Has anyone ever said to you, “Only the Lord knows what’s in a person’s heart.” It seems reasonable. How can we know what we can’t see, hear, taste, feel, or experience? In fact, how can we really know what’s in our own hearts?
Jesus told how we’ll know, and it’s recorded in Luke 6:45 (ESV): “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” The Amplified Bible amplifies that last clause: “for out of the abundance (overflow) of the heart his mouth speaks.”
How do you know what’s in a sponge? You can’t tell by just looking at it. If you squeeze it, though, its contents gush out.
What’s in your heart? We know by what comes out of your mouth when you’re squeezed by your circumstances – financial, health, relationship, and other pressure. Are your first words ones of fear, doubt, loss, anger, or panic? Or are they words of faith, love, hope, and confidence in God? Are they the words of Dr. Phil or Oprah? Or are they the words of Jesus?
I want my heart to be so full of what I’ve read in my Bible that when pressure comes, the words that gush out of my mouth are the promises of God. I want faith, hope, and love to be the overflow of my heart. And the only way that will happen is if I fill up my heart with the right stuff – before the pressure comes.
I invite you to spend time with your Bible and to fill up your heart with what God has to say. When pressure comes, what God has to say is what will come gushing out of your mouth. And you won’t even have to think about it.
The word the Lord directed me to deliver for 2011 and beyond makes it clear the Church has to stop being just a meeting place and start being Jesus in our culture.
I’ve been re-studying the book of Acts. People refer to it as the Acts of the Apostles or the story of the early church. It’s really the acts of the Holy Spirit, and the “early church” was just the same Body of Christ we’re a part of but set in an earlier era.
The Church today should operate more like the Church of the early followers of Jesus. They gathered regularly to worship, to be equipped, and to encourage each other. The gifts (manifestations) of the Holy Spirit were present. But those early disciples didn’t just have meetings. They met to be recharged for ministry outside the meeting place. And when they went outside the meeting place to share the good news of Jesus, signs and wonders followed.
Today I see some churches that are filled with lively worship, encouraging and solid Bible teaching, and manifestations of the Holy Spirit, but all of that good stuff stays bottled up in the building. Other churches are passionate about the Great Commission and engaging the culture around them, but they deny that the miraculous workings of the Lord are for today.
We should be seeing both. We should gather for life-changing worship, fiery and encouraging preaching, and manifestations of the Spirit, but we should be taking what we learn, the power of the Spirit, and the good news of Jesus to people we encounter. We should be focused on engaging the culture and being missional, but as in the “early church,” we should expect healings and miracles to manifest in the name of Jesus as we encounter people.
I’m hungry to see the Body of Christ do the greater works Jesus prophesied in John 14:12 – just as our brothers and sisters did in the earliest years of the Church. We can’t do it if we just meet, and we can’t do it if we just go. We need to meet, we need to go, and we need to expect the power of the Holy Spirit to demonstrate signs and wonders as we minister. That is when we will be mirroring the ministry of Jesus, who constantly engaged ordinary people and made Himself available for miracles to occur through Him.
Let’s be the Body of Jesus. Let’s GO in the power of the Spirit!
My family and I took vacation a couple of weeks ago. Charleston, South Carolina, was the destination.
While we were there, my daughter wanted to go fishing, so we booked a half-day charter on St. John Island for some inshore fishing.
We hooked some little fish. Reeling them in didn’t take much effort. But after a bit, our guide, Brian, took us to deeper water with bigger bait to fish for bigger fish. My daughter caught a 50 pound shark, and fought for five minutes to bring it in.
Jesus picked his closest ministry team from everyday occupations. One day He found Peter and Andrew returning from their daily job as fishermen. In Matthew 4:19, Jesus told them they were going to start fishing for people.
He’s given us the same task. Some will come in easily. Others will require some effort. The bottom line, though, is that He loves people, and is counting on us to haul them into His boat.
So bait your line with love and scripture, cast it out boldly, and bring in the catch for Jesus. Be a fisher of people!
I was blessed with the opportunity to share today with the amazing, committed, passionate staff of an awesome local ministry in Athens. While I talked way too much, and probably got over-excited, I knew I had an assignment from the Lord – a challenge for them and for myself.
The challenge was something the Lord has been prodding me with lately. It’s this: No matter what issue I face, “Jesus is Lord” is the central issue. “Jesus is Lord” is the key that unlocks even the most difficult problem.
To many Jesus is Savior. That’s awesome! He is the Savior. Every Christian knows that He saves from sin and paves the way to heaven. Some know He still saves from sickness, financial ruin, addiction, bondage, and any other thing we need saving from.
Jesus is our Savior. But is He really our Lord?
A lord is someone to be obeyed. And it’s just “human nature” to chafe at obeying someone else. Just ask Adam and Eve.
Even if we want to obey someone, it’s tough to obey a lord who doesn’t adequately tell us what we should do, or who crushes us if we misunderstand and mess up.
Our Lord isn’t that way. He’s given us a Bible to instruct us, the Holy Spirit to comfort and lead us, and the Church to come around and disciple us. And He’s not a hard taskmaster; Jesus is a Lord who IS love.
I’ve noticed in my own life that when I do things the Bible way, and let Jesus be Lord, it opens the door for Him to be Savior. When I do what He says, things eventually turn out right. But when I do things my own way, things start to tank, and I need to run sheepishly back to him for mercy. Thankfully, He always wants to fix the stuff I mess up – to be the Savior – but He expects me to repent and come back to Him as Lord.
One of my goals is to remember in every circumstance that “Jesus is Lord” – in my finances, in my health, in my marriage and family, in my job, in the ministry He’s given me, in my relationship with the people I bump into every day. My heart’s cry is to do things His way. And I know that because Jesus is my Lord, He’ll always be my ready and ever-vigilant Savior.
Thank you Lord!
We spent some time talking about David and Goliath at church yesterday. There are a lot of lessons we can pull from the account of David’s great triumph and Goliath’s great defeat as recounted in 1 Samuel 17.
Here’s one lesson – give more attention to God and His promises than to the problems in your life.
The armies of Israel are a great example of the wrong thing to do. They had been listening to Goliath taunt them over some time. The more he taunted, the bigger he got in their eyes.
David, by contrast, had been spending time in the field tending sheep. His practice there was to sing to God and to marvel at how vast and great He was. It was in those fields that David caught the idea that this vast and powerful God cared for him. That idea blossomed into faith that allowed him to rip bears and lions to shreds with his bare hands.
When David arrived at the battlefront, he was still marveling at how big God was. He found an army that had forgotten God, and instead was marveling at how big Goliath was. David arrived in faith, while the armies of Israel cowered in fear.
If you and I want to conquer our individual Goliaths, we need to be careful what we mediate on – what we spend time turning over and over and over in our minds, what we read, what we watch, what we listen to, and what we say repeatedly. Pondering how big problems are produces fear. Pondering how big God is, and how much He loves us, produces faith.
I want to be like David.
Today I attended a memorial service for Al Topping, a fellow I’ve known most of my life. Al died in September of 2010 just shy of his 87th birthday.
Don and Al, laughing.
I could write columns about Al’s life, because he lived it fully, generously, and joyfully. What struck me, though, was how his memorial service reflected Al’s life.
As a friend and I walked to the local Episcopal church, we heard the strains of bagpipes – not a sound often heard in Athens, Ohio. It made us smile.
The crowded church was filled with friends and family. The service began with “Just a Closer Walk With Thee, ” “In the Sweet By and By,” “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” and “People Get Ready.” As the service ended, the Dixieland band processed the center aisle playing, “O When The Saints Go Marching In.” We all sang along – and smiled as we remembered Al.
Sandwiched in between these songs were a Rite I Eucharist service with traditional Episcopal hymns, scripture, and touching and funny remembrances by Al’s children.
It was a service Al would have liked – upbeat, hopeful, and tinged with humor.
It reminded me that those who die in Christ have every reason to be joyful. Likewise, we who remember them should be joyful, too. Through his memorial service, Al ministered to every person who attended. What a great ministry.
I sat with a friend from high school in the back of the church. He mentioned a scripture that was so fitting. I’ll close with it (1 Corinthians 15:53-55 NLT):
For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die. When this happens – when our perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die – then at last the Scriptures will come true: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
Godspeed, Al. I’ll see you in a few years.
I was struck today with this question: If the early followers of Jesus came to visit my church, would they recognize it? Would they see it as an extension of the Church they knew?
Peter and John
I’ve read the book of Acts more times than I can count. I’m reading it again. I’m struck by how outward looking, bold, and power-filled those who were devoted to Jesus were.
Think about it for a moment. The leaders of the temple bound and beat them for proclaiming the name of Jesus, and commanded them to stop. They didn’t. Instead, they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer persecution for Jesus. They prayed for even greater boldness to proclaim the name of Jesus. They asked for a healing revival to break out. The Lord must have been happy because His power shook the place! Everyone went out and proclaimed the name of Jesus with boldness!
Miracles and healing were expected. Peter and John walked by the Beautiful Gate of the temple, found a lame beggar. They ordered him to get up in the name of Jesus, expecting him to be healed. He was miraculously healed, got up, and danced.
Throughout the book of Acts, we read that thousands were added to the church. And we’re part of the same Church – just a few centuries later.
We should be doing the same things as our early brethren – and more. But we won’t see any of it if we’re inward looking. We won’t see it if we’re paralyzed by fear of failure or criticism. The Church will be weak if we don’t both BELIEVE and DO what the Bible tells us we can and should do.
Let’s really live by faith and not by our senses and experience. Let’s be really evangelical, boldly proclaiming the lordship of Jesus, and inviting people to join us. Let’s believe what the Lord says in Mark 16:17-18. Let’s have some faith in the authority of the name of Jesus, and in that name let’s cast out demons and lay hands on the sick expecting them to be healed. Let’s operate in the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.
Let’s stop entertaining ourselves on Sundays, and secluding ourselves in little enclaves. Instead, let’s break out of our safe houses, go into all the world, and let the Lord use us to minister His love and His power to the world around us – just like He did in the Church years recorded in the book of Acts.
I want my church to be a place the early disciples would recognize and feel comfortable in. How about you?
Have you ever filled your car’s gas tank just so you could park the car and enjoy the sound of the engine? Of course not. You gassed up so you could drive – so you could GO somewhere.
Fill 'er up.
After He was resurrected from the dead, but before returning to heaven, Jesus told His disciples to hang out in Jerusalem until power from heaven had come to them. (Luke 24:49). They did what He told them to do, and the power came with fire and a sound like a mighty rushing wind. (Acts 2).
But He also told them to go into the world and preach the good news. (Mark 16:15). He just wanted them to power up before they went. The entire book of Acts records that they did that. The early disciples went all around the region, and miracles happened wherever they went. The number of followers of Jesus grew exponentially.
The Church today is spending too much time in the garage enjoying the engine’s sound, listening to the radio, and telling everyone else in the car how great it is to be in the car.
We’re supposed to meet – at least every Sunday – but we’re not supposed to think that’s all there is to being a disciple of Jesus. No! We’re supposed to GO!
If Jesus is your Lord, you have a ministry. Get powered up in the Word and the Holy Spirit, get prayed up, get praised up, and go do your ministry. Minister healing to the sick. Minister hope to the hopeless. Minister salvation to the lost.
Minister in the work place. Minister at home. Minister at the grocery store. Minister where you are.
Go and share the Good News. Jesus is Lord!
GO!!
On Twitter, I follow accounts of men of God who have gone home to the Lord – Kenneth E. Hagin, Smith Wigglesworth, and AW Tozer are three of them. Just because someone isn’t in an earthly body walking the earth doesn’t mean we can’t benefit from the truth the Lord gave them while they were here.
Today I received, from the Global Prayer Alert Network of Mac and Lynn Hammond’s Living Word Christian Center, a great piece written by John Osteen, the founder of Lakewood Church. John Osteen’s son, Joel, is now the pastor of Lakewood. I wanted to share this piece. Let it sink into your spirit.
John Osteen, a man of faith.
The following excerpts are taken from Becoming a Man of Unwavering Faith by John Osteen:
What to Do When Nothing Seems to Work
1. Check Up on Your Own Life
When I face adversity, the first thing I do is to turn God’s great searchlight on in my heart to check up on my own life. I want to find out if I have overlooked anything that needs to be made right. Jesus said, “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that you Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:25).
2. Check Up on Your Promises
If you do not have some definite promises from the Word of God that has been whispered to your heart and which you have embraced; if you do not have any real, definite, pointed promise that God has quickened to you in your present situation, then you have a loose connection.
3. Check Up on Your Confessions of Faith
Jesus said, “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says” (Mark 11:23). You will never rise any higher than your confession. You will never sink any lower than your confession.
4. Check Up on the Arena in Which You are Fighting
If the devil ever gets you in the arena of reasoning and looking at your symptoms, he will defeat you every time. Stay in the arena of faith and you will win every time.
5. Check Up on Your Companions and Fellowship
Are you in constant fellowship with people of faith? If you associate with people who cannot support you in faith, you may find yourself struggling to hold on to your promise.
6. Check Up on Yourself to See if You are Obeying the Scriptures
Many people live very worldly lives. They disregard the commandments of God. When they try to appropriate God’s promises, they fall.
7. Check Up on Your Praise Life
Are you showing your faith by praising God before you see the answer, The Word of God tells us: I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in your mouth.”
I try to take my instructions from the Bible, and not from popular culture, newspapers, television, and social media. So when I see Christians of all political stripes being really nasty about political leaders, I cringe and choose not to follow.
In 1 Timothy 2:1-4, the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write this as an instruction not just to Paul’s spiritual son, Timothy, but to all believers for all time:
Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
I’ve noticed over my lifetime that it’s hard to pray for someone and at the same time call them nasty names. It’s almost impossible to invest yourself in another person’s success, and at the same time tear them down.
As Christians, no matter what we may think about the political convictions of our political leaders, our scriptural assignment is to pray for them. No matter our political affiliation, we need for our leaders to make wise, righteous, Godly decisions. Our well-being depends on it. The preaching of the Gospel depends on it. The country’s future depends on it.
So whether we’re Republicans or Democrats, conservatives, liberals, or moderates, we need to take seriously our scriptural assignment to give thanks for our leaders, pray for them, intercede for them, and make supplication for them. The faithfulness and unity of the Body of Christ in this nation – or in any nation – to fulfill that assignment will be a critical factor in determining the destiny of the nation.
Step into your place and fulfill your assignment!!