51:12 -0000

Great post. Quick question! Did you intend to use the word "condescending" to describe God? If so, can you clarify what you mean by that? To me, it means snooty, aloof, and rude. Thanks!