Never Fear

After reading a post from Dr. Elmer Towns newsletter this week, he referred to the concept of fasting in dealing with fear. I also wanted to share a takeaway I got from this story. The writing below is from his newsletter. I had to edit some of the newsletter for space sake. Here is what he shared in part.

Sometimes you fast because you are scared . . . scared silly . . . scared out of your wits.  You feel like you’re running, but a death shadow is catching up with you . . . a death shadow is biting at your heels . . . surely a death shadow will pounce upon you, and then you’ll die. I remember watching one of the National Geographic television programs of a tiger chasing down an antelope.  The antelope ran frantically, cutting sharply to the right; then to the left to elude the tiger.  The faster antelope should have overrun the tiger, but each time the antelope cut sharply, the tiger quickly recovered its steps to go bounding after the antelope.  As I watched, I kept hoping and praying that the antelope would escape; each time the antelope put a little distance between it and the predator; I breathed a little sigh of relief.  But the antelope didn’t escape.  Finally with one gigantic leap, the antelope was knocked to the ground, and before it could regain its feet, the powerful jaws of the tiger were locked in a death grip on the neck of the antelope. When the antelope was eventually caught, I thought my emotions would end.  But no!  The TV camera zoomed in on the eyes of the antelope.  I saw fear . . . panic . . . approaching death.  The tiger kept resetting its teeth grips into the neck of the antelope.  Now it was impossible to run away, the antelope was still alive, but dying, it had a death wound. 

Do you ever feel like an antelope being pursued by your enemy?  Is your enemy catching up?  Psalm 23 describes believers as sheep, and the Lord is our Shepherd.  Of all the animals, sheep are the most vulnerable to danger because they don’t know how to take care of themselves.  And if sheep wanted to take care of themselves, they couldn’t; because sheep have no weapons of defense.  Sheep are defenseless to protect themselves; they depend on a shepherd for protection from danger. What’s scaring you today?  Maybe your problem is not your problem.  Many things that frighten us never happen, and our greatest fear is fear itself.  Are you scared of shadows?  The Psalmist said he would not be afraid of death shadows when walking through dark valleys.  We are afraid of what might happen.   

We let shadows scare us. What shadow is stealing joy from your life?  Is it a shadow of financial ruin, because you’re afraid you won’t have enough money when you retire?  Or maybe can’t pay the first of the month bills.  Some put all their money in a Keogh Fund, or in a retirement account; then whoosh, an unplanned medical emergency blows it all away.  Maybe the shadow that scares you is a little nagging pain that you think might be cancer. Then we feel the hot breath of death shadows on the back of our neck, and we think we only have moments to live. We think that when we take our heads from under the cover, the death shadow will jump on us.  

If the shadow is near, we know that death is right behind it.  Remember God’s invitation, “Call unto me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee” (Psalm 50:15). So when shadows scare you, take time to fast and seek God’s presence.

A very timely message for those who fear what is ahead in life and written by a man who has faced death in the eye over the last several years. Sometimes it is wise to hear from someone who has been there and how they reacted to the danger and faced it bravely without fear!

Inactivity verses Productivity

 Acts 1:12–14 (NASB) Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

“With a dim presentiment of what is coming, with hears which throb and swell under the excitement of expectation, and heaving with wondering thoughts of the great things about to be revealed, they sit there in that upper room for ten long days, and wait for the promise of the Father. Verily it is an impressive, a sublime scene. But how do they wait? Do they sit still and silent, Quaker fashion, all that time expecting the descent of the Power? No; the meeting in the upper room was not a Quaker meeting. They prayed they even transacted business; for in those days Peter stood up and proposed the election of a new apostle in the room of Judas, gone to his own place. Nor was their meeting a dull one, as those may imagine who have never passed through any great spiritual crisis, and to whom waiting on God is a synonym for listless indolence.” The Training of the Twelve, A. B. Bruce, pp. 539.

Many times in crisis moments we are told to sit and wait upon the Lord for His further direction. While this might work many times for some; we might have another option. Many years ago, I cannot remember from which author, I read something that challenged my thinking in this area of waiting. Bruce alludes to this in his paragraph above as he states the activity of the apostles…

Sometimes, we think that we must wait upon the Lord to do the work that is set out ahead of us. We wait upon the Lord to do the work, when in fact we should still be busy as Peter during this ten day waiting period. Business as Bruce states or those things we have been taught by Jesus were conducted by the apostles during the waiting period. As I said before, the unknown author I was trying to remember (Perhaps Henry Blackaby) stated that many times we ask God to do things in our lives, while never completing the work He has already asked us to perform. It falls incomplete before His throne. We should always be busy about doing the last thing God asked us to perform. Perhaps many times we are asking too soon for God to perform or do something which He has not seen completed in His last request. When in doubt as what to do, sometimes it may be that we need to stay busy in the last thing He asked us to do before asking for something new. This way we are not found inactive when He arrives and gives us more to conduct for His kingdom.

I believe that Jesus knew the things He taught the apostles over His ministry here on earth and instructed them to continue in those things throughout their lifetime; even while they were called to wait upon the Holy Spirit’s arrival. The Bible tells us that from the point of their arrival in the upper room, “they continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.” They prayed without fainting, without wearying, with one heart and mind.” (Bruce, pp. 539) This is not inactivity. It is productivity. Are you productive while you wait? Should you? Stay busy and be found faithful in all things, not just what you feel is the next step for your life.

Power from on High

“You are witnesses of these things.” “And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24:48-49, NASB

“Power from on high” means: All that the apostles were to gain from the mission of the Comforter- enlightenment of mind, enlargement of heart, sanctification of their faculties, and transformation of their characters, so as to make them whetted swords and polished shafts for subduing the world unto the truth; these, or the effect of these combined, constituted the power for which Jesus directed the eleven to wait. The power, therefore, was a spiritual power, not a magical; an inspiration, not a possession; a power which was not to act as a blind fanatical force, but to manifest itself as a spirit of love and of a sound mind.” The Training of the Twelve, A. B. Bruce, pp. 536.

Prior to all this growth in the disciples’ lives, Jesus raised ignorant fools to the plan of God, as a father teaches his children, in the plan for the world He came to die for. These men would soon experience more rational, non-whimsical behavior  with calm, clear, dignified behavior which is recorded in Luke’s account in the book of Acts. They would soon change from their previous behaviors: “no longer ignorant, childish, weak, carnal, but initiated into the mysteries of the kingdom, and habitually under the guidance of the Spirit of grace and holiness.” (Bruce, pp. 537)

As I read this today, it brought me to think about my own life. Maybe you may think this way as well. As the Spirit of God was about to come into their lives, these men were about to experience transformation, which changed them into the men who “could” change the world around them. They would have supernatural power unparalleled to anything they ever saw.

Then the question hit me… How much of the Spirit of God do I give possession of myself each and every day? You see He can bring forth change in my life by His indwelling power and I can experience that same power as they.

As even a pastor, I must admit that many times I try to “do” too much without praying and submitting things to His power for ministry. We as pastors are fallible and able to fall into the same areas as each Christian struggles. We are mere men who struggle like you. 

These men were about to be transformed by the power of God into men who were serious minded, guided by the Spirit of God, to transform the world and present to it the gift of God; salvation.

Do you identify with me sometimes feeling as if you don’t have enough power each day to do God’s work? I know I do. If you don’t, maybe you are way more spiritual than I. Maybe it's time for us as we take this journey for our Lord each day to take a hard look at ourselves and decide we need Him every day a little more. The more the apostles faced adversity, the more they proclaimed their faith in Jesus: even to the point of their own death.

What About Me?

“If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!”

“Yet while all this was clear to His prescient eye, Jesus did not condescend to give any explanations concerning the appointed lot of the beloved disciple, but allowed Peter to think what he pleased about the future of his friend. ‘If I will,’ He said, ‘that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?’ not meaning to give any information, as contemporary believers imagined, but rather refusing to give any in the bluntest and most peremptory manner. ‘Suppose’- such is the import of the words- ‘Suppose it were my pleasure that John should remain on the earth till I return to it, what is that to thee?’ Suppose I were to grant him to sit on my right hand in my Messianic kingdom, what, I ask again, is that to thee? Suppose John were not to taste of death, but, surviving till my second advent, were, like another Elijah, to be wafted directly into heaven, or to be endowed in his body with the power of an endless life, still what is that to thee? Follow thou me.’” The Training of the Twelve, A. B. Bruce, pp. 527.

This trait of man is inherent to all of us. We are at one time or another concerned about everyone else except our own selves. We concern ourselves about what else will happen with someone else, as if they had a better chance to be more successful. It comes from our old nature and Jesus knew it well enough to rebuke Peter once again. Jesus knows our old nature; he identified and was tempted by it while He was here on earth and later died for it. Even Satan himself tried it on Jesus in the wilderness. He appealed to his ego by desire for things and power. Aren’t you glad He won that battle?

In the story, Jesus called Peter to follow him after having breakfast. Peter already heard soul searching words earlier when Jesus said, ““Do you love Me?” “Tend My sheep.” Peter probably was thinking he would be the next man in charge and was being groomed for the task ahead so it required some alone time with Jesus. Just a meeting for the upper echelon! But it wasn’t so. After following Jesus away from the breakfast area, Peter turned and saw John following close behind, so Peter asked Jesus the question, “Lord, and what about this man?” as if he had to check if John was allowed to attend. Jesus responded again which caused Peter grief for speaking once again before thinking, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?”

You see, we live in a society which is always concerned about what we can get. We live in a hustle and bustle society that determines our net worth. It comes in many forms; power, prestige, play-toys, and plain cold cash. If we don’t have the best or our thoughts are about the best, somehow we aren’t of any value. The problem is each of us is all the same. We all came into this world the same way and will exit it the same way. But somehow along the way someone has told us we have to have everything to be happy and this comes through our fallen nature. Satan in the Garden of Eden appealed to Adam and Eve through their desire to have everything, including the knowledge of everything; to be like God. Today we want all the things we can get, mostly material in nature as if they won’t perish over time. They are temporaries subject to time and aging. Peter didn’t have all the big temptations we have today, but he desired one thing, to be important; but he already was in Jesus eyes, just like John.

We are all valued in our lives by Jesus. Let’s face it; He died for us, each of us! So the next time you think you have to have the next thing to make you feel important or valued, remember that your Savior sees you as His prize! So what should we do in the meantime? Jesus sums this question with a resounding answer of “Follow Me.”

What Does a Duty Bound Christian Look Like?

“…follow me!” John 21:22b

“To be a dutiful under-shepherd is another view, to be a faithful sheep, following the Chief Shepherd whithersoever He goes. Pastors are not lords over God heritage, but mere servants of Christ, the great Head of the Church, bound to regard His will as their law, and His life as their model. In the scene by the lake Jesus took pains to make His disciples understand this. He did not allow them to suppose that in committing to their pastoral charge His flock, He was abdicating His position as Shepherd and Bishop of souls. Having said to Peter, ‘Feed my lambs,’ ‘Feed my sheep,’ He said to him, as His final word, ‘Follow me.’” The Training of the Twelve, A. B. Bruce, pp. 524.

Twice in verse 19 and 22, Jesus uses the simple phrase, “Follow me!” I don’t know about you, but when I see the Master mention the same phrase twice in a few words, there must be something to it. As Bruce mentions, Jesus was not going to abdicate the entirety of the gospel to the disciples. He was the only way for men to be saved, and leaving that to the disciples was quite impossible. Surely they knew this though. He was simply leaving the model of the gospel to each of them and charging them with the care of it. The model was basing all they did and said upon the life He taught them to live. This means for today, we as Disciples of Christ are supposed to follow the life He left us as an example; and then follow it as closely as we can each day.

This however is not true in the real world today. How do I know? The last figure I heard this last week is that 53,000 Christians are leaving the church each month; each month? Today the world is filled with halfhearted and misdirected Christians who have somehow changed their minds the concept of what they believe the gospel means. Since the day of their salvation, many have wandered from the faith; the model set for each in-Christ. Then, others have decided to cherry pick and choose what they will live by or cast aside what they deem no longer valid of Scripture. When it comes to passages which address our actions and how to behave, many choose to say, “That was in a different era, it doesn’t apply today!” You see, their life is driven by culture around them. Whatever culture tells them is important, is what they follow. There is no permanent standard of truth in their life. Our Bible is our standard of truth! It is not outdated! It is not a dead document! It is the living, breathing Word of God! The problem is some are driven by the winds of time. The Word of God is our rock which we can stand upon. Consider the words of Paul as he tells us about the stability the Word of God and what it brings into our lives; “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Eph. 4:14).

On Sunday nights, there is one phrase I remember vividly from Dr. Elmer Towns REL 102 class we are taking as a church body. He says this; “Methods are many, Principals are few; methods change but Principles never do.” You see, the principles are the Word of God. Those things do not and will not change. Methods are many, refers to the ways the gospel can be shared in integrated into our lives. But when the two clash against each other, which one do you trust? We must always side with the principles of the Word of God!

We are not the masters of our life. Those who know Jesus Christ as their Savior know better. He is our Master and Savior. We are only to model our lives after His. His is the solid principle for our lives and it is up to us to live our lives in a way that honors His life! Jesus said “Follow me.” Will you choose this day to follow Him?