Category: Encouragement

How Normal People Hear From God-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment


The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears- Psalm 37:17 NASB 

Hearing from God.

It’s a bit of a controversial subject. 

Even amongst Christians.  Most non-Christians and some Christians believe only really weird people actually hear from God. Others (both Christian and non-Christian) believe they hear from God all the time concerning every imaginable subject. However, it could be argued some of those messages are questionable at best. 

Sigh. 

God does speak. 

God speaks most often, most directly and most clearly through His word (Hebrews 4:12, 2nd Kings 22:8-11). God frequently speaks through His people (Acts 2:18, Psalm 37:30). Sometimes God speaks in a still small voice that pierces our heart and makes us aware of His leading in a particular area (1st Kings 19:12). Occasionally, God still speaks through dreams (Daniel 2:1-3, Acts 2:17), and every once in a while, God speaks audibly (Luke 3:22, Genesis 16:13).   However, even in the Bible the audible voice of God seems to be more of an exception to how God speaks than the rule. Nonetheless, it does still happen. 

All that being said. 

For all sorts of reasons, most Christians would like to hear God’s voice a little more often.  Hearing from God is how we get direction. It’s how we know we are on the right path and doing the right thing. When we hear the voice of God we feel seen and loved by God. The Bible is unequivocal: God speaks to all His people, not just the weird ones. Sometimes, God even speaks to people who aren’t His people.

The question for those of us who want to hear Him is “what can I do to better hear His voice?”. 

Thankfully, God wants us to hear Him so He doesn’t overcomplicate the process. Following are four simple, basic things anyone can do to get in better tune with God so we hear His voice more often and more clearly. 

It all starts with:

Nurturing and growing our faith-

Believing in God is not requirement for hearing from God. God speaks to atheists, agnostics, heathens and pagans (Genesis 31:34, Jonah 3:3-5, Acts 2:36-38). If He didn’t no one would ever come to know God. That said, believing in God ups the odds of hearing from God substantially. The more faith we have in God the more likely we are to hear God when He does speak. A foundation of faith also helps us to understand what is directing us to do when He speaks. We grow our faith by becoming rooted in Christ (Colossians 2:7). Spiritual roots grow deep through the regular practice of hearing and reading the word of God (Romans 10:27) and through regular prayer. The more we know the Bible and spend time with God the better acquainted we become with Him. Once we are personally familiar with God and how He operates it is much easier to discern what He’s saying and what He wants us to do with His message.  

Wanting to- 

Okay, so, admittedly this one is bit of a given, however it’s worth stating anyway. God will only speak in an intimate, friendly way to those who sincerely want to hear from Him. If we want clear communication with God we have to keep our hearts open to God. It is possible for our heart to close God without our knowledge or awareness because humans are often self-deceived (Obadiah 1:3, Zechariah 7:12). The best way to keep self-deception at bay and our hearts open to God is to practice regular self-examination and deal with our sin decisively (2nd Corinthians 13:5, Matthew 5:29-31).

Fostering fear of God- 

In the ESV version of the Bible Psalm 25:14 says that “friendship with God is for those who fear Him. He makes His covenant (promises) known to them”. Other versions say God “confides in those who fear Him”, still others say “the secrets of God are for those who fear Him”. They all means the same thing: God speaks most clearly and most intimately to those fear Him. Fearing God doesn’t mean we cower in dread of Him. It does mean we believe what He says enough to do what He tells us to do.  Fearing God also means we understand and embrace the “otherness” of God. Much of today’s teaching concerning God makes Him out to be a slightly bigger, smarter human. This teaching makes God out to be a really nice guy who never gets worked-up about anything. It’s true, God is kind. Kindness is fundamental aspect of His character. However, God is more than just nice. He is also holy, just and righteous. People who fear God embrace all aspects of God’s character not just the ones that give us good feels.  

And finally:

We must obey what we do hear. 

The speediest most effective way to get God to stop talking is for us to ignore His instruction and choose to do our own thing for our own glory. When we quit obeying, the Bible no longer make sense and the still small voice of God goes from still and small to radio silence. Thankfully all we have to do to get God talking again is go back to the same obedience we practiced in the beginning of relationship with God (Revelation 2:4-5). The simple act of repentance brings immediate joy, reopens the channels of communication with God and reestablishes closeness with God (Acts 3:19). 

Making Life Count-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God- Hebrews 6:1 NASB 

Humans are made in the image of God and God wrote eternity on the human heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11-13, Genesis 1:28). Consequently, all humans want make their life count by leaving some sort of legacy. This might mean leaving behind an organization so big and complex it alters the course of history. Or it might be as basic as being remembered as a decent human who treated others well.  

This universal ache is even more intense for those who follow of Jesus. 

Christians want to leave behind a legacy just like everyone else. However, those who truly know Jesus as Lord also want to leave behind a spiritual legacy that has lasting eternal value (1st Timothy 1:9). This might be as big and complex as a huge Christian ministry, or it might mean a simple legacy of good Christian works and/or raising kids who love, obey and worship Jesus. 

Christians are saved by faith in Jesus and what He did on the cross (Ephesians 2:8, Hebrews 10:38-39, Romans 1:17, Romans 3:22-26, Philippians 3:8-10).

However.

Christians were saved for the express purpose of doing good in this world (Romans 2:6-11, Ephesians 2:10, James 2:14-26, Matthew 5:15-16). Works are a key way we glorify God (Matthew5:13-16). The works we do also become a part of the legacy we leave behind in this world. We will be judged for the quality of the works we do. This view isn’t “works theology”, “anti-grace” or “legalism”. It’s scripture (Revelation 20:12-13, Matthew 3:10, 1st Corinthians 4:3-4, James 3:1, Hebrews 10:31-32). Good works would include (but are not limited to) preaching the word, leading the lost to Jesus, providing and caring for the less fortunate and loving the unlovable (Matthew 10:8, 2nd Timothy 4:2, Matthew 25:31-46, 1st Peter 4:8). 

 The Bible makes it clear the only legacies that have any real value are those that have eternal value. Therefore, it’s critical we avoid what the writer of Hebrews calls “dead works” (Hebrews 6:1, Hebrews 9:14). Paul describes in detail the end result of dead works:

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each one’s work.  If anyone’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.  If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet only so as through fire– 1st Corinthians 3:10-14 NASB

Yikes. 

Dead works are works people do in the name of Jesus’ that ultimately help no one and have no eternal value. Even a good work can be a dead work. Dead works are good things done for the wrong reasons or with the wrong motivations.  A dead work is:

A work we do to impress people rather than God-

A work we do with the wrong heart attitude- 

A work we do with ourselves at the center-

There’s a lot of easily discernable bad news in this situation. 

Pretty much everyone has been guilty of the sin of people pleasing (Matthew 6:1, Colossians 3:23). We want people to think well of us. As a result, sometimes we do good things hoping to gain the esteem and favor of our peers. Or maybe we do good works because we hope (secretly) our good work will bring us something beneficial in return rather than just doing it to honor, obey and glorify God.  I, for one have been guilty (on more than one occasion) of doing the right things with a smile on my face and a crummy attitude in my heart (1st Samuel 16:7). Furthermore, most (all) of us have been guilty of doing good works secretly hoping people will think we are awesome (Isaiah 2:22, Proverbs 29:25). 

We all fall short of the glory of God. 

Sigh.

Thankfully, what is impossible with man is possible with God. Mainly because He’s awesome and totally willing to work with us even in our fallen, messy, self- aggrandizing state. Because God is good, and good to us we can do good works that have eternal value. We can please God.  God is not a cruel taskmaster judging us for every wrong thing we do. God doesn’t want us to be stuck with a bunch of dead works without any eternal value. God really wants every single one of us to hear “well done my good and faithful servant. Come and share in your master’s happiness” when we see Jesus for the first time (Matthew 25:21)

But.

We must be willing to do our part. 

This means asking God to give us the right heart. It means examining our motives on a regular basis and confessing any self-aggrandizement or selfish-ambition we may be harboring (Philippians 2:3, Galatians 5:19-21).  Our part in the area of good works is to humbly ask God to help us do the right things with the right attitude, for the right reasons.  Then we just have to keep on keeping on until Jesus calls us home.

When we do those things God takes care of the rest and we can not help but bring Him glory (Philippians 2:13).

The Mind-blowing Implications of “God with us”-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

“Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they shall name Him Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”- Matthew 1:23 NASB 

God with us.

In my humble opinion those three little words are the three most mind-blowing in all of Scripture (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23). 

The very notion the God of the universe, the holy, righteous maker of all things, the God who dwells apart from sin in unapproachable light would leave His home in heaven and visit earth is in and of itself, well, kind of mind-blowing (1st Timothy 6:15-16). It would stand to reason considering the state of this sorry planet that if God were to show up He would shame His creation or punish His creation or at the very least give His creation a sternly worded lecture.  Instead God came to earth to model the right way to live, commune with and eventually die for the sins of a bunch of created beings who were all living in rebellion to Him (John 13:12-17, Romans 5:6).  

What kind of God does that? 

Seriously. 

All that being said, it has not escaped my notice that humans often miss the forest for the trees when it comes the whole idea of God being with us, especially this time of year. The cultural trappings of Christmas are delightful and joyous and I am convinced God loves joy and is delighted to see His children celebrate. Nonetheless, decorating our homes, putting up lights, attending parties, making tasty treats and buying gifts do little to help us remember the God of the universe showed up in our world just to let us know He loves us in spite of our many defects and issues (John 3:16). Truth-be-told, as fun as they are, all the cultural trappings of Christmas are a huge distraction from the mind-blowing truth of “God with us”. Even many of our Christian celebrations fail to capture the magnitude and meaning of those three little words. It’s easy to get so caught up in the songs and stories of Christmas we forget the sweet little baby in the manger grew up to do some big things for us we were totally incapable of doing for ourselves. (Romans 5:8). The first coming of Jesus had a huge impact on human life. Some of the mind-blowing implications of God choosing to be with us are as follows: 

We can be at peace with God- 

The primary reason Jesus came to earth was to broker peace between God and the human race. Our sin separated us from God, making authentic relationship with God impossible (Genesis 3:8). Jesus death and resurrection paid the price for sin (Luke 22-24). However, this does not mean every person on earth automatically has peace with God just because Jesus showed up and died for our sins. Peace with God is a choice each person has to make. We choose peace with God when we place our faith in Jesus and the work He did on the cross. We know our faith in Jesus is the real deal when it is accompanied by a desire to repent of our sin and live for the one who saved us.

We can live at peace with ourselves- 

Without question the toughest thing about being human is having to live with our own shortcomings and the fallout of our own sinful, selfish choices. Becoming a Christian does not automatically remove the consequences of our past choices but it does remove the guilt. Knowing the God of the universe has forgiven us makes it much easier to forgive ourselves (Ephesians 2:1-6, 1st John 1:9, 1st John 2:1) It also makes it possible for us to move on to bigger and better things that bring God glory and personal peace to our hearts (Romans 5:1-2, Galatians 6:8-10).

We can be transformed– 

Perhaps the greatest practical implication of God being with us is that His presence in our lives empowers personal transformation (2nd Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 6:15).  Meaning we can actually change. This is the biggest of deals, because prior to the coming of Jesus people could change their actions but not their hearts. Evil and unbelieving people were stuck in their sin forever with NO hope of real transformation. Jesus’ coming changed all that forever. Now, because, Jesus’ presence indwells the people who believe in Him, His presence gives everyone who wants it the power needed to change not just our actions but also our hearts. Because of Jesus every day is a new beginning and we can be better people tomorrow than we are today. 

And finally:

God’s people are honored with the best job ever. In a very real sense Jesus left a great deal of work undone before He ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9). This was not an oversight or an error. Jesus left the honor of finishing up all that needed to be done up to ordinary Christians (2nd Corinthians 4:7-11). The apostle Paul went so far as to say Christians are “ambassadors” of Christ (2nd Corinthians 5:20) and that God literally makes His appeals for salvation to the unsaved through us. God trusts normal, everyday people to do an eternity-impacting job simply because He loves us enough to save us and work through us. 

Now, that’s something to celebrate. 

How to get Free from a Spiritual Stronghold-

Lisa M. Price2 Comments

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness- Ephesians 4:22-24 NIV

One definition of a stronghold is: fortress. A fortress is defined as a place of safety, shelter and protection. A spiritual stronghold is a place of safety (a fortress) in our lives where sin has the shelter it needs to grow and flourish. If left unchecked a spiritual stronghold will eventually control much of our lives, destroy our spiritual effectiveness and steal the joy of our salvation (Psalm 51:1-12).  Just about any sin can become a spiritual stronghold. Some of the more common strongholds are unforgiveness, lust, jealously, dishonesty, pride, greed, covetousness, insecurity, control and sexual immorality. 

 Christians are susceptible to spiritual strongholds because Christians live life in a place of tension. Christians are saved from their sin (redeemed by Jesus) but also at the same time still very much in the process of being saved from their sin. Jesus is our Lord, heaven is our home and the Holy Spirit lives in us. Nonetheless, all Christians still possess a sin nature and are therefore capable of becoming entangled in all sorts of sin and foolishness (Hebrews 12:1). 

Prior to salvation people are literally powerless over their impulses to sin (Romans 7:21-24). The Bible calls our sinful compulsions “being a slave to sin”. Once a person puts their faith in Jesus they are no longer slaves to sin and do not have to sin (Romans 6:6, Romans 7:25, Romans 8:1-2). Nonetheless, because our sin nature is still very much a part of our operating system, Satan is able to set up shop in particular areas of our life and run the show. The Bible calls this giving the devil a “foothold” or an “opportunity” (Ephesians 4:27). 

Sometimes a person is very cognizant of the spiritual strongholds in their lives. Other times they are almost entirely clueless to their existence.  For example: a Christian who is addicted to pornography is likely very aware they have a stronghold of lust impacting their life in a significant way. However, a person who has a problem with control, fear, pride or insecurity might not even see these spiritual strongholds as problems. We can be so deceived by sin we actually begin to believe our sinful stronghold is somehow a healthy and beneficial part of our personality. Many a control freak has convinced themselves their efforts to control others are “helpful” rather than sinful and harmful to themselves and others. Those who have sinful strongholds of insecurity, covetousness or fear can easily deceive themselves into believing they are watchful, cautious or wise rather than fearful, greedy or jealous. 

Sigh. 

The roots of the strongholds can run deep, often going back to our childhood or early adult years.  Sometimes strongholds take root because we were sinned against in some way. Abusive or neglectful parents can sow the seeds in a child’s life for strongholds of insecurity, mistrust, control and fear. Exposure to pornography and sexually abuse are often the starting point for a stronghold of lust. Being sexually abused, neglected or exposed to pornography is not a sin—we are not responsible before God for the evil or stupid choices other people make (Matthew 18:6). However, few turn to God to deal with hurt or trauma. Instead we turn to sin in an effort to numb our pain and help us cope with life without God.

We are very much responsible for those choices (1st John 1:10, Romans 3:23, Psalm 51, Psalm 106:6-7, Romans 5:12).

Strongholds can also be a consequence of sinful choices we make all on our own. A person can have an idyllic childhood and still have a myriad of sinful strongholds in their life. Anytime we willfully chose to do wrong instead of right we harden our hearts, give the devil a foothold and make space for Satan to construct a stronghold in our lives. 

Any stronghold can be broken. 

Christians are never condemned to live a life of sin. John 8:36 is clear: those who the son sets free are free indeed. This verse means no one who knows Jesus as Lord has to be a slave to sin. 

That being said.

 It is critical we understand Satan’s number one goal for all people is to keep them from entering a relationship with Jesus Christ. If he cannot meet that goal, he will do his best to keep Christians bound up in sinful behaviors that limit their effectiveness and steal their joy. Once Satan has been given space to build a stronghold he does not give up that ground easily. All that to say: it is never easy to break a stronghold, but it is one-hundred-percent possible (Matthew 19:36). 

In order to get free from a stronghold we must first acknowledge strongholds for what they are. We cannot make excuses for our sinful behaviors or attitudes by saying or thinking things like:

 “I was born this way” 

“This is just a part of my personality” 

“All abuse victims do this”

 “Everyone in my family acts like this”

Instead we must confess our sin as sin. It does not matter how our stronghold got its start. All that matters is what we do now. Once a sin is confessed to God we must invite God into our struggles through prayer.  We should pray first thing and throughout the day the Holy Spirit gives us the power needed to overcome our strongholds.  Inviting the God of the universe into our battle against sin deepens our relationship with Him and gives us the super natural power to overcome our struggles with sin. 

And finally, if we really want to break a stronghold, we must make no provision for the flesh (Romans 13:12-14). Instead we must do whatever needs to be done to obey God in everything (John 3:36, Romans 6:16), then freedom will be ours. 

The Keys to Moving from Spiritual Immaturity to Maturity-

Lisa M. Price2 Comments

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,now that you have tasted that the Lord is good- 1st Peter 2:1-3 NIV

Recently, I read a news article about a rare genetic disorder affecting children that results in speech delays, seizures and ultimately childhood onset dementia.  The disorder is usually detected around age five. Sadly, the prognosis is terrible. None of the kids afflicted with this disorder live to adulthood. In a very real sense these kids grow old before they grow up.   

The article was fresh on my mind when I began reading Hebrews five that day: 

By this time, you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.But solid food is for the mature- Hebrews 5:11-14  

The ultimate aim of the Christian life is spiritual maturity (2nd Peter 1:3-11, Ephesians 4:15-16, Colossians 1:9-11).

Every Christian starts out in exactly the same place: spiritual infancy. No one is born a Jesus follower. Every single person begins their faith journey in a place where they understand little or nothing about the Bible or what it really means to be a follower of Jesus. A Christian is fully mature when they have committed to obeying the commands of the New Testament, can extend grace to others, forgive others, can control their own impulses and can teach and lead others (John 14:23-24, Philippians 2:12-13, Titus 2:11-13, Hebrews 5:11-13).   

A Christian can stop bearing fruit or begin to develop weird spiritual confusion because they never grew up in their salvation and became a spiritual adult (1st Corinthians 13:11).   In one sense Christian growth is simple, anyone can grasp the principles of Christian growth and achieve maturity.  It wasn’t meant to be rocket science. Yet, in practice growing can be tough. In order to grow we have to fight our natural predispositions towards sinfulness, pride, laziness and the notion we can do it in our own power. We can’t. Christian growth is impossible without the continuous help of the Holy Spirit. We must ask the Holy Spirit daily to empower us to do six things:     

Purposefully let go of wrong behaviors and attitudes- 

 A critical key to growth in our spiritual journey is the continued process of intentionally letting go of wrong behaviors and attitudes. Every behavior the Bible tells us to let go of is an ordinary, natural part of our fallen nature but antithetical to our new life as Jesus followers (2nd Corinthians 5:17, Colossians 3:5-10, Ephesians 4:20-32, 1st Thessalonians 4:3-8). Sometimes this process of letting go of the old is called “crucifying the flesh” or “taking up your cross” (Luke 9:23). Whatever you call it, it’s a critical first step after salvation in spiritual growth, without it, spiritual transformation is impossible.  

Make a practice of distinguishing good from evil in everyday life- 

Christians become mature through a purposeful practice of discerning good from evil in day-to-day life (Hebrews 5:14). We do this by taking every opportunity, situation, attitude, behavior, television show, podcast and relationship we come across and looking at it through the lens of the Bible. If the Bible indicates that thing is harmful we walk away from that thing for the sake of our spiritual health and growth (Colossians 3:5-13, Ephesians 4:17-32, 1st Corinthians 6:9-20). Doing this on a regular basis will not only make us mature but also wise and discerning (Hosea 14:9, Proverbs 18:15). Bonus.  

Meet consistently with other Christians for worship and teaching–    

Contrary to popular opinion, the “church thing” is not an elective activity for serious followers of Jesus. Christians need to bounce ideas off of each other. It keeps us from getting weird in our theology and thinking (Hebrews 10:24-25, Proverbs 27:17). Furthermore, Christians are a body (1st Corinthians 12:12-27). An arm (or any other body part) cannot continue to grow apart from the body it is supposed to be attached to. It will die. Spiritual growth works much the same way.  

Let the word of God get into you-  

The Bible was never intended to be a book we read strictly for information or knowledge. Knowing facts about the Bible is critical. Without a foundation of solid theology Christians get weird. That said, the ability to recite the Bible forward and backwards is futile if our knowledge does not have a transformative effect on our thinking and behavior.  In order for the Bible to transform us we have to read, think about and meditate on the word of God constantly. It is the only way to change our behavior from the inside out.  

Pray about everything- 

I am convinced God wants us to ask Him for stuff (Matthew 6:11, Matthew 7:7-12, Matthew 21:22). However, I am also convinced that if all we ever do is ask God for stuff we will miss out on the most important aspect of prayer: connection with God (Mark 11:16-18, Acts 1:14, Acts 2:42).  In order to connect with God, we must pray about everything all the time (1st Thessalonians 5:17). 

And finally. 

We must encourage one another (Hebrews 3:13, 1st Thessalonians 5:11, 1st Thessalonians 4:18). When we choose to encourage others, we see the good in people and the world around us. When we see the good we inevitably see God’s hand in the everyday things going on all around us. Seeing God work increases our faith. Increased faith leads to increased maturity.  Boom.    

Is Jesus Coming back Soon?

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

 May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful- 1st Thessalonians 5:23-24 NKJV

Life has gotten so absurd it would be comical if it weren’t so dang crazy.

Lawlessness is slowly but surely morphing into a new normal. Grown adults are stumped as to how to identify their own gender.  People appear to be going feral right before our very eyes. Governments allow legitimately evil people to go free while prosecuting those attempting to aid the innocent.  Children can check porn out of their school libraries.  Many parents now openly admit in writing they wish they had never had children.  There is a novel new way to sin devised almost daily (2nd Timothy 3:1-5). 

Sigh. 

The nuttiness of it all has left many Christians wondering: When should we start expecting Jesus to come back?  And: What does He want me to be doing right now?

Fair questions. Practical questions. Questions that deserve a good answer. 

To be honest, I do not have a perfectly definitive answer to the first question.  No one does. Jesus wasn’t even given a timeline of future events. If God the Father saw fit to leave Jesus is in the dark, we need to be content with our own lack of clarity on this issue (Matthew 24:36). 

However, the Bible does give us some clear indicators to look for as well as some instructions as to what we should do while we wait. 

Daniel, the book we’ve been in is a classic go-to for end-times info. 

Daniel is where we get the first peek the anti-Christ, a one-world government and a season of intense suffering for Christians (Daniel 7:8, Daniel 7:20, Daniel 8:25, Daniel 9:27, 12, Daniel 11:21, Daniel 11:36-38). 

However.

The book of Daniel focuses on big-picture events. Consequently, it is not the best place to go to for clues that the season of Jesus’ return is here or approaching (Matthew 24:32-34).  Matthew is a much better book for those kinds of questions. In Matthew twenty-four Jesus gives at least four clues to look for and two directives we should follow as we wait for His return.  

The indicators the season is at hand are:

Insane levels of deception and lies about God-

Deception will be the defining characteristic of the end-times. Some deceptions will be fairly obvious and easy for believers to recognize, people claiming to be the messiah and whatnot. Most of the deception will be far less obvious. Subtly is at the core of every good lie and end-time lies will be so good even some Christians will be deceived (Luke 21:8, Matthew 24:4-5, Matthew 24:24). Most end-time deception will involve doubts about what God really meant by what He says in scripture and calling God’s goodness into question. This is already very normal. Even many church people are asking questions such as: “Did God really say certain sexual behaviors are sinful? Are male and female the only options when it comes to gender? Furthermore, hardly a day goes by when we aren’t presented with some stupid article (often written by a “Christian”) or meme calling God’s goodness into question (1st Timothy 4:1-3). It’s all end-times 101 stuff.

Unprecedented lawlessness, hatred and oppression-

The sinful nature of humanity will be on full display in the season of and prior to Jesus’ return. Jesus sums the behavior of the last days as “wickedness” (Matthew 24:12, 2nd Timothy 3:1-5). Apparently, wickedness so common many will become disheartened by the seemingly unending stream of evil and give up on God altogether (Matthew 24:12). 

Mayhem and chaos all over the place-

Relentless conflict between people groups, plagues, corrupt government and weird religious leaders will be all be increasingly common occurrences just prior to the return of Jesus.  Christians are told directly not to become alarmed by the changes they see taking place (Matthew 24:4-8) 

Christian leaders who abuse and exploit those they are called to lead- 

Near the end of His prophesy Jesus predicts there will be “servants” (Christians) who have authority over other “servants” (Christians). Some of those servants will lose their fear of God, behave shamefully and abuse the other servants (Matthew 24:48-49, 2nd Timothy 3:6-8).  This is a clear warning from Jesus not to allow the behavior of bad Christian leaders to shake our faith in the goodness of God. 

Alongside the clues Jesus gives a couple of clear warnings Christians must heed if they want to survive the chaos.  It’s critical we understand that just the lead-up to these times are going to be so perilous, confusing and discouraging if we don’t cling to Jesus we will be inclined to quit serving Jesus altogether (2nd Thessalonians 2:7-15, 2nd Thessalonians 2:3). 

Apostasy is not inevitable. We prevent it by doing two things:

Practicing discernment-

I do not know when Jesus is coming back. It could be tomorrow. It could be a year from now. It could be decades from now. That said, I do know for absolute certain it has never been more important for Christians to be thoroughly grounded in truth and walking closely with Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2). We are close enough to the end that Satan has power to deceive like he has never had before. The only way to keep ourselves from being deceived is to know truth, walk in truth and commune with Jesus daily (Proverbs 3:5-6).  Spiritual truth is the only truly effective antidote to the enemies lies. 

And most notably: 

We cannot let our love for God grow cold no matter how weird, scary or discouraging life becomes (Matthew 24:12)- 

We just can’t. We must be painstakingly careful to keep our love for God from growing cold. Evil people, exploitation, scary stuff, persecution and injustice are going to get worse (way worse). If we are in the end times, my guess is we are probably somewhere in the second or third inning of a nine-inning game. We simply cannot allow ourselves to become unsettled by the evil or disheartened by the persecution and hardship. Followers of Jesus have to play the long game by choosing daily to love Jesus, live righteously, speak truth and love even the unlovable like Jesus loved because those things are the things that prepare us for His return. 

How we Stay Free from the Pull of the World-

Lisa M. Price1 Comment

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will- Romans 12:2 NIV

Daniel and his friends were likely all in their mid-teens teens when they arrived in Babylon (Daniel 1:1-4). Each captive was immediately confronted with a choice (Daniel 1:5-8) upon arrival.

Like so many choices in this life, the choice was a surfacy, symbolic kind of a choice that masked the real, much harder choice the captives were faced with. The immediate choice they were confronted with was whether or not to eat the food they were given. There were at least four really good reasons for them to just go ahead and eat the food:

The food was yummy.

There weren’t a lot of other options.

It was offensive not to eat the food.

It was rude from a social standpoint for them not to eat the food. 

There were also some solid spiritual reasons to refuse the food. The meat and wine while tasty, had all been offered to Babylonian gods.  For ancient people eating food offered to an idol was a means of communing with and worshipping that god.  Furthermore, none of the meat met Jewish dietary requirements. Therefore, it was unclean, eating the food would violate all sorts of Levitical dietary laws. 

However. 

It wouldn’t have been difficult to make a fairly decent argument for compromising on this issue. They were far from home in a foreign land. None of them would be going back to Jerusalem in their lifetimes. (Jeremiah 25:1-14). Moreover, it’s not as if they could just run down to the local Piggly-Wiggly and pick up a few things from the Kosher section to tide them over until the training program came to an end. 

However.

The food wasn’t about the food, not really. Whether or not to eat the food was a surfacy, choice masking a much deeper choice the captives had to make. Each one had to decide whether or not they were going to conform to culture of the Babylonians (Romans 12:2, Leviticus 20:23, Deuteronomy 12:30-31).

Daniel understood the real purpose of the food.  

The food was a hook the Babylonians used to make the captives comfortable with all things Babylonian.  King Nebuchadnezzar’s ultimate aim was to convert the Jewish captives into loyal Babylonians.  The food was the first step in a process intended to make the Hebrew captives loyal to the Babylonian gods, Babylonian values and the Babylonian way of life.  

Daniel knew if the captives allowed themselves to become comfortable with that one aspect of Babylonian culture it would be a hop, skip and jump to becoming full-fledged and entirely loyal citizens of Babylon. 

It was a practice known as “friendly captivity” and it was incredibly successful most of the time.  The king (in this case Nebuchadnezzar) would conquer a country and take the best and brightest of those captives back to the court. Then he would find pleasant ways to make them comfortable with the culture. Once fully integrated to the society the best and brightest would in turn encourage the less prominent captives to accept their fate and integrate into the cultural system of their captivity.  

It was a rather clever way to grow a kingdom.

 Daniel and his friends refused. They weren’t rude, confrontive or disrespectful. Instead they enlisted the help of the overseer and found another way. Three extraordinary things took place ONLY BECAUSE the boys refused to conform to the culture:

The boys thrived physically, psychologically and spiritually in a hostile environment (Daniel 1:14)

God gifted the boys with supernatural levels of knowledge and wisdom (Daniel 1:15-17). 

The captives impacted both the culture and the people of Babylon for their God (Daniel 4:1-37)

Here’s the thing:

Our world belongs to our God (Genesis 1, Psalm 19). Nonetheless, at this point in time, our world and most of the people in it, are currently firmly under the control of Satan (Matthew 4:8, Ephesians 2:1-3, Ephesians 6:12, Romans 16:20, 1st John 5:19). Satan’s aim is to take as many people to hell as possible. However, if someone places their faith in Jesus they totally avoid that fate (Ephesians 2:1-10, John 3:16-17, 2nd Corinthians 4:14, Acts 2:21). God is redeeming the world through His son Jesus.

That being said.

Satan can take even redeemed people captive to do his will (Ephesians 4:27, Ephesians 6:11, 1st Timothy 3:7, 1stPeter 5:8). He uses “hooks’ to do it. Just like Nebuchadnezzar did. The hooks make us more comfortable with the worldly ideas, worldly pleasures and worldly pursuits. If a person gets comfortable enough with the world they eventually, over a period of time conform to the culture without even realizing they’ve been taken captive. 

Because we live in a culture that’s under the control of Satan it’s imperative Christians are intentional about avoiding the hooks so prevalent in our culture.   

 Satan wants everyone to live their lives in captivity to sin and spiritual bondage.  Sexual immorality, depravity, lust for power, greed, gluttony, self-reliance, addiction and covetousness are the places he wants to take us (1stPeter 5:8). Bondage, darkness and despair are his endgame and his favorite hook these days is entertainment and media. Media pulls us in and slowly, overtime like the frog in the pot of water on a hot stove makes us more comfortable with the values, ideas and gods of our culture. Before long, the Bible feels unkind, insensitive, and antiquated and it just makes sense to soften the moral commands of Jesus. We eventually lose our saltiness and the distinctions between how we live and how the world lives are trivial (Matthew 5:13-14). 

However. 

When we wisely choose to limit our exposure to the hooks of Satan (like Daniel did) we too, thrive in a hostile culture. God gifts us with supernatural insight and we spread the influence of the gospel in our own dark culture and we get the high and holy honor of being a critical part of God’s redemption process in this world (Matthew 28:19-20). 

What Does it Really Mean to be Defrauded of our “Prize” (Colossians 2:18)?

Lisa M. Price3 Comments


You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? Galatians 5:7 NASB  

The Bible is filled with intriguing little passages that are designed to act as hooks to pull us in and get us thinking more deeply about life and our salvation. I came across one the other day in the book of Colossians: 

Take care that no one keeps defrauding you of your prize by delighting in humility and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind- Colossians 2:18 NASB

The words that got my attention were “defrauding” and “prize”. The apostle Paul seems to be presupposing two realities every serious Christian ought to consider.  

First—is the whole notion of “a prize”. The Apostle obviously believed there is a prize Christians can earn. He also believed we should actively and aggressively go after and protect those prizes (1st Corinthians 9:24, Philippians 3:14). Second—there seems to be a way Christians can be cheated, deceived or swindled (defrauded) out of their prizes. 

So: 

What is the prize? 

What does it mean to be “defrauded” of the prize? 

How exactly does this defrauding take place? 

The prize itself is not much of a mystery. The prize discussed in Colossians 2:18, 1st Corinthians 9:24 and Philippians 3:14 are clearly the eternal reward believers in Jesus receive for a living a faithful life. Jesus and the Apostle Paul both spoke at length about the whole notion of believers obtaining rewards (prizes). According to Jesus, Christians will be rewarded for all manner of things. Including, but not limited to: loving their enemies, faith, goodness, kindness, authenticity, personal sacrifice, financial sacrifice and personal faithfulness to and confidence in God. Apparently, these eternal rewards are multiplied any time we continue to keep the faith, behave righteously and point others to Jesus in the face of personal suffering, hardship and persecution (Matthew 6:1-8, Matthew 10:42, Matthew 16:27, Luke 6:22-23, Luke 6:35, 1st Corinthians 3:8-9, Ephesians 6:7-8, Colossians 3:23-25, Hebrews 10:35, 2nd John 1:8).  

Because there is a prize at the end of the Christian life that we can earn or lose out on. It only makes sense for us to figure out what things are most likely to cause us to lose out on the prize. No one in their right mind wants to lose out on any kind of a prize but especially a spiritual prize given by God. Seriously.

For the record:

God is not a tyrant looking for an excuse to rip blessing and eternal reward out of the hands of those who have worked hard for Him (Hebrews 6:9-11). God is good and He wants to give His children good gifts (Luke 11:13, Ephesians 4:8, Romans 11:29).  

That being said,

 When we allow sin, hardship or disappointment in God to cause us to become disobedient or to send us off on a spiritual tangent we stop earning the reward we had been earning. Furthermore, there are those who become so disillusioned with God for the above-mentioned reasons they literally stop serving Him. When we stop serving God out of anger, hurt or anything else we have automatically been defrauded of our prize. We will go to heaven but that’s it. There won’t be any “well done good and faithful servant” stuff to look forward to when we get there (Matthew 25:14-21, 1st Corinthians 3:14-15).  Knowing this is not a cause for despair or fear but rather a reminder to act wisely in all areas of life and faith.  

The three most common reasons for being defrauded of our prize are:

Hurt and anger-

Getting hurt or becoming angry (even if the anger is directed at God) does not automatically cause us to be defrauded of anything. God does not penalize people for suffering personal hurt or pain. He’s not a jerk. However, hurt and anger that develops into bitterness or unforgiveness can lead us into all sorts of spiritual trouble (Hebrews 12:15, Acts 8:22-23, Matthew 6:14-15). Bitterness is a poison that literally defiles us as people and makes us spiritually unfit for good works (Hebrews 12:15, Ephesians 2:8-10, Philippians 2:13). Once we are unfit for doing good we are spiritually done in (Matthew 5:13, 1st Corinthians 3:14-15).

Bad Theology-

Theology matters, but not because God punishes us for holding the wrong views. It matters because wrong beliefs or wrong thinking about God and life always lead to wrong behavior (Matthew 15:18-20). This is what Paul was warning the Colossians about in Colossians Chapter two. The Colossian Christians were in danger of buying into wrong beliefs that would inevitably lead them into sin and away from God (Colossians 2:4-19, Galatians 5:7).

Disappointment in God- 

In a fallen world it’s easy to become disappointed in God when we feel He hasn’t given us what we wanted most, or He didn’t stop someone from mistreating us in some way (Matthew 13:40-42, John 5:28-29). If those feelings are not worked through the bitterness that develops will rob us of our belief in God’s goodness (Hebrews 11:6). When we lose faith in the goodness of God, we are not far off from being defrauded of the reward we would have had. 

Sometimes Christians feel skeezy for looking forward to eternal reward. 

They shouldn’t. God clearly wants to reward His children for their faithfulness. He promises the rewards we earn will be worth all the effort it takes to keep from being defrauded out of them (Revelation 22:12).  

Breaking Through God’s Silence-

Lisa M. Price3 Comments

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law- Deuteronomy 29:29 NIV 

Okay. I’m going to get really real for just a minute and say the quiet part out loud.

Sometimes God feels distant. Really distant.

Like radio silence distant.

This experience can get emotionally and spiritually messy really quickly because a Christian derives comfort, peace and security from knowing God sees their needs and hears their cries (Psalm 61:1-3, Psalm 28:2). Whether it’s through answered prayer, a Bible passage that speaks to our situation or a still small voice that guides us through the complexities of life, anyone who really loves God wants to hear from God (Psalm 63:1, John 10:27).

This is even more true when the going gets tough and life gets challenging, uncertain or just plain hard and sucky.  Radio silence in these moments is beyond discouraging. It can challenge our belief God is good. (Psalm 13:1-6, Psalm 42:9, Psalm 43:2, Psalm 22:1).  It just gets worse when we feel like we are doing our level best to keep the lines of communication open and still—nothing, zero, nada. That still small voice that guides and directs our steps is painfully quiet. 

Sigh. 

Nothing is gained and much is lost anytime we give into the very human temptation to give up our faith, get angry or place all of the blame on God in these moments, nor should we turn to sin or worldly methods of coping to fill our empty places, dull our pain or relieve our frustration in these seasons.  The best thing we can do when we feel God is far away is to keep our hearts open and use our situation as the jumping off place for some self-examination and perhaps some healthy transformation. There are a whole bunch of really good reasons why we don’t feel the presence of God or hear His still small voice, some of those are: 

We don’t want to- 

Sometimes we think we want to hear from God but we don’t. Not really—mostly because deep down in our heart-of-hearts we have a niggling little hunch God might just have something to say to us we have zero interest in hearing.  Most of us have been guilty at some point of desperately wanting to hear from God in one area of our lives while we entertain some ugly sin in another area of our lives. Truth-be-told God usually addresses the sin that’s holding back our spiritual growth before He blesses us with a clear direction or a deep sense of spiritual peace (Hebrews 12:1-2). It’s critical we remember our pride is not worth stunting our spiritual growth over or shutting down communication with the God of the universe (Matthew 5:30, 1st Corinthians 15:34). It’s just not.   

We do and we don’t like what he says- 

Alas, we are all human, and sadly, one aspect of being human is an inclination towards moments of stupidity, pride, willful blindness and obstinacy. Sometimes we do hear from God and we don’t like what He has to say so we ignore Him (Hebrews 12:25). Typically, what happens in these situations is God wants us to forgive someone we don’t want to forgive (Matthew 6:15, Ephesians 4:31, Hebrews 12:15), or He wants us to repair a relationship that would be personally embarrassing for us to deal with. Other times God wants us to look at our own actions in a situation where we have chosen to lay the blame on the actions or attitude of the other guy. Whatever the case may be, it is always in our best interests to ask God if there is something we’re just not seeing when He feels far off.

We’re just too dang busy-

Okay, so this is a big one, because many Christians and almost all Christian leaders have made busyness into strange little badge of honor, an indication of righteousness and a weird idol in our Christian culture. Busyness in none of those things. The Bible is clear, we are least likely to connect with God when we are spinning around in a flurry of frantic over-activity. Conversely, we are most likely to connect with Him when we slow down and seek Him in a spirit of quiet trust (Isaiah 30:15, Psalm 37:7, Psalm 46:10, Hebrews 4:1). Sometimes all we have to do to reconnect with God is take a day off from our striving and make Him our priority (Jeremiah 29:12-14).

We want to be in charge of how he communicates-

Most of the time God speaks through His word (the Bible) or in a still small voice that leaves an impression on our spirit that we should do or not do something (2nd Peter 1:3., 1st Kings 19:12). God rarely communicates verbally and when He speaks through other people it’s usually just them talking in a wise way that hits home with our situation (Matthew 10:20). It’s fairly rare for a person to get a bold prophetic proclamation that clears up all their confusion concerning a matter. As a general rule we should always look to the “normal ways” God communicates rather than demanding He be dramatic in His communication.

All that being said: 

 God is always with us even when we don’t feel His presence, hear His voice or understand what exactly is going on (Joshua 1:5, Psalm 91:3-4, Hebrews 13:5).  He never leaves us or forsakes us. God is always moving us towards the end goal of being more like Jesus and sometimes the road to that end is a bumpy one where we feel alone even when we’re not (1st Corinthians 15:49, 2nd Corinthians 3:18, Colossians 3:10). In those times must remind ourselves that God’s love never fails and He never walks away. 

Even when He’s quiet. 

The Superpower of Spiritual Warfare-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for- Hebrews 11:1-2 NIV

Faith. 

It’s a big stinking deal in the whole Christian experience. 

Faith in Jesus saves even the vilest sinner from their sins (Romans 10:10, Ephesians 2:8, Hebrews 10:39). It is faith and faith alone that made sinful people righteous even before Jesus came on the scene (Romans 1:17, Romans 4:1-12, James 2:21-23). Without faith there is no way anyone can please God no matter what they do or don’t do (Hebrews 11:6).

That being said    

As critically important as those things are, faith is even more than all that. Faith is also one of the most powerful defensive weapons we have as we do battle against the powers of this dark world (Ephesians 6:12).

Ephesians 6:16 tells us how it works: 

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Satan wants to hit us where it matters most from a spiritual perspective. If we don’t have confidence in God and belief in His goodness we are more-or-less done from a spiritual perspective. Therefore, Satan wants us to replace our belief in God’s goodness with doubts and our confidence in God with fear.

Faith is the anecdote to Satan’s assaults on our trust in God. 

Faith is critical to success in the spiritual battle because faith keeps the enemy from stealing, killing and destroying our trust in God and His goodness (Matthew 13:3-9)

Here’s the thing though. 

Faith is a fragile thing in a world as broken as ours. When bad things happen (and bad things happen all the time in a fallen world) the enemy plants doubt in our minds concerning the goodness and sometimes even the existence of God. These flaming arrows of doubt can be devastating when we are not holding firmly to the shield of faith (Mark 4:14). Because faith is such a fragile thing it is something we must intentionally cultivate in our lives.  We nurture and cultivate our faith when we:

Remember all the good God has done for us personally- 

From the beginning God’s people have constructed monuments to remind themselves of God’s faithfulness in their lives (Genesis 12:6, Genesis 28:18-22, Genesis 31:35, Genesis 35:14-20). Making the choice to be ruthlessly intentional about remembering the goodness of God is critical to maintaining and growing our faith. Satan’s arrows are doubts he plants in our mind concerning God’s goodness and ability to do what needs to be done in our lives. The habit of remembering God’s faithfulness in the past keeps us from being shaken in the present when life is hard or God feels far away (Psalm 42:2-5, Psalm 77:10-12)

Intentionally sow the spiritual in our lives- 

Our world is governed by the law of sowing and reaping (Job 4:8, Proverbs 11:18, Galatians 6:7-8).  This just means we all typically get back what we give or do, usually in a greater measure than we sowed.  If a person plants a potato they harvest a whole bunch of potatoes—not a single potato or a bunch of turnips. The law of sowing and reaping is every bit as applicable in the spiritual realm as it is in the physical. When we are intentional about sowing prayer, Bible reading and worship into our lives and then put what we learn into practice; we inevitably harvest more faith AND a steadiness to our faith that keeps us standing firm in the worst spiritual storms Satan and life throw at us (Matthew 7:24-29). 

Routinely hear the word taught- 

Romans 10:17 tells us one way we acquire greater and nurture the faith we already have is through hearing the word of God spoken and expounded on. This is one more really great reason to be firmly planted in a church where the word is faithfully taught week-in and week-out (Hebrews 10:24-25, 2nd Timothy 2:4)

Pray for more faith- 

In 1st Corinthians 12:9 the apostle Paul tells us faith is more than just a belief in something we cannot see it is also a spiritual gift. Like all spiritual gifts we are free to ask God to give us the gift of faith. Because faith pleases God more than anything (Hebrews 11:6), asking for more faith is not a request God typically denies those who ask for it with a sincere heart (Matthew 7:7-11, 1st John 5:14). 

Practice gratitude- 

Thankfulness is noticing. The more we choose to notice all the things God has done for us and in us, the more our faith grows (Colossians 3:16).  

Choose to live life in Christian community-

Being in community with other Christians grows our faith because God uses His people to love and care for one another in times of need (John 13:34-35, Romans 12:10, Galatians 5:13, Ephesians 4:12, 1st Peter 1:22). When we are loved and cared for by God’s people our faith in God’s love for us is increased. Being in community is also where we here stories about God’s provision and care for others. Hearing stories about God’s care for others increases our own faith in God’s ability to care for us. 

Faith is believing all the promises of God even when we don’t see those promises fulfilled in the here and now (Hebrews 11:6). Our faith renders Satan powerless over us. When we are walking in faith God uses us to lead others into greater faith in Jesus. This realty literally makes faith a spiritual super power. We keep our super power in working order by nurturing it and trusting God to grow it.