Friday, December 21, 2007

CHRISTMAS - The Greatest Story of Love

To love and be loved is the greatest joy in the world!

Who understands the mystery of love? Where did it originate? Why is it the force that makes the world go round and round?

Love began with God for God is the author of love! (I John 4:8.) It began before Christ was born in Bethlehem on that first Christmas morning. "For God so loved rhe world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

God flung the galaxies and stars into space. He hung the sun and moon on nothing. He spoke the worlds into existence and when everything was ready, then He made man. God knew the future of all things and knew nothing could move and motivate mankind like knowing someone cared for him and loved him; so He invested in man the capacity to love and be loved and ordained it to be the powerful force that moves the world.

The Bible tells us "...love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love. Rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned." (Song of Solomon 8:6b-7 NIV New Student Bible.) A commentary on these scriptures tells us further: "Death sweeps all things away. It yields to no one, and once you are in its power you cannot escape. The same is true with love. It takes control of your life, and like a gigantic fire, it cannot be doused. Love must be treated with the greatest caution and respect." (Commentary on Song of Solomon 8:6, NIV New Student Bible.)

The Holy Spirit inspired this translation and commentary in order to show us the power and depth of human love in words we could understand. The reason: so that we might comprehend the power and depth of God's love, expressed in His Word, that we could understand, --love so great that we could grasp the awesome purpose of Christ's birth: to be born as a baby, to grow up into manhood experiencing the problems of life, then to die on a cross to redeem us from the power of those problems when we accepted Him to be Lord of our lives. His ultimate purpose was that He might dwell in our hearts with peace, joy and a knowledge that His salvation offers and promises all that He desires to be to us. To confirm this, the Bible says, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth and height and TO KNOW THE LOVE OF CHRIST, which passeth knowledge." (Ephesians 3:17 and 4:16.)

It's Christmas, the greatest story of love! It's the time of giving! Familiar carols and songs are filling the air wherever we go. Decorating, baking, reproducing the drama of that wonderful day, shopping for gifts and remembering those we love and appreciate have taken priority for these exciting days. While busy with your details be sure to prepare a gift for Jesus. After all it's His birthday. Since He is not physically here, give a gift to someone in need who may not be able to return the favor. Jesus said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." (Matthew 25:40) If you cannot bless someone during the holidays, support our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan by praying peace into their lives while they are far from home and praying that many of them will be able to get long distance calls through to family and loved ones from wherever they are on Christmas Day.

To all who are reading this post, God bless you today! Merry Christmas!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Traffic Signals on the way - Warning - A Need to Wait

Waitng is an important part of God's plan for everyone whether we want to believe it or not. We may not always know the reasons for it until after the fact, yet the reasons for waiting are as important as a bank account for security and success.

Who likes to wait? At a traffic light, in line at the supermarket or in front of our microwave we glance at our watch several times in the few minutes we are waiting. We are classified as impatient people though we have the most modern technology in the world for accomplishing twice as much in one hour or one day than our neighbors across the oceans. It's because we don't understand God is working in our behalf while we are waiting.

One difficult area for many people is waiting for answers to prayer. When we have presented a need or prayer request to the Lord we exercise faith that He heard our prayer and we we expect to receive the answer quickly. Between the promise and its fulfillment are the most difficult hours. The tech world has given us so many modern conveniences that can cut a person's work load in half the time so we expect God to understand that and do the same. If we pray about an urgent financial need, because we know that God heard the prayer and He knows the emergency, we want a divine intervention on our time schedule. If the answer does not come when we expected it, our faith begins to disappear; but what about God's reasons? Does He have reasons for delay?

On busy expressways at times there will be unexpected construction, slow traffic for many miles, or even detours but the signs are placed in those critical areas to assure the end result: the safety of drivers and a safe arrival at their destination, not to cause him anxiety for not keeping his personal time schedule. We never question the wisdom of placing signals, signs and detours on busy roads because we know the delays and waiting was for a purpose.

When I returned to Korea to continue my missionary work after my husband went to be with the Lord, I was privileged to be invited to work with Dr. David Yonggi Cho, Pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel (Assemblies of God Church) in Seoul, Korea. In Dr. Cho's daily mail there were usually many letters from young potential pastors looking forward to graduate from college or a university who had great visions and goals to build a great church of thousands of people for the glory of God. But they wanted to know how they could accomplish this in less than the 30 years it took Dr. Cho. These were very impressive young people of a high-energy level and with outstanding personalities. They had heard that membership at the Yoido Church had reached 750,000 (at that time). They heard that people being saved and healed and others delivered from many kinds of diseases was a common occurance in many of the services. Visiting pastors and church leaders said the example of the Yoido Church resembled the story of the early church in the book of Acts.

We wrote to each young man in detail. We explained that great accomplishments begin with faithfulness in doing menial tasks first, with excellence. When God saw their heart and their readiness He could give them more anointing and power but God is the One Who decides.

We asked them how much time they spent in prayer daily. They did not give clear answers. We told them there is a reason why it took 30 years for Dr. Cho to arrive at this juncture. Most important of all he was learning to KNOW God intimately, not just know ABOUT Him. He was daily searching the scriptures, memorizing them, studying the plan of salvation, healing, growth and development of believers and the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit. He was learning to recognize the difference between God's voice and passing thoughts. He learned these truths from the Holy Spirit in great detail, in his steady daily prayer time. He learned the meaning of obeying God when God spoke, not later at a more convenient time.

We suggested that the young men use their time wisely in college to learn to know God while they were not under the pressures and cares of a young family, work, or other needs. We asked them, "If God should open a door of ministry for you today, do you feel you would be ready to step into the role of pastor today? Would you know how to find God's direction for the church and the people you would minister to?"

We explained the long "waiting" period is not really too long. When they would be ready, God would place them in His great harvest field where they would bring the most glory to Him. When He did, the potential would-be pastor will have learned accountability, responsibility, readiness and obedience.

The waiting period is God's personal preparation time for the developing of a life that will feel what He feels and know Him, not just know about Him.

Time is not lost when we give it to God. The farmer waits for his harvest but because of his careful care of his fields, the harvest does come. A Mother waits nine months for the birth of her child but because of care and preparation, the child does arrive. When God gives a promise we may have to wait for the fulfillment but with careful care, preparation and obedience the answer does come in God's time.

Are delays and/or waiting periods always necessary in a Christian's life? Most of the time they are. The waiting time is for you, not God. You are not ready for your answer! Use your waiting time. Learn from it. Watch new potential abilities grow, develop and mature in many ways during the waiting period. If you give God more quality time in prayer the Holy Spirit can prepare you to be ready for you answer earlier than you expected. He is the One Who decides!

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Traffic Signals on the way: Warning - Detours

Traveling can be adventurous and educational besides getting you to your destination if roads are good and necessary directional signs are carefully placed to indicate any changes, curves or detours. All signs are meant to direct you and they are to be heeded!

A few years ago some of our missionary friends lived and ministered in a limited-access nation in the mid-east. On a very dark night while traveling home at midnight from a gospel meeting in a nearby city, the missionary family and national pastor with his son had just reached the top of a steep hill and started down the other side when suddenly they came upon a large truck stalled in the middle of the road before them, without lights. With no time to go around the truck successfully, their car immediately slammed into the truck. All three of their young daughters were thrown out of the car as well as the national pastor's son, and all four were killed. The missionary wife suffered with many broken bones. After several hours, they were found and everyone was taken to a nearby hospital. Fortunately the missionary and his national pastor were not injured seriously. The three daughters were later buried in that foreign land. A year later the wife learned to walk again. They now reside in the states. The accident might have been avoided if road flares or a detour sign of any kind had been on the road a short distance before approaching the hill, but there was nothing. The tragedy was caused by neglect!

In our walk with the Lord, there will be times when the Holy Spirit will warn us of problems ahead and we must heed the warning and perceive He provided a detour. The detour will cause us to avoid the thing that we could not see immediately. To ignore His warning is to neglect His prompting, His desire, His assignment from our heavenly Father to protect and warn us throughout our Christian journey. Warnings come to us through God's Word; but the decision to heed them is ours: whether we will listen and obey or regard His Word and prompting as not necessarily important at the moment.

The Holy Spirit wants you to remember: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for INSTRUCTION in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." (2 Timothy 3:16.) There is instruction for you every time you read God's Word! The Word will speak to your inner man and direct you in specific day to day dealings and events. Reading your Bible daily and balancing it with prayer will enable the Holy Spirit to bring back to your rememberance the Word of God that will bring instruction and warning when you need it.

Among the commandments and instructions in scripture, one that gets our attention quickly and stands out as a warning concerns the word neglect.

The area where neglect can be noticed quickly is the road on which we travel most, every day. We can see if maintenance and upkeep were handled on a timely basis. A road that has not been properly serviced by the city can cause small or great accidents or delays.....all because of neglect. Likewise, those who are in the body of Christ, which includes you and me, who have not diligently kept all the Word (the commandments and instructions) can be responsible for lack of growth in the lives of younger believers God has placed in your path. Neglect can be the reason for the lack of vision for the purpose of God in your life, your home or your church. It can be the reason for weak faith: --faith that is not strong enough to produce healings or miracles and it can be the deciding factor for indifference to the preaching of the Word. It's a sobering fact but it's true! When neglect is evident, there are little or no results, and no readiness for the Second Coming of the Lord. Again, the reason is neglect! On your journey of life, detour away from neglect before it affects your relationship with the Lord.

"Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip. How shall we escape IF WE NEGLECT so great a salvation." (Hebrews 2:1, 3.) Our salvation includes working toward full obedience and fighting the good fight of faith to be ready for the work and ministry that the Holy Spirit desires to do through us!

On several occasions, the Israelites asked God why He did not help them as He had promised since they did prepare and offer their offerings and sacrifices. God told them it was because they ignored his prophets and continued to serve other gods AND Him. He was no longer THE One and Only Lord of their lives! Their hearts were not in their sacrifices and offerings! It had become only a form to them without their hearts involved in true worship. Though believers do not offer sacrifices of sheep and goats as the Israelites did, God would speak to us today and in essence His Words would be, "You see what you want to see in my Word, and change its interpretation to fit the level of your present spiritual condition." Take a detour around the status quo traveling on the road with you if those people pretend to serve the Lord but He is not THE Lord of their lives! Let nothing cause you to neglect the Lord of your life being the Only God of Life to you!

Is it possible that the Lord would visit a church in the disguise or form of a crippled person, a homeless and/or a dysfunctional person, someone in a wheel chair, a blind person, one recently restored from prison, a weathly millionnaire, perhaps a football star or any other person of renown...to see our response or neglect to each one? And if He did, would you recognize Him? If so, how would you respond? Could or would you be God's hand extended? Would you take time to be His hand extended? Do you scale down the Word of God to someone when witnessing to him so he will not be offended? Have you ever asked the Lord to use you to touch the life of a hurting person, or to be His hand extended?

We will one day be judged according to the Light we received and how we passed it on. If the Word of Truth is powerful in your life and understanding, let it be powerful in your speech, action and example! Sometimes we are tempted to "strain at a nat and swallow a camel...." Do we talk about serving God according to rules we made but neglect the needs that are important to God? Neglect!

I think often of a time after the Rapture, when we will stand before the Lord at the Bema Judgment. To some He will say, "I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick and in prison, and ye visited me not." (Matt 25:42-43.) Then our Lord will answer: "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not unto Me." (Matthew 25:44-46.) Why would He say this? Could it be that we might be selective in our work for the Lord, even in our friendships, those we help or things we do for them for God?

When a person has neglected his personal relationship with God, there will soon be signs of neglect in his obedience to certain instructions in the Word. The signs of disobedience will develop into carelessness, and carelessness will cause him to rearrange the commandments he once loved, to fit his strained life style. This is the way some churches and even pople move away from Truth and get into error. The gospel becomes diluted so that it has lost its power to change and transform lives. Neglect can bring change that will cause one to let down his standard of holiness and his love for God. Eventually he will look toward returning to the very things he was once delivered from.

The good news is, God is always merciful to hear our cry of repentance and for help to return to Him so we can be restored. His Word declares, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah 55:7) Yes! He will abundantly pardon! What a comfort! Today is a good day to think on these things and examine them carefully in your life!

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Traffic Signals on the way:"Warning - Presumption"

Presumption is a belief that a person can do whatever he desires to do contrary to previous instructions and restraints, without experiencing consequences for his behavior.

Your life is your journey on the specific path that God laid out uniquely just for you. By following the Map, God's Word, and detailed Guidelines carefully, scriptures that give you specific directions for your personal journey, you will be amazed how God will reward you with fulfillment of the desires of your heart which in essence are plans He Himself placed in your life. There will be no doubts or guess work how to reach your personal destiny. All you have to do is listen, obey and follow His leading, and watch for warning signals on the way that would cause you to detour from your Christian path. Obey them and keep your eyes on Jesus! Obeying and following God's direction will avoid confusion, chaos and the possibility of losing out with God in the end.

We read examples of men in the Bible who made wrong choices while they were in leadership and suffered bitter consequences. We can learn from their mistakes. When wrong choices are made, it often takes many months and sometimes years to find a place to turn around and return to the place where a person left God, in order to be restored. Sometimes he is able to turn around successully but sometimes he turns around only to carry the baggage of consequences the rest of his life.

While we were on the mission field, we met an impressive young couple full of talent and the possibility of high leadership skills. It did not take long to recognize the wife was living with the consequences of the years she lived in the drug scene when she lived in a commune. When she talked of the goodness of God, she radiated with gratefulness that those days were behind her, but at times in ordinary conversation her mind appeared to be blank and she struggled to complete sentences. I'm reminded of the scripture: "Be sure your sin will find you out." You cannot assume you will be the exception who will have no consequences.

Saul had been chosen by God to be the first King of Israel. When he faced his first national battle, Samuel gave him specific instructions to meet him in Gilgal; wait seven days with the people, and he (Samuel) would come and offer a sacrifice before going into battle. He would ask God for His blessing before Saul would face the would be invading army. Saul did gather the people as he was instructed, but after waiting in Gilgal only six days, he became impatient, restless and doubtful of his instructions. He began to think since he was king he should be able to offer the sacrifice as the priests did. Though God gave Saul a new heart when he became King, Saul's leadership included learning the importance of following directions, not his assumptions. And he offered the sacrifice! This was the first disobedience but more followed until Saul eventually lost his way, lost the kingdom, and lost out with God. His sin of presumption was assuming he did not have to follow the directive God gave through Samuel.

David is known in the scriptures as the sweet singer of Israel. Growing up, as the youngest son he kept the family's sheep. Alone on the hillsides for long periods of time, he probably learned to know the Great God of the universe as few of us could imagine. Worship, prayer, communion and fellowship with God were consistent in his daily life. We remember the stories how he killed a bear, killed the giant Goliath, and had many great victories to his credit. In God's time, he was anointed to be king, following Saul. Fast-forwarding his life as king, after God had used him mightily in winning many battles successfully with the surrounding nations, a time came when David was sorely tempted. He sucumbed to the temptation, committed adultey and then he tried to hide his sin. Though he was known as a man after God's own heart, he was still human and was subject to temptations as the rest of mankind. No one is exempt.

After yielding to the temptation, we see another side of David. It's not only a picture of results that follow temptation but also a revelation how Satan can win in a person's life when just a small crack in the door of his heart is allowed to be opened to fantasy and sympathetic thoughts toward compromise to sin.

We see deception, lying, and trying to hide the consequences of his sin. Disaster after disaster followed David after that. Did God forgive him? Yes, but David paid the consequences for sin. His sin of presumption was thinking as King, he could arrange more deceptions to be carried out by one of his military men and no one would ever know what really happened. The warning signal here is: "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" Whose heart? Everyone's heart! David's sin of presumption was that he knew God would forgive him, but he did not count on the many consequences that followed because of his sin. From that time, David prayed, "Keep me from presumptous sins."

The lesson from his choice is to heed the signals on your journey of life everyday because they can be warnings in the busy and congested traffic on your road. Today as never before, the enemy of your soul, Satan, is after you. Your only safety is to stay close to God. Recognize and know that everyone is tempted at times and temptation is not sin. It is yielding to the temptation that is sin! If you have sinned or are in a difficult place of temptation, your only hope is to turn to the strong arm of God through His Word. The scripture says, "Submit yourselves unto God, .....THEN....resist the devil and he will flee from you." The next step is to CONFESS your problem to the Lord in prayer, not hide it. REPENT of your part in allowing yourself to be drawn into the problem this far. ASK FOR THE BLOOD OF JESUS to cleanse you from your involvement. Accept His forgiveness and cleansing and turn/run from the temptation. Then ASK FOR RESTORATION.

The scripture speaks of "Godly sorrow" with repentance. There are times when you need to spend more than a few minutes before God in repentance. You need to repent with Godly sorrow. This means to realize you grieved and wounded the Holy Spirit who attempted to restrain you from yielding to temptation. Your sin of presumption may have been that you thought you could always repent with a "sentence prayer," a quick and short one, and the presence of God would be restored quickly as before. The Holy Spirit will lead you to full repentance and Jesus will forgive you but you need to know your repentance must be with Godly sorrow. It is the Godly sorrow that will sharpen your will to resist a temptation the next time.

The good news is that the Holy Spirit places special kinds of signals on your your road of life from time to time, often to warn you. Be aware of them and obey them. It's because He wants you to remember always what a great sacrifice Jesus made for you. He desires you to live free from sin.

(This message us for a particular person who happened to find this on the internet today. I don't know who you are but I know Jesus loves you. He waits for you to go to Him and repent and be restored! I urge you to go today!)