In Whom Do You Trust?

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding… in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.”

As Influencers our first priority is to trust in the Lord. To influence others we must first influence our own hearts by trusting in the Lord. A humble heart is the prerequisite for approaching God’s throne of grace. Therefore, Be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

God reserves a remnant in every generation to be his living epistles… his love letters known and read of all men. Men of this world are fans of sports teams or political parties they identify with and passionately cheer on to victory. However, God calls men of God as His fans to fan the flame of the Holy Spirit, the spiritual gift he has given us as His elect. As fans of our Lord and examples of His living word, we are “not slothful in business, fervent (white hot) in spirt, serving the Lord.”

John Wesley took this verse to heart. He fervently believed what Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven.” Someone asked him “why do thousands of people come to hear you preach?” Wesley responded, “I set myself on fire with the Holy Spirit and people come from miles around to watch me burn!”

As men of God, our immediate families are our primary mission field. Ron Tovar recalls that his wife had been anxious and unable to sleep soundly. He hugged his wife and prayed with her, “Lord thank you for giving her a restful good night’s sleep.” That night a sound woke him up at 2 in the morning. His wife was laughing aloud in her sleep. He thought to himself, “the prayer hug must have worked.”

Trusting in the Lord means that we trust in the object of our trust. We trust in the Lord God Jehovah and in our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the word of God made manifest in the flesh. Words have no significance without meaning. Jesus Christ is the meaning of the Word. He said, “ye believe (put your trust) in God. Believe also in me.” In Matthew 11:28 he said, “come unto me all ye who are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”

In trying times, many people turn to God. When they reach the end of their own abilities, they look for a “higher power” beyond themselves. God allows people either to kneel in prayer voluntarily or he allows circumstances and situations to bring them to their knees. Even though the world is experiencing a global pandemic, many people are turning to God for deliverance.

In the NIV translation of the Bible, Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” It’s easy to pray for God’s direction to make our paths straight. However, before he can direct our paths there are four things we are required to do to trust in the Lord. The NIV uses the word “your” four times in these two verses. God’s promise to make our paths straight depends on our obedience to His word in four things.

The first requirement is to “trust with all your heart.” To trust is to be willing and confident to believe in that which you determine to do. Trust is in the object of your trust. When you are driving your car and the “check engine” light comes on, you take your car to your mechanic. You “lean not unto your own understanding.” You “submit your way” unto your mechanic because you acknowledge that ye he knows more about car repair than you do. You trust that he will diagnose the problem and determine the root cause of failure. Trust is confidence that the object of your trust (your mechanic) will accomplish the desired outcome, that is, “making your path straight” by fixing your car.

The missionary to China, Hudson Taylor said, “either Jesus is Lord of all or he’s Lord not at all.” What if it were illegal to go to church? What if the government forbids you to read your bible in school? What if you need ten dollars and you only have two? What if your body is wracked with pain? Would you still trust in the Lord? Do you put more trust in God’s word or in man’s word? Is God still Sovreign overall? Has God’s call changed? The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable… God will not change his mind. His gifts and his calling are without repentance. Even when we stray from the truth of His word, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

To trust in the Lord is to acknowledge and subjugate my will to His will. Prayer is aligning my will with His will and my heart with His heart. We can trust in the Lord because God is faithful to His word. His word never returns void because His word is trustworthy. According to Isaiah 55…. “As the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud; so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing where unto I have sent it.”

The word of the Lord is trustworthy. Since God is Sovreign overall, some say that God can do “anything he wants” even if it contradicts something he says in his word. This is what the Muslim religion says… that Allah (God) can change his mind on a whim and because he’s not subject to any constraints. However, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one true God cannot contradict his word. The derivation of the word “Amen” is “God is faithful to his word…. God has said it, therefore it shall be done.”

According to the book, Ruthless Trust, we have craved clarity and hesitate to trust in God unless we eliminate the confusion in our own minds. However, God never said to ask for clarity. He said to trust in the Lord. Our trust does not bring clarity to dissipate the chaos in our minds. The essence of trust is in obedience to his word. We may not see or understand the end from the beginning. Our trust is in knowing that God knows and that he works all things for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. The heart of trust is summed up in Jesus’ final words on the cross: “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

Some people think trusting God is believing that God will do what I want him to do. They think that God is like the “genie in the bottle.” He’s here to make our wishes come true. They think that God’s purpose is to give us all things “richly to enjoy” and to lavish on us “life more abundantly.” They say His purpose is that we would prosper and be in health even as our soul prospers. The problem with the “prosperity gospel” is that its focus is on the wrong purpose. The prosperity gospel subscribes to the “WIIFM” doctrine that says “what’s in it for me?” This is what the “rich young ruler” thought when he asked Jesus, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Even though he had kept six of the ten commandments that pertain to the second great commandment, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, he had forsaken the first commandment, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength. The first of the Ten Commandments is “thou shalt have no other gods before me.” In other words, you shall have no other gods between your face and my face.

When Jesus said to the rich young ruler, “sell all your possessions, give the proceeds to the poor, and come follow me,” he went away sorrowful. He had the wrong god. His money and material wealth were his gods. He failed to realize that the true blessing is in seeking the Blessor and not the blessings.

The motto of the United States is “In God We Trust.” This motto is printed on US paper money and coins. The irony is that money itself is the god in which most Americans trust. However, our nation was founded as a godly nation where people came to the new world to worship God according to the truth of His word. God has blessed our republic founded on “firm reliance on divine Providence.”

God reserves a remnant of his people to stand in the gap in God’s hedge of protection around his citizenry. For we are citizens of heaven. Even though we may be natural born citizens of the United States, we are born-again citizens of His heavenly kingdom.

When the whole world is shaking with strife, contention, confusion, pandemonium, panic, and pandemic, Jesus Christ is the firm foundation. He alone is the rock that cannot be shaken. Therefore, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths…

…that we may live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

Lord Give Us Men

Lord give us men.
Men who are willing to live and die for you, who name the name of Christ and live for His glory.
Lord give us men.
Men who know your voice and whose greatest delight is to do your will.
Who are slow to anger, quick to listen, and eager to forgive.
Lord give us men,
Men who love their wives and honor you in their homes;
Who are living epistles of salt and light to all they know and meet.
Men whose sacrifice, service, and love are renown and who are known to have spent time with you.
Lord give us men!
These kinds of men! For the world is desperate for them.
Lord give us men,
Men of faith and action, who have eternity in their hearts and only you as their focus, passion and reason for living.
Men of whom the world is not worthy.
Lord, these men are few, but they know that you use ordinary men to do extraordinary things through your power. That you use foolish men to shame the wise; weak men who because you become strong.
Men who are known more for their availability than for their ability.
Men who choose to decrease so that you may increase.
Lord to me this seems like an impossible request, but these are the kind of men you make when they give their lives in total abandonment and absolute trust to you.
Lord let me be a man like this among men like this.
Lord let me be that man.
—Pete McKenzie 2006

We’re the kind of men whom God has called from the darkness of this world into the glorious light of his gospel of truth. He has called us according to Mark 9:16: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven.”

He who enters into God’s inner chamber must enter in with personal abandonment and absolute trust. Before we can enter into his holy presence we must trust him absolutely. Absolute trust begins with prayer. Prayer is aligning my heart with his heart.

Absolute means without restrictions or qualifications. Absolute is fundamental, uncontaminated, unadulterated, pure, refined, without deviation from God’s exacting standard of truth. Only men who trust him absolutely, who are not confused about the object of their trust can enter into God’s holy of holies.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says…..Trust in the Lord with all thine heart….
Trusting in the Lord is indicated by your concept of the object of your trust. How confident are you of God and the integrity of his word? Most men are ashamed to be called “man of God.” Most men will look away when you call him “man of God.” When you ask him why, the usual response is “because I feel unworthy.” However, he made me worthy and now by his grace, his mercy has made me his own.

A man of God is God’s man. The phrase “man of God” is the genitive of possession. Christianity is not who we are, but whose we are. For I was crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I but Christ liveth in me, and the live that I now live, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

According to 1 John 1:11-13, These things have I written to you so that you may believe in the name of the Son of God, and that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe in the name of the Son of God.

To know him is to love him. Herein is the love of God made perfect…. we love him because he first loved us. Without his loving us first, we could not have the capacity to love him. The love of God is unlike the types of love in this world. Agape is the Greek word for God’s unconditional love. God’s spiritual unconditional love does not require love in return. Love is manifest in the pure act of giving. For God so loved the word that he gave his only begotten son.

There are two great commandments upon which all the other commandments depend… Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, soul, mind, and strength, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

To love others, to love thy neighbor as thyself, we must love God above all. To love God is the first of the Ten Commandments: thou shalt have no other gods before me. In others words, “thou shalt have no other gods between your face and my face.” Nothing shall come between you and me because I love you. In loving God above all we can love others with the love of God.

To reconcile with others we must “meet each other at the foot of the cross.” For only Jesus Christ can reconcile our hearts with God. There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. When our hearts are reconciled with God, then we can reconcile with one another to God’s glory. Then we can love each other in the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

Christianity is not a religion….instead, it’s a relationship. The relationship starts with God’s loving us… hereby is the love of God made perfect, for in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.

A loving relationship starts with trust. Doubting Thomas doubted the resurrection of Jesus. When Jesus appeared in the midst of the disciples he said, “Thomas, put your hand in the wound in my side and feel the imprints of the nails in my hand and be not unbelieving, but believe.” When Thomas touched Jesus’ wounds, the said, “My Lord and my God!”

Hebrews 11:1 says, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Jesus said, blessed are they who have not (physically) seen and yet believe.

When we received His Holy Spirit, the spirt transforms us from the image of the flesh into the image of the spirit….Christ in you the hope of glory. For we all with open face beholding in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed from glory (of the flesh) to glory (of the spirit) even but he spirit of the Lord.

Jesus said, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” Our desire is in the object of our desire. Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Then when our heart is aligned with His heart, he will give us the desires of our heart. Likewise, Joy and rejoicing is in the object of our joy. Therefore rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.

For who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, for life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor height, nor depth, nor things present, nor things to come shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There is nothing God can’t handle. Therefore, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lead not unto thy own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Lord give us men! Men who join their hearts together to create an environment where the Holy Spirit can come help himself to our lives to share in the unity of the spirt in the bond of peace.

Lord give us men! Men who love you above all. Men who give their lives to you in total abandonment and absolute trust. May I be a man like this among men like this…

….that we may live to the praise of the glory of thy grace!

Your brother in Christ,
Michael

Absolute Trust

Those who enter into God’s presence must enter in through personal abandonment and absolute trust. Trust is required before we can abandon ourselves. Absolute means pure and free from any restrictions. Absolute is unquestionable, foundational, elemental, and remarkable… exceptional without deviation from the exacting standard. Trust is assured reliance on God and the truth of His word. Trust is to rely on the truth that God is faithful to his word.

Hebrews 11:1 says, “NOW faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Evidence is the assurance, the convincing empirical tangible proof. Doubting Thomas said, “I won’t believe that Jesus was resurrected until I put my finger into the wound in his side and into the imprints of the nails.” Jesus answered Thomas, “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said unto him, “My Lord and my God.” Jesus saith unto him, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”

A relationship with our Heavenly Father through his son, our Lord Jesus Christ is a supernatural reality. This relationship begins with trust. To trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding is the prerequisite to our spiritual relationship. To trust in the Lord means that I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which he’s committed to me against that day of righteous judgement.

John McArthur said our faith must be tried in the crucible of life. In the heat of the purifying fire, we’ll come to know that God alone is our sufficiency. The crisis will reveal that we cannot overcome the trial in our own power. He alone is able to deliver.

Warren Wiersbe said that our Lord Jesus Christ is superior to the powers of this world. To be able to trust in the Lord we need to be able to see according to the spiritual perspective of Christ’s eyes behind our eyes.

Part of trusting in the Lord is to allow God to “call an audible.” He’s in charge of his plan but we’re not. Pete recalls that at a retreat, the retreat leader Mike Lennon had left a pad and pencil at the tables prior to the morning session. Mike asked Pete, what are we doing in the morning session? Pete realized he didn’t know. When everyone took their seat Pete ad libbed, “you have a pad and pencil on the table before you. Write a letter to God and tell him what’s on your heart. Then listen for God to respond back. Write down the letter from God that he dictates back to you.” The next two hours were the most meaningful two hours of the entire retreat. Men wept as they shared their personal letters from God.

Personal abandonment means to allow the Holy Spirit to come help himself to our lives. The question God asks is, “no matter what happens, will you still purpose in your heart to honor and praise me?” This is the question God asked Pete as he was waiting in the Father’s waiting room. Pete had been ushered out of the delivery room when the doctors had said, “you need to leave. We’re losing the baby’s heartbeat.” Pete prayed and searched his heart. He said, Lord you know my heart. No matter what happens, I’ll still honor, love and praise you.” Then the doctor came into the waiting room and said, “I’m sorry but we lost the baby.”

The devil will use circumstances and the trials of life tempt us to doubt the love of God and the word of God. According to Romans 5, tribulation worketh patience and patience experience, and experience hope. And hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.

It’s much easier to do something than to trust in the Lord. God doesn’t need our good works. He’s all powerful and is in charge of all things. Trusting allows us to abide in him by aligning our heart with God’s heart. When we place our hearts inside of God’s love then he will work in us and through us to will and to do of His good pleasure. For there is nothing in this life that really matters except believing that works in love. (Galatians 5:6)

Therefore, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths…

…that we may ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

Total Abandonment and Absolute Trust

Pete’s friend Rocky Fleming wrote a book about the journey to the inner chamber. In this allegory, the goal is to get across the obstacles surrounding the castle and then enter into the King’s court and into the King’s inner chamber. This is an analogy about entering into God’s presence. Over the door to the inner chamber is a sign that says, “He who enters in must enter with total abandonment and absolute trust.”

Jesus said, He who loses his life shall find it and he who finds his life shall lose it. He said, I am the narrow way and the narrow gate. I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the father except by me. He said, there is a broad way that leads to destruction. But I am the narrow gate and the narrow way that leads to life everlasting. 1 John 5:13 says, these things have I written to you so that you may know that you have life everlasting.

The politically correct will say that Christianity is too exclusive. They say that it’s narrow minded and elitist. Likewise, the people of Jesus’ day asked him, “weren’t we good enough? Didn’t we do works in your name?” Jesus said to them, “depart from me ye workers of iniquity. I never knew you.”

To approach God’s throne of grace we must enter through the narrow gate. We must leave our selfish self at the door. In order to enter in, as Oswald Chambers said, we need to conduct our own “white funeral.” According to Galatians 2:20, I was crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Chambers also said that the kingdom of self is heavily defended territory. However, Jesus said, he who loses his life shall save it and he who saves his life shall lose it. Total abandonment means to relinquish control of my own life to him, giving up the option to reclaim it.

In a wedding ceremony, the vow we make to God and to one another is to give up the right to ourselves in dedication to our wives. Likewise, As sons of God, To bring ourselves through the narrow way Jesus Christ, we need to leave our selfish selves at the gate.

To enter in we must enter on His terms, not ours. Jesus is the only way. On our own we do not deserve God’s grace and mercy for salvation. For there is none good (in the flesh), no not one. However Jesus Christ lived the perfect life. He who was without sin became the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.

To approach God’s throne of grace, we must “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ”….clothed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before His throne. To forsake the devil and the ways of this world, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Resisting the devil is to turn our hearts unto the Lord… to set our affections on things above and not on the things fo this world. When we walk in the light as he is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The cleansing is in the walking in the light.

Abandonment means to give God permission to help himself to my life. As the bond servant said, bound to his master by the bond of love, “my joy and rejoicing is to serve you Lord… to honor you to the praise of the glory of your grace.” The greatest joy is in the object of joy: Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say rejoice.

Spurgeon said, when people leave a sermon, the greatest compliment is not when the people say, “Isn’t Spurgeon a great preacher.” Instead the greatest complement is, “isn’t God a great God?” The message doesn’t point to the messenger, it points to the message of the good news of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Personal abandonment and absolute trust is the prerequisite for God to heal the land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” The first requirement is to “humble thyself.” To approach a holy God, we must abandon ourselves in humility as a humble servant in prayer and praise to our Lord.

When he was being nailed to the cross Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” As the scripture says in Romans 12, be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good.

The Christian Group Phillips Craig, and Dean sings a song “I am crucified with Christ, and yet I live.” The lyrics and music for this song are a confession of total abandonment and absolute trust.

Here is the link to the URL for this song: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwji0dGfnKjsAhVOLK0KHU2JCQkQwqsBMAd6BAgLEA0&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dqjf_D6h6hlk&usg=AOvVaw3wWICkdE7uX7uryXq2S-nP

Here are the lyrics:

As I look back on what I thought was living

I’m amazed at the price I choose to pay

And to think I ignored what really mattered

Cause I thought the sacrifice would be too great

But when I finally reached the point of giving in

I found the cross was calling even then

And even though it took dying to survive

I’ve never felt so much alive

For I am crucified with Christ and yet I live

Not I but Christ that lives within me

His Cross will never ask for more than I can give

For its not my strength but His

There’s no greater sacrifice

For I am crucified with Christ and yet I live

As I hear the Savior call for daily dying

I will bow beneath the weight of Calvary

Let my hands surrender to His piercing purpose

That holds be to the cross but sets me free

I will glory in the power of the cross

The things I thought were gain I count as loss

And with His suffering I identify

And by His resurrection power I am alive

And I will offer all I have

So that His cross is not in vain

For I found to live is Christ

And to die is truly gain

For I am crucified with Christ and yet I live

Not I but Christ that lives within me

His Cross will never ask for more than I can give

For its not my strength but His

There’s no greater sacrifice

For I am crucified with Christ and yet I live….

…Amen.  That we may live to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Your brother in Christ,

Michael

First Love

Is anyone smarter than God? Is anyone wiser? Is anyone more powerful? Do we know the future better than God? God alone is the one who knows the future. He alone is all powerful and all wise. Why then do we have difficulty believing and trusting in his word?

According to Eph 1: 15 and following,
15. “Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
16. Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
18. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
19. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
20. Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,”
21. Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22. And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23. Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”

God is the one who by His mercy and grace loves, protects, and provides for us. Therefore James 1:22-24 says,
22. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”

He who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

It’s one thing to hear the word of God in its authority and power. The challenge is to do that which he commands. This is what it means to trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.

The word of God is contrary to the word of man. To follow according to God’s command is to forsake the commands of man. Some of His commands may offend our sense of “human” rights. We’re commanded to turn the other cheek and to go the second mile.

According to Ezekiel 33, the prophet was frustrated because the people would not heed the word of God. They hear your word but they do not follow them. Verse 31 says, “And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.”

Many don’t call Jesus Lord because they want to be in control of their own lives. The diagnostic question is, “why would God let you into heaven?” Is eternal life on your own terms, or on God’s terms? God’s terms say that you can’t make it on your own. Your own performance is not good enough to deserve eternal life. If we’re to come to him, we must enter in according to His terms, not ours.

Bill Gothard who had youth conferences in the 70’s ministered to a young couple. They said, “what if we want to live together without getting married?” He answered,
‘then that means that you haven’t made Jesus Lord of your lives. If he were Lord, you would do his will. Marriage is the will of the Lord.”

Jesus said to Simon Peter, “do you love me more than these?” Do you love me with the highest form of unconditional love more than your fishing business… your nets, your boats, and your fishing crew? Peter responded with a different word for love, “I love (phileo) you like a brother…I’m fond of you.” He asked Peter this question three times. The first two times Jesus used the word “agape”, the unconditional love of God. The third time he used the word “phileo” brotherly love. The third time Peter said, you know all things. You know that I love (phileo) you… I love you the only way I know how. Jesus answered, “Feed my sheep.”

Peter could not love his Lord with agape love, the unconditional spiritual love of God, because he did not yet have God’s spirit. Jesus had not yet paid the price for our salvation and the Holy Spirit was not available until after the day of Pentecost. The question Jesus has for his disciples is, “do you love me?” Jesus had said in John 14:6 if you love me, keep my commandments.

The first love is that God initiated love (agape) by loving us first. Romans 5:8 says, “But God commended his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” We can love Him only because He loved us first. We received His gift of the Holy Spirit when we were born again. With His spirit we received the ability to love him with spiritual Agape love in return. To know God is to love him. Ephesians 3:16-19 says:
16. That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18. May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19. And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”

To know God is to know the love of God which passes earthly knowledge. This super-natural spiritual knowledge assures our hearts of God’s unconditional love. For we are the sons of God in the midst of a wicked and perverse nation among whom we shine as lights in a world of darkness. To forsake the darkness of the world is to know the heart of God. Knowing God’s heart is to love him above all…. to acknowledge, despite the world’s accusations, that we’re loved with the pure unadulterated love of God. We love him because he first loved us.

Apart from the spiritual love of God, worldly types of love are fragile and limited. Worldly love is conditional on the performance of the other party. Pete recalls that a man approached him and said, When I woke up this morning, I found a note from my wife that said, “if you want to save this marriage, then go see Pete.” Pete asked him, “are you willing to do whatever it takes to save this marriage?” He said, “probably not.” This man was unwilling to submit his heart in humility under the mighty hand of God. To love with God’s love, we must approach his throne of grace on His terms according to His word.

The love of this world will leave us frustrated and unfulfilled. However, Jesus said, come unto me all ye who are weary and heavy ladened and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Within his grace, mercy, and love, it is God who worketh in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.

What does it mean to accept Jesus as Lord? Lord means owner. A man of God is God’s man. This is the genitive of possession. Who are we when Jesus is Lord? Christianity is not who we are. Instead Christianity is whose we are. According to Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

What is the love of God? Herein is the love of God made perfect. He who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.

In order to turn from sin and unto the Lord, we must approach him with a contrite heart of repentance in humility. Therefore, 1 John 9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God has called us into fellowship with himself. When we give up the rights of our sinful flesh, then we can come to him with a heart of humility according to his terms. God will come to us with the grip of his son’s nail-pierced hands. If he must break our hearts in order for us to reach for his hand, then thank him for breaking our heart.

The devil will tempt us to think that we need to be in control. The qauestion is not who will sit on Christ’s right and left hand in positions of honor in God’s kingdom. The right question is, do you love me? Ye are not your own, Ye are bought with a price. Therefore we are his and he is ours. This is our challenge and our calling: to love God above all.

For He alone is worthy. That we may ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace,

Your brother in Christ,
Michael

Doers of the Word

When Jesus preached the sermon on the mount in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7, he concluded with three parables. One was the illustration of the narrow way through the narrow gate. Then he told them the parable about good fruit and bad fruit. He finished with the parable of the house built upon the rock.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a former physician and renown British preacher and pastor of the Westminster Chapel of London, wrote a commentary on the sermon on the mount. Leaders need to keep the vision in front of the people. A leader reminds the flock of God who they are in Christ. The purpose of preaching is to remind us not only who we are, but more importantly, whose we are. According to Lloyd-Jones, in Jesus’ parable about the narrow way and the narrow gate, Our Lord established a new kingdom in the midst of the kingdoms of this world. Jesus called out his chosen people out from the world to conform them to his heavenly kingdom which is not of this world. The kingdom of light…the kingdom of heaven is unlike any other kingdom. The subjects of the kingdom of light will be hated by those of the kingdom of darkness. Jesus told his followers that they would be persecuted. He said his followers would need to be above reproach. Therefore, bless those that persecute you and despitefully use you, and say all manner evil against you falsely for my sake, for great is your reward in heaven. He said to go the second mile beyond the call of duty. If someone steals your cloak, don’t sue him. Instead offer him your coat.

Jesus said to the crowd at the sermon on the mount, “You’ve heard the sermon. Now, what are you going to do about it?” What is the purpose of following in Jesus’ footsteps unless you do that which he’s called you to do. One of the major themes of the book of James is, “be ye doers of the word and not hearers only.” As followers of the way, our challenge is to stand in the midst of the persecution of this world. This is a test. The sermon on the mount is practical…it’s meant to be lived “where the rubber meets the road.” As one of our brothers prayed, “may our bibles be wrapped in shoe leather.”

The sense of human pride will well up in our hearts when we feel wronged, offended, and despitefully used. As husbands, how do we react when we’re offended by our wives? Jesus said, “husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.” As Christian husbands and priests in our own homes, we’re called to represent our wives, interceding on her behalf before God.

The outstanding principle to which Jesus has called us is narrowness. In John 14:5, Jesus said to his disciples, I’m going and you can’t follow me yet. Then He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. If you believe in God, believe also in me. If you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father. The Father’s characteristics are evident in my life. I always do my Father’s will. According to 1 Timothy, there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

God’s way is the exclusive way. Jesus is the only way. We’re saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Unlike worldly religions who think that everyone has a “spark of the divine,” Jesus said, “I am the way… no man cometh unto the Father except by me.” The world’s politically correct will argue that God wouldn’t condemn anyone to death who doesn’t accept Jesus Christ as lord. They think that God would allow people into heaven because of their good works. However Jesus said, “There is none good, (in the flesh), no, not one.”

Jones says that the narrow gate is like a turnstile that limits what you can bring in. Diagnostic questions screen people to determine if they are bound for heaven. The first question is, “if you are standing at the gate of heaven, why should Jesus let you in?” The answer to this question will determine the person’s heart. Are they aware of the way of salvation? Have they confessed “Jesus is Lord” and have they believed that God raised him from the dead?

Jones says that when we enter the narrow gate, we become exceptional. The Christian way of life is not popular. It is contrary to the way of the world. Only God can call a person bound for heaven. We who are born again are the result of God’s election. A Christian has changed Lords. He’s no longer lord of his own life. When a man becomes a Christian he begins to see himself apart from this world of darkness. He must separate himself from the world’s direction.

The small gate to the narrow way leads to life but the wide gate to the broad way leads to destruction. Jesus said, why do you call me Lord and yet do not do what I have commanded you? He did not call us to a program of behavior modification. He called us to heart modification. As David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” He called us to defeat the kingdom of self. He’s called us to our own “white funeral” where we die to self in order to live for him. According to Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

When Jesus spoke to the people at the sermon on the mount, he connected with those who were ready to accept his word. According to 2 Timothy 2:24, “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 25. In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 26. And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”

As men of God and servants of the Lord, we’re called to gently correct those who oppose themselves. To correct means to restore to an upright position. In fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father, and one with another in the household of faith, there is fullness of joy. We’re sanctified, set apart for the purpose for which God has called us. We’re separated as lights shining through the darkness to call God’s people from the darkness of this world into the glorious light of His gospel of truth….

…That we may live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

Is It Well With Your Soul?

The question for today is, “Is it well with your soul?” If we look at the world around us and at our own circumstances, we’ll be stressed, depressed and distressed. However, our joy is in the object of our joy… our joy is in the Lord. As Pete’s wife Suzan often said, Joy is not the absence of pain; joy is the presence of the Lord. Joy is a deliberate choice to position our heart inside of God’s heart. Therefore, Philippians 4:4 says, Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Within the joy of the Lord, although the storm rocks our boat and the waves crash around us, it is well… it is well with our soul.

Psalm 73 is a Psalm of Asaph, one of David’s chief choir directors. David himself was a musician. Part of rejoicing is to lift up our voices as a choir in harmony unto the Lord as we “tune our hearts to sing thy praise.”

According to Psalm 73:
1. “TRULY God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
2. But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.
3. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.
5. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
6. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.
7. Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
8. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
9. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
10. Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.
11. And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?
12. Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
13. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
14. For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
15. If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.
16. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;
17. Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
18. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
19. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.
20. As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.
21. Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.
22. So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.
23. Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.
24. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
25. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
26. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
27. For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
28. But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.”

It’s easy to stumble when we look at the world around us. The Psalmist began this psalm with a lamentation. It seems that the world around us is full of chaos, confusion, and darkness. Why would God allow the darkness? From the perspective of our fallen sin nature, God will appear like an unkind friend… an unnatural Father and an unrighteousness judge…but he is not. God is not like the injustice and the unrighteousness of this world. If we look around us we’ll be stressed, if we look at ourselves, we’ll be depressed, if we look at others, we’ll be distressed, but if we look at the Lord our God through Christ’s eyes behind our eyes, we’ll be blessed.

In verse 2 the Psalmist looks at the battle inside his own soul. The Apostle Paul said that I buffet my body to bring it under control. The spiritual battle is first a battle for our own soul… for our own hearts and minds. In 2 Peter, there are seven characteristics to add to our faith to make our calling and election sure. Therefore, add to your faith virtue (superior excelling excellence), and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance (self control), and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly love, and to brotherly love, charity (the unconditional love of God), for if these things be in you and abound you shall be fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you give your utmost diligence to these things to make your calling and election sure, you shall never fall.

Men begin to stumble when they focus on the selfish motives of their sinful flesh. According to verse three of this Psalm, when Asaph looked through eyes of envy and covetousness at the seeming prosperity of the wicked, he began to lose his joy. The evil seem to be better off than those who profess the Lord’s righteousness. The foolish who prosper in the riches of this world wear their pride like a golden chain. They look for opportunities to exert their power over the righteous. They revel in their pride and in their power over their innocent victims. The ungodly even dare to speak to God as if they are powerful and God is not.

The “political correctness” In our culture was evident when Pete recently spoke with his own granddaughter. With on-line learning during the Corona virus social distancing mandate, one student in Pete’s granddaughter’s class was not allowed to show his face in the video call since he had an American flag on his wall.

God’s holiness starts with separation. Holy means to separate from the darkness of this fallen world according to the purpose for which God has called us.

In Psalm 73, the Psalmist laments about the oppressiveness of the wicked and the darkness of this fallen world. However there is an inflection point, a point of repentance… of turning around. In verse 17, the Psalmist said, when I went into the sanctuary, into the house of the Lord, then I understood their end. He shifted his focus from the darkness of the world into the light of the sanctuary where God dwells. The sanctuary is the place where God is welcome to help himself to the lives of his people. According to 1 Corinthians 6, Paul wrote by God’s inspiration, “Know ye not that ye (collectively) are the body of Christ, the temple, which is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit?

In the sanctuary, God revealed the end of the destruction of the evil that permeates this world of darkness. According to verse 18, surely he has set their feet on slippery places. When the blind lead the blind, they both fall in the ditch.

God allows the prosperity of the worldly to allow them to fall in their own pride and conceit. The outcome of the ungodly will come to naught. Therefore the Psalmist concludes that nevertheless God has taken hold of our right hand. The right hand is the hand of blessing. When confronted by the darkness of this world, our responsibility is our response to His ability. Our responsibility is to walk in the light as he is in the light.

The Lord is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Beside you Lord, I desire nothing on earth. As for me, in the nearness of my heart unto thee is my good. I have made the Lord my refuge so that I can tell of thy goodness to all the earth.

Our calling isn’t to condemn the unjust but that God through his mercy and grace would turn their hearts from the darkness of this world and unto the glorious light of the gospel of truth. Our calling not to be overcome by evil but to overcome evil with good. Our Lord Jesus Christ came not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

Despite the darkness of this fallen world, our joy is in the Lord and our hope is in the redemption of our vile bodies, His purchased possession, at His return. Therefore, let your light so shine among men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven.

Whom have I in heaven but you Lord? …. our flesh and our heart will fail, but our portion is in you alone… for in Thee and in Thee alone, it is well with our soul…

…that we may ever live to the praise of the glory of Thy grace!

Your brother in Christ,
Michael