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Archive for the ‘The Father’ Category

Joy – So Much Greater than Happiness

Posted in God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Prayer, The Father, tagged , , , , , on March 2, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Joy and happiness are not the same.  Happiness is the light-hearted feeling we get when something goes our way.  An unexpected gift, our sports team winning, loved ones gathering together are all events that can produce happiness.  However happiness is transient.  When the positive stimuli is removed happiness drains away like water from a tub when the stopper is removed.  Happiness is based upon circumstances.  Therefore it ebbs and flows as our circumstances change.  Happiness is nice, but joy is so much better.

Joy is the uplifted feeling we have based upon the knowledge of spiritual truth.  Joy is first cousin to Peace.  They both emanate from a relationship with the living Lord and are responses to His promises and activity in our life.  Let’s follow the progression.  In John 8:31-32 To the Jews who had believed in Him Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”  In John 20:19 – 22 Jesus returned to the disciples immediately after His resurrection. He twice blessed them with His Peace and then breathed upon them imparting the Holy Spirit to them.  They were prepared to experience the Joy of the Lord in an on-going manner.  We have only to look at what happened a few weeks later at Pentecost (Acts 2) to see how the Lord poured out His Holy Spirit in a mighty, joy-filled torrent that stirred the city of Jerusalem and brought thousands into the church with one inspired teaching.

One way Joy is distinctly different from happiness is that it is independent of our circumstances.  Corrie Ten Boom was a believer imprisoned by the Nazi’s for aiding Jews.  In the midst of the horrid conditions of a Nazi concentration camp Corrie experienced the Joy of the Lord.  I think of the Stephen in His defense of the faith in Acts chapter 7.  The Word describes his beautiful countenance just prior to being martyred and I believe the Joy of the Lord was upon him.

Scripture tells us numerous times that the Joy of the Lord is our strength.  In a war it is vitally important to fight from a position of strength.  In military parlance that means things like holding the high ground, possessing detailed information about the enemy and their strategy, building superior forces through weaponry, training, and numbers.  In the spiritual realm it is just as important to fight from a position of strength.  Lest anyone fail to recognize that as a believer we are in a war, I simply point out that the world, the flesh, and the devil are all active antagonists against the church and those who follow the Lord Jesus.  So one crucial element of our position of strength is the Joy the Lord.  The parallel with physical warfare is that Joy is spiritual high ground.

Sadly many who profess the name of Jesus as Lord fail to walk in the Joy of the Lord.  All of us will have times when we struggle with our relationships.  Our relationship with the Lord is the foundation from which the Joy wells up.  Let me be clear, we are not to seek joy for the sake of having a constant happy feeling.  We are to seek the Lord and one by-product of that intimacy is the Joy of the Lord.  If your life does not reflect an over-riding, exuberant Joy at times, let me encourage you not to give up believing that it exists and is available to you.  The Lord’s desire is that we walk in intimacy with Him and experience His Joy is abundance.  Here are some practical steps to that end.

  1. Enter into a relationship with the Jesus.  We do this by recognizing we are separated from Him due to sin.  He has made a way though.  We simply turn away from our sin, believing that He died in our place, ask Him to come into our life, and then confess the truth that Jesus is Lord to others.
  2. Seek to grow in that grace by constantly looking for and taking your next step of faith.  If you just came to faith then find a bible-believing church and be baptized.  Another next step is to get involved in serving others through a local church.
  3. Read the Word of God consistently and prayerfully and do what it says.  I suggest a focus upon the teachings of Jesus, but include some from the old testament and the other books of the new testament as well.  When you read ask the Lord to make it come alive.
  4. Pray often.  Prayer is a dialogue with God.  He wants to speak to us.  One important balance that I have found is that when the Lord speaks to me it is often through His Word.  The times it is not specifically words from the bible it is always aligned with what the bible teaches.
  5. Ask the Lord to fill you with His Holy Spirit that you may understand more and more of what He is calling you to do and how to live.  As I look back over my life I see that Joy was present when I was obedient to what the Lord asked me to do.  And conversely, a lack of Joy describes the times when I was not actively seeking to know and please the Lord.

Don’t settle for less than God’s best.  Don’t substitute the world’s happiness for God’s joy.  Jesus said in Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His (our heavenly Father’s) kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” As we pour ourselves into knowing, growing, and pleasing God, He will fill our cup with everything we need… including a joy that will run out and over the cup touching lives around us in dramatic, life-changing ways.

Have a most blessed day today my friend.  An don’t forget to let your light so shine before men that they see and recognize your Father in Heaven.

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Most Powerful

Posted in God, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Prayer, Responsibility, The Father, tagged , , , , , , on March 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »

The unbridled pursuit of power has resulted in destruction and carnage throughout history.  Actions resulting from the struggle for power and domination headline the news today.  Whether it is Iran pursuing nuclear capability, ISIS striving to extend its realm of influence, or political leaders in the US seeking to push their agenda, the wielding of power comes at a great price.  Following these three conflicts too closely has a power of its own.  It is easy to be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the real and potential consequences of these conflicts.  All three of these headline-dominating topics fall short of the most powerful force in the universe though.  And that makes all the difference.  That of course is the power of God available to and through His children through intercessory prayer.  From Ephesians 1:19b and following.  “That power is the same as the mighty strength He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.”

The point today is not to spend a lot of time discussing God’s power.  From creating the universe, raising Jesus from the dead, and guiding the fledgling Church from 12 frightened disciples to the worldwide instrument of good that it is today – His credentials are solid.  Ultimate power resides in the Lord God Almighty.  I have been stirred lately that the Lord has a message for the Church today that we have a role to play in releasing His power in our day.  And that comes when we enter into intercessory prayer.

Prayer is simply communication with God.  It is meant to be a dialogue.  It is not meant to be a rote recitation of sacred words.  It is not meant to be an obligation we dutifully fulfill.  It is a conversation between two parties who love and respect each other.  God condescends to meet us where we are.  And through our time together He lifts us bit by bit to a higher place.  The more time spent with God in intimate fellowship, the less the cares and worries of this world hold and control us.  This intimacy is flooded with the Word of God.  Repeatedly the scriptures come to mind as I fellowship with the Father.  This is a primary way the Lord will speak to us.  He makes His Word come alive in our hearts.  The end result is that more and more we transformed and the mind of Christ takes shape within us.

As we spend time together with the Father, His desires become our desires.  This is where intercessory prayer begins.  It is as simple as longing for and expressing God’s desires into being through our lives and with our mouth.  We ask for those things that God desires to see happen in the world.

Jesus modeled this in His ministry.  He would begin the day in time alone with the Father.  He would then come down with purpose and launch into the day’s activity.  His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane is instructive.  He knew what God’s plan was long before he entered that final private time with the Father.  He had foreshadowed to the disciples what was going to happen on numerous occasions.  Yet when the time actually arrived His disciples didn’t recognize it.  Jesus himself agonized over what was to take place offering up one more petition for a Plan B.  He even asked, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”  He communed with His Father consistently. He understood what the Father’s plan was.  He acted upon it and He spoke it into being.  In John chapter 17 Jesus begins with a brief petition for Himself and then intercedes for His disciples and then all who would become believers.  Through His obedience the world was forever changed and lives continue to be transformed to this day … salvation, deliverance, healing, restoration, death to life all through Jesus’ life, death, and faithful obedience to the Father.

When Jesus ascended into heaven He promised to send the Holy Spirit to the Church.  The Holy Spirit is God living and abiding in the believer.  He is our counselor who always points the way to Jesus and the Father.  Jesus speaks to who the Holy Spirit is and what He will do in John chapters 14 – 16.  In John 14:12 Jesus tells His disciples, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”  Jesus is passing on His mantle to whoever believes in me.  That is us!  And that is amazing!!

One of the less visible, but vitally crucial roles God has given the church is that of intercessory prayer.  Missionaries are absolutely dependent upon the financial support from home to continue their work.  I would argue that it is an even greater need for the prayer support from home to remain unceasing.  The same God who was able to put a coin into the mouth of a fish for Peter and Jesus’ taxes is the same God who will meet the needs of a missionary in the field if the intercessory prayer is taking place.

Rees Howell was the President of the Bible College of Wales during WWII.  His greatest calling though was that of an intercessor.  During the war there were numerous times when the Holy Spirit would lay the burden of intercession heavy upon Mr. Howell.  One instance the burden was so great that He was moved to cancel classes and call for the entire school to enter into intercessory prayer.  As the hours marched on, hundreds of students and faculty were on their face before God, interceding for God’s hand of protection upon those in great peril.  At times the mood in the chapel would shift as the Lord’s Spirit impressed the urgency of the situation upon the group gathered together.  Late at night the Holy Spirit let Rees know the work was completed.  A few days later news came from Italy of a miraculous intervention as the Allies moved across the Island of Sicily.  The Allies were surrounded and facing certain annihilation. Reinforcements were not going to arrive in time and the German and Italian bombardment was taking a tremendous toll.  It was simply a matter of time before the outgunned Allied soldiers were decimated.  The commanders had considered surrender, but decided to hold until they could hold no longer which wouldn’t be long.  Suddenly and inexplicably the bombardment stopped.  The bombing ceased in the night at exactly the time that the word was given to the intercessors that their immediate work was through.

Now this begs the question – does God take sides in a conflict?  The answer is simple.  God is Holy and He is His own.  We need to seek His face, grow in our intimacy with Him and then we join His side.  In the present conflict with ISIS, just like in World War II there is a very clear evil at work on one side of the conflict.  While it is surprising that a clear plan of action has not come forward to deal with ISIS this simply means we still have time to intercede.  You and I are called to pray the desires of God into existence.  He wants us to partner with Him in the redemption of the world and intercession is one of the ways we do that.

Go back to Ephesians where we started.  Pick it up at Ephesian 1:18 – 19a.  “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.”  Friends I encourage you to ask God to put a burden on your heart to join Him in intercession.  Consider a healthy dis-satisfaction with evil as a starting place and ask God to give you the words and perseverance to pray through.  When He does launch into it with all you are.  When we do we are tying into God’s incomparable great power for us who believe.

Be blessed and be a blessing to those the Father puts in your path and on your heart today.

 

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Lent 2015

Posted in Jesus Christ, The Father, Uncategorized, tagged , , , on February 18, 2015| 1 Comment »

Good Morning and Welcome to Lent 2015. Lent is the season of preparation immediately preceding Easter. In the early church this time was spent in final training for Easter baptism for persons who had decided to give their life to the Lord.  While the faith and commitment of a life given to God remains the same, there have been many adaptations through the years.  As we begin our Lenten journey together this year let’s take a look at some of the roots of the Christian faith and allow our Father to inspire us this year to deepen our walk with Him.

Life commitment.  For much of the history of the church, being objects of persecution has been the norm.  The Roman Empire had a god and he was the Caesar.  In reality they had a lot of “gods”, but what was officially frowned upon was a religion that espoused a solitary, supreme God that was not under the Roman boot.  As such the early church experienced repeated periods of intense persecution which included being treated as second-class citizens, torture, and even publically sanctioned murder simply based upon the fact they were Christians.

Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:24 – 27 sets the bar for what it means to follow Him.

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will find it.  What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?  For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father’s glory with His angels and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.” 

Becoming a Christian is not simply responding to an altar call to receive a get-out-of-hell card.  It can start there, but the Lord is calling us to something so much more demanding and so much more rewarding than that.  And the early church dedicated time to teaching initiates about that with Lent being the final exam if you will.

As Christians in the western world we have experienced very little persecution directly impacting our lives, yet the reality is it has always existed.  The prince of this world, Satan, has and still does wage a relentless attack against the people of God.  Recently we have had the brutality and evil of it exposed in the atrocities committed by ISIS.  This is not really new however.  In the past 1200 years over 270,000,000 people have been murdered in the name of Islam.  To be Jewish or Christian and to hold to that faith was to be under a death sentence.  And in large parts of the world today it still is.

The point of this is that a commitment to follow the God of the bible, to trust in the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross, cannot be taken lightly.  What God calls us to is not a life of ease (although we are to rest in Him) nor is it a trouble-free life (but do not worry because Jesus has overcome the world), but it is a life that will be filled with God’s grace and abundant love.  When a person accepts Jesus as their savior and Lord, they truly move from death to life.  While that may make us targets of Satan (and Islam) it also comes with so many amazing benefits – Jesus’ promise to never leave us or forsake us, we are given the Holy Spirit as our counselor and helper, we are sealed as God’s possession forever, and the list goes on.

Over the coming weeks let’s dig deeper into what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.  I would love to hear back from you.  Please share your thoughts or experiences with how God has stretched you, taught you, and helped you grow in your faith.

Until tomorrow I pray you will be blessed and be a blessing to another.

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My Healer

Posted in God Stories, Prayer, The Father, Uncategorized, tagged , , on February 17, 2015| Leave a Comment »

As some of you know I had a miraculous intervention last March where the Lord used a dream to send me to the doctor where they found and corrected three blockages in my heart with stints.  Since then I have been on medications, I changed my diet, and I have worked to remain consistent in my exercise regimen.  What I did not change until the beginning of this year was the stressful work situation.  I have exchanged what was a stress-filled job with a slightly less stress filled beginning of a new career as a Reliability Consultant.

One week ago today as I was driving to meet two of my three brothers for breakfast I felt a twinge of pain in my chest.  It lasted about 10 – 15 seconds, but it was a real pain right above my heart.  It was not unlike other pains that anyone who is over 50 has periodically, but the fact that it was where it was caused me to take note.  As time went on, I began noticing this pain come more frequently… 2 or 3 times on Wednesday, 5 or 6 times on Thursday.  It was not severe pain, more like a slight crick in my chest.  The pain was not nearly as bad as the thoughts that began going through my head.

Now some might ask why I didn’t go to the doctor immediately to have it checked out.  Well, I was praying for guidance, the pain was really minimal, I didn’t have any other symptoms, and I didn’t want to be like Chicken Little saying the sky is falling.

Friday night I woke up with some pain.  At that same moment with no words spoken Lisa reached over and put her hand on my head.  I remembered thinking, “Well the Lord has Lisa praying for me, it’s going to be fine.”  When she pulled her hand away I was fine.

Saturday morning I told our daughter Christin who had come down for a weekend visit about it.  She has completed a year of graduate school for Physical Therapy.  She performed some checks and found that I had tenderness in the connecting tissue around my ribs right above my heart.  That made me feel better mentally, but when she asked if I had hit my chest or done something to cause this I couldn’t think of anything.

Saturday was a great day as we visited with lots of family.  The only problem was that the pain in my chest was the worst it had been.  So while Christin’s diagnosis gave me some sense of relief that it wasn’t my heart, the fact that I couldn’t think of what I had done to cause it still had me concerned.

Now I know the Lord is able to make things clear enough that I truly trusted Him to let me know if I was supposed to go to the doctor.  Since He was not leading me to that I knew the answer was either that the pain was not something to worry about or He was about to take me home and He would use my home-going for good in other people’s lives.  That didn’t remove the niggle of doubt that kept trying to creep in periodically, but it did give me a place of faith to stand.

Our Pastor felt the leading of the Lord to change the service on Sunday.  The new message was one of God’s Grace Gives us Freedom.  It was specifically aimed at proclaiming God’s promises that as believers we can walk in healing, deliverance, restoration, and wholeness.  I am a member of the Care Team and at the end of the service all Care Team members were invited to come down front to be ready to pray with people that come forward asking for prayer.  It was also mentioned that if we needed prayer that we were to simply face the other way and other Care Team or staff members would pray for us.

Well I really wanted to pray for others.  But I also had the question about should I get prayer for my heart.  When I went down front I decided I would pray for others and then afterwards I would ask for prayer.  A staff member I had never met brought a young man in front of me and was talking with him.  I couldn’t hear them over the music, but I felt a prompting to go up and join in agreement with them for whatever the need was so I stepped up to lay hands on and pray with the young man.  I did not know either of them and when I came up they already had eyes closed and were praying.  This is what I heard immediately upon stepping up.

“Lord, I know you love Dan (my name is Dan for those who don’t already know) and you desire wholeness in his body.  You have knit his body together and you know how he was made.  I ask now for healing for all stomach and digestive issues (I had also been having some stomach and digestive issues which I had only mentioned to Lisa because they were just a nuisance).  Father I pray for every cell in his body which you have created to function as it is supposed to and that he will know complete health.”

By this time I was weeping because our Father was allowing me to both pray with someone who needed healing, but He had brought forth someone with my name so I was being prayed for too.  I can’t tell you how encouraging it was to know the Lord had orchestrated this.  Afterwards I shared with the staff member my story an we prayed again.

When I came home my daughter-in-law, Jordan came in.  I told her about what I had been feeling in my chest.  She said said, “it sounds like you have Chondritis.  That’s inflammation of the cartilage around the ribs.  I had a friend who would swim in the morning and she would sometimes get that from swimming too much.”  With that she provided the final piece of the puzzle.  Christin had diagnosed me correctly, but didn’t offer the link to swimming.  On the Monday before I started feeling the pain I had swum 32 laps at the Y in training for possibly entering a sprint triathlon this spring.  I even remember pulling particularly hard trying to improve my stroke.

Now I share my stories because I am absolutely convinced that if the Lord loves a lug like me enough to intervene in my life like this, I know that He loves anyone who has read this far.  If you are already a believer take encouragement that God knows every situation and circumstance you are going through and He walks them with you.  He is your healer too.

If you have never met the Lord, I encourage you to reach out to Him right now.  God loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus to be our Savior.  He died in our place.  You see God is absolutely Holy and sin cannot dwell in His presence.  If it were left at that we would be doomed to live in separation from God for eternity.  However His love for us is so great that He chose to send His Son to actually live on this earth as a man.  He was perfect and He always lived in unity and harmony with His Father.  But His ultimate purpose was fulfilled on the cross.  Jesus let Himself be captured, falsely accused, judged, beaten, and then crucified because it was the Father’s plan to fulfill the requirements of justice.  And while Jesus was on the cross, God put all sin – every sin that had ever been committed, all sin that will ever be committed, upon His Son,  When Jesus died God judged the sin and the penalty was paid.  On the third day after His death God raised Jesus back to life.  Before Jesus returned to heaven He was seen by hundreds of people.

Our act to have our sins covered in this is really very simple.  We simply recognize that we have sinned, we decide to turn away from our old life of sin and we chose to follow Jesus.  Romans 10:9 says it like this – “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

If this encourages you or helps in some way please let me know.  If the Lord tugs at your heart and you want to talk about what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ, please send me a comment and I will be happy to correspond with you.  Jesus loves you and He wants you to know that.

Be blessed and be a blessing today.

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