God Calls us His Children

Last year at this time we introduced you to Darrell Koop who is the Lead Pastor of Upwards Church (which is also the name of their blog) with two locations in Texas. As we said the first time, there is a wealth of Bible commentary available at this page including a recently concluded series in Matthew. (Today’s post has a great introduction to the Book of Job.) To read the devotional we selected for today, click the header which follows.

The Example of a Child – Matthew 18:1-4

What name does God use most often to describe His people? The Bible identifies the people of God by many names. But more frequently than anything else we are called “children;” “children of promise, children of the day, children of the light, beloved children, dear children, and children of God.”

As believers we can rejoice in the wonderful truth that, through Christ, we have become God’s own children, adopted through grace. We bear the image of God’s family and are joint heirs with Jesus Christ of everything God possesses. We enjoy God’s love, care, protection, power, and other resources in abundance for all eternity.

But there is another side to our being children, and in Scripture believers are also referred to as children in the sense that we are incomplete, weak, dependent, undeveloped, unskilled, vulnerable, and immature.

Matthew 18 focuses on those immature, unperfected, childlike qualities that believers demonstrate as they mutually develop into conformity to the fullness of the stature of Jesus Christ.

Jesus teaches on the specific theme of the childlikeness of the believer, speaking directly to the reality that we are spiritual children with all the weaknesses that childhood implies. It is also essential to see that the chapter teaches the church, as a group of spiritually unperfected children how to get along with each other.

The context for the sermon is indicated by the phrase at that time, which refers to a period the disciples came to Jesus, possibly at Peter’s house in Capernaum.

The Lord’s teaching was prompted by the disciples themselves, who asked Him a very selfish question that betrayed their sinful ambitions. We learn from Mark and Luke that the question, Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? resulted from an argument the Twelve had been having among themselves “as to which of them might be the greatest” (Luke 9:46; cf. Mark 9:34). Although Jesus omnisciently knew what had happened, He asked, “What were you discussing on the way?” The disciples were so ashamed of their attitude and conversation that “they kept silent” (Mark 9:33-34).

Their embarrassed silence shows they knew that what they had been doing was inconsistent with what their Master had been teaching on humility. But the fact that they nevertheless were arguing about their relative ranks in the kingdom shows they were making little effort to apply what they had been taught. They were as proud, self-seeking, self-sufficient, and ambitious as ever. In light of what they had been discussing and the way they phrased the question to Jesus, it is obvious they expected Him to name one of them as the greatest.

Leonard Bernstein, the late conductor of the New York Philharmonic orchestra, was once asked to name the most difficult instrument to play. Without hesitation, he replied, “The second fiddle. I can get plenty of first violinists, but to find someone who can play the second fiddle with enthusiasm—that’s a problem. And if we have no second fiddle, we have no harmony.”

This is the failure of the Disciples. Just as they had heard but not really accepted what Jesus had been teaching about humility they also had heard but not really accepted what He had been teaching about the kingdom. They obviously still expected Jesus soon to set up an earthly kingdom, and each of them was hoping to have a high rank in that dominion. They were especially competitive about being number one.

Earlier that same day (see 17:22-23) that Jesus had told them (for the third time) about His impending suffering and death. Although they did not fully understand what He was saying to them (Mark 9:32), they should have sensed its gravity And even though they were afraid to ask Jesus what He meant, it would seem they would have been discussing that issue rather than which of them was to be the greatest.

The Disciples demonstrated no concept of humility, very little compassion, and certainly no willingness to take up their own crosses and follow Christ. (Matt. 10:38-39; 16:24-26).

Several months after this lesson in Capernaum, their selfish ambition was still very much evident. Probably at her sons’ instigation, the mother of James and John asked Jesus, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left” (Matt. 20:20-21). The other disciples were indignant at the two brothers, but their indignation was not righteous but envious (v. 24).

It must have been especially painful to Jesus that, just as on the occasion recorded in chapter 18, this self-seeking request came immediately after He had predicted His suffering and death (20:19). There is no indication of sympathy, consolation, or grief concerning what their Lord was about to endure on their behalf and on the behalf of His elect. And on the night before He died, while He was eating the Last Supper with them, they were still arguing about their own greatness (Luke 22:24).

Like all of us, the disciples needed repeated lessons in humility, and here Jesus used a child as His illustration.

In verse two: calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them

The word used for child “Paidion” identifies a very young child, sometimes even an infant. This particular child was perhaps a toddler, just old enough to run to Jesus when He called him to Himself. Because the group was likely in Peter’s house, the child may have belonged to Peter’s family and already been well known to Jesus. In any case, the child readily responded and allowed himself to be taken up into Jesus’ arms (Mark 9:36). Jesus loved children and they loved Him, and as He sat before the disciples holding this small child in His arms, He had a beautiful setting in which to teach them profound lessons about the childlikeness of believers. In taking the child up into his arms, Jesus put Himself on the same level as the child and the other adults around him.

The essence of the first lesson is in verse three, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn from your sins and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

That is an absolute and far-reaching requirement of ultimate importance. Entrance into Christ’s kingdom demands childlikeness.

The “Kingdom of Heaven,” a phrase Matthew uses 32 times, is synonymous with the kingdom of God.  The Kingdom of Heaven emphasizes the sphere and character of His rule, and kingdom of God emphatically pointing to the ruler Himself. God rules His kingdom with heavenly principles and heavenly blessings and in heavenly power, majesty, and glory. Entering the kingdom means coming under the sovereign rule of God.

Jesus is talking directly about entering God’s kingdom by faith, through salvation that will result in eternal glory. The phrase “enter the kingdom of heaven” is used three times in the book of Matthew (see also 7:21; 19:23-24) and in each case refers to personal salvation. It is the same experience as entering into life (18:8) and entering into the joy of the Lord (25:21).

The fact that a person must enter the kingdom assumes he is born outside of it under the rule of Satan and that he is not naturally a heavenly citizen under the rule of God. The purpose of the gospel is to show men how they may enter the kingdom and become its citizens:

Colossians 1:13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

The purpose of Christ’s ministry and the ministries of John the Baptist and the apostles was to call people to the kingdom. That is still the supreme task of the church.

The first component presented for entering the kingdom is repentance.

The message of John the Baptist was:

Matthew 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

It was with that identical message that the Lord began His own ministry (4:17). The initial call for ending the kingdom was a call for people to recognize and repent of their sin, which involves genuine desire to turn away from it.

A second component of the faith that grants entrance to the kingdom is the recognition of spiritual bankruptcy. Beatitudes begin with a call to humility, expressed there as poverty of spirit (Matt. 5:3).

Matthew 5:3-8 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The Greek word “poor in spirit” refers to a beggar who has absolutely no resources of his own. Because the repentant and bankrupt person is deeply aware of his sin, he mourns over it (v. 4); because he has no righteousness of his own, he hungers and thirsts for God’s righteousness (v. 6); and because he cannot himself cleanse his sin, he longs for the purity of heart (v. 8) that only God can provide.

The person who genuinely wants to enter God’s kingdom sees himself as utterly unworthy and undeserving. His awareness of his sin brings guilt and frustration over his inadequacy to remove it. He knows that he cannot himself cleanse his sin and that he has nothing to offer God that could merit forgiveness for it.

As Jesus took the young child in His arms and held him up before the disciples, the Lord gathered up all those elements of salvation explaining the beginning of verse three:

Matthew 18:3 “Truly, I say to you, unless you repent and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus explained. A little child is simple, dependent, helpless, unaffected, unpretentious, unambitious. Children are not sinless or naturally unselfish, and they display their fallen nature from the earliest age. But they are nevertheless naive and unassuming, trusting of others and without ambition for grandeur and greatness.

Children trust their parents to take care of them. They do not lie awake wondering where the next meal is coming from. They are anxiety free and confident that everything they need will be provided.

The conclusion is then in verse four:

Matthew 18:4 “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Who is this message for? The first word of verse four tells us: Whoever.

The nature of humility pictured with a child shows the end to the desire for power, status, self-sufficiency, rights and control.

A little child makes no claims of worthiness or greatness. He knows he cannot meet his own needs and has no resources to stay alive. That is the kind of humble submissiveness that results in greatness in God’s eyes and in His kingdom.

The greatest in the kingdom of heaven is the one who is humble, unaffected, genuinely sincere, undemanding, not self-centered, receptive to whatever God offers, and eagerly obedient to whatever He commands.

The disciples had become so preoccupied with the organization of Jesus’ earthly kingdom that they had lost sight of its divine purpose. Instead of seeking a place of service, they sought positions of advantage. It is easy to lose our eternal perspective and compete for promotions or status. It is difficult, but healthy, to identify with “children” weak and dependent upon Jesus.

In what ways are you making progress with childlikeness?

---

Today’s devotional marks 4,800 posts here at Christianity 201.

Keeping Your Words Few

This may seem a strange title for a blog that isn’t exactly known for its brevity, but there is so much on scripture about concision in speech that you could almost say the scriptures offer a doctrine of reticence which is part of a larger theology of Christian character. Simply put, a Christ-follower is one who knows when to speak and when to be silent, because in too much talking…

You could accidentally betray a confidence:

Proverbs 20:19 (NIV)

¹⁹ A gossip betrays a confidence;
so avoid anyone who talks too much

Your prayers could become a religious formula:

Matthew 6:7 (NIV)

⁷ And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.

Your words could simply get lost in the sea of communications:

Ecclesiastes 12:12a (MSG)

^12-13 But regarding anything beyond this, dear friend, go easy. There’s no end to the publishing of books…

You could simply look foolish:

Proverbs 17:28 (NIV)

²⁸ Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent,
and discerning if they hold their tongues.

You could even say something to God you might regret:

Job 40:4-5 (NLT)

⁴ “I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers?
I will cover my mouth with my hand.
⁵ I have said too much already.
I have nothing more to say.”

Or you might simply forget who God is, and become too casual with Him:

Ecclesiastes 5:2 (NIV)

² Do not be quick with your mouth,
do not be hasty in your heart
to utter anything before God.
God is in heaven
and you are on earth,
so let your words be few…

Or publicly uncover an inconsistency in your life:

James 3:10 (NASB)

¹⁰ from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.

I was once asked to explain the term concision to someone, and I said this, “Imagine that you are trying to sell something through an advertisement in a newspaper or online where you are being charged $2.00 per word. You map out what you want to say, but then you trim it back to see how efficiently you can say the same thing. Your edited version actually will have greater impact.”

It is true in speech, in sermons, in blogging, in printed books, etc.  So many voices are competing for your attention, and in a bullet point word, sometimes less is more. Skye Jethani once tweeted:

Many books should be articles. Many articles should be blog posts. Many blog posts should be tweets. And many tweets should not be.

We all feel we contribute significance by our words, therefore we want to talk, we want to be heard, we want to influence, we want to weigh in on the topic of the day. But in the end, we are better to practice an economy of words; to let our words be few. It’s not just good sense, it’s scriptural.

(Appropriately, today’s devotional stays true to the theme of brevity, clocking in at exactly 500 words.)

The Difficulties are Actually What You Prayed For

After a break of several years, this is our seventh time highlighting Lori Thomason at Pure Devotion. Click the header below to read where it first appeared and click here to read her story.

Be Careful What You Pray For

James 2:1-3 (TPT) My fellow believers, when it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties, see it as an invaluable opportunity to experience the greatest joy that you can! For you know that when your faith is tested it stirs up in you the power of endurance.

“If it’s odd – it’s God!” I honestly do not remember where I read this but it has been such a great reminder. There are times when despite our best efforts and endless attempts at normality that life becomes out of control. There really is no such thing as a normal life. There is no set standard of perfection of humanity that everyone must strive for – no there is none righteous no not one. But I wonder if there might be some encouragement in understanding that rather summarizing these as random events, perhaps it’s God answering the innermost cry of our heart to know Him, see Him or experience Him.

“When it seems as though you are facing nothing but difficulties…” Are you facing endless trials? Day after day, it seems you cannot catch a break. The darkness of the world seems to be snuffing out the Light within you. Mistaken. Misunderstood. Alone. There are so many definitions of “difficulties” as unique to each human being. How does one “see it as an invaluable opportunity?” Well let me ask you – have you asked the Lord to stir you up recently? To fan the flame of His Spirit in you? To know Him more? To experience His Great Power? To have authentic faith? Well then my sweet friend, you prayed for this opportunity labeled as “difficulties”.

“For you know that when your faith is tested it stirs up in you the power of endurance.” Many have been fasting this month, while others set fitness as a high priority embarking on a wellness journey including diet and exercise. It’s mid-January – how’s that going? Change is hard for humans especially unexpected change. However, the transformation process is nothing but change. This process in Jesus is even more challenging sometimes because He is perfect meaning the Lord isn’t going to stop halfway. He wants to give you the greatest joy possible. He is stretching and reshaping you to fill you with more. It is uncomfortable and messing but it is important to yield our former self and allow the Lord to do what He does best and make ALL things new!

2 Timothy 1:6-7 (TPT) I’m writing to encourage you to fan into a flame and rekindle the fire of the spiritual gift God imparted to you when I laid my hands upon you. For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control.

I encourage you also to fan the flame and rekindle the fire of the spiritual gifts God has imparted to you! If you know Jesus – He wants to set you on fire with His Love and watch you spread His Love to everyone you come in contact with. The great thing about this divine set up is that He also gives you His Strength to endure to the end of each test, trial and temptation to give way to fresh faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. It is a must have for eternity. The Lord has given us His Spirit who gives us mighty power, love and that other thing called – self-control. When life spins out of control – you can be confident that God is in control. When everything falls apart – you know exactly where to carry all the pieces.

If you are struggling today with some difficulties, think about what you have been praying for. Prayers are not just accomplished with our head bowed and eyes closed. Prayers are every single declaration of our heart and lips before God.

Are you singing songs that ask for more of Him? Are you talking about the Lord and your desire for more? Are you crying oceans of tears in deep sorrow or regret? All these things quicken the heart of God to move on our behalf. Every whisper He hears. These kinds of outcries summon His Promises. Jesus is so in love with us! He waits for us to call out to Him! And in that very moment, He sends His Spirit and commissions a legion of angels on our behalf. So I ask you – what have you been praying for? Could this be the very thing you are asking for? If so, perhaps such a revelation will produce a tiny bit of joy that will burst into joy unspeakable just to know He hears and is doing what we asked!

This is not a warning not to pray for these things. Oh no friends, there is no greater joy than what awaits us in Jesus. But rather a reminder to endure such things because Jesus is at work in us! Be careful, mindful and aware of what you pray for because that is called expectancy and the Lord is faithful to all who call upon His Name!

I Peter 1:8 (TPT) You love him passionately although you have not seen him, but through believing in him you are saturated with an ecstatic joy, indescribably sublime and immersed in glory.

Where is God on Your List of Priorities?

This is our third time with Linda Knight who writes at Fearless Living. She has been going through the Book of Isaiah. The articles are shorter, so we have two of them for you today, a recent one, and then a longer one from before Easter. The headers below will also take there. You’ll also find links where you can listen to each one on Spotify.

What Role Does God Play in Your Life?

I am excited to continue in Isaiah as there is so much yet to be learned and discovered! I pray you will continue with me on this journey. After the 4th and final Song contained in Isaiah containing a vivid description of our Savior, Jesus, Isiah continues in his words of encouragement from God to the people of Isael. God knows that they will need these words as they languish in exile in Babylon. In Isaiah 54 we find words to build up Isarel as God knows they will be feeling discouraged, ashamed and downtrodden when they reflect on their sin and disobedience towards God and the time they spent in Egypt and in Babylon.

 

Isaiah 54:4-5 “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.
Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth
and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
⁵ For your Maker is your husband—
the Lord Almighty is his name—
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
he is called the God of all the earth.

These verses are filled with truths that are timeless and can be applied to our lives today. The Lord Jesus, our Redeemer, can cover my shame and alleviate the pain that it causes. He can cause me to forget things from my mind so that I will no longer dwell on them. Both of these are priceless promises that can and do help me to live for Him for today and not be stuck in the past. God did not want the Israelites to mourn and be consumed with their past failures but to look forward and let Him carry the past pain. He desires the same for you and me today.

In verse 5 God lists for me the roles He desires to exercise in my life if I will turn to Him and trust Him. He promises to be my Maker or Creator, Husband or loving caretaker, companion, Almighty God who is the all-powerful one in my life and world, Holy One who is pure and spotless, Redeemer, Savior or the one who went to the cross to save me so I can be in a relationship with Father God, and Sovereign God who is above all, in all, completely in charge so that nothing escapes His power and might.

I would echo the words of David from Psalm 89:8 “Who is like you, Lord God Almighty? You, Lord, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you.” God is the one and only God and only He can take care of you perfectly. I love Nahum 1:7 and claim it often, “The Lord is good,  a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him,” As you ponder these verses today, may the Lord show you how He is your Creator, Husband, Almighty God, Redeemer and Sovereign Lord.

Jesus is Upholding You, Be Encouraged!

In Chapter 41 of Isaiah we find encouraging passages that would have strengthened and given hope to the Israelites while in captivity in Babylon and that speak to us today with that same strength and hope.

Isaiah 41:9-10 “I took you from the ends of the earth,
from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, ‘You are my servant’;
I have chosen you and have not rejected you.
¹⁰ So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

The Israelites could identify with these words as they knew God had called them while in Egypt and would call them to return to Jerusalem when their captivity in Babylon was finished. They knew that God would keep the promises He made to their fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God was giving them hope that He would strengthen, help and uphold them.

As we look at these verses thousands of years later, what do they mean to us today? We know God kept His promise to return them to the land of Israel after their captivity in Babylon. He also returned them to their land as a nation in 1948 when the Jews returned to establish and the independent country of Israel. We can also take comfort in God’s promise to be with us, strengthen and help us. When God says he will uphold us with His righteous right hand, God is referring to Jesus. Jesus is known as the one who sits at God’s right hand. We can count on Him to uphold us 24/7. Here are some lessons and truths we can glean from these verses that will give us courage, strength and resolve for living:

** God is sovereign and we are chosen by God to serve Him. God is in control of all things in heaven and on the earth. All believers are chosen by God to serve Him. He delights in having a relationship with us. Acts 4:24 “When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.” Psalm 147:11 “the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.”

**God’s presence dispels fear. (God is greater than any fear we might have!) Psalm 34:4 “I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.”

**Knowing He is my God frees me from discouragement. Nothing or no one can withstand the power of God. Romans 8:31b says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” or Isaiah 49:23b “Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”

**God promises to provide strength and help. This promise is found elsewhere too. Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” Isaiah 40:29 ”He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” Psalm 33:20 “We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.” Isaiah 50:9 “It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me. Who will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up.”

**God promises to uphold me through Jesus, who is His righteous right hand. Mark 16:19 “After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.” Acts 5:30-31 “The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. ³¹ God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins.” Ephesians 1:19-20 “ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰ he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹ 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.” Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. He told us he would be with us and uphold us until He returns. John 14:3, 16-17 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

May you be encouraged today by our promise keeping God!

 

 

A Responsibility to You; An Act of Faithfulness for Me

Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. – 1 Corinthians 4:2 NIV

Whatever the activity in which you engage, do it with all your ability, because there is no work, no planning, no learning, and no wisdom in the next world where you’re going. – Ecclesiastes 9:10 ISV

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. – Romans 12:11 NIV

In the months leading up to April 1, 2020, the countdown was on. After faithfully writing or procuring a fresh devotional post every single day for ten years, I thought we would scale back to six days per week or even five days a week. A series of notices were included at the bottom of four devotionals. “100 Days of Christianity 201.” Then, “75 Days of Christianity 201.” Followed by “50 Days…” well, you get the idea; and then 25. You would be forgiven if you thought I was ending C201.

And then something happened.

The world shut down due to… well, you know what it was due to.

Suddenly I had a lot more time on my hands. And I figured, so did readers. So I simply ignored the countdown we had done, and kept posting every day.

It’s now three years later, and I feel driven by the same sentiment. Because the world has never fully returned to what it was before, it seemed like a good idea to just keep going. But slowly, there was a realization dawning that I needed to be doing this, even if, as we posted two days ago, absolutely no one was reading it. (The subscriber list and daily stats do indicate otherwise.)

Sometimes I will check in my browser history to compare the time I first opened a new page draft to the time I completed the writing or editing of a single post. It’s usually between 40 minutes and an hour. That’s an hour spent thinking about the things of God, His word, theological and doctrinal matters, examining the spiritual reflections of others.

I don’t know that there is some other way I could commit that amount of time otherwise. This is the particular discipline that I need to keep focused.

Some of you know that another ministry venture which occupies my week is owning a Christian resource store (or shop for my British readers.) One day not long ago I looked around the inventory in our remaining store, which is well over $100,000 Canadian. I mentally added to that the amount of fresh inventory that is added every year, and factored in that we once had three stores, and then thought of the thousands of dollars that have been spent on rent in those locations.

And then it was as if God spoke to me.

‘Maybe this is what it took to get you to be the person you are today.’

In other words, all those thousands of dollars spent on Christian books, Bibles and other items was a necessary step in keeping me busy about Kingdom work, when I could have been occupied doing and thinking about other things. This is what it took, not unlike that sitting here composing and curating devotionals is also what it has taken for me to become who I am to be.

With the bookstore, and the various other ministry ventures Ruth and I have been involved with doing through local churches, and independently, another new thought entered my head in the last three years: the word missionary.

I had never thought that we moved to a small town from Toronto specifically to be missionaries, but as I tried on the word for size, it seemed to fit. Missionaries… and maybe this is what it took…

There is a saying and although the wording varies slightly depending on what you’re reading, it’s usually something like ‘Play with the cards you’ve been dealt.’ We tend to use this phrase where someone is facing a tremendous challenge, a physical handicap, a broken relationship, a chronic health issue, the loss of job, etc. In other words we tend to associate the phrase with coping with the negative factors that can creep into our lives.

But there’s another side to this.

In serving the Lord, it might mean taking the circumstances we’re in and the opportunities that lay before us, and then simply running with those realities and doing so, as the “The Preacher” of Ecclesiastes reminded us above, “with all our might.”

It might mean taking the ministry — to a community, to our friends, to our work associates, to our family — that has been entrusted to us, or stewarded to us, and being faithful with it, as Paul reminded the Corinthians in another verse above.

Or as he told the Romans (also above), it means never giving up (CEV), never lacking enthusiasm (AMP), never decreasing our devotion (GWT, ISV) in serving.

…So as we complete year 13 here at C201, I find myself where I was three years ago: released from the constraints of providing a daily devotional, but not — at this writing anyway — free to walk away from what it does to me to be writing here each day.

So right now it’s business as usual, but if I miss a day, know that we more than surpassed our ten year goal.

Thank you for reading and subscribing. Thanks to my wife Ruth and son Aaron for being available for consultation. Thanks to all the writers whose material we use, and especially to Clarke Dixon for his weekly contribution. Finally, thanks to BibleHub.com for being my go-to search provider for Biblical texts.

 

 

 

The Five C’s of Great Leadership

Today we’re introducing a new website to you, Dancing on Water, which is based in Bulgaria. It is a project of Nick Jane (who we corresponded with) and Grace, and features the writing of Bill Joukhadar who is the author of today’s Christian leadership article.  Their purpose is:

” We hope and pray that the ‘life-tested’ articles, posts and resources will inspire visitors/subscribers to live 100% of their lives publicly and unashamedly by faith, in honour of God. We also hope that our content will interest possible newcomers to take a closer look at Christ and the Christian faith.”

Click the title below to read this where it first appeared.

Characteristics of a Great Leader

Every believer is divinely endowed with a significant degree of leadership potential. How can a believer tap into their rich potential? How can the fullness of this potential be realised? First, let us define “leadership”.

A “general” definition of leadership is “someone who has influence over others” (either good or bad). A simple “biblical” definition” is “someone who leads through service, and serves through leading.” Jesus says,

 “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mk.10:43-45 NIV).

Note: The word “whoever” implies that great leadership is a personal choice!

What does it take to make a great leader?

It takes Christ-like Character + Conduct + Commitment + Competence…

Character +
The pursuit of holiness through living with a “zero-sin” tolerance produces Christ-like character.  Paul said, “God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives” (1 Thess. 4:7). In addition, great leaders have a “heart” for God and people. Jesus says, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind… and you must love your neighbour as yourself.” (Mat. 22:37-39). Friends, the Great Commandment makes great leaders!

Paul instructed Timothy, his successor…

A church leader must be a man whose life is above reproach. He must be faithful to his wife. He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must be able to teach. He must not be a heavy drinker, or be violent. He must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money. He must manage his own family well, having children who respect and obey him. For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church? A church leader must not be a new believer, because he might become proud, and the devil would cause him to fall. Also, people outside the church must speak well of him so that he will not be disgraced and fall into the devil’s trap” (1 Tim. 3:2-7).

Note: Of the fifteen qualities of a pastor listed by Paul, only one deals with something he does (able to teach). All the other attributes deal with his character. Character is who you are, not what you can do!

Conduct +
Paul said to the church at Philippi, “Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ” (Phil. 1:27). He also said to Timothy, “… set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity” (1 Tim. 4:12).

Commitment +
Jesus said to those who wanted to follow Him, “Deny self, take-up your cross, and follow Me” (Lk. 9:23). Now, this is what I call an acceptable commitment: 24/7 “all of me!” Great leaders are more than “weekend warriors.”

Note: Believers who wish to be great, follow Christ to “serve”, not “observe”!

Competence =
Jesus says we are to remain faithful to His teaching (Jn. 8:31). What does remain faithful to His teaching mean? Just like the Nike slogan, it means we are to JUST DO IT! “Being” filled with the Holy Spirit leaves us without excuses as to why we cannot “just do it.” Jesus says, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere” (Acts 1:8).

Note: The Holy Spirit = power = ability = control = divine competence!

Finally, Christ-like Character + Conduct + Commitment + Competence = Countability!

Countability
Question: Is your practice of life and service to the Lord transforming you into one of God’s great leaders… someone He can really “count-on”?

Without exception, God’s great leaders are made up of ordinary “weak” people who are constantly “being filled” with the Holy Spirit, who willingly go-on with their lives, learning and growing through their service to God.

Note: Concerning human weakness, God said to Paul, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). Yes, your human weakness DOES NOT hinder God from making you a great leader!

Friends, there is no such thing as natural “born leaders”–they are supernaturally God-made! The Lord says, “Take my yoke upon you. Let Me teach you” (Mat. 11:29). Why settle for mediocrity when excellence is but a prayer and commitment away. Are you one of God’s developing great leaders? Remember: Jesus says, “whoever…”

Don’t Quench the Spirit’s Candle

Today we’re featuring a website for the first time. It’s title is GazeUp Arts: Messages of Hope. According to their About page, “Gaze up arts is a prophetic arts ministry focused on speaking the heart of God through artistic creations to encourage and guide people around the world.” Encourage the authors by clicking the titles which follow to read these devotionals where they first appeared.

Do not quench the Spirit

Prov.20.27 – The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

We are reminded that we all have a “candle” (our spirit man) that we carry around with us. That candle is the potential we have in us to receive the light and warmth of the Lord. It carries our faith and our hope. When we stay in faith, we allow ourselves to experience the Lord’s light: His guidance and His joy. In times like this, we keep aware that the Lord is there to be our teacher, to enlighten us.

The image of God gives us confidence. On this battlefield of life, we serve under a brilliant Military Strategist who does not see us as expendable but who wants to keep us protected. Meanwhile, He is helping us to advance, to move forward.

We remain confident in God for His directions towards the path to His Light.

We mustn’t keep our faith and hope in God to ourselves but rather we must share with those whose “candles” (spirits) have been put off by the kingdom of darkness. That is, these people’s spirits have no flame on them.

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”~Matt.18.20

We are edified when we move in the company of Spirit-filled people.

The Word of God gives life to man and causes us to see and deal properly with those dark areas of our hearts.

Through salvation, the Life and Light of Christ flood our hearts by grace, through our faith in Him, we become His hands to help, His feet to go, His heart to love, and His Light to shine forth His Life in our human frame.

Job.32.8 – But there is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding.

Beloved, let your spirit be lit up with the Flame (The Holy Spirit) of the Lord.

Ps.18.28 – For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

Your spirit has no flame to keep it burning until you’ve received the Holy Spirit.

In all you do, as long as you live, let the Spirit of God be the flame of your spirit.

No matter the number of trials and tribulations you face, let the Holy Spirit be your spirit’s flame.

Of course, the devil will want to mess with you, but never blow out the Flame of your spirit with your words or actions.

The Bible says, “Quench not the Spirit”. 1Thess.5.19

Just like a candle stick, till you take your last breath, let the Spirit of God be your Flame!

---

Second Helping: From the same website… You may have noticed that using a visual arts perspective, the image of quenching a candle fits perfectly the closing verse from 1 Thessalonians. In today’s bonus link, the writers visualize trusting God as taking hold of his hand. There are illustrations that go with these two articles so make sure you click through.

Why you need to take hold of God’s hands

Beloved,

As a child of God and the apple of His eyes, You need to know that you’re not alone in that ”storm”.

Jesus has been with you from the start but you’ve never noticed.

You’re not at peace with yourself because you think you can conquer that battle all by yourself with your feeble strength.

He’s waiting patiently for you to take hold of His outstretched hands.

Take hold of His hand and with His divine leadership, you will get to the other side as a conqueror.

In Romans 12:12, the apostle Paul describes ways of living above our circumstances, no matter what we may be facing. He says: “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”

As followers of Christ, we are never without hope. We know that even if our circumstances seem negative now, brighter days are up ahead for us. Why? Because God is a good God, and His love for us is everlasting and unfailing.

The psalmist wrote: “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.” (Psalm 42:11). When our hope is in the Lord and His goodness, we will experience the supernatural joy that is our inheritance in Christ.

Take hold of God’s hand.

Let Him order your steps to the destination He had planned for you.

Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps and makes them sure”.

Proverbs 20:24 says, “Man’s steps are ordered by the Lord. How then can a man understand his way?”

When God directs your paths, He sometimes leads you in ways that don’t make sense to you so you’re not always going to understand everything.

If you try to reason out everything, you will experience struggle, confusion, and misery—but there is a better way.

“Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind, and do not rely on your insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths “.(Proverbs 3:5-6)

This sounds so simple, yet too many people make the mistake of trying to figure everything out themselves. You may have spent all your life trying to take care of yourself, but when you accept Christ as your Savior, you must learn to entrust your life to His care. When you do, you can say with the psalmist, …I trusted in, relied on, and was confident in You, O Lord; I said, You are my God. My times are in Your hands…(Psalm 31:14-15).

Beloved, the Lord wants you to take hold of His outstretched hands and let Him lead you to where you need to be in your life.

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

 

When You Seek Christ, Abundant Life Will Follow

Today we return one more time — the eighth, I think — to highlight Brothers of the Book, written by Bill Hood. Click the title which follows to read this where it first appeared.

Deuteronomy 4

Jesus’ promise of life more abundant can be had only when we put on His character.

My mind constantly returns to a specific phrase of scripture spoken by Christ:

John 10:10 ESV
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Christ also said:

Matthew 5:17-20 ESV
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  

For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

He follows these words by telling us that the law says murder is wrong but He says if you harbor anger in your heart you are also guilty of murder.  He states further that while the law says adultery is wrong, the man who lusts after another woman is also guilty of adultery.

Now we all know that we needed the bloody sacrifice of Jesus Christ because we were unable to perfectly obey the law and yet Jesus is telling us that He is holding us to an even higher standard.  How can that be?

In today’s reading, Moses tells the people:

Deuteronomy 4:1 ESV
“And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.”

Deuteronomy 4:9 ESV
“Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children”

God loves you and has promised you a land, a place of abundant life.  Obeying Him and His commandments is the key to possessing this promised land.  You can’t obey Him in your own power, however, which is why He sent Jesus Christ to die for you.  Having accepted the cleansing of sin through the shed blood of Jesus Christ we can obey the commandments of God because He has sent us His Holy Spirit to live within us, guiding us, and teaching us, and molding us into the character and mind of Christ.  It is only by putting on the character of Christ that we can obey God.  The mind of Christ was placed completely under the authority of God.  He didn’t come for himself but for others.

You want to know how to put on the mind of Christ? Stop thinking about yourself, deny yourself and do what He did; sacrifice your desires for the will of God.  It is in His character that you can obey.  It is in His character that you can have an abundant life.  His commands are not onerous; they are life enhancing!

God wants you to have a joyful, abundant life that can only be had by putting on the mind and character of Christ.  Doing so leads to, among other things, the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  How great would your life be if you had just that list of blessings alone?

Beyond all of that, God clearly intends for us to teach all of this to our children that it might go well for us.  If you want to do something meaningful, and eternal, teach your family the Word of God.  This following passage pretty much makes the point I’m attempting to make

Deuteronomy 4:35-40 ESV
“To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.  Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.  

And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.  

Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”

God let you hear His voice out of the midst of the fire.  He brought you out of slavery to sin.  He has driven out evil before you and is bringing you to a land flowing with milk and honey.  Lay it on your heart that the Lord is God of heaven above and the earth beneath; there is no other.  As Pastor Jim Cross has said from the pulpit; “Make Jesus King of your life.”

We can nod our head in agreement that we should obey God.  We can praise God in thankfulness that He has forgiven us of our sins; but we need to surrender ourselves to our King and put on His character that we may enjoy the fullness of His blessings.  Make up your mind right now.  Are you king or is Jesus King?  You can’t have it both ways.

Let’s do that guys!  Let’s make God King of our lives!  Put on the mind of Christ and Obey!

Victorem Viver! (Live Victorious!)

Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill

Dying to self, living to serve!

Eliminating Things Which Rob Our Spiritual Focus

It wasn’t a Christian book or a Christian author, but if you could get past that, the book Stolen Focus struck me as something that Christians could do well to read. Distraction is very much tops the list of 21st Century ‘diseases,’ and you do well to read books which help you to face that.

On the Christian side of the publishing biz, books like The Truth About Us by Brant Hansen, and Your Future Self Will Thank You by Drew Dyck help us to see ourselves more clearly and confront weaknesses we would do well to avoid.

Biblical writers never knew the degree of distraction which we face. We are bombarded with input of all types: advertising, road signs, warning lights, notifications, etc.; even as we must remember PINs and user names and passwords.

However, their world was not as different as we might think. They were still aware that all manner of things could appear before them and prove not only distracting, but also destructive.

When our oldest son was 21, he became convinced he was spending too much time watching videos on YouTube. So he simply uninstalled Flash player in his computer. (Yes. Seriously, he really did that.)

In Matthew 5:29 we read Jesus words:

²⁹ If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. (NIV)

but Jesus apparently repeated these words, as Matthew records them again at 18:9

⁹ If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell. (NASB)

…To which we might add the following paraphrase:

If part of your computer causes you to waste time, disable it.

Some would argue that the words of Jesus were never intended to be taken literally, but the radical degree of his teaching was fully intentional. (Also, for the record, some did take it quite literally.) Call it hyberbole if you will, but Jesus was saying that it’s going to take doing something extreme in order to be where he wants us to be.

In the past I’ve written many times about controlling our thought life. You can read those at this link. One of my favorite graphic images (that we’ve used in the sidebar of this blog in the past) is this “eye chart” version of some words of Jesus from Luke:

^{Luke 11:34} Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy,your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵ See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. ³⁶ Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

There is certainly a “garbage in / garbage out” effect that takes place depending on what we allow our eyes to see. Jesus also said, “It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.” (Matthew 15:11)

Contextually, I know Jesus was making a whole other point, but if we can take some liberty here, we could also follow the pattern and say “It’s not what goes into your eyes that defiles you; you are defiled by the images you allow to dwell there.”

In other words, you may not have the luxury of editing or filtering every image. There may be times when you say,

“It’s too late, I can’t un-see that.”

However you can decide which images are going to stay with you and which you are work diligently to forget. Martin Luther put it this way:

“You cannot keep birds from flying over your head
but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair”

Or, to use another graphic image we’ve used here before:

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (Phil 4:8 NLT)

…The point is that scripture speaks to these issues. What is very real to us in a world of distraction was very real to them.

Do what you need to do. It may require something like disabling a part of your computer. But if that is what it takes, don’t ignore the possibility!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Things are Better, but Not Best

Today we’re thrilled to have another new writer to introduce to you. Melissa Tsingano lives near Sydney, Australia and writes at Heavenly Whispers. Have you ever prayed and received an answer, but wondered if it was the fullest answer? Or wondered if it would be wrong to ask God again about the same thing? That’s the theme of today’s devotional. Click the title which follows to read it on her blog.

S E E I N G

As Christians we are not only to live with a self-consciousness, but we are also to be God conscious.  In order for us to be able to do that, we first need to be able to see. It’s one thing to read the Bible and know that you have areas that need Jesus, it’s another to see it and acknowledge it.

There was a time when I was living beneath the life that God had planned for me. I knew what the Bible said, I could quote some scriptures for you but I was not fully seeing myself in them. I went to watch the movie Noah. While watching that movie, instead of seeing the rebellious people as characters in a movie, God opened my eyes, and I could see myself in them. I could see me. I could see where I had hurt God and people and where I had gone wrong. My eyes were open.

From that moment in the movie theatre I went home, I prayed, and my life has not been the same since. Step by step, day by day God brought my life back on track. We cannot underestimate the value of seeing.

Mark 8:22:25 “When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, begging him to touch him and heal him. So Jesus led him, as his sighted guide, outside the village. He placed his saliva on the man’s eyes and covered them with his hands.  Then he asked him, “Now do you see anything?” “Yes,” he said. “My sight is coming back! I’m beginning to see people, but they look like trees—walking trees.” Jesus put his hands over the man’s eyes a second time and made him look up. The man opened his eyes wide and he could see everything perfectly. His eyesight was completely restored!”

When we first come to Jesus, we are like the blind man. We know we need help. We know we need Jesus. Then we get saved. We are not as blind as we were before, but we don’t see fully either. Some people are content to live that way. In fact, most people settle there. They are better than they were before, and they did have an encounter with Jesus so seeing men as trees must be as good as it gets. But no. Salvation is only the beginning.

We cannot be too timid to approach God and ask Him to touch us again. We cannot “hide” our condition from God. He knows our condition, but He waits for us to realize that something is not right. For as long as we are comfortable seeing men as trees, living life beneath what God has for us, we won’t recognize our need for God and if we don’t recognize our need for God, we don’t get to experience all that God has for us. The blind man after the first touch when Jesus asked, “do you see anything” could have said, “Yes, my sight is back.” And left it there. Went home, better but not quite where he was meant to be.

Instead, he was honest with God. He didn’t give up or settle thinking, “this is as good as it gets.” No. He said to Jesus in effect, I am better than I was, but I know I am not where I should be.

That’s where a lot of us are. Better than we were but not where we should be. Being able to see means you see your condition as it is, not as you want it to be. It means being sensitive to the Holy Spirit when He says, “Perhaps you should not have said that to that person,” and recognizing that He’s right. There’s room for growth in us. There is room for growth in me.

---

Second Helping: Here’s another post from the same author. We all want to avoid pain, but confronting things that need to change is needed for inward transformation. And it can help us avoid the pain of the path we may be taking. Click here to Read Come On In.

Remembering Jack Hayford

Only one other time in the history of C201 have we repeated an article in our quotations series. With the passing last month of Jack Hayford I decided to repeat this, which first appeared in 2014. Many in the Hollywood community attended his church; one you might know is Stormie Omartian, author of the The Power of a Praying… series, who went to Church on the Way with her husband Michael. If I start naming names, however…

I know some of you prefer the articles to the quotations, so here’s an excerpt from a longer piece by him in 2005 to get you started:

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ~~ 2 Peter 2:4-5

The living God dwells where His people worship, and life happens where He dwells. It is my conviction, therefore, that the life-flow of a church congregation will rise only as high as their worship of the Godhead. We cannot underestimate the importance of teaching the Word of God, but the Word itself reveals that worship is what the Christian Church is all about.

The book of Ephesians says that we who trust in Christ are to be “to the praise of His glory” (1:12), “built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (2:22). Peter describes the people of God as “living stones . . . being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5). Each member of the Body is a part of the temple of the Lord, summoned to be a “living stone” of His dwelling.

God is looking for a place to dwell. We know of nowhere else in the universe except earth where God is not praised or welcomed. In the words of Jesus Himself, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). During His ministry, Jesus had no home. When He was born, there was no room at the inn (Luke 2:7). In one sense, this is just an interesting analogy, but in another, it is a dramatic demonstration of the fact that God has a hard time finding a place to be on this planet.

In order for the foundation of our “spiritual house” to be firmly established, it is important that we understand the biblical grounds for worship. These derive from the saga of loss and recovery of humankind’s fellowship with the Almighty God…

He then continues to list six stages of this saga; to read the complete article click here.

For the rest of you, here are some quotations from CrossQuotes.org:

---

I don’t perceive my call as one to protest the culture but to proclaim the Savior.

---

God gives grace to sinners and glory to saints.

---

The inevitable fruit of vital worship will be a transformed people who become transforming instruments of God’s grace and deliverance to the world.

---

Worship , in a very real sense of the word, opens a doorway to the power of His presence, confounding dark powers and overthrowing sin’s destructive operations.

---

Worship is about encounter– coming into God’s presence.

---

Worship changes the worshiper into the image of the One worshiped.

---

Worship , in a very real sense of the word, opens a doorway to the power of His presence, confounding dark powers and overthrowing sin’s destructive operations.

---

God will crush the obstacles in your life if you will follow in His way.

---

Revival is going to come because somebody in your generation is willing to pay the price.

---

As leaders today, we must be warned of our common vulnerability to being distracted by the abundance of “enhancements” available to ministry today. We can become mesmerized by the array of church cosmetics for helping our church look better. “Makeup” isn’t evil, but it’s no substitute for leading believers to “take up” the disciple’s cross and be shaped as His true followers. We’re within frightening reach of being able to grow bigger churches while failing to grow bigger people.

---

The greatest tool of evangelism when it comes to loved ones is to be genuinely loving and friendly to them without the taint of manipulation. …Winning people to Christ is not conquering them or verifying yourself. It is about showing so much of Jesus that they cannot resist Him.

---

The power of the fast is found in the abject humility of people who desire the Lord’s way in their lives more than the bread that sustains their physical bodies. Fasting is an announcement the soul makes that the body will not rule over it, and it declares there will be no relief until the issues set before God are resolved in spirit.

---

The issue of faith is never founded on our ability to “move the mountain,” but faith in the Mountain maker. Visualizing a victory or working up a “feeling” of faith is a pathetic human attempt to get something to happen. Real faith lays hold of the Faith-giver (Eph. 2:8), who holds all power for every need, and trusts Him to answer our prayer as He promised He would do.

---

The Greek word for boldness, parhesia, means “outspoken, unreserved utterance, freedom of speech, frankness, candor, cheerful courage, the opposite of cowardice.” Here, it is divine enablement that comes to ordinary people exhibiting spiritual power and authority. Parhesia is not a human quality, but a result of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

---

Just one person would have made the difference! God sought that person. How many situations are there today, in our world, where the Lord is looking for just one person to stem the tide of sin’s hideous destruction? He is not looking for a perfect person, just one who will stand before Him on behalf of the people who cannot stand for themselves.

---

Our greatest victories are rarely won in an instant, but in the morning-by-morning application of His truth and power which overthrows the strongholds of darkness in our world and secures His purpose in us.

---

All successful, spiritual enterprise is based upon clear understanding of the forces which oppose us and direction for dealing with these influences. The carnal mind is unfit for spiritual warfare. Our natural human perception can at best only lead us to the doorway of understanding and never through it.

---

We know that if we call on the Lord He will answer. Often, however, our expectations are too small, and we ask based on what we know is possible. But He is the God of the impossible! The Lord sees the situation from every side and has a bigger plan than any of us dream. He did not choose us to do small things.

---

The Bible is…as necessary to spiritual life as breath is to natural life. There is nothing more essential to our lives than the Word of God.

---

---

Jack Hayford elsewhere at Christianity 201:

• Spiritual War: Rules of Engagement (Sept 1/2011)
• Interceding Specifically (Oct 21/2011)

The “Otherness” of God, and Ourselves

‘In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord’ (1 Peter 3:15).

A required textbook in one of my university Philosophy courses was The Idea of the Holy by Rudolf Otto. (Let me say at the outset that in taking a brief refresher this morning on its content, I am in no way giving it a wholehearted recommendation, although some Christian bookstores do carry the title.)

My four-word takeaway from the book would be “God is wholly other.” There’s no room there for a “What if God were one of us?” type of speculation because God, being God, is not even remotely like us. I thought I’d share a brief summary offered by a reader, “Bruce” on GoodReads:

The thesis of this book is that a sense of God’s presence, with its attendant emotions of sacredness, wonderment and awe, is the fundamental starting point of genuine religion. Everything else — doctrine, ritual and theological speculation — are reliant upon, and derived from this experience. Otto coined the word numinous (from the Latin numen, meaning sacred presence) to describe it. This does not mean that chronologically in a person’s life other experiences, such as intellectual curiosity, may not occur first; merely that the numinous apprehension of God is, ultimately, the one thing needful.

So the starting point has to be a wonder or awe at something which is so far beyond humanity, so (if I may repeat it) wholly other. (If you missed it, check out the devotional from 9 days ago, The Ability to Withstand God’s Presence.)

In the last few days I have been struck by this equation

holy = set apart

and how, in the case of God, it could be read

holy = set apart = wholly other

and thereby, if we are to take on Godly character, we will be increasingly demonstrating our “otherness” when compared to the fallen world in which we currently live.

“Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the LORD today…” —Exodus 32:29

Here’s a quote from Dr. Charles Price, longtime pastor of Peoples Church in Toronto. This was titled, On Being Set Apart (link no longer available):

To be holy does not mean to be perfect, but to be ‘set apart’. That is the meaning of the word. It does not equal being perfect.

In my wedding service, I said to my bride as part of my vows: “Forsaking all others, I take you only unto me.” What I meant was, “I’ll never look at a girl again the way I look at you. I’ll never develop a relationship with another woman in the way that I have a relationship with you.” I had become ‘set apart’ exclusively to her. I was entering into a ‘holy’ relationship with her, one in which we are set apart exclusively to each other. That did not make me a perfect husband overnight!! (I think that took a week!) No, I will never be a perfect husband, and that was not the expectation on my wedding day (certainly not my wife’s!), nor was it the meaning of setting myself apart to her. I am repeatedly needing to say ‘I am sorry’. We are always learning new things about each other, and the journey of growth will never end – ‘till death do us part’.

One thing that has greatly reinforced this to me is the lyrics of the Brian Doerksen song, Refiner’s Fire.

I choose to be Holy
Set apart for you, my master
Ready to do your will.

Many years ago here, I wrote about being separated from the world, and compared it to how the Amish people live among us, but are very much set apart from the rest of the world. In the world but not of it.

Our key verses in that devotional were Romans 12:2

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (TNIV)

1-2  So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (The Message)

and because this will involve a transformation, II Cor 5: 17:

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (NLT)

Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! (The Message)

Here’s more from Charles Price:

Being called to be ‘holy’ is to be set apart to Christ, and involves no expectation of perfection – for that is neither offered nor promised to us in this life. Rather, in our frailty and the everyday fumbling of our lives to walk in harmony with the Lord Jesus, there is a fundamental attitude that says, “I am set apart to the Lord Jesus”. That is what it means to be holy.

For the people of Israel it meant that even God’s name — or maybe we should say especially God’s name — was not to be pronounced. I know people, and you might as well, who in their personal correspondence or online postings will write “L-rd” instead of Lord, or “G-d” instead of God.

Yet increasingly among Christians, we’ve adopted the world’s casual use of phrases like “Oh, my God” — or its abbreviation, “OMG” — without considering the holiness; the otherness of that name. Eugene Peterson renders the 3rd Commandment as “No using the name of God, your God, in curses or silly banter; God won’t put up with the irreverent use of his name.“ (Ex. 20:7).

Our approach to God should be one of reverence. Some interpret that to mean that children shouldn’t be allowed to playfully run around the sanctuary, though children were present at the time of Christ’s ministry and he embraced the interruptions. But in the modern church, it’s normative to arrive for services in casual dress and sip coffee during the sermon.

To be clear, I don’t want to go back to suits and ties for men; in fact, that actually leads to other issues. But we should remember that the church building itself (if you’re not meeting in a home or rented facility) is indeed a place which ideally has been “set apart” for worship.

So in speech, in our weekend worship, and in many other ways, we should seek to emulate that “otherness” that God desired for Israel, and reinforced by giving them some guiding laws that would allow them to stand out from the people of surrounding nations. To me there’s a third equation lurking in the background here:

holy = set apart = distinct identity

Our manner of living should be such that we clearly identifiable. It means you intentionally take on character and practices

^{NIV.Phil.2.15} so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky ^16a as you hold firmly to the word of life.

 

If you haven’t already done so, a recommended book is The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges; widely available.

Accusation and Conviction Arrive on Parallel Tracks

^{NLT Ps. 51:3} For I recognize my rebellion;
it haunts me day and night.

^{KJV Ps. 51:3} For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

^{ESV Revelation 12:10} And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

^{NIV I Thess. 1:4} For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, ⁵ because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.

^{NIV I Tim. 3:16} All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…

Sometimes you just know when you’ve messed up.  You need neither the devil’s accusation nor the Holy Spirit’s conviction. It’s black and white. You missed the mark. You weren’t even aiming for the target. You recognize that the border between the righteousness and holiness that people in your church think you live out, and the propensity to sin of weaker brothers is a border only micro-millimeters thick.

How did I think that? What made me say that? Why did I look at her/him the way I did? Why did I charge that customer for two hours’ labor when I did the job in one? Why did I click on that website? Where did that anger come from when they mentioned that person’s name? Why did I say I’d be there when I have no intention of attending?

Yikes! I’m no different than anyone else! Here I thought — and everybody else thought — that I was super spiritual, when in fact I’m … human.

That’s the moment to confess.

This is often referred to as “keeping short accounts with God.” 

The blog Amazing Grace Bible Studies explains:

…let’s consider the phrase as it is used in accounting acumen. To keep your accounts payable on a “short basis” simply means to keep them “paid up”, or rather, not to let them become extended. An example of this would be to pay off your credit card balance every month.

In the spiritual sense, when looking at the theology that prescribes this practice, it always refers to confession of sin(s) (the equivalent of a liability or debt in accounting terms), and requesting to be forgiven of sins on a daily basis.1 When you hear believers say that they are “prayed up” this invariably means that they’ve got all their sins “confessed up.”

Rick Warren adds,

“Clean hands” simply means a clear conscious. Does that mean we’re perfect? No. None of us is perfect. But we can keep short accounts with God. 1 John 1:9 (TLB) says, “But if we confess our sins to him, he can be depended on to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong.” So when we sin, we just say, “God, I was wrong. I confess it.” There is no power without a clear conscience.

Classic writer A. B. Simpson wrote:

It is a good thing to keep short accounts with God. I was very much struck some years ago with an interpretation of the verse: So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God (Romans 14:12). The thought it conveys is that of accounting to God daily. For us judgment is passed as we lay down on our pillows each night. This is surely the true way to live. It is the secret of great peace. It will be a delightful comfort when life is closing or at the Master’s coming, to know that our account is settled and our judgment over. For us, then, there is only the waiting to hear the glad Well done, good and faithful servant; . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord (Matthew 25:21).

But sometimes we feel a sense of a nagging in our heads and hearts either because (a) we haven’t confessed yet, or (b) we have but something about our sin is such that our brain won’t let go of it — or at least that would be a superficial explanation to what is going on.

But what’s really going one?  In either case above, it has to be either:

• the conviction of the Holy Spirit (or you might read the I Thess. passage above as ‘the conviction of the gospel’ or in I Tim., the rebuke of God’s Word); or,
• the accusation of Satan who is described (in the Rev. passage above) as the accuser of the brethren (and, as some translations add, the sistren.) (Yes, I know that’s not a word.)

Conviction or accusation?

So when you find yourself in the situation of unconfessed sin, or of sin you feel you did indeed confess, then is what you are experiencing conviction or accusation?

Does it really matter?

No, I mean that question. We looked at a tough passage a few days ago where David took the census, and the two Old Testaments account differed in terms of whether the idea for David to do this came from Satan or from God.  Theologians still aren’t sure; the jury is still out on how to interpret this passage.

So here’s what I think. And remember this is just one guy’s opinion.

I believe that, to use a train analogy, sometimes conviction and accusation arrive on parallel tracks. Both will lead you in the same direction. One is very negative: “So I guess we’re not so spiritual after all, are we?” But the other comes from a heart of love, “Let’s get that confessed, so that we can spend the rest of the day walking in grace and forgiveness.”

One will beat you over the head. Actually, you don’t need to be a Christ-follower to have that experience. All humans have some degree of guilt-reflex.

But the other will free you, provided you act on that conviction, confess and move on.

---

If you’re keeping score, this is post #4,700 at Christianity 201.

The Litmus Test for Believers

Before we begin today, I frequently re-visit blogs and websites we’ve used before only to discover the author(s) made the site private. Recently, my pastor was talking about the parable of the sower scattering seeds (often called The Parable of the Soils). He said that many of us think of planting in terms of growing tulips. The “bulbs” are carefully assigned a location, one at a time, slowly, methodically, deliberately, etc. But the other type of seeding uses what he called a “broadcast spreader.” The seeds go everywhere!

I believe that in the context of truly scattering seeds far and wide, we need to make as much material available to any and all who are seeking to know more. In that context, I’m thankful for the writers who continue to make their ideas available in a public blog format where it can be searched and indexed and quoted. 

---

We return today to writer Jim Grant and his blog, Preach Between the Lines. Click the title which follows to read this where it first appeared.

Love Has Everything to do with It

February is known for Ground Hog day and Valentines Day. I am not sure which day gets the most fanfare, but I did see that Walmart is displaying Valentine’s Day. I didn’t notice anything being displayed for the Ground Hog. So, with that brief introduction the topic… will be on Valentines Day or more specifically LOVE.

The scriptures are filled with the Love theme. I would like to focus on the passage in John 13:34-35. It says,

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this will all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” [NSAB]

Almost everyone knows John 3:16. It has been used prolifically by Christians as an evangelical point in conversations with the unchurched or as the bible says “lost.” Believers and pastors especially use the phrase “We love because He [God] has loved us.” Actually, 1 John 4:7-11 amplifies the principle of loving God and loving each other. It says

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

Now I have been in churches long enough to know that everyone does not get along, and often there is conflict among the members, especially during business meetings. The litmus test for believers is the LOVE TEST. Do we love each other as Christ has loved us?

I know many unchurched people say the reason that they won’t go to church is because of the way believers live, both inside and outside the church. Obviously, the people we are trying to reach see/hear how we act towards one another and stay away. Since Jesus died and rose again for us, we should express our faith relationship in Him by loving as we have been loved. Now this brings up a good question – just how did Jesus love us?

There are several words in Greek that define love in diverse ways. I know you have all heard this, but it bears repeating.

· Eros, or sexual passion. …
· Philia, or deep friendship. …
· Ludus, or playful love. …
· Agape, or love for everyone. …
· Pragma, or longstanding love. …  

Our Love, the Love of God is Agape love, nothing new here. There is a dominant theme that is being preached in our pulpits, that theme is love and acceptance of everybody. I understand the motivation behind the theme, but what is missing is Agape love. Within our current culture there is a push to accept all people regardless of their behavior, morals, and ethics. This is not what the bible presents.

While we live in a pluralistic and relativism culture, we are not to embrace people at all costs. Now I have talked about both the love inside the church and outside the church. During the month of February, we will hear all about the Eros love. This kind of love is a flesh driven sensual love. While our society will celebrate all expressions of love, we must be different. Our mission is to love the way Jesus did, unconditionally.

This means that we love all people because all people need salvation. Our unconditionality does not condone unbiblical behaviors.

Back to our verses in John 13:34-35. Love the way Jesus loved us. Love each other as Jesus loved us. Then the world will see what LOVE really is, instead of what it has been degraded to mean.

I fully embrace the other kinds of love mentioned above, however as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:13 “But now Faith, Hope Love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is Love.”

There is too much anger and hate on display today everywhere we go. Let us change what people see and let us LOVE so that people will see Agape love in action and be drawn to Jesus!

Blessings.

---

Occasionally, we want to feature writers here whose works are simply longer than our format. If you’re looking to dig a little deeper, I want to encourage you to browse and then read The Christ Almighty Blog by K.W. Leslie. You won’t be disappointed.

People Worth Imitating

I’ve mentioned many times that I have only two devotionals which I personally subscribe to, and one which I read online. One of the daily emails is titled “Breakfast of Champions” by Andy and Gina Elmes. To get these sent to you by email, go to Great Big Life and click on Breakfast of Champions. This one is from Gina.

Be imitators of faith

Hebrews 13:7, ESV
Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.

The Word of God is filled with examples of people whose lives are inspirational, and I believe that their accounts are included in the Bible so that we can observe the way they chose to live and emulate and imitate their good character traits and the way they related to God. Often, the Apostle Paul in his letters to the Churches, and Christ Himself, referred to imitating the examples of people of faith. Here are just a few references to this

• Be imitators of me (1 Corinthians 4:16 – Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other. NIV);
• Follow my example and observe the pattern of behaviour you see in us (Philippians 3:17 – Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. NIV);
• Be imitators of those of faith (Hebrews 6:12 – Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance. NLT);
• Jesus said to ‘do the deeds of Abraham’ (John 8:39 – “Our father is Abraham,” they replied. “If you were Abraham’s children,” Jesus told them, “you would do what Abraham did. CSB).

Here are a few of my personal favourite Bible people who lived lives worth imitating. In particular, note how their obedience to God was a defining factor in how God thought about them and how He chose to use them for His great plans:

Joshua
In the Battle of Jericho God gave Joshua some truly unusual instructions that didn’t make sense to the natural mind of a warrior. Here, I learn that sometimes God asks things of us that we may not understand fully, but maybe God sees something we don’t and we need to trust Him.

Caleb
God actually spoke directly to Moses and said this of Caleb, “[Caleb] was of a different spirit because he follows me wholeheartedly” (Numbers 14:24). He turned the head of God through his obedience.

David
God chose David to replace Saul as King because of his exceptional obedience to Him. God said this to the prophet Samuel about David, “He is a man after my own heart, he’ll do all that I say” (Acts 13:22). We know David wasn’t a perfect man, but the overall inclination of his heart was to obey God.

Mary
Her life and plans were interrupted by the plans of God and because of her love and obedience toward Him, when His plan was presented to her about becoming pregnant with the Son of God, her reply was “May your word to me be fulfilled.”

Jesus
Even though the Father’s plan for the salvation of humanity would cost Jesus everything, Jesus prayed this prayer and in doing so, revealed that He is our greatest example to imitate, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Nevertheless, let it be as You, not I, would have it.”

Today, let us use the God-given examples of people who lived lives that give us keys to living lives that are strong in God.