THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM

A prevalent theme, a lack of spiritual balance in the church world today, is a strong contributing factor in the moral struggles and failures of saints: We simply do not fear God! The revelation of God's great grace and love has permeated the church, and rightly so, but without the counterbalance of fear, reflecting His holiness and justice as the Righteous Judge of All, we are like a kite without a tail, flirting with the updrafts of love and grace while doomed to a presumptuous noise-dive sooner or later. Without a healthy dose of fear of the one who "holds our breath in His hands" our carnal nature predisposes us to a presumption of grace. Grace does give diplomatic immunity: “But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” The grace of God has been given in greater measure than needed and will always be “more than enough” for sinner’s with a repentant heart.  This in no way implies we should flagrantly sin and presume upon God’s grace. The phrase “God forbid” used in Rom. 6:2 is the strongest Greek idiom for repudiating a statement, and does not indicate when or how He forbids.  We don’t know when we have gone too far, when we have crossed the line where God’s grace and mercy are no longer available.  Many, no doubt, view the moral failures in God's body as a lack of love or true commitment to God, which may be true in some cases, but we shouldn't be blinded by the obvious. There are many pastors and Christian leaders who dearly love God and yet have yielded to moral failure, setting a precedence for the sheep to emulate. What else, but deep seated presumption, would allow a saint to yield to moral temptation before the all seeing eye of an ever present God? Jim Baker, from his prison cell, stated he never quit loving or believing in God, but he did not fear God. Our view of God is the single most influential and important thing driving our Christian life. Holy fear of God is essential to a balanced view of God's true nature in His relationship with man. TO FEAR GOD IS TO BELIEVE GOD, AND TO BELIEVE GOD IS TO OBEY HIM.    The fear of God and obedience go hand in glove, those who fear obey, period. The progression of Heb. 6:1-8 and the associated passage in Heb. 10:26-31, and the word choices in Heb.12:5, "chastens", "scourges" and "rebukes", are indicative of a side of God's nature we need to recognize and respect. There are approximately 134 scriptures dealing with the fear of God. The fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is to understand this truth, but fools despise wisdom and instruction (Ps. 111:10; Prov. 1:7; 9:10). . Fear of the Lord is a way of escape, a divine provisioning, enabling us to overcome temptation.  When we don't fear God we are a tailless kite, floating on the winds of presumptive grace, and we all know what happens to a kite without a tail.

MANY ARE CALLED, BUT FEW ARE CHOSEN

In Matt. 20:16; 22:14 the words of Christ are "For many are called, but few are chosen." These two terms are coextensive, as two aspects of the same process, kletos, the called ones, having special reference to the goal, and eklektos, the chosen ones, referring to the starting point. The same persons are "called" to Christ and "chosen” out from the world. This call is an invitation to all, "Come unto Me, all…”, to “whosoever will.”  None is excluded, but not all who are called accept the call, and those who accept are the eklektos, the chosen ones whom the grace of God puts at the starting point of the newly regenerated life, giving them from that moment on a sense of responsibility and fulfillment of the divine purpose to which they are called.  No one can be a chosen one unless he is a called one. The initiative always comes from God. The “called” of Romans 8:30 is translated from the Greek word kaleo and carries the sense of the call of a shepherd to his flock, an effectual calling that has been responded to and accepted. This is the call of God to those whom God foreknew and predestined, a conditional call synonymous with the “chosen” of Matt. 20:16 and 22:14.  It is the call of the chosen,   the “drawing” Jesus spoke of in John 6:44, “no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws them ....” When the Apostle Paul preached for the first time to the Gentiles at Antioch of Pisidia, we read "as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48). Paul preached to all who would listen, even as Jesus Christ invites all to come to Him, but only a few appointed ones, chosen ones, heeded the call and believed. It is noteworthy eklektos is used 23 times in the New Testament being translated “elect” 16 times and “chosen” 7 times. The chosen are the elect of God, predestined before the foundations of the world to be His (See Election Blog dated Jan. 27, 2010).  Many are called, but few are the chosen ones, those who enter the narrow difficult way that leads to eternal life.  

WHAT LOVE HAS WROUGHT

Love gives nothing but itself

And takes nothing for itself

Love cannot and will not possess

For love is sufficient unto itself

To love is to be in the heart of God

And to have no other desire but to be fulfilled

To melt like snow into a running brook

Singing softly in the night

To know too much tenderness

And the susceptibility of understanding

To give willfully and joyfully

Mesmerized by love’s ecstasy

To sleep with a full heart

And a prayer for your beloved on your lips

To awaken each dawn with a soaring heart

Giving thanks for another day to love

Love then is a gift, a rose of life

My fragrance freely given to you

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THE ATMOSPHERE OF HEAVEN

When Christ has become the expression of our life, He will deliver us from all that is offensive to His grace. Our Joy is “shatter-proof” to all the pressures earth-life can apply because God’s Holy Spirit within is the source of our happiness, which no longer depends on earthly “happenings”, being fueled by His divine nature. Gentleness is our language and Kindness our speech as we grow ever richer in the experience of knowing and sharing Him.  Tenderness becomes our cloak for the world to see, expressing an inner beauty that is Christ Himself shining forth in uncontainable diamond-like brilliance. Sacrificially, we overcome evil with the Goodness of a heart made generous by divine kneading. With trial tempered Patience we possess our souls, reciprocating Faithfulness to the always Faithful One, content in the knowledge that He “knows” and therefore knows best, bringing forth out of His goodness that which is truly and eternally best for us. We need not search for peace, for the Peace of God gushes forth from our secret place like a mighty spring flooding every aspect of our life. Our soul becomes a still pool of continual restfulness, a quite peaceful cove in the midst of life’s storms. In the grip of grace, Self-control becomes Spirit-led as we march in lockstep with the Father’s heart. But all this is only the lesser part, the product out flowing  from beholding the truly indescribable love of our Father, and thereby becoming Love, becoming God’s heart, the life-giving oxygen of heaven lavishly poured through earthen vessels to a love starved, polluted world. Physically we are still here on planet earth, but what is that? Spiritually we are in the “Beloved”, in Christ, and enthroned with Him in the heavenlies. When Christ has become the expression of our life, He will deliver us from all that is offensive to His grace, enveloping us with the atmosphere of heaven, the fruit of the Spirit life within.

THE KING’S MANIFESTO

The Beatitudes are an intriguing, counterintuitive, and no doubt shocking descriptive narrative on the “kinds” of people that are blessed in the Kingdom of God. “Blessed” (gr. makarios) means “possessing the spiritual favor and fullness of God, spiritually prosperous and fully satisfied. Makarios emphasizes, as its principle element, a sense of God’s approval founded in His righteousness bestowed on us, and resting, ultimately, on our love for God. Since makarios’ meaning is a composite of “blessing”, “receiving”, and “spiritual”, the absolutely best translation of makarios is “spiritually prosperous.” Makarios is a religiously qualified concept differing from “happy” which depends upon favorable “happenings”, by expressing the lifestyle and satisfaction of heaven’s spiritual blessings altogether apart from life’s circumstances– an experience of rendered grace. Jesus calls His disciples blessed: living in want and privation, the poorest of the poor, the sorest afflicted, the hungriest of the hungry, but blessed! The Beatitudes are a listing of the personal attributes of people possessing the spiritual favor and fullness of God. THE SPIRITUALLY PROSPEROUS ARE:

Those who are spiritually destitute and seek God, theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven 

Those who mourn sharing God’s passions, they shall be encouraged and strengthened

Those who humbly submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ, they shall inherit the earth 

Those who crave right standing with God, they shall be filled and completely satisfied

Those who bestow mercy on the misery of others, they shall receive God’s mercy

Those with pure, unsoiled hearts, they shall experience the presence of God

Those who find, promote and maintain peace, they shall be called sons of God

Those who suffer persecution for a righteous heart, theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven

Rejoice for those who are defamed, insulted and persecuted

For great, abundant and intense, is their heavenly reward

GOD SEEKER’S

“For without faith it is impossible to please Him at all.  For he who comes to God must of necessity believe that He exists, and that He becomes a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him out” (Heb. 11:6 - Wuest Greek Bible, modified).

The one who comes to God must believe two things, first that He exists, and second, that he rewards those who diligently seek Him.  The idea is not merely that God exists as a rewarder, but that He will prove Himself to be a rewarder of that person who diligently seeks Him.  The word cluster “those who diligently seek” is “ekzeteo” which means “to seek after”, “to search for carefully” and is a present participle denoting continuous action.  He who approaches God has, through faith, the assurance that his continuous searching for God will result in good to himself.  God is said in the scriptures to be seeking for only two things, worshipers and people who are seeking Him.  Of the latter He says “and I will be found of them.”  And this passage adds “and I will reward them.”  Awesome!  I will search for God!

KINGDOM

If never again I see Your face

Or feel Your touch, bask in Your grace

In this my heart will always rest

What God has sown, will stand the test

What can’t be killed and can’t be bought

What God decree’s, then God will wrought

Just teach one man to teach one man

Millions reborn, it’s just God’s plan

This tiny seed sown deep within

Claims lives for Christ, until the end

And soon this seed this Word the Son

Will cover earth, glorious One

MAN IS A WORSHIPER

In a tropical rain forest a tribal chieftain bows before a crude figure fashioned from sticks and stones bound together by jungle vines.  In St. Louis the CEO of a major corporation spends all day Sunday with a group of wealth power brokers, conspiring how to drive stock prices up.  Somewhere in Asia in a fantastically ornate temple a young man burns incense before a lavishly decorated Buddha.  At a gym in Denver a young man moves from pose to pose, admiring the mirrors’ reflection of his years of grueling training and drug use.  In the heartland of America, a small group of locals meet in an unobtrusive building in a small Nebraska town to sing and pray together.  A group of LA high school kids meet their suppler in a parking lot before hitting the rave party circuit.  A man in the suburbs of Detroit spends the entire morning meticulously washing and waxing his foreign-made sports sedan, while his teenage daughter spends hours in a poster-plastered room listening to CDs by her favorite rock superstar.  In Michigan a lady spends three hours meticulously primping and grooming herself before leaving for work. All of these people are worshiping. (modified & expanded thought of Jack Hayford)

Man is a worshiper by nature whether we acknowledge our worship, understand that we are worshiping or recognize the object of our worship as deity, we all worship something.  The object of our worship may be money, possessions, our job, goals, ideals, self worth, education, power, control, our body, desires, pleasure, intelligence, goodness, sex, drugs, other people, thrills, etc., - we all worship something. And some of us worship the God who created the heavens and the earth.  But we all worship something for man is a worshiper!

TRIALS & TESTS: GOD’S GROWTH HORMONES

God purposely steers us to places where we must choose between our desire and His will, using trials and testing to refine our faith. In Psalm 11:5 we find, "The Lord tests the righteous." And again in Psalm 17:3, "You have tested my heart.  You have tried me…” Paul affirms this with, "We speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts." (1 Thess. 2:4) James admonishes us to “count it all joy when you fall into various trials” (James 1:2), Peter to “not think it is strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you” (1 Peter 4:12), and Paul to “glory in tribulations.” (Rom. 5:3) 

Abraham waited twenty five years for his son of promise.  This in itself was a severe test. Most people will not wait more than a few months for a promise of God to be fulfilled. After Isaac was born, God waited until Abraham and Isaac were very close before He gave Abraham another test. “Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”  Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Gen. 22:1-2) Notice the scripture specifically says, "God tested Abraham." Isaac was dearer than life to Abraham, yet Abraham proved his love for God by offering his most precious possession. Abraham rose early in the morning the very next day, no stalling here, and made the three day journey to the place God showed him. He bound his son on the altar and raised the knife in obedience to God. Then the angel of the Lord said: “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Gen. 22:12)

Let's look at Abraham's great grandson, Joseph. God gave him a dream of leadership, knowing beforehand exactly how it would come to pass ‑ Joseph's older brothers would turn on him and sell him into slavery. The Lord did not panic when his jealous brothers did this wicked thing. He knows the end from the beginning (Is. 46:10). God did not author their evil behavior, but He did allow it and used the opportunity it afforded to test Joseph's heart. “He [God] sent a man before them - Joseph - who was sold as a slave.  They hurt his feet with fetters, He was laid in irons.  “Until the time that His word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him.” (Ps. 105:17-19)  Joseph did not disobey or dishonor God. He believed in the dream, but even more he believed in the God who had promised it. God's promise was so real that Joseph clung to it in the midst of trouble and adversity. He believed yet suffered for his obedience was accompanied by suffering. He faced the same temptations his descendants would later face in the wilderness. Would he complain, be offended and bitter toward God and his brothers, or would he learn obedience by that which he suffered? He chose obedience and endured suffering because he knew God was faithful. In the end, 22 years later, let me repeat that, 22 long difficult years later, the dream which God had given him was fulfilled. What man had meant for evil God turned into good (Gen. 50:20), working all things together in accordance with His divine purposes.

COUNT IT ALL JOY WHEN

YOU FALL INTO FIERY TRIALS

IS WANTING GOOD, BAD?

We all want our lives to work well, to become better than they are or to remain as good as they are. And so does God. When that desire becomes our primary god, the objective we value most, our lives then become a sustained effort to discover and follow whatever principles will provide a life that lets us feel pretty good. But God, our loving Father wants something much more for both us and Him. And only when we pursue the “more” will He grant the less. Or He might not, until the next life. He seems to have this crazy idea that this “more”, this invitation to us, His created beings, to have intimate fellowship with the Great “I Am” is somehow much more significant than anything in our paltry heartbeat long existence. More important than our health, our prosperity, our marriage, our children, our very life! It’s a surprising thought, and not a little disturbing, that obedience to biblical principles, precepts, can be wrong. When doing right is a strategy to get what we want, our energy is pride and our focus is self. Biblical principles are reduced to the base principles of the secular world when they are followed in order to gain the better life in the here and now that we demand. Biblical principles remain biblical principles when they become guided opportunities for Christians who hunger after God to draw near to God, growing in the grace of His likeness as they experience Him, then expressing to others His character and nature as Light and Salt. Biblical principles have always been commands to be obeyed, but when we are in touch with our Savior’s heart, they are also seen as privileges we long to seize.

ARE YOU READY FOR DINNER

If we explore the depth of our hearts we’ll discover a core motive, a supreme desire, a compelling urge around which our lives revolve. Whatever we want most becomes the center of our lives. Call it our first thing passion. It isn’t the only passion in our lives, but when a choice must be made, we dance around the “thing” that attracts us most. We are all loyal worshipers of something. God asks us only one question: Am I your first thing passion or is it something else? The Spirit of Christ is always nudging us toward closer encounters of the God kind, wanting to deepen the intimacy and broaden the relational dynamic with our loving Daddy. In every circumstance, at every moment, He is stirring our affection for God until He makes it the strongest passion in our hearts... until we become People Of One Thing! The central obstacle to the Spirit’s willing and working in us, and flowing forth from us as rivers of living water, is this: We want something more than we want Jesus! The bright lights of tinsel town... life in this world, have captivated our heart! We want the blessings of a better life now... health and prosperity, more than we desire to draw near to Jesus. We have succumbed to the temptations of lover’s less wild: Self has enticed us, drawing us away by our own  desires, as our love for God waxes cold... passion waning. It is a subtle thing... this idol we build with our desires. Our problem is unbelief in the Immanuel Agenda, the relentless obsession God has for forming a family to gather at His dinner table, with Himself at the head and each family member thrilled to be there. God is devoting His omnipotent power to an agenda we don’t understand or properly value. This life is only a training exercise... a pilgrimage... an introduction to an indescribable life in the family of God, where God is our all in all for always... People Of One Thing... forever! God’s agenda is all about getting us ready for “dinner”.

KEEP CHEWING

The Bible is much more than a “broad outline” for Christians to meander through; it is a detailed roadmap for those traveling the narrow difficult way to eternal life with God. “Approach the Bible not only as a book which was once spoken, but a book which is now speaking.  God’s speaking is in the continuous present” (A.W. Tozer).  God has set before us His expectations when approaching His word, an attitude of zealous persistence in study, much like the tenacity of a junkyard dog, and a directive to “cut” His word carefully and correctly.  If we considered God’s word to be treasure than we are all treasure hunters, workman digging in the treasure field of God’s Word, searching for golden nuggets of divine truth.  Studying the Bible is studying God’s mind.  The Bible is a personal love letter from God to man.  It reveals His deepest thoughts and feelings about man.  Study for Depth not Distance:  Studying for depth is to meditate on God’s word – to constantly ruminate over His word like a cow chewing its cud -- to think deeply on a passage of scripture, to fill one’s mind with it, to look at it from different angles and to discern its application in life.  When scripture is understood well enough to become a conviction, a truth that is believed, owned and embraced, it well crystallize in the practical everyday issues of life – it will be lived out.