Apples Worth Thinking About

A wise man once pointed out to me, "Any careful man can count the seeds in an apple.  Only God can count the potential apples to come from just one seed."  

As I opened my email this morning I found the story below.  It was sent by my lovely neice who is the kind of Registered Nurse you would like to tend to you in the event you were to be in hospital.  While I know she might have written it, because she is quite busy caring for people I suspect she received it from someone else.  Whoever originated it captured a very important bit of revelation that is well worth pondering.

   

Apples... 

 
A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago .. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly-missed boarding... 

ALL BUT ONE!!! He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned. 

He told his buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor. 

He was glad he did. The 16-year-old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her; no one stopping and no one to care for her plight. 

The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket. 

When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, "Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?"She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, "I hope we didn't spoil your day too badly." 

As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, "Mister...." He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, "Are you Jesus?" 

He stopped in mid-stride .... and he wondered. He gently went back and said, "No, I am nothing like Jesus - He is good, kind, caring, loving, and would never have bumped into your display in the first place. 

"The girl gently nodded: "I only asked because I prayed for Jesus to help me gather the apples. He sent you to help me, so you are like Him - only He knows who will do His will. Thank you for hearing His call, Mister." 

Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: "Are you Jesus?" 

Do people mistake you for Jesus? 

That's our destiny, is it not?To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace. 

If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting scripture and going to church. It's actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day. 

You are the apple of His eye even though you, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked up you and me on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit. 

OUCH -- That Hurt

Do you remember that verse ?  "Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a great fall."  

Just a few days ago I commented on my Facebook page that I was about to take a nap in the airport.  If I recall correctly it was while I was passing through Singapore and had an 11 hour layover in the airport.  One of my loving friends pointed out the  dangers of taking airport naps.  He was concerned that he might miss his flight because he slept through the boarding time.

How silly, I thought.  No one would ever do that.

Clearly, Papa God thought I needed to not be so quick to dismiss the wisdom of those that love me.  This morning, I fell asleep.  And I was so deeply asleep that I did not notice that the time to board my plane had come and gone.  

By God's grace it turned out to be a simple problem to solve.  Papa's fine for my foolish pride was only 190.00 Euros.  By his grace it did not even change my arrival time in Sczcecin where my friend plans to meet me at the airport.  It only moved 2 hours of my waiting time from Warsaw to Paris.  But, the foolish pride might have cost much much more.

I am so grateful for a Father's love that teaches us gently when we are willing to learn.  It is better to be disciplined by a warning than by a difficulty.  I could have learned from the warning sent through my friend.  It is also better to be disciplined by a difficulty than a disaster.  I pray I will remember this lesson and not require Father to teach it on a harsher level.

How do you choose to have Papa discipline you?  Every son whom he loves he disciplines.

His, thus Yours,

Stuart

Weapons of Our Warfare -- Maintaining Balance

Weapons of Our Warfare

MAINTAINING BALANCE

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. II Cor. 10:3-4 

Imagine 2 boxers in a ring.  One is able to keep his balance.  The other keeps getting over extended one direction or another and loses his balance.  Which one is more likely to be victorious ?

In most of the martial arts, students are taught to use the momentum of the opponent against him.  Thus, if an attacker lunges at you, you do not attempt to stop him and push him back.  Rather you move to the side and grasp your attacker to pull him in the same direction he was already moving.  This puts him off balance and precipitates his fall.

Remember, that which is visible is made from that which is not visible.  The physical world gives us clues about how things work in the spriritual realms.

By every appearance Satan's greatest victory was when he seduced and deceived men into the horror of crucifying the first born son of God.  And yet, that was in fact Satan's greatest defeat.  A defeat verified just 3 days later in the resurrection of Jesus the King in whom all the fullness of God is now pleased to dwell.

Over the past couple of days I have been able to observe something I never before was really able to put into words.  

For those who do not know me well, a bit of background.  I generally dislike excessive displays of emotions.  In part because I was raised in a family that tried to be logical not emotional.  This aspect of my personality is especially triggered when the excessive display takes place in ministry situations.  In my view such displays are most frequently triggered by: either an imposter spirit of religion; by a self centered pride which wants attention focussed on the individual creating the display; or by a demon within the one receiving ministry which wants to create a distraction so that the sons of God will not cast him out.  Yes, I know that sometimes these are just natural expressions of the emotions that are being experience in the moment.  But, sadly, my experience is this is the least frequent cause.

With that background, here in Benin where I am currently serving the saints, I have noticed that such emotional displays are extremely common.  Last night as I was loving on some of the people, I kept seeing these displays.  It was tempting to allow myself to be irritated by them.  It was rising to the level of distracting me until Holy Spirit whispered to me, "What business is that of yours?"

It was only then that I began to recognize the scheme of Satan.  He saw that this stuff irritated me.  So he stirred it up to the point that I wanted to fix what was bothering me instead of focussing on what Father sent me to do.  Satan knew that if he could get me to do that I would extend myself in a direction where I would have no support.  Then all he would need to do is reach in and give a little tug on me.  I would have gotten so off balance that just a  little tug would precipitate my fall.

On the other side of the battle:  Satan has a great weakness of which we often, if understanding and observant, can take advantage.  Satan is an arrogant deceiver.  Because he has so often been successful at deceiving man, he has great confidence in his ability to continue to do so.  Thus, you will often find people who have been lead into deeper and deeper levels of deception.  But when too much deception is piled on top of deception, the whole mass becomes extremely unstable.  In this situation, often just one little bit of Truth spoke into the situation will precipitate the fall of the entire Satanic scheme of deception and destruction.

By way of illustration, last night I saw a man whose entire life had been structured on a nightmarish web of fears.  Fear of failure, fear of disapproval, fear of peoples' opinions and on and on the fears built and multiplied.  When, I spoke the love of God into him,  the entire fear structure just fell apart.  He was set free from the deceptive stronghold by just one simple truth.  Satan was over extended and off ballance.  One gentle love tug crashed his scheme.

Keep your balance as you serve people.  You will be safer.  The ones you serve will be safer.  The enemy will be upset.

His, thus yours,

  Stuart

Dealing with Disagreements

It is certain.  You will not always agree with everyone with whom you are forced to interact.  You might believe that the President is perfect and has never made a mistake.  Or you might believe him a demonic leader who has never made a right decision.  Either way between 40 and 99 % of the World's population  will strongly disagree with you.  That is life.  If you are married to one who adores you, nevertheless, your spouse will strongly disapprove of some of your actions and on somedays it will appear to be ALL of your actions.  You might be working  for a time (long or short) with the most Godly person you have ever met.  Nevertheless, it is almost certain you will each from time to time find yourself not in agreement with something that has been done.

The issue in life is not how to avoid ever having a disagreement.  The issue is how do we handle the situation when we do disagree.  The apostle Paul in his letter to the Called Out Ones at Corinth noted that the outcome of such disagreements can be that those who are approved by God will be brought to light. Which are the ones approved by God?  Those are the ones who handle the conflict without destroying the relationship.  This can indeed be very difficult to do.  It becomes all the more difficult when our relationships are ones with a history of prior conflicts.  Thus, it is often difficult to know when we are approaching a tipping point when a simple disagreement will spill over into harsh and painful conflict.  This is especially true with people who have chosen to remain self-contained and hidden.  

Obviously, given that numerous books have been written on the subject of conflict resolution, this little blog entry cannot do the whole subject justice.  But, there are a few points worthy of refreshing in our recollection:

In Ephesians Paul makes reference to our forebearing one another.  A long time friend of mine, Bill Eschmann, often quipped a bit of great wisdom, "Forebearing is the four bearings that lets the church move smoothly."   Practically every human being has some mannerism that can be annoying.  I was on a plane sitting next to a newly commissioned Ensign in the U.S.Navy.  She is bright, articulate, and appropriately friendly.  However,  most of the time she was awake beside me she was continually shaking her right leg up and down in a little vibration.  Was it mildly annoying?  Yes.  Was it so annoying that I should speak about it?  No.  It was simply a little mannerism that I needed to forebear until she went back to sleep or until we parted friends at our destination.   But what if her mannerism was to strike matches and throw them on the floor, or to pull out a loaded gun and twirl it around her finger,  because these behaviors would actually endanger her and the people around her they would not be appropriate to simply forebear.  Moreover, what we can or should forebear depends also on our relationship.  If your spouse squeezes the toothpaste tube differently than you like, forebear it and go buy a second tube of toothpaste for yourself.  But, if your spouse insists on having a light by which to read and this disrupts your sleep.  You cannot simply forebear because the issue will eventually endanger both your health and your relationship.

Another issue that impacts this arena is integrity.  We can forebear many things, but what happens if the person for whom we are forebearing asks us a question.  Take my Navy Ensign friend from above:  If over the course of our flight we developed a relationship and she asks me for advice. Suppose she asks me, "Stuart, you were an Ensign once is there anything you can see that I might  improve so that I can excel in my career as an officer?"  If I answer, "No",  I have denied the truth I know.  I must either refuse to answer the question or answer her with the problem I see and the ways I see it will hurt her relationships with senior officers and with personnel who look to her for leadership.  So one of the ways to avoid causing things that would have been foreborn to break out into conflict is to not ask questions to which you are not willing to hear the answers.

But, as you know some people will give you answers to questions you were not asking.  And sometimes we receive answers to things we ask that are very different than the ones we wanted and expected to hear.  What do you do when you have been doing your very best.  Then some one asked or unasked gives you an evaluation that you have failed miserably.  Ouch, that hurts!  This is the point at which some spiritual grounding can make the difference between a minor bit of pain and major conflict which will destroy a relationship which God the Father values deeply.

When we find ourselves in this situation the single most important thing we can do is take control over that initial reaction of fear and rage.  The way to take that control is to come back to a simple but profound truth.  We are LOVED perfectly by God just exactly the way we are.  This truth is very  important to us because perfect love casts out all fear.  Yes fear is the problem here.  Fear of being guilty, of being disrespected, of being devalued etc. etc.  But God in his love values us and respects us and sets us free from all guilt etc. etc.  Our anger, our rage, our hurtness all arises not from the way others treat us but from our reactions to our own fears.  Come first back to the reality that because we are perfectly loved no one has the power to threaten our real well being.

Second remember a beautiful truth a brother taught me.  We all learn more from our failures than we do from our successes.  So if some one has dropped a bomb into the middle of your perspective, ask a couple questions.  Ones like:  "I see you have given this some thought and you are seeing things I have not really thought through, please tell me more about what you mean and what you are saying?"  It is very important to make your critic your ally to help you learn, not your enemy against whom you are marshalling a defense.  Your critics may or may not be right but one thing for certain they are seeing things from a different perspective than you are.  If you can maintain the perspective that this person is sent by God to expand your point of view, you can avoid being defensive.

Speaking of your defense:  His name is Jesus not self-justification.  We never need to defend ourselves.  We never need to defend God's works done through us.  Jesus is our sole defense.

After you have drawn out from your critic all the advice and input he/she is willing to give, conclude the conversation with a simple statement.  "Thank you for sharing your thoughts and perspective with me.  I will think these things through and take them up with Holy Spirit.  I am sure He will show me how best to apply all these ideas.  I thank you for sharing them with me I know it is never easy to say challenging things to another person."

Now let's also consider for a bit what not to do:  Never respond to criticism by attacking your critic.  For 3 reasons:  Such contention just reveals your own pride; Such contention makes your critic your enemy instead of your supporter; and, Such contention makes you blind to what God is teaching you in the moment.

If you are the critic, whether willingly or unwillingly, if the one you are criticising attacks you, DO NOT RESPOND IN KIND.  If he/she insists on remaining in the attack mode, simply withdraw from the conversation. Do not become embroiled in an exchange of accusations.

Receive PEACE from the Prince of Peace,

Love to all,

His, thus Yours,

Stuart

Musings in an Airport

I am sitting in the most beautiful airport I have ever seen. I am in Singapore.  I left Medan, Indonesia this morning.  In about 2 more hours I will head off to gate 34 to board my Air France flight to Paris for connection to Cotonou, Benin in West Africa.

A few minutes ago my newest friend, Biro, left me to go and catch her flight to Bali.  We started our conversation for the strangest of reasons.  She sat down near my luggage as I was finishing the flight check in procedure.  As I was returning, I approached from behind her and saw that she had a long graceful neck that reminded me of my wife, Joy.  When I sat down across from her I commented about that and she responded and so we continued for most of an hour.  She asked about my work.  I told her my job is to travel around the world and visit  with my friends.  She asked more about that and we began to talk about Jesus.  She is so hungry to know Him but her mind is still filled with a lot of deception.  Alas .....      The conversation ended with an invitation to her to try Jesus when she could not find peace with all her own efforts.  She responded with an invitation that she would like to see me in Bali.  Who but God knows,  I have never been there but  I have heard it is an interesting place.

For the past 10 days I have been in Medan.  Jesus let me watch Him do some wonderful things.  About a third of the congregation I talked with on Sunday morning invited Holy Spirit to come live in each of them. Then Sunday evening a lot of folks in a home meeting also invited Him.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I got to spend each afternoon sharing with a group of young men and women who are studying with an expectation that The Lord will lead them into "ministry".  I had a chance to share practical stuff with them.  We all fell in love with each other and had a joyous time together.  On Wednesday afternoon they let me lead them through a process of getting free from their past.  There were many tears as they went through the process of forgiving and releasing the people from the past who had hurt them.  But it was followed by great joy when they were free  from the demons who had harrassed them for so long.  Praise God  and WheeeHooo ! as some folks say in Texas.

My heart melted on Saturday night as the extended family gathered and after a wonderful dinner produced a beautiful birthday cake and wished me a happy 67th.  Even more I was blessed as last night after a traditional Indonesian feast from street vendors in downtown Medan, one of the older ladies in the family came and presented me with a beautifully made Indonesian batik shirt.  I am thrilled with it.  I hope when next I see you I can show it off for you. 

It was a week of many new experiences.  I had, for the first time, a large bowl of goat's head soup.  It was actually quite nice.  Contrary to what I had heard, Indonesian food is not terribly spicy-hot.  Some of it is spicy, but no more so than you would expect when eating Mexican or Tex-Mex foods.  I thoroughly enjoyed eating the regular Indonesian foods.  I am not much of one for bland foods.   

I keep discovering that I have a passion for younger people.  When sharing with older religious leaders it is a good thing.  Ah, but  when sitting out on the ground with a group of 25 people in their early 20's who are hungry to know Jesus intimately in every way they can,  wow oh wow.  That is a GREAT time.  I am beginning to understand why the pharisees and other religious leaders frustrated Jesus so much.  He was just looking for people who wanted to be his friends.

Well I think I better get up and walk about a bit so that I am ready to be cooped up on the airplane for 11 hours from here to Paris.

Love to all,

His, thus Yours,

Stuart

Abundance

A brother with whom I share 2 Fathers recently wrote a little piece to share with his community of believers.  This is a man whom I know to have endured great scarcity as well as moderate abundance.  He has taught me many things.  I wanted to share this insight of his.

ABUNDANCE

As told in the creation stories of Genesis, God created abundance for mankind and charged us with managing it.  Abundance is defined as a great or plentiful amount – more than our current needs.

In John 10:10, Jesus said “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that you may have life and have it abundantly”.

In Matthew 7:7, Jesus said “Ask, and it shall be given; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you”. (abundance is available, but you need to go after it)

In Acts 20:35, Paul tells us Jesus said “It is better to give than to receive”.

We give to others from our abundance, but to have that abundance we must produce or accumulate more than we need, and save a portion.  Giving to others without helping them to achieve their own abundance from what God has provided for us all, denies them that same joy of being the giver.

For the Christian, abundance can take many forms.  Material abundance is the most readily identified (often expressed as financial wealth).  Other forms of abundance, such as talents, skills and experience which can be contributed to help others, are valuable gifts.  We can have an abundance of love and compassion to give others without any possibility of endangering the meeting of our own needs.

 

Prayer:  Lord, help us to see the abundance in our lives and share it with others in need.  Help us show others how to achieve abundance in their lives so that they may also know the joy of sharing with others.  We seek to follow Jesus as our guide.  Amen

Thanks to Dave.

His, thus Yours,

Stuart

Prince of Peace

I know I have been missing in action for a while. I got caught up in the flurry of activities while travelling.  Then my body had the audacity to get sick with a severe cold/uri.  Alas....

A friend who is a gift of God to me and a gifted writer recently sent me the following.  For now, I think she prefers to remain anonymous.

One of my favorite names of Jesus as prophesied in Isaiah 9:6 is Prince of Peace. I am recently awakening to deeper layers and truths about what this means - Who this is.  Prince is an important title because it links Jesus to His divinity: He is God's (the King's) son. But peering further, we can also see that a Prince is anyone who is chief of or preeminant in a class or arena. Jesus holds the keys to Peace. In any and all moments of our lives, we can open our hands and receive His peace. All things are His. All good comes from Him. All glory returns to Him. If we live our moments with open hands, acknowledging that they are from Him, through Him, and for Him, then we will experience the peace that transcends our understanding of our circumstances. We will receive the Prince of Peace Himself. And He will receive us....a continuous offering, pleasing and beautiful. Our moments will be transformed and hallowed. And thus our lives will be transformed. It only takes one breath to say "from Him, through Him, for Him."

May this habit of prayer become our overarching reality. ---  Anonymous

As you ponder this remember also what we shared about our peace as a weapon of our warfare.

His, thus Yours,

Stuart

Where is Our Center ?

This is actually a reposting of and old blog entry.  However, in light of issues that I have been seeing in the Bride of Christ far too frequently,  I am quite sure Father wants me to re-post it today.  

One of my dearest friends recently told me in an email things he had decided to do.  As I was about to click the send button, Father prompted me to offer a copy of my response to you also.

Dear _____________,

Here is the fundamental question with which you must wrestle to a real conclusion:

Does Jesus have the final authority over all your decisions ?

Father God has undertaken to prove to you His love for you.

The Holy Spirit has been speaking with you on a regular basis.

But, the crucial question is whether Jesus is Lord or not.

He has proven himself to be the one who loves and forgives.

He has proven himself to be your provider.

He has healed your body such that despite the destructive stresses you have put on it you are able to function fairly normally.

But, Lordship requires submission in response to His proven love.

Up to this point in your life you have always reserved the right to say no to anything He may ask of you.

It is a power and ability that each of us has.

But, the implication of saying Jesus is Lord is that I have given up that right and said to Him, “Whatever you ask of me I will do it as you give me grace.”

Your growth into the fullness of all that His love would provide for you requires that you allow Him to be Lord with absolutely final authority over all your decisions.  It requires giving up your right to live a self centered life.

All of creation is waiting with anticipation for you to decide.

His, thus Yours,

Stuart

Because We Have Love

The thing that was so strong and powerful about the impact that Jesus had on the earth is that he loved people. He genuinely loved them. He was a servant to them. He set aside everything that he had a right to in heaven and he took on the form of a servant. If you’re going to be a genuine disciple maker, that must be your starting point. You must start by setting aside all the right religion. Then begin to be a servant to people in a way that builds relationships with people: genuine, honest, loving relationships.  

On one occasion, when I walked into a hotel where I was scheduled to speak, the woman who owns the hotel greeted me. I told her my name and she said “Oh, yes, you are Kim’s friend.” I had walked into a place where someone else who had a relationship, had prepared the way for me by building the relationship for me before I arrived.

When you want Jesus to be recognized as he enters into peoples lives, be a friend to them. Then they will recognize Him and say, “Oh yes, you’re the Jesus my friend loves.” You see, relationship is the key to becoming effective. Without relationship it won’t work.

ALL ministry crosses a bridge of relationship !

You don’t have the authority, not in heaven and not on earth, to make any man go where he doesn’t want to go. You can’t get somebody saved who doesn’t want to be saved. You can’t make someone a disciple who doesn’t want to be a disciple. God honors our humanity and he has given us the right to make our own decisions about our lives. If you try to take that away from someone by manipulating him, pressuring him and putting all your religious guilt trips on him, all you will do is drive him further and further away from the real Kingdom of God. Oh, you might get him to engage in some religious behavior you like. But, you will not get him closer to God.

So even though you’ve heard or read someone's neat little technique or script for how to get somebody to make a decision to accept Jesus as Lord, you should understand something. That technique won’t do anything for you. In fact the Holy Spirit probably has a better technique for you somewhere in your style of living. Even your own technique won’t do anything for you unless you first build a relationship and then get to know the person well enough to help him see where he is living in opposition to himself. If you can’t build the relationship, you have nothing left to do.  If you strive and argue and present the apologetics of Christianity without relationship it is likely you will have driven the person further from Jesus.

There’s a really simple starting point for the whole process of sharing the good news of Jesus. That starting point is to love people. If you don’t know how to love people, there are two things that are true. One is that you don’t know how much you are loved and the other is you’re not really thinking about other people. 

If you can love people and you can’t do anything else, that’s still the very best starting point because it is the goodness of God that brings men to repentance. It’s pouring out the love of God on them lavishly that brings men to repentance. It’s not your judgment; it’s not your doctrine; it’s not your speeches; it’s not your tracts; it’s not your church meetings; it’s NONE of that! It’s the goodness of God that brings men to repentance. So hear me and hear the Lord. The way the world will know that Jesus has come, is that they will experience the love. Learn to love people.

                     ____________________________________

By this shall men know that you are my disciples because you have love ...

                     ____________________________________

His, thus Yours,

Stuart 

The Final Authority

In your life, who has the final authority to make the decisions about: how you will live your life; what you will do or what you won’t do? Who has that final authority?

Now if you were 3 or 4 years old and I asked you that question, the only reasonable answer you could give me is “mommy” or “daddy”. I’ve been traveling over several continents, I’ve continuously run into people who still answer “mommy or daddy” or a substitute for mommy or daddy. Wives say my husband. Husbands say my wife. Some are religious people and say, “Well, when I have a decision to make I talk to the pastor.”

Now all of those are obviously a kind of escape: they’re ways in which we can avoid the personal responsibility. Others have matured to accept responsibility. In words not quite so eloquent, like the poet they proclaim, “I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.”

The truth of the matter is this: Whoever is the final decision making authority in your life, that person is your Lord. You see, that’s what Lordship means. It means the final authority to make the decisions.

With that understanding, I suggest that you consider this; Jesus knows more about your life than you do. He knows what happened in your past. He knows what happened in the past generations and the things that are affecting you today. He knows what’s happening all around you in the present time and he even knows what other people are thinking about you right now. He knows all about your future too. He knows what you will be facing at 4:00 tomorrow afternoon. He knows the end from the beginning.

Now, here’s another thing you ought to know about Jesus: He loves you. Completely! Enough to die for you!

Now, I know that there have been many times when you actually have not loved yourself. Remember when you felt so foolish you could have kicked yourself? Remember when you wanted to go and kill yourself? Have you noticed the self destructive things you do as you drink, or drive, or use drugs, or let others use you? A person who loves you does not treat you like that.

I also know that you don’t know as much about your own life as Jesus does. Do you remember what you were thinking the day you were 4 days old? He does. Do you know what God the Father planned for you before you were born? He does. Do you know what that woman is thinking about you right now? He does. Do you know what the traffic will be like on the way home tomorrow? He does.

He knows everything about you. Everything! He knows every detail and he still loves you.

So just answer a simple question for yourself. Who’s the better decision-maker for you; someone who actually loves you; someone who knows everything there is to know about the decisions to be made; or someone who only sometimes loves you and doesn’t know everything about those decisions?

When you get to this point you recognize that it really is just common sense to let Jesus be Lord of your life and to yield to him all the authority to make the final decisions for your life.

Let me just pause for a moment to ask you another simple question. Have you already asked Jesus to come and be your decision-maker? If not there is no reason why you can not do so right now. He is not waiting for you to be good enough or for you to earn the right. He is ready right now. Are you? If you are ready just tell Him so:

Jesus, I invite you to be the final authority for all my decisions. As you help me, whatever you say I will do. I choose to stop doing things my way and do everything your way. Please help me.

What have I just done with you? I’ve taken you through a simple step by step process of demonstrating how one might talk to someone and bring him or her to the point of making a decision to receive Jesus as Lord. However, in doing so I haven’t used any religious phrases at all. If you go to someone and say to him, “Are you born again?” I can tell you what response you’ll get from him. The response will be whatever he thinks will get you to go away. He’s been attacked by “Christians” before and he has no desire to go through that again.

Here’s the real problem. This is a lesson in evangelism. In the New Testament there was only one person who got the title of evangelist. His name was Phillip. When you read the story of what he did in Acts 8, you see how he met the Ethiopian eunuch and you discover something that is really fascinating about his interaction with that Ethiopian. You discover that he didn’t try to tell the Ethiopian anything until the Ethiopian asked him a question. Philip asked him questions but didn’t try to tell him anything about God until the Ethiopian asked him a question. I suggest to you that one of the single greatest problems in the history of the modern church is that we keep trying to answer questions that nobody is asking. 

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Stop trying to answer questions that nobody is asking. 

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Stop preaching to people who don’t have any questions. Start seeing God has a completely different approach. The plain truth is that ALL service crosses a bridge of relationship. You can never serve anyone with whom you do not have some depth of relationship. 

His, thus Yours,

Stuart

Weapons of our Warfare -- PEACE

Weapons of Our Warfare

  OUR PEACE

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. II Cor. 10:3-4 

A day or two ago I was chatting with a lovely couple with whom I have had an ongoing relationship.  They were each telling me about the stress that had permeated their lives.  I spent some time with each listening to the reasons they each had for being stressed.  As they talked the issues through they each began to realize that the reasons they gave were in reality merely excuses for their having relinquished their self-control of their reactions to people and circumstances and choosing not to maintain the Peace that each believer has been given as a gift from the Prince of Peace.

Jesus has sent each us who follow Him to walk on the Earth in the same manner in which He had been sent by the Father.  He walked as the Prince of Peace.  He gave to His followers His gift of Peace.  Thus He empowered each of us to also walk as princes of Peace. Our personal Peace is our God given right as sons of the most high God.  His gifts are without repentance.  Thus, He will not take it back.  Moreover,  no one in all the universe has either the power or the authority to steal it from us.  If we lose our Peace it is because we voluntarily chose to give it up in response to Satan's deceptions.

Moreover, as princes of Peace we are empowered to speak and impart peace to situations and to other people.  When we are confronted with confusion and chaos often the most effective response is to speak peace into the situation.  This was demonstrated by Jesus when confronted by a violent storm.  Unlike the men around Him He did not relinquish His Peace; rather He spoke peace into the storm.  

A few years ago I was sitting at a round table in a restaurant with some friends.  As we were chatting and preparing to order our food a young woman arrived a bit late.  She took the only remaining seat, beside me.  As she was getting settled, I wanted her to feel included so I turned and asked her, "Hi, how are you, today?"

She did something most of us find unusual.  She gave an honest answer.  She said, "Well, I am beginning to have a Panic Attack  right now."  

I knew that Panic Attacks can become quite serious.  At times progressing to the point where medical attention is required for the person's survival.  But, I wanted to have lunch with my friends not with a group of the local paramedics.  I also knew that persons having a Panic Attack most often respond to words of reassurance with the perverse idea that if you believe reassurance is needed then there really is some thing to Panic About.  As the woman on the other side of me began pouring out motherly words of comfort and assurance, I was watching the young lady's eyes become more and more dilated and her respiration become more and more rapid and shallow.  I began listening for some instruction from Holy Spirit.  What could I, a stranger to this young lady, do ?

I turned to her and looked her in the eyes.  In a gentle but definitely instructional voice just loud enough to override the motherly assurances, I said, "Receive peace. My Peace I give to you."

Instantly, I was watching as her eyes ceased dilating and began to return to normal.  Her breathing slowed and she took a deep calming inhalation.  Within moments she had returned to normal and we were all chatting around the table as though nothing had happened out of the ordinary.

Often whether it is an individual "on the brink"  or a group caught up in argument, the simplest and most effective tool to set people free is to simply impart peace into them and their surrounding circumstances. 

His, thus yours,

  Stuart

Stuart, Where Are You ?

Stuart, Where Are You ?

This is the question I have been asking myself as I awake each morning for the last few days.  

Today the answer was "Hmm, I am in Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico."

Last week I was in Belize City, Belize, Central America.  Next week I will be in Cuenca, Ecuador.

Despite the hours sitting in aircraft and waiting in airports and going through immigration and customs procedures I am finding brothers and sisters in the Kingdom of God in many places.

Some of these siblings are new friends like a lovely lady in Belize City who every year takes time from her busy work schedule to help American Christian  youth and Belizian Christian youth build relationships with each other while they work together in a project to help a small rural village.  Other of my spiritual siblings are old friends whom I have known for more than ten years.

I am reminded of a lesson Holy Spirit taught me many years ago:

At the time I was driving around the Washington, DC, beltway having a discussion with Him about His idea that I needed to change the ways I was treating people.  In response to Him I exclaimed, "Well, if that is what you want, I will need a whole new mind set about people."

In response He asked me, "How does the Apostle Paul write?"

I knew immediately what  He meant.  Paul as a writer often presents a seemingly impossible problem followed by God's answer to it in the next paragraph.

In Romans Paul exhorts us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  He tells us if we get our minds renewed we will become experts on what is the perfect will of God.However, I had heard many preachers talk about the importance of being transformed by the renewing of my mind.  But, no one ever told me an effective answer as to how to get my mind renewed. 

I know a young woman who was a very, very, difficult teenager for her Godly parents to raise.  She became so difficult that for a period her parents were forced to put her into a psychiatric care center for teens.  If there were an immoral or dangerous thing for a teen to do she would be doing it.  When she went away from home to go to college about an hour drive away she continued her rebellious ways.  She became pregnant.  The day she discovered she was pregnant: She stopped smoking. She stopped drinking.  She stopped 

using illegal drugs.  The following weekend: She went home to her parents and was reconciled with them.  

Why this sudden change?  Why did she suddenly develop a whole new mind?  For her the explanation is simple and obvious.  She became aware that her foolish choices were no longer only damaging her life. Those choices were now also threatening the life of the child who was growing within her body.  Good decisions that she was not willing to make for her own well-being she was suddenly committed to make for the benefit of the child who was  unable to escape growing within her.

Immediately after Paul exhorts us to get our mind renewed, he points out that we are all members of the Body of Christ and we belong to all the other members.  Therefore what happens to one of us happens to all of us.   So, even though you have never met Luke or Jonathan, my friends who are African apostles in Kenya and Zimbabwe, whatever you do also affects them.  If hidden in a hotel in a strange city, you pick a path of self destructive sin.  You are also being destructive to every other member of the Body of Christ.  

Why?

Because we all belong to you and you belong to all of us.  If, instead, you choose to serve God and build your faith by a period of praying in the Spirit, you will certainly build up the faith of the whole Body of Christ.  The other members of the Body of Christ can not escape being affected by your decisions just as the unborn child can not escape being affected by the mother's decisions.

This is the reason that it is so important to Paul, and to Jesus, that you do not think of yourself more highly than you should. With sober judgement consider the effect you are having all across the World.  Consider the children of  God whose lives you will change.  Then your mind will truly be renewed.

His, thus Yours,

Stuart

What is My Calling

So far as I can tell neither Holy Spirit nor I work well with short answer questions.  But we both would like to be supportive in your efforts to find your roles and functions in the Bride of Christ.

Initially as you pursue this search, please note God's promise to us through Noah.  There will always be spring time and harvest.  By implication then there will also be the seasons when the crops are growing and there is not as much to do and seasons when the ground lies fallow and  there is nothing to do but rest.  Thus, summers for going to the beach and on picnics, and winters when we snuggle with loved ones and study are just as real as the busy seasons of sowing crops and reaping harvests.  Notice, however, that the spiritual seasons of our lives, unlike the agrarian seasons of the farm, are not necessarily three months evenly spaced through one calendar year.  Jesus, for example, went through about 30 years of preparation for only about 2 years of spring time planting and only a few months of harvesting.

Notice also all sons of God are first people.  All are called to live in the world even though they are no longer of the world.  Thus, we all have multiple roles and functions in our lives. If we do not work we are not entitled to eat.  If we neglect our spouses or our children we are not following the principles of the Kingdom.  So, a man may be anointed as an apostle, nevertheless if he marries and fathers children there will be a long season in his life when his primary roles will be to provide for his household, love and protect his wife, and disciple his children.  A woman who marries has a long season of her life primarily devoted to honoring her husband, bearing children and rearing them in the nurture of God.  As a matter of God's grace all of these activities, which get very little recognition from the world, also serve as the tools Father God uses to mature us and prepare us for the later seasons of our lives when we lay down our lives for the Bride of Christ. It is crucially important that we do not seek to skip the training periods.

His, thus Yours,

Stuart

Disciples ?

In the 4th chapter of Ephesians we’re told that the Lord has given us apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. He’s given us these gifts to equip the saints, but so often have I heard it said that we have these apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to bring the body of Christ to maturity and to the full stature of the manhood of Christ. On many occasions, I’ve heard people say that this is the function of those in the fivefold ministry.

When you read Ephesians 4 carefully, you realize that it is the saints that do the work to bring the body of Christ to maturity. It’s not when the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers do the work, but when the saints do the work that we will all come to the fullness of the stature of Christ.

You see, if there are 100 of us in an assembly of believers and we have one apostle and one prophet and one pastor and one teacher and one evangelist among us, they should do 5 % of the work of the ministry. The rest of us should do the other 95% of the work of the ministry. But where have we been in the historic institutional church? If you ask somebody to name the minister in your congregation, you typically get the name of the person who stands up front.

So welcome to the real world of the Kingdom of God. Every one of us is a minister. A disciple, when completed, should be a saint who is basically equipped to do the work of the ministry. He’s someone who is able to be a disciple maker as well as a disciple. That is the work of the ministry.

The great commission is not about making converts...it’s about making disciples. 

When we talk about equipping the saints, with what are they to be equipped? There are some essential ingredients in the life or character of a disciple, which basically equip him for the work of the ministry. As you begin to understand what they are, you will understand your own role in equipping and being equipped for the work of the ministry because every man of God needs to see himself as continuously living on both sides of the equation. You need to be constantly receiving further equipping in your life and you need to be one who is discipling others and equipping them as well. Here is a list of basic starting equipment. It is certainly not exhaustive. But, it will give any saint a good start if these tools are in hand as he begins to undertake the work of serving others to make disciples.

I am basically equipped for the work of the ministry if:

1. 1)  Jesus is actually Lord over my life.

   Who has the authority to make the ultimate decisions in your life? - Romans 10:9-10

2. 2)  I am filled with the Holy Spirit, receiving:

   1. A)  The Character of Christ; - Galatians 5:22-23

   2. B)  The Power of the Spirit; - I Corinthians 12:8-9

   3. C)  The Revelation of God - I Corinthians 2:10-16

3. 3)  I openly receive God's love. -- I John 4 7-21 and Matthew 10:8

4. 4)  I freely forgive others. - Matthew 6:12; Matthew 18:23-33

5. 5)  I release others from judgment. - Matthew 7:1-2

6. 6)  I am free from the iniquities of generations and interpersonal bondage. -- Galatians 6:7-8 and Exodus 20:5-6

7. 7)  I remain free from demons. -- Matthew 8:16

8. 8)  I am established as a disciple in a relationship, which provides an example, love and

   accountability. - Matthew 20:25-28; Hebrews 13:7 and 17
   Who am I looking for to watch over my soul? -Matthew 26:36-41 and John 17:1-7

   1. 1)  A man in whom I see Christ. - Matthew 28:18

   2. 2)  Who is connected in relationship. Matthew 8:9; Romans 8:29; Hebrews 2:10-11

   3. 3)  Who loves me such that I trust him. -- Matthew 7:6

   4. 4)  Who will seek God's vision for my life. -- Philippians 2:20-21

   5. 5)  Who, when I ask, will accept responsibility. -Hebrews 13:17

9. 9)  I am faithful to the Lord in my finances:

   1. A)  Tithing; -- Malachi 3:10

   2. B)  Making offerings; II Corinthians 9:1-10

   3. C)  Giving Alms; -- Acts: 10:4; James 1:27

   4. D)  Becoming debt free. -- Proverbs 22:7

10. 10)  I am free from relying upon:

    1. A)  Traditions of Men; -- Matthew 15:6

    2. B)  My own performance; -- Galatians 2:21 

             C) Human wisdom. -- I Corinthians 1:17

11. 11)  I have basic familiarity with:

    1. A)  The Scriptures -- II Timothy 3:16-17

    2. B)  The elementary doctrines of Hebrews 6:1-2.

12. 12)  I have vision for the Bride of Christ including:

    1. A)  Her eternal nature. -- Hebrews 12:28-29

    2. B)  Her unity -- John 17:20-21

    3. C)  The function of the five gift ministries -- Ephesians 4:11-12

    4. D)  The ministry of the saints -- Ephesians 4:12-13

13. 13)  I hear God. -- Matthew 16:13-18; John 10:27

14. 14)  I have a personal sense of vision and calling. - Ephesians 4:1

15. 15)  I am a servant to Christ, His people, and those He loves. -- Philippians 2:5-7

16. 16)  I am daily:

    1. A)  Emptying myself; -- Philippians 2:5-7

    2. B)  Denying myself; -- Luke 9:23,

    3. C)  Choosing to die to my own desires. -- Luke 9:23

17)  I humble myself acknowledging my continuing need for God's grace.

His, thus Yours,

Stuart