This Might of Yours

"Then the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?"

Judges 6:14

The tasks God calls His people to undertake will always require faith.  These will always be greater tasks than a man can accomplish in his own strength.  The Israelites had been greatly impoverished by the Midianites who brutally oppressed them.  God called Gideon and said to him, "The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour."  Gideon did not look or feel the part.  He certainly was unable to destroy the Midianites on his own or he would already would have tried to do it!  It was God that prompted him to even consider the crazy notion of massing a force to defeat the mighty Midianites.  It was God and His mighty sword that routed the Midianite nation.

God said to Gideon, "Go in this might of yours!"  It was not that Gideon himself was mighty.  Because God was with him, Gideon would be going in God's might.  The Angel of the LORD continued:  "You shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites.  Have I not sent you?"  Gideon did not feel mighty, but he was mighty because a mighty God empowered him.  God had called Gideon, sent Him to perform a task in faith, and it was God who would secure the victory.  Gideon's part was to believe God and obey.  Instead of focusing on the great Midianite nation as a deadly threat, Gideon was called to look to God as His source of life and strength.

It is the same for Christians today.  God has called us all to undertake steps of faith for His eternal glory.  We may not feel strong or like a "mighty man of valour," but when God is our life and strength we shall overcome.  Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."  Christ has overcome, and when He lives His life through us we also obtain the victory through Him.  We need not fear the evils of this world or even Satan's schemes and power when we have the all-powerful God residing within our hearts, granting us joy, peace, and strength even in the midst of struggles.  He is a refuge that protects us wherever we go, regardless of what befalls us.

Take confidence in Christ, o man!  Don't trust Him just for eternal life, but for living today.  Go in this might of yours - might that is not found in your flesh, but in the Spirit of God who dwells within you by grace.

Giving Back to God

I am blessed to be the dad of two budding men aged 13 and 10.  It dawned on me the other day how fast the time is going.  It was depressing to think that in 5 years Zed could leave for university or that my wife and I could have an empty nest in less than a decade.  Whoa.  A lot can change in that amount of time, but it saddened me just the same.

Years ago at a men's retreat, the LORD gave me a vision of our Jeep Grand Cherokee.  It was wrecked beyond imagination, a twisted mess of metal.  I just knew my family was in there when the crash happened.  It literally made me cry, thinking about their deaths and what an empty loneliness it would leave inside me.  In that profoundly sad moment, I rejoiced that God did not take my family from me.  He wasn't showing me a picture of the future (we have sold the Jeep!).  But I heard His still small voice tell me that I needed to give them back to Him.  I needed to give them away.  That day I gave my family and those I love into the hands of God, knowing that He is able to protect and provide for them both in this life and for eternity.

It is a good principle that whatever God gives us, we freely give it all back to Him.  We give our own lives to His sovereign control and rule.  Everything we own and everything we do is only by His grace.  Our God is one who gives and takes away.  It is far better to give back to God before it is taken from us.  Because I have given my children into God's hands, I will cope better when the day comes that they leave.  It will not be them leaving, but God who is guiding them into a new arena and chapter of their lives.  God knows so much better than me and I entrust our lives to Him.

The application?  We are only on this earth for a short time, and parenting kids is a shrinking season I am richly blessed to enjoy.  When my kids move on my life will not be over because my life is bound up in Christ - not my children.  I will miss them.  I will miss their smiles, laughs, games, ridiculous moments, teaching opportunities, and enjoying time together.  This spurns me on as a parent to spend quality time with my kids and seek to forge a relationship beyond the bounds of do's and don'ts, not limited by mere activities or common interests.  May we grant our children such grace that after they are gone we will not be missed because we were their source of food, money, or gifts, but because of our love.  Praise God for providing all we need through Christ!

The Hard Yards

I love the book Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris.  It is a challenge to all people to boldly undertake tasks bigger than yourself with faith in God for His glory.  While it is true that a chronic problem exists in society of holding low expectations for youth, people of all ages have a propensity to abandon tasks when faced with obstacles.  Christians can adopt an unfounded idea that because God is in us, the Christian life is similar to a cake-walk at a fair:  you have your ticket in your hand, walk around in a circle prompted by happy music, and in a couple minutes you'll have your pick of a sweet dessert.  Christianity is not the life you've always wanted - it is the life God has designed for you to embrace.  It is a life of doing hard things that God does through willing vessels completely committed to Him.

In Australia we have a saying.  When someone chooses to do hard things, they are "doing the hard yards."  Everyone loves the idea of eating fresh bread, but like the fable of the Little Red Hen shows us there are few who are willing to sweat through seasons of preparation.  Before the wheat can be planted, the rocks must be moved.  Ministry in a foreign field is like moving rocks.  Instead of becoming disillusioned because fruit is not evident, we need to understand that large, rugged, neglected fields take a long time to clear and prepare.  Unless someone is willing to clear the land of brambles, break the boulders, carry away the stones, and dig up the old stumps, that field can never be plowed or planted.  Unless there is planting, there will be no growth or fruitfulness that is desired by the farmer.  Without planting there will never be a harvest.

What we need in every aspect of ministry today are people who are willing to put in the hard yards, regardless of how much fruit is evident to them.  We need people in the church who are happy to move rocks all their lives in anonymity so future generations will reap a bountiful harvest.  We need people whose great delight reflects the heart of Christ and Paul as seen in 2 Corinthians 12:15:  "And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved."  Instead of being disheartened because a church isn't growing numerically or the pats on the back never come, we are to look to Christ, glad to spend and be spent for God's glory.  What is my life without Christ?  I can do nothing, but through His Spirit strongholds can be broken down.  Not by might, nor by power, but by God's Spirit!  God designed the church to be fruitful, even as He put the ability to bear fruit in the DNA of a lemon tree.

Jeremiah 23:29 reads, "Is not My word like a fire?" says the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?"  Before the power of God's Word can be released upon a nation or city, it must first break the hard hearts and stubborn minds of God's people.  We must die to ourselves - our lives, dreams, goals, aspirations, and hopes - all placed willingly upon the altar of God's perfect will.  We must stop halting between two opinions, and choose to heed God's Word with one heart and one mind:  the mind of Christ.  It is only God who can place in His people the resolve to walk by faith, not by sight.  He is the One who allowed Noah to preach righteousness for 100 years and only had his immediate family and brute beasts respond to the message of salvation.  God strengthened Jeremiah and Ezekiel to reach out to a nation who would not heed them.  Are you any better than they?  God is able to make children of Abraham from stones if it be His will.  Can't He redeem your labours for His glory?

Do the hard yards.  Don't give up; don't give in to despair!  If Christ be for us, who can be against us?  

The Word Satisfies

From Wednesday to Saturday I attended the 2012 Envison Conference in Manly, an outreach of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa.  The weather was idyllic as we gathered daily for Bible study, worship through song, and encouragement through the fellowship of like-minded believers.

Before the first morning session of each day I enjoyed grabbing a coffee and sitting on a bench reading my Bible, watching the waves roll in.  Joggers, walkers engaged in conversation, and people strolling with their dogs passed in front of me on the boardwalk.  Beyond them the ocean disappeared into the distance, a glorious testimony of God's creative beauty.  Countless people enjoy visiting Manly from overseas annually, and others are privileged to call Manly home.  I wonder:  is the beauty lost on people who wake to such beauty every day?  Living in the western suburb of Beaumont Hills, I rarely enjoy mornings at the beach.

Even though I appreciated the cool weather and gentle ocean breezes, something inside of me said:  "Is this all?"  As night fell and people began to swarm the Corso in their scant dress or flashy clothes in search of a good time I wondered if their hearts asked the same question after they later obtained their goal:  "Is that all?"  After the singing in the pubs is over and the last of the beer is downed, what then?  Sunrises, sunsets, and wild nights all come to an end, even as every human life flickers and disappears into darkness.  Like the preacher says in Ecclesiastes, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."  Those who flaunt their youth and beauty today will be old and faded later.  Virile strength becomes impotent, and beauty dries up like leaves in autumn.  What then, o man?  What will you do when the end of your life draws nigh?  Will you whisper to yourself as you muse over unfulfilled desires, having done all in your power to obtain them:  "Is this all?"

As I sat there on an aluminium bench kissed by the morning light, I rejoiced in the living, powerful Word of God.  I can eat food and be satisfied for hours, yet the meals provided through the Bible stick to the ribs for eternity.  What satisfaction is to be found in God's everlasting promises!  What joy, peace, contentment, and guidance God provides through His Word!  Nothing in this world can compare to the beauty of God as revealed through the Bible.  The world paints caricatures of God because the world does not know His character.  Yet God has revealed Himself beyond any doubt as the Saviour of sinners, the Helper of the helpless, and the Father of all who repent and are born again through Jesus Christ.  The sunrise brought a smile to my face for a moment, but the love of Christ causes the Son to rise in my soul for eternity.

I have never heard God speak and thought, "Is that all?"  He gives those who trust in Him supreme satisfaction in Himself and His Word, an inexhaustible supply that never grows old.  The more we hear of the truth, the more we value and appreciate it.  When I first came to Christ I was satisfied - and I grow more satisfied day after day as I walk with Him.  The emptiness we experience in our souls can only be filled by God and His infinite love and grace.  Don't be satisfied with just tasting when God offers Himself for life!