What will people think?

One of the largest battlefields in the war of life concerns identity and acceptance. No one wants to be picked last for a game of soccer, or never asked for a date, or rejected at job interviews. Politicians run for office wanting to change the world yet those votes affirm their value. Tozer says this desire to please people deeply implanted within us and asks how it can be uprooted to shift our life-drive from pleasing others to pleasing God? Fear of what people will think of us or do to us is a constant Bible theme.

“Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.” (1 Peter 3:13–17)

Tozer’s answer to shifting our life-drive is not by doing it alone, or with the help of others, or by education or by training. He says this requires is a reversal of nature, a supernatural act.

My analytical mind processes his answer this way . . .

Sin brings a sense of guilt, of not measuring up. While the human heart might not realize that “all fall short of the glory of God” that sense of falling short is there. Because of it, the human heart, either in ignorance of God’s remedy or in rejection of it, tries to rid itself of this undercurrent of guilt. Many methods are used from doing as much good as possible to making as many friends as possible. The idea is that human acceptance will make this sense of guilt less real and less important. However, the more we apply our human solutions, the greater becomes our sense of it. Those efforts wind up a vicious circle because they do not work.

The only solution is dealing with the guilt by acknowledging our sin and seeking forgiveness and cleansing. He is the only one who can wash it away and He does it by a total acceptance of us, just as we are.

Why then do Christians still struggle with people-pleasing as the above verses suggest? Herein is the rub and the battlefield. My spiritual enemy tells me in a myriad of ways that God does not really love me. I am challenged by this lie continually and every time I fall for it, I want love affirmed. A call from a friend, a text from someone who is praying for me, anything that jogs my illogical thinking back to the reality of God’s amazing love. If that does not happen, instead of turning to God in trust and confessing my faith lapse, I might try people-pleasing, fish for a complement, anything to make sure I am accepted, anything that might give that sense of being unacceptable a push out the door.

^^^^^^^^

Lord Jesus, Your work is gracious assurance. You have a host of ways to show me I am being duped into trying to please others instead of putting my focus where it belongs. The bottom line is that You do love me even though the sense of that love will always be tested. However, because You died for me and because that is a done deal, Your love is a done deal, established at Calvary, established forever. There is no need to be worried about ‘what will people think’ because what You think is the measure of all things.

To Live is Christ — seeing anger’s place in spiritual warfare

Three days of studying two verses has amazing results. I knew about not letting the sun go down on anger, even though I have not been 100% obedient to that. I also knew that minor annoyances are just as much anger as a full-blown temper loss. However, the thoughts of these verses have given me a far greater sensitivity to anger than ever before.

“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. (Ephesians 4:26–27)

I’ve not thought of myself as an angry person, yet when anger is defined as the Bible defines it, my irritation at not having things go the way I want them to go is anger. Recognizing these irritations as selfishness and confessing them as sin gives God the opportunity to forgive and cleanse me, not just from getting ticked about little things, but from the self-determination that so easily governs my life.

I often say that I need to get out more. It could be helpful. My husband and our new boarder are involved in a part of the world that is foreign to me. Between the two of them, I hear stories of engineering problems, employee interactions, desperately sick children, and problems with contracts. My world is withing the walls of my home with limited interaction with family, writers, artists, and my Sunday morning Bible class. Because of my lifestyle, rarely do I have to deal with major conflicts. When I do, I’ve so little experience with such things that I can easily go to God for solutions.

For that reason, and while I hate to admit it, more often the little things get me. Add some small stuff to my day, particularly things that pile on extra work or interfere with my schedule, and I can feel annoyed. These verses and the related things that God has shown me add up to a total condemnation of such annoyance. At the same time, God’s revelations about anger and its source have led to changes and to freedom, for which I am grateful.

The last part of this passage is the reason all of this is important. It says that sinful anger not promptly confessed and repented from is “giving place” to the devil. Another version translates this as “giving opportunity” to Satan — that he might use my anger to cause harm.

Jesus called Satan a liar and the father of lies, and a destroyer. Anger is a breeding ground for lies, starting with the one about, “you made me angry” instead of the truth that admits, “It was my choice to get mad.” Anger is also destructive. If not handled biblically, it can ruin health, inner peace, relationships and more. This destruction is Satan’s plan, not God’s. While God can use anger to teach humility, to make me aware of my selfishness, and on rare cases, make others aware of their offenses, He obviously offers better ways to deal with these things.

There is a righteous anger described in a previous post. It is from God and is my response to seeing myself or someone else violating His will. However, He does not give anyone a “righteous indignation” to harm or destroy, but to restore and heal, two things that Satan never wants.

Even these brief thoughts on anger from God’s perspective and from the perspective of how the devil can use it are making me aware how even my minor and often unspoken irritations are part of spiritual warfare. The enemy of souls can use my selfishness to have his way in my life and in the lives of those around me. On the other hand, the God of my life can use a proper response to anger to have His way in my life, even to affect those around me.

Also, these verses do not condemn anger — for anger is not the problem. My responsibility is to discern its source, and refuse to let any selfish anger motivate me to sin. Instead, God tells me to get over that kind of anger quickly, because there are bigger things at stake than me getting or not getting my own way.

Victory made certain

This Sunday, the topic for my ladies class is discerning God’s truth from the lies of Satan. In my preparation, again I’m reminded of how subtle this enemy can be and how easily I can be deceived.

Some of the notions that he suggests are, “Did God really say that?” and “Does God actually want the best for you?” He tries to convince me that disobedience won’t hurt anything and that “everyone is doing it.” He also says things like, “You messed up again. How can you expect God to forgive you one more time? You are under condemnation, for sure.”

While I don’t let my mind park in his territory, this evil spirit is a real and powerful force not to be taken lightly. The Bible tells me that I need to know his tactics and resist him as I obey God and remember truth from His Word. Otherwise, Satan and his lies can drag me into sin and darkness, ruining my joy in Jesus and my testimony of His saving grace.

I know these things yet sometimes find myself becoming fearful without reason. Satan is at work. Or sometimes I doubt that God is listening to my prayers or acting on my behalf. I start looking at my situation instead of His promises, or forget His faithfulness in the past and wonder if He is really here for me. Again, Satan is at work, but God comes to my rescue. He takes me to verses like this one:

(Christ) has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him. (1 Peter 3:22)

or this one:

Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. (Romans 8:34)

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ answers all the suggestions and lies the devil can throw at me. Through His death, Jesus declares God’s love. His sacrifice covers my sin. The accuser can throw whatever he wants at me, yet even when I am guilty, my sin is forgiven — all of it.

Of course God wants the best for me. He wants me to be just like Jesus. He even promises to use all things for my good, to transform me into the image of His Son (Romans 8:28-29). This includes things that might seem bad at the time, but He can use them for my good. What could be better than that!

Also, it might be true that nearly everyone else is sinning and unconcerned about pleasing God, but God calls me to be like Jesus, not like everyone else. He has taken me from sin and condemnation to a new life with forgiveness and total redemption, no matter how many times I mess up. Such goodness encourages me to walk with Him, not follow the crowd, not keep on making a mess of things.

There is no confidence stronger than the confidence of one who knows the outcome before it happens. This is the assurance Christ offers me. He has already won over the power of sin and death. He has already defeated the lies of the enemy. Even though Satan accuses me day and night before the throne of God (Revelation 12:10), Jesus lives forever to intercede for me saying, “Do not listen to him; I have died for that sin.”

Because I’m taking the offensive this week, the spiritual battles seem strong, but because Jesus wins, I know that I will not be defeated. Romans 8:37 says that I am more than a conqueror through Jesus who died and gave Himself for me. How cool is that!

Spiritual sitting ducks

Idleness is not a good idea. A former pastor told of a time in college when he was on the football team. He’d been benched for some reason (injury?) and was not playing with the team. At first he cheered for them just as any team member would do, but over time noticed himself becoming critical of the team. Soon he was criticizing the coach too. He said he eventually found himself hoping the other team would win.

Spiritual inactivity is not a good idea either. Taking time off from teaching a Bible class was God’s idea, and I did need a rest. However, I found myself being tested and needing to watch that I didn’t fall into criticizing the team hard at work in my church. I also have had to watch myself in areas that I never realized were problems. My mother used to say that the devil found work for idle hands. I know what she means. When I’m not “pressing on” he keeps offering me stuff to do that would only mess with my life.

I’ll be teaching again in the later part of March, and also have been asked to do a major presentation at our district convention. Both involve preparation and study, and this has taken me off that bench, yet I still feel a bit “out of it” as if I need a spiritual tune-up of some kind. Friday and yesterday helped. We had a ladies retreat at our church with a vibrant missionary speaker. Her work and life story inspired and encouraged everyone.

Today’s devotional reading is something like yesterday’s in that the focus is on my need to confess my sins and on God’s power to clean up my life. The verse is:

Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)

This are David’s words. He had been idle too. His men were at war but he was at home in his palace. One night he stood on the roof top and saw a beautiful woman taking a bath. The rest of the story is briefly outlined in Friday’s post.

After this, David repented. The word “repent” is not about feeling sorry as much as it is about turning from something to something else. For me, it could be about simply getting off the bench and back into action, but here it is about forsaking sin and embracing the Lord. Without repentance, God cannot forgive or cleanse my life.

This verse is significant in another way. The verb translated “create” is the same one used in Genesis 1:1 and refers to what only God can do. David asked that his heart be made new, that he be restored and made steadfast in his determination to remain a “man after God’s own heart.” God is the only source of such a renewal. No one can make that happen, just God.

The devotional reading repeats that a true confession of sin includes repentance. I’ve sometimes held back on confession because I was not ready to let go of a sin. It is fairly common for young Christians to tell the Lord we are sorry for a particular sin that we commit, even thank Him for already forgiving it, but that is all. No change happens because repentance is missing.

I’ve realized that I need to hate my sin as much as God hates it. I have to see that it is destructive to me and to my relationship with Him. He has shown me that I must also desire His presence, desire also an open and clear communication with Him that is not clouded by anything that displeases Him. I have to want to be on the team, not critical of anything my Coach is doing, or the other players, and certainly not hoping for sin to score any points.

It has been nice to have a rest. Preparing lesson material and teaching takes much time and energy. Serving the Lord in this way also involves spiritual warfare as the enemy does not want me to be effective or others to learn.

However, too much time out is also dangerous. Spiritual muscles can atrophy. My heart can get lazy and my skills can become dull. I’ve found staying “in shape” while not in action much more difficult than it is when God gave me plenty to do.

Not only that, I’ve seen that this ‘vacation’ has had far more purpose than I expected at the beginning. I am more aware of the dangers of not being involved. Serving the Lord can make us targets, but as my dad used to say, it is harder to hit a moving target. When someone is a Christian and not serving the Lord, they are simply sitting ducks.

He is enough—tell Him so!

Because I can’t see it, I tend to forget how much events in the spiritual realm affect my sense of well-being. When I’m sad for no reason, or have a negative attitude for no reason, it is almost always because God was or is doing something special and my spiritual enemy does not like it, so goes after me. Often, the worse I feel, the more important the event.

Sunday was a great day. My Bible class studied and discussed how Jesus shared the salvation message with Nicodemus (John 3:1-21). Out of that study, we saw many principles that apply to our own sharing of the gospel. Then, right after the class was over, God gave me an opportunity to actually do what we had been talking about. One of the women (who does not know Him) lingered behind to talk. To top that off, in the service that followed, the sermon topic was exactly the same thing that I had shared with her, so she heard it twice.

Monday brought unbelievable fatigue. I’d had a good night’s sleep so should not have felt so tired, but I did. I the usual tasks as well as several with deadlines, so I couldn’t loaf. I dreaded doing everything on my list, as if these ordinary chores were the most difficult in the world. In the evening, our church hosted a farewell for one special person. Attending that perked me up a bit. At the end of the evening, I took a few minutes to give a few ladies a brief quilting lesson (the same room had been double-booked with the party, so we compromised). That perked me up a bit more.

After another good sleep, Tuesday was worse than Monday. My feet dragged. My chore list was not my own as it involved taking up the slack for a couple of people unable to do their normal part toward a large mailing. I spent most of the afternoon in my car going from place to place and while not rude or impatient with others, it seemed as if the day was black and difficult.

This morning’s Bible readings were not much help. God is silent. Usually when that happens it is because I already know what He wants from me. This time, I remembered some verses from Monday, Habakkuk 3:17–19.

“Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills.”

When the spiritual disciplines of Bible reading and prayer offer no encouragement, when life and my attitude seem to be out of sorts, with or without a reason, God still asks me to praise Him. He is the delight of my life, not the highs of Sunday (highs are always followed by lows unless I pray myself down off that mountain), nor the normally pleasing routines of life on Monday or Tuesday.

Besides that, the joy of sharing His good news on Sunday created ripples in the spiritual world. I cannot see them, but I felt them. The enemy of all souls does not like it when God’s people exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. He does not like it when one of his captives hears the good news and responds with delight in her eyes and heart. He is unhappy with God’s people when any of us share the power of God with someone who does not yet know it. He fights back.

This same enemy is also a joy thief. He sneaks in and makes ordinary things seem like unsurmountable mountains. He whacks at ‘enough rest’ until it feels as if it never happened. He magnifies challenges totally out of proportion. If I let him, he gives me a huge case of the I-don’t-want-tos, so that even the easy things have giant minus signs painted on them.

Even though merely doing what I had to do made all his lies moot points, my accomplishments didn’t restore the joy and sense of well-being that God normally gives. The only exceptions were being with His people (fellowship), and teaching the quilting group (exercising my spiritual gift).

Sometimes I feel like such a dummy. One day without praise is sad. Two days without praise is depressing. I’m thankful that today, the third day, He gave me a small kick in the behind and reminded me that though all my normal sources of physical nourishment (like olive trees, fields and livestock) come up empty, I can still rejoice in Him. He is the God of my salvation and, regardless of other ups and downs, that never changes. The Lord God is my strength, and that never changes either.

While the Lord can make my feet like deer’s feet, and make me walk on my high hills and conquer all challenges, large or small, even if He doesn’t, I can still rejoice. I have Him, and He is enough.

Today’s To-Do List

This morning I was concerned for a couple of Christian women. One struggles with doubts and fears. The other gets angry over small issues and stomps away from church. At the same time, I struggle with my own shortfall in following Christ, my selfishness, my laxness in spiritual disciplines. Before opening my Bible, I told God that I felt totally inadequate to be concerned for others. My life isn’t perfect, and I needed Him to speak to me.

The devotional book I’m using sent me to Genesis 14:14. It is about a war in the land where Abram and his nephew Lot were living. Four kings were fighting five kings, and when the battle moved into Sodom where Lot lived, they took him and all that he owned.

Verse 14 says, “Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.”

Abram (later Abraham) didn’t waste any time wondering if he should or should not go. He didn’t count his resources to make sure he could handle this rescue operation, nor did he worry about the distance. He traveled a couple hundred miles with his small army, provisions, and a deep determination to rescue his nephew (here called his brother, indicating kinship).

My Bible Knowledge Commentary says, “In the Old Testament, warfare was actual and physical; but it was also spiritually significant in relationship to faith. According to the New Testament, a Christian’s battle and weapons are spiritual, and God’s promises are eternal. Using military figures of speech, Paul portrayed Christ’s death as a victory (Ephesians 4:8) in which He conquered sin, death, and the grave. Christ’s gifts are spiritual gifts for His servants to use in service. With these spiritual gifts and armed with spiritual weapons, Christians are to champion righteousness, truth, and equity (Ephesians 6:10-19). God gives His people victory over the world in accord with His promises to bless and to curse, using His servants who know His high calling and who can use the weapons of spiritual warfare with skill.”

If God were writing about me, He’s want to write this: “Now when Elsie heard that her sisters in Christ were taken captive by the power of the enemy, she gathered together her spiritual resources (truth, knowledge, faith, the righteousness of Christ, a willing readiness, and the Word of God) and went in pursuit, praying and interceding for them for as long as it took to bring them back to their place of full faith and obedience.”

I’m not to waste time wondering about my own life and spirituality. (Confess my sins and get on with it!) Nor am I to worry about how difficult this battle might be or if I have the resources I need. “My God shall supply all (my) need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

In Genesis 14:20, it says about Abram’s warfare, “Blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

If I want my sisters in Christ to also experience freedom from captivity, my job description is simple: quit whining and start praying.

The Holy Spirit Knows

Sunday’s high point of three incredible testimonies should have clued me that Monday, even Saturday, would be difficult days. After thirty some years of this, I’ve seen over and over how the blessings of God seem to be anticipated by the forces of evil, and I am tempted and tested and dumped on either before they happen, or afterwards, or both.

Satan wants to ruin and destroy everything good that God is doing. Since he can’t prevent it from happening, he works overtime to prevent God’s people from enjoying that good thing, and sometimes even from realizing that God is at work.

Saturday evening, I had a curve thrown at me. I’m still blinking and wondering what to do with it. Monday brought more of them. I came to the Lord this morning in confusion and hoping for some word about these events, something to explain them or make sense of it all.

He didn’t give me that. Instead, He sends me to a story in Acts 8. Philip, an obedient disciple of Christ, is told by the Lord to “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”

God sends Philip into the desert and Philip goes. He has no explanation, no clear directions other than this is the place he is supposed to be. “So he arose and went.”

I think about myself over the past few days. I know I was to ask three people to give a testimony of what Christ has done in their lives in the past year. I picked one, and the other two volunteered. Both of them surprised me. One is not a Christian, the other quiet and seemingly very settled in her walk with God. How would they interpret my request? What would they say?

Philip may have been similarly surprised at who popped up in the desert. There was a man in a chariot, heading home to Ethiopia from Jerusalem. He was a man of great authority and in charge of the treasury of the Ethiopian queen. This man had been in Israel “to worship” and was reading the writings of Isaiah, an Old Testament prophet, when Philip saw him.

As Philip observed the man, “Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go near and overtake this chariot.’” Philip ran to him, heard him reading the Scriptures, and asked if he understood. He didn’t, so Philip explained what Isaiah wrote, pointing this man to Jesus and salvation. The results of this God-directed meeting was that the man declared, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” He asked to be baptized and after Philip did that for him, “he went on his way rejoicing.”

When I first read this, I was even more confused. I wanted God to speak to the curves, make sense of the perplexing events of the past few days, but He gave me this. I didn’t get it, at least not immediately. What opened my eyes was that line where God told Philip what to do and Philip did it without any understanding of what would come of it. The Holy Spirit knew what was going to happen.

The woman from my class who is not yet a believer, shared the power of Christ in leading her this far. She wants to belong to Him, to believe and be transformed. She sees Him at work in the lives of the Christians she knows, and it has great appeal to her. But beyond that, this woman is like the Ethiopian. She is from a foreign country, struggles to speak English, and yet comes to a place of worship, and reads her Bible every day. She joins us so she can hear and understand the meaning of what she reads. Her deepest desire is to know this amazing God that she sees at work in our lives and in hers.

Last night, after a rough day and a dozen assaults to my spiritual stability, I mentioned this woman’s testimony to a few who know her but had not heard it. One of them said, “She told me that the people in (her country of origin) need to hear this” meaning the truth about God and the good news that Jesus died for their sins.

I have no idea what will happen in the future, but as I think about this man in the chariot going back home, I get a picture of another person excited about her faith and eager to share Jesus Christ with the people of their homeland. Will she go back and tell them? The Holy Spirit knows.

As for the man, he may have done just that. During the early years of the church, Ethiopia was a dark place, but by the 4th century had become one of the first ‘Christian’ nations. Even after oppression by Marxism and other turmoil, Ethiopia still experiences spiritual growth and religious freedom.

It is not so in the homeland of the woman in my class, but God is at work. He could bring her to Himself here, disciple her to maturity, and send her back to tell them all that He is doing. The Holy Spirit knows.

I didn’t do much in all this. I just asked if anyone would like to speak. God moved her to share with us what He is doing, and it had a huge ripple effect on everyone who heard it. Our spiritual enemy cannot reverse that, but now I see that in his anger at what happened, he is busily lashing out and trying to stop me from praying for her (and everyone else) and ruin for me the joy of God’s grace and power.

I still need to deal with the curves that were tossed my direction, but I’m so glad that the Holy Spirit knows where they came from, and this time, let me in on it.