Thursday, December 29, 2011

THE SONG THAT BREAKS THE SPIRIT OF BARRENNESS!

Are there promises that God has quickened to your heart that you have not seen fulfilled? Are you in the midst of a very dry period in your spiritual life? Does it seem that your prayers get no higher than the ceiling? Has there been a withering to little or nothing of an area of your spiritual life or ministry that in the past has been extremely fruitful? If you answer yes to any of these questions, then the prophet Isaiah has a word of instruction and help for you!

“Sing, O barren,
You who have not borne!
Break forth into singing, and cry aloud,
You who have not labored with child!
For more are the children of the desolate
Than the children of the married woman,” says the LORD.

(Isaiah 54:1)

When we hear that something is barren, we tend to think of landscape such as the surface of the moon or perhaps parts of the desert in the southwestern U.S. Actually, those thoughts are accurate. In the Bible the word barren means “sterile, no forthcoming life” or it means “to be rendered useless and unfit for work.”

When the prophet Isaiah tells the barren to sing, to break forth into song, he is not suggesting that we burst out into a medley of our favorite Beatles hits or a rousing chorus of “Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall.” No, he is exhorting us to sing exuberant praise to the Lord in a ringing cry of exaltation, joy and rejoicing.

When we are in a battle against fruitlessness, breaking out and singing is an act of faith that releases the power of God. Worship and praise will lead the way to victory!

Many of us are reserved and we immediately think, “How could this ever work? Surely I have done something that has caused this unfruitfulness and I really should do penance for my mistake. Singing and shouting praise and worship is just too simple! The answer must be more complicated than this. And, frankly,” our minds tell us, “this just doesn’t seem too classy!” That’s just the point.

The breaking of the barren spirit is typified in the destruction of the walls of Jericho. In Joshua 6:20 we read, “And the people shouted with a great shout . . . the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up . . . and they took the city.”

The shout spoken of here is the shout of joy and rejoicing. It is the “faith song” of triumph over barrenness and resistance. There was nothing classy about what the people of Israel did. Their conduct defied good sense but they were obedient. Then when they were instructed to, they broke forth in a shout of joy that broke the back of the resistance that had held them back from possessing their inheritance.

The story of Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail is well known (see Act 16:19-40). “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. . . . Suddenly there was a great earthquake . . . and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed” (verses 25-26). The apostles were not having an “all-night sing” in the midst of their confinement, but they were praying and worshiping God. As they sang, God’s power was released and they were set free to continue their miraculous missionary journey.

Take a careful look at what the prophet Habakkuk says about barrenness and securing the victory through praise and worship.

Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
And there be no herd in the stalls—
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The LORD God is my strength;
He will make my feet like deer’s feet,
And He will make me walk on my high hills
.

(Habakkuk 3:17-19)

In other words, Habakkuk is declaring that when he was surrounded by barrenness, by faith he began to sing and rejoice. The prophet knew that praise and worship would bring the presence of the Lord and with it would come His strength. Further, the prophet understood that it would be the strength of the Lord that would establish the breakthrough and set him to walking in victory! Can you say amen?

A higher level of loudness on the decibel scale is not important or necessary. We are just to stay intently passionate and focused with our singing of praise and worship. “I will rejoice . . . I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

I think it is time for the choir known as the “Barren, Broken and Needy Chorale” to sing! Are you ready? Come, join me and let’s sing our song of praise and worship!

Friday, December 23, 2011

THE OLD HAS GONE, THE NEW HAS COME

For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”
(Isaiah 9:6).

This prophecy, written 700 years before the birth of Jesus, is the most well-known and most repeated Bible verse about His birth. Somehow the powerful truth of this verse has become all tangled up with pageants, nativity scenes and the commercialism of the “holiday season.”

Isaiah’s prophecy was looking forward to a climactic moment in history when our world would be changed forever. When a baby is born, the structure and makeup of the family is forever changed to include the new arrival, and so it would be when the Child was born.

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.” Everything changed when deity took on a human form and came as a baby. “The old has gone and the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Jesus came to institute a new kingdom that would be called “the kingdom of God.” One of the first public statements Jesus made is found in Mark 1:15: “The time has come,” He said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.” This beginning of ministry statement underscores its importance to Him, to His mission, and to us.

“And the government will be upon his shoulder.” The kingdom that would be birthed with the Messiah would be like none other ever seen on this earth. The rule and dominion of the kingdom of God would rest on His shoulder, and not an earthly monarch’s. An old religious system was passing away and the new was coming.

The prophesy of Isaiah then presents five attributes of the Son of God who would rule His everlasting kingdom; five attributes of the Christ of Christmas.

Wonderful—this word is speaking of the miraculous nature of Christ’s life and ministry. Everything about His life, His ministry, would have a manifestation of the miraculous in it. I believe in miracles and I believe that miracles have a place in our life in Him. He is a “wonderful” Savior and I believe that we are to expect and anticipate His miracle-working power in our lives, too. Carol and I have seen His miracle power at work on our behalf this past year and we joyously give Him thanks! Truly He is a “wonderful” Savior!

Counselor—in some translations the words wonderful and counselor are put together as in “wonderful counselor.” The word counselor is expressive of great wisdom and the qualifications available to guide and direct all men’s lives. He invites all of us to “come to Me” and “learn from Me” (Matthew 11:28-29).

Mighty God—the term “mighty God” refers to a king, a conqueror, a hero. We know that Jesus was all of those and more. He is a king, a conqueror, and to all of us who love Him, He is a hero. There is no problem, no dilemma, no issue we will ever face that He cannot conquer!

Everlasting Father—the term “everlasting Father” has been somewhat controversial. Some have said, “No one is to be called Father except God and therefore it is wrong for Isaiah to have applied this title to the coming Messiah.” Those who said that are right except for one thing: Isaiah was not presenting this as a title for the Messiah, he was describing the fatherly nature that the Messiah would manifest throughout His life and throughout His eternal reign.

Prince of Peace—this is possibly the most recognizable term for the Christ of Christmas. Someday all the wars, all the pain, and all the tears of humanity will cease and there truly will be peace on earth. That won’t happen until Christ’s eternal kingdom is manifest on this earth, the devil is bound, sin is judged, the earth is swept clean of all evil, and the redeemed of God are the only inhabitants of this world. In the meantime, however, the Prince of Peace comes and establishes His reign in our hearts and lives. We can know His peace because it dwells in us.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you” (John 14:27).

The world around us may be in turmoil but to the redeemed He is the Prince of Peace.

Have a happy and blessed Christmas. This is a season to celebrate! We celebrate the passing of the old and the birthing of the new! We celebrate the gift of God by giving back to Him through our gifts of praise and worship and by giving to others!

Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 16, 2011

INAPPROPRIATE EXPECTATIONS

Several years ago Carol and I spent an evening visiting with friends. Walking into our host’s living room I glanced at the television which was tuned to a 24-hour news station and saw what appeared to be the scene of an explosion in New York City. Crawling across the bottom of the screen were the words “explosion, injuries, death, possible terrorism.” The anxiety level of America skyrocketed for a few minutes. Eventually it was discovered that a steam pipe, nearly one hundred years old and buried ten feet underground, had ruptured with great force.

We live in a world that breeds fear and anxiety. No matter where you turn, it seems there is a catastrophe rising, or at least the newscasters say there is. The news media have such a negative outlook that virtually everything is viewed with the idea, “How can we sensationalize this?” Take the evening news for example; news people no longer just report the news, they also report the news they think is behind the news. This kind of spin takes an accident and elevates it to a disaster; it takes a spring thunderstorm and elevates it to an impending life-threatening, killer storm; it takes an obscure report by an unknown group of “experts” and projects it as though it is certifiable truth.

The Bible has very interesting things to say about the times in which we live. “Men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken” (Luke 21:26).

While the Scriptures do say there will be an increase of catastrophic events and life will become more and more difficult in the end times, this verse seems to say that men’s hearts will fail not because of the actual events but because of the “fear and the expectation” that a disaster of some kind may be coming. And if you watch the evening news and listen too much to talk radio, you may just feel like the whole world is going to hell in a hand basket, and it is happening “right now.” If it’s not the conservatives whining about the cataclysmic disasters that the liberals are creating, then it’s the liberals whining about the catastrophic disaster the conservatives have created.

The word fear in Luke 21:26 means to live in dread, to be terror-stricken. This kind of fear causes one to see unfounded evil coming from all directions. We get the English word phobia from the Greek word for fear; phobia means “an exaggerated and usually illogical fear of an event or item.”

So, what is God’s message for us in a moment like this? Psalm 46:1-3 is about as comforting and straight to the point as any passage in the Bible:

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling” (NKJV).

Refuge

The Hebrew word for refuge is sometimes translated to mean “fleeing to a shelter with the idea of tarrying there for protection” (see Psalm 57:1). The word is occasionally translated “trusting” (see Psalm 37:40). The primary idea is that a place is not a refuge unless you can trust it. The word is also sometimes translated “hope.” This would tell us that the word refuge embraces the idea of a place we can flee to with confidence that we will be safe.

Strength

The word strength that is used here has strong meanings. Among several, it means to be vehement or powerful, like the intense or power-filled wind that divided the waters of the Red Sea. It also means “to provide defense and refuge.” The Holy Spirit is often described “as a wind.” Acts 1:8 says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” You have more strength than you think because the Holy Spirit came to dwell in you at salvation and He brought His power-pack with Him.

God is not just a hiding place for us in times of stress; He is a calming strength for us to draw on.

Very present help

God is not just somewhere in our neighborhood, He is right there with us at all times.

I am a father of two children. My daughters know that I am available to help them whenever they need it; all they have to do is call. Several times during the last twenty years Carol and I have lived 1200 to 1500 miles away from our children. We could speak by phone and, if need be, get on a plane and be with our family within six to ten hours. Now that we live close, it would still be 15 or 20 minutes before we could get to their house in a time of urgent need.

Too often we relegate our understanding of God and how He works to what we understand in the natural, and that is a mistake on our part. You need to embrace the fact that God is there with you all the time. You respond to that, saying, “I don’t understand how that can be”—but you don’t need to understand! God is God and you are not. There are lots of things about God and His ways that we, in our natural minds, are incapable of totally thinking through and grasping. God said, “I will be a very present help in trouble.” Therefore, He is.

God’s promise to His people is that He will be a trustworthy place of safety, a mighty strength for us to draw on, and that He will be a very (meaning abundant) real presence in times of stress and trouble.

God is . . . therefore we will not fear!”

Friday, December 9, 2011

FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT TO THE CHURCH OF THE LAST DAYS

Psalm 45 is a beautifully written, prophetic song that announces the wedding of the Messiah and His bride, the church.

The visual imagery of this psalm is rich and loaded with meaning about Christ and His bride. In the midst of this emotional song, the imagery stops, giving way to a powerful and sobering word from the Holy Spirit to the bride, the church of the last days.

“Listen, O daughter, consider and incline your ear” (Psalm 45:10).

This is a call to “pay attention.” The word “listen” is often translated “hearken.” In other words, listen up, for I have something important to say! The challenge to the bride is to reflect deeply on the new relationship that she is about to enter into.

“Forget your own people also, and your father’s house” (v. 10).

In preparation for her impending marriage, the bride must be free from her past, from anything that would separate her or stand between her and her Bridegroom. She is to forget the past and be wholly Christ’s. This is a message that has not been fully embraced by the church in the U.S., Canada and other western-influenced nations.

In order for the union between the bride and the Groom to form and so she can be wholly Christ’s, the bride has to break off from her past. The word “forget” means to cease to care, to stop holding on to the past. In other words, the bride is being told to get her priorities straight. She is not to care as much for the things of this world as she does for her Bridegroom! Jesus said, “A man shall leave [to leave behind] his father and mother [family] and shall be joined to his wife” (Matthew 19:5). Without the leaving/forgetting, there can be no true union!

Why would the Spirit emphasize this if He did not recognize the struggle that goes on in the church of this hour? Could it be that the Spirit foresaw the compromised spirit of the last days, the struggle of the Laodician church that in the name of relevance allowed its testimony to be compromised?

“So the King will greatly desire your beauty” (Psalm 45:11).

We hear a lot about the blessing of being a follower of Jesus but little about how much Jesus loves and desires to be with His bride. It seems almost carnal (worldly) to say that the Lord has a passionate love for His bride and is deeply desirous of spending time with her but He does. This is the reason He says to the church of Laodicia, “I stand at the door and knock” (Revelation 3:20). He loves His bride and wants to be with her! (See also Ephesians 5:25-31.)

“Because He is your Lord, worship Him” (v. 11).

The Spirit is commanding the last-days church to worship Him, to be a worshipping church. The contemporary church has largely lost focus on this point. They have good musicians, good performers, but many have lost sight of the meaning of worship. The call of the Spirit is for the church to make a corrective move and find again the proper place of praise and worship. The Lord inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). Praise and worship is not about me and my needs, my hurts, my confusion—it’s about Him! The word of the Spirit to the Bride is, “Worship Him!”

Worship precedes the presence of the Lord and the release of God’s promises to His people!

The Holy Spirit finishes this statement to the bride with a comment about wedding gifts to be brought before the ceremony takes place—and a warning!

“And the daughter of Tyre will be there with a gift; the rich among the people will seek your favor” (v. 12).

In Old Testament times the city of Tyre was the wealthiest commercial city of that period of history. I believe this Scripture is speaking of the transfer of wealth from the secular community to the church in the last days. Further, I believe this gift of wealth, coming before the wedding ceremony, is to fuel the bride’s efforts to finish the task of world evangelism (see Luke 24:47). It is not a transfer of wealth to enrich the church or to build another edifice, but to complete the one thing Jesus asked the church to do before He ascended into heaven. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone” (Mark 16:15, NLT).

With the transfer of wealth also comes a warning: “The rich among the people will seek your favor” (v. 12). Some wealthy nonbelievers will attempt to use the sudden infusion of wealth to the church as a way to influence the church, and the Holy Spirit is alerting the bride to this.

Why would the Spirit of God put this three-verse parenthetical statement in the midst of this beautiful, prophetic wedding song? It is there because it speaks of the bride’s finishing her preparation for the wedding. The bride will not be ready for her marriage unless she heeds the message of the Spirit!

Friday, December 2, 2011

PRAYING THE WORD

“The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years!” (James 5:16-17, NLT).

This passage says that Elijah was as human as we are, but when I pray I don’t see fire come down from heaven and burn up anything nor have I shut up the heavens for three and a half years. I haven’t even shut up a barking dog, for that matter.

Putting aside jesting, I do want my prayers to be effective. Let me rephrase that—I want my prayers to be more effective than they are now. The question is, how can this be accomplished?

One of the keys to a more effective prayer life is to learn to pray the Word. Before we talk about the practical side of doing just that, let’s talk about the Word for a moment.

The Word of God has an inherent power to bring about change (Hebrews 4:12). In the Old Testament, before there was much of the written Word available, the Word of God would come to the prophets and they would speak it forth. When the prophets spoke “the Word of God” as it was given to them, it would bring forth the change God intended and the Word would not “fall to the ground” (see 1 Samuel 3:19 and Isaiah 55:10-11).

In the New Testament we see the same power to bring change flowing through God’s Word. The apostle Paul credited the change in the Thessalonians to the Word of God.

“When you received the message of God [which you heard] from us, you welcomed it not as the word of [mere] men, but as it truly is, the Word of God, which is effectually at work in you who believe [exercising its superhuman power in those who . . . trust in and rely on it]” (1 Thessalonians 2:13, Amplified Bible).

It is the continuing power to bring change that makes it important for us to constantly be in the Word, to memorize it, to study it, to speak it forth, to meditate in it and to “pray the Word.”

Life is full of challenges, problems, opportunities and they will always be with us. The very first thing to do when you are faced with a health problem, a financial problem, or any other problem is to see what the Word of God has to say about it.

When I was diagnosed with throat cancer I put together a list of fourteen Scriptures that declare God’s desire to heal the sick. I read them daily, meditated on them—and I prayed them!

I did not get an instant healing but I did get my healing/recovery. It is now one year since the diagnosis and I am cancer free! I am deeply grateful for the attentive care of the best cancer doctors in the world but most of all I am thankful for the attention of a loving God, and to Him belongs all the praise!

Start praying the Word! As you pray about your challenge, bring the Scriptures into your prayer. You are not reminding the Lord of the Scripture or begging Him to bring it to pass; both of those are childish concepts. As you pray the Scripture or meditate on it, you are bringing yourself into line with God’s plan to bring the healing/answer you need.

As you pray Scripture, do not try to change the verses to fit your need. Let the power and authority of the Word come to you and do its work. If Hebrews 4:12 really means what it says, then we need to take the raw Word into us, stop trying to cook it to a “better flavor,” and let the Word do its work. Don’t try to work the Word. Know the Word, trust the Word, and let its superhuman power come to you.

Here are a couple of brief examples of how I pray the Word.

Psalm 23:1: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

After quoting this portion of the verse, I pray something like this: “Lord, You are the shepherd of my life, every part of my life! I am one of Your sheep and I follow Your leading. Thank You, Lord, for the incredible promise that because You are my shepherd I shall not want, I shall not lack. I thank You for Your provision and Your care that covers every part of my life. I praise and thank You and I receive Your care and provision because I know this is Your heart for me.”

Psalm 107:20
“He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”

My prayer would be something like this: “Lord, thank You for Your Word! Thank You that Your Word comes and brings healing and deliverance. Thank you, Lord, that Your word is at work in me right now bringing healing to broken places and setting me free from the bondage of sin. Thank You for the life and the power of Your Word. Thank You for my healing! You sent Your Word and healed me!”

A powerful (dare we say effective) prayer is one that is filled with the Word and with thanksgiving! God draws near to that kind of praying! (See Psalm 22:3.)