Love Inside Out

¹⁴ For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, ¹⁶ that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. ²⁰ Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:14–21 (ESV)

The Apostle Paul had a great love for the church of his Savoir. There is a common thread throughout his letters to various churches how he not only loved them but prayed for them deeply, earnestly and sincerely. This kind of deep prayer was hard evidence of that love. In the book of Ephesians we find one of those prayers in which I believe we can learn much from.

Paul’s passion for the church is seen in this prayer but Paul’s passion for Jesus is also seen in the prayer. This passion or love that, according to Paul, comes from somewhere inside him. I believe the world today, including most Christians, don’t know how to love. We are told that love is an emotion, we are told that love is a choice, we are told that we can choose to love or not to love. We are told that we can find love and loose love. All this distorts the true meaning of love. I believe the world we live in would be a much different place if we knew how to love. I also believe Paul gives us a massive clue on just how to love.

Paul says that he prays that you, the church, would be strengthened with power. Surely if there is ever a time we need to be strengthened with power it is in the day we live. This power is through His (God’s) Spirit, the Holy Spirit and it comes from your inner being. Wow! Now we are looking at a power source that Paul further articulates is limitless and this power source is from the Almighty God. Sound interesting so far? Could you use a power source like that today, tomorrow and the rest of your life? I sure can. But there’s more.

This power source seems to center around one object and that object is not only limitless in power but is limitless in availability or volume. An unending resource that is from the Almighty God that is from inside every born again Christian. That object is love. However, let us not miss that fact that this love is unique it is God’s love that comes from within us not from our minds, not from our experiences, not from our choices, it comes from within us. One hundred percent available, limitless in volume and limitless in power and it is available to you.

This amazing love is also comprehendible, not in it fullest but in the sufficiency you need. Notice in verse 18 part of Paul’s prayer is that you comprehend this love and again in verse 19 that you would know this love. As a matter of fact the book of I John tells us that this love, God’s agape love, can be perfected, learned, mastered to a progressive degree (1 John 4:12). Now think with me, a limitless power source that comes from inside of you as a gift from the Almightly God, wow! My next question is are you using it, according to Scripture it is there, you have it, are you using it?

I have lived most of my life hearing about and paying for an energy crisis. During the term of President Jimmy Carter there was supposed to be a shortage of crude oil that drove prices out the roof. The story was that we was loosing our supply of oil and compensation had to be made. Speed limits were reduced, rations were considered it was a big deal. Now thirty plus years later we still have crude oil. What happened? It was either a lie or we found more oil. I believe most Christians run through live with an abundance of a power source that they rarely tap into for various reasons. Sometimes I think they don’t tap into because they don’t believe, or in other words they believe a lie. Most of the time though I believe they don’t tap into it because they don’t know how or they just don’t have the practice and/or experience.

Ask God to show you how to tap into this power source. Allow it to change the way you think. Allow it to change your family status, your marriage, your work place. I totally believe it can because Scripture says it will. The Bible says in 1 Peter 4:8 that love covers a multitude of sins and sin is what causes all the conflict we face in life. So go ahead, earnestly, sincerely and expectantly ask God to show you how to tap into and use this limitless power source that comes from within you. I believe it will change the way you do life.

Lord Jesus, You said if we love You the world will see that love and know we are Yours, that is called witness and there is much, much more. Show us how to love with the love that Paul wrote about to Your glory. Amen.

Some of The Purposes of God

My favorite Bible character next to Jesus is the Apostle John. I love to read his books and as a matter of fact I am reading through the Gospel of John right now in preparation for an initiative our church is calling “Find it Here.” It has again been such a blessing to me to read after the man that Jesus loved. The man that was leaning on Jesus during the Lord’s Supper. The man that was exiled for Jesus to an island in the middle of the Mediterranean called Patmos. There is so much in the book of John to be learned. There is a lot about love and there is a lot about purpose.

There are three primary purposes found in the book. The first is our purpose of existence found in John 11:52b. ...“and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.” Your Godly purpose to be in existence is to have the opportunity to be a part of the children or Kingdom of God. This is why the Creator God created you and the reason you have life. That life, just like the lives of those whom you are praying for, is by grace to know Him as a born-again child.

Second, we find the purpose of Jesus coming as God incarnate to this earth. John 12:27 states this purpose as, ““Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.” Jesus during the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the beginning what is known today as passion week states His purpose clearly. Savior of the world, Savior of those whom trust Him (2 Cor. 5:15), Redeemer, Friend, King, King Jesus! People need to know why Jesus came. Most would accept that He was here. A Muslim would accept the fact that Jesus walked the earth but they don’t know why He came.

Third, we can find the purpose of the Gospel in the book of John. The entire purpose of the book is found in John 20:31. “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” The purpose of John writing the Gospel of John, the Good News of John, the true story of Jesus according to the apostle John is that you may know, that you may believe that this King Jesus is the Son of God. The Mormons that knock on your door may say they are a witness of Jesus Christ and are His saints in the latter days but they do not acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God. Ask John, “to YOU who is Jesus?” He will tell you that Jesus was, is and always will be the Son of the Living God, God Almighty, God the Creator of all that exists. This IS the Good News and you have it in your hands.

I am thankful God has a purpose for us. I am also so thankful that purpose included all the promises, joy, fulfillment and the blessed relationship with Jesus. Lord Jesus, show us more of the purpose you have for each of us and help us to rejoice in Your truths of Your Word. Amen.

More Jesus for the right reasons.

Almost every time I read John chapter four where Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman at the community well I see such comparisons to people today. Jesus’ evangelism mythology is nothing short of amazing not to mention note worthy. He avoids getting sidetracked; He pleasantly controls the conversation and holds to nothing but the truth. The woman on the other hand is so typical of people today. Jesus asks a simple request for water and she immediately sizes up the cultural situation as her response. She immediately makes note that there were differences, actually many differences in that culture, of this almost rude request. This however, doesn’t bother Jesus, He stays focused on His objective.

Jesus gives her an opportunity to know the truth He had for her early in the conversation but she then avoided it with logic and logistics. The living water was to far fetched and the well was too deep without the proper mechanical mechanism. When she, seemingly skeptically sarcastic, asks for the proof of the water, Jesus gets personal by asking about her personal life. Remember His intent is perfect, His motive is perfect and what He had to offer this woman was totally perfect.

Once the lady was caught up in the power of God in Jesus’ total knowledge about her personal life she turns religious because she thought she was before a prophet (modern day preacher). I see this often. People change and/or become spiritual when they discover they are in the presence of someone spiritual. In verse twenty she brings to the conversation the argument of who is right in the world of worship or better said in today’s terms, religion. Again, Jesus was not sidetracked and would not allow Himself to get into an argument about religion. Good apologetics (defending your faith) is based upon the correct motive and Biblical truth. 

Another key observation when the lady got past her culture, her past and her ideology of religion she could really get what Jesus had to offer her. How often to we miss the living water by getting hung up on our culture (what we believe about ourselves and/or others) our past (what we believe about who we really are) and our religion (what we think it takes to be right)? What do you receive from Jesus? Can I get closer, ok, thank you, what did you receive yesterday? What did you receive last week? The last 10 minutes? Is something blocking your receipt of what Jesus really wants you to receive? David Platt is a fantastic young pastor whom I have gained a great level of respect primarily because of his love for Jesus. David states, “We don’t come to Jesus to get stuff (happiness/heaven/health/wealth). We come to Jesus to get Jesus.”[1]

It is so easy to get sidetracked today, we have a lot of things and misconceptions that tend to get in our way. However, this is no different from the 1st century AD. Ask the Lord to purify your motives, to clarify your view of Him and to open your mind to the truth of the Word of God. Ask Him to show you more of that living water so your testimony to your community, wherever that is, to be “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” John 4:29 (ESV)

Lord Jesus, we pray that You would open our eyes more and more as to who You really are and help us to seek You for who You are and not for what we can get. Amen.

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[1] David Platt message on twitter read on Feb. 24 2011.

The Importance of Persistent Prayer

O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry        everything to God in prayer. The second half of the first verse of the old hymn, “What A Friend We Have In Jesus” could explain why American Christians are struggling so much today. The lyrics was wrote by Joseph M. Scriven as a poem in 1855 to comfort his mother who was living in Ireland while he was in Canada. Scriven originally published the poem anonymously, and only received full credit for it in the 1880s. The tune to the hymn was composed by Charles Crozat Converse in 1868. William Bolcom composed a setting of the hymn.[1] Though now more than a century later this song surely tells us why there are so many things going wrong around us. We just don’t pray enough. We don’t trust prayer.

This week multiple issues and circumstances have almost overwhelmed me with the result coming to the fight against discouragement. Can a person get so discouraged they can’t pray? Nehemiah faced extreme discouragement in his life when he had left a perfect job in a prosperous land. He left family, relationships and comfort to do the work of God. In all of this it would seem that he would be rewarded with great success, right? That is not how it came to pass and that is not how it comes to pass today. He was attacked by so-called good-doers that had the motive to destroy him. This brought great discouragement.

So in his despair and loneliness what did Nehemiah do? He prayed. The Bible says in Nehemiah 4:9 (ESV) And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night. Discouragement and disappointment can drive us to the point we see no hope, even in prayer. However, we can not stop there; we can not allow things to get to that point. Just like the old hymn of the late 1800’s, this is our only hope. This is the substance that protects, sustains and enhances life, our life with the Almighty God. So my encouragement for you today is to pray, pray and never stop praying even when you don’t see why, how or even when you don’t feel like it. What a Friend we have in Jesus, let’s continue to pray and converse with our Only Hope!

Lord Jesus help us in our weakest hour, help us in our most independent hour, helps us to pray. Amen.

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[1] Wikipedia: Found on line at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_a_Friend_We_Have_in_Jesus accessed March 6, 2011.