Are you afraid of change? Maybe the more important question is this, “Are you aware that everything around has already changed?” You and I are in a constant state of change, and it is out of our control.

 

Peter Drucker, an expert on management wrote: ‘Every few hundred years throughout western history, a sharp transformation has occurred. In a matter of a decade, society altogether rearranges itself—its worldview, its basic values, its society and political structures, its arts, its key institutions. Fifty years later, a new world exists. And the people born into that world cannot even imagine the world in which their grandparents lived and into which their parents were born. Our age is such a period of transformation, signaled by the introduction of the knowledge society.’

 

What are you doing personally to grow? What have you learned to do this year that you did not know how to do last year? Routine is the slow death of growth. I am not suggesting that all routines are debilitating. But, I am asking you to consider that the mindless cycle of our repetitive mediocrity is a destructive path that diminishes our desire to grow. In Philippians 3:13-14, Paul says it this way, “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

 

Consider this statistic, “According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube.”  Turn the television off! Invest at least part of those four hours per day into personal growth. Look at the disparity between television viewing and Bible reading, “According to the Barna Research Group, those who read the Bible regularly spend about 52 minutes a week in the scriptures.” That’s twenty-eight hours per week watching TV, compared to less than one hour per week reading the Bible.

 

Is it possible the reason you and I are continuing the same cycle of unsustainable growth because we are so out of balance regarding secular and Godly input into our lives? We used to tell our children when they were small, “Trash in-trash out!” I think the same is true for all of us “big” people today. We are the product of what we are consuming; spiritually, emotionally, physically, psychologically, ect. We must grow. 1 Peter 2:1-2 reminds us to, “lay aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.” You and I are the result of our personal desires-plain and simple. The problem with that is the inability to change we are nurturing in our society.

 

Change is inevitable! The climate is changing in an irreversible manner! Some call it Global Warming in an effort to sell Carbon Credits; we know it as Biblical prophecy. Technology is doubling every two years now, and is expected to double every seventy-eight minutes in less than ten years. You must change to grow! Why not start to today by seeking God for His intended growth for your life.

 

Let me leave you with this passage from The Message Bible in Hebrews 6:1-3, “So come on, let’s leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on “salvation by self-help” and turning in trust toward God; baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment. God helping us, we’ll stay true to all that. But there’s so much more. Let’s get on with it!”

March 1, 2008

“What’s in it for me?” Have you ever asked that question before? I think maybe we all ask that everyday of our lives. No one ever asked it better than David in 1 Samuel 17:26, “And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” Let me ask you a question, “When is it not okay to ask for the reward of service?

Paul’s letter in Philippians 3:14 makes a bold statement regarding this subject, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Really our entire Christian expereince is the result of a revelation of eternity, and the reward salvation promises regarding it.

Start asking, “What’s in it for me!”

February 29, 2008

I want to follow this thread of restoration again today. There is a second dimension of restoration. We are all comfortable with restoration from disobedience. That’s something we can fit easily into our understanding of an all loving, all merciful God. We blew it-He fixed it! That is simply grasped. But what about the loss you have suffered because you completely obeyed what God required of you? Really, how do you reconcile obedience with loss?

We don’t associate obedience as requiring restoration, that entire thought process is disjointed. It’s is easier to justify and accept your restoration when the loss has been a result of disobedience. You can wrap your mind around the “why”. Cause & effect works perfectly for us. And, when your obedience to God becomes the culprit that takes everything away, we have learned to acknowledge that as sacrifice! But maybe that’s not what it is at all. The overwhelming majority of scriptural references related to sacrifice have to do with worship, not restoration. I am writing to someone today who obeyed God and it has cost you everything

When God spoke to Abraham initially, he could not have known that incredible price that obedience would require of him. Hebrews 11:8 reveals this to us, “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.” All true obedience is blind because it involves a “yes” to a single frame of reference in our lives that is connected to an eternal purpose that we cannot see. When we answer the Call of God we do so in blind faith. Maybe that is why we call it faith!

Let’s talk about obedience to God for a moment. Your obedience to God, and your affirmative answer to His call, will involve three distinct life patterns you must embrace. They are found in Mark 8:34:35, “…whosoever will (1) come after me, let him (2) deny himself, and (3) take up his cross, and follow me…”

THERE IS NO PARTIAL ACCEPTANCE OF OBEDIENCE FOR THOSE WHO TRULY DESIRE INTIMACY WITH GOD! Jesus heralded this in Luke 14:33, “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.” JESUS HIMSELF FULFILLED WHAT HE WAS ASKING BY THE GIVING OF HIS ALL ON THE CROSS! Mark 15:34 shows Jesus’ struggle, “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

OBEDIENCE DEMANDS WE BECOME VESSELS TO BE FILLED AND EMPTIED BY GOD! PICKED UP AND PUT DOWN! USED IN GOD’S HANDS TO POUR OUT HIS DESIRE ON OTHERS!

We can see a picture of this in 2 Corinthians 4:7, “…we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body…”

OBEDIENCE THAT IS NOT TIED TO GIVING OF WHAT YOU HAVE IS IMPERFECT! PARTAIL OBEDIENCE IS FULL DISOBEDIENCE! Matthew 19:16-22 displays this in the manner Jesus answered the Rich Young Ruler, “…If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

Now, let’s get back to how we approach the subject of restoration when your only reference you can connect it to is obedience.

The Bible describes a great woman of Shunem. This woman had a desire to bless the Man of God without expectation of return or reward. 2 Kings 4:8-11 records this account, “And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.”

HER DESIRE WAS TO SUSTAIN THE MAN OF GOD WITH STRENGTH SO SHE MADE THE INVITATION AND STARTED THE GIVING PROCESS HERSELF! SHE WAS NOT FORCED BY FEAR, SHE WAS MOVED BY OBEDIENCE!HER SECOND GIFT WAS OUT OF WHAT SHE DID NOT HAVE  -  IT INVOLVED OTHERS  -  FELLOWSHIP

This great woman of Shunem didn’t  stop there, she pressed even further, “And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.”

HER OFFERING INCREASED AS SHE DESIRED TO MAKE THE MAN OF GOD MORE COMFORTABLE! SHE EVEN WENT TO A DECORATIVE TOUCH BEYOND THE NECESSARY! SHE WANTED TO BE CLOSE TO THE SOURCE OF DIRECTION!

Her reward came in the form of a son. God blessed her womb at the command of the Prophet and she received what she could not produce on her own. But even though her heart was right and she had received a son from God, trouble found her in 2 Kings 4:19-20, “And he said unto his father, My head, my head. And he said to a lad, Carry him to his mother. And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died.”

SHE HAD DONE NOTHING BUT OBEYED THE DIRECTION OF GOD IN HER LIFE. SHE DIDN’T DESERVE THIS!  WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOUR ONLY FAILURE IS THAT YOU HAVE OBEYED EVERYTHING GOD PUT IN YOUR HEART TO DO?Watch closely what she does in 2 Kings 4:21, “…she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him…” What she thought was just a room for the Prophet now became a resurrection chamber for her son. She laid the harvest she received in the seed she had sown and went to find the Prophet. You know the story; God restored her son to her. All that you have lost through obedience will be returned to you! Listen to the words of Jesus in Matthew 19:29, “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.”YOUR OBEDIENCE WILL BECOME THE SEED THAT YOUR RESTORATION GROWS OUT OF. GOD HAS PROMISED THAT SEED TIME AND HARVEST WILL NOT FAIL AS LONG AS THE EARTYH EXISTS. THERE IS A PROGRESSIVE GROWTH OF OBEDIENCE IN YOUR LIFE THAT WILL NOT ONLY SUSTAIN YOU, IT WILL RESTORE YOU IF YOU SUFFER LOSS BECAUSE OF IT!

Watch how this restoration continues to follow the Shunemite woman in 2 Kings 8:1-6, “Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the LORD hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.” It sounds like she has been asked to leave everything and start over in a strange place. It appears for her to continue to walk in obedience she will have to forsake everything, even the Prophets quarters!

Read on with me, “And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. And it came to pass at the seven years’ end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land.”

THERE IS A CRY FOR JUSTICE THAT IS UNDENIABLE WHEN YOU HAVE OBEYED  WHAT GOD HAS INSTRUCTED YOU TO DO! GOD WILL RESTORE! HE WILL NOT SUFFER HIS FAITHFULNESS TO FAIL! WATCH HOW GOD BRINGS IT ALL BACK AROUND FOR THE GREAT SHUNEMITE WOMAN, “And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done. And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life. And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.”

The word restore in this passage is the Hebrew Word “Shuwb” which means to put it back. It is a verb or action word.  YOU NEED TO CRY BEFORE YOUR KING FOR THE RESTORATION OF ALL THAT YOU HAVE LOST IN YOUR PATH OF OBEDIENCE. GOD IS ACTIVELY MOVING TO BRING BACK EVERYTHING YOUR OBEDIENCE COST YOU!

Read your promises from Deuteronomy 6:1-11 aloud, “Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full…”

WHEN OBEDEINCE COST YOU EVERYTHING GOD WILL NOT BE MOCKED! HE WILL RESTORE ALL THAT YOU HAVE LOST AND WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN PRODUCED DURING THE SEASON OF YOUR LOSS!

February 28, 2008

This morning I want to let you in on a little known secret. Well maybe it’s not that well hidden. Maybe it is just that most people in religious circles don’t really want to acknowledge it openly. It is found in Romans 5:19, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” We love the second part about getting a pass to righteousness by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, but we like to hurry past the first section that settles the whole sin issue once and for all. You were born a sinner! Psalm 51:5 makes this fact clear, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” There is no way around it! You were born in sin, and thanks to Adam and Eve, you inherited a fallen nature in need of restoration.

You need to be restored. Ephesians 2 show us what we were, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience…” Thank God you and I were given the second part of Romans 5:19, but it is our complete understanding of the first part that releases the power of the cross to us.  We can fully embrace and appreciate the freedom from sin the cross offers us by realizing how doomed we are as human beings without it.   I am going to try and keep this short but let’s dig a little deeper for a moment.

2 Corinthians 10:6 gives us a very interesting command, “And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” The word revenge in this text comes from a Greek Word “Ekdikeo”. It means to vindicate one’s right; to clear, as from an accusation, imputation, suspicion, or the like. What we are actually being commanded to do is demand a total restoration of ourselves to the original intent and design for which we were created. You and I actually seek revenge on the disobedient nature we were born into to by receiving the revelation of the cross, and Jesus’ sacrifice. You and I are commanded to be restored from the fallen nature of disobedience that brought sin and death to us all. We are further commanded in Galatians 6:1 to spread that restoration, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”

There is an amazing prophetic promise found in Joel 2:23-27 regarding restoration, “Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately…” Up until now your experiences with God have been limited to your personal capacity. You have had a moderate flow of revelation, but you are getting ready to receive a downpour of power and purpose in a greater flow of revelation that you have ever even imagined.

Let’s read on, “…and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month…” YOUR RESTORATION FROM DISOBEDIENCE IS GOING TO BE MORE THAN YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD HANDLE! YOU’RE GETTING WHAT WAS, AND WHAT IS GOING TO BE ALL AT ONE TIME!

“ …And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil…”YOUR RESTORATION FROM DISOBEDIENCE WILL BE AN OVERFLOWING MIRACLE!

“…And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you…” The word restore in this text comes from the Hebrew word “Shalam”. The word literally means a Covenant of Peace, and it is a verb or action word which denotes that God is the one who is doing something for you. He is the restorer!

GOD WILL REPLACE YEARS OF STRIFE AND AGONY WITH A COVENANT OF PEACE! THE FRUIT DESTROYERS HAVE NOT REMOVED THE ROOT ABILITY YOU HAVE TO LIVE IN PEACE AND PLENTY!

“…And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.”YOUR SHAME WILL BE REPLACED WITH PRESTIGE FROM MAN AND PRAISE TO GOD!

Today is your appointment with revelation. You are free from the Law of Sin and Death. Shed that cloak of failure right now and walk out into a world God created for you with dominion. Power and purpose!

February 27, 2008

It is incredible how vastly different the climate of life can change in the course of twenty-four hours. Jesus said that each day was sufficient unto itself. What I get from that is this; every day is a unit that is to be lived and experienced, then tucked gently away each night and left somewhere in the land of night dreams and the subconscious to be logged as another example of grace and mercy. The Bible tells us that God’s mercy is new every morning. If God starts over with the mercy you and I will need to get through each new day, maybe we should follow His example and do the same.

I have had people tell me that approaching life in that manner is to simplistic and naïve. Maybe. Or maybe the hussle and bussle of frantically attempting to make every one happy, meet all the expectations, and juggle all of the tasks you have defined as crucial, maybe that’s too complex. I think it would be best to take another lesson from God; have an eternal plan with one-day-at-a-time application.

For instance, today I woke up to fifty degrees and overcast skies. Two hours and eight hundred miles later I stepped out into eighty degrees and sunshine. By the time another four hours had passed I was in the middle of tornados and seventy mile per hour winds. After a delayed flight, another four hours and another eight hundred miles I was in twenty degree weather and a snow covered landscape. Wow! See what I mean? In the course of a single day you can experience so many changes. By the way, how are you doing with the changes in your life?

One of the most common phrases of the New Testament is, “and it came to pass.” How do you handle living in a constant state of passage? Change is the most constant thing we will experience. If you resist change you create a negative tension that holds your life in a suppressed state. Every person who excels in life learns to accept change as the passage from glory to glory, and from faith to faith. When my middle child Tyler was an elementary student he struggled with change. He had to have the same bowl and spoon for his cereal every morning. He had to sit in the same seat at the table while he ate the cereal. He had to have his routine, his way. How are you doing with making room for change in your live to be welcomed instead of feared.

You are changing. Your world is changing. Everything is changing except the one thing that cannot change-Jesus Christ!

February 26, 2008

Is honesty something we extend exclusively to others, or does it apply to each of us individually and personally? I read a statement years ago that posed the question, “Can a person really be trustworthy if they are not true to themselves?” I don’t remember who said it, but it has stuck with me through the years and the question became a part of my decision making process. Let’s go a little deeper here now that I’ve got you thinking. Who are you are at the core of your being? What are your foundational values as a person? What do you really believe about life, people, and even God for that matter? Until you know who you are and what you believe, how could you possibly be true to yourself?

I have had a workshop going in my own home for over twenty-two years. The purpose of the lab was unknown to me in the beginning. The day it started, without my specific consent, I was informed by someone else that I had to administrate the process. I entered it unprepared and uncommitted. No one briefed me on the scope of the project. The workshop expanded to three times the original size and the cost associated with managing it were astronomical! Most days I felt overwhelmed, understaffed, and completely helpless with the day to day production. But the one thing I was forced to accomplish was to find out who I am, and what I believe. That workshop was my three beautiful children who have taught me more about life than anything else in this world.

This past year I reached the “half-way to ninety” point of my life. Maybe I am just a slow learner, but I have finally been able to identify my core being, and quantify the level of honesty I am offering myself on a day-today basis.  As a Pastor, the most significant source of frustration I see people struggle with is found in not being able to identify who they are and what they believe. Let me just ask you now, “Who are you?”  Not what you do! Not what you have accomplished! Not even what you are expected to be by others! Who are you? What is at the core of your being? What do you live for? What would you die for? Today I want to help you recognize what that nagging emptiness within you is.

You were created a living soul and your soul is crying out for access into your world. Your soul does not have an ego. It is not screaming for release to take over your comfortable life with wild and totally outlandish expectations. Your soul continues to call you to who you truly are. You are not what yo u do. You are something far more complex than you may have previously understood. You are the workmanship of God. He designed you for an earthly purpose with eternal values.  You will never be true to yourself until you can be honest about how incomplete you are. It is the areas of your life which are incomplete that require the most attention from your subconscious. The depth of who you are can only be ignored with activity and function that dominate your mental processes. You must stay extremely busy to consistently disregard the cry of your soul.  But even then, eventually you will answer the call of your soul, or disassociate yourself with that inner reality through illicit substances or actions. We have clever words for this process in our society; breakdown; addiction; disorder; dysfunction; the list is growing daily.

Over the past few months I have been attempting to pay close attention to conversations and dialogue between myself and others, and even third party exchanges that I listen to. I wanted to observe a pattern I began to notice. People are not listening to each other; they are simply recycling their personal rhetoric in a mindless rote. It is absolutely alarming the tremendous percentage of the people in those discussions who are not actually listening to the other person when that person speaks. They actually use the pause in their own voice to load the next file of stored opinions, or what they will say next-not to hear the other dialogue. I believe this is a symptom of the skill we have acquired through modern media to carry on multiple exchanges without ever answering the voice of our spirit within. Eventually, your soul will demand to be heard. Even if that appointment requires the cancelling of all other associations in our lives, each of us has a destined date with the soul within us.  Because your soul is the breath of God, your spirit will inhale and exhale the divine possibility you were created to be, regardless of the controls and restraints we have become so adept at administering.

I want to challenge you today to do something completely unexplainable. Just stop. Don’t ask why, or for what reason, or for how long, just stop. Where ever you are right now at this exact moment, simply let all of the gears that turn your mechanized world and systems of acceptance grind to a halt. Take a deep breath. Spiritually inhale and exhale. Listen. Can you hear it? It is the voice of your Creator within you softly speaking your name. Keep listening. Listen to how your name is being said. What is that longing so sadly resident in that voice that is whispering your name? It is the desire to be answered. Answer the voice of God speaking from within you now by calmly saying, “Yes!” The affirmation you just spoke was not for approval or acceptance. You just said “yes” to what God created you to be. You have just touched the core of who you are. Honestly, that’s who you are; an amazing, wonderful, powerful life force displayed for God’s glory and anointed with Kingdom purpose.

Make a note of these miracles that have already begun to work in your life and be aware as they unfold daily before you. From this point forward you will begin to see a realignment of the world around you as parallel destinies that have been unable to reach you, converge with your core being. Depression will no longer have the ability to suppress the voice of the spirit you have identified. Physical manifestations of spiritual deficits will begin to diminish as you grow into your true self. Divine Order will become more and more visible to you each time you acknowledge the voice of the spirit within you. You will never be the same.

Don’t look back. There is nothing back there but questions; questions that have no answers; faceless people who hurt us, or were victims of our process. It is unfortunate that the by-product of our human search is carnage and causality. The wages of sin have always been death. But you are moving from death to life. Everything you are to be is before you. Get in the habit of stopping and listening. The real world is waiting for you to be honest with yourself. The real world, the world of the spirit. The world where you know, as you are known. Listen. There is a deep call coming to you today, simply say yes.

February 25, 2008

Revelation 12:10 makes an astonishing statement regarding Satan and what he is; “…the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.” There has never been a time in human history before now when accusations, innuendos and conjecture were the first source of accepted truth. Speculation is acknowledged as the first option for discovery. The Pharisees used false accusations in an attempt to trap Jesus, “…looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” (Matthew 12:10 NIV) There is only one place for accusations to come from. We read the origin in Revelations 12:10. Satan is the accuser of the brethren.

 

Jesus made the position of the Pharisees very plain in John 8:44, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”  When you accuse someone of something you are joining yourself to the father of lies. God did not appoint you to be an accuser. God called you to bear the burdens of the weak.

 

You should expect to suffer accusations in this life. People will attack you when you excel. Prosperity produces it own brand of suffering at the hands of people who feel entitled to what you have without paying the personal price of work and patience to have it. Even in the realms of Christianity, leaders will be targeted for accusations. Acts 23:12 reveals what Paul endured, “The next morning the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.” Conspiracy is to accusation, what gasoline is to fire. Every evil falsehood needs an accelerant to spread. Be careful that you do not get caught up in being God’s police force to take down those who are doing wrong. Are you greater than God? Should you really assume that you could step into a divine role as judge and executioner?

 

Each of us has an obligation according to 1 Peter 2:12 that we,  “Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” But even in doing so we are not exempt from the accusation of the jealous. Nor are we free from the unwarranted scrutiny of a tainted personal perspective. It’s called perspective because it your view of what is seen. Our perspective is filtered through our memory of past experiences to form an opinion. Once we form an opinion we then make a value judgment, followed by a criteria of acceptance that we measure relationships with. Finally, we open our mouth to apply the accelerant that commences the process of character assassination; we make the accusation!

 

I can hear you screaming at the monitor, “But what if it’s true?” Okay, what did Jesus do with the woman caught in the very act of adultery? John 8:7 gives us His response, “…He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” What? She is guilty-this is no accusation. Jesus said He did not come to condemn the world, but to give it life. Are you speaking life or death over someone today by the accusations that are coming from you?  John 8:10-11 takes the whole scenario even further, “When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” So now, lets go back to your question, “What if it’s true?” Even then you have the power to choose freedom and life over someone rather than punishment and death. You can stone them if you want to but remember the requirement that has to be met; “he that is without sin must cast the first stone.”

 

Proverbs 17:5 shocks us into examining our attitudes about accusing others, true or false, by stating, “and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.” Isaiah 5:20 warns us to be careful with the accusations by declaring, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Remember this; accusations are the tool of equalization used by those who suffer with an inferior self-image or a spirit of entitlement. Sometimes when you isolate yourself from evildoers the result will be accusations, according to 1 Peter 4:4, “Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you.”

 

Matthew 5:10-12 gives you this promise, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”

February 24, 2008

Today was an amazing day to discover the greatness of God. In particular, His ability to complete us with every good work He has ordained for our lives. My spirit is stirred today about restoration. God has the power to restore our lives to the original intent for which He created us.I was moved today with the Biblical account of King David desiring to bless the house of Saul. Saul had made it his mission to destroy David out of jealousy, and the harsh reality that God had rejected Saul. In spite of how much personal agony David had lived at the hand of Saul, he still longed to bless his descendants. After the search was over, Mephibosheth was located. Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan, and the grandson of Saul. Mephibosheth was a cripple. When the news of Saul and Jonathan’s death had reached the royal palace during his childhood, Mephibosheth’s baby sitter fled the house with him and fell in the process, leaving Mephibosheth paralyzed from the waist down. 2 Samuel 9:7 relays the blessings David bestowed upon him, “I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.” What struck me about this generous display of restoration was the bitter sweet fact that it was going to be incomplete. Mephibosheth was still going to be a cripple.

Is it possible for you to be alive, but functioning at a capacity far less than you were created for? In John 10:10 Jesus tells us, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Why is it that after we know the truth that sets us free, we are so easily ensnared again unto bondage? Galatians 5:1 commands us to, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” There is even the dire effect of 2 Peter 2:20 we must contend with when considering how easily we are moved from freedom back into bondage, “ For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.” Break the cycle of returning to the acquaintance of your past bondage.

You were created to be complete in Jesus Christ.Accepting partial restoration is the myth that you should be satisfied with where you are, instead of being made whole. John 11:38-40 reveals the story of Lazarus death, and Jesus’ actions surrounding it, “Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” God has the power to remove the stone and yet He asks someone else to do it. Why? Because we have a spiritual obligation to not seal as finished the events of our live until God says it is over! When it is time for you to have closure there will be a sense of completeness and an awareness of being whole. Until then, remove the barriers and open the passages of what you have buried as being dead! Until the, “Roll the stone away!”

You and I must stop relegating God to our human understanding to make Him more palatable! Romans 1:18-23 gives us this reality check, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man.” The effects of this has caused Spirits of Infirmity to be released, and to take hold of our land and plague us with illnesses that have no physical reasoning’s for their torment! I came across two startling statistics to support this: “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, was released in 1952, and had about 106 different mental disorders. It has since gone through 5 revisions and now has about 375.” “In 1999 the World Health Organization ranked depression as the world’s fourth most devastating illness, projecting that it would climb to second place by 2020”

Luke 13: 10-13 gives a perfect illustration for the modern dillemna we face with mental illness that are the result of a spiritual issue, “Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.” Your mental health is directly correlated to the condition of your spiritual wholeness! You are not crazy-you are bound! I speak freedom over your life today that every Spirit of Infirmity release its hold on your life in Jesus Name! Disclaimer: Some mental illnesses are pysically related and require proper medical treatment. For those we offer the added support of prayer to the physician’s treatment decisions.

You are being called to rise up out of your incomplete life and embrace a healing wholeness that only God can give you! Luke 7:14 shows God’s ability to alter what looks like a finished scenario, “Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” It is not over until Jesus has made you complete. After the young man was commanded to get up, Jesus told those who had been carrying the boy, “Take him to his Mother.” The young man was resurrected, but his Mother was made complete!God is calling you today to come out of the tomb you have enshrined your hopes and dreams in. He is speaking release into your life to enact wholeness in you. John 11:43 shows the power of Jesus to call you forth, “Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” Hear the voice of the Spirit today! You are being summoned out of death into life more abundantly!

Your resurrection is at hand. You are being called to step out of darkness into His marvelous light!I want to ask you a piercing question, “How long do you intend to live in a state of partial restoration?” Break all the way free right now in Jesus Name! John 11:44 paints the scene of so many lives today, “And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.” Yes you are saved! Yes you have been brought back from death! Yes you have experienced resurrection! But are you free? Lazarus hobbles out of the graver at Jesus’ command, resurrected but restricted! Born again but bound! Saved but suffering! I hear the words of Jesus being spoken over the incomplete restoration your life represents, “Loose him and let him go!” This is your day to shed the stench of death from your life. This is your day to move out of the tomb, and leave the community of death behind! This is your moment for complete wholeness and total restoration! I am standing with you today for a finished work in your life!

February 23, 2008

It’s Saturday morning and this is what I know right now in the early morning fog that surrounds my first waking moments. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” (Hebrews 13: So, even though it will be thirty minutes before I have complete functionality of my cognitive motor skills, Jesus is here now and He will be there when I get it all moving in one direction! Here’s the question that arises out of all of this deep contemplation, “How did God hold it all together last night while I slept?”

I mean really, after all, I am so completely in control of every aspect of my life that I was wondering if I should forgo sleep in an effort to be sure God won’t be over worked through the night shift? Sounds crazy doesn’t it? Believe me, it is just as crazy to try and usurp that kind of control during the waking hours also! Whether we believe it or not, God is going to do just fine as God. He has eternity to prove that He can handle it! In fact God declares His ability Himself in Isaiah 46:9-10, “Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.”

This weekend why not give yourself a break and let God run everything out of the sovereignty of His will and purpose for a couple of days, or how about the rest of your life. 2 Timothy 1:12 is our declaration for today, “for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”

Blessings and peace be upon you. Be sure you are in a Spirit-filled, Bible believing Church this weekend. You can see my sermon live this Sunday at 10:30 AM by visiting our website at http://www.communitylifefellowship.org.

February 20, 2008

Today I begin my second twenty-one day fast of this New Year. Over the next three weeks I will be chronicling this journey on a daily basis here in my blog. My purpose in telling you of my fast is to give you a context for the writing that will appear here. At the beginning of the year over one hundred people joined me in a similar fast and we are seeing the results of that consecrated time of sacrifice. A group of about forty people have committed to fast the first seven days of each month with me beginning on the first Sunday of the month. Fasting is one of the most powerful ways to break negative life cycles and realign to God’s purpose for our lives.

I am fasting to increase my capacity for spiritual revelation. I am fasting to deny my flesh the carcinogens it craves from a diet of processed foods. I am fasting to clear my mind of the clutter that forms when the swift pace of everyday life leaves a trail of carnage in unfinished ideas and projects that taunt me to accept mediocrity. I am fasting to diminish the voices of secular humanism that scream for access to my belief system, so they may inject the godless rhetoric of a nation that is rapidly forgetting God. I am fasting to present my body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, because this is my reasonable service. I am fasting because I cannot lead the people I pastor somewhere I am not willing to go.

The command of Jesus in Matthew 16:24 is pounding in my spirit, “…If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” In these nineteen words there are four distinct areas that we must deal with to truly become the Disciples of Christ. Today I want to examine these four areas in my own heart, and as I do maybe you can find some similar places in your own life for spiritual growth.

Jesus left the power of choice completely up to you and I when He said, “If any man will come after me.” What are we pursuing with the twenty-four hour segments we are given each day? Each day I wake up with a driving urgency in my spirit to personally engage the spirit realm and be led of God to do His will on this earth. Matthew 7:7-8 gives us the daily key to access the Divine, and implement the protocols of God’s Kingdom upon the earth, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.” The power of choice we have is one of the most awesome tools God has given us. We can choose the truth of spiritual satisfaction in the patter of Psalm 42:1, “As the hart pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after you, O God.”

When we read the words of Jesus, “let him deny himself,” they are much easier to accept if we can point them at someone other than ourselves. But the reality regarding self-denial is found in the fact that only you can deny yourself! John the Baptist came preaching a two part message in John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Jesus himself proclaimed this message in Mark 10:44, “And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.” The word “deny” in this text comes from the Greek word, Aparneomai, which means: to forget one’s self, lose sight of one’s self and one’s own interests. How long has it been since we really lost sight of our own interests to see the desires of God!

We don’t hear much any more in modern Christianity about taking up an individual cross, and bearing it for the Lord Jesus Christ. Have we come so far from Golgotha, the place where Jesus was crucified, that we can no longer associate the suffering and bearing of the cross with the Christian lifestyle we embrace? Without the cross we have no connection to approach a Holy God who must punish the sinful. The cross is our symbol of access to the freedom Jesus died to give us. Bearing the cross of Christ is the act of physically correlating our daily lives in fellowship with the suffering of Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:18 reveals to us the advantage of the cross, “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” We must take up the cross God has given us to bear if we are to truly know Him in the power of His resurrection.

The final separation of service to God in Matthew 16:24 leaves no room for doubt, “…If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Ephesians 5:1-2 commands us, “Be therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. We have an obligation to do more than just hear what God desires of our lives. James 1:22 encourages us to escape deception by being, “…doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” Make up your mind to follow Christ today with reckless abandon. What have you go to lose, your life? Jesus already covered that in Matthew 16:25, “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”

There is a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit waiting for you when you, come after Jesus, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Christ. What are we waiting for?