Christ's Leading for Life

According to his website, Tony Robbins is described as a "World Authority on Leadership Psychology" and the "#1 Life and Business Strategist."  An article on his site says, "Whether you lead a Fortune 500 company or simply lead yourself as you strive to attain your goals, leadership qualities are absolutely essential to your success. It helps you surmount obstacles, take risks, and find ways to live joyfully and thrive even during the most challenging times."  The article lists six qualities to cultivate in the lives of leaders:  confidence, focus, honesty, being positive, decisive, and inspirational.  Whilst the qualities of good leaders are subjective and this is hardly an exhaustive list, they illustrate well the point:  man's concepts of leadership differ greatly from God's ways.

Allow me to illustrate from a passage of scripture when King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah were threatened by a great army.  Based upon the aforementioned list which has no mention of God, King Jehoshaphat was an obvious failure.  He did not bother to put a brave face on the threat, nor did he rally the troops with an inspirational message.  He directed the people to fast and they gathered for a prayer meeting.  This is a king with fortifications, strategists, valiant fighters, and weapons of war.  See what Jehoshaphat prayed when the nation gathered before the LORD in 2 Chronicles 20:12-13:  "O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You." ¹³ Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the LORD."

Jehoshaphat did not tell his advisers in a private meeting behind closed doors, "Gentlemen, I don't believe we have a chance."  He said "We have no power" nice and loud for everyone to hear, in front of the army, the women and children!  He said, "We have no power against this threat, nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You."  This is a remarkable admission!  Parents feel they must put on a bold front for their children so they will not be alarmed.  They will lie if it will make their children feel safe.  Jehoshaphat refused to do so.  As king he publicly admitted he did not have any power or resources able to save, he was totally overwhelmed, and could only look to God.  And that, I believe, is a reason why God took charge the way He did, miraculously routing the enemy the following day and brought about a momentous victory.  A hopeless and helpless leader looked to God - rather than attempting in vain to comfort the people or rally his men - and every enemy warrior was destroyed without losing a single man, woman, or child.

The best leaders are those who are led by God.  Their confidence is not in themselves or past victories but in the God who delivered their souls from death.  The godly leader's focus is not the advancing enemy or the formulation of a strategy but on the Living God who is able to save to the uttermost who cry out to Him.  Honesty before God and men is paramount, and bowing our hearts before God is the most positive step we can take in seeking His will.  We must decisively seek the LORD's directives without fear of man, for the way that seems good to a man ends in death.  Finally, Jesus Christ is to be our inspiration.  The only thing more inspiring than a person who commits themselves to God when their life is on the line is the one who faithfully lives for His glory when his life isn't at immediate risk.  That can be you and me as we follow Christ's leading for our lives.

Wrath Upon Us

The Bible often makes me think.  Whilst thinking was allegedly "a dangerous pastime" for Gaston in Disney's "Beauty in the Beast," careful thought is most necessary to read the Bible with understanding.  The Christian life often today is tragically whittled down to catch-phrases and cliches which are totally inadequate to convey God's truth contained throughout scripture.  The strides taken in producing translations for modern readers cannot reduce the complexity and necessity of sound theology.  The Bible is comprised of 66 books, and we need every single one of them for the full revelation God has provided.

I have heard people say many times "Christians are not under God's wrath," and this is true - but this hackneyed cliche doesn't tell the whole story.  It is true we are no longer under wrath because Jesus took our punishment on Calvary.  As followers of Jesus Christ through faith, we have been saved by eternal wrath by Him.  We all deserve hell, but Jesus has atoned for our sins.  The wrath of God is reserved for the wicked who will drink this cup to the dregs.  Plenty of verses back up this position.  So what is the problem?

There's no problem, but a verse I read this morning provides a condition everyone who claims absolute immunity from God's wrath ought to know.  Jehoshaphat was a godly king of Judah who was invited to a feast by the Ahab, the wicked king of Israel.  The reason for the special feast?  Ahab wanted Jehoshaphat's help to fight his enemies - enemies God likely had stirred up against Ahab to chasten him to repentance.  Because they were both children of Abraham and Israel, Jehoshaphat agreed to an alliance with Ahab to help him.  After Jehoshaphat returned safe from battle because God helped him 2 Chronicles 19:2 says, "And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to King Jehoshaphat, "Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Therefore the wrath of the LORD is upon you."  This verse teaches us though God has spared His faithful followers from eternal wrath, should we support evil we can unwittingly place ourselves under God's wrath.  Hopefully these words from God caused Jehoshaphat to think about supporting those who showed contempt towards God through their actions and to repent himself.

How good it is to be circumspect in our reading of God's Word and our lives!  We know we ought to love one another as God has loved us, but in helping his wicked brother Jehoshaphat was heading for judgment and a world of pain and loss.  His soul was secure but he should not have been surprised after making an alliance with wicked Ahaziah his ships sank (1 Kings 22:44-48, 2 Chron. 20:37).  I am grateful God did not give us the "Reader's Digest" version of his Word, modernised and abridged to make it easier for us to read faster.  He has held nothing back we need to know to live righteously and godly in this world, and there is no fine print or hidden charges.  The King James Version can be made plain to us by the Holy Spirit who teaches and guides us into all truth.  When we read with thought, intending to obey, God will reveal new things to broaden our understanding for the purpose of application to our lives.  Praise the LORD we are no longer children of wrath, and God-forbid through our ignorance of His Word we enter into alliances we ought to refuse and bring wrath from God upon us.

The Ride of Your Life

Following Jesus is a personal choice, and those who make the decision discover it can be a wild ride.  I remember very well as a teen my first visit to Magic Mountain, a theme-park filled with roller coasters in Valencia California.  The wildest rides I had ever ridden to that point were in Disneyland, but the Matterhorn had nothing on Revolution or Viper!  When I balked and told my friend I would rather sit a ride out, he said something to me like this:  "You're going on every single ride.  You don't have a choice.  It's going to be awesome."  I did have a choice, but his encouragement was what I needed to discover I loved roller coasters.  I had the greatest time and when new rides were built I was all in.

Roller coasters are specially engineered to safely utilise the force of gravity to thrill.  As you are secured in your seat anticipation builds as the ride slowly clinks up to the highest point.  Some find this slow ascent terrifying and audibly pray before the death-defying drop.  Are you a person who white-knuckles their way through the ride or raises your hands over your head screaming for joy?  I remember a little boy shouting with his eyes tightly shut as we rode "California Screaming" in Anaheim, "I don't like it!  I don't like it!"  After the ride is over, there are basically two responses in people new to roller coasters:  it is either, "Let's do that again!" or "I am never doing that again!"

In my life I can say following Jesus has been a lot like a roller coaster at times.  God has led me to do things I never imagined doing or wanted to do, and He has been faithful all the time.  I used to endure rides before I learned to enjoy them.  Grabbing the seat hard and gritting my teeth didn't stop the ride or make it more safe.  Letting go, raising my arms over my head, and committing myself to the experience with an aim to enjoy it was key to me running back to the front of the line to have another go.  When you choose to follow Jesus, it will be the ride of your life.  There will be waiting which seems to take forever, slow ascents and rapid descents, rushes of feelings good and painful, corkscrews and moments when everything is upside down.  But as someone who has followed Jesus for a while I say by the end, regardless of the trepidation I had when I faced new challenges and seasons, "Let's do that again."  Seeing the happy faces of people disembarking the ride gives potential anxious new riders encouragement.  I want to be one of those happy people! :)

How are you enjoying the ride Jesus has you on?  Know He has designed it especially for you and always has your safety and eternal future in mind.  You can grit your teeth all you want, but how much better it is to turn our eyes towards Him, lift our hands in praise, and commit ourselves to Him completely.  There is joy, peace, and comfort in this posture - without queasiness or a sore neck!

Approaching the Unapproachable

The apostle Paul spoke of God's glorious nature in 1 Timothy 6:15-16:  "...He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶ who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honour and everlasting power. Amen."  God is from everlasting and His power is infinite.  We cannot stare into the brightness of the sun for long without damaging our eyes, and if we attempted to draw near to this great star the heat would consume our bodies long before our feet ever touched upon the surface.  God is even more inapproachable, and though we cannot see Him the power of what He has made by the words of His mouth causes our hearts to fail.

To be summoned to appear in the court of a king would be a fearful proposition.  I was never comfortable to be called into the office by my boss when potentially my job hung in the balance:  how much more disconcerting to be called before a king who possessed power over life and death!  All he needed to do was say the word and the life of the mightiest subject was forfeit.  When evil Haman plotted the destruction of the Jews, Esther the queen was compelled by her cousin Mordecai to approach her husband Ahasuerus the king of the Medes and Persians to intercede on behalf of the Jews to expose grave injustice and bring about deliverance.  You might think, "Big deal!  She's the queen and married to the king.  She can do anything she wants!"  You would be quite wrong in that assessment, for the law said otherwise.

Esther knew the law of the Medes and Persians, and the law only condemned all in her position should she enter the court without being summoned.  She explained this in Esther 4:11:  "All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been called, he has but one law: put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden sceptre, that he may live. Yet I myself have not been called to go in to the king these thirty days."  Going before the king unannounced was an automatic death sentence.  The only exception was if the king held out the golden sceptre.  By this benevolent act the king could go above the law to save who came to him.  After three days of praying and fasting, Esther approached the king, he held out the sceptre, and the rest is history.

It is with such trepidation and soberness we approach the LORD God who has revealed Himself to us by His grace.  Under the Law we are condemned and have no hope of deliverance.  There is nothing we can bring in our hands which would cause God to accept us on our merits.  When we approach the unapproachable God humbly in faith, He has extended grace and deliverance to us through Jesus Christ.  God forbid we would see Jesus only as a friend and not first as God and King of whose presence we are most unworthy.  Esther and all the people knew the law of the Medes and Persians which could not be changed, and many people do not know the Almighty God who does not change.  He is without beginning or ending, immortal, unapproachable, to whom is honour and everlasting power.  When you pray to Him, do not barge into His presence.  Do not be presumptuous to do all the speaking.  We are only able to approach Him boldly because He has already summoned us to appear before His throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Our God is a consuming fire, and at the prospect of His might our natural inclination is to run and hide.  Trying to hide from God is futile, for His light shines in all darkness and His understanding is infinite.  Let us draw near to Him in faith even as Esther did before her king.  She did not appear because she was assured of favour from the king but the urgency of her need.  God has assured all those who repent and trust in Him favour, deliverance, and salvation.  The Law which condemned us has been blotted out and nailed to the cross for good measure with our Saviour Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:13-15), and our King lives to make intercession on our behalf (Hebrews 7:25).  How glorious is it is to be known and accepted by the most high God!  Let us fall on our faces in worship, for He is worthy!