A very interesting Bible study that you could do on your own would be to study through the prayers of the Apostle Paul. There are many prayers of Paul from Romans to 2 Timothy, and you find all his prayers were always for spiritual things. He never prayed that these people would become rich, that they would have good houses to live in or they would advance in their jobs. He never prayed for any of these material things. He always prayed for deep eternal spiritual things, because Paul was so gripped in his heart that everything on this earth was for a short period. It's like if you were taking a journey to Delhi and were going to settle down in Delhi for the next 50 years. Someone who is praying for you should not be spending most of his time praying for the train journey to Delhi, that you would have a comfortable time, and that you eat good food and wear good clothing in the train and sleep peacefully. He should be praying more that you should live in Delhi happily for a long time. So you see that our life on earth is only a short journey to eternity. Paul was praying that they would live on earth in such a way that when they got into eternity they would have no regrets.
In Col. 1:9, Apostle Paul prayed that they would be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. One translation of this verse says, "I am praying that you will look at things from God's point of view." To have an understanding of the knowledge of His will in all spiritual understanding and wisdom means that you will look at everything from God's point of view. When you think of your human body, don't listen to all that the philosophers in the world are saying, look at it from God's view point. Jesus came from a human body. So don't despise it. Look at everything in life from God's point of view. That's a good prayer to pray for ourselves. "Lord, help me to see everything that happens in my life, from Your viewpoint." How do I look at that particular circumstance that came into my life, that particular sickness, that thorn in the flesh, that person who is treating me badly? See it from God's viewpoint. Did it surprise God when that thing happened? It didn't surprise God. It did surprise me, because I am a human being limited by time and space. But God was not surprised, and when I move back or move up to God's viewpoint I find my heart comes to rest and many things on earth look very different. It's a very good prayer to pray.
If you can build a church where people have learned to look at things from God's viewpoint, you have got a spiritual church. You don't have a spiritual church just because you engage yourselves in a lot of evangelism and social activity. We have to learn to look at things from God's viewpoint, because it's only then (Col. 1:10) that we can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. You can never walk the way God wants you to walk unless you first of all have your mind looking at things from God's viewpoint.
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Zac Poonen ( - Present)
God called brother Zac Poonen to a new work early on in his Christian experience. The movement is now called Christian Fellowship Churches where the New Covenant of New Testament Christianity is clearly preached.Brother Zac Poonen has written 25 books most of them being on the deeper Christian life. Many of these have been translated into a number of languages and have been circulated widely around the world. He clearly and passionately shares the narrow way of Christian discipleship that is neglected by so many modern preachers.
Recommends these books by Zac Poonen:
Through The Bible by Zac Poonen
The Final Triumph-A verse by verse study of the book of Revelation by Zac Poonen
Beauty for Ashes by Zac Poonen
Zac Poonen is a former Indian Naval Officer who has been in full time ministry in India for nearly 50 years as a Bible teacher and preacher. He holds responsibility for a number of churches in India and abroad. He currently pastors the Christian Fellowship Church in Bangalore, Karnataka.
He has written more than 25 books and numerous articles in English - which have been translated into many Indian and foreign languages. His messages are available on audio and video format.
Like the other elders in his church, Zac Poonen also supports himself and his family through what he describes as "tent-making" and does not receive any salary for his services. He does not receive any royalties for any of his books, CDs or DVDs, that are published by Christian Fellowship Centre, Bangalore.