People Of Issachar

"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the Lord. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9...."God asks us, 'Will you allow me to dramatically alter your way so that I may teach you My own?" Beth Moore

There are many Scriptures that either make us uncomfortable, or that we ignore, and that which is above is surely one of them. We don't like to think in terms of His way of thinking, moving, being, acting, as completely different than ours. We like to believe that He thinks like us, wants what we want, and will operate in every situation just as we would. When the reality of Isaiah 55 collides with our hoped for reality, we get angry, accusing, sulk, or begin to question His goodness. In all of it, He has a question for us, and it is so well put in Moore's above quote; will we yield to His totally dismantling our ways? Our ways of thinking, choosing, even believing? He has always been doing that, but I think in light of today's events, never more so than now, at least in our lifetimes.

It was said in the 9-11 attacks that the terrorists were striking at what they saw as the foundation of our nation; its economic foundation as represented by the World Trade Center, and its military might in targeting the Pentagon. Now, a different terror is upon us, and it strikes at all the visible foundations we have humanly laid. We have seen and are seeing how unreliable they are. The question for us is, how well has the enemy, working through this virus, succeeded in striking at the spiritual foundation of the people of God, of the followers of Christ? Many who profess faith in Him have to this point, placed far more confidence in the world's foundation than a foundation built upon the Rock of Christ. That is being severely tested now. Indeed, all here in the west who name Him as Lord are undergoing it as well. In the midst of the test, He confronts us with Moore's question. Will we allow Him to Him to transform not just our foundation, but our very way of seeing, hearing, understanding, and believing? Are we willing to release our ways, all of them, so that we might know and live in His?

It can only happen through our total surrender to our way, and a choice to learn and know His. When the time came for King David to come into his kingdom, people began to come to him from all over Israel. One such group were the men of Issachar. Of these it was said that they "understood the temper of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take." They lived and walked in spiritual discernment, which has been a great lack in the church of the west. To know His ways and live them out, we must have it. Along with His wisdom and understanding. We cannot, without letting go of our ways in order to take hold of His. The time for that is now. Are we willing to live in that "now" with Him?

People of Issachar. This is the need of the day, for His church, our homes and families, and for our nation and nations. We can be such.....if we're willing. Are we willing? Are you?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Paupers?

"Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God." Romans 11:33...."My God, look at all the riches there were in Jesus Christ, and I come to the judgement seat almost a pauper." A.W. Tozer

The Bible speaks often and deeply about the riches to be found in the Father, in His Son Christ, and that these riches, our inheritance in Him, are sealed by the Holy Spirit. Can there be any more wonderful guarantee than this? Yet, here sit so many of us in the condition Tozer speaks of. A condition that will be fully revealed on that day when we, those who call Him Savior and King, have to stand before Him and give account for how we have squandered those riches, or never partaken of them at all, throughout our lives. Why did we? How could we? Yet we do. We know we do.

Part of it is certainly explained by the fact that we've bought the enemy's lie that we cannot experience His riches in this life. That's for eternity, which he cons us into believing starts after we die. Christ's truth is that His eternal life is made available to us right here, right now, for all who trust and believe in His name. The devil convinces us that all that is available to us are sips and nibbles of His living water and bread. He gets us to live on table scraps, and all the while He sets a spiritual feast before us, but we don't know or believe that its there.

A bigger part is that we value the food and water of this world far more than we do His. Witness the hoarding of supplies in our current pandemic. We grasp all we can while we can. We can't believe that the One who offers spiritual bread and water would also see to our receiving the physical as well. The result is the constant strain and anxiety of whether there will be enough. Enough money, enough resources, enough of what we need. We lose sight, indeed, we never see, that He is, in all things, more than enough. We cannot believe that He will take what is not enough and make out of it an abundance. So we continue to live in the place of worry, anxiety and fear. We continue to be paupers, begging in the street, when we could be at His table, partaking of His riches.

I know both sides of this. I have been His son living as a pauper, worrying, fearing, that there wouldn't be enough. Stressed to the breaking point under all of the pressure. Worried that all would be lost, and seeking to make a way out for myself, and failing miserably in it. I don't have space to tell you of all the times He delivered me in spite of my unbelief, but I'll tell you of the time He finally was able to set me free from my pauper lifestyle: Our church was struggling mightily financially. Less than a year before He had opened the door in a miraculous way to purchase a home. Now, our income was such that I could not receive my housing allowance in full. My salary was meager. How would I pay my mortgage? I, and the leaders in the church decided two things. We'd be faithful in the stewardship of our finances, and the church would as well. We continued on, and here's the glory of it all; I did not receive more than $5000 of that allowance that year, yet I never missed a mortgage payment. How? I can't tell you. I can only tell you that when the payment came due, the money was there. Greater than that though was that along with His supply was the outpouring of His constant peace, joy, and expectation in all of it. The church recovered, the shortfall was eventually made up, and God showed Himself faithful in all of it. I stopped being a pauper. By His grace, I want to remain so.

If we were to appear before Him today, in what state would we be? Especially as regards our living in the midst of the riches He has provided? May we not be living as paupers and orphans while all the while surrounded by His riches and promises. They are infinite, and they are ours. Are you living in that truth? May we not have to answer one day as to why, in our need, we didn't think He was enough?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Sacred Moments

"He then went a little farther, fell to the ground, and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him." Mark 14:35...."God is calling you to go deeper in your prayer life with Him. If you are willing to be the person Jesus can take with Him into the most sacred moments, you will experience things only the angels shared with Jesus that night." Henry Blackaby

Sacred moments. These are what we're to partake of with, and in Him.....if we're willing to go farther with Him. Farther than the general crowd that loosely followed. Most didn't even know He was there. Farther than Judas, who had already chosen his own agenda over the purpose of Christ. Farther than the majority of the disciples, who took rest, and never even entered into prayer with Him. Farther even then the inner three, who began to keep watch with Him, but soon fell asleep. Only the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the ministering angels, know what took place spiritually in that Garden, yet it was not meant to be so. Jesus had invited His disciples to enter in His "sacred moment," but none did. How like them are we?

Christ came into this world in a tumultuous time, yet a perfect one, for the Father, for the Son, and though they didn't know it, the people He came to save as well. We are living in a tumultuous time as well. Far more so than any of us have ever experienced. He is here in the midst of it, but has He really entered into it with you and me? Or more correctly, have we entered into it with Him? What sacred moments has He offered to us that we've missed? As He seeks to stretch our faith, deepen our understanding, and widen our sight, He bids us to come farther with Him, out of comfort zones, into a place that we've never known before.

We are praying...a lot. Of what do our prayers consist? From what place in our hearts do they come? The disciples were afraid. They knew something world changing was about to happen, though they weren't sure just what. It was Christ's desire that they join Him in seeking the Father, that they do something that is not much talked of these days, and that is to "pray through" everything that stood between them and into the indescribable peace, joy, hope, and well-being found in Him. The awful reality of the cross was before Jesus. His humanity knew the pain it held, most especially what the cost would be. All the disciples were in various stages of fear, and that fear continued to hold them after the crucifixion. They were meant to break through that fear unto the Father, alongside their Master. They would have, if only they'd have gone a little farther with Him. They missed their sacred moment. Will we?

In these earth shaking times, we need a people praying through all the fear, panic, anxiety, and other forces arrayed against His people. We can only do so if we are willing to go farther. Farther into intimacy, oneness, and fullness of His life. If we will, we will have those sacred moments with Him. We will see, hear, think as He wishes us to. We will not be held in the grip of fear and death, but in that of hope and life.

Like Christ, our flesh desires that this hour would pass, especially that it would pass us by. His Spirit calls us to step out....farther, deeper, in this hour than we ever have before. We cannot miss this sacred moment which will yield sacred fruit, sacred lives, and a sacred church. Such awaits us if we, like Him, will go farther.

Blessings,
Pastor O

The Famine

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him." Psalm 34:8

Scripture says that there will be a famine upon the earth. Not a famine for meat and bread, but for the Word of God. That Scripture has proven true many times in this world, but perhaps none more so than right now. We have been, and are, in the midst of such a famine. We well know the taste of this world's food, but not of of His. We know little of the taste and beauty of His Bread, Milk, and Wine of the Holy Spirit, of His Holy Word. Because of that lack of knowledge and experience of that "taste," we also know so little as concerns Him. As a result we, His church, have in many ways become tasteless ourselves. Yet right now, I believe He stands before us and bids us come, taste, see, that the Lord is good, and then be vessels of that taste to a starving world.

Anyone who's frequented a grocery store of late can see that many food staples are either sold out, or in short supply. Fear and panic do that. We know the value of that food. Why do we know so little of the priceless worth of His? Jesus said that those who depend upon the water and bread of this world will only grow hungry again. That's natural. Yet He promises that if we partake of the bread and water that is His Life, as a way of life, we will not hunger and thirst again. That is supernatural, and only He could make such a promise. Dare we believe it?

We are seeing this panicked reaction to this virus because we, even in the church, know little, if anything, of the nurture and life to be found in Him and in His Word. We look to government, to science, to health agencies, and of course, to the media, to tell us what to do, where to go, and how to live. They all have their place. Our great sin is that we have allowed them to take His place. I am not making any kind of political statement in this, but certainly a spiritual one in that when a photo of Vice-President Pence was shown of him praying with his team for guidance, it was roundly mocked. Mocked as being a useless response to a real need. This is what a famine produces. A culture starving to death in their ignorance and unbelief. God help us all if the church in any way follows their lead.

Our church and many others are seeking to provide food and help in our city of Lynchburg in any way we can. This can be the only response of the church; being the church. Yet the greatest help and ministry we can give is to minister Christ, His Hope, His Life, His Food, to a world in the midst of a spiritual famine. We must be filled to the full with that food, and then live lives that a starving world can "taste." I want to live each day tasting His life to the full. Then I want to be, in every way He leads, a taste of Him to a generation living without Him. This virus has brought us the opportunity to be that. Will we? Or will this opportunity, like so many others, just pass us by?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Washing Our Hands

"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." James 4:8

In the midst of this virus epidemic there has been a multitude of encouraging articles, posts, and messages calliing on us to not give in to fear, panic, and despair. I concur with all of them. Yet there is another message to be heard as well, and it is not a popular one. It is found in the above Scripture coming from a book in the Bible that makes many a believer, particularly in the western church, decidedly uncomfortable; the book of James.

If we believe Almighty God to be totally sovereign, and I do, then we cannot miss what He is saying to us in His allowing of this pandemic. What He is saying to the world, and even more, to His church. Churches and people are praying, praying like never before in most cases. This is good, yet, what is it that we're seeking? Is it just relief from the effects of this virus? Is it a desire to get back to "normal?" If so, what is that normal? Is that at all what He wants to take us back to? A church that in many ways looks very much like the world it is supposed to apart from? A church that is nurtured more from the soda pop and junk food of the world than from the Living Water and Bread of Life that is given in Jesus Christ? He seeks a "normal" for us that is totally abnormal to much of the way we've been living. That's what makes James 4:8 decidedly uncomfortable for us, yet desperately needed as well.

Can we see the correlation between the obsessive demand that we constantly wash our hands as a means of maintaining physical health, while missing our need to have clean hands before Him? The need for the first is real, but it also shows how rooted in this world we are, because we've been content to neglect the latter consistently. We're calling out to Him now, but we've omitted the element of seeking to draw near to Him. We may have often sung the song "Give Us Clean Hands," but we've not often followed through, prayed through, on having them. There has been a great amount of double-mindedness in our devotion to Him. We talk a great deal about "lukewarm Christianity," without worrying much about whether we're one of its products. Francis Chan says there can be no such thing. I'm more and more inclined to agree. I believe the Father is as well.

I am not ready to call this pandemic a judgement from God. I do view it as a wake-up warning. If we, the church, miss what I believe He is saying in this, we can only expect more of these warnings to come, until we become so hardened and deaf to the warnings, that He can send no more. He is speaking, calling. Calling us upward, onward, and deeper. Into Him, His holiness, His righteousness, His life. May we wash our hands before Him. May our hearts be truly cleansed. May all double-mindedness be washed away. That all sounds like an awakening, and that is what I'm praying and believing for..... An awakening; in me, in His church, and in this world.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Nothing Impossible

"For nothing will be impossible with God." Luke 1:37......"God is the God of promise. He keeps His word even when that seems impossible." Colin Urquhart....."We often limit our vision to what we know to be in the realm of possibility - not as God defines possibility, but as we define it." Chris Tiegreen

As a nation and as His church within that nation, we are facing a situation and situations that few, if any of us have ever faced before. Mass shutdowns, even of churches, are taking place. Fear and panic are rampant, hoarding of goods is as well. People are afraid to venture outside of their homes. The church in America is being challenged as never before, and on every level; financially, physically, emotionally, and above all spiritually. Here's a reality we may not want to face, but must; our belief in the truth of Luke 1:37 is going to be challenged on every one of those levels.

It's easy to say we believe in His words when we are not in the position of actually having to do so. We are now having to do that. I think the majority of His people don't live in the realm of the Holy Spirit. We tend to depend on our abilities, not His. So we end up doing exactly what Tiegreen says; we think of Him doing what we think is possible, not in what He says is. I've a friend who says we tend to live in the realm of possibility thinking and not that of nothing will be impossible. There's a huge gap between the two. Which one are we, are you, currently living in? Be assured of this, you can't live in the gap between them, though a large segment of the church has been trying to do so.

What comes to my mind as I write is the scene of Israel at the Red Sea, with the Egyptian army coming at their rear with the intention of returning them to their slavery. They could not go forward or backward. They couldn't go anywhere. They were powerless. Into the impossibility spoke the voice of God, "Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." The sea parted, the people went through, and then, that same sea destroyed the Egyptians who sought to follow. A fable you say? That event was so burned into the consciousness of the Jews that it remains central in their faith system to this day. It must be so in that of the Christian. Dangers, needs, national emergencies are real. The Almighty God of all the earth is more real. In Jeremiah 32:27 He asks, "Is anything too difficult for Me?" We can live in the realm of that which we believe is possible, or in the living faith of nothing is impossible with God. What's your choice?

Blessings,
Pastor O

To The Hilt

"Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord invincible in battle. Open up the ancient gates...let the King of glory enter. Who is the King of glory? The Lord Almighty - He is the King of glory." Psalm 24-8-10...."I would recommend you either believe God up to the hilt, or else not to believe at all." Charles Spurgeon

There's a statement much needed in the church today that I think we've lost sight of. Hopefully not completely. That is, we're to leave, always, room for His glory. A question to ask ourselves, particularly in these tumultuous times, is do we, are we? Or, are our hearts and minds so filled, indeed paralyzed, with such fear, anxiety, stress, that there is no room at all for anything else? Particularly the witness of His glory in all of it. Are we far more attuned to the voices of the talking heads on the cable news networks than we are to the voice of the Holy Spirit? Do we listen and believe what the so called experts in science and medicine tell us over and above what He speaks? Do we even hear Him speaking at all? Has the hysteria of the flesh drowned out not only His voice, but the expectation of His sovereign grace? Have we, with our unbelief, closed the "gates," the very gates of our hearts? Can the King of glory enter in where we have lost all expectation of Him doing that?

I believe we are right now far more in a panic than pandemic. Yet, this virus is just the latest symptom of how easily we forget Him in the midst of these happenings. Does anyone remember Y2K of two decades ago? People lost their minds in fearful apprehension of what would happen with a worldwide computer crash that would send us back into the dark ages. Many of them were believers. Since then we've seen many national and worldwide crises arise. In all of them, God spoke to those who were listening, to those who knew their God. Those who could "be still and know that He is God." To these He revealed His glory. They saw Him in the midst of deep and personal need. It is always this way. Those who stand on the Rock that is Jesus Christ will see His glory, and in amazing ways. These are the ones who, as Spurgeon writes, believe Him "to the hilt." I want to numbered among them. Do you?

I believe the enemy of our souls is unleashing his hatred upon this world and particularly upon the people of God. This virus is not his first assault and it won't be his last. He depends upon fear, unbelief, and panic. His power thrives there. For you and me, our response must be, in this and all things, a settled assurance that we see Him, His works, His protection, His glory, in all of it. The danger, be it the virus, the economy, the political situation, is real. He is more real. Anne Graham Lotz said our response needs to be a crying out to Him.... from our knees. I agree, and in doing so, I believe we will see His glory, and in a multitude of ways. Let us believe Him.....to the hilt. Or else, let us not believe Him at all. I've made my choice. What's yours?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Tablets

"Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." Proverbs 3:3.....Put everything you have into the care of your heart, for it determines what your life amounts to." Dallas Willard...."Love and faithfulness define Him. Do they define you? Let them saturate your heart." Chris Tiegreen

The Bible, from the prophets to Jesus Christ and His disciples, makes clear that who we are is centered in our hearts. Not the physical heart, but the heart of our soul and being. All that we are is centered there, and all that is our heart is subject to influences and control. That is why His Word repeatedly tells us to keep watch over our hearts, for that which we allow into our hearts get "written" there. If the "writing" there reflects the value system of a lost and dying world-culture, than that writing will influence and direct every aspect of our being. Our hearts really are a tablet upon which both the devil and the Holy Spirit will seek to write. One or the other will do the writing. Who's writing upon yours and mine?

Paul talked about those he ministered to as his "letters" to a lost world. He said that they were his letter, written upon his heart. What came from his heart reached out to theirs, and then through them, his "letters", unto a world desperate to "read" them. It is still the same. Jesus, through His Holy Spirit, still seeks to write His love letters to a fallen humanity through the heart tablets of His people. What has He been able to write of late upon yours and mine? What are those around us "reading?" Do they read of love, mercy, joy, peace, holiness? Or, do they read of anger, judgement, unforgiveness, selfishness, fear? One thing is certain; we will be read, and regardless of who we might say is the "Author of our faith," the real writer will be revealed through our words, actions, and behaviors.

Many years ago I walked through a period of life where my tablet offered little of His life. I was in a place where I could have been so much more of a witness for Him, a letter from Him, but I wasn't. Self-pity, discouragement, anger, all of these kept me from being so. It is a period that, though I'm forgiven, I remember. I remember because I lost the chance to be His witness, His letter from His heart. Those chances were lost, and won't return. Which is why I seek to be, in every place, a tablet that offers up a new page to a dead culture wherever I am. By His grace, I hope I am.

So, just what is it that saturates your heart and mine? That which does will be written on our hearts....and read by those around us, our mates, our children, our friends, neighbors and co-workers. Today, when they come into contact with you and me, what will they be reading?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Showdown

"Heal the sick, and tell them, 'The Kingdom of God is near you now.' " Luke 10:9....."In showdowns between Jesus and sin, Jesus and circumstances, Jesus and lack, Jesus and the dark forces of this world, and even Jesus and death, Jesus wins....No obstacle in life is a match for the King who lives within you." Chris Tiegreen

I think it was Spurgeon who said something on the order of, "I have a great need, and I have a greater God to meet that need." We need to know that truth. Just as we need to know and believe the ultimate truth that greater is He that is in and with us, than anything, ANYTHING, that is in the world, in men, and in hell, that can ever come against us. Jesus often said, "Take courage." Someone said that we will either "take courage, or take fear." For the believer there should be no taking of fear. "Showdowns" with the forces of darkness will come. We need to have settled the question as to who will win those contests. Who it is that's already won all those contests. It is Jesus... every time.

I believe that right now, the devil is working overtime to make our hearts melt with fear. Fears about a virus spreading. Fears about a suddenly shaky stock market. Fears about what he would have us believe is our shaky future. These on top of the everyday fears that come at us from a multitude of different places and angles.These things will force a "showdown" between what it is we say we believe about our Almighty God, and what the enemy is currently threatening us with through our circumstances. We will not be spared from tribulations. The kingdoms of this world will be shaken. They are being shaken. If we are standing on the foundation of His unshakable Kingdom, how can we give in to fear?

It may be that you're in the kind of showdown Tiegreen speaks of right now. Your need may be greater than anything you've ever faced before. Your lack may be as well. Everything may be against you. The showdown is happening. All that you have proclaimed to concerning your faith in Him is being put to the test. Can you stand firm in the belief that He will, in His time and way, bring you the victory in that showdown? Will you take courage....or will you take fear?

Years ago, in the midst of a record breaking cold winter and living on a lonely church campground. I had a part in such a "showdown." My marriage was in the midst of divorce, I had to step out of ministry, and I was working in a job that was difficult, to put it mildly. I came home one night, defeated and discouraged. I sought His Word, and came across the Scripture where Paul describes his standing before the judgement seat of Caesar, the most powerful man in the world. He said, "At my first defense, no one stood with me, but Christ came beside me." That was my showdown moment. As I read those words, I saw in my heart and mind a picture of Him coming beside me, also alone, and standing beside me. With me. As He did so, all those things that were coming against me melted away....in actuality, put to flight by the One who is Conqueror and Victor. He won the showdown, and in Him, I did too. He will win yours as well...if you take courage, and not fear.

The showdowns may well just be beginning. Let us all take courage, take Christ, and not fear and the scheme of the enemy. The real showdown took place on Calvary and at the tomb. He's already won it. Won it all.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Truly His?

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!' " Isaiah 6:8...."Have we already made the choice to surrender to Him no matter what He says or asks?" Francis Chan

Recently we were having a discussion at the staff meeting of the church where I serve Him during my retirement from "full time ministry." (Is there any such thing....for any of us?) In any case, a brother pastor, also retired, made the statement that he wondered if, in this stage of his life and service to Him, he was still willing to do anything and go anywhere for Him? I had to echo that question; Am I still as willing now as I was when I first embarked on my journey of faith?

When I left the Pittsburgh suburbs for Bible College in 1980, I had just turned 30. I could fit everything I owned in the car I was driving. I didn't take a thought to anything concerning what awaited me. In my young faith, I was sure that He would make a way, open doors, shut others, and care for me in all of my needs. He did just that, and my faith grew deeper and stronger by the day. Then, upon graduation, I received a call to pastor my first church. The District Superintendent told me that he couldn't give me a harder assignment. I was undaunted (and not a little naive) and stepped out in the same kind of faith and trust that had led me to the college. Now I had a family to be responsible for as well, but I wasn't afraid. Someone said that when Jesus called Peter to step out of the boat and onto the water, he first stepped out on the word "Come." I was doing something of the same.

This pattern continued. through my divorce and stepping out of ministry for a season, and the wilderness that accompanied that. It continued upon receiving a call to plant a church in the inhospitable culture of Northern Virginia. In all of it, I continued to step out on that word "come." I'd made the choice that Chan speaks of. Now, in the twilight years of my life and ministry, does that choice still stand? Is it still valid? Do I still say "yes" to whatever He asks? Will I go wherever He sends? I know my heart says yes, but does my mind and body agree? Or, have I reached a place where I think all my years of service have entitled me to pick and choose what I'll do and where I'll go? Does His call, His sending, end at a certain age? Do I look for His "well done" here and now, or realize that cannot come until I've run the whole race? A race that continues right up till the moment He calls me home.

I know the real answer to that. So do you. I'm not my own. I wasn't when I was a young man, and I'm not now as a much older one. I had nothing when I embarked on the journey, so I had nothing really to lose. That's not the case now. I have much to lose, at least as to how the world reckons things. I'm called, as are you, to reckon things in a different way. When the Father spoke those words in Isaiah 6:8, He wasn't speaking specifically to Isaiah, but to whoever would hear Him and come to Him in order to be sent. Isaiah heard, came, and went out. That has to be the way for each of us. He is always calling, and nothing, not age, or security, or other obligations can keep us from the answer. My part, and yours, in all of it is to say, "Here I am Lord." Surrendered, totally available, sent. Young or old, rich or poor, there is no other option if we are truly His. So the question comes, where we are right now, are we truly His?

Blessings,

Kingdom Clash

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it." John 1:5..."The New Testament is the story of a clash of kingdoms. The Light stepped into the darkness, and the darkness has been trembling ever since." Chris Tiegreen

When God gave His people Israel their promised land, it was for the purpose of it being theirs forever. They were to live free. Their days of slavery in Egypt were to be forever behind them. Yet eventually, because they never fully embraced their inheritance, they ended up prisoners, slaves, in their own land. One writer stated that Satan has convinced God's people that they are prisoners of war, living in "camps" that he keeps us in. We sit in those camps, discouraged, fearful, even hopeless, just waiting for Jesus to come back and take us away. His Word says that the gates of hell will not prevail against His Church, but the church either doesn't believe it, or doesn't know it. So, as the surrounding culture gets ever darker, we hunker down and try to live as fully and freely as we can.....in our POW camps. The greatest tragedy of this lie is that a war has been fought, on the cross and His resurrection, and it is the devil who's the POW. Jesus is perfect Light, and when He stepped into this world, the devil shook with fear. He still shakes with fear. Of our Lord and King, and, if we'll just believe it and live it, of us as well.

I love the story speaker and writer Christine Caine tells of her young daughter who desperately wanted a flashlight. After taking her to a store to purchase one, the little girl excitedly said to her mother, "Now, lets go find some darkness." This is to be the lifestyle of the church and of all who believe on the name of Jesus. Hell shakes and Satan trembles at the mere mention of His name. The deepest, most impenetrable darkness must yield to His Light that pierces even its greatest depths. So must it do with we who carry His Light in this world trapped in darkness.

His Word tells us that the people of God have been transferred and transformed from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light. From the land of death to the land of life. This means that Jesus Christ, almost always through one or more of His people, came into our darkness and rescued us, pulled us out, like those trapped in a deep cave, and brought us out into His wonderful Light. Darkness cannot stop Him because death could not hold Him. All either can do is tremble before Him.....and before those who are His.

To what degree do we live as prisoners and slaves upon our own land? How long have we been living as POW's in a war that we have won in Him? Whether we are there through our own sin, or just the fear and intimidation the enemy seeks to put upon us, we need to know anew, the Light has come, and it has never and will never stop coming. His Light stepped into the world. Let us, all of us, step into His Light.....and behold all of hell, and the devil who rules the darkness, tremble before our King.... and before us.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Faithful Steward

"Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful." I Corinthians 4:2

I have written in my prayer journal, "May I be a steward found faithful, and may I know that I'm a steward not only of things, but of ever moment, opportunity, and relationship in my life." I've found that to be a convicting prayer, and one impossible to live out apart from His grace and power.

I think it is symptomatic of the American church that we think of stewardship only in terms of how we handle our money and goods. We center it on the tangible, but so much of it, maybe most of it, is very intangible indeed. God doesn't just put money and things into our hands, He also places our time there, and how we use that time. He places people into our "hands" as well. Our wives, husbands, and children. He also gives us random people on an almost daily basis. How we relate to them, "steward" them, means everything. More often than not, we see these people as human interruptions instead of His divine appointments. He brings them to us as opportunities to share His life in us with them. We encounter them in the form of the waiters and waitresses in restaurants. The cashier in the checkout line, and yes in the difficult people we can come across each day. He's entrusted them to us for a moment, but how we steward that encounter can reach into eternity.

The sad reality is that we can feel ourselves deeply in love with Him, yet remain oblivious to who and what He's placed around and before us. We are so absorbed in our own lives and "stuff" that we notice little of anything else. God arranges encounters for us every day with the expectation that we will in some way, show the living Christ within us in that encounter. He entrusts us with people He is drawing to Himself, or, with situations in which we have opportunity to display His glory. But we don't see them that way, and so the person goes unnoticed and the opportunity ignored.

As a pastor and minister, I can be deeply convicted on this. Too many times I have been totally focused on building my church or ministry, all the while missing people and opportunities that He'd placed before me. People and opportunities that I didn't see as helpful in reaching my ministry goals. I was not a steward found faithful in those places. Where in your life might you confess the same thing? Are you able to go on living with that?

This morning, a brother pastor and I were leaving our men's prayer meeting. Our church serves as a voting center for our city. Sitting on the couch as we walked by was a weary looking election official. We struck up a conversation with her and she just shared her total weariness in a day that hadn't really begun yet. We prayed with her and she overflowed with gratitude for that simple act of stewardship. She told us that we had no idea of how much she needed that prayer. This is what it means to be a faithful steward. I want to be better at it. Much better. I want to be found a faithful steward. How about you?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Easy Trust?

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6....."Settled, growing trust is needed to follow God through every season of life...We're always looking for an easy trust." Larry Crabb

Larry Crabb says that, "We tend to trust God to do what we think a loving God 'ought to do.' " I think this perfectly defines what he calls our "easy trust" expectations. We want to trust a God who co-operates fully with our agenda and plans. He could not possibly desire anything that would conflict with that, with what we perceive as our own well-being. It's a distinctly modern Church of the west outlook. It's also totally unbiblical.

How settled is our trust really? Look at Proverbs 3 again. We simply cannot trust Him with all of our hearts if we are leaning upon our own understanding, wisdom, discernment, in any way. His Word plainly tells us that His ways are not our ways, yet somehow, we believe they are. I cannot begin to count the number of times I've heard church folk say "I don't think God would do that," only to see Him do exactly that, or something even more unexpected and from their perspective, completely wrong. They'd been living in that easy trust Crabb speaks of. The kind of trust where He is predictable, comfortable, and controllable. He pulls our cart, but we hold the reins. We can always trust this God, but our major problem is, this is a God we've created. He bears no resemblance to the Almighty God of the Bible.

One of the great stumbling blocks for the disciples was that Jesus was always doing things and leading them to places that made no sense to their own understanding. His way was not the way they would choose. They wished to get to the same place He was going, but their route choice would bear little resemblance to His. It certainly made no place for death on a cross. What sense could that make? The answer was none to their flesh, but everything to Jesus and His Father. Jesus had spent all of His earthly life knowing ever more of the heart and mind of His Father. He did so because He and His Father were One. They shared the same mind and same heart. This is the same relational trust every believer is called to. He calls us to a settled trust in Him that doesn't look at the ever changing landscape, a landscape that can be terrifying at times. Easy trust will never follow Him for long. Only settled trust will. Which are we trying to exercise in our day to day living?

Paul said, "I know Whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded that He will keep that which I've committed until that day." This is settled trust. There was no easy trust in Paul's life. The Holy Spirit led him into places of extreme discomfort and danger, but he knew who it was that he believed. The choice had been made. His trust was settled. Is ours?

Easy trust or settled; which are we trying to live out? The first will take us nowhere. The latter will take us ever deeper into His Life. Where is that you really want to go, and do you really want to go there with Him?

Blessings,
Pastor O