A Strange Christmas Story

I wonder what God was thinking when He decided to come as man,
Surely there was a better way or perhaps a simpler plan.
Why would He choose a virgin girl on that very special day
To enter into the world of man and take our sins away?

I'm sure Joseph must have wondered why Mary was in the plan;
She's just a normal Jewish girl and he a plain old man.
If God is coming from heaven to visit earth below;
There must be a better way that God must surely know.

Why did they have to travel just when the birth was near
Could God not see this coming and remove all doubt and fear?
Why pick a smelly stable filled with animals and no bed
For Mary and baby Jesus to rest or lay their head?

God know what He was doing when He came to the earth;
He planned the day and time and year for our dear Savior's birth.
He came to those who received Him and changed their lives that day;
The wonder of His presence is He does the same today.

This is a strange story of Christmas, one we would not write;
But it's a message of God above turning darkness into light.
His plans are seldom easy nor are they always understood;
But He is the Giver of every Gift and those gifts are always good.

John Duncan, December 2008

God's Waiting Room

The Season of Advent is a season of waiting. When one reads the Old Testament Prophets one is continually aware of the sense of expectation that fills the hearts of the Jewish people. They are longing for the coming of the Promised Messiah. For far too long they have faced oppression, disappointment, and heartache. They have been told all of their lives that they were God's Chosen People; but, as they find themselves in captivity to Babylon and Assyria they don't feel very special. Every devout Jew kept his gaze on the horizon hoping against hope that God would send His Messiah to restore Israel.
Not only did the Jewish people find themselves struggling to keep their hopes up, the did so during a period of darkness and silence. After the age of the prophets, God quit speaking. For 400 years their was silence: no Word from God. There were no visions for prophets to share with Israel, no Word from the Lord, no new revelation. The heavens were like brass and the people of God wandered in darkness, groping to find their way. In the meantime, they looked for the Messiah. Surely, God would act and the Deliverer would appear.
Yes, it was a waiting game. While God was preparing to send the One would be the Redeemer and Savior, He relegated His people to the waiting room. Maybe you've been there, too. You find yourself in a desperate situation. You need an answer soon. Times are difficult; money's tight, and you don't know what to do. While God prepares to show up in your life and point you in the right direction, He send you to His Waiting Room. In the Waiting Room, your faith is strengthened, your hope is renewed, your character is honed, and you are fashioned more clearly into the image of Christ. While you wait, God acts . . . and while God acts you cling to the surety that He is indeed your Mighty God, your Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. You know that in spite of the circumstances you find yourself in, your God is greater than the circumstances; so, you hold on tenaciously to that truth. You know that when your waiting is over, God will be glorified and you will be comforted, for in God's Waiting Room you have discovered a clearer understanding of His faithfulness.

Running Hard After God

Why is it so difficult to run hard after God? Since Scripture teaches us that we will find the Lord when we search for Him with all of our heart, why are we having such a hard time finding Him? The obvious answer may be that we are not truly seeking the Lord with all our heart. How does one define "heart" as it is used throughout the Scripture? Is it simply refering to that fist-sized organ that pumps blood throughout our body? No, the word used for heart refers more to the control center of our body. The "heart" is that part of our bodies that controls our thoughts, attitudes, intentions, desires, and actions. So, when Scripture tells us that we are to love the Lord God with all of our heart,soul, mind and strength,this means that the control center of our lives is to be focused on Him. Our thoughts, attitudes, intentions, desires and actions are to be centered on the Lord. Likewise, if we are searching for God with our whole heart (control center), then our attitudes, thoughts, intentions, and actions are all in desperate pursuit of God.

While our lack of total pursuit of God may be one reason that we are not finding Him, another equally perplexing reason may be that while we are attempting to run hard after God there is someone (or something) that is in hot pursuit of us. Remember, Peter tells us to "be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 1:8). Satan takes the battle for the souls of men seriously. He is the prince and power of the air and he will stop at nothing to keep you and I from chasing after God. Between our sin nature that distracts us from all that is godly and focuses our attention on the things of the world and Satan's desire to trip us up, the pursuit of God becomes a daunting task.

One wonders, who can possibly find God if the odds are stacked so heavily against us. Without God it is impossible; but with God all things are possible. While there is much opposition against us finding God, we must remember that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. The Christian will grow in his knowledge of the Word and in his spiritual walk when he determines to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. The key is to agree with God that there is nothing good in us and then surrender to His Lordship and walk in His power. Paul tells us that when we walk in the Spirit we will not do the things of the flesh. So, if we want to walk in the Spirit and begin our hot pursuit of God then we must heed the words of Paul in Ephesians 6:10-12 "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

We are not alone in our desire to follow hard after God. He has given us the Holy Spirit to empower us to live holy lives. God has called upon us to pursue Him and then given us the means to be successful in our pursuit: His abiding presence. My friends, be encouraged in your pursuit of God. God is not only rooting for you; He is empowering you to be successful and grow deeper in your walk with Him.

What Happened To Revival?

Well, our revival services came to an end last Wednesday and with them the gnawing question as to whether what we experienced last week was a true revival or merely strong support of revival services. The early indicators leave me scratching my head. After having such great attendance all week during our revival services and such a powerful sense of God's Spirit, it seemed as if there was a spiritual vacuum present this past Sunday. There was no emotion, no zeal, and no sense of a hunger for God. However, the true indicators will come later.
How do we determine if revival has truly taken place? We must do an inventory of our lives. Has God brought about a change in your life? Do you know have a quickened desire to worship Him, to enter into His presence, to study His Word, to spend time in prayer, to share your testimony with others? The greatest indicator of revival is a change in behavior. Has the Spirit of the Living God readjusted the priorities of your life where God is now first and foremost,or are you still putting others things before Him? Do you find yourself more passionate about seeking God and learning from His Word,or is your passion channeled in another direction?
My spirit was broken Sunday night when I looked out at the congregation and saw barely 20 people there. Throughout the revival services we averaged 110 people a night. The Spirit was present and powerful and people were lining the altar to meet God. I was excited that the revival we had been praying for was coming. Now, I am left to wonder. If God really did a work in our hearts last week and brought a change to our lives, where was everybody? Our community is in a desperate situation. There is a great need for people to come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. If we are going to penetrate the darkness with the Gospel of Truth, then we must return to God with genuine repentance that shows its fruit in a changed life. My friends, I pray for a revival that brings a change to our lives and impacts our community for the Kingdom of God.

God's Whisper in the Wind

The Storm is over and much of the clean-up is complete. Life is beginning to return to normal again. Normal? What does a normal life look like? I really hate to see our lives returning to the way they were before the storm. On Sunday September 14, 2008 when hurricane-force winds hit our area for over three hours, life changed. Much of our city was without power for a week. Our once quiet neighborhoods looked like a war zone. There were trees strewn all over the streets, on top of houses, across cars, and literally ripping powerlines from their poles. There was an incredible amount of damage and many people lost everything in their refrigerators and freezers. It was a difficult week.
However, it was also an incredibly good week. In the aftermath of the storm, we saw our community arise out of the ashes like the Phoenix. As my wife and I walked through the city the afternoon of the storm we saw the incredible damage, but we also saw an uplifting sight. We saw people standing in their yards talking to one another. We saw neighbors helping neighbors, cutting up trees with one another, moving tree limbs, and making plans to share meals together by cooking out to use their meat before it spoiled. As the week progressed we saw the city officials reach out to the residents and take an active approach to provide for the needs of the people. We saw crews of volunteers cutting down trees for neighbors, meals provided for the hungry, and a massive food distribution for those who had lost food.
While the storm packed an incredible destructive punch, it brought with it the whisper of God. For in the aftermath of the storm our community discovered what it meant to love your neighbor; and, for the first time in a long time people saw Jesus in the lives of God's people. We made a difference. We reached out to our neighbors. We talked to them. I don't want to return to normal. I want to continue to experience the supernatural touch of God upon our lives. I want to continue hearing His whisper in the wind. May we never get too busy again to hear God's Whisper in the Wind.

Satisfied?

As we look at the church in the 21st century, one can't help but see a group of people who are satisfied with where we are in our spiritual development. Now, don't get me wrong; I beleive in the church. I believe that we are the bride of Christ and that one day we are to appear before Him pure and holy and without blemish. My complaint is not with Christ's establishment of the church; but with what we have become. I know that Jesus Christ loves the Church and gave His life for the church. As a pastor, I also love the church and desire to help her mature so that one day she may be presented before the Lord, pure and holy.
However, I see a heatbreaking tendency within the church of America. Throughout the churches there is a spirit of complacency. This shocking sense of complacency runs from the pastor to the people. We are satisfied with what we are doing (not doing) as a church. Too often, as pastors we are satisfied with picking a topic to preach on and then waxing eloquently on that topic with little unpacking of the biblical text. Other pastors are content to attempt to feed the flock on leftovers from years gone by. If we are going to stir a fire in the hearts of God's people, then pastors need to start preaching the whole counsel of God. Its time for preachers to stop giving their opinions and preaching on felt needs, and start walking their congregations through the pages of God's Word, exposing the Truth of God so that the church can hear the Word of God and walk in it. In Revelation 3:14ff we read the Lord's letter to the church at Laodicea. Jesus tells them, "...I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So because you are lukewarm -- neither hot nor cold -- I am about to spit you out of my mouth." There are very few churches in America that Jesus Christ would designate as hot after God. If we are honest, most of our churches are lukewarm. We are content with the fact that more times than not we show up on Sunday. We are satisfied as long as the bills get paid and there is money in the account. We enjoy meeting, enjoy singing, go through the motions of worship, yet our lives do not change. No one in our communities accuses us of being a "fanatic" for the Lord. Truth be told, we are more passionate about our favorite football team, televison show, or other worldly pleasure than we are about our God. My friends, we may be satisfied with where we are in our walk with the Lord, but the Lord is not. In fact, the letter to Laodicea tells us that when harbor a spirit of complacency and self-satisfaction we make the Lord sick (I am about to spew you out of my mouth). This week, may we seek the heart of God and repent of our complacency and become a people after God's own heart.

The God Who Will Not Wink

Times have changed dramatically over the past decades. With these changes come changes in morality and expectations. According to George Barna's research, when asked what was their greatest concern about their spiritual condition only two topics resulted in at least 1-10 adults being concerned about it: raising moral children with strong faith (14%)and spending more time in prayer and the reading of the Bible (10%). Only 8% were concerned with modeling faith-driven behavior and only 4% were concerned with a need to deepen their faith. It seems that we are not very spiritually conscious. When we assess how morals have changed, this lack of spiritual concern should not surprise us.
For example, George Barna has found that 67% of young adults (20-30 yrs.) believe that living together outside the bounds of marraige is acceptable and that sexual relations outside of marriage is acceptable. When asked what it meant to be holy 21% of Christian adults did not know. Only 35% believed that God expected them to be holy. As a people, even as Christians we have learend to wink at sin. We have had our conscien so seared that it has become callous to the point that only the most horrifying sin revolts us. Only 30% of adult Americans believe in the concept of absolute truth, instead, ethics and morals are based on what feels right.
We have so watered down the truth and become so tolerant of sin that in our self-righteousness, we think that God will also tolerate our sin. We pacify ourselves by pretending that our sin isn't really all that bad. Stop and consider what would happen if 99% were good enough: no phone service for 15 minutes each day, 1.7 million pieces of first class mail would be lost each day, 35,000 new born babies would be dropped by doctors and nurses each year, and 200,000 people would get the wrong prescription medicine each year.
There is a reason God calls us to holiness. Nothing else is acceptable. He doesn't want us to settle for less than the best becuase we are created to glorify Him. Today, we must understand that when it comes to sin, we serve a God Who Will Not Wink. "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth" (1 John 1:6)

When Will the Church Wake Up?

God is waiting for the Heartcry of His people. When will the Church finally rise from its slumber and cry out to our Holy God? Our world is decaying around us. The morals of society are at an all time low. Our teenagers are bombarded with sexual immorality. Our families are under attack from the Evil One and are crumbling right before our eyes. We have become a people who point fingers at society and blame a corrupt nation for the demise of America. It has become easy to sit back in our pews and lament the fact that our government doesn't want God to be a part of our lives. My brothers and sisters, the problem with our nation is not that our government doesn't want God to be a part of our society; they are just following the example given them by the church.
Our corrupt society is a natural consequence of a corrupt Church. Long before the government began their exile of God from society, we exiled God from our lives. How so, you ask? The Church has moved from the body of Christ headed by Jesus Christ to an organization headed by man. In our personal lives, we have relegated God to a secondary position behind the whims and desires of the flesh. We will serve God if and when it is convenient. We will pray when we have the time. We will seek His direction on issues that we think warrant His attention. There was a day, not too long ago, when we had surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ and submitted ourselves to His Lordship. Once upon a time, Jesus was Lord of our lives, our thoughts, and our behavior. Yes, there was a time when we did not consider our own ways, but acknowledged God in all our ways. But that time is gone.
We live our lives to please ourselves. There is a new Lord in town and his name is me. We suffer from the malady of meism. We cannot hope for a transformation in our society until we first see a transformation in our hearts. God weeps over the Church in America and His Heart cries out for us to take a good look in the mirror and discover that the problem with America is the Church! We must be mindful of the Lords, "If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14).
When will the Church finally become broken about our sin of disobedience and come before God humbly and seek His face, longing for Him to once again be Lord of our lives? God longs for the day when the Church wakes up and cries out to Him.

Hunger Pains

Few of us living in America know what it is like to be truly hungry. Even the poorest of Americans would be considered generally wealthy in comparison to those in some of our third world countries. Therefore, when I speak of hunger, I am only referring to a perceived state of hunger. While none of us are starving, we all have experienced what we call "hunger pains." These usually hit us when we are approaching the time that our body is used to eating. For instance, if we normally eat lunch at noon, we will beging to feel some hunger pains as the clock approaches that time. Our body is signalling us to inform us that it is now time to provide some nourishment. We have disciplined (I know, its hard to think of disciplining ourselves to eat) our bodies to expect to be fed at the same time each day. When we veer from that schedule, these hunger pains begin.
While these hunger pains are real and can be quite uncomfortable, they will dissipate if they are ignored. If you do not eat at noon and continue about the business of your day, these pains will stop and they will not resurface until the next scheduled time for food draws near. In fact, if you miss that meal, once again these hunger pains will diminish and gradually your body will get used to not eating at those times and your hunger pains will go away. When you engage in a prolonged fast, these hunger pains gradually go away once your body realizes that you are not going to feed it.
These mysterious signals called, "hunger pains," also relate to our great need for personal revival. When you first came to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior you couldn't get enough of Him. In fact, you read the Bible, spent ample time in prayer, loved to fellowship with believers, and couldn't wait to tell others what Jesus had done in your life. As you continued to grow in the faith, you would experience an uncomfortable conviction when you missed church, another one when you failed to read your Bible, and when you found little time for prayer, those convictions would plague you once again. These spiritual "hunger pains" were reminders that it was time to nourish the soul. Unfortunately, as with physical "hunger pains," if we ignore these pains they eventually go away. Over time it became easier to skip church, our Bible reading became sporadic at best, and we found little time for prayer. We no longer felt the urge to share our faith; and, those feelings of conviction ceased to be felt the more we ignored them.
Now we find ourselves going day to day without reading the Word of God, finding little time for prayer, diminishing our time in worship and the study of God's Word, and almost never sharing our faith. What is the problem? We are no longer hungry. We have convinced our souls that we can go on without God. We have quenched the Spirit and we can no longer hear His voice of conviction. We need to once again become hungry for God and echoes the words of the Psalmist, "As the deer panteth for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God" (Psalm 42:1).

A Place Called Grace

There is a place unlike any other, a place where one can go and get a respite from this ridiculously cruel world. Few would argue that life is difficult. It can be a chore to simply make it through the week when one considers the injustices, the evil, the wickedness, and the ruthless gossip that takes place day after day. Its hard to grasp what God had in mind when He created this world. We have fallen so far from Eden that life as we now know it is only a very dim replica. Day after day, the image of Eden grows fainter and fainter. The problem this poses for the Christian is that there is no Eden for us to live in. Therefore, while we pine away for a "Land that is fairer than day," we live in a land that is"darker than night." Invariably the darkness of our world corrupts us. The injustices, evil, wickedness, and slander that plague our society also plague our churches. In fact, the existence of these in the hearts of God's people is what hinders revival from taking place. Our hearts, once set free from the atrocities of sin, have become colored by the darkness of sin once again. Scripture tells us that man loves darkness more than the light. Like the Israelites set free from Egypt, we find ourselves yearning for that which we have been set free from. That which so discolors the paradise that God created also discolors us.
Thankfully, there is a place we can go to find freedom from this malady. There is One who will accept us, even with our bitter spirits and our wicked thoughts, with our tongues that inflame the reputations of others and our hearts that have been filled with the corruption of the world. Though we have sold out to the world, betrayed our identity and crawled back into the miry pit, God still loves us with an unconquerable love. There is a place we can go and be restored. There is a place we can go and be made brand new. There is a place where we will discover that all of our sins have been "paid in full." There is a place called grace. The writer of Hebrews tells us about that place in Hebrews 4:14-16 "Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
We have direct access to the throne of grace because of the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Its time for the church to acknowledge the depth of our need: we need set free from bitter spirits, set free from unforgiveness, set free from gossip and innuendo, and set free from pride. When we acknowledge our sins and approach the throne of grace we will find One who will forgive our sins, renew our hearts, and restore us to our former identity as the express image of the Son (John 1:12). Come to the place called grace today.

Loving God Loving Each Other

The cry for revival must begin with a deep appreciation and understanding of God's unlimited love for us. Do we truly grasp the depth of God's love? How deep is a love that manifests itself in the sacrificial giving of one's son for sinful humanity? Until we realize that God does not love us because we are good or because we are worthy, or because we please Him; but because He is God and He chooses to love us in spite of oursleves; we will never be able to take the initial steps to experience revival. We are depraved. We are sin-sick. We are hopeless failures outside of the grace of God. There is nothing in any of us that screams out to God that we are worthy of His love. Like the lepers of the New Testament, we should be crying out UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN! when Jesus looks our way, such is our depravity apart from Christ.


Yet, to a people so hopelessly lost in their sin, Jesus give 2 Foundational Commandments: "...You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets" (Matt. 22:36-40). Because you and I have experienced the great love of our Awesome God we know what an ubounded love feels like. We know what its like to fail miserably and still have God love us. We have experienced the mercy of God and the grace of God and its because of this that we seek Him passionately today. We seek Him with our whole hearts because no one or nothing else is worth the pursuit. In order to experience the outpouring of revival in our lives we must make God our one magnificent obsession. He must be first place in our hearts and lives. As long as He is being crowded out by others, we will not experience revival.

Not only must we seek God with our whole heart and love Him surpemely, but we must also love our neighbor as ourself. This means that before revival can come to us personally, we must be reconciled to one another. God calls us to love one another. We must put to death our pride and unforgiveness. We must crucify the bitterness and apathy that rests in our heart. We cannot seek God supremely until we first seek to love one another. When God gave the Ten Commandments He gave us four that dealt with our relationship with Him and 6 that dealt with our relationship with our fellowman. My friends your relationships with one another are of vital importance to God. In fact John tells us in his epistles that if we say that we love God and yet hate our brother the truth is not in us! (1 John 4:20). If we truly want to pursue revival then we must heed our Lord's command and focus on Loving God and Loving Each Other.

The Gardener's Gaze

I am not much of a gardener. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy fresh vegetables and fruit I just don't have much experience in working in the garden. However, I have had the honor of pastoring some very fine gardeners. I have always been amazed at their knoweldge of their crops. I could look out over their fields of corn or examine their tomatoes and determine that they looked great. This reply would be met with a laugh as they proceeded to tell me all that was wrong with their crops and what had to be done in order to have a successful crop. I quickly learned that the gaze of the gardener was much keener than mine when it came to expecting the crops.

Life is pretty much the same way. When I look at my life I may come to the conclusion that everything is going pretty well. You see, we tend to look at the surface. If we are going to church, serving the Lord, raising a family, doing our job as husbands and wives then we tend to think all is well. However, I have come to realize that the Gardener's Gaze is quite a bit more keen as He inspects the fruit of our life. In John 15:1-4 we read these words concerning the Gardener's Gaze: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."

God is the Gardener who observes our life. When we are producing no fruit he removes us, if we are producing a little fruit, he prunes us so we will produce more, and when we remain in Him we will produce much fruit. God longs for us to produce fruit in our spiritual lives so that He will receive glory. Too often, our lives are like a stagnant tree that remains dormant year after year. Every season you look to see if it will produce something and every season you are disappointed. You and I go through the same motions day after day. We wake up, eat our breakfast, go to work, come home, rush around to deliver our kids to practices and games, come home, go to bed, and then start all over again the next day...and we call this life! We look at our lives and we surmise that we are doing okay. However, I have to believe that the Gardener looks at us and sees so much potential and so little production. He gets out the pruning shears of adversity because He knows that when He frees us from the weeds of mediocrity and exposes us to the warmth of His presence we will once again start bearing fruit. You see, God saved us from our sins so that we might live lives that would attest to His glory. Once, this pruning has taken place, our eyes start focusing on God and we begin spending time in His presence and what was once a fruitless life moves from producing some fruit, to more fruit, to much fruit. When our lives start proclaiming that Jesus Christ is a treasure that no one can live without, then we truly begin to glorfiy Him. The Gardener then gazes at us and smiles...because finally we are starting to become what He had in mind from the beginning.

Stand Firm

So many of us go through our Christian lives nonchallantly moving from one place to the next. We take the blessings of God for granted. We assume our church family will always be there to support us, our finances will always be stable, our friends will always have our back, and God is simply waiting to carry out our will. However, Scripture teaches us that the Christian life is not a live of ease to be taken for granted, rather it is a battleground. In fact, Paul warns us in Ephesians 6 that we need to "be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. This life is not one we can live on our own. Rather than going through the motions and living life off the cuff we must lean completely and totally on the Lord, drawing our strength from Him. Notice Paul's words in Ephesians 6:11-13 "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand."

Know this dear friends, as you turn your heart to God and seek personal revival, Satan is turning his attention to you in order to upend your efforts to seek God. The reality is that Satan knows there is a battle going on for the souls of men and he is taking it very seriously. Nothing pleases Satan more than for the Christian to ignore the battle. When we think that we can handle life on our own and see no need to turn to God in total dependence Satan rejoices, because he knows that we are primed to fall. Paul says that there is a spiritual war going on all around us. We cannot merely go through the motions and hope to come out victorious. We must put our full confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ, lean on Him with all our understanding and above all stand firm in our faith. There is a battle going on for our souls...but it is one that we cannot lose if we stand firm in our reliance upon the Lord Jesus Christ and put on the full armor that He provides (Ephesians 6:14-18). So friends, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power...and stand firm.

Inactivity Blocks The Heart

Health specialists tell us that heart disease is fast becoming one of the leading causes of death in America. I am amazed at the number of people that have fallen prey to this killer. It used to be that you only rarely heard of someone having a heart attack or struggling with heart disease. Now, it seems that nearly everyone you know either has heart disease, symptoms of heart disease, or has a family member who is suffering from heart disease.
The subject of heart disease came home to me when my father was diagnosed with heart disease caused by the build up of placque in his arteries. In order to open up his arteries and allow the blood to once again flow freely to and from his heart he had to have four bypasses done. His cardiologist said that placque forms in the arteries as a result of poor diet and the lack of exercise, along with possible hereditary issues. When we consume foods that are high in cholestrol and fat, placque forms in the lining of the arteries. If we live an inactive lifestyle it is more difficult for our bodies to break down this placque. Five months ago, I had to have 2 stents put in my arteries due to blockages that had formed due to lack of exercise, poor diet, and family history.
As we continue to think about revival, I can't help but notice the correlation between the heart disease that affects the health of America and the heart disease the affects the Church of America. God longs to reign in the hearts of His people. Yet, there are various elements that are blocking the flow of God's Spirit into our hearts. As with the blockages that hinder the blood from flowing to our heart, family history plays a part in the blockage of the Holy Spirit from our hearts. Scripture tells us that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden man has had a sin problem that has separated him from God. For the Christian, unconfessed sin blocks the heart and hinders the flow of God's Spirit into our lives. Our spiritual diet, like our physical diet also leads to blockages. When we fail to feed on a healthy diet of God's Word, Prayer, Meditation, Christian fellowship, and ministry, we add to the blockages that hinder revival from taking place in our heart. However, perhaps the greatest hindrance to revival in our hearts is the inactivity that blocks our heart.
James tells us in James 4:17 " So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." So often our greatest sin is that we know the right thing to do, we just choose not to do it. The church by and large has become dormant in the 21st century. We know we should spend time in the Word, yet we don't -- that's sin! We know we should love our brother and show forrgiveness, yet we don't -- that's sin! We know that we should share our testimony -- the Gospel -- with others, yet we choose not to -- that's sin! Friends, when we know the right thing to do and choose not to do it, it is sin! This inactivity creates major blockages in our heart called sin that separate us from the transforming power of Jesus Christ. God longs for His people to cry out to Him in repentance and begin adjusting their spiritual diet and increasing their spiritual exercise so that that the pathway to our hearts will be open and accessible to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. We know the right thing to do; it's time to do it!

Rend Your Heart

The prophet Joel tells us in Joel 2:12-14 "Even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning." Rend your heart and not your garments, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing-- grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God." While most Christians agree that America has reached an amoral crisis, they offer differing views on how to aleviate the dilemma. Some believe that we need to be "seeker- sensitive" so that we can entice those who would not normally come to church to enter our doors. One wonders how we can be "seeker-sensitive" and still keep our worship centered on Christ. The danger of the seeker-sensitive service is that those seekers become the focus of all that we do in preparation for worshp instead of staying centered on Jesus Christ. In an effort to be "seeker-sensitive" some churches have refused to address sin, mention the cross, or call for repentance. How can we truly hope to transform America by catering to the very mindset that has led to the demise we find ourselves in? Should we seek to transfrom the worldly-minded by catering to the fleshly attitudes and desires? Others believe that we will see a change in America when those who are lost finally see the error of their ways and turn to God. However, most of these same people give no plan as to how these lost people are going to see an error in their ways.
I believe the cure to our amoral crisis in America is found in this passage in Joel. When the church returns to God with all their heart with brokenness and weeping then God will bring a sweeping revival that will first change our hearts and then fan the flame of our reignited passion for Christ so that it touches our communities, our cities, our states, and our nation. If we want to see a sweeping revival in our churches today then we as Christians must heed the words of Joel and rend our hearts. We must recognize the lethargic state of our relationship with Jesus Christ and pursue him with our whole heart. We must come before him broken about the sin in our hearts that blocks the access of the Holy Spirit into our lives. The church must stand before God in honesty and agree with Him that there are things in our lives that we must drop for Him to truly be God in our lives. When the church returns to God with broken hearts then God will respond with mercy and compassion and He will visit us with power and glory and leave in His wake a powerful blessing that will transform the lives of all he touches. Come now to God and rend your heart.

Reasoning With God

The word, reason, means to discuss or think seriously about. If we are serious about having a relationship with God that is life-changing then we must be up to the task of reasoning with God. What does it mean to reason with God? It means to reflect upon our lives by seeing ourselves (our attitudes, our emotions, our passions, our dreams) from God's perspective. The prophet Isaiah speaks to this issue in 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."

God is calling us to come alongside Him and consider our hearts. Take a deep breath and dare to look honestly in the mirror. What do you see? Not what do you want to see, but what is really there? Look at your heart the way God looks at your heart. He searches the depths of our hearts and He is aware of every flaw. He doesn't rationalize our sin, doesn't discount our attitude. Our heart is open to His inspection and He doesn't miss a thing. If we desire to have a heart like His...if we truly long to seek Him and find Him...if we are hungering for revival, then we must come face to face with our sin...all of it. Today, come before God and reason with Him concerning the sin that comes to light as you look in the mirror of God's Word. Agree with God about your failures and turn away from them. As you meet with God become as disgusted with your sin as He is and begin seeking Him with all your heart. Come now, let us reason together says the LORD.

In Search of God

Perhaps more than ever before, Christians struggle in their attempt to draw near to God. It seems that God is elusive and mysterious. However, God is not hiding from us...we are the ones who are in hiding. In fact, Jeremiah reminds us in Jeremiah 29:13 that God tells us just how we can find Him: "And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart." The reason that God appears absent from our lives so often is that it is not truly our heart's desire to find Him. We have cluttered our lives with a myriad of gods and idols that are more precious to our heart than God. Instead of seeking Him, we chase after the allurements of the world and find ourselves running in circles attempting to grasp the wind. Our lives are empty and discontentment rules the day. In our frustration with the life that we have created we maintain that God does not care, when in realtiy we are the ones who have created the vacuum that exists between us and God. We bury ourselves in the "toys" of life and make ourselves out to be god, living merely to satisfy our every whim. We must recall the words of James in James 4:8 "Come close to God and He will come close to you. Wash your hands you sinners; and purify your hearts you double-minded." When God becomes our supreme object of desire...when He becomes the object of our obsessive search....then we will find Him.