God: Did I Not Make Myself Clear?

Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him.  So Saul said, “Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.” And he offered the burnt offering.  Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him.  And Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash,  then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.” And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. - I Samuel 13:7b-13

Samuel Anointing Saul

In order for this teaching to have a clear foundation there are some things you need to know. First, the prophet Samuel had anointed Saul the first king of Israel and it had now been quite some time. The backdrop is a war is about to start. Saul, now 30 years old is leading Israel into battle against the dreaded Philistines. The Philistines had gathered at a place called Micmash to come against the Jews. A major key to understand is that Jehovah (God) was directing Saul through the prophet Samuel. Samuel had previously instructed Saul to go ahead of him to Micmash. He told Saul that he would follow in seven days. Once Samuel arrived, as was God's requirement, he, Samuel, would then present a burnt offering on behalf of the people of Israel to God.


But, as with all great leaders, Saul was beginning to feel the pinch of leadership. The real pressure began to build as the Philistines gathered around Micmash preparing for battle. The people of Israel began to freak out. With such a huge enemy within eyesight, seeing how big and angry they were, the Jews began to scatter throughout the countryside. 
It didn't help that Saul was also afraid. 


To make things worse for Saul, Samuel did not show up on the morning of the seventh day. With no more personal strength, fearing the worst, an impending attack, Saul decided he would offer the burnt offering. And, as is the custom of all good tales of victory and defeat, Samuel shows up after he had done this.


..."You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, He would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after His own heart and appointed him leader of His people, because you have not kept the Lord's command -1 Samuel 13:13-14.

Saul believed he needed to take control of the situation. Whenever we try to take control of a situation that God had provided previous instruction, we demonstrate the power of fear in our lives. 

Saul's Disobedience - He was NO Priest!

We've all heard it said, "Desperate times call for desperate measures." But, is that really true?
Jesus came so that the balance of personal leadership and godly direction would be restored to our lives. You and I can know direction, just as it had been given to Saul. We can know what we are to do. Often we do not seek God's guidance. If that's the case then we make life a crap shoot. 

Samuel Upbraiding Saul

However, often we know how God wishes us to react and respond. We know what results our leadership should create and moreover what atmosphere within our workspace, school, church or other sphere of influence. 


I will give you a hint. What does the Bible say about God, Jesus, love and fear? 


HIS love for you and I cast's out fear. If your leading, decisions, options and actions are fear driven then you have left the great Leader behind as you are attempting to navigate this life. Don't control what God has not given you rule over. Do obey and follow, often patiently for God's timing and command.


Do you see any signs of over control in how you relate to others? This is a sign of "leadership by fear." How about this, can you, as a leader,  allow others the freedom to fail? Do you find yourself changing directions in midstream when you see something you don't like or that isn't perfect? Are you fearful of failure? Don't be! These are all symptoms of a Saul-control spirit. 
Such a season I've been going through. It drives me crazy. But God is prepping my heart for leadership roles where knowing His direction and waiting on Him is essential. It is the big payoff! 


So, for both you and I lets Pray that God will allow us both to walk in the freedom of trusting in hearing Him, trust Him and trusting that God is also working in and on those around us. 
I remain...

InHISgrip,
   ~J~

Reflecting the Glory of One Whose Glory Should Be Recognized

They will tell of the glory of Your kingdom and speak of Your might, so that all men may know of Your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of Your kingdom. - Psalm 145:11-12

How do you measure your effectiveness in God, or should you even be thinking like this? I know it is quite popular to use a sense of reasoning about our spiritual "walk" like this:

God loves me and is all knowing. Because He is all knowing and nothing about who I am or what I do affects His love for me can I disappoint Him. After all, He knows me. He knows who I am and what I do. He made me! Therefore why should I even worry or even worse, feel guilty for being the person God made me to be


The early Church turned the world upside down in that first century. What made them so effective? Was it their theology? Was it great preaching? Was it due to one man's influence apart from Jesus? Was it an attitude reflected in the above paragraph? Could we validate that kind of thinking by any historical analysis? The answer to the last 2 questions is a simple no.

This little Bible morsel speaks definitively. It creates prophetic clarity that in a future time, God's people, would espouse a mighty message that created widespread knowledge of God, His glory and kingdom. I suggest this happened and can happen and it is what makes the the Bodies of Christ effective.

I am also convinced that it is at the core of God's heart. It is quite simple. God desires to reflect His nature and power through every individual. When this happens, the world is automatically changed because those who reflect His glory affect the world. The world "sees" God as He is.

I am also convinced we need to better understand words and their Kingdom meanings; vocabulary, if you will, from God's perspective. The Bible uses words like love, obedience, serve, servant, suffer and I am sure we flavor their meaning based on who we are and not what the Scripture clearly states what is truthfully meant; what is their fulness from God's perspective. Here is one we don't get easily: We serve a jealous God. He is a God who will not share His glory with anyone. (Check it out - It says it right there in that Big Black Book) God sets up situations in order to demonstrate His power through them and more than this to illustrate so we can get our tiny minds around his enormity. He does it. It is His doing. We might be arms and legs and a mouth in the process but it is His plan and His power that accomplishes. Why? That we might, in turn, understand just how little we make of Him and how tiny is the full grasp of our understanding about Him. And, more to the point so that through us His glory shines and people are drawn to Him!

Father God has visibly expressed His power and control and strength since the day He created man. His glory is His own. Only He can have it and express it. However, our God and Father desires to reflect His glory through you and me, so that all men may know of His mighty acts and the glorious splendor of His Kingdom and, in their knowing they would embrace their God-given and provided right to be on the inside of His love, affection, glory, grace, mercy and all of the other overly abundant joys His own should experience.

The apostle Paul understood this principle: My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power" ( - I Corinthians 2:4-5.

If you do not see His glory being reflected through your life, then you need to ask why. Of course, you also might want to study the concept of God's Glory so you would recognize it should it be expressed in your life. It might not be precisely what you are thinking at this moment. Just know this, He has promised to use you and me to mirror who He is if we will walk in obedience to His commands.

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. - Hebrews 11:6

That is an If/Then statement. There is in fact an our part and His part. You embrace it or you don't. Which will it be?

So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. "If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? "Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him! - Luke 11:9-13

As challenging as it is for you and I to understand, there is a truth here that says God does gives us a part in our relationship with Him. We get to learn, grow and become more today than we were yesterday. We are no longer under a shadow of guilt. It is not our lot to constantly wring our hands and wonder if God is pleased with us however. To do that we make His sufficiency, His power in us, His saving and redemptive skills weak. No, we just need to know we get to partner in growth so that who we are in Him shows clearly to the world naturally and draws all men to Him.

It was on my heart today...I hope it blesses yours...I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~

You Can Deal With This Or You Can Deal With That!

Now the serpent was craftier than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'? - Genesis 3:1



Have you seen the commercial with the Gangsta Hamsters for the Kia Soul? You get two choices of "cool" which actually get reduced down to a toaster and a brightly colored boxy Kia Soul. There is a 3rd choice which is the cardboard equivalent of the Fred Flintstone mobile. But the cardboard option collapses upon itself; not such a good choice is it?

Of course in the real world we do have those kinds of choices all day long. I'm still working on the real lesson of the commercial but it's catchy and sticks in your head. I suppose we can choose practical and more fun (the Soul) or just practical and cheap (An unplugged electric toaster with no personality).

God is big on giving man freedom and boundaries-freedom to manage what He has entrusted to us, boundaries to protect us from evil. It is a kind of "this" or "that" scenario. We can choose but clearly in the economy of the Kingdom of God there are good choices and those which are summarily hideously horrible.

Our typical thinking tells us that God was the original law giver. That He created these boundaries and this was the first form of, "You better do what I say." In the case of those first boundaries in the Eden and between God and Adam and Eve I see this differently however. I'm hoping it's a view from God's perspective. The rule was not set for the purpose of limiting the couple. No, it was the first lesson in understanding the value and the responsibility of bad choices. It was a first lesson in not just communicating with God but truly taking His lessons and thoughts and messages to you personally to heart. They got into trouble when they first allowed His clear direction to be misrepresented and then more so when their questioning caused them to ignore those boundaries.

If you are churched you know that God had provided everything Eve and Adam would need for life on earth. In my mind this is the "Adam Project." He also entrusted them with responsibility to manage and work the Garden. God works and so does His progeny. God gave the two of them freedom in that responsibility. He has those same characteristics and we are made in His image from that perspective. Our mutual substance indicates we, both our Creator and us were made to express ourselves creatively through our mental and physical efforts.

But we are not God. We are merely "in His image," thus each of us has freedom of choices and boundaries in our lives. Whenever you are hired for a job, you must have the freedom to make certain decisions. You must have the authority to manage things within your area of expertise. You must also have limits within your area of responsibility. You need to know where those limits are and stay within them. In the case of our lives we have both freedom and boundaries and to those who recognize God's authority (it is a choice you know) we should embrace that our eternal life is always under the umbrella of God's authority. As a side note, we should also "get" that regardless of politics, our definition of competency, personality and its conflicts that we are also under authority in many other areas of our life.

So, several thousand years after the failed "Adam Project" in Eden Jesus comes on the scene, in the form of a man and is put under the same earthly contingencies that a typical dude of His time faces. He grew. He matured. He listened and communicated with God the Father. This led to a point where He understood the concept I speak about regarding boundaries. Jesus, under the headship of His Heavenly Father, accepted a form of freedom and boundaries that you and I would recognize.

This all leads me to my point (I think). When Jesus was tempted for 40 days by the Satan after being baptized, He was challenged by the evil one to venture beyond His freedom and personal boundaries.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God. ’ ” ; , Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.- Matthew 4:1-11

Now Jesus boundaries were very different than some of ours aren't they? For instance, Satan said to Jesus that He had the power to turn a stone into bread. Jesus was hungry and easily could have justified, from an earthly perspective, using His power to feed Himself. However, Jesus understood He could do nothing outside the boundaries of God's will for His life. Guys, can you see how intimate the Will of God is? There is a certain and vital perspective here. You need to know what it is the Father wants you to do. I guarantee you it isn't discovered at a church meeting, Sunday School, home meetings or seminary. It certainly isn't between the covers of a book (though all of these things have the potential to feed it). It is found in your intimacy with God the Father. In this instance Jesus knew it was God's perspective for Him to eschew the advice of Satan and continue as a man, feeding Himself, in this instance, as a man, with the limitation to not create food miraculously. God was showing His Son that "man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" - Mt. 4:4b. The lesson was personal. It was intimate. It was proximate to Him and He could embrace its power by accepting this boundary.

You and I are tempted every day to go beyond our God-ordained boundaries. I suspect we normally aren't aware of it. We aren't used to thinking in the way I just described of Jesus. But we have issues relating to hearing the Holy Spirit. There is the obvious of course such as financial problems that have arisen through debt, making wrong decisions due to pressure, or manipulating someone in order to achieve our ends, it all represents rebellion toward God. But what about those gray areas? What happens when we are taken away in our own life situation where we feel out of control and some of the choices seem to be morally neutral. Then what?

We both, you and I need to start on a new path today. Perhaps a good start is a lengthy time of reading the stories of those who heard from God in the Bible to get a sense of just how He might do it in us. We need to spend quiet time "listening" to our spirit. We should write down what we hear or think we hear. We need to surround ourselves with others who are hearers of "The Word" and bring them along on our journey. Ask God to show you His freedom and boundaries for your life. These are meant to bring God's love and intimacy into your life, your heart, your actions...

I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~

To Obey Is Better n' A Sack of Ice?

We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him. - Acts 5:32

As the Shins once sang, "there's no connection" in the title and to the subject matter of this devotional.

Other than this...obedience is often obscure to Christians and means something very different than we might have thought we were taught.

I am a sales person in my chosen profession. I work in franchising. I have for quite some time. My work requires me to create solutions for both the franchise company and potential franchisee's (franchise owners.) If I can't I do not get paid. It is straight commission. God has been good to me over the years. I have done well. But, it is never far from me that my success and productivity is measured by numbers; you make the numbers you receive the accolades (and pay).

So often we as a society equate numbers with success and my day job is just an example of that. The larger the conference, the more successful we deem it. Sadly, a whole generation of evangelicals got trapped in a "the larger a church, the more we believe that God is blessing" mentality. Most of us know better now.

When I was at AlphaGraphics Printshops we once were planning a conference and because we did not initially promote it with our usual pomp and marketing drive registrations were not where they should have been. We were just a few weeks before the event. There was a new ownership. They had a new Board of Directors. The pressure was on to ensure this conference was as good as any we'd previously held. It wasn't long before I began to get "under the pile" about the level of attendance. One of my Area Managers who was assisting came into the office to check up on me. Though he was not a particularly spiritual guy, Don immediately reminded me of my own teaching in this area. "You always say, (stealing it from Keith Green, the Christian Songwriter) just do your best and pray that it's blessed and God will take care of the rest."

Hmm...

The first part of the lesson about obeying and doing your best was this: God doesn't judge us (though mankind might be ticked) on the outcomes. "If my job required I take responsibility to put on this conference, then the outcome is up to Him if we have done our part."

Since that time, in the world of ministry I have seen God work in just this fashion. We had one idea of success but God had a different idea. His idea was about an individual; or maybe two or three. While we worried about the crowds Jesus wanted us to touch a person.

I have to constantly remind myself of the tension between the world's standards of success and Gods'. Being led by the Spirit often means we must not use the world's standard for success as our measuring stick. You never know what an act of obedience will yield at the time. Leave the results to God. Our role is to obey. His role is to bring results from our obedience. What God ordains He brings to pass; just be prepared for something different than you might have imagined.

This kind of God-led success does however lend itself to a specific issue: "My sheep hear my voice..." - Jesus

We have an obligation as followers of Jesus Christ, as the Redeemed, as His disciples to both hear and follow. We need to focus on the front-end of the process much more deeply. We need more knowledge of the Holy as He relates to us. We need His people to speak into one another's lives. His word needs to be more deeply understood and we need to ensure our goal is His glory and honor.

Do you make decisions based on the potential outcome or by the direction of the Holy Spirit in your life? Do you overly evaluate the pros and cons without consideration to what the Holy Spirit might be saying deep inside? We are all prone to make decisions based on reasoning alone. Ask God to give you a willingness and ability to hear the Holy Spirit and to obey His promptings.

I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~

O' Where O' Where Has My God Gone? (In the mirror or to the heavens?)

God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. - Psalm 53:2

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive. – Jeremiah 29:11-14

As a pastor I am a blessed man. I have men in my church that seek after God's heart. As a pastor I am a challenged man. I am challenged not just because of my own shortcomings and inadequacies (the Lord knows) but also because I have men in my church who seek after God and their desire for more of God encourages me on to more of Jesus Christ in my life and less of me.

My men are not my primary motivation for my growth, when I have growth in my Christian walk however. Though these good, godly men keep me on my toes, encourage and exhort one another and bless me with their dissatisfaction with just remaining where they are in their maturity, they are but one tool and not the chief tool God uses to provide my own impetus to be the man God has created me to become.

Late in His three year ministry Jesus explained about an element of His own personal joy and the reason He pressed on through all of life's difficulties. Now, to be sure, Jesus wasn't speaking about a singular joy. Clearly there are kinds of joys that we experience. But each joy is the end-game satisfaction of a more complex series of events and our obedience to God the Father in those events. We see this in John 3:25-28 where John the Baptist, as the forerunner to Jesus, indicates the joy of having been tasked, by God, as the one to announce Jesus' coming. John preached it and saw that it was fulfilled. To that John would say, "Therefore this joy of mine is now complete." John was to receive more eternal joy later.

What I am thinking here is what Jesus expressed in John 15:8-12 when He said, "By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruits and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full."

To have the love of Christ permeate my body, soul and spirit and to be privileged to express it to others and share it's healing, peace and personally satisfying provision is what must drive you and I on into more of Jesus and less of me. Jesus, with great love and care, had been given instruction from the Father. The instruction looked past the discomfort and disharmony. It looked beyond heartache and the physical abuse that would follow Jesus in the same way that training is embraced by a great athlete so that they may reach to the goal; realizing that both Father and Son loved and had as their center attention mankind. Jesus, with love in his eyes for His Father, accepted the task at hand. Here in John 15 Jesus is passing on the lesson of eternity to us instructed us to do likewise, Abide in my love If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love, just as I have kepty my Father's commandments and abide in His love."

Has God gotten your attention. Have you become one who is a seeker of God? The Lord delights in seeing those children of His who truly understand the meaning of life and why there is only one thing worth seeking and that is God Himself.To follow after Him and pursue living the life you now have in this earthly domain in a way that pleases Him because He instructs it was precisely the message Jesus was attempting to convey to His disciples on that day 2000 years ago.

Life on planet earth has been cruel of late. But that isn't God's main concern. It isn't supposed to be mine as it relates to "me" either. I know when I've not been pursuing my God and Father. The cares of this life, the urgent over the important, and the petty irritations begin to affect me. I become emotional. Guys these are the symptoms of a life that has not been seeking God; praying, reading, meditating, waiting on Him. Can you relate to any of this? Is this sinking in with you? These would be questions, our Savior would pose to us. We need to ask them of ourselves daily.

If we understand that it is only in keeping the only two commandments Jesus gave us, to love God with all of our hearts, mind, body and soul and to love others with that amazing, self-preserving, "give-me-joy at all costs" love we provide to self we will have our wish and desire; pure joy.

If you are toiling and fretting over what will soon be dead and gone where are you getting your spiritual strength? What will you pay to get your joy back? We need to set self-preservation boundaries in our lives. We best preserve and serve self when we seek Him! That means time spent with Him and His tools. This is the great challenge in a world that screams for our attention and threatens us with ruin if we do not oblige them.

Create a schedule of time to be with your God, His Word where you meditate, listen, and hear! Are you committed to developing that intimacy with your Lord that He so desires so that YOUR joy as John 15 says will be complete? If not, ask Him today to help you. This is the longing of His heart. Ask Him to make it the longing of your heart. Then you will demonstrate to Him that you understand, and you will be a seeker of God. I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~

 

 

Yes, You Have a Calling on Your Life!

But the Danites had difficulty taking possession of their territory, so they went up and attacked Leshem, took it, put it to the sword and occupied it.... - Joshua 19:47

 

This, I believe, is one of the greatest struggles every maturing Christian has in this life and that is the challenge of realizing what God has presented, promised and purposed for us in our lives; to take their inheritance in the land. The gifting, skill-set, and godly passions of your life are first realized and then must be taken hold of. It is the one thing that God abundantly uses that the enemy grapples with us about. It is also the thing that most easily sways us from a path of rightly dividing the word of God (the Bible) and God's voice.

 

What is the spiritual inheritance God has reserved for you? When God told the Israelites they were going to be given the Promised Land, it was not a walk in the park. They would encounter 39 battles in taking the land God promised to them. The devil and the natural enemies of godliness arrayed themselves against God's people. Obtaining the land, the blessing, the gifts of God, took a joint effort between God and the Israelites to engage and battle the enemy that maintained control of the land. The gifts, the creativity, the ingenuity, the crafting, the power of God for and in them were all used to conquer the enemy so they could occupy the land.

 

God has given you and me a spiritual inheritance that must be won in the heavenlies. We fight it in our spirits and our minds. A dear friend and mentor once counseled me after watching my life over a period by saying, "The Lord has given you a spiritual inheritance. That inheritance lies in your ability to speak into the lives of people. You are called to caring and close relationships. YIKES! And, if you know me you know why I say, yikes. However, I have found they were right. And, because my purpose, the land God wishes me to occupy lies in relationships, that is the place the enemy attacks most. The devil would use my past against me. He would use my personality to keep me from fulfilling the purposes of God for me. He would take my emotional proclivities and place them at the forefront of my decision-making processes when it came to people in my life. The enemy always attacks us in the area where we are to receive our inheritance or with the things God truly wishes for us to give up to Him for His glory. Invariably these are the places in our lives where we will find our greatest joys in God once they have been given over and back to Him that we might gain great joy in our service to Him through their use and that includes our emotions, gifts, skills, and all the other objects our God has placed in our life to conquer the land we've been promised.

 

Guys, you and I must walk in faithfulness and obedience to His righteousness in how you deal with the things that God has equipped you with to fulfill His specific call on your life. That call, in large part, is your inheritance in Christ Jesus!

 

I hope these words speak to you as the wisdom of God. The Lord has proven these words to be true in my life I can tell you.

 

What is the spiritual inheritance He has reserved for you? What is God purposing for you, first, today? I can tell you it was for you to start this day and proclaim His Lordship in your life and over everything that you do. It was also to give you a sense of duty, presence in the land and purpose for your life and for you to take steps, every day, to take more and more of the land He has promised to you. In your case that land is more and more of the life, the ministry and the purposes that you and you alone were given by God to occupy!

 

What areas of your inheritance must you take possession of today? What is it your God wishes for you to take back, in His name and for the Kingdom of God? The enemy of your soul does not want you to take possession. If you are frustrated in life then look up! Be glad! You are engaged in the battle. Put on your armor and begin walking in obedience into the areas God has called you to possess. Let's keep one another in prayer about this and together conquer in the mighty name of Jesus! I remain...

 

InHISgrip,
~J~

Walking Humbly With My God

I know, my God, that You test the heart and are pleased with integrity - 1 Chronicles 29:17a

This last week I came once again, face-to-face, with the notion that God uses all things to accomplish His will. That means no evil occurs that He does not get the glory and honor as well as every gift and good grace that we deem a blessing.

 

God tests His children to know what is in their hearts. He uses every tool, object lesson, event and contingent event to do so.

 

He has not as of yet, run out of new and creative ways to do this.

 

For God the key is relationship. God's desire for each of His children is to walk in relationship with Him, to glorify Him in word and deed as we uphold His righteousness and integrity. It is a high calling that we will fail to achieve without complete dependence on Him.

I am convinced, having watched God's people over the last few years here in the United States and abroad that the greatest tests come not in great adversities, but in great prosperity. In having much we begin to lose the sensitivity to particular kinds of sin in our lives. Greed, selfishness and pride come to mind as the top three sins in my own heart that I must be on guard about when things are going well.  On the other hand adversity motivates us to righteousness out of a desire to see our plight changed. I'm not sure this is the primary reason we are in our predicaments but, none the less, we are more sensitive to a lack of God's presence when times are tough. We go seeking Him. We want to know if He is still there, hearing us and available to us. Prosperity fails to provide this motivation for obedience. We fall into a satisfaction and confidence in life that is based on our riches rather than on God and truly on our need for Him everyday.

In the little verse of scripture at the top of this posting we find Hezekiah who was a great godly king of Israel speaking. He was a faithful, God-honoring king most of his life, but toward the end he became proud. How many of us know we can even become proud in that we have established a relationship with God?

 

God wanted to find out if Hezekiah would still honor Him and recognize His blessings in his life. He failed the test when God sent an envoy to his palace to inquire about a miracle that God performed on behalf of Hezekiah. The test was designed to find out if Hezekiah would publicly acknowledge the miracle performed on his behalf. But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart (2 Chronicle 32:31).

Hezekiah's failure resulted in his children failing to carry on as rulers of Israel, and the nation would eventually be taken over by the Babylonian Empire. The lesson of Hezekiah is clear. If we remain faithful to our Lord, we also remain steadfast in our obedience to Him. Prosperity can be our greatest test. In your mind who made you wealthy? Ask the Lord to give you the grace to be a faithful follower during times of prosperity so that in the times when things are a little thinner, a little leaner, you understand and are sensitive to those messages as well.

 

I remain...

 

InHISgrip, ~J~

 

 

The Master Maker of All Things Good...

Then the Lord said to Moses, "See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts-to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship. - Exodus 31:1-5

So I got up this morning and I was thinking back on all the great pieces of art that the Lord has allowed me to play as a guitarist. I have had several Gibson guitars, a Martin, a Taylor, and 3 Fender guitars (all American made). In addition I had a Swedish handmade Hagstrom, a Guild and an original Epiphone (before Gibson bought them and took them to Korea to be mass produced.)

God entrusted me with many fine instruments. And, in some cases I did not do very well by the work of the fine men and women who created them. This morning as I looked over at my Black Fender Stratocaster Ultra I realized how someone's gifting had changed my life and created in me a whole new reason to glorify God.

In the little verse above we have an example of a man called of God to perform for the Kingdom of God. Bezalel was called by God to perform a most important work for Him. I am sure that Bezalel believed that he was naturally gifted with his hands to make fine crafts with gold, silver, and bronze. In his original thinking this man may not have associated his artistry with God's work. But the Scripture tells us that God chose Bezalel and filled this dude with HIS own Spirit to enable him.

Does God call men and women into their vocations to fulfill His purposes - to fulfill that which needs to be accomplished throughout the world? Have you ever thought about how many occupations there are in the world? How did that balance of interest among each human throughout the world happen? Did it just happen? Was it by chance that we have only so many doctors, only so many accountants, only so many geologists? Now, I realize that mom's can call doctors. And I know that dad's can push hard for sons to become engineers but nonetheless everything that needs to get done (Well, quite most of it) seems to.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ your interest in your vocation if understood rightly in the light of scriptures should not be born of your own making. Certainly whatever it is that you do would be best done should the work of it be given to God as an offering. So many believers and even pastors have made the mistake of encouraging us who have a deep desire to walk with Christ in our profession to pursue vocational ministry. To remove us from the world at large where the greatest harvest is yet to occur would be to remove us from where God called us. Do not take this bait. Serve the Lord in the place where He has gifted you and called you. Where is your skill? Where is your passion? Marry those two things and expect God to honor the work of your hands.

I almost made this same mistake when God drew me to Himself when I was 18 years old. I concluded that I must be called to be a full-time pastor. I took steps to fulfill this by leaving my job and entering a Bible school for training. Upon completion, I took a job as an assistant pastor in a church. But God's mercy allowed me to be removed from that position only a few short years into it. I was "forced back into business," where God wanted me in the first place. It was a great lesson. I was never cut out to be a "conventional" pastor in a church, but a "pastor" in the community; to include business, and church, and teaching, training, and applying the growing knowledge God was giving me from His word to be more directly applied to everyday life.

If you struggle today with who you are in Christ and what you do it isn't necessary. Give God what you do now. Expect Him to move you into the place where you affect more for His Kingdom and watch Him work.

One day our friend Bezalel was merely a recognized skilled and talented goldsmith. The next day he was GOD'S goldsmith. Let's all get on THAT bandwagon.

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~

I'm Free! I'm Responsible! Er...What!!!???

Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision - Joel 3:14

It seemed so simplistic I had to look it up. Sure enough this quote is credited to George Bernard Shaw. He said, "Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it." Over the last several weeks, months I suppose, we have watched and listened, prayed and echoed our positions as our government wheels turned slowly on huge matters of importance. We must fight the urge to pass the buck. In a day when most people easily hand off responsibility...push it downline, Mr. Shaw's words bite and sting to those with conscience; to those in whom the Holy Spirit is at work. .

True leadership carries with it a few privileges and perks, but living with the responsibility of that task makes a reserved parking space and your own bathroom pale into insignificance. I want even start on government. Government is out there somewhere...we don't really touch, taste, walk and talk it.

But this one might hit home...

Conceiving children is (and should be) a moment of sheer ecstasy, but rearing them as a loving and caring parent represents years of thankless responsibility. Our society, many societies are rift with the fruit of both legislation and morality that passed that buck along. The results of which are tragic.

Running an organization that gets a job done, leaving those involved feeling fulfilled and appreciated, can be exciting, fun, and with the kind of "stretched" feeling of accomplishment, but it's a nightmare unless the details of responsibility are clearly set forth and maintained. It's disheartening and often fatal to organizations when the buck gets passed downline, through the executive ranks, mid-management, workers and down to the new kind in the mail room to ensure the important work gets done.

Big projects and meaningful achievements may be conceived by visionaries and dreamers but its the doers that ensure the right activity is executed that "get 'er done". It is not by armchair generals who watch and frown from a distance but by brave troops in the trenches, not by fans in the bleachers but by committed coaches and players on the field, not by those who stay neutral and play it safe but by those who get off the fence of indecision, even though their decisions are occasionally tough and unpopular that make our country go, our businesses succeed, our teams victorious.

"...for the Day of the Lord is at hand in the valley of decision!"

Chuck Swindoll relates this story he saw in the Wall Street JournalAll this reminds me of a full-page advertisement I saw in the Wall Street Journal:

DECISIONS, DECISIONS: Sometimes the decision to do nothing is wise. But you can't make a career of doing nothing. Freddie Fulcrum weighed everything too carefully. He would say, "On the one hand . . . but then, on the other," and his arguments weighed out so evenly he never did anything. When Freddie died, they carved a big zero on his tombstone. If you decide to fish, fine. Or, if you decide to cut bait, fine. But if you decide to do nothing, you're not going to have fish for dinner.

We have been studying the Life of Christ as told by Peter (and probably Luke a bit) to the Gospel writer Mark. If The Church on Rogers has learned anything during this study it is this: God has a different set of definitions for words we commonly use. Here is one of those occasions where we have a great paradox. You see, you and I might conclude, thinking in earthly terms and not in Kingdom of God terms, that pure liberty would mean pure choice to do anything or nothing. But that isn't God's view.

In the Kingdom economy the secret of true liberty as we pass through this earthly life, is responsibility. And that calls for decisions, decisions. Tough decisions. Lonely decisions. Unpleasant decisions. Misunderstood decisions. Courageous decisions. First, personal then actionable community decisions.

As I recall, Jesus rarely missed a meal because he just couldn't decide...He often had fish for dinner. Our friend Freddie Fulcrum should have read more Jesus...less Drucker or Tom Peters or whoever else is popular in the business world... perhaps.

With me, this week, commit to action lead by taking responsibility for the things God has put in your hands to do. If you have a job excel! If you are a parent realize you are accountable for the actions, welfare, growth, and most importantly spiritual welfare of your children. If a husband, to lead your household in a godly fashion using the gifts God has given you. And if a citizen, then to do all in your power to uphold the principles of a higher Kingdom; integrate those in your decisions to talk but more importantly to act in accordance with your responsibilities as a member of your nation...decide with me to be a decisive Christian... I remain

InHISgrip,
~J~

A Freedom All Can Confidently Choose

I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love God, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that God, your God, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - Deuteronomy 30:19,20 (The Message)

I was thinking this morning on an early mentor to my Christian life. His name was James Singleton. He was a man of character, and an unwavering single-minded focus on his faith and button-downed in terms of what he believed. One thing he believed was that the concept of sin was being swept away by the psycho-elements of Christianity. Personal responsibility for how we acted and displeased God was being lost under a barrage of pseudo-scientific explanations where each of us was now fully NOT responsible for the way we acted.

The concept of sin was being lost to the church. This was back in 1976. The "modern" world had no place for the archaic concept of sin.

Ya, right.

But my friends and family it is now 34 years later since I had those discussions with this man of faith and power. Sin, the ability for a person to, independently and willfully displease God, is very much alive. No number of books, symposiums, classes, advanced courses or experts opinions to the contrary can change the simple, oft-repeated experience billions of times a day where humans separate themselves in deed, thought and attitude from the God who provides them life. The Greek word, in our New Testament that is translated sin is roughly the word hamartia (ham arr tee ah) and in Greek means to miss the mark. God the Father has a target in mind, His Son actually, and we fall short or miss that ideal in the way we act and/or think daily.

It is a source of heartache, feelings of guilt, aggravation and personal disappointment for most who call themselves Christians.

I wish I could guarantee all of us full freedom from sin 365 days a year, but that is not possible. As long as we roam the earth we will fight a battle, a personal battle with personal sin. I have given great study and thought to the idea of perpetual sinlessness (theologians call it "sinless perfection"). It will not be ours to enjoy until we are given glorified bodies and we are at home in heaven.

But their is good news. The relationship that Jesus re-established for us with His life, suffering, death and resurrection has provided us the leadership we need; the continual presence of our God in our lives and His direction as we both speak with and listen to Him. We don't have to sin on a constant, day-after-day basis. The actions of the Savior has freed us to accept counsel and get direction from a personal relationship with God.


But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. - Romans 6:17--18

Wonderful, wonderful truth! Choosing righteousness, we enjoy a lifestyle marked by God's blessings, stability, and strength. God's goodness, His Grace frees us to choose, yes more than choose, make ourselves slaves to eternal life concepts, principles and actions. We can decide to walk with God and draw strength from Him to face whatever life throws at us. However, we can decide to walk away from God and face the inescapable consequences of sin.

The next time you are tempted to yield to your old master, Master Sin, remember this: Grace invites you to return and find forgiveness, but it doesn't automatically erase the scars that accompany missing the mark of the high-calling of being God's child; some scars could stay with you for life.

In spite of the terrible consequences sins may bring, grace also means we allow others the freedom to choose, regardless. To do otherwise abuses as much as those who use their freedom as a license to sin. I am a firm believer in mutual accountability, but grace means I will not force or manipulate or judge or attempt to control you, nor should you do those things to me. It means we will keep on helping others to freedom by providing moments of hope. In naval speak we might call it providing "breathing holes." It means we deliberately let go so each of us can grow and learn on our own; otherwise, we shall never enjoy the liberty of an open sea.

So, this little snippet goes out to parents, brothers and sisters and great friends: For most of us, letting others go is neither natural nor easy. Because we care, it is more our tendency to give people hints or advice. The thought of letting them fail or fall is extremely painful to us, but God treats us like that virtually every day of our lives. We tend to clutch, not release . . . to put people in our frame and not allow them any breathing holes unless and until they accept the shape of our molds.

Let us be carriers of love, patience, grace and space. God is still on the throne and is still the greatest weapon in a battle against missing His very best...

I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~

If He Gave You Power He Also Gave You Mercy

Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink. - Numbers 20:8

In the scene from history which includes the aforementioned event Moses and the Israelites had been traveling for days without water. They were thirsty. They were complaining and grumbling about their plight. Moses became the object of their complaining. So, as any good target should ol' Moses sought the Lord for wisdom (you should read that, r-e-l-i-e-f) on how to handle the situation. The Lord instructed him to speak to a particular rock and water would come forth out of said stone, ore or boulder. The seemingly impossible would act as a sign that God was still in control, that Moses was still the leader, and that Jehovah was their provider.

When it came time to speak to the rock, Moses', and his A D D or otherwise inability to focus on the command of God (which we define as Moses' disgust with the people) became so great that instead of speaking to the rock, he angrily addressed the people and then banged on the rock twice. The water came out, in spite of Moses' disobedience. However, this was not a "happy God" moment.

God had set his leader, our friend Moses, up to succeed and establish position, power and provision at a very high level. Moses was moving from the use of "things" to work with (his staff) to the use of his inability(he saw himself as one who did not speak well) in order to work the miracles of God. Moses' stumbling verbiage would have changed the situation. Previously Moses' staff represented two things-his physical work as a shepherd of sheep and his spiritual work as a shepherd of the people. But the very God of Israel was calling Moses to new ground and into a new dimension. Moses was to move from physical action to a position God had previously reserved to Himself, "Speak it! It shall be!"

Like you and I, Moses botched it. He used his instrument with force to accomplish something for God. He took something God wanted to be used in a righteous manner and used it, lashing out, angrily.

Moses used the thing with which he had been gifted against versus for the purposes of God.

He used force to solve the problem.

The result: Moses lost his blessing to see the Promised Land.

How about you? When was the last time you used your power, skill, and ability to force a situation to happen, perhaps even out of anger?

God is calling us to use meditation and prayer to move the face of mountains. The force of our ability is not satisfactory nor is it able. God is calling each of us to a new level of discipleship in Him. I hope you pray with me, daily, to learn the lesson here...the lesson to wait to understand how it is God wishes us to move before we decide improperly how we are to use the things put in our hands. My prayer is that we all move into God's promises together...Moses, my mentor...thank you for this painful lesson...may I not have to repeat it. I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~