Preaching and Converting (Part 1)

Satan tells believers they shouldn't "preach" or try to "convert" people.  

By "preaching" and "converting," Satan means "forcing people to believe what you believe."

As the liar and father of lies, he typically takes some truth and distorts it before he negates truth altogether.

However, believers shouldn't listen to Satan or allow him to contradict or negate God's words; this is exactly what he did with Eve.  God said, "You will surely die."  Satan said, "You will NOT surely die."

Jesus says, "Preach and convert people."

Satan says, "Do NOT preach and convert people."

Let's focus on what the word of God actually said about preaching and converting, and be clear on what He meant by preaching and converting.  Then we'll undermine the deception of Satan about preaching and converting.

GOD'S WORD ABOUT PREACHING AND CONVERTING (Part 1)

"Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside." Luke 4:14

From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Matthew 4:17

So, Jesus's ministry involved preaching--which meant proclaiming the Kingdom of God in the power of the Spirit. He heralded the kingdom and urged people to enter it.  He said, "Repent!" Jesus preached.  He also made converts.  Observe the next verse:

"Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him."  Mark 2:13-14

Jesus commanded people to follow Him, to be His "converts," to be His followers, to be his disciples.

Not only did Jesus do this, He also commanded believers to do this.

"He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it." Mark 16:15-20

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples (converts) of all nations..."Matthew 28:18

Three things are crucial to see:

1. Jesus preached and "converted."

2. His followers are to preach and "convert."

3. Jesus and His followers preach and convert by the power of the Holy Spirit!

Number three is the most crucial of the three.

We'll see why next time.

The Cult Lie

I've been thinking about how cult leaders succeed.

I now know.

Because I thought about the supreme ultimate cult leader and the supreme ultimate cult:

Satan and the demons--and every human who follows Satan and demons.

Jesus said that Satan is the Father of Lies, that lying is Satan's native tongue.

What is "the lie?"

Worship the creation (Satan) instead of the Creator.

That. Is. The. Lie.

And within this lie is the cult lie:

Without the Creator, the creature can make creation heaven.

That is what every single cult is trying to do, 

and what every single cult leader promises.

Satan began this.  He promised it first.  Now really think about this.

If Satan, in heaven, can convince angels to follow him out of heaven...

If Satan can enter Eden, which was the literal paradise on earth, the literal heaven on earth and convince the first man and woman to follow him instead of the Creator of Eden...

Then how can any human attempt to recreate Eden and stand a chance against Satan?

In other words, how could Jim Jones promise Eden in Guyana and Satan not enter it and take over?

Heaven and Eden were far better than anything they had in Jonestown.

Yet Satan succeeded--in heaven, in Eden, in Jonestown, in every human attempt at Utopia--because Utopia is heaven without God.  

Any and every "heaven" without God is hell.

Satan will ultimately "succeed" before the end comes.

Yes.  Paul said that Satan, through the Antichrist, will rule the world, and the world will worship him.

Satan will for a short time get what he has wanted from the very beginning--to be worshipped as God.

This will happen.

In every cult, it does happen.

And every cult ends the same--with the death of the followers, and with the cult leader taking the cult down with him.

Isn't this what Satan is planning?

The scriptures state plainly that Satan knows his time is short.

Satan knows his destiny is the lake of fire.  So he wants to go down ruling.

He knows he is going down.  And out of complete spite, he is going to take as many down with him.

Will you be one of them?

Don't misunderstand.

When I speak of Satan "succeeding," I only mean that God will let him--and you and I--ultimately have what we want.  We "defeat" God by not yielding.  By our freewill we "win."  If you can even call it winning.  It means that if you really want God to leave you alone--he will.  

Or put this another way.

When Jesus says, "Everyone who seeks finds," He means everyone, and He means whatever anyone or everyone seeks, they will eventually find it--whatever it is.  

If someone seeks God, they will find Him.

If someone seeks Satan, they will also find him.

If someone seeks the true heaven--God's heaven, they will find it.

If someone seeks the false heaven--Satan's heaven, the human heaven, they will find it.

It's up to you and me.

We are all one step away from being in the ultimate cult, and in believing the cult lie.

C.S Lewis, Isis, and the Police: A Biblical Defense for Self-Defense (Part )3

So we've seen a biblical defense for self-defense illustrated by situations Abram, David, and Nehemiah were in, situations that focused on relatives and possessions versus nations and armies.  But what does this have to do with C.S. Lewis, Isis, and the Police?

There was something Lewis said in Perelandra that always struck me.  In the climax of the book, when Ransom is conversing with God (Maledil) about Ransom's purpose on Perelandra, Ransom comes to realize that physical resistance, a physical fight between Ransom and The Un-Man, would be the means by which Ransom overcame evil.  Ransom had always thought in terms of "spiritual warfare," but he realized that the line between spiritual and physical warfare on Perelandra was blurred. I apply this thought to resisting evil, resisting oppression.  I've thought about this when I make the distinction between defending myself according to my faith vs non-resistance according to my faith.  This is where my thoughts about Isis (or slave masters for that matter) come in.

It never seemed to me that Isis (or slave masters) were the "governing authorities" referred to by Paul.  I never perceived Isis (or slave masters, or gang members/thugs demanding submission) were the equivalent of a Nebuchadnezzar commanding Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to bow to Nebuchadnezzar as a god.  So with Isis (or slave masters), I don't see a biblical reason to submit to them, to allow them to beat or kill me.  It seems to me that I could defend myself against them, and indeed that I should.  That it would be sinful not to because I would be yielding to someone God had NOT put in authority over me.  But what about the police, who indeed ARE governing authorities?

Well, in America, a land of the people, by the people and for the people, a democracy with checks and balances, there are laws that address this very issue:

Assault and Battery § 15.4-- excessive force by officer -- right to repel

When there is evidence tending to show the excessive use of force by a law enforcement officer, the trial court is required to instruct the jury that the force used against the officer was justified or excused if the assault was limited to the use of reasonable force by the defendant in defending himself from excessive force.

Though there is great risk involved in a situation where a citizen would use force to resist the excessive force by an officer, the law does make room for this in America.  So I connect this thought with the thought from C.S. Lewis in Perelandra, thoughts about Isis (or slave masters) and thoughts about biblical self-defense, concluding that it is biblical to defend myself, my family, and my home against those who are sinfully seeking to attack me or my family or property, those who have no God-given authority over me; and even those who DO have God-given authority may be resisted in certain circumstances, but not one circumstance in particular.  

In situations where there is a true and bonafide governing authority that puts itself in the position of God and commands citizens to renounce God and worship the government, or the governing authority, I see that I should lay down my life in civil disobedience.  The difference?  I believe David's view of Saul as "God's anointed" helps me here.  Or Gideon's father, who said "let Baal defend himself." In other words, when Nebuchadnezzar, or Pharaoh, or the "man of lawlessness" for that matter, directly challenge God by commanding God's people to bow to them as idols, I believe this is a situation where I would not defend myself because I'm not the one being attacked.  I will "give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's" in that situation.  Caesar is abusing his God-given authority, claiming to be God, so it is God who needs to defend Himself, not me.  

I consider these thoughts especially relevant for me as a Black man, considering my history, considering slavery, considering police brutality.  For much of my history, it has been assumed by many in church history that slaves in general, and Christian slaves, in particular, should take the beatings and rapings of oppressors.  Fredrick Douglas, a Black Christian who used to be a slave, showed me otherwise.  He made it clear that when he physically fought his master and vowed to physically resist beatings for the rest of his days, he experienced the freedom and God-given humanity that had been stripped from him as a slave.  This is akin to what I learn from C.S. Lewis in Perelandra.  Douglas's spiritual warfare against slavery WAS PHYSICAL, like Ransom's spiritual warfare against the Un-man was physical.  At times this may still be the case for black people in this country who face police brutality, or brutality from racists who want to shoot us for simply going for a jog.  Therefore, until the Government, or some "man of lawlessness" commands us as the government/a governing official to bow to it/him as God, I don't see biblically why I should let anyone put their hands on me.

 

C.S Lewis, Isis, and the Police: A Biblical Defense for Self-Defense (Part 2)

 DAVID

"...David's two wives had also been taken captive..." 1 Samuel 30:5

In this scenario, the wives and children of David's men and David's two wives had been taken, along with possessions.  David strengthened himself in the Lord and did indeed inquire of the Lord.  Yet what I see again in this situation is that wives, children, relatives, and possessions had been taken.  Abram had "trained men," and David also had a significant number of trained men or seasoned warriors with him.  Five kings were responsible for the captivity of Abram's relatives, while a band of raiders was responsible for the captivity of David's wives and the wives and children of his men.  In other words, these scenarios with Abram and David didn't directly involve wartime scenarios for Abram and David but instead involved scenarios where family members and possessions were taken captive.  This is even more explicit in my final example with Nehemiah.

NEHEMIAH

"...I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with swords, spears, and bows."  Nehemiah 4:13, italics mine.

"Don't be afraid of them.  Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives, and your homes."  Nehemiah 4:14, italics mine.

These to me are some of the most striking passages in terms of biblical self-defense.  Notice that these are not soldiers or warriors or armies, but families--armed families.  I see these biblical prerequisites for self-defense in the mind of Nehemiah, which also seems to be implied in the situations with Abram and David:

1. Focused faith in the Lord who empowers righteous/lawful self-defense:  "Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome..."

2. Courage:  "Don't be afraid of them."  (God consistently commands strength and courage.)

3. Being armed (as a minimum) or trained/able to defend yourself.  (Abram's trained men, David's mighty men, the swords, spears, and bows given by Nehemiah.)

4.  A righteous cause:  "Fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes..."  Notice who is primarily being addressed by Nehemiah, notice who is fighting, and whom they are fighting for-"your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes"--fathers and husbands are doing the fighting.  Though of course sons and daughters and wives have the potential to fight, they are not the ones being called upon to fight.  It is the husbands and fathers being called upon to fight for sons and daughters, wives, and homes.

Again, these are families, fighting as families, for families and homes.  Not warriors, or soldiers, or armies.  

Click here for part 3

C.S Lewis, Isis, and the Police: A Biblical Defense for Self-Defense (Part 1)

I've written on this before, yet I'm thinking about it again as it relates to me being a Black Christian in this country specifically, but also for Christians in general.  I'm thinking about when believers can and should defend themselves according to our faith, versus when we should not defend ourselves because of our faith.  I believe Abram, David, and Nehemiah (and C.S. Lewis) give me a biblical defense for Christian self-defense, while Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego show me when Christians should yield their lives for their faith (and how this relates to Isis and the Police.)

ABRAM

"When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan.  ...He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people."  Gen. 14:14,16, NIV

In reading this I notice that Abram did not stop and pray about this situation at all.  Of course, God had promised Abram that whoever blessed Abram would be blessed and whoever cursed Abram would be cursed.  In other words, God had already promised Abram protection.  Nevertheless, Abram seems to assume that he can take his trained men and rescue "his relative" who "had been taken captive."  Abram simply heard about it, then acted.  And he was successful in bringing back not just his relative, but the goods and possessions that had been taken, with others who had been taken as well.  Something very similar seems to happen to David.

Click here for part 2

How to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit and Know It (Right Now!) Part 1

I write to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, those who confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead.  I write to those who have received and accepted Jesus for who He is:  the Son of God.  I write to those who believe in Him as their Savior from sin and from sinning.  I write to those who believe that Jesus died for their sins according to the scriptures, that He was buried, and that He rose from the dead after three days, according to the scriptures.  If you believe all that I just wrote, I'm talking directly to you.  If you don't believe what I just wrote, believe it now and you will become a child of God, indwelt by the Spirit of God.  (You can say these words:  "I believe in the name of the Son Jesus Christ, I believe that He is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead."  If you say that and mean it, you are saved from a life without God, and thus without purpose.)

To those who believe, we are commanded by God to follow the Spirit, to be completely under His influence and control--to be filled with the Spirit.  This is not an option for us because we can't live as followers of Christ without the Spirit's presence and power.  I'm writing to tell you how to experience the presence and power of the Spirit and know it.  I'm following what I learned from R.A. Torrey in a small book entitled "The Baptism of the Holy Spirit."  I'm writing from memory, paraphrasing what I learned. 

First, I'll tell you what the filling of the Spirit is and what it does.  Next, I'll tell you why it's necessary.  Third, I'll tell you why it's possible.  And finally, I'll tell you how to be filled with the Spirit and know it.

If you read no further, if you remember nothing else remember this:

To be filled with the Spirit means you boldly and effectively bear witness to the Lord Jesus.  

That's it.  If you're a believer and you want that, ask for it, and you will have it immediately, right now.  And you'll know it. 

• You will pray with a power that you didn't have before (possibly in a language you didn't know before.)  
• You will praise God with a power you didn't have before.  
• You will feel God's presence in a way that you didn't before.  
• You will be a man of God, woman of God, husband, wife, father, mother, employer, or employee with a power that you didn't have before.  

And this power will be bold effectiveness as a witness of the Lord Jesus in whatever context you are in. 

If you want to know more, keep reading.

The Called Out Ones

I knelt in my room in the dark, wanting to die.  I didn't or couldn't or wouldn't kill myself.  But I wanted to die.  To go to sleep and not wake up.  Or something like that.  But worse than that.  I felt condemned to death because of what I had done.  Most wouldn't think it was that bad, nowhere near bad enough to be condemned to death.  But to me, it was the worst thing I could do.  The one thing I never wanted to do.  And the thing is, I didn't know if I had even really done it at all.  I didn't know what it was, or how it was supposed to feel.  I think I had gotten close, but how close is close enough to be it?  That doesn't matter.  Even being close made me feel like dying.

But for some reason, I said what I think I'd hear in Sunday school without realizing I remembered it.

"I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He died for my sins."  I felt peace cover me like a blanket, and I no longer wanted to die.  Then I remembered what happened before I came close to doing the thing that made me want to die in the first place.

***

How Eve (and Adam, and we) became sinners (Part 1)

Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of God.
~The Apostle Paul

Abraham believed God, and God considered his faith righteousness.
~Moses, the man of God

The woman listened to Satan.  The man listened to the woman.  Neither listened to God.  This is sin:  when we listen to creation instead of the Creator.

In other words, Eve became a sinner by faith.  And Abraham became sinless by faith.  Who they (and we) listen to do determines sin or life without sin.

So how can we become and remain sinless?

Better yet, how can we be as sinless as Christ?

I ask this because I noticed that Jesus not only "never sinned," but he even said Satan "had no hold on him."  Meaning Satan could not get Jesus to sin because nothing in Jesus agreed with anything in Satan.  How can we be like this?

Think about it (if you want to, or if you're even interested in this kind of life...) until the next blog...

The power of your faith

"Everything is possible for one who believes."  Mark 9:23
"Nothing will be impossible for you."  Matthew 17:20c

Jesus consistently responded to faith.  

He rewarded belief and rebuked disbelief.  

Belief amazed Jesus.  Disbelief angered Jesus.

There didn't seem to be an in-between for him.  He seemed to see no reason to doubt or disbelieve him, or God the Father.  No reason at all. 

Of course, he's right.  RA Torrey said, "Every act of sin is an act of distrust in God.  Trusting God deprives sin and temptation of all their power.  He who trusts God will do right though the heavens fall."

Trusting God is the source of sinless perfection and power.  And why shouldn't we trust God? 
He is perfectly good, perfectly powerful, and perfectly wise.

It should be the easiest thing in the world for us to do.  And it is something to do, as it is also written, "Faith without works is dead. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead."

Notice what James is doing in those words:
Faith=the body
Works=the spirit.

I learned the opposite.  I learned that faith animates works, but James says works animate, or give life to, faith, as the spirit gives life to the body.

We all know this.  If we really believe something (or someone), we act on that belief.  We do what we really believe.  And when we believe, we can do anything.  As Jesus said, everything is possible, and nothing impossible.  Why?  Because, as Jesus also said, "With God, all things are possible."  So it's logical:

With God all things are possible.
I believe in God.
Therefore, with me, all things are possible.

Or put it another way.  If everything I do is an act of trust in God, with whom all things are possible and nothing impossible, then everything I do will be possible, because everything I do is His will.  This is why with people like Joseph, it was written, "God was with Joseph and gave him success in everything he did."  God is the only one who succeeds in everything he does.  So if someone is succeeding in everything he does, then it must mean God is with him.

Look at this yet another way. 
It is written, "God is love."
It is also written, "Love never fails."
Therefore, God never fails. 
And we never fail when we love.  As it is also written, "Love is the fulfillment of the law."
And "the only thing that counts is faith, expressing itself in love."

So we come full circle.  Love never fails.  Love is the expression of faith.  Therefore, faith never fails.  This is the power of your faith.

The Good News about Sin and Sinning

As Christians, we are forgiven, and we are free.  That's the good news about sin and sinning.  The wrong things that we've done can be forgiven and forgotten as if they never happened.  Ane the wrong things we've done never have to be done again.

Because of Jesus, our past can change, and our future can change, if we accept Jesus in the present.

The woman caught in adultery is a perfect example.

According to the law of Moses, the adulterer and adulteress should be stoned for their adultery.  The Pharisees, Sadducees, and teachers of the law of Moses brought a woman caught in adultery, but not the man, which showed they didn't really care about the law.  Nevertheless, when they brought the adulteress to Jesus, she experienced first hand that He was her Savior from her sin (adultery) and from sinning (committing adultery again.)  Jesus set her free with these words:

Woman, I do not condemn you for your adultery, as your adultery deserves according to the law.
Go, and from now on, do not commit adultery.

Of course, I'm paraphrasing.  Yet my paraphrase fits the context and takes sin out of the merely theological or philosophical and puts it in the practical light that Jesus (and the woman's accusers) saw as very practical.  This woman's life was literally on the line, as is the case with every specific sin.  We today tend to think of sin conceptually, versus as real acts of rebellion against God, like adultery.  But Jesus came to save this very woman from her very real sin, and from ever really sinning again by having sex with a real man that was not her husband, and thus being worthy of death by real stoning.

Though she didn't get stoned, she had suffered a consequence for this sin:  public shame.  It was wrongly done, of course, but that was the consequence. Why is this important?  Because every time we sin, we suffer an immediate (and sometimes lasting) consequence of disconnection from God and people.  Every time.  Yet we can be forgiven, and the sin forgotten. And even the consequence can be used for God's glory, though it may not go away.  This is very relevant for today.

Even as you read, in the background our lives is a crime recently judged by the courts.  A female police officer murdered a man in his home.  Can she be forgiven?  Yes!  Can she never commit this crime again?  Absolutely.  But does she forego the penalty of her sin on earth?  No, she does not.  The cross does not cancel every consequence on earth.

So what can we learn?

As you read, if you are a believer, (or even an unbeliever) you read with either confessed or unconfessed sin.  If your sins are unconfessed, confess and forsake them, turning to the Lord Jesus as Savior.  I hope that your sins are not such that there are irreversible earthly consequences.  But if you have no unconfessed sin in your life, then as Jesus said, I say to encourage and exhort you:

Go, and from now on, sin no more.

This is good news about sin and sinning.  Your sins can be forgiven and forgotten as if they never happened.  And because of Jesus, by His Spirit, you never need to sin again.  As it is written, "Whom the Son sets free is free indeed." And the freedom Jesus meant was freedom from sinning.  We are free to live without fear of the temporal or eternal consequences of sin. 

We do well not to overlook the temporal consequences.  We do well not to say things like "Christians aren't sinless, they just sin  less."  Some sins, like adultery, like murder, are detrimental even if committed only once. 

Other Christians say things like, "We don't have to sin, but we're going to sin."  Yet some of the sins that we are supposedly "going to do" have irreversible consequences, like drinking and driving, or beginning the use of an addictive drug.  Most of the time, Christians who make the two statements about sin aren't talking about the "big sins," meaning the sins that get us fired from jobs, put in jail, or kicked out of the church. 

May God convict us of our hypocrisy and perversion of the gospel.  May live free from sin and sinning, and share this good news by the power of the Spirit.

How God Will Judge Us

“‘I will deal with them according to their conduct, and by their own standards, I will judge them.  Then they will know that I am the Lord.' " Ezekiel 5:27b

Some ask, “What about those who’ve never heard of the Lord Jesus, those who’ve never gone to church or read the Bible?”  

God will not judge anyone by what they don’t know, but instead by what they do know.  Everyone has “their own standards” of right and wrong, true and false, even those who claim to be relativists.  They will be judged by relativism and found sinners. They will be judged as atheists, and found sinners! They will be judged as agnostics, and found sinners!  Everyone sins before God, even by their own standards!

Because of this, the good news is easily shared and universal.  No one feels innocent. Everyone is guilty of violating their own principles, their own consciences.  So as believers, we should start there, starting where God Himself starts. We should get to know unbelievers (or carnal believers) and find out the standards they live by, the standards by which they judge their own conduct.  Even if they claim to have no standard, “no standard” becomes their standard!  If they have no standard, then the moment they assume a standard, their assumption makes them a hypocrite.

But it does the same for you and me.  As Jesus said, “By the measure we judge others, we ourselves will be judged.”  So the goal of what I’m writing is not that we should become judges, or judgmental, but to realize that no one can escape God’s judgment.  No one can even escape their own judgment! And their own judgment will be God’s judgment as well.

Are you a prophet?

"The spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets."  The Apostle Paul

When I ask, "Are you a prophet?" I'm asking are you a Christian who prophesies.  And when I ask "are you someone one who prophesies," I'm asking if you're a Christian who speaks messages rom God to other Christians (and perhaps to non-Christians). There are three tests you can give yourself (and others claiming to prophesy) to answer this question.

THE TESTIMONY TEST
It is written, "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."  This means that the essential purpose and definition of prophecy is the bear witness to who Jesus is.  This is why John the Baptist is the greatest prophet, according to the Lord Jesus.  And this is why both the apostles Paul and John make it known how to test whether someone is speaking from the Spirit or not.  Anyone and everyone speaking from the Spirit focuses and honors Jesus as Lord having come in the flesh.  The true prophet says with John the Baptist, "Jesus must increase, and I must decrease."  He or she is also motivated by love and is self-controlled.

THE SPIRITUAL FRUIT TEST
As the very first quote above says, "The spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets."  In other words, prophets are self-controlled, even when they are prophesying--especially when they are prophesying.  No prophet led by the Spirit has to speak, or can't stop speaking.  And no prophet is hateful or cruel or aloof.  Even when the prophet convicts someone of sin, or warns them of God's judgment, he or she does so in love and with the hope of salvation, never condemnation.  They honor the Lord Jesus, they bear the fruit of the Spirit, and as a result they strengthen the faith of those who listen to them.  They edify those who listen.

THE EDIFICATION TEST
Every spiritual gift has a function.  If someone is gifted to teach, then those who listen learn. If someone is gifted to heal, then those who are sick will be cured.  And if someone is a prophet, those who listen hear a message from God that supernaturally strengthens their faith.  That's what the gift is for.  They may or may not predict the future, or reveal something supernaturally.  But they will always strengthen the faith of those who follow Christ, and those who listen will know that the message is from God.

So, are you a prophet?  You may not be called to that specific role.  And you may not have the specific gift of prophecy.  But in the last days, all of God's children have the Spirit of God, and therefore all of God's children can give messages from God, or can speak the word of God as the Spirit leads them.  If you believe in Jesus, you can speak something from God to others.  If you want to honor Jesus, if you love others, and if you want to encourage believers in their faith, you can prophesy by the power of the Spirit in you.

The Truth about God's Promise

"I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.  Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."  Genesis 22:16-18 (Italics Mine)

I was taught that God's promises to Abraham were "unconditional."  That it didn't matter what Abraham did or didn't do.  I was taught that God's promise and oath to Abraham had nothing at all to do with what Abraham did and didn't do.  But what I'm seeing is that from the beginning, God's promises to Abraham were in fact conditioned on Abraham's faith, which expressed itself in works of obedience.

As it is written in Hebrews 11,

• by faith Abraham obeyed God and went to an unknown destination and land
• he lived in this foreign land by faith, actively moving to and living there
• and he was about to kill his only beloved son Isaac, whom Abraham believed would be raised from the dead.

In other words, Abraham did things that expressed his faith.  And if he had refused to do those things, God would not have fulfilled the promises to Abraham.  I take that from what God said after Abraham passed the test of not withholding his only beloved son Isaac.

God said that because Abraham did not withhold Isaac, God would surely bless him, which must imply the opposite:  that if Abraham withheld his son Isaac, God would not have surely blessed him.  God said all of the nations on earth will be blessed because Abraham obeyed him. (Not because Abraham believed in God or had faith, which of course was accounted to Abraham as righteousness.  I'm not talking about Abraham's righteousness.  Even if I were, Abraham's righteousness was also conditioned upon Abraham's faith.  Faith is the condition of righteousness.  And faith isn't passive mental consent that God exists, or that God is trustworthy.)

Again, before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, he spoke of Abraham as one with whom God could share His plans because Abraham would direct his children to keep the way of the Lord so that the Lord would bring about what He had promised.  Which means that God would not be able to bring about what He had promised if Abraham was not going to direct his children to keep the way of the Lord.

I don't see that God's promises are unconditionally given, any more than anyone else can unconditionally, or unrelationally promise anything.  A husband promises his wife that he will remain with her until death separates them, but the implied condition is that she remains faithfully with him as well.  If she leaves or commits adultery, he is by no means obligated to unconditionally keep his marital vow to her.  Some of us say, "Well, God is not a man.  After all, even if we are unfaithful, he remains faithful."  Of course that's true.  Even the hypothetical husband would remain faithful even if his wife was unfaithful, meaning he was not the unfaithful spouse, but she was.  But that doesn't mean he must stay with her to be faithful, even if she commits adultery and leaves him.  Marriage vows are not "unconditional."  God is our husband, and His vows are not unconditional either.

We have a part to play in the experience of God's faithfulness in keeping His promises, just as we have a part to play in human relationships where promises are made.  Even if a one way promise is made, like if a husband supposedly makes a promise to never leave his wife, even if she leaves him, or to never be unfaithful to her, even if she is unfaithful to him, or to never divorce her, even if she divorces him...she can still leave, commit adultery, and divorce him.  And what can he do then?  Are they still married even after she divorces him and lives with someone else?  Even if they are, and she is living in adultery, what kind of relationship can she experience with her husband?  Can he fulfill his vow to her while she is in bed with another man, even if she remains his wife?  Or if we go to as far an extreme example as possible, what if she has her husband killed, so that she is "free from the law of marriage?"  Obviously, the dead husband is also free from his vow.

The point I'm making is this:  we are in a relationship with God.   And every relationship by definition involves mutual responses.  Even though God is the initiator, we are responders, and our responses to him determine our experiences of Him and His promise.  And what is His promise?

God promised that through Abraham's "offspring all nations on earth will be blessed."  Abraham's "offspring" is the Lord Jesus.  And the blessing is salvation, which comes to us by faith in the Lord Jesus, expressed in our obedience to Him, as the Lord said, "If you love you, you will keep my commands."  And as the apostle Paul said, "The only thing that counts is faith, expressing itself in love."  So if we put together what the Lord and Paul said, we see that faith in the Lord expresses itself in love for the Lord, and love for the Lord expresses itself in obeying the Lord.  Therefore, faith in the Lord expresses itself in us obeying the Lord.  This is our salvation.  This is the truth about God's promise.  May you be encouraged in your faith, love, and obedience to the Lord.

The Way to Wisdom and Honor

"To answer before listening--that is folly and shame."  Proverbs 18:13

It's so easy to talk.  To interrupt.  We come out of the womb yelling and screaming.  Think about how much kids on the playground talk...even the quieter ones.  But even as adults we see our problem.

We talk so much as if we know so much.  We interrupt others because we think we know what they're going to say before they say it...until they don't.  Then we feel stupid and embarrassed.  

Solomon knew this.  In the wisdom inspired by God, he gave us the way to wisdom and honor:

Listen before we answer.

Simple.

But we know it's not.

I'm focused on this experience in 2019.

Will you join me?

The way of the Lord

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."  Matthew 11:28-30

Do you feel overwhelmed?  It's not the Lord who is overwhelming you.  Maybe it's you, or somebody in your life, or the devil.  But it's not God.  It's not Jesus.  It's not the Spirit.

God's Spirit lightens your burdens; "His commands are not burdensome."  How does He do this?  By you coming to Him and simply telling Him what's on your mind and heart.  You know how this happens.  Have you ever talked to a really good friend, one who listens and doesn't focus on giving you advice (unless you ask for it?)  Or have you ever been to a good therapist?  A good pastor?  A good counselor?  You know how it feels to leave the presence of someone who really listens.  You feel lighter.  If imperfect humans can lighten your burden, how much more The Lord, the Wonderful Counselor?

That's what prayer is and should be--us giving our burdens to the Lord.  God tells us in the scriptures to "cast our cares on Him, because He cares for us."  He says that when we are sorrowful we should pray.  When we are anxious or worried, we should pray.  When we are angry and need justice, we should pray.  Praying is simply talking to God from our hearts about everything in our hearts. He hears us.  He's listening.

Talk to God.  This is the way of the Lord.

How to Overflow with Hope

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."  Romans 15:13 NIV

I've been seeing that hope is the key to life, at least for me right now.  If I don't believe I can expect anything good today, tomorrow, or for my life, it weakens me intensely.  I read a verse today that gives me the promise of the hope that I need to live a meaningful life.  I hope this helps you as much as it helped me.

GOD IS A GOD OF HOPE
God is a God of hope, a hopeful God.  A God who "knows the plans He has for us, plans for good and not evil, to give us a future and a hope."  As you have probably heard to the point of it sounding cliche, "God has a wonderful plan for your life."  He actually does.  He is hopeful about me and you because He knows the good plans he has for us.  He causes "all things to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose."  We love Him, don't we?  Aren't we called according to His purpose?  Then how can we lack hope when our God is a hopeful God, the source of our hope and of all hope?  We don't live in a hopeless world of fate and chance like some do.  If there is no God, no good and hopeful God, then we might as well commit suicide.  But there is a good and hopeful God, the God of hope, from whom hope comes.  Because of this we can be filled with joy and peace.

GOD'S HOPE FILLS US WITH JOY AND PEACE
What is hope?  It's knowing that something good is waiting for us.  As I write, Christmas approaches.  And there are kids full of joy and peace, at least some of them.  Why?  Because they have hope of something good waiting for them under the Christmas tree.  So they are happy and relieved, full of joy and peace.  That's what hope does.  When we know we have money coming, if we really need money, we are full of joy and peace.  Joy because our need or desire will be able to be met.  Peace because our anxiety about our unfulfilled need or desire has been relieved.  But how does this happen?

WE HAVE HOPE WHEN WE TRUST IN THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT
It is written, "Faith is the assurance of what we hope for, it is the evidence of what we do not see."  We have hope when we can trust in the promise of goodness.  And we trust a promise when the one who promises is perfectly trustworthy and capable.  For example, if you need money, and you ask someone for money who is wealthy, and that wealthy person loves and likes you, then you will have assurance of what hope for--the money you need.  The person has a lot of money, they like and love you, and you ask them for something they have in abundance  They say yes, and based on their yes alone, you are filled with joy and peace, and thus overflowing with hope. 

The Spirit loves and likes you.  He is God Almighty. Everything belongs to Him.  So when you ask Him for something good and God glorifying, if that's what you're really hoping for, you can be sure of what you hope for.  God's promise and goodness is the evidence of what you don't see--the check in the mail, the gift under the tree. 

God is a God of hope, a hopeful God, from whom all hope comes.  Because He has good plans for us, we can be filled with joy and peace.  We can overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit if we put our trust in Him and His promises.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."  Romans 15:13 NIV

How to find and fulfill your calling today

"Through Him we received grace and apostleship to call all Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for His name's sake." Romans 1:5 NIV

I learned something from the Spirit today.  Here it is:  Before I can fulfill my specific calling as a believer, I must fulfill the general calling of all believers.  That means you and I both have the same calling, and if we obey it, we will find our specific, individual calling.  We have the same calling as Jesus' first followers.  His Spirit gives us this call.  Here it is--the Spirit's call to you and me:

"Follow me."

Another way to put it would be this:

"Obey me."

Paul said that we, the "Gentiles," the believers who are not Jewish, are called to obey God as evidence of our faith in Christ.  Paul also said that "to whom we present ourselves slaves to obey, we are that one's slaves whom we obey, whether sin leading to death, or righteousness leading to life."  Paul then says that we are "slaves of God."  This means God owns us, defines us, and determines all of our actions.  He alone controls us.  This is our first and foremost calling, the call of all of who believe in Jesus:  Obedience to God.

If we don't obey the Spirit, or follow the Spirit, in the same way the first followers followed Jesus did, we have no right to ask God for our specific calling.  In fact, for now, we should assume that our specific calling is nothing else but this:  Follow the Spirit. Or obey the Spirit.

Some of you may wonder how to practically do this.  Think of it this way.  If you want God's specific commands in your life, you must obey His general commands in the specific areas of your life.  Here are His two commands that we can all obey today and right now:

Love God with all of your heart and soul and strength.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus said these two commands are the summation of all of God's commandments.  Now if we obey these two commandments to the best of our ability in our specific situations and relations, we will be led by the Spirit in the specific areas of our lives.  In other words, we will find and fulfill our calling today.

This is what God showed me in the scriptures, and what I pass on to you who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

How to completely stop feeling anxiety

Do not be anxious or worry about anything, but in all things through prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. ~The Apostle Paul

What do you usually do when you experience anxiety, or when you worry?  I usually can't stop thinking about whatever worries me.  I can't sleep or concentrate.  I'm distracted by what I fear will happen, or by what's happening that I can't stop.  Is that true for you?  If so, God gives us a way to be free from anxiety and worry.  I know from experience that what I'm about to share is true. 

God commands us not to worry or have anxiety.  This means it's not God's will for us to worry or have anxiety, so much so that we are sinning if we do it.   But don't let that discourage you.  Because God commands us not to worry, we have a choice; we have control over worrying or not worrying.  It's up to us.  So, God commands us not to worry.  But He doesn't stop there.  He tells us what to do instead.  Pray.  Thank Him for what we have.  Ask Him for what we don't have.  Ask Him to take away whatever we have that is harmful to us.  When we do these things, God promises to replace worry and anxiety with a divine and incomprehensible peace.  This is an example of how it has happened for me.

Say I'm worrying about a financial need.  I've been sick and I need money for a specific doctor's bill that I just don't have.  I'm beginning to worry.  So, I pray, first thanking God for the services the doctor provided, and that I'm doing better.  Then I ask God for the specific amount of money I need.  I tell him why I need it (though of course He already knows,) and I tell Him when I need it.  After I've poured out my heart to God, one of three things may happen, resulting in a divine, incomprehensible peace:

1. God provides the money.  Someone feels led by His Spirit to give me the exact amount I need, though I never asked them for it.

2. I no longer feel the need to think about the money, though I can't explain why.  I don't have any money yet.  And I don't know when or if it will come.  But for reasons I can't explain, I feel absolutely no need to think about it anymore.

3. The due date for the bill is three days away, and I still have no money, or any guarantee that I will have money.  Yet I still feel no need to think about the bill.

In all three cases, after praying my heart out, I am no longer distracted by thoughts about the money at all, though I can't explain it.  I'm free from anxiety.  You can also be free.  This is how.

What are you worried about right now?  (Be very specific.)  First, thank God for what you have, for every blessing in your life you can think of, at least two blessings.  Second, tell God exactly what you're worried about and why you're worried about it.  Third, ask him to give you what you lack, and to take away whatever is causing you harm.  Keep asking until you no longer feel distracted by the thoughts at all.  It should feel like a gradual lessening of a need even to pray any more.  Your prayer will fade into thoughts about other things in your life.  You worry will fade away.  This is God's incomprehensible peace.

What is righteousness?

"The Spirit will prove the world wrong...about righteousness...because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer."  The Lord Jesus

We have seen that sin is rejecting Jesus, and that we are wrong to reject him.  We are wrong to reject Jesus because he was and is innocent, perfectly innocent, eternally innocent. He is love incarnate, having died for us while we rejected him.  We rejected the innocent and beautiful God, who is love, who is light, who is spirit and life.

It's like hurting a new born baby's feelings.
Like kicking a puppy or kitten.
If we do things like that, we know we are evil.

God is more innocent than the most innocent kitten, puppy, or baby.  God has never sinned.
Jesus never sinned.  The Spirit never sins.  God is not only good, he is goodness.  And we reject him.  We reject our good Creator and Maker.  We do this with the very breath He gave us to breathe.  We reject righteousness.  God is righteousness.  Jesus is righteousness.  And so are His followers when they follow His Spirit.

If you are a follower of Jesus' Spirit, you are as innocent as He is--when you follow the Spirit.  People see and feel that.  When they reject you, persecute you, hate you, it's like they are rejecting, persecuting, and hating a vulnerable baby, kitten, or puppy.  That's why Jesus said he sends his followers out like sheep among wolves.  We are to be as innocent as doves--we do no harm.  And our harmlessness is our righteousness.  The Spirit proves people wrong about rejecting us, and Jesus in us.

What is sin?

"When the Spirit comes he will prove the world wrong to be wrong about sin, and righteousness, and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me..."

When we think of sin, we think about breaking God's commandments, and this is right.  Yet we may not think about the first and foremost command that supersedes and summarizes every command:

Believe in Jesus.

Before we believed, we disobeyed this command, and thus we sinned the ultimate sin.

Another definition of sin given in scripture is that we don't do the good we know to do.  And what is that good:  to accept Jesus.  Yet another definition of sin in scripture is this:  whatever we do apart from faith.  Faith in scripture is the definition of righteousness, so doubt must be the definition of unrighteousness, or sin.  We keep getting back to the same things:

The good we know to do is to obey God, and God's command is to have faith in Jesus.

But we didn't do that at first.  We rejected Jesus, and thus the mercy and goodness of God.  Here we are, rebels against our Maker and Creator, worthy of the death that comes when a leaf falls from a tree.  Some fallen leaves are green, others are brown, and some are crinkled.  But every fallen leaf is in fact dead--separated from its source of life.  We are dead without our Creator, our source of life.  And that's our fault, because we rejected his offer or reconciliation.  That's what sin is.

Some of you who are reading have repented of rejecting God.  Some of you haven't.  

If you haven't, you can do that right now.  

Admit that you've rejected God.  

Accept God as God.  

Accept His Son Jesus as Savior and Lord.