Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of allcomfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.  2 Corinthians 1:3-4

The holidays can be a wonderful season filled with good food, good memories, and the joy of family and friends.  They can also be a time of stark pain for those who have just lost loved ones or who have suffered some other trauma.  The holidays highlight life as it should be. But they also magnify the empty places around the table, the pain of a serious diagnosis, or the loss of a job when you could least afford it.

I have been part of many funerals that fell in November and December… just a few days ago a five-day old little girl. Unfortunately, the feelings of pain and sorrow will be anchored to holidays for years to come. With Silver Bells and Silent Night will also come painful memories and questions about what might have been.  

In those moments, the passage above can be enormously helpful.  We are reminded that God is a God of compassion and comfort.  Compassion means that he feels our pain. He feels with us. He has genuine empathy for what we are going through.  Perhaps, he put himself in our place as he watched his beloved Son ridiculed, spit upon, suffering, and nailed to a cross.  If we think God sat on his throne watching what was going on emotionally detached, we have missed the point entirely. I am convinced he suffered with his Son. Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus, not because Lazarus was gone but because he felt the pain of those around him.  He is a God who can be touched by our pain.

The word translated “comfort” comes from the same word used to describe the Holy Spirit –  paraklete.  It is a word that means one who is called alongside to comfort, encourage, give solace, console, or alleviate sorrow. It is one who gives emotional support in times of loss or crisis. On dark nights we need a God of compassion and comfort.  Sometimes he shows up in the form of people who care about you so please don’t turn them away in your sorrow or isolate yourself.  Sometimes he shows up as the Holy Spirit speaks hope and comfort to your mind and heart.  When you are hurting…ask for God, look for God.  He is around you if you have eyes to see and ears to hear.  

Paul goes on to say that we are to comfort others with the comfort we have received.  I realized years ago that our healing is never complete until we help others heal. The thing that qualifies us for that ministry is our own suffering.  When real trauma visits us, we often ask “Why?” We wonder why God would allow such a thing in our lives or in the life of someone we love. We rarely get a clear answer to that question, but God does tell us how we can redeem the pain and give it meaning.  We do so by helping others through the same briar patch we just passed through ourselves.  

This holiday season may be a painful reminder to you of what you have lost…a loved one, a marriage, a career, your health, or your purpose. You may be a few years away from helping others. But the God of compassion and the God of all comfort, is nearby for scripture declares that God is close to the brokenhearted (Ps. 34:18). Lean on Him.  Go to church.  Call a friend who understands where you are at.   Don’t isolate yourself because that makes you an easy target for the enemy. There may be moments when you wonder if God actually loves you. He does, but most often he will love you through his people.  Plan ahead.  Put yourself in places where you can be encouraged and supported.  Most of all, cry out to God when the pain rushes in.  He is not detached and he is not far away.

One of Satan’s strategies is the illusion that scripture is only ink on paper like any other book in the library.  It is not uncommon for us all to forget that the Word is living and active…that it contains life and power when it is received and spoken by faith.  The moment we forget that scripture is the Word of God revealing himself to us, the Word begins to lose its transformative function in our lives.

I am currently reading a little commentary on the Book of Revelation by Eugene Peterson.  As he lays foundations for understanding the book, he reminds us that scripture is designed to awaken our senses and engage our imagination.  We should not read the gospels without imagining what the scenes of Jesus healing, raising the dead, walking on the waves of Galilee, and turning over the tables in the temple courtyard would look like, sound like, and smell like. If we simply read the passage as sterile facts like dates in a history book, we miss what God intends.  

I still remember American history classes in college. Two semesters were required.  I had one professor who showed up at the last minute and opened his loose-leaf notebook and read facts and dates to us for an hour and then left.  It was boring, mind-numbing, utterly forgettable.  It was so meaningless that I dropped the course thinking I would take it in a short summer semester where I might endure the class.  So, the following summer, I signed up under another professor.  This teacher made history come to life.  He told the back stories, the intrigues, and described the scenes so that we could place ourselves in the moment.  It wasn’t dates and facts.  It was people and life and uncertainty.  I was riveted.  I never missed a class and I remembered the lessons from history, not just the facts.

God intends for us to read scripture that way.   He wants us not just to engage our minds but all of our senses.  In the Book of Revelation, we are told of dragons and angels, trumpets, and thrones.  We are told of battles in the heavenlies and a golden city 1500 miles wide and high.  We are told of burning incense and prayers and scrolls flying through the air with writing.  As we read these things, we have the opportunity to imagine and to engage all of our senses.  In Revelation 1:3, John tells us, ”Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it…”  John invites us to take it off the page, read it aloud, hear it as we read it, and read it with meaning so that those who hear it are riveted.

This engagement of the senses is not just to make the Word more interesting, but when the mind and the senses are involved, it writes it on our heart in much deeper ways.  Think about it. The events and the moments you remember most in your life are anchored to the things you witnessed with your eyes, the smells associated with the event, the sounds you heard, the people that were there, you and the things you touched or that touched you.  Any similar sounds, smells, or feelings you experience in the present will take you back to the past in powerful ways like a song from your childhood.   The memory may be traumatic or full of goodness.  It may be in a hospital room, on a battlefield,  or in your grandmother’s kitchen at Christmas.  When the senses are involved, you don’t just remember it, you re-experience it. Intense experiences establish themselves in neural pathways in your brain that stay with you forever. 

Let me encourage you to take the time to make the Word come alive.  Read it aloud.  Engage your imagination asking the Spirit to direct your thoughts and reveal the pictures he wants you to see.  Let him sanctify your imagination. Imagine the scene, the smells, the sounds, the people. Place yourself there.  Read the Christmas story to your children or grandchildren and think about the long journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.  What was the road like; what were the dangers; what would it be like to be in your ninth month making that pilgrimage? Imagine sleepy shepherds outside of Bethlehem, the smell of sheep, the sting of cold air, the tangible fear when angels appeared in the sky, the sound of their voices, or the frustration when a room was not available for a woman about to give birth?  What were the sounds and smells in the manger…a child being born, a young woman experiencing her first birth without family surrounding her, the smell and feel of straw, animals, and dampness? These were real people and real circumstances that God wants us to experience…not just facts to recount.  

Perhaps, this Christmas will be a great time to remember that the Word is living and active, the very word of God, and it written to stir our imaginations so that we never forget what God has revealed to us. 

If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And what I have forgiven—if there was anything to forgive—I haveforgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.  2 Corinthians 2:9-11

In his letter to the church at Corinth, Paul is referencing an individual the church had dealt with through church discipline. Paul believed that the discipline (no fellowship with the unrepentant sinner) had done its work, so he invited the church to restore the individual and forgive any offenses that had occurred because of the events surrounding that person. He links the plea to forgive with the schemes of Satan.

Even though scripture is clear that we must forgive others or God will not forgive us, many believers still hold onto unforgiveness.  This issue is often magnified during holidays when family hurts come to the surface.  Holidays make us sentimental about families. We watch the Hallmark channel and wonder why our Christmas can’t look like that.  When we think of a family member that wounded us, it is easy to resent that person and have some bitterness toward them.  Not only did he or she wrong us, but they stole the possibility of having a Hallmark Christmas.  Once the embers of that unforgiveness begin to smolder again, Satan is sure to pour gasoline on the fire. If we come into agreement with Satan by renewing our anger,  bitterness, and blame, we give him an open door to our soul.  

Paul addresses this issue in his letter to Ephesus. Paul counsels them, “In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold” (Eph. 4:26-27).  Paul’s counsel is to deal with the emotion of anger quickly.  To fail to do so will give the enemy permission to set up camp in your life.  In other words, if you detect unforgiveness in your heart, deal with it quickly.  I know I have pointed this out before, but the word translated “foothold” means territory, a place of legal standing, or even a sanctuary for worship.  If we refuse to forgive even those who have hurt us deeply, it opens a door for the enemy which begins as a foothold but may end as a stronghold. 

If you have struggled with forgiving a family member who hurt you in the past or who keeps hurting you in the present, guard your heart during the holidays.  Satan will scheme to rekindle your anger and bitterness and gain a legal right to torment or oppress you.  He may do this in several ways.

First of all, he may send a spirit to reinforce a feeling that you have been victimized.  This “person” has wounded you and taken away your Hallmark moment.  Victims always feel justified in their bitterness and unforgiveness.  Victims feel as if the “victimizer” needs to pay for their wrongs….to make reparations for the pain they inflicted.  It is easy to feel as if you are exempt from God’s command to forgive, because you are a “victim.”  God says that in Christ you are more than a conqueror, but you deny that truth if you paint yourself as a victim.  You may have been victimized, but that should not determine your identity now.

Secondly, Satan may prompt the hurtful person in your life to “stir the pot” once again by acting in ways that rekindle your hurt and your anger.  This may look like more manipulation surrounding the holidays or the same criticisms or rejection from a person who will be at a family gathering or something worse. You may need to prepare yourself for those moments, avoid the moment altogether, or limit your time around the hurtful person so that Satan does not get to you through them. Ask God to give you wisdom for the situation and to guard your heart against receiving the hurt or to insulate your heart from the effects of that individual.  

You may want to view that person as very broken rather than as an enemy who is always out to get you.  These people are pawns of Satan he is using to attack you. That is his scheme. Jesus instructs us (commands us) to love our enemies. The word he uses for “love” is agape which is not an emotion or even a positive feeling.  It is a decision of the will to always act in the best interest of the other person or to always act in the most redemptive way towards them.  In the same way, forgiveness is a decision to let Jesus judge them, rather than you, and to no longer act in ways that make them pay for what they did to you.  In Luke 6, Jesus goes further and instructs us to pray for our enemies, speak well of them, bless them and do good to them even while they are a continuing source of pain and betrayal.  

The process is much more for your benefit than for theirs.  It keeps bitterness at bay and keeps your heart from being poisoned by the enemy.  Before the holidays, be proactive.  Begin to pray for your enemy.  Ask thy Lord to help you see them as victims of Satan rather than your sworn enemy.  If it is not physically or emotionally safe to be around the person, you can love them from a distance.  Forgiveness is required but reconciliation is conditional.  Ask for wisdom and ask the Lord to replace in your life what the enemy has stolen through a hurtful person.

The key here is to recognize the schemes of the enemy and not to let unforgiveness give him a key to your front door. Be smarter than the devil.  When we submit to Jesus, he becomes our defender and our hedge of protection.  Guard your heart during this season of “perfect families” and Hallmark moments and forgive again at the first sign of malice, bitterness, or the feelings of being victimized. Ask the Lord to place you in a spiritual family if you cannot be with your own and let him love you through them during this holiday season. 

Today’s blog is a very practical slice of spiritual warfare.  I spent a little time today with a man who loves the Lord and serves him well but has been tormented lately by memories from his past that carry strong feelings of shame and unworthiness.  Those thoughts tend to make him feel as if God can’t use him to do significant things in the kingdom.

Those thoughts are projected by demonic spirits.  One of Satan’s primary strategies is to make us feel disqualified from God’s love, service and blessings.  Most of us struggle with our self-image due to our childhood experiences of rejection, neglect, abuse, and criticism.  Satan preys on that insecurity about who we are.   We know what the Bible says about God’s forgiveness, love, and acceptance of us. In spite of that, spirits of condemnation, accusation and shame find their way in and begin to amplify the feelings we already have of “not being enough.” When the thoughts begin to persist and get stronger, we need to deal with the source of those thoughts -accusing spirits.  Command them to leave.  We then need to know what God says about us and give that truth more authority in our lives than our flesh or the devil. 

To keep these spirits from returning, we need to thicken and heighten the walls that protect us from the lies of the enemy.  Other than the blood of Christ, truth is one of our greatest weapons.  Every temptation from the enemy begins with a lie and lies can eventually hold us captive.  But Jesus declared, “Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (Jn.8:32).

Knowing who we are in Christ is a great defense against the spirits that come to accuse, condemn and shame us.  If you struggle with these issues, I invite you to read the following declarations out loud every day for sixty days.  It takes that long to establish these truths in your heart. When his truth settles into your heart, it is truly transformative. Knowing your identity in Christ and believing it in your heart disarms the enemy and foils many of his schemes against us.  We use this set of declarations in our Free Indeed ministry and it has proven to be one of the most powerful tools God has given us.  Please use it.


Declaration of Faith – My Position in Christ

These descriptors are what God says is true about you.  You must give his word more authority in your life than your emotions, “parent tapes,” etc.  Declaring these verbally and consistently helps to write them on your heart.

In the name of Jesus …

I renounce the lies of Satan and his accusations that come against me. I renounce the lies that I am bound up in my brokenness, weak, worthless, and displeasing to my Heavenly Father. In the name of Jesus and by his blood, I renounce shame, worthlessness, inadequacy, rejection, guilt, accusation and condemnation. In Jesus Christ, I am totally loved, totally forgiven, totally accepted, totally valued, and totally competent.

In the Name of Jesus and according to the Word of God, I now declare that . . . 

• I am a beloved and blood bought child of God.  (Jn. 1:12, Jn. 3:16)
• I have been chosen as a personal friend of Jesus Christ.  (Jn. 15:5)
• I have been declared innocent of all sin by the blood of Christ. (Rom. 5:1)
• I am joined with Christ and his Spirit and I am made holy by that union. (I Cor. 6:17)
• I am highly valued.  I have been bought at an incredible price and belong totally to him. (1 Cor.6: 19, 20)
• I am a member of the body of Christ, designed by God, gifted by God, and placed exactly where he wants me so that I may fulfill the destiny He has ordained for me.  (I Cor. 12:27; Ps. 139:13-16; Eph. 2:10; I Cor. 12:18
• I am, in fact, a saint, a holy one of God. (Eph. 1:1)
• I lack nothing for godliness and love because I have been made complete in Jesus Christ. (Col. 2:10)
• Any condemnation is a lie from the evil one.  I am free forever from all condemnation (Rom.8:1).
• I am totally united to the love of God in Christ Jesus. Nothing can separate me from that love.  (Rom. 8:35-39)
• I am a child of God.  I am established by Christ, anointed by his Spirit, and sealed by the King.  (2 Cor. 1:22-23)
• I am a beloved child of God.  I can come before his throne of grace with boldness at any time and expect help in time of need. (Heb. 4:1)
• I am a bold in Christ because I have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love, and self – control. (2 Tim 1: 7)
• I am a branch of the true vine, Jesus Christ.  His power, love, and grace flow to me and through me as I bear fruit in his kingdom. (Jn. 15:1, 5)
• I am a minister of reconciliation, made competent to serve by the Spirit and power of God.  (2 Cor. 5:17-21)
• I am a new creation, a servant of righteousness, and free from the power of sin. (2 Cor. 5:17)
• I am, in every circumstance, more than a conqueror though Jesus Christ. (Rom. 8: 37)
• I am loved and treasured. Since God is for me, who can stand against me? (Rom. 8:3l)
• I am never alone because God has said, “No matter what, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you.  (Heb. 13:5)
• I am appointed and anointed to fulfill my great destiny in Jesus Christ. (1Jn.2:26-27, Ps.139:17) 

I am absolutely loved, totally accepted, and worthy in Christ. I am royalty in the household of God, personally chosen by Jesus Christ, holy, and destined for greatness in Him. In the name of Jesus, I renounce all lies to the contrary and in his name and by his blood, renounce and nullify all curses and judgments that have been spoken against me contrary to God’s declared truth.  Holy Spirit, write these truths on my heart today for every circumstance…in Jesus’ name.  Amen

Be blessed….tom v

I’m writing this blog on Tuesday, November 5…election day.  There are a multitude of uncertainties swirling around this evening.  Who will win?  Who will accuse whom of voter fraud?  More than one pundit anticipates some level of civil war or some never before seen political gymnastics to keep a winner from being seated in the White House.  It may actually take some states days to tally votes and if the election is as close as some believe, we may not know who our new president is for a week.  Meanwhile tensions will rise and accusations will fly.  It seems that we are navigating extremely stormy seas.

There are several responses to this dilemma.  We can convince ourselves that none of this matters and ultimately it will not affect us. Life will go on as it has.  But these things will affect us.  Our freedoms, our finances, our security will all be touched by these outcomes one way or another.  Another response may simply be days of anxiety, fear and, perhaps, anger.  In our hearts we may be looking for someone to blame for the way things turned out and our anticipated losses and pain due to these outcomes. A third response, a better response  can be faith.

We all remember the account of the disciples crossing the sea of Galilea one night.  In that part of Israel, violent storms can come up quickly and without warning.  That night was such a night. It was dark, the wind suddenly howled, waves began to build and break over the boat Jesus and his disciples were in. Their  concern was not unfounded.  They were in true danger.  Galilea is not huge nor unfathomably deep, but many men have drowned in those storms.  Several of Jesus’ followers were fisherman on Galilea and they knew when they were in real peril.  

As their anxiety grew, they began to look to their leader for courage. But, their leader was unavailable.  Jesus was sound asleep.  Perhaps, they thought he had no grasp on how much danger they were in.  After all, he was a stone mason not a fisherman. They shook him awake and asked if he even cared if they were about to die.  Jesus stood and rebuked the wind and the storm immediately dissipated.  He also gently rebuked them for their lack of faith. To their credit, their impulse to cry out to Jesus was on target. He is always the one to run to. 

However, his rebuke about their lack of faith concerned two things.  First, they had little faith that their heavenly father was aware of their predicament or that he would protect them in the face of that danger.  We usually expect God to keep us from the storms rather than seeing us through the storms. So, when storms arise, we assume his care for us has failed.

Secondly, Jesus may have been reminding them that he had given them authority to do what they were asking him to do.  He said on several occasions if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we can command a mountain or a mulberry tree to be cast into the sea and they will obey our command.  Sometimes our faith fails in remembering who our Heavenly Father is and sometimes it fails in remembering who we are in Christ…his beloved children.

In the midst of stormy social and political seas, we must remember both.  God can and will protect us and provide for us in the storm. He will not always keep us from the storm but will see us through it.  Jesus slept soundly because he was totally convinced his Father’s care for him was greater than the storm. Tonight, he invites us to sleep soundly as well.

We would expect the Book of James to be written by the apostle James, the brother of John. That James was part of the inner circle of disciples (Peter, James and John) and would have been a most likely candidate for writing an epistle to the church.  But this James was the brother of Jesus, who did not even believe that Jesus was the Messiah until after his resurrection.

I find it interesting that he began the letter describing himself as “James, a servant (slave) of God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Ja. 1:1). He didn’t “name drop” by mentioning he was also the “brother of Jesus.”  By this time in his life, he found his significance in being a servant of God and Jesus Christ. I think he would have been an interesting psychological study as he grew up with Jesus as his older brother and since he was unable to ever see Jesus as Messiah until he encountered the resurrected Lord.  In fact, it seems as if James had some contempt for his older brother as they grew up. 

John tells us, “But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, Jesus’ brothers said to him, ‘You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.’ For even his own brothers did not believe in him” (Jn.7:1-5).  It seems as if his brothers were chiding him about his claims to be the Messiah and his interest in becoming a public figure through his preaching.  In another place, Jesus said, “Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor” (Matt.13:57). 

This scenario demonstrates how difficult it is at times for us to see people as they are Instead of who they were.  This is especially true in families. Parents tend to always see their children as children…even when they are grown and accomplished.  Very often, adult children slip back into the role of a child when they go home.  A friend of mine who has a Masters in Counseling was telling me how she went home one Christmas when she was about 40 years old and was on the house phone (land line) with a client one afternoon for an extended period.  Her father walked by and said, “Been on the phone long enough haven’t you.”  Like a dutiful teenager she said, “Yes sir,” and hung up. She had subconsciously slipped back into the familiar paradigm of parent and child. So had her father, by the way. 

The brothers of Jesus could only see him as their older brother…maybe the resented favorite. All of his teachings and even his miracles could not get them to see him as more than that.  When he was crucified they probably thought, “I knew if he didn’t get over his “God complex” something like this would happen.”  It took a resurrection for them to change paradigms.  It wasn’t just the brothers either.  There were times when his mother could not see him as more than her boy. Mark tells us, “Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind” (Mk. 3:20-21).

As you read through the gospels, many who had known his family could only see him as the son of Joseph and Mary.  We are told when he went back to Nazareth, he could do only a few miracles because of their unbelief. They could not believe because they had already defined who he was in their mind based on the past, regardless of what they were seeing in the present. 

Sometimes, it is difficult for us to lead our families and old friends to the Lord, especially if we were not living as a believer “back then.” They can only see us as we were, not as we are now.  We speak truth to them, but somehow our words lack credibility.  Take heart, Jesus faced the same predicament. It’s not about your wisdom or your authenticity as a believer, but about their inability to see people as they are, not as they were. The Holy Spirit will have to do some work there before they can hear you. 

On the other hand, we need to guard ourselves against defining people as they were, rather than as they are now…especially when they have begun to follow the Lord. Jesus is in the business of change.  He can change anyone.  And yet, when someone has failed us or betrayed us in the past, even when they have sincerely repented and begun to pursue Jesus, we may never recognize the change that has occurred.  I see this often when a spouse has committed adultery, done drugs, or hidden a pornography addiction for years. 

As a defense against being wounded again, we often refuse to see their efforts and their change as anything but manipulation.  Our response often discourages them in their pursuit of Jesus rather than encouraging the very thing we say we want for them.  Sure, there is some caution in trusting too soon, but there is, perhaps, greater risk in never trusting. 

God often does amazing things through those who were once hurtful and untrustworthy. He changed Jacob, the deceiver, into Israel.  He changed Saul of Tarsus, who had fueled the persecution in Acts 8, into the apostle Paul.  Only Barnabas was willing to believe that Saul had been transformed by an encounter with Jesus.  If Barnabas had not been able to see this man with different eyes and convince others of the change, we may have been missing most of the New Testament.

Sometimes, the person we cannot see with fresh eyes is ourself.  We keep defining ourselves by past failures and mistakes and filter out the changes God is actually making in us.  Then we become a discouragement to ourselves and often turn even down the encouragement others give us.

think the lesson here is to ask the Holy Spirit, very consistently, to enable us to see others and ourselves in the present, not in the past. Sometimes we need to ask for the faith to believe God changes us and others as well. Sometimes, we need to give God a chance to bless us through these transformed people by seeing them as the person God is transforming or promoting.  They may have a gift, a word, or a message that God will use to change us as he changed them. 

As we race toward election day, both parties are touting their brand of economic theories.  Trump keeps pointing back to lower taxes, deregulation, and tariffs on China. Kamala sings the praises of Bidenomics which seems to be tax, spend and print.  

The truth is that neither will work long-term without the blessings of heaven on this nation.  In Deuteronomy 28, God declares that the nation that forsakes him will experience devastating curses: economic disaster, famine, runaway inflation, war on their borders, madness, and pandemics.  No nation can endure those things and thrive economically.

On the other hand, God promises the nation that honors him and keeps his commands will experience  unprecedented peace on its borders, health across the board…people, livestock and crops and there will be a marked absence of natural disasters.  In other words, the economic climate and the nation will thrive. 

The economics we are looking for come from heaven and are a biproduct of honoring God and keeping his commands. I believe additional CO2 in the atmosphere is not the driving force behind natural disasters.  It is sin in the hearts of men.  The earth was initially cursed because of sin. Previous to sin, the earth cooperated with man and man had God-given dominion over this planet.  But sin reversed the divine order of things.  

In addition, when Cain killed Abel, God said Abel’s blood cried out to him from the ground.  It was if the earth responded to the violence of men and the outcome echoed the garden curse.  God declared to Cain, “Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops to you” (Gen. 4:10-11).

As you read Deuteronomy 28, it is clear that the hearts and actions of men either release blessings on a person or a nation or release curses.  The economics of heaven declare that the key to a thriving nation is righteousness, not political policies.  I’m not saying those policies don’t matter at all, but I am saying that even the soundest economic policies cannot overcome the damaging effects of sin. 

The encouraging side of the coin is that God will provide for his sheep even in tough economic times.  In the famous story of Jesus feeding the five thousand, the difference in earthly economics and heavenly economics is made abundantly clear.  At the end of a long day of preaching to large crowds, Jesus instructed his disciples to feed the people.  They quickly took an inventory of their resources (five loaves and two fish) and did the math.  Remember, Matthew was an accountant and several others had run their own fishing businesses.  The conclusion was “No Way Jose Economics.”  The disciples were confronted with the limitations of the natural realm. They didn’t have the food nor the money to buy the food so for them, it was game over. 

Jesus, however, was plugged into heavenly economics and knew there were no food shortages or supply chain problems in heaven. He prayed for the Father to multiply what they had and gave thanks for the abundance that was available to them.  In a while, everyone sitting on the hill had enough to eat with twelve basketfuls left over…a basket for each apostle to contemplate.  We need to contemplate those extra baskets as well.

Now…I am not saying we have no need to vote.  We have a stewardship of this nation to exercise at the ballot box.  Vote for righteousness.  Vote for the better economic policies. But remember, our hope is in heaven, not in Washington D.C. A national righteousness is the solution, not convoluted economic programs. And if we can’t vote out the wicked or the incompetent, we must pray them out. 

Much is being said and written currently about the “end times” when Jesus will return and history as we know it will grind to afinal and sudden stop. In Matthew 24, his disciples asked Jesus what the signs would be when the “end” would come that he had foretold along with the destruction of the Temple. Jesus responded by saying that the day or hour of his coming was known only to the Father…not even the angels know. However, he said we should be able discern the season and know when these things are at hand. He warns us to be alert and not caught off guard at his coming,

Several decades ago I determined not to spend too much time sorting out the end times. If we live everyday as if Jesus is coming back we will be in a good place at his return. I decided that because it was a season when many people (prophets, preachers and authors) were trying to determine the day and the time of his return, even though Jesus said it couldn’t be known. Each prediction was spread across headlines and each time the prediction failed to materialize, it seemed the church lost more credibility with the unchurched. On top of that, I was watching people I knew pour all their energy into “discerning the headlines,” rather than serving God or sharing the gospel. It appeared to be a great distraction.

However, in the past few years I have reconsidered. I have begun spending a little more time thinking about the season of his return as I see clear prophetic lines being crossed. I certainly believe we are in the season. I think three major prophetic markers point to the return of Jesus.

The first occurred in 1948 when Israel became a nation again and then in 1967 when Jerusalem was returned to control of Israel. When Jesus returns he will not place his foot down on the White House lawn, but in Israel and, specifically, in Jerusalem. That prophetic line has been crossed. If you are not aware, the Jews had no homeland for 2000 years. They were scattered all over the world which was God’s pronounced judgment if Israel would not turn their hearts back to him and if they rejected Messiah. In 70 A.D., Rome destroyed the Temple and banished Jews from Jerusalem. However, the prophets also foretold, over and over, that, in the end times, God would gather the Jews once again in Israel As I mentioned, that historically unlikely event took place in 1948.

A second major prophetic line is found in 2 Thessalonians. Here Paul declares, “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 These. 2:3-4, emphasis added).

The word translated rebellion in this text is apostasia which can be translated apostasy or the “falling away.” Most scholars believe this is a “falling away” that occurs in the church. This word can also mean abandonment or rebellion. In the past few decades we have seen that occur in the western church. Many have abandoned the faith but more destructive are those who have continued to declare that they are true followers of Christ while compromising with the world and bending scripture to embrace their own standards rather than God’s.

Where the Bible clearly declares that practicing homosexuality is an abomination to the Lord, a number of main line denominations have embraced it as an acceptable lifestyle even among church leaders. Other churches no longer defend the inerrancy of scripture and others no longer maintain that Jesus is the only way to heaven. Other “churches” celebrate abortion for any cause and seemingly few churches clearly speak out against sin anymore. There is a clear movement, even among “Christians” to form a new world or universal religion that takes the “best of all religions” and combines their tenets into one faith. Clearly, there is a great apostasy or “falling away” occurring now

The third prophetic line is also mentioned in Paul’s comments above. The “man of lawlessness” (the anti-Christ) will set himself up in God’e temple, proclaiming himself to be God. There may be two ways to understand this. If the church is the “temple” Paul is referring to, then some individual man ascend to prominence and have influence over the church…perhaps, in a universal religion scenario. More likely, however, the temple here is the temple in Jerusalem.

Of course, there is no temple in Jerusalem at this moment. The last temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 a.d. But fear not, the orthodox Jews are on the brink of building a third temple in Jerusalem. They have everything they need to do just that. This will be the third prophetic line that will announce that Jesus will be coming soon. Just so you don’t get too comfortable, that Temple can be built in months rather than years.

All of this is to say that we are definitely in the season of his return if not absolutely on the brink. This should motivate us to do several things:

First of all, let’s examine our faith to see if we have given into cultural pressure and deception and watered down the word of God in our own lives. God is unchanging and his word is unchanging. Cultural “evolution” nor agenda driven “science” does not change his standards of righteousness or judgment.

Secondly, we must evaluate our love for God. How seriously do we take obedience in our own lives. Jesus said, “If you love me you will keep my commands.” How many commands do we “exempt” ourselves from because they don’t conform to our preferences? Who have we not forgiven? Who do we continue to judge? How compromised are our relationships? What addictions do we rationalize and what “idols” are we devoted to more than Jesus?

Thirdly, if there is someone you need to share the gospel with or whose salvation you need to be praying for…I wouldn’t delay. C.S.Lewis put it this way. “When the author steps onto the stage, the play is over.” In other words, when Jesus returns, the opportunity to say “yes” to him will have passed.

We are in a crazy world where everything seems out of control. Unwelcome changes seem to happen at light speed. But we, like the sons of Issachar should understand the times and press into our Savior more than ever. Jesus says there will be great deception in the last days so that even the elect might be led astray. Get into the Word. Stay connected to a Bible believing church. Stay connected to a group of serious believers who will pray for one another and look out for one another in these last days. We certainly want to be ready for his return and be unashamed at his coming.

Jesus said on several occasions that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  To truly love God, our minds and hearts must be aligned with his truth.  Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (Jn.14:15). We won’t keep a commandment that we don’t agree with…at least not consistently.  

Most of us are in the process of alignment.  We consistently obey Jesus in some areas but not in others. At our best, we begin to think or respond in a certain way, then think about what Jesus would want and, after some internal debate, surrender to him.  That is a good step, but the renewed mind goes to what Jesus would want first, without having to reason our way to that conclusion. When our mind and heart are both aligned with God’s Spirit, then we are truly renewed.  

The mind is renewed by constant time in the Word and in meditation on the Word. The Greek word translated meditation, is the idea of “chewing on something for a while.”  We need not just mindlessly read the Bible, but also  think about what we have read.  Discuss it with other believers.  Read or listen to someone else’s thoughts on the passage, etc.  As we do so, what seemed to be counterintuitive at one time, now seems to make perfect sense because we are training out minds with Kingdom logic, rather than worldly wisdom. If our mind is not renewed, we will not be transformed.  Paul declared, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2).  

Along with the mind, our hearts need to be renewed as well. God’s truth can find its way to our heart in many ways, but the most powerful way is through revelation, when God’s Spirit bears witness with our spirit about his truth so that the life-giving Word of God replaces a lie that has affected us for years (Rom. 8:16). The lies of Satan are deadly but the truth of Jesus Christ gives life.  Adam bit on Satan’s lie in the Garden and death entered into the world. But when Jesus touched the dead, the dead breathed again. When Jesus touches a lie, he drains it of its deadly poison and breathes his healing truth into a wound that was releasing its toxin into our life. “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words (rhema)  I have spoken to you are spirit andthey are life “ (Jn.6:63).

There are two general words in the Greek language that describe a word from the Lord.  One is logos and the other is rhema.  Typically, logos refers to the written word of God revealed to the prophets and penned by them as well.  Rhema is typically a spoken word of God that give fresh revelation to an individual.  It may be a revealed application of the written word or simply a direct world to a person through the Spirit.  We need both logos and rhema.

I believe the written logos is most needed to renew the mind while the spoken rhema is most effective at changing the heart.  Logos makes sure that rhema is consistent with the will of God and keeps us from spinning off into theological space.  It also is a way we experience God directly which increases our faith.  Paul said, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word (rhema) of God. “  Truthfully, I am more transformed By a genuine experience with God than by a sermon or daily Bible reading.  The experience needs to be tested by the written word, but the spoken word or experience with God opens my heart up to a greater level and expands my mind to a deeper understanding of the written Word.

Churches that preach about God, but rarely experience him are not greatly transformative.  Churches that are mostly experience and little Word are prone to theological error and can be more “fleshly” than those churches who deny the Spirit.

Jesus declared, ”The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words (rhema) I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life” (Jn.6:63).  We need the words of Jesus…both written and those heard in our spirit.   

Let’s read the Word, let’s listen to good sermons, let’s read good books to help us understand the Lord more…but then let’s listen for his rhema.  Let Jesus speak to you about his Word, your plans, your hurts, your disappointments and even your successes.  When Jesus speaks your heart is transformed.   

When both our minds and hearts are renewed, we will commune with God in greater ways than we have ever known. That should be our truest and highest goal for living.

 I’ve been reading through the Book of Hebrews once again.  it is heavily laden with references to the temple and the Levitical priesthood.  For most of us, those references only faintly ring a bell.  We have a general sense of what that is all about but to the Jews, but it was at the core of their culture.  Animal sacrifices emerge from the pages of the Bible in the early chapters of Genesis when Cain and Abel came before the Lord with their sacrifices.  Immediately after departing the Ark, Noah built an alter and offered sacrifices of some of the “clean” animals he had taken with him. The next major figure in scripture is Abraham who built numerous altars for animal sacrifice and even for his son Isaac if God had required it.  Finally, an entire sacrificial system was codified after Moses led Israel from Egypt to Mount Sinai where God revealed the Law by which Israel was to live.

The Law outlined how Israel was to relate to God and to one another.  The temple code was detailed and complex.  If you read through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy you will see the difficulty of it all.  That is why most people skim the texts or skip over it all together. It outlines in detail the construction of the temple and all of its components. It spells out who the priests could be and how they were to dress. It detailed instructions on how and when to offer sacrifices. Each of these details were seen to be inflexible and holy.  You ignored the details at your own risk.  Priests offered sin sacrifices for Israel every day and once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the Holy of Holies to offer the blood of animals before the Ark of the Covenant which represented the throne of God.  The moment was full of fear for the nation because if God did not accept their sacrifice, he would no longer protect and provide for the nation.  

The message of the sacrificial system was that sin was deadly serious in the face of a Holy God.  We tend to compare ourselves to the righteousness of other sinners and live as if God grades on a curve.  But our righteousness is compared to his righteousness and against that standard, no one has a chance.  Many of the great prophets, when confronted by the holiness of God or even his angelic representatives, fell to the ground terrified because they fully felt their sinfulness in the presence of his holiness.  

In the face of that great differential, the sacrifices also communicated that the just penalty for sin (rebellion) was death, but that God would accept the death of an innocent on behalf of man.  The greatest Old Testament witness of that truth was probably found in the Passover when a lamb without blemish had to be sacrificed and the blood smeared above and beside the door of each house.  When God’s angels came in judgment on Egypt, judgment passed over all those who were covered by the blood.  Each blood sacrifice after that was a reminder of the truth that only by the blood shed by an innocent substitute could man escape the judgment of God.  On certain feast days, primarily Passover, Jews crowded into Jerusalem to offer up sacrificial lambs for each family.  Jewish historians report that perhaps 150,000 lambs would be sacrificed on one day.  The amount of blood that ran from these animals had to make an impression of every Jew.

The problem with animal sacrifices was that they had to be offered day after day and year after year, which left the people of Israel feeling that something was missing. And if the animal was insufficient according to the Law or if the priesthood was inadequate or even wicked, then the sacrifice would not be accepted and sin would not be dealt with.

But then enter Jesus…the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  Enter Jesus our perfect and sinless high priest who offered a perfect sacrifice (his sinless self) once and for all. On top of that, as our High Priest he lives forever. We never have to wonder if this year’s sacrifice is adequate or whether this year’s high priest is acceptable.  The details are taken care of.  

The perfect sacrifice to which the Law of Moses pointed has been offered and is enough for all those who believe in him…forever. Not only that, but this High Priest also intercedes for us with the Father…he (the beloved of God) takes our needs and our failures before the Father…not as a group but as individuals. We do not have to enter into his presence with fear and trembling but can come before his throne of grace with confidence because the sacrifice offered for us and the one who offered it are perfect.  

I often think that as a Gentile, I miss so much of what Jesus has accomplished for us.  A good reading of Hebrews helps close that gap.  If you haven’t read it in while. I recommend a fresh reading. It will never be just us standing before the Father, but it will always be us and Jesus.