Tuesday, April 17, 2012

From Defeat to Victory Part IV

We keep God waiting, and keep His power at bay in our lives, all because we are too busy putting our plans in front of God, with out reference to what God wants. God is waiting to use all of us for His purpose, a purpose that Divine wisdom and omniscience has designed us for; yet all the while, we are telling God that His plan isn't the right plan for us. Listen, loved one, the victory comes when we get in line with God's plan and go to work on His terms. There is a palpable difference between doing something for God, and doing what God has told you to do. God is waiting to do the mightiest work with a simple servant.

Look, the higher you ratchet yourself up the importance scale, the less usable you are to God. He uses the least and the over looked. Think back in your Christian life, to the services where God has truly blessed you in a way that you have yet to forget. Was it because of someone who was a talented speaker or singer, or was it because someone who was neither was so moved by the love of God that they could not remain silent. Neither noble nor polished, but in the simplest language they testify to the greatness of God. And the power that is felt in the room is the Spirit of God that speaks with them, "Yes and Amen."

What did they say of the fishermen? They marveled at them, and they could tell that they had been with Jesus. Loved ones, that is the best that any of us can do. To be so marked by the love of the Father and Christ that it is evident to everyone. Listen to me, and get this if you get nothing else from what I have written, when we are submitted to God and we live by every word that comes from His mouth, we will be so marked by His love that it is undeniable to the world around us. That, dear ones, is victory.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

From Defeat to Victory Part III

I assume that if you are reading this, you know that I have no faculty for sugar coating things. We never arrive, as Christians. We are, indeed, travelers; this world is not our home. And yet, it is the "American Dream" to make ourselves as comfortable here as possible, and put as much distance as possible between us and any form of trouble. Loved ones, wake up! That is not God's plan for any of us. The world over, our fellow travelers are being beaten, robbed and murdered for the testimony of Christ. Friendship with the world, James tells us, is hatred toward God. The older translations say "enmity with God" literally something that can never be reconciled to God, because enmity is the quality of being an enemy.

But that doesn't sound very victorious, you say. Oh, but this is exactly the path to victory, I say. It is the root from which every victory in the Christian life stems, Christ alive in us! It is only when we are stripped of everything, that we realize that God is all that really have. No person, no pet and certainly no possession can ever replace what we have with God. Loving things more than God, that is idolatry. There is nothing that can replace what we find in our relationship with God. When you are knocked flat to the ground, and you weep without a single thought for who sees you, and you cry to God, and you don't care who hears you; loved one, it is there that you meet with God on His terms. It is there that you get, maybe for the first time, that God is all that you have ever had. And when you get a hold of that fact and it gets a hold of you: you won't trade it for anything!

This is where Christianity begins in you. You are not only listening for God to speak, you can't wait for Him to speak to you. It is here, dear one, that you begin to understand that you live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. This, love ones, is victory, because the Father has won out over the whole world in your heart. The things that were so important to you just days ago, are now encumbrances that slow down your service to God. What becomes important to you is God's purpose and accomplishing something for His glory. This is where we finally stop jabbering about everything that we think we want, and ask the question: Father, what is it that you want?

More soon, loved ones.