March 11, 2016

God fights for you!

He fights for you with His presence!

For over 40 years God's presence had been very real and visible to them following 400 long difficult years of doubting His presences.

Every day as God led His people away from Egypt and toward Canaan He appeared before them in a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire through the night. When the pillar moved they moved and when it stayed they stayed!

Finally, God was able to lead them back to the Jordan ready to lead then through the river and in to Canaan. As the prepared to enter over and possess the Land of Promise Joshua needed a fresh assurance of God's presence. God gave him that.

“No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.  Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them”  Joshua 1:5-6

My guess is that Joshua wasn't having as much of a problem trusting God's leadership as he was struggling to trust his own! He may have had thoughts like this and I can can imagine God's response to those honest doubts:

• I have never led before and there are 2,000,000 people – but I am with you!
• But there’s the Jordan River at flood stage – I know but I am with you!
• Those walls around Jericho are very thick – but I am with you!
• The Amorites are fierce and they have a home-field advantage – but you have me!
• All five nations have united against me – but you have me!

“But I’m not Joshua, you say” – But God is the same God! And God still is present to protect His people!

You have all the same promises Joshua had PLUS many more through Christ!

You are crossing the Jordan or conquering Jericho but:

• You’re stuck in a job that demands too much and pays too little – but you have Him!
• Your out-go exceeds your income and the pressure’s mounting – but you have Him!
• You’re trying to overcome that harmful habit and it feels like a boa constrictor crushing the life out of you – but God is with you to release you!
• You haven’t been the greatest marriage partner but you want to do better – God is with you!
• You’re haunted by your past even though you know you shouldn’t be – God is with you
• You know where you came from and it just doesn’t seem compatible with where God wants to take you – but God is with you!

David was just a shepherd stuck out in the lonely remote hillside when he wrote:

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.   Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.” Psalm 23

I’m sure this is what the Apostle Paul meant when He wrote:

“Don’t be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you have. Since God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you,” we can boldly quote, God is there, ready to help; I’m fearless no matter what. Who or what can get to me?”  Hebrews 13:5-6

“help” = two Greek words – “He runs to you shouting”

NOT ONLY DOES GOD DESIRE YOU TO LIVE IN THE PROMISED LAND BUT HE FIGHTS FOR YOU SO YOU CAN!

March 10, 2016

"You yourselves have seen everything the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; it was the Lord your God who fought for you." Joshua 23:3

Joshua spent 40 years in Egypt and then 40 years in the wilderness and now he was nearing 90 years of age. Their Glory Days were ending and so was his leadership.

In his farewell speech he reminded them they could count on God to fight for them because God had always fought for them. All they needed to do was show up at the right address with the right attitude and God would do the rest.

God had fought for them when they were in Egypt by sending the supernatural plagues. The Hebrews walked out of Egypt with a lot of Egyptian riches without having to raise a hand against the Pharaoh.

God had fought for them at the Red Sea! He opened it wide for them and they walked through it without getting their feet wet! But when the army of the Pharaoh tried to cross behind them God closed it over them.

God fought for them at Jericho when the walls of that fortress collapsed like power at their shouts. And that was after He had stopped the Jordan at flood stage to allow 2,000,000 people and all their livestock to cross over into Canaan.

God fought for them with His presence. The Ark of the Covenant led them wherever they went. A cloud had led them by day and a pillar of fire by night. Never in 40 years had they been out of His presence!

God fought for them with His power. Pesky plagues, seas opening, rivers stopping,  water flowing from a rock, manna appearing from heaven each morning and impenetrable walls crumbling were undeniable demonstrations of His power.

God fought for His people then and He will fight for you, too!

If you will stop fighting Him and begin trusting Him at your point of trouble, weakness or need, you will experience His presence and power too!

I'm sure that's what Paul was thinking when he wrote to the Roman church, "If God is for us who can be against us?"

Ready to find out?

March 9, 2016

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him." Hebrews 11:6

A little girl was with her father hiking in the mountains. It was a crystal clear sunny day with a bright blue sky. When they reached a clearing high on a ridge they stopped to take in the panoramic view. Both of them stood speechless for several minutes just overcome by the beauty surrounding them. The little girl broke the silence as she exclaimed, "Daddy! I can see farther than I can see!"

I am glad I can see beyond what my human eyes can behold.

When you think about it, everything that matters the most will never be seen by the human eye!

You will never lay eyes on your soul but your soul is the part of you which will last forever. What is more important than that?

You will never see God with your eyes. According to the Old Testament, if you did happen to gaze on with your human eyes you would die.

And, you will never see heaven with your human eyes. No one ever has and no one will.

Allow this thought to sink in for a little while. All of those "things" we work so hard to attain, those things we see and then we want them will some day belong to someone else and we will be somewhere else!

No wonder the Apostle Paul so passionately wrote, "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal"  II Corinthians 4:18.

If you want to see further than you can see - and then eventually get there - fix your eyes on what is unseen!

March 8, 2016

"Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown! Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm. The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!” Matthew 8:23-27

I have been in a small boat in the middle of a little lake when a big storm blew through. When the wind is blowing and the waves are tossing and the thunder is rolling and the lightening is flashing - it is frightening! I love to fish with a bobber but I don't want to be the bobber!

I didn't have Jesus in my boat but I certainly was having a conversation with Him! So, I can identify with the angst of the apostles in this storm. I have never felt so helpless and vulnerable. Rowing got me nowhere and I was totally at the whim of the waves. It was not a ride I would care to repeat.

Remember that several of these guys had been professional fisherman who were comfortable on the water and familiar with storms, but even they were scared by this one!

Why were they so freaked out this time? Was the size of their fear in direction proportion to the size of the storm? Fear arises when we sense we are out of control and in danger and they were both.

That is when someone remembered that Jesus was in the boat! That was a game changer! They discovered what you and I can only discover in the midst of a storm, life is bigger than us and more powerful than us and it can threaten us - BUT, Jesus is bigger than the storm! We don't need to be in control when Jesus is in the boat. We just need to be under His control!

Are there storm clouds on your horizon? Are the winds kicking up? Are the waves tossing around you? Are you leaning on the oars just to stay afloat? Here's the deal, take what you learned from the last storm and let it help you deal with the next one. Storms are bigger than you, but Jesus is bigger than storms! Speak to Jesus until He speaks to the storm.

March 7, 2016

"Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples.  Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping."  Matthew 8:23-24 

It is good to be in the same boat with Jesus. You would like to think that if you are in the boat with Jesus you would have smooth sailing. But this story proves that having Jesus in the boat does not exempt you from storms, contrary to what some might claim.

Why would anyone think that being in the boat with Jesus should exempt you from the storms? Is He a lucky charm? Is He a season pass from suffering? Do we get pulled out of the real world? What are your expectations when you share the boat with Jesus? What should they be?

Let's talk about the expectation thing this morning. I think it is crucial and I also think it is one of the central truths of this story. We try to fit Jesus into our expectations. A few storms can knock that out of us.

We should expect Jesus to be exactly Who He is - the Son of God! It is up to us to discover all that means.

Jesus had spent the day trying to reveal to the disciples Who He is and what they should expect from Him. Go back and start at the beginning of Matthew 8 to set the context for this story.

He healed a leper, and then He was pleasantly surprised by the faith demonstrated by a Roman officer - so much so that He made a point of it to His disciples in case they had missed it. And, to honor that Roman's faith, He did a long-distance healing. Later, He healed Peter's mother-in-law and spent the evening casting out demons.

Not bad for one day in the life of Jesus!

Based on that brief glimpse, what should we expect when He gets in our boat?

Expect Him to be powerful! 

He had power over disease and over demons!

Expect Him to be Scriptural! 

He used His power to fulfill the prophecies and promises of Scripture! If you want to know Him, know them!

Expect Him to be purposeful! 

After Jesus had healed and delivered and ministered, He called those who would follow Him to put Him first. A Christ-follower must be willing to forsake all to come after Him.

Expect Him to be personal! 

Jesus spoke to large crowds and was followed by multitudes and ultimately died for everyone, but He deals with people individually - personally. He knows your name! He knows your need!

As you meditate on these thoughts, let me ask you two more questions, "How many of your fears are rooted in wrong expectations of Jesus?" And, "What would happen to your level of fear if you came to a better understanding of what to expect from Him?"

Could we be onto something here?

March 6, 2016

"The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel, so Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely at Gibeon. Israel pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and cut them down all the way to Azekah and Makkedah.  As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the Lord hurled large hailstones down on them, and more of them died from the hail than were killed by the swords of the Israelites. On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon,  and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon. ”So the sun stood still and the moon stopped till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!"  Joshua 10:10-14

Joshua prayed after he had earlier neglected to pray. He found himself in a predicament because he had earlier neglected to pray.

But when he did pray he prayed a Big Hairy Audacious Prayer and God answered it!

Joshua commanded the sun to stop in mid-sky and the moon to remain in place and God answered! The sun did stop and the moon did hold it's place and Israel did rout it's enemies!

Not only does the Book of Joshua record this but so does scientific astronomical evidence!

I seemed to remember hearing something about this scientific study and sure enough when I Googled it I found this:

Did you know that the space program is busy proving that what has been called “myth” in the Bible is true? Mr. Harold Hill, President of the Curtis Engine Company in Baltimore Maryland, and a consultant in the space program, relates the following development: I think one of the most amazing things that God has for us today happened recently to our astronauts and space scientists at Green Belt, Maryland. They were checking the position of the sun, moon, and planets out in space where they would be, 100 years and 1000 years from now. We have to know this so we won’t send a satellite up and have it bump into something later on in its orbits. We have to lay out the orbits in terms of the life of the satellite, and where the planets will be, so the whole thing will not bog down. They ran the computer measurement back and forth over the centuries and it came to a halt. The computer stopped and put up a red signal, which meant that there was something wrong either with the information fed into it, or with the results as compared to the standards.

They called in the service department to check it out and they said “what’s wrong?” Well they found there is a day missing in space, in elapsed time. They scratched their heads and tore their hair. There was no answer. Finally, a Christian man on the team said, “You know, one time I was in Sunday school and they talked about the sun standing still.” While they didn’t believe him, they didn’t have an answer either, so they said “Show us.” He got a Bible and went back to the book of Joshua where they found a pretty ridiculous statement for any one with “common sense.” There they found the Lord saying to Joshua, “Fear them not, I have delivered them into thy hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.” Joshua was concerned because he was surrounded by the enemy and if darkness fell they would overpower them.(check references below.) So Joshua asked the Lord to make the sun stand still! That’s right-”The sun stood still and the moon stayed-and hasted not to go down about a whole day!”

They checked the computers going back into the time it was written and found it was close but not close enough. The elapsed time that was missing back in Joshua’s day was 23 hours and 20 minutes-not a whole day. They read the Bible and there it was “about (approximately) a day.” These little words in the Bible are important, but they were still in trouble, because if you cannot account for 40 minutes you’ll still be in trouble, 1,000 years from now. Forty minutes had to be found because it can be multiplied many times over in orbits.

As the Christian employee thought about it, he remembered somewhere in the Bible where it said the sun went BACKWARDS. The scientists told him he was out of his mind, but they got out the Book and read these words in 2 Kings: Hezekiah, on his death-bed, was visited by the prophet Isaiah who told him that he was not going to die. Hezekiah asked for a sign as proof. Isaiah said, “Do you want the sun to go ahead 10 degrees?” Hezekiah said “It is nothing for the sun to go ahead 10 degrees, but let the shadow return backward 10 degrees.” Isaiah spoke to the Lord and the Lord brought the shadow ten degrees BACKWARD! Ten degrees is exactly 40 minutes! Twenty-three hours and 20 minutes in Joshua, plus 40 minutes in Second Kings make the missing day in the universe! Isn’t it amazing?! Our God is rubbing their noses in His Truth!

There truly never has been another day like this one recorded in the Book of Joshua! Never before and never again! BUT there INDEED was this day when God heeded the voice of a man and ordered the sun to stay where it was!

That God can be your God!

If He can stop the sun He can certainly step into your predicament and deal with your problem also!

Just go to Him in prayer!

March 5, 2016

"On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel: “Sun, stand still over Gibeon and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”So the sun stood still  and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!" Joshua 10:12-14

Even when you are in the Promised Land you need to pray. Pray over little things and pray over big things. Pray over everything!

When you forget to pray you can be deceived into making a bad decision and end up in trouble. Even in the Promised Land! Just ask Joshua.

He learned the hard way when he forgot to pray before making a treaty with the men of Gibeon. He ended up with a problem and found himself in a predicament.

What do you do when you are in a predicament because you forgot to pray?

You do what Joshua did. You pray a big bold bodacious prayer. Like you should have in the first place!

Joshua found himself in a fight against the five kings of Canaan because of the unwise treaty to which he had obligated himself with the Gibeonites. 

Had he prayed over that decision he wouldn't have found himself in this dilemma. He knew that. He may have regretted that. He probably would have done it differently if he had a do over. But what did he do in this predicament? He prayed!

What did he pray? He prayed that God would stop the sun so he and his army could have time to defeat the enemies of God! In other words he followed up his failure to pray by praying a much bigger prayer!

How many times have you let one failure, sin or careless moment lead to more failures?

Me too.

Give Joshua credit! He did not do that! He didn't let his failure define his future. Rather than let his past defeat him he let it drive him back to dependence on God!

The lessons from this stirring story are fourfold!

First, consult God over everything!

There is nothing to small to pray over.

Pray first and act second.

Second, call on God every time!

Don't use God as an escape hatch or a parachute. Make Him you first option every time!

Third, prayer works every time it is tried!

Fourth, God's power is not limited by your failure!

So, what keeps your from praying?

Is it a past failure to pray?

Is it a past failure in prayer?

If you fail to prayer or fail in prayer then do like Joshua and fail forward in faith!