To Feel Invincible!

As a child growing up my friend Donnie and I were huge DC Comic Book readers. We had favorites from the Justice League of America. I was more a Green Lantern guy. Donnie, known for his speed, was more a Flash kinda guy.  Now, I apologize to all my Marvel comic aficionado's. I've since come to appreciate the role of superhero's that are more human and less perfect. Bear with me here though. There is really a message to convey and it has more to do with your invincibility than it does with the make believe world of The Legion of Super Heroes or the Fantastic Four.

Why is that important? 

In part, it is important because it helps us to understand why it is we are believe, intuitively, we are destined for great things. In part, it explains why we feel kindred to those who are capable of amazing feats beyond what is visible or apparent in their own skill sets!

I just got through reading, one more time, the story of Elijah's triumph before God's wavering people as he proved the power of God against the prophet's of Baal. (I Kings 18:22-40). This "test", this demonstration of God's power, was in response to Elijah's prayer to God to show Himself and reveal how He could be with His people!
God answered Elijah's prayer. This not only brought fire down from heaven, but far more importantly, it turned the hearts of the people back to God. It also had one chilling effect; it rid the land of the prophets of Baal.

Then Elijah said to them, "Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape." So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there. (1 Kings 18:40)  Some read that last verse and say, "What an extreme response!"

Is it?

We can't imagine that a physician who found a growing mass of malignant cells in your abdomen and said to you, "I think we'd better remove some of those cells"? Or, "I'd like to do just a little minor surgery"? No. A good physician would see that deadly mass and would say, "We have to get all of those cells out of there, along with any surrounding areas that might be contaminated." That's not extreme. That's essential. That's wise. That is what God knew about the prophets of Baal.

The prophets of Baal were and were never going to be anything more than an immoral, hostile, and anti-God malignancy in the land of Israel. God knew this and had revealed this to Elijah. Elijah knew he had to cut away all evidence of such a godless menace.

Nothing makes us more uncertain and insecure than not being sure we are in the will of God. And nothing is more encouraging than knowing for sure that we are. Then, no matter what the circumstances, no matter what happens, we can stand fast.

We can be out of a job but know that we are in the will of God.Because of Jesus we face a threatening situation but know that we're in the will of God. We can have the odds stacked against us but know that we're in the will of God. Nothing intimidates those who know that what they believe is based on what God has said. The equation is never 850:1. It is 850 ants against 1 man of God plus God!

When we know we're in the will of God, we're invincible. In your faith, can you imagine a day, when you would have been as confident as Elijah? The scripture calls him a man like you and me. You need to grow closer, spend more time in HIS presence to really get it.

Never once was Elijah intimidated. In this passage, Elijah spoke 8 times, and every time he commanded. He didn't suggest. Yes, every time. He didn't shift, he didn't stutter, he didn't imply; he leveled a command. He wasn't on the defense; he was on the offense. He knew where he stood. The word to describe that? Invincible.

May our relationship be growing to...Invincible!

I remain...

InHISGrip ~ 

How Or Is It Still The Central Duty of Man?

And the Lord said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether. ² Speak now in the hearing of the people, and let every man ask from his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor, articles of silver and articles of gold.” ³ And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.  Then Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt;and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals. Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again.  But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.’ And all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will go out.” Then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger. But the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not heed you, so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land. - Exodus 11:1-10

If we were to keep reading and go all the way into Exodus 12 we would see that the writer, actually, God the Father, the author, had a singular point. The focus is on obedience. God spoke, some people heard and did what God said. As a result, God used them in His plan at that time in history.

If you read the whole of the story you see that God knew in advance what use silver and gold would be put to when the new nation arrived at Mount Sinai out in the desert. God already had something in mind. No one could have imagined it, the Tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting where the Israelites would meet in close proximity with the awesome holy God who had delivered them.

God, in this section is telling the people to gather silver and gold. At this point, God didn't tell them why they would need those precious metals. He just said, "Ask for them," and they did. It's called obedience. And, if we elongate the communication, from God to Moses and Aaron to the people we realize obedience takes faith.

This should encourage us! 

In the story, earlier, we read about Moses' bad day. The ex-shepherd was under the gun, snarled at by the Pharaoh and thoroughly hated by the Hebrew leadership. But now we read that he was "greatly esteemed" in Egypt by the Egyptians. From the court of Pharaoh on down to the man on the street, people were saying, "Now there's a great man."

Do you know why that was true? Because Moses stood, even when it was all alone, and trusted God (he obeyed). For this the Lord gave him favor in all their eyes. The Lord delights to do that. 

When a man's ways are pleasing to the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. - Proverbs 16:7 

We see that borne out yet again in this amazing development.

We have a grace problem today. We somehow believe that love and grace, covering a multitude of sin also means there is no consequence for a lack of obedience. The Apostle Paul, having to deal with this with the Roman Christians (Romans 6:1,2 in Wilson's vernacular)) asked, "Dudes! Should we sin because it allows grace to cover even MORE & BIGGER disobedience to God? Really? Seriously? Are you out of your minds? We have been resurrected from sins power! Don't be stupid!" 

We forget that last part...we've died to sin. We live and thrive and have a heaven's vision for the power of obedience to God. That is what there is to remember. We love Him so much we "get" that His love for us always provides massive, powerful, Holy Spirit energized results. Ya! Let's do that whole obedience thing!

Be obedient may be the very word you need from the Lord today. Perhaps at work you have come to an impasse; there's an issue of integrity at stake, and you've determined not to compromise. It might be an issue between you and a brother in Christ where love must win the day. Perhaps in your stand for Christ, you find that you are resented by someone close to you. Just know that if you handle your situation as an obedient son, God will see to it that in the eyes of those who are now your enemies, you will one day be esteemed. They will respect your stand because you are standing alone, doing what is right. Regardless of whether they do or do not in this life, you will have your reward and frankly a "God-sized" reward can't be matched!

I remain...

InHISGrip,
  ~J~

Perhaps The Rarest of The Graces - Certainly My Greatest Challenge

Patience is Art Within Created Daily

Working with women and children, in a  community that houses as many as 36 you are faced with many, many opportunities to practice God's level of the grace we call patience.

No one at The Kingdom Center Oxnard (www.tkcoxnard.org) believe's a simple prayer provides you with the amount of patience you will need for that day. This is true of the staff, our volunteers and the women and children in our transitional living facility (From Homelessness to Hope!). 

Perhaps you've uttered that simple prayer. It is what I call "The American's Prayer." Perhaps you have quoted it often...it goes: 

Lord, give me patience and Father I want it right now!

Patience is elevated in the Scriptures in what my friend Chuck Swindoll calls the and-so-forth section of Galatians 5. You know how we quote that passage . . . "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and-so-forth." That lazy habit has caused a very important series of virtues to become forgotten. 

Allow me to quote Galatians 5:22-24 in its entirety:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.  And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Notice, please, the fourth on the list. Long-suffering is, in our language, patience. If we look at the original greek term used here it is MAKROTHUMIA. It is a compound word. MAKROS means "long or far," and THUMOS means "hot, anger, or wrath." Putting it together, we come up with "long-anger." You've heard the English expression, "short-tempered"? Well, I suppose we could coin an expression for patience, long-tempered. That would be pretty accurate based on what the Apostle Paul was attempting to express. 

This Greek term isn't used of patience in regard to things or events It's about people. The Christian patriarch Chrysostom defined MAKROTHUMIA as the spirit which could take revenge if it liked, but utterly refuses to do so. I find that this characteristic is a needed quality for the pastor of a flock. Listen to the Lord's counsel to me as a Christian minister:

Giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, . . . in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness. - 2 Corinthians 6:3-4, 6

If you attempt to lead people and lack this characteristic, this grace,  you are driven to frustration, irritability, and severity. The result in a workplace is that everyone works in fear of forms of retribution and begin to acclimate their own management styles to mirror those of the boss. In a home there is little peace and virtually no joy without God's amazing gift, patience. 

But there is more. 

Jesus modeled patience and through the power of the Holy Spirit we are to emulate it as His finished work on the Cross empowered us to do so.  Without that work, you cannot walk in a manner worthy of your calling (Ephesians 4:1-2; Colossians 3:12). And you are to demonstrate it wherever you go and whatever you do (1 Thessalonians 5:14). Patience, as it turns out, is a by-product of  the love we have at our disposal (1 Corinthians 13:4).

In the Bible the character Job gets the nod as the great man of patience. He didn't, I am sure, come into patience instantly. Though I do not have the verses to validate this I am dead sure that he learned typically not to bargain with God for the gift of patience. I'm pretty confident that this is a 20th/21st Century construction.  

What's funny is that the word patience doesn't appear in the book of Job - check for yourself. James 5:11, however, makes a remark about the "patience (endurance and steadfastness in other versions) of Job" and we know from that comment that he was one who was patient.

Well, all of this does beg the question as to just how did Job obtain patience? The secret is found in the original term in James 5:11, which is HUPOMONE. It means "to abide under." Ah! Job rested and endured under his personal load of suffering. He determined that he would "abide under" the weight of his mountain of affliction.  The result was patience. As the multiple coatings of self-will, phony pride, stubbornness, and resentment were worn off, patience formed - like the purifying process of raw gold. 

Job was the example of the New Testament teaching of Paul who said trials and tribulations bring about patience and perseverance within us (Romans 5:3-4).

Today, rather than view all that life tosses your way as bad luck; instead of resenting someone else's good fortune and mocking God in your trials, see how it is that God removes the dross from your life through it all. On the other side you become a powerful, faith-filled, Child of the Great King and can love as He loved and as long as He loved. 

I remain...

InHISGrip,

     ~J~

The Election Is Over - Now What?

Proving what is acceptable to the Lord - Ephesians 5:10

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. - 2 Corinthians 3:18

To my Christian friends...we have an uncommon and rare opportunity in our culture. We have the ability to speak into it deeply and openly. Many Christians were shut out in times past and even now our world has shadows and spaces frightening to those of our faith; places where it is not safe. However, here in America (if you are in America - if not, this is a good read anyway!) we enjoy the concept of inalienable rights; the ability to live a life aimed at providing a better future, contentment, goals and happiness.

We just had an election. Many of us are now disappointed. The hope for improvement and change we desired does not seem to be on the horizon; at least it won't be as easy. Our culture, at least through means political, will not get the opportunity to improve as we had hoped. But is the Body of Christ commissioned to improve culture? Is that our commission? Is that our goal? Is that our God-given duty?

I don't think so.

We have been called to "The Way of the Cross." We are to take up our cross and we are to follow Jesus. We are to practice both discipleship (follow Jesus) and denial (do things we find distasteful) all in faith, believing God when He says this is how true change, transformation occurs.

The way of the Cross is not about improvement; not even the much celebrated "continual" improvement. Jesus marching orders to you and I was to create Transformation. This transformation is brought about by a Revelation of eternal and abiding love that extends itself to us from our heavenly Father and in God's plan through us to others. The revealing part, the revelation, was Jesus loved us in ways that weren't cool, fun, personally satisfying from a selfish perspective; Jesus did what was asked of Him regardless of how he felt about doing what was asked. He believed His Father first, He acted on the words given to Him, He did those things - Transformation!

That was the message of God before the election. It is still God's plan today.

We have the privilege, yea verily (I love yea verilys')  opportunity to speak into our culture in a way that most all who have named the name of Jesus Christ before us and in nations around us have not in their time, in their lives, their culture. But in doing so we must take it all by way of the Cross, through the blood of God's Son, the greatest selfless act of love and we must embrace it and realize it comes with a price. Actually, it comes with many prices if we want to break it down...

1. It's slow - Usually change comes one person at a time
2. It's incremental - It doesn't happen everywhere and in all places at once
3. It is humbling - We can't do it in our own power
4. It happens when we first give ourselves over to it and not much around us supports our effort to do that

There have been great revivals. There have been wonderful movements where nations, generally, have had their heart changed and their circumstance along with it turned from cursing to blessing but those instances come through sold out to the cause of God's love and not to a balanced budget.

We won't be met with instant success. We are not instantly believed, and our message and our desire, if it is a right desire, will not always be met with open arms.

God raises up and sets down Kings...and there is but one eternal King who does not fail. We put our eyes on Him and pray for the rest of them and, when opportunity gives us chance, we use the skill, the power, the ability we are blessed with to TRANSFORM our culture...not just improve it...

I pray for our President for whatever he did to bring our nation together previously didn't work. It is time for a new strategy - He, I hope, realizes the TRANSFORMING business has a future...the improvement biz? Mmm...not so much.

I remain...

InHISGrip,

For Such A Time As This - Wait!

So they told Mordecai Esther’s words. And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews.  For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther commanded him. – Esther 4:12-17

I find it manly to read the book of Esther. I think that it's because it has so much to teach me that I know is foreign to my personality. And, as I got to the end I had a revelation. Here it is: Even though what happened in the three days between chapters 4 and 5 is not recorded, (read chapters 4 and 5 to understand the importance of what I am saying.) don't think for a moment that God had just sort of taken a break. Because He is the God of the Universe it is possible that we might think that His time, busy with other things, was simply in a sort of out of sight/out of mind kind of state.

When we think about God we have much to remember.

Like this…Remember, He may be invisible, but He is at work. He is invisible and just because we cannot see Him working does not mean He somehow puts our lives on that back burner. I rather think that's the beauty of His invisibility. He can be moving in thousands of places at the same time, working in circumstances that are beyond our control but not just ours but in the lives of millions, literally, millions of other people He loves fully.

It’s a big job remembering that. But, work on it. It shows progress in your relationship with God as your Father.

For you and I, during a waiting period, God is not only working in our hearts, He's working in others' hearts and in our minds and in the minds of others as well. And all the while He is strengthening the lives of all of those who name Jesus as Lord. Remember Isaiah's words about waiting?

Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary. - Isaiah 40:31

Even though the prophet's pen put these words on the sacred page centuries ago, that verse of Scripture is as pertinent and relevant as what you read in the paper this morning. More than this they are far more trustworthy and eternally more useful to you and me. From this verse we learn that four things happen when we wait.

First, we gain new strength. We may feel weak, even intimidated, when we turn to our Lord. While waiting, amazingly we exchange our weakness for His strength. Just know waiting is both required and imperative.

Second, we get a better perspective. It says we "will mount up with wings like eagles." Eagles can spot fish in a lake several miles away on a clear day. By soaring like eagles while waiting, we gain perspective on our situation. We gain God’s perspective – His line of sight.

Third, we store up extra energy. "We will run and not get tired." That is future tense and it means resting today means the ability to run without fatigue later. When we do encounter the thing we have been dreading, we will encounter it with new strength - extra energy is ours!

Fourth, we will deepen our determination to persevere. We "will walk and not become weary." The Lord whispers reassurance to us. Our spiritual and emotional backbones become like titanium! We begin to partake, take on His power and with His assurance for the task at hand justifiably feel  more invincible.

We'll gain new strength. We'll get a better perspective. We'll store up extra energy. We'll deepen our determination to persevere. All that happens when we . . . wait. Fight like a girl named Esther! Pray! Fast! Fellowship! Wait!

I remain…

InHISGrip,
  ~J~

Yesterday? Tomorrow? Today! - Live On!!!

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” – James, brother of Jesus (James 4:13-15)

I once read Chuck Swindoll say these words, “Snap a telescopic lens on your perspective for the next few minutes. Pull yourself up close . . . close enough to see the real you. From the reflection in your mental mirror, pay close attention to your life. Try your best to examine the inner "you" on the basis of time.” We need to be able to look back on our life. We need to look at our present. We then need to conjecture, based on our current spiritual state, mental state and life disposition that our future might be.

I’m asking you, as did Chuck, to look both back and forward. It is hard. It is hard primarily because we can’t look either back or forward without considering them from our current life situation.

Looking Back. I have found what seems from my narrow and subjective (as well as small sample set) analysis that if you are over 50 years of age you will come to one conclusion that seems universal: LIFE IS SHORT. I think however this is Biblical.

On your own read through Psalm 90 and you will conclude it is loaded with messages relating to the brevity of life. Life is short . . . like yesterday when it passes by . . . as a watch in the night . . . like grass, it sprouts and withers . . . like a sigh, soon it is gone.

If you aren’t feeling it now you will – Yes and amen…Life is short.

Looking Ahead. If you look back on your life and scratch your head and think to yourself, “How did I get here?” you will conclude about the future one overriding theme: LIFE IS UNCERTAIN AND THEREFORE WILL BE UNCERTAIN. “Unexpected." Could be the overarching adjective placed on most all of our future experiences.

Unexpected:

•         Surgery
•         Transfer
•         Accomplishment
•         Loss
•         Benefit
•         Sickness
•        Promotion/demotion
•        Gift
•        Death

·      (Fill in the blank)                                                                   

Guys, our lives are truly uncertain.

We’re left to come back to the nasty now and now. How should we view our “today?”

There are lots of ways to look at life. I prefer the power of God and the realization life is to be lived or feared and therefore since God does not give us fear (2 Timothy 1:7) these are 4 powerful words: LIFE IS AN ADVENTURE! They don’t contradict our behind and forward lessons. Nor do they require us to be Polly-Anna types with rose-colored glasses. But, may I also point out they don’t leave us hopeless and forlorn. For as we look at the present, we discover: LIFE IS AN ADVENTURE!

Since life is short it needs to be viewed as jam-packed with challenging possibilities and mysterious twists and turns. Because it’s uncertain, it's filled with rigorous nuance and the ability to make “on the fly” adjustments. I'm convinced that's much of what Jesus meant when He promised us an abundant life (Gospel of John 10:8-10). We should expect our lives to be abundant with challenges, both positive and negative but also running over with possibilities. We need to see from a position of “the heavenlies” that our lives are filled with opportunities to adapt, shift, alter, and change. Come to think of it, that's the secret of staying young. It is also the path that leads to changing the world for the Kingdom of God.

With each new dawn, life delivers a package to your front door. In the Spirit-filled life you answer that life full of the Power and Potential of God! When you hear that ring tomorrow morning, try something new; have Christ in you answer the door for you.

Life's most challenging opportunities are often deceptively disguised as unsolvable problems. But when the powerful King of the Universe is in charge of problems, challenges… the impossible then huge and massive and amazing and beautiful life, health, power, grace, goodness, mercy and abundance happens! Expect it!

Oh! Once last thing…James didn’t mean to say, “If the Lord wills (which we cannot possibly know or understand) we shall do this (unknowable thing) or that (other unknowable thing). No, it means, “The Lord showed me this specific thing to do and this other specific thing and therefore I will do those things.” Apparently James wasn’t a Baptist! J

I remain…

InHISGrip,
  ~J~

Internal Combustion & the Christian Head!

All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light...- Jesus, Matthew 11:27-30

Cindy and I had a moment with some of the most hearthurt (my new word) people in the world. They've been cast out by society. Some of it their direct fault but much of it not at all. They weren't alone. It was just the immensity of having so many tossed off, impoverished, despised, ignored, beaten down...it really spoke to me about...well, me.

What I came to, in part, was this, if you are an adult, in this, the 21st Century, you understand stress and hearthurt; emotional pain that won't just go away. 

If you are an adult and/or have a job and/or have a family, get out of bed, own motorized vehicles, children, pets, etc., if any of that is you, on a weekly basis you face life's unplanned hassles and headaches. They may be as controlled as making daily preparation for our kids and spouse that requires we rise before 6:30 in the morning (controlled?) or as severe as a smashing into a rival soccer mom; your minivan into her SUV. 

It may be a runaway daughter, on the streets, selling her body and deep into drugs.

The size of the strain makes little difference. The result is "trauma." And, all of this explains the ongoing popularity of Valium!

When I think of trauma or heartache and hurt I think of Joe Bayly. The late Christian writer understood trauma. He and his wife lost three of their children: one at eighteen days (after surgery); another at five years (leukemia); a third at eighteen years (sledding accident plus hemophilia). In my wildest and most fearful imagination, I cannot fathom the depth of their loss. In the aftermath of each and then the combination of all of this tragedy, Joe and his wife stood.  Sometimes they were strong, sometimes weak. They had to stand by as they watched God place a period on the lives of their three of children. Can you imagine being close friends or family of the Bayly's? Their anguish was not relieved when well-meaning people offered shallow, simple answers amidst their grief.

H. L. Mencken wrote: "There's always an easy solution to every human problem...neat, plausible, and wrong." I think he had our stresses and pain in mind when those words were penned.

Eyes that read these words might very well be near tears. You are trying to cope without hope, and there's no relief on the horizon. You're bleeding and you've run out of bandages. You have moved from mild tension to advanced trauma or, compared perhaps to what you are accustomed to, it seems that way. 

Listen carefully! Jesus Christ opens the gate, gently looks at you, and says: "Come to Me, all you who labor and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls]" - Matthew 11:28, Amplified).

Nothing complicated. No big fanfare, no trip to Mecca, no hypnotic trance, no strategy to get "better" first, no fee, no special password or unique understanding of some enigmatic doctrine. Jesus says, "just come." 

What does He mean? Unload on Him. Unhook the HUGE backpack and drop it in His lap. NOW! 

Does He, the God of the Universe, know what major heart and head hurt is all about? Can He handle yours? Remember, He's the One whose sweat became like drops of blood in the agony of the Garden of Gethsemane. Further, remember He went through that so He could handle yours. It's a mystery but it is a truth. If anybody understands hearthurt, Jesus does. 

He understands your stress...pain...heartache...trauma...Completely.

He's a Master at turning devastation into restoration. His provision is profound, attainable, and right.

Allow Him to take your stress as you take His rest.

I remain...

InHISGrip,
  ~J~