Very Present Help

Have you ever felt like God wasn't there when you needed Him?  It is not true, of course, but our feelings may still go that direction.  Psalm 46:1 declares that "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

However, many times we don't realize the next step depends upon us.  Let examine this truth in a couple of Scriptures.  In Exodus 3 Moses saw a burning bush and decided to "turn aside and see this great sight."  The next verse states, "when God saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush."  God waited to see if Moses chose to respond before communicating with him.

A similar characteristic of God appeared in Mark 6 when the disciples were in the middle of a storm on the sea of Galilee.  Mark 6:48 states that Jesus "saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them.  Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking of the sea, and He would have passed them by."  Clearly Jesus was aware of their struggle and came out on the sea, but notice that He would have passed them by.  It was only when they cried out to Him that He intervened by calming the storm and getting them safely to the other side.

One more example is after the resurrection when Jesus approached the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, and amazed them by opening the Scriptures about the Messiah.  Luke 24:28-29 explains "Then they drew near to the village where they were gong, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. But they constrained Him, saying, 'Abide with us, for it is toward evening and the day is far spent.' And He went in to stay with them."  He would have continued on if they had not asked Him to stay with them. 

The point of these Scriptures is this, just as Isaiah 30:18 points out, God waits to be gracious to us.  He is a very present help in trouble, but He won't intervene unless we call on Him.  God desires us to ask, seek, and knock.  He delights in showing mercy.  Yet He waits for us to ask, to invite Him in, because God honors man's authority and freedom.    

Psalm 115:16 states this amazing truth.  "The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's; but the earth He has given to the children of men."  God's plan and purpose for man was to have dominion and rule the earth.  Even though Adam and Eve sold out to the devil and fell into disobedience, the man Jesus defeated the devil and completely paid the price for sin. thus restoring all authority back into the hands of man. God respects our authority and won't do things without our permission.  

We overcome through faith in what Jesus has accomplished on our behalf.  1 John 5:1-5 declares whatever is born of God overcomes the world, through our faith.   All of Jesus' power and help are available, since we are joint-heirs of the inheritance Jesus earned through His death and resurrection.  God commands us to pray always, to ask in faith, and He will respond.  So even though Jesus is with us in every situation, He waits for us to turn to Him and call for His help.  The Lord is always with us, but we need to deliberately have an attitude like David, "I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken." Then we will realize His very present help and not be shaken.  

Realize that this very present help is as close as a simple prayer.  "Thank you, Lord Jesus, for being here with me right now in what I am going through.  I call on You, Lord Jesus, to be that very present help to deliver me and cause me to overcome.  I trust Your mercy and praise You for your faithfulness and goodness to rescue me.  In the name of Jesus, let it be so. "        

Feel Close to God?

Are you feeling close to God?  That actually is Not the question.  Our relationship with God flows from our spirit to affect our thinking and feelings, not the other way around.  If you have accepted Jesus' death and resurrection for your sins, you are close to God.

Everyone knows that feelings are fickle. We can be high and excited one moment and depressed the next.  Feelings change in a heartbeat, but reality always remains the same and does not change.  True reality is found in the Word of God, which even though heaven and earth may pass away, Jesus assures us His truth endures forever. 

The primary question of every person who has ever lived on the planet is "how do I stand in God's eyes?"  In other words, am I right with God and will I go to heaven?  There are many religions that give a set of rules to live by, but the problem is that in the heart of every man we know that we have missed the mark and done things wrong.  We have all broken the rules to live by.  Scripture says it this way, all men have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  There is only one way to get free of sin, and that is to have someone pay for them who is able to do so.  Jesus as the Son of God not only qualifies as able, but He willingly as a man took the punishment that all of our sins deserved, death.  There is only one faith that has a God who paid the price for sin so we can stand right with God.

Many people think that they are trying to live pretty good lives and therefore, God will surely accept them.  Others know about God's mercy but still feel that their efforts to do what is right AND God's mercy will grant them eternal life.  Both are wrong.  All our righteousness, our attempts to do right, are still as dirty rags according to Isaiah 54:6  This is actually good news because it takes away our fear of am I good enough.  Instead, all we have to do is say yes, I am not good enough but I receive the gift of Your righteousness.  Thank You for paying completely for my offences and for the rebellious sin nature of my flesh.  It has nothing to do with our performance, but rather realizing Jesus has said, "you are righteous because I AM."

The principle that Jesus taught is that the humble will be exalted and those who exalt themselves will be humbled.  God honors those humble enough to be like the publican in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican going to pray, "Have mercy on me, a sinner."  

What about doing good?  Everyone knows that love is stronger than fear, and perfect love casts out all fear.  We do good because we seek to please Him.  We keep His commandments because we love Him and all He has done for us, not because we fear rejection from heaven.  As being born from death to life and given the righteousness of God, we can set our minds on the Spirit and actually delight to do His will.  We may still blow it, but the Spirit checks us and we quickly repent, knowing He loves and forgives.  Nothing can separate us from the wonderful love of God. 

So the point is, we are more than close to God, we are actually a temple for God to live in.  He makes His home in us, not because we feel like we have been good, but because He is good and and has done it all to make it possible.  So we know we are "close to God" because of the revelation of our relationship in His Word and the witness of the Spirit, whether or not we feel our performance has been great today.  God desires us to know we are "His beloved in whom He is well pleased," now and forever.  

Work

We should be regarded, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God, according to 1 Corinthians 4:1.  Our true respnse to Christ's infinite love is to choose to willingly serve Him and obey Him.  Servants work.    

Very few things in life challenge our flesh like choosing to work.  In the spirit, we know the truth expressed in Ephesians 2:10, that "we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."   On the other hand, our flesh tends to be lazy and we don't feel like doing anything.  Our flesh isn't just the body, it is the fallen nature of the rebellious soul, simply defined as the "I think, I feel, and I want."  Flesh seeks the easiest path.  The flesh is opposed to the spirit and hates anything God or our spirit desires.  Therefore, when we let our spirit rule and override the fleshly resistance, we show who is master and please God.

In the spirit and according to the Word, which is spirit and life, work is an opportunity to share in the creative power of God to produce fruit.  We are told in Colossians 3:23, "Whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ."  

A friend of mine, worked on the assembly line of a car manufacturing plant, and his job was to put on the right front door of the vehicle.  He had 22 seconds to pick up the door, place the piece on its hinges, and put the pins in so the door could shut properly.  It just so happened that he was a worship leader in our fellowship, so one day he was seeking God on how to grow in worship.  The Lord said to him, "If you put the door on the car with the same carefulness and thoroughness that you would if you were putting it on My car, that is worship.  He saw his work as a new opportunity to worship God.

The Holy Spirit shows us our call, our assignment of what we are to do, then He enables us "to willl and to work" for His pleasure. .It is our spirit that must rule over the soul, just as the soul rules over the body.  I delight to do the will of God is the truth on which the spirit operates.  The spirit then overrides the desires of the flesh, and our soul must submit.  The soul directs our bodies to get to work.  The result is we are able to produce some fruit, maybe a job done, a chore accomplished, or a "to do" list item completed.  We can enjoy the satisfaction and peace of "Well done, good and a faithful servant" from the Lord.

Today may be Labor Day for a variety of reaons, but it is also an opportunity to praise God for the work He has given you and for the enabling power He has provided to do it.  Our work, everything from giving a glass of water to a little one to helping a neighbor do something, glorifies God and has His promise of a  reward.  All things, even work, are from Him, through Him, and for Him. Praise God forever! for His perfect ways.     

  

  

Good Plans

Every school teacher spends most of August planning and preparing for the next school year.  It is a time to look at ways we can improve and to imagine how much we are going to accomplish.  It seems that good intentions, like hope, spring eternal.  . 

There is nothing wrong with making good plans, but.....     Proverbs 16:9 points out "A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps."  In other words, unless the Lord is in it to "will and to work for His pleasure," the plan will not bear fruit.  Isaiah 30:1 even goes so far as to say "Woe to those who devise plans, but not of My Spirit."

We know God works all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Part of that "for good" is opening our heart to realize we need Him, because the temptation in the garden was for man to think he is "like God," and therefore, does not need the God's help.  Yet Ephesians 1 points out that as we grow in "wisdom and revelation of Him" our understanding will be enlightened until He becomes "all in all." 

Jesus spoke and demonstrated that love is laying down His life for His friends.  This same principle can be applied to loving God with all our mind.  We love God by laying down our thoughts and plans and submitting to His.  God wants us to use our mind, only in harmony with His ways.  Therefore, the necessity of seeking Him and learning to hear His voice must preceed the making of plans.  He is not far away, but literally is within our spirits ready to help us know the way.

My instruction, if you wish to walk in victory, is to lay down your thoughts before Him, and ask Him for His plans for the day.  Then be obedient to do what you beleive He is directing.  This step may be easier if you write down what comes to mind as you wait on Him. blessed are those who hear and do His Word.   There is such a sense of peace and accomplishment when you obey and see the fruit of your deeds.  Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph. 

Moses prayed in Exodus 33:13, "Show me now Your way, that I might know you."   The more we seek and find God's way or plan to overcome, the more we will experience knowing the character of God.  God promises to satisfy those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.  The key is to desire God's right way of doing things and refuse to settle for anything less than what his peace confirms.  May His peace keep your mind and heart in Christ Jesus as you follow His good plans.  

Fall Like Lightning

 The 70 disciples came back to Jesus with joy saying, "Even the demons are subject to us through Your name."  Jesus replied, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven."  (Luke 10:17-18)  Satan has fallen and is defeated.

Jesus, who declared that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Him in Matthew 28, also declared that we have been given the right to represent Him through use of His name. When He sent the disciples out He called them together and "gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases."  With His authority what could possibly stop us from overcoming?

In the parable of the sower it is revealed that even though the Word is an incorruptible seed, it can be choked by the weeds (other thoughts and cares) that we allow to live in our hearts.  We see the same principle working in the situation (Mark 9) where the man brought the demon-possessed boy to Jesus.  When he asked Jesus, "If you can do anything?, Jesus replied all things are possible to him who believes.  Notice in the man's response that he did believe, but he also had unbelief.  These weeds, contrary thoughts and soulish cares that produced unbelief, choked his faith and rendered him powerless.   

Jesus is not impressed or moved by many words. He even taught us not to pray like the heathen who repeat many phrases or chants. He is moved by those who declare His Word with authority.  "Let your eye be single" suggests that our focus is on the truth and power of the Word, refusing to look at the waves and the wind that would cause doubt.  He who dies to himself, finds life.  Rejecting what our soulish nature, called our flesh, dictates through the natural senses and choosing to hear the Word which is spirit and truth, produces life. 

The Holy Spirit bears witness to Jesus.  He leads us to know the truth of what Jesus has accomplished.  He further pours the love of God into our hearts so we can by faith understand the absolutely awesome gift of divine nature God has allowed us to share in Christ.  So much so that 1 John 4:17 states, "As He is, so are we in the world." 

Jesus established His church to bind and loose things on earth with the same authority and power of heaven, assuring us that the gates of hell would not prevail. He meant for believers who receive His free gift of righteousness to rule in this life.  He also gave us instruction of how to pray, including the imperative commands, "Thy kingdon, Come!" and "Thy will, Be Done!"  We as the Body of Christ are to do the works that He did and greater ones.  

How do we rule?  Jesus is revealed in Revelation as having a two-edged sword coming out of His mouth.  Likewise, Psalm 149 speaks of believers having the high praises of God in our mouths and the two-edge sword in our hands.   God has entrusted to His faithful ones the authority to use the Word, so He can confirm it with power and signs following.  Therefore, the Holy Spirit is teaching believers today to declare His Word over all situations, and to stand in His authority.  The climax of the armor in Epesians 6 is to "stand therefore, and having done all to stand, stand."  1 Peter 5 calls us to resist steadfast in the faith until God perfects, establishes, strengthens and settles us in the victory.  

 Satan has fallen from heaven like lightning.  Jesus made a public example of him (Colossians 2:15) by defeating him through His death on the cross, and triumphed over him through His resurrection.  The battle is finished, and God is looking for those who would believe it in their hearts and declare it with their lips.  Without faith it is impossible to please God.  Speak the Word in faith.  Fight the good fight of faith by refusing to let the weeds of unbelief detract you from standing strong in Jesus' name and authority.  Faith pleases God and causes us to overcome the world (1 John 5:4).  

 

Apart From Me You Can Do Nothing

Nothing offends our flesh like the truth.  Yet when Jesus pointed out that "apart from Me you can do nothing" in John 15, He wasn't putting us down.  Rather, the purpose was to set us free from self-reliance so we could become fruitful uniting with Him.  Jesus also shares the resulting promise, "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."

Man was created to walk humbly with God.  Adam and Eve were given the ability and the commission to keep and maintain the garden, but as we all know, sin destroyed their harmony with God and their capability to rule righteously.  Sin produces death not life.

However, in God's infinite wisdom He sent Jesus to destroy the work of the enemy and restore the God-given position and role for which man was created.  This restoration comes because believers are now brought into an amazing new creation, called "in Christ" in the Scriptures.  As Galatians 2:20 declares, "I am crucified in Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me, and the life I now live is by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me."  The book of Ephesians further explains that in Christ is "every spiritual blessing" and that God "raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."  Through Jesus, and in Jesus' righteousness, we have received His gift to rule as kings on the earth again.  

As the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 reveals the son of the virgin shall be called Emmanuel, God with us. Since man did not and could not obey the law to produce life, God chose to send Jesus to accomplish the necessary work of redemption, which opened the way for the Holy Spirit to produce an indwelling of God Himself in us.  In the awesome miracle of new creation or restoration, we become a temple of the Holy Spirit and God Himself personally and permanently dwells in us.  Through the infinite unity of the Godhead, John 14:23 reveals that if we love Him and obey His word, Jesus and the Father "will come and make our home with him."  We are meant to live in Christ and Christ in us, and through this glorious mystery have God in us.  

We, as kings and priests of God's kingdom, have been given authority and called to rule in this life on the earth (Romans 4:25).  However, fleshly wisdom and doing just what is right in our own eyes will only produce strife and every evil thing.  As the founding fathers of the United States sought to establish a government based on the principles of God's Word (In Isaiah 33 God is declared king, judge, and lawgiver, which represents the three branches of the new government.), George Washington rightly stated that it is "impossible to rule without God."  

Psalm 72 starts with an honest prayer request, "Give the king knowledge of Your way of judging, O God, and the spirit of Your righteousness." (Amp)  God's thoughts and ways are infinitely higher than man's ways and thoughts, so the only way we can "rule" is to have His ways of judging and His discernment of what is right.  It is likewise impossible to parent effectively, to make wise decisions, or to be a godly influence on other people without seeking His wisdom and discernment to know how to handle things in His way.  

Many people are shaken about what is going on in the world and are wondering what God is up to in the current situations.  At least two major things are indicated by the Scriptures.  First, as Jesus prayed in John 17:21, "that they may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me."  God plan, which will open the hearts of people in the world to believe, is to change the hearts of believers to be in unity. The good news is that Jesus' prayer is sure to be fulfilled and the world will stand in awe as Christians love one another.  Before the Spirit fell in Acts 2, the believers were of one heart and mind, so likewise this unity of beievers will be accompanied by a fresh anointing of the Spirit. Note the anointing promise in Psalm 133 when brothers dwell in unity.  

Secondly, the Spirit was given, as Jesus stated in Acts 1, to make us witnesses of Him to the ends of the earth.  Jesus has paid the price for all men to be saved from the consequences of sin and come to the loving knowledge of God.  He is worthy of His reward (Phillippians 2) for His obedient suffering unto death.  Believers are the light of the world and the salt of the earth that draws others to Jesus.

As the world is challenging Christians and seeking to remove God from the public sector, God is raising up a mighty army that refuses to obey man rather than God.  Notice in Acts 4 how the early Christians, after being threatened by the world to keep quiet about Jesus and His resurrection, cried out to the Holy Spirit to enable them to speak the Word of God with boldness.  God's reply not only refilled them but also shook the house!  So clearly, the second major work of the Spirit today is moving on believers to cry out to God for anointing to be bold witnesses of Jesus Christ.  God is seeking Christian witnesses who refuse to be intiminated but rather speak boldly about the Lord in word and deed.  

Jesus' purpose for declaring that apart from Him we could do nothing, as stated in John 15, is for us to abide in Him and let His word abide in us, that we might bear much fruit, prove to be His disciples, and glorify the Father.  The time has come when the Body of Christ must depend upon God for His ways,  stand in the gap for each other with greater intensity, and be a living epistle of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.   Let God be magnified. 

Do What is In Your Power

Anyone overwhelmed by the frontal assaults of the enemy on God's standards for life?  

The very foundations of the purpose of life, such as existence of God, His creating everything, the primary call to know and serve God, the authority of God's Word as truth, the role of marriage, sex, and gender that He established, and His command to love one another, etc. are being openly mocked and deliberately overridden by the new "man-made rules."  How clearly Psalm 11 describes this drastic situation, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"  We are seeing a bad tree bearing bad fruit, much like what happened in Judges when "everyone did what was right in his own eyes."  Man's rebellion leaves the world in a desperate condition.

However, God is not mocked.  This degradation of mankind and the rebellion against God's standards did not take the Lord by surprise.  Notice how Jesus addresses this challenge in John 16:33, "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."

Not only has Jesus overcome the world, but He has passed the victory torch to us.  This is revealed in 1 John 5:4, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.  And this is the victory that overcomes the world--our faith."  When we were born again and filled with the Spirit, we literally are "Christian" or "little Christs" that walk in the same overcoming life and power of God as Jesus did.  This awesome gift is completely because of what Jesus has done, and has nothing to do with our being good or holy enough to do this. Just as Paul explained to the Romans that those who "receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ."  The torch of overcoming power has been given to us.  What are we going to do with it? 

Consider two defintie instructions that give direction.  First, fight the good fight of faith.  If you remember Jesus, after sharing the parable about the persistent widow seeking justice in Luke 18, asks the question, "when the Son of Man comes,will He find faith on the earth?"  So clearly there is a definite need to"build yourselves up on your most holy faith" (Jude 1:20).  We live by faith, not by sight; by what Jesus has done instead of how strong we feel.  Faith, of course, comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God. It is not a little thing to take time each day and give attention to the Word of God.  Come to Him with a hunger and thirst for a "rhema" word like you have to have it or you will die.  There is more truth in that comment than our flesh wants to admit.  We must have faith to please God. 

Secondly, there is a principle with God stated in Proverbs 3:27, "Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so."  In other words, do what is in your power.  We can't do everything may be true, but it is not an acceptable excuse.  We can do something.  

We have been given authority in the name of Jesus to destroy enemy strongholds.  We have the blood of Jesus and the word of testimony that overcomes Satan.  We can declare the Word of God and let God confirm His truth.  We can submit to God and resist the enemy causing him to flee.  We are not helpless, but rather fully equipped to stand and see God "crush Satan under our (your) feet!"   

Often the "something" we can do is to be faithful in the "little" things so God can do the much.  Pray, read the Word and release His power by declaring His truth.  Put on the armor and stand, taking authority in the name of Jesus over the powers of darkness that you see working.  Unite with other Christians.  There is great power in being one in heart and mind "when two or three agree."  Do not let yourself be weary in well doing, but be refreshed in His presence,  Do what is in your power and see the salvation, or overcoming victory, that the Lord desires and deserves.  He is worthy.