Steadfastness of Mind - July 29, 2018

Isaiah 26:3 - The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You.

Recently, I was counseling and praying with an individual fraught with anxiety over a variety of things. Most of all, relationships within their respective family which they could not fix. I listened to this person for some time and then I asked, "Are you the oldest sibling in your family?" They replied, "Why yes ... how did you know?" I told them it doesn't take a "word of knowledge" to understand how the oldest child will often try to fix everyone in their family. It doesn't matter their age. They can carry this trait well into adulthood. Often, older generations, such as those who grew up pre- and post World War II came from larger families where the older children often did as much child rearing as the parents. Care giving life scripts such as these are often deeply ingrained in the mind and heart of oldest siblings. This can be a good thing if we know what to do with these concerns. However, these can be equally destructive if we do not know where to turn for help when relationships become uncontrollable.

From the Gospels, we know how Jesus taught we cannot control or fix anyone. These sort of things are well beyond our scope of power as mere mortals. However, Jesus does tell us to come to Him, giving Him our burdens and anxieties and He will give us rest. (Matthew 11:28) How hard it is to come to the Lord when we do not have our gaze fixed upon Him to do so! As long as we are fixed on fixing others without God's help, then we cannot be fixed on Jesus. Only as we look to the Lord is there hope -- first for ourselves and then for others. It only makes spiritual sense how we will be of most help to others when we ourselves are first transformed by Jesus Christ. As our lead verse states, steadfastness of mind is the guarantee of perfect peace. To the degree we can stay our minds upon the Lord, to that degree we will know peace. The mind, in this instance, is nothing less than our spiritual eyes and how we choose to align ourselves. If we seek to muddle through solutions in our mind's eye, then we will reinforce self to always seek a solution outside of God. However, if when we are presented with daily problems and we immediately say to ourselves, "Lord, I am not going to worry about this but surrender it to You," then we allow God to renew our minds and transform our hearts according to the "life script" He desires to write in our regard. (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:22-24) To illustrate the difference regarding trying to solve problems on our own and surrendering them to God, we may say it is the difference between death and life. On one hand, we fail when we try to do things in our power. Failure is a type of death. However, when we look toward God, there is always success because God will always succeed. A good example of this is Jesus' reference in John chapter three when He compares His sacrifice to another symbolic act 1200 years earlier: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life." (John 3:14-15) Let us compare the similarities between these two accounts.

The bronze serpent which Jesus referred to was an early typology of the saving power of the cross and the resurrection. The children of Israel, because of their murmuring and complaining, were beset with fiery serpents who were killing many of the Israelites due to their unbelief. God instructed Moses to fashion a bronze serpent and to affix it to a pole normally used to lift up a flag or a banner. In doing so, when bitten, the Hebrews could look toward this symbol of salvation and be cured of their venomous bite. We read the following in the book of Numbers: "And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived." (Numbers 21:9) In the third chapter of John's Gospel, Jesus was telling Nicodemus (in context with His message on being born again) that in order to be saved we must look to God. The human condition which is beset with sin will keep a steadfast mind on things of self, thereby creating angst, worry, anxiety and dread. These, beloved, draw us into a place of spiritual death. However, as God was typifying in the book of Numbers and Jesus was comparing Himself to in the book of John, when we look toward Him then we live and we acquire His peace.

Steadfastness of mind does not occur easily. We must continue to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. (II Corinthians 10:5) However, when we learn not to reinforce our flesh by allowing it to keep our minds on ourselves and our problems, then surrender to Christ becomes a freeing experience that gives us great relief. Once we realize that coveting solutions born in our own minds is nothing less than idolatry, then we will more easily relinquish the power we once tried so desperately to use to give ourselves and others peace. True peace only comes through total surrender. It is not an abeyance to evil, but an alliance with the One who can vanquish the evil of self forever. May we all look to the Standard, Jesus Christ the Almighty. For only in Him is there salvation from self.

Father in heaven, thank You for the peace, the very shalom of God, which You desire for us all to live in everyday. May we keep our minds steadfastly on You, for there truly is salvation in no other. May we die to fixing ourselves and others, and continue to fix our gaze upon You and Your salvation. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Your Barefoot Servant,

Rick

The Power of Hope - July 22, 2018

Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

A casual reading of the eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews tells us the importance of faith. However, faith would not be possible without hope. If we did not hope for something God promised was possible, we could not cling to the belief that God was going to do what He states. If faith is the assurance of things hoped for as Hebrews 11:1 states, then we understand how hope is the underpinning of faith, allowing our trust to remain stalwart in troubling times. Allow me to illustrate by the following examples.

Hope is often dictated by our experience. We may say, "My, I hope it doesn't rain today!" A statement such as this may be precluded by the appearance of angry storm clouds gathering. Whether we choose to believe it will or it won't is often based on our observation. Possibly a better example is air travel. We may believe in the law of aerodynamics. We may even trust so wholeheartedly that we decide to put it to the test by flying from Chicago to Los Angeles. However, where and when did this trust first occur? Before we actually believe something to be true, we either have a sense of hope or hopelessness in its regard. If the airlines were continually crashing over the Rocky Mountains in their attempt to reach Los Angeles, one might conclude that it was a hopeless endeavor to attempt this journey. If there was a 50/50 chance of making it to the west coast, then hopelessness would likely be the result of ever reaching the City of the Angels by air. However, if there had not been an airplane crash in more than 20 years on this route, and 20 flights flew this route daily, then a person would have every right to feel hopeful they would arrive in Los Angeles. Their hope had now become faith by the assurance of arriving at their destination.

Romans 5:5 tells us how hope does not disappoint. It is important to understand in context the reason for Paul's declarative statement. It is impossible to suffer disappointment if we are first grounded in the love of God. Unlike the aforementioned examples, hope does not necessarily need to be dictated by experience. Whether we experience God's love which is poured out within our heart is up to the believer. However, it does not belie the fact that the love of God has been poured out in the heart of a child of God as it states in this verse. That is where faith works in concert with hope. We hope because God's word tells us our hearts are filled with love and that hope does not disappoint. Whether we believe it is superfluous. It is a fact. However, when we do believe in faith, it creates a stronger bond of unity between faith, hope, and love. Hope then becomes assured through the faith of the believer and then we see as God sees.

Abraham is a good example of someone who hoped despite his experience. We know from Romans 4:18, Paul tells us that Abraham juxtaposed the hope of his experience, an aged person incapable of producing children, with the hope of God which was guaranteed not to disappoint. Through this hope, the ancient patriarch was able to believe God for His promise of Isaac, therefore resulting in faith leading to righteousness (Romans 4:20-22). He did not waver in unbelief because he set His heart and mind to remain hopeful regarding God's promise.

While Abraham is certainly a worthy example, we might shake our heads with skepticism regarding our own situations that may seem hopeless. For instance, why hasn't God saved those family members that we have prayed for years? It may seem hopeless to us as we see sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, and others continuing on the path to perdition they have walked without any seeming conviction to do otherwise. However, whom or what shall we believe? Shall we succumb to hopelessness because that is our past experience? Or, shall we cling to God's promise that He will save us along with our whole household? (Acts 16:31) Experience should not dictate our hope, beloved, which should therefore not influence our faith. Just because experience may command my hope in natural things, such as the weather or air travel, there is no reason why it should with spiritual matters. The word of God supersedes all hopelessness regarding a child of the King and instead gives us great hope in all of His promises. As we understand how His love and faith are tied inextricably to His hope within us, to that degree will we be at peace, knowing Christ is enthroned in every outcome of our lives.

Heavenly Father, may You open the eyes of our hearts to see how Your hope will never disappoint. It is impossible for it to ever do so, because it is grounded in Your love. May our faith grow and may we draw nearer to You in our experience as we live out this important truth. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Your Barefoot Servant,

Rick

Enabling God - July 15, 2018

Isaiah 45:11 - Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: "Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons, and you shall commit to Me the work of My hands."

Ask most fathers or mothers about their children and they will gladly tell you their hopes and dreams. God is no different. He is committed to our success through the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord proclaimed those eternal words from the cross, "It is finished," nothing more could ever be done concerning our salvation. The riches of Christ's redemption, as told by Paul the Apostle, are seated with Christ in the heavenlies (Ephesians 1:3). However, this treasure chest of divine richness is worthless to us unless we appropriate it by faith. That is why God wants us to come to Him, beseeching Him for those things which will allow His church on earth to be overcomers. By doing so, we enable God to shower down those things that allow the body of Christ to prosper in the earth. To do otherwise is to disable God's goodness, kindness, and mercy to be poured out in its full measure.

The church's greatest disability in these end times is a lack of faith and desire to see God's glory revealed. As Hebrews 11:6 states, it is impossible to please God without faith. His great pleasure, to build up His Son's church on earth, is what He yearns and desires to demonstrate through us. For when we allow Him, we permit God to move and to act as He desires on our behalf. The lie of the devil and his minions is that the church is unworthy to do so. Even now, the church in America is coming to a place of much needed repentance in regard to our excesses. We know we are fat from the world and its sinful delicacies, yet so many of us are bound to these from years of practice. However, God is telling us continually, "Come to me and I will give you rest," (Matthew 11:28). The enemy would lie to us and say that if we do not obtain rest right away, then God's promise is a lie. However, when we have created a stronghold as colossal as the Titanic, it often takes time to change direction. The important thing is to keep turning toward God. Then, we allow our faith to commit God to the work of His hands in completing the church of Jesus Christ upon this earth.

Deliverance from a besetting sin may take a season of continual coming to Christ to realize the victory. However, just as often, particular epiphanies or revelations can redirect our church or our individual lives in an instant. These moments of clarity often enable us to turn from a deception quickly and to set our course straight for God. Clear vision of this sort comes through the spirit of wisdom and revelation in which Paul speaks of in his letters to the churches (Ephesians 1:17-19). The apostle understood the importance of invoking God's wisdom and insight both individually and collectively. In so doing, God then allows faith to grow in the hearts of believers, enabling Him to move on their behalf. If we do not seek God and His wisdom, we severely limit the Lord to move in demonstrative ways. However, when we allow Him to function according to His nature of love and mercy through our prayers, then we move closer to time's conclusion and the embrace of Jesus Christ and His bride.

The greatest tool or weapon of Satan is to make us believe our unbelief. If he can make the church of God see themselves as "content" with their powerless existence, then he has won the day. We should never succumb to this lie that we will not or cannot attain to righteousness and holiness while we live in mortal flesh. In doing so, we create in our God a disability of gigantic proportion. We must never allow the enemy tell us that God is ashamed of us for failing in this or that. As long as we are continually coming to Christ, then we are His to brag about. It is our commission, as the church, to seek out God's wisdom regarding His purposes. When we do so we commit Him to the work He longs and desires to complete in us.

Heavenly Father, we acknowledge the finished work of Jesus Christ. We understand how He has given us all things to live godly. Now, we come to You in faith to acquire Your great purpose for His church. We enable You, Lord, by our faith to have Your way with Your bride upon planet earth. Move with full enablement to do as You desire. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Your Barefoot Servant,

Rick

God's Power - July 8, 2018

Acts 1:8 - "... but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Another Independence Day has come and gone. I remember as a youth loving the excitement of fireworks. For me, it wasn't much fun watching a display but I wanted to be the one to light the fuse and then scurry for cover. There was a sense of suspense and titillation as my pals and I waited for the impending BOOM! Occasionally, there was the deafening sound of silence as the firecracker refused to ignite because of bad powder or a faulty fuse. While we as youngsters felt empowered when the explosion was predicted and then engaged, to the same degree we also felt disappointed and impotent when the explosion didn't occur. Our enthusiasm over the previous blast would be darkened by the "dud that would fail to blow". Oftentimes, we would cautiously creep toward the seemingly benign popper only to have it explode when we least expected. This would send us into whoops and hollers and the enthusiasm would peak once again. Although I no longer indulge in this bit of Independence Day Americana by setting off "crackers", I certainly understand why others spend small fortunes to indulge themselves in this way. Americans spent more than $925 million in 2008 on legal fireworks. In the coming years, many believe that we will eclipse a billion dollars on fireworks annually for both personal and public displays. So, what is the fascination with making things go BOOM in the night? Is it an inner desire for predictable power in our often times unpredictable, powerless lives that makes us want to ignite the spark to release this might? Or, have many of us now grown accustomed to others putting on their "displays" while we sit back and enjoy at a distance? While many of us are content to be spectators, others of us wish to be handling the "power". As in the physical, this is also true in the spiritual.

In Acts 1:8, Jesus uses an incredibly demonstrative word when using the word "power". The Greek word that Luke (the author of Acts) quotes Jesus using is dunamis, which means power of a miraculous ability. The implication of context is one of explosive power -- power that is not of this earth but is supernatural. Dunamis is where we derive our English language word of dynamite. Jesus is saying in this scripture that life will never be the same for the disciples once the Holy Spirit has come upon them. Something explosive was about to happen to them and all those whom they touched. On the day of Pentecost, 3,000 souls were awakened from a deep sleep by a supernatural BOOM that resounded throughout Jerusalem. These unregenerate souls were literally made to stand upright out of their spiritual slumber as they were transported from the kingdom of darkness and translated to the Kingdom of Light. These newly awakened believers joined the 120 of those in the Upper Room to begin the New Testament church (Acts 2:41). Within the space of a few weeks, 5,000 others were added to the church through the healing of the lame man by Peter and John (Acts 4:4). On that day, the Holy Spirit released the "Heavenly TNT" through the grasp of Peter as he pulled the lame man to his feet. Ah, but this was only the initial explosive charge. The true explosiveness of power manifested when Peter addressed the crowd and the Holy Spirit worked like a demolition expert as the apostle preached, imploding from within the spirit of religiosity from all those who heard. For centuries, the nation of Israel had listened but did not have ears to hear because their hearts were hard and unyielding to the truth. In the space of a few weeks, the early church experienced a seismic explosion that broke through hearts of stone that had beforehand stood unyielding to God's call (see Ezekiel 11:19-20).

Today, God's power is just as near as it was in the early church as told to us from the book of Acts. One might rightly say, "I have never experienced, seen, nor even heard about the kind of power related in the book of Acts! Oh, if only God would move like that, then I would believe and have faith!" Beloved, God's power is there to move as it did 2,000 years ago. The sad truth of the matter is that we don't NEED God to move. If we did, He would. As the ancient Greek philosopher wrote: Necessity is the mother of invention. In the same way, if we truly needed God to move out of necessity then He would move heaven and earth to bring it about. Truly, in our ultra-modern, super-technological age we have missed the opportunity for God to move demonstrably because of an idolatrous substitution for science and intellect. We have shoved God into a small corner of our existence only to call on Him on Sunday mornings or at the noon meal afterwards. God has been relegated to a place of impotence by our reliance on other "gods" more suited to our "modern" liking. However, what we have sadly found is that these expressions of a "god in a box" are nothing more than "duds" that can never unleash the dunamis power that only He can give a humble and contrite people. As the collective Body of Christ in western civilization, we have been lulled back to sleep by week after week of living with impotent power all around us. Our present-day solution and cure to this self-induced stupor comes by confessing along with the Laodiceans the indictment that Jesus spoke against this first century city-church:

Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see ... (For full context, see Revelation 3:14-22).

Beloved, when we truly believe Jesus and wait for His power from on high out of a sense of true need for Him to revive our lives, our cities, our countries, and our world -- then and only then will He once again unleash His dunamis or dynamite power upon our western civilization. While we languish for God in America and western Europe, areas in Africa and Asia are seeing incredible growth of the Church with signs and wonders. Why? Because they need Him. They have no other recourse but to wait upon the Lord until He would demonstrate His power amongst them. While many of us in America are experiencing a lack of divine experience due to our acceptance of the supernatural impotence that is on the Church, many in other countries throughout the world are finding and experiencing a God of power. Many of us might be titillated by the anticipation of power to come only to find that what we have been waiting for is a "spiritual dud" because it has not been bathed in need through a humble and contrite heart. We may sit as spectators and view the move of God from afar, but that is not my desire. Like many of you, we should all desire to see His power or God's dunamis moving from His heart and through our own hands. Even as many can relate to unleashing the power of a firecracker by lighting its fuse, so should we all desire to be used in a profound way to transfer God's miraculous healing and restorative power to a dying world. That, my friends, will only come when we truly need and desire for Him to fill us as He longs to make us strong in His might.

Lord Jesus, there is only one true power and that is through your Holy Spirit. Send Him in a way that we have never thought or imagined. Invade our lives with your miraculous power to save, heal, and restore. We need you, Lord, and will ever say this until you move in true fashion that befits your Person. Come Lord Jesus. In Your Precious Name, Amen!

Your Barefoot Servant,

Rick

Salvation Without Reason - July 1, 2018

II Corinthians 11:3 - But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

"Unless I can explain it, I refuse to believe it!" Such is the claim of many atheists I have encountered throughout the years. They refuse to believe anything that cannot be reasoned or rationalized by a scientific explanation. Regarding religion and man's need to believe in a creator, Sigmund Freud once stated: "The whole thing is so patently infantile, so foreign to reality, that to anyone with a friendly attitude to humanity it is painful to think that the great majority of mortals will never be able to rise above this view of life." While Freud and others like him who believe in reason rather than faith in God are woefully wrong, at least they are consistent in their beliefs. Conversely, many Christians say they believe in God and trust in Him for their salvation, yet act quite differently. It is one thing to say we believe in God and another thing to put that belief into everyday practice. For when we begin to reason out our day to day to affairs without much thought toward God, are we not behaving much like our atheist counterparts? That is why there are so many different religions in our world, including the religions of science and reason. Different brands of devotion attempt to marry aspects of religion with humanism, resulting in nothing more than a diluted form of Eastern mystic thought. All of these so-called "faiths" have the age old pride of Satanic ambition, desiring to rise above God and to wrest self-deliverance without the Divine's help (Isaiah 14:13).

Much of the problem in contemporary Christianity is that many believers say one thing and live otherwise. Many of us often live atheistically through reason rather than through faith and obedience. If we really believed the Bible, then we would not reason our way around scripture and accept it for what it says. Do we really believe there is a place of eternal torment for the damned? If we did, it would be criminal not to plead continually with those who do not know the Savior to turn off the road to destruction! Or, do we truly believe God will care for us as He does for the sparrows of the air? If we did, we would not be anxiously upset over a shortfall in our finances. Or, even worse, to discontinue our support towards God's work through our giving in order to make ends meet! We too often try to rationalize our Christianity, bringing an atheistic flavor into our belief system. After all, when Jesus told us to give to anyone and everyone who asks of us, wasn't this merely rabbinic hyperbole? (Luke 6:30) He didn't really expect us to give our house away if someone asked for it, did He? To be certain, there is God's reason enthroned in the mind of Christ which is thereby empowered by faith. If and when God would tell us to do such a thing, He would most certainly give us a faith and assurance this was His will. However, there are also times when we reason falsely out of fear of losing something or holding on to something in an insecure fashion. These instances are born in unbelief and smack of atheism. They are deeds of the flesh as old as the curse of Adam and the fall of mankind.

When we succumb to our own counsel devoid of God's help, we revert to the deception of the serpent as stated in our lead verse. If Satan can get us to reason with the word of God, then he has robbed us of the wisdom of the Lord. For many of us as Christians, we would never imagine to think of the Bible as anything other than the infallible, inerrant word that it is. Where we get into trouble is when we attempt to interpret it with minds of reason. If one looks at the Bible, reasonably, there are some passages which do not make sense. For instance, why would a loving God keep fruit that was desirous from Adam and Eve? Just as the deceiver asked Eve, "Did God really say?" in the same does he want us to question God's word and to reason it out in our own minds (Genesis 3:1). For in so doing, we will abort the mind of God's reasoning on our behalf and will give power to our own flesh (or our carnal minds) to do accordingly. This leads only to a life of faith in humanistic endeavor which can only end in hopeless futility.

The only reasonable salvation and belief is that of God and His plan for our lives. The reasoning of mankind, whether based in the world's religions or the religion of science, is built upon the assumption that the human race can come to the needed answers regarding all the world's problems. As C. S. Lewis stated, there are really only two viable religions in the world -- Hinduism and Christianity. While the former embodies every conceivable attempt to save ourselves through self-actualization, the latter relies totally on accepting the finished work of Christ the Savior. Every "Hinduistic" system attempting to work out mankind's salvation---whether religion or scientific, humanistic endeavor---is based on the age-old idea that God is irrelevant and that with enough struggle, mankind can save himself. However, Christianity's faith states how those who give up, give in, and give themselves to God are those who find the truth. As Christians---if we truly believe we are---then we must quit haggling about what God says and believe it. We must quit our atheistic form of Christianity by only believing parts of God's word and embrace it all. When we do, we will find a salvation that is entirely reasonable because it is full of the peace of God. Anything less than this is a self-made salvation with no hope of redemption. May we all cling to God's wisdom and truth, for in doing so will we find Jesus, our true salvation.

Lord Jesus, may we surrender daily to You, humbly asking You for Your wisdom daily. May You cover our minds with the mind of Christ and give us Your reasoning for everything we do throughout our day. May You convict us where we have so falsely relied upon ourselves and may we quickly turn these areas over to You and Your Lordship. For only in You is our hope. In Your Name, Jesus Christ the Almighty we pray, Amen.

Your Barefoot Servant,

Rick