Listen to my conscience…

Now there were four men who were lepers at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die.” So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there. For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us.” So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, leaving the camp as it was, and fled for their lives. 
And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried off things from it and went and hid them. Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king’s household.” (2 Kings 7:3–20)

These four did just that. At first the king thought it was a trap to get his army out of the city where they would be vulnerable, but they discovered that the Syrians had left suddenly abandoning everything just as the lepers reported, so they plundered the abandoned camp. This had been predicted by Elisha who also said the gatekeeper would be trampled for saying God could not do this. He told that man, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate and he died.

I’ve heard people without faith say God cannot or will not meet all needs. Sadly, some who say they believe also pray as if they do not expect much in reply. What touches my heart in this account is that God spoke through the human greed of the lepers. They were outcasts in that society and skeptics, certain that no matter what they did, they would die. However, in their plundering at this unexpected miracle, God spoke and convinced them of their sin and to do the right thing; share the bounty with those who cast them out.

This is what should make Christians different. Love enemies. Do good to those who hate us. Be like Jesus when He said, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”
Sometimes others misunderstand me and I feel frustrated, even alienated. I need to remember these four, and most of all what Jesus said as His enemies drove in the nails. God not only protects me from the Syrians by driving them out of my life, He also wants me to meet the needs of those who leave me out of their lives.

Jesus, too often I get annoyed when misunderstood, or stared at as if I had three heads. The lepers did the right thing by listening to You speaking to their hearts and telling those who rejected them about the bounty You provided. Forgive me and fill me with Your grace that I can be less touchy and more loving.

Warned about Obedience?

Last week, Christian friends told us that a man in their social group wanted to share the gospel with their unsaved friends. They laughed, but were fearful that he would be ridiculed and suffer verbal persecution. I wondered about that conclusion. Maybe the Spirit was leading him and his listeners would be interested in having a personal relationship with Jesus? Or maybe not?

This morning I read of Paul telling his people that he was going to Jerusalem. His friends were not receptive to that plan:

While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ” When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.” (Acts 21:10–14)

In this case, the Holy Spirit did tell Agabus exactly what would happen, but it seems it was not to persuade Paul otherwise. Perhaps it was to prepare him?

When he arrived in Jerusalem, all the city was stirred up and seized Paul with the intent of killing him. The tribune in charge intervened and rescued him from the mob. When he found out that Paul was a Jew but also a citizen of a Roman city, he gave him permission to speak to the crowd. They listened until he said God was sending him to speak to the Gentiles. They became violent again and all were in an uproar.

The tribune was afraid and protected Paul. The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.”

So the plan formed to take this man under guard to the governor to settle the issue, but the Jews planned to attack him along the way. Paul’s nephew heard of ambush plans, went to his uncle, and Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.”

This leader beefed up the guards, wrote a letter to the governor describing who Paul was, and then sent both to Felix the governor. This leader said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.” And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod’s residence. 

Paul shared the gospel with his guards and anyone else he could. Eventually he arrived in Rome and was able to share God’s good news with boldness and without hindrance. (Acts 21:9–28:30)

The will of God is always accomplished, even if His people are nervous, warning those who dare obey when it could mean danger, or when the Holy Spirit says it definitely will mean danger. Jesus knew this too, but He said: “Not my will but thine be done” before He submitted to the cross. He could have called for protection, or walked out of His restraints, or turn sinners over to the wrath of His Father, but He didn’t. The Bible tells me to be like Jesus.

Others show how. Two examples are missionary John Paton who lost his wife and son to illness but continued the work of the gospel among the cannibalistic tribes of the New Hebrides. Elizabeth Elliot lost her husband to a different tribe in another place and she went there to win to Christ the very ones who put him to death. Many more have yielded their safety to God that His will might be done.

PRAY: O Lord, may the man who wants to share You with those he plays cards with have this kind of courage. His friends are not cannibals or murderers, yet even ordinary folks can shun those who love You. Or, depending on Your will, they could receive his words with open minds and receive You with open hearts. May Your will be done. And may all who hear about it, including me, be motivated to that same love and boldness for You and for those who will not survive that final judgment unless they hear and embrace Your good news and You.

 

Visit them. . . .

Today’s reading distresses me so much that writing about it is almost impossible. Piper’s book was written more than thirty years ago. Are these stats better now? Or worse? He says:

There are an estimated twelve million homeless children on the streets of Brazil. Their parents lost them in the crowds, put them out, died. However they got there, they are there. They beg, they steal, they sell their bodies. They eat garbage. Some policemen and others moonlight by contracting to kill street children so that they will not menace the city. In 1992 an average of four hundred of these children were killed monthly in Brazil. It’s the same in other big cities. The Philippine government estimates that there are fifteen thousand child prostitutes in Manila between the ages of nine and twelve. One estimate suggests that in Thailand there are eight hundred thousand girls between twelve and sixteen years old involved in prostitution.

Google AI says the numbers in Brazil are about 7 million homeless children, 250,000 to 1 million others in Manila, and at least 20,000 without hope and enslaved in Thailand’s major cities. Even if these numbers are exaggerated, what are God’s people doing about it? The Bible says:

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:27)

Physically visit them? I cannot do that for these shunned and hunted orphans. We have widows in our large complex that I can visit, yet my heart hurts to think of so many children in such dire straits. Our church points to organizations that target rescuing these kids. They include: Chain of Love and International Justice Mission, yet the most an average person can do is pray and send money. Prayer puts the burden in God's hands and money provides the resources needed. Both are better than nothing, yet the implication in the Word of God is to doing something more personal. Jesus would and can.

Unstained from the world seems not connected to visiting needy people. However, the world is defined in another passage:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15–17)

Summed up, loving the world is being so involved in what I can gain from life that I have no desire and no time nor reason for helping others have a life that matters. And isn’t that what God wills for me? For those kids?

PRAY: Father, my heart hurts. I can send money. I can visit a few widows. I try to keep worldly desires out of my motivations and actions. It seems so little compared to the size of this problem. I know You are powerful and merciful. What do you want from me in regard to this incredible need?

Is God calling for revival?

Numbers 30; Psalm 74; Isaiah 22; 2 Peter 3

Psalm 74 is an ancient model prayer for revival today. The psalmist asks why God has cast off His people and forgotten them. Their enemy has destroyed their sanctuary like those who swing their axes in a forest, and who burn everything to the ground. He laments there is no prophet to answer their questions or refute the scoffers. Then he reminds God of His great power and past accomplishments and asks Him to regard His covenant with them. He also asks that God be praised rather than allowing the uproar of the foolish to go against Him. He wants to see a change.

Isaiah 22 is a picture of the need for revival and the failure of God’s people to respond to His way of motivating it. They were invaded and without any control over what was happening to them. However, instead of turning to God, they did two things: Instead of weeping over their situation, they partied and lived it up. Instead of  in parties instead turning to God and His saving power they resorted to their own efforts to protect themselves. They knew God was judging them yet responded with, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” (vs. 13) They also did things to save themselves but “did not look to him who did it . . . .” (vs. 11). God called for weeping and mourning concerning their sin but because of their lack of response, He said, “Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for you until you die.” (vs.14).

With many preachers and ordinary Christians saying that this pandemic is God’s way of calling for revival. The world needs change but the focus is on giving His people opportunity to be what we are called to be. I easily see the similarities from these OT passages. We are doing much good, but there is a large segment of the church that has forgotten our calling. We are dismissed by thousands and do nothing when our Lord is mocked and His Word is dismissed. Far too many Christians are into ‘eat, drink and be merry’ and running our lives according to our own way rather than God’s way and in reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit.

As the Bible often does, God’s response is in the NT, even in 2 Peter 3, another of today’s readings. He reminds me of how the prophets said that “scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires” making fun of the Second Coming, of Creation, the Flood, His timing, and the fulfillment of His promises. God also reminds me . . .

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. (2 Peter 3:10)

After that warning, He challenges His church just as He challenged His people in the Psalms and the Prophets:

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Peter 3:11–18)

APPLY: Again, what I’m to do/be is a no-brainer. Early this morning, I read a prayer for today asking that I would grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and be victorious over temptations from the world, the flesh, and the devil, giving God the glory and not seeking it for myself. Revival is needed. The church needs it. The world needs it. I need it.

Support pastors . . .

Scandals involving moral issues with television preachers seem to have faded from the headlines, yet the dangers and temptations for pastors remain a threat. Those who lead large churches have opportunity to be side-tracked by a desire for greater power or financial success. Others may struggle with relationship issues. Since their task is difficult, burn-out can happen and the weakness of it can mean vulnerability in many areas.

Paul was aware of this when he wrote Timothy, a younger pastor. He was also aware of sinful tendencies in congregations and the fact that those same things can also tempt ordinary Christian people. He wrote:

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:1–5)

Pastors must focus on their task of proclaiming the Word of God, always ready to convict listeners of sin using forceful warnings if necessary, encouraging them to walk with Christ. They must patiently endure all sorts of resistance (including weekly emails of complaint about minor issues) as they teach God’s truth with focused faithfulness.

Paul warned about a time when people would opposes sound teaching. It started back then and is certainly an issue these days. Why do we have “name it and claim it” and other doctrines that appeal to human comfort and prosperity to the neglect of the Gospel? It is because this is what many people want to hear. They want a God who will make them healthy, wealthy and comfortable, not a God who uses suffering to build character, gives contentment even in poverty, and bids us go and tell the world of sin, righteousness and judgment and that they need salvation. Yes, the Gospel is good news, but not to those who have no desire to change or submit their lives to an unseen God.

In our many years of moving around and attending different churches, we have not experienced those who have totally gone off the rails. Most of them still use the Bible and still talk about sin and salvation. However, the itching ears are evident. People in the pews want pastors who make them feel good about themselves, not those who convict them of sin and their need for Jesus.

This puts pressure on church leaders. They are to be free from ordinary desires that would draw them away from their primary focus. They must endure the pain of being unpopular with many and stick to the work of telling others about sin and salvation. They must fully accomplish the role God has given them — not an easy task.

How do I apply this? Pray for pastors. Ask God to protect them from temptation. Pray for grace to do their work with joy, enthusiasm, and faithful dedication. Tell them how their messages are blessing my life and helping me in my walk with Christ. Tell others the same thing, particularly those prone to having ‘roast preacher’ for Sunday dinner. And be thankful to God for their faith and the perseverance He gives.

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Lord, there are a host of reasons to support my pastors. There are also a host of temptations that endanger them and therefore entire congregations and Your work in our communities. Bless me with wisdom and with a supportive and encouraging attitude. Criticism is cheap and easy to come by. Words of support and thankfulness go a long way. Keep me alert and part of the solution, never on the destructive side of a pastor’s struggle.

Today’s thankful list . . .

A rich time of prayer with others.

Shopping success for two great grand kids who love drawing and cats.

Safety driving in scary traffic.

Fixing my google account without having to change my password again.

My hubby is healing.

An incredible fall day, warm, sunny and lots of green still in the trees.

Normal Christianity

An author and prayer warrior wrote that many Christians live ordinary lives to the point that when someone starts living as the Bible says, they call that person a super-saint. That is, the sub-normal look at what is normal and think it is above normal!

Tozer puts it this way: “A church can go on holding the creed and the truth for generations and grow old. New people can follow and receive that same code and also grow old. Then some revivalist comes in and fires his guns and gets everybody stirred, and prayer moves God down on the scene and revival comes to that church.”

He adds that revival is when people who thought they were saved get saved and those who had believed only in a code become believers in Christ. This is normal, what Christianity is supposed to be.

Sometimes I’ve read the book of Acts and seen it as a superior form of Christian life, yet there are Christians now who live in the same way as then . . .

“And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:29–31)

A retired missionary turned writer tells of his work in South America. He was involved with a people group that received him eagerly, wanted to learn to read, helped him in translation work to produce Bibles in their language, and quickly accepted Christ and formed a growing church.

That seemed normal, but when others in that area told of the resistance they encountered with other tribes, he wondered what caused the easy success in his ministry. Then he got a letter from a man who told of meeting this tribe many years ago. He had learned their tribal name but had no communication because they had no common language. The tribe seemed a hostile group, so there was no follow-up either, except this man began to pray for them. He started ten years before my retired friend was born, then and prayed for decades without knowing anything that was happening with this people group. He was praying in the dark. And God answered.

The faithfulness of God to hear and answer prayer is sometimes astonishing. Should it be a surprise? Or should this be a normal thing? As I read Acts, my heart says the reason we don’t see or experience such amazing things is “we have not because we ask not.” Or we have not because we obey not.

Does today’s average Christian pray for boldness to speak God’s Word? Do I? Do we give the Holy Spirit His main tool for opening hearts and giving people a reason for the faith we have? Do I?

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Jesus, I love the praying missionary’s story because it encourages me to keep praying, even ‘in the dark’ without knowing or seeing any answers. But I also love and am challenged by the retired missionary’s story because he was willing to go to needy people and share the Word of God with them, not knowing that God had been at work for years, preparing them to hear it and respond with joy! As Tozer says, “Where the Word of God is, there is fuel, and the fire falls and burns up the sacrifice.”