Reflections January 2016

We wrestle not against flesh and blood--and the one "move" that pins the enemy down for the count--prayer.
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 The world's goal is always to assimilate the Christian. We are in grave danger when we forget that. Or think it irrelevant.
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 In order for me to be--as Paul prayed--filled with all the fullness of God--something has to go. And that something is me.
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Anything can become an idol. When I enjoy the gifts God has given me, but fail to thank Him for those gifts. Idolatry.
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The reason God has you where you are is because He needs someone there to represent Him. Guess who that might be?
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The difference between a wise man and a fool is obedience not knowledge.
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The odds of God winning in the end, One thousand percent to zero for the enemy.
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Yes, it's true. You will not spend one moment alone today. He is at hand. Each breath is a gift from Him. You are held in His hand all day long. Rest in His love. Live a life of grace.

The Christian's Responsibility

The Christian's responsibility to the culture:
To be unashamed of the gospel, the power of God, that is able to save all who believe;
To faith to faith--one person at a time--share the message of the gospel;
To live by faith a righteous life.

Will you save the culture? No, but Heaven will be fuller, God will be glorified, and the existence of the Light of the World will be undeniable in an increasingly darkening culture.

Genuine Faith

Genuine faith always encounters opposition. Always.
Genuine faith daily makes the choice to follow Him in loving obedience regardless of the consequences. Daily--all day long. Regardless.
Genuine faith believes that He is able.
Genuine faith believes that He is willing.
Genuine faith rests in His loving and wise sovereignty.
Genuine faith, then, knows that whatever happens because of his choice to follow Him no matter what the cost, that he is wrapped in His loving embrace and under-girded by His mistake-free wisdom.
Genuine faith is rewarded with a deep sense of His presence.
Genuine faith glorifies Him--reveals His character to everyone with whom it interacts.

"Faith is the victory that overcomes the world."

God Is Faithful

"God is faithful." How do I know that's true? "He cannot deny Himself." My behavior--even if I am faithless--cannot change the immutable God--He remains faithful. To look at our circumstances and fail to see His faithfulness doesn't mean He is not being so. God is--is--faithful; He cannot--cannot--deny Himself. "I will never leave you nor forsake you." "All things will work together for good." You cannot be separated from My love."
The weakest person in the world is the Christian who thinks he is strong. Despite the old Christian cliche--"He will never give you more than you can handle"--He always gives us more than we can handle. He never gives us more than He can handle as we embrace our weaknesses, glory in our thorns in the flesh that make us weak because we know they make us totally dependent on Him. And no one can abide in Christ--be fully aware of His presence in his or her life--without total dependence on Him. Total. He doesn't test us to prove to us how strong we are. He tests us to remind us of how desperately weak we are. (By the way, He knows all about thorns in the flesh.) Only in our weaknesses--and our joyful acknowledgement of their purpose--can He perfect--bring to maturity--our strength. "I can do all things through Him--and only through Him--who is my strength" "When I am weak--and only when I am weak--than I am strong"--in the power of His might. The Lord is faithful to constantly remind us of that so that we can know experientially that He is faithful. And that it is His faithfulness that sustains us. It is impossible for Him not to do so. Faithful is who He is; not just what He does. He is faithful to reveal to me my weakness, faithful to remind me of His sufficient grace, faithful to use my weaknesses to bring glory to His name--the omnipotent God of All Grace. He is our faithful God of conquering, victorious grace.

"Great is Thy faithfulness," O God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not; as Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be. Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.

Too Much Laodicia

Purify Your church, Lord. I'm afraid we have too much of the church of Laodicia in us. We think that we are rich and in need of nothing. Oh, not everyone else, just us. We are of Grace Brethren. We are of independent Bible. We are of Presbyterian. We are of Baptist. We are of Methodist. And we, yes, we, are of Christ. We are more spiritual than you are. We have more spiritual power than you have. We know more of God's will than you do. Oh, if only you could be like us--as spiritually rich as we are. We have need of nothing, you, on the other hand . . . We are slapping ourselves on the back so loudly, applauding our spirituality so vociferously, dancing about in our Emperor's new clothes so imperviously, that we cannot hear the knocking at the door, cannot hear the still small voice saying, "May I come in? We need to have an intimate conversation. You see, those who follow Me are meek and lowly in heart. Those who follow Me have a servant's heart not a lord's. Those who follow Me know they are the greatest of sinners. Those who follow Me esteem others better than themselves. Those who follow Me with towel and a basin of water humbly wash the feet of the weary fellow traveler--minister to the needs of others. Those who follow Me know that they can do nothing without my strength. We have hidden Your light under the basket of carnal spiritual pride. Purify us, Lord. Start with me.

Not Enough Philadelphia

Purify Your church, Lord. We need more of the heart of the church of Philadelphia in us. We are so focused on the expectation that we will be kept from the hour of testing, from the wrath of God, that we ignore the prime directive: "You are to be my witness to the whole world." Our neighbors--everyone we know and meet on a daily basis--so desperately need to know of Your love; to know that You deeply desire that they, too, escape the wrath to come, that You are not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (Sometimes, we even bicker and fight with one another about how and when You will come and deliver us. And You've told us we can't know. We quit fellowshipping with each other over such things!) To live in loving expectation of Your return is to take the message of Your sacrificial love to as many as we can--until You come. Lord, You are holding open the doors of opportunity that no man can shut, but I'm afraid we stand gaping up into the heavens as the world around us perishes. The door may as well be closed. We have hidden Your light under the basket of indifference, of apathy, toward the souls of men. Purify us, Lord. Start with me.

Too Much Sardis

Purify Your church, Lord. I'm afraid we have too much of the church of Sardis in us. We boast of our legacy, of our past accomplishments, of our incomplete ministries. We boast of our ministries of death. Too often, we have preached against social injustice--and we should--but we have not preached as well on the need for spiritual transformation--for the need for saving grace in the sacrifice of Your Son. Is it because we are spiritually dead ourselves? Are we striving to give men a Heaven on earth while condemning their souls to a Christ-less eternity, to a Hell of an eternity? We claim to give life. We call it love. We give death. It is injustice. Are we hiding Your light under the basket of a gospeless social gospel? Purify us, Lord. Start with me.

Too Much Thyatira

Purify Your church, Lord. I'm afraid we have too much of the church of Thyatira in us. We tolerate the Baals of our Jezebel--our "prophetess.". We embrace her Baal of financial prosperity. We embrace her Baal of materialism. We embrace her Baal of covetousness. We embrace her Baal of immorality. We embrace her Baal of nationalism. We embrace her Baal of self-centeredness--of narcissism. We hide Your light under the basket of "The American Dream." Purify us, Lord. Start with me.

Too Much Pergamum

Purify Your church, Lord. I'm afraid we have too much of the church of Pergamum in us. We would never deny You with our lips. But, oh, the saltlessness of our lives. We are, sadly, both in the world--and of it. We cringe when they call us "Haters of Humanity." In fear of the world's disapproval, we try so desperately to be like them, indistinguishable from them. We try so hard to live like they do--to be Christian in name and immersed in worldliness with our every breath. "Freedom" we call it as we wrap ourselves in the chains, burden ourselves with the weights that so easily beset us and make the race so debilitating. We live like slaves to the world's approval. We have hidden Your light under the basket of a practical atheism. Purify us Lord. Start with me.

Not Enough Smyrna

Purify Your church, Lord. I'm afraid we need more of the church of Smyrna in our hearts--the suffering church. We chafe under Your promise that all who live godly lives will suffer persecution--that it is a gracious gift to us from You. We want to know You better, more deeply, but not to have to share in the fellowship of Your suffering. And such suffering is so momentary in light of the glory that is to follow. We scream for our man-engendered inalienable rights, and complain about the one right You've actually given us: "It has been given to you on behalf of Christ to suffer for His sake." We our hiding Your light under the basket of ease, of a sense of victim-hood. Purify Your church, Lord. Start with me.

Too Much Ephesus

Purify Your church, Lord. I'm afraid we have too much of the church of Ephesus in us. We know so much. And love so little. "Clear as ice and just as cold." We tell sinners God loves them. We tell the poor God loves them. We tell the widow, and the orphan, and the single mom God loves them. We tell the alien-immigrant God loves them. We shout at everyone, "For God so loved the world that He gave . . ." But where's the evidence? We bear no cross. We offer no sacrifices. No sacrifices of our stuff. No sacrifices of our time. No sacrifices of our strength. No sacrifices of open-hearted hospitality. No evidence of sacrificial love. Our empty words betray us, betray those so desperately in need of His love, betray Him. We have hidden Your light, Lord, under the basket of a strident loveless love. Purify us, Lord. Start with me.