Troubled times...

Psalm 59:16
I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.

Are we living in times of trouble? Every time I turn on the 10 o'clock news it sure seems so. Last week a dazed and confused woman was arrested after hacking her 1 and 3 year old to death. But I'm sure when this was written it was no different.

Millennium after millennium humanity has succumbed to the numbness of every day struggle which can often bring us trouble, daze and confusion. In today's verse, the psalmist allows God to cut through the fog of our daily war and boldly declares victory in God's name.

Most people (including myself) will want to say "yeah but you don't understand what I'm going through" - this is why it is important to read through the Psalms. David who wrote most of the Psalms went through more trouble than any of us. Through it all, he never lost faith in God.

Today, no matter how much trouble we find ourselves in, we need to understand the utter simplicity of God's grace. His grace is not dependent on complex rules and rituals. It is not dependent on traditions or religion. It is a source of power freely available to those who simply plug in.

So today as you contemplate your troubles, slide in a CD of worship music and sing a song to the Lord. Let him minister you with his Word and soon you will feel His strength overcome your troubled times.

A new year, a new decade...

A new year and a new decade begins and I'm breaking from the tradition of writing a message based on a particular verse.

It's a new year and I wonder where did 2009 go. I had so many aspirations, yet the year flew by. I look at the last message I wrote and I wonder, has it really been almost two months since I last wrote?

I remember when I started this blog. I was so determined, never missed a day of writing. It became my "religious duty" to send out my message. The after a year or so, the Holy Spirit woke me up and impressed upon me that this blog shouldn't be part of my checklist of religious activity to do every day!

Fast forward to 2010 and it's been almost two months since I've written. The Holy Spirit reminds me of Romans 8:1 "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"

The "therefore" points back to the famous chapter Romans 7 where Paul wrote about his constant struggle between the flesh and the mind. For a long time, I thought this was Paul talking about who he was (as in the past). Now I realize that this was his struggle always, as it is for all of us whether we admit it or not.

So what is my point? No condemnation. We struggle so much of our lives because we always feel the weight of condemnation. Tony Robbins, the self-motivation speaker always says," we are always trying to move out of pain and into pleasure."

Think about it, that is so true. So many of our decisions in life are based on trying to get out of pain and into pleasure. Condemnation causes a lot of pain in our lives and therefore drives a lot of our decisions. That is a sad state of affairs but quite true for many.

Think about your past. What decisions have you made based on fear of condemnation? Probably too many to want to recollect!

And what did Paul mean by Romans 8:1? Great, "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" but why do we still feel the condemnation, or fear from it?

I think in the end it is all about acknowledging the freedom Christ gave us at the cross. It is about coming to the realization that he paid the price for our sins. The bottom line is that most of us don't really comprehend that and we are always trying to do the work of redemption ourselves.

When are we going to learn? When will you stop listening to condemning voices who rob you of the freedom that was given to you, paid for by the blood of Jesus?

God does the rest of the work of salvation!

Isaiah 1:18.
'Come now, let us reason together,' says the Lord. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.'

Its amazing to me that this was written MANY years before this truth was revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Written in a time that salvation to many was a repertoire of legalistic requirements and ceremonies. And here in this verse, the Lord says, "let us reason" yet it is reason and logic that often brings about legalism.

I love this verse because it's quite simple. The Lord tells us that even though in our own right we are dirty, nasty and unclean, HE will make us clean; no conditions. This is a clear picture of God's grace and when that is put into context, we can surely reason with one another. We can reason past non essential doctrine that so entangles us in endless unfruitful debates.

If we see the greatness of this verse, we can reason past all the senseless legalism that continues to condemn saved Christians into thinking they can mess up and loose their salvation. People do all kinds of things "in the name of Jesus" thinking they secure their salvation or gain God's favor.

So let's reason with one another and come to the conclusion that we are saved because of his grace through a very simple act of faith which is believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and he died to pay for your penalty for your sins.

God does the rest of the work of salvation!

Pray for Obama?

1 Timothy 2:1-2.
I urge, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

This is a message to all of you that are not quite happy with our President. Brought to you by God!

Its interesting that this message was written by St Paul during a time that was ruled by a very oppressive ruler in Rome. Nero made Hitler look like a pansy!

Yet Paul urged the people to pray for him? How many of us pray for President Obama? Is that such a tough pill to swallow? What's the alternative? To harbor anger because you don't agree with his policies?

What about a boss you don't care for? You have three choices, retaliate, leave or pray.

To pray, as this verse does yields a promise at the end of this verse. Note that is says "so that we may live peaceful and quiet lives..."

I like that, I want to have peace and quiet. Every time I try to fight authority I'm on the wrong end of the stick. I don't believe this is telling us to give up submit to be abused by authority. It is a call to prayer, that in earnest we ask God to guide those people over us.

But those who founded our country, in faith and in prayer were called by God to resist those in authority and create this great nation. The created this nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.

So let's pray for Obama to be willing and open to God's word as he faces challenges. In the same token, let's pray for God to give of the wisdom needed to sift through politics and identify the works of the enemy which are hell bent on destroying liberty in this great nation.

God is in control, if you want him to be.

Ephesians 1:9-10.
He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment - to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

The Father knows the begining through the end. He created his plan outside the bounds of what we know as time and this verse says he did all this according to his "good pleasure."

In addition, this verse tells us that there will be a time when His plan will be fulfilled. When heaven and earth are reconciled under "one head."

It goes right along with how Jesus taught us to pray "your Kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven."

To me that means that he is working every day, every moment to bring this world under his authority, "one head." But then I think to myself, that means there are aspects of this world that are under someone else's authority, the enemy.

So while it is nice to think "God is in control" perhaps he is not always in control? It's obvious that in his plan he allows us to go astray and perhaps be under the enemy's control only to ultimately bring us closer to him.

I think that is a sobering thought that sparks all kinds of other thoughts. I think of words like "your name is a strong tower" and the imagery that in order to have safety in the strong tower you must consiously run inside. So currently in this world, God is in control of the people who willingly seek him. But those who consiously walk away from him can find themselves in the belly of a whale.

So God is in control, if you want him to be.

The word of God is more powerful than you!

Hebrews 4:12.
The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Just recently, I was on a Dallas Area Rapid Transit train and in the midst of a very crowded train, about three rows from me I heard a very irate woman yelling at a man. I'll spare you the details of her graphic language but she continued berating this man that was standing next to me for at least 15 minutes. At some point I had to finally say something, in which all the sudden I felt her anger focused toward me. Then I looked deep in her eyes as she readied her self for me to say something that would fuel more of her anger.

Then I said: "Jesus loves you!"

At first she rolled her eyes and said "I know that, you don't have to tell me, mind your own business!" Then immediately, the man next to me, the subject of her tirade, quickly moved down the aisle and out of her sight.

I was amazed! The name of Jesus is so powerful! Just three words, "Jesus loves you" diffused a situation that could have gotten very ugly. As his name escaped my mouth, it instantly breathed peace into the situation, it penetrated joints and marrow, it was sharper than a double edged sword.

This was one of those God moments which let you know, he is real, he is relevant, he is our powerful ally that will fight our battles when called upon, he is our Jehovah Makkeh, the Lord who strikes our enemies (Ezekiel 7:9).

So next time you find yourself in a potentially bad situation, remember this, the word of God is more powerful than you! It is a weapon that activates His will in our lives and can make things happen, sometimes instantly!

Do you struggle with your inperfections?

1 Peter 3:8
Live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.

The world responds to this message with an emphatic "are you kidding me?" That's right, the idea behind this message seems too "good" for this world. We live in a world that most times rewards the opposite behavior.

Harmony with one another gives away to bickering with one another. In direct defiance with this idea, shows like Jerry Springer somehow remain in business.

To be sympathetic is an idea that remains a nice idea in theory but succumbs to the wrath we often exhibit when others do not fit the mold we would like them to fit.

To love as brothers is often forgotten as our sense of self preservation kicks in and all the sudden we feel more important than our fellow brothers and sisters.

Being compassionate is easy as long as it is comfortable for us to be compassionate. However, when trouble comes our way, compassion is often a luxury we expense off so we can focus on solving our own problems.

And finally, to be humble in this world is often considered to be weak. Why be humble and humiliated when you can stand tall in your pride?

So why does Peter gives us this seemingly rose colored message? After what I've painted here so far, it seems like a "command" that would doom us for failure right from the start. To add to this challenge, the passages before this are the ones where Peter says "wives, submit to your husbands."

All these passages are often misused and become the anchor to legalistic behavior that is very damaging to the church and Christians.

So what are we to do with this passage? The way I look at it is simple.

When we look at ourselves and others we see all the obvious imperfections. Then we set out on a path of self improvement only to see that no matter how hard we work at it, we still see and feel our imperfections. Frustrated, we begin to compensate in ways that ultimately are destructive.

A simpler way is to realize that God put this whole plan together so that when he sees us, he sees perfection. After all, we are his workmanship and his workmanship is nothing but perfect.

So where we see imperfections he sees perfections in his plan. In other words, somethings we are not happy with might be exactly what he needs to get us to move one way or another.

So now when we look at the verse, we can realize that "in Christ" we can "Live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble." Think about it, despite wars, arguments, strife and struggle, things continue to move and you can see God's hands at work every day.

When we shed the guilt and condemnation of not feeling perfect in our own strength, and embrace the perfection of ourselves within God's control, then we can finally feel a freedom to embrace God's acceptance of us and go on to "Live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble."