Tag: Christianity

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 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 act as hooks to pull us in and get us thinking more deeply. 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 even 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 a prize. 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).  

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 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 lecturing, making excuses for their behavior or enabling their 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. When we surrender we come face-to-face with how weak and frail we really are (2nd Corinthians 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 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. 

Spiritual Warfare Series- What is 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) and without faith there is no way we can please God no matter what we 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 in a church where the word is faithfully taught (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 nothing more than 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.

Spiritual Warfare Series- What’s up with the Shoes of the Gospel of Peace?

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect- 1st Peter 3:15 ESV

Most church people tend to think of mission in terms of traveling to a foreign country for the purpose of doing service projects and/or converting people to Christianity.  

There is nothing wrong with thinking about mission in those terms. 

It’s a perfectly reasonable and fine way to define the word. That being said, oddly enough, God’s definition of mission is much more in line with Dictionary.com’s definition of mission.    

Here’s their take on it:

  1. The business with which a group or individual is charged.
  2. Any important task that is assigned, allotted, or self-imposed.
  3. A  goal or purpose that is accompanied by strong conviction; a calling or vocation. 

Here’s the thing:

All Christians are “on mission” all the time.  The details of our individual mission vary from person to person but our “big-picture” mission as Christians is always the same: to be the hands, feet and mouthpiece of Jesus in our broken and hurting world. 

One of the challenges we encounter as we seek to accomplish our mission is spiritual warfare. The enemy is categorically not a fan of Christians “being Jesus” and he will do anything to distract and divert us from doing the good we are called to do (Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 20:24, 2nd Peter 1:3-10, Ephesians 2:10). All Christians ought to make a habit of “praying on” the armor of God daily is because it is a much-needed reminder of our primary mission as Jesus’ people in this world. It says: 

Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace- NKJV

Shod is not a word most of use in conversation. It’s a weird and antiquated word that simply means to “put on”. It tells us God wants you and I to take every aspect of the gospel with us wherever He leads. Every Christian experiences warfare surrounding this directive. The enemy will do anything within his power to stop us from:

Taking the presence of Jesus into our world-

All Christians carry around with them the presence of Jesus (1st Corinthians 3:16, 2nd Corinthians 2:14-15). It’s just what we do. One of our primary tasks as Christians is to live and behave in such a way the “aroma” of Jesus flows out of us all the time because the “smell of Jesus” inspires curiosity about Jesus in unsaved people.  Satan will do anything and everything to keep us from radiating the presence of Jesus in our homes, schools, workplaces and churches. We put on the shoes of the gospel of peace when we choose to be intentional about taking Jesus into every situation life throws at us (Matthew 5:16, Matthew 13:43). 

Sharing the gospel with words-

Saint Francis of Assisi once said: “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” No shade on Saint Francis but this recommendation falls right into line with one of Satan’s most fervent hopes for us. Satan wants more than anything in this world is to keep Christians verbally quiet about their faith. He loves the whole idea of Christians living good lives but keeping quiet about why they live the way they do.  If he can get them feeling self-righteous about their timidity it’s a win win for team Satan. Don’t get me wrong—it is critical we live out what we profess to believe. Hypocrisy in the life of Christian is a deal killer for the spiritually curious. That said, our world needs to hear words spoken about Jesus not just see well behaved people.  

Living out the virtues of Christianity- 

 Ultimately, the aim of the Christian life is to live like Jesus lived. This requires we take off all the habits, sins and bigotries of our old life (Colossians 3:5-11) and put on new behaviors and attitudes that reflect our status as redeemed (Christian) people (Colossians 3:12-17, Galatians 5:22-23, Romans 12:1-21, 2nd Peter 1:3-9). Satan despises virtue with every fiber of his being because virtue gives the words we speak about Jesus power. He will do anything he can to convince us virtue is unnecessary and just too darn hard to pull off.  Part of “putting on the armor” is living a life of virtue and righteousness all the time.  

Being a voice of wisdom and reason in an unwise world-

We live in the stupidest of times (Judges 21:25, 1st Timothy 3:1-5). Even educated people believe the most outrageous things imaginable about stuff every one used to agree on. These include: what makes a person male or female, what is and is not acceptable regarding sexuality, the best way to parent children, marriage and pretty much every other moral issue under the sun. Part of our job as Christians is to be a voice of reason and wisdom in an increasingly unwise world. Satan will use our fear of being mocked to keep us quiet (Deuteronomy 31:6). It is essential we defend truth in a spirit of love, grace and humility (Ephesians 4:15). That being said, when Christians refuse to speak up concerning moral issues it gives the enemy a win in the spiritual war.

In order take the gospel into all of life we must be intentional about how we speak, live and treat others. Putting on the shoes of the gospel of peace is about living the gospel and being the church. When we do that Satan is defeated, God is lifted and the body of Christ is filled with power.