A Crazy Kind-Of-Love

“…Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad” (Acts 26:24)

 

Francois Fenelon said, “To just read the Bible, attend church, and avoid “big” sins – is this passionate, wholehearted love for God?” Is the church missing what God intended her to be? In many ways, and I’m nervous about it, the church is not doing so well.

 

It used to be that “Good Christians” avoided drinking, drugs, sex, swearing, and fought their desires in order to please God. That is the way many were brought up during the Christian culture of the day. In reality and hindsight, I don’t believe the church’s teachings were incorrect, just incomplete.

 

If we would get into the Word of God and think Biblically instead of conventionally, it would change our paradigm. Our thinking would explode and it would be exhilarating. We have all we need. We have all of Jesus we need. What we don’t have is to want Jesus more.

 

Are you bored with American Christianity and that which it offers? Do you want to rise above the plateau of the American style of doing church? Would you want to get to the place where you would rather die than let go of your convictions in Christ?

 

“More God” and “more life” follows. Not to be immune from self-giving is to realize how wonderful God is. To not hold back anything but to give all is the utmost way to live. To be totally abandoned is to be totally absorbed.

 

God wants to lead a group of comfortable people into lives of risk and adventure. He wants us to love people like we never have before and to go to extremes to do just that.

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    “I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God” (Nehemiah 1:5a).

    Prayer that gets past the living room ceiling is prayer that recognizes first and foremost that God is Sovereign Creator and man is the servant. Proper prayer places God above all and man at His feet. Prayer recognizes that God is seated and He cannot be unseated. He is not a genie that we get three wishes if we rub hard enough on the prayer lamp.

    When we learn that God desires holiness then we will seek Him. Prayer is not about our having our way with God–it is God having His way with us. Prayer is God guiding us to do His will. Again, God is not a doting grandfather who has lollipops in His pockets for spoiled children.

    We do not pressure God to do anything in our praying. We allow God to pressure us and to press us into His will. God cannot be bribed, cajoled, convinced, or impressed to change. God is unchangeable. Prayer changes nothing of God but everything of us. Therefore, if we do not want to be changed, we will not be praying prayers that effect change.

    What is it about our praying that matters? God controls all and yet if He cannot control our actions and attitudes then our praying will be in vain. God moves us to surrender but if we continue to live in our own weather pattern then the storms of life will continue to pour out upon us because of our own lack of reverence and order. God is merciful but we must recognize His sovereignty over our lives. True praying brings us to God!

  • A Baby’s Sword

    “And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also, and we were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, except we two were in the house” (I Kings 3:18).

    Two women who were harlots each gave birth to a child. Each slept that night in the same room and yet one woke up the morning after to discover the child next to her was dead and he was not hers. The other woman switched the baby at death.

    The case was brought before Solomon. What would he do? He said, “Bring me a sword” (I Ki 3.24). What does this mean? The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other” (I Ki 3:25). The woman whose the living child was hers said, “O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it.”

    Two lessons we can learn. In every circumstance always use and wield the Word of God. It is a two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12). If we want to be effective cutting through this world and the words of others, let these words be upon your lips and may the Word of God be in your hand, “Bring me the sword.”

    The second lesson to draw from the true event described for us: Don’t allow division. A man or woman of God will not be identified with division in a marriage, a family, or a church body, for division leads either quickly or eventually to one thing: death. Don’t be a part of tolerating division unless it is for righteousness. May we be surrendered to God’s Word as Solomon and committed to unity as this mother was.

  • Good As The Book

    “God–His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is pure. He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him” (Psalm 18:30).

    Are we as Good as the Book?

    God’s Word shields a believer with truth. To find refuge from a world of lies is of utmost importance to the believer. His Book has been proven and it is found perfect and true. When we know God’s Book we know the way home.

    Who proved it? Jesus did. The Lord Jesus walked in the midst of hostility, confusion, and lethargy. But He found the written Word pure and a refuge from the sweltering heat of a world gone mad. He used it against Satan. He walked with the Book. All Jesus did brought the Book of God out in the open. He stood strong against Pilate. He went to the cross triumphantly and rose out of the dead triumphantly, proving the Book of God is Good!

    When we follow the Lord Jesus we follow Him by this Book given by and from God. The Father above us, the Son beside us, and the Spirit impressing with the Book in us will guide us home. God’s Word is our arsenal against the lies of Satan. We are shielded from the attacks of untruth and led through the maze of confusion with confidence by using the time-tested Word of God.

  • Conviction and Conversion

    “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of judgment is come” (Revelation 14:6-7).

    Time is now short for the earth-dwellers, for no longer is it the day of judgment but now the hour of judgment.  In just a little while those who dwell on earth will face God’s wrath.  God’s mercy and compassion fail not.  Rebellious creatures are given an extreme measure from God to repent.  The eternal gospel during the days of tribulation is flying high with the voice of an angel.

    “Fear God, and give glory to him.”  Fear God ought to be the conviction that would fall upon every person who dwells upon the earth.  And this fear of God ought to lead to the conversion of every person who would no longer take the glory but give the glory to Almighty God.

    We do not know how much longer it will before the God of glory returns to judge.  So we ought to be ready by fearing God and giving glory to Him.  Too many fear other things and other people while we need only to fear God and honor His Son by elevating Him in our daily walk.

  • Learning Right with Might

    “Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand” (Nehemiah 1:10).

    Nehemiah was a Jewish man who served the pagan king of Persia. Nehemiah was living proof of some of the most important leadership principals: You cannot lead if you are not willing to follow. You cannot rule if you have never served. You cannot be over if you have never been under. You cannot give unless you have received. You cannot speak to the people if you have never listened.

    Nehemiah was a man who waited patiently on God through prayer. Intercessory prayer involves waiting on God. When we wait we praise, persevere, and prepare for His ministry through us. Only those who truly wait on the Lord will truly understand the power of prayer.

    Before we attempt great things for God, we must learn to wait on God’s timing. Don’t become impatient with God’s delays for it does not mean that God is denying. God is preparing you and I through prayer which leads to waiting upon Him for greater things than we could imagine. So be like Nehemiah. Yes, he suffered as he waited upon God. But he was learning and he was living and he was loving continually His God and the people before him as he prayed.

  • Can Revival Happen?

    “Run to and fro through the streets…and see now, and know, if you can find a man…that seeketh the truth…” (Jeremiah 5:1).

    There is a great problem today as it was in the days of Noah and Lot. Many do not believe in the existence of God, or the biblical God that we serve. Also, there is not a  respect for Scripture as authoritative and lawful. There is another quandary as well, it is the problem of a guilty conscience over personal sin.

    Throughout the history of the church, there have been episodes of revival and reformation within and through the church. But upon closer observation, the people revived and the sinners converted, already had, for the most part, a belief in the evidence of God, which is described in Scripture as a respect for the authenticity and authority of Holy Scripture, as well as the presence of a guilty conscience over one’s own personal sin.

    We must turn back to the doctrines of Scripture found in the only Book that shows us who God is and what we are. We are totally depraved–mankind is not lightly sinful-we are totally, entirely sinful. We sin because we are sinners. And because of this fact every unbeliever is headed for a future damnation. Society is ignoring this truth, but more than they, the church is ignoring the warning of the Bible.

    Pleasing God is better than feeling good. Truth hurts before it heals. There is coming judgment wherein a judgment day appointed by God. The payment for sin is death–an eternity in hell, instead of heaven. May we tell and may we tell someone soon.