"Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
'For I was hungry, and the government gave Me something to eat;
I was thirsty, and the government gave Me something to drink;
I was a stranger, and the government invited Me in;
naked, and the government clothed Me;
I was sick, and the government visited Me;
I was in prison, and the government came to Me.'
The church has slowly, over the last 100+/- years, subjugated its role as the hands and feet of Jesus Christ by allowing the government to take its place in our society. And in so doing we have now created several generations of citizens who truly believe that it is the government's role to do these things. What additionally comes along with this mind set is the notion of keeping and maintaining a separation between the 'church and state' in the daily affairs of life. We have taken the bait and bitten fully into the idea that we should keep our ‘religious beliefs’ strictly at home and in our churches on Sundays – don’t bring them nor espouse them in the modern world of human affairs. If you are a follower of Christ and you have taken this path then you have bought into a lie from the enemy.
Christ's words in these verses are "when you" not "when the government" did these things! Governments have their roles to play in the lives and affairs of men and God has thus ordained them. But when we forsake and turn over our ministry responsibilities (His call on our lives) and follow the wide path that allows and even promotes organized government as THE ANSWER to meeting life's needs, we have fallen short of His glory. Is Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives (every breathing moment) and the foundation of our faith (what we base all that we do, say and are) or is He just the ‘go to guy’ in our homes, on Sundays and on special occasions, when we want/need Him?
Here is a quote from David Wilkerson's newsletter that gets to the heart of the matter - "Yet, at some point in history, Christians began to limit the present power of our great, miracle-working Savior. The church developed a theology that made Christ God of the spiritual but not of the natural. Let me give you an example. In the present day, we believe Jesus can forgive sins and relieve our guilt. We believe He can provide us with peace and joy and even give us eternal life. And He does all of this in the unseen, invisible world. But not many of us know Jesus as God of the natural world we live in. We don't know Him as Lord over our everyday affairs…Jesus has never been more powerful than He is right now."
Ah yes, it comes down to this – who do we believe has the power? In our world today it is who, in the natural realm, we believe has the power that we look to for the answers to the issues of daily life and it appears that the government is winning in this opinion poll. But true power – unlimited, creative, new life generating, life changing, bread of life, fount of living waters, heaven and earth shaking power - is found in the Lord alone – there is no other.
So, where does your faith rest today?
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Prayers are not op-ed pieces…
Prayers are not op-ed pieces…
From the heart flows the matters of life – is that where your prayers come from?
Or are your prayers op-ed pieces to the Lord providing your opinions and defense of your positions? Do you use logic integrated with man’s wisdom to order your requests and supplications to the Lord? Do your prayers seek to justify your desires and wants based upon the trappings of this world?
Do you actively seek the Lord’s heart in the matters that you bring before His throne? And are you willing to wait for His hand to move upon them? Is it your passion to see the Lord Jesus glorified in and through your prayer life? What part does scripture play in your prayers?
Do you groan and know not what to pray and then allow the Holy Spirit to lead you? Are you willing to wait and listen for His still small voice? And once you have heard His voice are you willing and able to promptly act upon His words?
Oh the wonder that is prayer and the great honor and privilege that our Lord has offered to us that we might boldly come before His throne at any time with our adoration, our confession, our thanksgiving, our supplication – the invitation to walk and talk with Him about the issues of life, of eternity.
May our prayers be a testament to our faith and our trust in the Lord. Might we desire to move beyond the op-ed prayers of our day and delve deeply into the living water that refreshes and brings life – the true things of life that spring forth from the deepest longings of our changed hearts – and glorify the One True and Living God…
'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'
(John 7:37-38)
From the heart flows the matters of life – is that where your prayers come from?
Or are your prayers op-ed pieces to the Lord providing your opinions and defense of your positions? Do you use logic integrated with man’s wisdom to order your requests and supplications to the Lord? Do your prayers seek to justify your desires and wants based upon the trappings of this world?
Do you actively seek the Lord’s heart in the matters that you bring before His throne? And are you willing to wait for His hand to move upon them? Is it your passion to see the Lord Jesus glorified in and through your prayer life? What part does scripture play in your prayers?
Do you groan and know not what to pray and then allow the Holy Spirit to lead you? Are you willing to wait and listen for His still small voice? And once you have heard His voice are you willing and able to promptly act upon His words?
Oh the wonder that is prayer and the great honor and privilege that our Lord has offered to us that we might boldly come before His throne at any time with our adoration, our confession, our thanksgiving, our supplication – the invitation to walk and talk with Him about the issues of life, of eternity.
May our prayers be a testament to our faith and our trust in the Lord. Might we desire to move beyond the op-ed prayers of our day and delve deeply into the living water that refreshes and brings life – the true things of life that spring forth from the deepest longings of our changed hearts – and glorify the One True and Living God…
'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'
(John 7:37-38)
Friday, August 13, 2010
What does your wake look like?
We all leave wakes, just as a boat creates a wake as it makes it way through the water, as we proceed through each day of our life on this Earth. Our actions, our deeds, our decisions, even our thoughts create wakes in the fabric of life that touches other people – whether we see it or not! These surges of 'waves of water' that emanate from what we do, say and think are the indicators of who we are and what we truly believe in our heart. And these wakes that we create can either bring glory to God or they can bring vainglory to ourselves.
Our example of what a perfect wake looks like is found in Jesus Christ and His walk upon this Earth. Abounding in grace and truth to all those that were around Him – this is what was revealed in His wake. Sometimes His wake was large and powerful and hit people firmly and directly with His truth other times it was small ripples that gently enveloped people with His unconditional love. All of His wakes were for the purpose of bringing people to a place where they had to make a decision regarding the issues of life and eternity, truth and falsehood, sin and righteousness, heaven and hell – a wake of unconditional love that brought the truth of God into the lives of mankind.
I don’t know that the church (each person that is a part of the body of Christ) today really thinks about the wakes that we are creating. Our words say that we want to leave 'Jesus filled' wakes in our daily lives but our actions seem to indicate that we are satisfied with leaving wakes of our own making – wakes that reflect conditional love, self centered focus, material desires.
I know in my life one of my wake struggles is with our call to be ready to encourage, exhort and rebuke – for I am all to ready to rebuke before I am ready to encourage and exhort. This became apparent to me as I was attempting to coach Benjamin at football practice the other night. I have spent more time rebuking him than I have encouraging and exhorting him and I saw that the wake that I was creating (a wake of my own making) directly affected his life in a non-edifying way.
So, are the wakes that we are creating each day Jesus filled? Are we using the gifts that He gave us to create wakes that ripple with eternity in mind? Do our wakes minister unto Him or are they just like the world’s - wakes that wreak confusion and havoc, wakes that are filled with vainglory and selfishness and wakes that do not edify and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ?
Our example of what a perfect wake looks like is found in Jesus Christ and His walk upon this Earth. Abounding in grace and truth to all those that were around Him – this is what was revealed in His wake. Sometimes His wake was large and powerful and hit people firmly and directly with His truth other times it was small ripples that gently enveloped people with His unconditional love. All of His wakes were for the purpose of bringing people to a place where they had to make a decision regarding the issues of life and eternity, truth and falsehood, sin and righteousness, heaven and hell – a wake of unconditional love that brought the truth of God into the lives of mankind.
I don’t know that the church (each person that is a part of the body of Christ) today really thinks about the wakes that we are creating. Our words say that we want to leave 'Jesus filled' wakes in our daily lives but our actions seem to indicate that we are satisfied with leaving wakes of our own making – wakes that reflect conditional love, self centered focus, material desires.
I know in my life one of my wake struggles is with our call to be ready to encourage, exhort and rebuke – for I am all to ready to rebuke before I am ready to encourage and exhort. This became apparent to me as I was attempting to coach Benjamin at football practice the other night. I have spent more time rebuking him than I have encouraging and exhorting him and I saw that the wake that I was creating (a wake of my own making) directly affected his life in a non-edifying way.
So, are the wakes that we are creating each day Jesus filled? Are we using the gifts that He gave us to create wakes that ripple with eternity in mind? Do our wakes minister unto Him or are they just like the world’s - wakes that wreak confusion and havoc, wakes that are filled with vainglory and selfishness and wakes that do not edify and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ?
Friday, August 6, 2010
Do you hear His voice?
Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, " You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?"
(John 18:37-38)
Do you hear His voice? The voice that came into the world to testify to the truth. The voice that speaks to us today if we would only take the time to listen…to have our hardened hearts softened with the oil of the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth! The truth bears witness to itself and is revealed to those who diligently seek after it.
We seem to live in a 'Pilate age' where the question of "what is truth" is asked rhetorically and really isn't meant to be answered. Or, might I say, that most do not really want to know what truth is for then one becomes accountable to it! For truth causes us to look at ourselves, it is a measure that casts a plumb line against our own agendas, it provides us with a reflection, as in a mirror, of the status of our own heart's condition.
Truth is the only foundation that one can build upon. Yet, in our age, we ignore the solid foundation and build upon the sand and then we wonder why we are tossed about with every new wind and thought that comes along. How dishonesty, greed, avarice, arrogance, distrust, selfishness seem to be lurking everywhere with greater intensity.
Truth is not relative to the situation as we have been informed so often in our day. The forces of anti-christ supply the winds that drive the sails of relative truth - which is the true agenda of the enemy of our souls; there is no truth...did God really say that?
Deserting the truth while imbibing in relativism esteems the enemy and serves to validate his lies and distortions to the lost masses. It serves to promulgate the tide of deception that historically ebbs and flows through civilization. And in our time the ebb has been steadily building and the flow is coming in like a flood.
We either stand firm in His truth or we stand for nothing or as is our case today - for anything!
Do you hear His voice?
(John 18:37-38)
Do you hear His voice? The voice that came into the world to testify to the truth. The voice that speaks to us today if we would only take the time to listen…to have our hardened hearts softened with the oil of the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth! The truth bears witness to itself and is revealed to those who diligently seek after it.
We seem to live in a 'Pilate age' where the question of "what is truth" is asked rhetorically and really isn't meant to be answered. Or, might I say, that most do not really want to know what truth is for then one becomes accountable to it! For truth causes us to look at ourselves, it is a measure that casts a plumb line against our own agendas, it provides us with a reflection, as in a mirror, of the status of our own heart's condition.
Truth is the only foundation that one can build upon. Yet, in our age, we ignore the solid foundation and build upon the sand and then we wonder why we are tossed about with every new wind and thought that comes along. How dishonesty, greed, avarice, arrogance, distrust, selfishness seem to be lurking everywhere with greater intensity.
Truth is not relative to the situation as we have been informed so often in our day. The forces of anti-christ supply the winds that drive the sails of relative truth - which is the true agenda of the enemy of our souls; there is no truth...did God really say that?
Deserting the truth while imbibing in relativism esteems the enemy and serves to validate his lies and distortions to the lost masses. It serves to promulgate the tide of deception that historically ebbs and flows through civilization. And in our time the ebb has been steadily building and the flow is coming in like a flood.
We either stand firm in His truth or we stand for nothing or as is our case today - for anything!
Do you hear His voice?
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