The Fall of the Faithful

Elijah had incredible faith. God told him to pray that it wouldn't rain and it didn't for three years. God led him to challenge the prophets of Baal and he did. He knew God would light the altar and had no fear that Baal would do so also. God led him to pray for rain. And it rained. What happened to his faith when Jezebel said she would kill him?

Elijah had been working hard for the Lord. He fell into the trap common for many people who work hard for the Lord. He began to believe that he was the only one working, he was afraid of his future and he couldn't see beyond his present situation. This would cause anyone to lose heart.

Loneliness will stop many people in their tracks. They ask themselves, "Why should I work so hard when no one else is?" They forget what Who and what they are working for. Losing your purpose creates a "woe is me" attitude. It discourages any future service. It stops the work of the Lord.

It is natural to be afraid of the future when you assume that you are the only one working. These discouraged faithful workers believe they have to do everything. They believe no one will come to help. They believe that their future is determined by their own hard work. They become afraid of the future when they know that they don't have the power to control it. Of course, they forget Who holds the future.

Therefore, they see their present condition as their final condition. They are like people cycling up a hill who believe that the round trip of their ride is uphill both ways. Yet, our present condition is never our final condition. If you win; it isn' t the final. If you lose; it isn't fatal. These faithful people sometimes go deep into depression because they believe their present condition is their final one.

Or course, God tells Elijah that he is not alone. He tells him what he must do. God gives him a new future and Elijah comes out of his depression.

I have it by God's authority to tell all the faithful people that you are not alone. God has a plan and a future that isn't in your present condition. Just listen to the still, small voice that God sometimes speaks with. Then, go do what you are called to do. The action will remove your depression.

Do you know someone who has been faithful to the Lord but is struggling right now? They are falling but God has chosen you to help them past their present condition. You have been called to tell them they are not alone, God has a plan and a future beyond their present condition.

We all make it together or we really don't know what it is to make it through this life faithfully. The faithful should never fall and stay down. There should be others who will help them up.

Are You Putting Great Faith in Your Doubts?

I have enough faith for your problems. I can tell you exactly what you need to do to believe that God will take care of you. I can even make your doubts look silly. Of course, that's because they are your problems. I only struggle when I have my own problems.

Jesus seemed to get upset with His disciples for doing exactly what I do. He rebuked them for doubting His goodness and power when they were in a storm.

One time they were all in a boat rowing across the Sea of Galilee when a storm came up. Sudden storms are frequent on the Sea of Galilee. Often northerly winds push the cold air from the mountains down onto the warm and humid Galilee. Storms are formed within minutes. Most of these men were fishermen and had probably been in a storm like this many times.

Jesus was sleeping in the front of the boat. He was the picture of peace. True peace is known when calmness prevails while there is chaos all around you.

The disciples are afraid of sinking. They wake Jesus and ask Him if He cares that they are about to die. What a question! While we can see their desperation, should there be any question about His caring for them?

Maybe they thought He couldn't do anything about the storm. The question may have been rhetorical. Maybe they were saying that He needed to be awake for what was about to happen. Is there any question that He lacked the power to save them? Did He ever leave that impression?

He stopped the wind and calmed the sea. He said, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" They had failed to see who He is.

We don't have such a great excuse. We know who Jesus is but somehow have put great faith in doubting Him. We have have doubts in our faith because we have faith in our doubts. We have more faith in our fears than we do in who our Lord is.

Of course, I can point these things out and know they are true. I can tell you what we should believe until the time comes for me to believe them. Sudden storms come upon all of us. I seem to exhibit my faith best when my feet are on dry land while you are rowing a sinking boat. I believe Jesus would ask me why I have no faith. I don't have a good answer.

I must lose faith in my doubts if I am ever to peace in the storms of life. There are two prayers that I often say during these storms. One is recorded in Mark 9:24. A man has brought his demon possessed boy to Jesus. Jesus' disciples were unable to cast out this demon. Jesus tells the man that all things are possible to him who believes. The man said my prayer, "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!"

The second prayer is said by Peter after he has gotten out of the boat to walk on the water to Jesus. He has had the faith to get out of the boat and to momentarily walk on the water but he starts putting his faith in the wind and the sea rather than Jesus. He begins to sink in the water and cries out, "Lord, save me!"

These will have to be my prayers until I have the complete faith that eliminates doubt.

Do you really doubt whether Jesus cares for your situation? Do you really think He is powerless to do anything about it?

I didn't think so.

Are You Drowning in a Pool of Bitterness?

Most of the time I have no trouble forgiving people. I have often had people apologize to me for something that I couldn't remember. I appreciate the apology but I either didn't take it as an offense or I had long ago forgiven them and forgotten about it. I wish that was always the case.

There are some offenses that don't go away so easily. They cut to the very heart of who you are. You try to forgive the person and the offense but you find yourself forgiving neither. You pray that you will forgive the person but you keep remembering what they did. You remember the hurt and you are hurt all over again. In fact, the hurt seems to get deeper.

It seems that you actually enjoy rehearsing what was done to you in your mind. The pain fuels your desire for revenge. Revenge seems to be the only answer to relieve your pain. You think, "If they could just hurt like I have been hurt . . . ," and the thoughts give you pleasure.

All the while, you know that this is wrong. You tell yourself that you don't hate them. You tell yourself that you are over it. None of this is true. Bitterness has grown a root down in your soul and you can't remove it. It will start to affect other relationships is different ways. This bitterness grows down deep but comes up in other places. It may not seem to come from your hurt, but it does. It must be removed for your own sake.

You can tell that I have had such bitterness. I have struggled to forgive even though I know it is the right thing to do. However, I have had victory. I hope what I tell you here will help you rid yourself of this poison. The devil has been using this against you. You can have victory with Christ.

Stop trying to forgive by your own goodness. You have already proven that this type of goodness is not in you. You would have already forgiven this hurt if you could. Admit that you need God's strength to forgive. Ask God to allow you to forgive this hurt.

Base your forgiveness on the blood of Jesus Christ. This is the only acceptable payment for sin. It has been paid for by Jesus death on the Cross. You no longer have a claim when the payment has been made. Say out loud, "I forgive (this hurt) by the blood of Jesus Christ. His death paid for this sin. I no longer hold it as a debt to be paid because of what Jesus has done for me and what He has done to pay for this sin against me." You will probably have to repeat this several times until your heart begins to hear what you have said.

Imagine Jesus carrying the Cross to Golgotha. He is struggling with this burden. He is nailed to it. On that cross is your pain- the hurtful thing that was done to you. You see Him dying on that cross to pay for that hurt. You hear him say, "It is finished." You repeat what He has said because it is finished.

Resolve that this will not be the last time you will pray for strength, say you forgive on the basis of the blood of Jesus or declare that it is finished. Satan has a way of reminding you of your hurts so that you will stay under the bondage of this hurt. He must be confronted with the truth of God's word. Tell him that he no longer has any power to control you because you have Jesus. Tell him to begone!

I have done this many times in order to have victory. I realize God's grace more and more as I see myself forgiving those who have hurt me. I pray that you know this grace too. There really is victory in Jesus!

Are There Mean People in Your Church?

Some of the meanest people on earth can be found in churches. Isn't here something wrong with that statement? No, in fact, it should be expected.

Mean people are rejected by any other organization they try to attend. The most loving people in the world attract the most mean. Loving Christians love, overlook and forgive mean people. They tolerate the meanness. They make excuses for them. They say things like, "We don't know what has happened in their past. We don't need to judge them." No one needs to judge. Meanness can recognized without judgment.

Satan seeds churches with mean people. Mean people won't make it in a mega-church. Mean people will have very little impact in such a church. They are found in churches that have great potential but can't seem to grow. A few mean people can disrupt a whole church. They can run off a pastor, stop a needed expenditure, shipwreck a new program and run off potential members.

They are like cancer. Their influence grows, weakens the church and eventually puts the church on life support. Satan doesn't really want to kill the church. He wants the church to have a bad witness or no witness in the community. Churches do not grow when meanness prevails. They become a stench to the non-Christians. Satan would much rather have a church like this than one that no longer exists.

Many mean people do not know the Lord, however, they do know how to answer anyone who asks them of their faith. They will tell you that they are "washed in the blood," have "received Christ as Savior" and have "given my soul to the Lord." They may even believe that they have done all these things. Satan loves to make saved people believe that they are going to hell and lost people believe they are going to heaven. Yet, the Bible tells us that we shall know them by their fruits. Bad things come from bad trees and good things from good trees. Mean people are lost no matter what they tell me.

Mean people often influence others in the church. They sometimes use intimidation. Most people don't want to go to church and fight. They avoid conflict. Mean people stir up trouble. Lots of good people stay home when they know a fight is brewing at church. Mean people win many battles because they are unopposed.

Mean people often attack the character of any person making a positive difference in the church. They bring doubt on what the person is doing by questioning their character. They will make others appear selfish or even devious so that they can sabotage what good people are doing. Mean people are afraid of losing control of the church. A growing church will lessen the influence of mean people.

Good people must stand up to mean people. Good people have to agree that this influence will no longer be tolerated. Good people must attend business meetings or any other organizational decision making group to do what is right.

Good people must commit themselves to prayer. They should pray for the mean people to be saved. They should pray that the Lord will remove the mean people from their church. Hopefully, the mean people will get saved and become part of those who love the Lord and His servants. If not, you put the mean people in the Lord's hands.

Many churches grow after there is a mass exodus from the church. Mean people leave churches when good people stand up to them. They tell everyone the church will die after they leave. They will be shocked when the church grows like crazy.

How Do You Keep Your Life Pure?

Many people will tell you that you need to keep the bad influences out of your life to keep your life pure. That makes one very bad assumption. It assumes that you are naturally good. This means some bad influence is always responsible for any bad thing you have ever done. Come on, you know better than that!

The sin of Adam infected all of humanity. It has taken away our innocence. We can sin while we are all alone. We don't have to have an outside influence.

Living a pure life must, therefore, include something outside of the fallen world. It must be something that comes from God's grace. God's grace is all that is truly good in the world today. His grace is predominantly noticed in the gift of His Son on the cross. He paid for our sins out of His grace.

His grace has given us His Word. The Bible came through the hands and minds of people whom God led. He authored the words through these people. He sent His instructions to us. He tells us in Psalm 119 that we can keep our way pure (He actually says "young man" but that is easy to understand. About 95% of all crime comes from young men. If young men can keep their way pure, the rest of us will find it much easier by following these same instructions.). He tells us to center our lives in His Word.

He tells us to wholeheartedly live our lives according to His Word. We seek the Lord through His Word. We treasure it in our hearts. We are taught by it. We tell it to others. We repeat it to ourselves. We meditate on it. We praise God over it. We store it in our memories. It is through these activities with the Word of knowing it fully and doing it with delight that we keep our way pure.

How shall we be taught this Word? Jesus has promised us that the Holy Spirit would teach us. We have lost the meaning of the Word if we simply open our Bibles and read it as literature. It has a spiritual dimension that no other book has. I, personally, invite the Holy Spirit to read the Word to me. New insights to the Word arrive by His speaking into my heart. This, too, is God's grace.

You will never keep your way pure by keeping out bad influences. You must have the Spirit of God enter your life through trusting in Jesus Christ as your savior. You must have the Word enter your life through a daily time of reading, meditating, reciting, applying and memorizing this Word. You must have the Holy Spirit give you the insight of what the Word says.

Ultimately, keeping our ways pure will always be a love issue. In this it is just like a marriage. The reason that a man keeps himself only for his spouse is because of his commitment and love for his wife. He may make every excuse for infidelity but she will always know that there was a problem with his love for her. Often the reason for infidelity is because the husband (or wife) loved himself more than he loved his wife. He is sorry later but he has also broken a bond of purity.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Keep the Word. Then, you will be on the path to purity.

Is There Power in Persistent Prayer?

Jesus says that a man goes to his friend at midnight to ask for three loaves of bread because he has had unexpected company. His friend initially tells him to go away because he has already put his children in bed. However, the man persists and his friend gets up to give him the bread, not because he is his friend, but because of his persistence. Clearly, Jesus is telling us that there is power in persistent praying.

Is persistent prayer pestering God? (I don't think I can say that three times!) Jesus also warned us that we should not be like those who pray repeating the words so that we would get what we wanted. These repeated prayers were more like magical incantations. They were attempts at making God do something. This is not the type of persistent prayer that He supported.

Persistent prayer should always seek God's will. It may even reveal God's will. I prayed for over eight years that I could become a senior pastor. I prayed reasonably consistently each day in the morning and evening. I already had a message from God that He would allow me to pastor some day. I believed I was praying His will. I continued to do so. It kept me focused on God's will. It made me realize how much I wanted to pastor. I remembered these prayers when the storms came later in a pastorate. It kept me at the job God had given me when I would rather have quit.

Persistent prayer is a test of our faith. The fact that you will keep praying when there is no indication that God has heard reveals your faith in God. God is silent to those He trusts. Faith is believing when there is no external evidence that what you want will ever happen. It is the substance of things hoped for. It is increased with each prayer.

Persistent prayer refines what we believe of God's will. If we genuinely seek God's glory we might find that what we are praying for is not that important. I am currently praying for something that seems like a mountain that should be cast into the sea. I may find that God wants the mountain exactly where it is. I will pray that the mountain be removed until God tells me otherwise.

Persistent prayer reveals God's working in our lives. Often we can't see God work while we are in the midst of the prayer. Later, when the prayer has been answered, we see God's fingerprints on the events of our lives. We marvel and give God glory because He was working when we could not see Him at all.

Persistent prayer is a testimony of God's love. He is not content to give us what we want before we are ready to receive it. He loves us too much to harm us with His gifts. He waits even if we tell Him we will not wait on Him. He works even if we tell Him that we will no longer work for Him. He does what is best when it is the best for us.

Yes, there is power in persistent prayer. It changes us. God could give us anything He wanted but waits for the timing to be right. We are incredibly grateful after we receive what we wanted. We should be incredibly grateful that we don't have it until the right time, too.

Always remember that God loves you and wants the best for your life. He will not give you a snake when you ask for fish. He will not give you a scorpion when you ask for an egg. He wants what is best even when you don't know what is best.

Don't lose heart! Keep praying. God will always give you His best.

Should Christians Buy Insurance?

We stand in our pulpits and say that God will provide. If so, why do we buy insurance? If God will provide why won't He either keep bad things from happening or provide when bad things do?

God causes the rain to fall on the righteous and unrighteous. No one escapes bad times. The best Christians can have the worst circumstances in their lives. In fact, they often do because God trusts them so much (that's another topic for another day). So, it is safe to say that God will allow bad things to happen to good people. Christians with insurance are saying they know that bad things can happen to them. But, are they also saying they don't believe in God's ability to provide after the bad things have happened?

Nearly everyone has some type of insurance. You are practicing a type of insurance even if you are not paying extra. Locking your doors at night is insurance. Wearing a seat belt is insurance. Protecting your identity is insurance. These things are not necessary if no one robs our houses, wrecks our cars and steals our identities. Are we saying that God could not provide for us if these things happen? No, absolutely not.

We are taking action as much as possible to do what we can for ourselves. God expects that of us. He has the farmer plant the seed. Could God make crops grow where none have been planted? Yes, but don't expect Him to do so. He has a long pattern of farmers planting seeds. He allows us to do what we can. He does what we can't.

I believe God expects us to go to the doctor when we are sick. This is not a failure on my part to believe that God could heal without the doctor. He often uses doctors to help us heal just as He uses farmers to plant seeds.

Our problem comes when we believe this is the only method God uses. We should neither believe that God only uses doctors to heal us nor that God will always heal us supernaturally. We should pray and work. Both are needed in faithfulness.

Yes, Christians should get insurance if they can. They should do so because that is something that they can do. Should they depend upon their insurance alone? Absolutely not! Insurance may pay the bill but God will have to heal the tragedy.

You do what you can do. Allow God to do what you can't.