"Walk With Great Expectations"

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us…Ephesians 3:20

No matter how hard I have tried, I have been as accurate as the local weatherman, when it comes to predicting how God would answer my prayers.  Even when there were only a limited amount of choices for God to pick to deliver me out of a situation, He seems to always opt for the fill in option.  He always chooses option C which was not an original choice of A or B.  That’s why it is never inaccurate to describe one of God’s attributes as the ability to “make a way out of no way”.  God shows that He is still God by going over and above our expectations.

  

Isaiah 55:8 still rings true even in the 21^st century.  We have a 24 hour a day news cycle.  We have new technology almost daily.  We have improved on our ability to shrink the world with the internet and communicating on our ever improving cell phones and smart devices.  The printed word in our newspapers and magazines are quickly approaching extinction.  Yet, with all of our advances and advantages, we still have to wait for God to move.  We still have to depend on God for our daily needs.  We still have to look to God’s word for our holy, moral, standard of living.  We still need the vicarious act of Jesus now well over 2000 years old to wash and forgive us of our sins.  The more things change the more things stay the same.  We can stand flat-footed and still declare in antiquity, God’s ways are not our ways, neither are God’s thoughts our thoughts, says the Lord.  As high as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s ways higher than our ways and God’s thoughts higher than our thoughts.

                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
This was an exaggerated, elongated, and eloquent way to say God can still blow your mind! Cessationists are wrong when it comes to the miraculous activity delegated to the hand of God.  Miracles are a daily, if not minute by minute occurrence.  You should pray for practical resolutions to situations, but you should expect the unexpected miracles to show up in your life.  You can call it providential provision, or manipulating the affairs of mankind, but when it happens after you pray, and happens in a way you would have never imagined, you must admit nobody but God could have did what He did, when He did it, the way that He did it that even surpassed your wild and fancy imagination.  It is not a crack in your faith to be in the dark on how God is going to move in a situation.  As a matter of fact it is the deep rooted faith that no longer has to ask who or how.  Whatever you are waiting on God to do today, expect him to do it sooner, bigger, better, greater, and watch Him blow your mind by abundantly, exceeding even your expectation!

Lord, I thank you that you work and live outside the box of limited human imagination.  God let me rest in the assurance that you will, if it is your will, and I can trust in your divine results even if I don’t understand the divine process.  You are a great God who greatly supersedes our great expectations and you are worthy of great praise!

Walk in Good Works

Walk in Good Works

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them - Ephesians 2:10

"Nowhere do we imitate God more than in showing mercy." - Albert Barnes

One of the reasons I love my pastor in general is his Godly wisdom and insight, particularly, in his ability to debunk certain accepted "Christian" colloquialisms and common cultural philosophies.  If you don't own any of your own "mother wit" or "street philosophy" explicitly, you are probably implicitly, if not secretly, harboring some of our culture’s cute colloquialisms.  For example, "God knows my heart", "God helps those who help themselves", "If you're scared, go to church", "Follow your heart", et cetera, etc.

Now, I would be remiss if I left out the one philosophy that has guided most of my adult life and Christian walk. I felt like it gave me a pass and justified my sin. I thought God agreed with me and the Bible backed me up, when I would say about one of my Christian brothers/sisters, "I love you, but I don't have to like you." This simple street saying leads to a "hands-off" approach, forms a physical buffer and infuses a mental disconnect from individuals whom we don't care to entertain or be involved with for any extended amount of time.  When the truth is these are the very persons, we are individually called to serve and minister to, because they personally pluck our last nerve, rain on our parades, get under our skin, rub us the wrong way, or God forbid cause us "to lay down our religion".  Do you have them in mind now?

                                                

Who else should witness the love of Christ protruding through your personality more than "the thorn in your side"?  The truth is as a Christian brother/sister these individuals are displaying an attitude, action, or creating an atmosphere you deem other than Christian or "unGodly".  And if this is the case, your responsibility is not to build a barrier between you two.  It is to build a bridge.  It is to show compassion and mercy, because they are exhibiting behaviors that are preventing Christian fellowship.  Your job is now to pray for them.  If it is possible, go to them in love and explain the riff you feel they have forged by their attitude.  Then intercede some more when they reject your loving concern.  Then go out of your way to show them the love of God, you said you had for them, until your prayers and partnership with God's love have grown so you even like them, now!

 

If Martin King, Mahatma Gandhi, and Mother Teresa modeled our Messiah's message in any manner, they each uniquely personified, that you can't miss with mercy. You never lose by helping people!  Compassion is the one common Christian and cultural colloquialism we all should carry. We should Walk in Good Works!!!

"WALK HOLY"

"Captured by culture, the Church has taken off the whole armor of God, slipped on an evening gown, and gone as the world's escort to the devil's ball!" - Dr. James C. Perkins

                           

“Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:16

There was a time when Churchgoers were unashamedly and unapologetically portrayed as “Holy Rollers, Bible Thumpers, Religious Fanatics, and Jesus Freaks".  The believer’s badge of honor and calling card use to be their weird uniqueness and stark differences that separated the saints from secular society.  However, this new 21st century religion is both “vanilla” and lukewarm, because churches are now overly concerned with adjusting themselves in order to assimilate to this current, counter-Christian culture.  The people of God are becoming increasingly more interested in being politically correct and non-offensive, while going out of their way to be "seeker-sensitive" friendly, and all-inclusive.  Instead of operating like a mission rescuing prisoners of war behind enemy lines, the church more resembles an exotic resort entertaining and pampering its paying guests. The church is quickly and quietly acquiescing and becoming camouflaged on the canvas of American Culture.  This keeps the contemporary congregation from maintaining its historic and thermostatic prowess and has reduced it to a thermometric ministry.  Meaning, it is becoming more difficult to differentiate the people of the world, (non-Christians & non-church goers) from the People of the Way. 

The church's calling has never been to conform to the world.  The church has always been called forth and called out to transform the world.  The church is called to be Holy because its creator and sustainer is holy.  God is holy and everything about God is holy!  All of God's attributes are holy.  God is the "holy other".  He’s pure. He’s perfect.  He's love.  He's light.  He has no trace of sin.  He has no darkness or shadow of turning.  There is never a need for re-branding our God, because He is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.  Who is like our God?  All of God's activities are holy.  No one or nothing else can do the things He does!  Who else would do the wonderful things He has done?  Who else could love you unconditionally, forgive you wholeheartedly, and give to you freely and abundantly from his extravagance?  God hates sin, but He loves sinners.  Who does that?  We are called to do that!  We are summoned to be separate and set apart from the world.  We are called to be in the world, but not of the world.  We are called to be a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a peculiar people.  You are a part of an exclusively inclusive club called holiness.  Entrance into this club is where and when you are most like God.  It is your fellowship with God that fuels your fire to be more like God.                                                              

Holiness is one of those words that can be abused and misused by the church.  Too often it is relegated to what you adorn instead of who you adore.  But Holiness has more to do with what is in you, than what is on you.  If you have the right stuff on the inside of you, He'll make sure you have the right stuff on the outside of you.  Holy literally means to be set apart.  To live holy means to stand in direct opposition of assimilation, inclusiveness, and “getting in where you fit in”.   You need not be ashamed of being different in every aspect of living.  It is time for you to stand up and step out from the crowd.  Here is the crux of the whole matter: Since God is holy, to walk holy is to live a Godly life.  This starts by being filled with the spirit of God, by placing your trust and faith in the son of God, Jesus Christ, standing solely and being saturated by truth found in the word of God, being surrounded by the people of God at your local church, praying fervently for the will of God, working faithfully in the house of God, and serving fearlessly in the world of God by showing the love of God to your brother man.

Walk Circumspectly

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  Ephesians 5:15-16

 “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”  Soren Kierkegaard

“An unexamined life is not worth living.”  Socarates

There's nothing like a New Year to help recalibrate all the loose ends of your life.  However you need not wait for a new year to start on a new you!  We can thank God for the circular motion of the hands on a clock that mark seconds, the revolutions of the earth on its axis that constitute days, and the orbits around the Sun that create seasons and years.  These are all constant reminders that we can pause, ponder, and then proceed to do a new thing, with better preparation, programming, and planning right now, rather than later, because you  have taken the time to reflect.

  If there is one thing a fool is guilty of, it is a lack of introspection, a failure to reflect. Life is too short and time is too valuable to have a series of synonymous seasons of self-inflicted nonsense (sin).  You owe it to yourself and to all those you love to only suffer from the pain of any single mistake one time.  A fool will return to his folly.  He will major in repeat performances.  He will not self-correct.  It grieves me when I think of the things the younger generation is rushing to get into, that we are tirelessly trying to keep them out of, because they fail to value the expertise and the time their elders have taken to reflect on certain situations in life. You can literally lengthen your life by learning lessons from the mistakes of others.

When they surveyed people who had lived over 100 years, they discovered that: 1. Investing more in personal relationships. 2. Reading more and 3.  Reflecting more were among the major things they would have done differently.  The bible tells us to walk circumspectly, to reexamine, re-imagine, to take notice of things, to think about things, to consistently and cautiously concentrate or consider things, to reflect, review, reason, reevaluate, and then make the necessary adjustments in life and to our living.  Today you have a newly deposited 86,400 seconds.  Give some back to God.  Invest some in your family and loved ones.  Take some and dedicate it to work and creativity.  Use some to read a book.  But don't discard the rest.  Save some by giving time to reflection.

“Reflection is a rich and rewarding resource for the redeemed.”  Robert L. Lyons

Walk Together

How can two walk together unless they agree? Amos 3:3
 

A wise sage said, "If you want to go fast, go alone; but if you want to go far, go together!"  Enoch walked with God for 365 years.  Over the course of his lifetime Enoch was able to travel a long way, because he chose to walk with God, rather than try to attempt to navigate the stormy seas of life, on His own.  Enoch's journey was further sustained because of the added strength afforded by his "walking buddy". 

From the very beginning, God instituted partnership and companionship.  It is not good for man to be alone.  So God made a help meet for man. Gen 2:18.

Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor.  Eccl 4:9 Their work is exponentially multiplied .  One can put a thousand to flight, but two can put ten thousand to flight. Deut 32:30 You accomplish much more when you work together.  You work harder because you don't want the shame of not carrying your share of the load. You are also inherently aware that if you do tire down or even tire out, you are able to "borrow" essential energy from the encouragement that exudes from collaboration.  For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. Eccl.  4:10

Jesus also sent his disciples out in pairs.  We know one main reason was accountability.  You are more likely to stay the course and finish the task when you have a holy, helpful hand holding you to your word and responsibilities.  Another reason  was the established testimony of two witnesses.  A third and probably less realized reason was protection. 
What can easily defeat one, has much more difficulty defeating two.  A three stranded chord is not easily broken.  Eccl 4:12.  You are able to travel far because of your different struggles and vices.  You can intervene, intercept, and intercede one for the other.  
 

Throughout biblical antiquity men have coupled together to do ministry.   Moses & Aaron, Joshua & Caleb, David & Jonathan, Paul & Silas, Peter & John, etc.  Your walk with God is demonstrated by how well you walk with your brothers and sisters.  By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.  John 13:35 

"We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand, side by side, and they'll know we are Christians by our love."

 

  

"Walk This Way"

Thus saith the LORD, “Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.”  But they said, “We will not walk therein.”  -Jeremiah 6:16

It is a dark, deplorable, and dangerous disposition to know the right way to go and choose instead to go the wrong way.  Certainly there are couples right now bearing the marks of an unnecessary argument because one thought they knew the way, and the other thought they needed to stop and ask for directions.  And the only winner was pride, who refused to allow either party be incorrect.

 A few years ago at the first annual Charles E  Booth expository preaching conference, Dr. John Kenny from Virginia Union explained to us that his chiropractic Doctor could locate his pain and consequently could pinpoint where he was having trouble and needed help simply by watching him walk.   Our spiritual lives are so unique in the sense that the only one who can tell we need improvements and adjustments is God.  Sometimes even we ourselves are unaware of where we are limping along and struggling to walk a spiritually straight line.  It is only as we examine ourselves in the mirror of prayer and stand ourselves up against the standard of scripture and follow the divine prognosis administered by the Holy Spirit that we are able to walk in a way that honors and glorifies God and illuminates the dark, narrow path for our brethren who follow us. And because we have grown accustomed and acclimated to the way that we walk, both spiritual and physical adjustments to straighten our walks are painfully disruptive and our bodies always rebel against walking in righteousness (the right way).                                                                                                                      

In the natural we have physical therapists, who train our bodies to walk straight after corrective surgery.  In the spiritual realm, we have preachers, teachers, parents and peers, who stay on us in an attempt to hold us accountable, in order to keep us on our spiritual regimen.  I'm so glad that God is not only a divine orthopedic surgeon that corrects my steps, he is also a divine navigator who directs my steps so that I'm always found traveling in the direction of his will and his way.

In the African-American homiletical tradition there is a parable of poetic license that says, "Enoch walked with God every day.  Every day these enjoyable walks with God would grow increasingly longer.  Finally, one evening after they have been walking together all day, God saw how far Enoch was from his own home.  God also noticed how close they were to His house.  So God looked at Enoch and God saw that Enoch was closer to His house than to Enoch’s house.  God kindly suggests to Enoch, “Since you are closer to my house than your own house, why don't you just come and stay at my house?”  The rest is Biblical history.

Today, why don't you make up your mind to walk closer to God?  Why don’t you decide to walk further and go longer with God after each "correction"?

You, too, can end your journey walking with God accepting a personal invitation to live in His house, forever.

Advancing the Kingdom,

RLL