Under Attack

  There are times when we are convinced that we must have made a wrong turn somewhere.  We still have the conviction that God is leading in a certain direction, and we are doing our best to follow.  The problem is that things have become so difficult that we are sure that we must have missed something along the way.

  This happens both at individual and group levels.  People lose heart and lean towards throwing in the towel because things just aren't going as they had envisioned.  This road was supposed to be smoother, the path straighter.  We are sure of it.  We find ourselves tired and hurt.  At moments like this, it is hard not to look back and ask ourselves, "What went wrong?".  Surely, if we can just sort out the answer to this question, things will get better.  We just have to find where we have strayed, because the path can't be this hard.

2 Corinthians 11:23-33

Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from my countrymen, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides those things that are without, there is that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is caused to stumble, and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed for evermore knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king guarded the city of the Damascenes in order to take me: and through a window was I let down in a basket by the wall, and escaped his hands. 

  As ambassadors of Christ, we find ourselves in a strange land.  It is a land who's forces have come against us in full measure.  We can rest assured that when we are in His will, nothing can stand against us.  This means that we will be victorious.  His will is going to be accomplished.  The enemy will do anything and everything to stop us, but he will fail.  The only recourse that remains is to convince us to quit.  When the enemy turns on you, it is an attempt to steal the victory that  can never be taken otherwise.  

  I urge you to remember this:

2 Corinthians 4:8

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 

  Remain steadfast and cover yourself in prayer.  Pray that those involved in all aspects of your ministry stay the course.  Don't give up your victory.  God certainly won't.  He sees us through in all things.  Keep faith.

    

Don't you know who I am?

  We all have our reasons for the things that we do and don't do.  When it comes to our calling from the Lord, none of these otherwise solid and air tight arguements seem to hold water.  Invariably, we turn to the one argument we have left.

  I'm talking about the one argument that seems to get in the way, even when we desire to do the thing God has called us to.  It goes something like this: "This can't have come from God.  I can't do this.". We then turn to our bibles.  We get down on our knees in prayer.  We ask for clarity.

  Now, at the point where we have confirmation in scripture and in Spirit, we start to get upset.  Now begins, "Why me God?  Don't you know who I am?  I know you have seen the things that I have done.  You know how I used to be.  How can you call me to this?  Nobody is going to take me seriously!"

It is time to consider three solid cases for this same argument where God chose someone who was not only unfit, but of a dubious past.

  Moses was the son of a slave, raised as a prince, who discovered his own origins, committed murder, and left town.  He didn't just leave town, he ran.  He knew that, in Egypt, he was known as a murderer.  Were he to return wearing the mantle of deliverer, he would be seen as a traitor as well.  Yet, in Exodus 3, God sends Moses to that exact place with that exact mission.  The Egyptians had every reason to kill him, and the Israelites had absolutely no reason to trust him.  We all know what happened next.

  Now let's move to the New Testament.  

  Matthew was a tax collector.  This was considered to be the lowest of low by the Jewish and Roman people alike. This was a group who sought out their own and demanded money to be paid for both government and temple taxes.  They were known to be dishonest on the whole, and were little better than thieves.  Yet, Christ called one of these to walk with Him and preach the gospel.

  Matthew 9: 9-13

  As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth.  "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

  While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples.  When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"

  On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

  Matthew had every reason to doubt the sanity of Jesus' call.  I can only imagine the overwhelming power of that call, made in person, by the Word made flesh.  Matthew did not argue, but obeyed.

  Now consider Saul, the Pharisee.  This man was a lawyer, prosecuting attorney, judge, and jury, all rolled into one.  He sought out Christians and made sure that they were punished, usually put to death.  He made an example of them. He was good at his job.  Then something happened on the road to Emmaeus.

Read Acts 9: 1-31

  Saul was confronted by God.  He was so set in his ways, that it took this grandios intervention by God to get his attention.  God knocked him down and struck him blind.  Then after following God's instructions, he was healed.  He was then sent to join the disciples and preach to the Gentiles.  Now, he was a being called to go to a group of people that he knew wouldn't trust him (and they didn't at first), and join their ministry by going out and and sharing the gospel with a people that prior to then had been considered unclean and unworthy.  He knew good and well that the disciples wouldn't go for that either.

  Yet, Saul, now Paul, did go and do as the Lord directed.  His ministry was anointed from the start.  This man reached the far corners of the known world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  He cast out demons and healed the sick.  He converted the masses and is responsible for  writing a good portion of the New Testament.  What if he had fallen prey to his own "solid argument"?

  It comes to this.  God knows who you are.  He knows where you have been and what you have done.   He calls us to Him.  We submit to His authority and he makes us clean.  None of that from before matters from that moment on.  It is how we choose to live our lives then and every minute after that counts.  In that moment, the Lord of all creation has informed us that he no longer cares about our past, and that he is going to use us for His glory and the good of His kingdom.  Will we dig in our heals and defeat ourselves in stubborn arguments born in shame or doubt?  We have a choice.  We can do what we are called to do, what we were created to do, and obey the Lord.  

  

  God changes us when we step out in faith.  We become less of who we were and more of who He has called us to be.  It is our honor and privilege to serve the Lord.  It is our responsibility as citizens and ambassadors of heaven.  We have only to put aside our own prideful ideas and limitations.  We have to trust in Him.  That is the greatest challenge of it all.  It is also absolutely necessary.

  

Foolishness

In 2 Samuel 6:1-11, we find David returning to Jerusalem with the ark. The cart lurches, and Uzzah makes the mistake of touching it. David witnesses the man being burned to death on the spot. As a result, he is afraid and leaves the ark in the care of Obed-Edom the Gittite. After three months he hears of the blessings this household has seen and decides it is safe to bring the ark into the city.

Now, read 2 Samuel 6:12-23

David is overcome with joy as the ark is brought into the city. He can no longer contain himself and begins to dance before the Lord. He is completely consumed by his joy and love for God and behaves in a way that many, who are prim and proper, would consider foolish. In verse 16, we see that his own wife is filled with contempt for him at the sight of this display.

2 Samuel 6:16
As the ark was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul, watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.

I was not raised in a church that encouraged “foolish behavior” of any sort. Reverence for the Lord meant that we were to be proper at all times. At least, that is how the congregation seemed to feel about it. Raised in this way, the first time I experienced people dancing in praise, I was very uncomfortable. In some ways, I shared the opinion of Michal, as she watched David dance. No, I did not have the fear of being embarrassed by extension. I was not related to any of those present in any way, so it would not be connected to me. Yet, I was upset by their apparent lack of propriety.

My response was one of evasion. I left quickly, when the service was over, hoping nobody would give me cause for delay, or worse, ask me why I did not join them in their foolishness. Michal, on the other hand, decided to confront her husband on the matter.

2 Samuel 6:20-22
When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel had distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”
David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel-I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”

I thank God that he has changed me. He has spoken to my heart, and revealed through His word, that this is not only accepted, but desired. God wants our praises. He is to be given the glory in all things. It is right to give Him praise. He deserves it. If its acceptable that we get excited enough to jump up and down over something as mundane as a sporting event, how can we not do the same for the Lord of Lords and King of Kings when he has saved us from hell itself?

“I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this…” If only we had the courage to respond in this way all of the time. Oh, we dance before the Lord. We find ourselves in the midst of worship. The Spirit begins to move. We are overcome with the joy of His presence and we praise Him. It is only right. But, are we always like this? It is easy to be a fool for the Lord when everyone else is doing it too.

What are we doing when we know that our own Michal’s are watching?

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Read 2 Corinthians 5: 1–10

We live in a society where nothing is good enough. We seek satisfaction at every turn. We push at work for the next pay bracket, hoping that satisfaction will come with a bigger income. There will be more money. Then, maybe, we can get the right clothes and the right house. Then we will be satisfied. The day comes. We move forward with excitement and are happy at first. It is a change. It is exciting. Then comes the disappointment. The new home isn’t what we were hoping for. Someone spills juice or soda on that brand new sweater and it is ruined. Even worse, we look next door only to find that we are behind again. There is something newer and better out there that we do not yet have. Surely, fulfillment will come with that. Surely, once we are set in the new standard, we will be secure.

People put themselves through all sorts of torment to achieve the perfect body, the perfect look. There are books and magazines showing us how we should look. If we can only make the sacrifice to match the image on that cover, then we will be happy. Then we will have confidence. We won’t be so insecure.

We, as a culture, certainly have it wrong. That yearning inside us all is very real. Every single living person knows deep in their core that they were meant for something more. Every person, day in and day out, deals with the insecurity that comes with having to do without. We feel naked, and unsheltered. We are exposed to the world and all of its harm because nothing we can produce, nothing we can buy, will really protect us. Nothing of this world can cover us like the Lord.

God gave us these bodies. They are our earthly tents. We do well to take care of them. Our bodies are indeed temples to the Lord. We are to take care of them. We are to keep ourselves healthy and in good shape, not to impress our peers, but to enable us to do the Lord’s work in this world. God also has another body that awaits each and every one of us. The day will come when we are clothed in our heavenly bodies. We will be covered by His heavenly house. There will be no need for the worries of this world.

Now think on this. We are born, knowing that there is something better. We are born, knowing that nothing in this world will satisfy. Where along the way do we become disillusioned and begin searching for fulfillment in earthly things?

2 Corinthians 5: 1

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

2 Corinthians 5: 2-3

Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.

2 Corinthians 5: 5

Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Remember that. We have this yearning for a reason. God wants us to strive for something better. We are to prepare ourselves, and this world for His kingdom. We have been given the Spirit as a guide, as our deposit. Our place is guaranteed. There is no question, or fear of failure. We have His promise.