Stop Going to Church

What? Stop going to church? What on earth are you talking about?

I'm talking about nothing on earth and something in heaven. It's time for the Church, the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ to wake up. WAKE UP! The Church is asleep and Jesus is fast on His way back for us (Revelation 22:20, Ephesians 5:27, I Thessalonians 4:17). Are you ready? (Mark 13:33, Luke 18:8, Ephesians 5:27)

Oswald Chambers in his devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, has much to say about today's topic:

"When you are face to face with a soul in difficulty spiritually, remind yourself of Jesus Christ on the Cross. If that soul can get to God on any other line, then the Cross of Jesus Christ is unnecessary. If you can help others by your sympathy or understanding, you are a traitor to Jesus Christ. You have to keep your soul rightly related to God and pour out for others on His line, not pour out on the human line and ignore God. The great note to-day is amiable religiosity.

The one thing we have to do is to exhibit Jesus Christ crucified, to lift Him up all the time. Every doctrine that is not imbedded in the Cross of Jesus will lead astray. If the worker himself believes in Jesus Christ and is banking on the Reality of Redemption, the people he talks to must be concerned. The thing that remains and deepens is the worker's simple relationship to Jesus Christ; his usefulness to God depends on that and that alone."

"The pietistic movements of to-day have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them; there is nothing about them that needs the Death of Jesus Christ; all that is required is a pious atmosphere, and prayer and devotion. This type of experience is not supernatural nor miraculous, it did not cost the passion of God, it is not dyed in the blood of the Lamb, not stamped with the hall-mark of the Holy Ghost; it has not that mark on it which makes men say, as they look with awe and wonder - "That is the work of God Almighty." That and nothing else is what the New Testament talks about.

The type of Christian experience in the New Testament is that of personal passionate devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ. Every other type of Christian experience, so called, is detached from the Person of Jesus. There is no regeneration, no being born again into the Kingdom in which Christ lives, but only the idea that He is our Pattern. In the New Testament Jesus Christ is Saviour long before He is Pattern. To-day He is being despatched as the Figurehead of a Religion, a mere Example. He is that, but He is infinitely more; He is salvation itself, He is the Gospel of God."

This last one is my favorite:

"Most of us are not spiritually coherent because we are more concerned about being coherent externally. Paul lived in the basement; the coherent critics live in the upper storey of the external statement of things, and the two do not begin to touch each other. Paul's consistency was down in the fundamentals. The great basis of his coherence was the agony of God in the Redemption of the world, viz., the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away with as much of it as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ."

"Do away with as much of it as possible." Stop going to church and doing the church thing just because that's the way you've always done it, the way you were raised, the way you've read about it in books (not the Bible), the way it was taught to you by those you love and trust the most. Start being the Church and get your churchiness right by taking direction from the Lord Jesus Christ alone. To start with, there may be much you have to repent from.

More on that later.

Let it go! Let it go! Let it go!

Perhaps the title is a little wintry corny but it speaks well of a necessary act of our Christian lives. Following last week's Confession post, God continually reminded me of the reality of Jesus' words, "...you shall be free indeed." (John 8:36)There are no words to explain this state, nor do I wish to try to pen them, for they would quickly become an emotional idol to me and perhaps others. When God sets you free, you are free to worship, free to be One with Him, free from sin, free to love Him and seek Him with your whole heart.

Just after this wonderful moment, God brought three people out of my past back into my life. Three people who hurt me. Three who I was very angry and bitter with. I knew I was free from those things. But Jesus said, "you shall be free indeed." And so those very specific and painful people had to be finally reckoned with. I had to let it go. I let go of the anger, bitterness, and circumstances. I had to let go of the feelings that arose just at the mere mention of their names, the sight of their face, the association of their deed with someone else. One of these had been festering for nearly thirty years!

Christian, let it go. (Hebrews 12:1) Be free indeed. That is the depth of confession, forsaking, and repentance. That is the breadth of God's love to cover it. That is the power of Jesus' atonement to settle it forever and never bring it up again.

Confession

What do George Mueller, depravity, worship, and happiness all have to do with my last post?

A confession.

My last post was about prayer. Most people would say that George Mueller was all about prayer. Well he was. But he was so much more. He said that the chief objective of his life was not the orphans and not prayer. Indeed, it was the glory of God at all costs, every day.

If anyone could have given up, blamed it all on someone else, or succumbed to circumstances, it was George Mueller. He cared for perhaps two-thousand orphans every day for decades. He knew not where the next meal would come from, the next bedsheet, the next set of clothing. Every single bit was faithfully committed to God in prayer. God was delighted to answer every single bit with provision.

Now we might consider this remarkable. We would say that George Mueller had an exceptional gift. But he said of himself that he was a mere man, that anyone could believe God and pray as he could. Yet two-hundred years plus after his birth, who else can be listed in the same ranks as Mueller? It seems precious few. Why?

We all say to ourselves, "I want to be like that." We pray to God to be like that. Deep down we know it's true that we could and yet the reality escapes us. Or perhaps, like me, you have tasted on brief occasion that goodness of God and wonder how to keep it up.

But like me, depravity, circumstances, and blame settle the affections elsewhere. All too often I put my trust in man resulting in utter disappointment. Thus begins a viscious and bitter circle. I try to convince myself of godly motives for thinking and feeling the way I do. Jesus did not put His trust in any man for He knows what is in man. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Yes we know all that but no change; no improvement; still angry.

Mueller's biographer went on to tell his "secret". He purposed in his heart every day at the beginning of the day to make himself happy in the Lord. No matter the circumstances, the letdowns from man, the personal feelings of the flesh (Oh poor me!), George Mueller determined that God was good and to ensure his prayers were heard and answered, he must first be right with God, then worship, then petition.

As I considered this, God let me know that it is the right course. He brought to mind another great man of God whose writings I have delved daily for nearly thirty years - Oswald Chambers. He writes that we are to worship God at times in extravagence. Like Mary who broke the alabaster box of precious ointment on the Lord's feet, then wiped it with her hair, so are we to demonstrate our love for the Lord Jesus at times. We are to worship Him in the moment and do the thing that required no forethought, no great gathering, just a spontaneous outpouring of love, worship, and blessedness to Him.

God salvation brings us to this very thing, that we can worship Him in the beauty of holiness. God says in Ephesians 1:3 that He will bless us with heavenly blessings when we do this. That word "bless" means "happy".

That's what Mueller was after. He knew the depravity of mankind and his own heart. He set aside that easily besetting murk and instead made himself happy in the Lord. Sometimes this took more than a half hour as he poured out confession of sin to God and then trusted in His mercy through the blood of Jesus. Only then did he know by the blessing poured upon him from the throne that he was in the presence of God Who was then ready to pour out from His storehouse of abundance.

So now you know some of why you haven't heard from me in a month. But no more. Pray for me and yourselves as Mueller learned to. Dare not to start a day without being happy in the Lord for He is good.

Why Just 90 Minutes?

The New York Times bestseller, Ninety Minutes in Heaven, is a sham. Why concern yourself in this life with someone else's time in heaven when you, Christian, can go there ANYTIME YOU WANT? Don't let the myths and assumptions of this world confuse you. The truth from God's Word is this:

There is NO SUCH THING as life after death. You were created an eternal soul. The death of the body is irrelevant. Eternal life for the Christian starts at the moment of salvation. That life is a life guaranteed with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in heaven. Eternal life for the unbeliever starts at the moment of conception. If they are never saved and upon the moment of their physical death, their soul goes on living in the eternal damnation of hell.

Eternal life in heaven is not something any Christian has to wait for to experience. You don't have to wait until physical death to go to heaven. It was not an exclusive experience for Paul as he described in II Corinthians 12:2. You can go there anytime you want.

Ephesians 2:6, "And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:"

Whenever we pray, and we are right with God, we are at the throne of God. That is where He hears us ans speaks to us. No matter where your physical body is when you pray, your spirit is in heaven. That's where Jesus is now. That's where the Father is now. That's where you go.

Prayer starts in heaven. Prayer is not getting what we want, but getting hold of what God wants and then doing it in His power here on earth.

Romans 11:36, "For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen."

Ephesians 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:"

Do you know the happiness (blessing) in your spirit like this? Then perhaps you have never really prayed before. Perhaps you are not saved. Or, perhaps you simply don't know the truth.

I shared this truth with a friend a few months ago. He was going through a very difficult time. Beyond tears, he needed Jesus in a personal way. He's been a Christian for more than twenty-five years and is what most folks would consider mature in the faith. Yet he had never been been "blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ."

The next day he came to me and shared something extraordinary. "For the first time in my life I know that I actually talked to God in His presence and He talked to me personally." It was real.

Christian, start praying this way now. Don't do it for the blessing. That's a by-product. Do it just to be with your Savior and seek Him with your whole heart.

Editing vs. Inspired

I spend a lot of time editing MS Powerpoint slides. Let's just say I also get a lot of help from my bosses. Frankly, the process drives me nuts. I know what I want to say. I always like my first cut. But I have to admit that the finished product (after all that unwanted help) is much better.

All writers have to edit. Some are fortunate to have editors do the work for them. As a writer, I'm usually on my own. What that means right now in this stage of my development as a writer is this - the final piece ends up surprisingly like the original draft. Why? I hate editing.

That got me to thinking about the Bible. It is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. Even though written by many men over many years, it is perfect. I have to believe that when these men were under holy inspiration that what they wrote they wrote once and only once and they were done. No editing! No rough draft, second, third, fourth cut. No word count concerns. No grammar issues, misspellings, need for a better word using the Thesaurus. Simply perfect.

We know all that though don't we? If you're like me though, do you ever wonder about the fallibility of the inspired process that God takes you through as you exercise your spiritual gift? I am a prophet. So telling God's Word as it is is quite easy because all I have to do is copy it. But the words that I put around it are where I get into trouble. Without a doubt, God inspires me to write. But it's not the same as when He created the Bible. To me this is both good and bad. Good because I know the Bible is complete and I am by no means a new contributing author. But bad because I so love to use the gift of God in writing, yet find the need to edit constantly at my heels.

So nowadays, God's inspiration only goes so far. And I'm OK with that. But I have to get over this loathing of editing. I'm so thankful there are folks out there who are willing to help me in that process. They are patient, understand what I want to say, and know how to guide me to a good finished product. Pray for them.

A Good Question?

Pilate asked, "What is truth?" Jesus gave no response. In most usual cases, such a response is warranted to such a retorical questions. In this case however, Pilate had no idea. Even had he posed the question as, "Who is truth?" he probably still would not have received an answer. At that point, if Pilate did not know any better, then he was doomed anyway.

Paul posed a similar exchange in Galatians 4:9, "But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?" He refers here to the law and the flesh. John amplifies this in 1 John 2:4, "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

The world says, "It's not what you know but who you know." Beware lest Jesus one day say to you, "I know you not whence ye are: Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth...." (Luke 13:25-28)

Do You Have Ears to Hear?

A few weeks ago a good friend was going through a very difficult family crisis. Beyond tears, he needed to hear from God. But how could he be sure he had the ears to hear? My only suggestion to him was to worship. But was he ready?

Jesus tells us in John 4:23-24 that we are to worship God in spirit and in truth. Furthermore, God tells us in Psalm 24:4 that only those with a pure heart can approach God's throne. Only there can we hear God's voice, His commands, His calling, His personal words for us.

No sinner can go there. No Christian with sin in his/her life can go there. God will have no sin in His holy presence. This confused my friend. Perhaps you see things now like he did at that time. Hasn't the blood of Jesus cleansed us from all sin, saved us, and brought us forever into the presence of God?

From an eternal and positional perspective the answer is yes. However, during this mortal life on earth, we must still experientially deal with sin. Jesus' work is done. But our work, our responsibility, is to maintain a right standing, our fellowship, with Him. While we do not lose our salvation when we sin, we do lose our fellowship and right standing with God. How is this amended?

God tells us the way in I John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Then, transact with God according to Romans 6:11, "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Finally, lock it in by putting on your armor according to Ephesians 6:10-20 finishing with this command, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;"

Those effectual and fervent prayers will be heard and none other. Why? Because you are righteous both positionally and experientally.

Well this gave my friend great pause. He said he had to go home and study the Scriptures and pray on this. He did.

The next morning he came to me rejoicing. "For the first time in my twenty-five plus years of Christian life I HEARD God speak to me personally", he said. He now has ears to hear. Do you?

Don't wait for the crisis of sin to get you to this place that all Christians have before them since day one of their salvation. Know this truth and be free indeed!