God does not tempt

From the 1994 collection of the Rev. Billy Graham's writings, titled: The Faithful Christian:

"There are some temptations from which we should flee and others which we must endure and conquer. However, good advice is to avoid temptation whenever possible. Our rule of life should be not to see how near we can live to the world and still keep the name of Christian, but on the contrary, to keep just as far away as possible. We are not to see how much we can tamper and meddle with the things of the world, but to see how far away we can keep from those things which would be displeasing to God. If the will is kept firm, God comes to the rescue. He grants grace to do His bidding and to overcome temptation. We fail to overcome temptation when we forget to trust the Lord or when we are too lazy or too proud to call on His strength. The natural, easy, pleasing way is self indulgence and moral softness. The hard way is self-denial and self-discipline, which, incidentally, is commanded in the Word of God. We have too many soft Christians today!"

"One of the best ways to overcome temptation is to keep busy for the Lord. Find something to do for Him. See to serve Him. Once you are willing, He will open innumerable doors of service for you. One good rule to follow is this: Any pleasure which tends to make us more companionable with unbelievers and less sociable with believers is to be avoided. In fact, avoidance of danger when it comes to temptation is a principle in itself."

Psalm 73:26

"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

Satan whispers "I am not real"

When it comes to sin there can be no doubt that we, who are born into sin, must take full responsibility for the decisions we make that are contrary to God's will. There are those, however, who suggest we are the sole source of evil ... that Satan is a "concept" rather than an actual creature.

How ironic that Satan, the "great liar," has encouraged in man the inclination to deny that he exists. I can hear him say: "If they deny me even as I speak to them, the stage is set to deny God too, even as He speaks. If they deny me as a source of evil, will they not then be inclined to deny God as the source of good?"

I enthusiastically agree with those who point out how wrong it is to "blame" Satan for all of our sins. We must understand that he, his fellow fallen angels, and we mortals are all "creatures" -- created by the one and only true God. Angels AND men were given the freedom of choice, and Satan and his followers chose to deny God's sovereignty. Many follow his example, denying God's grace and refusing to surrender self. Sadly, we Christians also make choices on a daily basis -- even after accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior -- to "have our own way."

Although the victory over sin and death was made final with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Satan continues a deadly campaign to try to thwart God's perfect plan. That cannot happen, but there have been and will be casualties in the spiritual battle on this earth until Christ's return and the establishment of heaven on earth.

So it is that in Ephesians 6:10-18 we are encouraged to study and meditate on the word -- to "...take up the whole armor of God ..." in our life-long battle in the spiritual realm.
Jesus Himself confirmed Satan's existence. He asked in Luke 13:16:
"And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?"
And in Matthew 4:10, Jesus says:
"Go, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only'."

"We need to be ready for potential battle at all times," warns Pastor Charles Stanley in his book, When the Enemy Strikes.
"...we simply don't know when or where the devil is going to strike at us," Stanley writes. "Don't be lulled into thinking that because everything is fine today, everything will automatically be fine tomorrow. The devil never gives up trying to defeat you. He's always looking for your blind side and your weak moment. It is foolishness to wait until the enemy strikes to prepare for a potential battle. The truth is, it's often too late to get adequately prepared for battle after a battle has begun!"

Satan is very real. The spiritual battle is on. Don't be crippled by his lies. Arm yourself in the word, in the Truth, who is Jesus Christ the Messiah.

Iron sharpens iron

I had the privilege Sunday of intimate prayer with five men: three individually and two in a group. My Tuesday morning began with prayer in a group of several fathers who have agreed to gather at 6 a.m. each week. The day ended with a group of six Christian brothers, also committed to each other on a weekly basis. The evening included share-and-prayer opportunities which, as always, yielded gifts from the Father. Wednesday morning I met one-on-one with a brother who reported tremendous spiritual revelation in recent weeks. We shared a prayer of thanks and praise.

What an awesome week this has been, and it's only Wednesday!

It has been a number of years since my wife, inspired by the Holy Spirit, "nudged" me in the direction of a Christian men's group. I was apprehensive, but the blessings continue to flow!

Psalm 23:5
"Thou preparest a table before me, in the presence of my enemies; Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over."

God tells us that from the beginning His desire has been intimate relationship. When we die to ourselves and are born again, we experience the freedom of His grace. We are given new eyes, a new heart. The "new man" covets, thrives on relationship with the Creator/Redeemer. He loves relationship with each of His children, but He also desires that we enter into relationship with others.

Galatians 4:6-7
"Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has also made you an heir."

I give thanks that as a redeemed child of the Creator, I am given the privilege of sharing the gospel with others in order that they might become heirs as well. Make no mistake: God's grace is offered to ALL, and His heart leaps with joy each time a girl or boy, woman or man, surrenders her/his heart to Him. I believe, however, that many Christian men have bought into the lie that faith is "personal," that matters of the heart are best left unspoken.

This is no time for passivity. Godly men are called to accept responsibility, lead courageously and to expect God's greater reward. I give thanks for the blessings/strength that flow out of relationship with my Christian brothers. I pray that His call to walk together in boldness will fan into flames the embers of faith among millions of Christian men in the U.S.

Psalm 133:1
"How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!"

Proverbs 27:17
"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." (NIV)

Let your ears test words

As a newspaper reporter, I had an editor who urged in the case of "writer's block" that I use, at least in order to get a story started, a simile.
"Write the words 'Like a' ..." he said, and take the story from there.
I was struck recently in a Bible study by a simile that compared the senses of hearing and taste.
Job 34: 3
"Does not the ear test words, as the palate tastes its food?"
This verse, this simile, was not written by someone dealing with writer's block and looming deadline. To the contary, it is God's word, inspired by the Holy Spirit. As is always the case in the Scriptures, the verse is worthy of contemplation.
All of us who have suffered the sting of hurtful speech recognize that words have power. All of us who have spoken in anger, without thoughtful consideration of the impact of our words, recognize that a word spoken is impossible to "take back."
Should we not test our words against the will of the Father before speaking them?
In yet another way of looking at this verse, I consider the words I choose to hear (TV, movies, music, water cooler conversation) and the words I choose to read (newspaper, Internet, magazines, books). Some food and drink fall into the category of "acquired tastes." Pickled herring, for example, or chittlins. Beer, or coffee.
Should we not test those words that "taste bad" - spoken or written - against the will of the Father before we make them a part of our daily "diet?"
I pray, Father, that I would take more seriously my appeal to be blessed with "eyes to see, and ears to hear."
Proverbs 25:11
"Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances."

Jesus Christ is The Way

Have you ever noticed that while reference to "God" is generally found acceptable in "the marketplace," attitudes can shift quickly when the name of Jesus Christ is mentioned? He was, of course, more than the "rabbi" or "historic figure" many are satisfied to call Him.

There are only two choices in regard to our conclusions about Jesus: either He was guilty of blasphemy, or He was the Son of God, fulfillment of the Creator's perfect plan of redemption for a fallen humanity. Many today, including purported Christians, cannot bring themselves to surrender to this reality. Rather than experiencing joy at the Good News that the Lamb of God provided us "The Way" to relationship with the perfect Creator, many choose to ignore the Scriptures to suggest there must be many ways to God.

Jesus first revealed Himself as Messiah to the woman at the well.

John 4:25-26

"The woman said to Him, 'I know that the Messiah is coming (who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."

Jesus later said:

John 14:6

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me."

Guard your selfish heart against desires to "amend" God's plan by suggesting there are "alternate routes" to Him. Deny the enemy's whispers that the Father's plan, as made clear in both Old and New testaments, is somehow cruel and incomplete. Jesus was, is, and is to come. The cross is empty. The tomb is empty. But we have the gift of grace, FULLNESS of life in Christ. That there is "a way" is the awesome Truth!

God is patient, not wanting anyone to perish

Communion on the moon

I recently received an email from a friend. It was titled "Communion on the Moon." The following is an excerpt from an article by author Eric Metaxas:

"Forty years ago two human beings changed history by walking on the surface of the moon (July 20, 1969). But what happened before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin exited the lunar module is perhaps even more amazing, if only because so few people know about it. I'm talking about the fact that Buzz Aldrin took communion on the surface of the moon. Some months after his return, he wrote about it in Guideposts magazine. A few years ago I had the privilege of meeting him myself. I asked him about it and he confirmed the story to me, and I wrote about in my book 'Everything You Always Wanted to Know About God (But Were Afraid to Ask)'."

"The background to the story is that Aldrin was an elder at his Presbyterian Church in Texas during this period in his life, and knowing that he would soon be doing something unprecedented in human history, he felt he should mark the occasion somehow, and he asked his minister to help him. So the minister consecrated a communion wafer and a small vial of communion wine. And Buzz Aldrin took them with him out of the Earth's orbit to the landing on the surface of the moon."

"He and Armstrong had only been on the lunar surface for a few minutes when Aldrin made the following public statement: 'This is the LM pilot. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way.' He then ended radio communication and there, on the silent surface of the moon, 250,000 miles from home, he read a verse from the Gospel of John (John 15:5), and he took communion. Here is his own account of what happened: 'In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the Scripture, 'I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in Me will bring forth much fruit. Apart from Me you can do nothing'."

"I had intended to read my communion passage back to earth, but at the last minute [they] had requested that I not do this. NASA was already embroiled in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O'Hare, the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas. I agreed reluctantly. I ate the tiny host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility. It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements. And of course, it's interesting to think that some of the first words spoken on the moon were the words of Jesus Christ, who made the Earth and the moon --- and Who, in the immortal words of Dante, 'is Himself the Love that moves the Sun and other stars'."

Christ in the Passover

Rich Robinson, a Senior Researcher with Jews for Jesus in San Francisco, visited Anacortes Wednesday, March 31 to worship and preside over a presentation titled "Christ in the Passover." Robinson was co-hosted by Anacortes Christian Church (ACC) and the Bridge Christian Fellowship.
Robinson told his audience of about 150 that he grew up in a Reform Jewish home in Brooklyn, New York. As a student at Syracuse University he came to faith in Jesus as the Messiah in 1973. He went on for the M.Div. (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1978) and the Ph.D. in Biblical Studies and Hermeneutics (Westminster Theological Seminary, 1993).
Robinson has been a missionary at several of the Jews for Jesus branches, has traveled with The Liberated Wailing Wall music team as pianist and songwriter, and was integrally involved with the Jews for Jesus website team for a number of years.