How To Meditate As A Christian And Why You Should

Often Christians will avoid the word meditation because of the connection with Eastern thought. In things such as yoga people are taught how to empty one's mind. Biblical meditation has been around a very long time but the difference is we are encouraged to fill our mind with Scripture. So Christian meditation is when we allow the Scriptures to take preeminence over other thoughts as we open ourselves to the teaching of Holy Spirit.

The psalmist of Psalm 119 meditated on the Scriptures and prayed throughout the Psalm "open my eyes, "teach me", "help me understand".  James tells us that we must approach the Scriptures with an openness, believing the Scriptures are "anything is possible" Scriptures, written by "anything is possible" Spirit. When we open ourselves to Scripture by meditating on it we enable the Spirit to teach us by revelation in relationship (always in intimate relationship), orientating us to the Kingdom instead of this world.

Meditation changes us. It is not Bible Study. It is sitting at the feet of the Spirit and receiving what he is teaching and being changed by it.

How do we meditate? Allow me to share with you what I have found to be best practice, understanding there needs to be a shift away from a Bible Study approach toward a learning on the knee of our Father:

1. Set aside a week or so to meditate on one passage.

2. A passage should be one complete thought, perhaps smaller thoughts that add up to one overall theme (I will give you some suggestions at the end). Avoid a single verse.

3. Meditation does not have to be memorization but you may find that memorizing helps you to focus. However, you can simply meditate on the though or the theme that comes from the passage.

4. On day 1 read through the complete passage several times during the day. Perhaps twice in the morning, once in the afternoon and twice in the evening.

5. Have a note pad to jot down any thoughts or ideas you hear as you are reading.

6. On day 2, and every day thereafter, choose which verses you are going to review throughout the day. Always keep a note pad handy or keep notes on your phone. At the end of every day you should review your notes.

7. Use spare moments of your day to turn over the verses, asking Spirit questions and listening for answers. Such times may be while you are driving, taking the bus, going for a walk, taking a bath, preparing supper. It is anytime when you are alone and not engaged with people around you. If need be create such moments throughout your day.

8. Do not search commentaries or people's opinions online. Ask your questions to Spirit and look up any other Scriptures he may direct you to look up. You are his student and he will teach you.

9. Something you may find helpful is to partner with a friend to meditate on the same Scripture together. You can meet for coffee or go for a walk together to compare notes.

The biggest benefit from such meditation, besides learning to hear the voice behind the Scriptures, is the growing awareness you will gain of the Lord's constant abiding presence. You will become more and more aware of his voice and you will learn to obey. You will also quickly discover that the Bible is the Living Word of Yahweh, applying itself to every circumstance of your life today.

Here are a view suggestions to begin with:

Psalm. 1

Psalm. 8

Psalm. 103:1-12

1 Thess. 5:5-24

Hebrews. 4:9-16

1 Cor. 13

Psalm. 119:1-16

Proverbs.3:1-12

Psalm. 27

John. 3:1-16

Philippians. 2:1-16

Feel free to contact me for further suggestions if you finish with these. If you are looking to partner with anyone for this purpose of meditation I meet with a group three times a week in an online meeting. Contact me and I will send you an invitation to join with us. 

What Has Religious Thinking Done To Us?

When it comes right down to it, we are lazy. We are always looking for short cuts, ways to get the best results with minimum effort. It is the reason so many of us are overweight. Why put the effort into a good home made meal when a simple phone call will take care of it. Then we look for the easiest solution to getting rid of our fat, which never works. But we like thinking we are trying when we are actually avoiding the real work of change. We really don't want to change.

This is how we also develop a religious thinking mind.

A relationship with Jesus takes effort, as any honest relationship does. It takes time, study, thinking, conversation, a willingness to be honest, a willingness to confess our wrongs, to change and be changed. It requires passionate worship and a constant bending our knees to the Master's will. It requires a daily understanding that we no longer belong to ourselves but belong fully to the one we want to emulate. That is the hard way but the right way.

Religious thinking tries to take a short cut. Why put in all that effort for relationship when we can make a bunch of rules and follow those. It is easier to conform to set rules of do's and don'ts when everything is neatly presented and we can lean on, never really having to deal with any of the messy stuff that gets swept under the carpet of religion. It's also easier to apply these laws to other people, telling them exactly what they are doing wrong.

But compassion is lost in religious thinking, even though everything that Jesus did for us is rooted in his compassion for us. Rules are rules, regardless. We can see that mindset so often in the gospels as Jesus faced opposition from the most righteous people of his day.

In one example, Jesus was a guest in the home of a Pharisee. It was the Sabbath but a man who needed healing was present. Amazing how that was arranged. Jesus never backed down from doing what was right according to the compassion of Father:

"Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, 'Does the Law allow healing on the Sabbath or not?' But they said nothing. Jesus took hold of the sick man, cured him, and then let him go. He said to them, 'Suppose your child or ox fell into a ditch in the Sabbath day. Wouldn't you immediately pull it out?' But they had no response." (Luke 14:3-6)

Of course not, because what response can the religious give in the face of Jesus' great compassion for those who are victims of the enemy's work. The real question for us is, are we willing to see where we have allowed the dispassionate religious thinking to cover over the great compassion of our God.

Too many of us have robbed Christianity of the power that was given us through the Holy Spirit; power to destroy the works of the enemy, to put the enemy to flight, to see real change happen under the power and authority of God; the power to see real change in the mind, heart and bodies of people.

The lazy answer is to say that God no longer works like that, even though there is no evidence in the Scriptures to support such a lie. But why get messy by all this business of God's manifestation in this world when we can be satisfied with a tidy religious life. It is easier to be lazy and religious than to be active and alive in the Spirit. Let the world heal itself.

Happy are the servants whom the master finds fulfilling their responsibilities when he comes. (Luke 12:43)

It's A Daily Walk, Not A Weakly

How quickly does the refreshing of a Sunday wear off for you? How quickly do you feel the dullness invading, causing your keen insights and revelation to slip away? How quickly does discouragement and doubt come knocking? How quickly do you lose your sensitivity to the Spirit? It's not suppose to be like this.

Maybe you didn't realize? Maybe you thought this was just normal; how it worked? It's not.

We don't belong here.

There is a condition in this world that has twisted our basic nature so that the world is in constant rebellion against its creator. We did that. We introduced this rebellion and made everything dull, cold and ugly. But our Creator loved us too much to leave us like that, even though it was our decision.

So he punched a whole in this thing to allow us to escape and enter into vibrant, colourful life again,where he lives in us and we in him. He did this through Jesus who had to sacrifice everything so we could gain everything. But there was more to God's plan.

He couldn't bring us home yet because we are part of his plan to bring the good news of what he has done to the four corners of this planet. So because we had to stay in this dull, dying, rebellious place, he filled us with himself; his power; the Spirit of God, to keep us fresh, alive, colourful, and equipped to do his will. But we have to participate.

The moment we take our focus off of Jesus the dullness of this rebellious place crowds in. We have no power of our own to drive it away but we are filled by the power of Jesus through the Spirit of God. So we must stay focused. We can`t become distracted. We can`t allow the dullness to prevail. We must overcome every day.

Jesus had to as well.

He did not walk this planet as God. Although he is fully God and fully man, he set his divinity aside to fulfill his mission. His power came via the Holy Spirit who took from the Father and gave to the Son. Did you not notice that Jesus started off his day in solitary prayer and he ended the day in the like manner. Jesus, who is God, had to walk this spiritually dull and rebellious planet as us and it must have drained him as it drains us. He needed refreshing every day. Every single day he looked for his spirit to be renewed in the presence of his Father.

What about us?

Do we think we are better than Jesus, that we can go from Sunday to Sunday without refreshing, without renewal, without sweet communion with our God? I pray all day long about everything and everyone, but it isn't the same as coming aside from this dull world and sitting in the presence of my Father. Of course it is my desire to be aware of his presence 24 hours a day, but I am not there yet. I am like Jesus; I long to be renewed each day, to have the dullness of the rebellion washed away and to be re-energized in worship. Every day.

That is the cure to your spiritual dullness; worship. Seek our Father's face. Desire to be in his embrace. Listen to his voice. Listen for instruction. Search the Word. Study. Dig deep. Dance in his presence. Present yourself to him and allow him to do what needs to be done. To repair the brokenness. To remove the hurt. To restore your energy. To be reminded of his grace, his strength and his purpose for you.

Don't wait until Sunday. It is a daily walk that requires daily refreshing. Be renewed today.

Why Are We Playing Church?

Many of us go through the motions with God without any substance to it. It is like a well worn routine, like what you do in the morning. Your alarm goes off. You slowly get up, put on a house coat, use the washroom, take a shower, brush your teeth, get dressed, have some cereal, have a cup of coffee, catch the same bus at the same time every day, because that is your morning routine. You don't think about it, you just do it. Most of us are like this with God. But that is not what he intended for us and it is not what honours him. In fact, there is no value to it unless it is by faith and empowered by the Spirit.

I have heard countless times from Christians, "How do I know he is real?" Well, if you have to ask that question you have never experienced the anointing of God; you have never been bathed in the Spirit; you have never stood in his presence. And this is the problem: Too many Christians are living a religious life instead of a Spirit-filled life.

Don't you want to know that he is real and present every moment of your day? Don't you want to hear from him and receive instruction from him? Don't you want to experience his power as you speak his Word and act on his love? That is what it is to be controlled by the Spirit.

Consider Peter for a moment. Peter was an Everyman. He represents you and me, the simple and common people. There was nothing special about him. He was uneducated. A fisherman. He got it wrong as often as he got it right. He lived by extremes; all or nothing. This was the man who first confessed Jesus as the Son of God one minute and then tried to dictate to him the next. He is the man who pledged his undying support to Jesus one day and then denied him three times the next. But then something happened to change Peter into what Jesus called him to be; the same thing that is suppose to happen to us.

The cross provided salvation, forgiveness, for everything in Peter's life, even the denials. It opened the door to the possibility of transformation, going from what he had been to the new creation the Father desired for him to be. But the power for this transformation came later. The power to live a victorious life in Jesus came after the cross. Jesus, in us, took place after the cross and it happened with the receiving of the Holy Spirit.

Peter went from a hot and cold guy to a spiritual giant. Soon after receiving the Spirit, Peter addressed a crowd and the anointing was so strong on him, the power of God so evident that three thousand people accepted Jesus under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. That is the difference between doing things for God in our strength and knowledge compared to doing it under the conviction and power of the Holy Spirit. We need that anointing.

Good is not good enough in this dying world. I am sure Peter would have served Jesus adequately, with lots of ups and downs, but compare that to the man Peter became. The man who people lined the streets to see in the hopes that his shadow would fall on them and they would be healed. Check it out for yourself in Acts 5. That is the power of God worked through us by the Holy Spirit. It was intended for us as much as the apostles.

We have settled for the ordinary. We go through the motions but they lack conviction and power. That doesn't mean our love isn't real. It simply means that we have lost the knowledge we once had and because we no longer understand the Spirit and who we are in Jesus, we live our religious lives in the best way we can, honestly loving God. But we are wrong for it.The Word clearly states that anything that does not come by faith is sin. It's one and the same.

Jesus stated we would do greater things than he had done, but now we scoff and ridicule those who take him at his word, surrender control to the Spirit, and walk as Jesus walked. We should not be operating for God without the anointing of the Spirit. Without the Spirit we are doing it in our own strength and anything we do like that, even though it is in Jesus' name, will not be honoured and will be burnt up.

I know this may sound strange to you and you may be content with your little life and your little service and your little love, but check it out for yourself. Do a study on the Spirit. Search for the Spirit in the gospels and you will discover that Jesus did nothing in his own ability but always by the Spirit. Do the same thing with the book of Acts and you will discover the apostles only operated by the Spirit.

What a travesty that the vast majority of the Church knows nothing of the manifestation of the Spirit, of the anointing, of the power or of the conviction. What are we doing playing at Church? Renew me Lord, in your power and strength. Come great Spirit, we need you. Come great Spirit we pray. Come in your strength and your power. Come in your own special way. I am praying for you and me both friend.

What Are You Without The Spirit?

We are crazy you know. Imagine trying to follow Jesus Christ while ignoring the Spirit. Are we kidding? We can't do anything of any eternal worth without the Spirit. We can't hear from God. We can't have kingdom eyes. We can't serve with anointing. There is no power. No sustainability. No conviction. No direction. No communion. No wisdom. And there is no need for us to try it without the Spirit.

Honestly, do you feel you are where you are meant to be with Jesus; in the relationship I mean? Are you always aware of his presence? Are you receiving direction throughout your day? Do you sense God's power to do anything you are asked to do? Do you feel you are living in obedience? Do you know him as you should, in the deep personal places of your life? Do you love him with all your passion, your very being? Be frightfully honest because you aren't fooling him.

Do you know that Jesus did nothing without the Spirit? At the moment he had John baptize him, Jesus also received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This was a foreshadowing of what was to come for his followers. Jesus did not need either baptism but he told John that everything had to be done correctly. He was following a script that had been written in the ancient of days. In the letter to the Philippians, Paul wrote that Jesus did not consider equally with God something to be grasped but, found in the appearance of a man, he became a servant. A servant baptized by the Holy Spirit to carry out the Father's will as an example of how we would serve.

Have we forgotten Pentecost? Have we forgotten the need for the baptism of the Spirit. The baptism by water is a "John's" baptism, a thing of repentance. It is the baptism of fire, that of the Spirit, that brings life and power. Power to live our life to the glory of the Father. Power to obey. Power to overcome. Power to be victorious in all things. Power to love. Power for compassion. Power to forgive. Power to heal the sick. The power to stand in his presence, to serve him all our days, to breathe our last breath to his glory.

You cannot see God, the Kingdom, nor understand his will for you and your days without the Spirit:

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:14)

In fact, if you do not have the Spirit of God you do not belong to Jesus. We live by the rules of the Kingdom even though we live in a fallen world. We are not governed by the rules here because the rules we follow are much higher. The Word puts it clearly that we do not belong to this realm:

You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. (Romans 8:9)

Again, if you do not have the Spirit of God you do not belong to Jesus.

The Spirit is not dormant in you. If you cannot sense him, if you do not hear him, if he is not speaking to you, directing you, then you have no part with him. The Holy Spirit is active in us, reminding us daily who we belong to, what his promises are, providing the power we live by and telling us what we are to do. The Word is very clear on the Spirit and yet we ignore him at our peril.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. (Romans 8:14)

Notice the word "led". A very important word. Can you say you are led by the Spirit?

Are you living by the Spirit or by your flesh? It is a question I am asking myself every day now because it is easy to give in to this flesh and let it lead for a while. It is easy to live by my own wisdom and experience. It is easy, but it is without Christ. It is without power. It is without conviction. It is without hope. It is without peace. It is without joy.

I don't want that!

I want Jesus. I want to be in him and I want him in me. I don't know anything and he knows everything. Rise up in me Spirit of God and lead me in the path of righteousness, the path of my King, the path of my Saviour. Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on us!

Do What Is Right

After having spent some time with Jesus on the cross and in the resurrection, I am turning back to our walk through  2 Timothy. In his last letter to his friend Timothy, with the prospect of not seeing him again, Paul is giving him some sound instruction.

We could all use some sound instruction these days as our culture and society continue to erode with the threat of taking us with it. We have to have clear understanding of who we are in Jesus and how that should play out in our daily living. We need to have sign posts to tell us what holiness looks like. This is important because we have many who claim Jesus as Saviour but live a life that is in direct opposition to his character. The goal of the Holy Spirit is to make us all like Jesus.

Paul touches on several bite size things here so we are going to take our time walking through them. He writes:

Run from temptations that capture young people. Always do the right thing. (2 Timothy 2:22, CEV)

This seems to be my theme in these recent days, "run from evil". Paul says here to run from temptations. He specifically says "that capture young people". This seems to indicate that the older you get the more you grow out of some things. That's not to say that they are no longer there, just that they are not as powerful as they were. Hopefully some wisdom has also been gained to understand the natural consequences to certain actions, but wisdom should not be assumed for everyone.

Is this to say that young people are weak? Not at all. I know a number of young men and women who have surprised me by their great maturity and faith. But I also know that these spiritually mature young people have great struggles to overcome certain things in their lives. Some of you may be thinking that sex tops the list or great longing to have someone to love them. As strong as these are they are not at the top. I would count pride and arrogance as the top temptations. This is countered by the humility of Jesus.

We could make up a long list but the list is not what matters here. What matters is the instruction to run from temptation. But how do we recognize temptation? How do we know when something is against the character of Jesus? How do we know when something is wrong? The simple answer is to study what is right. If you know Jesus, know his character, his actions, you will know when something does not fit.

I have been told that the people who have to detect fake currency have one sure way of telling the fake from the genuine. They do not spend years studying counterfeit work. They spend time studying the genuine article. They know the genuine so well that they can spot a counterfeit in an instant. If you want to know what is of God, know Jesus.

Along with this, and more importantly, we are possessed by the Holy Spirit who convicts of things that do not belong to God. This is not an inner voice or a conscience but is the direct intervention of God. The Spirit will not prevent you from sinning but he will make you aware that the temptation you are considering is not of God and you should have nothing to do with it. It will always be your choice to obey or not. Paul's instructions is to run from that thing. Don't just tolerate it and not participate but run, and I would add, run quickly.

Always do what is right. Not right as you consider right. Not your own personal code of right and wrong. Not even what others consider acceptable and not acceptable. Do what is right according to God. His is the only correct measuring gauge. You will know what is right and wrong by the Holy Spirit in you and confirmed in the Word of God. The Spirit will never direct you outside of the Word but please do not try to live the Word without the Holy Spirit. That is like getting married without love. You can do it but there is no joy in it. It is hollow, empty, without life and will eventually fail in what a marriage is suppose to be. We live our life in Jesus through the Holy Spirit, confirmed in the Word of God.

Now run from temptation and do what is right. Don't live by your own personal code. Live by the Spirit of God and I guarantee you, it will change your day.

An Uneducated Pastor

Can you imagine volunteering for your job instead of getting paid? Imagine walking into your boss and telling him you don't need the company computer, you are going to provide your own. Or a bus driver telling the city he's going to provide his own bus? Silly, right? Yet so many of us do that with God. He doesn't want anything from us except our friendship, love, emptiness and availability  For everything he calls us to he equips. Yet, most of us turn down his provision and try to resource the tasks ourselves.

How many things do you do in God's name that actually come from you? How many times have you spoken from your wisdom, served in your strength, reacted by your conviction, given from your riches? We can do a fair job in our own ability but God intends for us to go beyond fair to supernatural, beyond anything we could have ever imagined. When we do things in his anointing everything changes. He doesn't need anything we have to offer, he pours it out on us. Wow! do we ever have it backwards.

This is what the great apostle Paul requested the Ephesians to pray for him:

Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. (Ephesians 6:19-20)

"Words may be given me", he writes. Paul did not speak from his own great knowledge and training. Paul did not speak from his own opinion or speculation. Paul did not study for four years to come up with the gospel of grace. Paul was in-filled by the Spirit. equipped, enabled and empowered to be the apostle to the Gentiles. He was given the revelation of the gospel of grace through the Spirit of God.

We've gone crazy with education. Knowledge is great. All minds should be expanded to the best of our capacity but God is not dependent on our education. We do not have to go off and be trained according to the methods of man before we can preach, teach and evangelize. A pastor does not need letters after his name and neither do apostles, prophets, evangelists and teachers. There is nothing wrong with Bible colleges but God doesn't require them. We need to have Paul's understanding of God's equipping.

Style and methods do not mean anything compared to the anointing of God. We need more servants who are dependent on God for all things than we need educated men and women filling the positions in the Church. We need men and women who say to God "here am I send me" and desire their lips to be touched by the burning coal. We need men and women who understand that their power to serve comes from the Holy Spirit not seminary courses. We need men and women of God who are more interested in the anointing than in man's recognition of their studies.

I would rather sit under the training of an uneducated former alcoholic, saved by grace, empowered by the Holy Spirit than the best trained and educated seminary graduate. The anointing of God is all that we need to serve him to the full potential to which he has called us. Do not let anyone tell you any different. God's training school is all you need. Put your confidence in Jesus and you will be amazed how he uses you for his glory.

Did You Meet Jesus This Easter?

Resurrection Day has come and gone and we are ... the same? I hope not. I hope that we have all received some new revelation and have drawn even closer to Jesus. I hope we were surprised by something. Maybe it wasn't at church but perhaps it was something in our personal preparation. Change is suppose to be a constant for us as we are in the midst of transformation. Every moment with Jesus is suppose to augment this transformation process because it is impossible to spend time with Jesus without being changed. Resurrection Day was not the end of it. The empty tomb was not the end of it. There is more, much more to come.


Last night Jesus met with some of his disciples. Judas was dead and Thomas was missing but all the others were there when Jesus suddenly appeared in the room. The door was locked as they cowered in fear having heard the report from Mary but not daring to believe. They dared not believe and yet he was standing there, in front of them, greeting them in peace.


Understand that these poor men were without a future. Jesus had been their future, their only future and he was stolen away from them. Without him they had no hope, no direction, no purpose; they felt completely lost. The hid away, filled with fear, anxiety and dread which paralysed them. They were really paralysed emotionally, physically, mentally. The shock was wearing off and the depression was sinking in and this is why they could not process Mary's news from that morning. She said that she had seen Jesus and he was returning to the Father. What were they to make from that?


Now here he stood in front of them. He showed them the marks in his hands, his feet and the gash in his side. There was no denying it. The sight of the marks pained them but the joy of having Jesus with them again was starting to penetrate everything else. What a shock it was to have him with them again but they were still too afraid to touch him, to embrace him, to even greet him. Three things happened that night that changed everything; three things that gave them a future, purpose, direction and hope.


Jesus said to them and to us: "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." (John 20:21) Imagine how those words filled the void they had been left with. Consider the power of this statement: Jesus has sent us out with the same sense of rescue mission as he was sent with. He came with the purpose saving mankind:


For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:17)


We go with that same understanding that the world is saved through Jesus Christ. We are sent to share the good news, to put the enemy to flight and to respond to the needs of people through the compassionate heart of God. Jesus came with power and authority through the Holy Spirit and he is sending us in the same way.


The second thing that happened is Jesus promising the Spirit, who is the power and authority of God in us: "And with that he breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'" (John 20:22) He told them to go and he promised the Spirit to equip them to go. Jesus set for us an example of how it is that we can serve in these weak bodies. Although he came as man and he was equally man and equally God, he set aside his divine nature and served in the flesh. He did this through the Holy Spirit, showing us that it is possible to do exactly what he did through the Holy Spirit. Jesus said:


I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. (John 14:12)


Going to the Father was significant. He told his disciples they should be pleased he was going to the Father because in going he was able to send to them the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is key to everything we are suppose to do in the going. Yet, it requires a faith that few of us have yet to tap because we have twisted Jesus' words so that we do not expect to do what he did. We convince ourselves that he meant something else. Meanwhile the world continues to cry out, "Show to us that your God is real".


The third thing that happened that night to change them is also of great significance. Jesus said to his disciples: "If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” (John 20:23) Forgiveness is key to everything we do and are involved in. We cannot minister to a suffering world if we do not understand nor experienced the power of forgiveness. Love is the foundation of the Kingdom and forgiveness is its first fruit. Jesus told many parables and gave many teachings on forgiveness, stating that if we do not forgive we will not be forgiven. He told us that we will be forgiven in the same manner in which we forgive. How can we possibly share the Good News of Jesus Christ if we are not able live the first steps of this relationship: repentance and forgiveness?


This command on forgiveness was important because the disciples had to get past what had just traumatized them. They had been betrayed by Judas, one of their own. The leaders of the land just trapped and manipulated the execution of their innocent Master. The Romans and inflicted incredible cruelty upon the innocent. They were hiding in fear. They may have even felt abandoned by God. There was a lot of forgiveness needed to heal the many wounds. Then there was the forgiveness they needed to believe they received. Peter is an example of this. If you are to minister to this fallen world the first thing you must accept is that you are forgiven. The enemy will come at you with accusations of your past, trying to rob you of God's power but you must hold on to the fact you are forgiven. Knowing and accepting your forgiveness you will in turn be able to easily forgive those who will harm you in ministry.


I look to these three things and I realize that my life is brimming with purpose, direction and hope for my future. I have received the command to "go" in the same sense that Jesus was sent by the Father. There is a world that needs to know the good news and who need to "see" Jesus. I have received the Holy Spirit, who is the power and authority of God in me. Demons must flee at my command. Diseases must let go and infirmities will be healed. I have the power and authority to speak life into dead things. I have the power, ability and responsibility to forgive in the same manner I have been forgiven. Forgiveness is what it is all about. I come away from Resurrection Day having been renewed in my understanding that it is not about me; it is about Jesus and the lost who need him.

The Glory Of God Revealed

We often look to the Psalms for inspiration, encouragement, and hope in difficult or troubled times. We are reminded of the faith of those who have gone on before us. Incredible stuff that we desire to emulate as we move forward in our love and dedication to God. We also find in these psalms a bigger picture of purpose then what we find in our simple and insignificant life:

The heavens declare the glory of God; 
   the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 
Day after day they pour forth speech; 
   night after night they display knowledge. 
There is no speech or language 
   where their voice is not heard. 
Their voice goes out into all the earth,    their words to the ends of the world. (Psalm 19:1-4)

Isn't this a great truth? It doesn't matter what language or culture we are from, the glory of our Creation is understood by our simple observation of his great works that surround us every day. It is seen in all the earth, glory to God!

Yet, the many psalms are limited. They are limited in their understanding of God's true glory, of his greatest work because it followed after they were written. Our God did not reveal himself all at once; he did it slowly, over the centuries until he revealed his full glory in Jesus, the Christ. He did not bring us back into the rich and free relationship he had with Adam right away. Things had to be established first, things prepared, before he could come to us in the form of the Holy Spirit. Now there is even a greater glory than David, Moses, Elijah or any of the others could have understood.

It is true that our Creator's great works can be seen in creation itself and is translated into every language but a greater glory was revealed in Jesus as he was lifted up on the cross. This glory is also understood by every culture and language. It shines even brighter than that of creation, and day after day it pours forth speech, and night after night it displays knowledge. In fact, there is no speech or language where its voice is no heard. The voice of the cross, of this single act of love for our redemption, goes out into all the earth, its words to the ends of the world, in a way that leaves people with only two choices.

The cross cannot be ignored. It is a powerful thing, this loving act of redemption, so that a person must either accept this love or reject it. We are either for God or against him. We are either saved or lost. We are either redeemed or condemned. The cross demands clarity of position from us, it is too powerful to pretend it does not exist. It does exist and Easter is a constant reminder of that. The cross is too powerful for its glory to be stolen by an Easter bunny like the glory of the birth was stolen by Santa Claus. It is too great a thing of love for man to try to hide it away or to refer to it as myth. It is God's glory and it demands a response.

God has revealed a greater glory through Jesus on the cross than any person, who came before it, could have possibly imagined. It is a glory revealed through a decision bathed in humility, welling up from a compassion rooted in love for us. Our Creator loved so much he offered himself as the only possible sacrifice to allow us back into fellowship with him. Hear the voice of the cross world. In your dark and diseased rebellious ways, hear the brilliant voice of our Father calling us back to be with him once more. Hear his heart revealed to you through the sacrifice of the cross. Hear it and understand that he does not consider your life too insignificant to pay such a price as this for you. Will you not hear and return to him?

Something Worth Celebrating

What a beautiful day! To wake up to the reality of God's love and his presence can't help but put a song in our heart. He loves us! That is the reality in which we live; He loves us! And because he loves us we have nothing to fear or worry about. Apostle Paul put the truth of it quite simply when he wrote that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Try to name one thing that you think God's love is not strong enough to overcome. It has overcome sin and death so what little insignificant thing do you think is more powerful than sin and death?

Part of the problem we have is that we do not understand just how strong God's commitment is to us. If we consider it in legal terms, we all understand what a contract is. If I enter into a contract with some person or some company we have come into agreement with terms that spell out the responsibility and obligation of both sides to each other. No one can add to that contract and no one can take away from it. If either tries then there are consequences spelled out in the contract. This is how Apostle Paul explained it to the Galatians:

Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise. (Galatians 3:15-18)

What God promised to Abraham he fulfilled in Jesus Christ and he signed that covenant with us in blood. There is no way that God is going to break that covenant because our God is not a man that he would say yes today and no tomorrow. Our God is the God of "yes" and "amen". He is the promise keeper, the Rock, the only one we can fully depend on. Come on now, he has even defeated sin and death to get to us with his love, so what is a little morning blues to that?

We need to find a way to get rid of our doubts, shake ourselves up, realize his love and purpose for us, and live in the grace and power of that love. We have no reason to face this day with fear or worry. We have no reason to feel defeated or overwhelmed. We have no reason to feel weary and burdened. We are loved by our faithful, loving, powerful God who has promised us all things. We have been told that whatever we need we only have to ask for it in the relationship we have with Jesus Christ. Through Jesus we have become the children of God and as children we have access to the throne.

The access I speak of is not revoked because of our unfaithfulness and sin. Are you kidding? God's grace is so amazing and so plentiful that when we sin grace is immediately applied as we repent. Look at Abraham. He was far from perfect. In fact there were times that he was a terrible man, giving up his wife to another man to save his own skin. But God's grace constantly covered Abraham and Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Come on my friend, don't allow this spirit to stay on you. You are not defeated and you are not weak. You are a mighty warrior, victorious in all things because God is on your side. More than that, through the Holy Spirit in you, Jesus himself is with you today and in his authority all darkness is vanquished from your sight. You have no reason not to smile, laugh and enjoy this day. You are loved with a love that no force in all of creation or outside of creation can touch, disturb or destroy. You belong to the great Covenant Keeper and that is worth celebrating.

Why Do We Need To Have Faith? What's The Big Deal?

I realize I have been going on for quite a bit about the Law and grace but there is a vital lesson here that most people are not understanding today. Some people are still basing their salvation on following the Ten Commandments. Others are turning parts of the New Testament into a new law to live by. We must understand that there is a difference now with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The Law has been lifted off the parchments and has been written on our hearts. The Law has become part of us because of Jesus Christ but it is a deeper thing; obedience is provoked by love not fear. And where we fail, because fail we will, the cocoon of God's grace covers us. This is a relationship thing, not a salvation thing. Salvation only has one source and that is the work of Jesus.

Today we make up our own laws to observe because they are easier than the law the Spirit writes on our heart. We make Bible reading, prayer, worship, church attendance part of this law to earn our salvation, but these things are relationship things. The same with acts of kindness which we turn into works for salvation instead of a loving response to God's love for us. The Word is very clear on this matter:

All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” (Galatians 3:10)

It is very simple with God's law: You break one part of the Law, you have broken all of it. We cannot win God's favour by living by any law because we cannot do it. No matter what you set up as a law you will fail. If you use Bible reading as a means of salvation, or prayer, or worship, what happens when you miss a day? Does that mean you are now condemned? Of course it does. No matter what you try to do to earn God's favour, even if you could outside of Jesus, you would fail because we are too weak in ourselves.

Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” (v. 11)

It sounds easy but we are a people who are prone to trust no one and to rely on our own resources. It is our downfall in our relationship with God. If we are not aware of our weakness we will slowly slip away from faith and fall back into doing what we think is the right thing to do, relying on our own wisdom and strength. But the righteous must live by faith. There is no other way. Simply put:

The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.” (v. 12)

Any law we may try to live by, to earn the favour of God, removes faith from our lives. Our life should not be complicated, or burdened, filled with worry or fear. Peace has been promised to us and is ours when we learn that faith means trusting God with everything, especially our salvation. If we do not have faith that he loves us and has poured his blessings out on us, why even bother pretending to serve him? However, for those who live by faith, the truth is a simple thing:

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. (vv. 13-14)

And there is the part that much of the Church fails to understand, "so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit". The Spirit is absolutely vital to a continued walk of faith. The Spirit is vital to everything to do with us and Jesus. Without the Spirit we have nothing, we do not have Jesus yet he is everything to us. Jesus is absolutely everything, our very life, our sustenance, but without the Spirit we do not have Jesus.

Without faith we cannot please God. Without faith we cannot have the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit we do not have Jesus. Without Jesus we do not have salvation. Without salvation we are facing destruction. The Law ends up working against us when we try to live it. The Law only produces death. It is holy and perfect but it's purpose was to show us how much we needed a saviour; how much we need Jesus. Live by faith, according to the grace of our Father and allow the Spirit to write the law on your heart. Trust that when Jesus declares you redeemed that you are redeemed and stop trying to save yourself. Relax in the Spirit and do the things that burn in your heart to do out of obedience and not in a desire to win favour with God.

A Man, A Boy And A Dog - An Illustration Of Authority

Yesterday I was walking with my children to school. My wife was at home, sleeping a few extra minutes to make up for her late night studying. All of the children had left for school on their bicycles except for my 6 year old son, who still had to practice a bit more before he can go on his bike as well. It is a beautiful March here in Montreal, with a very early Spring. I have never seen flowers showing up in March before. We usually have a couple of feet of snow still covering the ground but instead, today we will be enjoying 25 degree weather (Celsius).

As we were getting ready to leave my son asked if he could walk our dog. We have a beautiful Standard Poodle who I bring along each morning so she can get some exercise. She has recently given birth to 8 puppies and hasn't been getting out much. She and I both enjoy the walk. In fact, she is a great dog to walk. She stays by my side the entire time, and although she is on a leash, she seldom pulls on it. She will stop when I stop and walk when I walk. She is calm and mature.

I told my son that he could walk her, because I was going to be right beside him. She's almost as big as he is. But as we were getting ready to go I stopped to adjust something. When I looked up he and the dog were disappearing around the first corner. I picked up my pace to catch up but I wasn't too worried about it. His older brother, who had also elected to walk and who was walking with a friend, was just behind him. I also knew that his other older brother, who was on a bicycle, was just over on the next street, stopping to pick up a friend.

When I rounded the corner I found my six year old at the end of the block, calmly holding the dog's leash, as they waited to cross the street with the older brother. The problem started after they crossed the street and started down the opposite sidewalk.

Suddenly my six year old took off running with our dog running in front of him. I assumed that he had seen his other older brother and was running to show him what a big boy he was walking the dog. I was now on the same side of the street as the others and could see my son running faster than I had ever seen him running before. I was amazed to see his legs moving so quickly and thought to myself that he was going to end up on his face.

That's when his screams reached my ears.

I wasn't sure what it was at first. I thought it sounded like something that was very familiar to me but somehow distorted. Then I could make out the words. It was a very panicked voice of a crying boy who was screaming, Help! over and over and over. I quickly realized that my son was no longer in control but was instead now being led by the dog and they were out of control.

I yelled to my other son who was much closer to a rescue than I was, but he was too engrossed in his conversation to hear my calls or his brother's screams. So I started running with my wife's large computer bag in tow. It was on wheels.

It must have looked like something from a comedy sketch. A dog running down the side walk in break-neck speed with a screaming, flailing, panicked boy behind her, with a man in pursuit who was also rushing down the sidewalk, with a rolling computer flying behind him, yelling at the boy to drop the leash (in between fits of laughter I say to my shame).

It was at this point that my other son, who had heard his brother's frantic cries for help, came running across the street and planted himself in the path of the runaway dog. Of course the dog stopped and my six year old collapsed in a heap of breathless tears. When I finally reached his side and asked him if he was okay, this dear sweet six year old son looked very sincerely at me, with tears streaming down his face while clutching his chest and said, "I thought I was going to have a heart attack".

The problem was, my son did not know the authority he had over the dog. If he had stopped the dog would have stopped. If he had dropped the leash the dog would have stopped. Instead, the faster my son ran to catch up to the dog the faster the dog thought he was being given permission to run. My son was enabling the dog to pull him out of control to the point where he became panicky and could have seriously injured himself. Yet, all he had to do was stop and everything would have returned to normal.

It hit me that this was a perfect illustration for what we have been teaching our church recently on our authority in Jesus Christ. Too often our lives get out of control because of various circumstances, including finances, disease and relationships. We either panic or we throw ourselves into the great pit of despair. Everything seems like it is whirling out of control and we don't think it will every stop. Yet, it is us that is enabling these things to lead us out of control. The truth is, it is we who have the control.

Jesus has given us authority over these things and they must do exactly what we say because of that authority. Let me repeat that: They must be obedient because of the authority of Jesus in us. When we stop they stop. When we let go of their connection to us they no longer have any control over us. It is amazing how quickly everything slows down and comes into line when we use the authority we have been given. It is a lie to think that circumstances, disease and health have any authority over us. The only authority over us is Jesus and he in turn has given us authority over these things.

Unfortunately, too many of us act more like six year old children, without the maturity to understand the authority we have through Jesus Christ. Instead we spend our days arguing with people about this authority. We are refusing to grow up, to take our place as a "son" of God, and would rather excuse away our lack of power and authority. We are condemning ourselves to a life being pulled around by dogs instead of a life of joy, peace, power and love. As I often say, it really is time for us to grow up and discover who we are in Christ Jesus.

Why I Am Certain That Christianity Is The Only Way

I hear it all the time, "What makes you think Christianity is the true religion?" Well, first of all, I don't believe that Christianity is a "true" religion, I believe that Yaweh is the one and only true God. I believe that God is, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. I believe that the Father loved man so much that he sent the Son to deal with the impossible chasm between us. I believe that after Jesus died and rose from the grave, the Spirit was sent to live in everyone who declared Jesus as Lord and Saviour. There is a huge difference in this from all other religions.

You see, in all other "systems" man has to do something to earn his redemption. There is always some scheme, some work, some thing that a person has to do, to work at, to merit what is being offered. The Father, the Son, the Spirit came after us. We were too stupid, too lost, too blind to even know that we needed rescue or to know that there was something better than this. Jesus came to open the eyes of the blind, to let us know that we had a choice, to let us know that we had a Father who loved us enough to come after us, to sacrifice himself for our benefit. Jesus came in obedience to the Father but also out of love for man.

We can't buy or earn our redemption even if it was in our power to do so. You can't buy a gift that is freely offered. We can try to put a mask on the offer so that we can put our own system on it so we can feel good about receiving it. We can act like being more kind, more loving, more generous will make us more worthy. We can act like praying more, reading God's Word more, singing more, giving move, serving more will make us more worthy. We can beat ourselves up, light lots of candles, confess a lot, pray in the right manner, dress in the right clothes, say the right words will make us more worthy. But all of it is man's way of trying to earn God's grace.

The crazy thing about grace is, it is never earned; it's given for free. Our Father looked on us with such love that his heart was breaking for us who were lost in the darkness that was causing us to suffer. He looked on us and longed for us to be back in fellowship with him. That love caused him to reach out to us with an incredible offer, something that no man-made religion or systems had to offer and the Word of God is clear about it; absolutely crystal clear:

“We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.  (Galatians 2:15-16)

So how do I know that no other religion is true and that Christianity is the only way? Because no other religion or system known to man has Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the sacrificial lamb, the Way, the Truth, the Life, the author of our faith, the Alpha and Omega, the first born of many, the only way to the Father. You have to earn your way in Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and every religion on the face of this planet. Do I dare mention Catholicism in this too; that system of man that has striped away the grace of God to leave a system of meriting God's favour?

No, there is nothing that any other religion can offer that can compare to what Jesus Christ offers us. It is not what we can do for God but instead what he has done for us. It is not about how we can serve him but how he has served us. His gift of redemption is a free gift and his love is all consuming. Nothing you can offer is good enough so he offered himself instead. There is nothing that you have that God needs but still, by his grace, he has poured out his incredible love on us. You don't deserve it but it is yours nonetheless if you are willing to accept it. And why wouldn't you? It's incredible. It's free. It's everything you ever needed and more. We cannot be redeemed by observing any laws or systems of laws but only by faith in Jesus Christ.

Correction Is Not An Easy Thing

Correction is not an easy thing to give or take. I am terrible at taking correction. I get defensive, I try to justifying myself, and I get offended. That's not a good thing. No matter who we are we must always be open to correction. We are not a perfect people so we are going to be wrong sometimes and need to be open to a person of maturity coming alongside to help us see where we are wrong. Sometimes correction comes directly from the Spirit but other times God will use an earthly vessel.

Just as hard is to be that earthly vessel God wants to use to bring correction. I always consider that to be holy ground. I never rush into correction remembering how I feel about being corrected. I surround the moment in prayer and approach it with humility but I must be obedient in it. There is a lot at stake for the other person as God wants to bring them back in alignment with his heart. There must also be the attitude that I am not responsible for their reaction. If they receive the correction, that's great. If they become angry and refuse the correction, they can deal with the Spirit in the matter; I have been faithful to my part.

When Paul had to confront Peter with his hypocrisy in Antioch it must not have been an easy thing to do. This is Peter we are talking about, one of the great pillars of the Church. Everyone knew of Peter and he would have been approaching the status of legend at this time but what he was doing was wrong and Paul was given to deal with the matter. Many years after the fact Paul wrote to the Galatians:

When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong.  (Galatians 2:11)

It was worse than just Peter being wrong, he was also leading others into the same hypocrisy. Unfortunately that is the danger of "pillars" going wrong, they bring others along with them:

Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.  (Galatians 2:12-13)

So according to the Law a Jew could not associate with a gentile unless he had converted to Judaism and even then his contact was to be limited. It was certain they could not eat with them. They were so strict about this that, if you recall, Peter had to explain his actions to the other Apostles in Jerusalem when it was discovered he had entered Cornelius' home, even though it was in obedience to Jesus. So here was Peter, the great pillar, eating with the Gentiles unless people from James, the leader of the council in Jerusalem, the brother of Jesus, were paying a visit. Consider how Paul handled it.

"When Peter came to Antioch ..." Paul waited until the right moment. Sometimes correction is done in a rush so it is done incorrectly. Rushed correction, or reactionary correction often causes worse problems than the thing being corrected in the first place. Correction should never be done in anger, in fact there should be as little emotion involved in it as possible except that which is provoked by compassion. Correction should always be seen in love and never in revenge or hatred. If you feel your emotions provoked in a negative way then it is not the right time to bring in correction.

"... I opposed him ..." Fully understand the perspective you are coming from. You are opposing this person you are correcting. It is important to understand this so you are not shocked by any negative reaction. As I said at the beginning, it is not always easy being opposed. Some of us have a bad reaction to it because of our lack of maturity in it. If a person is mature they understand that correction is a healthy thing, it is for their benefit but we don't always see it that way. so it is best to be prepared.

"... I opposed him to his face ..." This is very important. If you have to correct someone make sure that you do it face to face. As long as it is in your power to do so, do not write them a correction, do not do it over the phone, give them the dignity of seeing your face. So in other words, don't be a coward about it. And don't do it by talking behind the person's back. Don't start a whisper campaign by telling others that the person is wrong. Deal with it face to face. To be corrected is bad enough but for others to hear of the correction before you do is far worse. That speaks to the lack of maturity in the corrector and it is best that correction not come through such a person.

Do not take any pride in being chosen to bring correction. It is a very humbling position because it reminds you of all the times you have needed correction. It reminds you of how immature you have been in the correction you have received. It may even highlight many of the things you need correction for in your life now. Correction never comes from the perspective of superiority or perfection; it comes through humbleness. No, correction is not an easy thing to take or to give and yet it is good for us and our relationship with Jesus. Taking a slogon from an old cough medicine commercial, "It tastes aweful and it works".

You Need To Eat To Stay Alive

Yesterday was the climax of a stressful week. For the first time in years I find myself in a classroom, being overwhelmed by information I must quickly absorb, understand and act upon. Saturday was our first assessment and I must admit, I was a bit stressed by it. I am an overachiever. A pass is not good enough for me. I want close to perfection in everything I do. My wife told me not to be stressed but to trust God. I knew Jesus would be faithful to me, but it was me I was stressed over: Did I study enough? Did I forget to study anything? Was there anything I didn't understand?

Stress is a natural part of our life and some have said that stress is what keeps us alive and motivated. However, we all know that too much stress will kill you. I am a person who knows that stress can have ill effects on my health. Even normal living stress can build up with time like an electrical charge in us. My way of dealing with this "charge" in my body is to do physical activity. This activity acts to release this charge through the exercise of my body so there are no ill effects from built up stress. But, at the end of the day yesterday I was tired.

It was a beautiful Spring day in a month when it is usually still cold and there is usually still snow. So being a beautiful day, the children wanted their bikes out. Well, it is never a simple matter of opening the garage and taking the bikes out. First, all the tires need to be pumped and then all the chains and moving parts have to be oiled. After that comes the washing and the checking of the safety equipment. There are seven children with bikes plus two adults, and our friends have four bikes as well. That's a total of thirteen bicycles after a stressful assessment. By supper time I was exhausted and I had not gone for the walk I needed to go on to disperse the stress I could feel in my body.

I checked with my wife but she is nearly six months pregnant and she had helped with the bikes plus she had been doing the laundry so she was no longer interested in a walk. I was exhausted and really just wanted to go to bed. I was greatly tempted to just forget about the walk. After all, I am not out of shape so one day was not going to kill me. But, the walk was not just about staying in shape, it was my mechanism to deal with the stress in my body. I overcame my temptation to not go for my walk by remembering the benefit of that walk. Discipline will not be long lasting if we do not understand our motivation.

So often I push people to remember the need for the relationship ingredients that we must participate in to remain refreshed with Jesus. I talk about and write about our need for studying the Bible, prayer, worship, fellowship and witnessing. These are all the ingredients we need for staying strong in Jesus but if it does not go beyond habit and discipline, to a place of understanding the benefits, then the discipline will be quickly lost, or it will become a dull and stale activity, without purpose.

When we open our Bible we must have the understanding that we are about to feed our soul the food it needs to be sustained in Jesus Christ. If we do not see it as the fuel we need to keep going in the Spirit it will just become a thing we have to do in the day. I can feel myself become spiritually weak if I have allowed busyness to keep me away from my "meal". I know the benefit so I know I must reserve the time to "eat". It is not a stale and dull meal as I dive into the richness of its flavours. The same is true for prayer and worship. If I do not make these the pivotal point of my day, I know that I am slowly starving myself to death. They are not a religious activity I have added to my life; they are what enables me to live. When you have this understanding, your motivation becomes a different thing entirely.

I don't care who you think you are, if you are not rich in Bible study, prayer and worship, you are not rich in Jesus Christ. I am glad you accepted him as your Lord and Saviour but now you need to learn how you can be rich in him. You need to learn how he is your everything. You need to understand what real communion is as you allow him to replace everything you were. You need to allow this relationship to move you from being centered on yourself to being centered on Jesus, from being controlled by your flesh to being controlled by the Spirit. This is the relationship you were saved for. You are spiritually poor, facing spiritual salvation if you do not understand where you get your food from. Your motivation for Bible study, prayer and worship is to stay alive in Jesus and not to experience starvation. I doubt you are too tired to eat supper tonight so don't use your tiredness as an excuse to skip your spiritual meals today either. You need to eat to stay alive.

Why Doesn't God Heal Everyone?

I get a lot of people asking me why God doesn't heal everyone and my answer is not always accepted. It is not a matter of God not wanting to heal everyone, because he does, the problem is we don't think he wants to heal everyone. As crazy as it sounds there is a great lack of faith and understanding in this area. But I do want to clarify my point concerning this matter because such a stand can alienate a number of people who have a great deal of faith in other matters of living.

First of all, our physical condition is not God's primary concern. Ouch. Our Father's first priority is to prepare us for eternity because, face it, eternity is much longer than the few short years we have here. He is more concerned about our heart condition, the shape of our soul, the relationship we have with Jesus. When Jesus stepped into the public light and became anointed with the Spirit, his priority was not healing but the casting out of demons and the preaching of the Good News. When his twelve disciples came back from an outing he sent them on, and they were all excited because they had healed people and cast out demons, Jesus told them to be more excited about their names being written in the Lamb's Book Of Life. When the paralyzed man was lowered down through the roof to get to Jesus, Jesus' first reaction was not to heal him but to forgive his sins. Healing came after.

Yet, Jesus could not walk through the cesspool of humanity without being moved by man's condition, both spiritually and physically. He taught to open our eyes, but he healed out of simple compassion. God loves us. He cares deeply about us. His priority for us is eternity but he is stilled moved by the condition we live in, the diseases that attack us. So Jesus equipped his people to continue to act in compassion, to do what he did, to reach out in love, to bring relief to a suffering humanity. Look at his compassion. It is everywhere you read in the gospels, it became a big part of what Jesus did.

So why doesn't God heal everyone? people ask. In compassion I believe God is willing to heal everyone, but not everyone is willing to accept it. Believe it or not, it is possible to refuse things from God. It is possible to say no to God. We can do it without even realizing we are doing it. We do it with the simplest thought of doubt. If we can refuse the greater blessing of salvation then it is a simple matter of turning away the blessing of healing. Just as it requires faith to accept Jesus and receive salvation, it requires faith to be healed. The thing is, I don't think the probably is needing to be convinced God heals but instead that God loves us.

Most people miss out on the many blessings of God because they are not convinced that these blessings are meant for them. They feel, knowingly or unknowingly, that there is something about them that disqualifies them from God's love. They believe God loves everyone else but not them; that they are not deserving of that love. Ha! The cold hard fact is that none of us are deserving of his love, but that hasn't stopped him from loving every single person on the planet, regardless of their actions. He loves us and Jesus dying in our place is proof of that, but until we are absolutely convinced of this love, and understand the completeness of this love; I mean the absolute completeness of it; we will continue to refuse certain blessings God wants us to have.

His priority is eternity for us but if he has given us his very best, does it not make sense that he will not refuse us any good thing? God is not roaming around to see who he can heal because he is occupied with our eternity. Jesus did not walk around looking for people to heal, but when he was asked to heal he said he was willing and acted upon his compassion. If we ask, knowing that he is willing, then we will see him act in compassion. I am not saying people lack faith necessarily but it is more a lack of understanding of God's compassion and his willingness. He has even empowered us to be vessels of healing. We need to discover more about his heart by descending deeper into his love.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:16-21)

The Only Person Qualified For Your Calling Is You

There are a lot of people who have been called by God to do great things for the Kingdom but they are sitting on their hands. Too many of us live in the shadow of other Christians who seem to have it all together, who are charismatic, who seem so important to God. We have this built-in thing about being star struck with the talented people of this world. We are so busy gawking at the "successful" people that we forget what we are suppose to be doing. Those who are effective workers in the Kingdom do not allow other people to affect what they have been called to do.

We see this in Paul's letter to the Galatians. It may seem rude but Paul was not being rude. He respected people but he didn't overly concern himself with position when it came to his calling:

As for those who seemed to be important—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance—those men added nothing to my message.  (Galatians 2:6)

If you remember from yesterday, Paul had gone to Jerusalem to share his revelation about the gospel of grace. Paul was not awestruck that he was meeting with the great pillars, Peter, James (brother of Jesus) and John. As important as these apostles were, Paul was not about to let their importance diminish his own. Paul knew that appearances are only appearances and God judges the heart. Paul knew his own heart and relationship with God and he knew his calling was separate from these other men. It didn't really matter what they had to say, Paul would continue on his obedience to the Lord.

In fact, as Paul persisted with his revelation and his calling to the Gentiles, he soon discovered that the others also recognize his calling. Sometimes what we are called to is not recognized by others because we do not persevere in it; we hide in the shadows of those who are more established than we are. Yet, there is something fundamentally important for us to recognize. We have to stop making people's callings about personality and get back to focusing on the most important element: God's anointing.

For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles.  (Galatians 2:8)

There is too much work to be done for us to have people neglecting their calling because they think there are others better qualified. No one is better qualified for your calling than you. We have to stop being awestruck by people's talents and abilities. Just as Jesus is working in them and through them, he is working in you and through you. You have to stop thinking that you don't matter and that you will never be center stage. If anyone is center stage they are in the wrong place. The only one who is suppose to be center stage is Jesus. The rest of us are supporting cast, playing secondary roles to highlight his star performance. However, our roles, our calling, are important because they were given to us by Jesus and God is working through us.

It doesn't matter what you think and what you want to do. It is the Spirit of God who calls us and equips us. Our role is one of obedience, not giving a second thought to whether we can do it or not, or how we will look doing it, or what other people will say. We are important to Jesus and he has been given us a work to do and he needs us to be obedient in doing it. If every Christian in this world would do what we are suppose to do, in obedience to Jesus, the world would be a much different place, all glory to God.

Are We Earning Our Way To Heaven?

How brave would say you are? Brave enough to come against everything everyone considers acceptable, to stand as an unknown person and change traditions and ways of thinking? Would you come before leaders with little to offer except a revelation from God? You have to be pretty sure of that revelation and you have to be willing to lose everything for it in order to come against things established for thousands of years. You have to be "dead-on" sure about Jesus. Paul was, and Paul did this.

Call him foolish or call him brave but Paul came against the established Jewish way of seeing the law in order to bring the gospel of grace to the Gentiles (you and me). We aren't exactly sure when Paul received this revelation through the teaching of Jesus and by the Holy Spirit but he had it when he was in Antioch and came to Jerusalem to defend the ministry to the Gentiles. He was sure enough about it to stand before the council in Jerusalem, in front of the various apostles, including Peter, seemingly headed up by James, the brother of Jesus. The Church hadn't been around for a long time yet but these were already well respected leaders of the Church.

What had happened was, after the Holy Spirit spread the Church to Antioch, a mainly Gentile city, Barnabas was dispatched from Jerusalem to make a report. Instead, he got caught up in the move of the Spirit and sent to Tarsus for Paul's help, because it was too much for Barnabas alone to train all these people. Paul joined him along with a few others and the church there grew, with mostly Gentiles. Paul operated in the revelation he had received, that it is by grace we are saved and not by works. This is when the circumcision group showed up.

Some well meaning "Christians" from Jerusalem showed up in Antioch and started to teach that people must first convert to Judaism (circumcision) before they could accept Jesus. This threw everyone into confusion because they were preaching the Law of Moses and Paul and the others were teaching grace. This set things up for a show down in Jerusalem as Paul went to present his revelation to the "leaders". In Paul's words:

Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain. Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.  (Galatians 2:1-5)

Paul did not give in to them for a moment. He went before those great apostles and no one refuted the truth of what had been revealed to Paul. They sent him back with a letter of apology to the Gentiles for the confusion and with a short list of instructions:

"It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things."  (Acts 15:28-29)

Because the Spirit so convinced Paul of the truth of this revelation we enjoy the gospel of grace to this day. Now, believe it or not, my purpose today is not to give you a history lesson but to inspire you to stand up for the Word of God. Paul took great risk to get this gospel out to the world so that we Gentiles would not need to convert to Judaism in order to become a Christian, yet this gospel is now under constant attack. And just like in Paul's day, the attack does not come from the world but from those within the Church.

For a couple thousand years man has attempted to add to this gospel, to get people to live by a law instead of by grace. We are born of the Spirit, must live by the Spirit, must keep in step with the Spirit, knowing that it is only Jesus who saves us. We do not live under law but in the freedom of grace, free in the Spirit of God. Consider some of the things people have turned into a law and have hoped will earn their salvation:

- going to church
- reading their Bible
- giving money
- praying
- living a good life
- doing good deeds, acts of kindness

None of these things are wrong and all of them are very good, but none of them earns our salvation. Only the sacrificial act of Jesus provides our salvation. All these other things are natural actions that result from our relationship with Jesus. I hope you can see the difference. Grace tells us that we cannot earn our way to heaven, yet a great majority of the Church are trying to do that without understanding the difference. They think they have a relationship with Jesus because of the things they do, but we do these things because of the relationship with Jesus. Salvation is not part of this list of things we do. Let me try it again: The list above does not earn our salvation, but they spring out of the salvation we receive by the grace of God.

Now here's the real question and the purpose of this blog this morning: Are you brave enough, sure enough of this revelation of God to stand up to the stronghold of the well established attitude about "earning" our salvation? Are you willing to risk it all, as Paul did, to defend the gospel of grace against the onslaught from the "circumcision group" who teach good works and acts of kindness in place of the gospel of grace? The truth is not found in the soft gospel of the "emerging" church but in the very powerful Word of God. Salvation is not earned, it is given freely by the grace of God.