Let Him Turn the Page

     In Matthew's gospel, the eleventh chapter, we find John the Baptist sending a message to his cousin, Jesus.  He asked Him, "Are You really the Deliverer that was promised?  If You are, why haven't You gotten me out of this jail.  After all, I thought You were the Messiah, the One who was going to restore the glory to Israel and rid us of all of our enemies.  I thought You were going to restore the Kingdom of God.  I had so many high hopes for Your coming.  I told everybody that You were the Lamb of God.  Was I wrong?"  (Henry Givens translation.)

     But, really that's us isn't it?  We come to a place in our walk with God where His presence isn't as real as it once was.  We are bound up in circumstances that tie us to problems that seem to have no answer.  We pray and pray and God seems distant and not near.

     John the Baptist was probably holding to the old Jewish idea that the King's appearance would immediately throw off the powers that held Israel as slaves.  He was thinking of the physical and not the spiritual.

     Jesus did come to destroy the enemy's chains, but He started with the inner chains before He worked on the outer chains.  What God was doing was turning the page of history and that was going to take a while.  

     Like John the Baptist, we judge God's righteousness by what we see happening.  What we fail to hear from Him saying to us, "Sh-h-h-h!  I'm just turning the page and it's taking a little time."  Like little children, we should snuggle closer to our Father's chest as we sit in His lap.  Let Him turn the page.  And, then let our enemies beware and take flight as our Father begins to read again.

Tim Tebow Worried?

     There is talk that Peyton Manning might sign a contract with the Denver Broncos.  Will Tim Tebow become second string, be traded, who will get him?  All these thoughts are probably making him pace up and down and down and up, right?

     Well, let's see.  While the newspapers are spreading the donkey fodder and hype about the endless possibilities, Tim Tebow has been busy.  He paid the way for Preston Winslow and his family to come to Tampa.  Preston Winslow is 4, and has leukemia.  The doctors have said that his body has stopped responding to treatment.  Tim invited Preston to play some football with him at the D1 training facility.  Some things are more important than being quarterback for the Denver Broncos.

     Also in Tampa, there was a fundraiser for a wounded Army Ranger, Romy Comargo.  Tim Tebow came in unannounced and surprised the wounded warrior.  There are some things that are more important than being quarterback for the Denver Broncos.

     One day Jesus was going through Jericho and a publican named Zacchaeus had climbed a sycamore tree to see him.  Jesus stopped the procession and invited Himself to Zacchaeus' house to eat.  That day eternal life was imparted to a sinner.

     On another occasion, Jesus was passing through Jericho and blind Bartemaeus cried out to Him.  Jesus was on His last trip through Jericho.  He was headed to Jerusalem where He knew He would be crucified.  He had a lot of things on His mind.  But, when He heard the plea of a desperate man, He stopped what He was doing and change His original plan to include healing a blind man.

     A lot of things come along in life that seem to eat up our time and our patience.  A lot of things hurt.  A lot of things make us angry.  In today's economy and the election just around the corner, our minds can be filled with all kinds of questions.  Yet, into our lives, every day, there are opportunities presented to us.  If we make Jesus Christ to be TRULY our Lord, we'll set other things aside for the joy of helping those that He places in our paths to bless.

     The choice is ours.  God has already made His choice.  He knows your good points and bad points.  He knows exactly who you can bless and how you can bless.  His desire is for His children to put aside the petty things that can clog up our lives and put Him first.  If we open our hearts and spiritual ears to Him, we will find that He has our future laid out for us.  What we should be concerned about is----Who has God placed before me today, and how can I be a blessing?

Book Review--Into The Free

                                    
Into The Free
By
Julie Cantrell


     Millie Reynolds was a loner most of her life. Her rodeo father, Jack, was hardly ever there.  When he was, he normally fought with and abused her mother.  Her mother, Marie, becomes addicted to pain medication and withdraws from reality most of the time.  The only friend she has is an elderly man who lives next door to them on Mr. Sutton’s farm.  Her mother’s parents pastor a local church, but refuse to associate with them. 
     Her mother declares a faith in God, yet never takes her to church.  She listens as her mother sings hymns, quotes scriptures and talks about God.  However, it seems that God is never around when her parents fight.  And, He’s certainly not able to stop her father from beating her mother.  How can she even believe in a God like that.
     Julie Cantrell does a masterful job of weaving a moving story around the life of Millie Reynolds.  She takes you deep inside the hurting soul of a young lady as she struggles to maintain her sanity in an insane world.  Heartache, anger and despair seem to be the mainstay of her life. 
     She desperately needs to know whether or not God is real.  However, nothing that she faces on a daily basis can point her in God’s direction.  Then, one day, she hears a soul-saving sermon that slowly but surely changes her destiny.  However, that sermon doesn’t come from a minister, and she doesn’t hear it inside the confines of a church.
     Even though this story is Christian fiction, it portrays the heart of God.  God knows how and when to touch a life in a way that will bring that life into communion with Him.  The happy ending of the story was not what I figured.  But, then again, God’s happy endings don’t necessarily come like we think they should either.  It is well worth the read.
     David C. Cook publishers furnished me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Book Review-The Grace Effect

THE GRACE EFFECT                
By    
Larry Taunton     

     I just finished reading this book and would absolutely recommend it to all of you.  It has opened my eyes to a lot of things.                           
     In his book, The Grace Effect,  Larry Taunton describes the joy as well as the horrors of adopting a 10-year-old  girl named Sasha.  We in the United States would normally think of this as a joyful experience, this story.  However, this story takes place in the Ukraine.  Yes, I know there were differences in foreign countries.  Yes, I know there were inequities in foreign countries.  But, Mr. Taunton wrote this story in such a manner that I found it to be a double horror.
     The first horror was that there is a present day country so steeped in antiquated, inhuman traditions that it defies the American imagination.  Graft and corruption were the norm.  Basically, taunting the Ukrainian traditions in the face of an “American” seemed to be the rule of law.  Very little value was placed upon the lives of orphans.  It seemed that very much value was placed on seeing how much money could be wrenched for the hands of those who sought to adopt.  When it wasn’t money they Ukrainian government wanted, it was simply the “let’s make them wait” game that they wanted to play.
     Mr. Taunton not only told the story of his trials and tribulations in this matter, he also shared some of the Ukraine’s history.  The despotic rulers that prevailed over these people down through the years, created a truly Atheistic lifestyle.  As I reflected on their history, their current day actions began to make sense. 
     The second horror that Mr. Taunton brought to light is how the United States of America could very well be headed in the same direction as the Ukraine and several other European countries.  He had made that statement in his book and I wanted to take issue with him about it at first.  However, the more he described his trials throughout the adoption process, the more I began to see that his statements were correct.  Without intervention from God, the United States is headed in the same general direction.
     Thomas Nelson Publishers sent me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

An Opportunity For God To Display His Love

     In the eighth chapter of Matthew, the writer documents the calming of a storm and the deliverance of the demoniac of Gadara.  Here are two perfect opportunities to reveal God and His love.

       Jesus told the disciples to get in a boat and cross the sea of Galilee.  During the trip, they encountered a storm.  The storm was not sent by the devil nor induced by God.  Storms on the sea of Galilee just happen.  It's a normal occurrence.  Just like life, storms come when you least expect it.  

     Naturally, the disciples who were used to seeing the destructive power of these storms began to be afraid.  Jesus slept.  Fear caused the disciples to rave about the dreadful prospects of impending doom.  They woke Jesus who found an opportunity to demonstrate God's love and protective heart.

     When they reached the shore, they were confronted with a man that was demon possessed.  The human thing to do was to put distance between yourself and such a person.  Jesus demonstrated that God's love would attract the attention of such a person.  The man was attracted to His love while the demons raged inside of him.  Jesus again found an opportunity to demonstrate God's divine love by demanding the demons to leave the man.  They did.

     Every day, we face normal circumstances brought by a world full of evil.  In the book of Ephesians, Paul teaches us to be rooted and grounded in God's love.  Every evil thing that comes to us is an opportunity to show sinners the overwhelming grace of God and His love.

     May we be so empowered every day of our lives.   

Now That's Change You Can Believe In!

The Voice New Testament
Matt 5:18--This, beloved, is the truth: until heaven and earth disappear, not one letter, not one pen stroke, will disappear from the sacred law--for everything, everything in the sacred law will be fulfilled and accomplished.

     One day, the Lord appeared to Abram and promised him a change, he promised him a son.  Abram was already 75, but he believed.  He and Sarai waited for 25 years.  It didn't look like it COULD happen.  It didn't look like it ever WOULD happen.  But, not one letter, not one pen stroke disappeared.  The Word, the Sacred Law of God, was fulfilled and accomplished.  God's change came.

     His children DID go down to Egypt like God told Abraham.  However, they became slaves to a powerful nation.  After 400 years, it looked like it couldn't and wouldn't happen.  The children of Israel were stubborn.  But, change came just like God said because Abraham believed it 500 years before it happened.  He didn't know how it would happen, so he left the change up to God, the One who spoke the change.

     Years later, God spoke to a teen-ager named Mary.  He told her of a change that was coming.  She was going to have a child.  He told her a change was coming to the world.  He said that he would change the way that this child was to be conceived.  He said that she would bear a God-child.  She didn't understand how such a change COULD come, yet she believed the it WOULD come.

     God spoke through the prophets that the coming Messiah would be beaten, hated, crucified and raised from the dead.  Most of those that read those scriptures could not grasp those kinds of changes.  They didn't know how it COULD happen.  Abraham didn't worry about how it COULD happen, he just believed that it WOULD.  He thought about it a lot.  Jesus said so in John 8:56.

     Not one letter, not one pen stroke of God's sacred law disappeared.  God stood behind every letter and every pen stroke.  Everything God spoke represented change in the believer's life.  God never asked anybody to do His work for Him.  All He asked was that you believe and rejoice in His letters and pen strokes.  Those that did received fantastic change.

NOW, THAT'S CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN!!!!!!!! 

Lessons Learned from Fort Sumter and Fort Pulaski

     The first battle of the Civil War was the battle of Fort Sumter.  The Union was badly outnumbered and had little provisions.  The newly elected President Lincoln did not have the support in Congress to send the necessary troops.  Confederate cannon kept a ship carrying provisions for the fort from resupplying them.  The battle lasted barely two days before the Union was forced to evacuate the fort.

     However, the Union had a more formidable weapon in their arsenal when they attacked Fort Pulaski outside of Savannah, Ga.  The weapon that brought the most devastation in that battle was called the 30-pounder Parrot Gun.  It was manufactured with a 'rifled' bore which made it's projectile spin as it left the cannon.  This gave it greater accuracy.  The Union only had to find it's range and then pound away at the massive walls of the fort.  It was only a matter of time before the accuracy and force breached the wall and shots began landing close the the fort's massive powder magazine.  The commander of the fort surrendered to save the lives of those inside the fort.  A continued bombardment would have caused a massive explosive and the useless loss of life.

     We, as Christians face the same Ft. Sumter and Ft. Pulaski challenge.  Too often we lose our battles because we declare ourselves to be inadequate to fight our enemy.  However, in 2 Corinthians 10:4-Paul declares-For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.  Our enemy, satan, has no match for our mighty weapon of prayer.  God's Word shoots straight and true to it's designated mark. 

      As I walk through my day, I continuously bombard hell's minions with memorized scripture.  My needs are met according to God's riches in glory.  My children are saved according to Deuteronomy 28:4.  By His stripes I am healed.  My His stripes all of my family are healed.  God has given us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.  My enemies have become my footstool.  No weapon formed against me shall prosper.  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.  God has prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  He has anointed my head with oil and my cup runs over.  I am blessed and not cursed.

     My arsenal is endless and limited ONLY by what I have memorized of the scripture.  Let me say this with all the grace I can.  The army of the Lord is the most powerful army ever assembled.  No nation, no leader and no army can defeat the mighty army of God.  Yet, we are besieged and destroyed all day long by our laziness.  We have the greatest weapon and we don't take it up and use it.  

     The Republicans and Democrats have blatantly shown that they CANNOT straighten out the mess that they themselves have created.  When will the most powerful party on the face of the earth rise to it's greatness and begin to rule with God's grace?  It's not up to me, my friends.  As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.  It is up to all of us, collectively, to rise to this occasion and dig into our arsenal of prayer and turn our great nation around. 

     If our prayer-guns are silent, then we will continue to lose this war and we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Be The Salt And Not Just Salty

From The Voice New Testament
Matthew 5:13--You, beloved, are the salt of the earth.  

In The Voice New Testament, there is a small paragraph that the writers inserted that made this particular scripture stand out just a little bit more.

"Salt draws out the good flavors subtly hidden in food and preserves what would otherwise spoil, as do those who claim to be the children of God."

     What a tremendous description of a healthy Christian.  Where ever we go, and in as many situations as possible, we should be this type of a person.  Just as Jesus always did, we should find ways to bring out the good things in the people we deal with on a daily situation.  Jesus was particularly adept at bringing out the best even in the sinners.  This is what drew the sinners to him.

     The 'God Establishment' of those days were more  busy being 'salty' than being the 'salt of the earth'.  They showed bitterness and resentment toward those who were trapped by sin.  They treated them as outcasts and not worthy of their fellowship.  When they were around sinners they made sure that the sinners knew that they were the 'God Establishment'.

     Jesus ate and drank with sinners.  He never participated in their sins.  He never purposely made them feel uncomfortable.  The discomfort they felt was when they rejected the love of God that He displayed so openly for them.  

     We have learned that adding salt to our food enhances the food's flavor.  Therefore, because of our desire to enjoy what we eat, we come back to the salt shaker again and again.  Jesus was the salt for the whole earth.  As Jesus poured Himself out to everyone He met, they desired to be with him again and again.  

     Can we same the same about our lives?  Do people seek us out to be around us?  Or, do they shun us for being too......'salty'?

The Distorted Story of Fallen, Broken Man Revisited

Matt 16:23--Get away from Me, satan!  You are a stumbling block before Me!  You are not thinking about God's story; you are thinking about some distorted story of fallen, broken people.

     This quote from The Voice New Testament translation of the scriptures keeps ringing out to me.  It is an accurate description of mankind.  Mankind fell away from God's presence when he sinned in the Garden of Eden.  Our relationship with a loving Father was broken.  Therefore, without being able to hear Him clearly, we have developed our own distorted story of life governed by the events that surround us.


     Throughout the rest of Jesus' ministry, He attempted to show God's man-child God's story through the things that He taught and the things that He did.  Some people readily accepted His teaching and some people readily turned their backs on Him and refused His help.  They chose to believe their own distorted story.  The ones that refused Him the strongest were the ones who said that they were students of God's Word.  The same holds true today.


     A great example of this is the story of Joseph, the son of Jacob.  He was the one that God had chosen to be his key instrument in fulfilling the word He spoke to Abraham.  We see that he was sold into slavery because of jealousy.  He was thrown into prison because of his stand against adultery.  Yet, through all of those years, he maintained a good spirit.  He had chosen to believe God's story instead of the one playing out in front of him.  Did he know every chapter ahead of time?  No.  If he had written the story himself, would he have written it differently?  Just like you and I, we most certainly would have.


     This especially hits home this week.  Last Tuesday night, as we were returning home, another vehicle jumped the grassy median and virtually hit us head-on.  My wife very well could have a broken rib.  My son, daughter and myself suffered some bruises.  We all have suffered quite a bit of anguish and anxiety over it.  The van we were riding in was totaled.  There are several other adverse things that I won't take time to mention.  Understand, we are not complaining.  If we were, this would be a good time to do it.  As a matter of fact, this would be the normal time to do it.


     Joseph said something to his brothers that showed that he had always believed God's story and not the distorted story of fallen, broken man.  When they came before him to plead for their lives after their father had died, Joseph told them that even though they meant their actions for evil against him, God had meant those actions to do them good.  Let me say it again.  Through all of the slavery, being away from his family, the years in prison and all of the insults, he CHOSE to believe God's story.  He didn't know what the next chapter was but he knew the end.  It was going to be exactly what God had spoken to Abraham.


     We are tempted to look at our pain and our temporary inconvenience and wonder where God is in our suffering.  My wife, my daughter and I can see the same thing.  When I went out to take pictures of the scene of the accident in daylight, I came across the God story.  It still chills me as well as thrills me.  Had we not been in a van, and had we not hit him to stop the momentum of his runaway truck, he would have run into a culvert about 15-20 feet away.  This outlet is so deep that people commonly fish there.  It is possible that his vehicle could have fallen into that culvert and flipped over on him.  If that had happened, that young man would have gone out to meet Jesus totally unprepared.  Yet, he is alive and unscratched.


     We will get a replacement vehicle.  Our bodies will heal.  But, my friend you don't get a replacement life and Hell doesn't heal.  This young man is alive and God has more time to work on him.  Our prayer is that God will put someone in front of his life that he will listen to and turn his life to Jesus.


     In Matthew 4:19, He tells the guys, "Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."  That's His story.  That's His story line through His three temptations in the wilderness a little earlier in that chapter.  It's not about His needs.  It's all about correcting the distorted story of fallen, broken man.  Let's pour ourselves into reading and hearing HIS story instead of whining about ours.  Let's follow His example and become fishers of men.

The Distorted Story of Broken Fallen Men

From The Voice New Testament

Matt 4:4--It is written, "Man does not live by bread alone.  Rather, He lives on every word that comes from the mouth of the Eternal One."

     Satan had just delivered his first temptation to Jesus after Jesus had fasted for 40 days.  Jesus, of course, was hungry.  It's not that He could not have done it.  As a matter of fact, the gospels declare that He seemingly pulled bread and fish out of thin air to feed thousands of hungry people.  What's the difference?

     Look at this familiar exchange between Peter and Jesus as interpreted in The Voice New Testament.  In Matthew 16, Jesus had started teaching them that He was going to be crucified and would rise again.  Peter chastised Him by telling Him "No, Lord! Never!  These things that You are saying--they will never happen to You!"

      Here is Jesus answer.  "You are a stumbling block before Me!  You are not thinking about God's story; you are thinking about some distorted story of fallen, broken people."  The King James Version quotes His comment this way.  "Thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men."  Peter was looking at what Jesus had just said from the light of the fact that he never, ever wanted to be away from Jesus.  He did not even want to entertain any idea of Jesus passing from the scene of action.  


     Jesus was talking about His death and resurrection.  Peter could not get resurrection through his thick skull.  He heard Jesus say that He was going to die.  Peter did not want to be without Jesus.  He couldn't understand that Jesus was just paving the way for the whole scale return of God's Presence on the day of Pentecost.  Rather, just like you and me, this broken, fallen Peter was thinking some distorted story of how awful it would be if Jesus were to die.


     Just like Peter, the rest of us broken, fallen people fashion distorted stories about God through our broken, fallen minds.  Now, let's go back to the main question about Jesus turning stone into bread.  You and I see nothing wrong about turning stone into bread because we would be hungry after fasting for forty days.  That seems to us broken, fallen folks as being the "normal" thing to do.  After all, it's all about us.  Isn't it?


     Jesus put the correct perspective on it when He declared to satan in Matthew 4 that He prefers to live by every Word that comes out of God's mouth.  Hear God's heart.  He sent His Son to heal and enrich the lives of broken, fallen people who could only think of life as some distorted story.  He came to tell the true story of a Heavenly Father that loves them more than life itself.  That was His focus. That was the reason for His living and His dying.


     In John 13, Jesus talked about the "new" commandment.  He instructed His disciples to love one another as He loved them.  It was that love for a broken, fallen people with a distorted story, that caused the Son of God to refuse to turn stone into bread for his own consumption.  All He had to do was walk into town and buy some.  

     After all, it was not about Him anyway.  It was all about us that He spent His life on earth.  That was His Father's heart.  That was all that the Father thought about and that was behind all of the Father's actions.  Heal and feed the broken and fallen.  Then re-write the distorted story they had been forced to read by the evil one.  Jesus wrote the story of God's unselfish love by His actions.  If we will choose to dwell in His Presence,  He will teach us the REAL story of His desire for mankind.