Hearing the Voice of God....

 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever— the Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you [constantly] and will be in you. (John 14:16-17 Amp) 

   

    I know many people who have for various reasons decided to seek professional counseling to help them work through life difficulties they have experienced. Some were restored by counseling but for others it seemed to have little effect. I've noticed that those who readily accepted the credentials and abilities of their counselors fared far better than those who questioned or in some cases openly mocked the individual who was trained to and trying to help them. 

     It is similar for those of us who have invited Christ into our hearts. 

  Jesus asked our heavenly Father to send the Holy Spirit to indwell the hearts of all Christians. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby)... He did not come because He needed anything from us, but rather to be a companion Witness in our lives. He does not live in everyone ...the Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive..., but instead indwells the hearts of born again Christians. Those outside of Christ, the world, cannot receive Him ..because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him... He exists in their presence and is very active in their world, but their lack of acknowledgement of Christ shields Him from their view. It is as if they were standing in a hospital Emergency Room bleeding to death, unable to see the help that surrounds them. 

 Through Christ, the eyes of our Christian hearts have been opened and we  ...know and recognize Him. He is ever and forever present and active in our lives ...for He lives with you [constantly] and will be in you. When He arrives, He comes as an X-factor, subtle and unknown. We don't yet know His voice or leading. We may fear His power and are reluctant to cede control to Him. But over time a relationship is birthed and we come to know, trust and love Him. 

    And yet, repeatedly, I close my heart to His goading and guidance and spend frustrated hours wrestling with life's difficulties by myself. What must Holy Spirit be thinking as He watches me ignore His input? He never shouts louder, but the problem isn't the volume of His voice. The problem is that I am listening less, or worse, I turn my back on Him. 

    C. W. Studd put it like this long ago -- How little chance the Holy Ghost has nowadays. The churches and missionary societies have so bound Him in red tape that they practically ask Him to sit in a corner while they do the work themselves.

   Paul said it like this -- For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8 5-8)

   My prayer this morning is simple. Lord, let the Spirit dominate and my flesh submit. 

   Have you listened to your Counselor (Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby)  lately? The power, wisdom and counsel of our loving Father has been placed within us. All we have to do to receive it is ask and listen. 

    Copyright 2014 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be reproduced in whole or in part if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com 

     

   

   If the world hates you, you know it hated Me before it hated you.  (John 15:18 NKJV)

   Everybody wants to be loved. Nobody wants to be hated. Fear of ridicule has a name, catagelophobia. While this word describes the most severe form or phobia of fear and ridicule, most of us have experienced and reacted to ordinary uncomfortable and unwarranted criticism. In the verse above, the Lord of the universe, Jesus, promises us hatred by the elements of the world which have rejected Him, or have not heard of Him, and He reassures us that the world hates Him too. 

    In my life, this Christian focused ridicule has usually been subtle. As I began to grow in Christ years ago, many non Christian friends just quietly withdrew their contact. This often happened with good reason, I was no loner interested in the things or behaviors that they preferred. The Apostle Paul said it best- The new has come, the old is gone.  

   I did have a few very vocal critics of my new life in Christ. I was confronted by some with being "too religious". Others seemed to think that constant reminder of past sins would draw me back to them. And a few goaded me me with the most vile expressions and condemnations of the Lord they could utter. 

    I in no way enjoyed these criticisms, and in a way, they had the opposite of the intended

effect -- they encouraged me. I remember thinking a few years after the Lord saved me, Have I really changed enough to irritate them? 

   Some of the most difficult criticism for me to sort out came from people in the church. One mean spirited church lady I knew justified it, calling it holy gossip. It took a while for me to realize that many of them attended church with religious fervor, sought to hold positions of authority, but did it all without spiritual rebirth. They had staked out positions, powers, and principalities, and found it abundantly annoying if the Lord promoted anyone past them. My testimony made them very uncomfortable, and when I actually read and loved the Word and was transformed by it, it was more than they could bear. Jesus said -- But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,[h] 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; (Matthew 5:44 NKJV)

   But while their voices were loud and harsh (and rarely constructive), over the years there have been many more who noticed the changes that the Lord brought in me and approached with open hearts, curious and willing to listen. The Lord has taken a harvest from among them and brought a harvest from their testimonies too. 

   So, take heart hated Christians, dreaded followers of Jesus. What the world hates, the Lord loves. Find joy in snide remarks and always be quick to share humbly the Gospel that snatched you from the fire. Don't fall in to deep catagelophobia. Instead, simply shake off the criticism they lob at you and remain of Jesus' narrow path. 

    Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 




Copyright 2014 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. may be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com  

Erasing Error Instead of Correcting It.....

And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them. So they left Him and went away. (Mark 12:12) 

    What do you do when you find the Word of God pressing against you?  This is an important question, because as the Holy Spirit leads us through the ongoing process of sanctification, many times the Word will instruct us and the Holy Spirit convict us. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness... (1 Tim 3:16) If humility and submission to the authority of the Word reign in your heart, you'll submit, repent, and ask the Holy Spirit to guide a course correction in your life. But humility's nemesis, pride, often has a different plan, suggesting that we simply ignore or erase our error instead of correcting it.

   When Jesus walked the earth in flesh, the rulers of God's Temple in Jerusalem had allowed spiritual elitism to infect their minds. They liked being the ones who had all the answers, and when Jesus arrived with better answers, and the Word (in the flesh) pressed against them, they let pride driven envy infect their thoughts and block a corrective teaching about their leadership. Members of the Sanhedrin felt they had paid their dues through service to attain the positions they held in the Temple hierarchy. Still others, the priests of God, had inherited their jobs by right of birth as descendants of Aaron, and they felt prideful entitlement. Both groups had enjoyed a long season where their authority was never questioned, so instead of looking to the final Arbiter for answers, they had become their own arbiters. They had barked human inspired orders and the multitudes had obeyed them. Now, a Servant Lord had arrived with Truth on His tongue and it infuriated them. The Psalmist wrote --  When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity, You make his beauty melt away like a moth; Surely every man is vapor.... John Wesley expressed their situation like this -- How wonderful is the providence of God, using all things for the good of His children! Generally the multitude is restrained from tearing them in pieces only by the fear of their rulers. And here the rulers themselves are restrained, through fear of the multitude! 

    What do you do when you find the Word of God leaned against you? What do you do when you realize you are wrong, sideways with the Lord, caught in sin? We've all had the experience of abrupt conviction by the simple hearing of God's word. Those moments test our claims of submission. I'd be less than truthful if I didn't admit to you that I have myself applied the Pharisaic solution, and plotted against the word. I've experienced conviction and instead of submitting to it's instruction, searched the scriptures for a loophole that would excuse me.  I've even resorted to reconsidering contradictory doctrinal positions that I thought might excuse me where God had accused me. I've worn a scriptural hearing aid that would allow some thoughts in but protect me from the menacing truth of my sin. I've wasted a lot of time and effort and taken many winding paths only to find myself standing back at the foot of the Word, with my heart fully convicted. Prideful resistance of God was a forty seven year habit for me before He, by Grace through faith, saved me. That's when I first experienced the blessing of Divine correction. Still, well rooted old habits and favored sins like to try to push up new shoots every now and then. 

   The writer of Hebrews reminds us -- Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11)  If we I want to yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness, we have to yield to the Vine-dresser's pruning Spirit.

   Where in your life is the word of God leaned against you? Where are you pushing back instead of submitting? Where are you listening to everything or anything on your spiritual iPod except what Holy Spirit and the Word of God are instructing?

    For whom the LORD loves He chastens...

Copyright 2014 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com 

Revealing the Cross of Christ

Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures,  explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ." (Acts 17:2-3 NKJV)

    I intended to begin writing about 1 Thessalonians today, but realized that to do so I needed to begin in Acts, Chapter 17, where the contentious planting of the church in Thessalonika is fully described. If you Google "missionary" you’ll find more resources, ideas and information than you can possibly sift through in a lifetime. What endless Google results make seem complicated is really very simple. I often describe myself to people as a missionary. They typically ask, Missionary to where? I usually just name the place where I am standing. Missionaries are missionaries wherever they are. Paul had three mission centric resources when he entered the capital city of Macedonia, and these resources remain available to all missionaries today. 

   Verse 1 says -- Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica… In any work we begin for God, it is critical to remain sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. God often pre-softens stony hearts to be receptive to the Gospel as He did for Paul’s work here. Paul’s discernment carried him through many places before he arrived at the specific place where God had a plan in place. It is easy to convince ourselves we can decide what God wants done and where He wants it done without ever asking Him for input, and  thereby miss the blessing He has planned. When we do this we end up with our ministry to which we attach His name. Paul wisely kept walking until the Lord revealed the spot where He wanted to establish a new church.  

   

   Paul reasoned with them from the scriptures. Paul’s scriptures weren’t  our scriptures. He had only what we call the Old Testament. For him it was the Only Testament. Could you sit and reason with someone, could you make reasonable representations that Jesus was the Messiah from the Old Testament alone? Many people we encounter have no idea that the Old Testament is about Jesus. From shadows and types like Boaz in the Book of Ruth who was Ruth’s kinsman redeemer as a type for Christ, our Kinsman redeemer, to the specific details of the birth, life, death and resurrection found in the Psalms and Isaiah, the Old Testament points to Jesus. We are equipped with the Old Testament scriptures Paul had, plus so much more. Have you equipped yourself to reason with others from the scriptures?

   In Philippians 4:16 we read -- For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. Paul didn’t just go, He was sent - both by God and by the church in Philippi. The success of any missionary is greatly increased with sufficient funding and prayer support from sending believers. Many are called to Christ’s Gospel mission, but more are called to support with prayers and funding. Do you support missionaries with prayers and funding? Ask God to reveal a missionary for you to support and begin sending monthly financial help. Even small support can produce huge Gospel results in the distant reaches of the Earth. If you can’t be a go-er, become a sender.

  If you are following the leading of the Holy Spirit, you have been strategically placed by God in a Gospel opportunity. Paul got busy in Thessalonica -- explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ." Today, to whom are you explaining and demonstrating that Jesus is the Christ? Or, have you abandoned God’s mission for one more of your own design and liking? 

    

Copyright 2014 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission if a link is provided to  http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com 

My Prayer Life Got Hacked...

   I did a Google search the other day on a biblical subject and got many results. I selected the top one. It appeared to contain the right answer, but as I began to examine its contents, a pop up appeared. I immediately exited. Suddenly, another pop up appeared with a rolling counter itemizing how many corrupted files were on my laptop and offering me a solution for $39.99. Funny really, the corruption counter actually was the corruption. I'd caught a virus. It hacked my email and sent emails to everyone on my contact list. I'd been successfully hacked because I didn't watch where I was wandering on the internet. Many of you have had the same experience. My Internet service provider has assured me they are fixing the problem.

   This morning I realized I am having similar spiritual experience. It appears that my prayer life has been hacked. The vivid, intimate personal messages that usually flow from my lips to my Spiritual Service Provider (Jesus), and were returned by Him, have been corrupted. My prayer life has been hacked. The fire of God that He ignited in my heart seventeen years ago feels more like embers than a blaze. My shouts of praise have become whispers.

   ........like an oven heated by the baker, who doesn't stoke the fire from kneading time till the dough has risen. (Hosea 4:7 CJB) 

   I've been neglecting the fire of God, distracted by nothing in particular, insufficient distractions leading me quietly away from an all sufficient God. It isn't the first time my wayward heart has drifted to the inconsequential. 

   So, how can I fix this? Is the problem sin? Apathy? Unbelief? How can I get out of this dichotomized Christian life and be restored to a vivid life in Christ?

   I recognize that the Lord hasn't moved. He's still seated at the right hand of the Father interceding for me. He's not angry at me for drifting from His presence. I simply need to return to Him. For you that may mean more time spent in the word, but I've actually continued to read the word every day through this spiritual slump. At some point, however, I began reading the word with an open intellect but a closed heart, a transformation blocking error. Isaiah wrote -- So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. 

   I'll continue to read, trusting in the prospering of His word.    

The path from a plateaued spiritual life for me begins with prayerful worship. You can't climb down from a spiritual plateau, you have to climb higher. I began climbing this morning. Sluggishly, I logged onto the International House of Prayer live feed from their prayer room where they have maintained continuous 24/7/365 worship for 25 years. I simply sat and listened until I was captured by the spirit of their worship of the Lord, then I worshiped Him with them until prayer came. Not the corrupted selfish prayers my hacked prayer life produced, always focused on me, but prayers focused on Him. Then I simply soaked in  His Presence for a while.

   I feel like I've returned home. I have.

   Will this happen again? Probably. Will I more quickly recognize it next time? I hope so.

    A Psalm of Thanksgiving.

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness;Come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God;It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; [fn]We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,And into His courts with praise.Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good;His mercy is everlasting,And His truth endures to all generations. (Psalm 100:1-5 NKJV)

  

  

  

The Best Wedding Reception Ever......

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  2 Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. 

   I have four sisters. I witnessed some anguished discussions as my parents help them establish the final guest list for their weddings. At weddings there are mandatory invitations for close family on both sides, then there are categories that can either be invited or eliminated. For example, if you want to invite someone because you were invited to their wedding wedding, do you then have to invite all people who invited you to their weddings, or even more difficult, if you invite someone from work, who else from work does that require you to invite?

   As I read this verse today, I thought of applying that problem to Jesus. When you invited Him to your wedding, He came with twelve co-guests. 

   I have attended weddings where Jesus was invited and welcomed, to others where He was invited to the ceremony but not the reception, and still others where rather than invite Him and receive Him with all that comes with Him, He was not invited, but was merely mentioned in the ceremony.

   Most wedding receptions are fun events. They are a time where we break bread together, enjoy the company of some  old friends we rarely see, and occasionally with others enjoy that we rarely have to see them. All of the social interactions we experience at a modern wedding reception would have been experienced that day in Cana at the wedding described in this passage. It appears that things were going well, then Mary approached the Lord with a problem -- 3 And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."  4 Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come." At first Jesus' response to Mary seems like a, No! Have you ever told your mother. No!, while you are actually doing what she instructed? Yeah. Me too. Mary wasn't at all affected by His answer -- 5 His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."

   Next,  John reports the first miracle done by Jesus recorded in the bible -- 6 Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  7 Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled them up to the brim.  8 And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast." And they took it.  9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 

   The servants mentioned were servants of the household. We claim to be servants in the house of Jesus. What a different house we would be if our obedience were like theirs -- immediate and unquestioning, without fear of consequences. When the Lord instructed them to fill the jugs with water, they had no clue as to His purpose, but they obeyed. When He had them deliver a cup dipped from those jugs to the master of the feast, again they simply obeyed. I wonder at the miracles that may not have occur for no greater reason than the disobedience of the instructed purpose, and I wonder how often I may have been that servant. 

   In Exodus 7:17, Moses (the biblical representative of the Law) turned water into blood, illustrating that the Law results in death, but Jesus turned water into wine (the biblical symbol of joy) revealing the joy of salvation by grace. Dave Guzik puts it like this:

 

          1- The wine was after the water, the New Convenant is after the Old Covenant.

          2- The wine was from the water, the New Covenant is from the Old Covenant.

        3- The wine was better than the water, the New Covenant is better than the Old           Covenant.

    This miracle didn't make bad good, but made good better. Christ redeemed and re-established the institution of marriage as a symbol and type for His saving Grace. He actually encouraged the festivity and joy of the celebration of marriage and didn't attempt in any way to institute asceticism that religion often tries to substitute as a path to joy.

    This verse began -- On the third day..... Jesus chose to manifest His glory that day in Cana in the form of a miracle On the third day..., just as later the glory of the miracle of His resurrection, and through Him ours, would be made manifest On the third day. The miracle of His resurrection has become the miracle of my resurrection. In the hurried passing of my ordinary days, I sometimes lose my focus and forget that through Him the joy of peace with God is mine and that the Lord who arrived in Cana with twelve co-guests has invited me and all who have placed their faith in Him to the final wedding of all time, the wedding feast of the Lamb of God. That day, rather than wine as a mere symbol of joy, we'll all find real eternal joy. The wine of that wedding will never run out.

   The reception hall is ready. The Groom is waiting. You've been invited. Will you be  attending?



Copyright 2014 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com

  

The Eight Year Old Who Changed a Nation....

 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem....

    In my eighth year,  my daily life was filled with play. School was the most serious thing I experienced, and in third grade even that was still pretty much fun. My world was small. I was allowed to play in my own yard and could ride my bike a distance of one block in my own neighborhood. Serious events occurring in the world didn't concern me.

   For Josiah, life was much the same as mine. Then, one night as he was sleeping, the servants in his house killed his dad, King Amon. Josiah went to bed a child and dreamed childish dreams, but awoke as a king. Kings are powerful. As an eight year old king, if he had ordered someone killed, their execution would have been carried out without hesitation.

   Josiah's father and grandfather had both been Kings of Judah, but they had abandoned God and His instructions for carrying out the responsibilities of kingship. In fact, no king of Judah had properly worshipped God for centuries. The Temple still stood on the Temple Mount, but it was in bad repair. As King Josiah matured, he noticed the sad state of the temple building and ordered it repaired. He hired stonemasons and carpenters. He sought only physical repair. As a third generation backslider, he had no thought of spiritual renovation. Then an odd thing happened. The workmen found a book (a scroll) in the temple and brought it to him. (vs 8) Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, "I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord." And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan who read it.... and a few verses later --  Shaphan the scribe told the king saying, "Hilkiah the priest has given me a book." And Shaphan read it in the presence of the king.

   Few books existed in Josiah's kingdom. Most had been read to him repeatedly, and had stimulated and informed his intellect. But this was the first time the young King had ever heard the Word of God, and when he heard it, it stimulated his heart and spirit, and he responded -- When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. King Josiah recognized himself as a sinner in the eyes of God, and immediately responded. --   12 Then the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor [fn] the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant saying,   13 "Go, inquire of the Lord for me and the people and all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found, for great is the wrath of the Lord that burns against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us." Having encountered the Word for the first time, the King couldn't wait to share it. -- (Chapter 23)   2 The king went up to the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord. 

   King Josiah inherited his father's position and power but declined his father's spiritual waywardness. For centuries Judah's kings before him had considered themselves among the highest and most powerful men on earth. Upon hearing God's Word, Josiah submitted himself to it and led a nation back into right standing with God -- 3 The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered [fn] into the covenant.  

   The transformational power of the bible is only released when it is heard. Have you heard it? Do you listen to it daily? Have you submitted to its authority in your life? Have you told others about it? Has anyone you know experienced spiritual transformation because you have shared the Word of God with them? Don't tell me you aren't qualified to share the bible. God used Judah's youngest king to instigate Judah's greatest revival but simply exposing them to scripture.


   In the book, Move: What 1,000 Churches Reveal About Spiritual Growth, researchers found that lack of exposure to scripture and eventual submission to its authority is an absolute impediment to spiritual growth and that those who fail to submit to scripture wither and fade away from faith. And the opposite is also true. Those who submit to God's Word are enabled to grow to the highest level of faith.


   Where do you find yourself in this equation? If you are stalled or failing with withering faith, turn your heart to the Lord through the simplest of methods -- read the bible daily. It changed Josiah's heart, then all of Judah. It can change yours too.




Copyright 2014 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com