Being Tormented Day After Day

11 Wednesday Apr 2012

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I thought about leaving my man Lot alone and move on to another issue about Abraham.  But in actuality, Lot is like most believers I know.  He lived more in the world than he did in the spirit.  In the end, his fence riding cost him everything. Listen to what the New Testament reveals about him.

 

7 and if He (God) rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men 8 for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds, 2 Peter 2:7-8

 

I am not saying Lot had his act so together that we should follow his example in living for the Lord. Everything that we know about Lot speaks of the fact that he cared only for himself. He took the opportunity to get the best from his uncle Abraham, who had been like a father to him. He put his family in jeopardy in order to be in a place where he could achieve financial and political power. In addition, Lot did not internalize God’s law or build his own altars to worship God.  Therefore, he was certainly not able to declare God’s truth to others, including his closest family members.

The only sense in which Lot was righteous was in that fact that he had, at some point in his past, established a relationship with God. He had placed his faith in God as the truth-teller, the creator of the universe, and the only one who could forgive him of his sins. He was what we would call today, a Christian. Lot was like many Christians today. He was on his way to heaven, but he was making the most out of fleshly situations while he was here on earth.

Lot’s story reminds me of “rocket man“. His story is below.

The Arizona highway patrol were mystified when they came upon a pile of smoldering wreckage embedded in the side of a cliff rising above the road at the apex of a curve. The metal debris resembled the site of an airplane crash, but it turned out to be the vaporized remains of an automobile. The make of the vehicle was unidentifiable at the scene.  The folks in the lab finally figured out what it was and pieced together the events that led up to its demise.  It seems that a former Air Force sergeant had somehow got hold of a Jet-Assisted Take-Off unit. JATO units are solid-fuel rockets used to give heavy military transport airplanes an extra push for takeoff from short airfields. The sergeant took the JATO unit into the Arizona desert and found a long, straight stretch of road. He attached the JATO unit to his car, jumped in, accelerated to a high-speed, and fired off the rocket. The facts, as best as could be determined, are as follows:  The operator was driving a 1967 Chevy Impala. He ignited the JATO unit approximately 3.9 miles from the crash site. This was established by the location of a prominently scorched and melted strip of asphalt. The vehicle quickly reached a speed of between 250 and 300 miles per hour and continued at that speed, under full power, for an additional twenty to twenty-five seconds. The soon-to-be pilot experienced G-forces usually reserved for dog-fighting F-14 jocks under full afterburners.  The Chevy remained on the straight highway for approximately 2.6 miles (15 to 20 seconds) before the driver applied the brakes, completely melting them, blowing the tires, and leaving thick rubber marks on the road surface. The vehicle then became airborne for an additional 1.3 miles, impacted the cliff face at a height of 125 feet, and left a blackened crater three feet deep in the rock.  Most of the diver’s remains were not recovered; however, small fragments of bone, teeth, and hair were extracted from the crater. Fingernail and bone shards were removed from a piece of debris believed to be a portion of the steering wheel.

There are consequences to our actions.  If you ignore the consequences of strapping JATO’s on your back you will have a thrilling ride for about 20 seconds, but understand the rock wall is coming. Sin is a blast for a while but the consequences of such actions will impact your life and of those closest to you.

Understand, when anyone actively disobeys God’s convictions and disciplines, they are a ready target for all the devil’s traps and snares.  These are merely the consequences of living out and away from God’s will.  God’s children should not have to be dragged out of Sodom at the last moment from sin and disobedience.

We will look deeper into Lot’s life again tomorrow.

 

Blessings,

Pastor

 

When God Gives Us Our Defining Moment

10 Tuesday Apr 2012

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Often when we are separated from our family, mentor, leader, or close friend our true character is defined.  Just like Abraham and Lot had to eventually separate, so all God’s children must learn to stand alone. When we break away and stand alone, we stand on our own convictions, standards, and promises.  When Lot and his family moved away, it became their defining moment.

This moment also further defined Abraham.  He did something very unselfish by giving Lot the best land, which had been promised to him. Abraham should have never been in this position of having to sacrifice God’s promise, but in character, Abraham offered Lot the best of the land. The only problem was Sodom and Gomorrah were part of the land.

There are three scriptures that summarize Lot’s life defining moment.

  • 13:10 lifted up his eyes toward Sodom
  • 13:12 pitched his tent toward Sodom
  • 19:1 sitting in the gate (living there)

I can picture Lot and his family creeping closer and closer to Sodom.  At first they kept their distance.  The day came when they moved right into town!

It would be easy to say “well if Lot had never left Abraham he would not have gotten mixed up in Sodom”.  This was not necessarily true. For anyone to fall away physically they must fall away in their heart first.  Our hearts actually define us long before we are given our defining moment. Falling away from the things of God is more than an event that happens.  It is a condition of the heart before it becomes an event.

Gen. 13:10 says that Lot chose Sodom because it reminded him of the land of Egypt. 

Lot asked Abraham if it was a good place to raise cattle, but he should have asked if it was a good place to raise kids!  Unlike Abraham, Lot wasn’t concerned about the generations to follow. Lot was interested in “making money”, but not “growing spiritually”.  He chose badly because he only saw the world and flesh.

Somewhere in Lot’s journey he became worldly in his desires.  Sodom was a very worldly city full sexual promiscuity. He obviously knew of it’s reputation.  As a whole, it reminded him of what he had experienced in Egypt and he liked it.

Jesus pointedly wanted us to “remember Lot’s wife.”  She was worldly too. By looking back longingly at what God had saved her from, she revealed for all generations what was in her heart. Even if she didn’t practice a promiscuous lifestyle, she was very comfortable around it.  When it was all blown away by the hand of God, she longed for it because Sodom was still in her heart.

Up until this point, Lot had all the possessions just like his uncle Abraham.  But he had never built his own altar and discovered the relationship that comes from worshiping the Lord.  When it was all said and done, it was Abraham’s altar, worship, and intercession that kept Lot and his family alive. Even though Lot had hung around the altar of his uncle and had seen the benefits, he never followed hard after God himself.  The truth is no one can hang around someone else’s spiritual life and be fulfilled.  True fulfillment comes via “asking, seeking and knocking” yourself.

Sooner or later you have got to develop that personal, intimate, one on one, daily relationship with God. If you never learn to “feed yourself” you will eventually starve to death spiritually.  How healthy would you be if you only ate one or two meals a week and at those meals you ate only baby food someone else gave you?

Understand God always allows us to choose and then own our decisions.  God allowed Lot to choose and He will allow you to choose.  God allows us to choose our own path, but He doesn’t allow us to choose the destination. God will allow us to choose anything we want, except for the consequences.  We can’t choose those! As a matter of fact, we have to live with the consequences of our choices. Decisions may seem small at the time, but we never know where those roads will lead.  The big lie we tell ourselves in self-delusion is “oh, this will not harm me and will not matter. I will be ok.”

The day Lot chose Sodom, his life was changed forever along with his family. Ultimately Lot wrecked his family’s future. After barely escaping destruction, Lot and his two girls ended up living in a cave.  Sadly, he chose once again to get drunk with the help of his girls.  In this drunken state he committed incest with both of his daughters.  The result of those relations was his daughters gave birth to leaders of enemy nations (Ammonites/Moabites) which would plague Israel for years to come.  The power of a single decision!  I am sure Lot started out in life wanting to be a blessing to his uncle who helped him so many times after his father died. Instead, he became a curse to all God was doing in Abraham’s life.  When God gave Lot his defining moment he wasn’t able to stand alone.

I don’t want to end on a bummer. There are numerous examples of men and women of God who prospered and became blessings when God gave them their defining moment. Are you ready to have a defining moment?

 

Blessings,

Pastor

A “Lot” of Compromise

09 Monday Apr 2012

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Lot was an example of a “believer” following another believer.  For his entire life he had been following Abraham’s faith, worshiping at Abraham’s altar, and witnessing Abraham’s faith tested.  Lot had been maintaining Abraham’s convictions and following his example until he was given a choice to live differently.  It was only after he separated himself from his mentor that we really got to see what kind of faith, principles and convictions he made in his life.  Lot kept moving closer and closer to Sodom.

 

12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the valley, and moved his tents as far as Sodom. 13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the LORD.  Genesis 13:12-13

 

Every believer will eventually walk out their Christian life according to their own personal convictions. You can follow a parent, teacher, pastor, or loved one for a period of time, but eventually the day will come when you will have to follow your own personal convictions.  In these moments your real faith, principles, and convictions are revealed to yourself and everyone else around.  This is why you will be judged according to your own decisions, not according to some other spiritual leader.

Back several years ago when I was in youth work, a survey was done to determine what was happening to the youth of Christian homes.  This was done across denominational lines.  The “falling away” rate of children raised in Christian homes was extremely high.  I believe it was around 70-80%. Similar surveys have been conducted since.   The question was why were so many Christian young people deserting the faith?  It was discovered that these kids, although raised in Christian environments (they went to church regularly and participated in church youth activities, etc) were never taught to stand alone.  It was then that the youth ministry in which I worked determined to produce kids who could stand alone in college, work, and in adult type relationships.  We determined to teach them to stand alone and develop their own convictions before they faced those larger temptations.

Lot shows us the necessity of developing our own faith and belief system.  Unfortunately, Lot and his family have become examples of “what not to do.” Tomorrow we will discover some of the mistakes he made.

 

Blessings,

Pastor

The Haunted House

05 Thursday Apr 2012

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Back in the 80’s I was fresh out of seminary and had taken a position as pastor at a church.  I placed an ad in the local paper stating I did spiritual counseling.  It wasn’t long before a middle-age lady made an appointment for counseling.  I was excited.

She came alone and began to share her problem.  In the past few months she believed some spiritual entity had come to live in her home with her two teenage children.  She called it a ghost or spirit.  It did all sorts of classic ghostly activities like rattling chains, turning on/off lights, turning on/off the television and opening and closing doors.  In addition, she heard it walking around upstairs and heard it making other types of sounds periodically.  It never harmed her or her children, just scared them.

I was kind of shocked.  I had minored in psychology, received a Master’s Degree in Family Counseling and spent three years working on a Psychology Unit.  I dealt with major crises every day.  I thought I was ready for any type of psychological problem.  Yet this lady walked in and started talking about being bothered by ghosts.  To say I was somewhat skeptical was an understatement.  Yet, I could feel the Lord telling me to be patient and stick with her.

Since her children were older, I asked her to bring them into the session so that I could talk to them.  One was 15 and the other 18.  They shared the same stories.  Sometimes the events would happen when they were alone and on other occasions the ghostly episodes occurred when they were together. All vouched to the validity of the presence that now lived in their house.  Basically she wanted me to get rid of ghost.  She did come for “spiritual” counseling, remember.

I really didn’t know where to begin, but since the buck was stopping with me, I took the problem to a pastor’s meeting I attended every week.  Thankfully, some of these guys were more seasoned in “ghost busting” than me.  Who ya gonna call?  They shared two important principles which I have used again and again in my ministry.  The first principle they shared was no spirit, principality, or demon comes without being invited in some fashion. In other words, a door has to be opened.  A verse of scripture I learned later was Proverbs 26:2 “so the curse causeless shall not come.”  So the first thing I needed to do was discover what or who had opened that door.  The second principle I will share in a moment.

At least now I had a place to begin.  In the next session I told the mother that someone had to open a spiritual door that had given the presence the right to move into her house.  As we talked it was soon apparent that neither she nor her children were responsible.  She admitted that she was estranged and separated from her husband.  The reason for this separation was due to his excessive drinking and “creepy” behavior.  He had been accused and arrested of some voyeuristic activities.  The mother didn’t feel she could trust him anymore and had kicked him out of the house.  I felt in my spirit that he was responsible and must have left some items in the home which opened the spiritual door for this evil spirit.  I communicated this information to the mother and told her to search the house for the estranged husband’s stash.  They did and reported back nothing could be found.  I told them to look again.  They did and reported back that nothing was in the home.

Sometimes God’s voice is loud and sometimes “it is a still quiet voice.”  I felt the Lord telling me again to have the family search the house one more time.  I was hoping I was hearing the Lord’s voice correctly, because this situation was going to get embarrassing if they didn’t find something.  They went back to search once more.  This time the search was more thorough and the mother discovered the husband’s hidden stash.  In the back of their bedroom closet he had carved a hole and had it covered.  Inside the hole were several bottles of liquor, pornography magazines and tapes.  The Lord was right!

 

 

Let me make a parenthetical note here.  I have talked with numerous others who have had such items in their homes as well… with no demonic spirits attached.  One does not equal the other.  The satanic underworld is not vast enough to attach itself to every bottle of alcohol and every work of pornography.  In this case these items meant something deeper to the estranged husband.  I never talked to the man and never discovered his story.  But there was a spirit attached to this man’s hidden stash and probably a spirit was attached to the man himself.

This leads to the second principle the pastors taught me.  They encouraged me not to make a big fuss, if possible, when removing the demonic apparition from the home.  Some type of intervention had to be made.  They suggested instead of making a big production, start small.  In other words, don’t escalate things into a battle when you do not have to go in that direction.  I felt led to have the family rededicate themselves to the Lord.  In addition, I encouraged them to walk through the house singing praise songs to the Lord claiming their house as territory of the Lord.  They did and the evil spirit left without further occurrence.  Praise the Lord!

At the time I didn’t know that this would be the first of many more such encounters in my life.  The voice and leading of God were true and He is always faithful.

 

Blessings,

Pastor

When God Takes You Back to the Place…

04 Wednesday Apr 2012

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It was time for Abraham’s lesson in Egypt to end.  Fortunately, God terminated this painful lesson of Egypt in Abraham’s life. At the deepest moment of his agony, crushed with humiliation and sick at heart, Abraham exited Egypt. Yes he had more wealth than ever before, but His spiritual life was in shambles.  Now God led Abraham back to “the place” where his spiritual journey began.

 

 So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him into the Negev. Now Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. And he journeyed on from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place where he had made an altar at the first; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord. (Genesis 13:1-4 RSV)

 

Please note – God wants us all to be corrected via kindness, gentleness, goodness, and love. God doesn’t want you to experience sickness, brokenness, danger or other physical loss. God always corrects us privately first.  God always approaches with the gentle rebuke of His word.  It is only after we have neglected responding to His gentle rebukes that God allows something more drastic to speak to us.

I am sure God never wanted Abraham to undergo being rebuked by Pharaoh.  How embarrassing it is when the world corrects God’s people. Like Abraham, we are to leave Egypt blessed, not broke, busted, and disgusted.

Like Pharaoh, we are to listen when God speaks and stand up for morality even when God’s man doesn’t.  Pharaoh was blessed too!  Why? Because those who blessed Abraham would be blessed as well.

Thankfully, Abraham did leave Egypt.  This was his obedience.  As soon as Abraham was back in the land, it didn’t take long until he discovered God’s altar once again. As long as Abraham stayed in Egypt he and his family would have been spiritually weak.  Why?  Because Egypt was not the land of God’s promise.

Any place not of God’s promise will only deplete you. There was no altar in Egypt, no place of worship, no cleansing, or fellowship. Yes, Abraham could have built an altar, but it would not have been an altar of promise. Time spent in Egypt (outside of God’s will) was wasted time!

Abraham had to come right back to where he was when he took the detour down to Egypt. He had material gain to show for the time in Egypt, but nothing but barrenness and weakness spiritually.

The same is true of you. When you forsake the pathway of faith, when you refuse to walk in fellowship with God, when you depend upon the resources of the world to satisfy the empty hunger of the heart… these are wasted years! They may be literal years. I know Christians who have lived almost all their lives in Egypt and all they have to show for it is a barren, wasted, empty, boring existence.

The moment you turn around and head back to the place of your obedience you start growing again. The place you return to is that last place you had true fellowship with God.  This place is where you built your last altar.  People ask me, “What should I do now?”  — Simply do what you were doing before you became sidetracked by choosing Egypt.

When Abraham finally returned home, what did he find? There was no mention of famine when he returned. I think the famine was still a reality. Remember, Abraham was driven out of Egypt. Since Abraham was not ready to leave Egypt by his own choice, this would indicate the famine was still raging in Canaan. Also, the quarrel which developed with Lot’s herdsmen over the pasture land suggests there was still a severe shortage of feed.

Though the famine still continued, Abraham was no longer troubled by it. Why not? Because, when he reached the land, the first thing he did was to call on the name of the Lord! This was what he should have done and could have done when the famine first struck.

When Abraham called on the name of the Lord he discovered the resources of God. He discovered that God was able to meet his needs despite the famine, the trial, or the circumstances.

Just as Paul proclaimed, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus,” (Philippians 4:19).

 

Blessings,

Pastor

 

Abrabam and the Consequences of Compromise

03 Tuesday Apr 2012

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In a time of famine Abraham chose to go down to Egypt. He suggested his wife Sarah act like his sister so that he would not be harmed by Pharoah. Abraham’s vagabond days of being sustained by the mercies of God ended abruptly as he turned to Egypt as a source.  He had a full belly but a bankrupt heart!

Remember this was the same man who walked away from his home and family and vowed never to return.  This same man faced new enemies everyday in Canaan and never flinched or backed down.  In those days he walked in obedience to the known will of God. But now that Abraham had succumbed to fear and entered Egypt, he was out of God’s will.  He no longer walked in obedience and anointing.

When we walk away from the known will of God we forfeit God’s protective hedge of protection. Abraham walked out of Canaan, his fellowship with God, away from the tent and the altar.

The outcome of Abraham’s disobedience was that Sarah was put into a situation of real danger. The king claimed her for his harem, and the lie Abraham told opened that door. Abraham was trying to protect himself, but in protecting himself he exposed Sarah to indecency and danger.

Not only was Sarah endangered, but so was Lot. Abraham’s nephew went down to Egypt with him. Later on when the allurements and enticements of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah cast their spell over Lot, we are told that he saw Sodom as though it were the land of Egypt. (See Genesis 13:10) This lust for comfort and worldly glory was enhanced during this stay in Egypt. Abraham and Sarah quickly got over Egypt but Lot and his family never recovered from the worldly attachments they discovered in Egypt.

Egypt ultimately made Abraham very rich. You say, “What’s wrong with riches?  They are not bad, but a blessing?” Yes they can be a blessing unless they come prematurely from a wrong source before we are ready to handle them. Jesus taught us the difference between “owning things” and “things owning us”. (See Mark 4:19).  Jesus taught it was the “delighting in riches” that choked the Word in a person.

In Egypt Abraham was given sheep, oxen, menservants, maidservants, donkeys, and camels. This was the wealth of the oriental world. But when he came back into the Promised Land, the first thing we heard was the strife between Abraham’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen over the riches they received in Egypt.  Abraham could deal with the riches, Lot could not. In addition, Abraham willing offered up the Promised Land to Lot. It was promised to him, not Lot. Wow!

Furthermore, we are told Abraham and Sarah were given maidservants, one of whom was named Hagar. Through Hagar Abraham later conceived Ishmael. Ishmael is recognized by Muslims as the ancestor of several prominent Arab tribes and being the forefather of Muhammad. The price of living in Egypt was extremely high and is still being paid today.

Abraham was called to be a blessing, but when he got into Egypt, he became a curse instead!

“The Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.”

A Christian out of fellowship with Christ is of no help to the lost people around him. Instead, he is actually a hindrance. His life of hypocrisy and weakness is a stumbling block and a plague upon the hearts of those who are watching him.

I end with this dramatic scene. Here was God’s man Abraham standing before a pagan king who had better morals than he. Listen as Abraham was publicly rebuked for his folly.

 

Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her and go.”  (Genesis 12:18-19)

 

There is nothing more degrading for a Christian than to neglect God’s warning and afterward get rebuked by the world. God would always rather correct His children in private first.  It is never God’s heart to make a public display of our disobedience.  He loves His children too much to desire this type of display.

 

Blessings,

Pastor

Abraham and His Wifster!

02 Monday Apr 2012

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I’ll bet you didn’t know Abraham had a wifster.  He did.  It was only when Abraham decided to go Egypt because of famine that we discovered the wifster.

 

It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.”  Genesis 12:11-13

 

Abraham was a man of faith. But now that a famine has occurred, he has gone off the reservation.  He concocted this plan to save his own skin.  Sarah was actually Abraham’s half-sister. The only problem was she was his whole wife.

You may have all heard of the southern parents who had a son that was serving time in the penitentiary.  But his mother told all her friends and relatives he was off serving time in the war. Well he was sort of serving time for his country.

Abraham Lincoln said “You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” But the greater truth is you can’t fool God any of the time. No matter how you view it, participating in deception violates the conscience and further impairs our relationship with God.

So Abraham produced a half-truth called a wifster.  But a half-truth is also a half-lie; and a lie in any proportion is intended to deceive. The nearer a lie is to the truth, the more perfectly deceitful it is.  This is Satan’s modus operandi.

Abraham’s intent was clearly to deceive. Doubtless he justified it on the grounds it was needed to protect his beautiful wife. Perhaps this was the most startling thing about this story. Sarah was sixty-five years old at the time, yet so remarkable was her beauty that Abraham was afraid he might lose her. This was exactly what happened. When the Egyptians saw her, they immediately took tales of her beauty to Pharaoh.

Why is lying so bad in God’s eyes?  Lying is the very opposite of speaking and living God’s truth.  To lie is to cower at current circumstances and abandon the promise of God’s deliverance. Lying lips cause us to live below God’s standards and to trust the flesh. This is especially true when you ask someone else to lie for you. There is no honor in lying.  Abraham’s solution was to sacrifice Sarah’s honor and save himself. “That it may be well with me for your sake, and that I (My soul shall) live because of you.” (13b) Abraham was basically saying, “Sarah save me!”  He was not crying out to God but scheming with Sarah. Abraham was not seeking the Lord’s guidance nor relying on His protection.

Remember it was fear that caused Abraham to leave God’s land of promise. Now, it was fear again that caused Abraham to concoct a plan of lies and deception.  Often, when we get out of God’s plan, we get ourselves into worse situations that take us further down the very road we were trying to avoid.  There is an old saying that states,

 

Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.

 

I am sure Abraham didn’t immediately wake up one day and say, “I am going to sacrifice my wife’s honor to save my own life.”  No, the more he thought about his own life, the more he became afraid.  The more fear he allowed into his heart, the more schemes like deception and lying came to his mind.

To say this little white lie didn’t have consequences and conclude God didn’t care is the wrong conclusion. God did protect Abraham but a generational curse was placed upon his family and it manifested in the next four generations.

 

Blessings,

Pastor

 

Is there a Famine in Your Future?

01 Sunday Apr 2012

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The story of Abraham does not go far until Abraham’s faith is tested. This story encourages me because it seems I never go far with a “word” from God until I run into stiff resistance. We all can learn from Abraham’s failures, not just his successes.

We are not expected to do everything right!  We are expected to correct ourselves once we discover disobedience. Like Abraham, what Christian has not discovered what it is to lose his/her sense of joy and awareness of the presence of Christ?  This is the story about blowing it and then allowing God to fix it.

 

Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. (Genesis 12:10 RSV)

 

The land of Canaan was and still is like parts of California — wonderful land with a magnificent climate, but dependent upon a limited amount of rainfall.  When it fails to rain consistently, the land experiences drought.  Abram was a man with flocks and herds, and when the rains failed, his livelihood was severely threatened. As the scarcity of food grew, he felt driven to leave, even though God had called him to be there.

Abram took counsel, not from God, but from his fears alone. To use a contemporary expression, he “pushed the panic button” or the “easy button” and down to Egypt he went. It was fear that drove him.  If we do not allow the Lord to speak, then we will be left to only one voice and on most occasions it will be our fears.

I am asked the question all the time, “Do I have to ask God’s permission for every little thing I do?  I mean, come on now, I thought I was free?  Can’t I decide a few things in my life?”   The answer is yes you can.  In fact, you can make all the choices in your life if you wish.  But if you want to discover the absolute best and avoid the pits like Egypt, then you will want to consult God as much as possible.

Abraham’s life is an example of what it means to “side step” seeking the will of God. By faith Abraham walked right into Canaan.  By fear of famine Abraham walk right out of God’s promises into Egypt.

If Canaan is a symbol for us of what it means to experience fellowship with the Lord, and Egypt symbolic for the world … then a famine is any circumstance that threatens our dependence upon God. It is any circumstance that makes faith difficult to maintain. In short, famines are any threats, real or imagined, against the known will of God in our lives.

Have you ever experienced a famine?  Have you ever been living in the full joy of fellowship with Christ and suddenly some circumstance beyond your control blew into your life?   Because of the presence of that circumstance (famine) it became difficult to maintain fellowship and hold on to God’s promises.

Understand this right now:  Famines come to everyone. With Christ or without Christ everyone has famines.  “It rains on the just and unjust.”

When famine strikes the temptation will always be to flee rather than to fight and stick it out.  No one enjoys trials.  Our internal flight mode kicks in.  We move to another neighborhood, change jobs, take a trip, or go home to mother. If we simply cannot flee, we try to run away mentally. We escape the unpleasant reality by a flight into unreality. It is easy to escape mentally to Egypt and float down the river of (De Nile) where life seems much more pleasant than it is in reality.

A few years ago people would lapse into daydreaming. (There used to be songs about daydreaming.)  Now we mentally vegetate electronically via the television, computer, or video.   Many live in the realm of fantasy all day long.

Whenever we attempt to satisfy the Spirit using the same resources of the world, we have gone down to Egypt. Compromise will never complete or satisfy the word God has for you. After God told Abraham to go into Canaan and possess the land as an inheritance, Egypt could offer nothing better.  Compromise is a poor substitute to the promises of God.

Abraham’s flight into Egypt is not a warning that we should have nothing to do with worldly people. We are expected to live our lives in the midst of the world and its ways. This story is about staying with God’s resources instead of leaning once again on Egypt.  Once you choose Egypt you will eventually adopt the attitudes, the expectations, and resources of the world. The point is to never forsake God and His resources in the first place.

The world is not the believer’s problem.  The world will always be the world.  Our problem is failure to trust the Lord amidst hard times.

Blessings,

Pastor

 

The Altar of Ministry

29 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in Abraham: Life of Faith

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Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.” 18 Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to the LORD.  Genesis 13:17-18

 

Abraham built an altar at the site where King David would begin to reign and extend the Kingdom of Israel to its uttermost borders. Abraham walked the entire length and breadth of his inheritance.  Finally, at the Hebron altar, Abraham sought the Lord and laid claimed to his inheritance for future generations.

Before anyone can build the altar of ministry, the other two altars of dedication and worship must already be established.

Imagine this for a moment. A man whispered to me in private, “Hey, if you call on me in church I would be honored to pray publicly.” I say, “Great, I’ll call on you sometime.”   A few moments later this man’s wife approached me and said, “I really wish you wouldn’t call on him to pray in church.  He can do it and has prayed very eloquent prayers before….its just, well uh, I know he never has a quiet time and rarely prays to God alone.  He believes in it; he just doesn’t do it.  Also, I have begged and begged him to have family devotions and family prayer times with the children and myself but he never does.  In fact, he usually calls on the kids to pray during meal time.  It would bother me to hear him pray at church when I know he never prays alone or with his family.”

The point is none of us can have an effective ministry unless we have established in our lives the altar of dedication and worship. If you seek to minister before building these types of altars then you will simply be performing.  I know you will agree with me that we have had enough of this in church.

Notice what was going on in Abraham’s life just before he built this altar of ministry.  God allowed him to separate himself from Lot.  (see Genesis 13:6-14)

In order for God to use us for ministry we must separate ourselves from all the “Lots” in our lives. “Lots” are merely the people we have in our lives that will potentially ruin any ministry God develops.  What God allows in our earlier walk with Him has to be excluded as we advance spiritually. It is only when we completely separate ourselves that the altar of ministry can be built.

We commonly call this process “keeping boundaries” here at our house.  Sometimes in order for you move on with God, certain relationships or friendships have to go. They may even be family members!  It is not that these relationships are bad or sinful.  They simply keep you from becoming all God called you to be. It is about where God is taking YOU, not them. God will always let you know the boundaries you need to keep and maintain. It is your choice whether or not you are obedient with these boundaries.

 

 

Abraham had to separate from Lot before he could fully enter into his promised land and claim the inheritance God had for him.  God speaks about boundaries all the time and He has been speaking to you about the boundaries you need to make and keep.  He has been doing this for years.

Remember Abraham’s initial call to leave his home, his land, and his family.  Yet, when he left, who did he take with him?  Lot, his dead brother’s son.  Yes, I am sure Lot needed someone to look after him.  Yes, I am sure Abraham was the one responsible for him. God allowed Lot to journey with Abraham for a season.

But Abraham’s original call did not include Lot.  In fact, the call excluded Lot.  As Abraham was entering into the full measure of his blessing there had to be a separation and boundaries had to be kept.

Why?  Because if you and I do not keep well maintained boundaries, we will ultimately lose God’s blessings.  Notice, Abraham was already dividing up the Promised Land with Lot.  This was not what God originally desired.

When we finally kneel at the altar of ministry, we come alone.  It is not about anyone else.  It is not about being nice and generous to family and friends.  Lot was not walking the same spiritual road as Abraham and Sarah.  Lot didn’t keep boundaries and frequently compromised.  He and his wife ultimately lived in a whole society full of all types of perversions.  For the sake of Abraham, if God had not dragged Lot out of the city, he and his family would have been destroyed.

Are you ready to move forward in your call to effective ministry.  I don’t know any pursuer of God who has not had to forsake certain relationships in order to maintain spiritual purity.  What are your boundaries?  Allow the Lord to speak to these issues today.

 

Blessings,

Pastor