Often we hear that Christianity is many things and it is tied to many people. When we think of who is representative of the Christian faith, Protestants will point to Billy Graham; Catholics to the Pope.
If asked to describe a Christian or the Church, a non-believer is likely to use words like, 'judgmental,' 'hypocritical,' 'political,' and even 'self-righteous.'
In fact, there is only one person with whom the Christian faith is defined within - Jesus Christ.
Scripture: Heb 12:2
"...Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;"
What this tells us is that whatever else people may identify with the Christian faith, there is no escaping that Christianity is in Jesus. It was not founded by a well-meaning guru. Christianity is defined in Jesus as the followers of Himself.
With that said, faith is the key to the life a Christian leads.
Without faith, the Bible tells us that it is impossible to please God - and this is true. But there is more to it on a more practical approach.
Without faith, there would be no approaching God for salvation - for, we would not believe God existed.
Without faith, there would be no forgiveness, no deliverance, no salvation, no communion with God and certainly no spiritual life at all in any way.
There may be a formality, there may be a ritual without faith; but there would not be a relationship with God Himself without faith.
Faith is very simple; yet, it is very difficult to define.
There is only one place in the entire Bible where faith is defined - Hebrews 11:1. It says:
'Now faith is the assurance of things hope for, the conviction of things not seen.'
That is the brief definition and this definition is more of a functional statement more than a practical way of life lived before God. It speaks of the operation of faith; not what faith is in its essence.
Faith is a very abstract idea; so, the writers of the Bible will describe faith, talk of faith, direct us to faith - but when it gets to the point of defining faith, instead of a definition, the Bible will point us to a great man or woman of God.
This is something I can understand because in trying to describe/discuss faith, I have found I would rather exercise faith than try to define it. It is much easier to show someone a picture of the Grand Canyon than it is to describe its vastness - and so it is with faith.
When I was very sick and dying, I never lost faith in God and I never doubted what He could do. Whether or not God would, should or should not heal me, that wasn't my call and I didn't worry about it.
As things unfold in my life, things I cannot control; I don't really worry about it, not because I don't care about it but rather, it is because in faith I have found rest in His peaceful presence.
You see, faith is the least self-regarding of any virtue we may have. Faith does not see itself, but rather the object upon which it is fixed.
By it's nature, faith should be barely conscious of its own existence; similar to a human eye. Our eye does not see itself, but it is filled with whatever it gazes upon. In doing so, the one with faith pays no attention to himself.
Faith looks out, not inward. Faith lives because faith is alive.
And it is alive because it is found only in a Living God.
There are several great things about faith in God through Jesus Christ.
The first is the faithful themselves.
If you have never read Hebrews 11, I would invite you to do so because the cast of characters are more likely to fit a list of men and women at the county jail. You have murderers, adulterers, men who turned their backs on God and women who gave themselves to every man who asked.
Of the faithful in the Bible - their sins are never covered up and God never white-washed what they did; and still, God saved them for Himself and loved them just as He loves you and I and all who will come to Him in the simplicity of faith.
The second thing I love about the faith in God through Christ is what it is dependent on.
God never, not once, made salvation dependent on anything but Himself.
God never saved people because of a new moon, a holy day or a Sabbath. He still doesn't.
The Christian is not closer to Christ on Easter than any other day; no, we are in Christ by faith every day equally because His presence is everywhere equally.
Jesus Christ sits on the throne of our hearts on all days at all times.
Contrary to popular belief, the Christian faith is not dependent on the Christian. The Christian faith is dependent on Christ.
If my faith was dependent on me, it would fail; but my faith will never fail because its fulfillment is in Jesus alone.
The final thing I absolutely love about the faith we have in God through Christ is the Body.
In the New Testament, Christians are called 'the body of Christ.' We are instructed that every person within the Body has a different purpose and a different ministry. And when all are functioning within the Body as we are supposed to in the will of God - an amazing thing happens.
That amazing thing is called Unity.
If you have 100 pianos all tuned to the same tuning fork, it would mean those 100 pianos are also tuned perfectly with one another. When the Body of Christ is in tune individually with the Holy Spirit, we are also in tune with one another.
It's an amazing thing about having faith; we are all different and yet we are one because of the power of the Holy Spirit and the Lordship of Christ.
And as the Body is stronger in Christ, the members are healthier within the Church we serve.
Take my advice, never over complicate faith in the Lord; life is too short for that - just rest in Him and find His peace. It's not complicated, it is simple; believe, trust, obey.
Until next time, go win one for the good guys.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Saturday, April 20, 2013
The Unchanging Presence of God
The Greatest Truth of the Ages - God never changes; He is Immutable.
And this may be the most difficult thing for us to understand because humans are in a constant cycle of change throughout our lives.
In the weeks and months since my healing, I have struggled with many issues.
I have joked about the fact when a person is dying, people are much nicer and friendlier toward them. Well, the friendliness and niceties have pretty much ceased and an unfortunate thing has happened - life returned to normal.
Another issue I have had is that when I woke up and knew that I had been healed and would live for many more years - I awoke with a new vigor, a renewed sense of purpose; a reignited fire for God.
Sadly, not everyone shares my enthusiasm; in fact, the once raging fire is becoming smoldering embers very quickly.
It is as if - 'Well, its over now so we can all go back to living and doing what we were doing before.'
And if this is the case, the entire purpose behind the healing hand of God is gone and forgotten. It breaks a grown man's heart to think that a spiritual experience with God by so many has been ended because the goal has been achieved.
Maybe I should feel lucky and blessed; most stop growing in their experience with the Lord immediately after the day they're baptized.
God's work in redemption and in physical healing is to simply undo what man has done. If He chooses to redeem or to heal and restore anew - a person must ask what the purpose behind such an event is from God's perspective.
I have seen and read books about healing, books about salvation, books about preaching, books about the Bible, books about God, books about Christianity and books about every moral/ethical issue that exists - all from the 'Christian' perspective.
And I have come to one conclusion about it all - We have too many scribes.
Yes, we have too many people writing about experience and knowledge of God and not enough people teaching what it means to have an experience with God and experiencing God themselves. Very few have heard of the truisms of saints of old, such as the explanatory purpose of our existence from Augustine of Hippo:
'Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.'
That's right - God has formed us for Himself, for His pleasure, for His usage and for His service among His Body in His Creation.
In the modern church today, many have claimed to have knowledge of God, but His presence is lacking from their lives. God's presence in our lives is not a mystical, emotional feeling. God's presence is a conscious experience which occurs through the power of the Holy Spirit and the Truth of His Holy Word.
And the truth is that our world is perishing while the Church is famished for want of His presence.
No, today we survive on junk food in the Body of Christ.
We make meals on the sugar highs of want 'feels good' to our senses or desires; moving from fad to fad, like drunks in a fog not knowing where we are going next.
We feast on the overloaded carbohydrates of 'programs' which make our church pews swell like our mid-section, but does little to nourish the spirit.
We dine at the table of greed - constantly wanting more and more; while we are gluttonous for things, objects and image - we have very little to show for what Christ has already given us.
Yes, today we are perishing, starving to death because we do not have the Bread of Life in our presence and we are dying for our lack of knowledge of God.
One of the greatest images from the Old Testament with implications toward the New Testament and Christ is the fact that God was behind a veil in the Temple. When Christ died, the curtain which separated the Most Holy Place from the rest of the Temple, split from top to bottom.
This was a sign from God that the His presence was now open to all people who would come to Him by faith in His Son.
Despite this fact, a tragedy of the modern church is that we have covered God again, placing Him behind a veil and keeping Him hidden.
Whether by legalism or by stupidity and ignorance; to many who claim Jesus as their Savior, He is a hidden, not a revealed, Lord.
No longer do we hear sermons about the doctrine of suffering, or teachings on humility.
Instead, we let self-righteousness be promoted, while self-sufficiency is glorified as faith.
We see an overwhelming measure of self-confidence and self-love all too common in the spirit and actions of church and denominational leaders.
These things are generally promoted under the guise of presenting Christ as a 'regular guy.'
And it has become so common to become involved in such sacrilege, no one notices because many have never really seen a person with or had themselves an experience with the Living God.
I pray as you read these words, from wherever in the world you may be, you do not see this through anger or despair, but as a call to a return to the holiness and passion for our Living Lord.
What has happened in our age is that we have neglected righteousness in Christ, we have ignored His deliverance and have opted to veil the real for what is only real in the moment.
This veil can only be removed by a spiritual experience with God.
Friend, there are many today who say morality changes and that we shouldn't 'judge' those who believe differently even if they are trying to destroy the Christian faith - but I beg to differ. Recently, I lost a friend over the false issue of 'Marriage Equality,' being told that this person just knew it was right because it felt right.
It didn't matter what God had said in His Word, only a personal thought by a human mattered as to the authority of the issue.
We are either with the Lord or we stand opposed to the Lord; there can be no gray areas or questionable morality/integrity in the Kingdom.
Yet, our self-righteousness is but one veil which hides the living God, His eternal moral Law and His Son from our presence.
You see, God is immutable - He never changes.
To change a person would need to go from better to worse OR from worse to better. God cannot do either of these because He is PERFECT in every way.
If it would be possible for God to change, He would be less than God. In fact, He would be no better than humanity who is constantly changing.
Therefore, if God does not change, neither can His Word - for it too is eternal.
Regardless of what our personal issue is in our lives - homosexual issues, divorce, stifled faith, hypocritical challenges toward you, gossip or something much worse - there is only way to remove these veils that cover God from your life.
That One way is to have a personal, real, true experience with Christ; it has always been this way.
What split the veil of the Temple so many years ago is the same thing that must be used to split the veils that cover God in our lives and allow sin and ourselves to rule. It is the power of Christ's death and also His resurrecting power.
Without Question - the Cross is as rough as it is deadly; but the Cross is also effective in what it does. To have an experience with Christ, we must go to the Cross and at the Cross someone must die. In effect, we must die daily, giving over the worst of who we are and allowing Him to come to life within us.
This is possible because on the Cross, the victim doesn't stay there forever.
There is a time, a time after death when a resurrection must take place; and when it does, the pain is forgotten of losing what we once were and is replaced by an unspeakable joy.
Remember, the cure to any spiritual problem is a true experience with the Lord Jesus Christ who lives within us; He is immutable but He will change your life if you let Him.
Until next time, try to win one for the good guys.
And this may be the most difficult thing for us to understand because humans are in a constant cycle of change throughout our lives.
In the weeks and months since my healing, I have struggled with many issues.
I have joked about the fact when a person is dying, people are much nicer and friendlier toward them. Well, the friendliness and niceties have pretty much ceased and an unfortunate thing has happened - life returned to normal.
Another issue I have had is that when I woke up and knew that I had been healed and would live for many more years - I awoke with a new vigor, a renewed sense of purpose; a reignited fire for God.
Sadly, not everyone shares my enthusiasm; in fact, the once raging fire is becoming smoldering embers very quickly.
It is as if - 'Well, its over now so we can all go back to living and doing what we were doing before.'
And if this is the case, the entire purpose behind the healing hand of God is gone and forgotten. It breaks a grown man's heart to think that a spiritual experience with God by so many has been ended because the goal has been achieved.
Maybe I should feel lucky and blessed; most stop growing in their experience with the Lord immediately after the day they're baptized.
God's work in redemption and in physical healing is to simply undo what man has done. If He chooses to redeem or to heal and restore anew - a person must ask what the purpose behind such an event is from God's perspective.
I have seen and read books about healing, books about salvation, books about preaching, books about the Bible, books about God, books about Christianity and books about every moral/ethical issue that exists - all from the 'Christian' perspective.
And I have come to one conclusion about it all - We have too many scribes.
Yes, we have too many people writing about experience and knowledge of God and not enough people teaching what it means to have an experience with God and experiencing God themselves. Very few have heard of the truisms of saints of old, such as the explanatory purpose of our existence from Augustine of Hippo:
'Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.'
That's right - God has formed us for Himself, for His pleasure, for His usage and for His service among His Body in His Creation.
In the modern church today, many have claimed to have knowledge of God, but His presence is lacking from their lives. God's presence in our lives is not a mystical, emotional feeling. God's presence is a conscious experience which occurs through the power of the Holy Spirit and the Truth of His Holy Word.
And the truth is that our world is perishing while the Church is famished for want of His presence.
No, today we survive on junk food in the Body of Christ.
We make meals on the sugar highs of want 'feels good' to our senses or desires; moving from fad to fad, like drunks in a fog not knowing where we are going next.
We feast on the overloaded carbohydrates of 'programs' which make our church pews swell like our mid-section, but does little to nourish the spirit.
We dine at the table of greed - constantly wanting more and more; while we are gluttonous for things, objects and image - we have very little to show for what Christ has already given us.
Yes, today we are perishing, starving to death because we do not have the Bread of Life in our presence and we are dying for our lack of knowledge of God.
One of the greatest images from the Old Testament with implications toward the New Testament and Christ is the fact that God was behind a veil in the Temple. When Christ died, the curtain which separated the Most Holy Place from the rest of the Temple, split from top to bottom.
This was a sign from God that the His presence was now open to all people who would come to Him by faith in His Son.
Despite this fact, a tragedy of the modern church is that we have covered God again, placing Him behind a veil and keeping Him hidden.
Whether by legalism or by stupidity and ignorance; to many who claim Jesus as their Savior, He is a hidden, not a revealed, Lord.
No longer do we hear sermons about the doctrine of suffering, or teachings on humility.
Instead, we let self-righteousness be promoted, while self-sufficiency is glorified as faith.
We see an overwhelming measure of self-confidence and self-love all too common in the spirit and actions of church and denominational leaders.
These things are generally promoted under the guise of presenting Christ as a 'regular guy.'
And it has become so common to become involved in such sacrilege, no one notices because many have never really seen a person with or had themselves an experience with the Living God.
I pray as you read these words, from wherever in the world you may be, you do not see this through anger or despair, but as a call to a return to the holiness and passion for our Living Lord.
What has happened in our age is that we have neglected righteousness in Christ, we have ignored His deliverance and have opted to veil the real for what is only real in the moment.
This veil can only be removed by a spiritual experience with God.
Friend, there are many today who say morality changes and that we shouldn't 'judge' those who believe differently even if they are trying to destroy the Christian faith - but I beg to differ. Recently, I lost a friend over the false issue of 'Marriage Equality,' being told that this person just knew it was right because it felt right.
It didn't matter what God had said in His Word, only a personal thought by a human mattered as to the authority of the issue.
We are either with the Lord or we stand opposed to the Lord; there can be no gray areas or questionable morality/integrity in the Kingdom.
Yet, our self-righteousness is but one veil which hides the living God, His eternal moral Law and His Son from our presence.
You see, God is immutable - He never changes.
To change a person would need to go from better to worse OR from worse to better. God cannot do either of these because He is PERFECT in every way.
If it would be possible for God to change, He would be less than God. In fact, He would be no better than humanity who is constantly changing.
Therefore, if God does not change, neither can His Word - for it too is eternal.
Regardless of what our personal issue is in our lives - homosexual issues, divorce, stifled faith, hypocritical challenges toward you, gossip or something much worse - there is only way to remove these veils that cover God from your life.
That One way is to have a personal, real, true experience with Christ; it has always been this way.
What split the veil of the Temple so many years ago is the same thing that must be used to split the veils that cover God in our lives and allow sin and ourselves to rule. It is the power of Christ's death and also His resurrecting power.
Without Question - the Cross is as rough as it is deadly; but the Cross is also effective in what it does. To have an experience with Christ, we must go to the Cross and at the Cross someone must die. In effect, we must die daily, giving over the worst of who we are and allowing Him to come to life within us.
This is possible because on the Cross, the victim doesn't stay there forever.
There is a time, a time after death when a resurrection must take place; and when it does, the pain is forgotten of losing what we once were and is replaced by an unspeakable joy.
Remember, the cure to any spiritual problem is a true experience with the Lord Jesus Christ who lives within us; He is immutable but He will change your life if you let Him.
Until next time, try to win one for the good guys.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Three Months Free
After speaking into existence a perfect Creation, disobedience to God introduced sin into the world; sin in return, introduced complications into life - all of which have the potential to ruin the man who first disobeyed and his descendants.
So, in fact, we could actually say that all which happens, we have done it to ourselves.
Three months ago I was taken into my second major surgery concerning cancer. When I woke up, I had a chest tube in my side, new incision wounds and a doctor or a nurse standing over me smiling - which was odd to see in my groggy state of mind.
The reason he was smiling became very clear as he spoke - I was the highlight of the week, I was found to be cancer free.
And it is this word, 'Free' which I have found to be the most interesting in recent weeks.
In my experience, most Americans do not realize what the meaning of the word 'free' actually is; instead, we have an idea that says, 'if we are truly free, then I can do whatever I choose without being judged, without consequence and without remorse.'
Whatever that is, it is NOT freedom.
This definition is not the definition of freedom but of one who is a slave to their own passion, their own desires; one who has never really mastered their soul because their soul has never found its Master.
In recent years I have been around the globe and seen many cultures and have been privileged to meet many good men and women from those places.
Without being too specific, whether I was in Europe or in Southwest Asia - I found three things to be universally true among all those whom I have met:
#1 - Take away the stereotypes and the average person is very similar to myself regardless of what color they might be, what language they have spoken or from what race they originate.
#2 - Very few people in other countries understand the American concept of being 'free' politically, religiously, in speech or in the press.
In most places, political parties are heavily controlled, speech must be guarded by the private citizen and the state religion should be followed if any are to be followed at all.
The converse is also true - Americans who have not experienced it cannot understand the society and culture of other places in the world.
#3 - Every person I have met who was a Christian, although the culture may be different, has understood what it means to have true freedom of the soul.
God has allowed me to kneel and pray with former enemies in the person of Russian brothers; He has allowed me to lead Filipinos to His grace.
God has allowed me to baptize in the desert and to give altar calls in the Eiffel region of Europe.
And in all these places and more, in all the people - when the Holy Spirit of God revealed Christ to them, there was a freedom which can only be experienced by surrender.
You see, in surrender to God's call to salvation or God's call on our lives, the individual finds a freedom that commands, a freedom that compels us to follow, a freedom that rejoices in servanthood.
It is a freedom that Adam sought, a freedom which Christ bought and a freedom which all desire from our birth in this world.
In God's economy of the world, things seem twisted and backwards to us because our nature has been corrupted. God's Mastery of our soul brings liberation and our servanthood to His will brings freedom in our lives.
In Him, we are no longer slaves to the world, slaves to passion, slaves to desires; no, we become free in our surrender. Surrender to God brings freedom and in His freedom, we and all things we give to Him become eternally secure.
Abraham is called the Father of the Faithful, and rightly so. The twelfth chapter of Genesis in the Bible begins his story, the crux of which is his faith.
Like Abraham, we stumble in life and we will make misguided decisions; but that does not mean we have fallen from grace, it only means we have made a mistake.
And like Abraham, we too must learn of God's security in our surrender to freedom.
Scripture: Gen 12:1
Now the LORD said to Abram,
"Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father's house,
To the land which I will show you;
And Abraham went.
Abraham surrendered himself to the will of God by faith and traveled to the 'Promised Land;' yet, he did not know where he was going when the journey began.
The same is true for our lives - we do not know where God will take us when our journey begins. Yet, in confidence we can trust Him knowing our surrender will take us to a great many places in life.
In the modern era of the Church, we have many substitutes for simple faith. This could be our greatest error for there is no substitute for faith.
Anytime we substitute something for faith, we also substitute something else for God and enshrine it on the thrones or our hearts.
Deep, long valleys, tragedy at times, soul poverty and the forsaking/surrendering of all things - this is what builds our knowledge of God and grows our faith in Him.
It is here that we begin to understand the freedom of being a child of God.
Years after Abraham answered the call of God to leave his homeland, years after he was promised to have descendants as numerous as the stars, years after he was told in him all the world would be blessed; God asked for the most prized possession of Abraham - his own son, Isaac.
Isaac was the delight of Abraham's heart as my son is in my life; Isaac was the delight of the heart, not the idol of his heart.
God instructed Abraham to kill Isaac as a sacrifice.
This instruction was painful, but Abraham was going to go through with it.
God stopped Abraham and provided a substitute for the sacrifice which gives us a beautiful image of the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus. But the point of the passage is the fact that God's rule in Abraham's heart was unchallenged.
And in our lives, God is to have no rival.
In Him, all things are secure - Our trust, our faith, our gifts, even and especially our own children. These things are on loan to us but in our surrender to God and our giving to Him all that we have and all that we are, these things are eternally secure.
These truths - surrender in life brings freedom; surrender to God brings security; these seem odd because it is the opposite of the world system in which we live. But remember, the world system has been corrupted.
So to rightly see this system as God would have us to see it - it must be by faith.
These truths cannot be learned by rote as you would a popular song; they must be learned by life experiences given to us at the foot of the Cross and by trusting the hand of God in faith.
The greatest of these truths is the truth of salvation given by God's grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. I cannot promise you material wealth, physical health or warm fuzzies the rest of your life.
But if you trust Him by faith, I can promise you on the authority of His Word, your surrender will release the greatest freedom your life will ever know.
Until next time, go win one for the good guys.
So, in fact, we could actually say that all which happens, we have done it to ourselves.
Three months ago I was taken into my second major surgery concerning cancer. When I woke up, I had a chest tube in my side, new incision wounds and a doctor or a nurse standing over me smiling - which was odd to see in my groggy state of mind.
The reason he was smiling became very clear as he spoke - I was the highlight of the week, I was found to be cancer free.
And it is this word, 'Free' which I have found to be the most interesting in recent weeks.
In my experience, most Americans do not realize what the meaning of the word 'free' actually is; instead, we have an idea that says, 'if we are truly free, then I can do whatever I choose without being judged, without consequence and without remorse.'
Whatever that is, it is NOT freedom.
This definition is not the definition of freedom but of one who is a slave to their own passion, their own desires; one who has never really mastered their soul because their soul has never found its Master.
In recent years I have been around the globe and seen many cultures and have been privileged to meet many good men and women from those places.
Without being too specific, whether I was in Europe or in Southwest Asia - I found three things to be universally true among all those whom I have met:
#1 - Take away the stereotypes and the average person is very similar to myself regardless of what color they might be, what language they have spoken or from what race they originate.
#2 - Very few people in other countries understand the American concept of being 'free' politically, religiously, in speech or in the press.
In most places, political parties are heavily controlled, speech must be guarded by the private citizen and the state religion should be followed if any are to be followed at all.
The converse is also true - Americans who have not experienced it cannot understand the society and culture of other places in the world.
#3 - Every person I have met who was a Christian, although the culture may be different, has understood what it means to have true freedom of the soul.
God has allowed me to kneel and pray with former enemies in the person of Russian brothers; He has allowed me to lead Filipinos to His grace.
God has allowed me to baptize in the desert and to give altar calls in the Eiffel region of Europe.
And in all these places and more, in all the people - when the Holy Spirit of God revealed Christ to them, there was a freedom which can only be experienced by surrender.
You see, in surrender to God's call to salvation or God's call on our lives, the individual finds a freedom that commands, a freedom that compels us to follow, a freedom that rejoices in servanthood.
It is a freedom that Adam sought, a freedom which Christ bought and a freedom which all desire from our birth in this world.
In God's economy of the world, things seem twisted and backwards to us because our nature has been corrupted. God's Mastery of our soul brings liberation and our servanthood to His will brings freedom in our lives.
In Him, we are no longer slaves to the world, slaves to passion, slaves to desires; no, we become free in our surrender. Surrender to God brings freedom and in His freedom, we and all things we give to Him become eternally secure.
Abraham is called the Father of the Faithful, and rightly so. The twelfth chapter of Genesis in the Bible begins his story, the crux of which is his faith.
Like Abraham, we stumble in life and we will make misguided decisions; but that does not mean we have fallen from grace, it only means we have made a mistake.
And like Abraham, we too must learn of God's security in our surrender to freedom.
Scripture: Gen 12:1
Now the LORD said to Abram,
"Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father's house,
To the land which I will show you;
And Abraham went.
Abraham surrendered himself to the will of God by faith and traveled to the 'Promised Land;' yet, he did not know where he was going when the journey began.
The same is true for our lives - we do not know where God will take us when our journey begins. Yet, in confidence we can trust Him knowing our surrender will take us to a great many places in life.
In the modern era of the Church, we have many substitutes for simple faith. This could be our greatest error for there is no substitute for faith.
Anytime we substitute something for faith, we also substitute something else for God and enshrine it on the thrones or our hearts.
Deep, long valleys, tragedy at times, soul poverty and the forsaking/surrendering of all things - this is what builds our knowledge of God and grows our faith in Him.
It is here that we begin to understand the freedom of being a child of God.
Years after Abraham answered the call of God to leave his homeland, years after he was promised to have descendants as numerous as the stars, years after he was told in him all the world would be blessed; God asked for the most prized possession of Abraham - his own son, Isaac.
Isaac was the delight of Abraham's heart as my son is in my life; Isaac was the delight of the heart, not the idol of his heart.
God instructed Abraham to kill Isaac as a sacrifice.
This instruction was painful, but Abraham was going to go through with it.
God stopped Abraham and provided a substitute for the sacrifice which gives us a beautiful image of the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus. But the point of the passage is the fact that God's rule in Abraham's heart was unchallenged.
And in our lives, God is to have no rival.
In Him, all things are secure - Our trust, our faith, our gifts, even and especially our own children. These things are on loan to us but in our surrender to God and our giving to Him all that we have and all that we are, these things are eternally secure.
These truths - surrender in life brings freedom; surrender to God brings security; these seem odd because it is the opposite of the world system in which we live. But remember, the world system has been corrupted.
So to rightly see this system as God would have us to see it - it must be by faith.
These truths cannot be learned by rote as you would a popular song; they must be learned by life experiences given to us at the foot of the Cross and by trusting the hand of God in faith.
The greatest of these truths is the truth of salvation given by God's grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. I cannot promise you material wealth, physical health or warm fuzzies the rest of your life.
But if you trust Him by faith, I can promise you on the authority of His Word, your surrender will release the greatest freedom your life will ever know.
Until next time, go win one for the good guys.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Easter From a Different View
Tomorrow millions will celebrate Resurrection Day.
Therefore, given the time of year, I have republished the following blog from a time past.
It is one of my favorites. Enjoy.
And, Happy Easter.
Over the years I have read many, many books. A long time ago, a person gave me an idea that has led to this post. I don't remember the author nor the book; but I do remember the idea.
And while the idea is another's, the thought behind the print is my own.
This is Easter...from a slightly different point of view.
Room full.
Disciples present - I am the greatest.
Towel. Basin.
Feet washed - perfect humility.
Table set. All there.
Judas dipped. John leaned.
All wondered - Is it I?
Judas gone.
This is my Body - Broken.
This is my Blood - Shed.
For you - New Covenant.
Mount Olives. Garden Grove - Ancient Gethsemane.
Sleepy Disciples.
Torches. Company. Friend?
Kiss.
Betrayal.
Seizing. Slicing. Healing.
Led Away - Peter followed.
Courtyard. Trial. High Priest.
Blasphemy.
I don't know the man.
Cock. Crowed. Thrice.
Eye Contact.
Peter Wept.
Innocent Blood - Betrayed.
Silver Pieces - Scattered.
Temple. Potter's Field.
Judas Hanged.
Romans. Pilate. No Fault.
What is Truth?
Scourged.
Barabbas offered. Accepted.
Hands Washed.
Crucify Him.
Simon Pressed. Cross Carried.
Lifted Up - This is the King of the Jews.
Behold, your Mother.
It is Finished.
Serpent's Head Crushed.
Joseph. Body. Wrapped.
New Tomb.
Death.
Silence.
Sabbath.
Sunday.
Day Break - New World Dawning.
Women. Spices.
Tomb. Open.
Tomb. Empty.
Alive!
Second Chance.
New Hope.
Jesus Alive!
Until Next time, try to win one for the good guys.
Therefore, given the time of year, I have republished the following blog from a time past.
It is one of my favorites. Enjoy.
And, Happy Easter.
Over the years I have read many, many books. A long time ago, a person gave me an idea that has led to this post. I don't remember the author nor the book; but I do remember the idea.
And while the idea is another's, the thought behind the print is my own.
This is Easter...from a slightly different point of view.
Room full.
Disciples present - I am the greatest.
Towel. Basin.
Feet washed - perfect humility.
Table set. All there.
Judas dipped. John leaned.
All wondered - Is it I?
Judas gone.
This is my Body - Broken.
This is my Blood - Shed.
For you - New Covenant.
Mount Olives. Garden Grove - Ancient Gethsemane.
Sleepy Disciples.
Torches. Company. Friend?
Kiss.
Betrayal.
Seizing. Slicing. Healing.
Led Away - Peter followed.
Courtyard. Trial. High Priest.
Blasphemy.
I don't know the man.
Cock. Crowed. Thrice.
Eye Contact.
Peter Wept.
Innocent Blood - Betrayed.
Silver Pieces - Scattered.
Temple. Potter's Field.
Judas Hanged.
Romans. Pilate. No Fault.
What is Truth?
Scourged.
Barabbas offered. Accepted.
Hands Washed.
Crucify Him.
Simon Pressed. Cross Carried.
Lifted Up - This is the King of the Jews.
Behold, your Mother.
It is Finished.
Serpent's Head Crushed.
Joseph. Body. Wrapped.
New Tomb.
Death.
Silence.
Sabbath.
Sunday.
Day Break - New World Dawning.
Women. Spices.
Tomb. Open.
Tomb. Empty.
Alive!
Second Chance.
New Hope.
Jesus Alive!
Until Next time, try to win one for the good guys.
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