Category Archives: Discipletips

The Hardest Lesson of All – Giving Up Control

11 Tuesday Jun 2013

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Do His Work Through Me

 

I don’t know many people who don’t like being in control of their life. Lets face it… even when circumstances are bad, we like to think we are still in control of everything. It offers a certain veil of comfort, even if it is not entirely true.

Jesus reminds us that real disciples are no longer in control of their lives. This is what this three verse parable reveals. The weaker king surrenders to the stronger king. Listen to Jesus’ words.

Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. Luke 14:31-33

 

In order to understand this parable you and I must realize we are the weaker king. The Lord is the stronger King. We are outsourced, outmatched, and outnumbered. The best course of action is to make terms of peace and surrender.

Like all of Jesus’ demands of discipleship, I have struggled with this issue. I have totally submitted all of my life to the Lord, only to pick certain issues back up again. The cycle is difficult to break until we come to the end of ourselves.

Surrender requires humility on our part. It requires we come under the reign of a new king and kingdom. We are in essence… God’s slaves. The point is none of us can really be a disciple of Christ unless we are willing to give total control over to the Lord. It is easy to determine if Jesus is Lord of all by asking ourselves… “Who is in control?”

In the Old Testament, when a slave was set free after his service was completed, he was free to go and live as he pleased. Sometimes a slave didn’t want to leave his master. If this was the case, his master was to bring the slave before God, take an awl and pierce the slave’s ear on the doorpost of his home. In this way everyone, including the slave, knew he was a slave for life…permanently. (see Exodus 21:5-7)

Sometimes we need to ask the Lord to pierce our ear on the doorpost of heaven. Somewhere in the process of real discipleship we come to the end of ourselves. This must happen. It may get ugly before we get to this point… but is must happen.

 

Blessings – From God’s Incubator,

Pastor

Living Strong Until the End

05 Wednesday Jun 2013

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The demands of discipleship are tough. Jesus demands we prefer Him above all relationships and carry our cross daily. Next, Jesus demands we count the cost of following Him, NOW, to ensure we are able to finish strong. I believe this step is basically ignored by most believers because they each instinctively believe they have what it takes to remain faithful to the end. This is simply self-deception or Jesus wouldn’t mention it. Remember, if Jesus mentions it… it is a problem.

The Bible is chock-full of stories of people who didn’t finish strong. Even though they started great, they finished poorly. Somewhere in the course of their race, they put their spiritual life in cruise control and started coasting. When we coast, we become fodder for the enemy. A quasi-delusion sets in and we believe we can simply rest on old victories, old words… and even the words of other believers.

Who of us could ever compete with Noah? His life story is the stuff of legends. Noah and his family were saved from the flood by God’s word, but poor Noah ended as a drunken man who got naked and cursed his son.

Solomon was the wisest man in all of history, but he didn’t finish well either. He loved women and his many foreign wives turned his heart from God. King David and King Saul before him each had fatal flaws as well.

Jesus presents a story about the importance of “counting the cost” so we each will finish what we started.

28 For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Luke 14:28-30

 
Now this little parable is about the cost of discipleship, not the cost of salvation. Like salvation, God provides everything we need to finish our race. We simply must submit to the process. The cost is really about submission. It is about valuing what God is doing in your life day in and day out. Like Paul said in Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.”

The key to remaining hot-hearted for God is to stay in love with the Lord. You may stray some but your love for the Lord will ultimately keep you on track! If you count the cost now… you will not be tempted when some cheap substitute for true obedience comes your way. If you count the cost now, you will not sell-out to other loves and idols.  We are to guard our love relationship with Jesus.

So ask yourself… Are you going to finish well? Do you so value what God is doing in your life that you would never drift or coast on your personal process? The good news is your race is not over. You can still finish strong and be more in love with the Lord by the end than when you started. It doesn’t matter what has happened in the past, you still can finish strong. The finish line is still ahead.

 

fail to finish

 

An older Christian was sitting on the porch with his dog stretched out before him taking in a beautiful sunset. The younger believer posed this question:

“Why is it that most Christians zealously chase after God during the first year or two after their conversion, but then fall into a complacent ritual of church twice a week and end up not looking any different from their neighbors who aren’t even Christians? I have heard you are not like that. I’ve been told that you have fervently sought after God throughout your years as a believer. People see something in you that they don’t see in most people who became Christians. What makes you different?”

The old man smiled and replied, “Let me tell you a story: One day I was sitting here quietly in the sun with my dog. Suddenly a large white rabbit ran across in front of us. Well, my dog jumped up, and took off after that big rabbit. He chased the rabbit over the hills with a passion.

Soon, other dogs joined him, attracted by his barking. What a sight it was, as the pack of dogs ran barking across the creeks, up stony embankments and through thickets and thorns! Gradually, however, one by one, the other dogs dropped out of the pursuit, discouraged by the course and frustrated by the chase. Only my dog continued to hotly pursue the white rabbit.”

In that story, young man, is the answer to your question.”

The young believer sat in confused silence. Finally, he said, “Brother, I don’t understand. What is the connection between the rabbit chase and the quest for God?”

“You fail to understand,” answered the seasoned old man, “because you failed to ask the obvious question. Why didn’t the other dogs continue on the chase?

And the answer to that question is that they had not seen the rabbit. Unless you see the prey, the chase is just too difficult. You will lack the passion and determination necessary to keep up the chase.”

Listen, how we answer this question reveals whether we will pursue the Lord until the end. Have you seen and met with the Lord lately? Is His presence still burning in your heart? If you’re simply going through the motions because everyone else is and you know it is the right thing to do… you will eventually drop out. You must see Him!

 

Blessings – From God’s Incubator,

Pastor

 

Learning to Live Like a Dead Person

03 Monday Jun 2013

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come and die

 

Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:27

 

If hating your family was not enough reason to “opt-out” of Jesus’ discipleship program, the next demand was even more extreme. According to the Lord, daily cross bearing was an absolute essential for a disciple. Today’s culture thinks fondly about the imagery of the cross. In fact, crosses can be seen everywhere. But let’s face it… a cross is an instrument of death. Just because we have romanticized them, doesn’t mean it was so in Jesus’ mind. When He issued this demand for cross bearing, He was sentencing His followers to certain death.

Even many Christians continue to be confused about what it means to carry their cross. I’ve have heard many people say, “Well, I have migraine headaches or ulcers, or hearing loss… I guess it’s just the cross I must bear.” I am not trying to diminish anyone’s suffering, but real crossing bearing is not any of these things. The cross is not a headache or a stomach aliment. It is an instrument of death every believer must come to terms with in their life.

Maybe Madonna best describes our culture’s confusion about the cross. During her 2006 tour she performed a mock crucifixion on a cross while singing. When asked about it she said, “[Putting myself on a cross] is no different than a person wearing a cross or ‘taking up the cross’ as it says in the Bible.” She added later, “I believe in my heart that if Jesus were alive he would be doing the same thing.” In her mind, she was only doing what Jesus would or should be doing. But Jesus didn’t use the cross to draw crowds. No, He mentioned the necessity of cross bearing to weed out the insincere.

The true message of the cross is death… a horrific death! Those who crucify themselves… do not get off the cross and go and perform another concert in the next city. Just like an electric chair or hangman’s noose, the cross is a death process. Just because you admire the cross and worship it, doesn’t mean it has done its work in your heart. Those who have learned to bear the cross understand exactly what it means to be crucified daily by it.

Don’t be fooled… just because the cross has become a benign piece of harmless jewelry or a stage prop, doesn’t mean God is not serious about cross bearing. In the time of Jesus, when you saw someone carrying a cross it meant one, and only one thing–that person was as good as dead. They were like men on death row… they were “dead men walking.”

Paul summarized cross bearing best in Galatians.

  • “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me…” (Galatians 2:20)
  • “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:24)
  • “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14)

All this means there is nothing the world has to offer you any longer. It’s as if the world is dead to you and you are dead to the world. One of the classic books on discipleship is The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He wrote:

The cross is laid on every Christian. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death–we give over our lives to death. The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god- fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. (p.99).

 

Blessings – From God’s Incubator,

Pastor

 

Learning to Hate Your Family!

29 Wednesday May 2013

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Completely Insane

 

If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:26

 

Are you surprised that sweet, peaceful, loving Jesus would ask you to “hate” ma, pa, gramps, and grandma? How can this be Jesus’ first demand to becoming a real disciple? As a young believer I looked at this verse and knew there had to be a catch somewhere… I hoped! I felt guilty kicking my mother to the curb and throwing my father under the bus! I resolved to understand it later when I could better grasp it.

Since Jesus listed it first when relating to the demands of being a disciple of His, we can’t put it off any longer. Actually, Jesus didn’t use the word “hate” in these verses… translators did. The word Jesus used is “sane”. It means “to prefer above.” The Lord is inferring or demanding our total allegiance. In other words, to be a disciple, we must love Jesus more than we love anyone else–even our closest family members. Our love for Jesus should be so powerful that in comparison, it seems as if we hate everyone else. It is not a matter of hating anyone. It is about loving God more.

Let me ask a hard question. Has your love for the Lord ever alienated you against certain members of your family? If it hasn’t yet, it eventually will… or it should. Why? Because when we truly prefer the Lord over others, they eventually get offended. We do not do it on purpose, they just move into second place. When our allegiances change, so do our priorities even in family circles.

Gary Ezzo says that one of the problems with families today is that the husband and wife join hands to form a family circle and then a child comes along and they place the child in the center with the husband and wife still forming the circle. Now everything revolves around the child. Then a second child comes and that child is also placed in the circle. And now everything revolves around two children. And as the family becomes larger the center becomes so big that the hands of the father and mother are pulled apart and the circle is broken.

What we must do is form the circle but with Christ in the center. Then as each child is born, they join hands with mom and dad to make the circle bigger. The result is that the circle is never broken as long as Christ is the center.

As a disciple, if we cannot get these basic primary structures in proper order, there will be no way to withstand the pressures of the world coupled with Satan’s attacks against us. Once we are able to “prefer the Lord” over and above our family, then we are able to move forward into the next stages of real discipleship. It is that simple. If the Lord hasn’t addressed your primary relationship issues, He will. Allow Him to set the boundaries.

Heather Mercer and Dana Curry were arrested by the Taliban and held prisoner for 128 days in Afghanistan. They both attended Baylor, and surrendered their lives to be fully devoted followers of Jesus. Afterward, Dateline interviewed Heather Mercer’s mother. It was the kind of story the media likes because they discovered Heather’s mother was totally opposed to Heather’s decision to work in Afghanistan. The media really tried to play up the story to show Heather’s commitment to Christ had divided her family. They wanted to keep asking her how she could do something her mother opposed. This is what Jesus meant in verse 26. Heather and Dana had to prefer the Lord over their family and even their own life!

In her book, Prisoners of Hope, Heather wrote:
“We answered hard questions posed by our families and friends. Extraordinary are the parents who don’t balk at the idea of their child moving to a third-world, war-ravaged, drought-stricken country–and, in this case, a country serving as a hub for international terrorist activity. That we had decided to go as Christian aid workers to a country where a harsh, unpredictable regime severely curtailed religious freedom gave most of our loved ones pause at best, and otherwise prompted serious alarm. We were asked: ‘ Aren’t you being foolish? Why would you jeopardize your own safety?’”

When God calls and leads you, you will have to make some difficult decisions. Those closest to you (your friends and family) will not jump up and down and rejoice over those choices. But…this the first demand of a true disciple.

 

Blessings – From God’s Incubator,

Pastor

 

From a Fan, to Follower, to Believer, to Disciple

28 Tuesday May 2013

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it never cost a disciple

 

All genuine believers of Christ are on a journey… a journey to be closer to the Lord. None of us started out having already arrived. Hopefully by now you have grown closer to the Lord by some degree.

  • Have you learned discipleship is hard?
  • Have you learned there are no shortcuts?
  • Have you learned suffering through obedience?

A western Christian co-worker was visiting the Chinese city of Dandong which borders North Korea. He shares his challenging experience at a local house church meeting:

“It was the first time I had ever been called ‘Satan!’ But no one could fault the careful exegesis as this fiery Korean preacher bellowed to the 200-member house church.

‘The third temptation of Jesus,’ he declared, ‘was when the devil offered him the kingdom without the cross. The devil was basically saying, Don’t go off and make all those sacrifices, touch all those lepers, spend nights in agony praying, and end up being tortured by soldiers and dying a horrible death. Just take it all now…from my hand!’ He went on, ‘The church often has the same temptation. The devil offers us power without suffering. And… I’ve got to say this even though our western friend is here…this is a temptation one part of the church tempts another part of the church with. We have to call that part of the church ‘Satan,’ just as Jesus had to call Peter ‘Satan’ when he made the same suggestion later in his ministry.’

Good rip-roaring stuff, and thoroughly biblical. But I was intrigued as to why this pastor had singled out the western church as the tempter. He was happy to explain over a meal.

‘I hosted five pastors from North America last year. All Koreans. They came with reading material. Good stuff as far as it went, and they were supplying a sort of formula for church growth. But could one of them even bring himself to mention suffering? No! And when I heard those Korean pastors preach, it was also absent.’

He leaned forward and whispered, ‘When these pastors preach to the persecuted church, and mention everything but suffering, they are taking away the cross from the Christian life. That’s why I have to say that they are bringing a satanic suggestion. Anyone who says you can follow Christ but not carry your cross is no better than the old deceiver himself. Jesus said so. He said it to Satan, and he said it to Peter. And I’m going to say it to anyone else who dares to think they can be a witness for Christ from anywhere else but on a cross.'”

(Standing Strong Through The Storm – by author Paul Estabrooks)

This Korean pastor understood what Jesus understood about the process of discipleship. It is extremely difficult and the devil tempts us everyday to take the easy road. Jesus always referred to His followers as disciples. In fact, the term “disciples” occurs 269 times in the New Testament, while the term “Christian” only occurs three times. We are who Jesus says we are.

This is why Jesus turned around to speak to the large masses of people following Him. They were following for many reasons but He knew the reality of the situation. Some were only wanting to see more miracles. Others wanted to gain another free meal. Still others were tantalized by Jesus’ radical ways.

So Jesus began to cull this crowd by laying out five marks or descriptions of what it meant to be a real disciple. From all outward appearances these crowds were willing and even anxious to follow Jesus, providing the cost was not too high or the demands too great.

They were not unlike many people today who do “Christian things” like go to church, pray, sing Christian songs, etc., but are not really committed to real growth in Jesus. In a sense, they were “along for the ride” but were unwilling to give up everything in their lives which conflicted with following the Lord in a committed way.

They also are not unlike many today who look to Jesus to solve their money problems, relational problems, health problems, etc., but quickly grow disillusioned and unwilling to obey. When following Jesus doesn’t readily solve these issues or when following Jesus requires real sacrifice… they fall away until they need something from Jesus again.

As Jesus’ time on earth drew to an end and His own personal cross loomed on the horizon… the process of discipleship was on His mind. In the next few blogs I will examine Jesus’ five demands of a real disciple.

 

Blessings,

Pastor

DiscipleTips – Look for Opportunities to Join God

21 Monday Jan 2013

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The world has yet to see

 

When Jesus asked the disciples to “feed the people“, the disciples only saw the problems this request created for them personally. Their problem was not with the dilemma Jesus presented, but with the way they processed the God sized opportunity. They had not yet grabbed onto the fact that Jesus was inviting them to join Him in His work. They thought they had to accomplish this task in their own power and with their current resources. They were thinking, “We can’t do this. It’s impossible!” But remember, Jesus already had in mind what He was going to do. (John 6:6)

We often forget when God speaks, He always reveals what He is going to do…. not what He wants us to do. We join Him so He can work through us. We don’t join the Lord’s work so that we are personally the answer. This is why Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27)

The disciples had already seen Jesus do marvelous works all in supernatural ways. But now, when opportunity knocked, it didn’t even enter into their minds that maybe, just maybe, God wanted to do something miraculously and supernaturally through them. Do these types of thoughts ever enter in your thinking? I have to admit when God calls me into some activity, most of my thoughts are about me… not what the Lord wants to do.

Now if the disciples pooled all their money and passed the hat among the crowd that day, they may have had enough money to buy some food for at least a portion of the people. In so doing, those who were provided for could say, “ Aren’t the disciples devoted and committed followers of Jesus. What a kind and wonderful ministry these men did for us. They are so nice.” However, none of those people would have explained it in terms of what God had done. The disciples would have accomplished it completely separate of God’s intervention.

However, the Lord isn’t interested in just feeding people’s bellies for a day. He wants to feed their souls and spirits for eternity. The only way a crowd of 5,000 will be able to know “God was at work” through the disciples was for them to allow Jesus to operate in a supernatural way which far exceeded the disciple’s power or resources.

Blessings,

Pastor

 

DiscipleTips – Problems Are Opportunities In Disguise

15 Tuesday Jan 2013

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small character in big assignment

 

How is the Lord going to move you to new levels of growth and maturity? Most of the believers I know want to grow in the Lord. Is the growth going to happen by sitting in pews hearing sermon after sermon? Is growth really going to happen in Bible Study? Nothing wrong with attending church… but real growth and advancement in the Kingdom occurs due to the Lord’s testing process.

After one long day of teaching, Jesus looked upon His disciples and instructed them to “feed the people” He had been instructing. John gave us some inside information into the disciples dilemma. “Jesus made this request only to test them, for He already had in mind what he was going to do.” John 6:6

Jesus wanted to change the way His disciples thought, the way they processed information, the way they dealt with dilemmas… and most importantly what they believed concerning God’s power to minister to people. The Lord wanted his followers to understand that many of the dilemmas they faced were really opportunities for Him to reveal Himself to people.

Isn’t this the problem for most of us. When the Lord asks us to attempt something we are incapable of accomplishing, we misinterpret the situation and view it as an attack or curse. In Luke 9 there was absolutely no way the disciples could feed all the people. There was not enough money, not enough food on hand, and it was very late in the day.

Henry Blackaby, in his book “Experiencing God“, calls these situations “a crisis of belief.” Have you ever been there? If you are growing in the Lord, this should be happening numerous times a year. Now there is no question this was a God-sized assignment Jesus laid on His disciples. They had never walked this road before… and if the Lord didn’t intervene, they would fail and fall flat on their faces.

Please understand that this is the place where many (most) followers bail out. The Lord lays a God-sized assignment before them and they say, “I’m sorry, but I can’t”, which leads to “a crisis of belief”.  The word “crisis” comes from a word which means “decision.” This crisis of belief becomes a turning point or fork in the road which demands a decision from us. Will we trust the Lord or shrink back? We don’t tell God… “no“. We say things like…”This can’t be God’s will. God wouldn’t be instructing me to do the impossible. I must have missed God’s will. The devil must have tricked me.”

It is in these crisis junctures where you decide what you believe about God and how you are going to respond to Him. How you respond when you reach this turning point will determine whether you go on to be involved with Him in something God-sized or whether you miss the opportunity the Lord has placed before you.

It has been these specific crisis of belief points which have defined your spiritual walk so far… not the amount of spiritual knowledge rolling around in your head. You don’t need more knowledge. You need to be responding in faith to opportunities God has already been placing before you. God’s presence and power only follows our obedience to His word and assignment.

 

Blessings,

Pastor

 

DiscipleTips – No Spectators

09 Wednesday Jan 2013

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Life is not a spectator sport

 

It has been said that much of Christianity can be compared to a football game. The twenty-two players on the field are in dire need of rest and 100,000 spectators in the stands in dire need of exercise.

Jesus wants all of His disciples to be engaged in His ministry of bringing the Kingdom of God to earth. That’s why He sent out the 12 in Luke 9:1 and why he will send out 72 in Luke 10. They were supposed to combine good deeds with the good news.

This is why most of the problems in Christianity are not from those on the field, but from the spectators. The ones advancing God’s work receive coaching and correction… and occasionally disqualify themselves. The onlookers make a lot of claims, make a lot of noise and create a lot of confusion. Since they are not officially on the team, coaching and correction doesn’t help.

Once we come to believe in Christ as Savior, we can’t stay in that place. We are called to grow in the Lord. Most, if not all of the disciple’s growth came because Jesus challenged their spiritual status-quo. Their faith was never allowed to stagnate. It would be like being born and staying an infant our entire life.

It is when we stop growing in the Lord that problems begin to develop.

  • We stop viewing the world from God’s perspective.
  • We begin to falsely assume we have arrived spiritually.
  • We neglect to discern the will of the Lord.
  • And we falsely believe we have done enough.

Below is a story about John Wimber attempting to witness to a New York taxi driver and the frustration which follows. I believe there is an important lesson for all believers at the end. I purposefully removed the denominational names.

“Years ago in New York City, I got into a taxi cab with an Iranian taxi driver, who could hardly speak English. I tried to explain to him where I wanted to go, and as he was pulling his car out of the parking place, he almost got hit by a van that on its side had a sign reading The __________ Church. He got real upset and said, “That guy’s drunk.” I said, “No, he’s a ___________. Drunk in the spirit, maybe, but not with wine.” He asked, “Do you know about church?” I said, “Well, I know a little bit about it; what do you know?”

It was a long trip from one end of Manhattan to the other, and all the way down he told me one horror story after another that he’d heard about the church. He knew about the pastor that ran off with the choir master’s wife, the couple that had burned the church down and collected the insurance—every horrible thing you could imagine. We finally get to where we were going, I paid him, and as we’re standing there on the landing I gave him an extra-large tip. He got a suspicious look in his eyes—he’d been around, you know.

I said, “Answer me this one question.” Now keep in mind, I’m planning on witnessing to him. “If there was a God and he had a church, what would it be like?” He sat there for awhile making up his mind to play or not. Finally he sighed and said, “Well, if there was a God and he had a church—they would care for the poor, heal the sick, and they wouldn’t charge you money to teach you the Book.” I turned around and it was like an explosion in my chest. “Oh, God.” I just cried, I couldn’t help it. I thought, “Oh Lord, they know. The world knows what it’s supposed to be like. The only ones that don’t know are the Church.”

Blessings,

Pastor

 

DiscipleTips – Becoming Naturally Supernatural

08 Tuesday Jan 2013

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Im Just Change In His Pocket

 

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that their pens wouldn’t work at zero gravity. Ink won’t flow down to the writing surface without gravity. In order to solve this problem, they hired Andersen Consulting. One decade and 12 million dollars later they had developed a pen which worked in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on practically any surface, including crystal, and at a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.

What did the Russians do? The Russians had the same problem, but they used a pencil!

Far too often we focus on problems and fail to see opportunities right in front of us. Winston Churchill once said: “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; while an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” The same thing could be said of most believers. When problems and difficulties arise they fail to discern the God sized opportunities set before them. They whine and complain as if God doesn’t even exist. This verse in Ephesians reminds us to always be naturally supernatural.

Likewise the Lord tells us to be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Ephesians 5:15-17

 

Difficult times come to all. If we who follow the Lord desire to be wise, we must seek to discern the Lord’s will in all circumstances. Prayer shouldn’t be the last resort, but the first. Now for many this is a mind shift, or what commonly is called a paradigm shift.

If you’re like me, I was raised to be self-reliant and to work hard. If a problem presented itself, the wheels in my head naturally started to spin and I immediately went into “fix it” mode. I have struggled in seeking God first. My problem solving skills only further prevent God solutions from happening and exacerbate issues. Now more often than not, my problem is not with the problem itself, but with how I go about finding the solution. I have a natural tendency to exhaust all of my resources, all of my strength, and all of my ideas before I come to the Lord for His response.

I believe we are entering a new era where God is calling all His children to think and live supernaturally, instead of naturally. Perhaps He’s leading you along this line as well. And why not?  He did this with His disciples time and time again. On one occasion after a long day of teaching, Jesus told His disciples it was their job to feed the people. When He did this He knew His disciples would fail. Would the Lord ever ask you to accomplish something in which He knows you cannot do it? Yes!

The disciples did exactly what I have done in the past… they sought to answer the Lord’s dilemma in their own power. They counted heads, checked their banking account, asked for donations, and then told Jesus to “send the people away.” Rather than seeing this as an opportunity for the Lord to work, they saw Jesus’ request as a problem they needed to dispose. Crowds always cause problems. Notice the pessimism of these men of faith. Mark 6:37 says,“it would take eight months of a man’s wages (to feed all these people)! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”

Money always comes up first doesn’t it? How much money will it take to make the problem go away! They dove head-long into “fix-it” mode and not once asked the Lord, who was standing right there, what His thoughts were concerning the situation He created.

Thankfully, the Lord was persistent as He always is these situations… His plan was simply to feed the people with the provisions God had already provided… namely three loaves of bread and two fish. Sending the people away required no faith, no solution and no sacrifice of resources on the disciple’s part. Hey, they didn’t even have to pray about it.

Listen to the words of someone who has had to learn this lesson the hard way… The Lord doesn’t simply want to bless other people through you… He desires to bless you as well. He knows you cannot solve the problems He brings your way. You are not supposed to accomplish ministry in your own strength. The Lord desires all His disciples to be naturally supernatural.

How can I say this so definitively? I can say it, because Jesus Himself said it. In John’s account, it says that “Jesus asked (them this question) to test them, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.” John 6:6

Now, why in the world would Jesus ask the disciples a question in which He already had the answer? Why would He put His disciples through an exercise when He had already predetermined the outcome?

Well, the answer is not as difficult as you might think… He wants to change His followers in the process. The multiplication of food is a grand miracle. The multiplication of the disciple’s faith is even a greater miracle. Changed men is always better than changed food.

An African king had a long time friend who always looked at everything positively. He always was saying “This is good!” even in the face of the most difficult situations. Hunting one day, he was preparing the king’s guns. When the king took his first shot, his thumb was blown off. Though the friend realized that it was his grave mistake for not properly setting the gun, and even in the face of this furious, bleeding king, he looked at him and said, “This is good!” The king was livid, and ordered that his friend be thrown immediately in jail.

A year later the king was hunting in an area where he should have stayed clear and was captured by Cannibals. They tied him up and were preparing to cook him, when they realized he had no thumb. They didn’t eat anyone who was less than whole. They released him. Upon his way home, the king pondered the event which had taken his thumb in the first place. He went straight to the jail, told his friend what happened and apologized in tears for sending him to jail in anger. His enthusiastic friend looked at the King and replied “This is good!”

The king, taken aback once again said “What do you mean ‘this is good!’ I sent you mercilessly to jail and you’ve been suffering here for an entire year – how is this good?” His friend responded unwaveringly, “Well, if I had not been in jail, I would have been with you!”

 

Blessings,

Pastor