Tables

Then Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves. And He declared to them, "It is written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer. But you are making it a den of robbers.' Matthew 21:12-13 Jesus will zealously pursue communion with us even if it means overturning some tables. Chris Tiegreen Many look at this Scripture and only see the outward understanding. They'll make it about reverence for the House of God, about behavior "in church." The church is indeed holy ground, but anyplace where we stand with Him is holy ground. He makes it so. Jesus was offended by the presence of worldly practices in His Father's House. His House of Prayer. Ungodly things will always deeply offend Him and will never have a place on His holy ground, and there is no more holy ground than the heart of a true believer and follower of Jesus Christ. So many of us can be so diligent about the physical ground of our church while completely neglecting the ground of our heart. Into the holy ground of our heart we can bring so many unholy things. We accumulate our own personal tables piled high with things that should not be there. Things that take our attention, our desire, worship away from Him and onto something else. They can be good things that have become so important to us that our desire is for them, far more than it is for Him. When this happens, Jesus is going to overturn some tables. The money changers and the merchants did not all "show up" in the Temple at once. It was a gradual thing. A little opening for one or two. A little compromise, a little less guarding of the heart of what the Temple was to be, a house of prayer. Gradually it became what it was, a courtyard meant for prayer and worship that had become anything but. It deeply offended the eyes and heart of Christ. He overturned the tables and drove them out. He cleansed the Temple of their presence. This is what happens in our hearts. The rivals to Christ and our love for Him don't all arrive together. They come in pieces. They come with our compromises. They come with our permission. As they keep coming, our awareness of Him dims, as does our love. Jesus will not be shy in His confrontation of it all. He will violently confront and overturn the things that have taken us from Him, that have taken up space that must belong to Him alone. Tables will be overturned and it can be painful, but oh, the cleansing that is the product of it all. Where have the tables of the world gained entrance into your heart and mine? Tables piled high with our earthly treasures didn't become so all at once. We've made compromises. We've given permission, and in our doing, have muddied our hearts and compromised our affections, blinding us to all that has happened there. What tables exist in our hearts today? We've likely grown so used to them that we don't even "see" them anymore. Jesus will bring us to reckoning. He'll begin overturning tables. Will we allow Him to cleanse our hearts as He cleansed the Temple courtyard? Or, have we grown attached and in love with our tables? Blessings, Pastor O

Destroyed

My people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6 As Jesus hung dying on the cross and the onlooking crowd hurled abuse and mockery at Him, He cried out to the Father, "Forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing." That's a perspective that's unnatural to us apart from Christ, and even in Christ we often struggle with forgiving those who treat us unjustly. Yet, when we see as He sees, think as He thinks, know as He knows, we begin to understand, and He can then take us ever deeper into that understanding. The hardest aspect of my ministry over these past 40 plus years has been that of watching friends and family being destroyed "for lack of knowledge." They lack true knowledge of Him and of His ways and words. They know of Him, but they don't know Him. As a result they make choices and decisions based on their own understanding and perception. The Bible defines that as their living according to the flesh and not of His Spirit. This way of life will always, I repeat, ALWAYS ultimately lead to destruction. In Hosea 4, God was speaking to both His priests and people. They did not know and believe the God that they claimed to believe and follow. Destruction and catastrophe would be the price they paid. In the church today, I see people of all ages leading lives based on the flesh and not on His Holy Spirit and His Word. They are making choices that feed the flesh and self-life. Choices that cost those around them, and ultimately themselves. It's a heavy price they will pay. Husbands and wives abandoning their marriages and families. Men and women pursue desires that cause them to neglect the very ones they have been charged to love, lead, and nurture. This is the way of the flesh and is never the way of the Spirit. As a result marriages, families, lives, and even churches, are being destroyed because they don't really walk in the knowledge of God and His Way. One of the prayers found in Scripture is that He would "teach us His ways." The need that He should, is desperate within the church. May we, every husband, every wife. Every father and every mother. Every pastor and every professing believer, come before Him and allow Him to root out every place in our lives that is being destroyed because we are following the impulses and desires of the flesh over that of His Holy Spirit. We have allowed the enemy to destroy far too many of our marriages, families, and churches. That destruction has to stop, but it will only stop when we say "enough." Are you ready to say that, or will the destruction go on? Blessings, Pastor O

Worst Day

Evangelist Stuart Olyott said, The very worst thing that ever happened was the death of the Son of God. The very best thing that ever happened was the death of the Son of God. If God can bring good out of this, what can He not do for us in the midst of our deepest losses? This is truth, though few of us are able to see it in the midst of our worst days. I certainly could not, but He has proved to me over and over again that it is. Though our worst days can greatly differ, I think they all contain this in common; they take us by surprise, and they leave us devastated and in emotional and spiritual shock. We can't think or act clearly and we experience a wide range of emotions and thoughts. We cry out to God. In pain, in anger, and with the plea that He undo what has happened. Like the disciples after the crucifixion, we run, often to Him, and just often away from Him. We know the promise of Romans 8, that He will work all things together for our good, but we cannot see how He can do so in the midst of this day. The devil mocks us through this promise. We hear the liars voice, but we seem unable to hear the Father's. He may not be speaking because He knows the turmoil will keep us from hearing, but He is working. Always He is working. My worst day, the collapse of my ministry and marriage, led to many more days, weeks, and months of journeying with Him on a road that always seemed dark, and with many unexpected twists and turns. I often wanted to quit, to turn aside and just die, yet each time a sense of renewed hope would come, and I would get up from my self-pity and keep going along, even if it seemed an inch at a time. His road led me from ruin to resurrection. His road always will. Piece by piece, He rebuilt both my life and ministry. In losing what I thought was everything I gained everything in Him. John Wesley once said of his life that he was "an amazement to myself." He was amazed by what God had done in spite of his life deepest challenges and losses. I feel the same. The pain of my losses was real, but the wonder of what I've gained in Him is more real. In the journey I learned the truth of something else Olyott said. Don't grumble about the road He's leading you down because it's the road by which He's leading you home. He is not the cause of your worst day, but He is the solution. If you're in the midst of your worst day, don't listen to the lies of the enemy. He will not abandon you. At your weakest, He will be your strength. He knows the way home. Trust Him to get you there no matter how many "dangers, toils, and trials" you may encounter. In the journey, you will discover riches in Him you never thought possible. He will turn your worst day into your best....as you trust Him. Blessings, Pastor O

Without Ceasing

Pray without ceasing. I Thessalonians 5:17 Throughout His Word, prayer is to be a central and essential part of a believer's life. Jesus commanded His followers to pray. Paul exhorted the early church to pray, without ceasing and at all times. Throughout His Word we are pointed to the truth concerning the power of prayer and the infinite power of the One we pray to. With all this being so true, why is it that the average believer, even the average pastor does so little of it? There are more answers to this question than I can even begin to name, but something I heard Charles Swindoll say sheds a great deal of light on answering this question Swindoll was relating what his life had been like in the past year. He said it was by far the most difficult year he'd ever experienced. In it, he came to understand more deeply than ever the wonder and power of prayer. There were other things he discovered as well. He said that prayer reminded him that everything concerning his life was in the Father's hands and not his own. In prayer, he learned the power of surrender. He also learned this; though we are commanded to pray at all times and to trust God with how He responds to our prayers, Swindoll said that his prayers didn't necessarily change what his feelings and emotions were saying, or lift the spirit of heaviness he carried. I think this truth is a great part of the answer to why we give up, at least in part, on prayer. We want instant change, but God is at work in us for the long haul. Shaping us for eternity. The power of prayer is not just found in what He does for us, but even more, by what He does in us. This is why we're to pray without ceasing. The spiritual discipline of prayer is shaping us for eternity. This is seen in the lives of David, Paul, Peter, and so many more. It needs to be seen in your life and mine as well. He will often bring us a comfort and sense of well being in our prayers, but that is not a guarantee. The key is not how we feel as we pray but in who we trust. That's what Swindoll was saying. The heaviness and burden may still be there, but there is also a growing sense and assurance that everything, regardless of how we feel, is in His hands and not ours. This transcends our feelings and emotions and produces a life within that will stand firm against all the onslaughts of this world and hell itself. Wherever you are today, pray without ceasing. Believe that it is all in His hands and not yours, because that is the truth. In His Word He said, "I am doing a work that you wouldn't believe even if I told you." This is what is taking place as we pray. Press on. Fight on. On your knees. Satan flees from the one who lives on their knees. He is working, and for your good and mine. Prayer is a mighty weapon. Wield it boldly. Blessings, Pastor O

The Curse

No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found, Far as the curse is found, Far as, far as, the curse is found. From the hymn, Joy To The World. I saw a video recently of a woman who had a ministry among the prostitutes of Los Angeles. She said that she simply walked among them offering to pray, talk, and present Jesus Christ and His love in any way she could. She said there was one woman in particular who was beaten down and very hardened by the life she had been living for so long. This woman wanted to know what the "chaplain," for lack of a better word, was doing here. She shared about wanting to minister His life to them. The weary lady contemplated this for a few moments and then asked, "Can you break curses?" She replied, "I know the God who has broken every curse." While this was happening, others around them were listening, a number of them pressed in, each wanting to know could the curses they were living under, knew they were living under, be broken? Again, she affirmed His truth. She ended up praying with each of them that the vast array of curses that had held each of them in bondage would be broken by the blood of Christ. His blood shed for their sins. For the curse that befell the human race when Adam and Eve rebelled against God in the Garden. Sin is the curse that every member of the human race has been born under. It hasn't just fallen upon prostitutes, drug addicts, and alcoholics. It covers us all and the curse reveals itself in seemingly infinite ways. It shows up in the labels that have been assigned to us. Failure, worthless, unloveable, rejected, ugly, stupid, and a host of other things the devil and the world have said we are. Curses that have convinced us we can never be free, that we will always be held in captivity to them. This is the enemy's biggest lie, for the curse of sin over the human race was broken on Christ's cross on Calvary. What we have been labeled, the life we have fallen into, or even chosen of our own accord, its power is broken. The prison door has swung open. The curse, just as the beautiful hymn says, has been broken for as far and as deeply as it has affected the human race He loves. As far as it has affected and held you in its sway. A number of those prostitutes found freedom from their lives that day, because the God one woman knew showed forth His power to break every curse they had been enslaved by. Has He done so for you? The power of the curse runs deep, and it affects us spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically. His blood and His grace go deeper still. Wherever we are and no matter how dark and deadly the curse, He stands and bids us come to Him and receive Him. The curse is broken. All you need do to see it broken in you is to come, believe, receive, and be free. The captivity of sin is replaced by the freedom and Lordship of Jesus Christ. All you need to do is to repent, to turn from the curse you've been living in, to the life He now calls you to. By His grace, you turn from what has been for you and step into His "what will be." The curse of sin has tainted every one of us to some degree. We have no power to free ourselves from it. That's why He came. Whatever that curse looks like in your life, don't gaze at it, but to the One, Jesus Christ, who broke its power on Calvary, and invited us to step out from under the curse and into the blessing and abundance of His life. That blessing goes far as the curse is found, no matter how far from Him you may feel. It comes to you. The blackest curse of sin is powerless against the power of His blood and the freedom it brings. Please. Discover how true that is for you. The door of the cell that holds you is open. He stands before you, calling you to come to Him. Come. Just come. Blessings, Pastor

Unworthy

He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” John 1:27 A.W. Tozer said something to the effect that the church has lost its sense of the holiness and majesty of God, and he said this more than 70 years ago. I often think that in our efforts to present Him and His Son Jesus as accessible, welcoming, and loving, we have somehow demystified Him, and removed the awe, wonder, and majesty associated with His glory. The above words, uttered by John the Baptist, are timely for all of us. John was speaking of Jesus, and he certainly had that sense of wonder and of his own unworthiness before Him. Untying the sandals of a visitor was a role reserved for the most lowly of household servants, yet John, who Jesus said that there was never a greater man than Him, did not believe himself worthy of doing even so menial a task in His presence. How much of that kind of humility that was in John is within you and I in our coming before Him? In our day to day relationship with Him and in our corporate gatherings before Him? Have we made Him so familiar, so accessible, that we no longer notice His glory, His majesty, and that He dwells in unapproachable light? I remember the first time I became aware of all this. I was in my first year at Bible college. Some friends and I were talking about drawing nearer to Jesus and what our initial realization would be in that process. I remember hearing myself say, and to my own amazement, that I would realize just how unworthy I was to be so near to Him at all. This insight was given to me by Him and was not of myself. David asked who was man that God took such notice and care with him? I think we in the 21st century church no longer ask that question. It's been replaced by our sense of entitlement. We mistake His welcoming us into His presence with thinking He's obligated to do so. We're blind to the truth that it's only by the blood of Christ that we may come at all, and that without His blood covering us, we would be destroyed by His Holy Light. Chris Tiegreen writes that "Sin is disastrous and grace is precious. Neither should be taken casually." Yet I believe we have. I don't think we really think our sin is all that bad or that His grace is that precious. Our sin would forever keep us from Him were it not for the blood of Christ and His grace that applies it to us. Our sin has made us totally unworthy of Him and the blood of Christ and grace of God are our only means of coming before Him. This should humble us. It should break all our elements of pride and self-sufficiency. Has it done so in you and me? I am so thankful that He welcomes me into His Presence, but may I never lose sight of the infinite cost to Him to do so. May I have burned into my heart and spirit the reality of His majesty, His glory, His holiness. May I never forget that I too, and you as well, are not worthy to come near Him on any level but that of Christ, His blood, and the grace of the Father's forgiveness. May it never cease to humble us, to bring us to our knees. Blessings, Pastor O

Hell Walk

There's a saying I've used before, "If you're going through hell, don't stop." It's wise advice. We have to keep going, keep pressing on, regardless of how we feel or what our emotions and feelings are trying to tell us there. Feelings are rarely, if ever, the truth. I also love a statement by Joni Eareckson Tada. She said that there was nothing more wondrous than finding Jesus in the middle of our hell. Our feelings and emotions tell us that He's not there, but His Word and His Truth promise that He will never leave or forsake us....even in the depths of our darkness and pain. Even in what seems like hell to us. So many feelings and emotions are not the truth, though the enemy will speak through them, trying to convince us that they are. A wise pastor friend of mine once said that how we "feel" and the state of our emotions and mind do not and cannot alter in the least His truth and His promises. Or the reality of His Presence. They are just as mighty and powerful in the deep valley where all view of Him seems lost. This is what we must hold on to. In our losses, defeats, and sorrows, though all give rise to feelings and emotions that bring great pain, they do not change the reality of who He is, what He's said, and His power. He will be all that He promised to be and do all He has promised to do....if we will hold onto our hope in Him. Even if that hope hangs by a thread. A thread made unbreakable by Him. Maybe you're walking through hell right now. As you do, your feelings and emotions are assaulting you with scenarios that will conflict with His truth. Do not focus on the feelings and their false message. Put your eyes on Him and what He has promised you. You are not alone. He is with you, and He will meet with you even in the hell you are now walking through. Cling to Him. Nothing you are feeling or experiencing changes His truth and promises to you. Press on. He's with you, and all of the power of hell does not diminish Him or Word in the least. Sometimes, our personal hell is so intense, so dark, that we really feel it impossible to say anything to Him at all. In that time, and that time may be yours right now, just say His name. Over and over again. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Behold how real He becomes to you and watch as He puts all the power of hell to flight. That's a promise written in His blood. Blessings, Pastor O