Double

¹¹As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
    I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
¹²Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
   today I declare that I will restore to you double.

Zechariah 9

Great Plans

Perry Noble post:  Something You Need To Know About You ...

God doesn’t have small dreams for you!  (Ephesians 2:10, I Corinthians 2:9)

He crafted you to be unique.  (Psalm 139:13-16)

He placed you in this place at this time.  (Acts 17:26)

He gifted you with at least one gift from HIS Holy Spirit.  (I Corinthians 12:7, I Corinthians 12:27)

He promised you His presence  (Isaiah 43:1-3)

AND…

His promises are true

His power is unstoppable

His potential is breathtaking

SO…

Do not settle for anything less than His best for your life.

Do not give up on the God who has never given up on you.

Do not stop begging God to reveal Himself to you (He actually wants you to get it right way more than you do!)

Do not think He is through with you.

He has great plans…surrender yourself fully, follow Him completely and take up your cross daily…and, over time, He will blow your mind!

Hammer and Pegs

Mark Batterson post:  Pitch Your Tent

"I will pitch my tent in the land of hope."
I love The Message translation of Acts 2:26. I love the imagery because I just went camping with my boys last weekend. And I know that where you decide to pitch your tent is a critical decision. If you pitch it on unlevel ground or on rocks it'll be a long night! You also need to make sure you've got all the tent pegs secured.

Here's the question: Where are you pitching your tent?

Too often we pitch our tent in the land of frustration or the land of disappointment or the land of pride or the land of jealousy or the land of pity or the land of anger. We make our dwelling where we have no business being! We need to pitch our tent in the land of hope. That is where we need to hammer our tent pegs. Why? Because God is Sovereign. And He has good things in store for us! How? The promises of God are the tent pegs. And prayer is the hammer!

I can't help but think of my hike on the Inca Trail. We had porters who pitched our tents for us. They would make us breakfast. Pack up our tents. Pass us on the trail. And get to our campsite before us. Lunch would already be made and our tents would already be pitched when we got to the campsite they skillfully selected. That is a picture of the Sovereignty of God isn't it? Praise the God who pitches our tents!

Able, Gracious, Loving

Some of the scriptures that shape my theology of prayer:

¹⁶David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. ¹⁷And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. ¹⁸On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, "Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm." ¹⁹But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, "Is the child dead?" They said, "He is dead." ²⁰Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate. ²¹Then his servants said to him, "What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food." ²²He said, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, 'Who knows whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?' ²³But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me."
2 Sam 12:15-23


 ¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. ¹⁷If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. ¹⁸But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."
Daniel 3:16-18

^5-8If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.
James 1: 5-8 [MSG]

^31-39So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:

   They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
   We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
 Romans 8:31-39 [MSG]

⁷ "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. ⁹Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? ¹¹If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:7-11

Only God Can Do

Ray Ortlund post:  You must be born again

“You must be born again.”  John 3:7

You.  This is personal.  If I resent it as threatening, that could be evidence I have not been born again.  If my heart welcomes the approach of this truth and waves the white flag of surrender, that could be evidence I have been born again.

Must.  This is authoritative.  If I take evasive action, that could be evidence I have not been born again.  If I breathe a sigh of relief that finally Someone is telling me the truth and taking me in hand, that could be evidence I have been born again.

Be born again.  This is passive.  I need more than self-correction; I need a miracle deep within.  I need God to call into existence within me a new aliveness to God, new tastes, new desires, new openness and humility and fears and hopes, such as I have never experienced before and cannot conjure up out of my admirable upbringing and good intentions.  I need newness of Genesis 1-magnitude.  In fact, my eternal destiny hangs on something only God can do for me.

“It is a noteworthy and striking fact that no doctrine has excited such surprise in every age of the Church and has called forth so much opposition from the great and learned as this very doctrine of the new birth.  The men of the present day who sneer at conversions and revivals as fanaticism are no better than Nicodemus.  Like him, they expose their own entire ignorance of the work of the Holy Spirit.”

J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John 1:1-10:9 (Grand Rapids, n.d.), page 139.  Style updated.

Redemptive Twists and Turns

Christine Wyrtzen Devotional

PROPHETS AND THE PRESENT
 
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle, set apart for the Gospel of God, which he promised before hand through the prophets in the holy scriptures. Romans 1:1

Nearly every time Paul gave a defense for the Gospel, he didn't start with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.  Since most of his accusers were Jewish leaders, he was intent on showing them that Jesus was connected to their scriptures, the fulfillment of their law.  The Torah, which they embraced and knew front to back, had predicted his coming.  God was not only the Alpha and Omega, but the God of the in-between.  Nothing was random, nothing was haphazard, but each event in history a meticulously conceived plan according to the wisdom of a Sovereign God.

Why was this important to the Jews?  Because it's hard for any of us to completely leave everything familiar and embark on something new.  And it wasn't necessary where the Jews were concerned.  They had in their hands (the Torah and the writings of the prophets) the complete revelation of Jesus Christ.  To believe on Him was to complete their faith, to be as Abraham looking ahead for the Lamb of God and finding Him in Jesus.

God is the consummate storyteller.  The revelation of Jesus in Bethlehem was connected to the plotline in Eden when Adam and Eve sinned.  Everything in between followed the storyline.

He is also the consummate storyteller of my life.  Not one thing has happened to me that isn't an integral part of God's plot line for me.  I didn't always believe that; taking a handful of painful events and putting them in the 'useless' category.  God just couldn't use those, could He?

I had a dream many years ago where I was sitting with Jesus for a day in a secluded place.  We had nothing but time because the clock on the wall had stopped. Relieved that there were no time constraints, I began to talk and tell Him my story.  He gently interrupted and made this surprising suggestion.  "Tell you what, Christine.  Let me tell you your story."

As he did, and it seemed that the dream took all night, He wove together the events of my life, starting with my place in His heart before the world was created, down through the ancestral lines of my family, to the behaviors of my parents, teachers, and pivotal people in my life.  His version was much longer than mine and reminded me that He was not only the God of the past and future, but everything in the middle.

In God's plot line, there is no such thing as 'wasted'.  Not even our mistakes.  Though we know the end of the story revealed in Scripture, the redemptive twists and turns take us by surprise and delight.  May I not be like the Jews who failed to recognize Jesus when He stood in front of them.  As He orders the events of my day, I ask for the eyesight to see His fingerprints.

After all these years, I am beginning to love my storyline.  It is interwoven with Yours, with the cross.  Amen

Blessing to Others

LifeToday Devotional

Small Things, Big Blessings
by Dwayne Weehunt

Sometimes it is hard to wonder how people can live in the kind of suffering that we encounter in the slums of the world. We ask God, “What do you want us to do? The need is so great.”

Sometimes we see pictures of children smiling and laughing amidst all of this, but God revealed something to my heart once -- and this is the miracle of working in the nations: God will increase any gift given in His name.

Years ago on a trip to Haiti (with Terry and Rhonda Redmon, James' son-in-law and daughter), we spent some time with our interpreter, who grew up in Cité Soleil, one of the largest slums in Port-au-Prince. It was a massive slum and because it was under sea level, it filled with water when it rained. It was just nasty.

All week long, as we were out doing small crusades, our interpreter kept telling me over and over how God had given him a new house and how blessed he was. He described it in a similar way that you or I might describe it if someone had given us a house in a very affluent area. He was so, so blessed.

On the last day of our trip He invited us to come visit his house. We went to a large mansion compound that once belonged to some kind of land baron. But instead of leading us into the big, beautiful house, he lead us to this jail area where, in times past, they locked up their slaves. He was staying in one of these rooms and it still had bars on the door!

This guy stood in front of his home with his arms spread and the biggest smile on his face. He said, “Brother, welcome to my home!” I am not kidding you, it was like God invaded my heart and said to me, “You know, Dwayne, you could live here, but you would be suffering for me. He lives here and he worships me. He’s blessed.”

I was so impacted by this and thought, “God, do you really want me to live in a place like this?”

We have seen time and time again how people in India are so blessed by even the smallest gesture of love. It is not about what you give them, but about the heart with which you give it. It is all about the Father’s heart and the expression of the Father’s heart. How much more will they not be blessed when they realize that Jesus did something far greater than just giving them a meal, providing fresh water or educating their children, but that He loves them and cares about them personally!

We know that God wants to do something about the suffering. That is why He makes every outreach possible despite persecution and through the challenges the enemy devises to discourage His church.

I firmly believe the scripture in Psalm 12:5 where the Lord says, “I have seen violence done to the helpless, and I have heard the groans of the poor. Now I will rise up to rescue them, as they have longed for me to do.” And I firmly believe John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

God wants to bless all nations beyond our wildest expectations, and He wants us to be a blessing to others.


Dwayne Weehunt is LIFE's mission partner to India. He gave his life to the Lord in James Robison's office in November 1981. He and Leslie, his wife of 25 years, have four children.

Emptiness Without Him

Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don't need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything. 

Col 2:8-10 [MSG]

Visible

Tyler Kenney post at DG:  The Importance of Using Your Body in Worship

Jonathan Edwards says that a lack of external expression in worship can actually destroy Christian community and devotion.

Some bodily worship is necessary to give liberty to our own devotion; yea though in secret, so more when with others . . . 'Tis necessary that there should be something bodily and visible in the worship of a congregation; otherwise, there can be no communion at all. (From Miscellanies #101)

Read his rationale for thinking this way.

Overcoming

Excerpt from John Piper's response to "Do you believe we should cast out demons today?"

That text from Revelation 12:11—"They overcame the devil by the blood of the lamb, for they loved not their lives even unto death"—what does that say? You overcome the devil by the gospel, by believing you are covered by the blood. You overcame by applying and teaching and preaching the blood of Christ, and then by being so sacrificially dedicated to people's lives that you are willing to die rather than run away from a situation. When that happens, when martyrs covered by the blood loving people happens, Satan is defeated. 

Boundaries To Bring Glory

Mary Whelchel (The Christian Working Woman) transcript:  Setting Reasonable Boundaries, Friday, Sept 3, 2010

I find that many Christians really struggle with knowing how and where to set boundaries. I would recommend a book by that name, Boundaries, which gives a great deal of detail on the topic.

 

As we close this subject, let me say that setting boundaries is not a selfish act. If it is, then something is wrong in the way boundaries are set or the reason for setting them. Jesus set boundaries in his life when here on earth. He limited his exposure to people; he limited his time with people; he limited the things he was willing to do. Certainly not because he was selfish, but because he was determined to do what the Father had sent him to do.

 

And as a result, at the end of a short three-year ministry, he could say in John 17:4, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” Setting reasonable, biblical boundaries is definitely a spiritual thing to do, if we do if for the right reason. And that reason is so that we can accomplish what God wants us to do and say, as Jesus did, “I have brought glory to God on earth by completing the work he gave me to do.”

 

You may have been allowing false guilt to keep you from setting reasonable boundaries. Perhaps you just feel like you ought to do what everyone wants you to do, to please everyone, and so you try. But of course you discover that you cannot, so guilt piles upon guilt. That is generally false guilt that plagues you when you don’t set reasonable boundaries for yourself and for others in your life.

 

I urge you to make boundary setting an intentional part of your daily commitment. Pray about it. Ask God to reveal the areas in your life that need boundaries, either for yourself or for others. Read the Bible and look for biblical principles concerning boundaries. Believe me, they are there and God will reveal them to you if you will seek for them with all your heart.

 

But remember, the reason for setting boundaries must be one thing only: To bring glory to God while we are here on earth. It’s not all about us and what makes life better for us. It’s about what we need to do in order to bring glory to God through our daily lives.

 

 

Humility and Discipline

And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences. 

Ephesians 4:3 [MSG]

Called

Christine Wyrtzen Devotional:

SENT TO DO WHAT?
 
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to an apostle... Romans 1:1

Paul, a servant of the One who became a suffering servant to us, was called by Him to be an apostle.  An apostle is someone who is sent out with a message.  At his conversion, Paul was given this assignment that would define the rest of his life.  He probably thought, before his conversion, that his duty was to protect the sanctity of the Jewish faith from Christian heresy.  As it turned out, he was to encounter Christ and become what he had once hated.

What was Paul's calling straight out of the mouth of Jesus?  And, is it similar to ours?  The mandate out of heaven was a clear and beautiful one.  Here it is in Paul's own words.  "Rise and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you.  I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God."  (Acts 26:16-18)
              
Our understanding of the 'call' can get so muddied when we mix it in with the realm of spiritual gifts.  "I am called to teach, or encourage, or give to others, or show hospitality, or exhort."  But each gift is just a vehicle to the main event ~ 'Opening their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from Satan to God.'  That begs me to examine whether my understanding of my mission is clear enough.  What do I say when I encourage?  What do I teach when I open the scriptures?  Do I pick and choose inspirational topics and a smattering of scriptures that will make someone feel good or do I speak a Word that fashions a sharp arrow of conviction?  The answer to that question is whether or not my audience, large and small, personal and impersonal, is motivated to make a choice between darkness and Light.
           
Ah yes, Paul grasped it.  Perhaps he had an advantage because he saw the light, fell to his knees, and heard the voice of his Lord.  But that excuse won't grant me or anyone else living today any pardons.  God speaks even more powerfully to us now through the Spirit of the One who spoke to Paul because that Voice is not without, it is within.  He speaks each time I open His Word.  If my perception of what I was born to do is diluted and fuzzy, I cry out today with a full voice and an intensity of my heart ~

Let me hear your call again, Lord.  Wake me up.  Make my crooked path straight. Amen

So Much Divine Goodness

Ray Ortlund post:  The gospel of everyday life

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.  For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.”  1 Timothy 4:1-5

As Francis Schaeffer used to remind us, the devil rarely gives us the luxury of fighting on one front only.  We see a monster over on one side wanting to devour us, and we back away in dread.  But if we’re not paying attention, we can walk right into the jaws of the other monster waiting for us over on the other side.  We often fight on two fronts at once.

Today we fight against materialism, especially the so-called Prosperity Gospel.  But there is also the danger of asceticism, the super-spirituality that denies the goodness of God in all things.  An almost endearingly absurd instance was Simeon the Stylite (c. 390-459), who lived in austerity for 36 years on top of a pillar, elevated above ordinary life.  This “holiness” is attractive, in a way.  It’s serious.  But it’s also fraudulent.  It tells an audacious lie about God and about us.

The truth is, everything created by God is good and is to be received by us gratefully.  This beautiful truth includes marriage and sex and food and mowing the lawn and flying a kite and paying the bills and sharpening a pencil and sitting on the porch in the evening and playing Monopoly with the kids and laughing at hilarious jokes and setting up chairs at church, and so forth.  There is so much divine goodness all around.  To push it away, to be above it, would insult our gracious Creator.

Our very earthly human existence is where true holiness can thrive.  How?  By thanking the Lord for it moment by moment, and by applying the word of God to it moment by moment.  It is written, “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).

Not ultimate, but good.  Good enough for God.  Good enough for us too.

Whatsoever

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, a quiet mind, kind acts, well-doing, faith,  [BBE]

But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard--things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments,  [MSG]

Galatians 5:22

peace: eirene <1515>, definition from NETBible

the tranquil state of a soul assured of its
salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and
content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is

Life Giving Fountain

Ray Ortlund post:  Proverbs 14:26-27

In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence,
and his children will have a refuge.
The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,
that one may turn away from the snares of death.  Proverbs 14:26-27

“Godliness protects the soul by its solidity (26) and its vitality (27).  Both aspects are necessary, since evil not only attacks but attracts us; therefore the man of God must know (and show his family, 26b) something stronger and better.”

Derek Kidner, Proverbs (Downers Grove, 1964), page 110.

The World

Excerpts from Ed Stetzer post:  Calling for Contextualization Part 6:  Loving and Hating the World

What do you think of when you hear the phrase "the world?" Does it elicit a positive or negative response?


The Scripture has a lot to say on the subject of "the world" that, on a cursory reading, can seem contradictory. Consider, for example, what the Apostle John says. In John 3:16 he wrote: "For God so loved the world..." But then in 1 John 2:15 he wrote: "Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in Him." He records Jesus' words in John 12:47, "For I did not come to judge the world but to save the world," but relates Jesus' admonition in 15:19, "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."

...


Perhaps a change of terms will help clarify the issue for us. For a moment, let's use "the people of earth" for "the world" (where we live) and the phrase "the attitude that rejects God's love, law and leading" for "the world" (its fallen system). Now, let's paraphrase: "Be among the people of earth (in the world), but not of the attitude that rejects God's love, law and leading (of the world)." This simple contrast should bring a great deal of clarity to a potentially confusing line of thought. Now read John 3:16 to say, "For God so loved the people of earth..." and 1 John 2, "Love not the attitude that rejects God's love, law and leading, nor the things that take priority over God's love, law and leading. If anyone loves the attitude that rejects God's love, law and leading, the love of the Father is not in him." It becomes apparent that John and other New Testament writers are dealing with two separate matters: a place of residence and the people God loves, and a condition of the heart that opposes God.

The Bible specifically tells us to live with "worldly" people. That's exactly what always got Jesus in trouble - hanging out with drunkards, sinners, prostitutes ... you know, the "bad" people. Paul emphasized the same point to the church at Corinth. The church had become confused about some things the apostle had taught earlier. In reaction, they began to disassociate with the world (people) around them. But Paul wanted them to understand that the solution to their problems - and they had lots of them - was not withdrawal from the people around them:

I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people - by no means referring to this world's immoral people, or to the greedy and swindlers, or to idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world. But I am writing you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother who is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a reviler, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person 1 Corinthians 5:9-11

Paul's words make two things very clear. First, he has absolutely no intention to separate Christians from non-Christians. To him, the concept was laughable because it would negate the whole reason Christians live in the world. Second, someone who claims the name of Christ must be held to an incredibly high standard. If such a person forgets where his or her loyalty lies and adopts an attitude contrary to God's love, law, and leadership, faithful followers of Christ are to disassociate themselves from that person. They must choose. (This, incidentally, is the forgotten part of the biblical doctrine of separation. We are not instructed to separate from the lost, but from church members who live out and indulge in their deep depravity, until such time they give evidence of repentance.)

 ...

As the sent church of God, we must love the people who live on this earth with the love of Christ, expressed in words and deeds, while hating the broken and sinful systems of the world that war against the Kingdom of God.

This becomes an important distinction in regards to contextualization, the focus of this series (see parts one, owo, three, and four and five). Contextualization reminds us that we genuinely need to be IN the world while not being OF the world.

I express it as being: biblically faithful, culturally relevant, counter-culture communities for the Kingdom. Or, for this conversation, we are:

-biblically faithful (driven by scripture)
-culturally relevant (living in and among the world with people in cultures)
-counter-culture communities (not being of the world's system, values, or morality)
-for the Kingdom.

...

Youth Misery

Kevin DeYoung post: A Lost Letter to Wormwood (conclusion)

We pick up the letter with Screwtape’s instructions on how to keep his nephew’s college-aged subject away from church and perfectly wretched…

At the risk of insulting your diabolical intelligence, allow me to remind me of your course in Youth Misery. Recall the Three S’s of Satan, our Sinister Snake (I know, he sometimes gets carried away with alliteration, but it does help jog the old memory). The Three S’s of youth misery: Keep them separate. Keep them selfish. Keep them searching. Allow me to expound.

The First S: Keep them separate. Our Bureau of Statistics (remember there are lies, damned lies, and statistics) has documented evidence proving that the best way to keep young people from growing into devoted followers of the Enemy is to keep them far away from any of his grown-up, devoted followers. Church attendance allows for too much interaction between old and young. With this interaction come manifold dangers: modeling, mentoring, service, and hospitality.

Listen closely. Groups of students meeting together for prayer and study is, it’s true, a pernicious influence, but gladly, the influence is often short-lived. Soon, your subject will graduate and he will find that the rest of the planet is not like his university. He will not be surrounded by peers all his age with his same interests. It is to our advantage that he be unable to relate to anyone above the age of 25. This not only makes for misery, but it makes church involvement, and therefore the Christian life, much less likely.

This, of course, goes hand in hand with the Second S: Keep them selfish. It’s really quite simple.  All of our human subjects are selfish, but the young especially. It’s hardly their fault. They have no spouse or children to think of, only themselves. They have food handed to them on plastic platters. And they live in a country that believes for some strange reason, pleasant enough to us, that history doesn’t matter, that the old are useless, and that youth culture should be prized above all else. And yet, I must hasten to add, don’t underestimate your subject. Human youths are capable of extraordinary acts of courage and bravery and accomplishment, as the Annals of the Enemy record. Keep your youth far away from such examples. See to it that no visions of nobility or self-sacrifice or inspiration enter his head.

Which again, if I may repeat myself, is why church must be foresworn at all costs. It is at church that he will see examples of lived-out bravery and sacrifice. And, more importantly, it is at church that he will have to face his own selfishness. He will encounter music he doesn’t like and old people who do strange things and babies who smell and cry. (Incidentally, I only mention babies because your subject is male, as is mine. The female youth I am told must not, under any circumstances, be surrounded by small children, those children enticing the females to re-visit church rather than repulsing them away as with most male subjects). My point is that so long as the spiritual experiences of our youthful subjects can be catered to the whims and fancies of 18-22 year olds, the students will not likely stick with a church when they discover that churches must also deal with the whims and fancies of 8 year olds and grandmothers.

One more thing, students today love the idea of community. Do everything in your power to keep them loving the idea of community rather than loving their community. As long as they love their vision of community instead of loving the actual fleshly people around them, they will never have real community and they will stay far away from church.

The Third S, and I here I draw to a close, is to keep them searching. Use the native restlessness of this time to your advantage. Students think it is their inalienable right to be irresponsible and uncommitted. Feed this conviction. Do not, in any way, allow for your subject to consider commitment or service or what they call “accountability.” If he must be interested in God, keep it peripheral. Let him come and go and flit in and out of whatever spiritual venue suits him for the day. But see to it that he makes no promises, no commitments, no investment. And in the unlikely event that you cannot prevent such blunders, make sure there is no one in his life to hold him to his promises and commitments, especially those who are older and wiser. This goal is best served by keeping our patients away from church. Remember the cross-stitch (pardon my use of the foul word “cross”) above auntie’s fridge: “Keep them searching for the soul; never finding and never whole.”

All that’s left is for me to thank you for your patience in reading what has turned out to be a rather lengthy correspondence. Please do not hear my harsh words as anything but familial concern for your welfare and the good of our Infernal Kingdom.

Would you be so kind as to write me back as soon as possible? These are weighty matters and we truly live in troubled times. Might I suggest you use the post instead of email–what with your past internet struggles and dalliance with sermonography?

Say hello to your father for me. Best wishes in your malfeasance, malevolence, and malediction.

Unscrupulously yours,

Uncle Screwtape

A Lost Letter to  Wormwood

Called, Equipped, Sustained

Perry Noble post:  What Is Holding You Back?

I don’t think people fall short of what God has for them because He isn’t revealing Himself…I think many do so because He does reveal Himself, but in Him doing so we are forced to face several things that MUST be overcame if we are going to achieve what He has for us…such as…

#1 – Fear

If you don’t say “oh crap” when God reveals what He wants for your life…then you probably didn’t hear from God!

We will never become who God has called us to be and do what He has called us to do if we do not face our fears.

• David faced his fear and stepped out to face Goliath.
• Moses faced his fear of not being able to speak and went before Pharoah.
• Noah faced his fear of not knowing how to build a boat

People that accomplish great things for God MUST fight through their fears because reality is than God has never asked anyone to do anything that was easy (other than receiving Christ!)

#2 – People

When you want to do something great for God there will always be LOTS of people who try to tell you why you can’t do what HE said you can do!  My advice…never listen to anyone who is not doing anything tell you that you cannot do anything.  OR…in other words, NEVER take dance instructions from a person who just stands against the wall and does nothing but criticize those who are trying to stay in rhythm.

#3 – The Procrastination Lie

I know so many people who swear that “one day” they are going to do what they “know” God has called them to do…but…”one day” for most people NEVER comes…because in their minds “one day” is when everything is in place and doing what God has called them to do does not require any step of faith at all.

“I will do it one day” is a lie that we tell ourselves in order to justify our disobedience.  God doesn’t speak to hear Himself talk…His word is not to be considered but to be obeyed.

#4 – Underestimation of Him Working Through You! 

If God has called you then He has also equipped you and will sustain you.  Of course the task at hand is large and seems “impossible,” that is why Zechariah 4:6 says it is by HIS Spirit and II Corinthians 12:9 says that HIS power is made perfect in our weakness!!!  He didn’t call us because we are “able,” we are nothing more than common jars of clay (see II Corinthians 4:7) that He wants to use for HIS glory…and He has a history of taking ordinary people (Acts 4:13) and doing extraordinary things through them!

See Less of God

Excerpt from Tullian Tchividjian post: This Is The Way It Ought To Be

Paul kept affirming a foundational reality that always accompanies true gospel belief: when God makes us one with Christ, he also makes us one with each other, removing the barriers of separation erected by our society. In contrast to the tribal-mindedness of the world around us, the church is to bring together people who would remain separated in any other sector of society. The divisive and fundamentally worldly notions of class, race, economics, and age prove to be painful sources of loneliness, fragmentation, and alienation in the modern world—things the church should strive against in establishing a new community.

The primary reason, though, that stylistic segregation in worship shrinks our souls is because it prevents us from knowing God deeply. The only way to know him deeply is to have many different types of Christian people in your life, since each person will help to reveal a part of God that you can’t see by yourself. This means the great tragedy of segregation isn’t so much that we see less of each other but that in separating from each other we see less of God. All of us need other lights than our own to see more of his myriad facets.

So, we miss out on some great things God intends for us to enjoy when we separate in worship according to musical tastes. The idea to do this comes, not from the Bible, but from American consumerism and we adopt this practice to our own peril.

As my friend Steven Phillips rightly says, we ought to use the best music, prayers, and traditions of our Christian past, so that our worship is guided and enriched by our fathers in the faith. In doing this we demonstrate that our Christian faith reaches back thousands of years. And we ought also to use the best new songs and styles – to “sing a new song to the Lord” as the Psalms say – so that we can demonstrate that the grace of God is ever new. God’s saving power is available now, in the present day, to all who call on Him in faith.

By musically blending things in this way we  exercise love toward those who resonate with different musical tastes than us. We recognize that our worship service is a shared time and a shared space, so that if a particular song or style doesn’t inspire us, we can still look across the sanctuary and give thanks from our hearts for the diversity of people who are here. The gospel of Jesus Christ invites us to look across the aisle and say, “Though this song or style may not appeal to me, I see that God is using it to move you. I love you in Christ and I’m glad you’re here.”