Not My Boss!

 

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith.”

—1 Peter 5:8

I heard them arguing. This five-year-old and his three-year-old sister had a dust up about something. Giving it all she had, she stretched her little chest out and faced him with the words: “You’re not the boss of me!”

Sometimes we grown-up Christians forget the authority with which God has equipped us in this world—where Satan roams about seeking to devour us. God, by His Holy Spirit, has given us His power through which we can resist evil and stand against the foe.

William Gurnall, the 17th Century theologian, wrote an entire book about the verses in Ephesians 6, which goes into great detail how we should prepare to engage our enemy. Of the phrase in Ephesians 6:10—“in his mighty power”—Gurnall writes:

The apostle’s drift is so to encourage the Christian to make use of God’s almighty power, as freely as if it were his own, whenever assaulted by Satan in any kind. ¹

1 John 4:4 reminds us of this power to which we have free access:

Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

We have no power in ourselves to withstand the awful violence and deceit of the Enemy. So, God gives us the Holy Spirit, and all the mighty power that belongs to Him. Thus we, through faith, have the power of almighty God on our side. When we step out in faith, accept the pieces of armor God provides us, and pray for His power to fill us, we have an authority few of us may realize.

The next time we engage in a battle over temptation, or experience the subtle attempts of the evil one to take us down emotionally, physically, or spiritually, we must puff our chests out and say with the authority we have been given in Christ: “Satan, you’re not the boss of me!”

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1 Gurnall, William, The Christian in Complete Armour. Carlisle, Pennsylvania: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1979 (reprinted). p. 25.

 

 

Adding Alleluias

 

“Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.”

—Psalm 34:3

If I asked you what contribution Charles Wesley made to Christian history, most of you would know he wrote hundreds of our beloved hymns. If I asked you the same question about Martin Madan, you probably would have no idea. But, if I asked you to sing the words to Christ the Lord is Risen Today, written by Charles Wesley, you would add the words he didn’t put in himself. The “Alleluias” were added later by Martin Madan.

Martin Madan added “Alleluias” to other hymns of Charles Wesley’s, through whom he came to the saving knowledge of Christ. Yet, virtually unknown today, Madan influenced others for Christ, and even became a preacher of the Gospel. Still, his most remembered legacy comes in this simple addition to Wesley’s hymns. ¹

This made me wonder. Do we add “Alleluias” to other people’s praises? Do we enhance the praise and testimony of others? Do we, together with them, exalt God’s name, as the Scripture verse at the beginning of this blog post suggests?

Surely, when God’s people meet and exalt Him, He sends His Holy Spirit to enliven, empower, and encourage them. We read in Acts 2:1 that:

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Three times in the first two chapters of this Book of Acts, in giving the story of the first Church, the author uses the word “together”:

1. At first, they met together for prayer. (Acts 1:14).
   
   
2. In Acts 2:1, the Holy Spirit came to them when they met together.
   
   
3. In Acts 2:44 and 46, we read how they met together, as God formed through them His early Church.
   
   

It’s apparent that God brings His power to bear on believers when together they meet and praise Him. We may not all have a gift for writing hymns, or preaching, or praying aloud. But, we can all add “Alleluias.” The power of the combination of our praise exalts our God and brings others to the wonder of His presence with us. Alleluia to His name!

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1 Information for the opening of this blog post was gleaned from the following book: Brown, Robert K. and Mark R. Norton. The One Year Book of Hymns. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1995. pp. May 25, May 27, August 8.

 

 

Move Ahead

 

The Lord said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Break camp and advance.”

—Deuteronomy 1:6

I am “risk averse”:

• As a pianist and organist, I always look at printed music, even though I have a particular piece completely memorized.
  
  
• I try to stay out of crowds, afraid of the danger that may lurk there.
  
  
• I avoid certain sections of highway during snowstorms, lest I become involved in an accident.
  
  
• I like to plan ahead. And many times, I have opted to stay put rather than move ahead.

The Israelites showed this same kind of aversion to risk. Or, let’s be honest, they displayed a decided lack of faith during the time they wandered in the wilderness. They had certainly seen God perform amazing miracles for them in their escape from Egypt. God had certainly supplied their needs and protected them. Still, they persisted, with heavy cement-laden feet, to resist forward movement in their lives, individually and as a nation.

When God calls us to take a risk, our arguments usually begin with a long list of “what ifs”:

• What if we come up against things we’ve never seen before—men that look like giants, violent land owners, walled cities we may have to conquer?
  
  
• What if we die of plague, starvation, wild beasts, or warring enemies?
  
  
• What if we run out of food or water?
  
  
• What if we take a wrong turn and lose our way?
  
  
• What if …

In the first two chapters of the Book of Deuteronomy, God reminded the Israelites of His faithfulness. And, He also reminded them of their lack of faith. He had prepared really big things for them in the days ahead and He needed them to get moving.

Twice we read that God said: “You have stayed here long enough.” He reminded them that He had watched over them and provided for them for forty years. Later, He egged them on to move and take possession of the land He had promised to them since the days of Abraham.

I like the second verse of the hymn, “God Moves in a Mysterious Way.” ¹

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
are big with mercy, and shall break
with blessing on your head.

When God prompts us to move on—to venture out and trust Him—we must move forward in faith, fully relying on His provision and protection. If we turn a deaf ear to God’s call to move onward and insist on standing still, mired in the fast-drying cement of our current situation, we stand the greater risk of getting stuck where nothing will move us.

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1 Cowper, William. God Moves in a Mysterious Way. Verse Two. Public Domain.

 

 

Fervor

 

“Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant.”

—Romans 12:11 MSG

I can’t even imagine what it would have been like to iron clothes before the availability of electricity. Not only were there no “easy-care” fabrics, there wasn’t even a way to maintain a constantly heated iron to use for the entire task. Most women used a series of irons, heated one at a time on the wood stove nearby. They had tricks to use for doing the job with a super-heated iron and other tricks to use as the temperature of the iron cooled.

This reminds me of something that the Apostle Paul said in his letter to the Roman Christians in the early church. Romans 12:11 from the New International Version states it this way:

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

According to Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, “fervor” amounts to “warm, steady intensity of feeling or expression.”

I think the key word here is “steady.” Certainly the invention of electricity makes the steady heat of a clothes iron possible. Although we sometimes have an awareness of when the electric current reheats our iron, we do not have to do anything to make it happen.

Where does the “fervor” come from for a “steady warmth” of service to God? Like the old-fashioned iron, we must go to the source of the “spiritual heat” and spend sufficient quality time with our Lord, whose Holy Spirit burns within us. To maintain that steady warmth of fervent passion throughout the day, we must stay “plugged into” Him and draw on His power, moment by moment.

It may seem corny to state it, but it’s true: “Seven days without prayer make one weak.” Even one day without an infusing of God’s miraculous power, puts us in jeopardy of making crucial mistakes, of sinning against our Lord, or of losing our focus and our fervor in living for Him and for serving Him.

Remember the symbolism of the Day of Pentecost, as recorded in Acts 2? Tongues of fire landed on the heads of each of Jesus’ disciples. This symbol of the Holy Spirit’s power reminds us of the “holy fire” that God wants to ignite within each of us: for power, for light, and for a passion to do His work in this world. Let us pray daily for that “fire” to fervently burn within us, so that we might become a steady usefulness for our Savior.

 

 

Used Tea Bags and Used Pencil Stubs

 

“Do not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep that has any defect or flaw in it, for that would be detestable to him.”

—Deuteronomy 17:1

When I was a child, I remember a missionary speaker at my church who told of receiving “care packages” from the States. Inside one box he discovered that the people had sent boxes of used tea bags and used pencil stubs. Imagine receiving that kind of gift sent to you in Jesus’ name to help the people to whom you were trying to minister to and expose to the Gospel! Why, it’s “sloppy mediocrity” at best.

The prophet Malachi was burdened for God’s people about just this kind of “sloppy mediocrity,” selfishness, and heartless worship. Apparently God’s people were giving sacrifices to Him consisting of spoiled food and diseased animals. God rebuked them in Malachi 1:14:

“Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.”

In our day, we may not present defiled animals or spoiled food to God. But, many of us are quite content to give Him that which has cost us little or nothing. In speaking to a mom of a chorister in my former church children’s choir about her child’s erratic attendance, she responded to me with: “It’s only church, for heaven’s sake!”

Make no mistake about it, God wants our very best when we give Him our worship. He wants our sincere excellence. This doesn’t always necessarily mean “perfection.” But, it does mean a heartfelt giving of the very best that we have to give in every situation in which we strive to please God.

Surely when we give offerings to those less fortunate, we can give gifts our own children would enjoy. When we bring food for the pantry ministry to the poor, we can buy the same brands we would buy for ourselves. Whenever we give, let us strive to please God. We should do our very best to follow the admonition of the Apostle Paul, writing in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, when Paul reminds us of what God desires from His people:

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.