Looking for a Drive Through Break Through?

In our fast paced world of drive through banking, groceries, alcohol, meals, and even marriages, I fear that few understand the benefits of long suffering.  It's like the commercial (local commercial??) where the guy yells; "It's my money, and I want it now!" It's advertising that if you have long time installment payments coming to you, you don't have to wait, you can get it all now...for a price, though.

 

You see, so many believe that the dreams that God has placed in our hearts don't come to pass overnight, there's something wrong. I've literally had people tell me that there was something wrong because the dreams that I believe are from God haven’t come to pass yet. That is a lie from the devil and is nothing but discouragement that was spoken to me through another Christian. Sure, I could push people around, tweak things in my favor and do what needs to be done to get what I want when I want it, they way I want it. But...would that be God's will for my life? Would it be His plan...or my plan?  Just because we hit what feels like a bump in the road, doesn't necessarily mean we're doing something wrong. There is learning in the journey. There is stretching and growing and testing of our faith in the journey. Don't despise the journey.  Don’t despise the possibility of long suffering. For myself, I come from a family who didn't know God for generations.  God has exposed and broken off so many generational hindrances that I can’t even count them.  I’ll say it again.  There is purpose in the journey.  Don’t despise long suffering through the journey.

 

The problem is that in today’s drive through society, most of us want it now.  We don’t want the journey.  We don’t want to endure long suffering.  We want instant gratification.

 

About 25 years ago, the Lord called me back unto Himself.  I wasn’t raised in a Christian home.  However, I had been fortunate to have attended a church camp where I received Christ as my Savior.  (At that point in my life, nightmares and sleepwalking which had occurred several nights a week came to an immediate end.) But since that relationship was hindered because my family wasn’t a believing family, I was nearly 25 years old before I was drawn into a serious relationship with Jesus.  I was broken…completely disabled by depression.  But, God!!  Two weeks after inviting God back into my life via Benny Hinn ministries, (Those of you who despise his ministry should realize that it takes all kinds of people to do God’s will.  None of us, including myself, have 100% of the answers.) God healed me instantly of the depression that was crippling my life.  God began the process of cleaning me up, preparing me for the purpose that He had created me for.

 

It’s been an interesting 24+ years. I’ve had good times.  I’ve had bad times.  But, one thing I can say is that there has been purpose in every moment of it.  Is there something wrong with me because my dreams didn’t come to pass immediately?  I can honestly say, “No!”

 

You see that depression, although I had been healed instantly from it in the beginning, did return.  It’s been something that I’ve had to deal with for many years.  But now it doesn’t have a hold on me like it did.  God healed me at the time because He saw fit that I should be healed.   But through the years, He has taught me to not only see it coming, but to fight it off with spiritual warfare.  It’s been a process of growing in knowledge, wisdom, and patience…all taught by the Holy Spirit simply because I have allowed Him into my life to do so.

 

I have had my moments where I didn’t understand why things happened the way they did.  I had moments where I’ve even been angry with God.  But, what I’ve learned is to always talk to God about it, whatever the “it” is for that moment.  He is so kind and loving and He cares about what we care about.  When I don’t understand something I ask Him and He shows me, in His timing.  This is why we should never despise the journey, and sometimes the suffering is long.

 

I’ve had many mountain top experiences, but I’ve had many valley experiences, also.  That doesn’t mean that His purpose for my life isn’t going to happen, because it will.  But when it does happen, it will be in His timing, not my own  This is a journey and we must do the walking.  Sometimes I have taken a step of faith only to see that it wasn’t the right direction.  He is ever so faithful the show me the way.

 

When I was getting ready for church this morning, all of these thoughts were rolling around in my head.  At first I thought this was going to be a one or two sentence “status update” for facebook.  But, as I began putting my thoughts down in my notes as David drove us to church, I realized that there was more to it.  Then…one thing I SO love about God is how He confirms things to me through other people.  Much of what I’m talking about here is what my pastor spoke about in his teaching this morning…including the “drive through mentality” that we have here in the western world.

 

Folks, it’s time to examine our hearts.  Do we truly want a meaningful relationship with God or not?  It’s our choice.  Jesus never said that a life of following, believing, trusting, and growing in Him would be easy.  But, I can tell you from my own experiences that it is worth it.  I am so different from the person I used to be and it’s all because of my own personal journey with Jesus.  I long to be more and more like Him.  I long to know and love Him more.  I long to hear His voice daily and throughout the day, not just in a single moment of prayer.  It is a journey, led by the Holy Spirit, and trusting that He knows what is best for me and any given moment.

 

My prayer is that any and all who reads this will experience a hunger for the God of all Creation no matter where you are in your walk of life…whether you know Him well, or not at all.  If you’re breathing, God has a purpose for your life.  It’s a matter of whether or not you choose to walk out your journey with Him.

 

Choose life.  Choose the journey that may involve long suffering instead of the supposed “drive through break through.”  You won’t be sorry. Your life already has divine purpose, but do you choose to live out that divine purpose?  Reach out to Jesus now.  He is there for each and every one of us, but we must choose him.  Choose Jesus.  Choose life.

Prayer changes things!!

A few days before all the ruckus hit about the Starbucks coffee cups, a friend informed me of it and asked me what I thought.  I told her that it didn’t matter to me.  This is a coffee shop that by no means has ever professed to be a Christian company.  I said what would bother me more is if a Christian company deliberately took Christmas out of advertisement, etc to appease the masses.

 

We’re not dealing with the flesh, we’re dealing with spirits.  There are good spirits, angels… and bad spirits, demons and power and principalities.  When we deal with people, this is what we’re dealing with.  Ephesians 6:12   I wasn’t trying to demonize anyone, but rather trying to make a point.

 

Why should we expect a “non-believing company” to follow Christian teaching?  We shouldn’t.  To expect companies to be “Christian” when they’re not Christian is sort of like legalism.  When Christians…NO… “Christians” attack others for not upholding our traditions of celebrating the birth of our Savior, aren’t they being legalistic?  It’s like telling someone that they need to clean up their life before they approach God.  NONE of us can clean ourselves up.  Isaiah 64:6  Only God can clean us and make us white as snow.  Isaiah 1:18  A non Christian company trying to appeal to the Christian community is no more a Christian company than a person sitting in a garage is a car.  It doesn’t work that way.  And, for the life of me, I wonder just how long it’s going to take the church to understand this?

 

If we want to win the lost to the Lord, we have to make ourselves available for the Lord to work through us.  That…is a sacrifice.  We have to walk along side people, loving them, maybe even while they’re still in sin.  We need to be Jesus to them with the hope of winning them to the Kingdom of God.  Love never fails.  Have we forgotten where we’ve come from?  Have we forgotten that Jesus walked along side us, loving us even while we were sinners?  Aren’t we supposed to be Jesus to others?

 

This supposed lashing out of Christians against Starbucks is ridiculous.  And, I’ve heard a lot of people running their mouths about this.  Some are against the “plain red cup.” And, some are so “spiritually superior” that they say they don’t even know a Christian who is so selfish to speak that way.

 

Prayer!!

 

Prayer changes things!!

 

When are we, as the Church, going to understand that prayer is the answer?

 

I have to tell you that it doesn’t bother me to drink my coffee out of a plain red cup.  I visit Starbucks nearly every day.  I do enjoy the coffee, but anyone who knows me, knows that this is where my ministry is.  I will continue to have my coffee here until the Lord leads me elsewhere.  God sends us to the lost and the broken because it’s His will that all would be saved.  2 Peter 3:9, 1 Timothy 2:3-4  Are we too good to reach out to the lost and broken?  If we are, I wonder if we’ve truly had a Christian conversion…or perhaps one is just “playing church?”

 

Think about it folks.  Pray about it.  Ask God how He would react to this “red cup,” and then ask yourself how you should really respond.

 

If we want to change the world for the Kingdom of God, it’s not by legalistic ruling.  It will happen by being the hands and feet of Jesus…loving our neighbor as ourselves.   

Knowledge For The Spiritual Man...

 Back in the day when Jesus still walked the earth before His death and resurrection, the Pharisees, more often than not, had issue with Him.  They would do anything they could to attempt to “trip Him up,” but they never could.  He was, is and will always be perfect.  The thing about the Pharisees is that they were highly educated men.  They knew the scriptures…but yet…they couldn’t even recognize the Son of God, the One the scriptures foretold.  At one point, Jesus even called them “white washed tombs”…meaning they sure did look good on the outside, but on the inside, they were rotten and disgusting. See Matthew 23:27

Today, my concern in these amazing times of great knowledge is that knowledge, both outside and inside the church, is clouding the vision of our Great and Amazing God.

I have had amazing conversations with folks who have extensive knowledge of the Bible as well as many other books that contribute to the knowledge of the Bible, but yet in their own way, doubt some capabilities of the Holy Spirit… as if the Creator of all things is somehow unable to do certain miracles!!  Now, understand me clearly here…I don’t say this to try to hurt anyone or point fingers at anyone.  I say it because it’s been a subject that’s been on my heart and mind for many, many years.  And…lately it seems that much of the persecution that I’m witnessing is coming not only from outside the Church, but much of it is coming from inside the Church…from other Christ Followers.  I refuse to mention any names in this writing.  This is not about calling folks out on what they do or don’t believe.  After all, God gave us each a measure of faith.  See Romans 12:3  It’s God who removes the veil from our eyes so that we can see Him more clearly.  See 2 Corinthians 3:1-18   It’s God who gives us the knowledge…but how are we using it?  Are we using it to tear each other down, or build each other up?  Are we allowing knowledge itself to be the box that keeps the Holy Spirit from working effectively?  After all, Jesus himself said that He could not do miracles in some places due to the lack of belief.  See Matthew 13:53-58 This is not the picture of the spotless bride that Jesus is coming back for!!  In fact, often times the vision I see when others doubt the authenticity of another Christian, is that of the Pharisees calling Jesus blasphemous.  Again,… Jesus likened the Pharisees and scribes to white washed tombs!! 

When are we going to learn to accept each other for who God created each of us to be as Followers of Christ.  We’re not in competition here, though some might argue that fact.  Even the twelve disciples argued over who would be the greatest. See Luke 9:46  Maybe we should learn from their mistakes instead of trying to be the best or having the most knowledge, or worrying about whose church is too small or too large, too loud, not loud enough, traditional music vs non-traditional music or vice versa…etc.  The arguments seem endless!!  Stop trying to stop someone from being all God made them to be simply because you don’t believe it for that person!! Maybe we should simply work together, accepting the fact that not everyone is going to have the same doctrinal beliefs as Christ Followers.  Maybe we should strive for excellence…both at individual and corporate levels.

Where I am unable to reach a lost soul, you can.  And, where we are unable to reach one…someone else is able to reach them.  This is possible only with the workings of the Holy Spirit through us.  It’s us making ourselves available for the God of all Creation to work through us!!  It’s. Not. About. Us.

Let’s stop letting pride, knowledge, doctrinal beliefs…or whatever, get in the way of being true Christ Followers.  We can know the Bible inside and out, but if we don’t allow the Author to work through us to reach the lost, sadly, we are ineffective as Followers of Christ.

For years, my saying has been “don’t keep God in a box.”  And, I must admit that in my walk, from time to time, even when against having borders for God, I still manage to do just what I don’t want to do…have a border here or there.  The beautiful thing is that God knows that I don’t want Him in a box, but He also knows my imperfections…better than I know them myself.  I want to see Him for EVERYTHING He is and ever will be.  So, when this happens, He ever so gently shows me the error of my way.  I encourage you to do the same.  Let your boundaries go!!

Don’t let your head full of wonderful knowledge…that is God given by the way… become the box that keeps God from doing all that He’s capable of doing… like those in Nazareth who believed they knew Jesus so well that they believed Him incapable of doing miracles.  Don’t be that guy!!  Seek knowledge…but more importantly…seek the Giver of that knowledge.

A Martyr's Final Poem.

Fatima was in her early twenties and lived in a strong fundamental town in Saudi Arabia.  She had finished college and had a job.  Fatima had been raised in Islam, but couldn’t make a connection with God.  Seeking Him out through the internet she found that other Muslims were having dreams and visions of Jesus and had converted to Christianity.  She began to pray that she, too, would have dreams and visions of Jesus.  She read all that she could and met other Christians on line and became a follower of Christ and was even maturing as a Christian through mentoring on the net.  All of this took place while never being able to attend a regular church service.   

Once we submit ourselves to Jesus, our physical countenance changes due to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us.  The fruit of the Spirit becomes very evident…even to non-believers. See Galatians 5:22-23, Ephesians 4:22-24  

One day, her brother, who was a member of the secret police, began to be suspicious of her.  While she was gone to work, he began to search through her computer and found that she had been frequenting Christian websites.  He then confronted her, asking her if she had become a Christian.  She told him that she had become a follower of Jesus Christ.  He took away her phone, told her to go to her room and in two hours he was going to kill her in the presence of her family.  She went to her room and wrote a poem on her computer, which he had left in the room.  (A Martyr’s Final Poem is halfway down the page on the linked page.)  At the end of the two hours, her brother dragged her into the street and killed her but not before doing terrible things to her. 

 

She, no doubt, is in Heaven with Jesus now.  She inspires me to be even more devoted to Jesus than ever. 

Here in the States we are persecuted, but not anywhere near the degree to which some Christians are persecuted around the world.  It makes the persecution here look like child’s play compared to a martyr’s death!  Don’t shrink back when the Holy Spirit is leading you to share about Jesus.  The persecution we might receive is nothing compared to Fatima’s death…and so many others like her.  Remember that eternity in Hell is nothing that you should want for anyone.  Share Jesus with as many as you can.

Fatima’s faith and trust in Jesus are awe inspiring!  I look forward to meeting her in Heaven some day.! She’s quite an inspiration!