Tag Archives: witnessing

The Healing Stream

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As I read Ezekiel 47 this morning about the Healing Stream, I was reminded of Jesus, the Living Water. The angel in Ezekiel’s vision described water that would freshen the Dead Sea, cause fruit trees to thrive so that they wouldn’t go dormant, and produce fish of every kind for fishermen to catch.

Fruit trees, fish, a useless body of water restored, blessed, “life will flourish wherever this water flows”. (verse 9)

Shouldn’t that describe the life of a believer in Jesus? Sometimes we don’t really know how dead we are in our sin until we are faced with the Truth of Scripture. Accepting Christ’s gift of forgiveness causes our worthless lives to have meaning. We, too, become fishers of men, we bear fruit that reveal Jesus to those around us. And none of this comes from our effort, our frame of mind, or even our faith.

Just like in Ezekiel’s vision, our transformation comes when the Healing Stream, the Living Water, Jesus Himself, flows through us. Which makes me wonder.

“Life will flourish wherever this water flows.”

I wonder if I haven’t built a dam that prevents the water from flowing freely. Would a sin I hold onto, harboring hatred or jealousy, neglecting my time with God in his Word and prayer, cause the Holy Spirit, that Healing Stream, to hit a snag?

I want my life to be like that which the angel showed Ezekiel in his vision. I want the Healing Stream to flow freely through me. I want to bear fruit, feed hungry souls, and be an example of the power of God to a world that needs him. 

Dear Father, Forgive me when I begin to build a dam that would prevent you from flowing through me. You are the Healing Stream, the Living Water. What a privilege it is to know you. I pray that I will be that vessel through which you can flow freely to draw others to you, too. Give me the ability to recognize the beginnings of dam-building, may I quickly repent, and may you use me today. Refresh me. Flow through me. And may Jesus receive the glory.

You Lie

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I was reading in Jeremiah 42 this morning the account of yet another time Israel disobeyed and God punished. As I read, my mind kept wandering toward pictures of things happening in the US today. Are we any different than those in the Old Testament who blatantly sinned, told God to back off, and were so prideful they thought they knew more and were stronger than God?

God’s warning through Jeremiah was: repent or die. Their response: You lie.

Today, Christians are still saying: repent or face the consequences. The world’s response: You lie.

They tell us we lie if we say Jesus is the only way to the One True God. They say we lie if we tell them homosexuality is a sin, that abortion is murder, that God created this universe with a word, that marriage between a man and a woman is a sacred union before God and meant to last a life time.

The list goes on and in many cases, Christians are portrayed as liars and haters. In some countries, there will be Christians TODAY who are tortured and murdered for speaking the Truth. The temptation to keep quiet is certainly there for many of us, in order to avoid the labels or the danger.

Oh Christians, and I know there are many of us out there, let’s determine to be heard with firmness and in love. Let’s use our voices to proclaim the Truth of Scripture with unwavering boldness. Read the newspaper, watch the news on TV, know what’s happening in our world and in our country. Vote intelligently. Run for office. Pray.

Pray.

The things we do – or don’t do – today will determine the future. Will our children and grandchildren face persecution because we sat in our recliners and did nothing? Will we face persecution because we were afraid someone would call us out, call us liars? We who know the Truth have a responsibility and a calling to proclaim that Truth whether they want to hear it or not.

May God find us faithful.

How Do I Look?

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I’ve heard the account of Daniel, Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego many times and for many years. But when I recently read about Daniel’s desire to abstain from the kings food, I found myself wondering what it is I am ingesting myself. Not the chips I ate yesterday, or the big piece of angel food cake I had for dinner last night. I’m wondering what it is I’m feeding my soul.

What do I read, watch on TV? What is it a pastor or teacher or friend or blogger has said? The Bible tells me to guard my heart. How am I doing?

If I’m watching acts of sin played out on TV, what is that doing to my heart’s condition before God? If I go to a church with a “God is Love” theology without preaching the truth about his holiness, is that effecting my relationship with God? Is the music I listen to slowly separating me from God’s Presence? Relationships, thoughts, what I do in secret, are feeding my soul.

The difference in Daniel and his friends was noticeable They looked better than everyone else because of the food they rejected, the pure food they ingested. 

I wonder if people, when they look at my life, can tell I’ve feasted on God’s Word and abstained from what was offered to me by the world. I want to look different: better, more joyful, kinder, more honest. I want to BE a person others identify with my Savior.

 

 

Planting the Wind

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They plant the wind and reap a whirlwind. Sound the alarm! The enemy is coming! (Hosea 8)

We get so caught up in treating the symptoms of our disease we are going to die of that very disease. We rally against abortion. We lobby for gun control. We write letters to our representatives, boycott businesses, change churches. We give to charities and build houses for the poor. We jail child-molesters and animal-abusers. But those are symptoms of the real problem.

Our world isn’t in trouble because the likes of Obama and Puten are in power, or terrorists are gaining strength, or because women are mistreated, or homosexuality is being normalized. Our nation is not in trouble because of dishonest business practices, or guns, or television. Those are all symptoms of the greater problem.

Sin.

We are reaping a whirlwind because we have planted wind. We’ve preached a watered-down, politically correct version of the Bible, or worse, denied it all together. We don’t talk about Jesus to our neighbors, we don’t read God’s Word, we don’t pray. We don’t call sin sin and we don’t proclaim Jesus as the only way to the Father. And we are getting payback.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t be treating the symptoms. It’s important for Christians to use our voices in protest to ungodly legislation, to speak up against injustice, to use our resources to help those in need. But if we do so without addressing the hearts’ condition we might as well plant the wind.

I heard a preacher once say, “You can’t expect non-Christians to act like Christians”. The issue is not so much what a person does but what he believes.

Father, I pray for a mighty pouring out of your Spirit in the hearts of men and women today around the world. I pray for the US, for those who were raised in a nation under God. We’ve gotten so far away from that we don’t even recognize ourselves any more. I pray for pastors of churches where the Truth of Scripture is proclaimed. I pray for Christians in their homes, in their neighborhoods, in their workplaces. May we nurture our relationship with you, then boldly proclaim your Truth by our words and our lifestyles. I pray for the salvation of our President, our representatives, pastors, teachers, neighbors, friends, loved-ones. Let there be a mass turning to you in this country. And may we reach out to a world who needs you so desperately. May we plant Seed that will grow and produce fruit for your kingdom.

Called

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I’m not sure I ever paid attention to Elisha’s calling before. I was reading in I Kings 19 this morning where he was out plowing in the field. The prophet Elijah simply walked up to him, threw his cloak over Elisha’s shoulders and walked away. Elisha followed.

I believe all Christians have a calling, a cloak put on our shoulders by Jesus. When we accept his grace, his work on the cross on our behalf, he calls us into service. Pastors are said to be involved in full-time service, but I think that should describe all of us. Serving our Lord shouldn’t be a 39 1/2 hour a week job. 

My calling looks just like yours, just like Billy Graham’s: Go into all the world and preach the good news. Show who Jesus is by every word you speak, every action you take, every moment you live. Let everyone who comes in contact with you recognize our holy, forgiving God.

It doesn’t matter how. From a pulpit, in front of a classroom, on the bus, pounding nails, pouring coffee, cleaning teeth… I could go on. Your calling isn’t to be a missionary in China or delivering mail in Ohio. It’s telling people about the Savior.

That’s the cloak Jesus has placed on each of us. How does it look on you?

Putting the Cart Before the Horse

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Reading about Israel during the time Eli was their priest makes me think about so many of our modern day churches. The Jews had been living by their own standards. I Samuel 2:30 says God would not honor them because they didn’t take him seriously. In fact, he said, “I will despise those who think lightly of me.”

But when Israel was being defeated by the Philistine army, they ran to get the Ark of the Covenant and tried to use it to save them from their enemies. The Jews rejoiced when they saw the Ark coming into camp. The Philistines were terrified because they knew about Israel’s God.

But the battle continued and 30,000 Jewish soldiers died that day. Parading the Ark around did nothing to win their battle.

Today many have devised a religion by their own standards. They portray God as a buddy, as a tolerant god who accepts all manner of good intentions, who loves people, who turns a bind eye to sin, who rewards positive thinking with health and wealth. And when things get difficult these people hold up the name “Christian” like it’s some magic potion. 

In both examples, people put the cart before the horse. The horse being repentance, humbling oneself before a holy God, accepting his forgiveness through the blood of Jesus. 

We cannot preach God’s love at the exclusion of his holiness and expect him to bless us. We cannot eliminate the word “sin” from our vocabulary because it offends. We cannot tolerate any side-step to God when Jesus clearly says HE is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and NO ONE goes to the Father except through him.

Wearing the name “Christian” is meaningless unless we take God seriously. My prayer is that each of us will spend time in his Word, in thinking about what we read, in praying about what God would have us do in light of his Word. I pray that we would bow before our Holy God and turn from sin so that he can bless us with heavenly blessings.

Then, once we have dealt with our sin and accepted God’s grace, let’s get out there and fight the battles, defeat Satan, draw people to Jesus. That’s when wearing the name of “Christian” means something real.

Stand

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Numbers 16:48 hit me today. A plague was destroying the Israelites. Aaron ran out and stood among them to purify them so they would be saved. “He stood between the dead and the living.”

That strikes me as a role we Christians should be playing in 2014. Rather, it’s a role we are playing. It’s a position God has placed us in by virtue of our relationship with him. What are we doing about it? And do we understand the implications?

I am standing between the dead and the living. I have the responsibility to reach out and bring those who are headed for that horrible eternal death into the life offered by God through his Son. I picture a hoard of people running toward a cliff that only I can see. Am I going to just stand there? Or am I going to shout a warning? Point to solid ground? Stand in the way to stop them from falling? If I don’t, they will go to hell.

There is a rampant plague in our world today. And we Christians stand between the dead and the living. God has placed us there because he is not willing that any should perish.

I pray that we will stand our ground, that we will reach out to the lost, that we will be effective as we lead people to the cross. God wants us to defeat this plague and, in Him, we can do it! Let’s join hands with other Christians and form a barrier between the dead and the living in order to save those who are dying without Christ. Let’s pray, and go, and encourage one another to stand for the Truth of Scripture and against Satan’s lies.

If we don’t, we’ll have failed our mission. We’ll have failed our Savior.

 

Yes, I will go.

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I was reading in Genesis (chapters 21-24) this morning and was struck by the examples of faith lived out in the lives of some of the people. We know Abraham displayed faith in a number of ways, not the least of which was being willing to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice if that’s what God wanted him to do. Those of us who know that story know God stopped Abraham before he brought down the knife on his son there on the altar. But Abraham learned that day that he really did have the ultimate faith in God and God is faithful.

I read about Abraham’s servant who displayed his own faith when he went to find a wife for Isaac. The servant prayed believing God would make his way plain and God answered that prayer.

Rebekah was willing to go to Isaac, away from her family and to a man she had never seen because she had faith that what the servant said was of God.

As I read this portion of Scripture today I found myself questioning how my faith translates into my own life? When God nudges me toward doing something, talking to someone about the Lord, going somewhere, do I obey without worrying about what it might cost me?

How do you even know if what you are hearing is of God? For me the most important question is: is what I think God is asking me to do consistent with Scripture? Are there examples of similar requests of God in his Word? I don’t believe God is going to ask me to do something that contradicts what is already recorded in the Bible.

Secondly, does the idea of doing this thing pop up when I’m reading the Bible and when I pray? I think God speaks clearest when we are quiet before him.

And lastly, will doing this thing bring glory to God regardless of what the outcome is for me? If my motivation for obeying has even a hint of self-centeredness I can pretty much discount it as from God.

There are things God wants us to do, people God wants us to befriend and share the gospel with. I don’t think it’s as much, does God want me to change jobs or move into a different house as much as does God want to use me in a new setting to lead someone to his saving grace? 

My prayer is that if God lays something or someone on my heart I will have faith like that of Rebekah and answer, “Yes, I will go.”

December 24

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Hebrews 10:19-12:29

The “Hall of Faith” is included in the passages we read today. We saw the accounts of the people listed here for ourselves as we read through the Bible in 2013. People like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses whose stories many of us were taught since we were children. Others we read about who might not have been as familiar like Rahab, Barak, Jephthah and others who also lived lives of faith. I hope you can identify people in your own life who display faith in God as they go about the day-to-day. And I pray they would add your name to their own list.

Think about Joseph’s faith – or Mary’s. What we are celebrating today and tomorrow was something that could have resulted in great shame for Joseph and death for Mary had they not had faith that what God told them was true. Think about the early church and the faith they demonstrated by being baptized publicly to identify themselves with Jesus. 

We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. The reality of the blessings that result from having faith in God should not be denied.

What does having faith look like in each of us on the Christmas Eve, 2013? Hebrews 12 says we should throw off sin and run. We should fix our eyes on Jesus, grow up, and not lose heart. The faith we stand on is sure and solid and true, if we put our faith in God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

I pray that everyone reading this blog will have faith in God, believe His Word, and accept His Son. And I pray that our faith will serve as a part of the cloud of witnesses people are seeing and be drawn to the Savior, too.

May you know the joy, the confidence, the blessings, and the love that come from having faith in the One we celebrate this Christmas.

 

December 20

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Jude 1:17-25; 2 Peter1-3; 2 Timothy 1

People have been talking about the Second Coming since the cross. Jude told the first century church, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” Two thousand years later scoffers still follow ungodly desires. The difference is, those desires lead to actions that go viral in our cyber world and portray their depravity as normal. 

So why doesn’t Jesus just come back and put an end to this seemingly rapid decline of humanity? Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3:8&9 that God’s timing is not the same as ours. We live life one second at a time. To God, a day is like a thousand years. He’s not slow in bringing justice to the world. He is, however, patient because he doesn’t want anyone to die without knowing him. 

God is asking me what I’m doing about that. As I read 2 Peter 1:3-10 I am reminded that faith in God is not passive. It’s action, it’s goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, kindness and love. It’s caring enough for someone to be willing to offend them by calling sin sin and pointing them to our loving God who wants to cleanse them, who died to save them.

How can I wear the name “Christian” and not do what it takes to make it mean something real and vital? Jesus is coming again. Will he find me faithful?

Holy God, I thank you for your promise to come back some day and take us who know you home. I look forward to the moment when I can look you in the eyes and worship you face to face. But, God, while I still walk this earth, may you find me faithful. May I not sit back and relax in the wonder of my salvation. I want to grow, I want to walk with you, I want to be your arms and legs, your voice and your love to people who don’t know you yet. I want to be a soldier in your army with the intent of seeing souls saved for Jesus’ sake. Teach me through your Word and help me to be the woman you would have me be today.