February 6, 2012

TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD – 2/6/2012

So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.
–Romans 14:13, NLT

He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.
–Psalm NLT

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Developing a Tender Heart

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean ; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. “You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers ; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.
Ezekiel 36:25-28

The Lord wants to give each of us a “heart of flesh” so that we will be pliable and responsive to Him. When touched by the finger of God, a tender heart yields to the pressure and assumes the form He desires, much like a lump of clay that allows the potter to determine the shape of the vessel.

To aid in this process, God has sent the Holy Spirit to indwell each believer and awaken responsiveness in him or her. By yielding to the Spirit’s promptings with ready obedience, the heart becomes increasingly tender and sensitive to His leading. The Lord is able to impart greater understanding of His Word to a soft heart because it has faithfully accepted and obeyed previous teachings.

Any resistance to God will result in hardening. But those who are accustomed to intimacy with Christ—which is the result of submission to Him—will be quick to deal with sin and return to the place of obedience and blessing.

People with tender hearts stay closely connected to the body of Christ, seeking to build up and encourage others in their walk of faith. Such individuals are not only receptive to what God wants to tell them; they are also teachable, in that they are willing to listen and be corrected by others.

This week when you read your Bible and pray, let your heart be soft toward the words of God. As He pokes His finger into each hard area, listen to His instructions, and rely on the Spirit’s power to help you yield and obey. Let Him shape you into a beautiful and useful vessel.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
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Unhappiness: A Tempting Choice?
Sarah Jennings, Crosswalk.com Family Editor

“And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 13: 52, NIV

“Always be happy. I see you out there with your solemn faces and hands folded like this, and perhaps you think this is holiness. This sad, solemn-ness is not really holiness. Always be happy wherever you go; God is good.”

These are words spoken by a priest from India at a recent retreat. No doubt, this priest is well-versed in the theology of redemptive suffering, so his words gave me pause. What does he mean by this? Is it even possible to be happy like this?

Later, in a discussion with my father, he mentioned that family counselors like my stepmother often encounter challenging clients who are married to their unhappiness. In other words, these individuals are so comfortable with their misery and dysfunction (born out of very real hurts, no doubt) they don’t even want to be happy anymore.

Pondering all this has rearranged some of my thinking on faith and happiness.

Perhaps you’ve heard this common saying in Christian circles: “God doesn’t promise us happiness here on earth.” From what I’ve encountered in my studies of the Bible and theology, the statement is factual.

I used to interpret this fact as an indication that God just doesn’t have happiness in his plans for some (and I was likely one of those people, right?). But as I am reflecting on Fr. Andrew’s words and my stepmother’s clients, it hits me. Perhaps God doesn’t promise happiness because it’s not his place to give it. In other words, perhaps happiness is part of God’s plan, but it’s something we also must choose on our end.

Think about it. Have you ever met that person who “has everything” but isn’t happy? I knew a person like that. He possessed uncommon intelligence. He had a loving family, wealth, and opportunity. But he seemed gifted at finding the dark side to everything. And I mean everything. He suffered from incredible cynicism and depression. Let’s put the possibility of a chemical imbalance aside for a second and ponder this truth: God has the power to bless us, but it’s up to us to be happy about it.

I don’t say these things to cause pain or make anyone feel guilty for not feeling happy. Trust me, I’ve had plenty of dark periods where happiness seemed like a joke. I firmly believe it’s okay to feel unhappy sometimes. Jesus didn’t always feel good either, and it’s safe to say there was nothing wrong with him.

Still, it’s important to remember that there is a danger in wallowing in darkness for too long. There is a great temptation to become attached to our sadness, our victim-hood. Our cross, instead of drawing us closer to life in Christ, ends up bringing us closer to spiritual death when we do this.

In his book The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis explores this idea that we can become too attached to our brokenness. He sets up a fictional scenario where souls in hell get a second chance at heaven. But they ultimately do not choose heaven – they can’t even enjoy heaven – due to their excessive attachment to hell.

This seems downright crazy, but it’s not any different than the clients my stepmom sees every week. And it’s a very real trap we fall into every time we hold too tightly to our hurts and sorrows instead of releasing them to God.

Lewis warns, “If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell.”

But then what do we do with all the bad things in life? Certainly, we will feel sorrow and loss – we should feel sorrow and loss when bad things happen. How then do we avoid getting trapped by tragedy? How do we let go of the comforts, the “intimate souvenirs,” of life’s little hells? Lewis has more to say about that, and I will end here to ponder his words:

“‘Son,’ he said, ‘ye cannot in your present state understand eternity… That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, ‘No future bliss can make up for it,’ not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say ‘Let me have but this and I’ll take the consequences’: little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin. Both processes begin even before death. The good man’s past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man’s past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why… the Blessed will say ‘We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven,’: and the Lost, ‘We were always in Hell.’ And both will speak truly.”
Intersecting Faith & Life: Have you held on to unhappiness for too long? Is your sadness, guilt, anger, or bitterness tempting you to sin or obscuring your faith? Ask God to help you let go of destructive thoughts or behaviors.

Further Reading

1 Peter 1: 8
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The Black Hole
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Monday, February 06 2012

…”My grace is sufficient for you….” – 2 Corinthians 12:9
If you are older than 35, you may recall the early days of the space program. I remember the early spacecraft launch with John Glenn. One of the most exciting and tense moments of his return to earth was his reentry to the earth’s atmosphere. I recall the diagram on television of the heat shield on the capsule that had to withstand incredible temperatures to avoid complete destruction. There was a blackout period for several minutes in which mission control had no radio contact. He was in the “black hole.” It was a tense time. Either he would make it through, or the spacecraft would burn up in the atmosphere. There were several minutes of silence that seemed like an eternity. Then, mission control shouted with joy when they reestablished contact with the spacecraft. It was a time of rejoicing.

Have you ever had a time when you were in a spiritual black hole in your life? I have. The pressure was unbearable. No sense of God’s presence. No sense of anything going on around me. God was about as far away as the man in the moon – at least from my perspective. I think every Christian who is called to make a significant difference in his world experiences times like these. These are the times when we question the reality of God, the love of God, the personal care of God. And He demonstrates to us that He was there all the time. These are “faith experiences” that God does in every person who is called to a higher level of relationship with Him. These times are needful in order to know that we have the “heat shield” that can withstand the incredible heat that comes when we follow Him with a whole heart – a heart that is radical in a commitment to fully follow His ways. Elisha had that spirit. He slaughtered his 12 oxen and burned his plowing equipment so that he would not have the opportunity to return to anything if God didn’t come through (see 1 Kings 19:21).

The apostle Paul asked God to remove the heat from his own life one time. God’s answer was not what he wanted to hear.

But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me! (2 Corinthians 12:9 AMP)

How’s your heat shield today? Can it withstand the heat that would want to burn up everything in your life not based in Him? Christ said, “My grace is sufficient.” Is that really true in your life? Let His grace be your shield today.
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Are Christians Totally Depraved?
Tullian Tchividjian

Believe it or not, this is an important question. It’s not simply a theological question. It’s a theological question that has profound practical implications. Our answer will inevitably reveal our understanding of the gospel and reflect our understanding of sin and grace.

First things first: what total depravity isn’t.

Total depravity does not mean “utter depravity.” Utter depravity means that someone is as bad as he/she can possibly be. Thankfully, God’s restraining grace keeps even the worst of us from being utterly depraved. The worst people who have ever lived could’ve been worse. So, don’t read “utter depravity” into “total depravity.”

Well, if total depravity isn’t utter depravity, then what is it? As understood and articulated by theologians for centuries, the idea of “total depravity” means more than one thing.

On the one hand, total depravity affirms that we are all born “dead in our trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1-3; Colossians 2:13), with no spiritual capacity to incline ourselves Godward. We do not come into this world spiritually neutral; we come into this world spiritually dead. Therefore, we need much more than to reach out from our spiritual hospital bed and take medicine that God offers. We need to be raised from death to life. In this sense, total depravity means we are “totally unable” to go to God. We will not because we cannot, and we cannot because we’re dead.

None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. (Romans 3:10-12)

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:7-8)

Salvation only happens when God comes to us.

When the Resurrection and the Life says “Lazarus, come forth”, the rest of the story does not depend on Lazarus. He can drag his feet all the way–admittedly, a hell of a thing to do–but he rises, no matter what. He just plain does… Jesus came to raise the dead. The only qualification for the gift of the Gospel is to be dead. You don’t have to be smart. You don’t have to be good. You don’t have to be wise. You don’t have to be wonderful. You just have to be dead. That’s it. (Robert Capon)

So, in the sense above, Christians are obviously not totally depraved. We who were dead have been made alive.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…(Ephesians 2:4-6)

But once God regenerates us by his Spirit, draws us to himself, unites us to Christ, raises us from the dead, and grants us status as adopted sons and daughters, is there any sense in which we can speak of Christian’s being totally depraved?

Yes.

Theologians speak of total depravity, not only in terms of “total inability” to come to God on our own because we’re spiritually dead, but also in terms of sin’s effect: sin corrupts us in the “totality” of our being. Our minds are affected by sin. Our hearts are affected by sin. Our wills are affected by sin. Our bodies are affected by sin. This is at the heart of Paul’s internal struggle that he articulates in Romans 7:

For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

The painful struggle that Paul gives voice to arises from his condition as simul justus et peccator (simultaneously justified and sinful). He has been raised from the dead and is now alive to Christ, but remaining sin continues to plague him at every level and in every way.

Paul’s testimony demonstrates that even after God saves us, there is no part of us that becomes sin free–we remain sinful and imperfect in all of our capacities, in the “totality” of our being. Even after God saves us, our thoughts, words, motives, deeds, and affections need the constant cleansing of Christ’s blood and the forgiveness that comes our way for free. This is what J.C. Ryle was getting at when he wrote, “Even the best things we do have something in them to be pardoned.”

While it is gloriously true for the Christian that there is nowhere Christ has not arrived by his Spirit, it is equally true that there is no part of any Christian in this life that is free of sin. Because of the totality of sins effect, therefore, we never outgrow our need for Christ’s finished work on our behalf–we never graduate beyond our desperate need for Christ’s righteousness and his strong and perfect blood-soaked plea “before the throne of God above.”

The reason this is so important is because we will always be suspicious of grace (“yes grace, but…”) until we realize our desperate need for it. Our dire need for God’s grace doesn’t get smaller after God saves us–in one sense, it actually gets bigger. Christian growth, says the Apostle Peter, is always “growth into grace”, not away from it. Many Christians think that becoming sanctified means that we become stronger and stronger, more and more competent. And although we would never say it this way, we Christian’s sometimes give the impression that sanctification is growth beyond our need for Jesus and his finished work for us: we needed Jesus a lot for justification; we need him less for sanctification.

The truth is, however, that Christian growth and progress involves coming to the realization of just how weak and incompetent we continue to be and how strong and competent Jesus continues to be for us. Spiritual maturity is not marked by our growing, independent fitness. Rather, it’s marked by our growing dependence on Christ’s fitness for us. Because we are daily sinners, we need God’s daily distributions of free grace that come our way as a result of Christ’s finished work. Christian growth involves believing and embracing the fact that, even as a Christian, you’re worse than you think you are but that God’s grace toward you in Christ is much bigger than you could ever imagine.

Because of total depravity, you and I were desperate for God’s grace before we were saved. Because of total depravity, you and I remain desperate for God’s grace even after we’re saved.

Thankfully, though our sin reaches far, God’s grace reaches infinitely farther.
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It is Sufficient

“IS” (2 Cor. 12:9).

It had pleased God to remove my youngest child under circumstances of peculiar trial and pain; and as I had just laid my little one’s body in the churchyard, on return home, I felt it my duty to preach to my people on the meaning of trial.

Finding that this text was in the lesson for the following Sabbath, I chose it as my Master’s message to them and myself; but on trying to prepare the notes, I found that in honesty I could not say that the words were true; and therefore I knelt down and asked God to let His grace be sufficient for me. While I was thus pleading, I opened my eyes and saw a framed illuminated text, which my mother had given me only a few days before, and which I had told my servant to place upon the wall during my absence at the holiday resort where my little one was taken away from us.

I did not notice the words on returning to my house; but as I looked up and wiped my eyes, the words met my gaze, “My grace is sufficient for thee.”

The “is” was picked out in bright green while the “My” and the “thee” were painted in another color.

In one moment the message came straight to my soul, as a rebuke for offering such a prayer as, “Lord, let Thy grace be sufficient for me”; for the answer was almost as an audible voice, “How dare you ask that which is?” God cannot make it any more sufficient than He has made it; get up and believe it, and you will find it true, because the Lord says it in the simplest way: “My grace is (not shall be or may be) sufficient for thee.”

“My,” “is,” and “thee” were from that moment, I hope, indelibly fixed upon my heart; and I (thank God) have been trying to live in the reality of the message from that day forward to the present time.

The lesson that came to me, and which I seek to convey to others, is, Never turn God’s facts into hopes, or prayers, but simply use them as realities, and you will find them powerful as you believe them.
–Prebendary H. W. Webb Peploe
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He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
To added affliction He addeth His mercies,
To multiplied trials His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.
His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,

His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth and giveth and giveth again.
–Annie Johnson Flint

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TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD – 2/5/2012

For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
–James 1:3, NLT

I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.
–Isaiah 57:15 NLT
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Understanding Your Gift
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Sunday, February 05 2012

Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. – 1 Corinthians 12:1
In First Corinthians 12 and Romans 12, the apostle Paul is teaching us about the role of spiritual gifts in the Church. He correlates these gifts to a human body, telling us that each person’s gift helps the whole Body of the Church. This is such an important principle for us to learn. I must say I learned this principle regarding my own spiritual gift the hard way.

“God will never speak as strongly to you as to someone else,” said my mentor to me one day. The statement shocked me. “What in the world do you mean by that?” I argued with him.

“Your spiritual gift of administration/leading is one of the most dangerous gifts in the whole Body of Christ. The reason is that you can see the big picture better than anyone else, and you’re so task-oriented that you will run people into the ground getting your project completed because you think you see it so clearly. That is why the best friend you could ever have is someone with a prophetic gift to discern whether the big picture you see is actually the picture God is directing. It is the one gift that can almost stand alone better than any other – at least that is the opinion of the one with that gift.”

Oh, how I have learned this lesson the hard way! He was so right. There have been many a church staff destroyed by a person with the gift of administration. During my years as an ad agency owner, I saw how I stressed out my staff because of the tremendous load I put on them with multiple projects. It was so easy for me because the more balls I had juggling, the better I felt. I was oblivious to how my multi-task personality impacted those around me.

Today, I have some special relationships with intercessors and prophetic people whom I depend on for confirmation of direction. I have learned their spiritual gifts of discernment are of great value in determining strategic direction. I have learned that God has placed within each person a spiritual gift that is designed to make the Body of Christ function better for His purposes. When we discover the spiritual gifts God has placed in those around us, we are better able to see the Body function as a real body-totally dependent on one another. Some of us are more sensitive to God’s voice because God has gifted us in that way. Others of us are less sensitive because God wants us to depend on others in the Body for their gifts. Find out whom God has placed around you today and discover a new dimension of spiritual productivity.
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When Do We Praise

“And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me” (John 11:41).

This is a very strange and unusual order. Lazarus is still in the grave, and the thanksgiving precedes the miracle of resurrection. I thought that the thanksgiving would have risen when the great deed had been wrought, and Lazarus was restored to life again. But Jesus gives thanks for what He is about to receive. The gratitude breaks forth before the bounty has arrived, in the assurance that it is certainly on the way. The song of victory is sung before the battle has been fought. It is the sower who is singing the song of the harvest home. It is thanksgiving before the miracle!

Who thinks of announcing a victory-psalm when the crusaders are just starting out for the field? Where can we hear the grateful song for the answer which has not yet been received? And after all, there is nothing strange or forced, or unreasonable in the Master’s order. Praise is really the most vital preparatory ministry to the working of the miracles. Miracles are wrought by spiritual power. Spiritual power is always proportioned to our faith.
–Dr. Jowett
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PRAISE CHANGES THINGS

Nothing so pleases God in connection with our prayer as our praise, and nothing so blesses the man who prays as the praise which he offers. I got a great blessing once in China in this connection. I had received bad and sad news from home, and deep shadows had covered my soul. I prayed, but the darkness did not vanish. I summoned myself to endure, but the darkness only deepened. Just then I went to an inland station and saw on the wall of the mission home these words: “Try Thanksgiving.” I did, and in a moment every shadow was gone, not to return. Yes, the Psalmist was right, “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.”
–Rev. Henry W. Frost

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February 4, 2012

TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD – 2/4/2012

For we live by believing and not by seeing.
–2 Cor. 5:7, NLT

For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see.
–Psalm 36:9 NLT
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The Effectiveness of God’s Way

Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian ; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush ; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses !” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not come near here ; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. The LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. “So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. “Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.
The Mission of Moses
“Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt ?” And He said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.” Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name ?’ What shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM “; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” God, furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations. “Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt. “So I said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”‘ “They will pay heed to what you say ; and you with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt and you will say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’”But I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go, except under compulsion . “So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles which I shall do in the midst of it; and after that he will let you go. “I will grant this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians ; and it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty-handed. “But every woman shall ask of her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house, articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing ; and you will put them on your sons and daughters. Thus you will plunder the Egyptians.”
- Exodus 3:1-22

Yesterday we observed the ineffectiveness of Moses’ attempt to liberate his people from Egyptian slavery, but today we see him given a second chance to do it God’s way. If we could learn the lessons Moses learned about the dangers of self-reliance and the advantages of depending on the Lord, we would save ourselves much hardship.

When we choose to cooperate with God and submit to His way, He will do amazing things in and through us. Despite Moses’ past failure, the Lord still used him to accomplish the divine plan, but only after he became usable—that is, humbled and broken of self-will. Just consider what God achieved when Moses did it His way.

• He showed what great things He could do through one yielded, dependent person.

• He got more done in less time, and with fewer resources. There was no insurrection or long, drawn-out war—just a dramatic display of His power.

• He proved the superiority of His way by freeing over two million people without the loss of a single Hebrew life.

• He sent impoverished slaves out of bondage with their captors’ riches (Ex. 3:21-22).

• He proved to both the Israelites and the Egyptians that He alone is the God of heaven and earth.

• He received all the glory.

Our past failures never prevent God’s willingness or ability to use us. In fact, our weakness is a great opportunity for the display of His glory. In our own strength, we are totally ineffective. But when we submit to the Lord’s authority, we can experience His victory in whatever He calls us to do.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
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Obedience With a Cost
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Saturday, February 04 2012

Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and You have not rescued Your people at all. – Exodus 5:23
Have you ever felt like you have been obedient to the Lord for something He called you to do and all you get are more roadblocks? This is the way Moses felt. When Moses went to tell Pharaoh to release the people because God said so, Pharaoh simply got angry and made the people make bricks without straw. Moses caught the blame for this from the people. Moses was just learning what obedience really means in God’s Kingdom. You see Moses had not even begun to release plagues upon Egypt. He hadn’t even gotten started yet in his calling, and he was complaining about his circumstances. There were many more encounters with Pharaoh to come, and many more plagues with no deliverances in sight. Why would God tell Moses that He is going to deliver them and not do it?

It was all in timing. God never said when He was going to deliver. He just said He would. In the next chapter, we find Moses arguing with God about not being capable of the job God had called him to:

But Moses said to the Lord, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?” Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and He commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 6:12-13).

Do you get the feeling God was losing His patience?

God had a good reason for His delays. He said, “And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it” (Ex. 7:5). God not only wanted the people of Israel but also the Egyptians to know Him. It would be the greatest show of God’s power on earth.

God often causes delays in our lives that we cannot understand. Sometimes it seems our obedience is not getting rewarded. Jesus said He learned obedience through the things He suffered (see Heb. 5:8). Imagine that – Jesus having to learn obedience. What does that say for you and me? Sometimes God’s delays are simply because He wants more glory in the situation, more recognition, more Christ-likeness in you and me through greater patience and obedience. Faint not, for the promise may yet come.
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Make a Way

“I will make all my mountains a way” (Isa.49:11).

God will make obstacles serve His purpose. We all have mountains in our lives. There are people and things that threaten to bar our progress in the Divine life. Those heavy claims, that uncongenial occupation, that thorn in the flesh, that daily cross–we think that if only these were removed we might live purer, tenderer, holier lives; and often we pray for their removal.

“Oh, fools, and slow of heart!” These are the very conditions of achievement; they have been put into our lives as the means to the very graces and virtues for which we have been praying so long. Thou hast prayed for patience through long years, but there is something that tries thee beyond endurance; thou hast fled from it, evaded it, accounted it an unsurmountable obstacle to the desired attainment, and supposed that its removal would secure thy immediate deliverance and victory.

Not so! Thou wouldest gain only the cessation of temptations to impatience. But this would not be patience. Patience can be acquired only through just such trials as now seem unbearable. Go back; submit thyself. Claim to be a partaker in the patience of Jesus. Meet thy trials in Him. There is nothing in life which harasses and annoys that may not become subservient to the highest ends. They are His mountains. He puts them there. We know that God will not fail to keep His promise. “God understandeth the way thereof and knoweth the place thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven”; and when we come to the foot of the mountains, we shall find the way.
–Christ in Isaiah, by Meyer
***
“The meaning of trial is not only to test worthiness, but to increase it; as the oak is not only tested by the storm, but toughened by them.”

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February 3, 2012

TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD – 2/3/2012

In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly father.
–Matthew 5:16, NLT

With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation!
–Isaiah 12:3 NLT

———————–

Empty Mangers
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Friday, February 03 2012

Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest. – Proverbs 14:4

When Jesus came into this world, He chose to be born in a most unusual place-a manger. It was no more than a livery stable with goats, oxen, and other livestock animals. There is a distinctive characteristic about a place like this. It is filled with odors and dung from the animals. God seems to work best among the unpleasantness of circumstances. In fact, “where there are no oxen, the manger is empty.” What is this really saying? I believe it is saying that in order for Jesus to be present, we must invite those things that bring with them “messes to clean up.” God works among the messy things in our lives. And from these messes come an abundant harvest. This is what He did with all His highly used servants in the Bible. God is filled with paradoxes. Why can’t life be seamless and smooth? Because God likes to show Himself in the midst of the messes of life. This is what brings us into the harvests. So often the bigger the mess, the bigger the harvest.

When a major road-construction project takes place in a crowded city street, it appears to be absolute chaos. It is inconvenient, slow-moving and tends to get us irritated because it appears we are moving much slower than we would like. It is ugly, and so much of what we see is torn up. But when we look at that same area a few months or years later, we see why the construction was necessary. There was meaning to the mess. It actually made life so much better for those who would use the road.

It has been through the messiest of times in my business and personal life that God has revealed His power and strength in my life. It was when these “oxen” of hardship have walked into my manger that the greatest harvest was manifest. However, when I have sought to remove the “oxen” and rid myself of the odor and the mess, I have fought the ultimate work of God.

God works in mangers.
———————–
Finding Clear Guidance

Who is the man who fears the LORD ? He will instruct him in the way he should choose.
Psalm 25:12

How can you be sure you’re making the right decision? Sometimes it may seem as if God plays hide and seek when we’re trying to know His will, but that’s not the way He operates. He wants to give us clear direction. The real question is, What do you need to do to hear His voice?

Clear the pathway. We have two main obstacles that hinder our discernment: sin in our life and our own strong desires about the situation. To receive the Lord’s guidance, we must repent of all known sin and make our desires secondary to His.

Exercise patience. Sometimes it takes a great deal of strength to stand still when everything within you is shouting, “Hurry! Time is running out!” But if you rush ahead of God, you may miss His will.

Persist in prayer. The Bible clearly instructs us to keep coming to the Lord with our concerns. As we continue to pray, He will gradually weed out anything confusing until we come to His conclusion about the matter.

Search the Scriptures. The Word of God has an answer for every need, and the Holy Spirit knows just how to point us in the right direction. I remember times while I was reading the Bible that a verse jumped off the page and supplied the exact answer I needed to make an important decision.

So often when we’re faced with a critical choice, all we want from the Lord is a quick answer. But He delights to meet with us in order to deepen our relationship with Him. Don’t let the urgency of your need keep you from enjoying the intimacy of His presence as you seek His will.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
———————–
Existentialism… The Good Kind
Alex Crain
Editor, Christianity.com

“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple…”
Luke 14:27 NASB

As chapter two of Francis Schaeffer’s book, True Spirituality, comes to a close, the author highlights a crucial dimension of the gospel’s first fruit (that of dying to self). It is that dying to self must be a continual reality. Schaeffer likens the proper mindset here to that of a philosophical existentialist…

“The existentialist is right when he puts his emphasis on the reality of the moment-by-moment situation. He is wrong in many things, but he is right here. Christ called His followers to continuously carry their own cross. He puts the command not in an abstract but in an intensely practical setting, in verse 26 (of Luke14) relating it to His followers’ fathers, mothers, wives, children, brothers, sisters, and their own lives.”

“He sets it among the realities of daily life. This is where we must die.”

Christ is talking about putting to death what our hearts prefer; what we desire most. And we naturally prefer our own way. Ol’ Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra, set our deeply ingrained theme song to music when he sang, “I did it my way.” How can we possibly overcome our instinct to want our own desires fulfilled? It seems to be an impossible command.

Even if we know the Proverb “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death,” such knowledge by itself is not enough to subdue a sinful, stubborn will. When the heart wants something, it can charge ahead in a mad quest to get its way without a single thought about consequences.

Paul Tripp and Tim Lane, in their book How People Change, cite no less than seven counterfeit gospels that prevent people from dying to self. They feed pride and give others the false impression that we’re being true disciples. Because we are so prone to preserve ourselves, we can easily gravitate toward these false gospels. Their appeal is so insidiously strong because they allow us to deceive ourselves and others, AND dodge Christ’s benevolent command to die to self. These counterfeit gospels are: formalism, legalism, mysticism, activism, biblicism, therapism, and social-ism.

Formalism says, “I’m always in church, but it really has little impact on my heart or on how I live. I may become judgmental and impatient with those who do not have the same commitment as I do.”

Legalism says, “I live by the rules—rules I create for myself and rules I create for others. I feel good if I can keep my own rules, and I become arrogant and full of contempt when others don’t meet the standards I set for them. There is no joy in my life because there is no grace to be celebrated.”

Mysticism says, “I am engaged in the incessant pursuit of an emotional experience with God. I live for the moments when I feel close to him, and I often struggle with discouragement when I don’t feel that way. I may change churches often, too, looking for one that will give me what I’m looking for.”

Activism says, “I recognize the missional nature of Christianity and am passionately involved in fixing this broken world. But at the end of the day, my life is more of a defense of what’s right than a joyful pursuit of Christ.”

Biblicism says, “I know my Bible inside and out, but I do not let it master me. I have reduced the gospel to a mastery of biblical content and theology, so I am intolerant and critical of those with lesser knowledge.”

Therapism says, “I talk a lot about the hurting people in our congregation, and how Christ is the only answer for their hurt. Yet even without realizing it, I have made Christ more Therapist than Savior. I view hurt as a greater problem than sin—and I subtly shift my greatest need from my moral failure to my unmet needs.”

Social-ism says, “The deep fellowship and friendships I find at church have become their own idol. The body of Christ has replaced Christ himself, and the gospel is reduced to a network of fulfilling Christian relationships.”
[From Paul Tripp and Tim Lane's How People Change (New Growth Press, 2008)]:

Which one(s) of the counterfeit gospels do you most tend toward?

In the end, only God’s grace can subdue the heart of man and turn its desires God-ward. And such grace comes only through the true gospel of Christ. When God brings me around to embrace by faith that it was my moral failure that caused the sinless Son of God to suffer and die and, because of that, God does not treat me as my sins deserve, I see then that anything in life can be received with thankfulness.

How can we carry our cross and die daily? Only God can enable us by His “greater grace” to embrace the good kind of existentialism, depend on Him moment by moment, and continually ring the death knell to “my way.”

Intersecting Faith & Life:
Do you see your own need for God’s grace every moment so that you can die to self, yielding your desires up to Him? If not, what’s preventing that?

Further Reflection:
Read James 4:6
My Heart Is Filled with Thankfulness (Stuart Townend, Keith Getty)
———————–
God Listens

You can talk to God because God listens. Your voice matters in heaven. He takes you very seriously. When you enter his presence, the attendants turn to you to hear your voice. No need to fear that you will be ignored. Even if you stammer or stumble, even if what you have to say impresses no one, it impresses God—and he listens. He listens to the painful plea of the elderly in the rest home. He listens to the gruff confession of the death-row inmate. When the alcoholic begs for mercy, when the spouse seeks guidance, when the businessman steps off the street into the chapel, God listens.

Intently. Carefully. The prayers are honored as precious jewels. Purified and empowered, the words rise in a delightful fragrance to our Lord. “The smoke from the incense went up from the angel’s hand to God.” Incredible. Your words do not stop until they reach the very throne of God.

Then, the angel “filled the incense pan with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth” (Rev. 8:5). One call and Heaven’s fleet appears. Your prayer on earth activates God’s power in heaven, and “God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.”

You are the someone of God’s kingdom. You have access to God’s furnace. Your prayers move God to change the world. You may not understand the mystery of prayer. You don’t need to. But this much is clear: Actions in heaven begin when someone prays on earth. What an amazing thought!

When you speak, Jesus hears.
And when Jesus hears, thunder falls.
And when thunder falls, the world is changed.
All because someone prayed.

ENCOURAGE A FRIEND:

From Lucado Inspirational Reader
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2011) Max Lucado

Listen to UpWords with Max Lucado at OnePlace.com
———————–
Do It Now!

“A cup of cold water only” (Matt. 10:42).

What am I to do? I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good work, therefore, any kindness, or any service I can render to any soul of man or animal let me do it now. Let me not neglect or defer it, for I shall not pass this way again.
–An Old Quaker Saying
***
It isn’t the thing you do, dear,
It’s the thing you leave undone,
Which gives you the bitter heartache
At the setting of the sun;
The tender word unspoken,
The letter you did not write,
The flower you might have sent, dear,
Are your haunting ghosts at night.

The stone you might have lifted
Out of your brother’s way,
The bit of heartsome counsel
You were hurried too much to say;
The loving touch of the hand, dear,
The gentle and winsome tone,
That you had no time or thought for,
With troubles enough of your own.

These little acts of kindness,
So easily out of mind,
These chances to be angels,
Which even mortals find
They come in night and silence,
Each chill reproachful wraith,
When hope is faint and flagging,
And a blight has dropped on faith.

For life is all too short, dear.
And sorrow is all too great,
To suffer our slow compassion
That tarries until too late.
And it’s not the thing you do, dear,
It’s the thing you leave undone,
Which gives you the bitter heartache,
At the setting of the sun.
–Adelaide Proctor
***
Give what you have; to someone it may be better than you dare to think.
–Longfellow

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February 2, 2012

TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD – 2/2/2012

This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.
–Hebrews 4:15, NLT

And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.
–Ephesians 3:18 NLT
———————–
Two Gates, Two Ways

The Narrow and Wide Gates
“Enter through the narrow gate ; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Matthew 7:13-14

Have you ever been accused of being a narrow-minded Christian? Those who level such accusations against us certainly mean it as an insult. According to Jesus, however, that’s the only way to walk if we want to experience abundant life now and eternal life with Him in heaven. But it will require a deliberate choice on our part, because no one automatically drifts onto this pathway.

The broad way is easy to find. In fact, unless you make a conscious choice to avoid it, you’ll find yourself on it. Most people like this wide path because it encompasses all philosophies and belief systems. Everything is acceptable, and everyone’s “truth” is valid. It even seems like the loving path because no one is left out. There are no restrictions, and freedom is unlimited. Or is it?

What those who travel this road fail to realize is that it’s a downward descent into destruction. All the promises it gives of satisfaction and fulfillment end in disappointment because it’s a path without God. But those who enter by the narrow gate of faith in Christ find the peace and joy of a relationship with Him that satisfies the heart. The gate is small because truth guards the entrance. The way is narrow because the Lord protects us with wise boundaries.

Which path are you traveling? You can’t have one foot on each, because they’re going in opposite directions. When you tolerate everything, you’re headed for destruction. But when you choose the narrow way, your life truly begins. You’ll walk with Christ day by day until He walks you home to heaven.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
———————–
Giving Him the Key
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Thursday, February 02 2012

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me.
Revelation 3:20

A friend of mine tells the story of an encounter he had with a very important government official – the head of state for a country. In the course of some meetings with my friend, the official came up to him and said, “I perceive that there is a difference between you and me. Is it because I come from a different denomination?” My friend began to explain why there was a difference.

“If you were to come to my home, I would invite you in as an honored guest. As my guest, you would enjoy everything I had in my home. However, you would still be a guest. You would not have the keys to the home, and your authority in that home would be merely as a guest. However, if I said to you that I am turning over my home to you and you now have the keys to my home, I would be your servant.” My friend continued, “This is the difference between you and me. You have merely invited Jesus into your home as a guest. I have given Jesus the keys to my home [heart] and I am his servant.”

“How can I do this too?” the man replied.

“All you have to do is invite Him in as the new owner.”

The man did this and is now allowing Jesus to rule and reign in every detail of his life.

So often many of us enter a relationship with God that brings us salvation. This is the gospel of salvation. But what God really desires for us is to experience the gospel of the Kingdom. He wants us to experience His power and presence every day of our lives and to see His hand at work in us. This only happens when we give Him the key to our life; He must be more than an honored guest.

Where are you today? Has your life with God been more like an honored-guest relationship, or does He have the key to your life?

———————–

Our Great Opportunities

“Hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the day of trouble?” (Job 38:22-23).

Our trials are great opportunities. Too often we look on them as great obstacles. It would be a haven of rest and an inspiration of unspeakable power if each of us would henceforth recognize every difficult situation as one of God’s chosen ways of proving to us His love and look around for the signals of His glorious manifestations; then, indeed, would every cloud become a rainbow, and every mountain a path of ascension and a scene of transfiguration.

If we will look back upon the past, many of us will find that the very time our Heavenly Father has chosen to do the kindest things for us, and given us the richest blessings, has been the time we were strained and shut in on every side. God’s jewels are often sent us in rough packages and by dark liveried servants, but within we find the very treasures of the King’s palace and the Bridegroom’s love.
–A. B. Simpson
***
Trust Him in the dark, honor Him with unwavering confidence even in the midst of mysterious dispensations, and the recompense of such faith will be like the moulting of the eagle’s plumes, which was said to give them a new lease of youth and strength.
–J. R. Macduff
***
“If we could see beyond today
As God can see;
If all the clouds should roll away,
The shadows flee;
O’er present griefs we would not fret.
Each sorrow we would soon forget,
For many joys are waiting yet
For you and me.

“If we could know beyond today
As God doth know,
Why dearest treasures pass away
And tears must flow;
And why the darkness leads to light,
Why dreary paths will soon grow bright;
Some day life’s wrongs will be made right,
Faith tells us so.

“‘If we could see, if we could know,’
We often say,
But God in love a veil doth throw
Across our way;
We cannot see what lies before,
And so we cling to Him the more,
He leads us till this life is o’er;
Trust and obey.”
———————–
The Month of Love
by Shawn McEvoy, Crosswalk.com Managing Editor

Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church – a love marked by giving, not getting.
Ephesians 5:25, The Message

For once in my marriage, I really did something right.

My wife’s name is Valerie – Val for short – so she’s always held Valentine’s Day in even higher esteem than most women. Not only that, but her birthday is March 15, so she’s always believed that February 14 though March 15 = “The Month of Love” = it’s all about her for one-twelfth of the year.

One year, I decided to agree. Each morning for 31 days when she woke up, there was a small hand-made red envelope (amazing what useful skills one can learn watching children’s programming) stuck on some wall of our house. Written in sparkly marker (chicks dig the sparklies) on the outside of the envelope was one of her top character qualities. Inside the envelope was a Bible memory verse related to that quality. Embedded in the memory verse was a clue to where a small hidden gift could be found in or around our home.

I just thought this could be a nice little way to tell her I love her. Boy was I short-sighted. I could have bought her the Taj Mahal and she wouldn’t have appreciated it more, been more thoroughly impressed. “He went to Jared”? No way. He went to PBS and Ben Franklin. But already Val is considering how to pass this story down to our grandchildren. She says I will never top myself. And she was saying these things before she even knew about the surprise at the end when all the envelopes could be arranged so that the first letter of each character quality would spell out the grand prize: that she had her choice of a new wardrobe, upgraded wedding ring, or vacation, any of which would be shopped for together, ’cause she’s big on that. Of course, this was back when she was working, so we had money in the bank. Even so, she never took me up on the grand prize. I can’t say I wasn’t a little bit disappointed, but she was definitely exercising the wisdom of foresight. And anyway, to her, the biggest gift had already been received.

Valerie thinks this took me ages to dream up and hours to prepare, but it took me about 10 minutes per day, plus a weekly trip to the store to stock up on a few minor gifts. But the outcome net me – if not crowns in Heaven – at least major returns in this life. Anytime a group of gals gathers together and asks each other, “What the best gift you’ve ever received,” I get bragged upon. Several times during the Month of Love itself I was told to take an evening to myself and go see a movie. And I learned something I thought I already knew – diamonds aren’t a girl’s best friend. Her husband is, if he even shows a rhinestone’s-worth of interest in her.

Not every wife speaks the same “Love Language.” I know some who truly would have preferred a simple one-time big purchase. Some would just be satisfied with a husband who washed dishes and dusted shelves. But this I can be fairly sure in saying about wives: what all of them really want is a husband that makes an effort to understand them and speak their language, whatever it is, without being told. Yeah, I know, and all one has to do to make millions in the majors is hit a curveball. But unlike the major leagues, in marriage, most of the time, simply making the effort is appreciated.

Intersecting Faith & Life: If you haven’t already, read The Five Love Languages with your spouse. Once you learn what says, “I love you” to him or her, come up with a special way of saying so.

Further Reading

Hebrews 13:4

Languages of Love

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February 1, 2012

TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD – 2/1/2012

Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples
–John 13:35, NLT

But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.
–John 4:14 NLT
———————–
The Throne of Grace

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:14-16

Almighty God is righteous and just. Romans 3:23 tells us that all people have sinned and are inadequate to be in His presence. As a result of His wrath against sin, we were doomed to eternal separation from Him.

But thankfully, the story doesn’t end there. In His love and mercy, God sent His Son to walk among us. Jesus experienced the hardship and temptation common to all people, yet He never sinned. The Savior chose to die a gruesome death in our place, paying the penalty for our wrongs.

There is no deeper love, Scripture tells us, than a man who gives up his life for a friend (John 15:13). Jesus went even farther—dying for us while we were still His enemies (Rom. 5:10). In fact, He would have sacrificed Himself even if you were the only person ever to exist.

Promising forgiveness and eternal life, Christ asks sinful man to believe and follow Him. When we trust in Jesus, we are adopted as God’s children and receive His indwelling Spirit, who blesses abundantly with joy, peace, and guidance. Always welcome before the Throne of Grace, believers have access to converse with the Father at any time. He promises to hear and respond to our seeking, repentant hearts. And Jesus intercedes for us, praying on our behalf.

We don’t deserve the Lord’s invitation to have an intimate relationship with Him. Yet in His grace, He is loving and compassionate toward us. What a privilege to be able to approach the King’s throne, knowing He listens, understands, and cares. Rest in God’s love, and enjoy sweet fellowship with Him.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.
———————–
A Talking Donkey
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Wednesday, February 01 2012

The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day?” – Numbers 22:30
Most workplace believers I know tend to be task – oriented, motivated visionaries. And they will do just about anything to make their projects successful. This great strength can, if not properly bridled by the Holy Spirit, be a great weakness in their ability to fulfill God’s will in their life.

Sometimes we want something to succeed so much that we fail to listen to that little voice inside trying to warn us by directing us on a different path. Such was the case of Balaam. He started out as a man of God, but then took the path of a “prophet-for-hire.” God was not pleased with Balaam’s decision to respond to a pagan king’s request that he curse Israel. As Balaam rode his donkey to keep his appointment with the king, God sent the angel of the Lord to stand in the way and oppose Balaam. Although Balaam did not see the angel, his donkey did. Three times the donkey turned from the path and three times Balaam beat the animal in anger. Finally, the donkey turned around, and to Balaam’s shock and amazement, began to speak to him, admonishing his master for beating him. Imagine a donkey talking to you! He warned Balaam of the angel of death who was standing in the road with a sword drawn, ready to kill Balaam if he continued.

There are times when pushing harder, trying to manipulate the circumstance, or pressing those around you is not the response to have to the roadblock. God may be trying to have you reconsider your ways. God may be doing one of four things when you are faced with an obstacle: 1) He’s blocking it to protect you. 2) His timing to complete this stage is not the same as yours, and He may need you to go through a process of character refinement. 3) He may want other players to get in place, and the circumstances are not yet ready for them to enter. 4) He may be using the process to develop patience in you. Relying on the Holy Spirit to know which one applies to your situation is the key to moving in God’s timing.
———————–
The Problem with Perception
by Sarah Phillips, Crosswalk.com Family Editor

The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
1 Samuel 16: 7b

A few years ago, an acquaintance of mine mused, “Why are people like Paris Hilton so unhappy? They have no earthly excuse to be.” It’s human nature to look at snapshots of someone else’s life and conclude that they somehow have it better than we do. Too many times I’ve allowed my perceptions of someone else’s happiness to create discontent in my own world. I wonder, “God, why are you blessing them and not me?”

Not only is it tempting to make assumptions about those who’ve achieved worldly success, but I’ve caught myself and others making wrong assumptions about what it means to be a godly person, a “good Christian.” I hear fellow believers say they feel small or inadequate next to some perceived spiritual giant or that they envy some gift or perceived virtue of another.

I recently came across a reflection from a young woman that gave me a fresh perspective on those I perceive to be “perfect.” St. Therese of Lisieux, a Carmelite nun who lived in the late 19th century, was a model Christian very young in life. Yet, a few years before her own young death at 24, she reflected on how others perceived her in her autobiography Story of a Soul:

“I cannot say that Jesus makes me walk the way of humiliation exteriorly. He is content to humble me in the depths of my soul; in the eyes of creatures, I succeed in everything.”

Therese expressed much discomfort in the compliments lavished on her because, as she so matter-of-factly states: “I remember who I am.” She knew the intimate details of her faults even while others could not see them, and often felt the difference between her and the great Saints like Aquinas was as vast as a grain of sand at the foot of a mountain.

St. Therese wasn’t alone in her discomfort of others’ perceptions. Mother Teresa often tried to deflect attention because she knew she wasn’t really the true source of her “success.” Mother Teresa’s personal letters revealed her own private periods of darkness laced throughout her extraordinary life.

Sometimes, the unseen crosses weigh us down more than any outward suffering ever could. There is so little we truly know about other souls — only that which others are willing to share with us. This is why the comparison game is such a sham. It creates a toxic cycle of private shame and envy that isolates individuals in a world where we’re all trying to “measure up” to fabricated standards. Jim Hancock, author of Posers, Fakers, and Wannabes, expressed the dangerous game of comparison like this: “I judged what I knew about me by what I didn’t know about them.”

Life, of course, does not have to end with each one of us locked in a private world of faults and failings. Even with their interior crosses, both St. Therese and Mother Teresa knew they did not have to live a life of disconnection, shame or envy. They knew true inner peace rested with the only One who is perfect and yet, with full knowledge of our faults, loves us unconditionally.

Not only does God love us as we are, but He’s ready to use even our failings for incredible good – perhaps even greater good than had we been “perfect.” When we stop comparing and put energy towards building the most important relationship we’ll ever have, doors open to a life greater than we could have planned or achieved on our own.

Intersecting Faith & Life: Americans are reportedly some of the loneliest people on the planet. Intimacy flourishes when we let our guards down and allow others to see who we really are, imperfections and all. Set aside a little time this week to strengthen a relationship with a friend or family member. Be open to talking about what’s really going on in each others’ lives so that you can build each other up in the faith.

Further Reading

2 Corinthians 12: 7-9

Luke 9: 46-48
———————–
The Fruit Comes Afterward

“The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and storm” (Nahum 1:3).

I recollect, when a lad, and while attending a classical institute in the vicinity of Mount Pleasant, sitting on an elevation of that mountain, and watching a storm as it came up the valley. The heavens were filled with blackness, and the earth was shaken by the voice of thunder. It seemed as though that fair landscape was utterly changed, and its beauty gone never to return.

But the storm swept on, and passed out of the valley; and if I had sat in the same place on the following day, and said, “Where is that terrible storm, with all its terrible blackness?” the grass would have said, “Part of it is in me,” and the daisy would have said, “Part of it is in me,” and the fruits and flowers and everything that grows out of the ground would have said, “Part of the storm is incandescent in me.”

Have you asked to be made like your Lord? Have you longed for the fruit of the Spirit, and have you prayed for sweetness and gentleness and love? Then fear not the stormy tempest that is at this moment sweeping through your life. A blessing is in the storm, and there will be the rich fruitage in the “afterward.”
–Henry Ward Beecher
***
The flowers live by the tears that fall
From the sad face of the skies;
And life would have no joys at all,
Were there no watery eyes.
Love thou thy sorrow: grief shall bring
Its own excuse in after years;
The rainbow!–see how fair a thing
God hath built up from tears.
–Henry S. Sutton

Posted in Christian Ministry | Leave a Comment »

January 31, 2012

TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD – 1/31/2012

For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.
–1 Corinthians 4:20, NLT

And he also said, ‘It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega – the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.’
–Revelation 21:6 NLT

———————–

Victims of Assumicide: What to Do When You Are Misunderstood
Ray Pritchard

Text: 2 Corinthians 1:12-2:4

12 Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity[a] and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace. 13 For we do not write you anything you cannot read or understand. And I hope that, 14 as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus.
15 Because I was confident of this, I wanted to visit you first so that you might benefit twice. 16 I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia, and then to have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 Was I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say both “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?

18 But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas[b] and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” 20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

23 I call God as my witness—and I stake my life on it—that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. 24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.

2 Corinthians 2
1 So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved? 3 I wrote as I did, so that when I came I would not be distressed by those who should have made me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy. 4 For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.

Are you guilty of assumicide?

That’s a word I discovered this week. It’s what happens when you make false assumptions about others so that you can portray them in the worst possible light. Michael Andrus says we do this all the time:

We are so prone to be suspicious. When we become offended or hurt, we immediately begin to look for evidence that someone did us wrong. I can’t tell you how many times I have done that in my marriage or in my parenting. But I can tell you how many times it’s been done to me; I keep track of those things. I’m being a bit facetious, but not much. It’s really amazing to me how often I am quick to assume that someone has it in for me.

Assumicide leads to the death of relationships because we end up believing the worst about others. We’ve all been guilty of drawing wrong conclusions on the basis of tiny scraps of evidence:

He didn’t call back so he must not want to talk to me.
I think she’s trying to ignore me.
They never hire people like me.
That church is so unfriendly.
How could he be a Christian and act like that?
I saw her in a bar. She must have a drinking problem.
I’ll bet they are sleeping together.
He’s probably a jerk at home too.
I don’t like him. I don’t know why. I just don’t like him.
She’s full of herself.
You can’t trust someone who dresses like that.
He’s a hypocrite.

On the other hand, if you are the victim of assumicide, it’s very hard to fight back against false assumptions. Few things hurt more than being misunderstood by our close friends. The closer they are to us, the greater the pain. When that happens we discover a lot about ourselves. How we respond when we’ve been misunderstood tells a great deal about the depth of our Christian faith.

We’ve all been guilty of drawing wrong conclusions on the basis of tiny scraps of evidence.

Our passage brings us face to face with a strange situation that at first glance doesn’t seem like it should be a big deal. The apostle Paul found himself in trouble with a church he had founded in the Greek seaport of Corinth. From Acts 18:1-18 we know that he spent 18 months in Corinth winning people to Christ and establishing the church. After he left a faction arose in the congregation that questioned his leadership. They challenged his authority, insinuated that he wasn’t a “real” apostle, attacked his character, and accused him of using the Corinthian church for his own gain. The troublemakers succeeded in turning most of the church against him.

And their chief complaint was this. Paul couldn’t be trusted because he had changed his travel plans – not once but twice. He hadn’t come back to visit the Corinthians as he said he would. That proved he was a fickle man whose character and message could not be trusted.

Just remember this. It started over something small. That’s how it usually happens. Someone didn’t greet us in the hallway, they didn’t answer our email, they didn’t invite us to their party, they didn’t show up for an appointment. Or we heard they said something negative about us. Or they didn’t laugh at our jokes. Or they suddenly seem cold when they used to be glad to see us.

Little things.
Small stuff.
Petty complaints.

From a tiny spark of discontent a mighty flame of unhappiness grows. That flame soon becomes a wildfire that threatens to destroy a relationship. Congregations have split and friendships have ended over things that started very small but grew all out of proportion.

Let’s check out this passage to see how Paul responded to a misunderstanding that threatened to destroy a friendship and a local church.

Our Actions May Be Questioned

From a careful reading of 1 and 2 Corinthians it appears that Paul made three different decisions about his trip to Corinth:

He planned to go to Macedonia and then to Corinth. We find that in 1 Corinthians 16:5-7. He plans to pass through Macedonia and hopes to spend the winter with them in Corinth. He doesn’t want it to be a brief visit but a longer time so that he can minister to them. He qualifies it all by saying “if the Lord permits”(1 Corinthians 16:7). But that trip never took place.
He later planned to go to Corinth, then to Macedonia, and then back to Corinth. He mentions this in 2 Corinthians 1:15-16. “I planned to visit you first so that you might benefit twice” (v. 15).
Finally, he decided to postpone his trip altogether. “I decided that I would not bring you grief with another painful visit” (2 Corinthians 2:1).
What’s going on here? That question is hard to answer because we don’t have all the details regarding the trouble that threatened to overwhelm the church in Corinth. But this much is clear. Paul’s opponents used his changing plans as a way to attack his credibility. “See, you can’t trust him. He calls himself an apostle, he says he’s coming but he never shows up.”

Well, that is a problem, isn’t it? Keeping your word is hugely important for all us, but especially for spiritual leaders. It’s all about integrity, consistency, proving yourself trustworthy, showing up on time, and doing what you said you would do. If people feel like they can’t count on you, how will they ever listen to what you have to say?

Paul’s answer comes in three parts:

My conscience is clear (v. 12).

I haven’t hidden anything from you (v. 12).

I haven’t tried to deceive you (v. 13).

In his comments on this passage, William Barclay says we might add a new beatitude to the list: “Blessed is the man who has nothing to hide.” Sometimes all you can do is to simply speak the truth about your own heart. If that’s not enough, talking for hours isn’t likely to make a difference. In times of trouble I have often prayed this way, “Lord, let your will be done and let the truth come out.” That prayer satisfies the heart because it is a prayer for God’s will to be done, not my will. I usually have an idea of how I think things should work out, but my ideas do not equal God’s will. So in praying that prayer, I am implicitly admitting that my understand is flawed, that I see things from my point of view, and that God’s will is very likely to be different from my own perception. And it’s a prayer that God will bring the truth out by any means he chooses.

Our Words May Be Twisted

Paul doesn’t try to hide his change of plans. It’s true that he had changed his mind several times, but whether or not the Corinthians could understand it, his only concern was for their welfare (“Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm” 2 Corinthians 1:24). He wanted to come and see them but only if his visit would bring about healing and spiritual growth.

But what about the charge that he is inconsistent? Did he just say “Yes, yes” and then “No, no” just for the fun of it? (v. 17). Paul says, “Check out my message. It comes from God and he never changes. His message to us is always ‘Yes,’ and we his people say ‘Amen’ to all of God’s promises.” Everything God promises will come true. As D. L. Moody said, “God never made a promise that was too good to come true.” Look at the amazing things God has done for us in Christ.

He anointed us (v. 21).

He sealed us (v. 22).

He gave the Holy Spirit as a deposit (v. 22).

He did this so that we might stand firm in Christ, never wavering, never blown away by the winds of adversity, never swept away by the changing tides of life. It happens that I am writing these words on a Sunday night. Two days ago Matt Chandler, pastor of the Village Church, a large multisite church in Dallas, underwent very serious surgery to remove a tumor from the right frontal lobe of his brain. I mention this in part because Matt is a rising star among the younger pastors in the United States. In just seven years he has led the Village Church from 150 to over 6000 in attendance. And he has done it with very strong preaching that is authentic, biblical, accessible, and drenched in the sovereignty of God. Before he went into surgery, Matt (who is only 35 years old) recorded a brief video that was played in all the services this weekend. You can watch it on the Internet. I would summarize it as a ringing statement of his confidence in God. After talking about Hebrews 11 and the life of faith with its glorious victories and its difficult trials, Matt says that he knows some people have always said, “What do you know about suffering?” But now he can speak directly to those people and say, “I am so glad he counted me worthy of this.” A man in his position might lose it all. There are no guarantees for him or for any of us when we go under the surgeon’s knife. Matt acknowledged that he and his wife wept and prayed together before the surgery. He has hugged his children and kissed them. And with what faith did he approach his surgery on Friday?

“I get to show that he is enough. I get to praise and exalt him and make much of him.”

“God never made a promise that was too good to come true.”

He added that he would love to live to be 70 and drink coffee with his wife. He would love to walk his daughter down the aisle. He would love to see his son grow up.

“But none of those things is better than him.”

He closed by expressing his love for the church, and then he simply said,

“I am not afraid . . . My hope is that you would see that he is good in all things . . . He would never send us anything that he does not provide strength for.”

That’s a man standing firm in Christ. That’s the difference that comes from knowing Christ deeply and intimately and walking with him daily. That’s exactly the sort of foundation God wants to build in the lives of all his children.

What difference does it make to know all these things? It certainly matters when we face a life-changing crisis, but it matters just as much when we are misunderstood and our honorable words are twisted and our changing plans are made to appear sinister in some way.

Some people will choose to misunderstand no matter what we say or do. To them we have no answer except to say, “Our conscience is clear. We have done what we could. And we rest our reputation with the Lord.

We will never “stand firm” in our own strength when trouble comes our way. I’ve often said that “good theology will save your life,” and this passage amply proves it

Get to know the Lord.

Make God’s Word the standard for your life.

Rest in his love.

Revel in his righteousness.

Think about his greatness.

Give glory to his name.

When others twist your words, do not despair. Speak the truth, explain yourself clearly, and then entrust your future with the God who knows you through and through and in Christ who has anointed you, sealed you, given you the Holy Spirit, and promised to guide you.

If we trust in him, the time of chaos will pass, and we will be stronger for having gone through the struggle.

Our Motives May Be Challenged.

His critics thought Paul was some sort of fickle, fly-by-night preacher, the kind who is always on a power trip, a control freak who enjoys having his acolytes sing his praises. When he didn’t show up when they expected him, what else could they conclude but that he didn’t love them?

To that Paul says, “I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth” (v. 23). He stayed away so as not to have an angry confrontation. That’s why he made up his mind not to make another painful visit to them (2 Corinthians 2:1). He wrote them a tough letter (apparently lost to history) in which he boldly confronted his critics. Now he says, “I said what I needed to say and I wrote what I needed to write so I won’t do anything right now.” Then he adds a surprising revelation of his own heart for these young believers who viewed him with suspicion:

“For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you” (v. 4).

As hard as it may be for some of us to hear, we can’t always solve every problem in the world.

Some people won’t listen.

Some people love to argue.

Some people have already made up their minds.

Some people have an answer for everything.

Evidently that was the situation in Corinth. Because the church was so rent with factions, and because Paul had already sent them a very stern and painful letter, writing with tears streaming down his face, and because he knew the situation was inflamed, he decided not to come to Corinth.

Talk about countercultural wisdom from the Lord. Paul knew that his personal presence in Corinth at that moment and in that situation would only make things worse. This isn’t a blanket rule for every time and place. It’s a principle to keep in mind. Sometimes you need to meet and hash it out. Sometimes you need to back off, give people space, give them time to think and pray and discuss, and give the Holy Spirit time to soften hearts.

I’m fascinated by the way this passage ends. Speaking of the difficult letter he wrote to the Corinthian church, he says, “I wrote that letter in great anguish, with a troubled heart and many tears. I didn’t want to grieve you, but I wanted to let you know how much love I have for you” (2 Corinthians 2:4).

It was a hard letter that Paul didn’t want to write.

It was a hard letter that the Corinthians didn’t want to read.

But he did and they did.

Here’s the mind-blowing part. He wrote the letter so they would know how much he loved them. I’m not sure they “felt the love” as they read his stern words. But love must be both tough and tender. In this case, Paul’s tough letter proved how much he loved them. If I shout at my son, “Watch out!” to keep him from being hit at a car, do I love him or do I hate him? I love him so much that I will risk raising my voice and scaring him in order to save his life. That’s love just as much as hugging my son and saying, “I love you.”

Love must be both tough and tender.

So now Paul decides to wait for God to work. In order not to stir up trouble, he decides not to come to Corinth at this moment. Here we see true Christian maturity at work. He has no desire to stir them up further. He only wants to share in their joy when he does come. And he does plan to visit. He says so in verse 2 (“when I do come”).

But for the moment he will wait.

Waiting can be hard, perhaps the hardest discipline of the Christian life. When I look back at the mistakes I’ve made in the ministry, many of them have come because I would not wait. Too many times I’ve jumped in like the proverbial bull in a china shop, trying to fix everything according to my own vision of right and wrong. This is not an argument for apathy or disinterest but rather an argument for “active waiting,” which is what David meant when he said, “Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-it leads only to evil” (Psalm 37:8).

If God is God, he can be trusted to do right.
But he doesn’t work on my timetable.

It’s worth noting what Paul doesn’t do in this passage:

He doesn’t avoid the problem.

He doesn’t call names.

He doesn’t assume motives.

In short, he doesn’t commit assumicide. He doesn’t do to his critics what they had done to him. He simply and clearly explains himself, his change of plans, and in the process he reveals his heart to his readers. That’s all any man can do in a situation like this.

When I look back at the mistakes I’ve made in the ministry, many of them have come because I would not wait.

How to Respond to Misunderstanding

Let’s wrap up this message with a few points of application:

1. Sometimes we will be misunderstood by our close friends. Paul clearly loved the Corinthians and knew them well. And they clearly knew him well. Yet a rift had grown between them. The same thing happens in marriage, in families, among friends and co-workers, and it certainly happens in every church. If you haven’t been misunderstood lately, don’t worry. It’s bound to happen before long. That’s part of the price of living in a fallen world. What happened to Paul happens to all of us sooner or later.

2. The best defense is an honest, clear, non-defensive explanation. Remember Joe Friday from the oldDragnet TV series? He was famous for saying, “Just the facts, Ma’am.” Paul doesn’t complain, doesn’t blame, and doesn’t point fingers. He isn’t long-winded. He lays out his explanation so his readers can decide for themselves why he had not come back to Corinth.

3. We can’t control how people respond to us. Rarely will our explanations convince everyone. Sometimes even our close friends will choose not to believe us. At some point we must decide to leave our reputation in God’s hands and walk away from the controversy. “If you live to please people, misunderstandings will depress you; but if you live to please God, you can face misunderstandings with faith and courage” (Warren Wiersbe).

4. Pray for those who misunderstand you. In Sunday School recently our teacher exhorted us about reaching out to the “lepers” around us, the people who cause us difficulty or pain, the folks we normally avoid as much as possible. Then he asked, “Who are the lepers in your life?” An uncomfortable silence filled the room. No one wanted to answer that question. Finally a man spoke up and said there were some people he found it difficult to be around. Referring to the call to reach out to the “lepers,” he commented, “That’s good preaching but hard living.” Very true. It’s easy to say “Love the people who misunderstand you,” it’s hard to put it into practice. But we must do it anyway.

5. We must not return evil for evil. This is also hard, especially when your motives are repeatedly attacked. But in this we are to be like our Lord who when he was reviled did not return evil for evil. When he faced the shouting crowd, he did not trade insults, he did not try to get even, and he did not make accusations. I submit to you that this is not a natural way to live. When we are insulted, our natural inclination is to return an insult for an insult. But Jesus chose another way. As the old spiritual puts it, “He never said a mumblin’ word.” “As a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth”(Isaiah 53:7). When he stood before Pilate and Herod, and when he faced the jeering mob, he uttered no insults, he made no threats.

When they swore at Jesus, he didn’t swear back.

When they scourged him, he didn’t retaliate.

When the soldiers pushed the crown of thorns on his head, he didn’t curse at them.

When they drove the nails in his hands and feet, he didn’t threaten them.

When the bystanders spat at him, he didn’t spit back.

When they swore at him, he didn’t swear back.

This will happen to you too. And that’s the real test of your faith. You find out what you really believe when others mistreat you. Sometimes the real test of your faith is what you don’t do. Sometimes you’ll be a better Christian by not saying anything at all.

What was his secret? How did he do it? The answer lies in the final phrase of 1 Peter 2:23, “He entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” In our day we hear lots of talk about claiming our rights. That spirit comes into the church and we hear people getting angry and saying, “How dare you trample on my rights?” Most of our problems stem from claiming our rights. But the Bible turns that upside down. You aren’t to think of your rights first. You are to think of others first.

When you are misunderstood, repeat these four sentences:

It’s not about me. It’s not about now.

It’s all about God. It’s all about eternity.

As you read these words, I encourage you to stop right now and say those four sentences out loud. Write them down on a card, and put the card where you can see it. Try repeating those sentences every day for a week so that the truth will be tattooed on your soul.

The followers of Jesus will sometimes be misunderstood not only by the world but by other Christians. May God give us the spirit of Jesus that we might walk in his steps.

Dr. Ray Pritchard is the president of Keep Believing Ministries. He has ministered extensively overseas and is a frequent conference speaker and guest on Christian radio and television talk shows. He is the author of dozens of books, including Credo, The Healing Power of Forgiveness, An Anchor for the Soul and Why Did This Happen to Me? View recent entries on Ray’s blog.

Click here to offer your comments. You can reach the author at ray@keepbelieving.com. Click here to sign up for the free weekly email sermon.

Original publication date: December 8, 2009

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My Father’s Giving

“Prove me now” (Mal. 3:10).

What is God saying here but this: “My child, I still have windows in Heaven. They are yet in service. The bolts slide as easily as of old. The hinges have not grown rusty. I would rather fling them open, and pour forth, than keep them shut, and hold back. I opened them for Moses, and the sea parted. I opened them for Joshua, and Jordan rolled back. I opened them for Gideon, and hosts fled. I will open them for you–if you will only let Me. On this side of the windows, Heaven is the same rich storehouse as of old. The fountains and streams still overflow. The treasure rooms are still bursting with gifts. The lack is not on my side. It is on yours. I am waiting. Prove Me now. Fulfill the conditions, on your part. Bring in the tithes. Give Me a chance.
–Selected

***

I can never forget my mother’s very brief paraphrase of Malachi 3:10. The verse begins, “Bring ye the whole tithe in,” and it ends up with “I will pour” the blessing out till you’ll be embarrassed for space. Her paraphrase was this: Give all He asks; take all He promises.”
–S. D. Gordon

***

The ability of God is beyond our prayers, beyond our largest prayers! I have been thinking of some of the petitions that have entered into my supplication innumerable times. What have I asked for? I have asked for a cupful, and the ocean remains! I have asked for a sunbeam, and the sun abides! My best asking falls immeasurably short of my Father’s giving: it is beyond that we can ask.
–J. H. Jowett

***

“All the rivers of Thy grace I claim, Over every promise write my name” (Eph. 1:8-19).

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Are You Bearing Fruit?
Ryan Duncan, TheFish.com

“No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.” – Luke 8:16

One of the traditions my family had while I was growing up was that every fall we would go apple picking at a place called Edwards Orchard. It was a great place. There were barn animals for kids to feed, a maze run that my siblings and I would always cheat to win, and a small kitchen that made the best apple doughnuts on this continent. Once we had exhausted ourselves on all the activities and eaten enough doughnuts to last us for days, our parents would load us up on the orchard’s wagons, and we would go into the trees to pick apples.

Afterwards, we’d enjoy a long stretch of apple-related meals at home, and I was particularly fond of my mother’s upside-down apple pie. Then one year, as we clambered out of our van like usual, we were met by an employee who informed us the orchard had closed that season. I don’t remember exactly why — I think a storm had damaged most of the trees — but the absence of our usual Macintosh apples was pretty noticeable the following week. This was the memory that jumped to my mind a few days ago, as I was reading the book of Luke. Take a look at the following verses,

And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’” – Luke 13:6-9

The simple truth is that there is not much use in a fruit tree that doesn’t grow fruit, just like there isn’t much use in a Christian that isn’t living out Christ’s teachings. God made us, the Church, to be people of growth and action. It is his desire that we constantly seek to mature in our faith, and the way we do that is by getting involved in the world around us. It doesn’t have to be anything big. Become a greeter at your Church, make a small donation, of bring a meal to the couple that just had a baby. All that matters is if your heart is providing a harvest for God because you never know what he’ll do with the spiritual fruit you create.

Intersecting Faith and Life

Find your own way to serve Christ’s Kingdom, no matter how small.

Further Reading

Luke 14

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The Throne of Glory

1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life – 2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us- 3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.
1 John 1:1-4

When you pray, how do you approach God? Numerous Christians visualize a holy, righteous being and approach Him with feelings of fear, unworthiness, and reluctance. On the other hand, many believers picture the Lord as a pal and talk to Him with little reverence.

Neither approach is healthy. Our finite minds cannot fully grasp that God is both loving and holy. Let’s first explore the holy, fear-provoking side of the Lord. As you read today’s passage, visualize the incredible power around heaven’s throne. It fills my heart with awe and wonder.

Before Jesus walked on earth, the temple contained an area called the Holy of Holies, where God’s presence resided. Only the priest could enter—and just on specified days, after ritual cleansing and preparation. If he did not get himself ready exactly according to scriptural rules, he would be struck dead. To be in God’s presence requires obedience. In fact, because of the Almighty’s absolute holiness and perfection, He is unable to commune with sinfulness, which is the condition of all mankind (Rom. 3:9). Therefore, every one of us is guilty and deserving of condemnation. Thankfully, though, God did not leave us helpless, but out of His grace and love, sent His Son to be our Redeemer.

Every page of Scripture can deepen our understanding of God’s greatness. Are you amazed at His presence and deeds? To understand more about His character, discipline yourself to read and meditate on the Word. Then take time to praise Him, for He alone is worthy of our adoration.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.

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Sacrificing At What Cost
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Tuesday, January 31 2012

…”I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” – 2 Samuel 24:24

One day I was having lunch with a man who had a certain amount of notoriety in his life. After a time of getting to know each other, he said, “How can I help you?” Those words surprised me coming from a man who obviously already had many requirements on his time. My first thought was that I was impressed with the individual. My next thought was to wonder whether it was a genuine offer or just an effort to impress me with his humility and Christian piety. I have since discovered he was sincere.

This encounter reminded me that each of us must be willing to give to others without a motive to get anything in return. It is simply an act of serving others. Jesus said that we must consider others more important than ourselves. When is the last time you did something for another without a motive of getting anything in return?

When King David came to offer a sacrifice and pray for the removal of a plague on Israel, he was given the opportunity to make the sacrifice without the cost of purchasing the sacrificial animals.

But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them. David built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped (2 Samuel 24:24-25).

David, understanding the principle of giving, said he could not offer anything to God that did not cost him something. Otherwise, it was not a sacrificial gift.

When was the last time you sacrificed for another with no expectation of getting anything in return? We can all give something to others, such as our time, our money, or our expertise. This is real Christianity that models the Spirit of Christ. The next time you meet with someone, why not consider how you might be a blessing to that person. Why not ask, “How can I help you?”

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January 30, 2012

TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD – 1/30/2012

When you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.
–Jeremiah 29:12, NLT

Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’
–John 7:38 NLT

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Lord of the Living and the Dead

For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself ; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord ; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. But you, why do you judge your brother ? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt ? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, “AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD.” So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.
Romans 14:7-12

In the New Testament, Lord is the most frequently used title for Jesus Christ. Although we rarely use this term in our daily lives, we are all quite familiar with another word: boss. That is basically what Lord means—one possessing authority, power, and control. The Word of God describes Jesus as the head of the church, the ruler over all creation, and the Lord of lords and King of kings (Col. 1:15-18; Rev. 3:14; 17:14).

The realm of Christ’s reign covers everything that happens in heaven and on the earth. No one—not even those who deny His existence—can be free of His rule or outside His sphere of authority. Although Satan tries to convince us that liberty is found in doing what we want, true freedom is acquired only through submission to Christ’s loving lordship.

Even death cannot release anyone from the authority of God’s Son. He is Lord of both the living and the dead. All people must decide to either yield or rebel against Him, but they have the opportunity to make this choice only while they are still living. After death, they will acknowledge Christ’s lordship through accountability to Him. If we have not bowed the knee to Jesus in life, we will be forced to bend it in the judgment.

Have you submitted to Christ’s rule over your life? His authority causes anger or fear in individuals who have not yet yielded to Him, but those who have experienced His lovingkindness, trusted in His goodness, and surrendered to His authority take comfort in knowing Him as the Lord of their lives.

For more biblical teaching and resources from Dr. Charles Stanley, please visit www.intouch.org.

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A Call To Worship
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Monday, January 30 2012

…but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage. – Exodus 6:9

It is very difficult to lead when those you are leading believe they have been mistreated and have lost all hope. Such was the case when God called Moses to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt. They had lived under many years of oppression and slavery. Yet God heard their cry. He sent someone to bring them out of slavery “so that they might worship God” (see Ex. 8:1). Interesting that God didn’t say, “to serve Him.” Above all else, God desires our worship. A person cannot enter into true worship of God while still in slavery and bondage.

In Proverbs, the writer tells us “hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Prov. 13:12a). There is a place in life where life becomes so discouraging and hopeless that we lose all hope, and it can actually make us sick. I have been at this place; it is a scary condition. It brings you to the edge of despair.

The people would not listen to Moses. Yet God did not deliver immediately. In fact, it would be many plagues later before ultimate deliverance would take place. Why does God withhold deliverance at times? It is in order to bring greater glory from the situation. It isn’t because He doesn’t care. It is because His plan for mankind is resting in these events. It is a finely tuned plan that involves many people and situations – all operating at the same time. It can seem cruel at times. But God knows that His children cannot worship Him if they are in bondage and lose all hope. He won’t allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear, so He has a plan of deliverance for each of us. This plan is not always the kind of deliverance we might think is best. It sometimes has pain surrounding the deliverance. When a mother gives birth, that child is delivered into this world through much pain. But with that pain comes great joy on the other side. Every mother will say the pain was worth it because of the exceeding joy that child brought in the midst of the pain.

What are you in bondage to today? What keeps you from entering true worship? Work can keep us in bondage if we fail to enter into freedom in Christ during our workday. Today, ask God to show you the areas of bondage that you are living in so that you may worship Him.

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Waiting For Hope

“For we through the Spirit by faith wait for the hope of righteousness” (Gal. 5:5, RV).

There are times when things look very dark to me–so dark that I have to wait even for hope. It is bad enough to wait in hope. A long-deferred fulfillment carries its own pain, but to wait for hope, to see no glimmer of a prospect and yet refuse to despair; to have nothing but night before the casement and yet to keep the casement open for possible stars; to have a vacant place in my heart and yet to allow that place to be filled by no inferior presence–that is the grandest patience in the universe. It is Job in the tempest; it is Abraham on the road to Moriah; it is Moses in the desert of Midian; it is the Son of man in the Garden of Gethsemane.

There is no patience so hard as that which endures, “as seeing him who is invisible”; it is the waiting for hope.

Thou hast made waiting beautiful; Thou has made patience divine. Thou hast taught us that the Father’s will may be received just because it is His will. Thou hast revealed to us that a soul may see nothing but sorrow in the cup and yet may refuse to let it go, convinced that the eye of the Father sees further than its own.

Give me this Divine power of Thine, the power of Gethsemane. Give me the power to wait for hope itself, to look out from the casement where there are no stars. Give me the power, when the very joy that was set before me is gone, to stand unconquered amid the night, and say, “To the eye of my Father it is perhaps shining still.” I shall reach the climax of strength when I have learned to wait for hope.
–George Matheson

***

Strive to be one of those–so few–who walk the earth with ever-present consciousness–all mornings, middays, star-times–that the unknown which men call Heaven is “close behind the visible scene of things.”

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The Impossible Is Possible
Laura MacCorkle, Crosswalk.com Senior Editor

“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26, NIV

How many times have you said to yourself, “Well that will never happen!”

Oftentimes, it is easy to get discouraged in this life, to shelve our hopes and dreams and to keep our focus on what is instead of on what could be or what is promised to us in the Word.

I’ve been reading the book of Genesis again this winter and have been struck once more with how God worked in the lives of Abraham and Sarah. In Genesis 18, the LORD told Abraham that in a year from that moment, he and Sarah would have a son.

“I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son,” he said (v. 10).

Now, children are great and all, but beyond the pink and the blue what was so meaningful to Abraham and Sarah about this promise of things to come? It was significant because to the human eye it seemed impossible. Yes, God had made a covenant with Abraham (Gen. 17:1-2) and told him he would have many descendants. But Abraham was now 99 years old, and Sarah was 90 and barren. That’s the end of life for most of us in today’s space-time continuum and way past the typical childbearing years. But in God’s economy, it was the perfect time for him to deliver upon the promise he had made.

While Abraham was hearing this word and the exact timing of when God said it would come to pass, Sarah was also listening.

“So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, ‘After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?’” (v. 12).

I’m sure many of us have taken upon this “laughing attitude” as well in our own lives when considering what seems to be impossible in our current life circumstances. You’re probably thinking about whatever that is right now—a child, a soul mate, a dream job, a cure for your illness, no more debt . . . whatever.

You’ve also probably shed some tears over what seems impossible to you right now and you’ve moved on to laughter—or rather unbelief—like Sarah. Really, God … how could this ever happen in my life at this point? It’s too unbelievable.

But the LORD heard her and said to Abraham: “’Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (v. 13-14).

Ask yourself that same question. Is it? Is anything too hard for the Lord? What have you given up on in your own life? What are you “laughing” about today that signifies your unbelief?

In chapter 21, we see how God’s promise came to pass. He was “gracious to Sarah, as he had said,” and she bore a son to Abraham “at the very time God had promised him.” His name was Isaac, he was a miracle and he was—and is—a constant reminder of God’s faithfulness even when we laugh and don’t believe.

I believe stories like Abraham and Sarah’s are included in God’s Word so that we will better understand the nature of God. It’s about him and not us. It’s about what he has done, is doing and will do. It’s about the joy that only he can bring. It’s about trusting him along the journey and believing in the One who created all things, knows all things and can do all things—even the impossible.

Intersecting Faith & Life: What circumstances in your life require a mountain-sized miracle today? Thank God for the ultimate miracle of making the impossible possible—that he saves us through HIS indescribable work and by HIS amazing grace.

Further Reading:

1 Kings 17:7-16, NIV

Job 38:4-38, NIV

Rev. 4:11, NIV

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January 29, 2012

TODAY’S ENCOURAGING WORD – 1/29/2012

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.
–Matthew 7:7, NLT

The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense.
–Proverbs 27:9 NLT

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In The Zone
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman
Sunday, January 29 2012

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. – Joshua 1:7

In sports, there is a term known as “in the zone.” It is a description of a person executing his skills so well that total concentration is taking place, and the athlete is performing flawlessly. It is a wonderful feeling. Performance seems effortless because it comes so easily. For the tennis player, it is hitting every shot right where he wants. For the baseball pitcher, it is throwing to a strike zone that seems big as a house. For the golfer, the fairways are wide, and the hole is big. Everything is flowing just right.

I grew up playing competitive golf. I turned pro out of college for a few years, but later God led me away from playing professionally. When I played competitively, I knew when I was in the zone and when I wasn’t. A few years ago, I played in my club championship. It was the opening round, and I was in the zone. I recall the difference was that my mental attitude was focused on executing the swing I wanted to make with little regard to the outcome. I could visualize the swing so well; it was like a movie picture in my mind. Very little thought was given to the outcome of the shot. I knew that if I could make the right swing, the outcome would take care of itself. That day I shot four under par 68. I went on to win the golf tournament. I have had few such days of being “in the zone.”

Obedience in the Christian life is being in the zone. When we live a life of obedience, we begin to experience the reality of God like never before. Wisdom grows in our life. Meaning and purpose are accelerated. In the early Church, the Hebrews gained wisdom through obedience. Later, the Greeks were characterized as gaining wisdom through reason and analysis. Today, we live in a very Greek-influenced Church. Many Christians determine if they will obey based on whether the outcome will be beneficial to them. Imagine if the early Church had adopted this philosophy. No walls would have fallen down at Jericho. No Red Sea would have parted. No one would have been healed. No coins would have been found in the mouth of a fish. Reason and analysis would not have led to making the obedient decision. Trust and obey. Leave the outcome to God.

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Like the Cedars of Lebanon
“What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter” (John 13:7).

We have only a partial view here of God’s dealings, His half-completed, half-developed plan; but all will stand out in fair and graceful proportions in the great finished Temple of Eternity! Go, in the reign of Israel’s greatest king, to the heights of Lebanon. See that noble cedar, the pride of its compeers, an old wrestler with northern blasts! Summer loves to smile upon it, night spangles its feathery foliage with dewdrops, the birds nestle on its branches, the weary pilgrim or wandering shepherd reposes under its shadows from the midday heat or from the furious storm; but all at once it is marked out to fall; The aged denizen of the forest is doomed to succumb to the woodman’s stroke!

As we see the axe making its first gash on its gnarled trunk, then the noble limbs stripped of their branches, and at last the “Tree of God,” as was its distinctive epithet, coming with a crash to the ground, we exclaim against the wanton destruction, the demolition of this proud pillar in the temple of nature. We are tempted to cry with the prophet, as if inviting the sympathy of every lowlier stem–invoking inanimate things to resent the affront–”Howl, fir tree; for the cedar has fallen!”

But wait a little. Follow that gigantic trunk as the workmen of Hiram launch it down the mountain side; thence conveyed in rafts along the blue waters of the Mediterranean; and last of all, behold it set a glorious polished beam in the Temple of God. As you see its destination, placed in the very Holy of Holies, in the diadem of the Great King–say, can you grudge that “the crown of Lebanon” was despoiled, in order that this jewel might have so noble a setting?

That cedar stood as a stately prop in Nature’s sanctuary, but “the glory of the latter house was greater than the glory of the former!”

How many of our souls are like these cedars of old! God’s axes of trial have stripped and bared them. We see no reason for dealings so dark and mysterious, but He has a noble end and object in view; to set them as everlasting pillars and rafters in His Heavenly Zion; to make them a “crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of our God.” –Macduff

***

“I do not ask my cross to understand,
My way to see–
Better in darkness just to feel Thy hand,
And follow Thee.”

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January 28, 2012

It was an awesome day today hanging out with Sam Acho and Ricky Lumpkin at the Bicycle Haus Criterium. Sam Acho was inspiring and a blessing to everyone that came to Chapel, we got to know more about Sam and how his faith in Jesus has made him the man he is today. Sam’s testimony was powerful, inspiring and reflected God’s glory! I know each one of us walked away wanting to be a living sacrifice for Jesus! We are looking forward to seeing Sam and Ricky at the races again, this was their first bicycle race (criterium) they had attended, it appeared they had a pretty good time. Well, we sure hope they had a good time because we hope to invite them back again!

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