Friday, February 27, 2009

Our First Love

To the angel of the church of Ephesus write,‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands:

Jesus, who walks in the midst of the churches, explains to the Church at Ephesus that He knows their works, how hard they labor, how they have been patient and how much they hate evil. He continues, “you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; 3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.” All great praises from the Savior.

But the King also has this to say, a message for all of us in the “Loveless Church.” “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” How devastating it is to hear Jesus use these words, “you have left your first love.” He is telling the Ephesians and all of us “who have an ear” that we must be careful not to forget why our churches exist and who it is we are there to worship. Jesus says to everyone, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”

Our faith must not be in the youth programs, the praise band or the size of the sanctuary; it is about loving Jesus and remembering how he captured our hearts when we realized that he loved us so much that he willingly gave his life that we may be sinless in the eyes of God. We cannot lose site of the fact that He gave of himself as an example that we are to give of ourselves completely to His service and the service of others.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

I Stand at the Door and Knock

"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." Rev 3:19-21.



In the Book of Revelation, Jesus writes seven letters to Churches of that day which when laid out in order, mystically reveal church history from 100 AD until the time of the Great Tribulation. The commendation and criticism God had for each of the churches reveal to the modern day Christian that there are many practices and attitudes in churches today that the believer, who is serious about his relationship with the Father, should distance himself from.

Many people today are claiming that they have "lost their religion" because of the experiences they have had in church. Judging from the letters in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 this is not at all surprising to God. Jesus clearly reminds seven times, "He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches." that we should recgonize the churches that do not stand on the word of God and leave them. Warning us of the dangers of false doctrine and the dismissal of God's word.

We live in very interesting times. The level of deception seems to be increasing and the number of people leaving churches because of false doctrine, wickedness in the pulpits and hypocracy in the pews, is on the rise. As believers we must pray for the lost and lead them gently to the loving arms of our Father who wants to adopt them into his family (our family). Time seems to be running short as the day of our Lord's glorious return is ever closer.

My prayer. Father, I pray in the name of Jesus that you would open the eyes and ears of your wandering sheep and turn them back toward you. I pray that we as your children will be more keenly aware of how to reach your sheep and help guide them back to you . Show us Father how to lead them back as you change their hearts and call them out of darkness and into light. I pray in earnest that all may find their way home, in Jesus mighty name. Amen!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Forgive One Another and Be Healed

"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." Eph 4:31-32

We all have things that we hold on to. I suppose there is security in holding on; like a blanket or a pacifier to a young child. Even after we are saved and we promise to give our hearts to God and walk with Jesus Christ daily we continue to carry those burdens into our new lives with Christ. We fool ourselves into thinking that because we accept Christ as our Saviour that the burdens and the past will melt away in the euphoria of our salvation. Not exactly! When we give our hearts to Him, we have work to do. In fact, we may discover that we have burdens we didn't realize after we walk with God awhile.

No, just like when we went forward or we prayed a prayer and asked God to step into our lives, we also have to physically with some and spiritually with all our burdens "let go" of them. If we are grasping hold of our anger toward another, or hanging on to an addiction we cannot take hold of Jesus' hand and allow him to lead us. If we harbor resentment, jealousy or lust in our hearts there is no room for God there to heal us from them. We must make the first move our selves with these burdens of our former selves and release our grip on them so that we can grab hold of something new.

I have learned so much in my walk with God but letting go seems to have been the most difficult lesson. God however, is patient and has allowed me to release them over time while revealing new ones that I didn't realize I held onto. Like a parent, God loves us through these issues but we must trust him and give the problem to him freely and keep our hands off while he heals the wounds and replaces the burden with more of him.

Its a wonderful experience but you have to make the first move.

My prayer. Father thank you for your gift of salvation through your one and only Son. Thank you that you love your children so much that you want none of us to suffer the burdens that we have taken from the devil and have carried all of our lives. Not all of these hurts we asked for, some of them were done to us by people who were supposed to love and care for us, but none the less we still hold onto the pain because that is all we have ever done. Help us Lord to trust you enough to release our grip on the hurts and the burdens of our past. Replace them with more of your love and lead us Lord into new lives of service to you and our brothers and sisters who are still lost and carrying their own loads. We want to be free Lord and take hold of the good things that you want to give your children. Thank you Lord! I pray all of these things in Jesus mighty name, Amen!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Begining of Wisdom

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." Proverbs 1:7

There are a lot of difficult questions facing our world today. How do we organize our spending priorities to change the economic crisis we are in? How do we resolve the problem of world wide terrorism? Should we continue with the war in Iraq or move to Afghanistan? On the medical front, in the classroom, on Capitol Hill and in the cities and towns across America, we seem to have more questions than good answers.

Fundamentally, we have failed to look to our best source for answers the one true God. The most wise man to ever have lived was King Solomon. He was wealthy beyond his wildest dream but the one thing he asked God for was to gran him wisdom and God did. Solomon wrote the Book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. Each is filled with tremendous insight and wisdom for young and old alike, for leaders, for married couples and a host of other professional disciplines and social situations.

However, Solomon starts his writings with what I believe is his most profound revelation for the God, the spiritual author of everything he wrote. All knowledge begins with fear (respect and reverence) of the Lord. One can spend a lifetime studying and become a scholar and recognized expert in his or her field, but without a genuine reverence for God, all of it is for naught.

Isaiah 29:14 says, "I (God) will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." Paul says in 1 Corinthians that God has "made foolish the wisdom of the world."

What scholar has figured out where the earth came from? Why are no two snowflakes the same? Who or what caused "Old Faithful" to erupt like clockwork for thousands of years? In the thirty-eighth chapter of the Book of Job, God conducts a four chapter final exam for which Job cannot answer a single question after which he concedes "I know that you can do all things (Lord); no plan of yours can be thwarted." Job 42:2

As much as we try to find the answers to life's most difficult questions and debate over Darwin Theory, our minuscule attempt at gaining knowledge cannot advance until we first concede like Job "and repent in dust and ashes." Job 42:6 God is the Creator, the author and he knows the beginning from the end and until we grasp that knowledge we will be hopelessly searching for wisdom and find ourselves miserably lost and ignorant.

My Prayer. Father, please forgive us for thinking we are wise when we fail recognize you as our loving and gracious redeemer. Forgive our arrogance and our pride and gently nudge us back from our aimless wandering. Help us to realize like you did with Job that it is only through your plan that our life will be lived. Help us to understand that we are your hands and feet and that your purpose will be fulfilled no matter how hard we try to do things on our own. Thank you Lord for continuously bringing us back as a shepherd rounds up his strays. Thank you for loving us enough to give us your Son as redemption from our sin and mediator for us when we wander away. I love you Father and I ask you for a double portion of wisdom beginning with a deep reverence for your goodness and mercy. In Jesus name I pray, Amen

Monday, February 16, 2009

Ordinary Men and Women

"Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him." 1 Cor 1:26-29


If you are reading this and believe that the Word of God is divinely inspired and physically written so that mere mortals could comprehend what is in God's heart then this verse is from the Father for you right now.

Friends in Christ, God loves you and has called you out of who you were and into what he has planned for your life since before you were born. All you and I have to do as believers is live it. God is empowering us that we live out his plan for us no matter what our surroundings appear.

God chose ordinary men and women not scholars, influential people or the "best of the best" to do His business. The time is now to see and understand that God wants us to live our lives for Him and the Kingdom in these times. Why are you waiting? Why am I waiting? None of us are going to be any smarter by earthly standards, nor born in a different family. We are in God's family and its time we live like it, start today and watch how the world is going to change. We are the most influential people on this planet when we live like the people our Father has called us to be.

My prayer. Father, today I humble myself and lay all that I have accumulated that has kept me from You at your feet. I am choosing today to let go of the idols and the stuff that is preventing me from fully serving you and being the person you have called me to be. I repent and turn away from everything that displeases and seek your face. Lord give me eyes to see what you see in every situation I face and give me the courage to be a man of God in everything I do. Let my hands and feet be yours. Use me to do that which you called me to do no matter how difficult because I can do all things through You who gives me the strength. I love you Lord now let me act like. In Jesus name I pray, Amen

Friday, February 13, 2009

Tell Them What they Want Hear?

"But Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there not a prophet of the LORD here whom we can inquire of?" The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, "There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. " 2 Chron 18:7-8


The truth is under attack. No one wants to hear bad news any more even if its true. "They won't like us if we tell them something they don't want to hear." What happened to our spines? When did America ever shy away from the truth because it was too difficult to hear? It seems as if from the White House to Capitol Hill to the Mayors office our politicians have lost their ability to lead.

While we must continue to pray for them, we as believers have a duty to remind them that they are obligated not only to the citizens but more importantly, if they are followers of Christ, they must also place themselves under His leadership and guidance.

We will all do well to lift these men and women up in prayer and also remember what the Holy Spirit inspired in 2 Chronicles 7: 14 " If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. "

This prayer is for believers not atheists or agnostics. "My people" is us! We must humble ourselves, we must pray and seek God's face and turn from our wickedness then He will heal our land.

If any of our representatives call themselves followers of Christ or are practicing Jews then this word if for them. We should pray this ourselves and also send it to them via email or letter or phone call. Our country needs to be healed and God is ready to do that, we need to do our part!

My prayer. Father we acted proudly and ignored your presence, thinking we could run our country without You. Forgive us Lord for our arrogance and pride. As the father accepted the prodigal son, please forgive us our trespasses and sins and take us back into your loving arms. We humble ourselves before you Father and repent from our wickedness. Please Lord hear our prayer and lay bear our hearts to examine our sincerity. We want to see you and make your ways our ways. We want to know your face and see you smile upon our nation once again. We as believers in God stand in agreement that we have been wrong and ask now with humble repentance and confident boldness that you will hear us from heaven and heal us from our iniquity and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Thank you Lord that you would love America enough to heal her if we sincerely and humbly ask and walk in your ways. I pray too Lord that believers everywhere will send this prayer to their elected officials and leaders all across the country and encourage them to pray for each other and stand as leaders. Father we are ready to hear bad news as long as it is the truth and we are prepared to fight the long fight to win back the freedom that we have given up by our disobedience. In Jesus mighty name I pray, Amen.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

What They Want to Hear

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables." 2 Tim 4:3-4 (NKJV)

In a Feb 10, 2009 "Times on Line," article entitled, "Vatican Buries the Hatchet with Charles Darwin," the author writes: "The Vatican has admitted that Charles Darwin was on the right track when he claimed that Man descended from apes.
A leading official declared yesterday that Darwin’s theory of evolution was compatible with Christian faith, and could even be traced to St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas. “In fact, what we mean by evolution is the world as created by God,” said Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture."


One day earlier (2/9/2009) in a German on-line newspaper "Der Speigel" Bishop Richard Williamson speaks at length in an interview that he does not believe the Nazi Holocaust that killed six million Jews during World War II happened.

Needless to say these two articles were upsetting to me but not surprising to God in light of the writing of Paul in his second letter to Timothy.

These days are full of half truths and out right lies from the heads of our governments to the pulpits of our churches. Deceptive speech is the norm. From the White House to the Vatican, our politicians and many of our clergy are turning their hearts away from truth and toward fables and misinformation, to gain favor by telling what they think people want to hear. Truth is gone from the very places we need the truth to be spoken.

The truth is not always what most of us want to hear. When the news is bad or when improper behavior needs to be corrected the truth is not pleasant. However, denial of the truth does not make the bad news better nor does it correct poor performance. Yet we continue to deceive each other saying everything is okay, denying the truth so that for a moment we can be popular while delaying the inevitable and often making the situation worse.

"Bad news doesn't get better with age," my former Commanding Officer would say. He was right. Yet many times his officers were afraid to tell him when something was not right for fear he would be mad at them.

When are we going to tell the truth? We will never correct our difficulties by hiding them and worse changing the facts to cover up the reality of the situation. Truth is absolute and we are only fooling ourselves if we think we can deny that.

My prayer. Father I know from your word that nothing that is happening in the world right now is a surprise to you. Neither the President nor the Pope can fool You. Father, in the name of your Son Jesus, forgive us for thinking that we can deceive you in any way. Help us Lord to see the error of our ways and heal us from the sin of lying and deception. I pray in earnest for our eyes to be opened from the blindness caused by our self-deception. In Jesus mighty name I pray, Amen.