Be Strong

A devotional written by Ray Stedman got me thinking about how the current situation in the world is nothing new and what our response should be to it. We hear about the rise in homicides, robberies, assaults, drug use, white collar crimes and the continued degradation of our society. Our education and political systems seem to be filled with self serving individuals instead of people with a servant attitude. Every day in the news we hear of another terror attack or attempted terror attack somewhere in the world. We are bombarded with news from the war on terror and rumors of wars from other parts of the world.

On another front, we struggle with disagreements and arguments with-in our family of loved ones, work and church. We wrestle with fears, temptations and sin within ourselves. Whoa! Where does it all stop? I could probably fill the rest of this space with imperfect world situations. But what are we to do with all of this? Can we not deal with our co-workers, our family members or our fellow believers through discussion and sharing of our feelings?  Can we not take the battle to the streets against rising crime waves and terror attacks?

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and request. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.—Ephesians 6:10-18

The battle is between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan and we are the battlefield! God has given Satan temporary control of this world including us humans. However, God also gave us a way to be restored back to His control and not Satan's. Through God’s son Jesus Christ and his work on the cross, we are set free from sins control in our life. But we are not free onto ourselves to do and be what we want. We are set free to fight the fight, to put on the whole armor of God to do his will, to have victory in our lives and save a lost and dying world controlled by the kingdom of Satan.

Are you dressed for battle?

In the Flesh

Sometimes when God wants me to change the way I’m doing life, He will bring certain circumstances into my life until I get the message. The longer and deeper my walk with Jesus becomes, the quicker I seem to respond to the Holy Spirits initial tap on the shoulder. I must add a disclaimer however, because many sinful area’s of my life seem to be deeply rooted, and I constantly thank the Lord for his patience with me.

At family camp recently held at Camp Clear-Waters just miles from Somerset, Wisconsin (those of you who could not make it missed a great time!) God spoke to me through a devotional time on Friday given by Pastor Craig Muri from Parkers Lake Baptist Church. It became clear to me that I needed to cultivate my attitude towards being more of a servant. Later that afternoon, the Lord brought before me a small test. A brother from NWBC had just arrived (he had to work Friday and could not make it on Thursday when camp started) and was sitting next to me in a lawn chair. It was a hot sticky day and he mentioned how good an ice tea would taste after the long hot day at work, followed by the trip to camp. In my human pride, I told him that he “was welcome to a cold Brisk” I had in a cooler down by my camper (about a block away), but he “would have to go get it himself”. Whoa! It wasn’t more than 3 seconds after the words left my mouth when the thought entered my mind, “Rich, what did you just hear earlier about being a servant?” I felt convicted and immediately got up and retrieved a cold ice tea for him. I could not believe my sinful selfishness in being lazy and not wanting to move from my chair! Now I see this exchange not as being a servant, but more of an exercise God put me through in learning how to become a true servant. You my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.—Galatians 5:13-18

Then of course just three days later, it happened again. My wonderful wife (the fetching Mrs. Ganzel) asked me to help her with a project that she is planning for the near future. I answered (right on queue), “couldn’t you get someone else to do that?” I didn’t want to be bothered with this request, and besides, I was sure that I had more important things to do. Then, as I sat down the next day and started to do some reflection on what God had been doing in my life. I was looking for some inspiration and or ideas for this article and decided my experience at Family Camp would be worthwhile sharing. Oops! As I was writing, the Holy Spirit brought my thoughts to the conversation with Rosie a day earlier. Hmmm, seems the old saying “practice makes perfect” would be aptly put here.

God calls me to serve others through him and for him. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:3-11.

Is God talking to you?

Thank you Heavenly Father, for your work in my life and your continued patience with me in my spiritual growth. Amen!

The Here and Now

I was thinking about generations the other day and this verse popped up as I sought some scripture that related to said subject. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 100:5 Reading through it at first seems like a simple truth stated straight forward, needing no further thought. Then I started thinking “I wonder how many generations have gone by since Adam and Eve?” After a quick search, I found a website called GotQuestions.org who seeks to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by providing Biblical answers to spiritually-related questions. My answer came the next day - “Answer:  There is no way to know for sure. According to Luke chapter 3, there were approximately 75 generations between Adam and Jesus. This represents around 4000 years in time. So, with 2000 years passing since Jesus, there would be approximately 38 more generations, bringing the total of around 113 generations. Again, though, this is only a guess.” Wow! I thought, only 113 generations? Seems like such a small number considering 6,000 years have gone by. So I started doing some math (this could be dangerous). My father was born in 1924 and is still living. His father (my grandfather) was born in 1900 and died in 1967. His father (my great grandfather) was born in 1861 and died in 1915. My great-great grandfather was probably born in the early 1800’s and I don’t know when he died (by the way, the same can be said of my mother and her mother and her mothers mother etc.). Going back that far in the family makes it hard to get information about exact dates, names etc. So including myself, that represents only 5 generations and we’ve already lost track of who is who and when did what.

“What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’” Mark 7:20-23 The human heart with out Jesus is doomed to continue on a one way track of evil and eternal death. I know for certain that my father is headed to heaven. I’m not so sure of the fathers that came before him. Some may be with the Lord now, but I have a feeling that some are probably not. It becomes mind boggling when I think of all the sin and sinful generations that have come and gone since Adam and Eve. The point is that God is faithful through all generations no matter what the fathers before have done. His love is always there. Its been a long time, way, way past 5 generations that Gods love has endured, being always faithful to listen, comfort and forgive. Always faithful to give us rest, to be a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat. Always faithful in guiding us on the right path, in being our provider, and our encourager. Always faithful, in being our strength, always kind, never harsh. Always faithful and patient, always faithful.

So what are we to do in this generation? Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. Philippians 2:12-16

Amen! Lets roll!

It's About Him

Satisfaction—the fulfillment or gratification of a desire, need, or appetite. This word can bring images of contentment after a hard days work at our job or after painting the living room, or mowing the lawn. The bible says that this satisfaction is from God. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.  That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.— Ecclesiastes 3:12-14  

Open your bible to Ecclesiastes 5 and notice that the author of chapter three also lends thought to our human inability to be completely satisfied (in this context concerning wealth).  It seems a constant battle for me to resist wanting more of just about everything I come across in my life. From chocolate chip cookies, to time for just me and myself. From a bigger and better car, to a fuller and greener lawn. More friends, more money, more clothes, better gadgets, faster this, larger that, me, me, me.

I remember just a short time ago (it seems) , I realized that I had been making a mess of my life and affecting negatively the world of those around me. I found I needed to surrender my life over to a loving Savior who knew what was required for me to straighten out my life. Prior to that, my life revolved around physical addictions (drugs & alcohol) that could never be gratified. And at the root of those physical addictions was an insatiable appetite to get as much of this world as I could, by any means available to me. I didn't know it then, but I was trying to fill a nagging inner hunger and thirst I could not fill myself. As hard as I tried, nothing seemed to curb this lustful appetite. Looking back on the past and my life without Jesus, the word satisfaction brings on images of frustration, apprehension, and hopelessness. For readers who may not know Jesus and can relate to my past frustration with satisfaction and fulfillment in life I offer this. Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.—Isaiah 55:6,7.

 For readers who know Jesus and can relate to my present struggle (temptation) with satisfaction in this world I offer this. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.—Matthew 5:6 and  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.—Romans 8:1,2

Vertical focus, is how I can find my fulfillment here on earth. The ruler of this earth (Satan) would have me believing the lie “try this, or get that and it will make you feel better” (horizontal focus). This train of thought brings me to another word that is related to desire and gratification. Hope—a desire accompanied by confident expectation of its fulfillment. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.—Romans 8:24-27

My ultimate satisfaction will come on that day when I will be like Him. Amen! Every time I start focusing horizontally it all becomes me, me, me. However, vertical focus brings me back to realty in realizing who I truly am and why I’m here. Its not about me, its about Him and what He is doing through me and in me.

Is your focus in life vertical or horizontal? Are you driven by hope or satisfaction?