Get Started Already!

One tragedy of Christian thinking that I heard David Hamilton speak about once, is the popular mindset of being God’s servants waiting for him to tell us what to do. It asserts that we shouldn’t act until we are absolutely sure it is God directing us, not some other influence. So much value is placed on hearing God’s voice that we often remain idle until he commands us. Or our ministries remain stagnant until he forcefully prunes us.

God wants more than a servant/master relationship with us. Imagine if you had a girlfriend and you never bought her flowers. Finally she was so upset about this that she loudly commanded, “go buy me flowers now!” Now imagine you obeyed and brought her some flowers. Do you think she would be very pleased with this gift? Would it be very special to her? No, of course not, because she had to tell you!

God wants to be in a love relationship with us. In a love relationship you spend lots of time getting to know your partner, learning his or her desires, dreams, passions, and then working to fulfill those things before they have to ask. If, instead, you were to buy your girlfriend flowers before she had to ask you, it might be something that pleased and surprised her!

We are to seek God out and know him. We need to be familiar with his dreams, his desires, his passions, and then work to see those things come true! Let's get started before he has to specifically tell us! I think God waits and waits for us to do something that will bless his heart. He has made his dreams very clearly known to us through his word. But we sit idly for so long, trying to divine his voice that finally God has to command us to do something! It shouldn’t be like that.

Isaiah overheard God asking the question out loud, “Who will go?” The question wasn’t a command, it wasn’t directed at Isaiah. Isaiah simply became aware of God’s desires, and he jumped at the opportunity to bless God. He stood up and declared, “here I am, Lord, send me!”

Of course we are to remain mindful of God’s specific direction. He will reveal strategy to us once we get started. And if our heart is to bless God, and we unintentionally start down a wrong path, we can be sure he will redirect us! In this way we partner with him.


SPF

Defining Faith

People tend to think of faith and doubt as mutually exclusive. It is typically said that one either "has faith" (in or for something) or they are "doubting". In this way of thinking, faith is reduced to a state of mind.

Christians continually feel guilty because they don't "have enough faith", and by this they seem to mean they don't "believe strongly enough." When they encounter things in life that cause them to experience doubt (wether in small or large matters), they usually see that as something bad.

I would define faith differently. I would even say that faith requires the presence of doubt. Faith is not just a state of mind, but an act of will, which by definition requires exercising. Faith is not the absense of doubt, but it is what you choose to do when faced with doubt.

Were I to tell you that flying elephants exist, you would not naturally believe me, nor could you choose to believe me because you cannot force your mind to accept something that is contrary to what it knows to be actual. Again, faith is not a state of mind. You could, however, choose to trust me, and make decisions based on what I have told you. In this you would be exercizing faith; not in flying elephants, but in me and in my character.

The above example is absurd. But in the same way God calls us to have faith in him and in his character through making decisions based not on what we naturally perceive, but on what he has said.

Taking all this into account, I would say that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but fear. God has spoken clearly that he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Exo 34:6). God has spoken clearly that he is our provider (Gen 50:21). In fact, the most repeated command in the bible is, "do not fear," or some variation of that.

When we are confronted with doubts or situations that cause us to doubt, we can either choose to be afraid and to worry, or to exercise faith by trusting in God's characteristics, and continuing to live in light of what God has said about himself.

This also releases the Christian from the guilt associated with doubt. Doubt is natural to the rational mind and is very healthy. Instead of trying to ignore it, avoid it, cover it up with endless religious activity, or feel guilty about it, we should engage it, wrestle with it, and allow it to send us seeking for answers. After all, an unexamined faith is not worth having.

Seeking truth should be any person's foremost agenda. By wrestling with doubts we obtain much understanding, and ultimately more solid grounds for our faith, and also the things we believed that turn out to be groundless, we can leave behind.

Why is God invisible? There would be no need to exercise faith were he not. But God enjoys being sought after.

So my friends, do not be afraid, take advantage of your doubts, and remember, we are to live by faith, not by sight.

SPF

Everything Is Holy

"The earth is the Lord's and everything in it." Psalm 24:1

I have been thinking about this verse lately, and have been challenged in the way I look at the world. As Christians we tend to think of things in the world as good or bad, light and dark, black and white. We see the symbol of the Cross as good, and we see the pentagram as evil. We see trees as beautiful creations of God, but we see the marijuana plant as something that should be torn out of the ground. We dress in bright colors, and see those who wear too much black as probably having something wrong with them. We listen to uplifting music because it reminds us of God, but avoid dark-sounding music which is sad or angry, thinking darkness is not of God.

"The earth is the Lord's and everything in it."

In Genesis it explains that God created EVERYTHING and called it good. And so I think that everything is holy! Everything is clean and good, until we ruin it. Evil cannot be attributed to a thing. Evil comes from personalities (demons and humans) only. The world is not black and white. Everything is white, until we taint it with our own evil.

In Tolkien's classic, 'The Silmarillion', Illuvatar (who is a parallel of God) created the world through his great themes of music (much like God created the world with words), but Melkor (a parallel of the devil) started to sing his own tunes. Illuvatar created the seas, and then Melkor created (or thought he did) fire. And when the two met, great clouds were formed, and rain first fell on the earth. But all this was according to Illuvatar's design. Illuvatar then said something interesting to Melkor: "And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined."

Everything on this earth has its uttermost source in God. The pentagram, which we shun as a symbol of evil, was thought of by God (who created all color and shape) long before the Pagans stole it. The marijuana plant was created by God, and he called it good. How dare we dub anything he created as evil? Dark themes of music, dark colors, they all come from God, and they all express different facets of his infinite character.

There is nothing new under the sun which does not have its uttermost source in God. Musicians who 'create' music are simply arranging, in their own way, the notes and sounds which God caused to be. Even those musicians who are in fact evil, and worship idols, even they are using the holy things God created.

"God owns all those calf's, he owns all those hills!" - Woven Hand

Of course we can take anything and use it for evil purposes. We take the beautiful, holy things that God created and we worship them. We must see the difference though. Nothing (besides humans and demons) are innately evil. And everything is redeemable.

Remember, "everything is yours, and you are of Christ." - 1 Cor 3

Jesus, what?!

I've noticed lately how much I avoid reading what Jesus said in the bible. The guy is just too deep! I often can't figure out half of what he says. I much prefer the writings of Paul which seem much more elaborate, but at least understandable. So I've been challenged lately to dig deeper into those red letters. I know that there are treasures in there if only you can figure them out!

In Matthew 5, Jesus says:

14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

That makes sense, we missionaries use that verse all the time. Let your light shine before others that they might see what God has done in your life!

But then, in Matthew 6 Jesus says:

1"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Woah. So first I am supposed to show off my 'goodness' for everyone to see and give glory to God, but then I am supposed to keep everyone from seeing my 'goodness' so that God who sees what is done in secret will reward me! I'm feeling a bit of confusion now.

How do these two messages reconcile?

Well I guess its all about the heart. That's what Jesus was trying to say the whole time, that its not so much about what you do, but about the state of your heart!

The more time you spend with God, the more you worship him with your life, the more your light will shine and others will be drawn to it! This is good... But if your motivation is no longer to honor God, but to do things 'for God' and impress others with your holiness, then you have missed the point.

In Rick Joyner's "The Final Quest", after spending time worshiping the Lord, he notices that his armor is shining radiantly, along with the armor of all the others on the mountain who were worshiping along side him. The glory from their armor was so great that it began to light up the whole mountain, and those still in captivity saw from far off and were drawn towards it.

But the problem with the shining armor was that the glare made it very difficult for the soldiers to see the attack the enemy was mounting. Pride was on the move. A friend told me about "Satan Syndrome". Lucifer became so enamored of his own glory, instead of focusing on the source of that gory, and this is what caused his fall.

So the key to all this, and what Jesus was explaining, is humility! The soldiers who were wise covered their shining armor with a drab cloak, which shielded their own eyes from their own glory! It made them invisible to the onslaught of pride. Those who didn't put on the cloak ended up back in the enemies camp.

Ok. So maybe Jesus does make sense if you spend some time thinking.

SPF