Obedience is God’s coffee table…

Joshua 5:6

“The Israelites had moved about in the desert forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the LORD. For the LORD had sworn to them that they would not see the land that he had solemnly promised their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

   I love coffee. One of God’s greatest gifts to man is coffee. Not only do I love strong coffee but I love orphan care and helping the fatherless and there are just too many good organizations out there that make really great coffee that go to support those causes, and so I feel justified in loving good coffee when I buy it from them.

    

   One of my favorite things about coffee is that it can be served piping hot. Outside, in the cold, walking around with a cup of coffee just makes you feel warmer and can turn what seems like a breezy day into a wonderful outing. Have I mentioned that I love coffee?

   

    I also love the blessings of God. I want to have the blessing and favor of God on my life in a very great and powerful way. We are children of God and are made to carry His Presence. But sometimes, even though I know this, I wonder why I don’t walk in God’s blessing everywhere I go. Asking God this question I got a great answer that allows me to bring the best things in life together in an analogy. The blessings of God….and coffee.

  

    If I go to your home, or a coffee shop, and I want to drink coffee then I will need a cup of coffee, someplace to sit, and a coffee table. The cup is obvious. Of course I need to sit because, well, I’m drinking coffee, but the table is a big bonus too. I like my coffee piping hot and can’t just hold it in my hands, I’m going to need a place to set it….or I’m going to burn my hands because I am clumsy.

    

   What is my point?  You can give me twenty cups of coffee to drink, even all at once, when I come to your house and I will want all of them. The problem is, I am going to need a place to put them. For all the blessings of God on your life, and you want all of them, you still need a place to put them. Obedience is God’s coffee table for your life.

   

    In the scripture above the Israelites were kept out of the Promised Land for disobedience. The problem with disobedience isn’t that it makes God angry at you because you have to earn God’s love through doing what He says, or some other ridiculous notion. No, the reason disobedience is such a problem is because it doesn’t give the gifts of God anyplace to land.

     

   Why is obedience important? Because we can’t handle the blessings of God without character to back them up. If I walk up to you and give you a million dollars (not happening by the way) then what would you do with it? Well I would say that a corvette and a yearlong trip to Vegas are probably poor ways to steward that money. Investing, blessing, saving, etc. are all better ideas. But you wouldn’t do that if you didn’t have the self-control and wisdom to handle your money that way. Giving 1 million bucks to a 12 year old won’t benefit anyone unless you want a lifetime supply of Cheetos and Xbox games. For many of us, the reason God has not given us the things we have asked Him for is because He is developing our character to handle what we have asked for.

    

   I ask for a new job and I get a tough family situation. I ask for a new vehicle and for some reason my bank account bottoms out. I ask for a better home and I can’t sell mine. Could I suggest to you that sometimes the reason we are not walking in the things we have asked for is because sometimes we need the proper character to maintain it? And God has made it so that that only comes through obedience. Obedience is not about us earning the love of God, we already have that in infinite measure. Obedience is about us allowing God to bring us to a place to where we can walk in all of His blessings with integrity. Your blessed life will bless others lives so long as you handle His blessings with Godly character.

   

    I think the greater our obedience, the bigger the coffee table, and the more God given blessings we can contain in our lives…….

   Gonna go grab another cup of Joe…..

Insecurity.....you are safe enough to be you.

Matthew 10:29-31

New International Version (NIV)

²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. ³⁰ And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

   "Insecurity is wrong security exposed" Bill Johnson

   Insecurity is a real issue and it is one that God cares about. We can not live to our full potential if we are insecure. Now, being someone who was insecure, I know that just by reading an article on insecurity you actually say to yourself "Great. This just confirms that I AM insecure" and because of that it can make the problem worse. Insecurity is a weapon of the Enemy, so anytime someone addresses it there is a defense mechanism that pops up. It is a terrible loop. 


   What is the lie that the Enemy tells you that makes you insecure? I once thought that lie was "you aren't good enough, you will never be good enough" . While that is a lie from the Enemy and can hurt us if we believe it, it really isn't the issue with insecurity. Insecurity is just exactly what it sounds like, it is someone who is not secure. They do not feel safe enough to be who they were meant to be. I thought this was simply an identity issue, but I think the problem goes much deeper. Who do we get our identity from? Proper identity comes from God. You see, I believe if we feel insecure then at some point Satan has really gotten us to believe a lie about God. While he may say you aren't good enough, what he really wants you to hear is "God doesn't have your back."


   In the scripture above, Jesus says His Father cares when a sparrow hits the ground, that your hairs are numbered, and because of these things you shouldn't be afraid. I believe this scripture deals with insecurity in our minds. First, Jesus says "God loves you enough to know what is going on in your life." then, He says "God knows everything about who you are." In this scripture Jesus says that because God watches over you, and because He knows everything about who He made you to be, that you should not be afraid. You are safe enough to be you. We should get our security and courage from the fact that we are watched over, that we are known intimately, and that we are valued by Him.

    Sometimes we can put our faith in ourselves because "If I don't look out for number 1, then nobody will." So we are our own security. This is a rotten bridge to walk on. If we ever fail, then our entire support structure falls out from underneath us and life looks impossible.



   I have spent time in ministry with men whose parents didn't make them feel safe. No father figure, a mother in pain or non-existent. Without proper parenting we don't know security as a child. As painful as this can be to overcome, we can overcome it by realizing that our parents were given to us to point us to the nature of God. If our parents did not give us a good representation of who God is or who we are, we have a kind and faithful heavenly Father who is willing to show us.


   Know that God watches you, He knows you intimately, and He values you. Your security can be found in Him. You are safe enough in His arms to be who you were meant to be.....

Update.....
   I just spent time in prayer and prayed about my own insecurity. I asked the Lord to give me a word to fight my own insecurity. He showed me, as a priest, carrying the ark of the covenant into a city. What He said was "You are the New Glory. Christians are now the carriers of the holiness, the power, and the wonder of my Glory. Why would you be insecure when you are carriers of My Glory."

   Forgive me Lord for feeling insecure while I am a carrier of your Glory. In me is the new Holy Place. Why should I be insecure when Your power lives in me? Thank you Father.

Fields of flesh, sod of the Spirit, and endurance.

Galatians 6:8-9

   "For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption..."
   It has been said that the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. To err is human. This is true. But to continue to make the same mistake over and over again expecting that your situation will improve over time would fit into this definition of insanity.

   Bad reactions, believed lies, and harmful relationships are three very common areas of "sowing into the flesh." Daily we can sow into these things and may not even know it. Mainly because these three areas seem automatic. We believe lies from the enemy and we are deceived. But deception, by nature, means you don't know you are deceived. Believed lies leads to bad reactions. The Enemy tells an ex-inmate "You have no worth. You will never amount to anything." If this is believed then it forces a bad reaction. The ex-inmate says "I have no worth, so I will make people value me." and many times this is seen through abuse, or acts to gain attention or to prove themselves to others. Rebellion to authority happens because so many times if we believe that we have no worth, then we will not submit ourselves to others who we feel may judge us. Submitting to authority is impossible because we cant let others see that we have no worth. To those who have believed this lie submission equals worthlessness.

   And bad relationships follow. Because if we believe a lie, then we will surround ourselves with people who make us comfortable in that lie and it simply reinforces that lie and makes us as comfortable as we can be in it. It hurts to change a dressing on a wound, because the wound has to be opened up. So we cover it with bad relationships, or a lack of relationships. But any relationship or lack of relationship based on believed lies will only continue to sow into the flesh.

   Any time we allow the flesh to win, anytime we feed it, we strengthen it and set ourselves up for failure.

   "But he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life. and let us not grow weary in well doing..."
   Sowing into the Spirit will give us life. It is the only way to break the cycle of lies, reactions and bad relationships. Sowing life and not death is as simple as choosing to walk with Christ. You cannot walk with Christ and not be sowing into the Spirit. Why? Because what He says to you is the seed of Life.

   What does sowing into the Spirit look like? Matt 13:1-23 Tells the parable of the sower.

   "On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. ² And great multitudes were gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat down; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

³ Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. ⁵ Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. ⁶ But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. ⁷ And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. ⁸ But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹ He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”"

 ¹⁰ And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” ¹¹ He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ¹² For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. ¹³ Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴ And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,

and seeing you will see and not perceive; ¹⁵
for the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
so that I should heal them.’

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; ¹⁷
or assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

¹⁸ Therefore, hear the parable of the sower: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. ²⁰ But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹ yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. ²² Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful, ²³ But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

What is being sown in this parable? Well, Jesus is pretty plain about this. He says "the word". 

   Isn't it great that the one who loves you the most, the one who wants to talk to you every minute of every day,when He speaks, actually fixes your life? Sowing into your Spirit is this simple....Hear God, respond to God. Hearing God for your situation is the key. This is only accomplished through time spent with Him. All that is left is for us to respond. God does not force your hand. God will give you every answer for every test and pop quiz you will take in life, but its no good if you don't write down the answers.

   Patiently hearing and responding to God until your circumstance improves can get hard. I want to encourage you with this word study from Skip Moen on the word patience. As stretched as we can get, patience for our circumstances seems impossible if you look at it in the wrong light........

   

love is patient  1 Corinthians 13:4  NASB

Patient – The Greek word is makrothumia.  It comes from two older words, makros meaning “long” (i.e. an extended temporal duration) and thumos meaning “passion.” Love has a passion that lasts.  That seems very nice, the sort of thing we like to hear at a wedding or read in a Hallmark card.  We generally see patience as something that we do, by obligation or commitment.  To be patient is to take active steps that overcome our natural response of self-protection, defense or revenge.

But this particular word chosen by Paul has a different context.  In the Bible, makrothumia focuses our attention on God, not on our behavior.  It is God’s gift of the postponement of judgment, always with a view toward repentance.  Once we understand that God has postponed the judgment we deserved, we are also required to postpone our judgment of others.  Patience becomes a necessary quality of service to God.  The obligations of hesed require that we exercise the same quality of makrothumia toward others that God demonstrated toward us.  In other words, you can’t be a follower of the King and have a short temper.
How do I express love as patience?  I leave things up to God.  Patience puts all of the circumstances of life in God’s hands, expressing the confidence that God will act as the divine judge.  It does not demand repentance as a condition of performance but rather shows the gift of grace as a worshipful response to the pardon we received from God.  It always allows a space for repentance.  Dr. Laura once said that it wasn’t necessary to forgive someone until that person demonstrated a willingness to reform.  She was wrong.  Once we accept God’s hesed, we incur the obligation regardless of the other’s action.

In this verse makrothumia is passive.  The word expresses something that happens to me, not something I make happen.  Love is patient does not mean that I exercise my mental and emotional muscles to attain a higher plane of ethical action.  It means that I wait – that I accept what comes, I allow whatever befalls me.  Of course, this can only be done because I know that God is love and what befalls me is ultimately in His hands, under His control and within His power.  Love is patient is another glorious way of saying that I am not in control, that my world is not up to me.

Patience (makrothumia) is not self-control.  It is not biting my tongue, enduring attacks, holding back my desires, restraining my self-defense.  Patience is giving up my life to God, no matter what happens to me.  Love as patience means that I turn it over to God and wait, just like He waited for me, just like He withheld judgment from me.
If your love is patient, you wait – because God waited.  That is enough.
Topical Index: patience, makrothumia, 1 Corinthians 13:4

God's Equity and Pirates of the Soul....

   Equity can be defined as value placed on property. Now, if the bank is looking at your property then your land and home will be judged by square footage, location, resources, market value, etc. But if you are looking at the property you will probably judge it based on how much you spent on it, how you remodeled it, how long you have lived there, experiences and memories made there, and generally what that place means to you. Equity, in terms of value, differs from person to person and from viewpoint to viewpoint. In the end, the bank will probably offer you a lot less money than the worth you have attached to that property.


   If God values you, a purchased son or daughter,  how does he show it? What is God's currency? How does God attach worth to your name in His Kingdom? Does He show it through spiritual gifts given? Does He show it through full bank accounts? How about family size, or even ease of life? Does God make life easier for those He loves more? Is there a hierarchy to the value God places on us as humans?

   There is one thing that equals value in the Kingdom. Love. For God so loved the world that He gave up that which should seem most prized by Him, His own Son, so that we could know that love. We can judge, each one of us individually, how much God values us by the amount of love He has for us. The amount is never in question, it is infinite. The problem, however, is how we interpret that love. God values each one of us without restraint, but we can place restraints on how much of that love we know intimately.

   God's love for us and our relationship with Him was always meant to be our ultimate treasure. There are, however, Pirates of the Soul, who wish to steal that treasure away from us. A pirate would fire on a ship or force its surrender, never letting it sink, so that they could steal all that is on board, and to spare their lives the crew would surrender the treasure. The Enemy of your soul operates the same way. He sends pirates in the form of broken relationships, wrong outlooks and lies about life, memories of unfulfilled promises, and conditional love. These pirates often open fire on our souls long enough for us to concede some small measure of God's love so that we don't feel the pain of past hurts and lies. When a pirate wins, the ships crew are often taken captive and that which was meant for good is turned into something evil, an outlaw. The Enemy does the same by lying to us and because of this we misinterpret the things God has for us. Discipline becomes rejection, provision becomes entitlement, and His timing becomes disinterest in our need.

   When we allow our past hurts to tell us how much God loves us, how much He values us, then we concede our ultimate treasure to a thief that has raised the black sails and come to kill, steal, and destroy.

   But there is an answer to piracy on the high seas of your heart. A Good Captain. A fearless commander who has fought this kind of battle before. Who knows His enemy and has beaten him. When pirates attacked great navies they would search all of their fleets for the best captain, and send him to destroy the enemy. You see, God has not only given you His love, but in doing so has provided a way that you keep it.

   Placing a higher value and dependance on the love of God is actually the answer to how we keep our treasure from the Enemy. Trust God's love for you because He values you too much to stop loving you because of your mistakes.

Brother Lawrence and jail house religion.....

www.practicegodspresence.com
   Is a fantastic site that has a printout of the book "Practicing the Presence of God" by an old monk by the name of Brother Lawrence.

   I first found Brother Lawrence interesting because he was a wounded soldier who decided to devote his life to God by joining a monastery. His injuries during battle partially wrecked his sciatic nerve and he was somewhat feeble and slow in the going.

   Brother Lawrence had an obscure life as a dishwasher and sandal repairer until after his death and the publicizing of a book about his peculiar way to spend time with God. The book is a series of letters and interviews about the man and how he communed with God.

   The amazing thing about Brother Lawrence's approach to prayer is its simplicity. In a monastery you follow religious rites and practices that are meant to bring you closer to God and involve many hours of praying particular prayers and reading particular readings. However, Brother Lawrence experienced all life as prayer.

   His approach, in so many words, was to keep a heart focused on his creator, every moment of every day. When your heart is in quiet worship all day long then you run out of options. Gossip, lying, lust all become distractions from what has surely grown to be your great romance.....spending time in His Presence. Brother Lawrence said "If I was a preacher I would preach one thing, the Presence of God..."

   Odd. A man who's daily life was deprived of all our modern pleasures found his ultimate enjoyment in God, just being near. But isn't God always near? Yes, but we're not. As near as He may be, I could be 1,000 miles away.

   What does this have to do with jail ministry? Whats the point? Well, when a man is incarcerated he runs out of distractions. He runs out of options, much like in a monastery. It is a lack of options, strangely enough, that quiets our minds and can bring our circumstances into focus. This is what drives some men crazy on the inside, a lack of distractions.

   But when a man finds God inside of a jail or prison or foxhole, we decry it. We say, "It wont last" or, "They are just desperate." If I asked you to sit alone in silence for a week and focus on your life, you would see some things need changing. Its why we send kids to their rooms, to "think about what you have done" and trust they come out with a different outlook. Its why we cool off after an argument. We need quiet time to focus and reflect until our emotions and reactions subside.

   Some mock jail house religion because, whether they will admit it or not, they don't think criminals can change. They don't think they deserve New Life. Who is more worthy of a new life, the man on his death bed or the man on death row? And before you answer, remember that Christ saw Barabbas set free just hours before His own death. Jail house/foxhole religion may seem like a fleeting last ditch effort by a desperate man, but frankly you and I are just as desperate. Were you some how going to stand in heaven without a Savior?

   I submit to you that the man in the prison cell in your state penitentiary, or the man in the gun turret in Afghanistan, have a clearer picture of their need for a savior then those of us with eyes glued to our T.V., ears stuffed with iPod headphones, or noses buried in Time magazine. Jail house/ foxhole religion is a product of a man who is free of worldly distraction and realizes that he has great need. How dare us say it cant last when Christ Himself answered the dying criminal beside him on the cross with "this day, you shall be with Me in paradise...."

   The first man to enter heaven because of what the blood of Christ had done for him was a dying criminal.....eyes focused on his Savior.