Communication with God

Apple has just introduced the new 4G I phone. I do not know much about these phones as I do not own one but my friends have them and they are pretty amazing. You can spend a lot of time playing with all the gadgets and applications available. However shortly after the new phone was introduced people noticed that the phone itself did not work properly, receptivity dropped dramatically when the phone was held a certain way which was the way most people hold the phone when making or receiving a call. If you placed your hand on the edges of the phone you were interfering with the antennae and consequently hindering the reception and communication ability. Some have called this the “death grip.” I thought about this in terms of our relationship with God and how we can be hindering communication with him by things we do. I think all of us want to have clear communication with God. We want to be heard and hear Him when He speaks to us but often we do things that will hinder two-way communication.
The Scriptures are very clear that God does communicate in a personal way and he wants to communicate with each of his children. He is a relational God and relationships that lack communication are not very satisfying. You can track through the Old and New Testament and find numerous verses that verify that God does speak to his people.
God spoke directly to Adam and Eve in the garden (Gen 2,3)
God spoke to Abram and called him to leave his homeland (Gen 12)
God spoke to Moses face to face (Numbers 12)
God spoke to young Samuel (1 Sam. 3)
In the life of Jesus, he spoke to his Father and only did what his Father told him to do (John 6)
God’s desire as a Father is to establish regular and meaningful communication with his children. This is normal in human relationship unless there has been something that has gone wrong in the relationship. Floyd McClung wrote about a young man he met in Afghanistan that grew up in a very dysfunctional and hostile home environment.
I'll never forget the time Steve asked me if I wanted to know the happiest day of his life. Little did I realize the shock awaiting me as I expressed my eagerness to know more about this young man who until that time had remained closed, and unwilling to talk about himself or engage in normal conversation. The locked-in pain and hostility seemed to explode in a torrent of anger: 'I'll tell you the happiest day of my life,' said Steve with a strange smile on his face. 'It was my eleventh birthday and both my parents were killed in a car accident!'
I could hardly believe what I was hearing as Steve rushed on. 'They told me every day of my life that they hated me and didn't want me. My father resented me, and my mother continually reminded me that I was an accident. They didn't plan on me coming along, and didn't want me either. I'm glad they're dead!' (The Father heart of God)
Someone like Steve would find it difficult to believe in a father who loved him and wanted to establish a relationship with him that involved healthy communication. For many people the first step in establishing communication with God is just believing that he truly loves them and wants to talk with them.
As I have been studying more about Islam one of the main differences between Christianity and Islam is the view of God as a relational God. This is lacking in Islam and to many people it becomes just a series of rules to follow to make sure you are doing the right things to please Allah. The disciplines and ritual along with all the rules and regulations that you are to follow replace any personal intimate relationship with God. You are told what to do and how to do it and to many people this is a lot simpler than establishing a relationship that has real communication with God.
If you have any doubts about God’s desire to establish a relationship with you based in his love for you and desire to communicate with you individually, you need to deal with this as it will always be a hindrance to you.
A second barrier to communication is disobedience to the Lord. I think of Saul when he was King of Israel and how he was hindered in his communication with God through his willful disobedience. His disobedience caused God’s prophet and main spokesperson, Samuel to abandon him. Saul who did not listen and obey the voice of God’s prophet was now left on his own which is how he was conducting himself anyway. God gave him what he wanted. In Saul’s situation it led to disaster and ultimately he was so desperate to receive advice that he sought a medium who contacted the spirit world and was able to communicate with the spirit of the deceased Samuel. Using mediums was forbidden by God and explicitly stated in the commandments God gave to Moses. But it did not matter to Saul. He was so desperate that he resorted to this form of guidance.
1Sa 28:3-18 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land. The Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets. Then Saul said to his servants, "Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her." And his servants said to him, "Behold, there is a medium at En-dor." So Saul disguised himself and put on other garments and went, he and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night. And he said, "Divine for me by a spirit and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you." The woman said to him, "Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death?" But Saul swore to her by the LORD, "As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing." Then the woman said, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" He said, "Bring up Samuel for me." When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, "Why have you deceived me? You are Saul." The king said to her, "Do not be afraid. What do you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I see a god coming up out of the earth." He said to her, "What is his appearance?" And she said, "An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe." And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage. Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" Saul answered, "I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do." And Samuel said, "Why then do you ask me, since the LORD has turned from you and become your enemy? The LORD has done to you as he spoke by me, for the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day.
God does not want us to consult with mediums for advice; he wants to communicate directly with us through his Holy Spirit and through his Word. When people seek to use other means such as mediums, fortune tellers, tarot card readers, palm readers, psychics and other forms of communication they expose themselves to the demonic realm and cut themselves off from receiving communication from God.
Our disobedience to what God has made clear to us to do or not do, is a major hindrance to receiving further communication from God. When we willfully reject what he has asked of us, we take ourselves out of the communication link with God.
Isa 59:1 Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; Isa 59:2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
If you feel confused or feel like God is not communicating with you, one of the first things you need to do is check your heart and your daily walk with the Lord to see if you are living in disobedience. David felt a heaviness and separation from God after his sin with Bathsheba.
Psa 32:2-4 Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
Our sin will hinder our communication with God just as it hinders our communication with people. All of us have experienced this when we have sinned against another person. Our communication is hindered until we get our relationship right with the person we have offended. Restoration will occur when we humble ourselves and have a contrite heart to ask for forgiveness. Once we are forgiven the communication link is restored. We also need to forgive others who have offended us. If we harbor unforgiveness we are putting up a barrier because it is another form of sin. Forgiveness is releasing a person from the punishment they deserve but it also releases us from carrying the burden of our pain and hurt they caused. When we truly forgive we are set free and the communication link to God is restored.
Our communication can also be hindered by outside and inside interference. Even though the signal may be clear if there are outside noises competing with your attention, you will not hear properly. I have a slight hearing loss and certain tones are very difficult for me to hear and this becomes even a more pronounced problem when there are other noises in the background. It is hard for me to hear what is being said and I often have to get closer to the person or get away from the noise in order to hear what they are saying. In our communication with God we face the same issue. We are hindered from hearing God’s voice when we allow other voices to compete with him or distract us from focusing on hearing his voice. We have to be able to shut off the voices within our head as well as the voices and noise from the outside to accurately hear what God is saying to us. When Jesus wanted to hear from his father he got alone, away from the disciples and crowd so he could focus his attention on his father. We live in a day when there are so many distractions that it is hard to focus. You can be receiving so much information at one time that it is hard to focus unless you shut off the source of input. Quiet your heart and mind so you can focus on hearing and remove all the things that can be a distraction when you want to communicate with God. Get alone, get in a quiet place and enjoy uninterrupted communication with God. All of us need to do this on a daily basis and if you are not spending time alone with God you are hindering receiving the communication he wants to have with you. God can and does speak to us outside of this time but we still need to get alone daily with him. When we spend time alone with God our spiritual reception will be fine tuned and we will recognize how God speaks to us and when we are in those times of busyness and distractions we will be better able to recognize when God is speaking to our spirit.
Another hindrance to hearing God’s voice can be physical problems and sickness.
Ill health and physical wellbeing affect our ability to hear God clearly. Tiredness, anxiety, headaches, chronic fatigue and depression cause a dullness or fogginess so that God's voice cannot easily be heard clearly. Some illnesses include the hearing of voices so that it is hard for people to hear God's voice at times.
Joy Dawson has been a teacher with YWAM for many years and I recommend reading any material she has written. She is one woman who hears from God because she takes time to wait upon the Lord. She suggests some very practical principles for hearing God’s voice and these are principles YWAM uses during intercessory prayer.
First, expect God to speak to you and thank him in advance. Communicate with God with an expectation that God is going to speak to you. Thank God in advance for what he is going to do to communicate with you.
Secondly, Take authority over the voice of the enemy and his demonic forces. We can command him to be silent and not interrupt our time with the Lord. God has given us authority and we must exercise it so the enemy cannot have entrance. The enemy will try to put wrong thoughts into our minds. He will bring up things that have no bearing on what we are doing in order to distract us. He is often forceful and impatient and there is no peace when he speaks but rather we feel agitated.
The third thing is to silence our own human voice, our own desires of what we want to hear or see done. We can come to God with our agenda of things we want to tell him but we must be willing to lay these down so we can hear what God wants to speak to us. We simply state that we are dying to our desires, emptying ourselves of our thoughts and demands on God so we can have free and clear communication with him.
The fourth area is one we have already mentioned and that is to make sure we have no unconfessed sin that will hinder our communication.
Fifthly, After we have done these things, we can expect God to speak to us as we wait upon him.
God can speak to us in a variety of ways such as:
Bringing to mind a particular Bible verse or simply giving us a reference to look up.
Giving us a mental picture or an image.
We may have a vision presented to us.
Speaking a word or phrase to our mind.
Giving us an impression in our mind, a thought that comes to us that we may or may not understand.
A physical sensation. You may have pain in a certain area of your body or a cold or hot feeling.
Learning to hear and recognize God’s voice takes time to develop. Don’t be discouraged if you are not hearing like you think you should. I am constantly asking God to help me hear clearly.
How can we test what we hear to be sure that it is really God?
Here are some tests that will help us evaluate what we are hearing.
Does it correspond with what you read in the Bible?
Is it consistent with the character of Jesus?
Will its application bring peace and encouragement, or will it produce strife?
Does it sit well on my spirit?
Do other people or circumstances confirm what you are hearing?
Does it lead to life or death - in the widest sense of these terms?
Does it cause me to feel the "anointing" of the Spirit (a very subjective test, but useful with experience)?
God has communicated very clearly to us through his Word and he has given us the Holy Spirit who is commissioned to teach us and lead us into all truth. We can be confident that God will communicate clearly to us because it is his desire to do so. As we eliminate the hindrances and understand how God speaks to us we will begin to enjoy a deeper and more intimate relationship with him.

Deception

My roommate in Bible school told of a situation that happened to a family living in the Boston area in the late 70’s. One day their car was stolen from in front of their home but was returned later with an apologetic note on windshield explaining that they needed to use the car for an emergency and tickets to the Boston Bruins hockey game. At this time the Boston Bruins were the hottest hockey team in the NHL so tickets to their home games were at a premium. The family was upset that their car had been stolen yet found it easy to forgive the thieves when the note and tickets were given to them. A kind hearted thief is what they thought they were dealing with. They went to the hockey game and enjoyed it and when they came home they found their house had been robbed of almost everything!!! The thieves had returned, knowing that no one would be home.
Thieves and con artists always try to take advantage of the good will of people. They know how to present themselves in a way that is easy for the average person to be deceived. Deception is one of the primary tools the enemy, Satan, uses to get at God’s people. He began using this tactic immediately with Adam and Eve in the garden when he deceived them into believing that they would be like God if they ate of the forbidden fruit. Jesus said that Satan was a liar from the beginning (John 8:44). It seems that the enemy is increasing his deception in these days when times are difficult for many people and they are looking for easy, quick solutions to their problems.
We often let our guard down and don’t check things out thoroughly before we make decisions when we are under pressure and all too often get burned in a bad deal. In our time of need we can misinterpret what seems to be an answer to our situation when in reality it is a ploy of the enemy to rip us off. As believers we want to be trusting of people, that they have good intentions and really want to help but the enemy uses this against us as well. Recently in the missionary community a couple advertized the availability of a rental van for a reasonable price with the stipulation that half of the money be deposited prior to the date of renting to secure the vehicle. It all sounded legitimate until there was no further communication with the couple after the deposit was made. The enemy is sly and he takes advantage of our needs by setting up false ways to meet them. We have to be careful, to be wise as serpents, to be sober and alert, to check out the spirit of the person, to obey the check we feel in our spirit when something is happening that does not sit well with us.
Last week I felt impressed to check my bank account on line. I discovered that the day before someone had used my credit card to make 2 purchases. I immediately called my bank to cancel the card and request reimbursement for unauthorized purchases. I thank God for giving me the idea to check my account and realize it was the Holy Spirit working in me that alerted me to the situation.
We have to be especially careful in these days to do what we know to do to protect what God has given us materially and spiritually. The enemy will try to rob, kill and destroy. He has a host of demons as well as people who are under his control that are more than willing to carry out his mission. It is his mission and you and I are his primary targets. He wants to take us out because he knows that we a threat to him.
God does not want us to walk around in a state of fear and paranoia but we do need to be aware of what is happening around us and be prepared to take action. Physical or material things that are robbed can easily be replaced but the attacks on our beliefs are more devastating and can have life long implications. I believe the enemy wants more than anything to destroy our Christian beliefs and replace them with lies, doubts and fear. How can we stand against his attacks so that we do not fall prey to his deceptions?
The first line of attack of the enemy is the character and nature of God. Satan attacked the character and nature of God in his temptation of Adam and Eve. He made them question the nature of God’s goodness and that God lied to them and did not have their best interests in mind. They were being short changed by God, he was holding back something they should have. This was the thought he communicated to them. Both of them should have responded to the temptation by stating that God was good and they did not need anything beyond what he had made available to them especially when it was something that he had specifically forbidden. God by his nature is good and all that he does and will ever do for us is always for our good. He has no evil in him and no intention of ever doing anything that will harm us. All of his commands are always for our best. His restrictions are based on his infinite knowledge of what will happen to us if we do not obey them. It is his goodness and love for us that causes him to warn us of the consequences of our action. He is never cheating us out of anything but is always doing what will be in our best interests and brings us the most joy and satisfaction in life. The enemy always wants to take something good and find ways for us to experience it using ways that God has not sanctioned. We can see many examples of this in how people live today. One area is relationships with the opposite sex. Marrying the wrong person is one of tactics of the enemy to make you less effective in your witness for the Lord. It also almost always guarantees problems because of the differences in beliefs. Marriage has enough adjustments just with the differences in male and female and to add even more problems with belief systems will often push a couple over the edge. Marry well, find a mate who is equally yoked, responsible, faithful, committed to you and most of all committed to the Lord. A great temptation and lie of the enemy today is that sex outside of marriage is not a problem. Sex before marriage is prevalent but has profoundly negative results spiritually, emotionally, physically and socially. It destroys the intimacy that God intended a married couple to experience. Even among married couples fidelity to one’s spouse is not important. Your pleasure is more important than your commitment to God’s word and your commitment to your marriage vows. Many people are choosing to live together without being legally married. In Sweden statistics show that 80% of the children are born to couples who are not married. Many would say that the legal piece of paper does not mean anything but that is a lie. It serves to bind a couple together and is a foundation that must be established in order for a true relationship to be built. Many do not honor the legal commitment yet it does serve both a spiritual and legal purpose. Another area regarding relationships is how quickly couples will break up in search for the perfect mate. A friend wrote me recently and said her niece was on her 7th marriage. I am not sure what happened in the previous 6 but something is not right in her selection process or she has some major flaws that need to be addressed. The lie of the enemy is that there is always someone better for you and it is in your best interests to leave your present relationship to find the one that will truly satisfy you. God’s intention was for marriage to be forever because he knew that this would be the best for all parties involved including the children. Marriage is God’s gift to mankind; it is something very good when couples honor their commitments to each other and to God. But mankind has diminished its value and in many cases has discarded it as something unnecessary. God by his nature is faithful and we can all be thankful that he does not abandon us or view us as disposable or replaceable. Our relationship with others must reflect how God relates to us in all of his goodness. When we truly know God’s character and nature, we can accept what he has commanded us to do and demonstrated through Christ’s example as they way we should live and relate to one another. To know God is our first and most important pursuit in our life. We must be filled with the knowledge of God so we will know his ways, his thoughts. Col 1:9,10
9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God
Are you seeking to know him through his word and through good teaching? If not you are setting yourself up to be deceived by the lies of the enemy because you have nothing in your belief system that will act as a shield of protection to identify the lies. It is critical that you have solid, unshakeable beliefs that accurately reflect the character and nature of God. This is our most important line of defense because it gives us a basis upon which we can examine every philosophy and belief system that is presented. Many people base their actions on their feelings instead of their beliefs. We have to apply our minds to seek and know the truth about God or we will fall into the deceptions of the enemy.
This leads to the second deception of the enemy that is propagated among many people. This deception is that it does not matter what you believe about God, what religion you chose to believe as they all lead to God. The destination is the same, but the road to get there is different. Truth is relative, what you believe is good for you and what I believe is good for me. Is this possible? Can two differing belief systems both be true? Logic and reasoning defy this argument. If there are two or more statements that claim to be true they cannot be contradictory and still be true. Either one statement is correct or they all are false. You cannot have both of them be true. There is only one Truth and as believers in Christ we believe what he claimed about himself when he stated, “I am the Way the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me.” His statement was exclusive, there was no other options given nor was it left to discussion. It was a statement of fact that we can choose to believe or deny.
Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in the world not through conversions but through the increase in birthrate among Muslim followers. Let’s look at some of the beliefs of the Muslims in contrast to Christian beliefs. The following information was gleaned from the book, “Unveiling Islam” written by Ergun and Emet Caner, former Muslims who are now believers in Christ.
Christians believe that God is love and that he loves people so much that he sent Christ to the world to die for their sins. (John 3:16, Rom. 5:8) God hates sin yet loves us even in our sinful state.
The Quran teaches that God hates transgressors (sura 2:190)and only loves those who first love him and do good works (sura 3:31).
Christians believe that God sent Jesus to be the Truth, to die for men and reconcile them to God (John 14:6)
Muslims believe that Allah sent prophets to proclaim the truth.
Christians believe that salvation is a gift from God given by his grace through faith in the work of Christ (Eph. 2:8,9)
Muslims believe that salvation is only earned through good works but even then there is no guarantee of such. On the Day of Judgment you will know if you made it into heaven.
Christians believe that God does not desire any to perish but all will come to the knowledge of the truth. 2 Peter 3:9.
Muslims believe that Allah leads astray those whom he pleases and guides whom he pleases and he is exalted in power, full of wisdom. (sura 14:4) This is a fatalistic belief that events are fixed and unchangeable. Allah will send to hell or heaven those whom he pleases. There is no security for Muslims. Mohammed himself did not know if he would receive salvation. Even though you may have done many good works, your salvation is dependent upon the will of Allah.
Christianity teaches that one can have a personal relationship with God that is initiated by God’s love. God is infinite yet personal. He cares for his people, communicates with them and acts in love toward them.
Islam teaches that the believer must first love God in order for God to love them. When a believer loves God they expect him to pay them back in some form of prosperity (sura 24:51-55). A personal relationship with God based on love is not possible. Everything done is base on duty and desire to be given a payback.
There are many other differences in the beliefs between Christians and Muslims. They both cannot be true. Either Christ is the Truth or the teachings of Mohammed are the truth.
The testimony of Ergun Caner describes the conflict he saw in his Muslim beliefs that Jesus was just a prophet and the teachings of the Bible that Jesus was the Son of God.
“After hearing about the saving grace of Jesus Christ, it became evident to Ergun that Islam was wrong about one seminal thing: there was no way that Jesus could have been a prophet, as Islam taught. Jesus was arrested and imprisoned on a dual indictment-the Romans held Him for insurrection, and the Jewish leaders convicted Him of blasphemy, that is, claiming to be God. Islam, in order to resolve the matter of the Resurrection, teaches that Judas, not Jesus, was crucified, allowing Jesus to appear three days later. Yet even that bit of misinformation doesn’t confront the larger issue of Jesus’ deity. Even extra biblical history notes that Jesus claimed to be God, an act of blasphemy, which was a capital offense.
To borrow a motif from the Christian philosopher C.S. Lewis, if Jesus claimed to be God, He couldn’t have been a prophet. He could have been insane, like those who wander the streets assuming they are divine. But if He were insane, He couldn’t have been one of Allah’s prophets. He could have been a fraud, deceiving people, but, again, an impostor and charlatan couldn’t have been a prophet of Allah. Ergun faced one other option: Jesus was who He said He was Immanuel-God with us.” P. 18
A third tactic of the enemy is to deceive people into thinking that they really cannot know the truth. He has created a multitude of religious beliefs in order to utterly confuse people and keep them from embracing the truth that is found exclusively in Jesus Christ. The question many people have is how can I know the truth? With all the competing philosophies it is understandable that people are confused. God understood this and He has made it easy for us to know the truth. The gospel message is simple, straightforward and understandable. There are no secret formulas, special underwear you have to wear, incantations or ceremonies that only a few privileged people know that will reveal truth. God sent Jesus to be his Truth revealed in the flesh to mankind. When we know Christ we know the Truth because he is the embodiment of the Truth. In his love for mankind he has also given us the Bible that as Francis Schaffer said is “True Truth but not exhaustive truth.” God has also given us the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. He wants us to know the truth and be grounded in it. True Christianity offers freedom while other religious beliefs all have some type of bondage the holds people down and keeps them under the power of another person or demonic force. When we study the life of Christ we see the Truth God wants us to know and when we know the truth we are set free. We no longer have to seek for anything else because there is nothing else! We have to be willing to confront people with the truth and ask them hard questions about what they believe. The uncertainty and contradictions of their beliefs must be brought into the light of the truth so they can compare what they believe with the truth. Many people are not willing to examine what they believe and they are quick to reject Christianity without having any proof to support their claims. There are several tests that should be applied to help people evaluate what they believe and if they are willing to take the time and energy to honestly look at these areas it will help them determine the validity of what they believe.
1. What they believe must not have logical inconsistencies. If there are contradictions in their beliefs it must be considered false. One example of this is people who believe that there is no sin or imperfections in heaven yet claim that even though they are not perfect they are good enough to enter heaven thus making heaven imperfect.
2. The things that are real that are understood through our conscious daily experiences, scientific investigation and reported to us through the experiences of others must be evaluated to determine if it is true and if it is found to be true, it must become part of their belief system. If it is not incorporated into their beliefs their belief system is false. An example of this is the evidence of the resurrection of Christ if it is believed to be true, must be incorporated into their belief system. It cannot be rejected because they do not like the implications of this fact.
3. They should be able to explain four important questions: 1. Origin: where did I come from? 2. What is my purpose in life? 3. How do I determine what is right or wrong? 4. What happens to me after I die?
4. What they believe must give a sense of satisfaction, nothing is left out and what they believe is livable for everyone.
 
The battle ground is in the mind but the forces behind the battle are found in the demonic realm, the principalities and powers that rule (Eph. 6:12
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places).
2 Cor. 10:3-6
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 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.

We must pray against the lies and deception of the enemy while at the same time proclaiming the truth of the gospel message. The Holy Spirit can take our words of truth spoken in love and lift off the veil of darkness that keeps people from coming to the knowledge of the truth. The devil’s lies and deception can be revealed and destroyed. His power over people can be broken.

Relief work continues in San Miguel Escobar

Yesterday I returned to the work site I posted pictures of in the last post and to my amazement almost all of the mud had been takn out. The next door neighbor was still at work and other homes in the same area are still being cleaned. Some of the homes may not be structurally sound to allow the families to live in them again. I spent the afternoon working at a home that is filled with mud. There were several Guatemalan youth helping haul out the wheelbarrows filled with water and mud. The rains continue to pound the area which has created more problems. Please continue to pray that the rains will cease until things can be cleaned and repaired.

San Miguel Escobar Mudslide

On Saturday, May 29 Tropical Storm Agatha ravaged parts of Guatemala. San Miguel Escobar where our YWAM Base is located was hit hard as there were 5 waves of mud coming off of Volcano Agua. Many homes were completely destroyed by the huge rocks and trees that came rolling down. What they did not destroy,the mud did. Many houses and streets are filled with thick mud and it will take at least a week to clean out each home. Today I worked at a home that had about 3 feet of mud in every room from the front of the property to the back it was pure mud. The mud is wheelbarrowed to the street where the city has machinery to scoop it up and load it into a truck. Everything in the homes is contaminated and will need to be destroyed so families will have to refurnish their entire home and I do not know how long the odor will stay in the walls of the cement block homes. It is a miserable situation for the families who are lacking resources to rebuild and replace what has been damaged and lost. There have been several deaths as a result of the mudslides, an official count is pending.
Please pray for the relief efforts to proceed rapidly and for rain free weather until it is all cleaned up.

Abigail: God’s Messenger

Today is Mother’s Day in Guatemala. May 10th is always the date to celebrate Mother’s Day so to all you mom’s and future moms and those who are being a mom to others we celebrate motherhood with you today. Moms and women in general help give us a different perspective on life. I heard a story of a little girl who came to her mom and asked her how human beings came into existence. The mom explained the Genesis account how God created man and then created woman out of the side of man. Later the little girl went to her dad and asked him the same question. Her dad replied that we are the product of evolutionary change and that we came from monkeys. The girl was a bit confused with the two different accounts so she went back to her mom and explained her confusion. Her mom was quick to give an answer. She said “Well that is very easy to resolve. Your dad was explaining where his side of the family came from and I was explaining where my side came from.” My life has been blessed with a wise and godly mom who has impacted my life. Mom has always been the glue that held our family together. My dad was not the spiritual head of our family, he never took an interest in this area but my mom always made sure we were in church when she was not able to attend because she worked nights at the hospital. If she could not attend in the morning she went to the service at night and many times I would go with her. She sacrificed so much for my 5 brothers and sisters and I have a debt of gratitude to her and to the Lord for all she has meant to me and done for me through the years. I pray that each person here tonight is able to say the same thing but the reality is that many people are growing up in dysfunctional, parentless families that are producing children who are facing great challenges and are suffering. The greatest gift any child can receive is a loving home that has both a loving mother and father who love the Lord and make Him the priority of their life. The disintegration of any society can be traced to the disintegration of the family. Unhealthy families produce unhealthy children and unless the Lord intervenes by His grace and bring salvation and healing, life for the parents and children will never be what God intended it to be.
The Bible is filled with many godly women who are examples to all of us. Tonight I want to look at the life of one extraordinary woman named Abigail who lived a very challenging life but had God’s wisdom to respond to a life threatening situation that would have had dire consequences for many people. (1 Samuel 25:2-42)
*Abigail’s name means “source of joy.” She was a woman that her husband should have been proud of because she was a person of good understanding and was beautiful in appearance. Her husband on the other hand was quite the opposite. His name, Nabal, means “fool.” Why would a parent name her child “fool?” Seems quite cruel to me to grow up being called a fool all the time. His name was prophetic as we read in this story. Nabal was a very rich businessman but lacked common sense. He knew how to make himself wealthy but was horrible in relational skills as he was harsh (stubborn, severe, rough, rude) and evil in his actions toward others. It seemed like Abigail and Nabal were the odd couple and my heart goes out to her to be married to a man like Nabal. One commentator called it “Beauty and the Beast.” I don’t see Nabal as a very sensitive man, pretty rough and selfish and cared more for his possessions than people. We have seen a lot of Nabals in the news lately. Men who placed more value on possessions than people. The collapse of the USA economy can be traced to a great degree on the greediness of man who seeks to gain wealth at the expense of someone else. Many of the financial transactions did not have the best interest of the investors but were deceitful get rich quick schemes for the company or manager of the funds. Foolish actions on their part have devastated many families and businesses.
*David and his men are living near Nabal as he continues to flee from Saul’s insane pursuit of his life. David was at this time in his life dependent on help from others to sustain his life and the lives of his men. When David discovered that Nabal’s workers were shearing sheep in Carmel he sent 10 of his men to ask for help, a donation of food as compensation for the protection David and his men had given to Nabal’s workers and his animals. Nabal would have nothing to do with David or his men. In spite of the services David had given to Nabal there was no gratitude given to David. Nabal had plenty of sheep and goats to give and it would not have made a dent in his bank account but he refused to help. His response indicates how selfish he was. “Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from? (25:11) Nabal was full of himself and thought only of himself. He had no compassion for David and his men nor the situation they were facing on a daily basis.
Not only did he refuse offer help, he mocked David and called him a rebellious runaway servant! David had made a kind appeal to Nabal, demanding nothing from him but he was rejected and treated poorly. Had Nabal truly believed that David would be the next king of Israel perhaps he would have responded differently. In our own lives we can often make the same mistake. We respond to people as we view them now with little thought of what they will become. We can easily misjudge or prejudge someone and later regret what we did or thought. I read a story recently that is a great example of this.
A seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg , TN. One morning, they were eating breakfast at a little restaurant, hoping to enjoy a quiet, family meal. While they were waiting for their food, they noticed a distinguished looking, white-haired man moving from table to table, visiting with the guests. The professor leaned over and whispered to his wife, 'I hope he doesn't come over here.' But sure enough, the man did come over to their table.
'Where are you folks from?' he asked in a friendly voice.
' Oklahoma ,' they answered.
'Great to have you here in Tennessee ,' the stranger said.. 'What do you do for a living?'
'I teach at a seminary,' he replied.
'Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you? Well, I've got a really great story for you.' And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with the couple.
The professor groaned and thought to himself, 'Great...Just what I need...another preacher story!'
The man started, 'See that mountain over there? (pointing out the restaurant window). Not far from the base of that mountain, there was a boy born to an unwed mother. He had a hard time growing up, because every place he went, he was always asked the same question, 'Hey boy, Who's your daddy?' Whether he was at school, in the grocery store or drug store, people would ask the same question, 'Who's your daddy?'
He would hide at recess and lunch time from other students. He would avoid going in to stores because that question hurt him so bad. 'When he was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to his church. He would always go in late and slip out early to avoid hearing the question, 'Who's your daddy?'
But one day, the new preacher said the benediction so fast that he got caught and had to walk out with the crowd.
Just about the time he got to the back door, the new preacher, not knowing anything about him, put his hand on his shoulder and asked him, 'Son, who's your daddy?'
The whole church got deathly quiet. He could feel every eye in the church looking at him Now everyone would finally know the answer to the question, 'Who's your daddy?'
'This new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using discernment that only the Holy Spirit could give, said the following to that scared little boy.. 'Wait a minute! I know who you are! I see the family resemblance now, You are a child of God.'
With that he patted the boy on his shoulder and said, 'Boy, you've got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.'
'With that, the boy smiled for the first time in a long time and walked out the door a changed person. He was never the same again. Whenever anybody asked him, 'Who's your Daddy?' he'd just tell them, 'I'm a Child of God..''
The distinguished gentleman got up from the table and said, 'Isn't that a great story?'
The professor responded that it really was a great story!
As the man turned to leave, he said, 'You know, if that new preacher hadn't told me that I was one of God's children, I probably never would have amounted to anything!' And he walked away..
The seminary professor and his wife were stunned. He called the waitress over & asked her, 'Do you know who that man was -- the one who just left that was sitting at our table?'
The waitress grinned and said, 'Of course. Everybody here knows him. That's Ben Hooper. He's governor of Tennessee !'
Nabal either did not know much about David or he did not care as evidenced in his offensive response to David’s request.
*When David received word of Nabal’s response he went ballistic. David definitely was responding in his flesh. His anger rose quickly and he made a rash decision. Nabal and David were both wrong in their actions and reactions. A massive amount of bloodshed was in the making as David took great offense at what Nabal had said and done. David was prepared to take things into his own hands, execute his own decision without consulting God or the prophets. Many of us can relate to David’s response. When we are offended we take up the offense and immediately begin to plan and plot our revenge attack. “If this is the kind of respect I get then I will show this person a thing or two!” When we respond in anger we always make wrong decisions and say things that do more damage than good. David’s humanity is very evident in this situation and he is headed for big trouble unless something happens.
*Praise God for Abigail! She is the only person in the story who has a sound mind and the intelligence to make wise decisions. Men seem to get bent out of shape about certain things but it seems that when respect and reputation are threatened a special stupidity can come over them and lead them into doing things that are counterproductive. Abigail recognized what was happening and she immediately took action to prevent an escalation of anger and poor decisions. Nabal would have done well to consult his wife before making his decision to refuse to help David. She could have given him wise counsel and Nabal would have been blessed by following it. All of us men need to learn from this story how valuable the advice of a wife, mom and woman can be. If we discredit them or don’t even seek their counsel we only hurt ourselves.
Abigail immediately takes action to stop the impending bloodshed. She is not just thinking about herself but is thinking of her husband and the lives of workers who will die in the battle. She is also thinking about the future of David whom she acknowledges as the next King of Israel. David was prepared to shed innocent blood to avenge his name and reputation. David had premeditated murder on his mind. If he was to follow through with his decision there would be serious and lifelong consequences. One of the 7 sins Solomon listed that God hates is the shedding of innocent blood. God’s wrath would have been on David and he would have reaped many problems for what he was about to do. Praise God for people like Abigail who can see the results of our wrong intended actions and take steps to prevent us from doing stupid things. She loads up food to bring to David perhaps as a peace offering and a sign of her sincerity and apology for the actions of her husband. When David meets her she immediately bows to the ground in humility and respect for David. She intercedes for her husband’s stupidity and is willing to take the blame for him. She pleads for forgiveness and acceptance of the offering she has brought to spare the lives of the men as well as the future grief David would experience. Abigail saw a bright future for David, she knew that God would take care of his enemies because his hand was on David’s life. Praise God for people who can see beyond the present circumstances and can look to the future and see how our present actions will undermine what God has planned for our lives. Mom’s are good at doing that, they can see or sense things that will happen if we continue on the path we have chosen or are in the process of choosing. If it is not the right path, they seem to know it and God uses them to stop us from making bad decisions.
*Abigail’s actions and words strike the heart of David and he realizes that she has been sent by God. She was truly God’s messenger of the moment and David had enough sense about him to realize what was happening. He did not blow off her advice but embraced it and responded properly. David treated her with respect and listened to her advice and in doing so spared himself and his men from grave problems. All too often men have a difficult time listening to and heeding the advice of women be it a mom, spouse or friend. Many of us have grown up in cultures where women have not been viewed as equals. In the Latino culture it is very evident that men are dominant and in many situations dictatorial. This is changing and it needs to change in order for both men and women to develop their potential and benefit from all the wonderful gifts God has placed in both males and females.
When David listened and left the situation in God’s hand, God took care of it for him. Nabal after sobering up from his big party heard what Abigail had done to spare his life. He had what seems to be a heart attack and 10 days later he was dead. David was vindicated and more importantly spared from taking actions that were not pleasing to the Lord. Rather than take offense we need to give it over to God and let him take up our cause and bring revenge in the way he wants to do it.
*After Nabal’s death, David took Abigail as his wife. David received a very valuable gift to him in many ways. She became the mother of Chileab whose name means, “restraint of his father.” David’s son was a constant reminder to him of the restraint that was placed upon him through Abigail that spared him from many problems.
*Abigail is an example for us today and we can benefit greatly if we model her example. She had great understanding and was willing to step forward to make an appeal that changed the course of history for many people. She could have done nothing thinking that it was not her role or thinking that no one would listen to her. Instead she took action to do what she knew had to be done to turn a bad situation around. When you see things that are not right and you have understanding of what can happen, you have to take action. It is quite likely that no one else is going to do anything about it. Last week they showed a video of a man who defended a woman who was being robbed and as a result was stabbed. He collapsed on the sidewalk and lay there for 1 hour and 20 minutes before anyone did anything to help him and by that time it was too late, he was dead. Many had understanding of the need but no one took action, thinking someone else was going to do something. It is not safe to assume that anyone will do anything in a given situation. With awareness and knowledge comes responsibility to act and do what you can do to resolve a situation or at least get the help needed sent to the people.
The way she presented herself was in humility and because of her humility her advice was received, respected and followed. She did not use the brash know it all, get in your face and shake your finger approach that is all too often used by people to make their point when they feel strongly or feel they will not be heard. Proverbs 15:1 says “a soft answer turns away wrath.” There is something disarming that happens when we take a humble and gentle approach to resolve situations that can turn ballistic. She knew how to approach a man intent on murder and God honored her and David listened to her.
Abigail appealed for mercy and forgiveness for her husband. Even though her husband was an evil man she still appealed for mercy for him. How easy it is for us to want to see people reap what they have sown especially when they have done something evil to us. She loved mercy and made a strong appeal for it with a willingness to suffer the penalty herself. Abigail was fulfilling what we read in Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?”

Abigail was able to see the future ramifications of a bad decision and she was not willing to let it happen without first intervening. She became the voice of reason, common sense and the voice of God to a man who was enraged and was not thinking correctly. In her appeal to David she pointed out the great future that God had for him and how this decision he was making would be a hindrance to him. We have to be intelligent enough to see what people will reap if they sow bad seeds of bad decisions and use it to appeal to them. Anger and emotion blind us and keep us from seeing the consequences of our actions. Many foolish decisions would be dropped if people really understood what they would be forfeiting in the future. All of us can probably name several decisions we made that did not consider the future ramifications and the losses we would experience. One of the most important decisions you will ever make is your choice of a marriage partner. It is not a choice that should be made quickly and definitely not one that should be made without consulting the advice of trusted people who can see beyond your emotionally clouded mindset and help you see future ramifications of your potential choice. Major decisions must have strong confirmations and choosing a marriage partner is one of them.
God rewarded Abigail by placing her under the care of David after the death of her husband. Her willingness to risk all made a huge impression on David and God rewarded her as well. God takes note of our actions of intervention to help others and he will reward us for them. The reward may come in some form while we are on earth but more importantly we will be rewarded in heaven. Paul admonished the Corinthian church, “Do not get weary of doing good works because in due time you will be rewarded.” (Gal. 6:9))
Abigail was an amazing woman and though little was recorded about her life after this event she played a very important role in the life of David. Women have tremendous power of influence they can use for evil or good. I pray tonight the each of us will remember her character and her actions and let them be a model to each one of us.

A Spirit of Adventure

Florence Chadwick at a very young age loved to swim. At age 6 she entered her first swimming contest and was soundly defeated. At age 10 she won her first contest swimming in rough water. She grew up in San Diego and loved to swim distances and would swim to Coronado Island. One of her goals was to be the first women ever to swim the21 mile Catalina Channel between Catalina Island and Palos Verde, California. After years of training and having successfully swam the English Channel she was ready to take on the challenge. “The weather that day was not auspicious-the ocean was ice cold, the fog was so thick that she could hardly see the support boats that followed her, and sharks prowled around her. Several times, her support crew used rifles to drive away the sharks. While Americans watched on television, she swam for hours. Her mother and her trainer, who were in one of the support boats, encouraged her to keep going” (Answers.com: Florence Chadwick). Finally after 15.5 hours of swimming she was totally exhausted and she quit only to discover later that she was a half of a mile from shore. In an interview afterward she stated, "Look, I'm not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I know I could have made it." She returned to San Diego and resumed her training for another 2 months. On her second attempt there was dense fog but she persevered and became the first woman to swim across the channel and set a new record. Florence Chadwick had a tremendous spirit of adventure and determination to accomplish what no one had ever done before. The definition of adventure is: “an undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risk; the encountering of risks, the spirit of adventure.” This spirit of adventure which calls us to attempt new things and take on challenges that seem overwhelming is a spirit that God has placed within each of us. Some of you have tapped into it already and some of you are on edge ready to be launched while others are holding back and playing it safe. We live in a culture that encourages us to “take it easy.” My dad used to always say to me when I would leave home, “Take it easy.” I know what he meant...Don’t get too crazy. I decided to change that saying with my daughter so when she would leave home I would often say, “Look for opportunities and take risks.” She has followed my advice and has done many things that her classmates never have done and probably never will. There is I believe in every one of us a spirit of adventure that needs to get stirred up. Unfortunately many people live their lives playing it safe and look forward to the retirement years that will be a time of relaxing, ease, less responsibility, less pressure to perform sort of a take it easy attitude. This frame mind wants to lull us into a lifestyle that is risk free and safe. But this lifestyle is one that is also very sterile and deadly to your spiritual, mental and physical health. You may have heard the story of Larry Waters in the news a few years ago (1982). Larry's boyhood dream was to fly. When he graduated from high school, he joined the Air Force in hopes of becoming a pilot. Unfortunately, poor eyesight disqualified him. When he was finally discharged, he had to satisfy himself with watching jets fly over his backyard. One day, Larry, had a bright idea. He decided to fly. He went to the local Army-Navy surplus store and purchased 45 weather balloons and several tanks of helium. The weather balloons, when fully inflated, would measure more than four feet across. Back home, Larry securely strapped the balloons to his sturdy lawn chair. He anchored the chair to the bumper of his jeep and inflated the balloons with the helium. He climbed on for a test while it was still only a few feet above the ground. Satisfied it would work, Larry packed several sandwiches and a six-pack of Miller Lite, loaded his pellet gun-figuring he could pop a few balloons when it was time to descend-and went back to the floating lawn chair. He tied himself in along with his pellet gun and provisions. Larry's plan was to lazily float up to a height of about 30 feet above his back yard after severing the anchor and in a few hours come back down. Things didn't quite work out that way. When he cut the cord anchoring the lawn chair to his jeep, he didn't float lazily up to 30 or so feet. Instead he streaked into the LA sky as if shot from a cannon. He didn't level of at 30 feet, nor did he level off at 100 feet. After climbing and climbing, he leveled off at 11,000 feet. At that height he couldn't risk shooting any of the balloons, lest he unbalance the load and really find himself in trouble. So he stayed there, drifting, cold and frightened, for more than 14 hours. Then he really got in trouble. He found himself drifting into the primary approach corridor of Los Angeles International Airport. A United pilot first spotted Larry. He radioed the tower and described passing a guy in a lawn chair with a gun. Radar confirmed the existence of an object floating 11,000 feet above the airport. LAX emergency procedures swung into full alert and a helicopter was dispatched to investigate. LAX is right on the ocean. Night was falling and the offshore breeze began to flow. It carried Larry out to sea with the helicopter in hot pursuit. Several miles out, the helicopter caught up with Larry. Once the crew determined that Larry was not dangerous, they attempted to close in for a rescue but the draft from the blades would push Larry away whenever they neared. Finally, the helicopter ascended to a position several hundred feet above Larry and lowered a rescue line. Larry snagged the line and was hauled back to shore. The difficult maneuver was flawlessly executed by the helicopter crew. As soon as Larry was hauled to earth, he was arrested by waiting members of the LAPD for violating LAX airspace. As he was led away in handcuffs, a reporter dispatched to cover the daring rescue asked why he had done it. Larry stopped, turned and replied nonchalantly, "A man can't just sit around." (Source Patrick Barbour http://www.delta-9.com/net47/myth/balloon.html) That time has come for many people who are not evidencing the spirit of adventure in their lives to get involved, take action and stir up the spirit of adventure!. Couch potato passive Christianity is not what we have been called to do or be. I like to think of Caleb as being one who had this “spirit of adventure.” In Numbers 14:24 he is described as one who had a “different spirit.” I like to call this a spirit of adventure. Caleb was the only other spy with Joshua who came back with a good report and encouraged the people to take the land. Caleb did not freak out at the size of the giants in Hebron, he freaked out at the size of the grapes and all the prebuilt homes and walls that were waiting for them! The forty year delay caused by the disobedience and lack of faith of the people did not quench Caleb’s spirit of adventure. When the time came to conquer the Promised Land he was in the thick of it leading Judah. The Promised Land had many enemies that needed to be conquered and it took years to do it. The reality is Israel never did conquer all the enemies or gain possession of all the land God promised. But Caleb continued to pursue what was promised to him even when he was 85 years old. (Joshua 14) He reminded Joshua of the land that was promised him and demanded that he get it. It did not come without a battle but he was victorious. The land was ruled by the giants of Anak, the very ones who instilled fear in the 10 spies and all the people. The size of the enemy and Caleb’s age did not stop him from taking them on and he defeated them. The spirit of adventure does not need to subside with the degree of difficulty of a task nor our age. I read of a grave stone that said, “John Jones, born April 25, 1830, died May 25, 1870, buried January 12, 1895. His body was not dead when he was forty but he lived as though it was. Many years of his life were wasted perhaps because the spirit of adventure was put to sleep. Our lives were never meant to be like that and we have to fight against a force that I believe is inspired by our enemy that want to lull us into sleep and ineffectiveness no matter what age we are. (Video clip) The Scriptures give us examples of several women who had this spirit and did great things for God and His people. Deborah was one of the judges of Israel who led the nation into victory over their enemies. The Israelites had been in captivity to Jabin King of Canaan for 20 years. God spoke to Deborah that he would deliver them from captivity through Barak and the 10,000 men he would take with him into battle. Barak was not real eager to go to battle and he would only go if Deborah went with him. She went with him but also told him he would lose out on some of the reward. I wonder if he walked behind her or beside her? Deborah went with him and encouraged Barak to pursue the enemy. God brought the victory He had promised. (Judges 4:1-16). Deborah had a spirit of adventure and she used it to motivate Barak the leader of the army to fight the battle to set the people free. Esther was also a woman who had a spirit of adventure. In her role as Queen, she was placed in a very important position in which she had tremendous opportunity to influence the King. When the future of her people was on the line she had a choice to make. She could remain silent and be killed with her people or she could respond with a spirit of adventure and approach the King to seek his help in saving her people. Getting the ear of the King and being able to go before him was not a simple thing. The King had the right to put to death anyone who appeared before him without an invitation and Esther would make an uninvited appearance. It had been 30 days since she had seen the King so she may have thought that she did something wrong and past history of Queen Vashti’s departure probably weighed into her thinking when she stated, “If I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16) Esther made the courageous decision to go for it. She was successful in getting an audience with the King was one thing, but to ask the King to change the plan to annihilate the Jews took a tremendous amount of courage and a spirit of adventure. I imagine her heart was racing, her palms were sweating and her knees where trembling when she made her request of the King. Her request was granted and wicked Haman who had contrived the plan to kill the Jews was put to death with his family. (Esther 4) I wonder how many times we don’t get what we need because we don’t ask; we stifle the spirit of adventure and do not take the risks and ask for something. Have you ever been with someone who asked for something that you thought was out of line, maybe a little too much and you were a little embarrassed to be with them when they asked? And then too your surprise they were given what they asked for? We walk away wishing we had been the one to ask! When I was in college I attended an Intervarsity Christian Fellowship group in another city with a friend. The night I attended they conducted a “Bigger or Better” contest. Each team started out with something small and was sent out to different areas of the city. We had to knock on doors of homes or apartments and ask the people if they could trade what we had for something bigger or better. It was a crazy game and probably would not be advisable to do in certain cities. It turned out to be a fun night as the homes we went to were eager to help us and get rid of things they did not want. The group that won the contest came back with a used car! We have many other examples of people in the Bible who had the spirit of adventure. In order for the gospel message to reach the nations men and women had to leave their homes and travel to unknown areas. The Apostle Paul was always looking for new territory to preach the gospel. He did not want to go to areas where the gospel had already be proclaimed but looked for opportunities to reach the unreached. It did not matter how difficult the task was, he was committed to doing what God had called him to do. Paul lived a life of adventure following God’s call. On one occasion as Paul was being transported as a prisoner by ship to Rome, the weather turned bad and the ship was headed for destruction. Paul’s previous advice that warned of the dangers of setting sail went unheeded (Acts 27:10, 11) but now he had gotten the attention of the captain of the ship and was used of God to provide wisdom and counsel that saved the lives of everyone (Acts 27:21-25). What an adventure, being in a storm, crashing the boat and swimming to shore using a piece of the boat as a flotation device! All the while knowing that God had promised him safety for everyone on the ship. Paul entire life seemed like a great adventure. He was always looking ahead for new territory. We know that Paul had his eyes set on reaching Spain but we do not know if he was able to go there. He had a spirit of adventure and was not content to settle down, live a normal life and miss out on all the opportunities and open doors that God would give him to preach the gospel. I believe that coupled with the spirit of adventure is creativity. When we are willing to take on the risks and challenges I believe that God releases creative ideas to help us get the task accomplished. Arlene Richardson in a recent address to a group of students at Columbian International University related these amazing stories of people with a spirit of adventure. Her husband is Steve Richardson who is the son of Don Richardson who was a missionary to Papua New Guinea and author of the book “Peace Child”. He grew up in the jungle and had a very adventurous life as a young man. The spirit of adventure remained in him and motivated him to go to unreached areas. One day he and his wife were in a bookstore in Indonesia and he was looking at a magazine. The magazine showed a remote island of Barkada that had 70,000 people and he immediately wondered if there were unreached people groups that had not heard the gospel message. He took a barge to get to the island and twelve hours later arrived. Just as he had thought the island had unreached people groups who had not heard the gospel. He wrote an article in Mission Frontiers magazine about the island and its needs. The first person to contact him was a lady named Judy, a single woman. She said she would make herself available. She said “Lord send me, I claim this island as my inheritance.” She moved out to the area and made many boat trips to the island because she was not able to live there. Each time she would write down the names of the people and then she started a network of people across the world who would pray for each person by name. She recruited some nationals who were experienced in church planting and formed a team to evangelize the island. One of the couples she recruited could live on the island but they needed a way to sustain themselves and reach out to the people so they started a bakery they called the “Bread of Life.” The bakery became a connecting point with the people and many have come to the Lord all because one single women with the spirit of adventure was willing to go to this unreached people group. Another woman named Cindy who is called the “Betty Crocker of Central Asia”was used of God to reach a very poor community. One morning her friend came to her and said she had a dream and in the dream the Lord to her that they were to go to a far away village and pray for the women and bake cakes. So Cindy and her friend filled with a spirit of adventure went to the village. When they arrived there was no running water, no oven and sporadic electricity so how were they to make cakes?. They just showed up unannounced and started baking cakes. They told the women that God had heard the needs of the women and that he had told them to come to the women and bake cakes and pray for them in Jesus name. One woman had a toaster oven but it did not have a thermostat. The first cake was not a prize winner but the people loved it. Word began to spread around the village and the women began to meet to cook and pray in Jesus name. The ladies began to witness answers to prayer. As the prayers were being answered the ladies wanted to pray more and cook less. Women started to come to Christ. They shared with their husbands why they had changed. Their husbands noticed the change in their wives and they began to inquire about eternal things. Cindy’s husband Henry was kept busy networking with the men who wondered what had happened to their wives. All of this happened because 2 women with a spirit of adventure were willing to obey the voice of God and carry out a creative idea God had planted in them. When we have a spirit of adventure we are willing to take on new challenges at any age to gain everything that God has destined for us. When we have a spirit of adventure we are willing to go to battle to liberate people from the oppression of the enemy. When we have the spirit of adventure we are willing to risk everything and ask for Big things to see things change. When we have the spirit of adventure we set our eyes on reaching the unreached areas and take advantage of every opportunity God gives us. When we have the spirit of adventure we respond in obedience and faith to the call of God and go where he wants us to go to claim our inheritance. When we have the spirit of adventure we hear the voice of God and obey no matter how crazy the idea may appear because we want to see people come to Christ as much as God wants them to come to him. Our lives as believers should be filled with stories of adventure because God has given each one of us a spirit of adventure. When is the last time you did something new, different, maybe unusual or odd, creative, challenging in your walk of obedience with the Lord? Life can become a routine if we let it or it can be a daily adventure as we let the Spirit of God stir up within us a spirit of adventure to believe God for new and creative ideas to share the gospel with perhaps people of a nation unknown to us or simply reach out to your neighborhood to express God’s love for them.. God is the same yesterday, today and forever, he is constant in his character but He is unpredictable in what he will do and use us to do. I pray tonight that God will stir up within each one of us a spirit of adventure to do what needs to be done to reach the lost and unreached in the world.

Getting Back on Track

A few years ago I was visiting Tikal with a group of people. The group decided to return to the hotel in the park but I wanted to stay and watch the sunset and listen to the Holler monkeys scream like lions. On the way out of the park it started to get dark while I was walking with another group of people. Somehow I got separated from them and I went on a different trail. I walked for awhile and it got pretty dark. Finally I saw a sign indicating the road I was on led to a town 20 kilometers away! I was off track and I needed to get back to where I had wander off so I could get out of the park. I was a little panicked at the time and I stopped and prayed that God would help me. As soon as I finished praying a pickup truck came around the corner and they stopped and asked me where I was going. They were going the same direction I needed to go so they told me to get in and they safely took me to the exit of the park. They helped me get back on track and I was very grateful.
Tonight I want to talk about getting back on track with the Lord. The disciples got off track after the resurrection of Jesus and I want to look at their story and draw some principles from it.
John 21:1-19
1 Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. This is how it happened. 2 Several of the disciples were there—Simon Peter, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples.3 Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.”“We’ll come, too,” they all said. So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night.4 At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn’t see who he was. 5 He called out, “Fellows, have you caught any fish?”“No,” they replied.6 Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it.7 Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the water, and headed to shore. 8 The others stayed with the boat and pulled the loaded net to the shore, for they were only about a hundred yards from shore. 9 When they got there, they found breakfast waiting for them—fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread.10 “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus said. 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore. There were 153 large fish, and yet the net hadn’t torn.12“Now come and have some breakfast!” Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. 14 This was the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he had been raised from the dead.15 After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”“Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.”“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.16 Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?”“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.”“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.17 A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.18 “I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him, “Follow me.”
Disciples Dilemma
After the resurrection of Jesus the disciples even after seeing Jesus the evening of his resurrection and on one other occasion, became discouraged and disillusioned about their mission. Peter who was the real leader of the group made a decision to return to his profession as a fisherman and six other disciples agreed to do the same. The waiting game was too much for the disciples and their contact with Jesus after the resurrection obviously was not a frequent as they thought they needed to be assured that there really was a mission and purpose for their lives. Some of the most difficult times for us as believers are the times that we are waiting for direction or waiting for changes to happen so we can move on with our lives. We like the disciples can get impatient, discouraged and disillusioned. When we find ourselves in this situation it is easy for us to look back at what we left behind and think about returning. The disciples’ faith had wavered and a decision was made to go back to their nets and live a life they had previously experienced. Peter declared, “I am going fishing.” This was not recreational fishing but occupational fishing. This seemed like the only option available at the time. Yet I wonder if Peter had regrets about returning to the fishing business and deep in his heart was a greater desire to continue with the mission and ministry Jesus had told them they would have. I am not sure how eager Peter was to return to his previous life after spending three miraculous years with Jesus, nonetheless the decision was made and they returned to Galilee to resume their trade.
John recounts that they had spent all night fishing and had caught nothing. This was pretty unusual for experienced fisherman who had previously made their living in the business. They had probably cast their nets out numerous times throughout the night but each time their nets were empty. You have to wonder if their wheels in their minds began turning and if they began to think that maybe the fishing business was not what they were supposed to be doing. Had they caught a lot of fish maybe they would have thought otherwise but it seems that God made sure they had empty nets as a way of getting their attention.
Many of us have found this to be true in our lives as well. When we are not doing what we know to do and go off on our own, things just do not come together and there is a lot of emptiness. What we are doing is not productive and we soon realize that we are not doing what we should be doing. There is a feeling of satisfaction in your soul when you are doing what God has asked you to do and when you are not doing it, there is a leaness of the soul that sets in and disturbs us. You can try to block out the feeling but it is always there to remind you that something is not right. I think with each casting of the net with no results had to make the disciples think about what they were doing.
Jesus’ Surprise Visit
On the day they began to fish, Jesus came to visit them early one morning. He knew they were discouraged and disillusioned and needed to be encouraged so he showed up on the beach, close enough to them where they could hear him when he talked to them while they were in their boat yet far enough away that they did not immediately recognize him. He could have walked out to them but he wanted them to recognize him through the events that would shortly take place.
When Jesus came on the scene everything changed. He firsts asked them if they had caught anything. I think he knew the answer before he asked but they needed to acknowledge among themselves that their efforts had produced nothing. There needed to be a confrontation and evaluation of what they were doing and an acknowledgment that it was not working for them. God in his mercy and love for us often brings us to the same point when we are not walking in obedience to him. He causes things to happen that make us want to evaluate where we are, what we are doing and how productive and satisfying our lives are. It is a hard question but one that is very necessary to get us to realize what has happened. Sometime we need the perspective of another person to call to our attention that what we are doing is not what the Lord has asked us to do. At times we find ourselves responding in direct disobedience to the Lord because of our pride and impatience. We revert back to living according to the flesh where we think we will find pleasure. Or we may find they we go off on a little rabbit trail, take a little diversion or side trip to avoid going where we need to be. It does not necessarily imply that we are doing something immoral we are just doing something different. We know what we are to do but we decide to take a side trip and delay our obedience. It is like the little boy whose mom sent him to the store to get food but on the way got distracted by a baseball game and decided to play for awhile and forget about completing his real mission. Playing baseball is not a bad thing but it was not the right time for him to be playing baseball. When the little boy returns home, he knows exactly what his mom is going to ask him to make him accountable for his actions. Jesus did the same thing with the disciples by asking them the question about the productivity of their efforts.
The disciples respond with honesty to this man who they at least up to this point have not recognized. They admitted that they had nothing to show for their efforts. It must have been a little humiliating for them to admit their unproductive efforts. God will honor a humble and contrite heart. When we are really willing to admit our faults and see ourselves as we really are then God can begin to bring change. Until we reach that point we will continue to cast out our nets and try in our own strength to make things different. We have to be willing to come to an end to our self efforts if we truly want God to make real changes in our lives.
Jesus then offers them help by instructing them to cast their nets to the side of the boat. In order for the disciples to do this they had to either trust that this unknown person really knew something they did not and was worth following his advice or they could have thought we may as well try one more time, it cannot get any worse. I heard someone say the difference between an optimist and a pessimist is a pessimist says it cannot get any worse but an optimist says yes it can. I don’t know if the disciples were optimists or pessimists at this point but they decided to thrown their nets one more time. They listened to the advice of Jesus and did what he asked them to do. This is the next thing we need to do to get back on track with God. After we are confronted, accurately evaluate ourselves and admit where we are at, we have to be willing to listen to wise counsel and act upon it. The disciples did what was asked of them perhaps with some doubts as to whether anything would change but with a willingness to do it. When we want to see change in our lives we have to be willing to take advice and act upon it. Their obedience to Jesus brought a blessing that Jesus wanted to give the disciples. He wanted them to see his goodness and let it be a motivation for repentance and change. God’s goodness is what leads people to repentance. When they followed Jesus’ advice they had a miraculous catch of fish, 153 keepers. John was the first one to realize that this mystery man on the shore really was Jesus! John immediately informed Peter. At this point Peter could have cared less about the fish. I think in his heart he never wanted to return to fishing and after seeing the emptiness of it, his heart hungered for Jesus. When he recognized him he immediately dropped everything and made himself look decent by putting on his tunic and got to the shore as quickly as possible. I think Jesus had a huge smile on his face as he watched Peter jump out of the boat and make a beeline to him. I am not sure what the other disciples thought as they were left with trying to haul in the great catch with one less person but for Peter the most important thing to him was to be with Jesus. His heart was renewed with a desire to be with him. He knew that only Jesus could bring satisfaction, fulfillment, purpose and joy to his life. On our way back to God we need to experience his goodness to us and let that drive us to him. God longs for our hearts to want him above all things, to find our joy in serving him and knowing him and loving him. God desires us, he wants us to be in right relationship with him, he wants to restore us and reconcile us to himself so we can enjoy life as he has planned for it to be.
 
Breakfast with the Champion
Jesus was prepared to receive the disciples and had a fish breakfast waiting for them. The disciples were hungry, probably pretty tired and when they came to shore the special breakfast Jesus made for them had to have been a huge blessing to them. But more important than the food was the time of fellowship they had with Jesus. Their hearts reconnected with Jesus, their spirits were renewed, they realized they had not been abandoned. Jesus was there for them. It was just what they needed at this point in their lives to get them back on track and motivated to continue believing that the ministry they had been told about and had witnessed in Jesus would come to pass. There was no turning back from this point, no more desire to fish for food but a renewed desire to become a fisher of men.
Peter’s Special Session
Jesus had a special session with Peter to make sure he understood very clearly what his mission would be and what would be the proper motivation for carrying it out. Three times Jesus asked Peter if he loved him with the agape kind of love that God has. Peter was honest with Jesus in his response when he stated that his love was not equal to the love Jesus was asking of him. Jesus was identifying that Peter’s motivation for service had to be based in love for Jesus, not for pride, power or special position. When this love was motivating Peter he would be able to do what Jesus asked him to do, feed his sheep and lambs. Though Peter did not have this kind of love at this point he mentioned agape love at least six times in his epistles. Peter grew in this special love as he ministered to the sheep of God’s flock. If anything other than love for Jesus is motivating our ministry we are doing it for the wrong purpose and the wrong way. Real love can only come through a real relationship with Jesus. When Jesus becomes the true passion of our lives and the highest priority of our lives then ministry can flow out of us and we will feed God’s people in the way God wants us to feed them.
After this special encounter with Jesus, I believe the disciples went from being discouraged to being determined to get back on track and fulfill the mission Jesus had for them. Their eyes were on him and they would give their lives in service to him from this point forward. None of them knew what was going to happen in the future but they were promised by Jesus that they would do greater things than he did.
 
What Peter did not know…
Peter had no idea that:
After he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he would preach his first sermon and see 3,000 people give their lives to Christ! Acts 2:14-41
He would command a lame man to walk and see it happen! Acts 3:1-11
People would be astonished at his confidence in declaring what Christ had done! Acts 4:13
The Holy Spirit would reveal to him the deception of Ananias and Sapphira and he would see them struck dead before him. Acts 5:1-11
He would have many signs and wonders demonstrated in his ministry! Acts 5:12
His shadow would bring healing and deliverance to the people lined up on the streets! Acts 5:16
An angel would be sent to miraculously release him from prison twice! Acts 5:19; Acts 12:7-12
He would lay hands on the Samaritans and see them be filled with the Holy Spirit! Acts 8:17
He would pray for Dorcas and see her rise from the dead! Acts 9:40
He would introduce Christ to the Gentiles and see them filled with the Holy Spirit! Acts 10:44
He would be used of God to change the attitude of the Jewish believers toward receiving the Gentiles into the Kingdom of God! Acts 11:18
He would offer godly wisdom and counsel to resolve the conflict between Jewish believers and Gentile believers regarding keeping Jewish customs. Acts 15:6-12
He would write 2 letters that would be included in the bestselling book ever!
He would die a similar death to Christ’s crucifixion and have no regrets.
Jesus had great things in store for Peter and at the end of his life I am sure that Peter was glad that he had not returned to the fishing business! Peter got on track and stayed on track and God used him powerfully to impact the world while he was alive but also after his death. His legacy continues inspiring millions of people today.
 
What does God have planned for you?
God desires that each one of us stay on course; keep on track with him because he has great things in store for our lives. At times like the disciples we revert back to our old ways of being in control, walking in our flesh, being impatient and forgetting or forsaking what we know to be true. God in his mercy will intervene and place things in your life that will cause you to be confronted with where you are at and what you are doing. He will let you see the emptiness and vanity of your ways so they can be repented of and left behind. His love for us and his goodness to us will be evident when we respond in obedience to him. He wants us to be drawn to him by his cords of love so that his judgment can be withheld.
If you have gotten off track in your relationship with the Lord, you need to see Jesus waiting on the shore, by a cozy fire with food prepared for you. He is waiting for you to leave your past behind and enjoy the fellowship that he desires to have with you. He is not there to rip you and punish you for what you have done, he is there to forgive and restore you as you humble yourself before him. God has great things for our future but we will never see them happen if we go back in our faith and return to our old ways. We have to realize that looking back is looking at a graveyard. God has blessing prepared for us as we wholeheartedly follow him. His Holy Spirit is in us and the human limitations have been lifted. Your greatest days of ministry are ahead of you! Get back on track, stay the course, receive the fullness of all God has for your life and ministry as you serve him with love as your primary motivation.