Choices

Choices
John 3:36 ESV

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

     We as humans are very proud of our ability to make choices. We believe that there are literally thousands of choices for us to make on a daily basis. We think the we have control over many of the events in our lives. The truth is, God has given us the opportunity to make choices but we over estimate the number of choices we have at our disposal. From the Garden of Eden on there has only been one choice that matters. We have always had to choose whether we would submit or rebel. First it was about the forbidden fruit,  now it is about Jesus. He has not given us many ways to eternal life. According to the Bible, He has provided one way, Jesus Christ. We do have a choice, but unfortunately many people will not see their options in time. We chose between mercy and wrath.  Jesus has made a path to redemption but if we ignore that path, all that remains is wrath. I urge you to make your choice today.

His Name, Our Prayer

Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive,that your joy may be full. (John 16:24, ESV)

     There are a few things the Bible teaches us that will certainly improve our prayer lives. One of those things is faith.  As we learn to trust in God, our prayers will have much more power.  When we pray, knowing that God can answer our prayers it adds boldness and assurance in our communion with God. Another thing the Bible speaks of is righteousness.  The righteous man will indeed have the ear of the Almighty.  It is important to remember that the strength of our prayer life closely resembles the strength of our relationship with the Father.  If we allow sin to abide in our lives, that will drive a wedge between us and God.  It is true that we are covered by the blood of Jesus as believers, but this is in no way a license to sin.  Jesus also teaches us that persistence will give power to our prayers.  According to Websters dictionary, persistence is defined as: the quality that allows someone to continue doing something or trying to do something even though it is difficult or opposed by other people.  When we pray about something repeatedly and it seems that no one is listening, that is not the time to give up.  Quiet to the contrary, that is the time to keep on.  God does not give up, and we should not either.  So from our side, these are some of the things that will improve our prayer life.    
     From God's side, as we see in the above verse, there is one thing that will always unlock the power of heaven in our prayer lives.  Jesus has given us His name as the key to heaven.  In every way this is true, His is the name where by we must be saved, His is the name that protects us from the evil one, and here His is the name that ensures answered prayers. Based on the wording of this passage, Jesus is not just promising bread, water, clothes, and a home.  It seems that He wants our prayer life to be a source of joy.  We will receive more than the basics of life; we will have a deep and meaningful relationship with the Holy Trinity and we will have the lasting things that will bring us full joy.  There is nothing for which we should be afraid to ask.  God is not limited nor is He unwilling to give. The greatest hindrance to our prayer lives will always be our unwillingness to ask.  Be bold, ask of the great things and your joy will be fulfilled.

WWJD?

“…His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness…” 2 Peter 1:3

This is a very far reaching statement that I think would take a life time to truly understand, but I would like to explore at least a few of the implications of this verse.  First I would like to look at the type of power we now have for life and godliness.  In our previous life, we relied on our own power to live.  Most of us did not make any great effort to be godly before our salvation excepting the occasional visit to church.  But now, as “those who have obtained a faith of equal privilege with ours,” we are given the very power of God to live our lives and to live them in a godly fashion.  This means that if we can surrender our lives to God, we will no longer rely on our strength to get us from day to day, but rather we will be empowered by the Almighty to do the things of the Almighty.  Sadly many Christians, myself included, continue to live as if there has been no power given.  We are saved and now instead of just living, we want to live eternally and godly all under our own power; the very same power that was so insufficient that our Savior Jesus Christ had to leave heaven and die on a cross to save us from the weaknesses of our power.  If we truly have God’s power in us we certainly ought to use it.  Next I would like to think about the two areas that Peter says this power applies.  First he says life.  Now to understand the life that God expects us to live, knowing that godliness is another topic, we must realize that he is talking about eternal life.  The true blessing in this is that without God’s power we are not even capable of controlling our own death, much less living without death forever.  At some point in our lives, we must submit to the greater power of God in our lives knowing that He will carry us in His love for all eternity.  Now for what I understand to be life on this earth, Peter says that we are enabled by God to be godly, or like God.  Again we who continue to depend on our own power will not find this a difficult task, but an impossible one.  The normal lost person will live for the most part by obeying the laws of society thus staying out of immediate trouble.  Christians have a much higher calling; we are to live as God would live on this earth.  To say everything that means for me would take a life time, and to say it for anyone else would be impossible. 

We are to see each situation through the question, “What would Jesus do?”  That may be an overly popular phase, but at least in my life, it is a grossly under-USED phrase.  We should always see God’s way.  After we have found it, then we can see His power to accomplish it.  God wants us to live like Him, listen to the words of Peter in closing: “He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature.”

What is Your Mountian made of?

“…If you have faith the size of a mustard seed…” Matthew 17:20

I have often wondered concerning this little passage if Jesus was saying that even if the mountain in front of us was built by our own sin that with faith we could move it.  It seems very reasonable to me that if we are in the center of God’s will when we encounter an obstacle, then He, through our faith, will no doubt move whatever is in our way.  But what if we find ourselves as born again Christians in a mess made by our sin, would Jesus’ statement still apply?  The context of this teaching is that a man comes to Jesus requesting His help with his son who was having seizures.  The man had already brought the child to Jesus’ disciples and they could not heal him.  The Bible says that Jesus cast a demon out of the boy and he was healed from that moment.  His disciples then came to Him asking why they were unable to drive the demon out themselves.  Jesus told them that it was due to a lack of faith.  He goes on to say that with just a little faith they could come up to a mountain and tell it to “move from here to there” and it would move.  Now to use a little logic along with this we can see that Jesus commanded demons to go and they went, He ordered the winds and rain to hush and they did, He told the dead to rise and they did, but we never saw Him move a mountain.  It seems as if Jesus is saying that we will be able to do all that He did on this earth and more if we have faith.  But what about our initial question?  The truth is many of the mountains that we will face are due to our own sin, and I believe that it is never too late to allow your faith to seize control of a situation no matter how bad it is.  Think on this: the first time anyone allows their faith to move a mountain; it is their mountain of sin that must be forgiven in order for them to be saved.  We have all encountered that mountain, and through faith God has moved it for us.  God is never OK with our sin, but He is always willing to help us through the problems if we will turn to Him.  It may never be easy, but as Jesus goes on to say, “Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Who is your letter?

“You yourselves are our letter…” 2 Corinthians 3:2

We all seek validation.  We want others to recognize our work.  Some people will accumulate titles or degrees in pursuit of acknowledgment.   There is nothing wrong with education because surely it prepares us for the world we must face, but anyone with a little common sense will tell you that academic achievement with no practical application is a gross waste of time and talent.  Some titles are important but it is because of the working person who holds them.  A judge that does not judge fairly with blind justice has hollowed out his title and made it useless.  A doctor that does not seek to make sick a person well with his knowledge is just an over-educated dead-weight on society.  A Christian that must boast or seek the commendation of others in order to prove himself is most likely a very unproductive Christian.  What Paul is dealing with are false teachers who came into Corinth with letters of recommendation from the Jerusalem apostles (probably forged).  Now these fiends would teach whatever doctrine would milk the most respect or money out of the maligned Corinthian church.  They would also claim that Paul was not qualified to teach them because he came without a letter.  These false teachers had to attack both the truth and the source of the truth in order to be heard.  In a side note if that seems to be the case with any preacher, look for his living letters whether they are compassionate Christians or deceitful negative hypocrites.  Paul told the Corinthians that they were his letter of commendation, they were living letters.  Anyone could read his letters by observing those whom he led to Christ.  These are his testimony, a beacon of long standing Christian light in an abyss of paganism.  As Christians we can and should have these living letters, spiritual offspring, which testify to our commitment to Christ.  For the true judge it will be decisions made in the light of truth without respect to persons.  For the good doctor it will be a history of help and health given to generations in need.  For the Christian it will be proof of God’s hand in our endeavors.  For the Christian parents it will be God fearing children trained in the way they should go.  For the Christian minister it will be a legacy of integrity toward the Word and its people.  And finally for all Christians it will be a characteristic way of bringing people closer to Christ which will be written “not on stone tablets but on tablets that are hearts of flesh.”

The "OB"

I was reading through some old posts from the "OB," (the Original Blogger) and I was amazed by how real and fresh the content was after all these years.  The "OB" or David as most people call him posted most of his blogs back in the 10th century BC or about 3000 years ago.  Of the 150 Psalms, he is named as the author in 73 of them and the New Testament gives him credit for two more which brings us to 75.  There are another 26 psalms attributed to different authors leaving 49 anonymous.  If the "OB" didn' write any of these then he still wrote half of the psalms.  The word psalm actually means "praises" and that is exactly what we see from the "OB." Even in the times of darkest despair he found one reason after another to continue lifting up the name of God.  Let's face it, David had a harder life than us.  I don't want to belittle anyone's problems, but David had to fight a giant, over throw a king without blood shed, fight thousands of battles, manage multiple wives, rule a kingdom labeled by God as a "stiff necked people," and constantly be on guard against threats on his life.  David was cool, brave, and most of all a man after God's own heart.  He had his failures just as we do, but he always found a way praise God.  I thank God today that he is merciful toward me.  I don't deserve the life I have nor the very air I breath.  Praise you God because "Blessed are all who take refuge in Him." (Psalm 2:12)

What If...

What if I chose not to follow Jesus?  Sometimes I wonder what life now would be like for me if I have chose a different path.  Its not that I long to be free from the loving Master, quiet the contrary I delight in my Savior.  After being a follower for 15 years, I just wonder how many of my choices were actually based on my commitment to Christ.  I am ashamed to say that I still do not filter everything through Him, but there have been some big choices that have set many events into motion.  At 16 years old I submitted to the call to preach the Gospel.  That led me to the pulpit in Zion Hill Baptist Church on many occasions.  Eventually I chose to attend the University of Mobile which is certainly not the choice I would make apart from Christ.  There I met life long friends, and my wonderful wife Amanda.  Would we even meet apart from the Lord?  I have pastored two churches since then and had many other speaking engagements.  If God has done anything through me for any of the people in those churches or events, that would all be gone.  I mentioned my wife, we have been blessed with 2 amazing children.  They are just awesome.  If I had never followed Christ I would never have had a front row seat to the development of these two miracles.  Most of the time we think and talk about the things that you have to give up in order to follow Him.  For me it seems that I would lose more by not following Him, I believe the same is true for all of us.