Daily Archives: April 24, 2016

A Callous Cop-out

Christian Life, , , , ,

A CALLOUS COP-OUT

I call passionate prayers for revival a callous cop-out! I guess that shakes you! Let’s start at the beginning.

The ancient Hebrew concept of life was a journey. The children of Israel’s journey from Egypt through the wilderness to the Promised Land was often used in the Bible as a picture of our journey through life. It was a dangerous journey through unknown territory. In order to reach their destination, they had to follow the instructions God gave them – the so-called Ten Commandments which were not commandments but directions for the journey.

Without landmarks to guide them, it was easy for them to wander from the path and get lost, taking them away from the source of food and water God provided to sustain them until they reached their destination. The concept of “righteousness” for the ancient Hebrew was to stay on the path, and “unrighteousness” was to stray from the path, get lost and die in the desert.

The ”landmarks” on the way that would show them that they were on the right track were those opportunities to do the right thing. When they followed God’s instructions regarding their relationship with Him and with one another, they would be on the right path, going in the right direction which would take them to Zion – their final destination. If they disobeyed His instructions – contained in His Torah (the five books of Moses), they were lost, in darkness and needed to “repent” or “return” to the path in order to reach the Promised Land.

Repentance was not an emotional response when their disobedience was exposed but a decision to return to God’s way so that they could follow His path and reach their destination.

What has this got to do with revival? The Bible is, among other things, a “GPS” which shows us the way to the Father. He is our ultimate destination. He sent His Son not only to show us the way but to be the Way by which we come to the Father. Jesus promised that, if we follow Him, we will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.

The Bible speaks of God’s Word as light.

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path (Psa. 119:105).

When we walk in obedience to God’s Word, we are on the path, walking in the light and following the directions which will take us to our destination.

What has all this got to do with revival? Life is a steady walk on the path towards God, not a series of spectacular emotional and spiritual spurts with periods of cold-heartedness and lethargy in between out of which God has to shake us by sending His Spirit to wake us up and get us going again.

Our attention on and prayers for revival have spawned many erroneous ideas. This is not to say that revival is not of God. It is to say that revival is not God’s “Plan A” for His people. If we follow the path of the great revivals in the Old Testament, they happened when f the fellowship of God’s people with Him was at its lowest ebb, and the effects of revival were short-lived. His people were often more in a state of apostasy than walking in obedience to God and in fellowship with one another because they refused to stay on the path, following the way of the pagans around them rather than God’s way.

Praying for revival is a cop-out because it transfers responsibility for our spiritual health from ourselves to God. Instead of returning from our disobedient ways to God’s path – following Jesus who is the Way and walking in the light of God’s Word, we continue in our disobedience, praying and waiting for God to do for us what He told us to do – repent, i.e., return to the way of trust and obedience.

God has done everything for us that He will ever do – He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1); He has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1); He has given us His Spirit to change our hearts, fill us, lead us and empower us to obey Him.  He can and will do nothing more to provide directions for the way and the power to live in fellowship with Him.

Consider these verses:

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people. if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land (2 Chron. 7;13-14).

Did you notice that I included verse 13 in the quote? How often we interpret hardships in our lives as punishment for sin or God’s indifference to our suffering! Have you ever considered that God is trying to get your attention because He wants you to return to His way? Waiting for Him the “revive” you or to revive your church or your land, is not the answer. God calls you to return.

Nature abhors a vacuum. Air or water fills every empty space and will flow into every space where there is a vacuum. God’s presence is just like that. The Bible declares that He fills heaven and earth. Sin in our lives occupies what belongs to God. When sin is forsaken, He will fill that empty space with Himself with no need for us to beg and plead for His presence.

We do not need revival to heal our hearts, our churches and our land. We need to return to God Word and God’s ways. He always responds to those who make room for Him by getting rid of sin. When we return to Him, He will hear, forgive and heal. Guaranteed!

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Do you like this post? Then buy your own copy of my book, Learning to be a Disciple, which is also available from www.amazon.com or www.takealot.com in South Africa. You can also order a copy directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com

Watch this space!

My latest book, The Heartbeat of Holiness, will also soon be available.

Beauty Wins The Day

Christian Life, , ,

BEAUTY WINS THE DAY

What is beauty?

The people of the world focus on the visible beauty of shape, form and colour. Glossy magazines are full of pictures of beautiful women garbed in the latest of outrageous fashions. They spend huge amounts of money on draping and adorning their bodies with garments and makeup to enhance their visual attraction. When the body begins to show the inevitable sagging and bagging of age, they do whatever they can to reverse the process.

However, all this focus on their outward appearance and efforts to retain their youthful looks are of no account when their lives fall apart in the process. Outward beauty is too fragile and transient to sustain health and happiness. Many of them go from relationship to relationship, from husband to husband in an futile effort to find happiness, peace and contentment but beauty alone cannot hold people together.

What is true beauty?

Peter, in his first letter, gives us a glimpse into God’s definition of beauty. He is addressing wives of unbelieving husbands. What can they do to win their husbands to faith in Jesus? Some wives resort to a variety of tactics in an effort to persuade their husbands to turn to the Lord as they have done. Unfortunately, many of their tactics only succeed in antagonising, rather than winning them.

Peter says, “I know a sure-fire way to win your husbands without saying a word.”

Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives (1 Pet. 3:1).

So, what is this secret weapon Peter encourages wives to use to win their husbands for the Lord?

Here comes the word again – beauty!

Is Peter saying, “Turn on the charm”? Or perhaps, “Make yourself as attractive as possible so that he will listen to you”? I don’t think so. It hasn’t worked before so why would you think it would work just because Peter said so. No, he has a far simpler way to impress your spouse so that he will listen to you.

Cultivate inner beauty!

You beauty should not come from outward adornment such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewellery or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight (1 Pet. 3:3).

A gentle and quiet spirit? Did you get that? God prizes a gentle and quiet spirit – no competition for power, no selfish I-want-my-own-way attitude, no pouting and sulking when I am crossed, no manipulating with words or moods. You know what I’m talking about.

What is a gentle and quiet spirit? Psa. 18:35 throws light on the meaning of gentleness.

“Thy gentleness hath made me great” (KJV) or “You stoop down to make me great” (NIV).

The Hebrew word for “gentleness” means clemency – the disposition to show forbearance, compassion, or forgiveness in judging or punishing; leniency; mercy.  (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/clemency – retrieved April 2016.

Most Bible translators use the word “gentleness” to translate the Hebrew. I love the older NIV’s use of the words “stoop down”. They give me the picture of the God who is great, high and lifted up, stooping down to my level to lift me up. That’s just what He did when He came to earth to be one of us.

The focus on external beauty, in the end, does nothing to foster harmonious relationships. In fact, most of the time it does the opposite because it focuses on self. However, when I willingly and deliberately stoop down in my spirit to show clemency – to be compassionate, forgiving and merciful to lift another up, we are drawn to one another, not alienated by selfish attitudes.

“Gentleness” pops up as the characteristic of a child of God in more than one place in Scripture. Jesus called people to follow Him, to take His yoke and learn from Him because, as He said, “I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.” Did you get that? Gentleness produces rest, not strife both inside oneself and in one’s interaction with others.

How can we, who are naturally selfish and competitive, learn to be gentle, not vying for position and always wanting to be right, but stooping down to lift another up? There is only one way.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).

Gentleness is not a quality we can produce out of our old, sinful natures. It is a characteristic of the one who is led by the Holy Spirit. It is the outflow of His life, the nature of Jesus which He forms in us as we yield to Him, moment by moment.

Jesus explained to His disciples that greatness comes from serving others, not expecting to be served. The more we choose to serve instead of being served, the more gentle we will become, the Holy Spirit nurturing the very qualities in us that made Jesus great.

Do you want to be beautiful with a beauty that never fades with time? Work on your gentleness and, strangely enough, your outer beauty will reflect the inner, no matter how much time ravages your physical frame.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Do you like this post? Then buy your own copy of my book, Learning to be a Disciple, which is also available from www.amazon.com or www.takealot.com in South Africa. You can also order a copy directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com

Watch this space!

My latest book, The Heartbeat of Holiness, will also soon be available.