A Source Of Joy

“But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” (Ac 20:24 AV)

Although Paul was misguided here, the foundation of his reasoning was sound.  It was not the LORD’s will for him to go to Jerusalem.  Calvinists have a hard time with this.  I don’t know why.  The Bible is filled with people who disobey the will of God.  Nonetheless, Paul trips upon the key to a joy-filled life.  Not counting one’s life dear to self for the sake of the ministry is one of the highest joys a saint could experience.  Or so Paul and others have testified.  I have never been pushed to the brink of martyrdom.  I’ve had a firearm pointed at me a few times.  But I have never been put in a place where laying down my life for the gospel was even remotely a requirement.  The things that do not move Paul are the emotions of those who are trying to talk him out of it, the potential threats to his life by returning there, and the prophet who spoke in the Spirit and told him it was not God’s will.  The point at which Paul arrived was self-sacrifice.  Not some, but all.  He was finally rid of all self-interest and was willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice for the gospel of Christ.  This is why he found true joy.  It came with the abandonment of self.

Self is a horrible companion.  It wants what it wants when it wants it.  Sacrifice is not in its vocabulary.  The more Self is fed, the less satisfied Self becomes.  When I think of the many saints that I have served with that I can list as self-sacrificial, there are a few.  To point out one over another would be to leave out some who deserve to be recognized.  But one couple, of whom I spent one short weekend with, comes to mind.  I candidate in a church in another state and stayed with a couple while there.  This couple was super-spiritual and humble.  One of the two had been divorced.  They had remarried.  You know the type.  They are the ones who cleaned the church, entertained the guest speakers, did maintenance around the church, and a host of other things.  If they were to leave the church, it would fall apart.  Anyway, they desired to serve in the nursery.  The church elders forbade it.  They thought that because they were divorced and remarried, they were not qualified to babysit children.  They were beside themselves.  The only ministry they were allowed to do did not involve people.  They were heartbroken and asked for my advice.  They wrote a letter about a month after I had been there and the decision was made not to call me as their pastor.  I helped them to understand all they were doing was literally keeping the doors of the church open.  Their sacrifice to serve in a limited capacity and have no ministry with people seemed cruel.  It wasn’t right.  But their sacrificial service meant the doors of the church stayed open and the church could reach their small hamlet with the gospel.

We look for joy in a variety of places.  But no matter where we look, the opportunity to sacrifice Self is the only way we can find true and deep joy.  Paul may have been misguided in the particular application of death to Self, but he wasn’t wrong regarding the principle.  Remember, Paul had traveled all over Asia Minor and eastern Europe.  We went as far as Rome.  He accomplished much.  He started churches and spread the gospel into regions that were transformed because of his ministry.  But none of that compared to an opportunity to kill off Self.  This is what the book of Philippians is all about.  Paul learned true and deep joy can only be had when Self is truly conquered.

Saved By Grace

“But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.” (Ac 15:11 AV)

The ‘they’ are the Gentiles.  The Apostle is stating his belief that Gentiles and Jews alike are saved by the grace of God.  When we speak of salvation, grace is placed equal with all other elements of salvation.  When in reality, it is the greatest of all.  There are many elements to salvation.  Like childbirth, there isn’t one element more important than all others except for the breath of life.  A baby can be formed in its mother’s womb, but upon its arrival, if it does not breathe, it does not live.  Likewise, there are many elements to salvation.  There is hearing and understanding the word of God.  There is conviction of sin from the Holy Spirit.  There is repentance from sin.  There is faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  And there is also communication between the Creator-God and the penitent sinner.  All these things may happen but without grace, salvation does not occur.  God is not required to save us if we repent and trust.  If He is, then salvation is man-centered and not God-centered.  God looks down from heaven and sees our penitent and trusting hearts.  He takes pity on us and chooses to save us.  Not because He is required to.  Rather, because in His grace, He chooses to.  Now, I am not a Calvinist.  God does not save anyone who is not repentant or who refuses to trust.  He is simply not obligated to.

Suppose a child came to his father and needed relief from a situation he caused that only his father could solve.  Is he obligated to rescue his son?  What if this child was trained well, repeatedly refused his father’s instruction, and had a life pattern of going his own way regardless of the mess he caused?  Would the father be required to rescue his son from the mess that his son had caused even though he was the only one who could? Many years ago, I had a church member whose son never listened to his father.  Time and again, his father warned him his behavior was going to land him into serious trouble.  From his adolescent years into his adult years, this son continuously ignored his parents and did his own thing.  This did not end well.  It took several years, but this child, who had grown to be a man, found himself in jail.  I went to see him.  Looking him in the eye, you could tell the severity of where he was headed had not yet sunk in.  He was in a place where God should have been able to speak to him.  When he was released, he got into more trouble.  Over time, Dad stopped intervening and allowed his son to suffer whatever may come.  Each time he was caught in his circumstances, he went to Dad and sought relief.  It wasn’t until this child finally came to the end of himself that Dad would intervene.  He did so because he loved his son.  Not because his son was entitled to his father’s love.  In fact, he did everything to spurn his father’s love.  But seeing his child’s broken heart and will, his father acted in love and helped this son rebuild his life.

This is what God does for us.  He is not obligated to save us.  He is not required to put our lives back together.  We made a mess.  We went the wrong way.  We caused the suffering.  God did not.  All He did was send His Son to die for you and me when we wanted nothing to do with Him.  That is all He did!  When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, some of us accept this gift of salvation like a Christmas gift.  Because I am a child of my parents and they love me, I am entitled to be loved on.  Therefore I receive the Christmas gift because in some way it is owed to me.  Not salvation.  Salvation is a gift that is not owed.  It is a gift from the pure grace of God.  We have all, like sheep, gone astray.  We have gone our own way.  We have turned the shoulder.  We have stiffened our necks.  We have rejected the Lordship of God Almighty.  But sin is a horrible thing.  We have come to the end of ourselves.  Like the prodigal, we are no more worthy to be called the child of God.  Yet He, in His infinite grace, has chosen to take pity on us and save us despite all that we have done.  When we are saved, that is why we are.  By grace!  It is the grace of God that sent Jesus Christ.  It is the grace of God that kept Christ on that cross.  And it is the grace of God that applies the blood of His precious Son to our account of sin!

But Prayer

“Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.” (Ac 12:5 AV)

A perfect response to a difficult situation.  Because Peter refused to obey the authorities and cease preaching Christ, they threw him in prison.  The church, rather than response in apathy or fear, gathered in one place and prayed until God answered.  They prayed and they prayed.  At midnight, God answered their prayer and Peter arrived safe and sound at the front door of the house church.  God orchestrated a jailbreak because the people of God responded to a crisis by praying to God for intervention.  Corporate prayer is a difficult thing to get off the ground.  Not many are motivated to get involved.  I have been in meetings in the past when prayer was an important part, if not the most important part, of what the church did.  There have been all-night prayer meetings.  Cottage prayer meetings.  Men and ladies' prayer meetings.  We have lost our stomach for prayer meetings because deep down inside, we do not believe in the power of prayer.  I love those two words, “but prayer”.  It is prayer that is the power of the church.  When the church gets back to prayer perhaps we will see God work in real and visible ways.

Over the years, I have been under pastors who made a priority of prayer.  I had one pastor who held cottage prayer meetings for every special meeting.  Church members would host a prayer meeting in their homes. Sometimes, there were more than one at a time.  He was the same preacher who had Twenty-four-hour prayer meetings.  My daughter-in-law’s pastor has an all-night prayer meeting for several days before their biggest meeting of the year.  Because he made a priority of prayer, Wednesday and Sunday nights did not suffer lower attendance than Sunday morning.  But the one I think who truly prayed was also a hunting partner from time to time.  His name was Paul.  Paul prayed about everything.  He prayed about little things as well as big things.  He wanted God’s guidance and blessing on everything.  I remember when I took him turkey hunting one spring.  He prayed when I picked him up.  He prayed when we parked.  He prayed before we went into the woods.  He prayed when we set up.  He prayed when we called it a morning.  He prayed when we unloaded into the car.  And, he prayed before we hit the road.  He was constantly in prayer.  His first reaction to any circumstance was to pray.  It was not his last.

The church who heard of Peter’s capture and possible torture immediately went to prayer.  One has to be encouraged by those two little words – but prayer.  Prayer is the antithesis of trouble.  You have trouble on one hand.  But prayer is on the other.  You have doubt and fear on one side.  But prayer is on the other.  You have a great need.  But prayer is greater.  We have dreams.  But prayer is what makes them real.  We have a hunger and thirst for righteousness.  But prayer is what gives life to the wish.  We want to know God more intimately.  But prayer is what brings us into the presence of the one whom we want to know.  But prayer.  Two little words that change everything!

Will We Obey God?

“Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” (Ac 5:29 AV)

Every believer will be faced with this same test.  Peter and others were brought before the authorities and were told to stop preaching Jesus Christ.  The verse above is his response.  And, praise the LORD that he meant it.  The body of Christ today owes its existence to brave men of faith and integrity who acted on their conscience rather than the fear that might have been there from the threats they received.  Praise the LORD they knew it was better to obey God than to obey men.  As I wrote before, this test is not unique to the first generation of preachers.  This has been going on ever since men had authority over one another.  This is not unique to the church or the church age.  From the time Cain killed Abel, the people of that Wicked One have been trying to silence the people of God.  It doesn’t matter whether it is work, school, or our country.  The world will not tolerate the preaching of Jesus Christ.  When the test comes, and it will, we will have a choice to make.

These times of testing are what God uses to grow our integrity and faith.  If we were never tested, we would never grow.  These times of testing come early and often.  They also grow in scope.  When we start out, it might be a family thing that interrupts our obedience to Christ.  A family gathering or obligation is scheduled at the same time the LORD requires your presence elsewhere.  It’s not that the family didn’t know.  They knew you were obligated but felt their demand was greater than God’s.  Would obey God rather than man?  Then comes an employer who wants you to compromise your beliefs for the sake of the company.  This happens all the time.  What will we do?  Will we tell our boss his request will go unmet because God comes first?  What about society?  We have seen this in the news quite a bit in the last few years.  Those who hate God require the people of  God to accommodate their sins.  When we refuse, they take us to court.  Then comes the government.  This is where we are headed.  It has already started.  Several years ago, they required the suspension of all public meetings that didn’t meet their approval.  Churches were among those that didn’t.  Many of us felt the times demanded it and live-streamed through streaming services.  Never again.  We are commanded to assemble.  God knows what He is doing.  It is appointed unto men once to die.  God controls that timing and not nature or man.  The government will begin to tell us who we can and cannot admit to membership.  Our doctrinal statement or church constitution will hold no water. The day is coming soon when the church cannot decide for itself church practice or polity.  What will we do then?

I fear for the church of the future.  Integrity and faith are not grown like they used to be.  We are becoming too soft.  We are allowing the narcissistic nature of our culture to permeate the church.  Our preaching, teaching, and ministry are saint-centered rather than God-centered.  Comfort and peace are our sermons.  We are not raising a generation of men and women who will withstand the fiery darts of the devil.  The shield of faith has cracks in it and the word of God, which is the sword of the LORD, is carried about as though it has chinks, cracks, or structural compromise.  And we have done this to ourselves.  The world, the devil, and the flesh may attack, but it is the saint who has laid down the whole armor of God.  The time is coming and already is here, when the people of God must decide whose side they are on.  It frightens me to consider how many preachers might end up incarcerated for preaching the truth and the churches do nothing.  What will we do?  When Satan comes knocking at the front door, what will we do?  Will we obey God rather than man?

Foundation For Boldness

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” (Ac 4:13 AV)

“For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” (Ac 4:20 AV)

“And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,” (Ac 4:29 AV)

Boldness is a matter of integrity, not courage, faith, or ability.  Peter stated plainly that when the people took note of his boldness, he explained it was his integrity that forced him to be bold.  He could not speak but that which they have heard and seen.  They spent three-plus years with Jesus and saw the Son of God do things that only God could do.  The most miraculous was raising from the dead.  To deny what Jesus had done and had done for them personally meant to deny honesty in their own hearts.  To remain quiet while those who hated God gave them problems is to deny the very God who saved them.  Cowardice is not a personality trait.  Cowardice is not a matter of ignorance.  Cowardice is not a lack of faith.  Cowardice is a lack of integrity.  Peter, in verse twenty, tells us exactly why they were bold.  They could not, as a matter of character, deny the truth.

There was a campaign a while back called “See Something, Say Something.”  This slogan arose from an anti-terrorism effort rolled out by our own government in 2010.  This was in response to the terrorist attacks on NYC on September eleventh, 2009.  The idea behind it was for the public to keep their eyes open and if they saw anything that was suspicious, they were to notify the police.  The suggestion was to overcome one’s fear of getting involved for the greater good of public safety.  We will never know exactly how well it worked because we simply do not know how many attacks were thwarted because of it.  But we can see that since that fateful day, we have been safer from foreign terrorist attacks.  There used to be a day when we had neighborhood watch groups that looked out for one another.  They would report criminal or suspicious behavior. Why that went away, I do not know.  These types of things rely on the courage of those involved to say something.  Fear is often a motivation to stay silent.  We just do not want to get involved.  Why do those who do get involved do so?  It is not because they are absent of fear.  They know the real threat they see.  They know that if they speak up, they might be a target.  But they cannot stand idly by while others are victimized.  Character is what drives them to report.

Too many saints have the truth and sit on it.  They do nothing with it.  Or, they wait for the perfect situation in which to share the truth where little to no opposition is present.  They are not bold in the witness.  Why?  Lack of integrity.  If Jesus saved you and you know this for a fact; if the salvation that you enjoy is available to all souls; if God has given you His Word and His Spirit as tools to share that truth; then when we remain silent we show just how shallow our character truly is.  Integrity overcomes fear.  Fear still remains.  But integrity is stronger.  If we do not share what we know to be true when eternal souls lay in the balance, then we are being dishonest with the truth.  We are being selfish.  We care more about what impact sharing has on us rather than the impact not sharing has on those who need the truth.  Great soul-winners are not more learned, more gifted, or more knowledgeable.  Simply put, they have more character.  Like the steward who hid the talent in the ground rather than risk it for the master’s pleasure, those of us who say nothing lack the same character and integrity this steward lacked.  May God have mercy on His people for remaining silent while the world slips off to hell.

I'd Rather Not

“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.” (Joh 21:18 AV)

Jesus is speaking to Peter regarding the manner of death he would experience.  Like Jesus, Peter would be crucified.  Tradition tells us that Peter requested to be crucified upside down lest he treat the crucifixion of Christ with less reverence than it deserved.  It is always assumed those who suffer a martyr’s death do so with enthusiasm and joy.  We hear of stories where the martyrs sing or pray loudly as a testimony to God’s grace.  We think that martyrs are looking to suffer the honor of being put to death for their faith.  However, our LORD’s words suggest Peter was not looking forward to his death.  He would rather not go to the cross.  Jesus showed the same attitude in the garden.  If there was another way to redeem mankind than to suffer as He did, He asked the Father to consider it.  Jesus was fully committed to the will of the Father, but His human side was not looking forward to it.  As I consider this truth, the application is not a comfortable one.  There are things we go through that we would rather not.  We do so because God requires it of us.  We submit to it even though we wish we did not have to.  This also means the future holds similar experiences.  There will come times when we would rather not go through the circumstances of life.  But as Jesus and Peter did, go through them we must.

Our lives are filled with these moments.  From childhood to eternal graduation, we are faced with circumstances of life that are not fun by any stretch of the imagination.  I have a dental appointment next week.  I hate going to the dentist.  It goes way back to when I was a child.  My parents were too poor to be able to afford Novocain.  All our childhood dental work was done without it.  To this day I get really nervous around a dental drill.  There was the time the doctor had to rebreak my arm, a hospital stay for tonsil surgery, and another for a severe concussion.  In ministry, there were several events I would never want to re-live.  In life, I have seen several deaths, have been a victim of armed robbery, and as a child, constantly bullied at school.  Life is full of these things which we would rather not go through.

When I think of this, I think of Job.  Here was a man who expected the perfect life.  His logic was somewhat sound.  He feared God and eschewed evil.  He was, by all measurements, as righteous and humble a man as there ever was.  He believed because of his character, God would never bring harm to him or his family.  This all changed in one day.  From having everything, he was diminished to nothing.  All he had was four friends and a wife who condemned him for things he did not or would not do, and wished him to curse God and die.  I am sure when Job got up that morning he did not wish for the events he would face that day.

Even in the service of the LORD, there are things we would rather not do.  There are people we would rather not deal with.  There are duties we wish we did not have to tend to.  But this is life.  The suggestion above is that the things we would rather not do are asked of us so that God might be glorified.  These are not normal events of life like illness or financial challenges.  These things are directly involved in glorifying God in our lives.  Even though we are surrendered, it doesn’t mean we will like every moment of that surrender.  The goal is to surrender regardless of how we feel about it.  Go through the cross anyway.  You may not like it, but it has to be done.

A Two-thousand Year Old Prayer - FOR YOU

“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;” (Joh 17:20 AV)

What an amazing statement.  John chapter seventeen is the LORD’s prayer for His disciples.  In that prayer, He states His prayer is not limited to the disciples at hand.  His prayer applies to all those who will come to trust in Him through the ministry of the original group.  That would include me.  If you know Jesus as your LORD and Savior, that would include you as well.  I don’t believe this prayer is for an arbitrary group of saints who would accept Him sometime in the future.  This prayer was uttered by the Son of God.  He is no less omniscient than the Father.  He knows all things including who would accept and who would reject Him.  1900 or so years prior to my decision to trust Him, He knew I would and prayed for me. The prayers Jesus offered up for the few hundred disciples He had at the time of His ascension are the same prayers He offered for me.  When I read John chapter seventeen, I read of the prayer Jesus offered to the Father on my behalf.  What a truth!

We tend to forget how marvelous and full of wonder our God and Creator is.  We tend to forget just how involved God is in our everyday life.  We forget the God who made us and saved us also interacts with us in a non-stop fashion.  The Bible tells us that before we were formed in the womb of our mothers, God knew us.  He knew what we would be.  He knew what we would do.  He knew how we would respond to His grace.  Not only did God know, but He knows now.  I cannot help but think one of the most comforting thoughts I could have is that almost two thousand years ago, Jesus was praying for me as an individual person.  Almost two millennia ago, the Savior had me on His mind mere hours before He went to His cross.  He had never met me.  We had never looked one another in the face.  I wasn’t like the eleven whom He has spent three-plus years within the trenches of spiritual warfare.  He knew me as a future fact of history.  Not as a living, breathing, real-time person.  Despite being separated by years and distance, the Savior still prayed for me.  He knew exactly what choices I would face.  He knew how much I would disappoint Him.  He knew where I would fail in the commands He had left me.  Yet, He prayed for me anyway.

It is one thing to hear the prayers of the saints for you.  It is very humbling.  Every Wednesday evening, our church has a prayer meeting.  We have a Bible lesson then split up for prayer.  We have some that pray rather loudly and it is impossible not to notice.  Almost every Wednesday evening, our church people pray for me and my wife individually.  We love them and do the best we can in meeting their spiritual needs.  They reciprocate in praying for their pastor and his wife.  This is very humbling.  To hear the love-filled words of those who are precious to you is a very special thing.  Compound that infinitely and you will have the prayers of the Savior for you as a single person.  God prayed for you!  Can the human mind fathom that?  The Creator of the universe took the time to mention you and your future life to the Father.  What a thought!  What a thought that thousands of years ago, the Son of God spoke a prayer to the Father in heaven for me, and for you!

Guaranteed Comfort

“I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” (Joh 14:18 AV)

What a promise for those who know the LORD.  These words were spoken to the eleven as Jesus was preparing to die, resurrect, and ascend.  The comfort He promises is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  By stating He would come unto the eleven, He equates the Spirit and Himself as one and the same.  The mystery of the Trinity appears again!  Two persons in one person yet remaining two persons.  Glory!  It is the first part of the verse that I wish to think deeply about.  The LORD promises to never leave us without comfort.  Regardless of our struggle, He will always be there to comfort us.  If we do not experience the comfort He promises, the fault lies with us.  If we are saved, the Spirit resides within.  Sin, ignorance, or the lack of faith hinder the comfort He has promised.  It is there.  He will never leave.  He will not leave us without comfort.

Not to overuse an analogy, but the medical dispenser and the bedside of a patient come to mind.  It can be a good thing or a bad thing.  Just ask my wife.  Like every patient, you get stuck with a faulty one from time to time.  The first one my wife had seemed to alarm for no apparent reason and at all times of day and night.  It didn’t matter what the staff did, it alarmed all the time.  In fact, if a visitor would walk the halls, it was not uncommon to hear several of those things alarming.  They alarm so often, that the nursing staff seem to become deaf to them.  This is like the convicting work of the Holy Spirit.  He constantly reminds us of ways in which we could better serve our Father.  Conviction comes at all times of day and night and unless we fix the problem, the alarm goes off more frequently and much louder.  But there is an upside to those dispensers.  I am old enough to remember the day when they became common-use equipment.  Before then, the bags of medicine were metered mechanically.  A little valve was adjusted to increase or decrease the dose.  With the machines, it is all done automatically.  This accomplishes several things.  It limits mistakes and it gives the patient some control over the dosing.  If they think they need more pain medication, they can press a button and receive it.  The thing is, in the absence of the doctor or nurse, the patient is not left without relief.  He or she has it at the tip of the fingers.

We are not alone.  Our suffering does not have to be a one-person experience.  The gift of the Holy Spirit is unique to the New Testament.  Because the sinner has chosen to trust Jesus Christ and only Him for their soul’s salvation, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in the heart, mind, and soul of the convert.  The ever-abiding God is our friend who will walk where we walk.  He will speak to us and comfort us in times of need.  Jesus has promised that He will not leave us without comfort.  This is an absolute promise.  If we are without comfort, the problem lies with us.  We need to pray, search the scriptures, listen to the Holy Spirit, and settle it in our hearts that He knows what He is doing.  The comfort is there.  All we need to do is open our hearts, minds, and souls to it.

More Faith Than You Think You Have

"Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.  But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.” (Joh 11:21,22 AV)

These words were uttered by Martha, sister to Lazarus.  The faith in these words is beyond amazing.  Lazarus had been dead for four days, and Martha still held out hope that Jesus could do something.  A few verses later, Martha’s statement of faith was in the resurrection of the dead on the last day.  But stating this beforehand was an utterance of her true state of faith without her even realizing it.  I believe Martha, in the depth of her heart, believed Jesus could raise her brother from the dead even though he had been dead for several days.  Martha uttered a statement of faith she didn’t know she really had.  We often do the same.  We have more faith than we sometimes give ourselves credit for.  When deep trials of faith come upon us, the Holy Spirit takes over and our faith in God becomes our strength for the moment.  We don’t even realize what is happening until the experience is all over and we scratch our heads wondering how we ever survived.  Sometimes it takes a trial of faith to reveal just how much we never knew we had!

Last night, my wife and I were lying in bed talking about her cancer surgery.  A year ago this month, she underwent extensive and serious surgery to remove tumors in her small intestine, lymph nodes, and liver.  She was opened up from her sternum all the way to below her belly button.  We spoke of what we remembered and she wanted to know details of my experience.  Much of it, to me anyway, was a blur.  I remember the surgeon coming to speak to me and drawing pictures to describe the work she had done.  But I can't remember coming into Lisa’s room.  I cannot remember if she was in the room when I entered, or if we had to wait for her to arrive.  But there are a few things I distinctly remember because God was all over it.  I remember her demeanor pre-op.  Now, Lisa is not a good patient.  She is a nervous one.  I don’t blame her.  I probably am not much better.  But that day, she had such a calm and peaceful demeanor it almost shocked me.  She had a look of confidence and assurance on her face I have rarely seen in her when faced with severe situations.  The other manifestation of God’s power on her was how she comported herself as a patient.  Again, she is not an easy patient.  But her stay in the hospital following her surgery was the calmest I have ever seen her when in great discomfort. It was definitely a God thing.  Since then, we have had our ups and downs.  We have a scare here and there.  And I can say that there were times we did not exhibit the faith we should have had given the circumstances and the results of treatment.  But none of that takes away from the faith God gave us at the moment of our deepest need.  It is amazing how much faith God gives you that you don’t even realize you have.

When I think of this truth, I think of Abraham.  He knew God would raise his son from the dead or stop him from killing Isaac.  At least he knew that in his head.  Part of Isaac's offering was for Abraham to prove to himself he had the faith to trust God.  These lessons come with very hard circumstances.  These lessons are not easy.  I can tell you by experience, that this has been one of the most difficult trials I have ever been through,  as exhibited by much hair loss for about eight weeks from the time of diagnosis to the time of her follow-up scans.  Perhaps that is where the phrase ‘pulling your hair out’ came from.  Stress can do that to you.  But what I can say is God becomes very real and very close in times like these.  He provides the faith or reveals the faith you already had.  This was Martha’s lesson.  The loss of her brother brought out the faith she didn’t know she had when Jesus came to visit.  Praise the LORD He provides our needs before we need them.

Who Do You Talk About

“He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.” (Joh 7:18 AV)

What a good verse.  We can tell a lot about ourselves based on who and what we talk about.  The argument from Jesus is that since He talks of the Father and not of himself, He must be from the Father.  This is so true.  What we talk about will tell others of our priorities.  Even more pointed, who or what we recognize says a lot about who we live for.  The words above were not words of condemnation.  Rather, they were words of defense.  The Pharisees accused Jesus of self-promotion.  They accused Him of blasphemy.  When our LORD spoke these words, He was defending Himself against these charges.  In the defense, however, there was also a subtle rebuke.  In defending Himself, he was accusing them of doing the very thing they accused Him of.  They spoke of Moses and their law.  They spoke of their knowledge and diligence to the law.  They spoke of their religion.  They spoke of their heritage.  They spoke of everything but the Father.  What they spoke of was themselves.

I can relate.  It is a hard thing to remember to honor the LORD in everything.  It is easy to recognize the LORD in the big things.  It is the little things we let slip.  When we are paid a compliment on some minor thing, we might respond with a thank you.  When listing our accomplishments, we might fail to recognize the LORD in those things.  Our education is something we accomplished.  A skill is something we learned.  We celebrate our birthday without recognizing our life is from the LORD and He is the one who has kept us alive all these years. 

To speak of the Father in all things is something we learn to do over time.  As we age and become wiser, we realize just how much our lives and deeds are of the LORD and not of us.  We begin to realize how weak and frail we truly are.  We can reflect on all those things that happened in life and come to understand the hand of God was all over it.  All the lives that were changed or deeds that were done came to be because the Holy Spirit was performing His ministry through us.  We learn the events of life were a precise orchestration of a sovereign God who wished to accomplish something for His glory and we simply were the tool in the hand of the Master.  The recognition was welcomed when we were younger.  But the more we learn it was all God, the less we want to be seen as accomplishing anything.  I have met some amazing people over decades of service to the LORD. These people were special people.  I admire them greatly.  Those who walked humbly with God and showed a resolve to stay faithful, to me, are the heroes of the faith.  But in time, I have come to understand it was God more than them.  The one thing they all had in common was the humility and faith to yield to the Father’s hand and simply obey Him to the best of their abilities.  I am honored to know such people.  They truly have glorified God in all they have done and their lives are the loudest voices testifying to the worthiness of our God to receive all the glory!  I pray that someday, others will say the same about me.

Step On The Scale

“But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” (Joh 3:21 AV)

That is an awfully humble and brave thing to do.  Who would want the whole truth of what they are and what they have done to come to light?  Not many people.  Our LORD’s observation here is truly the essence of walking with God in obedience and faith. For the child of God, this should be our pattern of life.  Jesus implies those who live right won’t avoid the light.  They understand they fail, but they also know by the grace of God, they do right.  This is the implication.  If we live in obedience to God, the light will not bother us.  The purpose of going to the light is two-fold.  First, to know if the deeds that were wrought are in truth so that those which are not can be revealed.  But not the second phrase there.  “that they are wrought in God.”  Those that live in righteousness to the truth want more righteousness.  When they attain it, all glory goes to God because those things can only be wrought in God.  In short, those who love the truth will walk in it.  They will examine their deeds in the light of God’s truth to reveal error and to give glory to God for all they have been able to do.  But we must desire to go to the light, no matter what it might reveal.

On my last doctor’s visit, my doctor noted my A1C was a bit high.  I was officially pre-diabetic.  I got the usual advice of dieting and watching my sugar intake.  But then he was pushing a weight loss drug for me to consider.  That really hit me hard.  I went to the light and found out I was irresponsible with my eating habits.  His after-visit summary was not kind at all.  Instead of doing the easy thing, I decided no vice of mine was going to get the better of me.  So, I endeavored to cut out as much refined sugar and unnecessary carbs as I could.  I didn’t go on a fad diet because it is my experience that once a goal is met, the dieter goes back to old habits and regains the weight that was lost, with interest.  Rather, I decided to discipline my urges to bring them under control and consume only what I needed to with more responsible choices being the priority.  I changed my creamer to sugar-free.  I swapped out my sugary snacks with sugar-free ones.  I eat more nuts and fiber than baked goods and high-carb snacks.  One thing I do every morning is to step on our digital scale to see the results.  At first, like any diet, the pounds came off.  Then I hit a plateau.  This scale lights up.  It doesn’t lie.  I have to go to the light to see if my deeds were wrought in God.  Sometimes, I don’t like what I see.  But all I have to do is remember what I was at my heaviest and know and know I will never be that again.  All praise to God.

We can look at that bathroom scale one of two ways.  We can either look at it as a constant failure.  We have a goal and we are not reaching that goal.  In one sense, that is a good thing because it will cause us to recommit to a healthier lifestyle.  But too much negative thinking causes us to quit.  Or, we can look at it as something God is doing in our lives.  We can look at that scale and praise the LORD for the wonderful resolve He has given us by His Spirit.  The same is true of any area of life.  We go to the light of God’s word for encouragement and correction.  Not one or the other.  We look for both.  Those who are saved go to the light because we want to give glory to God for all He has accomplished through and by us.  We also go to the light to make adjustments so that we can please our Father more and more.  Going to the light should be the natural habit of the child of God.  He should go to the light as naturally as he or she breathes or eats.  Going to the light should be second nature to us and is a manifestation of a healthy relationship with our God and Creator.

The Best Question One Could Ask

“But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?” (Lu 23:40 AV)

 This question was asked by the malefactor crucified with Christ.  The other mocked Christ challenging Him to come down off the cross and bring the two with Him.  He was not sincere, for if he was, he would understand he and his companion deserved death on the cross whereas Jesus did not.  Jesus is the Christ.  He is the Son of God.  He, above all men, is innocent of any and all charges.  Not just those brought by the illegal court of the Jews, but of any sin whatsoever.  Upon scorning the Son of God, the other makes this statement to him.  One that every lost soul should ask.  And every child of God should live.  To challenge the Son of God while hanging rightly condemned shows a complete lack of fear toward the God who has your soul in the palm of His hand.  To show no remorse shows a total lack of fear.  The question is more than a question.  It is a rebuke and a challenge.  How we react to our condemnation will reveal just how much we fear God.

Defiance is all the rage.  Challenging those who hold our freedom in the palm of their hands doesn’t seem to change how we react.  Recently, a group of believers were preaching at a public gathering protesting an ungodly event.  Kudos to them.  But, they were arrested on a minor technicality while the event was violating the same ordinance.  Again, kudos to them.  Anyone who would publicly condemn something God hates should be applauded.  We need more believers willing to do the same.  However, they greatly erred in their interchange with the police.  They were clearly breaking the law.  There was an ordinance against what they were doing.  It didn’t matter that those to whom they were protesting were doing the same thing.  It was still breaking the law.  The individual who was recording the police exchange said some things that a saint should not say.  He was accusing the authorities of things that were not true.  He was mildly scoffing at the authority that came to arrest the preachers.  This was not a good testimony.  They should have yielded to the authority if their demands were according to the law.  Unless obedience to the law was a direct violation of the command of scripture, according to Romans chapter thirteen, they should have packed up their equipment and continued to preach.  For someone who was preaching the fear of God, he wasn’t showing it.  The fear of God is something missing in our churches as well as the world.

The fear of God is a very valuable thing. Solomon repeatedly extols the value of fearing God.  Having the utmost respect for our Creator brings many benefits.  Even if it did not, fearing the One who created you and who controls your very existence is a purifying way to live.  The fear of God is not something we preach much.  Which is a shame.  If one truth should be preached above all others, the fear of God might be that truth.  If we have no fear of God, we have no repentance.  If we have no fear of God, our end is condemnation.  If we have no fear of God, we have no respect for those whom He created.  If we have no fear of God, our end is complete destruction.  To fear God is the beginning of wisdom.  To fear God is to walk by faith.  To fear God is to love your fellow human being.  To fear God is to welcome all that comes your way as from God and for your own good.  To fear God is the primary goal of life.  Solomon concludes in the book of Ecclesiastes, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this [is] the whole [duty] of man.” (Ec 12:13 AV)  The question from the penitent thief was the question of the ages.  If we are condemned, why is it we do not fear God? 

Completely Satisfied

“The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.” (Pr 19:23 AV)

The fear of the LORD is something that comes with various promises.  Above, we see if we fear the LORD, we abide satisfied.  The word ‘satisfied’ means satiated.  Or, as we would use the word, saturated.  If there is anything we seek today is contentment and satisfaction.  Our entire culture chases after the perfect life.  We want all our wants and needs met.  We want perfect health.  We want our families to be like those we see on the family channel with our children winning every award and our spouses to perfect mates.  When we go to the restaurant, we see the picture of the food we order and expect it to come just as advertised.  We make a purchase and think it will finally make us happy.  The thing is, the things of this world can never fully satisfy.  We will always be wanting.  There will never be a day that goes by where we can say, “I feel perfectly content today and lay down to sleep knowing there is nothing more I would desire.”  That is, unless we make the fear of the LORD our passion.  Solomon states the soul that fears God will abide satisfied.

There have been only a few meals I have ever eaten where I walked away completely satisfied.  They were not large meals where I could eat as much as I wanted until I was full.  They were perfectly prepared so that when I was finished, there wasn’t another thing I could want.  One was a prime rib at a five-star restaurant in Letchworth State Park.  It was the first time I had ever had prime rib.  I have never had another prime rib like it.  EVER.  The other that comes to mind was a stuffed orange roughy at Whaler’s Catch in Paducah, KY.  The restaurant is closed now.  The owner suddenly passed away and they never recovered.  They were known in western Kentucky as the place to go for seafood.  I can take you to the table where I sat.  I can tell you the people I was sitting with.  I was not that big of a seafood eater.  Tuna fish and fried shrimp were the extents of my seafood voyage.  But when I ate that stuffed orange roughy, I savored every single bit.  I grew up with ten siblings.  If you wanted seconds, you ate fast.  To this day, I am a fast eater.  I figure it better to eat it while it is hot than take forever and eat it warm.  Not this orange roughy.  Every single bit was like a taste of heaven.  I took small bites.  Not large ones.  The whole meal could probably have been eaten in about ten normal bites.  But I took thirty minutes and twice that amount of bites because it tasted soooooo good.  When I was finished, they asked if I wanted dessert.   Nope!  I wanted the aftertaste of that perfect meal to linger on my pallet and tantalize more olfactory senses.  When I was done, I was completely satiated with the meal I had just consumed.

We fill our lives with all sorts of things trying to answer an urge that will not go away.  We are looking in the wrong place.  The fear of the LORD is the key to satisfaction.  Walking with God in faith and obedience is the necessary ingredient to a satisfied life.  An intimate relationship with God founded in respect and awe for who and what He is brings all the heart needs to feel full.  The more we try to satiate the needs of the soul apart from God, the less satisfied we become.  As every addict will tell you, there is never enough.  Only an infinite God can fill an infinite need.  Better to walk with God in fear and want nothing, than to walk contrary to Him and want everything.

He Heard Me Too

“And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” (Lu 18:13 AV)

 What a prayer!  And what a response!  Praise the LORD God hears the humble cry of the penitent sinner!  It is too sad for the Pharisee who could only bring himself to extol his self-righteous virtues while maligning the character of another.  As far as I can tell, the Bible says we are all condemned.  This sinner made no pretense.  He did not go to God in prayer having faith in the sincerity of his prayer.  He merely cried out as one who was lost and in need of mercy for the only One who could grant it.  This simple prayer exhibits the relationship between a condemned sinner and a gracious God.  All I can say is praise the LORD He heard this poor sinner’s prayer a bit more than forty years ago.

It never ceases to amaze me when a sinner comes to repentance.  I have had three children and being present when someone is born again is a far greater thrill!  To be part of the process of salvation in that we share the good news of the gospel, and the sinner comes to Christ, is greater than the miracle of physical birth.  Just the other day, my soul-winning partner and I had the awesome experience of explaining in detail the gospel of Jesus Christ to someone genuinely interested.  He had several great questions.  We did our best to answer them and pressed him to receive Jesus before it was eternally too late.  He never did bow his head that night, but I am confident he will.  This young man reminded me of the scribe who came to Jesus and stated it is better to love and trust God than a multitude of sacrifices.  The word of God says, “And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him [any question].” (Mr 12:34 AV)  I pray for him every day and one of these days, I expect to see him as he tells me he has been born again!  About a month ago, the LORD was good to me and used me to lead a young lady to the LORD.  He is not done yet.  Others who are affected by this young lady’s conversion will come to Christ as well.  The state fair booth yielded almost seventy decisions for Christ.  What a miracle.  Our VBS in the park this year saw fifty different children and their parents come out where they heard the gospel preached.  Some for the very first time.  No doubt, there will be fruit from this labor.

The point is, there isn’t enough praise to express how grateful those of us who have trusted Jesus are.  The fact that God listens to the prayers of those who are His sworn enemies, to me, is astounding.  Why He would have any mercy on any of us at all I do not understand.  But He does.  The cry of the sinner above was repeated about forty years ago, at an altar at First Bible Baptist in Rochester, NY.  Just like the sinner above, this sinner got up from his knees, justified.  I walked out of that building knowing God had forgiven me of all my sin.  Even the sin I had yet to commit.  What a wonder!  What glory!  What speechless and matchless joy!  That God should love a sinner such as I; how wonderful is love like this!