You shall not go out with haste...for the Lord will
go before you, and the God of Israel will be your
rear guard--Isaiah 52:12
Security from Yesterday
"...God requires that which is past." (Ecl 3:15)
At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all
that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to
arise from remembering the yesterdays. Our present
enjoyment of God's grace is apt to be checked by yes-
terday's sins and blunders. But God is the God of our
yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them in or-
der to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth
for the future. God reminds us of the past to protect
us from a shallow security in the present.
Security for Tomorrow
"The Lord will go before you."
This is a gracious revelation, that God will send his
forces out where we have failed to do so. He will keep
watch so that we will not be tripped up again by the
same failures, as would undoubtedly happen if He were
not our "rear guard." And God's hand reaches back to
the past, settling all the claims against our conscience.
Security for Today
"For you shall not go out in haste..."
As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the
haste of impetuous, forgetful delight nor with the quick-
ness of the impulsive thoughtlessness. But let us go out
with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel
will go before us. Our yesterdays present irreparable
things to us; it is true that we have lost opportunities
which will never return, but God can transform this de-
structive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness of
the future. Let the past sleep, but let is sleep on the bo-
som of Christ. Leave the broken Irreversible Past in His
hands, and step out into the Irresistible Future IN HIM.
- Oswald Chambers
Monday, December 31, 2018
Sunday, December 30, 2018
Something to think about carefully
HOW THE KINGDOM COMES
When our Lord spoke of the Kingdom of God He said, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” Jesus had just told His disciples where the Kingdom is and how the Kingdom does not come. Before you can ever see the Kingdom you have to know how it’s not coming — because the first thing we try to do is build it by the natural. The spirit of wisdom and understanding from God must deliver us from our confusion about how the Kingdom of God comes. It cannot be established by force. It cannot be established by law. It will never be established by any kind of political action. It is impossible for it to be established by the will, efforts, or programs of men or of governments.
NOT BY LAW
In the United States today we have the Fundamentalist and Charismatic Christian movements whose burden it is to restructure government and society in the name of the Lord, not by spiritual regeneration, but by constitutional legislation. These are sincere Christians concerned for the social problems confronting the modern world who are being beguiled and deceived into accepting the premise that by partaking in the Babylonish systems of this confused world, they will be able to effect significant changes and bring about the Kingdom of God on earth. To those on the “religious right” that seems to be envisioned as a political government that will outlaw abortion, re-institute public prayer in schools and legislate Christian morality on the whole of society. It is their conviction that God’s Word gives them a mandate to infiltrate and exercise godly control over all the political, social, educational and judicial institutions of the nation. They are convinced that the Bible gives us a divinely revealed pattern for social and political action.
But does the law of Moses give us a body of social, economic and political regulations which, when applied, will rescue our nation or any nation from its woes? If a serious problem exists in our society, can we scan the precepts of Moses for a solution? When we discover the Old Testament law to resolve a moral and social difficulty, is it an expression of the Kingdom Jesus taught to lift out the regulation as found in Moses and write it in the law books of our state? Some are claiming that this is God’s method of establishing the principles and power of the Kingdom of God in our world today.
The Church goes out and protests abortion, they demand that the law be changed. The people of God go out and protest homosexual activities, same sex marriages, and a score of other moral issues, demanding that laws be passed based on the laws of God. They have the Old Testament mentality that thinks the way to make America a godly nation is to legislate morality. Let’s force everyone to submit to our standards of right and wrong because we have this authority from God. That’s what the Pope thinks, too. And it’s what the Moslem Fundamentalists and the Orthodox Jews think. It’s what the Serbs think. That’s what Hitler thought. They all think they have authority from God to legislate their particular standard of righteousness and enforce it as the law of the land. With every law there is a punishment for breaking that law. Thus, those who would, in the name of Christ, legislate morality also are responsible for the punishments meted out to those who break the law. They thus become “bearers of the sword” and it brings Christians right back under the Old Covenant — an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth! And they can no longer say with the merciful Jesus, “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (Jn. 3:17).
All Christians who are out protesting abortion and pressing for legislation to ban it and other evils are condemners of the world. The spirit of sonship is not in them. The priesthood of mercy has not been raised up in their hearts. The spiritual dynamic of the Kingdom of God has never been quickened in their consciousness. They would never be able to say to the woman taken in adultery, “Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more.” Instead, they would be carrying placards and petitioning the government for stronger laws against adultery. If they themselves did not hold stones in their hands to stone her, they would at least rejoice in the government’s restrictions and be consenting to the stoning, as Saul of Tarsus consented to the stoning of Stephen. They would say, “Praise God, justice was done and a strong signal has been sent out to all our young people and would-be law breakers, that adultery is sin and punishable by death! This will put holy fear in their hearts and preserve the moral values of our nation.” I do not hesitate to say that such an attitude is diametrically opposed to the spirit of sonship. It has nothing whatever to do with the Kingdom of God. It stands, in fact, in opposition to the Kingdom of God. It is a monstrous heresy and a religious delusion. It is spiritual treason.
People want to get all the pornography off the news stands. Am I in favor of pornography? Certainly not! Am I in favor of legislating it out of the land? If I am I become a minister of the law of the Old Covenant, not a minister of deliverance to creation. I tell you today, I will preach to somebody, I will proclaim the love and power of God to him, I will demonstrate the mercy and goodness of the Lord toward him, I will do everything within my power to touch that heart and change that life with the grace of Jesus Christ to experience the holiness of God, but I will not compel him by condemnation and law and punishment — that is not the way of the Kingdom of God. I am not a minister of the law, I am a priest of the Most High God. God is raising up His Kingdom from within men, not from without men. The sons of God are Ambassadors of that Kingdom that establishes righteousness in the earth by transformation, not by compulsion. Man’s government is the instrument of the sword, not the sons of God. We are bound in the spirit to represent only the interests and principles of the Kingdom of God, never the interests or policies of the kingdoms of this world.
Preachers travel up and down the land with their fingers pointed at sinners, picking out a new sin, the sin of the week, to preach against. Their whole message is that the media is ungodly, the government is corrupt, the New World Order is a conspiracy, the educational system is immoral, the abortionists, homosexuals, and others must be stopped, and they breathe out threatenings, hell-fire and damnation against the world from their perch high upon a crag on mount Sinai. That’s not God’s way at all! Our heavenly Father calls us to assume a posture that causes the light of God to shine upon the just and upon the unjust. The way of the Kingdom is not human government. The way of the Kingdom is not trying to get everyone to agree on a law that forbids unrighteousness and godlessness. That is the way of man’s government, they can only deal with evil by restraint. But that is not God’s Kingdom economy. To reign in the Kingdom the heart of the Father in heaven must be raised up within us. Sin cannot be gotten rid of externally. The whole concept of the Kingdom as taught by the preachers today is absurd.
This may surprise some of my readers, but sons of God are not called to point their fingers at the evils of society. JESUS NEVER DID! God did not call us to crusade and announce, “Abortion is evil, you should not do it. There ought to be a law!” No, I do not condone indiscriminate abortion. No, I am not for drugs and immorality and crime. But God did not call me to condemn the world — to condemn either these social evils or those who practice them. The people of God must offer a solution to sin instead of preaching against it. And our solution is not more laws. History proves that laws solve nothing. Does our “war on drugs” remove drugs from the streets and school yards of our nation? Absolutely not! Did “Prohibition” eradicate alcohol and drunkenness from America? No way! God does not need the church to tell society that adultery, hatred, lying, cheating, stealing and killing are wrong. Too much of the message of religion is lambasting sin and telling sinners how evil they are and that they are headed for hell and damnation. I can guarantee you that in their deepest heart they already know that! God needs a people who can offer the solution — the love of God and the power of God to deliver, redeem and transform is the answer. This is the power and glory of the Kingdom of God!
You can get rid of all pornography, you can close down all the abortion clinics, you can close up all the brothels, all the adult book stores, all the nude strip-joints, and all the hell-holes of sin, pass a million laws against sin, send out the army in the streets to enforce them, and sin will still erupt in your very midst because it is the heart that is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Outward sins are merely an effect of the inward sin of heart and nature — they are not a cause. Man does not sin because he sees sin, he sins because it’s a nature to do it. The fact is, I couldn’t have been anything at one time except a sinner because as long as I remained in the consciousness of Adam I would forever be in a consciousness of sinning. But once you begin to come into the consciousness of the Christ the whole concept of sinning becomes foreign to you. You become centered in a God-Christ consciousness which becomes the spirit motivating your actions, the law of life within. Christ within becomes the animating principle and power of your being unto righteousness. And this, precious friend of mine, IS THE POWER AND THE GLORY OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD!
When our Lord spoke of the Kingdom of God He said, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” Jesus had just told His disciples where the Kingdom is and how the Kingdom does not come. Before you can ever see the Kingdom you have to know how it’s not coming — because the first thing we try to do is build it by the natural. The spirit of wisdom and understanding from God must deliver us from our confusion about how the Kingdom of God comes. It cannot be established by force. It cannot be established by law. It will never be established by any kind of political action. It is impossible for it to be established by the will, efforts, or programs of men or of governments.
NOT BY LAW
In the United States today we have the Fundamentalist and Charismatic Christian movements whose burden it is to restructure government and society in the name of the Lord, not by spiritual regeneration, but by constitutional legislation. These are sincere Christians concerned for the social problems confronting the modern world who are being beguiled and deceived into accepting the premise that by partaking in the Babylonish systems of this confused world, they will be able to effect significant changes and bring about the Kingdom of God on earth. To those on the “religious right” that seems to be envisioned as a political government that will outlaw abortion, re-institute public prayer in schools and legislate Christian morality on the whole of society. It is their conviction that God’s Word gives them a mandate to infiltrate and exercise godly control over all the political, social, educational and judicial institutions of the nation. They are convinced that the Bible gives us a divinely revealed pattern for social and political action.
But does the law of Moses give us a body of social, economic and political regulations which, when applied, will rescue our nation or any nation from its woes? If a serious problem exists in our society, can we scan the precepts of Moses for a solution? When we discover the Old Testament law to resolve a moral and social difficulty, is it an expression of the Kingdom Jesus taught to lift out the regulation as found in Moses and write it in the law books of our state? Some are claiming that this is God’s method of establishing the principles and power of the Kingdom of God in our world today.
The Church goes out and protests abortion, they demand that the law be changed. The people of God go out and protest homosexual activities, same sex marriages, and a score of other moral issues, demanding that laws be passed based on the laws of God. They have the Old Testament mentality that thinks the way to make America a godly nation is to legislate morality. Let’s force everyone to submit to our standards of right and wrong because we have this authority from God. That’s what the Pope thinks, too. And it’s what the Moslem Fundamentalists and the Orthodox Jews think. It’s what the Serbs think. That’s what Hitler thought. They all think they have authority from God to legislate their particular standard of righteousness and enforce it as the law of the land. With every law there is a punishment for breaking that law. Thus, those who would, in the name of Christ, legislate morality also are responsible for the punishments meted out to those who break the law. They thus become “bearers of the sword” and it brings Christians right back under the Old Covenant — an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth! And they can no longer say with the merciful Jesus, “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (Jn. 3:17).
All Christians who are out protesting abortion and pressing for legislation to ban it and other evils are condemners of the world. The spirit of sonship is not in them. The priesthood of mercy has not been raised up in their hearts. The spiritual dynamic of the Kingdom of God has never been quickened in their consciousness. They would never be able to say to the woman taken in adultery, “Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more.” Instead, they would be carrying placards and petitioning the government for stronger laws against adultery. If they themselves did not hold stones in their hands to stone her, they would at least rejoice in the government’s restrictions and be consenting to the stoning, as Saul of Tarsus consented to the stoning of Stephen. They would say, “Praise God, justice was done and a strong signal has been sent out to all our young people and would-be law breakers, that adultery is sin and punishable by death! This will put holy fear in their hearts and preserve the moral values of our nation.” I do not hesitate to say that such an attitude is diametrically opposed to the spirit of sonship. It has nothing whatever to do with the Kingdom of God. It stands, in fact, in opposition to the Kingdom of God. It is a monstrous heresy and a religious delusion. It is spiritual treason.
People want to get all the pornography off the news stands. Am I in favor of pornography? Certainly not! Am I in favor of legislating it out of the land? If I am I become a minister of the law of the Old Covenant, not a minister of deliverance to creation. I tell you today, I will preach to somebody, I will proclaim the love and power of God to him, I will demonstrate the mercy and goodness of the Lord toward him, I will do everything within my power to touch that heart and change that life with the grace of Jesus Christ to experience the holiness of God, but I will not compel him by condemnation and law and punishment — that is not the way of the Kingdom of God. I am not a minister of the law, I am a priest of the Most High God. God is raising up His Kingdom from within men, not from without men. The sons of God are Ambassadors of that Kingdom that establishes righteousness in the earth by transformation, not by compulsion. Man’s government is the instrument of the sword, not the sons of God. We are bound in the spirit to represent only the interests and principles of the Kingdom of God, never the interests or policies of the kingdoms of this world.
Preachers travel up and down the land with their fingers pointed at sinners, picking out a new sin, the sin of the week, to preach against. Their whole message is that the media is ungodly, the government is corrupt, the New World Order is a conspiracy, the educational system is immoral, the abortionists, homosexuals, and others must be stopped, and they breathe out threatenings, hell-fire and damnation against the world from their perch high upon a crag on mount Sinai. That’s not God’s way at all! Our heavenly Father calls us to assume a posture that causes the light of God to shine upon the just and upon the unjust. The way of the Kingdom is not human government. The way of the Kingdom is not trying to get everyone to agree on a law that forbids unrighteousness and godlessness. That is the way of man’s government, they can only deal with evil by restraint. But that is not God’s Kingdom economy. To reign in the Kingdom the heart of the Father in heaven must be raised up within us. Sin cannot be gotten rid of externally. The whole concept of the Kingdom as taught by the preachers today is absurd.
This may surprise some of my readers, but sons of God are not called to point their fingers at the evils of society. JESUS NEVER DID! God did not call us to crusade and announce, “Abortion is evil, you should not do it. There ought to be a law!” No, I do not condone indiscriminate abortion. No, I am not for drugs and immorality and crime. But God did not call me to condemn the world — to condemn either these social evils or those who practice them. The people of God must offer a solution to sin instead of preaching against it. And our solution is not more laws. History proves that laws solve nothing. Does our “war on drugs” remove drugs from the streets and school yards of our nation? Absolutely not! Did “Prohibition” eradicate alcohol and drunkenness from America? No way! God does not need the church to tell society that adultery, hatred, lying, cheating, stealing and killing are wrong. Too much of the message of religion is lambasting sin and telling sinners how evil they are and that they are headed for hell and damnation. I can guarantee you that in their deepest heart they already know that! God needs a people who can offer the solution — the love of God and the power of God to deliver, redeem and transform is the answer. This is the power and glory of the Kingdom of God!
You can get rid of all pornography, you can close down all the abortion clinics, you can close up all the brothels, all the adult book stores, all the nude strip-joints, and all the hell-holes of sin, pass a million laws against sin, send out the army in the streets to enforce them, and sin will still erupt in your very midst because it is the heart that is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Outward sins are merely an effect of the inward sin of heart and nature — they are not a cause. Man does not sin because he sees sin, he sins because it’s a nature to do it. The fact is, I couldn’t have been anything at one time except a sinner because as long as I remained in the consciousness of Adam I would forever be in a consciousness of sinning. But once you begin to come into the consciousness of the Christ the whole concept of sinning becomes foreign to you. You become centered in a God-Christ consciousness which becomes the spirit motivating your actions, the law of life within. Christ within becomes the animating principle and power of your being unto righteousness. And this, precious friend of mine, IS THE POWER AND THE GLORY OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD!
Thursday, December 27, 2018
What Does It Mean To Live For Jesus?
And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, and everyone his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for all will know Me, from the least to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. --Hebrews 8:11 & 12
What does it mean to live for Jesus? That is a good question. I do not presume to know all the answers, but in my own experience I find that to live for Him is simply to enjoy Him. It is not about what I do or do not do. He loves and enjoys me and allows me to enjoy Him. When God revealed to me that He was not interested in changing me, but all He wanted to do was love me, the response this generated from me was amazing. I have come to see that His love for me has absolutely NO agenda. I John 4:8 indicates that God is Love; because I know that God is Love, then I can look to I Corinthians 13 to find what that Love is. God equals love, so God is patient, God is kind, God is not envious, God is not self-seeking. As I read through that list of what God is, I have to ask myself, “Is this the God that I know?” My answer too often is, "No!" At that point I have a choice. I can stick with my false idea of who God is, or I can take God at His word and believe what He says about Himself. For me to enjoy Him, I first must know Him. The more I know Him, the more I love Him, and the more I love Him, the more I want to know Him.
What does it mean to live for Jesus? That is a good question. I do not presume to know all the answers, but in my own experience I find that to live for Him is simply to enjoy Him. It is not about what I do or do not do. He loves and enjoys me and allows me to enjoy Him. When God revealed to me that He was not interested in changing me, but all He wanted to do was love me, the response this generated from me was amazing. I have come to see that His love for me has absolutely NO agenda. I John 4:8 indicates that God is Love; because I know that God is Love, then I can look to I Corinthians 13 to find what that Love is. God equals love, so God is patient, God is kind, God is not envious, God is not self-seeking. As I read through that list of what God is, I have to ask myself, “Is this the God that I know?” My answer too often is, "No!" At that point I have a choice. I can stick with my false idea of who God is, or I can take God at His word and believe what He says about Himself. For me to enjoy Him, I first must know Him. The more I know Him, the more I love Him, and the more I love Him, the more I want to know Him.
Friday, December 21, 2018
Weakness, My Friend
My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.--II Corinthians 12:9
Often when I mention weakness, the Lord keeps asking me one question, “What is My strength hidden in your weakness?” It is known that every negative has a positive. I may be all too familiar with the negative, but the positive is not clear, though it seems to be coming into focus. Things I have struggled with are moving out of the shadows and coming forward into the light. The surprise is that they are not hideous monsters but appear to be tools in the hand of God. I sense there is something great there. I am convinced of something that I have taught for years: There is no one-time fix.
It is deception to believe that "the great Christian someday” will appear when we come to our senses, gain a nearly magical degree of power, never struggle again, and forever move forward without stumbling. In waiting for the great “someday,” the working out of everyday faith is excluded. The wish for “someday” is a nonissue that sidetracks us from embracing today’s path and the way it reveals our weaknesses. The ways of the flesh are such that a one-time deliverance, if given, would allow us to walk away from the One we love and the healthy dependence we must have on Him. Through struggle we continue to run to Him, initially to find victory, but because we find Him we approach for His presence alone. “Everyday” is the friend of the moment and abundance; its experience with weakness ushers us to fellowship with Him, where we hear His voice and strength is given as needed.
I have noticed one other thing. Believers are happiest giving to others of their time, prayers, finances, and attention.When I travel, something happens to me that took some time to figure out. When I am home, I have time to focus on me, on my general state. While on the road, I just do not have the time. Every waking minute is spent preparing for or actually ministering to others. Exciting things happen, there is a lift in my spirit, others have a lift, and I am enthusiastic and free. I simply do not have the natural abilities to minister in my own strength, but that weakness works for me. I must come out of myself, seek Him, and move out in faith. The solution is not to travel more, but to take more of the “traveling attitude” home with me.
- Mike Wells
Often when I mention weakness, the Lord keeps asking me one question, “What is My strength hidden in your weakness?” It is known that every negative has a positive. I may be all too familiar with the negative, but the positive is not clear, though it seems to be coming into focus. Things I have struggled with are moving out of the shadows and coming forward into the light. The surprise is that they are not hideous monsters but appear to be tools in the hand of God. I sense there is something great there. I am convinced of something that I have taught for years: There is no one-time fix.
It is deception to believe that "the great Christian someday” will appear when we come to our senses, gain a nearly magical degree of power, never struggle again, and forever move forward without stumbling. In waiting for the great “someday,” the working out of everyday faith is excluded. The wish for “someday” is a nonissue that sidetracks us from embracing today’s path and the way it reveals our weaknesses. The ways of the flesh are such that a one-time deliverance, if given, would allow us to walk away from the One we love and the healthy dependence we must have on Him. Through struggle we continue to run to Him, initially to find victory, but because we find Him we approach for His presence alone. “Everyday” is the friend of the moment and abundance; its experience with weakness ushers us to fellowship with Him, where we hear His voice and strength is given as needed.
I have noticed one other thing. Believers are happiest giving to others of their time, prayers, finances, and attention.When I travel, something happens to me that took some time to figure out. When I am home, I have time to focus on me, on my general state. While on the road, I just do not have the time. Every waking minute is spent preparing for or actually ministering to others. Exciting things happen, there is a lift in my spirit, others have a lift, and I am enthusiastic and free. I simply do not have the natural abilities to minister in my own strength, but that weakness works for me. I must come out of myself, seek Him, and move out in faith. The solution is not to travel more, but to take more of the “traveling attitude” home with me.
- Mike Wells
God also highly exalted him. Philippians 2:9
Child in the manger,
Infant of Mary;
Outcast and stranger,
Lord of all!
Child who inherits
All our transgressions,
All our demerits
On Him fall.
Once the most holy
Child of salvation
Gently and lowly
Lived below;
Now as our glorious
Mighty Redeemer,
See Him victorious
O'er each foe.
Prophets foretold Him,
Infant of wonder;
Angels behold Him
On His throne;
Worthy our Savior
Of all their praises;
Happy forever
Are His own.
Mary MacDonald 1817-1890
Tr Lachlan MacBean 1853-1931
Infant of Mary;
Outcast and stranger,
Lord of all!
Child who inherits
All our transgressions,
All our demerits
On Him fall.
Once the most holy
Child of salvation
Gently and lowly
Lived below;
Now as our glorious
Mighty Redeemer,
See Him victorious
O'er each foe.
Prophets foretold Him,
Infant of wonder;
Angels behold Him
On His throne;
Worthy our Savior
Of all their praises;
Happy forever
Are His own.
Mary MacDonald 1817-1890
Tr Lachlan MacBean 1853-1931
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Sunday, December 16, 2018
Saturday, December 15, 2018
Weariness
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:30-31
The spiritual life is not passive. Too often it may look that way when we speak of ceasing from ourselves and our own efforts. The point is that we need to learn to live and serve by the power God has provided, not self-effort. A true spiritual life is even more active, enlarged and vital because the limitless power of God energizes us. Normally the spiritual Christian will occupy himself with effective service for his Lord. We should be yielded and ready to do whatever He may choose. Spirit-filled Christians are quite likely to feel physical exhaustion at the close of the day the same as other people. They are weary in the work, but not weary of the work.
- Lewis Sperry Chafer--1871-1952
A readers comment:
When I am being energized by the Holy Spirit rather than my own fleshly efforts, the task seems too easy. I come away from a day of nudges by my Lord, with a deep sense of satisfaction. As I get older, I have to be careful to do only what I am given by the Lord--I wear out fast, so there are gaps in my day that He fills with His requests. Works out very well!
The spiritual life is not passive. Too often it may look that way when we speak of ceasing from ourselves and our own efforts. The point is that we need to learn to live and serve by the power God has provided, not self-effort. A true spiritual life is even more active, enlarged and vital because the limitless power of God energizes us. Normally the spiritual Christian will occupy himself with effective service for his Lord. We should be yielded and ready to do whatever He may choose. Spirit-filled Christians are quite likely to feel physical exhaustion at the close of the day the same as other people. They are weary in the work, but not weary of the work.
- Lewis Sperry Chafer--1871-1952
A readers comment:
When I am being energized by the Holy Spirit rather than my own fleshly efforts, the task seems too easy. I come away from a day of nudges by my Lord, with a deep sense of satisfaction. As I get older, I have to be careful to do only what I am given by the Lord--I wear out fast, so there are gaps in my day that He fills with His requests. Works out very well!
Friday, December 14, 2018
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Weak Principles
You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me. --John 5:39
I have to get something off my chest that has been bothering me for many years. In an attempt to be unique, and for legitimate reasons, many ministries have arisen over the years, each one saying it has a particular and supposedly new concept that is permanently life changing. Such claims are not true. All we hear are the victory stories; we are not getting the facts. I can be guilty of it myself, but I will tell you a secret: Exchanged life does not work. The cross does not work. Grace does not work. Evangelism does not work. Memorizing Scripture does not work. None of it works. I see what goes on in the inner circles, the things to which not all believers are privy. Among these organizations there have been divorces, affairs, homosexuality, and even worse, glory seeking, material protection (when supposedly the message within the material was given by God), bickering, competition, and more. I have seen it all, and here is why. The best teaching in the world can become a principle that eventually is viewed as needing to be protected. Therefore, only the stories that prop it up are told. I can honestly say that I have a nearly 100% cure rate in my office. Just about everyone will say they were helped that day. What about a year later, though? It is all really simple. It is not the principle of the cross that is effective; it is the Jesus who died on the cross. It is not the principle of grace that will keep a believer, but the grace of Jesus that will. It is not the principle of exchanging one’s life for His; it is the reality of the living Jesus. It is not the Scriptures that keep a person in time of trouble; it is the Jesus to whom they point.It is a struggle to keep things focused on Jesus when principles can be packaged, names added, statistics given, and income produced. With Jesus, any who want and seek Him can have Him. He is much higher than any principle. Walk with a principle for a year and a believer will find himself right where he began. Walk with Jesus for a year and he will be a year beyond where he began.
- Mike Wells
I have to get something off my chest that has been bothering me for many years. In an attempt to be unique, and for legitimate reasons, many ministries have arisen over the years, each one saying it has a particular and supposedly new concept that is permanently life changing. Such claims are not true. All we hear are the victory stories; we are not getting the facts. I can be guilty of it myself, but I will tell you a secret: Exchanged life does not work. The cross does not work. Grace does not work. Evangelism does not work. Memorizing Scripture does not work. None of it works. I see what goes on in the inner circles, the things to which not all believers are privy. Among these organizations there have been divorces, affairs, homosexuality, and even worse, glory seeking, material protection (when supposedly the message within the material was given by God), bickering, competition, and more. I have seen it all, and here is why. The best teaching in the world can become a principle that eventually is viewed as needing to be protected. Therefore, only the stories that prop it up are told. I can honestly say that I have a nearly 100% cure rate in my office. Just about everyone will say they were helped that day. What about a year later, though? It is all really simple. It is not the principle of the cross that is effective; it is the Jesus who died on the cross. It is not the principle of grace that will keep a believer, but the grace of Jesus that will. It is not the principle of exchanging one’s life for His; it is the reality of the living Jesus. It is not the Scriptures that keep a person in time of trouble; it is the Jesus to whom they point.It is a struggle to keep things focused on Jesus when principles can be packaged, names added, statistics given, and income produced. With Jesus, any who want and seek Him can have Him. He is much higher than any principle. Walk with a principle for a year and a believer will find himself right where he began. Walk with Jesus for a year and he will be a year beyond where he began.
- Mike Wells
Saturday, December 8, 2018
Thursday, December 6, 2018
How do you respond to Ephesians 1:4-5?
Question: Ephesians 1 refers to believers as predestined before the foundation of the world. How do you reconcile this with your view that free actions of people (like choosing to believe in Christ) can’t be predestined or even foreknown ahead of time?
Answer: It took three hundred years before anyone in Church history interpreted the New Testament to teach that God individually predestines certain people to go to heaven, and “leaves” (viz. a nice way of saying “predestines”) all others to go to hell. Augustine’s interpretation decisively influenced Church history, and was followed by the early Protestant Reformers and those who continued in the Reformed tradition. The fact that you have trouble reading the verses you mention in a non-Calvinist way testifies to how influential this tradition continues to be in terms of how we (as opposed to the pre-Augustinian church) read the Bible.
As you mention in your question, one of the texts most frequently appealed to in support of this view is Ephesians 1.
He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will…. (Eph. 1:4–5)
In keeping with the Jewish practice of his day, I think Paul was speaking of a corporate election in this passage. When Jews thought of election or predestination, they thought primarily of the nation of Israel. Israel as a nation was elected (not for salvation, but for service). But this didn’t mean that every individual born into Israel was part of God’s chosen people. Only those who kept covenant with God were considered “true Israelites.”
Notice that Paul doesn’t say that God chose us to be in Christ. He rather says God chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless. What God chose from the foundation of the world was that whoever is in Christ will be holy and blameless.
Suppose I conduct a conference at which I show a movie clip from The Princess Bride. You choose at the last moment to attend this conference. At the end of the movie clip you raise your hand and ask, “Mr. Boyd, when did you decide that we’d have to watch that silly movie clip,” to which I might respond, “Well, I decided that six months ago.” You then turn around and say, quite accurately, to the whole conference, “Mr. Boyd predestined us to watch this movie clip six months ago.”
But notice, I didn’t predestine that you individually would watch this movie clip. What I predestined is that whoever shows up at this conference would watch this movie clip. Now that you decided (even at the last minute) to be part of this conference, what was predestined for the whole becomes predestined for you. You are part of the “us” who was predestined to watch the clip.
So too, from the foundation of the world God predestined that whoever is in Christ would become holy and blameless in his sight. But he didn’t predestine certain individuals — as opposed to other unfortunate individuals — to be in Christ. This is left up to our choice. Now that you’ve chosen to be in Christ, what was predestined for the group becomes predestined for you. You, with Paul, can say “In Christ WE (who have chosen to believe) were predestined to be holy and blameless…”
I’m convinced this is what Paul is communicating in this passage.
- Greg Boyd
Answer: It took three hundred years before anyone in Church history interpreted the New Testament to teach that God individually predestines certain people to go to heaven, and “leaves” (viz. a nice way of saying “predestines”) all others to go to hell. Augustine’s interpretation decisively influenced Church history, and was followed by the early Protestant Reformers and those who continued in the Reformed tradition. The fact that you have trouble reading the verses you mention in a non-Calvinist way testifies to how influential this tradition continues to be in terms of how we (as opposed to the pre-Augustinian church) read the Bible.
As you mention in your question, one of the texts most frequently appealed to in support of this view is Ephesians 1.
He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will…. (Eph. 1:4–5)
In keeping with the Jewish practice of his day, I think Paul was speaking of a corporate election in this passage. When Jews thought of election or predestination, they thought primarily of the nation of Israel. Israel as a nation was elected (not for salvation, but for service). But this didn’t mean that every individual born into Israel was part of God’s chosen people. Only those who kept covenant with God were considered “true Israelites.”
Notice that Paul doesn’t say that God chose us to be in Christ. He rather says God chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless. What God chose from the foundation of the world was that whoever is in Christ will be holy and blameless.
Suppose I conduct a conference at which I show a movie clip from The Princess Bride. You choose at the last moment to attend this conference. At the end of the movie clip you raise your hand and ask, “Mr. Boyd, when did you decide that we’d have to watch that silly movie clip,” to which I might respond, “Well, I decided that six months ago.” You then turn around and say, quite accurately, to the whole conference, “Mr. Boyd predestined us to watch this movie clip six months ago.”
But notice, I didn’t predestine that you individually would watch this movie clip. What I predestined is that whoever shows up at this conference would watch this movie clip. Now that you decided (even at the last minute) to be part of this conference, what was predestined for the whole becomes predestined for you. You are part of the “us” who was predestined to watch the clip.
So too, from the foundation of the world God predestined that whoever is in Christ would become holy and blameless in his sight. But he didn’t predestine certain individuals — as opposed to other unfortunate individuals — to be in Christ. This is left up to our choice. Now that you’ve chosen to be in Christ, what was predestined for the group becomes predestined for you. You, with Paul, can say “In Christ WE (who have chosen to believe) were predestined to be holy and blameless…”
I’m convinced this is what Paul is communicating in this passage.
- Greg Boyd
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
We Need the Revelation of God
For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but {I received it} through a revelation of Jesus Christ.--Galatians 1:12
At times I read the biographies of godly men who were famous in their differing denominations and experiences. Their stories are quite remarkable. Some have seen Jesus, others conversed with angels and spirits, and others reached a level of devotion not thought obtainable by man. I have noticed one common thread through all of the experiences. The understanding of Christ, the experience of His presence, and the understanding of His work was not the result of study, prayer, devotion or even holiness. The unique understanding and experience of Christ came before the devotion, experience, holiness, or knowledge. Devotion was not the cause of the experience but rather the result of it. In short, the experience, understanding, and growth came as a result of the revelation. Revelation was the beginning point; the initiator was not the work of the man. Revelation is Truth. Revelation is Jesus. Revelation is not merely understanding in the mind but understanding in the spirit. Simply put, knowledge is in the soul, the mind. Revelation comes first into the spirit before it works its way through the mind, will, and emotions and manifests itself in behavior. Revelation is not rooted in study. It comes directly from God. Revelation will carry man much farther than will knowledge. We have come to understand, in a measure, the work of Christ, His work in us, and how things ought to be for the believer. However, this knowledge has also proven itself weak when we find ourselves at our lowest. We know the right thing but cannot seem to do it. This is where revelation is so important. Revelation is not birthed in lofty thoughts or the condition of the body but birthed in God. Therefore, its power is outside us, apart from circumstance, and away from the realm of the world’s events. Revelation can carry us when knowledge cannot. So how do we get it? We have not because we ask not! We may ask for the revelation of God’s Son, of His life living through us as believers, of His purposes and plans, and of the very character of God.
- Mike Wells
At times I read the biographies of godly men who were famous in their differing denominations and experiences. Their stories are quite remarkable. Some have seen Jesus, others conversed with angels and spirits, and others reached a level of devotion not thought obtainable by man. I have noticed one common thread through all of the experiences. The understanding of Christ, the experience of His presence, and the understanding of His work was not the result of study, prayer, devotion or even holiness. The unique understanding and experience of Christ came before the devotion, experience, holiness, or knowledge. Devotion was not the cause of the experience but rather the result of it. In short, the experience, understanding, and growth came as a result of the revelation. Revelation was the beginning point; the initiator was not the work of the man. Revelation is Truth. Revelation is Jesus. Revelation is not merely understanding in the mind but understanding in the spirit. Simply put, knowledge is in the soul, the mind. Revelation comes first into the spirit before it works its way through the mind, will, and emotions and manifests itself in behavior. Revelation is not rooted in study. It comes directly from God. Revelation will carry man much farther than will knowledge. We have come to understand, in a measure, the work of Christ, His work in us, and how things ought to be for the believer. However, this knowledge has also proven itself weak when we find ourselves at our lowest. We know the right thing but cannot seem to do it. This is where revelation is so important. Revelation is not birthed in lofty thoughts or the condition of the body but birthed in God. Therefore, its power is outside us, apart from circumstance, and away from the realm of the world’s events. Revelation can carry us when knowledge cannot. So how do we get it? We have not because we ask not! We may ask for the revelation of God’s Son, of His life living through us as believers, of His purposes and plans, and of the very character of God.
- Mike Wells
Someone has written
As a public persona, do you struggle with desiring the approval of others? How do you deal with it?
No, it’s a great question. I stopped paying attention to statistics. So, in theory, I can learn exactly how many people read my site, how many people follow me on Twitter, how many people follow me on Facebook, numbers, numbers, numbers. I very purposely chose to stop looking at all that because it was doing something really bad within me. I was comparing myself. And the only thing I could compare myself to was other people. And so now I’m judging myself. My happiness, my joy, my sorrow, is dependent on that other person. And really, I can only be joyful if I’m doing better than that other person. Or, if he’s doing better than me, I’m going to be miserable. So it’s a losing game. I should be rejoicing if he’s doing well because he’s writing good material and if people are lauding him and thanking him for the good work he’s done, what does it say about me if I’m resenting that?
So, I had to do some really serious work within to adjust my attitude and to see why that was so hard. And I came to realize I was really struggling with the sin of envy. Envy is a sin that compares, right, so when you’re envious of someone, you compare yourself to that person. When you win the comparison, you grow in pride. When you lose the comparison, you just become miserable. So it’s a sin that never delivers any joy, right. Either way, you’re either going to grow in pride or you’re going to grow in this ungodly anger or sorrow. So, I had to really grapple with that sin and ask the Lord to forgive me for that sin and really fight hard against that sin.
One of the ways I did that was to start praising and to start helping the people that I would naturally compare myself to. So instead of resenting them, I was going to say, read this person, he’s writing great material, and direct people to him. And that was, I think, myself before the Lord just trying to say, I’m serious about this. If that person is going to have a much more successful blog or have many more readers, if that brings glory to you, then I’m going to have to be okay with that. And I think over time, the Lord really helped me to come to grips with that, to be content with that.
But, comparison is the enemy of joy, right. The more we compare ourselves to others the more miserable we become. The more we compare ourselves to Christ, now we’re comparing ourselves to the true standard and we can genuinely grow in holiness.
No, it’s a great question. I stopped paying attention to statistics. So, in theory, I can learn exactly how many people read my site, how many people follow me on Twitter, how many people follow me on Facebook, numbers, numbers, numbers. I very purposely chose to stop looking at all that because it was doing something really bad within me. I was comparing myself. And the only thing I could compare myself to was other people. And so now I’m judging myself. My happiness, my joy, my sorrow, is dependent on that other person. And really, I can only be joyful if I’m doing better than that other person. Or, if he’s doing better than me, I’m going to be miserable. So it’s a losing game. I should be rejoicing if he’s doing well because he’s writing good material and if people are lauding him and thanking him for the good work he’s done, what does it say about me if I’m resenting that?
So, I had to do some really serious work within to adjust my attitude and to see why that was so hard. And I came to realize I was really struggling with the sin of envy. Envy is a sin that compares, right, so when you’re envious of someone, you compare yourself to that person. When you win the comparison, you grow in pride. When you lose the comparison, you just become miserable. So it’s a sin that never delivers any joy, right. Either way, you’re either going to grow in pride or you’re going to grow in this ungodly anger or sorrow. So, I had to really grapple with that sin and ask the Lord to forgive me for that sin and really fight hard against that sin.
One of the ways I did that was to start praising and to start helping the people that I would naturally compare myself to. So instead of resenting them, I was going to say, read this person, he’s writing great material, and direct people to him. And that was, I think, myself before the Lord just trying to say, I’m serious about this. If that person is going to have a much more successful blog or have many more readers, if that brings glory to you, then I’m going to have to be okay with that. And I think over time, the Lord really helped me to come to grips with that, to be content with that.
But, comparison is the enemy of joy, right. The more we compare ourselves to others the more miserable we become. The more we compare ourselves to Christ, now we’re comparing ourselves to the true standard and we can genuinely grow in holiness.
Sunday, December 2, 2018
We Need Righteousness, His Righteousness
And may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.–Philippians 3:9
First man was given the Ten Commandments. Some kept them. Next came the Law; some, in their own estimation, kept it and became self-righteous. They did not understand that we need a life, not a list.Jesus, on purpose, set a standard that we could never achieve. His challenge to us was not that we try hard but a challenge to give up; He wanted us to see that a righteousness that would please God is unattainable for man. With His life on earth He raised the bar so high that all men would give up trying to jump over it. Therefore, Jesus said, “Whoever is angry shall be guilty” and “Whoever looks with lust has committed adultery” (Matthew 5:22 & 28). At that, many began to drop out of the righteousness contest. Some stayed. Then came the final blow, “If your hand offends you cut it off, if your eye, pluck it out.” At that, no one was left to play the self-righteousness game. Jesus did not want us cutting off our hand or going about blind; He wanted us to see that we could not be righteous. We, however, want to find righteousness in ourselves and are surprised when we find none. We even expectantly look for it in others. Telling the people about all of the evil they are doing and how badly they are missing the mark is what many modern-day “prophets” enjoy doing, but that information should surprise no one. It is all summed up in one verse: “There are none righteous, no not one!” The righteousness that we need can only come through Jesus, the only One that is pure righteousness. Once we admit that we cannot be righteous, we will accept His. Righteousness is a gift no less than are faith and salvation. In Him we find everything that we have looked for elsewhere in vain.
- Mike Wells
I am not sure that many in church circles really have a grasp on what God tells us in His Word about the need for righteousness, and that we Believers have, and are, righteous. And, instead of critiquing and criticizing sinners, we need to just share the Gospel, and the gift of His righteousness.
First man was given the Ten Commandments. Some kept them. Next came the Law; some, in their own estimation, kept it and became self-righteous. They did not understand that we need a life, not a list.Jesus, on purpose, set a standard that we could never achieve. His challenge to us was not that we try hard but a challenge to give up; He wanted us to see that a righteousness that would please God is unattainable for man. With His life on earth He raised the bar so high that all men would give up trying to jump over it. Therefore, Jesus said, “Whoever is angry shall be guilty” and “Whoever looks with lust has committed adultery” (Matthew 5:22 & 28). At that, many began to drop out of the righteousness contest. Some stayed. Then came the final blow, “If your hand offends you cut it off, if your eye, pluck it out.” At that, no one was left to play the self-righteousness game. Jesus did not want us cutting off our hand or going about blind; He wanted us to see that we could not be righteous. We, however, want to find righteousness in ourselves and are surprised when we find none. We even expectantly look for it in others. Telling the people about all of the evil they are doing and how badly they are missing the mark is what many modern-day “prophets” enjoy doing, but that information should surprise no one. It is all summed up in one verse: “There are none righteous, no not one!” The righteousness that we need can only come through Jesus, the only One that is pure righteousness. Once we admit that we cannot be righteous, we will accept His. Righteousness is a gift no less than are faith and salvation. In Him we find everything that we have looked for elsewhere in vain.
- Mike Wells
I am not sure that many in church circles really have a grasp on what God tells us in His Word about the need for righteousness, and that we Believers have, and are, righteous. And, instead of critiquing and criticizing sinners, we need to just share the Gospel, and the gift of His righteousness.
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