FIGHTING THE DEVIL

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The Devil wants to bring the fight to him, on his turf, his battlefield where his armaments are lies, pride, greed, power and violence. We cannot win on that field.

When the serpent talked with Eve. She had not the weapons or she did not know how to use them to fight the adversary.She and her husband thereby succumbed to every tool at the devil’s disposal. Their own will for power was greater than their desire for God’s will for them.

Take Jesus in the wilderness, honing his skills for the day of battle when the evil one would present Jesus with power and success and a kingdom of sorts. And each time Jesus was ‘tempted’ he responded with God’s word. Oh the devil knows the word of God but Jesus knew the author. And though a tough fight Jesus emerged the victor.

When the devil invites us to his battlefield we bring that whole battlefield before our Lord and Maker and we say ‘No, Satan, no power you have can match the love, the wisdom and finally the power of the living God. Be gone.

2Cor. 10 …For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

There are people who want trouble from us and our natural inclination is to use our muscle, our guns, our military and physical strategies to defeat the enemy but Paul above says that we have within us all the power, spiritual power we need to destroy the fortresses of the enemies. And we have the secret intelligence that Christ is on the side of the humble and contrite. Pride is the one weakness, the Achilles heel, if you will, of those who think they belong to Christ.

In this fight with ISIS, who appears to be the devil incarnate for this season, we need the faithful people to come together to raise up a mighty army of believers from Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, to put on all the armor that Paul says belongs to us.

The armor of faith, the word of God, the shoes to run and tell the Good News. The breastplate of righteousness is wonderfully thick when we follow God’s way. It will stop the fiery darts.

What’s that line in A Mighty Fortress is our God? One little word shall fell him.

His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
one little word shall fell him.

 That word is the Lord. It is faith. It is yes to peace.

Be gone Satan.

 Let the world bow before God to ask for his righteousness and deliverance.

 

FED UP

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Ok, so I have reached my limit of endurance listening to Mr. Trump and to others who agree with him about immigration and about Muslims. I need to say it loud:

MR. TRUMP DOESN’T SPEAK TO ME OR FOR ME OR, I BELIEVE, FOR ANY RIGHTEOUS MINDED CHURCH.

Let’s remember back to 1933 when another demagogue rose to the position of leadership in another part of the world. We called that evil.

We have only one Lord and he is not a politician. And I think Jesus would say to Donald Trump what he said to his disciple Peter when Peter wanted to stop Jesus from doing the hard thing of love and risk laying down his life for another.

Jesus bids us to carry a cross, and with such a call it is clear why he wasn’t popular among the power structures.

We must regard our neighbors with love and acceptance. Certainly we use common sense to let the state manage the sword. But bigotry, hatred, exclusion have no place in our world of Christian values.

Perhaps there are lots of nominal Christians as there were in 1933 that can gravitate to Mr. Trump’s evil ideals. I for one am not one of them. I am going to pray seriously that this is the end for Mr. Trump’s candidacy run. May God bless him in other endeavors.

DELIVER US FROM EVIL

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I can’t help but think that in our overthrowing one particular evil in a region of the world another more monstrous evil was perpetuated.

I am not sure of the exact application of these next words but they are worth considering. “Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21)

Jesus tells us ‘not to resist evil’ (Matthew 5:39). I have to wonder why this is so. Perhaps we don’t truly know what real evil is or how it is born. Perhaps only God knows. So Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer tells us to pray to the Father, ‘deliver us from evil.’

It is constructive to notice that Jesus in surrendering to evil was thereby the victor through his resurrection. The early Christians faced their deaths rather than ‘fight’ with worldly weapons against evil.

And then I love this verse, which so strengthens my allegiance to Jesus above any earthly rule. “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:15)

Our weapons are not material. They can’t be bought only believed. Let us continue to trust our God and where there be any evil in this world let us make sure it does not spring from us in the personal or worldly sphere.

Where Are the Forks?

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I find that I often have the same difficulty Paul experienced when he writes in Romans 7 that the good he wants to do he doesn’t do and the bad that he doesn’t want to do is what he often does.

He goes on to say that it is the sin within him that is causing this problem. This is not to say as the comedian Flip Wilson once remarked, “the Devil made me do it.” No, Paul has something more serious in mind. It’s Paul’s own willingness to sin that is the problem. It’s his own ego, his territory that is getting in the way. Once you have set the boundaries on your particular territory you have created a playground for sinful behavior, selfish behavior that may evidence itself in anger, jealousy, pride and worry.

Paul is writing that the only way out of this dilemma is through Christ and the formation of Christ within us. See Galatians 4:19.

Paul even comments at the end of chapter 7, ‘but in the sinful nature I am a slave to the law of sin.’ Or as the Message paraphrase has it, ‘ but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.’ (Vs. 25)

What I prefer to say is that all territory belongs to Christ. I have no King but Christ. I cannot let me ego dictate to me what is right and wrong. All I want is Christ in me and then I can do what Christ would do in my body.

Now last night is an example. I was getting ready for dinner with my wife and noticed there were no forks in the drawer where day by day I would normally find forks. So I mentioned it and my wife said that all the silverware happened to be in the dishwasher. The understanding I got from that, after 45 years of marriage, was that it might be a good think if I, for once, took care of that little issue. Yeah, I got annoyed, thinking that maybe she could have asked me nicely to unload the dishwasher. See, I have my territorial issues. Don’t make inferences about my ineptness when it comes to helping out around the house.

So there I was, wanting to do good but not able. The good, in this case, was just having a nice attitude about the whole thing. Now I could say that some ugly demon was living his life in me but no, that’s not the case. I am my worst demon sometimes. Another word perhaps is ‘selfish’. So I have to enlarge my territory by making it all belong to Christ and then nothing can take me from God’s love not even subtle inferences about my responsibilities.

 

 

COSTLY GRACE

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It’s easy to be graceful when you are secure. But it’s harder to be graceful when there is a risk involved like receiving Syrian refugees. I think we as a country, that includes a lot of Christian people, need to take the risk. And for sure there will be many safeguards along the way.

But I remember Jesus saying that when we did something good for the least in our world we are doing the same thing for him. Mysterious but true. He also told us that we need to take up a cross for his righteousness.

We are a country that for all it’s mistakes is a much needed help in this world. Let us continue to help, as we love the ‘least of these’.

I realize that writing this means to do something myself. May God give me the grace to follow Jesus into this unsafe world. And remember we do this not to ‘fix’ the world but to stand with Jesus in ministering to the homeless, the poor, and particularly these Syrian refugees. All to the glory of God.

WHY THERE IS JOY IN HEAVEN.

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For me the greatest single truth to be experienced in the Christian life is to know we are forgiven. Recall the story of the lost things in Luke 15. After each is found Jesus tells the crowds that THERE IS SO MUCH JOY IN HEAVEN WHEN ONE SINNER REPENTS THAN FOR ALL THOSE WHO DON’T THINK THEY NEED TO.

I took some liberty with that verse but in proper context.

I remember when psychiatrist Karl Menninger was alive he commented that most of the people in psychiatric wards could be released, freed, and walk out on their own, so to speak, if they just realized they were forgiven.

When Jesus came into the world his major focus was on telling people that God had come to them to reconcile all people to himself, to put away all enmity, to release them from an imposed spiritual bondage by self or otherwise.

Jesus came to say that our enslavement and alienation from God is over. And the folks who realized it best were those on the fringe of society. And if we are honest that is ‘us’ often times. I think of the Prodigal Son and remember how often that is ME but the Father in the story reminds me that God takes me back, forgives my rebellion and brings me to a table of celebration, and that if I am the proud older son he begs me to come to the table to celebrate the recovery of that which was lost.

There may be a lot of things in this world that do not give us peace. Even as you are reading this, your own soul may be in some degree of turmoil. But rest a moment on this thought. You are forgiven. You and I are the children of God, the beloved of God no matter how far we have run from him.

I think at times that when I am dissatisfied with life I am the prodigal taking the blessings of my Father for granted and I am off in a far and distant land where, like the ancient Israelites, I find it hard to sing the Lord’s song. But then I stop, inside of my own head, and run to the Father’s embrace once more. I am sorry to have forgotten my place in his love but then I gaze upon his only begotten son upon the cross and realize that he is there for me, for us and no matter what else happens in my life, that forgiveness is the most essential truth by which I live in a good relationship with the Father.

And every time I come back to the Father there is a party in heaven, which to my thinking means that heaven is one big continuous celebration of the forgiveness my Savior secured for me.

My sins have been sent away and the favor of God has been bestowed upon me all due to God’s own mercy. Is there anything else more important?

Perhaps if we dwelled more upon what God has done for us we would be less concerned about what we need. As the Scripture says, ‘if God did not spare his own Son will he not give us with him everything we need.’ (Romans 8:32)

And lest you are thinking, ‘what about repentance?’ well, repentance is nothing more or less than changing the way we think so that we are drawn to Christ and not towards ourselves. Someone once explained the Greek term for repentance as if we are walking in one direction and then turn and go the other way. His way.

It’s like the cell door being thrown open. Do we choose freedom or would we rather sit on our cot absorbed in self-pity over our circumstances?

I just got off the phone with Waste Management here in Denver area because they went right by my garbage I had put out on roadside. Driver said it wasn’t out there at 8 in the morning. I found myself getting angry because I put the silly stuff out there before way before 8. So I got myself into a funk and now need to heed my own advice. Once again I am the prodigal who needs to return. Seems like I do a lot of returning.

So here’s what happened. My wife gently told me that it was probably around 8 that I put my garbage out (isn’t that what I am doing here?) and maybe just missed the guy. I called the company and apologized and apologized to my wife for being so grumpy about the whole thing.

That’s what day to day life is like. But I reminded myself that I am forgiven and loved even while I am in a far country feeding pigs. It will all be all right. Thanks for reading. The party might be a bit postponed today.

 

 

 

Straight Shooters

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I have a good friend who once in a gentle critique (at least I think it was meant to be gentle) said that I ‘shoot from the hip’. She meant that often I don’t take the time to aim with some kind of planned purpose. I come up with some idea (like this blog) and just let it go and sometimes-good things happen. Sometimes not.

Let’s just say that I am impulsive and probably compulsive. I don’t keep a planning book. I tried that. It was boring. Sometimes I think that spiritual impulsivity is not such a bad thing. A lot of people sit on their duffs waiting to be motivated to do something for God. I remember back in college we encountered some poor people and I suggested in an Inter-Varsity setting that we just get out there and help them. But the leader said we needed to pray about it. I am all for prayer but what if God is constantly working in our lives leading us by circumstances and events and we miss that by thinking we have to wait and pray. Some things are just evidently God at work waiting for us to join Him.

I was talking to that same friend I mentioned previously and she was telling me that upon hearing of the plight of the Syrian refugees she wanted to open her home to them. Actually it was a second home that she owned. Now there’s a woman after my own heart, shooting from the hip.

But here’s the thing. She and I are straight shooters, people not swerving to the left or right and who can be depended upon to hit the mark, most of the time, people who can be trusted.

I am the kind of person who thinks while he talks and sometimes I can get into trouble but most of the time people understand where I am coming from and that there is no guile to my words. I figure that after a good long straight shooting talk we will arrive at a good conclusion.

The disciple Peter shot from the hip and almost drowned during one episode of his life with Jesus but he kept on going and even through his failures his faithfulness to Jesus prevailed because Jesus himself was praying for Peter’s faith to prevail.

Some people are introverts simply meaning that they take a long time to process things in their heads before making a decision. I guess we need both kinds of people.

But for me, I would rather shoot from the hip than to have no guns. (Speaking spiritually here, not politically)

MOMENT BY MOMENT

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The leading of God for our lives is moment by moment. Not far into the future. When Jesus called the disciples he did not give them a blueprint for tomorrow. He said, ‘Follow me’ with the understanding he meant ‘now’.

Don’t worry about tomorrow. Give us today our daily bread. Don’t think too far ahead. It brings fear and less trust in the Father for what we need today. The Israelites learned that, in the wilderness, as they sought for more manna than God wanted to provide. Not a good scene.

If we think too far ahead it may be that we substitute our own plans for God’s divine guidance. Sometimes we can even plan God out of the picture. What we need is GRACE FOR THE MOMENT, the discipline of saying to God, ‘What now my Lord?’ Shall I turn left or right or keep going? And then let’s not be afraid of make that spiritually motivated impulsive choice. If there be any miscalculation, God will show us- Moment by moment.

blessings for this day.

george

Why Tell Anybody About Jesus

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So I was asking myself the question, ‘Why tell others about Jesus?’ Why not just leave people alone to their own beliefs or lack thereof? Then I thought, “Why did Jesus tell his disciples to go and train other people to be disciples?’ Was it to propagate a new philosophy of life? Was it to keep everyone from going to hell because that’s not a very attractive way of love or grace? I rather think that Jesus wanted people to follow him, trust him, and place their confidence in him for all the positive reasons. Consider the following:

  1. He believed himself sent from God, embodying God to reveal the fullest picture of who God is, clearer than anyone had ever portrayed God.
  1. He was offering people a way to life. He, the author of life, knew exactly the way life could best be lived, not be external acts or ceremonies but by a heart formed in Godly love.
  1. He wanted people to know how to live each day according to what was most real, ‘THE KINGDOM OF GOD’.
  1. In the most positive sense he wanted us to know that through his ultimate sacrifice, one of justice and love that our sins, our separation from God was forgiven, that God himself was paying the price we should have had to pay for rebellion against a just God.
  1. Jesus came as the epitome of the new creation that God was initiating to bring all things together in a final wonderful way starting with this present creation and finishing with a new heaven and new earth, a re-creation of all that was God.
  1. Jesus promised hope not for this life only but for eternity. His resurrection is the validation of all that is to be new.
  1. Jesus is the perfect Jew chose to complete the Abrahamic Covenant to bless the WHOLE world.
  1. Jesus came to make sure that we knew just how much God loves the brokenhearted, the downtrodden, the lost, and the marginalized.
  1. Jesus came to bring us freedom. Guilt and shame are gone. People were rescued from the false promises and power of idols.

Take for example a man whose life was controlled by his addiction to alcohol and he, through the 12-step program, is released from that idol. He wants to share with others that message, not to beat them over the head but to share what is REAL, what WORKS, what is GOOD.

And because Jesus lives He knows each one of us, what sorrows, sins, hurts, joys and He promises to be with us forever.

So these and I am sure many other reasons are good motivation for sharing the Good News, sharing not shoving. May God help us to be faithful to Christ as we do so.

Anxiety about Anxiety

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Jesus said that we should not be anxious. He added that it had to do with food, clothing and long life. But he didn’t leave us with simply that command. He went on to talk about how God cares for the creation and certainly cares about us even more.

I am of the mind that his caution against anxiety was because things like fear and anxiety can keep us from following him into the experiences of life where we are needed and find the most meaning. And to the extent that fear and anxiety keep pulling us back, turning away from his call, well, it seems fitting he would keep teaching us as he did his disciples in those first years that we can place our confidence in him and keep going.

That doesn’t mean we won’t feel anxious or even dread at certain things in our lives because anxiety is a sign that we are alive and not just resigned to some kind of fate, even the fate of being guided by God.

So in this real world of our the best way to address anxiety is to admit it and keep listening to Jesus and others’ assurance of God’s care for our lives so that we can move ahead.

I have a son who this very day is having surgery. Is he anxious? You bet. Is he going through with the surgery? You bet. Because the doctors and friends and family have all told him it is going to be ok.

I have a good friend and if I tell him I am anxious about something he will tell me he understands and that he knows that within me is the great desire to follow my Lord wherever he calls me. (Hopefully) That friend encourages me and lessens my anxiety.

Let’s just saying that anxiety is the uncertainty about living in freedom. Freedom is good and sometimes it’s scary. The Israelites were given freedom to leave Egypt but with that freedom and all the miracles accompanying it they were scared to death and often just wanted to go back to Egypt where in bondage they felt safe. We cannot live in bondage anymore, not if we are going with Jesus. So let’s keep our eyes on the pioneer of our faith, the one who went through hell for us. Let’s just stay with him and do what he asks of us. He put us together and he knows how this body soul and mind works best. The Kingdom is now.

And just this morning I read this from Hebrews. Check this out:

12: 8 For you have not come to something that can be touched, to a burning fire and darkness and gloom and a whirlwind 19 and the blast of a trumpet and a voice uttering words such that those who heard begged to hear no more. 20 For they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”21 In fact, the scene was so terrifying that Moses said, “I shudder with fear.”

22 But you have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the assembly 23 and congregation of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous, who have been made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks of something better than Abel’s does. (NET Bible)

Now when I read a passage such as that I think, ‘wow, am I in good company or what.’ So then let’s keep on keepin’ on. Jesus will be with us always.