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Pastor’s Paraklesis: Keeping Alert

| January 10, 2000 | no comments

If we desire to be effective, we must be spiritually awake.

How do you and I guard against provision for the flesh? I think you already know the answers. Prayer; study the Word of God; hide the Word of God in our hearts. These may sound over simplified, yet they are so necessary. Solomon said something three millenniums ago which, I believe, can be applied to what I am thinking about as I write. He said, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep so shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man” (Proverbs 6:10-11 NKJV). When we slack in the areas that I just mentioned, it is like slumbering and sleeping, and that is when Satan will attack our minds.

So we need to be awake as never before. Be spiritually alert. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ in daily conduct and preparation. Jesus is coming soon! So then, make provision that will strengthen you to be the man or woman God purposed for you to be in the work of His kingdom.

 

PR

The word paraklesis has some rich meaning in the New Testament (see “parakaleo,” Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Abridged in One Volume), G. Bromiley, ed. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1985), especially p. 781). When it relates to the proclamation of salvation, exhorting men to be saved, it implies speaking in the name of God and in the power of the Spirit. In the sense that it is used here, paraklesis is exhortation and admonition. Paraklesis is an urgent entreaty that is neither critical nor polemical, but serious and has been infused with the power of the Spirit. With this in mind, this column is intended to bring a word of encouragement to pastors, ministers and all those in Christian leadership.

 

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Category: Ministry, Winter 2000

About the Author: Carl J. Halquist went home to be with his Lord on April 7, 2021. Retired in 2014, most recently he had served as the Senior and Visitation Pastor at Trinity Assembly of God in Mt. Morris, Michigan. In full-time ministry since 1964, Pastor Carl served Assemblies of God churches in California, Indiana, and Michigan and served as a Sectional Presbyter for the Assemblies of God, Michigan District for 5 years.

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