A PROMISE FOR 2015

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare (peace, prosperity, success) and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11, ESV).

When Jeremiah shared this prophetic promise, the Jews were in exile in Babylon—and this did not mean they were sent away for a vacation. Exile was very much like going to prison and serving a hard sentence as a slave in a foreign and hostile nation.

The Jewish nation had become so corrupt and disobedient that God decided to bring an end to it. He decreed defeat and exile for the rebellious nation, hoping to bring it back to its senses. Jeremiah prophesied to the Jews and told them exactly what would happen, and how long they would remain captives and be in exile. The drama then unfolded precisely as Jeremiah predicted.

The Jews were in a very discouraging and troubling time as the conditions of the exile came to pass. To make the situation more confusing for the exiles, false prophets began to say that Jeremiah had God’s message wrong; that everything was going to be fine; that very shortly the Jews would be going back to Jerusalem.

At this time of confusion and discouragement for the exiled Jews, Jeremiah shares this powerful prophetic promise that has strong implications for us during the “tough, chaotic times” into which our world is descending.

Here is God’s promise to us for 2015!

“For I know” — The Hebrew word for “know” is yada. This is the word used in Genesis 4:1: “And Adam knew (yada) Eve.” This phrase speaks of the very intimate involvement of the Lord in our circumstances. The fulfillment of this promise is not just for the Jews in exile, but for you as an individual.

“The plans I have for you” — The picture here is of the thoughtful preparation and planning by a master craftsman as he begins to work on a piece of art. He carefully selects just the right materials, the right colors and the right tools to bring the work to completion. The craftsman knows exactly how and where the finished work will be used and under what conditions, and his plan takes every detail into account. God has personally laid out detailed plans for you for your future; no detail has missed His attention.

“Plans for welfare” — Some translations say “plans to prosper you.” This promise encompasses all aspects of your life—your safety, your health and your well-being.

The promise is that God will watch over and protect, provide for, and bring prosperity to those who return to Him. God’s plans for you are not only thorough but are thought-out with your best interests at heart. The word “welfare” is a bigger word than just the limited definition of financial blessing or physical well-being, for it includes all aspects of our physical, spiritual and emotional health; it includes our vocational life and our future.

“Hope”— This is an extremely interesting word. It speaks of an expectancy that God is going to do something great, but it also speaks of a rope (see Joshua 2:18, 21). Joshua tells us the story of the scarlet cord that Rahab the prostitute hung out her window that protected her during the Jewish invasion. The Hebrew word used for cord/line is the same word that is used in Jeremiah 29 for hope. Hope, then, is a type of spiritual lifeline for us to hold on to when things around us are not going well at all. Hope is not inferior to faith; hope is the expectancy that as God has worked for us in the past, so He will again. We are literally to grab on to hope and not let go. God has thrown us a prophetic lifeline and it is hope; it is trust in Him and His eternal purposes and plans for our life.

Into the chaos of circumstance, with a laser-like sharpness, there comes a promise that the Holy Spirit quickens to our hearts and we realize that we have not been forgotten; we have not been abandoned; we are not adrift on a sea of chaos—but God is still on the throne and is still guiding the affairs of our life!

Like all promises, this promise is conditional. We have to ask ourselves, “Will we accept it? Will we embrace this truth?” Will we pursue the plans and purposes of God knowing that He has our best interests at heart or will we try to tell Him how He should do things? Are we ready to pray as Jesus did, “Your will be done” (Matthew 26:42) or will we, through our actions, say, “My will be done. What I want is what counts”?

God’s will is that you will know Him in His fullness in 2015!

THE RISE OF LAWLESSNESS

All over the world we see a terrifying rise in violence and acts of terrorism.

  In Pakistan terrorists murdered 148 in a school, mostly children.

  In Nigeria and neighboring nations, the terror group Boko Haram indiscriminately attacked villages and killed people, taking away young girls to be kept in sexual slavery.

  In Sydney, Australia, a terrorist sympathizer killed two people and took over a coffee shop, holding fifteen hostages for hours before the police killed him.

  In Syria and Iraq the terror group known as ISIS killed hundreds of Christians and innocents. Some were beheaded and the act was videotaped and released to the news media and over the Internet.

  In Quebec, Canada, a terrorist sympathizer used his car to kill one Canadian soldier and seriously injure a second. Two days later a gunman killed a Canadian soldier standing guard outside the Canadian National War Memorial and then rushed into one of the Parliament buildings, where he was shot and killed by one of the staff.

  Here in the United States, our country has been profoundly affected by the deaths of two African-American men. One was the death of the teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and the other happened on Staten Island, New York, when a career criminal, Eric Garner, was being arrested. These two events have set off a wave of protests across the country that have been going on for months.

  Just as I was writing this blog, the news came out about two police officers being assassinated in Brooklyn, NY, apparently in retaliation for the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

The above list is just a random sampling of what is happening around the world. Almost every day we hear of tragic, unexpected acts of violence and terrorism both here and all across the world.

It seems to me that the frequency of these incidents is increasing. I am not trying to defend the police or vilify the protestors; what I am going to try to do is give you a different perspective, a prophetic perspective that hopefully will serve as an alarm bell to some of you.

The disciples came to Jesus and asked Him, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the close of the age?” (Matthew 24:3). Jesus had just prophesied to the disciples about the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem and that prompted their questions.

Jesus explained to them that a series of signs will come like the birthing pains a woman experiences awaiting the completion of her pregnancy; the pains will increase in frequency and intensity. Among the signs that Jesus prophesied about was, “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12).

It is my belief that the rise of lawlessness we are seeing is what Jesus prophesied would happen as one of the signs of the nearness of His return.

The Apostle Paul essentially says the same thing in 2 Timothy 3:1-5: “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”

The word translated “difficulty” in verse one means “fierce, violent, hard to live with, hard to bear.” The only other time this exact word (in the Greek) is used in the New Testament is in Matthew 8:28 when it describes the demon-possessed men that Jesus encountered.

In 2 Timothy 3 after Paul speaks of “difficult days,” he uses nineteen adjectives and descriptive phrases to describe how the difficulties would manifest themselves. It seems to me that Paul is encircling the word “difficult” with descriptive words in an attempt to show just how tumultuous these “difficult days” will be.

I believe we are watching the rise of the demonically-inspired spirit of lawlessness that will eventuate in the revealing of “the man of lawlessness” that Paul prophesied about in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4. This is the one also known as “the Antichrist.”

Both Jesus and Paul alert us to the fact that concurrent with the rise of lawlessness will be a spirit of deception.  When the disciples asked Jesus what would be the sign of the end, before He told them anything else He said, “Take heed that no man deceive you” (Matthew 24:4). Paul says exactly the same thing in 2 Thessalonians 2:3: “Let no one deceive you.”

The spirit of deception is attempting to portray the rise of lawlessness as protest against the evil of the violation of civil rights, and to law enforcement in general. This is a demonically-inspired spirit that is involved in paving the way for “the man of lawlessness.”

The rising of the spirit of lawlessness and deception is the force driving what is happening in America and the horrific acts of terror around the world.

The words of Jesus and the words of Paul are shouting at the Bride of Christ (if she is listening), “Let no one deceive you!”

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 3:22).

WE CELEBRATE HIS BIRTH!

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

This prophecy, written 700 years before the birth of Jesus, is the most well-known and most repeated Bible verse about the birth of our Lord and Savior. 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 the 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 to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given.” Everything changed when deity took on a human form and came as a baby. “The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV).

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 is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.” This beginning of ministry statement underscores its importance to Him, to His mission, and to us.

“And the government shall 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, not on earthly leaders. 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 in past years and we joyously look forward to His miracle power being manifest in the days ahead! 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!

No one else could ever claim they were the fulfillment of this prophecy except Jesus. He displayed His “almightiness” when He rose from the dead in resurrection power and “was declared to be the Son of God in power” (Romans 1:4).

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 to 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!

THE COMFORTER HAS COME

In 1905 a woman from Los Angeles visiting family in Houston attended a service at the small church of William Seymour. The visitor invited Seymour to come to Los Angeles and preach about the Holy Spirit baptism, even though Seymour had not yet personally experienced this.  Seymour agreed and in February of 1906, he began to preach at a small holiness church in Los Angeles. After the first Sunday, the church leadership responded by locking the doors and telling Seymour he could not preach there anymore. A rather inauspicious start to his preaching mission in that city!

While the church leadership rejected Seymour, not all the church members did and he began holding prayer and preaching services in the home of one of them. Soon the meetings were moved to a larger home on North Bonnie Brae Street where members of other churches joined in. For five weeks it was mostly prayer and preaching but on April 9, 1906, the Holy Spirit baptized Edward Lee and he began to speak in an unknown language. A few days later William Seymour and six others were similarly baptized in the Spirit— and the revival was on!

News of the revival spread like wildfire throughout Los Angeles. To accommodate the crowds that began to gather, the meetings were moved to an abandoned and rundown Methodist Church on Azusa Street in a ghetto-like section of the city. The Los Angeles press reacted in horror and reviled the meetings as out of control and weird. What an unlikely beginning to a worldwide revival. A one-eyed, African-American preacher holding meetings in a building described as a rundown shack, in an unlikely part of the city, the meeting rejected by the mainstream religious establishment, and the media calling the meeting “weird and out of control.” Sounds to me like something that Jesus would feel very comfortable showing up at.

The Los Angeles Times, in one of its very derogatory articles about the Azusa Street revival, made the following comments: “They have a one-eyed, illiterate Negro as their preacher who stays on his knees much of the time with his head hidden between wooden milk crates. He doesn’t talk very much but at times he can be heard shouting, ‘Repent,’ and he’s supposed to be running the thing. . . . They repeatedly sing the same song, ‘The Comforter Has Come.’”

The Azusa Street revival continued for nine years. During the early years, services went on 24 hours a day. Visitors came from all over the world and carried the fire of revival back to their cities and towns. It’s now 109 years later and the revival that began at Azusa Street has spread to over 600 million people world-wide. What had such an unlikely beginning is now the largest and fastest-growing segment of Protestant Christianity.

The message of the song “The Comforter Has Come” that became the anthem of the early Pentecostal revival has a message that can be traced back to the Upper Room. But this was the Upper Room prior to Pentecost and prior to Calvary—the scene of the Last Supper. It was in the Upper Room that Jesus first introduced the ministry of the Holy Spirit and called Him “the Comforter.”

In the days just before Calvary the disciples were bewildered as they did not yet understand fully what was going on. Their expectations were far different from what was actually happening and they were confused. In this time of confusion, Jesus introduced the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He spoke to the disciples, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper (Comforter)” (John 14:16, NKJV).

The word “Helper or Comforter” that is used here is parakletos in the Greek. By definition the word Paraclete is the transliteration of a Greek word meaning “one who is called to someone’s aid” or “one who advocates for another.” Technically, the word can be used for a lawyer. More generally, the word denotes one who acts in another’s behalf as a mediator, intercessor, advocate or encourager.

Jesus told the confused and bewildered disciples that He was requesting the Father to send “another comforter.” The word “another” means “another of the same kind.” The ministry of the Holy Spirit would be a continuation of the ministry of Jesus.

If you want to understand the ministry of the Holy Spirit and understand how He brings comfort to the people of God, look at the life of Christ and see how He brought comfort. Observe as Jesus heals the sick and compassionately ministers to the outcasts of society. Listen as He speaks to the brokenhearted sisters whose brother Lazarus was dead.

 

Study the life of Christ and see how He loved and gave Himself that we might have the comfort of knowing that we are in right standing with God. Understand just a little about the ministry of Jesus to bring comfort to the brokenhearted and you will begin to understand the ministry of comfort the Holy Spirit is empowered to bring. Study the life of Christ and see how the fruits of the Spirit were manifest every day in His life; study His life and see the gifts of the Spirit that He moved in with such ease.

The Comforter has come! Have you made Him welcome?

The anthem of Azusa Street is still ringing in the heavens! Below is a link to a YouTube video of the song “The Comforter Has Come.” There is nothing sophisticated about this music; it is congregational singing attended to by the Holy Spirit. This is the way it was sung at Azusa Street. Be blessed!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU98khZAz2g

BACK TO THE WHOLE BIBLE

  

It’s amazing all the ways that we can access all of God’s Word in these days.

1.      We have several dozen versions of the Bible available to us in print.

2.      I have a wonderful study program—the Logos Bible Software—on my P.C. It’s only one of many that are available.

3.      There are wonderful websites available via the Internet, such as Bible Gateway, The Blue Letter Bible and others that have all kinds of study helps.

4.      We have the Bible available on our tablets or iPads or we can have a Bible app installed on our cell phones.

Never in history have the Scriptures been more available to more people, and yet there has never been a time in history when the American Church is so biblically illiterate! 

It seems to me that the more access we have to the Scriptures, the less Christians actually value the Word enough to read and study it. Concurrent with the decline in scriptural knowledge, there has been a decline in spiritual vitality among believers in worship, in evangelism and morality.

As the apostle Paul was finishing his letter to the church at Rome, one of his ending statements was: “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4, RSV). 

   

What did Paul mean when he penned the words “for whatever was written in former days”? Was he referring to some of the letters that he had written earlier to other churches? No, he was referring to the Old Testament.

This verse contains a principle of great significance for today’s believer. Everything that was written in Scripture in “former days” was written for us. Not only did it speak to the needs of its own day but it is still relevant in our world. Scripture is relevant because it speaks to our deepest needs and it was designed by God to be that way.

It is through the endurance taught in Scripture and the encouragement it brings that we are enabled to live in hope, in the confident expectation that just as God has intervened on our behalf in the past, so He will again! The word “endurance” in this verse is speaking of the power to handle hardship or stress. Our taking in “all the Word” is making a deposit of the power to endure. It is the power of God that will encourage us and strengthen us during hard and stressful times and God wants us to be partakers of what He has provided.

When you separate yourself from Scripture, you are turning a deaf ear to the voice of a heavenly Father anxious to help you and impart strength and encouragement into your life.

What Paul wrote in Romans 15:4 was not a new message for him. Years earlier he had written to the church in Corinth and said: “Now these things happened to them (in the Old Testament) as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come” (1 Corinthians 10:11, ESV). 

Years later, just before he was martyred, Paul said to Timothy, “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, ESV).  Paul was affirming that all Scripture is from God Himself, meaning that its teachings are timeless. All Scripture is powered by the Holy Spirit and all Scripture is for us to be taught by—all Scripture!

   

One reason I love reading both the Old and New Testaments is because the Old Testament helps me to understand the New Testament. For example, in the Old Testament, Israel is a picture or a type of the New Testament believer. Egypt represents the world and Israel’s journey through the wilderness represents our spiritual journey as followers of Jesus Christ.

The Bible makes it clear that all of Israel’s battles are illustrations of our spiritual battles today: “Now these things happened to them as an example: but they are written down for our instruction” (1 Corinthians 10:11). The word “instruction” here is a word that in the original language means “This was written as a warning or as advice meant to keep us from danger or other unpleasantness.”

All these Old Testament examples are meant to keep us from falling into unbelief, as Israel did. The author of Hebrews writes, “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief” (4:11, KJV). In other words, “Study the Old Testament as well as the New, and learn from Israel’s example. Don’t make the same mistakes they did!”

I think it’s time for us to commit to getting “Back to the whole Bible.”

FEEDING ON HIS FAITHFULNESS

Recently I have been drawn to Psalm 37. Each time I read it I am encouraged and then I return to my regular pattern of devotional reading. A few days later I am drawn again to Psalm 37 and then a few days after that it happens again. There is something in this outpouring of King David’s heart that is pertinent for this hour and the Lord doesn’t seem to want me to get very far away from it.

This psalm was written because David was going through a difficult time. The psalm begins,   “Do not fret because of evildoers” (Psalm 37:1, NKJV). The word fret means to be hot, furious, angry, and the psalmist is saying to us, “You must not let this happen! Do not allow the circumstances of life and the evil you see in the land fill you with anger.” God is telling us, “I am still in charge and you are to walk in My peace . . . so fret not!”

The psalm goes on to tell us, “Do not be envious of those who work evil, for they will soon be cut down like the grass. You are to trust in Him and do good works; be fruitful where He has planted you and (this is really important) feed on His faithfulness” (see verses 1-3).

There are at least two ways to look at the statement, “Feed on His faithfulness.”

1. Some commentators suggest that we are to see this as a commitment by God to provide for His people who have faith in Him.

Faith pleases God and He always responds to the faith of His people. Carol and I know this to be true and we have experienced it afresh in just the last few years. But I also think the psalmist was challenging us to see this statement in another way.

2. I believe David was encouraging us to feed, literally to ingest, to have meals of faithfulness, by remembering and rehearsing God’s faithfulness to us and to all His people.

As we feed on (have a meal of) His faithfulness and remember what He has done, we are encouraged to believe for what He is going to do!

So how can we feed on His faithfulness?

It’s easy to make the mistake of thinking this is something complicated—this idea of feeding on His faithfulness—and it is not. It’s really quite simple. I think it may be its simplicity that causes us to often ignore its great potential.

We learn God’s faithfulness and we feed on it by answering our calling to stay in fellowship with Jesus. “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9). As believers, Jesus is the center point of our life. As we enter into and stay in that relationship, that fellowship, we are fed by the intimacy, by the communion, we have with Him.

His faithfulness is revealed to us when we feed on His Word because the Bible is packed full of powerful stories of God’s faithfulness to His people. You cannot read through Hebrews 11 and not have your faith stirred and encouraged. Read through the book of Acts, or Genesis and Exodus, the first six chapters of Daniel, and see if your faith is not fed and your understanding of God’s faithfulness expanded.

His faithfulness is refreshed in us when we praise and worship Him. Praise is the response of the righteous for what God has done. Worship is the response of the righteous unto God for who He is, the admiration of His person.

We feed on His faithfulness when we give thanks for what He has done in our lives. Give Him thanks for His provision, thanks for all the answers to prayer, thanks for your salvation, thanks for His leading and guiding in your life. Thank Him for the infilling and empowering of the Holy Spirit. There is so much to give thanks for because God is so faithful!

It is as we feed on His faithfulness that we find ourselves “delighting in Him.” Delighting is an outflow of our feeding on His faithfulness.

Here are a few passages of Scripture that speak of His faithfulness.

“Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments” (Deuteronomy 7:9).

“His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

“Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds” (Psalm 36:5).

“Your faithfulness endures to all generations” (Psalm 119:90). I love the way the New Living Translation puts this verse: “Your faithfulness extends to every generation, as enduring as the earth you created.”

“God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

SPIRITUAL OXYGEN by Dr. Jack Hayford

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite times of year. But in November of 1981, I was especially excited about it. In addition to the usual joys that accompany this wonderful season, I had an extra reason to celebrate:

Our family had just moved into a lovely new home! And though we still had boxes to unpack and pictures to hang, we were feeling especially blessed.

There was just one nagging problem. In the weeks since the move, various members of our family had started getting sick.

The illnesses were nothing serious, just pesky ailments of different kinds. But they'd swept through the household like a wave. First, both of our boys caught colds. Then, Anna's throat got sore and raspy. Next, my youngest son's fiancé, who was living with us at the time, came down

with something else entirely; and finally my daughter turned up with a swollen gland on her neck for seemingly no reason at all.

One night as we were getting ready for bed, Anna realized that with Thanksgiving just a few days away, she needed to get well quick. "Honey, I really want you to pray for me," she said.

After we prayed together for her healing, I laid awake in the dark for a while and pondered the situation. There had to be a reason for this recent rash of sicknesses in our family. Something is going on here, I thought.

Was it the house?

No, surely not. The spiritual atmosphere of our new home had been sweetly cleansed even before we moved in. Members of our church who'd helped remodel it had been flooding it with love and prayers for months. And though Anna and I hadn't yet formally dedicated the house to the Lord (we planned to do so after we were settled in) we had temporarily covered every room with prayers for God's protection.

So, spiritually, everything seemed to be in order. Yet it was obvious something was still wrong.

With Anna already asleep beside me, I silently prayed for wisdom. "Lord, please help me understand this. What's happening?" I asked.

The answer came immediately. In my heart the Lord showed me a vision of what appeared to be a big inflatable tent-the kind that's kept erect by a system of air pumps and fans. The middle of the tent was partially collapsed. The top of it was sagging down.

I knew the instant I saw it what the vision meant.

The tent represented the condition of the temporary spiritual covering Anna and I had put over our house a few weeks earlier. It was sagging and deflated. The reason? "There hasn't been regular praise in this place since you moved in here," the Lord said.

It was a sobering revelation but it carried no sense of condemnation. It wasn't like the Lord was saying, "You didn't praise Me so now you're going to get it!" On the contrary, like a loving Father, He was graciously reminding me of a vital spiritual truth:

Praise sets up a mantle of protection around us! It produces a spiritual atmosphere that our adversary, the devil, cannot move through. It serves as a powerful weapon we can use against him and insulates us from his attacks.

You can probably guess what Anna I did the next morning when we woke up. We walked through every room in the the house praising the Lord.

As we did, we sensed the atmosphere becoming more buoyant. We felt a little like we'd boarded the Goodyear blimp and we were rising up higher and higher. Within a couple of days everybody in the family was well.

That Thanksgiving I learned a lesson I will never forget.

I learned that no matter how busy I might be, I need to maintain a continual spirit of thanksgiving to God. I need to keep praising Him because, for us as believers, praise and thanksgiving is our very breath. It's our spiritual oxygen.

Just think how important oxygen is to us physically. Our bodies absolutely must have it. We can survive for a while without food and even without water, but we must have air all the time. The same is true spiritually where giving thanks to God is concerned. We need to do it on a constant basis. To be spiritually healthy, we need to live in a sustained atmosphere of praise.

"But Pastor Jack," you might say, "is that really possible?"

Yes! The Bible confirms it. It says in verse after verse:

- From the rising of the sun to its going down the Lord's name is to be praised. (Ps. 113:3)

- I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises. (Ps. 34:1, NLT)

- Let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. (Heb. 13:15)

Notice that last verse compares our praises as believers to the sacrifices the Israelites made in the Old Testament. That's significant! Why? Because in Leviticus 6:13 the Lord gave the priests specific instructions about the altar upon which those sacrifices were offered. He said, "A fire shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out."

Personally, I find that command encouraging because tending the fire wasn't all the priests had to do. They also had to offer prayers for the people. They had to shovel the ashes off the altar and take them outside the city and bury them. They had to wash and care for their ministry

garments. In other words, the priests had a very busy schedule!

Yet in the midst of it all, they managed to keep the altar fire burning.

You and I as modern day believers can do the same. We don't have to join a monastery where all we have to do is praise the Lord. We can keep the flame of thanksgiving going in our hearts even while we go about the business of our everyday lives.

We can have praise on our lips while we're getting dressed in the morning. We can speak or sing out our thanksgivings to God as we go to work or to the grocery store. Morning and night, we can find opportunities to lift our hearts in worship to Him.

I'm sure you already do this to some degree. But, loved one, I want to encourage you to do it even more. In this special season, I want to challenge you to come up to new levels of thanksgiving! That's why I've arranged for you to receive my 4-CD series, All Hail the Power and my 2-CD series, Five Reasons for Thanksgiving and Thanks-Living as a thank you gift for your support this month. It will stir within you a fresh fire of gratitude toward God. It will help you live increasingly in an attitude of perpetual praise.

Oh, what a marvelous way this is to live! First and foremost, it blesses the Lord, and second, blesses us. It surrounds us with a mantle of divine protection and enlarges us spiritually. It changes our character, our countenance, and our lives.

Beloved, until I write you again, let's ask the Lord to teach us more about this glorious lifestyle. Let's tell Him more often how much we appreciate Him. Let's celebrate this holiday season by constantly breathing the powerful oxygen of praise!

With a grateful heart,

Pastor Jack

www.jackhayford.org

Jack Hayford Ministries

PO Box 92627

Southlake, TX 76092

LET'S TALK ABOUT RECYCLING

I hope you recycle. We do—newspapers, plastic, aluminum and glass. We try to recycle other things as well, such as used clothing, old furniture, books—we either give them away or call a ministry we can donate them to. Recycling is important and is a form of renewal to items we no longer want or need.

And recycling has been a part of church life for hundreds of years. Let me explain.

A powerful and new world missions thrust that began in the late 1700s under the leadership of William Carey, J. Hudson Taylor and others slowed down and lost much of its momentum in the late 1800s. The missionary emphasis was revived following the Second World War as thousands of Christian servicemen came home from overseas with a burden to share the Good News with millions who had never heard of Jesus Christ. These wonderful men and women had been exposed to the spiritual darkness in Europe, Asia and Africa and many returned with a burden to do something; hence, a renewed world missions emphasis resulted.

The Pentecostal outpouring that began in the early 1900s grew and spread exponentially for about thirty to thirty-five years and then seemed to lose a lot of its energy. In the late 1950s an Episcopal priest in Van Nuys, California, had an encounter with the Holy Spirit and began speaking and teaching about it. Suddenly the Holy Spirit movement was recycled to a whole new audience. The growth of the Pentecostal/Charismatic message took on dimensions that no one ever thought possible. There are some estimates now that fifty percent of the worldwide Christian Church is now Pentecostal/Charismatic in belief and practice, and it continues to grow.

Recycling also seems to happen in doctrinal emphasis. After decades of poor or inadequate teaching on faith, thirty or forty years ago a renewed emphasis on faith emerged in the Church and a whole new era was birthed. We could go on and on talking about various areas of the Church where emphasis or truth has fallen into disuse or been abandoned and suddenly a resurgence of what was neglected occurs.

It seems to me that recycling is healthy for the Church as it strives for maturity.

But let me add this word of caution. Not everything that gets recycled in the Church is good.  Some things that died in years past need to be left in the graveyard. They were not life-giving before and they are not now.

Let me illustrate what I mean.

In the early 1970s Carol and I were living with our very small children in Dallas. I was the crusade director for David Wilkerson and we conducted area-wide crusades throughout the U.S., Canada and western Europe. In the summer of 1973 a well-known Southern Baptist evangelist conducted a crusade at a stadium in Garland, Texas. I went to one of the evening services and I’m being honest when I tell you that I went to see how they did things. Frankly, I was impressed! I enjoyed the service, everything was well organized, there were several thousand in attendance, and the altar call was excellent.

 

One thing that the evangelist emphasized, however, really troubled me. He went to great lengths to emphasize, “The Church won’t tell you this, but serving Jesus is totally fun. It’s fun all the time.” 

I wondered how I had missed that in my study of Scripture! That emphasis was around for a few years and then seemed to disappear because, thankfully, saner minds had prevailed and corrected an erroneous emphasis. Scripture does not teach that serving Jesus is fun all the time. Scripture does teach that all believers can know the joy and peace of the Lord that sustains them in times of trouble, but it also says, “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12, ESV).

The “Jesus is fun and exciting all the time” message is trying to make a comeback in portions of today’s Church. I’m seeing it advertised on some TV shows and in print messages. Not long ago I looked at the website of a church that was being planted in New York City and a part of their mission statement is “living life is meant to be fun!”

This is the negative side of recycling. I believe the Holy Spirit uses the recycling principle to assist the Church in staying healthy and on target. The enemy also uses the principle to try to perpetuate error and imbalance.

Is serving Jesus fun all the time? No! The Creator of the universe is far more interested in our growth and maturity than He is in our momentary feelings of elation. One of the attributes that Isaiah prophesied about the Messiah is that He would be known as “everlasting Father” (Isaiah 9:6). This is speaking of His fatherly nature. Every good father wants his children to grow up to be fully developed and mature and that means that at times discipline must take place. To take another approach is child abuse and it results in adults retaining the immaturity of children.

STRENGTH AND COURAGE

The first chapter of Joshua is on my short list of favorite chapters in the Bible.

Joshua was about eighty years old when he became the leader of the Jewish nation—certainly not a young man. He had spent his life as a trusted associate to Moses, one of the most dynamic leaders in the Old Testament. Joshua followed Moses out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and into the wilderness along with a couple million escaping Jews.

Joshua was there when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments; he was there when Moses got angry and didn’t follow instructions and then struck the rock instead of speaking to it. He was there through good times and bad and he proved himself over and over as a loyal and competent associate. Joshua was a skilled military commander who led the Jewish army to victory under the oversight of Moses (Exodus 17:8-16).

Joshua was as complete a number-two man as any nation could wish for. But then Moses died and God put Joshua in charge!

The first nine verses of Joshua 1 are God’s encouraging instructions to Joshua as he stepped into the shoes Moses had filled for so long. Among the wonderful promises and instructions God gave to Joshua in these verses is his admonition to him to “be strong and courageous” (verses 6, 7 and 9).

These first nine verses are a prescription for success in leadership and in all areas of life. The message God poured out for Joshua is applicable to you and to me . . . with no exceptions!

Recently I have spent considerable time attempting to understand the command to “be strong and courageous” and why it was repeated as it was.

First, let me tell you what this “strength and courage” message is not.

The attributes that God is speaking of do not include the phony, tough guy image so prevalent today among segments of the entertainment world. This is projecting an unreal image and, sadly, it has found its way into the Christian world. The “tough guy” image of some Christian personalities is very unChristlike!

So if strength and courage for a Christian are not cultivated images, then what are they?

When the Bible speaks of a person being strong, it is not referring to physical strength; it doesn’t mean looking muscular or tough. God’s instruction to Joshua was not to join a gym and begin lifting weights. No, “be strong” is speaking of the inner attitude, the character of a man/woman of God. This is a person who has allowed the character of Christ to be formed in him, and that has nothing to do with visual images. It has everything to do with allowing the “solid Rock” to become the core of your life and it takes time for this to happen.

I was privileged to know David Wilkerson for forty-eight years. Brother Dave, as he liked to be called, was a small man in physical stature. But spiritually he was a giant—a strong man. When he died, he left a legacy that will not be matched by very many others in recent history. His legacy includes nearly 1300 Teen Challenge Centers around the world; a megachurch with an attendance of about 8,000 located at 51st and Broadway in the heart of New York City; The Cross and the Switchblade book that has been read by nearly 20 million people; The Cross and the Switchblade movie seen by over 50 million; and a very successful crusade ministry that led hundreds of thousands to faith in Christ. And this is only a portion of the legacy.

To be strong is to allow faith to become your heart and life!

Courage speaks of the outward behavior that flows from the inner attitude of strength. In our vernacular, courage finds its expression in “faith with works” (see James 2:17).

Courage gets a message from strength. Strength says to courage, “You can do this!” Courage says, “I’m not sure I’m ready; I’m not sure I have enough experience.” Strength says, “I know you can do this! I am fully confident that just as God has provided everything needed in the past, He will provide again in this. He is faithful and we are to be obedient.” And courage replies, “You’re right and I’m going to step out, believe God, and do what He says!”

I love the story from the biography of David Wilkerson regarding the purchase of the building in Manhattan that is now the home of Times Square Church.

Gary Wilkerson (David’s son) tells the story:

My dad and Bob Phillips (one of the associate pastors) had begun taking walks together through Times Square, and one day during the negotiating period, Dad stopped in his tracks. “Bob,” he said out of the blue, “I need you to believe God with me on this. I don’t know where the money is going to come from for this theater.” Bob answered, “Okay, of course, I’ll believe God with you.”

They walked another block, and Dad stopped again. “Bob, I mean it,” Dad said. “I really need you to believe with me on this. I need you to stand with me.” “Okay, yes, I will,” Bob answered. Dad did the same on the next block. “David,” Bob finally told him, “I’d love to believe with you. I’ll do everything I can to believe. But how can I believe for fifteen million dollars? I’ve never done that.”

Bob remembers that Dad’s face turned stern. “It was not hardness,” he says, “it was resoluteness of purpose. David was that way in everything he did. He asked me, ‘Have you ever believed for five dollars?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘What about five hundred dollars?’ ‘Absolutely, over the years I’ve had to believe God for five hundred dollars for ministry.’ He said, ‘That’s the same faith you believe with for fifteen million. You believe it is in God’s hands, and the amount is not a problem for him.’”

            (The Cross, The Switchblade and the Man Who Believed, page 266).

David Wilkerson’s ministry bought the building that now houses Times Square Church for sixteen million dollars in cash that God had miraculously provided.

That’s an example of strength and courage. “Be strong and very courageous” (Joshua 1:7).