Divine Intervention....

So often it seems like life just goes on and on and God just does not care. At least that’s the view of many people today. They wonder “If God really cares, then why do so many people suffer?” They wonder why it takes so long for prayers to get answers, and they wonder if Jesus will ever come again.
Lessons from the Bible
Looking back through Bible history, there are so many lessons we can learn from, to see how God really does care and He really does have a plan, and He does answer prayer. We can see it in His divine intervention in the ordinary affairs of mankind. God is a God of action and a God who keeps His promises. He is also a God who loves His creation but hates the sin. This generation hates to talk about sin. So often, the negative things we have recorded in the Word of God tell us of the consequences of sin. When we deliberately choose to disobey God, there will be consequences. Mankind in Noah’s day discovered it the hard way. In a sinful, carnal culture that continued to grow worse and worse, the one righteous man, Noah, listened to the voice of God. “Build an ark…” Noah built an ark and his family found refuge when the judgment of God fell on the world. For 120 years, Noah had preached, to those who mocked his efforts to obey God. Noah remained steadfast. Nothing moved him from his commission. His confidence in God told him that when God speaks, man must obey. By faith, Noah built an ark, not knowing why—just following the orders from on high. When those first raindrops hit the roof of the ark, when those clouds took on a strange, ominous look, and when the earth began to shake and water began to come pouring out of the cracks in the ground, Noah knew—divine intervention had come. In a moment of time, God changed everything! Nothing they had known would ever be the same again!
Hundreds of years later, Jericho found themselves surrounded by an army, a motley crew who persisted in marching around this fortified city. For six days they marched, through the dust and dirt, looking up at the awesome walls of the impenetrable fortress city. They had plenty of food inside the walls, for harvest had just finished. In the natural, it seemed ridiculous! But this band of warriors had a secret weapon. They served a God who intervenes in the affairs of men and who comes to their aid when they call upon Him. He gave them specific instructions. March, six days: priests sounding the trumpets in the front and the ark behind. On day seven—march again, but this time do it seven times. On the seventh time, sound the trumpets and shout! As if on a signal from God, the city walls began to crumble. The city that could not be taken was destroyed and cursed by the people of God. Joshua and his warriors became famous in a day because of the divine intervention of God. “So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.” (Joshua 6:27) What kind of ‘Jericho’ are you facing today? Did you know that the God who created the world cares about your crisis? He is still the same God who knows how to give orders, expect obedience, and reward those who follow. He takes the impossible and makes it a miracle! There is nothing to tough for God. Jericho had double walls, 45 feet high, yet they were nothing to God. One little earthquake right on time changed everything. For Jericho, the city was never the same again. For the people of God, their faith was now as tall as those walls used to be.
Israel had made a lot of mistakes, failed to listen to the prophets and their warnings from God, and they found themselves slaves in Babylon. But even then, God was watching and waiting. Three young lads, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah—groomed to become leaders to influence their own people to follow the idol worship of their new homeland—stood tall and bold in the face of ungodly demands. They are remembered for their bold stand. The king ordered those insolent boys to be thrown into the fiery furnace, heated seven times hotter than normal. Soldiers died just throwing them in the fire. But the king could not understand it when he noticed the three lads, walking around in the fire, accompanied by a fourth man who looked like ‘the son of a god.’ He commanded them to come out of the fire… and they came out, their hair not singed, not even smelling of fire. The King began to praise the God of these three young men. In a moment when all seemed hopeless, when the fire seemed hot and the sentence seemed irreversible, God intervened on behalf of three who stood firm for God. You may be about to be tossed by the world into a fire that appears will destroy you. Do not fear! God made the fire, and He knows how to protect His own! Praise Him in the midst of it all! God can change everything!
In Your Trial
It’s easy to think the worst. We do it all the time. We look back at all the moments when God could have done something different. We wonder “Why? Why me? Why now?” Whenever we fail to understand, we often fail to see the divine perspective. “Isn’t there some other way God?” is often our question. We wonder why God allows such awful things to enter our lives—loosing a loved one, or perhaps foreclosure, or perhaps cancer. It is in those moments of testing that God gets to hear His children calling out for help. They stop relying on themselves and turn to Him for aid. In those moments, values are re-evaluated, as eternal things take on a new perspective.
Remember Jesus, in the garden? He had seen both sides….earth and heaven, and yet when He came to his most challenging moment, He asked, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." (Matt 26:39) Not even Jesus enjoyed suffering! But Jesus also knew that He had to work the Father’s plan. God always has a plan. This was the ultimate divine intervention on behalf of all of mankind. From this moment onward, nothing would ever be the same again. The old covenant was replaced by a new one written in His own Son’s blood. The sacrifices were ended as His sacrifice satisfied the need for all time. The veil in the temple was torn down. The old system of works was over. A new way of faith and grace was born. The God who had planned from the day Adam and Eve fell into sin, to put Satan under our feet—had accomplished His goal. The new way had begun. God intervened in the lives of men.
He Never Changes:
God is still the same God today. He still cares about you. He still reaches down from glory to touch His people and change the impossible into the possible! But He also expect us to respond to Him when He does it. We have become a most ungrateful people. We forget to say “Thanks!” We forget to give Him the glory. Tell someone what He has already done for you!
What do you need God to do for you today? Are you facing a flood—like Noah, a wall—like Joshua or a fire—like the Hebrew lads? Perhaps you are in a prison like Paul and Silas, or perhaps you are facing shipwreck like Paul. There is no challenge too great, no problem too small, no cost to exorbitant, no distance too far. God sees it all and knows it all and has power over it all. When we are faithful, and we do our part, God, in His time, will do what must be done.
In the coming days, there will be tough times, no doubt. But God is still God! It will be a time to band together as believers and encourage one another in the faith. It will be time to share our resources and aid the cause of Christ as never before. God will ask us to be mature, responsible, giving, loving, humble and honest. When we respond to Him, He will see another Noah, Joshua, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. He will see another Paul, or Silas, or Martha and Mary. He can raise your Lazarus! He can loose your chains! When your boat is shipwrecked, He will bring you safely to shore.

Power for Divine Intervention
In these final days, I believe God wants to do the miraculous. God’s people must prepare themselves to be a part of a movement that will demonstrate the mighty power of God to a skeptical world who thinks they don’t need Him. Once again, God wants to heal bodies, raise the dead, provide food, change the impossible! He will use ordinary men and women just as He used Peter and Paul. Paul once wrote… “I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (I Corinth. 2:3-5) Are you afraid? Paul was! You may feel like you don’t have the ‘stuff’ it takes to do the job, but neither did the apostles and disciples. They learned to rely on God and what He could do. It all depends on your faith. Are you counting on the government or on God? The money or the Messiah? On the promises of politicians or on the Power of God? Don’t look to the church for answers. Look to God! When your words are just not eloquent, let the Spirit flow through your lips. Speak under a divine anointing to change your world for God! Reach out to those who need His touch—His divine intervention! Use the name of Jesus! Pray! Believe! Go! God will do the rest!

J. Johnson

Don't Panic

Are you in a panic mode? We live in a generation that lives by the seat of their pants. Everything seems to be 'last minute'. The schedule is always full, and we race at break-neck speed to accomplish everything on the list and then try to add another couple of things besides. We end up burning up our adrenalin resources as we race from one emergency to another. In the midst of it all, God never changes. Unfortunately, we do! It's time to change once more back into the kind of people who are truly the children of God. God never designed us to be programmed robots following a programmed routine of activities that drive us to insanity and exhaustion. God designed man for Himself, to give Him pleasure. I am not sure how our harried pace in life can possibly give Him pleasure. Somehow I think many of us have bought into the worldly idea that "the busier we are, the better we are." Meanwhile, God is waiting in the wings for us to slow down a little and notice He is still there waiting for us to give Him some attention. It is in this state of anxiety that we continue to breed the fear of failure that sets us up for panic.
What panic buttons have you been pushing lately? I will never forget the statement a newly widowed pastor's wife made to us. She said "God has no emergency board meetings in heaven." In other words, God knows well in advance what we are going to be facing. He allows it all for a reason. Sometimes it is to help someone else go through the same difficult pathway. Sometimes it is to get our attention. Sometimes it is to build our faith. Sometimes it is just so we recognize that God is still God even in the midst of the trials and pain.
We are so earthly! That's why we are called 'humans.' We are made from 'humus' or dirt. We are frail earthly minded beings that God wants to transform into spiritually minded beings that God wants to transform into spiritually minded beings. Our life here on this ball of dirt is so short and limited. Our spirit man is designed for eternity! We often forget we are not here on earth forever. God sees things from our limited time-oriented side. When we see things from our limited time-oriented side. When we are in the midst of a difficulty, we sometimes think that God has forgotten us, or that He just does not care or that He is punishing us and we deserve it. Usually none of that is true. He sees the bigger picture and we just see our limited emotional viewpoint. If we could just see things from God's eternal perspective for a moment, we would understand.

My mother died when I was just a little innocent 7 year old girl. For many years I wondered why God had chosen to take her home so suddenly with an aneurysm. I felt robbed. I remember standing by her grave as a teenager, now in college, talking to God and to my Mom, and determining what to do with my life, what would be pleasing to both of them. But as God unfolded the plans of my life, I realized He knew what He was ding. Although I was a relatively quiet and shy person, God made me to become very independent and adventurous. I appreciated her strengths and determination. I appreciated her hunger for spiritual things. I tried to learn from some of her mistakes. I learned not to panic but to trust. My life verse became "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy path." (Proverbs 3:5) He did just that. My life seemed to become a pathway of miracles. Each step I took by faith, God honored, preparing the way ahead of me. He helped me pay my own way through college, find a teaching position in Newfoundland, directed me to complete my degree in Springfield Missouri, led me to a wonderful husband, gave me four wonderful sons. He led me as I developed my ministry, singing and writing. He helped me travel with my husband as an evangelist all over the Midwest. Were there moments of panic? Certainly! But as I put my trust in the Lord, the panic passed and turned to faith.
It takes less effort to trust than to panic. There is no stress in trust. When a child jumps into the arms of its father, she trusts him to catch her. She expects him to catch. She expects him to be there with arms open wide. Father God is no different. He is always waiting for his children with open arms. He loves us! His love is not tainted with false expectations. There is no hidden agenda or hidden abuse waiting in His presence. He never fails to keep a promise. He lights the path ahead of us. Don't panic at the world you see around you today. Just as God has taken care of the previous generations of trusting believers, He will do the same today. He never changes. We are the ones who change. We need to turn back to God! It would be so easy to get our eyes on the failing economy, the dwindling resources, the troubled government, and the spiritually dying world. He wants us to keep our eyes on Him. Nothing else really matters. He will guide our steps. We are not the first believers to live in a world of spiritual chaos. Looking back into history, our chaos grows dim in comparison to those who have suffered persecution and martyrdom. Yet throughout the annals of time, God is still God. He never changes. He can be trusted! "It's better to take refuge in the Sovereign Lord of the Universe than to trust in man" (Psalm 118:8).
The Price of Panic
There is a price for panic. My parents once had dear friends who served a wealthy family in Chicago as butler and maid. They told us of the panic during the depression. Although the rich family still had millions in the wife's name, the husband lost it all in the crash, and in a moment of fear-filled panic, he committed suicide. Panic will cause people to rush to extremes without thinking through the consequences. Panic causes us to think of ourselves rather than others. Panic overwhelms the emotions and clouds judgment. Panic is the one thing that removes faith from the picture. We gravitate to panic when we reach the end of our rope, when it seems there is no where else to turn. When it turns to despair, it becomes deadly.
Jesus had every reason to panic. But He also had every reason not to panic. When we know who, and whose we are, panic becomes obsolete. He could have panicked in the garden as He prayed to the Father knowing what awaited Him. He could have panicked as Peter, the boldest of the disciples, denied knowing Him. He could have panicked anytime during His 3 years of ministry as He struggled to get them to understand the plan of God. But Jesus knew His Father and He knew His future. We can know our Father and He will help us with our future. We can walk by faith into the future and no matter what comes, we do not need to panic, for Father holds us in the palm of His hands. Our future is not determined b earthly standards and man's wisdom. It is determined by the mind and will of God as we yield ourselves to Him. Perhaps you have walked into panic because life seems out of control. Children have walked away from God and nothing you do seems to help. The doctor may have told you the dreaded 'cancer' word and there seems to be no hope. Habits from the past may be haunting you and trying to overwhelm you. You may even fear dying.
The Problem of Fear
It is fear that feeds panic. The only way to eradicate fear is to build your faith. Faith comes when we put our absolute trust in God. Faith comes as we feast on the Word of God, as we meditate on it and get it into our hearts. Listen to it. Read it. Memorize it. Speak it out loud. Find other people of faith and spend time with them. Remember you are building a new house of faith. It begins with a sure foundation in the Word of God, and as you allow god to build it in your life, fears will begin to slip away. They cannot stand being in the presence of faith.
Fear has a tendency to freeze you, immobilize you and keep you from doing anything. It keeps you from your purpose. It stops you from trying anything new. Fear causes you to worry about everything and anything. It anticipates what may never come to pass. It exaggerates reality and builds fantasies that seem like facts. It causes insomnia which causes high blood pressure, which causes all kinds of physical complaints. Satan uses our fears to keep us from doing things for God. If someone asks us to pray, we freeze and shake our head..."No!" If someone invites us to try something new...we anticipate what negative thing might happen. If we are asked to witness to an unbeliever by the Holy Spirit..we say... "No way...Not me!" If we are asked to teach a class, we imagine them pelting us with spit balls. No...let the other guy do it. If God calls you to ministry, you stay in your hum-drum job. Yes, fear keeps us from fulfilling our purpose in the Kingdom of God.
Rise above it! Get your spiritual eyes on the Lord! He will never call you to do anything that He does not enable you to do. He will give you the skills, the finances, the resources, the helpers and the Holy Spirit to enable you to do over and above what your mind will tell you is possible.
You have a choice. You can live a life filled with fear and panic, looking to man and self, and continually finding chaos and despair. Or, you can life a life of faith. Faith sees through the eyes of God and trust in His ability alone to provide an answer to your need. He gives you peace while man offers you panic. How do we trust in God's ability? We must walk in complete obedience. God has a plan and we must walk in His plan. It may seem the man has abandoned you. You may feel like no one understands. You may even seem like god is silent. But in His silence, He is watching for your obedience. As you obey, He will be faithful! Panic or peace! Choose you this day whom you will serve!
J. Johnson

Another Great Awakening?

Is it time for another “Great Awakening in America? We have seen the transitions in the church from the Charismatic Movement of the 1970’s to the mega churches of the 21st Century, yet whenever we begin to discuss the state of the church with fellow believers, they all seem to say the same thing… they are hungry for a real move of God. Some don’t even know what that means. If you have never experience a genuine heaven sent move of God, one that resulted in repentance and prolonged change in both the church and the individual, you do not know what you are missing.
Years ago, as a young man, Rev. Martin Luther King wrote a paper in college entitled "An Appraisal of the Great Awakening" in which he looked back over those who influenced the coming of the first Great Awakening to the New England states in the 1740’s. He wrote… “The gradual decline of emotional fervor was also a factor which led to the Great Awakening. Religion had become unemotional, with a type of preaching unconducive to revivals and conversion.” While people had come to America to experience a freedom of religion, they soon began to organize their religious world and as they made more and more rules and guidelines for their faith, they settled into a passive routine of worship that lost it’s passion and power. It took the shaking and controversial ministries of men such as Theodore Frelinghuysen, the first revivalist, and George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards to turn the spiritual tide in America. Rev. King felt that the factors that led to the need for revival were (1) the failure of organized religion to reach the masses (2) the gradual decline of emotional fervor and (3) a breakdown in moral standards. The church today is certainly making a valiant effort to reach the masses today with the advent of the electronic media available to churches and ministries. Yet there is still a segment of society that seems stuck in the ‘religiosity’ of the past, going through the meaningless motions that their parents and grandparents did. Some faiths have controlled their congregants using fear, that if you should dare to go to another church, you will not go to heaven. Such false doctrine is certainly not Biblical, yet is very controlling.
Then there are those who have been taught that faith and religion is strictly an intellectual approach and that emotionalism has no place in genuine faith. That approach is also not Biblically based. Jesus himself expressed great emotion. The disciples were emotional evangelists who proclaimed their faith with such boldness that they often were arrested and martyred for their faith. Emotions play a key role in the staying power of our faith and determination to follow through on our beliefs.
The breakdown of moral standards is the most outstanding factor that proceeded the First Great Awakening. When people tend to live their faith in such a way that they begin to just go through the motions, they also tend to slowly let slip all the Biblical guidelines for morality and holiness. This kind of religion is a powerless one, in which they try to lean on their own abilities, rules, regulations and church standards, rather than on a personal love relationship with God Himself, and His Son, Jesus Christ. Love is a strong motivator. In the New England of the 1700’s there was a growing trend towards drunkenness, sexual looseness, and a mockery of those who believed in God. Today, our culture is not much different. The ‘politically correct’ culture has pushed Christianity into the unpopular category, and those who complain are considered intolerant. In reality, it is the immoral culture that has become intolerant. Christians are expected to tolerate the minority homosexual culture, but the minority culture is never pressured to accept the majority—Christians. While it is labeled a hate crime to speak against the gay community, it’s just fine for the gay community to bash the Christian community. The immorality of our 21’st Century culture has grown out of balance with the majority of the population. . Mike Craven, in an article on Crosswalk.com states...This generation sees what many are only recently coming to realize; the Church is in a pathetic state of decadence and decay. It is, to a large degree, fragmented, watered-down, and retreating from cultural relevancy. Biblical and theological ignorance, cultural apathy, and social indifference are a plague upon the American Church and what passes for Christianity in many circles is often a mere shadow of historic orthodox Christianity or worse, something altogether different.
What will it take?
Some thought that the revivals of the ‘90’s would bring the long awaited revival to America sweeping the nation with a new ‘Great Awakening” But many of those revivals have come and gone, and nothing has changed. The very phrase, ‘great awakening’ seems to suggest a state of slumber and apathy as being prevalent in the society that needs to ‘wake up”. Today, it will take more than preaching from vibrant mega-churches to stir the hearts of a nation. The thing that seems to control our emotional switches today is money. We are willing to get passionate about our finances. We want a government that will keep the finances flowing. Politics seems to major on the economy. Where once Christians voted on the moral standing of a candidate, today they tend to vote more on the financial promises. But when those promises fade into meaningless rhetoric, perhaps America will finally be ready to turn once again to God. When man fails, God prevails.
It will take the humiliation of a nation that has become so self-reliant rather than God-reliant, to experience a position of readiness for revival. Revival is more than just lots of people going to church. It is more than just fiery revivalists, passionately proclaiming a message. It is more than organizing and intellectually understanding the church. A true Great Awakening will be more than America has ever experienced in the past. It will be a “God-thing.” When God sets up a revival, nothing man can do will stop it. In the early church days, the disciples knew what it was like. God moved in sovereign ways to cause the church to grow. The result was mild mannered disciples became voices that would not be quieted. They suffered persecution, pain and martyrdom. Yet they were willing to pay the price to obey their Lord. They had no mega-churches, no web-sites, no media campaigns, no festivals, no programs, to kid’s ministries, no denominations. They just had men and women, who had met with God, who had experienced his transforming presence, who felt His powerful hand upon their lives. They knew their God. They knew His Word. They knew his voice. They knew their purpose. Daily they walked as if He were to return that very day. The power of the Holy Spirit became their best friend, as they let Him flow through their lives, healing the sick, raising the dead, speaking to the lost in power and conviction. They met house to house, preached wherever they had an audience, prayed wherever there was a need and turned the world upside-down for God.
What will it take today?
God still needs these kinds of men and women. He never sent angels to do the job. He commissioned mankind. God seeks men and women who will follow in the footsteps of the Master, willing to ‘take up the cross’ identifying with the shame and curse, yet determined to do what must be done to bring the gospel (good news) message to a world that does not even know it needs it. Begin today where you are. Look around you and see a need. Let God move through you to minister to that need. God did not call pastors to go into all the world… he called people. He chooses to use ordinary folks to do the extraordinary works of God. You are never to old or too young to serve Him. There is nothing that can stop the man who yields himself totally to God. Such a man or woman will have to live lives of holiness before God. They will need to know His voice, and know how to obey. If God should choose to bring a Great Awakening to this country once again, each of us must find ourselves in a place of humility, repentance and sensitivity. There will be a passion for souls that will drive you. Money will not move you or deter you. You will be grieved by the immorality around you. That grief will move you to action .
The one factor that believers often forget when new teachings come across the pulpit or airwaves is that while man continues to struggle to find new ways to make himself acceptable to God, God never changes. He is the One Rock in our cultural storm. We dare not drift from the Rock. While many voices may call us, many reassure us that there is hope in other things, we must cling to that which has a secure foundation, tried and true. While some will try to reinterpret the Word of God to suit their new theologies, we must stay close to his Presence, His Word, and His eternal truths. That next great awakening will come, but not until mankind realizes that in this clay dwells nothing good. All our reliance and hope comes from an Almighty God in whom we can trust and place our faith. When our eyes are on God alone, we will see Him as He is and what a wondrous revelation that will be!
J. Johnson

NO Compromise!

We have all noticed the steady decline in the spiritual vitality and overall health of the body of Christ in the last 30 years. There is no doubt in the minds of any serious Christ-following Christian that the church is in serious trouble. Only a few years ago, we all enjoyed the excitement of the Charismatic Movement which rapidly spread across denominational lines as thousands were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and churches grew with sudden growth spurts, eventually giving rise to today’s mega churches. We also saw in more recent years pockets of revival in specific churches that continued for months and in some cases even years. Yet today, it seems like the fruit that should have remained from these moves of God is non-existent or spoiling on the vine.
There is a growing problem of compromise in the body of Christ. That spirit of compromise has come with the pressures of our ‘politically correct’ demanding world, failing spiritual leadership, lack of humility, sacrifice, and individual compromises in all areas of life.
Look around you! In almost every church, you will find Christians divorcing and remarrying, rampant physical and emotional abuse, drug use, pre-marital sex, co-habitation, and lifestyles that are in complete opposition to what the Bible teaches. It is reflected in the number of pastors in the last two decades that have left the ministry, some because of immorality, some because of pornography, and some because of the pressure to compromise the Word of God. It is a sad state of affairs! What can sincere believers do to hold the line?

Recognize we are in a Spiritual Battleground.

One of the slyest tricks of the enemy is to lure us into a state of spiritual slumber, take us off our guard, get us to believe that spiritual demise will never happen to us. Some walk in spiritual ignorance. They do not dig into the Word of God. They do not pray. They do not listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches us that we are to stand firm and not give in to the enemy’s schemes. It takes determination and dedication and a consistency to come against those spiritual attacks. We cannot do it with just ‘thinking’ it through. We are in spiritual warfare. We need to stand guard and if necessary do an all out attack when satan comes against us. Failure to recognize the reality of war will surely bring defeat. Recognizing the enemy in our society, will help us to take a stand against Satan and our cultural moral decline. If you see a pattern of increasing depravity, be on guard.

Refuse the Temptations of the Enemy.

They may be small at first. Some will seem even innocent and harmless. But the sure-fire techniques of the enemy of our souls always begins with the small temptations, the “little foxes that spoil the vines.” Refuse to accept the beginnings of sin. Set your standards high. Do not yield for any reason. Compromise in any way will break down the walls of your defense. Self-pity opens the door. Refusing to be hurt, and refusing to let feelings rule your heart and mind, but choosing to keep your heart and mind filled with God, will slam the door on the enemy. Spend your time worshipping the Lord and keeping your focus on Him. Remind yourself that self-pity plays into the enemies hands. Remember, Jesus was hated too.
"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also." John 15:18-20 We can expect opposition. The Christian life was not meant to be a bed of roses. Whenever we take a stand for what we believe, there will be those who will hate us. “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands, STANDS FIRM to the end will be saved. " Matthew 10:22 But how do we stand firm?

Resist!

A good soldier does not just stand around waiting for the enemy to attack and then throw up his hands and yield control to the opposition. He resists. He fights. He does what is expected of him. He knows that anything else will result in death.
So we too, as Christian soldiers, need to take our stand in the face of the enemy of our souls. We have read and learned this classic verse in James 4: 7-8 “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you,” but how often do we really do what it says? Too often we try to resist the devil on our own terms. We fail to submit to God and we fail to draw near to God. As a result, we do not win and God does not draw near to us. Our self-righteous pride and self-sufficiency will destroy us!
Areas we must guard:

Our Mind.

Satan loves to attack the vulnerable mind. He uses the weapons of worry, fear and doubt. The moment we allow our mind to be filled with his weapons, then we are on the road to defeat. But, we choose what we allow into our minds. The Bible tells us what we should be thinking about…."Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8 We have no business entertaining any other kinds of thoughts. Worry fear and doubt tell God we are not trusting in Him. Choose God! Believe God!

Our Mouth.
The Bible teaches us that our mouth speaks from the abundance of what is in our hearts. Many words have crossed our lips that we have regretted saying later. Some words are harsh, hurtful and doubt-filled. We need to ask God to help us put a guard upon our lips, that we may not speak anything that would hurt our relationship with the Lord or any other person. The enemy would love to take our words and use them against us. Let’s not play into his plans. Let our mouth speak praises to God.

Our Marriage.
Marriage is a divinely planned relationship. Satan’s attempt to destroy marriages also destroys families, churches and testimonies. It often amazes me that two individuals, deeply in love can stand at an altar and make promises to God witnessed by a room full of family and friends, only to end up months later in divorce court, angry and bitter. What happens? Selfishness, false expectations, broken promises, infidelity, and pride, all take their toll on two lives who failed to keep their promises. Guarding our marriages means we must be careful not to allow our hearts or our emotions to be swayed by satan’s tactics. It take two to work at it together. Daily pray for each other. Selflessly give to each other. Keep your promises to each other. Don’t fudge and make exceptions… "just this once..” Loving each other is a full time job. It is a battle raising a family, with all the attacks that family will experience in a lifetime . Choose to do it for God! Love your mate with all your heart as if your life depended on it. Love your kids, knowing that they are the hope of the next generation. Be an example they can look to with pride.

Our Ministry.
God has a plan for every believer. He expects each of us to be involved in ministry. Ministry is not just for pastors and missionaries. Every believer is a minister and has a ministry. Satan wants to destroy what God wants to do through you. He may use depression, discouragement, financial stress, life circumstances, illness, family and our own limitations to discourage us from our ministry. But we must not allow anything to keep us from what God has called us to do for Him. If God has called us, He will make a way for us to accomplish it. We may not become some well known hero of the faith, but when we refuse to compromise our calling, our morals, our values, our Christianity, our marriage, our ministry—God is glorified through us!
What areas of your life are you currently compromising? Remember, God is looking over your shoulder and he does not miss a thing! Make it your daily motto in this life—No compromise!
J. Johnson


2 Corinthians 6:14
"Don't become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That's not partnership; that's war. Is light best friends with dark? Does Christ go strolling with the Devil? Do trust and mistrust hold hands? Who would think of setting up pagan idols in God's holy Temple? But that is exactly what we are, each of us a temple in whom God lives. God himself put it this way: "I'll live in them, move into them; I'll be their God and they'll be my people. So leave the corruption and compromise; leave it for good," says God. "Don't link up with those who will pollute you. I want you all for myself. I'll be a Father to you; you'll be sons and daughters to me."
(The Message Bible)

What do YOU Believe?

Do you have a “Biblical world view?” You might respond, “Do I need one? And if I do, what is it?” We often toss about terminology in the church today that no one knows or understands what they are talking about. Religious writers in many formats are tossing about the term “Biblical World view” as if everyone understands. Most do not. So here is some information which might startle some of you.
According to Barna Resources, a research organization, they have determined that half of the country’s Protestant pastors - 51% - have a biblical worldview. Just 51%! That makes me ask, what are the other half believing? And why? We need to understand the impact of these statistics, lest what has happened to 49% may creep into the remaining 51%. Barna defines this worldview as one who believes (1) that absolute moral truth exists, (2) that it is based upon the Bible, and having a biblical view on six core beliefs (the accuracy of biblical teaching, the sinless nature of Jesus, the literal existence of Satan, the omnipotence and omniscience of God, salvation by grace alone, and the personal responsibility to evangelize). We can see from this definition, many who have fallen by the wayside, have accepted worldly thought patterns such as “There are no absolutes” or “the Bible is part myth or fable”. Some have fallen prey to the Gnostic teachings pushed in The Davinci Code and the TV documentaries on Judas and the bone boxes found in Israel supposedly supporting the possibility that Jesus had children. It truly amazes me that thinking persons will accept as fact, a book of fiction rather than choosing to believe the truths found in the Word of God, proven over centuries of tested time.
If only 51% of American protestant churches believe in this standard, then is it any wonder that so many in America have a wavering faith? It’s time to return to the Word of God, to study it in depth, to memorize it and burn it into our souls. You can never identify the counterfeit unless you are intimately acquainted with the genuine. Knowing the genuine takes time, patience, study and frequent handling. Ask a bank teller how they know counterfeit money when they see it. Christians must be the same… intimately acquainted with the Word and it’s author.

How does your world view matter?
How you think and believe has been developed in you over a long period of time. The things your parents taught you, the concepts your teachers pushed on you, the ideas formed as you moved through life and life’s experiences, forms in you a world view based on all that you have known and learned. Unless the Bible is taught, then there is no Biblical world view. When we removed the Bible from public school life, and prayer, we removed a strong influence for morals, values and a higher standard of expectations. Children raised today without the input of a Christian value system suffer in their world view. It is not a Biblically based world view. It becomes instead a carnally based sinful world view based on a shaking foundation of humanism. As man continues to spiral down the moral slope, crime increases, depravity increases and hopelessness and despair seem everywhere. Only a foundation based on the Bible, and its steady absolute view of right and wrong can change this world. Unfortunately today, most Christians refuse to take a stand, and most buckle under the pressures around them to be ‘just like everyone else’.
It is becoming increasingly important that each believer knows what they believe and why. They need to be able to stand against the attacks of the enemy against Biblical standards of belief. Those around us who have been raised in a vacuum of faith are seeking answers that no one is answering. We have been taught to hide our faith in the workplace, and that at home we don’t talk about politics or religion. As a result, our culture is growing increasingly ignorant and becoming easy prey to any belief systems that comes along.

How can we change things?
Change has been slow but gaining ground in the wrong direction for several decades. To reverse this change it will take a concerted effort on the part of all those who have a Biblical world view. If you believe the Bible is the Word of God….say so! Tell your children, your grandchildren what you believe and why. Influence the next generation! If you believe that Jesus is the sinless Son of God, say so! Pass it on to those who will hear it no other way. If you believe that Satan is real and Heaven and Hell are real places, show them in the Word of God. We have had too many ‘feel good’ churches who avoid the truth of ‘hell’ and as a result some don’t think it’s real, yet Jesus talked more about hell than He did heaven. If you believe that God is truly omnipotent—all powerful and omniscient—all knowing, then talk about God that way to others. God is not an absentee landlord! He cares about His creation and He knows all we go through. He sees it all. He knows when we are hurting. He knows when we are grieving. He knows that He also has all power to put down the evil one who would come against our souls. When Satan throws his doubts our way, we can do like Jesus did in the wilderness—give him the Word…”It is written…” There is no more powerful weapon against Satan than that! But we must know the Word to use it as a weapon! Idle minds that have not fed upon the Word of God are a perfect playground for Satan. What have you been filling your mind with?

What about your family?
We would love to change the way our family thinks and acts. But it is not within our power. There is only one that we can change….us! We must change first, then let family and friends see the change in us. Sometimes we try to force others to change by manipulation, guilt, unforgiveness and control. But God’s way works much better. When we choose to put others in His hands, and let Him work the changes in them, He does a thorough job. He starts in the inside where all the hidden sin and garbage is hiding. Somehow, when we put God in charge, he always starts on us first. He knows that we reflect Him to the world around us, including our family. If they see hypocrisy and doubt and unforgiveness in our mirror instead of Jesus...they will not change. God wants to begin change in each of us this year. Change begins when we humble our hearts before God in prayer. The one prayer God always pays attention to is “God, be merciful to me...a sinner!” Then when we let the master Carpenter into our house, he begins a remodel job that will truly amaze you. He knows our weak points. He knows our doubts. He knows our fears. He knows our loneliness. He knows our pain. He begins to tear out the rotten foundations of false beliefs and rebuilds them in His own likeness. What the cankerworm has destroyed, he removes and recreates from scratch. When your family sees the changes in you, they will want it too.
What about you? Is your world view Biblical? Or have you been influenced by the culture around you? Get back into The Book—the Bible. Spend time talking to God and ask Him about your own heart and value system of beliefs. The Holy Spirit will direct you to the truth in His Word.
J. Johnson

Majesty!

It’s hard for us to imagine a King being born in the rough crude surroundings of the Bethlehem manger. Yet when we read the accounts in Matthew and Luke about the beginnings of the life of Jesus, we are amazed. Majesty in a manger?
The Doubting World
The world around us today has become more and more questioning about anything that speaks of religion or faith. The movies and the media of our ‘progressive’ world who want to push their own agenda of doubt and skepticism want the world to know that there are many valid reasons why we should not believe the Christmas story. They doubt the possibility of a virgin birth of the messiah. They want the whole event to be just another tale or allegory. They plant their seeds of doubt into our society on a regular basis. Some of those seeds of doubt are even planted by those who call themselves ‘Christians.’ Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong is a leader in this kind of spiritual ‘reformation.’ As one of their chief theologians, his acceptance of homosexuality as a lifestyle rather than his recognition of it as sin has turned the Episcopal church upside down. Here’s what he says about what Christians need to believe today. “The biblical story of the perfect and finished creation from which human beings fell into sin is pre-Darwinian mythology and post-Darwinian nonsense. The virgin birth, understood as literal biology, makes Christ's divinity, as traditionally understood, impossible. The miracle stories of the New Testament can no longer be interpreted in a post-Newtonian world as supernatural events performed by an incarnate deity. The view of the cross as the sacrifice for the sins of the world is a barbarian idea based on primitive concepts of God and must be dismissed.” As a ‘Christian’ he has taught an entire generation to doubt the reality of the supernatural, the validity of the Bible as our spiritual foundation, and the consequences of sin. While he calls the sacrifice of the cross ‘barbarian’, in reality, his ‘new’ thinking is not new at all, going back to the barbarian days of man before the flood, when sin ruled mankind causing God to regret creation enough to destroy most of it in a global flood. When carnal man tries to figure out a supernatural God, using his finite mind, he becomes a barbarian! God will out-think him any day! There must be faith! Faith is more than thinking and trying to figure it all out with our minds. It takes genuine faith to trust that what God has promised in His Word is valid and true. It takes faith to believe that God had a plan from the beginning of time to save mankind from himself, and from the sin he is so entangled within. It takes faith to accept that God is really who He says He is, that He sent us his only Son, to die for us, to prepare a way for us to be with Him for eternity. Thinking minds can trivialize the entire concept of God, faith, miracles, and messiah. But if their logical minds have thought just one concept wrongly, they are in serious trouble and God is really God. They can doubt and question every faith concept in the Bible, but if they are wrong (and they are) and God is Almighty God (and He is), then they will still face Him on their day of accounting. Judgment faces both the saint and the sinner. No one is exempt. It will be an astounding day for the Bishop Spong and all those he influenced to doubt. They will meet His Majesty!
Why did Jesus come?
He came because he chose to love us in spite of our sin. (John 3:16) He came because the Father planned it that way. (Gen 3:15) He came because He was completely obedient. (Phil 2:8) He came because He loved his creation. (1 John 4:10) He came because He is King. (Rev. 19:16) He came because there was no other way to redeem mankind. (Gal 4:4-6) Those that recognize Him for who He is….He blesses. His covenant blessing is for all those who are part of His family.
David called Him “Majesty”
When King David became the reigning king over all Israel, he knew who was really the King over all—-not himself, but the God who made him. “Wherefore David blessed the LORD before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. Thine, O LORD is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.” 1 Chronicles 29:10-12 Because David recognized who was really in charge, God blessed his reign as long as David sought the Lord. The moment David began to do his own thinking, and making his own choices, David got into trouble. It is just the same today. The moment we begin to rely on ourselves, on our own abilities, our own thoughts, our own choices, and we fail to seek God, we soon fall into the carnal patterns of doubt, skepticism, greed, and pride. But when we stop dead in our tracks and realize our mistake, and turn once again to God, He forgives us and restores us once again. When we see him as “Majesty”….we see Him as King. He is the One in charge! We are His humble and obedient servants. We deserve nothing and He has given us everything.
There are some truths to the questioning minds of the world, who see Christians making mistakes, walking in sin, living lives of prejudice and compromise...for we are not perfect by any means. Mistakes have been made. Sometimes we even interpret the Word incorrectly. But one thing I know for certain—Jesus is not a myth, fairy tale or legend. He is God incarnate...in the flesh. He is Redeemer. He is Prince of Peace, Mighty God, Counselor, King of Kings, and He is coming again. I don’t need to know when or how, or if it is going to be pre-tribulation or mid-tribulation or post-tribulation. The important thing is that we are ready for that moment when the clouds part and every eye shall see Him in all his glory and splendor—Majesty!
Somehow I think we will see him in a similar way that John the Revelator saw Him on Patmos. “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last….And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead Rev 1:10-17 His Majestic presence will be more than our human minds can grasp. When we enter the presence of an earthly king or queen, there is a protocol to follow. One must dress for the occasion. One must learn how to address the royalty, how to speak with respect, and how to converse intelligently. True, you could try to enter the royal chambers in street clothes and act just as you normally do at home. But the guards would pick you out of the crowd in an instant. You would be ‘tossed out on your ear’ before the royalty would ever see you.
We will be presented before His Awesome Majesty. Are you wearing your royal garments? Are you prepared to meet Him? You must get ready. He is not the tiny baby in the manger anymore. He is Majesty! You must have “clean hands and a pure heart” (James 4:8). You must have your robe of righteousness (Is 61:10). Even as a child, the Kings from the east brought Him gold and other precious things. What will you bring Him? All He ever wanted was YOU!
This Christmas, take a moment and come before His Majesty and tell Him you are His… that you want nothing more than to recognize Him for who He really is. Remember He is more than just a baby in a manger, more than a stranger far away in distant Israel, more than a fabled concoction of men’s minds. He is the Almighty One, the Majesty on high! Christmas is not Christmas without Christ at the center of it all. Give Him the best gift you can give. Give yourself. Then go visit Him at his house….and give as He gave to you! Let Him turn your world upside down so you can see things from His point of view. Open your Bible and read the Christmas story in Matthew and Luke. Take the time to talk to Him...and don’t forget to call Him by his name… “Majesty!”
J. Johnson

Wishing you all a blessed and Christ Filled Christmas!
David & Joyce Johnson

Be Lifted Up!

You can walk into most churches today, regardless of the denomination, and watch the people sitting in their pews, heads bowed low, hands in their laps, lips silent and often with a look of sadness in their eyes. God never meant it to be this way. He has other plans for man. We can read throughout the Word of God how sinners have heads bowed in shame as in Ezra 9:6 “O my God: I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens.”
But the man or woman of God can come to Him without shame, with heads lifted high looking to the King of Kings as He prepares to return in His glory. "Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.'' (Luke 21:28) For too long the church of Jesus Christ has been acting just like the sinful world around it. The longer they look at their circumstances instead of to the God of all circumstances, the more they tend to do things the wrong way. God intends for all believers everywhere to have heads and eyes and voices and hands that are lifted high to God. It makes the Christian stand out from the crowd.
Lift Up Your Eyes
We all know the verses in Psalms 21:1-2 that tells us “I will lift up my eyes to the hills From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.” Often, believers will find themselves doing just that in their time of devotion and prayer...but get them into the house of God, and everything changes. We bow our heads, and close our eyes. Reverence is fine, but somehow, I think God is looking for more than just passive reverence. He wants us to look to Him in faith, with eyes of faith. If he is going to appear in the clouds as the disciples saw him go to heaven, somehow we must be looking up! Other pagan religions tend to send most of their time bowing to their false gods. Moslems are not allowed to pray looking up. The Koran forbids it. But our God tells us to lift our heads...and see him coming in the clouds of glory.
Lift Up Your Voice
Some lepers once came to Jesus looking for their healing. They were loud, and bold. “And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!'' (Luke 17:13) When we have a need, we need to get just as bold and brash. Their problem had already humbled them, so they recognized their solution and went after it with all they had left, their voices. We are a lot like those lepers in that we have a need, and He has the answer.
There’s one nice thing about getting older, and that is that often, I no longer tend to worry about what other people think. I tend to want to please God more than man. After all, the older I get, the closer I get to the time when I will meet God face to face. On that day, whenever it should be, if God should ask me, “Why didn’t you praise me, unashamed?” I won’t have to say, I was worried about what my ‘neighbors’ were thinking. It has made me a more vocal and demonstrative person of praise. It has made me bolder in my prayer life. When I praise Him unashamed, others tend to do it too. When I praise Him out loud, it not only feels good to me, but it also lets others know how I feel about God. Sometimes it is even a shock treatment to the world when we hear someone cursing Him, and we in turn say “Praise the Lord!” They stop dead in their tracks. I know God is not deaf, but somehow I think He loves to hear the sound of his children praising Him, just as I love to hear the sound of my children or grandchildren as they talk to me. It won’t ruin your vocal chords to lift your voice to God and tell Him out loud how much you love Him! Try it. Get used to the sound of your voice. If you’re shy, try it alone, then try it in a praise or prayer time with others. Genuine praise is not silent! Unclench your teeth and open your mouth and lift your voice to the King!
Lift your Hands
It’s almost amusing to watch a rookie preacher trying to preach with his hands in his pockets. Hands are needed to fully express oneself. Some use them more than others. But just try to explain something without the use of your hands. It’s funny to watch people even on their cell phones using hand gestures that the hearer cannot see. The use of hands is a language, not just to the deaf community, but to the hearing as well. When we lift our hands, it generally means one of two things and God wants both of them in our lives. The first is surrender… as in a robbery...when the thief comes in the room with a loaded weapon. Our first response is to put up our hands in complete surrender. God is looking for us to completely surrender to Him. Too often we still want to control and we push our hands deeper into our pockets. The second meaning of lifted hands is intimacy. When a child comes up to you with hands lifted up, it means they want you to pick them up in your arms and hold them. They want to be carried. They want closeness and intimacy. They long to cuddle in your arms and feel safe and secure. What better position for the child of God—to be reaching for Him, longing for Him, wanting to be safe in His loving arms. That’s worship! Psalm 134:2 tells us “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, And bless the Lord.” Not only is it OK to do in church, but our bodies are also a sanctuary of praise. So wherever you are you can praise HIM!
Lift Up Your Soul
King David was not ashamed to praise the Lord and he made a habit of lifting his soul to the Lord. “To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in You; Let me not be ashamed; Let not my enemies triumph over me.” (Psalm 25:1-2) Somehow from this verse it sounds
to me like David knew that if he were too ashamed of his faith in God, if he failed to lift up his soul to God, the result was ‘enemy take over.’ None of us likes to fail, likes to relinquish control to the enemy. We want to be victorious in our walk with God. We want victory over depression, over bad habits over sin, over discouragement, over everything that would draw us away from God. One way the Word teaches us to overcome is to first of all, draw near to God, then resist the enemy and then finally, submit ourselves completely to God, and the result is that He will in turn draw near to us. (James 4:7-8) That submission to God comes when we purify our hearts and our hands, when we walk before God without a double mindedness. God honors our honesty before Him. When we lift up our souls to God, we are saying, “I can’t handle this by myself! I need God in my life!” God responds by coming into an unequal partnership with us. We have nothing to offer, and He has everything to give. That’s what God’s covenant blessing is all about.
Be Lifted Up!
Its one thing to do the lifting and another to be the one who is lifted. Jesus said in John 12:32 “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” Jesus was lifted in a way you and I will never know. He was lifted to hang upon a cross. Because of what He suffered, you and I can come to Him and be spiritually lifted up. The Israelites in the wilderness were bitten by snakes in Numbers 21 because they had been complaining about God and Moses. When God had Moses make a snake and put it up on a pole, those who looked upon it were healed. The serpent was a picture of sin. Christ became our sin and when He was lifted up, and we look to Him, we too are healed.
Unfortunately, we all still have a major sin problem. And in our humanistic, self-centered, self-sufficient world, we think we can handle things all by ourselves. The sooner we relinquish control, admit our problem and look to the answer, the less we suffer. Lift up your heads, your voices, your eyes, your hands, your souls, and look to the One who is waiting for you, the One who has the answers. Are you willing to let go of all the stuff in your hands? Are you willing to surrender to the One who is waiting with open arms to hug you and hold you close? Are you willing to open your clenched teeth and pour out your soul in prayer and praise to the One who is listening to the every cry of His child? Not one sound misses His ears!
When it seems like all hell is breaking loose around you and ‘normal’ is no where to be found, it’s time to recognize the One who is waiting in the wings, longing for His children. Hold your heads high and be lifted up! "It will seem like all hell has broken loose—sun, moon, stars, earth, sea, in an uproar and everyone all over the world in a panic, the wind knocked out of them by the threat of doom, the powers-that-be quaking. And then—then!—they'll see the Son of Man welcomed in grand style—a glorious welcome! When all this starts to happen, up on your feet. Stand tall with your heads high. Help is on the way!" Luke 21:25-28 (The Message Bible) J. Johnson

Clear Vision...

Anne Sullivan had a big problem on her hands. The problem was not the beautiful blind and deaf child put into her care, but the parents of Helen Keller. She had to convince them that she had a workable method to change the world of their daughter. It was not the usual way. It required a new disciplined world. It meant round the clock attention to the problem at hand. It meant teaching a new ’language’. It meant removing the child from the home environment and teaching harsh new lessons before Helen could ever begin to understand, to see with her blind eyes and hear with her deaf ears, a world outside. It was Anne who had the vision...as she saw hope in changing the seemingly hopeless situation. She was confident in her ability to educate, transform and restore to a child what her non-functioning ears and eyes had taken away.
Isaiah had the same problem: “ For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes—so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to meand let me heal them.’ (Acts 28:27)Isaiah had just had a vision of God. It transformed him into a recognition of his problem. He was a sinful man, living among sinful men. “Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone and ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” He had just seen God! (Is 1:5) And because of this experience he would never be the same again. Paul the Apostle had been through a similar transformation. On the road to Damascus, on his way to capture some of those new radical ‘Christ followers’ so he could have them killed, Saul met the King of Kings. He lost his sight for awhile so he could regain it in a whole new way.
A New Vision
The church is in desperate need of a restoration of its vision. Like Helen Keller, it has become a victim of blindness. When sight is taken away, the world of the blind often turns inward. You begin to focus on the world you know. When sight is gone, you only know self….and vision is turned inward. The church is like that in so many ways, becoming self absorbed, self entertaining and self promoting. It needs an encounter with the King of Kings. It needs a recognition of the problem of sin that has slowly crept in, causing the blindness in the first place. It’s a heart problem. Israel had a hardened heart. “27 For the hearts of these people are hardened…. and they have closed their eyes—so their eyes cannot see.” Their heart condition affected their vision. It prevented them from receiving their healing as a nation. It kept them from turning to the God who had the answers for their problems. It was a calloused heart, a hardened heart, one without sensitivity, and one that refused to understand. Why do we allow our hearts to get in that condition in the first place? It happens slowly, over time, often so gradually that we fail to notice the subtle changes taking place. Israel had been through it all. They had once been a people who had seen God bring them out of Egypt by miracle after miracle, yet in the midst of the journey of miracles, they too became self-absorbed …. wanting to go back to Egypt, slavery, and suffering instead of the beautiful land God had promised to give them. Their vision was blurred by selfishness and the desire for comforts. They did not see clearly the vision God had for them. They stubbornly refused to accept by faith what God was trying to do in their hearts. God tells us, “I want you to go this way…” and we say to ourselves, “No...I like it just the way it is.” We like the security of the known versus the unknown. We can see the past, but we cannot see the future. We are blinded by our doubts, by our demands, by our need for security and routine. When God chooses to upset our routine, we balk. We complain. We dig in our heels and refuse to move. We want God to do things on our terms. We forget who He is! Even Isaiah had forgotten who God was until his moment of transformation. Then he realized how far he had fallen. He recognized his own shortcomings. He saw the influence of the sinful people around him. He knew he needed help outside himself.
Helen Keller could not help herself either. She needed someone to step into her world who knew the answers. She needed Anne Sullivan. Anne became her teacher. She became her eyes and ears. She taught her a brand new language so she could communicate with the world. God has given the church, a teacher too. He is the Holy Spirit. He is to be the One who leads us into all truth, and who will bring all things to our remembrance. He is the One who is to be our eyes and ears. He will show us things we cannot see, and speak things we have never heard. He will teach us a brand new language, one what will usher our prayers into the throne room of the King of Kings. He will help us to communicate His message to the world...the world that is just like the world of Isaiah’s day… a “people of unclean lips…” He will be the One who will bring us into the presence of the King. There we will discover, like Paul, that our plans and ideas are trash and only His plans matter. The light of His presence will knock us off our feet into the dust of the road and we too will realize that nothing else matters but Him. When we do, our vision is renewed. When our vision is restored, we do not go back to the old ways. We move forward seeing things from God’s point of view instead of man’s point of view. That changes everything!

Our Point of View
Too often we get caught up into false ideas fed by carnal minds. We think that if we just get ‘successful’ enough, God will bless us and use us. If we just make more money, own a bigger home, have more stuff, and can show our friends we have reached the goal… then we will be pleasing to God and man. Too often, the more we get, the less we give. The richer man becomes, the more he ends up spending more and more time and money maintaining that ‘success position.’ The vision turns inward. Sometimes we tend to give a little to a special cause just to ease the guilt we feel. But when we see things from God’s perspective, we see that He is the center of it all...He is the source of it all… And He is the reason for it all. Everything we have in our hands is not our own. It is His. Everything we are enabled to do...is because He is the Enabler. Our money is not ours—but His. Our children are not ours—but His. Our ministries are not ours—but His. We are not here to please ourselves, but to please Him. Nothing else matters. Sometimes we sacrifice… and give...and pretend we are doing God a favor. God removed the anointing and blessing from King Saul because he did just that. He pretended to follow God, and in the glory of battle, set up a monument to himself instead of God, failed to obey the command of God to completely destroy the enemy, and kept what was to be destroyed by saying the people did it...and he would use it to sacrifice to God. (I Samuel 15) It cost Saul his position as King. Samuel told Saul “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice” (I Sam 15:22) Saul never did truly repent. He recognized his sin, wanted Samuel to cover for him, and wanted Samuel to forgive him...but He never repented to God. Arrogance filled his heart. He thought “if I just get to worship God...and make my sacrifice.” But it was not enough. God demands total obedience...not compromise… not sacrifice. He needed a vision of God! He needed to see things from God’s point of view.

Restore our Sight!
Just as Isaiah needed coals from the altar to cleanse his lips, we need our eyes touched to see as God sees. Jesus said in Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” The message Bible paraphrases it this way… ” You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.” Not only can you see God, but you can see the need. Look around you? What do you see? Have you become so accustomed to your surroundings that you no longer see the lost, the hurting, the troubled world? I often wish God would do again what He did to Saul who became Paul. We sometimes need the shock of experiencing the awesome light and glory of God so we become blinded to the ordinary world and realize the reality of the spiritual world around us. We are all too often ‘sensory deprived.’ We are blind and don’t know it. We are deaf and think its normal. Our hearts are cluttered with stuff that has calcified and made us hardened to the Spirit of God. Where is the people of God who will yield their stoney hearts into His hands, yield their blinded eyes to his touch, and let Him open their deaf ears to hear His voice once again? It takes a coming aside, a time with the ‘Master Teacher’, a breaking of the will of man, a yielding to the Master Optometrist who desires more than anything to give us clear vision, that we may see Him ‘high and lifted up.’
Let us not be satisfied with partial sight. It was not good enough for Jesus when He healed the blind man who at first had blurry vision. He completed the task to perfection! Let’s let Him finish the job. Let’s be willing to lay aside everything...the world as we know it, and let Him transform us with a life changing encounter with the King of Kings.
Pray with me.. “God, forgive me for all the things that I have allowed to hinder my vision of You. Cleanse my heart, restore my sight and let me see as You see. I want your clear vision!”
J. Johnson

Weary? Don't Quit!!

It’s a problem that plagues every believer at some time in their walk with God. Whether you stand in the pulpit or sit in the pew, we all sometimes feel overwhelmed by life and its circumstances. We wonder where we can go for a break, a time of R&R, just to step away from the chaos for a moment and take a deep breath. Weariness, exhaustion, and burnout all take their toll in the believers walk.
There are times that we do take on too much. At times like that, we need to step away from the forest to see the trees. In other words, we need to take the time to re-evaluate our priorities. Sometimes out of our own personal guilt, we refuse to say the little word, “no” and we end up doing things God never intended for us to do. When you find activities robbing your time with God, with your family, and with the calling God placed on your life, you have gone too far the wrong way. Taking on too much of the wrong things can make us a candidate for both physical and spiritual burnout. Exhausted though you may be, you need to take the courageous step of pulling away and getting alone with the Lord once again.
Jesus spent hours alone during his vital and demanding ministry. While others clamored for His attention, he went up into a mountain to pray. (Matthew 14:23) It is the ego, and pride that sometimes causes us to want and love the adulating crowd. It’s nice to be needed and wanted. But it is also exhausting. If you never take the time for a vacation, take one. If you love your pastor, make sure you encourage him to take a vacation and help with the added costs of doing so. Help to fill some of the roles he takes care of every week. If you can’t take a long vacation, take mini-vacations. Take two or three days away doing something different. Even taking time out of your normal routine to do something relaxing can help lift the weariness.

Let it go.
Sometimes weariness comes from holding on to things we should have let go. A story is told of a lecturer who challenged his class to guess how much the glass of water in his hand weighed. Guesses varied. Then the teacher told them…. " The absolute weight doesn’t matter. What matters is how long you hold it. If I hold the cup for a minute, I would be Ok. If I hold it for an hour, I will have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for one day, you will have to call an ambulance. The cup of water is the exact same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it feels and the more damage it can do to me." Are you feeling the weight of some burden today? Set it down at the Lord’s feet . Sometimes we carry our burdens of sin and guilt and regret. Yet God never intended that we do so. The longer we carry what we were never designed to carry, the more harm we do to ourselves. Let it go.

Press On
There are times when we need to stop and take a look around and then there are times when we need to press on. When you feel like throwing in the towel and quitting, don’t! The enemy of our soul loves to drag us to the point of weariness, until we feel like there is no other way out. Sometimes it takes a new determination to fulfill the call of God in our lives. Sometimes it takes a fresh vision from the Master to renew our purpose and calling. There is nothing like time spent with the Master to get it all back into a heavenly perspective. When God gives the vision, He always makes a way of fulfilling it. It’s part of His plan. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that the weight of His calling in our lives does not just depend on us. It depends on our dependence on Him. I will never forget how God set us aside during a time between churches we pastored. We were busy raising four children, and the demands of ministry had brought us to the place of weariness. We had no regular employment, mouths to feed and bills to pay including a car payment. We had tried to sell it, but God had other plans. He knew we would needed it to travel. One day we reminded God….”God, your car payment is due.”...giving God ownership of the burden. God came through, month after month. We never missed a payment.

Prevention Power
There are times when we look back at some the things God has allowed us to go through and we regret some of the decisions and choices we have made. We often choose in haste, failing to take the time to pray about it and get God’s input into the problem. A story is told of how a mother came home to find all her children in a circle in the living room. At first she was happy to see them all getting along so nicely. Then she noticed what had their attention, a family of baby skunks. In a mad panic, she screamed and told them all to leave the room immediately. They all complied taking a baby skunk with them. More screams followed as the now frightened skunks did what comes naturally in a moment of fear. Soon the whole house and each child was drenched in the unpleasant aroma, which took many days to eradicate. How we choose to react to circumstances can cause more of a problem than if we take the time to pray and think it all through calmly. When our emotions take the drivers seat, we have a fool at the wheel. Thoughtful prayer and careful responses can save us heartache and trouble. Often we are our own worst enemies. We do too many things without praying about it or thinking through the consequences . Some end up with unwanted debt, while others destroy old friendships. Ask yourself if this decision is pleasing to God. When God says “no” don’t make excuses and do things your own way anyhow. That’s rebellion.
When you feel like quitting, take a moment and look at the lives of some of the Bible characters who refused to give up in the face of trouble. Noah, though mocked by his neighbors, labored on for 120 years building the ark, saving his family. Joseph, rejected by his brothers, sold into slavery, and unjustly accused, chose to love his siblings, resulting in the preservation of a nation. David, anointed to be king, spent years running and hiding from Saul. By faith, he awaited God’s timing and fulfillment.
How can we prevent spiritual disaster? Burnout? Weariness? When we follow the example of Jesus, we will make it through. We may not escape all troubles. God allows troubles to strengthen us. But when we keep God’s priorities first, when we invite God to provide a solution, when we stop and listen for His voice, when we persist in prayer---that’s when God moves mountains and calms stormy seas. He is always there—in the deserts of our lives—waiting to provide living water for our thirsty souls. When you are tempted to take the ‘easy road’ that you know is not God’s plan, remember that the enemy would love to tempt you to do your own thing. I have learned to listen carefully to my Father. When He says rest—I rest. When He says move—I move. He knows my needs better than I do. My heavenly father always knows best!
Are you weary today? Feeling restless? Uncertain about tomorrow? He is your shepherd. Let Him lead you to green pastures and quiet waters where you will lack nothing and you can feed in His presence. When your enemies threaten—He is there! When you have need—He provides! When the task seems impossible—He is the God of the impossible!
Turn your back on evil, work for the good and don't quit. God loves this kind of thing, never turns away from his friends. Psalm 37:27 (The Message Bible)
Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality. Romans 12:11 (The Message Bible)
J. Johnson

How does your SOUL Prosper???

Here in America, churches today are tending to focus more and more on wealth and prosperity. Many of the largest mega-churches focus on the need for believers to base their lives on a philosophy that teaches that God wants every Christian to be in health and wealth. Each one takes a little different twist on the teaching. While one propagates God’s desire to bless what you give financially and return it to you 100 times more, another teaches that God wants you rich and healthy all of your life. In an article in Time magazine, authors, David Van Biema and Jeff Chu, wrote an the article entitled... “Does God Want you Rich?” Too often we tend to focus on what we want instead of what God wants in our lives. While we need finances, God never intended them to monopolize our lives. God has a higher purpose for us. His goal is not our prosperity here and now in earthly terms, but in spiritual terms.
While finances are an absolute necessity for every church and ministry to carry on their benevolence programs of ministering globally to the needy, many churches suffer from a lack of ‘prosperity.’ One of the key verses that the ‘prosperity’ churches strongly emphasize is found in 3 John 1 "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers." Emphasis is often placed on the desire that “you may prosper” rather than properly relating it to the balancing of your prosperity with how you are spiritually enriched. What is meant by the term ‘prosperity?’ Did he mean money? Wealth? Possessions? As John wrote this letter, he was addressing an elder, Gaius who was a faithful believer with a generous heart. It is apparent that Gaius was prospering spiritually. In other words, he valued spiritual riches more than he valued wealth. He had a heart to give to meet the needs of others. Verse 3 tells us his heart…(NLT) Some of the traveling teachers recently returned and made me very happy by telling me about your faithfulness and that you are living according to the truth….v5. you are being faithful to God when you care for the traveling teachers who pass through, even though they are strangers to you. Gaius was not the typical believer. He made the Apostle John very happy with his generosity. John applauded him and offered him a blessing, that he might prosper in all things, just as he was already prospering spiritually in his soul.
It is unfortunate that today we tend to get it backwards. We tell God, “Bless me first, then I’ll give.” Gaius had it right. He gave from what he had, not to get from God or from others, but just to be a blessing. His soul prospered because it was built on a solid foundation of truth. Jesus taught clearly that we are to give to those in need, pay our taxes and that we are to tithe. Jesus told the rich young ruler in Matthew 19 :21 “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven, Then come follow me.” The man had no known name, but he got quite an offer...to be a disciple of Jesus. He just had to do something he found very difficult to do….take his wealth and give it to the poor. Doing so would have made him perfect and provide heavenly treasure. God has a different set of values than most of his created beings. We value what we see, what we own, what we make, what we save. There is no greater lesson we can learn than to learn the value of spiritual prosperity.
Many homes in California and in New Orleans have been totally destroyed, by fire and flood. Those who survived the devastation learned to value their lives more than their stuff. Stuff can be replaced. Life can be snuffed out in a moment and never replaced. Yet life is eternal, and it goes on and on forever and ever. Life here is short. We live for just a few short years, some 50, others 60 and a few make it into the 70’s 80’s and 90’s. Yet those years, however long they may be for us, are a mere blink in the light of eternity’s day. God longs for us to see things from eternity’s point of view. All the stuff you have around you today, your home, your car, your collectibles, your land, your money, your stocks and bonds, your wealth by earthly standards means nothing in eternity unless...you give it as the rich young ruler was instructed by Christ to do. When we value His instructions, His values, more than the values of the culture around us, and we learn like Gaius to give from loving generous hearts to others in need, we are doing what Christ instructed. How does your soul prosper?
Some will object to what I am saying because they love and hold their possessions so tightly that they have come to rely on them for their security. I’m not telling you to give it all away as Jesus told the rich young man. My purpose is to help you push a reset button in your spiritual values. We need to bring a balance into the idea of prosperity. And so I ask you this question: “How does your soul prosper ?” You might answer that you are doing OK, that you go to church, that you read your Bible, that you help where you can. But it is unfortunate that far too many believers are suffering today from the same syndrome as the rich young man. They would rather cling to earth’s values than heaven’s values.
What does heaven value?
The greatest asset in heaven is not the streets of gold or the gates of pearl or the diadems in the walls. Heaven’s values are it’s inhabitants. Jesus will be the focus, the source of light and life. As believers come into the heavenly light, they will be overwhelmed with all the marvelous sights, but most of all they will notice Jesus, and people who love Him. Many who have had near death experiences have come back to tell us how their loved ones met them, how they saw Jesus. There are no heavenly ATM’s, no banks, no debit cards, no storage lockers, no vaults and no piles of cash. They just tell of seeing the glorious face of Jesus, the light, the worship, the loved ones, all against a backdrop of heavenly beauty. You cannot take anything you own here to heaven with you. You can only take people. How? By sharing the love of Jesus with your loved ones and friends, and by giving from your resources to help others get the message out. Somehow I think that on the day we reach our eternal goal, many will be thankful we have shared the message of Jesus with them!
You may not have the physical abilities to be a missionary or a pastor or an evangelist. But each of us can still participate by doing something…. By praying, by giving as we are able to give, by encouraging, by keeping our values in check. Jesus taught his disciple to “Love not the world” for if they did, then “the love of the Father is not in them.” 1 John 2:15 We know we are to uphold spiritual values. James 2:5 reminds us all...Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? So even if you are poor, you can be rich in faith! And if you are rich in faith, you are also an heir of the kingdom! We are going to inherit all that Jesus will inherit, as we are heirs and joint heirs with Him! (Romans 8:16,17) If we suffer in this life, it is not to our shame. For Romans goes on to tell us… if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (8:17-18) When you look back through history, you see the hundreds of faithful followers of Jesus who died, often a martyrs death, often in monetary poverty, not because they did not say the right words when they prayed, but because they valued more highly the heavenly treasure that awaited them all. Sometimes Christians who have great faith, who loved God, who gave their all, find themselves suffering physically or financially. Don’t loose heart! If your values are right, if you determine to do what God told you to do in His Word, then no matter what comes your way, you can look forward to that heavenly treasure…eternal life...seeing Jesus face to face!
If God has blessed you with financial wealth and good health, thank Him for it and use what He has given you for His glory and honor. Be a blessing to your church, to the missionary, to the family in need, to the widows, to the evangelists and to those who need to see Jesus in you!
How does your soul prosper? Keep it healthy by keeping its focus in the Word of God, by spending time in prayer, by loving God more than the stuff around you. As you grow in your spiritual prosperity, it will change not only you, but all those around you. Earth’s stuff will begin to loose it’s value in your sight as you learn to value heaven’s values more. When your soul prospers, there is a spiritual contentment, knowing you are doing what pleases God. Walk in that ‘soul prosperity’ on a daily basis.
J. Johnson

Please take a moment and visit our "mall" where all purchases benefit Word of the Lord ministries. Please click on the "Shop for Charity" link where you can safely shop at major stores for on-line purchases. A percentage of every purchase will be given to our ministry. If you are an on-line shopper for electronics, ink, christian books, be sure to check it out...there are 1000's of stores available. God bless you for your donations to this ministry....

Personal donations are tax deductible and may be sent to:
Word of the Lord Ministries
PO Box 210015, Milwaukee WI 53221

The Revival Hymn

Carnal Christianity? Just Give Me Jesus!!

In today’s perverse society, Christians are softening their stance more and more, accepting a little compromise here and some more complacency there until the fences we once held as Biblical standards have washed away with the flood of carnality that is sweeping through our culture. The term carnal Christian seems to describe more and more of today’s ‘church’.
I was raised in a strict Christian home. We were not allowed to go to movie theaters, to go to dances, to participate in ‘worldly’ forms of entertainment just in case we might cause someone else to stumble and fall in sin. Sunday was a day of rest and relaxation except for church. We were faithful Sunday morning and evening. Some may have thought we had no fun at all. Yet we had the greatest times. We enjoyed the pure clean kind of fun that today’s culture has forgotten about. But today, if the Christian wants to have fun, they have learned to adopt the ways of the world around them, dabbling in everything our grandparents and their pastors would have cringed at. Today, church goers think nothing of getting body piercings, tattoos, and even brands. They go to ‘events’ that make the hippie culture of the ‘70’s look tame by comparison. All across the country, it is time for the summer Christian ‘rock-fests’ where our youth can spend the weekend listening to ear blasting rhythms, dress in garb that leaves nothing to the imagination, and proudly come home with the latest CD’s. You can keep it all! Just give me Jesus!
Whatever happened to our altars? Where did the weeping go? What has happened to repentance? Does anybody blush anymore? Why do we accept carnality as the norm? Does anyone know what sin is? What are we, who know better, doing about it all? Just give me more of Jesus!
The Church
The church has changed drastically in the last 20 years. It has become a carnal, market driven mega mall. Its pastors have been trained by the culture around them as they have learned to tap into the lucrative business principles that taught them ‘bigger is better.’ Too many have sacrificed quality for quantity. Success is having the biggest church in town with a name everyone knows. Somehow I think if the apostles were to stop in for a Sunday service, they would not recognize it as a ‘Christian’ church. We have strayed from the model Paul worked so hard to establish. He would definitely label it ‘carnal.’ What is a carnal church? To be carnal means to be like the world, leaning in its direction, spiritually immature, readily accepting the values of the culture rather than the standards of God. Galatians 5 give us a list of the ‘works of the flesh’...carnality…“adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal 5:19-21) and this list sounds like the normal life of a ‘normal’ Christian today. Today, sad to say, too many teens and 20’s find themselves living together before marriage, thinking it is alright, acceptable to the church and therefore to God. Yet the Word of God clearly teaches otherwise. They excuse themselves by saying, “I’m only human…” as if it would change God’s mind.
I have seen and heard ‘Christians’ today whose temper tantrums, envy, abuse and jealousy have destroyed homes and marriages, but yet they fail to deal with it Biblically in repentance and humility. It’s always someone else’s fault. What do we need? We need Jesus!
Spiritual Immaturity
Perhaps I am stepping on some toes here, and you are feeling the pain. Perhaps your problem is your contentment to remain immature. The Corinthian church had the same problem. "I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:1). They were spiritually immature and content to stay that way. These were Christian ‘brethren’ he was writing to. When we notice that our children are failing to grow, failing to mature, we become alarmed, take them to the doctor or a specialist to see what is the problem. Spiritually, we sometimes do not tend to recognize our own spiritual immaturity. There are symptoms we must recognize. Spiritual immaturity demands its own way, is self-absorbed, comfort seeking, and often demanding a diet that is unhealthy. When our churches become market driven, and seeker sensitive, rather than God centered and divinely motivated, they become breeding grounds for spiritual immaturity. If you find yourself immature and in need of growth, begin feeding on the meat of the Word of God. Let the Spirit teach you where to change. He will take you into the intimate place of prayer where He will show you in a mirror how you look to God. Though the price may be high, we must face reality. Just give me Jesus!
The Next Step
If we refuse to submit our lives to the authority of God, turn a deaf ear to the Holy Spirit, refuse correction, remain unteachable, and we continually find ourselves sliding back into the grime and filth we came from, then we must realize that we have slipped into spiritual rebellion. We’ve slowly allowed our hearts to become calloused to the tug of the Spirit. What began as perpetual immaturity develops into full blown disobedience. It is the kind of thing that brings spiritual death. It is man leaning on the natural man rather than the Spirit of God. When we do so, our world is bound to crumble. How many ‘Christians’ have been caught up in sin’s materialistic traps only to discover they are in a financial tar pit that is sucking them down into its mess. The “I-just-gotta-have-it” mentality has got to go! If we longed for Jesus the way we long for stuff, we’d have had revival in America long, long ago. Its time for believers to live within their means, to pay their tithes and offerings, to teach their children fiscal responsibility and to clean up their financial histories.
How many have dabbled in sin’s sexual seductions only to find emptiness. I heard a story recently that came from Josh McDowell, when he was approached after a youth meeting by a young woman who told him she had sex with five different men the last five nights. She asked him, “Is there anything more?” She was empty and unfulfilled. Why? Because her relationships lacked intimacy. There was no friendship… no real love…no real relationship...just animal urges being acted out. God’s plan is for one man to be committed to one woman for a lifetime relationship. Both need to work at it and keep it Christ centered. As both draw closer to God, they will also grow closer to each other. You can try doing it the world’s way and play the field, destroy the home, and wound the children, or— you can just give me Jesus!
Just Give Me Jesus!
I have lived life to the fullest. I have traveled the globe. I have had a wonderful marriage and beautiful children. I have enjoyed ministry. I have lived in beautiful homes. I have had successes. I have had disappointments. But when I look back over all the high or low points of my life, I still long for those moments when Jesus seemed the closest to me. It was not at the times of material success. Nor was it at the times of pleasure. It was not even at the peak of ministry. It was often in the darkest of days. It was in the moments when I discovered I could not handle it all by myself. Jesus seemed closest when I was lonely , when I was grieving, when I was helpless to know where to turn. He was there when money was scarce. He was there when the sun did not shine. He was there when I least expected Him. So don’t tell me I need a big salary, good looks, a fancy house, a successful ministry….just give me Jesus!
Has someone offended you? Take your eyes of your hurt and put them on Jesus. They hurt Him too and He forgave them all. Maturity chooses to love in spite of the pain. It sees the greater good. It looks to the future with eyes of faith. Carnality crumbles the human heart, but love builds it back again. Love is not an emotion...not just how you feel. It is so much more. It is a choice, a decision you make as to how you respond to others. I Corinthians 13 in the Message Bible paraphrase puts it in a way I can understand…
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. Love never dies. It tells me ‘love’ must act and do… choosing God’s way when nothing makes sense. It leaves the results with God. It keeps our priorities straight. It keeps us humble and keeps us leaning on God. It’s results are eternal.
You can choose to live a carnal life if you want to. You can enjoy your sin for a season. You can do just what everyone else seems to be doing—or—you can make a difference! You can be the man or woman God wants you to be. You can choose His pathway. You can please Him instead of yourself. I’ve made up my mind. How about you? Just give me Jesus! J. Johnson