Independence

This is the time of year that men created just to give them permission to blow stuff up.  Think about it, fireworks?  Come on, we could have just launched a bunch of balloons in the air, instead of taking cardboard cartridges laced with gun powder, placing them on our streets, and igniting them in order to celebrate our independence.

But behind each strike of the match is a competition between men like no other. Just as nations show off their military strength through their military parades, the men of America proudly march their arsenal of fireworks to the streets each fourth of the July, sizing up their munitions with the Jones’s down the street.  Buried inside each neighbor is the hidden agenda to make the biggest boom.  With each new fountain or mortar, we peer down the street to see if we have stolen the attention of the neighborhood kids from their own family’s display of pyrotechnics.  Every man knows that you win this display of might by turning the heads of the neighbor kids.  The man that stands the proudest is the one who has the largest crowd of strangers standing at the end of his driveway at the end of the night as neighbors you have never met before wander innocently down the street to gaze at your colorful display of fire.  But, every once in awhile, an amateur takes the trophy home early in reckless passion for the night by simply setting off all the car alarms within a square mile with a homemade concoction of years gone by firework duds. 

Independence Day, what a day.  I have had some great ones in the past.  Just last year, my brother and I combined forces, producing enough black powder to reenact our own British invasion.  We gave new meaning to the saying, “Christmas in July”, as we lit up the night.

As we tilt our heads up this year, looking to the skies in remembrance of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, I encourage you to also turn your head to the cross. 

There, in the middle of a sunny afternoon, the skies began to darken, as the life of our Jesus began to leave his body.  He could have displayed his might and fought off his foes, but he chose to let them have their way with him.  He could have called down a legion of angels and decimated the entire area, but he hung there with the dark skies canvassing the background, that was the canopy to his breathless life.

His means of setting us free is not like our own.  We fight for freedom while this man, our God gave his life to set us free.

Galatians 5:1 reminds us exactly why Christ set us free, “For freedom, Christ has set you free; stand firm therefore and do not submit yourselves to a yoke of slavery.”

Carry on with your fire work shows, but remember this as you celebrate Independence Day, your freedom is only temporary if Christ has not set you free.

 

 

The Wishing Well

It was a balmy sunny afternoon.  The disciples who followed Jesus into Samaria took off for the marketplace to go buy food, while Jesus was left behind at the local well.  He sent his disciples to purchase food without him because he had a predetermined meeting that was to take place with an unsuspected woman coming out to draw her daily portion of water.

Just as Jesus predestined, the woman came to draw her water.  Jesus had a mission with this woman, and it was to reveal to her, her need for a Savior, that everything she was turning to in life for satisfaction would always leave her longing for more.  So Jesus had planned a terrific segue into this evangelistic moment, “excuse me, ma’am” he said, “could you draw me some water?”  He knew very well the ethnic tension that was going to be stirred by this question, as Jews and Samaritans did not talk to each other.  Instead of fearing this tension, he used it as leverage.  She answered the question  just as he assumed she would.   “Sir, why do you, a Jew, ask from me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink.  Don’t you know that Jews do not talk to Samaritans, let alone a man to a woman?”

 “Ma’am if you knew who was asking you for water, you would ask him for a drink of the living water he can offer.”  “I don’t follow”, she replied.  “How can you, without anything to draw water with, offer me this living water?”  “Actually ma’am, the water that I will give you will well up in your heart and be eternally refreshing and you will never be thirsty again.”  “Not understanding Jesus, but hopeful of his words she replied, “Give it to me, I am tired of being thirsty and coming out to this well to draw water.”

That wasn’t the end of the conversation for her, but this is where many of us stop.  Jesus Christ offers you spiritual blessings that will satisfy the deep longings that are stirred in your soul such as your desire for true peace, joy, happiness and contentment.

But unfortunately, many of us see Jesus, as this Samaritan woman did in John 4 as a wishing well.  We turn to Jesus only to get our fleshly desires fulfilled and we miss the essence of what he is offering us which is an all satisfying relationship with himself.

Instead, we ask Jesus, or make wishes at the wishing well to alleviate the amount of hours we work, to make more money, to win the lottery, to have good health. We know Jesus has the power to do these things for us, so we constantly bombard him with these requests, “Lord give me…I want…”.  Yet, Jesus did not come to fulfill your earthly needs of luxury and comfort, he came to offer life and offer it abundantly.

Jesus is not your personal wishing well.  He did not die upon that cross so that you could live these 70 years in ease and comfort, rather he died to pay the eternal punishment for your sins, so that you can dwell with him in the midst of the Father forever.

Sure, Jesus could have given this woman the blue pill that would have solved all of her H2O needs.  But he didn’t.  He chose to let her continue to work for her physical need for water quite possibly as a daily reminder to her of that conversation at the well, when that stranger came up to her and offered her living water that would well up in her soul and satisfy a thirst she could never satisfy on her own.

As you pray, as you turn to God and ask him to fix your needs for more comfort, think about this, maybe He will allow those comforts to evade you in order to remind you of your thirst for something much deeper, the need for this living water that is found in Jesus Christ alone.

Money Talk

Is it ok for a pastor or a missionary to drive a Mercedes?  Why or why not?  I remember having the mindset that if I was going to be a pastor or missionary one day I would have to buy a car that had rusted floor boards, had a carburetor for a fuel delivery system, and the ac was broken.

For some reason I thought Christians, pastors, missionaries were to be poor. If they had the chance to have material blessings, they were to sell it and give the proceeds to the poor.

Pretty pathetic, huh?  Before you judge me, let me tell you a quick story of a wonderful lady I know.

This lady has been in the ministry for 20 years now.  Recently, one of her kids could no longer afford their payment on a Mercedes SUV they had purchased several years ago.  She and her husband talked it over and they were delighted to help their child out by purchasing the car from them, while at the same time enjoying a nice ride. 

As I looked at her SUV, she mentioned to me that she was nervous about what her church and ministry would think of her driving a Mercedes.  Would they judge her for it?  Would she lose credibility with them?

Let me ask those questions to you (we are not talking about a leer jet, just a Mercedes).  Would you judge her?  Would she lose credibility as a worker of God because of the brand car she drove?  Would you scoff at her if her husband was your pastor?  Would you gossip about her and her husband, whispering things like, “that is how they are spending the church’s money? That’s not right.”

Romans 15:27 says, “For they were pleased to do it, (Do what?  The gentile Christians put some money together to help the poor Christians in Jerusalem) and indeed they owe it to them. For, if the gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings.

Really?  You and I ought to help our less fortunate brothers and sisters in Christ participate in material blessings?  Now that’s a twist from the 1983 Ford Fiesta I thought I would have to drive the rest of my life because I bore the name Pastor (and in all honesty, a relief, because I really like to drive trucks).

But don’t misconstrue this.  Paul is specifically talking about the poor saints at Jerusalem, not the rich ones on TV asking for more and more money.  Some saints, like my friend, are able to purchase these things through wise budgeting throughout the years. But there are others who need help with the basic needs of life, food, water, clothing, and shelter.

Praise God if He has blessed you materially, but don’t keep it to yourself.  Just as we want others to share with us in the riches of Christ, let us also have a similar desire to take care of our poor brothers and sisters and allow them to share in our material blessings. 

TREMBLE

“Greg”, the teacher came up to me unexpectedly during recess one afternoon, “the principal wants to see you, you need to go to his office now.”

I never met Mr. Hall, the principal before.  Most of the time when a second grader was summoned to the principal’s office, he or she was being summoned to receive discipline for some type of out of control behavior.

 I had no idea why I was being summoned.  But I went.  When I got into his office, I had to wait for a few minutes for him to come in.

Time might as well have stood still for what was probably 48 seconds.  As I waited, I noticed my knees starting to shake a little.  They were twitching, and at times, very rapidly. 

Inside of me, my heart literally melted like wax, as it began to pick up its pace.  My hands became sweaty as I gripped the arms of the chair I was sitting in.

At the core of my being, I was trembling at the thought of being in the principal’s office.  He was the top dog at the school.  No one is just asked to go to the principal’s office for no reason, Mr. Hall wanted to see me specifically (and I didn’t even think he knew my name).

That memory surfaced as I read Psalm 97.  The feelings I went through on that afternoon are similar to what creation goes through in the presence of the LORD.

Before we can see how creation reacts, let’s first get a glimpse of the top dog of all time, the Lord.

Verse 1-3;

The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! ² Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. ³ Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around. ⁴ His lightning’s light up the world;…

I was terrified being in Mr. Hall’s office, a mere man, how much more if Jesus was to call me into his office.  We have a good picture of what worshipful fear looks like when we are brought into the presence of God

Verse 4-5

the earth sees and trembles. ⁵ The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth.

I picture massive earthquakes, the kind that splits a city in half, and tremendous volcano eruptions as the earth trembling in the presence of God. 

And here is what’s amazing.  I didn’t think Mr. Hall knew me, but he was watching me all along.  In fact, he didn’t call me into his office to be punished, but to be awarded (for what I can’t even recall now, I was so freaked at that moment that it did not stick in the memory bank). 

Jesus Christ knows you personally.  He even knows exactly how many hairs have on your head.  This is the Lord for whom the earth quakes and mountains melt like wax in front of and he knows you by name.

Next time you flip the news on and hear of the massive earthquake or the volcanic eruption that was larger than 100,000 atomic bombs, just know that the earth just had a glimpse of the glory of God and it freaked out in worship.

Acknowledge God

My mom told me when I was younger, “if you keep lying you will eventually believe yourself.”  Those words are ringing true today as I read CNN’s headline, “Gays receive two victories in their fight for equality”.

We get to see the Word of God play out right in front of us these days.  Romans 1 speaks about the depravity of mankind, and how it is revealed through our sexual desires.  Not only that, but that it is only by the Lord’s grace that we are not worse than we are. 

In Romans, God tells us that he releases us to the desires of our hearts when we do not acknowledge him as God and trade the truth of God for a lie.

When you read an article title, such as the one I read yesterday, it proves to me that God’s Word is alive and that God is at work daily.

Read this passage from Romans 1:

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. ²⁹ They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, ³¹ foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³² Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

The end result of lying to yourself (saying there is no God, even though at one time you knew of God’s righteous decrees and what he expects of you) is he allows you to do what you want, by handing you over to your debased mind.

Romans 6 says that the wages of sin is death.  When I read the above passage I see a lifestyle of death and bondage that is a result of not acknowledging there is a God.  Words as haughty, boastful, slanderers, haters, insolent, strife, murder, malice, and evil are not words that scream life, conversely, they are words that describe everything I don’t want to be in life.

Let me ask you, are you stuck in sin?  Is there a specific sin that you cannot shake?  Maybe there are multiple ones and your life is better described by saying it’s a life of death, you have lost all joy in life.  You constantly long for more and more, never finding the right quantity of sin to satisfy your desire, so you consume more, gossip more, hate more, all in hopes that you will be satisfied, but you’re not.  You can’t wait to get on the phone again and share the latest news, there is a constant longing for stuff, never finding an attitude of contentment.  You love to stir up strife, finding any little morsel of fuel to fan the flames of dissension.  And as we are seeing in the public eye today, sexual desires are not able to be fulfilled in the way God designed us to fulfill them so we step out of God’s design in hopes to find sexual gratification through people of our own gender. These are mere examples of sin leading to death.

God’s answer to this, stop lying to yourself and acknowledge him.  It’s that simple.   Realize that you are on a path that leads to death because you are, as I am, sinful and in need of a Savior.  Acknowledge God, by confessing to him your sinfulness, and by embracing the gift of grace that he freely offers to anyone who believes in him.  Then get ready to really live. 

Constant Prayer

 “I am not good at praying, I become too distracted when I pray.  Praying must not be my spiritual gift.”  Have you said that before?  I sure have.  For the longest time I have believed that my distractions in prayer meant that I was no good at praying and therefore prayer is not my gift.

I have come to recognize in my own prayer life that the enemy attacks me the most when I am on my knees.  One lie that has crept into the minds of many Christians is that Satan will not mess with you as long as you are praying.  That would be awesome if it was true, because then I would constantly pray as Paul tells us to in Romans 12, and then never fall into temptation.  But the fact is, your enemy is performing all out war on you as you plug into the Father’s will through prayer.

See if you catch my drift by reading these verses below.

Colossians 4:2 says “Pray continually, being watchful in it with thanksgiving”.

Likewise, Ephesians 6:18 says, “…praying at all times in the spirit, with all prayer and supplication.  To that end be on alert, with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.”

And even still, Jesus instructs his disciples in the same manner.  In Mark 14:38 he says, “watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.  The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”

That last verse speaks directly to my heart.   You see, I want to pray constantly, but my flesh is week.  Often times, if not every time I pray I get so distracted that I finally give up praying, and my lame excuse to that is, “God did not give me the gift of prayer.” 

Let me extrapolate this idea.  Our minds have been conformed to this world and not transformed by the truth of God.  Through your television, your mind has been trained to be distracted and handle distractions as if they are a normal occurrence of life.  If you watch 4 hours of TV a day, then you are taking in on average 100 commercials, 4-8 shows each one with a different plot, climax, and each show having many different scene changes, and to boot, this is how you are choosing to relax your mind, but allowing it to become distracted.

Therefore, when you pray, you are not able to put your mind at rest because it has been trained that during peaceful moments, it should be processing many different scenes, images, and thoughts, as it does while it watch TV.

What has happened is this world has conformed us to its many distractions, and we have to renew our minds daily to know how to pray again.

You do have the gift of prayer, and prayer will enable you to do many things in life as you turn to your Father who is in heaven.  But you have to renew your mind, or train your mind to be still.  And yes, this means work, a lot of work.  You need to dismantle ideas and thoughts as they begin to enter the coral of your mind.  

When you are praying, you cannot allow yourself to think about your to do list or the latest movie you saw, rather, you are focusing on the glory of your Father.  And when the enemy tries to distract you through outlandish thoughts or innocent small ideas, you crush them upon arrival.

Christian, if you are distracted in your prayers, it is not because you do not have the gift of prayer, but because you are not being watchful in your prayers.  Your enemy is looking for ways to devour you, don’t think that you are invisible because you are on your knees.