How to do this thing called a "Daily walk"

I was visiting with a brother of mine the other night and we had been talking about how Christ should play out in our lives. He had been struggling with some issues and asked me this question:


Alright, enough about how, "I should do this and that". I know what I should do...

BUT HOW?!?!

How do you do what God wants you to do, without having a total break down trying hard to be the person he wants you to be? How do you practically live out God's way of living?"

The question is right, in thought, but wrong in focus. So let's get the right question first, then get the right answer to go with it. So let's ask the right question:

How do I live my life according to how God wants me to live it?

To answer this question we first have to know how He wants us to live, Right? I mean you have to understand what the differences are between the way we live now and the way God wants us to live.

We have to start somewhere; how about those daily trials we have that nail us every time. God wants to see us get past the trials and get over those hurdles that trip us up all the time, so that we can know Him intimately. James says that we should not let these trials make us weak, because when we go through these trials, they test our faith. When our faith is tested, we see God give us strength to not give up. When we don't get discouraged because of those trials, we see we don't need to act the same anymore. Example: Someone cuts you off in traffic, you get mad and swear. You know it's wrong, it's a trial. The next day it happens again, you remember that this is only a trial and if you don't swear and get mad, you have successfully gotten through the trial and prove your faith (or see that it worked) in doing what God would want you to do. The feeling of discouragement from failing all the time is now one of encouragement.

Now that we know we can do the right thing...where do we find this "list of right things" to do then? That's where FAITH comes in! Faith is important because that is our belief. If our faith is tested, that means our belief is being tested. In other words, our belief that God's way is the right way is tested. Paul tells us how we obtain our faith. He says that we get faith from hearing the Word of God. Hearing here means two things; that there is an actual audible sound and that there is an understanding of words, whether written or verbalized. So in order for us to find out what God wants us to do, we first have to develop our faith. And we get our faith by the Word of God. And we find the Word of God in......the Bible. The more we spend time in God's Word, the stronger our faith gets.

We have the means to live the way God wants us to and we know where to find the blueprint of how God wants us to live, BUT HOW? This is the cool part! By God Himself! God tells us that when we give our lives to Him we must believe in His Son. The Son (Christ) says that he is going to send us a Helper. The Helper is The Spirit of God. The Spirit says that he will live inside us, spiritually speaking, and help us know God. I like to use this analogy: I speak English and a person I need to talk with speaks Spanish. I can talk till I am blue in the face, laugh, cry and insist, but it won't do me any good without someone to translate my words, feelings and emotions into Spanish. There is no communication available. With a translator, we both can talk and understand each other's feelings, emotions and speech. This is what the Spirit of God does for us. He translates what God has for us and places these words on our heart. A still small voice.. a whisper... a moment in time.

Here's what Christ tells us: The Helper is the Holy Spirit. The Father will send Him in My place. He will teach you everything and help you remember everything I have told you. If I go, I will send Him to you. When the Helper comes, He will show the world the truth about sin. He will show the world about being right with God. And He will show the world what it is to be guilty.

Paul tells us that we receive the Spirit by hearing in faith. With the power of God Himself in us, through the Spirit, we no longer have to follow our sinful nature, but instead follow the Spirit. Paul goes on to say that those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you.

It is this "control" of the Spirit that allows us to obey God. If we live by the Spirit, we also walk by the Spirit. This means that in our daily lives, we are able to walk according to how God wants us to. I hear this said quite a bit, "I said I believe in God, so why don't I see that love and joy and patience that He promised me?" Ah, this is the age old problem, we always want the goods first, don't we? The scripture reads: "But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!" You see that it's "the fruit of...". In other words the Spirit produces these things. THEY ARE A BY-PRODUCT, A RESULT of being under the control of the Spirit. So we first have to allow this control of the Spirit and then these things will come out in our lives.

By God's goodness He has given His message to us, that Christ had lived on this earth to show us how to live and to give us a real life example. Because Christ came, we were able to be brought near to God by following Christ's example of how he lived his life. If we put our belief (faith) in Christ, that we can live like he did, then we are able to understand how God wants us to live. Christ promised to send us a Helper (Spirit of God) to help us do this. So we are not alone, relying on our own strength (us trying harder), but His. Combine this faith with a consistent and moment by moment choice of yielding or allowing the Spirit to have his influence in our daily decisions and you now have life change. You will know your life has changed because you and everyone around you will start to see your joy, your patience, your kindness, your goodness, your love and the peace that comes with knowing that you are loved, no matter what.
May God Bless you.

Jm 1:2-4, Rm 10:17, 2 Tim 1:14, Jn 15: 26, 16:7-8, Gal 3:2, 5:2, Rom 8:4-9, Gal 5:25, 5:22-23

Are you in the land of self-provision?

Have you ever tried buying a gift for the person who has everything? When Christmas time comes around, how frustrating is it to have to go from store to store, hour after hour, day after day, just to find a present for that last difficult person on your list? Isn't it frustrating to know that you can't even buy one little present for someone you care very much about because they already have everything? When you ask that person what they want, they usually say, "Nothing, I don't need anything." ERRRRR! You want to give them a gift, but they won't let you.
God has the same problem with us; just like our gift shopper. God wants to bless us and provide for us. God wants to bless us with the little things in life. Unfortunately, we are so busy providing for ourselves, that we leave God out of the provision business. We don't even stop to think, "I wonder if God would put my need on some one's heart."
How can God provide for our needs and desires if we are constantly providing for ourselves? I am not saying that we should turn God into a genie. If I see I need this and immediately go and buy it, because, "I can", where is God? There is no dependence on God's workings. There is no need for Him to come through on your behalf. There is no need to pray, because essentially we are saying that we'll take care of it from here.
I say this because I believe without that dependence on God and without going to Him everyday for our needs, we lose that relationship God is desiring for us to have with Him. The daily prayers, the daily petitions. If you don't need God right now, warning, He will make you need Him. He doesn't want us to be in a self fulfilled state, He wants us to count on Him to provide our needs. In Deuteronomy God tells His people how much He loves to provide for their needs.
"Love the LORD your God and keep his...commands always. Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength... and so that you may live long in the land...a land flowing with milk and honey...So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul then I will send rain on your land in its season...(so) you will eat and be satisfied...If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways and to hold fast to him- then the LORD will drive out all these nations...larger and stronger than you.
Notice that we must first love, be faithful to obey, serve with all our heart and soul...then we receive the blessing. There isn't anything in there like, "maybe I will..." or "I may do..." No, His decree is if you are faithful in following Me then I will provide you with a long and rich life, I will send provisions to you in your time of need, I will rescue you from your problems. You see, He wants to be the provider of your needs, He wants to be your hero, He wants to be your strength. We have to let Him. We have to count on His provision and we have to know that He does provide for us.
I believe my wife and I are going through this season right now. God has a way of allowing: things to break, pipes to leak, vehicles to break down, and things that we count on for providing our comfort to not function, so that we are taken out of this self-made comfort zone and forced back into reliance on Him and Him alone. God is a jealous god and He won't allow us to stray too far into the land of self-provision. Praise God.

What should worship be to us?

I was talking with a friend about what worship should be to us, as believers in Christ. While we were talking, I jotted down some scriptures that helped me identify what God considers worship to be. Here are some topics from our discussion that I think we all need to refresh on!

Doesn’t matter if the Word is spoken or sung:
God said that His Word doesn't come back void. So whether it is spoken in a service, on a street corner, written on a billboard or sung in a song, it is still His Word! Check this out: Isa 55:10-11 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Here, a drop of water falls from the sky, goes into the ground, gets sucked up by plants and then used to produce nourishment. That's how God's Word should be received by us. His Word falls from His mouth, onto His people. His people then take His Word and use it for growth, mature in their faith and bless others. Look at it this way, He is telling us that it will grow and it will accomplish its purpose. So if you don't use it, someone else will! It's your blessing, receive it and grow from it!

Worship is more than singing…it is life itself:
A lot of times we think that worship is something we only do when we sing at church or in our car. But that isn't the case at all. We are supposed to worship God all the time. That means when we are at work, in our cars, walking down the street, all the time. In Rom 12:1 it says, Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual act of worship. See, every thing we do should bring glory to God. An application of this can be simply ignoring the driver behind you that is beeping the horn; instead of yelling back at the person when they drive past you. Easier said than done sometimes, but that should be our heart. We need to practice it, so it becomes second nature.

Worship and prayer are personal:
Mt 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your closet, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. Christ told us that we need to spend time with God alone! No one else, just Him and you. Notice Christ didn't say, go into your closet and pray to me, he specifically said "your Father" - God. Cry out to God, give Him the glory that He deserves. Going to Him with your concerns is a great way of saying that you believe He can take care of them. You go to a doctor to help fix your body. Why, because you believe they can help you. You might not say that, but that is exactly what you are saying when you walk into the office. Christ, when he was in the garden before his torture and death, went alone to pray, away from his closets friends ,to seek God and God alone.

Worship and prayer are corporate:
In the Bible, you will read "assembly of the saints" or "congregation of the saints", this was an idea that we should be getting together on a routine basis to worship our God! In Heb 10:25 it says: Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. As a collective group, we are the "church". However, I believe there is also to be a physical building that should be held somewhat sacred (set apart) that we can go to for a peace from the outside world. In the O.T. the people held the "church" (which was a tent as they were nomadic people) as a sacred place because God actually occupied that space. In the N.T., God occupies our hearts in His third person (the Holy Spirit). However, all throughout the N.T., the people still collectively gathered in a safe place that was set apart for prayer and worship. There were definitive-designated places that were set apart for the worship of God. Not the only places, but there were special places nonetheless.
If you read most of the letters and you will see that Paul and other writers specifically address people who worship in specific locals, specific physical places. A lot of times it was a specific room in some one's home, but it was a place set apart nonetheless. Ours should also be set apart and sanctified as such a place. Read (Gen 12:8, Num 10:3, Col 4:15, Acts1:13-14, Acts 12:12) Also, 1 Cor 14:25 When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. There is definitely a purpose for corporate worship: edification (the building up of someone, encouraging someone in their work).

Why do you go to church to worship?:
Have you ever left a church service and said, "I didn't get anything out of what Pastor said today" or "church was boring and I didn't feel the spirit there"? If so, than you have to ask yourself one huge question: Why do I go to church?
Should a church service be based on our feelings? No! Does God perform according to feelings? No. God never changes! Our feelings do. Christ said that when there are two of us that get together to worship in his name, he will be there among them, honoring that. Whether you are gathering for a church service or just to work together, or even just to sit and talk together. He promises he will be there. So again, why do we go to church; so we can get something from it? If that is the case we are there for all the wrong reasons.
We should go to church, knowing that God will show up! We should go expecting to meet GOD! You should bank on it! Walk in and know that God is there! That's why He says, "worship me in spirit and in truth!" The truth is that God says He will be there. The spirit is, you putting away your "feelings" and allowing God to nourish your spirit with His being - The Holy Spirit.

Church worship is about serving others:
So many times we go to church to be "fed". I hear that a lot. Do you know that we are to go to church to feed and not be fed? To serve and to not be served? Wow, that's novel, isn't it? But that is the truth. Look in 1 Tim 2:1. Timothy says...requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving (should) be made for everyone. Timothy was saying: Look, your people need to come and pray for everyone, not just their friends, but everyone, even their enemies.
In Ephesians Paul writes: It was he (Christ) who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants...we will in all things grow up into...Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together...grows and builds itself up in love...
Wouldn't it be great if we all went to church to serve others, instead of going to get our own needs met? Don't get me wrong, there is a time that we are to bring our needs before the body. In Acts 4 it talks about how ...the congregation had no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales. That my friend is serving.

Worship is done to the very end of your life:
I absolutely love this passage. If this passage doesn't give a one sentence definition of worship, I don't know what will. Heb11:21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying…worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. Picture the devotion of Jacob. He couldn't even stand on his own strength anymore, leaning on his staff, yet he was full of worship! That is powerful!

Worship is serious business:
I think too many times we just show up to church, sing a little, listen to our pastor shower the congregation with holy knowledge and then get out into our cars and get out of there as fast as possible. But where is God in all of that.
Have you ever prepared for church? I know how it goes, we all yell at the kids and argue while trying to get ready to go to church sometimes (that's satan by the way). But have you ever stopped to meditate before you go to church? Have you ever gotten up early before you have to leave that day and mentally prepared yourself to meet God? That is what we are expecting...isn't it? You prepare yourself for work, you prepare for school, you prepare for a test, don't you? Why shouldn't we prepare ourselves to be in the right frame of mind to meet the Creator of our souls?
Heb 12:28 let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. The writer is saying that this is a series game. We are to have a reverent fear of God. Not fear to approach Him, but fear of who He is. God describes himself this way, "I am that I am". Which means He is. Think about that for a second. He is! He is what?...He is everything! He is more than words, He is more than spirit, He is more than a material being, He is more than what we can even understand. The reason why science is against God is because they can't put a definition on Him. They can't give Him a molecular schematic. They just can't put God into a quantitative or qualitative chart, so it is easier to say He doesn't exist.
An angel that carried Christ's life story yelled to survivors in Revelation, saying in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water."
We cannot accept salvation through Christ without truly honoring the fear of God and His awesome presence.
Americans don't really place any value on bowing down to anyone. In countries that still have kings, the people immediately kneel and bow down to them when they come in to their presence. These kings are just people. But when the King of kings comes to claim His property (His people) every knee will bow and every person will say that Christ is Lord. Why, because it will be inescapable! You will bow and if you don't want to, you will bow anyways! Get it? You won't have a choice. There before you is the God of the universe. There will be soooo much majesty in His presence that you will hit the floor quicker than a Texas twister in June! Now that is power, that is majesty! That is the God we serve!

Worship is for God alone!:
There are several times in the Bible where it talk of angelic visitations. Many people that came in contact with these heavenly, celestial beings fell to the ground, much like in the previous paragraph. They fell to the ground in fear! Like the times an angel of the Lord appeared to John (Rev 19:10 & 22:9) I…fell at his feet to worship him. But he (the angel of the Lord) said to me, ‘Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!"
Even Christ pointed his glory to God! Remember when he taught us to pray. Remember when he would confront the pharisees and say that he was here only for his Father's will. If you look closely into Christ's teachings you will see that everything he did pointed to God getting the glory. So even he, Jesus Christ, worshiped God alone.
God says that He is a "jealous God, a consuming fire". Can you picture a consuming fire. It encompasses and totally changes the being it posses. Like a wild fire takes a vast forest and changes it to a barren and desolate waste land, so is God's anger. Also in Deuteronomy it says that we are not to bow down to idols or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me...Wow, that's pretty clear, right? And as we know, anything other than God can be an idol. Anything that takes precedence over God is an idol.

I really hope this helps you get a better picture on what true worship is about and how God should be worshiped, it helped me. God loves us and to prove it, He gave up His only Son on a cross, to save us, which is something that we can't do ourselves. God is a tri-une (3 in 1) being, made up of The Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So in giving up His own Son, He gave of Himself. That's what He is calling on us to do. Give of ourselves, back to Him, in the form of worship. To be holy, faithful and to be a light shining in the darkness, so that no one will die without receiving the awesome message that there is hope. Hope that comes from God never disappoints and never is forsaken! That is good news!

First Grade Education = First Grade Faith

I was reading Hebrews 6:1-2 the other day, which talks about faith, repentance, baptisms and the laying on of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. These are known as the elementary principals of God’s Word. A.W. Tozer referred to these as “first grade knowledge”, in his book, 'Success and the Christian, The Cost of Spiritual Maturity'. The writer of Hebrews refers to these by using common items: a baby, milk and meat. The baby represents most “Christians” (immature in their faith) and the milk represents the elementary principals of God’s Word. These are the basics of knowledge of Christ and God. Notice I didn’t say understanding! I said knowledge, big difference. Meat, of course, is the deep stuff of God; the goods!

Look at it this way…a first grader comes home and reads from a picture book. These books have simple words that tell a story and have pictures that show what the words are describing. Try covering the pictures! Chances are they can’t read the words anymore. Why, because they assimilate the picture with the group of words, but there is no understanding of the words, just knowledge of what the words should be (memorization). This is normal for a first grader, but is it normal for a mature person? Absolutely not!

In Hebrews 5: 11-12 the writer has a ton of important information that he needs to teach, but he couldn’t. Why? Because they weren’t able to understand. Why? The Greek words used here literally mean that one is slow to learn. Here, “slow to learn” doesn’t mean a disability or an inability. On the contrary, it is laziness, down right pure laziness! Literally, the people were slow to learn, they didn’t care to learn more. They were comfortable with the knowledge of the minor things of God with no desire to understand. Learn just enough to get by. As a matter of fact, not only did they not understand, but they were constantly rehashing what they already should have known.

Let me give you a very loose translation of what one of their services may have been like. The teacher stands up and tells everyone about Christ and that they should believe and hope in his true existence. He tells of forgiveness, about baptism and then being baptized in the Spirit. Next, that they should pray for one another’s needs and goes over healing real quick. After putting their faith in Christ, receiving their forgiveness, being cleansed and made whole, they were told of eternal life, through the rising of their souls into heaven, as Christ did. Those that didn’t go through the process are left with one option, eternal judgment.

Now then, when you return for the next message, usually the next afternoon, you heard the same message. Then the following day you hear the same set of messages, just maybe in different words. Over and over again. Hello!?!? Does this sound familiar to anyone????? Has anyone listened to the same message, time and time again, only with different words every once in a while? Have you been totally satisfied with it? The answer is “Yes!” by the way. You go, you listen, you bob your head up and down because you agree with it. You leave and return to church a week later to do it all again. That is what the writer is talking about: First grade with weekends off! Yeah Baby!

So what about you? What grade are you in? First grade? Have you even grown from your infancy yet? Do you go to church once a week and keep yourself at a safe-superficial distance, so you don’t have to deal with those life changing, transforming issues that God is just dying to tear out of you and bless you with His victory? If so, do something about it, don't stay where you are.

But how do we get passed a first grade level faith and begin to mature? God tells us to put these simple truths away. Don’t discard them, but put them away and desire more! Learn them, understand them, believe them, but grow in your faith! Use them for a foundation and build upon them! Start right now. Begin to read God’s word right where you are. Take time to meditate on what you learn and embrace the changes God has in store for you. You will never be the same, I guarantee it!

One thing is for sure, there are no short cuts. There is no one else that can do this for you. Just you and you alone. In the end, you won’t be standing next to your wife or husband or preacher, when you stand before God. They won’t be there for you to point to, and say, “Go ahead, tell them what I know!” Get out of your diapers, man! Grow and mature, that is what God is calling on us to do.

A Father's Love

I was watching my kids today as they were playing one second and then arguing the next. It struck me how they could be so great with each other one minute and so horrible to one another the next. After the arguing, they both make a run for me, presenting their side of the case, accusing one another and then the separation; each storming off to their respective rooms.

Isn't that just how life is? I thought, this must be how God sees us, one minute we are good and smooth sailing. Next thing you know we are off, hurting others and doing things we know we shouldn't do. Then satan goes running to God, accusing us. Next step, you guessed it, the separation...that distance we place between us and God. The long pause of communion, because of our guilt and shame we receive on account of our sin. Thankfully, we have one that covers our sin and removes our guilt and shame and the distance is brought short with repentance and forgiveness. Christ is good!

Have you ever watched a child as they color or draw? When they are young they continuously scribble three lines, lift up the paper and ask, "Daddy, how does this look?" Seeking your acceptance, longing for your attention and approval of what they are doing. Or how about when they are sleeping...have you ever just watched a child sleep? Or have you ever watched a parent, watching their child sleep? There is an unexplainable joy in watching your child simply sleep. Wondering what is going on in their little minds. What are they dreaming about? Man, there is an absolute flood of thoughts and excitement going through the mind of the parent. And isn't it amazing that there can be so much activity one minute and such a sweet rest the next?
I truly believe that is how God looks at us...with excitement! He looks at us with such anticipation and adoration...watching us sleep and then, waiting by our side the very second we wake. I picture God, just waiting for us to rise with a big ol' smile on His face. He knows what is in store for us and I believe that He wants to shout to us and say, "Do you know what I have for you today? Ask me, talk to me, tell me what you desire!" There has to be so much anticipation on God's part to want to hear from us. To hear, "Hello God, I love you!" Or even a simple, "Good morning God."

What would you do if your child got up from bed, got ready for school, walked right passed you, totally ignoring you, ate their breakfast (that you prepared), got their shoes on (that you bought) and left for the day? Came home after school, ate dinner (that you took the time to make), talked to all their friends on the phone (that you pay for) from 3:30 to 8:59, took a shower, got dressed (in the clothes that you provided for them) and went to sleep (on the new bed you just bought them, instead of getting one for yourself)? After they got into bed, they yell out to you, "Don't forget I have to go to soccer at 4:00 tomorrow and I can't be late and oh yeah, I need more lunch money! Nite!"

Of course, we would never allow this to happen. We wouldn't allow our children to pass through their day without speaking with them, sharing their day, being concerned about their struggles and enjoying their happiness. Yet, we do this to God, don't we? I am not saying that God is following us around like a well beaten dog that longs for a simple pat on the head. But what I am saying is that He waits for us! He longs for us to have a relationship with Him. He longs for us to talk to Him and share our lives with Him, connecting with Him.

David cries out to God throughout the Psalms, sometimes he down right yells at God! David says, "All my longings lie open before you, O Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you." It sounds like David was really pouring his heart out to God. Isaiah tells us that the Lord longs to be gracious to (us); He rises to show (us) compassion. Try going to some king on this chunk of stone and tell him to rise and be gracious to you, it ain't gonna happen.

Man, God loves you soooooo much! And He demands the same from us! Just as we demand the same in our earthly relationships. God spoke to Moses, face to face, as a man speaks to a friend. How do we talk to our friends? We call them, ask them what's going on. We go here and there with them, we share our lives together, good times and bad.

What is more precious in this life than having a "best friend"? Someone you can share everything with, no matter how bad. Someone you tell everything to, because you already know that you will still be accepted and loved by them, even though you may bring pain and hurt upon them. Someone that will never let you down. If you don't have that kind of friend, you aren't alone, because they don't exist in flesh. That kind of friend is found in your loving Savior Jesus Christ. And He waits for you to call upon his name.

Before your feet hit the floor and before a single breath escapes from your mouth, tell the Lord you love him. Thank him for what he has done for you. Praise God and just tell Him what you have on your heart, He already knows, He just wants to hear it from you. Tomorrow is a new day and God wants to provide for your needs on a daily basis. That's why the Bible says His mercies are made new every morning and that we are being inwardly renewed day by day. God doesn't say that He will tend to us once a week or once a month, He says daily. He gives us what we need only on a daily basis because He wants to hear from us, every day! Cry out to Jesus, call upon the Lord! He loves you and he is waiting! P.S. We can learn a lot from our children!

Tough Questions...With No Answers?

While reading through our site, I found a person that had asked some pretty tough questions. The counsel that they received from their Christian friends was even more alarming. Sometimes, we as Christians want to think we have to have all the "godly" answers to everything...not realizing the answers that we are providing aren't coming from God's Word at all. Unfortunately, it seems we are always compelled to "fill in the blanks", per se, when we don't know God's Word to answer the questions we have. More times than not, "filling in the blanks" leads to counsel that isn't, well, exactly "Biblical". The motives may be good; you want to help...but, sometimes we seem to compound the problems by causing guilt, shame and even disheartening feelings towards God. Counsel like, "God is punishing you..." or "You have unresolved sin in your life, that's why God took your child!" I really felt compelled to do some homework on the issues that the person brought up. So I wrote some ideas down that I learned along the way.

The first concern was the influence satan has on our lives. To discard the influence of satan in this world would be erroneous to say the least. Even the archangel Michael, when fighting with the devil, didn’t take away the influence of satan (Jude 1:9). Satan does influence this world because he is of this world. However, he doesn’t have power over God. So, he has influence, but not power. The power lies in the hands of the victor(God) and that has already been accomplished. (1John 4:4)

Satan’s task is to destroy you! (1 Peter 5:8 ) God called the angels to present themselves before Him. Satan, being an angel, had to go before God as well. When satan arrived before God, God asked him what he was doing. Satan told God he had "come from roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."(Job 1:6-7). Here (in Hebrew verbiage) satan is being pictured as an animal with its nose to the ground, running around in circles, desperately and voraciously searching for food. That’s what satan is doing, every day, all day. Guess who's on the menu???? YOU! But remember, we tend to assimilate satan and God, regarding their power. Not true! Satan has no power that isn’t given to him by God. (Job 1) God is omnipresent, satan is not! He is a uni-dimensional being. He can only be in one specific location at a time, although spiritual, but definitely in one place at one time. Satan is also the “accuser”, constantly going before God, accusing us of our sins before Him. (Rev 10:12). So, satan is real and he is present, just don’t give him more credit than he deserves, don’t discount his influence either.

One of the questions had to do with becoming "things" when we die. We are not made into flowers when we die and we are not made into pretty angels with long flowing hair and white wings. I think that is by far the greatest deceit that man has bought into from satan. God created us in His image, both male and female (Gen 1:27). If you get some time, read about angels (biblically speaking), you will be amazed at their descriptions, books like Genesis, Revelations, etc. Romans and Corinthians talk a lot about the realm of spiritual beings and of heavenly beings. A couple great books to read about the properties of our spiritual beings are Romans (chaps 6 & 8) and 1Cor (chaps 6 & 9 ). There is an entire section in 1Corinthians (15: 35-58 ) that talks about the Resurrection of the body. Many people have questions about what happens when we die, it's a natural question. Remember, there are mysteries that are only known to God and won’t be revealed to man (Rev 10:4, etc.) So there isn’t anything wrong with the answer, “I don’t know.”

However, God does provide us with a lot of answers; we just have to look in His Word. For example, of heaven God speaks of a place that we will never be hungry or thirsty or cry or be sad. In other words He will take away all our pain and agony, release us from our own guilt and shame, which causes us a lot of pain (Rev 7:15-17). When we die, we are separated from the body (2Cor 5:6-8 ). This separation is between the spirit and the flesh. So there is an immediate cleavage that takes place once we die. In Philippians (1: 21-24) Paul again talks about departing from the body and being with Christ and not with man. So, as long as we are alive, we are separated from Christ. Of course, Christ is with God, and with God there is the heavenly realm. James (2: 6) talks of this separation as well. Also, we know heaven is a real place because of Paul’s description of his friend’s experience (2Cor 12: 2-4). 1 Peter (3:18) tells us of the purpose of Christ’s death; that we may be brought to God through him. And what is the benefit of this death…FREEDOM! (1 Pt 4:1) Freedom from the sin of this world and all that it has in it.

The best thing that you can share with others, other than the salvation message of course, is the transcendent peace of Christ. If we can have Christ’s peace with us now, imagine what His presence will be like. There is freedom in the peace of Christ: freedom from suffering (Mk 5:34, Lk 8:48 ). Christ's peace also gives us: guidance (Lk 1:79), God’s favor (Lk 2:14), protection (Jn 14:27, Phil 4:7), victory (Jn 16:33), strength and encouragement (Acts 9:31), causes our justification through faith (Rm 5:1), hope (Rm 15:13), provides order (1Cor 14:33), proof of the Spirit's presence (Gal 5:22), produces prayer and thankfulness (Col 3:15, 1Tim 2:2), discipline (Heb 12:11), and comes with heavenly wisdom (Jm 3:17). But what then is the purpose of Christ’s peace? 2 Pet (3: 13-15) tells us that the peace we receive in Christ is the knowledge of our salvation through Him. That He has already conquered satan and that as long as we abide in Him, we have that peace, knowing that we too will enjoy the presence of God in heaven. Without Christ’s peace we have to rely on man’s peace; there is only destruction and death found there (1Thes 5:3, Rev 6:4).

I pray that these passages help you as much as they helped me to understand the confidence we have in abiding in Christ. There are tough questions asked by people who don’t believe in Christ, and even tougher ones from those of us who do believe. Only God holds the answers to some things! Remember that sometimes bad things happen to good people. Chip Ingram, lead pastor of Living on the Edge and Walk Through the Bible ministries, has an excellent series of this suffering topic, "Why bad things happen to good people." I encourage you to go on line and listen to it(http://www.lote.org/). I pray God gives you wisdom and guidance through your questions and I pray you receive the gift of peace that comes through the saving faith of Jesus Christ.
May God Bless You All,
Todd Erickson

"Come...Follow Me"

What is the purpose of walking in Christ and being his disciple?” We all strive to be “good, godly people, don’t we?” I mean, we all think we are doing “okay”, right? At least we are better than the person sitting next to us (we think). So what are we really trying to be anyway? And is what we are trying to be even what we are supposed to be trying to be in the first place? Do we even know what we are called to be, if at all, or should we just be wingin’ it through life? I think the majority of us have never taken the time to really think about these questions.
To get to the chase, we are called to be Disciples of Christ, but what does that mean? What is a disciple? What is it that Christ is calling us to be? When you hear the word disciple, what thoughts come to your mind? Maybe words like followers, friends or students come to mind. Or maybe images of a few guys, covered in dirt, just hangin’ out with Jesus plays on the screen of your imagination. What should the term mean to us as believers in Christ? Isn’t that what the journey of being a “Christian” is all about, becoming a disciple of Christ? In order to really understand what the term disciple means, I think we have to forget what we know about the word, according to our loose American ideals, and relearn it in a historical, Biblical context. Let’s learn what it meant to be a disciple in the days of Christ.
As a young Jewish boy, at the ripe old age of 6, you would begin the process of memorizing the Torah (first five books of the Tanakh-Hebrew Bible, also known as the Pentateuch). This would normally take a boy around 4 to 5 yrs to complete. After completely memorizing the Torah, the child would be quizzed about his knowledge and would move on to the next stage of Jewish education. At ages 10-14 they would memorize the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Daniel, and all the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures. By age 14 you were expected to be able to recite the entire Tanakh.
Keep in mind, there was no room for error. The Jewish people revered the name of God so much that they feared even making a mistake in writing His name. When the name of God was written, they wrote it omitting a letter, usually like “G*d”. So you could just imagine what the final exam was like; line for line; word for word, no mistakes! At age 14 the boy was now ready to begin learning the Talmud. The Talmud is the Jewish book of customs, ethics, and stories, which are authoritative in Jewish tradition. The Talmud is made up of two parts; the Gemara and the Mishna. The Mishna is the written records of the oral law and the oral traditions. So this memorization was everything that the Jewish culture was: encompassing laws, traditions and oral literatures. The Gemara is an indepth analysis of the Mishna. Which every topic was discussed and interpreted. In conclusion, it was a lot to memorize (loose translation).
After completing this process, the student would have to decide which rabbi they wanted to study under. There were several orders and tractates that a rabbi could belong to. Each one of these would have their own interpretations of traditions and literatures. For example, some rabbis followed a sect of Orders Zeraim, which concerned themselves with agricultural laws. Others followed a sect Order Toharot, who concerned themselves with the ritual purity laws of the Temple and sacrificial system. The student would have to know the rabbi’s interests, style of teaching, rabbinic functions and preferences. They studied the different rabbis to know what their interpretations were of the scriptures.
Then, at 14, the child had to go to the rabbi and converse with him. He would question the child and the child would answer, in minute detail. (We can see Christ going through this very process when he was in the temple, Luke 2: 43-49.) The rabbi would then make a decision as to whether he would accept the child or not. The rabbi would say to the child, "Come, take my yoke upon you” or “Come. Follow me.” If the child didn’t do well enough, the rabbi would refuse him and would tell him, “Go learn your father’s trade.” Imagine your entire life, every waking hour, every word you learned, only to be told to go pound nails! You didn’t make the grade, you didn’t measure up! That was the reality of the rabbi’s decision.
Now granted, not every one could be a rabbi, but you can bet they all wanted to be, as a child. Rabbis were the leaders of their world, the decision makers, the most powerful people in their culture; every father’s dream was for their son to be accepted by a rabbi. When you became a student of the rabbi’s teaching, you were considered to be learning his “yoke”. So you were “yoked together” with the rabbi. This meant that you now had the arduous task of learning every law, every rule, every regulation that the rabbi knows and you will have to learn his interpretation of them. There is a phrase in the Mishna that says, "May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi." The idea was that if you followed behind your rabbi on the dusty roads, you would get covered in his dust. Meaning, you were following him so closely, to be so much like him, that you are glorified to be covered with the dust he left behind. That is how close a disciple wanted to be to his rabbi.
Now you can see why there was such an extreme importance placed on the rabbi’s acceptance. Once the rabbi said, “Come. Follow me,” you went. Your family was jubilant and you left all you had behind. You left what you were doing, with no hesitation whatsoever! When we read about Jesus calling his disciples (Mt 4:19-20, Mt 19:21 Mk 2:14 and Lk 5:11) we see this very same obedience. Often times, people say, “They couldn’t have really left everything and everyone they knew behind.” Oh, but they did! Who did Christ call? He called fisherman and tax collectors. These men were already considered failures, religiously speaking, just “simple-minded men.” These men were rejected as disciples, or they wouldn’t be fishing. They didn’t make the cut! They didn’t measure up to what the religious leaders wanted…but they were exactly what Jesus wanted. They were “good enough” for what Jesus was going to teach them.
The next logical question should be, why follow Jesus? How did they know to follow him? How did they know he was a rabbi? How did they know he was the rabbi they should follow? We see that they immediately stopped what they were doing and got up and followed Jesus. Why? There was no fanfare, no large audience surrounding him to make him look important. So how did they know to follow him? From reading the scriptures, we know that they already “knew” Christ. Jesus says that his followers will know his voice. (Jn 10:3, 10:7, 10:14)
Don’t miss this point! By Jesus saying to them, “Come. Follow Me”, he was telling them so much more than just three words. When we read this, we hear, “Come. Follow Me.” But the words the disciples heard were; “I know you.” “I know what you know.” “I have listened to you and I accept you.” “You are good enough to be my disciple.” “You are able to be just like me.” Isn’t that what we have already learned, that the goal of the student was to be exactly like the teacher, in every way. And, if there is a “calling” from the teacher to the student, there must be an expectation, on the teacher’s behalf, that the student can complete what he is being asked to do, which is to eventually be exactly like the teacher, an exact replica!
The final disciple-making qualification one would have to obtain would be to receive public acknowledgement as a disciple, in their own community. But first, the disciple must have a leader that was revered in the community as being a rabbi. That is exactly what occurred. In Mk 10:51 and Jn 3:2, we see that the public and the Pharisees refer to Jesus as “Rabbi”. And in Mt 12:2 and Mk 7:5, Jesus’ followers were referred to as “disciples”.
Isn’t that what Christ is calling us to do today, to completely follow him? If we will listen, Christ is still calling for his disciples. He is still reaching out to us in the middle of our “lives”, saying, “Come. Follow Me.” “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Mt 11:29-30) He doesn’t insist on us using our own abilities to memorize rules and regulations or to walk where he has not gone. Christ is calling us to become like him! He calls us to purity and to self-sacrifice. We are called to live for more than just our own pleasures. We are called to show others that Christ is real, living and that he is still calling! Remember, we are not called to be rabbis, we are called to be brothers and to help make those brothers disciples! (Mt 23:8 and Mt 28:19)

My Purpose In Writing...

I think that in order to understand what a person writes, you have to understand where they are writing from. That is to say, what is their frame of mind when they are creating the text. A person can read a passage and think, "Okay, I think I understand that." However, I believe that it isn't until we actually read the Scriptures in the tense and time they were created, that we can find what God is really sharing with us. I think there are foundational "reading" principles that are unique to the Bible as well.

First, I hear people say all the time, especially about the book of 'Revelation', that you need to unlock the "secret" meaning behind the words, or "I can't pull the meanings from the Scriptures." That couldn't be further from the truth. God has given His Word to us that we may grow and learn from it. Why would it be something that you have to decode? I mention the book of 'Revelation' because most people consider it to be a book of mysterious prophecy...do we stop to think of what the title means...to reveal?

Which leads me to my second principle: When I read a passage, I take the time to find out what was going on when it was written, who it was written to and why it was written. The only mysteries that have to be unlocked, per-se, are the historical facts surrounding the writings. Once you learn the historical facts, then the text becomes alive and pertanent. Remember, these books were documents that recorded historical facts, chronological events and some were quite simply letters to people or people groups, so they have specific relevance to those who received them. The specific structure of the books, word usage and terminology all played a personal and vital role in their communications. Take a simple name for example. Today, we use them as personal identifiers or tags. However, in biblical times, you became your name. You personified your name. That's why sometimes in the Bible we see that God would change peoples' names; like after a covenant was made with them.

Lastly, I believe that the Bible is as relevant today as it was for the people in it. Although it is very unlikely that we would see a Roman army hunting us down; we can take away valuable lessons from their recordings of the people who did experience the event. God's Word is living, not dead. Not something that existed for a time and the time has now passed. In Hebrews 4:12 we read: "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." That's the power of God's Word!

So, as I write down some of my thoughts on this "blog" thing, I hope you gain some of that same insight. I hope to provide as much background information on my posts as possible so you know where I am coming from. I really enjoy sharing what God puts on my heart, especially through a wonderful medium like this. I also look forward to any comments you may have regarding my posts. Thanks Josh, God Bless!

Together in Christ, Todd