Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

JOEL OR JESUS

10 Tuesday Jun 2014

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Right after I committed my life to Jesus Christ, I became so hungry for His Word.  I couldn’t wait to read my Bible each day to discover what God wanted to reveal to me.  I read every book I could get hold of and listened to every preacher I ran across on the radio and TV.  One day I ran across Joel Osteen on TV.  That day Mr. Osteen was talking about how God wanted to bless me.  He was saying that all we need to do to receive God’s blessing is have faith – believe financial security is what God wants for us all.  He is just waiting for our faith to be sufficient.  I thought to myself “Of course God wants to bless me.  God only wants the best for me. If my faith is strong enough, I will be blessed. When I follow Christ, God wants to reward me just as any parent wants the best for their child.” Without a lot of thought to what Mr. Osteen was saying, it seemed to make perfect sense.  It sure was an answer to my prayers for getting my finances in order!

 One of the things that led me to God was I knew I needed to learn to trust Him to get through the difficult times I was experiencing.  I wanted nothing more than to have unshakeable faith in God and, based on what Joel Osteen was saying, the proof for myself and to others was whether I would get all of the things I wanted. If I found myself still in want and suffering in some way, it was simply because my faith wasn’t what it needs to be. 

 2 Peter 1-3:  But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories.

 I went right out and bought a set of Joel’s DVD’s so I could listen to him in the car.  His messages were uplifting and encouraging.  There was always a funny story at the beginning of each one and that helped me get the day started on a positive note.  Every day I asked God for the money I needed to correct my financial situation and told myself as long as I believed it was true, eventually it would happen.  I felt I was on my way to trusting God the way we are supposed to trust Him – I just needed to keep strengthening my faith.  I was a big Osteen fan and felt I needed to share my discovery with my daughter.  I wanted to be sure her faith was sufficient and that she was seeing life in the positive way God wants us to see it.

True to her nature, my daughter patiently listened.  Then, in her simple, quiet way said:  “Be careful, Mom.  Joel Osteen is a prosperity preacher.”  Well, my first reaction was confusion.  I didn’t know what a prosperity preacher was, but I knew it couldn’t be anything good because she was definitely giving me a warning.  Then I felt offended.  I loved Jesus and was only trying to have the kind of faith we are supposed to have and Joel was just trying to teach me how to do that.  He certainly looked very happy and I refused to believe he had anything but Christians’ best interests in mind. 

 Then the thought occurred to me that my daughter would not tell me something that wasn’t true; she’s not a liar and it was her quiet, strong faith that had led me to Jesus in the first place.  So I began to research this prosperity preacher idea.  I became more and more unsettled about Mr. Osteen and others like him.  The more I read and studied, the more uneasy I felt when I listened to him.  It wasn’t too long before I realized his messages weren’t giving me any peace about God – I realized I was even more anxious trying to gain the kind of faith Joel told me I needed.  After studying the Scriptures Joel quoted, it was quite easy to see he took things out of context all the time.  I was also beginning to realize that I was living life the same way I had been before I committed it to Jesus – under the power of me, seeking only to satisfy and serve me! 

 I was embarrassed at first, then disappointed that I had allowed myself to be misled so easily.  The allure of getting the things that would make my life comfortable had too easily overtaken me.  As I learned more theology and doctrine I was aghast at Mr. Osteen’s “interpretations.”  His deception is not easily seen by those of us sincerely seeking God because he is subtle; my problem was that I wasn’t doing my homework. I came to understand that Mr. Osteen is abusing the concept of faith, hiding behind it to create a false sense of guilt in people who were not experiencing the worldly success he promises we are entitled to.  According to him, the only thing holding me back from wealth and health was my own failure to have enough faith in God.  That’s what Mr. Osteen wanted me to believe, but my experience told me something different.  I was learning that I can count on God to get me through the rough times and, even after only a few months, He had already proven this to me.  No, faith wasn’t my problem – false teaching was my problem!

 2 Peter 2:18, 19 – “For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”  

The bottom line was that I finally understood what Joel Osteen was really saying:  his message wasn’t to have faith in God.  Joel Osteen’s message is that I must have faith in me: my words, my attitude, and my thoughts.  His message doesn’t match up with the Bible.  I’m not a negative person – I have always been overly optimistic, a bit of a dreamer.  As I recalled the book I read at the time of my conversion (Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom), I realized that the inner city preacher in that book had more peace and faith than any wealthy person I had ever known about.  I knew that being successful according to the world wasn’t how I would “prove” my faith.  I wanted the kind of faith that inner-city preacher had – to be able to live in any situation knowing God was taking care of me.

 I try to lead others away from the health, wealth and prosperity preachers.  More often than not, their reaction is anger.  I’ve been accused of creating drama when I point out the errors in his teaching, of not being a true Christian because I don’t agree with Joel Osteen.  I have been told that they follow Joel because they are tired of hearing all the “fire and brimstone,” the negative stuff other preachers want to harp on!  And my only reaction is to tell them to do their homework. No matter who I listen to – including the preachers and teachers I know to be Biblically sound – I listen to what they say then go straight to my Bible and read the Scripture to see if it all matches up with the basic tenets of Christianity that we MUST hold fast to.  There are peripheral things that I don’t like to listen to but I understand those are things we can respectfully debate (like the rapture).  But when someone tries to tell me I am a little god, that my words have power, that I can speak anything into reality, I am left cold with the arrogance it takes to profane the Word of God in this way.  If you believe Mr. Osteen’s teachings to be Biblically sound then it is your responsibility to tell the paralyzed person that it is due to their lack of faith that they do not walk.  You must tell the dead child’s parent that their child died because of their lack of faith.  That is what the faith teachers teach and if you support them, you are telling the world that you believe these things to be the Truth.

 Acts 17:11 “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”

 Anyone who studies or teaches God’s Word should welcome scrutinty and invite challenges.  This spurs us to action and makes all of us accountable. Don’t ever allow others to do the work – you must take it on yourself.  If you struggle to know whether you rightly understand Scripture, go to a trusted Christian and ask them for help.  And even with them, if you feel uneasy with their answer, keep digging.  The Holy Spirit will cause you to be disquieted with a lie – it’s always been true in my life.  Begin your study/reading time in prayer, asking God to open your eyes, your ears and your heart to hear what He wants you to know and to discern Truth from lies. 

(From “The Osteenification of American Christianity” by Hank Hanegraaff): “Take, for example Osteen’s parody of Philemon 1:6 as a pretext for making positive self-affirmations.  …Osteen writes “The Scripture says, ‘Our faith is made effectual when we acknowledge everything good in us.’”  Conversely, he says, “our faith is not effective when we acknowledge all our hurts and pains.  It’s not effective when we stay focused on our shortcomings or our weaknesses.”  …In reality, Philemon 1:6 has nothing whatsoever to do with making positive self-affirmations.  Nor does the text suggest that our faith is made effectual when we acknowledge all that is good within.  Indeed, Paul says quite the opposite.  Rather than having confidence in positive confessions, he prays that Philemon would have “a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.”  …Far from making self-affirmations, Scripture exhorts us to affirm our weaknesses and as such our utter dependence on Christ.  To boast in the flesh has nothing to do with faith and everything to do with foolishness.  The great apostle to the Gentiles, and an exemplar to us all, [Paul] was reduced to an utter state of weakness so that he would no longer glory in himself.

…Consider [Osteen’s] rendering of Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden.  Adam’s offense, according to Osteen, was not rebellion against God but rather believing Satan’s suggestion that there might be something wrong with him. …From Genesis to Revelation, Osteen simply uses Scripture to communicate whatever he wants.  …[Osteenfication] is conforming Scripture to cultural norms as opposed to allowing the plain reading of the text to transform.  It is the recitals of mantras rather than the renewal of our minds.  The glory of the cross exchanged for the paltry glory of consumerism.  Psychobabble over precept.  In short, a rebranding of the faith once for all delivered to the saints and the gospel of the kingdom traded for empty baubles of health and wealth…”

 It’s Joel or Jesus.  Who do you want to please?  I cannot imagine holding so tightly to anyone proclaiming to be a follower of Christ that I will not hold them accountable.  My own preacher, my relatives, and especially celebrity preachers – they all must be tested and researched to insure their words match God’s Word.  I don’t care how popular they are or how maligned I am for speaking out against them – I’m choosing Jesus. 

 2 Corinthians 11:3But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Cross references: 2 Corinthians 11:3 : Ge 3:1-6, 13; 1Ti 2:14; Rev 12:9

It’s Joel or Jesus.  Joel Osteen cannot save you from eternal separation from God.  I truly wish Mr. Osteen would get out of the charade of being a man of God and just call himself what he really is – a motivational speaker.  One of the sure evidences that Joel is not a committed follower of Christ is his fear of losing his material possessions.  Paul is very clear in telling us that he learned to be content in any circumstance and we must learn to do so also.  Jesus did not have a place to lay His head.  If these two were not “blessed” with worldly comfort, why does Joel tell his followers that worldly comfort is a true test of our faith?  Osteen is not alone – TD Jakes, Prince, Joyce Meyer, Hagee; watch them all.  They are perverters of the truth and we must hold them accountable. 

 Don’t put anyone above Jesus.

IS GOD’S FORGIVENESS CONDITIONAL?

30 Friday May 2014

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Did you ever wonder what the part in the Lord’s Prayer that says “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” means?  I had always filed that one under “Theological Mysteries Too Deep for Me to Understand.”  Doesn’t God assure us ALL of our sins are forgiven because of Jesus’ death on the cross?  This seems to imply that He will only forgive as I forgive and I’m human.  If someone has done something really awful to me and I’m struggling to forgive them, does that mean God will not forgive some of my sins?

 I wasn’t going to take any chances with this and decided that forgiveness was to be my way of life.  I have some pretty bad sin in my life – bad.  I have spent the majority of my life serving myself at great cost to others.  But I claimed God’s promise that He forgives me for everything I’ve done as long as I am sincerely sorry and turn away from those things.  There is a lot of sin that a just, righteous God had to wipe from this sinner’s slate, and if He’s willing to do that for me, I will forgive whatever somebody has done to me.  Some wrongs are tougher than others and I often find myself struggling to stay at the proper level of forgiveness, but rather than dwell on what someone has done, I shift my focus to their need for God, remembering the time in my life when sin defined my life.  I concentrate on praying for them and for me.  Focusing on forgiveness and prayer keeps my thoughts away from what they have done.  God’s gift to me is a forgiving heart, which I feel very blessed to have.  Even with that, I have found it to be consistently and profoundly true that forgiveness may not do anything for the other person but it has set me free: so much less to fret about and stew over.

 So, despite not fully understanding what this part of the Lord’s Prayer means, I had it covered by my decision to just forgive.  Then a few weeks ago I was listening to Alistair Begg on the radio as he explained this passage.  Seems I’ve been taking the line too literally – no surprise there.  According to Pastor Begg, as sincere followers of Christ, our goal must be to forgive everyone of everything (forgive us as we forgive others) because that’s how God forgives those who accept His gift of salvation.  If we’re unable to do that, then we haven’t fully realized how detestable sin is to God; we haven’t acknowledged how abhorrent our sin is to Him, nor how great His gift of forgiveness is.  Once we fully understand the magnitude of God’s grace and mercy we will be able to forgive seventy times seven times.  It’s something we will work on as long as we walk on the earth, but it is to be our goal. To choose not to forgive someone and stick to that decision is a clear indicator that we haven’t grasped how wretched we are without Jesus.

 Psalm 51: 3, 4 – “ For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned,”

 As humans we rate sin – murder is worse than a lie, lying is worse than stealing my pen from work, stealing my pen from work is worse than using God’s name in vain.  But whatever you consider the smallest sin separates you from God.  We must look at sin from God’s viewpoint, not our own.  In His eyes, no matter how “small” the sin, the object of His great love – YOU – are separated from Him.  That grieves God.

 Mark 5:34: “And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well.  Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”

 Grace is relatively easy to understand intellectually.  Jesus paid our debt and God no longer holds us accountable for any of our sins – not a single one.  In my mind I understand that.  But truly comprehending how great His mercy is is extremely difficult.  If I have spent my entire life repeatedly committing the sin I think is the absolute worst one, but right before I die I sincerely accept Jesus as my Savior, God forgives me. He said He would and I expect Him to do that.  And He expects me to forgive everyone of everything without keeping record of the offenses.  Too much to ask from a human being?  Yep.  But I can do it because His Spirit dwells in me and I call on His power to get me to the place He expects me to be.  I can’t just consider forgiveness; I can’t reason through a situation to determine if I will or won’t forgive; I certainly can’t make a decision about forgiving someone based on worldly rationale because the world will tell me I certainly do not have to forgive everyone of everything all the time.  From a worldly perspective I cannot accept that someone like Jeffrey Dahmer could be forgiven.  But God clearly tells me otherwise.  The world rails at the thought of a child molester being forgiven.  But God will forgive anyone that is clothed in Jesus’ righteousness.  That’s the magnitude of His forgiveness that I have to understand.  And if I cannot understand it, I simply must accept it and trust Him in that.

 As a Christian I am held to a very high standard.  That standard is not another human being – my standard is Jesus.  God’s work in me is conforming me to His image, not to the image of the “goodest” person I know.   When forgiveness is hard, I remind myself that, had I done something as horrible as Mr. Dahmer, the moment I accepted Christ’s death as payment for my sins, I would have been forgiven.  That’s God’s promise.  Learning to forgive is part of our sanctification – part of becoming more like Christ.  We must constantly be working on it.  If there’s someone you haven’t forgiven because you feel justified that what they did was so bad you need not forgive them; perhaps someone keeps hurting you time and time again and you have stopped even considering the need to forgive them, you can know you haven’t fully grasped how abhorrent your sin is and how great God’s forgiveness is.

 Luke 11:3, 4 – “Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.”

 God’s forgiveness is not conditional.  This statement in our Lord’s Prayer is a reminder of what God has set as our goal.  If there are still people in our lives we are struggling to forgive, we can know we haven’t fully grasped the magnitude of what God has done for us.  We haven’t fully realized how wretched we are without Christ.

TIME TO DEAL WITH MY PRIDE

04 Sunday May 2014

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 Recently God made it clear to me that it’s time to deal with my pride. I knew I could no longer excuse or dismiss the way I behave when pride rears its ugly head in my life. It was time to let go of it and allow God’s Spirit to determine my response instead of my emotions. I’ve been troubled with this for some time, unable to enjoy God’s peace as I continue in my disobedience.

 Here is some of what C.S. Lewis says about pride in his book, Mere Christianity, Chapter 8 titled The Great Sin: 

            “There is no fault … which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.”

             “…the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.”

            “Other vices may sometimes bring people together: you may find good fellowship and jokes and friendliness among drunken people or unchaste people. But pride always means enmity – it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God.”

            “If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.” (I love that one!!)

            “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others.”

 I went back to college to get my bachelor’s degree because “everyone” around me had one. Once I had that, I began noticing all the people who had master’s degrees. So I got one. Then, as I was working in my field, I noticed how many people had a specialized certification so I got that. Then I got a job where the majority of people had PhD’s. I made phone calls, eager to begin my work earning that degree. But I was tired – tired of attaining one level of education only to yearn for the next. Before I earned them, I wanted them desperately. But as soon as I had that piece of paper in hand, their value diminished: after all, I didn’t earn them from a top-ranked college. I didn’t become the confident person I thought I would become because I had them. When I committed my life to Christ, He showed me that His plan for me has never been a worldly one – the degrees were part of MY plan. But pride did provide me with a use for those worldly achievements: to try to convince people I’m “cleverer…than others!”

 My go-to pride behavior is spewing my “wisdom” for whoever is within earshot. I say whatever pops into my head to show how much I know, to indicate the things I have or my position in life, to insure someone understands I am not wrong or “less smart” than they are. When I see a chance around people I’m comfortable with to expound on whatever topic has come up, my “wisdom” comes gushing out. I say things without considering the effect my words have on others. It’s embarrassing to put that on paper and my pride tells me I don’t have to talk about it; better to keep this to myself so others won’t look down on me or know my secret – as if they’re not already aware of it! I discussed thoughts on pride in another blog, but this aspect of it was one of those things in my life that I hadn’t yet identified as disobedience.

 I can’t tell you how many times I’ve embarrassed myself as I allowed pride to determine my behavior. But that’s not the worse consequence – I’ve hurt people I love. I’ve struck at people at their most vulnerable spots, wanting them to feel small on purpose. Lewis is absolutely right when he says “Pride leads to every other vice…” God has made it clear how pride is bringing sin into my life and I know I must hand it over to Him now.

2 Corinthians 12:9 – And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”   

 I’ve deleted these last two paragraphs numerous times thinking there’s another way I can talk about this without divulging my weakness. But I’ll press on – as I become more obedient, it is a clear testimony of the Holy Spirit’s work in me – I can’t do this on my own!

 I used to ease my conscience about my pride by telling myself I’m just insecure. But isn’t a big part of insecurity just constantly reminding myself of the areas in my life where I feel I don’t measure up? Labeling pride insecurity garnered sympathy and self-pity. I didn’t have to admit my behaviors were due to pride; I was simply compensating – behaving in a way that eased my suffering – never mind I caused others to suffer! My goal wasn’t to simply overcome insecurity; my goal was to be at the top, nothing less satisfied the true source of my problem.

 The more mature we are in our Christian life, the more we abhor sin. There was a time in my life when I didn’t give a second thought to these things. If I said something hurtful to someone I told myself I was only trying to help them. Chasing after college degrees was only my ambition and a desire to be successful. Now when I allow my pride to determine my behaviors, I am deeply troubled. There were two situations in the past month where I didn’t even try to stop myself from speaking even though I knew exactly what was going on before I opened my mouth. After hours of embarrassment and contemplating painful apologies, I am thankful that God allowed me to see my sin so clearly. I’m thankful He gave me the heart and courage to apologize.

Romans 7:15 – “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”

I’m not naïve enough to think I won’t continue to give in to my pride. But I am being very intentional about how I respond when I feel the swell of pride come over me. I have been in a number of situations already where I felt it full-force and wanted so badly to say something that would puff myself up. But I refrained and the feeling from obeying God instead of responding to my emotions brings so much peace. And it has helped me advance my relationship with one particular person so that I am better able to show God’s love.

 There are so many behaviors that we don’t often attribute to pride: an unwillingness to admit when we’re wrong; refusal to apologize; self-pity; arrogance; refusal to acknowledge how your behaviors hurt others; insisting that everything be done your way; refusal to listen to someone else’s ideas; the need to control situations and the people around you; focusing on others’ faults; reluctance or refusal to accept or even listen to constructive criticism; defensiveness; anger; responding by giving others the silent treatment. Do you feel the need to say whatever’s on your mind, giving no thought to the consequences of your words or tone of voice? Look at your behaviors and determine whether or not pride is at the root of it and begin praying for the strength to conquer it. You will need the Holy Spirit – there’s no hope of conquering this one without Him!

 While pride damages our relationships with other people, the greatest harm is that it keeps us from God. Lewis reminds us that pride IS enmity (hostility) to God by man. Are you too proud to submit to His authority? Too proud to understand His plans are better than yours? Too proud to admit He operates in ways that we are unable to understand? Too proud to accept that God can save even the worst sinner you can imagine? Too proud to admit you are as bad as the worst sinner you can imagine? Are you too proud to forgive everyone who has ever hurt you or your family? Are you too proud to submit to Christian leaders God has placed in your life? Are you too proud to reject Christian leaders who don’t adhere to Christian doctrine? Are you too proud to admit that something in your life is not in keeping with God’s Truth? Pride demands that we be number one, the “main event”, even putting ourselves above God and His commands.

 C.S. Lewis points out that pride changed Lucifer from an angel to Satan.  He says it is “the complete anti-God state of mind.”

Job 20:6-7 – “Though the pride of the godless person reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds, he will perish forever…”

 

 

LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED

27 Sunday Apr 2014

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So many people I know have been dealing with some mighty struggles in their lives lately, including me. It helps when those struggling know that God is holding us up, helping each one of us get through the struggle if we’ll turn our gaze on Him. However, I know I did not fully embrace God’s promises of care and comfort until I was experiencing some rather deep pain. One morning I heard James MacDonald give a sermon on John 14:1 that reminded me where our thoughts need to go at the first hint of trouble.

Philippians 4:7 –“ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

This promise is not an easy one to claim – it’s difficult to accept that it can become a reality in our lives. When I accepted God’s calling to follow Him, it was the promise I couldn’t believe was possible. In no uncertain terms, I let God know that I knew following Him could never bring the peace I desired because it was loved ones in my life that left me paralyzed with fear and overwhelming sadness that I could no longer find the strength to cope with. I didn’t see any way He could ease my troubled heart unless He drastically changed these people or their circumstances and I didn’t see any earthly way that could happen soon enough to quiet the storms I was experiencing. That was my biggest error – I thought the only solutions were earthly resolutions. I sold God short – He has other ways of bringing us peace.

Romans 8:28 – “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Well, God didn’t change the circumstances and He didn’t perform personality exorcisms on my friends and family. But in a matter of weeks I experienced a peace about it all. Being a new Christian and full of doubt about God being able to fulfill this particular promise, I can assure you I hadn’t done anything to bring about this newfound peace to my soul. It truly just came upon me. Nothing about the situations changed, yet somehow I experienced a peace about it all. I spent a lot of time thinking about this miracle He performed in my life, trying to figure out exactly how it had come about. After four-plus years of thought on the matter, the only thing I’ve ever come up with is that, for the first time in my life, I KNEW God was real. I KNEW He loved me and would be working in my life. These facts went from beliefs I held to knowledge of the reality of God and the power and love He has. This knowledge resulted in a newfound confidence that no matter how things worked out, I COULD trust Him. Knowing that eternity is a reality and is actually God’s plan for us helped me know that I would see good from those things I allow God to work out even though I might not see them in this physical world. I could truly claim this!

 I think as I work out my faith, too often I focus on the doing. As I’m confronted with struggles, I focus on praying, reading my Bible and, when peace does not come, I conclude I’m not “doing” enough, that I’m missing something or there’s some secret Christian thing I haven’t yet discovered. Prayer and Bible study are good things to do and in the midst of a trial bring momentary comfort to me. But as soon as I get back out in the world where I am unable to formally pray or pick up my Bible that sick feeling in my stomach often comes back, reminding me of the terrible things that could happen as a result of struggles. What I fail to remember is that I have the Holy Spirit dwelling within me, longing to bring me peace just as He did when I first yielded my life to Him. Too often, I don’t let Him do His work, feeling there is something I must do rather than simply relying on His strength. Simply being still with Him, thinking about Him and fixing my eyes on Jesus is all I need to “do.” A quick reminder in the middle of any situation that He is with me is all I need to squash that sickening fear and panic that often comes upon me.

 Praying, reading and spending time with God must be something I practice consistently to build my relationship with Him so that when the struggles come I am properly equipped to receive His peace. Waiting to do these things in the midst of a struggle adds to my burden because, along with coping with the emotions I must now get His Word into my mind and heart. When they are already planted there, I can immediately recall them and be comforted, receiving His peace before the fear and sadness are unmanageable.

Proverbs 30:5 – “Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.”

As Pastor James said, it is no sin to have a troubled heart, but as we continue to be troubled, sin can easily come into our lives. The longer we dwell in this place, the more negative emotions we feel, the more overwhelming the situation becomes and our hope quickly begins to fade. As the weight of our situation bears down on us, we are more likely to seek solace from substances, physical pleasure, self-pity, angry words or behavior. But as soon as we can look to Jesus for comfort, our tendency to go to these things is diminished and we can respond in His way. Be prepared by strengthening your knowledge of God and always remember you have the Holy Spirit just waiting for you to call on Him. That is how we can quickly find the peace He promises in every situation. Don’t wait for the doubt and fear to take hold before you call on Him!

BEING STILL IN 2014

23 Sunday Feb 2014

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In December, 2009, I committed to reading the Bible in its entirety.  During 2010, I simply read straight through it; I began in Genesis and ended with The Revelation.  I remember that much of the time I felt confused and lost, not understanding much of what I was reading, unable to connect all the dots.  But I also remember how clear it was that I had a lot in common with the people I was reading about. One after the other, I saw how I was like them in so many ways.  I found comfort in knowing they were not perfect people; relieved to see all their faults, weaknesses, and failures.  As I learned more about these people, I understood that God loved me in spite of the mess I had made of my life just as He loved these people in spite of all they had done.  I was hooked.  Reading the Bible was no longer a chore – I looked forward to the time I spent each day discovering new things about the God I thought I knew. I’m not sure if I understood that recognizing these things was one of the ways God was “talking” to me but I was learning things I had never known before and couldn’t stop reading.  The line of communication between me and God was no longer one-way – I had opened the door for Him to speak directly to me.

Each year since then I followed different reading plans to help insure I read the Bible each day and to read it completely through each year.  In 2011 I utilized The Legacy Reading Plan, which grouped the books of the Bible based on things like genre, author and context.  The 3rd and 4th year I followed chronological plans which allowed me to read events in the Bible in the order they happened (as much as can be determined). During those years, I supplemented each plan with books by Biblically-sound authors, commentaries, studies, sermons and articles.  My goal was to learn everything I could so I would be able to answer any question about the Bible that anyone might ask.   I wanted to know the events and people backward and forward. 

I struggled for several weeks to find a plan with a different emphasis for 2014.  Then, as He has done many times in the last 4 years, God thumped my noggin and pointed out to me that I had allowed reading the Bible to become little more than an intellectual exercise.  I seldom used the time to listen for God’s messages to me.  I had lost sight of the fact that each time I sit down with His Word, God wants to say something unique to each one of us.  It was right for me to want to learn things – doctrine, theology, historical events and facts.  But I had let learning facts become THE reason I read His Book.  I did not spend much time listening for the things He longed for me to know. 

So, this year is different.  This year my primary resource for reference and study is God. My goal is not to add to what I have learned about doctrine, theology, and history; although I am still learning something about those things as I hear from God.  I pray fervently before reading that God will open my eyes, ears and heart to what He has to say to me.  I am recording the thoughts that dominate my mind as I read – that is how I hear Him. The thoughts are clear and they come to my mind repeatedly. I anticipated there might be days when He would not give me a clear message, but as of this writing, that has not happened.  Each day as I read God has given me a clear understanding of a passage and I have never been confused or left to wonder about what He is saying to me.

John 8:31-32 “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth…”

This last week I was reading a Scripture from Philippians – my “book of the month.”  I read a passage and an understanding came to my mind.  I immediately wanted to grab a commentary to find out if my understanding was “correct.”  But, as long as the thought I have does not contradict God’s character or His message as a whole, I can know that what I “hear” is from God.  It is easy to be led astray if we don’t allow ourselves to hear God’s message when He is trying to correct or rebuke us.  It’s tempting to take passages out of context to justify sin in our lives or defend choices that aren’t in keeping with God’s commands. While Satan cannot enter our minds, he has planted deceptions in the world that lead us to believe contradictory beliefs are from God. When this happens in my life, I feel unsettled and find myself arguing with myself.  When I experience those feelings, I go back to the passage, re-read it and wait for a new understanding that is from God.

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

The insight to the Philippians passage brought me great peace and helped settle a question I have had on my heart for some time now.  As I write out the thoughts God lays on my heart and expand the ideas He presents to me, I learn so much about God, about me, and about living life in a way that’s pleasing to Him.  So far it’s been an amazing process and I feel a deeper love for my Father! This “reading plan” has confirmed to me that God communicates with us in a very real way.  It also highlights for me how important it is to take time to listen – get rid of all the noise that prevents us from hearing Him and connect with Him every day.  How amazing that the Creator of the universe wants this kind of relationship with us and that He provided a way to speak to us directly.  How sad it makes me that so many don’t have this experience or dismiss the reality of my experience as a myth or some sort of fanaticism.  God is in the world, He is living and He wants to be a part of our lives.  Open that Bible and let God talk to you!

1 Corinthians 2:13 “And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual”

For those who might be struggling to “understand” what you are reading, I pray you will not become discouraged.  Often this is the reason people stop picking up their Bibles.  But, when the Holy Spirit dwells in us, we can know that we will understand exactly what God wants us to know at the time He wants to reveal it to us.  A thought about what we’re reading might not come for an hour or two after reading it – perhaps it will even take a day or two.  But always read, and then think on the passage throughout the day.  Pray before, during and after your reading time for God to open your eyes, ears and heart.  If you’re a new believer and want to discuss something God has revealed to you, be sure to ask a trusted believer, to seek out trusted authors, preachers or teachers.  Just keep in mind that God will reveal things to you in His time, not ours.  My daughter and I are often amazed at how often we read a passage or a Scripture that we have read many, many times but our present reading of it yields new understanding – perhaps we’re understanding it for the first time.  But God speaks to us when He is ready to speak about something – not when we want Him to.  We are always amazed at how His timing coincides with the circumstances in our lives.  There are still passages that haven’t been made clear to me but I know in God’s time He will speak to me when I need the message in my life to accomplish His purposes.  He will do the same for you. 

“Each time he listens to the word of the Father, or asks the Father to listen to his words, he dares not begin his Bible reading or prayer without first pausing and waiting, until the soul be hushed in the presence of the Eternal Majesty.” – Andrew Murray, Abiding in Christ

A LITTLE TOO CHRISTIAN

09 Sunday Feb 2014

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Some years ago I was with my daughter and her in-laws at a local Farmer’s Market.  As we passed through a sizeable crowd my daughter and I got separated.  When she found me she said, “Well, that was pretty sad.  I just heard a woman coming out of that store say, ‘That was a little too Christian.’”   We weren’t sure what had happened but wondered what someone might have done that could be deemed “too Christian.”  Had someone been too honest?  Too nice?  Too accommodating?  Too helpful?  The incident has stayed with me over the years.  Whatever it was, that person did something that was so opposite of what the world expected that it struck a nerve.  It still troubles me that the witness viewed the actions as negative rather than behavior we should aspire to.

Four or five years later I still wonder what transpired in that little market but know it could not have been too weighty.  A crowd didn’t gather, there was no screaming or yelling.  Perhaps someone returned money or excused someone for excessive rudeness.  As small as the incident had to have been, I wonder what this woman’s reaction would be to the mother who forgives the man that murdered her child; the husband who forgives his wife for infidelity; the man who spends his last dime to help someone he barely knows.  Most of us have a mental list of behaviors we deem nice enough or that we are willing to forgive; we also have a list of behaviors we feel are too tolerant, too risky, or that should not be forgiven.  As Christians, we are to follow God’s direction regarding our behavior.  As we work to implement these into our lives, we must remember that our culture will not understand them; most are deemed to be unreasonable and too much to expect from any human being.

Matthew 6:15 “But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

I love the back story about Peter asking Christ how often we are to forgive.  The Jewish practice was three total offers to forgive (Job 33:29; Amos 2:4, 6).  In Peter’s typical impulsive manner, he graciously asserts that perhaps seven times would be more in keeping with Jesus’s teachings.  But Jesus provides an answer I imagine Peter probably felt was unreasonable:  we are to forgive 70 x 7 times.  Jesus was telling Peter that we are to forgive others an infinite number of times.  We are not to keep track – forgive each time we are wronged with no regard to the type of offense and no regard for how many times we have had to forgive any particular person.  This is how our heavenly Father forgives us.  I am very thankful that God is not keeping a tally sheet of the times He has forgiven me – I passed 490 times a long, long time ago!  Nor is He listing my behaviors in columns titled “Not So Bad,” Really Bad,” or “Almost Too Bad to Forgive!”  I have a lot that would fall under this third column.

While I struggle with expressing Godly love, I do not struggle with the idea of forgiveness.  God has forgiven me of some terrible things and I need that forgiveness, so must I forgive others.  I somehow understand that even the most wretched and horrible person was not born that way.  Something in their life happened – perhaps it was bad nurturing, maybe mental illness, natural desires that are difficult to control.  That is not to say I condone sinful behavior – even the smallest sin is reprehensible to God, thus it is repulsive to me – nor do I believe it is necessary to continue interacting with anyone who continues to wreak havoc in our lives.  Forgiveness doesn’t require either of these.  But forgiveness does demand I recognize my own sinfulness and that we all need Jesus. I don’t stop needing Him after I have accepted Him.  When I look at my fellow sinners, I see someone God can save and I must be available for God to use to accomplish that, I must pray for them without regard to what they are doing.  Jesus is the only way to truly and permanently change the human heart.

The Sermon on the Mount provides us with a list of behaviors Jesus expects us to implement into our Christian lives.  They are principles the world finds unreasonable.  But when we can read this sermon without dismissing any and see the benefits we will gain from adopting them, why they are right, we are coming to a fuller understanding of God.  In his lesson “The Sermon on the Mount” (at www.Bible.org) Bob Deffinbaugh writes: “In this day and age, when we in the church seem to be looking more and more like the society around us, there may be no better medicine than the Sermon on the Mount. It describes what human life and human community look like when they come under the gracious rule of God … Different … not the same….  We should note that the beatitudes do not refer to different groups of people as if some are merciful, others are peacemakers, and still others are called upon to endure persecution. Rather, this is a beautifully poetic way of describing the qualities of a kingdom citizen. All these qualities are to characterize each of His people.

Some have taken the beatitudes (and in fact the whole sermon) as a description of what one must do in order to enter the kingdom of God. …This cannot be further from the truth. It is clear from the text that Jesus is describing the qualities and duties of those already in the kingdom. The Sermon on the Mount is not a presentation of the gospel telling one how to get saved. As Dr. S. Lewis Johnson has humorously pointed out, when the Philippian jailer asked the apostle Paul, “what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30), Paul did not reply with, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The Sermon on the Mount is not how to get into the kingdom, but how you are to be because you are in the kingdom.”

Living our lives as directed in the Sermon on the Mount is difficult because it is against human nature– in the world’s eyes, they are all “a little too Christian.”  But Jesus isn’t in the business of offering suggestions.  We are to work towards making them a part of our daily lives, our chosen responses.  And because they are not behaviors that we can adopt naturally, we must rely on the Holy Spirit to help us.  When we exhibit these behaviors our testimony is strengthened and we have the blessings Jesus promises in the second half of each beatitude.  At work I am often challenged because my passionate love for Jesus leads me to respond in unexpected ways.  Some days I handle these situations better than others.  On bad days, I often think that I’m wasting my time.  It seems much more acceptable for people to growl at each other and make rude remarks.  On those days I entertain the thought that since my efforts are viewed as insincere or hypocritical anyway, I might as well give up and act like the people around me.  But God reminds me that my standard of behavior is not other people.  I can’t give in to wanting to be accepted or to criticism.  My standard of behavior is Jesus.  There are no exceptions and no wiggle room.  I cannot justify bad behavior by explaining to God that His requirements aren’t acceptable to the people around me, that they might find them a little “too Christian.”

Matthew 10:34-36 – “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.”

There are people in society that many have decided we should not waste our time on.  But we are not the ones to decide to give up on anyone.  When God lays someone on our hearts, we must plant seeds until He directs us to stop.  When someone questions why I spend time helping someone that has caused a lot of problems at work, I simply tell them it’s not my prerogative to give up on her. There are people in my family that haven’t spoken to each other in years and some who have created great chaos for my loved ones.  But when God lays them on my heart, I cannot ignore God’s calling to spread His message to them, even when my family doesn’t understand.  The pain my family goes through because of their inability to forgive is tremendous and it saddens me.  But I must continue to be “too Christian” in every environment I am a part of.  I know it is the only thing that will fix broken relationships and it is one way to glorify God.   

Irwin Lutzer asked the question: What does it mean to live passionately for Christ?  His answer: “To live as if Jesus lives.”  Love the people Jesus loves (everyone); love them the way Jesus loves them (unconditionally); serve in the way Jesus served (humbly and daily).  We have to give up the expectation that the world is going to understand why we live the way we live.  Until someone truly turns their life over to Jesus, our behaviors will be viewed as irrational and naïve. 

The next time I wrong someone, whether it is intentional or not, I pray the person I’m dealing with behaves in a way that is “a little too Christian.”  Heck, I’d even take someone who is striving very hard to meet the minimum requirements!  “A little too Christian” would be a real blessing!

LET YOUR GENTLENESS BE KNOWN TO ALL

04 Saturday Jan 2014

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One of the biggest struggles I face in my Christian walk is sharing the Gospel with a gentle, loving spirit.  When someone makes a comment challenging what I believe, I immediately begin to feel angry, frustrated and anxious as I anticipate what they might say or how they will react to His message.  I knew I had a lot to overcome before I could effectively obey God’s command to share His plan of salvation with “the whole world”.  To begin with, I have a fear of talking to people about anything! Over the last four years, I haven’t grown very confident at effectively sharing my testimony, explaining God’s plan of salvation and why we need Jesus.  As I continued to struggle to master the art of “witnessing,” I recalled a book I read after I first became a Christian titled Learning Evangelism from Jesus by Jerram Barrs. Who better to learn evangelism from than Jesus Himself?! The book looks at a number of encounters Jesus had with religious leaders, the Jewish people and other unbelievers and how He handled each situation. As I reviewed the book, I was reminded that the root of my problem is not so much my inability to control my emotions as much as it is a problem of pride and lack of mercy for the lost. 

Deuteronomy 4:29 – “But if you seek the Lord your God from there, you will find him, if, indeed, you seek him with all your heart and soul.”

For most of my life, I let pride keep me from God.  Pride kept me from listening to sincere Christians and reading the Bible without constantly objecting to its words.  It was only after I began to earnestly seek Him that my pride took a back seat to my desire to find out who God really is.  I was blessed to have a few Christians in my life who shared their experiences and knowledge with patience, love and gentleness.  I didn’t have anyone belittling me or “assaulting” me with their knowledge or religious practices.  They answered my questions and suggested material to read after I talked with them.  Now that I have committed my life to Christ, my job is to share His message and I must do it in the same way these people shared with me, remembering that most may not be ready to hear what I am trying to tell them.  They are waiting for me to say or do one thing that reinforces all the negative things they have come to believe about Christ’s followers.

Luke 18:14 – “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

For the past three years, Christmas has brought a fair amount of anxiety to me as I watch and listen to Christians lamenting our culture’s efforts to remove Christ from our observance of this holiday and deciding to prove their love for Christ by insisting everyone use the phrase “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays.”  This year I read the most disheartening post yet in this battle.  It read: “Merry Christmas.  I hope this post offends as many people as possible.”  I suppose on the one hand this message could be interpreted as the sender wanting as many people as possible just to read it and remember that Christmas is about Jesus’ birth, knowing many are offended by Him.  But rest assured most unbelievers will only use it to confirm the widespread belief that Christians believe themselves to be “holier than thou,” self-righteous, and uncaring.  No, a conscious effort to offend is not the way to convince them to seek God.   Before I found Christ, a message like that would have strengthened my resolve not to be involved with people who had such an attitude.  It saddens me that Christians resort to such tactics and people jump on the bandwagon believing they are fighting a valiant war for their Savior.  But offending people is not how Christ taught us to fight His battle and we must always hold up Him up as our example.

Luke 18:9 – “Jesus also told this parable to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else”

I heard Hank Hanegraaff say this past month in a discussion about Christmas in today’s culture: “Pagans are going to fulfill their job description.  The question is will Christians fulfill theirs?”  Our job as a Christian is not to constantly remind unbelievers that they are wrong.  Our job isn’t even to reclaim December as the month to celebrate Jesus’ birth.  Our job ALWAYS is TO LEAD OTHERS TO CHRIST by sharing the Gospel message.  If we were to consistently do that, December could become the month Jesus’ birth once again becomes the main focus.  Those we help find Christ will realize they have been wrong through our testimonies and acts of love towards them, not through phrases meant to offend.  We have to remember where unbelievers are and stop expecting them to behave like believers.  We must guard against pride and a critical spirit.  Jerram Barrs reminds us who Jesus will hold accountable for wrong motives (Learning Evangelism from Jesus): “We do not see Jesus condemning the sinners in the world; rather, He condemns the leaders of God’s people with His severest words.”

I spent some time during the last month talking with a man who claimed to be a believer but all he could tell me was how wrong God has been, how he doesn’t need God to tell him what’s right and wrong, and all the errors and crimes against humanity he finds in the Bible.  Each time I knew I would be talking to him, I found my anger and anxiety rising.  It occurred to me that I needed to learn how to handle this situation calmly and in a way that communicates respect.  This man needed to know that my primary concern is that he comes to a right understanding of God not to argue and get him to admit I’m right and he’s wrong.  Until I can present the Gospel as Christ did, God cannot use me to reach others. I began asking God to remind me of where I was before I surrendered to Him and who I am without Christ. 

Philippians 4:5 – “Let your gentleness be known to all men.”

I also realized I was trying to develop my skills at sharing the Gospel under my own power – forgetting I can rely on the Holy Spirit. Before interacting with this man, I prayed.  I prayed during the conversation and God kept bringing encouraging thoughts to my mind:  it’s OK if I don’t know an answer; it’s OK if the conversation ends and I don’t feel I’ve changed his mind; I am only planting seeds; only God can bring in the harvest.  God brought appropriate Scripture to my mind that might help him see God’s true character.  I allowed God to “proofread” my responses and found myself replacing a LOT of words that reflected pride, sarcasm, arrogance, anger, even shock at some of the things this man was saying.

Isaiah 55:11 – “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void,”

I never got a response from the man after my last message so I don’t know how effective I was or if my words helped him understand God better.  But I know that as long as I speak the Truth in gentleness and kindness, my efforts are never in vain.  I pray God can use my words to lead this person to Him, but, if I blew it in some way, I know God can overcome that.  I do know He used the experience to teach me how to serve Him better.

1 Corinthians 8:1,2-“…Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.  The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. “

Sharing God’s Word is what I am called to do to help bring others to understand their need for Jesus.  I do not share His message to demonstrate my knowledge about Him.  I don’t share it to be “right.”  I talk to unbelievers for one reason only – in hopes they will seek Christ. 

Jerram Barrs: “…if I have a hard heart toward the unbelievers and sinners around me, then it is a certain sign that I do not have a good understanding of my own sin and unbelief, nor of my own need before Jesus for His continual mercy and forgiveness.”

UNEQUALLY YOLKED

15 Sunday Dec 2013

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I’ve heard the Bible referred to as an Owner’s Manual for humans – the “manufacturer” provides us with operating instructions that we should follow to insure we perform at optimum level. There are many things that God sets out for us in the Bible on how we are to live, some are things we should not do, others are things we should do.  Most people view these directions from God as arbitrary rules He gives that take all the fun out of life or take away our freedom to make our own choices. But our “manufacturer,” our Creator, is love in its purest sense so we can know that all of His directions will make our lives as good as they can possibly be when we obey them.

 We can see how many of God’s directions are in our best interests: do not murder, do not bear false witness, do not commit adultery, and help the poor are principles that obviously make our lives better.  Then there are things that God tells us to do or abstain from where the benefits aren’t so obvious: turn the other cheek, be humble, sexual purity.  These things are either opposite of how the world tells us to live or we don’t agree personally with them – perhaps both.

I was not a committed follower of Jesus until I was fifty years old, and by that time there were many things in my life that ran counter to His commandments.  The things I didn’t understand as beneficial I simply ignored or decided they didn’t apply to me.  Prior to December, 2009, God was just a religion for me – a choice I made about what I was going to believe in.  It wasn’t necessary for people in my life to share that belief.  I was divorced and I didn’t choose the men in my life based on their religion or lack of one. My beliefs didn’t impact my life in any real way.  I didn’t make choices based on them and I didn’t view the world through that lens.    

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 – “14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?  What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God;…”

All of that changed when I committed my life to Jesus.  He became more than merely a religious choice.  I understood who He was, what He did for me and why I needed Him.  I wanted to live my life for Him and be obedient to the way He directs us to live in every area of my life.  As my faith and trust in Him increased, I began to change the things in my life that weren’t in line with His direction. 

At the time I had been living with my boyfriend of eleven years.  I knew exactly what God desired for me to do in that situation.  But, there was another issue – my boyfriend was not a believer.  I knew the Bible said something about being unequally yolked but I struggled to understand how obeying this principle would be of any great benefit to my life.  After eleven years together, I still cared deeply about him.  Our relationship wasn’t perfect but I had never felt so secure and loved in my entire life.  I spent the next year going back and forth as to what I should do.  If I decided that I should not marry an unbeliever, then I would be on my own and my financial situation was a mess.  My children and grandchildren loved him and I didn’t want to put them through another broken relationship – I had done that to them too many times in my life.  With every ounce of human pride I possessed, I decided that I would forego this direction from God and prove Him wrong!  I dismissed God’s word that being unequally yolked was something to avoid and told myself I would be able to live a full Christian life with an unbelieving husband.  I was also very confident I would make a believer out of him.  We were married in March, 2011.    

Colossians 2:20 – “Therefore, … you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world,”

At first, there were few problems.  Changes in my life came slowly and I didn’t fully understand my conversion experience.  I walked in my Christian life most of the time, but reverted back to our worldly ways in order to spend time with my husband.  But, as time went on, I became convicted about most of the things we had enjoyed doing together and couldn’t participate in them anymore.  The more I learned about Jesus the more I wanted to talk about Him.  My husband couldn’t understand this and asked that I not bring it up with his family.  He would walk away annoyed when I started discussing Jesus when we were with friends.  I began attending church more regularly, listening to Christian music and popular evangelists but I couldn’t talk with him about the things I learned or the emotions I experienced.  We disagreed about insignificant things that made up our daily routine like television shows or radio programs because I saw how the subject matter offends God.  Discussions about world events were being seen in two totally different perspectives and we stopped discussing them because we could find no common ground about their implications or their root causes.  As my passion for Jesus grew so did the distance between my husband and me.    

1 Corinthians 3:19 – “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.”

I came to understood that, while my husband is still “of this world” I no longer am.  He is a kind, generous, loving man but his priority is worldly things and securing our earthly future. One day he said to me “I believe in God.  I just don’t want to worship Him like you do.” He doesn’t understand that God must be our first priority nor how all of the things we have are blessings from God, believing instead they are a result of his hard work.  I have no fear of something happening that would take away everything we have – I know God will take care of me.  He has no such comfort.  I want God to be the center of our relationship and our home, but he doesn’t understand the need for that.  He understands the basics of Jesus, but can’t understand why we need Him.  Until recently, he didn’t believe there is a part of us that will live forever.  Now that he understands we have an eternal soul, he believes he is a good enough person to gain admission into heaven, although he’s not fully convinced of its reality.  His confidence is in the things of this world and I know how undependable and temporary these things are.  Because of his worldly focus I cannot devote our resources – time, money, space, material possessions – as fully to God as I know we should. 

1 Peter 3:1 – “Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives,”

I know the ramifications of denying Jesus and my concern for my husband’s eternal soul weighs heavy on me.  At first I spent a lot of time preaching and chastising him for his unbelief. I displayed an arrogance about how I was right and he was wrong. When I tried to tell him the things I was learning, there was no love in my voice.  I was angry and prideful and scared for him.  I came home from church feeling lonely and sorry for myself and would barely speak to him.  All I could focus on was how wrong he was.  I believed if I just kept talking that someday I would say exactly the thing that would turn him into a believer.  Then I read 1 Peter 3:1 and God drew my mind to the words “without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives.”  It was time to draw up a new game plan!

I gave control of this situation over to God a few months ago.  My role in saving my husband is to show God’s love in every situation – I make it my goal each day.  After coming home from work or church, I let him know I am happy to see him and kiss him before doing anything else.  When I feel annoyed at a comment he makes or offended at a television show he’s watching, I don’t preach at him anymore.  I give him my attention when I can or find something else to occupy my time, but make sure to comment only if I can be positive.  If I can’t come up with something positive, I just smile – we both know where my thoughts are without me having to say a word.  And I see it paying off. I am beginning to see a softening in him, an understanding of the importance of Jesus in my life and a willingness to read some of the material I have “laying around!” From time to time I tell him about something I’ve read or done and he listens more closely, takes more of an interest.  I never go against God’s commandments for my life and my husband has come to respect this new life I have.  I know I am blessed that we don’t fight about it and he doesn’t insist I “change back.”  My biggest challenge is being patient and let God work in this.  Some days I find the process fascinating, other days frustrating. 

1 Corinthians 7:12-14 – “To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.”

My husband is the only one in this relationship that has the prerogative to leave.  As a believer, that is not an option for me.  I pray every day that my husband will come to a full knowledge of Jesus.  My struggle until then is to remain strong, be patient and remain obedient so God can use me in His plan to save my husband.  My experience is also a warning to those who don’t understand the impact living life with an unbeliever can have on our Christian walk.  Everything becomes complicated and you can’t give God full control over your marriage or your home because your spouse isn’t a participant.  I know God has forgiven me for my disobedience and every day I must manage the consequences of my choice God’s way.   I find strength in Paul’s words to Timothy: 

1 Timothy 2:3,4 – “ For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,  who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

MY ETERNAL HOME IS……EARTH?!

08 Sunday Dec 2013

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Until recently I believed that after we die, we go to heaven where there will be no sickness, tears, sorrow or pain.  I could look forward to having angel wings, playing a harp, and looking down on loved ones for eternity.  The streets there would be paved with gold and there would be pearly gates. It was all rather surreal and, while I desired to go there, it seemed like something more akin to a fairy tale than a real place.  When I finally understood the reality of God, these notions of heaven didn’t fit with what I had learned about Him and His plans for us.  Surreal and magical is not the mode in which I had learned God operates.

“…the world in which Adam and Eve lived would have been the perfect temperature, the perfect humidity, without pests or diseases, and without anything that would detract from their enjoyment of knowing God in a perfect, undiluted way.  Surely, this is what is meant by the word ‘paradise’.” What Was Life Like In the Garden of Eden Before Sin?  by Robert Driskell on August 7, 2012

When God created humans He put them in the Garden of Eden where He planned for them to live forever.  If the Garden was to be a place of eternity, it would have had to have been a perfect place designed to meet all our needs.  It would have included all the extras God gives us to demonstrate how much He loves us.  In my mind, a place like the Garden of Eden would be a wonderful place to spend eternity and more desirable and realistic than a heaven with streets paved of gold.     

 Revelation 21:4 – “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Life here is short.  We’re given 70 or 80 years max then we’re taken to another place to live forever.  While this world certainly is challenging and full of undesirable things, there are moments when we can sense what God actually had in mind:  the beauty of nature; loving people; comfort, joy and peace; intimacy with God.  When I turned my life over to Christ, I was more aware of His goodness and as my life settled into the calm, peaceful existence God wanted for me, I began to see one of the ways He shows His love is in the variety of things He gave us to enjoy.  I’m sure streets of gold are beautiful, but can they compare with the beauty of lush, green acres of grass?  How will cities of gold compare to the breathtaking view of budding trees and flowers in springtime? Why did God go to such pains to create so many beautiful flowers here, why so many different shades of green? I came to believe that these creations could not possibly have been meant to be temporal – these amazing things were more suited for God’s original eternal plan.

I read a book where someone expressed concern that they will be bored in heaven.  They could not fathom how an existence where all we do is praise God could be fulfilling or sitting on a cloud and playing a harp would be an ideal existence.  I had never thought about being bored in heaven, but after reading that, I began to think about those times in life when I had accomplished something or did something for someone that brought such joy.  The amazing feeling of love I get from knowing Jesus is sometimes so overwhelming that I can’t even express the emotions I experience. These feelings are also God’s gift to us.  Although they would need to be fine-tuned so we are doing them in a way that is not self-serving, realizing our potential, serving others, and loving God are great sources of fulfillment, peace and joy. I added them to my list of things I hoped heaven would include.

2 Corinthians 12:2-4 – “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.”

As I learned about God’s nature and how He works in the world, I began to realize the things I believed about heaven probably weren’t accurate.  As my theories eroded, I still knew it to be a real place and I yearned to know the truth about it.  I thought I had found my answer when books about people who had visited heaven and returned to earth came to my attention – I could know about heaven by reading their experiences. But these accounts only added to my confusion.  Their stories were even more surreal than the beliefs I had held.  If these people had actually gone to a real place, their stories should match.  If three people go to Hawaii, I should find things in their stories that match.  I found little, if anything, similar in the stories I took the time to read.  Each person’s experience included such amazing things that another person who had actually gone to the same place would surely have told us about them.  I can’t imagine that Colton Burpo’s rainbow-colored horse is a fact of heaven that Don Piper simply forgot to mention!  I’m sure these people had some kind of experience, but I do not believe it was a visit to the actual “place” of heaven. Furthermore, the apostle Paul is quite clear about John’s visit to heaven and the fact that he was not permitted to talk about the things he had seen and heard; as Hank Hanegraaff puts it in his book AfterLife: “Paul did not so much as countenance writing a 67th book of the Bible titled 90 Minutes in Heaven.” The apostles John and Paul knew better than to talk about a visit to heaven and would not pronounce a definitive conclusion about the experience – they wrote what God directed them to write and focused on taking the Gospel to unbelievers.  Finally, since no new revelations are to be forthcoming following those given by Jesus’s eyewitnesses, we can safely dismiss the claims made by any visitors to heaven or hell.

Mark 4:39-41 – “Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.  But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!””

I love reading about Jesus turning water into wine, healing sick people and raising people from the dead.  As a child, I equated His miracles with magic, much like Mary Poppins was able to do!  Even as an adult, my understanding about them was more along the lines of magic.  God can do anything He wants to do.  Then I heard a Christian teacher talking about how Jesus’s miracles were used to display His power over nature: water fermenting, bodies healing, filling fishing nets with fish, calming storms, and walking on water.  Processes that take months or years, Jesus was able to bring to completion in seconds.  Forces of nature were altered with His words.  I had never thought of miracles in this way.  Jesus didn’t perform “magic.”  He exercised His power over our physical world, operating in His world as only He is able to do.  Somehow that realization made God more of a reality. While I still understood that His miracles were supernatural, understanding that they are a demonstration of His power over the things He created moved them from “magic” to a more understandable and believable phenomenon.

Hank Hanegraaff in his book AfterLife:  “…the imagery of Revelation is not intended to tell us what heaven looks like but rather is intended to tell us what heaven is like.”

I wanted an explanation about our life after death that was on the level of what I had learned about Jesus’s miracles.  As my confusion and curiosity increased, God brought messengers and messages to my attention with a new level of understanding from the Holy Spirit.  As I learned more about Biblical interpretation I learned about the imagery, metaphors and other figures of speech used to communicate ideas and aspects which we would not otherwise understand.  Interposing these literary tools on Bible passages about our life after death brought me to the understanding I sought. 

 2 Corinthians 5:8 – “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord”

When we die, our soul separates from our physical body and we are present with God.  Immediately upon death, we will know God as a reality and, for those who rejected Him the experience of hell (separation from God) begins as they understand God’s great love and exactly what it is they have rejected.  Those who have died experience God apart from their physical bodies.  This phase of life after death is referred to as relational, rather than locational, as you could not find a map of all the existing universes and stick a pin in the spot where heaven is.  This doesn’t make it any less real.  It is merely a supernatural way of existence until the final phase of life after death begins.  We will exist spiritually until Jesus returns to this world.   

Isaiah 65:17 – “See,I will create new heavens and a new earth”

Isaiah 66:22 – “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord,….”

Revelation 21:1,2 – “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

When Jesus returns, the final phase of life after death begins (Hank Hanegraaff refers to it as “life after life-after-life).  At this time, all people who have died will be resurrected and their souls will be returned to a physical body.  Including those still living at the time of Jesus’s return, all people will receive eternal, perfect bodies like that Jesus had when He was resurrected – no longer subject to decay and deterioration.  Jesus will also bring a new earth – a newly-created earth that, like our new bodies, will not decay or rot, where God will live among us.  Christ’s sincere, committed followers will live in this new, perfect, eternal world going about a life much like we know now, but totally free from sin:  no greed, no murder, no lust, no covetousness, no lies.  God will reign and we will live for eternity just as He planned in the beginning, in a new Garden of Eden where sin is no longer a possibility.  It is not an eternal home of clouds, angel wings and harps, but a world much like what we experience now, free from the things that bring us sorrow and despair.  There will be things that will be different in the eternal world, but it will resemble this world more so than a place where magical creatures embody the images that have been used to describe the experience.

Although we can accurately say we will go to heaven after we die, we will spend eternity on a “new earth.”  And, to me, that matches up perfectly with God’s working in the world thus far and the promises He has given us.  It is in keeping with the reality of who God is and His original plan for us.

Genesis 1:26, 27 – “Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness,so they may ruleover the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth,and over all the creatures that moveon the earth.” God created humankindin his own image, in the image of God he created them,male and female he created them.”

THE TRUE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

30 Saturday Nov 2013

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In December, 2009, I yielded my life to Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, began dwelling within me.  It is a wondrous thing to think about. In his book “The Prayer Life” Andrew Murray tells us exactly who the Holy Spirit is and how we must think about Him:

 “What was the peculiar privilege of the disciples, who were always in fellowship with him?  It was uninterrupted enjoyment of the presence of the Lord Jesus.  It was because of this they were so sorrowful at the thought of His death.  They would be deprived of that presence.  He would be no longer with them.  How, under these circumstances, did the Lord Jesus comfort them?  He promised that the Holy Spirit from heaven should so work in them a sense of the fullness of His life and of His personal presence that He would be even more intimately near and have more unbroken fellowship with them than ever they experienced while He was upon earth.”

 Initially the Holy Spirit’s presence in my life brought about some dramatic changes.  I couldn’t wait to find time in my day to read my Bible – it became much more than a book. I noticed things in the stories I had never noticed before, understood things I never understood before.  The more I learned about Jesus, the more I wanted to know.  I accepted the things God told me to do, even when I disagreed with them or when they put me at odds with the world.  I rid myself of habits I had struggled with for years.   I hurt for people where I hadn’t even noticed their suffering before.  I began to realize how far from God the world was getting.  I experienced peace and joy for the first time in my adult life.

 1 Corinthians 6:19 – “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,”

 While many of the powers Christians were given during the first years of the church can still be given, they are no longer the norm.  Certain gifts were given during that time to insure the Gospel would spread.  Speaking in tongues was necessary so that the Gospel could be taken to people who did not understand the language of the first converts.  Healing and exorcising demons was widespread and served as evidence that Jesus was truly the son of God.  News of those events attracted a lot of attention and word of them spread quickly in a world with none of the modern modes of mass communication we rely on today. 

 In our world today, confusion about the Holy Spirit abounds.  One Christian leader stated that the Church would never tolerate this kind of abuse of Jesus. Too many who claim to be committed followers of Christ insist on visible signs of spirituality.  Some decide we will be able to speak in foreign tongues as proof we are indwelled with the Holy Spirit; others believe we will have healing powers, the ability to avoid all sickness, or will amass great wealth as evidence that God dwells within us. Some are led to dress differently as a visible sign of the change they have experienced.  Some begin to live differently than the rest of the world, renouncing modern conveniences. But the most wondrous power of the Holy Spirit is in things we cannot see: understanding God and His Word, a full understanding of Jesus’s teachings, peace in the midst of trouble, assurance when we find ourselves doubting God, comfort during difficult trials, boldness to speak the Truth in a world that does not want to hear it. The Holy Spirit will even help us pray when we find it difficult to express our thoughts to God!  These are the things we experience that insure He is with us. 

Romans 8:26 – “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

 I know that I don’t fully understand His power and my faith in Him is often very weak.  I tend to think I’m on my own again, but nothing could be further from the truth.  In another passage from “The Prayer Life,” Andrew Murray writes:

 “When a Christian does not yield entirely to the leading of the Spirit…he lives, without knowing it, under the power of ‘the flesh.’  This life of ‘the flesh’ manifests itself in many different ways.  It appears in the hastiness of spirit, or the anger which so unexpectedly arises in you, in the lack of love for which you have so often blamed yourself; in the pleasure found in eating and drinking, about which at times your conscience has chidden you; in that seeking for your own will and honour, that confidence in your own wisdom and power, that pleasure in the world, of which you are sometimes ashamed before God.  All this is life ‘after the flesh.’”

 And, though I don’t want to admit it that is my answer:  I am still living life under the power of ‘the flesh.’  As God leads me to do certain things, I refuse, giving in to my excuses and fears.  I still look for the things that make my life comfortable and easy.  Instead of taking life a day at a time, I constantly look forward, hampering my ability to call on Him for help with my present situation.  After 50 years of doing things under my own power, I struggle to let go and truly give it all to Him.  But just as I did in December, 2009, each day I must yield myself to Him in the same way.  I must devote time each day to be with Him in silence, without imposing my will and thoughts on Him.  Again, I refer to Andrew Murray’s words (from Abiding in Christ):

 “And, last of all, even when the soul seeks truly to enter the way of faith, there is the impatience of the flesh, which forms its judgment of the life and progress of the soul not after the divine but the human standard.  In dealing with all this, and so much more, blessed the man who learns the lesson of stillness, and fully accepts God’s word: “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”  Each time he listens to the word of the Father, or asks the Father to listen to his words, he dares not begin his Bible reading or prayer without first pausing and waiting, until the soul be hushed in the presence of the Eternal Majesty.”

 Psalm 46:10 – “ Be still, and know that I am God;”

 The Holy Spirit’s unseen gifts are the greatest.  I have little interest in speaking a language I’ve never learned unless it is needed to lead another to Christ.  I have little interest in the gift of healing unless it is God’s plan for my life.  God does tell us that every believer will receive gifts that will speak volumes about what Christ can do in the lives of those who follow Him: peace, joy, wisdom.  I want to exhibit those things so a life dedicated to Christ is desired by everyone I am around. 

 Romans 15:13 – “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”