Suffering

God, for whom and through whom everything was made, chose to bring many children into glory. And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering, a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation. - Hebrews 2:10 (NIV)


But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. - James 1:22 (ASV)


In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. - Hebrews 5:12-14 (NIV)


Jesus grew & was perfected not by doing the easy things (think about what His "suffering" was- doing God's will not His own). He wasn't perfected doing the stuff He wanted to do. Growing old happens naturally & without any effort. Growing UP requires SACRIFICE & OBEDIENCE.


It means:

• Staying with what God said do when things get hard.
• Operating in the fruit of the Spirit when you'd rather give someone a piece of your mind.
• Walking in love & forgiving when people do you wrong. 
• Refusing to hold a grudge. 
• Siding with authority even if you disagree or don't understand (it's not really submission if you agree).
• Spending time with God even when you'd rather be doing something else.
• Tithing when you really don't have the money.
• Doing the Word when your flesh screams to the contrary.
• Whatever that thing is God is dealing with you about & you've been disobedient...

If you aren't willing to do the HARD things you will stay a BABY forever, spiritually speaking. People would rather shout & scream about prayer & revival, and those things are important, but prayer does you NO good if you don't walk out of your prayer closet & get to DOING the Word. Prayer doesn't grow you up. Crucifying your flesh & following Jesus' Word does. 

Let's start proving ourselves & being obedient to His Word!! It won't always be easy, but it's the price you pay for growth.

Be Real

A few nights ago, I wanted to Twitter a thought but thought better of it. Not because it's not true, but because it required more depth than 140 charachters could allow. So, perhaps I can communicate it here better.

Over the years in the church, putting on masks, being fake, & pretending everything's OK when it isn't has taken its toll in the church. There's a move toward authenticity that is needed but perhaps gets a little carried away. In our quest to be "real" we've forgotten that, as Christ followers, we are not our own.

Being "real" wasn't in the beatitudes & "real" isn't a fruit of the Spirit. In fact, teaching in Scripture about our attitude, emotions, and words usually run pretty opposite to what we call "real."

I think it's a dangerous path when we allow sin in our lives & justify it as just being real. It's foolishness to accept as normal things Scripture forbidd. It's absurd to be rebellious, ungrateful, angry, & strife-filled & call it "real".

Sometimes that may be our reality. It's part of having flesh. However, it's time to call a spade a spade. This stuff is sin. If you have a rotten, negative attitude, it's sin. You have chosen to be ungrateful & scoff at the goodness & blessings of God in your life. We all deal with it, it's part of the human condition, but it's not something we just accept.

That's why Scripture has a lot more references to crucifying the flesh, picking up your cross, and presenting your body as a living sacrifice than about being yourself. There's still a lot to be said for simple obedience.

When you find things becoming "real" in your life that don't match the true reality of God's Word, it's not His word that needs to change.

Get in His word & let it transform your mind so you can have a new real. Ask God for His perspective on your situation. Get some friends who will let you have a pity party by yourself instead of feeding your attitude (or, even better, will bring correction when needed). Choose to focus on the goodness of God rather than your circumstance. Decide life's not about you & your perfect happiness & get out and help someone else. Find a purpose bigger than your problem. Keep your eyes on Jesus & the hurting world and off your problems.

Let's work on having a new real! You'll be happier if you do.

Hearing from God pt2

When I deal with this issue of hearing from God, the question I get all the time is, "How do I know if I'm hearing from God & not making this stuff up? How do I know it's God & not me?" That's a great question. I answer that question the same way every time, and I want to share it with you.


Think about the first time you went bowling. You go up to the line, roll the ball down the lane, and if you're like most of us, went straight in the gutter & don't hit a single pin. With a little bit of practice, you don't roll of in the gutter as often. Sometimes to help the inexperienced bowler, the bowling alley will pull up these little guard rails. If you go to throw the ball down the lane and it goes toward the gutter, the ball will bounce off the rail and continue on the right path. You may not get a strike every time, but you will at least hit something.


Just like those rails protect your ball from getting in the gutter, there are some "guard rails" in your Christian experience that will prevent you from getting off in a ditch. If you take what you believe God is speaking to your life & make sure it stays within the boundaries of these rails, you avoid falling off into the ditch. Otherwise, you most certainly will wind up in the gutter & not hit a single pin.


So, what are the guard rails to protect you from going off in the gutter? The first rail is Scripture. 


2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness". Scripture, not any form of what we believe we're "hearing from God" is our PRIMARY means of instruction in righteousness. Any "word" you have that contradicts the Word is deception & will put your life in a ditch.


Romans 15:4 tells us, "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." Paul admonishes us that Scripture was for our learning. Learning Scripture acquaints you with the very nature of God and allows you to discern truth from error. 


Filtering what you "heard from God" and strictly filtering it through His written word is the most sure way to avoid getting your life in a ditch. Is that the only way to know you've heard from God? No, there is another critical test we'll talk about in the next post.

God's Talking

From the dawn of mankind, God has spoken to man. In the Garden of Eden, Scripture recounts God coming down & walking with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. He communed with them as friends. Later, God came down to talk to Abraham face to face. He told Abraham his plans for Sodom & Gomorrah and how He was going to destroy the city, but Abraham out of his relationship with God, convinced God to stay His hand & to spare the city for as few as ten righteous men. Fast forward to the New Testament, and you find God in the flesh (Jesus) dwelling among men. He walked & talked with them. When He went away, He promised them a comforter & teacher, assuring them it would be better for them if He went away. The Apostles & the early church evidenced the fact that God speaks to men & women (if we believe the Bible is God breathed, then we believe God spoke to man).

The pattern that is shown all throughout the entire Word of God is that God speaks personally & directly to us. There is no place I can find (other than a sadly misinterpreted Scripture in 1 Corinthians) that gives any indication that God has suddenly quit speaking. Despite that, it seems most people have no idea what it means to hear from God or what that might possibly look like.

I just want to stretch your thinking a bit here. God speaks. That has been true from the beginning of humanity until today. The problem is not His ability to speak, it’s our ability to hear. We'll explore a bit more over the coming days how you can hear from God and, just as importantly, how you can discern whether it's the voice of God or not.

Don't Drink the Kool-Aide

My dad invited me to come with him to this make a living at home on the internet workshop. Really, what they called a "seminar" was nothing more than a sales pitch. Throw out a few technical terms, give them a free lunch and a voucher for a free MP3 player and it's game on. For about an hour, the salesman (excuse me, "instructor") walked around the room selling you the moon. I mean, he was brilliant. His "honesty" in telling you about people who washed out makes him seem trustworthy, and his charm & charisma make you like him & keep people paying attention.

A quick check with the Better Business Bureau revealed everything you need to know about his "offer": eight hundred complaints & an "F" rating with the BBB (not to mention legal action by several states). What amazed me was watching him take a room with probably a hundred people & convince them they were special because they "qualified" to attend the next special training & that they were privileged to only give them $99 to get in. After all, they'd get a free computer as part of the deal. Naturally, when he called their name as being qualified for a spot, they flocked back with credit card in hand like sheep to the slaughter. They ran back to buy that ocean-front property in Arizona.

Why did people respond like they did? They wanted an easy way to improve their life. He offered what they wanted, and they bought & drank his kool-aide. I mean, if "Donna"  could go from being a struggling single mom with no computer skills to quitting her four jobs & make a full time living by creating a website selling Rand-McNally maps, they could too!

He sold people a quick fix to problems they've spent their lives creating. They don't know how it's going to work or even what they're going to try to sell, but they know this: my life can change & I can make a living working ten hours a week. A little effort for two months & then it's living on easy street!

Don't drink the kool-aide. Most problems in life have no quick fix. Whatever your current reality, it took time & small decisions to get you there, and it will require time & discipline to change. Short of a miracle, it won't happen overnight, but if you will focus in on daily decisions and commit over the long haul to be different, your life can change. It's not magic or a miracle cure- it's small daily decisions & time that can change your life for the better. Anything else is a sure-fire way to keep circling around the same mountain the rest of your life.