God or Government?

"Let every person be loyally subject to the governing (civil) authorities. For there is no authority except from God [by His permission, His sanction], and those that exist do so by God’s appointment. Therefore he who resists and sets himself up against the authorities resists what God has appointed and arranged [in divine order]. And those who resist will bring down judgment upon themselves [receiving the penalty due them]."  Romans 13:1-2

When we read these verses, we are reminded just WHO ordained and sanctioned our governing authorities.  God did.  We are to obey our government officials.  If we resist them, we are resisting God--and bringing judgment on ourselves!  Remember this was written when the disciples were under Roman rule.  The Romans...who killed Christians for sport.  God has appointed our government leaders today, too.  He's not wringing His hands over those in authority all over our world.  He's put them there...for His purposes.

"I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty."  II Timothy 2:1-2

It's easy to get frustrated with leaders.  But God has given us the way to make a difference...and I'm afraid we make it our last resort.  PRAY for all in authority!  Do we spend as much time praying for our leaders as we do complaining about them?  That might make a difference!  It would make an even bigger difference if we did no complaining and prayed fervently.  Proverbs 21:1 says God can turn the heart of a king wherever He wants.  

"So they brought them and set them before the council (Sanhedrin). And the high priest examined them by questioning, Saying, We definitely commanded and strictly charged you not to teach in or about this Name (Jesus); yet here you have flooded Jerusalem with your doctrine and you intend to bring this Man’s blood upon us.  Then Peter and the apostles replied, We must obey God rather than men."  Acts 5:27-29

The important factor we have to keep in mind is that God is over our government.  Not just ours, but each government in the world!  He is the highest and ultimate authority.  He's told us to obey our government, but there does come a time when we must obey God rather than men...or government officials.  There are people all over the world living under godless governments who have to make the same decision Peter and the apostles did.  When told they could not talk about Jesus, they had to obey God.  God trumps government.  

So, do we obey God...or government?  Both.  Until our government tells us to disobey God.  But then we need to know how to obey God.

Led by the Spirit

"God, I love you...but I'm afraid of the Holy Spirit.  I don't want to be.  And I know it sounds ridiculous because you are one and the same.  But there it is.  Please help me overcome this fear.  Amen."

That was a prayer I prayed about twenty years ago.  I grew up in a denomination which talked a LOT about God.  They even liked to talk about Jesus.  But they were uncomfortable in talking about the Holy Spirit.  Isn't that pretty much the way it is?  The world will talk about God comfortably.  But bring up Jesus and they shut down.  Christians will talk about Jesus, but bring up the Holy Spirit in most circles and the conversation nosedives!  I grew up afraid of the Holy Spirit.  I believe it was taught by my denomination.

In the past 20 years, I've become acquainted with the Holy Spirit.  It sounds ludicrous that I was fearful.  After all, he indwelt me at the point of salvation.  But I've learned the Holy Spirit is a gentleman.  Yes...he comes in and occupies our hearts, but I believe he only takes control as we give up our control of each area of our hearts and lives.

What does the Holy Spirit do?

• He fills & controls us.  Acts 6:5
• God's love is poured out in us through the Holy Spirit. Romans 5:5
• His mind is life and soul peace. Romans 8:6
• He is evidence that we belong to God. Romans 8:9
• He prays for us.  Romans 8:26
• He confirms truth in our hearts.  Romans 9:1
• He fills us with hope.  Romans 15:13
• His power produces signs and wonders.  Romans 15:19
• He searches and examines truth.  I Corinthians 2:10
• He produces fruit in us.  Galatians 5:22
• He comforts, counsels, helps, intercedes, is our advocate, strengthener, standby, teacher, reminds us of what God has taught us.  John 14:26  (All verses from Amplified Version)

This is just a small glimpse of the power and works of the Holy Spirit.  Can you see already what we miss out on if we stop him?  In the first 29 years of my Christian walk, very little grace, light, or hope eeked out of me because I resisted the work of the Holy Spirit.  I was afraid to allow him control of my life.  Why, do you ask?  Because I was afraid he would require me to get out of my comfort zone.  He might give me gifts I didn't want.  He might ask me to do something crazy.  I mean, his first appearance to the church was to come as tongues of fire and cause men to speak in other languages.  That had to look pretty crazy!  But you have to look at the results of that day...3000 men came to Christ!  My fear prevented life and soul peace.  It stunted the growth of fruit in my life.

How can we be led by the Spirit of God if we're resisting him at the same time?  We can't.  Oh, I know God can overcome our resistances.  He is God.  But I believe He's a benevolent God who has given us free choice.  And He waits to be wanted.  I can grab one of my grandchildren and force a hug, but how much sweeter when they crawl up in my lap and hug me because they want to express love to me?  Or you may be like one of my grandsons who was unabashed in his love for me.  He loved to smell me.  It started when he was a little guy and I'd catch him smelling me as I held him.  But then he moved to Florida.  I remember the first time I went to visit after we hadn't seen each other in quite some time.  When I got in the van and sat beside him on the ride from the airport, he kept leaning over and taking in great gulps of smells of me!  I was laughing hysterically!  Don't you think God delights when we open ourselves that way to the Holy Spirit?

My prayer is that we'll stop resisting the Holy Spirit and start allowing him to lead us.  He wants that more than we do.

Listen with Ears Wide Open

"But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future]." John 16:13 (Amp.)

Eighteen years ago, Peter Lord came to our church and I was part of a class he taught to hear God.  I'd just been through a time in my life where I was searching for truth.  I wasn't quick to accept new teachings without examining them, so I started the process of studying to see if it was true that I could hear God.  (Believe me, even though this is the Amplified version, I read each version of this verse--and the Greek--to verify it really did say this--along with all of the verses on hearing God!!)  I'd come out of a system which taught hearing God was no longer valid--after the written word of God was completed.  I encourage you to search it out for yourself all while you're asking God for truth.  I'm just telling you this was the scripture which finally convinced me that not only could I hear God...I should be hearing God!

This morning, we taught "Hearing God" to our Sunday School class of young adults.  It's always exciting to see what takes place.  At one point, I asked the class to stop and listen.  What did they hear around them in the physical world?  Immediately, everyone said, "The clock!"  And someone said, "Birds."  I asked if they'd noticed those sounds before we started the exercise.  They hadn't.  And why hadn't they?  Because they weren't tuned in.  Bingo!  When do we do our best listening?  When we're paying attention to the speaker.  I get frustrated if I try to tell something important to Andy and he's distracted.  I finally give up.  But when we're both giving one another our complete focus, we have a fruitful conversation.  It's the same with God.  He wants our undivided attention.  He wants us tuned in to hear what He has to say to us.  And it will never contradict the scripture--which is why we must be students of the word of God.  It takes practice to hear God.  And not only practice, but it comes from building a relationship.  And that takes intentionality.

Now I'll be the first to tell you that God gives us lots of freedom in decision-making.  But I'm afraid most of us can go for months, or even years, without asking God for His opinion.  What if each of us had a running dialogue going on with God every day?   Not only would our lives be so much more blessed, but I think it would bless God's heart as well.  I know that's the way I feel when my adult children include me in their day, their thoughts, their plans.  It's a privilege for me to be included.  How much more for God!  And He wants to be the director of our steps.

It may seem crazy to think He's concerned about each step you take.  But what if He told you to give a word of encouragement to someone and you later found out it brought them out of a deep depression?  What if He wants to give you a way to reach your child?  What if you have a technical problem at work and He wants to give you the solution?  What if he wants to tell you where to move?  All of those things have actually happened to me.  Or what if He was protecting you, like he did the wise men, and told you to go home another way?  God has spoken to His children many times to protect them.

God may have messages He wants to give us that concern the future.  We need to be listening...with ears wide open.

Obey with Eyes Wide Open

One of the hardest things for a parent to teach a child is to obey.  I remember trying to teach my 2-year-old and 3-year-old how to obey the boundaries I'd set for them in riding their hot cycles.  Children that age just don't understand why they can't ride their hot cycles in the street.  They have no concept of a car racing down the road and endangering their lives.  I went outside with them many times and showed them again and again where the boundaries were.  They knew they could ride on our driveway and to the end of the sidewalk.  But they couldn't go on the neighbor's driveway, for fear their car might back out and not see them.  I'd stay on the porch while they played...and watch. They would ride up to the boundary and stop and look at it.

Matt (3) & Amy (2)

They would ride as fast as they could back to the driveway and do it over and over.  There were times I'd have to yell, "STOP!" and hope for immediate obedience so they wouldn't get hurt.  This went on for many days.  Finally, one day, I stepped inside the house and watched out the window...just to see if they'd obey if I wasn't there.  Matt rode up to the neighbor's driveway, looked back at our house, and poked his foot over the boundary.  I chuckled, but I had to go outside and discipline him.  I needed him to understand that boundaries were boundaries.  And he needed to obey to stay safe.

I think we're going to face days in our future where we need to give strict attention to what the Father says to us.  We need to be quick to obey.  Jesus said, "But so the world might know how thoroughly I love the Father, I am carrying out my Father's instructions right down to the last detail."  (John 14:31)  He came to do everything his Father wanted him to do.  He had to listen...and then obey.  And just like Jesus didn't fear, we shouldn't fear.  

God has put us right where we are in these days for His purposes.  He has a good plan to fulfill through us.  I encourage you to read about how--and in how many ways--Jesus obeyed his Father in Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.  I was reading about his first miracle (turning water into wine) this morning in John 2.  (I love that his mom was encouraging him to help out the wedding couple.  How did she know it was time to start his ministry?  Or did she?)  He obeyed by doing miracles, confronting religious leaders, discipling, being in specific places at specific times, etc.  He knew what his ultimate mission was going to be...to die for our sins.  And he was obedient even unto death. (Philippians 2:8)

Obedience sometimes costs us.  But oh!  How much better to obey than disobey.  And even better when we obey quickly.  And when we know what God wants us to do or where to be, it helps alleviate fear.

Prepare with Eyes Wide Open

"Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming."
Matthew 24:42

God loves us so much!  He's adopted us (yet He lets us choose whether we actually want to be adopted) and even though that adoption is final, I know He can't wait to get his hands on us!  He yearns for us. He's waited patiently for us to all be together.  He's had a beautiful plan all along.  Part of that beautiful plan has been to destroy the enemy who has dared to come against His beloved--us.  But that's still in the future.

Have you ever known something, but then one day, through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, you really know that thing?  Last week I was meditating on Psalm 23.  You know in verse 4 where it says, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."?  I was remembering our trip to Israel.  

I didn't know until I went to Israel that there was an actual Valley of the Shadow of Death!  This is it.  It's a "highway" many travelers took 2000+ years ago to get to the temple each year.  The reason it was named Valley of the Shadow of Death is because there were wild animals, robbers, and murderers who hung out in this valley to prey on the people.  It was very dangerous to travel through there.

I'd always thought of Psalm 23:4 as the time when we walked through death--at the end of our lives.  But the revelation was that this old world and our walk through it--our whole lives--are spent in the Valley of the Shadow of Death.  The world is a place of death and has been ever since man sinned.  So even though God has promised us abundant life, His promise is fulfilled while we walk through this scary, dark valley filled with wild, dangerous things.

Life is scary.  And getting scarier.  But we don't have to walk afraid.  God is with us and is carrying His big rod and staff.  And He's an expert at taking out the enemy.  He's told us life is going to get hard at the end.  And it is.  Wars, earthquakes, fires, famines, diseases, terrorists, droughts, tornadoes...just to name a few.  He's prepared us by telling us there will be a one-world government.  In my mind, I knew our government would have to fall for a one-world government to take place.  I just didn't think about how that would look.  I think we're seeing it happen right before our eyes.  There was some invisible point in time where I believe we crossed a line and there seems to be no turning back.  

There will come a time when we won't know who to trust.  Do some of you remember playing Romans & Christians?  The game was for the "Christians" to get to Jesus without the "Romans" capturing them and putting them in prison.  But you didn't know who the Romans were.   We played wild games of this with our youth.  (You'd love the way they play it here--all over town in Groom!)  There may come a time in our future when we don't know who to trust.  We don't have a Walter Cronkite...giving us the news each night in a firm, calm voice we trusted.  We've become a distrustful society;  probably with good reason.  

Here's what we need to know in the days ahead.  You can trust God.  He has gone before you, He comes behind you, and He keeps His hand of blessing on you.  You are His treasure!  DON'T FEAR!!  He is near, He is listening, He is ready to protect you. He has you in His everlasting arms, His wings shield you, He is a gallant warrior on a white horse ready to swoop in to rescue you!  He is bigger than our enemy!!  He has already won the war even though there's a battle ahead.  Bad things may come, but He is always a GOOD GOD!  He speaks to us, He sings over us, He carries us.  He is tender towards His children but He is ruthless with the enemy.  He is mighty, He is strong, He is a DELIVERER!!  

YOU CAN TRUST GOD!!!

There are GIANTS in the land!

Do you know what I love about teaching children?  What God teaches me in the process.  I've been teaching the life of David to the kids at FBC Groom.  And I must tell you, it's been exciting!  Tonight I taught the story of David & Goliath.  God gave us the stories in the Old Testament to relate to our own lives.  They also foreshadow things in the New Testament.  As I studied and prepared, I saw some things I hadn't seen before.

The story is in I Samuel 17.  One of the first things I saw is that Goliath, fully armored, had a shield-bearer who went out before him.  I'd never seen that before.  I'm sure Goliath was strong.  I mean...he was almost 10 feet tall!  He yelled a lot, too.  He used his size, his strength and his voice to taunt and intimidate.  But he walked behind a shield-bearer.  Interesting.  What I told the kids tonight is that Satan wants us to believe he's a huge giant and he puts giant problems in our lives.  But, like Goliath, he hides behind a shield-bearer.  He sends his minions ahead of him.  You see...he's afraid of our POWERFUL GOD!!  He tests the waters to see if we're going to call on our ALL-MIGHTY GOD to fight for us!  He knows he has no power over God.  I've been thinking on this.  Every time there was a challenge between God and the enemy, God said, "Yeah!  I'll take that challenge!"  When God was challenged, these men rose up to defend the name of God--David, Shadrach, Meschach, Abednego, Elijah, Moses--and God gave them victory.  

Another thing I saw in the story was that David was the youngest of Jesse's sons.  He was probably the youngest guy on the battlefield that day.  Grown men, much older and stronger than David, should have been the ones stepping up to the plate and protecting David.  I mean, come on!  His three older brothers were there and all they did was try to send David home!  But David believed.  He knew the gauntlet had been thrown down to challenge God.  "For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" David asked.  I think honor rose up in him.  Righteous anger!  How dare this man defy God--giant or no giant!  And David had been practicing.  He'd killed a lion and a bear as he defended the sheep back home.  He was skilled with a sling shot.  And of course...God had His hand all over David to guide that stone to the middle of Goliath's forehead.  Killed with one shot!

I reminded the kids tonight that we can be giant-slayers.  The enemy talks loud, tries to scare us, and intimidate us.  But mostly, he's trying to tell us our God's not big enough.  

It was the first time I've taught a Bible story and had spontaneous applause and cheering for how God--through David--killed a GIANT!

MIracle in a Dry Season by Sarah Loudin Thomas

Miracle in a Dry Season by Sarah Loudin Thomas was a sweet story reminding me of the story of redemption found in Rahab's story in the Bible.  I'm not sure Sarah meant for it to mirror that story, but I thought it did.

It's the story of Perla Long who had a child out of wedlock and moved to Wise, West Virginia to get away from the talk of folks in her own hometown.  But she couldn't move to a new town with a small daughter and then lie about never being married.  So her story, and the judgment and rejection of people, followed her to Wise.  Casewell Phillips was a bachelor who became enamored with the mother and child.  He helped Perla feed hungry crowds of people with small quantities of food which always grew according to the size of the crowd.  A true miracle...but it wasn't enough to win the favor of the people.

I admired the way Sarah described the drought in Wise.  Having just gone through a 5-year drought in our own area, I thought she hit the nail on the head with her descriptions.  And the first rain after a drought?  Miraculous!!  I loved that John heard it on his way to heaven before it actually materialized in Wise.

A very sweet story.  I'd give this book 4 out of 5 stars.
Thank you to Bethany House for providing this book for review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255