There is a verse that has God has impressed upon my mind a couple of times today: Proverbs 18:1. It says, "A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment." The KJV says it in a different manner: "Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom." The word "intermeddleth" means to "be obstinate," or someone who is stubbornly opposed to wisdom. God is the source of all wisdom, and Jesus has become for us the source of wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). To be isolated from God by our desires is to invite our destruction.
When a person is born, he is born into a life of sin. Selfishness is natural. Taking thought for your own life and how a situation impacts you is normal. Our sin separates us from God, as it is written in Isaiah 59:1-2: "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. [2] But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear." Jesus is our Peace, who has broken down the middle wall of separation caused by sin, and allows us to draw near to God (Eph. 2:14). We can be washed clean through the blood of Christ, having been born again by grace through faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
When a man is married to a woman, the minister will say something similar to what Christ says in Matthew 19:6: "So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." The church (made up of born-again followers of Christ) has a relationship to Christ that a bride has to her husband. We have been joined with Him, and should not seek to isolate ourselves from Him. But the common tragedy is married people still retain their own desires and often break the marriage covenant with divorce. This disaster is often seen in the church as well, when the desires of people override the unity and wisdom that God has provided us through His Word and Holy Spirit.
I'm learning firsthand the tough lesson that comes from separation from the ones you love and the ones that love you. But being away from a wife and children for two months is nothing to the absolute hell that comes from being separated from God. Heaven is the most beautiful place conceived of because God is there, and hell is the ultimate in ugliness because it is devoid of God's presence. There is no shortage to the unspeakable wickedness that lies in the heart of mankind, and I cannot imagine the putrid foulness of the filthy uncleanness of the demonic spirits and depraved people who lie festering in that fiery, dark, scream-filled pit that is called hell. It is an ugly picture to be sure.
Eve looked upon the forbidden fruit with desire, ate of it, and gave some to Adam who desired to please his wife rather than God. Their actions literally severed them from the presence of God with all of their progeny. But because of the glorious truth of the Gospel, we can be united once again with God through spiritual regeneration by faith in Jesus Christ. Once God has united us with other believers in the Body of Christ, we are no longer to seek our own desire. We are to be led by the Holy Spirit, for we find our unity through the power of God. Ephes. 4:1-3 exhorts us: "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, [2] with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, [3] endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
There is no division or isolation in unity. If we are opposed to God's wisdom, then we err by following after our own desires. Christ is for us wisdom, and is the Head of His Body, the church. To rage against wisdom is to seek destruction of your own soul. I thank God for the unity of His Spirit, and the power of Christ to free us from sin, death, and our own destructive desires. How many have been shipwrecked upon their own lusts, never again to rise? Glory be to God who has delivered us from the power of our own flesh, for in us dwells no good thing.
07 October 2009
06 October 2009
Kind of like a puzzle...
Today Louis and I borrowed Phil's trailer and headed over to Ike and Cecile's house about 25km away. They are moving and offered me their dining room table, chairs, and stools. It is a gesture most appreciated and everything packed very neatly into the corner of Louis' garage. Louis said, "Isn't it amazing how God puts the pieces of the puzzle together?" To which I remarked, "He certainly puts them together in an interesting order." One would think the provision of a visa would be forthcoming, seeming to be much more critical than a table and chairs. But the clear provision of God through the saints is no small thing, and I praise God for His faithfulness.
When you put a puzzle together, you take it out of a box that has a picture on top. You see the end result before you begin. When I think about God's calling upon my life to preach and minister in AUS, I can't see the complete picture. Many of the puzzles I have worked over the years have beautiful landscapes with clearly defined portions: blue sky, white clouds, green grass, trees, animals. An exception is a puzzle I bought for Laura before she was my wife by M.C. Esher, the classic waterfall that seems to travel uphill. The major difficulty of this puzzle is the lack of colour. So much of the picture has the same dull hues and tones and everything seems to blend together. When I look at the wilderness experience where I find myself, it's hard to tell exactly where I am or where I fit in.
It seems a little on the wild side that Laura would have sold our kitchen table and chairs back home, and now in a garage in AUS sits a table and chairs set aside for our future use. When Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac his only son, the astute young man said, "Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Genesis 22:8 says, "And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together." Abraham built the altar, put the wood in order, and bound his son and laid him upon the wood. After he took the knife in his hand to slay Isaac, the Angel of the Lord told him to stop, saying that He now knew that Abraham feared God because he had not withheld his only son. Genesis 22:13-14 states, "Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. [14] And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of The Lord it shall be provided."
God has provided abundantly for me, my Jehovah-Jireh. Shall I be as Isaac and say, "Here is a table and chairs, but where is the home I will use them in? Where is the visa? Where is the place I will dwell?" It think it better to be as Abraham and say, "The Lord Will Provide." There is no doubt in Abraham's words. "Will" does not mean "might." Abraham speaks with the certainty of faith. I say as the father of the demon-possessed child: "Lord I believe: help my unbelief!"
When picking up the trailer, little Andrew (Phil and Linda's son) asked me a question. He asked, "Do you wish you could go home to your family?" "No," I honestly answered, almost surprised by my immediate response. "But I wish they were here with me." I have a table and chairs, but I don't have my sons and wife by my side. God puts the puzzle together in His order and in His time. As Corrie ten Boom used to say, we only see the back side of the embroidery. God sees from the vantage point of eternity and knows what He is doing. We see a random mix of color and say, "What beauty could possibly come from that?" Eccles. 3:11 says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end."
Most people start with the border when putting a puzzle together. It feels like the puzzle of my life has been flipped upside down, and all I can see is the grainy cardboard. In the middle of the table lies two pieces fitted together, and no border in sight. God will provide all that I need in His time. I long for the day when Jesus will say to me, "Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your life, your only life, from Me." Because of Christ's sacrificial payment I have a life to live. As the song says, "I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back. Though none go with me, still I will follow. No turning back, no turning back."
When you put a puzzle together, you take it out of a box that has a picture on top. You see the end result before you begin. When I think about God's calling upon my life to preach and minister in AUS, I can't see the complete picture. Many of the puzzles I have worked over the years have beautiful landscapes with clearly defined portions: blue sky, white clouds, green grass, trees, animals. An exception is a puzzle I bought for Laura before she was my wife by M.C. Esher, the classic waterfall that seems to travel uphill. The major difficulty of this puzzle is the lack of colour. So much of the picture has the same dull hues and tones and everything seems to blend together. When I look at the wilderness experience where I find myself, it's hard to tell exactly where I am or where I fit in.
It seems a little on the wild side that Laura would have sold our kitchen table and chairs back home, and now in a garage in AUS sits a table and chairs set aside for our future use. When Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac his only son, the astute young man said, "Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Genesis 22:8 says, "And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together." Abraham built the altar, put the wood in order, and bound his son and laid him upon the wood. After he took the knife in his hand to slay Isaac, the Angel of the Lord told him to stop, saying that He now knew that Abraham feared God because he had not withheld his only son. Genesis 22:13-14 states, "Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. [14] And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of The Lord it shall be provided."
God has provided abundantly for me, my Jehovah-Jireh. Shall I be as Isaac and say, "Here is a table and chairs, but where is the home I will use them in? Where is the visa? Where is the place I will dwell?" It think it better to be as Abraham and say, "The Lord Will Provide." There is no doubt in Abraham's words. "Will" does not mean "might." Abraham speaks with the certainty of faith. I say as the father of the demon-possessed child: "Lord I believe: help my unbelief!"
When picking up the trailer, little Andrew (Phil and Linda's son) asked me a question. He asked, "Do you wish you could go home to your family?" "No," I honestly answered, almost surprised by my immediate response. "But I wish they were here with me." I have a table and chairs, but I don't have my sons and wife by my side. God puts the puzzle together in His order and in His time. As Corrie ten Boom used to say, we only see the back side of the embroidery. God sees from the vantage point of eternity and knows what He is doing. We see a random mix of color and say, "What beauty could possibly come from that?" Eccles. 3:11 says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end."
Most people start with the border when putting a puzzle together. It feels like the puzzle of my life has been flipped upside down, and all I can see is the grainy cardboard. In the middle of the table lies two pieces fitted together, and no border in sight. God will provide all that I need in His time. I long for the day when Jesus will say to me, "Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your life, your only life, from Me." Because of Christ's sacrificial payment I have a life to live. As the song says, "I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back. Though none go with me, still I will follow. No turning back, no turning back."
05 October 2009
To Do the Impossible...
Last night I did something that I don't always do. I chose not to pray for any specific requests until God told me what to pray. Sometimes I feel like I can fall into a rut of going down a "list" of sorts, praising God, asking blessings upon my wife and children, thanking Him for the Landman family and all those who are supporting me...these things are all fine and good to pray for. But last night I said, "God, I'm not going to pray for anything until you tell me what to pray or how to pray. My prayers are lame." Then His words came to me like an invigorating rain upon my parched soul: "Pray for the impossible."
Consider the implications of the statement. How often do we limit our prayers to what is possible? How common is the prayer that asks God to do what we could do ourselves? What a difference it makes in our prayers when we pray for God to do what is impossible for us to do. This works upon us in several ways: 1) it causes us to look to God's all-sufficient strength, wisdom, and power; 2) it causes us to admit our helplessness, weakness, and blindness; 3) it causes us to grow in faithful expectancy that what God has promised He is able to perform; 4) it allows God to be God. Jesus said that it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into heaven. When the disciples heard that, they were shocked and asked, "Who then can be saved?" "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26). A rich man will trust his riches and not look to God to supply his physical or spiritual needs. He is sufficient in his own eyes. When we limit our prayers to the possible, we limit God by our senses. Spiritually speaking, this is nothing short of a catastrophic disaster.
Psalm 78:40-41 discusses the conduct of the children of Israel in the desert after God brought them out of the land of Egypt. "How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert! [41] Yes, again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel." Did you catch the second part? Because of their unbelief, the Israelites provoked, grieved, tempted, and limited God! When we pray according to sight and not according to the power of the Spirit, we limit God by our superficial prayers! Isn't it ironic that prayer is the very means God has devised that we would use to release His power upon all the earth, yet that is the same means that can limit God? We can be like king Joash, who struck three arrows into the ground when he should have struck five or six times. Elisha was furious with the king, who was content with three victories instead of total victory. It would not be enough to destroy Syria, the enemy of Israel (see the story in 2 Kings 13:15-19). What a shame to not pray for victory because we cannot see how God will do it!
Receive this encouragement from the LORD to pray the impossible. Are you afraid that God will not do it? Are you concerned that God cannot do it? Then you are not praying to the real God in heaven, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, the great I AM. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, and without Him I can do nothing. For our God the miraculous is common operation. Give God the freedom with an open invitation to do miraculous things in your life. If this makes any sense to you at all, it is likely He already has!
Consider the implications of the statement. How often do we limit our prayers to what is possible? How common is the prayer that asks God to do what we could do ourselves? What a difference it makes in our prayers when we pray for God to do what is impossible for us to do. This works upon us in several ways: 1) it causes us to look to God's all-sufficient strength, wisdom, and power; 2) it causes us to admit our helplessness, weakness, and blindness; 3) it causes us to grow in faithful expectancy that what God has promised He is able to perform; 4) it allows God to be God. Jesus said that it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into heaven. When the disciples heard that, they were shocked and asked, "Who then can be saved?" "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26). A rich man will trust his riches and not look to God to supply his physical or spiritual needs. He is sufficient in his own eyes. When we limit our prayers to the possible, we limit God by our senses. Spiritually speaking, this is nothing short of a catastrophic disaster.
Psalm 78:40-41 discusses the conduct of the children of Israel in the desert after God brought them out of the land of Egypt. "How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert! [41] Yes, again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel." Did you catch the second part? Because of their unbelief, the Israelites provoked, grieved, tempted, and limited God! When we pray according to sight and not according to the power of the Spirit, we limit God by our superficial prayers! Isn't it ironic that prayer is the very means God has devised that we would use to release His power upon all the earth, yet that is the same means that can limit God? We can be like king Joash, who struck three arrows into the ground when he should have struck five or six times. Elisha was furious with the king, who was content with three victories instead of total victory. It would not be enough to destroy Syria, the enemy of Israel (see the story in 2 Kings 13:15-19). What a shame to not pray for victory because we cannot see how God will do it!
Receive this encouragement from the LORD to pray the impossible. Are you afraid that God will not do it? Are you concerned that God cannot do it? Then you are not praying to the real God in heaven, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, the great I AM. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, and without Him I can do nothing. For our God the miraculous is common operation. Give God the freedom with an open invitation to do miraculous things in your life. If this makes any sense to you at all, it is likely He already has!
03 October 2009
Culture Shock!
A major misconception of Americans is that Australia, being English speaking, is very similar to America. There is an idea that we are perfectly compatible culturally. I am still only beginning to see the nuances and subtleties which make the cultural expanse so wide, perhaps as wide as the Pacific Ocean. This is a distance that cannot be spanned except through the power of the Holy Spirit and God's grace.
The Landman family and I have been visiting Sonja in the hospital for about a week now nearly every day. The hospital is very clean, modern, and the staff is highly professional. But I saw something yesterday in the medical offices that would never fly in a San Diego hospital! In the ward where Sonja is staying, there sits a wheelbarrow filled with alcohol: beer, rum, wine coolers and other miscellaneous alcoholic beverages. You don't believe me? But there it is, covered with a net so recovering patients don't help themselves in passing. I joked with Louis that the state-run hospital is making sure they have future visitors, or at least returning ones!
It turns out that this "Wheelbarrow of Goodies" can be obtained through purchasing raffle tickets. To me, the entire concept is unthinkable and counter-intuitive. The negative side-effects of binge drinking is common knowledge, yet here is a hospital supplying a wheelbarrow full of alcohol! Since it is for a good cause, perhaps the end justifies the means. I'm seeing the same confusing message among churches here as well. In talking to a Aussie brother the hyper-Pentecostal movement did much damage in the church and the residual effects are still seen everywhere.
The Aussies do not have the Christian heritage and background that Americans do. Louis told me about an article he read that reported on the discounts senior citizens can obtain in Australian brothels! I do not relate these things to say that Australia is wrong and America is right. To the contrary: there is no country in the world that has had so much light of the Gospel shone into it as America. But we have largely failed to allow our light to shine in our Jerusalem and to the ends of the earth. A lost person is lost. There are no degrees of salvation. Had the light from Jesus Christ revealed in America shined with the same luster and brightness in Australia, Australia would no doubt be a different world!
The people of America, Australia, and all the nations of the earth need the salvation wrought only through faith in Jesus Christ. My prayer is that Australia would be freed from the power of the "Rainbow Serpent" whom the Aboriginal people worship to this day, and be drawn to Jesus Christ through sound doctrine. May God loose the chains of legalism, crush the head of humanism, and deliver people from the emotionalism that has left people embittered, embattled, and confused. May Matthew 11:5-6 be fulfilled in this place even now: "The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. [6] And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me." Instead of being offended by those who do not know Christ, let us reach out to them. The cultures of the world are all different, but we all have the same need: we all need forgiveness, salvation, and righteousness, which are only found in the shed blood of Jesus Christ received through faith.
The Aussies do not have the Christian heritage and background that Americans do. Louis told me about an article he read that reported on the discounts senior citizens can obtain in Australian brothels! I do not relate these things to say that Australia is wrong and America is right. To the contrary: there is no country in the world that has had so much light of the Gospel shone into it as America. But we have largely failed to allow our light to shine in our Jerusalem and to the ends of the earth. A lost person is lost. There are no degrees of salvation. Had the light from Jesus Christ revealed in America shined with the same luster and brightness in Australia, Australia would no doubt be a different world!
The people of America, Australia, and all the nations of the earth need the salvation wrought only through faith in Jesus Christ. My prayer is that Australia would be freed from the power of the "Rainbow Serpent" whom the Aboriginal people worship to this day, and be drawn to Jesus Christ through sound doctrine. May God loose the chains of legalism, crush the head of humanism, and deliver people from the emotionalism that has left people embittered, embattled, and confused. May Matthew 11:5-6 be fulfilled in this place even now: "The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. [6] And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me." Instead of being offended by those who do not know Christ, let us reach out to them. The cultures of the world are all different, but we all have the same need: we all need forgiveness, salvation, and righteousness, which are only found in the shed blood of Jesus Christ received through faith.
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