Outside The Box

So, I was putting my kids to bed after our prayers and Bible reading and they bombarded me with all their spiritual questions like they always do (so they can stay up later) and we got onto the discussion of why God answered my prayers for a certain situation one way, but then didn’t answer them the same way in a similar situation, but instead answered the prayer in a completely different way.

It made me think about the series we are doing at church right now through the Christmas season, called “Ordinary”. We’re looking at the fact that God is in the business of taking ordinary people and circumstance and doing extraordinary things. In other words, God loves to “play outside the box.”

We all have a box, a set of boundaries and parameters that limit who God is and how God works. We all have this understanding and list of expectations of what we think God is like, how He would or would not do things, and so on. What I have found is that God likes to frequently do things outside of the parameters of what I know, understand, and am comfortable with. He loves to break out of the limitations and restrictions I tend to place on Him in my life and the world. The question is… Why? Does he just do it because He can? Is He a show off? Is there a reason for it? Yes. I’ll explain, but before I do, let me prove first that God likes to play outside the box.

1Corinthians 1:20, 27-31 20Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

If ever it’s taught that God likes to work out of the box it is here in this scripture. Why? Partly to “show off”, to display His greatness, power, and wisdom, partly because He can and wants to so that our lives can be better, and partly because He wants us to see we can’t do it on our own, we need Him, and He alone is the answer.

We see all these things here, plus in other scriptures that reference God’s miracles as “signs and wonders”. What is a sign? It’s a message that “shows off” something good about a thing or place to get your attention so you’ll partake. It’s not the real thing, but it points you to the real thing.

God frequently defies our natural logic, understanding, comfort zone, and ways of doing things.

He calms storms with a word. He walks on water and enables others to do so. He casts demons out of people with a word. He made a lame man walk with a word. He healed a blind man by putting mud made of spit and dirt on the guys eyes. He enabled one disciple to survive boiling vats of oil without any harm, while He led another to lay down his life and be crucified for the faith. He provided for His servant through ravens. He cause a jar of oil to not run out for a very long time. He made an ax head float. He had His servant marry a prostitute. He had His servant lay naked for years on one side, only to tell him to flip and do it on the other side for a while. He used a pagan king to execute His judgment. He parted the Red Sea so His people could pass through on dry ground. He caused a virgin to be pregnant without the involvement of a man. He established His rule as King of the universe by entering our world as a humble servant and sacrifice.

Here’s another example of God playing out of the box.

Job 33:14 For God does speak—now one way, now another— though man may not perceive it.

As I understand this scripture, it’s not that God doesn’t talk/speak, it’s that He doesn’t do it the same way each time and thus many don’t hear Him, perceive Him speaking, or get the message.

Again we see God playing outside the box, not wanting to be stuck in the limitations of what we can fathom, understand, or are comfortable with.

Why?

Partly because of all we addressed earlier, but another reason is because God wants us to not only stand in awe of Him, but also trust Him and be passionate about Him.

God doesn’t want to have a formula that we just go through and begin to take Him for granted. God doesn’t want us to think we’ve got Him all figured out. He wants us to stay in a place of love, awe, trust, and dependence. He doesn’t want us to get stagnant and loose our passion for Him.

God is a person, not a vending machine. We have a tenancy to forget that, and so our “prayer lives” typically become the approach to the machine and the deposit of the money and the pressing of the buttons to get what we want.

God wants our “prayer lives” to be a conversation, and our lifestyle to be in “relationships” with Him. Yes, He wants to bless us and do things for us, in us, and through us, but in the context of relationship, not ritual or mechanism. And when God does do “His thing” in our lives He wants to do it His way and He wants us to trust Him that His way is the BEST way. It will be bigger and better than anything that we could do on or own or ask Him to do for us, but our way.

As I look back over my life of following Jesus I first have to say thank you to God for all the times He DIDN’T answer my prayers the way I wanted Him to. I thought I knew, but man I didn’t have a clue. Praise God He answered my prayers His way. Secondly I have to say that it is in those experiences of God answering my prayers His way that I’ve experienced the great adventure and joy of following Jesus. This things is so much bigger and more amazing and more awesome than we understand.

So, we may not always understand, or be comfortable, but we can always trust and follow knowing that God loves to play outside the box impressing His people and the world, wooing our hearts, and making this relationship the most exciting thing in the Universe for all eternity!

Missing The Promise

As we enter into the Christmas Season we talk about so many different aspects of the coming of the promised Savior of the world, the Messiah (Christ), God in the flesh.

We talk about God’s love being demonstrated. We talk about the humility of God, the Grace of God, the purpose of His coming, and many other things.

One thing that we often touch on, but never really address is… How could the Jewish people miss the very promise they were waiting for so eagerly? When they have the same prophetic scriptures (the Old Testament) that we have, when they made it their custom for each male to memorize the Scriptures by a certain age, and when they had religious leaders who studied the scriptures daily and taught them regularly, how could they not recognize their God in the flesh? How could they not recognize the manifestation of the promise that they clung to so tightly?

The Jewish nation was regularly, due to their unfaithfulness to God, overcome by foreign kingdoms. At the time of Christ’s coming they were occupied by the Roman Empire. They were praying for, believing for, and eagerly watching for the coming of their King, Messiah/Christ, and Savior. Yet, when He came not only did they not recognize Him (the Promise of God manifest), but they rejected Him and killed Him. Why?

I believe that the reason is very similar to why we often times fail to recognize God’s blessings (in the various forms they come in) in our life.

I don’t think the issue is ignorance. Most people of God know enough to know there is a promise, to ask and believe for the promise, and to watch for it.

I don’t think the issue is lack of adherence to religion. Most people of God who take it serious are faithful in their attending worship services at least and maybe studying scripture, praying, etc.

I think the issue is a few things…

1) I think the biggest thing is they put God in a box. They limited how God would fulfill His promise to how they thought He should fulfill it. They limited God’s promise to their narrow understanding of what it was. They had a picture in their minds of what and how and when it didn’t line up with that, rather than saying, “We missed it, we’re wrong! This is it!” they rejected the real thing and said, “This isn’t it. We’ll wait until God gets it right, until it’s the way and how we think it should be.”

How often do we limit God’s blessings/promises in our lives? How often do we end up rejecting that manifest blessing/promise, thus resisting God and His work in our life, in order to hold out for something in the method and form we think it should be.

2) I think they were proud and thus stiff-necked, about what they thought they knew. They were inflexible, unteachable, and unwilling to admit they were wrong or didn’t understand and then change.

This unwillingness to be shaped and molded, this unwillingness to be teachable and recognize that we don’t know it all, and even what we think we know may only be a small fragment of a much larger picture that will require us to change some things as we gain a more fuller understanding, this unwillingness to change when we’re wrong or when God wants to work outside the box of what we understand, what is convenient, and what is comfortable is sin and robs us and others of God’s best, His blessings/promises as He sees best to give them.

3) I think they were too busy with their own agenda. The were so busied with practicing a dead religion/covenant that God said was over, that they had no time to work with God in this new thing He was doing.

How often do we cling to dead things that are not producing? Maybe they worked in the past, but they aren’t today. How often do we cling to things because it’s what we know or prefer and are comfortable with? How often are we busied by the things of this world, even by religious activities, that we aren’t available to work with God on what He is doing? Thus we go about doing something for God rather than with God, spending our time, money, and energy in things that He’s not even a part of.

4) We know they were living a less than wholly devoted life to the Lord. Jesus regularly referred to them as hypocrites. We know they taught and practice one thing publicly, but privately they lived out something different. It’s not that they didn’t believe in God, but they didn’t walk in the Fear/Honor of God.

This lack of integrity in their faith/spirituality placed them at odds with God rather than coworkers and friends with God. This half-hearted approach to walking with God left them in a place where they had false security, thinking they were right with God, thinking they knew, when in fact they were neither right with God or right in what they thought they knew.

A lack of integrity in our walk with God puts us in the same position. We can lie to others and deceive them, we can even lie to and deceive ourselves, but we can never lie to and deceive God. He knows what we do and say in all places, not just church and around certain believers. He knows what we really think and feel in spite of what front we may put up to cover it.

5) They didn’t have that authentic, intimate, and passionate relationship with God and because they didn’t walk with God faithfully everyday, they were not in the position to really hear from Him and recognize His activity, what He was up to, and in fact they didn’t even recognize Him. They went through all the right motions, but what they had was a substitute for the real thing. They had religion and ritual, but they missed the whole point of this creation… relationship with God.

Relationship isn’t easy and to have a happy, healthy, passionate, and thriving relationship it takes work, investment, and sacrifice. It is for these reasons that many settle for less in their earthly marriage relationships and it’s why many Christians settle for less in their spiritual relationship with God. We think it requires to much from us, we think it costs to much, we want something and don’t want to give it up (we’re selfish). But the fact is, lack of quality relationship with God is probably the key reason we are robbed of God’s best in our life. It’s probably the key reason we don’t hear from God and experience God like He says He wants us to and that we should.

I realize that all 5 of these issues are connected and overlap; yet each one is a specific issue that we must take to heart and take to God.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t want to become confident in where I am and miss where God wants to take me. I don’t want to become cemented in what little I know and miss the more God wants to teach me. I don’t want to be praying for the blessings/promises of God and then miss them when He gives them to me. I don’t want to think I’m all right with God, but in reality be in a disjointed or even broken relationship with Him.

I want to become all God made me to be. I want to experience all God has for me to experience. I want to walk with God, know God, know His ways, and work with Him in what He is doing and how He is doing it, breaking free from my natural standard of living and break into a supernatural way of life.

God Bless America

We have all heard the phrase and probably even said or prayed it ourselves, but what is it we’re really asking for?

When you say the word blessing the first thing that comes to most peoples mind is some thing or experience that results in pleasure/personal gratification fulfilling the desires of our flesh, or ego, or emotions, or all three. Most think of a blessing as getting what I want.

But, a blessing is a thing or experience that BENEFITS the one who receives it. It may involve pleasure and gratification, but it may not. It may be getting what we want, but it may not.

Jesus said, “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?” (Luke 9:25 NLT)

God wants to bless us, meaning He wants to work in our life that which will benefit us, and sometimes it’s not getting what we WANT, but rather what we NEED. Sometimes it’s getting the answer we don’t want to hear.

A good friend of mine was teaching on the power of prayer and said, “Some people accuse God of not answering prayer. It’s not that God doesn’t answer. It’s that sometimes the answer is ‘No’.” It’s not what we want, but it’s what we need, and it is an answer.

Jesus tells us it’s not always to a man’s benefit to gain the whole world (i.e. get what he wants all the time), but in fact may be to his detriment.

Sometimes the prayer, “God bless so and so…” is asking God to NOT give them the things/pleasure they desire. Sometimes it is to our benefit that God says no.

Taking it a step further, sometimes the benefit is even painful. When my children are purposefully disobeying and misbehaving after being corrected they experience love in the form of punishment. I’m not out to harm them. I don’t want to inflict pain because I hate them. I want to train and help them now while the pain is controlled and minimal, rather then let them go off and destroy themselves and others with wrong living.

If this is true for the individual then what does this mean on a national level?

When we say “God bless America” we may be thinking a prosperous economy, peace, freedom, pleasure, happiness, etc. But, it may very well be an invitation for God to show his love by giving us what we NEED and not what we WANT. It may be an invitation for God lovingly withhold even the perceived good things to help us enter in to the great things down the road.

Often in our narrow and selfish perspectives on life we fail to see the destructive nature of some wants in our life. Because they seem fun, exciting, pleasurable, etc. we think they’re for us (a blessing), and yet to have it, or more of it, or other things would be a curse not a blessing.

Getting what we want all the time, always getting our way, things always being handed to us, being free from discipline/punishment and consequences are not a blessing, but rather a curse.

So, on a national level, I wonder if our request for God to bless America is being fulfilled in some of the difficult situations our country is facing. Rather than pointing fingers and blaming one or two people, perhaps we need to realize that America has been blessed with a lot of stuff and opportunities, but maybe we’ve become such a selfish people so caught up with our own agendas that God is saying, “Wake Up! I’m not giving you what you want (a life of comfort, ease, stuff, and pleasure). I’m giving you what you need.”

Maybe we NEED to learn to trust Him more. Maybe we NEED to make the things of this world less of a focus and priority in our life. Maybe we NEED to begin to think of the needs of others and not what we WANT. Maybe we NEED to focus more of our resources on building the Kingdom of God instead of the kingdom of this world. Maybe we NEED to learn to walk more in the truth, love, grace, and mercy of God.

Some might be tempted to say that America really hasn’t done anything so bad or depraved, compared to other nations, which would warrant punishment from God. But, depravity doesn’t come just in the form of immorality, although we have plenty of that to go around too. The depravity that led to Sodom’s destruction wasn’t just homosexuality, there was behavior/depravity that led up to that final straw that broke the camels back.
(49 " 'Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. Ezekiel 16:49-50) I don’t know about anyone else, but the descriptions “arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned, haughty, and not help the poor and needy” sure reminds me of a lot of Americans.

Sure the detestable things get us in trouble too, but that’s not all.

I don’t think America is on God’s black list, but I do think we’re naive to think that asking for God to bless our country or us as individuals is always going to result in pleasurable things or experiences. God loves us and He loves us enough to bless us with what we NEED not what we WANT. He is truly out to benefit us even when it doesn’t make sense to us.

So, as we pray for God to bless our nation, others, or ourselves, let’s not put God in a box of what that will be and look like. Let’s trust that God knows best and that while we may not understand, nor even like the initial blessing, lets look for what the benefit of the blessing is.

I do want to clarify one thing… I do not believe that God is the cause of every negative or bad thing in our life. There are four sources of negative experiences… 1) We live in a broken world that doesn’t function the way God created it to, so things break down and bad things happen to good people. 2) We live in a world of broken people, so whether the bad and foolish choices of others or our own bad and foolish choices we experience the negative consequences and because we are not truly independent of others our lives affect others people’s lives for better or for worse. 3) The devil and demons are at work in our world to work death, destruction, and all kinds of wickedness, pain, and harm. 4) There are those rare occasions where a person or nations sin has reached such a point that God pours out His Judgment/Wrath. This is not as often as some would like to think and when it happens people are warned and have a chance to repent.

When I refer to God disciplining, punishing, withholding, etc in the name of a blessing I’m not talking about tragic things like birth defects, premature death, etc. I’m talking about God withholding pleasures, materials, etc that are a WANT, not a NEED.

Good Apples and Bad Apples

Jesus taught you would know a tree by its fruit. He went further in the analogy to say that He was the vine/trunk and we (His followers) are the branches. He talked about the branch bearing fruit, good fruit, fruit that will last.

Paul continued this analogy and said that there are two trees, a cultivated tree (the tree of life) and the wild tree (a tree that leads to death. Hmm, could this be the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?).

He also stated that each branch (person) bears fruit according to the tree it is living out of. A branch that is living according to the wild tree (the selfishness of fallen man) will produce one kind of fruit (which is bad/sinful/wrong) and the branch living according to the tree of life (the Spirit) will produce another kind of fruit (which is right, just, love, joy, peace, etc.).

There is a whole lot of talk about producing good fruit, but the questions is: Where does the fruit come from?

The reality is the fruit comes from what’s inside the tree. The branch is an extension of that tree. The Fruit is what it is because of what is on the inside, not because it tries to be something different.

Another important thing to remember is that no branch is perfect; perfectly good or perfectly bad. There is no branch that is all good fruit. Even good branches have a few bad apples from time to time. There are very few branches that have all bad fruit. Even some of the worst of branches have at least a couple good apples here and there.

The key issue is what vine/tree am I (the branch) connected to? The kind of tree I’m a part of will determine the primary kind of fruit I produce. But, in the fallen broken world death does exist and so from time to time we will all have some bad apples even on the best of branches.

Do we accept the bad fruit? No! Do we cut the branch off and throw it away because of a bad fruit here and there? No! According to Jesus the only branch that was going to be cut off and thrown away was the branch that didn’t produce any fruit (John 15).

We need to aspire to be the best branch we can be, allowing the Holy Spirit of God to prune out those areas of our life that are unproductive branches, so we can be even more fruitful.

We also must remember that if the overwhelming majority of the fruit being produced in our life is bad fruit we really need to check and see if we are really connected to the right tree.

One more thing to remember is that growth and more fruit come because the branch allows the life of the tree to flow through it (it’s a giver), not hold on to it for itself. The more fruit bearing a branch is, the more the live of the tree is flowing through that branch, thus the greater the experience and fuller the life of that branch.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/970640/good_apples_and_bad_apples.html

Love Of The Truth

At Open Arms Community Church we’ve been going through a series called “Growing Closer To God”. Last weekend we discussed the topic of how studying God’s Word (the Bible) grows us closer to God.

We saw many warnings in the scripture about deceiving spirits at work in our world and deceptive teachings that will come. We also saw the antidote for the rampant deception in our world, a love of/for the truth.

When we use that phrase “love of/for the truth” we are to understand first that this has always been God’s expectation, that what we do in pursuing Him and obeying Him would be motivated by a loving relationship not religious duty. That’s the first and greatest command, to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength”.

We are also to understand that true love compels us to pursue. If we really “love” then we feel compelled. Whether you say, “I love my wife” or “I love ice cream”. Either way you feel compelled by that affection/affinity to pursue them.

You have to wonder what many Christians have in this Christian Faith, relationship or religion, because so many seem so unmotivated in pursuing God (reading His Word, obeying His Word, spending time with Him in prayer, and spending time with fellow saints).

So many seem to “Believe” in God/Jesus and do the obligatory “church attendance” (sometimes), but seem to resent the imposition that Jesus and His commands make on their lifestyle. They seem to have thought that following Jesus would simply be adding a little bit of religious duty to their pre-existing lifestyle, but Jesus tells us He came to give a whole new way of life (not just a few religious habits), so we should understand that there will not just be a few changes to our way of life, but a completely different way of life.

In following Jesus we may stay at the same place of work, but we may not. We may stay in the same geography, but we may not. God has a way of taking those who follow Him and changing their life drastically.

Why do some seem to have these powerful life changing experiences for life long and others not? Why do some seem so easily moved off coarse, but others are more stable and stay on track? The answer is simpler than we think.

In 2Thessalonians 2:1-10 we find God warning us that as the clock of earths existence winds down there will be an increase of deception. Spirits and spiritual teachers will come try to teach things that sound, feel, smell, and seem good, right, and true, but in fact are wrong, dangerous, and destructive.

God tells us in these verses that the people being deceived and ruined by the deception will go from bad to worse simply because of one thing… they did not love the truth. As we reject or just take lightly the truth, the easier we swallow satan’s lies and the harder it can be come to swallow God’s word.

That is the second thing we need to learn from this phrase “love of/for the truth”.

Jesus tells us His “word is truth”, that His word is “flawless and eternal”, and that those who “hear it and do what it says” are blessed, but those who “hear it and do not do what it says” fall under a lack of blessing, a curse, even destruction”. (Matthew 7)

The availability of God’s Word, especially to us in America and those with regular internet access, makes this truth all the more convicting and us all the more accountable/responsible to God for how seriously and diligently we pursue God and His truth.

God is at work in our world. He is moving and doing awesome things, but so is the devil, and unfortunately to many Christians are buying satan’s lies and living a less than Christian life; A life of which I do not know for sure the final outcome.


So, what do we do?

First, 2Timothy 2:15 tells us to “do your best to show yourself approved” or “diligently study to show yourself approved” by God in “rightly handling the word of truth”. Do we “rightly handle” the word? Not only are we to handle it “rightly” by understanding it accurately, but we’re also to handle it “rightly” by actually handling it, using it, not letting it sit on our shelf or the back of our toilet collecting dust.

Second, as we feed on this Word of Truth we will fulfill God’s command to “grow in the grace and KNOWLEDGE of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.” 2Peter 3:18

Thirdly, we must understand that there will be things in the Bible we don’t understand at first, but the more we read it and the more we live it, the more we will understand, but even after decades of following Jesus and studying the word of God, there is much we still don’t fully understand, so what do we do.

Deuteronomy 29:29 tells us the knowledge that is hidden belongs to God (that is His business), but the knowledge that is revealed (understood by men) is given to us so that we may do what it says, in other words OBEY IT.

If we do these things we will be blessed and are true disciples/followers of Jesus. If we do not do these things we are easy prey for satan and his minions, we are going to experience less than God’s best in life, and we may not be authentic disciples/followers of Jesus (we may fall into the category of simply believing in God, but still on our way to hell with satan who also believes in God. James 2).

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/967870/love_of_the_truth.html?cat=34

God Finding You In The Moment

Not long ago I wrote about finding God in the moment, becoming aware of His activity in our daily lives and work in cooperation with Him.

In a series we’re doing at Open Arms Community Church called “Growing Closer To God” we’ve been discussing different factors involved in us really going deeper with God and growing up into the greater things God has for us.

We just covered the topic of “Serving/Giving” and in particular “Sacrificial Serving/Giving”, and it caused me to question… What about God finding us in the moment?

I wonder… with all the busyness, agendas, plans, hustle, and chaos in our lives are we available to God?

In any given moment can God interrupt us and use us or just share with us?

So often we’re concerned about finding God in the moment, but the real question is can God find us in the moment?

The greatest obstacle in experiencing God and God’s best in my life is not the Devil, it’s not someone else, it’s not work; it is me (self). I’m the one who busies myself. I’m the one who takes on all the extra stuff. I’m the one who sets the agenda. I’m the one who chooses what to do or not do. I’m the one who decides what I will pursue and chase after.

All to often we’re concerned about whether God will show up and move, but what we really need to be concerned about is whether we’re available to God.

It’s not an easy focus to keep. With all the cares of this life (the pursuit of pleasure, the deceitfulness of wealth, etc; Matthew 13), chaos, distractions, and so on it’s easy to become disoriented and out of touch with God.

There are simple disciplines and attitudes that help us “stay available” to God. Daily Prayer, daily Bible reading, and the constant asking of the question, “God what do you want to do here (in me and through me)?”.

When it comes to the topic of Serving/Giving we’ve got to be in touch with God so as not to miss those opportunities God gives us to shine the light of His love and truth.

When it come to giving/serving “sacrificially” we really have to be in touch with God so as not to give in to selfishness, fear/doubt, or worldly wisdom and resist God and what He wants to do in and through us. Only by the presence and power of God do we have a chance of overcoming the Old Self and the Ways of This World.

One more thing… Should God find us in the moment, what would He find us doing? Are we about the Fathers business or other business? Are we living in such a way that would please and honor Him, or the opposite? Would we be in a position to be used of the Lord?

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/949683/god_finding_you_in_the_moment.html

Finding God in the moment

Why Some Find Him and Others Don't...

Ever find yourself in a place with a group of people sharing a particular environment or event and you walk away with some having experienced God and others not?

For some thoughts on why this happens and how to find God in the moment of each day, each event, each church service, click the link and read the article.


http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/840203/finding_god_in_the_moment.html