Month: March 2014

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Trusting God

As the sun went down that evening, people throughout the village brought sick family members to Jesus. No matter what their diseases were, the touch of his hand healed every one. Luke 4:40 (NLT)

In the busyness of life we sometimes forget what an awesome God we serve. The above verse is a reminder of the power of the name of Jesus. This same chapter also tells about Jesus saying to a demon possessed man, “Be quiet, come out of this man.” Those watching the event said, “What authority and power this man’s words possess! Even evil spirits obey him, and they fled at his command!” (4:35-46)

That same Jesus indwells every believer in all His power, glory and wisdom. Only our trust unleashes this mighty resource. Many of us live as if we don’t believe that. We worry, grumble and complain rather than drawing on the resources of heaven. We simply “have not because we ask not.”

God’s desire for us is to trust God for every ordinary moment of the day, not just those times when we are in a crisis. We are to live in the conscious awareness of His presence, while living out the Biblical principal of “apart from Him I can do nothing.” We are to live every day and every moment with a conscious awareness of our need for Him.

I am convinced that one of the benefits of being a grandparent is that you once again have a child that needs you. What a joy to hear my grandchildren say, “Papa, I need your help.”

If it brings joy to my heart to know that my grandchildren need me, how much more does it bring joy to the heart of our Heavenly Father when our life demonstrates that we need Him?

We are wired to need God. To live otherwise is to have a spiritual disconnect. We live out our faith by learning to trust God in every situation, not just during difficult times.

Bible teacher Haddon Robinson tells a story about trust from an event that occurred with his friend in South Alabama.

“Years ago, Monroe Parker was traveling through South Alabama on one of those hot, sultry Alabama days. He stopped at a watermelon stand, picked out a watermelon, and asked the proprietor how much it cost. “It’s $1.10,” he replied. Parker dug into his pocket, found only a bill and said, “All I have is a dollar.”

“That’s ok,” the proprietor said, “I’ll trust you for it.”

“Well, that’s mighty nice of you,” Parker responded, and picking up the watermelon, started to leave.
“Hey, where are you going?” the man behind the counter demanded.

“I’m going outside to eat my watermelon.” “But you forgot to give me the dollar!”

“You said you would trust me for it,” Parker called back.

“Yeah, but I meant I would trust you for the dime!”

“Mack,” Parker replied, “You weren’t going to trust me at all. You were just going to take a ten-cent gamble on my integrity!”

The ultimate goal of every believer is to trust God for every situation. You can’t live a fully surrendered life if you are only taking a “ten-cent gamble on God’s integrity.”

“Trust in the Lord with your whole heart, and do not lean on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

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The Search for Significance

Why do so many committed followers of Jesus seem to struggle with unrest, fear and anxiety? Is it possible to love Jesus, faithfully serve and fellowship with Him and still struggle with such unrest? Yes, it is not only possible but probable. We must remember that much of the Christian life is spent reprogramming ourselves from our past habits and belief systems. That’s what sanctification does. The Holy Spirit transforms and renews our mind and tears down all those old belief systems that are opposite to who we are in Christ.

After twenty plus years of counseling I have come to the conclusion that many people who are experiencing continual unrest, fear and anxiety do so because there is a missing element in their life that they can’t seem to grasp. The missing element is the sense of significance.

Every person is born with the built-in need for significance. We see this principle at work in the baby in the crib who cries out to be picked up and held, or the young child who scribbles unintelligible drawings on a paper to show his parent. We also see it in the teenager who competes with his siblings for affection and attention of his parents. They are searching for significance.

Men often look to their work for significance and women may look for affection and attention from their husband and children for significance.

God builds in every person the need to feel significant. We have this built-in instinct from God to search for what makes me feel loved, competent and accepted. We all have this need for a sense of belongingness? So the most important question becomes where and how do I get my significance?

There are basically only two answers to this question. The first method of getting significance is from the world’s standard. Our culture often dictates the standard for acceptance and significance. It is usually tied to living in the right neighborhood, wearing the right clothes, driving the most popular car and so on. All these things seem important for our sense of significance. But when these become our basis for significance we are assuming that this will meet our need. But one day we soon realize that we are left with a sense of emptiness, still seeking the elusive significance.

It’s easy to see the potential for disaster when we buy into the culture’s standard for significance. Personal achievement and accomplished goals is a good thing. Living in harmony with our culture is important for successful interaction with society.

However, as a follower of Jesus we have a different standard for significance. Our significance is directly related to our birthright, hence the saying, ” Inherent in who we are, is our ability to perform it.” God wired us to get our significance from our identity in Christ. Our inherent new nature makes us complete. Since we are indwelt by the Spirit of the risen Christ we are loved, accepted, competent, and have true and lasting significance. We have a new nature that makes us significant to God regardless of our achievement, or a lack of achievement.

What my point? God designed and wired us to get all of our significance from Him. Our worth, competency, acceptance and sense of belongingness should all come from Him. If you think about it, it’s a brilliant strategy. If our significance is fully vested in the person of Christ, then whatever comes our way we still have our sense of significance. Our sense of significance is no longer dictated by things and stuff, but by God’s grace and mercy.

That doesn’t mean we no longer experience disappointment or loss, but when these things do happen, we no longer fall into depression and despair. The very person who gives us our worth and significance is unchanging and absolute. Whatever happens in life, when we fail or suffer loss, God still loves us – unconditionally.

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Embrace the Cross

“So as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” (Colossians 2:6)

During the Dark Ages most sermons focused on God’s wrath and man’s depravity. This preaching was supplemented with a gospel of works. The popes and priest put awful burdens on the people, causing them to develop a various religious actions to find peace for their soul. Many would travel miles to some stone shrine, give long prayers, while counting prayer beads. Yet with all of this self-effort, they still had emptiness in their heart, and once again peace and forgiveness eluded them. They were still in darkness.

How could a religion whose emphasis was Jesus dying on the cross miss the true message of the cross? If they had only known that the cross was more than an instrument of death, it was also their key to forgiveness, peace and rest for the soul.

In like manner, modern day believers bear a similarity to those saints in the dark ages. Many Christians today still do not understand what Jesus did for us on the cross. The implications of the cross are many. For instance, many do not yet understand that the basis for victorious living is the cross of Christ. On the cross Jesus died to save us from our sinful nature. But when he rose from the dead He rose that we might be righteous, holy and acceptable to God. Christ’s righteousness was imputed to us. We can’t earn it, it is a free gift. No amount of good works will earn us the status of “righteous”, only the imputed righteousness of the righteous one can make us truly righteous.

At salvation we were placed into Christ and Christ was placed into us. (John 17) What does that mean for us? It means victorious living is available to us through the living Christ within us. Because we are “in Christ” we have fellowship with the Heavenly Father. We are accepted by the Father because we are in the Son. Because of the cross we are accepted by the Father. God never accepts us because of our good works but he accepts us because we are in the Son and the Son is in us. To reject us would be to reject the Son.

So the next time you feel rejected by society, embrace the cross. Remember that you always have God’s acceptance, even if the whole world turns on you. He accepts you because He purchased you on the Cross, and He accepts you because you are in Christ and He would never reject Christ.

Christian singer Steve Green sings a song entitled, “Embrace the Cross”. Below are a few words from the song.

Oh, wondrous cross our desires rest in you
Lord Jesus make us bolder
To face with courage the shame and disgrace
You bore upon Your shoulder

Embrace the life
That comes from dying
Come trace the steps
The Savior walked for you

An empty tomb
Concludes Golgotha’s sorrow
Endure then till tomorrow
Your cross of suffering
Embrace the cross
Embrace the cross
The cross of Jesus

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Growing Spiritually

Spiritual maturity doesn’t happen by itself. Like growing a garden, there must be preparation, maintenance, pruning and readjustment in order to enjoy the harvest. Listed below are five areas that have helped me toward developing spiritual maturity.

1. The Supremacy of Christ. One of greatest lessons I’ve learned in my walk with God is the principle that Christ is the center of all things. The Christian life begins, continues and is eternally sustained by the person of Christ. If Christ is the center of all of Scripture, and the redeemer of our salvation, then shouldn’t the focus of our spiritual life be Christ instead of a life “attempting to do things for God?”

Therefore, the beginning of any step toward maturity should be to focus on Christ. Our very reason for existence is to manifest the life of Christ that is in us. That begins by learning to rest in Him. Instead of a flurry of Christian activity, the first order of business is allowing Christ to live His life through us. The Scripture says, “I am crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God…” (Galatians 2:20)

It’s not about what you can do for God that is important, but it is who you manifest in what you do. It is allowing Christ to live His life through you and “do it all for you.”

2. Be intentional about you maturity. Like anything in life, you will accomplish what you intentionally make an effort to achieve. If your goal is to be the best golfer then you will determine a path that will help you become an accomplished golfer. You will have a set time to practice your sport, and you will have the best clubs you can afford, and you will make sure you work on your weak areas.

In a similar manner, it is important to be intentional about your fellowship with God. By having a predetermined time to read and meditate on the Word and pray, you will take the first step in becoming intentional about your maturity.

3. Set Spiritual goals. You know the old saying, “You hit what you aim for.” Contrary to popular opinion, you don’t become mature by attending church. Being around other believers is important to your growth but solid maturity is realized when you set personal spiritual goals. Initially your goals will be simple ones like reading a chapter in the Bible daily and spending 10 minutes in prayer. Then your goals should increase to reading through the Scripture, or developing a concentrated study on a single book of the Bible. My point? Your growth will be relative to the development of your spiritual goals. After many years of counseling believers, I have come to the conclusion that most believers do not have spiritual goals. For those whose spiritual maturity is limited to going to church, then going to church and listening to good preaching has made many spiritually lazy. Every time I set a new spiritual goal God teaches me something that leads to greater dependence upon Him.

4. Develop sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. The older I get and the longer I walk with God, the more I am aware of the importance of being continually filled with the Holy Spirit. Often our words and attitudes reveal the condition of our heart, and the lack of sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s voice. We must be sensitive to those things that quench and grieve the Holy Spirit. Why is that important? If the goal of the Christian life is to manifest the life of Christ in our attitude, our speech and in all that we do, then the Holy Spirit is the one that brings out the Christ likeness in us. Our smile, kindness, compassion and love are all empowered by the Holy Spirit. “And be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit;” (Ephesians 5:18 ASV)

5. Stay close to passionate people. John Maxwell says, “People keep a poker close to the fire so that they can stir the coals and keep the fire hot.” In a similar manner we must stay close to those who are as passionate about spiritual things as we are. It is always good to hang with fellow saints who will challenge your thinking and will hold your feet to the fire if necessary. The Scripture says, “Iron sharpens iron. So one man sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17 NAS)