Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Location, Location, Location...

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.
James 4:7, 8

What is it they say matters in real estate? Location, Location, Location! Do you know that location matters with God also?


What is my proximity to God? How often I have wished that God would come near to me - prayed that God would come near to me – and wondered why it did not happen. James says that must come near to God in order that he will come near to us. And we can come near to God only as we submit ourselves to him.


Again, if we are submitted to God we can resist the devil. How much time and energy have I expended in my Christian life trying not to do what I ought not to do? Too much. That resistance by will power is futile – the human will is not sufficient to overcome the enemy. If I will submit myself to God and become obedient to Him, I will resist the devil and he will flee. Submitted, I can come near to God and he will then come near to me. In His presence I will begin to think and act differently.


Would you live differently if you lived across the street from your pastor? I think we all would. In the same way, if we choose to come near to God we will live differently. Today, as you decide where you will make your home, choose to be near God. Remember… Location, Location, Location!

Monday, November 20, 2006

As long as it is called Today...

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
Hebrews 3:13

For the past two weeks various members of my church have been meeting at the alter three times daily to pray for our short-term mission team which was in Senegal, West Africa. It has been one of the greatest blessings of my life.


I am surprised at how saddened I am to see this time coming to an end. I have made acquaintances through this process, and old acquaintances have become dear friends. When you pray with someone daily, an incredible bond is built between you - one that transcends any other friendship this world can offer. You truly do begin to see each other as brothers and sisters!


To the ones that have been there with me, I love you all deeply. I wholly subscribe to what the writer of Hebrews stated in the passage above. It is difficult to allow your heart be hardened when you are being encouraged daily by your brothers and sisters in Christ. It's not the American way to give your time so you can meet with others, but it is God's way. There is oftentimes nothing convenient about God's will or His work.


I have spent time in the Book of Acts of late because I love to contrast and compare that account of the mighty move of God with what happens among us every time we send out an overseas team. One concept from that book keeps striking me again and again, recounting the daily lives of the early church:


Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2:46-47

For the past two weeks, we have met every day in the "temple" courts. We have been together with glad and sincere hearts. I have to believe it wouldn't take long before the unchurched around us would take notice and we would begin to enjoy favor with them, and perhaps the Lord would add to our number daily those who are being saved!


Lord-
I know that you have ordained that we meet together for these two weeks. I know that I know you have called us to this task. Let us not now let down our guard and go back to where we were, but let us encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of us my be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

The cusp...

In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:33

The other evening I was speaking to some friends about our faith and the Spirit seemed to give me an analogy that I had never considered before. I always thought that I was somewhat unique in that when I pass over a high bridge it always creates in me a curiosity to know what it would be like if I jumped over the edge! In fact, I intentionally avoid high bridges because I don't particularly like that feeling, and probably don't completely trust myself! As it turns out I am not unique in this -apparently many people have the same sensation.

What an analogy to discipleship! How often do we avoid that spiritual person or the Word or church meetings or quiet time because we can hear that still small voice of God pleading with us to jump over the railing? Are we also uncomfortable with that feeling? I began to wonder, what if six or eight men from Calvary jumped over the railing together? What kind of an impact would we have on our world? What if thousands of Christians all over this country, all over the world, jumped over the railing today? Could the world ever be the same?

If God is speaking to your heart today as He is mine, pray with me:
Almighty God,I can feel your Spirit engaging mine. I know you are calling me to a deeper, more intimate, relationship with you. I can feel you urging me gently toward the railing, and by faith I know what's on the other side. Help me jump over that railing and leave all I know behind. I want to trust you completely with my life.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Fan the flame...

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.
2 Timothy 1:6

Señor Dios had me awaken at 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning up praying in the family room. I asked, “Lord, how can I possibly pray as much as I will be required to pray over the next two weeks?”

He showed me a vision. In the vision were a fire, a bellows and air. He explained to me that the fire was the work he is doing in West Africa, we are the bellows and the air is his Spirit, his will. He said they we need not worry how to pray, just to empty ourselves as the bellows and be filled with his will and he would point us to the fire and squeeze to fan the flame. He told me that the fire could grow by itself just because of the air, but that with our church concentrating the wind on the fire, we could very quickly fan the flames into an inferno!

Lord-
As the team is on the ground in West Africa, allow us to fan the fire they are igniting by our prayers. Cause an incredible spiritual growth among our people group, not just as individuals, but as a group. Bring to light your gifting within individuals that they may assume leadership roles and spread the Gospel, planting churches that plant churches in West Africa!

Sunday, November 05, 2006

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure...

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”
Matthew 13:44-46
These are two very short and simple parables that Jesus related to the disciples, but for all their simplicity they are some of the most powerful passages in the Bible. They express something that we all too easily forget in the day by day struggles we face in this life – the value of what is ours through Christ Jesus!

The explosive message that is contained in the short passages quoted today is this – when we clearly recognize the value of the kingdom of heaven we will gladly pay any cost to make it ours. See the actions of the subjects of the parables. Are these people who begrudgingly sold their belongings to purchase the found treasures? It is apparent that they can clearly see that whatever the cost, that which they have found is of greater value than whatever they have to redeem to get it.

We have all heard stories from time to time of someone who finds a vintage automobile or aircraft or whatever sitting in a barn under some tarps somewhere which they bought for a song and which is worth many times what they paid. In fact, they probably could not afford to pay market value for the item they bought. When was the last time you thought of the kingdom of heaven in these terms? None of us has to pay market value for what Christ has given us – he has already paid it on the cross. He is offering us a bargain!
Lord-
Let me not forget the value of the kingdom of God which is my inheritance through you. If I have let the things of this world compete with your kingdom for my affection, remind me of the value of what you have given me. Remind me that all I could ever store up or collect for myself in this life is of relatively little value, and that I am the recipient of a remarkable bargain if you accept this in exchange for what you offer.

Friday, November 03, 2006

One Spirit to drink...

But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."

Genesis 11:5-7

After the great flood of Genesis the peoples of earth shared a common language and came together on the plane of Shinar and decided that they would do what sinful human nature will always do when given the chance - they attempted to elevate themselves to God's level. Here's what they said to one another, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves..."

In this passage of scripture God acknowledges the power of men, working in concert, to accomplish great evil. Obviously these peoples were moving toward something that God could not allow and His answer was to confuse their speech and break them up linguistically so they could not ALL work together to accomplish this evil thing.

As with just about every sinful behavior in the Old Testament, there is a New Testament redemption of and reversal of this event. After the coming of Christ and the ultimate way of redemption for mankind, God needs redeemed individuals to work in concert - every tribe and tongue - to accomplish his will of the redemption of all mankind. What God needs is an organization like Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13:

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free - and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
As I was reading in Acts 2 and pondering what happened at the day of Pentecost last night, the Lord revealed to me this marvelous reversal he accomplished through the Spirit so that His will in spreading the Gospel would be accomplished:

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment,because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs-we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"
After Peter explained to them the Gospel, the scripture recounts that about three thousand people were added to the church that day, many of whom I am sure went home and shared with others, spreading the message of Christ all over the known world!

Lord-
As I come back to your Word again and again today let it speak to me in new ways - ways which I have not before considered. Let it impress upon me your will, the completeness of your working, your unimaginable complexity. Let me become immersed in your thoughts, led of your Spirit to a new understanding of the intricacy of your plan - the sheer awesomeness of your Living Word unfolding before my very eyes!

As a body, Lord, as one church let us work together using the same heart language - the language of the Holy Spirit - to accomplish your will of the redemption of all mankind!

Thursday, November 02, 2006

To obey is better than sacrifice...

“As with all sinners among men, this son of Amittai was in his wilful disobedience of the command of God – never mind now what that command was or how conveyed – which he found a hard command. But all the things that God would have us do are hard for us to do – remember that – and hence, he oftener commands us than endeavors to persuade. And if we obey God, we must disobey ourselves, and it is in this disobeying ourselves, wherein the hardness of obeying God consists.”

From Father Mapple’s sermon on Jonah
Chapter 9 of Moby Dick
Herman Melville

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Jesus – Luke 9:23

In a class I was taking some time ago, the verse Luke 9:23 was being discussed and the instructor asked why we thought it was that Jesus said we must take up our cross daily and not that we need to deny ourselves daily. I think it is because that cross which God gives us to carry differs from day-to-day, but the denial is always the same. The denial is one-dimensional – whatever keeps us from picking up our cross daily must be denied.

In reading the ninth chapter of the novel Moby Dick last night, I came across the passage I have quoted above and found it very insightful – especially the last line. Read that last line again. I think Melville’s character had the right idea when he relates this denial of ourselves to disobeying ourselves. God does not desire sacrifice, he desires obedience. In 1 Samuel 15:22, Samuel states to Saul, “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”

If we would come after him then we will deny ourselves, not as a matter of sacrifice, but of obedience - obedience to Him, disobedience to ourselves. As he also states in John 14:23, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” We might come to believe that some of the things we prefer over Jesus need to be sacrificed in our lives; be they a home, a hobby, a person, an addiction, or whatever. If we sacrifice any of these for our God, the chances are we will either return to them later, or replace them with something else. If in obeying our God (in loving Him, according to John 14) we leave these things aside while disobeying our own desires, we will never miss them. In fact, when we follow Him first, there may be some of these things that he uses to his glory!

Lord-
Help me this day to realize that you truly do not desire sacrifice in my life, but obedience. The Old Testament rites of sacrifice were merely a shadow of the complete sacrifice which you made for us. As I deny myself, let it be out of loving obedience to you (and diobedience to myself) so that you may use that denial to your glory as I pick up my cross today!


If you get the inclination, the ninth chapter of Moby Dick is worth a read. The character of Father Mapple gives a great sermon on the Book of Jonah.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Listen...

He said to me, "Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you." As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.
Ezekiel 2:1 & 2

Have you heard from the Spirit of the Living God of late? Have you listened?

I read this passage this morning and found it interesting that God first spoke to Ezekiel and then sent the Spirit into him that he could listen. It so often seems to work that way in my life. If I am not listening, I can go long stretches without hearing the voice of God. If I listen and respond to the voice of God, it seems that he awakens my spirit to His Spirit and I begin to hear His voice all the time.

The other thing that struck me in this passage is the direct way in which God interacted with Ezekiel. He commanded Ezekiel to his feet, but then sent the Spirit into Ezekiel to raise him to his feet. If we, also, are willing to hear God’s commands and obey he will work in us to do what he asks of us (Philippians 2:13).

Gracious Father-
Let me hear your voice this day. Create in me the desire to spend time in your Word, where you often speak to me. Help me to be still before you at some time today and just listen so that I may hear.