Faith

A life laid down

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Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I received from My Father. John 10:17-18

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 1 John 3:16

At any point during the night of His betrayal, Jesus could have escaped from the control of His captors and avoided the cross. He had the power to free Himself as He had demonstrated in previous encounters with crowds that wanted to take Him by force. But this night He used an even greater power…..the power to lay His life down. And because we are in Him, we have this same power.

Many in the church today are seeking after power…..the power to preach, the power to heal, the power to move in the spiritual gifts. And I say yes! Let us, by all means, have these things. But where are those who are seeking, earnestly seeking, the power to lay their lives down?

Generally speaking, we are a selfish people. The new nature that Jesus has given us is many times crowded out by the self-centered demands of an un-crucified flesh. Comfort…convenience…..leisure…ease. And the words of the Lord Jesus are drowned out – “if anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)

In the cross was the ultimate demonstration of God’s love. Jesus took up His cross. He laid His life down. Oh that we would long to follow Him in this! Can you imagine how our cities would be shaken by a people who exerted the full force of their power to lay their lives down!

Lay your life down to preach the gospel….lay your life down to pray earnestly for a move of God….lay your life down to actually demonstrate the love of God to those in need. It’s only a temporary life anyway. What a waste to use it all up on ourselves. Why not pour it out lavishly in anticipation of the glories of that eternal life that awaits us?

Imagine the pleasure of Jesus to have a people who live to give their lives away…..just like He did.

A worthy life

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I wonder how many things which we occupy our time with in this life, things that seem so very important and necessary now, will seem trivial and meaningless when we stand before the Lord Jesus. Life is short and these few years of our pilgrimage here are all we have been given to make Jesus known to a world that perishes without Him. It seems only fitting that no other task should so occupy our time, our attention and our prayers as this great work of spreading the gospel.

 

“What is the secret to great living? Entire separation to Christ and devotion to Him. Thus speaks every man and woman whose life has made more than a passing flicker in the spiritual realm. It is the life that has no time for trifling that counts. “ Amy Carmichael

Imposition of ashes

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Today I passed by a church that had the following announcement on the sign outside the building: “Imposition of Ashes – 7:00 pm”. Throughout the Bible, ashes are connected with grief, sorrow over sin and repentance. When Job was in great sorrow concerning all the losses in his life, he sat in ashes. When the prophet Jonah preached the word of judgment to the city of Nineveh, the king himself repented in sackcloth and ashes. But what really caught my attention about the sign was this word – imposition.

Imposition – an excessive or uncalled-for requirement or burden.

In that one word the spiritual condition of our nation is summarized. We don’t want to be imposed upon by God to think anything about ourselves is wrong or needs to be changed. The ashes that are to be an outward expression of the inward repentance of the heart, like so many other things, have become nothing more than a religious ritual with no real spiritual significance to most who participate in it.

Repentance, the turning of a heart toward the Lord Jesus and away from sin, is a beautiful thing. The apostle Peter actually describes it as a blessing:

To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.” Acts 3:26

Paul says in Romans 2:4 that it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. Why? Because from our repentance comes times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19). What a welcome thing this is to those who have experienced it!

Repentance is no burden, but a proper and necessary response to the dealings of God with our life. It is through our repentance that we agree with God about the weakness of our flesh, our ever falling short of His glory, and our continual need for His strength and cleansing. In repentance my heart can rejoice that I serve a God who is unwilling to leave me the way that I am, who is committed to conforming me to the image of Christ, and who is always working to remove those things from my life that hinder this goal.

I won’t be getting any ashes on my forehead tomorrow. Instead I choose to live daily in the fiery presence of a God who changes me from glory to glory.

Bondservant

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“Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God” (Romans 1:1)

The word here translated bondservant is actually the word slave (doulos).  It is a strong word, carrying the following meanings:

  • It refers to one born into slavery.
  • It refers to one who is in a relation to another which only death can break
  • It refers to one whose will is swallowed up in the will of another.
  • It refers to one who serves another even to the disregard of his own interests.

The word slave is an unpopular word….and for good reason.  Throughout the history of humanity, the stronger have conquered the weaker and subjected them to the most horrific indignities.  The first goal of a slave is simply to survive.  But a close second would be to obtain freedom.  Yet the Apostle Paul willingly made himself a bond-slave of Christ.

Born a slave to sin, he was born again a slave to righteousness.  At the moment of new birth, he entered into a relationship with the Lord Jesus which not even death could sever, for the power of death was broken on the cross.  He was a man whose will was utterly swallowed up in the will of God, demonstrated by his utter disregard even for his own life that he might preach Christ.

This disgraceful word…..slave…..has now been given an air of dignity by all of those who, like Paul, have gladly chosen the title of slave for themselves because of the exceeding greatness of the Master.  Head high, chin up, eyes lifted heavenward…….we serve with gladness.

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Commissioned as couriers

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“The couriers who rode on royal horses, went out, hastened and pressed on by the kings command” Esther 8:14

BACKGROUND: That wicked Haman had persuaded the king to issue a decree ordering the extermination of the Jews. Queen Esther successfully exposed Haman’s plot against her people and a new decree was written, counteracting the previous one. So at the king’s command the order was given to send the decree by means of couriers to make it known through the entirety of the land. And so they went out, they hastened, they pressed on.

They went out….no easy thing in those days. It involved exposure to the elements and to the dangers associated with travel. But the message had to be taken and they were the ones commissioned to do it.

They hastened….this caught my attention. It is a word that means much more than might be thought at first glance. Much more than hurry……….it means to tremble inwardly, be alarmed or agitated. The lives of many people were on the line. Disaster loomed over their heads until the decree was delivered. The couriers understood this and trembled at the importance and magnitude of the task they had been given.

They pressed on……in the face of weariness and hardship, maybe wanting to give up and just go back home, yet they relentlessly persisted until their task had been accomplished. So many reasons to quit, but one over-riding reason to press on – the king’s command.

A command has been given in our day as well, by an infinitely more glorious and powerful King: “go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” Mark 16:15. Perhaps we should consider how we are responding to such a command.
Are we going out? Has the gospel of the Lord Jesus moved us out of our comfort zones and propelled us into the harvest – the harvest in the nations, the harvest in our city, the harvest in the workplace, the harvest in our own homes? Are we content to just let someone else do it, hoping the message will get there somehow, preferring the comfort, safety and routineness of life as usual?

Do we have a proper sense of the urgency and importance of the message? Men perish eternally without the gospel. Souls are lost forever. There is no remedy for them once they step into eternity apart from the saving blood of Christ….only the certainty of eternal separation from God in a place of eternal suffering. Do we tremble over their fate? Does it ever cost us tears or sleepless nights? Doesn’t it just seem like it should?

We have been entrusted with delivery of the message to them that their destruction has been counteracted by the decree made on Calvary…”It is finished.” No longer must they live with wrath lingering just beyond their final breath. No longer must they live separated from the God who wants to be known as Father. The invitation has been issued from heaven for all to come.

But those who do not hear, cannot come.

Are we serving the Lord with endurance? I think often of the Apostle Paul’s command to Timothy – “you therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3). We must. Adversity and opposition will come as we go forward to take the message of grace to a world that insists on being offended at the cross. But we must press on. Retreat is not an option. And how can those of us who have tasted of this abundant life refuse to endure any difficulties necessary that we may bring others into this life?

My brothers and sisters who read this…..I have read over this multiple times seeking to remove any harshness from it. I have no desire to cause guilt or shame to anyone. But in my own life I find myself often needing a reminder of what is at stake. So many things crowd into our lives to distract us…..but the souls……let us not forget about the souls…….

They are waiting for the gospel.

Lonely for You

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In life’s lonely seasons of sorrow
balancing on the very edge of emotional meltdown
wordless, with tears and sighs, aching

Yet even if every situation was happily resolved
so that all seemed right with the world again
it would not satisfy, it would not be enough
I am lonely for You Jesus

Every prayer has become an act of desperation
reaching, grasping, intensely needing…
You

Listening so closely for even Your whisper
silence again
yet still I wait….for You

And though the waiting is an agony
to not wait is unthinkable
I will watch for You
I know You will come and meet with me
until then…my heart’s cry….
I am lonely for You Jesus

The Cling-worthy Christ

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I’ve been reading today in 1 Kings 12 about Jeroboam, the first king of Israel once the kingdom was divided after Solomon’s death.  This man Jeroboam had no royal lineage.  He had been a common man serving under King Solomon, recognized for his diligence and promoted to a position of responsibility.  But God had other plans for him and sent a prophet to tell him of his future as king of ten tribes of Israel.  Upon the death of Solomon, Jeroboam came forward to claim what God had promised to him and he began to reign over ten tribes just as the Lord had told him.

But Jeroboam was fearful that this position would be taken from him, and that if the people returned to Jerusalem to worship the Lord that their hearts would turn back to Rehoboam, king of Judah.  To remedy this he had two golden calves setup – one in Bethel and one in Dan – and he installed priests at these high places that were not from the tribe of Levi.  In order to protect his kingdom, he led a whole nation into idolatry.  One must wonder why he felt the need to do this since the kingdom had been given to him by God.  Did he not believe that God was able to establish and protect the throne that He had placed Jeroboam upon?

But is it not human nature…can we not see it in ourselves at times…..to grasp and greedily cling to things, and to utilize whatever means are available to retain them?

Our ministry….our gifting….our position…..our reputation….all our little kingdoms that we desperately cling to and fight to protect lest someone tear them from our hands.  And the tighter our grip becomes the more obvious is the ugliness of our covetous heart. And the closer we are to idolatry.

But how beautiful to have this heart, as John the Baptist, “a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven” (John 3:27).  Faithfully treasuring those things entrusted to us now, but holding them loosely.  That which we have today could be gone tomorrow, and if we have placed our hope in anything but the Lord Jesus Christ we will find ourselves clinging to things that are unworthy of such attention and devotion.  The only thing we should cling to is Jesus.  He alone is cling-worthy.

Poured out and spent

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Philippians 2:17 Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.

2 Corinthians 12:15  And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved.

These verses characterize not only the Apostle Paul’s  labors for The Lord, but the essence of his life. Poured out and spent. Paul was all in to give all out. Doing without, suffering want and personal hardship, enduring rejection and loneliness …. he lived with reckless abandon for the glory of Jesus only.  I wonder how many times this man’s heart had been absolutely broken by betrayals, by false accusations, by rejections; and yet still his life was one poured out and spent.

At some point early on I would have been tempted to throw in the towel – “I’m done with you people!” – and find a wilderness where it could be just me and Jesus.   But the blood of Jesus was poured out and the body of Jesus was spent…for people.

If we are going to seek and save the lost (which we are called to do) and if we are going to be the body of Christ (which we are called to be) then it might be good to go ahead and settle it in our hearts now – we will at times be betrayed, accused, and rejected by those we are trying to lead to Jesus and by those we are following Him with.   It’s all part of a life poured out and spent.   But there is abundant grace available to us in Christ so that we can love when hated, bless when cursed, do good when treated poorly.  We are without excuse. So let us love one another fervently, even when we don’t deserve it.  And let us love the lost with a heart filled with compassion even when they hate us for it.  And let us be poured out and spent for our Lord Jesus Christ.

What lies just beneath the surface

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“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’  And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order.  Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”  Luke 11:24-26

Many times when I know on short notice that someone is coming over to my house, I will do a few things to try to make up for not doing a full house cleaning.  I will sweep the floors and put everything in its place. That goes a long way towards giving the appearance of a clean house, but just a little bit of a closer inspection will reveal that things are not as they seem.  A layer of dust on a table or a cobweb in a corner reveals the true state of things.  The man in verses 24-26 had done just such a thing with his life.  He cleaned it up a bit, got it in order.  The world would have applauded him, but it was all superficial.  There was no heart purity, no filling of the life with the Spirit of Jesus.  And when the tempter comes again, there are no resources for resistance, for everything is merely smoke and mirrors, an illusion that brought a degree of comfort or sense of achievement in the improvement of the life.  It’s like someone who goes through rehab and gets free of an alochol addiction only to find themselves soon a slave to pills.  Swept and put in order, but still empty.  Something will come to fill it.

Many times we find ourselves in this condition.  Rather than the effort and sweat and tears needed to get before God for a complete work, we find ourselves content with a quick pass of the broom and shoving everything into the spiritual closet.  And so things are not dealt with, only suppressed and hidden.  We are not healed and cleansed and the enemy retains his access into our lives.  We have not submitted to God, and the enemy will not flee.  We want merely to be free of the bad feelings of conviction.  We refused to be thoroughly and completely dealt with by God.  The fullness of life that He desires to give us, we do without…..and remain empty.

And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So He went in and sat down to eat. When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner.  Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness.  Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?  Luke 11:37-40

The Pharisees would have appeared to everyone to have it all together.  Their lives were so carefully lived in obedience to the law that few would have looked beyond that.  But Jesus saw into the heart and He knew that even with all their outwardly righteous living, they were most unrighteous on the inside.  We see this demonstrated over and over as they raged against the good works that Jesus did and His help to the people. The true state of their heart was revealed in the fruit of their life and their attitude toward Jesus and His works.  ( Luke 6:43-45) When confronted with a true holiness, superficial religious performance lashes out.  Jealous over the beauty of it but unwilling to submit to the obtaining of it.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.” Luke 11:44

On the surface everything appears to be fine.  And maybe people can get very close and still not realize the uncleaness because it is so prettily covered up by religion.  But just beneath the surface there is something of death that will contaminate those who come in contact with it. (Num 19:16).  If the people had known who these Pharisees really were in their heart they would never have held them in such high regard or sought to be taught the things of God by them, but would rather have avoided them lest they also be one contaminated by the pollution of their unholy and unclean hearts.

The true condition of our heart can be disguised and hidden from most people, but God sees through all our attempts at deception. And He desires to bring us into the reality of everything this life is meant to be. It won’t necessarily be easy. The dealings of God rarely are.  But the outcome is glorious, for it is “that we may be partakers of His holiness” (Hebrews 12:10). Amen!

Becoming convinced

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Reading the story of Gideon in Judges 6:36-7:15…..a man chosen by God for a great work. Yet he struggled to believe it could be true that he would be chosen for such a task as delivering the people of Israel from their enemies. He was an insignificant man from an insignificant family.  He realized that he couldn’t step out into the plans of God with such doubt.  Thus Gideon requested the fleece, which God so mercifully answered. Still there was doubt, so he requested another sign which God also granted. But still Gideon did not have the faith needed to embark into the purposes of God for his life. The questions he thought he needed answered, the things he thought he needed God to do to convince him, did not help. They did not strengthen his faith.  And although he began to step out into obedience and assemble the army, yet his heart remained unconvinced.   But when Gideon has exhausted all his questions, all his fleeces, and determines to step out into a fearful obedience solely based on what God has said, then God brings a word to him that settles the matter in his heart.  Gideon no longer questions, but worships.  And the purpose that God had declared to him (“arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand” 7:9) now becomes the faith filled cry of his own heart as he gives the command to his army – “arise, for The Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.” 7:15.  Gideon has become convinced.

We are often so confident that if God would just answer this question or provide that confirming sign that we could then be steadfast and immovable in God’s purposes.  However I have found, like Gideon, that this is so often insufficient. But the God who made this heart knows how to persuade this heart and utterly convince me and bring me to a place of settled faith about a thing.  May we learn from Gideon and be obedient to our Lord, even when it is a fearful obedience.  Marching forward into His purposes, with an ear open toward heaven, we too will surely receive the faith we need to finish our course victoriously and with great joy.  Amen!