If a man sins against his body, is it as devastating as an oracle of God, required to deliver words of life and death being quiet or speaking anything other than what God wants said? How about the other ministers of the Lord; those who set the stage for the preaching of the Word; the music ministers? Can they ignore diligent, secret prayer and come before the Lord with an acceptable offering of music and sacred song? Or is today’s offering mere strange fire before the Lord. Those ministers of the Lord, who stand before God and men every Sunday may be responsible for the eternal position of men in Hell. Might that be worse?

How about anything in between? The question arises to honest men before God, indeed, the man who perceives himself as more wicked than most, in desperate need of grace, “How shall I now live, seeing I have an adversary roaming about as a roaring lion, even Satan, willing I should be ever at fault before Almighty God?”

The old ditty goes, “Satan flees when the weakest Christian is on his knees.” Prayer is the most necessary discipline for maintaining a positive, victorious, proactive life in Christ. Prayer must be as prevalent in the life of ministers as it was in Paul, Martin Luther, John Wesley, Charles Finney, D. L. Moody, R. A. Torrey, Leonard Ravenhill and is in David Wilkerson. if you are a Christian, you are a minister. You probably know 100 people who have never heard of Eric Stillman. You are the minister to bring the Gospel to them. Your message can only be comprehended by them with prayer. Without prayer it’s but a dead letter with dead works.

I’d like to quote Cal Thomas who brings forth a sobering statement concerning a former governor:

Had New York Governor Eliot Spitzer reached out for the Gideon Bible in his fancy Washington, D.C., hotel room instead of, allegedly, a high-priced prostitute, he might have been forewarned of the dangers in such liaisons.

Such as: “A prostitute is a deep pit; an adulterous woman is treacherous. She hides and waits like a robber, looking for another victim who will be unfaithful to his wife.” (Proverbs 23:27-28) And: “For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of hell.” (Proverbs 5:3-5)

But who speaks of such things today, a day in which, as C.S. Lewis wrote, “We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.”

So we consider any temptation. In the past, have we reached for the Bible? Have we sought the Lord in prayer? Probably not. I speak as one who has walked with and without the Lord for 30 years today. Recall the plight of Worldly Christian who was beaten and robbed by Apollyon’s minion. Christian asked of Faithful, “Will he make it to the Promised Land?” Faithful responded, “Verily, yes. Howbeit, without joy.” -Pilgrim’s Progress.

How then shall we proceed without such plunder, humility and loss of joy? The words of our Lord Jesus follow: And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me (Lk. 9.23). This is true discipleship. If you know me, you know most conversations go to prayer. Simply, we get transfigured into the image and glory of Christ, thereby. There’s no shortcut. The only cost is time.

Now, allow me to proceed with my comment on the recent event of a former New York governor. I pray he repents and believes the gospel. My sincere prayers go to his wife and family. We are next. Pay attention, please. “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh (Ga. 5.16).”

There are only two ways to walk. Either in the flesh or in the Spirit. Depending on your own talents and good decisions is walking in the flesh. Resigning to go nowhere and do nothing until consulting the Holy Spirit and getting His mind is walking in the Spirit. In short, it is seeking to do what God intends you to do by the leading and power of the Holy Ghost.

Jesus promised that when He went away, He would send the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost gives us the mind of Christ. We must be aware of this and seek to know the Holy Ghost through prayer and reading the Word of God.

How shall we, who love the Lord Jesus, attempt to do what he would not? He would neither do nor say anything without the Father. Jesus said He always did that which pleased the Father. He made no decisions without consulting with the Father in prayer. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise (Jn. 5. 19).” Further Jesus indicated His obedience to the Father in every work, “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me (Jn. 5. 30).” What was good for Jesus is good for us. Therefore we must not attempt that which Jesus did not, “as he is, so are we in this world (1 Jn. 4. 17).”

So what has this to do with us or Former Gov. Spitzer? Simply this: As we walk in the Spirit, those things which would tempt us become dim. Our relationship with the Father becomes most important. We, then, gravitate toward doing the will of God and improving our love relationship with Him.

So turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
- Helen Lemmel