Stop the Friendly Fire

I don’t know about you, but I am tired of losing skirmishes with the enemy because of casualties taken by “friendly fire.” See, we already know that the battle belongs to the Lord. However, you and I, as believers and followers of Jesus are to wage skirmishes with the enemy while we are here on earth. We aren’t fighting for land or freedom or earthly treasures, but rather for souls. Having spent almost four years in a military community, I can tell you that the worse result for a family is that their loved one is injured or killed by friendly fire. The term “friendly fire” is used to identify an injury or death on the battlefield that was caused by his or her own comrades. If you are familiar with the Pat Tillman story (NFL player who joined after 9/11 in order to serve his country and then lost his life to friendly fire), there is a reason that the Army was so slow and tried to hide the details of his death. The reason is that there is nothing worse. Being wounded or killed by an enemy combatant on the battlefield is heroic. It represents all that is good about our military over the years as it has fought for freedom and our ideals throughout the world. However, when an accident occurs and someone misfires and takes out one of his or her own, this is a tragedy.
Yet, somehow, we don’t recognize the immense amounts of tragedies that are taking place every day within the Christian community. Gossip and slander are friendly fire. Both ultimately lead to a questioning of someone’s intentions, motives, character, and heart. There is a reason that speaking about someone is called gossip or slander. By definition, the person who is being gossiped about is the last person to know what people are saying about him or her. Gossip and slander are convenient tools within our culture; a culture bent on thinking of themselves and getting ahead. Sadly, these tools have become commonplace in the Body of Christ as well and in ministry settings. You have probably experienced it for yourself. A person is authentically trying to follow Christ and takes a risk or two and puts themselves out there. Instead of other believers encouraging him or her and pushing each other further out there, his or her brothers and sisters in Christ decide this behavior should stop (mostly because they feel convicted about their lack of action or feel threatened somehow within the “religious community.”). The irony is that they don’t take the application outlined in scripture, but rather begin to question the person to others and then ultimately to the boss, elders, or pastors. See, the biblical application is clear. If you think you should point out a sin in someone else’s life, then you first must inspect yourself in this area. This isn’t to say that you should be perfect, but clearly this shouldn’t be an area you struggle in as well. Then, after considerable amounts of prayer, if the Holy Spirit leads you to speak into the person’s life, then in essence you are signing up to help walk this person through this stronghold, no matter how long it takes. My point, there is a time and a place to point out correction in a brothers or sisters life, but it is reserved for something more serious and it should be out of a true heart of caring more about that person than yourself. In other words, you should already have a relationship with that person, where you have earned the right to speak into their life and you do it gently and with genuine empathy.
The truth is that because we have gotten so good at friendly fire, we don’t even have too many real skirmishes anymore in the United States. On a rare occasion, some believers get excited about following Christ into battle and begin to march toward the battle lines (evangelizing and discipling lost people in their community) and we as brothers and sisters in Christ pick them off before they can even get a good shot off at the enemy. People keep asking me how long will evil continue to prevail in our nation and continue to get stronger? The answer is simple. It is going to continue to prevail and grow until we decide to stop the friendly fire. I have been privileged a handful of times to make it to the front lines of a raging skirmish. It’s intense and even scary at times. You see fellow brothers and sisters getting wounded all around you from shots from the enemy. However, you also see good prevail. You see people coming to know the Lord, you see people being freed from all kinds of oppression, you see lives being transformed right in front of your face, and you see the forces of the enemy pushed back. I have been back in the United States for six months now. When I arrived, I was battle weary. Yet, I will be honest, that feeling is much better than the ones I have felt lately. I have had to witness other brothers and sisters be wounded by friendly fire. A good friend of mine is a full-bird colonel in the Army. This man was not only an incredible soldier, but a great man of God that I would be honored to be in the same company any day. In all of our time together and discussions, there was only one thing I never understood about him. He always was talking about how he longed to go back down range; he longed to be on the front lines of the battle. For the first time in my life, I get it. How I long for a good skirmish, where those who are on the side of the Lord fight together and our wounds are from the enemy and not from each other. Anyone interested?

Living by Faith?

I guess at the end of the day, I am like most of you, I just want to know how I am to live. I feel like God has been speaking to me a lot lately. And it appears He has been addressing that very question. In my study time this week, he led me to Hebrews 7, where it speaks about the priest Melchizedek. I am sure most are familiar with the story. Through the next three chapters, the author leads us on a wonderful explanation of why God did all that He did through Jesus. If you are ever wondering about the old covenant and the new covenant, this would be a great read. However, what struck me this time was when I got to Hebrews 10:38. It is a quote from Habakkuk 2:3-4, which states, “Those who are right with me will live by faith.” If you go back and read Habakkuk, the prophet complains a second time to God about the wicked prevailing on this earth. He asks this question, “Will he (the enemy) keep on taking riches with his net? Will he go on destroying people without showing mercy?” Then, in chapter two, the Lord answers Habakkuk. He commands him to write it down on a tablet. In other words, what the Lord is about to show him is important. The Lord says, “It is not yet time for the message to come true, but that time is coming soon (referring to him sending Jesus); the message will come true. It may seem like a long time, but be patient and wait for it, because it will surely come; it will not be delayed. The evil nation is very proud of itself (referring to the Babylonians); it is not living as it should. But those who are right with God will live by faith.” I want you to catch this. I believe there is great significance in this quote. Habakkuk’s message was speaking of Jesus’ first coming. However, the author of Hebrews uses this quote in referring to Jesus’ second coming, as he speaks to you and I today, living in between the first and second coming. The author of Hebrews says, “So do not lose the courage you had in the past, which has a great reward. You must hold on, so you can do what God wants (His plans and purposes for our lives) and receive what he has promised (eternal life). For in a very short time, The One who is coming will come and will not be delayed. Those who are right with me will live by faith.”
So, the real question is how do we live by faith? I don’t think the author is referring to a faith that means to believe. Rather, he is referring to a type of living that goes on what God says, rather than what we know or can see. This type of faith requires action that doesn’t necessarily make sense in our own knowledge and culture. In 2 Corinthians 4:16, Paul begins a passage about living by faith. In verse 18, it says, “we set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever.” To back up his point about living by faith, the author of Hebrews takes the time to give an abridged history lessons of those great people of faith who have gone before us. Their type of faith led to action. Below is a look at what we can do if we live by faith . . .
1. Offer pleasing gifts/sacrifices to God (Abel)
2. Please God (Enoch)
3. Hear God’s warnings (Noah)
4. Obey God’s call (Abraham)
5. Become a father/leader (Abraham)
6. Pass God’s tests (Abraham)
7. Bless our children’s future (Isaac/Jacob)
8. Give prophetic words (Joseph)
9. Walk in God’s protection (Moses)
10. Follow God where He leads (Israelites)
11. Tear down strongholds (Israel at Jericho)
12. Carry out God’s plans (Rahab)
Then, the author asks, “do I need to give more?” Then, we are given another short list this time to do the study on our own versus have the author tell us what their faith produced. These include . . .
13. Gideon
14. Barak
15. Samson
16. Jephthah
17. David
18. Samuel
19. The Prophets
In between numbers five and six, the author makes this point, which I think is the foundation to living with this kind of faith. He states, “those who live by faith live as those who are looking for another country that will be their own. They live as visitors and strangers on earth.” What would it look like if we lived that way today in the United States?

God's Will?

It’s funny, typically speaking, I don’t hear a lot about God’s will from other believers except in times of prayer or in times of crisis. My family is entering a season of uncertainty, as I will be without a job at the end of next week. As different potential directions or jobs are presented, people will pray that God will open a door in a certain direction or provide a certain job, if it is His will. Is this the correct way for us to pray? Do we not know God’s will? Scripture mentions God’s will in relation to what it is for our lives on only five different occasions in the New Testament. Here, according to scripture is God’s will for our lives:
1. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Romans 12:2)
2. It is God’s will that you should be sanctified, that you should avoid sexual immorality, that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. (I Thessalonians 4:3-4)
3. Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (I Thessalonians 5:16-17)
4. For this is God’s will, that by doing good, you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. (I Peter 2:15)
5. It is better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. (I Peter 3:17)
There you have it; plain and simple. God’s will isn’t tied to some job, house, city, occupation, or other decisions we make on direction. Rather, we can accomplish God’s will in any place or situation in life. This is the free will piece. God is Sovereign. Therefore, He can accomplish his will through our lives regardless of the choices we make. The only time he can’t, is when we choose not to do the above five things. The even cooler part is that he grants us grace in these five areas, because there is no way for us in our flesh to accomplish these all the time. This should be freeing! I can be a player for God no matter where I am, for he is sovereign.
So, what does God’s sovereignty have to do with me and accomplishing his will? Well, I think a lot. Knowing that God is in control and that he wants us to be players in what he is doing should motivate us to action. The Bible mentions God’s sovereignty 289 times. Amazing is the fact that 209 of those are in Ezekiel alone. Thus, if you want to truly dig into God’s sovereignty that might be a book to camp in for a little while. Along with that interesting fact is that God’s sovereignty is only mentioned five times in the New Testament and only once in a prayer, where a group of men get it, at least a little bit. In Acts 4, Peter and John are brought before the council to be ordered not to speak about Jesus again. This great scene unfolds, where Peter boldly tells them what they have done. In other words, he has begun to connect the dots. He realizes that everything was a part of God’s plan. Jesus was supposed to be captured and crucified. God used men who were against him to accomplish his plans and purposes. Peter and John are starting to realize this and instead of praying, Lord get me out of this situation, deliver me from jail, they realize that may not be what God wants. So, beginning in verse 23, we see a group of believers who almost don’t know what to pray. They begin the prayer with Lord, you are sovereign. They recognize more deeply than ever before that God is in control. His plans can’t be thwarted by the schemes of evil men. They start to understand that God desires to use them to accomplish his purposes and plans on this earth. If God is in control and wanting to use us, then nothing is by accident or throws God off. Nothing can thwart what he wants to accomplish through us. As we begin to see this and understand it more clearly, we realize that a tough circumstance, like losing a job, might be exactly what God wants for us. Even things that men mean for evil, he can turn into good for our behalf. So, with this realization, what did they pray?
After acknowledging all that God has done, including a quick recap of creation and how he used Pilate and Herod to accomplish his plan of salvation and reconciliation, they get to the point in the prayer where they ask for something. Lord, enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Have you ever prayed that prayer? Not God, bless me; God change my situation; God I need your protection. Rather, Lord help me to proclaim the Good News without fear. Oh, that we could get to this kind of praying in the Church today. The prayer ends with Lord, stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your Holy servant Jesus. So, you might ask, what was God’s answer to their prayer? The place where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak the word of God boldly. In other words, God answered their prayers immediately, on the spot. I don’t know, but maybe instead of praying for God’s will, we should start praying for boldness in proclaiming the word of God, the God’s will could begin to be accomplished in our world.

Need More Oil?

Is it me or does it seem to get more and more difficult to find a quiet place and be alone with God? There is noise everywhere and the messages from our society drown out the still small voice of our God. And yet, I know that we are living in the last days and that one day soon, Jesus (the bridegroom) will be coming back for his bride (the church). In Revelation 19:6-7, John states that he heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. It is that last part that seems to stick out to me. See, Jesus is coming back. That is a fact. However, scripture is clear that no one will know the time or the hour. In other words, I can’t control when God is going to come back. And yet, John says that his bride (the church) has made herself ready. I don’t think it is a coincidence that Jesus uses the parable of the ten virgins. Notice, the focus is on keeping the lamp lit. So, the real question is, How do I keep my lamp lit until the bridegroom arrives?
Clearly, our current strategies and models are failing. Like our society, we (the church) have become event driven. We put on events, such as a Sunday morning service, home groups, bible studies, men’s and women’s conferences, etc. These events are designed to keep people’s lamps lit. The problem is that these “events” aren’t keeping people’s lamps lit. Instead, they come to the events to get more oil and a match to relight their lamp. The exceptional churches, that others have modeled their programs after, aren’t any better at keeping their people’s lamps lit. Rather, they are really good at putting on good events and they seem to be better at moving their people from one event to the next. And yet, the problem still persists. In speaking to pastors, there seems to be a collective, “where is the voice of the Lord?” Perhaps, it isn’t that God isn’t speaking, but rather we don’t have ears to hear. See, there has been an undeniable trend lately. The “great” events are being humbled, numbers are dwindling. The next logical question is why? I believe it is because God desires to show up in the life of individuals, not in an event. He wants to transform lives and culture. He even gives us the key in Matthew 18:20. Where two or more believers are gathered together in my name, I am there with them. So, where does this fit in with our event mentality? Simple, the Kingdom of God is manifesting itself in Christian homes. Just like the early church met in homes, so God desires for us to have this mindset. The early church had no temple (church building) or priests (pastors). When the culture of their day asked about this, they stated that they are the priests and the temple. Could a church in America look like that today? Could it have no building and no pastors in the sense that people rely on them to get fresh oil and reignite their lamps? What would our culture say? They must be a cult. They have no regularly scheduled events and they meet in homes. I don’t know, maybe this isn’t the answer, but isn’t it time we re-evaluate how we do church? The current model isn’t transforming our culture, it has adapted to it and it isn’t transforming lives, people’s lamps keep going out. How many virgins were ready for the bridegroom?