Manipulating God

• v Last week, as I was talking with a pastor I knew, he shared with me the story of how he had been listening to a friend describe the details of his horrible divorce. When that friend had finished telling the story of his sadly failed marriage, he then looked at the pastor and said, “Why is God doing this to me"?

• v Several months ago our nation had a remembrance of the 9/11 tragedy. During that time, I was also sadly reminded of something else. After the horrible terrorist attack, many people felt compelled to ask the question, “If God loves us so much, why did He let this happen?" That question surfaced in many ways over the media (and in peoples' hearts) for the next several days. It was disheartening to hear it.

• v Just the other day I had a most striking visit with a person who is battling a severe lung disease. During our conversation she looked at me and said," Pastor, why is God letting this happen to me?"  I quietly looked at the pack of cigarettes at her bedside and struggled to not say the obvious.

All three of these real-life examples reveal a powerful willingness of people to blame God when He does not act in the manner that they feel He should. For some strange reason, it seems natural to want to hold God accountable when things are going badly. After all, doesn’t He love us enough to keep bad things from happening to us?

It is very common to ask that question while tending to ignore the wrong decisions and the poor paths we have chosen. We want to blame God for not heading off the bad results so that we can try to escape our own responsibility. This begins to reveal a deep problem rooted in ignorance, self-centeredness, and usually conceit.

But regardless of the reasons why we blame God, people seem to have a natural feeling that God should always see things from a perspective similar to ours. And then, in fact, He should act in such a way as we would.

For example, if I knew that a baby in the womb had a formative problem, and I had the power to supernaturally fix it, then I would do whatever was needed to heal the child. This makes sense doesn't it?

Well then, doesn't God know everything? Doesn't He know when a baby is becoming deformed?  Surely, with the power that He has, He ought to fix the unborn child.

I know that I would if I were Him.

 You see, when God does not act in the way that we naturally feel that He should, questions about His goodness surface as our faith in Him gets challenged and shaken. We begin to question His real care and purported love for people.

Have you faced any of these questions?

-- Why can't I find a job?

-- Why am I my losing my home?

-- Why won't God heal my child's cancer?

-- Why am I going bankrupt?

-- Why am I so afraid?

-- Why is God absent when I so desperately need him?

-- Why can't I find someone to truly love me?

-- Why is God allowing this to happen to me?

All of us are going to deal with questions like these at sometime or other. Our response to them is so crucial! When thoughts like these confront us, it can become easy to question whether or not God really loves us. 

We have all done it...........

There are several ways to approach this dilemma concerning us and God, but we will look at only two for right now.

I. One of the approaches that we can try is to manipulate God.

Yes, that really is what I just said.

Somewhere in the failed system of our humanness, we have developed the idea that we can force people to do what we want by embarrassing or intimidating them. (Some managers use this method of motivation with their employees, and many others work this way with their spouses and kids.)  This technique works very poorly with people, and is most often the worst form of motivation. Just so that you really know............ it doesn't work at all with God.

When we try to provoke a response from God by saying things such as, “Why would God allow..... (you can fill in the blank), it has the subtle idea - and challenge behind it - of embarrassing God because He did not act in accord with the way that we expected or wanted Him to.

Be clear on this.

When we approach God this way, we are saying:

          " I know what is good to do in this case. God, how is it that you do not? You did

           not do anything at all to help, and I believe that you missed a great

           opportunity   to do good. Why aren't you as good as I thought you were?

           Sometimes You make me so angry because I just don't understand You!"

Of course, we wouldn't say these things out loud, but, if we are honest, our spirit has mulled over these challenges many times.

When we have thoughts like these, they presuppose that......

1. We always know the right thing to do in every situation, and

2. God should have the integrity to do what we know is right because, after all, it is easy to see what is the right thing to do.

For example:

-- God should always provide the money......

-- God should always heal the sick.......

-- God should end all suffering and hunger forever.....

We all suppose that we are completely right in our evaluations of these situations, so then, why doesn't God jump in line with our thinking?

When we get into this vulnerable state of challenging and doubting God, Satan will push all sorts of things at us.

-- We are prompted to become angry at God.

-- We may refuse to believe in Him or trust in Him.

-- We question His love, power, and intent for us.

Sadly, we feel justified in our actions because God did not do what we believed was the right thing to do. When we have feelings like that, things can get even more screwed up within us.

-- We can begin to question the Scriptures.

-- We can become arrogant within our own mal-formed wisdom.

-- We launch into the mode of judging God and His motives.

-- When we do these things, we begin to regard our own judgment higher than God's.

We are in deep trouble………..

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II. Another way to approach this problem is one of trust.

Trust.........

This is what God expected from the very beginning. He was expecting Adam and Eve to trust what He said. When they failed to honor His instructions, they royally screwed everything up for themselves and all the creation that God had made.

Exhibited in the rest of Scripture, however, is God constantly giving instructions, promises, and warnings. Throughout all of these, God invites mankind to trust Him wholeheartedly. When they decide not to do so, then they invite the consequences upon them. Whether it pertains to marriage, finances, prayer, salvation, or the future,-- God just asks everyone to trust Him.

Think about these stories from the Bible....

•  God gave instructions to a guy named Gideon about a battle that was coming and then expected Gideon to trust him. Gideon did so, and took on an army of thousands with only 300 warriors that God had provided for him. He won the battle.

•  God gave directions to Joshua about the walls of Jericho falling down and then, though the instructions were strange, expected Joshua to trust Him. Joshua did the things that God told him to and the walls fell in a miraculous way.

• When Jesus told Peter and the others about how that He was going to be crucified, Peter emphatically said, "No" to the idea of it. The Lord’s answer to Peter revealed something deep. He said, "Get behind me Satan!" Peter, at that moment, was refusing to trust what the Lord said and Jesus was showing him that those kind of thoughts were from Satan, and not acceptable.

• Jesus went to the cross and died for the payment of our sins. In the offer of salvation to us, the Lord instructs us to trust Him as Savior. Those who do so, receive eternal life.

It's always been about trust ..........trusting what God says just because of who He is.

Job is another example for us to examine.

When Job was expected to approach God in trust, it must've been hard.

-- What had his children done to die?

-- What had his servants and animals done to be stolen and abducted?

-- What had Job done to be covered with sores and to suffer such severe pain?

The answer is, absolutely nothing.

Yet, because Job decided to respond to God in trust, there are things revealed about God in this recorded story that we could not know in any other way. If Job had not suffered those things in his life, all of us in the kingdom of God would've missed out on knowing some innate truths about God because the book of Job would not have been written in the way that it was.

          Would you like to know some mind blowing things about God and His creation?      Read the last several chapters of the book of Job.

          Here is a short part of Chapter 38...

          Job 38:4-17 NLT

          4  "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you

          know so much.

          5  Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line?

          6  What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone

          7  as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

          8  "Who kept the sea inside its boundaries as it burst from the womb,

          9  and as I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it in thick darkness?

          10  For I locked it behind barred gates, limiting its shores.

          11  I said, 'This far and no farther will you come. Here your proud waves must

          stop!'

          12  "Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to

          rise in the east?

          13  Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth, to bring an end to 

          the night's wickedness?

          14  As the light approaches, the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a

          seal; it is robed in brilliant colors.

          15  The light disturbs the wicked and stops the arm that is raised in violence.

          16  "Have you explored the springs from which the seas come? Have you

          explored their depths?

          17  Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of

         utter gloom?

         

….Some cool stuff concerning God and His creation………

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Trusting someone is not always an easy thing to do. Especially if you have been hurt in life.  (...and which of us has not?)

Maybe it was...

-- a spouse.

-- a friend.

-- your parents.

-- on your job.

-- at your church.

But listen! God has never betrayed anyone who trusted in Him. Our understanding of the circumstances in our lives will sometimes skew our view of what God is doing and make us question this truth.

-- When we get hurt,

-- when things do not go our way,

-- when we get sick, or

-- when we get down,

…..it becomes easier to feel that God has betrayed our trust in Him.

All this goes back to us expecting God to act the way that we think that He should.

We are not asked to trust Him because He keeps us from hurt, pain, disappointment, sickness, or need; we are asked to trust Him regardless of them.

That is real trust and it powerfully grows our faith.

Consider this scripture for a moment………

Hebrews 11:6 NLT

6  And it is impossible to please God without faith.......

...our trust translates into faith.....

You can trust Him..... really…… you can.

As this talk is ending, I encourage you to remember this truth…..

Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT

8  "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the LORD. "And My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

9  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.

With much love......

Humbly Submitted,

Dan

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Ephesians 5 - Imitating God

I have received encouragement from others to occasionally post a Bible exposition in place of one of my talks. I love teaching the Bible and I'm excited to attempt this!

All the talks that I produce are designed to challenge the status quo and draw one deeper into his/her understanding of the Christian life. My approach to Bible exposition will be the same, and how often I do this type of talk will be determined by your response to the blogs. Sending e-mails to me or just checking "like" will help me to know.

All right then...... let's go.

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The book of Ephesians is a fascinating letter written by Paul the Apostle to the believers living in the town of Ephesus!

Some of its teaching:

        …….puts to rest the false idea being taught by the error promoters of

        Paul’s day-----that one can simply do enough good works to secure

        salvation.

        …….contains a beautiful encouragement for the readers to be filled with

        the Spirit of God as they live and worship.

        ….…gives a better understanding of what the gift of pastor is for and

        what a Pastor’s function is to the body of Christ.

        All of this truth and much more is included in this small letter that was

        written while Paul was sitting in prison because of his faith.

For our purposes today, I will be zooming in on an interesting statement made by the Apostle Paul in chapter five of this letter.

Ephesians 5:1 NLT

1.  Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are His dear children.

The first word we will look at is imitate.

Right away this appears to be a strange, and maybe impossible, task for me to carry out. How in the world can I imitate God? Can I go out and create a new universe and planets? (A real God can do that you know.) Should I throw out a few lightning bolts or do a couple of God things just to make a statement? Am I supposed to make a few new stars and, while I am at it, bring down some fire from heaven while throwing out a few plagues here and there?  

I'm pretty convinced that this is not what the Holy Spirit intended for this passage of Scripture to teach.

The word imitate  means something a little different here than what we normally understand it to mean in English. Going to the meaning of the original language will help us to better grasp the understanding we need.

        Imitate -- the Greek meaning of this verb has the primary idea of to begin 

        to be, that is, to grow into existence or into any state ......or simply, to be.

The intent of this word is for us to begin to act like who we really are in Christ. We are God’s children….we need to be resembling Him.

Any child, in the beginning, vaguely resembles a parent. Two arms…. two legs...... maybe a weirdly shaped head, but as the child grows and matures, it takes on more characteristics of the parent. Such is the idea here. As we mature in Christ, we should take on more of the traits that make us resemble Him.

At the end of this first verse it tells us that we are His dear children. If so, then the idea behind this whole statement would be for us to act like God's children, whatever that may look like to us.

Let us examine that thought for a minute……..

Some people are going to grasp the concept of imitating God differently from how some others may think that it should be. We would be wise to keep this in mind as we approach our brothers and sisters in Christ.

It is such a beautiful idea that we see this truth in so many ways, and it answers well to our individuality! Children may resemble a parent and still be so different from each other.

To me, this shows the wonder of the body of Christ and how we all have different gifts and functions within it. One may think that teaching is most important of all, while another feels that the personal sharing of the gospel is absolutely primary and should get most of our attention. Then, there is that believer who feels that worship is the most powerful part of everything, while another yet is totally dedicated to helping the poor and less fortunate.

Who is right among these people?

Aren’t all these things working within us to make us resemble (imitate) our Father? You bet they are! Even our questions, trials, and hunger for the Lord are all parts that work in us individually in order to bring us closer to imitating our Father.

Where we have to be cautious is that we don't fall into judging others from our own areas of giftedness and by our limited understanding of all the areas within the body of Christ.

The rest of this chapter gives us a differentiation between those who act like they are His children and those who act like they are not.

Let us look at verse two now:

Ephesians 5: 2 NLT

2  Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

Okay, this is one way that God-imitating children act.

They live a life filled with love.

        The Greek word "Live"  means -- to live or pass one’s life.... to go, 

         proceed on one’s way......... To tread or walk about, generally to walk.

All of these meanings have the idea of conducting my life in a particular way....in this instance, living my life filled with love. This is more than just loving music, pizza, or another person.

The type of love recorded here is agapē.....the Greek word used to describe God's type of love. (There are several different words for “love” in the Greek language.)

This conflicts highly with anyone living in:

Fear.

Frustration.

Misery.

Doubt.

Anguish.

Irritation.

Greed.

Selfishness.

A good many dear, precious believers live encompassed with the misery associated around these things rather than living a life filled with God’s love.

        When my life is filled with these wrong kinds of things, they tend to crowd out God's love living through me. I only have one life.... just one shot to do it as right as I possibly can.....why would I waste it living in the sadness of lesser things? Why would anyone choose to live a miserable existence outside of living in God’s love?

Even in the worst of circumstances, living in God’s love brings an amazing peace and comfort to one’s life. Saints throughout history testify to that even though they were persecuted and sometimes put to death.

Living in His love, in some way, would have the opposite effect of living in the world’s misery.

This makes sense. If we are growing toward imitating God, then one of the catalysts toward that would be living in His type of Love. The misery that the world produces is not included in God’s love. God’s love can produce more peace and joy within us than we can even dream of……….

But what is His type of love?

Should I bring up Jesus on the cross at this place to describe God’s love, or should I talk about when God opened up the earth and swallowed those wicked people at the foot of Mt. Sinai? Where is God’s love shown in that?

Consider this:

All of the plans that God made ever since Eve and Adam ate of the forbidden fruit were orchestrated to bring about the payment for sin through the Messiah's death and then the provision of salvation to be offered to everyone who would receive it. In the Scripture, it appears that if anything - at any time - looked in such a way that it would bring about a threat of stopping God’s plan from working, He made provision to remove the obstacles……and He usually did it very passionately.

Think of what we learn in this Old Testament passage:

Isaiah 9:6-7 NLT

6  For a Child is born to us, a Son is given to us. The government will rest on His shoulders. And He will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7  His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of His ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the LORD of Heaven's Armies will make this happen!

The Lord was seriously committed to pull this thing off………and nobody should get in His way…….

Is this a God who intently loves humanity, or is it a God who enjoys hurting people?

There is no way that my finite mind can encompass all the understanding that I need to have in order to grasp everything that God does and the reasoning behind it. However, when God says that He loves us and that He is Love, then I must trust what He says and not entrust my attention to those things which I do not and cannot know.

This is called “faith”, and without it we cannot please God.

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So then, what do I know about God's love?

Check these verses out:

        Exodus 34:6 NLT

        6  The LORD passed in front of Moses, calling out, "Yahweh! The

        LORD! The God of    compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and

        filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.

        Deuteronomy 5:10 NLT

        10  But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who

        love Me and obey My commands.

        Nehemiah 9:30 NLT

        30  In Your love, You were patient with them for many years. You sent 

        Your Spirit, who warned them through the prophets. But still they 

        wouldn't listen! ......

        Psalms 5:12 NLT

        12  For You bless the godly, O LORD; You surround them with Your

        shield of love.

        Psalms 33:5 NLT

        5  He loves whatever is just and good; the unfailing love of the LORD

        fills the earth.

        John 1:17 NLT

        17  For the law was given through Moses, but God's unfailing love and

        faithfulness came through Jesus Christ.

        Romans 5:8 NLT

        8  But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us 

        while we were still sinners.

(Interesting fact, in the Old Testament the words "unfailing love" are used 121 times to refer to God’s love.)

We are seeing God's love in all these verses displayed wonderfully. The God in the Old Testament was also a loving God to those that loved Him.

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In this passage that we are studying in Ephesians 5:1-2, we have a further qualifier when it comes to imitating God's example of love. We are to live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.

So then, what is Christ's example?

Ephesians 5: 2 NLT

2  ...... He loved us and offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

Jesus gave His life for others. The phrase "a pleasing aroma to God" is a saying that illustrated God's pleasure on having received such a sacrifice.

When we live our lives in such a way that we are offering ourselves to others in love, then we have begun the walk of imitating God. In doing this, others begin to see the love of God through us.

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Now, let the Holy Spirit take us deeper into this subject.

Who is it that you are imitating?

Answer it truthfully to yourself…….and to the Lord.

If your answer is “God”, then you are especially blessed…..keep it up!

If you feel unsure of your answer, be encouraged because the Holy Spirit is working within you and will help you resemble the Father as you give yourself to Him!

Deep enough.

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Ephesians 5:1 NLT

1.  Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are His dear children.

2  Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

Humbly submitted in His love,

Dan

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Generations

Our situation started way back in the book of Genesis. The story is told that not long after God created Adam and Eve, Satan came to Eve and, through deceit, convinced her that disobeying God was the right thing to do. After her decision to do so, the human race started downhill and has continued that direction ever since. Even now, we all bear the results of that decision every day of our lives.

However, this talk is not primarily about Adam and Eve. I intend to look more closely at Satan's method of deception and discover how blatantly open, yet discreetly hidden, is its working within the body of Christ.

The pattern goes something like this:

-God does or says something good.

-Satan takes notice of it.

-Satan "tweaks" the truth of what God says.

-We fall for his deceitful thoughts.

-We wind up disobeying God.

Satan led Eve down this path in the beginning, and he is still leading people down the same path today when he finds anyone who will blindly follow. The deception is so well planned that we don’t usually even see it until after we have tripped and become ensnared by it.

Let us take a look at the deception method of Satan as the scripture records it:

Genesis 3:1-5 NIV

1  Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

2  The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,

3  but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"

4  "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman.

5  "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Satan told Eve the truth........ sort of........

In reality, he took a true statement and used it to convince Eve that doing what he wanted her to do was the right thing. Eve then went down a road that she regretted.

Now, before we self righteously condemn Eve, let us spend time looking at some of the decisions that we have been deceived into making, too. (Just so you all know, everyone has fallen for Satan’s traps at one time or other.)

----How many of us have decided on a job or career based solely on the idea that we are convinced that God wants us to make a lot of money?

----- How many ministries have made decisions based completely on the idea that the three B's are the most important things?  Budgets, buildings, and butts in the pew......Dedication to these three items will drive both small and large ministries if we let them.

----- Personally, how many gadgets and big toys are in our hands and garages bought only because we have a selfish desire to have the best at all times no matter what it costs? Many have gone into debt simply for the reason of being able to say that they own the latest and greatest devices. We then try to justify ourselves by saying, “Look how God has blessed me!”

These are only a few of the examples that have sneaked upon us and caused us, at times, to miss God’s direction.

You see, Satan takes the idea that God wants to bless us (which is true), and convinces us to make decisions that are not necessarily in God's plan for us. Regardless of some popular "religious speak" out there, it is not always God's plan for every one of His children to have the riches of this world. I believe that Satan's hiss is lurking somewhere behind that teaching.......yet, it is embraced by so many who claim to follow Christ……..

Go figure…………

Having the  advantage of growing up in one generation of the church and then experiencing a new generation of the church coming about during my lifetime tends to give me a distinct view when I examine both.

What I have seen is both exciting and alarming.

Let us look back first………..

I remember seeing Satan's plan working masterfully during the era of the church in which I grew up . Now please understand, not everything was bad, but much of it became that way after Satan "tweaked" a lot of things. Many listened to his "tweaks" about the church and decided to follow them.

The beginning of that generation of the church was an explosion of people who loved the truth and wanted to bring people to Christ. Adhering to the truth of the Scripture and loving Jesus was paramount. The excitement that believers had was electrifying and many appeared to be powerfully motivated to follow this sending of the church to the world. There is no doubt that the Holy Spirit had birthed all of this and was working wonderfully through it all!

From this great movement in the church that God had orchestrated, Satan began tweaking things. The mindset of church leaders (of which I was one ) became this, "just look at the big church’s examples and copy what they are doing, then God will bless us too". The truth of allowing the Spirit of God to lead the church was replaced. Instead of following the Holy Spirit, it was less work to follow the successful church’s examples. As a staff member, I remember being sent to a larger church to glean ideas and try to copy them. I also attended church conferences that usually consisted of big church leaders telling the little church leaders how to duplicate their examples so that they too could become big.

A lot of pride, division, jealousy, and debt was generated as Satan convinced us that following the biggest church's footsteps was preferable to spending time on our faces before God to discover what He wanted. We were too busy building monuments and ministries to glorify ourselves, than to take notice that we had forgotten the Holy Spirit and the mission of the Kingdom of God. The three "B's" that I alluded to earlier consumed us......along with building our reputations. The book "America's 10 Largest Sunday Schools" was required reading for any "serious" pastor. I believe that Satan had a good belly laugh at many of us.

I believe that the same deception brought about and used by Satan throughout history is beginning to show itself within our new generation of churches today.

Fast forward to now……..

Being a church that is dedicated to reaching people in the now generation is exciting. God has blessed many churches as they have followed the Lord in accomplishing this goal, however, the mindset of following another church's example while forgetting the Holy Spirit's leadership to produce ministry is infecting a great many people and church leaders all over again.

Rather than people getting on their faces to seek God, it is much easier to send a group to observe a large ministry and then try to copycat their methods of "success". Another easy route being tried is to buy a book and follow it step-by-step to a "successful" church ministry. I'm not saying that following another's ideas or using a good book is bad (sometimes they are really good resources to use), but when we allow them to replace the Holy Spirit's leadership within the church, then we are in trouble. As a result, lots of pride and division are rising within the body of Christ.

(Can you believe it? A friend who does not know what I am writing about in this talk, comes to me today with a Christian magazine advertising a church growth meeting and the new book, ”America’s 100 largest Churches”. Interesting……..)

Many churches are rampant with the philosophy of more, bigger, better, and tech-ier (made up word). It appears that to be more successful than the “other guys”, we must always be louder and flashier. Who has the best band....the best youth building....the most tech stuff......?

The one with the most stuff wins.........

This is not even close to being so.....................

What we are headed toward is just another set of church machines that are newer, flashier, and faster, but are still out of whack and drive worse than our father's Oldsmobile. If we build them based on Satan's "tweaks" to ministry concepts and ignore the Holy Spirit, what else can we expect? Religiosity is beginning to take on a new set of clothes, but it is still just as fake and empty as it always has been.

So what do we do?

We go deeper........

We refuse Satan's "tweaks" that lead us away from following the Holy Spirit, then we abandon ourselves in order to pursue the Lord for direction for His church. Too long we have followed trends while ignoring the personal approach to finding out God's direction for ministry and, for that matter, our own personal lives too. One-on-one time with God has been replaced by ministry "think tank" meetings to figure out the next new thing in order to "wow" the church world and then use it to draw in new people.

Let's make this even deeper yet............

----How often do you spend a significant amount of time talking to God and finding out about His direction about anything?

----How about your church? When is the last time your church called for a season of prayer to find God’s direction?

----Pastor, when is the last time you and your staff stayed before God until you heard from Him?

----Youth Pastor, who is giving you direction for your ministry to teens?

Where are the people that are willing to go spend time before God and listen to what He says before pursuing a new path?

God is probably more interested in us following His paths than we are. He is very willing to show them to us, but how often are we going to Him in order to listen?

Going to God for directions and following the Holy Spirit are more than just good ideas, they are critical to the Body of Christ.

How we approach and run ministry affects thousands of lives all over this country. Not only that, but we will give an account to God for how we train people in our churches to follow Him.

This is some serious stuff........

Sometimes I find myself looking at the whole picture of religion and asking, "Where is God"? (Like in the old "Where's Waldo" pictures.)

Lots of things resemble Him............ but are not really Him.

The simplicity of being filled with the Holy Spirit and working in His power will cure the problems plaguing the church of any generation. Jesus started the church with the Holy Spirit and His power. Maybe we ought to lay aside all the “tweaks” that Satan has placed on that idea and go back to the original plan.

Do you have faith enough for the journey?  It takes determination to follow the Lord’s direction and flow against what just sounds good. None of us are immune to laying aside the truth and following Satan’s adjustments to it.

Just ask Eve.......

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Check out this truth....

Joshua 1:7-8 NLT

8  Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.

9  This is My command--be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

Humbly Submitted,

Dan

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Another New Year.... So,Wha'cha Lookin' At?

How about that.

Another new year has arrived and with it the prospects of new challenges and great opportunities down every path we walk!

Let me remind you of this, regardless of what is going on around us in the world, God has always been in control. In all of the future, He will remain in control, and we have no real reason to fear anything in this New Year that is presented to us.

Having said that, it is interesting to note that, in the past, there have been certain new years that came around during which there were some unscrupulous people waiting to promote a lot of fear. Their plans appeared to be gaining money off those who could be so easily taken advantage of, and they very craftily used the emotion of fear on them. By the way, fear is also a favorite tool of Satan.

A couple of examples for you.......

Remember the year 2000?

Because of the projection of mass computer failures, world chaos was predicted. We were told that most likely bombs were going to explode, food might not be available to purchase, and the total collapse of the country would be looming. There was also the possibility that Jesus was going to come back.

Lots of generators, storable foods, books, guns, and survival equipment were sold as many churches started survival training meetings.  Several preachers got their reputations boosted and financial accounts fattened, and doomsday proclaimers had more than just a little time in the public eye.

Well, the world didn't end, Jesus didn't come back, and no explosions happened. Today, I know some people who are still embarrassed by their behavior at that time.

The year 2000 hoopla was just one event among many others from our past.

Here is another one…..

Does anyone remember 1984?  The new year at that time was a doozy also. ( yep, some of you were very young)

All the planets were supposed to line up on one side of the Sun and the earth’s oceans were going to flood all over it. Gravitational forces from the lined up planets were going to tear the earth apart, and lots of excitement and fear were promoted as many preachers jumped on the bandwagon. Reputations were inflated (as were bank accounts) and many books proclaiming the earth’s demise were sold then too.

Doomsday was said to be coming.......but it didn't.

In this new year of 2012, we have a new sensational story and the haymakers are at it again with the Mayan calendar situation. Many are saying that the calendar predicts the end of the world in December 2012. 

The truth is, the Mayan calendar does not predict anything; it just stops at the end of 2012.

What does this mean.....?

I can see it all now........

The guys working on the Mayan calendar were very diligent in their actions------- keeping it up

day after day until eventually the lead calendar maker says to his assistant,

"Listen, I just ran out of the material that I need in order to continue working on this 

 calendar. Run on over to the supply shack, and pick up the items on this list."

"Sorry Boss, I was over there just a little while ago and they are clean out of all this

 stuff. It seems that it is going to be a while before anymore of this kind of material is

 available to us."

 "Well, okay......

  You know, this calendar already goes past the year 2000. Finishing it up right 

   here will be just fine, and if anyone wants to add more in the future, then they can 

   work on it later."

 "That sounds like a good plan to me, Boss!"

So then......... the Mayan calendar stops at the year 2012 ......... big deal......

Why would any realistically thinking person say that this predicts the end of the world unless some ulterior motives were involved one way or the other?

Now, to be fair about it, I don't know that the Mayan calendar ended the way that I depicted in my little story, but how do we know that it did not?  And if God does choose to end the world this year, won't it be cool for us to be in heaven? So what is the scary part of that?

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Some look at the New Year as a means of sensationalism, and then there are others that take a new year as a time to make resolutions.

I tend to like Calvin's approach:

At least it's fun to think about..............

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I guess what really matters in the long run is, how do you personally see 2012?

Is it:

.... A relief from the events of 2011?

.... Another year closer to Christ's return?

.... A new, fresh, exciting adventure coming?

Personally, I like the way that the ancient Hebrew calendar presented the New Year. To grasp my point, we need to understand more about their ancient calendar. However, the Hebrew method of counting days and seasons are not the subject of this talk. There are a lot of complex issues with the feasts, new moons, occasional 13th months, and all the constant adjustments made to the calendar for fitting it into the solar year.

For my purposes at this time though, it is enough for us just to know that the Hebrew year always started in the spring.

I love the visual picture of starting my year when the new growth appears and green grass is showing itself everywhere. Beautiful birds are singing and the earth is warming again. The dead looking trees put out small buds and take on the appearance of giving out new life, while flowers of brilliant colors push their way out of the cold ground (the crocus and tulips are two of my favorites!).

I would like to have these picturesque surroundings as I start into my new year because I have learned that I am very influenced visually by my surroundings. It is difficult for me to stay excited with new ideas and goals while I feel the coldness and see the dead look of nature all around me (friends and co-workers excepted, of course).

However........

...........regardless of when the new year comes, the starting out of a new year with reachable and exciting goals is an excellent way to begin! I have found that entering the New Year with high hopes while looking at something else other than my normal surroundings has helped me to accomplish much more than I normally would.

Consider these Bible verses:

Hebrews 12:1-2 NIV

1  Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

2  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

When I keep my visual perspective turned toward the loving presence of the Lord, it makes all the other things in the world situate themselves in the right frame of reference in my life. Not only that, but I also do find the warmth, freshness, and encouragement to pursue any goal for the year that the Lord puts before me.

Going Deeper

Where are your eyes focused when it concerns your career and relationships for this year?

What are you looking at when it comes to your marriage?

And what about your children……..what are you looking at to guide you in dealing with them?

                  

Self help books?

Counselors?

Jesus?

It doesn't just happen, you know. We have to on purpose look at Jesus when it comes to our lives..... but then, what does that really mean?

          When I look to Jesus with my heart and mind, I am acknowledging Him and willingly giving way to His direction in my life. I am also inviting Him to tell me what to do in every decision that I need to make, and looking at Him in this way is also a statement that I will obey whatever He says to me.

So, what do you need help with this year?

Finances?

Family?

Career?

Children?

Ministry?

If so, then we need to focus our eyes on Jesus this year……we can’t help but be the winners as we do so.

Another new year is here, so…… what'cha lookin' at?

Remember, we really don't have to make it up as we go.....

May this be the best year of your life as you keep your eyes upon Him!

Humbly submitted,

Dan

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