We live in a time of the church being under constant attack. The religious war with Muslims seems to gain new footing every week. More Christians are being persecutioned than any time in history. The political upheaval, in our own country and abroad has us reeling — everything seems to be turning upside down. So many proponents of relativism, “alternative lifestyles”, athiesm, agnosticism and freedom from religion are pointing thier fingers at the church and saying we are the problem. We are loosing our young people at an astounding rate — more churches are closing than ever before — most of us can’t believe all of this is happening in our own time.

Add this to the “normal” strife in the church caused by gossip, backbiting, prideful leadership, unrepentant sin, and lack of respect for the scriptures — it seems the enemy is mostly winning and many are despairing.

But — remember, “The Lord is a warrior,  Yahweh, is his name.” Exodus 15:3 reminds us of of the plagues in Egypt and the Red Sea crashing down on the Egyption army. He has all power in his control, including myriads of angels, a single one of which killed 185,000 men in a single day in 2 Kings 19.

Do not fear! Jehovah will fight for us! Call on his name, seek his face, meditate on his eternal nature, read and remember the many, many examples in scripture of his overcoming overwhelming odds for his people and you will see — it is far from hopeless — not only do we need not despair, we can shout Hallelujah!

6. Sit down daily to read the Bible, ask God to lead you to just the right passage for this moment. Sometimes, I have had the Bible fall open to that right passage. Other times I just start looking at the Psalms and find it. Most often, however, the Lord brings to mind just what I need from past reading or study.

As you read the passage, ask what it reveals about God’s nature and character.

Reflect on God, ask him to show you more of this.

Meditate on it. (Psalms 119:15) But, you may ask, how do you meditate

1. Put away the cell phone, the laptop, anything that might distract you. They used to call meditation — musing and a muse was someone wise. Now these have been almost completely replaced with the opposite — amusement.
2. Spend a significant time just reflecting, listening to what God may be telling you.
3. If possible, engage your mind’s eye — your imagination
4. Find pictures, songs, messages to further encourage this thinking. Put these reminders in your day.

Ask God if there is any action you need to take to demonstrate what you have learned — to take on his nature yourself. If so, act as soon as possible.  And follow up — see if you’ve been faithful to do God’s will for you in this.

Ask God if there is any action you need to take to demonstrate what you have learned — to take on his nature yourself. If so, act as soon as possible.  And follow up — see if you’ve been faithful to do God’s will for you in this.

Last time, we looked at the problem of responding to our concerns with anxiety and how this response does not reflect faith or lead to mental health. So what is the correct response?

1. Realize Christians are not exempt from genuine concerns. Wars or rumors of war, other political concerns, worries over our children, concern for aging parents, health issues, work troubles and money troubles happen to us as well as unbelievers.
2. Pray — this should always be our default setting, as Christians. Pray for all those involved in our concerns, even our enemies. (Matt. 5:44)

3. Share your concerns with fellow Christians. We recently sang the old hymn, Tell It to Jesus in early morning prayers. The song recommends always going to Jesus with our troubles — which is good. But it also recommends we tell it to Jesus alone. But as Christians, we are also to follow Galatians 6:2. “Bear one another’s burdens and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.” We may think we are sparing someone our trouble, if we keep it to ourselves. But actually, we are robbing them of a privilege and an opportunity to show Christ’s love to us. Another thing our silence robs us of — wise counsel. Proverb seek Wise counsel.

4. Pray for strength, courage, and faithfulness through whatever you are going through. (Joshua 1:9; Rev. 2:10) Voice of the Martyrs says this is usually the top prayer request from those facing serious persecution.

5. Continually pray for direction on how to handle every situation. This is a discipline that most of us need to learn — to insert quick prayers through out the day or night whenever our thought turn to a concern.

In a recent post, I dealt with resurrection and the powerful prayer in Ephesians 1. The passage makes clear the power of the resurrection working in us brings assurance of our hope in eternal life. But eternal life may not be what you think it will be.

Some people think that going to heaven is mostly about going to a place — seeing the streets of gold and pearly gates. But Jesus says in his wonderful prayer for his followers in John 17:1-3 “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Eternal life is not mostly about going to a place. It is about knowing the Father and the Son — being in greater relationship with them. All the things that distract us from this now will be over.  All the limitations we have now in truly experiencing their glory and understanding them will fade away.

What do you think this will look like in heaven? I hope we can have a conversation about this.

We moved here directly from Germany. We immediately noticed quite a difference. We stayed in Seoul several days before heading to U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys. There were signs of poverty, fairly regular, in both the city and the countryside. The streets were far less clean in places. The crowds were much greater than we had ever experienced (we could not believe how many Koreans would cram into a elevator). But there was beauty, too. The azaleas came out that week.

We appreciated the friendliness of the people and the really different food — though a lot is too hot for me. We’ve learned to really love the people.

Before coming, we wondered how Koreans would react to trouble with the North. Most of the time, I would compare it to people in Central and North Texas being told there was a Tornado warning.  They just said, “OK” and went about their business — just used to it. Tell them a tornado has been sighted 5 miles away and you have their attention.

As I write this, there is more concern. North Korea has had several nuclear tests recently and tests of longer reaching missiles. Couple this with the local political scene being unstable at the moment and a new U.S. President and tensions are high.

Right now I need to check my NEO bag and put it in the car. I need to travel to another base and think I’ll take it with me, this time. It needs to be ready at all times, in case they evacuate non-essential Americans with the military community. It contains a few pieces of clothing, a gas mask, bottled water, snacks, and a lot paper work, which includes my marriage certificate and my last will and testament. The training has prepared us to drop everything and walk, not drive, to the building on base we are to gather in such circumstances and prepare to helicopter out of here. Training even included a thirty minute ride in one of these, a CH-47 Chinook, which turns out to be the fastest of the locally based helicopters. If we ever need it, we’ll appreciate that.

Next post we’ll explore our reactions to dangerous times.

In the past, I’ve made the mistake of separating out and focusing on v. 19, “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe.” I considered the mention of the resurrection as being the greatest illustration of that power. I wanted power — in my prayers, power to change, and power to do great things.

Now I realize the passage is saying a good deal more than that. Paul is praying for the greatest of gifts God can give the Ephesians (or us) — a real knowledge of Christ and an understanding, deep in their hearts, that the work done in the resurrection carries on in them — ensuring their eternal future and empowering them to put Christ in his proper place as Lord. They will then actually be the church, demonstrating his fullness.

Truly knowing Christ requires wisdom — perception — in who he really is, what he has really done and what he is still doing. The result is experiencing him in a relationship that truly changes us. We relate to him as ever present friend, companion and as an advocate who is always on our side. But we also relate to him as Lord — he brings life, peace, newness, glory, and joy as we follow his way. He is the good shepherd, choosing our path and guiding our way as we are going through this life and the next. He knows us well, as his sheep and we know his voice and follow it. (John 10:14-16)

As you celebrate Easter and remember the resurrection, I pray you will think of the change it makes in your life. Choose something today that you have been holding back from his lordship, keeping it for yourself. Allow the power of the resurrection to work there. Ask Jesus to come in this area. And allow him to guide you through it to better things.

I would love to hear your thoughts and experience in this, Kent.

Jesus makes it clear to Martha in John 11 that he more than has power to raise Lazarus — he is resurrection, he is life. Then he raises Lazarus from the dead. Jesus is wanting to pass on this part of his nature to all who believe in him. There is more taking place here than a great miracle done for the sake of Lazarus and his sisters, though that certainly is part of what is happening. There is a demonstration of his being the resurrection, of his being life and an encouragement for his followers to tap into this — eternally.

The more I study about how to overcome sin, the more I see we need the power of resurrection to do so. This is what enables us to be a new creation, to change our very nature. We have no hope of radical change without it.

How can you see the power of resurrection changing you?

When I was young, I attended churches who never had an Easter service (or Christmas, for that matter). This we were told is something denominations did, not churches true to the first century model. The resurrection of Christ was celebrated every week.

Only a small percentage of Protestant churches will have a good Friday service but the Easter services will be the best attended of the year. In spite of this I believe the death of Christ and the power of his blood are preached a good more during the year than the resurrection in the majority of churches.

The death of Christ, indeed should be spoken of regularly — even weekly. It is the blood of Christ that covers our sins and brings us forgiveness.

But the study I’ve done in the last couple of years leads me to believe the resurrection deserves equal attention.

The first part of my plan to know God more is to meditate on the attributes of God. Christian meditation is almost a lost art. Here is my plan to learn more of this art on the most important subject in the world. Pick an attribute of God (note: this is a short list, more to be added later). Read the passages for it and choose one. Read it every day for at least a week. Pray daily, acknowledging how awesome this is about God.  Ask for more understanding of this attribute. Spend time every day reflecting on this concept. Try to engage your imagination to visualize God in this.  Find hymns or spiritual songs that address this concept and worship him daily with them. Find an image to illustrate the passage, put as wallpaper on your desktop or smartphone and post on social media. Sometime this week use a search engine to find Biblical examples where God has demonstrated this. The following week(s) expand to other passages and reflect on them, continuing in this pattern. Use a Bible search engine to find more passages. If any need help with this, please let me know.

God Is Light

1 John 1:5 ESV
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Psalms 18:28, 118:27

The Glory of God

Isaiah 6:1-4
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 

Exodus 24:17, Revelation 21:23-25

God Is Omnipotent (all powerful)

Mark 10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”   2 Chronicles 20:6, Psalms 62:11

God Is Omniscient (has all knowledge)
Romans 11:33
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!   1 Samuel 2:3 Psalms 139

At this time of year, most of us at least, consider resolving to make this year better by focusing on or adding goals for the year. Exercising, losing weight or improving our diets are probably the most common goals.

Some of us choose to focus on professional goals. I started working on mine.

1. Publish my first book, “Remade! A preacher finally finds victory over pornography and complaint”, in both print and e-book.

2. Produce a promotional video for each of my seminars.

3. Produce worship videos, mixed with testimony.

4. Give at least 20 seminars this year.

5. Find a corporate sponsor(s) to support the ministry to the military.

As I reflected on these goals I thought “I’m really going to have to stay focused to accomplish all of this”. These are all worthy goals, in fact I consider them work God has purposed me to do. And I’ve been working very hard on the first one all month.

But it suddenly dawned on me that I was forgetting the most important goal for this year or any year – Know God better. I was allowing the urgent to push out the most important. I’ve come to see in recent years that nothing is more important, nothing will affect our lives more towards greatness than knowing God better.

Next time, I’ll lay out the first of my plan to really focus on knowing more about God.