The Power of the Word

For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

Many are very familiar with this scripture. Knowing about this scripture is far different from knowing the scripture. There exists a serious lack, in terms of time invested, in the Bible by Christians today. This lack has brought sever consequences. Fear, stress, relationship troubles, pornography, impatience, debt, mistrust, insomnia are commonplace in the lives of Christians in current times.

Jesus prayed the following words: "They (the followers of Jesus) are not of this world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” John 17:16&17

We are “sanctified”(set apart for God’s purposes) by God’s word. There is no other method available. Jesus knew that living in this world dilutes are strongest resolutions. The “truths” of this world begin to take on an air of acceptability over time. The only antidote for the “truths” of this world are the real truths of God’s world and the only place that we experience God’s world is through His word.

Hebrews tells us that the Word of God is living and active. Clearly then, scripture is not a stagnant document. This is an important distinction because, unlike every other book or document, the Bible reveals its truths in levels.

…the natural man does not accept the things of God; for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. I Corinthians 2:14

The closer we are to our “natural man” the less likely we are to read the scriptures because we do not “understand them”. The amazing resilience of scripture provides that, even if we begin close to our “natural man” state, the “sharp, two-edged sword begins to speak to our spiritual man.

As our spiritual nature feeds on God’s word, our spiritual nature grows stronger and stronger. As our spiritual nature (faith) grows new levels of scriptural truth open up to us.

It is time to begin again. Pick up God’s word and ask the Holy Spirit to direct your thoughts and reveal His truth.

Forgotten Authority

Authority; there are so many different thoughts and ideas about what this word means. Depending upon one’s personal experiences and/or educational or societal background the weight, the power or the rights that this word carries will vary. The principle of authority, as might be guessed, is seen and understood significantly different in God’s kingdom.

Before we look further into the issue of authority, it is important that we first understand that there is a wide separation between how matters work within God’s kingdom and how they work within the realm of this world’s structures and priorities. Scripture helps us to understand these differences by giving them different names. As we have already recognized, the realm of God’s influence is termed the Kingdom of God. The realm of this world’s systems influence is termed the dominion.

As you may recall, God did not give Adam ownership in the Garden of Eden. What He did give to Adam was dominion over the Garden and its produce and its inhabitants.

God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Genesis 1:28

It is so plainly simple, but we make it so complicated by attempting ownership with the things that were never ours to own. We will develop this thought in another chapter but for now we must return to the idea of this world was created for mankind to have dominion (subdue and rule).

This dominion, which was ordained for mankind, was surrendered when Adam chose to subject himself to another god (Satan).

Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you and you will eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you will eat bread till you return to the ground because from it you were taken; for you are dust and to dust you shall return." Genesis 3:17-19

LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. Genesis 3:23

From this time on to the present day, mankind has been a laborer within the domain that was surrendered on that day. We must understand that man could not surrender that which was not his. The ownership of everything remained with Almighty God, the Creator. All that mankind surrendered was the subduing and the ruling of Gods’ creation (domain).

Jesus addressed the clear distinction between the two positions or realms:

Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." John 18:36

Here is where things become incredibly interesting. In referring to Jesus, scripture says:

For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, (Colossians 1:13)

There several important truths presented here that we must see before we move on in our understanding. First, this scripture talks about an event that has already happened; it is in the “past-sense” that we (the redeemed) have been transferred from one realm into the other.

The second truth is that we were “rescued” from the domain of darkness. We were entirely captive and helpless in the very realm that we was designed for us to subdue and rule. Instead, for most of our lives we have been subdued and ruled by that realm.

The third truth is that we have been transferred into God’s kingdom the very place where it all began.

Live a life of confident authority! Jesus deserves it!

A Message To The Church

Week after week, pulpits are filled with noble people who have been deceived. Each week a preacher is put in a position between humble, obedient service and pride. Ego is a demanding ogre!

I am not here accusing any preacher of wanton exhibitionism or purposeful attention seeking. What I am saying is that we have gotten the weekly meeting of the church ting totally wrong for so long that it is no longer relevant to our society.

Before we go too far here let’s look at what the Apostle Paul said about his approach to ministry at the Corinthian church.

"And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.

For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling," I Corinthians 2:1-3

It would see that our teachers are no longer satisfied with the simple clean message and must dazzle us with words from the Greek or a treatise of some theological issue. All the time the congregation sits in a well practiced trance; hearing little, thinking much. The problem is that their thoughts are not toward the wonderful grace of our God but run the gambit of every mundane thing that is going on in their miserable lives.

Judge for yourself. Is the church more healthy today than in the past? Are we heading in a better or worse direction?

I know very well that this is a harsh and radical statement. It would seem that few care to listen to one who issues such condemning accusations. But the cost of eternal lives is in the balance. Last week I heard a new, to me anyway, term that is funny but shocking.

The conversation was centered around evangelism and the discussion mentioned three spiritual states of man: believer, unbeliever and make-believer. This “make-believer” thing is a huge change in thought for me. How many people sit in our churches as “make-believers” because we have gotten the Sunday morning thing wrong?

Jesus told His followers a story one day about some sheep and some goats. The startling thing to me is that the goats, who would not inherit eternal life were shocked at the news. They thought that they were sheep and no one told them differently until it was too late.

I don’t know your personal contribution or participation in today’s sham each of us must examine our own view of the message that we deliver with our own witness. Is the message convoluted and defensive or is it simple and clean?

Desperation or Wonder

I call out of my distress to the Lord, and He answered me. I cried for help from the depths and You heard my voice…Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, weeds were wrapped around my head. I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, but You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.

While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer came to You, into Your holy temple…I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving. Jonah 2:2-9

By the reference you most likely know that the author of the text placed himself in a pretty precarious position due to his own choices and decisions. I’m quite certain that you haven’t encountered the wrong side of a big fish but, undoubtedly, you have placed yourself in your own precarious situations due to some less that stellar decisions of your own. So how did you feel when the weeds were wrapped around your head?

A flood of feelings come to mind but a desire to pray isn’t likely one of those. Desperation oftentimes compels us to "cry out" to the Lord. This type of desperate prayer is absolutely valid and necessary from time to time. We see another example of this when Peter jumped out of the boat to walk to Jesus on the surface of the lake only to begin to sink. Peter discovered that he had few options and he "cried out" "save me Lord". Of course Jesus did rescue Peter from his decision in spite of the weakness of his faith. Likewise, Jonah found himself in a desperate situation due to decisions that he had made and had few options available to him therefore he "cried out" to God for help.

Although valid and acceptable because of Jesus, desperation prayer is not a prayer of faith. A prayer of faith accomplishes things beyond our ability to comprehend and oftentimes beyond our ability to see. After all, that is what faith is all about.

The pathway from the prayer of desperation to the prayer of faith is illustrated in Jonah’s text: I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving.

Oh, how easy it is to express our thankfulness when things are going well. It is a different matter entirely when we are wrapped in seaweed at the bottom of the ocean. This is the type of sacrifice that reaches the very heart of God. This is the sacrifice that is modeled after Jesus when in agony caused by his physical pain magnified beyond all reason by my sin on His back He ask the Father to "forgive them".

Today, right this moment, there are things or people or situations that are not to you liking. You have been burdened by this thing for some time. Now would be a good time to offer Jesus a "sacrifice of thanksgiving" as you throw yourself upon His mighty shoulders.

Rejoice and Persevere

Romans 12:12 says:

"Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer"

How easy it is to "rejoice" in hope. I know that we sometimes lose focus on the "hope that is within us" but we nevertheless know deep within who wins!

Being patient in suffering is a bit more difficult. Perhaps we easily fall into impatient frustration over our suffering at times but eventually we have no choice but to be patient or to be continually frustrated.

The last part of this phrase is intriguing don't you agree? "Persevere" in prayer? Does God know us intimately, or what? Prayer is tough; no not the simple act of praying, that's not what is tough. What is tough is to remember to pray, desire to pray, and to effectively pray.

Perseverance is "hanging in there" in spite of everything else. Do you think we would have an issue with praying if God immediately granted our every request? If we could simply make our request and turn around at see that it had happened, surely we would find praying easy and desirable.

It is the faith component that makes praying difficult and makes staying faithful to prayer a matter of perseverance.

Don't be discouraged when your prayer life seems cold. That happens to all of us. If it were easy anybody could do it; it isn't easy that's why God has called you to do it. It's not about us being perfectly faithful; it's about a team that God has brought together to see that prayer is a constant in and in behalf of His Church and His world!

A Home in the Kingdom of Peace

Our society is spinning out of control; contentious politics, terrorism and war around the world, partisan news agencies, incessant unemployment, angry drivers...the list goes on and on. Pressures mount around us and before long we begin to internalize our surroundings.

Life was never meant to be this way. Remember the setting of the Garden of Eden? A garden with plentiful food and comfort all around. A man and a woman with an appointment every day to take a casual walk in the garden with their Creator.

Jesus came came to restore the balance surrendered by Adam. He has completed His task but it is up to us to accept His gift. Too many of us turn to so many other things to placate our stress. Some turn to alcohol, some to pornography, some to movies or television, others to music or literature. Each of these has its own traps hidden within them that lead to only temporary relief from our issues.

Isaiah 9:6 And He shall be called...Prince of Peace...

Sure we've heard the words many times before but have they taken root in your spirit? Jesus is the Prince we are His subjects, the land that we are offered is the kingdom of peace.

Don't forsake the gift of peace; deep, deep peace. Regardless of any circumstances God's peace is stronger still!

So important was our ability to dwell in peace that God guaranteed it be providing it as a trait and a gift of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

Galatians 5:22 the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control...

Does this sound like your life? Why not? It is a gift that is waiting for you!

Surrender and become a subject to the kingdom of peace!

Will You Be One?

In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; in the morning I will order my prayer to Your and eagerly watch Psalm 5:3

Here is a radical thought. Why not take God at His word?

And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive. Matthew 21:22

Do we think that we need to be something more than we are to get results through our prayer? Jesus had not preconditions on His promise other than to simply believe. Like the psalmist "eagerly"watching for the results is what believing is about.

but he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. James 1:6

Faith is important to our God. It is the language of heaven that brings results.

Why not use the Psalmists method: In the morning, I will bring my prayer to You! and then, I will earerly watch!

He promised, He is faithful, He is capeable, He is searching for people of faith to do mighty things through. Will you be one of them?