by

FATHER’S BLESSING

I was asked to give the father’s blessing over the students in my daughter’s college program at the parent appreciation banquet last week.

God gave me scripture to craft together, and I’d like to share what he gave me:

Father’s Blessing 2015

Men and women of Verity, class of 2015, it is my honor to speak over you the father’s blessing.

More than anything, I pray that you will continue to be students of scripture, that you may know God’s wisdom and gain understanding and insight from Him, to receive His instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity. May you continue to increase in learning and obtain guidance from the Lord. Remember that a healthy fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; receive His words and treasure His commandments. Make your ear attentive to wisdom, and incline your heart to understanding, for the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. As you walk in integrity, God will guard your path and watch over you. You will understand righteousness and justice and equity. Wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will watch over you and understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil. Let your heart keep God’s commandments, for length of days and years of life and the peace they will add to you. Do not let steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. That way you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and he will make your paths straight. Fear the Lord, and turn away from evil – it will bring healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty. You will be blessed when you find God’s wisdom – she is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.

As you follow the Lord, and obey his commands, may you receive that which God promised to Israel. Blessed in the city, and blessed in the field. Blessed be your children and the fruit of your work. You will be blessed when you come in, and blessed when you go out. May the Lord cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you, and God bless all that you undertake. Let all the peoples of the earth see that you are called by the name of the Lord. Be faithful to Him, and the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you honor the Lord your God.

Women of Verity, may you be like Ruth, who was presented a choice between the comfortable, pagan world she knew, or following the one true God. She chose the path of humility, becoming one of the poorest of the poor, only to be redeemed and lifted up to become the wife of the owner of the land. May you be like Esther, who could have kept her mouth shut and lived a luxurious life as queen, but chose to put her life on the line for her people by acknowledging her God. For such a time as this, you, too, have been trained up – stand ready for the call.

Men of Verity, may you be like David, who is called a man after God’s own heart. Not because of his great virtue, but because when confronted with his sin, he repented in sackcloth and ashes, begging God for a purified heart. May you be like Isaiah, who knew he was unworthy to stand in the presence of a holy, holy, holy God, yet when the Lord cried out for a messenger he burst out with, “Here am I, Lord! Send me!” He carried a message to multiple generations of the kings of Judah, knowing it would be virtually fruitless for the present, but would have everlasting impact. Be ready when God calls, and be bold to proclaim whatever message He gives you.

May you all be salt and light in this dark world, bringing glory to God by the good works that you do. As Jesus commands in Mark chapter 16, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” The good news that Jesus Christ is the only Way to God, the ultimate Truth, the only One who gives us everlasting Life, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. The message that it is only by His perfect life, death on the cross, and resurrection from the dead that the penalty for our sins is paid in order that by receiving Him, we have the right to become children of God and live with Him forever. As He commands in Matthew 28, go and make disciples, teaching them to obey all that Christ has commanded. Behold, He is with you always, even to the end of the age.

Finally, may the grace of Almighty God, the fellowship of Jesus Christ, his only Son, and the power of the Holy Spirit, be with you now and forever. Amen!

by

RECONCILIATION AND SALVATION

Tom asked a question on another post, and I gave a lengthy answer which I want to repeat as a stand-alone post, because I think it is important.

Here’s what I said:

Sorry to take so long to respond. I wanted to make sure I got it right, and I am just taking some extra time to look up the verses that keep going through my mind.

First, I should be clear – being prepared for the day and the hour means being a true Christian. Salvation does not depend on anything other than faith in Jesus Christ’s atonement for my sin by His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead.

That said, James called it when he said, “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” (James 2:17-18 ESV)

Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) and “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)

He also said, “So, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23-24, emphasis mine)

So, that last verse is a command, and it involves loving God (worship) and loving your neighbor. According to Jesus’ words, if you truly love Him (and by extension God), you will reconcile with others so that your worship of God will not be hindered.

John said, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20, emphasis mine).

Scripture is clear. If we profess to be Christians, and thus profess that we love God, we must live that out by doing everything humanly possible to be reconciled with others (specifically, per the use of the term “brother”, other Christians – though we are also commanded to love our enemies as well).

So, husbands, so, wives, so, brothers and sisters in Christ – fervently, doggedly pursue reconciliation as proof of your profession of faith.

As Paul says in Romans, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” (That is where I don’t want anyone to make an excuse, and say, “I tried to reconcile, but he/she wouldn’t…” unless you have really, truly, before God and man, made every possible attempt to reconcile).

Blessings,

George

by

WHAT DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE?

What do you think…is God really involved in our daily lives? Is He really like the God described in the Bible, or has He backed off, and doesn’t get all that involved in our world? I have heard that latter opinion all too often, and it was a major stumbling block in my own battle against bondage to sin.

If you have a hard time seeing God as described in scripture, therein lies your most basic problem – you don’t really believe in the God of the Bible. Rather, you believe in a God who is shaped by your intellect, by what you think of Him, by what you perceive Him to be.

Your actions will show that you don’t fear God as much as you fear the opinion of people directly around you (and, conversely, you don’t hunger for His approval like you hunger and thirst for people’s approval).

“Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free.” (Ephesians 6:5-8 ESV)

God is the God of the Bible, regardless of what you may think or believe about Him or His involvement in your life.

“God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?“(Numbers 23:19 ESV)

Adam and Eve shook off God’s authority because they wanted to decide for themselves what is good and what is evil, and they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil to become like God. It didn’t work out so well for them.

The only way to be truly free from bondage to sin (anger, adultery, fornication, lies, covetousness, etc.) is to put ourselves back under God’s authority, to allow Him to be God in our own lives instead of stubbornly wanting to decide for ourselves what role He is to play on this earth.

So, you have to decide. Are you going to acknowledge that God IS, that He is everything the Bible says, and bow your will to His will like Jesus did right before His crucifixion? Or, are you going to be like those described in Romans:

“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” (Romans 1:21-25 ESV)

I never could break free from bondage to hidden sin until I truly started to fear God more than the opinions of people around me, and determined to seek His will and do it, no matter how painful, Whatever It Takes!

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death.” (Revelation 12:11)

May you fully acknowledge the grace of God and the blood of Christ to truly set you free,

George

by

UPCOMING WHATEVER IT TAKES EVENTS

Marriage Intensive
Asheville, NC
March 12-15
We are only 2 weeks away from the upcoming 4 Days 2 Oneness Marriage Intensive.  We still have a few spots remaining.  If you, or someone you know, would benefit from this weekend, please don’t delay.  Pass the word along and register today. Click Here or go to WITMinistries.com for more information.

4 Days 2 Freedom
Men’s Intensive
Tampa, FL
March 19-22
This is an added weekend due to January and February’s weekends filling up so fast.   These weekends continue to help men find freedom.  If you know someone who could benefit from this weekend, please pass this along.
Click Here

4 Days 2 Hope
Women’s Intensive
Blue Ridge, GA
(near Atlanta)
April 16-19
Come and meet God in the North Georgia mountains this spring. If you know someone who could needs hope,
please pass this along.
Click Here
by

THE DAY AND THE HOUR

Folks love to quote Matthew 24:36, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the Angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”

I propose to you that just a few verses later the Bible states exactly when Jesus is coming again:

“Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (‭Matthew‬ ‭24‬:‭44‬ ESV)

When is it that no one really expects Him? NOW

I don’t know of a single person who doesn’t think he has at least one more Planck, or yoctosecond, or whatever, before Jesus returns.

The first part of the verse says we must be ready – we must be trusting in the Blood of Christ alone as the atonement for our sins, that sets us free from slavery to sin. We should be expectant as well, like the five wise virgins in Matthew 25. As Christians we are always looking ahead to Jesus’ return:

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! (‭Revelation‬ ‭22‬:‭20‬ ESV)

Yes, I am speaking a bit tongue-in-cheek…

But you should still be ready. For Jesus to come.

Now.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. (‭Revelation‬ ‭22‬:‭21‬ ESV)

– G

by

BROKENNESS AND OBEDIENCE

Have you ever prayed, “God, please change me! Make me the man you want me to be!”?

I have. Plenty of times.

On one hand, God does change us – that’s progressive sanctification. Through trials, and renewing our minds by the power of the Holy Spirit, by knowledge and reproof and correction from His word.

On the other hand, the prayer is usually meant as, “God, please flip the switch in me that will suddenly take away all my temptation to sin. Please make me behave like a Christian!”

That version doesn’t really fit scripture.

Have you ever really read the Great Commission?

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20 ESV) (emphasis mine)

Jesus states that He has given the apostles commands which are to be obeyed. He doesn’t say that people will be suddenly changed, and have no responsibility for how they live after becoming disciples.

Earlier, Jesus said:

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:36 ESV)

and

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments…Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him…Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.’” (John 14:15,21,23-24 ESV)

and

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30 ESV)

God makes it abundantly clear throughout scripture, Old and New Testament, that He commands, and expects us to obey out of our love for Him.

THAT IS WHAT BROKENNESS IS ALL ABOUT!

Brokenness is not God forcing me into the image of Christ, so that in spite of my desire to sin He causes me to do what is right anyhow. Asking God, “Lord, please make me a broken man!” is like praying, “God, please force me to love you!” God wants loving, obedient servants, not blindly obedient robots. He wants the willing, voluntary slave, not forced labor.

Many times, when in the midst of temptation, I would pray, “God, please help me!” (meaning, “God, please intervene and do something to prevent me from committing this sin!”)

God’s response over the years has been, “I already have helped you. Jesus died to set you free from bondage to sin. Go read Romans 6 again!”

I am without excuse! God is the sovereign Creator of the Universe – He gets to set the rules! It is my part to love and obey.

The most beautiful bit, should I choose to accept it, is that God doesn’t just put it all on me to bear alone. As he says in Romans:

“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.” (Romans 6:6-7 ESV)

and in John:

“’And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you…But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.’” (John 14:16-17,26 ESV)

He commands, He expects love and obedience, but He also gives us encouragement, reminders, and the power of the Holy Spirit living in us to conquer the nature of sin that still plagues us! (See Romans 8 and Galatians 5, for a start…)

So, when you are beset with temptation, and sin rears its ugly head, and you feel utterly hopeless and stuck in bondage, don’t shake your fist at God and ask Him, “WHY?!?” Instead, stare at yourself in the mirror, take a deep gut check, and admit that you are making a decision – whether you will a) draw on the power of the Holy Spirit and the finished work of Christ on the cross, and take the path of brokenness in loving obedience…or b) shake off God’s hand and take the path of disobedience, sin, and destruction. Every day. Every hour. Every temptation.

You have to decide.

The Love of God and the Peace of Christ be with you always!

George

by

COURTSHIP OR DATING?

I read a Facebook post today which prompted me to write a response. I don’t often respond, and not at great length, but this post pushed a button.

The post was sharing one person’s viewpoint on why courtship doesn’t work, and why dating is much better: Why Courtship is Fundamentally Flawed

My response:

“The problem, in my opinion (just opinion, mind you) is not with courtship or dating, but in the modern view (both within and outside of Christian circles) of what marriage is for and about. Almost all of our society seems to view marriage’s purpose to be happiness and self-fulfillment. “Finding the right person…to love me for life.”

The bible describes marriage as the picture of Christ and his Church. It is all about self-sacrifice and glorifying God. Yes, you can find someone through courtship, or dating, or arranged marriage, or whatever. However, the relationships don’t succeed or fail based upon how you meet, but on how each person pursues God and His plan for marriage rather than their own happiness and their own plans for marriage.

I’ll get off my soap box now :-)”

Your thoughts?

G

by

BROKENNESS: WHERE’S THE HOLY SPIRIT?

So, you’ve become a Christian…walked the aisle, prayed the prayer, spoken in tongues, experienced miraculous healing, received Jesus into your heart – whatever your starting point might be. The point is, you are a Christian, and now you’re wondering why you are not automatically walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. “Why do I keep sinning? Why doesn’t God do something to stop me?” I know – I have had the same thoughts, the prayers of, “God, please help me!”

I don’t want to give the impression that God doesn’t give us power and strength to resist sin, but for a long time I didn’t really latch onto God’s answer to my cry: “I already did help you. My Son already died and rose again to set you free from bondage to sin. Go read Romans 6 again – it’s all in there. You don’t have to sin. You’re free from slavery to sin!”

I didn’t want to hear God’s answer. I wanted Him to give me brokenness – to force me to obey. I didn’t want to have to choose not to sin, to discipline myself “…and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” (2 Cor 10:5)

Let’s go back to Galatians 5. Just because the Holy Spirit is living in me does not mean that I am allowing the Holy Spirit to control me, to guide me, to shape the way I think and act. There is a constant battle between the flesh (the lustful desires and actions laid out in 5:19-20) and the Spirit. God does not force us to obey Him – he leaves it up to us to decide to love Him and serve him and to choose to walk in the Spirit. It is all our choice. God lays out the gift before us, and gives us His Holy Spirit to live in us when we become Christians, but we still have to choose to obey. He won’t force it.

If we keep feeding the flesh, keep choosing to give in to temptation instead of choosing to humble ourselves and accept the Holy Spirit’s help, we won’t live godly lives. If we continuously choose to disobey God, then we have to wonder whether we were ever saved to begin with, since a true Christian is not characterized by the continuous choice to rebel against God (as opposed to desiring to obey, and failing because I am not accepting the help God is holding out to me).

It can be confusing, and lead to despair if we let it. Satan wants to convince us that we can never really follow God, and that he doesn’t really love us because he doesn’t make us obey. We need to be like Paul, who perseveres even though he sounds discouraged and frustrated with his own ability to follow God: “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” Romans 7:15-25

Paul does not give up the fight, and neither can we! We must be determined to follow God, and focus our hearts and minds on the Spirit rather than the flesh, fighting hard with every weapon we have; prayer, scripture, fellowship, etc. That is why openness is so key: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:7-9

Note how John ties together openness (walking in the light) with fellowship with the verse we have all probably memorized about being forgiven when we confess our sins. It all goes together. Without openness, no brokenness. No brokenness, no confession. No confession, no forgiveness and cleansing.

So, all that is to say, just because I am a Christian does not mean that somehow I will automatically walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and be devoid of sin. Instead, it means that my greatest desire will be to love God and obey him, and that even though I still sin I keep bringing it to light, keep confessing, keep changing into the man he wants me to be. Everyone seems to know Romans 8:28, but 8:29 gives the purpose: “For to those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn of many brothers.”

I hope that helps, somehow.

Blessings,

George