Category: PASSION Reflections

Needy 4

On By BrianIn Habit of Prayer, Revival

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” – Hebrews 4:16

We are a needy people.  Jesus meets our need.  So what should we do?  We need to pray!  Come confidently to the throne of grace.  Cry out to God for mercy for all the times we fail him, for our backsliding, for our lukewarm distracted divided hearts.  Cry out for grace to overcome sin, grow in the Lord, revive our hearts with a passion for God and his kingdom.

Today is the National Day of Prayer.  What a great day to cry out to God for mercy and grace.  And then let’s continue to pray tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day – that God would pour out his mercy and grace upon us for his glory!

Needy 3

On By BrianIn Revival

“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” – Hebrews 4:14-16

We are a needy people.  Jesus meets our need:

He is our high priest (v14) who offered up a sacrifice (himself!) to pay for our sins so we could draw near to God.

He sympathizes with us (v15).  He knows what it is like to be tempted.  He struggled with temptation.  He knows human fraility.

He is perfect (v15).  Only someone who overcame sin himself can help us overcome sin.

He provides mercy (v16).  Through his death and resurrection, we can receive God’s mercy, forgiveness, cleansing.

He provides grace (v16).  By his grace, he can empower us through his Spirit to overcome sin in our lives.  By his grace and through his Spirit, he can change us to exhibit the Fruit of the Spirit.  By his grace and through his Spirit he can make us more like him, revive our hearts, and transform our lives.

We are a needy people.  Jesus meets our need.  Praise the Lord!

Needy 1

On By BrianIn Revival

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”  Hebrews 4:16

Why do we approach the throne of grace?  Because we are needy people.  We need God’s mercy for all the times we sin.  We need his grace to help us overcome our sin.

We need to recognize that we are needy people – all of the time. It is not that I am fine today, but may need God’s mercy and grace tomorrow.  No, I always need God’s mercy to forgive my sins and I always need God’s grace to overcome the temptations around me.  I am always a needy person.

Consider the following passages, and think about how much you need his mercy for all the times you haven’t lived up to God’s expectations, and how much you need his grace to help you live up to these standards:

“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” – II Timothy 3:1-5

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” – Galatians 5:22-23

Learning To Share

On By BrianIn Habit of Stewardship

Here is an interesting thought to ponder: we try to teach our children to share – all the time doing the best we can to own everything we need so we never have to share.  A bit inconsistent, isn’t it?

We have bought into the idea that we have to own everything we use.  Our homes, garages, and (where I live) polebarns are full of things we seldom use, but nevertheless bought sometime along the way.  Now we have to store all the stuff that is just rusting or rotting where it sits.  Except for the polebarn, I share in this tendency.

What about an alternative?  It is interesting that the early church held everything in common – that is they shared things.  Take the example of a roto-tiller.  I’m told they cost about $1000.  How often do you use a roto-tiller?  Once or twice a year?  So all kinds of people have roto-tillers rusting in their sheds 363 days a year.  Now suppose four families decided to buy a roto-tiller to share.  Instead of forking over $1000, they only have to fork over $250.  That is a significant savings – especially in our current economy.

If our eceonomy continues to deteriorate, we may be forced to start thinking this way just to survive.  And if our economy improves?  What if we still started learning to share anyway.  In the roto-tiller example – there is an overall savings of $3000.  Now suppose that savings was used to support missionaries trying to get to the field or to feed hungry children in another country.  Sharing and then giving the savings could help us advance the kingdom.  We need to start thinking more strategically and creatively about the resources God gives us.

Bottom line: We can store up treasures on earth that we rarely use or we can learn to share and store up treasures in heaven.   I think Jesus said something like that once….

500 Years Later

On By BrianIn Revival

At the RHMA conference on revival, John Hannah gave us some history of revivals.  But before doing that he noted where we are today, and its similarities to 500 years ago before the Reformation.  He noted three similarities:

  1. Lack of confidence in the Word of God
  2. Sin’s seriousness not understood
  3. Minimized glory and efficacy of Christ’s cross

Certainly this is true of our country.  As he walked us through these three points, it struck me that this was a pretty good description of the emergent church too.  But what concerns me is that I think it is true of much of the evangelical church too.

  1. Do we really believe the Bible is sufficient, and then live that way?  Do we really seek to live according to God’s Word?  Are we regularly studying God’s Word?
  2. Do we really take sin seriously?  Are we striving to overcome sin?  Are we weeping over our sins?
  3. Do we glory in the cross?  Are we awestruck at the implications of the cross for our lives?

Revival Thoughts 3

On By BrianIn Revival1 Comment

Here is another nugget from the conference – this time from Jeff VanGoethem:

He started his first session with us by pointing us to Isaiah 8:17 which reads: “I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.”  The context of this verse is Israel’s sin; that is, God had turned his face from them because of their sin.  So Jeff’s question to us was:  Have we turned God’s face from us?  And if so, how?

(My thoughts for a minute: Don’t apply this to America – that is too easy and would miss the point.  Each of us needs to personally ask the question, and then we need to ask it as local churches.  Have we turned God’s face from us?  And if so, how?)

What should we do?  Jeff’s answer was to point again to the verse.  Wait for the Lord – not just wait around, but wait for the Lord; that is, turn or re-turn our focus to him.  And our wait focused on God should be a hope-filled one, filled with expectation that God will act as we return to him.

Are we waiting on the Lord with expectation?

Revival Thoughts 2

On By BrianIn Revival

The conference is over and I’m still trying to process everything.  Last night Walter Kaiser shared 4 ways to renew the work of God from Haggai 1.

First: Refuse to offer excuses – especially time excuses (v1-4)

Second: Set priorities – God’s ways and work first (v5-6)

Third: Get involved in God’s work – obey God for his glory (v7-12)

Fourth: Receive God’s enablement – God is with you (v13-15)

How often do we make excuses and give God the leftovers of our time and talent?  Are we obeying God by doing his work or are we sinning?  (Those are our two options)  Are we seeking God’s enabling?

Revival Thoughts

On By BrianIn Revival6 Comments

If all goes well, I will be attending the RHMA Small-Town Pastors’ Conference Monday through Wednesday this week.  The conference focus is “Seeking Revival in Rural America.”  Assuming the hotel has a computer in the lobby to use, I will be writing thoughts about revival from the conference while I’m there.  Since I’ll be using a public computer, I will be adding comments to this post rather than adding new posts.  So watch for comments on this post during the week.  And if you have thoughts on revival, please add your own comments as well.  May the Lord revive his church!

Rash Words

On By BrianIn Virtue Miscellaneous

In the book of Judges, Jephthah rashly vows to offer up whatever first comes out of the door of his house if God will give him victory over Israel’s enemies.  God gives the victory, and as Jephthah nears home, his daughter – his only child – comes out the door to greet him. Rash words.

My son has been using the word “never” a lot lately, like “I will never come to the table to eat again” – which of course isn’t true.  Rash words.

Our president compared his bowling to that of the Special Olympics.  Apparently the champion Special Olympics bowler has bowled 5 perfect games since 2005.  Rash words.

I say something unkind to my wife or in an unkind tone.  Rash words.

Bottom line: We can get on Jephthah’s case or the president’s case, but all of us are guilty at times of rash words.  Oh, how we need to guard our tongues if we are going to live with compassion for people!