The Pen of the Wayfarer

2008-07-20T06:55:00.002-05:00

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for
the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for
the blue dream of sky and for everything which
is natural, which is infinite, which is yes. ~e.e. cummings

photo taken in Worcester, England

Daniel Bible Study-- Like Daniel & Jesus: Cultivating a Quiet & Obedient Spirit

2008-07-16T16:19:00.010-05:00

The sixth chapter of Daniel reveals to us
some similarities between the life of Daniel
and the life of Jesus. Daniel had a quiet
spirit. He, like Jesus, did not try to
make himself the center of attention. Both
men quietly went about doing good, and
obeying what God had asked of them.

Yet, envy and jealousy rose up in people's
hearts against Daniel, as it did against
Jesus. Those that plotted against Daniel
knew that they could not find anything
wrong in what he was doing "unless they
find it against him concerning the law
of his God" (vs. 5); for they knew that
he served God alone and would not compromise,
even with the king. May we strive for
such a pure place, for sadly, there can be
much that antagonizes others in us that
is not of God.

Nonetheless,envy and jealousy provoke evil
deeds more than we know. We need to guard
against the mad thrashings of envy in our
own lives. Envy provokes Daniel's contemporaries
to devise a plot to bring him down. The
same was true of Jesus. In Matthew 27:18
Pilate knew that "it was for envy that they
delivered him" [to the Roman authorities].

What is amazing about both Jesus and Daniel
is how, when continually and violently
opposed, they just remained in the place that
God called them to and "did not raise their
voice" in the streets. They did nothing to
promote their "ministry" nor defend themselves.
They were simply faithful to God.

In Daniel 6, those that were envious of Daniel
observe that he is not falling down to worship
the king but is still, blessedly, worshipping
God alone. Here is how they hope to trap him
and take him down. Daniel's response to this is to
go home, open his windows, and pray three times
a day to God AS HE HAD ALWAYS DONE! (vs. 10).

When things are arrayed against us let us
quietly but visibly continue to obey God.
Consider the life of Jesus, for in it we
see this same quiet, visible obedience
in action.

Isaiah writes about what the coming
Messiah will be like: "he shall not cry,
nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be
heard in the street. A bruised reed he
shall not break and a smoldering wick he
shall not quench." (Is. 42:2-3).

He also writes:"he was oppressed and
afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth:
he is brought as lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is
dumb, so he openeth not his mouth" (Is. 53:7).

Jesus, and Daniel, did not fight to
defend themselves but trusted in God,
leaving their defence to God.

In Matthew 21 Jesus tells the parable
of the wicked vineyard keepers. The
parable exposes the envy and hatred
of the Pharisees toward God and His Son.
Jesus concludes that He is as the son
of the husbandman who was killed and like
the rejected cornerstone. Then He says
"whoever falls on the Stone shall be broken,
but on whomever it falls it shall grind
him to powder" (Mat 21:44). Even this coming
judgment is without words yet sure and
effective.

The chief priests and elders constantly
plot to get Jesus, yet Jesus just goes
along quietly obeying the Father. They bring
false witnesses to speak against Jesus but
"Jesus held His peace" (Mat. 26:63).

Jesus only does what He sees His Father
doing, He does nothing from Himself (John
5:19). Even then, He is persecuted, but
God is His defender, just as God is
Daniel's defender and the defender of
anyone who obeys God and does not
fight in his own strength to defend
himself for doing what God bids.

Defending ourselves becomes noisome.
We choose to lift up our voice, to
take up our weapons, to defend
our way; in doing so we lose quiet
obedience to God. Our voice is heard
in the street, we call attention to
ourselves. We lose the quiet and
meek spirit displayed by Daniel and
by Jesus. The spirit of Antichrist
is a noisy spirit that chatters
and clatters and pushes itself
to the front, gleefully breaking
bruised reeds and pompously snuffing
out smoldering wicks.

Let us seek to walk quietly and
humbly with God, not raising our
voice, putting ourselves in God's
hands, even when we are threatened
at the hands of men.

God's ways are not like ours.
We find Him in quietness and in
confident trust. We find His favor
in obedience. Let us trust ourselves
into His hands, and leave our defence
to Him. Whether we live we live unto
Lord, or whether we die, we die
unto the Lord, whether we live
or die, WE ARE THE LORD'S (Rom 14:8).

Bible study Book of Daniel
Book of Daniel
Daniel 6
Daniel and Jesus
Isaiah 42:2-3
Isaiah 53:7
envy
trusting God
quietness
humility
godly character
Christ and Antichrist

2008-07-15T07:10:00.001-05:00

I will charge my soul to believe and
wait for Him, and will follow His
providence, and not go before it,
nor stay behind it. - Samuel Rutherford

Devotions From the Heart: A Man's Calling

2008-07-11T17:16:00.003-05:00

by Pastor Derek Gitsham

"God is faithful by whom you were called
unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ
our Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:9)

Paul was perfectly chosen to bring our hearts
and minds to the most significant phrase in
scripture. You were called unto the fellowship
of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. He did not
launch out and say our calling was our work
for God but our fellowship with God. A man’s
work was to be an overflow of his relationship
with God, not vice-versa.

This is probably the reason why so many in the
work of the Lord have suffered so much, by being
burned out; given to despair, depression and many
other symptoms which are all the result of putting
the cart before the horse.

Mark 3:14 Jesus ordained twelve that they should
be with him and that he might send them forth to
preach. Notice the phrase, “ordained to be with Him.”
How true this is. Far be it for us to think anything
less of this verse. It means exactly what it says,
“Ordained to be with Him.”

Everything starts with our relationship to Jesus.
All must come out of our fellowship with the Lord
else all is dead. He is the life, there is no other
life but in Him, and as we commune and partake of
Him so His life becomes our life. He that hath the
Son, goes on having the Son, has life. Everything is
Jesus. He is first, second, third, fourth, and so on.
He is Alpha and Omega, and all that is in between.

Jesus’ words to Peter were, “Do you love me, Peter,
more than these?” Spoken three times, Peter gave the
same response. Jesus’ answer was, “Feed My sheep.”
Loving Him is our relationship with Him, then we have
food for sheep. How crucial is it for God’s servants
to be in a vital relationship with Jesus, if they are
to feed the flock. “Love Me, Peter, fellowship with
Me, know Me, feed the sheep.” We can know what we
need to know by loving Him. Called into fellowship
with Jesus, make your calling and election sure.

2008-07-11T16:50:00.003-05:00

I love to think of nature as an unlimited
broadcasting station, through which God
speaks to us every hour, if we will only
tune in. ~George Washington Carver

photo taken in Catskill, New York

2008-07-10T09:06:00.003-05:00

God writes the gospel not in the Bible
alone, but on trees and flowers and
clouds and stars. ~Martin Luther

photo taken in Hudson, New York :)

The Grace of Wonder

2008-07-07T12:32:00.004-05:00

"Dear Lord, grant me the grace of wonder.
Surprise me, amaze me, awe me in every crevice
of Your universe. Delight me to see how Your
Christ plays in ten thousand places. . .to the
Father through the features of men's faces. Each
day enrapture me with your marvelous things
without number. I do not ask to see the reason for
it all; I ask only to share the wonder of it all."

-- Joshua Abraham Heschel

photo taken in Abergavenny, Wales

Joshua Abraham Heschel
wonder

Considering the Beam

2008-07-03T17:26:00.004-05:00

"And why beholdest the splinter that is
in thy brother's eye, but considerest
not the beam that is in thine own eye?"
(Matthew 7:3).

I like the fact that when you read the
words of Jesus, you often find a penetrating
irony there. At the heart of Jesus'
teaching we see that Christ most
assuredly tell us not to judge others,
not because things don't need
judging, but because our eye condition,
mainly the fact that something quite
large is clouding our vision, causes
us to be unable to see clearly.

Jesus teaches us to put the shortcomings
of others in their proper perspective.
How is it that we notice the smallest
problem in another but do not see the
very large problem in ourself?

We see the speck in our neighbor's eye,
but fail to consider that there is a
massive beam in our own. He gently
reminds us that we fail to "consider"
what is wrong in our own heart. "Consider"
has that well pondered, well acknowledged
kind of feel to it. The kind of consider
that those who wanted to cast the first
stone at the woman caught in adultery were
forced to do when Jesus started
writing their sins down for them.

They had "forgotten" to consider and
Jesus was just "helping" them along
in that regard. Dear Lord, there is
so much we need to consider. 70 x 7
times a day kind of consider. Danger
of hellfire kind of consider. Standing
before the judgment seat of Christ
kind of consider. Making an absolute
fool out of myself kind of consider.

I don't mean rehearsing your sins
and falsely lamenting about how
bad you are. I don't mean dwelling
on things that God has forgiven you
for. Just a good healthy consider
to put things in their proper perspective.
It shouldn't take too long before
you slip into a well-considered silence.

We are all helplessly, hopelessly weak
without God. We are all, even at our
strongest points, genuinely broken. No
matter how much healing the Lord has done
in us, the door still squeaks. At best
we are wounded healers. Jesus is trying to bring
us together under one roof as children of
God; children who love each other no matter
what, children who know how to love
much because they have been forgiven
much.

The really embarrassing truth is
that our shortcomings are out
there for everyone to see. We are
the ones, the embarrassingly last ones,
who usually fail to see our greatest
flaws. But what if we were meant
to help each other instead of
judge each other?

A graceful community knows
how to help each of its members, from the
alleged small to the alleged great, clear both
speck and log from their eyes. We are meant to
do that as a community of the forgiven, knowing
that, for better or for worse, how you deal with
me, is probably how I'm going to deal with you,
with God watching the whole time.

There is balance and healing and a whole
eye in the community of God when she is
healthy. Not one of us can see everything,
we must look and see and discern together,
with each bringing what he has. If you
haven't been hit by this revelation in
its practical chaotic working, let me
inform you that God has made each of us
wildly different!

Paul says, "For who has made you to differ
from another? and what do you have that you
did not receive? now if it was received,
why do you glory, as if it had not been
received?" (1 Cor. 4:7). All that we are
is a gift given by God. We cannot then
use it to judge others, we must use it
to help others.

There is the old story of the Emperor who
Had No Clothes. Everyone could see his
nakedness, but pretended that he was royally
dressed because it would have been too chancy, too
politically incorrect, too dangerous, to say
otherwise.

The truth is, we are all naked emperors,
and our job, to each other, is to help
cover our individual and corporate nakedness,
not with dysfunctional lies of false pretense, nor
with the deceitfulness of sin's false cloak,
but with the righteous robes of healing, love,
and the fear of God.

How sad we will all feel when we see how
much healing was out there for all of us
that we failed to avail ourselves of or
failed to work together toward. We cannot
get there by ourselves.

It is very hard to "consider the beam"
outside a healthy community of faith.
Self-deceit is too greatly embedded in
us all. It is too easy to let ourselves
off the hook if we are doing the self-inspecting.

We must allow God into the consideration
process, but we must also consider that
the Body of Christ is meant to be a place
where you can LOVINGLY help me see my
reflection and urge me to make those necessary
changes that will make me look more
like Christ. If the body is sick,
then that process is not possible,
and much is lost. Sadly, much has
been lost, so much so that there is
often more dis-ease than healing in the
church.

I'm not saying that there are easy
answers or that any of us
will ever get there, but I still
hold it up as God's best way.
If this kind of healing and
accountability is not available to you
on a large scale, then ask God
to make it available to you on a
small scale. Start with one person
you trust.

Let us not lose sight of the fact
that mutual healing, the wisdom born
out of diverse people choosing to give
what they have, choosing to love, and
be loved, to change and be changed, is
what God wants for us. Feeling that
is an impossible task does not let
me off the hook, for here I stand,
broken, weak, bleeding, and in need
of one of the passersby on the road
to be as a good Samaritan to me. Feeling
that it is too risky does not negate
my charge to stop and aid others that are
likewise bleeding and broken.

The Word and call of God stand no matter
what. What we do with them determines
our individual and corporate destiny.
Consider the beam. Consider love.
Consider change. Consider the glory of God.
Oh, if only we could see what we could
be together.

forgiveness
covenant relationship
community
the Body of Christ
Matthew 7:3
reconciliation
judgment
grace

Devotions from the Heart: Girding Up the Loins of Your Mind

2008-07-03T10:54:00.004-05:00

by Pastor Derek Gitsham

"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind,
be sober and hope to the end for the grace
that is to be brought to you at the revelation
of Jesus Christ" (I Peter 1:13).

Peter is thinking possibly of the last words of
Moses to Israel as they were exiting Egypt. In
Exodus 12:11 it speaks of eating the sacrifice,
whose blood was placed on the lintel and doorposts
of the houses they lived in, so that the angel of
the Lord, when seeing the blood, might pass over
them.

While eating the sacrifice, they had to have their
loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and their
staff in their hand, and they shall eat it in haste
for it is the Lord’s Passover.

They were to eat the sacrifice in departure mode,
having the loins girded. Peter says we are to be
thinking in the same way. This is not our home here;
we will one day be gone to our heavenly home. We
have to live in departure mode in our thinking, not
allowing our minds to dwell on things of the earth,
and be caught up with the world and its distractions.

They were to eat it in haste. They had to be quick.
Leaving the world and sin needs to be done quickly.
The word labor, in “labor to enter into His rest”
means be quick. If you delay over things in the world,
procrastinating, before long it will have you. Paul,
to the Corinthians, says, “Flee fornication, escape it.”

Our mindset must be in departure mode. Unfortunately,
Israel left Egypt (the world) but Egypt did not leave
them. We must progressively be leaving Egypt whilst here,
leaving sin, having nothing to do with it if we are to
obtain the prize, and reserve our crown.

Speaking of the faith witnesses in Hebrews 11:15 says
“Truly if they had been mindful of that country from
whence they came out, they might have had opportunity
to have returned." Let us gird up the loins of our mind,
and live in departure mode.

Bible Study: Book of Daniel, Chapter 5-- The Folly of Pride

2008-06-29T09:47:00.009-05:00

Throughout the book of Daniel we continue
to see the stark contrast between Daniel,
who fears God and walks with Him, compared
with the prideful and foolish Babylonian kings.

In Chapter 5 of Daniel, Belshazzar,who is in
Nebuchadnezzar's bloodline, perhaps the grandson,
is introduced. What we see immediately is
that wanting to make yourself look good,
plus an excess of wine, will push you to
do things that you should not do.

Belshazzar was giving a great feast and the
wine flowed freely. In order to further
impress his guests he decides, against
all good judgment, to bring out the gold and
silver vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had
taken from the temple of Jerusalem and
allow people drink wine from them.

Proverbs 16:18&19 says, "Pride goes before
destruction, and a haughty spirit before
a fall. Better it is to be of a humble
spirit with the lowly, than to divide the
spoil with the proud."

The last thing we hear from Nebuchadnezzar,
even the last verse of Daniel chapter 4,
is this: "...those that walk in pride He
[God] is able to abase" (Dan 4:37).

Nebuchadnezzar was brought down by his pride.
Here, the same thing is happening. Belshazzar
is playing with fire! It is said that they
"drank wine and praised the gods of gold,
and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood,
and of stone" (Daniel 4:4). How foolish!
It is interesting that they did not mention
the God of Israel, although they surely
were told where the vessels came from.

They praised things that could not speak
back, they extolled things they could control
and things that served them! Praising the
God of Israel, on the other hand, would have
brought them face to face with the Living God.
It would have brought them face to face with
their pride, foolishness, and idolatry.

Why does Israel, indeed, why does anyone, turn to
idolatry? Because it serves them. It turns the
relationship of us serving God to a god
serving us! Praising the gods of silver and
gold made these objects appear to be something
greater than they are. Here were gods they could
use, yet this shows their ignorance of the Living
God and their lack of respect for Him. God makes
us, we don't make God! God commands us, we
don't command God! God uses us as His vessels,
we don't use Him!

Have you ever wondered, if the Living God
of Israel is your God, why you would choose
to turn away from Him?

In pondering this we will come face to face
with that in us that does not want to be
mastered and led by God.

But in the same hour that this misplaced
revelry happened, the fingers of a man's hand
appeared and wrote of God's impending
judgment upon them. Here was the wake-up call!

The King brought all his wise men to him
but they could not interpret what was written
on the wall. The queen reminds Belshazzar
of Daniel, who had an "excellent spirit,"
one who interpreted dreams with wisdom and
one who "dissolved doubts" (Daniel 5:12).

How would you like to be a person who
dissolved doubts? Doubts arise from being
double minded, they arise from wanting
something both ways, they arise from
lack of knowledge of God. Daniel was a
man who continually purposed in his heart
to follow God. He didn't choose to worship
God part of the time, and Nebuchadnezzar
or Belshazzar the rest of the time. He was
always sure because he was entirely God's!

Belshazzar promises Daniel wealth and power.
Daniel tells the king, "Let thy gifts
be to thyself, and give they rewards to
another, yet I will read the writing" (vs 17).
It is a dangerous trap to take money or
position for the gifting of God. God will
provide for you and make a way for your gift,
but God gives us His gifts freely so freely
we should share. Daniel could have easily
compromised but he stands as a exemplary
example of someone who would not compromise.

Daniel tells Belshazzar it was because
Nebuchadnezzar's heart was lifted up and
his mind hardened in pride that he was
deposed from his kingly throne. If Belshazzar
knew about the silver and gold objects taken
from the temple surely he knew the whole
story. But how selective is our memory
and how quickly we forget the parts we
do not wish to remember!

So judgment comes to Belshazzar just as
it came to Nebuchadnezzar. God is not
mocked, what we sow we reap. May we sow
humility and the fear of the Lord, lest
we reap a whirlwind of destruction.

Daniel and Belshazzar
Bible study Book of Daniel
pride
idolatry

2008-06-27T13:20:00.003-05:00

For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be
served; deny it food and it will gobble poison.
.. C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), "Equality"

photo taken in Cheltenham, England

Devotions From the Heart:Vision Accompanied by Purity

2008-06-25T07:06:00.005-05:00

by Pastor Derek Gitsham

"Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not
disobedient to the heavenly vision" (Acts 26:19)

We are living in days when from the pulpit to
the pew everybody is crying out, “we must have
a vision, we must have a vision.” They go on to
quote from Proverbs, “that without a vision,
the people perish.”

Pet themes in preaching become very popular
amongst the people that oftentimes vital truths
that accompany them are left out. Although the
word "purity" is not mentioned in the scriptures
associated with vision, yet the Word of God clearly
brings it forth for us to see. For instance “Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Mat 5:1).
No mention of vision here, but clearly Jesus says
without a pure heart we will not get the right vision.

David records in Psalm 18:26, “With the pure Thou wilt
show Him Thyself pure, and with the froward
(unsavoury—not a word currently used in the English
dictionary) thou will show thyself froward.”

If God is to be seen to us as pure, and if He shows
Himself pure, then it is because we are pure. So
disposition controls what we see. In other words,
“character determines vision” (Oswald Chambers).

Many are chasing after visions, while God is
chasing them to get cleaned up. You will never
see with misty glasses, fogged up lenses. Get them
cleaned up and you will see as clear as the day.
So many are lacking vision because they are lacking
purity. The pure in heart see God. He is our vision.

Muddy waters do not yield up any possibility of us
seeing into the waters. Mixture and contamination
dwell in all of us, unless by diligent pursuance of
our relationship with God and giving ourselves to Him,
we see God remove the uncleanness and the waters
become pure.

Paul says, “To the pure, all things are pure.” So
then to get the right vision we have to get a pure heart,
lest we go chasing after what we think is God’s vision
for us, when in fact it is not; just a fable of our
imagination. God keep us true to the heavenly vision,
where all is pure and sin free.

holiness
seeing God

A Grand View of God

2008-06-20T15:06:00.007-05:00

Lately I have been thinking about God alot.
This is nothing new, but I've REALLY been
thinking. Pondering about why I believe
in God, and Who Is the God I believe in.
No, asking of Him, "Who are You?"; delving
into the Scriptures so that I might
believe correctly in Him.

Even saying "the God I believe in" reveals
a primal self-focused flaw. For He is far above
any conception I have of Him, far beyond
any current revelation I know of Him,
far beyond what my mind can take in of Him
and yet, amazingly, closer than a brother.

I am back to an ineffable name, a Name
too holy to speak, yet made flesh in
Jesus Christ. This quote by Walter Kaiser
crossed my desk, "great worship occurs
when there is a great view of God."

So I sit in my house, lay on my bed, walk along
the streets, read the scriptures, pray
in the tongues of men and angels, as a kind of
supra-cognitive awe begins to descend upon me.
I come once again to the foot of the Cross to look
at God.

If great worship occurs when there is a
great view of God then that judges our
current level of worship and our current
view of God. Worship starts with
a great view of God. It starts when I see
Him as He is and am struck dumb. It starts
when I see Him and there is so much of
Him that I cannot find myself. It starts with
His purposes in Christ for Israel and finishes with
His purposes in Israel at long last found and brought
home to Christ.

It starts when the wise men bow down before
the great God of the universe who has chosen
to become a baby in the Child Jesus. It starts
when we, in the dark night of our souls, press pass
our questions and confusion and go and
sit, as Job, before a God we know on paper,
but not in reality. It starts when we take
one look at all that is around us and
realize that it could not possibly occur
by chance. Despite the seemingly cruel acts
of life that befuddle and oppose, slinging
their dark arrows of alleged outrageous fortune--
a thunderous grace emerges, a grace so vehement,
and robust, that to see it, even for moment,
would melt our souls.

A great view of God is Jesus' view of God.
Without His aid, we cannot even get into
the cheap bleacher seats of the Kingdom
of heaven.

A great view of God civilizes us. For without
that view, we are mere barbarians, for no
matter how far technology and science can take us,
they cannot teach us how to act as divinely
created children of God, much less give
us the power to do so.

A great view of God lifts us up from
foolishness, illusion, and the folly of
worshipping a god of our own making.

A great view of God brings us to God's
holiness, front to back, side to side, up,
down, and sideways. It brings us to the heavy
glory of who God is, not merely
as felt Presence, but as a creative, fiery
Spirit who comes to bring a holy fire of
purifying transformation within us.

Isaiah sees God's holiness and is undone.
Peter sees Christ's command of the elements
and wants Christ to depart from him--his sense of
sinfulness making him so weak-kneed he has no
strength to flee himself. Can you imagine
if he, or you, or I, saw the whole picture?

Worship of idols dehumanizes the high calling
of man before God. Contrarily, a grand view of
God puts us first in the dust, as mere chaff
blowing in the wind. Yet, by transformational
grace, and a long obedience in a holy
direction, we are raised from the dust as
Sons and Daughters of the Holy and Living
God. God makes Himself into dust, and then
makes dust into a people worthy of Himself.

If worship is only about us, about our feelings,
our hopes and dreams, and even our highest
yearnings, it has failed to give us a grand
enough view of God. Grand worship decreases
us so that He is known and seen as All in All.

Grand worship is "bid me come" (Matthew 14:28).

Grand worship is "be it done to me according
to Your Word" (Luke 1:38).

Grand worship is "I have sinned against heaven
and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be
called thy son" (Luke 15:25).

Grand worship is the fear of the Lord (Luke 12:4,5).

Grand worship is the "things that are impossible
with men are possible with God (Luke 18:26).

Grand worship is "Lord, I am not worthy that
you should come under my roof"(Matthew 8:8,9).

Grand worship is pouring oneself out rather
than pouring one's words out(Matthew 26:7).

Grand worship is he that overcometh shall
inherit all things and I shall be his God
(Rev. 21:7).

Grand worship is "the kingdoms of this world
are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and
of his Christ; and he shall reign forever
and forever and the four and twenty elders,
which sat before God on their seats, fell
upon their faces and worshipped God"
(Rev. 11:16,17).

God, give us a grand view of Yourself. Pull
down everything that does not do You justice.
Show us our idols so that we might pull them
down to see You in Your Grand Glory.

God, give us a grand view of Yourself.

deception
true and false prophets
holiness
true worship
false prophets
idolatry
true religion
a compromised Gospel
Todd Bentley
Walter Kaiser

2008-06-17T17:48:00.003-05:00

"The life of holiness is the life of
faith in which the believer, with a
deepening knowledge of his own sin and
helplessness apart from Christ,
increasingly casts himself upon the Lord,
and seeks the power of the Spirit and the
wisdom and comfort of the Bible to battle
against the world, the flesh, and the devil."
Edmund P. Clowney --"The Church"

photo taken in Colorado Springs, Colorado

Colorado Springs, Colorado
holiness

Devotions From the Heart: Taking No Thought

2008-06-17T17:33:00.001-05:00

by Pastor Derek Gitsham

"Take therefore no thought for the morrow;
for the morrow shall take thought for things
of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil"
(Matthew 6:34).

Jesus words were spoken before the disciples
had received the Holy Ghost on the Day of
Pentecost. How much they understood certainly
must be in question. Surely they were followers
of the Lord, but they were yet to know the Lord
spiritually and by the Spirit.

Knowing Him after the flesh was not what God was
after. He came that men might know Him after the
Spirit. Even as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:16,
“Henceforth know we no man after the flesh, yea,
though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet
now henceforth know we Him no more.” The words of
the Lord are spiritual, “the words I speak are
Spirit and life,” Jesus said.

The words “take no thought” literally mean no
anxious thought. Do not be over concerned about
anything concerning life here. “Be careful for
nothing,” Paul says. How wonderful of the Lord
to say these things. So often we get anxious about
what we have not, what we need, thoughts about
how we will pay this or that. If our faith is
really in the Lord it will be anxiety free, fear
free. Anxiety produces fear.

“Perfect love casts out all fear” says John.
There is nothing you and I can think of that
He has not already thought of for us. We are
His. Because we belong to the Lord, He takes
the responsibility for taking care of us. We
are His. Yet how long does it take for the
heart to really believe that “He careth for
us.” So often we have believed the lies of
the enemy that God will not come through.
He answers all prayers.

His Word will not return to Him void. Fight
the good fight of faith. He will come through
for you. The darkness will turn to light,
sorrow to joy and your wounds will be healed.
Only believe, and take no thought. No thought
whatsoever. He feedeth the fowls, are you not
much better than they?

Devotions from the Heart: Renewing the Mind

2008-06-10T12:45:00.002-05:00

by Pastor Derek Gitsham

"And be renewed in the spirit of your mind." Ephesians 4:23

By using the word renewed here Paul is saying
the mind must undergo a process of change. The
natural mind will not acquiesce immediately to
the movings of the Spirit but by continual
discipline and care. Forming spiritual habits,
the mind will be taught the mind of Christ.

“Renew” in Greek means “to renew or to make young.”
Vines Word Dictionary says, “the renewed here
mentioned is not that of the mind itself in its
natural power of memory, judgment and perception,
but the spirit of the mind, which under the
control of the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit,
directs the heart and energies forward in the
enjoyment of “fellowship with Father and with
His Son, Jesus Christ,” and of the fulfillment
of the will of God.

Paul’s Romans twelve references also is revealing,
“Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that
you may prove what is that good and acceptable and
perfect will of God.” Proverbs 23: 7 says that “as
a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.” How careful
we must be that our minds are still not enslaved to
old ways of thinking.

Renewal is the work of the Spirit in the believer,
but we must co-operate with Him if He is to perform
His work in us. So important is this word renewal
that Paul to Titus says 3:5 “We are saved by the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”
Renewal is a saving work.

God is working to save us from our own minds and
that will only be possible as we put restraints on
what we allow ourselves to think, feed our minds
with His word, and forcibly block out what the world
is trying to make us think. By forcibly blocking out
we mean paying full attention to what God is saying
in His Word and taking heed to it. The battle in
the heavenlies is for our minds, and it is up to us
what we allow them to think. Be renewed, and win the
battle and grow in the things of God mightily.

Ah Lord, Love me Greatly!

2008-06-10T12:23:00.003-05:00

"Ah Lord, Love me greatly, love me often and long!
For the more continuously You love me, the purer I
shall be; the more fervently You love me, the more
lovely I shall be; the longer You love me the more
holy I shall become, even here on earth."

--Mechthild of Magdeburg.

photograph taken in Ludlow, England

Mechthild of Magdeburg
the love of God
Ludlow, England

Devotions from the Heart: Our Destiny

2008-06-04T14:34:00.004-05:00

By Pastor Derek Gitsham

"According as he hath chosen us in Him
before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and blameless before
Him in love" (Ephesians 1:4)

For many in these days destiny has become
something that men strive for by doing for
God, when in fact destiny is not about what
we achieve, but what we become.

Paul, in this verse in Ephesians, says that
before the foundation of the world we have
been chosen to be holy. What a first! This
is the first thing in God’s mind. Man is
capable of doing many things, but becoming
holy is an entirely different matter.

P.T. Forsythe says so profoundly, “You can
go behind love to holiness, but behind holiness
you cannot go.” He is love because He is Holy
(I Peter 1:16). Holiness is the end even as
Paul writes to the Romans, “But now being made
free from sin, and become servants to God, you
have your fruit unto holiness, and the end
everlasting life” (Romans 6:22). Fruit is the
final thing from the tree, and its joined, says
Paul, with eternal life. That is the end—holiness
unto eternal life. There is no life without
holiness, for Jesus was life—in Him was life and
the life was the light of men (John 1:4). He was
life because He was holiness. Holiness was Him.

Forsythe says again, “We may come to holiness
by way of love, but we only come to love by
reason of holiness.” How true this is, that
holiness is the reason for all and behind all
that God has done and achieved.

If God by justifying his people is all He is
doing, then justification has no meaning, but
if by justifying us—He makes us holy, then we
have the real meaning of justification. He
forgives me to make me holy. Again, if forgivenss
is not unto holiness, forgiveness has no meaning.
Praise God for the wonderful end God has in view
for us all. When He forgives, it is because He
desires to make us holy. In doing so God is
justified by His own actions. Amen!

holiness

The Spiritual Boundaries of Covenant Relationship with God

2008-06-02T19:15:00.005-05:00

God "cut" a covenant with our spiritual forefather,
Abraham (Genesis 15). That covenant finds its
completion and destiny in Jesus Christ. Through
Christ we are in relationship to God, on terms of
God's own making. We do not enter into relationship
with God except on God's terms.

There is a binding legal covenant, ratified by
the blood of Christ, between God and His people.
We have become "flesh of His flesh and bone of
His bone." We are betrothed to God. The earthly
marriage relationship reflects this covenant,
and that is why God has strong boundaries set
regarding the marriage relationship.

The line-upon-line letter of the Old Covenant
gives way to the indwelling relationship and
union with God of the New Covenant. Yet Jesus
said, "I have not come to abolish the law but
to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17)"

Throughout the Old Testament, God constantly
lamented Israel's lack of fidelity. She
shamelessly pursued spiritual experience outside
of the covenant that God had set up. Israel was,
indeed, having relationships with false gods
outside of her relationship with God. To be
blatant, she was having the spiritual
equivalent of sex outside of marriage.

No sooner was Moses out of sight but she had
taken up with the golden calf (Ex. 32). God sent
prophet after prophet to most graphically
put a mirror up to her adulterous face
(cp. Hosea 4; Ezekiel 16; Jeremiah 3;
Isaiah 1; etc).

What was her downfall? What exactly was the
nature of her sin? She did not cling to the
Lord but pursued spiritual experience apart
from Him! She lavished her love and attention
on gods of her own making and not on the Living
God!

Spiritual experience, even false spiritual
experience, is not without pleasure. Knowing
and loving God within the prescribed boundaries
that He has designed is joy and delight forevermore.
But illicit spiritual experience also has its
pleasures, dangerous though they might be.

What, you may ask, would be illicit spiritual
experience? First, it would be any spiritual
experience that does not come from our
covenant relationship with God. Just as
one may have sexual relations outside of
marriage, and find pleasure in them, so
one can experience spiritual experiences
outside of our relationship to Christ.
Spiritual thrill-seeking is quite dangerous.
Seeking an experience apart from your
relationship with God is deadly (Ex 34:14-16).

Secondly, another kind of illicit spiritual
experience is engaging in anything that
God has forbidden us to engage in. There
are things we can engage in, spiritual
experiences that touch things that God
has asked us not to touch. God has forbidden
occult experience, witchcraft, wizardry,
summoning the dead, calling on spirits,
fortune telling,etc. (Deut. 17:3, Lev 19:31,
Deut. 18:10-13, Ezek. 13;18-23). There are
a whole host of things that cause us to look
to something other than God for information
or power. These are all spelled out in the
Covenant. God has not changed His mind.

A third form of illicit spiritual activity
is the use of formulaic, repetitive, or
methodical methods aimed at manipulating
God to do something. Such activity often
originates in the soul, but then can
encounter a warm welcome from demonic
forces. Obviously our spiritual lives
must have form and discipline, but
when we try to manipulate God through
some method, we are headed for a downfall.
We don't control God, God controls us!

As we move into a more spiritually active
season in history, and have more and more
opportunity to enter into experiences that
strongly affect our relationship with God, we need
to beware of undifferentiated and undiscerned
"mystical" experience. Everything that gives
you goosebumps is not from God.

Some of hallmarks of genuine encounter with
God are:

1) an acute sense of God's holiness and man's
sinfulness (Isaiah 6; Matthew 3).

2) lasting change that increases our reliance
on Christ, and decreases our reliance on ourself.
In right relationship with God, we always decrease
and He always increases! (John 3:30).

3) The fruit of the Spirit will increase and abide in
our lives. A counterfeit may produce something that
looks real, but it will be short lived (Gal 5:16-26).

4) We will have an integrated knowledge of God
that corresponds with His revealed Word.
Legitimate spiritual experience will not make
us overly sensual nor overly intellectual nor
overly soulish. It will not lead us to other
gods, to another "jesus', to angels, to men,
or bliss apart from relationship with Christ.
(cp. 2 Peter 1 & 2).

It will make us neither legalistic nor so
spiritually punch drunk that we can not be
about our Father's business. What we feel
as we experience God is not as important
as what God accomplishes in us as we
encounter Him. We cannot even come to God
unless He draws us (John 6:44). Strong feelings do
not automatically equal a strong sanctification
process although a robust relationship with
God will certainly provide you a fair share
of robust feelings. Enjoy! Still, just because you
don't "feel anything" does not mean that
nothing has been accomplished inwardly.

No matter what, we must stay within the
boundaries that God's covenant with us
prescribes. One simple act of obedience
is worth a thousand visions of angels.
If you are feeling a little fuzzy about
what God's boundaries might be, this might
be a good time to seriously look at the
Word of God.

Be ever faithful to God.

spiritual adultery
covenant relationship
heresy
spiritual boundaries
false spiritual experience
spiritual discernment
spiritual+counterfeits
false revival

Is Our Gospel Pure?

2008-05-30T08:33:00.012-05:00

"...keep that which is committed to
thy trust...which some professing
have erred concerning the faith"
1 Timothy 6:20,21).

Part of our call as Christians is to to
faithfully hold and live out the faith
that has been passed onto us. Each
generation has a commission to carry
the faith for the time they are given
on earth.

Within each generation many things will
happen. Wars arise, technology changes,
worldviews evolve, opinions rage, values
shift, religious furvor rises and falls.
And yet, the gospel, and the job of
carrying forth the gospel, remain.

The question we must ask ourselves in
this hour is, "How pure is our gospel?"
For right now it is this generation's
charge to carry it forward in truth. Are
we being faithful to the Lord in its
proclamation? Untold millions have given
their lives to deliver the gospel,
rightly divided, to us" now it is our turn.

Each generation has had to wrestle with the
demons of compromise, false doctrine, complacency
and the spirit of antichrist. Attacks on
the gospel are nothing new.

We need to ask ourselves, "What is currently
attacking the gospel?" Some earmarks of
our age, especially in America, is an
extreme emphasis on the individual and
his or her right to think and choose for
themselves. Amen to freedom! But too
much "freedom" can lead to "every man doing
what seems right in his own eyes" (Judges
17:6).

In the Book of Judges, we read of the
burial of Joshua, one of only two original
men of faith, that God allowed into
the Promised Land. Joshua is buried
and with his passing an era of faith comes
to an end.

It then says, "and also all that
generation were gathered unto their
fathers: and there arose another generation
after them, which knew not the Lord, nor
yet the works which he had done for Israel,
and the children of Israel did evil in
the sight of the Lord." (Judges 2: 8-11).
The passing forward of the knowledge of the
Lord had failed. People did as they pleased.
They did not know God.

Israel entered into a time when people
just free-wheeled: they did as they
saw fit. What was the problem with
that? One of the main problems is
that there was no ultimate standard,
each person would make decisions based
on whatever components informed his morals
and whims.

Human nature being what it is, caused
things to quickly deteriorate. Israel
no longer thought in terms of being in
covenant with God, or being in submission
to Him, she just went ahead and did
whatever suited her.

As we look at our responsibility to
be stewards of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, we must ask ourselves if
we are sure we know what the gospel is,
and if what is being put forward matches
that which Jesus entrusted to His Church.
Then we must ask ourselves if we are
carrying that message forward in the
purest way we know how to.

It seems apparent that there is
serious lack on both counts. One of
the attacks on the gospel is caused by
a serious lack of understanding of
even the most basic revelation of
God as revealed to us in Scripture.
Knowing who God is cuts the slack
out of a lot of error. If the church
does not know who God is, then how
can the world?

Should not everyone be free to
read the scripture and interpret it
as they see fit? Yes, and no.
Each person is thankfully free to read the
Scripture, but we cannot think
that any one individual, or even
one sector of the Church, has the
whole mind of God or the whole
counsel of God. At least up
until now, there has been general
consensus that the Scriptures are an
essential, primary, component
for measuring the purity of whatever
gospel is preached and bringing it back
to purity.

But what if there is a further shift
to "everyone doing as they see fit?"
What if we are only nominally
informed by Scripture or not
informed at all? What if we feel
that we can trust our experience
and our interpretation of our
experience apart from the Word? What
if we refuse to honor that which
has been passed down to us and
decide to do with it whatever we
will? What if we change the gospel
and don't even recognize that we've
changed it? Worse yet, what if we do
change it because we think that it
needs to be changed?

Throughout church history there
have always been reform movements
when things get out of balance.
The reforms that come from God
lead us back to God. The reforms
that come from man lead to death
and a perversion of the truth.
The old-fashioned word for that
is "heresy." Although folks can
try, there, at this point, is
nothing really knew under the
sun. Most current "new revelations"
are old heresies reappearing. If would
be a shame if we failed to
recognize that because we haven't
been doing our scriptural, historical,
and devotional homework.

God has already given us what we
need to know, and that will keep
us pretty busy. Even this much
of it is a full time job:
"Love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, soul and mind,
and love thy neighbor as thyself."
(Matthew 22-37-40).

We are stewards of the gospel
of God and we need to be found
faithful to it. Let us be people
who seek God, people who pray much,
people who love much, people who
read the Word of God and take
heed to it, people who love the
truth, so that the next generation
and the world around us, receive
from us the gospel of God in its
purest possible state.

We need to look at the gospel or
gospels that are circulating and
we need to make our commitment
to preaching the gospel in purity,
simplicity, and boldness lest "another
gospel" overtake us and cause us to fall
short of our call and allow many to
perish. The days are frought with
change and the danger of falling away
from a simple, unhindered devotion to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Submit all that
you perceive the gospel to be to the
Lord. Allow Him to judge it, allow
Scripture to judge it. Aim for
a pure gospel. Begin with a pure
heart.

preaching the gospel
the gospel
heresy
American Christianity
doing what is right in your own eyes
a compromised gospel
Judges 17:6

Devotions from the Heart: Dark Places

2008-05-27T07:19:00.002-05:00

by Pastor Derek Gitsham

"What I tell you in darkness, that speak
ye in light, and what you hear in the ear,
that preach ye upon the housetops." (Matthew 10:27)

Some of the rarest pearls we find are found
in the deepest depths and so it is in the
saints walk with God. Oftentimes great treasures
are revealed to us when in the darkest valleys.
How often we desire that the heavy load be lifted
off us so that we might be able to bear life’s trials.

Yet the Lord does not lift a little finger to
remove it till we have seen the amazing truths
that He is wanting to reveal through the trial.
If God is allowing a dark valley right now it
is not because of what you have, but what you
do not have. He is bringing into the life fresh
things, new things concerning Himself that will
bring glory to Him.

So important was it that we understand the
darkness that Jesus said, “What I tell you in
darkness, that speak ye in the light.” He is
speaking in the darkness, in the valley.
He has not, as most suppose, left His people,
He is still there, but not in the way that you
have been used to.

Now there is no trumpet, no miracles, no
supernatural worship. Now the Lord is requiring
that you simply believe Him, believe that He is
here. This will mean that we will have to go
against things within our hearts that will rise
up against the absence of any feelings or
experience and must patiently wait for Him to
return to the heart in due time.

Isaiah 30:18 says, “He waits to be gracious
to us.” Not because He wants to play games with
us, but because we are not ready for Him. The
verses before this one read, “For thus saith
the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning
and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and
confidence shall be your strength, but you would not.”

That little piece of stubbornness was evident,
but the Lord just says He will wait. A dark place
it may be, but it will be for our good, and when
we make it into the light, preach it.

Matthew 10:27

There is No Standing Still

2008-05-26T07:51:00.003-05:00

In the way of virtue, there is no standing still;
anyone who does not daily advance, loses ground.
To remain at a standstill is impossible; he that
gains not, loses; he that ascends not, descends.
If one does not ascend the ladder, one must descend;
if one does not conquer, one will be conquered.
... St. Bonaventure (1221-1274)

photo taken in Abergavenny, Wales

faith
Abergavenny, Wales

Consolations or The Consolation of Israel?

2008-05-22T17:48:00.011-05:00

"And, behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon;
and the same man was just and devout,
waiting for the Consolation of Israel:
and the Holy Ghost was upon him" (Luke 2:25)

Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, ...
who did not depart from the temple, but
served God with fastings and prayers night
and day... and spoke of Him to all those who
looked for redemption in Jerusalem (Luke 2:36-38,
portions).

In this time when much is being said about
"feeling" a sense of God's presence there
is much wisdom in considering whether
it is spiritual consolations that we
want or the Consolation of Israel, who
is Christ Himself.

Before there was "pickling in His Presence",
"getting sloshed in the Spirit", "tokin'
the Ghost", "being hammered on the
carpet", the old spiritual writers used
to refer to "spiritual consolations." It
is a widely discussed topic throughout
Christian devotional history.

Spiritual consolations can be described
as a sense of God which "has its beginning
and is felt chiefly in the senses or
sensible faculties." There are many
types of consolations, base ones and pure
ones, real ones and false ones. And much
consideration has been already been given
to their place in the life of a Christian.

This passage from Luke on the Consolation
of Israel, never fails, speaking of
consolations, to make my heart skip a
beat. The devout Simeon, and Anna,
the prophetess, served God day in and
day out. Their life was God. They were
given entirely to Him. They had seen
the good and the bad, they had seen the
faith of many wax and wane, they had seen
enough tragedy to break their hearts and
to turn them away from God, but still they
served God, in His Temple.

Their longing was not for a feeling,
or a spiritual experience, there longing
was for God! They longed for the Holy
One of Israel to break into human history.
They longed for the bloodshed to stop,
and for their exile to be over and for
peace to come and for the terrible
ache in their hearts to be comforted.

"Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her
that her warfare is ended, and her iniquity
is pardoned" (Isaiah 40:1,2). Here was
the consolation that they looked for, a
consolation that could only come in the
person and work of Christ.

These two old covenant saints, who got to
witness the birth of the One who would bring
them into the New Covenant, longed for redemption,
and for forgiveness, and for reconciliation.
They longed for the kingdom of God. They
longed for the everlasting rule and reign
of The Lord God of Hosts.

Poor consolations they are indeed if they
do not bring us to this elevated level of
longing and fulfillment. I fear that the
consolations that people are currently feeling
are hardly to be called worthy of the name
"consolations" at all. For if we feel something
that we assume to be God, we can judge whether
that something really is from God by some basic
criteria. God isn't against excess, He is
against excess that takes us away from HIM!

In the late 1800's, in the city of New
Haven, not too far from here, a man
named John Wesley Redfield preached up a storm.
People fell under such conviction of the
Holy Spirit that they were found laying
in the streets. The paddy wagon would
come around and pick them up, along
with any alcoholically drunk persons
who might also be passed out in the street.
Even the jailers knew what the difference
was: when those with "Redfield's Disease"
"woke up" the next morning, their lives
were changed. They cried out "Holy!"
They gave up drinking and gambling and
whatever vice they had layed down with.

Encounter with God produces not just
a good feeling, but a changed life.
Consolations without holy adaptations
are worth very little. The point of
"feeling God" is not the feeling part
but the being changed part.

Simeon and Anna were long past wanting
just to personally "feel good" in God.
They had sat with God, cried with God,
cried for God, waited for God, longed
for God, prayed and prayed and prayed
and prayed some more and in so doing
had built relationship with the Consolation
of Israel. It was only He that could
console them. It was only His purposes
that they longed for. It was only
His Kingdom that was on their minds.

Let me ask you, "Do your consolations
bring you the feet of the Consolation
of Israel or do they just make you
feel good?" Don't waste your time
with spiritual child's play or,
perhaps, the devil's distractions.

The wise counsel of spiritual directors
through the centuries has been to advise
people not to center on consolations:
not to seek them, not to pursue them,
not to be attached to them. If they are
there, fine, but if you never "feel" God again,
it does not matter. It does not, or
should not, affect your commitment to Him
and His purposes. They are certainly
not what you judge the validity of
a revival upon.

There are some very real things to be felt in
God. Substantial, life-changing things.
Things that you will never get to unless
you abandon lesser pursuits. Simeon and
Anna knew about those substantial things,
you can feel it flooding out of this text.
Until your insides turn inside out, and
you fall to your knees in repentance
and adoration when you think of who God
is and what He is about, then you have barely
begun your journey. It is only then, that
you can, as Simeon, die in peace.

Until your vision and your life
are on the full tilt of complete surrender, total
obedience, and utter commitment to holiness you are
missing the mark. Until you are pursuing knowing
Christ and Christ alone, then you are living with
a lesser standard than you should be.

If it is the Living God who is coming to you
then He will take you, not for a "wheeeeeeee
eeeeeeeeeeeee", not for a spiritual roller
coaster ride, but to the foot of
Cross. Funny thing about God though,
He allows us humans to choose. So choose
wisely. Seek the Consolation of Israel.
Seek the Living God. Nothing else matters,
and everything else pales in comparison--
even spiritual inebriation.

Know the most important thing that a
life in God has to offer: a deeply integrated
knowledge of Christ. Such a knowledge is so high
and so holy it can hardly be called
a "feeling"! There is much, much more
to knowing God than mere spiritual rushes.
God is seeking worshippers in Spirit
and in truth. "In Spirit" might not
be what you think it is, "in truth"
definitely will be a shock to all of us.
Better get started.

revival
spiritual consolations
Redfield's Disease
Consolation of Israel
Simeon
Anna, the prophetess
discerning spiritual manifestations
spiritual confusion
Luke 2:25-38
Isaiah 40:1-2
pickling in his presence
tokin' the Ghost
todd bentley
manifestations
glory
manifest presence of God

Devotions From the Heart: Deliverance is God's Business

2008-05-22T08:22:00.003-05:00

by Pastor Derek Gitsham

"And it shall come to pass, that whosover
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be delivered." Joel 2:32

The promise of the Lord here in the book of
Joel is so emphatic and clear that to miss
His wonderful blessing is to miss out on life
itself.

Many of us find ourselves in troubles of one
kind or another, but the Lord does not even
get into that in this verse. Calling upon the
Lord is prayer. Prayer will be affective if
we pray with all our hearts. Casual praying
will never touch God, only effectual prayer,
even as James writes, “the effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

We must mean what we pray, our wills must be
in our prayers. Now there is something quite
wonderful in this statement in Joel that at
first glance might be missed. It is so important
a key that its power will never be lost once it
is found. Calling upon the Lord for deliverance
is important. Taking our troubles to God is about
leaving them there with Him. That is so important
that if we have really prayed and believed God has
heard them, the burden of trouble will be lifted
off of us. David says many are the afflictions
of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth them
them out of them all. Our troubles are allowed
simply to remind us that God is always available.

The key to this wonderful verse is this - it is
the word "whosoever." God by His promise is saying
I will deliver you in the trouble. Taking the
trouble out of your life is one thing, taking
you out of the trouble is another. Your deliverance
will not necessarily come when the trouble is gone,
but when the trouble is still there and you are not!
Praise God, what a wonder He is! Let Him take us out
of the trouble first, then watch the trouble become
no more trouble.

Don't Underestimate the Word of God

2008-05-20T08:30:00.004-05:00

"For the Word of God is quick, and powerful,
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and
of the joints and the marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart"-- Hebrews 4:12

There seems to be a subtle, or not so subtle,
shift in some current streams of Christianity
to either rework what is traditional
orthodox understanding of what the basics of
our faith are, and to move toward a diminished,
more experience-based view, of the Scriptures.

The "emergent" church has sought to recast
the work and person of Christ, thinking
the idea of God having to cause His Son
to be sacrificed for the sins of the world
is somehow barbaric and punitive. From this
thinking, a psychologically correct "god",
inoffensive to current sensibilities, emerges
in a more rose-colored world.

In streams closer to my own, however, I
see an alarming move away from the use
of Scripture as the standard to judge
spiritual experience by. In place of the
Word of God, an experience based, and
prophecy-based ruler is increasingly
used.

I can tell you one thing for sure: things
are changing fast! The nostalgic, predictable
world of Ward, June, and Beaver Cleaver is clearly
past. We who have lamented that the western
world is spiritually too antiseptic and
bookish, will soon see a society that
is filled with every kind of supernatural
and soulish activity imaginable. For better
or worse, third world spirituality is coming
to a neighborhood near you!

How will we judge what is of God unless we
hold to the Word of God?

Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the Word of God is
quick, and powerful, and sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing even to the
dividing asunder of soul and spirit and
of the joints and the marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart."

I totally agree that we cannot correctly read
and understand the written Word of God unless
we are aided by the Spirit of God. I totally
agree that reading it apart from the Spirit
of God can turn the text into a dry lunch,
that will make us prone to legalism,
but that is not a problem with the Word,
but with our availability and submissiveness
to the Holy Spirit.

Jesus became the Word made flesh. He became
the Living Word of God, but He Himself said
that He did not come to abolish the Law but
to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). Ah, but here is
were the slope starts to become quite slippery.
When Jesus was presented in the temple, Simeon
prophesied that "this child is set forth for the fall
and rising again of many in Israel" (Luke 2:34).

Who Jesus Christ really is, is a great divider.
We shall all stand or fall on our ability to
discern Him. We shall all ourselves be discerned
and divided as either a goat or a sheep,
either as a son or as an impostor.

As the Living Word, Christ is able to "divide
soul from spirit and discern the thoughts and
intents of man." On one hand the Pharisaical
will stumble over Him, but on the other hand,
so shall the lawless and those who abandon
the warnings signs that Scripture holds out
to us. Many shall slam against the
rocks of undiscerned, soulish experience.

In the past, people have tried to use the Word to make
their cases. Both "sides" might even use the same
verses to "prove" their point. That
has had its own issues, but at least people
agreed that the Bible has the authority
to address matters of faith. But now it is further
complicated by using prophecy and experience
to judge whether something is of God. "I have had
an extraordinary experience, how can it not be
of God?" "The prophet has said so, who can disagree?"
"The bible? how old-school is that? We have a 'new
revelation.'"

But have the prophet and the experience been
subjected to and judged by the Word of God?
The Old Testament is rife with examples of
prophets, even groups of prophets, that agreed
with each other, but were not prophets of God!
(Ezekiel 13, Jeremiah 23:30ff;Isaiah 56:10, 11)
Throughout the Old and New Testaments it was
commonly understood that unusual spiritual activity
did not necessarily have its origin in God.

Dear ones, like it or not, our hearts will be
judged by the Word of God. What is hidden in our
inward parts will be exposed to the piercing
light of the Word of God. And trust me, that
will not be an academic, intellectual piercing.
Who you are will be discerned and divided.

We can redevelop Jesus in our own image, paint
Him in hues that suit us, announce Him to be
here and there and everywhere and yet it may
be "another" Jesus (2 Cor. 11:4), a figment of our
imagination, a doctrine of devils, and not the
Christ revealed to us through the "old-fashioned"
Word of God. Do you think that you cannot be
deceived? I urge you to think about that Day when
you will stand before God and He will show what
is in your heart.

The written Word of God keeps us from straying
too far into the realm of hearsay, opinion
and the false and fickle winds of change. It is a
constant that we can come back to. It has stood
before us and will stand long after us. There is that
magnificent passage in Isaiah 40: "The voice
said, "Cry." And he said, "What shall I cry?"...
All flesh is grass, and all its goodness is
as the flower of the field...the grass withers
the flower fades, but the Word of our God shall
stand forever" (Isaiah 40:6,8).

We cannot throw away our reliance on a solid
understanding of the Word of God. Reading
a bit here and there will not do. Using one
verse to prove something will not do. Taking
things out of context will not do. Adding
things to it will not do. Subtracting things
from it will not do. The written Word of
God gives us a clear picture of who God is.
The Spirit, of course, must illumine us,
but He will never contradict Himself.

The goal of our lives should be to enter
into a knowledge of and obedience to God
AS HE IS--not as we think He is, not as
we would like Him to be, not as others
say He is. We can be greatly aided by a
conscience that is not seared (1 Tim 1:19),
but even that is not a foolproof way of
judging whether we know something is of
God. Even if our hearts do not condemn us,
God is greater than our hearts. We can think
we are right and still be wrong. This should
sober us greatly.

We need to be a people of the Word
and of the Holy Spirit. We need to be
a holy people, seeking God alone,
and not anything apart from Him--
not healing, not spiritual experience,
not signs and wonders, not even
if an "angel" comes and tells us to.

The Word of God is undiminished. It
WILL discern your heart. It will divide
that which is of soul from that which
is of the Holy Spirit within you. Don't
underestimate it. All flesh is as grass
but the Word of our God shall stand
forever!

deception
true and false prophets
the Word of God
heresy
Hebrews 4:12
the bible
Isaiah 40:8
spiritual confusion
judging spiritual experience