Written Word

Do What You Can As Long As You Can

We mortals are a bunch of "cop-out" creatures. When we face a task or tasks that we really don't want to do, we immediately make excuses. "I have a serious hangnail" or "I think I'm coming down with the swine flu!" Yeh, and the sky is falling down, chicken little.

I know a man (we'll call him Joe) who has a rash of ailments, none of which are at the moment life-threatening, but they are, unquestionably, more serious than a hangnail or the swine flu – or even the dire warning that the sky is falling. And each affliction takes its toll on his body, even his spiritual state at times. He knows, however, that there are certain things God demands of him and all who would be followers of Christ.

Whatever affliction or test he – or you – may have, it pales into nothing when viewed in the light of Jesus' suffering in Gethsemane and at Calvary. This is not including the life He lived for thirty-three years, enduring the hostility and rejection (in the last three years) by the very creature He came to save!

This man of whom I speak, Joe, is confined to his home most of the time and when his sister who lived in another state, died a few years ago, he could not even undertake the rigors of traveling to her funeral. That was not an excuse for not doing something he did not want to do. It was simply a fact of life. The negative facts of natural life will often hinder us from doing what we most want to do.

But Joe knows that for what God demands of him there can be no excuse. When the sky is falling, if God tells you to hold it up, then, as impossible as it may seem, you can do it. You see, God never tells you to do what you cannot do. If He commands, "Hold up the sky (which is

threatening to fall all around you), then that is what you have to do: hold up the sky!

In Joe's case, illness and old age are putting a crimp in what God had told Joe to do some years back. God simply told Joe, "Write what I tell you to write." After some lollygagging on Joe's part, he finally got himself straightened around to seriously fulfilling God's edict. This continued a number of years until the above mentioned physical ailments began to plague him.

But Joe, who had grown spiritually over the last two decades, was not about to let anything, short of a decree from God, stop him from doing what he was ordained to do. He continued to write as God gave it to him. Now that brings this little story up to the present. Joe is eighty-eight years old. His eyesight and hearing are failing. His mind has a tendency to wander and not stay focused on the issue at hand – but by the grace of God Joe is still writing, not voluminously, but he is doing what God told him to do.

That is all well and good, as the saying goes, but Joe, who has retired and has more time on his hands, feels yet another call to service. His writing that was once a torrent (well, maybe it was a small stream) has dwindled down to a trickle and God has now laid another burden on him. God said, in effect, "I am easing the burden of writing a bit, so now you will have time to more effectively pray for the many souls who are in need. Do that!"

You will note that at no time did God tell Joe to quit writing: writing is still his hallmark. He does both: he writes and he prays and he writes and he prays. And it is a very fulfilling life for Joe because he is not making excuses because of this or that ailment or for the mental stress he goes through, which he knows is just part of the territory.

Now what do you get out of this story? Of course you and Joe are two very different people. He cannot be you and you cannot be he. Nevertheless two things stand out:

 

• When God lays out for you what he wants you to do with your life, follow that path until He tells you to stop or until you can no longer function physically or mentally or both. Be a mighty Atlas and hold that falling sky up in place (yes, I know that the mythical Atlas holds the earth in place).
• Whenever changing circumstances afford you the opportunity to do it (unless it is not something that no saint needs to pray about, like praying for others or helping others in any way you can), reach out a hand in love to help your brother or sister – or your unsaved fellow creature. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (Joh 13:35)

 

I myself feel that God is not through with me despite old age, various ailments and a diminished mental capacity. (Now you have a pretty good idea who Joe is in the story above.) Whatever I have that God in His mercy and grace allows me to use, I will do it until I drop.

"Go, and do thou likewise"!

If You Want it, Beg for it!

There are some things we need and for which we can reach but not attain them by our own efforts. Make no mistake: We Christians are required to continually extend our clutching hands for a closer walk with God and a more intimate relationship with Him. Out of our innermost being a demand arises to be saturated with His presence, although most of us slough it off and serve our Lord with less than total commitment.

But for those who do heed the call of God to total surrender, only God can make it happen. He will not give you what you want and seek so avidly if you get frustrated and sullenly hang back, complaining, "Well, God knows what I need and what I sought so fervently, so, as the God He is, He is required to supply those fervent desires."

No, no. You've got it wrong, friend. Remember who is the beggar and who is the sovereign God. We beg, God supplies. If you want a closer walk and a more vibrant relationship with God, come to Him with your hat in your hand. Throw away all your notions of self-sufficiency, beg – even grovel if you must – for those qualities that will make your life fuller and sweeter in Christ.

You may belong to Christ, you may love Him greatly, but if you are above pleading for what you want and need, you will not receive it. You have to cry long and loud for some things that you need and God wants you have. Take a cue from the parable of the widow who had to pressure the unjust judge to give her justice. (Luke 18.2-7)

Jesus remarked concerning the widow, "And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly…"

If you have needs, if you have yearnings that are rooted in your love for God, don't stop because God does not answer at your first plea nor seem moved by your first tear. Come back again and again and again. The praying, the weeping, the agonizing are all a part of God's plan for making you what He wants you to be.

Eternity – What Is It and Where Is It?

The following post is an excerpt from the pamphlet A Mix of Random Thoughts on Eternity http://www.lulu.com/content/brochure/a-mix-of-random-thoughts-on-eternity/944696

 

Today I am sitting at my computer, just thinking, thinking, thinking… As different thoughts move like actors across the stage of my mind – sort of auditioning for my approval, if you will – one of my favorites, Eternity, presents itself. At this point I send the others home – "Don't call me; I'll call you." I can work with this thought. The concept of eternity is very appealing to my mind because it is so mysterious and it has much to do with the God I serve. None of us know much about eternity. That is what makes it so mysterious. We see just enough of the concept to be titillated by it and want to know more. And there is not much more we can know about it in this life.

This much we know: Time is surrounded by eternity. Time is a river flowing from point A to point B, from birth to death (for the individual) or from the beginning of creation to the Great White Throne Judgment. It has to progress and have a destination, otherwise it would not be time. Contrariwise, eternity does not "flow"; it is static. Eternity is a sea with no destination; it simply IS, vast and calm, unruffled by winds or storms. Eternity engulfs time. For further clarity, let's use another figure: Time is like a capsule suspended in the sea of eternity, but eternity does not cease to be inside the capsule of time. Eternity is endless; and it pervades all time and space. God and eternity both pervade all space and time in a manner similar to the way that water permeates a sponge. The water is all through the sponge, but it is not an integral part of the sponge. Space and time are not God, yet nothing can exist outside of God's interpenetrating presence.

Perhaps you can now see why the thought of eternity grabs my imagination even though it is a confusing thought. How can there be a never-ending state of being and how can there be a never-ending entity, something or someone who has never not existed and will never cease to exist? According to the Scriptures, we shall live forever, which is a concept hard to grasp. I don't say it is hard to believe. I firmly believe it although I can't grasp it fully. But, as far as we mortals know, we have not forever existed. We see ourselves as having entered, at birth, the flow of eternity, which then carries us forever into the "future," forever living the more abundant life – for those who believe in Christ. Unbelievers will exist, not have life as only Christ can give it. But we who believe entered the flow of eternity somewhere along the banks of time when we gave ourselves to Christ. We, again, as far as we know, have not forever existed.

That raises an interesting question: How can anything or anyone be eternal if they have not existed forever? The very word, eternity, connotes forever-ness, but it seems that we have entered the flow of eternity after being "born again" and thus inducted into eternity. That presumes a beginning, which is not what eternity is about. It seems to this writer in his ignorance that there is no beginning and no ending in eternity. Further, we have assumed time to be merely a tiny capsule in the all-pervasiveness of eternity, which completely enfolds time within its ubiquitous self; therefore, anyone who is a part of eternity has necessarily forever existed in time, and beyond. We can picture eternity as a limitless shroud that cloaks the tiny capsule called time, except that, unlike the usual shroud, this is a liberating medium that causes the essential person to expand to its fullest eternal potential.

This is all very good, but how can we, considering our time-bound selves, say we shall live eternally? We are created beings, logically shut out from eternity – it would seem.

Let me quickly throw in a parenthetical paragraph at this point. The issues I am dealing with in this rambling monologue are not issues that trouble me. They surely don't cause me to lose any sleep. The questions that arise intrigue me and exercise my mind and my faith. I know without doubt I shall live forever. I know I shall one day be a true eternal being. I don't know how or why, but faith has laid hold on this concept that the mind doesn't understand and I am a willing captive to the thought.

Now back to the mysteries of how we can be creatures of eternity. God is the only eternally existing Being, that is, He alone has forever existed. But in John 17:21 Jesus said of His followers, "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us..." Read this passage again so that you may get the full awesome meaning in it. Jesus prayed that we might be one in Him (Jesus) in whom the Father lives and who also lives in the Father. That is almost a fearsome concept, that we should be one with the Father and the Son, who are themselves ONE eternal Being. But let's take it further: We are in Christ (Rom. 12.5) and we see again that Christ is in God (John 10.38b), which takes us again to John 17.21, telling us that we are in God,. At this very moment we are eternal beings because by faith we have reached beyond the capsule of time. Time itself is, for a fleeting second, a unique and unusual part of eternity, a part in which we received Christ and thus expanded our horizons into the Eternal.

With All the Voices Out There, to Which Ones Should We Listen?

There are all sorts of voices filling the air. There is a literal babble of sounds, confusing sounds, telling us how to act, how to speak, how to be. They urge us to do all sorts of things and they bring all kinds of messages to us. Let's first consider two examples of good voices from the pages of the Bible. The Apostle Paul's voice or message was directed primarily to the Gentile while Peter's was to the Jew. Paul did bring the Gospel to the Jews first wherever he went, but then he directed his efforts towards the Gentiles. Peter, in his travels, did reach out to the Gentiles, but that was not where his main ministry lay. He was an apostle to the Jews.

These two voices spoke differently but to the same objective: the proclaiming of the Gospel. We have a somewhat similar situation today. It is similar but not exactly the same as that of Paul and Peter. Now we have 1) evangelists who speak mainly to the unsaved, although they do speak at times to those who are saved; and 2) we have pastors the main thrust of whose messages is to perfect the sheep of their flock. But they also warn unbelievers of continuing in their sins and present the Gospel to them as a means of deliverance. Looking more closely at the present-day setup, we see that there are preachers and teachers and then there are those who are neither but who occasionally speak under the anointing of God. Along with preachers and teachers, these persons who speak occasionally under the anointing are modern-day prophets at the precise times they deliver their divinely inspired word. Furthermore, although they are not preachers called to that particular full-time ministry, whenever God chooses to do so, they can be preachers for the moment. God can do as He pleases, and if we are willing, we can be the tools He uses to perform His good pleasure.

We have to be careful in differentiating among the voices we hear. Voices purporting to speak for God are filling the air, the airwaves and the Internet. So before we go further, let's first discard all the outright pretenders flapping around us like vultures waiting to feast on our carcasses. You know who they are, the speakers who have not heard from God and are doing their own thing for prestige and/or profit. That leaves a handful of sincere voices or messengers who speak for God, but even among them the messages vary in content and style and immediate, if not overall, objectives.

Is there confusion then among these preachers, teachers, prophets and even lay witnesses simply because they do not speak alike? Are they working at cross-purposes? They can't be if the Spirit leads them because God is never a God of confusion. Confusion is caused when men and women follow their own paths and adhere to their own schedules. The voice that brings a word of exhortation to the saint and the voice that brings the Good News of salvation to the unsaved are each bringing an element of the same message; they are both part of the unified message of God to mankind.

The teacher teaches; the preacher preaches, the witness witnesses, but they belong to the same team, God's team of men and women who speak forth the truth of God. One exhorts and admonishes; another, in a classroom setting, gives information about the word and will of God, and yet another shows the way of salvation and entreats. These are not a babble of voices speaking to contradictory ends nor are they merely a jumble of sounds signifying nothing. They all bring the Word of God to those who will listen. That is the key: those who will listen.

Now what does this mean to you? Simply this: If these divergent voices are really speaking the Word of God, it would be well for you to listen. Of course, some words are not directed at you. If you are saved, the word brought to the unsaved has already been applied in your life. But even in such a message so often there is a word spoken to the saved person if he or she will only listen diligently. It is seldom that God speaks an extended message such as a sermon only to the unsaved. Conversely, the sermon aimed at those who are saved always has something in it, directly or indirectly, pleading with or warning those who are unsaved.

What are you hearing and, also, what are YOU saying? Are you hearing the word of prophecy, the anointed word that comes from any one of a number of messengers? Paul has admonished us , "Despise not prophesyings" (1 Th 5:20 KJV). Why? The reason  is powerful: prophecy is the Word of God. At the same time, are you speaking what God gives YOU to say? If God has given you a prophetic (not necessarily predictive) message to bring to His people or to speak to the unsaved, you need to be obedient and thrust your voice in with the myriad of voices around you. Your voice may be relatively weak and timorous, but someone will hear you. God's word will not return to Him void.

I scarcely need to remind you that any message purporting to come from God will not contradict His written word, nor will it speak at cross purposes with what your pastor is saying. That, of course, is assuming that the pastor is a voice speaking for God. I must remind you: God is not a God of confusion; He doesn't get His wires crossed. If there are any crossed wires, a human is always at fault. Be sure you are in His will, whatever you do or say.

There are three things I wish for you, as well as for myself: 1) I pray that you will seek God-given discernment so that you might heed the right voices because you are going to listen to someone, if only to your own off-key voice; 2) be sure to follow the divinely inspired advice they give. There are voices that have the right words for you, just when you need them. Stay attuned to God so that you may be attuned to the right voice at the right time; and 3) add your own God-inspired verbal input to the welter of sound all around. God will enable the right "channel surfer" to pick your sound out of the static and confusion filling the air and the Internet. There are intelligent, spiritual voices out there. Perhaps yours should be one of them.

Voices, voices, voices. What can we do about them? We can't afford to shut them out completely; that would be the same as becoming a hermit. That's not the way God wants us to live. And we dare not silence our own God-inspired voice. There are times when it is best to take a break from gobbling in all your voracious mind can absorb and start giving or speaking what God wants you to speak. People need you, whether it be a vast congregation or a single soul thirsty to drink in the water of life you bring to his parched lips. The needy soul may be a saint or a sinner. Get very close to God so that He might lead you into the right situations in which He wants you to preach a sermon to a congregation, teach a lesson to a few listeners or give a soothing, comforting word to one who is in desperate need of it.

To paraphrase Paul's words to Timothy,

"If a man therefore purge himself from these [voices], he shall be a [voice] unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use . . . " (2 Tim 2:21)

The Perceived Presence of God

Too many of God's children are missing out on a pressing need, that of resting in the presence of God. We have to learn to relax and unwind in the Perceived Presence of God (PPG) the Creator who made us and who has a close-at-hand knowledge of what we need spiritually, mentally and physically. Various regimens such as yoga (to name one of many) no doubt benefit their practitioners, but what could be of greater advantage than coming to the Maker of spirit, mind and body and allowing Him to heal spirit, mind and body?

Bring your tired, battered self into your own secret closet of prayer and "practice" (as in other lesser regimens) the art of the Perceived Presence of God. Loosen the muscles of your body that are tied in knots, deliberately unwind your mind, which is wound so tightly that, like a coil watch spring, it is ready to break, causing spiritual, physical and mental devastation. Bring your terribly battered and bruised spirit (hobble if you must) to the healing waters of the Holy Spirit – this is what it means to practice the Perceived Presence of God. But one session alone is not enough. Practice PPG on a regular basis and the results may well astound you.

Most medicines are optimally effective only by following a set schedule for taking them; PPG is no exception. First of all, some of us do not know how to come to God. We may have "known" Him for years, but we have not quite got the hang of the Perceived Presence of God. "Perceived Presence" indicates that your mind (spirit or whatever) is impacted by the sense of The Presence of the Almighty God.

Think of what that means: God has condescended to get His holiness and His power and glory into your secret closet! God can be a calming, healing influence in your mind and life if you will just submit to His efforts to be there for you when you need Him. But bear in mind: There is not room enough in your closet or your little mind for you and God, so you necessarily must diminish in space and importance; God must be all in all.

We have no assurance that PPG will take our troubles all away or that it will heal us of any and all afflictions. That is not important in the overall divine plan. What is absolutely vital to our total well-being is that PPG will wash away the worries and doubts from our minds; it will rid us of any affliction that God determines is not good for us and it will give us peace that flows gently like a placid river.

You may not attain the full potential of PPG right away – frankly I am still pressing toward that mark – but the more you or I practice PPG, the better practitioners we become. And this regimen or whatever you want to call it, is at this point in my life a veritable lifesaver; it is my Pool of Bethesda. The healing waters are there, my friend, readily available to all believers, so why do you hesitate? Take advantage of all the means of grace that are presented to you. You will need every resource that God gives you. The Perceived Presence of God is surely one of them.