WE SHALL FIGHT

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.”
I Corinthians 16:13

On June 4, 1940, as word of the upcoming German attack on the British Isles became known, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered one of the grandest speeches given in World War II. To a weakened French army, a surrendered Belgian army, a proud British army, and any additional army listening, Churchill spoke.

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France,
we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air,
we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender

As I read these words again, my mind is immediately taken to I Corinthians 16:13. It is here that Paul warns the believer to stand firm. It is in Churchill’s speech that he too warns the British nation to stand firm. A fight was about to come, there was no doubt it was coming. But it was not time for the nation to shrink back in the face of the oncoming Nazi regime. It was time to dig the feet in the sand and stand ready to fight.
In Isaiah 51:12, the prophet questions, “Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass…?” I believe it is true that although God has not given us the spirit of fear, we are still easily intimidated by the enemy. It is no different than when a child sees the flicker of lightening and hears the crashing of thunder. Countless times the parent can soothe the child and let them know they are safe, but the fear is still there. It is not that the child does not trust his or her parent, but rather that in that moment something is bigger than the parent. In our moment of attack by the enemy, we fear a ‘something’ bigger.
But let us continue in Isaiah 51. In verse 14 we are promised freedom from our prison and life where we once feared death in our dungeon. How is this so? The answer is in verse 15 and following. God! It is God who brings this freedom. God laid the foundations of the world. God puts His words in our mouth. God calls us His children. And as an angry mama bear runs after the threat to her cub, so God will step on the grass that we are for no reason to be fearful of.
With Christ on our side, we are undefeatable. The people of Britain heard this message given by the Prime Minister, but did they believe it? It is the same message God is giving to the church, but do we believe it? Look…

We [the church] shall go on to the end, we shall fight [against the devil and his cohorts],
[the church] shall fight [in prayer and fasting],
[the church] shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in [the power of God],
[the church] shall defend our [body], whatever the cost may be,
[the church] shall fight [against the devil’s schemes],
[the church] shall fight [against the rulers and authorities of evil],
[the church] shall fight [against the powers of the dark world],
[the church] shall fight [against the forces of evil in the heavenly realms];
[the church] shall never surrender

It is time to put away the fear of the enemy and meet him head on. He only has power over us if we let think he does; if we let him get in our mind. So then, it is time to “be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.”

IN THE MEANTIME

“Then the men of Judah came to Hebron and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.”
II Samuel 2:4a

Last week I wrote concerning what God had been showing me concerning a moving from point A to point B. I shared how we receive our destiny at point A, and find the end result of the destiny at point B, but then questioned how we are to get from point A to point B. What are we to do in the meantime from when God gives us our destiny till the time God allows us to walk in this destiny? While we looked at the word service, I want to look again at a few additional factors God has shown me in the life of David.
In I Samuel 16:11-13 David is anointed as the next king. However, it is not until after 17 chapters have passed that we arrive in II Samuel 2:4, where David finally steps into his destined position. Looking within those 17 chapters, God has shown me five lessons, the first being a lesson in service. We find in I Samuel 16:14-23 that David is invited to play music for Saul, who recently had the spirit taken from him when he disobeyed, and is now being tormented by an evil spirit. David played his music and the spirit left Saul. It is for this that we read in verse 21, David entered into Saul’s service. David played music, but also became an armor-bearer for Saul. In I Samuel 17, though, we read that David’s defeat of Goliath also brought him into the military service of Saul as he joined in Israel’s army, taking the lives of many Philistines.
A second lesson I believe David learned in these 17 chapters has to do with the allowing of his self to be trained. With the spirit tormenting Saul, he became unstable and threw his spear at David, forcing David to flee for his safety. However, as David fled, Saul followed. In Psalm 18, we read within the intro of the LORD delivering David from Saul’s hand. And in verse 34 of this Psalm we read that God trained David’s hands for war. David allowed himself in these years to be trained. I believe that this training wasn’t only for physical combat, but for spiritual combat as well. In our time of moving from point A to point B, we to need to understand that both our bodies and our spirits need to be trained in order to be a complete warrior.
Following Goliath’s defeat by David, a friendship was entered into by Jonathan and David, and this is the third lesson. Who are we hanging around? David allowed himself to enter into a friendship with like-minded people. From Jonathan, to the men that fought alongside David, all were like-minded and shared in a covenant. All were in one accord, and lifted David up when the enemy tried to bring him down. Knowing this lesson the hard way, it is easier to move to point B when your friends are supporting your destiny.
Forth, David learned to fight off pride. After David’s victory a chant was heard, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands (I Sam 18:7).” David had every reason to allow pride to sneak in, yet he brushed it off. He had every reason to get big headed, yet he forbade the option. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. God is looking for those He can move forward who will not become big-headed. In fact I will go so far as to say that pride will only delay our end result.
The last lesson I see within these 17 chapters is this, David learned not to usurp authority. Once anointed as a child he could have taken over, yet he allowed God to promote him in His time. On two occasions David had the opportunity to take Saul out. His men even cheered him on in doing so. Yet David did not. And in I Samuel 24, after cutting off the corner of Saul’s robe, David even admitted to feeling guilty for his actions. It would have been easy to promote his self and usurp Saul, but I question if God’s spirit would have rested on David much longer.
Once God has given us a destiny it can be hard to wait for it to pass. Trust me, I know this one first hand. But it is in this time of waiting that God sharpens us and prepares us for our destiny. It is just like in building a model car. I can glue a few pieces together and it may be okay, but how much better will it look with the wheels attached, the pieces painted, and the decals added. God is wanting the same for us, to train us in these moments now so that when His timing comes and our destiny can be walked out, that we are ready. You will get from point A to point B, but it needs to be in His timing and after His lessons have been learned.

MOVING FROM POINT A TO POINT B - sermon

On March 9, 2014 I was given the opportunity to speak at Journey of Grace Church in Nashville, TN. I have included the youtube links should you want to take a listen.

part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vzirxHSwJ8&feature=youtu.be
part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc1avxaCSMk&feature=youtu.be

SERVING POINTS

“Don’t obey just to win their favor, serving only when they are watching you; but serve as slaves of the Messiah, doing what God want with all your heart.”
Ephesians 6:6

Have you ever wondered how we are supposed to move from point A to point B in life? I mean, in life God calls us for a specific purpose. We receive our destiny at point A, and find the end result of the destiny at point B, but how do we get from point A to point B? What is the process from the time God gives this destiny till the time God allows us to walk in this destiny? This is the question God has been helping me with these past few days, and the message I will be sharing with the church this upcoming weekend. For now, though, allow me to share a little concerning what I am learning.
I believe the answer between point A and point B is service. In Ephesians 6:5, Paul starts out by saying that slaves are too obey their human masters with the same fear, trembling, and single-heartedness in which they are to obey their God. In essence, slaves are to obey with a reverence in all that is required of them, and with an honest virtue. These are the same manners in which we are to obey our God. As His followers, His servants, how is it that we should treat him with any less respect? How is it that we should not follow in each detail He requires of us? And how is it that we think we can partially obey Him and still have a complete blessing on our lives? Even King Saul learned that partial obedience equals complete disobedience.
But the piece that sticks out to me is found in verse 6. I cannot help but find myself asking if my obedience is based on what I get out of it. By this I mean, do I only obey when people are watching? Do I only obey because I want to be blessed? I found myself asking myself this question two summers back concerning giving an offering. Do I only give above the tithe because I want the 100% return, or do I give because I want to bless someone else regardless of what happens to me in return? Here I am again faced with the same question. Do I only do my job at work when I see the boss coming and then goof off when her back is turned? Do I only work for a paycheck, a pay raise, or verbal affirmation?
Paul encourages us to serve as slaves of the Messiah, doing what God wants with all our heart. We are reminded of this in Scripture, but I point out that Jesus did only what He saw His Father do. He saw His Father’s example, and lived it. Jesus showed us an example of how to bless others in serving others. In fact, Matthew 20:28 tells us that Jesus came not to be served, but rather to serve. Between the point in which Jesus came, point A, to the point when Jesus ascended to Heaven, point B, He served. Is this not the example we are to be living? We are not to serve based on what we obtain from serving, but rather we are to serve because that is the example we are to follow. With all our heart we are to be a slave, a servant, of the Most High God.
How badly do we want to do as Jesus would do, or has done? Are we willing to follow in each of His steps, even the ones that at times can be harder to follow? If so, then we must add the character of a servant to our lifestyle. We must serve God with all our hearts and do all that He requires of us. As we work to walk in the fear, trembling, and single-heartedness of serving God, then we must also serve those who are over us.

PURITY OF THE WORD

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”
Psalm 119:105

I don’t know if you have ever had a chance to watch the show, 7th Street Theater, but it has become one of those shows that I try to catch as often as possible. The basic concept behind the show is group of theatre actors who work on sketches throughout the week to perform at their Friday night performance. Mixed in with the performance rehearsals are practical life and Bible lessons. It was an episode I watched about a year back that really spoke to me, though.
The performance was set to show the importance of reading the Bible. In one sketch, the performer was playing a coach whose starting quarterback had just gotten injured. He was about to send in the backup quarterback only to learn that the backup had not been reading the playbook. With one injured QB, and another not knowing the plays, the coach was left to forfeit the remainder of the game. The connection was made in showing how God’s Word is the playbook. If we, the team, are not familiar with the plays, how can we expect to be put in the game? How can we expect to win? We must read His word daily.
Another one of the sketches was centered around Psalm 119:105. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” As the group was heading out for lunch, they turned out the light and headed out the door. However, they could not lock the door because they had forgotten the keys inside the building. One of the actors went in but couldn’t see his way around. He called out for one the other actors to flip on the lights, but for some reason the light wouldn’t come on. Maybe it was a burnt bulb or a connection problem, but it pointed out another truth concerning God’s word. Without knowing what God’s word says, we are walking around blind, in the dark. God’s word is more than a flashlight. It is a floodlight. It lights the path we are to take, guiding us, directing us, correcting us even. So for us to push this light to the side because we are ‘too busy’ or ‘not in the mood’ only places us back in the dark.
As I prepare to close today, I want to share with you not only one of the other sketches that caught my attention, but something God has been sharing with me recently. I have for sometime been dealing with a pestering emotion. It wears me out daily. A few nights back I was lying in bed, looking up at the ceiling, praying that God would help me. I asked specifically how I was to overcome this issue. The response I heard seemed too simple. “Read My word. If you want victory, then read My word.”
I could write out for you all the reasons and benefits as to why we should dive into God’s word, but something tells me you already know this. But what struck me hardest in watching this episode was the final sketch. The minister introduced the missionary to speak, giving him the pulpit and as much time as he needed. This missionary arose, went to stand at the pulpit, read his text and then sat down. Perplexed, the pastor again introduced him a second time, but the missionary stayed seated. A third time he was introduced, and this time he again got up and came before the church. His words hit me. “The purity of God’s word doesn’t need my commentary, or anyone else’s. Yet too many times we look to the pastor to explain God’s word instead of going to God Himself.”
I have been writing these devotionals for years now, but I fear that maybe I have become a replacement to some of you for what only God should be. In hearing God speak to me about reading His word, I was convicted. I spend more time listening to others talk about God than I do reading God’s word myself. And there is nothing wrong with ministers or television evangelists; please don’t read that wrong. But if they are becoming our god, then we are in error. The Israelites did everything through Moses when they came out of Egypt, when all along God wanted a personal relationship with each one of them. Have we become the same? Have we been spending more time getting our answers through Moses than through God? Perhaps we need to get back into God’s word, read it for ourselves, question it for ourselves, and find the purity of God’s word again for ourselves.

HUNGRY EYES

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
II Timothy 3:16-17

Following my divorce in 2008, I found myself once again entering the world of dating. I would like to say that the first person I dated in this five year time frame was the one I am married to now, but that would be a lie. The truth is I dated about a handful of ladies, and crushed on about twice as many. A few of them stick out, though. There was the one date where we walked around a shopping center talking about religion for three hours. When that date was done I walked away convinced that I was on the right track with God, and her, well not so much. There was also the one who I met at Starbucks, took ten minutes to decide what she wanted to drink, only to come up with water, and then wrote me a nasty email about how I needed to commit right away to a relationship. Sorry, but she scared me.
One other bad date sticks out, the one in which I laugh every time I think back on it. At the time I was keeping a devotional blog and she stumbled upon it. Seeing I lived close by her, she reached out to me. We emailed back and forth a few times before I decided I would meet a fan of my writings. I pulled up to our meeting spot, an ice cream shop, and found her waiting for me there. We ate our ice cream, shared stories, and walked around the strip mall for an hour or two. The date itself was pleasant, but there was one glitch. The whole time I felt just like the M&M and pretzel being stared at by the creepy hungry eyes guy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-OnEe-dauE). Personally the feeling of being craved by her spooked me. However, the desire to crave God’s word, and have hungry eyes for the Bible, excites me. And rightfully so. If we had any idea just how much God’s word can transform us, can restore us, and can recreate us, we may all walk around with hungry eyes.
In II Timothy 3:16-17 we read that God’s word can be useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training, therefore allowing us to be fully equipped for every good work. With it we are equipped; without it we are empty handed. Yet let us look at little more in depth at these key words. The God-breathed Word is ‘useful’. This word useful is the Greek word OPHELIMOS, meaning to be helpful, serviceable, or beneficial. If there is anything out there that is going to help me in life, I want it! God’s Word is helpful for ‘teaching’. In the Greek this is the word DIDASKALIA, meaning instruction or education. God’s Word is helpful for ‘rebuking’, which is the Greek word ELEGCHOS. The definition of this word is cross-examining, testing, or proving. God’s Word is helpful for ‘correcting’. The Greek word used here is EPANORTHOSIS, which is defined as straightening up again, or being rectified. Lastly we read that God’s Word is helpful for ‘training’, the Greek word PAIDEIA, meaning a rearing, like the rearing of a child, or the taking of disciplinary actions.
God’s Word, the standard of our lives and what we should be craving, is helpful for instructing us, cross-examining us, straightening us up again, and rearing us. These items sound harsh, but are they not the same steps that we as parents put in place when we give our words to our children. We want our words to serve as our parenting standard because we love our children. When they are obeyed they prove safety. When they neglected, our words become the tool once more that sets the course for the child to follow. Words, both God’s Words to us and our words to our children, are there to ‘equip’, to EXARTIDZO, to complete the one learning, so that he may enter into all that is good. If we have hungry eyes for God’s Word, and daily have God’s Word in us, then we are being transformed into His likeness, and being prepared for the tests that will come at us.
So where are your eyes, and what are they hungry for? Are they craving God’s Word? Or are they craving the world? Oh that I pray we will have a hunger for God that surpasses any temptation, any cheap thrill, any ‘monumental’ side show, and crave Him like never before.

HOW DOES HE TASTE?

“Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”
Psalm 34:8

As this year has been progressing, I have felt myself becoming a little more hungry. Now perhaps this hunger I feel could be suppressed by eating an extra snack or two during the day, but something about this hunger seems a little deeper. The food I am eating doesn’t seem to feel me up. Sure, the chocolate is still rich, the chips still salty, and the Mexican food still spicy. But something is missing. I am still craving something.
Being a bit of a bookworm and also a fan of research, I often find myself digging in Scripture for what the Bible really says. When I read the Bible, I normally read it with the intention of looking up words in the Hebrew or Greek so as to get a solid understanding of that word. It was recently that I once more came across Psalm 34:8, which reads, “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” With a desire to see just what David was saying, I decided to study the words ‘taste’ and ‘see’.
Taste – TA’AM – to taste, eat, perceive
See – RA’AH – to see, look at, inspect, consider
In looking at just these first two words we see David encouraging us to eat of the Lord, and inspect the Lord. Why? Because as the phrase continues, he wants us to perceive just how good, how pleasant, how excellent (TOWB in the Hebrew) the Lord really is.
When I decided to go to college I chose a school in Oklahoma. I wasn’t trying to get away from my family, it just so happened that this school is where I felt God calling me to attend. But beings that my family was not abundant in finances, I was not able to attend a college weekend and explore the campus. Instead, the knowledge I had of the school was based on what I read in pamphlets, heard from current and past students, and saw on the school’s daily prayer show. When I finally arrived at the school, there was so much more to be experienced. The buildings were bigger than I had pictured in my mind. The campus itself was bigger. The student life was abundant with clubs and organizations I had not even fathomed. And as I walked the sidewalks between the classes, dorms, cafeteria, chapel, and library, I began to take in for myself the fullness of this place. I began to see then how both my imagination and the reports of others failed in comparison. In this case, what I saw was becoming my knowledge of the school instead of the knowledge of someone else.
I can attest this same concept in some ways to the birth of my children. While my children were both in the womb, I did not know them fully. I knew I was having a child, but with both we did not know the gender till the actual delivery. With both there was that feeling of excitement in the air. But the details were not known. Would the baby be a boy or girl? Would the baby have brown hair, blonde hair, or no hair? Would the child be colic, or would the child be one to rarely fuss? As long as the child was in the womb, these questions could not be answered. I could only wonder. However, once the birth happened I was then able to begin to know the child for myself. And this is what God is wanting of us – to know Him for ourselves.
I am reminded of Moses also. Moses became the channel of communication between God and the people. But this was never supposed to have been. In Exodus 20:18-19 we read, “When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.’” God wanted a relationship with His people, to talk directly with them, but they refused a relationship with Him. Instead, their whole experience in the desert was based on Moses’ relationship with God as opposed to their own personal relationship. While they may have been hungry and thirsty to get out of Egypt, they did not appear to be hungry and thirsty enough to seek God for themselves.
I am pretty sure that this hunger that I have been puzzled with isn’t as related to food as I may have first thought. In fact, I do not think it is food related at all. What I have been craving is not chocolate, chips, or Mexican food, but rather God. My spirit has been craving something deeper, something that last more than just a few minutes on the lips and a lifetime on the hips. And perhaps this is the same craving you have been having. It is easy to fill our bodies with food because we know we need to. Yet we must not neglect our spirits. Our spirits too are hungry, craving the flavors of God. So then we must ask of ourselves, are we desirous to taste and see just how good God really is?