Friends, If you are a reguar reader of these articles, you have by now realized that I have taken a break to celebrate the birth of our Savior with my family. The new year is ahead and I am excited about what I am going to learn this year. I will be sharing these lessons with you. Right now I would like to share a few things the Lord shared with me this last year. If you are so inclined, write me with lessons you learned this last year, explaining how it came about. I will post some of them.
I have learned in 2008:
The Negatives:
1. I have learned that enough for today is enough. We really don’t need more than that and we surely do not need enough to last us until the end of our days, right now in savings. That idea is born of excessive prosperity, a phenomenon of post WW2 USA and one of the reasons the church struggles for finances.
2. I have seen that Christians in the USA have bought into a security system based on their monetary savings. We have taken a good idea (saving for a rainy day) and turned it into an idolatrous system of security in the place of the Lord. He is our confidence for the future, not Citibank or Wall Street.
3. I have seen that Christians in the USA have decided that their financial giving to the church comes after they have funded their 401K, their college mutual fund, bought the new car, house, etc. and indulged their desire for more. The Lord’s work in America receives what is left over. We are worldly not godly when it comes to money.
Jesus spoke of this in Mk 12:41-44, seeing the rich give a small part of their abundance and the widow who gave al that she had. The point was not the amount given; it was that she gave all that she had. All that God gave her was available for his use, not just what was left over after she indulged her desire for more.
I don’t say this because I am in need, nor to shame those who have much. I say this to reveal a problem and inspire us to seek the very evident solution. Those who devote their lives to the gospel and the care of the church are our most important resorces in this life. If you are in a local church, give to yor leaders in accordance with their importance to your life.
4. I have seen that the old man belief system that stands in opposition to the Spirit in our lives, runs all the way to the core of our hearts. Negotiating with old beliefs and patterns will keep us enslaved to them. These old and false beliefs oppose God; render us incapable of submitting to His will and refuse to let Him rule our lives. The only solution if we desire to produce the 100-fold crop is to turn on it and cut it out of our hearts.
5. America, through the repetition of false ideas via the media has bought into the evil idea of relative truth. We have been brainwashed by the images and prejudice of an evil media. The election of a seriously unprepared man to lead our country just because he is black and speaks well, demonstrates the depth of our deception.
6. The financial institutions (banks, mortgage lenders, wall street, Auto industry) are far more fragile than any of us imagined. Our economic system is a house of cards and could be collapsed with the slightest of winds. It is filled with greed, fraud and was falsely propped up at the highest levels of government.
7. I have learned that women (any age) are far better at fighting with their tongues than I will ever be even if I had 2 lifetimes to practice.
The Positives
1. I have heard my children pray the simplest, purest and most genuine prayers ever uttered. Their simple faith in the reality of God humbles me with my complexities and professional analysis. Oh, that I could unlearn my agendas and simply ask like a child, trust like a child and need without shame like a child.
2. I have seen that God is ingenious in the ways that He expresses His faithfulness to honor His promises. He still surprises me with the way He provides.
3. I have learned to go to Him first, not last, even with the little things. Lost keys, lost tools, needs, answers, wisdom, etc. The moment your progress is impeded, look up and say, Hey Dad, what should I do here?
4. I have seen a few faithful servants of the Lord who have committed all to Him and demonstrate it by the way they give to others. I have been the recipient of His grace through their lives and I am inspired to follow their example.
5. I have learned that the church belongs to Jesus, that He is the head and that He is in control. The church prospers and bears fruit because of His efforts and only through mine. When my son was little, at grass cutting time, he loved to get out his little toy mower and help me cut the grass. He would just go to town with his toy mower, thinking, believing that he was helping me. In him I see myself, preaching, writing, counseling and I think I am doing great things for God. He smiles at me like I smiled at my son. Make no mistake, we plant and water but it is God who makes us grow.
6. I have learned that in reality, I only need God. I hold an image in my heart of a cup in my soul. The cup is only open at the top so that whatever goes in (my needs) comes from Him. This cup has holes in the sides where living water can flow out to others but never in to feed me. This image has helped me turn loose of people as my source for anything. Looking only to God for my needs and becoming a source of water to all who come to drink. I have been able to let my loved ones off the hook and stop being disappointed when they don’t give what I was expecting.
7. I have learned that dads, giants that they were to us, grow old, grow forgetful and need care. They even lose their ability to make decisions that are in their best interests and we have to step in and over their dignity to help them. This year I will be forced to step in and take control of my earthly father’s affairs. I am imagining the best, not the worst.
8. Finally, I have learned that God’s primary tool to enable us to apply the word of God is the mental faculty of imagination. He calls on us to imagine the word as He describes the principles of the scripture. To imagine the good that He is doing even when He allows great evil to flourish. I will be writing and teaching that this next year, holding bible study workshops to teach us how to put the word into practice in our lives. If you have the chance, you would be wise to check into these studies and attend if possible.
The next year will be an exciting one in Doctrinal Studies Bilbe Church. We are making changes in the eay we govern God’s church. These changes will bring greater support to the multiple ministries that flow out of our church. We will be adding to our teaching time with different types of studies. This year we will enter into workshops that help people envision the way to apply the word to problem areas of life. Our goal is to help believers with great knowledge turn that knowledge into obedience and courageous acts of faith. It will be a good time to be in Birmingham.
Thanks to all of you who read what I write here. I am grateful that it helps you grow in your spiritual journey. I have truly enjoyed and been blessed in the writing. I discovered that I seem to have a knack for it and that others enjoy reading it.
Onward to the deeper things of God!!
