Joshua 1:6-7
“Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.
Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you: do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.” (NKJV)
A timeless technique used to get a point across, to sell a concept is the use of repetition. Not once or twice but three times in these verses we are looking at we are told to be “strong and courageous”. (It actually occurs 4 times in the first 18 verses). Now, either the writer had a problem with a stuttering pen or he was under instruction to drive the point home. Apparently God feels that the quality of being strong and courageous is something that needed to be emphasized and if it wasn’t strongly underscored the results were going to be disastrous.
The first presentation of strength and courage is about leadership (verse 6). The courage to lead is vital; sometimes those who are called upon to lead don’t have the courage to do so and the results tend to be disastrous. I believe President George W.Bush had the courage to lead; in contrast, Bill Clinton, in my opinion, did not and led by taking opinion polls and by using his personal charisma…this is not courageous leadership. Courageous leadership will not always be popular but it will be leadership. Strong leadership will always scare immoral people!
The second emphasis of courage is in verse 7 and was a clear command that Joshua was to have an unswerving loyalty to the Word of God. At times, that kind of fidelity demands the courage to say, “I am going to do what the Word says and not what our times, the culture and opinion polls suggest is correct.” (verse 7). We need a major dose of this in the church right now! I would rather have the blessing of the Lord than the applause of the world!
In verse 9, Joshua is commanded to be strong and courageous as he steps out into his future. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” There is implied here the uncertainty that comes with stepping out into the unknown. Human nature is always fearful and critical of that which it does not know or understand. The future will always be uncertain to our human spirit but it is never uncertain to our Heavenly Father.
How can we define this strength and courage Joshua speaks of? This is strength and courage that comes out of a relationship and the understanding of a promise. In verse 5 the promise is hinted at and referred to, when it says “I will not leave you” and in verse 9 it is laid out clearly for us. “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
The literal Hebrew meaning of the phrase in verse 5 is “I will not let you sink”. The Patterson revised standard new amplified rendering is “You may be up to your neck in alligators but your neck is mine and I’m not going to let them get you!”
The word picture that is being painted here and the use of the repetition of the command to be “strong and courageous” is not a John Wayneish (probably not a real word) type of prideful, arrogant, haughty leadership but a person who is very aware of the complexities of life, of their own shortcomings but at the same time is totally and irrevocably committed to the Lord, to the Lord’s call on his/her life, totally committed to being a useful servant. This person has settled it in their heart and their spirit; “I belong to the Lord and I will follow Him all the way. I will go in His strength! I will find my strength in Him…when I am weak He is strong! To Him I will hold fast!”.
True courage and strength does not disregard secular business models and technology but understands that the highest priority is to know God and to discover what His plan is for the future. True courage lays hold of the plan of God and will not let go.
Daniel was a man who showed great courage and his story lives on as an example of a man who thrived in difficult circumstances. One of the great revelations to me personally about Daniel and how he traversed the incredibly tumultuous times he lived in is found in the very revealing statement of Daniel 11:32 “…but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits”.(NKJV)
Now, chew on this awhile! There is a universal application of this truth but Daniel’s statement is part of a prophetic word that finds its greatest fulfillment in the day in which we are alive. Daniel was prophesying about us!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
STEPPING INTO OUR FUTURE-PART 2
In Joshua 1:1-9 we see the instructions given to Joshua right after the death of Moses. Forty years earlier, God had brought the Jewish people out of bondage (their past) in Egypt. Their disobedience, grumbling, and lack of faith kept them wandering in the desert for 40 years…a journey that should have taken only a few months. God was so unhappy with the Jews that he decreed that the whole generation coming out of Egypt would have to pass away before He would allow the new generation into “The Promised Land.” Joshua and Caleb were the only ones from the old generation God allowed to go into “their future.” The death of Moses seems to be the trigger that released the forward movement for the Israelites.
“Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses” (1:2-3 NIV).
I like the way the New King James Version translates the first part of this verse, “Moses my servant is dead. Now, therefore, arise, go.” I like clear instructions, and this is immediate and very demanding.
I believe the Lord was saying to Joshua and then, through him, to the people, “I have led you this far; I have prepared you for this time; I have made a promise to you and it is now time to get up from where you are and possess your future.”
Some people possess their future and others let the future possess them. Several weeks ago I wrote about the 12 spies Moses sent in to spy out “the future.” Ten of the spies let the future possess them when they let the future become a place of fear and uncertainty. The other two (Joshua and Caleb) saw the future as a great opportunity, filled with confidence born of a relationship with God. They knew the future was theirs to possess (see Numbers 13 and 14).
God’s words to Joshua were a command to action. Inherent in the command was the understanding that God’s people were ready; He doesn’t send people into their “Promised Land” before it’s time. But they have to be willing to step up and possess the future; they have to want to move from where they are toward what God has for them. The same is true for us in possessing our future.
We live in a tragic moment in the church in America. The wave of easy “believism” of today leads many to conclude that if I just think good thoughts and push away the bad thoughts, my life will be fine. I am not interested in imposing legalistic demands but we must understand that God demands a response from us. That’s why He was explicit with Joshua, “Arise, go.” What He is saying is, “Your future is here and it’s up to you to possess it. You must get up and start moving toward the goal and as you move forward, I will be with you and direct your steps.”
“I will give you every place you set your foot, as I promised Moses.” What was the promise to Moses that God was now reminding Joshua about?
The promise to Moses is found in Deuteronomy 11:23-25: “If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways and to hold fast to him—then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the western sea. No man will be able to stand against you. The LORD your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.”
Wow, that’s quite a mouthful, quite a promise! We are told that “if we follow God’s instructions, love Him and hold fast to Him” then He will move the opposition out of our way. What seems to be insurmountable opposition will be moved.
What comes to your mind when you read the words “hold fast”? I think of my grandson who, when confronted by a situation he is uncertain of, will run and grab onto the leg of his dad or mom. That is exactly the picture of what we are to do, “run to Him and grab on for dear life.”
And God’s promise to us is that as He was with Moses and as He was with Joshua, so will He be with us! Jesus refreshes this for us when he said at the end of His earthly ministry, “…I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
As we walk into the unknown of our future, of all the promises God makes to us, I believe this is the greatest. I am thankful for His provision, for His protection, for all the benefits that daily come our way, but most of all I am thankful for His promise to accompany me into my future. “I am with you…to the very end.” And I intend to “hold fast”!
He is God and He has promised to walk with us into our future! Walking with Him is the connection that assures us that we can and will possess our future. If we don’t stay with Him, there is no territory to possess and we have lost the help of our GPS (God’s Plan for Success).
“Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses” (1:2-3 NIV).
I like the way the New King James Version translates the first part of this verse, “Moses my servant is dead. Now, therefore, arise, go.” I like clear instructions, and this is immediate and very demanding.
I believe the Lord was saying to Joshua and then, through him, to the people, “I have led you this far; I have prepared you for this time; I have made a promise to you and it is now time to get up from where you are and possess your future.”
Some people possess their future and others let the future possess them. Several weeks ago I wrote about the 12 spies Moses sent in to spy out “the future.” Ten of the spies let the future possess them when they let the future become a place of fear and uncertainty. The other two (Joshua and Caleb) saw the future as a great opportunity, filled with confidence born of a relationship with God. They knew the future was theirs to possess (see Numbers 13 and 14).
God’s words to Joshua were a command to action. Inherent in the command was the understanding that God’s people were ready; He doesn’t send people into their “Promised Land” before it’s time. But they have to be willing to step up and possess the future; they have to want to move from where they are toward what God has for them. The same is true for us in possessing our future.
We live in a tragic moment in the church in America. The wave of easy “believism” of today leads many to conclude that if I just think good thoughts and push away the bad thoughts, my life will be fine. I am not interested in imposing legalistic demands but we must understand that God demands a response from us. That’s why He was explicit with Joshua, “Arise, go.” What He is saying is, “Your future is here and it’s up to you to possess it. You must get up and start moving toward the goal and as you move forward, I will be with you and direct your steps.”
“I will give you every place you set your foot, as I promised Moses.” What was the promise to Moses that God was now reminding Joshua about?
The promise to Moses is found in Deuteronomy 11:23-25: “If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways and to hold fast to him—then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the western sea. No man will be able to stand against you. The LORD your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.”
Wow, that’s quite a mouthful, quite a promise! We are told that “if we follow God’s instructions, love Him and hold fast to Him” then He will move the opposition out of our way. What seems to be insurmountable opposition will be moved.
What comes to your mind when you read the words “hold fast”? I think of my grandson who, when confronted by a situation he is uncertain of, will run and grab onto the leg of his dad or mom. That is exactly the picture of what we are to do, “run to Him and grab on for dear life.”
And God’s promise to us is that as He was with Moses and as He was with Joshua, so will He be with us! Jesus refreshes this for us when he said at the end of His earthly ministry, “…I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
As we walk into the unknown of our future, of all the promises God makes to us, I believe this is the greatest. I am thankful for His provision, for His protection, for all the benefits that daily come our way, but most of all I am thankful for His promise to accompany me into my future. “I am with you…to the very end.” And I intend to “hold fast”!
He is God and He has promised to walk with us into our future! Walking with Him is the connection that assures us that we can and will possess our future. If we don’t stay with Him, there is no territory to possess and we have lost the help of our GPS (God’s Plan for Success).
Saturday, June 20, 2009
MEMORIES OF MY DAD
Father’s Day, 2009
My dad was a wonderful example of what a Christian man and dad should be and I was very fortunate to have a great relationship with him. He has been gone since 1990 and I want to share three strong memories of him.
1. Dad’s devotional time.
As a boy I had an early morning paper route. I got up at 4:30 or 5:00 o’clock six mornings a week, got on my bike, picked up 65 or 70 newspapers, and delivered them in a neighborhood not far from where we lived. I would be back home around 6:45, change clothes, have breakfast and get ready for school.
Every morning when I came in from my paper route, Dad would be sitting at the kitchen table with his study Bible open and a cup of coffee by his right hand. He was a businessman, in management of a large lumber operation. He never started his day without spending time in the Word of God.
My dad modeled for me a value that he didn’t have to preach about—he showed me—and I am deeply grateful. He valued the Word of God and I have never forgotten that. I love God’s Word and have been a student of the Bible, and that love affair began when I saw my dad and the value that he put on the Word.
2. “Son, I love you.”
I never doubted that my dad loved me, not once, not ever. I was 45 years old when Dad died and every time he saw me, sometime during our visit, he would tell me, “Son, I love you.” And then he would kiss me on the cheek. What a tragedy that so many fathers struggle with expressing love for their sons and daughters. I have friends, grown men with their own children and grandchildren, who have never heard their dad say, “Son, I love you.”
My dad was not a weak man or a sissy, but my granddad had shown love to him and he found it natural and manly to show love to his children.
As a dad with grown children and now grandchildren, I never tire of telling my family, each one, how much I love them.
God never tires of telling us how much He loves us. He has made His love the banner statement of Christianity: “For God so loved the world…” (John 3:16).
3. Dad’s legacy.
In 1990, Carol and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary by taking a trip to England courtesy of mileage points on United Airlines and points in the Marriott Hotel system. Just a few days before we were to leave on our trip, I felt very strongly impressed that I should fly to Vancouver and see my dad. He was hospitalized in the advanced stages of Parkinson’s disease. I had just come off a trip and the last thing I wanted to do before taking the flight to London was get on another airplane. I was travelling a lot in those days and would sometimes be on a flight three or four times times a week. But I listened to the Lord and just two days before leaving for England, I climbed on a plane and flew to Vancouver late one Friday.
I spent a few hours on Saturday with my dad. He couldn’t get around at all and could hardly talk but his eyes brightened when I got there. After a few minutes of nonsensical chatter, he became lucid and very clearly asked me about Carol and his granddaughters. Dad cared and wanted to know how his family was. I got him into a wheelchair, walked him around, and talked to him. Only a few times did he say anything that I could understand. Parkinson’s is a cruel disease and I hope the devil gets a triple dose just to start with.
Because I needed to catch a flight late in the afternoon to get home so that Carol and I could leave for London the next morning, I explained to Dad that I was going to have to leave soon. I looked at the man I loved and called “Dad” and for some reason I asked him, “Dad, are you okay?” and in a moment of crystalline clarity, he looked at me and answered, “Son, I’m fine. I’m just praising the Lord.”
Those were the last words my dad ever spoke to me. He died two weeks later, just as Carol and I were returning from Europe.
My dad left me a great legacy. Not wealth, because he didn’t have much of that, but he left something far more precious and valuable. My dad left me the imprint of a life lived well. He taught me great principles of how a man, a real man, should live. My dad mentored me by showing me how to be a good husband and a good and loving parent. Most of all, he modeled for me some of the great values of a follower of Jesus Christ.
My dad is my hero and I’m glad to share these memories with you on Father’s Day.
My dad was a wonderful example of what a Christian man and dad should be and I was very fortunate to have a great relationship with him. He has been gone since 1990 and I want to share three strong memories of him.
1. Dad’s devotional time.
As a boy I had an early morning paper route. I got up at 4:30 or 5:00 o’clock six mornings a week, got on my bike, picked up 65 or 70 newspapers, and delivered them in a neighborhood not far from where we lived. I would be back home around 6:45, change clothes, have breakfast and get ready for school.
Every morning when I came in from my paper route, Dad would be sitting at the kitchen table with his study Bible open and a cup of coffee by his right hand. He was a businessman, in management of a large lumber operation. He never started his day without spending time in the Word of God.
My dad modeled for me a value that he didn’t have to preach about—he showed me—and I am deeply grateful. He valued the Word of God and I have never forgotten that. I love God’s Word and have been a student of the Bible, and that love affair began when I saw my dad and the value that he put on the Word.
2. “Son, I love you.”
I never doubted that my dad loved me, not once, not ever. I was 45 years old when Dad died and every time he saw me, sometime during our visit, he would tell me, “Son, I love you.” And then he would kiss me on the cheek. What a tragedy that so many fathers struggle with expressing love for their sons and daughters. I have friends, grown men with their own children and grandchildren, who have never heard their dad say, “Son, I love you.”
My dad was not a weak man or a sissy, but my granddad had shown love to him and he found it natural and manly to show love to his children.
As a dad with grown children and now grandchildren, I never tire of telling my family, each one, how much I love them.
God never tires of telling us how much He loves us. He has made His love the banner statement of Christianity: “For God so loved the world…” (John 3:16).
3. Dad’s legacy.
In 1990, Carol and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary by taking a trip to England courtesy of mileage points on United Airlines and points in the Marriott Hotel system. Just a few days before we were to leave on our trip, I felt very strongly impressed that I should fly to Vancouver and see my dad. He was hospitalized in the advanced stages of Parkinson’s disease. I had just come off a trip and the last thing I wanted to do before taking the flight to London was get on another airplane. I was travelling a lot in those days and would sometimes be on a flight three or four times times a week. But I listened to the Lord and just two days before leaving for England, I climbed on a plane and flew to Vancouver late one Friday.
I spent a few hours on Saturday with my dad. He couldn’t get around at all and could hardly talk but his eyes brightened when I got there. After a few minutes of nonsensical chatter, he became lucid and very clearly asked me about Carol and his granddaughters. Dad cared and wanted to know how his family was. I got him into a wheelchair, walked him around, and talked to him. Only a few times did he say anything that I could understand. Parkinson’s is a cruel disease and I hope the devil gets a triple dose just to start with.
Because I needed to catch a flight late in the afternoon to get home so that Carol and I could leave for London the next morning, I explained to Dad that I was going to have to leave soon. I looked at the man I loved and called “Dad” and for some reason I asked him, “Dad, are you okay?” and in a moment of crystalline clarity, he looked at me and answered, “Son, I’m fine. I’m just praising the Lord.”
Those were the last words my dad ever spoke to me. He died two weeks later, just as Carol and I were returning from Europe.
My dad left me a great legacy. Not wealth, because he didn’t have much of that, but he left something far more precious and valuable. My dad left me the imprint of a life lived well. He taught me great principles of how a man, a real man, should live. My dad mentored me by showing me how to be a good husband and a good and loving parent. Most of all, he modeled for me some of the great values of a follower of Jesus Christ.
My dad is my hero and I’m glad to share these memories with you on Father’s Day.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
STEPPING INTO OUR FUTURE - PART ONE
Joshua 1:1-9 is an incredibly enriching passage. These verses contain the instructions God gave to Joshua as he assumed the leadership of Israel and together they prepared to possess their future. In these verses we find timeless principles, given to guide Israel and all of us who follow along ‘afar off’ as we step into our future with a confident, expectant spirit.
When Moses died, the man God chose to take his place and lead the Jewish nation into the Promised Land was not a novice. Joshua had been an aide to Moses for at least 40 years and was very likely close to 80 years old when God spoke to him and said:
“Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites” (Joshua 1:2).
It is important that we not skip over these first verses in order to get to the heart of the instructions. The path of confidence starts in these verses! They tell us something extremely important and if we miss it, then the rest of the passage doesn’t take us where we want to go. What do these verses tell us? They tell us that Joshua had an open and personal relationship with God, a relationship that allowed God to speak to him, and allowed Joshua to hear and understand His directions.
Joshua had not simply leaned on Moses all those years of being an aide. Joshua learned from Moses that he, too, could have a relationship with God. Building a relationship is never easy; it takes time, it takes patience; and it takes a determination to see the relationship grow and flourish. For 40 years before Moses assumed the leadership of the Jewish nation he was “away” learning to walk with God, to have a relationship with Him. For the next 40 years Moses led and Joshua learned.
So much victory, so much success in life, in marriage, in business is squandered because people don’t take time to build relationships. Our culture is in such a hurry to succeed that shortcuts are invented. Instead of building relationships, people “hook up” for mutual pleasure and then quickly move on. Carol and I have a good marriage because we have built a good relationship (and because I have humbly learned to do all the vacuuming,,,hold the applause, please).
Joshua had a relationship with God that had been cultivated over the years and now he was faced with what could be considered a major challenge. How would you like to wake up one morning and suddenly have God declare, “Moses is dead and now you are in charge of this unruly bunch…it will be your responsibility to lead them into their future”? Joshua was ready, in large part, because he had a relationship with God and recognized His voice.
Far too many Christians today have such a casual relationship with the Lord that they cannot tell when He is talking; they don’t recognize or understand His voice or His directions. The fruit of a casual, distant relationship is confusion when God begins to speak. It’s confusion because it’s been so long since a real conversation (wholehearted prayer) has taken place that when God begins to speak, we are not sure it’s really Him talking!
In the late 1980’s I was at The 700 Club with an evangelist I was doing work for. While the evangelist was being interviewed on live TV, I waited in the Green Room and talked with the next guest, a Christian psychologist. I had met this doctor years earlier when he was a pastor in the Upper Midwest. We began to talk about current happenings in the church and the impact of several very widely-known moral failures among prominent ministers. (The Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker scandals were in full bloom at that time.)
The pastor/psychologist made the following comment: “Our ministry has been involved in counseling several hundred ministers and missionaries who have gone through moral failures. They come from all walks of life, many different nationalities, and different denominations but they all have one thing in common. At the time of their moral failure, not one of them had a consistent personal relationship with the Lord.” I have never forgotten that statement: “Not one of them had a consistent personal relationship with the Lord at the time of their moral failure.” That’s a sobering and revealing statement.
The road to confidently possessing our future must have as its starting point, as its cornerstone, our personal relationship with God. The seeds of our defeat in possessing our future also lie here, because if the cornerstone is not kept in place then the seeds of failure can sprout and take us in directions we never intended to go. It is my personal belief that our spirit is hungry for a relationship with God and if we do not enter into that relationship, if we do not keep the relationship with Him, and we let it drift and become distant, then that unfulfilled hunger in our human spirit will seek solace in other places.
“Now then, you and all these people get ready to cross…into the land I am about to give…”
When Moses died, the man God chose to take his place and lead the Jewish nation into the Promised Land was not a novice. Joshua had been an aide to Moses for at least 40 years and was very likely close to 80 years old when God spoke to him and said:
“Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites” (Joshua 1:2).
It is important that we not skip over these first verses in order to get to the heart of the instructions. The path of confidence starts in these verses! They tell us something extremely important and if we miss it, then the rest of the passage doesn’t take us where we want to go. What do these verses tell us? They tell us that Joshua had an open and personal relationship with God, a relationship that allowed God to speak to him, and allowed Joshua to hear and understand His directions.
Joshua had not simply leaned on Moses all those years of being an aide. Joshua learned from Moses that he, too, could have a relationship with God. Building a relationship is never easy; it takes time, it takes patience; and it takes a determination to see the relationship grow and flourish. For 40 years before Moses assumed the leadership of the Jewish nation he was “away” learning to walk with God, to have a relationship with Him. For the next 40 years Moses led and Joshua learned.
So much victory, so much success in life, in marriage, in business is squandered because people don’t take time to build relationships. Our culture is in such a hurry to succeed that shortcuts are invented. Instead of building relationships, people “hook up” for mutual pleasure and then quickly move on. Carol and I have a good marriage because we have built a good relationship (and because I have humbly learned to do all the vacuuming,,,hold the applause, please).
Joshua had a relationship with God that had been cultivated over the years and now he was faced with what could be considered a major challenge. How would you like to wake up one morning and suddenly have God declare, “Moses is dead and now you are in charge of this unruly bunch…it will be your responsibility to lead them into their future”? Joshua was ready, in large part, because he had a relationship with God and recognized His voice.
Far too many Christians today have such a casual relationship with the Lord that they cannot tell when He is talking; they don’t recognize or understand His voice or His directions. The fruit of a casual, distant relationship is confusion when God begins to speak. It’s confusion because it’s been so long since a real conversation (wholehearted prayer) has taken place that when God begins to speak, we are not sure it’s really Him talking!
In the late 1980’s I was at The 700 Club with an evangelist I was doing work for. While the evangelist was being interviewed on live TV, I waited in the Green Room and talked with the next guest, a Christian psychologist. I had met this doctor years earlier when he was a pastor in the Upper Midwest. We began to talk about current happenings in the church and the impact of several very widely-known moral failures among prominent ministers. (The Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker scandals were in full bloom at that time.)
The pastor/psychologist made the following comment: “Our ministry has been involved in counseling several hundred ministers and missionaries who have gone through moral failures. They come from all walks of life, many different nationalities, and different denominations but they all have one thing in common. At the time of their moral failure, not one of them had a consistent personal relationship with the Lord.” I have never forgotten that statement: “Not one of them had a consistent personal relationship with the Lord at the time of their moral failure.” That’s a sobering and revealing statement.
The road to confidently possessing our future must have as its starting point, as its cornerstone, our personal relationship with God. The seeds of our defeat in possessing our future also lie here, because if the cornerstone is not kept in place then the seeds of failure can sprout and take us in directions we never intended to go. It is my personal belief that our spirit is hungry for a relationship with God and if we do not enter into that relationship, if we do not keep the relationship with Him, and we let it drift and become distant, then that unfulfilled hunger in our human spirit will seek solace in other places.
“Now then, you and all these people get ready to cross…into the land I am about to give…”
Saturday, June 6, 2009
STRONG TO THE END
“He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:8 NIV).
Paul’s words to the church body at Corinth were meant to encourage and strengthen them with the resolve to finish the course of their life “in strength.”
With every passing day we see an increase in the uncertainty level of the world. Just when it seems an answer is beginning to be worked out for one problem, an even greater problem appears on the horizon. This morning I read a dire forecast about the second wave of credit problems that analysts are now warning about. Will these crises never end? No, probably not!
The future is relentless, never stopping. There is no way to dodge it and no way to step over it. We are slaves to the future. What looked distant a short time ago is now here and what was just here is now the past. Like a relentless predator, our life journey is constantly taking us into the uncharted territory of the future.
In our limited view of life we have memories of the past, some pleasant, some not. Some are washed into the corners of our minds and only occasionally come back. We are keenly aware of the present—well most of us are…some New Yorkers tend to think of themselves as the future and we just smile and love them anyway! For most of us, the future is a blank page (except for prophecy teachers and then it is a chart that nobody understands except them). God has not given man the ability to see clearly into the future and, in my opinion, He has done so for a very simple reason. I believe God deliberately keeps the future murky so we will live by faith, trusting in Him!
What we don’t know almost always brings feelings of uncertainty and for some it brings anxiety and fear. Our inability to see the future clearly will cause us to take one of two roads through the remainder of our life. Road one is what I call the low road. The low road is filled with anxiety and fear. Travelers on the low road spend a lot of time and energy worrying about tomorrow, anxious if they will be able to survive, wondering what to do if their fears materialize. “Low roaders” spend a lot of time worrying about inconsequentials. They don’t live by faith—they spend most of their time living by sight and feelings. When they don’t feel well or things don’t look good, they take that as a sure sign that they have done something wrong. Low roaders spend a lot of time worrying and thinking, “I have missed the perfect will of God.”
Sometimes by mistake I put myself on the low road. How do I know that I have taken a wrong turn and am travelling on the wrong path? I know because I begin to be critical and I spend time and energy worrying and fretting about everything. When this happens, I remind myself in no uncertain terms that He is the Lord, He is the Shepherd, and my place is to be one of His sheep. He sets the pace and guides the flock; He knows where I am to be in the pasture. I remind myself that He is the same yesterday, today and forever! I also remind myself that He is in charge and is already alive in my future!
The “high roader” is no less aware of life than the “low roader” but has chosen to live his life by faith. He has made his Savior the Lord and Shepherd of his life and he is not trying to live his life for his own personal pleasure but has chosen to live as a child/son of God in complete submission to His plans and purposes.
The “high roader” does not give in to worry and carry unnecessary burdens, because his Savior carries those for him (see 1 Peter 5:7 and Psalm 55:22). My choice is to live as a high roader!
Regarding our future, I believe it is normal to have some sense of uncertainty but only in regard to our not knowing exactly how things will work out between here and the final conclusion. But that uncertainty is to be coupled with expectancy (hope) that as God has been faithful in the past, He will be again today and tomorrow. I have no idea of exactly how life will be a year or even a month from now but God, who has been faithful to meet my needs, who has protected and ministered to me and to my family until now, will do so in the future as much or more as He has done in the past. Expectation—yes! Anxiety—no!
Over the next few weeks we will explore the subject of “Stepping Into Our Future With Confidence.” God has opened a very powerful passage of scripture to me as He gave instructions to one of His great generals about how he (Joshua) was to step into his future. This is a rich and encouraging teaching and I trust you will be blessed by it as I have been.
I finish today with the words of Paul that I put at the beginning of this article: “He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul’s words to the church body at Corinth were meant to encourage and strengthen them with the resolve to finish the course of their life “in strength.”
With every passing day we see an increase in the uncertainty level of the world. Just when it seems an answer is beginning to be worked out for one problem, an even greater problem appears on the horizon. This morning I read a dire forecast about the second wave of credit problems that analysts are now warning about. Will these crises never end? No, probably not!
The future is relentless, never stopping. There is no way to dodge it and no way to step over it. We are slaves to the future. What looked distant a short time ago is now here and what was just here is now the past. Like a relentless predator, our life journey is constantly taking us into the uncharted territory of the future.
In our limited view of life we have memories of the past, some pleasant, some not. Some are washed into the corners of our minds and only occasionally come back. We are keenly aware of the present—well most of us are…some New Yorkers tend to think of themselves as the future and we just smile and love them anyway! For most of us, the future is a blank page (except for prophecy teachers and then it is a chart that nobody understands except them). God has not given man the ability to see clearly into the future and, in my opinion, He has done so for a very simple reason. I believe God deliberately keeps the future murky so we will live by faith, trusting in Him!
What we don’t know almost always brings feelings of uncertainty and for some it brings anxiety and fear. Our inability to see the future clearly will cause us to take one of two roads through the remainder of our life. Road one is what I call the low road. The low road is filled with anxiety and fear. Travelers on the low road spend a lot of time and energy worrying about tomorrow, anxious if they will be able to survive, wondering what to do if their fears materialize. “Low roaders” spend a lot of time worrying about inconsequentials. They don’t live by faith—they spend most of their time living by sight and feelings. When they don’t feel well or things don’t look good, they take that as a sure sign that they have done something wrong. Low roaders spend a lot of time worrying and thinking, “I have missed the perfect will of God.”
Sometimes by mistake I put myself on the low road. How do I know that I have taken a wrong turn and am travelling on the wrong path? I know because I begin to be critical and I spend time and energy worrying and fretting about everything. When this happens, I remind myself in no uncertain terms that He is the Lord, He is the Shepherd, and my place is to be one of His sheep. He sets the pace and guides the flock; He knows where I am to be in the pasture. I remind myself that He is the same yesterday, today and forever! I also remind myself that He is in charge and is already alive in my future!
The “high roader” is no less aware of life than the “low roader” but has chosen to live his life by faith. He has made his Savior the Lord and Shepherd of his life and he is not trying to live his life for his own personal pleasure but has chosen to live as a child/son of God in complete submission to His plans and purposes.
The “high roader” does not give in to worry and carry unnecessary burdens, because his Savior carries those for him (see 1 Peter 5:7 and Psalm 55:22). My choice is to live as a high roader!
Regarding our future, I believe it is normal to have some sense of uncertainty but only in regard to our not knowing exactly how things will work out between here and the final conclusion. But that uncertainty is to be coupled with expectancy (hope) that as God has been faithful in the past, He will be again today and tomorrow. I have no idea of exactly how life will be a year or even a month from now but God, who has been faithful to meet my needs, who has protected and ministered to me and to my family until now, will do so in the future as much or more as He has done in the past. Expectation—yes! Anxiety—no!
Over the next few weeks we will explore the subject of “Stepping Into Our Future With Confidence.” God has opened a very powerful passage of scripture to me as He gave instructions to one of His great generals about how he (Joshua) was to step into his future. This is a rich and encouraging teaching and I trust you will be blessed by it as I have been.
I finish today with the words of Paul that I put at the beginning of this article: “He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
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