Stop Seeking Heaven

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Over the past several months, I’ve thought a lot about how much the church talks about heaven. A lot of our songs are about heaven. Pastors preach about heaven. When we evangelize, we focus on helping people find their way to heaven. We talk about the pearly gates, the streets of gold, the peace and joy we will experience, and that God will wipe away every tear. And we can’t wait until we get there!

However, I noticed that people talked about the place called heaven, but there was little mention of the God of heaven. There is an emphasis on being saved to spend eternity in heaven, but very little is mentioned about spending that eternal life with God. It seems that we have separated heaven from God. A. W. Tozer wrote in his book, The Pursuit of God, “Christ may be ‘received’ without creating any special love for Him in the soul of the receiver. The man is ‘saved,’ but he is not hungry nor thirsty after God. In fact he is specifically taught to be satisfied and encouraged to be content with little.”[1]

I liken this to going to an Airbnb. About every three years, we get together with our boys and their families for a large family vacation. We found that it worked well for us to rent a large home where we had plenty of room to sleep, relax, eat, and visit. And, everywhere we stayed, we always enjoyed the PLACE but never met the PERSON who owned the place. In the same way, we may be guilty, as Tozer says, of receiving salvation and looking forward to going to the PLACE called heaven but have not developed a special love for the PERSON of God.

And I have concluded that our focus is on the wrong thing for we cannot truly experience heaven without having a relationship with God. There is no heaven without God. We cannot separate the two. It is only in the Presence of God that we can experience the blessings and joy of heaven. It is only when we hunger and thirst for Him that heaven becomes a reality not only in the future but even here and now.

Therefore, I want to challenge you (and myself) to stop seeking the place of heaven and begin seeking the God of heaven. Ask the Holy Spirit to stir your heart to hunger and thirst for Him and the closer you grow in your relationship with Him, the more of heaven you will experience in your life.

[1] Tozer, A. W. 2013. The Pursuit of God. Minneapolis, MN. Bethany House: 23.

Servant or Friend

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Our church has been reading through the Bible together and I noticed something interesting in the first four verses when we recently read through the book of 1 John. John begins his letter by writing:

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.”

Do you notice how much he talks about his “experience” with Christ? He mentions several times how they saw him, looked upon him, touched him, and how Jesus, who was with the Father, was made manifest to them and now they can have fellowship with the Father through him. And, because of what he experienced, he can now honestly and authoritatively proclaim the truth of eternal life.

I believe the point John was making is that his message of salvation and eternal life is not just theory or religious ideals that may not be different from any other religious teachings. He is stating that his message instead comes from a true life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ. John is making a distinction between religion and a relationship.

John emphasizes this difference several times in his letter when he says, “If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 John 1:6). Also, “If anyone claims to be in the light but hates his brother, he is still in the darkness” (1 John 2:9). Or “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20).

In short, John is saying that a true follower of Jesus Christ is not merely one who says he is or who performs religious activities or duties. Instead, a true follower of Jesus Christ is one who had a tangible encounter with Jesus that brought about a real transformation in his life. We could even add that, in the verses listed above, John states that if there is no transformation in the person’s life, there is no real relationship with Christ.

Of course, this is God’s desire for each of us. He does not want us just to know ABOUT Him: to obtain information about Him and then try to live out that knowledge in our lives through “good works” in our own strength. This is what all other religions focus on. Instead, God wants us to KNOW Him intimately. He wants us to have such a deep relationship with Him that we can hear His heart, experience His Presence and love, and know His will for our lives. In other words, we can have an encounter with Jesus Christ similar to what John was referring to in this letter. And it is through these encounters that our lives are transformed.

Jesus alludes to this in John 15:15 when He tells His disciples, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you” (ESV). The Greek word for servant used here is doulos which means someone in bondage, a slave who is obedient but does not have any rights or will of their own. They just do what they are told to do. The word for friend, though, is philos which refers to an acquaintance, a beloved associate or trusted confidant, someone who is held in a close bond of personal affection, a companion.

Jesus is saying that the disciples’ relationship with Him is moving from a slave where they just do what they are told to do without knowing or understanding the reason for it, to one of a close friend: a companion with whom He shares His thoughts and desires. Even as a friend, though, we are still required to obey His commands (John 15:14). The difference, however, is that as a servant we obey out of duty or obligation, while as a friend, we know the Master’s heart and we obey out of love for Him. The picture presented here is that the servant represents religion—those who have information about God and obey Him out of duty. The friend, on the other hand, has had an encounter with God and experienced His love and grace. His life is being transformed and he obeys God’s commands because he loves God and because of the transformation that is taking place in his life.

 So, the question is, how can we move from being a servant to becoming a friend of God? I would recommend two things: First, follow God’s advice in Ps. 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” When you pray, don’t do all the talking. Set some time aside to just be still. Quiet your heart and mind and allow the Spirit of God to speak to you. You’ll be amazed how much God wants to share His heart with you.

Second, allow Him to fill you more with the Holy Spirit. In John 16:13-15, Jesus teaches us that the Holy Spirit will reveal Jesus to us and guide us into a deeper understanding of the truth. This is connected to the first point of being still in our prayer time. When we quiet our hearts before God, we are allowing His Holy Spirit to “saturate” us like a tea bag in water. The more time we spend in His presence, the more His Spirit works in us and transforms us more and more into His image. We become like Him as we build that relationship with Him.

So, which one are you? Are you a servant or a friend? Are you religious or are you in a relationship? Are you merely saying that you are a follower of Jesus, or have you had a real encounter with Him that has transformed your life? If you conclude that you are more a servant than a friend, I encourage you to “Be still” and allow the Holy Spirit to bring you into a true experience with the glory of God.

Pray and Don’t Give Up

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If I were to ask, “What is the least attended meeting in the church?”, I’m sure that most of us would immediately identify the prayer meeting. If we were to ask again why that is so, there would be many reasons and excuses. However, I believe David Wells, in his article Prayer: Rebelling Against the Status Quo, states it best when he says that we don’t pray because “…we don’t believe prayer will make any difference.”

He adds that because we feel we are powerless to change anything, even through our prayers, we resign ourselves to the “status quo.” We accept the situation as it is, and we must learn to live with it. According to Wells, “This resignation to what is abnormal contains a hidden, unrecognized assumption that God’s power to change the world, to overcome Evil with Good, will not be actualized.” In other words, not only do we feel that our prayers are ineffective, but we even subconsciously believe that God isn’t going to do anything about it anyway.

How do we change this? I believe we need to develop a better understanding of what prayer is and our role in God’s plan. First, we need to understand that God is not an unwilling tyrant with whom we must plead and beg to take care of our needs. To illustrate this, Jesus spoke a parable about a widow who sought justice from a godless judge as recorded in Luke 18.

At first, the judge would not listen to her, but through her persistence, the judge finally relented and gave her the justice she desired. At the end of the parable, Jesus said, “And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily” (7-8 ESV). In this parable, Jesus says God is the total opposite of this godless and stingy judge. God wants to minister to those who cry out to Him and He will do so “speedily”—without hesitation. If that’s true, then why don’t we see our prayers answered? I think it is because we are not doing what the widow did. We are not praying with persistence.

One problem in the Western world today is that we have become used to instant gratification. Since the microwave, the internet, and a host of other inventions that provide quick service, we have a hard time waiting. Therefore, when we don’t see immediate results with our prayers, it is easy for us to give up and stop praying. You may have even been taught that we should only pray once for a need, then just praise God for the answer and confess that you have received it. And, if we pray repeatedly for the same need, we are showing a lack of faith.

I believe, however, that the Bible teaches just the opposite—that we are to pray persistently until we receive an answer. Luke notes that the reason Jesus used the parable of the widow was to teach them to “always pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). Jesus even concluded the parable by asking “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” He connected her persistence to faith.

There are other examples of persistence in the Bible: Jacob wrestled with the angel and would not give up until he received a blessing (Gen. 32:24-29), Elijah prayed seven times until the rain came (1 Kings 18:41-46), Daniel prayed and fasted for three weeks to understand a vision before he received an answer (Dan. 10:1-14), the blind beggar continued to cry out to Jesus until He turned to answer his prayers (Luke 18:35-43), Paul prayed three times for God to remove the thorn in his flesh—he only stopped when God said “no” (2 Cor. 12:7-9), and even Jesus prayed three times in the garden of Gethsemane as He surrendered His will to the Father’s (Matt. 26:37-46).

The point is that we should continually pray until we receive the answer because we don’t know what God is doing behind the scenes. One reason we don’t receive an immediate answer is that God may need to prepare the soil (Matt. 13:18-23) beforehand. He may need to work on the hearts of the other people involved, work out all the necessary details, or wait until the time is right for the miracle to happen. He may even need to work in your heart before you are ready to receive the answer.

This is where faith comes in with our persistent prayers. As we fervently and persistently pray, we are doing so with the confidence that God is working. We may not see what He is doing, but we know, by faith, that He is working and setting the stage to do a miracle, and we will continue to pray until everything is ready for the answer to come.

This brings us to another thing we need to understand about prayer: prayer is the tool with which we can work with God to fulfill His purpose on earth. Even though God is sovereign, all-powerful, and can do whatever He wants whenever He wants, He has chosen to work with man to accomplish His will (see Ezek. 22:30-31).

This is perfectly illustrated by Elijah in 1 Kings 18. In verse one, we read that God told Elijah that, after a three-year drought, He was going to make it rain. Following his encounter with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, Elijah then began to pray for rain (41-46). Elijah bent down on the ground and put his head between his knees to pray. Some commentators say that this is the position women took when they were giving birth. In other words, Elijah was fervently (passionately) praying (James 5:17) until God birthed the miracle through him. God could have just sent the rain on his own, but He chose to work through Elijah’s prayers to bring the miracle to pass.

In summary, prayer is not begging God or trying to convince Him to meet a need. Instead, it is joining our will to God’s will and persistently praying until God begins to “birth” the miracle in us. Then, through our fervent and continuous prayers, God works behind the scenes preparing everyone and every detail until the time is right for the miracle to take place. Don’t give up! Don’t stop praying because we know that “The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail” (James 5:16b). Pray until the job is completed!

Wells, David. 2014. “Prayer: Rebelling Against the Status Quo.” In Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, 4th ed. edited by Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne, 159-162. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library.  

Live Out Your Love

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In Matthew 22:34-40, one of the Pharisees, an expert in the law, tested Jesus by asking Him what the greatest commandment was in all the Law. Jesus responded by quoting Deut. 6:5 which says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Jesus then added Leviticus 19:18, “Love your neighbor as yourself” as the second greatest commandment stating that these two commandments form the foundation for all the Law and the Prophets.

Jesus did not randomly select these verses. The passage in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 is one that every Jew would have memorized from early childhood. It is called the Shema and is an important prayer Jewish people would have prayed every morning and every evening: and still do. The prayer begins with “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (Deut. 6:4). The first word Hear is the Hebrew word Shema from which the prayer gets its name. However, Shema means more than taking in sound through our ears. It includes the idea of acting upon what is heard. Therefore, God was not just telling Israel to listen and pay attention. He was telling them to act upon what they hear and obey His words. He was telling them to be doers of His word and not hearers only (James 1:22).

This is also true of many Hebrew verbs: they are not merely mental activities but encompass action as well. For example, when the Bible tells us to believe or have faith in God, it means more than mentally acknowledging certain facts or information about God. It includes believing in God enough that we are willing to put our faith into action and obey what He tells us to do as when Noah built the ark at God’s command because he believed Him.

The word love is another example. We often think of love as an emotion: having good feelings towards someone. But, although love can involve our emotions, it is better to see it as an act of kindness. We love someone when we do loving things for them. Therefore, when God commands us to love our enemies, He is not telling us to develop an emotional attraction for them. Instead, He is telling us to do acts of love for them even if we don’t feel loving towards them. We’ll discuss this more later.

The next key word in the prayer is the word Echad which is often used to mean “one” in the sense of singular. Therefore, the common translation of the phrase is, “The LORD our God, the LORD is one” meaning that there is only one God as compared to the many gods of the other cultures. This would, then, be a statement of belief: that we believe in only one God and He is Jehovah. However, another way the word Echad can be translated is “alone” which would change the phrase to “The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.” Lois Tverberg, in her book, Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus, states that this translation is becoming widely used and that scholars believe that this is more likely the original sense of the word Echad. If this is true, then this would change the purpose of the Shema. Instead of being a command to adhere to a particular belief about monotheism, it is calling the person to pledge allegiance to God. It is a twice-daily recommitment to worship and serve God and God alone.

Following the command to hear God’s word and obey it, and to recommit ourselves to worship and serve God alone, we are commanded to love God. Remember, the word love in Hebrew involves more than emotion. After all, how can you command someone to love someone else? You can’t. Therefore, the command is not to develop loving feelings towards God but to demonstrate our love to God through the way we live. Let’s look at how this works.

First, God is commanding us to love Him with all our heart. We usually think of the heart as the seat of our emotions, which is why we view love as an emotional feeling. But in Hebrew, the word for heart (levav) also includes one’s mind and thoughts. This is why God says in verse six, “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts”. This also fits with verse eight where God says, “Tie them (His commands) as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.” In other words, all our thoughts and all our actions are centered on the Word of God. Therefore, we demonstrate our love for God by constantly meditating on His word and using it to guide our actions by “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”. (2 Cor. 10:5)

Next, we are to love God with all our soul. The word for soul is Nephesh which means life or being, the part of us that exists while we have breath. Tverberg states that “the Jewish interpretation of this line is that you are to love the Lord with all of your life, meaning with every moment throughout your life” (2012, 48). Therefore, we demonstrate our love for God by giving Him every moment of our life as long as we have breath, and not just a few moments a week or when it is convenient.

 Finally, we are commanded to love God with all our strength. The word used here is Meod, and has nothing to do with power, might, or strength. The word means muchness, abundance, or very. According to the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, it expresses the idea of magnitude or degree. It is a common adverb used to intensify adjectives such as when someone says they are very well. It is the word used in Gen. 1:31 when God says that His creation is “very good”.

So, how does this apply to loving God? Randall Buth, a Hebrew scholar, reads this phrase as saying that we are to love God with all our oomph (Tverberg 2012, 51)! In other words, we demonstrate our love for God by loving Him heartily, earnestly, with much zeal, with every fiber of our being, and with everything we’ve got! Maybe as David did when he brought the ark into Jerusalem and he “danced with all his might before the LORD” (2 Sam. 6:14).

In summary, when God commands us to love Him, He is not commanding us to have warm, fuzzy feelings towards Him. He is commanding us to demonstrate our love to Him by hearing His words and obeying them, by committing our lives to Him and Him alone, by bringing all our thoughts and actions into submission to His word, by worshipping and serving Him as long as we have breath, and by serving Him heartily and zealously. In other words, if we love Him, we will obey His commandments (John 14:15).

Based on the Shema in Deut. 6:4-5, I’ve put together my version of the prayer. LORD, I hear Your words and I will obey them. I recognize that You are the LORD, and I commit myself to You alone. I will demonstrate my love to You by submitting my thoughts, my will, and my actions to Your will. I will love You by dedicating every part of my life to You as long as I have breath. And I will love you heartily: with all my “oomph!”

Tverberg, Lois. 2012. Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewish Words of Jesus Can Change Your Life. Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Do You Fear God or Are You Afraid of Him?

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The Bible talks a lot about the fear of God, but I would guess that most of us don’t understand what it means. Usually, when we hear the word fear we think of being terrified of something. Therefore, since we don’t want people to think that they should be afraid of God, we soften the word and say that the fear of the Lord only means that we should be in awe of Him and revere Him.

However, the word used for “fear” in both the Greek (phobeo) and Hebrew (yirah) can mean to have a fear or dread, to be terrified, or to be in awe and show reverence. So, the question is, does the fear of the Lord mean only to revere God or does it include dread and terror? Of course, many books and articles deal with this subject at length, and it is not my intention to delve into the subject that deeply here. I do, however, want to present some thoughts on the fear of the Lord that might help bring some clarity.

First, let’s begin with Exodus 20:18-21. In this passage, God had just revealed Himself to Israel on Mt. Sinai with thunder, lightning, trumpet soundings, smoke, and verbally giving the Ten Commandments. The people’s response is that they “trembled and stood afar off” (verse 18). They also told Moses to not let God speak to them again because they did not want to die (verse 19). Moses’ response was “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin” (verse 20). Here, Moses is saying that God does not want them to be afraid of Him, but He wants them to fear Him, and he uses a form of the same word (yirah) in both instances. What is the difference? How can we tell if we are afraid of God or if we fear Him? One way we can tell is by looking at the responses of Moses and Israel to God’s presence on Sinai.

Israel, because they were afraid of God, drew back from the presence of God because they were afraid of dying. Their focus was on “What will happen to me?” so they didn’t want to go any further with God. Moses, on the other hand, drew closer to God (verse 21). His desire was to experience more of God’s presence and was not concerned about his own life (see Ex. 33: 12-23). A person who is afraid of God is not concerned about growing closer to God but only about what will happen to him, but one who fears the Lord will hunger for more of God’s presence.

Second, in Isaiah 6:1-7, Isaiah had a vision of the Lord on His throne. He saw the glory of God and the angels crying, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” Isaiah’s response was one of humility and repentance. He cried out “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips…” His experience in the holy presence of God made him aware of his sinfulness and he repented and was cleansed (verses 6-7).

Compare this with what Jesus says in John 3:16-21. Here, Jesus talks about God sending Jesus as a light into the world to save the world. However, some do not receive the light because they love their sin more than they love the light and they don’t want their sin to be exposed (verse 19-20). A person who is afraid of God, then, does not want to grow closer to God because they don’t want to give up their sins, while a person who fears God is willing to humble themselves and repent whenever the light of God’s presence exposes their sin because they love God more then they love their sin.

Finally, let’s consider Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10:1-3. God gave Aaron specific instructions about the altar of incense (Ex. 30:1-10). The altar of incense was to be dedicated for incense only and not for any other offerings (Ex. 30:9), and the fire for the incense was to be taken from the altar of burnt offering outside the sanctuary (Lev. 16:12). Nadab and Abihu, however, did not follow God’s direction but used unauthorized fire for the incense. Because they did not revere God enough to follow His directions, fire from the Lord came down and consumed them. God responded by saying that anyone who comes near Him must regard Him as holy and He must be glorified before all the people (Lev. 10:3).

We see a similar situation in Acts 5:1-11 when Ananias and Sapphira sold some of their property to give the money to the apostles to be used for the needy. However, they kept back part of the money for themselves and lied about the amount that they received for the land (verse 3). Again, just as with Nadab and Abihu, Ananias and Sapphira did not recognize how awesome and majestic God is nor value Him enough to treat Him with the honor and respect He deserves that they thought nothing of lying to Him. They devalued Him and did not take sin or God’s judgment seriously.

Wouldn’t doing this mean, though, that they were not afraid of God because they were not afraid of what He would do to them? Actually, this is a result of being afraid of God. When a person is afraid of God, they don’t want to face who He truly is. They don’t want to face His power because it is far more than they could imagine, and it frightens them. They don’t want to face His holiness because they don’t want their sins to be exposed. They don’t want to face His righteousness and judgment because they would have to obey Him and could not do what they wanted to do. Therefore, because they are afraid of who God really is, they create a milder, less powerful, less threatening god. Their focus is on saving themselves. A person who fears God, though, has had an encounter with the glory and holiness of God and, instead of backing away, they hunger for more of His presence. They allow His holiness to expose any sin that would hinder them from growing closer to Him, and they humbly confess those sins allowing Him to cleanse them. They also recognize His power and majesty and give Him the honor and reverence He deserves through their praise and obedience. Their focus is on knowing God and glorifying Him.

According To Your Bend

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On our Saturday evening Bible Study, we have been watching the videos from the Walking the Text Teaching Series with Brad Gray. In one of the recent videos, Brad Gray taught from Prov. 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” He brought out some interesting points in the lesson that I want to share with you.

First, Gray clarified a possible misconception about Proverbs that many people may have. He mentioned that Proverbs are not promises. Instead, they are wisdom statements that, if we follow them, we can expect a certain outcome, but we cannot guarantee they will happen. For instance, if we are wise and follow God’s commandments (instructions), we should experience peace, blessings, and a good life. If, however, we are foolish, lazy, or mean, we can expect a life that is not so pleasant or blessed. The Proverbs are just good advice that directs us to be wise in the decisions we make and not foolish.

This is also true with this proverb about training our children. I have heard many people claim this as a promise. If we train our sons or daughters in the things of God, even if they stray from the Lord, we have the promise that our child will one day return to God. However, as mentioned above, this is a wisdom statement, not a promise. It is not something that we can stand on as a guarantee.

However, Gray did provide a way of understanding this proverb that will help us apply it to our lives more effectively. He mentioned two levels of interpretation of the proverb. The first level is a general application. This is the overall goal of teaching all our children the ways of God: teaching them about His love, how to understand His grace and salvation, teaching them how to read and study the Bible, and how to pray. If we are faithful in leading them into a relationship with Jesus Christ through our teaching and our example, there is a good chance that they will not stray from that path.

The second level of interpretation Gray mentions comes from a closer look at the phrase, “in the way he should go” (emphasis mine). The Hebrew word for “way” means manner, road, conduct, or course. The phrase, then, could be translated as “train up a child according to his manner or course”. I’ve even heard it stated that we should train a child “according to his bend”, i.e., the way he “leans” or is inclined based upon his character or personality.

The point Gray is making is that each child is different. Each one has his own personality, giftings, talents, and ways in which he responds to correction or instruction. Therefore, even though there is a general direction we want all our children to take regarding the things of God, we must understand the differences of each child and make the adjustments necessary to fit their individual needs.

It requires a lot more work, but it is important that we realize that a “cookie-cutter” method of training our children does not work. Each child will respond to the gospel message and God’s love and correction in different ways. They will worship the Lord differently, they will understand Scripture differently, and they will express their love and service to the Lord differently. As parents, we must take the time to understand each child’s personality and character and adjust our training to fit the path that they are walking as they follow Jesus.

In our discussion about the lesson, our Bible Study group mentioned that this would be a good concept to remember when dealing with other members of the Body of Christ. It is important to recognize that we are all different. Our personalities, character, and giftings will influence how we respond to God. Some can be more emotional in their worship and prayer time, while others are more reserved. Some are deep thinkers and love to delve into the difficult aspects of theology while others are not. Some are more spiritually mature while others are not as far along in their walk with the Lord. And some appear to be more in tune with the spirit realm than others.

The point is that we are all different and we are all at different levels in our walk with the Lord. If we could fully understand this and apply it to our relationships with our brothers and sisters in the Lord, it might help us extend more grace and mercy towards each other—and maybe even help avoid conflicts in the church.

If you would like to watch Brad Gray’s teaching on Proverbs 22:6, follow the link below to Walking the Text Teaching Series Episode #75.

Episode 075 – Everyone’s Unique Path

Encamped at Gilgal?

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Our church is reading through the Bible together, and as we were reading through the book of Joshua, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before. Joshua 4 and 5 relate the story of Israel crossing the Jordan and camping at Gilgal. Once they made camp three things happened. God instructed Joshua to circumcise all the males who had not been circumcised since they left Egypt (Joshua 5:2-9), they celebrated Passover for the first time since leaving Egypt (Joshua 5:10-12), and Joshua had the encounter with the man with the sword (Joshua 5:13-15).

I had read this passage many times before, but I noticed something this time. When the first generation of Israelites left Mt. Sinai and were about to enter Canaan, the Promised Land, God was leading them from the south from Kadesh Barnea (Num. 13:26) through the Desert of Zin (Num. 13:21) and entering on the west side of the Salt Sea. Now, after forty years and with a new generation, why was God leading them in from the east side where they had to cross the Jordan River?

The reason goes back to the experiences of the first generation. The first generation went through the Red Sea which was symbolic of their dying to their old life of bondage and resurrecting to a new life from God. It was their baptism. They had all been circumcised and entered a covenant relationship with God, and they had demonstrated their faith in God by coming under the blood of the Passover lamb when the death angel passed through the land (Ex. 12:1-13). This generation, however, failed to trust God to enter the Promised Land, and God, therefore, punished them by having them wander in the wilderness for forty years until this entire generation died (Num. 14:20-35).

The second generation, though, who were born during their forty years in the desert had not experienced any of these things mentioned above. Therefore, they could not receive the promise of God through their father’s experience, but they had to have their own encounter with God. They had to cross the Jordan River so they could have their own baptism of dying to the old life and being raised to a new life in God. They also had to be circumcised so they could enter their own personal covenant with God. And, celebrating the Passover reminded them of what God did to deliver them from their bondage in Egypt, but it also connected them by faith to the saving blood of the Passover lamb.

What was necessary for this generation of Israelites is true for us today. Each individual and each generation must have their own encounters with God. They cannot rely on the faith of their parents or grandparents to save them. Everyone must personally apply the blood of the Passover Lamb of God to their own heart to be saved (1 Peter 1:18-21), be baptized into a new life in Christ (Rom. 6:1-7), and put off the old nature by being circumcised in the heart (Col. 2:11). Only then can they experience the promised blessings of God’s salvation.

One other thing. Israel could not just camp at Gilgal and say, “We are in the promised land, so we’ll just stay here. This is enough”. No, Gilgal was only the beginning. God had much more for them, but they had to go further. They had to engage in many battles, drive out the inhabitants, and possess the land God had promised them with God’s help. The promise was theirs, but they had to work to receive it.

Likewise, today I have known many Christians who are content with just camping at Gilgal. They are saved (crossed the Jordan) and committed to the Lord (circumcised in the heart). But, for whatever reason, they have no desire to go any further in their walk with the Lord. We need to understand, though, that Gilgal (salvation) is not the end but only the beginning. God has much more for us than we can possibly imagine. There is a spiritual abundance that He has promised us (John 10:10), however, like Israel, we must fight for it.

Paul says in Phil. 2:12-13 to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”.  He is not saying to work for our salvation, but to work out our salvation—to discipline ourselves to grow deeper in our walk with God so we can experience all that He has for us. We must fight the battles against laziness, complacency, distractions, and even attacks from our spiritual enemy that hinder us and entice us to remain in Gilgal. We need a passionate heart that cries out for more of God’s Presence as Moses cried, “Lord, show me your glory” (Ex. 33:18). But we can’t do any of this in our own ability. Paul goes on to say in verse 13 that it is God who works in us to have the desire and the ability to do His will. He has more for us, and He wants to help us possess it. One final question for you to consider. Where are you? Are you passionately seeking God and disciplining yourself to possess all He has for you? Or are you content to remain in Gilgal? Or maybe you haven’t even crossed the Jordan River and entered a salvation experience with the Lord. Regardless of where you are, just keep in mind that God has more for you. It is yours if you want it. All you have to do is ask Him to give you the desire and the ability to receive it.

Presence or Presents?

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When reading in the book of Exodus about God’s deliverance of Israel out of Egypt and bringing them to Mt. Sinai, have you ever wondered why He took them to Sinai? If His goal was to take Israel to the Promised Land, the most direct way was along the northern route which is actually a trade route. It would have been the route the caravan would have taken when they brought Joseph to Egypt to sell him. And, it would have been the route Jacob’s sons would have used when they went to Egypt to buy grain during the famine. So, if it was the easier route, then why did God bring Israel on a several-day journey out of the way to this remote mountain?

The answer can be found in Exodus 19:4 when God said to Moses “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself” (emphasis mine). This was the same mountain where Moses had the encounter with God at the burning bush, and where God revealed Himself to Moses. I believe it was God’s intention to bring the entire nation of Israel to this mountain so that they could have a similar encounter with God. He wanted them all to go up the mountain into the Presence of God as Moses did (Deut. 5:5) so He could put His Spirit and His laws in their heart (Jer. 31:31-34).

However, what happened when God did appear on the mountain and give them the Ten Commandments? Instead of drawing near to God, they ran back in fear (Ex. 20:18-21). Instead of hearing from God directly, they told Moses to speak to God, tell them what He says, and they will do it. Therefore, God had to engrave His laws on stone tablets because they would not allow Him to engrave them in their heart.

Now, as we read the rest of Israel’s story in the wilderness, we can see a difference between Moses and the people. Moses often went into the Presence of God and spoke with God face-to-face (Ex. 33:8-11). Israel remained at a distance from God and received His word second-hand from Moses. Moses reflected the glory of God (Ex. 34:29-35), while the people did not experience His glory. Moses longed for more of the Presence of God (Ex. 33:15-18), while the people longed to go back to Egypt (Num. 11:5). Moses was obedient, while Israel struggled with sin and idolatry. Moses trusted God, while Israel doubted God (Num. 14:1-12). And Moses was a friend of God (Ex. 33:5,11), while Israel was a stiff-necked people always complaining.

Moses and Israel traveled the same path, experienced the same problems, faced the same enemies, and received the same blessings from God but their responses were different. Why? What was the difference? The difference was the Presence of God.

Unfortunately, we see the same scenario in our churches today. There are many who, like Moses, desire to enter God’s Presence and have a personal, life-changing encounter with God. They desire to hear His voice first-hand and long to experience more of His glory. However, I believe most Christians are more like Israel. They are content to remain at a distance and hear God’s Word second-hand from their pastor or other ministers resulting in churches filled with people who struggle with sin, doubt, disobedience, selfishness, spiritual weakness, and complaining. This is also why most of our churches lack the power and anointing of God to touch lives and impact their communities—they are missing the Presence of God.

I believe part of the problem is that we have been taught to hear God’s Word from the “anointed professionals”, and we have not been encouraged to spend time in God’s Presence and allow Him to speak to us directly. We have also developed the mindset that so long as we have God’s blessing, His protection, His provision–His “presents”, we are doing alright spiritually and have need of nothing else.

But remember that this is what God offered to Moses. In Exodus 33, God told Moses that he was to lead Israel from Mt. Sinai and take them to the Promised Land. God would send His angel before them to lead them, protect them, and drive out their enemies, but His Presence would not go with them (Ex. 33:1-3). Moses, however, said that he would rather stay in the desert with God’s Presence than go to the Promised Land of blessing without His Presence (Ex. 33:15). He wanted God’s Presence, not His presents.

I want to challenge you with this. Carefully and honestly look at your life. Are you more like Moses or Israel? Who do you want to be like? If you want to move beyond just receiving God’s presents and experiencing more of His Presence, it will require commitment and determination on your part. You will need to follow Moses’ example and dedicate time alone with God (Ex. 33:7-11), ask Him to show you His glory (Ex. 33:18), then be quiet and allow Him to speak to you and reveal Himself to you (Ps. 46:10). God desires for us to have an intimate relationship with Him so if we will take the initiative to seek Him, He will respond (James 4:8).

I have often said that you can have as much of the Presence of God in your life as you want. And you already do. The choice is yours.

Why Are You a Christian?

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Our church has been reading through the Bible together this year, and as we read through the Book of Numbers, I couldn’t help but think how blessed the nation of Israel was. Numbers 10:33-34 says, “So they set out from the mountain of the Lord and traveled for three days. The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them during those three days to find them a place to rest. The cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out from the camp.” Imagine having a visible Presence of God in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night leading you as you travel (Num. 9:15-23).

The Lord also provided manna every morning during their forty-year journey (Ex. 16:13-21). He miraculously brought water out of a rock (Ex. 17:1-7) when they were thirsty. Their shoes and clothes never wore out (Deut. 29:5), and God gave them victory over all their enemies (Ex. 17:8-16; Deut. 20:1-4). When one considers all that God did for Israel, one would think that they would be grateful and respond to Him with love, appreciation, and obedience.

However, as we read through the books of Moses (Genesis through Deuteronomy), we see that Israel was not grateful at all. Instead, they were constantly complaining. They complained about the manna God was miraculously providing every morning stating that they longed for the food they had in Egypt (Num. 11:4-6). They constantly complained about the lack of water (Num. 20:2-5). And, they complained about the leadership: Miriam and Aaron felt Moses was too prideful and that God could speak through them also (Num. 12:1-4). Korah desired Aaron’s position (Num. 16:1-3, 8-11). And Dathan and Abiram felt that Moses made promises that he wasn’t fulfilling. Their expectations were not being met (Num. 16:12-14).

What was the reason for all the complaining instead of being grateful for all God had done for them? I believe it was a lack of trust. Their relationship with God was second-hand with Moses as the mediator (Ex. 20:18-19; Deut. 5:5, 23-27). As a result, they did not know God intimately and they were not able to build a relationship of trust as Moses had. They only saw God as the One to rescue them from their problems, take care of them, meet their needs, and bring them into a better place. In other words, they followed God, not because they wanted to be with Him as Moses did (Ex. 33:1-3, 12-16), but only because they thought He could make their lives better. But, when those needs were not being met as they felt they should be, or their expectations were not being met, they questioned God and began to complain about the job He was doing. Many of them even gave up and wanted to return to their former life of slavery back in Egypt.

This brings up the question that I posted in the title of this article. Why are you a Christian? Are you, like Israel, following God only because you were told that He can save you from your problems, take care of you, and bring you to a better place? Or do you follow Him, as Moses did, because you want to be with Him whether you receive any blessings from Him or not? You see if we are only following God for what He can do for us, then it is easy to fall into the trap of grumbling and complaining when His performance does not match our expectations. We can even feel that following God is not worth it and decide to return to our old life. However, if our desire is to be in His Presence, then it doesn’t matter what happens to us so long as we are with Him.

In Exodus 33, God told Moses to take the people of Israel from the mountain and go to the land of promise. He would send an angel before them to drive out the inhabitants of the land, and they would experience God’s promised blessings. However, His Presence would not go with them (Ex. 33:1-3). Moses interceded for the people, though, and said, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here” (Ex. 33:15). Right after this, Moses asked God to show him His glory (Ex. 33:18). You see, Moses’ desire was for God Himself and not just for what God could do for him. I would challenge you to sincerely ask yourself, why am I a Christian? Why am I following God? Do you follow Him because you want to be with Him, or only for what He can do for you? If you truly want to experience His Presence as Moses did, then do what Moses did—pray for God to reveal His glory/Presence to you. Ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit and to give you a passion for more of Him. Draw near to Him, and He will draw near to you (James 4:8) because that is what He wants also.

Sharpen Your Blade

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The book of Hebrews was possibly written prior to the destruction of Jerusalem when Nero was persecuting the Christians. Because of the persecution, some Jewish converts were tempted to revert to Judaism, therefore, the book’s author (possibly Barnabas or Apollos) wrote to encourage the Jewish believers to remain strong in their faith in Christ.

Throughout the book, the author emphasizes the superiority of Christ to the ancient prophets, angels, Moses, as well as the priests and Old Testament sacrifices. He added that Christ was the full and final revelation of God and that all the Old Testament prophecies and promises were fulfilled in Him. Therefore, the author warns them that there is no returning to the previous Old Testament sacrificial system for the atonement of sins since it had been superseded by the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.

During his discussion on the priesthood of Jesus Christ, the author makes an interesting statement at the end of chapter five. He states that there was much more he wanted to say about this, but he couldn’t because they would not understand it. He said that they were “dull of hearing” (Heb. 5:11 ESV). The word dull means lazy, sluggish, or listless. Other translations say, “because you no longer try to understand” (NIV), or “you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen” (NLT). In other words, they were not putting forth much effort to grow spiritually or learn to discern the voice of God.

 Consequently, when they should be mentoring others, they themselves were still children requiring spiritual milk (Heb. 5:12) and were unskilled, i.e., without experience, or ignorant in discerning the word of God (Heb. 5:13). The author adds that a mature believer can distinguish between good and evil because they have trained themselves by constant use of the Word of God (Heb. 5:14). They make it a habit of listening to the voice of God and putting His Word into practice in their lives.

The picture that comes to my mind as a way of illustrating the two is a child playing with a dull wooden sword compared to a skilled soldier welding a sharp saber. The child will wildly flail the sword around as if he knew what he was doing, but even if he should strike a blow, it would do little harm because the blade is dull. He is unskilled and ineffective. The soldier, on the other hand, has trained himself by constantly practicing the fine art of swordsmanship until he is able to wield the sword skillfully. Also, he has taken the time to sharpen his blade so he can easily wound his opponent. He is skilled and effective because of his constant training and use. The question we each need to ask ourselves then is “Which one am I?” You see, learning to discern good from evil, learning to hear God’s voice clearly, and growing spiritually in the things of God does not happen automatically. We cannot allow ourselves to be lazy, but we must discipline ourselves and develop spiritual habits that will train us to use our “swords” (the Word of God) effectively. I would suggest the following: 1) Develop a daily habit to read the Word of God. But don’t just read it. Get into the habit of asking God to speak to you through the passage you are reading. Listen for His voice and write down in a notebook what He is revealing to you. 2) Then, put what God said to you into practice right away. This is how we “sharpen our blade”. Learning how to pray, prophecy, and be sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit requires practice so ask the Holy Spirit for guidance and strength to do what the Lord is directing you to do. And 3) Teach others. The author of Hebrews chastised the believers because they were not spiritually mature yet to mentor someone else. This is what we all should be doing (Matt. 28:19-20) however, few of us are obeying that commandment. I would encourage you to ask God to show you someone whom you can help as they learn to develop their own spiritual habits and become skilled soldiers with sharpened blades.