God IS There!

This blog was started in response to an outcry from christians that were hurting. The hurt was caused either BY "church" or people IN the church. Unfortunately, often times people confuse the church for God. In fact, they think that because church leadership "represents" God, if they are hurt by church leadership, it's GOD who is hurting them. Actually, church leadership is made up of imperfect humans, myself being at the top of the imperfect list! No church leader is beyond mistakes and we all need to realize that. It IS important however that we take some of the responsibility in the hurt.

By shutting God out because of hurt from the "church", we are also refusing His help with the healing process and ultimately, that help is what we want, isn't it?

I've had people tell me, "I can't FEEL God! Is He really there?"

It doesn’t matter whether you think God is there or not; He is. His existence doesn’t depend upon your opinion, which is irrelevant. You might say, “I don’t feel God’s presence. It doesn’t feel like He’s there at all.”

How you feel about God is just that–your feeling-nothing else. Who He is does not depend on how you feel about Him, which should be quite liberating. He is there for you-no matter what.
Regardless about how you feel, you can count on this: He has not abandoned you, and your feelings don’t change that. You have not been abandoned-period.

If you depend on how you feel, your blood-sugar is more important than God’s promises in the Scriptures. Your life will be a never-ending roller coaster ride to nowhere. In my travels to conferences on counseling, the catch-phrase was always, "How does that make you feel?" While that may be important in discovering the roots of your hurt, "how you feel" doesn't matter when acknowledging God's presence.

God is there. Count on it. You can believe it because it’s true. That’s the reality you should never surrender. It doesn’t matter how you feel. God is there, and His love for you has not diminished in the slightest. Neither has His commitment.

This is the easiest thing in the world to do, but for most of us, it can also be the most difficult. It’s much easier to do something than simply believe, but that’s what you need to do. Learn to count on God’s presence as a reality and not as a feeling.

Trusting after hurting is a very difficult thing to do. Trusting God after hurting is the most important thing you can do. God IS there! Count on it!

Knowing Our Identity

In a recently released book entitled, Defending Identity, Natan Sharansky writes, "The Pentecostals in the Soviet Union were prohibited from teaching their religion, persecuted remorselessly, exiled, and moved deeper and deeper into Siberia, all the way to the border of China and Japan, and even there were not left alone ... and were willing to be imprisoned to teach their children their religion."

What was the source of their strength? Sharansky makes the case that ultimately without one knowing and valuing his identity there is little likelihood that he will be able to maintain his position, or even survive. He shows the relationship between identity and freedom and argues that Americans and others are slowly being deprogammed and taught to discredit their own country and its ideals. Sharansky, a Jew, gives historical reference to the struggle of the Jewish people and points out present dangers that are overwhelming Europe. The book references the Pentecostals of the Soviet Union as a people who understood who they were and discusses how this understanding gave them courage to place their lives on the line.

He states, "The enemy's will is strong because his identity is strong. And we must match his strength of purpose with strong identities of our own. The universal quality of identity is that it gives life and meaning beyond life itself." Oxford dictionary defines identity this way: "The fact of who or what a person or thing is."

Reflecting on the past several years one can see identity problems developing throughout Christianity. Many have developed an admiration for success and shifted from declaration of the Truth to imitation of personalities and church-growth formulas. politically correct values have distorted the church's voice with regard to morals and the absoluteness of salvation through Christ alone.

Inconsistency with regard to values, morals, and even Bible validity, has weakened our young people's sense of identity. If adults do not know clearly what they value, who they are, and the importance of the Word of God, how can they hope to convince their children that they are serious about their faith?

Everyday the world hammers the dogma of devils into the brains of our youth. The modern tools of media - ever so cool, pervasive, portable, intrusive, intoxicating, calculated, and controlled largely by anti-Christian corporations that reap billions in profits - are the most effective weapons the devil has ever possessed. There is a spirit in this world, and the spirit is the spirit od the Antichrist.

Victory over this spirit will not come by attempting to duplicate the devil's weapons. The media, the machine and the technology are not the attraction. The content, evil imagery, lust, and sensationalized lifestyles are the attraction. Getting our message delivered in some modish media format will not win the battle. The power of God demonstrated through the gifts of the Spirit and preaching of the Word will overcome the enemy, and thankfully the drawing power of Christ operates independent of our talents. Jesus said, "I will draw all men to me."

The battle is won by knowing who we are in Christ, knowing Him, and living in His presence. It's not the entertainment that will keep young people. It is the power of the Holy Spirit. The baptism of the Spirit will identify for them His purpose in their lives, not some personality-based survey. Only God can give man the resolve to, if necessary, die in Siberia like the Russian Pentecostals. It is the anointed, spirit-intoxicated services that will transform young people into soldiers of the cross prepared to face the threat of militant Islamism. We hardly need another service fashioned like and imitating some asinine television show. Be Pentecostal. Have church. Preach the Word. Cry out. Challenge the Christians. Disciple the youth. This is how identity is shaped, hearts are transformed, gifts are imparted, callings are transmitted, and destinies are understood. This is how the fiery torch is passed to the next generation of whom the world will say, "These are they which follow the Lamb wherever He goes" (Revelation 14:4)

(many thanks to my Bible College president, Paul Mooney, for the content of this blog)

Can our actions be weighed?

Man has never made a machine that can weigh actions. He has molecular scales and claims to know the weight of the earth's smallest substance, the atom, but he cannot weigh actions, attitudes, or motives. God has a way of telling their values: He weighs the force and energy behind your intentions.

He not only weighs the facts, but the reasons!

He weighs family disputes and provocations:

He weighed Peninnah's attitude toward Hannah and Hannah's response to Peninnah. He saw Peninnah's daily provoking in order to irritate Hannah. He weighed the misery of Hannah's soul that drove her to the altar and calculated the bitterness of her weeping. This was comforting to Hannah. Out of it came a song of triumph, but it must have been a dread to Peninnah (I Samuel 2:1-10).

He weighs the discussions of husbands and wives:

He weighed the decision of Ananias and Sapphira and they died because they lied to the Holy Ghost (Acts 5:9).

God weighed Belshazzar and found him wanting (Daniel 5:26-30).

Just as a lamp shows what is in the darkness, so God reveals what is in a person's spirit and searches out their innermost being (Proverbs 20:27).

Jesus told the Scribes and Pharisees that they had done well in paying tithes, but they failed in the weightier matters such as judgement, mercy and faith (Matthew 23:23).

Jesus said if you give a cup of cold water, it will not be forgotten (Matthew 10:42). So He takes into account the smallest good deed that is done by His people.

God, it seems, not only is capable of weighing our actions, but He, in fact, does!

(many thanks to Kelsey Griffin, my professor at Bible College, for the content of this blog)