Moment of Truth

As I sat waiting for the light to turn green I noticed the license tag on the car ahead of me and it had an American flag and said “In Reason We Trust”. All I could say was WOW, what happen to “In God We Trust”? Then I saw it, you know, the fish with legs and I just wanted a chance to get next to this lady, roll down my window and say “Hey, you have got to be kidding me, you really think we all evolved to where we are now?” Honestly, I will tell you that love was not the first thing that arose in me however after that split second 2 passages quickly came to me.

1) Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms and

2) Matthew 5:43-44 You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor.—(Leviticus 19:18) Hate your enemy.' ⁴⁴ But here is what I tell you. Love your enemies. Pray for those who hurt you.

So I pondered that a minute and I wondered how Jesus would handle this type of situation and it came to me, he would go to their house and have dinner with them and just that quickly God chiseled away yet another rough edge from my heart. That quickly I saw her in a completely different way as though she had a cloud of darkness that followed her everywhere she went. God sent us, as Christ followers to be the salt and the light. I challenge you to think about how you may be reflecting Jesus in this Christmas Season and throughout the New Year.

I am thankful that by spending time reading the Bible, God's Word was in me and He used it to quicken my mind and in that moment of truth, I, a follower of Christ was allowed to see a stranger as God sees her. If only I could have invited her to dinner.

Merry Christmas and let your light shine

IN AGREEMENT?

Last night at the leadership meeting Barney gave us a lesson about the relevance of the sword and the warrior and how it's critical for the warrior to know how to use his weapon. He shared that while with the Sheriff's office they had someone come and speak to them about it. Part of his exercise was to have them clean their handgun to become familiar with it, then clean it blindfolded, then clean it while doing sit-ups then clean it while doing sit-ups blindfolded. As a follower of Christ, a blood bought son of the living God, we too are warriors, and in so our weapon is the Word of God. My desire is to help others live in the blessings and freedom of God. To do this I need to know my weapon, inside and out, even while blindfolded.

Then Pastor B followed with a teaching about being in agreement and the desire of the enemy is to keep us out of agreement. It's no secret that satan uses divide and destroy tactics and has been using them for generation. He continues to use them because they are effective and he knows how much power there is when people stand together on the Word of God. Just as Barney taught how important it is to know your weapon (the Bible) and Pastor B taught about the plan of the enemy to keep us divided, the thing that will keep us effective is to know and stand on the truth so we can not be deceived by the lies which will cause division. The Bible teaches that our battle is not flesh and blood but spiritual but the lie is that it is flesh and blood.

I challenge you with 2 things, 1- search your heart and if you hold anything against another then get that resolved immediately and 2- learn you weapon the Bible inside and out to the point that you know it with your eyes closed, then let that word guide you as you become the man that God has created you to be.

Reflections on Chambers 3/30/11

Reflections on the March 30 message in My Utmost for His Highest, found here:

Today’s Utmost selection, Holiness vs. Hardness Toward God, convicted me of the degree of selfishness I place on my prayers and my pursuit of God. If I choose to meet with Him at all, it is at my time and on my terms. I treat the God of all creation as a cosmic ATM that I can access at my own convenience and pleasure. Whenever I perceive a need for spiritual enhancement, I head in my head to “the great ATM of the heavens” and withdraw a spiritual fifty or hundred. It’s quick, efficient, and impersonal, with God doing my bidding.

I had never considered prayer and worship being inextricably linked. I’m woefully underdeveloped in both areas, sort of like a body builder with noticeable arm and chest development, but bird-like legs. Chambers describes intercession as “rousing ourselves up to get the mind of Christ about the one for whom we pray.” In such a state, there would be no place for Greg-stained thoughts, ideas, or questions about what God can do or might do for the person or situation being lifted in prayer. Such a prayer would indeed be worship of the One Who made all, knows all, and does all.

Jesus said to pray like this –
Not my will, but, “Thy will be done.”
So, to offer prayer that cannot miss
We must seek the heart of the One.

His Only Begotten Son

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16, NKJ)

John 3:16 is probably one of the most, if not the most, well known verses in the Bible. If you watch a major sports event on TV, you'll invariably see somebody holding up a John 3:16 sign. But have you ever really thought about what it means...what it means from a personal perspective?

God loved the world (i.e., us) so much that he allowed His Son, Jesus Christ, to die a horrible death, so that we could be saved from dying an eternal death. Not we would be saved, just that we could be saved. There was no guarantee that we would be saved from eternal death; Christ's death just gives us the opportunity to be saved, the decision is ours to make (...whoever believes in Him...). In other words, Christ's death could be all for naught, depending on our decision.

God did this because He loves us (...God so loved the world...). His love for us goes deeper than any love we can imagine. Far deeper than any love we are capable of expressing.

Let's make this personal. If his death would save the life of another one of your children, would you be willing to allow your son to die? That is a tough question. Hopefully, you will never face that situation. How about allowing your son to die to save the life of your spouse? What about a member of your extended family (maybe a cousin or an aunt or uncle)? I think most of us would say, no! What about your neighbor? I think the answer again would be no. What about a total stranger? I think the answer would be a definite no. What about a child molester in prison? I think the answer would be more like: "Are you kidding me, absolutely not!"

What if your son had to die a horrible, torturous death in order to save some one's life? I doubt any of us could tolerate seeing our own flesh and blood child, whom we had nurtured and loved since infancy, being tortured. Yet, this is what God did. God allowed His Son, the Son He loved (...a voice came from heaven: You are my Son, whom I love... [Matthew 3:17, NIV]), to die for thieves, murderers, and child molesters. God allowed His Son to die for you, a sinner! He did this because He loves you, the thieves, the murderers, and the child molesters more than He loved His Son! Have you thanked Him lately? Maybe you should. Why not now?

Heavenly Father, I thank You for sacrificing Your Son so that I can live with you for eternity. I thank You for Your Son's blood, the blood that cleanses me from the dirt of my sins. I thank You for the mercy You have shown my by not giving me the judgment I deserve. And I thank You for Your loving grace. In Jesus name, Amen!

Pure Joy

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” - James 1:2-3, NIV

I believe that I experienced the pure joy that James is referring to on September 27, 2009 at about 11:05 AM (I was in church, that’s why I can remember it so well). Let me explain.

September 27th was a Sunday; on the previous Friday (September 25th), I received one of those phone calls that you never want to get. My doctor called me and told me that the biopsy had come back positive. I had prostate cancer. My wife was out of town for the weekend and she wasn’t going to return until Sunday afternoon, so we decided we wouldn’t tell our children until the following Friday. This meant I couldn’t tell anybody for a week because we didn’t want our children to find out from “somebody who told somebody, who told somebody else.” So, I went to church on Sunday with “a secret.” Shortly after our praise team started singing, I began to cry. Tears were streaming down my face. However, the emotion that I was experiencing was joy, the pure joy that James was describing. I was surprised by this, because I wasn’t feeling very joyous at the time.

That pure joy was possible because of my relationship with Jesus Christ. I knew that Christ loved me and that nothing could separate me from the love of Christ, not even cancer (“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? [As the Scriptures say, ‘For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.’] No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” - Romans 8:35-39, NLT). The cancer had been found early, so I was confident that I would be cured, but even that didn’t matter. I knew that Christ would take care of me.

I write this as encouragement to others. The pure joy that James is discussing is available to everybody. If you have a relationship with Christ, but have never experienced pure joy, then keep seeking him (“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you…” - James 4:8, NKJ). If you don’t have a relationship with Christ, you may believe that you had experienced pure joy before (I know I did), but the joy you can experience through Christ is a joy far beyond any “natural joy” you can experience.