And Those Others

Michael speaks to one of the most interesting passages in all of Scripture.  Many Christians face what God talks about in Hebrews 11:36-40, and “why?” they wonder.  Let’s see what Michael says…

And Those Others

---and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated ({men} of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect. --Hebrews 11:36-40

  

Are you one of the “others” who has trusted God for a restored relationship, the health of a child, a godly home, the salvation of a relative, or just the simple stirring of God within that brings assurance? If you have trusted and not given into despair, then you are one of the “others” who give something to God that no angel in heaven can give Him, and that is faith. The “others” may walk in darkness, seeing nothing their whole lives, and yet stand fast, believing in a God they cannot see. Can you imagine how pleased He is? You are pulled on all sides to give up, and yet you have chosen to believe without seeing! You have stood fast in the midst of the reversals! The world is not worthy of you, and to it you simply do not belong! Your place is above, seated with the Father and judging angels! If you have believed and not received, count yourself blessed.

- Mike Wells

Demystifying the Lord’s Voice: Part 2

 If you missed the first part of this two-part series, you can read Demystifying the Lord’s Voice: Part 1.

As promised, I’m going to share a few practical handles I’ve discovered that will help you to recognize the Lord’s voice in your own life. There are many more that I cover elsewhere, but here are five:

* The Lord’s voice most always comes through your own thoughts, desires, and impressions. This is because Christ dwells in you by the Holy Spirit and He is completely united to your own spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). Therefore, give attention to your thoughts, desires, feelings, and impressions. Under the New Covenant, every bush is burning. So pay attention.

* If it’s the Lord speaking, the thought/desire/impression will stay with you. If it’s not the Lord, it will leave rather quickly.

* If it’s the Lord speaking, it will be marked by love — the very nature of Jesus. Specifically, the thought/desire/impression will benefit others at the expense of yourself. The Lord will also empower you to carry out what He says, which will often involve the denial of your flesh.

* If you fail to respond to the Lord’s leading, it will be difficult to recognize His voice in the future. So if you are having trouble “hearing,” go back and respond to the last thing He revealed to you. “If any one shall do my will, He will know . . .”

* On the other hand, we often don’t “hear” because we already know the answer. The Lord’s will is also discerned through wisdom. Jesus is Wisdom incarnate, so wisdom is one of the ways in which He speaks to us.

And of course, as I stated in Part 1, the Lord will never contradict what He’s previously said (i.e., through the Scriptures).

Again, there are many more practicals, and one of them is that the Lord speaks to us mostly through spiritual instincts.

- Frank Viola

Why solitude is actually important.

Solitude is often avoided at all costs in contemporary culture, despite its biblical and historical precedent as an integral part of communion with God.

The Bible records occasions when Jesus, Himself, withdrew into a solitary place. (See Mark 1:35; Luke 4:42)

If Jesus thought it necessary to withdraw from the demands on his time and ministry, how much more important must it be to us?

Jesus said to His disciples, “Rest.” Do you hear that word resonating somewhere deep inside you?

For many, it is easier to be busy with activity than to patiently wait on the Lord in solitude.

It is a lesson some of us learn and relearn all of our lives. It is a lesson I am just beginning to learn.

If there are to be times of conscious intimacy with Him, there must be times of silence and solitude. God will not shout over the clamor of our cluttered lives.

Do you really want to explore the depths of intimacy with God? Do you hear an inner voice calling you to a simpler, quieter place?

The Divine Lover is calling you to your own secret place, shared by you two alone.

The fire of God’s love burns brightly in the stillness.

It is in that stillness that the distractions and cares of the world fade away like outside noises are muted when we make love to our beloved.

It is in that stillness that we are able to give our thoughts, our feelings, and our will completely to Him in uninhibited abandon.

It is in that stillness that we are able to meditate — to muse on the Person and loving words of the One whose passion burns for us until we are irreparably and eternally ignited by the Flame.

It is in that stillness that we gasp with delight along with the Psalmist,

“My heart was hot within me; while I was musing, the fire burned” (Psalm 39:3, emphasis added).

- Steve McVey

Three Practical Ways to Resist the Tyranny of Tolerance

Is it OK to disagree with other peoples’ deeply held beliefs anymore? You’ve heard the buzzwords: Coexist. Hate speech. Discrimination. Micro-aggressions. Trigger warnings. Speech codes. It’s becoming obvious to anyone paying attention to the media these days that certain moral and religious viewpoints are simply no longer allowed in our classrooms or broader culture. They are either dismissed without argument as “irrational” or the people who hold these views are publically shamed or even shouted down. I call this new cultural reality the Tyranny of Tolerance.
As Christians who care about truth and want to love our neighbors well as people made in the image of God, what are we to do? Here are three practical steps you can take to resist the Tyranny of Tolerance.

1. Recognize the new moral code being imposed in our culture today. Denial is not a strategy; we must live in reality. According to a recent Barna study, 91% of Americans agreed with the statement “To find yourself you must look within yourself.” What this shows is that selective relativism is alive and well and has become the dominant view in our culture. In other words, truth depends on what the individual comes to believe. But our radically individualistic culture has also agreed upon some new moral absolutes—namely “People should not criticize someone else’s life’s choices” (89% of Americans affirm this). These two beliefs are obviously in competition with each other and form the basis of the Tyranny of Tolerance we are experiencing today. The rules of the game have changed and if we fail to recognize this fact then we will not engage well.

2. Prepare today for the conversations that are coming tomorrow. It’s not a matter of if, but when the challenges will come. As Christians we are committed to certain truths that flow from our worldview grounded in the Bible. Here are just a few of the culturally controversial beliefs we hold:

• that Jesus rose bodily from the dead and is the only way to God,
• that objective right and wrong exist,
• that unborn human beings are worthy of life and protection,
• that all people regardless of their ethnicity should be treated with dignity, respect, and justice,
• and that God, as the personal creator of the universe, has designed sex to be experienced only within the context of one man and one woman in marriage.

Peter reminds us to always be ready to give a reason for the hope within us and to do so with gentleness and respect (cf. 1 Peter 3:15). Are you ready? The questions are coming: How can Jesus be the only way to God when so many sincere people disagree? Are you saying that what I feel in my heart is right is actually wrong in God’s eyes? Who are you to say that someone can’t marry the person they love regardless of their gender? What will you say when you experience the Tyranny of Tolerance? There are reasonable answers to these questions.

3. Stand up when you have the opportunity to graciously push back when your Christian convictions are challenged. First, when what you believe is challenged, don’t get defensive. Stay calm and ask questions to clarify where the disagreement really is. Next, resist being dismissed by slogans and be careful to define your terms (by the way, this is a lot easier to do if you have already spent time thinking about and preparing what you might say when challenged). Be encouraged, the truth is on our side and we can trust that God is at work in our conversations. But make no mistake, other people are looking to you to see if you will stand or crumble. Will you show conviction and compassion? Or will you cave and accommodate? Have the courage to as Chuck Colson used to say Break the Spiral of Silence. When I see you standing for the truth I will be encouraged to do the same.
Our culture desperately needs to hit the reset button when it comes to larger conversation about truth and tolerance. If we will recognize our new cultural reality, prepare ourselves for the conversations that are certainly coming, and stand up when we have the opportunity to graciously push back when our Christian convictions are challenged, then we will be well on our way to resisting the tyranny of tolerance.
***
Jonathan Morrow (D.Min, M.Div., M.A.)

Why doesn’t God rescue us from pain?

Jesus once said,

“You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32).

What is the truth about how God’s love for us is related to the personal pain we will experience in our lives? There are several strands in the cord of divine truth concerning suffering which offer a lifeline of hope for ongoing intimacy with God in the midst life’s unavoidable adversities.

The seed of sin planted in this world in the garden of Eden continues to bear fruit until now. In the general sense, human suffering is a result of the fall of man. When we get home to heaven there won’t be any more pain, (see Revelation 21:4) but for the time being we still live on foreign soil, where pain goes with the territory.

The fact that one may be a Christian doesn’t exempt him from problems.

Jesus, Himself, said,

“In the world, you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Faith in Christ doesn’t insulate us from the stinging experiences of life. It does, however, equip us to face our problems with confidence that His loving attention will guide us through those difficult circumstances. Faith seldom answers the “why” of our problems, but instead offers the answer to “how” when we wonder about surviving our circumstances.

God loves you so much that He will always work in your circumstances when you suffer.

Don’t think that because He doesn’t eliminate the problem, help isn’t being given. Sometimes His most helpful acts in our lives occur when He goes with us through our circumstances instead of delivering us out of them.

I have sometimes prayed about various circumstances, saying, “Father, this hurts too much for it to be wasted. Please accomplish the maximum good in this situation that can be done.”

When you hurt, Jesus Christ grieves with you in your pain.

Don’t make the mistake of believing that if God really cared, He would deliver you out of your painful situation. Remember that He didn’t even rescue Jesus from the cross as He suffered, because He knew its ultimate centrality in salvation.

God loves you so much that He won’t take away the pain if it serves a greater purpose in your life. Instead, He will walk the path of pain with you, and in the person of the Comforter (see John 14:16) will sustain you each step of the way.

When we honestly believe that God knows and cares about every detail of our lives; when we understand that He is deeply touched by our weaknesses (see Hebrews 4:15); when we are convinced that He hurts when we hurt; when we know these things, intimate fellowship with Him will be the natural experience in our pain.

Jesus Christ longs for you to feel His love at the darkest times of your life.

- Steve McVey

God’s Ways Are Higher Than Ours

A frequently quoted passage from the Old Testament comes from Isaiah 55. It reads:

…my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways… As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (vss. 8-9).

I’ve often heard this passage used to justify people embracing incoherent beliefs or to explain why we can trust God when we don’t understand what God is doing. But this passage is not talking about embracing the mystery of God. It’s about something much more profound and challenging in light of the tension around racial division that we are experiencing in our world today. To explain this, let me provide a little background.  

God called Abraham to be a unique covenant partner with him and to eventually form a unique nation through which “all peoples on earth will be blessed” (Gen. 12:1-3). This calling follows immediately after God’s judgment on Babel where people had to be scattered because they were trying to reach heaven on their own. (See post on Reversing Babel.) God, who always starts new projects with a “mustard seed” and who is always incredibly patient, began selectively carving out a distinct nation from among the descendants of Abraham.

For his own sovereign reasons, God decided to work with Isaac’s lineage instead of Ishmael’s and with Jacob’s rather than Esau’s. He then steered the descendants of Jacob down into Egypt to incubate them as a distinct tribe for four centuries. When they had grown to a sufficient size, and when the destructive sin of the Canaanites had become intolerable (Gen. 15:16), God delivered them out of Egypt, and planted his people in “the promised land.”

In doing all this, God was raising up a distinct people for himself who would know him and walk in his ways. But the ultimate goal, we must always remember, was to use this chosen nation to bless the whole world. Indeed, God wanted Israel to be a nation of servant priests whom he would use to reverse Babel—that is to reunify humans by graciously bringing heaven down to us—and bring the whole world back together under his loving Lordship.

This vision of a reunited and reconciled humanity is hammered home with increasingly clarity and strength throughout the Old Testament. For example, Jeremiah looks forward to the time when “all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord” (Jer. 3:17; 27:7). Zechariah prophesies of a time when the Lord will “be king over the whole earth” so that he will be the only Lord confessed among all people (Zech 14:9). And Joel prophesies of a time when God’s Spirit would be poured out “on all people” (Joel 2: 28).

But the prophet who most forcefully captures God’s vision of a reunited and reconciled humanity is Isaiah. From the start the Israelites (like so much of the church today!) had a tendency to define themselves over and against other people rather than as the servants of other people. They were guilty of their own form of ethnic idolatry. Through Isaiah the Lord confronts this idolatry and reiterates his age-long goal of reaching all people.

In chapter 55, for example, the Lord announced that anyone who was thirsty or hungry was invited to come and feast at his banquet table for free (vss. 1-2). He promised all who came to his feast that he would bring them into the “everlasting covenant” that he “promised to David” (vs. 3). For, the Lord says, David was raised up not just to be the earthly king of the Jews but to be a “witness” and “ruler” for all people (vs. 4). It’s clear from this that God’s goal was always to incorporate all people into his covenant with Israel. This universal goal, as well as God’s promise to have a king like David rule all people, is in principal fulfilled in Christ.

The Lord reiterates his universal goal further when he goes on to say that his chosen people will “summon nations you know not, and nations you do not know will come running to you” because the Lord “has endowed you with splendor” (vs. 5). And he called on all the “wicked” of the world to “forsake their ways” while promising to “freely pardon” them if they would do so (vs. 7).

Inviting all to the banquet table of Yahweh was, in fact, the job of the Israelites all along. But, as I said above, many had unfortunately forgotten this. At this point we read about the thoughts of God. Let me quote it again:

…my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways… As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (vss. 8-9).

He’s talking about his vision to reach all humans! He is in effect saying to his chosen people; Your way of thinking is narrow, ethnically centered, and idolatrous.

But my way of thinking has always been universal. As high as the heavens are above the earth is how much broader is my heart for humanity than yours.

While people since Babel have always had a tendency to exalt their own tribe over others, God’s heart has always been to eventually reverse Babel and reunite humanity under him.

God’s “higher ways” are found throughout Isaiah. For example, Isaiah prophesies of a day when “the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains” so that “all nations will stream to it” (Isa 2:2). He foresees a time when “all people” will behold “the glory of the Lord” (Isa 40:5) as they gather together at God’s “holy mountain” (Isa 56:7). This will be a time when “the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations” (Is. 61:11) as he gathers “the people of all nations and languages” to “come and see my glory” and as he inspires “all people” to “come and bow down before” him (Isa 66:18, 23).

God’s ways are not our ways, for our ways tend to be in line with Babel. It was true of ancient Israel, and it tends to be true of the Church today. But, fortunately, God’s ways always ultimately triumph. And the one in whom they triumph is Jesus Christ. – Greg Boyd

Demystifying the Lord’s Voice: Part 1

In today’s post, I want to discuss the thorny issue of hearing the voice of Jesus.

First, I grew up in a movement where it was common for people to say, “The Lord told me this,” and “God showed me that.” They said it so confidently, with such assurance, projecting the image that God talked to them as unmistakably as when a solicitor calls you on the phone.

Interestingly, whenever I’ve said to such people, “We really need a practical book that shows people how to practically recognize the Lord’s voice,” they became animated saying something like, “Oh, I really want to read a book like that!”

The only conclusion I can draw from this reaction is that these same people aren’t absolutely sure they are hearing from God (despite their confident claim that God speaks to them every time they blink).

Second, ever since I began following the Lord at age 16, I’ve found the whole issue of hearing the Lord clouded in mystery. Mostly because when I’ve heard people announce that God told them such and such (with absolute confidence), they made it sound like His voice is so different from their own thoughts that there’s no way they could mistake His for theirs.

Third, while there’s still a very small percentage of Christians roaming Planet Earth who’ve swallowed the unbiblical idea that God no longer speaks to His people today, the overwhelming majority of Jesus-followers are convinced that the Lord still speaks to His people today. And the New Testament stands with them.

Fourth, all told, there’s a tremendous hunger among God’s people to hear directly from their Lord. This is why the book Jesus Calling has sold over 10 million copies. Whatever you may think about that book, its success in sales sends one unmistakable message: God’s people are hungry to hear their Lord speak to them.

So let me press a few questions:

* What if the whole process of hearing the voice of Jesus could be demystified in a way that any believer could learn to recognize His voice? Not just pastors and Charismatics?

* What if you could have your own “Jesus calling” experience if someone simply showed you how? This, opposed to having to read someone’s book where Jesus allegedly spoke to them?

* What would happen if God’s people – even a small percentage of them – starting hearing the Lord’s voice regularly and began responding to what He was telling them? What sort of effect would this have on their own personal lives, on the body of Christ, and on the world?

Consider those questions for a moment.

Let me end this update with seven points that I’ve come to conclude over many years of experimenting, exploring, studying, and learning about the way the Lord speaks to us today:

1.      Jesus is alive and well. No has put duct tape around His mouth; He’s not mute. He still speaks to His people today. And not just when they read their Bibles.

2.      What Jesus says to His people will never contradict what He’s said previously (in the Scriptures).

3.      When Jesus spoke to people in the New Testament after His ascension, it was usually internal, not audible.

4.      The Lord’s voice comes to us mostly through our own thoughts, feelings, desires, and impressions.

5.      Scriptures gives us some very definite clues as to how to recognize the Lord’s voice from our own.

6.      You can sharpen your spiritual senses to hear His voice. You simply need some practical help on how to do so.

7.      Up until the 1800s, the vast majority of people were illiterate. Even today, 15% of the world still cannot read. While the ability to read is wonderful, it’s not a requirement to hear the Lord speak.

In Part 2, I’ll share a few practical handles I’ve discovered that will help you to recognize the Lord’s voice in your own life.

  - Frank Viola