“I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting” (I Timothy 2:8).

I’m often asked if Paul meant we should literally lift our hands when we pray. Since this is how David prayed (Ps. 141:2), we know there’s nothing wrong with doing so, as long as you understand what Paul meant when he stipulated that the hands you lift in prayer must be “holy.”

I say that because some think that Paul is referencing the Law, where God vowed He wouldn’t hear His people if the hands they lifted in prayer weren’t holy:

“…when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood” (Isa. 1:15 cf. Ps. 66:18).

But this cannot be what Paul had in mind here, for “we are not under the law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:15). Sin does not hinder your prayers in the dispensation of grace, but all who love the Lord will be careful not to presume upon God’s grace by continuing in sin that grace may abound (Rom. 6:1,2).

But this means there must be some other reason the apostle speaks of lifting up holy hands, and there is. You see, in the context, Paul has just finished instructing us to pray “for kings, and for all that are in authority” (I Tim. 2:1,2). So Paul is actually saying that the hands you lift in prayer to pray for our leaders in government must not be involved in any unholy subversive activities against the leaders in government for whom you are praying, leaders to whom God says we should be subject (Titus 3:1) without resisting (Rom. 13:1-7).

This is also why Paul says men should pray “without wrath and doubting” (I Tim. 2:8). Some would connect his words here to the kingdom program, where the Lord told the Jews to whom He ministered, (See Matthew 15:24 and Romans 15:8.) “when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any” (Mark 11:25). There was certainly no room for wrath in an instruction like that! They were also told,

“Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart… he shall have whatsoever he saith… what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:23,24).

But every believer who has ever prayed without doubting, only to not receive whatsoever he prayed for, knows that we are not under God’s kingdom program for Israel any more than we are under the Law that He gave them. So these references to wrath and doubting under the kingdom program cannot be what Paul had in mind when he said to pray “without wrath and doubting.”

Rather, in the context, Paul is directing us to pray for our leaders in government without the wrath toward them that was probably so common among God’s people in Paul’s day that the apostle had to address it. Even today, believers are continuously angry with our leaders, and always doubting their ability to lead us. So Paul’s instruction that we should pray for them “without wrath and doubting” is as needful today as it was the day those words left his pen. So instead of railing on our leaders, beloved, let’s pray for them.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

“…the house of God…is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (I Timothy 3:15).

The word “pillar” should remind every Bible student of the pillar that God gave Israel to guide them through the wilderness to the promised land (Nehemiah 9:12). After the people of Israel crossed the Red Sea, they needed a guide. They had been slaves for 400 years, and didn’t have a clue as to where they were going! It’s not like Pharaoh let his slaves take exploratory vacations. So God had to lead them every step of the way with the pillar.

Once Moses had written the Book of the Law, however, the pillar disappeared. Of course! Now they had a Book to guide them every step of the way. No matter where they went in life, they had a reliable Guide to teach them how to walk and please God. And now that Book has been completed and resides in the local church! No wonder God calls the church the pillar of the truth! God’s people should follow that Book as closely as the Jews followed their pillar. How closely was that?

“…when the cloud tarried… then the children of Israel…journeyed not… when the cloud… was taken up… then they journeyed…” (Numbers 9:18-22).

When the pillar moved, they moved. When it rested, they rested. In other words, they didn’t make a move without the benefit of its guidance. Does that sound like a good way to follow the Book today? Beloved, God has graciously given us a Guide that can help us navigate the most treacherous paths of life. The One who steers the stars (Job 38:32) has deigned to guide the lives of His people. May we never forsake His direction!

This great Guide has further equipped us with a place to meet to hear His Book taught. If there is no church near you where God’s rightly divided Word is taught in all its clarity, continue to share the gospel with the lost and Pauline truth with the saved. The people with whom you share God’s guidance just might want to start meeting at your house to discuss it. And God has a word for such meetings—He calls it church (Rom. 16:5; I Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15; Philemon 1:2).

These references to churches that met in homes are especially significant when we remember how small the homes were in those days. There’s a reason the Lord had to send the apostles out to find a home large enough for twelve men to eat the Passover (Mark 14:12-16). Such rooms are not that uncommon today, but they were then! Thus Paul’s allusions to churches that met in those humble homes tells us that the smallest of gatherings is a church in God’s eyes, one that He will be pleased to call His house, the pillar and ground of the truth in your community.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

“I can understand why Romans 10:17 might say, ‘faith cometh by hearing the Word of God.’ Why does it rather say, ‘faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God’?”

It is sometimes taught that an unsaved sinner is so spiritually “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1) that he cannot even hear the Word of God in the gospel, let alone respond to it in faith. It is argued that if you go to a funeral and tell the deceased to rise up out of the coffin, he cannot even hear the words of your command, let alone respond to it. It is then argued from this that the Spirit must first regenerate a lost sinner so that he can hear the gospel and believe it.

While that sounds logical, the Lord Jesus gave a different explanation for how a sinner who is “dead in sins” is “quickened” (Eph. 2:5) when He said,

“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).

The Lord here asserts that His words “are spirit.” That is, His words have the spiritual power to raise a dead sinner from spiritual death. The Lord also taught that His words “are life.” Thus, if a sinner must be given life in order to be able to hear the gospel, then the Lord’s words are able to give a dead sinner all the life he needs to hear and respond to the gospel in faith.

This is why Romans 10:17 is worded in that manner. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, to be sure, but even the hearing comes by the Word.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1:2).

Dr. Tony Evans says this about eternity: “If we were to empty the Pacific Ocean, the largest body of water in the world, we’d be left with a hole that’s beyond imagination. If we were then to fill that hole with sand and make a pile as high as Mount Everest, we’d be talking about a lot of sand because Mount Everest is the tallest mountain peak in the world. Since the ocean is fairly deep and Mount Everest is fairly high, we’d have a fairly sizable sandpile! Now, if we had a bird that would take one grain of sand from that sandpile every 100 billion years, how long would it take the bird to finish the sandpile? I don’t know that in human language we have such a number. It is probably beyond numerical count. Whatever that number is, when the bird finishes the last grain of sand, you will have been in eternity your first second.”¹

It is glorious to think of spending eternity with Christ in heaven, but it’s also heartbreaking to think of those who will be in the lake of fire forever. Our faith rests on the sure hope of eternal life. We can live our lives for Christ confidently and courageously, knowing that nothing we do for the Lord is ever in vain (1 Cor. 15:58). We have certainty in what we believe. The “hope” Scripture holds out is not a hope-so hope. Our hope is a complete certainty, a confident expectation. It is a destiny.

Eternal life is both a present possession and a future hope. It doesn’t just begin when you die; we have it at conversion, the moment we trust Christ as our Savior. God is “eternal” (Deut. 33:27), and having “eternal” life means we have been given God’s life, which is Christ in us (Col. 1:27; 3:4). Our future hope of eternal life is in the sense that we confidently look forward to eternal life in its final, victorious form when we’ll be in our eternal home in heaven, having received our eternal, incorruptible, glorified bodies (2 Cor. 5:1), dwelling in Christ’s presence forever (1 Thes. 4:17).

All the truth of the Bible and the hope of eternal life is based in God Himself. Our faith is secure by virtue of God’s unchanging character and the fact that He cannot lie. God is Truth and free from all deceit (Deut. 32:4). Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man, that He should lie.” Hebrews 6:18 tells us it is “impossible for God to lie.” God’s character backs up our absolute hope of eternal life. If He said it, it’s true, He cannot lie, and it will happen.

From eternity past, “before the world began,” God promised what He was going to do for those who believed (2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2). God is a promise-keeping God. What He has said, He will do. You can place your soul’s eternal destiny in His hands, and you don’t need to be anxious about it. We can rest in Him because we can count on Him and on His character. When (not if) we find ourselves in heaven one day, we’ll praise Him saying, “The Lord was faithful, faithful to me, faithful to all His promises.”

Notes:

1. Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2009), p. 91.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

There was once a young man who stood in the shadow of a great leader. When that leader passed away, it fell to his young apprentice to pick up the reins of leadership. As he did so, he faced his circumstances with a certain amount of understandable doubts and fears. Then someone encouraged him, telling him to be strong and exhibit courage, because God would enable him. The leader was Moses, his apprentice was Joshua, and the encourager was the Lord Himself (Josh. 1:1-9).

God likewise challenges believers in the dispensation of grace to be strong. Paul told grace believers to “…quit you [or act manly] like men, be strong” (1 Cor. 16:13) and to “…be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might” (Eph. 6:10). We must not cower in fear nor surrender to Satan who is waging spiritual warfare against us. We must be strong!

We can do so by remembering God’s power is available to us. Paul prayed the saints would comprehend “…the exceeding greatness of His power [is available] to us-ward who believe” (Eph. 1:19). The Lord offers us His power, and wants us to have it. Believe it! God’s power is accessed “by His Spirit in the inner man” (Eph. 3:16). We can never triumph over Satan in our own strength, but we can when we allow God’s power to flow in our lives in our inner man. Nourish your inner “new man” in Christ!

Our inner man is empowered by equipping ourselves with “the whole armour of God” (Eph. 6:11). This can be summarized by choosing to have a consistent daily walk in truthfulness and righteous behavior as our standard (v. 14), being always prepared to give the gospel (v. 15), protecting our minds through faith in God’s Word (v. 16), living in the confidence of our eternal victory (v. 17a), using the Scriptures to slice through Satan’s lies (v. 17b), and being constant in prayer (v. 18). Be vigilant in clothing yourself with apparel that enables you to have victory in your daily life!

Paul’s admonition is “…and having done all to stand, stand therefore…” (Eph. 6:13-14). Have you done all you need to do to stand victorious today? Are you remembering God’s power is available to you? Have you been spiritually strengthening your inner man? Will you consistently equip your soul with the whole armour of God? Be strong believer! God will enable you if you look to Him for His power to overcome whatever you face today.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.