SETTLING DISPUTES

 

"Casting the lot settles disputes and keeps strong opponents apart." Proverbs 18:18 We prayed about it. We discussed it. My friend had one desire; I had a different one. "Okay, let's settle the issue the way the early Church settled matters when an agreement could not be achieved. Let's flip a coin." "You must be joking!" my friend lamented. "No, the early Church cast lots often to determine a course of direction or even select the disciple who would take Judas' place." "Okay," my friend agreed. We flipped the coin and the matter was quickly settled. In the Old Testament there are many examples of casting lots for determining a decision. We hear little of this method today. Most of us do not want to release the decision process to this seemingly "flippant" process; yet the Lord says, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord" (Prov. 16:33). Flipping a coin is the equivalent to casting a lot. It removes our own opinions and leaves the final outcome to the Lord. Pray before you take such an action. It will surprise you who is willing to submit a decision to the Lord and who isn't. It removes the element of control from both parties. I believe the Lord would first have us make decisions through agreement and continued prayer for the decision. However, there are times when this approach can be the quickest and simplest. It removes each person's temptation to lord it over the other. Cast the lot and settle the dispute.

BAPTISM AT THE RED SEA

 

"We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Rom 6:4). When Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt, he took them to the edge of the Red Sea. The people saw the sea before them and heard the chariots of the Egyptians behind them. They knew they were trapped - and they lost their faith in God. They thought God was no longer at work in their lives. In panic and despair, they turned on Moses and said, "Why did you bring us out into the desert to die? When we were slaves in Egypt, didn't we tell you, 'Just leave us alone and let us continue serving the Egyptians.' Better to live as slaves than to die out here!" They couldn't imagine that God's path to freedom actually led straight into and through the deep waters! The waters of the Red Sea, like the New Testament sacrament of baptism, are a symbol of death. When Moses parted the Red Sea, the people of Israel walked upon the dry seabed with walls of water on either side. They descended into the depths of the sea. They died to their old selves and rose to a new life that led to the Promised Land. Like the people of Israel in their journey, we panic and cry out to God, "Did You bring me out into this desert of adversity to die?" We would rather live as slaves than die to self and yield control of our lives to God. But God takes us through the depths so that we can emerge as new people, ready to enter the Promised Land. In general, I've observed that the greater and higher the calling, the more intense the adversity. I'm not saying one person's call is more important, but I am saying it may have a more far reaching impact on others. This often requires greater preparation. If you find yourself in deep water, thank God today that He is preparing you for a life that is designed to impact many.

LIVING AN OBEDIENCE-BASED LIFE

 

"They trusted in Him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God." - Daniel 3:28b Have you ever known someone who lived an outcome-based Christian experience? This means that their decisions are made based on the positive or negative outcome, not on absolute obedience. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were three men who lived an obedience-based life. When King Nebuchadnezzar passed a law that said all were to worship his idol, these young men determined they would not worship anything other than God. You can be sure these men did not make this decision at the time of the decree. Their decision actually had been made years earlier. Their convictions were already in their hearts. Each of us must come to a place of knowing what our boundaries are in given situations. What will you tolerate from your employer? What situation crosses the line for you? Where are the boundaries for questionable practices in your life? If these are not worked out ahead, you will live a life of situational ethics, determining what decision to make based on the merits of the situation. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were willing to die for what they believed. In this case, they were delivered from the fiery furnace. God used their faithfulness to impact a king, and they were promoted to higher positions. Are you an obedience-based Christian? Or are there situations that can move you based on the outcome? God wants to know that we will stand firm on the issues that are important to Him, no matter what the outcome may be. God is looking for those who are radical in their obedience. Does this describe your commitment to Christ? If not, pray for this kind of conviction. The Lord will honor you for this.

PAUL'S DISAGREEMENT WITH THE PROPHET

 

"Coming over to us, he took Paul's belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, "The Holy Spirit says, 'In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles'" (Acts 21:10,11). In Acts 21, we find an interesting scene involving Paul, the disciples and a prophet named Agabus. Agabus tied Paul's hands and feet in a prophetic act to dramatize the word of prophecy he was going to give Paul that he would be bound and persecuted in Jerusalem. The leaders concluded from this that Paul was not to go to Jerusalem. However, Paul disagreed. "When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, 'Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus'" (Acts 21:4-14). Was Paul acting in disobedience to the counsel of others and even the Holy Spirit's confirmation by other believers? If so, does that mean that Paul was not to go? By his response, Paul seemed to know something the others didn't. He didn't disagree with the prophecy, he disagreed with the interpretation. It is always the individual's responsibility to interpret the meaning and action required from counsel from others. This is not the role of the prophetic gifts of others. He is the messenger, the recipient needs to determine the action required from the message. There is no reason to think that Paul went to Jerusalem in violation of the will of God. The prophetic forecasts were not prohibitions from the Holy Spirit but forewarnings of what lay ahead. Paul's friends tried to dissuade him from risking his life; but the apostle remained steadfast in accomplishing his mission that he believed was from God in spite of personal danger. The important lesson for us is to understand that doing the will of God does not always have a positive outcome. If it did, we would make decisions based only on perceived outcome. This is not a biblical way of making decisions. Jesus was obedient to the cross.

THE STRENGTH OF BROKENNESS

 

"The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength." - 1 Samuel 2:4 There is an oxymoron throughout the Bible. It says that brokenness is strength. How can this be? How can brokenness be strength? In order to use men and women to their fullest extent, the Lord has to break His servants so that they might have a new kind of strength that is not human in origin. It is strength in spirit that is born only through brokenness. Paul was broken on the Damascus road. Peter was broken after Jesus was taken prisoner. Jacob was broken at Peniel. David was broken after his sin with Bathsheba. The list could go on of those the Lord had to break in different ways before they could be used in the Kingdom. When we are broken, we see the frailty of human strength and come to grips with the reality that we can do nothing in our own strength. Then, new strength emerges that God uses mightily. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Do not fear brokenness, for it may be the missing ingredient to a life that emerges with a new kind of strength and experience not known before. Pray for a broken and contrite heart that God can bless.

LEARNING TO STAND

 

..."Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today...." - Exodus 14:13 The Israelites had just left 400 years of slavery in Egypt. They had fled to the desert, but they had come to a dead end at the Red Sea. Word reached them that Pharaoh had changed his mind. He was sending his troops to recapture the Israelites. They cried out to their leader Moses, complaining that he had brought them that far only to die in the desert. Learning when to move and when to stand is the greatest challenge for a workplace believer. We are trained for action. We are not trained to sit idly and wait. We are trained to solve problems, not wait for them to resolve themselves. However, God says there are times to wait. We are to wait until He says go. If we go before He says go, we likely will make our situation worse. If the Israelites had attempted to cross the Red Sea before it parted, they would have drowned. If they had fled north to try to avoid the Egyptians, God would not have moved in a miraculous way. God cannot work on our behalf if we continually try to solve our problems when He has instructed us to stand still. Standing still is sometimes the greatest action we can do, although it is the most difficult thing to do in the Christian walk. Stand still when He says stand and see the deliverance of the Lord.

GIDEON'S STAFF

 

With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread (Judg 6:21). Gideon was a farmer who threshed wheat for a living using a staff. This was commonly used in his day to beat out fitches and cummin (Isa 28:27), but now it was being used for wheat. He was busy doing his work when an angel of God appeared to him.  The angel told him that he was going to be used to deliver the people of Israel from the Midianites who had been ravaging their land and crops for seven years. God was calling Gideon to do a new type of threshing. Instead of threshing wheat, he was being called to thresh the Midianites. God often calls men and women when they are in the middle of their workplace activities. Like Moses, Gideon received this word from God with reluctance and feelings of insecurity, citing that his family was of no stature to accomplish such a task. Nevertheless, God addressed Gideon as a "mighty warrior" (Judges 6:12). God often sees us for what we will become, not what we think we are. Once Gideon determines through a series of fleeces that it truly is God speaking to him he does an interesting thing. He prepares an offering to the Lord of meat and bread. Once this offering is prepared, the angel uses the tip of his staff to consume the offering. Here God uses another symbol of his work to consummate a partnership to accomplish one of God’s purposes in the nation of Israel. This time the staff is used to receive the offering presented to the Lord by touching the offering with the tip of his staff. God used the symbol of his work to ignite the fire that consumed the offering.  Be watchful for times when God orchestrates events during the commonplace activity of work. He may be orchestrating something through you for His purposes.

TESTING FOR OBEDIENCE

 Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind (Ps. 26:2).

Throughout the Old Testament, we see many situations in which God tests His people in order to determine if they will follow Him or follow the systems of this world. 
The nation of Israel was tested many times during the 40-year sojourn in the wilderness: "Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands" (Deut. 8:2).
You might ask, "Why does God need to test us? Doesn’t He know everything, including what we would do in every situation?" Yes, God knows—but we don’t know ourselves! God doesn’t test us in order to find out something He doesn’t already know. He tests us so that we can learn about ourselves and His love, power, and faithfulness.
In Genesis 22, God tested Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice his son Isaac on a mountain in the land of Moriah. Isaac was Abraham’s only son by his wife Sarah—the son God had promised to Abraham. By demanding that Isaac be sacrificed, God seemed to be nullifying His covenant of making a great nation of Abraham. How could God’s promise be fulfilled if Isaac was dead?
God tested Abraham to reveal whether or not Abraham truly trusted His promise. Yes, God knew what Abraham would do, but He wanted Abraham to know as well. So God put Abraham to the test—and Abraham passed. As Abraham raised the knife to sacrifice his own son, God stopped him and provided a sacrificial ram instead. 
Every test involves obedience in one way or another. When God tests us, He reveals the true state of our hearts. Are we obedient to His will, or are we self-willed? We might think we know the answer, but we would never truly know unless we were tested.

SUCH A TIME AS THIS

 

"On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king's hall." - Esther 5:1a Esther was a woman who lived for a cause greater than herself. God used this woman to save the entire Jewish people from extermination. However, before God could use her, she had to come to a place of death in herself. It was not an easy decision. Her uncle Mordecai was the instrument God used to challenge her to measure up to the task. Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this? (Esther 4:13b-14) Mordecai was telling it straight. For her to speak up meant great risks if the king did not receive her. It was automatic death if the king did not extend his scepter, which meant acceptance of her approach to the throne. It was also a time to realize that God may have brought her to this place and time for this specific purpose. However, if she did not respond in faith, God would use another instrument to deliver the people. What would she do? Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish (Esther 4:16). On the third day of the fast she came and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king's hall. She was like Jesus who stood in the inner court of Heaven on that third, resurrection day. She gave up her life, but God raised it up on that day and delivered an entire people from destruction because of one woman's willingness to give up her life for a greater cause. God has called each of us to a purpose greater than ourselves. Know that it will require death before life can be given to this purpose. It must be His life that lives, not ours.

EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

 

"And when the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in Him and in Moses His servant." - Exodus 14:31 What makes an effective Christian leader today? Is it charisma? Is it ability? Is it communication and oratory skills? God's view of an effective leader has nothing to do with these qualities. They may be a part of an effective leader. However, the core attribute of a Christian leader is his integrity with God and his obedience to follow Him. When this happens, God manifests His power in and through that leader. Moses was effective because he was willing to obey the commands God gave him. When Moses did this, God manifested His presence in him. The result was that people followed. They followed because they saw God working in and through the man. They saw that this man was worthy of following because God's anointing was on him. When people see the Lord's power manifested in your life, they will have a healthy fear of the Lord. They will look at you and say, "This person has something I don't have that is worthy of more investigation." Your challenge is to seek the Lord with a whole heart, resulting in God's power being manifested in the daily activities of your life. When this happens, you can expect others to be drawn to what they see in you. The problem with many Christians today is that non-Christians see nothing different about the way they live to motivate the unsaved to desire their faith. What makes you different from your neighbor? Is your experience with God noticeably different from that of the man next door? If you're not experiencing regular encounters with God, it's time to ask why not. We don't live day-to-day for the next spiritual experience, but we should see by-products of a life centered in God that is reflected in fruit from His presence in our lives.

REMEDY FOR DEPRESSION

 

"To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness" (Isa 61:2-3 NKJV). A 1988 article in Psychology Today reported on an experiment involving 1700 women under stress. The women participated in various projects that involved helping other people. Within 30 days, 85 percent of the women reported that they had been relieved of stress symptoms that included "stress-related disorders such as headaches, voice loss and even pain accompanying lupus and multiple sclerosis."* I suspect many people could save thousands of dollars on therapy and antidepressants if they would just take time to serve others. The best way to get beyond our pain is to get outside of it. I discovered this in my own journey through a particular dark time. I decided to serve others even though I was in great emotional pain. This had a remarkable positive effect on my emotional state. When we refocus our attention on the needs of others when we ourselves are in turmoil, it allows the burden of our circumstance to be removed from us. The more one focuses on their own problem the more likely you are to become depressed. Isaiah understood a principle that is still valid today. If you find yourself depressed because of a circumstance in your life, take Isaiah's advice-begin to praise the Lord in spite of the circumstances you see. Then you will see the spirit of heaviness begin to be lifted. *Allan Luks, "Helper's High: Volunteering Makes People Feel Good, Physically and Emotionally," Psychology Today, October 1988. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1175/is_n10_v22/ai_6652854 (accessed April 2006).

GOD'S MOTIVE

 

"He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me." - 2 Samuel 22:20 Questioning someone's motives for their activities can become an overriding response to those to whom we relate. Wrong motives can result in broken relationships, poor business decisions, and falling out of God's will. Sometimes we do not know the motive of another person. It is wrong for us to assume what their motive is until we have confidence that we know their intentions. When we respond or react prematurely, we become judge and jury over them. God has a motive for every one of His children. His desire is to bring us into a spacious place. He wants us to go beyond our borders of safety and security so that we might experience life at a level that goes beyond ourselves. What do you think of when you think of a "spacious place"? No limitations? A large, grassy field? Open air? These are positive images. Sometimes these spacious places encourage us to step out in faith into areas where we've never ventured. Sometimes we need to be rescued by the Lord. When Peter walked on the water, God was inviting him to a spacious place. He went beyond the borders of his boat and ventured into a whole new world. He didn't have complete success in his venturing out, but it was a process that would lead him to the next victory in his faith walk with Jesus. Sometimes failure is what is needed in order to move us to the next level of faith with God. However, we must be willing to fail and let God rescue us. The Lord delights in this process. His motive for His children is always love. It is always to bring us to a new level of trust and dependence on Him.