Signs of Our Times

It is interesting to note that our relationship with the Lord can be model of our human relationships. If we walk in pride and aloofness toward our fellow human being, very likely we think that we deserve the goodness of God. Christ made it clear that no one deserves anything but condemnation. It is only through the shed blood of Christ and His dwelling in us that we can be loving and kind to another human being.

When we are self focused instead of Christ focused our relationships with others will be based on what we can get out of them rather than what we can offer them, personal expectations toward others rule our thinking. And, that is the picture and operation we have with our Lord. A self focus will cause us to see God as our servant and puppet to do our bidding. We will be materialistic, protecting whatever is ours and getting as much out of life as we can no matter who it may inconvenience or harm. These people have difficulty admitting their sin to God or to anyone. They spend their time justifying the hurt they have caused and running from the solution.

When we are Christ focused, we will see others as objects of our love, seeking to obey Christ in our love and service to them. Our first thoughts will be how to help or please them. Our possessions belong to God, and we will love to share them. We share our time, our things and our thoughts. We will not be requiring actions, thoughts or convictions to meet our expectations, but we will find ways to meet the desires of others. We will also want the best for our friends in terms of their spiritual needs. Do we praise them when they need a word of correction, do we harshly rebuke them when their only crime is to fail to meet our expectations.

When we love Christ our focus will be His will in our life and the lives of those we love. We will desire their good over our pleasure. We will rejoice when our friends obey God and weep when they disobey Him.

We will encourage our friends with all aspects of God's love. When patience is required we will do that according to the leading of the Holy Spirit. When a spanking is needed we will obey the Holy Spirit and administer correction. The goal is to help our friends to see God's will and not ours. Our goal is to help our friends to become more holy and to let them administer the same kind of love to us.

Relationships are not based on superficial enjoyment of life, but on mutual growth, working through problems and desiring reconciliation. To run from a problem simply to avoid conflict is not Christ like.

There are times when we draw back from a friend, because we see the hostility in their hearts and we can not get them to listen until the Lord has broken their hearts and prepared them for the message. The prodigal son is a picture of this. The Father loved his son, but saw that attempting to talk him out of his foolishness was an exercise in futility, so he gave his son what he wanted and left him in the Lord's hands.

We have little faith when we think we have to do something to fix a matter. Greater faith is exhibited when we step back, trust the Lord and remain in prayer.

I was grateful the day the Lord imparted this principle to me. The burden of having to continually explain myself to someone who would not listen was removed and I walk in freedom. I desire that same freedom for others who find themselves in relationships that seem impossible. God can do it better than we can and sometimes, even more often these days, we must step out of God's way to let Him work.

We live in a rebellious, arrogant society that mocks the wisdom of their elders and curses their father and their mother. Proverbs 30:11 "There is a generation that curses its father, and does not bless its mother. There is a generation that is pure in it's own eyes, Yet it is not washed from its' filthiness."

The Lord told us this would happen in the end times when He said in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such turn away."

This is a sorrowful verse, because of its implications for our lives. Many many people who did the best they could to raise their children to love Christ, in their imperfections they still loved Him, but their children are loving their fun, freedom and self righteousness more than they love God , and I am not describing the non-believer, but the believing children. They have lost their way because the pull of the world has been too strong and they have created in their hearts a god of their own making. A god of indulgence, pride and disregard for anyone but themselves.
 
Our only hope and our best hope is that the Lord do a mighty work in their hearts, that He take them through whatever is necessary to show them their wickedness and cause them to bend their knee to a holy God in repentance.

Keep looking up, He is coming soon and very soon!

God Hears Even Our Unspoken Desires!

Angels visited our church,  an experience I once had in a little chapel near our home. Our little group of 10+ people had dwindled to four people, my husband and myself and one other elderly couple. There had been several deaths in the group over the past 10 years and we were the youngest of the worshipers when the gathering disbanded. One Sunday I was feeling very sad at the empty building that had once been vibrant with worshipers more than 60 years ago. As I sat in the pew with my husband and the other couple, I began to tear up over the emptiness of the pews, questioning God, "where are the worshipers?" I grieved for a time as I prayed for the Lord to fill the pews, realizing that it probably would not happen that day. Then suddenly I heard the back door open and close, I heard the sound of foot steps and rustling of benches as if there were people filing into them. Not wanting to disrupt anyone else I resisted the urge to turn a look at who was entering the pews. Then I heard it again, the door opening and the rustling of bodies filling up the pews. This time I looked, then our elderly friend looked, then my husband looked, we all heard the sounds, but as we turned in curiosity we found still empty pews. I began to weep even more as I realized God had seen my anguish and sent angels to join us. We couldn't see the bodies, but we could feel the love. I worshiped that day, more than I have ever worshiped, praising Him for sending others to be with us in our service, others who loved Him, others who have seen Him. I will always remember that day because of the love I felt. The Lord had not answered a prayer, He had fulfilled an unspoken desire for more worshipers in the little chapel on the hill. Hallelujah!!!

Let Them Go and Watch Them Grow

http://www.maritalhealing.com/conflicts/controllingspouse.php

Controlling people are unhappy people.  When we learn to let others fly according to their personal characteristics under the control of the Holy Spirit, we then can enjoy them much more.  When we can take our focus off of ourselves and let another person flourish creatively, we will have a greater happiness.  

It is a matter of faith, letting go of our spouse to grow in their own way as we reap the benefits of their growth.  If we can think in terms of them as half of us, the half that holds a different and exciting personality that enhances us if we do not interfere with it.  

When we selfishly guard every movement of those we love, we tend to stifle their creativity, growth and intimacy with us.  To resolve to enjoy the way God made our spouse and let them fly freely, they will ascend to new heights as they move through life using their gifts and talents while at the same time enhancing the entire marriage experience by their blooms.  

This kind of marriage takes self sacrifice and unselfishness.  A marriage that is in chains to one of the spouses wants, is a marriage doomed to hardship and resentment.   Do we want our spouses to have to continually struggle to avoid their resentment, because of the bondage they feel in the union.  Or, do we want our spouse to feel free to express themselves and in so doing grow closer to us.  

Bondage never reaps closeness.  that is why the Lord Jesus Christ never forces us to be what He wants us to be, but freely gives us what He desires, when we want it.   The best way to endear someone to ourselves is to let them go and watch them grow.  Then we will be truly happy and our joy will be full from their accomplishment.

http://www.maritalhealing.com/conflicts/controllingspouse.php

The Love of The Lord Jesus Christ

Unsaved people can do the things that the Lord tells believers to do and have a sense of pride about it.  This is not the love that Christ is describing in the entirety of His Word.  His love is much deeper and flows from the richness of His very being.  His love leaps at the presence of another believer who loves Him and possesses His Holy Spirit.  

It is not a superficial friendliness that we can experience in any secular gathering, but a devotion to those who are not only like minded but share the radical allegiance to a Holy God that only those who walk closely with Him can experience. This oneness of Spirit transcends superficial friendly chatter.  

The desire to share the truths of the Word and bathe in the wisdom of God is overwhelming at times.  One has to wonder about the dryness that overtakes most of our "fellowship" gatherings, when the songs are sung in a utilitarian and mundane low tone, and the enthusiasm that should overtake us as we worship Him is absent. We have to wonder where that love of the Lord is hiding.  

Friendliness does not constitute fellowship and happiness is not evidence of the joy of the Lord.  Emotionalism does not reveal spirituality, but enthusiasm for the Lord is evident everywhere we go and with whomever we are visiting, especially those who possess the Holy Spirit.  There can be no greater fellowship between those of like mind than the melding of the Holy Spirit within each believer with each other believer.  

When there is competition, apathy, pride, arrogance and guarded hiding, there is worldliness.  When we have been made free by the blood of our Savior, we can be transparent, honest and open.  There is bondage in the superficial rote of mechanical Christianity but freedom and faith among those who have left their own way to follow the way of the Master.

We must ask ourselves if we are Christians who care to appear spiritual but will not submit to the Lord, still wanting to control our own Spirituality, or are we believers who wish to let go of our "image", our false spirituality, which we display to others for self glorification.  We must let go of our false way, to trust and follow Christ.  He is not interested in our image, but our love and devotion.  He said clearly that He does not want our sacrifice but our heart.  

Personal relationships with other believers is the same, we do not desire random acts of kindness out of duty, but everything done out of the love of Christ that dwells deep within our souls. That love ultimately glorifies God.  The other kind of superficial devotion out of duty glorifies self and tends to be expectation oriented.

To trust Christ means to let go of our own way and follow His.  It's all there in the Book, in case we are not sure what it looks like.  But that is not enough, we must ask the Holy Spirit to show us what we need to see that we may be blinded to, and then He will show us.

Emotions Were Given To Us By God

John 22:39-44

"And coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. When He came to the place, He said to them, 'Pray that you may not enter into temptation' And He was withdrawn from them about a stones throw and He knelt down and prayed, saying 'Father, if it is Your will, remove this cup from Me, nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.' Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. And His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground..."

Even our Lord Jesus Christ had emotions in His fully human and fully God state.  He suffered everything that we have and more as human beings.  We do not need to pretend we have no emotions in order to appear more spiritual than anyone else. We are free to express our emotions as we trust Him through them.  

God said that we were to "weep with those who weep and laugh with those who laugh."  We are to share in the difficulties and the joys of our Christian brothers and sisters.  God says that we do not have the spirit of fear, this is true, but that does not mean that we never feel fear if we are spiritual.  We give those fears to the Lord and proceed in obedience in spite of them.  We do not walk a lifestyle of fearfulness; we know where we are going and Who is in charge.

Fear is an emotion, we feel happiness over good things that happen to us and we feel sadness or fear over difficult things, this is the human condition and while Christ was on the earth He too experienced fear and sadness, but obeyed the Father anyway.  That is our challenge, to obey in spite of our emotions.  

There are those who would tell you that if you fear you do not have faith and you are sinning.  This could not be farthest from the truth.  God sometimes takes away our fears and other times He leaves them in tact to strengthen our resolve to obey Him in spite of whatever we must go through.  There is no faith required to do a thing if it has no fear or difficulty in the process.  Faith is demonstrated when we obey no matter what we may have to endure.  Faith is present through the tears, fear and danger; this is the mark of a spiritual believer, one who obeys no matter what the feelings are.  

Feelings are emotions, God gave them to us, but they are not indicators of our spirituality.  Our actions and heart attitudes are the real indicators not the feelings.  

If we were not to have the feeling of fear, then we would not have the feeling of happiness, joy or peace.  These are all a part of the equation in the Christians life.  If we should deny any of them then we would have to deny all of them, the joy, happiness and peace too, not just the fear and sadness.  

Such silliness in thinking that we are not spiritual if we admit our feelings.  Those who are prideful and want to pretend that they are more spiritual than others by denying feelings, a natural experience of the human condition, are in a sense lying.  They claim that if we are walking in faith we never feel fear, disappointment or sadness, but they like to embrace the other feelings of happiness, joy and peace.  Did God make a mistake when He gave us all these feelings, did He not mean it when He says He catches all our tears in a bottle.  Did He lie to us when He said "with great wisdom comes great sorrow."   

If we love God, the closer we walk with Him and grow in holiness the worse the sin in the world around us will appear. God told us to focus on Him and His principles, the more we do that the blacker the world looks and the more we are grieved over what we see.  

The deep down joy that the Lord gives us never leaves us because He lives in us, but the emotions still play a large roll in the shaping of our character.  How can a friend ever display tenderness and compassion if we are expected to never need their comfort.  God clearly stated that we should comfort one another in our troubles.  If sadness and fear were unspiritual then our Lord would have never wept over Jerusalem.  He would have never shed tears like great drops of blood at Gethsemane, nor would he have felt a sense of betrayal from Judas.  He felt all of that just as we feel those things when are faced with this life.  

Our comfort to one another should be, "we can get through this together with Christ."  Never should we intimate to a broken and bleeding soul that they are being unspiritual for having feelings.  When we share an emotion with our brother or sister we are showing the greatest kind of love, Christ's kind of love.

Praising the Wicked Rather Than Comforting the Victim

Praising the Wicked


By Rev. R.J. Rushdoony – bio





Category: Articles




(Reprinted from Bread upon the Waters: Columns from the California Farmer [Fairfax, VA: Thoburn Press, 1974], 93–94.)


CA Farmer 229:7 (Oct. 5, 1968), p. 37.


Praising the wicked, and rewarding them, seems to be the main purpose of our judges and legislators these days.


If this seems too strong a statement, then take it up with God because Scripture plainly declares, “They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them” (Prov. 28:4). The law in question is God’s law. If men abandon it, they are deserting not only law but righteousness and justice. They will therefore “praise the wicked” instead of contending with them, instead of trying to control and suppress evil.


Recently, I sat in a courtroom during hearings for two criminals, one caught in the commission of a crime, the other with a car he had stolen before witnesses. They were planning to plead innocent and were going to be provided with public defenders at taxpayers’ expense; those robbed would get no return, in one case for stolen funds and in the other case for a possibly damaged car. There was no thought in the court or law of the Biblical law of restitution. The penalty was being paid by the victims in many hours lost in the courtroom, lost goods, and taxes paid. The criminals, both with records, were dealt with gently, lest it prejudice the case, and the victims and police were questioned at times sharply.


A fair trail is a necessity under God’s law, but a court that continually penalizes the victims is in effect praising the wicked.


We need to ask the question, therefore, as to why men and nations praise the wicked. Birds of a feather flock together, and evil men will show their preference for evil, and guilty men will work to make justice ineffective lest it judge them also.


“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he” (Prov. 29:18). A Biblical scholar, the Reverend Derek Kidner, has pointed out that the Hebrew for this verse can be translated literally as, where there is no prophecy or vision, that is, no preaching of the Word, “the people run wild.” Because there has been very little true preaching of the Word of God, the people run wild. And a wild people will praise the wicked.




Rev. R.J. Rushdoony (1916-2001) was the founder of Chalcedon and a leading theologian, church/state expert, and author of numerous works on the application of Biblical Law to society.

Show A Little Grace

There are many in the church who think they are saved because they decided to be good and join an elite club of do gooders. This is not Christianity. Christ said that if we do not come to Him with a broken heart over our own sin, desiring to be changed by Him into a new creation, then we have come in pride and He will not change us when we elevate ourselves. In humility and brokenness we come and then He will make us a new creation. Did we hear this...HE makes us a new creation, we do not recreate ourselves to fit our ideas of a good person, but He changes us into His image. We have nothing to offer Him, He has everything to offer us if we will humble ourselves.






Those who think that they are better than others, comparing their sins against the sins of others, are deluding themselves. Every sin, no matter how small can put us in hell. There are no little and big sins. Pride was the sin that got Satan thrown out of heaven and which is at the center of every other sin in our lives.






If we have not trusted Christ in repentance and brokenness, comparing ourselves only to the holiness of God, then we have not been saved.






I have watched the strut of arrogant self absorbed men and women, grieved over their willful self exaltation. None of us has any reason to condemn another believer over their warts. A wart is a wart no matter how big. Let us deal with sin in our friends with caution, grace and deep love for their well being, not with pride and an attitude of stomping them down as far as we can to elevate ourselves. If we love our brother we will go to him about his sin, but with a compassion for them that we would want others to show to us if we needed to repent and become restored to the body or in a relationship.






When God said "love covers a multitude of sins" , I believe He was telling us not to condemn and harm other believers over the petty, small things, but to be willing to be inconvenienced for the sake of the other believer. God can show us our flaws in the small matters. We do not have to confront or exact revenge on every unimportant matters. We can act in grace and patience, JUST LIKE THE LORD DOES WITH US.






Let the little things pass, bless those who are not perfect, because we are not. If we compare ourselves with Christ, then we will spend more time being ashamed of ourselves than we would noticing the flaws of others.






Do not ignore the big sins, but handle them with love and grace, according to the Word, and let that little stuff pass.