Monthly Archives: February 2009

The Enemy Surrounds Us: Don’t Let …

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“But if we walk in the light as He [God] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”1

Vance Havner was known for his fascinating “salt and pepper” statements, one of which was, “The enemy surrounds us. Don’t let one escape!”

True, there are external forces for good and evil surrounding us. Both are continually competing for our mind’s and heart’s allegiance. However, the greatest enemy we have is not that which surrounds us, but that which lies within us—that is, our own nature—which bears both the image of God for good and our conflicting sin nature with its bias towards sin and evil.

Tragically, it is our sin nature that is the cause of our spiritual death, and in time, will cause our physical death. When God said to our first parents that if they disobeyed him and sinned by eating the forbidden fruit “you will surely die,”2 it didn’t mean immediate physical death, but rather that they would implant within themselves the seed of death that would cause them to die physically. However, it did mean immediate spiritual death which is not separation from physical life, but eternal separation from a God of absolute holiness in whose presence no sinner can survive. Just as some germs or bacteria cannot survive in light neither can sinners survive in the all-consuming Light and Holiness of God.

So here’s the conflict for us. We are all sinners and the seed of death is within us at the moment of our conception. We are not only going to die physically, but because of our sin nature are doomed to eternal separation from God—a God of absolute holiness—in the place God’s Word, the Bible, calls hell.

Furthermore, because God is also a God of absolute justice, all sin must be judged and, as we have seen from the beginning, God’s just judgment of sin is death.

But herein lies our salvation. God is not only a God of absolute holiness and justice, but also a God of perfect love and mercy.

However, God is also a God of perfect love and in his everlasting love and mercy provided the penalty to meet the demands of his justice by giving his own Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to pay the penalty and ransom price for our sins. This was so we could be totally forgiven and cleansed from all sin and made holy so we would be able to dwell in the House of the Lord (God) forever and ever!

What a God we have. What a Savior. And what a wonderful gift of forgiveness and eternal salvation God offers to “whosoever will may come.”

If you have never accepted God’s forgiveness and his gift of eternal life, be sure to do that today. For help, see “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, how can I ever thank you enough that you are God and that in your love and mercy you have provided for me the gift of salvation and eternal life. Help me to know that I know that I know that my sins are forgiven and that I am on my way to heaven to live with you forever. In the meantime, please help me to live a life pleasing to you and communicate your love to every life I touch. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. I John 1:7-8 (NKJV).

2. Genesis 2: 17 (NIV).

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Cardboard Butterflies and Cultural Christians

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“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”1

I read the following illustration about “an intriguing entomological experiment Annie Dillard tells about in The Writing Life. This experiment shows that a male butterfly will ignore a living female butterfly of his own species in favor of a painted cardboard one if the cardboard one is bigger than he is—bigger than any female butterfly ever could be. He … [romances] the pieces of cardboard. Nearby, the real, living female butterfly opens and closes her wings in vain.”2

Amazing, isn’t it?

However, it’s not too unlike some of us who could be identified as “cultural Christians.” We’re attracted to and want to be a part of the Christian movement which is a large part of our culture (at least in North America) because it’s a big, impressive movement. It can make us look good, feel good, important or whatever. But it’s not the real thing we’re attracted to, but rather the outward trappings of Christianity—or rather, churchianity!

We flirt with a “cardboard-Christ” as it were but never make a genuine commitment to the real Christ who is waiting in the wings—in vain.

If I am merely a cultural-Christian, I may look like I have the real thing, but it doesn’t make any difference in my manner of living. The sad fact is that there may be multitudes of church-goers who are in this category. I say this because research has repeatedly shown that there is no measurable difference in the manner of life between those who claim to be born-again or genuine Christians and those who don’t.

As Jesus said, “By their fruit you will know or recognize them.” We are not saved by or get into heaven through our good works (fruit) but only by the grace of God through faith. But our fruit shows whether or faith is genuine or “just cardboard.”

Jesus’ words in today’s Scripture lesson are very sobering. Let’s all be certain we have the real thing and are not flirting with “cardboard Christianity.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to know without a shadow of a doubt that I have genuinely accepted you as my Savior and Lord and am not a cultural Christian flirting with a cardboard church or Christ. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

NOTE: To be sure you are a real Christian click on http://tinyurl.com/8glq9.

1. Matthew 7:19-21 (NIV).

2. The Writing Life, New York: Harper & Row, 1989, 17-18.

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Criticism

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“He [Jesus] did not retaliate when he was insulted. When he suffered, he did not threaten to get even. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.”1

“He who fears criticism,” declared Thomas Jefferson, “is hopeless. Only those who do things are criticized. The idler is lost sight of in the march of events—but the doer is watched and criticized. To hesitate for fear of criticism loses the battle while the doers march on to victory and triumphs.

“If your cause is right, be not afraid of criticism: Advocate it, expound it, and, if need be, fight for it. Critics always will be, but to the strong-minded they are a help rather than a hindrance. As the horse spurts forward when prodded with the spur, so the doers forge ahead under the lash of criticism. Take your part on life’s stage and play your part to the end. Stand for that which is good [that which is right]. Be a doer, not a drone. Look the world in the face and let the critics criticize.”

The fact is those who achieve anything worthwhile in life are bound to be the target for the jabs and jibes of jealous lesser men. Furthermore, the person who, for fear of criticism, tries to please everyone ends up pleasing no one.

Realize too, that an incessant, negative criticizer with a chip on his/her shoulder is basically an angry person. They have never resolved their hurts from the past and are looking for hooks to hang their anger on. That is, they are projecting their anger and/or failures on to others rather than accepting the responsibility for their own unresolved issues.

On the other hand, when constructive criticism is given, let’s accept it in the spirit in which it is given, evaluate it realistically, and make changes where necessary. This is a characteristic of a mature person.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to be Christ-like when criticized in that I accept all criticism in a mature manner and don’t become defensive. Wherever the criticism is valid, help me to accept it gladly and make changes accordingly. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 1 Peter 2:23 (NLT).

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Forgiveness

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“If you are angry, don’t sin by nursing your grudge.”1

I have read about “a scene from a movie a few years ago called ‘Nobody’s Fool.‘ There’s a working man named Donald Sullivan. Everybody calls him Sully. He’s about sixty years old, and spent his whole life in the same town. When his parents died, he inherited their house. He never moved in. Instead he left it alone. It was the house where his father beat him as a child. So he has left it alone, and every day he drives by to watch it slowly fall apart. One day he takes one of his friends, a builder, through that broken-down house.

“The builder says, ‘Sully, you could have saved this place. You could have fixed it up a little bit, rented it out. You could have sold it and put the money in your own pocket. Instead you stick it to your old man. What’s it been—thirty, thirty-five years? You’re still keeping score? Well, here’s the good news: you won.’”

Failing to forgive keeps us bound by the past and under the control of the one whom we feel hurt us and towards whom we are still nursing a grudge—even if they are dead! Little by little it will also cause the love in our heart to decay and crumble. Furthermore, nursing grudges can take years off our life.

Jesus, the Master Teacher, knew exactly what and why he was saying to forgive seven-times-seventy—meaning to never quit forgiving. Let’s be realistic and realize that “failing to forgive is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die!”

It’s not only important that we forgive all who have ever hurt us or let us down, but also that we seek forgiveness for ourselves from those whom we have hurt and above all—to ask for and experience God’s forgiveness for all our sins and wrongs.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to face any grudges I may still be nursing, confess it/these to you and to a trusted friend and, in turn, freely forgive all who have ever hurt me. And please forgive me for all my sins and wherever I have hurt others. And where best to do so, give me the courage to ask for forgiveness where I have hurt others. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

NOTE: For further help see “Forgiveness: The Power That Heals” at: http://tinyurl.com/3bw3q3

To know and experience God’s forgiveness click on: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9

1. Ephesians 4:26 (TLB-NLT).

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A True Friend

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“A friend loves at all times.”1

Years ago a friend was talking to me about some people being “cursed with the affliction to give advice.” At the time I had no idea what he was talking about. Sure sounded strange to me. Now I understand.

According to Webster’s Dictionary, people “offering … unwanted advice” are officious. They can also be obnoxious. Such advice can be and often is a thinly veiled criticism.

I’m not talking about going to a lawyer or an accountant or a car mechanic or whatever where we need and are asking for professional advice. What I’m talking about is when we share our struggles and feelings with a friend and they have a compulsion to tell us what we should or shouldn’t be doing, or to “fix” us. They are in fact putting us down in that they are assuming that they know our needs better than we know them ourselves.

Even when some people want us to tell them what to do, it is a much greater help not to tell them what we think they should do, but to help THEM decide what are their options and solutions. This is what a good counselor does. He helps clients see what their options are and decide for themselves what they need to do.

What I want from a friend when I am feeling in the pits is someone to listen to me with their heart, give me their presence, and accept me as I am—and let me know they care—without giving any kind of advice or trying to fix me.

These friends can be rare. Even rarer is the friend who knows how to weep with those who weep.

In his book, Out of Solitude, Henri Nouwen wrote, “When we honestly ask ourselves which persons in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.”

May God help us all to be this kind of a friend.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please give me an understanding, caring, and compassionate heart and help me to learn how to listen to my friends’ pain, to accept them as they are, to communicate to them that I truly care—without having a compulsion to give unsolicited advice or try to fix them. To my friends in need please help me to be a friend indeed. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Proverbs 17:17 (NIV).

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A Father’s Blessing

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“Joseph said to his father, ‘They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place.’ And he said, ‘Please bring them to me, and I will bless them.’”1

Working with people in support groups over a number of years it has amazed me how many participants—both men and women—had a father issue. That is, they felt that their father was never or rarely involved in their life either physically or emotionally when they were a child and/or a teenager. All of these people have a deep father wound because they never received their father’s affirmation or blessing.

Popular author and psychologist, Gary Smalley, lists some key answers received after asking one hundred people how they knew that they had received their father’s blessing. Following are some of the answers he received:

1. “My father would put his arm around me at church and let me lay my head on his shoulder.”

2. “When my father was facing being transferred at work, he purposely took another job so that I could finish my senior year in high school at the same school.”

3. “When I wrecked my parent’s car, my father’s first reaction was to hug me and let me cry instead of yelling at me.”

4. “When I was thirteen, my dad trusted me to use his favorite hunting rifle when I was invited to go hunting with a friend and his father.”

5. “My father went with me when I had to take back an ugly dress a saleswoman had talked me into buying.”

6. “My father would let me practice pitching to him for a long time when he got home from work.”

7. “Even though I had never seen him cry before, my father cried during my wedding because he was going to miss me no longer being at home.”

For those of us who have had or still have an unresolved father issue we know the pain of missing out on our father’s blessing. For fathers of children/teens who are reading this article, I trust you will realize the crucial role you play in the emotional and spiritual development of your children. With your blessing they have a much greater chance of having a fulfilling life and a healthy marriage and family life. Without your blessing they may, like millions of others, spend the rest of their life seeking love in all the wrong ways and places, albeit in an unconscious and desperate attempt to fill the empty void in their heart caused by a lack of their father’s blessing and their subsequent father wound.

Suggested prayer (if you have a father wound): “Dear God, thank you for helping me to see that I never received my father’s blessing. Please lead me to the help I need for the healing and recovery of my father wound. (If you are a father): Please help me to be the father my children need so they will know without a shadow of a doubt that they have my full blessing. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

NOTE: For further help see “Healing a Man’s Father Wound” (the same principles apply to healing a woman’s father wound) click on: http://tinyurl.com/9dse4. See also Norm Wright’s book, Healing for the Father Wound. Available at: http://tinyurl.com/32scsv)

1. Genesis 48:9 (NIV).

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What You See Is What You Get

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“I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.”1

I have visited Death Valley, and though I wasn’t aware of it at the time, I have read how “there is a place there known as Dante’s View. From this location you can look down into the lowest spot in the United States, a depression in the earth two hundred feet below sea level called Black Water. But from Dante’s View you can also look up to one of the highest peaks in the United States, Mt. Whitney, rising to a height of 14,500 feet. In one direction you move to the lowest spot in the United States, in the other, to one of the highest. From Dante’s View, only the traveler can decide which direction to turn.”2

Life’s like that. Every person experiences the ups and downs of life—joys and sorrows, victories and defeats, gains and losses, good times and bad times, high times and low times. And though it’s not always easy, especially in the midst of dark days of loss and disappointment, we do have a choice. We can choose, with God’s help, like David, to look up to the Lord for help and choose the upward way by turning every trial and loss into an opportunity for growth. Or we can keep looking down, give up the struggle to overcome, become disillusioned and pessimistic, and live in the valley of defeat and despair.

As God said through Joshua to the ancient Israelites, “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.”3

God gives you and me that choice too. Be sure to choose life, for if you do, God is with you and is on your side to guide and help you every step of the way.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to have faith and develop the upward look by always looking to you for guidance and help, and to see that you want to use all of my circumstances to help me to become a better and more fulfilled person. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Psalm 121:1-2 (NKJV).

2. The Devil at Noon Day by Maxie Dunnam, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1996

3. Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NIV).

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Fully Living and Fully Loving

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“Jesus wept.”1

There’s an old story (probably a fable) about a school teacher who injured his back and had to wear a plaster cast around the upper part of his body. It fit under his shirt and was not noticeable.

On the first day of the term, still with the cast under his shirt, he found himself assigned to the toughest students in school. Walking confidently into the rowdy classroom, he opened the window as wide as possible and then busied himself with desk work. When a strong breeze made his tie flap, he took the desk stapler and stapled the tie to his chest.

He had no trouble with discipline that term.

Sometimes it would be nice if life were that simple—if we could wear a plaster cast around our heart so our feelings would never get hurt!

Not so. The problem is, when we put a cast around our hurt feelings, that same cast also covers and blocks out our warm and loving feelings!

Also, when we hide and subsequently bury our feelings, we never bury them dead but very much alive … and in one way or another they come back to taunt us. And where do those feelings go? For me, by the time I was five I had learned that “big men” don’t cry so I stuffed my feelings, and by the time I was in my early thirties, I suffered from wretched hay fever. Worse still, my close relationships were anything but close.

I knew I needed help. Even though I had had years of teaching that feelings weren’t important and couldn’t be trusted, because my life was so empty, I got on my knees and asked God to help me feel again. Oh boy … that prayer turned my world upside down and made praying for patience look like a Sunday school picnic. It took deep pain to break through my cast-like defenses.

My recovery and healing didn’t happen overnight, but the good news is that when I learned to cry again and express my hurt and pain instead of stuffing it, I was healed of hay fever. And my personal relationship have never been more fulfilling, ever. With God’s help and the help of excellent teachers and counselors I have learned to live and love again.

It may not sound refined, but the fact is that the feelings we stuff, stuff up our lives!

When it comes to handling feelings as God intended, the best example we can ever find and follow is to read about the life of Jesus in the Gospels and see how he handled his emotions. When he grieved, he wept. When he was angry, he expressed it creatively and did something about what made him angry.

Suggested prayer. “Dear God, how dull and empty life would be without the emotions you have given to us as a gift to be cherished. Please help me to be real with my feelings and handle them creatively—as Jesus did—so I can learn to fully live and fully love. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. John 11:35.

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Can We Prove That God Exists?

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“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”1

A young lady from overseas wrote, “I have been asked a question by one of my non-believing friends:

‘How can you prove if God is real?’ he asked. I didn’t know how to explain because it’s just something I feel in my soul and heart. Can you please help me?”

I shared with her some helpful articles from our web site but also suggested that she might like to ask her friend how he could prove that God doesn’t exist?

For a simple but excellent answer allow me to quote the following poem:

There was a little boy,

On the week’s first day,

Coming home from Sunday School

And wandering on the way.

He scuffed his shoes into the grass

And found a caterpillar.

He found a fluffy milkweed pod

And blew out all the filler.

A bird’s nest in a tree above,

So wisely placed on high,

Was just another wonder

That caught his eager eye.

A neighbor watched his crooked course

And hailed him from the lawn.

He asked him where he’d been that day

And what was going on.

“I’ve been to Sunday School,” he said

As he turned a piece of sod,

And picking up a worm, he smiled,

“I’ve learned a lot from God!”

“That’s a fine way,” the neighbor said,

“For a boy to spend his time.

Now if you can tell me where God is,

I’ll give you a brand new dime.”

Quick as a flash the answer came,

The boy said without complaint,

“I’ll give you a dollar, Mister,

If you can tell me where God ain’t!”

– Author Unknown

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to so live and love that people will see Jesus in me and in so seeing, will want him for themselves. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Psalm 19:1 (NIV).

NOTE: For additional helpful articles see the following:

“Where Is God?” http://tinyurl.com/b6dsq

“Astronauts Who Found God” http://tinyurl.com/6mhmuh

“The Stones Cry Out: http://tinyurl.com/6642fh

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Angel in the Marble

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“Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.”1

It is said that when Michelangelo, the great artist-sculptor, was walking one day outside the city of Florence, he saw a piece of marble and looking at it, declared, “What God-like beauty you hide.”

It is also reported that he said words to this effect: “I saw the angel in the marble and chiseled until I set it free.”

What great illustrations of how God sees you and me. He sees our potential—and with his help what we can become, and what we can achieve with our life. He has a perfect plan for you and me. He also sees our wounded-ness and wants to heal us so we can be freed from the chains that bind us, and the unresolved issues that hinder our becoming all that he has envisioned for us to be.

And as the marble yielded to Michelangelo’s skillful touch, everyday we need to yield and submit our lives to the even greater skillful touch of the Master Sculptor so that we, too, will become more and more like Christ in every way.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, as best as I know how I commit, trust, and surrender my heart and life to you. Please work in my life so that I will become the person you want me to be. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Ephesians 4:15 (NLT).

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