It frustrates me when Christians play the part of victim. Victimized Christians do not know who they are in Jesus and it is a shame that they are wasting the precious days they have been given in this world. Paul wrote something to Timothy that is worth your consideration today. He starts with this:
I’m reminded of your authentic faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. I’m sure that this faith is also inside you. (2 Timothy 1:5)
Paul first reminds Timothy that he has been raised and trained in a life of faith. It was demonstrated to him in his mother and grandmother. Paul encourages Timothy by stating that he is confident that this same faith resides in Timothy. Then:
Because of this, I’m reminding you to revive God’s gift that is in you through the laying on of my hands. (v. 6)
I like this. Because of this faith Timothy I am reminding you to operate in it. Live by the Spirit. Do what you have been equipped to do. The Spirit provides the equipping but we are responsible to operate in it. Then Paul writes what we all must grasp:
God didn’t give us a spirit that is timid but one that is powerful, loving, and self-controlled. (v. 7)
This is not personality. Personality type does not play in your calling and equipping. Look at many of the servant's of the past who tried to get out of their calling with excuses, like Moses and Jonah. It has everything to do with the spirit he has given to us and it is one of boldness. He has equipped us with his power, his love and the power to be self-controlled. This is good stuff that we simply have to act on, in faith that it is so.
It has been this way since the beginning but even more so now that we are possessed by the Spirit of God. When Moses was about to die he addressed the nation and told them to possess the land because Yahweh had told them to possess it. He encouraged them:
Be strong! Be fearless! Don’t be afraid and don’t be scared by your enemies, because the Lord your God is the one who marches with you. He won’t let you down, and he won’t abandon you. (Deuteronomy 31:6)
Two things right there are the source of our boldness. First, our God is always with us, going before us, always preparing the way. He abides in us. Psalm 139 states we can never escape him, even more now that he lives in us. This is for our encouragement.
The second thing I want to highlight : He won't let you down. That is a big one all on it's own and can only be understood in the context of a loving, intimate relationship. Jesus promised that he would be with us until the end of this age. He said his desire was for us to be one with him in the same way that he is one with Father. The Way, the Truth and the Life is in you. The one who declared that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him, is intimate with you. The one who stated that he is the Resurrection walks with you every day.
Paul wrote that we are more than conquerors, we are overcomers. We are not victims. We are not powerless. We are not timid, because our God has given us the authority to forgive. Thank about that for a moment. The power does not rest in the hands of the offender but in the hands of the offended. Without your forgiveness, the offender will have to give account for their actions. With your forgiveness that offence is wiped away. By offering forgiveness you are also set free from the cage of victim. That is power and that is what has been given to you with the responsibility to love your enemies.
We cannot and must not live with a victim mentality. Jesus has made us greater, more powerful than people can grasp. Now walk in the boldness you have been given and dare to love where others have failed.
Showing posts with label Christ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christ. Show all posts
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Be Bold!
Are you bold? It takes a lot of confidence to pull off bold. It helps to know who you are and to have embraced your purpose and direction. As we examine the Cross this week we should take note that Jesus did not just give himself over to death on the cross; he embraced it with boldness and determination. He knew this was the will of Father and it was his purpose to carry out his will. So he stepped forward in the confidence of the relationship.
People with experience are bold. People who believe what they are saying are bold. People who trust the authority they represent are bold. We see it in all kinds of people throughout our day from teachers to police officers, from doctors to parents. But their boldness is limited to the limited boldness of this world system. For Jesus to step out in such boldness he had to believe in something beyond this limited world; he had to believe in the plan of Father and that belief came from his relationship of trust.
Let's shift from the Cross for a minute and consider Joshua. Joshua was Moses' assistant and had been trained under him for over forty years. That's longer than the working career of most people. He got to see first hand the incredible relationship between Yahweh and Moses, got to experience the miracles, saw Moses intercede countless time on behalf of the unfaithful Jews, and became the general of the national army under the guidance of Moses. So when Joshua was appointed by Yahweh to take over from Moses as leader, entering the promised land, he had a great relationship of trust with the Lord.
Joshua was able to step out in boldness because he knew his calling and purpose, and he personally knew the one who called him:
"Be brave and strong, because you are the one who will help this people take possession of the land, which I pledged to give to their ancestors." (Joshua 1:6)
It should be no different for us. We have been called by Jesus to more than just our personal salvation. That salvation allows us to enter into a greater relationship with Yahweh than either Moses or Joshua had with him. They were not one with God by the Holy Spirit and we are. Our boldness should be even greater because our calling is specific and directly from the Lord:
“All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me." (Matthew 16:24)
"Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you." (Matthew 28:19-20)
“It isn’t for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. Rather, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8)
Boldness. That is what we have because of our intimate relationship with Jesus, knowing and understanding our purpose. It doesn't matter what anyone else in this world says, we know what we must do. Jesus had to face the cross without the support of his disciples because even they tried to turn him from it. They did not understand, but they understood after the Resurrection. Jesus had to face the cross alone, simply knowing it was Father's will. It is the same reason we can face what we must, alone if need be, with people against us. We know who we are in Jesus. We know who he is in us. And we know our purpose.
"Be brave and strong, because you are the one who will help this people take possession of the land."
"God didn’t give us a spirit that is timid but one that is powerful, loving, and self-controlled." (2 Timothy 1:7)
People with experience are bold. People who believe what they are saying are bold. People who trust the authority they represent are bold. We see it in all kinds of people throughout our day from teachers to police officers, from doctors to parents. But their boldness is limited to the limited boldness of this world system. For Jesus to step out in such boldness he had to believe in something beyond this limited world; he had to believe in the plan of Father and that belief came from his relationship of trust.
Let's shift from the Cross for a minute and consider Joshua. Joshua was Moses' assistant and had been trained under him for over forty years. That's longer than the working career of most people. He got to see first hand the incredible relationship between Yahweh and Moses, got to experience the miracles, saw Moses intercede countless time on behalf of the unfaithful Jews, and became the general of the national army under the guidance of Moses. So when Joshua was appointed by Yahweh to take over from Moses as leader, entering the promised land, he had a great relationship of trust with the Lord.
Joshua was able to step out in boldness because he knew his calling and purpose, and he personally knew the one who called him:
"Be brave and strong, because you are the one who will help this people take possession of the land, which I pledged to give to their ancestors." (Joshua 1:6)
It should be no different for us. We have been called by Jesus to more than just our personal salvation. That salvation allows us to enter into a greater relationship with Yahweh than either Moses or Joshua had with him. They were not one with God by the Holy Spirit and we are. Our boldness should be even greater because our calling is specific and directly from the Lord:
“All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me." (Matthew 16:24)
"Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you." (Matthew 28:19-20)
“It isn’t for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. Rather, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:7-8)
Boldness. That is what we have because of our intimate relationship with Jesus, knowing and understanding our purpose. It doesn't matter what anyone else in this world says, we know what we must do. Jesus had to face the cross without the support of his disciples because even they tried to turn him from it. They did not understand, but they understood after the Resurrection. Jesus had to face the cross alone, simply knowing it was Father's will. It is the same reason we can face what we must, alone if need be, with people against us. We know who we are in Jesus. We know who he is in us. And we know our purpose.
"Be brave and strong, because you are the one who will help this people take possession of the land."
"God didn’t give us a spirit that is timid but one that is powerful, loving, and self-controlled." (2 Timothy 1:7)
Thursday, March 17, 2016
Out With The Old, In With The New
There is a failure of God's children to grasp what Jesus has done. We are trying to pour the new wine into the old wine skin. Unfortunately too many of us don't even understand the problem, let alone the solution.
The religious leaders of Jesus' three year mission on this earth were challenging why Jesus was not following all the customs of Israel, doing things the way they have always been done. Jesus responded by saying that if you put new wine into old wine skins the wine skins will burst, ruining the wine skin and the wine.
Wine skins were made of animal parts and when they were new they were flexible. New wine is still giving off gases. This was not a problem in the flexible new wine skins but disastrous in the old, which were no longer flexible. Jesus said a lot with this simple truth.
Jesus came to die for us but also to introduce the Kingdom to those who would become the children of God. He also came to show us how to live in obedience to Father, controlled by the Spirit. But the Kingdom was not like the old system which was rigid and fixed. Jesus was bringing what was alive, moving and breathing to something that had lost its life. It did not fit into the old system.
The Kingdom would be introduced into the hearts of people. These hearts could not be caged and left inflexible. It had to be able to breathe. Minds could not be caged but needed to be open to the unlimited possibilities of Yahweh. Jesus freed us from the cage of sin and the cage of man's system. At last, the Holy Spirit was bringing the Kingdom to rule in the children of God. Jesus warned us:
"I assure you, unless someone is born anew, it's not possible to see God's kingdom." (John 3:3)
The old had to die, pass away and the new had to be introduced and used. We had to become new vessels for the new wine. But humanity has a problem with remaining new and flexible. Three hundred years after the Church was birthed in the Spirit, we returned to our religious systems. During the 2 thousand years that followed Jesus has continued to want to revive his Bride. Many different awakenings have happened but within a short period of time man's desire for systems has put out the fire of the Spirit.
We currently live a form of godliness but we deny the power of God. We are content with intellectual pursuit or emotional infatuation but we don't want the power because it moves us away from the familiar and comfortable. To live by the Spirit means denying our dependence on ourselves and the acceptance of dependence of our God for all things. It means giving up control and giving it to the Spirit. It means taking off the old garments and putting on the new. It means throwing away the old wine skin in favour of the new. But look at what Jesus said at the end of this passage:
"No one who drinks a well-aged wine wants new wine, but says, 'The well-aged wine is better.'" (Luke 5:39)
Jesus knows us so well. The old established Church always tries to kill the newest move of the Spirit. We like to hold on to the old because it is familiar and comfortable. But Jesus never told us that he wanted us comfortable. I pray we will decide that whatever Yahweh wants is far better than anything we want. Obedience is the only road to intimacy with Jesus.
The religious leaders of Jesus' three year mission on this earth were challenging why Jesus was not following all the customs of Israel, doing things the way they have always been done. Jesus responded by saying that if you put new wine into old wine skins the wine skins will burst, ruining the wine skin and the wine.
Wine skins were made of animal parts and when they were new they were flexible. New wine is still giving off gases. This was not a problem in the flexible new wine skins but disastrous in the old, which were no longer flexible. Jesus said a lot with this simple truth.
Jesus came to die for us but also to introduce the Kingdom to those who would become the children of God. He also came to show us how to live in obedience to Father, controlled by the Spirit. But the Kingdom was not like the old system which was rigid and fixed. Jesus was bringing what was alive, moving and breathing to something that had lost its life. It did not fit into the old system.
The Kingdom would be introduced into the hearts of people. These hearts could not be caged and left inflexible. It had to be able to breathe. Minds could not be caged but needed to be open to the unlimited possibilities of Yahweh. Jesus freed us from the cage of sin and the cage of man's system. At last, the Holy Spirit was bringing the Kingdom to rule in the children of God. Jesus warned us:
"I assure you, unless someone is born anew, it's not possible to see God's kingdom." (John 3:3)
The old had to die, pass away and the new had to be introduced and used. We had to become new vessels for the new wine. But humanity has a problem with remaining new and flexible. Three hundred years after the Church was birthed in the Spirit, we returned to our religious systems. During the 2 thousand years that followed Jesus has continued to want to revive his Bride. Many different awakenings have happened but within a short period of time man's desire for systems has put out the fire of the Spirit.
We currently live a form of godliness but we deny the power of God. We are content with intellectual pursuit or emotional infatuation but we don't want the power because it moves us away from the familiar and comfortable. To live by the Spirit means denying our dependence on ourselves and the acceptance of dependence of our God for all things. It means giving up control and giving it to the Spirit. It means taking off the old garments and putting on the new. It means throwing away the old wine skin in favour of the new. But look at what Jesus said at the end of this passage:
"No one who drinks a well-aged wine wants new wine, but says, 'The well-aged wine is better.'" (Luke 5:39)
Jesus knows us so well. The old established Church always tries to kill the newest move of the Spirit. We like to hold on to the old because it is familiar and comfortable. But Jesus never told us that he wanted us comfortable. I pray we will decide that whatever Yahweh wants is far better than anything we want. Obedience is the only road to intimacy with Jesus.
Monday, March 7, 2016
Overcoming The Pull Of Our Troubles
Going through a rough time? There are plenty of things in this world and in our life that can be difficult to face. If we choose, we can fixate on these things so they become the major thing in our life. We can know that it is not a healthy way to live but we have no real power in ourselves to turn from it. Often it is like an accident scene on the highway. We don't really want to look but we are drawn to see what happened.
Christians should have an advantage over such things; we have something much bigger to fixate on. When we consider how big our God is everything else should fade away. As we consider such verses:
"Before the mountains were born, before you birthed the earth and the inhabited world - from forever in the past to forever in the future, you are God." (Psalm 90:2)
we are overwhelmed by our God's foreverness. What are our problems compared to his forever glory? But it goes beyond his largeness.
We have a God of great compassion and that compassion is for us. Even before considering Jesus we can see it in the Psalm that follows what we have just considered:
This is the compassion, mercy, grace of our God for those who choose to trust him. Jesus told us not to worry about common things like food and clothes when we seem to be lacking. He told us that our Father knows what we need and will provide such things. So instead of adding worry to our day, chasing after the things Jesus promised, he told us to seek the things of the Kingdom.
Our problems belong to this world but we don't. We are citizens of the Kingdom and our hearts are possessed by the Kingdom. We live by a different set of rules and principles. When we set our heart and mind on these Kingdom things then we will be possessed by the peace Jesus promised he had given to us. And he cared enough to point out that he doesn't give as the world gives.
That sounds great in principle but we have to live the practicality of what Jesus taught. That requires making choices throughout our daily living. We have to choose to trust him, to live by his words, to live in intimate relationship, to be possessed by his joy. Remember, the joy of the Lord is our strength. This means the gladness we have in knowing God will sustain us in whatever we are facing.
The best thing is we can seek his council for action and direction. We are not orphans. We are the children of God and he looks after his own. So instead of staring into the abyss of your troubles, fix yourself on the wonder of our God, allowing your mouth to be filled with praise and watch and see how quick our Father is to act on your behalf.
Christians should have an advantage over such things; we have something much bigger to fixate on. When we consider how big our God is everything else should fade away. As we consider such verses:
"Before the mountains were born, before you birthed the earth and the inhabited world - from forever in the past to forever in the future, you are God." (Psalm 90:2)
we are overwhelmed by our God's foreverness. What are our problems compared to his forever glory? But it goes beyond his largeness.
We have a God of great compassion and that compassion is for us. Even before considering Jesus we can see it in the Psalm that follows what we have just considered:
Living in the Most High’s shelter,
camping in the Almighty’s shade,
I say to the Lord, “You are my refuge, my stronghold!
You are my God—the one I trust!”
camping in the Almighty’s shade,
I say to the Lord, “You are my refuge, my stronghold!
You are my God—the one I trust!”
God will save you from the hunter’s trap
and from deadly sickness.
God will protect you with his pinions;
you’ll find refuge under his wings.
His faithfulness is a protective shield.
Don’t be afraid of terrors at night,
arrows that fly in daylight,
or sickness that prowls in the dark,
destruction that ravages at noontime.
Even if one thousand people fall dead next to you,
ten thousand right beside you—
it won’t happen to you.
and from deadly sickness.
God will protect you with his pinions;
you’ll find refuge under his wings.
His faithfulness is a protective shield.
Don’t be afraid of terrors at night,
arrows that fly in daylight,
or sickness that prowls in the dark,
destruction that ravages at noontime.
Even if one thousand people fall dead next to you,
ten thousand right beside you—
it won’t happen to you.
This is the compassion, mercy, grace of our God for those who choose to trust him. Jesus told us not to worry about common things like food and clothes when we seem to be lacking. He told us that our Father knows what we need and will provide such things. So instead of adding worry to our day, chasing after the things Jesus promised, he told us to seek the things of the Kingdom.
Our problems belong to this world but we don't. We are citizens of the Kingdom and our hearts are possessed by the Kingdom. We live by a different set of rules and principles. When we set our heart and mind on these Kingdom things then we will be possessed by the peace Jesus promised he had given to us. And he cared enough to point out that he doesn't give as the world gives.
That sounds great in principle but we have to live the practicality of what Jesus taught. That requires making choices throughout our daily living. We have to choose to trust him, to live by his words, to live in intimate relationship, to be possessed by his joy. Remember, the joy of the Lord is our strength. This means the gladness we have in knowing God will sustain us in whatever we are facing.
The best thing is we can seek his council for action and direction. We are not orphans. We are the children of God and he looks after his own. So instead of staring into the abyss of your troubles, fix yourself on the wonder of our God, allowing your mouth to be filled with praise and watch and see how quick our Father is to act on your behalf.
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Know Jesus; Know Yourself
We lie to ourselves all the time. We try to convince ourselves of an alternate reality because we are not willing to be honest when we are faced with our own failings and faults. We lie to ourselves when we say it is well with our soul, knowing that we are far from where we are suppose to be with Jesus. We even rationalize our sin, saying Jesus understands, as we throw ourselves under the power of that sin.
We may be kidding ourselves but we are not kidding our God.
Do we forget how we are connected with him; Jesus in me and me in Jesus? He is not some deity or power who stands at a distance; he is one with us, knowing all out thoughts, emotions, plans, ideas, dreams, desires, longings, sins. He knows us and wants us to know him even more. So when we ignore him, lie to ourselves and place ourselves under the power of sin again, we break his heart.
The Word of God has been given to us to reveal God to us, to teach us, to rebuke, correct and encourage. When we study it, looking deep into it's depth, some amazing things happen. The Spirit speaks to us, warning us when we are going astray and encouraging us in the right direction.
A couple of the warning signs that things are not well with this relationship is when we are plagued by fear and anxiety. When we are strong in the Lord we know he holds our future and we do not fear the unknown. When we are lying to ourselves about this relationship, we find it hard to think of the unknown, to face major obstacles, to even consider our future. We are overcome by anxiety, fear, helplessness, a sense of not having the resources to overcome. It isn't anything new.
We should be able to identify with the Israelites as they faced the command to move into the Promised Land, the first time. This was the generation who were possessed by the slave mentality and could never seem to go beyond it. These were the whiners, complainers, rebels against Yahweh. Not having a solid and growing relationship with the Lord is shown in their reaction to the command to possess the land:
"All the Israelites criticized Moses and Aaron. The entire community said to them, 'If only we had died in the land of Egypt or it only we had died in this desert! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our children will be taken by force. Wouldn't it be better for us to return to Egypt?'" (Numbers 14:2-3)
See where fear of the unknown takes us? We imagine the worse case scenario. It was Yahweh who had promised this land to Abraham's children. It was Yahweh who rescued them in power from the slavery of Egypt. It was Yahweh who was defending them and feeding them in the desert. It was Yahweh who went ahead of them, leading. If they had only examined this relationship they would have marched boldly into the land, as their children would do 40 years later. Instead they allowed themselves to be led by fear.
If we are weak, filled with fear and anxiety, it is because we do not know who Jesus is, what are his promises and who we are in him. Paul reminded his student Timothy:
"Hence I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control." (2 Timothy 1:6-7)
In another place the Spirit reminds us "we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed". Fear and anxiety do not belong to those who are growing in Christ but to those who are lying to themselves.
Know the Word. Know the promises. Know the Lord. Know yourself and be honest. We are all going to get there in the end if we do not let go.
We may be kidding ourselves but we are not kidding our God.
Do we forget how we are connected with him; Jesus in me and me in Jesus? He is not some deity or power who stands at a distance; he is one with us, knowing all out thoughts, emotions, plans, ideas, dreams, desires, longings, sins. He knows us and wants us to know him even more. So when we ignore him, lie to ourselves and place ourselves under the power of sin again, we break his heart.
The Word of God has been given to us to reveal God to us, to teach us, to rebuke, correct and encourage. When we study it, looking deep into it's depth, some amazing things happen. The Spirit speaks to us, warning us when we are going astray and encouraging us in the right direction.
A couple of the warning signs that things are not well with this relationship is when we are plagued by fear and anxiety. When we are strong in the Lord we know he holds our future and we do not fear the unknown. When we are lying to ourselves about this relationship, we find it hard to think of the unknown, to face major obstacles, to even consider our future. We are overcome by anxiety, fear, helplessness, a sense of not having the resources to overcome. It isn't anything new.
We should be able to identify with the Israelites as they faced the command to move into the Promised Land, the first time. This was the generation who were possessed by the slave mentality and could never seem to go beyond it. These were the whiners, complainers, rebels against Yahweh. Not having a solid and growing relationship with the Lord is shown in their reaction to the command to possess the land:
"All the Israelites criticized Moses and Aaron. The entire community said to them, 'If only we had died in the land of Egypt or it only we had died in this desert! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our children will be taken by force. Wouldn't it be better for us to return to Egypt?'" (Numbers 14:2-3)
See where fear of the unknown takes us? We imagine the worse case scenario. It was Yahweh who had promised this land to Abraham's children. It was Yahweh who rescued them in power from the slavery of Egypt. It was Yahweh who was defending them and feeding them in the desert. It was Yahweh who went ahead of them, leading. If they had only examined this relationship they would have marched boldly into the land, as their children would do 40 years later. Instead they allowed themselves to be led by fear.
If we are weak, filled with fear and anxiety, it is because we do not know who Jesus is, what are his promises and who we are in him. Paul reminded his student Timothy:
"Hence I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control." (2 Timothy 1:6-7)
In another place the Spirit reminds us "we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed". Fear and anxiety do not belong to those who are growing in Christ but to those who are lying to themselves.
Know the Word. Know the promises. Know the Lord. Know yourself and be honest. We are all going to get there in the end if we do not let go.
Thursday, February 25, 2016
Be Careful What Words You Allow To Take Root In You
We must take care of what we allow to be spoken into our lives. Words are powerful things that shape us even if we think we are not allowing them to effect us. Even those without Jesus have woken up to this fact as they move to try to change the language of our youth in schools. So many suicides have happened because of the words of mean spirited people or of people who did not understand the effect of their words.
I have known many people who faced illness in the strength of the Lord. They were doing well, standing on the promises of Jesus, overcoming what wanted to destroy them, staring it down with growing faith. But then the doctor spoke his reality into their life and suddenly that reality became larger than the reality of the Kingdom and they let go of hope, giving in to the hopeless despair of this world.
One of my daughters found herself in a situation that perfectly illustrates this spiritual fact. She is a dancer and has been preparing herself for a couple of important exams. She never stands still but is always in motion, practicing and enjoying the movement of her body. She works hard at her dance and I am very proud of her grit and determination to be the best she can be.
This year is particularly difficult because she has taken on a couple of additional classes putting a greater strain on her body. She has practiced through leg and ankle pain and understands what it is to push through. But lately she started getting pain in one of her knees leading up to her exams. Then one night she was sitting down, reading, and she turned to adjust her position. She heard a loud pop and pain shot through her knee. She could not put weight on that leg without a great deal of pain.
She started wearing a knee brace and sought guidance from her dance instructors to know best how to deal with this injury. But it did not stop her from going forward. The day of her tap exam I prayed over her knee and spoke strength into her. I knew Jesus would give her what she needed. But when she got to the exam an adult who was there told my daughter, "If you were my child I would not let you do this". She spoke those discouraging words into her minutes before the exam.
My daughter took the exam and her friend told her that she could see the pain in her eyes, but my daughter did it. She did not do it because I forced her to or because I said she should. She did it because she wanted to, because she did not want all her work to go to waste. She knew who she is in the Lord; she knew her source of strength and she gave all she had to give and trusted Jesus with the rest. She rejected those discouraging words and pressed forward.
The next day my wife was at the studio with another of my daughters and that same adult was there. She spoke to my wife and lifted up my older daughter to her, telling her that she did great with the exam. Out of that difficulty my daughter's determination provoked praise from the discourager and we pray Jesus will receive all the glory for it.
This is who we are in Jesus. No words of this world have formed us. It is important that we do not allow those words to take root in us but instead we wash them away with the truth of Jesus' words and promises. If we listen to the words of this world we will be utter failures and will never complete the race. If we choose to allow God's Word to overcome everything else, we will be more than conquerors with every challenge that faces us; we will be overcomers through Jesus Christ.
Be careful what words you allow to take root in you.
I have known many people who faced illness in the strength of the Lord. They were doing well, standing on the promises of Jesus, overcoming what wanted to destroy them, staring it down with growing faith. But then the doctor spoke his reality into their life and suddenly that reality became larger than the reality of the Kingdom and they let go of hope, giving in to the hopeless despair of this world.
One of my daughters found herself in a situation that perfectly illustrates this spiritual fact. She is a dancer and has been preparing herself for a couple of important exams. She never stands still but is always in motion, practicing and enjoying the movement of her body. She works hard at her dance and I am very proud of her grit and determination to be the best she can be.
This year is particularly difficult because she has taken on a couple of additional classes putting a greater strain on her body. She has practiced through leg and ankle pain and understands what it is to push through. But lately she started getting pain in one of her knees leading up to her exams. Then one night she was sitting down, reading, and she turned to adjust her position. She heard a loud pop and pain shot through her knee. She could not put weight on that leg without a great deal of pain.
She started wearing a knee brace and sought guidance from her dance instructors to know best how to deal with this injury. But it did not stop her from going forward. The day of her tap exam I prayed over her knee and spoke strength into her. I knew Jesus would give her what she needed. But when she got to the exam an adult who was there told my daughter, "If you were my child I would not let you do this". She spoke those discouraging words into her minutes before the exam.
My daughter took the exam and her friend told her that she could see the pain in her eyes, but my daughter did it. She did not do it because I forced her to or because I said she should. She did it because she wanted to, because she did not want all her work to go to waste. She knew who she is in the Lord; she knew her source of strength and she gave all she had to give and trusted Jesus with the rest. She rejected those discouraging words and pressed forward.
The next day my wife was at the studio with another of my daughters and that same adult was there. She spoke to my wife and lifted up my older daughter to her, telling her that she did great with the exam. Out of that difficulty my daughter's determination provoked praise from the discourager and we pray Jesus will receive all the glory for it.
This is who we are in Jesus. No words of this world have formed us. It is important that we do not allow those words to take root in us but instead we wash them away with the truth of Jesus' words and promises. If we listen to the words of this world we will be utter failures and will never complete the race. If we choose to allow God's Word to overcome everything else, we will be more than conquerors with every challenge that faces us; we will be overcomers through Jesus Christ.
Be careful what words you allow to take root in you.
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Does Jesus Make A Difference
Are we any better as a person with Jesus than we are without him? Christianity is not about knowledge; it is about relationship. Knowledge about Jesus is important but it amounts to nothing without relationship. It is the relationship that defines everything.
This is not a relationship like you have with a friend. Jesus said that he wants to be one with us. As he is one with the Father he longs to be one with us. He wants to be so intimate with us that he has chosen to dwell in us by the Holy Spirit. That is the most intimate relationship in our life. It makes intimacy possible but not if we don't understand, don't desire or decide to do our own thing.
This intimacy that Jesus desires does not leave us the same. It changes us so that we become like him; in obedience, in power, in compassion. We cannot be in Jesus and Jesus in us and remain the same. And therein lies the problem.
Too many of us are trying to conform ourselves on the outside with no real change on the inside. Before there can be any conformity of behaviour there has to be an internal transformation provoked by the intimate relationship we have with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. It is not something we can fake.
I always consider the outward expression of Jesus' love to be sign posts in our lives that we are on the right track. If they aren't there it means something is wrong with the relationship. Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures as well as the Christian we discover the uniqueness of Yahweh's heart: Look at this from Leviticus of all places:
"If one of your fellow Israelites faces financial difficulty and is in a shaky situation with you, you must assist them as you would an immigrant or foreign guest so that they can survive among you. Do not take interest from them, or any kind of profit from interest, but fear your God so that your fellow Israelite can survive among you. Do not lend a poor Israelite money with interest or lend food at a profit. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt to give you Canaan's land and to be your God." (Leviticus 25:35-38)
Compassion, generosity, kindness, concern, love are all great parts of our Yahweh's character. Jesus taught and demonstrated this to an even greater depth. Just consider this simple command to those who would call themselves disciples of Jesus:
"I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other." (John 13:34-35)
That sets the bar pretty high because we all know how Jesus loved us. Don't downplay this. Study and understand what Jesus commanded us and the example he set by loving us to the depth he went. This makes it a legitimate question to ask ourselves: Are we any better as a person with Jesus than we are without him? Do we know what it is to love our brothers and sisters in the Lord with that same love? Do we know how to reach out and heal the broken people of this world with the same compassion and power?
If you can live the same way with Jesus as you did without him there is a problem with the relationship. You should look into that today.
This is not a relationship like you have with a friend. Jesus said that he wants to be one with us. As he is one with the Father he longs to be one with us. He wants to be so intimate with us that he has chosen to dwell in us by the Holy Spirit. That is the most intimate relationship in our life. It makes intimacy possible but not if we don't understand, don't desire or decide to do our own thing.
This intimacy that Jesus desires does not leave us the same. It changes us so that we become like him; in obedience, in power, in compassion. We cannot be in Jesus and Jesus in us and remain the same. And therein lies the problem.
Too many of us are trying to conform ourselves on the outside with no real change on the inside. Before there can be any conformity of behaviour there has to be an internal transformation provoked by the intimate relationship we have with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. It is not something we can fake.
I always consider the outward expression of Jesus' love to be sign posts in our lives that we are on the right track. If they aren't there it means something is wrong with the relationship. Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures as well as the Christian we discover the uniqueness of Yahweh's heart: Look at this from Leviticus of all places:
"If one of your fellow Israelites faces financial difficulty and is in a shaky situation with you, you must assist them as you would an immigrant or foreign guest so that they can survive among you. Do not take interest from them, or any kind of profit from interest, but fear your God so that your fellow Israelite can survive among you. Do not lend a poor Israelite money with interest or lend food at a profit. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt to give you Canaan's land and to be your God." (Leviticus 25:35-38)
Compassion, generosity, kindness, concern, love are all great parts of our Yahweh's character. Jesus taught and demonstrated this to an even greater depth. Just consider this simple command to those who would call themselves disciples of Jesus:
"I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other." (John 13:34-35)
That sets the bar pretty high because we all know how Jesus loved us. Don't downplay this. Study and understand what Jesus commanded us and the example he set by loving us to the depth he went. This makes it a legitimate question to ask ourselves: Are we any better as a person with Jesus than we are without him? Do we know what it is to love our brothers and sisters in the Lord with that same love? Do we know how to reach out and heal the broken people of this world with the same compassion and power?
If you can live the same way with Jesus as you did without him there is a problem with the relationship. You should look into that today.
Monday, February 22, 2016
The High Standards Of Grace
It seems my ongoing theme this year is "Salvation is free but relationship costs. It costs to be a follower of Jesus". We have it stuck in our thought process that everything is free with our God but he has always demanded the highest from those who decide to belong to him. A wrong understanding of grace has gotten us to the point where people think they can do whatever they want and still claim to be Christian; still claim to love Jesus. Do you want to know the truth?
Let's start back in the Old Testament:
"You must be holy and keep yourselves holy because I am the Lord your God. You will keep my rules and do them; I am the Lord, who makes you holy." (Leviticus 20:7-8)
Now before we get defensive here, we need to keep in mind that Yahweh gave Israel the choice to be his people or to reject him. He told them - these are my laws; if you choose to be my nation you must keep them. They choose to be his nation and became accountable to the Law. Of themselves, they were incapable of being a holy people, but Yahweh pronounced they were holy and he made them holy through his Law. It was a very high standard.
Of course, we are not Israel, but we are the Body of Christ. We are not under this holy and perfect law, instead we are under God's grace. But that does not mean it does not come with very high standards. To be under grace we had to make a decision to accept the Salvation Jesus offered and to become a disciple of Jesus; to belong to him. We follow him so we are obedient to him. This not out of obligation to a law other than the law of love. We love him because he first loved us. We obey him because we love him.
This relationship demands a lot:
"All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me." (Matthew 16:24)
I am not sure many of us can grasp the standard to which we are held. It is a standard of love that demands the full attention of our heart, mind, soul, body and strength. It is a standard that expects us to overcome the attraction of sin by the power that love has placed in us. It is a standard that demands us to set aside all interest in ourselves for the sake of Jesus and for all those whom he loves; saved and unsaved. It is a love that says "It is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me". Wow, read that again. If we grasped even a small understanding of this it would transform our daily living.
We have been called to a higher standard than we are currently living and it is grace that empowers us to get there. Maybe that would be a great place to start, the understanding of the empowerment of God's grace. Then perhaps a grasp of our death and life in Christ. Then we could move on to our obligation to love. Do be satisfied with gaining knowledge; go deeper in relationship.
Let's start back in the Old Testament:
"You must be holy and keep yourselves holy because I am the Lord your God. You will keep my rules and do them; I am the Lord, who makes you holy." (Leviticus 20:7-8)
Now before we get defensive here, we need to keep in mind that Yahweh gave Israel the choice to be his people or to reject him. He told them - these are my laws; if you choose to be my nation you must keep them. They choose to be his nation and became accountable to the Law. Of themselves, they were incapable of being a holy people, but Yahweh pronounced they were holy and he made them holy through his Law. It was a very high standard.
Of course, we are not Israel, but we are the Body of Christ. We are not under this holy and perfect law, instead we are under God's grace. But that does not mean it does not come with very high standards. To be under grace we had to make a decision to accept the Salvation Jesus offered and to become a disciple of Jesus; to belong to him. We follow him so we are obedient to him. This not out of obligation to a law other than the law of love. We love him because he first loved us. We obey him because we love him.
This relationship demands a lot:
"All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me." (Matthew 16:24)
I am not sure many of us can grasp the standard to which we are held. It is a standard of love that demands the full attention of our heart, mind, soul, body and strength. It is a standard that expects us to overcome the attraction of sin by the power that love has placed in us. It is a standard that demands us to set aside all interest in ourselves for the sake of Jesus and for all those whom he loves; saved and unsaved. It is a love that says "It is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me". Wow, read that again. If we grasped even a small understanding of this it would transform our daily living.
We have been called to a higher standard than we are currently living and it is grace that empowers us to get there. Maybe that would be a great place to start, the understanding of the empowerment of God's grace. Then perhaps a grasp of our death and life in Christ. Then we could move on to our obligation to love. Do be satisfied with gaining knowledge; go deeper in relationship.
Friday, August 7, 2015
Do You Love Him Enough To Serve Him
Some of us are tired of trying to serve the Lord Jesus without the anointing to empower us to do so. Without the anointing we are doing it in our own strength and maybe for some people that is good enough. It is good enough to go to church. It is good enough to say you are Christian. It is good enough not to participate in bad things.
Maybe for some it is good enough to be a good person, but being a good person does not make you the disciple Jesus called you to be. It makes you a moral person, and morality is not Christianity.
Somewhere along the way we have lost the extremity of love to which Jesus called us. We seem to ignore the fact that he called us to love him with all our heart, all our mind and all our strength. We seem to conveniently forget that nothing in our life can come before our love for him. We seem to ignorantly believe that Jesus was speaking about a unique situation when he spoke to the rich young ruler, telling him to sell all he had, giving to the poor and then returning to follow Jesus. And we are only willing to apply this to his finances and not to the many things that possess our hearts today.
There are scriptures after scriptures that clearly state that a relationship with Yahweh is all or nothing. To be possessed by the Spirit is to give up all rights and all self-determination. As Paul the apostle stated it:
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in my body, I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
I don't really know how we can get away with believing this and not living it's implications. If we study the passage about the vine we discover that as branches we get life from the vine. If we try to be anything other than branches we are disconnected from the vine and there is no life in us.
It is important to understand that it is possible to recognize Jesus without submitting to his Lordship. We can worship him without living for him. We can live the appearance of godly lives with no power, and many of us are there.
There is nothing strange about the power of the Spirit in us. It is not a strange fire, as some have called it, but a much desired and needed fire. It is what Jesus has always intended to possess us because the Spirit is God in us. It should not be abnormal for believers but instead a daily living. Without this anointing we can only serve in the flesh, but we are now spiritual children and need to learn to live as such.
As long as we are distracted by the hundreds of distractions surrounding us in our daily living, we are diminishing the power of the Spirit in us. But, do we care enough to do anything about it? Is Jesus more important than anything else? Do we love him above all things? Is it really true of us, that we no longer live but it is Jesus who lives in us?
Jesus, revive your people again.
Maybe for some it is good enough to be a good person, but being a good person does not make you the disciple Jesus called you to be. It makes you a moral person, and morality is not Christianity.
Somewhere along the way we have lost the extremity of love to which Jesus called us. We seem to ignore the fact that he called us to love him with all our heart, all our mind and all our strength. We seem to conveniently forget that nothing in our life can come before our love for him. We seem to ignorantly believe that Jesus was speaking about a unique situation when he spoke to the rich young ruler, telling him to sell all he had, giving to the poor and then returning to follow Jesus. And we are only willing to apply this to his finances and not to the many things that possess our hearts today.
There are scriptures after scriptures that clearly state that a relationship with Yahweh is all or nothing. To be possessed by the Spirit is to give up all rights and all self-determination. As Paul the apostle stated it:
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in my body, I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
I don't really know how we can get away with believing this and not living it's implications. If we study the passage about the vine we discover that as branches we get life from the vine. If we try to be anything other than branches we are disconnected from the vine and there is no life in us.
It is important to understand that it is possible to recognize Jesus without submitting to his Lordship. We can worship him without living for him. We can live the appearance of godly lives with no power, and many of us are there.
There is nothing strange about the power of the Spirit in us. It is not a strange fire, as some have called it, but a much desired and needed fire. It is what Jesus has always intended to possess us because the Spirit is God in us. It should not be abnormal for believers but instead a daily living. Without this anointing we can only serve in the flesh, but we are now spiritual children and need to learn to live as such.
As long as we are distracted by the hundreds of distractions surrounding us in our daily living, we are diminishing the power of the Spirit in us. But, do we care enough to do anything about it? Is Jesus more important than anything else? Do we love him above all things? Is it really true of us, that we no longer live but it is Jesus who lives in us?
Jesus, revive your people again.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Thinking Too Highly Of Myself
There is one innocent looking verse in the gospels that continues to challenge me every time I read it.
"When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion for them and healed those who were sick." (Matthew 14:14)
Doesn't look like much by itself but when you put it in context with what was going on it becomes something awesome.
Jesus had just found out that the forerunner, his cousin John, had been illegally beheaded. Some don't attribute much emotion to Jesus but we see when he gets angry, when he cries, when he is frustrated, and here he probably feels a tone of different emotions.
Like most people who need time to process loss, Jesus just wanted to get away for a little bit. After receiving the news he jumps in a boat with his disciples to head off to a remote place. But suffering humanity anticipated where he would go and beat him there. So instead of finding solitude he was confronted by a desperate multitude of suffering people.
To be honest, if it was me, I would have been ticked off. I would have focused on how I was feeling and the fact that I needed some healing time. Most people would agree with me, but not Jesus. When he looked on those people he was filled with compassion. Once again, for the sake of other people, Jesus set aside his own needs. Not only did he have compassion, he acted on it and spent the rest of the day ministering out of his own need.
Now before we all shrug our shoulders saying, "He's God. No big deal", let's remember that he was here as one of us. He set aside his divinity. He was able to do what he did because he was anointed by the Spirit not because he was divine. So all those emotions were real. His mental stress was real. His physical exhaustion was real. His need for rest was real. But he also knew and understood the power he possessed through the Spirit and love was his driving force. Jesus was no more than we are who are possessed by the same Spirit, except he understood and acted on love much more than we do.
So, every time I am tempted to think that I have it together and I am pretty mature as a Christian, I remember this moment. I remember and I examine how I respond to people when I am tired and stressed. I examine and repent of my failure to live with love as my driving force. I have come a long way since the moment of my salvation 32 years ago but I am still in need of a lot of growth in my spiritual maturity. To be more like Jesus day by day must be our anthem.
"When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion for them and healed those who were sick." (Matthew 14:14)
Doesn't look like much by itself but when you put it in context with what was going on it becomes something awesome.
Jesus had just found out that the forerunner, his cousin John, had been illegally beheaded. Some don't attribute much emotion to Jesus but we see when he gets angry, when he cries, when he is frustrated, and here he probably feels a tone of different emotions.
Like most people who need time to process loss, Jesus just wanted to get away for a little bit. After receiving the news he jumps in a boat with his disciples to head off to a remote place. But suffering humanity anticipated where he would go and beat him there. So instead of finding solitude he was confronted by a desperate multitude of suffering people.
To be honest, if it was me, I would have been ticked off. I would have focused on how I was feeling and the fact that I needed some healing time. Most people would agree with me, but not Jesus. When he looked on those people he was filled with compassion. Once again, for the sake of other people, Jesus set aside his own needs. Not only did he have compassion, he acted on it and spent the rest of the day ministering out of his own need.
Now before we all shrug our shoulders saying, "He's God. No big deal", let's remember that he was here as one of us. He set aside his divinity. He was able to do what he did because he was anointed by the Spirit not because he was divine. So all those emotions were real. His mental stress was real. His physical exhaustion was real. His need for rest was real. But he also knew and understood the power he possessed through the Spirit and love was his driving force. Jesus was no more than we are who are possessed by the same Spirit, except he understood and acted on love much more than we do.
So, every time I am tempted to think that I have it together and I am pretty mature as a Christian, I remember this moment. I remember and I examine how I respond to people when I am tired and stressed. I examine and repent of my failure to live with love as my driving force. I have come a long way since the moment of my salvation 32 years ago but I am still in need of a lot of growth in my spiritual maturity. To be more like Jesus day by day must be our anthem.
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Knowing What Is Important In Life
Love does win but not in the way many people in our society think and not by what they call love. The love that defines all love is Yahweh. Any other definition falls short of his glory and lacks the power to do anything but look good. The love accepted in this world goes no deeper than the flesh, is easily offended and quickly fades. The love of Yahweh is sacrificial at its core.
In a few of his letters to the Church Paul stated that he was praying for them to receive a deeper revelation of this love. To the Philippians he wrote:
This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight. (1:9)
Love is not something that is suppose to be quickly understood and allowed to grow stale. It is such a huge subject that it takes a lifetime or longer to even begin to comprehend. The little ugly thing we call love can't compare to the surpassing glory of Yahweh's love. We should be pressing in to him every day to step deeper in the revelation of this love.
Now, Paul didn't pray this just for the sake of poetry or looking good. There is purpose in discovering the depth of this love:
I pray this so that you will be able to decide what really matters and so you will be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ. (1:10)
So an increasing revelation of true love, Yahweh's love, sacrificial love, enables the discernment of what is really important in life. Isn't that what we want, to understand what is important to hold on to and what to let go of; of what we should put our energy into and what doesn't deserve our attention? Is it really about riches, fame and comfort or is there greater purpose? Could love really be the key to understanding? The Bible says yes but it also says it is important for more than just life on this earth.
Paul says that a growing revelation of Yahweh's love will help us be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ. He is not saying that works will save us but understanding this love will cause us to never doubt it. We will not fear the things of this world, we will not fall apart when things are removed from us and our priorities will keep us living as Jesus lived, for his glory, because of our increasing revelation of his love. Without a growing revelation of this love we will tend to drift back to what we want. And what we want will always be focused on us and will lead us right back into rebellion. We will do what we think is right instead of what Yahweh's love defines as being right.
So yes indeed, may our love become more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight.
In a few of his letters to the Church Paul stated that he was praying for them to receive a deeper revelation of this love. To the Philippians he wrote:
This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight. (1:9)
Love is not something that is suppose to be quickly understood and allowed to grow stale. It is such a huge subject that it takes a lifetime or longer to even begin to comprehend. The little ugly thing we call love can't compare to the surpassing glory of Yahweh's love. We should be pressing in to him every day to step deeper in the revelation of this love.
Now, Paul didn't pray this just for the sake of poetry or looking good. There is purpose in discovering the depth of this love:
I pray this so that you will be able to decide what really matters and so you will be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ. (1:10)
So an increasing revelation of true love, Yahweh's love, sacrificial love, enables the discernment of what is really important in life. Isn't that what we want, to understand what is important to hold on to and what to let go of; of what we should put our energy into and what doesn't deserve our attention? Is it really about riches, fame and comfort or is there greater purpose? Could love really be the key to understanding? The Bible says yes but it also says it is important for more than just life on this earth.
Paul says that a growing revelation of Yahweh's love will help us be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ. He is not saying that works will save us but understanding this love will cause us to never doubt it. We will not fear the things of this world, we will not fall apart when things are removed from us and our priorities will keep us living as Jesus lived, for his glory, because of our increasing revelation of his love. Without a growing revelation of this love we will tend to drift back to what we want. And what we want will always be focused on us and will lead us right back into rebellion. We will do what we think is right instead of what Yahweh's love defines as being right.
So yes indeed, may our love become more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight.
Monday, July 13, 2015
Understanding Our Weakness
Many of us in the Body of Christ desire to be used by the Lord for his glory, but few of us are willing to pay the price. We read the Word through the eyes of our flesh, defined by the principles of this world without understanding how far we are from the heart of our Father.
Many of us find it hard to accept that the Lord needs to form our hearts before he can trust us with his glory. He needs to take us through storms and deserts, valleys and mountains, all with the purpose of forming what he needs us to be.
Consider what he took Joseph through before moving him into his eternal purpose. He faced slavery, false accusations, imprisonment but all the while he was developing a heart's heart in Joseph. A servant's heart is a must to be a leader with eternal purpose.
Our Lord will never give us what will destroy us. We may be looking for a million dollars to glorify our Lord, but he knows that million dollars will drive us far from him. We may be looking for things that he has not yet finished preparing us to receive. Often he wants us in a place of complete humility and utter dependence before he will move us into position, like Joseph.
Consider this Scripture:
The Lord said to Gideon: “You have too many people on your side. If I were to hand Midian over to them, the Israelites might claim credit for themselves rather than for me, thinking, We saved ourselves." (Judges 7:2)
Exactly. And if we are willing to be honest we would admit it is true of us as well. If our Lord does not do things in our weakness we will not give him the honour and glory. In our weakness he demonstrates his strength for the ultimate glory. Isn't that what we want?
Often we are children who just learned to ride a bicycle so think we are ready for a motorcycle. The most basic purpose of everything we go through is to learn humility and dependence on our Lord for all things. Until we learn, accept and walk in this truth, we will not move into our eternal purpose. We need to stop struggling in it, stop denying the Lord and begin to allow joy to permeate everything we experience.
We will continue to give him glory in all things but yet may not arrive at that place of maturity because the greatest glory is given in our weakness. Humility and dependence is the basic and yet pinnacle of everything in our service to the Lord.
Many of us find it hard to accept that the Lord needs to form our hearts before he can trust us with his glory. He needs to take us through storms and deserts, valleys and mountains, all with the purpose of forming what he needs us to be.
Consider what he took Joseph through before moving him into his eternal purpose. He faced slavery, false accusations, imprisonment but all the while he was developing a heart's heart in Joseph. A servant's heart is a must to be a leader with eternal purpose.
Our Lord will never give us what will destroy us. We may be looking for a million dollars to glorify our Lord, but he knows that million dollars will drive us far from him. We may be looking for things that he has not yet finished preparing us to receive. Often he wants us in a place of complete humility and utter dependence before he will move us into position, like Joseph.
Consider this Scripture:
The Lord said to Gideon: “You have too many people on your side. If I were to hand Midian over to them, the Israelites might claim credit for themselves rather than for me, thinking, We saved ourselves." (Judges 7:2)
Exactly. And if we are willing to be honest we would admit it is true of us as well. If our Lord does not do things in our weakness we will not give him the honour and glory. In our weakness he demonstrates his strength for the ultimate glory. Isn't that what we want?
Often we are children who just learned to ride a bicycle so think we are ready for a motorcycle. The most basic purpose of everything we go through is to learn humility and dependence on our Lord for all things. Until we learn, accept and walk in this truth, we will not move into our eternal purpose. We need to stop struggling in it, stop denying the Lord and begin to allow joy to permeate everything we experience.
We will continue to give him glory in all things but yet may not arrive at that place of maturity because the greatest glory is given in our weakness. Humility and dependence is the basic and yet pinnacle of everything in our service to the Lord.
Friday, July 10, 2015
The Power To Love
How much of Jesus do you want? That's what we need to decide. What we should decide is that we want 100% of him, that we will not be satisfied with anything less. What we settle for is sadly much less. It is sad because there is no need for it. We are like that seed which had very shallow roots, so when the day became hot and dry, it died. As soon as any trouble or challenge comes our way, our faith fails because our relationship is shallow.
Since the first time I read the Bible as a child, Paul's prayer for the church of Ephesus overwhelmed me, and still does to this day:
I ask that he will strengthen you in your inner selves from the riches of his glory through the Spirit. I ask that Christ will live in your hearts through faith. As a result of having strong roots in love, I ask that you’ll have the power to grasp love’s width and length, height and depth, together with all believers. I ask that you’ll know the love of Christ that is beyond knowledge so that you will be filled entirely with the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-19)
That we would find strength in the presence of Jesus in us; that our fellowship would be so real that we would be open to him strengthening us through the Spirit. Some of us imagine this sort of relationship but we don't understand how available it is to us, if we are willing to be in love with Jesus. We get caught up in all the trappings of the Church, of the religiously minded, of the law seekers, the circumcision group. We need to break free of this thinking and discover again the simplicity of the relationship.
We first have to accept and live the fact that Jesus is in us. We don't always live as if he is. If we did, we certainly would not want to join him to sin by allowing our bodies to enter into sin. If we were more conscious of his presence we would have greater strength to resist temptation. We would also be more in love with him as we understand intimacy with him. We are not praying to some distant god; we are living through the One who is in us, sharing every intimate detail of our lives with him.
Some of us want to grasp the greatness of God's love from a safe distance but this prayer reminds us that the starting point must be an intimate relationship of love with Jesus:
"As a result of having strong roots in love ..."
Paul prays that they will be lent the power to grasp the greatness of this love. If we would submit ourselves to this level of understanding, all selfishness would disappear and we would be provoked to love the loveless, to pray for those who persecute us and to befriend the sinners of this world, because they need to experience the love of Jesus.
Yes, go ahead and preach those powerful, anointed words, but also allow that power and anointing to but legs on what you teach in theory. The only way this world will know Jesus is when we grasp his love to the point of laying our lives down, giving up our rights and possessions, giving up our attachments, to show kindness, mercy and grace to the lost, even as they spit in our face, throw us in jail, destroy our reputations and put us to death. If we are to love like this in these extremes then should we not love with forgiveness in the little things as well?
This is what really stands out:
"...that you’ll know the love of Christ that is beyond knowledge so that you will be filled entirely with the fullness of God. "
Beyond knowledge. Beyond study. Beyond theory. Empowered by the Spirit to know in your heart, mind, soul, so that you can put that love into action through his strength and power. Christian extremism is not upholding the Law of the Old Testament, it is living the fulfilled law of love that the Spirit has written on our hearts. It is not ignoring the fact of God's justice, but it is holding out the hope of love, forgiveness, mercy, grace to a dying world.
Let us set our heart and mind on things above instead on this decaying earth, and let us love as Jesus has loved us, to the point of sacrificing everything to lay down our loves for those he loves.
Since the first time I read the Bible as a child, Paul's prayer for the church of Ephesus overwhelmed me, and still does to this day:
I ask that he will strengthen you in your inner selves from the riches of his glory through the Spirit. I ask that Christ will live in your hearts through faith. As a result of having strong roots in love, I ask that you’ll have the power to grasp love’s width and length, height and depth, together with all believers. I ask that you’ll know the love of Christ that is beyond knowledge so that you will be filled entirely with the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-19)
That we would find strength in the presence of Jesus in us; that our fellowship would be so real that we would be open to him strengthening us through the Spirit. Some of us imagine this sort of relationship but we don't understand how available it is to us, if we are willing to be in love with Jesus. We get caught up in all the trappings of the Church, of the religiously minded, of the law seekers, the circumcision group. We need to break free of this thinking and discover again the simplicity of the relationship.
We first have to accept and live the fact that Jesus is in us. We don't always live as if he is. If we did, we certainly would not want to join him to sin by allowing our bodies to enter into sin. If we were more conscious of his presence we would have greater strength to resist temptation. We would also be more in love with him as we understand intimacy with him. We are not praying to some distant god; we are living through the One who is in us, sharing every intimate detail of our lives with him.
Some of us want to grasp the greatness of God's love from a safe distance but this prayer reminds us that the starting point must be an intimate relationship of love with Jesus:
"As a result of having strong roots in love ..."
Paul prays that they will be lent the power to grasp the greatness of this love. If we would submit ourselves to this level of understanding, all selfishness would disappear and we would be provoked to love the loveless, to pray for those who persecute us and to befriend the sinners of this world, because they need to experience the love of Jesus.
Yes, go ahead and preach those powerful, anointed words, but also allow that power and anointing to but legs on what you teach in theory. The only way this world will know Jesus is when we grasp his love to the point of laying our lives down, giving up our rights and possessions, giving up our attachments, to show kindness, mercy and grace to the lost, even as they spit in our face, throw us in jail, destroy our reputations and put us to death. If we are to love like this in these extremes then should we not love with forgiveness in the little things as well?
This is what really stands out:
"...that you’ll know the love of Christ that is beyond knowledge so that you will be filled entirely with the fullness of God. "
Beyond knowledge. Beyond study. Beyond theory. Empowered by the Spirit to know in your heart, mind, soul, so that you can put that love into action through his strength and power. Christian extremism is not upholding the Law of the Old Testament, it is living the fulfilled law of love that the Spirit has written on our hearts. It is not ignoring the fact of God's justice, but it is holding out the hope of love, forgiveness, mercy, grace to a dying world.
Let us set our heart and mind on things above instead on this decaying earth, and let us love as Jesus has loved us, to the point of sacrificing everything to lay down our loves for those he loves.
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Expressing The Christian Life
So, you say you are Christian. What does that mean to you? There are a lot of people who say they are Christian but have no idea what they are claiming, and those who do understand don't necessarily know how it should be expressed. Most as satisfied with attending church and singing worship songs. For many this is about it when it comes to expressing their life as a Christian, but we have been saved for greater things.
I don't mean greater things for you. I don't mean a more comfortable life. Quite the opposite. The Christian life is meant to be lived uncomfortably. Even those who understand this life have not mastered it, but they are at least wrestling with it.
Now if you have studied Jesus at all you will know he taught some very uncomfortable things, like saying no to yourself, taking up your God-given calling and living as he lived; which means loving as he loved. But for the sake of brevity and simplicity today I want to make my point with one simple passage found in the powerful letter to the Ephesians:
You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith. This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. It’s not something you did that you can be proud of. Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
Now let's just focus on this for a moment, "created in Christ Jesus to do good things". To do good things. Our life is not about us because we have received everything we need through Jesus and he is always there for us to run to, to get strength from. He is our encourager and helper in all we are called to do. And what we have been called to do is breathe goodness into other people's lives.
Now look at this: "God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives". This is our Christian expression, the goodness we breathe into the lives of others, the little things and big things. Our life is about being good to others. Helpful, generous, encouraging, pleasant, polite, joyful are all words that should describe who we are to others.
We know we are getting it wrong when we are easily offended by people, when we are too busy for people, when we don't notice the people around us, when kind is not how people would describe us. When we are constantly taking from people instead of adding to them, when everything is about us, when people don't want to be around us, we know we are failing.
So I ask you today, how are you expressing your faith in Christ?
I don't mean greater things for you. I don't mean a more comfortable life. Quite the opposite. The Christian life is meant to be lived uncomfortably. Even those who understand this life have not mastered it, but they are at least wrestling with it.
Now if you have studied Jesus at all you will know he taught some very uncomfortable things, like saying no to yourself, taking up your God-given calling and living as he lived; which means loving as he loved. But for the sake of brevity and simplicity today I want to make my point with one simple passage found in the powerful letter to the Ephesians:
You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith. This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. It’s not something you did that you can be proud of. Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
Now let's just focus on this for a moment, "created in Christ Jesus to do good things". To do good things. Our life is not about us because we have received everything we need through Jesus and he is always there for us to run to, to get strength from. He is our encourager and helper in all we are called to do. And what we have been called to do is breathe goodness into other people's lives.
Now look at this: "God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives". This is our Christian expression, the goodness we breathe into the lives of others, the little things and big things. Our life is about being good to others. Helpful, generous, encouraging, pleasant, polite, joyful are all words that should describe who we are to others.
We know we are getting it wrong when we are easily offended by people, when we are too busy for people, when we don't notice the people around us, when kind is not how people would describe us. When we are constantly taking from people instead of adding to them, when everything is about us, when people don't want to be around us, we know we are failing.
So I ask you today, how are you expressing your faith in Christ?
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
A Pastor's Heart
The desire of every leader in the Body of Christ is for you to grow. It may seem like we are preaching the Law, lots of do's and don'ts but that is not our intention. We simply desire to help you avoid common pitfalls and to grow into the fullness of Jesus. There are so many traps, so many distractions, so many things the enemy uses to tear you away from Christ. Even leaders are vulnerable and need accountability.
Perhaps the words of the apostle Paul best describe how we see our desire for you:
But I’m afraid that your minds might be seduced in the same way as the snake deceived Eve with his devious tricks. You might be unable to focus completely on a genuine and innocent commitment to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)
We see the relationship Jesus intended for you to have with him and the Father. It is the reason he sent us the Spirit so we could be joined with them, have rich fellowship and to enable the transformation process to continue. Everything that is contrary to the character of Jesus works like acid against this intended relationship.
It is more than just understanding what pleases and displeases Yahweh, we have to desire to want to live to please him, to desire to reject everything he rejects and to lift up everything he considers important. It is the reason Scripture points out that even if everything were permitable not everything is beneficial. If activities in our lives are not moving us toward Jesus then we should be glad to get rid of them to make room for what does benefit us.
The enemy has been seducing the children of God for a long time and he is very good at it. He knows what works and what doesn't work. It is the reason the Scriptures tell us to stay alert because he is light a prowling lion looking for the weak to destroy them.
It is the reason Yahweh left no room for anything else when he told us to love him with our all, and Jesus told us that this one command is greater than anything else. That is what we should be spending our days learning to do. If we did we wouldn't be so concerned about a list of do's and don'ts because it is on the tender hearts that the Spirit is able to write the Law. Then we would never desire to do what is contrary to Jesus.
Love is not an abstract feeling, it is a concrete substance with tangible actions. Jesus said, if we loved him, truly loved him, our desire would not be to find loopholes to do what we want, but instead our desire would be to obey him, no matter the cost. This is the reason your pastor and elders spend their days keeping a watchful eye on you, desiring to train you in the way you should go. Next time you see them, thank them.
Perhaps the words of the apostle Paul best describe how we see our desire for you:
But I’m afraid that your minds might be seduced in the same way as the snake deceived Eve with his devious tricks. You might be unable to focus completely on a genuine and innocent commitment to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)
We see the relationship Jesus intended for you to have with him and the Father. It is the reason he sent us the Spirit so we could be joined with them, have rich fellowship and to enable the transformation process to continue. Everything that is contrary to the character of Jesus works like acid against this intended relationship.
It is more than just understanding what pleases and displeases Yahweh, we have to desire to want to live to please him, to desire to reject everything he rejects and to lift up everything he considers important. It is the reason Scripture points out that even if everything were permitable not everything is beneficial. If activities in our lives are not moving us toward Jesus then we should be glad to get rid of them to make room for what does benefit us.
The enemy has been seducing the children of God for a long time and he is very good at it. He knows what works and what doesn't work. It is the reason the Scriptures tell us to stay alert because he is light a prowling lion looking for the weak to destroy them.
It is the reason Yahweh left no room for anything else when he told us to love him with our all, and Jesus told us that this one command is greater than anything else. That is what we should be spending our days learning to do. If we did we wouldn't be so concerned about a list of do's and don'ts because it is on the tender hearts that the Spirit is able to write the Law. Then we would never desire to do what is contrary to Jesus.
Love is not an abstract feeling, it is a concrete substance with tangible actions. Jesus said, if we loved him, truly loved him, our desire would not be to find loopholes to do what we want, but instead our desire would be to obey him, no matter the cost. This is the reason your pastor and elders spend their days keeping a watchful eye on you, desiring to train you in the way you should go. Next time you see them, thank them.
Thursday, July 2, 2015
Three Things To Do Now That Homosexual Marriage Is Legal
It is obvious that the Christian community in the United States is trying to figure out how to respond to the fact that the law has changed to permit homosexual marriage. Here in Canada that change was made a number of years ago. Can we say that the "horse has left the barn" on homosexual marriage? In fact, it left the barn a long time ago.
Without doubt marriage is a spiritual act, uniting a man and woman to become one flesh. It was created by God for our benefit on this earth (it does not exist in heaven).We choose to make this union in front of family and friends, calling them witnesses of this union that is made in the sight of God. It should have always remained us such but the Church dropped the ball when it allowed the State to take authority over it. As soon as we allowed governments to start issuing license for something that was a spiritual matter we lost. Now it is the State who gets to define marriage any way they want. We can continue to proclaim the truth but the world doesn't care.
Now we are left with some tough decisions. In some ways this could be a good thing as it gives clear distinction between believers and non-believers. Certainly the enemy will do everything he can to discredit our argument and failing that will try to discredit the Bible itself but that is nothing new to us. From the very beginning he has been questioning and trying to throw into confusion the commands of Yahweh. Check out the conversation with Eve in the garden. There are a few things I think the Church needs to do:
1. Return in all permits to perform State marriages. What do we have to do with a world system that cuts our God out of what he created. Do we allow them to license baptisms or communions? So why do they get to license marriages, or for that matter, pastors? We know we are in the end times and hearts are growing harder so there will be no going back now, so cut them loose.
2. Start drawing the distinction between the State marriage and the Church marriage. Allow people to have two ceremonies, one before God, and, if they want all the State benefits to marriage, one before the government. Let the State perform marriage as they see fit and we will continue with marriage as God defined it. It is not up to the government to legislate our beliefs.
3. Stop taking government money for the Church. That's a hard one isn't it. Stop looking for tax exemption. As long as we are taking their money they are going to feel they have authority over us. We are a spiritual body not an NGO or corporation. We should never place ourselves in a position of dependence on anything other than Jesus. That should separate some sheep and goats.
Why are we following the patterns of this world? Why are we depending on flesh over Spirit? Why are we so flustered when the world goes in its natural course of rebellion to God? The reason is because we are more married to the world than we are to Jesus. It is time to change that. We can't have two husbands. We can't have two masters. We need to make a distinction. We need to decide.
Without doubt marriage is a spiritual act, uniting a man and woman to become one flesh. It was created by God for our benefit on this earth (it does not exist in heaven).We choose to make this union in front of family and friends, calling them witnesses of this union that is made in the sight of God. It should have always remained us such but the Church dropped the ball when it allowed the State to take authority over it. As soon as we allowed governments to start issuing license for something that was a spiritual matter we lost. Now it is the State who gets to define marriage any way they want. We can continue to proclaim the truth but the world doesn't care.
Now we are left with some tough decisions. In some ways this could be a good thing as it gives clear distinction between believers and non-believers. Certainly the enemy will do everything he can to discredit our argument and failing that will try to discredit the Bible itself but that is nothing new to us. From the very beginning he has been questioning and trying to throw into confusion the commands of Yahweh. Check out the conversation with Eve in the garden. There are a few things I think the Church needs to do:
1. Return in all permits to perform State marriages. What do we have to do with a world system that cuts our God out of what he created. Do we allow them to license baptisms or communions? So why do they get to license marriages, or for that matter, pastors? We know we are in the end times and hearts are growing harder so there will be no going back now, so cut them loose.
2. Start drawing the distinction between the State marriage and the Church marriage. Allow people to have two ceremonies, one before God, and, if they want all the State benefits to marriage, one before the government. Let the State perform marriage as they see fit and we will continue with marriage as God defined it. It is not up to the government to legislate our beliefs.
3. Stop taking government money for the Church. That's a hard one isn't it. Stop looking for tax exemption. As long as we are taking their money they are going to feel they have authority over us. We are a spiritual body not an NGO or corporation. We should never place ourselves in a position of dependence on anything other than Jesus. That should separate some sheep and goats.
Why are we following the patterns of this world? Why are we depending on flesh over Spirit? Why are we so flustered when the world goes in its natural course of rebellion to God? The reason is because we are more married to the world than we are to Jesus. It is time to change that. We can't have two husbands. We can't have two masters. We need to make a distinction. We need to decide.
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Contamination
If we are busy trying to build our own kingdom or looking for loopholes in the Word of God to justify doing what we want to do, we need to question the genuineness of our relationship with Jesus. There is one underlying truth that wipes out our selfish desire to get what we want:
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in my body, I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
"I no longer live" should bring clarity to our life in this world. It should also be clear that we have died to everything we were, everything we laid claim to, and everything we aspired to be. Now our desire is only Jesus, and obedience to the Father's will. This should be clear to us by now:
My dear friends, since we have these promises, let’s cleanse ourselves from anything that contaminates our body or spirit so that we make our holiness complete in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)
The Holy Spirit convicts us of what needs to go and what needs to change after we come to Jesus, but it is up to us to offer it up. It is part of the process and takes the rest of our life, but as the Spirit makes us aware of what needs to go we need to surrender it. This is important at this moment of time because there are people calling themselves Christians who are advocating things of the flesh over the Spirit. They are trying to redefine Christianity to satisfy the demands of the flesh. God cannot be mocked.
The simple question each of us must ask ourselves is if we love Jesus more than anything else, even more than our deepest longings. The Word says to rid ourselves of anything that contaminates. The flesh wants to define this for our own advantage but the Spirit defines it according to the holiness of God. Jesus said, to qualify as his disciples, we have to deny our flesh, take up our spiritual mission and follow his example.
The time has come for us to become serious about our decision, to decide for Jesus and allowed him to be glorified through us no matter the cost. It is time to rise up in the holiness with which he has clothed us. Cleanse yourself from anything that contaminates.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in my body, I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
"I no longer live" should bring clarity to our life in this world. It should also be clear that we have died to everything we were, everything we laid claim to, and everything we aspired to be. Now our desire is only Jesus, and obedience to the Father's will. This should be clear to us by now:
My dear friends, since we have these promises, let’s cleanse ourselves from anything that contaminates our body or spirit so that we make our holiness complete in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)
The Holy Spirit convicts us of what needs to go and what needs to change after we come to Jesus, but it is up to us to offer it up. It is part of the process and takes the rest of our life, but as the Spirit makes us aware of what needs to go we need to surrender it. This is important at this moment of time because there are people calling themselves Christians who are advocating things of the flesh over the Spirit. They are trying to redefine Christianity to satisfy the demands of the flesh. God cannot be mocked.
The simple question each of us must ask ourselves is if we love Jesus more than anything else, even more than our deepest longings. The Word says to rid ourselves of anything that contaminates. The flesh wants to define this for our own advantage but the Spirit defines it according to the holiness of God. Jesus said, to qualify as his disciples, we have to deny our flesh, take up our spiritual mission and follow his example.
The time has come for us to become serious about our decision, to decide for Jesus and allowed him to be glorified through us no matter the cost. It is time to rise up in the holiness with which he has clothed us. Cleanse yourself from anything that contaminates.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Not Living For Ourselves
At the root of all our failings and rebellion is selfishness. It is when we put what we want and what we think ahead of other people and our God. Why is it so hard to obey our God, to accept what he wants? Because our perspective is that God just wants us to be happy whereas God's perspective is summed up in "Say no to yourself, take up your cross and do what I have done".
Can we take a sludge hammer to this point and drive it home? Can we use this to underline the difference between the world and the Kingdom of God? The world loves. The world cares. The world has compassion. But all these things are still filtered through a self-centered heart. Only Jesus can save us from ourselves. Only Jesus can strip the selfishness away from us. Only Jesus can enable us to love without us getting in the way.
Apostle Paul wrote:
He died for the sake of all so that those who are alive should live not for themselves but for the one who died for them and was raised. (2 Corinthians 5:15)
So do we live for ourselves? Live for our family? Live for some noble theme? No, we live for Jesus and only Jesus. He defines everything we are, everything we do, everything we say, everything we think and feel. It is not about what we perceive as being how God created us but who we have become and been transformed into through and in Jesus.
This is why it is hard for us to have a conversation with a person without Jesus. It is very difficult to find any common ground to start the conversation. They reject everything that defines us. So the only way it can produce anything is if the conviction of the Spirit is in it. This means we need to be sensitive to the Spirit more now than ever before. We need to be directed by him and not by our own wisdom.
May things become clearer for us as the days get darker.
Can we take a sludge hammer to this point and drive it home? Can we use this to underline the difference between the world and the Kingdom of God? The world loves. The world cares. The world has compassion. But all these things are still filtered through a self-centered heart. Only Jesus can save us from ourselves. Only Jesus can strip the selfishness away from us. Only Jesus can enable us to love without us getting in the way.
Apostle Paul wrote:
He died for the sake of all so that those who are alive should live not for themselves but for the one who died for them and was raised. (2 Corinthians 5:15)
So do we live for ourselves? Live for our family? Live for some noble theme? No, we live for Jesus and only Jesus. He defines everything we are, everything we do, everything we say, everything we think and feel. It is not about what we perceive as being how God created us but who we have become and been transformed into through and in Jesus.
This is why it is hard for us to have a conversation with a person without Jesus. It is very difficult to find any common ground to start the conversation. They reject everything that defines us. So the only way it can produce anything is if the conviction of the Spirit is in it. This means we need to be sensitive to the Spirit more now than ever before. We need to be directed by him and not by our own wisdom.
May things become clearer for us as the days get darker.
Monday, June 29, 2015
The Choice Is Clear
Good day my friends, God is good all the time. You may not always feel like it but we don't go by our feelings, we live by the facts of the Word and our experience. Today may be difficult and I may have lots of questions but Jesus has proved himself faithful in the past and he will continue to prove to be faithful today. I know this because the Spirit of God testifies to my spirit of this truth. But what do people do who do not have the Spirit of God or who shut out the Spirit?
Those of us who live through Jesus scratch our heads and ask ourselves, why can't the world see it. In fact, we ask that about parts of the Church as well, because there are those who have the appearance of godliness but lack the power, which is the power that transforms and allows us to understand Yahweh, his revelation and his plan. This is what is written:
The god of this age has blinded the minds of those who don’t have faith so they couldn’t see the light of the gospel that reveals Christ’s glory. Christ is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4)
So if people don't understand why you do what you do, you should know why. There are so many Scriptures that explain this that we should not be surprised when the world says good is bad and bad is good. Scripture says:
But people who are unspiritual don’t accept the things from God’s Spirit. They are foolishness to them and can’t be understood, because they can only be comprehended in a spiritual way. (1 Corinthians 2:14)
However, Paul wasn't addressing struggles with the world, because it is obvious that the world is in rebellion to God, but he was addressing Christians who lacked the ability to understand. They had not progressed in their spiritual maturity, had not learned to rely on the Spirit and were still relying on the wisdom of the world:
Brothers and sisters, I couldn’t talk to you like spiritual people but like unspiritual people, like babies in Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:1)
And again:
Now you are still not up to it because you are still unspiritual. When jealousy and fighting exist between you, aren’t you unspiritual and living by human standards? (3:3)
Certainly things are getting worse in the world but what is disheartening is the confusion it is causing in the Church. God is still God. Jesus is still Lord. The Holy Spirit is still the power of God in us. The Church is still the Body of Christ. The holy is still holy and the common is still common. Nothing has changed for us, just the lostness of the world is more clear, and gets clearer with each passing day. But in the Church it is also becoming clear to us who are controlled by the Spirit and who are controlled by the patterns of this world.
This fact should also be clear to us, Jesus told us we cannot have it both ways. We cannot be friends with the world and be friends with him:
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. (Matthew 6:24)
James explained it with no uncertain terms:
You unfaithful people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world's friend becomes God's enemy. (James 4:4)
It used to be that people could fudge the lines but now the distinction is clear. And now for us the choice is clear. As Joshua told Israel, we have to make a clear decision concerning who we will serve. Will it be the Lord? Then let us serve him wholeheartedly, seeking his righteousness. If it be the world, then stop calling yourself Christian.
Those of us who live through Jesus scratch our heads and ask ourselves, why can't the world see it. In fact, we ask that about parts of the Church as well, because there are those who have the appearance of godliness but lack the power, which is the power that transforms and allows us to understand Yahweh, his revelation and his plan. This is what is written:
The god of this age has blinded the minds of those who don’t have faith so they couldn’t see the light of the gospel that reveals Christ’s glory. Christ is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4)
So if people don't understand why you do what you do, you should know why. There are so many Scriptures that explain this that we should not be surprised when the world says good is bad and bad is good. Scripture says:
But people who are unspiritual don’t accept the things from God’s Spirit. They are foolishness to them and can’t be understood, because they can only be comprehended in a spiritual way. (1 Corinthians 2:14)
However, Paul wasn't addressing struggles with the world, because it is obvious that the world is in rebellion to God, but he was addressing Christians who lacked the ability to understand. They had not progressed in their spiritual maturity, had not learned to rely on the Spirit and were still relying on the wisdom of the world:
Brothers and sisters, I couldn’t talk to you like spiritual people but like unspiritual people, like babies in Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:1)
And again:
Now you are still not up to it because you are still unspiritual. When jealousy and fighting exist between you, aren’t you unspiritual and living by human standards? (3:3)
Certainly things are getting worse in the world but what is disheartening is the confusion it is causing in the Church. God is still God. Jesus is still Lord. The Holy Spirit is still the power of God in us. The Church is still the Body of Christ. The holy is still holy and the common is still common. Nothing has changed for us, just the lostness of the world is more clear, and gets clearer with each passing day. But in the Church it is also becoming clear to us who are controlled by the Spirit and who are controlled by the patterns of this world.
This fact should also be clear to us, Jesus told us we cannot have it both ways. We cannot be friends with the world and be friends with him:
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. (Matthew 6:24)
James explained it with no uncertain terms:
You unfaithful people! Don’t you know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world's friend becomes God's enemy. (James 4:4)
It used to be that people could fudge the lines but now the distinction is clear. And now for us the choice is clear. As Joshua told Israel, we have to make a clear decision concerning who we will serve. Will it be the Lord? Then let us serve him wholeheartedly, seeking his righteousness. If it be the world, then stop calling yourself Christian.
Friday, June 26, 2015
Is The Church Presenting The Reality Of Jesus?
Don't you ever get the feeling that we are getting it wrong? Don't you ever sit in Church and feel that we are being presented with a sanitized God? After all, this is the God who sacrificed his Son, killing him on the cross, so that we could be adopted as his children. It seems odd that this same God desires to give us everything we want and to spoil us with what we ask. Is he really interested in seeing us all wealthy, healthy and satisfied in this place? (There is a difference between satisfied and content) If that is how you see Father then you are not being presented with the true revelation of our God found in the Bible and understood through the Spirit.
There are two things going on in our life when we serve the Lord in this world. First, there is our service to him as we deal with people with compassion and grace while presenting them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our purpose is to make disciples. But while we are doing this, our wonderful God is also developing us, helping us grow and mature. He does this in the messiness of life and ministry.
Our Father has no desire to spoil us but he wants to bless us, equip us with what we need in our service to him. If we need a bicycle to get around to minister in our neighbourhood he will provide the means; if we need a multi-million dollar jet he will provide it. He tells us to ask. He will provide for where he has placed us. He will also lead us through the mess and ugliness of life in our development. The world is a messy and ugly place in comparison to his glory. We need to understand that these two things, his provision and our development, are not contrary but have different purposes.
At the very foundation of our relationship is dependence. That is hard for us because from birth we have been taught to be independent, but when we come to Jesus we are taught to depend on him for everything. He isn't interested in what we have to offer. He wants us to empty ourselves and allow him to use us as he needs us, in whatever capacity, with the tool of a bicycle or a jet. Sometimes, he needs to lead us through difficult times in our training so we don't rely on ourselves but learn to turn to him in every situation. Paul the apostle wrote:
Brothers and sisters, we don’t want you to be unaware of the troubles that we went through in Asia. We were weighed down with a load of suffering that was so far beyond our strength that we were afraid we might not survive. It certainly seemed to us as if we had gotten the death penalty. This was so that we would have confidence in God, who raises the dead, instead of ourselves. (1 Corinthians 1:8-9)
I don't know about you but I have had periods in my life that felt like I was going to be destroyed. I had a choice in each incident to try to help myself (which was actually beyond my ability or anyone else's) or to turn to the Lord. I spent hours, days, weeks, in worship, reminding myself who my Lord is and what he promised. I washed myself in Scripture and soaked myself in worship. It felt like I was at the point of death but sustained me and eventually interceded and rescued me. In those moments I learned that my strength was not sufficient but my Lord's was. I need him for everything and I dare not try to serve him in my limited abilities.
Maybe that is hard for you to understand. Just keep in mind that you have been raised by your parents and society to be independent, so the thought of not relying on yourself can be foreign and frightening. But the only way we can serve our Lord is understanding our constant dependence on the Vine (Jesus). A branch cannot support itself, but from the sap we receive through the vine (Jesus) he is able to produce fruit through us. The fruit is not for the branch but for those who would eat from it.
Our life is a classroom and Father is the teacher, training and transforming us in the power of the Spirit to be like the Son, Jesus. So let us submit ourselves, learn our lessons and grow into the fullness of Jesus Christ. Doing this will mean that we never lose our joy or peace, when we realize that our God is in all the messiness of life. Never stop singing his praise. Trust. Obey. Lean.
There are two things going on in our life when we serve the Lord in this world. First, there is our service to him as we deal with people with compassion and grace while presenting them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our purpose is to make disciples. But while we are doing this, our wonderful God is also developing us, helping us grow and mature. He does this in the messiness of life and ministry.
Our Father has no desire to spoil us but he wants to bless us, equip us with what we need in our service to him. If we need a bicycle to get around to minister in our neighbourhood he will provide the means; if we need a multi-million dollar jet he will provide it. He tells us to ask. He will provide for where he has placed us. He will also lead us through the mess and ugliness of life in our development. The world is a messy and ugly place in comparison to his glory. We need to understand that these two things, his provision and our development, are not contrary but have different purposes.
At the very foundation of our relationship is dependence. That is hard for us because from birth we have been taught to be independent, but when we come to Jesus we are taught to depend on him for everything. He isn't interested in what we have to offer. He wants us to empty ourselves and allow him to use us as he needs us, in whatever capacity, with the tool of a bicycle or a jet. Sometimes, he needs to lead us through difficult times in our training so we don't rely on ourselves but learn to turn to him in every situation. Paul the apostle wrote:
Brothers and sisters, we don’t want you to be unaware of the troubles that we went through in Asia. We were weighed down with a load of suffering that was so far beyond our strength that we were afraid we might not survive. It certainly seemed to us as if we had gotten the death penalty. This was so that we would have confidence in God, who raises the dead, instead of ourselves. (1 Corinthians 1:8-9)
I don't know about you but I have had periods in my life that felt like I was going to be destroyed. I had a choice in each incident to try to help myself (which was actually beyond my ability or anyone else's) or to turn to the Lord. I spent hours, days, weeks, in worship, reminding myself who my Lord is and what he promised. I washed myself in Scripture and soaked myself in worship. It felt like I was at the point of death but sustained me and eventually interceded and rescued me. In those moments I learned that my strength was not sufficient but my Lord's was. I need him for everything and I dare not try to serve him in my limited abilities.
Maybe that is hard for you to understand. Just keep in mind that you have been raised by your parents and society to be independent, so the thought of not relying on yourself can be foreign and frightening. But the only way we can serve our Lord is understanding our constant dependence on the Vine (Jesus). A branch cannot support itself, but from the sap we receive through the vine (Jesus) he is able to produce fruit through us. The fruit is not for the branch but for those who would eat from it.
Our life is a classroom and Father is the teacher, training and transforming us in the power of the Spirit to be like the Son, Jesus. So let us submit ourselves, learn our lessons and grow into the fullness of Jesus Christ. Doing this will mean that we never lose our joy or peace, when we realize that our God is in all the messiness of life. Never stop singing his praise. Trust. Obey. Lean.
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