Free Indeed!

My wife and I took a few days vacation and visited one of the great historical cities of our nation. Once booked, we embarked on a guided tour of the old city.  Just as we pulled up to one of the city's historical hotspots the tour guide stated, "If you'll look off to your right you'll see the actual spot where years ago the Emancipation Proclamation was read.  On that day men and women showed up as slaves, and left free from their slavery."   The crispness with which the tour guide said this rung in my ears and heart.  I thought this is so neat.  Within minutes people who were once owned, once ruled, once bound, and once enslaved, were set free from their bondage.   I couldn't help but think, that was exactly what happened when I met and accepted Jesus Christ.  I showed up enslaved, bound, owned, and ruled by sin and was immediately set free.  Did you hear me?  Immediately – I was set free!  What a glorious day that was!

Praising Through the Pain

I did a stupid thing yesterday!  At my age, I tried to pick up a television from the floor injuring my back.   A visit to the chiropractor has brought little relief – very little relief.  As I driving to the church thinking about our time of worship this Sunday morning – and thinking about my pain, I had an "aha" moment!  Many times throughout life we have to praise God, even as we go through the pain.

I am sure as Jesus hung on the cross every fiber of His body screamed out in pain.  But, He never uttered a bitter or complaining word.  It's the perfect picture of honoring God through our pain.

I am not sure what kind of pain you carry this day.  Maybe you are facing the pain of losing a loved one; maybe the pain of a spouse walking out on you; maybe physical pain; or the scars of a painful past.  Whatever it may be, Jesus understands.  He carried that pain as He too bore pain – our pain.

We know Jesus is our Healer.  Today, as I sit here in my pain, I trust Him for healing.  But, until I receive it, I am going to praise Him through the pain.  Let me encourage you to trust and praise Him through your pain.  He cares for you.  In fact, He cared so much that He has already carried that pain to the cross, and now He hears your cries to be set free from that pain.  So until you fully experience His healing, praise Him through the pain.

Where's The Fire?

Jeremiah described his passion.  No wait, he was its passion.  Whichever.  It was consuming him.  Escape it must.  He said, "I have a fire shut up in my bones; I am weary of holding it in – indeed I cannot."

 

A raging inferno was ablaze inside of him.  Like a drowning man seeking the surface, this fire was seeking an escape.  Crying out for oxygen, it demanded to be released.  Sheer will-power could contain it no longer – not for even a second longer.   Burn it must – even burn it's hottest.

 

Where's the fire in believers these days?  It seems we have settled for "the show" at church.  We've bought into the performance.  We have entertained ourselves with the charisma of eloquent preachers.  BUT where's the fire?  Not just on the platform, but within our hearts?

 

Why does it seem like most Christians barely survive from week to week before they run out of spiritual gas?  I'll tell you why, because there is no fire in their bellies - nothing that gives them a reason to burn brightly.

 

Where did we sacrifice it?  When did the fire leave us?

 

It left us when we felt it no longer necessary to find ourselves face down at an altar crying out to God for fire.  It departed from us when we felt it more important to get to the restaurant after a service than to spend precious moments wailing before God asking for fresh fire; for a new touch of His Spirit; for souls; saying "God, I can't live like this anymore.  I need you to come and renew me, fill me, anoint me; use me.  God, I am not willing to go another day without your fire consuming me."  That's when we lost it.

 

If you want it back, back up to the middle of the last paragraph and make it your prayer.  Pray it until fire fills your insides to the point where you can contain it no longer.  Then go set your family, church, city, and your work-place ablaze.

Things In Common

 What does Columbus discovering America, the final episode of MASH, Compact Disc recordings, and the first time Jay Leno appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson have in common?  They all happened during the month of March sometime along history's timeline.  You might want to tuck these facts away in your mind for the next time you play Trivial Pursuit!

Know what else happened in March?  Victorious Life Church, Port Orange (formerly Bethel Assembly of God) was founded.  In March 1999 godly people came together under the pastoral leadership of John and Bobbie Jean Anderegg and prayed God would raise up an Assemblies of God church in Port Orange to His glory.  They believed against all odds - and prevailed.  These who have walked, served, and possessed faith before us are our "great cloud of witnesses."

Seldom do we look back to honor those who have carried the torch before us.  Somehow they get lost in the course of events that becomes history.  But remember and honor them we must.  While the things I mentioned in my first paragraph hold little, if any, spiritual significance the founding of a church for God's glory holds profound importance.

Think of the lives touched, those saved through our efforts, those who know healing because they found faith-filled believers who prayed.  Think of those who were filled with the Holy Spirit, baptized in water, changed by the power of God - and think about those who went on to heaven confessing Jesus as their Lord while they worshipped Him and were members of Victorious Life Church.  That's significant!  And even though it may never be a fact you will ever have to recall as you engage in Trivial Pursuit, they're facts written down in God's Book of Remembrances and Significant Dates.  Truth is - I'd rather be engaged in that which makes God's history books than that which makes this world's history any day.  Get involved in God's work.  Make a mark in the spiritual history of your church.

 

Mission and Miracles

A group prayed in earnest as they gathered in the predawn hours asking God to watch over them and direct the missions trip they were about to embark on.  With the last bag crammed into the already overloaded van they were on their way.  Miami was the airport that would ultimately lead to their destination of Barahona, Dominican Republic.  Their arrival at the Miami airport was pretty routine until….until it was realized one team member had not come with her passport.  She thought it was there, but "there" it wasn't.  Would the dream of taking her first missions trip, the one she worked so hard to raise money for and set her sights upon for so long, go up in smoke before it even started?  Not a chance.  It was determined she could still leave the country; it was reentry to the States that might cause the problem.  Nonetheless, she would go in hopes her passport could be overnighted to Barahona to guarantee her return.

As the team made their way through security time was growing very short.  The flight was to leave within minutes.  As each member's carry-on bag was carefully checked a hammer was found in one member's bag.  A hammer - after all the team was going to engage in some light construction work, so a hammer didn't seem to be so unusual.  "Nope.  Not allowed in the seating area of the plane.  It has to be shipped with the under-stored luggage."  As two team members dash off to box and check the hammer with baggage the final boarding calls are beckoning.  You could feel every second ticking away as the doors of the plane are pulled shut, but not without the two team-members scooting through the open crevice of the closing door.  One second later and the team would've been minus two members.

The packed flight of several hundred people went much as expected until...until final descent.  Upon descent the plane made several sudden jerks downward.  What was going on?  Why such a rough ride all of a sudden?  The pilot's voice soon brought the news.  It was uncertain if the plane's nose gear was engaged in the landing position.  The plane's instrument panel did not indicate it was down and locked into place.  After repeated sweeps by the airport the plane would circle over the ocean again, dump it's fuel, and prepare to belly-flop onto the runway.  Emergency fire and rescue personnel were already preparing for the mop up.  With one last sweep and a multitude of prayers ascending to heaven the plane meets the runway, and as we roll to a stop we realize the hand of God that kept us safe and had been with us since we prayed that morning - the hand of God that performs miracles when people are engaged in His mission of spreading the gospel to every corner of the world.

 

Refuse to live in the valley of the shadow of death

 

David writes, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil."  There is a huge difference between walking through and living in the valley of the shadow of death.  We have to make a choice as to whether we are going to live and die in the valley of the shadow of death, or if we are simply going to walk through the valley.

Let me paint the picture of the valley of the shadow of death for you that David speaks of.  According to Phillip Keller, author of a Shepherds Look At Psalm 23, the valley of the shadow of death would be faced twice a year when shepherds would lead their flocks back into the mountains for grazing, then back from the mountains for wintering near the homefront.  It was as they made these journeys through the hills, clefts and mountains that the sheep and shepherd faced some perilous situations.  They faced the dangers of flash floods, avalanches, rock slides, narrow passages, steep cliffs, poisonous plants and snakes, and the possible attacks from ferocious mountain lions and other predators.  The trip was truly at the risk of death every time they made the passage.

Here is the parallel – every Christian faces the valley of the shadow of death.  It is that valley in which your spiritual life is put to the test.  There you will either live or die.  But notice, it is not a place where we are destined to linger.  It's a valley we walk through, but it is not a lodging place.  Yet this is where many make their mistake – some choose to live in the valley of the shadow of death.  So, all they talk about sounds like death.  "Do you know who died this week?  Did you hear the bad news about so and so?  I am feeling so badly; I'm not sure if I am going to make it.  My finances are at rock bottom; my situation is bad, bad, bad."  With every statement they dig their grave as they linger in the valley of the shadow of death.

Do yourself a favor and refuse to live in the valley of the shadow of death.  Might you have to walk through it occasionally?  Yes, but you don't have to vacation or live there.  We simply pass through it.  We'll face the dangers on both sides; we may even have a few scares along the way (David did); but we continue to walk through it, never allowing ourselves to get snagged there.

God tells us we can walk through this valley with confidence.  David said as he led his sheep through this valley again and again, "I will fear no evil, because you are with me."  God, you go with us.  And David said, "Your rod and your staff, they comfort me."  In other words, Lord God, you offer me security.  In the midst of every threat, God, you offer protection.  You say, 'It is going to be okay.'  You keep me from being afraid.

Here is the difference.  If you are simply walking through the valley of the shadow of death as a part of your journey through life, God has your back.  But, if you have chosen to linger there, even live there, you're in a heap of trouble.  Your spiritual well-being is at risk.  The devil is about ready to pounce on you and take you out.  Listen, determine now to get out of that valley – refuse to live or linger in that valley.  Change whatever has to be changed - because it won't take you to your desired end or bring God's blessings to your life.

 

My Two Cents Worth

Believe me I am not going to go deep here (as if I could being that math and science were not my strength in school), but there is a law of physics that says for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  Simply put - there are consequences for your actions.  You may think nothing of one more swipe of the credit card for the sweater "I absolutely adore and can't live without" or, the new cell phone that's "got the cutest little ringtones" or, dinner at that favorite restaurant where "the food is to die for."  Guess what.  There are consequences for those actions.  It's called a credit card bill at the end of the month.

You may feel one more dessert, that extra plate of food, and the super-sized burger may not catch up with you, but guess what.  There are consequences for those actions.  Those things translate into unwanted pounds, cholesterol, heart-disease, and more - and it literally demands a pound of flesh (and fat!) to shed those unwanted pounds.

You may think laying off one more Sunday, or dropping Wednesdays or your small group from your church routine, isn't going to have much of an effect.  Oh yea!  The famous last words of every backslider!  All of these things have consequences.

There are two words we do not hear or practice often anymore - discipline and moderation.  We live during a time of excesses.  We demand more, always more, even when budgets, waistlines and our spiritual beings are crying ENOUGH ALREADY.  Whatever happened to disciplining our desires against that which we can afford?  Whatever happened to denying ourselves that "one more" little item that takes us over the edge?  It's time to give new consideration to living lives of discipline and moderation.

Now is the time to serve notice on yourself.  You must get a grip on these things (and/or other things not mentioned above).  If you are to have a healthy, happy and prosperous new year you must begin the regiment of discipline and moderation.  Otherwise you will pay the price, and believe me it will cost you big time.