Category Archives: scripture

You’re Not Alone

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“‘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.

“We’re Doing WHAT?”

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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!

Psalm 19:7-9 (Part 1)

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“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!

Sent Out (Part 4)

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“‘And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.’  They went out and preached that people should repent.  They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.”
-Mark 6:11-13

  1. You need to prioritize.  The call CANNOT be compromised!  The disciples couldn’t stay where their mission couldn’t be fulfilled.  They could have stayed and pleaded with God to move, and poured themselves out in service and teaching, and waited until something happened…but they were charged with a mission from Jesus and knew that they weren’t being called to see results, they were being called to be obedient.  Sometimes Satan shows you an opportunity for something good to keep you from giving your all in something better…vision is vital!  And not only did Jesus tell the disciples to leave the place that didn’t receive them, He told them to “shake the dust off [their] feet”—essentially, to not even let any remnant of what was there go with them.  Too often we carry around the “dust” of past experiences where we failed, or weren’t received, or didn’t have our expectations met.  But Jesus wants us to shake that dust off and walk according to His revelation, and not to our evaluation!
  2. You need to be bold.  Were they scheduled at the local church or venue?  Did they have their arrival advertised?  No…they weren’t expected or planned for.  They didn’t have a place to go when they got there.  They simply went and did.  A lot of times we lack the courage to bring the kingdom because we’re not a renowned speaker or a well-known author or a recognizable ministry leader—but neither were the disciples!  It was their boldness and courage to respond to Jesus’ guidance despite the fact that no one knew who they were or where they came from that released the power of God to them.  God rarely calls us to do things we are completely confident in doing; it is our faith in HIS ability to pull through and HIS sovereignty that releases heaven.  The kingdom will come in strength when our faith in who He is overshadows our fear of who we are not!
  3. You need to be ready for God to show up! Jesus’ disciples fit each of these things, and the drove out demons and healed the sick.  Our God is extravagant, and mighty, and powerful, and creative, and majestic…He comes with faithfulness and fire…there is restoration and healing in His touch…and in His presence, all creation bows in worship.  EVERYTHING is subject to His name and His rule.  What He speaks becomes, and what He thinks IS.  And when we walk according to His way, led by His Spirit and taught by His word, submitting ourselves to His authority and surrendering our lives of death for His life of life, His fullness will follow…and that is a truly glorious and awesome thing!

Sent Out (Part 3)

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“He allowed them to wear sandals but not to take a change of clothes.  ‘Wherever you go,’ He said, ‘stay in the same house until you leave town.’”
-Mark 6:9-10

  1. You’ve got to be humble.  Jesus didn’t give His disciples the opportunity to assume they were entitled to anything…not even an extra set of clothes!  Humility is vital because it is the container in which our dependence upon God is kept.  Pride is one of the enemy’s most effective weapons…not because it’s more powerful, but because it’s more subtle.  The moment you become proud of the assignment given to you, or of the gifts God by His grace decides to bestow, Satan has a wide-open door to walk through and sabotage all that God has laid before you.  It’s easy to be humble and dependent on the Lord when it’s something you don’t have, or something you’re not good at…but when it comes to something as normal and within reach as having clothes, we’re rarely on guard.  Jesus showed His disciples how important humility is to be an effective vessel of the Holy Spirit with this command.  We’ve got to go to great lengths to protect our humility—because when we do, Jesus sends us out to do miraculous things!
  2. You’ve got to be dedicated and committed. Why was it important for the disciples to stay in one house the whole time they were ministering to a city?  Because dedication incubates revelation (Ps 46:10).  The call God places on your life needs to be nurtured and protected, and if you never stay in one place, you lose the ability to steward what the Father has given you because you have no solid ground to sow it into.  Jesus was emphasizing the importance of relationships and working together with others to bring heaven to earth.  It is only through unity that we will become strong!  Jesus also wanted to make sure that His disciples were maintaining integrity.  Being constantly on the move keeps the depth of one’s heart at a distance…but it is from the deep of our hearts that the eternal life of God flows!  By commanding His disciples to stay in one house, Jesus ensured that they would be held accountable for everything they were doing at all times—both empowering their testimony and guiding their journey.

Separatists

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“Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of sufferings.”
-1 Peter 5:9

One of the enemy’s strongest tools is separation, or loneliness.  He deceives people into thinking that their sin has cut them off from God, the church, and even their closest friends.  He tries to tell them that there is no one to help…no one who CAN help.  And these lies often motivate people to separate themselves…while they were NOT alone when the devil told them that they were, they make themselves alone because they believe the lie.

Satan must be fought with love, unity, and community. And it is vital that we understand that community is not just being around people.  Community is the communication of unity.  And when we lose communication with God that we are His people and He is our God, or with our friends that we are with them and they with us, we provide the enemy with a way into our hearts.  Remember that we are not alone; we have not been and cannot be cut off because of the grace of God by the blood of Jesus; that others are fighting and winning the same battles we are because they serve the same God we do; and that God knows, understands, and provides!

Jesus prayed to the Father in John 17:22-23, “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”  Not only does community defeat the purposes of the enemy, but it lets the world know that Jesus is King, and His grace and peace trump every hand the world could ever play.  So challenge yourself over the next few days to communicate unity to those around you…and present the gospel in word AND power!

Who am I?

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I was going to write about why I haven’t written recently, but I found that to be somewhat ironic and significantly insignificant.  Facts; I haven’t written recently, and I’m going to try to change that.  That’s all anyone needs to really know (myself included).

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.”
-James 1:22-25

There is an identity crisis epidemic in God’s church, because too many people are good at KNOWING and terrible at GOING.  I was in Barnes and Noble the other day, looking through the “Christian Inspiration” books (which I find to be a strange name for a section without any Bibles in it), and was astonished at how many books there are that are basically scripture-flavored self-help books.  Even in Christianity, there is obviously an incredible amount of insecurity and uncertainty that people are trying to keep at bay with these books.  And the funniest/worst part about it is that 99% of these books say the same things.  Which makes me think a few things:

  1. No one remembers what they read
  2. No one believes what they read
  3. No one follows through with what they read

I don’t think the first one is true.  I’m really forgetful about a lot of things, but I highly doubt every person forgets every part of every book they’ve read.  So it’s not an issue of knowledge.  And I don’t think the second one is true either…as evidenced by how MANY books there are about the same things, people clearly want these things to be true.  And as evidenced by how many NEW books keep being written about the same things, people don’t think it’s worthless information, or a trick or hoax.  So it’s not an issue of belief.

Of all the people in the world, Christians ought to be the most joyful, the most peaceful, the most hopeful, the most confident, the most secure — because we have a joy that is eternal, a peace that is unimaginable, a hope that is promised, a confidence that does not fade, and a security that lasts forever.  So why are there so many books outside of the Bible that try to guide us into these things?  Why is there such an identity crisis?

Because too often we collect knowledge without gaining experience.  Too often we know what God desires of us, but we want an easier way.  Too often we’re afraid of trading our preferences, free time, money, and habits for the work of the kingdom of God.  And so we read the Word and hear our pastors’ sermons and go to our Bible studies — looking in the mirror, as James says — and walk away already having forgotten who we are in Jesus.  Knowing of God’s promises and living in God’s promises are two vastly different things.  Knowing and believing aren’t enough to keep you inside God’s protection, provision, and power (James 2:19).  But when we do what we know, our ideologies become realities, and Christ’s freedom is poured out, and all the things we’ve heard but haven’t seen become the lens by which we see everything else.

Sent Out (Part 2)

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“Calling the twelve to Him, He sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.  These were His instructions: ‘Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts.’”
-Mark 6:7-8

When Jesus sent His disciples out to do ministry on their own for the first time, he sent them with a lot of guidance that we should probably learn from, too.  A couple things from these verses that we need to be mindful of if we want to be as effective as the disciples were:

  1. You can’t do it alone.  Jesus had twelve disciples, but He paired them off…sometimes it may seem to us that God’s way of doing things will take more time, or will be more complicated, or just simply won’t be as effective as what we have in mind.  The disciples could have seemingly covered a lot more ground and done a lot more ministry if they had gone individually, but Jesus cut their numbers in half so that they wouldn’t be alone.  One of the biggest lies we can buy into is that the more spread out we are, the more we are able to accomplish.  Jesus knew otherwise.  He knew that the disciples would need each other; they would need encouragement, and they would need accountability, and they would need each other to fully invoke the presence of God.  Pride simultaneously convinces us that we are capable, and makes us entirely incapable.  God is King.  And sometimes we need to stop trying to be, and allow others to come alongside us so that we can accomplish things that are bigger than ourselves!
  2. You have to trust God to provide. God is waiting to fill us with His dreams and place His provision in our hands, but in order to receive we must first make room.  You will not have room for God’s kingdom in your life if your kingdom never gets smaller.  As Bill Johnson has said, “the further you go with God, the less you can take with you.”  Jesus didn’t want His disciples to take anything with them, NOT because He wanted them to have little, but because He wanted them to put all their trust in the Father so that He could provide for their needs.  Our dependence and trust in God is directly tied to our impact on the world, and if we do not need God for anything, we won’t know God for anything either.  But as soon as we make room in our hearts and put ourselves in positions of dependence, the Holy Spirit fills our hearts with holiness and our Father reaches from heaven to prove His faithfulness to those who love Him!

Being and Doing

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“‘Arise! For this matter is your responsibility, but we will be with you; be courageous and act.’”
-Ezra 10:4

The Israelites vowed to be with Ezra…and for Ezra, it was time to get up and DO.

Sometimes life is risky, uncomfortable, surprising, wearisome, unclear, heavy, confusing, stressful, or emotional.  And it’s easy to overlook what other people are going through when you’re going through things yourself.  It seems to be too much work to involve yourself too deeply in the  lives of others.  You don’t have enough time to get what YOU need to get done, let alone helping someone else.  There is an emotional demand in partnering with the life of someone else.

But it’s time to stop overlooking.  It’s time to be with someone.

Be with them in their struggles.  Be with them in their victories.  Be with them in their questions and their answers.  We are called to love one another in humility…and humility is thinking less of yourself and making much of others.  You can’t solve the problem for them, but you can encourage them to arise, and to have courage, and to act.  You don’t have to put your life on hold and ignore everything that’s happening on your end of things.  But if you lead by example in being with someone and encouraging them to do what only they can do, not only will you bless their lives with the kindness and faithfulness of Christ, you’ll have at least one person who knows exactly what to do when you need someone with you!

Sometimes life is difficult, overwhelming, dangerous, scary, fast, exhausting, relentless, uncertain, or unexpected.  And it’s easy to come up with excuses for not doing what you know needs to be done.  There are some things that have been on your to-do list for weeks.  There are some things you’ve been doubting for no real, good reason.  There are some things that God has been burdening you with that you’ve been trying to ignore.

But it’s time to stop making excuses.  It’s time to get up and DO.

Do what you know you should have done awhile ago.  Do what has been keeping you up at night.  Do what you are called to do, even if no one else is doing it.  No one can live your life for you.  What is on your heart is your responsibility.  You don’t have to do it alone—the Lord is faithful to those who are zealous for His will—but you do have to do it.  Our God is a God of victory, and of hope, and of provision, and of redemption.  We have NO REASON to not go ALL OUT for HIS GLORY.

Everything Everywhere All the Time

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“This is the answer they gave us: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, one that a great king of Israel built and finished.’“
-Ezra 5:11 (NIV, emphasis my own)-

No one knows the fullness of God.  He’s too big for us to get all of.  And that’s wonderful, because it means that we will never run out of things to love about Him, and we will never get bored with Him because we’ve found out everything about Him, and He will always know better than us and make the best decisions for us.  But just because we can’t know every characteristic of God doesn’t mean we shouldn’t know as much as we can, and a lot of people tend to tailor God to be only what they perceive Him to be.  But you do not define who God is…He defines who you are.  These Israelites in the book of Ezra knew that—they acknowledged that God is God of heaven AND earth.  It’s easy to get stuck on God only reigning over one or the other, but He is King over all of it.  And we’ve got to check ourselves and make sure that we’re serving Him as Lord of both, and not one or the other.

Are you serving the God of heaven, but not of earth? When you see God as Lord of heaven, and not also of earth, He becomes unreachable.  You forget that He wants an intimate relationship with you.  Because you’ve forgotten this, you attempt to live all of life on your own, and never feel strong, confident, or rested, because the world’s relentless attacks are deterred only by the power of the Holy Spirit.  God becomes a distant idea that should be adhered to because it is somehow for the greater good (though you’re not really sure how).  When God is not the God of earth, you’re left on your own.  You can’t know anything for sure.  But God IS the God of earth, and we CAN know Him.  You don’t have to sustain your own joy, or fight for peace in your heart, or find impossible strength within yourself.  The Holy Spirit does those things for you, when you acknowledge that God is King over all the earth and become His servantin the things that you do and the way that you love others.  He is near to you, and you can know Him, and He is actively moving in your life, and He has not abandoned the world to wait for its destruction but is in the world changing it through His people, who even today are “rebuilding the temple” all across the world.

Are you serving the God of earth, but not of heaven? When you see God as Lord of earth, and not also of heaven, He becomes “man-centered,” existing for your benefit rather than His own glory.  You forget that He is all about Himself—and how could He not be?  If God is perfectly good, would it not be unloving to the universe for Him to not make much of Himself?  Because you’ve forgotten this, you find no satisfaction in simply who God is and rather seek an ever-elusive experience in which your own desires are quenched indefinitely.  But earthly events are not eternal, and until you are satisfied in the being of God, you will never be able to sustain an awe and appreciation of the doing of God.  Your faith in God is dependent on your feelings towards God, and you feel rejected or abandoned by Him when things don’t go the way you wanted them to.  He becomes seen as a slot machine that you keep pouring your treasures into, not because you want Him to have them, but because you want the slots to line up and get a big reward back.  When God is not the God of heaven, there is nothing greater to live for than what you can see and understand, and the sense of His glory and majesty is lost.  But there IS something greater to live for, and His glory and majesty IS worth our sacrifice.  There IS more to life than what you and I can see, and God is in control of all of it.  And it is Him alone who is able to satisfy our souls for all eternity.  He is enough for you, and His glory is worth losing your life over.

God is lord of everything, everywhere, all the time.  Don’t let your sight determine His might.  The limitations you put on Him in your mind don’t keep Him from being all that He is, but they do keep you from seeing all that He is.