Hidden in Christ

Of all the dates we circle on our calendars - from holidays to birthdays and anniversaries -- the one that affects me the most is January 1 - New Year's Day.

This coming week, the world will look back at 2014 and lament all the fallen heroes, from Robin Williams to Joe Cocker.

The false prophets will ignore last New Year's failed prognostications, and give us a big list for 2015 that will be equally empty and meaningless.

But I will reflect on 2014 privately, take stock of what was accomplished and what I failed to accomplish. Recall the good memories with family and friends, alongside the sad memories as well. 

Then I'll turn my attention to the coming year. I won't be making any new year's resolutions, but I look forward to completing what I started this year but haven't finished. I anticipate a move to the other side of the country and trust the LORD for His timing on that.

For many people, a new year represents a fresh start in life -- a time to recommit one's steps for the LORD to direct. His grace is always there for those who return with a repentant heart.

The times we live in seem even more perilous than they did this same time last year -- on the global perspective. The birth pangs are getting stronger as the signs of the times that Jesus foretold are part of the daily headlines. We don't know which ones coming in 2015 will touch us personally. 

As we are "hidden in Christ" we know that nothing happens to us without His consent and He will work all things together for our good since we love Him and are called for His purpose. Knowing that, we can face the new year without fear because His love is perfect.

So Happy New Year's everyone. Maybe this will be the year He gathers us together to meet Him in the air!

Maranatha!

"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, 'He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.'
Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you."
- Psalms 91:1-7

Not So Jolly

For many, Christmas holds many wonderful memories of a childhood of toys and joy and the pleasures of the season. For others, like myself, memories of Christmas can be painful and full of disillusionment and times of abandonment. 

I was the fifth of nine children; a big Catholic family - the middle child. I was the least favored child - I could scream louder than my siblings; I was always the target of my mischievous older brother (remember Sid in Toy Story?) because I would come between him and my younger siblings to protect them even knowing I would lose the fight. But he was Mom's favorite boy and she would always believe him over me. When he hit me and I screamed, my mother would turn around and slap me for screaming. Remember, I could scream loud and it annoyed her.

The presents under the Christmas tree always held out hope for a big payoff on the big day. All of us would wake up real early to see what Santa left us. I remember a new bike would be there for "Sid" and other terrific gifts for certain special boys and girls. Lots of joy all around. Even though my gifts were never as wonderful as those my siblings received, I didn't notice but I was happy with my inferior gifts of cheap dolls, and on one occasion, a Ouija Board. My dolls wouldn't last much past the new year once 'Sid' got ahold of them and either tore their heads off or drew mustaches on them with a pen. 

One year all of us had a sad Christmas. Our dad had a heart attack a week earlier and was still in the hospital. That year my parents were having some financial hardships and somehow that affected Santa's generosity. Church members from St. Emydius chipped in and dropped off a big box of old toys they needed to get rid of to make room for the new ones Santa was bringing their little ones. It was a very sad offering - rather than bringing joy, it caused a lot of tears all around.

On that sad Christmas morning, not knowing if our daddy would make it out alive, the brat down the street came over excitedly to show us all the toys Santa had brought her. She had new skates, a new Barbie with all the accessories, and beautiful new clothes. I had always doubted the existence of Santa, despite my parents' constant reassurance of his existence, but seeing that the little girl who earned a big coal and ashes in her stocking made out like a bandit, that was the final straw -- Jackie, there is no Santa Claus. 

That spelled the end to my looking forward to Christmas - I was 10-years-old. My siblings went on believing in Santa and I would argue with them that there is no Santa Claus and that would irritate my mom even more.

A few years ago, one of my sister's (the favored one) and I attended the funeral of an old family friend. We gathered at their family's home afterwards. I began asking Mary Ann, the family mom and my mother's former best friend (my mom had already died), if the deceased knew Jesus. She seemed offended by the question, saying that he was not religious. I dropped the subject. As we were preparing to leave, Mary Ann said she had a real funny story to share.

She recalled how my mom would do all her Christmas wrapping over at her house so that none of us would peek into the bags. One time when mom was all finished with the wrapping of what Mary Ann said were fabulous toys, my mom noticed there was nothing there for her middle child. She recalled that it was Christmas Eve and all the stores were closed. She said mom ran out to the local pharmacy and grabbed something from the toys aisle that was already totally depleted. She came back with something junky, wrapped it nice and pretty and put on the tag "to Jackie, from Santa." Mary Ann chuckled and laughed as she told the story, thinking it was the funniest thing she'd ever seen. It cut me like a knife. 

My mom, no doubt, had confided in her friend all the frustration she had gone through with my becoming a Bible-believing Christian. My mom had told me, "I'm going to die a Catholic" and "I'll never become whatever the hell you are." She was right - she died in the good graces of Rome.

So if you are one like me that isn't filled with the Christmas spirit -- don't worry about it. It is just an invention of the Roman Catholic Church anyway and they don't like us.

Have a merry!! 

"One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s." - Rom 14:5-8

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me." - Matt 10:34-38

Common Struggles

Whatever you're going through, you're not alone. Each of us is in a different place in our walk with Christ. Some of us are walking on high ground: pumped up, full of faith, excited about Jesus, Spirit-filled, and optimistic. While others are weak, stumbling, spiritually dry, lonely, doubting, and losing their way. At any moment we can be on the mountain or in the valley.

What we must keep in mind when we're looking down, is we must not look down on those in the valley. Those on a spiritual high mustn't discount those who are currently in the depths. This happens too often. Keep in mind, Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith and theirs as well. Our faith is tested from time to time and not one of us is immune. If we puff ourselves up, we could be setting ourselves up for a fall. Reminds me of the lyrics of an 80s hit:

"But don't forget, it's me who put you where you are now
And I can put you back down too"

Or to put it another way, "And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Matt 23:12)
When someone close to us is backsliding, that is when we need to come alongside, not to razz them for their sinning, but to spoon-feed them God's Word since they are unable to feed themselves. Encourage them with a word spoken in due season, as the Psalmist says. Bless, do not condemn. It might just be you next time that needs the encouragement and that friend may have to do likewise for you.

Hard times, good times, end times -- all times, we need to be there for one another.

Maranatha!

"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." - 1 Cor 10:13

"Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load." - Gal 6:1-5

The Essentials

The essentials -- Jesus' birth, ministry, death, resurrection, ascension, and return as Judge of the living and the dead-- beliefs virtually all professing Christians hold onto in one way or another. They're in all the creeds of Christendom. 

But look at that list. Only one thing on the list is yet to be fulfilled -- all the others are a fact of history. We look back in wondrous awe at all He has done in fulfillment of the prophecies as He relayed to His prophets. But even more glorious are the prophecies yet to be fulfilled recorded for us by those very same prophets.

Then why is it that our friends, family and foe alike trouble us for our anticipation and the excitement we display in our -- some say fanatical - watching of the birth pangs heralding His soon arrival? We're even falsely accused of forsaking all He has done because of our emphasis on what He is about to do. That is ludicrous of course, because we are even more exuberant about His Gospel of repentance unto salvation knowing that those we love, and the world upon which we have compassion, have such a short window of opportunity to escape the things soon to come upon this planet.

I wonder if the Jews in the first century gave the old Rabbi Simeon a hard time as he lived for the promise of the Consolation of Israel and expected it in his lifetime. I wonder if they called the old guy a kook or a whacko for not shutting up and just focusing on his duties in the Temple?

Like him, we must close our ears to all the harassment, knowing the truth of what we have staked our lives upon -- the veracity of the Word of God. Whether we leave this planet by death or by rapture, we must hold onto our faith that He will fulfill all -- every jot and tittle -- and let no one steal our hope - our blessed hope - from our hearts.

"Hold onto your crown!"

"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ’s, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ’s, even so we are Christ’s." - 2 Cor 10:4-7

"And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us." - 1John 4:16-19

God's Grace Abounds

You know the Bible passage, 'to whom much is given, much is required"? We older sheep need to keep that in mind when praying for struggling little lambs who seem to get themselves ensnared in sin over and over again. When interceding on their behalf I think the best thing to ask God for is more grace for them. Maybe if we were doing the same thing, we would be under more scrutiny because by now we should have learned how to overcome the sin that so easily besets us.

Don't get me wrong -- we still need God's grace -- but hopefully not as often as we did when we were new believers. We have had more time to grow in the grace and knowledge of our LORD Jesus Christ and should have long ago stopped putting His grace to the test.

We need to have more patience with younger believers in our lives -- not to judge them and think ill of them because they don't have it all together. They have a lot to learn and God gives grace to them, and will be with them as they go through trials and testings of their faith in the 'learn by doing' method. We've been there, done that; have the stretch marks. 

I thank God that "His mercy endures forever." Keep that in mind when praying for straying sheep and lambs. Beg Him for His mercy on their behalf when fasting and praying for those you love who appear to be backsliding. Don't count them out so quickly. 

Warn, without accusing;
Correct, without punishing;
Exhort, without lecturing;
Reprove, without condemning.

Be an example to them and always keep your door open and offer a shoulder for them to cry on. Pray without ceasing for those that the LORD has placed on your heart. As the old saying goes,' be part of the solution and not part of the problem.'

"Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions...Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand." - Rom 14:1,4

"For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil." - Heb 5:12-14

Love; Don't Revile

Greetings from Utah. I'm here house-hunting and visiting with my daughter who is in computer college here. The LORD immediately confirmed His call for me to come to the Bee Hive State. 

I met with my realty specialist to analyze what I'll need to prepare to purchase a home and what area to look in. Mike (not his real name) knows his stuff when it comes to the Utah housing market. When we sat down to talk I just assumed he was a Mormon as most of the population of the state is. During our conversation I told him I would like to be in striking distance to my future church home and he asked what church that was. When I told him, he said, "I've been to that church." I was pleasantly surprised.

He then shared from his heart with me how the LORD brought him out of the church of the LDS despite the fact that his family goes way back through Mormon history. It's funny how I have written before on my fb page that there is a crisis in the Mormon church due to the availability of information on the Internet and for the popularity of Cartoon Network's South Park and their parody of Mormonism. Both of those things figured into Mike's search for the Truth in spite of his ingrained worldview. 

Now the kicker! Mike is church-hopping, unable to find a church where he feels comfortable. The cultural shock of leaving the LDS cult is almost unbearable. He shared going to a local Calvary Chapel and not being able to bring his children into the service, but his wife had to deliver them to the right age-group class and leave them there at the door, not welcome to stay with them for a while for them to get comfortable. They were in a strange place and they were scared. 

Then during the worship time, the music was so unbearably loud that he felt he could not sing to the LORD quietly and thoughtfully to prepare his heart to hear the Word. Then all the people standing, swaying, and raising their hands in the air was even more of a negative distraction.

His children now beg him to take them back to the Mormon church where it is more friendly and comfortable for their family. And it is a big temptation for Mike to do just that even knowing that the religion is a cult and totally false. The cultural comfort there is almost worth the compromise. But for now, he listens online to an Evangelical teacher he likes but is in another state. He's become a scattered sheep with no home pasture. And he says he knows many, many others in his same condition.

One thing he shared really struck me. When he was still a Mormon and would speak to Christians he said many would say to him, 'how can you be that blind to believe all of Joseph Smith's tall tales? You must be so naive to fall for that.' That approach never did him any good except to make him believe more in the rhetoric of the elders that the entire world would persecute them just as their prophets said they would.

After coming to believe that the Bible is the authority of the Christian faith, he said that he was struck by Jesus' love for others. The story of Lazarus had an impact on him. The fact that Jesus wept, even though He knew what He was about to do, demonstrates His love for those who get it wrong. He wasn't crying for Lazarus but for those in grief. If His followers could just show that much love for people, demonstrate love for them, only then can they come alongside someone and assist them with their spiritual confusion. Ridiculing them only pushes them further into their entrenched position.

Mike wouldn't take the word of the critics that he was in a cult -- he searched it out on Google to find original information from Mormon sources themselves to conclude that it was all built upon deception. Many others have done the same thing - and now they are scattered with no place to pasture.

Pray for them - that God would do a work here in Utah. And if you meet a seeking Mormon, weep with them, don't ridicule.

"Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, 'Where have you laid him?' They said to Him, 'Lord, come and see.' Jesus wept." - John 11:33-35

"Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep." - Rom 12:9-15

I Love Jesus

It is so easy to get a hardened heart as we observe all the evil in the world and in the professing church. I naturally react with righteous indignation - as well I should - but if I don’t follow that up with purifying my mind from what I just witnessed or my ears just heard, it can leave me depressed. Sometimes the very evil we fight against can work against us and desensitize us to it. For every evil report we read, we should read an equal amount of good reports and or course, God’s Word. These recent news stories left me feeling in the dumps:

*The story of the 16-year-old girl abducted by force on the streets of Philadelphia by a mad man this week had me in tears and in intercession for her safe return. PTL she was rescued. My anger toward that evil man was so intense it was palpable. 

*The recent story in the Christian press that got me seeing red was of the wicked televangelist Ernest Angsley sexually abusing members of his congregation, forcing abortions on some and vasectomies on others. In my heart I wanted to take a two-by-four to his head.

*When a “senior US official “ called Israel’s Benjamin Natanyahu “chickensh**” for insisting on protecting the people of his country, I seethed over that. The audacity to call the biggest hero on the political scene today something comparable to a ‘coward’ is outrageous. I agreed with one blogger who said they’d like to tie that man down and wash his mouth out with soap. 

We cannot put our heads in the sand and just refuse to hear any bad news. But at the same time we have to guard our hearts and abide in Christ and renew our commitment to Him. Work out our salvation with fear and trembling, while at the same time pondering His attributes and keeping our love for Him alive.

Our love for Jesus can grow cold when we lose our focus on Him. Remember how strong and overpowering that first love for Him was when He first made Himself known to us? I remember as a new Christian I was such an embarrassment to my parents because I would take my bible with me wherever I went. When I took it with me to a funeral of an elderly aunt I attended with my dad, he was so nervous thinking I would stand up and start preaching. After all, I was so vocal about my love for Jesus, he knew I couldn't keep my mouth shut. He was so relieved when I behaved myself.

Now 30+ years later I need to remind myself of how I felt when I was in my honeymoon stage with Jesus. You too can recall those things He did for you:

He pulled your life out of the cesspool;
He revealed His glory to you - the exalted coming King;
He rescued you from the path of destruction and set you on the way everlasting;
He loves you and hears your prayers and sends His Spirit to minister to you when you call on Him;
He gave you a second, third, fourth, fifth chance, ad infinitum;
His words in the Gospels penetrated your hard heart and humbled you;
The glory of His greatness left you awestruck in His presence;
You were amazed and excited when you first discovered the Word of God;
You were excited at the discovery of great and lasting Truth.

We can add to this a long list of answered prayer and renew our love for Him even in the midst of all the evil we see every day. We need to cast our cares upon Him daily and make Him our Refuge in these perilous times. 

I love this message/prayer/song of praise by Keith Green. Let this song be your prayer today.

“I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent." - Rev.2:2-5

"In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us." - 1John 4:9-12