Our home sits on the south side of a little lake—and I do mean little. The lake is just a few acres in size and is owned and maintained by our neighborhood association. My home office looks out over the lake and as I work, I love to look out the window and occasionally daydream.
In the eight years we have lived here, I have watched countless times as dads have brought their children to the lake’s edge and begun the process of teaching them how to cast a line into the water. Casting is a skill that does require a little bit of learning. At first, very few are able to throw the baited hook very far out into the water. More often, after a mighty heave, it lands right in front of them and sometimes even behind them. Some of the children get frustrated and after a few tries with little or no success, they put the rod down and go do something else. Others keep trying and slowly the skill begins to take shape, and they begin dropping their hooks out into the water where the fish live.
The Bible teaches us that we need to learn a “casting” skill as we grow up in our relationship with Christ.
“Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).
“Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved” (Psalm 55:22).
I have to confess that I struggle with this. I find it difficult to release an anxiety, to put it over on Jesus; I’m better about it than I used to be but I still struggle with it. Does “casting our care on Him” mean that we just erase it from our mind? How can that be? Are we supposed to forget about the sick loved one, or the financial need that is pressing us for a solution? Is the Bible suggesting that we embrace an attitude of irresponsibility? I don’t think that’s what it means at all.
I believe the Bible is telling us to stop carrying the burden alone; put it down; don’t forget about it but stop obsessing about it and feeling that no one else is aware of what you are facing.
In his classic book, God’s Cure for Worry, Guy Mark Pearce tells the following story. Pearce was out driving on a hot summer day when he came across a woman walking beside the road, carrying a heavy basket. Pearce stopped and offered the woman a ride which she gratefully accepted. After the lady was seated, Pearce noticed that she continued to hold the heavy basket in her arms. “Your basket will ride just as well in the bottom of the carriage and you will be much more comfortable,” Pearce told her. The lady replied, “Thank you, I never thought of that.” Pearce continued to talk to the lady and encourage her by telling her that he too had carried loads unnecessarily when he could have put them down. And then he finished with the statement, “If the Lord is willing to carry me, He is willing to carry my worries.”
Casting is putting the whole of your life, not just the troubling issues, but everything in your life into His care.
One final insight. As in fishing, if you are going to do anything meaningful when you cast your line out into the water, you have to bait the hook. My suggestion is that before you try and “cast” that concern, treat it as “bait” and put a hook into it. Remind that troublesome concern what God’s promises have to say about it. Then set the hook by going back and reminding the concern, the “care,” two or three more times, saying aloud, “This is what the Bible says!”…and then quote the promise to it!
When you cast, the hook is what carries the concern away from you!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
THE GIFT
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Christmas can be a frustrating time of the year for many Christians. We know it’s our time and yet it has become so commercialized that sometimes a feeling of guilt gets in the way of celebrating the birth of Christ. We struggle with how to celebrate the birth of our Savior and not let the commercial aspects of Christmas cheapen the celebration. If that describes the way you feel, please know that you are not alone.
Yes, Christmas is our time of the year but one almost feels that the Christmas of today was dreamed up in a smoke-filled room deep inside a Madison Avenue advertising agency for the benefit of “retail establishments and the economy.” Just tonight, on the national NBC evening news, there was a segment on the changing of the wording from Christmas to Holiday Day. Some cities no longer have Christmas trees in the city square; instead, they have Holiday trees. It will always be Christmas, not Xmas, not Holiday Day—it will always be Christ’s birthday for me and if that is offensive to anyone, I really don’t care!
The very fact that you feel the slightest discomfort with the commercialized and secularized aspects of Christmas means you are on the right track.
We love to give gifts in our family and we do, in moderation, every year. But we have also chosen to keep Christ as the focus of Christmas and to give gifts and do things for people less fortunate than we are. One year, when our daughters were younger and we were living in Los Angeles, we spent Christmas Eve at the Fred Jordan Mission in downtown Los Angeles. Several of our friends and their families also went and together we spent the evening out in the streets with the homeless, giving out blankets (it was cold in L.A.) and hot food. It was a memorable evening for all of us from the suburbs as we got to share with people and distribute gifts, food and a brief witness for Christ. My wife and I still remember it and so do our children. Every year we give to others we have never met and probably never will; we try to “send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared!” (Nehemiah 8:10).
The apostle Paul never seemed to be at a loss for words about anything. He was, by far, the most prolific of the New Testament writers. Paul was well educated and in a wonderful freedom with words, he seemed to enjoy being able to describe the great doctrines of the faith in writing.
One of the absolute gems of Paul’s writings almost seems to be an afterthought, like it is in the wrong place. In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul spends the first 14 verses commending the Corinthians and encouraging and teaching them about giving. Then comes verse 15 and Paul drops into the teaching this absolute diamond: “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
Paul, of course, is describing the Father’s gift of love in sending His Son to earth. The Apostle goes on to say that the magnitude of the gift is not just breathtaking in scope but it leaves him speechless, incapable of adequately describing the meaning of “the gift.” The original word here translated “indescribable” means that words fail him, it is “unspeakable,” a gift beyond the description of mere words.
Two thousand years later the meaning of “the gift” is still being revealed in hundreds of millions of lives worldwide. It was as though by the eye of faith Paul saw that “the gift” would bring the touch of grace upon millions and millions of people over several thousand of years and the sheer magnitude and beauty of what would happen left him…speechless with gratitude. And then there was the understanding that “the gift” would be freely available to all who would receive it, and that makes it “priceless” and far beyond the capacity of human conversation to describe it.
Recipients of “the gift,” we wish you a Merry Christmas!
Christmas can be a frustrating time of the year for many Christians. We know it’s our time and yet it has become so commercialized that sometimes a feeling of guilt gets in the way of celebrating the birth of Christ. We struggle with how to celebrate the birth of our Savior and not let the commercial aspects of Christmas cheapen the celebration. If that describes the way you feel, please know that you are not alone.
Yes, Christmas is our time of the year but one almost feels that the Christmas of today was dreamed up in a smoke-filled room deep inside a Madison Avenue advertising agency for the benefit of “retail establishments and the economy.” Just tonight, on the national NBC evening news, there was a segment on the changing of the wording from Christmas to Holiday Day. Some cities no longer have Christmas trees in the city square; instead, they have Holiday trees. It will always be Christmas, not Xmas, not Holiday Day—it will always be Christ’s birthday for me and if that is offensive to anyone, I really don’t care!
The very fact that you feel the slightest discomfort with the commercialized and secularized aspects of Christmas means you are on the right track.
We love to give gifts in our family and we do, in moderation, every year. But we have also chosen to keep Christ as the focus of Christmas and to give gifts and do things for people less fortunate than we are. One year, when our daughters were younger and we were living in Los Angeles, we spent Christmas Eve at the Fred Jordan Mission in downtown Los Angeles. Several of our friends and their families also went and together we spent the evening out in the streets with the homeless, giving out blankets (it was cold in L.A.) and hot food. It was a memorable evening for all of us from the suburbs as we got to share with people and distribute gifts, food and a brief witness for Christ. My wife and I still remember it and so do our children. Every year we give to others we have never met and probably never will; we try to “send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared!” (Nehemiah 8:10).
The apostle Paul never seemed to be at a loss for words about anything. He was, by far, the most prolific of the New Testament writers. Paul was well educated and in a wonderful freedom with words, he seemed to enjoy being able to describe the great doctrines of the faith in writing.
One of the absolute gems of Paul’s writings almost seems to be an afterthought, like it is in the wrong place. In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul spends the first 14 verses commending the Corinthians and encouraging and teaching them about giving. Then comes verse 15 and Paul drops into the teaching this absolute diamond: “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
Paul, of course, is describing the Father’s gift of love in sending His Son to earth. The Apostle goes on to say that the magnitude of the gift is not just breathtaking in scope but it leaves him speechless, incapable of adequately describing the meaning of “the gift.” The original word here translated “indescribable” means that words fail him, it is “unspeakable,” a gift beyond the description of mere words.
Two thousand years later the meaning of “the gift” is still being revealed in hundreds of millions of lives worldwide. It was as though by the eye of faith Paul saw that “the gift” would bring the touch of grace upon millions and millions of people over several thousand of years and the sheer magnitude and beauty of what would happen left him…speechless with gratitude. And then there was the understanding that “the gift” would be freely available to all who would receive it, and that makes it “priceless” and far beyond the capacity of human conversation to describe it.
Recipients of “the gift,” we wish you a Merry Christmas!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
FINE-TUNING, PART 2
A few weeks ago I did a post on fine-tuning using Hebrews 12:1 as the basis of the teaching. Most of the focus in the earlier teaching was on taking some things off and putting others on so that we run the race with the best possible level of effectiveness.
I have been reminded over and over in my spirit that fine-tuning our lives is not a one-time event but a lifetime process. My first car was a 1949 Ford Coupe with a big V-8 engine. When I got my Ford in 1961, gas cost about 20 cents a gallon. The carburetors on those cars could be adjusted by hand and this was pre-electronic ignition system, so we would spend hours playing with the adjustment on the carburetors trying to get the engine to run a little better.
This is very much like the fine-tuning process of our devotional lives. Your devotional life, as I have written before, is what defines your life with God. Going to church, singing in the choir, paying your tithes, doing volunteer work, even witnessing is all anecdotal information. It is all interesting but it does not define who you are in your walk with God. How you live out your personal life with Him is defined by how you carry out your personal communication with Him, i.e. your devotional life.
Jesus says, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). Jesus is talking to fishermen, Peter and his brother Andrew, as He called them into His service. Jesus is speaking of the part He would play in assisting them to develop their potential as His followers. The word “make” is very rich and is loaded with meaning. It is the word that describes an author as he takes disconnected words and begins to work with them again and again until he completes a masterpiece of a story. It is the picture of a master craftsman who takes a pile of rough wood and works with it over and over until he has the beautiful piece of furniture that he had pictured in his mind.
I believe the Lord has three pictures of each of us in His view. The first is of us before our conversion. The second picture is of us as we are now, and the third is of us as we can become. It is the third picture that becomes His ideal as He works with us. The process of “making” is a cooperative work. He does not overwhelm our will; He certainly could but He doesn’t. Sometimes, of the three pictures before the Lord, the “then” picture and the “now” picture are virtually the same because of reluctance on our part to cooperate with Him.
The heart of every piano is the soundboard, the part that enables the piano “to speak” with rich and full tones. It is the soundboard that gives the piano its personality, its quality. A good soundboard cannot be made in a few minutes or even a few hours. For some concert pianos, the time needed to build a soundboard can be a year or longer.
The soundboard is made of separate pieces of wood that are carefully selected and glued together. After the gluing, the soundboard is allowed to dry and “season.” All along, the process is carefully monitored so that the moisture content of the wood that is to become the tonal heart of the piano is just right.
After the wood of the soundboard has dried and is seasoned just right, it has to be stretched. This stretching is what brings out the rich tones and quality. Stretching is achieved by bending or “crowning” the soundboard. Stretching is a result of pressure being carefully and consistently applied. If the wood is too dry, it will break and crack; too wet, and the wood fibers won’t have the necessary quality
When the soundboard is crafted properly, you have the possibility of a Steinway or a Yamaha. If it is done wrong…well, you get the picture.
Our Lord, His Father and the Holy Spirit are “master craftsmen” who are working with the third picture of you in view. It is the meticulous attention of the Master Craftsmen that brings His work of art to as near to perfection as He can get it and that is the Lord’s goal for each of us. He will mold us, He will stretch us so that we are brought to the place of maturity, and then our lives will “speak” with the richness and fullness of God.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
I have been reminded over and over in my spirit that fine-tuning our lives is not a one-time event but a lifetime process. My first car was a 1949 Ford Coupe with a big V-8 engine. When I got my Ford in 1961, gas cost about 20 cents a gallon. The carburetors on those cars could be adjusted by hand and this was pre-electronic ignition system, so we would spend hours playing with the adjustment on the carburetors trying to get the engine to run a little better.
This is very much like the fine-tuning process of our devotional lives. Your devotional life, as I have written before, is what defines your life with God. Going to church, singing in the choir, paying your tithes, doing volunteer work, even witnessing is all anecdotal information. It is all interesting but it does not define who you are in your walk with God. How you live out your personal life with Him is defined by how you carry out your personal communication with Him, i.e. your devotional life.
Jesus says, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). Jesus is talking to fishermen, Peter and his brother Andrew, as He called them into His service. Jesus is speaking of the part He would play in assisting them to develop their potential as His followers. The word “make” is very rich and is loaded with meaning. It is the word that describes an author as he takes disconnected words and begins to work with them again and again until he completes a masterpiece of a story. It is the picture of a master craftsman who takes a pile of rough wood and works with it over and over until he has the beautiful piece of furniture that he had pictured in his mind.
I believe the Lord has three pictures of each of us in His view. The first is of us before our conversion. The second picture is of us as we are now, and the third is of us as we can become. It is the third picture that becomes His ideal as He works with us. The process of “making” is a cooperative work. He does not overwhelm our will; He certainly could but He doesn’t. Sometimes, of the three pictures before the Lord, the “then” picture and the “now” picture are virtually the same because of reluctance on our part to cooperate with Him.
The heart of every piano is the soundboard, the part that enables the piano “to speak” with rich and full tones. It is the soundboard that gives the piano its personality, its quality. A good soundboard cannot be made in a few minutes or even a few hours. For some concert pianos, the time needed to build a soundboard can be a year or longer.
The soundboard is made of separate pieces of wood that are carefully selected and glued together. After the gluing, the soundboard is allowed to dry and “season.” All along, the process is carefully monitored so that the moisture content of the wood that is to become the tonal heart of the piano is just right.
After the wood of the soundboard has dried and is seasoned just right, it has to be stretched. This stretching is what brings out the rich tones and quality. Stretching is achieved by bending or “crowning” the soundboard. Stretching is a result of pressure being carefully and consistently applied. If the wood is too dry, it will break and crack; too wet, and the wood fibers won’t have the necessary quality
When the soundboard is crafted properly, you have the possibility of a Steinway or a Yamaha. If it is done wrong…well, you get the picture.
Our Lord, His Father and the Holy Spirit are “master craftsmen” who are working with the third picture of you in view. It is the meticulous attention of the Master Craftsmen that brings His work of art to as near to perfection as He can get it and that is the Lord’s goal for each of us. He will mold us, He will stretch us so that we are brought to the place of maturity, and then our lives will “speak” with the richness and fullness of God.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
DO NOT LOSE HEART!
I don’t often say this, but I believe the Lord has given me a very clear word for believers in these troubled moments.
I know you have been shocked as I have about the shootings at the churches in Colorado, and last week there was the senseless shooting at a mall in Omaha. It seems like no matter where you turn, there is violence and upheaval. The economy is in trouble over the mortgage woes. Oil prices are causing major problems as we all struggle to pay record prices for gasoline. The war on terrorism is bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan and seems like it will never end. The Middle East is a boiling cauldron. Major scandals have again rocked the church world, with priests and ministers being accused of child molestation, immorality with family members, and financial misdealings on multiple levels. It seems as though there is a crisis of some kind everywhere we turn.
Early yesterday morning, Sunday, December 9, God quickened a passage to my heart that is a challenging and strengthening word: Isaiah 7:1-9.
Here’s the story in a nutshell. Ahaz was the king of Judah (also known as the house of David), whose capital city was Jerusalem. The Jews were divided into two kingdoms at that time; Judah was the southern kingdom and Israel (also known as Ephraim) was the northern kingdom. Israel had formed an alliance with Syria (also known as Aram) and together they decided to march against and attack Judah and Jerusalem.
When Ahaz was informed that Syria and Israel had become allies and were moving against Judah, verse 2 says, “So the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.” Ahaz and his people were staggered at the thought of the military might and destruction that was about to be unleashed on them. Their world had been shaken and they were literally trembling with fear!
God spoke to the prophet Isaiah and told him to go and meet with Ahaz. Then He gave Isaiah a word for the king and the people. Here is the essence of the word of the Lord for Ahaz—and I believe it is for us, as well.
Verse 4: “Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two.”
· Be careful—Be wise and cautious about your life and how you lead it. There is a lot of wisdom available to God’s children through His Word and through prayer.
· Keep calm—Don’t panic when you hear of tumultuous things happening. God is still in charge.
· Don’t be afraid—Fear paralyzes us and instead of doing the right things, we do nothing; instead of praying and trusting, we whine and moan about how God has let us down. Don’t give in to the spirit of fear!
· Don’t lose heart—Don’t give up, don’t quit, no matter how difficult it looks. Don’t lose your heart to follow and trust God. Proverbs says we are to “guard our heart” (Proverbs 4:23). The heart is where quitting is birthed!
God said in verse 7: “What looks like total disaster for Judah will not take place, it will not happen!” Isaiah then prophetically lays out what is going to happen to the Syrians and to Israel. Within two years the leaders of both of the outlaw nations were dead and within 65 years Ephraim (the northern kingdom) was gone— it ceased to exist.
Isaiah finishes this word with this very potent statement that reaches across the centuries to where we are today. “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all” (Isaiah 7:9b NIV).
This is not the time to be putting your faith in anything but in Him. Faith in the church is not going to cut it; having faith in people is dangerous; having faith in pet doctrines about faith is dangerous. Our world is being shaken! Things we thought never would happen, are! People that we thought were trustworthy, aren’t. And because of all this, some are giving up; they have lost heart! God’s word to us is, “Don’t lose heart, stand firm in your faith!”
The cutting edge of this prophetic word is that “we must stand firm in our faith; we cannot cut and run. To cut and run exposes us to the attack of the enemy.”
“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal” (Isaiah 26:3-4 NIV).
I know you have been shocked as I have about the shootings at the churches in Colorado, and last week there was the senseless shooting at a mall in Omaha. It seems like no matter where you turn, there is violence and upheaval. The economy is in trouble over the mortgage woes. Oil prices are causing major problems as we all struggle to pay record prices for gasoline. The war on terrorism is bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan and seems like it will never end. The Middle East is a boiling cauldron. Major scandals have again rocked the church world, with priests and ministers being accused of child molestation, immorality with family members, and financial misdealings on multiple levels. It seems as though there is a crisis of some kind everywhere we turn.
Early yesterday morning, Sunday, December 9, God quickened a passage to my heart that is a challenging and strengthening word: Isaiah 7:1-9.
Here’s the story in a nutshell. Ahaz was the king of Judah (also known as the house of David), whose capital city was Jerusalem. The Jews were divided into two kingdoms at that time; Judah was the southern kingdom and Israel (also known as Ephraim) was the northern kingdom. Israel had formed an alliance with Syria (also known as Aram) and together they decided to march against and attack Judah and Jerusalem.
When Ahaz was informed that Syria and Israel had become allies and were moving against Judah, verse 2 says, “So the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.” Ahaz and his people were staggered at the thought of the military might and destruction that was about to be unleashed on them. Their world had been shaken and they were literally trembling with fear!
God spoke to the prophet Isaiah and told him to go and meet with Ahaz. Then He gave Isaiah a word for the king and the people. Here is the essence of the word of the Lord for Ahaz—and I believe it is for us, as well.
Verse 4: “Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two.”
· Be careful—Be wise and cautious about your life and how you lead it. There is a lot of wisdom available to God’s children through His Word and through prayer.
· Keep calm—Don’t panic when you hear of tumultuous things happening. God is still in charge.
· Don’t be afraid—Fear paralyzes us and instead of doing the right things, we do nothing; instead of praying and trusting, we whine and moan about how God has let us down. Don’t give in to the spirit of fear!
· Don’t lose heart—Don’t give up, don’t quit, no matter how difficult it looks. Don’t lose your heart to follow and trust God. Proverbs says we are to “guard our heart” (Proverbs 4:23). The heart is where quitting is birthed!
God said in verse 7: “What looks like total disaster for Judah will not take place, it will not happen!” Isaiah then prophetically lays out what is going to happen to the Syrians and to Israel. Within two years the leaders of both of the outlaw nations were dead and within 65 years Ephraim (the northern kingdom) was gone— it ceased to exist.
Isaiah finishes this word with this very potent statement that reaches across the centuries to where we are today. “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all” (Isaiah 7:9b NIV).
This is not the time to be putting your faith in anything but in Him. Faith in the church is not going to cut it; having faith in people is dangerous; having faith in pet doctrines about faith is dangerous. Our world is being shaken! Things we thought never would happen, are! People that we thought were trustworthy, aren’t. And because of all this, some are giving up; they have lost heart! God’s word to us is, “Don’t lose heart, stand firm in your faith!”
The cutting edge of this prophetic word is that “we must stand firm in our faith; we cannot cut and run. To cut and run exposes us to the attack of the enemy.”
“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal” (Isaiah 26:3-4 NIV).
Sunday, December 9, 2007
SAVE ME FROM THE LIONS
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (I Peter 5:8).
As a boy in Sunday school I was always amused by the lessons that were presented on the flannel-graph board. Some of you reading this don’t know what flannel-graph is; it is the low-tech teacher’s aid of the previous century. One of my favorite flannel-graph stories was “Daniel in the Lions’ Den.” Daniel’s friends had their “trial by fire” and Daniel somehow missed out on that adventure. So as not to let Daniel fall into a pit of insecurity and introspection, God let him have his own adventure but with lions instead of fire. In my Sunday school classroom, Daniel, his friends and the lions kept falling off the flannel-graph board and landing on the floor. We were a tough crowd and we were very amused when Daniel and his friends spiraled to the floor like helicopters.
In the 6th chapter of the book of Daniel, Daniel is promoted to be one of the three top leaders in King Darius’ kingdom. Daniel 6:3 explains that Daniel had “an excellent spirit in him” and the king was considering turning all the authority of the realm to him.
Daniel’s promotion and what the king was considering did not sit well with others in the government and they began to plot to discredit him. However, try as they would, they could not find fault with Daniel (6:4). The conspirators decided to try an end run and trick the king into signing a decree that would have Daniel destroyed. The conspiracy was this: The jealous bureaucrats went to the king and said, “All the leaders and counselors of the kingdom feel that no one should be allowed to pray to any god or man except you for thirty days. If anyone violates this law, then they should be thrown into a den of lions.” The flattered king signed the decree, not knowing he had been lied to and that he was sentencing his friend Daniel to death.
Daniel knew that an evil conspiracy had been formed against him and he had a choice to make. He could alter his lifestyle, stop praying forever, stop for a while, pray quietly in secret, or continue to do what he knew was right. The choice Daniel made says a lot about who this man was, the character and integrity of his life, and the importance he placed on his relationship with God.
Daniel changed nothing about his life. Upon hearing of the decree arranged by the conspirators, the Bible says that he went home and prayed and worshipped just as he had always done (6:10). Daniel was dragged before the brokenhearted king who I believe realized that he had been tricked into signing a decree that could not be changed. Daniel was thrown into the den of hungry lions, but not before the king said to Daniel, “Your God, He will deliver you” (6:16).
After a sleepless night, the king rushed to the lion pit. He knew what had happened when the three Hebrew children had been thrown into the fire and he seemed anxious to see if Daniel was okay. Darius shouted down into the pit, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God been able to deliver you?” Daniel shouted back, “My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths” (6:22).
What does a story like this have to do with us?
It is doubtful that any of us will ever have to face a pit full of hungry lions.
I think this story has more to do with the symbolic illustration that Peter presented in 1 Peter 5:8: “The devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
In Psalm 91:13 we read, “You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.”
The picture being presented here is that the lion and the snake are the challenges that will come at us as we walk out our journey of faith. In addition, this verse establishes our authority to use our walking shoes to tread on the devil and his emissaries.
The word “tread” has a richer and more vibrant meaning than just walking. It conveys the image of a warrior marching and literally trampling his enemy under his feet. It conveys the image of a potter trampling a lump of clay and mashing it down into a malleable mass that can then be built up into something useful.
King David understood and moved in this authority. Before David was ready to go into the Valley of Elah and face Goliath, he had to face a lion and a bear. As God gave David the victory over the lion and the bear, his faith began to grow. When he walked out to face Goliath, the testimony of God’s faithfulness to give him triumph over the lion was ringing loudly and clearly in his spirit.
We will not face many Goliaths in our life, but over and over we will face the challenges of life, the lions that God has given us the authority to tread upon because He has told them to be quiet. Psalm 22:21: “Rescue me from the mouth of the lions” (NIV). Also see Psalm 35:17.
Time to take a walk!
As a boy in Sunday school I was always amused by the lessons that were presented on the flannel-graph board. Some of you reading this don’t know what flannel-graph is; it is the low-tech teacher’s aid of the previous century. One of my favorite flannel-graph stories was “Daniel in the Lions’ Den.” Daniel’s friends had their “trial by fire” and Daniel somehow missed out on that adventure. So as not to let Daniel fall into a pit of insecurity and introspection, God let him have his own adventure but with lions instead of fire. In my Sunday school classroom, Daniel, his friends and the lions kept falling off the flannel-graph board and landing on the floor. We were a tough crowd and we were very amused when Daniel and his friends spiraled to the floor like helicopters.
In the 6th chapter of the book of Daniel, Daniel is promoted to be one of the three top leaders in King Darius’ kingdom. Daniel 6:3 explains that Daniel had “an excellent spirit in him” and the king was considering turning all the authority of the realm to him.
Daniel’s promotion and what the king was considering did not sit well with others in the government and they began to plot to discredit him. However, try as they would, they could not find fault with Daniel (6:4). The conspirators decided to try an end run and trick the king into signing a decree that would have Daniel destroyed. The conspiracy was this: The jealous bureaucrats went to the king and said, “All the leaders and counselors of the kingdom feel that no one should be allowed to pray to any god or man except you for thirty days. If anyone violates this law, then they should be thrown into a den of lions.” The flattered king signed the decree, not knowing he had been lied to and that he was sentencing his friend Daniel to death.
Daniel knew that an evil conspiracy had been formed against him and he had a choice to make. He could alter his lifestyle, stop praying forever, stop for a while, pray quietly in secret, or continue to do what he knew was right. The choice Daniel made says a lot about who this man was, the character and integrity of his life, and the importance he placed on his relationship with God.
Daniel changed nothing about his life. Upon hearing of the decree arranged by the conspirators, the Bible says that he went home and prayed and worshipped just as he had always done (6:10). Daniel was dragged before the brokenhearted king who I believe realized that he had been tricked into signing a decree that could not be changed. Daniel was thrown into the den of hungry lions, but not before the king said to Daniel, “Your God, He will deliver you” (6:16).
After a sleepless night, the king rushed to the lion pit. He knew what had happened when the three Hebrew children had been thrown into the fire and he seemed anxious to see if Daniel was okay. Darius shouted down into the pit, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God been able to deliver you?” Daniel shouted back, “My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths” (6:22).
What does a story like this have to do with us?
It is doubtful that any of us will ever have to face a pit full of hungry lions.
I think this story has more to do with the symbolic illustration that Peter presented in 1 Peter 5:8: “The devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
In Psalm 91:13 we read, “You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.”
The picture being presented here is that the lion and the snake are the challenges that will come at us as we walk out our journey of faith. In addition, this verse establishes our authority to use our walking shoes to tread on the devil and his emissaries.
The word “tread” has a richer and more vibrant meaning than just walking. It conveys the image of a warrior marching and literally trampling his enemy under his feet. It conveys the image of a potter trampling a lump of clay and mashing it down into a malleable mass that can then be built up into something useful.
King David understood and moved in this authority. Before David was ready to go into the Valley of Elah and face Goliath, he had to face a lion and a bear. As God gave David the victory over the lion and the bear, his faith began to grow. When he walked out to face Goliath, the testimony of God’s faithfulness to give him triumph over the lion was ringing loudly and clearly in his spirit.
We will not face many Goliaths in our life, but over and over we will face the challenges of life, the lions that God has given us the authority to tread upon because He has told them to be quiet. Psalm 22:21: “Rescue me from the mouth of the lions” (NIV). Also see Psalm 35:17.
Time to take a walk!
Saturday, December 1, 2007
FINE-TUNING
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1).
A few years ago I did a little hiking on a portion of the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina with my long-time friend, Bill Prather. As I attempted to prepare myself for the hiking, I was fascinated to discover that there is a subset of hikers who are minimalists— their whole approach to hiking is to go “ultra-light.” They are so consumed with not carrying any extra weight that they overlook no items. They carry only what they must and then they look for the very lightest version. If they need to carry an extra T-shirt, they cut the label out of the shirt; they cut off most of the handle from their spoon, fork and toothbrush; they cut the extra inches off their shoe laces…I think you get the idea of how consumed they are with saving weight. Some of the “ultra-lighters” have this motto: “If you take care of the ounces, the pounds take care of themselves.”
The writer to the Hebrews was an “ultra-lighter.” In the Scripture above, he was talking about removing anything that would slow us down or trip us up as we run the race of faith. I like to call this kind of attention to detail “fine-tuning.”
· In order to run his best race, every runner must fine-tune not only what he wears and how he runs (his stride, his breathing), but he must also try to bring his body and his mind to a state of preparation. Why? So that he can run the best possible race.
· Every instrument in the orchestra must be “fine-tuned” so that when the conductor raises his hand for the first note to be played, every instrument is in harmony. It is to be a symphony not a cacophony.
· A rifle has to be “sighted in” (fine-tuned) so that when it is called into use, it sends its bullet to the intended target. The rifle is not much good if it cannot hit the target while in the hands of a skilled marksman.
The Bible has a lot to say about “fine-tuning” and it is important that you know the definition; it means “to make small adjustments for optimal performance or effectiveness, to improve by pruning or polishing.”
Fine-tuning is a combination of God’s involvement in the development of our lives and our personal attention to issues that the Holy Spirit brings to our awareness.
“…every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:2).
“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in who he delights” (Proverbs 3:11-12).
The verb “correct” means to alter or to adjust. In these verses we see God’s heart of love for us; we see again that God delights in His children and as a loving Father, He works with us to bring us to the fullest potential possible. The best coaches are those that are firm but fair; they know when to praise and when to challenge.
But fine-tuning is not all God’s responsibility; a great portion of it is ours. As the writer to the Hebrews said, “Let us throw off everything that hinders.”
Colossians 3 is the “putting” chapter (to my Canadian buddies, the word is “putting” not “pudding”).
Verse 8 …put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language.
Verse 9 …put off the old man.
Our part of fine-tuning is not just getting rid of things that hinder; it is not complete unless we put on those things that help. Paul talks as much or more about “putting on” as he does about discarding those things that hinder.
Verse 10 …put on the new man.
Verse 11 …put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering.
Verse 14 …but above all these things, put on love.
Eric Liddell, 1924 Olympic champion, missionary to China and hero of the movie “Chariots of Fire,” once said, “I believe that God made me for a purpose…but he also made me fast, and when I run I feel His pleasure.”
Let us run and feel His pleasure!
A few years ago I did a little hiking on a portion of the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina with my long-time friend, Bill Prather. As I attempted to prepare myself for the hiking, I was fascinated to discover that there is a subset of hikers who are minimalists— their whole approach to hiking is to go “ultra-light.” They are so consumed with not carrying any extra weight that they overlook no items. They carry only what they must and then they look for the very lightest version. If they need to carry an extra T-shirt, they cut the label out of the shirt; they cut off most of the handle from their spoon, fork and toothbrush; they cut the extra inches off their shoe laces…I think you get the idea of how consumed they are with saving weight. Some of the “ultra-lighters” have this motto: “If you take care of the ounces, the pounds take care of themselves.”
The writer to the Hebrews was an “ultra-lighter.” In the Scripture above, he was talking about removing anything that would slow us down or trip us up as we run the race of faith. I like to call this kind of attention to detail “fine-tuning.”
· In order to run his best race, every runner must fine-tune not only what he wears and how he runs (his stride, his breathing), but he must also try to bring his body and his mind to a state of preparation. Why? So that he can run the best possible race.
· Every instrument in the orchestra must be “fine-tuned” so that when the conductor raises his hand for the first note to be played, every instrument is in harmony. It is to be a symphony not a cacophony.
· A rifle has to be “sighted in” (fine-tuned) so that when it is called into use, it sends its bullet to the intended target. The rifle is not much good if it cannot hit the target while in the hands of a skilled marksman.
The Bible has a lot to say about “fine-tuning” and it is important that you know the definition; it means “to make small adjustments for optimal performance or effectiveness, to improve by pruning or polishing.”
Fine-tuning is a combination of God’s involvement in the development of our lives and our personal attention to issues that the Holy Spirit brings to our awareness.
“…every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:2).
“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in who he delights” (Proverbs 3:11-12).
The verb “correct” means to alter or to adjust. In these verses we see God’s heart of love for us; we see again that God delights in His children and as a loving Father, He works with us to bring us to the fullest potential possible. The best coaches are those that are firm but fair; they know when to praise and when to challenge.
But fine-tuning is not all God’s responsibility; a great portion of it is ours. As the writer to the Hebrews said, “Let us throw off everything that hinders.”
Colossians 3 is the “putting” chapter (to my Canadian buddies, the word is “putting” not “pudding”).
Verse 8 …put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language.
Verse 9 …put off the old man.
Our part of fine-tuning is not just getting rid of things that hinder; it is not complete unless we put on those things that help. Paul talks as much or more about “putting on” as he does about discarding those things that hinder.
Verse 10 …put on the new man.
Verse 11 …put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering.
Verse 14 …but above all these things, put on love.
Eric Liddell, 1924 Olympic champion, missionary to China and hero of the movie “Chariots of Fire,” once said, “I believe that God made me for a purpose…but he also made me fast, and when I run I feel His pleasure.”
Let us run and feel His pleasure!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
SPEED BUMPS
I hate speed bumps!
You are cruising along, minding your own business, just under the speed of sound and bang—you hit a speed bump. Speed bumps are for kids, not for me—I’m a grown-up, for pity’s sake. I know what is considered a safe speed! (Here in the desolate reaches of North Dallas, some of the country folk in government in these communities actually have put out street signs saying, “Watch out for Speed Humps.” Go figure! Do these folk actually know what the word means? I’m not going to be the one to ‘esplain’ it to them…if you know what I mean.
I hate speed bumps in the street and parking lots and I used to dislike them in Scripture. I will be cruising along in my daily reading and bang, there will be a verse or a phrase that just catches me off guard. For a moment or several, I am bewildered and left with the nagging, intellectually challenging question, “What?” And then I catch my breath, my fragile sanity returns and I realize that my question should have been, “What did I just read?” I am then forced to back up, something I do not like to do in the car (because I tend to run into things when I go backwards) and besides, going backwards is not very spiritual. So full speed ahead!
Now that I have had some fun with the concept of “speed bumps,” let’s try to understand why some verses are just going to reach out and “rattle your wheels.”
I think there are at least three reasons why this happens. The first is, sometimes a verse has been brought into English in an awkward translation of the original. Somewhat like some of my sentences that leave you scratching your head and wondering, whatever could that mean? When this happens, it’s helpful to look at alternate translations. The second reason is that there is a cultural gap between when the passage was written and where we are today. This makes it difficult for us to grasp the import of what is said in the verse, and commentaries can be helpful here. The third reason is that the Holy Spirit is trying to teach you something out of that verse. It’s actually not a speed bump, it’s more like the teacher is slapping you on the back of the head and saying, “Pay attention.”
Mark 9:49 is one such verse that makes me go…“What?”
“For every one shall be salted with fire.”
I think one of the reasons I react to a verse like this is that it forces me to stop, to think and to investigate. And then I yell, “What?”
There are a variety of ways to deal with a verse like this, the meaning of which on the surface, at least to me, is elusive. One way is just to ignore it and pretend that it must have a deep, deep meaning, reserved just for the very spiritual, and being a shallow, shallow person, this argument lets me off the hook! Not very likely!
In trying to understand a Scripture like Mark 9:49, it is very important to look at the context of the verse. Is it part of a narrative or a dialog that extends over several verses before and after the “speed bump”? If it is a part of a narrative, what is the focus of what is being said? Don’t make the mistake of lifting the verse out of its context and trying to assign a meaning that may or may not be valid separate from the context.
It is also helpful to look at the meaning of the key words in the verse. You can use an online help like the Blue Letter Bible or the Bible Browser to check the meaning of the original words. I have listed below links that will take you to these Web sites. Also, you can go to different versions of the Scripture and see the translations. One of the Bibles I have in my library is The Word, and it draws from 26 translations and gives you the best eight or ten for each verse. This is a great resource (thanks, Mike Reed).
Commentaries are often very helpful in throwing light on difficult Scriptures. One thing I have learned about commentaries, however, is that if the passage is difficult for you to understand, it is often difficult for them, too, and sometimes their results are disappointing.
Now back to Mark 9:49.
I am not going to give you my understanding of this verse right now. I want you to read it, in context, and send me a comment with your understanding of what the verse means. I promise to publish all the comments that I receive on this verse. If I don’t publish yours, it’s because I don’t like you…just kidding! You can send a comment by clicking on the envelope, at the bottom of the article and sending me an e-mail. You can check to see when your comment is published by going back to the blog site and clicking on “Comments” at the bottom. Your comment won't go up immediately as it has to go before my committee for approval (just kidding).
Tell me what you think…let’s talk! In a week or so I will tell you what I think this verse is saying.
Here are the links:
Blue Letter Bible http://www.blueletterbible.org/
Bible Browser http://www.biblebrowser.com/
You are cruising along, minding your own business, just under the speed of sound and bang—you hit a speed bump. Speed bumps are for kids, not for me—I’m a grown-up, for pity’s sake. I know what is considered a safe speed! (Here in the desolate reaches of North Dallas, some of the country folk in government in these communities actually have put out street signs saying, “Watch out for Speed Humps.” Go figure! Do these folk actually know what the word means? I’m not going to be the one to ‘esplain’ it to them…if you know what I mean.
I hate speed bumps in the street and parking lots and I used to dislike them in Scripture. I will be cruising along in my daily reading and bang, there will be a verse or a phrase that just catches me off guard. For a moment or several, I am bewildered and left with the nagging, intellectually challenging question, “What?” And then I catch my breath, my fragile sanity returns and I realize that my question should have been, “What did I just read?” I am then forced to back up, something I do not like to do in the car (because I tend to run into things when I go backwards) and besides, going backwards is not very spiritual. So full speed ahead!
Now that I have had some fun with the concept of “speed bumps,” let’s try to understand why some verses are just going to reach out and “rattle your wheels.”
I think there are at least three reasons why this happens. The first is, sometimes a verse has been brought into English in an awkward translation of the original. Somewhat like some of my sentences that leave you scratching your head and wondering, whatever could that mean? When this happens, it’s helpful to look at alternate translations. The second reason is that there is a cultural gap between when the passage was written and where we are today. This makes it difficult for us to grasp the import of what is said in the verse, and commentaries can be helpful here. The third reason is that the Holy Spirit is trying to teach you something out of that verse. It’s actually not a speed bump, it’s more like the teacher is slapping you on the back of the head and saying, “Pay attention.”
Mark 9:49 is one such verse that makes me go…“What?”
“For every one shall be salted with fire.”
I think one of the reasons I react to a verse like this is that it forces me to stop, to think and to investigate. And then I yell, “What?”
There are a variety of ways to deal with a verse like this, the meaning of which on the surface, at least to me, is elusive. One way is just to ignore it and pretend that it must have a deep, deep meaning, reserved just for the very spiritual, and being a shallow, shallow person, this argument lets me off the hook! Not very likely!
In trying to understand a Scripture like Mark 9:49, it is very important to look at the context of the verse. Is it part of a narrative or a dialog that extends over several verses before and after the “speed bump”? If it is a part of a narrative, what is the focus of what is being said? Don’t make the mistake of lifting the verse out of its context and trying to assign a meaning that may or may not be valid separate from the context.
It is also helpful to look at the meaning of the key words in the verse. You can use an online help like the Blue Letter Bible or the Bible Browser to check the meaning of the original words. I have listed below links that will take you to these Web sites. Also, you can go to different versions of the Scripture and see the translations. One of the Bibles I have in my library is The Word, and it draws from 26 translations and gives you the best eight or ten for each verse. This is a great resource (thanks, Mike Reed).
Commentaries are often very helpful in throwing light on difficult Scriptures. One thing I have learned about commentaries, however, is that if the passage is difficult for you to understand, it is often difficult for them, too, and sometimes their results are disappointing.
Now back to Mark 9:49.
I am not going to give you my understanding of this verse right now. I want you to read it, in context, and send me a comment with your understanding of what the verse means. I promise to publish all the comments that I receive on this verse. If I don’t publish yours, it’s because I don’t like you…just kidding! You can send a comment by clicking on the envelope, at the bottom of the article and sending me an e-mail. You can check to see when your comment is published by going back to the blog site and clicking on “Comments” at the bottom. Your comment won't go up immediately as it has to go before my committee for approval (just kidding).
Tell me what you think…let’s talk! In a week or so I will tell you what I think this verse is saying.
Here are the links:
Blue Letter Bible http://www.blueletterbible.org/
Bible Browser http://www.biblebrowser.com/
Thursday, November 22, 2007
GIVING THANKS!
“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV).
It’s Thanksgiving morning and I am feeling very, very thankful. I wanted to share my thanks to the Lord so I’ve taken the last article, “The Ambush,” and put it in the archives for easy access. It is the first one listed and if you haven’t read it already, you really need to.
I have so much to be thankful for! One year ago yesterday, Carol and I were in Belgium where I had surgery on both hips because of extreme arthritis. The arthritis was slowly rendering me immobile. In September of last year an orthopedic specialist here told me that “in less than two years you will be in a wheelchair.” There were many days last year that I could not get out of the house because of the pain and discomfort.
After the doctor kind of verbally slapped some sense into me and I got my pride out of the way, I apologized in prayer to the Lord for my attitude and in person to my family for what I had put them through. I didn’t know exactly what to do but my repenting opened the floodgate of God’s wisdom and blessing and two months later on November 21, 2006, I had hip resurfacing surgery in Belgium.
I am not going to go into all that happened to get us to Belgium. There were amazing answers to prayer and God gave us favor all over the place. “The blessing of the Lord maketh one rich and he addeth no sorrow” (Proverbs 10:22). The final phrase in this verse means that blessing comes because of God’s grace not because of your toil.
I began walking, without pain, two days after the surgery and on the fourth day I started climbing stairs without pain. It was an amazing moment for me, to be walking without pain for the first time in about five years.
It is now a year later and thanks be to God, I have not had any pain in my hips or my knees for a year. If I weren’t a conservative Presbyterian, I would be up and dancing.
Not only am I deeply thankful to God for being free of the arthritis pain but there are so many other things I am thankful for—my wife, my children, my grandchildren, my family, my friends, living in this great country, knowing that God loves me beyond my capacity to understand. What more can I say? I AM THANKFUL!
Thanksgiving Day is, to a minor degree, about family, friends, fellowship, food and football but more importantly, Thanksgiving is about “giving thanks.”
On Tuesday morning I was doing some errands and went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. As I came out of the store I noticed that the Salvation Army Christmas kettle was there and something clicked in my spirit. I decided that this year I will not pass one of the kettles without putting something in. A part of being thankful is being willing to share.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!
It’s Thanksgiving morning and I am feeling very, very thankful. I wanted to share my thanks to the Lord so I’ve taken the last article, “The Ambush,” and put it in the archives for easy access. It is the first one listed and if you haven’t read it already, you really need to.
I have so much to be thankful for! One year ago yesterday, Carol and I were in Belgium where I had surgery on both hips because of extreme arthritis. The arthritis was slowly rendering me immobile. In September of last year an orthopedic specialist here told me that “in less than two years you will be in a wheelchair.” There were many days last year that I could not get out of the house because of the pain and discomfort.
After the doctor kind of verbally slapped some sense into me and I got my pride out of the way, I apologized in prayer to the Lord for my attitude and in person to my family for what I had put them through. I didn’t know exactly what to do but my repenting opened the floodgate of God’s wisdom and blessing and two months later on November 21, 2006, I had hip resurfacing surgery in Belgium.
I am not going to go into all that happened to get us to Belgium. There were amazing answers to prayer and God gave us favor all over the place. “The blessing of the Lord maketh one rich and he addeth no sorrow” (Proverbs 10:22). The final phrase in this verse means that blessing comes because of God’s grace not because of your toil.
I began walking, without pain, two days after the surgery and on the fourth day I started climbing stairs without pain. It was an amazing moment for me, to be walking without pain for the first time in about five years.
It is now a year later and thanks be to God, I have not had any pain in my hips or my knees for a year. If I weren’t a conservative Presbyterian, I would be up and dancing.
Not only am I deeply thankful to God for being free of the arthritis pain but there are so many other things I am thankful for—my wife, my children, my grandchildren, my family, my friends, living in this great country, knowing that God loves me beyond my capacity to understand. What more can I say? I AM THANKFUL!
Thanksgiving Day is, to a minor degree, about family, friends, fellowship, food and football but more importantly, Thanksgiving is about “giving thanks.”
On Tuesday morning I was doing some errands and went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. As I came out of the store I noticed that the Salvation Army Christmas kettle was there and something clicked in my spirit. I decided that this year I will not pass one of the kettles without putting something in. A part of being thankful is being willing to share.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
THE AMBUSH
I posted an article a few weeks ago on Acts 27 entitled “When All Hell Breaks Loose.” It’s in the archives (October 8, 2007) and might be worth reviewing.
The incident in Acts 28:3-5 takes place soon after Paul and friends are safe on the island of Malta. Paul and his friends had survived a terrible storm and shipwreck; it was winter and it was cold and raining! The islanders were providing food and shelter for the shipwrecked and Paul was involved in helping to arrange care for the survivors as they struggled to get dry, warm and out of the bad weather. As he reached down to pick up an armload of firewood, a small, poisonous snake, a viper, popped out from the stack of wood, struck Paul, and fastened itself on his hand.
Immediately the legalists, the Pharisees, said, “Oh, oh! This man has done something wrong; he has sin in his life; he is dead meat; he is being judged by God.” And then, as spectators, they stood by to watch him suffer and die. Pharisees love to watch people suffer.
Paul walked over to the fire and shook the snake off his hand and into the fire and suffered no ill effects.
What just happened and what does it mean to us?
This was not some random happening nor was it God’s judging Paul for “sin in his life.” This was a direct attack on Paul, an ambush, meant to try and silence him once and for all. The devil did not want Paul going to Rome. While the enemy did not know what Paul would do in Rome, he was very aware of what Paul had already done and he wanted no more of that. Paul had bludgeoned and severely crippled the enemy through his missionary travels, his teaching, and especially his writings. By this time Paul had already written the book of Romans, the Corinthian letters, the Thessalonian letters and Galatians. The enemy was sick of this and wanted to silence Paul.
The viper was an emissary of hell sent to ambush and severely hurt or destroy Paul. The apostle knew right away what was happening and how to respond. He knew what Jesus had taught the disciples to do when they were ambushed (see Mark 16:17-18).
Paul did not give in to panic, because he knew he was walking on solid ground in the authority of the Lord. He calmly walked to the fire and shook the snake into the fire and straight back to the place of its origin.
The enemy loves to use “ambush” on God’s people, to come at you when he thinks you are not looking and not ready. He does so to try and gain the upper hand and to disgrace and attempt to destroy God’s work in your life. It was on a rooftop that the devil surprised King David with a spirit of lust and David ended up in adultery. David should not have been there and was surprised by the sight of a bathing woman and was taken by lust.
When the viper fastened itself on Paul’s hand, I am sure there was a moment of surprise. Who wouldn’t be surprised if a snake jumped on you? But Paul immediately understood what was happening. Years earlier he had written to the Corinthians, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
The word “taken” as it is used here means to seize, to take by fraud, to possess or take by force. This is the picture of an ambush when suddenly by deception and surprise the enemy tries to overwhelm its victim. But God says, “I have given you the tools to deal with any eventuality; you can handle this, you can triumph!”
And so when the enemy struck, while Paul may have been momentarily surprised, he knew exactly what to do
He did not go to pieces and run screaming into the night.
He did not throw himself on the ground and begin to confess sin and cry out for mercy.
He knew he was on solid ground with the Lord; he knew that Christ’s death on Calvary had established forever our authority in Him. He knew that the enemy was trying to spoil God’s plan. Deep in his heart he knew what lay ahead, what letters he still had to write, what churches he needed to strengthen, and that God was not finished with him yet. I believe the words of the Lord echoed in Paul’s mind, “They will take up serpents; and if they handle anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them.” I think Paul looked down at the snake fastened on his hand and said to the snake, “I have a surprise for you, too,” and then shook the snake off his hand and into the fire.
How do you handle an ambush?
The incident in Acts 28:3-5 takes place soon after Paul and friends are safe on the island of Malta. Paul and his friends had survived a terrible storm and shipwreck; it was winter and it was cold and raining! The islanders were providing food and shelter for the shipwrecked and Paul was involved in helping to arrange care for the survivors as they struggled to get dry, warm and out of the bad weather. As he reached down to pick up an armload of firewood, a small, poisonous snake, a viper, popped out from the stack of wood, struck Paul, and fastened itself on his hand.
Immediately the legalists, the Pharisees, said, “Oh, oh! This man has done something wrong; he has sin in his life; he is dead meat; he is being judged by God.” And then, as spectators, they stood by to watch him suffer and die. Pharisees love to watch people suffer.
Paul walked over to the fire and shook the snake off his hand and into the fire and suffered no ill effects.
What just happened and what does it mean to us?
This was not some random happening nor was it God’s judging Paul for “sin in his life.” This was a direct attack on Paul, an ambush, meant to try and silence him once and for all. The devil did not want Paul going to Rome. While the enemy did not know what Paul would do in Rome, he was very aware of what Paul had already done and he wanted no more of that. Paul had bludgeoned and severely crippled the enemy through his missionary travels, his teaching, and especially his writings. By this time Paul had already written the book of Romans, the Corinthian letters, the Thessalonian letters and Galatians. The enemy was sick of this and wanted to silence Paul.
The viper was an emissary of hell sent to ambush and severely hurt or destroy Paul. The apostle knew right away what was happening and how to respond. He knew what Jesus had taught the disciples to do when they were ambushed (see Mark 16:17-18).
Paul did not give in to panic, because he knew he was walking on solid ground in the authority of the Lord. He calmly walked to the fire and shook the snake into the fire and straight back to the place of its origin.
The enemy loves to use “ambush” on God’s people, to come at you when he thinks you are not looking and not ready. He does so to try and gain the upper hand and to disgrace and attempt to destroy God’s work in your life. It was on a rooftop that the devil surprised King David with a spirit of lust and David ended up in adultery. David should not have been there and was surprised by the sight of a bathing woman and was taken by lust.
When the viper fastened itself on Paul’s hand, I am sure there was a moment of surprise. Who wouldn’t be surprised if a snake jumped on you? But Paul immediately understood what was happening. Years earlier he had written to the Corinthians, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
The word “taken” as it is used here means to seize, to take by fraud, to possess or take by force. This is the picture of an ambush when suddenly by deception and surprise the enemy tries to overwhelm its victim. But God says, “I have given you the tools to deal with any eventuality; you can handle this, you can triumph!”
And so when the enemy struck, while Paul may have been momentarily surprised, he knew exactly what to do
He did not go to pieces and run screaming into the night.
He did not throw himself on the ground and begin to confess sin and cry out for mercy.
He knew he was on solid ground with the Lord; he knew that Christ’s death on Calvary had established forever our authority in Him. He knew that the enemy was trying to spoil God’s plan. Deep in his heart he knew what lay ahead, what letters he still had to write, what churches he needed to strengthen, and that God was not finished with him yet. I believe the words of the Lord echoed in Paul’s mind, “They will take up serpents; and if they handle anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them.” I think Paul looked down at the snake fastened on his hand and said to the snake, “I have a surprise for you, too,” and then shook the snake off his hand and into the fire.
How do you handle an ambush?
Sunday, November 11, 2007
DEFINING THE DEVOTIONAL LIFE!
How do you define a marriage? By the number of children produced? The length of the marriage? The estate of the married couple? What do you think? Maybe the number of friends or perhaps the size of their house?
I think not, to any of the above. The exteriors of marriage are simply interesting anecdotal information. The heart of a marriage is the personal relationship between the husband and the wife. Some of the best marriages I have ever seen are between people who have little of this life’s “stuff” but they are in love, they communicate clearly, they have weathered some difficult circumstances and they are happy in each other’s presence. Some of the worst marriages I have ever seen involve people who are wealthy, they barely tolerate each other,they barely communicate and can hardly wait to go out and do something that does not involve their spouse. They seemingly have everything but they actually have nothing much.
How do we define our walk with God? Is the smiling, Scripture-quoting, endlessly positive, ever chipper nuisance that you see at church all the time actually the real deal? I don’t know that and neither do you. The definition of the person who really walks with God is simple and yet it is hidden. I’ll explain what I mean in just a moment.
The definition of our personal walk with God requires an answer that only you can give. You don’t owe that answer to anybody; it’s just for you and, of course, God. The one issue that defines our walk with God is our devotional life. In marriage, the issue is defined by the relationship between the two involved (a man and a woman, I mean; let there be no mistake about that in my definition). In our spiritual journey, the defining issue is our relationship with the Father. The marriage relationship has an uncanny similarity to our devotional relationship with our Heavenly Father.
In marriage the husband and wife do not exchange their vows, give each other a ring, kiss, and then move to separate parts of the world. For argument’s sake, let’s have the husband move to Iceland right after the marriage ceremony and the wife to Australia. Once in a while they exchange letters, e-mails and (be still my heart) they actually talk to each other on the phone, but only once in a long while. Now I ask you, is that really a marriage? In name only is it a marriage, but there will be no fruit from this arrangement.
But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh”(Mark 10:6-8).
The communication of the partners in marriage finds its fulfillment in the consummation of physical intimacy…they become one flesh. And so it is in the spiritual realm; our communication is fulfilled in the intimate relationship that we have with the Father.
I believe the devotional life is so important that the enemy attacks us there as much or more than he does anywhere else. If the enemy can derail your devotional life, he will cripple your growth and spiritual vitality and render you spiritually impotent!
It is one thing to say that God is a master craftsman and He will make me into a beautiful instrument. The fact is that some are so spiritually passive that they never do anything to cooperate with God. They never take the time to fine-tune their spiritual life, they just stumble along with no real vibrancy in their intimate life with God. If you are not willing to work at your devotional life, then what you are really saying is, “God doesn’t have all of me, I’m just too busy and way too cool for that old-fashioned stuff.” You limit God’s ability to work in your life…yes, that’s what I said, You limit God’s ability to work in your life!
To all my married friends. Men, do you ever do something special for your spouse, buy her something she wasn’t expecting, take her out to dinner on the spur of the moment, tell her how much she means to you after all these years? Do you ever just do things for your wife like vacuuming or doing the dishes or (I know I’m going to get into trouble on this one) dusting? If you don’t, you should and you should start today. Your greatest reward will be the smile on your wife’s face!
How about surprising God by spending a little more time than usual in His presence? You could really shock Him by going on a fast for more than three hours (that’s about as long as Missourians and Canadians can go without a feeding). You could surprise and shock Him by making a special love gift (I’m talking money here) to a ministry or a needy person and doing it in the name of the Lord. Or a random act of kindness because you know that’s the kind of thing Jesus did. No one else ever needs to know about the “special” things you do in your relationship with the Lord, but He will know and He will smile!
One final thought for today. We are seeing an avalanche of broken marriages in and out of the church. The divorce courts are jammed with people ending their covenant of marriage. What is this saying to us about the spiritual condition of the church when we are told that at least 50 percent of Christians will go through a divorce? I would love to hear some of your thoughts on this. Drop me a comment by clicking on the envelope at the bottom right corner of the article.
I think not, to any of the above. The exteriors of marriage are simply interesting anecdotal information. The heart of a marriage is the personal relationship between the husband and the wife. Some of the best marriages I have ever seen are between people who have little of this life’s “stuff” but they are in love, they communicate clearly, they have weathered some difficult circumstances and they are happy in each other’s presence. Some of the worst marriages I have ever seen involve people who are wealthy, they barely tolerate each other,they barely communicate and can hardly wait to go out and do something that does not involve their spouse. They seemingly have everything but they actually have nothing much.
How do we define our walk with God? Is the smiling, Scripture-quoting, endlessly positive, ever chipper nuisance that you see at church all the time actually the real deal? I don’t know that and neither do you. The definition of the person who really walks with God is simple and yet it is hidden. I’ll explain what I mean in just a moment.
The definition of our personal walk with God requires an answer that only you can give. You don’t owe that answer to anybody; it’s just for you and, of course, God. The one issue that defines our walk with God is our devotional life. In marriage, the issue is defined by the relationship between the two involved (a man and a woman, I mean; let there be no mistake about that in my definition). In our spiritual journey, the defining issue is our relationship with the Father. The marriage relationship has an uncanny similarity to our devotional relationship with our Heavenly Father.
In marriage the husband and wife do not exchange their vows, give each other a ring, kiss, and then move to separate parts of the world. For argument’s sake, let’s have the husband move to Iceland right after the marriage ceremony and the wife to Australia. Once in a while they exchange letters, e-mails and (be still my heart) they actually talk to each other on the phone, but only once in a long while. Now I ask you, is that really a marriage? In name only is it a marriage, but there will be no fruit from this arrangement.
But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh”(Mark 10:6-8).
The communication of the partners in marriage finds its fulfillment in the consummation of physical intimacy…they become one flesh. And so it is in the spiritual realm; our communication is fulfilled in the intimate relationship that we have with the Father.
I believe the devotional life is so important that the enemy attacks us there as much or more than he does anywhere else. If the enemy can derail your devotional life, he will cripple your growth and spiritual vitality and render you spiritually impotent!
It is one thing to say that God is a master craftsman and He will make me into a beautiful instrument. The fact is that some are so spiritually passive that they never do anything to cooperate with God. They never take the time to fine-tune their spiritual life, they just stumble along with no real vibrancy in their intimate life with God. If you are not willing to work at your devotional life, then what you are really saying is, “God doesn’t have all of me, I’m just too busy and way too cool for that old-fashioned stuff.” You limit God’s ability to work in your life…yes, that’s what I said, You limit God’s ability to work in your life!
To all my married friends. Men, do you ever do something special for your spouse, buy her something she wasn’t expecting, take her out to dinner on the spur of the moment, tell her how much she means to you after all these years? Do you ever just do things for your wife like vacuuming or doing the dishes or (I know I’m going to get into trouble on this one) dusting? If you don’t, you should and you should start today. Your greatest reward will be the smile on your wife’s face!
How about surprising God by spending a little more time than usual in His presence? You could really shock Him by going on a fast for more than three hours (that’s about as long as Missourians and Canadians can go without a feeding). You could surprise and shock Him by making a special love gift (I’m talking money here) to a ministry or a needy person and doing it in the name of the Lord. Or a random act of kindness because you know that’s the kind of thing Jesus did. No one else ever needs to know about the “special” things you do in your relationship with the Lord, but He will know and He will smile!
One final thought for today. We are seeing an avalanche of broken marriages in and out of the church. The divorce courts are jammed with people ending their covenant of marriage. What is this saying to us about the spiritual condition of the church when we are told that at least 50 percent of Christians will go through a divorce? I would love to hear some of your thoughts on this. Drop me a comment by clicking on the envelope at the bottom right corner of the article.
Monday, November 5, 2007
REDACTIVE CHRISTIANS?
Yes, that’s what I said—“redactive Christians.” (For my family and friends in Arizona, no, I did not say “radioactive”—that’s what you get for living in the sun and dry heat of the desert too long!)
Have you ever been watching a TV news program and they show a document that has been “declassified”? Or they show a document that had to be requested under the Freedom of Information Act? Often when they show these formally sensitive documents, there are heavy black lines obscuring whole sections in the document that were deemed “sensitive” by the government and, therefore, the document had been “redacted.” The term means “to select or adapt by obscuring or removing sensitive information.” The government redacts documents to protect national security and most likely to keep themselves out of jail!
In evangelical Christian circles, we don’t ever admit to being redactive with Scripture. Instead, believers talk about their great love for the Book—while they only read parts of it and build whole doctrines on Scriptures that are taken out of context. I have friends who only read the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs! These friends never suggest that the “other portions of Scripture” are not valuable; they just act as though those portions have no meaning for us in all our contemporary enlightenment. We even have Bible publishers who print and publicize New Testaments (with Psalms and Proverbs) because in their estimation that’s where “the action” is!
Another bad habit in our personal study of Scripture is mentally dismissing certain portions as being of little or no value to us. I have been guilty of doing this very thing. There are whole books of the Bible or large portions of books that I have tried to avoid because I was either not interested in the subject matter, it was difficult to understand or, frankly, because I found sections of it boring. As a consequence, I “redacted” Scripture. No, I didn’t break out the black marker, at least not so you could see it. But I broke the marker out in my mind by dismissing entire passages. I have never really cared for the prophetic passages in the book of Daniel. My interest was in understanding how Daniel could be a victorious believer in a very hostile environment. I have been guilty of being selective by rushing past or completely skipping the prophesies of Daniel.
Was I wrong? Yes I was! Is being selective, redactive, wrong? Yes, it is, and I will tell you why. When we say that certain portions of Scripture are not meaningful for us, we are admitting several things. First we are admitting that we do not fully trust God and how He would work in us. Second, we are suggesting that we know better than He does what we need to succeed as victorious believers and, therefore, we are demeaning the character and integrity of our Heavenly Father. Sadly, when I selectively approach Scripture, I limit Scripture’s ability to work effectively in me (see 1 Thessalonians 2:13).
The Holy Spirit used two Scriptures to get me straight on this issue.
“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4, New King James).
As much as I don’t like to admit it, there are truths that the Holy Spirit will bring alive to me in Leviticus, Deuteronomy and the Minor Prophets if only I will stop being so thickheaded. When Paul wrote these words, there was no New Testament as we know it; he was referring to what we know as the Old Testament. Paul asserts that the entire Old Testament was written for us to learn from, to be instructed from. When we dismiss the Old Testament as being irrelevant to us, we are short-circuiting our own spiritual growth.
“Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him” (Proverbs 30:5).
The word pure means to be refined, the way gold is refined by intense heat that removes the impurities. The Word is not God’s babbling, like some of us do when we get on the phone with a friend. The Word is an extremely refined and purified product that will bring results if we let it! When I redact Scripture, either intentionally or subconsciously, I am showing my distrust of God! When I redact Scripture, I limit God’s ability to protect me from the onslaught of the enemy and from the pressures of life. When I redact Scripture, I reduce the ability of Scripture to change me. It’s like dialing a rheostat back from the setting of potent to semi-potent. Dial the rheostat back far enough and you will get to impotent!
It’s time to lay down the mental marker and redial the Bible rheostat back up from “selected parts” to “all.”
Have you ever been watching a TV news program and they show a document that has been “declassified”? Or they show a document that had to be requested under the Freedom of Information Act? Often when they show these formally sensitive documents, there are heavy black lines obscuring whole sections in the document that were deemed “sensitive” by the government and, therefore, the document had been “redacted.” The term means “to select or adapt by obscuring or removing sensitive information.” The government redacts documents to protect national security and most likely to keep themselves out of jail!
In evangelical Christian circles, we don’t ever admit to being redactive with Scripture. Instead, believers talk about their great love for the Book—while they only read parts of it and build whole doctrines on Scriptures that are taken out of context. I have friends who only read the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs! These friends never suggest that the “other portions of Scripture” are not valuable; they just act as though those portions have no meaning for us in all our contemporary enlightenment. We even have Bible publishers who print and publicize New Testaments (with Psalms and Proverbs) because in their estimation that’s where “the action” is!
Another bad habit in our personal study of Scripture is mentally dismissing certain portions as being of little or no value to us. I have been guilty of doing this very thing. There are whole books of the Bible or large portions of books that I have tried to avoid because I was either not interested in the subject matter, it was difficult to understand or, frankly, because I found sections of it boring. As a consequence, I “redacted” Scripture. No, I didn’t break out the black marker, at least not so you could see it. But I broke the marker out in my mind by dismissing entire passages. I have never really cared for the prophetic passages in the book of Daniel. My interest was in understanding how Daniel could be a victorious believer in a very hostile environment. I have been guilty of being selective by rushing past or completely skipping the prophesies of Daniel.
Was I wrong? Yes I was! Is being selective, redactive, wrong? Yes, it is, and I will tell you why. When we say that certain portions of Scripture are not meaningful for us, we are admitting several things. First we are admitting that we do not fully trust God and how He would work in us. Second, we are suggesting that we know better than He does what we need to succeed as victorious believers and, therefore, we are demeaning the character and integrity of our Heavenly Father. Sadly, when I selectively approach Scripture, I limit Scripture’s ability to work effectively in me (see 1 Thessalonians 2:13).
The Holy Spirit used two Scriptures to get me straight on this issue.
“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4, New King James).
As much as I don’t like to admit it, there are truths that the Holy Spirit will bring alive to me in Leviticus, Deuteronomy and the Minor Prophets if only I will stop being so thickheaded. When Paul wrote these words, there was no New Testament as we know it; he was referring to what we know as the Old Testament. Paul asserts that the entire Old Testament was written for us to learn from, to be instructed from. When we dismiss the Old Testament as being irrelevant to us, we are short-circuiting our own spiritual growth.
“Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him” (Proverbs 30:5).
The word pure means to be refined, the way gold is refined by intense heat that removes the impurities. The Word is not God’s babbling, like some of us do when we get on the phone with a friend. The Word is an extremely refined and purified product that will bring results if we let it! When I redact Scripture, either intentionally or subconsciously, I am showing my distrust of God! When I redact Scripture, I limit God’s ability to protect me from the onslaught of the enemy and from the pressures of life. When I redact Scripture, I reduce the ability of Scripture to change me. It’s like dialing a rheostat back from the setting of potent to semi-potent. Dial the rheostat back far enough and you will get to impotent!
It’s time to lay down the mental marker and redial the Bible rheostat back up from “selected parts” to “all.”
Monday, October 29, 2007
THUNDERING FEET
What mental image do the words “thundering feet” bring to mind? Maybe you think of hundreds of soldiers marching in unison across a parade ground, each step sounding like “thunder.” Perhaps it’s a picture of the beautiful and huge Clydesdale horses as a team of six pulls a wagon on a snowy, wintry night. Or maybe it’s a picture from a western movie as a gang of bad guys rides through the night to attack the remote home of the “good guy” rancher.
In 2 Kings 7 we see another picture of “thundering feet.” The king of Aram, Ben-hadad, had laid siege to Israel in the city of Samaria. Trapped in the city was the royal household of Israel and the prophet Elisha. The Arameans had cut off all food supplies and the situation was getting desperate; the people of the city were resorting to increasingly terrible and uncivil behavior.
Just when things were at their very worst, the unexpected happened and the massive army of the Arameans fled. Verses 6 and 7 say: “For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army; so they said to one another, Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us! Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact—their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—and they fled for their lives.”
The Arameans (Syrians) had been frightened by the “thundering feet” of what they thought was an approaching army. The noise was so deafening that terror gripped the Aramean soldiers and they fled, leaving their equipment, weapons, food, clothes and animals. The “thundering feet” of the approaching army had overwhelmed them and they went AWOL.
Now let’s rewind the tape and see what really happened. Remember, there is a famine in the besieged city of Samaria. The people of the city are behaving badly. Out by the main gate of the city four men are dying with leprosy and they agreed among themselves, “If we go into the city, we will die and if we stay here and do nothing, we will die. Let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender; the worst thing that can happen to us is that we will die. Maybe they will take pity on us and spare us and give us a little to eat. So what do we have to lose? Nothing! Let’s go!”
It wasn’t a great army that caused the Arameans to flee, it was the shuffling footsteps of four sick and dying lepers walking across the desert sand. How does God take the muted footsteps of four men who are sick and hardly walking and make it sound like the terrifying march of thousands of armor-clad warriors ready for battle? How does God do that? I don’t have a clue. Heaven’s technical abilities are far beyond anything any of us can understand. I just know that God can do things like that.
The “thundering feet” of the lepers became the point of deliverance for all of Israel. When the lepers discovered that the enemy had fled, they began to plunder the tents and supplies of the encampment. It wasn’t long before the lepers realized that what they were doing was not right and they said, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent” (2 Kings 7:9).
The lepers rushed back to the city as fast as their shuffling feet and sick bodies would take them and reported the good news. After some initial disbelief, the people of the city came out and joined in the plundering. In one day they had gone from “The cupboard is bare and I may eat your left leg today” to “It’s party time!”
Today is a day of good news for us. God loves to confound our enemies and that’s good news. I call what happened with the four lepers “the confounding effect.” I base this on 1 Corinthians 1:27: “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.”
Our acts of obedience and steps of faith are the fuel that releases the “confounding effect.”
In Joshua 6, the children of Israel were confronted with the impenetrable walls of the city of Jericho and the haughty arrogance of the people of the city. But God gave them instructions and under Joshua’s leadership, the children of Israel followed them exactly and released the “confounding effect” on Jericho.
For seven days the children of Israel marched around the city of Jericho. One time each day they marched and said nothing. On the seventh day, they were instructed to march seven times around the city and at the end of the march to break their silence by shouting. What did their marching do to the walls? Nothing! What did their shouting do to the walls? Nothing! But their obedience and faith did; it released the thunder of God’s “confounding ” and down came the walls.
Our acts of obedience and steps of faith are the fuel that releases the “confounding” to work on our behalf.
In 2 Kings 7 we see another picture of “thundering feet.” The king of Aram, Ben-hadad, had laid siege to Israel in the city of Samaria. Trapped in the city was the royal household of Israel and the prophet Elisha. The Arameans had cut off all food supplies and the situation was getting desperate; the people of the city were resorting to increasingly terrible and uncivil behavior.
Just when things were at their very worst, the unexpected happened and the massive army of the Arameans fled. Verses 6 and 7 say: “For the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army; so they said to one another, Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us! Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact—their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—and they fled for their lives.”
The Arameans (Syrians) had been frightened by the “thundering feet” of what they thought was an approaching army. The noise was so deafening that terror gripped the Aramean soldiers and they fled, leaving their equipment, weapons, food, clothes and animals. The “thundering feet” of the approaching army had overwhelmed them and they went AWOL.
Now let’s rewind the tape and see what really happened. Remember, there is a famine in the besieged city of Samaria. The people of the city are behaving badly. Out by the main gate of the city four men are dying with leprosy and they agreed among themselves, “If we go into the city, we will die and if we stay here and do nothing, we will die. Let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender; the worst thing that can happen to us is that we will die. Maybe they will take pity on us and spare us and give us a little to eat. So what do we have to lose? Nothing! Let’s go!”
It wasn’t a great army that caused the Arameans to flee, it was the shuffling footsteps of four sick and dying lepers walking across the desert sand. How does God take the muted footsteps of four men who are sick and hardly walking and make it sound like the terrifying march of thousands of armor-clad warriors ready for battle? How does God do that? I don’t have a clue. Heaven’s technical abilities are far beyond anything any of us can understand. I just know that God can do things like that.
The “thundering feet” of the lepers became the point of deliverance for all of Israel. When the lepers discovered that the enemy had fled, they began to plunder the tents and supplies of the encampment. It wasn’t long before the lepers realized that what they were doing was not right and they said, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent” (2 Kings 7:9).
The lepers rushed back to the city as fast as their shuffling feet and sick bodies would take them and reported the good news. After some initial disbelief, the people of the city came out and joined in the plundering. In one day they had gone from “The cupboard is bare and I may eat your left leg today” to “It’s party time!”
Today is a day of good news for us. God loves to confound our enemies and that’s good news. I call what happened with the four lepers “the confounding effect.” I base this on 1 Corinthians 1:27: “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.”
Our acts of obedience and steps of faith are the fuel that releases the “confounding effect.”
In Joshua 6, the children of Israel were confronted with the impenetrable walls of the city of Jericho and the haughty arrogance of the people of the city. But God gave them instructions and under Joshua’s leadership, the children of Israel followed them exactly and released the “confounding effect” on Jericho.
For seven days the children of Israel marched around the city of Jericho. One time each day they marched and said nothing. On the seventh day, they were instructed to march seven times around the city and at the end of the march to break their silence by shouting. What did their marching do to the walls? Nothing! What did their shouting do to the walls? Nothing! But their obedience and faith did; it released the thunder of God’s “confounding ” and down came the walls.
Our acts of obedience and steps of faith are the fuel that releases the “confounding” to work on our behalf.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
A FEW GOOD MEN!
Recently I read through an issue of Christianity Today and one of the articles featured a controversial megachurch in the northwest. The church’s approach to the community and their style of ministry is both extremely contemporary and conservatively evangelical. One of the controversial issues with the pastor and his style of leadership is how adamant he is about “no women in leadership.” This church does not allow any women to serve as church elders. As I read that part of the article, I thought, “So what else is new? This position certainly is not new; it is merely a tired and hotly debated issue.”
Chauvinism is very much a part of the evangelical community. In recent polls by ABC News and the Barna Organization, statistics show that the U.S. evangelical community is roughly 60% female and 40% “other” (mostly males and a few Canadians). Isn’t it interesting that a predominately chauvinistic church structure is less attractive to men? One would think that with all the strutting and posturing of the “male” leadership in the church, more men would be attracted but such is not the case. As a result, we see that another of the reasons why the American church is sputtering and without power is that we have so few “mighty men.”
Earlier in my life I was deeply influenced by Pastor Jack Hayford, founding pastor of The Church on the Way, Van Nuys, CA. One of the things that profoundly impacted me was a statement that I heard Pastor Jack make in person, and also repeat in his book, The Church on the Way. The statement was, “Without strong men, you cannot have a strong church!” Hayford not only verbalized the statement, he believed it and made it an integral part of The Church on the Way ministry.
My family attended The Church on the Way for 14 years. The entire time we were there, regular teaching times just for the men of the church were conducted. One Saturday morning a month about 500 to 600 men would come together for three to four hours for fellowship and food, but mostly for teaching. This was a time of teaching men how to be godly men, strong husbands, strong fathers, strong leaders. After a time of worship, Dr. Hayford almost always taught the first session of the day and then we would break for coffee and a simple breakfast, after which we would break into smaller elective groups taught by others. I remember one session that Pastor Jack taught on “why men should sing in church.” I don’t think I have ever heard anybody else teach on this and he made it an important truth for the men to understand and act on. The next day the church reached a new level in its worship time as hundreds of men that had previously wimped out when it came to opening their mouths and worshipping with singing absolutely let fly, whether they were on tune or not. It was incredible!
Month after month Pastor Hayford and his staff taught the men of the church how to be men of God. Solid biblical teaching on everything from worship, sex, family, discipline, giving, prayer, study…you name it and we received teaching on it. Pastor Jack made it a priority to train the men of his church and, as a consequence, he saw the development of hundreds of men growing into a band of “mighty men.” The Church on the Way grew to be one of the strongest congregations in the southern California area not only in size but in spiritual impact.
I was thrilled with the strong men’s ministries that we saw develop in the 80’s and 90’s when thousands of men would gather in stadiums and arenas for a day of worship and teaching. Unfortunately, it seems that it was more of a fad than it was a reformation. It appears to me that we are almost back to where we were before all this began.
Men’s ministry belongs in the local church. Men’s ministry is, under the best of circumstances, difficult. A few weeks ago the church that my wife and I attend released the fall and winter schedule of teaching classes (electives) available for the church. Listed were eight elective classes for the ladies of the church and three for the men. In our current state of mind in the western church, that’s about right and it’s absolutely wrong.
If the current wimpish attitude by church leadership doesn’t change toward training men, we will never have a really strong church. (Let me apologize to any leaders who might read this and feel like I am criticizing them. I am sorry that you feel that way, but the truth is the truth, so get over it). A key that I learned at The Church on the Way was “If men’s ministry is not a priority with the senior pastor, it will not be with the church.” As the head goes, so goes the body!
I read a chapter like 2 Samuel 23 which is a listing of David’s mighty men and their exploits and I am left with a sense of awe and huge nagging questions. “Why don’t we see more of this today? Where are the great heroes of today? Why are we not seeing a new generation of leaders rising? Why are we not seeing a rising of ‘mighty men’ like 50 and 100 years ago?” For all the talk of faith and growth and success, in many circles it is just “empty” talk!
Where are a few good men?
Chauvinism is very much a part of the evangelical community. In recent polls by ABC News and the Barna Organization, statistics show that the U.S. evangelical community is roughly 60% female and 40% “other” (mostly males and a few Canadians). Isn’t it interesting that a predominately chauvinistic church structure is less attractive to men? One would think that with all the strutting and posturing of the “male” leadership in the church, more men would be attracted but such is not the case. As a result, we see that another of the reasons why the American church is sputtering and without power is that we have so few “mighty men.”
Earlier in my life I was deeply influenced by Pastor Jack Hayford, founding pastor of The Church on the Way, Van Nuys, CA. One of the things that profoundly impacted me was a statement that I heard Pastor Jack make in person, and also repeat in his book, The Church on the Way. The statement was, “Without strong men, you cannot have a strong church!” Hayford not only verbalized the statement, he believed it and made it an integral part of The Church on the Way ministry.
My family attended The Church on the Way for 14 years. The entire time we were there, regular teaching times just for the men of the church were conducted. One Saturday morning a month about 500 to 600 men would come together for three to four hours for fellowship and food, but mostly for teaching. This was a time of teaching men how to be godly men, strong husbands, strong fathers, strong leaders. After a time of worship, Dr. Hayford almost always taught the first session of the day and then we would break for coffee and a simple breakfast, after which we would break into smaller elective groups taught by others. I remember one session that Pastor Jack taught on “why men should sing in church.” I don’t think I have ever heard anybody else teach on this and he made it an important truth for the men to understand and act on. The next day the church reached a new level in its worship time as hundreds of men that had previously wimped out when it came to opening their mouths and worshipping with singing absolutely let fly, whether they were on tune or not. It was incredible!
Month after month Pastor Hayford and his staff taught the men of the church how to be men of God. Solid biblical teaching on everything from worship, sex, family, discipline, giving, prayer, study…you name it and we received teaching on it. Pastor Jack made it a priority to train the men of his church and, as a consequence, he saw the development of hundreds of men growing into a band of “mighty men.” The Church on the Way grew to be one of the strongest congregations in the southern California area not only in size but in spiritual impact.
I was thrilled with the strong men’s ministries that we saw develop in the 80’s and 90’s when thousands of men would gather in stadiums and arenas for a day of worship and teaching. Unfortunately, it seems that it was more of a fad than it was a reformation. It appears to me that we are almost back to where we were before all this began.
Men’s ministry belongs in the local church. Men’s ministry is, under the best of circumstances, difficult. A few weeks ago the church that my wife and I attend released the fall and winter schedule of teaching classes (electives) available for the church. Listed were eight elective classes for the ladies of the church and three for the men. In our current state of mind in the western church, that’s about right and it’s absolutely wrong.
If the current wimpish attitude by church leadership doesn’t change toward training men, we will never have a really strong church. (Let me apologize to any leaders who might read this and feel like I am criticizing them. I am sorry that you feel that way, but the truth is the truth, so get over it). A key that I learned at The Church on the Way was “If men’s ministry is not a priority with the senior pastor, it will not be with the church.” As the head goes, so goes the body!
I read a chapter like 2 Samuel 23 which is a listing of David’s mighty men and their exploits and I am left with a sense of awe and huge nagging questions. “Why don’t we see more of this today? Where are the great heroes of today? Why are we not seeing a new generation of leaders rising? Why are we not seeing a rising of ‘mighty men’ like 50 and 100 years ago?” For all the talk of faith and growth and success, in many circles it is just “empty” talk!
Where are a few good men?
Monday, October 22, 2007
IN THE NAME OF JESUS!
Three of the most frequently quoted and generally misunderstood words in the modern church world are “in Jesus’ name.” We often hear a prayer finished with the phrase, “In Jesus’ name.” For many, it has become a closing statement that is often used without any real serious mental awareness of what is being said. It has become as common a closing statement as saying, “Have a good day!” which is more of a nice gesture than an actual statement of care.
I have been convicted by my own laxity over the expression. A few weeks ago I received a handwritten note from a friend who had written to wish me well in recovering from surgery. As my friend concluded his note, he apologized for not writing earlier but indicated that his ministry had been going through some struggles. He finished his note triumphantly by saying that they had seen a wonderful victory over the difficulties—“In the name of Jesus!”
It was the simple eloquence of that handwritten note that jarred me and I realized how lax I had become in properly using the power and authority that has been given to us as followers of Jesus Christ. I had allowed the name of Jesus to become a period at the end of my prayers. It had become another way of saying, “Amen,” a kind of verbal filler. A mantra of sorts.
Jesus gave to his disciples and to us a “power of attorney” to use His name when we are carrying out business on His behalf. A very simple definition of “power of attorney” is “an authority by which one person delegates another to act for him or her.”
“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (John 14:13-14 NIV)
In Matthew 28:18&19 Jesus said to His disciples,
“All authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go then and make disciples of all the nations.” (Amplified)
The One to whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given extends to us the “power of attorney,” the right to act on His behalf.
To put it bluntly, when we pray and ask God to meet the need of someone who is sick or in need, or we ask God to intervene in a personal situation, and we know that we are praying in His will and not out of selfishness or greed, we can be assured that Jesus is backing our prayer.
Prayer is a great privilege. To pray and to appropriately use the “name of Jesus” is a privilege with a power attachment. When we pray and use “the name,” it is because we understand that He is granting us the authority to use His authority. This is not a privilege to be taken lightly.
Let me illustrate what I am trying to say this way. A policeman may pull you over and give you a ticket for speeding (in our family this only happens to my wife and eldest daughter, better known as the scofflaw sisters). The police officer does not have the personal authority to give you that ticket but he is granted the authority by the laws of the land. The policeman is exercising his delegated authority. Likewise, Jesus has delegated authority to us and we bring that into play when we pray, “In Jesus’ name.”
Jesus taught us that we were to use His name as a part of our personal arsenal in facing all that life pushes at us. In Mark 16:17-18 He said:
“And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” (NIV)
I don’t believe Jesus was giving a definitive list of the five things that he would respond to by the use of His name. He was illustrating for us “the power attachment” that would be available to us in all parts of our journey.
I have been convicted by my own laxity over the expression. A few weeks ago I received a handwritten note from a friend who had written to wish me well in recovering from surgery. As my friend concluded his note, he apologized for not writing earlier but indicated that his ministry had been going through some struggles. He finished his note triumphantly by saying that they had seen a wonderful victory over the difficulties—“In the name of Jesus!”
It was the simple eloquence of that handwritten note that jarred me and I realized how lax I had become in properly using the power and authority that has been given to us as followers of Jesus Christ. I had allowed the name of Jesus to become a period at the end of my prayers. It had become another way of saying, “Amen,” a kind of verbal filler. A mantra of sorts.
Jesus gave to his disciples and to us a “power of attorney” to use His name when we are carrying out business on His behalf. A very simple definition of “power of attorney” is “an authority by which one person delegates another to act for him or her.”
“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (John 14:13-14 NIV)
In Matthew 28:18&19 Jesus said to His disciples,
“All authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go then and make disciples of all the nations.” (Amplified)
The One to whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given extends to us the “power of attorney,” the right to act on His behalf.
To put it bluntly, when we pray and ask God to meet the need of someone who is sick or in need, or we ask God to intervene in a personal situation, and we know that we are praying in His will and not out of selfishness or greed, we can be assured that Jesus is backing our prayer.
Prayer is a great privilege. To pray and to appropriately use the “name of Jesus” is a privilege with a power attachment. When we pray and use “the name,” it is because we understand that He is granting us the authority to use His authority. This is not a privilege to be taken lightly.
Let me illustrate what I am trying to say this way. A policeman may pull you over and give you a ticket for speeding (in our family this only happens to my wife and eldest daughter, better known as the scofflaw sisters). The police officer does not have the personal authority to give you that ticket but he is granted the authority by the laws of the land. The policeman is exercising his delegated authority. Likewise, Jesus has delegated authority to us and we bring that into play when we pray, “In Jesus’ name.”
Jesus taught us that we were to use His name as a part of our personal arsenal in facing all that life pushes at us. In Mark 16:17-18 He said:
“And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” (NIV)
I don’t believe Jesus was giving a definitive list of the five things that he would respond to by the use of His name. He was illustrating for us “the power attachment” that would be available to us in all parts of our journey.
Friday, October 19, 2007
IT WASN'T AL GORE AFTER ALL!
“A merry heart does good, like medicine” (Proverbs 17:22)
The True Origin of the Internet
In ancient Israel, it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot.
And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg. Indeed, she had been called 'Amazon Dot Com.'
And she said unto Abraham, her husband, "Why doth thou travel far from town to town with thy goods when thou can trade without ever leaving thy tent?"
And Abraham did look at her as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load, but simply said, "How, dear?" And Dot replied, "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for sale and they will reply telling you which hath the best price. And the sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."
Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums. And the drums rang out and were an immediate success. Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever moving from his tent.
But this success did arouse envy. A man named Maccabia did secrete himself inside Abraham's drum and was accused of insider trading. And the young men did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung. They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Siderites, or NERDS for short.
And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to the drum maker, one Brother William of Gates, who bought up every drum company in the land. And indeed did insist on making drums that would work only with Brother Gates' drumheads and drumsticks.
And Dot did say, "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over by others."
And as Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel, or as it came to be known "eBay" he said, "We need a name that reflects what we are."
And Dot replied, "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators."
"YAHOO," said Abraham.
And that is how it all began. It wasn't Al Gore after all.
(Borrowed with gratitude from Beliefnet.com)
The True Origin of the Internet
In ancient Israel, it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot.
And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg. Indeed, she had been called 'Amazon Dot Com.'
And she said unto Abraham, her husband, "Why doth thou travel far from town to town with thy goods when thou can trade without ever leaving thy tent?"
And Abraham did look at her as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load, but simply said, "How, dear?" And Dot replied, "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for sale and they will reply telling you which hath the best price. And the sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."
Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with the drums. And the drums rang out and were an immediate success. Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever moving from his tent.
But this success did arouse envy. A man named Maccabia did secrete himself inside Abraham's drum and was accused of insider trading. And the young men did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung. They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Siderites, or NERDS for short.
And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to the drum maker, one Brother William of Gates, who bought up every drum company in the land. And indeed did insist on making drums that would work only with Brother Gates' drumheads and drumsticks.
And Dot did say, "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over by others."
And as Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel, or as it came to be known "eBay" he said, "We need a name that reflects what we are."
And Dot replied, "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators."
"YAHOO," said Abraham.
And that is how it all began. It wasn't Al Gore after all.
(Borrowed with gratitude from Beliefnet.com)
Sunday, October 14, 2007
DISHONESTY IN THE FAMILY
One of the most intriguing biblical accounts of a miracle healing is found in 2 Kings 5. The cast of characters: Namaan, the leper; Elisha, the prophet; and Gehazi, the servant of Elisha.
Namaan’s story is unusually interesting because he was the commander of the army of the Syrians, who were longtime enemies of the Jews. Apparently, Namaan’s leperosy was not contagious and would not immediately take his life. But he was desperate and when he heard of Elisha’s powerful ministry, he secured permission to go into enemy territory for help. In order to get the full impact of Namaan’s journey to healing, read all of 2 Kings 5.
Namaan knocked on Elisha’s door begging for help and Elisha did not even bother coming to the door to talk to him. The prophet simply instructed his servant, “Tell Namaan to go and wash in the Jordan River seven times and he will be healed.”
Elisha was not anything like Naaman thought he would be; in fact, Namaan was dumbfounded and all his preconceptions were destroyed. His retort to the servant was, “But I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand and the leprosy would be healed.’” I wonder if he had seen a certain evangelist on Christian TV back in Syria? Namaan had serious misconceptions of how his healing would unfold.
After some debate, Namaan reluctantly did what the prophet of God had instructed…and he was miraculously healed! Leprosy was a type of AIDS of his day and the miracle was astonishing. Namaan did exactly the right thing in response to his healing. He testified before the prophet and all those who were with him with these words, “Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.”
Namaan was so filled with gratitude to God and to the man of God, that he offered a gift to Elisha for his part in directing him to his healing. Elisha quickly and rightly turned down the gift and Namaan and his companions left to return home, healed and happy.
Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, had a different thought, however, and decided that it might not be such a bad thing to take some money and clothing for the miracle. Secretly, Gehazi slipped away from Elisha and chased down Namaan.
Gehazi lied to and manipulated Namaan into believing that he did need to give a gift for his healing and Namaan, fresh in the afterglow of a miracle, not only gave Gehazi what he suggested but he doubled the amount that was requested.
When Gehazi returned to Elisha’s home, the prophet asked, “Where did you go?” Gehazi lied to the prophet and said “I didn’t go anywhere!” Elisha then recounted what he had seen in the Spirit and what Gehazi had done in manipulating Namaan’s miracle for his own dishonest gain. Elisha’s chilling closing statement in verse 27 was, “Namaan’s sickness will be upon you and your family, forever!”
What does this story have to do with us? Well, the fact is that the spirit of Gehazi is loose in the church today.
When a teacher or a preacher suggests that your healing, your blessing, your miracle, the answer to your prayer is bound up and can only be released by a financial gift, we are seeing the spirit of Gehazi at work in the church.
The spirit of Gehazi is a lying spirit. It is a lie for anyone to tell you that your answer is contingent on your making a gift to them or to their ministry or to any ministry. God’s gifts are free and cannot be bought with money. God’s Word teaches us to give and to give generously but not like this, not “buying” a miracle. God extends His miracle-working power not because of us but in spite of us. God blesses us out of love and mercy; it’s called grace and it’s a free gift! (Ephesians 2:8)
The spirit of Gehazi is a manipulative spirit. It is not just a lying spirit, but it is a spirit that is willing to manipulate the Word and God’s people for unjust financial gain.
Sadly, the spirit of Gehazi has not brought the blessing that it promised into the church. What the spirit of Gehazi has brought is weakness and sickness of spirit. It has compromised the body of Christ and brought reproach and shame instead of blessing and liberty. Greed and covetousness are not a blessing—they are a curse.
The spirit of Gehazi is loose in the church!
Namaan’s story is unusually interesting because he was the commander of the army of the Syrians, who were longtime enemies of the Jews. Apparently, Namaan’s leperosy was not contagious and would not immediately take his life. But he was desperate and when he heard of Elisha’s powerful ministry, he secured permission to go into enemy territory for help. In order to get the full impact of Namaan’s journey to healing, read all of 2 Kings 5.
Namaan knocked on Elisha’s door begging for help and Elisha did not even bother coming to the door to talk to him. The prophet simply instructed his servant, “Tell Namaan to go and wash in the Jordan River seven times and he will be healed.”
Elisha was not anything like Naaman thought he would be; in fact, Namaan was dumbfounded and all his preconceptions were destroyed. His retort to the servant was, “But I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand and the leprosy would be healed.’” I wonder if he had seen a certain evangelist on Christian TV back in Syria? Namaan had serious misconceptions of how his healing would unfold.
After some debate, Namaan reluctantly did what the prophet of God had instructed…and he was miraculously healed! Leprosy was a type of AIDS of his day and the miracle was astonishing. Namaan did exactly the right thing in response to his healing. He testified before the prophet and all those who were with him with these words, “Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.”
Namaan was so filled with gratitude to God and to the man of God, that he offered a gift to Elisha for his part in directing him to his healing. Elisha quickly and rightly turned down the gift and Namaan and his companions left to return home, healed and happy.
Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, had a different thought, however, and decided that it might not be such a bad thing to take some money and clothing for the miracle. Secretly, Gehazi slipped away from Elisha and chased down Namaan.
Gehazi lied to and manipulated Namaan into believing that he did need to give a gift for his healing and Namaan, fresh in the afterglow of a miracle, not only gave Gehazi what he suggested but he doubled the amount that was requested.
When Gehazi returned to Elisha’s home, the prophet asked, “Where did you go?” Gehazi lied to the prophet and said “I didn’t go anywhere!” Elisha then recounted what he had seen in the Spirit and what Gehazi had done in manipulating Namaan’s miracle for his own dishonest gain. Elisha’s chilling closing statement in verse 27 was, “Namaan’s sickness will be upon you and your family, forever!”
What does this story have to do with us? Well, the fact is that the spirit of Gehazi is loose in the church today.
When a teacher or a preacher suggests that your healing, your blessing, your miracle, the answer to your prayer is bound up and can only be released by a financial gift, we are seeing the spirit of Gehazi at work in the church.
The spirit of Gehazi is a lying spirit. It is a lie for anyone to tell you that your answer is contingent on your making a gift to them or to their ministry or to any ministry. God’s gifts are free and cannot be bought with money. God’s Word teaches us to give and to give generously but not like this, not “buying” a miracle. God extends His miracle-working power not because of us but in spite of us. God blesses us out of love and mercy; it’s called grace and it’s a free gift! (Ephesians 2:8)
The spirit of Gehazi is a manipulative spirit. It is not just a lying spirit, but it is a spirit that is willing to manipulate the Word and God’s people for unjust financial gain.
Sadly, the spirit of Gehazi has not brought the blessing that it promised into the church. What the spirit of Gehazi has brought is weakness and sickness of spirit. It has compromised the body of Christ and brought reproach and shame instead of blessing and liberty. Greed and covetousness are not a blessing—they are a curse.
The spirit of Gehazi is loose in the church!
Monday, October 8, 2007
WHEN ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE!
Paul is entering the final chapters of his life when he sets sail for Rome in Acts 27. This was a voyage Paul wanted to make, but not this way! He had been arrested in Jerusalem and falsely accused of defiling the temple. As was his right as a Roman citizen, Paul eventually asked that his case be referred to Rome for final determination. And so, while Paul wanted to go to Rome to encourage the church there and to preach the Gospel and to possibly go on to evangelize Spain, this was not the way he had envisioned he would go—but he was going to Rome.
The journey begins in late summer and the travel, by ship, was slow. The ship had arrived at Crete, which is off the tip of Greece and about half way to Rome, when they entered into the “dangerous season.” The “dangerous season” is the rough weather season in the Mediterranean from mid-September to early November, all shipping was shut down from then until winter was over.
When they stopped to pick up supplies in Crete, Paul warned the Roman centurion that they were pushing their luck and it was his recommendation that they winter in Crete. The centurion did not listen to Paul and was persuaded by the ship owner and the captain to keep going. They continued on their way and disaster struck them in the form of a hurricane-like storm. I think it is important to note that Paul had no control over these circumstances; he had voiced his concern and it was rejected by others who were more concerned about schedules and monetary return than safety.
In Acts 27:14-19 we see a pattern of human attempts to find a “survival mechanism”. The hurricane-like storm hit with a fury and the boat and all aboard were in serious danger.
Vs.14—“we let her drive.” “We can ride this out; there is no use fighting it; if we are patient, everything will be OK!” How many times have we heard people say this? “The intensity of the situation was just too great for me to handle, so I saw no reason to resist!”
Vs.15—“the skiff”—a small boat that was too small to be of any practical use, it was like having life jackets for 20 people when 276 were needed.
Vs.17—“cables to under-gird the ship”—these are the self-help methods that are pushed at us for us to use and under-gird our lives when things are falling apart. The self-help section of the bookstore is full of this material. Primarily useful in making the authors rich, this is pop psychology that appeals to the “quick fix” desire in all of us. This is the “Dr. Phil” of the moment.
Vs.18—“they lightened the ship”—“Quick!” we say, “You need to repent of everything that you have not repented of.” And we quickly repent of everything we can think of, including eating too many Krispy Kreme donuts (that was a Freudian moment). We try to dump our excess baggage, feeling that our little secret sin has brought the disaster down on us.
Vs.19—“we threw the ships tackle overboard”—What gave a ship a profile, its own personality, was its rigging, its tackle. How often do we attack our own personality when things are going wrong? We make statements to ourselves like, “If only I weren’t so (you fill in the blank).” God made each of us as a “one-of-a-kind personality” so don’t try and dismantle it. Instead, try and re-channel it, with the Lord’s help, of course. I have lost count of the number of times I have heard, “If only I didn’t have this temper, can God take away my temper?” And the answer is no! If He did you would be ….nothing!
While all this was going on, Paul got alone with the Lord and God gave him a word for the crew and all the passengers…and here it is.
When hell is all around,
1. Don’t abandon the ship but quit the human attempts to turn the tables on hell. (Acts 27:31-32)
2. Don’t go into a survival mode that jeopardizes both your spiritual life and your physical wellbeing. “Today is the fourteenth day you have waited and continued without food and eaten nothing. Therefore I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival” (33-34). Not only are we to take nourishment for our physical bodies, but for our spiritual man as well—stay prayerful, stay in the Word, stay in fellowship, stay in the faith, and keep on worshiping.
3. They did what Paul instructed them to do, and not one of the 276 people on board was lost.
When all hell breaks loose we are encouraged to resist the temptation to go into a survival mode, to go and hide in a cave. We are to continue our daily walk with Him: worship, pray, read the Word, believe and trust. (This is the spiritual equivalence of “taking nourishment.”) When the hurricane of hell breaks loose and everything around you is flying in all directions, you are ready…because you are already doing the right things! Just keep doing what you have been doing!
The journey begins in late summer and the travel, by ship, was slow. The ship had arrived at Crete, which is off the tip of Greece and about half way to Rome, when they entered into the “dangerous season.” The “dangerous season” is the rough weather season in the Mediterranean from mid-September to early November, all shipping was shut down from then until winter was over.
When they stopped to pick up supplies in Crete, Paul warned the Roman centurion that they were pushing their luck and it was his recommendation that they winter in Crete. The centurion did not listen to Paul and was persuaded by the ship owner and the captain to keep going. They continued on their way and disaster struck them in the form of a hurricane-like storm. I think it is important to note that Paul had no control over these circumstances; he had voiced his concern and it was rejected by others who were more concerned about schedules and monetary return than safety.
In Acts 27:14-19 we see a pattern of human attempts to find a “survival mechanism”. The hurricane-like storm hit with a fury and the boat and all aboard were in serious danger.
Vs.14—“we let her drive.” “We can ride this out; there is no use fighting it; if we are patient, everything will be OK!” How many times have we heard people say this? “The intensity of the situation was just too great for me to handle, so I saw no reason to resist!”
Vs.15—“the skiff”—a small boat that was too small to be of any practical use, it was like having life jackets for 20 people when 276 were needed.
Vs.17—“cables to under-gird the ship”—these are the self-help methods that are pushed at us for us to use and under-gird our lives when things are falling apart. The self-help section of the bookstore is full of this material. Primarily useful in making the authors rich, this is pop psychology that appeals to the “quick fix” desire in all of us. This is the “Dr. Phil” of the moment.
Vs.18—“they lightened the ship”—“Quick!” we say, “You need to repent of everything that you have not repented of.” And we quickly repent of everything we can think of, including eating too many Krispy Kreme donuts (that was a Freudian moment). We try to dump our excess baggage, feeling that our little secret sin has brought the disaster down on us.
Vs.19—“we threw the ships tackle overboard”—What gave a ship a profile, its own personality, was its rigging, its tackle. How often do we attack our own personality when things are going wrong? We make statements to ourselves like, “If only I weren’t so (you fill in the blank).” God made each of us as a “one-of-a-kind personality” so don’t try and dismantle it. Instead, try and re-channel it, with the Lord’s help, of course. I have lost count of the number of times I have heard, “If only I didn’t have this temper, can God take away my temper?” And the answer is no! If He did you would be ….nothing!
While all this was going on, Paul got alone with the Lord and God gave him a word for the crew and all the passengers…and here it is.
When hell is all around,
1. Don’t abandon the ship but quit the human attempts to turn the tables on hell. (Acts 27:31-32)
2. Don’t go into a survival mode that jeopardizes both your spiritual life and your physical wellbeing. “Today is the fourteenth day you have waited and continued without food and eaten nothing. Therefore I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival” (33-34). Not only are we to take nourishment for our physical bodies, but for our spiritual man as well—stay prayerful, stay in the Word, stay in fellowship, stay in the faith, and keep on worshiping.
3. They did what Paul instructed them to do, and not one of the 276 people on board was lost.
When all hell breaks loose we are encouraged to resist the temptation to go into a survival mode, to go and hide in a cave. We are to continue our daily walk with Him: worship, pray, read the Word, believe and trust. (This is the spiritual equivalence of “taking nourishment.”) When the hurricane of hell breaks loose and everything around you is flying in all directions, you are ready…because you are already doing the right things! Just keep doing what you have been doing!
Friday, October 5, 2007
KNOWING THE MASTER'S VOICE
One of my favorite devotional books is a small book written by David Wilkerson, in 1967, entitled “I’m Not Mad at God”. I’m not sure this book is still in print. Here is one of the powerful devotional thoughts.
KNOWING THE MASTER’S VOICE
“My sheep know my voice—they hear when I call. A stranger they will not follow, for they know not the sound of his voice” (John 10).
Is it possible to really know when the Lord is speaking? Can we be sure it is not the enemy? All the Word of God leads us to believe that our Lord desires to speak clearly to His children—daily, frequently, and on every matter!
Three tests to determine His voice are:
1. He speaks with a familiar sound—no tension, strangeness or harshness. His voice is soft, sure and constant.
2. He always speaks in loving guidance. He never condemns His children. He speaks softly and tenderly; never does He take away our victory or peace. Even when he speaks negatively, it is with love and kindness.
3. His voice causes great rejoicing! “The bride hath the bridegroom, but the friend that standeth nearby rejoiceth greatly at the sound of his voice.” (John 3:29)
(I’m Not Mad At God, copyright 1967, Bethany Fellowship, Inc., Minneapolis, MN)
KNOWING THE MASTER’S VOICE
“My sheep know my voice—they hear when I call. A stranger they will not follow, for they know not the sound of his voice” (John 10).
Is it possible to really know when the Lord is speaking? Can we be sure it is not the enemy? All the Word of God leads us to believe that our Lord desires to speak clearly to His children—daily, frequently, and on every matter!
Three tests to determine His voice are:
1. He speaks with a familiar sound—no tension, strangeness or harshness. His voice is soft, sure and constant.
2. He always speaks in loving guidance. He never condemns His children. He speaks softly and tenderly; never does He take away our victory or peace. Even when he speaks negatively, it is with love and kindness.
3. His voice causes great rejoicing! “The bride hath the bridegroom, but the friend that standeth nearby rejoiceth greatly at the sound of his voice.” (John 3:29)
(I’m Not Mad At God, copyright 1967, Bethany Fellowship, Inc., Minneapolis, MN)
Monday, October 1, 2007
THE WAY OF THE GENTILES
In Matthew 10:5 Jesus gave instructions to his disciples as he prepared them to take the message of the Kingdom to the house of Israel. His first sentence is, “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans.” Jesus’ disciples were to take the message only to the Jews and no one else.
Obviously this passage does not mean the same thing to us as it did to them. We are the Gentiles, the message has come to us, and we, for argument’s sake, live in the unclean cities of the Samaritans. The plain fact is that everything changed at Calvary. The disciples were being given pre-Calvary instructions and we live on the “after” side of Calvary. Many of the men to whom these instructions were initially extended by Jesus were later the leaders of the church in the first century. It was these men who led the first-century church that quite literally exploded among the Gentiles. Most of the great first-century churches were in wicked cities like Corinth and Rome, of all places.
“Do not go into the way of the Gentiles.” Now I ask you, how are we supposed to look at a phrase like this? Perhaps the easiest thing to do is just ignore the phrase, just pretend it isn’t there. If you like, I can lend you a black marker with a broad tip and you can just “censor” this passage, put a heavy black line through these words, and then you won’t have to try to understand what God was saying to us. Or we can try to discover why the Holy Spirit led the early church to keep these words in the manuscript. Maybe we had better try this before we break out the marker or get a pair of scissors to cut the passage out of our Bibles.
I believe the phrase “the way of the Gentiles” refers to an entire way of life that is in stark contrast to “the way of the Kingdom.” In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus talks at length about worrying or being preoccupied with the cares of life, including housing, clothing, food and life in general. In verse 32, Jesus says, “For after all these things the Gentiles seek.” He was not putting us down, He was using “the way of the Gentiles” to describe a way of life that is opposite to life in God’s Kingdom. I believe that “the way of the Gentiles” describes the world as it is without the influence of God and His saving love through His Son Jesus Christ, without the influence of the Word, and without the presence of the Holy Spirit! “The way of the Gentiles” is the driving force that people live in, in the natural, carnal world.
The injunction then of Matthew 10:5 takes on a special meaning to us who are Gentiles and are alive after the work of Calvary was accomplished. It has special meaning for us who have embraced the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary. “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles” then becomes a very clear teaching that we are not to make the guiding principles of our life the same as the ones that drive those outside God’s Kingdom. The authenticity of New Testament Christianity is lost when we try to become like the world.
In the last few weeks in my regular reading of the news, I have observed the following about Christian leaders who seem to be struggling with understanding what it means to be “in the Kingdom.”
1. I read about XXXX, the cussing pastor. XXXX is the pastor of a large conservative church and occasionally is known to use swear words in the pulpit. I didn’t use the real name to protect the guilty. I wonder what verses he has “censored” in his Bible?
2. A well-known speaker who is advocating that Christians become much more aggressive and assertive in personal relations. This speaker is known to be very abusive to his staff and seemingly touts this as “becoming a more mature Christian.” I wonder where the fruits of the Spirit fit in for this person or maybe “as a mature Christian” he is making use of the broad tip marker?
3. A well-known pastor and his equally well-known wife who are publicly divorcing without a moment off for personal restoration or apparently any kind of pastoral counseling. Has the day of the “throw-away marriage” finally overwhelmed the church? Better get the marker warmed up on this one!
4. A well-known pastor who brags about his tattoos, his love of fine wine, who ignores the financial shenanigans of his church, and has introduced his personal masseuse to his congregation. The “masseuse” is allegedly a converted porn star. (We sincerely hope and pray that last part is true since the other parts of the “testimony” are questionable at best.)
Hello, hello, anybody listening? There are some large parts of Jesus’ and Paul’s teachings that have to go away to make this one smell right. Better bring two markers!
I don’t have all the answers to how to stay free from the “way of the Gentiles.” Paul refers to it in Ephesians 2:2 as “the course of this world” and then immediately ties the phrase to the influence of “the prince of the power of the air” (better known as the devil). I do know that Jesus doesn’t want us living according to the “course of this world” and having our life aligned with the evil purposes of the enemy. I do know that Jesus died to open the door to life in the Kingdom for all who will enter. God has given us an abundant life to live and yet for some there is an almost mystical attraction to go back and live like God has no part in our lives, go back to the way it used to be, go back to the “way of the Gentiles”!
Obviously this passage does not mean the same thing to us as it did to them. We are the Gentiles, the message has come to us, and we, for argument’s sake, live in the unclean cities of the Samaritans. The plain fact is that everything changed at Calvary. The disciples were being given pre-Calvary instructions and we live on the “after” side of Calvary. Many of the men to whom these instructions were initially extended by Jesus were later the leaders of the church in the first century. It was these men who led the first-century church that quite literally exploded among the Gentiles. Most of the great first-century churches were in wicked cities like Corinth and Rome, of all places.
“Do not go into the way of the Gentiles.” Now I ask you, how are we supposed to look at a phrase like this? Perhaps the easiest thing to do is just ignore the phrase, just pretend it isn’t there. If you like, I can lend you a black marker with a broad tip and you can just “censor” this passage, put a heavy black line through these words, and then you won’t have to try to understand what God was saying to us. Or we can try to discover why the Holy Spirit led the early church to keep these words in the manuscript. Maybe we had better try this before we break out the marker or get a pair of scissors to cut the passage out of our Bibles.
I believe the phrase “the way of the Gentiles” refers to an entire way of life that is in stark contrast to “the way of the Kingdom.” In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus talks at length about worrying or being preoccupied with the cares of life, including housing, clothing, food and life in general. In verse 32, Jesus says, “For after all these things the Gentiles seek.” He was not putting us down, He was using “the way of the Gentiles” to describe a way of life that is opposite to life in God’s Kingdom. I believe that “the way of the Gentiles” describes the world as it is without the influence of God and His saving love through His Son Jesus Christ, without the influence of the Word, and without the presence of the Holy Spirit! “The way of the Gentiles” is the driving force that people live in, in the natural, carnal world.
The injunction then of Matthew 10:5 takes on a special meaning to us who are Gentiles and are alive after the work of Calvary was accomplished. It has special meaning for us who have embraced the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary. “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles” then becomes a very clear teaching that we are not to make the guiding principles of our life the same as the ones that drive those outside God’s Kingdom. The authenticity of New Testament Christianity is lost when we try to become like the world.
In the last few weeks in my regular reading of the news, I have observed the following about Christian leaders who seem to be struggling with understanding what it means to be “in the Kingdom.”
1. I read about XXXX, the cussing pastor. XXXX is the pastor of a large conservative church and occasionally is known to use swear words in the pulpit. I didn’t use the real name to protect the guilty. I wonder what verses he has “censored” in his Bible?
2. A well-known speaker who is advocating that Christians become much more aggressive and assertive in personal relations. This speaker is known to be very abusive to his staff and seemingly touts this as “becoming a more mature Christian.” I wonder where the fruits of the Spirit fit in for this person or maybe “as a mature Christian” he is making use of the broad tip marker?
3. A well-known pastor and his equally well-known wife who are publicly divorcing without a moment off for personal restoration or apparently any kind of pastoral counseling. Has the day of the “throw-away marriage” finally overwhelmed the church? Better get the marker warmed up on this one!
4. A well-known pastor who brags about his tattoos, his love of fine wine, who ignores the financial shenanigans of his church, and has introduced his personal masseuse to his congregation. The “masseuse” is allegedly a converted porn star. (We sincerely hope and pray that last part is true since the other parts of the “testimony” are questionable at best.)
Hello, hello, anybody listening? There are some large parts of Jesus’ and Paul’s teachings that have to go away to make this one smell right. Better bring two markers!
I don’t have all the answers to how to stay free from the “way of the Gentiles.” Paul refers to it in Ephesians 2:2 as “the course of this world” and then immediately ties the phrase to the influence of “the prince of the power of the air” (better known as the devil). I do know that Jesus doesn’t want us living according to the “course of this world” and having our life aligned with the evil purposes of the enemy. I do know that Jesus died to open the door to life in the Kingdom for all who will enter. God has given us an abundant life to live and yet for some there is an almost mystical attraction to go back and live like God has no part in our lives, go back to the way it used to be, go back to the “way of the Gentiles”!
Friday, September 28, 2007
A MERRY HEART
“A merry heart does good, like medicine” (Proverbs 17:22)
A Well-Known Monk
A wandering monk walked barefoot everywhere he went, to the point that the soles of his feet eventually became quite thick and leathery. And because he ate very little, he gradually became very frail. Several days often passed between opportunities to brush his teeth, so he usually had bad breath. Therefore, throughout the region, he came to be known as the super-calloused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis
Calling the Last Rites
A man is struck by a bus on a busy street in New York City. He lies dying on the sidewalk as a crowd of spectators gathers around. "A priest! Somebody get me a priest!" the man gasps. A policeman checks the crowd but finds no priest, no minister, no man of God of any kind.
"A PRIEST, PLEASE!" the dying man says again. Then out of the crowd steps a little old Jewish man of at least eighty years of age. "Mr. Policeman," says the man, "I'm not a priest. I'm not even a Catholic. But for fifty years now I'm living behind St. Mary's Catholic Church on Third Avenue, and every night I'm listening to the Catholic litany. Maybe I can be of some comfort to this man."
The policeman agrees and brings the octogenarian over to the dying man. He kneels down, leans over the injured and says in a solemn voice: "B - 4. I - 19. N - 38. G - 54. O - 72."
Show-and-Tell
A kindergarten teacher gave her class a "show and tell" assignment. Each student was instructed to bring in an object to share with the class that represented their religion.
The first student got up in front of the class and said, "My name is Benjamin and I am Jewish and this is a Star of David. "The second student got up in front of the class and said, "My name is Mary. I'm a Catholic and this is the Crucifix."
The third student got in up front of the class and said, " My name is Tommy and I am Baptist and this is a casserole."
The Door Stopper
Two church members were going door to door. They knocked on the door of a woman who clearly was not happy to see them. She told them in no uncertain terms she did not want to hear their message and then slammed the door in their faces.
To her surprise, the door did not close. In fact, it bounced back open. Seeing the two church members at the door frustrated her. She stormed back to the door and flung it shut.
But the door still didn't close. Furious, she grabbed the door with two hands and shoved it as hard as she could. But again, the door wouldn't shut.
Convinced one of these rude church members was sticking a foot in the door, she reared back to give the door a slam that would really teach them a lesson.
Just then, one of the church members said, "Ma'am, before you do that again, you might want to move your cat."
A Well-Known Monk
A wandering monk walked barefoot everywhere he went, to the point that the soles of his feet eventually became quite thick and leathery. And because he ate very little, he gradually became very frail. Several days often passed between opportunities to brush his teeth, so he usually had bad breath. Therefore, throughout the region, he came to be known as the super-calloused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis
Calling the Last Rites
A man is struck by a bus on a busy street in New York City. He lies dying on the sidewalk as a crowd of spectators gathers around. "A priest! Somebody get me a priest!" the man gasps. A policeman checks the crowd but finds no priest, no minister, no man of God of any kind.
"A PRIEST, PLEASE!" the dying man says again. Then out of the crowd steps a little old Jewish man of at least eighty years of age. "Mr. Policeman," says the man, "I'm not a priest. I'm not even a Catholic. But for fifty years now I'm living behind St. Mary's Catholic Church on Third Avenue, and every night I'm listening to the Catholic litany. Maybe I can be of some comfort to this man."
The policeman agrees and brings the octogenarian over to the dying man. He kneels down, leans over the injured and says in a solemn voice: "B - 4. I - 19. N - 38. G - 54. O - 72."
Show-and-Tell
A kindergarten teacher gave her class a "show and tell" assignment. Each student was instructed to bring in an object to share with the class that represented their religion.
The first student got up in front of the class and said, "My name is Benjamin and I am Jewish and this is a Star of David. "The second student got up in front of the class and said, "My name is Mary. I'm a Catholic and this is the Crucifix."
The third student got in up front of the class and said, " My name is Tommy and I am Baptist and this is a casserole."
The Door Stopper
Two church members were going door to door. They knocked on the door of a woman who clearly was not happy to see them. She told them in no uncertain terms she did not want to hear their message and then slammed the door in their faces.
To her surprise, the door did not close. In fact, it bounced back open. Seeing the two church members at the door frustrated her. She stormed back to the door and flung it shut.
But the door still didn't close. Furious, she grabbed the door with two hands and shoved it as hard as she could. But again, the door wouldn't shut.
Convinced one of these rude church members was sticking a foot in the door, she reared back to give the door a slam that would really teach them a lesson.
Just then, one of the church members said, "Ma'am, before you do that again, you might want to move your cat."
Monday, September 24, 2007
KNOCK, KNOCK! WHO'S THERE?
“Knock, knock…”
“Who’s there?”
“It’s Me, Jesus!”
“Jesus! No way. You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“No, it’s really Me and I can’t come in until you open the door!”
Does that sound like an implausible situation, like that could never happen? Well, it happens…and more frequently than we would like to believe. Jesus knocks and we don’t open the door!
One of the very first verses I learned to use for soul-winning was Revelation 3:20:
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (New King James)
The good news is that this is a verse that I have used countless times in sharing how to receive Christ. The unintended side effect is that I set the verse aside over in the mental file marked “soul-winning” without allowing the verse to have its intended effect on me. Revelation 3 is not a soul-winning presentation in the traditional sense; it is a part of the vision that was given to the Apostle John about the seven churches of Asia. Contained in the descriptions of each church are truths that are not only applicable to these representative churches but also to us. One of those great truths is contained in 3:20.
You know from previous articles that I believe God is never silent. Even when it seems as though we cannot hear what God is saying, He never stops talking to His people. It is up to us to get where the conversation (as I call it) is ongoing. Where is that? I’m glad you asked. The conversation never ceases in and through His Word. Even when it seems like the heavens are brass, Hebrews 4:12 says God’s voice is still active, “For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power…” (Amplified)
Revelation 3:20 says that Jesus not only knocks but He speaks to us. I believe this is the rising awareness that comes to us when the Holy Spirit is trying to get our attention, trying to get us to listen. The knocking/speaking might be circumstances arranged to get our attention. The knocking also can be the “dealing” of the Holy Spirit or it can be an “alert” given to us by a friend who says something like, “I think the Lord is trying to tell you something!” Most often God will cause His Word to come alive (knocking) in our spirit and “speak to us.”
One of the famous paintings of this Revelation scene shows Jesus on the outside of a door that has no outside latch. The only latch is on the inside, meaning that we open the door when we are aware that Christ is knocking. This is borne out in the example of Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). Jesus knocked and Paul fell off his horse. Paul’s conversion didn’t happen by his being knocked on his backside but when he addressed Christ as Lord. At that moment Paul, by an act of his own will, opened the door to Christ’s power entering his life.
Jesus says, “If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and dine him and he with me.” Here is the picture as I see it. Christ is not suggesting that we are being invited to a giant banquet with thousands in attendance. Jesus is not sitting at a head table with Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Noah (and a sprinkling of the prophets for good measure), with us at a round table with eight or ten others hundreds of feet from the podium. That is not the correct picture at all. What I believe the Lord is saying here is that He and the hearer (the person who opened the door) will have an intimate dining experience…just the two of them! In the original language the word that is used for “dine” indicates a very personal and intimate time of fellowship and communication.
As I understand the intent of this Scripture, I believe that what the writer was trying to convey was the understanding that:
1. The Lord desires this kind of personal contact and communication with each of us. (Behold, I stand at the door and knock.)
2. The Lord is restrained by our passivity or inaction. (If any man hears and opens the door…)
3. Jesus has things to share with you that are for your ears only. (I will dine with him and he with Me.)
“Knock, knock!”
“Who’s there?”
“Jesus!”
“Welcome, the door is open!”
“Who’s there?”
“It’s Me, Jesus!”
“Jesus! No way. You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“No, it’s really Me and I can’t come in until you open the door!”
Does that sound like an implausible situation, like that could never happen? Well, it happens…and more frequently than we would like to believe. Jesus knocks and we don’t open the door!
One of the very first verses I learned to use for soul-winning was Revelation 3:20:
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (New King James)
The good news is that this is a verse that I have used countless times in sharing how to receive Christ. The unintended side effect is that I set the verse aside over in the mental file marked “soul-winning” without allowing the verse to have its intended effect on me. Revelation 3 is not a soul-winning presentation in the traditional sense; it is a part of the vision that was given to the Apostle John about the seven churches of Asia. Contained in the descriptions of each church are truths that are not only applicable to these representative churches but also to us. One of those great truths is contained in 3:20.
You know from previous articles that I believe God is never silent. Even when it seems as though we cannot hear what God is saying, He never stops talking to His people. It is up to us to get where the conversation (as I call it) is ongoing. Where is that? I’m glad you asked. The conversation never ceases in and through His Word. Even when it seems like the heavens are brass, Hebrews 4:12 says God’s voice is still active, “For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power…” (Amplified)
Revelation 3:20 says that Jesus not only knocks but He speaks to us. I believe this is the rising awareness that comes to us when the Holy Spirit is trying to get our attention, trying to get us to listen. The knocking/speaking might be circumstances arranged to get our attention. The knocking also can be the “dealing” of the Holy Spirit or it can be an “alert” given to us by a friend who says something like, “I think the Lord is trying to tell you something!” Most often God will cause His Word to come alive (knocking) in our spirit and “speak to us.”
One of the famous paintings of this Revelation scene shows Jesus on the outside of a door that has no outside latch. The only latch is on the inside, meaning that we open the door when we are aware that Christ is knocking. This is borne out in the example of Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). Jesus knocked and Paul fell off his horse. Paul’s conversion didn’t happen by his being knocked on his backside but when he addressed Christ as Lord. At that moment Paul, by an act of his own will, opened the door to Christ’s power entering his life.
Jesus says, “If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and dine him and he with me.” Here is the picture as I see it. Christ is not suggesting that we are being invited to a giant banquet with thousands in attendance. Jesus is not sitting at a head table with Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Noah (and a sprinkling of the prophets for good measure), with us at a round table with eight or ten others hundreds of feet from the podium. That is not the correct picture at all. What I believe the Lord is saying here is that He and the hearer (the person who opened the door) will have an intimate dining experience…just the two of them! In the original language the word that is used for “dine” indicates a very personal and intimate time of fellowship and communication.
As I understand the intent of this Scripture, I believe that what the writer was trying to convey was the understanding that:
1. The Lord desires this kind of personal contact and communication with each of us. (Behold, I stand at the door and knock.)
2. The Lord is restrained by our passivity or inaction. (If any man hears and opens the door…)
3. Jesus has things to share with you that are for your ears only. (I will dine with him and he with Me.)
“Knock, knock!”
“Who’s there?”
“Jesus!”
“Welcome, the door is open!”
Friday, September 21, 2007
FAITH BROWN
In 2000 in a book entitled An Uncommon Faith, my wife wrote about Faith’s early life and some of her challenges and adventures in developing the ministry in New York. Faith is a modern-day example of how God can use a young college graduate from Colorado to touch hundreds of lives caught in the trap of sin (drug addicts, alcoholics, prostitutes, gang members) with the power of the Gospel. Her life is a tremendous example for us all; if God can use Faith Brown in such a powerful way, He can use you, too!
The ministry Faith helped establish continues to flourish to this day, an enduring testimony of her life and witness nearly twenty years after her death from cancer. This ministry is active on nearly forty high-school and college campuses and in many other areas of ministry in the “Big Apple.” On a regular basis we are going to feature some of Faith’s writings on this blog. For information on how to purchase a copy of An Uncommon Faith, send an e-mail to dpmn1999@aol.com and request information on the book. You can also request information on the New York ministry that Faith began and we will send that as well. Here is a sample of Faith's writings.
********************************************************************************
GET MILITANT
I consider myself militant and I consider Christianity a call to militancy. Militancy calls to mind total dedication to a stated cause.
Jesus Christ said that if we are to live, we must be willing to lose our lives in Him. Is there any greater dedication than this? Militancy demands our time and persistence. Every time I see a member of the Jehovah’s Witness group standing on a street corner giving out “false” teaching, I wonder why Christians are so afraid to stand on the same corner giving out the truth.
This past week I did some door-to-door visiting in a building in our neighborhood in the South Bronx. There were thirty apartments in this building. Twenty-five doors were answered and of this number, five let us know that they belong to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Upon questioning, not one of them seemed to know the Lord.
It pays to stand on the street and peddle lies! That’s why the devil gets false teachers to use the approaches of the Bible to win converts to false religions that teach that Jesus Christ is not Lord. And many of these “converts” become followers of the false religion, even though the teachings are contrary to what they were taught in their Catholic or Protestant churches. Why? Because when they were as lonely as hell, or their homes were being shattered by drugs, who was there with a smile and a claim to have the answer? The Jehovah’s Witnesses—sitting in their kitchens, right in the middle of the worst ghettos in America, winning converts by the hundreds of thousands.
Where are the saved, Spirit-filled believers who know that Jesus is Lord? In churches shouting and testifying, or learning more of the Word so they will be sure to be ready to meet Jesus when He comes to rescue them from their miserable lives. Or watching some evangelist on television tell them how to get something for themselves by sending money to him. And the devil is running rampant in the minds of lost, lonely people who would readily accept the Truth if He were presented to them before they were brainwashed into rejecting Him.
I dare you to get militant enough to actually begin to carry out the teachings of Jesus Christ. You’ll begin to realize how really militant you are by all the weird looks the Christian friends at your church give you when they hear that you are actually winning people to Jesus Christ. (“Good grief, why doesn’t she just stay at home and watch TV or do some crafts?”)
The ministry Faith helped establish continues to flourish to this day, an enduring testimony of her life and witness nearly twenty years after her death from cancer. This ministry is active on nearly forty high-school and college campuses and in many other areas of ministry in the “Big Apple.” On a regular basis we are going to feature some of Faith’s writings on this blog. For information on how to purchase a copy of An Uncommon Faith, send an e-mail to dpmn1999@aol.com and request information on the book. You can also request information on the New York ministry that Faith began and we will send that as well. Here is a sample of Faith's writings.
********************************************************************************
GET MILITANT
I consider myself militant and I consider Christianity a call to militancy. Militancy calls to mind total dedication to a stated cause.
Jesus Christ said that if we are to live, we must be willing to lose our lives in Him. Is there any greater dedication than this? Militancy demands our time and persistence. Every time I see a member of the Jehovah’s Witness group standing on a street corner giving out “false” teaching, I wonder why Christians are so afraid to stand on the same corner giving out the truth.
This past week I did some door-to-door visiting in a building in our neighborhood in the South Bronx. There were thirty apartments in this building. Twenty-five doors were answered and of this number, five let us know that they belong to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Upon questioning, not one of them seemed to know the Lord.
It pays to stand on the street and peddle lies! That’s why the devil gets false teachers to use the approaches of the Bible to win converts to false religions that teach that Jesus Christ is not Lord. And many of these “converts” become followers of the false religion, even though the teachings are contrary to what they were taught in their Catholic or Protestant churches. Why? Because when they were as lonely as hell, or their homes were being shattered by drugs, who was there with a smile and a claim to have the answer? The Jehovah’s Witnesses—sitting in their kitchens, right in the middle of the worst ghettos in America, winning converts by the hundreds of thousands.
Where are the saved, Spirit-filled believers who know that Jesus is Lord? In churches shouting and testifying, or learning more of the Word so they will be sure to be ready to meet Jesus when He comes to rescue them from their miserable lives. Or watching some evangelist on television tell them how to get something for themselves by sending money to him. And the devil is running rampant in the minds of lost, lonely people who would readily accept the Truth if He were presented to them before they were brainwashed into rejecting Him.
I dare you to get militant enough to actually begin to carry out the teachings of Jesus Christ. You’ll begin to realize how really militant you are by all the weird looks the Christian friends at your church give you when they hear that you are actually winning people to Jesus Christ. (“Good grief, why doesn’t she just stay at home and watch TV or do some crafts?”)
Monday, September 17, 2007
THE LAST ACT OF A DYING MAN
Hebrews 11 is the “faith hall of fame.” The chapter begins with the classic definition of faith and then walks us down the hallway of fame with vignettes about some of the great heroes of faith displayed like portraits on the wall. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah and others are all beautifully pictured and briefly sketched in a sentence or two that capture their acts of obedience and walk of faith.
Verse 21 has arrested me; it reads, “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff” (New King James).
At first reading this hardly seems like the kind of act to be included with Noah “building an ark,” Abraham “going out not knowing where he was going,” or Moses “leading the children of Israel through the Red Sea.” But there it is—in the midst of the “hall of fame” with all the others!
By the time Jacob’s life was at an end, his natural eyesight was gone, but his “faith sight” was crystal clear. When Joseph brought his sons in for his father Jacob to bless, Joseph carefully arranged his sons so that Jacob’s right hand (signifying the greater anointing and blessing) would be upon his firstborn and Jacob’s left hand would be on the son born second. By the “eye of faith” Jacob knew that the second-born son was to be used by God in a greater way than his brother and so, even though blind, he crossed his hands and laid his right hand on the second born and the left on his older brother. Both grandsons were blessed but not in the order that tradition dictated.
The Scripture says that after blessing his grandsons, Jacob leaned on his staff and worshipped. This is a difficult phrase to translate from the original. It probably does not mean that Jacob literally stood up, leaned on his walking stick and worshipped. More likely it means that he lay back on his bed and worshipped. Frankly, exactly how it happened is immaterial. What is really important to understand is that Jacob valued his relationship with God so strongly that he went out of this life and into eternity, worshipping. The last act of a dying man was to worship his God!
What does this say to us about the value of worship? Authentic worship is not about us, it is all about Him. Authentic worship is an act of faith, not a declaration of war, not an assertion of rights, not a condemnation of the devil…it is an act of faith as we express praise and adoration to God. Trite little songs and poems about dancing and jumping, about exercising our dominion and our rights, are hardly worship; at best they are expressions of pleasure and joy in serving Jesus. Authentic worship is not a performance; instead, it is a humble and unrestrained act of adoration of the Creator. Real worship is totally focused on Him and has nothing at all to do with me or you or anybody else!
What does it say to us that the final act of a dying man is worship? I believe this act of faith shows us how deeply Jacob valued his relationship with God. Jacob had gone through some very serious challenges in his life and he had seen God provide for him and his family in miraculous ways. Jacob knew the pain of being lied to by his sons after they had conspired to kill their brother Joseph. Jacob knew the terrifying pain of believing that he had lost one son only to find out that another had been taken hostage by the Egyptians. Jacob thought Joseph was dead, but he later saw God’s magnificently sovereign plan being unfolded by Joseph’s advance entrance into Egypt. Jacob had seen the extremes of life, the lowest of lows and the highest of highs. He easily could have chosen to finish life as a cynical and beaten man, but instead he chose to finish his life in an act of faith, an act of worship. Maybe Jacob, in an act of faith, one more time slowly pushed himself up from his bed, and one last time took up his walking stick. Slowly, so slowly, Jacob pushed himself upright in defiance of his age and infirmity and, using his staff for balance, begin to magnify the Lord with the verbal sacrifice of praise and worship. I can almost hear the tired voice of Jacob as he begins to worship and give praise to the Almighty!
I like that imagery—it is a picture that belongs in the “faith hall of fame.” May we all learn to walk by faith as worshippers of El Shaddai/The Almighty!
Hebrews 11 is the “faith hall of fame.” The chapter begins with the classic definition of faith and then walks us down the hallway of fame with vignettes about some of the great heroes of faith displayed like portraits on the wall. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah and others are all beautifully pictured and briefly sketched in a sentence or two that capture their acts of obedience and walk of faith.
Verse 21 has arrested me; it reads, “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff” (New King James).
At first reading this hardly seems like the kind of act to be included with Noah “building an ark,” Abraham “going out not knowing where he was going,” or Moses “leading the children of Israel through the Red Sea.” But there it is—in the midst of the “hall of fame” with all the others!
By the time Jacob’s life was at an end, his natural eyesight was gone, but his “faith sight” was crystal clear. When Joseph brought his sons in for his father Jacob to bless, Joseph carefully arranged his sons so that Jacob’s right hand (signifying the greater anointing and blessing) would be upon his firstborn and Jacob’s left hand would be on the son born second. By the “eye of faith” Jacob knew that the second-born son was to be used by God in a greater way than his brother and so, even though blind, he crossed his hands and laid his right hand on the second born and the left on his older brother. Both grandsons were blessed but not in the order that tradition dictated.
The Scripture says that after blessing his grandsons, Jacob leaned on his staff and worshipped. This is a difficult phrase to translate from the original. It probably does not mean that Jacob literally stood up, leaned on his walking stick and worshipped. More likely it means that he lay back on his bed and worshipped. Frankly, exactly how it happened is immaterial. What is really important to understand is that Jacob valued his relationship with God so strongly that he went out of this life and into eternity, worshipping. The last act of a dying man was to worship his God!
What does this say to us about the value of worship? Authentic worship is not about us, it is all about Him. Authentic worship is an act of faith, not a declaration of war, not an assertion of rights, not a condemnation of the devil…it is an act of faith as we express praise and adoration to God. Trite little songs and poems about dancing and jumping, about exercising our dominion and our rights, are hardly worship; at best they are expressions of pleasure and joy in serving Jesus. Authentic worship is not a performance; instead, it is a humble and unrestrained act of adoration of the Creator. Real worship is totally focused on Him and has nothing at all to do with me or you or anybody else!
What does it say to us that the final act of a dying man is worship? I believe this act of faith shows us how deeply Jacob valued his relationship with God. Jacob had gone through some very serious challenges in his life and he had seen God provide for him and his family in miraculous ways. Jacob knew the pain of being lied to by his sons after they had conspired to kill their brother Joseph. Jacob knew the terrifying pain of believing that he had lost one son only to find out that another had been taken hostage by the Egyptians. Jacob thought Joseph was dead, but he later saw God’s magnificently sovereign plan being unfolded by Joseph’s advance entrance into Egypt. Jacob had seen the extremes of life, the lowest of lows and the highest of highs. He easily could have chosen to finish life as a cynical and beaten man, but instead he chose to finish his life in an act of faith, an act of worship. Maybe Jacob, in an act of faith, one more time slowly pushed himself up from his bed, and one last time took up his walking stick. Slowly, so slowly, Jacob pushed himself upright in defiance of his age and infirmity and, using his staff for balance, begin to magnify the Lord with the verbal sacrifice of praise and worship. I can almost hear the tired voice of Jacob as he begins to worship and give praise to the Almighty!
I like that imagery—it is a picture that belongs in the “faith hall of fame.” May we all learn to walk by faith as worshippers of El Shaddai/The Almighty!
Friday, September 14, 2007
A MERRY HEART
“A merry heart does good, like medicine,” (Proverbs 17:22)
Leaves of the Book
A little boy opened the big Bible. He was fascinated as he fingered through the old pages. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible. He picked up the object and looked at it. What he saw was an old leaf that had been pressed in between the pages. "Mama, look what I found!" the boy called out.
"What have you got there, dear?"
With astonishment in the young boy's voice, he answered, "I think it's Adam's underwear!"
Waking Up for Church
One Sunday morning, a mother went in to wake her son and tell him it was time to get ready for church, to which he replied, "I'm not going."
"Why not?" she asked. "I'll give you two good reasons," he said. "One, they don't like me, and two, I don't like them."
His mother replied, "I'll give YOU two good reasons why you SHOULD go to church. One, you're 54 years old, and two, you're the pastor!"
Long-Distance Calls
A man in Topeka, Kansas decided to write a book about churches around the country. He started by flying to San Francisco and worked east from there. Going to a very large church, he began taking photographs and notes. He spotted a golden telephone on the vestibule wall and was intrigued by a sign which read: "$10,000 a minute." Seeking out the Pastor he asked about the phone and the sign. The Pastor explained that the golden phone was, in fact, a direct line to Heaven and if he paid the price he could talk directly to God. The man thanked the Pastor and continued on his way. As he continued to visit churches in Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, Greensboro, Tampa and all around the United States, he found more phones with the same sign and got the same answer from each Pastor.
Finally, he arrived in Texas. Upon entering a church in Dallas, behold, he saw the usual golden telephone. But THIS time, the sign read: "Calls: 35 cents." Fascinated, he asked to talk to the Pastor.
"Reverend, I have been in cities all across the country and in each church I have found this golden telephone. I have been told it is a direct line to Heaven and that I could talk to God, but, in the other churches the cost was $10,000 a minute. Your sign reads 35 cents. Why?"
The Pastor, smiling benignly, replied, "Son, you're in Texas now... It's a local call."
Have a great weekend!
Leaves of the Book
A little boy opened the big Bible. He was fascinated as he fingered through the old pages. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible. He picked up the object and looked at it. What he saw was an old leaf that had been pressed in between the pages. "Mama, look what I found!" the boy called out.
"What have you got there, dear?"
With astonishment in the young boy's voice, he answered, "I think it's Adam's underwear!"
Waking Up for Church
One Sunday morning, a mother went in to wake her son and tell him it was time to get ready for church, to which he replied, "I'm not going."
"Why not?" she asked. "I'll give you two good reasons," he said. "One, they don't like me, and two, I don't like them."
His mother replied, "I'll give YOU two good reasons why you SHOULD go to church. One, you're 54 years old, and two, you're the pastor!"
Long-Distance Calls
A man in Topeka, Kansas decided to write a book about churches around the country. He started by flying to San Francisco and worked east from there. Going to a very large church, he began taking photographs and notes. He spotted a golden telephone on the vestibule wall and was intrigued by a sign which read: "$10,000 a minute." Seeking out the Pastor he asked about the phone and the sign. The Pastor explained that the golden phone was, in fact, a direct line to Heaven and if he paid the price he could talk directly to God. The man thanked the Pastor and continued on his way. As he continued to visit churches in Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, Greensboro, Tampa and all around the United States, he found more phones with the same sign and got the same answer from each Pastor.
Finally, he arrived in Texas. Upon entering a church in Dallas, behold, he saw the usual golden telephone. But THIS time, the sign read: "Calls: 35 cents." Fascinated, he asked to talk to the Pastor.
"Reverend, I have been in cities all across the country and in each church I have found this golden telephone. I have been told it is a direct line to Heaven and that I could talk to God, but, in the other churches the cost was $10,000 a minute. Your sign reads 35 cents. Why?"
The Pastor, smiling benignly, replied, "Son, you're in Texas now... It's a local call."
Have a great weekend!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
