Who Are You?

 

by Phil Ware
Who are you?

Please, don’t tell me what you do or where you live. Please, don’t tell
me where you are from. Please, I’m not looking for your mobile number,
your twitter id, your Facebook feed, your blog address or your IM
handle. Strip away the surface junk and let’s get down to the truth.

Who are you?

That’s the real issue behind Jesus’ question to the man afflicted with
evil spirits: “What is your name?” (Mark 5:9). The power of evil had so
captured the man that he could not answer and give his own name. He had
lost his identity to the powers of destruction at work in his life. “My
name is legion … for we are many” was the answer given to Jesus’
question.

Who are you?

It’s a crucial question. How we define ourselves matters intensely in
how we live our lives and live out our faith. Don’t believe it? Take
Legion’s word on it. He had lost his identity and lived out his life in
the most marginal and self-destructive of circumstances — living in
burial caves, shrieking, cutting and beating himself, uncontrollably
wild, isolated, feared, and alone (Mark 5:1-5).

Who are you?

But if Legion isn’t enough, look at the way the Lord’s own temptations
are couched, “If you are the Son of God …” (Luke 4:1-13). The devil
dangles the question of Jesus’ identity before Him trying to get him to
prove who He is — to himself, to others, and to the devil. If you are
not sure of your identity, it doesn’t take a lot to get you to try to
prove your significance through selfishness, shortcuts, and showing
off. The devil is not only in the details, but the devil is also in our
need to prove ourselves.

Who are you?

It’s the question of questions. That’s why when we see the flow of
grace outlined in Scripture, we see who we were without Christ (Ephesians
2:1-3 — we are saved “from” death by grace), we see how precious we
are to God (Ephesians 2:4-10 — gifted with God’s riches by grace and
re-made as God’s glorious handiwork), and we see what our mission is in
Christ (Ephesians 2:10 — created in Christ Jesus to do good works).
The biggest chunk of this grace equation? Our identity: we are bought
by God’s love, made alive by God’s graciousness, blessed by heaven’s
glorious riches, and re-created in Christ to be God’s incredible
masterpiece of divine craftsmanship.

Who are you?

Our hearts are drawn to the tunes of grace and its power to give us
back our real identity. We are moved by the story of the man liberated
from the legion of demons, remade by Christ, now seated in his right
mind and given a mission to do for Jesus (Mark 5:15; Mark 5:19). We are
drawn to it in the story of “Beauty and the Beast” as Belle’s heart is
won by the “Beast” and his sacrifice for her — and as her kiss brings
him back to life, not just physically, but in every way. We are
fascinated by it as the prince kisses sleeping beauty alive again, as
the ugly duckling is transformed into the beautiful swan it has been
all along, and as the slipper slides on Cinderella’s dainty foot to
show who she truly is.

Who are you?

God said it to His Son:

 ”You are my Son, who I love; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22
 TNIV).

Paul says it to us powerfully:

 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds
 because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by
 Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his
 sight, without blemish and free from accusation … (Colossians
 1:21-22 — emphasis added).

So who are you?

It’s the only question that matters. It’s the motivation for our
behavior and the power to our passions. We don’t do what we do to get
grace, to be approved by God, or to win heaven. Jesus died to make us
back into the real us: the us God made in the womb of our mother to be
– God’s masterpiece, His prince or princess, His beloved. The devil
will do all he can to make us question it, doubt it, and work to prove
it. Yet Jesus’ sacrifice, the Cross and the Empty Tomb, stand and shout
it to us. “You are My Father’s Masterpiece! You, dear brother, are
God’s Prince! You, dear sister, are God’s Princess! You are the beloved
of the holy and awesome God Almighty.

So who are you?

 

Love of God and Love of Dogs

My friend Donna sent me this song from U-Tube.  It touched me so – I wanted to share it with all you who love our God and His creation, the dog.  God’s agape love for us humans is almost impossible for us to comprehend unless we look at  our dogs.  Their pure devotion to us can make us more aware of how God loves us and desires a relationship with us.  We have had some wonderful dogs through the years and since we have never had children, we have been able to direct much of our attention to our pets.  They bring us such joy and it’s easy for Rob and I to give them the care they deserve.   I think God gave us dogs to help us learn more about love from the example they set.

Sunflower is one of our dogs.  She is very loving and sweet.  She is related in some way to three other Newfoundlands that we have loved and lost.  At 81/2 years old, she remains healthy and happy.   

Sunflower 

 

The Heart of Flesh

“And I will give you an heart of flesh.” — Ezekiel 36:26

Charles Spurgeon writes:

A heart of flesh is known by its tenderness concerning sin. To have indulged a foul imagination, or to have allowed a wild desire to tarry even for a moment, is quite enough to make a heart of flesh grieve before the Lord. The heart of stone calls a great iniquity nothing, but not so the heart of flesh.

“If to the right or left I stray,

That moment, Lord, reprove;

And let me weep my life away,

For having grieved thy love”

 

The heart of flesh is tender of God’s will.  THY Will be done.  The human will is a great blusterer, and it is hard to subject him to God’s will; but when the heart of flesh is given, the will quivers like an aspen leaf in every breath of heaven, and bows like an osier in every breeze of God’s Spirit.

The natural will is cold, hard iron, which is not to be hammered into form, but the renewed will, like molten metal, is soon moulded by the hand of grace. In the fleshy heart there is a tenderness of the affections. The hard heart does not love the Redeemer, but the renewed heart burns with affection towards him. The hard heart is selfish and coldly demands, “Why should I weep for sin? Why should I love the Lord?” But the heart of flesh says; “Lord, thou knowest that I love thee; help me to love thee more!”

Many are the privileges of this renewed heart; “‘Tis here the Spirit dwells, ’tis here that Jesus rests.” It is fitted to receive every spiritual blessing, and every blessing comes to it. It is prepared to yield every heavenly fruit to the honour and praise of God, and therefore the Lord delights in it. A tender heart is the best defence against sin, and the best preparation for heaven. A renewed heart stands on its watchtower looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus.

Have you this heart of flesh?

Praising A Holy God

 

Sing……..to the LORD, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything. Ephesians 5:19-20

I’ve noticed - have you?  That the last few postings I’ve done has to do with working through some trial or test.  This is because sometimes when you follow Jesus with all your heart and seek to pour yourself into His church Satan will attack in such a way as to try to discourage you into giving up.   Satan has no power to do that unless you ‘buy into’ his lie.  I tell myself that we are not to give the evil one any power over our lives, that our LORD is so very much stronger.  If you look for negative in people, that’s what you will always see.  If you seek positive, that’s what you will find.  If you continually see life as a battle, peace will more than likely elude you.  If you see life as a gift and treasure from God, the battles may come, but you will know that there will be an end and God will see you through.  

No matter the source of the evil confronting you, if you are in God and thereby completely surrounded by Him, you must realize that what you are going through has first passed through Him before coming to you.  Because of this you can thank Him for everything that comes your way.  This dosen’t mean thanking Him for the sin that accompanies evil, but offering thanks for what He will bring out of it and through it.  I pray that God would make our lives one of continual thanksgiving and praise, so He will then make everything a blessing.

Once there was a man who drew black dots on a piece of paper.  Several people looked, but didn’t see anything except an irregular arrangement of dots.  Then he also drew some lines on the dots and some rests, then added a treble clef at the beginning.  Suddenly it became clear that the dots were musical notes and as the people began to sort them out they were singing,

Praise God from whom all blessings flow,

Praise Him all creatures here below.

We all have many black dots or spots on our lives and we cannot always understand why they are there or why God permitted them.  But when we allow Him into our lives to adjust the dots in the proper way, to draw the lines He desires, and to put rests at the proper places to seperate us from certain things, then from the black dots and spots He will compose a glorious harmony.  May we never hinder Him from this work!

Charles Spurgeon said, “Many people owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties.

When the pianist presses a few black keys, the notes are just as beautiful as when the white ones are pressed.  Yet to fully demonstrate the capabilities of the instrument, all the keys must be pressed – selected in an arrangement so as to call us to think, now this is a beautiful and complete melody. 

I fix my eyes and give all praise to the author and prefecter of my faith.  Hebrews 12:2  (my paraphrase)

To “Drink The Cup”

 

“Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”  John 18:11

To “drink the cup” is such a powerful statement.  It is greater than calming the sea or raising the dead.  Doing God’s will and thus experiencing suffering is the highest form of faith, and the most glorious acheivement for the Christian.

To have your greatest aspirations as a young person crushed; bearing burdens daily that are always difficult, and never seeing relief; finding yourself worn down by opposition while simply trying to do good for others, to face poverty while trying to provide for the ones you love; being shackled by an incurable physical disability; being completely alone, separated from all those you love, to face the tramas of life alone; yet in all these, still being able to say through the difficult school of discipline, “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”

Great faith is exhibited not so much in doing as in suffering.  Charles Parkhurst 

In order to have a sympathetic God, we must have a suffering Savior, for true sympathy comes from understanding another person’s hurt by suffering the same affliction.  So we cannot help others who suffer without paying a price ourselves.  Afflictions are the price we pay for our ability to sympathize.  If you wish to help others, you must suffer, if we wish to rescue others, we must be willing to face the cross; experiencing the greatest happiness in life through ministering to others is impossible without drinking the cup Jesus drank.

the most comforting of David’s psalms were squeezed from his life by suffering, and if Paul had not been given “a thorn in his flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7), we would have missed the tenderness and care that resonates through so much of his letters.

If you have surrendered yourself to Christ, your present circumstances that seen to be pressing so on you are the perfect tool in the Father’s hand to chisel you into shape for eternity.  So trust Him and do not push away the instrument He is using, or you will miss the result of His work in your life.

Wait Upon The LORD

 

“I [the LORD] will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling place.”  Isaiah 18:4

In this passage Assyria is marching against Ethiopia, verse 4 describes then as “tall and smoothed-skinned”.  As the army advances, God makes no effort to stop them, and it appears as they will be victorious.  The LORD is watching from His “dwelling place” while the sun continues to shine on them, yet “before the harvest” (v.5) the entire proud army is defeated as easily as new growth is pruned from a vine.

What a beautiful picture of God – remaining quiet and watching!  Yet His silence is not to be confused with passive agreement or consent.  He is just biding His time and will arise at the most opportune moment, just when the plans of the wicked are on the verge of success, in order to overwhelm the enemy with disaster.  And as see the evil of this world, as we watch the apparent success of wrongdoers, and as we suffer the oppression of those who hate us, let us remember the Words, the wonderful Words of God: “I will remain quiet and will look on.”

God does have another point of view, and there is wisdom behind His words and deeds.  Why did Jesus watch His disciples straining at the oars during the stormy night?  Why did He wait silently while Lazarus slowly succumed to his illness and died finally being buried in a rocky tomb?  Jesus was simply waiting for the perfect moment when He could intercede most effectively.

Is the LORD being quiet with you?  Take heart, He is being attentive and still sees everything.  He has His finger on your pulse and is extremely sensitive to even the slightest change.  And He will come to save you when the perfect moment as arrived.        Daily Devotional Commentary

Whatever the LORD may ask of us or however slow He may seem to work, we can be absolutely sure He is never a confused or fearful Savior.

O troubled soul, beneath the rod,

Your Father speaks, be still, be still;

Learn to be silent unto God,

And let Him mold you to His will.

 

O praying soul, be still, be still,

He cannot break His promised Word;

Sink down into His blessed will,

And wait in patience on the LORD.

 

O waiting soul, be still, be strong,

And though He tarry, trust and wait;

Doubt not, He will not wait too long,

Fear not, He will not come too late.    

Jump From Your Perch of Safety Into………..

“God………calls things that are not as though they were.”  Romans 4:17

 

What is Paul talking about in this scripture?  It is the reason why “Abraham in hope believed” (v. 18).  How could Abraham possibly believe in his advanced age that he would father a child.  It seems absurd, an impossibility of dramatic proportions and yet God called him “the father of many nations.” (Gen. 17:4) long before there was any indication of fulfillment.  And Abraham thought of himself as a father, because God had said so.  That’s genuine faith – believing and declaring what God has said is so.  Stepping out on what appears to be thin air and finding solid rock beneath your feet. 

Boldly declare what God says you have in Him and He will accomplish what you believe.  But genuine faith and trust must be exhibited.  You have to trust with your entire being.  Who else besides Abraham stepped out into thin air?   Daniel had to go into the Lions Den, Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego went into the fiery furnace, Calab had a ‘different spirit’, Esther saved her people, Moses brought the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage, Noah built a boat in the middle of the desert, Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem one brick at a time and the list goes on and on.

We have to be willing to live by faith, not hoping or desiring to live any other way.  Thomas C. Upham said We must be willing to have every light around us extinguished, to have every star in the heavens blotted out, and to live with nothing encircling us but darkness and danger.  Yes, we must be willing to do all this, if God will only leave within our soul an inner radiance from the pure, bright light that faith has kindled.

We must come to the moment when we jump from our perch of distrust, leaving the nest of supposed safety and security behind and trusting the wings of faith.  We must be like baby birds testing the air with untried wings.  At first we may feel as if we will fall to earth.  The fledgling chick may feel the same way, but it does not fall because its wings provide support.  Yet even if its wings do fail, one of its parents will sweep under it and rescue it on strong wings.

God will rescue you the same way.  Trust Him, for His “right hand sustains” (Ps. 18:35).  You might find yourself asking, “Do I step out onto nothing?”  That is exactly what the bird is seemingly asked to do, and we know that the air is there and that the air is not nearly as insubstantial as it seems.  And you know that the promises of God are there and they certainly are not insubstantial at all.  Do you still think it unlikely that your poor helpless soul will be sustained by God’s great strength?  Has God said it will?  Will your tempted and yielding nature will be victorious in the fight because God has said it will?  Will your timid and trembling heart find peace?  Has God said it will?

If God has said so, surely you don’t want to suggest that He would do any less that what He has promised, do you?  If God has spoken He will fulfill it.  He has given you His word – His sure word of promise – don’t question it but trust it with all your heart.  You have His promise, and in fact you have even more – you have Him who speaks the words, “I tell you the truth……….”        Trust Him!

I am the LORD, and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob’s descendants, “Seek me in vain.”  I, the LORD speak the truth; I declare what is right.  Isaiah 45:18b-19   

It’s Not About Me – Max Lucado

One of my favorite authors is Max Lucado.  I like the descriptive way he writes about our Lord and our life.  I have subscribed to his post and get it once a week (that’s all the time he will blog/devote).  I like the once a week thing because if we spend too much time blogging, soon it will seem as our blogs become about ourselves.  I don’t think anyone wants to know what I do day in and day out.  As children of God and Christ followers, I think we should be trying to reach others for Christ, not ourselves.  I pray that what I post will glorify God and take the focus off me.  I hope you will too (if you blog).  I had a pastor who once said his father would tell him, “if you can’t improve on the silence, don’t break it.”  For me, that same theory holds true for twittering and blogging and facebooking.   If it’s all about you ………..well, enough from me, let’s look at what Rev. Lucado says :    

 

My Message is About Him
by Max Lucado
The request came when I was twenty. “Can you address our church youth group?” We aren’t talking citywide crusade here. Think more in terms of a dozen kids around a West Texas campfire. I was new to the faith, hence new to the power of the faith. I told my story, and, lo and behold, they listened! One even approached me afterward and said something like, “That moved me, Max.” My chest lifted, and my feet shifted just a step in the direction of the spotlight.
God has been nudging me back ever since.
Some of you don’t relate. The limelight never woos you. You and John the Baptist sing the same tune: “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less” (John 3:30 NLT). God bless you. You might pray for the rest of us. We applause-aholics have done it all: dropped names, sung loudly, dressed up to look classy, dressed down to look cool, quoted authors we’ve never read, spouted Greek we’ve never studied. For the life of me, I believe Satan trains battalions of demons to whisper one question in our ears: “What are people thinking of you?”
A deadly query. What they think of us matters not. What they think of God matters all. God will not share his glory with another (Isaiah 42:8). Next time you need a nudge away from the spotlight, remember: You are simply one link in a chain, an unimportant link at that.
Remember the other messengers God has used?
A donkey to speak to Balaam (Numbers 22:28).
A staff-turned-snake to stir Pharaoh (Exodus 7:10).
He used stubborn oxen to make a point about reverence and a big fish to make a point about reluctant preachers (I Samuel 6:1-12; Jonah 1:1-17)
God doesn’t need you and me to do his work. We are expedient messengers, ambassadors by his kindness, not by our cleverness.
It’s not about us, and it angers him when we think it is.
We who are entrusted with the gospel dare not seek applause but best deflect applause. For our message is about Someone else.

I’ve always felt that if God could speak through a donkey, there was a slim hope for me.  :-}  Betsy

 

Don’t Personalize Rejection

I read Mark Batterson’s blog fairly often.  He is the senior pastor of a church in Washington, D.C. and author of “In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day” and “Wild Goose Chase”  which I highly recommend you read.   His blog is full of truths about life and leadership and this post was no exception.  I wanted to share this truth with anyone who takes rejection too personally, I hope it helps you as much as it’s helped me.
If you personalize rejection it can become parasitic. It will destroy your confidence. It will destroy your joy.  It  can even undermine the vision God has given you.

There is a moment toward the end of his life when Israel rejects Samuel’s sons as judges because his sons didn’t follow in his footsteps. Samuel was “crushed.” Ever been there? Think about it. He devoted his entire life to serving Israel. And then they reject his sons. Granted, his sons were corrupt. Which probably means it was a double blow. What a terrible ending. But there is a powerful leadership principle if you read the story closely. The Lord says: “They are not rejecting you. They’re rejecting me.”

I better make this clear: no leader is beyond rebuke, correction or exhortation. And if you think you are then it’s the beginning of the end. But what I’m focusing on here is unwarranted criticism or unfair treatment. If the sermon you are preaching or the vision you are casting is from the Lord, then people aren’t rejecting you. Don’t personalize the rejection. I think this is one key to evangelism: if you personalize the rejection you’ll stop sharing your faith.

Can I share a lesson learned? It doesn’t matter how God-ordained your vision is. You can walk off of Mount Sinai with tablets inscribed by the finger of God. You will still have your early adopters, late adopters, and laggards. It’s the adopter categories originally devised by Everett Rogers in his book The Diffusion of Innovation. You will always have your 16% laggards who will resist the vision. For what it’s worth, I think they serve a valuable purpose. They force us to keep refining the vision.

Bottom line? Don’t personalize rejection.

Jesus Says “Come”

“Come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly of heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

What a wonderful word picture Jesus gives us, He has just been rejected by the religious leaders and He turns His message to the individual, all who would come.

All of us humans carry enormous burdens in our lives. And we all know that sometimes those burdens are a lot heavier than at other times. But listen to what Jesus is saying here – with gentleness and sweetness we are given the primary invitation of life:

Jesus is asking us to “Come to Him.” And if we do come, what is promised us? He tells us He will give us rest! This is not a rest absent from labor, hardship, or suffering, this is a rest in which we find hope, assurance, peace, and joy. A deeper rest of obedience and surrender to God, a knowledge that God’s way for us is the best way and we must accept His will.

We are to take His yoke upon us and learn from Him – What is the yoke Jesus speaks of? When we think of a yoke, we think of the heavy wooden harness that fits over the shoulders of an ox or oxen. It is attached to a piece of equipment the oxen are to pull. Often the burden the ox had to bear was so heavy that it would cause them to stumble and fall under the weight of it. This is the yoke of burden and toil. Jesus tell us His yoke is easy compared to this, His burden would never be so heavy – When we submit to Christ, we become yoked to Him – His yoke is a shared yoke with the heavier weight falling on larger shoulders than ours. Someone with more pulling power is up front helping us through our trials, illnesses, and afflictions. In this sharing we find rest – rest from the crush of worry, anxiety, sin, and helplessness.

Troubles, sickness, toils and snares are sure to burden our lives but let us remember we are not alone, those of us who “Come to Him” will certainly find a very willing savior that is eager to help us shoulder the load.