Category Archives: Basic Christianity

Follow God and miracles will follow you

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There are so many promises in the Bible for those who follow God, who not only believe in but also actually obey the Lord, that He will manifest Himself unto them. Jesus said in John 14:21, “He that has my commandments and keeps them, he is it that loves me. And he that loves me will be loved of my father, and I will love him and will manifest myself unto him.”

[This is the text to a talk I gave last week at a Christian retreat in India  to about 85 people.]

That was the kind of Christianity that was presented to me by some young “Jesus people” when I was 21 years old. A few months before this I’d had a series of miraculous experiences, including a very traumatic one where I nearly died and was about to leave my body, unfortunately heading in the wrong direction from what most of us hope will be our final destiny. But this was what it took to wake me up and shake me up enough to fathom that there is a spiritual world and that it is more real and important than the physical world we’re so often enmeshed in.

But I didn’t know who Jesus was. I’d come to know that God was real, I now knew the spiritual world was real and I’d even come to know that the devil was real. But I didn’t know who Jesus was or is. And those teenage, Bible-sharing “Jesus people” showed me through the Bible who Jesus was. So I received Him in prayer as they led me to do.

And as I continued to hang around these new friends, they eventually challenged me to do as the early followers of Jesus had done. Jesus said to some, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19) To others He said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it. But whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same will save it.” (Luke 9:23)

Having already experienced so much of the froth, frivolity and poison of this world, I had an easy time in making that decision. I decided to take them up on their challenge and to commit my life to Christian service, following the Lord and His Word as best as I could.

“So how’s that working for you?” you might ask. My answer would be, “Really, really well.” And that’s what I want to talk to you about this morning. I know that, for most of you here, we’re on the same page when it comes to Christian discipleship. That’s why you’re here at this retreat. Yesterday we talked about Bible prophecy and that can in some ways be a rather long and sometimes steep learning curve. But Christian discipleship can and should be something you are born into when you receive the Lord, like what happened to me.

We could start off talking about salvation in the Lord, like we did yesterday. That’s where it all starts. I assume and believe that all of you here are saved. You’ve received the Lord as your personal savior, you understand the basics of Salvation and you have a personal relationship with the Lord.

And I assume that you’ve all received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I know that’s your shared belief and you understand the importance of the Holy Spirit. Not all churches and Christians do. Some churches teach that receiving Jesus and being filled with the Holy Spirit is the same thing. But in Acts 19:2 the disciples said to ones they met , “Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?” Those ones answered, “We haven’t even heard of the Holy Spirit.” So the Apostle Paul went on and led those folks in Ephesus to be baptized with the Holy Ghost.

These are all basics. It won’t help to talk about following God if you aren’t yet saved and then have received the power that Jesus promised us in the Holy Spirit. But if you have come that far, what’s next? Just go now to heaven? “We’re ok now, we’re saved and filled. What else is there but to go to be with the Lord, right?”

Well, as I’m sure you know, that’s not right. Jesus gave what’s called “the great commission” in Mark 16:15 when He said to the disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” And, as the phrase goes, this is often what separates the men from the boys. Or, much more accurately, this is what has come to differentiate between what has been called “churchianity” and the original Christianity of the book of Acts and the early church.

We’re called and commissioned to “preach the gospel”. Those words sound  slightly funny in our times because we can envision that we are suppose to ascend some pulpit somewhere and “preach”, which nowadays is a word almost only used in a religious sense. Even the word “witness” is pretty much only thought of in a religious sense. But if those words are maybe uncomfortable to you or sound out of style with the times we live in, you could think of it in the way of sharing. Most folks understand and even approve of sharing.

Here’s something in Isaiah that maybe puts the great commission in another framework that is perhaps easier to see yourself in. “If you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall rise in obscurity and your darkness shall be as the noonday. And the Lord shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought and you shall be like a watered garden and like springs of waters whose waters fail not.”  (Isaiah 58:10 & 11)

Or as Jesus taught when He was on earth, “Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over. For with the same measure that you give, it shall be given unto you.” (Luke 6:38) That’s an integral ingredient of what our present life should be as disciples of Christ while we are still here on earth.

“But, Mark! I thought you were going to talk about miracles! When are you going to talk about miracles?”

The good answer to that is found just a few short verses after Jesus’ famous ringing words of Mark 16:15. He told them to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Then, five verses later, at the end of the book of Mark, it says, “And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming His word with signs following.” (Mark 16:20)

“Signs following”. As they began to obey and get out and do what the Lord told them to do, witness and win souls and share all they had, the Lord was right there with them (since He’s always way out in front anyway), and He “confirmed His word with signs following.” Miracles. The book of Acts is just almost one continual testimony of this, with the disciples, in fits and starts, obeying the Lord and following the leading of the Holy Spirit. If you want to read about miracles happening to disciples, you should read the book of Acts. That’s the blueprint and plan for Christianity yet so few churches really take it seriously for our times.

One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Acts chapter 10. Talk about following God. Talk about “going” and pioneering. Peter was already “going”. He was up in Joppa, up the coast from the home church in Jerusalem. So he was already obeying and the Lord “gives the Holy Spirit to them that obey Him.” (Acts 5.32) And Peter was even taking things to the Lord in prayer, alone with God on a housetop.

And then the action starts, when the Lord seems to just go completely contrary to what Peter was expecting. God shows him a sheet full of unclean animals and the Lord says to him, “Arise Peter, kill and eat.” What does Peter respond? “Yes sir, Lord! Anything you say, Lord!”? Nope, that’s not what Peter said. In fact Peter directly disagrees with and says no to the Lord, as he had been prone to do from time to time in the past.

The gentle, loving son of God was patient and kind, telling Peter that there were three men downstairs, “unclean” and that Peter should immediately go with them, “doubting nothing”. As you know, sometimes just the “follow God” part of our contract with Him can get to be a little challenging, as it was for Peter here.

But Peter knew the Lord enough, loved the Lord enough and had gone through so many breakings and remakings that he somehow here obeyed, probably with some trepidation since good Jews were not supposed to hang out with Romans, which evidently those folks at the door were.

The result? Cornelius the Roman centurion, leader of 100 Roman troops, got gloriously saved and filled with the Holy Ghost, as did his family and friends who’d come to hear Peter.

“So what?”, you could say. But this was the monumental moment in the history of God’s relationship with man when His Spirit and you could even say His focus turned towards “the gentiles” rather than the Jewish nation within which the Lord had been almost exclusively working till then. (Here’s the link to a blog article I wrote on Acts chapter 10, as well as a recording of a live class on Acts 10 which the article was based on.)

But God had to find a man. God had to have someone yielded enough to obey Him, to physically get up and go, “doubting nothing”. The miracles didn’t precede the obedience. But in this case, it wasn’t just a showy miracle for those folks right there but it involved a major change of direction in the history of mankind, the beginnings of the early church as the Lord got Peter, the leader of the early church at that time to truly go even further into all the world than their Jewish heritage would allow them to go, except by the almost forceful leading of the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean to us in our times? The conditions of discipleship are pretty much still the same today. We still have to do the going. “As they went, they were healed.” (Luke 17:14) But we have to do the “wenting”. The Lord raised the dead. But they had to roll away the stone.

Many of you here understand the fundamental link between obedience and blessings. We are not our own, we are bought with a price. We may not understand but all we have to do is obey. If you can accept those conditions, like the Lord laid out for His first disciples, then there’s still that cup of discipleship to be drunk in our times. There’s a poor sin-sick world that needs his love and truth. The harvest is still plenteous but the true laborers are still few.

But the good news is, the Lord has already spoken in prophecy of these very times we live in. And somebody, maybe you, is going to fulfill those prophecies. It says of the very last days “the people who do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.” (Daniel 11:32)  It says, “They that understand amoung the people shall instruct many.” (Daniel 11:33) It says in Revelation, talking about the ones who are here at the time of the worst of the Antichrist and his forces, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.” (Revelation 12:11)

It is written. It is ordained. It’s already happened in the eyes of God. There are going to be victors in these final days, a called-out, separated-from-the-world discipleship church of the endtime who will be shining brightly, “doing exploits” and “instructing many” in the last days before the return of Jesus. They’ll be truly following God and the Lord will be working mightily with them, performing miracles on their behalf. I believe that’s the calling and heritage that is there for every person in this room. May the mighty God of Abraham and His Son Jesus help us to be what He has called us to be.

“He gave good heed”

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I heard someone say, “You have to see God!” Equally, you’ve got to hear God. That’s what that verse means, “He gave good heed” (Ecc. 12:9), he was conscientious at hearing God’s voice. Sometimes it’s not even a voice; it’s a nudge or almost a breeze. But your life, your future and your destiny can totally depend on whether you “give good heed”.

Often things are really simple. This world may seem complicated but the most important stuff is simple. Solomon knew this when he advised, “Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) Such a vital, important nugget from God’s Word, I wrote a blog article about keeping your heart which can be found here.

But it may not seem simple. You can wonder how you can get on board with all this. Where do I start? How can you “hear from God”? How can you “see God”? It does come back to your heart, your desires, your values. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” (Mat. 5:6) Do you have a heart that hungers for truth, for righteousness, for love, for the things of God? Well, God Himself is not unaware of your desires.

A verse that’s always encouraged me in this is, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect…” (II Chronicles 16:9) God sees your heart and innermost thoughts, even when you don’t even believe in God or know He’s there. And, like what certainly happened in my life, He is doing what He can to bring you to Him and to give you the desires of your heart, even while you may be inadvertently resisting the drawing of His Spirit working to win and help you.

The whole amazing subject of Salvation is so enormous in itself, how God’s brings us to call out to Him and His Son for the first time, often when we’ve been dwelling in such extreme spiritual darkness and rebellion for so long. That’s what happened to me, like the verse says, He “delivers from the lowest hell.” (Psalm 86:13)

But that’s not at all the end. It’s a magnificent beginning and perhaps the greatest beginning but it’s not supposed to be the end. Like Jesus said to one crippled man, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” (John 5:8). Sadly for some, if not many, they never really get to that “walk” part. They never really get going with following God. They don’t “take heed” first and then obey after that. So they miss so very much, even in this present life, of all that God could do for them and with them and through them.

But like I said, it all boils down to really simple stuff. This morning I was reviewing some of the Bible verses I’ve memorized over the years and I came to the ones where this verse about “giving good heed” comes from. They are very meaningful to me and I wrote a blog article on these which was very personal, called “Still”.

It’s personal to me because I think it was personal to Solomon when he wrote it. I feel it may be a personal word from Solomon himself about his life and how it had gone. Solomon says, speaking of himself that the Preacher “still taught the people wisdom. He set in order many proverbs.” (Ecc. 12:9) Solomon, in his great wisdom, probably knew that things had really taken a turn for the worse in the kingdom of Israel. But he says that “he still taught the people wisdom”, even though times were not as they had been before.

But Solomon also says in these same passages, “Yea, he gave good heed” which is a way of saying that he himself still made a real effort to hear from God and then to write it down and pass it on. He heard from God. He tried to keep his heart, even in spite of some grievous sins in his life. And God was still speaking to Him. Solomon hadn’t given up on God and God hadn’t given up on him.

And that right there may be some of the most basic, fundamental lessons of life that we can find. We have to hear from God. We have to, in a sense, see God. Jesus even said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8) And of course it follows, we have to obey God. Peter the apostle famously stood up to the Pharisees of his day and said that God “gives the Holy Spirit to them that obey Him.” (Acts 5:32)

So, actually, it is all pretty simple. Life isn’t based on your technology, your university degree, your bank account or your nationality. It’s based on your heart. May God in His infinite mercy help each of us to “give good heed” to Him.

 

His banished be not expelled from Him

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Sometimes the ways of the Lord are strange to us, but they’re not past finding out. And His power and incredibly undeserved mercy is one of the amazing things about Him. King David said, “Whether shall I go from Your Spirit or whether shall I flee from Your presence?” (Psalm 139:7 & 8) But, you ask, what about the rebellious? What about those who’ve turned away from Him in heart and mind? Is there hope for them?

My personal experience is that there is hope for ones like that. Because that was how I was. But then the Lord reached down and “delivered me from the lowest hell.” (Pslam 86:13) There’s the story told of Napoleon who had sentenced a young deserter to be shot for deserting a second time. His mother pled for mercy for her son from the Emperor of France. “He doesn’t deserve mercy,” Napoleon told her. “Sir, if he deserved it, it wouldn’t be mercy,” the distraught mother said.

And what truth there is in that. Mercy is not something we deserve, it is unmerited grace and forgiveness from a greater power. In our lives we find it from God and from Jesus. And that’s almost certainly what so many of us hope for when we think of the lives of our loved ones, some of whom are so very far away from the path of life and truth that they perhaps once walked on. How can it be possible that they can ever come back to the love of God and the life of God some of them once had?

Many of us know of the story Jesus told of the “prodigal son”, the classic story of a “backslidden” son who finally “came to himself”, repented of his foolish ways and returned to his father. It’s all such a timeless story of contrition, “godly sorrow that works repentance to salvation.” (II Corinthians 7:10)

But how does that happen? How does someone “come to himself” (Luke 15:17), as Jesus described what happened to the prodigal son? One thing we know from elsewhere in Jesus’ words is what He said about how anyone comes to Him, “No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him.” (John 6:44) Jesus also said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” So there’s this abiding event that is going on in our lives today: God’s Spirit drawing men to the truth, to the light and reality of the salvation that is in Jesus.

And yet we know that many, in fact probably all of us at one time or the other, have resisted the drawing of the Holy Spirit, some much more than others. “Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts,” (Psalm 95:7 & 8) King David said. But so many do harden their hearts and resist the loving appeal of the Spirit of God. And basically God gives us the majesty of choice and will not overrule our will. So how do any of us ever get rescued from our own evil hearts and darkened understanding? Like Paul once said, “Oh wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24)

In thinking about these things today, I was reminded of an obscure story in the Old Testament that touches on this subject. One of King David’s sons had been banished by the king but David’s heart yearned to be restored to him. It’s a long story but the highlight of it all came when a wise woman in Israel was sent by David’s general, Joab, to appeal to the king about the matter. She said this to him in trying to find a way for David’s son to find grace in the eyes of his father. “For we must all die, and are as water spilt on the ground  … nevertheless the Lord devises ways that His banished be not expelled from Him.” (II Samuel 14:14)

That’s the essence of it all. God in His mighty, infinite love and mercy “devises ways that His banished [all of us] be not expelled from Him.” Don’t ever discount the mighty miracle working power of God. He is somehow able to reach into the heart of the most hardened prodigal son or daughter, to bring them to contrition and repentance, to grant in their hearts the miracle of remorse and the realization of their often mighty wrongdoings.

He devises ways that His banished be not expelled from Him. That verse brought hope again to my heart this morning as I thought about some dear loved ones who’ve continued for years to “walk in the council of the ungodly and sit in the seat of the scornful.” (Psalm 1:1) But “if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.” (I John 3:20) Even when we were dead in sins, Christ died for us. And some are dead in their sins right now but still the Lord is working “behind the scenes” as the author and finisher of our faith to draw hardened prodigal sons and daughters back to Himself and the paths of life.

It was said of Jesus, “a bruised reed He shall not break and smoking flax He shall not quench.” (Matthew 12:20) Some folks hardly even seem to be that. But in the infinitely merciful eyes of God, He sees an ember still there and has hope for the lost and rebellious when they seem past hope to us. These thoughts comforted my heart this morning when the outlook has continued to be bleak for some folks I love. It all really has to just be the Lord. “With man it is impossible. But not with God. For with God, all things are possible.” (Matthew 10:27)

 

The gospel of John

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If you’re new to believing in Jesus, there can be a lot that’s hard to understand. Maybe you’ve come to know that there really is something to it all and that Jesus was not just a great teacher. But probably there’s just a lot that you don’t understand. If that’s you, don’t worry about it. That’s how it is for basically anyone who’s come out of unbelief and is entering into faith in God and in Jesus.

Maybe the whole thing about the Bible is kind of strange to you too. Perhaps you’ve read a lot of books and are fairly intelligent. So you might find it disturbing how much emphasis is put on just that one book and also it was finished nearly 2000 years ago. On the other hand, possibly you’ve already experienced that what’s written in the Bible effects you very differently from philosophy books or science lectures.

For me at least, the words in the Bible so incredibly boiled complicated things down to very simple but profoundly deep truths. Also, sometimes it can seem like some things in the Bible can almost jump off the page and speak to the deepest parts of your brain and emotions.

That’s how it was for me and I’d just never experienced anything like that. After I came to faith in God and later in Jesus, I found that the truths I was finding in the Bible were more life-giving and truth-giving than anything I’d ever known before. But also I made a big mistake that probably a lot of people make. I figured the Bible is pretty much a normal book and so I figured that, like every other book, the only place to start is at the beginning. Well, that’s better than nothing but actually it’s probably not really the best.

Here’s why. The Bible is actually not just one book like it seems to be but it’s 66 books, written over a period of around 1600 years. I won’t go into all the details here, that’s a fascinating class in itself. But if you’re new in the Lord, new to faith and to the things of Jesus, I can tell you the best place to start in the Bible. Go to the gospel of John and read it.

And of course you’re going to ask why I say that. The reason is that, of all that’s in the Bible, the simple words of Jesus are the easiest to understand. He was talking to all kinds of people and He often really broke things down to the simplest language, many times using little stories and parables to help people understand deep truths. While it’s perhaps more satisfying to our ego to feel we’re intellectual giants because we’ve immersed ourselves in Plato or Voltaire, those guys can never really have the full ring of truth that Jesus did when He was here on earth.

And, of the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the gospel of John has more of the words of Jesus than any of the others. In fact, it has what’s considered the most famous and important verse in the entire bible, John 3:16. Here’s what that says. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” It’s been said that John 3:16 more completely encapsulates the essence of the Bible than any other verse.

So if you’re looking for where to start in the Bible, or you know someone who’s in that situation, I suggest you share this thought with them. Don’t let them bogged down in the “begats”. That’s what happened to me. I started at Genesis (which actually I found interesting) but before long I was trudging through things like “And Arphaxad begat Shelah, and Shelah begat Eber.  And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, Hadoram also, and Uzal, and Diklah, and Ebal, and Abimael, and Sheba … (etc.) All this is from I Chronicles chapter 1 and it’s just not what you need at the beginning of your life of faith.

But the book of John is just fascinating. So much of it really talks about the realities of the eternal life Jesus said He came to give us. Here’s just one little example of the words of Jesus in the book of John, from the many I could choose from. “Truly, I say unto you, he that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life. Truly, truly, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live.The-truth For as the Father has life in himself, so has he given to the Son to have life in himself.” (John 5:24-26)

We all need this. But perhaps especially those who are new to the things of God and Jesus need to have almost like a daily diet of healthy, wholesome feeding truth from the Bible to strengthen their faith and to build it up to be what we need to live with the mind and vision we need in this present evil world. God bless you as you feed and study the basics of God’s Word!

 

 

Ignorance and Prejudice or Truth and Integrity

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Ignorance and prejudice or truth and integrity? These things know no boundaries or borders. Are “They” ignorant and prejudice while “We” are innocent of those things? Nope. No one group anywhere has a monopoly on any of these, regardless of what you hear almost everywhere nowadays.

I’ve had some fascinating experiences recently on Facebook. I “boost” (as Facebook calls it) my blog posts and videos via Facebook to many countries and I receive some pretty interesting responses. I’ve lived in Islamic countries off and on for years and I guess I have a special interest in people in that part of the world. So when I’ve been able to boost the videos to Islamic countries, in languages spoken in those places, I’ve been interested to know what the response will be.

Recently one situation in particular has been special for me. A local language video I’ve done was going out to an Islamic country and I was getting feedback through Facebook. Yes, some of it could be called negative but I could tell that most of those responding had just never heard of the prophet Daniel. Some commented that this was just a Jewish myth. Others were taking an accepted Islamic response that there were only 25 prophets recognized in Islam and that Daniel was not listed as one of them.

But then Facebook responses started coming from a man from that country, trying to edify and correct what he could see were uneducated and often prejudiced comments that were being made. He is Islamic, not a Christian. But he was reproving his countrymen to not so quickly dismiss things they knew very little about.

The prophet Daniel’s tomb in Tarsus, Turkey

He told them that the prophet Daniel is not mentioned in the Koran but that he’s definitely mentioned in Islamic writings as being an ancient, genuine prophet of the Jews. He went on to tell them that the tomb of Daniel is said to be in Tarsus, Turkey.  He also found and shared in the chat discussion an Islamic website that has extensive information on Daniel chapter 2 from the Bible, the subject of the video I’d posted on line in their language.

And I was like, “Wow, God bless that guy. He’s not Christian but he’s standing up to the ignorance and some prejudice he’s seeing and is trying to rectify it, going against the wind and the trend in order to try to help his countrymen have a more educated, nuanced view of these things, even if he doesn’t actually fully agree with what I’ve shared in the video.”

I don’t know about you but I’m pained and grieved every single day by the prejudice and ignorance I see… everywhere. It seems to be one of the greatest banes of our times and it increases by the day. They say, “It’s not who’s right but what’s right.” So it should be, doubtless. But is that working where you are? Or does it seem that society is in some kind of centrifugal spin, separating into tribes, factions, movements and divisions with nothing but yawning gaps of hatred, ignorance and prejudice between them?

As they say, “Truth is the first causality of any war.” And finding those who’ll stand up for truth, particularly if it goes against their clan or interest group, is very rare indeed, at least as far as I know. So it was fascinating to see this Islamic man going against the wind where he lives, setting straight the uninformed and even prejudiced majority of commentators on my video postings. And actually this has happened with posts of mine to other Islamic countries in other parts of the world and in other languages, where local Islamic ones there also spoke up to set the record straight and inform those commenting that Daniel was in fact recognized in Islamic writings.

How about that? As far as I’m concerned, anyone in these times who stands up for truth and integrity, against prejudice and ignorance, deserves recognition and acclaim. Jesus said, “Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” (John 18:37) So you may be part of my clan, living in my state here in America, look like me, talk like me and seemingly we’re really on the same page and in the same category. But if you’re prejudiced and ignorant, if you’re pulsing with hate and spewing out animosity, falsehood and slander against those you oppose, then I’m obliged as a Christian to stand up to your ignorance and prejudice, even if we’re the same in so many other ways.

And if I find “foreigners”, folks of a different religion, race and background from me who are opposing falsehood, ignorance and prejudice, then I strangely will end up feeling affinity with those folks, whoever they may be, who are fighting the same fight I am, for truth, love and righteousness. Jesus said “I am… the truth.” (John 14:6) And some people, even though they may not have all the truth that others of us have, if they’re doing the best they can to live and stand up for the truth they do have, I feel they deserve acclamation and encouragement.

Actually of course, all Christians should abhor and resist ignorance and prejudice. All of us should stand and fight for integrity and the holiness of truth. But, as most of you know, that’s really not what’s going on in our times, or certainly not nearly as much as there should be.

God help us all to oppose ignorance, prejudge and hatred and to do what we can to bring truth and genuine veracity to our friends and neighbors, even as this dear Islamic man recently did in response to the comments he saw about the videos I’ve done.

Jonathan, son of Saul

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Real heroes don’t often get the credit for their heroism in this world. But God has a great big book and He’s writing it all down, the good as well as the wrong. Jonathan, son of King Saul has always seemed to me one of the greatest heroes in the Bible. But you seldom hear much about him and few Christians know what a part he played as Israel rose to its glorious years under King David.

Jonathan was “the crown prince”, next in line to the throne of Israel, after his father, Saul. But King Saul’s life turned out to be one of the very saddest in the Bible. I have every reason to believe that King Saul was saved and that we’ll see him in heaven. He started out really great, anointed by Samuel the high priest, specifically chosen by God and he even had the gift of prophecy.

But through disobedience, self-will, arrogance and hellish pride, King Saul lost the anointing he had as king. Samuel ultimately told Saul, “When you were little in your own sight, the Lord highly exalted you. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought Him a man after his own heart. And the Lord has commanded him to be captain over His people, because you have not kept that which the Lord commanded you.” (I Samuel 13:13 & 14, 15:17) And that “man after God’s heart” turned out to be Israel’s best loved and most remembered monarch, King David, even though at the time Samuel spoke this message to Saul, David was still an obscure young shepherd boy.

And did King Saul humbly and meekly step aside at Samuel’s words and turn over the reins of government and power over the nation to young David? No, not at all. In fact, evidently Saul even got violent to some degree with the prophet and priest Samuel, for having spoken the word of the Lord to the king.

But then, like an excellent book or movie, “enter stage left” comes Saul’s son, Jonathan. “Samuel! What’s this about my dad loosing the kingdom!?” This would be what you could expect from 99% of men in Jonathan’s position. “Lose my crown, my throne, my future power!?” That’s what virtually every man of the world and of power would say. But Jonathan didn’t ever do that, even though he had been brought up by such a power-hungry, fallen failure of a man like his father, Saul. Wouldn’t Jonathan be just like Saul? Would his DNA pre-ordain him to follow the same Godless path?

This is where the miracle and godliness of Jonathan shows so brightly, so much so that it’s almost strange. Rather than working with his father, Saul, to resist the hand of God which was moving to make David the future king of Israel, Jonathan evidently saw from the beginning that God’s anointing was on David. When Saul, Jonathan and the whole army of Israel were pinned down by Goliath and the Philistines, it was the young teenage shepherd boy, David, who stepped out of the crowd to miraculously defeat the champion of the Philistines in single combat.

Sometimes, as some say, “You’ve got to see God.” And evidently Jonathan from the beginning saw the hand of God on David’s life, that he was God’s chosen and blessed to lead Israel. “Sure, easy enough,” you might say. But I’m sure it wasn’t. Never was it so clearly summed up when his own father, Saul, in an absolute rage, yelled at Jonathan, “Don’t you know you’ll never be king as long as David, the son of Jesse, is alive?!” (I Samuel 20:31) In other words, “David is going to take your crown! You are going to lose the kingdom to David!”

And this is where it’s almost a mystery what really went on in Jonathan’s heart. Because, as difficult as it must have been, he remained loyal to David and to what he knew was God’s will, rather than to his own career, power and supposedly inheritance. He even worked as an insider within the inner circle of Saul’s court to keep David informed of what his father’s plans were against him during the years when David was growing to full adulthood and was often on the run as a fugitive from Saul’s deteriorating regime and unhinged life.

It’s all just an incredible story that I don’t have room to go into here if this is to not become too long. But if you want drama, intrigue, heroism and the mighty hand of God working to have His will against the very worst of human nature and sin, you should read I Samuel 12 to 28 where this is all found.

Jonathan stayed true to David throughout his life, to his own loss in this world, as well as the loss of his dad’s kingdom and the kingdom of Israel shifting to David and his descendants. But there’s no sign Jonathan ever wavered in this. He played the role that God had for him to the utmost, against the course of this world, against his father’s raging and against what would seem to be all his own self-interest, as far as the world looks at things.

And David was fully aware of the sacrifice Jonathan was making for him during this time and the amazing loyalty, friendship and love in the Lord that Jonathan had in his heart for David. The last time they saw each other, as far as we know, Jonathan had just brought David word of Saul’s continued rage and vengeful attitude towards David. The Bible says:  “David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times [towards Jonathan]: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded.”  (I Samuel 20:41)

It’s perhaps one of the greatest “love stories” in the Bible, but of Godly, selfless love and camaraderie between two men who were brought together in a drama of God’s making and who played their roles to the hilt. And it should go without saying that there was nothing of the remotest sort that was physical in their love for each other. But in our depraved and sunken world that we live in at this time, I’m probably compelled to just mention that here.

Jonathan must have been able to say what Paul said 1000 years later, “I have not been disobedient to the heavenly vision.” (Acts 26:19) The Bible doesn’t specifically tell us how Jonathan came to such an understanding and the stand of faith he took to go God’s way but to what was his own personal determent in this world. And he isn’t really remembered very much in the annals of the greats of the Bible.

Nevertheless, he was one of the most integral players and factors in the rise of David to the throne of Israel, someone who laid down his life in this world so that God’s will could prevail, even as he himself seemed to be one of the greatest losers in God’s plan. But I expect that we’ll see a mighty crown on Jonathan in heaven and be able to learn a lot more about his almost other-worldly vision, understanding and stand of faith that helped God’s will to be done on earth in his lifetime. “Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) God help us all to have the selflessness and vision of Jonathan, even when it comes with our own personal loss in this world.

He went a little further and fell on His face.

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One thing about Jesus, usually no one faults Him for being half-hearted. He was a sample in so many ways but one of those is the whole hearted, utter commitment He had to His calling. It says that in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He was praying just before Judas came with a band of men that, “He went a little further and fell on His face.” (Matthew 26:39)

And often, that’s what we have to do also. To truly follow Him now in our times in this world as it is, we have to “go a little further” and “fall on our face”. And both of those can be just plain hard to do, in fact, virtually impossible except by His indwelling grace.

We’re all prone to half heartedness, hesitation and just lazy selfishness of the worst kind. And it says of Jesus, “He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)  Being a man and human like we are, He was tempted by the sinful potential of the human nature He had, being born into this world like we have been.

But, He went a little further and fell on His face. Imagine. The very Son of God here on earth and praying so desperately that “being in an agony, He prayed more earnestly. And His sweat was as it were great drops of blood, falling down to the ground.”  (Luke 22:44) It’s hard to even talk about it or think about it. How far He went for us, how complete and utter was His love as well as His obedience and commitment to the Father.

And actually there can be times in our lives when the Lord allows us to partake at least somewhat and to some degree in the sufferings that He suffered. God spoke through Jeremiah, saying, “And you shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13) These seem to be the very words in Scripture that the prophet Daniel read around 70 years later, which compelled him to pray one of the most earnest and desperate prayers in the Bible, found in Daniel chapter 9. And that prayer of Daniel led up to an answer from God which is perhaps the most important prophecy in the Bible, at the end of Daniel chapter 9.

But it was inspired and born in desperate prayer, of going a little further and falling on his face. It seems like most of the time this level and degree of desperation and utter pouring out of one’s heart is not what the Lord requires. He hears our little prayers about our daily affairs and these reach His throne. God’s not deaf. You don’t have to yell at God.

And yet, in the case of Jesus and others also we can find in the Word, there were times of utter and abject desperation in prayer. And it was those which often preceded some of God’s greatest miracles. Like Jacob when he “wrestled with an angel.” (Genesis 32:24)

So it is for all of us. Our “flesh” certainly doesn’t want to go through with this. Our flesh and our worldly nature just want to rock along with things and to get by with as little effort as we can get away with. Only, what we find is that if we’re to not only believe in Jesus but to truly follow Him here in this world, then there do turn out to be times when we too, if we want to hold on to the Lord and to what He is leading us to do, will have to “go a little further and fall on our face.” Fall on our face in desperate prayer, in forsaking our own ideas, our own path and our own lives in order to go on in the life of discipleship that He is leading us in.

It can be really rough. Jesus said, “Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder.”  (Matthew 21:44) Those of us who “fall on the stone” (Christ Jesus Himself, “the chief cornerstone” -Ephesians 2:20) will be broken, but in a good and Godly way. King David said, “A broken and contrite heart oh God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17) But so many cringe at this. Their pride does all it can to hold on to them and keep them back from the humbling and humiliation that is part of that breaking.

But Jesus Himself went through it. And you can read of the saints of God in His Word who were broken until there was virtually nothing left of them. And then God made them into “better vessels” (Jeremiah 18). Something they never could have been if they’d not gone to their own personal cross of loss, forsaking, humiliation and virtual death.

Often this also comes in our lives, and for some it may actually be a recurring process over the years. The -in a sense- ending of one life and beginning of another, even in this world. I’ve had a few of those, where I just sort of ceased being who I was and that nature I had sort of died in a very rough ending which turned out, as I just kept holding on through sometimes months of dire difficulty, into a new age or stage of my existence.

So, if you’re in any kind of place like that, remember what our Lord did. He went a little further and fell on His face. Almost all of us have times like this, our own personal Gethsemanes, followed by what seem to be our own personal crucifixions. But then, as we yield all to Him, also to our own personal resurrections, even all in this life.

And it should go without saying, all this is impossible without Him. He went before us in the most difficult task of all, to die on the cross and “give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). Without Him we can do nothing. But He can be with us and lead us through these most difficult times in our lives into the light of a new day and almost like a resurrection to a new life, even as we are still in this one. God bless you and God help us all.

“When the enemy shall come in like a flood…”

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Years ago there was a popular thing people said, “The Devil made me do it.” It had shock value at the time. But, folks, it’s a LIE. The Devil can’t “make” you do anything. He can tempt you, he can provoke you or try to convince you. But he can’t make you do anything. You do it. And, in our times, the Devil seems to have more and more minions and those who yield to his prompting.

But you don’t have to do what the devil says. You don’t have to yield to your rage, your jealousy, your depression or whatever it is. A tremendous Bible verse on this subject is what Isaiah said, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up standard against him.” (Isaiah 59:19b) But sadly, it often seems that many in our times have allowed themselves to get more and more on the channel of the Enemy of God and less and less in tune with the ways of God, His love, His truth and His power.

Truth resisted looses power over the mind. And for some of these horrific things we read about in the news every day, we often find that the perpetrator had been more and more on a negative, hopeless, often violent or evil line of thinking for a long time. And it’s just heartbreaking on so many levels when these things happen. We pity and grieve for the victims of these crimes but also for the families of the perpetrators who often say they had no idea their loved one was getting that way.

But honestly, there but for the grace of God go so many of us. You can think, “Oh, I’d never do anything like that!” But any of us, if we play footsie more and more with the dark, evil side of this world, can be lulled into the delusion of committing some horrific crimes, against others or even our selves.

temptations-and-doubtsThey say, “You can’t keep the birds from flying over your head. But you can keep them from making a nest in your hair.” All of us are susceptible to the voice of evil and Satan from time to time, like birds flying over your head. But you do have the power to shoo them away. Paul said, “Neither give place to the devil.” (Ephesians 4:27) Don’t entertain and give place to evil, Satanic influences in any way.

That’s why we, all of us, every single person, need to desperately have the saving power of the blood of Jesus, Who defeated both sin and Satan on the cross. I know; you mock and smirk at this, some of you. And if that’s you, I can tell you this: “The way of the transgressor is hard.” (Proverbs 13:15) Because I learned this the hard way, by bitter, indescribably pain as the result of my proud, intellectual ways until there was virtually nothing left of me.

It was at that stage, when my self confidence was utterly shattered and my mind almost gone, when I was face to face with my utter ignorance of the things of the heart and the affairs of eternity, that I was able to have the simple realization that there is a spiritual world, there is something called sin that was destroying me and that I desperately needed the help of the God of heaven and, yes, even of Jesus, the one I’d mocked so much.

But from that personal death I came to a new life of truths I’d never known. And one of those is that there is an enemy of our soul who will claim us as his own if we don’t fight him and resist him. It’s horrifying to think how the Devil will also attempt to use us to do his dirty work right here in this world, if we allow it.

James, the Lord’s brother said, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) That’s what you have to do when you’re tempted to commit a violent act, against yourself or others. Or bullying, or drug taking or any of the “wild side” of life which can be so alluring but so foolish, vain and deadly. That’s why it’s not true: “The devil made me do it.” No, you just went with the flow of Satan; you yielded to his power and thoughts and persuasion.

When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. And I can tell you personally, the enemy will come in like a flood, into your mind, into your words that come out of your mouth and into your actions and deeds, unless you allow God to lift up a standard against him.

That’s why it’s so important what we think, what we harbor in our hearts and minds. God’s will is that we fill ourselves with positive, encouraging, faith-building thoughts from His Word and truth. Actually memorizing Bible verses has been one of the most beneficial things I’ve ever done. Or singing songs of the Lord, “making melody in your hearts to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:19) Music is powerful and you can sometimes sing your way right out of an attack of the devil.

But you have to make that effort, you have to resist the devil, you have to allow in you the Spirit of God to lift up that standard against the darkness when it comes at you. And it will.

Sometimes you have to keep up your resistance. When the devil tempted Jesus in the desert, he actually kept coming back at Jesus, even though Jesus did resist him. Same for you and me. But if you keep up your resistance, the enemy just has to flee. “Greater is he that is in you (Jesus Christ in your heart if you’ve asked Him to be there) than he that is in the world (Satan).” (I John 4:4)

You don’t have to grab that gun or knife. You don’t have to keep shooting up those opioids or taking those drugs. You don’t have to keep getting drunk every day and night until you’re a hopeless alcoholic. “The Lord will deliver me from every evil work.” (II Timothy 4:18) There’s not only eternal salvation in Jesus, there is  –right now–  very real and practical, present, miraculous deliverance from any form of darkness that may be infesting your life. And it can come through the true and mighty name of Jesus.

And I’m not some preacher with a theology degree. I learned what I’m telling you right now on the street, the hard way, through a horrific near death experience.

Fight back. Fight that impulse, that feeling you have to do something you know is wrong. You do have power against it. Through Jesus. I’ve been there and done that. And through Him I’ve lived to tell you that you can come out of it too. Don’t be a victim of Satan, be a victorious victor through the Man who loves you and died for you and rose from the dead, Jesus.

Living by faith that God will supply all your needs

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For those in Christian missionary work, you sometimes hear them speak of “living by faith.” This usually has an economic meaning. The Scriptural principle behind it is that if you’re “seeking first the Kingdom of God” as Jesus said, then “all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33) Another well known verse that’s claimed by those who live by faith is what Paul said, “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)

As you might figure, it can be a controversial doctrine. Some would say, “But what if everyone did that?!” Others will quote Paul who said, “Those that shall not work shall not eat.”  (II Thessalonians 3:10) And it should go without saying that “living by faith” and serving God, seeking first the Kingdom of God in no way implies any lack of work. It’s just that it’s work like you see in the four Gospels and the book of Acts. Folks who take this direction have verses that become much more alive to them than when they didn’t live by faith before.

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24) Those who are “living by faith” and serving the Lord full time feel they’ve come to a full-time service for the Lord which has delivered them from daily serving  Mammon and the systems of this world.

Is all this mandatory? Will a person go to hell if they’re not living by faith, fully serving the Lord daily? No. But a deeper look at the New Testament does pretty clearly show that this was the nature of the lives of the early apostles and disciples of Jesus. Let’s face it; so much of our lives is described in what Jesus said,

“Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall eat; neither for the body, what you shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment… If then God so clothes the grass, which is to day in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith? And seek not you what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, neither be you of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you have need of these things.”   (Luke 12:22-30)

Such famous, familiar words from the Lord but how much they’ve been glossed over and set aside by so many believers as having no real message, meaning or promise to us practically in the real world of this day.

But when you are “living by faith” on the mission field and all you have is the Lord (since you’ve forsaken all to go into all the world and win souls), you very much see the promises and provision of God utterly come through for you, even in some of the strangest and most trying times. I wrote about one experience I personally had like that when I first got married in “Foolhardy Faith”, when my former wife and I were in Sweden in our 20’s with our first child and trying to get to the mission field the Lord had laid on our hearts.

“Well, Mark, that’s great but it’s not for me. And not for most of us, as you know. I need to have a normal job and a normal life like the rest of society. I’m a Christian, I go to church. But all this fanatical missionary stuff is just too far out.”

What I’ve found is that God has ways of sifting His people. He’s not trying to be mean to us. It’s just that we have more safety, security and even provision as well as meaning and happiness in serving Him, even full time, than we do in serving Mammon six days a week and then going to church on Sunday. But, admittedly, this is the way virtually all Christians live in these times.

Another simple thing Jesus said about this which is so often overlooked is “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust do corrupt and thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth or rust corrupt or thieves break through and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:19-20) Heard all that before? Certainly. But how many understand it, take it to heart and try to put it into practice?

To end with, here’s some good news. In the final days before the Lord’s return, we’re not really going to be able to serve Mammon the way most Christians do now. The Bible says that “no man will be able to buy or sell” (Revelation 13:17) unless they have the mark of the Beast of the final Anti-Christ government. The sifting will be pretty strong then.

Christians, if they want to remain Christians, will have to trust God then and probably even be serving the Lord much more than they do now. And their economics? God’s got that covered then, just as He already does now. Revelation 12:14 speaks of the believers of those times, “The woman [the believing body of Christ on earth, the bride of Christ] fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there [for 3 ½ years] from the face of the serpent.” This is something I wrote more about when I was in the Bulgarian hinterland a few years ago in “Fleeing into the Wilderness… in Bulgaria“.

In the end, before the Lord’s return, there will be a sifted, separated, fruit-bearing body of believers throughout the earth, living by faith and trusting Him to supply all their needs.

 

 

Be of good cheer and go

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I was looking to the Lord and telling the Lord how I need Him. I told Him I needed His friendship and then I said I needed His cheerfulness. That surprised me a little. But then I thought of when He said to His disciples, “Be of good cheer, it is I; be not afraid.” (Matthew 14:27) I’d never really thought much about the Lord’s cheerfulness but I guess that is one of His attributes.

And it reminded me of how many times the Lord has said something similar like this in my life. Repeatedly, dear brethren have given me verses like “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4) I guess I’m naturally a rather sober person much of the time, serious about life and that in itself is not bad.

But as so many have found, we just can’t make it without the Lord as each of us have major parts of us missing in our makeup, even if there may be a thing or two that might be qualities. I’ve had to let the Lord cultivate happiness and joy in my heart. “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10b), as Nehemiah told his countrymen.

But then, later in the morning somehow the whole importance of the simple word “Go” was coming to me. Go-into-all-the-worldHow very often the Lord commanded His people in one fashion or the other to “Go”. He told His disciples at the end of His time on earth that they should “Go into all the world and make known the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) “Go therefore and teach all nations” (Matthew 28:20) is the last verse in the book of Matthew.

Then at the beginning of the Early Church, when Peter and John had been cast into prison, the angel freed them and then said what? Go on vacation? Go get a good job and settle down? No. He said, “Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.” (Acts 5:20) Go right back into the fray, right back into the high calling of God, right back to where the danger is but God’s mighty blessing is as well.

He told Peter years later when the Gentiles had come to his door in Caesarea, “Go, doubting nothing.” (Acts 10:20) I’m so thankful that the Christianity I was born into was a discipleship, witnessing, sheep-feeding, cross-bearing Christianity. Before I came to the Lord, I grew up surrounded by the other kind of Christianity, the pew-sitting, self-satisfied, lukewarm kind that was so prevalent when I was a kid.

So I was thinking how sometimes the Lord can just boil it all down to really simple things. I never went to a theology school or seminary. Probably most of you didn’t either. But the Lord can still speak to us if we look to Him, seek His face and try to obey and follow Him. And how often it can be that things boil down to holding on to His cheer that He wants to put into our hearts, plus simply obeying Him in going where He wants us to, to do what He wants us to?

And as I was studying this further, I was surprised how many times we are commanded to be of good cheer.  Even when Paul was in tremendous distress on his boat journey to Rome, when all seemed lost, he commanded his companions to “be of good cheer” (Acts 27: 22 & 25), for the Lord had shown him that they would not die then.

Yes, we are to fear God. Yes, we are to be sober minded. But “in Thy presence is fullness of joy.” (Psalm 16:11) There are just so many times that joy and cheerfulness are spoken of as the attributes of those in the presence of the Lord.

And, almost equally, how often His presence and will involves taking action, doing something He has commanded us to. It’s true: we’re also at times supposed to “be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) But I’m afraid so many Christians have gotten the idea that God’s highest will is to be “at ease in Zion” (Amos 6:1), rather than going forward to reach the lost and establish the kingdom of God on earth.

It almost seems too simple. Shouldn’t it be more complicated, more intellectual, more academic? But that’s maybe a stumbling block for those of us who tend to be that way. Because the Lord’s ways are almost simpler than we maybe think they should be, Lord help us.

That was the cry of my heart this morning, almost to my surprise. I asked the Lord to help me have His cheerfulness. It’s an ongoing process but I know He’s doing it. So, for me and for all of us: “be of good cheer”. And “go”.