Relating to Those Different From Us

 

Relating to those Different from Us
TGIF Today God Is By Os Hillman
Monday, October 31 2011

“The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?’” (John 4:9).

Do you find it difficult to relate to others who are different than you? Do you shy away from interacting with those who may have a different belief?

Jesus interacted with his culture and especially those who thought differently than He. When Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well it was much like a Christian speaking to a Muslim or a Jew speaking to a Palestinian. Jesus built a relationship with the woman instead of taking an adversarial position.

In order to influence our culture it is vital believers engage with those unlike us. We often assume others who come from other cultures do not want to engage with us. This is a deception from Satan. Many who grow up in other faiths do so as a cultural tradition, not because they have strongly held beliefs. For instance, many Muslims do not know what is in the Quran and simply believe what they are taught based on tradition.

Every person is looking for a genuine relationship with God. Jesus operated based on that assumption. Notice how Jesus engaged with the woman.

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet (John 4: 13-19).

Once Jesus established a rapport with the woman He began to engage with her. He spoke supernaturally into her life which broke through the religious spirit which prevented a theological debate. This led to faith in Christ and even the city being impacted.

Why not seek out a relationship with someone different from yourself. You’ll be surprised how God might use you.

Put Your Hand to The Plow

 

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LUKE 9:61-62

 

Very few people in this day and age appreciate Jesus’ use of the plow as an illustration of a life dedicated to the Lord. The ancient plow, shaped much like the antique version of more recent centuries, was a single wooden blade attached to two handles. A mule did most of the work by pulling the apparatus forward, but the farmer held on to direct the path of the blade.

I tried out an old-fashioned plow once and discovered that using it was no easy task. The simple machine bumped and jerked under my hands as it tore up the ground. There was only one way to make a straight line, and that was to stay focused on the work and keep my eyes forward every single second.

When a believer trusts Jesus Christ as Savior, he “puts his hand to the plow.” The idea is for us to follow the Lord in absolute obedience—always keeping our eyes on Him. That’s how we reap a harvest of faith. Discouraged believers oftentimes plow a crooked row, because they’re looking over their shoulder to dwell on past regrets or peering around to see what pleasures await. Their field of faith looks like a disorganized mess. Moreover, distraction slows them down, with the result that spiritual growth is sluggish, if they mature at all.

Give up whatever draws your attention away from the Lord. Believers who focus on past failures and present distractions end up all over the place in their Christian life; peace and joy are elusive and prayers go unanswered. Follow God earnestly, and He will bring forth much spiritual fruit.

Dr. Charles Stanley

Seeing What Others Cannot See

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 Today God Is First By Os Hillman
Friday, October 28 2011

“And Elisha prayed, ‘O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” 2 Kings 6:17

Several years ago, a movie was made called Field of Dreams. The story is about a man who had a vision to build a baseball field in the middle of a cornfield on his rural farm. He did not know why; he just knew he was to do it. To the chagrin of his neighbors, he built the baseball diamond in the farm community. One night some players showed up. The man realized these were no ordinary players, but were actually the great players from the past. When the skeptical neighbors came to view this phenomenon, they were unable to see what the farm owner could see. This made it even worse for him. Now he was really a lunatic in their eyes.

This fictitious story has a spiritual application for us. First, if God tells us to “build a ball field,” we should do it. It is not for us to determine the reason we are instructed to do it. Once we are obedient, God will allow us to see what others cannot see. It is the rite of passage for those who are willing to risk all for God’s purposes. God increases the spiritual senses to levels we never knew before. Those around us will observe this.

Do you want to see what others cannot see? If so, it will require a level of obedience that will go beyond human reason. It may require risk and ridicule from others. But you will see what others cannot see.

He’s Lying

By Overseer Christopher J. Harris

 

One of the most painful things in life is to be accused of something that you’re not guilty of. It can literally be overwhelming and consume your thoughts when someone has shared untruths about you. You feel defenseless against it and all kinds of frustrations, ideas and thoughts fill your mind on how to react, what to say, and if the problem has a solution.

 

I’ve learned the hard way that if a person wants to spread lies on you, there is nothing that can over-ride lies but the truth. The truth always prevails. This must be a constant reminder for us when satan attempts to plant certain thoughts and ideas in our mind. Everything that comes from him is a lie that is far from the truth. Quite frankly, if it comes from satan, we must remind ourselves – He’s lying.

Scripture reveals his resumé and his mode of operation. He lied to Adam and Eve. He lied to Jesus Christ. And he is still lying. Because of his inability to speak truth, he hurls accusations at God’s children to get them to doubt and dismiss God’s Word, God’s promises, and God’s principles.

Our enemy’s goal is to get us to focus on our sins and become blinded by God’s forgiveness. His second goal is to tempt us to sin further. He can only do this by his lies. And very similarly, the only defeat to these lies is the truth.

The question becomes, have you equipped yourself with the truths that you need to counteract each lie that you hear, may have believed, or even created patterns around?

Very much like the child who waited for his Daddy after school while being teased by the other children whose parents had already arrived. They would yell insults to get him frustrated.

“Your pops forgot about you!”

“I thought you said your Dad loved you? He’s got you sitting out here by yourself.” 

The insults were coming so fast that the young boy started crying. And in a moment of frustration he yelled, “My daddy’s never forgotten before and he can’t start now!”Although he said it out of frustration, he actually spoke a powerful truth. He didn’t realize it, but he spoke to his father’s character and past performance. And quite naturally, he stood on that.

We would be wise to follow this young man’s example. Look to our spiritual Father’s character and past performance. In every area of our life, God’s character is solid and his past performance is glorious.

Deuteronomy 32:4 shares, “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.” Additionally, Numbers 23:19 provides this insight: “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”

Both of these passages shed light on God’s ability to be trusted. He can be trusted to tell us the truth, back that truth up with promises, and get all of heaven and earth behind that truth. This good news should be our focus, while simultaneously overriding the lies from our enemy. Truly, I’d rather focus on my Father’s faithfulness, than my enemy’s lies.

Scripture Of The Day: “Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.” - Revelations 12:10 (NKJV)

.http://www.ChristopherJHarris.com…

The Isolation Chamber

TGIF Today God Is By Os Hillman

“Be still and know that I am God….” Psalm 46:10

There is a time and place in our walk with God in which He sets us in a place of waiting. It is a place in which all past experiences are of no value. It is a time of such stillness that it can disturb the most faithful if we do not understand that He is the one who has brought us to this place for only a season. It is as if God has placed a wall around us. No new opportunities–simply inactivity.

During these times, God is calling us aside to fashion something new in us. It is an isolation chamber designed to call us to deeper roots of prayer and faith. It is not a comfortable place, especially for a task-driven workplace believer. Our nature cries out, “You must do something,” while God is saying, “Be still and know that I am God.” You know the signs that you have been brought into this chamber when He has removed many things from your life and you can’t seem to change anything. Perhaps you are unemployed. Perhaps you are laid up with an illness.

Most religious people live a very planned and orchestrated life where they know almost everything that will happen. But for people in whom God is performing a deeper work, He brings them into a time of quietness that seems almost eerie. They cannot say what God is doing. They just know that He is doing a work that cannot be explained to themselves or to others.

Has God brought you to a place of being still? Be still and know that He really is God. When this happens, the chamber will open soon after.

Tame Your Tongue

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By David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

“But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly
poison” (James 3:8).

In this verse from his epistle, James is talking about the tongue of a
believer. He is issuing a call to the church to gain control of their
tongues—before they are destroyed by them! You may ask: How serious is this
matter of taming the tongue? Can an “unruly tongue” really be that sinful?

A loose tongue renders our religion absolutely worthless! It can make your
every spiritual activity totally useless in God’s eyes: “If anyone among
you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own
heart, this one’s religion is useless” (James 1:26).

James’ reference here to those “among you” means people in the church.
Not drug addicts or street people but those members of the body of Christ who
appear pious, spiritual. They are active in the work of the Lord, but their
tongues are unbridled, out of control! James is zeroing in on those who seem to
be holy, kind, gentle and loving, yet who move about the church or their job or
their family with acid tongues, always telling tidbits of gossip or listening
with a willing ear. They murmur and complain and God says their religion—all
their show of spirituality—is in vain, worthless!

Beloved, I do not want to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and discover
that all my work for the Lord—my entire spiritual endeavor—has been in vain!
I do not want to hear Him say, “David, you did mighty works in My name. You
fed the hungry, clothed the naked, cast out devils, and established drug
rehabilitation centers and homes for alcoholics. Yes, you preached to countless
thousands and won many to the kingdom. But it was all for nothing! Many
uplifting words came out of your mouth but there were also bitter, unkind,
hateful, envious words! You took My warnings on this matter of the tongue too
lightly!”

You may speculate, “Surely God isn’t so unloving that He would discount my
spirituality because I said something uncharitable!” I am speaking here of
Christians whose tongues have never been tamed, who speak against God’s
people without blinking an eye! Here is what God’s Word says: “Though I
speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become
as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy,
and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so
that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I
bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,
but have not love, it profits me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

How and Where God Speaks

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Today God Is First By Os Hillman
Tuesday, October 25 2011

“The hand of the Lord was upon me there, and He said to me, ‘Get up and go out to the plain, and there I will speak to you.’” Ezekiel 3:22

God speaks in many different ways to His children. He spoke through a bush to Moses. He spoke through a donkey to Balaam. He spoke through prophets to His kings. He speaks through other believers. He speaks directly to us through the invisible Holy Spirit. And He speaks even through circumstances.

When God wants to speak a very important word directly to us without interruption from the noise of our busy lives, he will take us “into the plain.” The plain is a place of no distractions and no other persons. It is a place of silence. It can be a place of great need as it often fails to have the normal provisions we are accustomed to. It can be a place we go to voluntarily to seek His face, or we can be moved there without choice by His supernatural ability. More often, it is the latter method that brings us into the plain. In modern times, it often means a separation from our normal activities such as jobs or families.

The plain can also be a place where we discover afresh that God’s hand has been on us all the time. When we are so busy with life, we sometimes forget that God’s hand is still there, gently leading our path. When our lives get so busy that we are not listening or responding to His gentle touch, He must take more aggressive measures to get our attention. Thus, the plain is one of those appointed times of one-on-one communication with our heavenly Father. No distractions, no people, no beautiful surroundings to capture our thoughts. It is a barren place designed to allow us to seek and hear clearly. When He speaks, we need to be able to listen. We hear much better in the plain.

Do you need to hear God’s voice today? Is your life such that you cannot even hear His voice? Each day God calls us to our own mini-plain in order to speak to us and for us to hear. If we neglect this time of open communication, we may be invited to His plain in order to hear without distraction. Pray that you might make time to hear.

The Way to Heaven

Here’s Today’s Devotional from The Vine…

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father,

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except through me. - John 14:6

 

A way always leads somewhere: Jesus is the way from earth to heaven and also from heaven to earth. Through Him we get to God and through Him God comes to us. He is the true and only ladder whose foot rests on the earth and whose top reaches up to the very glory of God. In His humanity Jesus comes down to the lowest depths of human need and sorrow. Had He been God only and not man, He could not have done this. The incarnation was the lowering of the ladder until it rested in the deepest valleys. There is now no shame or guilt in this world from which there is not a ladder of light with its steps leading upward to God and heaven..

While Christ‘s humanity brings the ladder down to earth’s places of sorest need, His divinity carries the ladder up past the shining stars into the the glory of God. On one page of the New Testament we find Jesus on a cross, dying in darkness and shame between criminals. We open another page and we see that same Jesus in the midst of the heavenly brightness, still bearing the wound marks but crowned in glory. Behold the ladder from earth to heaven!

A ladder is a way for people to climb. Christ is the way then by which sinners can go up out of their sins to the purity and blessing of heaven. One thing that is critical to understand is that there is only one way. Christ is the only Mediator. We can enter the Father’s family only through Him. Grace can come to us only through Him. There is no choice: if we do not go by this one way we can never reach home. We must not forget that a way is meant to be walked in. We must put our feet on this ladder and go up rung by rung until we reach the topmost step which will be heaven.

Apply This To Your Life Today… This week rejoice in and reflect on your relationship with Christ, by which you will achieve salvation. We have so much to be thankful for, because He had so much love for us!

Are You God’s Next Deliverer?

Today God Is First By Os Hillman

“But when they cried out to the Lord, He raised up for them a deliverer, Othnielson of

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Kenaz, Caleb‘s younger brother, who saved them.” Judges 3:9

Have you ever heard of a man named Othniel? Probably not. He was Caleb’s nephew. When the people of Israel went into the Promised Land, they were victorious through the courageous efforts of Joshua and Caleb. As this generation grew older, a new generation began to emerge. Israel again fell into sin by worshiping idols. The anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He allowed them once more to be enslaved by their enemies. However, the people again cried out to the Lord and God heard them.

Whenever God’s people cry out to the Lord, He hears them. When they are truly repentant, He responds. He responds by rising up those whom He has prepared for such a time. Every soldier looks forward to the day he can use the training he has received. God had been preparing a nephew for such a time as this. He had the same Spirit as his uncle, Caleb.

The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war. The Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him. So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died (Judges 3:10-11).

Has God been preparing you for a time when you will be called upon to deliver God’s people? Millions of men and women are enslaved to the god of mammon and idolatry in the workplace. Has He placed you there to be a deliverer? Pray that you will have the same Spirit as Joshua, Caleb, and Othniel.

Where Do We Go To Eat?

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David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]

The seventh chapter of Micah contains one of the most powerful messages on the
new covenant ever preached. In this incredible sermon, Micah is speaking to
natural Israel—yet he is also speaking to the church of Jesus Christ in these
last days. He begins his sermon with a heartbroken cry—one that is still being
heard from spiritually starved believers around the world today: “Woe is me! .
. . There is no cluster to eat” (Micah 7:1).

Micah is describing the effect of a famine in Israel—a famine of food and of
God’s Word. It echoes the words of an earlier prophecy by Amos where the Lord
says: “Behold, the days are coming . . . that I will send a famine on the
land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words
of the Lord. They shall . . . run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but
shall not find it” (Amos 8:11–12).

It was harvest time in Israel and the vineyards should have been bursting with
fruit, but there were no clusters hanging from the vines. Micah watched as
people went into the vineyards looking for fruit to pick and finding none. In
his prophetic eye, Micah saw multitudes in the last days running from place to
place, seeking to hear a true word from God. He envisioned believers scurrying
from church to church, from revival to revival, from nation to nation—all
seeking to satisfy a hunger and thirst for something to nourish their souls.
The cry is still heard, “Woe is me—there is no cluster!”

There is a great famine in the land. Yet, in spite of multitudes running about
looking for spiritual food, those who truly desire God’s Word comprise only a
remnant (see Micah 7:14, 18). This is certainly as true today as it was in
ancient Israel. Few Christians today truly hunger to hear the pure word of the
Lord. Instead, the majority fatten themselves on Sodom’s apples, feeding on
the straw of perverted gospels.