What To Do When God Gives You Opportunity

Preach the word!  Be ready in season and out of season.  Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. - 2 Timothy 4:2

You never know when God is going to give you the opportunity.  Be ready.  As it happened I was reading Ecclesiastes chapter 3 one morning.  There is a time or season for everything.

I took Martie's car in for a service that morning.  It was going to be a wait so they offered to drop me off at a store or restaurant and then they would pick me up.  The young man who drove was talking with me - idle banter - when he asked me what I did.  I told him I was a missionary and he said that he was from Salt Lake City and new a number of missionaries.  Although I did not ask, I assumed he was Mormon.  We chatted a bit about the life God has called Martie and me to.  As it happened, he also picked me up.  Our conversation led to discussing how to love your wife and how to deal with conflicts - differences of opinion.  I pointed him to scripture.  Before I got out of the car, he asked me if I was doing OK, if I was having trouble.  I told him that when you are in the center of God's will, you are always doing OK.  God provides. I gave him my card and encouraged him to look us up on the Web.  Planting seeds.

It doesn't end there.  It took a while longer on the car service so they asked if they could take me home and they will come back to get me when the car is done.  New driver.  We talked about our being from Alabama and why.  About how hot it was and I added that we were used to it having lived in Haiti for 4 years.  He asked if the Haitians were open to the Gospel.  That surprised me.  So I talked to him about Christians in Haiti and the openness to the Gospel there.  That morphed into a conversation about the small church he attends and the fact that they don't do much with missions.  I talked to him about Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts.  I encouraged him that his little church should be faithful in Jerusalem and trust that God will bring the increase and ministry direction.

All of this just because Martie's car needed a service.  My point to you is be ready .. but more ... be willing.  You never know when and where God will give you opportunity to speak life into someone.  Maybe today!

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

God Is Speaking Are You Listening

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!  The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. - Psalms 46:10-11

But most of us show incredible disrespect to God because we don’t even hear Him. He might as well never have spoken to us.  The goal of my spiritual life is such close identification with Jesus Christ that I will always hear God and know that God always hears me …. If I have not developed and nurtured this devotion of hearing, I can only hear God’s voice at certain times. At other times I become deaf to Him because my attention is to other things— things which I think I must do. This is not living the life of a child of God. Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

Have you ever said something in a conversation only to have someone say “That is just what I said!”  But you didn’t hear it.  Or maybe the thought that you had was not yours at all but the words the other person had just spoken.  Whatever the case, the person is normally just a little put out because that tells them, in no uncertain terms, you are not listening to what they say. 

That is how it is with us and God.  It is not that God is not speaking .. the problem is that we are not listening.  Our attention is on the cares of this world .. we are so focused on the issues of life that we cannot hear what God is saying to us. 

Hearing God requires focus … looking intently on Him. God is not your enemy, He is your advocate.  As you live your life every day, the Lord is with you.  He is your strength.  He knows what is best for you.  Our natural desire is to trust in our own judgment and not listen to His voice …  

Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left. - Isaiah 30:21

God speaks through His Word, through nature, He is always speaking  …. But we must listen …. 

But whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty (the Bible), and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. - James 1:25

This will not necessarily make you problems go away … the men that were inspired to write the words in the Bible all struggled in life … the proof of God’s presence is not the absence of trouble … 

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. -  John 16:33

But He has overcome the world … He is at your side … you can have peace in the midst of the storm you are in now.  Put your hope in God … listen to Him .. and then walk in the way He shows you. 

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

To Avoid Spiritual Apathy, Atrophy, and Impotence - Pray

…praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit… —Ephesians 6:18

As we continue on in our intercession for others, we may find that our obedience to God in interceding is going to cost those for whom we intercede more than we ever thought. It is impossible for us to have living and vital intercession unless we are perfectly and completely sure of God. Identification with God is the key to intercession… God gives us discernment in the lives of others to call us to intercession for them, never so that we may find fault with them. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

Do you see someone who has faults? I am not referring to the one you see when you look in a mirror. Sure you do. It is inescapable.  (Romans 3:23) “All have sinned” (Romans 3:10) “There are none righteous” That pretty much covers everyone.  So you are going to see the works of the flesh every day .. (Galatians 5:19-21) “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.”  That list just about covers it. Those things you see in others that upset you, make you to not want to be around them, to be angry about what they have done or are doing.  Perhaps what you should do is pray for them.  Most of us don’t for a three reasons, I can think of.  One, we think they should be punished for their behavior and should not be allowed to get away with it, and maybe they should be. Two, we don’t think they are deserving of God’s grace, mercy and forgiveness (ours too), and they are not but then again neither are we.  Three,  we have a pretty much non-existent prayer life and don’t pray for ourselves, unless we are in trouble, let alone people who are doing things we don’t like. 

But God did not say pray if you feel like. No, we are to pray because it is our responsibility and critical to the health and growth of our personal spiritual life.  For most of us, we treat prayer as an option.  Sunday morning and perhaps at dinner time.  That’s it.  Prayer is not a spiritual gift for some.  It is a responsibility for all Christians.  If becoming a Christian is the most significant thing that has happened in your life, and it should be, then communicating with the Father should be important to you as a child of God.  If it’s not, well “Houston we have a problem!”  Prayerlessness is a symptom of spiritual apathy and spiritual apathy always lead to spiritual atrophy which always leads to spiritual impotence.  You need to pray .. you can’t afford not to!

Here is a simple way … a friend shared this with me years ago.  First make certain that your heart is clean - clear up any unconfessed sons with God. (1 John 1:9) Use your fingers and thumb as a guide.  Start with your thumb, it represents your family, index finger those who point you to Jesus  - Spiritual leaders. Middle finger, those in authority over you – government, work, etc. Ring finger, others – those you care about and maybe don’t care about.  Pinky finger – yourself – last and least.  Try it.  Why not make it a habit?

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

Don't Be Satisfied With Less Than God's Best

May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless… —1 Thessalonians 5:23
 
Do we believe that God can fortify and protect our thought processes far beyond where we can go? “…the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). If this verse means cleansing only on our conscious level, may God have mercy on us. The man who has been dulled by sin will say that he is not even conscious of it. But the cleansing from sin we experience will reach to the heights and depths of our spirit if we will “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). The same Spirit that fed the life of Jesus Christ will feed the life of our spirit. It is only when we are protected by God with the miraculous sacredness of the Holy Spirit that our spirit, soul, and body can be preserved in pure uprightness until the coming of Jesus-no longer condemned in God’s sight. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

 

As I write these devotions, I see a thread that runs through them .. It is the same thread that runs through the Bible.  God has called us to a life of faith and holiness.  We cannot achieve that life on our own.  And even when we are born again, even though we are “awakened” to the reality of spiritual Truth, we continue to struggle with living a life of faith and holiness.  We make excuses for our failings, unfortunately often resolving ourselves to some lower level of faith and holiness that God never intended as some sort of self-defined compromise.  When you talk to other Christians, even those that you might consider “more spiritual than most”, you should never think that they are immune to that struggle.  None of us are like Jesus, but all of us will be.  So should we be content with our not being like Him yet?  God forbid.  We are on a spiritual journey.  We must keep our eyes fixed on Him, and press on.  So my friend, let me encourage you to press on in your faith with confidence that 

He who began a good work in your will be faithful to complete it. - 1 Philippians 1:6

 “I know I'm not what I could be ..I'm not who I want to be, but I know I'm not who I used to be.” (Author unknown)   

 

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:13-14

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

Take Me Back Lord Where I First Believed

God is saying to His people, “You are not in love with Me now, but I remember a time when you were.” He says, “I remember . . . the love of your betrothal . . .” (Jeremiah 2:2). Am I as filled to overflowing with love for Jesus Christ as I was in the beginning, when I went out of my way to prove my devotion to Him? Does He ever find me pondering the time when I cared only for Him? Is that where I am now, or have I chosen man’s wisdom over true love for Him? Am I so in love with Him that I take no thought for where He might lead me? Or am I watching to see how much respect I get as I measure how much service I should give Him? - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest 

Andrae Crouch wrote the song “Take Me Back”  It is about someone who has let the fire go out in their relationship with Jesus.
 
“Take me back, take me back dear Lord -- To the place where I first received you. Take me back, take me back dear Lord where I first believed.
 
I feel that I'm so far from you Lord, But still I hear you calling me. Those simple things that I once knew, their memories keep drawing me.
 
I must confess, Lord I've been blessed but yet my soul's not satisfied. Renew my faith, restore my joy and dry my weeping eyes.”
 
Is your love for God still fresh, like the day you prayed to receive Christ as your Lord? Or, have you become casual in your relationship with Him. Do you still acknowledge His divine nature and His sacrifice and the unbelievable grace and mercy that God poured out on your life with unbridled devotion to Him? Or do you treat your relationship as “no big deal”, you are a Christian .. you love Jesus .. but you are no fanatic.
 
Maybe it is time to rekindle the fire that once burned so brightly in your life.  To remember just how magnificent your salvation is .. and how great our God is.
 
"Take me back, take me back dear Lord -- To the place where I first received you. Take me back, take me back dear Lord where I first believed.”

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

When You Approach God Is Your Hat In Your Hand?

Clouds and darkness surround Him… —Psalm 97:2

A person who has not been born again by the Spirit of God will tell you that the teachings of Jesus are simple. But when he is baptized by the Holy Spirit, he finds that “clouds and darkness surround Him….” When we come into close contact with the teachings of Jesus Christ we have our first realization of this. The only possible way to have full understanding of the teachings of Jesus is through the light of the Spirit of God shining inside us. If we have never had the experience of taking our casual, religious shoes off our casual, religious feet— getting rid of all the excessive informality with which we approach God— it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence. The people who are flippant and disrespectful in their approach to God are those who have never been introduced to Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). …. the way God speaks to us; not by visions and dreams, but by words. When a man gets to God, it is by the most simple way— words. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

Are you familiar with the idiom “Coming with your hat in your hand”?  It means to approach someone “In a meek or submissive manner. (The removal of one's hat is typically a gesture of respect.)”  Men used to tip their hat  or grab the brim and move it downward as a show of respect.  Standing before God with our hats in in our hands is comparable to Moses removing his sandals because He was standing on holy ground. When we come to worship, we may come just as we are, but we must be careful that we are not prideful in our attitude toward God thinking He can “take it or leave it”.  You are thinking, “I would never do that?”  Well, my fear is that many of us refuse to remove our hats when we stand before God.

Over the past 30 years, there has been a shift in how people dress on Sunday morning.  We no longer wear our “Sunday go to meetin’ clothes”, but whatever we pull out o the closet.  If a man wears a suit and tie to church people think he is going to preach or is in some kind of leadership position.  You know that God judges the heart of man, not his outward appearance.  But very often the outward appearance is a reflection of the heart.  Don’t misunderstand me.  I don’t think Moses had a suit and tie on when God interrupted his life … he had on work clothes.  This is not about clothing.  It’s about reverence.  

In times past, I am certain that many people came to church “all dolled up”, “dressed to the nines” (I love those old sayings) with sin in their heart, looking for recognition by men and not God.  What I am concerned about is that we may have lost our awareness that we have come to worship a Holy God.  When we approach Him, on any day, it must be with an awareness that the only reason we have access to God is because of Jesus and His sacrifice. 

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. - Hebrews 4:13-16

The next time you pray .. read the Word of God .. attend a worship service … maybe even take your next breath … keep this in mind.  He is the potter, we are the clay.  We are saved by grace through faith and not works .. there is nothing we can take credit for.  So take off your hat!

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

When God Says Go And You Say No

Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet. Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God. - Acts 5:1-4

So what happened here? I think that Ananias and Sapphira initially responded to the prompting of the Spirit to sell their property. But then something changed. A faith response can seem to be a frivolous act when view through the lens of the world. So if I will you permit me to be liberal in my interpretation of the events - knowing that the Word is silent on the details. I imagine a conversation between them went something like this. 

(Sapphira) "Ananias we got so much money from the sale; I had no idea!"

(Ananias) "Me either! I was thinking that maybe we could use some of that money to pay our debts and maybe have some for our future. We didn't tell Peter what we would sell it for. Surely the money we will give to the Apostles will be more than most will give. Let's just tell them that what we sold it for is the amount we give them!"

(Sapphira) "I agree. We need some of that money for us!"

And you know the rest. So, why did that happen? The Bible gives us some insight.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. - 1 Timothy 6:10

They lost spiritual perspective - took their eyes off of Jesus and focused on the world. Peter rightly said that they could have decided to give some and not all - but they had committed initially - by their choice to give all - and then decided to lie to conceal their sin. But God sees the heart of man.  

I was on staff with the Promise Keepers ministry some - well I guess many - years ago. I recall the wives of the men who attended the conferences along with as many as 60,000 other Christian men telling me that their husbands came back as new men, but after about 2 weeks, like Moses coming off the mountain, the glory faded. (Later I likened it to taking a Promise Keeper pill that would last a year.) The men were faced with the realities of life on this planet. They took their eyes off of Jesus and started focusing on themselves. Their hearts were drawn back to the affairs of this world.

After 5 years, our time serving in Mississippi after Katrina was drawing to a close. Several people - who were geographically separated and unknown to each other, talked to Martie and me about going to Haiti to help after the earthquake. We both came under conviction that the Lord was indeed leading us to serve in Haiti. And so, we made the commitment to go, knowing what the cost would be.

I was talking with a friend - who was religious but not saved - when I told him what we were about to do - he looked me squarely and asked "Are you crazy! Don't go to Haiti!" I responded with, "It's not my idea, it's God's!" Of course, he did not understand our decision in light of the difficulties he knew we would most certainly face.

"The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit." - 1 Corinthians 2:14

The Word says that a person without the Spirit of God is incapable of understanding spiritual truth. For us it was a faith thing. It was a spiritual calling. And our friend was spiritually deaf and blind. 

When you are faced with the leading of God in your walk of faith be on your guard! The cares of the world will want to get in the way. When God speaks you must be ready to go. Your flesh will want you to say "no!". Remember the admonition in First John chapter 2 .... 

"Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever." - 1 John 2:15-17

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone