Category Archives: Discipleship and Christianity today

The Course of This World

Posted on by
3

come ye outThe other night just a phrase from the Bible was really speaking to me, where it talks about “the course of this world” (Ephesians 2:2). Sometimes God’s Word is like a flash of lightning, illuminating the darkness of the night.

Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “In times past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.” (Ephesians 2:2)

Paul was telling the Ephesians that, in their past, they walked according to the ways of this world and the ways of Satan. But he was reiterating something Jesus Himself repeatedly spoke of when He was on the earth: the subject of “the world” and our relation to it. And for most Christians, our relationship to the world is not always something we’re clear about.

But the best and first way to find answers is in the Word of God, especially in the Words of Jesus. Jesus told His own brothers in John 7, “The world cannot hate you, but Me it hates, because I testify of it that the works of it are evil.” (John 7:7) And He even said to His disciples, “If you were of the world, the world would love his own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:19)

This all resonates with me because it was those clear distinctions, light in the darkness, absolutes and moral choices, that made the difference between life and death that first brought me to faith in God and later in Jesus.

Way of the world-flattenedWe’re called out of the course of this world; we’re not supposed to be a part of that. That’s what happened to me and I’m so thankful for it because I never would have gone along with some kind of namby-pamby, milk-and-water Christianity; I’d seen plenty of that when I was growing up and it just wasn’t inspiring. It was weak and easy to defeat. I was an atheist and I could defeat those kinds of Christians all the time.

But the Christianity I finally found was completely different, a stronger spirit that fulfilled my heart’s desires and my needs. Real Christianity gave me the power to blast off from the gravity and evil of this world, to really break free and break out of the ways of man that are so accepted and exalted in the godless, secular society we all live in, the ways of the devil, the ways of tradition, the ways of defeat, the ways of the system worldly way of looking at things and to break into the beauty, freedom and liberty of God’s Spirit.

But so many Christians are still following the course of this world because they’re taught milk-and-water, compromised, worldly, ungodly Christianity. Their discipleship is weak; their knowledge is weak; their witness is weak and they’re not prepared for the future to come. Jesus said, “The world cannot hate you but me it hates, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil”. That’s not taught in church. They sort of, kind of, get a little close to that. Maybe they dip their toe in that but not much more.Fishers-of-men

Christianity is supposed to make a difference, being a “new creature”, being a disciple. Jesus didn’t tell Peter, “Meet me next Sunday for a little sermon.” He said, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). And He did. He called Matthew out of his tax job; He called them out of the course of this world.

That’s what Christian discipleship is; it’s a break with the traditions, the ceremonies and the whole paraphernalia that goes on with the course of this world. The course of this world is not what we are supposed to be a part of. We are supposed to be “transformed” (Romans 12:2), we are supposed to be “delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God”. (Colossians 1:13) Moses out of EgyptIt even says of Moses, “By faith he forsook Egypt [the worldly system of his day], for he endured as seeing Him who was invisible.” (Hebrews 11:27)

If anyone in the Bible epitomized discipleship, it was Paul the apostle. Even though he wasn’t with Jesus when He was alive on earth, he seemed to understand it all better than the rest. He was the embodiment of discipleship, went further, did more and seemingly was more of a real sample than even the ones who followed Jesus in His lifetime. It seems from the book of Acts that those ones had a difficult time breaking out of their nationalism, traditions and teachings that they grew up with.

But Paul, he just let it go; he just did it. Once he was knocked off his horse and saw “The Light”, he really stayed true to “the heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19) and followed the Lord, rather than the ways of the world. Paul on the road to DamascusAnd so many missionaries in the centuries to come modeled their discipleship, service and lives after the Apostle Paul . “You are not of the world but I have called you out of this world, therefore the world hates you.” That sure was true of Paul.

So if you’re still walking the course of this world, if you have one foot with God and one foot with the course of this world, then you’re “double minded” (James 1:8), you’re a “half baked cake.” (Hosea 7:8)

I am thankful the Lord delivered me out of that, out of the course of this world and into Christian discipleship, a wonderful, wonderful new life of spiritual reality, love and faith, completeness and “a sound mind” (II Timothy 1:7), all the things that God can give.

But if you try to straddle the fence and stay somewhere in between, you may find yourself in some kind of compromiser’s limbo. That’s what most people think they’re supposed to do. They are still people of this world, people of these times, people of the culture and society they live in and then they still say they’re Christians. And when things get really rough, then they find out that this world crumbles and only the things of the Lord remain. So the goal is to not be part of the course of this world but to be a part of the eternal world and the world to come.

That’s what the Lord wants us to have, that’s discipleship, not just Sunday believers, still following the course of this world, still identifying with the beliefs, culture and motivations of this world. But to be delivered, to be disciples, to be prepared for the world to come: that’s real Christianity, not just “Church-ianity” but Christianity.

Acts 14 live class audio

Posted on by
1

Paul walkingOne way to look at Acts 14 is to just quote what Paul told his follower Timothy towards the end of Paul’s life: “All that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (II Timothy 3:12) Our weekly live class was on Acts chapter 14  [You can hear the live class audio here] and this was the chapter where Paul and Barnabas suffered their first and some of their worst persecution.

In our class we again noted and discussed the different ways Paul witnessed to the Jews and then to the Greeks. His whole approach and conversation with the Greeks was completely different from the way he spoke to the Jews. For one, when speaking to the Greeks, he didn’t start out by blasting them that they were all worshiping devils and that they were going to hell. He was a good deal wiser and more loving, doing all he could to win them to the Lord and to share the Gospel with them in such a way that they could relate to it from their background and nationality.

Paul really loved people and was earnest in his desire to bring men to Christ, not to tell them how bad they were and how righteous he and his fellows were. And that’s a good lesson for all Christians today when we’re faced with those from another race, religion, ethnicity or nation.

Paul preachingIn fact, if you want to read a sweet, loving, heartfelt speech given to present to the complete heathen an introduction to who the “Father of Spirits” (Hebrews 12:9) is, the “Father of lights” (Hebrews 12:9) , you can read this passage here in Acts 14.Paul told them,

“We are merely human beings the same as you and we’re telling you the good news so you’ll turn from these worthless things [worshiping idols] to the living God, Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. In past generations He allowed all the nations to go their own ways, but He has not abandoned His witness: He continues to do good, to give you rain from heaven, to give you fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.” (Acts 14: 15-17)

But also this chapter was one of the worst and most direct examples of extreme persecution that Paul every experienced. Did he cut and run? Did he apologize and shilly-shally? Did he become an apostate and go back to Jerusalem to rejoin his Pharisee friends? You know he didn’t. He was literally left for dead on the side of the road in Acts 14.Paul stoned But he got up, went back into the same city his persecutors had come from and again preached the gospel. How could he?! Was he crazy? You or I would never do anything like that, would we? Christians are not like that now, are they?

God can surprise you. There are Bible prophecies saying that the people of the Last Days “shall be strong and do exploits“. (Daniel 11:32) “And they that understand among the people shall instruct many.” (Daniel 11:33) “And they that be wise shall turn many to righteousness”, (Daniel 12:3) all spoken of concerning the times yet to come.

“Oh that couldn’t be me! I’m not like that. Those days were different! People are not like that now!”

Well, the Bible says, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) I personally believe that someone, maybe it won’t be you, maybe it won’t be me, but someone is going to do “greater works” (John 14:12); Jesus said so.

The church of the future to come is not going to be full of cowards, quitters and defeated souls. Someones are going to stand up in the days to come as some of the strongest Christians to have ever lived, as a witness to the nations and peoples of the Last Days, just as Paul did here in Acts 14 at the beginning of Christian times and the Early Church 2000 years ago.endtime witness-flattened

We also talked about the two manifestations of the Devil, the serpent and the dragon. Most of the time, sadly, the serpent can get many people with his words. That’s all that’s needed for some people who can be led away from God and the truth through the words of the serpent. But if, at length, that doesn’t work, then along comes the dragon with violent, physical persecution and attacks like Paul suffered in Acts 14

And we talked about how this pattern of witnessing, winning souls, and ordaining elders or pastors in small fledgling churches was the model on which future missionaries patterned their work for the next hundreds of years, including St. Patrick when he evangelized the Irish, Columba when he evangelized the Scots and Boniface when the gospel was preached to the nation we now call Germany, around 700 AD.

So I hope if you get a chance, you can listen to the 30+ minute audio of our class on Acts 14. In some ways, it’s all there. True disciples of Jesus were going into all the world to win souls. They received persecution for their efforts. But through them Christianity was born in the hearts of those they witnessed to. And it took root and grew in the centuries to come to be some of the best bodies of believers there has ever been. A sample to us all, God help us.

“Happy Is That People”

Posted on by
5

happy peopleJesus said, “Your joy no man takes from you.” (John 16:22) But we sure don’t feel that way all the time, do we? Happiness and joy can often seem pretty elusive. Is it confession time here? Maybe. I often have to pray against sadness. It just seems to spring up in me like some besetting sin, some old weed that keeps coming back. But I have learned by years of experiences that I can’t give place to it in the same way that the verse says, “Neither give place to the Devil.” (Ephesians 4:27)

Many would say, “But Mark, it’s not a sin to be sad! Sadness is just part of life, we’re all sad sometimes.”

little foxesMaybe so. The problem is, for someone who is trying to maintain a relationship with the Lord and to sort of keep himself in proper spiritual shape, these little things cannot be allowed to come into my mind and consciousness. There’s an obscure verse that says, “The little foxes spoil the vines”. (Song of Solomon 2:15) And the funny thing is that actually and truly, we’ve had a family of foxes in our neighborhood off and on for the last weeks. Yesterday there were three “teenager” foxes in our backyard and I told my mom about that verse, “the little foxes spoil the vines” but she didn’t understand it.

So I told her it was applied as meaning those “little sins”, things that may not seem like such a big deal. Like tolerating a little sadness to come, sit down beside you in your heart and strike up a conversation. It doesn’t seem so bad at first. There seem to be a few things to be sad about. This happened and that happened and this didn’t work out and someone said something I didn’t like.

But maybe it’s from years of experience, I’ve just come to know that this kind of thing has to be recognized and resisted just as much as if someone offered me drugs. The little foxes spoil the vines. And the rest of the verse says, “For our vines have tender grapes”. (Song of Solomon 2:15) The vines of our lives in this sense are tender. Our relationship with the Lord in some ways is tender, if it is fine tuned and is the way He wants it. And that can make it so that we can have a close relationship with Him. We can hear His voice, we are in line for His blessings, we are seeking to do His will, we are looking to experience Him each day, loving Him, loving others and pretty much abandoned to the freedom and joy of our life in Him.

holy spirit doveBut maybe it’s like the picture of the Holy Spirit being like a dove; it can be easily shooed away. And one way that can happen is by allowing ourselves to bend to moods and emotions that are not the ones He wants us to have.

There are just oodles of places in the Bible that admonish us about the benefits of cultivating a happy spirit along with warnings against falling prey to sadness and depression. “A merry heart does good like a medicine…” (Proverbs 17:22) “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”(Nehemiah 8:10b) “If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.” (John 13:17)

smoking Christians-flattenedSo the same way a person with a problem with alcohol or cigarettes can’t allow themselves to have even one smoke, some of us need to treat sadness with the same intolerance. It’s like the verse, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against him.” (Isiah 59:19b)  That’s the kind of militant spirit and attitude we need to have if we want to “abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1), or as Jesus said, to “abide in the Vine”. (John 15:4)

We just have to fight it. We have to pray, we have to quote Scriptures, claiming the promises of God that He will give us joy and peace and happiness. We have to recognize that it’s not some little innocent thing that we deserve and isn’t so bad. We don’t deserve it because we are forgiven and are aiming to walk in the light. And it is bad because it’s one of those little things that seem so innocent. But the next thing you know, you are totally and utterly defeated, bummed out, ready to give up as you are flooded with more and bigger negative thoughts about yourself, others, God or whatever.

“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life“. (I Timothy 6:10) “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sins that so easily beset us.” (Hebrews 12:2) “I will set no wicked thing before my eyes (like “innocent” sadness), I hate the work of them that turn aside (people or spirits who would cause you to come down from the wall of His will and joy) it shall not cleave unto me.” (Psalm 101:3) Wow. What a statement. It’s a picture of these things almost being like some kind of evil, sticky chewing gum that wants to “cleave unto me”, wants to stick to you. Don’t let it happen. Claim His happiness and joy and walk and live in it today and every day. “Happy is that people that is in such a case, yea happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.” (Psalms 144:15)

“All You Meek Of The Earth”

Posted on by
Reply

pure or meek-flattenedSometimes it just strikes, you: the difference between the ways of God and the ways of Man. In Isaiah are the famous verses where the Lord says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isiah 55:8 & 9)

So it’s easy to think this could mean, “Sure, God is way up there in heaven and we are just here on earth, pretty distant from Him.” But it’s much more than that. It says that His ways are not our ways. What are His ways?

Well, for one, humility. Let’s be honest, who wants to be humble? It’s a rare bird indeed who is humble and is honored and acclaimed in this world. Pride rules in our world. Pride is the coinage of the realm, the language that is spoken everywhere. But not with God. “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (I Peter 5:5) And the Bible is just full of that kind of admonition, from cover to cover. I heard a challenge one time; someone said, “You can’t find one single verse in the Bible that promotes pride.” I’ve never found one.

But Mark, everyone is proud! What’s wrong with pride?! Does God want us to just walk around with our tail between our legs and a “pardon-me-for-living” attitude?

Nope. But I can guarantee you that He doesn’t want us to be proud. King Nebuchadnezzar of ancient Babylon, who ended up having a marvelous change in his life after being an extremely proud man, said at the end of the chapter in the Bible which he wrote, “They that walk in pride He [God] is able to abase.” (Daniel 4:32) take My yoke-flattenedJesus said of Himself, “Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest to your souls.” (Matthew 11:29) If ever a person could be considered worthy to be proud, it was Jesus. But He wasn’t.

It even says of Moses in the Old Testament, “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all men on the face of the earth.” (Numbers 12:3) And it seems this is the kind of person that God chooses to dwell with. In fact the Bible says so. In Isaiah 57:15 the Lord says, “I dwell in the high and holy place, with those of a humble and contrite spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”

The power of pride-flattenedA few years back, here in America, it was very common to see bumper stickers on cars that said, “The power of pride”. I just couldn’t believe people would actually place that on their cars. It’s the very opposite of the Will and Word of God.

But you could say,

Alright, alright, I see that God resists the proud and wants us to be humble. But Mark, I’m just naturally proud. It’s my nature. Like the old cowboy song, “I’m proud ‘bout everything.” So what can I do about it? I’m just born that way!

What can you do about it? First, like all of us have had to do, you can acknowledge that it’s not the way God wants us to be. It’s like having weeds in your garden. You may have them; but you can still recognize them as weeds and go about making an effort to get rid of them.

Here’s an obscure verse I read this morning that prompted my writing this. It’s really a good one, a real lesson to us all. “Seek ye the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have worked His judgment. Seek righteousness, seek meekness. It may be that you shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.” (Zephaniah 2:3) It says we are to seek meekness. If you are proud (and who isn’t?), we can at least acknowledge to ourselves that we have a problem with that and we can begin to make efforts towards seeking meekness. If you recognize you have a problem with pride, that really is a good start! Most people don’t even see that as a problem. But in God’s eyes it is, a big one.

if we confess-flattenedOne time the Lord exposed a problem in my life that was so big and seemingly impossible to overcome and change in that I really had no faith or strength to fight it. I knew it was there but I felt doomed by my sin. But the Lord gave me the verse, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9) That was exactly what I needed to hear. It was like a deal or contract. The Lord was saying that if I would confess it, He would cleanse it. So I did, actually many times. And as time went on, I slowly got healed or at least better in the huge area I was having trouble with.

If you’re having problems with pride, first acknowledge that it is not the ways of God. Like that verse says, you can even confess it to the Lord and ask Him to begin to cleanse you of it. And keep that mindset, the one that seeks meekness and is repulsed by pride. That’s the path of life and the direction in which the Lord dwells. He dwells with the meek and lowly. His ways are ways of meekness, humility and love.

New Wine and Old Bottles

Posted on by
1

Cant put old wine-flattened-againA common phrase or term on the mission field was “old bottles and new bottles” and “old wine and new wine” (Luke 5:37-39). But it seems that most Christians I meet here are unfamiliar with these terms. They come directly from Jesus and really contain some amazing, important truths. The goal for each believer is to be a “new bottle” who can take the “new wine”. I’ll bet you’ve never heard that taught in church. But it’s in three of the four Gospels.

Jesus was responding to a jibe from the Pharisees. They said to Jesus “Why do John the Baptist’s disciples often fast but yours don’t?” (Luke 5:33) This was another of their less-than-veiled criticism. But the Lord answered them “Can the children of the bride chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days come when the bridegroom shall be taken away. Then shall they fast in those days.” (Luke 5:34 & 35) While Jesus was with them, His disciples didn’t need to fast because the Lord was right there. But Jesus was saying that when He was gone to be with the Father, His disciples would fast in those days.

Then He went on to say a very interesting, deep analogy or parable which might have been a lot easier for them to understand back then than it is for us now. He said, “No man puts new wine into old bottles or the new wine will break the bottles and be spilled and the bottles will perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles and both are preserved.” (Luke 5:37-39) What in the world is that talking about? I can tell you, it’s pretty important and I’ll bet your church is not telling you about it.

Kahlenberg grape fields; Vienna, Austria

Kahlenberg grape fields; Vienna, Austria

I lived in Vienna, Austria for 6 years as a missionary to eastern Europe when it was still under Communism. And wine making in Vienna is like beer in Germany: it’s just happening everywhere and it’s part of life. Here’s something I learned. Wine, when it’s first put into kegs, expands. And some of the wine with the most “kick” to it is wine that’s only around 3 months old. But the word used there is “bottles” so that throws us modern people. When we hear “bottles”, we think of glass. But the actually meaning of “bottles” is wine skins, the leather vessels into which wine was put in the times of Jesus.

An old wine skin. An “old bottle”.

An old wine skin. An “old bottle”.

Here’s what happens. When they press the grapes and put the results into wine skins, as the weeks go by the wine begins to expand inside the wineskins. If the “bottle”, the wine skin is relatively new, then the leather is still supple and it can expand with the wine and not break. But if the “bottle” (the wine skin) is “old”, then the leather is dry and cracks easily. Then the “new wine” will break the “old bottles”. So Jesus taught that new wine must be put into new bottles and both will be preserved. If you still don’t get it, no problem. Very many people don’t.

no new wine please-flattenedWhat Jesus taught was “new wine”. He didn’t spend much time going back to the traditions and shibboleths of the Pharisees and traditionalist. He taught the pure and true Word of God, which even included some “new” things, like when He healed on the Sabbath or forgave men their sins or His many parables. His disciples were, for the most part “new bottles”. They were strong believers but they weren’t polluted by the “old wine” that had so perverted the religious teachings of those days.

Then new wine-flattenedBut the Pharisees and most of the religious leaders were “old bottles” and Jesus’ “new wine” almost continually “broke their bottles”. He didn’t show respect to the many traditions of the day, He fellowshipped with publicans, sinners and harlots, His whole manner and way was completely different from the religious leaders of the time. “But the common people heard him gladly” (Mark 12:37). Because many of them were dissatisfied with the “old wine” that was coming from the oppressive, rigid religious establishment back then.

breaking my bottle-flattened

Peter, Acts chapter 10

But none of this could still happen today, could it? There couldn’t be anything like “new wine” today, could there? God stopped speaking over 2000 years ago, didn’t He? Could there be any “old bottles” today?  Jesus told His disciples, on the night before He was arrested and crucified, “I have many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. But when the Spirit of Truth is come, he will guide you into all truth.” (John 16:12 & 13)

What will they say-flattened

Peter, Acts chapter 10

More truth after Jesus? “No way!” you say. Then check out Acts chapter 10. The truth revealed to the Apostle Peter was so radical and so very nearly “broke his bottle” that he just barely was able to take it. But he did and he went on to obey what God showed him. That’s why Christianity has included non-Jews for the last 2000 years. The truth revealed in Acts 10 was so radical and potent that it very nearly broke the bottles of even the early Christians at that time. In Acts 11, the whole chapter is about Peter trying to explain it all to the brethren back in Jerusalem. The thing about the Gentiles being filled with the Holy Ghost, like what had happened in Acts 10, seriously broke their bottles.

God said one time, “My ways are not your ways and My thoughts are not your thoughts” (Isiah 58:10 & 11). Often, if God really shows you something personally, it can sometimes at least be pretty much “new wine” and even hard to take. But if you’re a new bottle, you can take the new wine and you receive and obey what the Lord has given, like Peter did. Then, like a real wine skin, you’ll keep expanding and contracting and you’ll stay supple and fresh as you continue to receive and pour out, expand and contract.

But more often what happens is that folks become “old bottles”. They stop receiving and they don’t pour out; they just keep their wine which gets old and they become like old, brittle leather wine skins. Jesus even said, “No man, having drunk old wine, immediately desires the new, for he says, ‘the old is better’’” (Luke 5:39). If anyone tries to put new wine into them, it just “breaks their bottle”. Have you ever tried to put new wine into old bottles? Often they say “the old is better”, just like Jesus said would happen 2000 years ago.

thats radical-flattenedBut if you can take the new wine, God can continue to lead and guide you with really fresh new inspirations and leadings straight from Him. It can be tough at times because new wine is often pretty strong. But it’s worth it. I hope you’re a new bottle and can take the new wine. It’s the only way to go with Him and His will, the progress and path up the mountain of His will that He wants each of us to take.

“Therefore every scribe who is instructed unto the Kingdom of God is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things both old and new.” (Matthew 13:52)

Direct Revelations

Posted on by
1

Direct Revelations- flattenedIf you never hear a voice, if you never see a vision, if you never dream a dream, if you’ll just obey God’s Word, you can have a wonderful life in Him. On the other hand, God often wants to enrich our lives and provide more power from His Spirit to us by using these other means.

I’m thankful that in my life there’ve been a number of manifestations from Him by His Spirit that have completely been supernatural and unexplainable except through an acknowledgment that God is still  a God of miracles. I’ve written several blog posts about some of the “little miracles” that have happened in my life, such as “Lights on the Side of the Road”, “the Radio Miracle” and something that happened 18 months ago here in Austin called “God’s Little Miracles”. It’s so inspiring when these things happen and I’m glad I now have this avenue to share these experiences with others.

God is a supernatural God. He’s not a theorem, an equation or “Mother Earth”. He’s not something that theologians are supposed to dissect in post graduate work. He’s the divine Creator and Guiding Power of the Universe. When I was little, the way it was explained to me is that God is way up there and we are down here. So be good, do good and things will be ok. Don’t bother Him and He won’t bother you. Boy, that sure didn’t help or hold up when things got really tough in my life.

But even in many evangelical churches today, it’s not like they really teach that you can get answers from God or that you can even expect miracles. Here’s a verse that I’ve held on to and claimed in prayer many times, John 14:21. Jesus said, “He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself unto him.” I’ve called out to the Lord many times in prayer to manifest Himself to me. King David of old even prayed to God one time, “Show us a token for good.” (Psalm 86:17) Some might think that’s like “seeking after a sign” (Matthew 12:39), which Jesus chiding the Pharisees for. But the truth is that God loves to manifest Himself to us, if we’re walking in the truth of His Word and following the truth He’s shown us already.

I’ll share a couple of things here where the Lord just totally punched through with something outlandishly supernatural when I really needed it. When I was young in the Lord and had already moved to the mission field of western Europe in the early ’70’s, I ended up in a place where there was a spiritually collapsed situation involving a body of believers I was working with. What should have been a group knit together in His love had been taken over for a while by some cruel, hireling types who were mistreating His flock.Jerimiah 10-21-flattened

I was in prayer about this as it was very disheartening and suddenly, out of nowhere I got the Bible reference quickened to me, “Jeremiah 10:21”. I had no idea in the world what that verse said but I opened my Bible and read it. It says, “For the pastors have become brutish and have not sought the Lord. Therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flock shall be scattered.”

I was dumbfounded as that verse so encapsulated the situation I was in and also gave a promise that it would be resolved. And it was, by the hand of God. Within two months the “brutish pastors” had been exposed and the ones I was working with were able to find more loving and kind people to shepherd them. But the Lord had just quickened that verse to me out of nowhere, as a comfort and foretelling of what He was going to do.

Another time, even earlier in my Christian life, when I’d only come to the Lord a week or so earlier, I’d been invited to a Christian training camp for those preparing for the mission field and for discipleship. But this was in the States in early 1970 when there was still a very deep divide between the youth culture and the more conservative, establishment side of society. I was beginning to work with the Jesus Movement and at that time it was pretty youth oriented and even radical.

a sharp razor-flattenedI was told that I would need to cut my somewhat long hair before going to this training camp. It was off in a conservative, cowboy part of the States and it was literally dangerous to be in the area and look like a hippy. But the amazing thing was that the morning before I was told this, the Lord had quickened to me a verse, extremely obscure, Ezekiel 5:1. I’d only been a Christian a few days and I had no idea what that verse said.

But I found it in my Bible and here’s what it says. “Son of man, take a sharp knife, take a barber’s razor and cause it to pass upon your head.” So when a few hours later my friends told me I’d need to have a haircut, I told them that the Lord had already told me that was coming. I was just a babe in Christ and back then I may have figured this was just sort of normal.

It’s not like this kind of thing happens every day. Not at all. The Lord wants us to go by faith and to obey His Word in our daily lives. But also He wants us to know that He can and will do this kind of thing to lead us and guide us and show us what to do. Or sometimes just to rejoice our hearts and/or have a testimony of His love and power that we can share with others. So don’t knock direct revelations. They’re not mandatory. But they are there, they help and He may have one for you.

“I have kept the faith.”

Posted on by
3

I often try to sort of visualize some of the people of the Bible. These were real folks, they just lived a long time ago. You can tell from reading God’s Word that they were in many ways just like us. Paul in prisonThey faced obstacles; they had personal problems which sometimes were the results of their own weaknesses or even sins. Of course one of the most significant people in the Bible was Paul of Tarsus. If you want to think about something, think what would have become of Christianity and the cause of Christ if there’d been no Apostle Paul.

But sometimes it’s just little things in the Scriptures that can give a glimpse into some unknown areas of someone’s heart and soul. To me, an example of this is in what was probably the last thing Paul wrote before his execution, in the last chapter he wrote. paul writing in prisonIn II Timothy 4:7 Paul wrote to Timothy, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” I’ve always felt this was Paul, looking back over his life and summing it up, as his execution drew near.

But what summed it up? “I have kept the faith.” That was precious to Paul, what he seemed to consider perhaps his greatest accomplishment. It’s easy for us to think, “Well, how about all those cities he preached the Gospel in? What about all the writing he did which we’re still reading today?” But if Paul had wavered, if he’d succumbed to doubt, if he’d been defeated spiritually, there would have been none of those other things. Or his testimony would have been besmirched.

Doubt is such an awesome, heinous and often successful foe of us all. So much of the Devil’s power is in fear. But the same could also be said for doubt. Paul said at the end of his life, “I have kept the faith.” How often was Paul hit with doubts? Probably every single day.

With Paul, it didn’t have to be those subtle little things that often try to creep into our minds and get us to wonder and question God’s Word or His ways. He was face to face, confronting evil spirits inhabiting some of the people he witnessed to. But much more often Paul was battling with unbelief, heathen darkness, ingrained worldly mindsets and systems of thought that were the most respected and exalted in his world. He was confronting his own people to tell them that “the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17), or to put it in his own words “the Law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we may be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24). Or he was teaching about “the unknown god” (Acts 17:23) to the philosophers of the Greeks. Paul was probably the most robust conqueror and fighter for the Lord’s cause from the times of the Early Church and perhaps of all times.

Lot flees Sodom, his wife looks back.

Lot flees Sodom, his wife looks back.

What does it mean to us? I personally want to be able to say at the end of my life, like Paul did, “I have kept the faith.” Because, honestly, as we all know, quite a lot of folks are not really able to say that as their life goes forward. They “look back” (Genesis 19:26), like Lot’s wife. They “put their hand to the plow and look back” (Luke 9:62), like Jesus talked about. They “cast away their confidence” (Hebrews 10:35); they fail to “hold on to their crown” (Revelation 3:11).

I read a lot of Christian writers and some of them talk about what they see as “the evils of the Catholic church”. A perhaps even larger group is vehement about what they see as “the evils of Islam”. But I never hear of some young Christian who was once strong in their faith but now they are Jesuit priests or Carmelite nuns. Neither do I hear of formerly strong Christians who are now jihadist, training in Yemen. But we certainly hear of some, even many, who were once Christians, even what seemed to be strong Christians and they’ve now renounced the Lord and are overcome by doubts, confusion or bitterness. They’ve effectively left the light of the Lord and are now, seemingly willingly, in darkness. Do you know some like that? I know a lot of folks like that.

I feel that’s the greatest danger to faith in our times. Not Catholicism or Islam but doubt, confusion, the pride of man and the devices that Satan’s been using against the people of faith for thousands of years.sharing the Word with joy What’s the solution? We are to be “rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, abounding with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 2:7) We are to “exhort one another, lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:13) We are to be “not ignorant of the enemy’s devices” (II Corinthians 2:11). We are to “let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs…”(Colossians 3:16)

In short, we are to keep the faith. And going beyond that, we are to share the faith with others , not just preserve ourselves in some kind of defensive war. We’re to be a fruit bearing bride of Christ. “Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, so shall you be my disciples.” (John 15:8)

Every single day the enemy of God tries to slip in his gas of deceit under the door of our minds and lives. He sows doubt, confusion, seeming-to-be “facts” to try to cause us to be “shaken in mind” (II Thessalonians 2:2). May we all stand “steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not vain in the Lord.” (I Corinthians 15:58) “Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

God Will Reveal

Posted on by
7

The first year after I became a Christian, I was often really desperate in prayer. That can be good and usually is good. So often for many people, it’s like the verse that says, “No man stirreth himself to call upon Me.” (Isaiah 64:7).

But for me, maybe it had to do with the very rough experiences I’d had prior to coming to faith where my unbelief and life of debauchery had brought me to some real depths. So even after I came to faith and later came to the Lord, I guess it was almost like what nowadays is called “post traumatic stress syndrome” that was still affected me. Or perhaps it was like what Paul said, “knowing therefore the terror of the Lord…” (II Corinthians 5:11). The Lord had had to smash my pride and contrariness in order that the seed of the new life He wanted me to have could grow. And, at times, those experiences were terrifying.

Search me oh God-flattenedSo even after I became a Christian, I often was very desperate in prayer. Many of those prayers were along the lines of what King David prayed, “Search me oh God, and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139: 23 & 24) That’s a good verse and a good prayer to pray; what could go wrong?

Well, for me, some of my friends were beginning to tell me that perhaps I was so overwrought with desperation and heart-searching that it seemed like I was almost nervous or tense much of the time, rather than really resting in the Lord. I was so desperate, yearning and serious that it was an imbalance and the Lord wanted to lead me into a further understanding of His ways.

One thing that did come of all that prayer, the Lord often really did come through and I had some marvelous answers. But still, something wasn’t quite right. A friend talked with me about this and said something to the effect that “any time something hinders more than it helps, it’s time to abolish it.”  He was saying that all my continual desperation and vehement concern to have a clean heart was making it so that I didn’t have the fruits of the Spirit that I should have, like peace and joy.

I knew the Lord was speaking through him. As so often happens, the answer came through reading the Word. Somehow I was later drawn to read Philippians chapter 3. There are those famous verses there, “I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do: forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to the things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13 &14) Great and famous admonitions and I felt I’d been doing the part of “pressing towards the mark”.

But it was the next verse, verse 15, that the Lord really used to punch through to me and to highlight what I needed to realize from His Word. Philippians 3:15 says, “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And if in anything you be otherwise minded, God will reveal that even unto you.”

reveal from the Word-flattenedBoy, did that hit my heart just where it was needed. Basically the verse spoke to me this way, “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect be thus minded.” [No one is really perfect because all have sinned. But we who are saved are now perfected in the spirit through salvation] “And if in anything you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.”

That was the part that really hit home and laid a new foundation stone in my Christian life. We are “perfect” already, in a sense, through salvation. But also there are times where things still need to be changed, where we are “otherwise minded”. And for those situations, there’s that huge promise there that “God will reveal it unto us“. He will reveal where we need to change and grow, where we are not all that we need to be in Him.

So it wasn’t like I needed to stop praying effectual, fervent prayers to the Lord. But this promise was something that I could claim and that would make it so that I was banking on His promises that He would reveal things that I needed to change in, rather than feeling that I needed constantly to whip myself into virtually a frenzy of prayer before God would be willing to communicate with me.

It really helped. It was a major step forward in my Christian life. My prayers were enhanced by being based on faith in His promises to reveal , rather than my anxious efforts to be desperate enough that God would be willing to answer.

“They that believe have entered into rest and have ceased from their own works.” (Hebrews 4:3 & 10)  Those are pretty deep verses and probably there are more people around who actually need to “stir up the gift” (II Timothy 1:6) and keep their lights burning before their lamps go out through indifference or leaving their first love. But there may be some who could use this lesson the Lord taught me, that we do better to know and trust in His promises rather than our own self efforts. “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy oh Lord endureth forever: forsake not the works of your own hands.” (Psalm 138:8)  “He that has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)

 

Wisdom is the Principle Thing

Posted on by
1

wisdom is art-flattenedI was talking with a young man a few days ago, on the cusp of his adulthood. He comes from an intelligent family and he’s in the process of making some major decisions about his life. I’d never had any meaningful talks with him before this and we didn’t have a real long time for the discussion. But in the minutes I did have with him, I felt led to talk with him about the importance of wisdom.

Pardon my French here but life is a bitch, or at least at times it can be. And strangely, what you learn in university, no matter which one it is, doesn’t really prepare you for “the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23), as Solomon called them. University for me was about knowledge and knowledge is far less valuable than wisdom. One of the more amazing things in this life we have is how important (but sometimes elusive) wisdom is and how relatively minor knowledge is.

But in the modern world, it seems to be the opposite. Intelligence and intellect are worshipped, exalted and sought after at all cost. But wisdom is virtually one of those things that’s almost been tossed in the waste basket, rather like truth. They say that truth is all relative, there really is no truth. And wisdom too is really doubtful, hardly talked about in polite company.

But here was this young man sitting in front of me and I felt like saying to him what Solomon must have said to his son 3000 years ago.

“Wisdom is the principle thing. Therefore get wisdom. And with all your getting, get understanding.”  (Proverbs 4:7)

Was there a Wisdom 101 class at your university? I didn’t think so. It’s a stone miracle of God that I didn’t die, go to prison, or end up in an insane asylum while I was going to university. I was so utterly unwise, so utterly walking in ignorance. To quote Solomon again, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10) and I had no fear of or knowledge of the Lord at that time. And fewer and fewer young people do nowadays since knowledge and “education” are the gods of these times. But wisdom is left by the wayside, discarded as another thing which modern people have found that doesn’t really exist.

So I was telling my young friend about the importance of wisdom. It often presents itself when we find that we have made a mistake, sometimes a bad one. At least people say, “We learn from our mistakes”, that can be wisdom. And it’s wisdom that makes for a successful, fruitful and satisfying life.

Nelson MandelaWhat made Nelson Mandela great? Knowledge? I don’t think so. I don’t know the exact quote but he said something like that he knew, when he left prison after 26 years, that if he’d not forgiven and gotten over what people had done to him, in a very real sense he’d still be in prison.

Where did he learn that? University? Nope. These are the kinds of things that the great spiritual leaders through history have taught. But, on the other hand, history is chocked full of “intelligent”, “brilliant” people (and even nations) who failed utterly because they were so sure of their intelligence but were so completely lacking in wisdom.

And of course I’m speaking of Godly wisdom here. Jesus Himself spoke of the other kind of wisdom when He said, “The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light” (Luke 16:8). Or as James, the Lord’s brother said, “This wisdom doesn’t descend from above but is earthly, sensual, devilish”  (James 3:15).

Machiavelli’s “The Prince” or the writings of the Marquis de Sade are full of that kind of “wisdom”, kind of like Gordon Gecko in the movie “Wall Street”, or like the Serpent in the Garden, which was “more ‘subtle’ than any beast of the field” (Genesis 3:1). Worldly, satanic wisdom.

Wisdome here-flattenedBut “The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to change, full of mercy and good actions, without partiality or hypocrisy.”   (James 3:17) That’s the wisdom that Nelson Mandela came to have in his later life and the kind of wisdom that’s been reverenced and respected for many centuries, even if it’s in decline, disfavor and disrepute in our times.

As I talked with this young man, I was trying to present to him what I’ve found in my life, that “Wisdom is the principle thing”. (Proverbs 4:7) I told him he was like a sailor, just about to leave the harbor of his family and to launch out into the vast, stormy oceans of adult life. My experience has been that education and knowledge are certainly needful. But everybody says that. What you don’t hear anymore is the critical need for wisdom, something that seems harder to find every day. Hopefully he’ll remember what I said.

Stuck

Posted on by
1

Sometimes we just get stuck. God allows it and knows it, but He doesn’t want us to stay there. One of the greatest examples of this to me is what happened to the prophet Elijah, during the time before the fall of northern Israel in 722 BC.

Elijah calling down fire on Mt. Carmel

Elijah calling down fire on Mt. Carmel

Elijah is perhaps best remembered for standing on Mt. Carmel, literally calling down fire from heaven to confound the prophets of Baal, 450 of them in fact.(See I Kings 18) Israel at that time was ruled by King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. Ahab comes across as a weak character and it seems Jezebel was the one who wore the pants in the family.

And they were serious Baal worshipers. This wasn’t some little innocent misdemeanor. Baal worship involved cruel, disgusting sacrifices to demonic idols and was just completely forbidden by the laws of Israel. But it sounds like it had pretty much taken over the hearts and minds of the Israelites, en masse.

After Elijah had called down fire from heaven in front of the prophets of Baal (after they’d tried and failed for hours to do the same thing), there was one detail Elijah had to attend to. The Bible says he slew the 450 prophets of Baal while they were all still up there. ( I Kings 18:40) The multitude who’d come to see the showdown sided with Elijah at that time and helped round up the Baalites in order to help facilitate all this.

So far, so good; right? But Queen Jezebel was definitely not impressed. She sent a message to Elijah basically saying he was toast. Or, more specifically, that he’d be dead within 24 hours.

Elijah running from Jezebel

Running from Jezebel

What did Elijah do and say? “OK, baby! Bring it on! You and me: high noon!” No. the Bible say that Elijah “arose and fled for his life” (I Kings 19:3), way down into southern Israel, or Judah as it was called then.

This is where we see that Elijah got stuck. He actually ended up down in the Sinai, in a cave at Mt. Horeb. At this point it’s always seemed to me to be one of the perhaps few places in the Bible where there’s a touch of dry humor. The Bible says that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the cave saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (I Kings 19:9)

Yahweh, the mighty God of Abraham, has to ask someone what they are doing?! Doesn’t He know everything?! But maybe Elijah was really not doing very good right then. He may have needed some company and conversation. Could that question even have brought a brief smile to Elijah?

Elijah replied to God, “I’ve been very zealous for God. The sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, slain Your prophets and I, I alone, am left. And they seek my life.” (I Kings 19:10)

“What are you doing here, Elijah?”

“What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Elijah was stuck. He wasn’t totally wrong in what he was saying. But he was totally defeated and had come to the end of himself, thinking it was all over for the Lord’s cause.

But God told him to go and stand on the mountain before the Lord. Then comes the famous event of the wind, the earthquake and the fire that manifest themselves before Elijah. And afterwards, “a still small voice” (I Kings 19:12) says the same thing again to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (I Kings 19:13) Elijah answers again the same way.

All Elijah had was the voice and presence of God. He felt utterly alone, without a friend, without a follower and possibly an utter failure in bringing his nation back to God.

What an incredibly poignant moment that must have been. So often I wish there could be some inspired movie maker who’d begin to do justice to some of these Biblical events. On this journey to the mount, the Bible even says that Elijah prayed that God would take his life as he said, “I’m no better than my fathers.” (I Kings 19:4) Stuck, depressed, seemingly a failure, overwhelmed, utterly hopeless.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18) And that was totally true of Elijah at that point in his life. Also, as it says in I Corinthians 10:13, “There is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, Who’ll not allow you to be tempted above that you are able. But will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

Elijah really needed to find “a way of escape” and God had one. First, He told Elijah what to do next: anoint a new king in Syria, a new king of Israel and to anoint a new prophet, Elisha, to be trained to take the place of Elijah. (I Kings 19:15-17)

So basically it was a “You need to get busy, son” message. Sometimes that’s exactly what we need. We need to get moving with what God wants us to do, rather than to wallow in our extreme difficultly. But then there was a final thing the Lord said to Elijah, concerning his earlier heart cry. God told him, “I have yet 7000 in Israel who’ve not bowed the knee to Baal or kissed him.” (I Kings 19:18)

It really must have been pretty bad at that time. Out of a nation of one or two million, God Himself told Elijah that there were only 7,000 Israelis who were not given over to the demonic god of the surrounding nations.

No wonder Elijah was distraught. It sounds like well over 99% of his people at that time had fallen away from faith in God. But Elijah kept on believing, kept on obeying and was faithful in his generation to the uttermost.

I’ve been stuck sometimes, actually many times. Maybe you have too. Utterly, utterly boxed in. Hopeless. Basically ready to give up and just die. Defeated, forlorn, forsaken by friends, mocked, persecuted, “running from Jezebel”.

I guess we need to remember Elijah and the many other stories from God’s Word that give us hope and strength. Keep on believing. Like someone said one time, “If your will power doesn’t work, try your ‘won’t’ power”. Elijah couldn’t go forward. But at least he didn’t really go backwards. He’d just come to the end of his rope. But God hadn’t. God doesn’t come to the end of His rope. So we all just need to remember to keep holding on.