Dana's Christian Journey

“What would Jesus say to us these days?” Perhaps the best way to answer this question is to remember what He said:

HEAR ME. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Luke 8:8

COME TO ME. “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

ASK ME. “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” John 4:10

BELIEVE IN ME. “‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.’ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” John 7:37-39

FOLLOW ME. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” Matthew 16:24-25

OBEY ME. “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” John 14:23-24

REMAIN IN ME. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17

“Who is the fastest and strongest guy in the class?” I asked. “Dre’,” everyone responded. “Who works at it more than anyone else?” “Dre’,” the students repeated. Lavondre’ is going to college on a football scholarship even though he is only about 5’6″. He is an outstanding athlete and a fine young man. “Through his high school career, Lavondre’ has maximized his physical genetic potential; no one outworks him,” his strength training coach said.

This discussion arose as we noticed the boldness of Christians in lands where persecution is common. My students were amazed at the determination, courage, and perseverance of men and women who risk their lives to proclaim their faith. One girl named Grace has been arrested, beaten,  and endured several years in jail. Instead of being silenced, Grace has led her fellow prisoners to Christ. The more she is persecuted, the more her faith seems to increase. As the one who exercises his muscles gets physically stronger, so the one who exercises her faith gets spiritually stronger.

We may hesitate to make such statements for fear of proclaiming a ‘works salvation,’ but this is not about the gift of salvation. God provides the means of salvation through his obedient Son. Jesus accomplished the work through which we are saved. But what do we do with what we’ve been given? God does not intend for his children to remain immature and ineffective… He wants us to grow and to be fruitful. We grow as we abide in Christ and Jesus promised that his Father, the Gardener, will produce good fruit. “I am the Vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:5)

Peter prayed that we would grow in the knowledge of God. So how does this happen? Grace put her faith in Jesus at age twelve, but never had access to a Bible until she was sixteen. Overjoyed, she read intently then copied down as much of the Bible as she could. She then began spreading the Word to others. Reading and studying is important, but Lavondre’ would not be as strong as he is today by simply reading magazines about weight lifting. Growth in Christ comes as we put his teachings into practice. “Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22) “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” (John 15:10) We have been given everything we need; how then shall we live?

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self control; and to self control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” II Peter 1:2-8

A good friend read Jonathan Cahn’s book The Harbinger and asked: “So what do we do? If God sends warnings or wake-up calls to our nation through whatever means, what should be our response?”

Should not an individual’s response depend upon his present standing with God? The truth is: if there is no fear of the Lord, there is no wisdom. If a person is lost, he must find the Way. If a person is an unbeliever, he must come to faith. The invitation is extended; a Savior stands with arms open wide. “Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)

If an individual is a Christian, but his life looks no different than a non-Christian’s,  he must turn away from all sin and run to his ‘first love’. Perhaps Jesus has never been ‘first love’… but this is the place He must be! God takes no pleasure in the lukewarm; He did not sacrifice his Son for us to be nominal, passionless pretenders. The only hope is to humbly come to Jesus. These are his words: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve for your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:15-20)

If a person is walking with the Lord, depending on his grace, and enjoying his fellowship… he should keep trusting, keep listening, keep obeying, keep watching, and keep praying. We are not to worry or be afraid, “for God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline.” “Abide in Christ” — He is the Source of Life. “Be filled with the Spirit” — He is the promised Gift from the Father. “Love fervently” — for this is God’s will for us. He may send us to dangerous places and ask us to do hard things… but He is with us and, with God, “all things are possible!” We are his children and He has called us to be salt and light in a dark world. “Rejoice always!” “Give thanks in all circumstances!” “Be doers of the Word and not hearers only!” We have been placed on this earth for such a time as this… should we not live boldly?

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

“The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.” Isaiah 9:10

At first glance this verse might seem an appropriate statement for post 9/11 speeches. In fact, it was quoted by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle on the Senate floor the day after the twin towers fell. Then in a speech in Washington DC on the third anniversary of the attack, vice presidential candidate John Edwards quoted this passage from Isaiah as the ‘word of the Lord’ for America as we continued to recover and look to the future.

However, there is a problem with this verse as it is read in context. It was actually a statement of defiance against the Lord. God had allowed Assyria to attack a rebellious Israel, but instead of confessing their sin and turning to God, Israel revealed a hardened heart. “The Lord has sent a message against Jacob; it will fall on Israel. All the people will know it — Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria — who say with pride and arrogance of heart, ‘The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.’” Isaiah 9:8–10

Jonathan Cahn is a Messianic Jew who recently wrote a book called The Harbinger. Written in story form, Cahn shows the way God warns nations. A broad lesson of the book is the real possibility that God’s Word can be used in totally inappropriate ways. We know this is true as we notice Satan quoting Scripture to tempt Jesus on the highest point of the temple… “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus was not deceived.

The specific purpose of Cahn’s book is to sound an alarm for our country to turn to God. The historical facts he mentions in his story make the warnings impossible to ignore.

God gives a simple responsibility to those He chooses to voice his warnings. He basically says: “You can’t control whether others heed my warning, but you must speak out. If you don’t speak, I will hold you responsible.” God’s ways don’t change. He loves enough to send wake-up calls to those who are asleep. “The Lord disciplines those He loves.”

“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.” Ezekiel 3:16-19

The day after we arrived home in Atlanta from Africa, I smiled at the end of an outdoor Easter worship service when Matt Redman led his song entitled ’10,000 Reasons’:

Bless the Lord O my soul, O my soul
Worship His Holy Name
Sing like never before, O my soul
I’ll worship Your Holy Name
The sun comes up, it’s a new day dawning
It’s time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes
You’re rich in love and You’re slow to anger
Your Name is great and Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find…

We know we have 10,000 reasons to praise God each day, but sometimes 10,000 worries consume our thinking and we neglect giving thanks. With all the miracles God performed to get our mission team to Namibia and back, one part of the story is still unresolved.

We had to make a quick decision in Atlanta to change airlines to try to catch the flight from Washington DC to Johannesburg. The cost was a little over $400 per person to fly to Dulles airport. Tragically, when the first leg of a multi-leg journey is missed, the airline’s reservation system drops a traveler from all the other legs of the journey. To reinstate, another charge of $250 per person was required to ensure we could get home. Adding the two charges and multiplying by fifteen gave a tidy debt of $10,000… 10,000 reasons to worry.

But God told us every day of our trip to rejoice in Him and to not be anxious about anything… He was near. Is this only true for the actual mission trip? Does God want us to live this way every day of our lives? Are there not serious matters we have to contend with each day? I don’t think I should casually say to my business director: “Relax. Quit worrying. Rejoice! Its only $10,000…”

I told our director of missions that I felt like I was going to a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill as we walked to a Tuesday meeting with our travel agency. Our business director wisely suggested that we all sit down and discuss our situation. Before the trip, I did not notice a time change on our e-tickets (which does not surprise people who know me, as I sometimes don’t notice if my socks match). The travel agency did not inform us of this huge change in our itinerary. We were all frustrated by the circumstances that created a ‘perfect storm’ in the travel world. All of us had something at stake.

But when we sat down together and realized we were all human with the potential of making mistakes, we had an excellent meeting. The $10,000 bill is not yet paid, but a fair solution looks a lot more hopeful. God was in the middle of our meeting… and we know He is not worried.

And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forever more.

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it.” I Thessalonians 5:16-24