SUMMARY: As in the days of the Judges, far too many Christians and Christian churches have set aside any controlling moral authority, so they do whatever seems right in their own eyes. In reality, this is nothing more than spiritual anarchy. Make sure you are not in that camp, and make sure you do what you can to encourage your church not to set up camp there either..

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 17:1-3

There was a man named Micah, who lived in the hill country of Ephraim. One day he said to his mother, “I heard you place a curse on the person who stole 1,100 pieces of silver from you. Well, I have the money. I was the one who took it.” His mother replied, “The Lord bless you for admitting it,” He returned the money to her, and she said, “I now dedicate these silver coins to the Lord. In honor of my son, I will have an image carved and an idol cast.” … In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

If we were to hold a vote on the weirdest stories in the Bible, this one would be in my top ten—maybe even in my top five. You read this story and it leaves you scratching your head. A man named Micah has admitted to his mother that he stole money from her, she praises the Lord for his “honesty” in returning the loot, then turns around and celebrates by commissioning a family idol, declaring that it is in honor of her wonderful son and of the Lord.

What…wait…what? She somehow twists stealing into honoring God by carving an image and casting an idol! What in the name of sanity is going on here? Simple explanation: This is spiritual anarchy, plain and simple. Anarchy is defined as “a state of disorder due to absence or non-recognition of authority.” That is exactly what Judges 17: 6 describes:

In those days Israel had no king, so everyone did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

Israel had no controlling moral authority—or at least they chose not to follow a controlling moral authority, since they did have the law of God that should have been their constant guide. But over time, they moved God to the margins and devolved into spiritual anarchy. As a result, a lot of really weird stuff happened in a nation that God had called to be his own holy people. Israel began to look like the pagan nations to whom they had called them to witness as a living testimony of a loving but holy God. They begin to do unacceptable things that were outright repulsive to God, then justify their sinful behavior as acceptable and pleasing to the Holy One of Israel.

“Like the Israelites in the time of the judges, too many Christians today have set aside any controlling moral authority and do whatever seems right in their own eyes. Don’t be one of them!”

Twisted, right? Yet is it all that different than what we see today among people who claim to follow God? When the rate of divorce is as high among so-called Christians as it is in secular society, you have spiritual anarchy. When you have so-called Christians celebrating lifestyles and philosophies that are clearly opposed to what they are called to in God’s Word, you have spiritual anarchy. When you have so-called Christians whose way of living is clearly rooted in this present world and not in the kingdom to come—“believers” who are addicted to money, pleasure, and power—there you find they have drifted into spiritual anarchy. Where you find spiritual communities who make their worship about what they prefer, who employ entertainment techniques to attract new members, who move the Holy Spirit to the edge of their services in order to employ more relevant styles, who focus more on a cool café in the lobby rather than the call to seek God at the altar, there you find an inexorable rush toward spiritual anarchy.

In our day, Christians have set aside any controlling moral authority, so they do whatever seems right in their own eyes.

So now that I have gotten that rant out of my system, answer me this: Is this not the state of Christianity among far too many believers and far too many churches in America today?

If you think so, then make sure you are not in that camp, and make sure you do what you can to encourage your church not to drift into spiritual anarchy.

SUMMARY: Only a real estate agent or a cartographer would appreciate the Bible passages that give exacting detail of the settlement of land for the tribes of Israel. But what we might find boring, those who were on the receiving end cared very much about the details, because every square inch represented centuries-long waiting for the promises of God now miraculously fulfilled. So, whenever you come to a passage on land allotment, write yourself into the story. Even though you don’t have a literal Promised Land for which you are waiting, you are waiting for God to fulfill his promises to you—and believe me, you care about the details of what that will look like. Read it and rejoice in the details as an act of faith, because one day, sooner or later, God will answer your prayers and fulfill his promises to you with specificity and generosity.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 17:1-10

Manasseh’s boundary ran along the northern side of the ravine and ended at the Mediterranean Sea. North of Manasseh was the territory of Asher, and to the east was the territory of Issachar. The following towns within the territory of Issachar and Asher, however, were given to Manasseh: Beth-shan, Ibleam, Dor (that is, Naphoth-dor), Endor, Taanach, and Megiddo, each with their surrounding settlements.

Ever get the holy shivers? Yeah, me neither. But I’ve seen people respond to God’s blessing in ways—physically and emotionally—that far exceeded their capacity to manage it. Especially in foreign, rural contexts, I have watched worshipers get so beside themselves with joy in the Lord that their expressions of love, praise, and gratitude broke human containment. They got down and boogied in response to the blessings of God.

Now when you read Joshua 17, holy shivers are the last response you are likely to have. Frankly, only a real estate agent would be inspired by the details as land is parceled out to the tribes of Joseph. A cartographer might enjoy the chapter a little bit as well because of the prospects of mapping out the Holy Land. But other than those two, I doubt if too many readers are going to be excited with the details of the land distribution that make up chapter 17.

So, what is in this for us? Let me answer that by having you put yourself in the sandals of the people in this chapter. Imagine yourself as one of the members of a clan in the tribe of Ephraim. Pretend that you are one of the five daughters of Zelophehad (one of the young ladies was named Noah, by the way; she must have been an amazing woman!), who stood to gain real estate as an inheritance because their dad had no sons as heirs. Imagine that you, your parents, grandparents, and ancestors going back 400 years had been hearing about a Promised Land that would one day be yours, and all you have known for centuries was slavery and decades of wilderness wandering. You had nothing to your name, no place to call home, no sense of permanence and no real geographical identity. And now, you have been given land—and the land had been described for you with geographical specificity. Do you think you might be a bit excited about the description of your real estate in that context? I think so!

“When you come to scriptures on land allotment, rejoice in the details as an act of faith, because soon, God will answer your prayers and fulfill his promises with specificity and generosity.” ~Dr. Ray M. Noah

What is described in this chapter (and several surrounding it) represented the promises of God finally fulfilled after what seemed like interminable waiting. This represented answers to prayer. This was a bit of heaven on earth. And the Israelites were rightly excited about real estate details that today we find boring and worthy of skipping past. But don’t—refuse to get either bored or skip-happy. Write yourself into this and other stories like it.

Even though you don’t have a literal Promised Land for which you are waiting, you are waiting for God to fulfill his promises to you—and believe me, you care about the details of what that will look like! So, whenever you come to section of scripture like this, rejoice in the details as an act of faith, because one day, sooner or later, God will answer your prayers and fulfill his promises with specificity and generosity.

“ God often gives in one brief moment that which He has for a long time denied. — THOMAS à KEMPIS

SUMMARY: Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring.” The story of Samson and Delilah is a powerful reminder that we must be driven by our principles rather than our passions. We would do well to get clear about what we value most—our non-negotiables in life—then allow our passions to fuel our principles.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 16:4-6

Some time later, Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the valley of Sorek. The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “Entice Samson to tell you what makes him so strong and how he can be overpowered and tied up securely. Then each of us will give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what makes you so strong and what it would take to tie you up securely.”

What is it that drives you? What motivates you at the deepest core to do what you do? What are the driving convictions of your life? Figure that out, and you will have figured out you, that is, who you are, what you are, how you live, and where you are headed.

Unfortunately for Samson, one of Israel’s most famous but most flawed judges (the judges were more military deliverers than paragons of moral purity), it was passion that drove him more than principle. Especially his passion for women, which we also saw in Judges 14, and now again in this famous “love” story in Judges 16 as Samson takes up with a new wife, Delilah. As you read this account with the added benefit of historical hindsight, you wonder why in the world would Samson put up with Delilah’s traitorous antics even once, let alone four times. Why couldn’t he see what we so clearly see?

Easy answer: Samson was driven by passion more than principle. So are a lot of people—perhaps even you. Sometimes I am, too. Now, to be sure, God created us with the capacity to be passionate. Without it, we wouldn’t be human. Without it, we could never express righteous indignation. Without it, we could never experience compassion. Without it, we might be perfect, but let’s not forget that God rarely chose the perfect; he mostly chose the passionate to accomplish his purposes, imperfect people like King David and the Apostle Peter.

Yet while passion is a God-given capacity, it must be kept in its rightful place. Like any other capacity, it is never to be out of control; it is never to be the master of our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Only the Holy Spirit is to control what we think, how we feel, and what we do.

“For a God-honoring life, we must make principle the driver of our car and assign passion to push it!” ~Dr. Ray Noah

So what is the right purpose of our passion? Ralph Waldo Emerson offered this insightful thought: “passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring.” He was saying that our passion is never to govern our lives; our principles are supposed to do that. Our passion is to fuel our principles. Passion will be what elevates what we believe at the deepest core to the level of driving conviction over the long haul of our lives.

I believe the main takeaway from Samson’s life is that we would be wise to think through and then codify what I would call our driving missional convictions. These would be our non-negotiable values, like living for the glory of God alone, ruthless trust in God’s sovereignty, obedience to God’s Word, submission to God’s will, wholehearted love for God—as well as our neighbor—and full-throttled commitment to the Missio Dei—the mission of God. I could go on and on, but for practical purposes, we would benefit most from settling on five to ten missional convictions, then allowing those convictions to drive everything in our lives at all times and in every way—our thoughts, feelings, and actions.

In fact, if you want to avoid the Delilah effect, that is, an approach to life that puts passion in the driver’s seat, then I would suggest that you spend some time thinking through your life convictions—like ASAP. Then discuss them with the people in your life whose help you will need to live them out. Finally, codify them and literally place them where you will see them early and often to remind you of what you want your life to be about.

Do that … then get passionate about them!

“ Rest in reason; move in passion. — KHALIL GIBRAN

SUMMARY: The Puritan preacher John Owen said, “be always at it while you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.” Whether it is flat-out disobedience or benign neglect, our disobedience always allows sin to grow. And where sin grows, sin festers, and spiritual anemia, spiritual sickness and spiritual death will ultimately result. This is a matter of kill or be killed! Go with kill!

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 16:5-6,10

The boundary of their homeland began at Ataroth-addar in the east. From there it ran to Upper Beth-horon, then on to the Mediterranean Sea…. But the tribe of Ephraim did not drive the Canaanites out of Gezer, however, so the people of Gezer live as slaves among the people of Ephraim to this day.

The modern reader of Scripture cannot help but read the Old Testament through the eyes of twenty-first-century Western culture. For that reason, much of what we read seems harsh and unfair, if not brutal and primitive, and definitely at odds with our current values of acceptance and inclusiveness. Even in warfare, how we treat our enemy is much different from how it was in Old Testament days—and for that, I am sure our enemies are grateful (although I don’t think they would take the same approach with us).

Case in point: God told the Israelites to annihilate the Canaanites and purge them from the land as they went in to possess it. As the people of God moved in, by Divine command, the current residents had to go—every last one of them.

Now, while most Bible-believing Christians today accept that, we are certainly uncomfortable with both God’s command to displace the nations and his method for displacing them. When non-believing people question the harshness of the God of the Old Testament in light of such stories, we have no adequate answer, though there are reasonable explanations. We simply surrender territory on this issue of the sovereign God’s loving but just nature. My point here is not to defend God. For one thing, he can defend himself. And for another, if we truly understood the wickedness and brutality of the people who occupied Canaan in the days of the conquest—people who would make the worst terrorist group imaginable look like a Girl Scout pack—we would feel a little better about God’s commands.

Let’s set that aside for now. The point I want to make here is that when we fail to do what God commands, for whatever reason, we will suffer the logical consequences of that failure. Whether it is flat-out disobedience or benign neglect, our disobedience always allows sin to grow. And where sin grows, sin festers, and spiritual anemia, spiritual sickness, and spiritual death will result, sooner or later. God told the Israelites to drive out the Canaanites; they didn’t. They had their reasons: the Canaanites were harder to get rid of than we might imagine; most of them had been decimated anyway, so what would it hurt leaving the few that were left actually made good slaves for menial labor that no one else really wanted to do? So leaving them actually made better sense than driving them out. The Israelites had their reasons, and I suspect many of the reasons sounded good.

“When we justify anger, lust, pride, judgmental attitudes, and other sins that are easy to camouflage, we commit the sin of the Israelites. We have allowed Canaan to camp out in our hearts.” ~Dr. Ray Noah

But sin always has consequences, and the outcome of sin is never good! What was true for Israel is true for you and me today. We are not called to drive out a people from our neighborhood; that kind of literal biblical conquest is over. Yet there is another conquest God has assigned his people: to get rid of sin from their lives. The Apostle Peter spoke of being done with sin:

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. (1 Peter 4:1)

Theologically, we know that; we understand that sin must go. But like the Ephraimites, that is not always as easy as it sounds. For that, God gives the Holy Spirit to help us do away with sin in our lives, and he gives the grace of forgiveness when we fail. Moreover, he walks with us as we exert continuous effort to mortify our sinful nature. That is not the real problem here: it is when we make acceptable what God calls sin; it is when we allow the sin that will ultimately enslave us to hang around in our lives —that is the problem

When we justify anger, lust, pride, judgmental attitudes, and other sins that are easy to camouflage, we commit the sin of the Israelites: We have allowed Canaan to camp out in our hearts.

“When we justify anger, lust, pride, judgmental attitudes, and other sins that are easy to camouflage, we commit the sin of the Israelites. We have allowed Canaan to camp out in our hearts.” ~Dr. Ray Noah

The Bible should serve as a cautionary tale in this regard, for there is story after story of how allowing Canaan to camp out paved the way for Canaan to rise up and bite Israel on the backside. The end result of inattention to sin is always far greater than the pain of sin when it is in full bloom in our lives—and it will always grow into bloom if we neglect our call to decimate it.

Got sin? Deal with it! Even the little, leftover stuff. Be killing sin or it will be killing you

The good news is, God stands ready to assist those who get with it in getting rid of sin.

SUMMARY: What is described in the Bible doesn’t diminish behavior that is sinful and flawed; it only explains it. It requires a little bit of wisdom to know the difference, but once you understand, then you will begin to see in matters great and small, God is in charge, and God is in control. Aren’t you thankful for that? You will also understand that your actions are either blessable or punishable. Stay ever aware of that!

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 15:13-15

The Philistines bound Samson with two new ropes and led him up from the rock. As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.

The first senior pastor I worked with out of college used to say, “There is a lot more to God that we don’t understand than we do understand.” He was right. Not that we shouldn’t pursue the knowledge of God—we should. There is no greater or more worthwhile effort than knowing God. And God graciously grants us wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, according to Proverbs 2:3-6 and James 1:5.

“If you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding…. If you lack wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault.”

But keep in mind in your honorable pursuit that there will be things about God and the record we have in scripture of his dealings with man that do not always make sense—at least in our minds. In those cases, we just need to chalk it up to the fact that God was at work in ways that are much higher than ours. There is a large part of God that will remain in the realm of mystery, and even though we are curious about it, we need a Deity whom we don’t fully understand, and therefore cannot control. Paul states in this way in his eloquent doxology from Romans 11:33-36,

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?”
For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

I would put Judges 15 in that category. In several instances, God uses a deeply flawed judge—which by the way, the judges of Israel were not so much moral leaders as they were national deliverers—to bring judgment upon the godless Philistines and relief to the suffering Israelites. As you read this chapter,

I would simply suggest you remember that the sovereign God can use anybody he chooses to bring out his larger purposes. God can use a deeply flawed prophet, preacher, or president for his glory—and he does early and often. In this case, he used a deeply flawed Samson to deliver his people.

Now, keep in mind as you read this passage, and others like it, that what is described in the Bible doesn’t excuse sinful and flawed behavior; it only explains it. It requires a little bit of wisdom to know the difference. So, once you understand that, then you will begin to see in matters great and small, God is in charge, and God is in control. Aren’t you thankful for that?

And if you understand that, then you will also understand that every action has consequences. Our behavior, significant and insignificant, is either bless-able or punishable. So, stay constantly alert to that!

SUMMARY: A.B. Simpson said, “Our God has boundless resources. His only limit is us. Our thinking and praying are too small.” So, in your praying, don’t just ask for the bare minimum, go for the whole enchilada, because if you don’t ask, he won’t give. And if you don’t ask bigly, don’t be surprised that you don’t receive bigly. Your Father wants you to see unlimited possibilities in him. He longs for you to ask, and ask daringly. And when you do, you honor him.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 15:18-19

As Caleb’s daughter, Acsah, got down off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What’s the matter?” She said, “Give me another gift. You have already given me land in the Negev; now please give me springs of water, too.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.

In your praying, don’t just ask for the bare minimum; go for the whole enchilada. That is why I think this otherwise unimportant story was included in scripture. If anything, Acsah’s request of her father teaches us not to sell God short. God is a big God, and his resources are unlimited. As A.B. Simpson, the founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination, said, “Our God has boundless resources. His only limit is us. Our thinking and praying are too small.”

Acsah was the daughter of Caleb. Caleb was one of two spies out of twelve who came back from scouting the Promised Land with a positive report. That story is told in Numbers 13, forty-five years prior to this moment in time. Caleb was of a different kind of spirit than the average guy. He was a possibility thinker. He didn’t see obstacles; he saw opportunities. He never saw giants in the way; he saw God as the way maker. His faith in God informed his asking and his acting.

When the ten other Israelite spies saw their enemies as giants and themselves as grasshoppers by comparison, Caleb (along with Joshua, the twelfth guy in this consortium of spies) saw only the God of Israel who was bigger than Israel’s biggest enemy—even bigger than that gigantic men of Anak (Numbers 13:28). In fact, four decades later in Joshua 14, Caleb, now an eighty-five-year-old, boldly asks Joshua to give him the mountains around Hebron for his inheritance. And in declaring that he could take the mountains, he specifically called out the giants of Anak, who were still in the land occupying the very mountain that now belonged to Caleb. I think Caleb was still spoiling for a fight with these Gigantor-types all these years later.

His daughter was cut from the same cloth as Caleb. Like her father, she was bold, she was brassy, and she didn’t see problems; she saw possibilities. When her father gave the inheritance—a rarity that a woman would be specifically named in the allotting of land in that time and culture—she decided that what he gave her was not enough. Not that she was ungrateful, she just knew the can-do spirit that her father possessed—and she leaned into it. She knew that he was motivated by faith; that his eye saw beyond what normal people saw, so she appealed to his character in asking for not only a piece of land, but for the nearby springs as well. After all, what good is land in the wilderness if it has no access to water? Acsah wasn’t just asking to gratify her selfish desires; she was asking for something essential for her family to succeed and expand.

And her father granted her request. (Joshua 15:19) My guess is that as she walked away from this encounter, old Caleb turned to his buddies and said, “That’s my girl!”

And your Father will grant your requests, too. But if you don’t ask, he won’t. And if you don’t ask bigly, don’t be surprised that you don’t receive bigly. Your Father is of a different Spirit—one that wants his children to see unlimited possibilities in him. He longs for his kids to ask and ask daringly. That is why he has encouraged them throughout his Word to ask for the desires of their heart. In one of the most stunning passages in scripture, the Son of God said,

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.” (John 15:7-8)

Now obviously, this isn’t a blank check for selfish asking. The key to what John 15:7-8 says is that we first must “abide in him and allow his words to abide in us.” The “abiding in his word” isn’t about Bible reading or scripture memorization, it is about intimately knowing the character of God—and letting that knowledge inform your asking.

This is the story of Caleb and Acsah. Both were of the tribe that asks for the whole enchilada. I hope you will join me in being a part of that tribe, too! Yeah, how about you and I form the Enchilada Tribe?

“ According to your faith it’ll be done. —JESUS CHRIST

SUMMARY: “God uses flawed people to accomplish his work!” How many times have you heard that or seen examples of it in scripture? Samson is the poster-child of a flawed hero, an impulsive man who famously loved the ladies a little too much, which ultimately cost him his life. But the Bible’s explanation of flawed character is not an excuse for it, neither for Samson nor for you. Thank God that he uses cracked pots, but that does not mean we shouldn’t give diligent effort in partnering with him to transform the vessel.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 14:2/h3>

One day when Samson was in Timnah, one of the Philistine women caught his eye. When he returned home, he told his father and mother, “A young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye. I want to marry her. Get her for me.”

All of us have made really bad choices in life at one time or another. If you haven’t, just wait a few hours; you will. And usually, the core culprit in bad decisions is impulsiveness. Who among us hasn’t surrendered to an impulse purchase? That is usually what is behind buyer’s remorse. What person has never spoken out in anger or foolishness before we thought about the consequences of our words? That is why most good parents teach their children to think twice before they speak. Is there any person on the planet who has never acted on a whim? I doubt it.

Samson is arguably the poster boy for impulsive choices—he liked the ladies and exercised neither a whole lot of good judgment nor self-control in the woman he chose to be with. In this case, it was a girl who became his wife. In chapter 16, it is a prostitute. Later in the same chapter, a woman named Delilah becomes his second wife. In the case of Delilah, the marriage looked good on the outside, but over time, it caused great pain for Samson and his family and ultimately cost this famous judge of Israel his life. In Judges 14, this unnamed girl captured his affections—a Philistine beauty whose character went no deeper than her flawless skin.

Samson’s choice of women has been the plot for several Hollywood movies over the years, but in the real story of this marriage, however, the romance part of it ends quickly, and the marriage not too long after that, when the girl’s father marries her off to the best man at Samson’s wedding. Mr. and Mrs. Samson—bad choice, bad marriage, bad outcome.

Now obviously, as you look at the whole of Samson’s story, God accomplished a great work through this impulsive man’s life. God redeemed his bad choices for a good outcome (at least for Israel; Samson died in the process). We are told in Judges 14:4 that when his parents questioned his choice of a wife, “His father and mother didn’t realize the Lord was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time.” It is true, as John Newton said, “We serve a gracious Master who knows how to overrule even our mistakes to His glory and our own advantage.”

That is the big picture of the story of Samson’s life—God uses flawed people to accomplish his purposes. And the micro story here in Judges 14 is equally instructive. So let’s dissect Samson’s decision so that we might see how easily we fall into the same kind of impulsive living—and most importantly, learn from Samson that it is best to avoid impulsive choices. Here are three aspects of Samson’s poor decision-making:

First, visuals took precedence over values. The opening words of the text tell us that when Samson gazed upon this lovely woman, it was love (or lust) at first sight: “A young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye.” What we see can be deceptive; perhaps it is always deceptive. A good rule of thumb is “don’t believe everything you see.” Of course, I am not just speaking of what you can verify factually, but you must learn to see what is congruent with the values of your faith and avoid what is incongruent with your most deeply held values.

Second, desire outweighed wisdom. Samson’s “wanter” took the baton from his “see-er”, while any kind of thought process took a backseat to both. After he “saw” Timnah, he said to his dad, “I want to marry her.” I see; I want. There is no indication that Samson gave any consideration to what the consequences of marrying a Philistine girl might be. Delayed gratification was not in the picture here; self-control was not exercised. He saw her, he wanted her, therefore, he had to have her.

Third, action dominated reason. I saw her, I want her, now go get her for me: “But Samson told his father, ‘Get her for me! She looks good to me.’” (Judges 14:4) Unfortunately, Samson’s father Manoah didn’t put the brakes on his son’s wishes in the way a father should; we see no fatherly insistence that a reasonable process be followed. So Samson got what he wanted—he got Timnah, and with her, he got a boatload of trouble. The outcome of his flawed decision reminds me of what James talked about,

Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. (James 1:14-15)

Again, God used Samson’s mistakes for his own glory. And he will use yours and mine, too. But wouldn’t you rather God use your good decisions for his glory and your good? I sure would. And maybe one of the reasons we have this compelling story of Samson and Timnah is to alert us to slow it down when we are in the middle of a strong desire to get what we think we want.

Think early; think often—that is why God gave us a brain and then commands us to think: “‘Come, let us reason together, says the Lord.’” (Isaiah 1:18) And if that weren’t enough, he placed the Holy Spirit within us to give us in-the-moment counsel!

Think, listen, then do—or not!

“ The unexamined life is not worth living. —SOCRATES

SUMMARY: William Newton Clark said, “Faith is the daring of the soul to go farther than it can see!” As believers in Jesus, you and I are in the mountain-moving business, and our currency is faith. If what we are doing doesn’t involve faith—if we can do it ourselves without a desperate need of God—then we are not doing the Lord’s business. But with faith we are, and with it, nothing is impossible.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 14:10-13

Then Caleb said to Joshua, “Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance.

Are you daring great things for God? Whether or not you are is your choice, but I say, “Why not?” You and I have only one life to live, and it will be over soon enough, so let’s try something daring for God. Why not do something that will make a difference in someone’s life one hundred years from now? How about we try something that will leave them talking about us long after we are gone? Yes, let’s attempt something that will be celebrated by saints and angels alike for all eternity! Why not at least try?

That is the story of faith in the Bible. Read Hebrews 11 and you will see that God’s Great Hall of Faith is made up of men and women, no different than you and me, who stepped out and attempted the impossible for the sake of the kingdom. Now some of them were successful and some of them were not, by the word’s standards anyway, but it was the faith that led them to try that got them eternally noticed in Hebrews 11.

“As Christ-followers, we’re in the mountain-moving business, and our currency is faith.  If what we’re doing doesn’t require a desperate need for God—then we’re not doing the Lord’s business.”~Dr. Ray Noah

Caleb was one of those kinds of people. He was in his mid-eighties when he informed Joshua that he was ready to take on a certain warrior-like and historically large—and I mean physically big and imposing (see Deuteronomy 2:10, 21; 9:2)—segment of the Canaanites in the well-fortified hill country surrounding Hebron. “Give me this mountain,” Caleb said to Joshua as the land was being allotted to the tribes, and that has forever become the war cry of unlikely men and women whose faith sees farther than the eye sees and whose spirit dares to attempt impossible things for God.

I love what William Newton Clark said, “Faith is the daring of the soul to go farther than it can see!” As believers in Jesus, you and I are in the mountain-moving business, and our currency is faith. If what we are doing doesn’t involve faith—if we can do it ourselves without a desperate need of God—then we are not doing the Lord’s business. But with faith, nothing is impossible. Jesus, the Founder and Finisher of our faith, said, “The simple truth is that if you had a mere kernel of faith, a poppy seed, say, you would tell this mountain, ‘move!’ and it will move. There is nothing you wouldn’t be able to tackle.” (Matthew 17:20)

We have been given faith—more than enough, actually—but are we daring to exercise it? We have in front of us at the present moment “things farther than we can see.” Or at least we should. If we don’t, then we need to come before God and ask him to give us a scary big vision of what could be.

Whatever that vision is, however impossible it might seem, whatever the obstacles that stand between us and it, if it is noble, if it is consistent with God’s kingdom, if we hunger after it, we must stretch ourselves to reach it, to achieve it. William Carey, missionary to India and considered to be the father of modern missions, said, “Attempt great things for God—expect great things from God.”

That is the story of common men and women who stepped out to where others wouldn’t and in so doing, ended up achieving the uncommon. They didn’t step out thinking they were doing the heroic; they just stepped out thinking God would take care of them, which he did. And by stepping out in faith, they stepped into God’s Great Hall of Faith.

“Give me this mountain,” eighty-five-year-old Caleb boldly demanded. He was the forerunner of many others who would do similar:

Jabez said, “Enlarge my territory!”

David said, “That giant is no big deal!”

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego said, “We like it hot!”

Nehemiah said, “Let’s rebuild this wall!”

Esther said, “If I die, I die!”

What are you saying? What are you praying? What is your faith laying hold of? What is the Holy Spirit daring your soul to see that your eyes cannot? Dare great things for God—do great things for God.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 13:12-14

So Manoah asked him, “When your words come true, what kind of rules should govern the boy’s life and work?” The angel of the Lord replied, “Be sure your wife follows the instructions I gave her. She must not eat grapes or raisins, drink wine or any other alcoholic drink, or eat any forbidden food.”

It may not be as dramatic as the visit Manoah and his wife received from the angel of the Lord. A mighty divine messenger probably won’t appear to you and freak you out. It is not likely that he will consume with fire the thanksgiving sacrifice you set before him. But your child is as every bit important to God as Samson was.

God would use Samson as one of the greatest deliverers of Israel the nation was to ever know. The stories of his battles with the Philistines are epic. His life was the grand story that both movies and books have retold over the ages. So to be sure, this family, and this baby that the angel of the Lord showed up in such an unforgettable way to announce, was going to become an altogether unique script in the religious history of Israel.

Yet I say again, the child that God gives you is no less important to God. That would be true of your grandchildren, too. It is also true of the children in your church, or your neighborhood, or in the classroom you manage. God has an indescribable love for them; he has plans for them that are beyond exciting; he has designed and built them with the seeds of greatness. Unlimited potential resides within their DNA.

Now it is up to you as a parent, grandparent, or mentor to figure out how to water those seeds of greatness in that child. That is a huge and sobering challenge, and you would do well to ask the Lord how he wants you to go about your task, as Manoah and his wife did in Judges 13:12. They asked the angel, “Give us the guidelines for growing this child into a great man!”

God has guidelines for you to follow, too. They are found primarily in his word. The whole of the Bible is an amazing guide for understanding the law of the Lord. Especially helpful is the book of Proverbs, which will show you day by day the way to inculcate wisdom, knowledge, and understanding into your child’s heart and mind. Another source of help is the Holy Spirit. Asking him daily in prayer to show you your child’s glidepath is a privilege you have because of your relationship with God. Just ask him, submit to him, expect his help, and God the Holy Spirit will walk with you as you train up your child in the way he or she should go. And then there is the body of Christ—men, women, grandparents, pastors, class leaders, and the parenting resources they offer are an incredibly helpful resource of parental richness that you would do well to tap into.

This is the most important role you occupy: mentoring the child the Lord has placed under your influence. Lean into God, ask him for guidance, then submit to his wisdom, and you will bring up a child with whom God will be well pleased.

And never, ever forget, even when they try to prove it wrong, your child was designed and built by God himself with the seeds of greatness implanted within their genetic code.

SUMMARY: God always leads us in triumph. There is always more territory he has destined us conquer. There are always more enemies he has empowered us to defeat. And while a part of you may yearn to sit back and relax, the glory of what it means to be Christian is to march forward as more than a conqueror. And why would we not embrace our calling to conquer? We have the promise of God that he himself will drive out our enemies and give the honor of sharing in his victory.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 13:1,6

When Joshua was an old man, the Lord said to him, “You are growing old, and much land remains to be conquered.… “I myself will drive these people out of the land ahead of the Israelites.”

We will rest when we get to heaven. Until then, there is still work to be done. I am sorry to disappoint you if you were thinking of your Christianity as a spiritual vacation. It is not; it is a spiritual victory. Of course, there are ebbs and flows in the journey of faith along with regular rhythms of renewal that we call sabbath, but there will always be more promises to possess, territory to claim, enemies to overcome, and victories to secure.

Thus, it will always be. That is the ongoing saga of redemptive history. While God brings us through challenges and gives us victory over our enemies, the end has yet to be written. Of course, the outcome has been predetermined, but it is still in the making. That is why we say he leads us from victory to victory.

While the promises of God are as good as done, and even though the outcome has been predetermined, that never means the believer gets to sit back and rest on their laurels. God’s rest is not a piece of geography—not at this point, anyway—it is a spiritual condition of triumph. That triumph is experienced in the advance of his kingdom through our lives. Through the work that he has given us to do, we are victorious—and that is what propels us along our journey of joyful rest.

That is evident in the story of Joshua 13. General Joshua has been one of history’s most brilliant military strategists. He has won conquest after conquest against enemies that were fiercer, stronger, better equipped, and more battle-hardened than Israel’s army. But God was on Israel’s side, and city after city fell into Israel’s hands. Now, after a long period under Joshua, the time had come for others to lead in the remaining battles.

Yes, battles remained. Get used to it! In preparation for the end of his career, God told Joshua to divide the land between the twelve tribes. He was to assign specific geographical territory to each tribe, even though some of it was yet to be firmly in Israel’s possession. So why divide the land between the tribes before Israel had conquered it?

For one thing, Joshua was advancing in years, and the day of his death was looming. The task would not be complete by the time of his passing. Furthermore, there would not be a singular leader over Israel for the next four hundred years as they continued to possess and settle the land, so God assigned Joshua the task of allotting the land among Israel’s tribes, clans, and families.

Behind all of this was a great promise from God: he was on their side, and he would see to it that the land came under their possession. While they would have to do work and fight wars to possess it, God tells them, “I myself will drive these people out of the land ahead of the Israelites.” God’s promise to work on Israel’s behalf was so certain that the division of the land could be made even before it was conquered. When God makes a promise, it is as good as done. God was asking Israel through this division of land to picture what he had promised. As we have seen before in Joshua, the faith principle is that we need to picture what we want to possess.

So, what’s the point? Simply this: God always leads us in triumph. There is always more territory to conquer. There are always more enemies to defeat. And while a part of you may yearn to sit back and relax, the glory of what it means to be Christian is to march forward as more than a conqueror. And why would we not embrace our calling to conquer? We have the promise of God that he himself will drive out our enemies.

Yes, the time will come for rest soon enough. In the meantime: onward toward yet another predetermined victory.

SUMMARY: Too many leaders today are proficient at rising to a position of power, and they might even have the systems in place to keep them there, but they have not moved the ball down the field during their time in leadership. They occupy places of importance but have no track record of impact. They are “all hat and no cattle,” as they say in Texas. Having a position of importance isn’t the end game; it’s the means to the goal. Leaving a footprint of service, blessing, and accomplishment is the best evidence of noteworthy leadership.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 12:11

After Ibzan died, Elon from the tribe of Zebulun judged Israel for ten years. When he died, he was buried at Aijalon in Zebulun.

Elon judged Israel for ten years, then he died. End of story! And you will find his administration not that unusual in the book of Judges. There were plenty of other leaders who occupied positions of import but had no track record of impact. They were “all hat and no cattle, ” as they say in Texas.

I don’t want to be a leader like that, and you don’t want to sit under the leadership of a man or woman like that, be it a pastor or a president. Too many leaders in our day are proficient at rising to a place of power and authority, and they might even have the systems set up around them to keep them there, but they have not moved the ball down the field during their time of leadership.

Now, to be certain, there is nothing wrong with having a position of importance, nor with desiring that. Those positions can provide much larger opportunities for impact. But a position of importance is not the end game; it is the means to the goal. Leaving a huge footprint of effective service, blessing, and mission accomplished is the best evidence of noteworthy leadership.

So what does it take to have both importance and impact? Let me offer some thoughts:

First, while you can position yourself to be important, I believe letting God promote you to places of power and authority is the better way to go. Of course, you need to show yourself winsome, committed, visionary, and skillful, but it is the sovereign hand of God that is the greatest PR machine in the universe. Let God promote you.

Second, get a vision—and not just a vision for your own fame or success. How will the people you lead be better off because of your leadership? How will your organization—family, church, business, community—creatively and compellingly make a difference by collaboratively marshaling your corporate energies to do what you do? Just how do you expect to change the world?

Third, make sure you have the character to match your charisma. Charisma will attract followers; character will keep you in leadership.

Fourth, serve the people you lead. They best lead who also serve—a philosophy that is not talked about all that much in our culture, but was clearly modeled by the greatest leader of all time, Jesus Christ. Leaders of impact are truly servants of the public.

Fifth, through your influence, make it your chief aim to make Jesus famous. I am not speaking only of what we would term spiritual “leaders.” In whatever you do—at home, in the marketplace, in the academe, in the halls of government—you are on duty for Christ. As the Apostle Paul says, “In whatever you do, do it with all your might, as serving the Lord, not men; it is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Colossians 3:23-24)

If you desire to lead, you desire a good thing. But check your motives, make sure your goals are worthy, submit yourself to God, get filled with his Spirit, then get out there to serve the people and to make Jesus famous.

“ Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing. —ALBERT SCHWEITZER

SUMMARY: Perhaps you think that reading through the seemingly endless lists of names in Scripture is unnecessary. Maybe you think taking the time to utter these names is boring, meaningless, and a colossal waste of your time. But let me ask you this: why do you think God, in his providential oversight of bringing the Bible into existence, saw fit to include so many statistical and genealogical lists? Do you think it was merely for historical purposes? Or were they to build the faith of his people? I would argue for both. Don’t neglect these genealogical praise songs!

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 12:1-2

These are the kings east of the Jordan River who had been killed by the Israelites and whose land was taken. Their territory extended from the Arnon Gorge to Mount Hermon and included all the land east of the Jordan Valley: King Sihon of the Amorites… King Og of Bashan, the last of the Rephaites….The king of Jericho…The king of Ai, near Bethel…The king of Jerusalem…The king of Hebron…

We have seen it many times already in reading through the Old Testament: endless lists of meaningless names—at least, meaningless to us. But not meaningless to the people of Israel! Every name is a story—a God-story, to be specific—of God’s provision for his people and punishment for his enemies. And every time Moses or Joshua wrote these lists down, they became a kind of checklist of praise for the people of Israel. You might say that these were praise songs for statisticians. God even loves the numbers geek!

We might be tempted to just skip over these names when we come to them in our Bible reading—at least I am. But I would encourage you not to do that. As an act of worship, read the names out loud. Of course, you won’t know how to pronounce half of them, so just make them up. Remind God of what he did for his people. Of course, God doesn’t need reminding, but in reminding him, you are really reminding yourself that the activity of God is rooted in history—it is real; that God is for his people—he is not an uncaring, distant deity; and that God fulfills his promises, which includes empowering his people to overcome their enemies.

I would then encourage you to list out your own victories. Write a “faithlist” of things that God has done for you. Go back into your past and dredge up your God-stories. Write down the things he has done for you lately. Include little provisions and big miracles. Remember what God has done and memorialize it on a list. Then thank God for each one of those answers—out loud. Do it as an act of worship. Remind God of how great he is. Of course, he already knows his own greatness, but you will be building your own faith as you do it.

Perhaps you think that what I am suggesting is unnecessary. Maybe you think it is a colossal waste of your time. But let me ask you this: why do you think God, in his providential oversight of bringing the Bible into written form, saw fit to include so many genealogical and statistical lists? Do you think it was merely for historical purposes? Or are they to build the faith of his people? I would argue for both. They are to remind us that God’s work is not merely a spiritual fable; it is rooted in history. Moreover, what God has done in history is to teach us that he will do again. Since he is a covenantly faithful God, the interventions, provisions, and victories that he wrought for his people in the past, he will work into the lives of his people today.

These statistical and genealogical praise lists are powerful. That is why I would suggest that you come up with your own list from time to time in your journey of faith. There is an old gospel song authored in the late 1800’s by Johnson Oatman that captures what I am calling you to do. When I was growing up, my faith community often sang this song, Count Your Blessings. One of the verses and the chorus went like this:

So amid the conflict, whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged; God is over all.
Count your many blessings; angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

Count your blessings;
Name them one by one.
Count your blessings;
See what God hath done.

Truly, God has been good!

“ After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world. —PHILIP PULLMAN

SUMMARY: Perhaps you think that reading through the seemingly endless lists of names in Scripture is unnecessary. Maybe you think taking the time to utter these names is boring, meaningless, and a colossal waste of your time. But let me ask you this: why do you think God, in his providential oversight of bringing the Bible into existence, saw fit to include so many statistical and genealogical lists? Do you think it was merely for historical purposes? Or were they to build the faith of his people? I would argue for both. Don’t neglect these genealogical praise songs!

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 12:1-2

These are the kings east of the Jordan River who had been killed by the Israelites and whose land was taken. Their territory extended from the Arnon Gorge to Mount Hermon and included all the land east of the Jordan Valley: King Sihon of the Amorites… King Og of Bashan, the last of the Rephaites….The king of Jericho…The king of Ai, near Bethel…The king of Jerusalem…The king of Hebron…

We have seen it many times already in reading through the Old Testament: endless lists of meaningless names—at least, meaningless to us. But not meaningless to the people of Israel! Every name is a story—a God-story, to be specific—of God’s provision for his people and punishment for his enemies. And every time Moses or Joshua wrote these lists down, they became a kind of checklist of praise for the people of Israel. You might say that these were praise songs for statisticians. God even loves the numbers geek!

We might be tempted to just skip over these names when we come to them in our Bible reading—at least I am. But I would encourage you not to do that. As an act of worship, read the names out loud. Of course, you won’t know how to pronounce half of them, so just make them up. Remind God of what he did for his people. Of course, God doesn’t need reminding, but in reminding him, you are really reminding yourself that the activity of God is rooted in history—it is real; that God is for his people—he is not an uncaring, distant deity; and that God fulfills his promises—which includes empowering his people to overcome their enemies.

I would then encourage you to list out your own victories. Write a “faithlist” of things that God has done for you. Go back into your past and dredge up your God-stories. Write down the things he has done for you lately. Include little provisions and big miracles. Remember what God has done and memorialize it on a list. Then thank God for each one of those answers—out loud. Do it as an act of worship. Remind God of how great he is. Of course, he already knows his own greatness, but you will be building your own faith as you do it.

“Since God is covenantly faithful, the interventions, provisions, and victories that he wrought for his people in the past, he will work into the lives of his people today.” ~Dr. Ray Noah

Perhaps you think that what I am suggesting is unnecessary. Maybe you think it is a colossal waste of your time. But let me ask you this: why do you think God, in his providential oversight of bringing the Bible into written form, saw fit to include so many genealogical and statistical lists? Do you think it was merely for historical purposes? Or are they to build the faith of his people? I would argue for both. They are to remind us that God’s work is not merely a spiritual fable; it is rooted in history. Moreover, what God has done in history is to teach us that he will do again. Since he is a covenantly faithful God, the interventions, provisions, and victories that he wrought for his people in the past, he will work into the lives of his people today.

These statistical and genealogical praise lists are powerful. That is why I would suggest that you come up with your own list from time to time in your journey of faith. There is an old gospel song authored in the late 1800’s by Johnson Oatman that captures what I am calling you to do. When I was growing up, my faith community often sang this song, Count Your Blessings. One of the verses and the chorus went like this:

So amid the conflict, whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged; God is over all.
Count your many blessings; angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

Count your blessings;
Name them one by one.
Count your blessings;
See what God hath done.

Truly, God has been good!

“ After nourishment, shelter, and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world. —PHILIP PULLMAN

SUMMARY: Newsflash: Your spiritual leader is flawed. Gifted, yes, but also flawed. So don’t confuse the gift with the package. Lift them to God in prayer today. He or she is probably wrestling with a personal flaw. Instead of idolizing them, intercede for them. That would be the best way to return the favor for their spiritual oversight in your life.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 11:29-31

At that time the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he went throughout the land of Gilead and Manasseh, including Mizpah in Gilead, and from there he led an army against the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. He said, “If you give me victory over the Ammonites, I will give to the Lord whatever comes out of my house to meet me when I return in triumph. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.”

From a historical perspective, Israel may have been scraping the bottom of the barrel when Jephthah was chosen to lead them. God had an altogether higher purpose in using this unlikely man as a judge, deliverer, and leader of the nation, but Jephthah was a piece of work. He was an outcast in his family, literally and figuratively. Born from a union between his father and a prostitute (Judges 11:1), his brothers from another mother flat-out rejected his legitimacy to their father’s inheritance. And they were not shy in telling him why he would do well to get the heck out of Dodge (Judges 11:2).

As a result, Jephthah removed himself from his father’s “real” family—there is some indication that it wasn’t just a good idea that he leave, it was good for his health, as in, they would have killed him. He lived in exile, and while there, developed quite a reputation as a fighter and leader of a band of marauders who made their living taking what they wanted, perhaps even exhorting money in exchange for protection from the locals (Judges 11:3).

Now the Israelites had once again fallen under the dominion of a foreign nation—this time, the Ammonites—and no one else in Israel stepped to the plate as a leader. So the elders turned to someone they despised but whose fighting skills they reasoned would serve them well now that they needed a deliverer. They came with hat in hand to Jephthah to ask him to lead (Judges 11:4-6). Jephthah agreed, but only after extracting an admission that they had been jerks to him all his life and that they would make him ruler over them should he win the battle against the Ammonites (Judges 11:7-11). They didn’t have much of a choice, so they agreed to his conditions.

Now here is where the story gets even weirder: as Jephthah leads Israel to war, we are told that the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him (Judges 11:29), but in the very next two verses, we see that the first thing he does is to make one of the most foolish vows you can imagine:

Meanwhile, Jephthah had vowed to the Lord that if God would help Israel conquer the Ammonites, then when he returned home in peace, the first person coming out of his house to meet him would be sacrificed as a burnt offering to the Lord! (Judges 11:30-31, LB)

Alternative meanings have been assigned to this rash vow to sanitize it for our modern minds. Precisely because of the juxtaposition of these two verses with the antecedent verse, that is, how could someone filled with the Holy Spirit make such an evil vow, commentators have suggested that Jephthah’s declaration really meant that he would force his daughter (the first thing coming out of his house) to become the living sacrifice of a young woman living in perpetual virginity. But the simplest way to read the verse is to understand that he meant to literally offer a human sacrifice if the Lord gave him victory.

Pretty messed up, wouldn’t you say? So the question is legitimate: how could someone filled with the Holy Spirit make such an evil declaration? And perhaps we wonder that in our own context when we see leaders who have been uniquely gifted by God turn around and say weird things or do dumb stuff. How could an amazingly gifted communicator or a miracle-working faith healer or mesmerizing worship leader misappropriate money, or have an illicit affair or promote a false teaching?

I think the easiest explanation for that is simply that we should never confuse the gift with the package. In other words, God’s gift is always placed within flawed human packages—and even if the person so gifted never goes off the rails, they are still sin-broken people. The fact is, God uses broken people to accomplish his purposes, and that is a grace to his people. If he used only the perfect, he would use no one.

Of course, that does not excuse bad behavior; it just explains it. So, the bottom line is that as you view the gifted spiritual leaders in your life, celebrate the gift that God has placed upon their ministry, but don’t idolize the person. Like you, they, too, are human. Furthermore, don’t limit God from empowering you with his Holy Spirit by thinking you are too flawed and unqualified. Remember, as someone has said, God doesn’t choose the qualified, he qualifies the chosen.

Thank God for his gifts. They are a grace to us.

“ If God only used perfect people, nothing would get done. God will use anybody if you’re available. —RICK WARREN

Quotable: “Ruthless faith and risky obedience—that is the story of those who possess the promises.”

SUMMARY: God has made over thousands of promises in his Word to his people. Some of them are specific to that time and to those people, but most are general promises that are for you to possess. Picture them! That is an act of faith. Then align yourself to possess them. That is an act of obedience. Faith and obedience—may that be the testimony of your life.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 11:16-18

So Joshua took this entire land: the hill country, all the Negev, the whole region of Goshen, the western foothills, the Arabah and the mountains of Israel with their foothills, from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, to Baal Gadin the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and put them to death. Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time…. So Joshua took the entire land, just as the Lord had directed Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions. Then the land had rest from war.

God had promised Israel a land—the land of Canaan. The promise was made to Abraham hundreds of years before Joshua 11 as a condition of the covenant the Lord made with this man who would become the father of many nations, including Israel (that story is contained in Genesis 12-25), and much later, the father of our faith (Romans 4:16) The rest of Genesis all the way thorough Judges tells the story of Israel’s circuitous journey to physically get to the Promised Land (Exodus-Numbers), enter it to possess it by dispossessing the nations who lived there (Joshua), and then settle it (Judges).

Joshua 11 is at the heart of the conquest story—it is where the rubber of faith meets the road of fulfillment. When the Lord had commissioned General Joshua to lead Israel to cross the Jordan and go into the land to drive out the nations, he first gave him a picture of what the Promised Land would look like:

I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you—the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites.’ No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you. (Joshua 1:3-5)

Joshua needed to picture what God wanted him to possess. He also needed to hear God’s twin promise of presence and power to maintain the courage it would take to go up against nation after nation that were bigger, better equipped, and more experienced in war than the Israelite army. Which brings up several important points relevant for our faith journey today about moving from God’s promise to their fulfillment I our lives:

We have to picture God’s promises if we hope to possess them—that is what “faithing” it is all about (“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.” Hebrews 11:1-2)

The best of God’s promises are way bigger than what we can imagine, and even way bigger than what we need. God’s promise to Joshua was basically the entire Middle East. What that tells us is that God gives in abundance, which, simply defined, is more than we need. (“God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Ephesians 3:20)

The bigger the promises, the bigger the opposition to those promises we will face. The Enemy knows what is at stake in the people of God possessing the promises of God, so he throws up obstacles of every kind to discourage us from staying at the task of claiming them. Even though he is a defeated foe, he won’t go down without a fight. (“Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days, the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia.” (Daniel 10:12-13)

The promises of God are sure, but they are not automatic. We have a part to play: we have to possess them. God can’t possess them for us; we have to give spiritual effort to bring them into our possession. That, too, is called faith: bringing in through spiritual effort from the unseen realm into our reality what God has already established. (“Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” Philippians 2:12-13)

God promised a land, then empowered Israel to possess it, but Joshua and company had to go out and fight to claim what was theirs by divine declaration. And they did. Notice how similar the reality of their victory was to the original promise:

Joshua conquered the entire region—the hill country, the entire Negev, the whole area around the town of Goshen, the western foothills, the Jordan Valley, the mountains of Israel, and the Galilean foothills. The Israelite territory now extended all the way from Mount Halak, which leads up to Seir in the south, as far north as Baal-gad at the foot of Mount Hermon in the valley of Lebanon. (Joshua 10:16-18)

God has made promises to you, too. It may not be a literal land, but it is a territory. Faith is the activity of claiming it; of bringing it into your possession. Picture what he wants you to possess—that is faith. Believe that it is yours by divine declaration—that, too, is faith. Then get after it. Possess what you have pictured. Align your prayers and your resources—spiritual, physical, financial—to possess it. Giving spiritual effort to possess God’s promises—that is called obedience.

Ruthless faith and risky obedience—that is the story of those who possess the promises.

“ God is not a deceiver, that He should offer to support us, and then, when we lean upon Him, should slip away from us. —AUGUSTINE

SUMMARY: Who is going to be God in your life? That is a pertinent question for you today, because you are going to worship someone, or something. Your god is whatever you are putting your full-throttled dependence upon and allegiance to. Take it from the ancient Israelites—there is only one God who is worthy of your dependence and devotion. They learned that the hard way so you don’t have to.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 10:15-16

But the Israelites pleaded with the Lord and said, “We have sinned. Punish us as you see fit, only rescue us today from our enemies.” Then the Israelites put aside their foreign gods and served the Lord. And he was grieved by their misery.

Same song, twenty-ninth verse: Israel abandons the worship of God only to chase after the local deities of the Canaanites. So, God lifts his hand of blessing from them and allows them to have what they want—a visible, controllable, lucky-charm god. But as before, again sad results ensue: They are left defenseless against cruel enemies, their agrarian economy collapses, their families suffer undue hardship, and their lives are miserable under the rule of foreign gods and nations. Then, predictably, they come to themselves, cry out to God, repent, and God sends a rescuer. That is the story repeated over and over in the Book of Judges.

Of course, we have the advantage of looking back at this four-hundred-year period and viewing it only as a relatively short snapshot of history. It wasn’t. There were long patterns of obedience and blessing on Israel’s part—ten, twenty, fifty years of faithfulness to God. But then Israel would cycle into spiritual lassitude and moral drift until finally they were into full-on backsliding. And the oppressive consequences would follow—ten, twenty, thirty years of domination by godless and ruthless enemies.

So why didn’t the children of Israel learn their lesson after the first beating? Why did they drift into idol worship over and over again? What was their infatuation with other gods? Again, we look back upon their history without understanding the long, dark periods of time that the nation cycled through, and in so doing, we fail to realize that we are prone to the same kind of drift and wrong dependencies as they were—we’re just a little more sophisticated with our worship of idols. The Quest Study Bible offers some reasons for their infatuation with local idols, and as you ponder these, see if you can identify your own tendencies to drift from utter dependence and ruthless obedience to God:

1. Idols were physical objects that could be seen (Leviticus 26:1). Israel’s God, on the other hand, was unseen.

2. Idols could be carried, controlled, and confined. Israel’s God, however, was an awesome and mysterious God who could not be manipulated by his people. He “moved” whenever and wherever he wanted.

3. Foreign gods were thought to have power over crops, a prime concern of the Israelites. The people were superstitious and didn’t want to risk their harvests by offending the pagan gods.

4. Some foreign gods were believed to give fertility to the womb. The worship of these gods involved religious prostitution 1( Kings 14:24) and other sexually immoral practices, which appealed to the sensual desires of the Israelites. The Israelites may have concluded that it was better to indulge in these pleasurable activities than to displease the gods of fertility.

5. Idol worship was a cultural norm. The Israelites often found it easier to join in local customs than to go against them.

Who is going to be God in your life? That is a pertinent question for you today, because you are going to worship someone, or something. Your god is whatever you are putting your full-throttled dependence upon and allegiance to. Of course, we don’t worship literal images made of wood, stone, silver, or gold as the ancient Israelites did, but wouldn’t you agree that we are just as susceptible to the seduction of less visible but highly sophisticated idols like money, sex, and power?

If you are placing importance, expending energy, and making a personal investment in things that drown out your full-throttled devotion to and dependence on God, you have made them into an idol. But here’s the deal: At the end of the day, those things will have amounted to nothing. In fact, they will have done real harm to the blessings that God would have poured out in your life had you waited upon him in devotion and dependence.

If reading through this is convicting you at all, I would suggest you quickly get on your knees and cry out to God in sincere repentance, as the Israelites did. Put aside your wrong dependencies and misplaced devotions and worship God alone. Perhaps he will be grieved by your misery and reach out to you in love.

Rather, it is more likely that he will reach out to you in love.

SUMMARY: Make no mistake: God still fights on behalf of his people. In a realm that you usually can’t see, there is a battle, and God is at war to bring about complete and utter victory for his kingdom. And while in the seen realm we may not see that victory, let’s be perfectly clear about this: The outcome is predetermined and the victory has already been won! If you don’t believe that, then as they say, fast-forward to the end of the book, and you will see it: we win!

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 10:9-13

Joshua traveled all night from Gilgal and took the Amorite armies by surprise. The Lord threw them into a panic, and the Israelites slaughtered great numbers of them at Gibeon. Then the Israelites chased the enemy along the road to Beth-horon, killing them all along the way to Azekah and Makkedah. As the Amorites retreated down the road from Beth-horon, the Lord destroyed them with a terrible hailstorm from heaven that continued until they reached Azekah. The hail killed more of the enemy than the Israelites killed with the sword. On the day the Lord gave the Israelites victory over the Amorites, Joshua prayed to the Lord in front of all the people of Israel: “Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still and the moon stayed in place until the nation of Israel had defeated its enemies.

Obviously, it doesn’t always work this way, but when it does, boy howdy! The situation was different back then, and it called for God to step in on Israel’s behalf in a way that left no doubt in the minds of friend and foe alike that Yahweh was on the side of his people. Like the ten plagues and the parting of the Red Sea, clearly God was fighting for Israel. And it wasn’t a fair fight. It never is when God gets involved.

Israel was taking possession of their Promised Land in fulfillment of the centuries-old covenantal promise that God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That meant the Canaanites, a particularly brutal, sinful, godless amalgam of city-states, had to be dispossessed from that land. So city-by-city, Joshua was on a winning streak where Israel didn’t barely eek out victories; these were blowouts. And in this case, not only was the Israelite army crushing the Amorites, but God stepped in and, through a hailstorm of epic proportions, laid waste to the enemy. We are told that more died by the hail than by the sword.

Then, if that weren’t enough, Joshua put his foot on the gas to completely destroy whoever was left. The day was coming to a close, the sun would soon set before the job got done, so he even called out to the sun and moon for them to freeze in place. Imagine that: a man making demands of the solar system just so he could finish his work before nightfall. And it happened! Seriously, the only time before or since the sun literally stood still and the moon didn’t budge until Israel had pitched a complete game—a shutout, and a no-hitter at that.

Don’t you wish that were your testimony with every problem you face? I do! But most times, that is not what is called for. Typically, God has other methods for accomplishing his will. We are not literally going into a physical land to dispossess nations, so what Joshua did would be completely inappropriate for God’s people today. We are to take possession of spiritual lands by capturing people by persuading them through the gospel and bringing them under the loving reign of Jesus Christ. Obviously, it is a bit different today than in Joshua’s day.

However, make no mistake: God still fights on behalf of his people. In a realm that you usually can’t see, there is a battle, and God is at war to bring about complete and utter victory for his kingdom. And while that victory may not be seen like you and I would want it to be, let’s be perfectly clear about this: The outcome is predetermined and the victory has already been won! If you don’t believe that, then as they say, fast-forward to the end of the book and you will see it: We win!

Take heart today, my friend. In whatever battle you face, you have a God who fights for his people. Surely the Lord fights for you in the unseen realm—sometimes in a way that even leaks into the visible realm—just like he fought for Joshua:

Surely the Lord fought for Israel that day! (Joshua 10:14)

In an earlier battle, once again Joshua led Israel to a stunning victory over the evil and defiant Amalekites. When the battle was over, we are told that Moses built an altar there and named it “Yahweh-Nissi (which means ‘the Lord is my banner’). He said, ‘They have raised their fist against the Lord’s throne, so now the Lord will be at war with them.’” (Exodus 17:15-16)

Yahweh Nissi—the Lord is just as much your banner as he was Israel’s!

“ There is no neutral ground in the universe: every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan. — C.S. LEWIS

SUMMARY: Predictably, what we see and sense today at the highest as well as the lowest levels of culture is what happens when, as Alexander Solzhenitsyn lamented, “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.” As believers, we must let the moral decay of our nation turn our stomachs, but then we must let it turn our hearts to God in intercession for a sweeping spiritual awakening.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: 9:56-57

Admittedly, this is a weird story, and it’s even weirder that it was included in the Bible. Like a few others we have come across as we read the Old Testament devotionally, this is a head-scratcher. But at the end of the day, this story of Abimelech’s brief but brutal rule as a judge of Israel and his abrupt, gruesome death is a reminder of what happens in a person, and in a society, when God has been left out of the picture.

Abimelech was one of Gideon’s sons—one of seventy or so. And it just so happens that he was the one son from Gideon’s union with a concubine who lived in a different town, Shechem. So, there was probably no love lost with his many siblings; he was likely looked down upon by his brothers his entire life. There is a good chance Abimelech had a chip on his shoulder (that unfortunately ended with a millstone on his head—literally. See Judges 9:50-55).

So, Abimelech decided to do away with his seventy brothers, which he did in the most grisly fashion (Judges 9:5) by beheading them at one time. He killed all but one, Gideon’s youngest son, Jotham, who escaped and hid, and then resurfaced with an incendiary prophecy (Judges 9:7-21). This prophecy was a kind of “pox on both your houses” statement that ultimately came to pass. The prophecy was that in selecting Abimelech to be their king, the citizens of Shechem would end up paying for it with their lives, and Abimelech would likewise come to a brutal end for the murder of his brothers. That is the rest of the story of Judges 9.

Now take away the raw brutality of this story, sanitize it a bit, and what you have is the story of leadership in our current culture. Far too common is the way leaders attain power and the way the citizens surrender power to them. Lying, cheating, doing whatever it takes to make their opponent look bad, saying one thing to get elected, then leading another, coming off as a servant of the people but living like a king once in power, seems to be just the way it is in our political world. Often in elections, we feel like we have no choice but to hold our noses to cast our ballots. But we get the leaders we deserve.

Why? Simple answer: men have forgotten God. The writer of Judges prophetically summed up our twenty-first century world in the last verse in this book when he wrote, “There was no controlling moral authority to govern peoples’ lives, so everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” (Judges 21:25) Unfortunately, in our day, as was the case in the day of the Judges, “what was right”, without the presence of the “Controlling Moral Authority”, without fail produces moral, cultural, economic, and global chaos.

Predictably, what we see and sense today at the highest as well as the lowest levels of culture is what happens when, as Alexander Solzhenitsyn lamented, “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.” In his famous Templeton Address, “Men Have Forgotten God,” Solzhenitsyn said

The failings of human consciousness, deprived of its divine dimension, have been a determining factor in all the major crimes of this century…Yet we have grown used to this kind of world; we even feel at home in it.

May we never get used to it! May we never feel at home in this present world the way it is now. As believers, we have the urgent calling to humble ourselves before God, acknowledge our sin, repent, and turn to him for the healing of our land. As disgusted as you may feel reading Judges 9, let the moral decay of America turn your stomach, then turn your heart to God in intercession for a spiritual awakening once again in our land.

Who knows, God may give us a revival as he did throughout the book of Judges, as his people cried out to him.

“ A revival is nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to God. —CHARLES FINNEY

SUMMARY: Joshua’s failure to seek God first should serve as a cautionary tale as you make decisions today. Even in small, seemingly insignificant ones, be innocent of hastiness. Seek God first in all matters, large and small. And when you are ready to move forward in a matter, follow the correct protocol: ready, AIM, fire. May you always, always say, “I will seek the Lord first!”

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 9:14-16

“But they didn’t ask God about it.” No matter how overwhelming the evidence, no matter how good the idea, no matter how much something makes sense, we dishonor God, and in the long run if not the short term, hurt ourselves by leaving him out of the picture.

In this case, Joshua and his leaders made a hasty decision about a nation-tribe that lived in the land of Canaan, the Gibeonites. The Lord had instructed the Israelites to possess the land by dispossessing the peoples who lived there. They should have destroyed the Gibeonites according to God’s orders, but the Gibeonites deceived Joshua’s leadership team into thinking they were not a part of those city-states that were devoted to destruction.

Joshua’s mistake was in assuming! In the spiritual realm, assuming pre-decides God’s will, it presumes to know what God desires in a matter. The sin of presumption is a big deal in the Old Testament, and the outcome of this sin is particularly destructive to the kingdom life in Israel. Had Joshua’s team asked God for his wisdom in the matter on the front side, the leaders would have been spared this embarrassing disobedience on the backside.

Interestingly, even after discovering that the Gibeonites had deceived Israel into making this peace treaty, Joshua nevertheless honored the treaty he had just made with them. Even though it had been made under false pretenses, Joshua was not guilt-free in this matter. He had not consulted the Lord. I suspect Joshua’s attitude was a precursor to what the psalmist spoke of in Psalm 15, when he spoke of those who walked blamelessly in God’s sight. Among the characteristics of such people,

They keep their promises even when it hurts. (Psalm 15:4)

Now by all rights, Joshua could have broken the treaty he had just made and killed the deceptive Gibeonites—but their submissive posture and willingness to take on the faith commands of the Israelite community spared them from destruction. Joshua kept his oath, even though it hurt.

Fast forward to your life. Do you assume God’s will and fail to seek his input in your daily decisions, both great and small? Do you presume upon God? Are you guilty of a ready, fire, aim approach to living out your faith in the world where God has asked you to represent him? This is so easy to do, and we probably commit Joshua’s sin more often than we think.

Today, may Joshua’s failure to ask God first serve as a cautionary tale as you make decisions. Even in small, seemingly insignificant ones, be innocent of hastiness. Seek God first in all matters, large and small. And when you are ready to move forward in a matter, follow the correct protocol: ready, AIM, fire. May you always, always say, “I will seek the Lord first!”

Hmmm…sounds like something to which the Founder of our faith has called us: seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. Be a seek-first person!

“ When I put God first, God takes care of me and energizes me to do what really needs to be done. — DAVID JEREMIAH

SUMMARY: The story of Gideon’s dramatic rise and precipitous fall in Judges 6-8 is a classic reminder that it is not just a strong start that counts; it is finishing well that is the essential thing in our journey with God.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 8:27

Gideon made a sacred ephod from the gold and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping it, and it became a trap for Gideon and his family.[/

Conflicted. That is what Gideon was, as we see in Judges 8. Gideon was a conflicted man, increasingly at odds with his own beliefs and his calling. But he is not alone, because most leaders are. And so are most people, whether they are believers or not. You see, people live with a persistent sin nature that rises, early and often, to tempt them with attitudes and actions that are incongruent with their deeply held values.

Conflicted, that is what we are, hopelessly and helplessly! And without our conscious and daily submission to our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the continual indwelling and empowering of the Holy Spirit, we don’t stand a chance.

Consider Gideon. In the previous chapters, we find that he was at once humble (Judges 6:15), obedient (Judges 7:8), and dependent on God (Judges 7:15); yet, as we see from this story in chapter 8, he was also prideful, self-reliant, and disobedient.

Gideon went out to fight Midian in the power of the Lord and routed a far superior army in a stunning victory, but he came back a ruthless man (Judges 8:13-21), arrogantly refusing to be Israel’s king yet living like one anyway (Judges 8:22-24, 29-31), and disobedient in making a golden ephod that would lead Israel to worship it as an idol (Judges 8:27). The text says the golden ephod he made, representing his power, his success, and his status among the Israelites, became a trap for Gideon and his family (Judges 8:27).

What a quick and disappointing turnaround. His impossible victory over Midian was one for the ages. Gideon’s band of three hundred fighting men is still talked about to this day, used as an example of what God can do with a just few who are fully submitted to him. Yet within days of this victory, his base nature was taking over, and it led him to make decisions that set the stage for Israel to not only drift from God under Gideon’s watch by worshiping the golden ephod, but to plunge headlong into national idolatry after he died:

As soon as Gideon died, the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping the images of Baal, making Baal-berith their god. They forgot the Lord their God, who had rescued them from all their enemies surrounding them. Nor did they show any loyalty to the family of Gideon, despite all the good he had done for Israel. (Judges 8:33-35)

As we seek to make sense of this jaw-dropping spiritual reversal, Gideon’s story reminds us that the same sin nature that wreaked havoc in his life will mess us up just as quickly if we are not careful. Here are a few sobering lessons coming to us from Gideon’s story that we would do well to keep in mind:

First, charisma will only take you so far; it will be character that keeps you there. Obviously, Gideon had the ability to inspire others to follow him into an impossible battle, but his core values were not such that he could resist the temptations that came his way after the victory. Arguably, the true test of character is success.

Second, character issues that are left unchecked will resurface at some point in our lives, sooner or later. The only way to effectively deal with our sin is to allow the Lord to obliterate it. If it is not destroyed, it will come back to bite us. Whatever goes underground will resurface at some point.

Third, a victory today does not guarantee a victory tomorrow. We cannot rest on the laurels of past accomplishment; submission to God must be a daily victory.

Fourth, pride is an ever-present enemy of God’s plan to use us mightily for him. Pride is at the core of sin, continually causing issues of godship in our relationship with God.

Fifth, constant attention to sin is required to run our race strong and finish well. Over and again, the Bible calls us to stay alert, to be on guard, to be ever watchful for the Enemy’s work in our lives. Satan never gives up: we can serve up a devastating defeat by our obedience to God one day, and he will be right back at us the next, tempting us to stray from God.

The story of Gideon in Judges 6-8 is a classic reminder that it is not just a strong start that counts; it is finishing well that is the essential thing in our journey with God. May it be said of us, “they started strong and finished well.”

“ It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.. — SIR EDMUND HILLARY

SUMMARY: God desires to bless us—he really does. But there is a path to blessing that we must follow. The path is against the grain of human reasoning and self-gratification, but it is the one and only path that God has chosen for his people to walk. Walk it, my friend! It always leads to untold blessing!

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 8:2

God told Israel to completely destroy Jericho—an evil city that was a part of an exceedingly evil culture—which happened to stand directly in the way as Israel entered the Promised Land. It was the first city of conquest, and as such, it was the first fruits of sorts—the initial battle of their conquest of Canaan. The first fruits belong to God—in this case and every time. God says, “Give it to me, then I will give you the rest. This is how you will honor me and keep me first in your life.” Thus, with Jericho, the spoils of the battle were to be totally devoted to the Lord by annihilating this evil city and everything in it.

Yet one man, Achan, secretly, selfishly, and in willful disregard of what God had just commanded, took some plunder (Joshua 7:20-21), and, as a result, this individual’s disobedience led to a national disgrace settled upon Israel. The Israelites lost the next battle—one they should have easily won—and scores of warriors died. Because of the sin of one man, the whole nation suffered. Sound familiar? That is exactly what happened when Adam sinned,

When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. (Romans 5:12)

When you read the story of Achan’s punishment—and the brutality of his entire family being executed for his sin—and you are both feeling sorry for them and miffed that God overreacted, keep in mind that thousands of Israelites were mourning the deaths of their warrior sons who had been killed in battle because of this one man’s selfish act. That will put the harsh consequences of disobedience placed upon Achan, along with his entire family, into a sobering but more understandable light.

The takeaway from this story, and it is a sad one, is that Achan could have had everything his heart desired had he just followed the Lord’s commands. As we see in this next battle, the soldiers were free to take the plunder.

When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the wilderness where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it. Twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai. For Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed all who lived in Ai. But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the Lord had instructed Joshua. (Joshua 8:24-27)

Achan made the mistake we often make: Sacrificing a future of promised blessings that arrive only through trust and obedience for quick but temporal fixes that will end up destroying us. Call it what you will—delayed gratification, long-range planning, ruthless trust—waiting upon God in faith and obedience is the job of the Christian. And scripture is replete with promises for those who do:

No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced, but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others. (Psalm 25:5)

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. (Psalm 37:4-5)

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (Matthew 6:33)

The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:28-31)

God desires to bless us—he really does! But there is a path to blessing that we must follow. The path is against the grain of human reasoning and self-gratification, but it is the one and only path that God has chosen for his people to walk.

Walk it, my friend! It always leads to untold blessing!

“ Beware of reasoning about God’s Word—obey it. — OSWALD CHAMBERS

SUMMARY: Faith is putting our full confidence in the things we hope for; it means being certain of things we cannot see. (Hebrews 11:1-2) That makes faith ruthless trust in the care and competence of our Heavenly Father, that at the end of the day, he does all things well. Faith is unshakeable hope that God loves us and will work everything out for our good and his glory. Faith is not looking at the unmovable mountain in our way, but it is looking to the Mountain Mover on our side. The acrostic F.A.I.T.H. is absolutely accurate: Forsaking All, I Trust Him. That is why God allows us to be in situations where the genuineness of our faith can be proven, and where his own genuine goodness can be experienced. Do you want to be a person of great faith? Then let go and let God!

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 7:2-7

Gideon and his army got up early and went as far as the spring of Harod. The armies of Midian were camped north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength. Therefore, tell the people, ‘Whoever is timid or afraid may leave this mountain[a] and go home.’” So 22,000 of them went home, leaving only 10,000 who were willing to fight. But the Lord told Gideon, “There are still too many! Bring them down to the spring, and I will test them to determine who will go with you and who will not.” When Gideon took his warriors down to the water, the Lord told him, “Divide the men into two groups. In one group, put all those who cup water in their hands and lap it up with their tongues like dogs. In the other group, put all those who kneel and drink with their mouths in the stream.” Only 300 of the men drank from their hands. All the others got down on their knees and drank with their mouths from the stream. The Lord told Gideon, “With these 300 men I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites. Send all the others home.”

We want the odds to be in our favor. To mix metaphors, when push comes to shove, we are certainly not opposed to the decks being stacked in our favor. That is just human nature—fallen human nature, that is. But that is not the way of God, which means that is not the way of faith.

The thing is, we are created to glorify our Creator, to worship him, and fully enjoy him forever. Life is not about us, it is all about him, and how we can live to bring him maximum fame through our daily lives—in our everyday, walking around, eating, sleeping, talking, going about our business lives. Our job is to make God famous. And in doing that, we experience the deepest, longest-lasting satisfaction possible during the few decades we have been allotted in this one and only life.

But that means we must walk the way of faith. Faith is putting our full confidence in the things we hope for, it means being certain of things we cannot see. (Hebrews 11:1-2) Faith is ruthless trust in the care and competence of our Heavenly Father. Faith is unshakeable hope that God loves us and will work everything out for our good and his glory. Faith is not looking at the immovable mountain in our way; it is looking to the Mountain Mover on our side. Faith is Forsaking All, I Trust Him.

That is why God allows us to be in situations where the genuineness of our faith can be proven. You see, it doesn’t take much faith if we don’t really need God to step in. If there is not the possibility, at least on the human, visible level, that we can crash and burn if God doesn’t show up, then we are most likely not stepping out far enough where we have reached the rare air of risky faith. If we can do it without God, most likely we will take the credit for our success.

Remember, however, we were created to glorify him in everything we do. Remember that our one assignment is to make God famous. Remember that he designed us to be most satisfied in him when he is most glorified in us. That is precisely why he allows the decks to be stacked against us. It is then that he can supply us with supernatural power and all kinds of divine aid to rout our toughest enemies, overcome our most overwhelming odds, and win our most stunning victories.

That is precisely why God told Gideon to pare his fighting force down from thousands to just 300—against a Midianite army that was far superior in numbers, experience, and fighting talent. In God’s own words, “If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength.” God doesn’t share his glory—and that is a good thing. He allows us to share in his glory, but that comes only by deflecting all the glory that we might receive in our effort back to him. When we do that, his glory is reflected onto us in a way that we could never produce on our own.

Now, like me, you may not be totally comfortable with this whole business of the decked stack against you. But the record of scripture, the testimony of the faithful, and from my own experience, that is the way of faith. And frankly, I am glad it is. Get used to it!

So, if you’ve got horrible odds, not to worry: You are on the edge of a holy opportunity.

SUMMARY: We’ve been steeped in a cultural mindset of individualism to the point that we now simply cannot, or will not, consider the possibility of God’s response to community when life in that community goes sideways because of the sin of one. As believers, we need to give careful thought to how our individual behavior will affect those with whom we share life in our covenantal group—marriage, family, team, church, etc. The hard truth is, my private actions affect my public relationships.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 7:11-13

Any schoolkid of previous generations knows the “unfairness” of the class being punished for the wrongdoing of one unidentified classmate whose crime has yet to be found out. “How unfair, Teacher, that we all have to miss recess because one person stole your apple!”

That is what is happening to the nation of Israel in this story from Joshua 7. They’re being punished—all of them—for one man’s sin. Of course, Israel was unique in that it was a theocracy, and we don’t live under that system today in our pluralistic democracy. So, what was applied to Israel may not be exactly applied in our nation—although I suspect there is still a divine principle at play. Yet each of us does live in a theocratic community if we belong to a family or a church. And in that sense, we need to give careful thought as to how our individual behavior might affect those who share life with us in the community of Christ.

Israel had just experienced the extreme thrill of defeating the great walled city of Jericho—an impenetrable fortress by ancient standards. But it collapsed like a house of cards before the Lord’s people. Then, just days later, in the next battle, Israel was unexpectedly stunned at the fierce resistance of the small band of fighters of a village called Ai. In a matter of hours, God’s people went from the sublime to the ridiculous. Ai was a relatively small and defenseless city of no account, yet they fought for their very existence against the Israelite army—and they punched them in the nose. Thirty-six of Israel’s fighting men were immediately killed in battle, and the rout was on. Israel was stunned and disheartened.

All because of the sin of one man—Achan!

No matter how many times we moderns read the ancient story of the Israelites, we run across stories like this, Achan’s sin, and are left shaking our heads in wonderment—and not in the positive sense of wonderment. This is not a warm, fuzzy, and inspiring story. And there are many like it with which we must contend as we journey through the Old Testament.

When we read these stories—and admittedly, we don’t have the full backstory in every case—we are struck with a bad case of the fear of the Lord. There is no denying the anxiety we feel over his fierce holiness and the swift, sweeping judgment against human violation of that holiness, for if this happened because of one sin, we don’t stand a chance before God for our many sins.

Furthermore, the story in Joshua 7 is not just a one-off; there have been plenty. To name a few, we have witnessed the death of Nadab and Abihu for offering unholy fire on the altar (Leviticus 10), the execution of a blasphemer who cursed God’s name during a fight (Leviticus 24:10-23), the gruesome killing of a man who brought a Moabite woman into his tent to have sex with her—in broad daylight (Numbers 25), and now the stoning of a young man named Achan, along with his entire family, because he kept some of the expensive plunder from the battle of Jericho for himself.

Not that we would condone any of these sins—nobody who truly follows the Lord would justify any of these deliberate violations of God’s commands. Even still, the immediacy and severity of the punishment is hard to swallow for people like us who live at a time where consequences for actions seem to be decreasingly certain. So, we read stories like this, and if we do anything with them at all, we simply toss them into the “Painful Lessons” file.

One of those painful lessons here is the corporate-ness of sin. In our culture, we worship individualism. In fact, the early heroes who built our nation are praised for their rugged individualism. A large percentage of us are proud of that and have embraced that this is the superior way to live. While we nod our heads in agreement that the whole community is important, we tend to see the parts as more important than the whole; the many are servant to the one. You likely have your own story of whining that the whole class was punished for the actions of one student. To our Western mindset, that is the height of unfairness.

Yet while we embrace the idea of unity in the community, and the blessings that derive from it, why would we not accept the opposite? Why should we be surprised when the whole community suffers because an individual violated its values? If God favors corporate unity (Psalm 133:1-3), why would he lift his favor from the community when sin invades it through an individual member? But in God’s economy, it cuts both ways—the whole is blessed when the parts are right; the whole is cursed when the parts are wrong.

I suspect you are still not convinced. I don’t like it either. But we have been so steeped in a cultural mindset of individualism that we simply cannot, or will not, embrace God’s response to community when life in the community goes sideways. Of course, Israel was unique in that it was a theocracy, and we don’t live under that system today in our pluralistic democracy. So, what was applied to Israel may not be applied to the same degree in our nation—although I suspect there is still a divine principle at play.

Yet each of us does live in a theocratic community if we belong to a family, small group, ministry team, or church. And in that sense, we need to give careful thought as to how our individual behavior might affect those who share life with us in the community. And while we don’t suffer the same degree of punishment that Achan and his family suffered, we can—and should—learn the painful lesson of Achan: My private actions affect my public relationships.

I love painful lessons—said no one ever—but thank God for them!

SUMMARY: When God is with a person, then even the weakest, most reluctant, and least qualified is a mighty man or woman of valor. It is not a person’s gifts, talents, skills, temperament, and popularity that tip the scales as to whether they will be successful or not, though these personal qualities are not unimportant/ It is God’s presence that determines the outcome of success in their life. If God is for us, who can be against us!

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 6:11-14

The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. Gideon replied, “Pardon me, but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us. Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hands of Midian. The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?

When will we ever learn that God doesn’t see things the way we do when he chooses people for his service? No one would have looked at a barren married couple in their nineties as logical candidates to be the parents of many nations. God saw something in Abram and Sarai that we couldn’t see. No one would have looked at the stuttering fugitive, wanted for murder, now on the lam in the Sinai wilderness, as Israel’s deliverer. But God saw something in Moses that we couldn’t see. No one would have looked at a young, ruddy shepherd boy, the runt among his strapping brothers, and predicted that he would be a giant slayer, a mighty king, and a man after God’s own heart. But God saw something in David that we couldn’t see.

Long before we see potential in a person, God does.

Such was the case with Gideon in Judges 6. When God found this man who would become one of the greatest judges in Israel’s history, he was hiding in fear in a winepress (Judges 6:11), blaming God for Israel’s subjugation at the hand of Midian when it was clearly Israel’s fault (Judges 6:13), and mired in the quicksand poor self-esteem, arguing with God as to why he was the wrong choice to deliver Israel (Judges 6:15).

Not a great job interview! Yet God saw past Gideon’s obvious weaknesses and addressed him, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!” You see, when God is with you—and that is key—then even the weakest, most reluctant, least qualified, is a mighty man or woman of valor. It is not our gifts, talents, skills, temperament, or résumé of past success that tip the scales on whether we will be successful, though these personal qualities are not unimportant. It is God’s presence that determines the outcome of success in our lives. If God is for us, who can be against us!

When God calls us, our résumés change before we accomplish one single thing. We immediately achieve conqueror status—in advance. When God is with us, then we can simply go in the strength we have (Judges 6:14) and do what the Almighty has foreordained. To go in our strength is to simply put our gifts, talents, skills, and temperament on the line for God, then let God do the rest. We might see ourselves, or others, as Gideon saw himself: The least qualified in the least qualified family. God sees that too—more than we do. But God also sees something else. He sees that he will be with us, and he sees that he will go before us, and he sees that he has already accomplished what he has predetermined.

That is why God chose Abram and Sarai, Moses, David—and all the other heroes that occupy the Great Hall of Faith of Hebrews 11; none of which we would have chosen. But God chose them, and that sealed the deal; that guaranteed their success; that put them into the realm of mighty men and women of valor long before they or anyone saw them in that grand light.

Do you ever wonder how God views you? Wonder no longer! He sees not what you aren’t, but what you are: A person he has chosen and blessed with his presence to do great and impossible things for him. So go with what you’ve got. The Lord is with you!

“ God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called. — VARIOUSLY ATTRIBUTED

SUMMARY: Never in the history of Christianity have we had so many famous pastors—and those wanting to become famous—as we do now. But the biblically approved spiritual leader, the one with whom God is pleased, has one job and one job only: to make Jesus famous! And if Jesus wants to make the leader famous, well, that is Jesus’ business.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 6:27

As media technologies continue to increase, so has the universal rise of celebrity preachers. Never in the history of Christianity have we had so many famous pastors—and those wanting to become famous—as we do now. If you’re a spiritual leader and you aren’t hawking all the books you have authored, beaming your mug to adoring congregants to a multi-site campus, tweeting to your six-figure social media followers, and getting quoted by the media on the issue du jour, you ain’t all that much.

Of course, technology now allows us to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world in unprecedented ways—and that is a great thing. But inherent in this ability to communicate to the masses is the danger of showcasing ourselves rather than showcasing Jesus. The god of fame lurks; the seduction of celebrity has never been stronger in the Christian world than it is right now—and that’s not a great thing!

The true spiritual leader, the one with whom God is well pleased, has one job and one job only: to make Jesus famous! And if Jesus wants to make the leader famous, well, that is Jesus’ business. Unlike far too many of today’s Christian celebrities, Joshua was a leader whom God decided to make famous. Joshua 2:7 and 4:14 says,

The Lord told Joshua, ‘Today I will begin to make you a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites. They will know that I am with you, just as I was with Moses.’ …That day the Lord made Joshua a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites, and for the rest of his life they revered him as much as they had revered Moses.

And, of course, our featured verse today says, “God was with Joshua. He became famous all over the land.” (The Message) How refreshing! In today’s culture of celebrity, where leaders do whatever they can to make themselves famous, here was a guy who didn’t have to. God did it for him. And there is no better PR firm than the Holy Trinity!

What makes a leader great and opens the door to his or her fame? Some would say charisma is the key. Others might say it’s a combination of skill, intellect, and the ability to inspire others to accomplish a compelling mission. Then there are those who would argue that not only are charisma and persuasion necessary, but it’s also a matter of being the right person in the right place and the right time.

I wouldn’t argue with any of those ideas. But above all else, I would argue that what makes a leader a great and fame-worthy leader is simply God’s touch upon his or her life. Where God makes a man or woman great in the eyes of the people, there you have the makings of a leader who is one for the ages. Joshua was just such a leader.

In Joshua, you find true success! Not that he leveraged his considerable talents, sharp intellect, political capital, magnanimous personality, and a stellar resume of past achievements of leading the Israelites to victory, but it was that God made him great in the eyes of the people. Never did Joshua take any credit for himself in the victories and miracles that God performed. As Moses had been a humble leader, so, too, was Joshua. Like his predecessor, he was a true servant of God and of the Israelites. He served at God’s pleasure and recognized that his success came only by God’s power and grace. And it was God who made Joshua great before all Israel.

That’s the kind of leader I want to be. I want to be a great leader because of God’s touch on my life; because of the work that he does in, for, and through me. If there is anything that makes me worth following, may it be because of what God has done. What I do through my own gifts, personality, and personal determination will, at best, quickly fade. But what God does through me will last for all eternity, and best of all, bring all the glory to the God who has equipped me to lead.

What about you? Do you desire to be a leader—a person of influence in your home, school, business, or some other arena? You might feel unqualified and unworthy. Part of you may want to let someone else to lead; someone more qualified, smarter, holier, better than you. But it could be that God has placed in you the kinds of gifts, talents, brainpower, and favor that he wants to use in leading people to extend his Kingdom in this world.

If God is calling you to leadership, submit your life to him. Then, if he chooses, let God make you great in the eyes of those you would lead.

However, if you are already a leader who has the adoration of the masses, do whatever you can to deflect the glory back to the God who deserves the glory alone. Whatever glory you give to God through your life and ministry, the more bless-able you will be—right now and throughout all eternity.

“ Worldly fame is but a breath of wind that blows now this way, and now that, and changes name as it changes direction. — DANTE ALIGHIERI

SUMMARY: The realm of spiritual warfare where the Christian resides is no theological “Switzerland.” Moral issues demand that we take a stand as Kingdom ambassadors. We cannot keep our distance from this conflict; we cannot stay neutral in it. We must engage, even when the odds are overwhelming. To step forward in faith into the fray is to be on the right side of history — what we can rightly call “His story” — and time will prove it.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 5:15-18, 24-25

The princes of Issachar were with Deborah; yes, Issachar was with Barak, sent under his command into the valley. In the districts of Reuben there was much searching of heart. Why did you stay among the sheep pens to hear the whistling for the flocks? In the districts of Reuben there was much searching of heart. Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan. And Dan, why did he linger by the ships? Asher remained on the coast and stayed in his coves. The people of Zebulun risked their very lives; so did Naphtali on the terraced fields….Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of tent-dwelling women.

In Judges 5, the prophetess Deborah composed a tune to commemorate the Israelites’ victory, led by General Barak, over the Canaanites and their leader, General Sisera. The memorable and brutal battle described in Judges 4 ended with the gruesome death of Sisera. Deborah used the occasion to memorialize the details of Israel’s victory in this song—a song she not only composed but also sang for all to hear.

The tune, however, was not just a celebration; it was a diatribe as well. Not only did she celebrate the brave hearts of several of Israel’s tribes, Issachar, Ephraim, Benjamin, and Zebulun, along with the courageous lady named Jael, who assassinated Sisera, but she also castigates the indecision of other tribes, Reuben, Dan, and Asher. These latter tribes apparently sat out the conflict because it didn’t directly concern them.

Rueben was conflicted about joining the fight, apparently not so sure there would be a good outcome, given how badly Israel was outmanned and outgunned: “In Reuben there was much searching of heart.” (Judges 5:15-16). The others, the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Zebulun, were either sitting in the safety of being far from the conflict or too busy with their own concerns to jump into the fray.

Despite the lack of participation from these four tribes, Israel conquered the Canaanites. It was an amazing victory for Israel when General Barak put the larger, better-equipped army led by General Sisera to flight. But when the time came for courage, for the reasons mentioned above, the four stayed home. In so doing, they earned the ire of this steely prophetess, Deborah. She interpreted their reluctance as disloyalty to the nation, which was tantamount to a lack of faith, disobedience, and disloyalty to God. So, she called them out publicly for seeing themselves as separate entities rather than as a part of the nation, a problem Moses had previously warned about, and a problem that became reality in future chapters throughout Judges.

So, what does this story have to do with you? Simply this: there is always conflict in the believer’s life. At times, the conflict is in the unseen realm, while at other times it spills over into the real world in your personal, family, social, professional, and church life. In the raging battle, there is always a right and wrong side, a side that represents good and one that represents evil. And wherever conflict invades your world, there are always three positions you can take—one right, two wrong.

The two wrong sides are like what we see immortalized in Deborah’s song. One side, represented by Reuben, is to stay neutral in the fray when the choice is clear. The Rueben mentality is conflicted, not sure what to do, worried about the cost, wanting to play it safe, but not feeling so good about sitting it out. But safe it is not, it is wrong, for in the fight of faith, there is no neutral spiritual Switzerland. Moral issues demand that we take a stand.

The second wrong side takes a definite stance to sit it out. The sit-it-out crowd is too busy, too far removed (they don’t have a dog in this fight, or so they think), and to jump into the fray would take too much effort for too little reward. But in the fight of faith, where the choice is clear, staying off the field will only get you into history books for the wrong reason. Spiritual infamy is not what you want when you are needed in the conquest.

There is only one right side, and that is to step forward in faith to fight for right. When sin threatens, encroaches, or seeks to enslave, even when it seems the odds are against you or against those who need your help, Deborah’s eternal call is to jump into the fray. Her words to Barak are the Word of the Lord to you:

This is the day the Lord has given your enemy into your hands—for the Lord is marching ahead of you. (Judges 4:14)

Where is the battle of faith calling you to take a stand today? If there is an identifiable conflict, jump into the fray. God is already there, and you are not only guaranteed a win but also an eternal song to commemorate your conquest.

“ When you fear God, you fear nothing else, but if you do not fear God, you fear everything else. — OSWALD CHAMBERS

SUMMARY: Whenever you step forward in faith, God will do the rest: rivers will part, dry land will appear, walls will fall, enemies will flee, the sun will stand still, and the Land of Promise will become your Land of Possession. You will never regret putting your trust in the Lord.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 5:1

Contrast this story with the one we read in Numbers 13-14 about the 12 spies returning from surveying Canaan. Ten of those spies came back from reconnoitering the Promised Land and gave a very pessimistic report to Moses and the Israelites. And when God’s people heard it, they lost heart and became paralyzed with fear.

But the ten spies said, “We can’t attack those people; they’re way stronger than we are.” They spread scary rumors among the people of Israel. They said, “We scouted out the land from one end to the other—it’s a land that swallows people whole. Everybody we saw was huge. Why, we even saw the Nephilim giants (the Anak giants come from the Nephilim). Alongside them we felt like grasshoppers. And they looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers.” The whole community was in an uproar, wailing all night long. All the People of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The entire community was in on it: “Why didn’t we die in Egypt? Or in this wilderness? Why has God brought us to this country to kill us? Our wives and children are about to become plunder. Why don’t we just head back to Egypt? And right now!” Soon they were all saying it to one another: “Let’s pick a new leader; let’s head back to Egypt.” (Numbers 13:31-14:4, MSG)

What a lost opportunity! If only they had remained faithful to God and confident in his call, the same story that the Israelites experienced in Joshua 5 would have become theirs. That same race of giants, the Nephilim, that made the Israelites feel like grasshoppers, were now the ones who were feeling small, as we read in our current story:

Their hearts sank; the courage drained out of them just thinking about the people of Israel. (Joshua 5:1, MSG)

Joshua 5 could have occurred forty years earlier, and the people Moses led out of Egypt would have entered their Promised Land. Instead, they forfeited the promises of God for death in the wilderness because of fear and disobedience. Untold numbers of people died over four decades, with the most disheartening words in the library of human language on their lips: “If only.” What might have been had they just trusted the God who had led them?

Fortunately, the next generation learned a very difficult but important lesson at their parents’ expense. They witnessed the unbelief of their fathers and mothers and the harsh consequences of shrinking back in fear, and determined that, while there might be other sins, unbelief would not be one of theirs. They stepped forward in faith, and behold, God did the rest: rivers parted, dry land appeared, walls fell, enemies fled, the sun stood still, and the Land of Promise became the Land of Possession.

No one has ever regretted trusting God. Obedience to the call of the Lord has never left a person disappointed. God has never abandoned anyone who followed his command. Not a single person who stepped out to put God’s promises to the test has ever died whispering, “What might have been if I had just NOT trusted God so much.” As the prophet said in Jeremiah 17:7-8,

But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”

Trust God completely, and you will live a satisfying life of no regrets!

SUMMARY: What would you attempt for God if you knew that he was already where your steps of faith would lead you? How energetically would you press forward if you knew he was waiting there for you to arrive? What level of confidence would you have knowing that God had gone ahead of you and secured your victory even before the battle began? The truth is, when God calls you to step out, he has not only promised to be with you, but he has also promised to go before you. And while you may not see around the bend of faith, God is already there with your victory in hand.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 4:14-15

Then Deborah said to Barak, “Get ready! This is the day the Lord will give you victory over Sisera, for the Lord is marching ahead of you.” So Barak led his 10,000 warriors down the slopes of Mount Tabor into battle. When Barak attacked, the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and warriors into a panic.

What would you attempt for God if you knew the Lord was marching ahead of you? What grand thing would you pursue if you knew that he was already where your steps of faith would lead you, waiting for you to arrive? What level of confidence would you have knowing that God had gone ahead of you and secured your victory even before the battle began?

When God calls you to a step of faith, you are guaranteed his presence and his power, which means that you are invincible in the journey. Moreover, he has not only promised to be with you, but he has also promised to go before you, and while you may not see around the bend of faith, God is already there, waiting for you to take the victory lap for a success that he achieved for you. How cool is that!

That is exactly what the prophetess Deborah is telling the reluctant general of the Israelite army, Barak. He is shivering in his boots, knowing that his army is outmanned and outgunned by the Canaanite army of General Sisera. We are told in Judges 4:3, “Sisera, who had 900 iron chariots, ruthlessly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.” 900 iron chariots to Israel’s none…no wonder, on a human level, Barak was not too excited about leading Israel into battle.

But this battle would not be fought only on a human level. No battle is. In the spiritual realm, God had already heard the cries of the Israelites and had determined to deliver them from their oppressors under the guidance of Deborah the Judge and Barak the General. Considering that, the fight was over before it even started. Barak couldn’t see that, but Deborah could. That is why she told him, “Now get out there and fight, for God is already ahead of you and has guaranteed the victory. C’mon, go take your victory lap.” And that is exactly what Barak did, and a great deliverance for Israel was accomplished.

Perhaps you are a little uncertain about what’s next for you. Maybe you’re not too confident about your future. Maybe the circumstances you face are overwhelming, from a human perspective. You are outnumbered and outgunned. But where God is asking you to step out in faith, those odds do not matter one iota. God is on your side; he is not only with you, but also before you. He is already where he has called you to go, waiting for you to walk into a victory that he has secured for you. That means you cannot lose. So, take heart!

Therefore, because of God’s exemplary record of faithful goodness in leading his people to victory, do not be afraid to trust an unknown tomorrow to a known God. Get ready! This is the day God will give you victory, for he is marching ahead of you. That is God’s promise to you!

In a verse similar to this one, King David said to his son Solomon as he gave him the daunting task of building a temple in Jerusalem to the God of Israel,

Be strong and courageous and get to work. Don’t be frightened by the size of the task, for the Lord God is with you; he will not forsake you. He will see to it that everything is finished correctly. (1 Chronicles 28:20, LB)

Whatever is before you, if God is calling you to step out, then do it with confidence; God is already out there where you have been called to go. And he has guaranteed victory if you go with him!

“ “Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.” — CORRIE TEN BOOM

SUMMARY: What makes a leader great? Some would say charisma is the key. Others might say it’s a combination of skill, intellect, and the ability to inspire people to accomplish a mission. Then some argue that not only are charisma and persuasion necessary, but it’s also a matter of being the right person in the right place at the right time. I wouldn’t argue with any of those ideas. But foremost, I would say that what makes a leader a great leader is no less than God’s touch upon his or her life.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 4:14

What makes a leader great? Some would say charisma is the key. Others might say it’s a combination of skill, intellect, and the ability to inspire others to accomplish the mission. Then there are those who would argue that not only are charisma and persuasion necessary, but it’s a matter of also being the right person in the right place and the right time.

I wouldn’t argue with any of those ideas. But foremost, I would argue that what makes a leader a great leader is no less than God’s touch upon his or her life. Or at least that’s what should be the defining factor in great leadership. Where God makes a man or woman great in the eyes of the people, there you have the makings of a leader who is one for the ages. Joshua was just such a leader.

In Joshua, you find true success! Not that he leveraged his considerable talents, sharp intellect, political capital, past successes, and magnanimous personality to lead the people to victory, but that God made him great in the eyes of the people. Never did Joshua take any credit for himself in the victories and miracles that God performed. As Moses had been a humble leader, so, too, was Joshua. Like his predecessor, he was a true servant of God and priestly guide of the Israelites. He served at God’s pleasure and recognized that his success came only by God’s power and grace. And God made Joshua great before all Israel.

Notice the backstory to the verse I selected for today’s reading; here is Joshua 2:7 in combination with Joshua 4:14:

The Lord told Joshua, ‘Today I will begin to make you a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites. They will know that I am with you, just as I was with Moses” …. That day the Lord made Joshua a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites, and for the rest of his life they revered him as much as they had revered Moses.

That’s the kind of leader I want to be. I want to be a great leader because of God’s touch on my life; because of the work that he does in, for, and through me. If there is anything that makes me worth following, may it be because of what God has done. What I do through my own gifts, personality, and personal determination will, at best, quickly fade. But what God does through me will last for all eternity, and best of all, bring all the glory to the God who has equipped me to lead.

What about you? Do you desire to be a leader? You might feel unqualified and unworthy. Part of you may want to let someone else lead; someone more qualified, more intelligent, holier, and better than you. But it could be that God has placed in you the kinds of gifts, talents, brainpower, and favor that he wants to use in leading people to extend his Kingdom in this world.

If God is calling you to leadership, submit your life to him. Then let God make you great in the eyes of those you would lead.

“ The top person doesn’t have to be everything…The biggest human detriment in any organization is ego. — KEN BLANCHARD

SUMMARY: Wouldn’t it make your life simpler and easier if God just stepped in and vaporized your every spiritual enemy? Why doesn’t He?
Among other reasons known only to God, one important reason is that He is testing you, and he is teaching you so that He might increase your trust in Him. He allows you to be in strenuous situations to test and temper your faith, and through those moments, He forces you to learn the art of spiritual warfare. You see, the battle you are in is not flesh and blood; it is from the unseen realm, and it masquerades as people and circumstances in the seen world. And your most effective weapons in every battle are your ruthless trust in God and unquestionable obedience to His commands. So, if you’re in a battle right now, take heart. You will be victorious … if you trust and obey. Furthermore, God is doing you a favor by getting you ready for greater things!

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 3:1-2,4

These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience)….These enemy nations were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.

Do you ever wish God would just annihilate sin in your life? Wouldn’t it be nice if he removed everything that troubles your soul? How wonderful it would be if the Christian’s voyage from salvation to eternity were nothing but smooth sailing!

Yes, that would be nice. But God doesn’t work that way. He could have given Abraham and Sarah, whom he called the parents of many nations, an heir long before they were in their nineties and well past the years of bearing a son. He didn’t have to leave Joseph languishing in a prison cell for 15 years, training him to be a faithful leader in small matters and under great duress, when a weekend stay would have sufficed. The Lord didn’t have to teach Moses how to shepherd Israel over a forty-year illustrious career by first burying him in ignominy and isolation during a forty-year stint as a goat herder on the backside of the Sinai desert. And God didn’t have to take the Israelites on a forty-year meandering journey through that same desert when two years would have gotten them from Egypt to Canaan and more than sufficed to mold them into a nation.

The thing is, God takes his time in preparing his people. He does it apart from our sense of time because God is God. And God knows more than we do. And God can do what he wants. And God knows that it takes us a long time to learn. So, he uses the sharpest edge tool, discomfort, to test us and to train us for glorious purposes.

After Joshua died and the Israelites settled in Canaan, there were still more than a few enemy nations in the land. Moses had commanded that Israel wipe them out because they would ultimately lead God’s people astray by enticing them to tolerate, then accept, then actually worship their gods. Israel had failed to remove these nations, and sure enough, Israel began to intermarry with some of them and live alongside others as if it were no big deal. But it was a big deal indeed, because what Moses predicted was exactly what happened: Israel began to embrace the unspeakable pagan practices of these Canaanite nations. So God punished them.

Punishment came in the form of subjugation—the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites defeated Israel and put onerous demands and taxation upon them. Finally, in desperation, Israel cried out to God, who in turn raised up judges to deliver his people. This is the story of Judges: Judge after judge is raised up to lead Israel into repentance, unite and inspire them, then lead them into battle and throw off the oppressive yoke of their masters. This vicious cycle of subjugation, desperation, repentance, and deliverance took place over a period of 400 years.

But there was something else going on during this time. God was testing the loyalty of his people by leaving these pagan nations that Israel had failed to remove; he wanted to show them how easy and quickly they would surrender to the enticement of the false gods, which they did! And he not only tested them, but he had to teach them how to battle their way back to holiness and freedom by throwing off the yoke of their oppressors. They had to suffer the consequences of the pain that always followed enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season; they had to relearn the power of holiness; and they had to learn the literal fighting skills it would take to decimate these enemy nations.

Why doesn’t God completely vaporize your every spiritual enemy? Same reasons! He is testing you and teaching you. He allows you to be in strenuous situations to test and temper your faith, and then in those moments, he forces you to learn the art of spiritual warfare, of which the chief weapons are ruthless trust and unquestionable obedience. The argument could be made that you wouldn’t really need the testing and teaching if you were sinlessly perfect, but you are not. So God does you a favor by testing you and teaching you.

So, until you are sinlessly perfect—which means you will have died and are firmly in heaven—then praise God that in the meantime, he is getting you battle-ready!

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 3:9,13

In matters great and small, God always calls his people to steps of faith. It is simply the law of the Kingdom. Expressing faith in the spiritual realm is akin to inhaling oxygen in the physical realm. That is just the way God operates. In fact, so fundamental to our relationship with God is faith that the writer of Hebrews explains,

No one can please God without faith, for whoever comes to God must have faith that God exists and rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6 TEV)

In this case, the Israelites needed to cross the Jordan River to take possession of the land God had promised them. Furthermore, the river was at flood stage. Interestingly, the Promised Land never meant a lack of problems, challenges, obstacles, and otherwise “impossible” situations. In fact, just the opposite is true—there will be more problems, challenges, obstacles, and impossibilities in your Promised Land that will require God to show up and act on your behalf. As has been rightly noted: There is no testimony without a test!

Yet if God had helped the Israelites all along the way through their forty years in the wilderness, he would have a plan for them this time, too. And he did! So, what was the Divine plan? They were simply to have the priests carry the Ark of the Covenant to the banks of the swollen Jordan River, then step out into the river’s swirling currents—and as soon as they do, God will dam the flooding Jordan upriver, and two million Israelites will walk across on dry land. Simple, but not easy!

Of course, they obeyed, God did what he said he would do, and the Israelites crossed on dry ground.

Now we get to read ahead in the story, so no big deal, right? But think of it from their real-time perspective—especially the priests. This was a seriously risky step God was asking them to take.

So, since the Bible tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God, he will make sure we, too, have plenty of opportunities to express it—and on some occasions, that will mean stepping into our own Jordan River at flood stage. And like the Israelites, we will have to take that step without the perspective of already knowing the end of the story? Given that, what can we learn from these Israelites in this moment about those steps of faith? Two things to keep in mind:

First, God already knows the end of the story, even though we don’t. We only see the next step, which often looks scary and impossible. God sees the rest of the road ahead, and he will never ask of us a step that will harm us, but only that which will strengthen our confidence in his care and competence. Furthermore, while it seems we are taking a step into thin air, God’s track record of faithfulness is to build the highway of faith under our feet, albeit one step at a time. So go ahead—take the step!

Second, God’s purpose in our steps of faith is always to bring greater glory to himself—through us. Notice what Joshua said to the Israelites at the end of the story in Joshua 4:20-24—after they had, indeed, walked across the raging Jordan during flood stage on dry ground,

And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.”

Faith makes things possible, not easy! Steps of faith from your perspective will never be comfortable. But you can trust God, whose best work comes as you take those steps. And while he does the impossible and he brings glory to himself, he is giving you an enduring testimony. Best of all, when you step into your Jordan, the very stuff that is necessary to pleasing God—faith—is dramatically increased in your life.

So go ahead—take that step!

“ Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. — CORRIE TEN BOOM

SUMMARY: God has no grandchildren. Each generation is responsible to seek God for itself. And it is the parents’ responsibility to drill that into their children. They may reject their parents’ faith, but not because the parents didn’t do their best to inculcate their kids with the knowledge of God. If the parents fail to do this, or if the kids refuse to accept this, the outcome will be predictable: Prosperity … Rebellion … Consequence … Repentance … Restoration … Prosperity … Rebellion  Consequence. Repentance. It is the vicious cycle of rebellion and restoration. It would be a lot simpler and far better if we stayed in the restoration zone.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 2:10-14,16

After Joshua’s generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things He had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal. They abandoned the God of their ancestors who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the Lord. They abandoned Him to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth. This made the Lord burn with anger against Israel, so He handed them over to raiders who stole their possessions. He turned them over to their enemies all around, and they were no longer able to resist them.

Prosperity. Rebellion. Consequence. Repentance. Restoration. Prosperity. Rebellion. Consequence. Repentance. Restoration, Prosperity. Rebellion…

That is the sad cycle of Judges. So be warned: you will get a lot of that as you read this book. In many ways, it is a frustrating, if not depressing, history, but such is the dark reality of life in rebellion against God. Yet within this collection of stories that take place over the 400 years between Joshua’s death and the arrival of Samuel the prophet, you will also find sun breaks of God’s grace, inspiring stories of heroic men and woman who stepped in to lead Israel to revival, and invaluable life application for those who are serious about obeying their covenant of love with God.

This second chapter is both a preview and an overview of the book of Judges. The verse above captures the problem: when Joshua and his generation died, the baton was somehow dropped to the next generation, and for whatever reason, they “knew neither the Lord nor what he had done.”

Therein lies the problem that has perpetually haunted God’s people. The next generation somehow misses out on knowing God. Interesting, and sad, isn’t it! Their parents knew God, enjoyed his favor, experienced his presence, and walked in obedience before him. But their kids missed out. What the parents knew and loved didn’t transfer to the children. For the next generation, “the God of my fathers” never became “my Lord and my God!”

Why? Who knows for sure, but just as we have seen within our own families, there are different reasons. Perhaps the parents were so busy with God stuff that they didn’t include their kids. Maybe the parents assumed their faith would simply transfer, sort of by osmosis, to their children. It could be that the next generation grew up with a sense of entitlement—that they deserved God’s presence and his favor. It might be that the kids vicariously lived out their parents’ spirituality. Or it is possible that these children grew up around the holy, and it just became so common that their sense of God became jaded. There are many possibilities, but whatever the reason, the God of their fathers never became their God.

The deal is, God has no grandchildren. Each generation is responsible to seek God for itself. And it is the responsibility of the parents to drill that into their kids, early and often. At the end of the day, they may reject their parents’ faith, but not because the parents didn’t do their best to inculcate their kids with the knowledge of God.

If the parents fail to do this, or if their kids refuse to accept this, the outcome will be predictable: Prosperity. Rebellion. Consequence. Repentance. Restoration. Prosperity. Rebellion. Consequence. Repentance. It is the vicious cycle of rebellion and restoration. It would just be a lot simpler and far better if we would just stay in the restoration zone.

What is the key to avoiding the Judges syndrome: Know God and remember what he has done. That is not a passive thing, but an active laying hold of the things of the Lord. It takes consistent, dogged intentionality, but it is well worth the effort.

Summary: You may not see what God is up to, but he is up to something good—and that includes his good plans for you. Yes, God is fulfilling his purposes for his own glory, but he is also working out the details of your life for your good. Don’t let circumstances tell you otherwise. You may be tempted to flee in fear, and God’s enemies may be fighting mad at God, and anything God loves, which includes you, but at the same time, God is repurposing even the most unlikely sources, as we will see in our featured verse today, the “Rahabs” in your world, as instruments of His inexorable plan.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 2:7-11

God is always at work, even when we cannot see it. God is always fulfilling his glorious purposes, which include perfecting everything that concerns you and me. Perhaps you should memorize, meditate on, and quote Psalm 138:8 as I have,

The Lord will perfect that which concerns me. (Psalm 138:8)

At times, God is working in visible, dramatic, and undeniable ways. We will see an example of that very thing a few chapters later, when in Joshua 6 the walls of the city of Jericho miraculously fall. Those kinds of stories are strategically placed throughout scripture to build our confidence in God. But between those faith stories, which are long stretches of time, God’s work is not so visible. He is not inactive, mind you; his work is just invisible. You see, most of the time God is behind the scenes, working in unseen ways, as is the case here in Joshua 2. The Israelite spies Joshua sent out to size up Jericho have entered the city, but word has gotten out, and now the authorities are looking for them. Their lives are at risk. They don’t see that God is at work—not yet anyway. For all they know, they’re toast!

Then Rehab rescues the day. Yes, Rahab—an idol-worshipping, streetwalking, “lady of the night.” At great risk to her own life and that of her family, she hides the spies and tricks the authorities, making it possible for the two deep-cover Israelites to make it out alive. What the two spies didn’t know at the time was that God was working on their behalf by working on a prostitute, whom he would use in such a significant act of faith that her bravery would land her in God’s Great Hall of Faith. (cf., Hebrews 11:30-31)

As she spoke with the spies, this lady of questionable character was laying down some unquestionable theology: the work of God on Israel’s behalf was striking fear in the hearts of Israel’s enemies. The mighty acts of deliverance forty years prior in Egypt and over the decades of Israel’s wandering in the desert had been sending shock waves into the unseen realm, and the principalities and powers that opposed God, and everything of God, were quaking in their boots. God had been at work all along on Israel’s behalf, and they didn’t even know it.

What is interesting here is how the different actors respond. The enemies of God are fighting mad. The men of God are fleeing in fear. The woman of the night is responding in faith. And over it all, God is at work, fulfilling his purposes and perfecting everything that concerns his people—redeeming a prostitute, rescuing the spies, and redirecting the bounty hunters.

That is true for you, too. You may not see what God is up to, but he is up to good. He is fulfilling his purposes for his own glory and working out the details of your life for your good. Don’t let circumstances tell you otherwise. You may be tempted to flee in fear, and God’s enemies may be fighting mad—at both God and you. But at the same time, God will be repurposing even the most unlikely sources, the Rahabs in your world, as instruments of faith.

What you see isn’t all that is going on. Never forget that. And learn to trust God’s unseen but unstoppable work on your behalf.

“ It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye. — ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPERY

SUMMARY: We must remember that when it comes to sin, we are in a battle. It is an all-out war that we can and must win (and with God’s help, we will, since he is fighting for us!), but it is a war in which there can be no truce. It is total victory or utter defeat. Sin is your enemy, not your neighbor. Treat it ruthlessly!

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 1:21

The tribe of Benjamin, however, failed to drive out the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem. So to this day the Jebusites live in Jerusalem among the people of Benjamin.

The tribe of Benjamin failed to drive out the Canaanites. So did the tribes of Judah (Judges 1:19), Manasseh (Judges 1:27), Ephraim (Judges 1:29), Zebulun (Judges 1:30) Asher (Judges 1:31), Naphtali (Judges 1:33) and while we are not explicitly told the tribe of Dan failed, apparently, they permitted their enemies to stay around the edge of their territory (Judges 1:24-26).

So basically, Israel failed to do what God commanded them to do when failure was not one of the options he gave his people.

And it came back to bite them! You see, pagan enemies always make bad neighbors. When Israel allowed the godless Canaanites to live in their midst, or even close in close proximity, over the 400 years time span that the book of Judges covered, early and often God’s people predictably fell victim to a variety of sinful influences these godless cultures embraced—sexual immorality, idol worship, child sacrifice, and if even worse, if that is possible. Let me say it again, because God said it over and over to his people:

Pagan enemies make bad neighbors!

Obviously, we are not commanded to literally drive non-believers out of our neighborhoods, our community groups, or our various governmental expressions—local, state, or federal (although the right to vote allows us to make those kinds of changes through legal means). That would be rather poor form these days, and, in reality, against the law. Instead, we are to witness to them of the grace of our Lord Jesus, model for them the redemptive love of God, and win over their hearts and minds to his kingdom.

Yet the spiritual application from Judges 1 is quite clear: Just as God commanded Israel to drive the pagan enemies out of the land that he had promised as their homeland, we have been called to deal just as ruthlessly with spiritual enemies in our homeland—our hearts and homes. Failure to do so will result in these worldly influences harassing us until the day we die. They will be a constant source of irritation at the very least, and at worst, perhaps even trainwreck our relationship with the people we love and with God. Moreover, when we allow godless influences into our homes, especially through the unfiltered and unchallenged consumption of media, we are exposing the vulnerable minds of our children and ourselves to these destructive pagan influences.

We must remember that when it comes to sin, we are in a battle. It is an all-out war that we can and must win (and with God’s help, we will, for he is fighting for us!), but it is a war in which there can be no truce. It is total victory or utter defeat.

That is not just because I say so; it is due to the nature of the conflict. The reason Jesus came, died, and rose again was to defeat the Enemy:

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work….Jesus shared in our humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil.” (1 John 3:8, Hebrews 2:14)

On the other hand, while Jesus’ purpose was to kill that which would steal, kill, and destroy us, the devil is committed to our utter defeat. He is not looking just to gain territory; he is not hoping that we coexist; he will not be satisfied with establishing a demilitarized zone with us; he wants to destroy us. He hates God, and everything of God, which includes you and me:

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

That is the nature of the conflict. C.S. Lewis rightly described it thus: “There is no neutral ground in the universe: every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.” And your life is ground zero in this cosmic conflict. So take note, stay alert, be armed, and get ruthless with sin. And be encouraged, because you were made to win:

But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.” (1 John 4:4)

So just remember, spiritually speaking, pagan enemies make bad neighbors.

SUMMARY: Happy New Year! May this be the best year ever for you moving forward in the most important aspect of life: Your walk with God. So, here’s some advice: We ought to learn from the past, both our mistakes and successes, but our focus needs to be on the future. As Christ followers, we are always standing at the edge of new opportunities that God has set before us, and the thing that will keep us from possessing our Promised Land is not menaces in front of us but memories of what is behind us, both good and bad. We’ve got to let go of the past to grab hold of the future!

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 1:1-2

Sarah Ban Breathnach offers sage advice for living in victory each and every day of our lives:

You’ve got to make a conscious choice every day to shed the old—whatever ‘the old’ means for you.

Think for a minute about the very first thing God said to Joshua after the death of Moses: “Moses is dead!” Obviously! Do you think Joshua didn’t know that? Joshua knew pretty much everything about Moses; he had been Moses’ right-hand man for most of the forty years the Israelites had wandered through the desert. In passing the leadership baton, Moses had just laid hands on Joshua and commissioned him to lead the people into the Promised Land in Moses’ place. Joshua was well aware that God had just taken Moses up the mountain to take his breath away for the final time. Obviously, Joshua knew Moses was dead.

So there is something more going on here than meets the eye. God isn’t revealing new information to Joshua. Rather, he is telling him that he is going to do a new work in a new way with a new person. In other words, Joshua needs to bury the past and get on with the future—starting now. In other words, “shed the old.” As someone has wisely pointed out, you cannot set sail for new horizons in your life if you are still tethered to the shore. You’ve got to let go of the past!

That means a couple of things: one, don’t lean on past successes, and two, don’t limit yourself by past failures. Don’t get stuck in the past—either good or bad! Moses represented both: unequaled successes in bringing Israel out of Egypt and unmitigated failure to get Israel into the Promised Land. I suspect that Joshua could have thought, “If Moses, the greatest leader of all time, couldn’t get the job done, what makes anyone think I can be successful?” So God says, “Hey Joshua, Moses is dead. Let it go. Don’t get caught up in the past; catch a new vision for what is ahead—I’m going to do a new thing in a new way through you.”

The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4: “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ… Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (4:7,13-14) Shed the past; let it go. Catch a vision for the future and move resolutely toward it.

That is a good word for you and me—especially as we stand on the front edge of a brand-new year! We ought to learn from the past, both mistakes and successes, but our focus needs to be on the future. We are standing at the door of new opportunities that God has opened for us, our Promised Land, if you will, and the thing that will keep us from attaining them is not the menaces in front of us but the memories of our past, both good and bad.

What is it from your past that you need to let go of? Perhaps you are resting on your laurels from some past accomplishment, and you are thinking, “They’re good enough for today!” Maybe you are relying on a spiritual experience from years ago, but honestly, you have never moved on from it into a deeper dimension with God. Don’t make the mistake of assuming a good start ensures finishing well. On the other hand, maybe you are entangled from the guilt, fear, and condemnation of sin. Maybe a failure last year, a mistake that you made years ago, keeps you in bondage emotionally, relationally, or spiritually.

Hebrews 12 talks about the weights and sins that so easily beset us in our life’s race. So identify whatever it is that is holding you back from running a great race, good or bad, and declare over it, “Moses is dead!” In Joshua 1:11, Joshua says these words to the Israelites that I would encourage you to personalize, and say to over your past before you take another step: “I will cross my Jordan right here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord my God is giving me for my own.”

Let go of your past. Remember, you cannot set sail for new horizons if you are still tethered to the shore of yesterday. Today, God is going to do a new thing in a new way with a new person—you. So be strong and courageous, for your God will be with you each step of the way. (Joshua 1:9)

“ Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose. —LYNDON B. JOHNSON

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say this! (Psalm 107:1-2)      

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I like the way The Message version of the Bible renders the psalmist’s call to gratitude: “Oh, thank God—he’s so good! His love never runs out. All of you set free by God, tell the world!”

God is good—all the time!  That truly is the testimony of my life—and I have a feeling it is true of your life as well.  Certainly, I ought to be proclaiming God’s goodness to anyone who will listen—and even to those who won’t—much more than I do.  Add to that the fact that I am, on my best day, not so good, and on my worst day, frankly, pretty bad, only adds to the brilliance of God’s overwhelming goodness.

The New King James translation of the psalmist’s words are even more meaningful to me: “Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” Mercy—I can really relate to that.  Now don’t misunderstand what I’m saying:  I’ll take either enduring love or enduring mercy—I can’t live without either one.  Love and mercy are simply different facets of the same diamond we understand as the goodness of God.

But God’s mercy really speaks to me, and I’ll bet if you thought about, it, you would say the same.  Someone said that mercy is not getting what you deserve.  The truth is, you and I depend upon God’s mercy every single moment just to draw in the next breath, since the holy and righteous God has had every reason and right to annihilate us from the planet because of our sinfulness.  Jeremiah said it well in Lamentations 3:22-23,

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

The entirety of Psalm 107 is simply giving one example after another of how God in his faithful love and enduring mercy has freed his people from what they deserve.  And at the end of each example, the psalmist expresses the call to gratitude:

Oh, thank God, he is so good!  His love never runs out!

I’ll bet you could write your own Psalm 107.  In fact, that might be a good assignment for you on this Thanksgiving Day.  And then, like the psalmist suggested, we should go tell the world.  Now that’s a pretty tall order, so how about starting with the people with whom you will enjoy the holiday meal today?  Write your psalm and share it with your spouse, your family, and your friends.

I am not sure how they will feel about it, but you will certainly feel pretty good.  That’s what heartfelt gratitude to God for his faithful love and enduring mercy does.

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“We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is good, because it is good; if bad, because it works in us patience, humility, contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country.” (C.S. Lewis)

Quotable: “Lord, come and get us soon! We want more!”

Getting Closer to Jesus: The Apostle John ends his gospel account of the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus with this remarkable commentary: “What I’ve written here about Jesus, well you don’t know the half of it! In fact, since I’ve been with him night and day for three and a half years, I’ve gotta tell you, this is just the tip of the iceberg!”

Wow!

As you read through the four Gospels, it is hard to imagine that much more could be added to what Jesus did and said. I suppose the Holy Spirit limited the inspired thoughts and pens of these men in order to present to us only what our finite minds could absorb. Even then, we have trouble getting our brains around Jesus:

• How do you top the incarnation, the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary to conceive Jesus, and his miraculous birth at Bethlehem?
• Then there is his sinless life—what do you do after that?
• What more can be added to the Sermon on the Mount? Can anyone illustrate Christianity better than Jesus did with his parables?
• What about his miracles—how could you improve upon the feeding of the 5,000, walking on the Sea of Galilee, calming the raging storm, the deliverance of the Gadarene demoniac, the healing of the blind man, or the raising of Lazarus?
• Is there any “wow factor” left after the crucifixion—and the empty tomb?

Even though we would love to know more, mercifully, we have been given Jesus in bite-sized chunks. And just with that, we will spend a lifetime in wonder, awe and gratitude for the life, love, death and resurrection of this marvelous Savior and Lord. Even if all we ever had of Jesus was John 3:16, you and I would have enough to keep us undone with love for all eternity—and then some.

Wow!

So what do you do for an encore with Jesus? Only one thing remains, which John alluded to back in John 14:3, “When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.”

It is probably a good thing that we didn’t get any more details than that, because there is only so much the redeemed mind can absorb this side of heaven! But once we get to eternity—of my goodness! We will spend unending days in limitless pursuit of the manifest knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Son of God.

Wow!

Lord, come and get us soon! We want more!

“ Only Christ could have conceived Christ.” — JOSEPH PARKER

Take the Next Step: S.D. Gordon wrote, “Jesus is God spelling Himself out in language that men can understand.” To as much as our finite minds can handle, the incomprehensible God has made himself comprehensible in Jesus. Get to know Jesus and you will get to know God. Spend some time meditating on John 3:16 today—I think you will appreciate God a whole lot more.

Getting Closer to Jesus: When Peter, whom the Lord had just told what kind of death he would suffer, asked Jesus, “Oh yeah, what kind of ending do you have planned for John?” And Jesus shot back, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.”

“What is that to you?” In other words, “Mind your own business! You worry about what you need to do, and I will take care of what I need to do.” That’s the gist of what Jesus was saying to Peter.

Jesus had been drilling down to some issues that needed to be resolved in this rough fisherman-turned disciple. It was a difficult conversation that needed to happen before Peter could become the rock-solid apostle Jesus had in mind, and Peter did what so many of us do: When the spotlight got focused on him a little too brightly, he tried to deflect that light to some of John’s flaws.

Jesus kept the focus right where it needed to be: “Peter, quit worrying about what will happen to John and just focus on what I’ve called you to do. If I allow him to stay alive until I return, that is none of your business. You’ve got enough to worry about just taking care of your own junk, let alone John’s. Just take care of you and you’ll be fine!”

Not bad advice! Wouldn’t we save ourselves a whole lot of wasted energy by just minding our own spiritual business? I know that’s true for me. The time and emotional drain I spend worrying whether someone else is walking with Jesus the way I think they should takes away from the spiritual energy that could be focused on growing me up in Christ.

Now that is not to say that we should never express loving concern for another believer’s spiritual progress. Sometimes the people we care deeply about frankly need to step it up in their growth as a disciple of Jesus—and we need to call them out on that. However, since spiritual formation is an ongoing process that will not conclude until the day we die and reach heaven, you and I need to remember that we, too, need to step it up!

So the next time you have an urge to voice a “concern” about what another sister has said or how another brother is living or what another local shepherd is doing or the kind of theology a prominent Tele-evangelist is espousing, just remember what Jesus said to Peter: “What is that to you? Just worry about you and make sure you are following me!”

You see, those people you are worried about will have to answer to God for their lives one day, but so will you. And since it is highly unlikely that you will be able to change them one bit by all the energy you spend worrying about their spiritual condition anyway, try devoting that same energy to your own obedience. Besides, if you really want to see them change, the better focus of your efforts would be to pray for them. Spend at least as much time bringing them before the Father in prayer as you do thinking and talking about how upsetting they are to you.

Do that, and change will happen, all right—but it will be you who changes! So mind our own business today—it is not such a bad thing to do!

“ Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves — CARL GUSTAV JUNG

Take the Next Step: Think about the top five things you find irritating in the people you live, work, or worship with. What does your irritation over those things reveal about you? Ask the Holy Spirit for discernment as you process this, and then surrender what is revealed about you to God.

“ “Very truly I tell you, Peter, that when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”.. — JOHN 21:18-19

Getting Closer to Jesus: The disciples were reeling with the resurrection—in both delightful and disappointing ways. That Jesus rose from the grave was the ultimate game-changer for them. This proved beyond all doubt that Jesus was who he claimed to be—God in flesh, the Lord of life and Savior of the world—and it removed any question that he would do what he said he could do—forgive sin, cure disease, deliver the demonized, give abundance, and in fact, grant eternal life. For them, this was the truly greatest news ever!

Yet Jesus wasn’t quite fulfilling their expectations of a resurrected Lord. He wasn’t throwing off the yoke of the Roman Empire and reestablishing Israel as the world’s superpower. (Acts 16) He hadn’t wiped out sin and instituted the rule of God’s kingdom on earth. He didn’t set the disciples up as ruling governors in his ascending government. To their disappointment, the disciples awakened post-resurrection to the mundane realization that they needed to go back to work to make a living—and even that wouldn’t be easy:

Simon Peter told his fellow disciples, “I’m going out to fish.” And they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. (John 21:30)

And even while Jesus kept appearing in the banal grittiness of their post-resurrection reality, both proving his sovereignty over life and death as well as providing fresh miracles in their daily toil, he also kept forcing difficult conversations on them. Jesus was continuing to ferret out their selfish desires and false expectations and limiting ideas of what was next.

Peter, in particular, was getting roughed up. In order to restore Peter after he denied Jesus three times on the night of his arrest, Jesus sat with Peter and point-blank asked him three times if he truly loved the Lord, much to Peter’s discomfort. (John 21:15-17) Then, when Jesus was satisfied with his response, he revealed to Peter the cheery news that he was going to die a very undignified, unpleasant death:

I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go. (John 21:18)

Then we are told something that is most unusual, although, which at this point, should come as no surprise, either to Peter back then, or us right now: “Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.” Then Jesus followed that difficult statement up by saying to Peter—and to you and me, by extension: “Follow me!” (John 21:19)

As we have seen throughout the Gospel of John, the glory of God was the most significant theme in the life and message of Jesus. There has been no more passionate pursuit, no greater focus, no greater investment than to use his earthly time to promote God’s glory. And it is clear he expects his disciples to take up this very theme in their lives, through their message and even in their deaths. Yes, even in the way that Jesus will arrange for them to die, with their dying breath, they will lift glory to Almighty God.

What we learn from this, among other things, is that sooner or later, to be an authentic follower of Christ, we must come to grips with the fact that God’s agenda is quite different than ours. Peter had to learn it; so must we. Truth be told, until our dying day, we will wrestle with a sin nature that continues to insist on our own way, that our will be done, and that God fulfill our ideas of how his kingdom should play out.

Yet the Resurrected Lord will remind us, for as long and as often as it takes, that we are not the center of the universe, God is, and that God does not exist for our sake, but we exist for his glory alone. And when we get that—as Peter ultimately did—we will be well on our way to living out the ultimate purpose for the transference of Christ’s resurrection power and life to us: for the glory of God alone.

The Gospel of John ends with the reminder that all the books in the library of human language can never contain the story of Jesus, not by a long stretch. (John 21:25) Truly, how could the glory of God ever be contained? It can’t—especially when untold myriads of fully devoted Christ followers, every day throughout the world, for the rest of time, are living out their lives for the glory of God alone!

As Jesus said to Peter, he says to you and me, “Follow me—in life and in death. Soli Deo gloria!”

Take the Next Step: Go about your day today with this purpose: To let others see through you how great God is. Make “Soli Deo Gloria” your life’s theme!

“ Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. — JOHN 21:1

Getting Closer to Jesus: John 21 is a rather strange chapter. In a sense, it almost seems unnecessary. John 20 could have easily been the conclusion of this amazing Gospel, for it more than adequately tells the resurrection story (John 20:1-10), more than adequately offers proof that Jesus was alive (he visibly appears four times to his disciples in John 20:11-29), more than adequately issues Jesus’s Great Commission to his disciples (John 20:21-23), and more than adequately summarizes the purpose of John’s account as well as the core of salvation that we read about again at the end of John 21 (John 21:30-31).

But then, like a man who wears both belts and suspenders, as if we really needed any more, here comes chapter 21 offering even more stories that Jesus is alive indeed. Yet these stories are a bit strange in that they are not so much grand appearances of the Resurrected Lord in his empty tomb splendor, a la chapter 20, they are more of the garden variety insertions of Jesus into the everyday life of his disciples:

• Jesus shows up at the fishing business during the graveyard shift and offers some helpful advice: “Hey fellas, try throwing your nets on the other side of the boat. I betcha there’s a bunch of fish over there!” (John 21:6)
• After work, he has breakfast with his team: “Hey guys, I got a fire going, so bring some of those fish you just caught. Let’s eat before you head home.” (John 21:9-14)
• Before they leave, he offers some challenging but encouraging professional direction to Peter, discouraged from failing the Lord in his moment of need: “Hey Peter, I know you denied knowing me at my trial, and you probably think that’s a deal breaker for me ever using you as team leader to this band of disciples, but chin up, I’ve got a big job for you.” (John 21:15-23)

Much has been made in this chapter about the disciples going back to what they previously knew—the fishing business—as if they were giving up on their call to ministry. But after the grand appearances of the Resurrected Lord in chapter 20, certainly these guys weren’t giving up on Jesus—they were more than convinced he was alive, and the Lord over death and Author of life. No, they were simply doing what men did in those days—work. They were bi-vocational pastors, so perhaps they were just being responsible.

Much has been made about the miraculous haul of fish—153 large ones, to be exact. But was it a really a miracle or was it the result of Jesus seeing from the shore what the disciples a hundred yards into the water couldn’t—a school of fish on the opposite side from where they were looking. In commentary on John, William Barclay offers this interesting insight into this incident, quoting H.V. Morton, a well-known nineteenth-century travel writer who extensively wrote on the Holy Land,

It happens very often that the man with the hand-net must rely on the advice of someone on shore, who tells him to cast either to the left or the right, because in the clear water he can often see a shoal of fish invisible to the man in the water.’ Jesus was acting as guide to his fishermen friends, just as people still do today.

Much has been made about Jesus’ interaction with Peter—a difficult conversation where the Lord presses him on the depth and strength of this disciple’s love. Many preachers have highlighted the different Greek words for love used by Jesus (agape) and Peter (philos), as if there were some veiled secondary conversation going on between the two. But perhaps this was nothing more than the Lord showing a struggling disciple, embarrassed and discouraged that he had failed the Lord, that Jesus indeed had big plans for a future of ministry impact.

For certain, John 20 is about the spectacular, undeniable miracle of the Resurrected Lord walking out of an empty tomb, but chapter 21 brings to us the spectacular, undeniable miracle of a Resurrected Lord waking into our ordinary moments. As I ponder the purpose of this addendum to the resurrection, it seems to me that more than anything, this chapter is simply yet thankfully showing us how Jesus goes out of his way to come to us in our mundane moments—the difficult slog of our daily work, the banality of our breakfast, the harsh reality of redirecting our failure into building blocks of a future usefulness in service to him.

John 21 is the ongoing miracle of the Risen Lord in the rote details of our dull dailiness.

Thank God John included this postscript of a Risen Savior who goes out of his way be the Resurrected Lord for real life.

Take the Next Step: Write down three ordinary moments of the day that is ahead of you—a stop for coffee on the way to work, a trip to the post office, taking out the trash when you come home, etc. Now, thank God in advance that Jesus will be with you in those moments, and anticipate how he will help, encourage, and direct you as you go about your ordinary day.

Getting Closer to Jesus: We get it backwards—understandably. The advancement of the scientific method in our day has taught us that empirical proof must come first, then we can place belief in the certainty of something. There is no room, or even need, really, for faith, which requires trust rather than evidence. “Follow the science” is now the mantra of our modern enlightened minds. We have been steeped in that dogma for generations now, so it is no wonder that we wrestle with not having physical, visual proof for our faith in Jesus Christ.

According to our line of thinking, Peter, John, Mary, and Thomas were most fortunate. On that first Easter Sunday, Simon Peter ran with John to the tomb, and seeing that the stone had been rolled away, he pushed past John and went straight in, where he saw the strips of linen lying where a body should have been, just as if the corpse had magically risen through them, leaving them to float silently back to earth, sans body. Then John, who had reached the tomb first, followed Peter inside. He then saw what Peter saw, and he believed. Mary Magdalene was at the tomb as well, and after Peter and John left, she encountered Jesus. Mary then went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” Later that day, the disciple Thomas, responding to the dubious news that Jesus was alive, said, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” A week later, Jesus suddenly appeared before his very eyes, and Thomas exclaimed, “I believe!” (John 20:6,8,18, 25)

They had literally, physically, and visually seen the resurrected Lord. No wonder they all believed!

Yet their belief is not met with the highest praise that Jesus would offer in that encounter. Rather, he said to them—my paraphrase,

You have seen me, and for that, you have experienced something most blessed. Now I want you to go and tell others what you have seen. And those who hear and believe will in turn tell others. But here’s the deal: Those who believe your eyewitness testimony will be telling my story not based on their own visual proof; their witness will be on the basis of pure faith. They have not visibly seen, yet they have spiritually believed. And for that, they are even more blessed than you who have literally seen.

Did you catch that? You and I want so badly to hold the literal evidence of resurrection in our hands, believing that physical proof will somehow make our case for Christ more rock solid than it already is. Jesus begs to differ. He says the strongest proof of all is to believe, for out of believing faith comes indisputable knowledge of the resurrected Lord, evidenced in the transformed life of the one who has believed.

In the eleventh century, St. Anselm, arguably the most brilliant Christian thinker of all time, wrote, “Credo ut intelligam”; that is, “I believe, in order that I may understand.” Two centuries later, Thomas Aquinas said, “In order that men might have knowledge of God, free of doubt and uncertainty, it is necessary for divine truth to be delivered to them by way of faith, being told to them as it were, by God himself who cannot lie.” In the seventeenth century, Blaise Pascal wrote, “Reason’s last step is the recognition that there are an infinite number of things that are beyond it. The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know at all.” But it was another brilliant thinker in the fourth century, the North African bishop, Augustine, who best captured the essence of what Jesus meant when he said,

Faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.

After Jesus revealed himself to his disciples, he said to them, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” (John 20:21) He sent them out with the story of his life, death and resurrection, and with the commissioned authority to invite those who would believe their message into an experience of the Kingdom life, both in time and for all eternity.

Since you have believed their message, you, too, have been commissioned to tell the story of the resurrected Jesus. And while you did not see the risen Lord with your own eyes, you have something even more powerful: indisputable faith evidenced in a transformed life. You are a satisfied customer, and there is nothing more indisputable—and blessed—than that.

You have believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now tell your story. As you do, your faith will be increasingly rewarded with the evidence of things not seen.

Take the Next Step: How has Jesus changed your life? Tell someone about it!

“ The disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again, he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”. — JOHN 20:19-23

Getting Closer to Jesus: It was the evening of the first Easter Sunday, and the disciples were abuzz with the resurrection. A few of them had encountered the living Lord but others of them had only heard rumors that he had risen from the grave. They were about to get the surprise of their lives—and this would be a game-changer.

No man had ever risen from the dead, and if this were indeed true, it would prove beyond all reasonable doubt that Jesus was who he said he was—God come in the flesh. And if he was who he claimed to be—the living Lord of life and Savior of the word—he therefore had it within his authority and power to do what he said he would do: forgive sin, heal the sick, set those in bondage free, provide his subjects with a real experience of the Kingdom life and in fact, grant them eternal life.

This was truly the Good News!

Yet for all their anticipation of a resurrected Jesus—and all that it implied—these disciples were still huddled in fear behind closed doors. They were still intimidated by the religious leaders who ruled the day with an iron fist and the religious system that had sent their Lord to the cross in the first place. There was still a major disconnect between what they intellectually accepted and their emotional reality. Fear and concern dominated their better judgment.

Now, before we get too far down the road on this, perhaps we ought to admit that fear and concern often dominate our emotions, our behavior, and our thinking as well. We accept that Jesus is risen, that he is Lord over all, yet we easily get intimidated by circumstances, get set back on our heels by the system, whatever that might be for us, and give in to fear in our emotions. We are really no different than the disciples—their story is our story.

But thank God for Jesus! While he suddenly appeared among those first disciples—one of the benefits of having a resurrected body—he no longer needs to do that with us. Why? He doesn’t have to; he is already among us. In fact, his promise is that he will never leave us nor forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5) Moreover, he shows himself to us, not necessarily by opening his wounded hands, but by holding our hands all along the way. (Isaiah 46:3) It’s true that as we look back over the course of our journey with Jesus, our testimony will have to be, “the Lord has led us all along the way.” (Deuteronomy 8:2) Then to neutralize our concerns and fears, he grants us his peace—the peace of Christ that rules our hearts and minds. (Colossians 3:15, Philippians 4:7) And he makes all this not only possible, but sustainable by placing the Father’s gift within us—the precious Holy Spirit, who infuses us with both the authority and power of God Almighty to do his will and work. (John 19:23)

So rather than living our lives huddled in fear and paralyzed by worry, like the disciples, as we act in faith upon what Jesus has done, we can live in inner confidence and spiritual power—we, too, like those first disciples, can change the world. At the very least, our corner of the world can—and should—look radically different now that the resurrection has rocked our world.

This truly is and always will be the Good News—the resurrection has rocked your world, and by the power of the resurrection working through you, it will rock your world!

Take the Next Step: Take a moment to invite the Holy Spirit to remind you of the full power and real authority that is now within you to live in the reality of Christ’s resurrection.

Getting Closer to Jesus: Imagine Mary’s surprise—and joy—at hearing that familiar voice tenderly whisper her name as she stood before the tomb of her Lord: “Mary!” (John 20:16) She turned to see what she had never expected to find when she left early that morning to care for the Lord’s crucified body. Jesus was alive! And Mary was so overcome with a thousand different emotions all at once that she grasped onto Jesus as if she would never let go again. She had lost him once, but she was not about to let that happen twice!

If you are a parent and have ever lost your child in a department store, you will understand that scene: After minutes that seem like hours of panicked searching, you find that child, and while you feel like giving them the mother of all spankings, instead you hug them so tightly they almost suffocate.

That is exactly what Mary did, but in grasping onto Jesus, she becomes a timeless picture of our tendency to cling to yesterday in order to feel good about today. We do that in a variety of ways:

We fiercely cling to a “spiritual high” from yesterday, wanting it replicated today.

We fiercely cling to wounds from disappointment, failure, and hurt, and as a result, fear, guilt, and unforgiveness now control, if not define, our lives.

We fiercely cling to the attention we get by being needy.

We fiercely cling to immature views developed in our spiritual adolescence of a God who winks at sin and really doesn’t punish our wrongs, or who must not care about us because he let bad things happen, or who is nothing more than a celestial “sugar daddy” who gives everything we want.

Mary was a spiritual clinger; she was guilty of all those incomplete and immature views. Jesus, however, refused to let her stay in that frame of mind, so he said to her, “Don’t hold onto me!” (John 20:17) The word “hold” is hapto in the Greek text, and it means, “to cling, to desperately grasp onto!”

Grammatically, in the negative, it means to stop doing what you always do—and are now doing again. Jesus is really saying, “Quit hanging on to your warm, fuzzy memories of past experience of me. That limits your view of who I really am. Raise your expectations!” Then in the rest of verse 17, he says to Mary, “I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God!”

Jesus is pointing to a whole new order. He is more than just the crucified Savior who can forgive your past. He is more than just a rabbi (John 20:16) who gives you guidance and stability in the present. He is the risen Lord. who by virtue of his own transformation from death back to life, has the authority to transform your life today—and every day from here to eternity. And now he is going to the place of authority from where he will be your constant advocate, constant empower-er, and constant companion—in other words, he is your living Lord. Jesus is more than a resurrected Savior—he is also the Living Lord.

Finally, the light dawned for Mary. She got it! Mary went and found the disciples in John 20:18 and said to them, “I have seen” … not “the teacher” … not “the Savior” … but “I have seen the Lord!”

I hope you will get it too! Stop clinging to your immature and incomplete views of Jesus. He is not only your Savior—the one who forgives you of your sins—he wants also to be your Lord, the one who will rule over your moment-by-moment life.

“ There is not an inch of any sphere of life of which Jesus Christ the Lord does not say, “Mine.” — ABRAHAM KUYPER

Take the Next Step: Is there any area of your life that does not belong to Jesus? Your thought life? Language? Use of money? Friendships? Sex life? Attitude? Treatment of others? If he is not Lord over any one of these areas, he is not Lord at all. So hit your knees and surrender to his Lordship—and never turn back. You will not regret it!

Getting Closer to Jesus: You’ve got to give Peter credit—he was never one to hold back. John outran him to the tomb, but nervously stopped at the entrance to peek in. Not Peter! When he finally arrived, huffing and puffing, Peter, ignoring graveyard protocol and pushed past John right into the place where Jesus was buried.

Of course, the greatest part of this story is that Jesus wasn’t there! He had risen from the dead, the victor over death and sin, and now was alive forevermore. If Peter had found Jesus’ body still sealed behind the stone entrance of that tomb when they arrived, nothing else about this story would matter. But Jesus had risen, indeed, and that is why the other details of this story matter. Even small, seemingly insignificant details become both interesting and instructive—like Peter pressing in past John to witness the reality of the resurrection firsthand.

Peter’s spiritual pushiness is what endeared him to Jesus. His personal deficiencies are well documented, of course; the entire world knows of them thanks to the Gospel writers. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John pulled no punches in their accounts of this braggadocios, foot-in-mouth, leap-before-you-look, think-before-you-speak disciple. Yet it was Peter’s reckless abandon when it came to spiritual expectancy that led Jesus to declare,

“Peter, on your kind of faith, I am going to build this small team of disciples into a worldwide force called ‘the church’ that will take back Planet Earth from Satan and return it to its Rightful Owner.” (Mat 16:18)

Sure, Peter got into trouble more than his fair share, but he was the only disciple to actually get out of the boat to walk on water—albeit a walk that was short-lived and ultimately very wet. He was the first to go into the empty tomb—Ground Zero of the Christian faith. And he was the first one called upon in Acts 2 to give the inaugural sermon of the Christian era—where two thousand people responded to his altar call.

Jesus loved Peter’s brassy boldness. That was the kind of raw material the Lord could work with. It was certainly raw, but it was ready. It didn’t take much to light a fire with Peter; he was a tinderbox waiting for combustion.

I think we could learn something from Peter’s example. Peter didn’t have it all together in his life, but he was always willing to offer all that he had, raw as it was, and press into Jesus with full expectancy of what could happen when raw readiness met with resurrection reality.

“ Faith takes God without any “if’s.” — D.L. MOODY

Take the Next Step: Be Peter-like today in your journey with Jesus: a bit bold, daring to go so far as to be a little spiritually pushy. Chances are, you will encounter some resurrection power. Word has it that it’s still floating around out there.

“ Jesus drank the wine and said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. — JOHN 19:30

Getting Closer to Jesus: Mission accomplished!

The purpose for which God became man was complete! Jesus, the perfect God-man, had just offered himself as the only atoning sacrifice to the Heavenly Father for the sin of the world. He then proclaimed for all of heaven—and hell—to hear: It is finished. Having done that, Luke, one of the other Gospel writers, tells us that Jesus cried out in a loud voice then surrendered his spirit to God.

What I find profound about this is that a man in the final throws of death doesn’t cry out in a loud voice, unless he is a courageous soldier—a war hero dying in battle to defend his cause, liberate his people and defeat an enemy. No, a dying man usually whispers hoarsely, or whimpers pitifully, or expulses a cry of pain—or perhaps just gives up and quits breathing.

But Luke carefully chose the Greek phrase, fone megale —mega-phone—to capture Jesus’ final word. This was a shout of triumph, an outburst of victory! As he hung on that cross, Jesus had in his sites sin and death—those evil twins that had thwarted God’s original intent and tormented humanity since the fall of humanity back in the Garden of Eden.

Now, Jesus had defeated sin. He had offered himself as the once-and-for-all sacrifice for sin (Heb 10:10,12,14), he had forgiven the repentant thief, he had extended forgiveness to the ignorant who had sent him to the cross. Jesus had won! It was finished and Jesus knew it. Not his life; not his future; but his work was finished—complete, mission accomplished.

Yet there was one more thing he needed to do; one more enemy to defeat—Death. As Jesus’ life quickly ebbed toward death, the spirit of death appeared out of the invisible realm, ready to claim yet another victim—this time, to crush the life of the One who claimed to be the Resurrection and the Life. But just as the death demon reached out to take hold of Jesus, the Lord of Life laid hold of death instead.

Death was grasped and dragged until it was absorbed into the bosom of the Eternal One…and so, in that moment, all things were crucified —every last thing! Sin, sickness, and suffering, along with hell, the grave, and yes, death, were crucified—all things!

But wait, there was one more thing to be crucified: you and me. You see, we were crucified with Christ, yet nevertheless, in dying with him, we live in him now and forevermore!

That was the loud voice—the fone megale—the shout of triumph. Our victory had been forever won! And having won the greatest of all victories—our eternal salvation, he bowed his head and surrendered his spirit. And the very next thing he heard on the other side, I imagine, was “well done, good and faithful Servant!”

Take the Next Step: Find a hymnal—you might have to look long and hard these days—and sing the him, “Christ Arose” as a prayer of gratitude to God for Christ’s atoning sacrifice.

Getting Closer to Jesus: From our perspective as Christians, nearly two thousand years after the event, the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus have become a thing of redemptive beauty. This was God at his best—his love, grace, mercy, redemption, and sovereignty on display as Jesus was beaten, mocked, and nailed to a cross for the sins of the world.

Yet on that exact day Jesus was forced to endure this suffering, it got ugly—beyond description. So brutal was his treatment that we would have averted our eyes in horror were we to witness it first-hand. So disgusting was Pilate’s cowardly desire to placate the rabid hatred of the Jewish leaders that we would have shaken our heads had we witnessed it for ourselves. So unhinged was the hatred of the Jewish leaders for their Messiah we would have dropped our jaws in disbelief had we witnessed it with our own eyes.

The prophet Isaiah described the physical horror that Jesus endured as so graphic that we would have had to turn away, unable and unwilling to grasp what Jesus actually experienced:

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. (Isaiah 53:3).

John 19:1-3 tells us,

Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him. ‘Hail! King of the Jews!’ they mocked, as they slapped him across the face.

Thirty-nine times the whip, crafted for maximum damage to a human body, was brought down upon Jesus’ back, ripping open the flesh, tearing at the nerves, muscles, and sinew, laying him open to the bone.

Amazingly, Jesus survived a trauma no human should ever—perhaps could ever—have to endure, but only to have a crown of long, sharp Judean thorns forced upon his brow, penetrating down to the skull. Then the soldiers who had mockingly crowned him began to beat the defenseless Jesus, punching him time and again with full force in the face.

It got ugly the day God died—so bad was the physical violence that the prophet Isaiah said,

Many who were appalled at him—his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness. (Isaiah 52:14)

Then Jesus was brought before Pilate, the Roman governor, who was to hear his case. After the Jews brought their trumped-up accusations against the Lord, and after Pilate had interviewed him, he tried to release Jesus: “I find him not guilty.” Pilate said. “Take him yourselves and crucify him. (John 19:6) Not guilty—that usually secures freedom for an innocent man, yet Pilate was more afraid of man’s opinion than dispensing deserved fairness. And in that moment, Pilate secured his dark place in history as the one who could have freed an innocent man yet sent him as a lamb—the Lamb—to the slaughter.

It got ugly the day God died—the innocent dying for the guilty:

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. (Isaiah 53:7-8)

But what of the Jewish priests and officials! Here we find misguided religion at its worst. The long-awaited Messiah was finally among them—his life of love on display in every action, every miracle, every word—yet they are so blinded by hatred they stop their ears and cry all the louder, “crucify him” as Pilate weakly pleads for Jesus’ release.

It got ugly when God died—those who were his own people willingly, knowingly, viciously sent their Eternal King to his death by claiming loyalty to a temporal king.

Yet for all the human ugliness inflicted upon Jesus, Isaiah tells us that it was “the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer…to make his life an offering for sin.” While man’s darkness was being exposed, God’s sovereignty was powerfully moving events toward a glorious end, the redemption of sinful man.

Yes, it got ugly the day Jesus died, but Jesus had to take the ugliest of human darkness and sin into himself so that he could crush to death what would crush him to death. It got ugly for Jesus, but it became a thing of beauty for you and me.

Take the Next Step: Read through Isaiah 53, taking time to pause after each thought to offer gratitude to God that in Jesus’ death, sin met its match and you found your freedom.

Getting Closer to Jesus: There is nothing in this world that happens apart from God’s sovereign knowledge and by his sovereign permission.

Jesus understood that as he stood before Pilate, who nervously tried to impress upon our Lord that he held the power to either crucify him or free him: “Why don’t you talk to me?” Pilate demanded. “Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?” (John 19:10, NLT) That is when Jesus, who, up to this point, had held his peace, looked Pilate directly in the eye and informed him in no uncertain terms that even though he might be a high officer of the Roman court, he held no such power—only God did.

In the awful light of what Jesus had been through, and what he knew he was about to go through, what an amazing statement of not only understanding the sovereign will of God, but of complete trust and submission to it. That was the reason Jesus could so calmly and resolutely traverse the terrible way of the cross. And that is the reason you can walk through the difficulties of your life as well—even if your path takes you through the valley of the shadow of death. As King David said,

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4, KJV)

You can know what King David knew that our Lord knew: Because of God’s sovereign control over all the affairs of this universe, and because of his immeasurable love for you, this world is a perfectly safe place for you—even if you are standing before your cross.

Before you begin this day, take a moment to read the Shepherd’s Psalm printed below. In fact, you may want to read it every day this week before you head off into the busyness and challenges of your world:

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

What a great declaration: The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. Yes, God holds all the cards, so put your confidence in him.

Take the Next Step: Memorize Psalm 23 from your favorite Bible version, and pray it each day—perhaps throughout the day—this week.

Getting Closer to Jesus: The great essayist, Dorothy Sayers, wrote, “What does the Church think of Christ? The Church’s answer is categorical and uncompromising, and it is this: That Jesus Bar-Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth, was in fact and in truth, and in the most exact and literal sense of the words, the God “by whom all things were made.” His body and brain were those of a common man; his personality was the personality of God, so far as that personality could be expressed in human terms. He was not a kind of demon pretending to be human; he was in every respect a genuine living man. He was not merely a man so good as to be ‘like God’; he was God.”

Yes, as Christians, we believe that Jesus was God. But why would a God “by whom all things were made” permit what he had made to treat him thus: to brutally beat him to within an inch of his life with the barbaric Roman cat o’ nine tails, to press into his brow the crown of thorns, to slap him and spit upon him? What kind of Creator would give the created even one second to mock him as they did? Where else could we find Deity submitting to the humiliation of the cross? What kind of God would allow that?

Only the one, true God! No other real god would do that—could do that—not a god that had any power, or goodness, or love, or divinity. The fact that Jesus surrendered to the pain and shame of the cross is evidence itself that he was not merely a man so good as to be like God; he was God.

What kind of God would allow that? Jesus!

Jesus was, and is, a God of patience. The fact is, it should have been sinful man who was brutally beaten, mocked, humiliated, and publicly executed like a common criminal. Our common sin made us offensive to a holy God. He had every right to wipe us out and begin anew—as he did in the days of Noah, or as he threatened with Moses on Mount Sinai—or to never make another creature with the freedom to choose. But so great is the patience of this God that he would submit to our utmost defiance. Thank you, O Lord, that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness; one who relents sending the calamity we deserve. (Jonah 4:2)

Jesus was, and is, a God of mercy. Rather than giving us what we deserve, he took what we deserved into himself as he was punished on the cross. We deserved the cross; he became the crucified. Thank you, O Lord, that you were wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities and that the chastisement that brought our peace was upon you. (Isaiah 53:5)

Jesus was, and is, a God of justice. Sin requires punishment, else God is not holy, righteous, and just. Yet that sin was not atoned for by the guilty, but by the innocent. Jesus received the punishment, endured the humiliation of a trial, and hung upon the cross in our place, not as a victim of man’s anger, but to satisfy God’s wrath. Thank you, O Lord, that the Father laid on you the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

Jesus was, and is, a God of love. It should never cease to amaze us that God, the holy One, wanted us, unworthy, guilty sinners, to live so much that in an act of extreme love he provided a way of escape from eternal death into eternal life. Thank you, O Lord, that you loved a sinful world so much that you gave your only begotten Son, so that by belief in him, sinners would have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Jesus was, and is, a God who is for us. What more could Jesus do to prove his love for us and thereby convince us that he has set himself to help us than by his substitutionary, sacrificial death on the cross? Should we ever again doubt that God is for us, that he will help us, that he will fulfill all his promises to us and bring us through the trials and tribulations of this life, and one day bring us into his eternal Kingdom? Thank you, O Lord, that you who did not spare your own life, but delivered it up for us, will also certainly and freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

What kind of God would allow his created ones to inflict the cross upon himself? Jesus, that’s who—the God of patience, mercy, justice, and love—the God who is for us and therefore, the One whom we should love, serve, trust, and follow shamelessly and without reservation now and every day until the end of the age.

Take the Next Step: Read Isaiah 53 today, and verse by verse, offer your gratitude to God for the gift of Jesus and his sacrificial, substitutionary death on the cross for you.

Getting Closer to Jesus: Those around the world who claim Christianity as their faith would do well to think deeply on Jesus’ response to Pilate: My kingdom is not of this world!

Jesus was standing before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who, in a sense, had the power to set him free or to crucify him. So, it would have been expected that Jesus would lay down a defense for his life at this point. Yet Jesus chose not to, instead informing Pilate that if it were about winning his freedom, or winning this turf war against the Jewish religious leaders, or throwing off the yoke of the Roman Empire to establish a new religious kingdom that would rule Planet Earth, his followers would be putting up a fight right about now.

But they weren’t. And Jesus wanted it that way. He had bigger things in mind—like the spiritual revolution that would be set afoot throughout the world by his death for the sins of humankind and his victorious resurrection from the grave as Lord of life. Gaining and maintaining power in the current world order was not what Jesus was about. He knew that humanity had been so totally corrupted by sin that a whole new, recreated world would be the only answer. Now make no mistake, until the time for that arrived, there would be kingdom work to do, but with Jesus, it was never about political, military, cultural, or philosophical domination.

Jesus’ disciples struggled with that at first—but they eventually got it. Following his death, resurrection, and ascension, they set out to take Jesus’ message to the ends of the earth. In 300 years that followed his ascension, without fielding an army, without firing a bullet or swinging a sword, without financial backing, without a huge voting bloc, without academic systems, without TV networks, printing, and marketing campaigns, they subdued the mighty Roman Empire when Emperor Constantine declared Christianity to be the religion of the very empire that had done its best to snuff Jesus out. And all Christ’s disciples did was to do what Jesus had done: they loved fiercely, served humbly, proclaimed boldly, and died sacrificially.

It is too bad that around the world today, especially in the Western world, Christianity is known more for its politics than its love. We fight rather than die. We protest, leverage power, build a constituency, and “yell” on social media rather than sacrificially serve and humbly surrender. In Eastern Europe, Christians wage war to cleanse their land of ethnic impurities. In the Middle East, Christians take up arms against the Muslims bent on destroying them. In the United States, Christians flock to a political party and a candidate friendly to their views and use all means at their disposal to tout their platform.

Now, am I saying that Christians should not use all means possible to influence their culture, to defend their families against harm, and to get their person elected? Not necessarily. But there is a fine but firm line between fighting for a system that will soon be destroyed by fire and laying down their lives in the same manner their Savior did to redeem the world.

What I am saying is that true Christians need to think long and hard about what Jesus said—that his kingdom is of another place—and make sure they are not fighting for the wrong cause. What does that mean? It will mean different things in different places. But in your place, like the early disciples, you must figure that out and then begin to live within your culture as Jesus did.

And if the untold thousands of us around the world who claim Christ as Savior did that, we would set afoot a new wave of Christian influence that would capture Planet Earth in about three months, not three centuries.

Take the Next Step: What are you putting your hopes in—a political party, winning an election, an enacting certain laws? Think about that in light of what Jesus said: My kingdom is of another world. If it weren’t, my followers would be putting up more of a fight. Are you fighting for the right cause?

“ Meanwhile, as Simon Peter was standing by the fire warming himself, they asked him again, “You’re not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it, saying, “No, I am not.” One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?” Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.. — JOHN 18:25-26

Getting Closer to Jesus: Minus the infamous Judas Iscariot, Simon Peter usually takes a beating when evaluated alongside the ten disciples. He gets labeled as the stumbling, bumbling, think-before-you-speak, foot-in-the-mouth, inconsistent goofball from Galilee, who, for reasons God only knows, got chosen to be one of Jesus’ first disciples. Good old Peter—the first-century version of Gomer Pyle in the Lord’s little band of foot soldiers.

But let’s give Peter some credit. He may not have been perfect—by a long shot—but he sure was passionate! And he was there—at least give him that. In John 18, as Jesus was arrested and brought to trial, when everyone else but John had fled, Peter figured prominently. He was like a bull in a china shop—passionate, yes; perfect, no—but he was there:

• He whacked off the ear of one who came to arrest Jesus. (John 18:10-11, NLT) Passionate—but misguided!
• He surreptitiously followed as the High Priest’s SWAT team took Jesus to jail. (John 18:15-17, NLT) Passionate—but fearful!
• He stood among the soldiers as they warmed themselves by the fire. (John 18:18, NLT) Passionate—but silent!
• He denied knowing Jesus when questioned, but at least he was there to be questioned. (John 18:25, NLT) Passionate—but weak!
• He doubled down on his denial when questioned again. (John 18:26-27, NLT) Passionate—but fundamentally flawed!

Yes, Peter was all those things we’ve said—there is no doubt about it—but passionate? You bet—imperfect, but passionate to the core! Perhaps that is why Jesus gave Peter so much public attention and placed him so prominently on his leadership team. Like the very flawed King David, Peter had a heart after God.

God can use people like that. In fact, I suspect God prefers them over the perfect. Oh, and just a little a hint: There are no perfect people, only those who think they are. Of course, I am not excusing Peter’s imperfection; only explaining it. But I think the reason the Gospel writers included Peter’s gaffes with regularity was not to put him down as the dunderhead we often think he is, but to remind us that God uses imperfect people, especially the passionate ones!

“ Passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful spring . — RALPH WALDO EMERSON

Take the Next Step: Ask God to give you greater passion. Pray for self-control and wisdom, too—but if you are like me, you probably need more passion than the other two.

Getting Closer to Jesus: A few years ago, responding to the mass shooting in my home state at a community college where nine people were murdered—apparently targeting Christians— Tennessee Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey encouraged fellow Christians who are serious about their faith to consider getting a gun.

Is it time for believers to arm themselves? After all, Jesus said that increasingly the world will hate us because of our faith in him. Just read John 15:18-25 as well as all of John 16 for that bit of cheery news. Things are going to get rough for believers as the time for the Lord’s return draws close (which, by the way, Christians around the world have known all along. We in America are just discovering, much to our dismay, that this may include us, too!)

But when Jesus predicted this rise in hostility—and even violence—against his people, did he anticipate that they would arm themselves to the teeth to push back against the persecution? Did he foresee the Second Amendment would be our Constitutional right, and therefore we should use every legal means to defend ourselves as American Christians? For the Christian, does the Second Amendment trump the Second Commandment (Matthew 22:37)…or does the call to lay down our lives override the right to take up arms? Is this an either/or conundrum, or can the believer in Jesus grasp the one without letting go of the other (Ecclesiastes 7:18)?

Seriously, these are questions American Christians need to grapple with. Now I say “American” because for Christians in other countries, these options aren’t even in the realm of possibility—which is probably both a blessing and a curse. In our nation, as citizens, we have constitutional rights, and as Christians, we have Kingdom values. Most of the time, these rights and values peacefully coexist, but at times, the earthly and the heavenly kingdoms are in conflict. Sometimes, what may be constitutionally legal may not be eternally bless-able. At those times, to be both a good citizen and a good Christian, the believer must be willing to do the hard work of “thinking Christianly” about such matters. That is, the follower of Jesus must be completely open to the original meaning and full intent of God’s Word, allowing Scripture to impose its unfettered rule over everything in the believer’s life.

Having said that, I think it is fairly clear here that Jesus wasn’t thinking his followers would lock and load in the face of opposition and hostility. In fact, he says as much: “Put away your AK-47, Peter. Do you think for a minute I’m not going to drink this cup of suffering the Father has assigned to me for the redemption of the world?” Later in the chapter (John 18:36) as Jesus is standing at trial before the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, he said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

So, back to the issue at hand in our modern American culture: Should a Christian take up arms to defend themselves against the coming hostility? I will leave that to you to come up with your own answer—but I would ask you to allow what Jesus says here in John 18 to inform your opinion. Do the hard work of thinking Christianly about this matter. And at some point, as believers, we all need to remember that we have been called as citizens of another Kingdom to surrender our human rights—just as our leader did—for his eternal cause.

Yes, as citizens of the United States, we have the right to bear arms. But as citizens of God’s Kingdom, our calling it to lay down our lives!

Take the Next Step: Your assignment this week is to think Christianly about your right to bear arms. Theologian Walter Wink offered this thought: “Jesus did not advocate non-violence merely as a technique for outwitting the enemy, but as a just means of opposing the enemy in such a way as to hold open the possibility of the enemy’s becoming just as well. Both sides must win. We are summoned to pray for our enemies’ transformation, and to respond to ill-treatment with a love that not only is godly but also, I am convinced, can only be found in God.” Agree or disagree with him, how will you balance the Second Amendment with the Great Commandment?

Getting Closer to Jesus: We know this grove of olive trees was called the Garden of Gethsemane. By the other Gospel accounts, we also know that when Judas showed up with the guards to arrest him in this very place, Jesus was in deep and agonizing prayer. What may be lost in the greater drama of Judas’ betrayal and Christ’s passion, however, are the words, “Jesus had often gone there with his disciples.”

This was a regular place for Jesus. The disciples were familiar with Jesus’ garden retreat; so was Satan, since he knew to inspire Judas to betray the Savior there. Jesus had gone there often enough that those who knew him knew that would be the very place where he prayed.

Have you ever wondered why John took this small, seemingly insignificant detail and tucked it away within the more obvious storyline of Jesus’ arrest? Perhaps he wanted us to see what was plain to Jesus’ disciples: That even the Son of God carved out the time, made room, and even found a physical place in his life for regular communion with his Father. Furthermore, Jesus had purposely included his disciples in his private times with God to leave an example for them as a reminder that if he, the very Son of God, needed quiet time, so did they.

So do I—and so do you.

Do you have that regular place? Do the people in your life know where you spend time with God? Does the devil know where to find you? The place itself is not important. The fact that people know you are regularly in that place is not important. What is important is that you are in that place where you can touch God and God can touch you with his love and grace. By the way, since Satan knows you are there, too, he will have to get past Jesus, since he is there, to get to you.

So, again, I ask, “Where do you make space for time with Jesus?”

It is said that early African Christians were dedicated and regular in their personal devotion to God. Each one reportedly had a separate spot in the thicket where he would pour out his heart to God. Over time, the paths to these places became well-worn. As a result, if one of these believers began to neglect prayer, it was soon apparent to the others. They would kindly challenge anyone neglecting their prayer life, “Friend, the grass grows on your path.”

Keep the path to your Gethsemane well-worn!

“ Prayer is the acid test of devotion. — SAMUEL CHADWICK

Take the Next Step: Perhaps making this very moment of devotion a regular part of your life that you fiercely guard will be the beginning that “familiar place” for you.

Getting Closer to Jesus: Jesus spent his last hours on earth praying desperately for the unity of his church. He knew that without unity, the church would fall apart. With unity, however, Jesus knew that nothing could stop his people from accomplishing the mission of reaching the world with the Gospel.

That is the power of unity. The great preacher Vance Havner once said, “Snowflakes are frail, but if enough of them get together they can stop traffic.” So it is with the church. If we get together in unity, we will stop the traffic in our community.

The question is, since we all agree that unity is a powerful and necessary thing, how do we move from agreement to action? How can we practice unity? The Apostle Paul provided some powerful insights in his words to the church in Ephesus:

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 1:1-3)

Did you notice that word, “effort?” Paul says we are to “make every effort” to attain and maintain unity in our church. Frankly, it takes hard, focused, continual, intentional, and strategic effort individually and corporately to keep the church united as one.

The word “effort” means to be diligent, to be zealous, to make haste to do something, in this case, being eager and fully dedicated to maintaining the unity of the Spirit. It refers to a holy zeal in guarding our Christian unity. Why do we need holy zeal? To counter Satan’s unholy zeal in dividing us. Satan’s number one goal for the church is disunity. That’s why each Christian needs to take personal responsibility for the spiritual unity of his or her church.

James Hewitt tells the story of one woman’s unforgettable experience teaching Vacation Bible School with her primary class. The class was interrupted one day about an hour before dismissal when a new student, a little boy, was brought in.

The boy had one arm missing, and since the class was almost over, she had no opportunity to learn any of the details about the child’s disability or his state of mind. She was afraid that one of the other children would make a comment and embarrass the poor little guy, and there was no time to warn them to be sensitive.

As the class time came to a close, she began to relax. She asked the class to join her in their usual closing ceremony. “Let’s make our churches,” she said. “Here’s the church and here’s the steeple, open the doors and there’s…”

Then the awful reality of the situation hit her like a ton of bricks—the one-armed boy couldn’t make a church with his hands. The very thing she’d feared the kids would do, she’d done. As she stood there speechless, however, the little girl sitting next to the boy reached over with her left hand and placed it up to his right hand and said, “Hey Davey, let’s make the church together.”

Yes! Let’s make the church together. Believe me, it will be worth the effort!

That is what we need to do—to give every ounce of energy to keep the unity of the Spirit with other believers. And, as the psalmist reminds us,

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for God’s children to dwell together in unity! … For there the Lord commands the blessing— even life forevermore.” (Psalm 133:1,3)

Do you want God to command his blessing to be upon you? Then make every effort to promote and achieve unity among the family of God in which you have been planted!

“ We must all hang together or assuredly we shall all hang separately. — BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Take the Next Step: There is nothing more important to God the Father than the unity of his family. Do you give much thought to that? What strategic and intentional part can you play to attain, maintain, and increase the unity of the Spirit through the bonds of peace in your spiritual community?

Getting Closer to Jesus: I cannot think of a more difficult assignment that you have today than to live in the world but not be of it. Yet that is the exact calling that God has placed upon your life. You must live as light on a spiritually dark planet, yet not be absorbed by the darkness; you are to be gospel seasoning in a godless world without losing your God-flavor.

To get out of balance on either end of that assignment, which is an easy thing to do, by the way, is a recipe for spiritual uselessness at best, and spiritual offensiveness at worst. Some Christians have assumed their assignment is to retreat from the world so far that they are insulated from sin. Great—all they have succeeded in doing so is making themselves weird and forfeiting any ability to attract people to the joy and abundance of the Kingdom Life. Other Christians, much larger in number, have gone so far the other way and have so blurred the lines between believer and non-believer that the world has no way of seeing in them the attractive beauty of Christ’s holiness. Not only that, but they have not made God happy in the process.

It is a tough act to pull off: To be in the world yet not of it. But Jesus, himself, has prayed to his Father for you—so that gives you a fighting chance. Not only that, Jesus himself has set for you an example of how to live in the culture and not be absorbed by it. It’s called the incarnation.

The truth is, wherever Jesus went, not only was he untainted by the sinful world, but his life was also so compellingly different that he drew unbelievers to the Father like bees are drawn to flowers. Furthermore, Jesus himself promised to send you the Holy Spirit to lead you, guide you, walk with you every step of the way, and empower you to live in this world but be set apart from it as a living witness of the grace of God.

It sounds like your assignment, as difficult as it may be, is completely doable since Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are on Team You!

So, go do the righteous thing!

“ Our witness – good or bad – is the overflow of our lives. — ALLISTAIR BEGG

Take the Next Step: Read John 17 out loud today, and absorb the words as Jesus prays for you. I promise, you will be encouraged.

Getting Closer to Jesus: Let me listen to the content of your prayers and I will describe your theological grasp of God as well as the level of your spiritual maturity. Not that I want to throw a wet blanket over your access to the throne room of your Heavenly Father nor make you second guess the kinds of things you are praying for.

Obviously, we have been invited to “ask for what we wish” in prayer (John 15:7), to “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence” (Hebrews 4:16) and to freely “pour out your hearts to God, for he is our refuge.” (Psalm 62:8) Nothing, no one nor any teaching should ever cause us shrink back from the privilege of openly and authentically connecting with our loving Heavenly Father in prayer.

Nevertheless, the kind of prayers we consistently pray reveals the kind of Christian we are. So if you are concerned about becoming more like Christ in your spiritual journey—as we all should be—then the content of your prayers over time must turn toward the kind of focus Jesus had every time he prayed.

In this prayer recorded in John 17—what we call Jesus’ “high priestly prayer”—the last recorded prayer he offered right before his arrest, trial, and crucifixion, we see an intense, passionate yet calm, centering supplication being lifted to God. We get a glimpse of that which was most important to Jesus—his priorities—of how clear he was about the divine plan—his submission to God’s will—and of what he understood about his Father’s character—his theology. As important as anything in this important prayer was Jesus’s passion for the glory of God.

• Jesus uniquely understood the glory that emanated from the eternal God, for he had shared in that unfettered glory from the beginning of time (“the glory I had with you before the world began”, John 17:5).
• Jesus was fully committed to his own life—and death—reflecting that glory to the world (“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you”, John 17:1)
• Jesus had perfectly and completely testified to the glory of God through his thirty-three years as an earthly man (“I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do,” John 17:4).
• Jesus rightly expected that the Father would restore all the past and future glory of the of eternally existent Son, second person of the Holy Trinity, to him as he submitted, body soul and spirit, to the cross for the sin of the world (“Now, Father, give me back the glory that I had with you before the world was created.” John 17:5, CEV).

Yes, what Jesus prayed revealed who Jesus was, how he believed, and what was most important to him. His final prayer tells us that he believed there was no greater theology than the glory of God. It also shows us that there was no more important focus in life than the glory of God. And it reminds us that there was no greater commitment, no greater expenditure of energy, no greater sacrifice for Jesus than to use his one and only earthly life for the glory of God alone.

What do your prayers reveal about you? Your anxiety about God’s competence to care for the details of your life, or your desire for the temporal things of this world, or your passion for quick fixes, pain avoidance, comfort, and prosperity? Over the course of the next few days, pay attention to the content of your prayers to get an honest assessment of what they reveal about your theology and your spiritual maturity. Like me, you will probably realize that your trust, obedience, and understanding need to go much deeper in God.

What if you and I began to shift the focus of our prayers (and our lives) to the glory of God alone? Truly, there is no greater theme in all creation than God’s glory. And if we will begin to passionately invest our praying and our living toward that end, we will not only fulfill the purpose for which we were created, but we will be well on the way to sharing in the glory of the One who rightly deserves it all.

At the end of the day, may it be said of us that the glory of God alone was our unceasing doxology.

Take the Next Step: The early church father, Irenaeus, wrote in his magnificent work, Against Heresy, “The glory of God is the human being fully alive, and the life of the human consists in beholding God.” Spend some moments in prayer asking your Father to make you a living example of a fully alive human being, bringing glory to God alone.

Getting Closer to Jesus: For many Christians, prayer is a very private matter. But often, Jesus offered his prayers to God in a very public way—never to show off how great he was as an intercessor or to showcase how impressive his prayers were, but simply to model for his disciples how to connect simply and powerfully with his Father. Through Jesus, we come to understand that authentic prayer is in no way about overcoming any reluctance on God’s part to hear and answer our prayer, but rather it is about tapping into God’s desire to graciously give us what we desire and what he wills through our praying.

Jesus gives us several examples of how we can pray like he did. Obviously, the most famous example is what we call the Lord’s prayer—a brief but powerful, simple yet profound way to effectively connect our needs with God’s will. Another touching example of prayer is this one found in John 17, which we now call Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer. This is his final prayer before going to the cross. He knows full well that he will have to suffer unspeakable pain, take the sin of mankind into his sinless spirit, and die the death of a common criminal to redeem mankind, yet, facing that, he still focuses his prayer on us. And he leaves us a beautiful template for how to pray.

Let me encourage you to take a moment to pray through Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer using the guide that follows. Read the verses aloud as a prayer to God, then, using the prayer focus, rephrase Jesus’ prayer in your own words.

Prayer Focus: Glorifying God through your praise—verses 1-5

Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Prayer Focus: Acknowledging God’s Word and who you are in him—verse 6-11

I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.

Prayer Focus: Interceding for unity and protection for Christ’s church—verses 11-12

I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

Prayer Focus: Asking for joy and sanctification—verses 13-19

I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Prayer Focus: Lifting the worldwide church of Christ to God—verses 20-23

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

Prayer Focus: Ask that the love of God will be revealed in you and through you—verses 24-26

Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.

This may take a few extra minutes, but it will be well worth your time as you enter into the same kind of praying that Jesus did. And as you do, you can have this confidence that if the Father listened to the Son, he will listen to you as you come to him in the name of his Son.

“Our prayers matter to God—all of them. They rise up to heaven as pleasing incense before his throne.” (https://www.fromhispresence.com/your-prayers-are-this-important-to-god/) God will not answer every prayer according to our desires, yet each prayer is an act of worship offered in faith that blesses the very heart of God. Prayer is practicing the presence of God. It is entering his very throne room in the great court of heaven. It is exercising faith in the One who rewards those who believe that he exists and diligently seek him. It is placing your needs, concerns, and hopes into the hands of a loving Father who delights in your dependence and is pleased to provide for your needs according to his gracious will.

Never forget, your act of prayer does far more in the unseen realm than you will ever realize this side of eternity. So pray—and let God.”

“ Our prayers are really His prayers; He speaks to Himself through us. — C.S. LEWIS

Take the Next Step: Use this prayer guide every day this week, and notice the results in your life. You will be pleased with the things that happen for you—and more importantly, in you.

Getting Closer to Jesus: I hate to be blindsided, and I am sure you do, too. Nobody likes to be caught off guard by bad news or troubling circumstances. The shock and surprise of such experiences make these difficulties doubly devastating.

That’s why Jesus gives us a divine heads-up in John 16. Standing at both ends of this chapter, like bookends, Jesus gave his followers an FYI on some of the challenges they would certainly face. In verse 1, he says, “I have told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith.” Then again at the end of the chapter in verse 33, he reminds them of this insider information so that when bad things happen, they won’t be unsettled.

Just what insider information did Jesus provide? Simply that your faith is going to get you into a fair amount of trouble in this life. People are not going to like you because you follow Jesus. You will be persecuted not only for the stand you personally take on moral issues, but just for the position your Christianity represents. In fact, some people will even hate you with a murderous zeal disguised as religious passion simply because of the Christian life you live:

Indeed the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing God a service. (John 16:2, LB)

Without even trying, your lifestyle of faith will bring others under such conviction that they will find it intolerable and want to do away with you. Things may get a bit rough, so be ready for it, Jesus says.

The good news, however, is that you will never have to face these difficulties alone. The fact is, through Christ:

• You will overcome each challenge victoriously, even the most extreme challenge of staring into the abyss of martyrdom.
• You will overcome because you know what is coming. (John 16:1,4, 33)
• You will be victorious because Jesus has already been victorious under these same pressures. (John 16:33)
• You will be able to face these situations with courage and grace because of the presence of the Divine Helper, the Holy Spirit. (John 16:7)
• You will win in the hour of trial because the Sovereign Father who loves you (John 16:27) will hear and answer your every prayer. (John 16:23-24)

Knowing ahead of time what is coming, and knowing that your victory has been secured already, you can go about your day, and come what may—trouble, hardship, disappointment, failure, persecution, hatred, even death—you can live in the wonderful reality of what Christ promised: “In Me, you will have peace!”

Peaceful trials—that’s what Christ has promised you.

Take the Next Step: You and I do not know what tomorrow holds, but we know Who holds tomorrow. And we know Who holds our lives in his hands. So why don’t you join me in thanking God ahead of time for His peace that will guard our hearts and ease our minds tomorrow, no matter what circumstances tomorrow may bring.

Getting Closer to Jesus: People who have followed Jesus throughout the ages did something that Christians from the Western world in our day don’t do as much: They thought a lot about heaven.

They were right to do so. Perhaps they had a more balanced theology than we do, possibly their spiritual leaders taught more often on the future world than ours do, or it could be that since life was so hard and following Christ came at such a high price, looking forward to eternity was simply the natural thing to do. Maybe it was all of the above.

Whatever the case, heaven was on their minds. It is not so much for us. Earth has become so good to us that we almost see the approach of eternity as a rude interruption to our pursuit of the good life in this present world. Some believers almost think and act as if heaven is a cheap substitute for Planet Earth. It is not. It is our true home, our Divine destiny purchased by the blood of Jesus when he died on the cross, the place where our full potential will be perpetually, increasingly, uninterruptedly released as we rule and reign with Christ. As the old timers used to sing,

This world is not my home I’m just a-passin’ through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door. And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

We would do well to practice dwelling on our eternal dwelling more. Doing so is not wishful thinking, or pain avoidance, or a form of escapism. It is what Jesus instructed his disciples, and by extension, what you and I are called to do. The fact was, Jesus was going to leave—and at first, it would be a painful leaving. He would die on the cross, according to God’s eternal plan. Then he would ascend back to his Father. In his absence, he would send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who would be with the disciples, and in them continually. The Spirit would constantly abide with them, empower them for Christian living and witness, lead them into truth, and reveal the deeper things of God to them. Even still, life would be tough for them because they followed Jesus—they would be persecuted, rejected, and killed for their faith. But one of the things Jesus said they needed to do to endure the hardships of this life and thrive in the midst of pain was to dwell on the good things to come.

What are those good things to come? For starters, there will be fullness of joy. The grief of the present will turn to joy (John 16:22), and the joy will be so great in heaven that the grief of the past will pale by comparison until it fades into oblivion. Pain, disappointment, and heartache will be forgotten, and joy will be their new reality—for all eternity.

Furthermore, there will be fullness of life. (John 16:23a) Christ’s disciples will not even need to ask him for anything; they will already have everything.

And finally, there will be fullness of relationship. (John 16:23b) The disciples will be able to go directly to God for anything they want because of what Jesus has accomplished. We will no longer wrestle with the image of God being a distant, immovable, uncaring deity in a galaxy far, far away; he will be up close and quite personal.

Jesus seems to be saying that we should continually keep those future realities in our present thoughts as we face the harsh conditions of our current lives. And, by what he then says in verse 24, in practicing this type of “heaven-thinking” now, we will be so filled with confident assurance that asking for what we want and need right in this present world will be our faith response to whatever comes our way:

Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. (John 16:24)

Looking forward to your eternal future on a regular basis is one of the best things you could do for your faith. In one of his letters, C.S. Lewis wrote, “Good and evil when they attain their full stature are retrospective. That is why, at the end of all things, the damned will say we were always in Hell, and the blessed we have never lived anywhere but in heaven.”

Why not go ahead and imagine your future home right now? When you finally get there, you will realize that Jesus made sure it was always pretty close.

Take the Next Step : Carve out some time and schedule a place where you can be alone with God this week—perhaps even today. Take your Bible and open it to the very last book and chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22. Slowly and gratefully read it, and let that picture of your future reality invade your present world.

Getting Closer to Jesus: Have you figured this out yet? You do a horrible job at being the Holy Spirit in other people’s lives.

Yet how tempting it is to do his work for him. It is easy to do when you are passionate about the truth. It is easy to do when you see how someone you care about is living counter-productively to a bless-able life. And frankly, it is easy to do when people aren’t fulfilling your vision for their lives. Yes, God loves them, and you have a wonderful plan for their lives—and it is your job to make sure they live up to your high calling. Right?

Wrong!

Spiritual maturity demands that we take care in observing the fine line between serving as the voice of reason for people and allowing the Spirit to transform their thinking. We step into the Spirit’s territory the minute we assume the role of CCO—Chief Conviction Officer. To be effectively used by the Holy Spirit in the lives of others, we must figure out the difference between sharing the truth in love, respectful persuasion and passionate debate—all of which are good and necessary to being the influencer Jesus calls us to be—and with being argumentative, rude, nagging, arrogant and flat out irritating. We have been called to lead the horse to water, so to speak, but only the Holy Spirit can create the unquenchable thirst that makes them want to drink deeply from Truth.

It takes real discernment and sensitivity to figure out what to say, how much to say, and when to say it—and when just to shut up and let God go to work. Oswald Chambers said, “One of the hardest lessons to learn comes from our stubborn refusal to refrain from interfering in other people’s lives. It takes a long time to realize the danger of being an amateur providence, that is, interfering with God’s plan for others.”

The truth is that God, indeed, has a wonderful plan for people’s lives, but we need to allow him to convince them of how that plan needs to play out. By all means, we ought to take the role of encourager, exhorter, and at times, admonisher, but only the Holy Spirit can bring the change of heart, the right thinking, and the proper steps that will lead them to the incredible life God has envisioned.

Chances are, in this season of time, you are being tempted to tell certain people how to think, how to feel, and how to do life well. Perhaps it is your child, maybe it is your spouse, it could be a friend, or it might be a co-worker—it is just part of the human equation. So, let me suggest that in that particular situation, you simply take your foot off the gas pedal, pray a lot more, and let the Holy Spirit work. My guess is the transformation in that person’s life will happen a lot more quickly, deeply, and enduringly if you take that approach.

Try to remember at all times: You are not the Holy Spirit!

“ There is no better evangelist in the world than the Holy Spirit. — D.L. MOODY

Take the Next Step : Ask God to reveal where you have been doing the Holy Spirit’s work for him. When he shows you, first, repent, then second, ask for greater discernment and sensitivity to fulfill the role of influencer God has called you

Getting Closer to Jesus: These days, not only the threat, but the daily reality of terrorism has occupied the twenty-four-hour news cycle, dominated water-cooler conversations at work, and planted fear in the hearts of ordinary citizens. And now, regular debate in our political discourse focuses on what terrorism is (I’ve even heard some say dismissively, “Hey one country’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter”), what to call or not call it (so as not to inflame the terrorists), why terrorism is on the rise (perhaps our Western values and lifestyles are to blame for the rise of terrorism around the world), and how to combat it (do we send in the special forces to wipe them off the face of the earth or send the terrorists to the corner for a time out?).

Often, the what, why, and how in our conversations about terrorism turn absurd on both ends of the discourse: “Let’s nuke them back into the stone age,” or “let’s be nice to them and maybe they will leave us alone.”

But what is not debatable or absurd is what God says about terrorism—as well as those who carry it out and those who perpetuate it through educational, philosophical, financial and spiritual support: Anyone who diminishes, hurts or kills another in the name of their god does not know the one true God or his Son, Jesus Christ, whom he sent.

There will even come a time when anyone who kills you will think he’s doing God a favor. They will do these things because they never really understood the Father. (John 16:2-3, The Message)

Thomas Carlyle said, “One of its worst kinds of waste … is that of irritating and exasperating men against each other, by violence done, which is always sure to be injustice done; for violence does even justice unjustly.” Make no mistake, violence of any kind done in the name of faith—in the home, at the church, in the community, between political belief systems and countries—is terroristic, morally bankrupt, and evidence in and of itself that those who inflict it (or stand by in tacit approval of it) are as far from God as can be.

And God will judge it! Jesus said, “those who live by the sword will die by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52) Death will come—spiritually, relationally, perhaps even physically—likely in this life from the irreversible law of sowing and reaping, or in the next life as people, people groups, nations, and world systems stand before the Great White Throne judgment of Almighty God. (Revelation 20:11-15)

Jesus spoke of the threat of religious violence to give his disciples a heads-up that this kind of religious zeal that embraced terrorism was certainly coming. And his forewarning was to serve the purpose of settling them in their faith when that awful reality was finally upon them. We, too, would do well to simply acknowledge the reality that religious terrorism will increase as the final days of Planet Earth draw to a close. Jesus still doesn’t want his followers to be unsettled in their faith—either to begin doubting God or getting carried away in unproductive debates about terrorism—by the rise of evil and violence done in the name of religion. Mark it down—and get prepared.

Yet I can’t help but think there is a more practical application we should latch onto from Jesus’ insights into religious violence. In a sense, is spiritual terrorism occurring in our homes when violence or the threat of violence or some other form of intimidation is used to control others—and justified by the Bible? Do we commit relational terrorism when we can fling incendiary, hateful, and hurtful words via social media—all justified by our spiritual point of view, of course—in ways for which we are not held to account? When we speak critical and judgmental words anonymously, isn’t that akin to throwing an emotional grenade into someone’s life without having to stick around to view the damage that it does—that we have done?

I have a feeling that violence—not just physically, but more likely, through emotional attacks, financial coercion, and spiritual abuse—justified Biblically, happens more often, is inflicted more subtly, and is carried out more creatively than we are either conscious of or care to admit. But from here on out, with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Chief Conviction Officer in our lives, let’s soberly remember that if we resort to relational terrorism, that in itself is evidence that we do not know Jesus like we think we do!

“ Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. — ISAAC ASIMOV

Take the Next Step : Ask God to reveal to you where you might be inflicting pain on another in ways that you have justified by your faith. You might want to ask those close to you as well. And where there is evidence that you are guilty, repent of it, repudiate it, and change!

“ If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. — JOHN 15:18-19

Getting Closer to Jesus: It is a real dilemma for Christians: God loves the world so much that he gave his Son to die for it, but the world hates God (they didn’t like his Son too much either) because it belongs to the Evil One. But wait, there’s more: The story that God has commissioned His followers to bring to the world is received mostly as bad news because this Good News first must address the problem of human sin—which can make sinners a bit uncomfortable.

Hold on, I’m not through yet: You and I belong to God, and since Satan, the current strongman who dominates this world and its inhabitants, hates God and everything of God, we are included in that hatred. Jesus couldn’t have put it in any clearer terms:

Since I picked you to live on God’s terms and no longer on the world’s terms, the world is going to hate you. (John 15:19, Message)

Now that’s a hard pill to swallow, especially in our culture where Christians have been brought up for the last couple of generations on a steady diet of positive mental attitude pablum, seeker-sensitive evangelism, and a church growth movement that tries everything in its power to make the unbeliever want to come to church. For the last thirty-plus years, too many churches in the Western world have placed more emphasis on making sinners comfortable than making committed disciples, which requires preaching Christ and him crucified. And a critical part of the crucifixion story is that we, too, must experience the crucifixion of self to enter the blessings of Christ’s crucifixion on our behalf. More energy and resources have been devoted to creative messaging and capturing the “cool factor” than cross-bearing, dying-to-self discipleship.

Don’t believe me? Just walk into any number of church lobbies, and you will feel like you are in a Starbucks rather than a sanctuary’s vestibule. When the service starts, listen to the music and you will think you are listening to America’s Top 40 in a sea of fans enjoying a rock concert rather than among engaged worshipers offering up the sacrifice of praise to please their God. Sit through a sermon and you will think you have just listened to a cross between a late-night talk show host and a self-help guru. They will help you smile your way to your best life in seven easy steps. Check out the altar call at the end of the message, if there even is one, and you will think people have just signed up for a thirty-day free trial of Netflix rather than surrendering the rest of their lives to Jesus Christ.

What you are unlikely to find, though, is any talk of sin—it just makes people feel too uncomfortable. You may not hear words like “repentance” or “surrender” or “obedience” or “Lordship”—it may just scare the pre-Christian away. What you are going to hear, however, is what I would call a Burger King Christianity—the kind that says, “special orders don’t upset us…have it your way.”

Now listen, I am not just a grouchy, out-of-touch, aging preacher—okay, I am at least not one of those. I don’t think pastors ought to go out of their way to be offensive. I do believe that churches ought to think creatively about reaching the disinterested and hostile in their community. I love excellence and think the church service ought to be our best offering to the King of kings. And believers ought to do what they can to build bridges to the lost people in their lives.

But our job is neither to impress the world by trying to be a cool version of it or to tell it that everything is mostly okay with it—except for a few minor adjustments. Our job is to talk about the Good News that Jesus died for our sin—sin that separates us and makes us hostile to a holy God. Once we deal with the sin issue through proclaiming the truth in grace and love, inviting sinners back to God through the repentance of sin and calling them into a surrendered lifestyle of committed, cross-bearing discipleship, both we and the sinners we help to rescue will realize that what we have found is something more satisfying, more valuable, more positive by far than anything this world can provide—the pearl of great price!

Quit worrying about whether the world will like you or not. It won’t—that is guaranteed. If you belong to Jesus, you will be hated, but that is okay, because you will be loved by God. And that is all that matters.

“ Jesus Christ did not say, “Go into the world and tell the world that it is quite right.’” — C. S. LEWIS

Take the Next Step : How much have you bought into the mentality that your job is to get the world to like you? Ask God to help you jettison that unhealthy need from your life. And take a moment to meditate on 1 John 2:15 (NLT): “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.”

Getting Closer to Jesus: Several times throughout the Gospel of John, Jesus has tied true discipleship and authentic love for him with our obedience to his commandments. That is a message our current brand of Christianity needs to hear—and frankly, it’s tough medicine. The truth is, you cannot claim love of Christ while doing whatever feels good to you. Real faith requires the surrender of your will to God’s. It is this simple: If you love Jesus, you will obey his commands.

By our definition of love, that doesn’t seem too loving. Love and obedience or love and commands usually aren’t terms we link together. But what we must realize about Jesus is that his commands are not oppressive. In fact, the Apostle John reminds us in I John 5:3, “Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.”

On the contrary, Jesus’ commands are the gateway to our joy. And not just joy, but Jesus described the gladness that would well up within us as overflowing. Jesus’ equation for authentic faith was that obedience to him would equal organic, unstoppable, spilling-over joy in us.

But there was a particular kind of obedience that Jesus said would lead to this special kind of joy: Loving one another. And not just a brotherly love, but it was to be the same kind of love that Jesus demonstrated for his disciples. What kind of love was that?

It was proactive. Jesus actually searched out his disciples to be the object of his love. He didn’t wait to see if they were lovable or even if they would love him in response. His love went out of its way to find them, and then he poured out his love upon them—even on one of them he knew would end up betraying him.

It was unconditional. His disciples did nothing to deserve his love, and they certainly could do nothing to earn his love. In fact, they often did just the opposite. They fought with each other. They selfishly jockeyed for position with him. At times, they didn’t listen to him and often they didn’t understand what he taught them. They left him in his hour of trial. They even betrayed him. Yet he stubbornly loved them.

It was sacrificial. Jesus laid down his life for them. Yes, he ultimately died for their sins, but he also died to his own rights in order to serve them. He told them that even as the Lord of all creation, he didn’t come to be served, but to serve and give his life to redeem them. Nowhere do we see a more powerful and clear demonstration of sacrificial love than in Jesus giving up in order to give to his disciples.

It was inexhaustible. Nothing in their past, nothing they did while with him, and nothing they could ever do in their future (because, as the Omniscient Sovereign Lord of life, Jesus knew what was in their future) could or would diminish his love for the disciples. Since God is love, and since Jesus was God, we find in him that true love cannot be extinguished.

Jesus said that if we decided to act toward one another with that kind of love—and make no mistake, Jesus made it clear by his life that divine love was a choice, an act of the will—it would unleash from deep within us an inextinguishable flood of uncontainable joy. While our flesh, along with the Evil One, supported by the philosophies of this world, continually lies to us that joy comes from what is done for us, Jesus says it comes by what we do: proactively, unconditionally, sacrificially, and inexhaustibly loving others!

Who can you love like that today—and every day from here on out? Who can you seek out to love as Jesus has loved you? What would be a way to love them unconditionally, in a way they did not deserve and could never repay? How might you offer love that is costly to you, and not necessarily in terms of the money you spend? And as you love them, can you—or will you—do it with a commitment to sustain that love indefinitely?

Fair warning: Choose to love like that, and you are choosing to unleash the unstoppable joy of Jesus in your life. Good luck.

Take the Next Step : Who are you being led to love as Jesus has loved you? Specifically identify that person. Then, just love them as Jesus would!

There is hardly a better investment in this life than recruiting, mentoring, and releasing leaders into the service of that over which God has given you authority. God’s blessing on a thing is never an excuse to settle for that—it is never the end. The blessing is only the beginning for more blessing, which always requires a realignment of the way we administrate God’s favor. God blessed Israel—that was good—but a release of even more blessing required Moses to release leadership to others to help administer it—that was better. Is there someone in your sphere of influence you can train for leadership? Do it—it’s a worthy investment of time, energy and resources.

The Journey// Focus: Exodus 18:13-17

Getting Closer to Jesus:The story in Exodus 18 provides us with some helpful insights into why we should raise up leaders and how to do so, whether in our home, business, church, or any other arena of life where God has given us influence.

First, the why: In the work of God’s Kingdom, good is often the enemy of the best. You will notice in Exodus 18:9 that “Jethro was delighted to hear of all the good things God had done for Israel.” Israel had witnessed the mighty hand of God — divine protection, outstanding miracles, and supernatural progress. But they had settled for something less than God’s best. As the story continues, Jethro watched Moses wearing himself out administering the blessings, so he said Exodus 18:17, “What you are doing is not good.”

God’s blessing on a thing is never an excuse to settle for that—it is never the end. The blessing is only the beginning for more blessing, which always requires a realignment of the way we administrate God’s favor. God blessed Israel—that was good—but a release of even more blessing required Moses to release leadership to others to help administer it—that was better.

So Jethro showed Moses how he was to recruit leaders to take on ministry—which would release Moses to even greater productiveness. Here are six laws of leadership recruitment that worked for Moses and will work for you:

The first law of leadership recruitment is SELECTING. Exodus 18:21 calls Moses to “select capable people—they fear God, are trustworthy and hate dishonest gain.” Your assignment as a leader is to continually watch for people with leadership potential. How do you identify those capabilities? Jethro says they are to, 1) have a deep reverence—they have the fear of the Lord, 2) have proven themselves dependable in smaller matters—they are trustworthy, and 3) have pure motives—they hate dishonesty.

The second law of leadership recruitment is EQUIPPING. In Exodus 18:20, we see that there must be an ongoing, systematic program to train all people in the principles of Godly leadership. Not everyone will become a leader, but everyone can benefit from the principles of leadership. That’s because they all will have roles of influence somewhere: home, business, and community. Training all the people in your sphere of influence will expand the leadership pool from which you recruit.

The third law of leadership recruitment is MENTORING. In the last part of Exodus 18:20, Jethro said, “Show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform.” Basically, your responsibility is to reproduce yourself in the lives of others. If you’re not doing that, you are not a leader—or a very effective one. However, good leaders demonstrate by their lives and actions a positive pattern for others to follow. That implies you have an intentional plan for mentoring, rather than just hoping others will pay attention to what you’re doing.

The fourth law of leadership is EMPOWERING. In the last part of Exodus 18:21, Jethro instructs Moses to appoint them as “officials.” In other words, don’t just give them a title and a responsibility, give them authority to lead.

The fifth law of leadership recruitment is ACCOUNTABILITY. In Exodus 18:22, Jethro says that with responsibility and authority, there must also be accountability: “Have them bring the difficult cases to you.” There is to be a system where the new leader circles back to the chief leader, whose discernment will always be needed. So they will have to be accountable to you, and you will have to continually monitor their ministry progress and effectiveness.

The sixth law of leadership recruitment is SANITY. In Exodus 18:23, Jethro says to Moses, “If you do this, you will be able to stand the strain of leadership and all the people will be satisfied.” Leadership should never drive you crazy, stress you beyond your ability to cope, or destroy your personal life. Leadership is meant to be a joy. And your leadership is meant to produce deep satisfaction in the lives of those you lead. The presence of unrelenting stress in the leader’s life and dissatisfaction among the people is a clear indication that these godly principles of leadership development have been ignored.

Then Jethro gave the best reason of all to put these principles to use when he said to Moses and, by extension, to you and me, in Exodus 18:23, “And so God commands.”

There is hardly a better investment than in recruiting, mentoring, and releasing leaders into the service of that over which God has given you authority.

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“ Leaders are great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others. Success without a successor is failure. A worker’s main responsibility is doing the work himself. A leader’s main responsibility is developing others to do the work. — JOHN MAXWELL

Take the Next Step: Is there someone in your sphere of influence you can train for leadership? Do it—it’s a worthy investment of time, energy, and resources.

Getting Closer to Jesus: Have you ever been around fruity Christians? Not the kind you are thinking. I’m talking about the believer who seems to enjoy more of God’s blessings than the ordinary Christian. They tend to get more prayers answered than you, live in a greater degree of Divine favor than you, appear to have more of an inside track with the Almighty than you, overflow with a lot more joy than you, and they definitely produce a ton more spiritual fruit than you.

They’re fruity—their lives produce much fruit.

In my younger days as a believer, I had a friend who was the most spiritually passionate person I had ever met. She talked about Jesus constantly, lived in complete dependence on God, and prayed about everything. And I mean everything—all her needs and even every single one of her wants. She prayed about things I wouldn’t have bothered the Almighty with. When she wanted a better car—she was even specific about the year, make, model, and color of the exterior and interior—she asked God. And she got it—the year, make, model, and color of the car she prayed for miraculously showed up one day not long after—I kid you not. When she decided a trip to the Holy Land was in order, she prayed for the funds to go. Guess what—she got it. She went on an all-expense paid trip to Israel—and I stayed home. That was just her life as a believer—she was a fruity disciple.

Perhaps you wish you could live her kind of blessed life, but secretly feel a little selfish in asking God for it. Don’t feel selfish one second longer. God wants you to experience that kind of abundant life, too. In fact, Jesus said the God-blessed life is arguably the best proof that you are his disciple. Furthermore, he pointed out that your fruitfulness as his disciple is what brings much glory to his Father. The fruitier you are, the greater glory that goes to God. The more God answers your prayers, the more he receives the praise. That’s how you make God look good!

Wanting to live the God-blessed life is not selfish at all. It is no more selfish than God wanting to be glorified by giving you your blessings. It is simply the rule of God’s kingdom to ask for his favor and to live in his blessing.

That’s what God wants for you. So, stop feeling weird about asking and start asking expectantly. What do you desire for your life? Ask for it. If you are connected to Jesus—and make no mistake, that is the key to receiving—the Father will allow you to bear not just a little, but a whole bunch of fruit. That’s what he wants for his disciples, and that includes you.

Now the proviso is, of course, to use the fruit he grants you to glorify him. This isn’t about satiating your flesh. It is about reflecting the abundance of God’s grace in your daily life. Make sure that is your organic, all-consuming desire.

If you are not at the level of fruitiness that you would like to be, that ought to be your first prayer today.

Take the Next Step : Speaking of asking the Father for anything you want, why not ask him for much fruit! And along with that, ask him to help you be ever aware that his blessings come only by you staying connected to him.

Getting Closer to Jesus: As a society, we are busier than ever, and with that, we have much less capacity to experience and enjoy what’s most important in life. Cardiologist Meyer Friedman, a respected authority on the Type-A personality, says that modern America suffers from what he calls hurry sickness—the relentless drive to do more, have more, and be more in less and less time.

That’s not new; it has been the steady march of fallen humanity asserting independence from God. Even 200 years ago, Soren Kierkegaard said, “The press of busyness is like a charm. Its power swells … it reaches out, seeking always to lay hold of ever-younger victims so that childhood or youth are scarcely allowed the quiet and the retirement in which the Eternal may unfold a divine growth.”

Even believers have fallen prey to uncontrolled purposelessness. We have elevated intensity of living over intimacy with God and predictably, that is stunting the fruit-bearing, joy-filled, abundant life described here in John 15 that Jesus died to provide—and which is the most compelling witness, arguably, to a hurried, stressed-out world that desperately needs the Christ-follower to be an oasis of unforced centeredness in a sea of chaos.

As believers, we have been called to abide. And Jesus, who perfectly balanced the relentless demands of people and mission with quietness and solitude, is a great mentor for us. He knew how to make space in his life for what was most important in life: abiding with his Father. Mark 6:31-32 is a great example of how Jesus practiced abiding in his Father:

Because so many people were coming and going that Jesus and his disciples didn’t even have time to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’ So they left in a boat to a solitary place.

Now we are not told what they did when they got there. They may have enjoyed a season of prayer. Maybe Jesus led them in a devotional. Perhaps they took a nap, or had a potluck, or played tag—all legitimate activities when you are with Jesus. We don’t know for sure, but we do know they did this:

• They ceased their normal activity.
• They retreated from the demands of people.
• They set aside a specific time and place for quiet.
• They were with Jesus in an undivided way.

And that experience of abiding resulted in rest. Now that same practice of abiding will work for us too:

Pausing from our normal routine; scheduling time and place for solitude and reflection; giving full and unfettered access into our lives to Jesus. That’s a simple but sure template for abiding in Christ if you looking for one.

Without a regular and fiercely guarded time for abiding in Christ, life will constantly remind you that this world demands your blood, sweat, and tears. But by abiding in Christ, you will be reminded that your eternal soul belongs to Someone and someplace else.

In John 15:4, Jesus says, “Abide in me, as I abide in you.” That is not only a command, but also an invitation that requires a choice on your part. Jesus invites you to come away with him from the busyness of life and the bondage of hurriedness for a satisfying renewal of your soul. “Come with me” Jesus says, “to a quiet place and get some rest.” (Mark 6:31)

Will you? If you want to really live the fruit-bearing, God-honoring, joyful life Jesus came to give you, you have to make the choice to abide.

Take the Next Step : Most of your life you are required to “wrestle with the world, wringing profit from the earth” (Abraham Heschel), but Jesus calls us to carve our a regular time where we get away with him just to abide. Do that today…and everyday this week. And while you are with him, simply reflect on who you are and to Whom you belong and why he put you on this earth. And in those moments, gratefully remember intimacy with him is greater than anything else in life!

Getting Closer to Jesus: Why do some people seem to get more insider information about God than others?

I’m not talking about those who claim to have special revelation, but within seconds of being with them, you realize they only have half of that equation—for sure, they are “special”, but they have zero revelation! No, the kind of people I am speaking of have greater insight into Scripture, get more profound insights out of their daily devotions, display a special connection to the Holy Spirit and day by day seem to grow more profoundly, deeply connected with God than the average believer.

Does God love them more than others? No, but for a select few of these types, it may be that God has sovereignly selected them to reveal himself more clearly for the purpose of ministering to others the deeper things of the Lord. Is it because they are spiritually smarter than the rest of us? Probably not. Do they have more faith than you and me? I doubt it.

So, what is it? My sense is that, except in special cases where God has uniquely marked certain individuals for a greater download of divine information, those with deeper revelation have simply and consistently exercised their faith more than the rest of us. The exercise of their faith has been met with greater revelation. It is as St. Augustine said: “Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.” The surest way to a greater faith—which, remember, is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, according to Hebrews 11:1—which leads to a closer relationship with God and greater revelation of who God is, is to exercise the faith that we have.

That seems to be Jesus’s answer to Judas, who asked the Lord, “why don’t you just go ahead and prove yourself to the whole world? Wouldn’t that make things a lot easier for you?” It almost seems as if Jesus sidesteps that question when he begins to talk about love and obedience: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23). But what Jesus is getting at is that deeper revelation comes by way of our receptivity, and receptivity is conditioned by our love, and our love is displayed by our obedience to Jesus’ commands, and our obedience comes from the exercise of our faith. If we don’t exercise faith, revelation would be wasted. Thomas Aquinas, a brilliant church leader in the thirteenth century, made this profound observation: “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” So why would God waste revelation on someone who has been unwilling to exercise faith?

But when we exercise faith, our faith grows. As our faith grows, greater love flows from us toward God. And as love flourishes, obedience becomes our willing offering of response to God. It is our growing faith, flowing love, and willing obedience that acts as our invitation for God to make his home in us. And when God talks up residence in our lives, deeper insight, special revelation and spiritual familiarity will come to characterize our relationship with God.

“ Faith fills a man with love for the beauty of its truth, with faith in the truth of its beauty. — FRANCES, DE SALES

Take the Next Step : Do you desire a greater revelation of God? Are you willing to exercise your faith? Are you ready to love God more? Are you committed to obey him with greater readiness? Think about the following challenge from Martin Luther: “What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the workflow.”

Getting Closer to Jesus: Three times, as Jesus speaks to the disciples about his going and the Holy Spirit’s coming, he repeats this phrase: Your love for me will be indicated by your obedience to me. Obviously, it was very important to Jesus that his disciples understood this.

It still is. In an age where love has become a very squishy concept, Jesus still wants those who claim to follow him to demonstrate their love not just in language, but in action. Now, the fact that love calls for proof in no way diminishes the doctrine of unconditional love—love with no strings attached. It simply clarifies what unconditional means. To love unconditionally means the love you have and express toward another is not dependent upon their worth or the work. Rather, that love emanates from the core of your being. That love is the subject, but a noun needs a verb as well as an object to tell the full story of what love is. And what love is cannot be told without showing what love does.

The Apostle Paul taught that in I Corinthians 13, the great love chapter, when he writes “love is…” But Paul defines “love is” by demonstrating what love does: It acts. It works. It affects. It produces an outcome.

Jesus says the outcome of love for him is obedience: The one who loves him will obey his commandments. If they accept his demands, they will prove it by obedience to those requirements, thus authenticating their love for him. They will do what he says. Jesus can’t be any clearer than that: love for God has conditions—it obeys.

Furthermore, the God who loves us unconditionally sets some conditions upon his love for us and our loving response to him; some “if…then”: I love you, and if you love me by doing what I say, then I will give you another Advocate (John 14:16); If you obey my commandments then my Father will love you and I will love you too and reveal myself to you (John 14:21); If you love me then my Father and I will come and make our home with you (John 14:23).

Love doesn’t work to be love; it works because it is love. That is very clear when you look to the source of love, the Being who defines what love is by demonstrating what love does. God is love. His love is not the sloppy, vague, anything-goes kind of love our world knows. It is not the ever-changing love that rises and falls with one’s current emotional state that far too many people today understand love to be. It is not the selfish kind of love that loves to the degree that love is requited. No—God’s love is an unconditional, sacrificial, proactive love that seeks out unworthy objects. It is a holy and righteous love; it is a tough love; it is an unchanging love. It is this love that is the essence of God’s being. It is the energy of what God does. It is the outcome of where God has been and where he now is. God is love—not just love the noun, but love the verb.

And when you have truly embraced God’s love, it then goes on display in you. It can’t help it. Like God, you love with no thought of love in return; you go out of your way to love; you love in response to hurtful and hateful actions; you suffer but patiently love anyway. When everyone else has given up, you stubbornly continue to love. When that kind of love in action is displayed in you, it is obvious that God’s unconditional love has transformed you.

And when it comes to your love for God, love is…love does. It obeys. It does what he says. Not to earn more of his love, but to express love in response to what you can never earn. That is the condition of true love: it loves unconditionally.

“ When love and skill work together expect a masterpiece — JOHN RUSHKIN

Take the Next Step : Express your love for God by loving someone else today—surprise them with love. Do it generously and in a way they cannot repay, perhaps even doing it anonymously to ensure they can’t. And love in a way that leaves a definite imprint that God has been there.

Getting Closer to Jesus: “You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

That is a pretty amazing promise Jesus made to his disciples—and by extension—to you and me!

Jesus was laying out his succession plans for God’s kingdom. He told his disciples that he needed to go back to the Father, and in his absence, they would carry on his works in the world, extending the kingdom wherever they went. And although he would no longer be with them physically, he would be with them—and more importantly, live in them and work through them, by the indwelling Holy Spirit:

Literally, to his followers who would completely yield their lives in obedience to his word, commitment to his purposes, and availability to his work, Jesus promised, “My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.” (John 14:23)

Make his home in them! What a thought: through the initial infilling and ongoing indwelling, the Holy Spirit—the third person of the Holy Trinity—would actually take up residence within Christ’s followers, making their whole lives—body, mind, and spirit—the new temple of God on Planet Earth.

Those words are from the lips of Jesus himself, and they are meant for you! As you go about your life—wherever you go, whatever you do, whoever you are with—you are God’s temple on Planet Earth, the dwelling place of God’s presence. Do you believe that? If you do, Jesus’ words will transform you to the core of your being. They will radically alter the way you perceive yourself and interact with your world. And they will lead you to have the kind of impact for Christ in this world you have always dreamed of having.

The story is told of a private in the army of the Greek general, Alexander the Great, who ran after and retrieved the general’s runaway horse. When this lowly soldier brought the animal back, Alexander offered his appreciation by saying, “Thank you, Captain!”

With one word, the private had been promoted. When the general said it, the private believed it. He immediately went to the quartermaster, selected a new captain’s uniform and put it on. He went to the officer’s quarters and selected his bunk. He went to the officer’s mess and had a meal. Because General Alexander had said it, the private took him at his word and changed his life accordingly. He was simply now doing life under the authority of Alexander.

Why don’t you take the word of Someone far greater than Alexander and change your life accordingly? If you will, greater works will you do!

Take the Next Step : Offer this prayer for radical alteration of your existing life: “Lord, I believe what you said. On this day, I ask the Father, as you have commissioned me to do, to empower and embolden me to do the very kingdom works that you would do if you were in my place. And may all glory go back to you!”

Getting Closer to Jesus: In his book, Ruthless Trust, Brennan Manning tells the story of ethicist John Kavanaugh, who traveled to India to work with Mother Teresa in “the house of the dying.” Kavanaugh was searching for what to do with the rest of his life, so he asked Mother Teresa to pray for him that God would grant him clarity. She refused, saying, “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.” When Kavanaugh protested that Mother Teresa seemed to have such great clarity, she responded, “I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust.”

Manning goes on to say it is trust—the simple but ruthless childlike trust that we place in God—that is the defining spirit of authentic discipleship. I agree. That is what Jesus called his disciples to in the first century—to trust in God, to trust in him—and that is the challenge that Jesus lays down for his would-be followers in our age.

No matter how you slice it, the basic minimum requirement for following Jesus always comes down to this: Will you give him your total trust? If you will, you are on your way to the most exciting and rewarding experience of life a person will ever have—walking with Jesus. And from what Jesus said in John 14:1, we can deduce that one of the basic blessings of placing our trust in God is a trouble-free heart. Not a trouble-free life, mind you, but a heart (and a mind, Paul adds in Philippians 4:7) that is guarded by Jesus himself.

However, if you won’t give God your total trust, your Christian experience will never get out of the harbor to set sail on the rewarding voyage of risky discipleship. You will find yourself nursing a troubled heart and travelling a less-than-satisfying journey with God.

“Trust in God,” Jesus says, “and trust in me.” So, are you? When your faith is boiled down to its basic elements, will we find there, despite life’s circumstances and in scorn of the consequences of living out your faith, a simple but ruthless childlike trust in God? Or is trust something that merely gets talked about but never fleshed out?

A lot of people talk about trusting God, fewer people ever place the totality of their lives in the Father’s hands and unequivocally say, “into your hands, I commit my spirit. May your will be done.” If you are one of the courageous and committed few who do, you have given the greatest gift a human being can place before the God who has everything—the rare trifecta of extreme dependence, radical faith, and resolute obedience. Nothing brings a smile to the Father’s heart quite like that.

One of the best illustrations of this kind of ruthless trust came from the life of the famous tightrope walker, George Blondin. In the 1850s, for a publicity stunt, George decided he would walk across Niagara Falls on a rope that had been stretched from one side of the falls to the other. Crowds lined up on both the Canadian and American sides to watch this unbelievable feat. Blondin began to walk across, inch by inch, step by step, and everybody knew that if he’d make one mistake, he was a goner. He got to the other side, and the crowd went wild. Blondin said, “I’m going to do it again.” And to the crowd’s delight, he did. Then, to everybody’s amazement, he crossed again, this time pushing a wheelbarrow full of dirt. He actually did this several times, and as he started to go across one last time, someone in the crowd said, “I believe you could do that all day.” To that, Blondin dumped out the dirt and said, “Then get into the wheelbarrow.”

In a very real sense, that is what God is saying to you and me. Our talk alone is cheap. At some point, we need to get in the wheelbarrow of trust and prove that our discipleship is real.

Take the Next Step : Pray this honest and humble prayer: “God, I trust in you. Help my lack of trust!”

“ Now Jesus was in great anguish of spirit and exclaimed, “Yes, it is true—one of you will betray me.” — JOHN 13:21

Getting Closer to Jesus: I have always had an easier time accepting Jesus’ divinity than his humanity. I suppose that’s because I tend to think of human emotions—anxiety, disappointment, temptation, fear—as flaws and weaknesses. How could the Son of God be flawed or weak? No way; not my Messiah! Jesus in “great anguish”! How could this be?

Jesus was God, so he knew all things in advance. He knew what he would face, but he also knew the outcome was pre-set, so there would be nothing but victory and glory for him at the end of the day. Even though he would allow hurtful and harmful things to happen to him in his assignment as the world’s redeemer, he had power over those things; he would turn them toward his Father’s ultimate purpose. How then would he ever be upset, feel overwhelmed, and weep over things that didn’t go his way?

Yet over and again in the Gospels we see Jesus expressing a variety of emotions that we mistakenly attribute to humans only: tiredness, hunger, anger, grief, disappointment, distress. The truth is, those emotions are resident in the Creator, and we, made in his image, simply are able to feel and experience what he felt and experienced, too. We feel because God feels. In fact, the writer of Hebrews tells us that not only does he feel what we feel, we ought to be supremely grateful for that since that makes him our empathetic High Priest:

But Jesus the Son of God is our great High Priest who has gone to heaven itself to help us; therefore let us never stop trusting him. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses since he had the same temptations we do, though he never once gave way to them and sinned. So let us come boldly to the very throne of God and stay there to receive his mercy and to find grace to help us in our times of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

In the case of his betrayal, knowing in advance that Judas would hand him over, for a price, to the Jews, having deliberately selected him with that knowledge in advance, Jesus was still distraught as he announced to his disciples that one of them would stab him in the back. And his distress was not hidden behind a stiff upper lip. The disciples were very aware that Jesus was terribly upset, so much so that Peter tried to counteract these messianic emotions with some bravado of his own: “Don’t worry Lord, I’ll be with you through thick and thin!”

Many times during my two daughters’ growing-up years, they would come to me for comfort when they had experienced fear, frustration, disappointment, and hurt in their lives. And being a little thick-headed as a father (I know, that’s a bit redundant), it took me a while to realize that they didn’t always want me to fix their problems, they simply wanted me to listen to their upset and offer an emotional response that assured them I identified with their hurt. They wanted me to “feel their pain.” They wanted, and needed, an empathetic father. To be sure, they sometimes needed me to fix things, but most of the time they just needed to know that I cared.

Here’s the thing: They didn’t care how much I knew; they needed to know how much I cared.

The fact that Jesus cared so much about Judas’ betrayal—even though he knew in advance it would happen and that God would leverage it for his eternal plan—proved to his disciples that he cared for them, too. They knew how much he cared, and that made him a perfect, empathetic High Priest they could come to for anything they were facing.

What a drag it would be to serve an uncaring, unfeeling Messiah. Thankfully, that is not the Messiah you serve. Jesus was distressed—but what a blessed distress! It proves that even as one who is fully God, he is still perfectly capable of feeling emotions for you, too.

Take the Next Step : Where are you hurting today? Boldly—with unmitigated fear, anger or hurt, if necessary—go to Jesus and pour out your heart to him. He cares! And he knows what to do for you, too!

“ Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them. — JOHN 13:17

Getting Closer to Jesus: If we are to be the kind of Christ-followers that God can bless, our behavior must align with our beliefs. What we “know” must become what we “do.” Specifically, we will have to live like Jesus lived, which means serving like Jesus served. Jesus made that perfectly clear when he said,

You call me “Teacher” and “Lord,” and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.” (John 13:13-15, NLT)

So, how did Jesus serve? Well, an entire book could be written on that, but among the many characteristics of Jesus’ servanthood, he was simply available to people. Reflecting on my own life and the lives of many people I know, my sense is that the critical need for most of us who will read this devotional is to reorient our busy schedules so that serving Jesus by serving others becomes our top priority in life.

Think about how Jesus did that. Matthew 20 tells the story of Jesus walking to Jericho when some blind men start yelling at him: “Lord, have mercy on us!” And it says, “Jesus stopped and asked. ‘What do you want me to do for you?’”

Now think about that: Jesus stopped! God turned aside to make himself accessible to those whom society had cast aside. Jesus did that a lot! Do you realize that most of his miracles were interruptions? What we see as an intrusion, Jesus saw as an invitation—an opening in his schedule to serve God’s purpose by serving God’s people. If we are to grow into a Christ-like ministry mindset, that is the attitude we must cultivate. And here is what that means:

First, we will have to realign our crowded calendars. Matthew 6:33 says, “More than anything else, put God’s work first and do what he wants. Then the other things you want will be yours as well.” What that means is that if you make God’s concerns your priority, he will make your concerns his priority. In other words, that will make you bless-able.

Second, we will have to refocus on others. That means we will need to think a lot less about ourselves and a lot more about others. Philippians 2:4 reminds me that in becoming like Christ, I must “forget myself long enough to help other people.” That is truly the preeminent attitude of Christlikeness. And it is one of the things that leads to a truly satisfying experience of life, giving yourself to others. Again, that is what will make you bless-able.

Third, we will have to relax our perfectionism. Too many Christians wait for perfect circumstances to serve: when life isn’t so hectic, when the kids are out of the house, when the right ministry comes along, or when other stuff gets done first. Ecclesiastes 11:4 says, “If you wait for perfect conditions, you’ll never get anything done.” Christlike servants do their best with what they have for Jesus today, not someday. Like Jesus, they are available when the opportunity presents itself! By definition, a servant always makes themself available to their master, and that is what will make you bless-able to the only Master that matters.

Jesus served because at the core of who he was there was a consuming desire to connect people with the grace, mercy, and love of his Father. Serving was the primary means of that. Since, as a Christ-follower, you are being transformed into his character, that must be characteristic of you, too.

God has made—or more accurately, remade you—to serve him by ministering to others. Actually, “you are God’s workmanship, made to do good works that God himself has prepared in advance specifically for you to do.” (Ephesians 3:10)

Interestingly, and quite deliberately, the Greek word in that verse the Apostle Paul chose for workmanship is poiema. We derive our English word poem from that. You are God’s poem, and when you serve in the mindset of God’s Son, you become poetry in motion.

And when you do, you are at your most bless-able!

Take the Next Step : There is one vitally important question you must answer after you have been saved: Where are you loving God by serving others?

Getting Closer to Jesus: If you and I are going to be a fully devoted follower of Christ, we will have to think, speak, and live like Jesus thought, spoke, and lived—not the least of which is to take on the attitude, exhibit the actions, and live the lifestyle of a servant. Yes—you will have to serve as Jesus served!

Serving is what Jesus did because servanthood was at the very core of who Jesus was and why Jesus came. The Gospel of Mark, the first written biographical account of Jesus, sums up the life and ministry of Jesus with this simple, clear, and compelling mission statement:

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)

Fleshing out this mission statement, John 13 presents the servanthood of Jesus in action in the most unusual and unforgettable way: He washed his disciples’ feet. Then, as he completed this humbling task, he said to them, “I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.” (John 13:15, NLT) It is abundantly clear from this passage, along with other scripture, that serving is an unmistakable, unavoidable demand of discipleship. Not only is serving a demand, but when we look at Jesus’ example, we find that serving is also a delight. It is what makes us bless-able: “Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.” (John 13:17, NLT)

Think about it: Serving like Jesus is what puts you at your Christlike best!

You are called to serve! Paul writes in Philippians 2:5-7, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God…took on the very nature of a servant.” Galatians 5:13 says, “Serve one another in love.” If you are serving, you are fulfilling your basic Christian calling. If you are not, then you are not!

You were created to serve! Like fish swim and birds fly, Christians serve! Ephesians 2:20 states, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Before you were even conceived, God laid out specific plans just for you. You are not an afterthought; you do not just exist; you are on this earth not just to be a potted plant, you were born not just to consume, but to contribute. God deliberately shaped you to serve his purposes, which means that he has placed an important responsibility on your shoulders that only you can fulfill.

You contribute to the Body of Christ when you serve! God specifically created you, converted you, and called you to contribute to the life, health, and mission of a local church. Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 12:27, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” Verse 12 says, “The body is a unit, though it’s made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.” Verse 18 says, “God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” Why? Verse 7 tells us it is “for the common good.” 1 Peter 4:10 says, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” Perhaps you didn’t realize this, but as you and others serve in your church, serving becomes the primary means by which others receive God’s grace. Your serving is the conduit of God’s grace to those around you.

You capture the world’s attention when you serve! Our humble, authentic acts of service put God in a good light. Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, “Let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. (Matthew 5:16, NLT) Jesus said John 13:35, “By this will all men know that you are my disciples: That you have love for one another.” It is by authentic servanthood that you become living proof of a loving God.

Jesus ended the washing of his disciples’ feet by issuing this very simple challenge: “Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.” (John 13:17, NLT) It doesn’t get any clearer than that!

Take the Next Step : Having read this devotional and meditated on the scriptures quoted, there is a simple question you are obligated to answer: “Where am I serving?”

Getting Closer to Jesus: It is hard to fully fathom and completely embrace God’s immeasurable, inexplicable, crazy love that is revealed in this moment as Jesus washed his disciples’ feet. The story, which connects us to Jesus’s final hours before his sacrificial death on the cross, begins with this shocking statement in verses 1-2:

Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end.

What makes that so shocking is that Jesus knew full well that not only would his love for these disciples not be reciprocated, but there were also two in that group who would publicly deny him, and actually betray his love: Judas and Peter. Verse 2 goes on to say, “It was suppertime. The Devil by now had Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, firmly in his grip, all set for the betrayal.” Verse three adds, “Jesus knew…” what the Father had put before him. Then, in verse 38, Jesus responds to Peter’s promise to stand with him through thick and thin, “Actually, Peter, the truth is that before the rooster crows, you’ll deny me three times.”

Now with that in mind, let’s go back and explore what the “full extent of Jesus’s love” looks like in what he did in that intimate setting for his disciples—and more importantly, by extension, what he did for you and me.

For one thing, the full extent of his love means you are fully loved, when, from a human perspective, you aren’t fully lovable. Verse 2 says, “It was time for supper, and the devil had already enticed Judas to carry out his plan to betray Jesus.” Verse 11 adds, “Jesus knew who would betray him”; that Judas would hand him over to the Jews later that night. I don’t suppose we could think of anyone any more unlovable and unworthy than Judas—yet Jesus loved him, nonetheless.

He humbly knelt as Judas’s servant to wash his feet, knowing everything in his past, present, and future. Yet Jesus still showed him the full extent of his love! What that means is that if Jesus loved Judas, then knowing everything about you—past failures, present junk, and even your future sins—he will still stubbornly love you. If Judas was worthy of love, then certainly you will always be the object of Christ’s unstoppable love. In fact, you don’t have enough sin or darkness to even slow his love down! You are fully loved!

That leads to another thing that you ought to know about the full extent of Jesus’s love for you: It is a love that is rooted in his nature and is not dependent on yours. Verses 4-5 say, “Jesus got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he had around him.”

Now think for a moment about those whose feet he washed. Of course, there was Judas, whose betrayal Jesus knew was just moments away. But there was also one he knew would deny him—Peter—who, in spite of his insistence otherwise, famously and publicly denied Jesus. And of course, there were ten others around that room he knew would desert him in his hour of greatest need before the night was out.

Not their character—nor yours—motivated Jesus’s love; no, it flowed out of his own loving character. That’s why you can always depend on being the recipient of the full extent of his love.

Finally, what you ought to know about the full extent of Jesus’ love is that it will transform your worst nature so radically that you, yourself, will become a conduit of his love. Jesus said in verses 34-35, “So now I’m giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I’ve loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

That’s what the “full extent of his love” will do—if you let it! Again, that love flows from his character, not yours, but when you surrender to it, you can then enter what will be your most satisfying experience in life: You, yourself, becoming a conduit of his full love to others.

And that is the answer to the deepest longing of your innermost heart: To know the full extent of God’s unconditional love and become the conduit of that inexhaustible love to others!

If nothing could stop Jesus from loving Judas and Peter, certainly nothing will prevent Jesus from showing you the full extent of his unconditional love.

Take the Next Step : Take time today to enjoy God’s love. And if that is hard to imagine, just visualize in your mind Jesus, arms stretched wide as he hangs on the cross, saying to you, “I love you this much!”

Getting Closer to Jesus: John 12 is a pivot point in the Gospel of John that marks Jesus’s last public movements before his arrest, crucifixion and post-resurrection appearances. It is one of the most stunning accounts you will find in Scripture because of the unbelief of the characters in this chapter.

Jesus has just performed the greatest miracle you could ever hope for: the raising of Lazarus from the tomb four days after he had died. Yet the reaction of Judas, the priests, and the Pharisees, respectively, to this outstanding miracle is flat-out rejection of Jesus’ deity, if not blind hatred of him. Their unbelief is stunning, given the fact that the now-resurrected Lazarus is standing before their very eyes, living proof of Jesus’s authority and power over death.

Fortunately, this story is more than the sad history of the Jewish establishment’s rejection of Jesus. As is always the case with Scripture, there are valuable lessons to be learned from this about the willful unbelief of humanity and the unstoppable purposes of God.

The first lesson we learn is that miracles alone will never lead people to the full surrender of their lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. People often demand a miracle before they will place faith in Christ, but the record of the gospels indicates that miracles alone won’t wash away willful unbelief. They should—but they don’t. Time and again, Jesus performed a miracle, only to have people, in the very next moment, demand not another sign, but a sign—as if the one he had just given hadn’t been given at all. Such is the utter blindness of illogical unbelief. Beware, the next time you find yourself insisting that God grant you your miracle.

The second lesson we learn is that the motives of sinful people will always irreconcilably conflict with the purposes of a holy God. When human beings’ agenda collides with God’s agenda—and it always does, sooner or later—something’s got to give. The Jewish leaders were more interested in protecting their religious and political way of life than in discovering the life of abundance that the Messiah had come to reveal. In this case, unbelievably, they not only rejected Jesus, but the creatures killed the Creator! Keep in mind that early and often in your voyage of faith, you will be called to untether from the shores of comfort and risk what you cling to in order to go with God.

But the third lesson we learn here is that even the inflexible unbelief of man always gets leveraged for the irrepressible glory of God. That is why Jesus quotes Isaiah in John 12:40, “God has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts—so they can’t see, can’t understand, can’t turn to me and have me heal them.”

Now this is one of the Bible’s hard sayings that seems to say God predestines some people to unbelief. But understand that Isaiah’s complaint springs from the broken heart of a prophet who is bewildered that his message and his calls to repentance only made the people of Israel worse, not better. Yet in their painful and willful rejection of the word of the Lord, Isaiah knew that even this could not take place outside God’s purpose nor thwart his unstoppable plan. Nothing can—which means we best get on board with God’s agenda. So, in that sense, even when people rejected Isaiah’s message, their unbelief was still contained within God’s purpose.

That is not to say that humanity’s unbelief is God’s purpose; rather, it is to say that God sovereignly uses even our unbelief for his sovereign purpose. For instance, in Romans 11, the Apostle Paul said that God used the unbelief of the Jews for the conversion of the Gentiles. God didn’t predestine certain people to unbelief—they chose unbelief—but he used their unbelief to further his agenda. In John 12, the Jews’ unbelief isn’t God’s fault; it’s the Jews’ fault. Yet even then, God is so great that not even this sin of stunning unbelief is outside his power, so he leverages it to bring about the cross and the redemption of all who believe.

Now, if all this is theologically true, what does it mean for you practically? Simply this: God will leverage humankind’s unbelief for his ultimate glory—even yours. But you have a choice. You can either stubbornly hold on to your unbelief—that is, where your agenda conflicts with God’s—or you can surrender it to Jesus so that you can get on board with God’s glorious plan.

What is your area of unbelief, the place where you are fiercely clinging to your agenda? Have you ever withheld money from missional work because it was dedicated to something that you “needed” to do? Have you ever held back from an appeal to serve in your spiritual community because you felt unqualified or too busy or frankly just didn’t want to make the commitment? Have you ever criticized a change in the church that the pastor felt was necessary to reach more outsiders because it conflicted with your comfort and your preferred style of worship? There are a hundred ways we hold on to our unbelief—with spiritual justification—but here’s what Jesus said in John 12:24-25 about letting go of your agenda for God’s:

Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it’s never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it’s buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal.

If you hold on to what you want, you’ll kill any chance of what God wants for you! To experience the resurrected life—not just in eternity, but now—you must die to your unbelief.

Before you finish this post, I implore you to determine that your agenda and unbelief will no longer control you.

Take the Next Step : Where are you stubbornly holding on to your own spiritual agenda, and thus, expressing willful unbelief? Ask God to reveal to you where you need to surrender your preferences to his ways. Then be ready to obey him ruthlessly.

Getting Closer to Jesus: Historian Kenneth Scott Latourette wrote, “As the centuries pass, the evidence is accumulating that, measured by His effect on history, Jesus is the most influential life ever lived on this planet.”

His was also the most polarizing life ever lived. Now, in our day, perhaps in his day too, to be polarizing is neither an endearing trait nor a winning strategy to get you to the top. But Jesus didn’t care; his mission was to save souls (Mark 10:45), which required him to unflinchingly preach the truth, prove his ministry by mighty miracles that often collided with the established rules of religion, confront, and ultimately die as the only sacrifice that could redeem fallen humanity to set them right with Father God.

To that end, Jesus pulled no punches. And you either loved him or hated him. That was the case here in John 12:37-50. Some people heard his teaching and discerned a level of grace, truth, love, and spiritual authority they had never witnessed in human teachers before. In Jesus, this was the Messiah they had been waiting for. Others heard his teaching and saw his miracles and believed he was the Messiah, but because they were more concerned with maintaining their standing among the Jewish leaders who opposed Jesus, they kept it a secret. And then, of course, there were those who hated him so much they were willing to do anything to kill him off—despite the outstanding miracles they had seen with their own eyes.

Love him or hate him, Jesus forces that choice upon you. As C. . Lewis said,

[With Jesus] you must make a choice. Either He was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman, or something worse. You can shut Him up as a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that option open to us. He did not intend to.

And yet while people are still curious about Jesus in our day, far too many are still trying to ride the fence about a man who did his best not to give us that option. I have heard people say, “Oh, Jesus, yeah…he’s a great prophet…he is a marvelous teacher…he’s really something. The guy turns water into wine, feeds thousands with a few loaves and fishes, and cures sick people. Man, this guy is incredible.”

Untold thousands of people, the rich and famous as well as the poor and unknown, wear the cross as their jewelry of choice, the symbol that identifies them more than any other. Athletes, politicians, movie stars, and rock and roll icons whose lives are incongruent with his teachings invoke his name with not a second thought about who he claimed to be. I’ve talked to young men dressed in starched white shirts and ties at my front door who come in his name yet deny his deity. I see raunchy entertainers spew filth in one breath and claim Jesus as a good buddy in the next breath. I have good friends and close family members who acknowledge the historical Jesus yet ignore his teachings and demands. I have witnessed to people who claim to believe in him as a great moral teacher, worthy of deep respect and honor, but certainly not worthy of his Lordship over their lives.

It is amazing what we have done with Jesus! Dorothy Sayers, a brilliant writer and Christian thinker, once mournfully remarked, “[We have] very efficiently [clipped] the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified Him as a household pet fitting for pale curates and pious old ladies.” That he is not, by his own claims:

• To know Jesus was to know God. John 8:19 says, “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.’”
• To see Jesus was to see God. In John 12:45, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”
• To believe Jesus was to believe God. In John 12:44, Jesus taught, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me.”
• To receive Jesus was to receive God. Mark 9:37 says, “Whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
• To hate Jesus was to hate God. John 15:23 says, “He who hates me hates my Father as well.”
• To honor Jesus was to honor God. John 5:22-33, “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.”

When you consider these claims that Jesus made about himself, you have to eliminate most of the nice-sounding, politically correct things people say they believe about him. In other words, he cannot be just a good teacher, just a great moral leader, just a respected prophet, just a great figure of history. There is no “just” with Jesus. It is true, he is the most polarizing figure ever—and he wants it that way. You either love him, hopefully, or hate him. There is no middle ground.

Jesus cannot be declawed, nor can he be tamed, or even be contained! No matter how people may try, he is still the Lion of Judah! As Josh McDowell wrote, the evidence of his life and teachings demands a verdict: He is either Lord of all…or he is not Lord at all!

Take the Next Step : Is Jesus Lord of all your life? If he is, then affirm that before him in prayer and before the people with whom you will interact today. If he is not, then bow before him now and surrender your life to him as your Lord and Savior.

Getting Closer to Jesus: Thanks to Adam and Eve’s original sin, the unlimited promises of God, as well as the unrestricted potential of mankind, were forever changed—and not to the good. What God had in mind for human beings on Planet Earth was irreparably damaged, if not forever forfeited, as the corruption of sin took root and infected the DNA of all humanity. Sin knocked us off course on the journey of unending favor with no hope of a course correction.

Until Jesus came! Jesus came to get us back on track: to set us right with God and reestablish within us and among us the Kingdom life—that which was intended to be ours before the fall of man. But this gracious offer of a course correction would have to be done his way, not ours.

Easier said than done! Sin had thoroughly altered our relationship with God—no longer did we intrinsically trust him, immediately obey his commands, and innately step out to do things his way. No longer would we naturally, courageously, and joyfully follow the Shepherd’s voice. You see, our sinful flesh had entered the picture and stood as a constant heckler to the voice of God, even as Jesus called us back to the path of Divine favor and unleashed potential.

And the persistent stubbornness of our sin nature, aided by the unholy trinity—the world, the flesh, and the devil—caused us to balk at the gracious invitation to be set right with God. Instead of naturally seeing Christ’s call for what it was—an unmerited opportunity for never-ending, ever-increasing restoration—we now saw as an illogical and dangerous blind leap into the abyss. Such was the blindness caused by that unholy trinity. The logic of God we now consider upside down.

Yet the fact remains, what Jesus said and what he called to do is really a rightsizing of the logic of God, now corrupted in our minds by sin. In God’s universe, to recapture the promises and potential of his original intent, we must die to the old to experience rebirth into the restored. If we hold on to the corrupted life, we now know in the flawed system in which we live, we will kill any chance of that divine life being infused with untainted, indestructible Kingdom life. The old way—the sin-tainted flesh—must die, and get put into the ground, to spring forth as the reborn sprig of Kingdom life. The old selfish nature must be transformed, so that it gives to that which God desires to give. It must serve to surge into Kingdom greatness. It must learn to step into the thin air of risky faith for the bridge of blessing to be built under it. It must lose, as the flesh defines winning and losing to win, as God defines winning and losing.

It doesn’t make sense when we look at it through the shortsightedness of our sinful humanity. But when our focus is corrected through the vision of unquestioning trust and complete confidence in Jesus, the path to the Kingdom life once again become clear and straight—and what appears illogical to the fallen world now only seems logical. We can see clearly now, and suddenly the fog of sin opens the pathway to the indescribable beauty of life restored in Christ.

And we wonder, what took us so long to trust the only One who truly knows the way.

Take the Next Step : Here is a prayer to counteract the human logic that keeps us from experiencing the Kingdom life Jesus wants to restore to us: Lord, you were the servant of all. You came not to be served, but to serve and to give your life away to ransom mankind. You died so that I could live. Help me to take on that selfless, Kingdom-focused mindset. May I be so deeply and profoundly touched by you that, like you, this becomes the essence of my fundamental being.

“ Jesus said to Judas, “You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” — JOHN 12:8

Getting Closer to Jesus: To call someone a “Judas” is to label them a betrayer of the worst kind. It is an accusation that is reserved only for the worst kind of relational offense, since to call another Judas usually implies an irreparable breach in the relationship. After all, who wants to have anything to do with a backstabbing betrayer?

Judas’ betrayal of Jesus, to paraphrase Franklin Roosevelt, is an act that will forever live in infamy. But what Judas did to Jesus didn’t make him evil, it only revealed the evil that had, like cancer, been eating away at his character for a long time. The fact is, in Jesus’ own words, “one of you [disciples] is a devil!” (John 6:70). That is, Judas was a devil of the worst kind: a church-going one. As Joseph Hall has said, “No devil is so dangerous as the religious devil.”

As you might imagine of someone who would betray the Lord, this notorious disciple exhibited some other character flaws that mostly go unnoticed in light of his more famous sin. In this account here in John 12, we are told that Judas protested Mary’s act of anointing Jesus with expensive perfume because it could have fetched a handsome price at the market, and money from the sale could have been used to help the poor. Of course, Judas had a hidden motive. Since he was treasurer for this small band of disciples, he apparently dipped his hand in the till from time to time to fund his own needs. Judas was not only a betrayer, but according to John, he was also a thief.

Yet as the Gospels are prone to do, there is another side to Judas that is uncomfortably close to so many people who sit beside you every Sunday in the pews of your church. They are the ones who, like clockwork, criticize everything from the room temperature, the sound level, the length, content, and homiletical style of the sermon, the unfriendliness of the people, the call for financial commitment, ad nauseam. No matter what, they are never satisfied; there is always a better alternative, and although they are quick to protest, their solutions are never quite clear or doable. In truth, rather than wanting change, they simply want to gripe. They may smile and sing and put a coin or two in the offering plate, yet they are unwitting tools of Satan. The great Swiss theologian Karl Barth was speaking of them when he said, “The devil may also make use of morality.” They are very spiritual devils!

It wasn’t only Judas that Jesus had in mind when he uttered this gentle but pointed rebuke, “for the poor you have always”, he was speaking to the legion of church folk who believe their gift to the church is the ministry of criticism. In truth, their chronic criticism betrays a deeper agenda and uglier issues of character.

Don’t get me wrong—constructive criticism is not a bad thing, if offered in the right spirit, and conflict that is resolved biblically and in a Christ-like spirit can actually strengthen the church. It is chronic criticizers that I am talking about. In truth, they suffer from the Judas Syndrome: not betrayal, not thievery, but destructive criticism is their sin.

So, here’s the deal: If you have to be around someone who suffers this sort of Judas Syndrome, lovingly confront them, as Jesus did. If they don’t see their sin and change their ways, establish some boundaries with them. Don’t let them poison you and cripple your church.

And most of all, don’t be one! Just remember, no one has ever built a statue to a betrayer, a thief, or a critic.

“  I The devil loves ‘curing’ a small fault by giving you a great one. — C. S. LEWIS

Take the Next Step : Are you guilty of covering your own character flaws and deflecting Holy Spirit conviction meant for you with unfair, petty, excessive, and destructive criticism of others? If so, you may have fallen prey to the Judas Syndrome. Ask the Lord to show you where you need personal reformation. Then ask him to give you the courage to deal with issues that are keeping you from greater obedience and usefulness to him. And while you’re at it, ask him to sanctify your opinions, which means the holiest opinion may be the one that, in wisdom, you keep to yourself.

This chapter is amazing on a couple of levels. First, the raising of Lazarus from the dead has to be one of the most dramatic miracles in the entire Bible, outside of Christ’s own resurrection.

This is a perfect setup for the authentication of Jesus’ messianic ministry—and he knows it. He knows Lazarus’ sickness will lead to death, yet he waits until the man dies to come and pray for him. He knows that God the Father has given him authority and power over death, yet he prays anyway in front of the crowd that God will release resurrection power through him to bring forth this man from death. He knows that the Jews are criticizing his inability to prevent this death. In their minds, he is just another so-called messiah—all hat and no cattle. He knows that everyone in this scene is thinking that after four days in the tomb, death has done its nasty business on the body of Lazarus—as the King James says, “He stinketh!”—and it is well beyond resurrection.

In undeniable fashion, this is one of the outstanding acts of God ever. God seems to operate at his best in these situations. Yes, Jesus could have gone to Bethany much earlier and healed Lazarus before it got to this point, but that miracle would not have even come close to the glory this miracle would bring. God had an agenda—he always does: To glorify himself.

The Jewish leaders who opposed Jesus had an agenda too. They loved the status quo—their positions of power, the religious monopoly they held over the people, the spiritual racket that kept them in their places of wealth and honor. They had come to despise Jesus because he was threatening their way of life. His radical message and rising popularity were making their cozy way of life vulnerable to a Roman crackdown, and the potential loss of that prevented them from seeing and accepting even an outstanding act of God like Lazarus’ resurrection.

That is the second amazing thing about this story. It is almost as amazing as Lazarus’ resurrection. The Jews had witnessed this incredible, undeniable miracle with their own eyes, yet rejected it because, at least in their minds, it threatened their way of life.

That is the problem with personal agendas. They keep us from seeing how far superior God’s agenda is to our own. We do everything in our power to resist and avoid the short-term discomfort God may be allowing in our lives in order to preserve the comfort that we have come to prefer—even at the expense of a resurrection.

How do we do this? Just think about it—you will probably come up with plenty of examples. Have you ever stayed home from church because you had a headache? You didn’t feel well enough to go to the very place that prays for the sick to be healed. Have you withheld a financial gift from God because that money was dedicated to something you wanted to do—even though God has promised to give you the desires of your heart if your first delight yourself in him (Psalm 37:4). Have you ever sat in your pew when the pastor called people forward for prayer because you were uncomfortable and worried about what people might think? Have you ever held back on an adventure of faith because you felt unqualified and ill-equipped for the challenge?

It is most likely that you have an agenda that is different than God’s—perhaps more than a few. I know that I do.

What do you say we make a spiritual determination today that our agenda will no longer control our lives? If you will reject the status quo for the risky adventure of following God’s agenda, you will be on the cusp of the adventure of your life—maybe even a resurrection!

Get on the same page with God—it will be the ride of a lifetime!

“ Faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe. — ST. AUGUSTINE

Take the Next Step : Ask the Lord to show you where your love affair with the status quo is keeping you from a personal resurrection to radical faith. Then tap into the gift of courage he has given you to jettison your comfort zone for the risky adventure of faith.

Why was Jesus angry? His friend Lazarus had died. Perhaps it was as simple as that. He was upset at the loss of one with whom he had been close. Or maybe it was because Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ siblings, were upset—not only at the death of their brother, but with Jesus, who didn’t bother to show up to heal their loved one before he passed away from his illness. Or it could be that he was not happy with the people who had gathered to share this family’s grief who likewise had questioned Jesus—and in doing so, had questions if his “love” for this man had been real or if his supposed “powers” to heal the sick were actually real.

Whatever the reason for Jesus’ emotions, he expressed them openly and unreservedly. First, he wept (John 11:35), and then he got angry (John 11:39). In fact, the reading of this text indicates that his tears actually flowed out of an inner reservoir of anger over the loss of this special friend. Author David Seamands writes,

Anger is a divinely implanted emotion. Closely allied to our instinct for right, it is designed to be used for constructive spiritual purposes. The person who cannot feel anger at evil is a person who lacks enthusiasm for good. If you cannot hate wrong, it’s very questionable whether you really love righteousness.

Jesus loved righteousness—the uninterrupted flow and uncontainable overflow of the Kingdom of God in a person’s life. And when that flow got diverted or dammed up, either by religious systems or satanic harassment, Jesus got angry—good and angry.

Now that may blow your image of Jesus as the “Gentle Shepherd” right out of the water. I hope so! Not to be angry at a time like this would have been so un-God like of Jesus.

To be sure, Jesus loved people, and that love especially came through in his compassion for the poor, widows, and orphans, the sick and infirmed, and those who were held captive to sin by Satan. He was a man of love and peace who called people into a lifestyle of love and peace.

But Jesus was no pushover. He had a large capacity for anger—just read about his encounter with the moneychangers at the temple in John 2:13-22 and see if Jesus didn’t explode with righteous indignation every once in a while.

Now Jesus didn’t go around trying to pick fights, but when he saw injustice, it really ticked him off. And we should be glad for that—both for what it tells us of our Messiah and what it tells us about how we should operate as agents of his Kingdom. J. I. Packer, in his book, Your Father Loves You, writes of the many times Jesus’ anger flared at this sort of thing:

Jesus went into the synagogue on the Sabbath and saw a man with a crippled hand. He knew that the Pharisees were watching to see what he would do, and he felt angry that they were only out to put him in the wrong. They did not care a scrap for the handicapped man, nor did they want to see the power and love of God brought to bear on him. There were other instances where Jesus showed anger or sternness. He “sternly charged” the leper whom he had healed not to tell anyone about it (Mark 1:43) because he foresaw the problems of being pursued by a huge crowd of thoughtless people who were interested only in seeing miracles and not in his teaching. But the leper disobeyed and so made things very hard for Jesus. Jesus showed anger again when the disciples tried to send away the mothers and their children (Mark 10:13-16). He was indignant and distressed at the way the disciples were thwarting his loving purposes and giving the impression that he did not have time for ordinary people. He showed anger once more when he drove “out those who sold and those who bought in the temple” (Mark 11:15-17). God’s house of prayer was being made into a den of thieves and God was not being glorified—hence Jesus’ angry words and deeds. Commenting on this, Warfield wrote: “A man who cannot be angry, cannot be merciful.” The person who cannot be angry at things which thwart God’s purposes and God’s love toward people is living too far away from his fellow men ever to feel anything positive towards them. Finally, at Lazarus’ grave Jesus showed not just sympathy and deep distress for the mourners (John 11:33-35), but also a sense of angry outrage at the monstrosity of death in God’s world. This is the meaning of “deeply moved” in John 11:38.

Any form of spiritual manipulation, control, abuse, neglect, or enslavement that prevents the goodness of God from reaching people, no matter what form it takes, or who is perpetrating it, doesn’t make Jesus very happy. Not then…and not now.

Jesus, the Gentle Shepherd, the Prince of Peace, got good and angry over a few things. Maybe it is high time Christ followers got a little fed up with sin and its effects as well. Now, just a caveat before you blow your lid: If you can’t weep over the things that made Jesus weep, you probably shouldn’t get angry over the things that made Jesus angry. Righteous weeping and righteous anger are two sides of the coin of righteous indignation.

So if it is called for, go ahead and get angry. Just make sure you are good—literally—before you are angry.

“ He that would be angry and sin not, must not be angry with anything but sin. — THOMAS SECKER

Take the Next Step : Offer this heartfelt prayer in response to your reading of the story of Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the dead: “Lord Jesus, I want to have a heart like yours. Cause me to laugh over the things that make you laugh, weep over what breaks your heart, even to get angry over the kind of things that upset you. I want to live as you would if you were living in my stead.”

Jesus felt things very deeply—and I am so glad he did. Jesus was fully human, yet fully God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. His whole incarnational purpose was to live among us (John 1:15) in order to bring God close (Isaiah 7:14), reveal who God is and what God is like to us, to us, his creatures (Colossians 1:15,19-20), and through his redeeming sacrifice bring us back into a right relationship with our Father and Creator (Colossians 1:21-22).

In coming to Planet Earth to reveal God and redeem man, we do not find in Jesus an uncaring, distant, emotionless Deity; we find one who knew full well what it is was like to be one of us. Therefore, he was the perfect bridge between the altogether Holy and the utterly fallen. In his earthly journey, God the Son experienced—and expressed—a wide range us emotions that were uniquely human. Just in John 11 and 12 alone, we see several occasions where humanity “leaked” from Deity:

He got angry and upset: “When Jesus saw Mary weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled.” (John 11:33, NLT)

He expressed unmitigated grief and the free flow of tears: “Then Jesus wept.” (John 11:35, NLT)

He refused to be pacified when an issue was unresolved: “Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. ‘Roll the stone aside,’ Jesus told them.” (John 11:38, NLT)

He got fed up: “Jesus replied, ‘Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial.’” (John 12:7, NLT)

He felt concern over the future: “Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But this is the very reason I came!” (John 12:27, NLT)

In other Gospel accounts, we discover Jesus expressing other quite human emotion:

He was frustrated with his disciples’ thick-headedness: “Jesus asked them, ‘Are you still so dull?’” (Matthew 15:16, NLT)

He was overcome by the weight of responsibility: “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” (Mark 14:34, NLT)

He felt irrepressible joy: “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.’” Luke 10:21, NLT)

Jesus, the perfect God-man, was able to feel things uniquely human: Sorrow, anger, frustration, spiritual exhaustion, and a tremendous capacity for joy. But are those emotions uniquely human? No, in truth, they are completely Divine. These feelings are not of just human origin; rather, they are feelings that originate within the very being of a feeling God, who has simply placed them within the genetic code of that part of his creation he holds most dear—human beings, which includes you and me.

The fact that you and I feel simply reminds us that our Creator feels. What that means, among other things, is that we belong to a caring, compassionate God. God the Father feels—he even dances over you with delight (Zephaniah 3:17); God the Son definitely feels, as we have just seen; God the Holy Spirit feels—he can be grieved and pleased (Ephesians 4:30, Galatians 6:8). That is good news, because it gives him an unfettered capacity to relate to our feelings and us great confidence to come before a caring, understanding God to express our deepest feelings. Hebrews 4:15-16 says,

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Yes, God feels. Jesus clearly demonstrated that. So come confidently to a caring God to pour out your deepest, most inmost feelings. His great promise is that you can exchange your feelings for his mercy, your emotions for his grace, your tears for his comfort, your fears for his strength, and anything else you are carrying, good or bad, you can turn over to a Father who can definitely relate.

Now that is something you can feel really good about!

Take the Next Step : This present moment might be a good time to take God up on the incredible offer he made to you in Hebrews 4:16! Simply but boldly and expectantly go to God in prayer and present whatever is on your heart. And remember, Jesus is actually the one helping your prayers make sense and your requests compelling before the Father.

“ Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) So, the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” — JOHN 11:1-4

Getting Closer to Jesus: When I was a kid, there was a chorus that my little country church sang almost every time we gathered for a service. It was called, “I Surrender All.” Though it isn’t currently used too much, occasionally it gets dusted off and sung in churches today when attenders are being urged to some sort of higher commitment. The words go like this:

All to Jesus I surrender,
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

I surrender all,
I surrender all.
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

I surrender all! Really? Here’s the question I have for you: How committed are you that God’s glory would be displayed in your life through whatever means—even unpleasant events? How surrendered are you—not just that you are willing to be surrendered, but that you are surrendered—to God’s purpose being worked out through all your circumstances, especially the painful ones? I’m not sure how you will answer that, but I know that when I honestly consider the implications of total surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in my life—not in theory, but right now, in the gritty reality of my current world—I have to nervously gulp a little bit.

You see, to be truthful, although I say I am surrendered to God’s glory and totally committed to his divine plan for me, I have some expectations about how I want him to work that out. I have some investments I’ve made, some relationships I cherish, some possessions I like, and some plans that I want him to protect and prosper. I want unchallenged, guaranteed wins in my life. No bumps in the road, please!

Of course, you and I realize that God doesn’t operate that way. Sometimes he allows challenges, losses, and bumps; sometimes the death of an investment, a dream, or even a loved one. Don’t like my theology on that? Just talk to Mary and Martha; they’ll set you straight. They discovered here in John 11, when their brother was on his deathbed, that Jesus doesn’t always operate according to our timeline. He can’t be rushed, coerced, manipulated, or diverted down our preferred path when he knows there is a better road leading to the glory of God that we must tread.

The truth of the matter is, Jesus is committed to the glory of God—period. And he knows that the greatest glory comes to God when people place total trust in him through unconditional belief. Furthermore, he knows that the greatest and strongest trust is developed in the toughest trials of life. That is why he told his disciples that he was going to let Lazarus’ illness end in death so that he could raise him up in order that they could believe in him so that God would be glorified:

Our friend Lazarus has gone to sleep, but now I will go and waken him!” The disciples, thinking Jesus meant Lazarus was having a good night’s rest, said, “That means he is getting better!” But Jesus meant Lazarus had died. Then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And for your sake, I am glad I wasn’t there, for this will give you another opportunity to believe in me. (John 11:11-15)

In his book, Place of Immunity, Francis Frangipane wrote that God made the Old Testament Joseph fruitful in the very things that afflicted him. He goes on to say that

In the land of your affliction, in your battle, is the place where God will make you fruitful. Consider, even now, the area of greatest affliction in your life. In that area, God will make you fruitful in such a way that your heart will be fully satisfied, and God’s heart fully glorified. God has not promised to keep us from valleys and sufferings, but to make us fruitful in them.

That is a great truth, my friend. In the place of your affliction, not only will God make you fruitful—and I would add, he can’t make you fruitful apart from the painful pruning that takes place there—and not only will he fully satisfy your heart, but he will fully glorify God’s heart. And for our sake, I am glad that is what he does!

That is why you and I should willingly and joyfully say, “I surrender all—really!”

“ “Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation. — ELTON TRUEBLOOD

Take the Next Step : As an affirmation of your complete trust in Jesus’ Lordship over you, sing the chorus, “I Surrender All.” If you don’t know it, find it on the Internet and listen to it. Then ask the Lord to give you the grace, courage, and resolve to live like you believe it.

“ Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods’? If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside— what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father.” — JOHN 10:34-35

Getting Closer to Jesus: The more Jesus’ life and ministry—including his undeniable, verifiable miracles—conflicted with the traditions of the Jewish elites, the more the Pharisees hated Jesus and wanted to kill him. In this case, his healing of a blind man on the Sabbath had fueled their hatred into a raging inferno.

And the more Jesus exposed their spiritual blindness, the crazier they got. Aware of that, Jesus didn’t back down but only sucked them more deeply into the quicksand of their own absurdity.

The Pharisees began to look for ways to justify killing Jesus, finally settling on blasphemy—a catchall crime in that day, as it is in many religiously intolerant and hate-filled cultures in our day. They accused Jesus of claiming to be God—anathema in the Judaic tradition. Now to be sure, not only did Jesus clearly indicate in his preaching that he was God, but he also demonstrated that claim beyond any doubt by his miracles.

Set that aside for now and notice how Jesus used their selective outrage and their selective use of the Scripture against them. They accused him of claiming to be God, but he pointed out in the law that God has said of those men to whom he delivered his word, “you are gods.” Now there is a simple explanation for what otherwise might seem as though the Almighty was conferring of divinity upon certain men. Jesus’ scriptural reference came from Psalm 82:6, and it is a warning to the judges in Israel who had received the words of God that in turn were to be delivered through their judgments to the people. The warning is that, in this sense, the judge is commissioned by God to be god (godlike, a representative of God) to men in his adjudication.

Again, set that aside and notice something else. Jesus doesn’t refer to this psalm as “the writings” (a reference to the division of Scripture that included the books of Wisdom), but as “law” (what we would refer to as the books of Moses): “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?” What does Jesus intend when he includes the Psalms with the Law? Simply, that to Jesus, the eternal Word of God, there were no artificial and arbitrary divisions in the written Word of God. We divide Old Testament Scripture (the Bible Jesus read, by the way) into Law, History, Wisdom, and Prophets. But to Jesus, it was all Scripture, and as such, it was to be treated equally and obeyed fully.

The Pharisees were great at obeying some parts of Scripture but ignoring others. They were guilty of selective allegiance to the Word of God and selective obedience in applying it in their lives. And in that, though they feigned love for the Word, they were as far from it as you can get.

What about you? Either the Bible—all of it—is your all-sufficient rule for faith and practice, or it is not. Either you love all of it—even the parts that make you uncomfortable, even the rebukes that sting, even the commands that demand radical, personal change—or you don’t love it at all. Either you are willing to submit to all of it—even the call to risky faith and generous giving and costly sacrifice—or it is a spiritual menu from which you pick and choose what you will nibble on. Either you are willing to allow all of it to be absorbed into your being, or you are closer to being a Pharisee than you care to admit. As Leonard Ravenhill points out, “the Bible is either absolute, or it is obsolete.”

One of the ways to avoid the selective allegiance of the Pharisees is to commit to allowing God’s Word, all of it, to treat you in whatever way is needed—even if that means roughly.

Take the Next Step : To ensure that you are reading the Bible for all it is worth, and applying it thoroughly in your daily life, try using the S.O.A.P. method: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer. Scripture—select the Scripture and read it carefully. Observation—write down what you observed from your reading. Application—determine how you can apply the observation so that it affects your life today. Prayer—write out a prayer to God based on what you just learned and ask him to help you apply this truth in your life.

“ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. — JOHN 10:28-29

Getting Closer to Jesus: Once you have committed your life to Jesus Christ, can you ever lose your salvation? For hundreds of years, very smart people have debated that question—with great and convincing arguments on both sides of the equation. That said, I am not going to resolve the question in this blog—I am not even going to try.

With absolute certainly, however, I can say this: If—and “if” is what is in question, so it is a very big “if”—if a Christian can lose their salvation, then to somehow manage to lose it would have to be the most difficult achievement in entire universe. Why? Because, according to John 10:28, Jesus is the one who gave you your salvation, and according to his own words, once he has given it, you will never perish. Furthermore, he said that no one can snatch you away from him. That is because, according to John 10:29, the Father is the one who gave you to Jesus. Now, since no one and nothing is more powerful than God—not by miles, not even close—tell me, who is going to pry you and your salvation from the grip of God’s unrelenting grace?

Now that is security!

I love how other New Testament writers got in on the discussion about your salvation. The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6,

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Now that is some security you got there!

And what about Jude? Here is what he said about the matter as he closed out his letter,

“Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. (Jude 1:24)

You see, if your salvation were all up to you, you would have good reason to be insecure about it. But your salvation is riding on some pretty big shoulders. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are at work right now to perfect what they have begun in you, and will exert the full power of their Divine Being to bring your eternal life to completion. Yes, as much as that seems impossible right now, one day, you will stand without a single fault because a joyful Trinity—they will make sure of it.

Now that is security!

I love the story of the flea that was riding on an elephant’s ear when they came to an old wooden bridge. And as they crossed the bridge, it wobbled badly and almost collapsed. When they got to the other side, the flea said to the elephant, “Phew, we sure shook that bridge, didn’t we!”

No, “we” didn’t! The truth is, you and I have crossed over the bridge of faith, riding on Someone else’s efforts. And as long as we put the emphasis on our role in both prompting and preserving our salvation, we will be eternally insecure. But when we lean into—or more appropriately, lean on the unassailable efforts of Jesus to save us—and keep us saved—we will live with unshakeable confidence in the God who saves.

Now that is some security!

Take the Next Step : In light of all that God has done to save you, and all that he is doing to keep you saved, doesn’t that make you want to offer yourself to him in even greater consecration? Perhaps you ought to tell him that.

“ The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. —”

Getting Closer to Jesus: You have an enemy. His name is Satan. Jesus called him a thief and a liar. His main weapons are subtlety and deception—and he’s pretty good at it, since he has been at it since the beginning of human history.

The Enemy hates God and everything of God, which includes you. He has a nefarious plan for your life. He wants to rob you of the abundance of God, destroy your identity and destiny as a child of God, and kill you, body, soul, and most of all, spirit, keeping you from eternity with God. In fact, even right now, he is strategically and specifically working to do you in.

The real problem is that you may be completely oblivious to the work of the Enemy. Out of ignorance, disbelief, or plain old lassitude and indifference, most of Satan’s victims fiddle while he goes about burning our lives down … his evil work undetected. George Barna, a Christian researcher and pollster, asked people to respond to this statement in a national survey: “Satan is not a living being, but is a symbol of evil.” Among those who claimed to be born again, 32% agreed strongly, 11% agreed somewhat, and 5% didn’t know. That means of the total number responding, 48% of born-again believers either agreed that Satan is only symbolic or weren’t sure! Barna’s findings would suggest that half of you reading this blog today, despite what the Bible clearly teaches, think of the devil only as a boogieman from a spiritual fairy tale, not a real being bent on destroying you.

Jesus would beg to differ with you. He wants you to know that Satan and his demonic legions are alive and well on Planet Earth. Satan is the enemy of God, and because he can’t do anything to God, he chooses to attack what is most precious to God—that is, you.

Now it is critical to your well-being—spiritual, physical, relational, financial—for you to understand that bit of bad news in order for you to fully employ the Good News in Hebrews 2:14, which reminds us that Jesus came “so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil.” You are not alone in this fight against the evil one, nor are you doomed to defeat. 1 John 3:8 tells us, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”

Yes, Satan is real, but Jesus has defeated him. Furthermore, as a Christ-follower, you, too, have power and authority to defeat the devil. In Luke 10:17-19, we are told, “the seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.’ Jesus replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to…overcome all the power of the enemy, and nothing will harm you.’”

I like that, don’t you? Not only do you have power and authority over the Enemy, but Jesus has also guaranteed your victory. I prefer those kinds of fights…ones that I know I’ll win!

So here’s the deal: If you will stay alert to the conflict, wise up to the ways of your enemy, and take him on in the authority and power of Jesus’ name, you will win. Guaranteed!

Keep that in mind today—and go give ‘em heaven!

“  The enemy will not see you vanish into God’s company without an effort to reclaim you.. — C. S. LEWIS

Take the Next Step : Pray this prayer every day this week: “Lord, keep me wise to the ways of the Enemy today. Lead me away from temptation and keep me from the evil one. Help me to walk in the victory over Satan that you secured at Calvary.”

“ Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind.” — JOHN 9:39

Getting Closer to Jesus: Helen Keller, who, with the help of Anne Sullivan, overcame deafness and blindness to become one of the most inspirational figures in modern history, made this profound observation:

The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.

Of course, Helen was speaking out of her own courageous and overcoming experience, but I wonder if she was thinking about the Pharisees who rejected Jesus’ healing of the blind man in John 9. Truly, those who were experts in the Old Testament Scripture and obedient to it even beyond what it required were truly more blind than the blind man in this story before Jesus had healed. The Pharisees could physically see, but in the realm that counts for all eternity, they would have made a bat seem like a seeing-eye dog.

How sad to be so full of knowledge, yet so ignorant of the truth! How sad to be so close to God yet so far from his heart! How sad to have the respect of the people—or was it fear—and yet be under the judgment of the Almighty!

Though it doesn’t have to be this way, that often happens as people react to Jesus. He came into this world for judgment—according to his own words—but that judgment didn’t take the form you might expect of a judge. Jesus didn’t have to sit behind the bench, hear the evidence, deliver the verdict, and pronounce the punishment; the Pharisees were doing that for him. However, these so-called experts in God’s law were way off the mark in their judgments. In this case, their reaction to what was clearly an outstanding and undeniable miracle of God (John 9:24-34) was to stubbornly cling to the company policy: You can’t heal on the Sabbath!

And Jesus brought the evidence against them to the surface; they judged themselves. They were seeing yet blinded by the truth that was right before their very eyes! How sad.

The truth is, when people are exposed to Jesus—his life, ministry, miracles, teaching, life, death, and resurrection—a reaction is forced. They are forced to make a judgment—but that judgment becomes self-incriminating. How we respond to Jesus does not reveal anything new about Jesus, but it does reveal news about us—either the Good News that we have by faith believed (or are willing to believe) in who he claimed to be, or the bad news that unless we have a change of heart and mind, we will be self-condemned to an eternity separated from Christ.

When exposed to Jesus, if a person finds nothing to desire or admire, then that person has already condemned themselves. But when they see something in Jesus that causes them to bow in awe of his perfect holiness, acknowledge his divinity, and surrender to his Lordship, then they are on the path to eternal life.

So, what is the takeaway here? Perhaps the greatest attribute that you and I can present before God is a conscious awareness of our own spiritual blindness. To humbly acknowledge before God that, because of our own fallen nature, we cannot see, we are on our way to sight. If we long to see the things of God, Jesus will open our spiritually blind eyes just as much as he physically opened the blind man’s eyes to 20/20 sight.

What a gift: To know that we are blind apart from our openness to Jesus. It is only those who once were blind—and know it—that now can see. And see they do! Opened to them through Jesus is the sum of all the grace, truth, and glory of God—and what a sight to behold!

“  Was blind, but now I see. — JOHN NEWTON

Take the Next Step : Ask God to help you see where you may be persisting in spiritual blindness. Then bring your blind eyes to Jesus for healing. He was pretty good at that, you know—still is!

“ “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. A second time the Pharisees summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” — JOHN 9:25

Getting Closer to Jesus: The Pharisees didn’t like the fact that Jesus had healed a man born blind on the Sabbath. The truth is, they didn’t like Jesus at all, and they were looking for him to slip up so they could do away with him once and for all. Perhaps this latest “Sabbath miracle” was their chance.

They found the man Jesus had healed and began to question him. Had he really been born blind? Was this a hoax? Was he secretly a disciple of Jesus? Would a true man of God really heal on the Sabbath?

These weren’t just the innocent questions of a curious group. This was an interrogation. The tone of the Pharisees was intimidating and threatening, and the implication was that it wouldn’t go well for this healed man and his family if he didn’t repudiate both the miracle and the miracle worker.

Then, in a flash of unrehearsed inspiration and simple brilliance, the man parries their attack and thrusts the most persuasive of all daggers into their opposition against Jesus: The testimony of a satisfied customer. All this man knew was that he was once blind, but now he could see. Case closed; end of story. The Pharisees were defenseless. What response could they give against such overwhelming evidence?

That is the simple but irrefutable power of a personal testimony. When you speak for Christ as a satisfied customer, as one whose life has been changed forever, as one who was once spiritually blinded by sin but now can see by God’s grace, there is no defense. Who can argue against that?

Your testimony may not be as dramatic as the healing of the man who had been born blind, but it is just as powerful a weapon as his. Why are you a Christian? How has Jesus made a difference in your life? What do you find in your faith that nothing else in the world can match? How has God’s power helped you to overcome adversity or discouragement in life? There is unassailable evidence in each of those stories, so learn to talk about them with people who don’t share your faith in God. You, too, are a satisfied customer, and a satisfied customer makes the most compelling witness of all.

Take a moment today to think through your story. Perhaps you should write it out—one or two pages will be enough. Simply describe what your life was like before Christ, how you came to know him, and the joys and benefits of what it means to now be his follower.

I guarantee that God will give you an opportunity before too long to share your story with someone who needs to know Jesus.

Take the Next Step : As suggested above, write out your own “before and after” account of knowing Jesus. And expect to share it—an opportunity is just around the corner.

“ Jesus said, “All of us must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent me, for there is little time left before the night falls and all work comes to an end.” — JOHN 9:4

Getting Closer to Jesus: Do you live with a sense of urgency as it relates to God’s timetable? Our grandparents and generations before them seemed to understand that life came with an expiration date. We don’t! Probably because life was hard for them, opportunities weren’t dished out on a silver platter, and life expectancy was significantly less than it is today, they approached life soberly than we do today.

Our generation seems to fit the profile of the people Jesus described who will be living in the last days:

The world will be at ease—banquets and parties and weddings—just as it was in Noah’s time before the sudden coming of the Flood; people wouldn’t believe what was going to happen until the Flood actually arrived and took them all away. So shall my coming be. (Matthew 24:37-39)

In this John 9 story, Jesus heals a man born blind on the Sabbath—a real no-no in first-century Jewish religious culture. As Jesus performs this miracle, serious questions are thrown his way from both the crowd of astounded onlookers as well as the angry Jewish spiritual leaders. The crowd peppers Jesus with “stump the messiah” questions: “Why was this man born blind? Was it his parents’ sin or his?” The religious leaders’ interrogative was more dastardly: How could you do this on our holy day, the Sabbath?

Never mind that a flesh-and-blood miracle was standing before their very eyes in living color, they wanted to know who he thought he was to “work” on a day when no work was to be done.

Then, in the midst of this questioning, Jesus makes this statement about carrying out the task assigned by God before time expires. It seems a bit out of the blue and disconnected until you consider the context.

On the one hand, since the man had been born blind, it would have been perfectly acceptable to allow things to remain as they were. The fates had determined this man’s condition; no need to rock his boat. On the other hand, Jesus knew that performing this miracle on this day—the Sabbath—would incite the ire of the religious rule keepers and even seal their blind hatred for him. So, it would have been easier for Jesus not to do this, or to delay doing it.

However, Jesus was not one to avoid conflict or take the easy path, so in this statement, he was sending both a message and a warning. The message was that the work of God must take priority over everything else in life—religious rules, man’s time, cultural mores, and people’s feelings. The warning was that there was a limited amount of time and opportunity to carry out God’s work. Tomorrow may not come; night is falling; if we are to do the work of God, we must act as if this is our window of opportunity, because that divine window is closing.

Now, that truth applies not only to Jesus, but it also applies to you and me as well. Notice that Jesus said that “‘we’ must do the work of the One who sent me.” As God-followers, we have been given the same two things Jesus had been given: a divine assignment and a limited amount of time. So, stop underestimating the brevity of your life and the time you have to make your days count; look up and see that eternity is in view. James 4:14-16 tells us,

You don’t even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.

James says that it is foolish and downright sinful to assume that we’ve got tomorrow. Why? Because life is unpredictable: “You don’t even know.” None of us knows what is going to happen tonight, much less next year: a war could start, the economy could collapse, your friends could leave you. That is not meant to frighten you, but to cause you to be more dependent on God and more serious about doing his will while you keep an eye on eternity.

Not only is life unpredictable, but James is also saying that life is brief. “Your life is a mist,” he says. Mist comes from the Greek word “atmos,” which is where we get our word “atmosphere.” Your life is like fog; it rolls in at night, but it burns off by noon. Who knows how long you will live? None of us does. I’m only one heartbeat away from eternity. Life is short; you go from highchair to wheelchair, from diapers to decay in a millisecond. As Chris Matakas said,

We rise to meet each day because there will come a time when the day will rise without us.

The point is, there are no guarantees, so don’t presume on tomorrow. For sure, plan for the future, but live like today is the last. Moses prayed, “Lord, teach us to number our days aright, so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12) Wisdom would teach you to live today as if you knew that tomorrow you would stand before God. And that is a great way to live.

The early Christians lived that way. They lived with a sense of urgency about time. They learned to order their lives by seriously seeking and then immediately living out the Lord’s will. They came up with a Latin watchword to remind each other of the importance of actively keeping the Lord’s will in mind. It was Deo Volente: “If God wills.” In fact, during certain periods of history, believers would end their letters with “D.V.,” which stood for Deo Volente. Then they would respond to “If God wills,” with another phrase, “Carpe Diem: Seize the day!”

What a great life philosophy for living like Jesus lived: “If the Lord wills, I will seize the day!”

Take the Next Step : What is it that God is calling you to do that you have been putting off? Telling someone that you love them or asking for their forgiveness? Volunteering to lead a ministry? Going on a mission trip? Getting counseling for an addiction? Having a difficult conversation with a loved one? Witnessing to someone you care about? Carl F.H. Henry said, “The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time.” Jesus says to you, “Now is the time, night is at hand, so do the work my Father has assigned to you.” Today is the day!

“ As Jesus went along, he saw a man blind from birth. “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” Jesus answered, “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins. This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.” — JOHN 9:1-3

Getting Closer to Jesus: Suffering—where does it originate? When someone gets sick, contracts a disease, or is born with a disability, is that the result of personal sin—either theirs or their parents? Has the devil inflicted the suffering upon them? Did God cause it? When we, or the people we love, are forced to endure suffering, we get quite passionate about finding answers to those questions.

What Jesus said was that not all sickness and suffering is the result of a specific sin. However, in a general sense, because we live in a world broken by sin, bad stuff that was not a part of God’s original plan for human beings now happens. And to be sure, the Bible does teach that I can bring some physical suffering on myself. If I do not follow God’s principles, my body will experience the consequences. If I do not eat right, sleep enough, and exercise regularly—which is a sin since my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit—then I should not be surprised when my body reacts with infirmity. If I do not listen when God’s Word says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but pray about everything” and I worry a lot—which is a sin—if I get an ulcer, then I am to blame. If resentment builds in my spirit—which is a sin, since I am not to allow bitterness to take root and defile me—then the doctors say that what is eating me will not only eat away at my mental health, but it will also take bite out of my physical health.

So, when it comes to suffering and sickness, for sure, I need to pay attention to the sin-factor in my life. When sin is at the root, then James says that confession and prayer is the appropriate response to my suffering:

Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. (James 5:13-16, NLT)

However, not all suffering is the result of specific personal sin. Jesus blew that idea out of the water here in John 9 when he talked about the man born blind and cleared up the notion that the blindness was the result of neither his nor his parents’ sin. Sometimes God permits suffering in your life simply because He wants to heal you and let it be a testimony to the world. John 11:4 tells the story of Lazarus, who was sick and near death. In that case, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”

Now God doesn’t heal every sickness; if he did, none of us would ever die and go to heaven. But for sickness that is within the Lord’s will to heal, James 5:14 says that we are to do a couple of things: One, we are to take the initiative and summon the spiritual leaders of the church, and two, we are to have those elders anoint us with oil and pray.

This prayer for healing is to be done “in the name of the Lord.” The “name” represents Christ’s authority, which is the basis for all healing. When we offer prayer for healing under these conditions and in that manner, James says, “Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well.” (James 5:15, NLT)

God is the healer, not the person praying. Let’s never forget that! In this age of flamboyant faith healers, sometimes you get the idea that it is their ability and spirituality that gets the job done. It is not; God alone deserves the credit.

That brings us back to what Jesus said about suffering and sickness: Sometimes it is not the result of sin. It is simply so that God’s power and glory can be revealed in the restoration!

Never forget, it is your job to trust—no matter what, no matter how long. It is God’s job to heal now, later, or in the age to come.

Take the Next Step : If you are suffering from an illness, study James 5:13-18 and follow what it says. And memorize Jeremiah 30:17, “‘I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,’ declares the Lord.” That is a pretty good promise to claim, wouldn’t you say? And, in the in-between time of praying and healing, no matter how long that takes, trust!

“ Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I Am!” At that point they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden from them and left the Temple. — JOHN 8:58-59

Getting Closer to Jesus: There were many reasons, I suppose, the Jews wanted to kill Jesus: They were jealous of his popularity with the people. They hated that he didn’t defer to their spiritual authority and were put off that he wasn’t impressed by their religious heritage. They were irked that he ministered to marginalized people, hung out with the wrong crowd, operated outside the lines of Jewish protocol, and a thousand other things that he did, or didn’t do, that bugged the daylights out of them. In general, the genuine authority and real power that Jesus displayed in his life and ministry exposed the spiritual impotence of these Jewish elites, which in turn, brought out fierce insecurities displayed in their childish opposition and irrational hatred of the Lord.

But the main reason their hatred turned murderous? It wasn’t that Jesus sort of acted like God. It wasn’t that he beat around the bush about his deity. It wasn’t that he made some veiled and esoteric claim about Messiahship. No—he flat-out claimed to be God.

That is why they wanted to kill him. In fact, Jesus committed the ultimate faux pas by using the revered designation for God that no god-fearing Jew would utter so causally and irreverently: “I AM!” Are you kidding me: “Before Abraham was, I Am!” What was he thinking? Saying that about yourself in that culture could get you killed.

Of course, Jesus knew that. In fact, his bold claim would get him killed. Jesus didn’t care—he was God come in the flesh, and he wasn’t going to back away from that claim one inch. That is why he came, and that is precisely what he claimed—no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

When you consider that claim Jesus purposely made about himself, you are forced to eliminate all the other nice-sounding, politically correct things people say they believe about him. In other words, Jesus cannot be just a good teacher, just a great moral leader, just a respected prophet, just a great figure of history. With Jesus, you have to eliminate “just” from your vocabulary. Jesus left the Jews with no other option, and he doesn’t leave you with another option either. As C.S. Lewis said,

[With Jesus] you must make a choice. Either He was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman, or something worse. You can shut Him up as a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that option open to us. He did not intend to.

I am sure glad the Great I Am forced that choice on me! How about you?

Take the Next Step : Jesus! You got to do something with him. You’ve got to love him or hate him…but you really can’t live with anything in between and live an intellectually honest life. So, be honest—where do you line up with Jesus? I hope you go with what he claimed—and proved—about himself.

“ Then the leaders tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his tim had not yet come… Jesus made these statements while he was teaching in the section of the Temple known as the Treasury. But he was not arrested, because his time had not yet come. — JOHN 7:30, 8:20

Getting Closer to Jesus: Twice, we are told in John 7 and 8 that the Jewish leaders, increasingly threatened by Jesus, tried to arrest him but couldn’t. The reason they couldn’t? Because Jesus’s time had not yet come!

Several times in John, Jesus reveals his total awareness and complete submission to God’s timetable. In John 2:4, Jesus tells his mother, who is insisting that he perform the miracle of turning water into wine, that this is not the right for him to “go public” with his ministry. In John 12:23 and 27, Jesus reveals to his disciples that he will be crucified as a part of God’s redemptive plan for mankind. He is grappling with that reality as a man (his own suffering and death) and as deity (taking into himself the world’s sin), but at the end of the day, he is willing to submit to the beautiful but awful reality of dying on the cross—because the hour—the perfect time—has come. In John 13:1, Jesus reveals his perfect love to his disciples by washing their feet, knowing that the hour of his arrest and crucifixion was at hand. Speaking of which, in John 17:1, Jesus realizes the weightiness of God’s hour—the ultimate triumph of Divine life over death through the cross—is now upon him, so he offers his moving “high priestly” prayer that we have come to know and love.

We may think time marches on, unimpeded by fate, uncontrolled by human planning or Divine intervention, but Jesus had a different view of time. And why not, as the Word, the creative agent of the Holy Trinity, he had created time and gifted it to the Father as servant to his eternal plan. Jesus knew that time was in God’s wise and loving hands—every day, every hour, and every split second!

A man named David had also come into that revelation. In Psalm 139, King David wrote, “Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” (Psalm 139:16) David knew and relied upon this immutable truth that Jesus was depending on, that God knew the exact number of days that David would live, and he would not die a day sooner nor live a day longer than what God had foreordained. And for David, nothing could change that—not betrayal, not war, not poverty, not disease—nothing. God alone held that power over David’s life and foreknew the hour of David’s death.

That’s why David and Jesus found this world a perfectly safe place. That’s why even in the midst of his crisis, they could calmly walk into the storm, courageously walk into battle, and fearlessly face the angel of death—circumstances that would cause ordinary humans to lose heart—because they knew it was the Lord who was sustaining them.

When you understand that your life—your days, your hours, your life—is in the sovereign hand of God, you just think that way; you just live your life that way. Time—your time—is servant to the Master’s plan.

Arthur W. Pink wrote, “A consciousness of our powerlessness should cast us upon Him who has all power. Here then is where a vision and view of God’s sovereignty helps, for it reveals His sufficiency and shows us our insufficiency.”

Yes, God is sovereign, and he has infinitely large hands—big enough to hold everything that exists. And like Jesus and David, your life is there in his hands too. You know that…or maybe you don’t. But even if you don’t, that truth remains firm, and because of the saving faith that you have expressed in Jesus Christ, your address has permanently changed to God’s hands.

It’s high time you start enjoying your new time zone.

“ “] As truly as God by His power once created, so truly by that same power must God every moment maintain. — ANDREW MURRAY

Take the Next Step : Memorize Psalm 139:16. Every day this week, when you are tempted to worry over your life, quote that verse to your worries.

“ The teachers of the law kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” — JOHN 8:7-11

Getting Closer to Jesus: If I were writing this story instead of John, the scene would have called for Jesus to order down fire from heaven to torch this nasty bunch of teachers of religion who had brought the adulterous woman before the Lord. At the very least, I would have had Jesus snatching the poor lady from their grasp and beaming over to Galilee to set her free. That would have made a great story—Oscar-worthy, I’m sure!

But as we have come to expect of Jesus, he does the unexpected. Instead of special effects and edge-of-your-seat drama, he simply stoops over and writes in the sand. Do you ever wonder what he wrote? “Jesus was here,” or perhaps he traced out the Ten Commandments, or better yet, a list of the religious elites’ secret sins or maybe even the names of their mistresses?

Whatever it was, the religious “KGB” kept pressing until finally, he said, “Look, if any of you are without sin, you can be the first one to throw a stone at her.” Then he began to scribble again, and with those words, Jesus lobbed a grenade into their midst that exploded their smug self-righteousness. Having been disarmed, one by one the Pharisees, from the oldest to the youngest, walked away, leaving only Jesus and this sinful woman.

Now what would happen to the adulterous woman? Could she expect to get preached at again, some more condemnation, another helping of humiliation, and a pile of rejection? That had been the pattern of her life so far. But instead, Jesus gently asks, “Where are your accusers? Has no one judged you guilty?”

She replied, “Sir, they’re gone…they didn’t judge me guilty.”

Then Jesus lobbed another grenade—this one a grace grenade that utterly exploded this sinful woman’s self-condemnation and turned her sad world right side up, perhaps for the first time ever: “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

So just what was it that Jesus wrote in the sand? I think it is highly likely that he bent over and with his finger, etched these words: “Not guilty!”

A few weeks later, Jesus again wrote those very same words in the sand. This time, it was not with his finger but with blood that dripped from his nail-pierced hands and feet, leaving an indelible stain on the ground at the foot of the cross. This time it wasn’t just meant for an adulterous woman, it was meant for unfaithful, guilty people like you and me:

“Not Guilty. Paid in full. Completely forgiven.”

I don’t know what that grace explosion does for you, but it makes me want to “go and sin no more.”

Take the Next Step : Have you thanked the Lord lately for his grace—grace that has covered all of your sins? Perhaps now would be a great time to do that. And maybe today would be a great day to extend his grace to another undeserving sinner like you.

Getting Closer to Jesus: In one of my favorite books, What’s So Amazing About Grace, Philip Yancey writes,

Grace means there’s nothing we can do to make God love us more—no amount of spiritual calisthenics and renunciations, no amount of knowledge gained from seminaries, no amount of crusading on behalf of righteous causes. And grace means there’s nothing we can do to make God love us less—no amount of racism, pride, pornography, adultery or even murder. Grace means that God already loves us as much as an infinite God can possibly love.

That’s why I love this story of the adulterous woman’s life-transforming encounter with Jesus; it just exudes grace! And it reminds me of how God looks right into what Lewis Smedes called this, “glob of unworthiness that is me and offers to accept me, own me, hold me, affirm me, and never let go of me even if he’s not too impressed with what he has on his hands.”

A glob of unworthiness—that’s me…you, too! And that’s God—loving us, without limit—because of his incredibly great grace! King David, who knew a lot about personal failure and unworthiness, wrote in Psalm 103:8-14,

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love…he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we’re formed, he remembers that we’re dust.

That theology of unconditional love, undeserved mercy, and unlimited grace is what’s fleshed out here in this story in John 8. And it’s not only the message Jesus wrote with his finger as he stooped to scribble in the dirt, but he also wrote it with his blood as it dripped to the dirt from the cross. Grace is his life-message! Amazing grace, how sweet the sound! It’s the one thing that’ll touch your core need today; it’s the only thing that’ll transform our lost world.

In 1988, a concert was held in London’s Wembley Stadium, and throughout the day, bands blasted the crowd high on booze and drugs with their ear-splitting music. But for some reason, the promoters scheduled an opera singer as the closing act, Jessye Norman. At the finale, she walked out with no band or singers —unknown to the crowd, which was shouting for more Guns ‘n Roses. Jessye began to sing, “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound. That saved a wretch like me!” And remarkably, 70,000 fans got quiet.

By the second verse, “Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved”, they were putty; by the third verse, they were digging into their memories to sing along, “and grace will lead me home”. As she sang, “When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun; We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise, than when we first begun,” a transcendent reverence had enveloped the stadium.

What on earth wields that kind of power over a beleaguered psalmist, or an adulterous woman, or a stadium full of drug-addled rock-n-rollers? Grace!

Now don’t miss the point of this story: The adulterous woman reminds us that every sinner has a future, but every saint has a past. We’re all born broken, and we become whole only by the mending of grace, God’s glue. And no matter how bad, how unworthy, how disqualified you think you are, you are not beyond the renewing reach of God’s grace. That’s why prostitutes, publicans, and other sinners responded to Jesus so readily—still do. They knew their sin; that’s why forgiveness was so appealing.

And no matter how good, worthy, and qualified you think you are, apart from grace, there’s no good in you. In fact, on your best day, apart from grace, Isaiah said your righteousness is as filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6) That’s why, as C.S. Lewis said, “[Adulterous women] are in no danger of finding their present life so satisfactory that they cannot turn to God; [it’s] the proud …the self-righteous [that] are in that danger.”

So, wherever you fall on the continuum—from super-saint to seedy sinner—just remember: every saint has a past, but every sinner has a future. And grace is there waiting for you! Grace! It’s only by grace that the brokenness we’re born with and live with is mended.

“ To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you. — C.S. LEWIS)

Take the Next Step Take a moment today to simply and gratefully reflect on God’s grace—if that is humanly possible.

Getting Closer to Jesus: In the beginning, God created the earth and walked upon it in unfettered intimacy with Adam and Eve. But they sinned, and the face-to-face intimacy they enjoyed was now broken. God no longer walked the earth in relationship with man.

But then Jesus came to earth to re-reveal the Father to sinful man. After centuries of his physical absence, as the prophet had said, God was now with us again, but this time in Jesus, our Immanuel. Jesus, who was the “Word”, who was with God, who was God, and who created all things that exist, now “took on human flesh and took up residence among us.” (John 1:1 & 14)

Then Jesus left earth to go back to heaven, and in the process, he promised the Father would send the Holy Spirit to be in—not just with—his followers. (John 14:16-17) The Holy Spirit would represent and further reveal God in unprecedented and unconfined ways. (John 15:26-27) He would guide into truth, comfort, and empower. He would fill Christ’s followers to full and overflowing with the abundance of God. They would experience “rivers of living water” filling them up and spilling over from their lives.

What an offer Jesus was making! What other leader could ever come close to that? Obviously, no one could match the great offer of the Holy Spirit coming to dwell, fill, and overflow the life of the believer. To have intimate fellowship with God fully restored; to have “God with us” now become “God in us,” and continually, no less; to have the guiding, comforting, empowering force of God at our disposal, permanently and profusely—this is the great offer!

So just what did Jesus mean when he referred to this as “rivers of living water” that would completely satiate the thirst of those who drank? How about this?

Satisfaction: Obviously, spiritual hunger would again, as in the beginning of creation, now be fully and forever satisfied as the Holy Spirit of God took up residence in each believer. That which Jesus promised—life more abundantly—would now become real and practical.

Significance: Not only would the Spirit satisfy, but he would enable those he indwelt with the very life force and creative power of God through supernatural gifts (1 Corinthians 12:7-11) to carry out the works, speak the words, and fulfill the will of the Heavenly Father. Through the Holy Spirit, believers could now be used to do things previously only God could do.

Success: To know (“the Spirit will reveal and guide you into all truth” — 1 Corinthians 2:10; John 16:13) and do (“you will receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you” — Acts 1:8) the will of God is the height of human success. God with us is now God in us doing through us what only God can do. There is no greater, more lasting, significant, and satisfying expenditure of one’s life.

That is what is possible through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That is, indeed, the great offer!

“ — A. W. TOZER)

Wise leaders should have known that the human heart cannot exist in a vacuum. If Christians are forbidden to enjoy the wine of the Spirit they will turn to the wine of the flesh….Christ died for our hearts and the Holy Spirit wants to come and satisfy them.

Take the Next Step John 20:21-24 tells us that after his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples and said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” If you would like to be inundated with the life force of the Holy Spirit, make this bold request of God: “Spirit of God, breathe new life into me!”

“ Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly. — JOHN 7:24

Getting Closer to Jesus: People were making judgments about Jesus, and as we see in John 7, increasingly, those judgments were not very positive. In fact, opposition and outright hostility were coming to a boiling point, and it would soon lead to his death.

That is the way it was with Jesus—still is. In his day, people either loved him or hated him—there was no neutral ground. Being around Jesus demanded a position on one end of the spectrum or the other. But staying in the middle was not an option.

To arrive at an opinion of Jesus, a judgment had to be made. Sadly, those who rejected him formed judgments that were not based in righteousness and truth. Their judgments were based on the fact that Jesus had made them uncomfortable. He had challenged their traditions. His ministry had colored outside the lines of established theology. His way of doing things didn’t look like theirs. Why, he even had the audacity to actually heal someone in dire need on the Sabbath—and they didn’t like that one bit (even though, as Jesus pointed out, their outrage was pretty selective on this one).

Never one to shy away from controversy and confrontation, Jesus challenged their attitudes toward him as well as their approach to life in general. He called them to reject this judgment-by-appearance mindset that was keeping them from seeing God for a clearer view of life as seen through the lens of righteousness. Learning to make righteous judgments would make all the difference in their world—it would lead them to see God in the daily details of their world, and in the end, it would lead to eternal life.

Unfortunately, most of the people in Jesus’ day rejected what he had to say. But the story is not meant to end there. Jesus’ challenge to “judge with righteous judgment” (NIV) or to “look beneath the surface” (NLT) calls us to reexamine the way we arrive at the opinions we hold and honestly ask ourselves whether they are based on appearance, built on preference, colored by pre-conceptions, or rooted in righteousness.

We form judgments and opinions every day—perhaps every hour—about the people we encounter, the events we observe, and the world we live in. Every moment of our day presents an opportunity to either see the work that God is doing in the people around us and events that encounter us or to miss it entirely. Depending on how we form our judgments, we will either embrace God’s work or, like the people in Jesus’ day, reject it and miss out on the greatness of God in the daily ordinariness of life.

“ — A. W. TOZER)

Open your heart—God is at work all around you. Open your eyes—you will find God’s thumbprint on everything you encounter. And if you will learn to root your opinions, conclusions and attitudes in righteousness rather than mere appearance, you will discover Jesus in the details of your day!

Take the Next Step Let me suggest that you offer this prayer: “Father, help me to practice your presence in the daily ordinariness of my life. Teach me to make righteous judgments so that I experience you in every person I meet, every event I take in, every plan I execute, and in every detail of my world.”

“ Jesus said, “[the world] hates me because I accuse it of sin and evil.” — JOHN 7:7

Getting Closer to Jesus: One of the things an authentic, fruitful, effective Christ-follower must master in life is balance. Balance isn’t listed as a virtue in New Testament theology; it is not a mark of discipleship that Jesus articulated; it is not the tenth fruit of the Spirit. Yet balance is the byproduct of Christian virtue, it demonstrates that we have a grasp on what it means to live as a true disciple, and it is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s production of spiritual fruit in our lives.

If we are to live as Jesus lived, think as Jesus thought, and interact as Jesus interacted, then like Jesus, we must learn to balance truth with grace, tolerance of flawed humanity with fidelity to God’s standard of holiness, working out our salvation with resting in God’s effort, and on the list will go. But balance for the Christian is neither easy to achieve nor to maintain because the drift of the sinful nature still fighting for mastery of our lives is always toward an extreme.

Nowhere is this imbalance more apparent in our contemporary American experience of Christianity than in our posture toward sin. It is especially noticeable in the current cultural debate on all matters sexual—same-sex attraction, gender identity, transgenderism, gender reassignment, etc.—where many spiritual leaders are now rejecting this idea that the believer must “love the sinner but hate the sin” as un-Christlike. Yet Jesus did exactly that. So that, too, is a balance that we must learn to achieve.

Of course, some will passionately disagree with my statement. I understand that pushback. There is a legitimate discussion these days about how to approach the issue of sin in our culture. But my fear is that because the secular mindset is increasingly pressuring the church to not only condone no-holds-barred sexuality but to celebrate whatever form it takes as perfectly healthy and appropriate, and because of our growing fear that the world will hate us if we stand in their way, many Christians—leaders and lay people alike—are going to great lengths to avoid calling out sin where sin desperately needs to be called out. A too large percentage of believers now live with a consuming phobia of being labeled—labeled a homophobe, a hatemonger, intolerant and ignorant, or worse.

But let’s remember that Jesus was hated and called names precisely because he pointed out the evil and sin in the world. Sinful man didn’t reject and ultimately crucify him because he came saying, “Everything is alright; go your merry way.” Jesus was murdered because he said things like, “You are slaves of sin, every one of you.” (John 8:34) Believers by the thousands have not been martyred throughout Christian history because of their tolerance of sin; they were killed because they rubbed against the grain of evil cultures.

Now again, balance is the key. Jesus didn’t come to condemn sinners—they were already under condemnation—but by his righteous lifestyle and message of holiness, sin was condemned. Jesus didn’t condemn the woman caught in adultery in John 8, but he wasn’t afraid to tell her to go and “sin” no more. The very first words out of Jesus mouth as he began to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom was “‘Repent!’ From then on, Jesus began to preach, ‘Turn from sin and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.’” (Mat 4:17)

Jesus wasn’t afraid to use the “s” word. Sin is sin, and it separates from God. As C.S. Lewis said,

Jesus Christ did not say – Go into all the world and tell the world that it is quite right.” If we are to truly love people as Jesus did, then at some point their sin must be a topic of conversation. For people to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, sin must be acknowledged, and repentance must be expressed. There is no other way. To point that out is truly the most loving thing a believer can do with an unbeliever.

Of course, it is all in the delivery. People must know that you truly love them if the call to repentance is to be received from a loving heart. But even then since the message of righteousness rubs against the grain of a fallen world, we must be prepared to be labeled. But remember, it won’t be the first time.

Take the Next Step: Evaluate your response to sinful people: Do you condemn them roundly at a distance, i.e., by your posts on social media, or do you engage them in redemptive face-to-face conversation, where you can express your deep love for them while inviting them out of their destructive behavior to a better way of living? Remember, it is always far more effective to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

Getting Closer to Jesus: “Thou shalt become famous” is not one of the Ten Commandments. “Blessed are the spiritual celebrities, for they shall draw much attention” was not one of the Beatitudes Jesus laid down in the Sermon on the Mount. “Feed my sheep…so it can grow into a nationally televised mega-ministry” was not the charge Jesus gave his disciples.

Yet the all-consuming desire for fame and the gravitational pull of celebrity is stronger today among Christian leaders than ever before. Jesus’ brothers would have made a great PR team, but they don’t hold a candle to today’s image-conscious ministries. All you need to do is tune in to Christian television, turn on Christian radio, walk into a Christian bookstore, or surf just about anything Christian and you will be immediately impressed with the swelling ranks of those who have attained Christian rock star status. In this day and age, to make it to the “bigs”, all you’ve got to do is sell a book, gain hundreds of thousands of social media followers, have your own TV show—or get on one, be the spiritual authority all the media quotes when there is breaking news, have your own blog, replete with adoring readers and do whatever you can to get your name—and your mug—out there where the folks can discover just what a gift you are to humankind.

That doesn’t sound too much like Jesus, does it? He resisted any and every attempt to become famous, catapult to power, get rich, and build a crowd of raving fans. In fact, he did just about everything you shouldn’t do to build a successful ministry. He avoided attention—if it was for wrong motives. He said very hard things to would-be followers. He insulted the religious movers and shakers. He hung out with the wrong people. He championed causes no one on their way to the top would touch with a ten-foot pole. He grew his band of followers down to eleven guys who were mostly religious rejects. And he got himself killed—crucified as a common criminal.

Oh—and he changed the world!

Wouldn’t it be refreshing to see a new crop of spiritual leaders who didn’t give a fig about fame and celebrity dominate the Christian scene today? Well, turn off your TV—and the radio. Forget about the cover of the latest edition of “Jesus Weekly” and quit reading all those pastor-blogs (except for one). Get in your car and take a drive out to a small town some Sunday, walk into a little country church and you are likely to find a simple shepherd who isn’t very famous—and won’t ever be—except with God. He, or she, simply loves God, and the flock—and one day, when the dust settles and we all stand before God, that faithful pastor will receive a standing ovation from the Great Cloud of Witnesses.

They never sought fame—they only wanted to make Jesus famous!

“ Fame is a bee. It has a song. It has a sting. Ah, too, it has a wing. — EMILY DICKINSON

Take the Next Step : Memorize this Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Getting Closer to Jesus: The crowds had been pretty impressed with Jesus—and why not? He had healed their sick; he had fed their multitudes—5,000 of them were treated to a full meal when he miraculously multiplied a couple of sardines and five loaves of bread; he had even walked on their water—literally traipsing across the Sea of Galilee, and if that weren’t miraculous enough, it was in the middle of a storm

So you can see why they wanted to hang around Jesus. Who wouldn’t?

But Jesus didn’t want star-struck fans; he wanted fully devoted disciples. That is why, in essence, he said, “Whatever your reason for following me up ‘til now, let me take you to a deeper, more satisfying experience, and you can only do that by taking my life fully into your own.” Oh, he didn’t say it quite that innocuously; he got pretty graphic and told them they had to eat his flesh and drink his blood if they wanted to be his disciples. And when the adoring crowds heard Jesus lay down the demands of discipleship in that way, they were shocked—and turned off. The New English Bible translates John 6:60 this way: “This is more that we can stomach. Why listen to such words.”

Why were they so upset? Was it because they found Jesus’ word so revolting? Was it because they didn’t understand what he was saying? I don’t think so! In fact, they were upset because they knew all too well what he was asking of them. He was calling them to accept him as God’s Son, the true bread of life, the only one who could truly satisfy their spiritual hunger and quench their thirst for God, both now and for all eternity. Jesus was calling them radically to commit their lives totally to him, promising that if they did, then, and only then, would their deepest longings and innermost needs be fully met in him.

Jesus’ call to radical discipleship, using those provocative terms, would not have been unfamiliar to them. When a leader in that era called for unreserved commitment, he would demand that his followers “eat his flesh and drink his blood.” The reason the crowd was so upset and abandoned Jesus at hearing this was because they knew exactly what Jesus was asking: Nothing less than total commitment and full surrender.

Interestingly, Jesus used two different words in two different Greek tenses for “eating his flesh.” In John 6:53, the word “eat” meant to eat once and for all—a specific act at a moment in time that produced continuing effects into the future. He was speaking of the act of salvation—a specific moment in time when you give your life over Christ and are born again. Salvation occurs at a moment in time, but it produces effects that continue throughout life and clear into eternity. The second word for “eat” in John 6:54 referred to a continuous act of daily and voraciously taking life-giving, soul-satisfying nourishment into one’s life. Jesus was referring not to salvation but to the daily walk of discipleship.

In both cases, to “eat and drink of him” means to so thoroughly absorb Jesus that every fiber of who you are and every aspect of how you live is fundamentally and profoundly affected. And when he is invited in and allowed to fully and completely take over your life that way, something wonderful will happen. Jesus begins to show through.

That reminds me of the story of a little girl who turned to her mother on their way home from church and said, “Mommy, the pastor’s sermon confused me.” The mother said, “Why was that?” The girl replied, “Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. Is that true?” The mother replied, “Yes, honey!” Then the little girl said, “And he also said that God lives in us. Is that true, mommy?” The mother again said, “Yes, that’s true, too.” Upon hearing that, the girl said, “Well, Mommy, if God is bigger than us and He lives in us, wouldn’t He show through?”

That is what happens when you take Jesus so thoroughly and fundamentally into your life—both at salvation and in your daily walk as his disciple. He begins to show through, and that is a good thing! If he is not showing through, it is likely that you are lacking in good spiritual nutrition, and, in the words of your Lord, you need to go back and “eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man.”

“ Salvation is free … but discipleship will cost you your life. — DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Take the Next Step : Offer this prayer of committed discipleship: “Jesus, I want to absorb your life so fully into mine that you show through. I offer myself to you; Lord, fully take me over.”

Getting Closer to Jesus: People are infatuated with miracles! They always have been and always will be. I get that! I would love to see more of them as well. And in fact, even though some would deny the miraculous still occurs, they are abounding around the world—especially where we find Christianity in developing nations. When I return from my church planting mission in Africa, usually with dozens of stories of the miraculous, I am always asked, “How come we don’t see the supernatural like that in America?”

I have opinions about that, which I will save for another time, but the point I want to make is that we are no different than the people in Jesus’ day. They too, wanted Jesus to show them the miraculous. Even after he performed miracles, they would turn around and ask him to do a miracle—not another one, mind you, but “do a miracle” as if he had not done one in the first place—so they could believe in him. (John 6:30)

Well, Jesus wanted them to believe in him, too. So, throughout his ministry, he performed miracles to get their attention and clear the path for them to put saving belief in him as Messiah, God’s Son sent as the only source of their eternal salvation. In this chapter, John 6, Jesus has just performed two of his many outstanding miracles: the feeding of the five thousand with five loaves and two fish and walking on water in the midst of a raging storm on the Sea of Galilee. He points out to the people that these “works of God” were to lead them to the only work of God that the Father wanted from them: “Believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6:29)

Now, while Jesus used the miraculous to draw attention to his Divine mission and to authenticate his Divine nature, he also knew that people would gravitate to his miracles as an end in themselves and not as the pathway to saving belief. That’s why he challenged their shortsighted and selfish request for more miracles:

But you shouldn’t be so concerned about perishable things like food [which had just been provided in the miracle feeding]. No, spend your energy seeking the eternal life that I, the Messiah, can give you. For God the Father has sent me for this very purpose.

What was Jesus saying? Miracles are temporary. Think about it: The five thousand people who had just received the bread and fish in the miraculous multiplication would be hungry again the next day. The disciples who were deathly afraid while in the boat that stormy night would face the temptation to fear again, even though Jesus had just demonstrated once and for all his sovereignty over the elements. The people that Jesus raised from the dead in this life would die again someday. So too would the people he miraculously healed.

Yes, miracles are temporary fixes to human frailties, and occasionally our gracious and merciful God breaks into our humanity to provide them, but the miraculous is simply a pathway to saving belief (the faith required for our eternal salvation) and trusting belief (the faith required to obediently walk in daily dependence on God). Miracles are for the moment; belief is boundless, going beyond the moment and lasting throughout eternity.

So, if a miracle is provided in the moment, and it leads to faith, which is forever, then more power to the miraculous!

Take the Next Step : Let me suggest you offer this prayer: “Father, help me to practice your presence in the daily ordinariness of my life. Teach me to make righteous judgments so that I might see you in every person I meet, every event I take in, every plan I execute, and in every detail of my world.”

“ Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. — JOHN 6:10-11

Getting Closer to Jesus: These easy-to-overlook verses are sandwiched between two of Jesus’ outstanding miracles—the feeding of the five thousand with five loaves of bread and two small fish, and the miracle of Jesus walking on the water. Not only that, at the end of this lengthy chapter is some of the heaviest theology that Jesus would ever lay on his would-be followers. It was so demanding and confrontational, in fact, that his followers called it a “hard saying”, and most of them quit following him from that point on.

With so much important stuff going on in this chapter, it would be easy to miss the fact that Jesus stopped to give thanks before a meal. Think about that for a moment: Why would Jesus do that? In a sense, wasn’t he really saying grace to himself? What purpose did this serve?

To begin with, I think Jesus was truly grateful to his Father for this provision of resources by which the miraculous feeding could occur. I think Jesus was authentically thankful that his Father had authorized the use of Divine power and was about to yet again authenticate the Messianic ministry and mission of the Son. I think the Second Person of the eternal Trinity was a fundamentally grateful being. It was just who Jesus was; the organic overflow of his Divine nature was love, joy, confidence and, in this case, gratitude.

“Jesus—the eternal, self-existence One—said grace before his meal. And if Jesus, who didn’t have to do it, did it, then we, who don’t have to do it, most definitely should!

Not only that, but Jesus was also modeling for us the appropriateness and the power of gratitude. He was reminding us by his actions that it doesn’t hurt to stop and express thanksgiving to God, and one of the simplest and recurring ways to enter into gratitude is to say a simple “thank you” before each meal.

We don’t know exactly what Jesus said in his prayer, but it was likely short and sweet. John simply says he “gave thanks.” He acknowledged God in that moment, drawing attention to the Heavenly Provider and reminding both himself and those who were within earshot of his dependence on and gratitude to Father God.

That is something you and I can do too, each time we sit down (or drive through) for a meal. We can give thanks. As redundant and useless and perfunctory as it may seem, there is power in this simple act. And if Jesus, who didn’t have to do it, did it, then we, who don’t have to do it, most definitely should!

Take the Next Step : Before every meal this week, say grace. Pause, think about it; then offer up to your gracious Heavenly Father the gratitude that is in your heart for all the good things he has provided.

Getting Closer to Jesus: I’m not sure who first said it (it’s origin has been attributed to several different authors), but I think it offer some sage advice for people who follow Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior; rules for living, we could rightly call it. It simply goes like this:

Rule # 1: Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Rule #2: It’s all small stuff.

That is true! You see, with God, nothing is impossible; it’s all small stuff to him. That is not just my theology, that comes from God’s own mouth. God told a perplexed Abraham and a cynical Sarah when he announced to them that they would have a son well into their 90’s (and beyond, actually, for Abraham):

Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son. (Genesis 18:13-14)

Is anything too hard for the Lord? No—it’s all small stuff! Even giving barren, centenarian couples their first child.

When Jeremiah the prophet was crying out to God over the devastation of Israel and the insurmountable problems the nation was facing, the Holy Spirit inspired him to prayerfully pour out this affirmation in his appeal to the Almighty for help:

O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you! (Jeremiah 32:17)

Later in that same chapter, God himself sent this word to the prophet:

I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me? (Jeremiah 32:26-27)

Is anything too hard for the Lord? No—it’s all small stuff! Even taking a shattered, scattered nation and reconstituting it for his glory and purpose.

Do you get the point? Nothing is above God’s pay grade. That’s because the created order in its entirety was conceived and perfectly engineered in the mind of God before it came into being. God created everything that exists by the breath of his mouth. God hung the stars by flicking them into space with his finger. He holds everything that we see and don’t see perfectly into place by his powerful and caring hand. There is nothing—absolutely nothing—that escapes his watchful eye.

And therefore, there is nothing—absolutely nothing—that is too big or too hard for him. Nothing is impossible to God, and therefore, all things are possible for his people.

That’s why Jesus, who is God the Son, the agent of creation, said to Phillip, “What shall we do with this gigantic crowd of seekers? They’re hungry, and we’ve got to feed them. Where can we get that much food?” Of course, we know how the massive crowd would get miraculously fed because John clearly states that Jesus already knew what he was going to do. His question was just to test Phillip for the purpose of stretching his faith.

And Jesus will do that with us, too. Even though he already knows what he’s going to do, he doesn’t automatically do it without first stretching, tempering, testing, and strengthening our faith, which is of greater value than any miraculous intervention we could hope for.

But don’t miss the whole point of this: Jesus already knows what he needs to do. And if that is true, then Rule #1 for you as his follower would be, “Don’t sweat the small stuff!” Why? It is a wasted use of energy, and it’s dishonoring to the One who already knows what to do. Therefore, as his follower, Rule #2 is certainly true too, “It’s all small stuff!”

Since that is true, why not relax a little bit today and let God be God? Exercise your trust and let God take care of your big stuff, since it’s all small stuff to him.

“ All things are possible until they are proved impossible and even the impossible may only be so, as of now. — PEARL S. BUCK

Take the Next Step : What are you sweating today? Visualize holding it in the palms of your hands. Walk outside and lift your hands heavenward and release it to the Lord with these words, “Father, this is too big for me, but not for you. Here, you take it and do with it according to your purpose.” Then thank God that he has just given you the greatest gift: He has stretched your faith!

Getting Closer to Jesus: I can think of no simpler yet more powerful practice for greater spiritual growth and intimacy with God than daily Bible study. The truth is, if you don’t have a regular quiet time with God—which would include not just reading, but meditation as well as incorporating the Scripture in prayer— your spiritual vitality will be stunted. It is as simple as that.

Yet Bible reading, journaling, scripture memory, and all the other wonderful disciplines that involve the Word of God are not enough. In fact, there is a very real danger lurking in the practice of daily quiet time that will lead to even greater distance from God than not reading at all: Love of the Word of God more than the love of God, which is rightfully described in the following:

Bibliolatry occurs when we acquire biblical knowledge without spiritual discernment; when our study of the Word is not commensurate to our obedience of the Word; when our love for Scripture exceeds our love for God, and correspondingly, love for our fellow man; when pride in our practice of Bible reading leads to a false sense of righteousness; and when the spiritual discipline of quiet time becomes a work of law rather than an experience of grace. When that occurs, in effect, we are worshiping the Bible rather than the God of the Bible.

There are far too many “Christians” who read the Bible too little, if at all. That is an unfortunate blight on the modern church. Yet there is another segment of believers, much smaller, but in deeper spiritual danger, who have been lulled into a sort of spiritual smugness because they fancy themselves as “people of the Word” or because, as they happily proclaim, the church they attend really “teaches” the Word.

Knowing the Bible isn’t enough. Satan knows the Bible as well as anyone. He can quote it at will. Daily reading and Scripture memory aren’t enough. Nicodemus (see John 3) had that down pat. Going to a church that teaches the Word through the Bible isn’t enough. The Pharisees had that down pat, yet they were far from God. Hearing, reading, and believing the Bible aren’t enough. Believing in Jesus is. Jesus said,

Whoever believes the Son has eternal life. (John 3:36)

The ultimate goal of Bible study should not be to gain greater knowledge of Scripture, or to grow spiritually, or to simply be able to check off that item on your daily list of things to do. The best goal—the only goal, in fact—should be to know God and his Son, Jesus Christ. By “knowing”, I am not referring to an intellectual event, but the intimate exchange of one’s life with the Almighty whereby love is deepened, obedience is practiced, and faith is expanded.

That is when searching the Scripture leads to eternal life.

Take the Next Step : Honestly evaluate if your Bible disciplines—reading, memorizing, studying, and meditating—are leading you to a closer walk with Jesus and to taking on his character—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Getting Closer to Jesus: We live in a culture that despises the notion of judgment on any level. In particular, we aren’t comfortable with an angry God. People prefer a tame God to a dangerous one. As Dorothy Sayers aptly put it, “We have declawed the lion of Judah and made him a housecat for pale priests and pious old ladies.”

I don’t blame people for that. But if we are to be faithful to the authority of the Scripture, then we will have to acknowledge that God hates sin, which is morally offensive to his nature. Therefore, it is only right and just that he judges the unrepentant sinner who persists in breaking his moral law.

The sobering reality is that God’s righteous wrath will be poured out on sinful humanity someday in the future. When people die in their sinful state, there is a literal hell that awaits them, a physical place where they will suffer the eternal wrath of God. Likewise, scripture is very clear that one day, at the end of the age, the Great White Throne judgment of God (Revelation 20, Romans 2:5-6) will mark the final end of sin, when Satan, evil systems, and all the wicked will be cast into the lake of fire forever.

Obviously, that is a boatload of bad news! Yet amazingly, because of the immutable character of our gracious and merciful God, even within the bad news there is good news—Good News that should cause our hearts to explode in grateful praise. We can escape judgment!

You see, God’s righteous wrath for mankind’s sin was satisfied at Calvary when Jesus suffered and died as the final sacrifice for our sins. God fully focused his judgment against sinful man on his sinless Son, Jesus, as his hung on the cross. In the greatest act of grace and mercy ever, Jesus bore the wrath of God for the sins of the world when he was crucified”

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

Jesus is very clear that when a person puts believing or saving faith in who he is (God in the flesh) and in what he was sent to do (die as the redeeming sacrifice for the sins of the world) and personally trusts that he rose from the dead as Lord of life, then that believing person gets a pass on the worst, most dreadful, persistent fear—in this case, a reality-based fear: The fear of dying and facing the judgment of God.

For sure, it can be quite discouraging to hear about a God who actually punishes sin. And yes, we can understand why our culture wants to deny the reality of any kind of judgment. Yet anyone—yes, anyone—can take heart, despite that reality, there stands at the center of Divine wrath the grace and mercy of a God so loving that he willingly sacrificed his only Son so that the guilt of sin could be erased from our account.

And that includes you, me, and anyone else who will surrender to Jesus in believing faith. As Jesus said two chapters previously, “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him would not die but have eternal life.”

Obviously, there is a reason that John 3:16 is the most well-loved verse in the entire Bible.

Take the Next Step: When you are in conversations with people who don’t believe in Jesus—and even with some who claim faith in Christ—it is likely that at some of those you  encounter will be of  the “no judgment” mindset. Try to represent this Truth when that happens: Yes, there is a judgment coming, but there is also an escape clause that God has built into his righteous obligation to judge sin—saving faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. That really is Good News!

Getting Closer to Jesus: Does it seem that Jesus’ question, “Do you really want to be healed?” is a bit insensitive? After all, this man had been paralyzed—and totally dependent on others—for thirty-eight years. He had been waiting at this pool for who knows how long, in the belief that when the waters stirred, whoever got into the pool first would receive the healing they needed

Do you really want to be healed—really, Jesus? The answer to that is a resounding “No, not at all is that insensitive of Jesus!” Since Jesus’ one desire was to do the will of the Father and restore the lost sheep to the care of the Good Shepherd—and therefore, insensitivity could not be a part of his character—there must be more here than meets the eye.

One of the things we see in this story is how Jesus’ power operates. And whether it had to do with healing, as is the case here, or deliverance, or salvation, the power of God flowed through Jesus mercifully and graciously, but that Divine flow always demanded a human response to be fully activated and thoroughly experienced. That human response is what we call faith. And anytime Jesus acted in a way that we might consider harsh, it was simply the Lord doing what he discerned would be needed to move a person to respond to God in faith.

In this story, we see a pattern of this very thing. To begin with, Jesus initiated the man’s healing by asking him if he really wanted to be healed. It could have been that the lame man had grown accustomed to his condition, as strange as that may sound. But think about it: others did everything for him, and to be suddenly healed would turn that arrangement upside down. He would now have to work, take care of himself, and contribute to his family and society.

Or it could be that this man’s hope was so dead that any expression of the faith needed to respond to a work of God had died with it long ago. But this man’s response was immediate and sure. Yes, he wanted to be healed—even though that seemed impossible since he had no one to help him—so he was ready for the change, and all that change would require in his life.

Being ready for change—and willing to cooperate in it—is a critical piece to the work of God in our lives, since Divine transformation cannot take place without human cooperation. The sick, the enslaved, and the unsaved must see their need for God, must be ready to abandon their dysfunction and be willing to step out in faith for God’s work to take its full course.

Moreover, we see that in asking the lame man to “get up” Jesus was saying, “grab your will, reject your dysfunction, and exercise your faith to join in with what God desires to do in your body right now.” As William Barclay said, “The power of God never dispenses with the effort of man.” The power of God in our lives is released to have its effect when our will engages God’s. Now to be clear, our won’t create God’s power, it only opens the spigot wide for that power to flow. Said another way, our faith doesn’t earn God’s favor, but certainly, it either activates it and/or enhances its effect to a fuller degree in our lives.

“Get up”…a very bold command to you and me, perhaps even insensitive to expect such a thing of a man paralyzed for thirty-eight years, but it was what this man needed to catalyze the human faith needed to activate Divine power. And as he bent his will to accommodate the command of Jesus, power happened—and so did one of the outstanding miracles of the Bible.

This is the pattern of the release of power—God’s power to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We face so many things in our lives that hinder, harass, and hurt us. But when we offer faith-desire and are willing to risk bending our will to God’s will—even if we have lived in bondage to a condition for an insufferably long time—the opportunity is created for God’s power through Christ’s Lordship to turn our victimization into victory.

Take the Next Step : Faith is your response to what God has already willed and what he desires to do. Your faith doesn’t create his power; it only turns on the flow so that when his timing is right, Divine energy to heal, deliver, strengthen and save can wash over you in mighty waves. If that be so, then ask God to purify your faith—and be ready to offer it to your gracious God.

Getting Closer to Jesus: “Sir,” replied the official, “come with me before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live!” The man believed Jesus’ words and went.

In essence, what this father in John’s story (John 4:43-54) said was, “I’ll see it when I believe it!” And that, my friend, is at the core of outstanding faith. Let me explain:

While we live in a time and in a culture where the scientific method has become man’s guiding theology, it is God who has set the rules for knowing and experiencing him. And he has declared that the avenue to knowledge and experience is by way of faith.

This is an infinitely critical point in light of the fact that modern man has elevated the empirical over revelation as the way to enlightenment. Obviously, a world that is determined to put faith only in that which can be demonstrated by data, where man’s reason is king and metaphysical faith is optional, is in direct conflict with God’s world.

But for the Christian, everything starts with God. Sensory data—what a person can see, hear, smell, touch, and taste—is not a bad thing; don’t misunderstand. In my humble opinion, scientific provability is God-given, and since God created it, we would do well to exercise it. It is not antithetical to faith—necessarily—but while physical proof can lead to knowledge or an acknowledgment of God, only revelation can lead to a knowledge of who God truly is—the God of the Scriptures who has revealed himself through Jesus Christ, and who, according to his own sovereign plan, at times breaks into our lives with his power.

Revelation is based on something other, something more. Revelation is based on the truth that God took the initiative to make himself knowable, that he has revealed himself—both spiritually and physically—to us through his Word and by his Son. Now the empirical and the revealed will not contradict each other, because both are from God. But what we see and what we can prove alone will not suffice.

In the eleventh century, St. Anselm argued that faith is the precondition of knowledge: “I believe in order that I may understand” (credo ut intelligam). In other words, knowledge and experience cannot lead to faith. It might get you close, but it won’t get you there. Faith is a gift from God, and when faith is experienced, true knowledge and experience flows.

What Anselm said was eloquently stated long before in the fourth century by another pillar of the Christian faith, St. Augustine. Augustine taught that, “faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.” In God’s world, we are to express faith in God first; then knowledge of God and experience with God will follow.

In the story we read about in John 4, this is exactly what is going on with the government official from Capernaum. Jesus has just made the frustrating observation that people will only believe when they see his miracles and wonders (John 4:48). And even then, it is very likely that their “belief” will only be temporary; only good until the next miracle is needed. But then this father, desperate for his deathly sick son to be healed, offers a different response to Jesus: He is willing to believe in order that he might see.

So what does that have to do with what you are facing in your life today? Plenty! God is discernable and knowable through the exercise of your faith. Perhaps you don’t see evidence of that right at this moment, but let me challenge you to believe what you don’t see, exercising faith in a loving God, and the reward will be that you will see, sooner or later, what you believe.

It takes faith—but that has been proven over the millennia! Just ask the father whose son was healed in John 4.

“ Faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe. — AUGUSTINE

Take the Next Step Perhaps you have been depending on your sight more than your faith these days. If so, here is a prayer you might consider offering to God: “Gracious Father, I believe. Help any unbelief I may have. I don’t see everything I’d like to see, but I believe. And while I pray that you would reveal yourself in my life today in tangible ways, I also pray that I would trust your love, your care, and your promised favor even if the tangible doesn’t appear. In the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, the revealed Word, I pray. Amen.”

Getting Closer to Jesus: Now is the time! There has never been a greater opportunity for an unbelievable return on your missions investment than right now—your investment of praying for missions, giving to missions, encouraging missionaries, going on a mission, and in a way that encompasses everything about you, living a mission-driven life. And by “missions”, I mean anything that has to do with proclaiming the gospel to those who haven’t received it yet and influencing them into God’s eternal kingdom.

That’s what Jesus is prophetically saying in John 4:34-38. In verse 35, he pleads with his disciples: “Open your eyes; see the fields! Now is the time—they’re ripe for harvest.” And notice how he frames his missions appeal in terms of return on investment in verse 36: “The reaper will get rewarded now, plus bring in a harvest that’s eternal.” (J. B. Phillips)

As we sit at the end of the age, the evidence shouts that this is a “kairos” moment. “Kairos” is the Greek word used in the New Testament for a God-opportunity; “chronos”, on the other hand, is the word used for actual time, that is, chronological time. This is that kairos time of which Jesus spoke where those who pray for, go on, and give to missions will get in on an eternal harvest that is unprecedented in history.

If there was ever a time, it’s now to repurpose your life for greater missional engagement. If you’ve not, get all in and make the change to go all out for missions. If you are already engaged in missions, recalibrate for more. Now is the time! Don’t miss out!

As you correctly absorb John 4, there are three unavoidable convictions you will lay claim to in relation to the huge and ripened harvest that is our present world:

First, you will become convinced that doing missions is your divine mandate. In verse 34, Jesus directly connected reaching this foreign seeker with both the will and the work of God: “What keeps me going is to do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started.” (MSG)

I realize that what I’m talking about—dedicating your time, energy and money…or more of it—may not be too comfortable for you. Unless you are convinced of what Jesus was convinced of—that this is the will and work of God—any call to commit your resources of time and energy will seem pushy. But sincerely pray about it. Don’t do or not do it because a pastors or missionary is pressuring you. Open your heart to God, and simply ask, “God, help me to see the harvest—and what you would have me to do about it!”

Second, you will become convinced that doing missions brings the deepest satisfaction. In verse 32, Jesus said, “This is my nourishment!” It has been my experience that missional investment and involvement satisfy a core desire like no other. In an age that deeply longs for satisfaction but can never seem to really find it, I can promise you this: what deeply satisfied Jesus’ soul will be that which can only and fully satisfy your soul!

Thirdly, you will become convinced that the missional sacrifice of others demands your best sacrifice. Notice verse 38: “I’m sending you to reap what you’ve not worked for. Others have done the hard work, now you’ll reap the benefits of their labor.” The investment of those who’ve gone before us demands that we do no less.

Think of the comfort missionaries have given up over the centuries to take Jesus to unreached people. It is the story of sacrifice! They died—often literally—to our version of the good life to bring the Good News so others can live.

James Calvert, in the 1800’s, shipped off to go as a missionary to the cannibals on the Fiji Islands. As they neared the islands, the captain tried to dissuade Calvert to turn back “You’ll lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among these savages.” To that, Calvert replied, “Captain, we died before we came here.”

To Calvert—and other missionaries, I think they would all say, it was no sacrifice; it was our nourishment; it was our calling. We would do it all over again.

When you consider missionaries, starting with Jesus clear down to those serving in far away and difficult places in the world today, their sacrifice is best honored by your sacrifice! Mine, too! Missions is your calling! It’s your privilege. It will be your nourishment! And in eternity, it will prove to be the best investment you ever made.

“ He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” — JIM ELLIOT

Take the Next Step: Your assignment this week is to give an offering to a missions organization. It is not the only way to be missional, but it is a good start, because as Jesus said, “Where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)

Getting Closer to Jesus: The Samaritan woman who encountered Jesus at the well of Sychar was subconsciously looking for a god made in her image—a god to her specifications. This was fairly common among worshipers not only in Jesus’ day but in ours as well. It occurs when we attempt to come to God on our terms rather than his; when we make worship more about us and what we like than about God and what he likes; when, in effect, we recreate God in our image rather than approaching him as beings created in his image.

That was the problem with the worship of the Samaritans. They had corrupted worship to fit their own needs to the point Jesus said, “You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship.” (John 4:22, NLT) They had become Burger King worshipers. Do you remember the old Burger King advertisement? “Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us. Have it your way.”

That little jingle is fitting for what we modern day “Samaritans” are doing with our experience of worship. We love a customized church experience. We expect worship services to be tailor-made just for us. We expect the praise, programs, and preaching to satisfy our preferences. We want church designed to meet our needs, music tuned to our exact tastes, preachers crafted to our specifications, messages that mesmerize, and a made to order God—a “Burger King God” who says, “Have it your way”.

Some time ago, Los Angeles Magazine ran an article called “God For Sale”. The author said, “It is no surprise that when today’s affluent young professionals return to church they want to do it only on their own terms. But what is amazing is how far the churches are going to oblige them.” Newsweek Magazine added, “They’ve developed a pick and choose Christianity in which individuals take what they want and pass over what does not fit their spiritual goals…”

Nothing can be further from the “spirit and truth” worshiper of verse 24 that Jesus said God the Father is seeking. When it comes to God, and the way you worship him, you need to start saying, “Have it your way”. Me too!

If you learn what it means to do that, you will drink water from an altogether different kind of well—and you will never thirst again!

“ Worship changes the worshiper into the image of the One worshiped. — JACK HAYFORD

Take the Next Step: Honestly evaluate your worship expectations. Do you approach worship by asking God how he prefers your worship? Or do you tell God, albeit in not so many words, “This is how I want it”? If it is the latter, a little repentance is in order.

Getting Closer to Jesus: An entire book could be written about this story of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar. For instance, a whole chapter could be written from this story just about the inclusiveness of the Kingdom of God. Another chapter could lay out a master blueprint for starting spiritual conversations with anyone from an authentic seeker to a theological weirdo. And of course, several chapters could present a compelling theology of worship from what Jesus says just in these few verses.

But at the end of the day, what you will find is that any encounter with Jesus doesn’t simply warm your heart to the Kingdom of God or perfect your evangelistic technique or inform your theology or just cram more spiritual information into your head, it touches the true condition of your heart. That is what happened to the woman at the well.

This sinful Samaritan sister is like a lot of people in our society today, even church-going types, who are attempting makeovers, not only of the physical kind but of the whole-life kind. Like her, so many people are profoundly unhappy, dissatisfied, empty on the inside, and are trying to make over their lives by filling that missing void. But any makeover effort that isn’t God-initiated, God-empowered, and God-focused, is akin to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

In this woman’s case, she had gone from man to man, hoping the next would be better—but each relationship left her increasingly dissatisfied, damaged and desperate. What Jesus was telling her was that she didn’t need a man to complete her. She didn’t need just a “relationship makeover”. She needed a new “water source” (John 4:13-15, NLT)—she needed a brand new life.

This woman is really a mirror of our age. We go from experience to experience, job to job, purchase to purchase, and relationship to relationship, hoping that that next great thing will be what finally brings us fulfillment. But here is the deal: If you are looking to a thing, or job, or another person to fulfill you, you are putting an expectation on something or someone that they cannot meet. When you live in that kind of pattern, your life will end up as one long, futile attempt to find completion.

Remember the gushy line from the movie that all the romantics swooned over: “You complete me”? That sounds so romantic it has to be true, right? It’s not! It is one of the Enemy’s great deceptions. What Jesus was saying to this Samaritan woman—and by extension, to you and me—is that only God can complete you. When you come to God for completion, then those unrealistic expectations that you have placed on position, possessions, and people will be removed, and only then can you drink the living water and never thirst again.

The bottom line to this story—and to your life and mine—is simply this: We find real completion only in God.

Take the Next Step: Take a moment, or several if you need, and honestly evaluate whether people, position, and/or possessions have surpassed God in terms of what you depend upon to satisfy your emotional needs for security, significance, and satisfaction. If they are out of order, ask God to forgive you—and help you to reprioritize your tank-fillers—and then get ruthlessly committed to letting God be God in your life!

Getting Closer to Jesus: Over the last two or three decades, it has become clear, at least in the Western world, that a person cannot be successful, live a truly satisfying life, and experience significance as a human being without a well-written, eye-catching personal mission statement. Likewise, no corporation can increase its bottom line and influence its market without a corporate mission statement. Next to oxygen and nourishment, a mission statement is essential to life.

Of course, I am speaking facetiously. To be sure, strategically developing and clearly stating your personal or corporate mission is a good thing. I have one. Jesus had one: “The Son of man came to serve, not be served, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45). The Apostle Paul had one: “I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24) You would do well to have one, too.

But what would happen if the qualifier to every mission statement of every Christian and every faith-based organization was the same as John the Baptist’s? Oh my! We would change the world—that’s what would happen!

John the Baptist’s mission statement can be found in John 1:7, “John came as a witness to testify concerning that light (Jesus Christ), so that through him all might believe.” Throughout his ministry, John faithfully, fearlessly, and passionately executed against that calling until he himself was executed, literally, for doing his job. (Mark 6:14-29) And while, in reality, John’s time in fulfilling his mission was brief, it was undeniably powerful.

It is very likely that John could have avoided what from a human perspective looked like the failure of his business. Most likely, he could have gone on to a lucrative career as a speaker, or the leader of a religious movement. But had he done that, from an eternal perspective, he would have failed at his mission.

No, John’s mission to testify to the Light (that is, Jesus and his messianic mission) was controlled by this caveat: no matter how famous and prosperous his clients were willing to make his ministry, John knew that he had to decrease so Jesus could increase. After all, his mission was simply to introduce and represent Jesus. Jesus was the real deal; John only knew of Jesus. It was Jesus, not John, who had the bona fides to speak of the Kingdom of Heaven since he had been there and was actually from there. And since that was the case, the more successful John did his job of introducing Jesus, the less of John people needed to see.

Now, of course, you and I are likely not called to John the Baptist’s path. He was unique in the initial public offering of Jesus. Yet in another sense, all Christians and Christian organizations are called to introduce and represent Jesus. And to successfully execute against that mission—however that mission statement might be personalized uniquely to you and me—John’s caveat must be ours as well: In all that we do, in the success that we experience, in the direction we take and in the dreams we pursue, we must decrease so that Jesus can increase.

From a human point of view, that might seem silly. But from heaven’s perspective, that is the path by which you and I can change the world—for Christ’s sake. Yes, that is the best mission statement!

Take the Next Step: If you have a personal mission statement (or a corporate one), add John’s caveat to the end of it: “Jesus must become greater; I must become less.”