4SpiritualSecrets

“When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do^£?” (Psalm 11: 3)

Greek is a very precise language.  Hebrew is not.  That’s why we frequently find footnotes that suggest alternate readings in the margins of our Bible when we are reading Old Testament passages of Scripture.  The NIV translation of the verse quoted above has such a footnote.   The alternate reading suggested for this verse is: When the foundations of your life are breaking up, “What is the righteous One doing?”

In a long life I have experienced several periods when it seemed that the foundations of my life were breaking up.  I have found the suggested alternate reading of this verse to be a reliable response that turned many of those crises into very significant spiritual datelines in my journey of faith.

My faith walk began in 1949, and along the way I dropped two words out of my vocabulary: “fortunately” and “coincidentally.”  Because I believe in Divine Providence, I no longer believe in luck.  And I agree with the spiritual “heavyweight” who stated that when a devout believer thinks they have experienced a coincidence that just means God prefers to remain anonymous.

The Chinese characters for “crisis” are the characters for “danger” and “opportunity.”  I believe we should factor into all our crises this knee jerk response: “What is the righteous One doing in my life now?” I find that He is always up to something and ultimately it is always something very good.  It is not primarily for our good but it is what accomplishes His good for His glory.

If you are in a time of crisis right now, or when you find yourself in one, I enthusiastically commend this reliable response to you.

“For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?” (2 Corinthians 2:2)

You can’t control the weather or rainy days but you can control the emotional climate that surrounds you. There is a principle of communication in a relationship that tells us communication is a two-way street.  Whatever you send down that street comes back up that street and into your relationship with another person.

That is what the Apostle Paul is teaching when he essentially writes “If I say things that get you down who is going to build me up or pull me up?”  The reality is that you are probably going to pull me down because misery loves company.  This is a negative way of stating a positive truth.  That truth is if I say things to you that build you up, I have equipped you to build me up.

In another place Paul wrote: ^“Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” (Ephesians 4:29)

In every relationship you have, with your spouse, your children, your parents, those you work with, those you work for, and those who work for you  – make the commitment to say and do things that build them up and minister the grace of God to them.  You will be surprised by joy to discover that what you send down that street will come back up that street and into your relationship with that person.

Jesus gave an unstable man named Simon the nickname Peter, which meant stable like a rock.  After calling Peter a rock for three years Peter was a rock. Try that in your relationships.

“Enlarge the place of your tent… Lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes.” (Isaiah 54:2)

In the day and culture in which Isaiah used this inspired metaphor, many people lived in tents and would have clearly understood what the great “Prince of the Prophets” was preaching.  When a person wanted their tent larger, they had to drive their stakes deeper before they made their cords longer.

By devotional and practical application when we as one of the people of God want to expand the impact boundaries and influence of our life and ministry, we must first drive our stakes deeper.  For example, there is a sense in which we do that when we make the commitment to get more education before we begin to work in our career field.

One of the best definitions of maturity I have ever heard was simply the two words “delayed gratification.” I once asked a very gifted oriental piano teacher why most of her students were oriental.  She responded that she could not find students in this country who were willing to practice six to eight hours a day to become a concert pianist.  When people are willing to accept the discipline of delayed gratification they are driving down their stakes before they lengthen their cords.

If you are experiencing a growing conviction that God wants to use you in a deeper and broader ministry than you have known so far, be aware of the spiritual hard reality that God may want to deepen you before He opens a door of greater and more fruitful opportunity for you.

Are you willing to accept the ways in which God may want to deepen you so He can enlarge the tent of your life and ministry?

“Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth…” (Luke 3:5)

One of the greatest sermons was preached by the Prophet Isaiah and quoted by the man Jesus called ‘the greatest prophet ever born of woman,’ John the Baptist.  The sermon used a metaphor that was well known in Isaiah’s time.  When a king was going to travel to a distant province in his kingdom, they would build a highway on which he would travel.  While the highway was under construction they referred to it as “The Kings Highway.”

When you build a highway you do four things: you fill valleys, you level mountains, you straighten crooked places, and you smooth out rough places.

As Isaiah predicted the coming of the Messiah he proclaimed that God was coming into this world and the highway on which He was going to travel was the perfect life of His Son.  In that perfect life His valleys would be filled with the Holy Spirit.  The mountains of pride would be completely leveled, the crooked ways of sin would be completely straighten, and He would respond to the rough ways of His cross perfectly.

One of the most dynamic truths in the New Testament is that Jesus sent His followers into this world in the same way He was sent into this world.  That means that our life in Christ is designed to be a highway on which God travels into this world.  I dare you to ask God to make your life such a highway.  If you do, don’t be surprised when God’s “bulldozers” show up. Then you can write, “Caution: God at Work” over your life.

“…  ‘To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children’… to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’”  (Luke 1:17)

When the birth of the greatest prophet ever born of woman was prophesied, it was predicted that as he prepared the way of the Messiah to come into this world he would do so by exhorting fathers to prioritize their relationship with their children.  The challenging truth by application is that the way of the Lord in the lives of children is prepared when fathers are faithful in their responsibility toward their children.  

One example of this reality is when our Lord taught His disciples how to pray, He instructed us to address God as “our Father.” What images come into the minds of people when they address God in that way?  Their relationship to their earthly father can strongly influence the way they perceive their heavenly Father.

As a pastor I have had parishioners say to me in private “When I address God as my father I experience a spiritual short circuit.” When I asked them to tell me about their earthly father I often heard a story about a very dysfunctional father /child relationship.

Professional Christian clinical psychologists and psychiatrists strongly reinforce the hard reality of the profound influence fathers have on the lives of their children.  The profound truth that was focused when the life and ministry of this great prophet was profiled is confirmed in millions of lives every day.

As we in America call this Sunday “Father’s Day” may the vision statement that was prophesied for John the Baptist raise awareness in all of us who are fathers of the solemn mission objective we have been assigned by God when He made us fathers.

“…  who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Corinthians 1:4)

They say an evangelist is “one beggar telling another beggar where the bread is.”  Paul is telling us in this passage of Scripture that a minister of comfort is “one hurting heart telling another hurting heart where the Comfort is.” According to Paul, every time you enter into a deeper level of suffering God gives you a diploma you can frame and hang on your wall of credentials.

Jeremiah Denton was in solitary confinement in Hanoi for seven years.  While he was alone in that cell he made an amazing discovery: God was there and God Himself comforted him.  Have you entered into a level of suffering that was deep enough for you to make that same discovery?  If you have, then you are a qualified minister of comfort and you can tell other hurting hearts where the Comfort is.

As a pastor for just under six decades I have made a discovery.  The best one to comfort a parent who has lost a child is a parent who has lost a child and the best one to comfort the person who has lost a spouse is someone who has lost a spouse – when those who have suffered these losses have been comforted by God Himself.  The same is true for women who have had mastectomies, those who are going through divorce, battling cancer and every other shade and grade of suffering.

When God Himself has comforted you in your deepest levels of suffering are you willing to reach outside yourself and become a qualified minister of comfort?

“Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful…And what do you have that you did not receive? (1 Corinthians 4: 2, 7)

The biblical word “steward” is not fully understood or appreciated.  It is actually one of the most important words in the New Testament.  A synonym for this word is “manager.” Many people believe this word primarily relates to a person’s money.  But that application falls far short of the essential meaning of this word.

When Paul asks the probing question: “And what do you have that you did not receive?” he is telling us that our stewardship applies to everything we have received from God.  This means our time, energy, gifts and talents, our health and all the things that make up the essence of our very life, including all of our money and possessions.

At the age of 65 my best friend had what he refers to as a “halftime” experience when he came to fully appreciate this word “steward.” His regular custom was to draw a line down the middle of the top page of a legal pad.  On the left side of that line he wrote “My business” while on the right side of the line he wrote “God’s business.” When he fully appreciated this word “steward” he erased that line because, as a very successful wealthy businessman, he realized it was all God’s business.

Remember, the important thing about a steward is that we be found faithful.  Do you realize there is nothing in your life you did not receive from God?  Do you know that you are to faithfully manage everything you have received from God?  Are you willing to have a halftime experience and erase the line between what is yours and what is God’s?

“Now we have received… the Spirit who is from God, that we might know…” (1 Corinthians 2:12)

The inspired writing of the Apostle Paul has given us a masterpiece of what we might consider spiritual educational psychology.  How do we learn?  According to Paul there are several gates of learning through which we must pass if we want to know spiritual truth.

His thesis is that we learn through the eye gate, which involves everything we observe and read.  We learn through the ear gate, which involves everything we hear, including lectures and interaction with others, mentors and those who are learning with us. 

Then the apostle mentions the heart gate, which has to do with volition or the desire and the willingness to apply what we’re learning.  Apprenticeship, which is a synonym for discipleship describes a learner who is doing what they’re learning and learning what they’re doing.  This is the way Jesus trained His disciples (John 7:17; Matthew 4:19).

The most important gate we must pass through to learn spiritual truth according to Paul is the gate of the Holy Spirit.  His intriguing and profound illustration is that no person knows the thoughts of another person except the spirit that is in that other person.  In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God but the Spirit of God.  He is excited about the glorious reality that we have received that Spirit Who knows the very thoughts of God and we can therefore know the very thoughts of God.  One translation concludes this inspired Second Chapter of 1 Corinthians with “Incredible as it may seem, we actually have the very mind of Christ!”

 Prayerfully meditate on this chapter and then find your way through these gates of learning.

“For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” (Hebrews 6:10)

The devotional and practical application of this Scripture shows us that these thoughts are directed to people who have labored long and hard in the ministry without much visible affirmation, encouragement or reward.  These words are instructing them to think about the One for Whom they were doing this ministry to God’s people.

Abraham heard three words from God which are recorded (in Genesis 17: 1).    Those words are: “Walk before Me.” Those three words remind us that we need to know Who we’re doing it for and we need to know how He feels about everything we do in the way of ministry to His people.  When there is not much fruit and very few encouraging accolades, it can be a great consolation to faithful servants of the Lord to be reminded of the glorious reality that God has seen and He will never forget our faithful labors.

The story is told of two elderly missionaries who returned to New York after nearly half a century as missionaries in Africa.  They had lost their wives in Africa and were very, very lonely in that large city.  When they met at the YMCA where they were staying and shared their discouragement, one of them said to the other, “We are not home yet, George.” Sometimes the recognition and the reward for faithful service may only come when those words are heard “Well done good and faithful servant!”

 If you are a faithful servant without much affirmation or encouragement let these words be a consolation to you.

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you…”  (Philippians 1:3)

It is fitting that we in the United States of America set aside one day out of the year to memorialize our fallen warriors.  In the Old Testament God regularly commanded the Chosen People to erect memorials so they would never forget certain events on their journey of faith.  When we study those memorials we realize that God wanted them to remember miracles He performed for them.  He never wanted them to forget significant spiritual datelines.  He often repeated for emphasis things He wanted them to remember.  Throughout the Old and New Testaments we therefore continuously here the exhortation to remember!

Memorials are closely linked with the attitude of gratitude and the awful sin of ingratitude.  On Memorial Day are you thankful for what has been labeled “The Greatest Generation” who in the first half of the decade of the forties saved us from an unthinkable future without freedom and throughout the decades of the Cold War from more of the same?  Does your memorial gratitude continue through those who fell in Korea, Vietnam and now in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Do you have spiritual memorial datelines for which you are grateful as you remember them before God?  Do you have a dateline of when you came to faith in what Christ did for you on the cross?  Do you have spiritual datelines beyond that point of beginning your faith journey, when the risen Christ has proved Himself to you in miraculous ways?  Do you have a dateline when He made you know what He wants you to do for Him? In the fulfillment of that vision has He brought very, very significant people into your life to help you bring that vision into reality?

Then have a spiritual Memorial Day and be filled with grateful worship!