Author: Rick (Page 4 of 18)

Praying is hard. It probably shouldn’t be, but it is. Our minds wander, we grow restless, we battle fatigue, but why? We have the opportunity to go to the great Creator of the universe to lay out our deepest desires, hurts, questions, and praises, yet we sometimes find ourselves in a battle to do what should be wonderful. Why?

For one thing, Satan hates prayer. If he can bring any distractions to bear on us during our time of prayer he will. He really doesn’t care about most of our other activities. Reading a book, fishing, working, watching TV and a myriad of other daily dealings don’t concern him. As long as we are not praying, he is satisfied. That may partly explain why we have an easier time concentrating on facebook than God’s face.

Our own flesh makes the prayer life more challenging. In our flesh we are not inclined toward God. Righteousness is not natural for us. There is none righteous, no not one. Just like a person must tend a garden, but weeds grow prolifically on their own, we must tend our spiritual lives. Sin grows without much watering. In our flesh prayer is not our first resort (unless a grenade just rolled into our foxhole), but we more naturally work our way through a multitude of worldly solutions until we are eventually brought back to God.

So how can we pray effectively? There must be a way or God would not have called us to do it. George Mueller was one of the greatest pray-ers of all time. He cared for thousands of orphans during his lifetime and never once sent out a request of monies other than to God Himself. His diary entries of answered prayer are phenomenal. From the ordinary to extraordinary, God’s grace was illustrated in Mueller’s life on a daily basis. His way of praying (which he discovered during his ministry) reflects the kinds of prayer that is called for in the Word. It is truly Holy Spirit led.

I recently have read books and watched some videos on the idea of praying the Bible. I have to say, it works. If our minds our going to wander naturally, we need to train our minds to wander with a purpose. Praying the Bible allows the Holy Spirit to bring to mind those prayer requests that need our attention. One concern that I think all pray-ers have is the dilemma of list praying. We have a prayer list and we pray the list faithfully, but it seems too routine, too sterile. Unfortunately, if we pray without a list, we miss important prayers and realize after a week that we haven’t brought Auntie Em’s heart condition before the Lord one time.

So how do we remember things but yet not become mechanical in our prayer time. Well, I think there is a way to use lists effectively but also to leave the lists aside for certain types of prayer. I think one of our problems is that we box our prayer time in and if it is not a certain way at a certain time then we tend set things aside. In other words, if we can’t do it “right” we won’t do it at all. There has to be a better way.

Let’s divide our prayer time into two types- Bible prayer and Idle prayer. Let me explain the difference and then detail them a little more over the next few days. Bible prayer is when we can have a Bible in front of us, without distraction, such as our daily quiet time in the morning or evening. Idle prayer is prayer that we do when we cannot read our Bible because we are walking, driving, working out, fishing or in any other place where detailed reading would not be logical or advisable. Idle prayer does not mean we are idle in the pure sense, but idle or away from the Bible. In short, Bible prayer is when we can read our Bible along with prayer, and idle prayer is when we find ourselves without access to our Bible. Really, when we think about it, these two times cover all times. Is there any place or any time we cannot think?  Not really. So there is there any place or any time that we cannot pray?  Not really.

Prayer is something that we can do any time. They say there is no prayer in school, but who can really prevent that? A school might be able to prevent folding hands, closing eyes, and even dropping a head before a meal, but that is not prayer, those are just common indicators that a prayer is happening. Indicators are not prayer. Prayer is an inside thing. There is a story about a child who was told to stand in the corner and he said he wanted to sit. After a brief argument with his mother, he went to stand in the corner. Standing with his face to the corner he said to his mom, “I might be standing on the outside, but I am sitting on the inside.” How true. No one can make us pray (except maybe a bad taxi driver) or keep us from praying. Our thoughts and prayers are our own and no one can prevent them.

In the next couple of days, I am going to tell you more about these two types of prayer and tell you how I think we can improve our prayer life dramatically.

Have a wonderful day.

If you type in the keyword confidence in Amazon books you will get over 14,000 titles that have something to do with confidence.  Writing with confidence, walking in confidence,  confidence in the workplace, confidence in dating, confidence in confidence, the list goes on and on.  There are thousands of articles, programs, and tapes on gaining confidence, retaining confidence, and sustaining confidence.  People pay boku bucks for seminars, speakers, and even swindlers with formulas that turn the shrinking violet into a fearless flower.  Some of these confidence peddlers even propagate their promises from the pulpit, forgoing a spiritual confidence for a humanistic form of positive thinking.

Norman Vincent Peale, Robert Schuller, and Joel Olsteen and many, many others teach a pseudo-Christian message that bases our confidence entirely on our own efforts.  That would be fine if they admitted that they were secularists and their message was a New Age Humanist concoction of many religions, group think, and psycho-babble, but that, unfortunately, is not the case.  They throw in some scriptures, hold up the Bible once in a while and stand behind unusually large pulpits, and in so doing, make a case that their advice must be Biblical.  Well, to pull our a quote from my youth, I find Peale appalling and Paul appealing.  True confidence does not from within us, but from the spirit within us.  The above purveyors of muck attempt to make us totally self-reliant, denying any need for God,
and yet purport to be men of God.

God outlines Who and what we can have confidence in and how that confidence can be foundational to our daily lives.   First of all, we can have confidence in our relationship with God.  Why, because of the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf.  The writer of Hebrews states, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the fresh and living way that he inaugurated for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.  And let us hold unwaveringly to the hope that we confess, for the one who made the promise is trustworthy.” (Hebrews 10:19-23)    The above verses tell us that we can be confident to enter into the presence of God because we have been made clean by the sprinkling of Christ’s blood.  We can draw near to the holy God because the One we hold onto is trustworthy.   Second Corinthians 3:4,5 says, “Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.”

The other day I asked one of my co-workers how he was doing, and he said,  “Pretty good, considering the circumstances.”  He is a believer,
so I mentioned that we will seldom do “really” good if we stay IN our circumstances.  We need to be ABOVE our circumstances because that is where Christ awaits to strengthen us.  Christ gives us the confidence to rise above the world around us and to enter into peace and strength through Him.

We can be confident that God will strengthen us and is there when we need Him.  Again Paul tells us, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”  (Philippians 1:6)  We will go through difficulties, but we can be assured that while we are in His hands, nothing can thwart God’s plans.   As He has told us,  “(We) can do all things through Him who strengthens (us).  (Philippians 4:13)  Our confidence can be based on who the Lord is, not who we are.   When we get overconfident in ourselves, we stop feeling a need for God.  When we stop feeling a need for God, we are, in essence, replacing God.  When we replace God with ourselves, we are, in essence, saying we are equal to God.  That is not confidence; that is ludicrous.

There is the story of a great politician who was asked how he was able to keep himself in prospective when so many others put him on a pedestal.  “When I begin to think too highly of myself I walk outside and look at the night sky.  It only take a matter of minutes to realize how small I really am.  If I am to have confidence it should be in the one who made the stars instead of the one who can only look at them.”

Our confidence should come from Him because He is willing to supply it.   “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you He will not fail you or forsake you.”  ( Deuteronomy 31:6)  The verse does not say be strong and courageous because we are strong and courageous but because God goes with us is and  He “…will be (our)  confidence and will keep (our feet) from being caught.  (Proverbs 3:26)

End of Part 1

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.” 1 Corinthians 13:4

A while back I showed the grandkids a video that illustrated true kindness and the way we should live it out in our lives.The video showed a waitress having a bad day.  One man was especially mean to her.  The waitress’s son was sitting at the counter watching the way she was being treated.  In walked a man who obviously had some special needs.  He sat down and kindly asked how much the big muffins were.  The waitress told him and he slowly counted out his money and then said he would just have a cup of coffee and small donut. When he left the waitress  looked down and he had left her a tip.  He had not gotten what he wanted because it would not have left enough for the tip.  It made waitress’s day, it made her son’s day, and dare I say, it probably made the man’s day as well.

Kindness is one of those rare things that the more we give, the more we have.  It doesn’t diminish as we give it out.  We can never run out of it because our supply house is in heaven.  When God sees we have given kindness, He automatically replaces it and we don’t even have to put in an order.  The writer of Hebrews tells us, “For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.” (Hebrews 6:10)  God notices what we do.  He knows our hearts.  He rewards our kindness.

If we want to tell others about Jesus, we need to show them Jesus.  All the words in the world won’t negate unkind acts.  As someone once said, “It is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice.”  The smallest act can sometimes reap the mightiest of rewards. There once was a man who stopped by a small hotel, but the hotel was full.  The man however was very tired and had no place to turn.  The hotel manager, who lived at the hotel, offered him his own room.  The next day the man left letting the manager know he would never forget his kindness.  He was true to his word.  He eventually built one of the largest hotels in Chicago and called the man to be its manager.  The man gave up his bed and received a hotel in exchange.  It should be noticed that people who do things that count, seldom take time to count them.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that kindness doesn’t always seem to result in reward- at least right away.  Man sometimes isn’t the best at saying thanks, but on the other hand, God never forgets good deeds.  We don’t get God’s love, forgiveness, or salvation from kindness, but we do get His attention.  Sometimes a smile from God is all we need to keep us going and every once in a while we will even get a smile from someone else.

The kindest man to ever live was Jesus Himself.   Every act He did was while on His way to the cross.  Some of the kind things He did were for those who would later turn their backs on him.  The greatest kindness of all was His sacrifice on the cross and that was for all us.  None of us deserved a kindness so great.  If He who gave so much, empowers us to do just a little, should we not do it?  The tiniest act of kindness may be our introduction of Jesus to others.  Without kindness, many would not desire to know Him.  It is said that kindness is the one language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see.  Jesus proved that in His miraculous ministry.  We can prove that in our daily lives.

So whether it is a kind word, a short note, a pat on the back, or a tiny act, kindness can go a long way.  No other book says it better, and no other Man did it better.  Solomon left us this wise piece of advice in proverbs, “Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart.” (Proverbs 3:3)   We need to treat people nice, not because they are, but because Christ is.  We don’t need another kind of army; we need an army of the kind.  Let’s enlist.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32

A few devotions ago I talked about the second half of this verse (forgiveness), but today I would like to cover the first half, “Be kind and compassionate to one another.”  Kindness seems to be a rare commodity now-a-days.  Life is moving so fast, that taking time for little kindnesses seems too much of a diversion.  But kindness is one of the most important ingredients for good gospel-giving and since sharing the good news is one of our primary purposes in life, kindness, too, should be an important part of our lives.

Kindness is not natural to most of us.  We have to intentionally set out to make it part of our day.  Someone told me once that if a kind act does not come naturally, it does not “count,” but I find that pretty restrictive.  Which is better- the person who sees the little old lady pushing a heavy cart and without thinking goes over to help her or the person who sees her, starts to go past, catches himself and goes back to help.  Both are equal.  The act was the important part.  The act was meaningful to the little old lady whether it was natural or thought out.

In Colossians we read, “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”  (Colossians 3:12)  The phase “put on” indicates an intentional act,  just like putting on our coat when the weather is cold.  We see it is cold and we reach for our coat.  God asks us to put on the coat of kindness every day.   We should wear it at all times so that it becomes a part of us.  We should feel naked without our mantle of kindness on.  Eventually, it will become more natural to us, and it will become our first instinct rather than our last.

We might try to use the “I don’t have the gift” excuse to avoid kindess, but that is a real stretch.  KIndness is not a special gift given to only a few. Galatians 5:22-23 says,”But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”   Notice that is says fruit, not fruits.  If these were plural, we might feel inclined to pick and choose which ones we might want to illustrate in our lives.  We might say that we have the gift of love but not self-control.  But each of the things above are what we possess if we possess the Holy Spirit.  We would be hard-pressed to use the excuse that we are not kind because we don’t have the gift of kindness.  We all have been given the gift of kindness; it is part of the fruit of the spirit.

There is a wonderful video that I showed the grandkids during one of the Nana Camp’s when we had all the grandkids with us.  It was about a young boy who lost his father and one day a stranger came up along side of the boy while he was walking to school.  They began to talk and every morning the man would walk alongside the boy.  They talked and shared and built an incredible relationship.  Eventually the boy graduated and soon after found out the man had died and he returned for his funeral.  It was there, while talking to the man’s wife that he found out that the man was not on his way to work every morning like he had hinted, but that his work was the opposite way.  The boy ask the wife why he had done that, walked many blocks out of way, every day for many years and she said, “when you lost your father, he knew you needed a friend and once you had one, he didn’t want to take it away.”  That is kindness.  The intentional, considerate, care for another in a time of need.

When I taught at Douglas we had a nationally renowned special education program.  Students in the class were the kindest young people in our school.  They gave daily lessons on hugging, kind words, and trust.  When they extended a kind hand, it never had any ulterior motives.  It was just a kind hand.  Simply, they treated people with love and kindness.  Our kindnesses should be without evil motives, and should be out of love and concern for others.  Kindness is an unselfish demonstration of concern.  It is doing something for someone who will never be able to pay us back.

“Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

(This is a devotion I wrote while awaiting the birth of our eleventh grandchild.)

Well, here it is 5:30 in the morning and I am sitting in solitude of McDonalds once again.  Elaine and I are waiting for an eleventh grandchild to make her way into the world and she is stubbornly remaining in safety of  the womb until arrival is absolutely necessary.   I can’t say that I blame her!  The deadline day was this morning and the doctors said that Laura (mom) could absolutely not go beyond this morning even if inducement was necessary.   Then last night a nurse called and said, “Oops, due to staffing issues we need to delay you one day.  See you on Thursday.”

Wow, have you ever been on a road trip and you are desperate for a rest stop and you notice there is one in two miles and you give your body that message and then you see the sign that says, “rest area closed.”  No matter how gently you try to tell your body there is no restroom in sight, your body does not take the news well.  Well, Laura is experiencing this feeling in triplicate.  Her body is rebelling against the sign that said, “Hospital closed for one day.  Check in then. Have a nice day. “

As we look at today’s verse we see that God has given us a remedy for delays and disappointments.  He doesn’t just say stop worrying like the mean PE teacher who tells his class to stop sweating after a two-mile run.  God gives us the means and the power by which we can stop worrying. 

First of all, He tells us to be square with Him.  We are certainly disappointed that the little bundle of sunshine is behind the clouds for an extra day, especially when we have spent the last few days with Laura walking in town, out of town, up trails, down trails, on beach, in the water, and every where you can imagine in an attempt to speed this little bundle into the world.  Baby has held on tenaciously to the walls of the womb and refused to make an appearance (probably has been hearing all the news in the world today), and the only thing that has happened is Elaine and I gave birth to a whole bunch of sore muscles.  I got in 19,000 steps just yesterday and I imagine Elaine got in more because her legs are shorter than mine.

But regardless of all we did, God had His own timetable and He instructs to not worry.  In fact, He tells us to be thankful for it.    Through the Apostle Paul He says that peace comes from sharing our desires with Him and thanking Him for answering before we even know the answer. Amy Carmichael, missionary to India wrote, “Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall enjoy much peace…If you refuse to be hurried and pressed, if you stay your soul on God, nothing can keep you from that clearness of spirit which is life and peace. In that stillness you know what His will is.”  God’s will is that we trust Him and believe that he sees not only our own situation, but how this situation will affect hundreds of others.  We trust that God’s timetable is timely.

I don’t know why the hospital delayed the delivery by a day; they had their reasons, but so did God.  Who knows, maybe the doctor Laura would have gotten worked his way through medical school with crib sheets and the ability to see other’s test papers at long distance.  But I trust God and I trust that someday I might even know why we might be spending another day hiking into waterfalls on steep (beautiful but steep) trails. 

Robert Louis Stevenson tells of a storm that caught a vessel off a rocky coast and threatened to drive it and its passengers to destruction. In the midst of the terror, one daring man, contrary to orders, went to the deck, made a dangerous passage to the pilot house and saw the steerman, lashed fast at his post of holding the wheel unwaveringly, and inch by inch, turning the ship out, once more, to sea. The pilot saw the watcher and smiled.

Then, the daring passenger went below and gave out a note of cheer: “I have seen the face of the pilot, and he smiled. All is well.”

Philippians tells us that the one who guards our hearts and minds is smiling.  We can be assured that “all is well.”

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” Romans 1:18-20

The gospel is the good news that God sent Jesus to undo what Adam undid; Romans 5:18-19 says “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 “Jesus died and rose again for sinners, just as God promised! Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you- unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance wight he scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised again on the third day according to the scriptures.”

It is the good news that we can once more be truly human. No longer are we, like Adam, evicted from God’s presence and under his wrath. The garden—the kingdom—has been regained with a plus. It is the good news that we are sons of the second Adam and have been remade—not just considered to be remade, but new creatures. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 says “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” We have been actually remade—not fully … yet—but actually, truly. We’ve been re-born, made new, in a word, regenerated.

We, the sons of the second Adam, or Jesus, have been raised with him to new life. His resurrection guarantees our own; Ephesians 2:5-6 tells us that “even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” We are new creatures. All things become new in Christ- His person, His Life, His death, His burial, His resurrection, His ascension, His seating, His interceding, His coming, His reigning. And, yes, it means we’ve got something we must share now with our unbelieving neighbors before its too late. However, for far too long we’ve missed what the gospel means for us now. We’ve missed why the gospel is good news for Christians today. We have missed the changes it can make in our lives right now.

In one of my sermons I shared the story of Albert McMakin who was a twenty-four-year-old farmer who had recently come to faith in Christ. He was so full of enthusiasm that he filled his truck with people and took them to a meetings to hear about Jesus. There was a good-looking farmer’s son whom he was especially keen to get to a meeting, but this young man was hard to persuade – he was too busy falling in and out of love with different girls, and did not seem to be attracted to Christianity. Eventually, Albert McMakin managed to persuade him to come by asking him to drive Albert’s truckload of guys. Since driving was always a treat, his friend relented. When they arrived, Albert’s guest decided to go in and was ‘spellbound’ and began to have thoughts he had never known before. He went back again and again until one night he went forward and gave his life to Jesus Christ. That man, the driver of the truck, was Billy Graham. The year was 1934. We have all heard of Billy Graham, but few of us have heard of Albert McMakin. We cannot all be like Billy Graham, but we can all be like Albert McMakin – we can all bring our friends to Jesus.

We don’t need to be afraid to share. We are new creatures, we are regenerated, we are reborn and our old fears are passed away.

“For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame. They are focused on earthly things, but our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Philippians 3:18-20

Anticipating the return of Christ is part of the joy of being a Christian. We have been promised in the Word that Christ will return and we can be sure of God’s promise. There is actually one return that the Body of Christ anticipates and it is called the rapture. During that return we will go to meet Christ in the air and forever be with Him. At the Second Coming of Christ He will come to earth to establish His kingdom and set in motion the final series of events that will lead to a New Heavens and New Earth. Sound too fantastic to believe? Well, it sounds fantastic, but not too much so to be believed. After all, it is promised and God keeps His promises. He certainly kept His promise about Christ’s first coming and He will for the rapture and the Second Coming, as well. Both the Old and New Testaments are full of promises about the return of Jesus Christ. Over 1800 references appear in the Old Testament and 23 of the 27 New Testament books refer to the Second Coming. These promises should remind us that we are to stand firm in our hope of Christ’s return and reject the spirit of antichrist that dominates the world around us.

One of the most inspiring stories of World War II was the promise that General MacArthur made to the people and troops in the Philippines. The day after Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941, Japan launched its invasion of the Philippine islands.After struggling against great odds to save the Philippines from Japanese takeover, MacArthur was forced to abandon the islands. MacArthur was disheartened to find out that relief of his forces trapped in the Philippines would not be forthcoming. Left behind were 90,000 American and Filipino troops, who, lacking food, supplies, and support, would soon succumb to the Japanese offensive. Deeply disappointed, MacArthur issued a statement to the press in which he promised his men and the people of the Philippines, “I shall return.” This promise would become his mantra during the next two and a half years, and he would repeat it often in public appearances. The people of the Philippines were heartened by the promise that he would return. That promise became the beacon of light and inspiration to the beleaguered Filipino soldiers, and guerillas mushroomed everywhere constantly battling the Japanese troops.

In the Japanese takeover of the Philippines 70,000 American and Filipino soldiers were captured and were forced to undertake a death march in which at least 7,000 perished. Finally, the last of the 90,000 troops were captured. But the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff had no immediate plans for their liberation because resources had to be put elsewhere. However, MacArthur would not give up on his promise and launched major offensives, winning a string of victories with his limited forces in his efforts to work his way back to the Philippines.

After many battles in the Pacific the US leadership felt they were once again in a position to invade the Philippines. The Joint Chiefs put their support behind a plan devised by MacArthur. On October 20, 1944, the invasion began and few hours after his troops landed, MacArthur waded ashore onto the Philippine island of Leyte. That day, he made a radio broadcast in which he declared, “People of the Philippines, I have returned!” Unfortunately, only one-third of the men MacArthur left behind in March 1942 survived to see his return. “I’m a little late,” he told them, “but we finally came.”

MacArthur’s promised return gave hope to the people of the Philippines. He became a national hero. Although his return was delayed, they anticipated it and that anticipation became the energy for their constant battle against the Japanese. As we see in the verses above, there is an opposition to God’s glory, truth, and holiness in our world today. Paul talks of those whose end is destruction serving the god that is their belly, and thus, they glory in their shame. They are seeking whatever satisfies self over the glory of God. We see an opposition to truth and holiness as their minds are set on earthly things. They are neither listening to God’s Word nor seeking to be set apart from the world’s desires.

So like the people of the Philippines we are surrounded and we too have been promised a return. Christ said, “I will return” and though there have been two-thousand years pass since that promise, it will take place. In the meantime, we should not be sitting on our hands, idly awaiting His return. There is work to be done. If we sit we will be overtaken by the world. We must anticipate Christ’s return, but not be discouraged by its delay. MacArthur kept his promise and that was fortunate, but we can be assured that a promise by God will always be kept.

As we anticipate the return of Christ, our lives should reflect a standard that is remarkable and unusual to the world. We must not become part of the world as we await Christ’s return, but be people who submit our lives to God’s Word over the whims of society or our flesh. Christ’s promise is real and when He says “I shall return,” 

He shall return. We can bank on it. Remember, we cannot break God’s promises by leaning on them. Someday we will know that the promise “I shall return” will have become “I have returned.” In the meantime, we should do all we can to invite as many people to His homecoming as possible.

“We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”  Acts 4:20

In a America we are a pretty cushioned bunch. A while back at our church  we heard a sermon from a pastor from Africa who told about the persecution his people endure in following Christ. They face the possibility of imprisonment or death every time they gather to worship, but yet they gather.  In the Voice of the Martyrs magazine there are stories every week about people being jailed or executed for their faith. Earlier this week, an entire underground church in Vietnam was raided and people were hauled off.  Some will never be seen again. In contrast, in our country we face little reprisal (for the time being) if we openly worship or speak of Christ. But yet it is all too easy not to speak about the gospel truths which we have seen and heard. Far too often, we bury the gospel light we have been given under a basket full of excuses and justifications for our silence.

But this was not the testimony of the apostles. Having seen the risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ themselves, having learned at his feet, and having received his instructions to spread his name, they had no other inclination than to share the gospel where ever they could.  Notice that Luke says they could do nothing less than speak the truth of what they had seen.  Remember that these were the same men who were hiding after the death of Christ.  The same men who virtually said, “it was a good run, but it is time to go back to fishing.”  The same men who had watched Christ beaten and hung on the cross and die in the most painful way known to man.  Why, then, just a few days later did they become so compelled to share the word in hostile territory up until the very day of their martyrdom?  Because they had seen the risen Christ.

The Jewish authorities had just threatened the apostles and commanded them not to speak any more in the name of Jesus. They no more got back out on the streets when they started boldly sharing the Word again.  They could have kept silent, they could have watered down the message, they could have become non-threatening story tellers leaving out the truth of Christ’s ministry, but they didn’t. Instead they determined to “be right in the sight of God” and to reach out in hostile territory with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

We too, if we are believers, have seen the risen Christ.  We too, like the apostles, should be compelled by Holy Spirit within us to share what we have seen. In our country we might face snickers or name-calling or finger pointing and maybe even occasional discrimination, but no bullets, no burnings, no beatings on behalf of Christ.  The apostles had hobbies, interests, and professions, yet they were quickest to talk about Christ above all things.  There is nothing we can talk about that is more important to others than Christ.  Let’s face it.  In America we have been spoiled into silence.  It is so easy to share, that we don’t share. It is like having so much food, that we walk away leaving half of it on the table- they sure don’t do that where meals are once a day.  In countries where Bible are few, they cherish them.  In a country where we can have a roomful, they gather dust.  In countries where they cannot speak, they do.  In a country where we can speak, we don’t.  Ironic, huh?

One of the key forerunners of the Reformation was Bohemian John Hus. He devoted himself to Scripture and taught that Christ, not the Pope, is Head of the Church.  He was convicted of heresy and sentenced to be burned at the stake unless he recanted.  But he would not and on the day of his martyrdom he said: “God is my witness that the evidence against me is false.? In the truth of the gospel I have written, taught, and preached, today I will gladly die.? As the crackling flames consumed him, he joyfully sang a hymn.

Probably none of us (in the near future anyway) will ever be called to be martyred for Christ, but we are called to speak for Him.  It is funny (strange) that those who face persecution are more inclined to evangelize than those who do not.  Even more ironic is the fact that many third world countries are actually sending missionaries to America.  Those men and women of Christ’s time who had seen and heard the resurrected Christ were clearly and helplessly consumed by the experience and could not help but speak of it. We should pray that we would be filled with the same consuming fire to speak of the things know to be true, in spite of what we might face.  We cannot sit in an upper room and say, “finding out about Jesus was pretty cool, now let’s go back to our old lives when we never spoke of Him at all.”

Of course, not all are silent, but if all those who say they believe in Christ, actually lived for Christ, actually shared Christ, actually centered on Christ- this world would radically change. Let’s draw a circle, jump inside, and ask God to start the change inside that circle. Then we can start reaching outward. The apostles did not try to change Judea, Samaria, and the outer most parts of the world until they were changed inside.

If we are changed we will change others.  We can do nothing less.

“Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18

We have done a lot of cool things with the grandkids over the years, but what I have noticed is that no matter what we do, the kids are ready to do the next thing with great anticipation. We may have just come off setting up a tent, making houses for small animals, or even having milkshakes, but if they hear we are going to something else, they are ready. They are always ready.

As believers we should be the same way. One day, perhaps sooner than we realize, Jesus may return. For the believer that is a day to be anticipated. We will get to heaven in one of two ways- we will go to Him or He will come for us. According to Thessalonians if He comes for us, we will not be getting several warnings like we give the grandkids when we are going to go somewhere. We let the kids go back several times to get the shoes they forgot or the fishing pole they wanted to take or to say goodbye to someone who is not going with us. We will not have that opportunity when Jesus comes. We will just be “caught up” and be gone.

That term, “caught up” is translated from that Greek word harpazō, which means to take forcibly, to snatch, or to catch up. And that is what the Rapture will be. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”  There will be no warning that allows us to go say good bye, gather our things, or even read a couple of quick verses to impress God. We will be gone.

The word “maranatha” is a Syriac expression that means: “our Lord comes.” In the early church it was used as a greeting instead of hello or goodbye. Some Christians today have a similar thing in mind when they say, “See you there (someplace here) or in the air (heading for heaven). Regardless of how we say it, we need to carry that awareness of the imminent return of the Savior with us all the time.

I have read two books on British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and they are two of the best I have read. When the expedition’s main boat was crushed by enclosing ice while headed toward the South Pole, Shackleton had to leave part of his crew on Elephant Island while he took the other half to try to reach civilization. He promised the crew that he would return. Later, when he tried to go back to rescue the crew left behind, huge icebergs blocked the way and it looked like the men would perish. But suddenly an avenue opened in the ice and Shackleton was able to get through. His men, ready and waiting, quickly scrambled aboard and no sooner had the ship cleared the island than the ice crashed together behind them. Shackleton said to his men,
“It was fortunate you were all packed and ready to go!” They replied, “We never gave up hope. Whenever the sea was clear of ice, we rolled up our sleeping bags and reminded each other, ‘The boss may come today.’”

We need to be like kids anticipating the arrival of the coming event. At our house it is Nana who is the boss and the kids are excited when they know she is coming. How excited we should be when we know that the arrival of our boss, Jesus, may happen any minute. We should always be ready. We don’t want to be half-packed or carrying things we shouldn’t. It could be this afternoon, so when we see each other, let’s not say goodbye, but say “Maranatha!” See you there or in the air!