What Kind of Person do you want to become this Year?

“Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy”

—Ephesians 4:24 (NLT).

In her 1908 classic, “Anne of Green Gables,” author Lucy Maude Montgomery said, “Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”  Although each day is full of promise and expectation, New Year’s is the only day we celebrate with fanfare and excitement. Then, as the days pass, we often find ourselves forgetting January 1 isn’t the only day we can start anew.

When the calendar changes from one year to the next, we’re filled with hope and the possibilities that await us. We’ve made mistakes in the past and vow not to revisit them. But then, we stumble. We vow to make changes on the first day of each year, but our motivation wanes as we get caught up in the mundane.

Former UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden once said, “If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.”

Recently, a relative lamented the many mistakes he’d made in his failed marriage. He was heartbroken and taking all of the blame upon himself. Although he had been raised attending church, he had drifted away. As his marriage crumbled around him, he said, “I’ve never felt so lost in my life.”

Then, he admitted he had not been putting God first in his life. Since that realization, he has returned to church, was baptized and is now seeking God’s will each day. During his baptism, the pastor did something unique. While denominations differ in their baptismal rite, I delighted in this pastor’s choice. It was a full body immersion with the pastor laying my relative backward into the water, then lifting him up and placing him face forward into the baptistry. 

It's only through God's Holy Spirit we can become a new person.

Explaining the symbolism of this method, the pastor said, “When being placed backward and then forward into the water, it represents a letting go of the past—or the old man—and moving forward, filled with God’s Holy Spirit.”

"Lions, and Tigers, and Bears . . . Oh my!"

     

Some days I can really identify with Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. I think if I could just get a face-to-face audience with the Wizard (in my case, Jesus) I know He would help me make my dreams come true.

How about you? What do you do when your dreams, hopes, and expectations unravel? Do you fall into despair? Get angry? Shrink back in fear? Lash out and blame others, or circumstances, for your lack of success?

We’ve all had dreams that died, lofty ideas that never got off the ground, hopes and aspirations that remain unrealized. The “Good News” is that those of us who believe that Jesus Christ is not only the Son of God, but God incarnate, that He came to Earth, walked among mankind as one of us, died, and was resurrected have a powerful advocate in Heaven. We also have access to the same resurrection power the raised Jesus from the dead.

“What!” you exclaim in astonishment. “Are you saying that I can move in the same power of resurrection in my life that Jesus did in His?”

That’s exactly what I’m saying.

Leviticus tells us that the “life of the flesh is in the blood.” The word “life” in this passage is the Hebrew word nephesh and is often translated as soul. Perhaps the best biblical definition is found is Psalm 103:1 where nephesh is defined as “all that is within a person.” We know from Hebrews 13:20 that Jesus was raised from the dead by His own blood. And it is a clear and unquestioned

Biblical principle that when we accept Christ as our Saviors we do so because of the power of His Precious Blood and because Holy Spirit has drawn us unto Him.

This means that there is nothing--that is no thing in Heaven and Earth--that can stand against the power of the Blood of Jesus! When we call upon His Name, and invoke the Blood through the power of Holy Spirit, we have a mighty weapon of spiritual warfare. Sadly, most of rarely employ this awesome weapon with authority, and then, typically, we do so with unskilled hands.

Why?

Because we really don’t understand the life-changing power of His Blood and His Resurrection Power.

James 5:16 tells us that “the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous [person] avails much. Even though the context of this passage is healing, it is applicable to any prayer we engage in.

Let’s break it down.

We are made righteous and justified by the Blood of Christ (Rom. 5:1-11). Psalm 24 assures us that if we have clean hands and a pure heart we will see God manifest. We often cry out fervently, but still no change.

What’s going on?

We’re missing the third essential piece—effectiveness.

So, how can we be more effective in our prayers and see God move mightily in our midst more often?

One of my favorite passages of Scripture is John14:221. In it we are promised that if we love Jesus, we are loved by Father, and that Jesus will visibly manifest Himself to us. That’s what the Greek says. Visibly demonstrate. Our first requirement to be effective is to “Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, mind, and strength.” (Mk. 12:30) We are to put no other gods before Him. (Exodus 20:30) He alone is the source for everything we need and want.

Next, we need to believe that our life (soul) is hidden with Christ in God. (Col.3:3). That we can hide ourselves in the shadow of His wings (figuratively the Ark of the Covenant where His Glory rests), and that if we’ve made Him our dwelling place “no evil shall come nigh our dwelling,” because He will give His angels charge over us. (Ps. 91) (The context of Psalm 91 is not that Christians will never suffer, but that the Lord will protect us and bring us through all of our trials and tribulations. Think of Daniel in the lion’s den, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, and the Apostle Paul throughout his walk as a Believer.)

Scripture tells us that we have not because we ask not, that when we do ask we often ask for things that feed our flesh. (Jas. 4:3) Jeremiah 1:12 tells us that God “watches over His word to bring it to pass quickly.” This means that when we pray we need to be certain that, through Holy Spirit, we have “the mind of Christ,” that we are praying in accordance with both Scripture and the heart of God, and that what we are asking for is not simply to satisfy our soul. This may seem a daunting task, but with time and discipline it is possible to follow in footsteps of Jesus as we endeavor to do only “what we see our Father doing.” (Jn. 5:19, 30; 12:49-50; 14:31)

Is there sacrifice involved? Yes. We must invest time reading the Word. We must invest time sitting at our Master’s feet, as Martha did, learning about His character. We must ask, and keep on asking, until we know in our heart that He has answered our prayer. (As Winston Churchill once said, “Never . . . never . . . never give up.”) When we know He that has given us what we’ve asked for in the Spirit, we must then enter into praise and worship and stay in that place of thanksgiving until we see the manifestation of our prayer(s). That is how faith operates. Faith has two major components: substance and evidence. (Heb. 11:1) This means Faith is tangible to our spiritual senses, and ultimately produces its own evidence of existence.

 

 

There is well-known Southern saying, “It’s hard to remember that your objective is to drain the swamp when you’re up to your neck in alligators!” Many days it seems like there are more alligators than when we first started out, and that the water isn’t draining as fast as we hoped. Dorothy faced a similar situation when she purposed to seek out the Wizard of Oz and began her journey along the Yellow Brick Road. At one point, she is talking with Scarecrow, bemoaning the fact that the forest is dark and foreboding, and he tells her of some of the many dangers she’s likely to encounter on her quest. Her response was, “Lions, and Tigers, and Bears . . . Oh, my!”

Whenever we encounter lions, and tigers, and bears on our faith walk, or it seems that there are more alligators and water in the swamp than when we first started, the most powerful thing we can do is head for deep water.

And that brings me to the last piece of our effectiveness puzzle.

When you need God to move mightily—launch out into the deep.

In Luke Chapter 5, we learn that Peter and some other fishermen had been fishing all night on the Sea of Galilee. They were in the process of cleaning their nets, perhaps with heavy hearts, because this was the only way they knew to feed their families. Keep in mind when you read this account that Peter and the others were generational fishermen. They knew how and where to fish. Yet, after fishing all night, the best time to fish, they had nothing to show for their hard work. Jesus is nearby, surrounded by a group of people clamoring for Him to teach them. Now Jesus is a carpenter, not a fisherman, yet He boldly commands Peter to “launch out into the deep,” promising a great catch of fish.

Peter’s first thought is to inform Jesus that they’d already tried that for the entire night, with no luck. The subtext here might very well have been, “Jesus, you work with wood. What makes you think you know better than we do how to catch fish?” Fortunately, the future Apostle doesn’t stop there and adds, “Nevertheless, at your command, we will let down our nets.”

As a result of Peter’s obedience, he and the others reaped a “multitude” of fish. That means they caught a lot of fish. A boat load of fish!

Sometimes we behave as if we know more than Jesus about our situation. In those moments, we need to stop telling Him what we’ve already done and how hard we’ve already worked--with no satisfactory results. We need to forget about our presumed sacrifice, and simply obey Him. (1Sam. 15:22)

So, if you want to see God manifest more often in mighty demonstrations of His Power and Glory, be willing to launch out into the deep, plead the Blood of Jesus, cry out to Him fervently according to His Word and command, keep asking until you have the assurance in your heart that what you ask for is yours, do not doubt in your heart, and finally, offer up your praise and worship until you see the evidence of the substance of His promise manifest.

Personality Test Results Give Practical Basis for Grace

I am inclined to be judgmental.  Please don't judge me.

My wife applied for a new job the other day. The company required that she take the personality test at http://16personalities.com as part of her application. When she read the results to me, we both marveled at how accurate they were, and laughed together about some of the descriptions. 

It was so much fun that my two adult sons (18 and 25) and I took the test, too. We were all going on a long drive together, and we took turns reading the results out loud as we drove along. Time and time again we were impressed how often the descriptions were spot on.

Turns out that I'm and ENFJ and the big bullet point for this type is "ENFJs take a great deal of pride and joy in guiding others to work together to improve themselves and their community." That is about as precise as one could be in describing my entire life building businesses, participating in church or community organizations, writing, and speaking. I get no greater joy in life than participating in the development of people (and things ... products, companies, books).

First of all, I'd recommend this test to anyone. Yes the first part is free and they will try and entice you to buy the rest of the results. We were able to resist that temptation, so can't help with any review of how good the paid portion is.

More importantly, we began to contemplate a bigger issue. If are personalities are this easy to derive from answering a series of questions, and if those closest to the individual can easily see the results as being largely true, it may follow that those personality traits are locked in pretty tight.  We may be able to improve on our strong points and work on the weak ones, but as the serenity prayer points out, it may be a wise choice to be okay with some things we are unlikely to change.

But how about the rest of the crowd. Can our friends, family, coworkers, bosses, and associates be content with those aspects of our personality that are hard wired and may not ever change by much. Would understanding that my over-the-top optimism and limited range of feelings is as hard to change in any meaningful way as my height or my eye color going to help keep my crowd from judging me harshly?

Well, one might think so.  Except, judgmentalism is one of those personality traits. So, if I have that personality trait, and I do, it is going to be hard for me to overcome that one.

I suppose this might have something to do with the whole "grace" thing. I may be inclined towards a certain negative trait, but Jesus in me is the solution. On the other hand, expecting grace from those who have the judgmental trait, especially if they are unsaved, is a real stretch. 

Bottom line for me? Understanding the mechanics of the other humans in my life appeals to the thinker/analyst in me, and should help me to be less judgmental in my flesh. Now I can appeal to the Holy Spirit to help me with the rest.

And you say?  Are you judgmental? Do you agree that these personality traits are hard wired?

This Is Not Your Mother's Church . . . (Part 1)

   

A little over thirty years ago I reached a crisis point.

My life was unraveling in just about every area, and I was about to make an irrevocable decision. I was driving my car at over one hundred miles an hour on an overpass on the Boulder/Denver Turnpike on a sunny, but cold, March morning. There were a slew of demonic voices whispering in my head, relentlessly telling me how worthless a human being I was and how easy it would be to drive off the road and end my pain and suffering. The ground yawned one hundred feet below, waiting to receive me with open arms, an un-dug grave.

Then, something extraordinary happened.

In an instant, The One True Living God invaded my torment, banished the voices in the blink of an eye, and told me how much He loved me. He then proceeded to distract me from my temporary insanity by showing me all the good in my life instead of condemning me for all the bad.

Three was plenty of bad and, in my mind, not much good at all.

But He showed me how wrong I was to believe the lies the enemy of my soul had been so adept at spinning for a very long time. I’ve had multiple first-hand experiences since that incredible, life-changing moment battling the Father of Lies, both for myself and others. Fortunately, I’ve also had even more encounters with The Prince of Peace, The Ancient of Days, The Holy One of Israel.

When people ask me about those dark days, I often tell them that I was looking for God in all the wrong places (yes, I borrowed that from the Country Western song and replaced one word, although love and God are easily interchangeable). I also tell them that I was dragged into the Kingdom kicking and screaming, and that God definitely got the worst end of the deal. I, like Paul, was chief among sinners. I sinned with gusto. I was not much of a prize when the Lord pulled me back from the precipice, both feet hanging dangerously over the brink of the Abyss. 

I’m so very glad He did.

Shortly after He found me and plucked me from an eternity of torment separated from Him, I had a series of encounters with Holy Spirit that set the course of my life in Him. Before I share a bit about that, and the point of today’s blog, some background is important.

I grew up in a “typical” middle-class home. My dad worked two jobs. My mother stayed at home until I was twelve and old enough to take care of my brother while she went back to school to earn both her college degree in Teaching and a Master’s in Library Science. Dad’s parents were Methodist, but he had no place for any kind of religion in his life. He viewed Preachers right up there with used car salesmen. Mom grew up a staunchly faithful Baptist and won awards for perfect attendance in Sunday school--until she turned fourteen. She’d been having dramatic encounters with Holy Spirit and shared them with her pastor. He told her to stop having those encounters, because “they were of the devil.” You see, mom’s experiences with Holy Spirit did not fit the pastor’s religious theology; therefore they could not possibly be of God. As a result, mom left the organized church and wandered in the wilderness for the next five decades. She was on a quest to find out the truth about God, and her sincere desire to grow closer to Him led her into the welcoming arms of the New Age Movement. Mom never did anything half-way. She became one of its staunchest disciples. I’m the oldest, and we have always been close, so she passed along everything she learned to me. She was a wonderful teacher, and I was her best student. I drank it all up like a man who hasn’t had water in days, because I was on a quest myself.

A quest that had been ordained before the foundations of the world.

 

 

      
I grew up hearing all about God, very little about Jesus, and nothing about Holy Spirit. My mother gave God credit for everything good that happened in our lives and taught me to trust Him even when things fell apart. She taught me the importance of tithing, how to turn the other check, how important it is to forgive those who hurt me, the blessings that come when I lay down my own soulish desires and put the needs of others first, and the biblical mandate of generosity toward the poor. She taught by example, living what she’d learned.

But there was something missing.

A pearl of great price that took me eighteen years to find.

Jesus and Holy Spirit.

You might think that knowing all about God is enough. I can tell you from first-hand experience, it isn’t. You might think that knowing all about God and Jesus is enough. It isn’t. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are a package deal. We need an intimate relationship with all three if we’re going to be victorious and overcome the world as Jesus did, both for ourselves and for others. Think of the package this way: Father is the magnificent engine of a beautiful and highly-sought-after vintage car. Son is the one-of-a-kind key to the ignition. It cannot, and has never been, replicated. Holy Spirit is the high-octane fuel that can only be used in this unique automobile. Working in unison, they are a functioning and all-powerful automobile. An extraordinary vehicle that turns heads whenever and wherever it shows up. However, if even one of the Trinity is missing, the car is going nowhere and will be good for little more than looking at and admiring.

Back to my story about the dramatic encounters with Holy Spirit shortly after I made a decision to surrender everything to Him.

Over a three week period I had a series of “visitations.” In Christian lingo this simply means Holy Spirit revealed Himself to me in a dramatic and undeniable fashion. The very first thing God spoke to me through Holy Spirit was that I would live to see His Son coming in Glory and that I would be living in Jerusalem. I really didn’t know what this meant, but I knew it was important and that I had to study and find out exactly what this shocking heavenly pronouncement meant for me.

I was thirty years old, and I’d never read or studied the Bible. We had them at home, but they were just books we carried with us to church and kept on our laps while the preacher told us what God really meant to say in His Word. We were sheep and the preachers were the keepers of knowledge. It was understood by all that they had the answers. If our questions didn’t fit with their answers, there was something wrong with us.

Consequently, I didn’t last very long in any church.

 

I was searching for truth, however, and I was diligent in spite of my misgivings. I went to the Methodist church of my grandparents, gave my mom’s Baptist church a whirl, went to Mass with a Catholic girl I dated briefly, and visited a Synagogue with another girl I dated. I found a great deal of religious hypocrisy in all of them mixed with bits and pieces of truth. In my youthful arrogance, I decided none of them knew what the heck they were talking about. So, for over fifteen years I wandered in the wilderness as well, following in mom’s erstwhile footsteps. 

Please don’t think I’m bashing any particular denomination. 

I’m not. 

 

There’s plenty of hypocrisy and religious bondage in all of the denominations, so they are all in good company. Let me also be clear, I am not bashing individuals, denominations, or even the Church as a whole. In fact, I’m not being critical at all, in spite of what you might think. I’m merely making a point about the distinction between religious views and behavior, and relationship. God has as much distaste for religion as I do. In fact, I leaned from Him that He hates religion. He could care less what denomination we idolize and bind ourselves to. His only interest is in having an intimate relationship with His creation. If you don’t believe that, you might want to spend some quality time in your Bible, starting with the stories about the Sadducees and Pharisees.

Next week, I’ll pick up my story, and we’ll delve a bit deeper into the meaning of “This is not your mother’s church . . .”