TerryLema

A couple times a week I receive a poll question in my email. Usually the sender wants me to answer either “yes” or “no” to their question. Sometimes that’s possible but most times the questions are far weightier than a yes or no response. In fact, yes or no questions are usually the least valuable to elicit a meaningful response.

 I remember part of a counselling course I took was dedicated solely to learning how to ask other than yes or no questions.  It’s not easy, but it is certainly a good technique if we want good answers. And to get a good answer, you must ask a good question.

 The most important question ever asked was recorded in three of the Gospels. “But what about you?” [Jesus] asked. “Who do you say I am?”  [Matt 16:15, Mark 8:29, Luke 9:20]

 It’s the most important question because how you answer that question will determine how you spend your eternity. Who do you say Jesus is?  A good teacher? An example to follow?

 Unfortunately, in our modern church, we are tossing out the parts of “Jesus” that we don’t like.  We are dissecting Him and taking out for ourselves only the fragments that fit our own programs. Some have tossed out His virgin birth; others His Resurrection and Ascension. Some embrace all His words about love but omit His warnings of judgment and hell for those who don’t repent of their sin. 

 Jesus, however, asked a good question and the only good answer – the only answer that will allow you to abide with Him forever – was given by Simon Peter.  “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” [Matt 16:16]

 To answer that way means we accept all of Jesus, all He is, all He claimed to be, all He said.

I was sure out of it in church last Sunday. Saturday began well, went for a long walk, did a few chores, worked more on my message. But as the day wore on, a headache developed. I didn’t eat well, too much fat and salt, and paid for that mistake. Neck hurt more than usual. Went to bed early but didn’t sleep well.

 Sunday morning, I was “off” all morning. My vision was so blurry I could barely read the Scriptures from my big-print Bible during the message. I stumbled over words. I couldn’t quite say what I wanted to say. After it was all over, I thought I should have just eliminated the message and continued on with music and prayers, but at the time I couldn’t get myself in tune with the Spirit of God to realize that is what I should have done.

 When I looked back, I realized the week was hectic. Bathroom remodel took two days, waiting for the stove to be installed took another. I had an eye appointment and lots of running around. We had trouble with car repairs. Bob wasn’t feeling well. He broke his brand-new phone. Common every day frustrations ruled the week. 

And, of course, the message was on the realities of spiritual warfare.  Reality number one: we are in a war with spiritual foes and we can’t let our guard down.  I apparently let my guard down. I didn’t spend near enough time in prayer. I handled the week in my own strength and got depleted quickly. By Sunday, I had nothing left.  Thankfully, God anointed three people in the church who followed the leading of the Spirit and ministered to others.

This week, I am going to follow one of my favorite Scriptures. When His disciples became so busy with too much going on, He invited them to “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” [Mark 6:31]

I hope that is what my week holds!

Yesterday I reminded us that we are at war, a spiritual war, with spiritual foes. That’s a spiritual reality, but it is a reality that we don’t always handle well.  The enemy of our soul has two primary tactics – both of which will work to defeat us.  They are 1) over-emphasis; and, 2) under-emphasis.

We fall victim to over-emphasis when we blame everything – every sin, attitude, problem and struggle on a demon that needs to be cast out. I knew someone like that. Every time they lost their temper or came up against any opposition, they said it was because of demons. They would tell you that the devil was always out to get them personally. Most of the time their problems originated in their own lack of self-control and arrogant attitudes.

To under-emphasize, however, can be just as dangerous a position.  We can’t ignore the spiritual realm  The fact is, the Bible tells us our battle is against spiritual powers.  “What you can’t see” can hurt you!

The key is to find biblical balance. It means to know that, yes, as citizen-soldier of the Kingdom of God, we will be called upon to do battle with “rulers, authorities, the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” [Eph 6:12-13]

 But we also are aware that we are not to fear. We are promised that our God will be with us. “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” [Isaiah 41:10]

The battle is the LORD’s and He never loses!  Glory!

We are at war. At church this morning we’ll be talking about that war.  It’s a spiritual war. With spiritual foes.  The Bible is quite clear, we are not at war with people. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” [Eph 6:12-13]

 One of the church’s greatest demands is to discern between the spiritual struggle and other social, personal, and political difficulties.  You can’t fight spiritual battles with earthly weapons; spiritual battles demand spiritual weapons. Too often we become distracted and begin struggling with human adversaries instead of using spiritual weapons of prayer and intercession.

As Christians, we must always remember that our true citizenship is in the Kingdom of God. “For [God] has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” [Col 1:13-14]

 There are only two citizenship domains, the “dominion of darkness” and the “kingdom of the Son.” We are either with God or we are against God. There is no neutral ground.  

As citizens of God’s kingdom, we are citizen-soldiers.  We are at war. Spiritual War. With Spiritual Foes.  

My news feed Thursday morning had two stories I actually wanted to read.  The first involved the massive heatwave hitting the eastern half of the USA. About 185 million people are under a heat watch as of Friday morning and the heat has the potential to break records and turn deadly over this weekend. Cities in the region are rushing to mitigate the heat for many of their residents. (According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA], June was the hottest June on record for the world.) 

 The second involved homelessness in Los Angeles. More and more people are being forced to live in their cars as home prices and availability soar beyond the average persons ability to keep up. There are now companies parking “rental vans” along the streets. Renters have keys to the back doors, but not the ignition. That has various city councils scrambling to update ordinances.  

 Both articles made me wonder about God’s warnings.  2 Peter 3 tells us about those who scoff and wonder about the end times, saying “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”  

 Peter reminded his readers that God can move in the blink of an eye; everything can change in an instant. Remember the flood which brought God’s judgment on the earth in the days of Noah? He also reminded that God is not slow in keeping His promise of judgment, He’s restraining His Hand because He doesn’t want any to perish, but all to come to repentance.  [vs 4-19]

 While God is restraining His Hand now, He won’t forever. “The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.”  [v 10]

Our master bathroom was remodeled this past week. Everything new except the vanity base. The major problem was that old fiberglass shower. It wasn’t in very good condition when we bought the house in 2007 and it had not improved over the last 12 years.  It was evident that the original owners used a harsh abrasive to clean it. That removed the shiny protective finish. Continual use had only made it worse.

 We looked at simply re-finishing the old shower, possible, but the results have not proven very good or long term. There are companies that will put a new unit on top of the old one, but the configuration of ours eliminated that possibility. It seemed the only good, long-term option was to do away with the old and replace it with a brand-new shower unit (this time with something more resilient than fiberglass).

 As I watched the workmen rip out that old damaged shower and haul it away, never to be seen again, I thought a lot about my soul. As a young person I treated it harshly. I was arrogant and abrasive, sarcastic and rebellious. All that left my soul damaged, my heart hopeless. I longed to be different but no matter what I tried, nothing truly worked. I could not refinish or cover up my lostness. Then I surrendered my life to Christ Jesus, and everything changed.

 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”  [2 Cor 5:17]

 When I opened that door and allowed Jesus into my heart, I became new!  Not re-finished, or cosmetically covered up, but brand new.  Hope found me. Peace found me. Love found me. Life found me. I still struggle to be the kind of person I should be, of course, but now I’m not alone in that struggle.  I now have the Indwelling Spirit of the Living Almighty God with me to guide and keep me. Thank you, LORD!

This week is Amazon Prime Day(s). The giant online retailer is reducing the cost of just about everything. I did splurge. I bought a lightweight ironing board (yes, I still iron), and a new lightweight iron (since mine has sprung a leak). I also got a new Kindle book that I’d been looking at for only $1.49. Oh, and I ordered more recordable CDs for the church. Other than that, I’ve avoided the website temptations.

 Amazon has reached mega-status as a retailer primarily by catering to the consumer’s appetites. It sells everything that is sold by everyone else, but at discount rates. It has driven many of the brick and mortar stores out of business and is now infringing on delivery companies. Our neighborhood is flooded with Amazon “Prime” vans daily.  Amazon has become a giant and other companies now try to compete by employing its business model.

I wonder, however, if the Amazon “business model” hasn’t also invaded the church. Instead of manifesting the truth and supernatural power of our God, we have become too much like the world.  We cater to the world’s appetites.  We crave the world’s approval. We measure by the world’s standards.  We give people what they want, rather than what they need, often discounting the price of truth in the process.

 We have failed to heed Paul’s warning to Timothy about the last days and the people who have a form of godliness but deny its power.  “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God- having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”  [2 Tim 3:1-5]

 Maybe it’s time to re-consider our “business model.”

Ever look at a keyboard. You’ll notice that all the letter and number keys are always in the same location – they never change.  We can trust that “r” and “t” will be next to each other, and 1 through 0 will always be in the same order.

 The auxiliary keys, however, are a different story.  That little delete key is typically on the upper right, but the surrounding keys can be different.  Perhaps the delete key on your keyboard is next to the airplane mode key, or something else – like the print screen key. That’s where my delete key is and it’s not a good place for it.  Whenever I make a mistake and need to delete something, I often hit the print screen key instead – which on my operating system automatically saves my screen (with all my mistakes) out there somewhere in the clouds. 

 Thankfully, that is true only for my typing mistakes and on my Windows operating system.  It is not true for my sins.  God promised Jeremiah, “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.“ [31:34]

 The writer of Hebrews thought that was such an important promise relating to the New Covenant in Christ Jesus that he repeated it in Hebrews 8:12.

 God also promised Micah that “[He] will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” And Isaiah reminds us that “[God’s] salvation will last forever, [His] righteousness will never fail.” [Micah7:19; Isaiah 51:6]

All my typing mistakes may be recorded and saved in the clouds. But my sins, Praise God, are forgotten and cast into the depths of the sea – forever! 

As I have aged, I’ve discovered some things are getting harder to do and I need to find alternatives. For example, lids on jars are now opened with a tool rather than hand strength. Small print needs a magnifying glass. Ripping open packaging requires a scissor. Threading a needle requires a needle threader and a magnifying glass.

 I’ve also discovered that somethings aren’t even possible to do anymore. I’ve lost my ability to jump. Now at 72 jumping may not be something I do on a regular basis, but I would so love to jump during song service when we sing the “Days of Elijah” and get to the part that says, “There’s no god like JEHOVAH!”

 So, I’ve learned to compensate by finding alternatives for the “harder” things, and I’m waiting until I get that glorified body to “jump” when the heavenly choirs start singing “There’s no god like JEHOVAH!”

Fortunately, our God has no such limitations. Nothing is too difficult or impossible for Him.  “Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.” [Jeremiah 32:17]

 We can look at the mess our world is in and bemoan that evil seems all-powerful and nothing can be done to stem the tide. Or, we can look at our Sovereign LORD, the Almighty One, and begin to intercede in power for righteousness and truth. Nothing is too hard for our God. 

 Maybe the reason so many people underestimate our SAVIOR and LORD, is because the church hasn’t done much lately to display His Almighty power. It’s time for a change!

Paul ends his prayer in Ephesians 3 with praise for the God who loves us, strengthens us with power and provides us with inexhaustible riches in Christ Jesus.

 “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”  [Ephesians 3:20-21]

 Isn’t that the most marvelous promise? God is able, able to do, able to do immeasurably more, immeasurably more than all we can ask or even imagine. 

 Have we forgotten that? As we look around at the evil that seems to so often be on display in our nation today, have we forgotten how able our God is?  How able He is to do immeasurably more? Just because the church might have lost her courage to stand up for truth, doesn’t mean God has lost even one iota of His. Just because we have become complacent or despairing as believers doesn’t mean God has forgotten His plan for His creation, or His promises to His children. 

 He is forever and ever God! He reigns and one day (perhaps not too far away) every knee, every knee, will bow to Him. It’s time beloved to once again embrace that truth – He is able. He is able to do immeasurably more. Let’s start praying and acting like we believe that!