The Next Battle

“21 When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.” Joshua 7:21

In the sixth and seventh chapters of the book of Joshua we find the recording of the battles of Jericho and Ai.  The children of Israel (descendants of Abraham; God’s chosen people) at this time were being led by Joshua.  The successor to Moses and a mighty man of war.  Jericho was the first city they encountered upon entering Canaan.  It was a mighty city, an impenetrable fortress; but the Israelites defeated Jericho in the most unorthodox way by simply obeying God; but the topic of this discourse is not Jericho but the next battle…..Ai.

The battle of Ai followed the great victory over Jericho.  All things considered, this should be an “easy win” for Joshua and his army.  Ai was considerably smaller, less formidable, and weak by comparison.  In the confidence of their own strength and wisdom; the Israelites sent a smaller battalion to Ai; no need to trouble the whole army with little Ai.  However, there was another enemy, not without, but within, and the great victory of Jericho was soon overshadowed by the obvious defeat at the hands of the Amorites.  So the question in Joshua’s mind becomes; “why can we conquer the city of Jericho, and not little Ai?”  God responds: “because of Achan and his disobedience.”  Achan was a man in the camp of Israel who disobeyed God. Israel was given specific instructions to refrain from taking anything from Jericho.  They were not to take the “spoils of war.”  Achan did; he took a Babylonish garment and some money, and he hid it in his tent.  All the wealth of Jericho was to be left alone; it was to be consecrated to God.  However, the pride of victory filled his heart and he took but a little.  A little disobedience is still disobedience.  I ask all, as I ask myself, are we not in danger of doing the same thing?  We are often defeated, not because of the strength of the enemy, but because of the condition of our heart.  God brings many through a fierce battle and they find victory on the other side; only to carry the “spoils of war” with them.  By and by they begin to think that the victory was won not by God, but by man, by themselves.  We must remember that God wins the battle and he gets the glory.  It is not always the Jericho that defeats us, but the next battle.  It is the small things that we do not consecrate to God, combined with a little temptation appropriately placed by the devil, which brings the once victorious Christian back into the depths of defeat.  Take for example the man or women who comes to God broken and obedient.  God then gloriously saves them from numerous sins and changes their heart making them a “new creature in Christ” (2 Cor 5:17).  A great victory won, but by and by the cares of this life sweep in.  They forget to pick-up the Bible, don’t take the time to engage in prayer, their lives become so busy that they can’t even carve out a few hours a week to attend church to praise Him who hath called them “out of darkness into the marvelous light.” (2 Peter 2:9)  The failure to consecrate takes its toll on their soul, and then when a convenient day comes the littlest temptation slips up to them, and sin enters the camp.  If your soul is for sale, the devil will front the cash.  Whatever it is you want, he will find a way to put it in front of you.   

Never forget that the next battles is God’s, the same as the last battle was.  Nothing leaves Jericho.  Whether it is Jericho or Ai, it is God’s fight, God’s glory, and obedience towards him in every way; obedience towards God in the great big things, and obedience in the little things.  

Complete Overhaul

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.  And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them”. – Ezekiel 36: 26 & 27

Nothing ruins a perfectly good Saturday quite like cleaning out the garage.  In fact, I cannot think of one time when it was a pleasant experience.  First, if you are bothering to clean it that must mean it is not neat to begin with.  Second, most garages, at least in my experience, are organized to the point that if you can find whatever you’re after, without it being a threat to your life, then it’s not yet time to clean.  That is to say, if you can get to whatever you need, and not die, it’s not time to clean; as long as the garage meets this criteria…..no need to clean.  So, that being said, when it finally reaches mission critical in there, and it is time to clean, clean is no fun and it’s a lot to clean.

I feel like people think Jesus is going to clean up their lives, as we clean our garages.  As if, he is going to go into their heart and gradually remove one thing at a time.  Once complete, he will then sweep the whole thing out, and put back only what is needed.  Like most of us, with our own garages, this process of cleaning is so daunting, we usually wait until our situation becomes dire before we bother.  Only, it is hard to pray when your $15,000 dollar Honda is summersaulting into oncoming traffic, or when you are gasping for your next breath amiss a sudden heart attack.  When it comes to matters of salvation, you don’t want to be described with words like procrastination and hesitation.  Furthermore, some folks are long dead, before they are dead.  By this I mean, you remain in sin so long, the heart becomes callas and you give up hope.  Jesus does not give up hope on you…you give up hope on him.  The scripture says, “For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)  Not a whole lot of grey area in that verse.  The garage must be clean, and praise God that Jesus does not clean out our lives, like we our garages.  He changes one thing, which changes everything.  He changes our hearts…if we let him.  By altering this one thing, it alters everything.  Your desires define you; they drive you.  Where you go, what you want, and what you choose, it all steams from your desire.  “Out of it (the heart) are all the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) He takes the old heart and gives you a brand new one.  In one simple step, your whole life is forever altered.  Your life can be an absolute mess, until you say, “there is no way God can fix this.”  However, he can, he will, just let him.  This is not an impossible task, or a long drawn out process.  It is an immediate, instantaneous, emancipation. 

He can do a complete overall, through Conversion and Sanctification.  If you humble your pride and repent of your sins committed, he will forgive and make clean, immediately.  If you ask God to take away the old stony heart, that is bent to sin and “prone to wonder.”  Then he will give you a heart that is sanctified to him.  He will do it, in a moment, if you let him.  That said, all the external circumstances are still there.  As I once heard, “if your broke before you go to the alter, you are going to be broke when you get up from the alter.”  Those things are not likely to change, but what will change is your perspective; your disposition, your heart.  He will change one thing, which will change everything…If you let him.  

Lawfully or Expediently

Criminal law is/was created to bring to justice those that are lawless within themselves.  Civil law was/is created to provide boundaries in which society can function.  It protects us from ourselves; because of this, we can naturally assume that the law will rise no higher than the base morality of society.  If this be true, can a Christian who only lives to the standard of man’s law expect himself/herself to be any different from mainstream society?  Can they really believe that they are separate from the world?  Can they hope to influence the world to true holiness?

“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.”- I Corinthians 10:23

The apostle Paul’s (writer of the book of Corinthians) value system extends far beyond just what he deemed acceptable.  “All things lawful,” many things that Paul did not do, he could do according to the law.  By law (Greek law), he could eat meat offered to idols, by law he could serve golden images, by law he could fornicate.  When they accused him of preaching the gospel for money, he then refused to take money.  Why?  Not because the law made him.  When they tried to praise him as though a god for the miracles he performed; he tore his clothes and pointed them to the true God.  Why?  It was certainly not because of the law.  He represented something far greater than himself, and his own desires.  He was an ambassador for Christ, and a minister of the gospel.  The Bible never specifically says don’t go to the movie theater, or to school dances.  It never tells you to abstain from going to a house party and volunteering to be the DD.  “It denounces drunkenness but what about a little wine?”  All across Christendom today groups of “Christian” people are living to no higher standard than the pleasures they desire.  Justifying each and every action, with the perversion of scripture and paying preachers who will speak words that are as healing balm to hot sunburn; they have no concern for the long term effects, only a want for the burn to be gone.  Have we forgotten that all things are not expedient?  That all things edify not?  Have we forgotten about sacrifice?  Count this one thing for sure, if you have forgotten it; so will your children.    Drinking, dancing, fornicating, idol worship; are these things lawful or expedient?  Indeed they are lawful, when the pleasures that we long to enjoy are held up against the standard society sets, for the average individual it will be lawful.  However, we ought to ask ourselves are they expedient?  Will this profit Gods kingdom?  Will it edify and nourish the seed of holiness that God planted in my heart?

The Word of God can mold a man or woman, if we let it.  It can make us into something we never thought we could be, take us to places we never thought we would go; if we read it with a willing heart and a willing mind.  I submit to you that living to what is lawful i.e. living to what we justify as acceptable will only lead others to do the same.  I write to all, as I write to myself.  We must all ask ourselves, perhaps now more than ever; are we living to the standard of what is lawful?  Or, what is expedient; what is edifying?  We must ask ourselves do we want those behind us to live: lawfully or expediently?  So why bring this up?  Why bother pointing fingers, and drawing lines?  Why make waves?  Why? Because four Hebrew children changed Babylon by living expediently; not by living lawfully.   

A Household for His Name

“For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.”-Genesis 18:19

The Christian home is the most effective educational institute in the world.  Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, MIT, and the host of others; they all fall short when compared to the Christian home.  God designed it this way and the devil knows it.  In the very beginning, God ordained a hierarchy that would bless and prosper both His church and His people. 

The Bible says that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth, and that sanctified men and women make up His church.  God ordained a divine hierarchy for the home, so that the home could guide educate and instruct his people.  It begins with Christ as the head of the church, and the church is subject unto Christ.  Therefore, when a sanctified man and woman get married, it follows that Christ will be over/in this union.  This is the foundation of the Christian home.  You cannot have strong households without a strong foundation, which is one of the reasons why the Bible so forcefully preaches against fornication and adultery (not to mention homosexuality), because it directly undermines the established, God ordained, hierarchy of the home.  Jesus is the absolute authority over the home; therefore, the Word of God is the absolute authority over the home.  No matter what society says, or the wife, or the husband if it does not line up with the Word of God then the hierarchy is broken and the authority withdrawn. 

With Christ as the commander in chief, next comes, the husband.  He is the head of the house; with the wife and children in subjection.  As Christ is the example of leadership over the church, the husbands are to follow the same in the home.   Husbands are the chief servants.  They do for themselves, only after the responsibilities have been fulfilled to those who are in subjection.  The husband is the principle example of servitude to the household, the mark of self-sacrifice, and that is a calling that cannot be properly fulfilled without the help of the Spirit of God.  Husbands are not dictators or totalitarians; not the ruling party.  As the head, the family follows their leadership, and we are to lead as Christ did, both in word and in deed.  Next in line is the wife.  She is the helpmeet.  Divinely equipped to help meet the need(s) that will arise in the duties to both the husband, and the household.  There is no greater calling than this.  CEO’s mold companies, wives mold lives.  When God ordained the union between a man and woman, he modeled that union after Christ and the church.  Christ loved the church (you and I) so much he gave himself for it.  The church is subject unto Christ.  Where he leads, we follow.  Where he sends, we go.  We submit to his direction and submit to one another.  In the same manner, the husbands are to love the wives, and in this loving relationship the wife is to submit to the husband.  Thereby, keeping the hierarchy of the household while simultaneously remaining united in service to the cause of Christ.  The chauvinist societies and the feminist movement are battling for power, selfish power.  Both perverting and condemning the scriptures, when in actuality, this selfsame scripture if applied in the Spirit would save both themselves and their household, thereby rebuilding the foundation of society (i.e. the home) and anchoring within it an institution that will do more good for mankind than any that has ever been created by man itself.  Your opinions and ideals are always secondary to the ordained Biblical hierarchy that has been set forth.  It is not about you, and it is not about me.  It is not about “who wears the pants in the family.”  It is not about pride, it is not about bread winning.  It is all about Christ; do your job, fall in line, serve the church, serve the family and be one unit for Jesus Christ. 

Finally, with the leadership of the home firmly in place, God has now sanctioned and blessed the man and woman to bring children into the world, and therefore into the home.  In the home the man and wife will guide, educate, and instruct the children in the ways of God.  Training up the next generation to serve Him, to love Him, and to bless His name; because he is worthy.  The sanctified household understands the gravity of this calling to rear children in the nurture and admonish of the Lord, and they lay aside their own agenda in answer to this call. 

God chose Abraham because he would keep the way of the Lord.  It was not because he was the smartest, or the wealthiest, the best looking; not for any other reason than he was a man of faith.  Sarah his wife was faithful to a man who was faithful to God.  In this household God chose to place His name.  That is the message to the masses, what do you desire?  To be a household where you strive to place your name?  Or to be a household where God chooses to place His name?  God help us to be a household for His name.  Whether it is just you, or you and your family; we want, we need to be a household for His name.      

Let Patience Work

“Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” – James 1: 3-4

God’s perfect work of patience in our lives is not merely an effort to help us avoid getting angry at a red light or fussing at someone going five under in the left lane of the interstate.  This is a shallow view of patience.  The perfect work of patience is to bring us to a state of wanting nothing; as a moth to the flame and bait to a fish, so lust is the devil’s tool to ensnare the Christian.  Herein we find the need for patience to have her perfect work.

The plain fact is that trials and temptations happen to us all.  Whether rich or poor, young or old, Jew or Gentile, sanctified or sinner, we will encounter tough times in this life.  We as human have at least two natural instincts in hard times, fight or flight; and both can be detrimental to our spiritual lives.  If you are of the “fight” mentality then you are of the sort who believes that he or she can “power through” so to speak.  I do not need anything or anybody I can beat this on my own.  The scriptures show us that this attitude will overrun the will of God and you will find yourself in a place of want.  Contrast that with the “flight” reaction, running from the issue and often running to something that will offer immediate gratification.  A flight to a temporary solution for a consistent problem.  Oftentimes these reactions are intertwined in the same person.  Choosing flight for one situation and fight for another, but whether flight or fight or anywhere in between, if you are not in the will of God and waiting on His plan to unfold then you open yourself up to sin and death.  Say, for example, you get job, work hard, and everyone around you receives a promotion but you; however, you deserved it the most.  Therefore, you begin to fight and take matters into your own hands telling yourself “this is the way it should be.”  Then the devil swoops in and says “Yes, yes, and you need to do this and that to make it that way.”  You agree and pursue those things, until little by little you are drawn away from God’s perfect plan for your life that would have unfolded given a little patience.  Perhaps you are heart broken and lonely, months go by and you begin to say, “God, when will this ever end?  Can have a little relief?  I deserve it!”  The devil sneaks in and whispers, “Yes, yes, you do and you can find you entitled relief right over here.”  You listen and yield only to find the relief he offered has made your situation worse.  You drifted away from God’s perfect plan that would have come to light with but a little patience.  “Let patience have her perfect work.”

The trying of our faith demands that we have patience, and it demands that we trust God.  Do you believe that God has a plan for your life?  Do you believe His plan is best for you?  When we let patience have her perfect work and wait on the Lord to perform His plan, this will shield us from the temptation of “want” and reinforce to us the need for belief in God.  That promotion does not come and you say, “Lord I don’t understand, but you do.”  The heartbreak does not heal and the loneliness remains and you say “Lord I don’t understand, but you do.”  Patience is your protection and it will keep you in the will of God and when you are in his will, you will lack nothing, therefore you want nothing and the devil has nothing to draw you with.  When you continue to stay in the will of God letting patience have her perfect work making you perfect and entirely His.  It works.

Soldier's for Christ

 “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” -2 Timothy 2:4

The Atlanta airport is an interesting place, it is like a snapshot of the all the people in the world.  People from all over, every nation, country, and custom seemed to be represented.  Thousands of different people, hustling here and there; the inside of an airport is like an angry beehive, only none of the bees look alike.  Within this massive migration, there were two persons in particular that demanded my attention; two men, dressed in fatigues, wearing combat boots, carrying nothing but a light duffel bag and a serene focus on what was ahead.  soldiers for the United States Army.

The example of the soldier chosen by Paul in his writing to Timothy is not a coincidence.  In fact, he uses the term solider or “fellow solider” a number of times in his New Testament writings.  Consider the life of a soldier.  They serve a greater purpose, a higher cause, and a nobler pursuit.  They give up certain liberties and freedoms, wholly committing themselves and those in their charge to their calling; willing to give their lives for the sake of their country.  They are dispatched to a foreign land and in that land they war.  Not for themselves but for others.  Paul writes no man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life.  The soldier does not strive to own property, he does not concern himself with “get and gain.”  They are not looking to attach, entangle, or align themselves with the customs, traditions, and trends that take place within the land where they are fighting.  They need to be light and swift.  They need to be focused, because the job is too great and the calling too high to risk falling short.  Their concern is the mission, and if they owned stuff that owned them (boats, planes, houses, cars); if they were members of clubs, followed: musicians, artists, sports team.  If they weighed themselves down and entangled themselves with the trappings and trimmings of the civilian life that they find themselves in; it would compromise the mission.  It would compromise the calling.  They could not war a good warfare.  This is the standard that Paul is lifting up and exhorting his son in the faith Timothy to follow.  Timothy, a young man, with a lot of runway in front of him, who is setting out on his own mission for Christ.  Paul is telling him to simplify, to sacrifice, and to serve with fortitude and focus.  It is so easy to become entangled and so often we find ourselves tempted to put secondary things first.  In this consumer, “me first” America we live in, the temptation to get and gain is intoxicating.  There is always something to sign up for, another commitment that promises personal return.  There is a reason soldiers travel with nothing more than a duffle bag, there is a reason they train to live in the middle of nowhere with virtually nothing; because the commander in chief may call the next day and send them somewhere else, another task, another battle, and they need to be able to pick up and move.  Their lives are not their own.  

We are soldiers for Christ, and only the Holy Ghost can tell us just how far the practical application of Paul’s exhortation should invade our lives.  We are fighting a spiritual warfare for a cause greater than ourselves, and the devil would do well to convince that we are here for any other purpose than that.  This life is not ours to be entangled in.  

Utilitarian Religion

“And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?” – Jonah 4:11

Utilitarianism-the ideal that if it works its good; if it is useful, then it’s right.  The world is certainly enamored with this theology, but is it right for Christians?  In the church, can we really measure ourselves by results?

God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh and cry against it.  Immediately, he turned tail and ran for the uttermost part of the world; only to be swallowed by a great fish.  It took three days but he got to the place where he was willing to go to Nineveh; he went, preached, and his one message saved the city.  In the natural realm, growth and progress are measured from a bottom line stand point.  Your business is measured by profit, education is measured by GPA, your health by weight, your height in feet, there are some things that are more subjective, but give us enough time and we will find a label for just about anything you can see, touch, or feel.  By living in this world we become conditioned to this world, and if we are not careful, it can influence us to measure spiritual things in the same way.  In the church we can become conditioned to think that if we had 30 people in Sunday school this Sunday and 20 people last Sunday than we grew by 10 people.  We can be tempted to believe that because only a dozen folks show up to Sunday service, or Bible study, there is something wrong.  A careful examination of the scriptures will reveal that with God, utilitarian religion is no religion.  Noah was a preacher of righteousness and the only man on Earth who found favor with God.  He preached his whole life and saved eight people.  Jeremiah spent his whole life preaching to stubborn Jews, and the only one who he found favor with was God.  The Son of God spent three years doing nothing but preaching; at his death there was not one convert who stood by him.  Jonah was called by God and he ran for the furthest corner of the Earth, repented, and then went to Nineveh to preach one sermon that saved the whole city.  Utilitarian religion says that Jonah’s example is better than Noah’s, better then Jeremiah’s, better than Jesus Christ.  Utilitarian religion and bottom line progress teaches us that any means is justified by the end.  It is as if we say “Whatever the cost!  As long as the numbers go up, where do I sign?”  Now there may be something wrong with your Sunday service, or you morning devotion or whatever, but if you’re looking for answers with a results mindset, you’re in the wrong mindset.  The reason utilitarian religion is no religion at all is because it is all for the benefit of the majority, and what the majority wants may not be what God wants!  God said “and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city…?”  He was trying to show Jonah that the results are in His hands and it is not for you to labor toward that end, but rather labor to the end that you might please God, and glorify His name.

This is the everlasting plumb line to which we should measure everything by.  It is no surprise that it is the same plumb line that Christ measured himself by; the will of God.  Jesus said “I do always those things that please Him.”  To do always the will of God is to live with the focus to please God, to glorify God.  Does your: business, personal life, church, fellowship, etc. glorify God?  Does it please him?  If it does, then it is profitable.  Your business may be bankrupt, home foreclosed on, church weaning in numbers, and you may not had a blessing in three years, but if your living your life to please God, then take courage: you are in good company!  You are in the preaching of Noah, you are akin to Jeremiah, you’re living with the same focus as your Savior.  You may not have utilitarian religion, but you have real religion; and real religion is what the world needs.         

Reason to Apathy

“The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.” – Proverbs 28:1

Action is uncomfortable, and boldness will draw attention.  It is easier to hide, reason away, and use any excuse to be apathetic.  Effectively “fleeing when no man pursueth.”  The devil uses fear and doubt as bars and chains to hold back the pursuits of the righteous.  However, what we must always remember is, “the righteous are bold as a lion.” 

To this day, I can still remember when my Dad first taught me how to cut the grass.  He showed me how to choke our Honda push mower to get it to start.  He showed me where to put gas in if it was lacking.  He showed me how to engage the blade and how to cut straight lines.  With sweat on my brow, an ache in my legs, and a smile on my face, I lead that mower over the entire yard; then cleaned it off, and put it up until our next engagement.  As time went by (coupled weeks or so), the joy of cutting the grass soon faded.  When it was time to mow the lawn there was no more spring in my step, I had to be persuaded, prodded, and lectured to get me to do anything.  The reason for my apathy was I had learned how to talk myself into apathy.  From the first time I cut the grass to the hundredth time I cut it; the obstacles that stood in my way, largely, had not changed.  The only thing that had changed was my outlook and attitude.  The first time, it was a new and exciting adventure.  The hundredth time, it was a chore, and when it became a chore I found reasons why I should do nothing.  In the morning, it was too wet, in the afternoon, it was too hot, and in the evening, it was too dark.   It was always, too hot, too cold or there was some other excuse.  I talked myself into apathy.  That is, mentally searching for obstacles to use as excuses.  Intentionally enlarging minuscule adversity in order to justify not do anything!  The reality is this does not just happen, when it comes to cutting the grass.  Stop and ask yourself, how many lost souls do you think remain that way, simply because the righteous talk themselves into apathy?  How oft do we mentally search for obstacles to use as excuses to, not do something for God.  Search your heart, has there been neglect to witness to your hairdresser, co-worker, grocer, schoolmate, simply because of reasoning to apathy?  I myself confess that there has been occasion where the only thing that kept me from proclaiming the message of Christ was a raised eyebrow.  Talking yourself into apathy can extended beyond witnessing to your fellow man.  How many times have we quenched the moving of the Holy Ghost because, “that’s just not what they do here”  How many times have we neglected our personal devotion time to the scriptures with a promise of “I will get to it later.”  I pray that I am alone in this experience of talking myself into apathy.  That I am very alone in this matter, but my fear is that I am not.  When God puts something on our hearts, whether it is a new and exciting adventure or nothing short of a chore, it does not matter, we must go out in obedience.  Fleeing from the task is shameful, and wicked.  The antidote to apathy is a good dose of faith.  Not that I would claim that this is the only cure, but it is hard to find an example of a person in the scriptures that is both full of faith and apathetic. 

When we proclaim that we are Christian’s, followers of Christ, and the Master puts something on your heart; it is there for a reason.  You might think it uncomfortable to yourself in carrying it out.  You might be a little embarrassed or feel a little corny…well, really, who cares?  Take a leap of faith and say, “Lord, I will.”  He will guide and direct you.  God does not need us to be qualified; he needs us to be willing.  He will guide us and teach us to perform that which is needful to advance his kingdom, all we must do is leap into action.

Lessons from a Pecan Tree

“And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.” –Genesis 1:11

There is an undeniable consistency to the natural order of this earth.  The sunrises and sets, the seasons change, and if you plant then you will reap.  It is consistent and constant; we depend on the natural order of this earth to remain in order.  When we stop to consider the natural order, one will find that we can learn from it.  From the beginning, God designed this earth to be a habitation of man.  If we look closely, the natural order of the physical things can teach us of the natural order of the spiritual.  Jesus understood this and often used nature as a teaching agent.

Down here in South Georgia, we have acres upon acres of pecan groves.  Within the tree lies the ability to produce more trees given the right environment, and if you plant a pecan tree, by and by one can expect that tree to produce pecans.  The “seed within itself will produce fruit of its kind.”  You are not going to plant pecan seed and come back 9 years later to find apples growing on it.  You are not going to sow a kernel of corn to find in six to eight months a crop of cotton.  The seed will yield fruit of itself.  There is an obvious consistency about it.  You can count on it.  The beauty of it all is that it takes both what is without and what is within to produce good fruit.  You can take a watermelon seed and throw it on the hood of a car, come summer time I guarantee you that you will not have any watermelon from that seed.  However, if you sow it in good soil, water, and weed it…..come summer time, well, you know what will happen, because the earth is dependable that way.  It takes both what is without, and what is within, to produce good fruit.  So what does that mean to us?  First, it means that we can thank God for giving us a beautiful earth that feeds us so well, but beyond that we can take these natural occurrences and apply them to the spiritual.

Holiness is not a manmade concept no more than the earth is.  Therefore, the fruit of holiness cannot be fabricated either.  There are scores and scores of people who desire to be better people.  They want to live according to the Bible, and I empathize with this (me being one of them).  However, we have to recognize that like a tree we will yield fruit of ourselves.  If you do not have the Spirit of God within you than you are like a pecan tree that is trying to bear apples.  There is no holiness within a man when he comes into this world and there will never be holiness within a man unless God puts it there; but when the Spirit of God plants that seed in your heart…then it is a completely new conversation.  The Holy Ghost in you will yield the fruits of holiness, but let us take great care.  It takes both what is within and without.  You cannot just throw it on the hood of a car and expect fruit.  We must have the Holy Ghost within, but we also have to position ourselves in the right place without.  We must align ourselves with Godly people, must sow our time in God’s word, spend some hours on our knees, and leave off the persons and places that hinder us from bearing fruit unto holiness.  Then the seed of holiness will yield fruit of itself.  

God created the earth as a habitation for man, and he created man as a habitation for his Spirit.  He wanted fellowship with us from the beginning and he wanted us to yield fruit after His kind.  I am convinced beyond all doubt that there are many well-meaning and kind people who are working and striving for the fruit of holiness without the seed of it, and convinced still further that there are others who have or had the seed of holiness sown within and refused to position themselves in the proper environment without.  Let us take a lesson from the pecan tree and understand that the seed of holiness sow in the heart of man, and properly tended to; will produce good fruit.     

Talking about Money

“I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” Psalm 37:25

           

Serving the Lord in righteousness and true holiness is the truest and best thing we can do with our lives.  God desires his creation to be as he is, holy, and if we are holy than we will be righteous.  As people, we are anxious and full of self-doubt and fear.  The world offers artificial comforts, condolences, and assurances but it comes at a price.  The true Comforter can abide in a willing heart, making him or her holy and guiding them in righteousness.  With Christ in you, you can have assurance in this life and in the next.  Righteousness is the best insurance policy there is.

It is in carnal man to commit his ways and talents toward laying up store for himself, and the devil makes no effort to prevent this.  While the Bible teaches us to be industrious and provide for our own, it is important to recognize that there is no amount of possessions that can compete with the safety and security that is in Christ.  It cost nothing to endorse that Jesus is our safety and security beyond the grave, because we know that nothing we can see, touch, or feel in this life can get us to heaven anyway.  However, Christ told us that you cannot serve God and mammon (i.e. money, riches, and wealth).  In saying this, he placed trusting in Him a priority not just for life after death, but also in the here and now.  It seems this is where we find conflict and challenges.  We must ask ourselves.  Do I trust God completely?  Do I really trust him with my family, house, job, future?  In this life, trust in God is consistently challenged by trust in mammon.  Our service to mammon is enticing because that service will yield immediate comfort and protection.  The world exalts wealth and riches to a place where it ought not to be, and we buy into this worship because it offers artificial insurance.  We are trained to believe that more money will mean less problems.  Indoctrinated to think that money will provide safety, security, companionship, and refuge.  Do you need proof of this theology?  Look no further than the lottery system.  Millions of people gambling their hard-earned cash on a chance of fortune; because it is held that fortune will eradicate the issues of life and bring comforts.  While it may appease them, it will never eradicate and the comfort of mammon, buy the comforts of life, which is an artificial comfort to which the natural man craves.  The comfort of Christ anchored in righteousness and holiness is an absolute comfort that the spiritual man needs.  When the spiritual is sound, the natural will follow suit.  This is why the righteous can praise God with nothing (from a monetary aspect), and the rich curse him with everything.  All the things that God wants to provide for you, and can provide, are undermine when you serve mammon, because when you serve it you exalt it to a place of idolatry.  Serving it means you believe in it, trust in its power, and therefore you alienate God and bind yourself to this world.  How weak a god mammon is and so many worship, how much more to serve the living God and trust in Him!

Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Mat 6:33).  Righteousness and holiness is the principle aim.  It comes to this; do you wake in the morning seeking to serve yourself, or God in Jesus Christ?  If I am servant of myself then I am going to do what is needed to build and protect what is mine.  Using all I can at my disposal to provide safety and security for what I have (house, car, job, reputation, children, spouse, etc.), and money is the principle resource.  This path leads to unrighteousness and corruption.  However, if I wake seeking to serve Christ; then I am about my Father’s business same as he.  This is the path of righteousness and holiness.  It will cost me what I have built, but that is no matter, because the riches in Christ far outstretch the riches of mammon.  The comfort of the Spirit abides deeper, than the comfort of the world, and you have assurance in this life and the one to come; because the righteous are never forsaken nor their seed begging bread.                

Who sends the rain?

“Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.” –Jeremiah 5:24

The timing of rain can determines whether it is a blessing or a curse.  Especially when you’re talking in agricultural terms; concerning rain, timing is everything.  You can have a lot of rain at planting, then none throughout growing, and you will have a lousy crop.  You can have none at planting, and then a lot at harvest; and you will not be able to get to your crop.  The blessing of rain walks hand in hand with the timing of it; and we must remember that God controls both the rain and when it falls.

Agriculture analogies, allegories, and references are used all throughout the Bible.  People in that day and time could really relate to what was being said.  Furthermore, seeing is how people will always need to eat; the folks in our day can relate as well.  It is both relevant and timeless.  In the above text, Jeremiah speaks to a people who have a “revolting and rebellious heart.”  They do not fear God, that is to say, they do not respect or reverence him.  They do not recognize that God gives the rain, and reserves the harvest.  In other words, all that they have, they have because of God.  The arrogance of refusing to recognize this is astounding, and not surprising, relevant in today’s time.  Imagine if you will, a place where there is no grocery store, no Wal-Mart, no fast food chains; a place where the food you eat is solely provided by the land you own.  This is the reality that the people in Jeremiah’s day lived in (and truthfully it is the reality we live in as well; we are just further removed from the farming aspect of it all).  They had to totally depend on the rain, and on the timing of the rain.  In order to receive life and substance, they were completely relaying on something that was far beyond their control.  In planting, you want a former rain, a rain that comes in swiftly after you plant.   This supercharges your crop and gives you strong germination.  Right before harvest, you want a latter rain.  A rain that drenches your crop and gives it that last drink to boost it up some more before you have to bring it in.  Obviously, you need rain in between, but the former and the latter rain at the perfect time gives you an abundant harvest.  Who on earth can command the rain?  What can we do to stop the rain from falling?  The nutrients and abundance of a field is reserved by God for man, and given by His hand.  These people in Jeremiah’s day are reaping the fruits of bounty on the back of the Almighty, and they have no humility or thankfulness in their heart.  There is only open rebellion and a false belief that they are the giver of life.  Do you see yourself in this text?  Our lives are our field, and in it we work and labor.  We sow what little seeds of time we have and earnestly expect a return on our investment.  We hope for a harvest, and rejoice when there is one; but to whom is the glory given?  What do we gain that God did not first provide?  “Ye are not your own but bought with a price.”  One of the greatest tragedies that ever befell this country is the acceptance of evolution and anti-creationism.  Under the cloak of this theory the devil crept in and sowed a seed of doubt that would undermine Christianity entirely; and that seed is this.  God is not the creator.  When the people accept that there is no creator, then they believe that there is no governor of the rain; and if we believe that, then we accept that we are lords over our lives and thereby covet a glory that is not ours.

If God chooses to send the former and latter rain, than we must praise Him for it.  If he chooses to withhold the rain, that is in His providence and we must bless His name.   God knows when to send the rain and he knows when the blessing is needed.  The righteous trust God and praise God in the dry season and the rainy season.  The wicked trust themselves in all seasons, and “neither say they in their hearts let us now fear God”.  When we refuse to accept a God that sends the rain, then we break the first commandment; and though we have all the goods this world can offer, we will want in the Day of Judgment. “Fear ye the Lord all ye his saints, for there is no want to them that fear him.”

Houses are Built

“Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?  Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.” Haggai 1: 4-5

When you think of a house, you think of something that provides security, serenity, comfort, ownership, and protection.  If we so choose, around it we can build our kingdom and with it promote our prestige.  It can be a fortress or an embassy.  A commodity or a necessity.  It can be what we make it.

No doubt, many a first time home buyer walks into their house anxious to call it their own.  This moment is as much a blessing as an opportunity for temptation.  A blessing in that one has a certain dwelling that includes all the benefits therewith.  An opportunity for temptation in that you can do with it as you pleased.  It is your space to decide what comes in and what goes out.  Whom you would let in and whom you would keep out.  Your little corner of the world, to build what you choose to build.  No doubt, the house and home is a blessing from God, but that is just the secret; it is from God.  When you begin to think that you own it, that your house is for your benefit, your glory, and your promotion; then it becomes something else entirely.  It has become a mentality predicted on inward focus. The doors are locked and the gates are barred, the message is clear.  This is for me. A ceiled house was only for the wealthy, and those who strived to be so.  Kings build palaces as monuments to their glory and rich men build mansions as a testament to their achievements.  Is it time for you to dwell in you cieled houses, and this house lie waste?  The prophet posed this pointed question by direct instruction from God, it so effectively articulates the underlying cause of degradation to God’s kingdom.  A question that echoes through the ages.  Do we seek to build our kingdom or His?  When we seek our own will, our own wealth, and our own way; the cause of Christ suffers.  When we separate ourselves from the need of our fellow man, from the cries of a lost and dying world, God’s house falls into decay.  God’s house and his kingdom is not built in brick and mortar, rather with sacrifice and commitment to His Spirit and His calling.  The calling to further God’s kingdom must be greater than the want to establish our own.  The threshold that divides us from the outside world is one we do not own, therefore it is no threshold at all.  Only a gateway of servitude.  Consider your ways.  We only have seventy years of profit on this earth and if by reason of strength (the Psalmist says) we get to eighty; then their strength is labor and sorrow.  The scriptures exhort us to consider our ways.  What are we seeking for, striving for, and building up?  Are we working on our own sealed houses of privilege, prestige, and protection?  How much greater an endeavor to put our labors to God’s house found in the hearts of sanctified men and women.  His eternal kingdom that lives within the hearts of men.

The struggle rages on between our will and God’s will for us.  If we allow it, the Word of God will hew down the timber of superfluity and direct us to spiritually profitable labors.  It will burn out the wood, hay, and stubble; try each philosophy by fire until the truth stands before us and proclaims “this is the way walk ye in it.”   Lord help us to consider our ways, because the time is short and houses are built, either ours or His.             

Wait in Victory

“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.”-Psalm 37:7

            We are called to seek God, to believe God, and have faith in Him.  When we feel like we have everything or nothing.  The Lord still wants us to praise Him, to glorify Him, and to seek His face.  This can be difficult when there is no answer, no feedback, no response, no direction, and you are forced to wait on Him.  Wait, when you need an answer, and you long for victory.

“Birds sing in the dark” (words from Oswald Chamber’s devotional book “My Utmost for His Highest), they sing announcing a sunrise that has yet to come, a sunrise they have yet to see, but they sing anyway.  They have faith it will rise; as the morning before, and the morning before that, and before that.  Like the birds, we must wait on the Lord, on the sunrise, and praise him in the dark.  Parise him for the victory that is not yet come, but most certainly will…..Because he is God, and with him there is only victory.  He will fight for his people, for his children.  If we trust in the Lord and have faith it may not be today, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not a year from now, but at some point, there will be victory; there will be a sunrise, in his own good time.  It is not easy to wait on the Lord when the world is falling apart around you, but ultimately it comes down to: “do I believe that Gods way is best?”  If so, I will wait on his answer, wait on his leading, wait on the victory that he will bring, and not follow my own selfish desires, my own selfish escape plan. If you search the scriptures in them you will find men and women who had a great ability to wait before God.  A situation would arise and they would take it to God; and wait on his answer.  Wait with a mind and heart to accept whatever answer came their way.   Waiting is an easy thing to do when you’re not in a hurry, everybody can go the speed limit as long as they have nowhere to be, but when they wake up at 7:45 am and they have to somewhere important to be at 8:00 am; all the way across town…..now all you can think about is how fast you’re not going.  When there is a problem or a situation on your door step and you begin to call on God, and call on God, and call on God; with no answer.  Then it is time to wait, to have patience, to have faith.  God is leading, the sunrise is coming, and the Lord will provide…..trust God.  If you try to take the situation into your own hands you will fail, or get off course.  Christ is the captain and we have to wait for His direction.  In times of unknown, that is the hardest thing to do in this world.

It can be very easy to confuse motion with accomplishment; movement with action.  When we take it upon ourselves to play captain then we are doing so in vain.  Although it may feel like we are acting to accomplish a virtuous end; if we are not in God’s will, then it is in vain.  The soul that finds rest in the Lord, and waits patiently for him; the soul that can “cast all his cares upon him.”  That soul will have victory and peace.  In your walk with God, stillness, can be very productive.  “I’ll cast on him my every care and wait for thee.” (Lyrics from Sweet Hour of Prayer)

The End of the World

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” -2 Corinthians 11:3

“The simplicity of preaching the gospel is foolishness to the world.”-Bro Ed Miller 1950

The world in the Word of God sometimes has a different meaning than what it means in your physical science textbook.  The world in the physical is something we all know and understand, but the world in the spiritual is something that many are blinded too.  We live in this world, but this world does not have to live in us.  The emancipation of the heart from the world is only accomplished through, and by, the power of Christ.  It brings a contentment and simplicity that the world finds foolish.  

1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW., Washington, DC 20500; do you recognize this address?  No?  It is near Old Ebbitt Grill.  Anything?  It is next to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.  It has great big columns and a fountain on the North lawn.   Still nothing?  It is white, it is a white house, The White House…and now you know.  In America (and abroad in most cases), all you have to say is “The White House” and everyone will know to what you are referring.  That said, the building itself is just a building.  If you strip away, the history created by the men and women that passed through those halls it is nothing more than another house.  The people, who they were/are, create the distinction between a white house and The White House.  The Word of God says that all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:13).  God’s Word is highlighting the distinction between a world (i.e. Earth) and the world.  The men and women that live here on Earth create the distinction between the two.  If God just made trees, water, dirt, plants, and animals and no people, there would be a world but not the world.  The world is/was created when Adam sinned in the Garden; the sinful nature in man creates the world.  The gospel of the world seeks to gratify the flesh, and exalt the sinful nature of man that is rooted and grounded in serving and preserving self.  It claims that we will find peace, contentment, love, joy and happiness by doing what makes you happy.  It is all about you.  The gospel of Christ is to deny yourself, die to yourself, and serve/follow Jesus no matter the cost.  Jesus will direct your life and give you peace, contentment, love, joy, happiness, and a home in heaven when you die.  The corruption of the world says “Follow You.”  The simplicity of Christ says “Follow Him.”

Look no further than your own heart for the end of the world. As long as man is on this earth and sin is reigning in the heart of man; there will be the world.  Jesus Christ came to destroy the world within man and bring victory over the sin that reigns within our wicked heart.  Jesus can give you victory and he will give you victory if you give up yourself and follow him.   

Humble Thyself

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” – 2 Chronicles 7:14

            

            In the Old Testament, the act of humbling yourself was outward as much as it was inward.  They would strip themselves of their clothes and put on sackcloth.  Sackcloth was typically worn in association with humility and mourning for that which was lost.  Totally opposite to dyed fabric or ordinary day garments, which would have been pleasant to the eyes or hold practical value.  Furthermore, the sackcloth would raise awareness among the Jews as to the wearer’s purpose; they were praying and seeking God.  That purpose was birthed out of humility because you do not lay sackcloth on your shoulders without first taking off that which YOU would have decided to strut around in.  In addition to the sackcloth, the process of humbling yourself would sometimes include ashes.  The two were often performed in tandem whilst praying.  So in total, you would have the renting of your own clothes and the wearing of sackcloth and ashes.  The idea being that you are willing to show, publically, that you were abased and God was exalted.  The goal was to humble thyself and pray.

          

  We now live in the new dispensation, which is a way of saying that we live under the gospel that Jesus brought.  It in no way removes the Old Testament, in fact it fulfills it.  It fulfills it in the Spirit.  If you were to seek and find God today, sackcloth and ashes would not be required (thank the Lord).  However, you would need the spirit of it all.  Jesus was concerned with the heart.  The Pharisees fasted, they prayed, they went to church; but Christ rejected them.  He rejected them because their heart was not right even though they “performed” all the “deeds” of the law.  Jesus does not want a show of humility he wants humility itself.  He doesn’t want a show of repentance, he wants repentance itself.  The heart is the point of concern and the head can learn from the deed of removing of your day clothes and wearing sackcloth and ashes.  For example, the Jews would first rent their clothes.  One of the first things you learn as a young person, the beginning of your identity, is the choosing of what you are going to wear.  When the Jews of old began to humble themselves and seek God, they torn off their clothes.  They rejected the notion of their identity and turned to cleave to God’s idea of it.  Next, they placed on themselves this sackcloth, an uncomfortable, ugly thing; when you kneel in repentance, your sins are bare before God.  You and the Spirit dredge up all the ugliness of your past and say God please forgive me.  The process of this (though at times may be just minutes) is ugly and uncomfortable.  There is no pride here, no trophies; it is the turning away of your old life and the beginning of embracing your new life in Christ.  This is all done while you’re kneeling in ashes, representing all your: plans, ambitions, past and future.  Everything that you are, in ashes, before the throne.  This symbolizing to God that you want more than anything to be as he would have you to be, your life, a blank canvas and the whole of your being prepared for His purpose.

God hears this prayer; he forgives this soul, and heals.  He changes the heart of the humble.  If you have it in your mind that you want God and want your own way, this is fruitless; but to want God above any way is the path to forgiveness and everlasting life.  It begins with humility and prayer.

Need of Him

 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”-Philippians 4:19

“Let not conscience make you linger.

Nor of fitness fondly dream.

The only fitness he requireth.

Is to feel a need of him.”

The above quote is actually a verse from the song “I will Arise and Go to Jesus.”(Also known as Come ye Sinners)  The line “The only fitness he requireth is to feel a need of him.”  Is ripe with fundamental truth.

          

 I wonder how many today really feel a need of God.  Or rather, how many feel a need and don’t recognize it is actually God they need.  The sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost is a wondrous miracle.  When the Holy Ghost sanctifies your soul it becomes your greatest supplier, and simultaneously your greatest need.  When the Holy Ghost comes into your heart he supplies you with the power to live holy, and the ability to understand spiritual things.  It supplies you with the: mind of Christ, assurance of salvation, conviction to abstain from doing certain things, and the unction to continue doing other things.  It can move on a church service; lift up the hands that hang down and confirm the feeble knees.  It is the “doing” end of God, if you please.  A never failing supplier of all that we need, because God is a never failing supplier of all that we need.  When he is all in our lives we depend on him for everything in our lives.  In ancient times the Nile supplied nutrients to the soil and water to the crops.  This in turn supplied food to the people.  However, none of this was possible without the rains falling and the Nile flooding its banks.  Without the flooding of the Nile, there was no water, and if there was no water, then there was no food.  The people had an absolute need for the Nile, and what it supplied.  As do we with the Spirit of God (the Holy Ghost i.e. Sanctification).  We stand in absolute need of the living water that flows from the throne itself and cuts its way into a human heart-this river of life that can flood the hearts of men and supply all our needs; “a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”(John 4:14)  It can bring nutrients and feed the seed of faith which God has planted, this combined with our obedience to His wills, ways, and wishes can bring about a bountiful crop.  Without this flooding, without this river, we are desolate and dying; poor and broken.  We have an absolute need of the Spirit, sinner and saint alike; the separation between the two is simply the realization of the need, and a whole hearted commitment to plant your life within the Nile’s flood plain.  The Holy Ghost is our greatest supplier and our greatest need.

So if you are reading, and find yourself in need of a flood Arise and go to Jesus; plant yourself by his life giving waters.  Repent of your sins and be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire.  “The only fitness he requireth is to feel a need of him.”

Never Alone

“But Moses hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.” Exodus 17:12

            Life has often been compared to the sea, and rightly so.  The ever changing and challenging environment of life drowns us in the metaphor that is the sea.  We sail along, sometimes with sunny skies and calm winds; other times, dark clouds and relentless storms.  The good news is that we are not alone.  We are never alone.  We have a Captain who doesn’t just know the waters, but controls them; and we are sailing with a crew that is our family.  A family of God. In this, we have victory.    

Joshua was commanded to go and fight while Moses went up to the top of the hill with the rod of God in his hand.  Not long after, Moses was put in a situation where the job was too great for him to accomplish alone.  The rod of God lifted up determined the success of Joshua in the battle below.  The responsibility of this was not lost on Moses, no doubt he labored to keep the rod of God high and lifted up, but his hands were heavy.  This is applicable to our lives.  The responsibility of service to Christ and our effect on our fellow man is not lost on the people of God.  We are, or at least we should be, well aware that what we do and what we say affects those around us, and our testimony for Christ.  We are not here to lift up ourselves but God.  Though this is within our scope of understanding, we still are human.  We get tired, weak, discouraged; being sanctified does not make you invincible.  We still have this experience within the human experience and life can take its toll.  One of the hardest things for people to do sometimes is ask for help.  Therefore, when they do, what follows should be the easiest thing for them.  The Lord gave us so many wonderful tools at our disposal to help us get to heaven.  We have the Spirit, the Word, and we have each other.  The scripture tells us that Aaron and Hur stayed up Moses’s hands.  They understood the cause, and they saw that Moses was fainting under the burden.  They saw a brother in need and they helped him.  There was not a long meeting about it, or an hour-long Q&A session.  It was simple service.  We live in an information age, so often someone is in need and we want to go into investigation mode about it.  What happened?  Why did it happen?  Who was involved? Was it there fault?  Some of this is necessary and some of it natural.  That said, being “in the know” is not being a part of the solution.  Job’s friends fell into this trap.  They were very concerned about understanding and commenting on the situation.  They went to great lengths to debate, discuss, and of course, give their opinion; rather than actually doing anything to help Job.  At the end of the day, the goal is victory.  Joshua could only win if the rod of God was lifted up.  Moses could only hold his hands up for so long, so Aaron and Hur came to his aid.  No one was in it for himself; they were in it so God’s people would get the victory.  When we call, text, email…when we reach out to someone in need, we must ask ourselves: is it for them or us?  Are we doing it so we can help, or just be the first to post on Facebook?  Those who are concerned about victory are a help, those who are not are a hindrance.  Assessment and gossip are two very different things, which all too often, failed to be divorced from one another.  Think back in your own life, when you traveled through a great storm, who was there for you?  Why were they there for you?  What did they do to help you?   

God placed us in the body, not only for his glory, but also as a help to one another.  He placed us in the body with Jesus Christ as the head of the body and the body in subjection to his direction.  There is no substitute for sacrifice, service, and genuine Godly love.  We have the victory over sin, death, hell and the grave; but the devil would blind us with the trials and tribulations of life.  Satan would make us to believe that we are without victory and without hope.  We can be miserable counselors who spend our day’s mining for answers, projecting our own insecurities, and further strengthening the fabric of Satan’s facade.  On the other hand, we can rally to the cause of Christ and pull together to lift up the rod of God, sometimes by simply lifting up our brothers and sisters.  We are not in this alone; let us stand with one another, lift up the rod of God and proclaim victory for Captain.   

Back to Bethel

“Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:” Genesis 35:2

The experience of salvation is marked by change.  A crisis and continuous change.  One that is as contrasting as darkness and light.  When you meet the Father and His Son, you are not going to be the person you were before.  Mankind knew God at one point, met God, as Jacob did at Bethel.  We had a perfect fellowship.  That was lost, so God made a way that we might get back; back to Bethel.

The context of the above scripture is that God has told Jacob to go back to Bethel.  Upon hearing this, he said to his household that they were to put away the strange god’s, be clean, and change their garments.  These were instructions of preparation for a return to the house of God, or Bethel as it was called.  Jacob had been to Bethel once before, he knew Bethel, he named it Bethel.  The last time he was there God showed him a vision of a ladder and the angels of God ascending and descending on it.  This ladder reached from Earth to Heaven.  It reached from God to man.  This ladder was a vision of Christ.  A foreshadowing of the connection that Jesus would bring to us.  The access to the Holy, the bridge over the gulf that separates us.  The vision had such a profound and deep impact on Jacob that he declared that the Lord was in this place and he named the place Bethel.  Which interpreted means the house of God.  Now he and his household are preparing for a return to the house of God.  They are putting away the strange God’s, cleaning themselves, and changing their garments.  They are preparing to meet God.  The strange god’s of that time can be equated to the worldly things and desires of our day.  They coveted after gods of the people that they were around, that were not gods; and we are tempted to do the same.  The strange gods of our day and time come in many forums, and we must put them away before we can come back to the house of God.  Next we are instructed to be clean.  Once we have renounced the world and the strange gods therein, in our repentance God can and will forgive and offering cleansing purchased by the blood of His Son.  Finally, we are given a change of garment.  Salvation is marked by the blessing of change.  A change in heart, spirit, outlook, attitude, and of course inward nature.  Going back to Bethel encompasses the entire process of sinner to saint.  Salvation is offered so that we can get back to Bethel, back to the house of God.  The fellowship of God restored within a human heart.  For we are the temple of the living God, if God lives within us; for truly this Bethel is not a physical place but a spiritual one.  There is a reverence given to Bethel.  There is a recognition afforded to this holy place. 

There must be a journey back to Bethel.  There must be a turning from the world, a cleansing, a change, and a reunion with the Father.  In repentance we find the turning and cleansing, in sanctification we obtain the reunion, and in all of it there is change that happens to us both within and without.  That is because Jesus is within us.  We have been changed from darkness to life, from power of Satan to that of God.  We have been brought back to Bethel.   

The Companies of Life

“O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.”-2 Chronicles 20:12

Have you ever felt sacred, anxious, overwhelmed?  If you have not, keep on living; it’s coming.  That feeling, that terror deep within your trying to hide.  Where you know without a shadow of a doubt that you are outnumber, and in over your head.  The cause of this could be any number of factors and situations, often times it is many different factors and situations that combine at a single time to produce a company of issues.  Issues that we have to face, problems that are bigger than us and we need the Lord’s help.  We need our eyes on Him.

There are many things about serving God and His Son Jesus Christ that are hard to articulate.  Among them is the overwhelming and amazing: peace, help, and care that God can offer in times of trouble.  This cannot be understood by those who do not believe, and it cannot be manufactured by those who are lying to themselves.  King Jehoshaphat was facing an army that was bigger and better than his own.  This great company grouped together and came to battle against Jehoshaphat.  He was not out there looking for trouble, but trouble went and found him.  So often in life this is the case.  We are just going about our day to day, trying to keep everything on the tracks when tragedy strikes or circumstances line up to create a cornucopia of issues that converge on you.  The flood gates open and as you stand in the valley looking up, the mountain that you once were prepared to climb now has a flood tide raging down its steep slope; carrying with it the fear and despair that mirrors the selfsame emotion that grips your own heart.  It is paralyzing.  It makes you second guess everything.  While it is not true that everything was orchestrated by the devil, one can be certain that he will take this opportunity to capitalize.  In this, we find great hope, because while the devil uses this company to try to invoke fear and doubt, the selfsame company can be a launch pad to bring you to a higher plain of faith and trust in the Almighty.  Moses could not part the water, if there was no water.  Joshua could not conquer Jericho, if there was no Jericho.  David could not have slain Goliath if there was no Goliath.  We must never forget that the “company” in our lives that come against us are opportunities in our lives to see God’s power.  To be a part of His story.  Jehoshaphat knew this, he understood it; and prayed to the Father, with his eyes on Him.

Personally, the older I get the more I have to realize that it is OK to say:   “we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.”  In other words, “I don’t know what to do, I am not strong enough, and I need your help Lord!”  God wants us to need Him!  Which works out good for us because we do need him.  One of the greatest lies that the devil tells us is that we are sufficient of ourselves.  That we can take on the companies of life that come against us.  When in reality we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God (2 Cor 3:5).  We need God in our lives and we need to rely on God in our lives, and when we do; there is an amazing, overwhelming: peace, help, and care that comes from the Father.  May God shelter in his loving arms those who are facing the companies of life right now.        

Familiar Scripture

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” -John 3:16-17                

            It is easy to assume that everyone else is like us.  The familiar becomes the normal, the normal the culture, and the culture the world.  What is familiar to us typically we assume is familiar to all.  In the USA, the church culture vary, but somethings are just plain familiar.  However, the reason it is familiar is because it was first fundamental.

Growing up in church, I have heard on more than one occasion: “This is familiar scripture.”  The text listed above often accompanies this statement, but not always; and no doubt to some this scripture is familiar.  The greater part of the people in my church were raised from our youth up to go to church, and Sunday School.  We were taught these verses from day one (Praise God for that wonderful blessing).  We were taught many things about the Word of God.  We were taught that God created the world.  We were taught that God made mankind, that man sinned in the Garden of Eden, which made man inherently evil, and mankind needed a Savior.  That Savior is Jesus Christ.  Certainly, our little church on was not the only one in the world teaching these familiar truths, and these familiar scriptures, but we were one of them (Praise God!); and I was blessed to be raised in one of them (Praise God again!).  By and by, time moves on, and familiar grows into normal, which becomes culture, and that has a way of becoming our whole world, and we forget that not every song, every story, every word in John 3:16 is familiar to everyone.  This is both a blessing and a curse, because there are some who have never heard this gospel, and there are some who have heard it and forgotten it.  To say: “this is familiar scripture” is a selfish and alienating statement.  Not evil, but selfish.  It exalts your position, and understanding and it segregates those who do not find it familiar.  No doubt, it is a great blessing if you find the Word of God familiar, but it gives little increase to the souls around you to profess it.  How much better off would we be if we but possessed it and plainly taught it as fundamental truth?   How often what is familiar in the scriptures coincides with what is fundamental?  To whom much is given much is required.  In the Old Testament: Adam and Eve, Noah, Moses, Joshua, David and Goliath, Daniel; in the New Testament: Matthew chapter five, John chapter three, Luke chapters one and two, First Corinthians chapter thirteen, Romans chapter six, the list goes on and on.  The reason it is familiar is because it was first fundamental.  Fundamental scriptures, that teach fundamental truths, which save and sanctify men and women.  If we call them familiar, it is because we were blessed to be grounded in the fundamentals of the Word of God, and if we call them familiar then we annex those who were not; and simultaneously annex’s ourselves.   

I was a sinner, and I needed a Savior.  When God sent Jesus, he sent him for the whole world; past, present, and future.  He died for you, and he died for me.  He died so that we might have eternal life.  Jesus can forgive you, and come into your heart (sanctify you).  If you let him, this will punch your ticket to a home in heaven, and Jesus will stay right there in the driver's seat, keeping you free from sin and guiding you right into those pearly gates.  This is a fundamental truth of the Word of God.  A truth that the world needs to hear; familiar or not.