Well...er...The Reason You See Is....

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. - Hebrews 10:23-25

Everyone I know realizes I am a major baseball fan. This is my season! I had two "stupid human tricks" as a child growing up. First, I could never ever make, model and year of every car from 1947 (I was born in 1952) until 1976 on the road. The other was I could remember the most minute details about ballplayers and the game itself. I loved it! I didn't see it as trivia because I loved it so much. To me it was cool and fun and I suppose it was also important. How good was I? Even my friends, who had teams that they loved more than I did and had heroes that were not my heroes knew less about their favorite players and teams than I did. I hated the Yankees but my Yankee loving fiends marveled that I knew more about Mantle, Maris, Ford, Berra, Richardson, Kubek and all the lesser known Yankees than they knew. You may be that kind of person or have friends and family like that. Well, I still am a bonifide member of this group of trivia containers.

Fans have other traits as well don't they? They have an indomitable sense of commitment, loyalty or determination - okay, okay, maybe "addiction" is a better word! Against incredible odds, sound logic, and even medical advice, sports fans will persevere to the dying end! Difficulties are viewed as a challenge ... never an excuse to stay away or miss a chance to support our teams!

I've often wondered what would happen if people were as intense and committed and determined about their love of Christ Jesus and the Body He died for as they are about sports or any other hobby. This topic was covered some years back in a Moody Monthly piece that illustrated twelve excuses a fella might use for "quitting sports." The analogy isn't hard to figure out.

1. Every time I went, they asked me for money.

2. The people with whom I had to sit didn't seem very friendly.

3. The seats were too hard and not comfortable.

4. The coach never came to call on me.

5. The referee made a decision with which I could not agree.

6. I was sitting with some hypocrites---they came only to see what others were wearing.

7. Some games went into overtime, and I was late getting home.

8. The organist played music that I had never heard before.

9. The games are scheduled when I want to do other things.

10. My parents took me to too many games when I was growing up. (Hmm...I'll have to ask my boys)

11. Since I read a book on sports, I feel that I know more than the coaches anyhow.

12. I don't want to take my kids, because I want them to choose for themselves what sport they like best.

I've come up with a few more:

13. The parking lot (steps, walkways, etc.) was awful . . . I had to walk 300 yards to the stadium entrance.

14. Nobody came up and introduced themselves to me; it was so impersonal!

15. The public address and lighting systems don't suit me.

16. It's always too hot (or cold) in the stadium.

17. It's so loud there!

Enough said. Think it over.

What would happen if we approached our responsibilities to the Body of Christ with the same enthusiasm we give to our hobbies, sports, and other extracurricular activities?

Are You a Domestic Bird?

But we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
- Hebrews 6:11,12

The people of God, and most all of their forms of gathering, are running shy of eagles, and we're running over with parrots. Content to sit safely on our evangelical perches and repeat in rapid-fire falsetto our religious words, we are fast becoming overpopulated with bright-colored birds having soft bellies, big beaks, and little heads. - Chuck Swindoll

Chuck Swindoll penned those words more than a decade ago. Many positives have hit the church and many a wake up call has slammed into it's walls through the intervening years. But still the fact is that as a people we're still soft!

What would help to balance things out would be a lot more keen-eyed, wide-winged creatures willing to soar out and up, exploring the illimitable ranges of the kingdom of God . . . willing to return with a brief report on their findings before they leave the nest again for another fascinating adventure. We need soaring, adventurous, fast-moving, fast-thinking, quick-witted, single-minded and determined EAGLES!

To Chuck's point it should be obvious (in keeping with the analogy and hoping that the metaphor police don't come and get me!) parrot people are much different than eagle thinkers. They become accustomed to the familiarity of the cage. If you have ever owned a parrot (I grew up with one in my house) they are incessantly picking over the same pan full of seeds. Boring and meaningless repetition such as listening to the same words until they are burned into their lil' parrot heads and can be repeated out of their oversized, giant parrot beaks provides them satisfaction and more comfort; even YEARS later!

They like complacent and similar company too. Since they are colorful and easily, at least outwardly, the "brightest" creature in the room they crave lots of attention. Provide them with a scratch here, and a snuggle there, and they'll stay for years right on the same perch and right in that same cage.

In captivity I bet you can't remember the last time you saw one fly. I can. And, when Polly's clipped wings grew out (who knew they grew out or could?)Polly flew around the room and right back to the perch. End of story.I think what Polly realized was that she did something different and, oh my gosh, different is, well, scary! Parrots like the predictable, the secure, the strokes they get from their mutual admiration society.

Not so with eagles nor with eagle believers. There's not a predictable pinion in their wings! They think. They love to think. They are driven with this inner urge to search, to discover, to hunt, to learn. And that means they're courageous, tough-minded, willing to ask the hard questions as they bypass the routine in vigorous pursuit of the truth. The whole truth. "The deep things of God" - fresh from the Himalayan heights, where the thin air makes thoughts pure and clear - rather than the tired, worn distillations of humanity. And unlike the intellectually impoverished or at least unchallenged parrot, eagles take risks getting their food because they hate anything that comes from a small dish of picked-over seeds...it's boring, dull, repetitious, and dry.

Although rare, eagles are not completely extinct in the historic skies of the church. Thomas Aquinas was one, as were Augustine, Justin Martyr, Luther, Wesley and Bunyan, Wycliffe and Huss. So were G. K. Chesterton, R. A. Torrey, Spurgeon, Moody, C. S. Lewis, Charles, Finney, John Gill, Robert Dick Wilson, J. Gresham Machen, W. R. Nicoll, and A. W. Tozer.

Many of the reformers qualify, as do Jonathan Edwards, John Newton, George Whitefield, and a long line of nonconformists - original thinkers whose lives were interwoven through the treasured tapestry of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries.

And in our day? We could name some...but they are increasingly rarer, as the "Entertain Me" philosophy of the public outshouts those who plead, "Make me think!"

Have you fallen prey to a similar mind-set? Do you find yourself contentedly sitting on your perch (i.e. church pew), pecking at dry morsels (i.e. some pastoral lesson or some popular book) rather than longing for the skies? Get off the perch. A great way to worship and glorify and honor God is to step out, step up and attempt great exploits in His name!

Think about it. I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~

And Your Reason Is? - This is More of a Rant

Recently a relative of mine called words I had directed toward her in reflection on something she had written a "sounding gong and chiming cymbal." Actually I believe she was calling me those things as she quoted from I Corinthians 13:1. Perhaps she merely was expressing that to her it sounded like I was correcting her without love. It was a response to something she had posted on Facebook about a video that can be found here: http://vimeo.com/11501569. You should cut and paste and take a look at it. It's pretty slick and insightful. Go ahead, open another browser window; I'll wait here.

Nice job fellows at North Point Media (a ministry of the multi-campused mega-church North Point Community Church in the Atlanta, GA area.)

But I think this very cool video is not what some might interpret it to be. You see, the same guys who gave us this http://vimeo.com/8637774 gave us this http://vimeo.com/11501569 - perhaps they were simply providing themselves and the other 220 mega churches throughout the USA and the other 1200 around the world with a little wake up call.It certainly is a funny parady to them.

The rest of the churches who would want to emulate this kind of production couldn't if they tried and can't afford it as it is.

Still all in all the message in the video saddened me but it doesn't surprise me (Though given who they are really did sort of confuse me). That my sweet and loving relative would call me or think I was unloving toward her a noisy gong or clanging cymbal likewise saddened me.

The video as an inside joke is funny. If, its primary intent be to shoot holes in 21st century church, well then guys I would tell you that this is old news about contemporary ills of the Church. This particular piece is wrapped in the very technology that it criticizes; using the same "vices". That's weird.

Perhaps it is "the heart" of the church, the minister or the worship leader that the video, "Sunday's Coming". But who is it? It never says. It just seems to criticize some church (or ministry), somewhere, at some time. But it is just so totally random.

We will never know about whom this specifically was aiming at. We will have to call the character who plays the guy who knows it all, Pastor Guru since whomever this charismatic charmer is in the clip has no name. It just doesn't say.

I guess, since the message is posted for the world to see on YouTube, then the whole message appears should just be taken as a think piece much like you might have gotten from the Wittenberg Door guys back in the 70's and 80's (Shades of Mike Yacconelli). That job, policing and sarcastically criticizing has now been replicated in 10,000 blogs. The difference is that this one is great media. It's well produced. A few magazines of the Christian ilk have attempted to be a helpful policing agent for all things Christian in the past but it was hard to take them seriously across from a full page ad by Zondervan by the latest greatest book by the latest greatest writer, teacher, pastor, expositor, celebrity.

But I have a problem with the video "Sunday's Coming". It has no target. It's an old, worn out misdirected method of trying to cure an ill (or ill's) in the church. The strategy becomes this:

"We, the concerned, will talk about things in a general way that will be validated by the many who view themselves as "not this." I can't say for sure but "not this" offends me and therefore anything that I define as "not this" will be struck from my professional, objective, and classically trained spiritual eye as to be brushed aside. After all "not this" has no place in the 'Kingdom of God.'"

Now, before I get too far you may ask, "John what do you mean by, 'not this?'"

Well I'll give you some examples. Let's say I go to a small church of 45-65 which "preaches the pure word." "Not This" then becomes highly polished, well orchestrated ministry. Perhaps my church has no electrical instruments nor electronics of any kind to wow the masses.  "Not this" is then the fancy electronica, sound and lighting affects of the world being used in less than spiritual churches. And certainly our pastor isn't that slick, cool, knowledgeable, Steve Jobs-esque fellow depicted in the video "Not this" becomes any pastor who has charisma, delivery and uses current terminology. Further, no one walks up front with a logo'd t-shirt, sneakers and cool glasses in my church because we honor God by our Sunday best! "Not this" becomes multi-media used to present the announcements or anyone who acts as the Master of Ceremonies of a spiritual service. (Really? Those were cool glasses?) Or, and I am "not this" might say/believe I am not in a big church. I am not in a modern church. I am a Christian but I am not in church at all. These examples could all be a part, in this instance, of the "not this."

And, since you are "not this" don't you just feel better knowing it?

It gives you great comfort in knowing that you are far off the hell bent path of "not this" and therefore much you are much closer to "what it is!" What it is, in my verbiage, is your idea of the right thinking and correct path to follow Jesus.

The problem brothers and sisters is this; In this us and them strategic ideological division you would say to yourself, "I understand 'what it is' because 'not this' makes me convulse to think about it!" I spend time with my fellow believers (or disbelievers) and we all shake our heads in disapproval at "not this," grateful that we have a clearer if not crystalline, objective and abiding understanding of "what it is." I thank my God I live under His protection in "what it is."

So I watched "Sunday's Coming." And in it I recognized the "anti-spiritual" players and realized in 46 years of church attendance I have only seen all of them on the same team, at the same time and place, espousing a similar format and mission twice. I had seen all of those things that Sunday's Coming espoused separately but not all in one place and to think it was the mission and vision of those ministries to succor people on slick stylings would be the subjective rant of an infidel attempting to justify their disbelief in Jesus Christ. ("I don't believe because Christians are hypocrites." Somehow, "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher..." is lost in that line of thought for me...I'm just sayin'.)

Jesus was contemporary for His time. He did things that woke people up. He changed up the way to ask questions and to speak to people...even WHO He would speak with changed. Using the language of the day, the tools and technologies of the day to reach the churched better to disciple and the unchurched to deliver them into God's kingdom, though must come with God's anointing and direction (as would anything) certainly isn't patently anti-god or anti-church.

The video is funny. I hope every minister who watches it gets that he/she better not become "not this." But to my loving relative and anyone else who validates feelings, experiences and media as well as sentiment to discredit "the church," it isn't that easy. I cannot get past the true, obvious, "smack-you-in-the-face" plain teaching of scripture about why some people would embrace it to validate a particular point. It doesn't make any of us right to acknowledge we know worship leaders who just want to sell CD's (usually to shore up some paltry salary they try to subsist on) or some pastor who has learned the delivery of a teaching or sermon with professionalism and competency.

The video does not say that churches, bodies of Christ are whack; stay away! It does NOT say that. The Bible is plain...

• It says Jesus died for His body - the church (and though we are members of that body...the body is still recognized with ALL it's members working together) - Colossians 2:19; I Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 5:23

• Oddly enough something we hold very personal, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, is for the Church. You have spiritual gifts. And since you do they are to be used in a corporate body of Christ setting. Check it out - Acts 10:44,45 & 11:15-17

• It says we are to be those who organize as the parts of the body to better attack the gates of Hell (the gates don't attack back) and that Jesus is the churches (not the individuals) leaders - Ephesians 1:22,23 & I Corinthians 12:27

• 47% of those who profess Jesus as Savior in America don't go to church or involve themselves regularly with a body of Christ and I suppose since God allowed, slavery, polygamy, divorce, a taxed society He doesn't kick anyone out of eternity for not attending church but they certainly can't call themselves disciples of Jesus Christ either

• 37% of that group indicate they do not go to church because of deep wounds caused by past associations and that includes being guilted into service and other personally viewed harms.

• The Church body is a unique place where God's glory is illuminated - Ephesians 3:21

I do not know what your "not this" is or if it relates to the church of Jesus Christ at all. But, let me suggest that nothing in life reflects on those who are able-bodied and capable or taking their place as a member of a local body of Christ and do not do it as the kinds of hypocrites that the world finds unbelievable. Secondly, God has few people that He expects to act as a sort of internal KGB to police His own army. He doesn't use believers to ambush His own. It's time we all were part of the solution instead of spy's in the land sent to throw rocks indiscriminately and make self feel better for both agreeing that error lives in the church as a sort of general statement (duh!) and pointing out the errors of our brothers and sisters...where is the love in that? More to the point how loving, in grace, is it and where is the lack of hypocrisy you hope to avoid?

I remain...

InHISgrip, ~J~

Just How Much Has God Told Us?

And he cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?" Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this child’s life come into him again." And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. - I King 17:20-22

I am still thinking through what I am about to share with you. The record of my thinking on this is not complete. In the aforementioned little verse we have a first time account of God raising the dead. Previous to this He had taken Enoch straight to heaven alive but this was the first time the truly dead are truly brought back to life.

So here is my question: What is Elijah thinking here? How does he dare ask God to do such an unprecedented thing?

You see, Elijah could not go back through the record like some astute and learned prophet (or teacher, pastor or theologian) and try to find another instance of resurrection and say, "Ah! Precedence recorded in the Scriptures - there's a situation like we have here in the present time. You see? God did it there. He will do it here.”

How much do we use precedent to determine what we commit God to doing in our current circumstance? How much have we limited God in our practice by only what He has done in the Bible? And worse yet, in precisely the way He did it (Anyone have an Alabaster box of oil around anywhere? Anyone?)

You see guys God never claimed to provide a written record of absolutely everything He has ever done. And I believe He has left the record incomplete, so to speak, so that we will not trust in the past but in the God who is fresh and alive and creative and real; able to meet today's need today and He can do it in unprecedented methods today. If He wants He can inform you to use Crisco or HoneyTime Honey!

Elijah had no, "God by the numbers" manual to follow. Instead, he relied on his relationship with his Heavenly Father. Elijah's ability to receive direction from God singularly and directly was his spiritual "trick". We should call this faith. However, we don't. We call something else faith. We call faith what we don't know but hope for and maybe it will and maybe it won't happen Elijah had only his faith in the living God. But, in Elijah's case it was a practiced faith. He had spent hours in prayer, reading, fasting, focusing and more than these, meditation and listening so that when the time came Elijah KNEW what God wanted to do.Why? Because God told Him.

Don't you wish at times that you had a book where you could look up "healing," or "impatience," or "forgiveness"? Okay. "What to do when I'm (without forgiveness, in need of healing, lack patience) in the face of testing": here are steps one, two, three, four, and five. And in case of severe emergency: six, seven, and eight.

Ta da! You'd have the answer!

Or, what to do when death comes: Steps A, B, C & D. If it is the dearest friend you've ever known:and F & G. If it is your own child: then E and H and possibly I.

But my loved ones there's no such manual. And for this we should be grateful! We should raise our voices and shout to the heavens! We should dance and laugh and sing HIS praises!. Why? Because it means He must speak to us, with us and through us individually. It also means we must read, pray, sing, praise, glory and meditate on and in Him.

Thankfully, in His Word God does include principles to follow in most crises, but not a precise procedure in difficult or impossible situations. He lets us know that our relationship with Him should cause us to have certain character attributes. We know how I spirit should respond. But Jesus came to restore our ability to hear and receive from our Heavenly Father. God leaves us on the cutting edge of today so that we will trust in Him and the principles in His great and gracious Word and those principles will drive us to Him...personally...throne room of God stuff...in HIS presence. That's all we have but isn't THAT amazing? And my loved ones...get into that...get into your intimate relationship, like Elijah with the God of the Universe but also of your life because one thing I am learning, day-by-day as I grow in my life in Jesus is this: That's enough.

I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~

Christmas As A Distraction to Your Worship of God

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:4-7.

The Christmas season (lack of weather withstanding) is upon us here in Mesa, AZ. Thanksgiving is past and Christmas looms large. I am into the holiday season only from a seasonal perspective. This is the season and I am present and accounted for. The events of the last few weeks have created in me a sort of writers block I suppose. With the loss of my brother and a few days later the only father I have known for the last 35 years, I am just a bit numb about it all. I am self-absorbed. I keep hearing Jesus say, "Let the dead bury the dead," but I struggle with it.

However, I must admit, every year in November/December, I have creative challenges. It has come earlier this year.

I am distracted from loving the Lord.

On the local scene many have sent Christmas cards and letters in addition to working through the annual Christmas gift buying frenzy, which began with black Friday morning for many at midnight. I stayed at home on Friday but did venture out on Cyber Monday to buy a Christmas gift or two via the Internet. The gift has already arrive and it seems surreal.

There are so many distractions during this time of the year. The echo of, "Jesus is the reason for the season" somehow echoes in a thin and hollow fashion. I am not focused on adoration of my King. We want to spend time with our families, show them gifts and time to express our love and they want to spend time with us. I just talked with my daughter-in-law Elisha. Amongst other things the season brings she reminded me that for many this involves traveling great distances and several days of time.

There is the preparation time for the family time and of course the buying of gifts. Often there is also the necessity of the preparation of food for the holiday meals. Along with all of that, there are the church events from nativity reenactments to Christmas programs. There is also the hectic pace of school activities where there is almost always a Christmas program of some kind and basketball or other sports activities adding to the frantic expedited pace of our busy lives. In honor of my King I have put honoring Him on the shelf for a couple of months...not cool

For those schools that have band programs or vocal programs there will very likely be some special presentations during this time. It all makes for a much busier pace of life for parents many of whom are working their regular schedules and will have an office party or two and other extra events along the way too.

Bless you Lord - I raise you up...

I am sure there are many other things that could have been mentioned that complicate our lives during this time of year. We talk as if life used to be simpler but even Mary and Joseph had a few complications getting ready for the first Christmas. They had to deal with the societal pressure of Mary being pregnant out of wedlock. Then the tough decision to have and keep the Promised Child. Joseph had a tough decision to make but he did make it and made the right one. Then, the teenage couple (at least Mary) were forced to make a difficult trip. As if that wasn't bad enough it came during the very last of Mary’s pregnancy. After they arrived in Bethlehem, they had one more little problem: there was no room in the inn. Jesus had to be born in the stables, which many believe to have been just a crude cave.

Oh, Lord Our God - You are majestic - You are our health and wealth...our very portion...we worship you...

(or do we...?)

I hope that you will not become distracted from the reason for this season my friends and family. The many events of the Christmas season are not the goal. Getting through as many as possible without the need to maim, kill and destroy should not be goals. Remember HIM whom to know is life eternal during this season where we desire to honor HIM>

Include your Father God in your daily lives. Let us rejoice during this time and remember the true meaning of Christmas. There may very well be additional complications and challenges, and yes distractions ahead for you. They may rise up on the left and on the right. They may come at you head on…but remember that the Lord can give you “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” to “guard your hearts and minds.”

Daddy God would have you to rejoice in the midst of the Holiday distractions and in doing so honor Him. As the apostle Paul puts it, and he surely had his share of distractions, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!”

I remain, joyfully...

InHISgrip,
~J~

A Midget, A Dwarf or Just a y'Ittle Thing?

Who despises the day of small things? - Zechariah 4:10

Most of our earthly existence is a series of small events that can amount to something enormous!

Take God for instance and His invasion of earth.

Have you ever considered why the God of the universe came to earth and spent 33 years identifying with mankind through work?

Jesus grew up as a carpenter's son and, there is little doubt that he learned carpentry by assisting good old dad. It is likely that from his teen years until age 29 or 30 He worked. And, most likely it was in his father's profession.

When it was time for Him to begin to fulfill His purpose for mankind, He told countless stories of people and their work. He told stories of landowners, farmers, fishermen, tax collectors, potters, clergy and more. He related to the everyday man because He participated and was one of them. This is why it was important for Him to have some personal work experience.

Friends and family we all know that our existence here on the blue marble (er...planet earth) is filled with daily routines. It is true that every now and then, God takes us to the mountaintop to experience His presence or His power in an unbelievable, amazing and stunning display. But let me ask you, is this where we live? Do we live for the next "big thing" from God? Is that your faith?

Well, believe it or not those during Jesus' earthly life, or those at the times of the apostles after Him didn't live daily in a mountaintop. Going back before Jesus but certainly to a time we know God moved mountains (or seas) Moses spent 40 years in preparation. Paul spent a great deal of his life working toward the wrong purpose until a dramatic event changed his life. Jacob spent 20 years working for his future father-in-law (who, while still working, was his father-in-law and still a shyster) Laban.

God uses our daily routines to develop stick-to-it-ness, persistence, focus and character qualities that He plans to use at the appropriate time for His glory and honor.

My experience is that it is in the small things we develop trustworthiness with God. The day-in and day-out grind of huimdrumlife molds you and I and makes us into what the desires of God's heart! How about them apples?

Now, I don't know but that God may still be preparing you for something far greater. For now, however, you are learning the daily lessons of small things. Pray that you will be faithful in a little because the promise of it is pretty amazingly awesome n' cool!

I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~

No, It Isn't All Good News Now Is it?

"A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the sea. . . Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD. . ." - 2 Chronicles 20:2-3

It seems to be an unusually offensive season for all citizens of planet earth isn't it? Bad news is in abundance. Have you received your bits of it in the last few months? How did you feel about it? Was it so bad that when you heard it your stomach turned? Did you go into, "Lions n' Tigers n' Bears - Oh My!" mode?

I had such a week this week actually - it was one thing and another and another and I began to add them up.

This was the situation for King Jehoshaphat. He had just been informed that his country was going to be attacked by an army much larger than his. The previous news he had received had been bad news as well.

But Jehoshaphat was not the man to turn physically ill at the perils of his situation. He had been imbued with a bigger vision of worldly events. He was capable of seeing beyond the trial to the solution. Instead of panicking, the wise King turned His face to God and with his people called them to a time of a prayer & fasting.

The people listened - every man and woman in the province of Judah.

The king made a public prayer where, in reminding God of His promise Jehoshaphat reminded the people of their destiny. (SIDE NOTE: Having a destiny makes the heartbreaks of life bearable. You have one - ask God to reveal it to you!)

Expectantly, he then asked God for a plan. "For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you." At the end of his prayer it says they waited on God's answer. It came through the prophet, Jahaziel son of Zechariah. He said, "Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's'" - 2 Chronicles 20:15-16

The result was God honored their faithfulness and commitment to His promises and wiped out their enemies that day. Without Judah raising a hand their enemies massacred one another and what was heard on the battlefield was praise to God. "As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated" - 2 Chronicles 20:22-23

Let's recap - Here is what Jehoshaphat did in response to bad news.

1. He called for prayer

2. He called for fasting

3. He asked for God's strategy

4. And he began his battle by praising God in the midst of the battle

This is a time of great trouble in our land. Christians need to be focused on their relationship to God. It is good to get back into the Word of God, the Bible. It is wonderful to fellowship with other believers for comfort, support and strength but ultimately we all must go to the source of our destiny!!! Pray! Fast! Expect to hear back! and Praise Him even if today is not as fun, secure, interesting, wonderful as yesterday! Look up and out and believe to live out your Kingdom life!

I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~