To Search Within-To Discovery Without: The Path of Self-Denial

Now when the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, "Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel." But Elisha said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, "Do you know that today the LORD will take away your master from over you?" And he said, "Yes, I know it; keep quiet." Elijah said to him, "Elisha, please stay here, for the LORD has sent me to Jericho." But he said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So they came to Jericho. The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, "Do you know that today the LORD will take away your master from over you?" And he answered, "Yes, I know it; keep quiet." Then Elijah said to him, "Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan." But he said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground. When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you." And Elisha said, "Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me." And he said, "You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so." And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it and he cried, "My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. 13And he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, "Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" And when he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over. - 2 King 2:1-14

I find many topics easy to teach and hard to live. Anyone who knows me personally must know this. I myself, as I have moved through my life with Jesus as Captain of my soul, have become more acutely aware of how I get in the way of me.

Self-denial does not come naturally. It is a learned virtue often hard-learned at that. It is encouraged by few and modeled by even fewer. It seems to be discouraged in our society and in the most respected behavioral instruments it is even frowned upon. This is particularly true among those who are Type A personalities.

In church circles, leadership is especially cursed with a lack of ability for self-denial. If you are a student of scripture you would find Prophets are notorious for exhibiting Type A temperament, which, in our reading above, makes Elijah all the more remarkable. Without hedging one iota in heroism, he was as soft clay in his Master's hands. If you rad the previous chapters you would find Elijah the Prophet did his best work "under the shadow of the Almighty." to quote a phrase used in conjunction with him. And, what was the result of this. For Elijah because of his humility and his grip on self-denial his was a life of power. He had come to the place where he welcomed the death of his own desires. He had become comfortable with the thought that God would be glorified and he would give up everything in the process.

Think on that for a moment.

Elijah had become comfortable with a whole new set of "places" in his life where victory would be won; true victory. What were these places? They were the place of beginning, the place of the prayer, the place of battle, the place of death. These became places of conquest. What we find unnatural he would and embraced and realized contentment, satisfaction and purpose.

We, too, have such places in our lives. Don't we?

First, there's a place of beginning. That's home base---the very beginning of our Christian experience when we discovered and embraced Jesus Christ and acknowledged Him as Savior and Lord of life. That's our place of new beginning. If you read this rightly that place might have been Gilgal for Elijah. At our own Gilgal, we become brand new.

For some of us, that place of beginning, that home base, is far in the past. Search your memory. Can you remember when you took your first few baby steps as a new Christian? If you were anything like I was you tottered a little, and those who loved and mentored you helped steady you on your feet or, tried. And you learned the basics of life: how to get into the Word; how to pray; how to have time with God; how to perhaps haltingly, share your faith.

And then comes the place of prayer. Remember? You first began to learn what it was to sacrifice, to surrender things dear and precious to you. You took actual time from your day because, by faith, you were believing God would hear and respond to you. For some started in earnest over a tragedy. Perhaps it was someone else's pain but you felt that pain. Or you began a life of prayer over the loss of a child, a husband, a wife. Perhaps for you it was the loss of a job, your own business, or a lifelong dream, so close, yet seemingly slipping through your fingertips and the fear it would never be realized.

Elijah had a place called Bethel. It was his place to pray. Coming all alone to your own Bethel, you learned to pray. And, you need to know, a place to pray and worship, and lift God up and bring self into right relationship to Him is a place where, on your knees you become more powerful.

If you learned in this way, if it happened for you as I described then God did a growing work in your life as He carried you from that place of communion to the next stage He planned for you. Normally the next stage was more action, more adventure and usually even less control. But because you'd learned the value of prayer and worship, you built your altar, and you learned even more at His feet.

If you are an older Christian; 10, 20, 40 years of Bible, prayer, church, Jesus you might need a time to remember. Search back in time. Remember?

Self-denial is hard to learn, and, for all of us, not just a few, it is just as hard to hold onto. If the life of Elijah is any indicator it's worth the effort.Perhaps more than this, it is the thing that turns the trappings of our faith into a reality. Get real, get down, literally, with God. I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~

I Can Be Taught But Will I Learn?

They were singing and dancing in the streets, welcoming and honoring this young man who had defended the name of their God. If there is a single statement that best describes David at this time in his life, it would be this one: "David was prospering in all his ways for the LORD was with him" - 1 Samuel 18:14

(It might help to read from verse 5 through 16...) Four times in this one chapter we read that David "prospered." That interested me, so I looked up the Hebrew of that word to understand where it came from. The word sakal from which "prospered" is the root word. I discovered two insightful things about that term. Proverbs 10:19 reveals the first: When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise [sakal]

A person who is wise (who prospers) knows how to keep his mouth shut. He can keep confidences when people say, "Look, don't share this with anyone but..." I would also say it's a great characteristic of a good friend, and certainly should be a foundational component between brothers and sisters in Christ. A good friend, a godly friend, can be trusted with the details of your life; they keep things to themselves between the two of you appropriately.

Furthermore, when they open their mouth, they do so with discretion. That's a sign of a sakal person. That was David.

And the second insight is in Proverbs 21:11: When the scoffer is punished, the naive becomes wise; but when the wise is instructed [sakal], he receives knowledge.

The sakal person is teachable. Again, that's the kind of man David was. He was wise because he guarded his lips, and he maintained a teachable spirit.

So, what's my point? How about this, no matter how fast the promotion or how beaming the accolades may be, we are never to lose our teachability. We never reach a level where we are above criticism or we no longer need the input of others. And, frankly, there are times when our best lessons can be learned from our enemies.

A quiet spirit, a closed mouth, a teachable spirit...my hope is, this week, I practice all three. Together they create sakal. God knows I can use all I can get! I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~

The Past That Does Not Limit My Future!

Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. - Judges 11:29a

It really isn't fair just to point out this portion of a verse as the lead in but it makes the point. So many never enter the Christian walk because, though they have made a profession of faith in Jesus, they live a life that says, "Even Jesus cannot save me from my past. Even the God who redeems all of me cannot use someone who has done or who has been what I have..."

Yet, we all love to see the underdog triumph! We have a natural affinity for the flight of the Phoenix! We've all heard stories of individuals who have overcome extreme hardship borne out of their childhood years. When we speak of children of alcoholics, orphans who never have parents, those who have lost parents to a fatal crash, or with childhood disease - these are all difficult circumstances to overcome.

Jephthah was a man who overcame his obstacles and refused to allow his circumstances to prevent him from becoming great in God's sight. He was born to the Old Testament patriarch Gilead. But Jephthah was the seeming result of his father's adulterous encounter with a prostitute. Gilead's wife, who had bore more sons, decided to reject Jephthah, and drove him away from their home saying, You are not going to get any inheritance in our family because you are the son of another woman. Imagine the rejection this young man felt as he was cast away from his own family.

I'm not sure that what this experience originally taught Jephthah was a great lesson. He became a hardened warrior. Today he probably would have been part of a street gang. As he got older, his reputation as a warrior became known to those in his country, so much so that when the Ammonites made war on Israel, the elders of Gilead went to Jephthah and asked him to be their commander. How would he respond. These were the very ones who did not reach out to him all those years in between. Now, it was the same household, the same people asking for his help. Jephthah had to fight off those feelings of rejection from previous years.

Didn't you hate me and drive me from my father's house? he responded. He overcame his hurt and pain, and responded to the call God had on his life.

It is said that if we were to help the butterfly remove itself from the cocoon, the butterfly would not be strong enough to survive. It is the struggle that prepares the butterfly to become strong enough to fly. Without the struggle in the cocoon, it could not survive as a butterfly. Jephthah used all of who he was and all that he had experienced in order to be the best he could be for the highest good!

Perhaps it doesn't seem this way to you but the Lord prepares each of us in similar ways. Some of our childhoods seem to have been harsh and born from a seemingly unloving God. Certainly if not an unloving God they were propagated in the harshness of an environment that was less than joyful to us. However, we do have a hope. It is the hope of Jephthah. Like he the Lord knows our struggle and will make our life an instrument in His hand if we will follow Him with an upright heart. He does make all things beautiful in His time if we are willing to be patient.

Perhaps you are feeling rejection. Perhaps you are feeling disqualified. You are not and you are not alone. Embrace your past. Allow yourself to see life from God's perspective. Take the pain and use it against the enemy of your soul. Rejoice in your victory because that victory is complete in Jesus Christ! I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~

Of Things Re-Discovered & Of Things Misunderstood

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:13b-14

As I grow older I realize just how empty some things we might say can be. We wax philosophical and might say, "If you could go back and change anything, would you?" Or, "If you could change just one thing in your past what would it be?" There seems to be a 50/50 split in the American mindset over our past. It seems popular today to say, "I wouldn't change a thing" when speaking of our past. Others, (I am in this camp) would in fact change many things. I hate to think of all the things I will weep over as I prostrate myself at the Judgment Seat of Christ. (Uh...all my "GRACE-ITES" it is not the HUGGY LOVEY SEAT OF JESUS.)

Yes, I'd change some things.

But I think we all need to embrace something deeper than the shallowness of an, "Oh well!" attitude. Or, the light and slight wonderment of "what would have been." Whatever has been, our past, can be a hindrance to our personal growth, our effectiveness and to a full wholesome life in our present place and in our futures. It can also be a help in moving toward God's purposes for each our lives as well. That God can use all our past for good should be the soul's sigh of every believer in Christ Jesus.

Is the Glass Half Empty or Is It Full?

For some, recollections of the past has meant pain and heartache. They look on their past and hurt seems to be the overriding theme. They need grace so that they do not let the past dictate their current and future responses. Lifting up life situations to God for them literally means battles fought in the heart and mind, perhaps even daily so that they simply do not respond out of their history. The Holy Spirit, the work of Jesus on the Cross, the provision for love, acceptance and true stature in the Kingdom of God has to be won to provide the fertile ground of right living and responses for a victorious future.

Can you see that? If we allow our past to make us a victim, then we have not entered into the grace that God has for us. We miss the message that we are brand new in Christ. If we live on memories of a spotted past we will fail to raise our vision for new territory to claim and victories to attain. We keep playing a bad record over and over again that validates that we are victims of our past.

We are not!

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland - Isaiah 43:19

God recognizes we will not utterly forget or repress our pasts. The solution is a simple question must be asked however each time one of those horrific moments in our past arises in our memory. The question is, "Lord, I know what the enemy meant when this thinking comes up. What did you mean by it Father God?"

The power of relationship to our Heavenly Father is that He provides us with a new lens in which we can view our personal history. That lens takes into consideration His sovereignty. He knew what we went through. He knows how He can use it to make us whole and further His Kingdom. We must learn as we worship, read the Scriptures, sit at the feet of those who sit at Jesus' feet. It is in this illuminating of actions that does more than just nullify the negative effects of a past with hurt and anguish. It takes that very trouble and makes it powerful and positive in us!

Many have allowed their past to dictate their future. Sometimes we do it in small and silly ways, (I'm Irish, I'm a red head, I'm a Leo, I'm German, I'm this or I'm that...) God is always about doing new things in our lives. He gives fresh revelation of His purposes in our lives. Do not live in the past nor allow yourself to believe anything about you is a limiting factor that God cannot use or turn the negative to a positive.And more than this, do not hold onto bitterness that may hinder God from doing new and exciting things in your life. He turns our desolate deserts into streams of water in an oasis that will bring life and not just to us or for us. It really isn't about you nor I. It is about those we can touch as did our great example Jesus. When we are healers we then have healing streaming through our veins...we are thereby healed. We live and death...well death dies!

How have you viewed your past? Has it hindered you in some areas of your life? Have you relied on past successes to dictate what you will do in the future? Don't negate those good things but do not rely on them. Nor, allow your painful past to negate you from a powerful life in all areas today and into your future. Put aside such thoughts and allow God to not only do a new thing in your life but also reinterpret your past. Expect Abba Father to deep personal insight so you may see the new things He wants to do in and through you today.

When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you're headed for the grave - Author unknown

I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~