Go Back and Get Your Gun

For thirty years I have carried an image in my head of a scene from a movie long ago. The movie was called, "The Longest Day," and was about the D-Day invasion. It starred (among others) Robert Mitchum (center of pic above) as a tough man's man, gung ho type general. It's D-day they are on the beach he is leading the charge and he turns around and sees what appears to be an 18 year old, scared out of his wits, hiding behind one of the German beach defenses. (Below is another pic from the movie where you can see the little thing the soldier was hiding behind.)

The general notices the young man has dropped his gun, and is paralyzed in fear from all the bullets whizzing around. Mitchum steps out in the open, fearless, and simply says, "don't you think you ought to go back and get your gun?" The ocean behind, the enemy in front, the only real option the young man had was to fight his way out of the mess. Encouraged by his general, he retrieves his gun and joins the fight again.

People drop their guns for all kinds of reasons, and there are all kinds of guns people drop. I want to mention just one. There are many people who drop their guns, because they tried and failed, or because others and/or life shot them down when they tried. Moses was that kind of guy. He tried to help his people, his motives were right, but he overreacted and killed a man. Not only did he fail, but his failure was also one of the worse types of sins imaginable. He dropped his gun, ran to the wilderness and there he lay, paralyzed on the beach of life for 40 years. Then one day his general (God) interrupted him on the beach and basically said, "I am sending you back to do what failed to do so miserably at last time." God speaks to failures and says, "c'mon let's do this thing again." That is usually when the excuses start. This blog is just a shout out to all those of you who have dropped your gun because of fear or failure, your General is here today to say to you, "c'mon let's do this thing again." The ocean is behind, the enemy in front, the simple reality is that you can no longer live on the beach of inactivity. The general is not here to condemn but to motivate you forward. - Get your fire burning again.

He Whom You Love is Sick

John 11:3 The sisters therefore sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick."

This is a very hard passage of scripture wrap your mind around, because of the way that it clashes with everything we expect from a loving God. He whom You love just filed for bankruptcy. She whom you love just got served divorce papers. There are just some things that will never seem right to be in the same sentence with, "he whom You love." Yet there it is, front and center in the Gospel of John. I mean its not like God tried the hide the fact some of His best, get dealt the worst hands in life. So why is it so hard for us to accept, why does it seem so incongruous with what we think we know of God?

I think it is because we can never equate something good coming out of something bad. Jesus Himself said in Luke 6:44 ..."For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush." No men don't, but what applies to us doesn't apply to God, God can gather figs from thorns or grapes from a briar bush if He so chooses. Perhaps that is the reason in Romans 10 it says, "...with the heart man believes," there are some things better left to the heart than to the mind. My heart tells me that the One who saved me from drugs and everything else I was involved in that was destroying my life, He will not turn around and give me a poison apple. So when your mind is vexed with life's circumstances, and you can't answer all the questions the devil is throwing at you, remind yourself all the things you have learned of Him, love believes all things. That will help you keep your fire burning when life is trying to throw water on it.  Blessings

The Law of Attraction

There are people who believe in a "law of the universe," they call "The Law of Attraction." The gist of which is that if you think happy, positive, self-affirming thoughts, then good things will magically be attracted to you. (Sounds like Hinduistic karma stripped of its religious overtones, and applied to thoughts more than actions.) The "law" does have some basis in truth, there are scientific studies that show people who are given placebo's (sugar pills), a statistically significant number of them show improvement, just because they believe the pill would help.

In college psych classes I learned about what was called self-fulfilling prophecy. If you think something bad is going to happen, you may inadvertently cause it to happen, when it didn't have to in the first place. (For example all you golfers out there who think the ball is going to go in the woods... it probably will) Or in the case of the woman above (I hope she is not related to any of my readers!), if you don't think anyone could be attracted to you, you may not put the effort in to look and act your best, thus causing no one to be attracted to you.

There is a biblical law of attraction, it is summed up in this passage: 2Sa 22:27 With the pure You will show Yourself pure; And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd. (NKJV) How we act towards God and others causes a similar type reaction from God. There is one twist with the biblical law, and that is thinking low thoughts of yourself can produce great results. Mt 23:12 "And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted. Quite a bit different from the way the world's law of attraction, and one of the many reasons God says His ways are not our ways...    A dash of humility will help keep the fire burning.

David's Kryptonite

I read a portion of scripture that caught me by surprise today: Ps 64:1  « To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. » Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
Ps 64:2 Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity:

What surprised me was Davids prayer to be kept from fear. I never thought of David as someone who struggled with fear, after all as a teen, (or juvenile!) he killed both a lion and a bear, and then in his late teens he went toe to toe with the biggest, strongest, soldier in the world. Yet here he is in this psalm voicing concern about secret fears and struggles. "Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked..." Plots hatched in dark places, with his destruction in mind.

I don't see the devil in every misfortune life throws my way, yet the scriptures admonish us about the, "snare of the fowler" (Ps 91) The truth is everyone has weak spots, that our enemies would like to exploit. Even the David's of the bible. Everyone has their kryptonite, that which can pull you down and wreck havoc in your life. Paul spoke of, "fleeing youthful lusts," and the apostle Peter said to avoid such lusts which, "war against the soul."

Fear that paralyzes is no good, but a healthy fear, such as of fire, can save your life. David's fear was a healthy one. May God keep you from your kryptonite, and so keep your fire burning.

The Fulness of Time

But when the fulness of the time came... (Gal 4:4)

"And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you..." Is 30:18
I usually think of waiting from my perspective, I don't often think about it from God's perspective. Thousands of years passed from the promise to crush the serpents head, till Jesus died on the cross. Thousands of years, think about it. I mean why did God have to wait so long to save us? Couldn't He have done it sooner? It appears that God was waiting till, as we would say the time was ripe. You can do the same thing on a different day and get a very different result. He was getting all His ducks in a row, crossing all His T's and dotting all His I's so that when at last He shot His arrow He hit the dead center of the bullseye, on the very day that it would have the most impact for eternity.

When I was 19 years old, I was desperately wanting to find the one who God planned to be a life mate for me. I couldn't understand why He wouldn't hurry up. My wife is 8 years younger than me, if He would have pointed out an 11 year old to me, I probably would have thought it was the devil who was speaking and not God. So He waited to be gracious to me, in spite of all my petitions and requests that things be speeded up, in spite of my complaints, He even risked my doubting in His love to wait till the time was right. I am so glad He did.

If you are struggling with waiting for something today, take comfort that God is also waiting, waiting for the absolutely best and perfect time. Keep the fire burning.

A Branch Over the Wall

Ge 49:22  "Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall."

Joseph was a man who brought great blessing to the land of Egypt. The bible tells us Pharaoh had a dream of seven skinny cows eating seven fat cows, and when they were done they looked no better, they were still malnourished. Joseph interpreted it to mean 7 good years would be followed by 7 bad years, that would be so bad the 7 good years would be completely forgotten. He told Pharaoh that Egypt should prepare for what was ahead. Pharaoh hired Joseph, and through his efforts Egypt not only survived, but thrived in a very difficult time.

Joseph got to Egypt by being sold as a slave by his step-brothers. Nice family, huh? He didn't stop being fruitful or a blessing because of the harm done to him by others, but instead was a source of refreshing wherever he went. He decided to bloom where he was planted. In this case people outside of his kingdom (Israel) were  able to enjoy some of the fruit of his walk with God. Everyone has bad stuff happen to them, what the world needs more of is people who can continue to bear fruit in spite of the hurdles life, and others put in their way.

The text tells us 3 things about Joseph:
1. He was very fruitful. That is what God wants and expects from us.
2. He was planted and received nourishment from the spring he was planted near (Psalm 1). Irrespective of what life may throw at you, you will find that God will always see to it you have enough nutrition to prosper, flourish, and bear much fruit. Isaiah 5:1,2; and John 15 especially v. 8 and 16.
3. He climbed over the wall of his circle of family and friends and was a blessing to others who enjoyed the fruit his life was producing. Fruit is meant to be shared, not hoarded.

May God make you fruitful, and may your fruit nourish many who live on the other side of the wall. Keep your fire burning.

The Wine of Astonishment

A few years ago I was having some sharp pains in my lower back. I have been blessed that rarely in my life have I suffered back pain, and this time was no different. I knew the pain wasn't in my back, but probably in one of the organs in my body. I went and saw my doctor, who referred me to another doctor, it was thought I might have a kidney stone and so a test was arranged.
As part of that process I was given two tubs of castor oil to drink the night before, in order to purge my system. The doctor may have used the term, "evacuate." All I can say is that when the purging began, everyone wanted to evacuate my house!
The next day I was injected with a dye, and the test came back negative. I never experienced that pain again, I think the purging, purged the cause of it. Which brings us to this text in Psalms 60:3 Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment. (KJV) The lesson is simple, when something inside you is wrong, God may give you castor oil to drink, to get rid of it. Take it from me, you don't want to be drinking any castor oil. Keep the garbage out, and keep your fire burning.