Bewildered.

I can see an event totally differently than someone I know. Different perspective. Different language. Different reality. Different world-view. It can be very difficult or even impossible to have a conversation about that event. There are many instances of friendships ending, or even families splitting, over these differences.

Is that what happened at the tower of Babel when God confused people’s languages? They could no longer talk with or understand everybody, but could talk with and understand only some. People naturally gathered with those they could understand, and those separate groups moved away together.

Today’s world seems similar to me. People can have such firmly held points of view that others may not be able to explore those points of view with them. Folks can have entrenched patterns of behavior that are only acceptable to some, and they gather with those with similar manners.

I don’t have to fill in the blanks. You know.

From a spiritual perspective, we may or may not have a calling to reach out to some groups. But we need to pray.

Lord, come! Soon!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)

His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness… (2 Peter 1:3)

~~~~~~~~~

We, believers, saints in Jesus Christ, have EVERY spiritual blessing. We have EVERYTHING pertaining to life and godliness.

We ALREADY have everything.

This truth is both enormously encouraging AND enormously sobering.

Our job through this life is to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, to learn to walk according to the Holy Spirit, and to appropriate, possess, what Almighty God, through Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, has ALREADY given us.

Of course, we’ll never arrive, but our responsibility is to press on towards Christ’s likeness.

While this sounds like “mission impossible,” and while we will not achieve Christ-likeness until heaven, it IS possible to learn how to use what He has already given us and to live, more and more, in a way that is worthy of Him.

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12–14)

Press on!

~~~~~~~~~

BLESSED! Rape to Redemption to Rewards is available at BookLocker, Amazon, and elsewhere. Kindle is coming soon.

After last week’s The Chain of Evangelism I heard from a friend who had always thought about telling others about Jesus Christ, regardless of the response, as planting a seed.

Yes! We are responsible to plant seeds that, God willing, will lead to redemption.

I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. (1 Corinthians 3:6–8)

And Yes! We are responsible to exercise the gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit.

Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly… (Romans 12:6)

And Yes! God is sovereignly responsible for the result.

Let’s be faithful in planting seeds, and rejoice in what God does.

Press on!

Discouraged about the lack of response, or negative response, when you tell someone about Jesus Christ?

I once heard an analogy that helped me. When you tell someone about the Lord, you are part of an evangelism chain. You might be the first link of the chain, or somewhere in the middle, or you may experience the thrill of seeing someone receive Christ. But all the links are important.

Our responsibility is not the result—that is God’s sovereign act–but faithfully telling others of our Lord as we are prompted by the Holy Spirit.

Press on!

My lifelong friend and I wrote a book. She lived it, I helped write it.

Suzanne Maurer, an ordinary Christian, is living proof that God turns horrors into blessing. Date raped at 19, her son, conceived by that rape, led her to Christ twenty years later. After 40 years of joyful living, she is now showing all of us how to live with ALS. Suzanne is truly blessed, and this book shows how.

BLESSED! is now available in print through BookLocker, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and elsewhere. Ebook is now available at BookLocker and soon in Kindle and Nook.

Helping Suzanne write this book challenged me, humbled me, helped me learn more about Gods’s loving sovereignty, and gave me hope. Come along and see how!

Missing the laundry basket may bring the wrath of Mom.

Missing God’s commandment brings the eternal wrath of God.

Don’t be deceived. God is our Creator and has every right to tell us how we are to live. (Genesis 1:27)

God has made His standard very clear. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves. (Matthew 22:36-40)

Don’t deceive yourself. We ALL have sinned. We ALL fall short. We ALL deserve death. (Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23)

We ALL are sinners and we cannot save ourselves.

God provided a solution through Jesus Christ for His just, eternal wrath for our sin .

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

In order to be included in God’s salvation, we must repent of our sins, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Please!

Usually implied in this statement is that something bad happened.

If something good happened, we’re apt to think: “What a good girl I am.” “What  a good boy I am.”

But if something bad happens …

Christian Fundamentals When You Don’t Understand

God is good and does good. (Psalm 119:68)

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9)

We must rest on the facts that God is good, God does good, and that His ways and His thoughts are much higher than our own.

We Must Trust

We cannot fully understand why God does something. But we can and must trust Him.

As Christians, we are His children and He loves us, protects us, trains us, and grows us into Christ’s likeness. Everything that He allows into our lives is for a loving purpose, to bring us to glory.

Trust Almighty God and Press On

We are inundated with words and opinions, which have accelerated with social media. So… whose opinion matters? Who and what do we believe? What do we act on?

There are four categories of the sources of opinions.

God

For Christians, it is clear, God’s opinion matters! And not only that, He is truth and all He says is true.

If you don’t believe, God still is Truth! Watch out.

O Lord, God of truth. (Psalm 31:5)

The World/Satan

Everything Satan says is a lie. He wants to damage us, destroy us.

He [the devil] was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)

Ourselves

We talk to ourselves all the time. ALL the time. We must be careful what we say to ourselves. I remember a comic where the grandfather asked his granddaughter why she was upset. She said: “I was talking to myself. And, well, things were said.” Isn’t that true?!

I’ve been asked if I believe everything a certain person says. Well, no, but I don’t always agree with myself either. We have to evaluate what we say to ourselves according to the Bible.

Others

With others, we have to exercise discernment. Other people vary in their importance to us; a spouse’s opinion has different weight than a stranger in the store. And other people are more or less operating according to the Spirit or the flesh.

You shouldn’t even always listen, but you should always evaluate according to God’s truth. And to do that you have to know God’s truth.

How to get it right

Since God is Truth, and God’s “opinion” is the total truth, He is where we need to start. His truth is contained in His Word, the Bible, so the better we know the Bible, the better we know the truth.

The better we know the Bible, God’s truth, the better we can detect lies and misinformation.

What to do

STUDY God’s Word! Memorize! Meditate! Make God’s Word a integral part of your being.

Press on!

We are born with a God-given purpose, with a length of life God ordained for us, and with responsibility how we use the time God gave us.

Make the most of your time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:16)

There are books and sermons on this topic, many of which focus on productivity. Those messages are about wisely using the hours in our days, being productive.

Accomplishing what the Lord wants us to do in any given time period is important. Many of us carefully plan our days (after prayer, of course!).

Opportunities versus Hours

But! We also need to be alert to unexpected opportunities arising in our planned-out day!

In Ephesians 5:16, “time” is a translation of “Kairos,” which means season or opportunity rather than “Chronos,” clock hours.

Make the most of your opportunities, make the most of your seasons, witnessing and serving in Christ’s name. We must be open to how we can fulfill His purpose for us in advancing His kingdom, even if it isn’t what we’d planned (!).

Conflicts

A conflict may arise between using every hour productively and responding to opportunities.

Picture yourself with a day planned with what you KNOW is God’s direction. It’s going fine, but then you receive an urgent call from someone needing help, and you believe God wants you to assist. Your prayerfully planned day is out the window. What you planned is no longer possible.

How do you feel?

I have a godly Christian friend who focuses on staying connected to Jesus Christ and then lives spontaneously. (I admire her, but don’t always understand.) My spontaneous friend is apt to say: “Great! I have an unexpected opportunity to witness about my Lord and serve this person in Christ’s name.” No problem.

Me? I am likely to be stressed, even though I dive into helping the person with the issue. (And stress, of course, can bring out not-so-desirable behaviors.)

Resolutions

Making the most of my hours is important, but I need to stay open to His surprises during the day. My plans, even after prayer, are my plans. They are not sacrosanct. I am the bond-servant of my Lord Jesus Christ and I must, I must, stay ready to follow Him That means my plans must be continually surrendered to my Lord’s direction throughout the day. And that I must rejoice in it.

I will continue to pray about what the Lord would have me do with my day, but I resolve to be open to changing events and needs and not be fixed on what I planned in advance.

Lord, HELP!

We can bring joy and delight to Almighty God! I find it amazing that we, His created humans, can delight God. But we (Christians) can and have.

Bring Joy to God by Repentance

Christians have already brought joy to God by repenting and receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. (Luke 15:10)

Delight God Here and Now

Believers can also delight God here and now by we live.

God delights in lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth. If we live that way, we delight God. (Jeremiah 9:24)

We please God through faith, by believing that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

We please God as we walk in a manner worthy of Him. The blameless in their walk are His delight. (Proverbs 11:20)

God delights in the upright, and delights in the prayer of the upright. (1 Chronicles 29:17; Proverbs 15:8)

If we are faithful with the few things He gives us to do, we enter into His joy.

Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master. (Matthew 25:23)

Being able to delight God—Holy, Eternal, Unchanging, Almighty—is unfathomable to me. But it is both true and a motivator to live to please Him.

~~~

Thank You, Father, that we matter to You and that we can delight You, bringing You joy. Help us live more and more in a way that pleases You.

“Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.” (1 Thessalonians 4:1)