The enemy has already been defeated. Christ has thoroughly routed him by His sacrificial death, bodily resurrection, and ascension to power and glory. Satan's condition, since the cross, is described as follows:
He is 'bound': Mark 3:27; Luke 11:20; Revelation 20.
His power is restricted and restrained: 2 Thessalonians 2:6.
He has been rendered 'powerless over believers': Hebrews 2:14.
He is defeated, disarmed, and spoiled: Colossians 2:15; Rev. 12:7; Mark 3:27.
He has fallen and thrown down: Luke 10:18; Rev 12:9.
His kingdom has been replaced by God's: Daniel 7; Luke 11:20.
He was crushed under the foot of early Christians: Romans 16:20.
He has lost authority over Christians: Colossians 1:13
He has been judged: John 16:11.
He cannot touch a Christian: 1 John 5:18.
His works have been destroyed: 1 John 3:8.
He has nothing: John 14:30.
He must flee when resisted: James 4:7
Surely, Satan is alive, but not well on the planet Earth!
His minions, likewise, have been cast out, subject to the authority of Christians, overcome by them, bound in chains, etc (Matthew 10-12; Mark 1:27; Luke 9:1; 10:19; 1 John 4:4; Jude 6; Rev. 12:9). Satan truly is a defeated foe! His power over unbelievers is still great: the whole world lies in the evil one 1 John 5:19; he can take them captive at his will 2 Timothy 2:26. Yet this no longer is true of the believer. Thus the Christian by God's grace (help) can overcome evil and is exhorted to do so Romans 12:21.
Recommended Reading:
Satan: A Defeated Foe by Charles Spurgeon
http://www.allbookstores.com/book/compare/0883682672
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Stand
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you." James 4:7
Resist - This word is made up of two Greek words, anti (meaning "against") and histemi (meaning "to stand"). Therefore, we get "to stand against". This word finds its way into English in the word "antihistamine" (a substance that blocks production of certain chemicals). The key to understanding this word is the grammar. It is aorist, active, second person, plural. That means it is a single action, actively engaged in, personal, for every one of us. In others words, James is saying that each one of us is called to actively take a stand against the devil to make that stand a deliberate effort in our lives. This is not passive dismissal. It is not looking the other way or avoiding. It is the role of the peacemaker from the Beatitudes to stand in harm's way for the sake of the kingdom.
But notice what James does not say. He does not say, "Fight!" He says, "Stand!" Don't fall down, don't collapse, don't give in. Just stand against evil. God will do the fighting, you do the resisting. The picture we need to have in mind is the protester who stands in front of the approaching tank, no weapons, no conflict just resistance by placing himself in the way.
And look at the promise. "He will flee from you". The word is pheuxomai. It means "run away from danger" (I know we only do one word a day but this is important). Do you see how powerful it is to just stand against evil? God says that when we take this stand, the devil runs away because he knows he is in danger. Without a shot fired, without any battle fought, we win. He runs. He is scared to death of the person who stands on trust in God. There is an old Sunday school song that goes, "Standing on the promises of Christ my King". That is all we need. We might have to stand quite awhile, but the victory is certain. It is a promise.
STAND UP TODAY! Let God put you in harm's way and watch the devil run.
"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you" James 4:8
Draw - Eggisate is the Greek word that means "come close at hand". The English word "progress" comes from this root. It is combined in a special phrase eggizo to Theo (meaning "draw near to God") that is used for offering sacrifices in worship. Drawing near to God means worshipping God. You can't get any closer than that.
James has just told us to submit to God (place yourself under Him), stand up against evil and the devil will run away (yesterday's verse James 4:7). Now he tells us to get as close as possible to God. All of these ideas deal with movement. Put yourself in a place stand come close. This is the perfect physical picture of how we are to live. Start by bending your knee to God. Put yourself in the right place. Then, don't be lazy. Get up. Stand in front of evil. Make your presence known. Watch the devil run away. And return to bending your knee - come close to God in worship. And guess what? God will get up close and personal with you.
So many times in my life I felt removed from God's presence. I knew that I believed but I did not feel close. Now I see that many of those times I was just hiding out. I was avoiding some encounter with the devil, hoping it would go away. God was waiting for me to stand up and be counted. Not grit my teeth and fight. Just resist. Push back. Stake my claim. And worship. We know that the context of worship is bending the knee in reverence and awe. First I stand. I watch God's power chase away my enemy. Then I get on my knees in thanksgiving and praise. And what do you know, God comes close to me.
Remember "progress". There is progress hidden in these words. Submit - stand watch worship. Make progress your goal today.
by Skip Moen
Resist - This word is made up of two Greek words, anti (meaning "against") and histemi (meaning "to stand"). Therefore, we get "to stand against". This word finds its way into English in the word "antihistamine" (a substance that blocks production of certain chemicals). The key to understanding this word is the grammar. It is aorist, active, second person, plural. That means it is a single action, actively engaged in, personal, for every one of us. In others words, James is saying that each one of us is called to actively take a stand against the devil to make that stand a deliberate effort in our lives. This is not passive dismissal. It is not looking the other way or avoiding. It is the role of the peacemaker from the Beatitudes to stand in harm's way for the sake of the kingdom.
But notice what James does not say. He does not say, "Fight!" He says, "Stand!" Don't fall down, don't collapse, don't give in. Just stand against evil. God will do the fighting, you do the resisting. The picture we need to have in mind is the protester who stands in front of the approaching tank, no weapons, no conflict just resistance by placing himself in the way.
And look at the promise. "He will flee from you". The word is pheuxomai. It means "run away from danger" (I know we only do one word a day but this is important). Do you see how powerful it is to just stand against evil? God says that when we take this stand, the devil runs away because he knows he is in danger. Without a shot fired, without any battle fought, we win. He runs. He is scared to death of the person who stands on trust in God. There is an old Sunday school song that goes, "Standing on the promises of Christ my King". That is all we need. We might have to stand quite awhile, but the victory is certain. It is a promise.
STAND UP TODAY! Let God put you in harm's way and watch the devil run.
"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you" James 4:8
Draw - Eggisate is the Greek word that means "come close at hand". The English word "progress" comes from this root. It is combined in a special phrase eggizo to Theo (meaning "draw near to God") that is used for offering sacrifices in worship. Drawing near to God means worshipping God. You can't get any closer than that.
James has just told us to submit to God (place yourself under Him), stand up against evil and the devil will run away (yesterday's verse James 4:7). Now he tells us to get as close as possible to God. All of these ideas deal with movement. Put yourself in a place stand come close. This is the perfect physical picture of how we are to live. Start by bending your knee to God. Put yourself in the right place. Then, don't be lazy. Get up. Stand in front of evil. Make your presence known. Watch the devil run away. And return to bending your knee - come close to God in worship. And guess what? God will get up close and personal with you.
So many times in my life I felt removed from God's presence. I knew that I believed but I did not feel close. Now I see that many of those times I was just hiding out. I was avoiding some encounter with the devil, hoping it would go away. God was waiting for me to stand up and be counted. Not grit my teeth and fight. Just resist. Push back. Stake my claim. And worship. We know that the context of worship is bending the knee in reverence and awe. First I stand. I watch God's power chase away my enemy. Then I get on my knees in thanksgiving and praise. And what do you know, God comes close to me.
Remember "progress". There is progress hidden in these words. Submit - stand watch worship. Make progress your goal today.
by Skip Moen
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Annie Fintan's Retirement
Just to let every one know, Annie Fintan has retired. She has been on staff with Refuge Ministries for several years serving faithfully.
Though she is no longer a staff member, she is forever our friend and family member. We Love You, Annie (and thank you for all of your help throughout the years). You are a blessing.
Though she is no longer a staff member, she is forever our friend and family member. We Love You, Annie (and thank you for all of your help throughout the years). You are a blessing.
As Per Request
Here is a link to a written version of my testimony. I give a full detailed testimony in my book from Darkness to Light
http://www.spiritualwarfaredeliverance.com/occult-occultism-deliverance-healing/html/ex-satanist-testimony.html
Here is a link to Annie Fintan's testimony
http://www.shelovesgod.com/library/testimony.cfm?articleid=7226
http://www.spiritualwarfaredeliverance.com/occult-occultism-deliverance-healing/html/ex-satanist-testimony.html
Here is a link to Annie Fintan's testimony
http://www.shelovesgod.com/library/testimony.cfm?articleid=7226
The Just Shall Live by Faith
But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
Galatians 3:11
The words, ‘the just shall live by faith’ are first seen in Habakkuk 2:4, when, in response to his complaints concerning the prophesied Babylonian invasion, the Lord told Habakkuk to look to Him rather than at the circumstances.
They are seen again in Romans 1:17 where Paul stresses justification; and in Hebrews 11 where the emphasis is on faith. Here in Galatians, the accent is on live. Want to be happy, fruitful, excited, and set free in your Christian life? The just shall live — really live — by faith.
Martin Luther beat his body with whips, crawled for miles on his knees, fasted for weeks at a time in order to get close to God. But nothing worked. And then one day he read this verse — and he understood that the Christian experience is not ‘Do, do, do’ — it’s ‘DONE!’ Jesus did it all.
Dear saints, get rid of the burden of trying to be spiritual. Get rid of the notion that since you had morning devotions ten times in a row, God owes you a blessing. It doesn’t work that way. You are justified by faith alone.
‘Then I don’t have to have morning devotions?’ you ask.
No, you don’t.‘I can sleep in?’
Yeah, you can.
‘I don’t have to pray, or study the Word?’
Nope.
You don’t have to do any of those things. You get to. You get to check in with God morning-by-morning, moment-by-moment. You get to spend time late at night or before the sun rises seeking the face of the Lord. It’s not got to, it’s get to — and that makes all the difference in the world, for once you’re free from the ‘got to’s you invariably do more than you ever did before.
James said, ‘Faith without works is dead’ (James 2:20) because true faith will always bring about lots of works.
When you fell in love with your husband or wife, you didn’t have to be told to call her; you didn’t have to be reminded to hold his hand; you didn’t have to be urged to communicate. When you’re in love, you long to be in touch — and that’s what the Father wants from you and me. ‘Love Me,’ He says. And the more I realize that He loves me through His grace and mercy being poured out upon me, the more I have no choice but to love Him in return. So I do more under love than I ever would do under the Law.
Think about that first letter your girlfriend wrote you, guys. As you stuck it in your pocket, did you say, ‘Boy, one of these days I really need to read this letter. I’ll set my alarm fifteen minutes earlier tonight and read it first thing in the morning’? And then as you rolled out of bed half an hour after the alarm went off, did you say, ‘I really want to read this letter, but I don’t have time now. Maybe tonight. No, Home Improvement is on. Can’t miss that. I’ll get to it tomorrow’?
No! It doesn’t work that way. When you received that letter, you ripped it open, read it, analyzed it, parsed the verbs, researched it, read between the lines — you couldn’t put it down!
The same thing happens when you understand grace and mercy. You say, ‘You bless me, Lord, when I don’t pray. You love me when I’m not lovable. You take care of me when I fail to walk with You. You’re faithful to me day after week after year. I want to find out more about You.’ That’s what it means for the just to live by faith.
by Jon Courson
Galatians 3:11
The words, ‘the just shall live by faith’ are first seen in Habakkuk 2:4, when, in response to his complaints concerning the prophesied Babylonian invasion, the Lord told Habakkuk to look to Him rather than at the circumstances.
They are seen again in Romans 1:17 where Paul stresses justification; and in Hebrews 11 where the emphasis is on faith. Here in Galatians, the accent is on live. Want to be happy, fruitful, excited, and set free in your Christian life? The just shall live — really live — by faith.
Martin Luther beat his body with whips, crawled for miles on his knees, fasted for weeks at a time in order to get close to God. But nothing worked. And then one day he read this verse — and he understood that the Christian experience is not ‘Do, do, do’ — it’s ‘DONE!’ Jesus did it all.
Dear saints, get rid of the burden of trying to be spiritual. Get rid of the notion that since you had morning devotions ten times in a row, God owes you a blessing. It doesn’t work that way. You are justified by faith alone.
‘Then I don’t have to have morning devotions?’ you ask.
No, you don’t.‘I can sleep in?’
Yeah, you can.
‘I don’t have to pray, or study the Word?’
Nope.
You don’t have to do any of those things. You get to. You get to check in with God morning-by-morning, moment-by-moment. You get to spend time late at night or before the sun rises seeking the face of the Lord. It’s not got to, it’s get to — and that makes all the difference in the world, for once you’re free from the ‘got to’s you invariably do more than you ever did before.
James said, ‘Faith without works is dead’ (James 2:20) because true faith will always bring about lots of works.
When you fell in love with your husband or wife, you didn’t have to be told to call her; you didn’t have to be reminded to hold his hand; you didn’t have to be urged to communicate. When you’re in love, you long to be in touch — and that’s what the Father wants from you and me. ‘Love Me,’ He says. And the more I realize that He loves me through His grace and mercy being poured out upon me, the more I have no choice but to love Him in return. So I do more under love than I ever would do under the Law.
Think about that first letter your girlfriend wrote you, guys. As you stuck it in your pocket, did you say, ‘Boy, one of these days I really need to read this letter. I’ll set my alarm fifteen minutes earlier tonight and read it first thing in the morning’? And then as you rolled out of bed half an hour after the alarm went off, did you say, ‘I really want to read this letter, but I don’t have time now. Maybe tonight. No, Home Improvement is on. Can’t miss that. I’ll get to it tomorrow’?
No! It doesn’t work that way. When you received that letter, you ripped it open, read it, analyzed it, parsed the verbs, researched it, read between the lines — you couldn’t put it down!
The same thing happens when you understand grace and mercy. You say, ‘You bless me, Lord, when I don’t pray. You love me when I’m not lovable. You take care of me when I fail to walk with You. You’re faithful to me day after week after year. I want to find out more about You.’ That’s what it means for the just to live by faith.
by Jon Courson
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Transforming Grace
How you ever thought or believed that you are in the favor of God? Think for a moment, God saved you by His grace when you believed (if you are a Christian). And you cannot take credit for this; it is a gift from God. God has His eye on you and smiles desiring to give or provide for you through His grace.
Now, it has been explained that grace is God's unmerited favor. He looks upon you and smiles. His heart is toward you. You cannot earn His favor, love or goodwill toward you. It is simply His heart toward you.
He rescued me from the kingdom of darkness and transferred me into the Kingdom of His Son, who purchased my freedom and forgave my sins. I belong to Christ and I have become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun. By the grace of God, I am who I am.
It is by His grace that He has reached my innermost need of not being abandoned and has revealed that He is a God who never leaves or forsakes me. I lived in constant fear that if I did give someone my heart, that they would leave me. Alone and neglected. I am filled with His Spirit. I am the temple of the Holy Spirit. Accepted, embraced and loved. I simply cannot resist Him any more.
He can even bring good out of my bad.I know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose for them. Even when trials come, it is for my good. Remember Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? They didn't pray to be rescued from the fire. They had faith or trust in God because they knew in whom they believed. He walked with them in the trial and they came out not smelling of fire. By His grace.
Nothing can separate me from the love of God. He is making in me the image of His Son.
Now, it has been explained that grace is God's unmerited favor. He looks upon you and smiles. His heart is toward you. You cannot earn His favor, love or goodwill toward you. It is simply His heart toward you.
He rescued me from the kingdom of darkness and transferred me into the Kingdom of His Son, who purchased my freedom and forgave my sins. I belong to Christ and I have become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun. By the grace of God, I am who I am.
It is by His grace that He has reached my innermost need of not being abandoned and has revealed that He is a God who never leaves or forsakes me. I lived in constant fear that if I did give someone my heart, that they would leave me. Alone and neglected. I am filled with His Spirit. I am the temple of the Holy Spirit. Accepted, embraced and loved. I simply cannot resist Him any more.
He can even bring good out of my bad.I know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose for them. Even when trials come, it is for my good. Remember Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? They didn't pray to be rescued from the fire. They had faith or trust in God because they knew in whom they believed. He walked with them in the trial and they came out not smelling of fire. By His grace.
Nothing can separate me from the love of God. He is making in me the image of His Son.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Facing Trials
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double– minded man, unstable in all he does. James 2-8
To live successfully in the world we must know how to face up to trials. James writes on this subject because he appreciates that his readers are going through difficult experiences that they would never have chosen for themselves. He wants to be a good pastor to them. Therefore he must be sympathetic yet honest, and sometimes blunt.
Developing Right Attitudes
Attitudes are all–important. Consider it pure joy… (James 1:2). The kind of people we are and the behaviour we adopt are all determined by the inner attitudes we develop. Our prevailing attitudes to life colour our whole personality and experience of life (Proverbs 15:13, 15). God's concern is that our attitudes should be right (Philippians 2:5) for then our actions, for the most part, will take care of themselves (see Philippians 2:1–4).
To arrive at correct conduct, therefore, we have to be honest and begin with our mind, with the way we think. Part of our essential experience of salvation is the renewal of our mind so that we may be able to test and approve what God's will is (Romans 12:2).
By his use of the word consider in verse 2, James emphasises that there are things we have to look at deliberately in a particular way if we are to arrive at the right conclusions, and this is certainly the case when it comes to trials.
Attitudes are determined by understanding. In verse 3 he writes of something that his readers know. It is the things that we are sure of which influence our reactions as difficult circumstances or crises arise in our lives.
To be well taught in the Scriptures is strategically important because one of the principal purposes of Christian instruction is to provide a foundation of knowledge upon which we can build our lives through the development of proper attitudes. For example, trouble, hardship and various forms of suffering come to all of us at some time or another. The natural tendency may be to feel that such things are a waste of human life and to be avoided at all costs. But not at all! Knowledge informs us otherwise. ‘We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose’ (Romans 8:28).
Facing Trials
There are truths God has revealed about trials which are intended to influence and determine our attitudes. (We ought to notice in passing that the word trial in James 1:2 can also be translated ‘temptation’. It is used in the good sense of God or our Lord Jesus Christ putting us to the test so that we may prove ourselves true, and then in the bad sense – and never of God – of enticement to sin. At this point in James' letter it is right to translate it ‘trials’.)
Trials are inevitable. Trials are an expected feature of ordinary human life and also of the Christian life. James takes that fact for granted. He does not write ‘if you face trials’ but whenever you face trials. To escape trials we would have to escape from this world altogether.
Trials are various in nature. We have to face trials of many kinds. Some trials come according to the age of life we have attained. Young people, for example, know the trials which accompany their development into adulthood and the tests which come through having to learn to keep under control their natural desires and bodily appetites.
Older people are not exempt from these same trials since the battle against sin does not grow easier as we grow older. Furthermore, trials come with old age, when things we used to be able to do we can do no longer.
Seemingly unique trials come also with the various responsibilities of life. Parenthood, for example, is glorious and exciting in prospect, but in reality it brings its own trials if children are wayward and do not respond readily to discipline.
Job promotion is a tremendous encouragement, but the responsibilities it brings may be overwhelming.
Trials are multicoloured – that is the word James uses – and they are as diverse as the colours of the rainbow and all the permutations of shades of colour which are possible. The lovely thing to remember, however, is that just as the trials that come to us are many– coloured so too is God's grace (1 Peter 4:10).
Trials tend to come upon us unexpectedly. The verb face is really the verb ‘fall into’. It is the verb used of the traveller who fell into the hands of robbers in the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30) and of the ship carrying the apostle Paul that ‘struck a sandbar and ran aground’ (Acts 27:41). Both uses imply the unexpected nature of the events.
Trials may be around the next corner. We can seldom anticipate them, which may of course be just as well. At any moment we may meet an old difficulty or a new one. The unexpected nature of trials makes it all the more necessary that we should be prepared beforehand with the knowledge of how to react to them.
Trials test faith. The word faith occurs often without an object, as here in James 1:3, signifying true piety or genuine religion. It means simply being a Christian because being a Christian is all about having faith in God through His Son Jesus Christ. James could equally well have written, ‘because you know that the testing of you as a Christian develops perseverance’.
But besides being a term which sums up what it means to be a Christian, faith is also a Christian virtue (1 Thessalonians 3:6). Faith is essentially our response to God's faithfulness. It begins as our response to God in the glorious revelation He has given of Himself in our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the originator of our faith (‘author’, Hebrews 12:2) because it is as we realise His complete trustworthiness and the perfection of all that He has done on our behalf as our Saviour that we exercise faith in Him and the promises He makes to us in the Gospel.
Faith is intended to grow. The One in whom we trust is greater than we can ever imagine, and no matter how great our faith grows, it can never outmatch the greatness of God as He has revealed Himself in the Lord Jesus.
Trials test faith both from the point of view of proving its genuineness and from the point of view of making it grow. Faith is not simply a matter of words, it is also a matter of deeds. Trials put faith in the refining fire, and pure faith always emerges out of the furnace brighter and stronger. Samuel Rutherford (1600–1661), whose letters from prison are a spiritual treasury, wrote, ‘Praise God for the hammer, the file, and the furnace’. The word for testing is used elsewhere for the testing of metals to prove their genuineness. Even as currency is of use only as it is genuine and stands up to tests men may use to prove its genuineness, so our lives have usefulness to God in the world only as faith is proved to be true faith.
Trials develop perseverance (James 1:3). Perseverance is an important Christian virtue. It is another word for patience, endurance, fortitude or steadfastness. It is the ability to hold on, and to see a situation through to its proper conclusion. It is ‘stickability’ at its best.
An important characteristic of true faith is that it does not collapse when tested. Rather, like the muscles in my arm, it grows through exercise. God knows exactly how much we can take at any time of testing, and He sees to it that our trials are never beyond the power of our faith, at the stage it is, to respond (1 Corinthians 10:13).
We need to be clear as to the practical application of this perseverance. When trials come we tend to feel that there is little point in continuing in the good things we know we ought to do because, on the apparent and deceptive evidence of our trials, we are not being rewarded for the good we do. That is the kind of whispered insinuation we may expect from Satan, the great enemy of our souls. But genuine faith perseveres in doing good, whatever the circumstances. As lifeboat men go out to do what they can for people in distress irrespective of the weather, so faith goes on doing the right thing whatever the moral and spiritual climate.
Physical suffering may become so acute at times that we can scarcely help ourselves being preoccupied with our own needs. When physical hardship occurs on account of our loyalty to Christ, we may be tempted to feel that it is a large price to pay. But genuine faith still perseveres and endures the suffering gladly for Christ's sake (see Acts 5:40, 41).
Obedience to Christ, especially with regard to the service in which He calls us to engage in His name, may bring innumerable hardships (see 2 Corinthians 6:4–10). Faith holds on, nevertheless, counting it a privilege to serve such a Master (2 Timothy 2:10).
Arthur Matthews, a missionary in China, wrote home sharing some of the difficulties he and his family were enduring: ‘These trials of faith are to give us patience, for patience can only be worked as faith goes into the Pressure Chamber. To pull out because the pressure is laid on, and to start fretting would be to lose all the good He has in it for us.’
Trials need to be responded to properly. Perseverance must finish its work (James 1:4). One of the dangers of trials, either when they actually happen or as we see them appear on the horizon of our life, is our tendency to try to escape them in some way or another, or to endeavour to avoid their full force rather than to see them through to God's planned conclusion. We must deliberately let endurance show itself in practice. We must prove to ourselves – as well as to the silent spectators who may be watching to see how real our faith is when it is tested – that perseverance is both possible and profitable.
Isobel Kuhn, in her book, Green Leaf in Drought Time, describes how some missionary friends found great encouragement in Andrew Murray's formula for trial.
1. Say, He brought me here. It is by His will I am in this strait place and in that fact I will rest.
2. He will keep me here in His love and give me grace to behave as His child.
3. Then He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He intends for me to learn.
4. In His good time He can bring me out again – how and when He knows. So let me say, I am (1) here by God's appointment; (2) in His keeping; (3) under His training; (4) for His time.
Trials, properly responded to, are always fruitful. Perseverance must be allowed to complete its work so that we may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (1:4).
Three aspects of the fruitfulness of trials are mentioned. First, they make us mature. Maturity is spiritual adulthood; it is our attaining the purposes and ends God has for our life. It is not we who determine what maturity is, but God; and it is God who also chooses the means by which we arrive at maturity – that is to say, trials! Maturity is hopelessly hindered if we try to escape God's purposes in the testings He either permits or sends. We remain spiritual children rather than becoming spiritual adults, and we are then unable to be spiritually useful in the care of new spiritual babes.
Second, trials make us complete. God the Holy Spirit always has a particular goal in view, whatever life may be doing to us, and that goal is Christlikeness. Christlikeness is the completeness at which the Holy Spirit aims in our sanctification. The goal, therefore, of our various testings is that we should become more and more like our Saviour. The whole of Christ's character is to be reproduced in us, and this is possible only as we respond willingly and submissively to God's purposes in our trials.
Third, trials bring us to the position where we are not lacking anything. This expression simply conveys the thought of maturity and completeness in a negative manner. As trials are allowed to do their proper work of leading us on to maturity and completeness, so we are in the happy position of not lacking any good benefit God intends us to possess.
The message James would have us grasp is that solid achievement in the Christian life usually comes about only through the testing of our faith. When God is at work in us He first inspires faith, and He then perfects that faith (Hebrews 12:2). Its maturity is one of His major concerns. To appreciate this basic fact makes sense of many of the unpleasant experiences God permits.
Charles Simeon of Cambridge, whose ministry exercised such a tremendous influence at the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries in England, went through some months of dreadful strain and humiliation. In a letter to a very close friend, he wrote, ‘They who are most earnest in prayer for grace, are often most afflicted, because the graces which they pray for, e.g. faith, hope, patience, humility etc. are only to be wrought in us by means of those trials which call forth the several graces into act and exercise’.
Trials, therefore, properly understood, occasion joy. We are now in a position to appreciate James' opening words: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds (1:2). We are able to consider trials as a source of joy. It would be a sign of a disordered mind to equate trials for their own sakes as a source of joy! But they may be considered as a proper ground for joy when we recognize the fruit that God intends shall flow from them. Perhaps the most important lesson we must learn from what James says is that the benefit we receive from trials depends to a large degree upon how we look at them and the spirit with which we handle them.
When we see trials as a privilege our heavenly Father allows because He wants His Spirit to perfect His work of making us like our Lord Jesus – to make us ‘complete’ Christians – we discover a joy in our trials, a joy the Holy Spirit gives (Romans 14:17). Faith itself gives and knows its own particular joy (Philippians 1:25; 1 Peter 1:8) and it is our faith that is perfected and increased as we submit to God's purposes in times of testing.
Obtaining Wisdom
But to be honest and realistic, it is not always easy to adopt this right attitude, much as we want to do so, both beforehand and as and when trials arise. We lack the wisdom so often to know how to handle the difficulties which come in the course of daily life. The reason we have sometimes made a mess of our handling of trials, so that they have not produced spiritual fruit, is that we have lacked wisdom.
The glorious truth is, however, that we have a heavenly Father who delights to give wisdom to His children. The wisdom Solomon knew, a wisdom that astounded his contemporaries, was bestowed upon him as a result of his request to God (1 Kings 3:9). The reason Stephen's opponents could not stand up against his wisdom was because he was filled with God's Spirit (Acts6:5, 10).The remarkable wisdom Paul displays in his New Testament letters was the consequence of ‘the wisdom that God gave him’ (2 Peter 3:15).
It is, however, a wisdom for which we must ask (James 1:5). There is a basic and simple principle here: we must ask in order to receive – that is how God has purposely ordered things. We do not have to apologise that we tend to think of prayer as principally a matter of asking God for various benefits. If we examine all the Bible references to prayer, the great majority imply that prayer is essentially asking God for things. It is of course much more and prayer is, not least, communion with God.
But our heavenly Father, like all good fathers, delights to meet His children's needs and rejoices in the proper dependence we show upon Him as we come only to Him for some of our foremost necessities. Since He is the source of all wisdom – He is the only wise God (Romans 16:27) – it is no surprise that the wisdom we require to respond properly to our trials is given in answer to prayer to our Father.
We must ask believingly for wisdom. We must believe and not doubt (James 1:6). Acceptable prayer is based on faith, not doubt. Prayer must be our first recourse, not our second or last. Believing prayer has as its basis the confidence that God ‘exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him’ (Hebrews 11:6). Faith enables us to ask God for what He promises, and we are never disappointed.
Not to ask believingly is disastrous. Although the context is quite different, the principle Paul expounded to the Romans applies here also: ‘Everything that does not come from faith is sin’ (Romans 14:23). To pray and, at the same time, not to believe that God either hears or will answer is an offence against God – a dreadful sin. The doubter is a man who prays but then goes out and acts as if he has not prayed. His professed beliefs do not coincide with his actions. He tries to ride two horses at once – faith and doubt – and he is at odds with himself.
Now we may all find ourselves troubled by doubts from time to time, and few of us escape them. But the thing to do with our doubts is to bring them out into the open in our fellowship with God. We may ask God for wisdom to solve our doubts. The answer to most of them is to consider the revealed character of God, to see and to ponder God's glory in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6).
The man, however, who refuses to be honest with both himself and God about his doubts condemns himself by his own behaviour. He becomes as unstable as wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind (James 1:6, 8; James delights to use illustrations from nature, and this is his first).
The tragedy of the doubter – or the double–minded man – is that he receives nothing from God (1:7). His behaviour does not fit in with the behaviour of the God to whom he thinks he comes in prayer. God never wavers or fluctuates (1:17) and He requires that those who come to Him should aim at being the same.
We must ask in prayer, therefore, without double–mindedness. In the particular context of what James writes here, that means that we must ask God for wisdom with the specific purpose and honest intention of responding to our trials in such a way that all of God's purposes in them are fulfilled.
It will not do, for example, to ask for wisdom, and then, when we receive it from God, decide that we prefer to do things our own way. That is a plain form of double–mindedness. If we really trust God, we recognise that His way is best before we even know what it is. If we ask Him for wisdom with this confidence we shall not lack it. Rather we shall receive it in abundance, God will give us generously the wisdom we need (1:5). There is nothing mean or niggardly about God's giving. And so it is that when we receive God's wisdom, we know that we have it, and we move forward with certainty and without hesitancy.
Not only will God give us wisdom generously, but He will also give it without finding fault (1:5). We ourselves may have fallen into the snare of giving help to someone but providing it in such a way that we are saying, in effect, ‘You ought not to have come to me for help again. What an undeserving person you are!’ God does not deal with us like that. He is glad for us to come to Him as often as we are willing to come. And the more we come, the more He pours out His wisdom upon us, so that even when the most difficult trials occur we are able to consider it pure joy because we know He will provide us with the wisdom to enable us to co–operate with Him in them. The wisdom He imparts ensures that we gain the maximum benefit from them, and that His purposes of maturity and completeness in our life move on to further important stages.
by Derek Prime
To live successfully in the world we must know how to face up to trials. James writes on this subject because he appreciates that his readers are going through difficult experiences that they would never have chosen for themselves. He wants to be a good pastor to them. Therefore he must be sympathetic yet honest, and sometimes blunt.
Developing Right Attitudes
Attitudes are all–important. Consider it pure joy… (James 1:2). The kind of people we are and the behaviour we adopt are all determined by the inner attitudes we develop. Our prevailing attitudes to life colour our whole personality and experience of life (Proverbs 15:13, 15). God's concern is that our attitudes should be right (Philippians 2:5) for then our actions, for the most part, will take care of themselves (see Philippians 2:1–4).
To arrive at correct conduct, therefore, we have to be honest and begin with our mind, with the way we think. Part of our essential experience of salvation is the renewal of our mind so that we may be able to test and approve what God's will is (Romans 12:2).
By his use of the word consider in verse 2, James emphasises that there are things we have to look at deliberately in a particular way if we are to arrive at the right conclusions, and this is certainly the case when it comes to trials.
Attitudes are determined by understanding. In verse 3 he writes of something that his readers know. It is the things that we are sure of which influence our reactions as difficult circumstances or crises arise in our lives.
To be well taught in the Scriptures is strategically important because one of the principal purposes of Christian instruction is to provide a foundation of knowledge upon which we can build our lives through the development of proper attitudes. For example, trouble, hardship and various forms of suffering come to all of us at some time or another. The natural tendency may be to feel that such things are a waste of human life and to be avoided at all costs. But not at all! Knowledge informs us otherwise. ‘We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose’ (Romans 8:28).
Facing Trials
There are truths God has revealed about trials which are intended to influence and determine our attitudes. (We ought to notice in passing that the word trial in James 1:2 can also be translated ‘temptation’. It is used in the good sense of God or our Lord Jesus Christ putting us to the test so that we may prove ourselves true, and then in the bad sense – and never of God – of enticement to sin. At this point in James' letter it is right to translate it ‘trials’.)
Trials are inevitable. Trials are an expected feature of ordinary human life and also of the Christian life. James takes that fact for granted. He does not write ‘if you face trials’ but whenever you face trials. To escape trials we would have to escape from this world altogether.
Trials are various in nature. We have to face trials of many kinds. Some trials come according to the age of life we have attained. Young people, for example, know the trials which accompany their development into adulthood and the tests which come through having to learn to keep under control their natural desires and bodily appetites.
Older people are not exempt from these same trials since the battle against sin does not grow easier as we grow older. Furthermore, trials come with old age, when things we used to be able to do we can do no longer.
Seemingly unique trials come also with the various responsibilities of life. Parenthood, for example, is glorious and exciting in prospect, but in reality it brings its own trials if children are wayward and do not respond readily to discipline.
Job promotion is a tremendous encouragement, but the responsibilities it brings may be overwhelming.
Trials are multicoloured – that is the word James uses – and they are as diverse as the colours of the rainbow and all the permutations of shades of colour which are possible. The lovely thing to remember, however, is that just as the trials that come to us are many– coloured so too is God's grace (1 Peter 4:10).
Trials tend to come upon us unexpectedly. The verb face is really the verb ‘fall into’. It is the verb used of the traveller who fell into the hands of robbers in the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30) and of the ship carrying the apostle Paul that ‘struck a sandbar and ran aground’ (Acts 27:41). Both uses imply the unexpected nature of the events.
Trials may be around the next corner. We can seldom anticipate them, which may of course be just as well. At any moment we may meet an old difficulty or a new one. The unexpected nature of trials makes it all the more necessary that we should be prepared beforehand with the knowledge of how to react to them.
Trials test faith. The word faith occurs often without an object, as here in James 1:3, signifying true piety or genuine religion. It means simply being a Christian because being a Christian is all about having faith in God through His Son Jesus Christ. James could equally well have written, ‘because you know that the testing of you as a Christian develops perseverance’.
But besides being a term which sums up what it means to be a Christian, faith is also a Christian virtue (1 Thessalonians 3:6). Faith is essentially our response to God's faithfulness. It begins as our response to God in the glorious revelation He has given of Himself in our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the originator of our faith (‘author’, Hebrews 12:2) because it is as we realise His complete trustworthiness and the perfection of all that He has done on our behalf as our Saviour that we exercise faith in Him and the promises He makes to us in the Gospel.
Faith is intended to grow. The One in whom we trust is greater than we can ever imagine, and no matter how great our faith grows, it can never outmatch the greatness of God as He has revealed Himself in the Lord Jesus.
Trials test faith both from the point of view of proving its genuineness and from the point of view of making it grow. Faith is not simply a matter of words, it is also a matter of deeds. Trials put faith in the refining fire, and pure faith always emerges out of the furnace brighter and stronger. Samuel Rutherford (1600–1661), whose letters from prison are a spiritual treasury, wrote, ‘Praise God for the hammer, the file, and the furnace’. The word for testing is used elsewhere for the testing of metals to prove their genuineness. Even as currency is of use only as it is genuine and stands up to tests men may use to prove its genuineness, so our lives have usefulness to God in the world only as faith is proved to be true faith.
Trials develop perseverance (James 1:3). Perseverance is an important Christian virtue. It is another word for patience, endurance, fortitude or steadfastness. It is the ability to hold on, and to see a situation through to its proper conclusion. It is ‘stickability’ at its best.
An important characteristic of true faith is that it does not collapse when tested. Rather, like the muscles in my arm, it grows through exercise. God knows exactly how much we can take at any time of testing, and He sees to it that our trials are never beyond the power of our faith, at the stage it is, to respond (1 Corinthians 10:13).
We need to be clear as to the practical application of this perseverance. When trials come we tend to feel that there is little point in continuing in the good things we know we ought to do because, on the apparent and deceptive evidence of our trials, we are not being rewarded for the good we do. That is the kind of whispered insinuation we may expect from Satan, the great enemy of our souls. But genuine faith perseveres in doing good, whatever the circumstances. As lifeboat men go out to do what they can for people in distress irrespective of the weather, so faith goes on doing the right thing whatever the moral and spiritual climate.
Physical suffering may become so acute at times that we can scarcely help ourselves being preoccupied with our own needs. When physical hardship occurs on account of our loyalty to Christ, we may be tempted to feel that it is a large price to pay. But genuine faith still perseveres and endures the suffering gladly for Christ's sake (see Acts 5:40, 41).
Obedience to Christ, especially with regard to the service in which He calls us to engage in His name, may bring innumerable hardships (see 2 Corinthians 6:4–10). Faith holds on, nevertheless, counting it a privilege to serve such a Master (2 Timothy 2:10).
Arthur Matthews, a missionary in China, wrote home sharing some of the difficulties he and his family were enduring: ‘These trials of faith are to give us patience, for patience can only be worked as faith goes into the Pressure Chamber. To pull out because the pressure is laid on, and to start fretting would be to lose all the good He has in it for us.’
Trials need to be responded to properly. Perseverance must finish its work (James 1:4). One of the dangers of trials, either when they actually happen or as we see them appear on the horizon of our life, is our tendency to try to escape them in some way or another, or to endeavour to avoid their full force rather than to see them through to God's planned conclusion. We must deliberately let endurance show itself in practice. We must prove to ourselves – as well as to the silent spectators who may be watching to see how real our faith is when it is tested – that perseverance is both possible and profitable.
Isobel Kuhn, in her book, Green Leaf in Drought Time, describes how some missionary friends found great encouragement in Andrew Murray's formula for trial.
1. Say, He brought me here. It is by His will I am in this strait place and in that fact I will rest.
2. He will keep me here in His love and give me grace to behave as His child.
3. Then He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He intends for me to learn.
4. In His good time He can bring me out again – how and when He knows. So let me say, I am (1) here by God's appointment; (2) in His keeping; (3) under His training; (4) for His time.
Trials, properly responded to, are always fruitful. Perseverance must be allowed to complete its work so that we may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (1:4).
Three aspects of the fruitfulness of trials are mentioned. First, they make us mature. Maturity is spiritual adulthood; it is our attaining the purposes and ends God has for our life. It is not we who determine what maturity is, but God; and it is God who also chooses the means by which we arrive at maturity – that is to say, trials! Maturity is hopelessly hindered if we try to escape God's purposes in the testings He either permits or sends. We remain spiritual children rather than becoming spiritual adults, and we are then unable to be spiritually useful in the care of new spiritual babes.
Second, trials make us complete. God the Holy Spirit always has a particular goal in view, whatever life may be doing to us, and that goal is Christlikeness. Christlikeness is the completeness at which the Holy Spirit aims in our sanctification. The goal, therefore, of our various testings is that we should become more and more like our Saviour. The whole of Christ's character is to be reproduced in us, and this is possible only as we respond willingly and submissively to God's purposes in our trials.
Third, trials bring us to the position where we are not lacking anything. This expression simply conveys the thought of maturity and completeness in a negative manner. As trials are allowed to do their proper work of leading us on to maturity and completeness, so we are in the happy position of not lacking any good benefit God intends us to possess.
The message James would have us grasp is that solid achievement in the Christian life usually comes about only through the testing of our faith. When God is at work in us He first inspires faith, and He then perfects that faith (Hebrews 12:2). Its maturity is one of His major concerns. To appreciate this basic fact makes sense of many of the unpleasant experiences God permits.
Charles Simeon of Cambridge, whose ministry exercised such a tremendous influence at the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries in England, went through some months of dreadful strain and humiliation. In a letter to a very close friend, he wrote, ‘They who are most earnest in prayer for grace, are often most afflicted, because the graces which they pray for, e.g. faith, hope, patience, humility etc. are only to be wrought in us by means of those trials which call forth the several graces into act and exercise’.
Trials, therefore, properly understood, occasion joy. We are now in a position to appreciate James' opening words: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds (1:2). We are able to consider trials as a source of joy. It would be a sign of a disordered mind to equate trials for their own sakes as a source of joy! But they may be considered as a proper ground for joy when we recognize the fruit that God intends shall flow from them. Perhaps the most important lesson we must learn from what James says is that the benefit we receive from trials depends to a large degree upon how we look at them and the spirit with which we handle them.
When we see trials as a privilege our heavenly Father allows because He wants His Spirit to perfect His work of making us like our Lord Jesus – to make us ‘complete’ Christians – we discover a joy in our trials, a joy the Holy Spirit gives (Romans 14:17). Faith itself gives and knows its own particular joy (Philippians 1:25; 1 Peter 1:8) and it is our faith that is perfected and increased as we submit to God's purposes in times of testing.
Obtaining Wisdom
But to be honest and realistic, it is not always easy to adopt this right attitude, much as we want to do so, both beforehand and as and when trials arise. We lack the wisdom so often to know how to handle the difficulties which come in the course of daily life. The reason we have sometimes made a mess of our handling of trials, so that they have not produced spiritual fruit, is that we have lacked wisdom.
The glorious truth is, however, that we have a heavenly Father who delights to give wisdom to His children. The wisdom Solomon knew, a wisdom that astounded his contemporaries, was bestowed upon him as a result of his request to God (1 Kings 3:9). The reason Stephen's opponents could not stand up against his wisdom was because he was filled with God's Spirit (Acts6:5, 10).The remarkable wisdom Paul displays in his New Testament letters was the consequence of ‘the wisdom that God gave him’ (2 Peter 3:15).
It is, however, a wisdom for which we must ask (James 1:5). There is a basic and simple principle here: we must ask in order to receive – that is how God has purposely ordered things. We do not have to apologise that we tend to think of prayer as principally a matter of asking God for various benefits. If we examine all the Bible references to prayer, the great majority imply that prayer is essentially asking God for things. It is of course much more and prayer is, not least, communion with God.
But our heavenly Father, like all good fathers, delights to meet His children's needs and rejoices in the proper dependence we show upon Him as we come only to Him for some of our foremost necessities. Since He is the source of all wisdom – He is the only wise God (Romans 16:27) – it is no surprise that the wisdom we require to respond properly to our trials is given in answer to prayer to our Father.
We must ask believingly for wisdom. We must believe and not doubt (James 1:6). Acceptable prayer is based on faith, not doubt. Prayer must be our first recourse, not our second or last. Believing prayer has as its basis the confidence that God ‘exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him’ (Hebrews 11:6). Faith enables us to ask God for what He promises, and we are never disappointed.
Not to ask believingly is disastrous. Although the context is quite different, the principle Paul expounded to the Romans applies here also: ‘Everything that does not come from faith is sin’ (Romans 14:23). To pray and, at the same time, not to believe that God either hears or will answer is an offence against God – a dreadful sin. The doubter is a man who prays but then goes out and acts as if he has not prayed. His professed beliefs do not coincide with his actions. He tries to ride two horses at once – faith and doubt – and he is at odds with himself.
Now we may all find ourselves troubled by doubts from time to time, and few of us escape them. But the thing to do with our doubts is to bring them out into the open in our fellowship with God. We may ask God for wisdom to solve our doubts. The answer to most of them is to consider the revealed character of God, to see and to ponder God's glory in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6).
The man, however, who refuses to be honest with both himself and God about his doubts condemns himself by his own behaviour. He becomes as unstable as wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind (James 1:6, 8; James delights to use illustrations from nature, and this is his first).
The tragedy of the doubter – or the double–minded man – is that he receives nothing from God (1:7). His behaviour does not fit in with the behaviour of the God to whom he thinks he comes in prayer. God never wavers or fluctuates (1:17) and He requires that those who come to Him should aim at being the same.
We must ask in prayer, therefore, without double–mindedness. In the particular context of what James writes here, that means that we must ask God for wisdom with the specific purpose and honest intention of responding to our trials in such a way that all of God's purposes in them are fulfilled.
It will not do, for example, to ask for wisdom, and then, when we receive it from God, decide that we prefer to do things our own way. That is a plain form of double–mindedness. If we really trust God, we recognise that His way is best before we even know what it is. If we ask Him for wisdom with this confidence we shall not lack it. Rather we shall receive it in abundance, God will give us generously the wisdom we need (1:5). There is nothing mean or niggardly about God's giving. And so it is that when we receive God's wisdom, we know that we have it, and we move forward with certainty and without hesitancy.
Not only will God give us wisdom generously, but He will also give it without finding fault (1:5). We ourselves may have fallen into the snare of giving help to someone but providing it in such a way that we are saying, in effect, ‘You ought not to have come to me for help again. What an undeserving person you are!’ God does not deal with us like that. He is glad for us to come to Him as often as we are willing to come. And the more we come, the more He pours out His wisdom upon us, so that even when the most difficult trials occur we are able to consider it pure joy because we know He will provide us with the wisdom to enable us to co–operate with Him in them. The wisdom He imparts ensures that we gain the maximum benefit from them, and that His purposes of maturity and completeness in our life move on to further important stages.
by Derek Prime
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The Heart of God
God loves me. He loves me just as I am, but enough to invest in changing me. It is that simple. Not only does He love me, but He likes me enough to desire to be with me and allows me to be with Him. I get to spend time with God. My life is not mundane or meaningless.
I can give Him my cares because He cares for me. I don't have to worry, because I can take my concerns to the throne of grace and lay them at His feet. And, He is involved. He is involved in the small details of my life. Actually, it isn't even 'my' life any more. I am no longer my own. I was bought with a price and belong to Him. The life I now live, I live in Christ.
He hears me. I no longer walk alone. He hears even the things that I do not speak. He knows me as I need to be known. No one knows me like He does. And, He accepts me, no rejection or hurdles in my being embraced by Him. I can fall into His arms knowing that He is there and cares, taking care of me.
He has changed me. I don't want to sin. I really don't. I do not desire to rebel or be independent from Him. I have no need to make a stand so that I am someone. I am someone because God has given me my dignity and sense of significance. He died and rose from the dead for me and gave me His Spirit that raised Christ from the grave. That same Spirit is raising me from the dead and lives in me. I am going to live eternally with God.
I can give Him my cares because He cares for me. I don't have to worry, because I can take my concerns to the throne of grace and lay them at His feet. And, He is involved. He is involved in the small details of my life. Actually, it isn't even 'my' life any more. I am no longer my own. I was bought with a price and belong to Him. The life I now live, I live in Christ.
He hears me. I no longer walk alone. He hears even the things that I do not speak. He knows me as I need to be known. No one knows me like He does. And, He accepts me, no rejection or hurdles in my being embraced by Him. I can fall into His arms knowing that He is there and cares, taking care of me.
He has changed me. I don't want to sin. I really don't. I do not desire to rebel or be independent from Him. I have no need to make a stand so that I am someone. I am someone because God has given me my dignity and sense of significance. He died and rose from the dead for me and gave me His Spirit that raised Christ from the grave. That same Spirit is raising me from the dead and lives in me. I am going to live eternally with God.
Monday, July 13, 2009
God is Faithful
I must have heard this a thousand times. Jo Richardson used to tell me over and over that God is faithful. Harry and Jo Richardson were the individuals that God sent my way to help me to come out of satanism. It was a prayer that I repeated after Jo that led me to accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. It was at Harry and Jo's home that the demonic was rebuked and cast out of me and in that I found new joy in Christ. I was truly a new creation in Christ because of God using Harry and Jo Richardson.
However, as I began my new life in Christ, 'things' did not go as smoothly as I would have liked. There were issues to work through and I had to learn to walk in what God had provided through His grace for me. Every day brought a new challenge in which I was going to learn to stand and believe, or as I easily did, I looked at the issue or situation and bellowed my complaint(s). I thought that God was going to do more.....
Later I became a therapist, post college, working with children and teens in an alternative school setting. I got the kids off the bus, taught class, had recess/physicall education with them, ate lunch with them and helped with homework. Twice a week I held ropes course therapy in order to teach some life lessons. Now, these were kids that we had literally picked up from garbage cans, where they were finding their meals. We were attempting to help them along their road and help them to adjust to mainline society. Our work was certainly cut out for us.
One of the biggest issues that I found in dealing with the kids was basic trust. They would act out due to the reality, for them, that they could not trust anyone. If you ever want to help someone, they need to trust you. So, I was determined to reach into my heart and let them know that I was heart and soul there for them. But nothing I said meant anything to them; I had to show them.
We had what was called a trust fall exercise on the ropes course. The idea was for someone to get on the platform, which was four feet in the air and face away from everyone else. Their arms needed to be folded so that they could not catch themselves as they feel backwards. The rest of the class, which was abou 6-8 of us, interlocked arms in order to catch the kid as they fell. Imagine, if you will, falling backward with your eyes closed and arms tucked and folded off of a four foot high platform trusting others to catch you before you hit the ground.
Many cried out and lost their composure before they even gave us a chance to catch them. But, for the child that allowed himself to be caught, it was an instant realization that he could trust others in a very vulnerable condition. That was the lesson that I wanted to teach. However, the ropes instructor called me to the trust fall and had me to do what I had been teaching the kids. I had to go up on the four foot platform, close my eyes and fall backward allowing the very kids that I had been disiplining, teaching and pouring my life into to catch me.
As I stood on the platform, I turned around and looked into the eyes of every kid there. I wanted to see if there was any one who would give me a sign that they were going to allow me to fall. These were kids that had behavioral issues and I was literally trusting them with my neck! They looked back at me with reassuring eyes, letting me know that they were there for me. They had never been there for anyone and this was their opportunity. I turned around, closed my eyes and I fell backward into the arms of my kids. And, I became more than their therapist that day. We connected on a heart level. The kids were faithful.
God can be relied on. He is who He says that He is in Scripture.
I used to bellow out my complaints to Harry and Jo Richardson believing that God wasn't doing something that He was supposed to be doing (He was neglecting me). I used to believe that God would walk away from me if I 'messed up'. I have a million of them, folks. I used to believe so many lies. I now know His word and what He says to me. I have learned and am learning that I can place my trust, just like I did with those kids and allow Him to catch me. I can fall into His arms knowing that He is faithful.
However, as I began my new life in Christ, 'things' did not go as smoothly as I would have liked. There were issues to work through and I had to learn to walk in what God had provided through His grace for me. Every day brought a new challenge in which I was going to learn to stand and believe, or as I easily did, I looked at the issue or situation and bellowed my complaint(s). I thought that God was going to do more.....
Later I became a therapist, post college, working with children and teens in an alternative school setting. I got the kids off the bus, taught class, had recess/physicall education with them, ate lunch with them and helped with homework. Twice a week I held ropes course therapy in order to teach some life lessons. Now, these were kids that we had literally picked up from garbage cans, where they were finding their meals. We were attempting to help them along their road and help them to adjust to mainline society. Our work was certainly cut out for us.
One of the biggest issues that I found in dealing with the kids was basic trust. They would act out due to the reality, for them, that they could not trust anyone. If you ever want to help someone, they need to trust you. So, I was determined to reach into my heart and let them know that I was heart and soul there for them. But nothing I said meant anything to them; I had to show them.
We had what was called a trust fall exercise on the ropes course. The idea was for someone to get on the platform, which was four feet in the air and face away from everyone else. Their arms needed to be folded so that they could not catch themselves as they feel backwards. The rest of the class, which was abou 6-8 of us, interlocked arms in order to catch the kid as they fell. Imagine, if you will, falling backward with your eyes closed and arms tucked and folded off of a four foot high platform trusting others to catch you before you hit the ground.
Many cried out and lost their composure before they even gave us a chance to catch them. But, for the child that allowed himself to be caught, it was an instant realization that he could trust others in a very vulnerable condition. That was the lesson that I wanted to teach. However, the ropes instructor called me to the trust fall and had me to do what I had been teaching the kids. I had to go up on the four foot platform, close my eyes and fall backward allowing the very kids that I had been disiplining, teaching and pouring my life into to catch me.
As I stood on the platform, I turned around and looked into the eyes of every kid there. I wanted to see if there was any one who would give me a sign that they were going to allow me to fall. These were kids that had behavioral issues and I was literally trusting them with my neck! They looked back at me with reassuring eyes, letting me know that they were there for me. They had never been there for anyone and this was their opportunity. I turned around, closed my eyes and I fell backward into the arms of my kids. And, I became more than their therapist that day. We connected on a heart level. The kids were faithful.
God can be relied on. He is who He says that He is in Scripture.
I used to bellow out my complaints to Harry and Jo Richardson believing that God wasn't doing something that He was supposed to be doing (He was neglecting me). I used to believe that God would walk away from me if I 'messed up'. I have a million of them, folks. I used to believe so many lies. I now know His word and what He says to me. I have learned and am learning that I can place my trust, just like I did with those kids and allow Him to catch me. I can fall into His arms knowing that He is faithful.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
The Point Is
The point is Jesus Christ.
It is not about satanism. The point of Refuge Ministries and everything that I do is so that others may know Jesus Christ. There are no sensational stories to tell concerning my days as a satanist. There is only one story to tell and that is of His amazing grace that literally saved my life.
My God shall never leave you or forsake you Hebrews 13:5. How many of us are in need of Someone who loves enough to be faithful to His own nature and character? The reality that God is and He is who He has revealed through scripture is the point.
Many who are involved in the occult and paganism are seeking such a God. Their intent may be to find the Truth. That is why I am here. To help in any manner that I am able.
It is not about satanism. The point of Refuge Ministries and everything that I do is so that others may know Jesus Christ. There are no sensational stories to tell concerning my days as a satanist. There is only one story to tell and that is of His amazing grace that literally saved my life.
My God shall never leave you or forsake you Hebrews 13:5. How many of us are in need of Someone who loves enough to be faithful to His own nature and character? The reality that God is and He is who He has revealed through scripture is the point.
Many who are involved in the occult and paganism are seeking such a God. Their intent may be to find the Truth. That is why I am here. To help in any manner that I am able.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Why I Share My Testimony
When I became a Christian some 20+ years ago, I used to share my testimony rather freely. I met with some rather unusual responses as I was quite naive and rather zealous to win the world for Jesus Christ. I expected those who did not know Jesus to fall to their knees in repentance and the ones who knew Jesus to welcome me with open arms of love. I told you that I was naive.
What happened was many who did not know Jesus did not want to know me or hear about Him because they thought that I was a freak. Your average Joe ( or Josephine) on the street just wasn't prepared to hear about someone who had been a satanist, much less about Jesus Christ and His power to save one's soul.
As I shared my testimony with the ones who knew Jesus, or at least they stated that they did and attended church, I again met some unexpected responses. Many simply did not know what to do around me. There were many an awkward moment as I ventured to fellowship with my fellow Christians. They had not met someone who had been a satanist before and there was much misinformation floating around the church as to the subject on satanism. This was in the '80's when the Christians knew Mike Warnke and his false testimony, which made satanism out to be a big deal. Then there were the books written about child sacrifices etc which resulted in the 'satanic panic' era. This all became much too much for me to deal with, so I quite sharing my testimony and attempted to become an average Joe on the street, just like anyone else.
I got a church ministry position working with youth and their families and simply loved it! I was in my element. I was no longer in the awkward position that I had been in, I was just a regular church staff youth minister. I loved the opportunity be a average guy during this time in my life. But it was during this time, as the 'satanic panic' fears subsided that a new occultic fad was rising; Wicca. I had a wiccan join my youth group at church. My wife and I simply loved this girl and invested our lives in her. She ended up becoming a Christian, but I was jolted out of my self absorbed world of dictating to God how I was going to serve Him.
I had been telling God that I wanted to be an average person (whatever that meant!) And, what I had done was to go into hiding while I was in the ministry. I went into hiding because I was not sharing what God had done for me. I had run away from my past to the point that the church only knew me on a superficial basis. I knew that the occult was a reality but kept pushing it away until the wiccan came to me. She was used by God to wake me up so that I can share what He has done for me and help others who may find themselves in a position that I was in when He saved me.
Maybe the average Joe (or Josephine) on the street doesn't want to know me or hear about Jesus Christ and His power to save their souls. However, it is not about me and their response. It is about Him and He desiring that they do not perish. Believe me, I have done a complete 180. I am sharing my testimony freely.
As to the church and their response. Many still believe in the 'satanic panic' fables. Many of the authors that came out with the books in the '80's have been found out for what they really are. I simply share my testimony with Christians so that they may know Him in a way that will help them to love Him more. Also, to help them to dismiss the unwarranted fears of the devil and his demons. God is in control and is Almighty. He deserves our praise and we are to glorify Him.
That is why I share my testimony.
What happened was many who did not know Jesus did not want to know me or hear about Him because they thought that I was a freak. Your average Joe ( or Josephine) on the street just wasn't prepared to hear about someone who had been a satanist, much less about Jesus Christ and His power to save one's soul.
As I shared my testimony with the ones who knew Jesus, or at least they stated that they did and attended church, I again met some unexpected responses. Many simply did not know what to do around me. There were many an awkward moment as I ventured to fellowship with my fellow Christians. They had not met someone who had been a satanist before and there was much misinformation floating around the church as to the subject on satanism. This was in the '80's when the Christians knew Mike Warnke and his false testimony, which made satanism out to be a big deal. Then there were the books written about child sacrifices etc which resulted in the 'satanic panic' era. This all became much too much for me to deal with, so I quite sharing my testimony and attempted to become an average Joe on the street, just like anyone else.
I got a church ministry position working with youth and their families and simply loved it! I was in my element. I was no longer in the awkward position that I had been in, I was just a regular church staff youth minister. I loved the opportunity be a average guy during this time in my life. But it was during this time, as the 'satanic panic' fears subsided that a new occultic fad was rising; Wicca. I had a wiccan join my youth group at church. My wife and I simply loved this girl and invested our lives in her. She ended up becoming a Christian, but I was jolted out of my self absorbed world of dictating to God how I was going to serve Him.
I had been telling God that I wanted to be an average person (whatever that meant!) And, what I had done was to go into hiding while I was in the ministry. I went into hiding because I was not sharing what God had done for me. I had run away from my past to the point that the church only knew me on a superficial basis. I knew that the occult was a reality but kept pushing it away until the wiccan came to me. She was used by God to wake me up so that I can share what He has done for me and help others who may find themselves in a position that I was in when He saved me.
Maybe the average Joe (or Josephine) on the street doesn't want to know me or hear about Jesus Christ and His power to save their souls. However, it is not about me and their response. It is about Him and He desiring that they do not perish. Believe me, I have done a complete 180. I am sharing my testimony freely.
As to the church and their response. Many still believe in the 'satanic panic' fables. Many of the authors that came out with the books in the '80's have been found out for what they really are. I simply share my testimony with Christians so that they may know Him in a way that will help them to love Him more. Also, to help them to dismiss the unwarranted fears of the devil and his demons. God is in control and is Almighty. He deserves our praise and we are to glorify Him.
That is why I share my testimony.
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