Wednesday, January 31, 2018

FORGIVING OURSELVES

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

The murderer was condemned to life in prison. Then one day something amazing happened. The guard came and opened the jail cell. "You are free to go. Someone else is taking your place," said the guard. "How can this be? I am still guilty!" said the prisoner. "Your debt has been paid. You are free to leave," said the guard once more. The prisoner decided not to leave. "I cannot allow another to pay my debt," said the prisoner. Because of his pride he chose to remain in bondage.
Imagine the guilt Peter must have felt when he denied the Son of God three times by saying he never knew him. Imagine what he must have felt the moment he reunited with Him after the resurrection.
The hardest person to forgive sometimes is ourselves. It is especially hard for high achievers to forgive themselves. We think we are above such failure. However, the Bible says we all sin and it is impossible to remedy that sin by ourselves.
"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives?" (1 John 1:8,10). The question is not whether we will sin, the question is what we will do when we do sin.
There is only one thing for us to do. Go to the cross. Jesus paid for that sin by dying on the cross. Picture yourself writing your sin on a white piece of paper, then pinning it to the cross. Now, leave it there. The cross is for sinners. When Jesus looks at you, He no longer sees your sin. He cannot see the sin because He can only see the cross.
When you come to Jesus with your sin, there is nothing more you can do besides confessing and renouncing your sin. Sometimes it may require restitution with others. However, once you confess your sin and ask forgiveness, it is no longer on the ledger of debts.
Why not choose to walk free. The cell has been opened.

Monday, January 29, 2018

NO MORE REPROACH

..."Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you".... - Joshua 5:9

Joshua and the people had just crossed the Jordan River. They were camped at Gilgal. But before they could proceed they were required to circumcise all the males, because a whole new generation had grown up while living in the desert. This is where Israel, like a worm in a cocoon, was transformed. Circumcision is bloody, personal, and it exposes all that you are. God was saying that before you can become His army, you must roll away the reproach of the Egyptian way of life. You are no longer a slave to the ways of Egypt. It is a time to put aside the old way of life. Many are walking around as goats in sheep's clothes, practicing a form of religion without the true source of truth and power.
Sin in our midst testifies against us. It keeps us in Egypt and never allows us to enter the Promised Land. Our lives must be circumcised in order for us to come out of Egypt into our own Promised Land of spiritual blessing with God. This transformation marks the first time Israel begins to taste the fruit of the Promised Land. No more manna from Heaven. The manna stopped the day after they were circumcised. There was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate produce from Canaan.
God is turning our plowshares into weapons of love to usher in a new generation of workplace warriors. But we will not be effective if we have the reproach of sin in our lives. Ask God to show you what needs to be confessed this day so that no reproach exists. The cross of Jesus takes away all reproaches. Enter the Promised Land with power.

Friday, January 26, 2018

SEEING A GREATER PURPOSE IN ADVERSITY

But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!" - Acts 16:28


Paul and Silas had just been thrown into prison. An earthquake erupted and the jail cell was opened. It's Paul and Silas' opportunity. "Deliverance! Praise God!" might be the appropriate response. But this is not what Paul and Silas did. In fact, rather than leave, they sat quietly in their cell area. The guard, in fear of his life, knew that it would be automatic death if prisoners escaped. Paul and Silas did not leave because they saw a higher purpose for which they were in prison. They were not looking at their circumstance; they were much more concerned about the unsaved guard. The story goes on to explain how Paul and Silas went home with the guard and his family. Not only did the guard get saved, but his entire household as well.
What a lesson this is for us. How often we are so busy looking for deliverance from our circumstance that we miss God completely. God is looking to do miracles in our circumstances if we will only look for them. Sometimes as workplace believers we become so obsessed with our goals we miss the process that God involves us in, which may be where the miracle lies. What if that bill collector who has been hounding you is unsaved and he is there for you to speak to? What if a problem account has arisen due to something God is doing beyond what you might see at this time? Our adverse situations can often be the door of spiritual opportunity for those who need it.
I saw this personally when God allowed me to go through a number of adversities. It took some time, but I saw some great miracles as a result of those adversities. When God said that "all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purposes" (see Rom. 8:28), He meant all things. It is up to us to find the "work together for good" part by being faithful to the process. In the next adversity you face, tune your spiritual antennae and ask God for discernment to see the real purpose for the adversity.

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

RECOGNIZING OUR SOURCE

But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth. - Deuteronomy 8:18a

Pride is the greatest temptation to a successful workplace minister. When we begin accumulating wealth, managing people, and becoming known for our workplace expertise, we are most susceptible to falling to the most devious sin in God's eyes -- pride. The Bible tells us that God is the reason we are able to produce wealth. It is not of our own making. As soon as we move into the place where we begin to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, God says he will take action.
You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me."....If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 8:17,19-20).
These are strong words from God. It demonstrates His utter impatience for any people who think that what they have accomplished has anything to do with their own power. It is God who gives us the skill, the mind, the resources, the energy, the drive, and the opportunities in life to accomplish anything. When we become prideful in heart, He will begin a process of reproof in our life.
Today is a good day to examine whether we have fallen prey to pride. Are you sharing what God has entrusted to you with God's people, or the needy? Are you being the instrument of blessing that God desires for His people to be? What areas of pride have crept into your life? Ask the Lord to show you this today. And avoid being put on the shelf. Nothing is worse than being cast aside because of our own pride.

Monday, January 22, 2018

MARKET RESISTANCE

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him" (James 1:5-6).

Have you ever heard someone say, "He was before his time?" There are many examples of people who invented a product or service in a time when the market was not ready to embrace the product yet. Other things had to develop before the product could be a success.
George Washington Carver experienced this. Born around 1861 during the Civil War, he was a man who should have been a victim to his circumstances. Discriminated against constantly, he lost his mother to slave traders. As a young boy he cried out to God in the midst of his circumstances and God heard him. God gave George an indomitable persevering spirit and he was highly motivated to learn.
Carver discovered that Southern farmers who planted cotton for hundreds of years needed to plant a new crop because the soil had worn out and the farmers were going into interminable debt as a result. To restore the soil Carver advised the planting of peanuts and sweet potatoes instead of cotton. After much persuasion, planters gradually increased their peanut and sweet potato acreage, until these became the number-one crops in the South. However, there was not substantial market for the peanuts and sweet potatoes. Forced to let the product rot in the fields, the farmers ended up losing more money than before.
This situation placed a great deal of pressure on Carver. He took the problem to God in prayer and said, "Mr. Creator, why did You make the peanut?" Many years later, he shared that God led him back to his lab and worked with him to discover some 300 marketable products from the peanut including lard, mayonnaise, cheese, shampoo, instant coffee, flour, sop, face powder, plastics, adhesives, axle grease, and pickles.
Likewise, from the sweet potato he made more than 100 discoveries, among them starch, library paste, vinegar, shoe blacking, ink, and molasses. Because of these new products, the demand for peanuts and sweet potatoes grew and literally transformed the Southern economy.*
Has God made you an inventor? Ask him to help you bring your product to market.
*Adapted from More Than Conquerors, John Woodridge, General Editor, Moody Press, 820 N LaSalle St Chicago, IL 60610-3284 p. 311, 1992.

Friday, January 19, 2018

WRESTLING WITH GOD


The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. - Genesis 32:31

Jacob was a man who was a controller. He connived and manipulated his way to get what he wanted. It was a generational stronghold passed down through his mother, who encouraged her son to play a trick on his father, Isaac, by pretending to be Esau. This trick led Isaac to give the family blessing to Jacob, which meant Jacob would eventually inherit the land God had promised to Abraham's seed. Jacob also learned control from his uncle Laban who caused Jacob to work for 14 years to take Rachel as his lifelong mate. One must ask which was more ugly in God's sight, the self-centered nature and worldliness of Esau, or the control and manipulation of Jacob?
Control is a problem for men and women. Many women use sex to control their husbands. Many men use power and force to control their wives. Control is at the core of that which is opposite the cross-self-rule. What delivers us from this fleshly nature of control? A crisis. Jacob's crisis came when he was faced with the prospect of meeting a brother who said he would kill him the next time he saw him. Esau had built his own clan and was about to meet Jacob and his clan in the middle of the desert. Jacob was fearful, so he retreated. There he met a messenger from God who wrestled with him. Jacob clung to God and refused to let go of this angel. It is the place where Jacob was given a painful but necessary spiritual heart transplant. From that point on, Jacob would walk with a limp, because God had to dislocate his hip in order to overcome Jacob's strong will.
For workplace believers, God often has to "dislocate our hip" through failure and disappointment. Sometimes it is the only way He can get our attention. Our nature to control and manipulate is so strong that it takes a catastrophic event to wake us up. Yet God did not reject Jacob for these character traits. In fact, God blessed him greatly because He saw something in Jacob that pleased Him. He saw a humble and contrite heart beneath the cold and manipulative exterior of Jacob's life, and it was that trait that God needed to develop. He did this by bringing about the crisis in Jacob's life that led to total consecration. This event was marked by Jacob getting a new name, Israel. For the first time, Jacob had a nature change, not just a habit change. What will God have to do in our lives to gain our complete consecration to His will and purposes?
"Beware of the Christian leader who does not walk with a limp."
Bob Mumford (Used by permission.)

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

MOVE ON!

..."Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to move on." - Exodus 14:15

Moses had brought the whole nation of Israel, approximately 600,000, to a dead end in the desert. The only thing between Israel and Pharaoh's pursuing army was the Red Sea. This was after ten plagues God had inflicted on Pharaoh to motivate him to free the Israelites. Finally, Pharaoh had freed Moses and the people, and they left Egypt. They thought they were home free. "Freedom at last," they said. But God did a strange thing. He directed Moses to take a route that led to the Red Sea, instead of the northern route around the Red Sea. God explained that He didn't want them fighting the enemies they would have encountered on this route. But still, there was the issue of the Red Sea.
They finally arrived at the Red Sea, and the people were wondering where they would go from there. News hit the camp: Pharaoh had changed his mind. He was coming after them with his army. Panic set in. The defenseless Israelites cried out, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?...It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!" (Ex. 14:11b-12)
God sometimes brings each of us to a "Red Sea" in our life. It may be a work problem that can't be solved. It may be a marriage that seems to be failing. It may be a debilitating disease. Whatever your Red Sea, God tells us one thing: "Keep moving." The Red Sea was before them, yet God was angered at Moses and told him to "Keep moving."
"But Lord, the Red Sea is before me." "Keep moving." When we live by sight, we act on what we see. God sets this stage in dramatic fashion. God is into the dramatic. There is no way out without God here. That is just the way He wants it. No one will get glory except God.
A friend once admonished me when I was in the midst of an extremely difficult time in my life, "You must not withdraw from being proactive in your faith just because of this trial that you are in. God's hand is on your life. There are too many who are depending on you to fulfill the purposes God has in your life. Keep moving! Keep investing yourself in others." I didn't feel like it. I was in too much pain. But I did it anyway. God met me at the point of my greatest need once I decided simply to be obedient. Getting past myself by investing myself in others helped heal the pain. There is great healing when we look past our own problems and seek to invest ourselves in others for the sake of Christ. This is when our own Red Seas become parted. We begin to walk to freedom. But we will never experience the miracle of the Red Sea in our lives if we don't first "Keep moving."

Monday, January 15, 2018

BIG ASSIGNMENTS

The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children (Ex 12:37-38).

How does God prepare someone for big assignments? Consider the mission given to Moses. He was called to deliver an entire nation from slavery. The assignment was to bring six hundred thousand men, on foot, out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. In addition, there were the women and children. Talk about a big assignment! Imagine the logistics of such an endeavor.
God prepared Moses by allowing him to grow up from infancy under the ways of Egypt. He learned their customs, their idols, and was a favored son of Pharaoh until God revealed his birthright. He began to realize God had placed him in the court of Pharaoh but realized he was not one of them. He was being called back to his own people. He tried to deliver his people using the ways of Egypt. This was not God's way. So, God banished him to the land of Midian for additional training.
God guided Moses to Midian because the Midianites were of the seed of Abraham, and retained the worship of the true God among them. God allowed Moses to learn the trade of shepherding sheep for forty years. Moses learned while living in the arid dry land moving sheep around to places where water and grass could be found. The desert was a place of preparation for one of the greatest assignments given to one man. Did you hear what I just said? Yes, the desert was the place of preparation.
Moses was battle-trained in the same environment he would spend another forty years to bring a stubborn and willful people out of slavery.
What kind of assignment is God preparing you for? Does He have you in the desert of preparation? Learn well the lessons you are there to learn. You may find you are called to be a deliverer, just like Moses.

Friday, January 12, 2018

THE PURPOSE OF THE DESERT

Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. - Hosea 2:14

If you have an important message to convey to someone, what is the best means of getting the message
through? Have you ever tried to talk with someone who was so busy you could not get him to hear you? Distractions prevent us from giving our undivided attention to the messenger. So too, God has His way of taking us aside to get our undivided attention. For Paul, it was Arabia for three years; for Moses, it was 40 years in the desert; for Joseph, it was 13 years in Egypt; for David, it was many years of fleeing from King Saul.
God knows the stubborn human heart. He knows that if He is to accomplish His deepest work, He must take us into the desert in order to give us the privilege to be used in His Kingdom. In the desert God changes us and removes things that hinder us. He forces us to draw deep upon His grace. The desert is only a season in our life. When He has accomplished what He wants in our lives in the desert, He will bring us out. He has given us a mission to fulfill that can only be fulfilled after we have spent adequate time in preparation in the desert. Fear not the desert, for it is here you will hear God's voice like never before. It is here you become His bride. It is here you will have the idols of your life removed. It is here you begin to experience the reality of a living God like never before. Someone once said, "God uses enlarged trials to produce enlarged saints so He can put them in enlarged places!"
He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me (2 Samuel 22:20).

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

COMING OUT OF THE STRONGHOLD

..."Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah"... - 1 Samuel 22:5

David and his fighting men had been hiding in the cave of Adullam. He was fleeing Saul. Many of life's down-and-out had come and joined David's army. David was content to stay in the stronghold of safety. Then, God's prophet came to David and told him that he must leave the stronghold and go into the land of Judah.
When life beats down on us and we get to the place where we want to hide in a cave, God often places people around us who prod us into moving in the right direction. He does not want us to remain in the place of discouragement. He wants us to move into the land of "praise." Judah means "praise."
I recall when I went through a very difficult time. It seemed to drag on and on with no change until finally I wanted to retreat to a cave and forget pressing on. It was a great time of discouragement. A godly man came to me and said, "You must keep moving! There are too many who are depending on you in the Kingdom." I didn't totally understand what he meant at the time. Now I know he was saying that God is preparing each of us to be the vessel He wants to use in the life of another person, but we will never be that vessel if we give up and hide in our cave of discouragement. Not only must we keep moving, we must move into a new realm. Our attitude must move from discouragement to praise. It is when we move past discouragement to praise that we begin living above our problems. Make a decision today to go into the land of Judah.

Monday, January 8, 2018

THE QUESTION OF CALLING

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints? (Eph 1:18-19).

Os Hillman shared these; "I walked up to the man and said, "Hello, my name is Os. What's yours?" His name was also Os - Os Guinness. It was the first time he had ever had such an experience. We chuckled about our unique names.
Os Guinness was named after Oswald Chambers. He has become a well-known contemporary writer and has a real interest in the subject of "calling" just as I do. He has written a masterful work entitled, "The Call." In it he shares some important truths about "calling".
"What do I mean by 'calling'? For the moment, let me say simply that "calling" is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion and dynamism lived out as a response to his summons and service.
There is a distinction between a later, special calling and our original, ordinary calling. Selfishness prefers the first, but stewardship respects both. A special calling refers those tasks and missions laid on individuals through a direct, specific, supernatural communication from God. Ordinary calling, on the other hand, is the believer's sense of life-purpose and life-task in response to God's primary call, 'follow me,' even when there is no direct, specific, supernatural communication from God about a secondary calling.
In other words, ordinary calling can be seen in our responsibility to exercise a high degree of 'capitalist-style' enterprise about how we live our lives. For example, the servants in Jesus' parable for the talents and pounds were assessed according to how they 'got on with it' when the master was away. In this sense no follower of Christ is without a calling, for we all have an original calling even if we do not all have a later, special calling. And, of course, some people have both."*
We are all called to Someone first, then something. As we grow in our knowledge and obedience to Christ, God fulfills our calling in life.

*Os Guinness, The Call, Word Books, Nasvhille, TN p. 4, 48 1998

Friday, January 5, 2018

THE PURPOSE OF ELEVATION

"And the Lord said to Joshua, 'This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.'" (Josh 3:7-8).
Joshua had been a faithful number two man under Moses for 40 years. Can you imagine serving one man for 40 years? Now that is faithfulness!
Even so, when the time came to pass the mantel to Joshua, God knew he needed to be elevated in the eyes of the people in order for Joshua to accomplish his purpose. That is the purpose for elevation - so that you and I can fulfill our purpose and our mission.
We are not called to elevate ourselves. If we elevate ourselves before our time we will short circuit God's plans for our lives. We will not have the same level of grace as we would have if it were in God's perfect timing. Jesus refused to let others elevate Him or make Him into something contrary to His purpose. Moving into a job or responsibility before we are ready is a formula for failure. We may not be mature enough. We may not have the proper skill set.
Let God elevate you in His timing and you will be successful in the thing He created you to be and do.

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

MANAGEMENT BY FORCE

"Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink." - Numbers 20:8

Moses and the people had been traveling for days without water. The people were thirsty. They were complaining and grumbling about their plight, and Moses became the object of their complaining. Moses sought the Lord for wisdom on how to handle the situation. The Lord instructed him to speak to the rock and water would flow. This would be a sign that God was still in control, that Moses was still the leader, and that God was their provider.
When it came time to speak to the rock, Moses' disgust with the people became so great that instead of speaking to the rock, he angrily addressed the people and then struck the rock twice. The water came out, in spite of Moses' disobedience. But the Lord was not pleased with Moses.
This was a time for Moses to operate at a higher level. No longer was he called to touch things with his staff to perform miracles; it was a time for him to speak to the problem. His very words would have changed the situation. Moses' staff represented two things-his physical work as a shepherd of sheep and his spiritual work as a shepherd of the people. God was calling him to move into a new dimension of using his staff. Up to now, Moses had always been commanded by God to touch something to perform the miracle. Now it was time to speak God's word to the problem.
However, Moses made the mistake many of us make. He used his instrument with force to accomplish something for God. He took something God wanted to be used in a righteous manner and used it in an unrighteous manner. He used force to solve the problem. This disobedience cost Moses his right to see the Promised Land.
Have you ever been tempted to use your power, skill, and ability to force a situation to happen, perhaps even out of anger? God is calling us to use prayer to move the face of mountains. The force of our ability is not satisfactory. God is calling each of us to a new dimension of walking with Him. Pray that God will give you the grace to wait on Him and not take matters into your own hands. Then you will not be in jeopardy of failing to move into the Promised Land in your life.

Monday, January 1, 2018

THE FINAL BATTLE

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war (Rev 19:11-12).
I used to love old western movies growing up. So often the main characters would get into trouble and just in the nick of time the cavalry would show up blowing their trumpet and riding their horses to announce their arrival to save those in trouble.
Throughout our lives a battle is waged between Satan and God's Kingdom. There is a final battle coming that will see Jesus and His army invade the enemies of His kingdom. It is the great climax to thousands of years of warfare.
"He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS" (Rev 19:12-16).
We are all moving toward a day in which we will be judged: "The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books" (Rev 20:12-13). Ultimately, we will all reign with Christ in a new heaven and earth (Rev 21). How you live your life now will determine your role in the new heaven and earth.
Your life on earth is a mere blink on the scale of time. Whatever hardships you've faced on earth will pale in comparison to the glory that is to be revealed when the marriage of the Bride of Christ takes place on that final day.
Be faithful. Stand firm. And see the glory of the Lord. Amen.