God's Hammer

Romans 8:13 - For if you live according to the [flesh], you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
2 Peter 3:17 - Be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.
1 Corinthians 15:58 - My dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.






"... the believer, to protect himself against deceit, has to fix in his mind the sinfulness of sin and the grace of God. The tools God has given you enable you to do that - when you swing God's hammer, the law of sin is flattened before you. On the other hand, precisely because these tools are so destructive, the flesh opposes them with all its wily strength. So we have to know not only how to use them, but how to keep from being tricked out of using them."

These great tools of the mind are meditation and private prayer. The meditation and prayer that Lundgaard is mentioning are designed specifically to ruin the flesh. In this meditation and prayer we compare our hearts to the Scriptures, comparing our lives to what we find there. We ponder the truth as it is in Jesus, to see his life formed in us.

Lundgaard mentions that, "... we never approach meditation and prayer like this until we keep three things in mind."

1. Meditate on God with God.

We must fill our minds with thoughts of God's character, glory, majesty, love, beauty, and goodness, but not abstractly and impersonally. We must also speak to God as we contemplate him, humbling our souls before him, adoring and admiring him, delighting in him and giving him glory. We must make our meditation into the worship of the psalmist:

O Lord, my Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:1)

2. Meditate on the Word in the Word

We should study the written Word to know the living Word. We should never study and pray without God's help. He is the one who revealed his truth, and only he can enlighten our minds to know it. We should ask him to open his mind and will to us, so that we may know him and love him more.

3. Meditate on your self in the Word and with God.

The power of this meditation and prayer lies in its ability to expose the secret workings of sin, what advantages the flesh has gotten over you, what temptations it has used with success, what harm it has already caused, and what harm it still plans. This prayer and meditation calls on the Spirit to use his Word to shine light into the cracks and crevices of our soul, to show us every real need and danger there.

God has given us a hammer that crushes the flesh.