Let Us Examine Ourselves

Everyone should have built into their day a period of time for meditation and self-examination. Self-examination on its own is not healthy or productive because it needs to be done in a proper context. They only proper context I trust is the Word of God. Self-examination on its own will create a sense of uselessness, failure and depression. We need to take time for self-examination but it must be done against a proper standard which also offers us hope, and that standard and hope is Jesus.

Too often we go through our day without much thought to what we are doing or saying. We are existing, surviving, making it through, and not realizing the consequences of our actions and words on ourselves and those around us. "Let things fall where they must" is our attitude not realizing we will be held accountable for every careless word and every callus action. The exercise of reflection, self-examination during meditation on God's Word, measures us against the standard of Jesus, revealing the things for which we need to confess, repent and repair where possible.

This is not a new notion:

Let us search out and examine our ways,
And turn back to the Lord;
Let us lift our hearts and hands
To God in heaven.
We have transgressed and rebelled;
You have not pardoned. (Lamentations 3:40-42)

Our spiritual journey is all about growth and maturity but if we refuse to acknowledge our mistakes we will never grow. Everything is already forgiven, that was the work of the cross, but there is a reason we have been told to confess our sins. Confession is an acknowledgement of wrong doing. It is when we say "I have messed up; I have sinned". It is when we repent of such behaviour and allow the Spirit to correct our ways. It is a time of saying sorry to people, of seeking forgiveness and making reparation if possible. It keeps us humble and moving in the right direction.

It is a healthy daily activity and attitude when done in the context of our relationship in Jesus. It is vital for our growth and maturity. It is conscience clearing and cleansing. It is tearing down mountains and filling in valleys so that our path is straight. I strongly suggest you start with today.





 

Loving Without Compromise In A Divided Home

Things are changing very quickly in the Church's relationship with the world and we are beginning to see large divisions in the Church herself. There is a great spirit of confusion because the enemy is taking advantage of the fact that people do not know their Bible. Even though we have more resources available to us than ever before, biblical illiteracy is incredibly high. When we don't know what Jesus taught it becomes easy for the enemy to change our heart with a changing of the wind as we are seeing in our society of late.

At the end of the Old Testament we find the book of Malachi and at the end of this book we have a warning to not let go of the Word of God. We also find here the promise of what the returning prophet Elijah would do:

And he will turn
The hearts of the fathers to the children,
And the hearts of the children to their fathers,
Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. (Malachi 4:6)

So many parents hold on to these words as a promise not understanding their significance. This is not speaking of family strife but of generations that had turned away from the patriarchs of Israel, who had left the teaching of the ancients and had rebelled against Yahweh. In other words it was speaking of the nation of Israel. So this is the condition of Israel when John the Baptist began preaching and he was effective. The people turned and repented, receiving a baptism of repentance. Jesus had another warning for parents though:

Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ (Matthew 10:34-36)

Jesus spoke of what is only natural because the flesh cannot be friends with the Spirit nor the Spirit with the flesh because they are contrary. When a son or daughter refuses Christ and the parents stay steadfast then there is division. When the son or daughter belong to Jesus and the parents do not, there will be division. We are going to see much more of it in the days to come as the world sinks deeper into its depravity and the saints continue to stand on the Word. The hatred will grow and we will see greater division. Jesus knew his the cross would not bring peace to the world but would bring peace between those who accepted it and Father. But he warned us:

He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. (v. 37-38)

Many of us will do anything to have peace in the family. We will be willing to compromise the Word, bend some things that Jesus taught, all for the sake of peace in the house. Peace at all cost, but Jesus warned against it. No matter the cost we must pay, we have to keep to the understanding that Jesus is of highest importance and priority. Even if we lose our entire family as a result, we must stand with Jesus; we must love him more than any other.

Yes parents, our hearts will be crushed as the sin of unbelief divides us from our flesh and blood. Yes children, your hearts will yearn for the council of your dear parents, but our love for Jesus must be superior to all of this. It is hard but that is exactly what the enemy is counting on, that our earthly affections will keep us from Jesus. We cannot compromise on the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We cannot compromise on the holiness of our LORD God. We cannot live but the Word of God.

He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. (v. 39) 

We never lose hope nor give up on those whom we are separated from because of unbelief; we love them too much to give up. But neither do we move from the Rock, upon whom we stand, to be with them in their depravity. Every person will have to make their decision and will be held accountable for that decision. We can pray for them and try to persuade them but they have to make and live with their own decision. Do your best to get them in now because it is almost too late but whatever you do, don't go wandering yourself because the curtain is being drawn on this age. Stand fast my friend and pray.

Repentance Is A Good Thing

There are a lot of attractive things in this world. A lot of things that look and seem really good. There are a lot of things that give us a good feeling and when we are young we want to try them all. But as the apostle Paul said, we may think we have the right to do anything but "anything" is not always beneficial. Remember Eve and the temptation she faced when she considered that fruit. It looked good and she thought it would benefit her but it went against Yahweh's command. The fruit itself did not cause the damage as much as it was the act of disobedience.

Let's not lie to ourselves; there are consequences to sin. Some things look really good and beneficial but at the end of the day they destroy us, bringing shame and heartache. The apostle Paul wrote those words to the Corinthians who were trying to use the argument of Yahweh's grace as an excuse for sexual immorality. Today Christians use the excuse of Yahweh's love for the same purpose. They say because "God is love" that love is the basis for all things (which it is) so that if a relationship is based on love it is honouring and pleasing to Yahweh. This may be true if you want to ignore the hundreds of passages that deal with obedience. What comes out of a relationship of love with Yahweh? An overwhelming desire to obey. Jesus said, "If you love me obey my commands".

When we fail in our obedience (and we will), it is vital for us to grasp the importance of repentance. Repentance is more than just "I'm sorry" but a heart cry that comes with the conviction to turn away from that thing and have no part in it any more. It is a great desire to leave off rebellion and to walk in obedience, making obedience the great desire of our relationship because we love Yahweh with our entire heart. Obedience is a love response and it is in that love response that we begin to recognize good from evil, right from wrong.

Just picking out one of hundreds of examples in Scriptures of Yahweh's promise to respond to repentant hearts, look at 2 Chronicles 7. In this passage Yahweh is promising Solomon that when his nation responds to his correction with repentance, Yahweh will restore and bless them:

I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (vv. 12-14)

The unfortunate truth is that we are wrong sometimes. We get distracted. We move away from Jesus. We choose a wrong course. We get selfish. We are attracted to things that look good and seem beneficial but are set against the holiness of our God. We sin. Repentance is a good thing. Repentance is a restoring of things to their proper place. Repentance allows the Spirit to bring healing in the brokenness. Certainly we should know better. Yes we have failed. Yes, our failure has probably caused pain to others. But all we can do is trust that when Yahweh says he restores through repentance that he will do just that.

Consider the parable of the prodigal son that Jesus brought to this world. It is a story of hope. It is a parable of our relationship with the Father. The best thing the son did was consider his father. The best thing he did was come back in humbleness. The best thing he did was seek his father's face. Everything after that was the father. That is our Father. He will not deny a repentant heart and he will bring in restoration.

Have you made a mess of your life? Are things rough for you right now? Is there drought and pestilence in your "land"? This is simply the correction of the Father and the natural consequences of rebellion. There is nothing you can do to repair the damage but our Father has promised to bring healing. Run to him today. Repent and trust the Lord with all of it. Trust the Lord and be restored. Trust the Lord and see the healing flow. Repentance is a good thing.



 

Stop Blocking The Blessings From Flowing

So many of us want all the benefits of Jesus. We want a sense of his presence. We want to be encouraged by his strength. We want to experience his power in us. We want to be able to speak to the mountains in our life with his authority and have them leap into the ocean. We want to be healthy and well, at peace, and content. These are all promises Jesus has given us and we want them so we can be awesome in our service to him. We want it but we keep getting in the way of receiving it. He has promised to prosper us, to shower us with these and even more blessings but we block them by our disobedience.

As I continue to explain the importance of obedience to my children I put it in terms they can understand. I ask them if they believe they should be rewarded for doing bad things? They answer no. I ask them if they believe they should be rewarded for disobeying my instructions. They answer no. See, even children understand this stuff. I explain to them that I want to bless them with all the good things I have to give them because I love them, but if I give them all these things when they disobey then I will be re-enforcing their bad behaviour and they will turn out to be bad people who do not know how to obey rules. They would be spoiled. What amazes me is that my children get it.

They now understand that when I correct them it isn't because I hate them but because I love them. They understand that if I don't correct them I will end up spoiling them, causing them to be rotten and useless to our society. I realize that there is a level of morality I am teaching them but I am not teaching them to follow the rules of man, but instead the commandments of Yahweh. You know, David taught the same thing to Solomon:

Now, my son, may the Lord be with you; and may you prosper, and build the house of the Lord your God, as He has said to you. Only may the Lord give you wisdom and understanding, and give you charge concerning Israel, that you may keep the law of the Lord your God. Then you will prosper, if you take care to fulfill the statutes and judgments with which the Lord charged Moses concerning Israel. Be strong and of good courage; do not fear nor be dismayed. (1 Chronicles 22:11-13)

In essence what he told Solomon is that he was praying wisdom for him to understand that if he obeyed Yahweh he would prosper. Simple enough for children to understand. "If you obey me good things will happen. If you disobey me bad things will happen." This is love. Correction comes from a root of love and is intended to increase not decrease a person.

Solomon started off well and indeed prospered beyond anyone's imagining. He became the greatest king on the earth and everyone submitted to his wisdom. However, Solomon did not continue in obedience. He married women that Yahweh had commanded not to marry. These women did exactly what Yahweh said they would do; they became a distraction to Solomon and he began to worship other gods. The blessings were removed and Yahweh brought in correction. Solomon's last days were spent in wars instead of the peace he had enjoyed. Because of his unrepentant disobedience Yahweh decided to divide the kingdom. Never again would one king rule over the complete kingdom as Yahweh divided it under Solomon's son's rule. It could have ended differently.

Many of us have yet to taste of the full blessing, prosperity, of our Lord because we do not give priority to obedience. We believe grace will carry us through. We do not have the maturity of a child to understand that it is our heart that matters to our Father. We may not be perfect but when our desire is to walk in obedience, holiness, his righteousness, when we give it our best effort because it is our desire to please him, then his grace covers us when we fall short. And if we fail to repentant when we fall short he will correct us so that we understand the importance to recognize when we have fallen short. This is a good thing. Even when we do fall short, the reason he covers us by grace is because our desire, our motivation is obedience. It is not the attitude of a spoiled child, "My dad loves me so he will forgive whatever I do". A child understands the difference, why can't we?

We want all the benefits of the relationship but just as Yahweh's response in the relationship of love is to bless us, our response should be the desire to obey. We need a David's heart, one that is fully for the Lord, all the time so that if we do fail our first concern is our relationship with Jesus. My friends open your arms and heart wide to receive all the abundant blessings he has planned for us, and be determined that the motivation of your heart in all matters is loving obedience in everything he has commanded.

Have We Become Casual Sinners?

I think we are casual sinners and that is not good. I believe that we are in a cocoon of God's grace, which means that when we fail God gently picks us up with his grace, dusts us off with his forgiveness and encourages us to keep going with his love. Fantastic stuff and I praise him all the more for this, but I think we have grown too casual with the acceptance of our sin. I think we are too comfortable with it and forget the pain that it cause our Father. I think we forget what it is to repent, how devastating sin is to our soul and because of it we make very little effort to avoid it. If we understood how passionate God was in his hatred toward sin, we would not be so casual about it.

King David, an imperfect man with a passionate love for God, understood the sting of sin. He understood its devastating effects on his soul and in his relationship with God:

O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger 
   or discipline me in your wrath. 
For your arrows have pierced me, 
   and your hand has come down upon me. 
Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; 
   my bones have no soundness because of my sin. 
My guilt has overwhelmed me    like a burden too heavy to bear. (Psalm 38:1-4)

David was as passionate about expressing his sin to God, as passionate about feeling its effects as he was about his love for God. Maybe that's our problem. Maybe we don't love as we aught to love. Maybe our love is more a casual love and we have not even approached the level of passion that we need in order to have a clear understanding of the effects of sin. David is exquisite in his expression of conviction:

My wounds fester and are loathsome 
   because of my sinful folly. 
I am bowed down and brought very low; 
   all day long I go about mourning. 
My back is filled with searing pain; 
   there is no health in my body. 
I am feeble and utterly crushed;    I groan in anguish of heart. (Psalm 38:5-8)

When you have a casual relationship with someone you tend not to notice how your actions impact them. You really don't know them all that well. It's not like your best friend, your sister, or your spouse. Those people you know with greater passion and you can see immediately how your actions affect them. Until there is repentance and forgiveness for your sin against them, there is wall that forms in the relationship, a distance is created:

I am like a deaf man, who cannot hear, 
   like a mute, who cannot open his mouth; 
I have become like a man who does not hear,    whose mouth can offer no reply. (Psalm 38:13-14)

This is a good thing, a proper thing because it means that we regret deeply what we have done and true repentance is produced in this place. It is not that we need to bear the guilt for our sins for long or have to sit around in sackcloth and ashes. We live in an age of God's great grace and forgiveness is an easy thing for our Father. There is a difference between David and us in that we have God living in us. We don't have to go seeking him and the conviction of our wrong doing should come quickly. Repentance should be just as quick, but it should not be a casual thing.

If we are losing the sting of sin we need to quickly examine where we are with Jesus. If we are casual about our sin I think we may find that we are also casual about our love. Our pursuit should never be a "getting by" but always a deepening of our passion for Jesus. His great love for us and ours for him should cause any sin to stand out like a mountain in our life. We should feel its effects deeply and just as passionately seek forgiveness for our failings. We don't beat ourselves up but instead we put our energy into doing what is right. Beating ourselves up will not accomplish anything but fill us with a false sense of guilt. If we feel our sin deeply then we  will want to do the only thing that will correct the situation: repent and receive the forgiveness of our Lord who loves us without fail.

You sinned? Okay, you are no different than the rest of us. Recognize the damage sin does to your relationship with our Father. Hate that thing. Hate the affect it has. Hate how it separates. Hate it so much that you refuse to entertain it any more. Turn to Jesus, confess your sin, repent of it and receive with gladness and joy the forgiveness he gives to you. Now shake off those effects, get up off your knees and move forward in your service and grow in your passion for the Lord. Let that sting of sin lend to you a new determination to hate sin and to avoid it at all cost. That is the right thing to do with sin. Don't become a casual sinner.

Restore Us Again, O God Our Saviour

Maybe it's just me. Maybe it's just where I live and serve the Lord. Maybe it's just my part of the world. When I  dwell in the Word of God I am overwhelmed with a desire to possess what the early Church had. Then I look around at where I am and all I see is what man has done with it. It's not the same thing. I know there are a lot of good people out there who are trying to get there with their churches but often the majority of believers keep the leaders boxed into what the majority see as the way to go, which is often just gimmicks of the world. Maybe I am being overly critical but I am tired of all the marketing, the showmanship, the "cool" kid syndrome, the leadership worship, the facade.

I honestly believe that we are missing the blessings of the Lord, the anointing in ministry, the headship of Jesus. Is it possible for God to remove his favour from his people due to disobedience and we not notice? Have we continued on with the "appearance of godliness" without the power? Have we become a bunch of teachers because no one has a clue how to actually live the Spirit-filled life? Are we nothing more than academics in pursuit of knowledge without the actual "fear" of the Lord?

There were many times in Israel's history where God had to remove his favour from his people due to their disobedience. He didn't remove his love or they would have been destroyed but he removed his favour and they became subject to other kingdoms until they turned back to him with all their heart. During one of these times a psalmist wrote:

You showed favor to your land, O LORD; 
   you restored the fortunes of Jacob. 
You forgave the iniquity of your people 
   and covered all their sins. 
You set aside all your wrath    and turned from your fierce anger. (Psalm 85:1-3)

This was an acknowledgement of what God had done in the past, the forgiveness he had shown his people for their past disobedience. Because God has set this pattern and has consistently forgiven his people in the past the psalmist prayed he would do it again:

Restore us again, O God our Savior, 
   and put away your displeasure toward us. 
Will you be angry with us forever? 
   Will you prolong your anger through all generations? 
Will you not revive us again, 
   that your people may rejoice in you? 
Show us your unfailing love, O LORD,    and grant us your salvation. (vv. 4-7)

Today we act more as individuals with God than we do as a nation of his people. We know what it is to repent and seek forgiveness for our own individual disobedience but how often do we do that as a people, as a church? Most churches will never repent because they do not recognize their own folly. They do not see what they are doing as wrong. As long as they pay their bills and new people are showing up now and then they are doing okay and obeying the great commission of Jesus Christ - is what they think. We have gotten so use to man's traditions that we do not even see how far off the mark we have gotten.

The Church is filled with self, materialism, greed, idol worship, self-determination. We make our own plans and then ask God to bless them. We treat Jesus as a genie granting us our wishes instead of as the Head of the Body from where we take our orders. We are governed by man's wisdom, traditions and ideas and have lost the ability to hear and follow the Holy Spirit. It has become much more about growing the numbers in our churches instead of growing the people in our churches. We are so messed up and we don't even see it. When is the last time the Spirit took over in your church and turned the meeting upside down? I know it happens with some of you but the vast majority deny the Spirit and stick to their own agenda.

It's never too late to say we are sorry, to turn back to God with all our heart and obey him:

I will listen to what God the LORD will say; 
   he promises peace to his people, his saints— 
   but let them not return to folly. 
Surely his salvation is near those who fear him,    that his glory may dwell in our land. (vv. 8-9)

I am telling you God has intended great blessings for his people, the Church, the Body of Christ but disobedience blocks those blessings. Jesus has all the answers we are looking for, the solutions for our needs, the direction for us to take. We only need to set aside ourselves and make the decision to fully surrender and to fully obey. Not obey part of his commands but to obey all of his commands. It starts with love. He desires for the blessings to flow through us so that his glory may dwell in our land:

Love and faithfulness meet together; 
   righteousness and peace kiss each other. 
Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, 
   and righteousness looks down from heaven. 
The LORD will indeed give what is good,    and our land will yield its harvest. (vv. 10-12)

That is the description of a blessed nation, a blessed people, the blessed children of our heavenly Father. It is not too late for the Church as it is not too late for any individual to repent and turn in obedience to the Lord. Throw off all the trappings, all traditions of man, all the idols and self notion and walk in God's righteousness:

Righteousness goes before him    and prepares the way for his steps. (v. 13)

Perhaps we don`t realize it yet but much of God`s great river of blessings have been stopped up by our own disobedience. Let us repent as a people, recognize our folly, submit ourselves to the Spirit`s control again and see that river set free. Let our desire not be for self but that the glory of our Lord will once again fill our land, that the nations will know that there is a God and he has revealed himself through Jesus.

We Need The Holy Spirit!

The Body of Christ has a similar problem to a lot of North American bodies. Don't you find it strange that after all these years of diet products the rate of obesity is still climbing. Worse yet, now that we have had a couple of generations of this problem, and with the dawn of video game systems, child obesity is reaching epidemic levels. Aside from the original problem of people not eating and exercising properly, the solutions are the wrong solutions for people who are obese. Like everything else in life we look for short cuts and that one elusive miracle product. We follow one plan but it isn't working fast enough so we switch to another one, and then the new craze hits and we grab hold of that. The fact is there is only one real solution, complete life-style change. Food intake has to change; an healthy active life must be developed; regular, purposeful exercise must be done. I find it interesting how this relates to the Church.

A problem in the Body of Christ is our attitude toward quick fixes, short cuts, "x number of steps" books and programs that promise us instant spiritual success. We fail to understand that the Church is not some kind of system for self-improvement but is instead a relationship which we must immerse ourselves in completely. To be a Christian requires an acceptance that everything is going to change. In Matthew 3 we are introduced to John, the cousin of Jesus, who is the prophet sent to prepare the way for Jesus. We find him baptizing people for repentance. A great many people were coming to experience this baptism, desiring to turn their lives around and come closer to God. However, John had a warning for people if they thought this was the quick fix:

"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." (Matthew 3:11)

This is an important point to make because some of the problem I see is that parts of the Church are getting obese from the attitude that all that is required is repentance. It is fine to say you are sorry about your offenses but what are you going to do about it? Many people have been sorry in the past and repented, making offerings to God in the desire for forgiveness, but the change was superficial. This is my fear that much of the change we are seeing in people is superficial as they repent, seek forgiveness but fail to allow God to deal with the root of the problem. The root, being the heart, can only be dealt with when we are baptized with the Holy Spirit. This is when our entire thinking and feeling changes as we are made into a new creation. We are born a second time and the transformation begins in earnest.

Consider Peter for a moment. He was a great follower of Jesus and he was a great failure. He made tons of mistakes even though he was being taught directly by Jesus. We know that there were some changes in Peter while he was with Jesus but they were not as deep as they needed to be. It was not until Peter received the Holy Spirit that we see the remarkable change in this fisherman. There is a huge difference between Peter of the gospels and Peter of Acts. The difference being the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

There is a great danger of people staying on the surface with the acts of repentance and forgiveness. As important as these are even John knew that we require more. As the Apostle Paul was coming into Ephesus for the start of his great ministry in the region, he came across a group of believers. But there was a problem:

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?"
      They answered, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."
So Paul asked, "Then what baptism did you receive?"
      "John's baptism," they replied.
Paul said, "John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. (Acts 19:1-6)

The Body is growing obese on repentance and is failing to plunge into the full transformation and power that Jesus Christ offers us through the Spirit. We need to leave behind the milk and desire solid food, healthy food. We need to stop searching for diet products and systems and be transformed into a healthy life-style. God has called us to healthy and productive activities that will see us changed and the world impacted for Jesus Christ. There is no other solution for a life spent in service to Jesus, we have to plunge in, from head to toe, with nothing held back. We must go beyond repentance and desire to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is in this transformation that we are taught how to love, forgive, have compassion, live mercy and serve with no reluctance. Without it we are only playing around at the edges, repenting and trying to make ourselves feel better about life. There is a big difference between dangling your feet in the water on the edge of the pool and diving in the deep end. This is the difference between John's baptism of repentance and Jesus' baptism of the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit!

The Day of Atonement

He paid the penalty of our sin. We must not take that sacrifice for granted.