Throwing Stones

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Character, Christians, church, Election, Politics, President, Social Media

The funny thing about character is that it is an inside job, but it is evident on the outside when something does not go someone’s way. We call it the fires of adversity, that brings the dross to the surface. Fire not only reveals the impurities in a person’s life, it also reveals that which has been hidden. In a very public world with social media, people can no longer just have opinions over coffee, they feel the need to go public with their thoughts. Jesus never had a problem with people’s opinions, Peter rebuked Him in public, the sons of Zebedee called fire down from heaven, and Thomas said, if I don’t see I won’t believe. So, going public is not the issue, the issue is what you are revealing about yourself by going public. One of the many things God is doing right now is exposing people for who they really are.

There are many things being exposed right now in a very public way and I think many more things will be exposed, but this is not a license to start throwing stones. When the disciples were publically discussing who was the greatest among them, Jesus did not say, how dare you want to be great, but tweaked their understanding of what greatness is by bringing a little child near and saying, if you want to be great, be like a child. I am thankful the church is speaking out, I am glad people have a platform to share their ideas, thoughts and opinions about a variety of subjects. Religion and political correctness seeks to silence people, but Jesus liberates them and the first sign of freedom is getting your voice back. So, speak, share, disagree, promote, but in doing these things, don’t forget Luke 6:45 that says, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

This election process for the President of the United States has brought out some things that give me grave concern for us a church. One, there is much evidence to the fact that we as Christians believe in selective righteousness. When we can assault someone with our words because of how many times they’ve been married, but have the same level of divorce in the church, this is stone throwing. When we can measure a candidate by their morality, when we have rampant sex before marriage among believers, this is selective righteousness. When we think their attitude and views on people is crass, rude and dishonoring, but we slam them with our words, this is selective righteousness. Many Christians are against someone more than they are for someone and it is evidenced in our Facebook posts, blogs, radio interviews, conversations and sermons.

People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. – Author Unknown

He that is without sin among you, let him cast a stone… – Jesus (John 8:7)

Humility is not passivity, rather it is teachability. When we measure our level of righteousness, purity, or holiness against someone else, we are using false weights. The only person we are to compare ourselves to in these areas is Jesus Himself and He was without sin, so we ALL fall short (Romans 3:23). What I see happening is Christians wanting to take a place above others in order to look down on them. This is called self-righteousness and was the very thing Jesus dealt with when He walked the earth. If Christians are not careful, we are going to miss the next move of God, because Jesus never came the way the religious people thought He would come. They wanted a conquering king and He came as a humble servant. He came to lift people up and the religious leaders wanted Him to tear people down.

As Christians we have enough of our own issues to deal with both internally and externally. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this ALL men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). The litmus test for discipleship is love and I Corinthians 13:4-8 gives you practical evidence of a lover. Love is fierce, but it is not mean! God so loved the world…(John 3:16). Unbelievers are not going to become believers because we throw another stone at them, nor are believers who are acting like unbelievers going to return if we continue to throw stones. Love is the answer! Shawn Bolz in his book Translating God says, “You can only influence that which you love.” If we are going to be world changers, we must become lovers of God and lovers of people, for last time I checked God’s kindness led people to repentance (Romans 2:4). I came to Christ in January 1989 not because someone threw a stone at me, but because someone showed me the love and kindness of God. Stone throwing isn’t a kingdom concept, so please, stop throwing stones and start sharing the good news, that once I was lost, but now I am found!

An Unshakable Kingdom

Tags

Christianity, Christians, Conform, culture, Kingdom, kingdom of God

Hebrews 12:28 “Let us therefore, receiving a kingdom that is firm and stable and cannot be shaken, offer to God pleasing service and acceptable worship, with modesty and pious care and godly fear and awe.”

One of the most challenging things to change in ourselves is the culture in which we were raised. Our culture is so much a part of our DNA, that we do not even recognize the strength of it until we live in another country, marry someone or try to understand those of another culture. Churches all over the world are predominantly of the same color, race or creed, because we struggle so much to change the culture in which we were raised.

I lived in Malaysia for 9 consecutive years. When I first got there, I did not realize how American I was; I did not recognize how law-abiding I was; how Christian I was; how much I wanted them to become like me, even though I was in their country, their culture. I chose to move to Malaysia, no one made me live there, yet I was so ingrained with my culture, that I wanted them to become like me and to do things my way. This lasted about 2 years, but it finally dawned on me, they were not going to change, this was their culture, their country and they had no intention of changing. So, for me, this was my first official culture clash.

American culture is not as well liked as we may think around the world. They see us as loud, opinionated, big, and immoral. They want our money, they want our power, they want our influence, but honestly, they do not want their people to adopt what they perceive as our bondage that we call freedom. To them to have a voice is dangerous, to speak out against your President is unacceptable, to elevate women is destructive, and to be democratic is undesirable. They want to keep their value systems, while they take over our land, our money, our influence.

This is true for other cultures and countries, but it is also true for Christians. Many Christians, who have voluntarily accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior did not realize how American they are, how Asian they are, how African they are, how Australian they are, how European they are. Until they came into the kingdom, they did not realize how anti-Christ they really are, for in this kingdom, there is only one King and there’s only one culture. No matter how much we try to change the kingdom of God to be American, African, Australian, European or Asian, we find that the kingdom demands us to conform to its image. But many are not willing to conform, so they seek to take the land, the money, the power, the influence of this kingdom, but they are not ready to adapt the values of this kingdom.

Many are in a battle, for no other reason than they refuse to conform to the kingdom culture.

The kingdom of God is not like America, it does not conform to other cultures, allow for sub cultures and change laws based on people’s personal values, whims or desires. The kingdom of God is an unshakable kingdom, if you do not want to conform to it, you will never succeed in it, and the truth is, no matter how hard you try you can’t have the blessing of it, unless you submit to it. Unless I was willing to learn to take on the Malaysian culture, I was not going to succeed in that culture, for it was not changing for me, I had to change for it. The same is true in the kingdom, you will never succeed as a Christian, until you conform to the kingdom culture, which is an unshakable kingdom.

3 Little Pigs, A Lesson Learned

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3 Little Pigs, Believers, Christians, church, Psalm 91, Storm is Coming

When I was a child my mom used to read us stories, that at the moment seem fun, but I never would have considered them life lessons. But, now that I am older, the Lord brings back to remembrance many of these stories that were stored in my mind even while a small child. One of those stories is that of The 3 Little Pigs. I am sure many of you can picture the story even as you hear the title. The basic premise of this story is prophetic for the season we are in. Some are building houses of straw, some our building houses of wood, but there are a few who are building a house of stone. Noah built something the others weren’t building and it saved his life and the life of his family. So, there is biblical precedence for building something others may not understand.

Now the truth of the three little pigs is that all three pigs knew there was a wolf and that he sought to destroy their lives, but only one of the three little pigs built a house that the wolf could not penetrate. I Corinthians 13:3 says, “But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value.” Everyone is building something, but the quality of the materials they are using will be revealed in the very near future. A flood came to Noah’s day, the breath of a wolf came to the 3 little pigs and Paul says, a fire is coming in the future.

It doesn’t take many minutes of watching the news to realize we are in a season of God revealing the foundation on which things have been built and with what materials they have used. Just the other day many temples, buildings and historic sites were toppled in Nepal as a major earthquake hit. Just days before that, South America experienced the eruption of an ancient volcano that shot ash 9 miles into the sky. Not many years ago, here in America we watched as two towers that represented the financial prosperity of the world were leveled to rock and rubble. Building materials that looked stable on the outside proved to be not as strong as we may have once thought.

A storm is coming, it is going to shake everything that can be shaken inside of us, so that what cannot be shaken will remain. But it is not here yet, which means there is still time to build your house on the inside, making the Lord your refuge and strength (Psalm 91). The warning signs are so obvious, you have to literally ignore them to say you don’t see them. My prayer is that you would build a house that can’t be moved, which is a Psalm 91 house, but even if there are those who don’t read this, I still want to be a house that those can run to, even if there’s are torn down by the storm. The three little pigs all survived because one pig was prepared for the storm. Will you be the one to hear this word and build a Psalm 91 house?

Actor or Authentic?

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Autheticity, Believers, Change, Christ, Christianity, Christians, church, Empowerment, Exposing, faith, Family

Denzel Washington, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock are actors/actresses that can convince you they are the character they are portraying, because they have mastered the art of acting. But as soon as they step out of character, who they really are is seen by those who are behind the scenes. Some of these people have track records off set that make them even more respectable, while others have some personal issues that have discounted their character.

Religion is a master at teaching people how to say the right thing, act the right way and make people believe you are doing better than you really are. Some people put on golden globe performances when in church, talking to other Christians, or even when praying, but not even a golden globe performance can fool the God of heaven and earth.

King David was called a man after God’s own heart, not because he mastered the act of religion and right living, but because he allowed the authenticity of his heart to be seen by God and others. Listen to something he said in Psalm 22:2-3, “O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but I have no rest. Yet, You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.” David allowed his true feelings to be spoken, so what he believed about God could rise above his circumstances.

When we shut people down by not letting them share what they are really thinking and feeling, there is no way for them to tap the into the well of salvation that gushes with living water. Religion wants to silence your voice, but God wants to hear your voice. Your pain, your struggle, your trial, your authenticity is someone else’s victory.

If we are going to reap the harvest, we have to be willing to listen to people’s pain, so the promise is real to them not just the right words. This has to start in the chuch and from there it will flow to the nations. Authenticity builds trust and when someone trusts you, they will be authentic around you.

Are you an actor or authentic? Others know, but do you?

Disappointment: A Destiny Battle

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Christianity, Christians, Disappointment, grace, Growth, life, maturity, spiritual growth, Truth

Have you ever gotten your hopes up for something and then it didn’t happen the way you thought it would? Have you ever believed you heard God say something, but it ended not turning out the way you believed it would? Have you ever been fully convinced of something, promised something, confident about something, to only have it not happen? Yeah, me too.

Disappointment is a hard pill to swallow, because you hope, you believe, you are truly convinced of something good happening, then that very thing you were so sure of does not happen and disappointment sets in. I was living in Malaysia and working as a permanent substitute teacher at an International School. I was in good standing with the administration and other teachers, in addition, my relationship and effectiveness with the students was evident to all. Three positions in my department came open, this is unusual, since I am in Guidance and Counseling, but all three counseling positions in our school came open. My principal spoke to me and asked which position I wanted, so I told him and he said your name is penciled in, but we have to go to some job fairs and find the other two positions before we can give you a contract for your position. I was elated by this, now my son could attend this school, which was one of my hearts desires, I would have a full time job and this would add income to our family and help fulfill some of our dreams as a family. Everywhere I turned this looked the like blessing of the Lord and to say the least, I was very excited. I believed this was an answer to my prayers, I sensed the Lord say this job was for me, I mean I knew that I knew this was the job, I had went to school for.

Have you ever been in that place where everything lined up according to what you were praying for? Have you ever been fully convinced in your spirit, then it all was in agreement in the natural? Have you ever had so many confirmations about what you heard God say, that you were already spending the money and decorating your office, so to speak, in what you knew was going to happen? This is faith right, being confident of what we do not see and acting as though we already have it. Faith is what pleases God, so I was to say the least, fully engaged by faith in this answer to my prayer. Then one day, my principal comes into my office and says, I don’t  know how to say this, but while we were out on a job fair, we found a husband and wife team, whom of which both are school counselors and we needed the one position and her husband wanted your position, so we gave it to them. I am so sorry, this is such a rare thing that happened, but it is our policy to hire husband and wife teams. He then walked out of my office. Selah!

I sat there in my office, stunned. Really, is this really happening right now, I so convinced that this is what the Lord told me, how did I miss this one? You can only imagine the thoughts running through my head, the questions I had, the temptation to be mad at God. But, I heard a sermon by Bill Johnson on dealing with disappointment and he said how we handle disappointment determines our destiny. I did not understand the relevance of this message, until this very moment. I had to decide was God still good, even though I didn’t get what I want, or was I going to stop believing in God? It was a very real question and whether you hear it in your head or your heart, you are asking the same thing when you experience disappointment.

Bishop Raphael Green says, we go through destiny battles. I was in a destiny battle and did not even realize it. I was disappointed, to say the very least, but one thing I knew, is that God is good and that He works out all things for the good, for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. The disappointment did not go away, but the battle was won, because I decided that even though He slay me, still I would follow. I was not going to let the loss of a job destroy my destiny in God.

Every one of us faces disappointments, some are more hard to handle than others, but disappointment is no respecter of persons. However, it is a destiny battle and how you handle disappointment determines your destiny. The enemy will mock God, He will try and tell you God lied to you, God is not for you, God doesn’t want you blessed, and on and on the mocking goes. But, if you can push past the pain of disappointment, you will hear a whisper that says, it was for my glory. God does not break His promises, He does not lie, He is faithful, He is good, He is our Father, and what you believe about Him comes out when you are facing a destiny battle. Don’t doubt the goodness of God, for in due time, you will reap a harvest for all the seeds you have sown, whether financially or in tears. They are all seeds and He is faithful, even when we are going through disappointment. Win the destiny battle my friend! I did and I know you can and you will.

Change in the Command Center

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Change, Christians, Grow Up, life, mature, men, Mind, Spouse, Thinking, women

Romans 12:2 “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.”

Everyone has something about themselves that they want to change. And if you don’t have something about yourself you want to change, there is someone in your life that has something about you that they want changed. So, no matter how you cut it, change is needed in everyone’s life. Once the change that is needed is identified, Christians will pray and ask the Lord to help them in this or that area of their lives. They will cry out for the Lord to change what they see as the problem, however, the issue may never get resolved, because the need for change is not in what you can see, but in what you think, in what you believe.

I have been overweight my whole life. Literally, I was born 9 lbs. 15 oz. and kept growing from there. I do not have one picture of me as skinny, or small or even light. So, I am not one of those people who were small in high school and then gained weight after marriage or pregnancy, I have always been overweight. I have tried every diet known to man, but failed at all of them because I would quit, before I could see results. I have prayed about this issue, I have fasted about this issue, but it was not until 5 weeks ago, that the Lord revealed to me the root of this issue. I had a self-sabotaging belief system that caused me to be and stay overweight. I never saw it before, I never knew it was a problem, so I never addressed it. But, now I see it, I have dealt with it, repented of it and am now on the fast track to a new body.

I say all that as an example, for we tend to look at the situation and try to change it, but very rarely do we see the root cause of why that problem has manifested in our lives. Marriages are on the rocks daily, not because the two people do not love each other, but because they have a faulty thought process going on somewhere in their brains and it is effecting the marriage. You see, everyone has beliefs that are known to them or unknown to them and those beliefs manifest in our lives for good or for negative results. Until we renew our minds, we will never see changes in the area we struggle with and pray for and want to change. The problem is no your weight, not your spouse, not your church, not your boss, not your kids, the problem is the way you think.

We have no control over anyone but ourselves and until we realize that the way we are thinking is causing the problems we are experiencing, we will never see a change in the issue we struggle with, because we never change the way we think. The Lord has given us a success plan to follow, but most people want to fix the symptoms rather than deal with the root of the issue which will bring about lasting change. The Lord says, renew your mind, change the way you think, and he shows us how to do it, dive deep daily into His word, listen to sermons and hear the voice of God through the preacher, read books and listen to the voice of the spirit coming through the author. Saturate yourself in the word of God whether written or spoken, but let the word of God transform the way you think.

We all have stinking thinking going on and it is manifesting in our finances, our faith, our family, our friends, and we have the power to change the way we think which we change the results we see. Your spouse is not your problem, it is the way you think about your spouse and what he or she does. If husbands would saturate themselves in the word of God and learn what it means to be a man of God, there is not a wife I know that would not gladly submit to him. And wives if you would saturate yourself in the word of God, taking every opportunity to build your husband up, not tear him down with your words, you would trust him, not interrogate him, if you immersed yourself into the world of God and discovered what it means to be a woman of God, there is not a man I know who would not love to honor you, cherish you, cuddle you. However, it takes a renewed mind.

Many people want to use self-will to change something in their life and some, who are very strong willed can see lasting changes, but there is still a fault line because they did not change the way they think. Our minds are the command center of our whole lives and if we were honest, everything we do or don’t do originates in the way we think, so it is time to make a change in the command center.