Bye-Bye

This will be my last blog on this site. At the end of this week, this blog will shut down. By next week most of you will know why. I'll still be blogging, but on my Yahoo 360 page and on another site on blogger. If you're interested in following me to these sites, e-mail me at bcole39@embarqmail.com and I'll direct you.
As my swan song on this site, I want to address the topic "Circumstances". All of us have them. I heard of a guy whose response to "How're you doing?" always said, "O K under the circumstances." He said this to his pastor so often that the pastor finally said, "What are you doing under there? According to Ephesians 2:6, as a believer you are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. That is ABOVE the circumstances." Hmmm. Worth thinking about isn't it? You can either choose to be a victim of circumstances or to be a victor OVER circumstances. That's where faith comes in. I've noticed that many Christians and many churches are living "under the circumstances" rather than, by faith, rising above the circumstances. I talked with a friend today who said that scores of church staff members are being let go across our convention because churches are letting the circumstances determine their decisions rather than seeking God.
If this continues, the evangelical church in America is in deep trouble. When economics, politics, or circumstances preclude prayer and faith in the church, then the church is no better than the civic club. If that is the case, we all might as well go join Kiwanis. They do good things...and you're not asked to tithe.

Needed; Some Olympian Christians

Many people will spend the next couple of weeks glued to the TV sets watching the 2008 Olympics. Millions of people who desperately need exercise will be watching several thousand who desperately need rest. Those Olympians whom we will watch have made huge sacrifices of money, time, energy and talent just to get to the Olympics. Some of them will have their 15 minutes of fame, and then fade into oblivion. Others will begin immediately training for the next Olympics. All of which brings me to my point. I'm constantly running into Christians who have the attitude that they have served long enough in some capacity in their church and need to take a break; or have become too old to continue working in some ministry in their church; or decide they want to alternate with someone so that they don't have an on-going responsibility. I read in Romans 11:29 "for the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable." To me that means, He doesn't take them back. Once God has gifted a person and called them to ministry, He doesn't "un-call" them. It seems to me that we need some "long-haul" Christians who are training at least as hard as a potential Olympian. What do you think?

God is NOT Surprised

I never cease to be amazed at the idea that some people have that God is often caught off guard by our circumstances. The truth of the matter is that God knows everything that has or will happen in our lives. He has never had to say, "Wow, I didn't see that coming!"
Some time ago I wrote in the blog about asking the right questions. That same idea applies here. When our circumstances take us by surprise, the first question we need to ask is...
"What have I done (or failed to do) that has led to these consequences?"
Question number two is...
"Lord, now that you have my attention, what is it that I should be learn from this?"
The answers to these questions will lead you directly to what you should do next. Sometimes those answers have less to do with us, and more to so with giving God the opportunity to teach us something about Himself that we didn't already know.

Lessons From King David

In 1 Samuel 27, 29, 30 there are some valuable lessons to be learned from the life of David in his pre-king years.
1. In the beginning of chapter 27, David decides to defect to the Philistines to get away from King Saul who was out to kill him. While this seemed to work for David, it put him in a position of living by subterfuge for next next year and a half. God had told him earlier (ch. 22) to remain in Judah. The implication there is that God would take care of him in Judah. David got impatient waiting for God's deliverance and came up with his own solution.
2. Be sure a day will come when your bluff will be called. David is ordered by King Achish to go to battle with him against his own people, the Israelites. To this point, David has been telling Achish that he has been raiding the Israelites (when in fact he was raiding the enemies of Israel). Now was "put up or shut up" time. Fortunately for David, the other Philistine Lords prevailed over Achish, and David was ordered to go back to Ziklag, his home away from home.
3. God will somehow get your attention when you stray. Arriving back at Ziklag, David found it burned down and all the women, children and livestock gone. After recovering from the shock, David, in peril from his own men, finally turned to God for direction. "Shall I pursue them?" he asked God. And then "If I pursue them, will I catch them?" To both questions, God said "yes". Now victory was assured.
4. Equity is important. 200 of David's men were too exhausted to join the chase, so they remained behind to guard the "stuff" which freed David and the other 400 men to travel lighter and faster. Upon returning with the spoils of victory, some of the men who had gone with David resisted sharing the booty with those left behind. David, however, insisted that they be included and actually made that into law.
5. Generoustity cements relationships. David used his share of the booty to give "thank you" gifts to those who had befriended him when he was running from Saul. Later, as David was crowned King, these people remembered his generousity and gladly supported him.
These four lessons can stand us in good stead today. Read, learn, and apply.

Insatiable

I look in my closet, my garage, my bookshelves and my office(s) (home and work) and see all of them crammed to the gills. And yet I want..., and want, and want. It becomes kinda discouraging that I'm never quite content with what I have. I always want a new phone, new golf clubs, or a golf DVD program or something. And really, my wants are never cheap. The apostle Paul puts me to shame when he writes to the Philippian believers, "I have learned in whatever state I'm in, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:11-13.
One would think that there would come a time when things no longer have a hold on us. However, my experience is otherwise. I guess this is the part of the "old self" that stills rears it's ugly head from time to time.
I remember being in Russia in 1993 and going into a grocery store that had only one loaf of bread and one box of cereal on a shelf. I saw people cooking over a makeshift grill on the street corner in bitter cold and trying to sell what little food they had. Others were trying to sell vodka by the shot in paper cups. Still others had various and sundry things they were trying to sell from a backpack...any thing to make a few cents. I'm ashamed!
I want to reach the place where Christ alone is what I want. I want to sever the hold that "things" have on my heart. I want to be like Paul.

The Awesome Power of Choice

There are a few things in life that I have no say in. For example, I can't change when I was born, where I was born and to whom I was born. However, in almost everything else, I have a choice. I can choose to be happy or sad, positive or negative, contented or discontented. This awesome power was given me at birth. Sure, circumstances may play a part in what choices I make, but still, I have choices. Here are a few quotes about choice that perhaps will help put things in perspective.
Joshua 24:15 "Choose for yourself whom you will serve..."
Paul & Silas Acts 16:25 "But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God..." (this after being beaten and falsely imprisoned)
Victor Frankl in "Man's Search for Meaning" "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of human freedoms---to choose one's attitude in any set of circumstances."
You have at your disposal one of the most powerful tools given to mankind. Use it wisely and well. It will make the difference between fulfillment and despair...but it is YOUR CHOICE.

Asking the Right Questions

So often in today's world people are asking the wrong questions which then leads them to wrong conclusions. For example, regarding the coming presidential election, I hear people asking, "Why don't we have a clear choice?" when the right question is "What am I to do with the choices before me?"
In Isaiah 55:9, God reminds us “For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."
That being true, the right question is always, "I wonder what God is up to in this situation, and how I can get in synch with Him?" The right prayer is "Lord, please open my spiritual eyes so that I can see Your activity, and open my spiritual ears so that I can hear your voice."
Once we begin to ask the right questions and pray the right prayers, we'll find out that God is all over what is going on in the world today.