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God Can Use Even Me

“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” 1 Cor. 2:9

What a marvelous promise. Many times I have used that verse to give a glimpse of what Heaven will be like, yet it is still unimaginable to our finite minds.

Even though it’s a wonderful thing to imagine all God has prepared for us in Heaven, the proper context of the verse has to do with what He reveals to us today. Paul was describing to the Corinth believers how God has chosen to reveal Himself to the common man, instead of the socially and politically well connected influencers of society.

“For consider your calling brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh
not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despise, God has chosen the things that are not so that He might nullify the things that are, that not man may boast before God.”(1 Cor. 1:26-29)

This is good news for two reasons:

First, we are assured that God’s power, and His calling is for everyone regardless of our social, cultural or educational background.

It’s always been that way. A walk through scripture will reveal that God has always chosen shepherds, fishermen, carpenters, poor widows, and even harlots to be His most effective servants. He reveals why He chooses ordinary people in the above verse: “so no man can take credit for what only God can do.”

Many who are gifted, talented and successful are so “self-made” that it’s sometimes difficult for them to possess the humility to give God the credit. That’s the reason the scriptures say that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved.

One of the most vivid pictures of this principle is the Dalit people of India. As you may know, India is a culture that uses a caste system. This is a system that socially classifies its citizens from the most socially acceptable to the least acceptable. The Dalit are the least acceptable. They are the street sweepers, beggars and possess the least desirable jobs in society. They have virtually no possibility of higher education, home ownership or wealth. Their destiny is set and controlled by their social status. Low class does not mean ignorant, many are very intelligent, they just don’t have the same opportunity for education and equal access to the job market.

However, God in His mercy and infinite wisdom has visited the Dalit and there are hundreds of thousands of them coming to Christ. There are many churches being planted among this rejected and neglected people group. I have had the wonderful privilege of being around these believers in India.

Status and ranking in society mean nothing to God. The late Dr. J Vernon McGhee would say, referring to Balaam’s donkey that stopped in the path and talked to Balaam, “That just proves that God can use any ole jackass.” That’s a crude way to put it but he nails the point.

God uses me through my natural/spiritual giftedness

I am sure you will agree that God is a god of order. He is predictable and unpredictable at the same time. He is unpredictable because He can use unusual methods to accomplish supernatural results. In other words, God often surprises us by accomplishing His purposes in ways we could not even imagine.

But mostly He is predictable. He is predictable by observing how He has worked throughout history. He is predictable because of the cause and effect of the promises of His Word. He is predictable when we know and observe his character.

God chooses to use common, ordinary men and women whom He has given natural and spiritual gifts. If God leads you to do a certain things it means that in a natural and supernatural way he gifted and equipped you to do those things. When I sensed a calling to vocational ministry I felt incredibly inadequate but as I began to do the work of the ministry I discovered that God had given me a natural gifting to communicate.

A close observation of the Bible characters will reveal that even though they were common ordinary people they possessed a natural giftedness that God worked through. Take Joseph and David for example. They were lowly shepherds. But what we fail to observe is that proper management of a herd of sheep required certain natural giftedness such as patience, livestock management, compassion, and the ability to protect and lead.

God almost always uses us through our natural/spiritual giftedness. For example, if you do not enjoy teaching He is not going to call you to be a minister or school teacher. If you can’t sing or find it difficult to understand music He is not going to call you to be a choral director or solo singer. If you find it difficult to balance your checkbook it doesn’t make sense you go to college to train to be an accountant.

Just because someone is trained to do something does not mean that they have the natural giftedness to do that kind of job. Matter of fact Marcus Buckingham wrote a book based on that very premise. In his book “Strengthfinder” he tells of a multi-year survey that reveals that millions of people were working in jobs that were outside of their natural giftedness. The result was over 80% of workers were unhappy, unfulfilled or downright miserable with their job. Why were they unfulfilled? Because even though they were trained to do a certain job, it was outside of their natural giftedness.

The Bottom Line

God can and will use you. He gave you a natural and spiritual gifting just for that purpose… to be used by Him. God’s intention is for you to be a conduit for the life of Christ. Your gifting is not your signal to “go it on your own.” But your gifting is for the sole purpose of equipping you to allow the life of Christ to flow effortlessly through your life. That’s the reason the old saying, “God always equips you for what He calls you to do” is really a true statement.

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The Importance of Sound Doctrine

In this age of contemporary Christianity I am seeing a trend of minimizing the importance of doctrine. Sound doctrine is being replaced by social activism. This leaves the impression that our primary duty to society is to improve the quality of man’s life, while at the same time neglecting the proclamation of repentance unto salvation.

I call this trend spiritual drifting. We take something that is intrinsically good and allow it to keep us from focusing on the main thing which is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind and soul. We drift toward a performance based Christianity rather than a dependence based relationship.

No committed follower of Christ would deny our need to be responsible citizens in our community. But when social change becomes our war cry rather than declaring the sufficiency of Christ then we have drifted from the main thing.

Despite man’s increased involvement in saving the planet through recycling and their continual role in helping the street people have food and shelter, the world continues to deteriorate at a rapid pace. It is estimated that over 500,000,000 people have been murdered through wars, Marxist governments and abortion in the last 80 years.

It’s all about living with a proper Biblical Worldview. Doctrine that keeps us centered in Christ is a key element in a Biblical Worldview. When we allow Scripture to be twisted and taken out of context to suit Christian pop culture, then we are guilty of changing our worldview from Biblical to secular. Let me give you an example.

One of the most quoted verses among Christians is Philippians 4:13. “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.” This verse has been used by many believers for circumstances where they would like to see a good outcome. This is especially popular with athletes. I read recently of high school cheerleaders who made this giant banner with Philippians 4:13 written in big letters. When the football players ran onto the football field they were to run through the banner indicating that they were claiming this verse for victory. I applaud the cheerleader’s boldness, but this verse was taken out of context.

We all know that God will help us in any task if we ask for His help and wisdom. I have even asked the Lord to help me when I played sports. I would ask Him to help me do my best and also to protect me from injury. But this verse is not about evoking God’s help in any task we undertake.

The context of the verse has to do with trusting God to help us through suffering, persecution, trial and tribulation. We see the context of the verse in the verses preceding verse 13. Paul was in prison enduring hardship, suffering and persecution and he was saying that in Christ’s sufficiency he can endure all things.

In a similar passage in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, Paul speaks of his “thorn in the flesh.” He prayed earnestly for this hindrance to be removed but God told him that, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore I will rather boast about my weakness, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” So like the passage in Philippians it’s about continuing to trust God in the midst of our weakness and suffering.

Why is it important to rightly divide the word of God? There are two primary reasons. First, when we take a text out of its proper context it becomes a pretext and loses its supernatural intention. In this particular verse, it causes us to miss the point that in the midst of suffering I can make it through because I know that ultimately this suffering will result in God getting the glory. It’s not about playing a great game and hopefully achieving a desired outcome.

Secondly, a lack of sound doctrine dilutes the Scripture to fit our situation, rather than allowing the truth of the Scripture to create spiritual change in us. Our ultimate goal is to bring God the glory in all that we do and believe. Our worldview is formed by our doctrine. Our Biblical worldview is what distinguishes us from the world. As we apply the Word of God to our life, may we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth in order that we may be a people of sound doctrine? (John 16)
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Living In the Moment

One of my greatest weaknesses is a lack of patience. I believe the older you get the more patient you should become. I think I may be a slow learner in that area.

Recently I was in a checkout lane at the local Wal-Mart. Not many lanes were open but there were lots of people standing in line to be checked out. I immediately thought, “20 checkout lanes and only 3 lanes open? I can’t believe it, why don’t they hire enough employees? Don’t they know I don’t have all day long? This is ridiculous.”

Reflecting back on that moment, I was not only ashamed of my outburst of anger and lack of patience, but I was also reminded of how often I neglect living in the moment. If God is fully aware of our every moment, and all our circumstances, then wouldn’t it be to our benefit to take every moment and redeem it?

Maybe the Lord intended for me to be stuck in that long checkout line so that I might turn to my fellow shopper behind me and make a new friend. Maybe that person needed encouragement or maybe I needed to hear their story so that I could say to them, “How can I pray for you?”

Some of the most effective and God appointed moments have been an unplanned encounter with someone while running a shopping errand. I am learning that every moment cannot be measured by a clock or a yardstick. A time and space mentality will cause me to miss the moment. Besides, from eternity’s standpoint all we really have is the moment.

If the “moment” we are living in is uncomfortable or unpleasant it’s natural to look forward to a time when things will be better. But when we fixate on the future and focus on getting out of this season of life, we miss the nuggets of wisdom and grace that God may have for us. This is wisdom and grace that comes only as we learn to live in the moment.

Living in the moment helps us to realize that life is short and you can’t recapture the past and you can’t live in the future. All we have is the present. Psalm 39:4-5 reads, “My life is no longer than my hand! My whole life is but a moment to you.” (Living Bible)

When we fail to capture the moment we have a tendency to live without self-discipline or self-control. Our whole life is controlled by “when things get better”, rather than “God teach me what you want me to see, to know and to feel in this moment of life.” We often miss the value of suffering and what God desires to teach us in the context of the moment.

Whether your moment in life is smooth sailing or your moment of life is unpleasant and uncomfortable, I want to challenge you to live in the moment. Look for God in every moment of your life and expect to find nuggets of His grace.

I want to encourage you to consider a statement that I have recently taken to heart:
“Recognize the value of each moment. Each moment is precious because it will never come again. Wherever you find yourself, look for God in each moment and in each situation.”

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Death of a Vision

 

The human is unique to all of God’s creation in several ways, but the most distinguishing feature is the need to produce and excel in life. Within every believer God places desires and ambitions that are unique to them.  There are some who are able to discern and discover what they are to do with their life at an early age. But more often than not, it takes many years for most adults to get it all figured out and discover their calling.

There are many elements to a calling, such as natural giftedness and talent, a burning desire, how we relate to people, spiritual gifts and experience.  Sometimes those elements are present from early on in our life but most often they develop as we step toward and participate in our calling. However, these are all secondary elements to our calling.

The primary aspect of a calling is the vision God births in our heart. One way we know that our vision is from God is it’s impossible for us to accomplish apart from His supernatural intervention. We see this throughout Scripture as God calls His servants to a particular task for a certain time in history.

Visions from God have a unique aspect that separates it from how man normally operates.  When God gives a vision there is usually a time where the vision seems to die.  This is called “death of a vision.” We see this pattern throughout Scripture.  Joseph was given a dream and vision about him rising to political prominence over his brothers. But the next events led him to being sold as a slave and then being put in prison and falsely accused.

Abraham was told to leave his home and set out on a journey and God would tell him later where to go. One night God said to Abraham, “Look in the sky, how many stars you see?” Abraham said, “There are too many, I can’t count them.” Then God said, “That’s how many people will come from your seed.”  You can imagine how excited Abraham was to learn that his children would birth a whole nation; so many that you can’t even count them.  But twenty years later, Abraham was older and his wife was past child bearing age. His vision was dead – even biologically impossible.

Death of a vision is a pattern throughout scripture and it is a pattern that is often seen today among believers. God must have a divine purpose in the death of a vision.  It is part of a death process that must be present in every believer in order to be productive in the Kingdom.

Paul gives us a glimpse of the purpose and the value of a death process in 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 where he conveys the principle of dying to our self-life.

“We are afflicted…perplexed…persecuted…struck down….always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to the death for Jesus‘sake that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. So death works in us but life in you.”   

In order for the life of Christ to be manifested throughout our life, we must go through a death process, putting to death everything that hinders His life from shining through us.  In God’s economy of things the death process actually prepares us for the day when He will fulfill the vision He has placed on our heart.  During Joseph’s and Abraham’s death of a vision God prepared them in ways that could not have been possible apart from the failures, disappointments and delays they encountered while waiting on God to bring the vision to pass.  But when God finally fulfilled their vision, wow what a spectacle. God miraculously birthed more than they ever thought or imagined.

I vividly remember the day when I sensed God’s call for me to enter full-time ministry. I remember where I was sitting in the church service. The call was so real that I looked at my wife wondering if she heard the same thing I heard.in the weeks and months that followed I felt as if God was going to call us to the mission field. Matter of fact I just knew somehow we would be involved in missions somewhere in the world.  When I left for Bible College the plans changed and I ended up training to be a pastor. My vision for missions was dead. When I rethought what God was saying to me regarding missions, I thought maybe He just wants me to support missions as a pastor. I did that, but there was still that strong pull toward personal, hands on mission involvement.

But fifteen years later God began to fulfill the vision He had given me for missions.  After my first mission trip into Russia, Romania, and Hungary, I knew that this was the end of the “death of a vision” and the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s plan. Over the past 20 years God has verified that calling and we have seen abundant fruit on several continents.

Here is my observation.  God allows the death of a vision in order to do at least two things. First, He wants to rid us of all those things that are inconsistent with “who we are in Christ”.  God’s calling is a serious matter and it’s important that God prepares us for spiritual warfare.  You can’t do battle with the enemy when you are out of shape spiritually.

Secondly, God allows the death of a vision to cause us to come to the conclusion that we cannot “make it happen” on our own.  God’s call always involves the impossible. Chances are if you can do it without God’s help and supernatural intervention, then it’s probably not of God.

Are you carrying around the “death of a vision?” Do you yet have an unfulfilled vision waiting for God’s intervention and open door?  Remember, if God has given us a vision, He has already equipped us to fulfill His calling in our life.  (Romans 5:3-5, Romans 8:28)  When God is ready He will open the doors, clear the way and make it possible.  Just maybe it’s time to begin crying out to God in behalf of your vision? I leave you with a chorus from an old gospel song that conveys the importance of praying through.

“Just keep on praying, till the light breaks through.
The Lord will answer, will answer you.
God keeps his promise, his word is true,
Just keep on praying, till the light breaks through.”



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Believing God

 

“He that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarded of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

The above verse pretty much sums up the Christian life.  All God asks of us is that we believe Him, trust Him in every situation, even when the outlook is grim.

We see this principle played out throughout the Scripture.  When Jesus was teaching the 5000 in the countryside the disciples wanted to send them home to eat. Jesus wanted them to look to him and trust him in the situation. Jesus then miraculously multiplied the fish and feed the whole crowd with leftovers.

When Lazarus died the disciples and Lazarus’s sisters wondered why He didn’t come sooner.  But Jesus wanted them to trust Him even though it meant the death of Lazarus.  Jesus then proceeded to raise Lazarus from the dead. Jesus wanted them to trust in Him, even in the face of death.

Enoch is probably one of the greatest examples of trusting God.   The Scripture says, “By faith Enoch was translated.”  Because of his faith and trust in God he didn’t even have to die, God just took him up to heaven.  Enoch trusted God and he had no Bible, no songbook, and no teacher, no indwelling Holy Spirit but yet he trusted and believed God.  We have all those things but find it difficult to trust Him when we are in difficult times.

There are benefits when we choose by an act of our will to trust God.  Listed below are three benefits for you to consider.

  1. God will control our lives.  For the believer who chooses to go it on his own will soon realize his life is spinning out of control. That’s when Satan steps in and attempts to manipulate and gain a foothold in our life.   Faith says I can’t do it on my own, apart from Him I can do nothing.  To allow God to control our lives we must surrender our rights and expectations and trust every area of our life to His control.
  2. We can live in the light.  The world is searching for meaning and significance. They are groping in the dark looking for something to make sense of their life.  When decide to trust God, the Holy Spirit and the Word of God will provide light and understanding.
  3. The walk of faith and trust protects us from our enemies.  The Scripture says in Isaiah 54:17 the “No weapon formed against us shall prosper.”  The Hebrew in this verse indicates that “No plan, no instrument of destruction, no satanic artillery shall push you or run over you, but it will be done away with.”

Certainly there are many more benefits of trusting and walking with God.  I would like to encourage you to take a personal inventory to determine if you are trusting God in every area of your life.   If not, acknowledge your lack of trust and then determine with God’s help to trust Him in everything.

Faith ends where worry begins, and worry ends where faith begins.–George Mueller

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The Trial by Faith

Last week I played tennis for the first time this year. It wasn’t long before the hot sun took its toll on this old body. After the match two things dawned on me. First, I am not young anymore. Secondly, and more importantly, I was reminded of how important it was for me to resume the pain of my regular gym workouts, especially if I want to finish the match.

I hate working out. I just can’t comprehend those who say, “I just love working out.” I didn’t like working out when I was 20 years old and I don’t like it now. It hurts and “no” I don’t feel better after working out. How can pain, suffering and fatigue make you feel better?

However, I have learned that if I want to last for 2 hours on the tennis court and finish the match, working out must be a part of my daily routine. Even though working out is not my favorite thing to do, I will admit that I do like the benefits of working out. When I am in shape, I have more stamina, feel better and even my sleep is more restful. I know the long term benefits of working out far out weigh the pain and suffering of the moment.

In a spiritual sense, pain, suffering, trials and tribulations are God’s way of getting us in spiritual shape. If it weren’t for troubles and trials then we would become passive and spiritually lukewarm. We would grow complacent and self-absorbed to the point that we would think we didn’t need God every moment.

Ever wonder why so many people turn to God in times of suffering and trials. Over the years, many people have come to my office because of some sort of failure or trouble that had gotten them out of control. They couldn’t fix the problem, but the surprising thing is their problems had a way of pushing them back to the Lord. It came to their attention that they had been living their life in their own strength and fully self-absorbed.Trials not only push us toward the Lord but it helps us retain the spiritual territory we’ve gained, and it allows us to keep the enemy at bay. It reminds us that we need God every moment of the day.The devil’s plan is to take the fight out of us so we give up. But if we are trial-hardened we will trust God completely and look for His divine leadership in every situation.

What kind of trial are you going through right now? I encourage you to take hold of your trial by faith and believe God has allowed it for your benefit. He is using it to make you stronger and to help you have endurance in order to be victorious and finish the match. Whatever you are struggling with today, stop and ask God to show you His perspective on your problem. Look for what He may be trying to show you through this struggle.

“So we are not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making a new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18 – The Message)

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Learning to Rest

Like many virtues in life, the most valuable and beneficial things come at a cost. We mess up, make mistakes and through the school of hard knocks we finally learn the lessons we wished we had learned years earlier.

One such lesson in the Christian life is the lesson of learning to rest.  God intends that the first step of every new believer is to learn to rest.  I know, that is opposite of what most of us experienced.  Most of us jumped in with both feet, with eyes wide open attempting to “do all we can do for God”.  It didn’t take long for us to experience burnout.  When we couple a little weariness with church problems we come to the point where we say, “There has got to be more to the Christian life?”  At this point, the result is sometimes church burnout.

Why does this burnout stage occur? Some would say that we took on too much too quickly.  Others would say there were spiritual maturity issues; we needed to grow more before we attempted to do church work.  Those may have been contributing factors, but I think the main problem is we neglected the resting stage.

It is instinctive to human nature to begin the process of “doing” as soon as we have a meaningful spiritual experience such as salvation.  We have heard the good news of the gospel, it has impacted our life, now we must get busy and tell someone else.  We are correct that we should tell others, that is a mandate for all committed followers of Christ. However, the first step in the Christian walk is not doing but rather learning to rest.

The principles of Scripture teach that our degree of success in ministry is directly connected to how much we learn to rest. The Apostle Paul so eloquently portrays that truth in Ephesians:

“…He(God) raised Him(Jesus) from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in heavenly places far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion…(1:17-21)

“And raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus… (2:6-9)

Notice that God first made Jesus to sit, then his made us to sit with Him. As Watchmen Nee writes in his book Sit, Walk and Stand, “Christianity does not begin with walking but with sitting.”
Jesus sat down at the right hand of the Father because his work was finished. He paid the debt for our sin once and for all.  No more sacrifices, no more burnt incenses, no more entering in the Holy of Holies once a year to apply the blood to atone for sin.  Man’s futile attempt to keep the law was now fulfilled in Jesus.

We first see the principle of resting in creation.  God made everything in six days. At the end of the sixth day He made man.  On the seventh day God rested. That means that man’s first full day on earth was a day of rest.

Why is our first duty as a believer to learn to rest? Why is resting so important to God? Listed below are five key reasons that resting is important to every committed follower of Jesus.

  1. Resting is an indication that we understand that our salvation is a work of God’s grace and not our self-effort. Our good deeds, learning the catechism or being baptized will not get us to heaven. Salvation is only received as a free gift, we can’t earn it. It is only through accepting by faith Jesus’ finished work on the cross, in our behalf, can we receive this free gift of salvation.
  2. Resting is the acknowledgment of our absolute dependence upon Him.  Apart from the living Christ within us, we can do nothing. (John 15:5) Our ability and power to be fruitful is directly related to being connected to the true vine, which is Christ.
  3. In resting we realize that our power to bear spiritual fruit comes from a higher source. Our talent and ability is practically useless unless it has been empowered by the Holy Spirit. The scripture teaches us that we are to be filled with the Spirit of God for effective and fruitful ministry. (Ephesians 5:18)
  4. Resting is a time to realize that the same Holy Spirit that drew us to Christ has formed a union with us. He is our companion 24/7. He leads and guides us toward truth, He goes before us and prepares our daily path, and He opens the hearts and minds of those we come in contact with. He prepares their heart for what He will lead us to say to them.
  5. Resting prepares our heart to have fellowship with the God of the universe. It is in those quiet moments of resting that we hear His tender voice and we receive those gems of wisdom and sense His overwhelming love.

As you can see, resting is an important step in preparing us for effective ministry. If we “hit the ground running” we can get so busy doing good that we may miss God. Make no mistake about it, the Lord wants us to be proactive in the kingdom, but not before we learn to rest. You can be more productive in five minutes with the power of God on your life, because you have spent time resting, than you can in five years of working in your own strength.

“Let us therefore be diligent to enter into that rest…”(Hebrews 4)

For more on this subject of resting, I suggest you purchase a copy of the little booklet by Watchman Nee entitled, “Sit, Walk and Stand.” You can find copy at most Christian bookstores or you can order from Amazon. It is available in Kindle format.

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Crying Out to God

If you’re like me, there are times when you feel like your prayers are falling on deaf ears.  Your theology tells you that God always hears our prayers, but you feel as if they were not getting any higher than the ceiling.

Of course there could be many reasons our prayers are not answered. There could be unconfessed sin or impure motives, or we could be neglecting to ask for God’s will to be done in the matter. But what about those times when our motive is pure and we desire his perfect will, why does it seem that our prayer still seems impotent?

I want to suggest a possible solution.  If we examine the prayer life of the saints throughout Scripture there is a consistent thread running through many of their prayers.  They knew the principle of crying out to God. Our examples in Scripture lead us to believe that the most often mode of prayer was a verbal and vocal “cry out to God.” The examples in Scripture are numerous.

“Call unto me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3)

“Evening and morning and noon, I will pray, and cry aloud and He will hear my voice” (Psalm 55:17)

“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.” (Psalm 34:15)

“I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me…” (Psalm 3:4)

In each of the above verses the Hebrew words for “cry” always noted a verbal crying out.  These are just a few of the verses found throughout Scripture that indicate the importance of verbally crying out to God in prayer.

Is it absolutely necessary to verbally cry out to God in order for Him to hear and answer our prayer? No!  God hears and answers our silent, non-verbal prayers.  He even knows the thoughts and intents of our heart before we can even verbalize it.

In Scripture He heard the silent prayer of the woman with the issue of blood who touched His robe and was healed. He heard Hannah as she silently prayed for a son in the temple. He heard the silent prayers of the deaf and healed their deafness.

The issue here is not “does God hear our silent prayer” because we know He hears everything.  But the point is that God most often responds to our deepest, passionate pleas.  It seems as if the pattern of Scripture is that God will not answer some of our prayers until we are willing to cry out to Him with our deepest and most sincere cry of our heart.

Why do you think the Lord lets a situation get to the point that He will only respond when we cry out to Him? I believe there are at least four reasons why God wants us to learn to cry out to Him in prayer.

  1. Crying out is an act of humility. Verbalizing our prayer to God helps us recognize our heart’s condition. Our words will reveal the lack of genuine sincerity and humility.  It sort of puts our prayer in the category of the Publican’s eloquent prayer or the sinner’s cry for help.
  2. Our prayer is more focused.  James says that the “…the effective and fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.” (James 5:16)
  3. Fosters utter dependence. He wants us to utterly depend on Him.  If there is any hint of self-reliance then God can’t help us. Passionately crying out to God indicates that we are helpless without Him.
  4. It’s about fervency. There is a fervency that is present when we cry out to God that is absent when we pray silently.  It’s like attempting to keep a child from running in the street.  You tell them calmly and softly, but because of your passive tone they don’t sense the danger.  But the closer they get to the road the more verbal and passionate you get.  They sense your passion and danger and quickly run away from the street.  In a like manner God hears and sees the fervency of your heart and responds.

Calling or Crying out to God is not a formula for prayer. It is a matter of learning how to pour your heart out to God. It is establishing a belief system that tells us that prayer really works, that it is a supernatural act of God’s intervention and blessing in our life.

May we be known as men and women of God who know and practice crying out to God?

 

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Having a Proper Concept of God

Having a Proper Concept of God

Have you ever wondered why there are so many denominations?  How could committed followers of Christ, who read the same Bible, have so many different belief systems and practices? I believe, for the most part, the difference lies in their concept of God.

The way you view God determines the quality of your relationship with and to Him.  For example, if your view and concept of God is based on your adversarial relationship with your earthly father it will be difficult to receive and understand how much God loves and cherishes you.  If you didn’t feel loved and accepted by your earthly father, then how can you believe you will be loved and accepted by your Heavenly Father?

Even though our past relationship with our earthly father can sometimes affect how we view our Heavenly Father, more often than not our concept of God is usually shaped by our church experience.  That was my case. I felt loved and accepted by my earthly father but my church environment formed most of my belief system and concept of God.

At church I had a steady stream of teaching that emphasized that I was a sinner and I would always be a sinner. No matter what I did, I would always be just an “ole sinner saved by grace.”  From that assumption, I believed that I must prove myself worthy of my salvation by doing the following: 

1. Daily admit that I am just an ole sinner – but I can try to act like a saint, even though I felt like a sinner.

2. I will work for God and do the best I can to try and measure up to what a Christian should be.That smacks of     self-righteousness.

3. The more I do for God the more He would be pleased with me. God’s love is based on my performance.

4. The measure of my spirituality is how committed I am to the local Church.You gotta drink the Kool-Aid

The result of my flawed belief system of God was “Performance Based Christianity.”  I had, unknowingly developed a law- based system of Christianity, all because I had a wrong concept of God. I had gotten my view and concept of God from religion rather than from God’s Word. I don’t blame anyone, it is just what I perceived as necessary to please God.

I think that having a Biblical concept of God is so important to understanding the Christian life that I always begin my Exchanged Life Conference (http://www.exchangedlifeconference.com) with how to develop a proper concept of God. If we have a flawed concept of God then how will ever know how to approach Him, love Him and worship Him?

 In my mind there are two ways of developing a proper concept of God. First we learn the character and nature of God as presented in His many names throughout Scripture.  We learn from His name Jehovah Rapha that He is our healer. God can heal our sickness.  We learn from His name Elohim that he is a God of power and might.  There are many other names throughout Scripture that describe the nature of God. I encourage you to do a study of the names of God; it will be a tremendous blessing.  (See Wednesday devotional on 3/20/13 for a fuller discussion of God’s name)

The second way we develop a proper concept of God is to understand the Cross.  Over the years I have asked hundreds of people this question:  “What does the Cross mean to you?”  Many would immediately answer, “The cross is where Jesus died for my sin.”  Then I would respond with a yes, that is correct but what else does the cross mean to you? Most of the time I would get a blank stare because their knowledge of the cross was limited to one thing, the death of Christ.

I am not trying to minimize the role and importance of Christ’s atoning death for mankind’s sin.  But the atonement is just part of the story of the cross.  The cross is not only the means by which our sin debt is paid, but the cross is where we get our identity and we begin to live.

To illustrate the point, I like to teach that there are two sides to the cross.  The first side of the cross is where Jesus paid my sin debt.  On that side of the cross I passed from death unto life, I became a child of God, and I became someone I have never been before.  Old things are passed away, all things became new. (2 Cor. 5:17, Ephesians 1:4-17).  We all rejoice in the opportunity to be drawn to Christ by the Holy Spirit and to declare Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  However, this wonderful salvation experience does not bring us victorious living.

That’s what the other side of the cross does for us.  The first side of the cross dealt with our sin, the other side of the cross deals with our self-life or flesh.  At salvation our spirit was made alive by the Spirit of the living Christ (Galatians 4:6).  But our soul, (our mind, will and emotions) is still in bondage to our flesh and needs to be delivered.  We have all this old programing and belief system from our old life that hinders us from doing what is right.

Because of the cross three things happened that gives us a proper concept of God.

1. Christ’s indwelling allowed us to become an extension of His very life. (Colossians 3:3-4)

2. God poured His life into us at salvation, and then Christ’s life goes out through us to others. (Colossians 2:6) We become a conduit of His life to a lost world.

3. God’s design is that we manifest His very life. We are not to mimic a life like His, but rather learn to rest in Him and allow His life to flow from our life. (John 17:21-23)

 Summary

The proper concept of God includes two key ingredients. First, you develop a proper concept of God by learning and knowing His names. His many names define His true character. Through His many names you learn how He works and deals with mankind, how loving and forgiving He is, and how committed He is to His children.

Secondly, you develop a proper concept of God by accepting, by faith, your identity in Christ. You learn that God indwells you and has placed the Holy Spirit within you to teach and lead you into all truth. God is not some far away deity that you can hope to please, but He indwells you so that you may daily walk with Him, have a personal relationship with Him, and that He may cherish and lavish you with His love.

by

Yielding

 

My wife and I enjoy watching true-to-life movies about English kings and queens. The royalty down through the centuries are prime examples of abuse of power, self-indulgence, pride and ultimate vanity. It proves that man, when left to his own resources, will self-destruct.

One of the words that come to my mind when I think of the various kingdoms of the world is the word “Yield”.  Even with absolute power there must be a degree of yielding. The kings of the past who had the most peaceful and prosperous rule displayed an attitude of service and humility.  

It was the custom and the law of the kingdom for the subjects to yield to the authority of the king. To refuse to yield is sure death. But to properly yield to the king turns away his wrath.  Properly yielding brings prosperity and peaceful living in the kingdom. 

Just as properly yielding in an earthly kingdom is important, learning the importance of yielding in the heavenly kingdom is just as important. Having continual inward peace is goal of every believer.  Being at rest during every situation is the ideal of every committed follower of Jesus.

Yielding to our heavenly Father is not a set of religious rules and regulations but more of a Biblical principal which includes learning to rest, surrender and abandon. Matter of fact, most struggles in the Christian life occurs when we lack these spiritual virtues.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden come to me and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.”(Matthew 11:28-29)

One of the key components of yielding is learning to rest.  It’s the idea of casting your burdens and cares upon Jesus so your soul (your mind, will and emotions) can rest.  We can rest when things are falling apart because Jesus the sovereign God is in control. I heard someone say one time, “Has it ever occurred to you that nothing ever occurred to God?”  That means God is never taken by surprise at the events of our life. He is fully aware of every detail.

Another element of yielding is surrender and abandonment.  As a follower of Christ, we can never be at peace with God or ourselves unless we learn the act of surrender and abandonment.

In my immaturity and naivety as a new believer, I thought the sum total of the Christian life was being born again. That is a first step, but I soon learned that being a committed follower of Jesus sets in motion a war in the heavens for my allegiance.  Since the enemy lost his grip on my soul he began a campaign to gain back the affection and allegiance he lost when I was born again.

So the battle in the Christian life becomes the struggle of surrender and abandonment.  I think that is the reason we have so many struggles in life. We are not willing to abandon and surrender every area of our life to the supremacy of Christ.

I know that is paradoxal but weakness is strength, and surrender is victory. The more of our life we surrender to His control the greater our rest.

The Scripture teaches us that abandonment and surrender is normal to the Christian life.”… do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed (metamorpheo) by the renewing of your mind…” (Romans 12:1-2)

Why is surrender and abandonment such an issue with God?  Fenelon says, “God’s desire is to seek out and destroy the roots of self-love. You, on your own, could never find those hidden roots. God can see the entire path of self-love with your heart. Let him attack self-love at it strongest point.”

Yielding to the King of Glory is all about being suited for Kingdom Life so that He can live His life through us. It is not about performance but about relationship. It’s about laying down the self-life and exchanging our life for His life.

God desires an ongoing love relationship with us. Will you join me in allowing the Holy Spirit to examine our life in order to reveal our self-love so that we may fully yield to the King?