Not Much In Man's Eyes, But A Giant To Jesus

I am not a popular preacher and I don't expect to be. It isn't because people are jealous of my stellar righteousness. Just the opposite. I am clearly a sinner saved by grace. My sins are obvious to everyone, but the grace of Yahweh should be just as evident. My unpopularity doesn't come from jealousy over my preaching skills because most people can out preach me in the flesh. I have not been called by the Lord because he needed my public speaking skills and I certainly need his anointing to complete the task. In fact, I possess nothing that the Lord needs because he needs nothing from me at all. But I am called nonetheless. No, my unpopularity steams from my habit of preaching the Word of God.

Not a lot of people want to hear the real truth any more. Most want to be entertained. Most want to listen to a skilled speaker. Others just want knowledge. Very few are truth seekers and those who start off that way soon abandon their effort when they realize the unpopular cost associated with it. It's not a hard thing to preach the truth. Just open the Word and preach nothing but the Word and the Spirit provides the rest. That is what I am determined to do and I pray I will never stray from it. I am not saying that I am the only true preacher; far from it. I am the least of the least, not worthy to be called a preacher, and I only bring what truth I have grasped and put into practice. Others are of far greater skill and anointing. But there are not many who still abide by the Word.

Sometimes, most likely accidentally, the truth is presented to the masses instead of being confined to small pockets of believers. It is then that people are faced with a decision. They can laugh it off and claim they were mistaken in the hearing, or they can embrace the truth and immediately put it into practice. What Jesus expected from those who claimed to follow him is simple to understand:

And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”

But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:27-28)

This is the same message Jesus repeated throughout his ministry and one we fail to implement. Receive the Word. Do the Word. That is what is expected of us. Receive his instructions. Obey his instructions. Over and over he repeats it in varying words but the same message, "He who has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me." Again and again. Hear and obey.

Not complicated. "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me." Obedience. Not a complicated thing to understand but we must first know the Word to know what it is that we are to obey. We need the Truth. It needs to be preached to us, taught to us, set before us. We need to read it for ourselves, study it, consume it and have the Spirit teach it directly to our hearts. And all that we receive must be lived. There is no way around it; it must be found to be the living Word.

Truth makes us uncomfortable, especially when it requires the sacrifice of self and living to love others. We would rather get lost in distractions and be entertained by fine sounding words and arguments. It's hard to come face to face with the truth because we usually end up on our faces before Yahweh. So no, I don't expect to be too popular any time soon because I am determined to know the Word and to put it into action every day for the rest of my life. I expect to live and preach in the power of the Spirit and I don't expect it to win me any popularity contests. That's fine by me because my only desire these days is to be popular with Jesus.

There Is Something Even More Important Than Reading Your Bible

When I was teaching in school one of the more difficult classes I taught was Algebra. It wasn't that algebra itself is difficult but that there was a lot of resistance from the students. The reason they resisted was because they saw no practical use for it. History is full of interesting stories so most students don't mind learning it. English is very practical. Science is fun but Algebra seemed to them to have no purpose. It only makes sense that we would want to use our time and effort to gain skills that we can apply daily. So why do we fail to do this with the Word of God?

First, let's just repeat : It is the Word of God. It needs to be respected so when we approach it there should be a sense of awe and wonder as we open the words that reveal Father's heart to us. These are his words that he has given to us so that we could understand the history of our situation and his love for us. It is filled with inspiration, direction and instructions. It gives us many sign posts, measuring rods so that we can do self evaluations to know where we are in our relationship with Jesus and how far we are coming along in our growth. This is important stuff.

The Word is not theory but a practical guide for living. We are to hear it, read it, meditate on it, study it, memorize it but especially apply it. When Jesus was told his family was waiting for him his response was important:

My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it. (Luke 8:21, NKJV)

Not just hear it but do it. We all know what James had to say about it:

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. (James 1:22-25, NKJV)

But this is not an original thought from James. The Spirit is only reminding us through James what Jesus has already told us. In fact, there is one verse that I find essential for every believer to grasp:

"Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." (John 14:21, NIV old version))

It is impossible to argue against the words of the one who showed his love to us by going to the cross for us. We have his commands by hearing and reading, but it is the obedience that is essential for the full revelation of Jesus. In our obedience we will know that we are loved and Jesus will show himself to us.

Obviously we can't obey the commands of Yahweh in our flesh. If that had been possible Jesus would not have had to die for us. However, what is impossible for man is possible for Yahweh and is the reason why we have the Holy Spirit. Salvation has been won for us by Jesus but our maturity comes about by our cooperation and obedience to the Spirit. He is with us to empower us to grow in our obedience. I so enjoy Ephesians 4 for its explanation of the process:

His purpose was to equip God’s people for the work of serving and building up the body of Christ until we all reach the unity of faith and knowledge of God’s Son. God’s goal is for us to become mature adults—to be fully grown, measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ. (v. 12-13, CEB) 

We are suppose to be growing in order to reach spiritual maturity. Hearing, reading and doing the Word of God is essential to this growth. The doing is possible through the Spirit in us. This maturity is important, especially in these end days for in this same passage we read:

 As a result, we aren’t supposed to be infants any longer who can be tossed and blown around by every wind that comes from teaching with deceitful scheming and the tricks people play to deliberately mislead others. Instead, by speaking the truth with love, let’s grow in every way into Christ,  who is the head. (v. 14-16, CEB)

People are confused today because they don't know the Word so they can't obey the Spirit. People are going by their emotions and rational thinking. Because it makes sense in this world they assume it is what Yahweh wants. We don't have to guess or assume at what Yahweh wants, he has already written it down for us. We just need to obey in our relationship with Jesus and by the power of the Spirit in us.

Yes, stop reading this and go read your Bible. Then get up, go out in the Spirit and do what Jesus has commanded. In this way you will demonstrate that you are part of his family and you will receive even greater revelation of him as he reveals himself to you. More importantly, Jesus will be glorified through you.

Hey Dry Bones, What Is The Lack In Your Life?

I think more of us are in love with the idea of loving Jesus then with actually loving him. Love is an easy thing to say. It comes with no commitment because to us it only expresses a vague notion of some idea that we have not quite grasped. We like the thought of it but have never measured the cost of it. To say we love Jesus just means that we recognize some value there but we don't really want to think about it much; we have other things to do.

When I fell in love with my wife I wanted to know everything about her (I still do). I grilled her with a thousand questions about her past, her experiences, her likes and dislikes, her hopes, dreams, aspirations. I wanted to hear her opinion on everything. I wanted to know everything because I loved what made her her. Yet, this is a weak and faulty love coming from a weak and faulty heart. How much more should I be consumed with the One who gave up everything to give me his everything?

The truth is, most of us just pay lip service to our love for Jesus. How do I know? Our actions and our priorities reveal our heart. How much time did you spend in prayer yesterday? No excuses, just an honest answer. Write it down on something so you can see the reality of the figure. Now, how much time did you spend, hearing, reading, studying and meditating on the Scripture yesterday? No excuses; write it down. A number of years ago a survey was taken from Christians attending a conference on prayer. Keep in mind that most of the attendees were pastors and their wives. This survey revealed that these Christians, attending a seminar on prayer, spent less than an average of five minutes a day in prayer.

Everything we know and experience comes from Scripture and prayer. Everything about us as Christians come from the Word and prayer. A lack of time in Scripture and prayer reveals a lack of love for Jesus because if we were actually in love we would be consumed with being with him and knowing him. It means that most of us Christians are nothing but dry bones because we aren't even giving the Spirit the tools to work in and through us. Yahweh spoke to his people and told them why they were in trouble:

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you from being priest for Me;
Because you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children. (Hosea 4:6)

Let the Spirit convict where he must today. This is in direct contrast to what was said as the people were coming into the Promised Land, before they possessed it:

Do not let this book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do what is written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. (Joshua 1:8)

Are we brave enough to admit the lack in our life? "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." We aren't anywhere near what we should be because we lack two very basic Christian disciplines: Bible hearing, reading, studying, meditating, and prayer. How can we love Yahweh with our entire mind, soul and body when we choose a life of lack? Yet, we are told that prosperity and success belong to those who meditate on and live the Word.

Our prayer should mirror that of the psalmist who prayed:

Show me Your ways, O Lord;
Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day. (Psalm 25:4-5)

It is a simple decision to allow Jesus' love for you to decide your actions and priorities. "Because you love me so much Jesus I want to know all about you; what pleases you and how I can honour you." It is when we make the decision to make the time for the Bible and to make the time for prayer that we grow in the relationship. I said "make" on purpose. It is something we have to carve out of each day. As we know the Word we will begin to live it. In this we will find the blessing of Jesus' prosperity and successful for our lives and we will go from dry bones to being trees planted by streams of living waters, whose leafs never wither. Is this not our great desire?