The One About Pocket Lint and Prayer

A few minutes ago, we submitted our applications to Campus Crusade for Christ.  We applied to serve as staff members at a Christian camp in Hungary.  

And now we wait.

And wait.

And wait some more....

We should know by March 28 if we are approved.

Here are some images I borrowed from the ministry's website:

To say I'm intimidated by this possibility for ministry is an understatement.

Phil still insists that he feels the Lord wants us to serve together as a family in Hungary.... if THIS is the year God wants us to go, then HE will make it possible.  This is totally a giant leap of faith for me.  I've been praying a particular Bible verse for a while, and I'm wondering if this Hungarian ministry opportunity is a way that God is answering this prayer....

God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us--Selah.  That Your name may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations.  Psalm 67:1-2

I first began to pay attention to this verse while I was reading the book Radical by David Platt.  [READ IT!!! It may mess you up, but it's a good mess!]  It is SO convicting, and I don't have the time or brain power to put its entire message into words--READ IT, PLEASE. 

Anyway, the main thought from the book that has stayed with me is Psalm 67:1-2.  I've been asking the Lord to please be gracious to our family and bless us, and let His face shine on us--not so that we may live the easy life and pursue the American Dream--not so that we may enjoy even more comfort and satisfaction--not so that we can HAVE MORE STUFF--but so that we may use what He gives us to make His name and His plan of salvation known--here where we live and anywhere else as He leads.

Is He leading us to spend the summer in Hungary?  We will see.

I asked our friend Neal (who has ministered on MOST of the continents) how he knows if God is leading him to join different mission endeavors.  Neal told us that God usually speaks to him in his quiet time and in prayer, and that He directs the surrounding circumstances to come together (or not).  We are asking God to do this for us.

God has definitely been doing some amazing things in the spiritual life of our family, that's for sure.  If this opportunity is God's plan for us for THIS summer, He can make it happen.  God knows I'm a great big chicken and that this type of ministry scares me, but He can equip me to do this if He's calling me to it.  God also knows that we don't have the $20,000+ that will be required to cover our travel and living expenses, but that kind of money is merely pocket change to Him--actually, it's probably more like pocket lint to Him.  At this point in the process, we are trusting God to orchestrate circumstances and to speak clearly to let us know what He wants for us. 

Will you pray with us? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=at9mkof5BoI

How do you know when God is directing you to make certain decisions or to pursue certain opportunities?  I'd love to hear your comments.

The One about Vipers and Jesus the Not-So-Nice Guy

"It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from Him." -- Matthew Henry

Imagine your loved one was diagnosed with a fatal disease--not an incurable disease, but one that would surely lead to death if not treated properly. 

Now imagine your loved one was offered the ONE cure that would rid him of this disease--and not only is it the ONLY guaranteed cure, but it is also FREE!  Wouldn't you want him to IMMEDIATELY partake of the remedy? 

But what if your loved one decided that the ONE, GUARANTEED-TO-WORK cure was not right for him.  What if your loved one told you he found a physician who offered a different remedy that had a better taste?

What would you say to your loved one who is sealing his fate with a false cure?
Would you passively watch him die because you don't want to seem critical of his choices in life?  Would you keep silent because you don't want to offend him by disagreeing with what he believes may work for him?

What would you think of that physician who offers a phony fix that will only guarantee the death of the one you care for so deeply?

***Jesus has much to say to both the sick loved one and the deceiving physician.  Please read on...

Recently, I shared with my highschool students some information that I discovered in my Chronological Study Bible. My students enjoyed it for its "gross" factor, but it has been on my mind ever since because of its implications to me (and hopefully some of you) as a born-again believer in Christ.  [I realize some of you may stop reading at this point, but for those of you who read this entire post, please consider leaving your thoughts in the comment section at the bottom of this page.] 

Have you ever heard the expression "you brood of vipers"?  In the New Testament, both Jesus and John the Baptist refer to the religious elite and the teachers of the law as a "brood of vipers," or as I learned in my study Bible, "offspring of vipers." 

The notes I read suggest that Jesus' use of that expression could have been a reference to a common belief held by the people of His day.  Several centuries before the birth of Christ, the Greek historian Herodotus and other ancient writers believed that vipers did not lay eggs like other snakes; instead, they believed that the viper's eggs hatched inside the mother's body and that the baby vipers would eat through the mother's stomach to be born.  This process would, of course, kill the mother. However, the Greeks believed the death of the mother was the baby vipers' way of getting revenge on behalf of their father who was supposedly eaten by the mother during her pregnancy.  (Gross, huh?)  In the minds of many Greeks and Jews during Jesus' day, the murder of a parent or close blood-relative was considered, as my Bible note says, "an inconceivably wicked crime." To be called a snake was an insult, but to be called an "offspring of vipers" was HORRIFIC because it implied that you were not just an ordinary scumbag but rather the most VILE and WRETCHED scumbag that could possibly exist.

Can you wrap your mind around the idea that Jesus Christ (the Prince of Peace, the Lamb of God, the Good Shepherd) hurled insults at a group of religious people? Besides calling the scribes and Pharisees a "brood of vipers," He also slams them with some other harsh words in Matthew 23.  Does this image of Christ disturb you a little?  Have you only imagined Him as the gentle Savior who came to heal diseases, teach people about God, and make life a more pleasant experience for those who come to Him?  Yes, He's the Healer and the Teacher, but He is also the one who vehemently opposes anyone who tries to lead people down a path of eternal destruction.  These are the words of Christ to that "brood":

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves."(Matthew 23:13-15)

Those were the words of our Gentle Shepherd. 

Jesus doesn't sound like a very nice guy in that passage, does He?  Why should He be nice, though, when these groups of people were trying to persuade people that Jesus was NOT the promised Son of God and that Jesus was NOT the one sent to rescue sinners from eternal condemnation?  Jesus opposed them and publicly criticized them because these religious leaders were doing everything they could do to keep people from hearing and believing the TRUTH.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

"And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Jesus had no tolerance for people who tried to offer another way to  receive salvation.  Yes, He uses some strong language to communicate His feelings, but the truth of those strong words has the power to open hearts and minds to the only truth that can set a soul free. 

Does this mean Jesus was NOT a nice guy?  I don't think so.  I think it demonstrates His fierce love and protection;  He knows the sacrifice of His body on the cross is the only God-ordained WAY of salvation, and He knows that our belief in any OTHER way only leads to hell.  He loved those people in the New Testament enough to warn them of dangerous deceivers like the scribes and Pharisees.  Today, He loves you and me enough to warn us of any seemingly religious person who would try to offer us alternatives to the one WAY that Jesus has already provided.

Is Jesus intolerant because He insists that He is the only WAY to heaven?  Yes, I believe He is.  He cannot tolerate the idea of people slipping into an eternity in hell because they believed the lie that there are many paths to heaven.

Part of me wants to pump my fist in the air and scream, "You tell 'em, Jesus!" Another part of me wonders if I have allowed others to continue in their misconception of salvation.

Jesus cared enough about people to risk sounding intolerant because their souls were at stake. If I truly believe Jesus is THE way, truth, and life, shouldn't I care enough to warn people who are seeking salvation from other sources?  Shouldn't I care more about someone's salvation than I care about what others may think of me?  Should I keep silent to avoid confrontation or hurt feeings, or should I risk my own comfort for the sake of someone's soul?  Can I be as bold and loving and truthful as Jesus?  Can you? 

We may not be like the Pharisees who willfully oppose the message of Christ, but in our silence and in our desire to not offend someone, are we allowing others to continue down a destructive path? Will we let our loved ones seek a remedy for their soul-sickness apart from the true cure, Jesus Himself?  May it never be.

"The scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the gospel of Christ, and therefore to the salvation of the souls of men. It is bad to keep away from Christ ourselves, but worse also to keep others from Him." -- From Matthew Henry's Commentary on the 23rd Chapter of Matthew

A Mental Maelstrom or WHATEVER

I read this to Phil while I was proofing it--he then took out his copy of My Utmost of His Highest and read me today's entry. It was RIGHT ON with what I just wrote--if any of you are Oswald Chambers fans, you can read it on www.rbc.org/utmost

A friend of mine recently posted this on face book:

[I wouldn't dream of calling my family insane.  We have our quirks and our moments of irrationality like all families, but we're not insane.  Much.]

That face book quote captured MY attention, because yesterday and today have been "one  two of those days...."  You ever have those days?  Ever feel like your thoughts are galloping through your brain at a billion miles per hour and that your emotions are coming in at a close second?  Well, that's me right now.  I'm calming down, though.  Just felt the need to write for a bit to help myself enter back into a state of semi-normalcy.

Last night I texted my momma for prayer because I was mentally somewhere between throwing a pity party and an all-out, screaming hissy fit.  I gave in to neither of those options, praise the Lord.  Momma reminded me to do the very thing the Lord had reminded me to do only moments before... think about WHATEVER.  You know, "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Philippians 4:8).

So, I did.  Not every voice or thought that crosses my mind is MY voice or MY thought.  No, I'm not schizophrenic;  let me explain.  Sometimes the enemy of our souls likes to disguise himself as our own thoughts.  Thoughts of paranoia, defeat, worthlessness, hopelessness, etc. do NOT come from God the Father.  Those thoughts are from Satan himself.  Those thoughts can  become our own when we begin to dwell on them and when we don't recognize them for the lies that they are.  Choosing to think about whatever really IS true (and honorable and just and pure, etc.) is one of the best ways to overcome any mental or emotional battle that may wage war within.

This is truth:  Jesus Christ loves me (and you) to death.  He who knew NO sin BECAME sin so that I (and you) might become the righteousness of God.  If that were all He ever did for me, that would be enough.  He didn't stop there, though. He rose again and lives to make intercession for those who draw near to God through Him; Jesus Himself prays for me (and you). Jesus will never leave or forsake me (or you). My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my (and your) heart.  Jesus reveals Himself, His purposes, and His ways to those who love Him and keep His commands.  Jesus knows me (and you) and STILL chose to bear the punishment that I (and you) deserved.  He gave His life so that we could enjoy real life--eternal life--with Him forever.  He loves me.  And you.  THIS is truth. 

Satan's lies are no match for God's TRUTH.  Recognizing the lies and replacing them with truth are how we begin to enjoy the "sound mind" and get rid of the "spirit of fear" that 2 Timothy 1:7 speaks of.

I just looked up the Amplified translation of 2 Timothy 1:7.  It's so good that I must share it here:

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.

 Replacing the lies with truth is also how we can practice 2 Corinthians 10:5 and "take every thought captive to obey Christ."

So what lies have stirred up a mental and emotional maelstrom in your life?  Why not join me in rejecting those lies and replacing them with WHATEVER.  That's right--whatever is TRUE.

***
Not many people read this, but if you have actually made it to the end of this post, please consider leaving a comment. I (and a handful of others) would be encouraged to learn what weapons of truth you personally use to combat the lies of the enemy.