Remember Your First Love

There’s an old saying which says, “The good is ever the enemy of the best.” It’s one of the devil’s oldest schemes.

The scripture tells us that we are not unaware of his schemes. Wherever God is at work, be certain that Satan is not far behind. The scripture tells us that he is our enemy who like a roaring lion is seeking whom he may devour.

Any cursory study of the New Testament will show that the devil employs many tactics as he tries to thwart the work of God. Whenever he can he tries to introduce false doctrine into the church. Where this does not work he introduces schisms and division, knowing that a house divided against itself cannot stand. With a nasty tool chest full of things like gossip, jealously, suspicion and pride, he causes God’s people to take their eyes off of Jesus and His commandments and causes them instead to focus on earthly things which have no eternal value. When God’s people refuse to allow sin in their midst Satan often brings difficulties against the church, all in an effort to discourage and dishearten God’s people.

When these tactics are not completely successful there is another tool he uses to stop the forward progress of a particular church or congregation. It is perhaps the most insidious tool, because it is masked behind the façade of success. When he cannot deceive us, divide us or daunt us what he will often do is divert us. The fervour we once had for Jesus is replaced with an acceptance of things as they are. Satan wants us to become so satisfied with where we are, with what we are doing and with what we have accomplished, that instead of maintaining a red hot passion for Christ, we would lose our zeal for Christ; replacing a once consuming internal passion with a complacency that is content with the religious status quo.

The text I am looking at for this post paints a picture of a church; A picture of individual Christians who somewhere along the way allowed the good to replace the best in their spiritual lives. This text is a prophetic word, it is a preventative word, it is a prescriptive word. God does not want us to become like Ephesus.

Could you please open your Bible to Revelation 2:1-7.

1. Christ commends them

The City of Ephesus was mighty and majestic. It was a center of tourism and trade. Four major trade routes went through this city, making it somewhat cosmopolitan in the ancient world. It was a wealthy city and yet a very pagan city, as it was home to the largest temple in the ancient world, the pagan temple of Artemis.

Acts 20 gives us background on this church where it tells us that Paul had preached among them for three years. We also have the book of Ephesians to help us understand the profound degree to which they had been taught the truth. They understood who they were in Christ, how to walk with Christ and how to engage in spiritual warfare. Their problem was not their failure to understand good doctrine, their problem was not that they lacked perseverance. This church existed during one of the most difficult times in all of Christian history. Beginning in 54 A.D. with the emperor Nero, there was widespread persecution of Christians. The Ephesian church had refused to bow the knee to Caesar and had stood firm in the midst of persecution.

So here in verses 1-3 Christ commends them.

The church at Ephesus was not idle. On the contrary they were very busy working for the Lord. Their calendar was full. They were busy for God.

And not only were they busy for the Lord. They took a strong stand against heresy. They were well grounded in the word. No doubt their pastor was an expository preacher, giving them clear application points to every sermon. They had withstood many trials and troubles and not fainted. Outwardly everything looked great.

And for these good things Christ commends them. Nothing goes unnoticed by God. He knows all that we do. But there is a powerful insight to be learned here. Mere works are not enough to please the Lord. He wants more than outward compliance. What Jesus wants is a heart that is changed. That is why after commending them in verses 2&3 he counsels them in verses 4&5.

Look at verse 4. “But I have this against you, that you have lost your first love.”

2. Christ Counsels them

He counsels them to return to their first love; to keep Jesus first in their hearts.

They had started out strong, but over time things had begun to change. A generation had come and gone since Paul had preached to them. While they had remained faithful to the word of God, and had endured hardship, something was lacking. They had lost their passion. The fervour for Christ, the passionate love that had motivated them and burned within their hearts had given way to a mechanical orthodoxy, a ritualistic form of service that lacked enthusiasm and zeal.

What happens when we lose our first love? What happens when the passion we once had for Christ is replaced by pride or by self-righteousness, or by a mechanical form of Christianity that contains all the externals but lacks the internal passion the once stirred our hearts and moved us to love for Christ?

We focus on the form instead of the substance of our faith

• We become infatuated with knowledge instead of holiness. Personal holiness is no longer our quest, we become convinced that knowledge is what makes us holy, thus knowledge, something we can attain for ourselves, replaces God’s Presence and Lordship in our life, something we cannot do for ourselves. What we know becomes more important than what we are.
• We become comfortable with the Holy instead of being in awe of it. The sense of awe the Isaiah had when he was in the Presence of God, is gone from us, and we become like the sons of Samuel who had lost their respect for the holiness of God.
• We lose our evangelistic zeal and see the world as our enemy instead of our mission field. This causes us to become more concerned with the comfort of the saints than with the salvation of the lost. This Then we become inwardly directed instead of outwardly directed.
• We become insensitive to the Holy Spirit, and thus become dulled to the small besetting sins that distract us. When we are passionately in love with Jesus, we are sensitive to grieving His Spirit, but when we become cold, we lose that sensitivity. Gossip, pride, jealously, bitterness, and a host of other ungodly things, little things are allowed to dwell within us, because we are insensitive to how much these things displease God.
• We become content with what we are instead of being driven to become more like Christ. The passion for becoming more like Christ is diminished. Instead of comparing ourselves to Jesus, we begin to compare ourselves against one another, always reasoning within ourselves that as long as we are better than so and so, we’re ok. This attitude leads to self-righteousness.
• We allow other things to sit on the throne of our lives, and relegate Christ to a lesser place of importance. Mind you, we still give lip service to Christ as Lord, but in our hearts, other things reign. It may be success, it may be power, pride, prestige or pleasure, the good life and all its comforts but something else sits on the throne of our lives.
• We begin to love something or someone more than we love Christ. This is the bottom line. We become dispassionate and cool in our relationship with Christ. What kind of relationship do you think Stephen, the first martyr for the faith had? Do you think it was a formal, ritualistic relationship, just going through the motions but lacking fervor and zeal? That’s not the kind of relationship that causes someone to die for Jesus. What kind of relationship do you think Paul had with Jesus? When he was beaten and left for dead, when he was in prison and knew he was to be executed?

Compare that with the kind of relationship we have with Jesus today. We find little or no time for Him on a daily basis. Doing the very basics like opening the Word and praying can be a chore. We are often unwilling to be inconvenienced for Jesus. Then we wonder why we not sensed the Presence of God in our lives for a long time?

It is a dangerous thing to go through the motions of Christianity without a passionate love for Christ.

• It teaches our children a distorted lesson on what it means to be a Christian. And this coldness has a tendency to become self-perpetuating.
• It causes us to become content with less than God’s best, denying us the true riches of our life in Christ.

But the church at Ephesus refused to heed His counsel. They decided to disregard what Christ has told them, and there are consequences.

Look at verses 5-7

3. Christ Cautions them.

If they don’t repent, if they don’t return to their first love, He will remove the fire of His Spirit from their midst.

Oh, we will still have our programmes, our busy schedule and all the externals. We may still be able to attract new people with clever how-to sermons but the power of God will be missing. God will take His hand off of the church and leave us to go through the motions. What a tragic picture this paints for us: A group of people going through the motions of Christianity, without the living God in their midst. Could there be anything more empty or sad?

What ever happened to the church at Ephesus? Today the ruins of that ancient city lie under the murk and mire of a swamp. The church at Ephesus died, and the city died around it.

He who has ears let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

What Love Does and Does Not Do

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

What is Paul doing here? He says fifteen things about what love does and does not do. When you ponder the list, it is peculiar. If you come expecting a definition of love, it doesn’t work very well. Crucial things seem to be missing. Think about other places where the core of love is defined: John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.” First John 4:10, “In this is love . . . that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Romans 5:8, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” At the core of love is a self-sacrificing pursuit of the beloved’s greatest good. Love saves. Love rescues. Love helps. And it does so, if necessary, at cost to the lover.

But this core element of helping another person is not the stress in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. When you try to group the fifteen elements into categories, there are two big ones: 1) statements about how love is durable and doesn’t give up, and 2) statements about how love is not proud. Thirteen of the fifteen elements seem to fit into these two categories. Of the remaining two elements, one comes close to the proactive helpfulness (as opposed to reactive patience), namely, “love is kind.” The other stresses that love rejoices when truth holds sway. So here is one way to categorize what love does and does not do.

Enduring (not fragile)

• is patient (longsuffering)
• bears all things
• believes all things
• hopes all things
• endures all things

Humble (not proud)

• not envious (or jealous)
• not boastful (or proud)
• not arrogant (or puffed up)
• not rude (offending manners)
• not insist on its own way (seeks not its own)
• not irritable (not easily peeved)
• not resentful (not keep an account of wrongs)
• not rejoice at wrongdoing (not boast of licentious freedom)

Pro-kindness and truth

• kind
• rejoices with the truth (glad for the truth to advance)

What I conclude from this is that Paul is not trying to define love in the abstract. He is laying love as a grid over the messed up Corinthian church where he sees all these behaviors and says: Your attitudes and behaviors are not how love acts or feels. They were boasting in men (3:21). They were puffed up, even in wrongdoing (5:1-2). They were unwilling to suffer long and bear all things and so were taking each other to court (6:1-8). They were insisting on their own way in eating meat that caused others to stumble (8:11-12). They were acting in “rude” or unseemly ways not wearing the customary head-coverings (11:1-16). They were insisting on their own way as they ate their own meal at the Lord’s Supper without any regard to others (11:21-22). They were jealous and envious as they compared their spiritual gifts and thought that some where needed and others were not (12:21-22).

In other words, Paul is not defining love. He is applying love to the Corinthians’ situation and using it as the criterion for why some of their attitudes and behaviors are unacceptable.

But this is not less useful for us. The first category (endurance) says that wherever there is love there is pain—love suffers long (makrothumei) . . . endures all things, bears all things.” This is realism and therefore comforting. If two people, or two thousand people, are in a relationship of love, all will be hurt. And all will need to “suffer long” and endure and bear. It struck me as amazing that this was so prominent in Paul’s treatment of love.

Then even more penetrating is the major emphasis on pride. Is it not surprising that the opposite of love in 1 Corinthians 13 is not hate but pride. The main category of what love does not do is arrogance (boasting, seeking its own way). So we need to pray: O Lord, reveal and destroy the pride in our lives.

And of course, even though they are in a small category, the other two elements of love are huge: Be kind, and be happy about the prevailing of truth. Something we all need to keep our relationships warm and strong.

Shouldn’t we apply these love lessons to our lives, our marriage and all our relationships, as well? For the greatest of these is ….love.

Questions For Self Renewal

The measure of a man is not reflected
in the answers he gives others
but the questions he asks himself.

Every year, I schedule two seasons to ask myself tough questions.
One is in August, where I go on a personal retreat and seek God for the church.
For me the month of August is a time for ministry renewal.

The other time is in the month of May.
That is the time for personal renewal.
That is when in reflection, I will ask myself questions to sharpen the saw.
Why May? Because I was born in May. I feel I owe it to God to stay renewed.
I am responsible to him for the life he has blessed me with;
that I steward that life properly to his glory.

So there are a set of questions I ask myself. Let me share them with you here.
You may have your own set of questions:

1. What must I do regularly to centre my life; to sharpen my saw and to sustain my energy?

2. If I were to think seriously about

the first things in my life what would they be?

3. What are the things that reduce the quality of my life?

What are the things that enhance the quality of my life?

4. If I have to live last year over again, what would I have do differently?

5. What are the defining moments of this past year?

6. If I know I have only one month to live in this next year, how would I live it?

7. What is the primary passion of my life?

What do I wake up for in the morning?

8. What do I really enjoy doing in this season of my life?

9. What is my usual coping strategy for stress?

Is there a better alternative?

10. Which books have influenced me the most this past year? How?

11. If I could keep one memory with me this year, what would I choose to remember?

12. What part of my character and gifting has been the greatest blessing to others this year?

Take Time

Take Time

Take time to think.

It is the source of power.

Take time to read.

It is the foundation of wisdom.

Take time to play

It is the secret to staying young.

Take time to be quiet.

It is an opportunity to seek God.

Take time to be aware.

It is an opportunity to help others.

Take time to love and to be loved.

It is God’s greatest gift.

Take time to laugh.

It is music to the soul.

Take time to be friendly.

It is the road to happiness.

Take time to dream.

It is what the future is made of.

Take time to pray.

It is the greatest power on earth.

When God Can't Be Explained

Another great painting by Gustave Dore, French artist (1832-1883).
This one is Habakkuk in his frustrations before God.

Recently I have been studying the minor prophets for major lessons in them. Today, in the light of the Virginia Tech Massacre and tragedies such as these that we are often confronted with, I felt led to put up this post from my study in the book of Habakkuk.

Tragedy is hard to understand, hard to explain, and hard on faith. And some people lay the blame for all that happens at the feet of God and become bitter and cynical toward him. They ask for explanation, but get silence. They ask for understanding, and are baffled.

Life, indeed, is a mystery. Much of what happens in life is beyond us. We do not understand why some people have cancer; why some people are involved in tragic accidents; why some people suffer premature heart attacks; why some people live in constant pain, why the innocent should be killed by a college student with deep-seated emotional problems and why others just live trouble free lives. And even if it were explained to us, we probably wouldn't be satisfied with it. We long for sensibility. We seek explanation. We are desperate for reason.

We need to understand one fundamental truth that is inherent throughout all of scripture: God never explains himself. He rarely gives reasons. The events that unfold in our world seldom make sense. We, therefore, are confronted with the basic tenant of Christianity: The righteous live by faith.

1. An Expression of Faith (1:2-3, 2:4, 3:17-19)

Perhaps the greatest expression of undaunted faith ever penned came from the Old Testament spokesman, Habakkuk. Most prophets spoke to the people for God. Habakkuk spoke to God for the people. He lived in times that were hard on faith. He saw the righteous suffering and the wicked prospering. He asked God the two questions we often ask: “Why?” and “How long?” Why are these things happening? How long will it be before they are rectified?

God revealed to Habakkuk that the Babylonians, the epitome of everything Habakkuk detested, would be used as an instrument of judgment on the Hebrew people. Habakkuk did not understand. He could not explain it. For a time, evil would win over righteousness and bad things would happen to good people. God’s hand would not move; his face would not be seen. Yet throughout this time of punishment, this illogical and unexplainable time, God reminded Habakkuk of correct living, “The righteous will live by his faith” (Hab. 2:4).

Habakkuk realized that though he did not understand the ways of God and did not agree with the timing of God, still he could not doubt the wisdom, the love, or the reliability of God. Then Habakkuk wrote his great affirmation of faith: “Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will triumph in the Lord; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!” (Hab. 3:17-19).

Habakkuk affirmed that even if everything he relied on failed, if everything that gave stability to his life crumbled, still he’d trust the Lord.

If Habakkuk were speaking today, he would say, “Though the scaffold falls, the stock market crashes, the company goes bankrupt, and the economy heads south, if everything I rely on falters—still I will trust in the Lord. My confidence in God will not waiver.”

2. The Importance of Faith

Corrie ten Boom knew something about tragedy and suffering. She lived with a courageous faith. Upon emerging from a Nazi concentration camp she said, "There is no pit so deep that God isn't deeper still." She picked an apt analogy because pain and tragedy is a pit. For some, it appears bottomless. Many experience a falling, disorientation, a terror, as they grab for walls that are out of reach. They see only blackness, and hear only echoes of the life they used to know. And for many, they claim that God is not present. But Corrie ten Boom, like Habakkuk, reminds us that even in the pits of tragedy, God is still there. He is present. Yes, pain is real. But God, indeed, is real, too. That's where faith comes in.

Faith reminds us that there can be a design for our lives that presently we may not fully grasp, but in time, we will come to trust in the love of God. In the interval of time between illogic and logic, between misunderstanding and understanding, between questions and answers, we must believe in God.

3. What Faith Believes

A. Faith believes that God is too wise to make a mistake.

We are always wiser after the event. But while the crisis is occurring, we are unaware of why we are going through a tragedy. Only after we reflect upon it, does it strike us that God was in it all along. For that reason, we trust in the ways of God, believing that he is too wise to make a mistake.

B. Faith believes that God is too kind to be cruel.

God is never malicious in his dealing with us. Whatever he does, he does for our good.

The apostle Paul spoke of the kindness of God and his amazing grace when he wrote, "We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. For those He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers" (Rom. 8:28-29).

These verses are as important for what they do not say as they are for what they say: They do not say that everything that happens is good—it isn’t. They do not say that God causes everything that happens—he doesn't. They do not say that everything will turn out okay for everyone—it won't.

What they do say is: God is at work in the world, especially in the lives of his children. His glorious purpose is to make us like his son, Jesus Christ. And to that good end, God can and does use all things—the good and the bad, that which he causes and that which he only permits. It assures us that no experience has to be a total waste. If we give it to God, he will take that experience and bring something good out of it.

C. Faith believes that God always knows best and does best in his time.

When we try to impose our timetable on God, we get into trouble. There are times of trials, when we want to short circuit the maturation process. We want to "bug out" or "beg off", while God wants to prepare us for a great work or a new phase of life. Like the butterfly still within a coccoon, it is only in struggles that we obtain strength.

D. Faith believes that God is in control, and therefore, we can rest easily, if we so choose.

George Buttrick has said, "The same sun that hardens the clay melts the wax." It is our choice whether we will let the inevitable suffering and misfortune of life harden or soften us. We can choose to be hopeful or hopeless. We can decide whether we will be an optimist or a pessimist. It all depends on how we look at it, and we determine in which direction we look.

E. Faith believes that when we cannot trace the hand of God, we must trust the heart of God.

Habakkuk presented a great affirmation of faith by saying, "Yahweh my Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like those of a deer and enables me to walk on mountain heights!" (Hab. 3:19). The deer Habakkuk is referring too was a mountain climbing deer known for its sure and steady feet. On the most treacherous terrain, it never fell. This is the Lord's promise to us. He will keep us on our feet as we travel the treacherous paths of life. He may not get us out of the troubles, but he promises to get us through.

4. Where Is Your Faith?

Maybe your life is so dark that you can’t see God’s face. The darkness of the night, the fierceness of the storm, the frailness of your faith, causes you to wonder if God is there, to wonder if God cares.

God is here for you. He will never leave you. Never. He cares too much for you. Even if the night is dark and the storm is raging, know that God is here. Even when you can’t see the hand of God, you can trust the heart of God.

Will you trust him? Even if you don’t understand why, will you trust him? Trust him because you know that he knows why. Even if you wonder how long, will you trust him? Trust him because he knows the time and the length of suffering. Trust him without explanation, logic and reasoning. Trust him because he is God.

A Working List of Enemy Strategies

The painting is from my very favourite artist, Gustave Dore.

A wartime mindset must include shrewd knowledge of enemy tactics. Ephesians 5:11, "Take no part in unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them."

Christianity stands or falls with the reality of Satan and demons. Why? Because Jesus spent his whole ministry fighting them. If they are not real he is reduced to a comic figure.

What is Satan's aim and his strategies?

1. He is the father of lies. (John 8:44) His nature is falsehood! He only speaks the truth in order to deceive.
2. Therefore, his chief enemy is truth—he opposes God's word. (Genesis 3:1–5.)
3. He casts doubt on God's goodness. (Genesis 3:1–5) He destroys the obedience of faith. He opposes the truth reaching and converting people.
4. He hinders missions strategy. (1 Thessalonians 2:18)
5. He distorts and prevents effective gospel message. (Acts 13:8–9)
6. He avoids inner need by removing external trouble. (1 John 3:12)
7. He uses the fear of death to hold men in bondage. (Hebrews 2:15) It doesn't lead them to God because it leads them to get as many kicks here as possible.
8. He causes people to stumble over bad Christian attitudes. (2 Timothy 2:24–26)
9. He blinds the minds of unbelievers. (2 Corinthians 4:4)
10. He exploits a lack of understanding. (Matthew 13:19)
11. He suggests ways that don't involve suffering. (Matthew 16:23; Matthew 4:1–11)
12. He imitates religious roles. (2 Corinthians 11:14–15; Matthew 13:28, 30; Revelation 2:9)
13. He misuses Scripture. (Matthew 4:6)
14. He imitates signs and wonders. (2 Thessalonians 2:9; Mark 13:22)
15. He offers exotic occult alternatives. (Revelation 2:19–24

He attacks faith to destroy believers:

16. attacks faith. (1 Thessalonians 3:5; 2 Corinthians 11:3)
17. brings persecution. (Revelation 2:9; 1 Peter 5:8; Luke 22:31)
18. brings sickness. (Job 1:11; 2:5; Luke 13:16)
19. dissension over doctrine and causes rifts. (Romans 16:17–20)
20. sexual allurements. (1 Corinthians 7:5; 1 Timothy 5:15)
21. unresolved anger. (2 Corinthians 2:11; Ephesians 4:27)
22. pride. (1 Timothy 3:6)

We began with liar and end with pride. Connection: the truth is that God is God and we are not. It is humbling. The only way to rebel against the lowliness of creaturehood is to be a liar. Humility under God is the great devil resistance (James 4:6–7).

Dimensions of Spiritual Warfare

Christians are to build and to battle

There are two basic facts of believing life:

(1) Building - Nothing is built unless someone is willing to count the cost for the
building. If we build wisely, like Jesus does, things last and are very fulfilling.

(2) Battling - No battles are won unless you organize your troops and make sure you’re ready for battle. There is no neutrality in spiritual warfare.

What is spiritual warfare?

There are three dimensions of spiritual warfare:

1. Doing battle against the powers of darkness
2. Expanding to receive the possibilities of your life
3. Warring against the flesh

Authority over the powers of darkness

So many people think of spiritual battle as engaging Satan at a point of hellish confrontation. There are such times, but people who talk a great deal about demons tend to become preoccupied to the point of either confusion or elitism. They become wearying to be around and are generally not happy people. Jesus was a

happy person to be around, and yet no one had more authority over the demonic than Jesus.

As real as the demonic is, it does not represent the whole realm of spiritual warfare. There are at least two other broad arenas of spiritual warfare:

1) the realizing of advance and possession of God’s purpose for your life, and

2) resisting flesh.

Advance and possession of God’s purpose for your life

There were boundaries that were measured out in advance for Israel to receive when
the Lord told them, There’s a land I have for you; now go take possession of it.

Spiritual warfare is the contemporary experience in our own lives of the same thing Israel historically did. We are to recognize there is a promise for us, and to posture our souls to embrace and possess everything God has for us. What Israel faced in moving in to take the land that God had promised to them are the same things we face.

This movement forward in our lives does not "just happen." We must take a stance of the soul that says, I have to move in and take hold of it. Make a goal that says, I want to see a new development in my life in Christ. God has put promises in my heart.

Set your sights in the season ahead, in the coming DOWNPOUR season on possessing
something new of God’s purpose in your life. It will take a commitment to battle against passivity and neglect to possess the possibilities of your life. It will take a commitment to battle against barriers to see God’s new breakthroughs.

If you are facing some hindrance to going to the Downpour church camp, don’t be just resigned to it. Battle against the barriers so that you embrace what God has for you in the camp.

Resisting flesh

Spiritual warfare also has to do with resisting flesh. Resisting what my human flesh wants to accede to doesn’t have anything to do with the devil. Let the Lord bring you beyond the carnality, habits and temperament of your own way to a new point of maturity as a person named a son or a daughter of the living God.

Three basic principles of spiritual warfare

Spiritual warfare becomes either the discouraging efforts of the unschooled or the arrogant efforts of the presumptuous unless you understand its basic principles:

1. There is no mastery or dominion that can be gained apart from the Master’s disciplines of kingdom power

Spiritual authority doesn’t come because you learn a set of slogans or quote a few verses. Or because you get excited about an idea or two. It happens because something begins to take shape in your life as you accept the dominion that comes under the Master, Jesus. And that mastery comes through robust relationship with the Master.

2. The mightiness of release is not the result of human works, but the fruit of human souls in alignment with the Almighty

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that spiritual warfare is powerful because of the works of the warrior. What makes spiritual warfare work is that you come into alignment with God’s ways. Among the things that are most difficult in spiritual warfare is bringing ourselves into spiritual alignment.

Spiritual warfare isn’t taking place between God and the devil. God’s throne is not threatened. The battle is between us and the devil. What Jesus has done in His Cross has broken the forces of darkness, and He, having broken the power of darkness, has said, Now here’s the keys. You go and take the land.

The devil would like to deprive, rob or squash the fulfillment of God’s promise to each of us. Our flesh works against it. But the Lord calls us to spiritual warfare, to come into alignment with Him.

3. The privilege potential of partnership awaits the redeemed

Without Him we can do nothing, without us, He will do nothing.

Paul, understanding this, said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"
(Philippians 4:13).

At the end of the day, spiritual warfare has to do with following Jesus.

The Levels of Love

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:12-14 NASB).

The Lord says, “Greater love has no one than this.” He continues and He talks about commitment, “that one lay down his life.”

There are a lot of ways that we can lay down our own lives for others. If you examine this carefully, you realize that there are different ways and different extents to which we love. There are levels of love.

Levels of Love

The Lord is saying, “Greater love has no man than this.” But what is the greatest love? It is a love that requires something of us, something oftentimes that is very difficult to give.

When we speak the word “love” in the English language, it is such a vast word that with every swing of a pendulum the definition changes. In the same breath someone can say, “I love you, honey, and oh, by the way, I love my cat.”

God is saying there are so many different levels of love. If we’re not careful, we can relegate ourselves to a mediocre level of love, a kind of love that is centered in the area below our waists. We carry that kind of definition of love into our marriages, into our families, and even into our relationship with God. Then we wonder why things are breaking down along the way.

There’s a greater love and there’s a lesser love. We need to find the levels in-between and say, “Lord, what is the greatest love of all?”

If we settle for a mediocre level definition of love and carry that as expectations into our ministries, or our families, it’ll break down. It won’t sustain a family, and it surely won’t sustain you through any storm. But, oftentimes we settle for it because it is all we know, and all we’ve been taught.

In fact, most of the time, we are taught a very selfish love. Television, the Hollywood screen, portrays a very selfish love. That’s why you can be in love one day and the next day, you ‘all out of love. It’s a selfish love.

It’s a love that says, “I love you if you love me; if you’ll make me feel good; if you’ll look good next to me; if you do this for me; if you meet all my expectations…”

Its a very selfish love.

Paul calls us excel in loving others.

“Now as to the love of the brethren…we urge you, brethren, to excel still more” (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 NASB).

We got to learn the art of loving others – not a selfish love – but a self-less love.

“…I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment” (Philippians 1:9 NASB).

Paul is saying, “I pray that your love would abound more in knowledge – real knowledge – and all discernment.”

He’s assuming that there is a love that we can settle for. A love that is without knowledge and that lacks discernment. He’s saying, “I’m praying that your love will abound more and more in real knowledge and all discernment.”

There are lesser levels of love that are not knowledgeable, and do not contain any discernment at all. It’s a lower level of love that we often tap into everyday. We think that because we saw that kind of love on a Hollywood screen, or on a MRT ride where a teenage couple appear so into it, that’s what love is.

When we take that into our walk with God, and our marriages and our families, everything starts falling apart. We’re settling for something far less. It’s a clone, and a cheap knock-off kind of love. It is not the God-kind of love; not at all.

I remember seeing these Oakley glasses when I was in Bangkok costing only $8. I thought what a good deal. I knew it was a cheap knock-off, but I thought, “Nobody else is going to know!” So I bought it and put it on. Oh, I looked really, really good.

When I got back to the hotel, I took the glasses off. When I took it off, a lens popped out and broke, practically disintegrating. You know, I looked good from the street stall in Sukhumvit to the hotel. It cost me S$8 for that.

Oftentimes, we just settle for a cheap knock-off, a cheap clone of a love. We take that kind of love and we inject it into our lives, our families, our ministries. Our futures fall apart, our lenses fall out, our relationships fall apart and our families become fragmented.

Oh, how we need to understand the kind of love that is rooted in godly knowledge and discernment; a greater kind of love and excel in it more and more!

Susan Scott's Fierce Conversation

I recently finished reading Susan Scott’s book, Fierce Conversations In the book she covers three broad ideas and seven principles for "fierce" conversations. Here are my notes.

Idea One
Conversations with people (she said customers, but I’m expanding it) are either bolstering relationships, reducing relationships, or keeping relationships at status quo. And always, one conversation at a time. She notes her perspective that leadership is a "one conversation at a time" act.

Idea Two
The conversations we have aren’t really about our relationship. Those conversations are the relationship. They’re the defining component of relationships. She writes that the most valuable currency an organization has are relationships–emotional capital. She also notes that "fierce" conversations are both intelligent and impassioned. Nearly everyone has intelligent conversations at work–but few are really impassioned. We go and do our jobs, but try not to get any on us. If we’re having a difficult time gathering up enough energy to become impassioned about our work, then perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate why we’re working there.

Idea Three
All conversations are with myself and sometimes they include other people. In a room full of people, all of them seeing and hearing the same content, you’ll get a roomful of interpretations about what happened.

Now on to the seven principles….

Principle One
Muster the courage to interrogate your personal reality. Ask the question “What am I pretending not to know.”

Principle Two
Come out from behind yourself into the conversation, and make it real. This is talking about the masks all of us wear. We put on "masks" for the boss, for our spouse, for our kids, etc. The masks are just those ways of behaving and interacting that seek to satisfy what we think the other person wants to see. If we do this long enough, we’ll wake up one day and not recognize the person staring back at us in the mirror.

Principle Three
Be here. Be prepared to be nowhere else but here. This is talking about being present to whomever/whatever is in front of you right now.

Principle Four
Tackle your toughest challenge today.

Principle Five
Take responsibility for your emotional wake. Consider what you leave behind. Is it afterglow or aftermath? If you console yourself by saying that if you’re too strong for someone, it’s their problem, then you might be leaving more of an aftermath than is advisable. When things don’t go as you planned, when relationships blow up regularly, consider the common denominator: you. Other people may be responsible for their feelings, but we’re all responsible for the context we set for others.

Principle Six
Let silence do the heavy lifting. Susan says that insights are found between the words. Most people are very uncomfortable with silence. It’s not easy to pay attention to the still, small voice. But solitude and reflection really pay. Which takes us to…

Principle Seven
Don’t just trust your instincts–obey them. Listen to the still, small voice that’s telling you what’s right. To us who know the Lord as the One who is an ever present help, that still, small voice we recognize as the voice of the Lord is worth our obedience.

Radical Effects of the Resurrection On Our Lives

If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. . . . Why are we in danger every hour? I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” . . . But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15:19, 30-32, 20)

Paul ponders how he would assess his lifestyle if there were no resurrection from the dead. He says it would be ridiculous—pitiable. The resurrection guided and empowered him to do things which would be ludicrous without the hope of resurrection.

For example, Paul looks at all the dangers he willingly faces. He says they come “every hour.”

On frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers. (2 Corinthians 11:26)

Then he considers the extent of his self-denial and says, “I die every day.” I take this to mean that there was something pleasant that Paul had to put to death every day. No day was without the death of some desire.

Then he recalls that he “fought with beasts at Ephesus.” We don’t know what he is referring to. A certain kind of opponent to the gospel is called a beast in 2 Peter 1:10 and Jude 10. In any case, it was utterly disheartening.

We do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. (2 Corinthians 1:8)

So Paul concludes from his hourly danger and his daily dying and his fighting with beasts that the life he has chosen in following Jesus is foolish and pitiable if he will not be raised from the dead. “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” In other words, only the resurrection with Christ and the joys of eternity can make sense out of this suffering.

If death were the end of the matter, he says, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” This doesn’t mean: Let’s all become gluttons and drunkards. They are pitiable too—with or without the resurrection. He means: If there is no resurrection, what makes sense is middle-class moderation to maximize earthly pleasures.

But that is not what Paul chooses. He chooses suffering, because he chooses obedience. When Ananias came to him at his conversion with the words from the Lord Jesus, “I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” ( Acts 9:16), Paul accepted this as part of his calling. Suffer he must.

How could Paul do it? What was the source of this radical obedience? The answer is given in 1 Corinthians 15:20: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” In other words, Christ was raised, and I will be raised with him. Therefore, nothing suffered for Jesus is in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).

The hope of the resurrection radically changed the way Paul lived. It freed him from materialism and consumerism. It gave him the power to go without things that many people feel they must have in this life. For example, though he had the right to marry (1 Corinthians 9:5), he renounced that pleasure because he was called to bear so much suffering. This he did because of the resurrection.

This is the way Jesus said the hope of the resurrection is supposed to change our behaviour. For example, he told us to invite to our homes people who cannot pay us back in this life. How are we to be motivated to do this? “You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:14).

This is a radical call for us to look hard at out present lives to see if they are shaped by the hope of the resurrection. Do we make decisions on the basis of gain in this world or gain in the next? Do we take risks for love’s sake that can only be explained as wise if there is a resurrection?

Do we lose heart when our bodies give way to the aging process, and we have to admit that we will never do certain things again. Or do we look to the resurrection and take heart?

We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. (2 Corinthians 4:16)

I pray that we will rededicate ourselves during this Easter season to a lifetime of letting the resurrection have its radical effects.

How You Can Experience The Fullness Of His Love

This morning I looked at Ephesians 3 verse 17 to 19 in search for more understanding on the marvelous love of the Lord.

Now Paul is praying here for the Ephesians for all believers. And he's praying in verse 17 that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. The word "dwell," katoikeo is a word that means to settle down and be at home. When Christ settles down and is at home in your heart, or to put it another way, when Christ has unrestricted access to every area of your life, when Christ is in control... he's not having to be up fixing things in your life...when you're so devoted to Christ and He has unrestricted access to your life, then Paul says you are being rooted and grounded in love.

In other words, you will be solidly, firmly fixed in the love of God when your life is fully yielded to Christ. You will experience that love. That's what Paul meant in Romans 5:5 when he said, "The love of Christ is shed abroad in your hearts." That's what Jude meant in Jude 21 when he said, "Keep yourselves in the love of God." What did he mean? Stay in the position of devotion, dedication and obedience in which you will be rooted and grounded in love. If you want to experience the fullness of God's love, then let Christ have unrestricted access to every area of your life. Keep yourself in the love of God.

And when you do that, verse 18 says, you will be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and you will be able to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. The point is the love that we're talking about here is unknowable. It's unknowable by human reason. The human mind cannot know it, the unregenerate can't know it. It is incomprehensible. It surpasses knowledge. But you can know it, he says, you can know the love of Christ which no one else knows, you can comprehend it in its breadth and its length and its height and its depth when you are rooted and grounded in it. And that happens when Christ has unrestricted access to every area of your life, when Christ fills your life.

How broad is God's love? It's to all who believe. How long is His love? It's from eternity past to eternity future. How high is His love? High enough to enthrone us in the heaven of heavens. How deep is His love? Deep enough to reach to the deepest pit of sin and rescue us. There is the sum of it all.

And this is God's love that leads to verse 20 and you can't really look at this section without verse 20. Verse 20 says, "Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen."

What is that? That is a doxology, isn't it? Well what is causing Paul to burst into a doxology? What is causing it is because he has just comprehended as much as is humanly possible the love of God in Christ and he bursts out in praise. He just experienced a downpour of God’s love. And he burst out singing!

Pause a moment. Go back and read again until it registers deep… when devotion for God is deep and all the soul is so yielded to him, you soak up his love that in the natural is incomprehensible. And you get rooted in his love. Wow!

God's Love - It's Unbreakable!

I am in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, writing this. I just finished doing a church camp here. The past weekend was another wonderful deluge of God’s love. God’s presence in the camp was evidently strong. Personally, I felt God near from the time I stepped into the plane to Sabah.

This morning, as I looked out into the South China Sea with my Bible at hand I was led to read from Romans chapter eight and again there is another picture of God’s marvelous love. I read and reflected and felt a warm fire light up my soul.

Romans 8 verse 35, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" Paul asks the rhetorical question, "Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Just as it is written, For your sake we are being put to death all day long, we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered," that's taken from Psalm 44.

Paul says, what's going to separate us from the love that God gives us in Christ? I mean, we're being put to death all day long….and Paul lived on the brink of death constantly. He was always being considered as a sheep to be slaughtered by somebody who wanted him dead. That was his pattern of life. Is that going to separate us, he asked? Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword?

Then verse 37, "But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who...what?...loved us." You see, this is his personal experience of God's love. Paul says I've been through tribulation, God didn't stop loving me. I've been through distress, God didn't stop loving me. I've been through persecution, I've been through famine, I've been naked, I've been in peril. I've stood on the edge of the sword, I've been through all of that and I can tell you, in it all the one who loved me never, ever, ever, severed that love. "And so I'm convinced...verse 38...that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, or things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

The thing I learn about God's love toward His own this morning is that it is unbreakable, inseparable, unconquerable and ever lasting love. It never fades, it never wavers, it never wanes, it never grows cold and it never changes. God loves us with an everlasting love. Get it deep into your soul today – God loves us with a love that will never die, never grow cold, never diminish, never fade. It is unlike any human love. His love is like the vast ocean – it will always be there. It never will dry up. No sun will cause that volume of water to evaporate! The waves will crash into the shores day in and day out. Unless God ordains it, the waters will never separate . Nothing can divide the ocean .

God loves His own with an everlasting love that cannot ever be broken. Never! If the devil were to whisper to you otherwise, shut him up. Shout out loud to your soul – God’s love to me is unbreakable. He loves me till the end! And let your soul be filled with His love. You need His love flooding your soul today.