An Orderly Account

Luke 1:3

With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus.

How do you spread the good news of Jesus Christ?

Not everyone tells their testimony the same way. Preachers preach from the pulpit, but not everyone has a pulpit. I know novelists who tell about Jesus in subtle ways through the characters they write. There are parents who see their own children as their ministry.

If we can change the world by using our gifts, then those gifts are treasures and should be polished and used.

When Luke wrote his account to Theophilus, he had no idea I would be reading his words. How many people will be reading what you write? Are you on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In? Then you’re a part of an ocean of people who read the testimonies of strangers all the time.

Luke said he would write an orderly account. Are we sharing our scores on games we’ve played or giving people words of hope and encouragement? People notice if you put compassion in your epistles. They can tell if you’ve been with God or with your Ipad.

If you have a Theophilus to share a testimony with, share an accurate account of what God is doing in your life and see how God will use that to bless others.

You never know who’s going to read your words.

Write The Words

Jeremiah 30:2

This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you.”

Has God spoken to you?

If you’ve heard from God, have you written down what he said? I think keeping a prayer journal is a good plan. Many people write down some of their prayers so they can keep a record of the direction in which God has been leading them.

If you decide to keep a prayer journal, keep a record of what you say to God and what he says to you. I think you’ll be amazed when you look back at what you’ve written after using the journal for a few months. You might find that God has been directing you to pray for a particular person or a particular ministry, maybe people you’d like to help out. Once you see how God is leading you, you can ask God for more understanding and wisdom when dealing with that person or ministry.

We’re not always going to get the answers we want. Our prayer journals might be an avenue to work through the frustration of our flesh not getting what it wants. Our human ideas of what should happen are often frustrated. God sometimes asks us to hold his hand and walk humbly with him. We have to learn to walk by faith.

At the moment we understand God isn’t giving us the answers we want, we can go back to the prayer journal and re-read the words God has spoken to us. That might re-direct our focus and turn us back to where God has been leading.

Make It Plain

Habakkuk 2:2

Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.”

I intend to listen when God speaks. We should all focus on his words when we hear God speaking to a specific situation in our lives. We can write it down to remember what he said.

When God speaks to a nation, it should be made plain so the common man can understand. When God moves in a nation, it will be obvious. It will be prophesied about so that when it happens, we can all say we remember what God said about that.

God sends messengers ahead of his acts so he can make us understand why everything is happening the way it is. He sent Joseph (Genesis 41) ahead of the famine so that the people could prepare for it and not starve to death. Joseph spoke plainly and powerfully so that it was obvious to Pharaoh that Joseph was speaking wisdom from the Spirit of God.

The phrase “make it plain” stands out to me in the verse above. If God tells you to write something for others to read, you know it will be something that will benefit others either by a warning or a blessing. The “herald” who will run with it has to be able to understand in order to pass it on to others.

Are you hearing from God? How are you making your revelations from God plain so that others will be blessed?

Correction Is Not For Fools

Proverbs 1:1-7

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young— let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance— for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Correction is not for fools. Correction brings understanding and wisdom, but fools despise wisdom, so correction is wasted on them.

I’m so happy that you and I are not fools. We want to receive understanding and wisdom. If that were not true, you would not be reading this. And I would not be writing it.

God gives us the ability to study and decide what is right and what is wrong. We have a conscience and a brain, which are awesome gifts from God. So we should use our gifts and abilities to grow into the people God designed us to be.

What do you do?

That’s always been a hard question for me to answer. I’m busy at several things, but no one wants to hear everything I’m doing. Should I answer that question with something that sounds a little vague? “I’m growing into perfection because of God’s persistent love and guidance.” Or maybe this: “I’m continually receiving correction from God.” Is that a little too honest?

But isn’t that what we should be doing with our lives? Receiving correction from God?

The fact that we’re trying to walk the path of faith assumes we’re moving. As we move forward, we must correct our aim if we go too far left or right. Remember that the path is narrow and straight. We spend half our walk on the left foot and half on our right. The meanderings of our walk has nothing to do with our feet, but with our eyes.

Where is your aim? Are you seeking God with me?

Receiving Correction

2 Cor 13:7

Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong.

That would be nice. I would love to go to bed at night knowing that I did nothing wrong. However, I haven’t felt that way since I was a blissfully ignorant child.

Since perfection is something that only God is able to achieve, I would like to give us all a little hope. There is something we can do right. We can get in and stay in a relationship with God.

At times, our legs walk the path of faith like a newborn horse walks. We’re a little awkward at first, but we learn to step with grace the more we practice our new walk.

We are humans, and humans fail. We make mistakes every day. Even when we do our best, it seems our best just isn’t good enough. As toddlers, we learned to walk, and fall, and get back up. So it is with our faith walk. We will promise God something like “I’ll read the Bible in a year.” When we get busy and forget our commitment, we seem to have failed.

But God is merciful. He holds out His hand to us and helps us get back on our feet. He reminds us of our commitment and whispers hope, “The year isn’t over.”

God is a God of healing, restoration, and forgiveness. He’s not watching us, waiting for us to fail so He can say, “I told you so.” He expects us to do what is right. He’s given us every tool we need and His holy presence to guide us along the way. He expects us to receive His correction and get back on the path.

Here’s more of that 2 Corinthians message:

2 Corinthians 13:5-7

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong—not so that people will see that we have stood the test but so that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed.

When you are being taught by more experienced people and you see them do something wrong, does that give you permission to ignore the rest of their teaching? Why did you start listening to them? If it was worth your time to follow their advice in the beginning, their mistakes should cause you to try harder to do nothing wrong, not give up. In all things, no matter what people are doing around us, we are to do what is right.

2 Corinthians 8:21

For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of man.

Being Teachable

Psalm 143:10

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.

I can learn to speak and write well, but if I have nothing to say, my expert skill means nothing. In 1 Corinthians 13:1, we read about a gong, clanging cymbal, or otherwise annoying sound being the same as anyone trying to be heard, but not trying to be loving in the midst of it. But don’t worry. God wants to teach us.

God gives His children many opportunities to receive His guidance. He gives us the gift of His Spirit. He is with us to teach us. If we can step out of our arrogant ways and learn to listen to Him, we’ll find our message to others will become more meaningful and better understood.

Jeremiah 15:19 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.”

Receiving correction from God is a necessary step for our success. He can give us worthy words for our messages to others. We must have the attitude that when we’re obedient to God, we can change the world. Looking to the world for ways to change is not the pathway to success. We must not turn to them for instruction because God’s instruction is righteous, holy, and full of goodness. God’s words are wisdom to us.

No matter how smart we think we are, being teachable is the first step down the pathway that will change the world.

Obedient and Loving

John 14:15

If you love me, keep my commands.

As a mother, I’ve given commands. I love it when my children do what I tell them to do. And I’ve learned to be patient when they groan. I know they don’t want to do chores. Who does? But I’m teaching them successful ways of doing important things. They’ll need to have these skills when they are out on their own.

When they realize that I’m giving them these chores because I love them, they obey with less groaning. It’s my job to make sure they see my loving attitude. I take them for treats or play their games with them. I laugh with them, sharing their joys and their triumphs. And they come to me for comfort when they’re hurt or scared.

I know that God gave me children to raise because he wanted me to see His love for me. I can see myself in my children. I can see how they trust me to help them and advise them. They do things they way I do things because they’ve been watching me.

If we can set our eyes on God and watch Him, we can begin doing things His way. We can see how Jesus treated those in need, and then we can be generous and caring just like Him. Our determination to seek God and develop a relationship with Him will help us keep His commands with less groaning.

We can see our faith rise up as we continue to obey God. We can see our love for God getting more intense as we set aside our ways and begin following His ways. God is always by us, helping us. He wants to encourage our steps and strengthen us when we fall.

Keeping God’s commands is something we have to train ourselves to do. Loving God is easy if we allow ourselves time to get to know Him.

So keep seeking God with me.

Obedient and Submitted

John 14:14

You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

This is taken out of context most of the time. People want God to be their errand boy. We pray for God to bring us paychecks while we sit on the couch and watch soap operas. Then we blame God for our poverty because we prayed and he didn’t come through for us.

We do stupid things and then ask God to get us out of trouble. Often we use the phrase, “And I’ll even start going to church from now on if you do this for me.” Bargaining with God is not what Jesus had in mind when he said we could ask him for anything.

He was speaking to his disciples when he said they could ask him for anything. He knew they were imperfect. He knew they’d made plenty of mistakes and were sure to make more. But he also knew where their hearts were. They had been following him, learning from him, obeying him. They were sacrificing their way of doing things for his way of doing things. These men had a relationship with Jesus. That was the basis of his claim that they could ask him for anything.

So, can we, like his disciples, ask him for anything?

Sure. As long as we have a relationship with Jesus, learn from Jesus, obey his commands, and sacrifice our ways of doing things for his ways of doing things. Then certainly, ask away.

Obedient and Faith-filled

John 14:12

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

This is very hard to understand from an earthly viewpoint. If you believe Jesus lived on Earth as the Son of God and did miracles given him to do by the Father in Heaven, it is hard to imagine regular people like you and me doing what Jesus did. Then Jesus said we’ll do greater things. We can’t even digest the concept of doing miracles. What “greater things”?

Just for a moment, let’s imagine Jesus wore today’s man-sandals and walked in the dust of Earth with us. We’re not really that different than his disciples from thousands of years ago. We have as many flaws and as much faith.

A big difference is that we don’t have Jesus in our faces telling us to follow him. We’re supposed to be hearing that from God as we read the Bible or while in church or with our kids at a picnic or …whatever. So let’s say that we had Jesus in our faces telling us to do things in today’s world.

If he told you to put the boat out in the water and start fishing, would you? If he told you to take a basket of tunafish sandwiches and feed thousands, would you? If he told you to pray for the healing of a woman who has been lame for years, would you?

Some of us would, but others still can’t imagine themselves obeying God in those kinds of commands. It isn’t such a big deal to obey the command to love the children God gave you. That’s pretty easy for most parents. But God isn’t a pick-and-choose God. He accepted us, and we should accept him. All of him.

When you accept God, you really should consider what you’re doing.

Some women can see God as the Prince Charming to our Cinderella. He finds us in our rags and loves us anyway. He chooses us even with our messy hair in our sooty faces because we’re his. All we have to do is allow him to give us new royal clothes and follow him in his royal ways.

But if God says to go to your step-mother and invite her to live in the suite next door at the castle because he wants to do a miracle in her heart, many of us would want to voice an opinion about that. How many times has God heard us say, “But God, you don’t understand. That’s just crazy. Her?”

And we wonder why we’re not doing miracles like Jesus did.

If we want to prove ourselves worthy of the words in John 14:12, we’ll have to obey God in the small things, in the big things, and in the crazy gotta-have-faith kinds of things. The key is our obedience.

And yes, God does miracles through his people every day. You can be one of them.

Obedient and Humble

John 14:10

Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.

Jesus was never arrogant. However, we often fall into the arrogance trap. It’s easy. As children, when a parent helps us do something we could never have done on our own, we say, “I did it!” If a child pulls a piece of fruit from a tall tree limb because he was sitting on the shoulders of his dad, everyone knows that child didn’t do it on his own, but we congratulate the child on his accomplishment.

Jesus didn’t brag about his position with his Father, but he didn’t ignore his position either. A good phrase for us to learn is “with God’s help.” If we’re wise, we’ll realize that acknowledging God works to our benefit. It keeps us more humble, less arrogant.

Jesus acknowledged his Father often. If God told us to go pray for healing for someone, our obedience is God’s plan for that person’s healing. Our obedience to God’s command makes us participants in a miracle. But we can’t claim to be a Miracle Worker. Our job is only obedience to God. His job is to perform the miracle.

The closer we let God in, the farther away arrogance will be pushed.

Love Each Other

John 15:17

This is my command: Love each other.

Summer is hot! Since the heat sometimes makes us a little cranky, it’s so easy to become selfish during the summer months. I wanna go to the beach. I want ice cream. I’m gonna watch TV all day.

We should take a moment and remember what is important. The reason we’re in our families is so we can bring our gifts into the mix. We can share with others the things we do well and enjoy blessing those around us.

As a parent, I try to raise my kids to love each other. I want to know that they’ll grow up enjoying each other, not trying to get each other back for something one has done to the other. Unforgiveness can be overcome with love. Crankiness can be overcome with love.

When I read John 15:17, I picture Jesus telling his guys that these three words are too important to overlook. It’s not chit-chat. It’s a command. Love each other. I can even picture his face. I’m sure his words carried power that vibrated in each of their bodies. I’m sure his face was gentle, but so serious that no one would dare take his words for granted.

God’s love is a powerful weapon against darkness. If you’re on the side of hate and fighting against someone whose weapon is God’s love, your surrender turns a loser into a winner. When you give in to love, you’ve won more than you could realize. That moment of loss opens the eyes of the loser and helps him see the real power of love.

With practice, anyone can become proficient with this weapon. But it takes discipline.

Love each other. It’s a command that heals wounds and makes friends out of enemies.

Friends

John 15:14

You are my friends if you do what I command.

My husband and I celebrated a milestone anniversary this year. He and I have a lot of years invested in our relationship. We met when I was in seventh grade. We became friends in our church youth group and did a lot together in our large group.

I like reading books and seeing movies where friends turn to each other and fall in love. I have a long list of favorite movies, but two on the list are Gigi and Sabrina (with Harrison Ford). In these two movies, the hero has been around the heroine long enough to know her really well. Over time, their relationship changes, and he realizes that she’s the only one who could make him happy.

Since I’ve experienced a relationship like that, I want to encourage all couples to be friends first. I know how stabilizing that kind of a relationship is. A friendship is even important to God.

Jesus, knowing what he was about to do for his friends, gave them a command to love each other as he has loved them. That apparently wasn’t strong enough for them to really understand what he meant. The next verse was stronger. He told them, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Few people would willingly lay down their lives for strangers or even neighbors they’d barely met. I think a man would more likely sacrifice his life for his friends. If I had only gone on one date with my husband instead of marrying him, he wouldn’t give up his life for me. The deepening of our relationship over time has created such a closeness between us that I would believe my husband’s words if he ever told me that he’d lay down his life for me.

Once the disciples heard this life-threatening commitment of love, they understood what he meant when he said, “You are my friends if you do what I command.”

Will you accept that kind of friendship with God? Tell him.