The wise man will simplify his life by going to the center of it. He will look well to the foundations and, having done that, he will not worry about the rest.

Life as we know it in our painfully intricate civilization can be deadly unless we learn to distinguish the things that matter from those that do not. It is never the major things that destroy us, but invariably the multitude of trifling things which are mistakenly thought to be of major importance.”

The evil one has implanted such distortion in our perception of reality! We need to step back and refocus, rethink, and in many of our lives redirect our energy.

One step in that process might be to spend some time learning about our true home, heaven. If you resonate with the brief introductory challenge you might well find the following outline helpful and actually very exciting. The more we learn of what our real home is truly like the less we will feel the need to hang on to this sin-scarred place. For your eternal blessing:

Heaven

What is heaven like?

Physically –

1. Beautiful beyond imagination – 1 Corinth. 2:9 – Rev. 21-22
2. A place where our home will be – John 14:2
3. A place with no night or day, lighted by the presence of God and Jesus – Rev.21:23

Emotionally – What won’t be there?

1. Hunger or thirst – Rev.7:16,17
2. Tears – Rev 21:4 – What causes tears?
3. Death – Rev 21:4 – What causes death?
4. Sorrow – Rev21:4 – What causes sorrow?
5. Crying – Rev 21:4 – What causes crying?
6. Pain – Rev 21:4 – What causes Pain? (3 kinds of pain – Physical. Emotional. Spiritual.)
7. Curse – Rev 22:3 – no more curse – What are the effects of the “Curse” – (Gen. 3:15-24)

Relationally – If all of the above is true, and all those things and all that causes them are gone, what kind of relationships will exist in heaven? What things hinder or hurt relationships on earth as we experience this temporary physical experience?

1. selfish agendas
2. love with strings
3. jealousy, envy
4. manipulation
5. bitterness
6. dishonesty
7. unforgiveness
8. disappointment
9. comparison, competition

What would a perfect relationship be like?

1. no strings
2. no hang-ups
3. no jealousy
4. no competition or comparison
5. total acceptance
6. total transparency
7. no hidden or selfish agenda
8. other…

In heaven we will have nothing less than or other than perfect relationships. Not only that, there won’t even be the possibility of any thing that hurts!!! How much time and effort do we spend now in trying to protect ourselves against those things that hurt?!!!!!

Who will we relate to/with in Heaven?

1. God, our Father, Jesus our Savior, The holy Spirit, the angels, the Saints who are our brothers and sisters – Our ultimate family!

What will I be like in Heaven?

1. I John 3:2
2. Luke 24:16 & 36-43
3. John 20:16 – John 20:27
4. Luke 16_19-31
5. I Cornith. 15:35-49

God created us to be human. Why would He save us to be something totally different? We will be a new and changed us, not a different kind of us. A new car is still a car.

What will we do in Heaven?

1. a. We will reign with Jesus – II Timothy 2:12 – Rev 3:21 – (reign – The exercise of sovereign power)
2. We will rule over “many things” – Matthew 25:14-21,23 (rule –

1. to exercise control, dominion, or direction over, to govern)

2. governing power or its possession or use; authority

3. to dominate by powerful influence

4. to decide or declare judicially or authoritatively; decree

5. to be in total control or command, exercise supreme authority.)

1. c. We will “have authority” over cities.” Luke 19:17-19 (authority – the power to enforce laws, exact obedience command, determine or judge; power assigned by another, authorization)
2. d. We will serve Jesus – Rev 7:15 – Rev 22:3 (serve –
   1. 1. To work for
   2. 2. To be a servant to
   3. 3. To give homage and obedience
   4. 4. To be employed as a servant
   5. 5. To act in a particular capacity
   6. 6. To meet requirements or needs

What about rewards? Are there rewards in Heaven?

1. Matt.6:1-19 – Matt 10:41,42 – Matt 19:21
2. Hebrews 11:6
3. Luke 14:12-14 –12:33 – 18:22 – 6:21-23
4. John 6:27
5. Mark 9:41 – 10:21

What are rewards? Define: Something earned or attained by or for specific performance, behavior, actions.

The law of rewards: Our faith determines our eternal destination. Our behavior determines our eternal rewards.

Works = what we have done with our resources (time, energy, money, possessions, reputation, etc.).

What determines rewards? The “Bema” judgment of “works.” “Things done in the Body”

1. Matt. 16:27, Luke 12:48
2. John 5:28,29
3. Matt 7:24-26
4. Rev 20:22-15
5. II Corinth. 5:10
6. Romans 14:12
7. Matt 12:36
8. I Corinth 3:11-15
9. John 15:1-8

What is “fruit?” Eternal fruit = Lives turned toward God Fruit is the result of “good works.”

What does God say about works?

1. Titus 1:15,16 – 2:7 – 2:14 – 3:14
2. Matt 5:16
3. Ephesians 2:10
4. I Timothy 2:10 – 6:18,19
5. II Thessalonians 2:16,17
6. Rev. 14:13 – Rev 2:2 Rev 2:23 Rev 19:7,8
7. II Peter 1:10,11
8. II Timothy 3:16,17 – I Timothy 5:254

How then shall we live? Our answers will demonstrate our true values and create the basis for our eternal experience.

Think friends, please think!

First the macro. These are indeed difficult times and many of us are yearning for the return of the good times of the recent past. In this we are like the children of Israel who longed to return to Egypt. Egypt in the Bible represents the world and its strength and prosperity. Our ancestors had a very consistent record of turning to idolatry after a season of the Lord’s blessing and also first looking to Egypt for help when He brought chastisement on them for their sin. They cycled through this process multiple times.

Again, in the macro view I believe that this is a picture of our national situation. We aren’t Israel, but our nation was surely founded on the principles of God and intended to honor Him and to encourage us to live according to His ways. In many ways this commitment brought His blessings to our nation. As a nation we have been challenged in our understanding and application of this concept over the years but until just after He delivered us from evil attack
at the end of WWII we stood pretty true. The late 50s and 60s ushered in a season of rebellion and resistance to all authority including God, and to the worship of a materialistic, hedonistic form of life,basically idolatry, which has grown steadily to this day, leavening even our church culture.

I believe that, in the manner of our spiritual forefathers Israel when they sinned and turned from God, we are now in a time of chastening as a nation. Chastening always increases in intensity with the purpose of leading God’s people to repentance and restoration. God will not relent and the severity will increase until repentance is manifest. If and when true repentance comes God’s blessing is restored, but not before or until. In the Old Testament this most often came as a result of a prophet calling out leadership. (We are presently in a season where we are short of both!)

I’m sure that there were many in Israel who were not directly involved in the national sin but just sort of lukewarm as the nation slid down the slippery slope of turning from God to idols, but when the hammer fell, they were punished along with the worst offenders. As an example, although they weren’t guilty at all of the sin of the majority, Joshua and Caleb marched in the desert with all the rest for 40 years until the generation that sinned died off. There are always sinners and always a remnant, but there is also a “tipping point” with  God it seems. There comes a time where He says “Enough!” I believe that we are near or at that point right now.

Personally I believe that those hoping for a quick return to our recent past prosperity are going to be very disappointed as, in my opinion, things are likely to get worse, maybe much worse, before they can get better. The macro view can be discouraging, even depressing.

That’s why I praise God for the micro view. “I will always have all I need to do all God asks.” Each individual who responds in obedience to the call of God is taken under His wings in a way that the material world or the flesh will never know or understand. Each of us has been identified and called out by God to walk with Him and extend His Kingdom. As such the promise of constant supply is ours. Our area of influence is the marketplace. It is a critically important niche at this point of history. Business is the language of the world, perhaps the most universal form of communication since
Babel. If our country and our world is to be led in a turn from idolatry it will never happen apart from our niche and, it is very possible, if not likely, that it will lead it. Each of us has been given a holy work to do in His Kingdom and actually selected for such a time as this and equipped by God for the work from “before the foundation of the earth.” We are truly called to our role in the marketplace. May we walk worthy of our calling.

Two more points; Of course it is hard. It always has been. It’s not nearly as hard for us as it is for most of our brothers and sisters in the world, but it is hard in comparison to the spoiled life that we recently had, and had come to think that we deserve. Yes, it’s hard,but no one is dieing here, no one is starving, or tortured, or really persecuted – yet.

We are called not to a life of ease and pleasure but to a life of sacrifice and obedience that is centered in our service to others while being conformed to the image of our King as we walk His narrow path with Him.

Our associates are suffering under the pressure of the prolonged economic recession and the uncertainty of the ever-changing globalization process . Many of them are hurting and fearful because of the loss of, or threat to, idols such as personal wealth, reputation and financial security. So are some of us. Some of them will quit and run for Egypt.
Of course they will, they always have. Will we? Should we cry to our Father for a return to Egypt? Or should we expect to be exempted from the trials that those we are called to serve endure? I say NO! We are called to lead in faith under trial and in perseverance through adversity. How can we model these qualities to them and truly lead them if we are unwilling to be example to them? We are called to remind them that “God works all things together for good for those who are called according to His purpose” and show them what that looks like applied by faith to real life. Our light shines brightest in adversity. Ours is a role that is true leadership, Christ-like, servant leadership. It is our destiny.

You will note that there is a question mark after the word ”Encouragement” in the subject line above. These words are surely not the “feel-good” fluff and “I’m OK, you’re OK” babble that many mistake for encouragement in our day, but they are reality. Our God, His call, and our life in Jesus Christ and His in us are reality. Eternal life and the rewards God has promised to His faithful servants are reality. His sovereign supply to do all He asks is reality. The cross and the
narrow path are reality and they guard the way to the joy of our Lord.

I pray that reality may bring refreshment to remind and to renew. May the joy of our Lord be our strength! Press on!

For the King our God and for the Lamb! Forever!

We are in a unique condition as we read this material, a condition that is temporary but very significant, a condition that, in all of eternity, we shall only experience once. We are as we are because God has created us to be so. He has chosen to create us to be, at this moment, spirit beings that temporarily inhabit a human body. We will not be forever as we are now. A day will come when each of us will end this human life experience and we will go on to another experience of life called eternal life. But, for the moment, we are living in the human experience of life.

During our human experience we have spiritual experiences because we are spirit beings in our essence. The part of us that really matters is our spirit.

There is now a part of us that says with God, “I AM.” We could go on, but our point today is not to do deep theological exposition on the subject, although we pray to have piqued some interest along the way that may lead to deeper study, but to lay the groundwork for establishing a different way of seeing the mundane of life. After all most of what we do appears to be mundane. Perhaps by lifting our eyes to the infinite we can learn to see the mundane differently. And if we learn to see the infinite in the mundane, then the mundane will never be truly mundane to us again.

Our great need is to see God in the mundane. Our failing is that we tend to only look for Him in the extraordinary or the obviously spiritual realms of life. Because we do, we miss so much!

God uses the ordinary circumstance of life to reveal His extraordinary glory and grace.

Where is He when we spill our coffee? He is there, telling us to laugh at ourselves, that it is no big deal. He is using the circumstance to build the character of Jesus in us, to conform us to His image. Circumstances reveal our inner selves. Our reactions to them allow God to show us our need for Him and to experience our unity with Him, if we will let Him.

Where is God in a demanding customer? Why doesn’t He just handle it when we need Him to? Why does He allow us to hire brothers-in-law who He knows won’t work out?

Can you begin to get a sense of the difference it would make if we could learn to see the glory of God in the moment?

The basis for all discontent and all unhappiness is unwillingness to be content in the present moment.

Joy, peace, contentment, love, happiness and every good thing exist only in the moment. Life in this human form is composed of a series of frustratingly variable trials and problems, interrupted by momentary respites of serendipitous glimpses of grace. No one gets a pass. The rain falls on the just and the unjust and the sun shines on wicked and good alike.  Most days are a combination of problems and trials galore with God always present, and His glory always just a choice away.

Victor Frankl was a Jewish man sent to the Nazi concentration camp at Aushwitz during WW II. He made a profound discovery during the horrible trial of deprivation and torture that he experienced there. He realized that he was helpless at the hand of his captors in all ways save one. They could take away everything material, they could torture his body, and they could kill him if they chose. But they could never take away his freedom to choose his response to what they did to him. He survived, and after the war taught others about what he learned to call the moment between action and reaction. It is in this moment, he taught, brief as it may be, that we choose our reaction. We own that moment. No one can take that moment from us.

Now, if Victor Frankl could use that moment to choose his reactions to the brutality being forced upon him and survive, could we learn to use it to see the glory of God in our moment in the midst of the tests and trials of this human life? We can, indeed we can. And as we do, life is transformed, changed in an instant from mundane to sublime.

Practice taking God into the present moment. For the next week or so, stop in the middle of something and mentally realize that, at this moment, you are One with God. You in Him and He in you. Let His glory overcome the circumstance and capture the moment. It’s all we have and He is all we need.

“The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of the functions performed by private citizens.”

“There are men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.”

“There is hardly a political question in the United States that does not sooner or later turn into a judicial one.”

“When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.”

“Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.”

Oh yeah, Alexis de Toqueville lived 150 years ago!

Of course some writers speak more clearly than others and seem to have a discernment that resonates within one in a special way. One such for me has always been A.W. Tozer. I have read much if not all of his published material over 30+ years and found him to be one of the most influential and reliable in terms of his commitment to and exposition of a Biblical, Christ-centered world-view. I commend him to any sincere follower of Jesus and doubt that any will be disappointed with their effort.

As an example, let me quote from his daily devotional “Renewed Day-By-Day”;

“A Compromise: The Church Must Change”

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine… and they wil turn away their ears from the truth… II Timothy 4:3,4

“Any evangelism which appeals by common interests and chatter about current events seeks to establish a common ground where the sinner can feel at home is as false as the altars of Baal ever were.

Every effort to smooth out the road for men and to take away the guilt and embarrassment is worse than wasted; it is evil and dangerous to the souls of men!

One of the most popular of current errors, and the one out of which springs most of the noisy, blustering, religious activity in evangelical circles, is the notion that as times change the church must change with them. Christians must adapt their methods by the demands of the people. If they want 10 minute sermons, give them 10 minute sermons! If they want pictures, give them plenty of pictures! If they like stories, tell them stories!

Meanwhile, the advocates of compromise insist that “The messgae is the same, only the method changes.”

“Whom the gods would destroy they must first make mad,” the old Greeks said, and they were wiser than they knew. The mentality which mistakes Sodom for Jerusalem and Hollywood for the Holy City is too gravely astray to be otherwise than a judicial madness visited upon Christians for affronts committed against the Spirit of God!”

Kind of leaves you wondering how he really felt doesn’t it? That’s one of the things I love about Tozer, he never does that, never tries to please or cater to feelings, or to please the middle of the bell curve of the contemporary culture. His clear call is always to “the upward call of God in Christ.” The lukewarm Christian never want to go there and always resist one who does. It will never be popular to truly follow Jesus and if popularity is your goal you will inevitably compromise with the clear teaching of Jesus to gain it.

But if you, like I, are tired of playing church and long for real and faithfully fruitful relationship with our Lord, you can do much worse that take a dose of Tozer daily along with a double dose of the Gospels. Focus on just the red letters for a season. Listen to the words of Christ first every day, and then take a shot of Tozer to chew on it. Digest if you will. It can transform your life.

Oh, and by the way, A.W. died in 1963. Wonder what he’d say today?

Let him step to the music that he hears, however measured or far away.“  Henry David Thoreau

So, whose drum are you listening to? We all are hearing one you know. Listening, following. Is your drummer the incessant beat of the materialistic, hedonistic, “stuff” is the answer of our current culture? Are you caught up in the swirl of busyness and breathless aquisition that is the norm of our day? Many if not most Christians are. In fact in every measurable or discernable way the mass of what the world sees as contemporary Christianity looks no different from what they see in the mirror. We value what they value. We chase the same things they chase. The beat goes on.

The drummer whose beat we follow is the one who will lead us to the Judgement seat of Christ where the final evaluation of all that we have done with the lives that Jesus died to give us will be done. (II Corinthians 5:10, Romans 14:11,12, I Corinthians 3:11-15) It’s commonly called the “Bema” and each Christian will pass through it alone on the way into eternity.

There are basically only two drummers playing and we have to choose which to follow. One is much louder and far more popular than the other. His beat is sensual, seductive and filled with promises of physical and emotional pleasures. Oh and it is so loud! It’s populsr,pervasive and accepted by most people. The only problem is that the promises are empty lies. “There is a way which seems right to men but the ends are the way of death.” (Proverbs 16:25) Listening to this drummer is like drinking salt water, it can’t satisfy, only makes one want more, and ultimately kills you. 

The other drummer beats a different tune and He has a problem. He doesn’t attempt to compete with the volume or tempting promises of the competitor. His sound is quiet and confident but requires an effort to hear. His promises are long-term and require faith and delayed gratification. They are focused on our inner being and have little to do with the shiny, sensual, temporary pleasures of this world. He promises all we need to follow Him but nothing more, but He actually leads to life abundant and fulfillment beyond our ability to imagine. The second drummer speaks in a still, small voice and we have to tune out the first drummer to hear Him.

By now you know who they are, the two drummers. One leads to death and loss, the other to life abundant. The question is; which are you listening to? 

Sometimes following the second drummer feels lonely, especially when we feel it in church where we expect others to be lisening for Him but find that they are not. The second drummer undertsands lonely. He spoke Truth to thousands, healed and delivered hundreds, but when He was paying their bill He saw them turn away, listening to another drummer, and only a few continued to listen to Him play.

As I sit here in the quiet of my living room I can hear Him playing; Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. I hear Him, can you?

                                                                                                Galatians 6:9

 “Let us not grow weary….” Do you ever feel weary? Tired, wornout, burned out? Does the burden of being somone chosen by God to deal with the particular frustrations and difficult people that make up your life and relationships in its environment ever make you wonder if it is all worth the effort required? Do you ever feel like just chucking the whole deal and simply taking a walk? I do.

One thing is for sure, if you answered “no” to any of the above you will lie about other things too! We all grow weary at times. If life were easy we would never need God. He would be irrelevant. God is never irrelevant.

No one gets a pass from the challenges of life, everyone has a piece of the action. A perfect life without trail or pain doesn’t exist, yet. But the Bible quote that we started with tells that we shouldn’t “lose heart.” Have you ever lost heart? I have. When I take my eyes of the reality of life and look through the lens of wrong expectation it’s easy to do. Let’s ask ourselves some probing questions and reflect on our answers. Jot down your rresponses to:

• What is the “good” that we are called to do in our roles as Christ-followers? And who calls us to do it?

• Why do we get “weary” even doing what God asks us to do?

• When that happens, what or who would you suppose is the most likely cause?

• What do you think might be the most powerful cure for weariness?

• What can we do to avoid getting weary?

• Who determines what “due season” is?

• What shall we reap if we remain faithful and don’t lose heart?

Take your time and think through these questions and then ponder this statement; “The circumstances of life don’t make me what I am, they reveal who (whose?) I am.” Only by accepting and adopting the true eternal perspective on life abundant”can we have any chance of not growing weary and losing heart and, even then, to maintain perspective we need the encouragement we gain by association with other like-minded Christ-followers to sustain it.  

So, how’s life workin’ for you?

The good news is…IT DOESN’T MATTER!!!!!!

For Christians it doesn’t matter because our God, not our government or any world power or economic system, is our source! It is He who promises to supply all we need to do all He asks… period! What God asks of us is faithful, dependent, obedience to His Spirit moment by moment. If the sun shines or it rains, in good times or bad, in sickness or in health, in democracy or totalitarianistic socialism – our call is to trust Him for all we need to do all He asks AND HE WILL!!!

There is no need for weeping and wailing or gnashing of teeth! IT DOESN’T MATTER!!! Don’t waste time or energy!

This is like the endless and wasteful debate over the return of our Lord, whether He will come before, during, or after the tribulation! IT DOESN”T MATTER! It is just a distraction! What matters is moment by moment trust and obedience now, in the moment. He will come again for each of us and when He does, whether that is before, during, or after the tribulation, all that will matter will be our trust and obedience. He has a plan for each of our lives and He will always provide all we need to fulfill it! No power in heaven or on Earth can stand against Him. Jesus isn’t dependent on any form of earthly government or economic system. He is the absolute sovereign and infinite power of the Universe.

So, don’t be discouraged. Of course we have preferences concerning our government and who is best qualified to lead it, and we need to be informed and vocal in support of candidates who represent our values and views. But no matter who leads the country this is not our home and it will never be perfect or even really close, and it will never change our Source or what we need to do to receive all we need to live abundantly from Him. We are here for a short term as Ambassadors for Christ and then we’ll go home. Faithful Ambassadors don’t look to the country where they are sent to serve to supply their needs, they look to home. Press on, the Bema awaits!