The Good Work of the Holy Spirit

           Earlier this Spring I finally got around to gathering up all the sticks on our lawn. Our yard is surrounded by maple trees. Though I like the trees, sometimes they feel like overgrown weeds that just make a mess. The “sticks” were a winter’s worth of branches (and a couple of limbs) that had broken and fallen to the ground. I filled the wheelbarrow three times and have a good-sized pile out by the driveway. The lawn is easier to mow and it looks better without all the twigs. This is not one of my favorite things to do because it’s not all that easy on the back. But it’s a good feeling to have the yard clean, so it’s worth it.

            The recent rainy period was accompanied by a few windy days, so guess what I had to do? Get the wheelbarrow out again… circle the house… fill it up with more sticks… take it to the pile… and check my attitude. While there were not as many sticks as before, I still felt a little annoyed at having to do this again. “How many times this summer is this going to happen?!” I thought. “Stupid wind!”

            The next day I was thinking about this little episode as a spiritual illustration. The Scriptures speak of the Holy Spirit often in terms of wind. The Greek and Hebrew words for “spirit” speak of “breath” and “wind”. One of the works of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is conviction of sin. He reminds us of the areas and occasions where we have fallen short of God’s glory. This is a good thing, because we can then confess those sins and receive forgiveness and be restored in our relationship with the Lord. The Spirit does spiritually what the wind does to my maple trees. The wind knocks off the deadwood. It makes the brokenness obvious, and I have to pick it up. I have to clean it up. While I don’t always like having my sins exposed and my brokenness made obvious, I’m thankful for the Holy Spirit’s work because I like being “cleaned up”. It’s a good feeling to have my heart clean and forgiven. So may He “blow over me” daily. May He bring to light the stuff that isn’t healthy and that offends the Lord. And just like I burn up all the twigs in my yard, may He burn away the guilt and shame of my sins so that nothing remains of them, and I may walk with Christ in righteousness.

Psalm 51:1 (NIV) - ¹  Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.

John 16:8-11 (NIV) - ⁸  When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹  in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; ¹⁰  in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹  and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

PRAYER: “Father, thank You for the convicting and consecrating work of the Holy Spirit. As He “blows” through my life, please reveal to me those things that need to be “cleaned up”. Lead me to confess my sin and find forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ Your Son, who has saved me by His grace. Thank You for Your forgiveness and Your power to cleanse.  In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!

Scott

Keep Pedaling

       Yesterday morning at 8:00 eight college-aged young people hopped on their bikes at the pier in Bar Harbor for the beginning of a one-month (plus) bike tour to Key West, Florida. They arrived from their home base in the York, Pennsylvania area at our church building on Saturday – a nice, but cool day. It was cooler than they had expected. And, indeed, we have been about 10 degrees lower in our daily temperatures than usual. They were cold. When they left yesterday (Monday) it was not only chilly, it was raining quite steadily. It was one of those situations where you might be tempted to say, “It could be worse.”… but don’t because some other difficulty could arise. Did I mention it was a little windy as well? Not exactly an auspicious beginning. They were expecting to ride about 85 miles down Route 1 to Rockport on Monday. It was a tough day to start their journey and just before they left the church building to go to the pier we prayed together. I prayed for God’s protection from injury and from discouragement. On such a journey there are likely to be many times of discouragement, frustration, and the temptation to give up. It will take a high level of determination for them to persevere. We all understand this from the times of discouragement we have faced.

       How would you pray for discouraged people? What would you say in your prayer? In order to persevere through adversity and discouragement, a person needs a vision - a goal – that keeps them “pedaling”… that keeps them moving forward. If the goal is worthy enough… if it is compelling enough… discouragement can be overcome. Without that goal, however, discouragement will most always lead to despair and to giving up in one form or another.

       Jesus is our great example in persevering. Hebrews 12:2 speaks of Christ enduring the cross “for the joy set before Him”. The joy He was looking to was returning to the right hand of the Father’s throne in heaven. Hebrews 12 begins with a reference to the great cloud of witnesses (from chapter 11) who were people of great faith. They are an encouragement to the believer in Jesus Christ at all times, but especially in times when we might be tempted to give up, because by faith they persevered. Yet, it is not by looking to them that we will persevere. Our “goal” – more worthy than anything – is Jesus Himself. We are called to “fix our eyes on Him” – the One who is at the “finish line” if you will. Without that vision of Him… that desire to know Him, be with Him, to see Him meet all of our needs… discouragement and despair will attack us and will lead us to give up. Jesus will not let that happen to the one who trusts in Him. The power that raised Him from the dead is the power that He also gives to those who love Him – those to whom He has given life.

       While we may live through many “it could be worse” situations we can take heart because there is nothing that we face that Christ has not already defeated. He will see us through. Our main need is to see Him… to be undeterred in keeping our eyes on Him. May God’s grace be given to us in abundance so that our faith may be strong as He sees us through to victory over every adversity. And may He receive much glory through us.

Hebrews 12:1-2 (NIV) ¹  Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ²  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Romans 8:35-39 (NIV) ³⁵  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶  As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." ³⁷  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

PRAYER: “Father, thank You that Jesus is at the “end” of our earthly journey. Guide us to always keep Him in our focus as the hardships of life seek to blur our vision and tempt us to despair and to give up. Thank You not only for the example of Christ, but for the gift of faith and the presence and power of Christ Himself through the Holy Spirit to give us victory. May His power be at work in us, and may all discouragement be defeated. Be glorified in all these things in my life.  In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!

Scott

Facebook vs. Face to Face with Jesus

            If you could have a photograph of one moment in history, what would it be? Would you pick an event in the Bible… like the parting of the Red Sea or the birth of Christ or the crucifixion of Jesus or even the resurrection? Or maybe you would choose a post-biblical moment, such as Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses on the door of All Saints Church at Wittenberg or the Pilgrims setting foot on new world soil or the signing of the Declaration of Independence. There are so many possibilities.

            More than ever, we are filling our lives up with photos. We are making up for centuries when there were none taken because the technology did not exist. Today our photos are mostly digital, and millions of them exist on computers, databases, and phones all over the world. We flood Facebook with them, documenting our lives and sharing images on a daily basis. We send them through emails and text messages. Apple advertises the iPhone as the device with which more photos are taken than any other. We surround ourselves with them in our homes and workplaces. My office is full of pictures of my kids when they were younger.

            Now and then when I look at my photo files on my computer, I wonder what will happen to them. Perhaps the files will somehow get to my kids. Maybe I’ll get around to storing them on some external database in the online digital world. But even if my kids use them, their kids will use them less, and their kids even less. Sooner or later all the photos of what was important to me will get “lost” in the uncounted trillions of bits and bytes that make up the digital universe. Many of these photos capture special moments and I like being able to view them at a click of a mouse. They capture memories. I like it when friends and family share their photos.

            But if I had to trade them all in for a face-to-face moment with Jesus, it would be no contest. And some day I actually will. The One whom I have never seen will one day return… or I will go to be with Him. And it will be glorious beyond description. And I look forward to not needing or wanting a camera in heaven to “capture” moments, because the moments will only be getting better. Why try to save a picture of something to look fondly back at… when what is ahead just keeps getting better, fuller, richer, and more wonderful? Each future moment will “top” the last. And I won’t have time to look back. It will be too glorious ahead. So, we enjoy our photos for the time being, but we don’t let them keep us from looking ahead to what will be so much greater. To belong to Jesus here is to be one who is ever looking forward joyfully to being with Him. Maranatha!

1 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV) ⁹  However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"--

Philippians 3:20 (NIV) ²⁰  But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

1 John 3:2 (NIV) ²  Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

PRAYER: “Father, there are so many blessings from You in this life. Thank You for each and every one of them. But compared to the thought of being with You for eternity, they pale in consideration. What a day that will be when we see Jesus. Give me a hungry desire for being with You that starts now, when I can’t see You. , so that my joy will be made complete when I do see You.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!

Scott

Idols in the Church

      Recently I was at a retreat for pastors. It was an informal event, but a pastor from a distant part of the state shared quite seriously about a long (3-year) process his church went through to make a decision to grow their vision and expand their mission by becoming a church that met and worshipped in two locations. He described some of the resistance that arose on the part of people at both locations – one of which was a church about to die and the other in reasonable health. He told of people expressing a lot of fear and of some people becoming very angry and resistant at the changes that were taking place and being proposed. That sounded very sad to me and I asked him what was at the root of the resistance. Primarily, the problems were an over-attachment to the building (where each church met) and a concern about (the loss of) power and control.

       His question through many days of uncertainty was, “What is God’s will?” He asked it over and over again. His major concern was the opportunity to bring the Gospel to a neighborhood in town where the lack of a church presence would leave a great hole in the ministry of the Gospel. The long process resulted in some people leaving the church and many obstacles to be overcome. The financial challenges are ongoing. However, I was inspired this pastor’s perseverance and by the faithfulness of those who could/would see God’s vision. I commented to him that what he shared was a blessing to me because it reminded me that God’s Spirit still tears down strongholds and “high places”.

       The high places of Israel were where the people of God acted unfaithfully toward God by erecting and worshipping idols and calling others to worship them as their gods – in some cases even giving them credit for delivering them from Egypt many years before. The high places became strongholds of evil and idolatry and they were very difficult to eliminate. Most of Israel’s and Judah’s kings didn’t care enough to do anything about them. A few tried, but failed to eradicate them, because they became so entrenched in the spiritual life of Israel. One king – Josiah of Judah – however, was faithful and succeeded. Then there was revival and renewal in Israel. The Word of God was found and read. True worship in Israel was restored – for a time.

       Idols of many kinds can keep us from God, and will always impact us by distracting us from the true worship of God. We worship and focus on them instead. This is one of the goals of our enemy, the devil. If we will just worship created things – any created thing (including ourselves), he will have succeeded in turning us into idolaters – one of the very things God hates most. An idol is anything we care about, love, serve, or give ourselves to more than we do God. And idols (people, activities, goals, even certain good things…) become strongholds – hard to “tear down”. Tearing them down can hurt. But tearing them down is the only solution. And we cannot do it ourselves. Through prayer and reliance upon God, we can see Him do amazing things to the strongholds of sin and idolatry in our lives. But He wants to… and He will, when we repent and turn to Him and leave our “idols” behind. May the Lord help us to identify these strongholds in our lives! May He lead us to reject them utterly and run to Him in brokenness and contrition! And may He raise up in us a new vision for Him and lives of holiness and passion for Him and for His will. AMEN!

Numbers 33:52 (NIV) ⁵²  … When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places.

2 Kings 17:9-11 (NIV) ⁹ The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord, their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns. ¹⁰ They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. ¹¹ At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the Lord had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that provoked the Lord to anger.

2 Kings 23:8 (NIV) ⁸ Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the shrines…”

PRAYER: “Lord, show me where the strongholds are in my life… my relationships. Pierce my heart with conviction over them and lead to repentance: a repentance of rejecting the idols there so completely that I can embrace You fully and worship You in truth and in holiness. Take away my love for things… for people… for anything that I love more than You. Let me love You wholly.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!

Scott