In America today, any number of individuals who identify themselves as Christians are not affiliated with any local church. Their typical response to questions about their non-affiliation is simply that you can be a Christian without going to church or having any real connection to a local church. Some are part of the “electronic church” who watch their favorite evangelist on Sunday mornings or early weekdays and, perhaps, send in a donation from time to time. Others have been “wounded” by the actions of some in a church and so stay away from all churches. A third group has been disappointed in churches and felt that the churches they were involved in were missing the mark and were not spiritual enough. Those individuals tend to reject the organized American church as being unbiblical in some way and have settled into small house churches or family churches. They may visit local churches from tome to time to connect with people they know but still hold some disdain for the church. My question is, “Are these believers hearing from God in their rejection of church involvement?” I’m not using “church” here in the sense of the universal body of Christ, but rather of local congregations made up of segments of the body of Christ.

This discussion came up in my men’s group this morning so I reflected on it during the day. I think it may be an important question because so many believers feel no need for involvement in a church or, in fact, oppose involvement in anything that looks like a traditional church. I know I risk alienating some folks who fall into these categories (some of which are long time friends), but I want to share my thoughts on that.

First of all local, organized churches were God’s idea. The church at Jerusalem was by all definitions a mega-church the day the doors opened. Three thousand members became part of the church after Peter’s opening sermon and then grew exponentially from there. Churches were also identified and establishes in cities all over the Mediterranean – Ephesus, Corinth, Rome, Sardis, Laodecia, Antioch, etc. These churches had apostolic oversight, elders, deacons, evangelists, prophets and so forth. History, as well as the New Testament, tells us that they typically came together in one place on Sundays for communion, preaching, prophecy, revelation, and mutual encouragement and met in homes at other times. They had organized benevolence programs (Acts 6) and sent out and supported missionaries. They gave to the poor. They had conferences (Acts 15) and emphasized four things: the apostle’s teachings, communion, fellowship, and prayer (Acts 2:42). In other words, what those churches did under the direct oversight of the apostles was not so different from what most churches do today. My point is that God ordained local, organized churches.

The next question might be, “Okay, but can’t I just stay home and believe in God and Jesus and live a good life?” If you are asking whether or not you will go to hell if you don’t attend church regularly, I would say not because you didn’t attend church. If you are asking whether it is okay in the sight of God to stay home and be a spiritual “Lone Ranger,” I would definitely say “No!” The writer of Hebrews said, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb.11:25).

In addition to that admonition, in the New Testament there are a number of passages often referred to as the “one another passages.” They command things such as love one another, encourage one another, serve one another, pray for one another, teach one another, accept one another, admonish one another, and forgive one another. If we are not in fellowship with other believers and intentionally doing life together, those verses have little meaning. John tells us, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 Jn. 4:20). If you love someone you do not break off fellowship with them or abandon them by choosing to disconnect from God’s church. Some may respond that even though they don’t go to church they still have Christian friends that they love. Jesus said that even unbelievers love those who love them. Loving the unlovable is a mark of the true body of Christ. You definitely get that opportunity in churches, but not so much when you pick and choose those with whom you fellowship.

Thirdly, Lone Rangers and small house churches that reject organized churches rarely grow or turn the world upside down. They violate the “body principle” of First Corinthians. In chapter 12, Paul likens the church to a human body in which God has created different parts with different functions – each contributing to the welfare of the other parts. In chapters 12 and 14 he discusses spiritual gifts distributed by the Holy Spirit. He says that the Spirit gives different gifts to different people but all are to be exercised for building up the body of Christ and one another. God has created his church to be interdependent on one another – not self-sufficient. There is a synergism when the body with all its parts and gifts operate together. Individual believers or a few meeting in a house loose that synergism and rob God of a great deal of fruit that could have been born if they were working in tandem with large numbers of believers.

Finally, many will argue that they are not involved in a church because today’s churches have so many problems and are often “unspiritual.” Are you kidding me?! No one can top the church at Corinth for problems and a lack of spirituality. Leaf through Paul’s first letter. He calls them carnal not spiritual. He deals with divisions in the church, cliques based on spiritual pride, tolerating open immorality, lawsuits among believers, unhealthy marriages, issues with idolatry, abuse of the Lord’s supper, the misuse of spiritual gifts, disorderly worship and a total misunderstanding of the resurrection and end times. Yet he calls them the church of God at Corinth and those sanctified to be holy. This messy congregation was still part of the bride of Christ and loved by God. Nowhere does Paul suggest that the truly spiritual or wounded should jump ship and leave the church to create a their own personal church or watch church on television. God’s church has never been perfect. His will is for his people to stay, forgive if needed, continue to love God by loving his people, and be part of the solution rather than running away.

On top of that, as believers, we are in a war. Soldiers separated from the main body while in enemy territory are a great risk. If they have left the ranks on their own, they are no longer under authority so they have little or none of their own with which to face the devil.

I am not saying that once you are part of a congregation you should never leave. Sometimes God is calling you to another part of the body. There are congregations that are toxic. The message is not to give up on church in general or to isolate yourself from other believers. The message is not to give up on God’s ordained plan for the body of Christ simply because it is imperfect. God ordained marriage. We don’t give up on the institution simply because marriages are imperfect. If you have gone from church to church to church and find all of them intolerable then, perhaps, you have developed a spiritual cynicism that keeps you from seeing the good in any church. You may want to pray about that. God wants every believer connected in meaningful ways to many other believers for their own sake and for the sake of the kingdom. It’s not okay to be disconnected so if you have been out for a while, you may want to reconnect. Ask God to lead you.

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)

Okay, let’s be honest. Don’t you just hate the verses above? Be joyful about all the trials you face in life! Be excited about being in a crisis that drags on so long that endurance becomes an issue! Let endurance have its perfect result! My natural man doesn’t want any part of that. I just want God to deliver me from every trial as soon as my first prayer hits the outskirts of heaven. In fact, why won’t God just keep trials from coming in the first place? A little speed bump once in a while would be okay but no storm tossed oceans please!

And yet the storms come anyway. Jesus told us so. “In this world you will have trouble” (Jn.16:33). The problem is that when we signed on to be a follower of Jesus, we were usually not told the whole story by well-meaning evangelists. Our introduction to following Jesus went sort of like old navy recruiting posters that declare, “Join the navy and see the world!” The background on the poster always had palm trees and sandy beaches or other exotic destinations like Tokyo. The impression was that a young man would sign up, do a little basic training and spend the rest of his tour in Hawaii or Tahiti or some pleasant, peaceful, exotic location. However, after signing up, he found himself in forty-foot seas in the frigid northern Atlantic, dodging missiles in the South China Sea, or sweating his way through the Panama Canal.

The fact is that those who follow Jesus are in a war against the world and the devil. Trouble is sure to come. We will experience protracted trials that tax us. There will be seasons of peace and blessing but those seasons will be punctuated by seasons of crisis. Most believers push back against that reality.

Graham Cooke puts it this way. Many Christians cannot tell the difference between warfare, adversity, the work of the cross and training for reigning. They don’t persist; they crumble. An instant society depletes our strength. People are in huge amounts of debt, because they cannot wait; they have not patience to save money, then purchase. They mortgage their future to buy trinkets and then declare that God is providing, which may be true. I mean, MasterCard sounds spiritual. A Visa gives you permission to enter, I suppose. Servicing the debt denies us true flexibility to serve the Lord…To say “yes” to Jesus we must say “no” to something else…

To be a world-class musician, athlete, or actor, it means we have to know what our distractions are going to be and plan to overcome them. We have to affirm the need for personal discipline and develop a desire for it. We have to endure hardness, learn to persist when people around us want to give up, and cultivate perseverance as a way of life. Ordinary people call it obsession because it suits their own purposes. It’s passion – an intense enthusiasm for something and it requires disciplined pursuit, a focus of attention that mediocre people never attain” (Graham Cooke, Coming into Alignment, p. 77-78, Brilliant Book House).

Whether we hate what James said about endurance or embrace it depends on our perspective of the Christian life. If our desire is to live in as much comfort as possible while coasting across the finish line then we avoid hardship at every turn and either despise the storms or puzzle about them. If, however, we reject spiritual mediocrity and desire to be great men and women spiritually, then we see storms as an opportunity to sharpen our skills, grow in strength, learn valuable lessons for the next storm, and to be heroic in the face of forty-foot seas.

Two teams face off for the super-bowl today. Both teams faced weeks of pre-season workouts, hours in the weight room, thousands of wind sprints, nagging injuries, a few hard losses, and criticism and stupid questions from the press. They didn’t laugh through all of that but they appreciate the values of hardship because it has made them hard for today’s game. Those hardships that lead to victory today make the victory even more valuable. Enduring the process has made them fitter, wiser, more talented, and hungrier for the win.

James’ little paragraph at the beginning of this blog is all about that. It’s not that we look for trials. We don’t have to; they are looking for us. But when they come, we see beyond the hardship and recognize the value of enduring, refusing to quit, and refusing to doubt. In the end we are stronger, wiser, more skilled in spiritual warfare, and hungrier for the win. That is when endurance has had its perfect work. Remember that in your trials because endurance will make champions of us all.

We are so much more beautiful than we know, and more powerful than we realize. Often when we are solely preoccupied with the present, we can lose sight of where we are going and who we are becoming. We get caught up with negatives, burdened by our sense of lack. At this point we need someone to tell us who we are in Christ. We need people to remind us of our true identity. We need our companions to speak into our future destiny. Someone needs to see the treasure and not just the earthen vessel. (Graham Cooke, Coming Into Alignment, p. 21. Brilliant Book House)

I like the way Cooke said that.  One phrase says that we need our companions to speak into our future destiny. That is another way of saying that we need to speak life over others. In the Kingdom, our “future destiny” is not so much about what we are going to do, but about who we are going to become. I’m more and more convinced that our sense of who we are in connection with whom God is, is everything.

Most of us, as believers, have a high view of God. We see him as majestic, powerful, able to do the impossible, eternal, loving, and good. However, we still tend to maintain a low view of ourselves coupled with the idea that we must constantly perform for our Heavenly Father in order to have his approval and in order for him to respond to our prayers. When our prayers aren’t answered immediately, our natural man wants to believe it is because we don’t “make the cut” with God and so we miss his favor.

That view of God’s love, favor, and who we are misses the gospel completely. Jesus died for our sins and God credited us with his righteousness. That is one, brief accurate expression of the gospel. We are always loved by God, who is always willing to act in our best interest, because we are always righteous in Christ. David had a prophetic handle on that truth we he said, “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does will never count against him” (Ps.32:1-2).

Because we are in Christ, God does not count our sin or our weaknesses against us. The sin that separates a man from God has been dealt with at the cross. God does not ignore our sins because he wants us to mature and become like Jesus, but he does not count them against us and hold a grudge because we stumbled. Paul tells us that “God calls things that are not as though they were” (Rom.4:17). God always has a future view so he sees you as the finished product of his grace rather than as the struggling person you may be today.

God wants us to do the same for ourselves and for others. I might not yet have great faith, but a prophet will address me as a man of faith because that is who I am in the eyes of God who sees me in the future. He is making me into that, so that is who I am to him. When that is spoken over me, my identity is shaped by that declaration or descriptor. Not only that, but it puts something into play in the spiritual realm to help make that a reality. When I say what God says about myself or others, then it is his word being declared and his word always fulfills his purpose.

When I can begin to see myself as God sees me, then my faith can rise because I know he loves me, esteems me, and has a great destiny for me. I will have assurance that he will answer my prayers, provide for my needs, and protect me from the enemy because he delights in me. Will he discipline me at times? Yes, because he loves me and is shaping me into my destiny. But you are always so welcome in the throne room of your Father who is eager to do good for you and he wants you to know that. Today, speak well of yourself because your heavenly Father does and be a source of blessing to those around you by the words you speak over them.

Have you ever been hurt by a church, or more accurately, someone within your church? Many believers stay away from organized churches because they were once wounded by some leader in a church or some “charter member” who had been there since the first brick was carted onto the property. When that happens, many individuals feel wronged by the entire church or by God himself.

A number of years ago, I tried to share my faith with a man that I worked with. I knew he did not go to church so I was trying to turn every conversation into a discussion about the Lord. One day he simply told me that he was not interested in anything having to do with church. He went on to tell me that at one time he and his wife had both been very involved in a church and had served in numerous ministries. But one day he had come home unexpectedly and found his wife in bed with his best friend who also was very involved in his church. He felt betrayed by God who had “let that happen” and by church people who apparently were all hypocrites. He had generalized the offense from two people failing God, to God himself and the entire world-wide church. He had never been back to any church. I have met numerous people in my lifetime who have done the same thing when they were wounded or disappointed by something that occurred in their church.

We should not be surprised because Satan does his best work within the church. Scripture warns us of that reality over and over. On numerous occasions, Jesus spoke of the religious leaders of the Jews as children of Satan and sons of hell. These men thought that they were incredibly spiritual and pleasing to God and yet they were deceived. That deception caused many to stay away from embracing God. Jesus declared, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are” (Mt.23:13-15). Satan had taken what was holy and over a period of years had perverted the heart of Judaism, turning it into rules made by men rather than a guidebook for building a relationship with God. Their hypocritical way of life and burdensome rules kept people away from the Lord.

Paul encountered the same demonic tactics. Writing to the church at Corinth about men who were trying to undermine his ministry there, he wrote, “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve” (2 Cor. 11:13-15).

Jude was forced to write about the same phenomenon. He said, “ I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord” (Jude 3-4). In addition, Paul warned Timothy by saying, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron” (1 Tim.4:1-2).

We need to understand that Satan has an active ministry within the church. Where else would he direct his best efforts? The church is God’s only instrument for distributing his grace to a lost world so why would he not infiltrate the church in order to destroy it?

Toward the end of World War ll, it was discovered that Germany had built cities just like cities in America and had trained German spies to blend in with American culture, speak perfect English, discuss baseball, be well versed in American history, dress like Americans and order food that Americans liked. The plan was to infiltrate the American army and America itself with perfect replicas of the average American whose plan was to confuse and destroy Germany’s enemy. Satan does the same in the Lord’s church.

John spoke of such men when he said, “Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us” (1 Jn.2:18-19). Those men had been part of the church, had fellowshipped with the saints, and probably led ministries but John declared they were not members of Christ but rather those who were controlled by the spirit of Anti-Christ.

We will inevitably be wounded, betrayed, or offended by people in the church. Some are simply broken people, immature in Christ (even long time attenders can remain spiritual children). These individuals have been victimized by Satan. They carry deep wounds and fulfill the adage that “hurting people hurt other people.” Others are unknowingly under the strong influence of Satan and believe they are serving God while all the time they are doing Satan’s work. Still others apparently arrive with clear and willful agendas to damage the church.

So, what are our takeaways? First of all, don’t be surprised when some people in the church fail you or act badly. We are all still in process and will fall short of the glory of God in our bad moments. Some are plants of the enemy so don’t ascribe their behavior to the whole family of God or God himself. Choose not to be easily offended and do not generalize the failure of a few to represent the many. Secondly, don’t let Satan win. Make biblical responses to bad actors applying grace and forgiveness as needed. For those serving Satan without repentance, the leaders of the church must discipline them and escort them to the door.

We must remember that we are in a war and that war is sometimes fought within the confines of the church – especially when we have been infiltrated by enemy agents. Now, please don’t accuse everyone with whom you have differences or who had been rude to you of being pawns of Satan and anti-Christs. Mostly, we will encounter broken people whose pain spills over onto others. But remember, that even within the walls of God’s church our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Don’t be surprised by it and do reject the body of Christ because of it. In the end, those who stick will win and a generous application of grace and love towards those who have wronged us neutralizes the venom from the serpent. Be blessed today in Him.

As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”; and their sight was restored. Matthew 9:27-30

The words of Jesus in the text above have always haunted me a little. “According to your faith will it be done to you.” In other words, Jesus clearly stated that faith is a condition of answered prayer and the answer seems to be proportional to the faith. This suggests that in many cases Jesus is willing to meet our expectations for him. If our expectations are low, then he will answer our prayers at that level. If our expectations are high, them he will also answer our prayers at that level. If we truly believe God for healing through doctors, then we are likely to receive our answer through doctors. If we truly believe God for supernatural healing, then we are likely to have our prayers answered at that level. If we don’t believe God is involved in healing at all, then he may well meet us at that level of faith.

When I write that, I hesitate because some were healed by Jesus who did not even know who he was or knew very little about him. The man born blind in John 9 didn’t seem to know much about Jesus, yet Jesus gave him his sight with a bit of a test for faith. After putting mud on his eyes, Jesus told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam and he would see. The man did as he was instructed and he saw for the first time. Jesus raised the dead for those who seemed to have no expectation that Jesus was going to do that. How could they? No one had seen the dead raised for centuries.

As I look at the gospels, in some instances Jesus created faith through miracles and at other times, faith is what created the miracle. It seems to hinge on whether or not a person should have acquired a certain level of faith through past experiences, religious culture, and the testimonies of others. Certainly, Jesus does not require perfect faith and is moved out of compassion as well as being moved by the faith of those who approach him. And yet, he still says that, in many cases, our prayers will be answered according to the faith we have for that answer.

For us, a scan of our faith might be in order. Like many things, we have an aspirational level of faith and an actual level of faith. I aspire to have great faith and so I often convince myself that I operate at that level of expectation. But the faith I aspire to have may not match my actual faith. The man in Mark 9, reflects where most of us are. “Lord I believe…help my unbelief.” I don’t believe that faith compels God to give us what we are asking for. He is still sovereign and our prayer may not be in our best interest, but our faith still pleases him. Faith certainly get his attention and a lack of faith disappoints. How many times did Jesus lament, “Oh you of little faith?”

In many ways, faith equals expectation. What is my expectation of God in any given moment? Do I truly expect him to answer my prayer or am I just hoping that he will without much firm expectation? If my prayers are answered according to my faith or expectation, and I know I’m lacking in some areas of my faith, how do I grow in that area?

I think there are some basic things I can do to grow in my faith. First of all, I can ask for a gift of faith and a greater measure of expectation. In his letter to the church at Rome, Paul said, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you” (Rom.12:3). If God gives us a measure of faith and faith pleases God, then we can certainly ask for more and he will be pleased to give it.

Secondly, our faith is ultimately based on the character of God because he always acts out of who he is. Spending time reflecting on the heart and character of God will increase our expectation. If he is good all the time, faithful all the time, and loving all the time then those traits give us assurance that he hears our prayers and answers those that are in our best interest. Love compels him to do so.

Thirdly, we need to hang around people with greater faith than we have. We need to go where God is responding to that faith with miracles. The more we see with our own eyes the more our expectations rise for what God is willing to do. Go to healing conferences. Go to prophetic conferences. Go to intercessory prayer conferences and hear the testimonies. Go on campaigns to third world nations where God is moving in powerful ways. Go to churches in your area where God is moving in power. Experience is a dynamic teacher that will raise your expectations.

It has been said that faith is the currency of heaven. If that is true, then we should pay attention to our faith and ask for more. We should put ourselves in places where our faith can increase. And we should spend time with people who speak the language of faith rather than the language of doubt. You will probably have to be intentional about all of that and a quest for faith may be involved that demands time and resources. However, the quest will be worth it. Be blessed today by His grace and favor.

I’ve been teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven lately. It is a central concept in the New Testament but I believe it is a very misunderstood concept among most Christians today. As you begin to browse the gospels, the Kingdom of Heaven (synonymous with the Kingdom of God) is introduced very early. It is the central theme in both the preaching of John the Baptist as well as the teaching of Jesus. “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near” (Mt.3:1-2) and, “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near’” (Mt. 4:17). All in all, the phrases kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God show up in the New Testament about a hundred times.

During the period that Jesus continued to roam the earth after his resurrection, we are told, “After his suffering he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). Jesus began and ended his public ministry declaring that the Kingdom of God had come to earth.

Most believers think about the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God as something the faithful will experience after the funeral. In their minds it is a very abstract concept, out there somewhere, with little relevance to our lives on planet earth. But both John the Baptist and Jesus declared that the kingdom of heaven was near. They did not mean that it was coming soon but rather that it was within reach of those who believe. They were teaching that by faith, a man might just reach out and take hold of the kingdom. Jesus clearly taught that there was a concrete expression of the kingdom of heaven on the earth available to those who had faith to grasp it. To doubting Jews, Jesus said, “But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you (Lk.11:20).

The first thing we need to understand is that the kingdom of God is a kingdom of power. Paul put it this way. “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power” (1 Cor.4:20). We can understand from Paul’s statement that the kingdom includes an expression of heavenly power on the earth – supernatural power. Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” A strict definition of the coming of God’s kingdom on the earth is the will of God being done on earth just as it is in heaven. Whenever Jesus or those who followed him preached the kingdom, they followed with a demonstration of the kingdom of God on earth – healings, deliverance, resurrections, miracles, etc.

There is no sickness in heaven because perfect health is God’s will for his children. Healing on earth is an extension of God’s will from heaven to earth. There is no demonic oppression in heaven for God’s will prohibits the presence of the enemy there. Deliverance is a concrete extension of God’s heavenly will on the earth. Love is the atmosphere of heaven. On the earth, the Spirit of God enables believers to love one another as Christ loves us and even to love our enemies. The kingdom of God on earth is the manifestation on earth of the same things that God desires for his children in heaven.

Jesus drew on the power and provision of heaven so that God’s will could be expressed on the dusty roads and hillsides of Palestine. That power is made available to those who believe and through those who believe. Paul made this power a point of prayer for the church at Ephesus. “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead…(Eph.1:18-20). That power is for us and works within us. Paul also said, “To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me” (Col.1:29).

The good news of the kingdom of God is that the power, provision, protection, and atmosphere of heaven can be displayed on the earth through God’s people whose primary citizenship was transferred from earth to heaven when they were born again and added to the family of God. In Philippians 3:20, Paul declares that our citizenship is in heaven (now) and in another place declares that we are currently seated with Christ in heavenly realms (Eph.2:6). As believers, our reference point for life should not be the earthly, natural realm but the heavenly realm as members of the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus had mastery over disease, demons, storms, loaves and fishes, and even death because he lived as a citizen of heaven, representing God’s glory and will on the earth. Many of us live as if there is no power in our faith. We live as if we must simply survive until the return of Jesus. But we are commanded to go into all the world and make disciples of nations before the return of the Lord. If we have been taught to pray, “Thy kingdom come, they will be done on earth…” then God wants his will done here and now, not later. Jesus established the Kingdom on earth and then gave us the mission of expanding that kingdom as we push back the borders of the enemy.

That expansion of the kingdom takes power, supernatural power to overcome the strongholds of the enemy. The gospel of Jesus Christ is that through his death, burial, and resurrection he has once again launched the kingdom of heaven on earth and has ransomed us so that we are participants in that kingdom. If we believe that, it changes everything.

If I believe in my heart that the kingdom has come in concrete ways and that I am a citizen of heaven, then I know that the resources of heaven are available to me so that I might complete his mission. When crisis comes, I no longer draw on my weakness, but God’s strength. When provision is needed, I no longer consider my lack but God’s abundance. When tragedy arises, I no longer look at my brokenness but God’s enabling grace. There is no lack in heaven, no weakness in heaven, and no one ever feels overwhelmed there. God’s presence makes the difference and his presence is in us. When I know that, and face every situation from my seat in heaven rather than from my inadequacy on the earth, life changes. It is the remedy to fear, depression, lack, insignificance and the rest of what ails us all. Welcome to the kingdom!

Most of us will come to a season of life when we feel overwhelmed by the unknown that lies before us. The death of a spouse, the loss of a child, a bitter divorce, unexpected unemployment, or a bad diagnosis of a life threatening disease can make us feel as if every anchor in our life has broken and we are adrift in an unfamiliar sea with storm clouds on the horizon.

We feel secure when life has been manageable and predictable. When we can believe that tomorrow will be like today and next year will be like this year, we may not be excited but we’re okay. But take away the predictability; stir in some dire possibilities; and life suddenly feels out of control, overwhelming, and fearful. The questions are no longer, “Where do we eat?” or “Where do you want to go next summer?” The questions become: “Will I always be alone?” “Will we lose the house and how will I feed my wife and kids?” Will I survive the cancer and how painful will it be?” “What will this divorce do to my children and will I ever stop feeling this pain?”

I’ve been in those places and I probably will be there again at some point. During those seasons I have and will live in the Psalms. David’s heart often cries out as a man whose circumstances seen contradictory to the promises of God and whose life seems uncertain. Think of it. One day David was watching the sheep, minding his own business, and sitting on a rock tossing stones into a brook as teenagers do. Suddenly, he was called to his father’s house and Samuel the prophet poured oil on him an announced that David was destined to be king over Israel. All that “good news” became a calamitous disruption for his life.

If you read between the lines, his older brothers seemed to resent him now that he was going to be somebody. David took on Goliath for the armies of Israel and his brothers accused him of being cocky and conceited. Through that encounter, King Saul became aware of David and took him into the palace to serve. Surely David thought, “Great, now I will be interned to be king.” When it was all said and done, Saul’s jealousy drove David from the palace and away from his family. He became a hunted man living in the wilderness with the whole Israeli army hunting him down. So where was the promise? Where were the blessings attached to that prophecy? Why was God letting a disobedient king live and continue to hunt down David? Would he even survive? What was going on?

Confusion, frustration, and fear began to mark his life from time to time but a thread of faith always remained. How did David navigate that season (which many scholars believe was a seven to eight year period) of running and hiding, sleeping in caves, and wondering where his and his men’s next meal was coming from? David’s psalms vacillate between hope and despair, answered prayers and sleepless nights when God seemed absent, along with assurance and uncertainty.

We find some clues in David’s life to help us in our own season of confusion and desperation. First of all, David was honest with the Lord about his feelings. He didn’t feign great faith on days when it had leaked out during the night. Honesty is unsettling sometimes but healthy. Some days I’m sure he had to borrow a little faith from a friend.

Secondly, David had a history with God and saw the clear touch of God’s hand in his past. If God had delivered him from the lion, the bear, and from a giant, surely he had plans for his life beyond this season of running and hiding. We can’t overstate the recognition of God’s hand, purposes, and faithfulness in our past that suggests he still has more for us. Interestingly we often notice his hand more when we are running from God than when we are serving him. It seems that he is more apparent when he is chasing us than when he is refining us.

David also had a promise that had come in the form of a prophecy. Graham Cooke says that a prophetic word is a powerful tool. He suggests that when running toward Goliath, he might have been thinking that it was impossible for him to die because God had declared that he would be king someday. The assurance of God’s promise in his life launched him toward the giant but also sustained him during the years that Saul was hunting him. When David was discouraged and despairing, he held on to the promise. We all need a promise that we can hold onto when life or our future is uncertain. If you have a prophetic word, hold on to it. If you don’t have a prophetic word, find a promise in scripture that resonates with your spirit and hold on to that. God keeps his promises.

Most importantly, although David wasn’t sure about how his future would unfold, he was certain about the character of God – his faithfulness, his enduring love, his mercy, and his willingness to forgive our failings. He was also certain that God would not abandon his own – if for nothing else, to make sure his reputation was not sullied by his failure to protect his own when they were among the faithful. “He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Ps. 23), etc. God cannot violate his own nature. He is who he is and although his timing is rarely to our liking, his character will eventually show up in his response to our prayers.

Finally, when we have to wait on the Lord, it is not because we are not pleasing to him. The enemy always attacks when God delays his answers by suggesting that we have not seen our rescue yet because God is displeased with us or, perhaps, doesn’t love us like we hoped. Abraham waited 25 years for his promised son. Moses waited 40 years for his life in Egypt and his years as a shepherd to make sense. Joseph did jail time. David spent eight years in hiding. Noah preached 125 years without one conversion. My point is that waiting with uncertainty is part of the believer’s life. Most often, God is preparing us to steward the answers to our prayers.

When you are in the emotional chaos of uncertainty be honest about your struggles, look for the evidence of God’s hand in your past because it points to the future. Find a promise or a prophetic word to hold on to. Depend on the character of God to bring you out of the pit. It’s what he does because it’s who he is. Know that his delay is preparing you for your promises and know that you are loved. Waiting, in the face of uncertainty, is part of the life of the faithful and you are in very good company.

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! Isaiah 30:18

Okay…so I grew up in the late 60’s and 70’s when Jesus freaks and the Jesus Movement were a part of the underground, hippy culture. There was a song called Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum – a kind of a one hit wonder. It sounds very new age with contemporary ears but the theology behind it was sound if you got a little explanation. One verse declared, “I’m not a sinner, no I’ve never sinned. I’ve got a friend in Jesus.”

To some that sounded arrogant or downright blasphemous. After all, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom.3:23). But another verse confirms the theology. “Because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb.10:14). On the one hand, we certainly have all sinned and continue to do so less that we did, but on the other hand, God does not count those sins against us. If you inspected the ledgers of heaven, you would find no record of sin – past, present, or future. As far as God is concerned, you’re not a sinner, no you’ve never sinned cause you have a friend in Jesus. We need to get that truth in our hearts.

So many of us focus on our past, our sins, and our failures while God is focusing on our righteousness in Christ. It’s not that he doesn’t recognize our sins, but he does not define us by those sins. He defines us by the righteousness that is ours in Jesus. The passage above from Hebrews declares that by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. By the sacrifice of Jesus, you have been given a positional or legal status of sinlessness – forever – which extends both into the past and the future. God always relates to us on the basis of our position while he works on our condition. He is in the process of making us holy – matching our condition to our position – but he is not focused on our sin but, rather, who we are in His Son.

We would do well to so the same. Too many believers get focused on their sins, failures and spiritual shortcomings. Whatever we focus on becomes our identity. If we see ourselves and define ourselves as sinners in Christ, we will constantly live up to that expectation. If we see ourselves as righteous and holy in Christ that will become our identity and we will begin to live up to that set of expectations.

Many of us try to motivate ourselves to be more like Christ with criticism and name-calling. If we did that to our children we would be labeled as bad parents, maybe even verbally abusive. We recognize the power of self-image (identity) in our children and work to encourage and affirm them at every opportunity but often fail to recognize that principle in ourselves. Faith declares that what God says is true is true, even if it does not appear to be that way. By faith, we need to say what God says is true about us, so that God’s truth is deposited more deeply in our hearts and minds. It’s not arrogance; it is good theology that appreciates what the blood of Christ has done for us.

So…the next time the devil stirs up accusation and condemnation and tries to convince you of what a spiritual failure you are, just pull out a little Norman Greenbaum and sing in his face, “I’m not a sinner, no I’ve never sinned. I’ve got a friend in Jesus!” It’s good theology. Be blessed and sinless in Him today.

The problem with grace is that it seems unjust at one level and too good to be true at another. It is hard to receive at a personal level because we know we don’t deserve it and it is hard to extend to those who have wronged us or wronged society because we definitely know they don’t deserve it. Yet it is the cornerstone of our faith. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph.2:8-9).

If you are like me, the following parable challenges you. “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing.    He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you.    Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ (Matt.20:1-16).

We tend to see ourselves as the men who worked all day in the heat of a middle-eastern sun. The idea that some slackers hung around the marketplace all day and worked for an hour in the cool of the evening and got paid the same as us seems remarkably unjust. And yet this parable is about grace. The owner was a generous man and sometimes he was so generous that it offends us.

When God extends his grace to a person we think well of, we celebrate. But how do we feel about grace for a monster? Then we grumble about the wages. In the 1990’s, one of the icons of “monsterdom” was Jeffrey Dahmer. As a mass murderer, he had abused, killed, and cannibalized seventeen young men. He was caught and imprisoned and eventually killed by an inmate. Just as you read that, something in your heart probably agreed that justice had been served. Toward the end of his days in prison, however, Dahmer declared that he had come to faith in Jesus. The prison chaplain confirmed that in his estimation, Dahmer’s repentance was genuine and that he had become one of the most faithful worshipers in the church behind bars.

The thought that God would forgive this man who had done such terrible things, simply because he said he was sorry, was unacceptable to most – even to many Christians. In fact, the idea that, in eternity, a Jeffery Dahmer could walk the streets of heaven in good standing was almost scandalous. What kind of a God would forgive that? The same God who is willing to forgive me, no matter what, when I trust in his grace. If we wanted God to “draw the line on grace” so that the urge for justice within me was satisfied, where would that line be drawn and how would I ever know if I had crossed that line?

Grace can’t be measured or it becomes law. It’s there for everyone or for no one. If Dahmer can’t be saved by grace then neither can I. I can almost live with the abstract nature of that because I never met Dahmer and knew none of his victims. But what about those who have betrayed and victimized us? Can we extend the grace of God to them that has come to us? The extension of that grace is called forgiveness. Grace is not about whether anyone deserves it or not, it is simply about the infinite love of God. Ultimately, I can do nothing to cause God to love me more nor can I do anything to make him love me less. Jesus on the cross is the full expression of that truth.

The good news is that his love comes that easily to me and if I meet the conditions of a little faith and true repentance, then forgiveness and salvation come to me as well – to me and the murders, rapists, ex-spouses, abusive fathers, and bullies in this world. And yet when I say that, I can still feel the offense of grace somewhere deep inside. That pushback tells me that grace is not natural because my natural man isn’t comfortable with it. It is supernatural and can only be received when the Spirit of God opens my heart to it.

The capacity to receive grace and to give grace comes by the revelation of God’s love in my own heart. When I have a revelation of that love then I can celebrate grace, forgive those who have wronged me, and even rejoice in the salvation of the Jeffrey Dahmers of the world. Think about the freedom of living in that grace. Think of all the fear, bitterness, resentment, and offense in your heart just melting away like snow on a warm day. That is God’s will for your life. If I struggle, I can pray for a greater revelation of that love and grace in my heart. It is the very thing the Father wants us to have. It is the ointment that heals all hearts. Grace and peace to you today in Jesus.

As a pastor, I constantly deal with the disappointment of believers who have experienced some tragedy or a when a deep desire of someone’s heart has not yet been met in prayer. The question in their heart, whether spoken or not, is whether God really cares about their pain and did he have some hand in what happened? Sometimes you can’t improve on what another person says. I want to share an extended quote from Bill Johnson this morning that speaks to that question. Bill is a pastor on the west coast who has a world-wide ministry of healing. His church has seen countless people with cancer healed by the power of God, but his own father died of cancer.

“In spite of our many breakthroughs with others, I arrived at my own Valley of Baca when my dad died of cancer following a six-month battle. It was as though I pushed against a thousand-pound rock for six months; it never budged. Spiritual disease can set in when any of us has disappointment that is not brought into the open for God’s healing touch. ‘Hope deferred, makes the heart sick’ (Pov.13:12). I knew that allowing disappointment to dominate my heart would cause a blindness of my eyes to the hand of God working in me.

Strengthening myself in the Lord helped me to stay away from anxiety long enough to make an important discovery: next to the thousand-pound rock is a five hundred-pound rock that I couldn’t have moved before the battle for my dad’s life. Pushing against the rock that never moved actually strengthened me by reinforcing my resolve to live in divine purpose and to establish the backbone of perseverance. By refusing to change my focus, I discovered that I can now move the five hundred-pound rock that I couldn’t have moved before the battle. To keep myself from the sickness of heart warned about in Proverbs 13:12, I monitored the attitude of my heart. This was one way of turning my valley of weeping into springs of refreshing, for it is from the heart that all the issues of life flow (Prov.4:23).

I can’t afford to have thoughts in my head that aren’t in God’s. It’s a great misconception that God gives cancer – He doesn’t have it to give. I refuse to blame God for my dad’s cancer or any other calamity in life, for that matter. We simply live in a world of conflict and sin. Bad stuff happens. While I may not understand why, I do understand that neither God nor his covenant is deficient.

While God is big enough to use every situation for his glory, it doesn’t mean that the given problem was his will. Not everything that happens in life is God’s will. We must stop blaming him. The cornerstone of our theology is the fact that God is always good and is the giver of only good gifts…there is no evil or darkness in him.

His goodness and faithfulness become the focus of my praise. I celebrate those aspects of his nature during what sometimes appear to be contradictory circumstances. After my dad’s death, I discovered the privilege of giving God a sacrificial offering of praise that I will never be able to give him in eternity. My offering was given in the midst of sadness, disappointment, and confusion – none of which I will ever experience in Heaven. Only in this life will we be able to give an offering with that kind of fragrance” (Bill Johnson, Strengthening Yourself in the Lord, p.151-152, DestinyImage).

I felt someone my need that good word this morning. Be blessed today in the One who only gives good gifts.