Texas People

Posted on November 27, 2013 by Mark McMillion

It’s Thanksgiving Day here in the States. So maybe it’s a good time to tell you about something that had a major influence on my life when I was growing up that I’m very thankful for.

I’m from Texas. When I lived abroad for 36 years and someone would ask me where I’m from, often I’d say “Texas”, rather than the US. Why? Most of the time I’d be in places where the USA, because of its foreign policy, is sometimes not really liked. But no one ever was hateful towards me because I said I was from Texas.

When I was 1, with my parents and grandparents. Kinder people and perhaps better times

So let me tell you about some Texas people I’ve know and come from. In the picture above are my parents and my grandparents at my first birthday party. This will mostly be about my grandparents, especially my dad’s parents. Probably to many people they would seem like the most non-descript, plain, ordinary folks you could think of. They were born in the 1890’s and lived to their 60’s and 70’s. They never did anything really “great” or noteworthy in the way most people think. But they had a tremendous, fundamental influence on me when I was growing up, like Jesus said of some people of His day, “the salt of the earth.” (Matthew 5:13)

They were kind. They were friendly. I never saw them argue or be mean in any way. In fact, that whole side of my family were some of the nicest people I ever met. And in my heart I just knew at an early age that this was the way people were supposed to be. When we went to their house, we “said grace”. That’s what you call it when folks pray and thank God before the meal. We always did that there. They were Christians. Not loud, in-your-face Christians but just simple, sincere country people Christians.

My dad’s mom had a tremendous influence on my life through her kindness and humility.

We used to go to family reunions of my dad’s mother’s side of the family. There were 6 sisters and one brother and of course by the time I came along, these folks were in their 50’s or pushing 60. There would be these big get-togethers out on the central Texas countryside at someone’s house with lots of food and fried chicken, potato salad with general milling and mixing, talking and chatting.

“Lots of fights?” Never even close. “Lots of bragging, boasting and chest puffing?” Nope. I guess I’m a little sensitive to that kind of thing because in Texas you do run into a lot of rather proud, tough, assertive people.

But my relatives weren’t like that. They genuinely liked each other and had almost continual harmony; you didn’t feel threatened around them, you felt safe and welcomed.

Probably back then I wouldn’t be able to describe it the way I do now. I wouldn’t be able to verbalize what I was experiencing. But on the inside, it was really affecting me. I just knew that these were the best people I had ever met. “Lots of money and plenty of university degrees?” No. Mostly farmers, small businessmen and middle class folks with high school diplomas, which was pretty normal for their generation.

But there was wholesomeness; I’ll even use a seldom used word in our times, a purity about these people. They were “without guile” (John 1:47) , as Jesus described one of His disciples. Somehow to me it just made common sense that this was the way everyone should be. But of course they weren’t.

When I was 4, at perhaps a happier, more wholesome time in the history of America

As I grew up, I realized more and more that many, if not most, people were not like my grandparents’ generation. They didn’t have the sincere and unfeigned faith in God that they did. They didn’t live their Christianity in their relationship with other people as my grandparents did.

By the time I was twelve, I had pretty much become an atheist. My dad’s father had passed on and we’d moved away from the town where my dad’s mom lived. And probably I’d lost some respect for her and those folks as I became more “educated” and “modern” and strived to be cool and intelligent.

It was only after I had my near death experience in university and then became a Christian that I remembered again what an impact those folks had on me. I’d been given an incredible sample of what it means to be a sincere, simple, unfeigned Christian. This is the type of Texas person that almost no one ever hears about. You’ll hear about mass murderers, hard-hearted haters or raunchy movie stars and rock band heroes from Texas.

But I can tell you that there were some humble shining lights of faith and simplicity here when I was a kid. Unknowns and unsung heroes, the kind of people that God blesses and wants us to be. If there were more folks still like that, perhaps this world would be a better place and we wouldn’t be overwhelmed with the daunting problems we’re faced with today. Thinking about it, they remind me of that famous verse in Ephesians, “And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

Kindness, humility, brotherly love, a lack of hatred, an aversion to pride, genuine friendliness and warmth. That’s what I saw in those folks when I was growing up. And I know that’s the way we should be and the way I want to be, God helping me. Texas people. I know there are still some of them around.

God’s Little Miracles: Choice and Babylon

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Mark McMillion

Something strange happened this morning. I guess it’s another of those “little miracles” that I’ve told you about in other places.

I try to start each day with a time of devotions, reading some Scriptural material, reviewing some of the Bible verses I’ve memorized and taking a time of prayer before starting the day.

This morning I was mulling over in my thoughts some things that are happening in my life right now. And as I was starting my devotions, I was thinking about how God gives us our choice, even if our choices are sometimes wrong. I was thinking about the verse “Nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do.” (Genesis 11:6). It’s about the first Babel or Babylon and how God let them have their choice, even when it was really the wrong one.

And I picked up my devotional book and immediately I saw that the passage for this day was based around that very event in Genesis 11, drawing lessons from that incident and the verse that I’d just been thinking about!

How did I come to think about that 10 seconds before I was reading about it in my devotional book? Was it an accident? Just a coincidence? What would a Las Vegas gambler give as odds for something like that to happen?

I at least took it as one of those little “ringing bells in the Spirit” from the Lord that there was something to it which should be explored and possibly shared with others. And perhaps I can share my train of thought that I was having when contemplating these things.

One was just the whole concept of choice. Those people way back then were off track as far as God was concerned. They wanted to “build a city and tower whose top may reach to heaven” (Genesis 11:4) and to make a name for themselves. It’s just another form of what people have been wanting and trying to do for all these thousands of years: ignore God and make themselves great. Make their own heaven and reject the will of God.

God saw this and then said, “Nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do”. Why? Couldn’t He have stopped them? Of course. But He didn’t. He let them have their way. He also scattered them by bringing into their lives a multitude of languages. But it says of this “they left off to build the city” (Genesis 11:8) . They were hindered, delayed. It was still in their hearts.

But then we go from the first book in the Bible to the last. In Revelation we see Babylon again, not as a simple tower from ancient times but a worldwide Babylon, ruling over the people of the earth. And then it says, “For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God has remembered her inequities.” (Revelation 18:5)

The thing that was in the heart of mankind since before the time of Abraham, that earthly material creation called Babylon, where every dream of the unsaved heart of man finds its place, seems to finally be realized in the final days that the book of Revelation talks about. God gives unregenerate man his desire, “Nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do”. In the final end, they get what they want which is called “Babylon the Great” in Revelation.

So we need to watch out what we want. We may get our wish but find it to be ashes in our teeth. It’s like what happened to the wandering children of Israel in their 40 years in the wilderness. King David said of them, when they murmured and wanted something more than manna to eat, that God “gave them their requests, but sent leanness unto their souls.” (Psalms 106:15)

Jesus taught us to “lay up treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19), the eternal world to come that will ultimately be here on earth. But the vast majority want to lay up treasures on earth, to fulfill the desire to build and be a part of an earthly heaven, the great, glittery false fantasia that’s the worldwide materialistic system that has come to such an awesome tower of prosperity and spiritual filth in modern times. That’s why God says to His people of the end days, “Come out of her [Babylon the Great] My people, that you be not partaker of her sins and that you receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God has remembered her inequities.” (Revelation 18:4&5) What was in unregenerate man’s heart over 4000 years ago has remained there and it is having its climax and fulfillment in our times. “Her sins have reached unto heaven.”

Jesus told the parable of the wheat and the tares. Wheat is good for us, tares are poisonous weeds. But at the beginning of their growth, they can look similar. And at times, at the beginning, simple innocent faith and infantile, undeveloped self will and stubborn independence against God can be hard to discern between. But at the harvest, the difference between the wheat and tares is crystal clear. The wheat has turned almost white and is ready to be harvested. The tares have turned almost black and are worthless. One goes to the fire, the other to be used and to be a blessing. So it is with the things we treasure in our hearts.

The lessons from thousands of years ago are still as true today. “Chose this day whom you will serve. If God be God, serve Him, but if (the gods of this world, Mammon, Babylon and all the rest) be God, then serve them. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”. (I Kings 18:21, Joshua 24:15)

Soft heart, tough spirit

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Mark McMillion

Life is just full of contradictions. And it seems like, for believers, there are contradictions at times too. Some famous skeptics even wrote books about what they said they saw as contradictions in the Bible. But how about when, on the one hand, we’re told to be soft hearted and humble, and then it turns around and says we are to be like soldiers. How can that work?

It is a question. But of course there are some clear and simple answers to this to be found within the Bible. So if you don’t mind to look at some Bible verses on the subject, let’s try to check this out.

Jesus said of Himself that He was “meek, and lowly in heart.” (Matthew 11:29) If ever there is anything that’s remembered about Jesus, it was His love, His humility, His tenderheartedness, his forgiveness. It was even noted in the writings of the secular Roman authorities how much the early Christians loved each other.

But did Jesus ever get angry? In one place it says of Him, “He looked about with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts.” (Mark 3:5) Jesus was angry at the hardness of heart He often found in the most outwardly religious of His day.

And Paul told the Ephesians, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.” (Ephsians 4:32) The New Testament is just chocked full of admonitions to keep a tender heart, softened by the Lord’s love. And actually the Old Testament has a lot of the same teachings. “Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” (Psalms 95:7&8)

It’s pretty clear that loving kindness is essential and “a meek spirit is in the sight of God of great price.” (I Peter 3:4)

But some would say, “So Mark, does that mean that we are to just sit around being noodles and wimps!?! That’s what we always see of Jesus: sweet, weak limp Jesus. Is that really what you’re saying?! And if Jesus was so meek and humble, then why did He go into the temple of God with a whip and turn over all those tables (John 2: 14-16) where those folks were cashing in on the economic activity of the temple? Huh? Huh?“

Like I said, there are seeming contradictions in the Bible. Because Paul several times compared our lives as disciples to being athletes in training or even soldiers in at war. “Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” (II Timothy 2:3) Are we supposed to be hard or soft, tough or tender? Is it possible to be both?

It’s like I heard someone say one time, “Keep a soft heart, and a tough spirit.” That’s always stuck with me, maybe because it so clearly defines where we need to be soft and where we need to be tough.

In our hearts, we need to have and keep the loving tenderness that God wants each person to have. It’s just paramount, “the greatest of these is love.” (I Corinthians 13:13) It’s so easy to harden our hearts; it’s so natural, and it seems so justified. But it’s just not God’s solution and never has been.

But, on the other hand, our spirit, that essence of ourselves that is the real “us”, not just our minds and our thoughts but our being that lives within our bodies, has to be strengthen to be able to withstand the turbulent darkness of this world, the sacrifices, the blows that come against us and the tempests that beset us throughout our lives.

That’s why salvation is so essential. In Salvation, that union with Jesus when He comes into our hearts, our spirits are changed through union with Him. We’re not the weak, incomplete, wavering spirits that we were before. That’s why John 1:12 has always been so precious to me. “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believed on His name.”

That is in no way just some obscure Bible verse; that’s exactly what happened to me personally. I received a transforming power when I received Jesus. My spirit was changed. It was strengthened. It was transformed and it continued to be transformed.

So we so utterly need both of these: a soft heart and a tough spirit. Isaiah said, “No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper,” (Isiah 54:17) because our spirits have been changed into the new creature in Christ Jesus that He wants us to be. And He wants us and needs us to be fighters for Him, fighting with spiritual weapons to win the battles here that need to be won for His Kingdom.

But we still have to choose to “keep our hearts with all diligence” (Proverbs 4:23) , to keep a soft, malleable, broken heart for Him and for others; that’s what wants to see in us. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, Oh God, you will not despise.” (Psalms 51:17)

Is Not Easily Provoked

Posted on November 6, 2013 by Mark McMillion

A few days ago I wrote a blog post about “clouds”, those little nagging things that come into your mind and sometimes your heart which can block out the sunshine of His Love on your soul and spirit. Or at least they can try to.

I guess when you get right down to it, it’s like Paul the Apostle said about the devil, “we are not ignorant of his devices”. (II Corinthians 2:11) We’re all tempted to doubt, depression, confusion and “the sins which so easily beset us.” (Hebrews 12:1) And it seems like, if the devil can’t trip you up with one device or trick in his bag, then he tends to show up again down the road with some other method for tripping you up.

That happened this morning. This time the mechanism was an old enemy of mine: provocation. And that’s why the thirteenth chapter of Corinthians has always had a special meaning to me. One of the attributes of living in God’s love is that we are “not easily provoked.” (I Corinthians 13:5) But, boy, if you’re not deep in the Lord, it’s such a temptation sometimes to get provoked.

Some people just have a knack for saying and doing things that provoke others. Sometimes it’s unintentional, some little quirk or personal trait they have that rubs people the wrong way. At other times, a person can virtually know exactly what they’re doing and even intentionally provoke someone into saying or doing something that’s wrong.

Some of the worst things that have ever happened to me happened when I got provoked. So the whole lesson of not allowing myself to be provoked has been a very deep one for me. I guess it’s a temptation or weakness which God really doesn’t want me to fall prey to.

Perhaps the most famous incident in the Bible of someone being provoked to anger and then sinning was the story of Moses. Those folks he led out of Egypt and through the desert were a real case. They almost constantly were murmuring, doubting and complaining. Usually Moses just kept calm and stayed submerged within the peace of God.

But on one occasion the people were murmuring about not having water. So God told Moses to smite a nearby rock and that water would be given to them. But Moses didn’t really do it the right way. He was so incensed and provoked by the incessant grumbling and whining of God’s people that he said to them, “Hear now you rebels, shall I fetch water out of the rock!” (Numbers 20:10) And then he hit the rock twice, with violence and wrath.

As they say in Spanish, “No bueno.” You could think, “Well, I don’t blame him, it wasn’t his fault, he was provoked. It was the people’s fault.” It can certainly seem that way. But God seems to have a lot higher standard for His people, especially the leaders of His people. God told Moses, “Because you didn’t sanctify me in the eyes of Israel, you will not lead this people into the promised land.” (Numbers 20:12) Moses was provoked and it caused him to act completely contrary to how God wanted him to act.

And that’s the problem, often the big problem with being provoked. It can seem like it’s not your fault. “Look what they did!”, you can say. And maybe often you’re right: someone really did something that was wrong. But still, those who know and love the Lord are not justified in being provoked to retaliate and answer back in kind for some wrong and evil thing that they are hit with.

That’s a hard saying, isn’t it? It doesn’t seem fair, does it? But then we aren’t supposed to be like everyone else. Jesus wasn’t. Jesus was certainly provoked very many times, over and over; the Bible says so. (Luke 11:53)

Personally, I can tell you that I stay really “on guard” about being provoked, or yielding to a provocation so that I don’t respond in the way God wants me to. It’s a real device of the devil to get you into an argument or to get you out of the peace and Spirit of God.

It’s in those intense moments when we’re so stirred up and insulted, when our first reaction is to quickly blurt out some thoughtless word or unwisely do something we’ll later regret, it’s in those times when we most need to look to the Lord, to not let our “old man” (Ephesians 4:22) and worldly reactions get the best of us and cause us to sin.

Sometime it’s those kinds of sins, provoked by gross injustices or even Satanic diatribes from Godless people, those are the tests and temptations that can really come against us. But God’s grace is there to give us the power to not yield to provocations. Yes, that can be difficult. But the results of being provoked can be a lot worse that holding our peace in the moment of trail and temptation. May we all be aware of this dangerous ploy of the devil that too often many of us fall for. “When the enemy shall come in like a flood (through provocation), the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.” (Isaiah 59:19)

Burn Through The Clouds

Posted on November 3, 2013 by Mark McMillion

You ever had a cloudy day? I’ve had a few in the last days. I felt “bottled up”, little nagging questions, fears, complaints or other kinds of nuisances just stacked up behind each other at the edge of my thoughts and mind. They seemed to come from the general direction of doubts.

So it’s all caused me to pray all the more. Victories are won in prayer almost more than any other way. Jesus, at the beginning of His ministry, went out into the desert to pray for 40 days. He had to defeat the Devil first. And it sounds like it was quiet a battle. But He won. (See Luke 4:1-13)

Sometimes when you’re surrounded by clouds, the best thing is to pull over. Kind of like, “wait till the fog clears.” Sometimes that’s the thing to do. If you’re not sure what you should do and you can’t see the road ahead of you, then it could be time to pull over till you can see clearly again.

But I think at other times, that’s not really God’s highest and best. Like the old song says, “Up there, the sun is always shinning.” I’ve been beset by clouds for a few days. But I know where the sun is. I know pretty much what my vision is and what I believe the Lord wants me to be doing. Maybe it’s time to “walk by faith, not by sight.” (II Corinthians 5:7) I believe the Lord was wanting me to let His sunshine within me burn away the clouds of uncertainty and the many other things that have been assailing me the past few days.

Sometimes you just have to go on “automatic pilot”, like airplanes do. The pilots often just fly by their instruments, not looking out the window. It’s like Solomon said, “He that observes the wind shall not sow and he that regards the clouds shall not reap.” (Ecclesiastes 11:4) Like I wrote about Nehemiah in “Cannot Come Down”, sometimes we just have to say no to the folks who want to have us come down from the wall of God’s will into “the plain of Ono”. (Nehemiah 6:2) It’s actually says that, the plain of “Ono”.

It’s the Devil sometimes who brings the clouds, the temptations, the negative emotions, everything he can find in his bag of tricks to get us out of God’s Will. If he can’t dissuade us from doing God’s will, he tries to delay us, to get us tripped off on sidetracks and anything rather than using our precious time for God’s highest and best.

Paul on one of his missionary journeys seemed to be in a fog for a while. He and his helpers were out on the mission field in Acts 16, going from city to city and then it says “they were forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach the Word in Asia.” (Acts 16:6). So they kept going forward and it says they were planning to go to Bithynia, the modern southeast coastal area of the Black Sea, “but the Spirit did not allow them.” (Acts 16:7)

I don’t know about you but I might have been tempted to get agitated around that time. “Well, Lord, here we are out serving you and you keep telling me “no” every time I turn around! I’m in a fog Lord!” It’s not recorded Paul said that but he might have been tempted. But I’m guessing it really got them in a stronger sense of prayer. And then came the answer, “A vision appeared in the night to Paul, a man of Macedonia saying, come over and help us!” (Acts 16:9) They were in a fog. But then it lifted and they got a clear answer from the Lord.

But if you look closely at the verses there, it doesn’t say they just stopped all activity. Sometimes you have to really read closely to see a hidden point. In Acts 16:8, even after they had been stopped twice by the Holy Ghost in going a direction they were thinking about, it says “Then passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.”

They didn’t let the clouds of uncertainty and what could have even been a temptation to doubt get to them. They kept the light of the sun inside of them keep them going when in some ways they didn’t know what they fully were to do. They went on the instructions they already had. They kept going by faith, even if everything was not totally clear.

And, like the men Jesus healed, “as they went, they were healed.” (Luke 17:14) Sometimes we have to do the “wenting”, the obeying. In this case, Paul and his companions kept the faith and kept obeying, even when they seemed to maybe be getting their signals wrong. Eventually the fog cleared and they went on to the light of a brighter day. In this case, it involved the first works of the evangelization of Europe when they went into Macedonia and established what became one of the strongest of the Early Church communities.

If you’re in a fog, it may be necessary to pull over for it to clear. On the other hand, don’t let any doubts of gloom or confusion cause you to be deterred in your journey of faith. “We don’t look at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. The things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (II Corinthians 4:18)

“Redeeming the time” Part II

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Mark McMillion

There are just so many truths in the Bible; every square inch is just soaked with wisdom and wise admonitions. Paul told the Ephesians that they should be “redeeming the time because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:16) So for me, coming from a non Christian background, at first I really wondered what in the world that word “redeem” even meant.

Saving “green stamps” in a jar

When I was a kid, redeem was what you did with “green stamps”. When you went shopping with your mom, the cashier would give you “green stamps” when you paid your bill.They weren’t like postage stamps that you put on a letter. You were supposed to collect them and put them in little booklets. Then when you got a book or two or three full of them, you could go to the green stamp store and “redeem” them by giving them maybe 2 green stamp books and you could get a basketball. Or ten green stamp books would get you a bicycle. That was my only knowledge of what “redeemed” meant, you redeemed your green stamps.

But when I became a Christian, I found that the Bible said that Jesus was “our redeemer”. He had redeemed us. Paul told Titus, speaking of Jesus that He “gave Himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity.” (Titus 2:14) And back nearly 4000 years ago, Job was recorded as saying, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand on the earth in the latter days,” (Job 19:25) and incredible prophecy of the coming of Jesus, our Redeemer who would ultimately be here on earth, which He was.

So we are redeemed. He’s made something out of nothing. Jesus took something that was seemingly worthless but He, through His death and resurrection, redeemed us, making us into “new creatures, old things past away and all things new” (II Corinthians 5:17) in Him.

But what about us? Are we redeemers? Is there anything we are to redeem? Well, besides our lives, the most precious thing we have is our time. Time wasted can never be regained. He has redeemed us and we are new creatures, having passed from death to life through salvation. But, now what? Why doesn’t He just take us to heaven? Why does He still keep us here on earth? Because He’s commissioned us to serve Him here in His Great Commission to be His ambassadors and to serve Him in this struggle to retake what is His, the souls on earth that are yet to know Him in this stage of history.

We’re not commissioned to be idle. Jesus gave His disciples so many jobs to do, such as “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15), “feed my sheep”, (John 21:17)“go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in” (Luke 14:23), “go therefore and teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19), “go into your closet and pray to your Father in secret” (Matthew 6:6) and of course simply “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). And there are many more.

Our lives should now be full of activity and accomplishment in the Lord. He’s given us such a vision of all that He wants us to do, all that He needs us to obey in the commissions He left His disciples on earth when He left.

But do we do it? There are just so many distractions, we are so easily dissuaded and delayed from simply obey His Word and the urging of His Spirit upon our hearts each day. One little disobedience leads to another. Soon it’s a habit of disobedience. After a while we no longer hear as clearly the voice of His Spirit. We don’t want to read God’s Word because it might disturb us or convict us of what we are failing to do. “The affairs of this life choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Mark 13:22), the Lord said. Still, the charge is there: “redeeming the time because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:16)

Jesus said, “Every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment.” (Matthew 12:36) And I believe that ever wasted use that we make of the precious time He’s given to each of us ever day, every month, ever year, we’ll have to give an account thereof as well. We’ll have to answer both to Him and to our conscious, “What did you do with your life?” “Did you spend it selfishly? Did you respond to the light and the grace that God gave to you?”

Yes, we’re all sinners, yes we all make mistakes, and we’ll all need forgiveness. But we’ll be able to see then how we spent our lives. Did we waste most of all that He gave us, living a visionless, disobedient spiritually fruitless life? Paul said of himself, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” (Acts 26:19) He was diligent in the calling God had on him. May we all be found faithful in Him, “not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.” (Romans 12:11)

Spiritual Habits: Hearing from God

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Mark McMillion

One of the most amazing and beneficial things to me in being a believer is how we can actually get answers from God. Probably for some that may sound almost boastful. But it’s not. Here’s one of the more famous quotes from King Solomon, from the book of Proverbs. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t rely on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5 & 6)

The Bible so often boils incredibly important truth down to something so brief and simple that you can actually memorize it. Each part there is so vital. First: “Trust in the Lord.” Believe. And believe to a degree that you trust God.

Then next? “Don’t rely on (or default) to your own understand.” What does that mean? We all have so many stray thoughts clanking around in our brain. “Maybe this?” “How about that?” “I remember one time…” Stray thoughts. Our own understand.

But what should we do instead? “Acknowledge Him.” What does that mean? Essentially it means to pray. The Bible is full of examples where folks just like you and me simply didn’t know what to do.

A famous and Godly king of Judah in old times was completed outnumbered by the enemies of God’s people who surrounded Jerusalem. He poured out his heart in prayer, saying to God in one place, “Neither know we what to do, but our eyes are turned towards You.” (II Chronicles 20:12)

That king didn’t “lean to his own understanding.” He not only acknowledged the Lord, he “poured out his heart before Him.” (Psalms 62:8) And God really came through for His people; it’s a wonderful account which you can read in II Chronicles 20.

This approach to life, this habit should be so natural and ingrained in us that it should almost be like breathing. Maybe for those who are new to the Lord and His ways, it takes some work to make this part of your life. But recognizing the vanity of our own thoughts and so turning to acknowledge Him and to look for God’s answers should be one of our most basic “survival instincts” we have as believers.

And the Lord loves to answer us. The Bible is just full of promises from God that He will answer and lead and guide us, personally, intimately and faithfully. One of my favorite promises from Jesus is this, “He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves Me will be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:21) What a promise! He will manifest Himself to us. He will be there.

Like God told Isaiah, “You shall hear a voice behind you saying, ‘this is the way’, when you turn to the right hand or the left.” (Isiah 30:21) If there was anyone who really utterly depended on God to lead him and guide him and show him what to do, it was King David. You could read I Samuel 23 to hear of some of the amazing answers to prayer for direction which David received.

You may say, “I’m not anyone great, I’m not king David or Isaiah!” You don’t have to be. His eye is on the sparrow.

But maybe it would help to try to capsulize the idea. First, believe. And you could say, “But I don’t have enough faith!” One man said to Jesus, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24) Did the Lord say, “Sorry buddy, nothing but perfect faith will do for Me”? No, He didn’t. The Lord saw what the man had, not what he didn’t. So, believe. And you do.

Second. “Don’t lean on (or rely on) your own understanding“. Like King David said, “I hate vain thoughts.” (Psalm 119:113) Our part is to not be satisfied with our own personal thoughts and understanding of things.

But what are we to do? Third should be, “In all our ways acknowledge Him.” Turning our thoughts into prayers, even silent ones if need be. Look up in your mind and heart to the Lord. Expect God to answer in some way, since He’s said so emphatically and repeatedly for thousands of years that He will. And then, fourth, the rest of the promise says, “and He will direct your paths.”

It’s a promise from God. It’s not vain drivel. It’s one of the most important contracts and pledges that has ever been given. God wants to bring light and understanding into our lives. He has a better plan than you or I do. He sees what’s up ahead. He can do more for you than you can for yourself.

As Paul said to the Ephesians “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:20) If we’ll just turn away from our vain thoughts and our own understanding and instead seek His leading and ways, we’ll find He’s right there, sometimes almost instantaneously to give us ideas, truth and understanding that will lighten our loads and give us direction like we’ve never known. As king David said to God, “You will show me the path of life.” (Psalm 16:11)

Am I a “New Ager”?

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Mark McMillion

Today I saw on my web site that someone had done a Google search, something like “Is Mark McMillion a New Ager or is he a true Christian?”. That gave me a laugh but also got me thinking. Why would someone wonder about if I’m “New Age”? Well, here in America, if you’re a Christian, almost immediately it’s assumed that you must be what’s called here “Conservative”. But if you are a “Liberal” Christian, it’s really and totally a different breed of cat.

I guess I hang out with Conservative Christians more than I do with Liberal Christians. But am I “Conservative” or “Liberal”? Nah.

“Why not?!” Partly it’s the whole thing about baggage. So many people think, “If you’re a Conservative Christian, then that means you must…” and there’s quite a list of things you’re expected to believe and do after that.

Here’s my question: what are you trying to conserve? “Traditional American Values”? I’m not. If I’m trying to “conserve” anything, it would be to get all the way back to the foundation of bedrock Christianity that’s been around a long time, all the way back to Jesus and the first generation of Christians after Him. And you can’t really “conserve” that. You have to seek it through prayer, receiving the Lord and then going on to be filled with His Spirit and following His Word and His leadings for the rest of your life. It’s called Christian discipleship.

But I can understand how some people almost think that is “New Age”. Because if you’re really standing on nothing but the Rock, Christ Jesus, if you are in living fellowship with God through the mediation of Jesus and the quickening of the Spirit, then you maybe end up saying and doing some things that don’t correspond to what folks think of as Conservative Christians or traditional values.

Honestly, I guess I just have to say it again: there’s just so much baggage that’s almost required to have if you are a Christian here. Maybe it’s because I’ve lived abroad for so long, I just had to leave a lot of that aside in order to “lay aside every weight” and “run with patience the race that was set before me.” (Hebrews 12:2)

Jesus said “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men”. (Matthew 4:19) Not necessarily better citizens of your temporal nation in this world. On the other hand of course, the Roman governments soon found out that those despised Christians they were persecuting were usually some of the best citizens they had, most law abiding, least trouble making of any under their rule.

But Jesus said to His followers, “Go into all the world and make known the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) They were to witness their faith. They were to even leave their nation and people in order to reach those who’d never heard the gospel truth. They were to take on a new identity, no longer Galileans or even Jews but they were to be Christians. Nowadays there seem to be Conservative Christians, Liberal Christians, Catholic Christians and on and on. But if someone was to aim to be stripped of all the encumbrances and the nationalistic political flavors and were just full-fledged discipleship Christians, perhaps they might be thought to be “New Age”.

I’ve met very few New Age people. The ones I did meet were into crystals and saying things like “It’s in the ethers”. Paul told Timothy that in the Last Days there would be people who “have a form of Godliness, but deny the power thereof.” (II Timothy 3:5) Many people long for some kind of spirituality. Maybe they think they find it in the New Age teachings. They should be able to find it in true, full strength Christianity. I sure did.

I’m not a New Ager. My house is built upon the Rock of the Word of God. My faith is in the Risen Savoir, Jesus of Nazareth. My hope is in the coming Kingdom of God on earth. While I find a lot in common with Conservative Christians, some things I don’t hold in common. Paul told us “our citizenship is in heaven.” (Philipians 3:20) So if being a Conservative Christian means I have to allow myself to be influenced and manipulated by worldly political parties and causes, then I feel that’s wrong. Jesus said “You can’t serve God and Mammon” (Matthew 6:24) or any of the gods of this world and its causes and temporal objectives.

It’s normal for all of us to want to hang labels on things. That way we can understand it better. I don’t know an easy label that would fit my beliefs. I guess I just want to stand with some of the most committed Christians of all ages: John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, William Tyndale, Martin Luther, John Wesley, William Carey, Adoniram Judson, David Livingston, William Booth. They weren’t New Agers. But they were misunderstood and many were persecuted in their times. Nevertheless they stood up strong and bright for the Lord in their generations. Would to God that there were more like that.

A Parable of Yogurts & Warm Milk

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Mark McMillion

Have you ever made yogurt? I used to do that 30 years ago in Vienna, Austria when my little family was together. It was easy. First you had a big pot of milk. But you had to heat it to just the right temperature. It couldn’t really be “lukewarm” (Revelation 3:16) but you didn’t want it scalding hot either. If I remember, it had to be hot enough that you could just barely keep your finger in it.

Then when the milk was the right temperature (maybe you had two gallons of it or 8 liters), you added just a spoonful of what was yogurt culture. Then we’d wrap it up on top of the heater and leave it all night as it stayed right at that “just right” temperature. In the morning I’d come back and it would all be changed. The tiny little bit of yogurt that I’d put in had “infected” the big container of milk and it had all become yogurt! Sometimes it was so good that you could put a spoon into it and the spoon would stand up because the yogurt was so thick and strong.

It was like the milk had gotten stronger. It wasn’t really “meat” but it was more than just “milk” (Hebrews 5:12). It had been “infected” for good by the little spoon of yogurt that had been put into the milk. It was now more valuable than just milk, it had been changed. Actually it had good bacteria to it, it was healthier and it contributed to your health more than when it was just milk. All that was needed was to get that milk just at the right temperature and then add that tiny “culture” of yogurt. The milk had gotten “culture”, refinement, improvement, fulfilling its previously unknown destiny.

Could it mean anything? It usually does; that’s what Romans 1:20 says. I really believe that so many “milky Christians” are ready for something to be introduced to them that can change them and make them better. This can be especially true if the have come to “the right temperature”, more than just “lukewarm” but not really scalding hot.

But what’s that yogurt culture? Well, I know quite a few former missionaries who are more than just milky Christians. So maybe they’re not strong meat Christians but they aren’t just milky either.

What could happen is, if these “yogurt Christians” (who are few, far between and some are feeling rather useless nowadays) could find a big bunch of milky Christians who are pretty warmed up and ready for change, if these little spoons of “yogurt Christians” could just get mixed in with a big bunch of pretty warmed up milky Christians, if they’d mix for a while and let things happen, pretty soon that process would happen, just like with yogurt. A little spoon of one or two of “yogurt Christians” could transform a big bunch of warmed up “milky Christians”!

Result? Progress all the way around. The yogurt Christians are no longer feeling alone, useless and “on the shelf”. The milky Christians go through a big transformation so they become more nutritional, valuable and “solid in the Lord”. It’s a win-win situation.

And actually I know more spoons of yogurt than I know large amounts of warm milky Christians. Are you a lonely spoon of yogurt? Why not try to find a way to reproduce yourself by searching out some medium hot milky Christians? Maybe if they’re already pretty warmed up and the setting is right, they’d love to turn into yogurt and be more than they were before.

OK, admittedly, back in Vienna 30 years ago, it wasn’t a foolproof thing that every night the yogurt converted the warm milk. The yogurt culture had to be pretty good. Most often the temperature of the milk had to be pretty constant throughout the night. That’s why we’d leave it on the heater overnight. It couldn’t cool off. But it couldn’t get too hot either. If either of those happened, the yogurt culture didn’t change the milk to yummy, thick, healthy yogurt. Instead, the milk changed the yogurt! We don’t want that. But most often it worked the right way.

Yogurts! Find some warm milk! Fulfill your destiny! Warm milks! Move further up the food chain! Solidify your convictions! Find out your inward potential and be stronger and healthier than you are right now! Accept change! Seek it out! You need each other! “Except a corn of wheat (or a spoon of yogurt) fall into the ground (the warm pot of milk) and die, it abides alone. But if it die (gets mixed into the warm milk), it brings forth much fruit. (Or in this case, more yogurt!)” (John 12:24).

What’s it to you?

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Mark McMillion

Jesus and Peter-1 flat Have you ever said that to someone, “What’s it to you?” Or maybe someone’s said that to you? It’s usually not considered a real warm, friendly way to talk to someone. But Jesus said that one time to Peter, one of His top disciples. Why would Jesus talk like that to someone? Let’s look at the context and see if we can find out.

This all happened after Jesus’ resurrection. In another blog article, I wrote about “He Said It Three Times” and this is part of the same conversation where Jesus said “What’s it to you?” (John 21:22) to Peter. He’d just told Peter three times to “Feed My sheep” (John 21:16), to teach and minister to the disciples and followers of Jesus.

And the very next thing the Lord said to Peter was, “When you were young, you fastened your belt and went where you wanted. But when you grow old, you’ll stretch forth your hands and another will carry you where you do not wish.” (John 21:18) And the Bible goes on to tell us that the Lord was signifying to Peter that, when he was old, he would “stretch forth his hands”; in other words, Peter would be crucified.

So this was a very important, significant conversation Jesus was having with Peter, all taking place after the Lord’s death on the cross and His resurrection. What was Peter’s reaction? The Bible says that the next thing was that Peter saw John, another of Jesus’ closest disciples, and so he asked Jesus, “What about him?” (John 21:21)

Sometimes you just wonder and marvel at all this. The love and patience of Jesus. The all-too-humanness of some of His disciples, perhaps especially Peter. Peter had just heard some precious, personal words from Jesus for himself. But it doesn’t come across that Peter really relished the moment and its significance. Instead he asked the Lord, “What about John?” In His mercy and longsuffering, the Lord even partially answered Peter’s question but then also added a chiding reproof.

Jesus answered Peter’s question about John this way: “If I will that he remains until I come back, what is that to you? Follow me.” (John 21:22) In that one sentence, Jesus left open the possibility that John the Beloved would remain alive till the return of Jesus at His Second Coming. History tells us that John lived perhaps another 60 years after this time, to extreme old age. And here Jesus was foretelling that John would remain long after the Lord had returned to heaven.

But then Jesus asks Peter directly, “What’s it to you?” “Why should that matter to you, Peter? Just follow Me.” Of course it should be said that there are different ways you can say that. You can say that phrase in a cocky, challenging way or you can say it in a kind but somewhat chiding way. I’m sure the Lord spoke that in a kind way. But why would the Lord talk to Peter like that, even if it was kindly said? Was Jesus finally getting fed up with all the boneheaded things Peter had done and said over the last 3 years? Patience was wearing thin? I think not.

which greatest flat Here are a couple of things that Jesus might have foreseen that He was trying to prevent happening to His disciples as He was about to leave them: comparing and jealousy. Even before His crucifixion, His disciples were coming to Him to ask Him which would be the greatest of them in heaven. (Matthew 18:1)

There’s just an inborn sinful nature of man to “compare ourselves among ourselves and measure ourselves by ourselves” (II Corinthians 10:12), as Paul later warned the Corinthians. Getting our eyes on each other, “which is the greatest?”, “who gets most?”, “do I get enough?”, “will someone get more than me?”, and “is that really fair?” It’s just so ingrained in us but is so contrary to God’s ways.

Basically Jesus was telling Peter to not look too much on how others were doing or what was happening or going to happen in their lives. “Just follow Me”, was Jesus’ bottom line to Peter. And perhaps this reproof hit home for Peter. It seems like Peter and John got along well and were never recorded in the later parts of the Bible as ever having any strife or competitiveness, although I’m certain that Satan would have loved to stir that up.

But what about us? There’s a message there for everyone, not to feel we have to measure everything against our own personal standards of what’s fair and “am I getting what I deserve?” Maybe you’re even in an “unfair” situation right now. Maybe people are treating you unjustly or you’re being taken advantage of. “What is that to you; follow Me.” The Lord said one time, “Vengeance is Mine saith the Lord, I will repay.” (Romans 12:19)

It doesn’t have to be fair right now. The Lord sees it all and we can be utterly sure, “all things work together for good to them that love the Lord.” (Romans 8:28)

To me one of the greatest samples of this in the Bible is Joseph. If ever anyone was mistreated and “it wasn’t fair”, it was Joseph. His brothers actually sold him as a slave! But years later, when he’d been shuffled and reshuffled by God to end up being “second in Egypt” (Genesis 41:43), he met up with his brothers again and they were certain Joseph would now pay them back for the evil they’d done.

But he didn’t. His heart was so right with God that he could say to them about what they’d done, “You meant it for evil. But God meant it for good.” (Genesis 50:20) One of the most amazing examples in the Bible of keeping your eyes on the Lord and not on people and circumstances and conditions. Seems like Joseph had already learned that lesson that Jesus shared with Peter nearly 2000 years later, “What is that to you? Follow me.” Joseph did that. And he ended up saving his family and nation. Lord help us all to keep our eyes on Him and not on anything else.