Day Thirty Friday July 30th, 2010

Day Thirty

Friday July 30th, 2010

“Watch and pray, lest you enter temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

-Mark 14:38

Amen. I want to do so much for the Lord. I don’t want to have to sleep. I don’t want to have to eat. I enjoy those things, but they sometimes get in the way of doing what I want to do for the Lord. And there’s the temptation. Not eating and sleeping, for the Lord knows I need those things. The temptation is what I want to do for the Lord. Peter was supposed to watch while Jesus prayed, but he grew weary and fell asleep. But when the trouble came, he was ready and decide to fight, (badly) and cut off an ear. The temptation that Peter always faced was to give into the desires of the flesh, whether for sleep or to be the hero or protector, he trusted in his strength rather than the strength of Jesus. I am guilty of this too. I get excited and want to fight, thinking that I’m fighting for Jesus but Jesus never called me to fight. He calls me to stand. (Check out Ephesians 6) So I need to watch and pray. I don’t want to enter into temptation even if it enters my life. I want to do great things in the name and the power of Jesus, but my flesh is indeed weak. (But check out 2 Corinthians 12:9)

Day Twenty-Nine Thursday July 29th, 2010

Day Twenty-Nine

Thursday July 29th, 2010

The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.

-Proverbs 8:13

I admit that I do not always hate evil. I don’t always shun it. In my weak times, I even endure it in my own life and in my own heart. However, Romans 12:9 says, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.” I need to ask God to remove evil from me and I need to see it for what it truly is. Evil is harmful. I am to hate what is harmful. Harm doesn’t always come in hurt. Pain can be a good thing when it strengthens you. But harmful is always harmful. Pride and arrogance is harmful and it has crept inside the church. It has crept inside our church. It has crept inside my church. I didn’t even know it was here. Is it in me? Am I prideful and arrogant? I know that there are times when I am. And in those times, I pray. But I wonder if there are times that I am and don’t know it. I don’t pray for God to take away my pride because I don’t know I have it. And how do I confront it in others? Do I outright call them out? Can I do it gently? My heart is to restore. I don’t want them to leave. I just want them to realize they have this pride and arrogance and repent.

Lord, remove from me any pride and arrogance that I have right now. Please let me be humble and lowly, like you were when they hung you on the cross. I can understand being despised by men, but let me live in a way that I will never be despised by you. Please keep me from the same sin as the devil. I don’t want to ever think I deserve anything or that I’m too good for anything. I deserve nothing, Lord. But You give me everything. I love you, my Jesus. It’s in Your name that I pray. Amen.

Day Twenty-Eight Wednesday July 28th, 2010

Day Twenty-Eight

Wednesday July 28th, 2010

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you with all joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and the confirmation of the gospel, you are all partakers with me of grace. For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.

-Philippians 1:3-8

Paul loved the church in Philippi. He prayed for them every time he thought about them. There are certain people that are like that to us in our lives. Some that we pray for in joy, like Paul, and some that we pray for in trepidation. (Don’t feel bad if you have to look this one up, Wanda. I had to look it up to. (After I wrote it.)) There are people who we pray for because we fear they are choosing the wrong path. We pray that God would show Himself clearly so that they could simply choose. Life has a way of creating a haze around the simple truth of God and sometimes God needs to disrupt our lives to clear the haze. But I hope that people don’t have to pray for me in that way. I would rather them pray for me with joy. I would rather pray for others with joy. If I could encourage you to do one thing today, Wanda, let it be that you live your life in a way that causes people to pray for you with all joy. Don’t be a burden on others and their prayer lives. If you need help, by all means, ask for help, but don’t think that you can have someone pray that you’ll be “safe” and go on continuing to live in a way that is opposition to God. (And remember that you are either for God or against Him. There is no other option.) There are people that I pray for, and I ask that God would smack them. (Not smite.) I want God to shake them up so much that they fall to pieces and the bit of ground that God does have in their hearts, which is unshakable, would remain. (Check out Hebrews 12:27) The fear I have for their lives is that nothing will remain because they are so living a rebellious life that I cannot be certain that there is any ground.

Now a note on rebellion. It does not always look like rebellion. It does not always look selfish, but rebellion is always selfish. You want to do things your way. You want to be the hero. You want to change the way things work so that your view is accepted as the superior view. What makes rebellion fun is that it speaks to that part of your nature that was implanted into Eve and Adam through the lie of Satan back in the garden. Satan doesn’t care what you rebel against, as long as you rebel. There is no rebelling against Satan because Jesus said that, “if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” (Mark 3:25) We are called on to resist the devil (Check out James 4:7) not rebel. Rebellion brings about passion and anger and a lot of people say that it’s a righteous anger. People quote Psalm 4:4 at me which says, “Be angry, and do not sin” to justify their anger over any particular topic. That actually makes me angry, that they would twist the Word of God to justify their own passions. What does the rest of the verse say? “Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah.” If they would be angry and go and meditate within their hearts and be still, then I would have less of a problem with it. Instead, that verse is used to justify many unrighteous acts of slander and violence. People call Jesus a rebel, but He never broke any laws or rules. Hm driving people out of the temple was not a rash decision, but calculated to turn the Father’s house back into a place of worship. After He cleared it, He sat down and taught. If you are looking out to pour out God’s wrath on people, you need to be rebuked by Jesus, for you do not know of which spirit you are of. (Check out Luke 9:54-56) Instead, be wronged. Turn the other cheek, live at peace with all men. God claims vengeance as His own. It is not our job to fight. It is our job to stand. (Check out Matthew 5, Romans 12, and Ephesians 6.)

Now back to the passage: Paul is thanking God for the fellowship in the gospel of the Philippians. Notice that it’s fellowship in the gospel. It’s not the fellowship of the pool hall or of the pot luck or of the ring. It’s the fellowship of the gospel. If you are building fellowship with people around anything that is not God, it will not last. If you are not building up those around you and encouraging them in the Word of God, you are not investing in an eternal relationship. This doesn’t mean you have to quote scripture all the time, but you can encourage them by living a life that gets them to thank God for you and pray for you with all joy. A tree is either growing or rotting. Which are you? There is not other option. When you get together, let it be for the glory of Christ. You can still go bowling or golfing or whatever it is that people with extra time do, but do it all for the glory of Christ. Let people look at your life and praise God for you. Can you live that way?

I know what you’re thinking, Wanda. You’re thinking that it’s a lot of work to live right. There are so many things that you’ve done that you are so used to doing that it’s hard to stop. And on top of that, there are a lot of things that you should be doing that you’re not and it’s hard to start. You’re right. It is hard. But that’s okay. Do the hard things. Read Philippians 4:13 and be encouraged. But remember that it is Christ who is working it all out to perfection and He will never stop until the work is done. Just don’t give up. Persevere. Endure. Last until the end. If you do, it will be a good ending. (Check out Revelation 2:10)

Paul was imprisoned for the gospel, and everyone who prayed with him took part in that suffering. They all suffered. The victory of Paul’s perseverance was awarded to them all. If I could encourage you to do two things, Wanda, the first would be to live a life which causes others to pray for you with all joy, and the second is to pray for others with all joy. Take part in their sufferings for the sake of the gospel and praise God for them. Pray for their strength to come from the Lord and pray for them to endure to the end. And you, through prayer, endure with them.

God knows how much we love. He is my witness to any who ask about me. If you wonder if I love you, ask God. He is my witness. I love many of you, but I’m not holy enough to love all of you, although I know that I should love everyone. One day, I will be. One day, God’s going to complete the work He’s doing in me. He is, after all, faithful.

Day Twenty-Seven Tuesday July 27th, 2010

Day Twenty-Seven

Tuesday July 27th, 2010

And a voice spoke to him a second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.”

-Acts 10:15

The context of this verse is Peter on the roof of Simon the Tanner in Joppa. Cornelius has already sent men to fetch him and they are about to arrive. Peter does not yet know this and goes up on the roof to pray. He is hungry. God gives him a vision of a sheet being let down from heaven with all kinds of animals on it. God tells him to rise, kill, and eat, but Peter protests. He tells God that he has never eaten any unclean animal and God tells him the verse above. He is preparing Peter to share with the Gentiles, the very Gentiles who were about to knock on the door.

This was a rebuke (albeit a soft one) for Peter and it is one for me too. Peter thought that being a Jew made him better than others, whereas I thought that being a sinner made me worse. I am a sinner, but I am cleansed by the blood of God and so I may not debase or ridicule myself anymore. I don’t know what potential God saw in me when He decided to save me, but I don’t see it. If I lived went back in time to the time when Jesus walked the earth before He hung on the cross for my shame, I would probably try to convince Him not to go. My argument would be that I’m not worth it. I would say that it’s a bad deal and that He’s not going to get as much as He gives. Of course, He would rebuke me probably the same way He did Peter when He said, “Get behind me Satan,” (Matthew 16:23) and I would have kept quiet… for a while.

The truth is that I don’t think a lot of myself and I know I’m not worthy of God’s grace… but if I were worthy of it, it wouldn’t be grace, then would it? The problem is that it’s just so easy to see my own sin, and I get overwhelmed by how ugly it is. I know it’s paid for. I know I’m forgiven. I don’t have to say, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24) because I know that Jesus will. He does it. He did it. It’s done. But until I can shed this body of death like a serpent sheds his old skin, I will have to keep a perspective that I am more than what I see in the mirror. Behind this frail human mask is an eternal soul, empowered by and is the dwelling place of the Living and Everlasting God. It’s a wonderful honor to be who I am. I have been cleansed and am continually shaped and formed everyday to be more and more like Jesus.

It’s still true that I have nothing of value to offer Jesus. My works are not good enough. My intelligence is not smart enough. My muscles aren’t strong enough. But He doesn’t want that. He just wants my surrender. He just wants my weakness. He wants me to trust Him with what I cannot do on my own, which I’m realizing more and more that that’s everything. He wants me. Not my skills. Not my abilities. Not my talents. Just me. I have been cleansed by the blood of God and am no longer common. I need to start treating myself that way.

Day Twenty-Six Monday July 26th, 2010

Day Twenty-Six

Monday July 26th, 2010

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.

-2 Timothy 1:7-11

I love that God has not given us a spirit of fear. In fact, His Spirit, which is perfect in love, casts out fear (Check out 1 John 4:18.) His Spirit is one of power and of a sound mind. (Ooh… perfect verse for the sound guys at church.) We are not to fear because we have the power of God living in us. Notice that He is not at our fingertips so that we can control Him, but think of it as we are His fingertips that He uses to touch others around us. A few of you may claim to have been touched directly by God, to be by yourself and alone in your thoughts, but God came down and “touched” you. He did do this in the Bible. I’m thinking Abraham, Jacob, Moses, the Disciples, and Saul (who became Paul) all had their lives changed by a direct encounter with God. However, most people are touched by God through other people. You and me. And we who go out and are the fingertips of God must first be filled with His Holy Spirit, which doesn’t fear, but has this power to change lives and a sound mind so that we do this in an organized manner. No one filled with the Holy Spirit acts like one who is filled with a demon. The Holy Spirit is orderly, and we must use the gifts He gives us in such a way.

Paul also tells us not to be ashamed. Why should we? We have the Spirit of power and of a sound mind. Why should we be afraid of what others think. There is a line drawn in the sand. (Check out Exodus 32:26) We need to make a choice and let people know where we stand. If we stand with God, and that puts us in prison, then we will rejoice in suffering for the gospel. Joseph did. Peter did. Paul did. Silas did. Barnabas did. And there are quite a few modern brothers and sisters around the world who are living today in prison for the sake of the Gospel. God has called us to be His fingertips to touch the lives around us. God wants us to pray for everyone, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3:4) In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul had been praying for God to remove a “thorn in his flesh,” but Jesus answers him in verse 9, saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

This was never plan B. Jesus going to the cross was the plan from the very beginning. God knew Eve would be tricked and He knew Adam would fall. He knew from the beginning that we would break His heart and that His Son would give His life, but He went through with it and created the world the way He did anyway. Now either our God isn’t that smart, or our God knows more than we do and there is something good at the end that makes all this pain worth going through. He was not afraid of the pain. He does not have a spirit of fear, but a Spirit of power and a sound mind. That’s the God I worship. That’s the God in whose image I am being fashioned. That’s the God I love. If I have to go through pain in this life, I know that the pain is worth going through. I know that in the end, when death is abolished and immortality is not just something the Bible describes, but something I’m experiencing, and when I cannot teach or preach anymore because we will all see Him face to face, that whatever pain I went through here on Earth will be worth it, and I won’t regret a single lesson God has taught me. But for now, I will suffer. Less than most, more than some, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, (Philippians 4:13) but remember 2 Corinthians 12:9 says that His strength is made perfect in weakness. Well, I’m weak, Lord. I admit. Please show Your strength.

Day Twenty-Five Sunday July 25th, 2010

Day Twenty-Five

Sunday July 25th, 2010

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

-Ephesians 4:1-3

Oh course all the pastors say it, and I cannot ignore it. “If you ever see a therefore in scripture look back to see what the therefore is there for.” So I did, and back in verse 17 of chapter 3, we see, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love.” Therefore, since Christ is in our hearts, I (meaning Paul,) a prisoner of God beseech (which means to beg or more in this case, command,) you to walk worthy of the calling with which you are called. What are you called to? What job or what task did God give you to do? Are you doing it, Wanda? I would also consider myself a prisoner to Christ, but being a prisoner in Christ is like hanging out in a city jail while the world out there is starving and killing each other. Sure, you can’t leave, but you don’t want to. It’s warm when it’s cold outside and cool when it’s hot outside. You get three meals a day, exercise time, and the same bars that keep you in keep others out. I would rather be a prisoner of Christ than “free” in the world. I put quotes around free because we are never truly free. If Christ does not reign in us, then our desires do. If not our desires, then our sense of morality which is a lie from Satan. Satan is the one that tells you that you only have to be a good person to go to heaven. God says that no one is good. (Romans 3:23) Satan tells you that love and peace are possible no matter what religion you are or who is God. God says that He alone is God (Umm.. The whole Bible) and His peace surpasses all understanding and guards our hearts and our minds. (Philippians 4:7) We are all prisoners of someone, God just gives us the power to choose who. I choose Christ. I call myself a prisoner, a bondservant, a willing slave. He calls me an heir, a son, a child. It’s a good relationship. The more I think I deserve something, the less I deserve it. I must decrease so that He may increase. (Okay Wanda, Here’s a challenge. Find out where in the Bible that verse is from and who said it. If you win, you get to keep reading. If you don’t, I will trust you to hang your head in shame and call a friend to help you before continuing to read.

I’ll wait.

Okay. Good. You found it. So as a prisoner of the Lord, I cannot really go out giving commands. I wish I could just command you to follow the Lord and to work worthy of your calling, but I can’t. I don’t have that authority. I cannot judge whether or not you are because I have my own calling with which to concern myself. However, I would encourage and exhort (that means that I would persuade you to action) you to figure out what God wants you to do and then to do it, no matter how hard or impossible that it may seem. I don’t want you to take a Spiritual Gift Assessment test. Just go to the source. Get into a quiet place and pray and listen. He will speak. If He doesn’t, just wait longer. We don’t have to constantly listen to music or watch TV. Our brains can and should be stimulated in the presence of God and Him alone. Would you decide not to go to heaven if you found out that you can’t bring your iPod? (You can’t. You’ll have to leave it here.) So turn it off, whatever it is, and get someplace where it’s just you and God and pray and listen. (Check out James 4:8)

Once you know what God wants you to do, then go out and do it. Don’t act special because you have a job. Just go and do it. I know that God has put it in my heart to teach. So I teach whoever will listen. I will teach kids or grown-ups or dogs if I have to. (My dog doesn’t care much for teaching, and treats only last so long.) I’ve given the Gospel to my bedroom ceiling plenty of times in different ways using different text. I’m to tell people about Jesus, offer the invitation, and encourage and exhort them to a right relationship with Him. Does this mean I’m better than others? Absolutely not. I don’t know all the answers, but I know the one who does. I just ask, listen, and wait for an answer. God talks to me through prayers and through His Word. Sometimes He tells me what I need to hear, but most of the time, He sends me flipping through my Bible because although it’s enough to convince me that God told me, other people wouldn’t and shouldn’t take me at my word. My word isn’t worth anything compared to God’s Word. I’m going to stand on that and from that will I place my foundations of thought. I don’t always understand everything I read either, nor do I always read the things I understand, but what I do know, I proclaim to you without hesitation. Jesus is Lord and He has made a way to the Father. It’s through Him and it’s through the cross. It’s a hard road, but it’s worth it. Are you worthy to walk it? It has nothing to do with your abilities. In fact, your abilities are a hinderance on this road. This road is a road for the broken, for the weak, for the sick, and for the poor. Whatever you had, leave it at the feet of Jesus and leave it at the cross. God wants you and only you. No baggage allowed. He will sustain. He will provide. He will supply. You just walk in faith that if you get hungry, food will be given before you starve to death if you just keep walking. If you’re thirsty, trust that water would appear before you die of dehydration. The food is the Word of God and the Holy Spirit is the Water. Eat and drink fully as much as you can take. Put it to practice. That is what you are called to, so do it.

When you do it, whatever God has for you, be wary of spiritual pride. I don’t even like jokes about it. What if someone takes you seriously when you’re joking? What if the adage of there is a bit of truth in every lie is true and you cover up your real spiritual pride by saying it’s a joke? What if you are hiding it even from your own self? In everything you do, consider yourself least and a servant of all as Jesus commanded. Be gentle, so that no one is injured physically or spiritually. It is not your job to punish or pronounce judgment, but God’s. Even if someone has wronged you, God claims vengeance as His. You live at peace with all men. (Check out Romans 12) But instead, love those who hate you and bless those who persecute you. (Check out Matthew 5:44) Show love. Pursue peace. Suffer long for the sake of others. It is in this way that you will be most like Christ.

Day Twenty-Four Saturday July 24th, 2010

Day Twenty-Four

Saturday July 24th, 2010

But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.”

-Mark 6:4

But He answered them saying, “Who are My mothers and My brothers?” And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and My mother.”

-Mark 3:33-35

So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake’s and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundred fold now in this time - houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions - and in the age to come, eternal life.”

-Mark 10:29-30

Luke 4:21. (Look this one up yourself.)

Day Twenty-Three Friday July 23rd, 2010

Day Twenty-Three

Friday July 23rd, 2010

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

-2 Timothy 4:7

Today was the last day of VBS. I am exhausted, but I couldn’t sleep until I wrote to you, Wanda. Total numbers. 363 kids between the three weeks. About 13 kids gave their lives to Christ. 1 gift of prophecy discovered. I taught 75 VBS lessons. (5 a day for 15 days.) I built a donkey three times, swept up hundreds of strands of hay, caught dozens of kids from falling, but challenged all of them to stand on the truth and not believe the subtle lies of the the world.

VBS is an amazing time to reach out to kids. Some kids only go to church at VBS because they get invited by friends. We charge $30 for our VBS, but if you don’t have the money, there are ways to still attend. Even if you do pay, $30 for 4 hours a day of childcare isn’t a bad deal. And on top of that, they get the Word of God. It’s sad how many kids are being raised by grandparents. It made me want to cry today when a child started a story with the words, “Once when my dad came to visit.” I didn’t cry, but the fact that it’s so commonplace is dreadful. Kids shouldn’t have to be good at dealing with divorce. But even so, when those kids come to VBS, they are loved by dozens of helpers and teachers and rotaters. We allow kids to serve as young as 8th grade and there are grandparents serving with us as well. And most of us served all three weeks.

But now it’s over, and as much fun as it was, I’m glad it’s over. But you can praise the Lord with me that some kids were reborn, others were watered, but I believe that all of them grew. Amen.