During a conversation after the Sunday morning service at Calvary Chapel Sydney, I was asked a pointed question: "Do you believe that God still speaks to people today, for instance, just like He did to Moses at the burning bush?" After thinking I replied in the affirmative: God has not changed, neither is the way He communicates with people. Though He does use the Holy Spirit to speak to us personally through He Word, He certainly can speak through dreams, visions, or even spoken voice. God is not limited to speak to us in the ways which we might expect. It is God's choice how He speaks to us, and most certainly He has spoken to us all through His Son, Jesus Christ. He is our Mediator, Intercessor, and Savior.
How wonderful it is to know that we need not rely on a certain church official, a particular rabbi or priest, or a holy man or woman to decipher and tell us what God is saying to us. From the very beginning, God spoke directly to Adam before his fall. It was because of sin that God instituted the covenant of His Law with Israel, appointing and anointing priests to serve before Him. They were a type of Christ in that they were the mediators between the people and God. The king himself would consult with God through them, to receive guidance from the King of Kings. Now Jesus has become our High Priest, and has become sin for us in offering Himself freely to atone for the sins of the world. By faith we receive forgiveness through His shed blood, and we enter into the New Covenant established upon Christ and grace.
But God, in His great wisdom, did not leave us without personal help or comfort when Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father: He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell all believers so we might be empowered, exercise spiritual gifts, and be taught all that Jesus desires to tell us. Jesus told His disciples in John 16:12-15: "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you." Whether God speaks to us audibly from a burning bush or through His still small voice within our hearts, He still speaks with all the authority and power of an infinite, Almighty Creator and Ruler of All.
As a friend of mine and dear brother in Christ enjoys saying, "God doesn't need me." This blog is not required for you to grow spiritually in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. These writings are simply a means to encourage you to seek God more. May this blog never be a substitute for a real relationship with God! Know that you do not need anyone to draw close to Christ except Him. Now some have stretched this into error, and would claim that because only Christ is needed they do not need to be involved and serve in a church fellowship, adhere to sound doctrine, or labor to be profitable for the glory of God. God has given us each other to gird us with strength, to preserve unity, to sharpen one another, to be an encouragement, and to pray and serve together for God's glory. The fact remains that Jesus must be our All in All, and we ought to preserve that place of all honor and glory for Him alone!
God still speaks! Have you heard Him lately? I tend to hear well only when I listen. I encourage you to take some time today to seek God and listen for His voice. And when He DOES speak to you in the night hours or calls your name as He did Samuel, say "Speak LORD, for your servant hears." (Then don't roll over and try to immediately go to sleep.) What He tells you be faithful to speak and live out. Praise God that He still speaks, and may His people be faithful to listen and obey!
09 January 2011
07 January 2011
Overcoming the Adversary
This morning during my quiet time with the LORD I read the first chapter of 1 Samuel. A verse about Hannah the mother of Samuel caught my attention. 1 Samuel 1:6 reads, "And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb." The NKJV drives home the effect Peninnah (a rival wife of Hannah's) had upon her: "And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the LORD had closed her womb." Hannah was barren because God had closed her womb. Though she had a wonderful husband and did greatly desire children, it was the hateful spite from Peninnah that broke Hannah down. It is amazing to consider the means God employs to foster within His children His heavenly graces as we are refined "as by fire."
God did not desire for Hannah to be miserable, to weep and refuse to eat food. But He intentionally closed Hannah's womb and allowed Peninnah to continue her assault. How true it is that our adversary, the devil, would provoke us to be miserable over what God does or does not do! Hannah wished for a child, and cried out to God to fulfill her petition. It was God's will she would have a son and five more children besides, but He desired to use this difficult situation to work within her as well as through her. She would later give birth to the prophet Samuel, whom she would consecrate for life to serve the LORD.
There is much God will do in our lives, and He has given us desire to see His word immediately fulfilled. Yet in His wisdom, He tarries. And in some cases, it feels as though His promises might never see fruition! While He tarries, our adversary labors to make us fret and wallow in misery, break our resolve, distract us from His goodness, fill us with doubt and anguish, and drown us in cares that ought to be cast upon Christ in prayer. How great is our God, who works all things - even the vicious assaults of our adversaries - for good! May we be as Hannah, who sought the LORD fervently despite the ferocity of her rival. When her prayers were answered, she was faithful to obey and do her part unto the LORD as she promised. She was rewarded with fruitfulness and God received the glory!
God did not desire for Hannah to be miserable, to weep and refuse to eat food. But He intentionally closed Hannah's womb and allowed Peninnah to continue her assault. How true it is that our adversary, the devil, would provoke us to be miserable over what God does or does not do! Hannah wished for a child, and cried out to God to fulfill her petition. It was God's will she would have a son and five more children besides, but He desired to use this difficult situation to work within her as well as through her. She would later give birth to the prophet Samuel, whom she would consecrate for life to serve the LORD.
There is much God will do in our lives, and He has given us desire to see His word immediately fulfilled. Yet in His wisdom, He tarries. And in some cases, it feels as though His promises might never see fruition! While He tarries, our adversary labors to make us fret and wallow in misery, break our resolve, distract us from His goodness, fill us with doubt and anguish, and drown us in cares that ought to be cast upon Christ in prayer. How great is our God, who works all things - even the vicious assaults of our adversaries - for good! May we be as Hannah, who sought the LORD fervently despite the ferocity of her rival. When her prayers were answered, she was faithful to obey and do her part unto the LORD as she promised. She was rewarded with fruitfulness and God received the glory!
04 January 2011
Just Another Potato...
When I ran cross country for Grossmont High school, I enjoyed the leadership of Coach Lib. He did much more than teach us how to run competitively. He gave us great insight into being part of a team, knew how and when to challenge us to reach our hidden potential, and understood the power of motivation. During his pep talks, he would talk about how our character was being built by our choices. When we were faced with obstacles or difficulties he would say, "That's just another potato in the stew of life." That's a positive way to see our struggles - like a potato that can be swallowed and put away for good.
As believers we know God allows things to happen we cannot. He knows that good will come from circumstances He allows which we never could have imagined. Unlike the natural process of digestion, God is able to supernaturally make good out of obstacles there's no way we could chew or swallow. What a comfort this is to us, knowing God remains in control!
This morning our family disembarked at 6:15am Sydney time, had our passports stamped, and headed over to Carousel #4 to pick up our baggage. Our flight from Carlsbad to Sydney had been delayed 20 minutes, shrinking our 45 minute layover to mere minutes. Thankfully the gates were close! But it became apparent as we waited at the carousel in Sydney watching bag after bag pass by without seeing one of our eight checked bags, we had managed to make a connection our bags had not! It was later confirmed that our bags had indeed reached LAX, but were somewhere else than Sydney this morning. We weren't the only ones with missing bags either!
Needless to say this was an unexpected snag in our travels. Laura and the boys had only the clothes on their backs, we were without toiletries, and separated from things considered precious enough to cart 7,500 miles! Though disappointed with this minor setback, we were blessed beyond measure to be met by two women from church who woke up early (and one young man on summer holiday!), faced the traffic and tolls, and met us with joyful embraces. I would rather lose 10 bags forever and receive the love of Christ than to have 10 cases filled with gold without God's love. How blessed we are to have the fellowship, unity, and love of Jesus Christ displayed from His people!
We still do not know how the missing baggage story will end. Will our bags ever be found? I hope so! But even in this God can and will be glorified, and even this setback is just a small potato in the stew of life. We'll chew it up and grow stronger. Praise God He has given us a life worth living and brothers and sisters in Christ to share it with!
As believers we know God allows things to happen we cannot. He knows that good will come from circumstances He allows which we never could have imagined. Unlike the natural process of digestion, God is able to supernaturally make good out of obstacles there's no way we could chew or swallow. What a comfort this is to us, knowing God remains in control!
This morning our family disembarked at 6:15am Sydney time, had our passports stamped, and headed over to Carousel #4 to pick up our baggage. Our flight from Carlsbad to Sydney had been delayed 20 minutes, shrinking our 45 minute layover to mere minutes. Thankfully the gates were close! But it became apparent as we waited at the carousel in Sydney watching bag after bag pass by without seeing one of our eight checked bags, we had managed to make a connection our bags had not! It was later confirmed that our bags had indeed reached LAX, but were somewhere else than Sydney this morning. We weren't the only ones with missing bags either!
Needless to say this was an unexpected snag in our travels. Laura and the boys had only the clothes on their backs, we were without toiletries, and separated from things considered precious enough to cart 7,500 miles! Though disappointed with this minor setback, we were blessed beyond measure to be met by two women from church who woke up early (and one young man on summer holiday!), faced the traffic and tolls, and met us with joyful embraces. I would rather lose 10 bags forever and receive the love of Christ than to have 10 cases filled with gold without God's love. How blessed we are to have the fellowship, unity, and love of Jesus Christ displayed from His people!
We still do not know how the missing baggage story will end. Will our bags ever be found? I hope so! But even in this God can and will be glorified, and even this setback is just a small potato in the stew of life. We'll chew it up and grow stronger. Praise God He has given us a life worth living and brothers and sisters in Christ to share it with!
02 January 2011
A Time to Fly
The big moment has almost arrived! Tomorrow my wife and two sons will be boarding a plane bound for Sydney, Australia! People ask me: "Are you excited?" Frankly, I don't know when I wasn't excited. But at the same time it feels unbelievable, that the day that hardly seemed imaginable will become a soon reality. One of my sons have not even been out of the state of California, much less off the continent! A challenge and change awaits us.
Thank God that He is LORD of the heavens and the earth. As the words of David relate in Psalm 139:7-18: "Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me," even the night shall be light about me; 12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You. 13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. 14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. and in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You."
How marvelous are the works of our God! Though we leave family and friends dear to us, we look forward to friends and family in Christ we join in service to God in Australia. Tomorrow is already written in God's book, but I have a part in walking according to His will. Though we may be out of sight and out of mind of men, our God will never forget us. He will never leave or forsake His children.
Thank God that He is LORD of the heavens and the earth. As the words of David relate in Psalm 139:7-18: "Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me," even the night shall be light about me; 12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You. 13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. 14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. and in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You."
How marvelous are the works of our God! Though we leave family and friends dear to us, we look forward to friends and family in Christ we join in service to God in Australia. Tomorrow is already written in God's book, but I have a part in walking according to His will. Though we may be out of sight and out of mind of men, our God will never forget us. He will never leave or forsake His children.
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