Category: Faith

Eight Week Daniel Series- Part 1 The Root of Captivity

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to heed a warning– Ecclesiastes 4:13 NIV

The book of Daniel begins with what appears to be nothing more than a bit of context: 

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.  And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility—young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace- Daniel 1:1-3

However. 

Daniel 1:1-3 is more than simply the prelude to the story. The intro to the book of Daniel is actually the grim fulfillment of a prophecy given to King Hezekiah more than a hundred years before:

The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 2nd Kings 20:17-18 

Hezekiah did not respond to the prophet’s words the way one would expect, i.e. with sorrow, alarm and a panicky appeal to reverse the predicted outcome. Instead, Hezekiah made light of the prophet’s disturbing forecast. Hezekiah’s apparently laisser-faire demeaner strongly indicates he was more than willing to trade the destruction of his nation and the future enslavement of his own flesh and blood for peace and prosperity in his time (2nd Kings 20:19).

Here’s the thing:

Hezekiah was not an awful person nor was he a negligent leader. To the contrary, Hezekiah is described as a uniquely good leader and stand-up guy. He destroyed the places of pagan worship scattered throughout Judah and removed all traces of idolatry from the Temple (2nd Kings 18:1-7). When faced with certain defeat from a bordering nation he prayed and literally begged God to save the nation and against all odds Judah remained at peace during Hezekiah’s reign (2nd Kings 18:9-19:37, Proverbs 3:3-5). Hezekiah was not a marginal leader or human being. Up until that moment Hezekiah appeared to be a good, God-fearing man driven by love for God and a desire to see his people living righteously.  

So. 

What happened? How did such a good guy go so terribly wrong? Well. I believe the answer is buried between the lines of a couple verses in 2nd Kings: 

Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine olive oil—his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them- 2nd Kings 20:13

When asked about the visit he responded with: 

They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”- 2nd Kings 20:14

I do not believe God was angry with Hezekiah for showing the Babylonians the treasures of Judah. It was certainly not the wisest strategic or political move. However, it wasn’t the problem, his focus was.

Hezekiah’s focus went from being entirely on God and the welfare of his people to be entirely Hezekiah-focused. In just a few short sentences the king uses personal pronouns a total of six times. He talks about” his” palace, “his” storehouses, “his” gold, “his” armory and “my treasures. His, his, and mine, mine, not so much as a word was uttered concerning God’s provision or God’s goodness or God’s glory.

It was all Hezekiah all the time. 

Hezekiah experienced a change in attitude that can take place in anyone—even those who sincerely love God and are called to His purposes. The change of heart he experienced was subtle at first. It took place gradually. As a result, Hezekiah did not even see that he was focused on entirely on himself and motivated by his own success and comfort rather than on what was best for his people and glorifying to the God he served. The end result of his self-focus was the eventual destruction of the nation he loved, seventy years of Babylonian captivity and the enslavement of the man who very well could have been his own grandson (Daniel). 

Yikes. 

This passage ought to serve as a cautionary tale to all of us because we just so happen to live in an age of self-focus, self-love, self-worship and self-centeredness and dwell in a society that values self above others. Every. Single. Time. 

Seriously. 

God despises self-focus (Romans 2:8, Philippians2:3).  He knows that even good, godly people who permit themselves to become self-focused stop caring how their present actions will affect future generations. Even the best people start valuing convenience over righteousness anytime self-worship becomes a part of their operating system (2nd Chronicles 28:3, Jeremiah 19:5, Ezekiel 20:31).  Self-focus is spiritually blinding. It causes even believers to reject obvious truth. 

Self-focus that’s left to fester always ends in moral decay and some sort of captivity (2nd Timothy 2:26, Colossians 2:8, Acts 8:23, 1st Timothy 3:1-3). 

Just like it did with Hezekiah.  

Breaking the power of our self-focus is a tough but necessary thing if we want to be like Jesus and bless others (Philippians 2:1-16).  

Here’s the thing though:

It’s almost impossible to see our own self-focus in a culture where self-promotion, self-worship and self-centeredness is all regarded as virtue. Getting free of the curse of self-focus requires a willingness to take a hard look at our lives. It requires a ruthlessness in evaluating our attitudes and mindsets. If we want to free ourselves from the curse of thinking about ourselves we have to be willing to humble ourselves and flat-out ask God to show us the stuff in us we really don’t want to see or deal with.

When we ask God to give us freedom the curse of self-focus God frees us from captivity and releases us to be a blessing.  

What is the Ultimate Goal of the Christian Life? Spoiler Alert-It’s Probably not What You Think it is

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

 He must increase, but I must decrease.He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all- John 3:30-31 NKJV

Goals and objectives matter. 

A lot.

If a person has no idea what the ultimate goal or objective is in a given situation they will have a tough time hitting that goal or objective. It simply does not matter how pure a person’s intentions are or how much work they are willing to put in. If the objective is unknown, unclear or undefined in any way the odds of failure are always going to be high. 

So. 

This means its mission critical all Christ followers understand what the ultimate objective of the Christian life is. If the goal is hazy or undefined in any way there is a pretty good chance the objective will not be met no matter how hard we try. 

Which begs the question:

What exactly is the ultimate goal of the Christian life? 

Well. 

It’s not what most Christians think it is. The ultimate goal of the Christian life is not to start amazing ministries or plant huge churches. Nor is it to live a quiet Christian life or have a great family and a godly marriage (if we marry). The ultimate aim is not even to tell the world about Jesus and make disciples. All of those things are good things. Furthermore, all the above-mentioned things are things Christians are commanded to do because each one is critical to the ultimate goal in some way (Matthew 28:19-23, 1st Thessalonians 4:11, 1st Timothy 2:1-3, Ephesians 5:21-33). However, they are all essential things that must grow out of the ultimate thing or the execution of all those good things will inevitably be less than ideal.  

The objective of the Christian life is: drumroll please…

To make God a big deal. 

The Bible calls this “giving God glory” (Revelation 14:7, 1st Chronicles 16:8, 1st Chronicles 16:28-29, Psalm 105:1, Psalm 106:8).

Loving God and making His goodness known is the ultimate objective of the Christian life (Matthew 22:37-40, Psalm 46:10). When we get this one thing right all the other things fall into place: we live good lives, our families and marriage are a blessing, disciples are made, churches and ministries prosper and people come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. 

When we hit the target of the Christian life destinies and lives are transformed (Ephesians 2:1-6, 1st Peter 2:10, 1stCorinthians 6:9-11)

It’s awesome, but it’s also hard— which begs yet another question: why is giving God glory so dang hard? Making God the big deal He deserves to be is difficult partly because we’re human. Despite our status as redeemed people each and every one of us still possesses a sin nature (Romans 7:14-25). Further complicating the whole messy mess is the fact that God chooses to use our sinful selves to bring Himself glory. 

Humans universally struggle with pride and a tendency towards selfish ambition. It’s kind of our thing. Even the good things we do for the kingdom like raising a family, leading a small group, teaching a class, or building a ministry can create opportunities for pride, self-promotion and selfish ambition to become entangled in our efforts to glorify God (Hebrews 12:1). This is a huge problem in a culture like ours where elevating and promoting self has become a celebrated aim rather than a source of shame as it was in previous generations (Philippians2:3). 

Thankfully.

There are all sorts of things that are impossible with man that are possible with God. Furthermore, God is always rooting for us to do more than we even think we can do (Matthew 19:26, Ephesians 3:20-21). It’s easier to glorify God once we’ve made a commitment to three things: 

Living for an audience of one- 

At the end of the day, (metaphorically speaking) God’s opinion of us is the only opinion that matters. Period. God and God alone will be the judge and jury of our actions, motivations and attitudes (2nd Timothy 4:1, Hebrews 10:30). When we choose to keep this reality at the forefront of our minds, it’s a gamechanger. All of a sudden selfish-ambition feels as silly it really is and we totally get that pride is the ultimate foolishness. This makes living a life that glorifies God and God alone a lot easier and much more appealing. 

Staying tuned into the condition of our hearts-

I will say it again: the human heart is naturally predisposed to egotism, corruption, self-promotion and wandering (Jeremiah 17:9-10, 1st Timothy 6:10, 2nd Peter 2:14-15, Hebrews 10:26). The closer tabs we keep on the state of our hearts the less likely we are to fall prey to our baser instincts as well as the schemes of the enemy (Ephesians 6:11, 1st Peter 5:8)

And finally:

We have to remember we’re playing a spiritual long game. I have no idea what the other side of eternity is going to be like. No one really does. That being said, I do know that most of what we do in this life FEELS like it’s of critical importance but most of its kind of stupid and incredibly pointless. All of our little schemes and strategies to make money, build empires and make people think we are more important than we really are is the ultimate waste of our time and talents (Luke 12:13-21,).   This life is not about finding ways to turn ourselves into a big deal. It’s about making God a big deal. Meeting that objective prepares for the next life. When we choose to put our energy into the ultimate objective we are promised it will pay off in a really big way (Matthew 25:14-28).

What Does it Mean to “Fear the Lord” and why Does it Matter?

Lisa M. Price3 Comments

His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love- Psalm 147:10-11 NIV

There was a time in the not so distant past when all Christians and even most non-Christians agreed God was so unique, superior and different from humans that He should be honored, respected and regarded with a healthy dose of trepidation.  As a result, most Christians did their level best to do what the Bible said. Some were so intent on obeying God’s commands they wandered into legalism and created a whole bunch of crazy-town rules around God’s commands to ensure no one broke a single one of God’s directives. 

  That is called legalism.  

Legalism is terrible. Legalism inevitably leads to a cranky judgmental attitude, mean-spiritedness and pride.  Legalism has never made anyone more like Jesus.

Period. 

That being said, the one good thing that can be said about legalism is at its core legalism understands we can and do offend God with our spiritual flippancy and lack of attention to the things of God (Hebrews 2:1-3).

However.

Legalism is not the biggest problem in the church today. These days, most people (even many professing Christians) tend to see God as just a slightly better, smarter and more evolved version of themselves. They believe God just really digs them no matter what they do or don’t do. This mindset causes people to view God as a non-judgy buddy or a benevolent gift-giver rather than as a holy, perfect, sinless being, who is entirely unlike us. A being who dwells in unapproachable light (1st Timothy 6:15-16, 1st Samuel 2:2, Psalm 99:9, Daniel 2:21-22, Revelation 4:8)

Fear of the Lord is old school and obsolete.  

This is a problem because when Christians lose their fear of the Lord they become dismissive about holiness and complacent in their faith. Spiritual complacency metastasizes into a cancer that negatively impacts every aspect of our lives. It impacts how we handle sin and how we treat people. It affects how we witness and the way we approach God (Proverbs 1:7, Deuteronomy 10:12, Ecclesiastes 5:1-7, Revelation 14:7, Revelation 19:5). 

Our view of God colors our view of everything.  

When someone sees God as a friendly Santa Claus in the sky sin just doesn’t seem like that big a deal (Genesis 6:5-6, 1st John 3:8). A soft stance on sin starts us down a moral spiral.  All of a sudden taking advantage of others and treating people made in the image of God with contempt doesn’t seem like a problem (Leviticus 19:13-15, Leviticus 25:17). When our view of God is gets off-center men can start to believe it’s okay to mistreat their wives, pornography feels like a perfectly reasonable way to meet legitimate sexual needs and adultery becomes accepted. When the problems with sin are minimized exploitation becomes the new normal and gender becomes a choice we get to make rather than the will of God for our lives (1st Timothy 3:1-5, 1st Thessalonians 4:3-8, Malachi 2:14-16, Genesis 1:27). When Christians lose their fear of God telling others about Jesus feels pointless because God’s warnings concerning hell are tough to take seriously (Matthew 5:22-28, Luke 12:25, 2nd Peter 4:4-22). When our view of God is skewed greed feels like sound financial planning and church attendance becomes about having our needs met rather than giving glory to the one who made us. None of this is good or life-giving. 

So.

It’s mission-critical Christians get the whole fearing the Lord thing one-hundred-percent right. Truth-be-told, for Christians the fear of the Lord is not a cowering, panicky, menacing terror that prevents us from approaching God and having a loving relationship with Him. 

This was once true. 

Prior to the death and resurrection of Jesus the thought of approaching God was fearsome and scary and rightly so.  Things tended to fall apart anytime sinful humans approached God in a flippant or haphazard kind of a way (Exodus 19, 1st Samuel 6:19, 1st Kings 19:13, Hebrews 12:18-21). People literally died. It was terrifying. 

However. 

All that has changed.  Thanks to Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross, when God sees a Christian He sees the holiness and perfection of Jesus rather than the individual’s intrinsic sinfulness. Practically speaking, this means followers of Jesus can approach God with boldness and expect to experience love, grace, forgiveness, comfort and even relationship in His presence (Psalm 25:14, Hebrews 4:16, 1st John 3:2)

Fear of the Lord is less about being fearful of God and more about an accurate perspective on the greatness, holiness and majesty of God. When we fear God we understand what our relationship is to God (Psalm 96:4, 1stChronicles 29:11, Ezekiel 36:23, Isaiah 55:9). When we get all that right fear of displeasing God causes us to go out of our way to obey God. Fearing God means believing two things with all our heart: 

  1. God is who He says He is.  
  2. God will do what He says he will do. 

People who fear God believe God sees everything. They read what God says about Himself in the Bible and believe those things are true and to be taken very literally. They know deep in their hearts that nothing in this world—including the inner workings of the human heart are hidden from God’s sight (Hebrews 4:13). They understand that God is merciful and they know He richly blesses every act of obedience and faith. They also understand God punishes deliberate disobedience. Fearing the Lord is understanding God is compassionate, merciful and good but in the words of C.S. Lewis—He is not safe.

The What Series- The Super Critical “What” of Frequent Self Checks

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment


Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? 2nd Corinthians 13:5 NIV

Christianity is not a faith based on a bunch of rules we follow to get God to like us (Matthew 22:37-40). 

Consequently,

There are grey areas in Christianity.

Although, the term “grey area” is not found anywhere in the Bible. Instead, the apostle Paul tells us that all things are permissible (meaning things not forbidden in Scripture). Nonetheless, many of those “permissible” things are not beneficial to our souls or supportive to our growth (1st Corinthians 10:23-33, 1stCorinthians 6:12). 

This basically means there are things Christians can do that we should be really careful about doing (if we do them at all). A classic example would be alcohol use. It is not sinful to use alcohol. However, there are numerous warnings concerning alcohol that should cause all Christians who use alcohol to put some serious guardrails around its use (Proverbs 23:21, Proverbs 20:1, Romans 13:13, Ephesians 5:18) 

Conversely.

There are a lot of things Christians don’t have to do—things not commanded in Scripture that we ought to at least consider making a regular practice of doing, simply because those things help us grow.  

Handling the grey areas of the faith well is all about practicing wisdom. It’s about having the foresight to seek the Lord for direction and going above and beyond to do life His way (Proverbs 3:5-6). We don’t do these things in a legalistic attempt to earn God’s love. We cannot earn something that’s already been freely given (John 3:16). Instead, we choose to live honorably as a way of saying “thank you” for what we have graciously been given (Ephesians 4:1).

One thing Christians are not commanded do, that we should probably consider doing is what I call a “personal self-check”. The apostle Paul calls self-checks: self-examination (2nd Corinthians 13:5). 

Self-checks are one of the “what’s” of the faith. 

God wants us to do self-checks because frequent self-checks lead to self-awareness. Self-awareness protects us from falling into patterns of behavior that eventually lead to sin. Without frequent self-checks we run the risk of having “a Nebuchadnezzar moment” where we are warned about our sin but refuse to see our sin or refuse to own our sin despite God’s warning and ample time to repent. Anytime we willfully choose the Nebuchadnezzar route, we receive all the possible consequences of our sin rather than God’s mercy (Romans 1:24-32). The full penalty is always a world of hurt for us and the people closest to us (Daniel 4:4-24).

Sigh. 

A self-check is just a series of questions we ask are ourselves on a regular basis. My personal self-check questions are all designed to keep me on the straight and narrow by forcing me to think about my life holistically rather than in just pieces and parts.  

They are as follows:

Am I in the faith?

Being in the faith is about more than praying a sinner’s prayer “once a upon a time”. It’s also about more than church attendance. One can attend church and even lead a church and still be very much outside the faith (Matthew 7:22-24). When we are “in the faith” we seek God on a daily basis, we actively seek to disentangle ourselves from sinful attitudes and behaviors. Being in the faith means going out of our way to shore up the weak areas in our spiritual lives. Lastly, those in the faith make church and friendships with other believers a priority (Hebrews 10:25, James 5:16, 1st John 1:7, 2nd John 1:5). 

What do my relationships look like?  

The state of our closest relationships is oftentimes an indicator of our spiritual health. If our life is strewn with relationships that have been damaged or broken due to our willful sin, selfishness, rudeness or lying. We have a problem that needs immediate attention or our Nebuchadnezzar moment may be right around the corner (Proverbs 11:3, Hebrews 12:14, 1st Peter 2:17, Ephesians 5:21-22, Ephesians 5:25-28, Ephesians 6:4).

Am I walking in integrity? 

The best and most basic definition of integrity is being the same person all the time. People with integrity are not chameleons who adapt to fit into whatever situation they happen find themselves in (Proverbs 10:9). Integrity is closely linked to fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1:7). If we truly believe God is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do. Then we will do our level best to stay within the lines He has drawn for us. If we don’t we won’t.  

Is there any area of my life I’m hiding from God or other people?  

If there is a part of our life we feel we need to keep on the down-low we most definitely have a problem that requires our immediate attention. Openness and honesty are the hallmarks of a holy, God-fearing people (Romans 13:12). 

What does my thought life look like? 

Our thoughts determine our actions and our actions determine the course of our life (Matthew 15:18-20, Mark 7:20-22, Ephesians 2:3, Hebrews 3:1). Therefore, every Christian ought to pay attention to what types of thoughts routinely flit through their head. If we frequently think mean, lustful, judgy, angry or greedy thoughts we need to spend some time asking the Lord what’s at the root of these attitudes. Then we need ask God to reorder our thoughts and give us the mind of Christ (1st Corinthians 2:16, Romans 15:5-6).

The “what” of daily spiritual self-checks are absolutely critical to our spiritual health in our broken sin-sick world. Self-checks keep our hearts soft towards God, our relationships with other people healthy and our lives free from the spiritual and moral drift that does us in (Hebrews 2:1)

The What Series- The How and Why of Walking in Truth

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it- 3rd John 1:3 NIV

There has been a debate raging in Christianity for over five-hundred-years. 

The debate is all about what Christianity is all about. 

There are those who argue passionately that Christianity is all about BEING rather than DOING Galatians 2:17-21, Ephesians 2:8-9, Acts 16:31, John 10:28). The be-ers believe Christianity is more about identity than action or activity. They argue that once a person is in Christ (saved by grace through faith) that’s it, they’re done. There’s nothing left to do. This group believes attempts at “doing” are a waste of time and may even create an unhealthy pride in our “Christian achievements”.

Conversely: 

Modern-day doers also all agree Christians are saved by faith. To my knowledge there are no mainstream Christians openly promoting an “earn your own salvation” theology. 

That said.

 The doers feel sanctification (becoming holy) is more of a process than an event. Therefore, they believe Christians should do things that mold us into the image of Jesus. The doers believe if a person doesn’t want to “do Christian things” then their salvation probably isn’t the real deal (Philippians 2:12, Hebrews 6:1-11, 2nd Peter 1:5-9, Colossians 3).  The doers believe faith without works is a form of fire insurance which may or may not be operative when it’s time to cash in the policy (Matthew 7:22-23, James 2:14-19)

This is one of those rare situations where everyone is sort of right. We are saved by faith. No one earns their way to heaven. Jesus did the work for us. Any attempts on our part to earn our salvation are an offense to God because when we insist on earning our own way we are, in effect, rejecting God, His verdict that we can’t do it without Him and His generous offer of a free gift of salvation all at the same time (Isaiah 64:6, Ephesians 2:1-9)

Yikes. 

  In that sense salvation is a one and done. However, Christianity is, at its core, a long process of transformation and growth that prepares us for whatever it is God has planned for us in eternity (Ephesians 2:10, John 8:12, Romans 12:2, 2nd Corinthians 3:18). Spiritual growth and transformation will not happen without some effort on our part (Ephesians 4:20-32, Colossians 3, 2nd Peter 1:5-10, 2nd Peter 3:14).  

This means there really are things God wants us to do. 

These things are “the what’s of the faith”. The “what’s” aren’t about getting saved— they’re about becoming like Jesus, so that we can glorify Jesus, represent God well, be a preserving influence in the culture and bring others to faith in Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20) 

One of those “what’s” that is often dismissed as irrelevant in our Christian culture is the what of walking in truth (Psalm 15:2, 1st John 1:5-7, 2nd John 1:1-4, 3rd John 1:2-4). 

Walking in truth is critical because God is not only the ultimate decider of truth, He IS truth (Psalm 25:5, Jeremiah 7:28, John 4:24, Romans 2:2). When God’s people don’t walk in truth there is no clear witness of truth in our fallen world. The lack of witness causes Gods presence to be hidden from the world. This makes it difficult for people to find God (Luke 18:27).  It also causes believers and unbelievers to be taken captive by all sorts of strange notions regarding gender, what makes people happy, sexuality, parenting and even the nature of reality (Colossians 2:8). 

It’s kind of where we’re living right now. 

The most basic facet of walking in truth is integrity and honesty (Exodus 20:16). That said, integrity encompasses more than “not lying”. There are at least a million ways to be deceitful, dishonest and/or hypocritical and God hates them all. We can tell out-in-out lies, withhold critical information, make-up stories to feel important and spruce-up a true story to the point it no longer accurately represents reality.

Sigh.

 Being honest and truthful is good (Leviticus 19:11, Colossians 3:9) However, honesty really just the entry-level version of walking in truth that even the average heathen aspires to.

Fully walking in truth is impossible if we don’t know what’s actually true. 

Walking in truth means being firmly rooted in biblical truth. Because God IS truth His word is where we go to get the lowdown on how to live, love and operate successfully in this world (Psalm 119:1-176).  Unfortunately, few Christians actually hold a biblical world view. According to some super depressing research done by Barna Research and Summit Ministries only seventeen percent of American Christians and thirty-seven percent of American Pastors hold to a biblical world view (Hosea 4:6). 

Sigh.

This sad reality means we can’t get all our information about what the Bible says from anyone, even pastors. Christians must read the Bible for themselves (Acts 17:11). We must research the Bible and think about the Bible and pray the Holy Spirit will enlighten our minds and help us to further understand the Bible. We need to get into groups with other believers and open our Bible’s and find out what other Christians think about the Bible.  Then we must apply the truths of the Bible to our lives. 

When we do these things we walk in truth and the truth enables us live righteously, we are protected from Satan’s schemes (Ephesians 4:27, Ephesians 6:11, 1st Peter 5:8) and empowered to live out what’s real and true in world where truth has lost its voice (Isaiah 59:4, Isaiah 59:14)

The What are the “What’s” of the Faith? The Simplest “What” of all the “What’s”

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

We dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory- 1st Thessalonians 2:11-12 NIV

There is some confusion over the “what” of Christianity.

The who is easy. The who is Jesus. Jesus is the beginning and end of all things (Revelation 1:4-8, Revelation 22:12).  Jesus is the one who redeems us and saves us and empowers us to become a brand-new creation completely free from the bondage of our past sin (Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:12-14, 2nd Corinthians 5:22). 

Without Jesus there is no Christianity.

Most Christians are also pretty clued into “the why” of Christianity. People need Jesus because all people are hopeless sinners. We are so messed up we routinely do wrong even when we want to do right (Romans 7:21-25, Jeremiah 17:19). 

Sigh.

All humans need the redemption, salvation and wholeness only Jesus can offer.  Understanding the “why” of salvation is critical. We cannot even get saved until we understand our own sinfulness and the futility of attempting to save ourselves (Ephesians 2:8-9, Isaiah 64:6). 

The “how” of Christianity becomes clear once we understand the “who” and the “why”. We become Christians by placing our faith and trust in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Once that’s done we living a life of repentance and worship (John 3:36, Acts 13:28-40, Ephesians 1:13-14)

It’s that easy. 

It’s the “what” of Christianity many believers struggle with. A lot of Christians don’t really have a firm grasp on “what” God wants from them once they are a Christian.  This is partially due to bad doctrine; most Christians have heard a lot of sermons and read a surplus of books instructing them to do “big things” for God.  Anything less than “big” is small. Though it’s never said out loud we all get the message: big is good and small is a sad affront to God. 

Sigh.

This thinking is a clever scheme of the enemy that keeps us from fulfilling our purpose as believers here on earth (2nd Corinthians 2:11, Ephesians 6:11). We have forgotten three critical truths: 

Little things done in the name of Jesus on a regular basis are big things as far as Jesus is concerned (Matthew 10:42, Matthew 25:31-46).

Little things are big things to the people around us who need to experience the love of Jesus through us (Romans 12:10, Romans 12:16, Romans 15:7, Galatians 5:13, Hebrews 3:13, Philippians 2:5, Ephesians 4:32)

Nowhere in Scripture does it say bigger is better.

Seriously.

Until we understand the “what” of Christianity we tend to feel spiritually purposeless and irrelevant to God’s plan for this world. This causes many to search for their significance in the secular realm. Secular pursuits are not wrong (for the most part). However, if they are not coupled with the “what’s” of the faith they will have no lasting impact on others—or eternity (1st Corinthians 3:10-15). One of God’s favorite “what’s” we tend to overlook in the church is the simple the act of comforting one another. 2nd Corinthians 1:3-4 says this: 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

One of our chief responsibilities (what’s) as Christians is to be a comfort to the hurting people God places in our sphere of influence. Anyone can do this—and we are literally the most like Jesus when we are actively seeking to comfort the brokenhearted (John 4, Luke 7:11-13, Matthew 9:36, Matthew 14:14, Mark 6:34, John 11). Furthermore, comforting others is a powerful way to connect unbelievers with the heart of Jesus. 

There are three things that get in the way of success in this area:  

We don’t want to get involved in another person’s stuff-

Comforting people means choosing awkwardness. Entering into the suffering and pain of others means we have to get close to people, hear stories that might make us feel uncomfortable, make judgment calls about right and wrong and just generally get kind of messy (Hebrews 10:34, 1st Corinthians 12:26). We live in a culture that prefers to keep pain at a distance and relationships neat and chaos free. Going deep into the weeds of someone else’s pain is not easy. Nor is it fun but it is a command (Philippians 1:1-3). It is perhaps the single most critical aspect of being Jesus to others. Comforting the hurting is something God never wants us to shy away from (Romans 12:15). 

We have been conditioned to avoid strong emotion-

Hurting people are emotional by nature. Emotional people weep, rant endlessly about the unfairness of life and are just generally kind of irrational and illogical. Unfortunately, it has become trendy to classify even healthy displays of emotion as manifestations of mental illness. They’re not. Sometimes situations are so unjust and awful that it just makes perfect sense to “weep, mourn and wail” (Esther 4:3, Micah 1:8, Matthew 2:18). Anytime we feel uncomfortable with a strong show of human emotion we need to ask God to help us to adjust our thinking in a way that empowers us to help those struggling rather than avoid or shame people for expressing their pain.

We’re time hoarders-

Comforting others always requires a time commitment on our part and in our age of frenetic busyness we want to keep all our extra time for ourselves. But, here’s the thing: if we were all to cut out just a couple of hours of our television or scrolling the internet time we would have more than enough time for the people that need us to be Jesus to them.

Figuring out the “what’s” of our faith is critical to our spiritual health. When we know what we’re supposed to be all about we find personal fulfillment beyond our wildest dreams and we become the helpers our world needs.

What Does it Really Mean to Surrender Something or Someone to God?

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight- Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

Surrender.

One definition for surrender would be:

 The act of giving something up completely or letting go of control of an outcome. 

Some synonyms for surrender include: submission, relinquish, capitulation, yield and forfeit. 

For the record: surrender is not on the list of my favorite words. 

Seriously.

Surrender sucks.

Surrendering ourselves, our desires, our behaviors, our dreams, our loved ones or the outcome of situations to God is one of the hardest things God asks us to do as Christians (James 4:1-7, Luke 11:28). 

There is typically some confusion around the differences between making a commitment and surrendering.  Both are agreements we make with God but they are entirely different in their nature. When we make a commitment to something we naturally assume we will have some control over the process. We also assume we will able to take personal pride in a positive outcome.  In surrender we relinquish complete control of the process to God and He gets all the glory for a good outcome (Psalm 32:8-10). Commitments always have an exit strategy if the process becomes too painful or the personal difficulties become too much to bear. 

Surrendering our sin or someone we love to God means we concede we have reached the end of our ability to fix, manage or deal with the problem on our own. In surrender we get real and acknowledge we cannot change anything or anyone in our own power— no matter how desperately we might want to. We recognize the hard (and painful) truth we simply cannot make anyone do anything. We need God to do whatever needs to be done in us or our loved one or it’s just not happening.

Sigh. 

Because we are all gifted with freewill—and sinful to the core (Joshua 24:15, 1st Peter 4:3, Ephesians 2:1, 1st John 1:9-10, Psalm 32:5, Psalm 51:5) surrender is always painful and hard— regardless of how long we have known and walked with the Lord. Additionally, because, we are by nature a bunch of control freaks surrender is rarely a one and done. Typically, we have to take the habit, person, situation or sin to God over and over again until the battle is won.

Surrender looks different in different situations.

For some it might mean letting God work in the life of a loved one without running in and sermonizing, making excuses for their behavior or enabling a sinful lifestyle. For others surrender means choosing to do something God’s way even when God’s way literally makes no sense (Judges 7, Joshua 6, Matthew 6:25-34, Acts 9:1-17).  For others it means finally being willing to let go of a life controlling habit or sinful coping mechanism even when we don’t know how we will survive without the comfort it provides.  

Surrender is always about trust and trust is universally hard for humans. This makes the choice to surrender our wants, needs, habits and loved ones to God painful and tough. Really tough (Hebrews 12:4, 1st Corinthians 10:13). All that being said, surrender comes with benefits and blessings we literally cannot get any other way.  Some of those benefits include:

Surrender forms deep connection with God- 

It is totally possible for a person to attend church, read the Bible regularly and live the life of a Christian without ever really connecting with God on an intimate level. People do it all the time. Surrender forces us to acknowledge there are simply some things we cannot do without God’s help. This naturally makes us more dependent on God, but it does more than just that, in surrender we come face-to-face with how weak and frail we really are (2ndCorinthians 12:9). This knowledge drives us to pray about everything and prayer is the ONLY way to build authentic connection and real intimacy with God (Genesis 5:24, James 2:23). The joy, peace and wellbeing we derive from intimacy with God is alone worth the pain of surrender. 

When we surrender we are given a super natural source of wisdom- 

Surrender means we give up and hand control over to God. This act forces us to seek God for wisdom and understanding into our problems instead of leaning on our own limited understanding to problem solve (Proverbs 3:5-6). When we ask God for wisdom rather than simply asking Him to bless whatever plans and ideas we worked out on our own He blesses us with the inside scoop on how to deal with people appropriately and problem solve seemingly unsolvable problems (Matthew 7:7-8, James 1:5). The wisdom we gain in surrender gives us power to live every part of our lives victoriously.

We (eventually) get the joy that comes with victory over our flesh-

Giving up control is profoundly unpleasant.  Nobody likes giving up or giving in and essentially admitting failure. Nonetheless, it is the only way to overcome certain sins, bad habits and life-controlling behaviors. There are simply some things we can never do on our own. That said, the joy we experience when it finally dawns on us that we no longer feel any desire or compulsion to indulge in the garbage that was ruining our lives is totally worth the cost to our pride. 

And finally:

In surrender we gain real freedom. Surrender frees us from the need to do whatever needs to be done ourselves and it frees us from our fleshly desires, our control freak tendencies and our pride. When we are free of those things we are free indeed. 

Why is it so Hard to Hear From God?

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 sensation can get emotionally and spiritually messy really quickly because we derive comfort, peace and security from knowing God sees our needs and hears our 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 ways 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 a change of approach. 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 no sin is 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, 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 we have made busyness into badge of honor, an indication of righteousness and a weird little idol. 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. 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 in 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 expecting Him to 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 of being more like Jesus and sometimes the road there 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. 

Spiritual Warfare Series- What is the one Weapon that Empowers all the Other Weapons?

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

 Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus- 1stThessalonians 5:16-18 NIV

Most commentators and teachers agree there are a total of six weapons named in the “warfare passage” found in Ephesians six. 

I respectively oppose the conventional tally.

The traditional weapon count is: the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit (the Bible). 

In my humble opinion:

The Bible is not the last weapon listed in the passage. It is for sure not the end of Paul’s teaching on the subject of spiritual warfare. Verse eighteen begins with an “and”. Grammatically and practically speaking, “and” is never the end of a topic. It is always the continuation of said topic. 

 Here is the text of Ephesians 6:18-20:

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should- Ephesians 6:18-20 NIV

 Prayer. 

Prayer the final weapon named in Paul’s instruction on spiritual warfare. If the sheer number of times prayer is mentioned is any indicator, and it probably is, then Pastor Paul believed prayer is pretty dang important (Romans 12:12, 1st Corinthians 7:5, Philippians 4:6, Colossians 4:2,1st Thessalonians 5:17). Nowhere is this truer than when it comes to spiritual warfare. 

The total number of times Paul mentions prayer in this particular context clues us into exactly how fundamental prayer is when it comes to dealing with the dark forces at work in our world (Daniel 10:7-21, Ephesians 6:10-13). Attempting to do battle on spiritual level without prayer is a fool hardy endeavor. Without prayer we lose connection with Jesus who is the spiritual head of the body of Christ (Colossians 2:18, Ephesians 1:22-23). When we lose connection with Jesus we have no one wiser or better leading us. We are forced to lean on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6). Without a vital connection to Jesus our flesh takes over and we live in the natural rather than spiritual (Romans 1:26-32). When we are disconnected from Jesus spiritual discernment becomes impossible and wisdom is a pipe dream. Without the spiritual covering prayer provides we quickly become sitting ducks for the enemy. Satan is relentlessly searching for Christians wandering around without their armor on so he can deceive and devour them (John 8:44, 1st Peter 5:8) 

Yikes. 

Each piece of armor empowers Christians in some way. When we have the full armor on we walk in Spirit and are able to thwart the plans the enemy has for us. Walking in the spirit also empowers us protect and guide others on a spiritual level. In some cases, we are even able to snatch unsaved people from the fire (Jude 22-23). 

Here’s how it works: 

The belt of truth empowers us to know and understand what is true about ourselves, God and other people. The belt of truth protects our most vulnerable emotional, spiritual and psychological parts from the lies of the enemy. The simple act of putting on the breastplate of righteousness reminds us daily that even the best and brightest of humans have literally zero righteousness of their own (Isaiah 64:6).  However, the breastplate does more than remind us of our weakness. The breastplate empowers us to walk in step with Jesus so we can be like Him, think like Him and do the things He did (Matthew 10:19, Matthew 17:20, Matthew 10:8). 

The shoes of the gospel of peace remind us that Jesus is our mission (Matthew 28:16-20). The shoes empower us take the presence of Jesus and the word of God with us everywhere we go. The shield of faith enables us to remember who God is and what He is capable of –even when life is hard and our path feels dark and uncertain (Isaiah 64:5). This knowledge puts out Satan’s flaming arrows of doubt. Every. Single. Time. The helmet of salvation allows us to practice discernment so we can think like Christians in a world filled with hollow and deceptive philosophies intended to lead us away from simple faith in Jesus (Colossians 2:8). The word of God gives us the spiritual knowledge we need to live as productive members of God’s family. 

Here’s the bottom-line truth: 

Prayer is the engine that powers each piece of armor. Without regular prayer and the intimacy with Jesus that prayer provides, a Christian has no spiritual protection, no spiritual power, no practical holiness, no wisdom, no peace of mind and no spiritual discernment (Matthew 26:41, Mark 9:29.  Without intimate connection to the Almighty we will struggle to grow in our knowledge of God (Hebrews 5:12-14). 

We are a hot defenseless mess. 

And yet.  

Prayer is the spiritual discipline most believers neglect. The average Christian spends slightly LESS than three minutes a day in prayer. That means most of us are asking God to bless our food, our commute to work and maybe our kids. 

No wonder our lives lack power. 

If we want spiritual wisdom, victory over sin, protection from the enemy and to tear down spiritual strongholds we must pray (2nd Corinthians 10:4). It really is that simple. Pray. Just start. Go to Him and ask Him to show you who He is and who you are in Him. Ask Him to transform you.  Storm the gates of heaven with your requests and petitions for other people (Romans 12:12, Colossians 4:2, 1st Thessalonians 5:17).  

If you make a regular practice of prayer people and situations you never thought in a billion years could change will change. 

It’ll blow your mind. 

I promise.

Spiritual Warfare Series- What is the Sword of the Spirit and how do Utilize it?

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. t- Hebrews 4:12 NIV

The Bible.

Ironically, it is the most stolen book in the world (Exodus 20:15). 

Seriously. 

Some have literally died so others would have the privilege to read it for themselves. Even in the age of computers there are still men and women who long to own a copy of the Bible. Some are threatened by the Bible. Petty dictators everywhere lay awake at night and worry about what might happen if those who long to get their hands on a Bible actually do.

Truth-be told. 

The Bible is more than a much-loved book. The Bible’s power goes beyond its ability to terrify the bejebbers out of insignificant tyrants with over-inflated egos. 

The Bible is a weapon. It is the only weapon named in Ephesians 6-10-18 that is both offensive and defensive. Knowing it is protective but its words can be used defensively to do battle with the powers of darkness (Daniel 8:27 and 10:1-20, Ephesians 2:2, Ephesians 6:10-12, Colossians 2:13-15, 1st Peter 5:8). These powers act as puppet-masters to the unsaved. They harass, discourage and attempt to derail those who are saved (Romans 10:9-10).   Christians are commanded to:

Take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17).

Jesus did this.  

In Matthew 4:1-11 Jesus took hold of the sword of the Spirit (the Bible) when Satan tempted Him in the wilderness. Three separate times Jesus used quotations from the Old Testament to overcome any temptation He felt and neutralize Satan’s power. Jesus’ use of Scripture (the sword) was so threatening to Satan, he took off. He literally turned tail and ran (Matthew 4:11).  The words of Scripture are powerful enough defeat the devil because the Bible embodies all the wisdom, understanding and knowledge of the maker of the universe.   

Jesus gave His followers authority over Satan.

Therefore, we can use the sword of the Spirit (the Bible) the same way Jesus did (Matthew 10:1, Mark 6:7). Spiritual warfare is not hand-to-hand combat with demons. In its simplest (and most common) form spiritual warfare is applying scripture to satanic temptations and situations (Matthew 4:1-11).  Spiritual warfare speaking truth to both people and the enemy. Discernment is a form of spiritual warfare, it tells us when to rebuke the enemy and move forward and when to change course.  Spiritual warfare is examining every cultural trend and teaching we hear and running them through the filter of Scripture (Acts 17:11). Spiritual warfare is knowing the Bible well enough speak it out loud and to pray in a way that causes the power of darkness to flee. 

However.

There are some things we have to understand and do to be successful in this endeavor.  Those things include:

 Having a relationship with the author- 

 Spiritual power and authority is only promised to those who have a personal relationship with Jesus and worship Him as Lord. It is a pointless (and even dangerous) to attempt to do battle with Satan minus a relationship with Jesus (Acts 16:31, John 3:3, Acts 19:13-16). 

Actually, reading it-

This point is super basic but needs to be said anyway. Mostly because it’s importance cannot be overstated. An unread Bible is very much like a weapon locked in a safe with an unknown combination. It’s useless. 

Contemplating it- 

Reading the Bible is essential. However, we must do more than simply read it. The Bible is not a Tom Clancy novel. We must think deeply about what it says and ponder what its instructions mean for us personally. We meditate on it so we know it well enough to apply its wisdom to every temptation and problem we come up against. 

Believe it enough to do what it says- 

In John 3:36, 3:16 and John 5:24 the Greek words for believe and obey essentially mean the same thing. In many cases they can be used interchangeably. Obedience to the commands in the Bible give us spiritual power and authority. Every time we obey a biblical command we draw close to God and our understanding of all things spiritual is heightened (James 4:8). Obedience grants us the ability to effectively rebuke Satan and bind his power, pray with authority, speak the word with wisdom, bring about true biblical justice and convert the lost (Matthew 10:7-8, Luke 9:2 2nd Timothy 4:2-5). 

Give it the reverence its origin deserves-

In one very real sense the Bible was not written by human beings—although God did use humans to pen the words (2nd Timothy 3:16). The author is Jesus Himself. In John 1:1-3 the apostle John calls Jesus the word. Jesus is the originator of all things and source of all the wisdom, knowledge and understanding found in both the world and the Bible (Colossians 1:15-17, Hebrews 1:1-3). Any book whose author is the God of the universe deserves our reverence. Christians do not worship the Bible. However, Christians do hold the Bible in the highest esteem.

And finally, 

For Christians the Bible is our anchor and our true north. It guides us through the storms of life. When spoken out loud its words will reprimand Satan and defuse his power. Satan utterly despises Christians who know, understand and obey the Bible. These Christians are the most likely to stop him in his tracks with their prayers and the least likely to succumb to temptation and believe spiritual lies.