Ye Fathers

 “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”-Ephesians 6:4

Often you can gauge what is going on in the home by watching the actions and reactions of the children. What begins as conscious (or unconscious) modeling behavior, soon turns into learned behavior. Kids absorb everything and gradually become a reflection of their environment. The home being their most prominent environment. In this way our children rise up in judgment against us, as they are a true reflection of who we are. They see what (almost) no one else does.

Not long ago my wife warned me off killing a hornet’s nest, saying “it is best not to provoke them.”  To provoke means to deliberately make someone angry or annoyed. It can also mean to incite or give rise to emotion. The scriptures command us fathers provoke not your children to wrath. How quickly we can be guilty of this if we are not dependent on Christ. In the first place we can provoke them by modeling the behavior of wrath in front of them. If they see us yelling, overreacting and unable to control ourselves, then they will do the same. If our response to wrath is wrath, then they will emulate that response. Furthermore, we can provoke our children to wrath by executing wrath upon them. Through rash behavior, overly harsh punishments, and unkind words. Long on punishments, and short on mercy. Every parent knows that nothing will burn your fuse quicker than your kids (an odd paradox, but truer than most care to admit). Although we love them more than ourselves (or at least we should), there are days they find our last nerve and stomp all over it. Then we react in a manner that is far too harsh and provoke them to wrath. Knowing how and when to execute judgment or mercy is wisdom we must receive from God. Another way we can provoke our children to wrath is to be on the edge of wrath ourselves. By remaining under the influence of the world and worldly things, and not under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Under the influence of stress and worry. Allowing the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches to choke the word and it becomes unfruitful in us. A father that neglects his prayer closet, and devotional time will soon neglect his children, provoking them to wrath. It is not enough that we refrain from provoking them, but we must also “bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”  Nurturing is to care for in the growth and development of--like growing tomatoes children are to be trained along to grow into the set of standards and guidelines found in scripture. They must be pruned and promoted at the perfect time. It is a delicate balance of care. Too much can stunt the growth, too little can cause the plant to grow wild and unruly. I see a great lesson here in raising of children. What a challenge! What a charge! God said to Noah: “Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.”  Noah would preserve righteousness in the earth and save his household, because of the righteous, good father that he was.Of Abraham God would proclaim that he would not hide from him the things which God does because God knew that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.  The Lord would judge the priest Eli testifying that “he restrained not his sons.”  In the scripture we have examples of good fathers, and the blessing they can be. As well as bad fathers, and the reproach they can bestow upon themselves, their children, and the work of God.

If left to us, we would fail to fulfill this commandment in Ephesians six, but thankfully we have a Father in heaven that cares for us. One who will sanctify us and guide us so that we might guide our children. I thank God that he corrects us and in correcting he shows us how to correct our children. In loving, how to love.  In teaching how to teach. In instruction, how to instruct. Of this I am convinced; that fatherhood is a blessed calling of God and only through His wisdom can we hope to fulfill it in the order and calling God intended.  May the Lord help me, and any man who would assume the mantle of father, because fathering a child does not make you a father. 

Guest Week: Riah Collier

 John 3:34-35

For he [Jesus] whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

35The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.

This passage of Scripture is easy to overlook, sandwiched between the well-known stories of Jesus's interactions with Nicodemus at the beginning of John 3 and the Samaritan woman at the well in chapter 4.   However, these verses have a lot to say. 

I love Scripture texts that bring together the mystery of the threefold Person of God.  The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one Being, but three Persons.  I heard someone recently explain that "being" explains what you are, "person" explains who you are.  This really helped me as I meditated on this passage.  How does God "give" the Spirit to the Son, when all three of Them are simultaneously fully God?  I don't pretend to understand it completely, but this distinction is helpful . . . the person of the Father gave the person of the Spirit to the person of the Son.  And He didn't do it "by measure" (a limited amount) . . . and because it wasn't a limited amount, Jesus's words were the words of God.

In contrast, the Spirit would come in limited amount upon the prophets from time to time to deliver the Word of God to God's people.  Not so with Jesus . . . limitless access to the Spirit was granted to Him as the incarnated Son of God on the earth.   

Furthermore, He received that Spirit on our behalf.  As the Father sent down the Spirit on the Son when He was baptized in the river Jordan, so the Son now baptizes those who seek Him with that same Spirit.

We have access to the boundless depths of God through His living Holy Spirit within us.  Think about all the operations of God's Holy Spirit in mankind that the Scriptures describe . . . He sanctifies us, guides us, unifies us, gives us joy unspeakable, gives us power over sin and temptation, fills us with love for God and our fellow man, heals our hurts, communicates our unspeakable struggles and pain to the Father, fills our mouth with words to speak the Gospel to people, helps us understand God's Word, bears witness between the hearts of fellow Christians . . . 

I thank God that He gave His Son His Spirit without measure in order that He could pour it out on undeserving people like me.  What a wondrous plan of salvation.

Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:

11Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

12Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

I Give You Good Doctrine

 “For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.” – Proverbs 4:2

The prophet Isaiah said: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”  In our day and age, it can be hard to know who to trust.  Although we have more information available to us than ever before, and you can get a thousand answers in fractions of a second, that doesn’t mean that you have a thousand right answers.  Society seems to be laboring under the delusion that being first is more important than being right.  We cannot always know what to trust or who to follow; however, at some point, you must trust something.  The question then becomes, where is good doctrine, and what do you call upon to guide you? 

What you believe will define you.    If you don’t believe in eating meat, it’s unlikely you will become a cattle farmer. If you believe that being a good father is important, then you will show up and be a good father.   If you don’t believe the law applies to you, then it is likely that one day you will find yourself in prison.  When Jesus said, “I came not to bring peace but a sword.”  He understood and helped us to understand that His doctrine would divide humanity.  It would do so because what we believe defines us, and when we believe in Him it will cause us to do and not do certain things.  It will cause us to go and not go to certain places; and it should cause us to behave and not behave in a certain way.  When you really believe in Jesus Christ, it should fundamentally change who you are.  We all believe in something, the question is not if you believe, but what do you believe in?  Jesus Christ gives us good doctrine.  His message and teachings are for our benefit and the benefit of others, and that is good.  The doctrine is true and perfect, and that is good.  Finally, it is backed by absolute authority and all those who believe in it and live it will find blessings and peace, which is good.  Jesus called for witnesses.  Witnesses who live it out, and testify it out, and as the Lord blesses (which he will do) witness to the goodness of his doctrine.  We witness with our lives and our lips, while we vote with our feet.  Jesus Christ proves himself in the believer, and He will prove himself, and that will glorify the Father.  “It is not in a man that walketh to direct his steps but the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.”  His doctrine is good, it is good for you, it is good for me, and it is good for mankind. 

When you believe in Jesus and make him Lord of your life you are believing in love, you are championing love; not the superficial love that we find in movies and television.  No, this is a greater love: real, genuine, self-sacrificing, life changing, and all inspiring love that only Christ can offer.  A complete and perfect love that is the birth right of all mankind, regardless of: race, creed, sex, or economic status.  This has been given to us, and we are the ones who are to profit from believing this good doctrine and forsaking not the law of God.  The Christian life is a blessed life, a life of love.  This is the good doctrine, a doctrine worth believing, and a doctrine worth living.          

Your Best Friend

 

 “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. “- John 15:14

At the end of the school year, our seven-year-old daughter told us that she has eight best friends; then proceeded to list each one.  “It’s easy” she says.  Or more likely, the standard of friendship at the age of eight is much lower than at thirty- eight or sixty-eight.  Friends, true friends, have a way of becoming scarce as you advance through life.  Either through death, betrayal, life choices, or a collection of many little things piling up between you; you find you lose friends.  Consequently, the value of a friend grows as you grow older, and you truly appreciate a best friend. 

Abraham was called a friend of God.  Moses talked to God face to face “as a man talketh to a friend.”  These men and select others were brought into a special fellowship with God that few enjoyed.  A closeness and intimacy that cemented them in the history books of time and foreshadowed a fellowship that was to come through Christ.  Christ would come walk this earth and teach us, showing us the way of righteousness.  Living and preaching the gospel; dying for us and ushering in the New Testament church through the power of the Holy Spirit.  That we might have “life and life more abundant.”  In this new dispensation he would call us who believe in Him “friends.”  How remarkable a thing that is, that the Lord of Lord and King of Kings would grant us a relationship status such as that.  To have a friend as He and be a friend of God and Christ.  To be brought into such a close kinship with such a high and powerful one as Jesus Christ.  His grace towards us extends to saving and justifying but still further into friendship.  What a thing this is!  To be able to open the windows of your heart and pour out your deepest cares to your friend.  To draw near to Christ when the way is dark, and the road rough and ask your friend for guidance.  To sit in fellowship, enjoying the Word of God, and communing with your friend.  To have someone you can trust completely, lean on entirely, and turn too urgently.  “What a friend we have in Jesus!  What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!”  How careful we must be not to put this friendship in jeopardy.  When you have a best friend, a close friend, a trusted friend, you would not lie, or cheat, or wound that trusted relationship.  If you hope to stay friends.  So, it is the same with your friendship with Jesus, and much more so!  For he is not just another peer, but the Lord of glory!  The Creator himself!  When Christ calls us friends, and we Him, we enter a covenant with Him.  To love, serve, sacrifice, and obey.  This covenant requires you to live separately.  Separate from the world and sin.  It is not a requirement of tyranny, but of prosperity.  Moreover, if we are in friendship with the world, God calls us enemies.  So, with whom do you want to be associated with?  I ask you to consider.  Who can we confide in when things are tough?  Who will give light, when times are dark?  Who will carry you and I across the gulf of time, and into the halls of heaven?  Where can you find a friend like this?  Not in this beggarly world with all its lust and pride.  Only in the confidence of Christ.   

The more you align with this world and place your trust in it, the more you push Christ away and make him your enemy.  Inversely, the more you place your trust in Christ, the more you push this world and sin away.  Thereby making Christ your friend.  Your true friend, your best friend.

Learned Their Works

 “But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.  And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.  Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.” – Psalms 106: 35-38

As a house is built, life is constructed.  Every choice, every decision, adding to the foundation; shaping, molding, and defining who we are.  Slowly we are building the character of ourselves and leaving behind a pattern of choices testifying to that character.  As “mature” adults some would like to think that the adult world and the child world are segregated.  What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right?  Wrong.  The sinful lifestyle you choose to live cannot be segregated from those around you, children included.  In fact, when one “mingles among the heathen, and learns their works.”  They are unintentionally offering up their sons and daughters to devils.  They are sacrificing their children to the idols of the world.

Of all the things we think we own (cars, homes, clothes, health, etc.), we in fact do not own them at all.   Of the things people wish to ignore (consequences, choices, responsibility, eternity) we are guaranteed to face in the end; and at the end it is all God’s.  When we die all our stuff is going to someone else and the only thing that will matter is what we have chosen to do with our lives.  Have we chosen to serve God or ourselves?  The devil would tempt us to believe that a man is an island unto himself, and the sinful choices of life remain nested in his life.  A life he can manage and consequences he can embrace or at least endure.  Yet, the price of sin is further than your own life, it infiltrates the lives of your children.  As a preacher once said: “if you send your kids to Caesar's household, don’t be surprised when they come back Romans.”  The devil has found a way to infiltrate our homes, so we don’t send them away to Caesar anymore, we bring Ceasar into our homes.  We invite the world in, and the cost of our indulgence isn’t always realized at face value.  How careful we ought to be in word, conversation, and deed.  For we are ambassadors for Jesus Christ!  So, not only do our choices affect ourselves, and those around us, but they are the very representation of Jesus Christ. 

The life you lead will lead others, either too good or too evil.  Closer to Christ or further from Him.  Let us consider our ways, not just for our own sake, but for those coming behind us.  When you (speaking to those in the faith as well) mingle among the world and learn their works, chase after what they chase after, long for what they long for, and serve their idols (and there are many).  It will be a snare unto you, and you will be sacrificing not only your own spiritual well-being, but the spiritual well-being of your children.  Are the things in this world worth it?       

Not In Word, But Power

“For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.” – 1 Corinthians 4:20

We sing a song in our church that says: “God’s promises were never known to fail.  No power of darkness over them shall prevail.  They are builded sure and strong for the conflict with the wrong, God’s promises were never known to fail.” 

In 1787 the United States Constitution was signed by thirty nine of the fifty-five delegates present.  This document would become the supreme law of these United States.  Its authorship, while poetic, was instrumental in defining the laws that govern our land.  However, without the power of the people to enforce it, and conviction to stand behind its principles; it is nothing more than words on a page.  The words found within the covers of the Holy Bible are law and without contestation.  We are called by God to ascribe to its statues and live out its principles.  It is the road map for our souls and the guidebook for our lives.  As the Constitution is to this nation, the Bible is the supreme law for all mankind.  However, unlike the Constitution, it does not need the support of the people to make it valid.  “The kingdom of God is not in word.”  God’s truth’s does not live and die by what we say or what we write, or how well we say or write it.  Though we have the blessing of the scriptures, they are more than just words on a page, they are divinely appointed principles penned, fortified, and enforced by God and His mighty power.  We must never make the mistake of believing that men validate God.  Now, make no mistake, this does not absolve Christians of our duties to live as ambassadors for Christ.  Yet the core of that charge is not based on the merit that God needs us to witness, he calls us too.  He charges us too.  He invites us too.  He gives us the privilege too, but He does not need us to validate His Word.  The validation and impetus from God.  The power of God.  This distinction must be maintained, because it is the power of God that changes lives, the power of God that overcomes the Devil, the power of God that conquers the grave.  Jesus Christ came in power and might.  Though he walked the road of human life, he bled and died as men do but never forget that on the third day it was the power that raised him from the grave.  It was power that conquered sin.  The same power that raised Christ from the grave, can raise us from the grave of sin.  He can raise us right here, right now, because the Word of God promises it so. 

The kingdom of God does not exist in word, but in power and in might.  God does not need us; he wants us; he desires us.  His kingdom exists in power, unimaginable power, and that power can exist in you.  To lift you up out of the grave of sin and make you a new person in Christ.  To make you holy, and keep you holy, through the power of God.

A Great Deliverance

 "Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?" - 1 Samuel 6:6

God rules in the kingdoms of men with equal authority as he rules in the kingdom of heaven.  He has limitless dominion and power.  To the righteous, there is great comfort and rest knowing that God is in your corner.  To the wicked, only defeat.  So, what hope do you have if you would choose to fight against God?  And what reason to do so, when there is complete and total deliverance available to whosoever will?

The Jews spent four hundred years as slaves in the land of Egypt.  Cruel bondage, and harsh labor; serving under Pharaoh.  Then one day, God instructed Moses to go down to Egypt and lead them out.  Moses obeyed, but when he arrived Pharaoh protested (no surprise there).  Moses then went back and told God that Pharaoh was not going to let His people go.  Pharaoh stood in absolute defiance to God Almighty and God responded with a miraculous show of force.  Pharaoh was hardheaded, but by the time the showdown was done, he let the Jews go, in fact, the Egyptians were begging them to leave.  God’s deliverance was so great that generations upon generations would hear and tell of the mighty Exodus out of Egypt and the full deliverance into Canaan land.  The analogy is such to our spiritual lives.  When you live in sin, it becomes slavery.  Hopefully, there comes a point where you cry out to God because you just want to be free.  The scripture tells us that if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  This is a deliverance that God has prepared for you and a grace that he is willingly offering you.  The devil would have us continue in bondage, blind, deaf, and laboring in our sin.  Slaving away with hard hearts, denying the wonderful works of God.  Rejecting the full deliverance in Christ.  When you decide to follow him, he will bring you out of bondage and it will not be a half-way deliverance.  Moses didn't know how he was going to even speak to Pharaoh, at first, and the Jews didn't want Moses’s help, the entire mission seemed impossible, but God majors in impossible.  God swooped in, delivered them, and the power of God was mighty in their lives.  So mighty, in fact, that it became a rallying point to the Jews and a terrifying reminder to their enemies.  God can deliver you from sin in such a fashion that it will resonate with the world around you.  In the past, you may have only been living in defeat and enslavement; a consistent and reoccurring state of “I can’t help it.”  However, when Jesus shows up, with great power, the deliverance is so wonderful and drastic that you change and those around you begin to say, “there is something different.”  It’s Jesus!  The only thing that made the Jews God’s chosen people was that God chose them.  When Jesus went to the cross, he chose you.        

The Hebrew writer asks: “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation;” Why would you neglect so great a salvation?  So great a deliverance? He can and will be a saving force in your life, he will be the greatest force in your life.  Jesus Christ can bring a great deliverance, and when he does: you will know it, the devil will know it, and everyone around you will know it.

Nothing Leaves Jericho

“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”

Leon Stewart, a godly man and gifted preacher, once said: “An excellent spirit gives us humility in triumph and courage in defeat.”  The excellent spirit must come from, and it can only be the Spirit of God.  Even in victory we must be careful to give the glory to God and obey the Lord in all humility.

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 led by Joshua.  He is the successor to Moses and a mighty man of war.  They first enter Canaan land (the land promised to children of Israel) only to find the city of Jericho.  It was a mighty city and a seemingly impenetrable fortress; but Joshua and his army defeated Jericho by obeying God.  Which brought them to the next battle, the battle of Ai.  All things considered, Ai should have been an easy win for Joshua and his army.  Ai was considerably smaller, and less formidable, but little did they know that there was another enemy, not without, but within, and the great victory of Jericho was soon overshadowed by the defeat at the hands of the Amorites in Ai.  This left Joshua grieved in his heart, his mind wondering why.  Why did they fail?  Why would God deliver mighty Jericho only for them to fall to little Ai?  God would make it plain before them that it was because of Achan and his disobedience.  Achan was a man in the camp of Israel who disobeyed God by taking spoils from Jericho.  Achan took a Babylonish garment and some money, and he hid it in his tent.  All the wealth of Jericho was to be left in Jericho; it was to be consecrated to God.  However, the pride of victory filled his heart, and he took a little for himself.  A little disobedience is disobedience.  Are we not in danger of doing the same thing?  Often, we are defeated, not because of the strength of the enemy, but because of the condition of our heart.  If we are engulfed with pride, by and by, we begin to think that the victory was won not by God, but by us.  We must remember that God wins the battle, and he gets the glory.  It is not always the big things that defeats us, but many little things that we do not consecrate to God.  Take for example the man or women who comes to God broken and obedient.  God then gloriously saves them from 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 swept in.  They forget to pick-up the Bible, don’t take the time to engage in prayer, and 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 temptation appears, lust conceives, and sin enters the camp.  If your soul is for sale, the devil will find the price and make an offer.  

Therefore, nothing leaves Jericho.  “All glory to Him I bring.”  It is God’s fight, God’s glory, and obedience towards him in every way.  Obedience in all things, and in every situation.  Triumph or defeat.   

The Pile Of Fish

“So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.” – John 21:15

What we do, what we believe, where we go, where we work, who we are around, what we drive, etc.  Many, many things are thrown in this blender of self to create our identities.  These identities define us, and many will fiercely guard them if threatened. 

Before the Apostle Peter was the Apostle Peter, he was a fisherman.  He had a boat, a business, a reputation, he had an identity.  These were things of this world that defined Peter.  When Jesus called him, and when Peter chose to follow Christ, Peter’s identity changed.  He was no longer Peter the fisherman, he was Peter the disciple.  His identity was totally wrapped up in Christ.  Then Jesus is convicted, condemned, and crucified; they lay him in the grave and it’s over for Peter, right?  He trusted in Christ, he followed Jesus, and now Jesus is dead.  However, three days later Mary comes baring news that the Lord has risen, and it is not long until they get to see and hear it from Christ himself.  Now we must understand that after the resurrection, Jesus was not walking around with them all the time like before.  He would appear for a time and then leave.  Sometime in Jesus’s absence Peter decides to go back to fishing.  He reverts to his old trade, his old identity, and with the Lord’s instructions he brings in many fish.  It is crucial that we appreciate the scene that is playing out here.  We have Peter and various other disciples, sitting with the resurrected Christ eating on the shoreline, and somewhere nearby flips and flops a pile of “great fish.”  Then, perhaps sometime after the initial joy and elation of seeing Jesus, Jesus turns to Peter and asks him “Simon, lovest thou me more than these?”  He presents this question three times: “lovest thou me more than these?”  To this Peter says “Yes” and Christ tells him to “feed my sheep.”  You see, to Peter, there was a whole lot more at stake than a pile of fish.  The fisherman inside of him had probably already calculated the payout at market, the humanity within was already wrestling with where to spend his recent earnings.  The blessing from God could very quickly become a tool of temptation for the devil, because it was more than a pile of fish to this man, it was elements of his old identity.  I imagine before he met Jesus he spent nights dreaming about a haul like this; it was why he got into fishing in the first place!  To catch fish!  Now here he was sitting with the risen Christ, and his old dream was realized, his two identities called into question.  To this question Peter gives no hesitation: “You know I love you.” 

What is your identity today?  Are there things in this world that you acquire to build up yourself?  How will you respond when everything that you are, has been called upon by the Lord to forsake?  When Jesus looks at you and says: “Lovest thou me more than these?”  Do you love Jesus more than the praise of men?  Do you love Jesus more than a promotion, business, bigger house, etc.?  Lord helps us to live in such a way where Jesus Christ is our identity.  To live in such a way that there is no doubt, no question, and no hesitation: “Yea Lord you know I love you.”  Jesus does not want us to guard who we are but give up who we are.  The Apostle Peter would have never been “the Apostle Peter”, if he loved the pile of fish.        

That There Be No Divisions

“Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” – 1 Corinthians 1:10 

Harmful segregation and costly division remain at the heart of the devil’s business.  These divisions can define us, drag us down, entertain us and categorize us.  In all this we must remember that as Christian’s what is true for the world cannot be true for us.  When it comes to ungodly segregation and division, from this we must remain separate.

Paul the Christian, now converted, writing back to the new Corinthian sanctified believers saying: I am hearing that there is division among you.  I hear that some of you are saying you are of Paul or Peter or Apollos.  What is this?  Is Christ divided?  His point was/is, why are we picking sides?  There is one team, one Lord, one Captain, and we all march under his banner and follow his instruction.  Jesus Christ is our Lord, and we follow his order.  Who cares if you were baptized under Apollos or heard the gospel from Peter?  This is irrelevant.  Do not so love your heritage that you forget who saved you.  Do not so love your social group that you forget that you were once an outcast.  Love Jesus, preach Jesus and worship Him alone.  Paul was aware of the dangers of harmful division and was trying to cut it out.  Like a cancer, division can harm from within the body and kill off that which is healthy being disguised as that which is healthy.  Christ is the head, and we are the body, and there are times when the brain will instruct the body to divide but only to preserve both.  It is thus in the body of Christ; there are times when we must exhort in the Spirit, to preserve the body.  However, if you spend all your time cutting new folks down that come into your church because they don’t have the right dress, or the right theology, or the right family, you’re not preserving the body; you’re simply without faith in the head of the body.  Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.  You cannot win your neighbor to God without first loving them.  When we have faith that Christ can save and keep anyone, anywhere, it takes the pressure off you and me.  We find it gives us the liberty to live, preach, and teach holiness.  When we look to Jesus and have faith that he will diligently and dutifully instruct the body, this perfects the joining and ensures the preservation of the body.  Understanding and accepting that love toward Christ and God is the answer to it all.  We are instructed to love God with all we got and love our neighbor as ourselves.  To quote a sister in Christ I deeply respect: “think of a person in your life that you are close to who is lost.  A person you love and care for very much.  It could be your brother, cousin, son, someone special to you.  Think of that person’s face and put it in front of your mind.  Now put that person’s face on every stranger you come in contact with and treat that stranger like you would that person you love so much.” 

God wants us to segregate ourselves from harmful segregation.  He wants us to divide ourselves from unholy division.  Within the body, we look to Christ, we love and serve Him the most.  Sometimes the most difficult thing to part with is your idea of how you think things should be.  If we look to Christ, he will join us together and help us to bring others into the fellowship.  We cannot love our past so much it paralyzes our future.  We cannot love our folks more than other folks.  Division within creates division without, and this gospel is too important and our charge too great to cripple its advances with costly division.  God loved you and he loved me, when we were unlovable.  Lord helps us to never forget that we were once without, until someone, somewhere, reached out. 

He Went Out

 “For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.” – Proverbs 2:21

Abraham, the patriarch of the Jewish people, was a man called by God to leave his place of certain dwelling and asked to “go out not knowing where he went.” He did so, trusting in God to lead him to a land of promise, Canaan land.

In the Bible, Canaan land was/is the land that God promised to Abraham and his descendants. Canaan was prepared for Abraham, and in a way, Abraham was prepared for Canaan. The man of faith, the man of righteousness, the upright and perfect man; that was the man who could dwell in Canaan. It was his people who would one day enter in and possess the land. God gave for us the scriptures on the land of Canaan so that we might understand and experience the spiritual Canaan land. We live in a world of natural things, but God calls us to leave off the pursuit of the natural and dwell in the spiritual. The natural man looks, touches, reasons, and uses logic to govern his life. He lives for himself, and the things that he cares about. When God called Abraham, he was living in a city of commerce, he had a family and extended family. His situation was one of comfort and stability. It was everything that the natural man aspires after. It was the equivalent of a modern-day house in the suburbs, with kids, cars, and a healthy portfolio of investments and real estate. God called Abraham and told him to “go out;” to leave all that he had and trust that God would bring him into a better land. This was a step of tremendous faith. Those who live in Canaan land will always be a people of faith. A person who shuns the natural and seeks spiritual. A people who “go out;” following the will of God over and above everything else. It takes faith to get into Canaan land, and faith to stay in Canaan land. Faith to follow the will of God and remain in the will of God. The people of Abraham, the people of Canaan, the people of Jesus Christ; are a people of faith. Canaan is now a spiritual dwelling place, where we can live with God and His Son Jesus. When you are cleansed from all sin, it is a burden lifted, but you must seek the Holy Spirit, to become sanctified, and to be brought into Canaan land.  If you are to become sanctified and remain sanctified, then you must “go out.”  You must leave your old life, old ways, and old wishes; you must die to your idea of everything and trust in God completely. God will bless this sacrifice and give you his Spirit, not by measure, no, rather by promise. The Holy Ghost will come and dwell within your heart bringing you into the land of Canaan. This is why the upright shall dwell in the land and the perfect shall remain in it. It takes faith to get into Canaan and faith to stay in Canaan. Faith becomes your new operating principle, forsaking your own way and following His way. This is living in Canaan.

It is a good land, the land of Canaan. When you become sanctified, you find the same marvelous truths that Abraham found, which is, serving God is far more wonderful than serving anything else. The way of faith is far better than the way of sight. The spiritual, better than the natural, and the land of Canaan is and always will be the land of promise. God’s promises never fail; if you trust him, he will comfort and keep you. For the upright dwell in the land, and it is good land.

A Full Reward

“The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.”-Ruth 2:12

God does not see as man sees. We see with a limited eye and weigh our plans and ambitions on an unbalanced scale. God holds all power in earth and heaven, therefore judgement as well. To abandon the world, and all its values, is to abandon what is known to us, what is familiar. The lesson of Ruth is a lesson of trust, as much as it is a lesson of redemption.

The lesson of Ruth begins with a woman named Naomi. She left Bethlehem, in the tribe of Judah and traveled to Moab with her family. Her sons and husband died and left Naomi with two daughters in law. It is here that Naomi decided to return home, and one daughter went back to her people, and the other, Ruth, did not. The scripture says Ruth was: “steadfastly minded” to go with Naomi. So, the two of them arrived back in Bethlehem with nothing, and no one.  In a time when women had little chance to support themselves. So, Ruth did what she could and gleaned in the field with the rest of the poor and strangers.  It is there she caught the attention of Boaz. Ruth’s faith and dedication made an impact, and Boaz inquired after this young girl, finding the answer to his questions (and her character) in the words: “it is the Moaithish damsel that came back with Naomi.”  A damsel that could have stayed, could have abandoned Naomi, could have played it safe. A damsel that left all she knew to follow God. Boaz told her “It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore.”  Ruth’s faith in God moved Boaz’s heart toward her (a solid foundation for any courtship). I am sure she looked different and was slow to notice the cultural lingo, and ingrained customs. I suspect she was gossiped about, and unaccepted in certain circles. The world may reject you, gossip, slander, and degrade you, but our aim is not to live in this world but to live in heaven. Then Boaz said: “The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.”  Baby chicks have an instinct, an innate understanding that under the wings of their mother there is safety, warmth, and protection. They trust in the sheltering covert of her wings. The wings of the Lord provide a sure place, and Ruth found that out firsthand. Boaz would bring her over to his fields and instruct his reapers to “let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her.” Boaz would care for her and eventually marry her. Their marriage would prove exceedingly fruitful because from Ruth would come Obed, who would father Jesse, who would Father David; and David would become the Lord’s anointed, the king of all Israel. From whom would come the true king Jesus Christ.

In Psalm 91. King David writes “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.”  I cannot help but wonder if David was thinking of his great grandparents when he wrote this. Drawing from their experience, how Grandma Ruth abandoned all that she had, all that was familiar, to follow God. Truly, a full reward was given Ruth for her trust in God, so a full reward will be given to us as well if we trust in Him.

Worship In The Beauty Of Holiness

“Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” –Psalm 29:2

When we talk of worship, we are speaking of something reserved for God and God alone. In worship we give honor, adoration, and reverence to God and his Son Jesus; we give it to them and them alone.  This worship is clothed in the beauty of holiness. Worship is not an intellectual ascension, or a Sunday formality, worship is as much a possession as it is a practice.

In the ages before Jesus Christ the Jews had specific instructions on how to worship God. These instructions surround who, what, when, where and how. Who should worship, what should they worship and when. Finally, where, and how to do it. By following these instructions, you gave glory unto God (for he is worthy), you worshipped His name and did it in the beauty of holiness. They had the law which helped them to understand how to worship God and at times it instructed them to put on or prepare themselves to worship. You had to wash in water, wear certain garments, give certain sacrifices which were sanctifying the worshipper to approach God.  Bridging the gap between holy, and unholy.  Setting themselves apart, cleansing from committed sin and preparing to worship. At that time, this was worship in the beauty of holiness. When our Savior Jesus Christ came, he fulfilled the law (the rules I spoke of above) and brought to humanity the chance of personal holiness through Him. The gift of the Holy Spirit within whereby the converted is sanctified and brought into full fellowship with the Father.  No longer must you wash yourself X number of times or wear a certain garment. No longer must you obey rituals and slay animals; the Holy Spirit in your heart is all the preparation you need for worship. When Jesus abides into your heart, he abolishes formality and brings actuality. He removes professed and produces possessed. When you truly receive the Spirit, you simultaneously receive a genuine spirit of worship. Why? Because not only does it compel you to want Him to have his way, his will, and his wishes in your life, but it manifests in you the realization that you have been redeemed. You have a personal testimony, a real relationship, and you love God so much that it brings about a continuous spirit of worship. Moreover, you understand and recognize that he is worthy, because you remember well the day when the breath of God banished the dark cloud of sin from your life.  This is the beauty of holiness; we can possess it, and we can worship the Lord in it; “for the Father seeketh such to worship.” (John 4:23)

When holiness is your preparation for worship it changes the: who, what, when, where and how you worship. First, who.  You no longer worship yourself or an idol, but you worship God and Jesus Christ, and you do it out of love. Second, it is no longer once on Wednesday and twice on Sunday, but every minute, every hour, every day (and on Wednesday and Sunday too). It changes the where, to anywhere, anywhere God would have you to be. You can worship in your living room, in the parking lot, in your car, “where Jesus is tis heaven there.”  Finally, it changes the how. Before the experience of holiness, maybe you went to church because momma did, or granddaddy did. Your wife goes, so you go. You read your Bible because “that’s what we do.”  During this time, the “how” to worship is lost to you, just like the how to love your neighbor was lost to you. Then holiness came and when the Spirit came, the “how” came with it; and how do we worship? We worship in spirit, in truth, and in the beauty of holiness. For He is worthy.

Holiness Becometh Thine House

 “Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, forever.”-Psalm 93:5

The testimonies of God are holy, and each one as an ornament of grace and beauty. As the flower on a barren tree, or the petals on a rose, so holiness becometh thy house.

When the psalmist speaks of God’s testimonies, he is speaking of the law of Moses. The rites, practices, and rituals that sanctify the temple of God. The house of God. The dress and ephod that adorn the priests who minister; and the commandments that govern the conduct of God’s people. It all points to holiness. To a separation from the world, a sacrifice of yourself, and an obedience to God. It reflects God’s character, righteousness, goodness, and judgment. Without it there is no beauty, comeliness, or alluring presence. Holiness becometh thine house. Holiness is beautiful, comely, and befitting for the house of God, and if for His house so let it become our house as well. And what is our house? The scripture says that: “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”(2 Corinthians 5:1) Our house here on earth is not about four walls and a roof, nor is it all about two hundred and six bones, containing seventy-eight organs, covered over with skin. Though this body that we walk around with is our tabernacle, it means more than just a collection of molecules. It is the decisions we make, and the consequences we leave behind. Our actions and reactions, our thoughts, words, and deeds. It all compiles together to create a house. People seek to ornament their house with so many worldly things, because they are becoming to the people of this world. Yet none becoming and so enduring as the ornament of holiness. Nothing so attractive to Almighty God as holiness and righteousness. When God chose to adorn his priest, he chose to use the finest stones, and choicest jewels, yet on his forehead he chose to proclaim: HOLINESS TO THE LORD. It was holiness that would lead the charge, holiness that would be set before them, holiness that must always remain on their minds.

God is holy, Christ is holy, and we are to be a people of holiness. It is not for us to promote worldly measures to try and attract worldly minds. No, our attractiveness to the world rises no higher and falls no lower than this powerful truth: “Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, forever.”

Perfection? -

“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” – Matthew 5:48

Question:    Does God expect perfection?

Short Answer: Yes.

Long Answer: Perfection is a widely misunderstood and misrepresenting point of doctrine.  The charge to perfection was made very plain by our Savior, therefore the means of attaining it must be equally as plain; and it is.  Jesus himself proclaimed it, taught it, bought it, and gifted the means to bring it unto us.

                God wants your heart.  If you read the Sermon on the Mount carefully (Matthew 5-8) you will find that Jesus speaks to issues deeper than the physical.  He calls for righteousness, righteousness that goes deeper than just what you do.  He wants to cleanse all the way to what your heart intends.  I find it no coincidence that he starts his ministry with a sermon about the heart and ends his ministry with a sermon about the heart (John 14-17).  The perfection is found in your heart; a perfect heart is a holy heart.  What God wants to perfect is within.  If I break my finger, my body is now less than perfect; am I now condemned to hell because I am no longer perfect?  No.  There is no disobedience found in a broken finger.  Imperfection in God’s eyes is rooted in disobedience to God, direct disobedience to God is sin, and sin is rooted in carnality (the desire to sin against God).  Carnality (the innate desire to sin) is found in the heart of man, and it is that which needs to be sanctified by the Holy Ghost.  When the Holy Ghost comes in it will purge out that want to sin and sanctify your heart to the service of God, manifesting in your life a perfect love for God, and a perfect love for man.  It is this love that brings peace, joy, contentment, obedience, wisdom, and all the fullness and goodness of God.  God expects you to have a perfect heart, and you get there by repenting of your sins.  God will forgive you as he has promised in His Word.  After this work of grace one must invite Jesus, in the person of the Holy Ghost, to come in and “take up his abode with you.”  The second work of grace.  By this very action God gives you a new heart that is conformed to the image of himself: holy, pure, clean, and perfect; and when he has your heart, he has you. 

                To deny perfection is to deny sanctification, and to deny sanctification is to deny the will of God, and the power of God.  The power that can save to the uttermost all that come unto Him (Heb 7:25).  The power that can keep that which is committed unto Him against that day (2 Tim 1:12).  What sin is too great for God?  Why must we wait until we are in heaven to live holy? Why can He not deliver you now, from all sin?  Do not abuse the grace of God or deny the power of God a moment longer.  Fully embrace the cross and surrender your all to Christ.  Open the door of your heart and let Jesus come in and sanctify you wholly. 

The Grace That Brings Salvation

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:11-14

The human mind cannot comprehend the power of God’s grace.  What God has done for us, in contrast with what we deserve, is as vast as the cosmos.  The grace that brought salvation is truly an amazing grace.

This grace that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men.  The Holy Spirit will bring conviction, and the conviction of the Holy Spirit is the revealing of the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  Illuminating the reality that you are a sinner that needs a Savior.  Jesus is that Savior and he died for you.  When a penitent soul pours out their transgressions in earnest at an altar of prayer, you can rest assured that it is the Spirit of God that brought that about.  That soul who repents and truly forsakes their sin; dying out to all that he/she is, was, and ever will be.  That soul is truly converted; and when that soul approaches God once more and seeks the blessing of Sanctification he/she will obtain the Spirit of Jesus dwelling inside.  This Holy Spirit will eliminate carnality with the same consuming fire that scorched the sacrifice on Mt. Carmel and licked up the water around (1 Kings 18); this Spirit can very much keep you from all sin and lead you in paths of righteousness.  This is the grace that bringeth salvation, it is not a grace that keeps you in sin but brings you out of sin.  Grace calls us, converts us, sanctifies us, keeps us, and corrects us.  It is forgiveness, it is absolution, but forgiveness and absolution are but a part of the whole.  Grace is in absolution, but grace is not only absolution.  Like a lawyer representing you in a courtroom.  Pleading the blood of Christ, and your identity to his sacrifice (i.e. dying to your wills, ways, and wishes) will result in a not guilty verdict and absolve you of your crimes against Almighty God.  However, absolution was not the end goal of Jesus’s sacrifice.  It is salvation through sanctification.  Using God’s grace as a rug that you lay down over the stain of sin in your life, or a filter to distort the wickedness in you is something that God forbids.  The grace of God that brings salvation is the kind of grace that convicts, calls, and commands you to sacrifice yourself.  This grace brings full deliverance from all sin, which is salvation.  Salvation from sins committed and the desire to sin.  Every Sunday, masses walk into a church to hear a sermon.  If we preach sermons that promote absolution over deliverance, then we undermine the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  The message is grace, but the grace of God that can bring salvation; and I believe that there are many people in this world who no longer wish to live in righteousness and true holiness.

The grace that bringeth salvation hath appeared.  It appears in the human conscience, whenever the power of God pulls on a heart, it has appeared and appears unto all men.  This grace will bring salvation; do not let it become callous over by the continuing call of the world, the business of life, or the desire to remain in habitual absolution.  Break with the half-truth that Jesus came only to absolve our sins and embrace the grace that brings complete salvation from all sin.

Cieled Houses

“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

The value of a home is far more than just four walls and a roof.  Equity and investment.  It is the center of your life.  Your “homebase.”  A place of shelter, safety, comfort, and security.  A dwelling place.  Yet, for all its value, it’s only temporary. 

The prophet Haggai asked the people of God this searching question: “is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?”  The house to which he was referring was the temple in Jerusalem.  The temple which the scribe Ezra, and the cupbearer Nemiah had endeavored (by God’s help) to rebuild.  Haggai saw the waste and destruction of God's house and challenged the people.  The people had built cieled houses for themselves.  Comfortable, safe, convenient, affluent homes to dwell in.  While God’s house lay ruined. A cieled house was an extravagant house.  It would have had paneling and covering.  Proof that the people had money left over to give.  Time left over to sacrifice, and energy left over to serve.  Yet they spent all this on a covering for a covering.  On coating and finishing for their four walls, while God’s house had no walls.  The destruction of God’s house should have shocked them into action, but they passed by unconcerned, while decorating their own homes.  The destruction of God’s house should shock us into action; however, the comfort of a cieled house cradles us in apathy. How can we sit at ease when the world around us cries out for the gospel?  How can we dwell in fatness, when multitudes are starving for truth?  Is it not the ones that live around us with whom God wants to dwell?  Should we eat, drink, and be merry while the world burns?  Can you face God honestly after spending your life at play?  Heaping up treasures, comforts, and safety nets for your safety nets, while the Lord’s house lies in ruin?  It is not brick and mortar that must receive our work, but men and women.  The people around us who need the restorative power of Christ in their lives.  Let us receive the exhortation of the prophet.  Rise and work!  Ministry is messy.  It’s the life of a miner.  Descending into the darkness each day to hammer against the hardest stone of sin and wickedness; praying that amidst all the filth and dust there lies a precious jewel.  Ministry is a risky endeavor.  It is an uncomfortable task.  Yet, those who choose to follow Christ sign up for suffering.  “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”  (2 Cor 4:17-18)

Our mission has taken us to the front lines of the battlefield, where excess is abhorred.  No soldier would hold on to double rations while his brother starved.  No medic would hold back life saving medicine, from the wounded and dying.  We dare not stay home, while the rest of our brothers and sisters die on foreign lands, in foreign fields.  For how can we dwell in cieled houses, and call ourselves disciples?  

The Work Of Righteousness

“Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: Which justify the wicked for reward and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!”- Isaiah 5:22-23

The justification of wickedness will interrupt the operation of righteousness. Like a white blood cell, righteousness will find and destroy sin, and when the preaching of truth falls on a ready heart it convicts or converts.  

In the prophet Isaiah’s day, there were false prophets falsifying God’s judgment on sin. Desiring to ease the burden of the word of God. Or so they thought. They told the people “Smooth things” and prophesied deceit. While Isaiah spoke the truth in righteousness. The people flocked to the false prophets because they coddled their sin, justifying the wicked, which took away from the possibility of righteousness. A work where the righteousness of God will confront sin, and the truth of God’s word exposes sin. Once exposed the sinner will quake under the truth that God is righteous, and they are wicked. Then they will either yield, rage, or run. Rage like a dying animal with its last stand. Rage like a wolf's den disturbed, or a bear robbed of her cubs. Yet, in all the rage and discomfort, it must not be that the work of righteousness is taken away; for the end of it is peace and assurance. As Isaiah says in chapter thirty-two: “And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.”  Righteousness will purge out sin and establish peace. The peace of knowing God richer, fuller, deeper, and sincerely. This will settle in and promote more righteousness. Reveal more grace. Humble the penitent still further. God desires the work of righteousness to be accomplished on the earth, by accomplishing it in earth. In you and me. From the very beginning he sought to preserve righteousness, saying of Noah “for thee have I seen righteous before me.”  The Holy Ghost, coupled with the Word of God is not only the giving of righteousness but an instructor in righteousness. I ask, what area of life could not be better with instruction in righteousness? What if all relationships were righteous? All the businesses just? What if every heart of man was set to do what is right? Bars would close, gambling halls, strip clubs, and prisons boarded up. Locksmiths and security companies would go out of business. Donation boxes would fill up, while poverty and homelessness went down. Our fighting forces and weapons money redistributed. This is because the cleansing wave of righteousness flows like a mighty stream, purging out the deadness of the land, and leaving behind water that gives life. Well said the prophet Amos “But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.” (Amos 5:24)

This stream of righteousness can reach you. Are you a liar? Are you a cheat? Are you ashamed of the sin you are living with or living in? Do not comfort it, kill it! Do not justify it. Kill it! As David did Goliath, pick up the sword and cut its head off. Kill it, kill it all. Why can’t we be rid of wickedness? Why can’t righteousness work a work in you? Nobody wants a little bit of cancer; they want to be rid of it. Why should we settle to have a little bit of sin within, when within our reach is the means to destroy it? Christ offered the work of righteousness as a gift. Take it, take it by faith and stop at nothing until you have it. Kneel before God, die to yourself and surrender to Christ. 

Precious Promises

“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”-2 Peter 1:4

Life is full of promises. Promises that you make and promises that others will make to you. It is likely you have had someone promise you something, and they have broken that promise. It is just as likely that we have broken a few promises ourselves. Man is fallible, but God is faithful.

From an early age, kids’ pickup on promises made to them saying things like: “Daddy, you promised.”  My dad was quick to counter this and implement the “we’ll see” method so as not to overcommit himself. And now, I do the same, because when you make a promise, you set yourself up to proceed in the realms of faith and trust. We all make promises. Promises to your kids, your family, your spouse, friends, employers, and employees. Promises are a pledge, declaration, with which it binds the promisor in conscience and honor. Promises to bind us together, they make up an essential component of society. Faith and trust are the building blocks of promises. To keep them builds up faith and trust, and to break them tears it down. Therefore, when someone makes you a promise, and you act on it, you are exercising faith in that promise and that person. You are saying “I trust your word.”  Do you trust God’s Word today? Do you believe His promises? Then act. Act on them. In Hebrews eleven it tells of a people of faith who acted in faith on God’s promises. Noah, at God’s word, began building a boat long before it ever rained. God called Abraham out of his own country to go to a land which Abraham knew not. God made Abraham a promise that he would be the father of many nations, and Abraham obeyed God in faith. Joseph believed the same promise that God gave Abraham and asked that they would carry his bones up out of Egypt to the land of Canaan. Moses believed God and left the lap of luxury, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than that of Egypt. Gideon went to battle against incredible odds, believing the Word of God, over the evidence of strategy. They believed the promises and waited for the promise. The promise of the Father that would solidify all promises. A promise that Jesus would come, die, rise again, and send the Holy Ghost to fulfill the promise to dwell with us. To adopt us, to give us power to become the sons of God. To deliver us from the snare of Satan. To assure us of a home in heaven. To separate us from a life of sin. To comfort, guide, and teach us. To be an everlasting testament and cornerstone of all of God’s promises to us. God has given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Promise. “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”  Promise. “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” Promise.  Take time, take down your Bible, and read all the promises that God has made to us. We can stand on the promises of God. We can believe them, trust them, and we can have confidence in them. We can act in faith with them.  As the hymn says: “they are builded sure and strong for the conflict with the wrong, God’s promises are never known to fail.”

The same God that sacrificed for us, is willing to sanctify us, and carry us through this life into a home in heaven. The promises of God are indeed exceedingly great and precious. Believe, trust, and act on them. 

Ye Are Idle

“But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord.”-Exodus 5:17

The scripture says: “whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”  The world cannot esteem the things of God, because they are contrary one to the other.  This is the case when it comes to praying.  At best the world views it as personal development, and often as idle time.  However, like farming, when the seeds of prayer are sown in the fertile ground of faith it will bear much fruit.  It may take some time, but it will pay off. 

In the above text, Moses comes to Pharaoh at the word of the Lord to tell him to let God’s people go that they may go and worship.  Pharaoh responds: “Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord.”  Then he tells them to get back to work.  Pharaoh is like the world in this instance.  When the people want to go out and worship the Lord his response is that they must not be busy enough.  If they have enough time to go and worship, then they should have enough time to go and work.  Prayer being an element of worship, an essential component of worship.  Of all that is attacked by the world as idleness and slothfulness it is the place of prayer.  Yet nothing could be further from the truth.  Prayer has a profound utility to it, just not in the way that the world honors.  The world exalts the man that sits down, hashes out a plan, rally’s the labor, the capital, and then executes that plan.  It bears their name and most often they rejoice in the glory of it all.  From entrepreneurs to military generals, this kind of work is esteemed.  Yet the labor of prayer is not this way; it is founded in a place of yielding.  It is not that you concoct a brilliant strategy but wait before the Lord for direction.  It is not that you rally labor and capital to your cause but rely on the moving of the Spirit of God to: open doors, send volunteers, and provide the means.  It is not that you follow through with your strength and might but give yourself over to His might that he may work through you, giving glory to God.  The early church wasn’t strategizing and organizing in the upper room, they were praying.  Praying and waiting on the power from above.  Some took them for idle drunkards, but little did they know that the work was underway and had been underway since the foundation of the world.  They were simply fulfilling their part in the plan of God.  What seems like idleness to the carnal world is essential in the work of God.  The investor that sets a certain sum in a sure stock knows that in time his money will compound.  What seems like idleness to the untrained, is in fact compounding into a generous sum.  So, it is in the place of prayer.

We must invest our all in the place of prayer, because only through prayer can we beat back the forces of darkness.  The battle ground we are tasked to fight cannot be won through capital and strategy.  We are fighting for the eternal soul of man.  We are preaching to raise the dead from sin.  We are laboring to liberate the captive from the clutches of Satan.  It’s spiritual warfare that must be fought with spiritual weapons.  So let us find ourselves praying. 

Take Your Place

 “And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord:”-Genesis 19:27

The man who is intimate with God will see and experience things other men will not.  They can entreat God with confidence, and where others will shrink from the same request they make; they in turn inquire with boldness.  When the time came Abraham knew the voice of God and followed, when others did not. 

The verse above comes to us concerning the father of Israel.  God’s chosen man, Abraham.  Here is up early to meet God, and he looks toward the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Only to find them burning to the ground.  Just one chapter before Abraham had noticed the angels of God headed toward Sodom, and he invited them in and entreated them as brethren.  He then began to inquire of God about Sodom and Gomorrah’s deliverance.  Asking for it to be spared of God’s wrath.  He began asking for fifty, just fifty righteous people in the city and God would spare it.  Then he asked for forty-five, then thirty, then twenty, then ten.  God was patient with him, and said he would spare the city at every count.  He heard Abraham’s request, and Abraham had the boldness to ask.  I believe Abraham had insight where others could not, because of his morning worship.  The hours that could have been given to work or rest, Abraham went to his place and stood before the Lord.  When you have a “place” it stands to reason that it is a place you frequent.  Whether it is a chair or a couch.  A pew of a church or certain locker at a gym.  Everything has a place, and it’s a place you go back to over and over.  I believe Abraham had a place he went to over and over to stand before the Lord.  To communion with him, to worship him, and to hear his voice.  The voice of God was Abraham’s priority.  He knew firsthand what obedience and belief could do.  He had seen how God had called him, blessed him, and provided for him in miraculous ways.  Abraham won battels he should not have won, obtained favor he should not have obtained.  Abraham thrived, because God was with him.  He was near to God’s will, and the Lord blessed Him.  He stood before the Lord, and because he stood before the Lord, that intimacy with God gave him a boldness and perseverance to continue to ask of God.  When you’re intimate with something or someone, it affords you a boldness that others don’t have.  The career carpenter will swing a hammer with confidence to drive a nail, because he has done it thousands of times.  The captain knows how far he can push his vessel because he has sailed it thousands of miles.  The husband can say things to his wife no other man can, and the same goes for a wife to her husband.  The man that appears before the Lord will have an intimacy with God that others are forsaking, and consequently they will have a boldness with God that some do not have.

Abraham couldn’t control the outcome of Sodom and Gomorrah, but he could make the ask.  He could presume upon God to change God’s righteous judgment; and God listened to him!  The Almighty God engaged with Abraham over the deliverance of a wicked and sinful city.  This is one of the many benefits of spending quality time with God.  That he hears and answers prayer.  Regularly, taking your place before the Lord to fellowship with Him to know His heart affords to that soul a boldness through intestacy that many miss out on, because they are captivated by the things of this world.