Forgetting Who We’re Fighting

9 11 2011

I’ve grown up as a forgetful person.  I never wanted to be; I didn’t consciously decide to be (or if I did, I’ve forgotten).  But the fact remains that I have been known to forget things.  I even spent most of this last year having forgotten my age (seriously, you can ask my wife—she’s had to correct me on it frequently)!  And I am getting better, to be sure…but I still am forgetful from time to time.  We all are!  Some of us are far more forgetful than others, but none of us remember everything we need to.  Often, we have an easy time remembering the things we don’t really need to remember, and a harder time remembering the things we do.  But thankfully, Jesus has given us a Helper—the Holy Spirit—to remind us of the things that are most important.

One of the things I’ve been reminded of by the Holy Spirit lately is something that the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus: “We are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”  That verse has some major implications that we can be very prone to forget!  That means that despite the arguments we may have had with our spouse, they’re not the enemy.  Despite the grudges we may have been holding against our co-workers, they’re not the enemy.  Despite what we might think about the things our friends have been doing, they’re not the enemy.  Despite the disobedience your kids may have shown lately, they’re not the enemy.  There’s all sorts of conflicts that can come up in our relationships, and all sorts of ways that we can choose to respond…but no matter the circumstance, they are not the enemy!

I’m not attempting to make excuses for people’s choices, condone ungodly behavior, or imply that conflict is the devil’s doing.  We are all responsible for our own choices, and despite the popular saying, the devil can’t make you do it if you’re in Christ—he can only try and convince you that you should do it.  People need to be held accountable, and our choices—good or bad—always have effects.  What I am saying is that even in the midst of conflict…even in the midst of poor choices…even in the midst of hurt…we’re not fighting against people.  We may think they’re being stubborn, or stupid, or unrealistic, or insubordinate—and they may be, actually—but it’s Satan’s mission to steal, kill, and destroy.  It’s God’s mission to redeem, restore, and reconcile.  We have been given a ministry of reconciliation, and not of judgement!  And while consequences will need to be dealt with, and relationships will need to be managed, and conversations will need to be had, they ought to all be part of reconciliation.  We have an enemy.  It’s just not each other.

What did Jesus say to do to the ones we’re not getting along with?  Love them.  Pray for them.  Go the extra mile with them.  We may not like them, but we’ve got to love them!  And love doesn’t boast; it’s not proud; it’s not self-serving.  Arguing to “win” totally misses considering others as better than yourselves, and believing that the first shall be last and the last first.  Healthy conflict has redemption as a goal, rather than victory.  So as you go throughout your week, interacting with all sorts of people, remember: they’re not the enemy.  They’re providing you with an opportunity to see the redemptive power of God at work in your life.  And experiencing that is something you can’t forget.


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Categories : marriage, spiritual warfare

How and Why

20 10 2011

“And David realized that the Lord had established him as king over Israel, and that his kingdom was highly exalted, for the sake of His people Israel.”
-1 Chronicles 14:2

It’s a good day when you’re appointed king.  At least, I assume so—I haven’t been appointed king over anything, unless I appointed myself (I take after King Julien).  And while most of us haven’t been appointed king, we probably have been appointed to something.  You may have been appointed an employee.  You may have been appointed a raise.  You may have been appointed a good grade.  You may have been appointed a leader.  You may have been appointed a friend.

Whatever it is, we’ve all been appointed to some sort of position, regardless of how it’s esteemed.  So, this passage has two huge reminders for us in regards to our position, our status, our situation, our job, our leadership, our friendship, and every other opportunity we can be appointed to:

  1. The Lord establishes us.  David knew he wasn’t king because of what he’d done.  Sure, he had a great track record, and the people were in love with him, but he knew that ultimately, it was God who put him in the position he was in.  I have to remember that too, because when I don’t, I start taking credit for the successes.  The obvious problem with that is that I become prideful and selfish, and end up inhibiting my influence and prohibiting my progress.  That’s a serious enough problem on its own!  But the less obvious issue with forgetting that God establishes me, wherever I’m at and whatever I’m doing, is that I also start taking credit for the failures.  If I establish myself, I’m bound to become prideful, but I am also bound to become depressed: my identity and attitude become wrapped up in the performance of my establishment, rather than the power of God’s grace.  Jesus took our failures when he died on the cross, and gave us his victories when he rose from the grave!  As long as I let HIM establish me, and give HIM the credit, I can trust that no matter what happens—success or failure—it’s in HIS hands, and not mine.  David fought lots of battles, but he knew that he was only responsible for how they started—either by God’s establishment, or his own—-not how they ended. When the Lord establishes you, you get to live worry-free!
  2.  It’s for the sake of His people.  David’s kingdom was exalted, but not because he was a great king who earned some recognition.  He worked hard, fought well, and received tribute from tons of different nations.  But the scripture says he was exalted “for the sake of [God's] people Israel.”  I can be a big nobody, or a big somebody, but whatever position I’m in, it’s for the sake of God’s people.  He has a plan and a purpose for my life, and to understand it clearly and steward it faithfully, I need to remember that it’s not for me or because of me that I am who/what/where I am…it’s for, and because of, God.  Without this truth driving our circle of influence, everything we do becomes self-serving.  We have a natural tendency to make everything about US!  God knows this—that’s why there’s so much in the Bible about the reward we’re promised in heaven after living a faithful life to the end!  But we have a choice: to stake our claim in what’s “here and now,” or what’s there and then.  The “there and then” is promised to be a lot better. We just have to make sure that we remember that what’s “here and now”—our current position—is for the sake of HIS people.  As long as we live with that in mind, we’ll serve more willingly, give more generously, lead more confidently, live less anxiously, love less conditionally…and reap the reward at the end!
Let the Lord establish you, so that you can trust him for the power and the outcome.  And let him establish you for the sake of his people, so that you can live purposefully and store up treasures in heaven as you go wherever he leads.

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Mission Shower

17 10 2011

“As he was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth… ‘Go,’ he told him, ‘and wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means ‘sent’).  So he left, washed, and came back seeing.”
-John 9:1, 7 HCSB

I wear contacts (or glasses when my contacts refuse to cooperate), but I’m not blind.  At least not physically.  I do sometimes feel blind, though.  I would venture a guess that one of the most common wishes people have is to know what’s coming.  In Christianity, that means what “now” is leading up to.  What’ve you got up your sleeve, God?  What’s on the horizon?  Why is this happening?  It can be from an optimistic perspective, or it can be from the depths of depression, but one thing is certain: we always want to know what’s next; how to get from “here” to “there.”

You might not even need glasses or contacts at all, but I’m certain that you’ve felt blind at times too.  When I read verses like Psalm 119:105—”Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path”—or Jeremiah 29:11—”I know the plans I have for you”—I am prone to frustration!  If God KNOWS, then why doesn’t he SHARE?  Why do I so often feel that I can’t see a thing in front of me?

I am finding out more and more that he does share.  Frequently.  The problem isn’t with him (it never is), it’s with me and my lousy perspective.  While he may not tell me the future, God is always more than willing to explain the purpose of the present through the Holy Spirit and his Word, and it’s in this passage from John 9 that helped me to start tuning in to the right spiritual frequencies.  This guy has been blind from birth, and Jesus puts some mud on his eyes and tells him to wash in the pool of Siloam, which is the Hebrew word for “sent.”  As I read this a couple of weeks ago, I realized something: that’s how spiritual blindness is healed, too.  Healing of spiritual blindness is found in washing ourselves with being sent.  We begin to “see” as we cleanse ourselves with the mission Jesus saved us for.

All of a sudden, every problem made sense.  The people that were the most bothersome to me became my greatest opportunities to grow in love.  The people that weren’t living by God’s grace and guidance became my highest-priority mission field.  Think about it; let the Holy Spirit wash your eyes in your “sent-ness.”  There’s a purpose that Jesus saved us to; everything comes into focus when we look through the lens of our divine destiny.  We function most effectively and operate most clearly when we look to God’s desire for our lives.  And without God’s purpose at the front of our minds, we are blind to all the opportunity he lays before us.

The best part of this story?  He came back seeing.  That’s what I want!  I want to come back from being washed with restored vision.  I just have to take my “mission shower,” and start living with the revelation that I am an ambassador; a representative.  I am sent.  And that brings both the purpose of the present and the function of the future into perfect focus.


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Categories : discipleship, revelation, scripture

Theology, Shmeology

19 09 2011

“It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.”
–Hebrews 6:4-6

This is one of the biggest verses people use when they’re having theological debates about whether or not you can lose your salvation.  There’s a lot of mystery in it.  But before I dig into Hebrews, I want to look at another passage.

There’s a story in Acts 8 about a sorcerer named Simon who believes, is baptized, and sees miracles, but Peter says to him, “You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God…For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”  The Bible doesn’t lie – Simon believed and was baptized, and as Mark 16:16 says, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.”

So will we see Simon in heaven?  I have to say yes!  But did he get to take part in any more of God’s ministry while he was on earth?  It doesn’t sound like it.  Jeremiah 15:19 says, “IF you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman.”  Proverbs 1:23 says something similar: “Repent at my rebuke!  THEN I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings.”

Back in Hebrews 6, verses 7-8 talk about two types of land: one that produces a useful crop, and one that produces thorns and thistles.  Interestingly, both are described as drinking in rain that falls on it.  So this mini-parable teaches that the same “rain” can fall on two types of “land,” but only one will be found useful and receive a blessing.  What is the difference between the two lands?  Matthew 3:8 is very clear: “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”

If this is a parable, and the land describes our lives, then what is the rain?  It’s described in verses 4-5: enlightenment, tasting the heavenly gift, sharing in the Holy Spirit, and tasting the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age.  But is all that synonymous with salvation?  Surprisingly, I don’t think so.  In Matthew 7, Jesus talks about people who have called him “Lord,” and prophesied and cast out demons and performed miracles in his name, but never were known to him.  1 John 2 addresses this idea as well: “Even now many antichrists have come…they went out from us, but they did not really belong to us.  For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.”  So Hebrews isn’t talking about salvation at all.  It’s talking about what you do with the goodness of God that’s given unconditionally.

Both passages (from Matthew and 1 John) have another thing in common: in both cases, the next verses address persistence in putting God’s word into daily practice.  In Matthew, Jesus says, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”  In 1 John, John writes, “See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you.  If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father…as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit – just as it has taught you, remain in him.”  This is the exact same idea the author of Hebrews has been writing about!  5:11-6:2 is all about the danger the Hebrews are in because they haven’t matured in Christ as they ought to.  Why not?  There’s only one reason given, in 5:14: “Solid food is for the mature, who by CONSTANT USE have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”  It’s in KEEPING with repentance that we produce fruit.

So, after all that…what does this passage mean?  It means that seeing miracles – and even performing miracles – don’t validate your Christianity at all.  You can taste, and you can see, and you can still fall away by not putting God’s Word into practice.  And once you’ve fallen, it seems that you’re out of the game!  If you really believed and were baptized, salvation’s still yours…but either way, ministry is blocked off for you.  You can only be born two times.  And the only way to protect yourself from not falling away is by persevering to make God’s ways your ways.

So don’t give up.  Keep pressing on.  “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.”  And don’t lose heart – because, as the author of Hebrews writes in 6:9-12, “Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case – things that accompany salvation.  God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.  We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure.  We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”


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Categories : discipleship, reflection, scripture

Heaven offers only one Psychology course

19 05 2011

It is incredible how active God is.  I haven’t written a new post in awhile, and it is astounding to think about how much has happened to me and in me and through me since the last post!  So, in an effort to reconnect to this ministry, I’ve been reading over a number of my past blogs.  (Yes, I view this blog—regardless of how many readers there are not—as a ministry.  Recognizing God’s ability and giving Him room in every area of our lives, from serving the needy to doing the laundry, is the first step to seeing His hand at work in all places and at all times.)

The most shocking part of all this is not that I’m writing a new blog after five months of inactivity, but that as I read over my previous posts, I felt incapable of keeping it up.  Now, I don’t think my writing is all that spectacular, or that I’ve ever had a “gold mine” of wisdom…but I was actually intimidated by myself.  I’ve set a standard (it may be low or high, but either way, there is one), and regardless of where that standard was, I didn’t feel like I measured up.

Wait—huh?

How can I possibly not measure up to myself?  What kind of weird identity conundrum have I worked myself into here!?

I’m no psychologist, but this is a perfect opportunity to address the fact that Satan loves to mess with our self-image.  If he can convince us that we don’t measure up (as a friend, as a spouse, as a leader, as a team player, or even as a blogger), then we effectively hand him the keys to all the influence we have.  Believing that you’re not good enough, or have somehow been disqualified, is like letting the enemy call the shots on what God is able to accomplish through you.  He might suggest that we compare ourselves to our siblings, or our friends, or our role models; he may even try to get us to compare our current self to our old self.  He points out all the great things in every place we look…until we look in the mirror, and then he turns it all around.

But there’s good news: Satan only has that ability when we agree with his suggestions and give him some space.  He’s really just a guy behind bars—a dog on a leash—and gets only what he can convince us to give him.  If we hold onto what God says through all of the enemy’s suggestions, Satan gets no say in what happens next.  And when God’s hand is in something, there’s no telling what incredible good will come of it!

So instead of allowing discouragement and fear to keep me from writing again, I decided to remind myself of God’s promises: that He is always moving me forward toward a greater level of goodness (Ro 8:28); that He is at work in me to complete all that He’s begun (Php 1:6); that His word is never wasted and always reaps a result (Is 55:11); that His ability goes far beyond my imagination (Eph 3:20); that His power is far more trustworthy than any rationale I can come up with (Col 2:8); that with Him, I can do anything (Php 4:13); that He values me and chose me to be a part of His work in the world (Eph 2:8)…just to name a few.

You won’t find much issue of “measuring up” after you soak your soul in things like that.

There will probably be far more reasons to drop down and fall back than to rise up and press forward.  We tend to be far too easy to scare.  But God is never outnumbered, and he’s never out-gunned.  So when the guy behind bars threatens you for your identity, just call in the warden; because the longer you hold on to God’s promises, the more He proves that he’s made them to YOU…and He’s not ever going to change them or take them back!


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Categories : personal, reflection, spiritual warfare

Psalm 19:7-9 (Part 2)

10 12 2010

“The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes…”
-Psalm 19:8

  1. Joy comes through obedience.  The last thing on a kid’s mind when he’s getting spanked is, “I love my life!”  It’s probably closer to the opposite.  (And if it’s not…well, good luck to his parents.)  Discipline usually makes us frustrated and angry.  But as we all are expected to discover as we grow older, discipline is done for the future reward, not the present pain.  So, to be honest, we shouldn’t be confused in the least when we are failing to discover the joy of the Lord while remaining disobedient to His commands.  Does that mean He doesn’t love us?  Of course not.  What it means is that we are more aware of the goodness of God as we walk in alignment with the precepts of God.  The Creator knows His creation—it makes sense that doing things His way is the best way for us.
  2. Vision comes through God’s direction.  Contrary to what any mother of a picky-eater will say, carrots don’t really improve your eyesight.  And in the same way that being told to eat your vegetables “because they’re good for you” isn’t really enough to make you want to eat them, David knew when he wrote this psalm that being in God’s word just because it’s the “Christian thing to do” wasn’t enough to keep us reading it.  If we want to see what God sees, we’re going to have to pay a lot more attention to what He says (Ps 119:105).  In the kingdom of God, our ability to see is proportionate to our ability to listen.  It has nothing to do with our eyes, and everything to do with our faith.  And as we learn to listen closely, we will discover how to see clearly, too.

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Categories : discipleship, scripture

You’re Not Alone

23 11 2010

“‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’”
-Isaiah 1:18

There are a lot of commands that the Lord gives us throughout the Bible…and even if we want to respond and follow, sometimes it can seem overwhelming.  It is easy to get frustrated with ourselves or the call, because we can’t seem keep up with everything we’re supposed to.  We end up letting people down who are looking up to us.  We make a mistake that keeps us from becoming someone who IS looked up to.  We mess up in the area we’ve been fighting to keep right.  We lose focus and sacrifice character and integrity for a quick rush.

The list goes on and on for all of us.  And as we start looking at the list, our belief in ourselves dwindles, and our hope to accomplish all that God desires of us fades.  We lose sight of the goal when we are consumed with the journey.

But thankfully, God wants to “reason together” with us.  Thankfully, God does not want us to believe in ourselves.  He wants us to believe in HIM and in HIS ability.  If we will first come to Him, He will reason with us; reminding us that it is not our efforts that save us, it is His grace.  It is not our successes and failures that qualify or disqualify us, it is His victory at the cross that stands for us.  If we come to Him, He will remind us of His ability, His power, His faithfulness, His love, His forgiveness, His strength, His provision, His wisdom, His truth, and His sovereignty.  And as we reason together with our Lord, He will keep pushing us onward, saying that our sins shall be white as snow—again and again and again.


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Categories : discipleship, scripture

“We’re Doing WHAT?”

25 10 2010

I am not a war general, a scientist, a magician, a weather man, a sailor, or a counselor. But if I was chasing after a people whose God just turned my water to blood (Ex 7:14-21), covered the earth as I knew it with frogs (Ex 8:1-6) and gnats (Ex 8:16-17) and flies (Ex 8:20-24) and grasshoppers (Ex 10:12-15), killed all our livestock (Ex 9:1-6) and firstborn children (Ex 12:29-30), sent a lethal hail-fire storm (Ex 9:22-26), covered the land in utter darkness (Ex 10:21-23), and now had the sea in front of me supernaturally split in two (Ex 14:21-22), I would not think it a really great idea to pursue them. I mean, at least figure out how the sea is being held back before you charge down the watery hallway without any thought to an escape plan if the water stops doing this thing no one has ever seen or understands. I can imagine some of the comments being mumbled under the soldiers’ breaths in response to the one who decided to follow the Israelites through the Red Sea: “Who put him in charge?” “Listen, if I wanted to die, I would have stayed with the bugs and toads.” “Not to undermine your authority, but have you noticed anything strange about the sea?” “Wait…we’re doing WHAT?”

If you feel like you’ve been running from an army that’s out to enslave you or even kill you…and you’re not to the safe side of the sea yet…don’t forget that God is parting the waters for you. Don’t forget that while He may not teleport you immediately to the other side, He will make the ocean in front of you split so you can walk across dry and unharmed. Don’t forget that up to this point, He has been fighting for you and watching over you. And don’t forget that your enemy’s battle strategy is terribly stupid, and God intends on burying his army underneath the waves. You might initially respond to His plan with “You want me to do what!?” …but He will win victory after victory for you, if you’ll still your heart, silence your doubts (Ex 14:14), and just go!


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You Should Work Construction

18 09 2010

The love of God is a relentless fire.

The love of God is a powerful wind.

The love of God is ever-victorious.

It never fails.  It never runs out.  It is always enough.

It touches broken hearts, afflicted bodies, logical minds, possessed spirits, lost souls.

It is both gentle and furious, soft and loud, gradual and immediate, forgiving and just.

And it is US whom God has chosen to carry it into the world.

This is a call that is far greater than only praying prayers for hurting people.  It goes well beyond simply being voices.  The call is not to tell a message, it is to be a message.  Christianity is about more than making a declaration; it is about being an example.  We cannot rely solely on God’s love alone to change the world…for He has chosen us to be a part of His plan.  It will not go where we will not go, or do what we are unwilling to do.  And though the power by no stretch of the imagination comes from us, it does, because of the Father’s great love for us, come through us (Eph 3:20).  He desires us to be ambassadors; mediators; people who are not so concerned with being heard that they forget to be seen.  The call still rings true: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord!“  God will break every strategy, weapon, and force of darkness by any means possible…but first, we must pave the way.  Our call is not that of contractors, but of construction workers, toiling with every ounce of life we have to pave and prepare the way for the fullness of God to break forth.  Whether it is by means that we understand, or by means that we do not—the love of God will be rarely seen where there are no children who would give themselves to reveal it.

May God have patience with a people who have been deceived by a culture of immediacy, and have lost the understanding of perseverance.

May God pour grace on a people who have been misled by a world of individualism, and no longer know how to bear one another’s burdens.

May God have mercy on a people who have been captured by a society led by pleasure and entertainment, and seek experience over purpose.

May God’s love reach us again as we pave the way for it to reach others.


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Categories : discipleship, vision

Psalm 19:7-9 (Part 1)

15 09 2010

“The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple…”
–Psalm 19:7

  1. Revival comes through the law of God.  You will be hard-pressed to meet a Christian who doesn’t say they want God to come in a big way and bring new life to everyone who needs it.  You will also be hard-pressed to meet a Christian who is willing to do what God says is necessary for that to happen.  While “the Law” was done away with as our standard, replaced by the New Covenant, there still is a “law” in effect: the government and reign of Jesus.  We are under grace, and that is gospel-–good news.  But we DO need a right view and a right response of the reign and rule of Christ.  Revival is not about an event or experience…it is about reviving hearts to live under the love, power, and authority of the risen King!  And we will know it is happening when we see less worldliness and more godliness…less earth and more heaven…less exaltation of ourselves and more exaltation of Jesus.
  2. Wisdom comes through God’s perspective.  Some of us have problems with trusting people…others of us have problems with being trustworthy people…but God is true.  He is faithful.  He never lies or deceives.  And it is His testimony, His word, His story, and His perspective that we look to for wisdom, because we can count on it.  Everything God teaches us can be counted on as wisdom—things to build your life upon and walk by—because “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps 111:10).  No matter how uneducated, inexperienced, or unprepared you feel, trusting in God’s perspective will make you wise, and guide you through anything and everything you will be faced with!

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Categories : discipleship, scripture

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