Month: January 2017

Justice can be tough sometimes. Pastor Gordon Banks told us at our annual First Love Conference a few weeks ago about being stopped and ticketed for speeding when he knew he was not guilty. He took his case to court and before entering the courtroom he prayed, “Give me justice, Lord. That’s all I want is justice.” After hearing his story the judge said, “Guilty, next case!”  He left the courtroom muttering to himself that he would wear an orange jumpsuit and pick up trash along the highway rather than pay that unfair fine. When he got back to the car he pleaded, “Lord, I asked you for justice.” The Holy Spirit replied, “I gave you exactly what you asked for. That fine is for all of the times you were speeding and didn’t get caught.  You should have asked for mercy.”

Even when we recognize our need for mercy, we still have a tendency to call for justice for others. Our nature draws us to the Old Testament form of justice that says “an eye for an eye; tooth for a tooth” (Exodus 21:24 and Leviticus 24:20). In the hands of men, that becomes revenge instead of justice. We need to turn to Jesus (Matthew 5:44 and Luke 6:27&35) who tells us to love and show mercy to our enemies while letting God dispense justice.

The Laws of Nature are created by God and discovered by man.  In addition to the law of gravity, Isaac Newton discovered his third law of motion which states, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”  There is a parallel spiritual law that states “You reap what you sow”. (Galatians 6:7) It is God’s law of just reward. Some call it karma; others just smile and say, “What goes around comes around.” Whatever you call it, it is just as dependable as gravity or any physical law of nature. If you want to be blessed – bless others. If you want to be forgiven – forgive others. If you want encouragement – encourage others. If you want to be loved – love others. If you treat others cruelly – brace yourself.

Our God is not only just, He is also loving and merciful. He gives us grace (that which we don’t deserve) and mercy (sparing us from what we deserve). In this world justice and mercy are an either/or proposition; we can receive one or the other.  Only God can be both just and merciful.  Here is how that works. God’s word tells us that all of us have sinned. (Romans 3:23) It also tells us that the penalty for sin is death. (Romans 6:23) Imagine standing before the judge and receiving a death sentence for your crimes, and then the judge takes off his robe, steps down from the bench and offers himself as your replacement on death row. That is how our loving God is both just and merciful; Jesus gave up his life for your sins.

As I prayerfully write this using a computer keyboard with spell and grammar check and the ability to delete or edit mistakes as I go along, I am reminded of some ancient history.

I was 19 when I arrived on Okinawa with the Air Force in 1962.  For the first six months I was assigned as analyst on the second shift working in our secure compound from 4:00 pm to midnight.  It was usually very quiet with no one looking over my shoulder, but at the end of each shift I had to create an activity report with my analysis of everything that happened on my shift.  There was no computer; just an electric typewriter and continuous feed four ply paper with actual carbon paper between the plies.  The pages were perforated but the report had to be continuous and free of errors (any correction would make the copies illegible).  Some nights my report was five or six pages long and as I approached the last page, knowing that just one typo would cause me to have to start all over again, my hands would literally tremble above the keyboard.  I would stop, pour my fourth or fifth cup of coffee (which didn’t do much for my nerves), clear my mind and then pray for God to steady my hands and help me complete my report without error.  That calmed me every time.  My prayer life was actually strengthened by the nightly stress of those reports.  By the time I got promoted and reassigned to a position on the day shift as supervisor, I was relying on the Lord for peace and strength in everything I did, not just my reports.

Sports trainers and physical therapists will tell you that to build strength you need resistance.  The more resistance you work out against the stronger you become (up to a point).  We’ve all heard the saying, “What doesn’t kill you makes you strong”.  You may have thought, as I have, “If that is true, I should be able to bench press a school bus by now”.

Our spiritual resistance usually comes from our own sinful nature on the inside and from the enemy and his minions on the outside.  Struggling against both of them strengthens our faith muscles and our prayer muscles.  As you know, believers already have the power within us to overcome anything or anyone standing in our way.  Our faith and our prayers release that power allowing us to overcome the enemy and even our own sinful nature.  God really does cause everything to work together for good. (Romans 8:28)  I am so thankful Jesus has made it possible for us to overcome all resistance using it instead as a way to strengthen us.

When I think about how all of the battles in my life have strengthened my faith and my prayer life, it almost makes me want to thank Satan for providing the resistance – ALMOST.   I’ll continue to praise God instead for showing me how to use that opposition for good in my life.

As believers we often speak about God’s provision. We trust God to provide what we need when we need it.  Jesus explained it this way, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”  (Matthew 6:25-33) A good example of provision is when God’s people were starving in the wilderness and He provided them with manna from heaven to eat.  It could not be stored but was provided each day as it was needed.

While it is comforting to know that God will provide our physical needs, it is also thrilling to find that He provides us with much more.  The Holy Spirit dwelling within us provides endless resources to accomplish any task God sets before us.

The Holy Spirit has been my guide, teacher, counselor and comforter over all of these years but I have only scratched the surface of the power I have within me as a result of his presence. Please don’t misunderstand, I am not “possessed” by God’s Spirit. He does not force me to do anything. He will only do for me what I ask of Him. When I ask for guidance He strongly prompts me to do God’s will.  When I ask Him to teach me He opens my mind to God’s word and gives me a better understanding of the world around me. When I seek His counsel He always helps me make the right decision. When I needed comfort after losing my wife of fifty years to cancer He wiped away my tears and brought loving people into my life to make sure I was not alone. Sadly, there have been times in my life when I slid behind the wheel and took control of my life while the Holy Spirit waited patiently in the back seat until I would wind up in a ditch and beg Him to take the wheel again.

Once, I saw a fan at the ballpark with his baseball cap turned backward and sunglasses high on his head while he struggled to keep the sun out of his eyes by blocking it with his raised hand. I think that is the way we must appear to God when we ignore the resources He has provided and try to take matters into our own hands. Like that fan we don’t always put our resources to their best use. God help us to do better.

 

 

At our watch service on New Year’s Eve, our pastor challenged each of us to ask God in prayer for a single word for 2017.  The word God gave me was “forward”.  Martin Luther King, Jr. (whose birthday we celebrated this week) once said, “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” With arthritic knees and cramping leg muscles I am somewhere between walking and crawling, but I will keep moving forward this year.

The Christian life is not dull or boring. It is full of blessings and burdens, ups and downs, support and opposition, even joy and sorrow. Jesus didn’t promise us a smooth road or calm seas, but He did promise to be with us through it all. The key is to keep our life in drive and moving forward toward His perfect plan for us. We may have to shift into a lower gear when climbing a mountain, but as long as we keep moving we are making progress.

Have you noticed when you make progress toward your calling the enemy comes against you with everything he has? One of my favorite young pastors has said, “If you haven’t confronted the devil in a while, it might be because you are running in the same lane he is in.”  External conditions may seem to all be stacked against you and Satan whispers in your ear that there is just no use to keep going. He cannot come between you and God, nor can he take away your salvation or your calling.  He will simply try to put your quest to reach God’s goal for your life on hold because every believer he can put into neutral or park is a small victory for him, delaying his inevitable defeat.

How do we keep moving forward in the face of such strong opposition? In Psalms 31:9-14, David describes his extremely desperate struggle against fierce opposition from the enemy. Then he concludes, “But I am trusting you, O lord, saying, ‘You are my God!’” David knew that it was God’s power that he needed to keep him moving through such fierce storms. Romans 8:11 reminds us, “God’s spirit, that raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.” That is all the power we will ever need to keep us moving forward.

Henry Ford once wrote, “When you feel like all is against you just remember that an airplane takes off against the wind not with the wind.” I believe God has designed us so that utilizing His power to move forward against the enemy’s opposition will lift us above the obstacles in our path just as an opposing wind lifts an airplane.

 

 

We have heard a multitude of jokes that begin, “A man (or woman) died and went to heaven”. I have laughed at them and told many of them in my lifetime. Those jokes give us no real glimpse of heaven; they are just our way of whistling past the graveyard and laughing at death. I have, however, found two stories that do give us some human perspective of heaven.

A Sunday school teacher asked her young class, “Who wants to go to heaven?” Everyone raised their hand except one boy. She asked, “Jimmy, don’t you want to go to heaven when you die?” He quickly replied, “Sure I do. I thought you were getting a group together to go now.” It has been said that everyone wants to go to heaven but no one wants to die. Maybe that is why so many people prefer to think of heaven as an eternal retirement community waiting for us when our work here finally comes to an end.

A doctor told a patient that he has a terminal illness and the patient asked, “What is it like on the other side of death?” The doctor replied, “I don’t know.” The patient persisted, “You are a Christian and a man of science and you don’t know what happens when we die?” At that moment there was scratching on the examining room door. The doctor opened the door and a dog burst into the room and ran to the doctor with tail wagging wildly. The doctor said, “This is my dog. My son brought him by the office on his way back from the vet. He has never been in this room before. All he knew about it was that his master was there so he entered the room without fear. All I really know about heaven is that my Master is there, so I will go through that door without fear.” As we search God’s word for a glimpse of heaven we often overlook the two most important points. Heaven is living in the presence of God and He has provided a way for us to be there with Him.  Jesus proclaimed, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

When I was a teenager I learned about hell from an evangelist who traveled the country describing the fires of hell right down to the smallest glowing ember. You could almost smell the sulfur when he preached. As a young believer it seemed to me that he was selling fire insurance against eternal damnation instead of offering salvation and freedom from our sinful nature through the grace and mercy of Almighty God.  When the Bible tells us to fear God it doesn’t mean we should be scared to death of Him. It means we should be in awe of God’s power and majesty.  The most important thing about hell is that it is complete separation from God. The fire and brimstone of hell have never scared me nearly as much as the thought of being separated from my Creator.

Heaven and hell do exist. I know that because the word of God says so, but I have also experienced a taste of each of them in my life. Some may ask, “How can a loving and just God condemn people to eternal suffering in hell while taking others to heaven?” God doesn’t choose heaven or hell – we do.  Heaven or hell actually begins for each of us right here on earth when we choose either to follow Jesus into the presence of God or follow Satan away from God’s presence and toward that place prepared for him. We must choose our path and our final destination here and now; death simply makes our decision final.

Time is so frustrating.  When I was young and energetic time seemed to pass so slowly that my patience was constantly tested.  Now that I’m old and much less energetic the days, months and years fly by seemingly in the blink of an eye.  Add to that the fact that time has seemed to speed up or slow down throughout my life depending on my circumstances.  At work on a slow day or sitting in church during a long sermon, time would nearly stand still, yet when I was doing something enjoyable time would fly by.  A while back I caught up with a friend in the church parking lot after the noon service.  We had not spoken to each other in a while so we began to share all that was happening in our lives and before we knew it two hours had passed.  It is that easy to lose all track of time (and hunger) when you become engrossed.

There are hundreds of books, CDs and videos about time management.  I have yet to find a single one of them that actually teaches how to manage time.  Instead, they all teach how to manage priorities to help get the important things done in the time we have.  I think Sam Levenson had the best advice about time when he said, “Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.”

There is a story about a little boy who loved to visit his grandmother.  He especially liked the big grandfather clock in her living room.  He would sit on the carpet in front of it as noon approached and then count off the chimes.  One day the mechanism in the clock went haywire and the clock chimed a thirteenth and fourteenth time.  The boy excitedly ran to find his grandmother.  “Grandma,” he shouted, “It is later than it has ever been before!”  There is a lot of truth to that statement.  It is later now as you read this than it has ever been before and it will soon be even later.  Are we making good use of the time we have been given?

We are limited by time and space.  God is not.  Since He created time and space, He obviously operates outside of them.  God’s timing is always perfect for accomplishing His will, but His time doesn’t always correspond to time as we know it.  From the perspective of Mary and Martha, Jesus was four days late to heal their brother before he died.  In reality, He was right on time to demonstrate His power over death by calling Lazarus from the grave.  When we trust God to answer our prayers, we should also trust His perfect timing.  No need to watch the clock or even the calendar as we await His answer.

As for my current position in time, I’m sure it won’t surprise anyone that the words of a song sum it up nicely for me:

“It has been such a long time since I started this journey,

But heaven gets closer with each passing day.

Though my feet may grow weary I won’t stumble or stray,

For He leads me each step of the way.”

 

 

Thomas Jefferson wrote in our Declaration of Independence from the British that all of us are endowed by our Creator with “certain unalienable rights: that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.   Jefferson understood that happiness is not a God-given right. It is solely dependent on our circumstances and our reaction to those circumstances.  We should, however, be free to pursue happiness by changing our environment and adjusting our attitude.

There are people today who believe it is their right to be happy.  They see anything that interferes with their happiness as an intrusion or threat. They are even offended when someone else has a different definition of happiness than they do.  Although God created us equal in His sight, He created each of us as unique individuals and I have found that part of becoming a mature adult is accepting those differences as interesting, at times challenging, but never threatening.  There have been times in my life when I have pursued things that I thought would make me happy, but my happiness is almost always found in people and my relationships with them not material comfort.  Happiness seems to be more and more complicated and elusive in today’s society.

Joy, on the other hand, really does come from our Creator.  Joy came into the world as angels heralded the birth of Jesus.  We receive God’s joy in our hearts only through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  When we accept Christ as our savior, we are filled with true joy.  There is no need to pursue or search for it.  At times we may lose some of our joy when we concentrate too much on our circumstances or our emotions, but to become joyful again all we have to do is concentrate on our blessings and praise God for each of them.  When we do that we cannot help but be filled with joy once more.

Unlike happiness, joy does not depend on our circumstances.  In the words of one of my favorite Southern Gospel songs: “He gave me joy – real joy – unspeakable gladness, a peace I had not known before. In the storm he took away my sorrow; gave hope for tomorrow and more. He gave me joy in the storm.”

With God’s joy in our hearts we just might find that happiness is not so elusive after all.

Trust is the foundation of every strong relationship, but how do you attain it? You can’t just ask for it. When someone says, “Trust me,” our defenses go up and that is the last thing we do without a thorough investigation. So how do we become trustworthy? To answer that question make a list of everyone you trust. Now go down the list and look for common traits they all possess.

I can guarantee that everyone on your list is honest.  How can you trust someone who might be lying to you or cheating you? You can’t. So honesty is the first and most important trait of trustworthy people. I bet they are all dependable too. Honest people who aren’t there when we need them soon lose our trust. Finally, you know that each person on your list sincerely cares about you and your relationship with them.

So it is simple. To be trustworthy all you have to do is be honest, dependable and truly care about people. While that is true it certainly is not simple. We have all had someone take advantage of us in one way or another. Those in whom we have placed our trust have disappointed us. As a result, most people have built strong defenses that you must overcome in order to gain their trust and that usually takes time and a lot of effort. It isn’t enough to be honest, dependable and caring; we must prove it over time by our words and actions.

There is one way to speed up the process of earning someone’s trust. In sales it is called a referral. In other relationships we might call it a personal endorsement. It is when someone who has already earned the trust of a person vouches for your trustworthiness as well. That kind of endorsement is great, but it comes with added responsibility. You are now not only proving your trustworthiness, but the trustworthiness of the person who endorsed you.

One interesting example of such an endorsement occurred years ago when I was a pest control salesman. I inspected a prospective customer’s home and was ready to propose a solution to their problem when the gentleman told me I would have to wait for his wife to get home. Impatiently, I plopped down in a chair in their living room to wait. A little dog came over and began sniffing my pant leg, no doubt picking up the scent of my dog. I slowly reached down and began scratching him behind his ears and by the time the lady of the house came home he was contentedly curled up in my lap. Her mouth dropped open in shock. She had never seen her dog take to a stranger like that. When I presented my proposal she immediately agreed to take the service and this time her husband’s mouth dropped open in shock. He had never seen his wife agree to anything that quickly. Her best friend told her I could be trusted and that was good enough for her. I remember doing a very thorough service in order to protect her dog’s reputation as a good judge of character.

Now that we know more about gaining the trust of those around us, how does that apply to our relationship with God? Trusting God is easy. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) He is not only honest; He is truth.  God is also dependable. “Trust in the lord always, for the lord God is the eternal rock.” (Isaiah 26:4) Finally, God cares about us. “We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in His love. God is love, and all who live in God live in love, and God lives in them.” (I John 4:16) God not only cares about us, He is love.

Only one big question remains. Can God trust us? He certainly can’t trust our sinful nature. When we put our faith in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our salvation, repent of our sins and receive the Holy Spirit within us, Jesus then presents us to God the Father with His personal endorsement because we are now his adopted brother or sister in God’s family.  When God looks at us He sees the righteousness of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit and He can trust us to produce good fruit.

New Year’s Day is a great time for beginnings; a time to turn the page and start fresh.  There is a strong impulse to make resolutions of change for the coming year.  Most of our resolutions involve habits.  Although we often think of habits as being good or bad there are some that are neither.  For instance, it has been 51 years since I was in the military but I still step off with my left foot first.  There would be no advantage for me to step off with my right foot so why bother changing that old habit?

New Year’s resolutions are often vows to start good habits like daily exercise, daily time in God’s word and praying or daily time with family members loving and encouraging each of them.  There is a simple way to form any good habit we want.  Psychologists tell us if we do something for 21 days it will become a habit.  I don’t know what is so special about that number, but I have tried it and it works.  We may have already formed some good habits without even realizing it.  Buckling our seat belt in the car is a very good habit. It could not only save our life but also keep us from paying a fine.   Aristotle had this to say about good habits, “We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” God’s word tells us that love is not an act but a habit we should develop.  (II John 1:5-6 and numerous other passages.)

New Year’s resolutions may also be vows to end bad habits.  When we think about our habits we seem to gravitate to the bad ones out of guilt or conviction.  Eliminating a bad habit is not as simple as starting a new one.   Simply stopping a bad habit for 21 days won’t work.  We must replace it with a good habit for 21 days to help reprogram our minds.  Some bad habits have become full blown addictions.  We need help freeing ourselves from addictions.  Through prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit, Cleansing Stream classes at CLC help free us from bad habits, addictions and pain or guilt we continue to carry from our past.

I began smoking cigarettes while I was in the Air Force.  It was a common bad habit of the 1960s.  Fortunately, I didn’t smoke enough to develop a strong physical addiction to nicotine so when I came back home to look for a job and start married life God filled my life with so many positive changes that I didn’t even think about buying a pack of cigarettes.  I have friends who have experienced a very strong addiction to nicotine who testify to the miraculous power of God healing their body and setting them free with no craving or withdrawal symptoms in answer to prayer.  God wants to release us from physical, mental or spiritual addictions.  All we have to do is ask for His help.

If we rely on our own will power to keep our resolutions for this New Year, we will fail within a few days as usual.  However, if we ask God to help us make our list of resolutions and then guide us through those changes we can look forward to a year of great improvement and success.