Calvin Coolidge said: “Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.”

When we use the term, “Press On”, as it’s used in Philippians 3:12, it means to be diligent and keep on keeping on, don’t stop, don’t deviate, focus and keep on straight ahead. Persistence has won battles; it has been an undeniable aid in everything from restoring marriages to scientific discoveries to overcoming drug and alcohol addiction. i used to have virtually no persistence, couldn’t finish hardly anything, and wondered why my life felt so no-where. An old man told me once, ” persistence is not mere stubbornness—it is faith refined in the furnace of delay”. Ugh! The “furnace of delay”, meaning a prolonged, intensely difficult season of waiting where we have been purposefully delayed in the fulfillment of a promise, dream, or breakthrough. We need persistence. i think it’s a learned thing, especially in this “instant gratification” world we presently live in, and in light of getting what we want, when we want, and how we want, the idea of a “furnace of delay” sounds just awful.

Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Persistence. The Greek word for “abide” occurs 127 times in the N.T., 35 times in it’s variations in the gospel of John alone. A major concept in abiding is persistence, continuing on, to tarry, and carry on. Considering how often the Lord uses the word in scripture, i figure He sees persistence as important for us to learn and practice.

“Cave bestiam”, Latin for “beware the beast”. One of satan’s favorite things to do is to try and get us to give up! However, God tells us to endure, persist, continue, and finish. Let me say those four again …. endure, persist, continue, and finish.

Persistence is one of God’s more subtle attributes, but an attribute of the Lord nonetheless and we should be aware if God was not persistent and did not share His persistence with us, we would yield to the world and capitulate easily in the wave of darkness and wrongness of character, which daily, if not hourly, washes over the world around us. Evil may be persistent, but God is more relentless in His pursuit of us than we have enough imagination to grasp.

Persistence. The Lord has pursued us with His enduring, everlasting love, He persists in His relentless reaching and seeking of those who are His to bring us home to Himself.

Consider for a moment if you are a persistent person and in what way.

i want to re-tell a story, a sad story, of someone i met at a nursing home. i’ll call her Gladys. When a friend and i first walked into her room to visit, she was laying on her bed, covered by a crisp, freshly creased sheet and thin faded blanket, staring at the wall. She was bone thin with very fine gray hair pulled tight across and behind her head, withered facial features, and she was pale, nearly translucent pale, her skin so thin you could see the veins just below the surface. She was so frail and still we thought she was dead were it not for the faint rise and fall of her chest, barely perceptible only if we stood silently and watched for a moment. Holding our breath with intense focus, we paused for a moment, hoping she would turn her head and speak, but when that didn’t happen, i ventured forward and asked how she was today. In a voice as thin as the rustle of dry leaves, while still staring at the wall she replied that she was just laying there waiting to die, tired of being in this world and was done with breathing. Finally, she slowly turned her head to look at us, and from very thin pale lips, told us she didn’t understand why she was still alive. With perplexity in her voice, she continued on saying her heart just kept beating and beating, and she had decided to just wait on it to quit. So, everyday, all day, every week she waited.

The next week we came back and there was Gladys, laying in her bed, almost exactly as she was the first time we met. i’m telling you, it seemed she had not moved an inch since the last time we say her. Hands folded across her chest on top of the sheet and blanket, skin thin as wet paper and her eyes were closed. i spoke softly to her a little above a whisper and asked if she was awake. With her eyes still shut, she said “Yes”. i told her it was a beautiful day, it was warm, and the flowers were blooming everywhere — then i asked her why her eyes were closed. She said she was tired of looking at the sky and the flowers and trees, tired of looking walls and people and just didn’t want to see any of that anymore. She insisted she was still waiting to die.

A month or so later, Gladys really did die. She died from a failure to persist — she didn’t want to be here anymore so badly, her body just simply stopped. It took her over two years to will herself to die, but it appeared she had accomplished her goal.

Sadly, we came to find out, two years prior to that, someone had prophesied to Gladys she only had a couple years left and God was going to take her home, and in light of that foolish and cruel prophesy to a healthy woman with children and grandchildren, Gladys decided that if that was the way it was going to be, then she’d just lay down and wait. She waited for over two years, failing to persist everyday a little more and a little more, until one day, she indeed left the land of the living.

Gladys was a good example about where we go when we cease our persistence of the Lord, life, love, goodness, hope, peace or any other good thing God has sowed into our lives. After meeting Gladys, i realized that it’s the truth, any of us, if we allow it, can become so sad, so resigned to ceasing to breath, we will, at some point, stop. God has another plan though.

After that dreadful story, i much prefer a “positive perspective of persistence”. That phrase has a nice rhythm doesn’t it? “Positive perspective of persistence”.

Persistence, what is it? Here’s part of what i’ve come up with: it is the ability to maintain action regardless of your feelings. In other words, we press on even when we feel like quitting, even when you think you’ve got good reason to quit. If God didn’t say quit what you’re doing, we will stand our post like the soldiers we are. Standing firm to the end is not a way to be saved but it IS the evidence that a person is committed to Jesus. Again, persistence is not a means to earn salvation; it is the by-product of a truly devoted life.

Joyce Meyer said, “Typically, i have to do the right thing with a right attitude for a long time before i start getting right results, that’s persistence.” i believe she was right. In my experience, though limited, i too have realized i often have to treat people right for a long time before they begin to treat me the same way. Not always, but by far and large, most of the time. Persist in treating people right is the key phrase there. That means even when they don’t treat us well, we repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. Consider it a kindness. Consider it a version of sharing your bread with the poor like in Isaiah 58:7. Just as God is kind to us and persists to love us, we need to be like Him. Just as natural seed finally takes root and the beginning of a plant breaks through the ground, we also will see breakthrough if we continue to do the right thing, regardless of what others do. Again, the sticky words are “continue to do the right thing”, persist.

On a side note, what is your idea of “breakthrough”? Be honest, down to the bone honest.

People frequently give up too easily. When their feelings quit on them, they quit too. There is what i call, “The spirit of Eeyore”, which sounds just like Eeyore on Winnie the Poo. Eeyore’s attitude says, “What does it matter? No one cares anyway.” OR “It’s ok. i’ll learn to live without it.” OR “It figures, might as well go home.” OR  “Nope, just got lonely being so popular. i figured being boring old me was better’n being something i ain’t. Hope you’re not too disappointed.”

When we give up, or cease to persist, despair and hopelessness is just a breath away. Let me encourage us all, when we are pressured to give up and turn our back on our friends or even Christ Himself  — don’t do it. Remember the benefits of standing firm, and continue, or persist to live for Christ. Matthew10:22, “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.” Read Luke 18:1-8, James 1:12, and Romans 5:3-4 to name a few. God has a lot to say about perseverance and persisting.

Enduring means to persist, and it doesn’t mean to persist in order to merely be saved or merely get what we want, it means to persist in our pursuit to apprehend Jesus, our life, the Lover of Our Souls. He alone is the source and focus of our persistence! Altogether. Such persistence honors God’s sovereignty and transforms the one who waits. Persistence kills pride, or “I deserve an answer now”, deepens desperation for God Himself rather than simply getting from God what we want, and it forges character that can carry the eventual blessing without being crushed by it.

Just because we give up on something, does that mean we are a failure? No. It may seem to us we are a failure, but that’s failure as WE measure failure. God doesn’t see it that way. There’s a time to doggedly continue on just like there’s a time to let go and set your feet in another direction. Several years ago, two other men and i had a men’s meeting we called the “20/20 Men’s Group”. We persisted for a year, and at the end of that year we felt the Lord point us towards re-assessing our efforts. In our prayer and re-assessment, we perceived the Lord to encourage us to let our meetings go. Honestly, i didn’t want to because i loved the idea of the “20/20 Men’s Group”, but i also know it’s better to follow the Lord instead of keeping on with something He’s moved on from. So, we let it go, and it proved to be the right thing. Does that make us failures? Absolutely not. When to stop pursuing something is a good question, for truly, there are times to cease to pursue a direction which previously we knew to be the will of the Lord. If God changes direction, we must go with God, not be stubborn adherents to an old paradigm.

Greg Herrick wrote that “stubborn faith is not the same as persistent love.” Just because someone’s great-great grandparents did church like they did, if God has requested we change our way of doing things, for Heaven’s sake just change. When the great-great grandparents started the church, it was a great idea. But people have changed, culture has changed, ideals have changed and we mustn’t be so stubborn as to not change when God has moved on. If we’ll not change, what was once a great blessing could easily become a restraint so tight we can’t hardly breathe anymore. The gospel message is the same, of course, but how we go about doing it may lead to our being called to a higher place by the Lord. If we will move “with” the Lord we will do more than simply grow but will flourish. Persist in the pursuit of Jesus, not persist in a paradigm you like, methods you’re comfortable with, or some melancholy idea of “the way we used to do it.” In fact, i believe the phrase, “We ain’t never done it that way before” has stopped many ministries from continuing to prosper.

Here’s an interesting example of persistence with change: Ever heard of a company called “Traf-O-Data?” No? Well, at the time, me either. How about Microsoft? Oh, yea, we’ve all heard of that one. As it turns out both companies were started by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Traf-O-Data was the first company they started in 1972. Gates and Allen ran it for several years before throwing in the towel. They gave up on their original. But, if they hadn’t given up on Traf-O-Data, then there might never have been “MicroSoft”, and i must say, they did much better with MicroSoft than their original idea.

So how do you know when to press on vs. when to let go and follow God’s lead to a new thing? Here’s some questions to help in the re-assement of things: Is your plan still correct and how can you tell? We’ve gotta’ be honest about that one. If it’s not correct, update the plan. Wait on God to confirm it, and yes, the Lord does, unwaveringly, confirm His word. Is your goal still correct? What’s your evidence? Be honest. If not, update or abandon your goal. There’s no honor in clinging to something when God has moved on. Here it is, hear me on this: Persistence is not stubbornness.

i am my own best example of stubbornness which i have often confused with persistence. Letting things go was hard for me. I had always believed we should never give up, that once i set my mind to something, i should hang on to the bitter end. i figured the only thing worse than dying was quitting. You know, the old “captain must go down with the ship and all. i often felt like a failure if i surrendered and didn’t grip my project even tighter in an effort to “make” it work, squeeze it until it works. It was hard for me to learn the difference between persistence and stubbornness. Again, if God changes direction, we must go with God, not be stubborn adherents to an old paradigm.

Romans 14:19 “Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which we may edify one another.”

Persist in apprehending that which makes peace and edifies the body of Christ. That’s very plain and straight forward.

Colossians1:23 says we should persist in our faith, persist in our being established and firm, not moved from the hope held out to us in the gospel.

1 Corinthians 14:1, “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.”

This obviously means to persist until we apprehend love, to persist in reaching towards the spiritual gifts God has for us, especially prophesy, and don’t let the word “prophesy” scare you off. i think so often we get stuck on a word and miss the content. This is not buying into crazy doctrine but i’m saying, simply, don’t get stuck on a word like “prophesy” just because it’s not in the scope of your vision. Persist to understand what God means, and just because some individuals have done it poorly doesn’t mean it is not a viable gift from the Lord.

Persist to walk in the truth, not just the facts, but the truth, truth and fact are different you know. Remember also there is a balance in persistence. 1 John 5:18 “We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin”. Friends, it isn’t necessarily the one cookie that makes us over weight, but the lifestyle of cookies we persist in. It isn’t automatically the one-sy, two-sy of things we do wrong which defile us, it is the lifestyle of wrongness which we persist in. It is not so much the lie here and there which get us in trouble but the theme of lying that causes us such grief. The key word for today in 1 John 5:18 is “continue” or “persist”.  Like in 1 John 3:6, it says “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” That scripture isn’t speaking of a single act, but a lifestyle. It is our conduct and habits which reveal if we really know Jesus or not. Remember: There is balance in our persistence and persistence is not stubbornness, and ceasing to persist on something does not mean anyone is a failure. Think! How does God see the situation? Persist and find out. If you ask Him i guarantee He will answer, by and by. Oh, yes He will.

i read somewhere that the value of persistence comes not from stubbornly clinging to the past. It comes from a vision of the future that is so compelling you would give anything to make it real. This life is real, God is real and alive. i really believe persistence of action comes from persistence of vision. Let me encourage us all to pursue God for our vision and dreams. It ain’t over yet, and i’ve not heard the bell ring, so let’s put our shoulder to the wheel and persist in our pursuit of Jesus. Think about it.

Persistence allows you to keep taking action even when you don’t feel motivated to do so. According to early Christian writers, there are two virtues of courage: Patience & Persistence. Patience is enduring difficulties or danger without being inordinately cast down. Persistence is continuance in spite of difficulties or danger. If there exists in us true courage, therein is faith & hope also, and if there is hope and faith, patience and persistence are close at hand. Persist in prayer, persist and endure through trials, and persist in faith and obedience. Through Christ we shall be persistent, enduring, and steadfast.

In Luke 5:17-20 Jesus was teaching in a house and some guys carried a paralyzed man up onto the roof. There they took apart the roof, and lowered the paralyzed man into the room so Jesus could heal him. Those guys were VERY daring, not to mention it was probably very messy considering there was dirt and roof stuff falling onto the people below. i’d bet anything people complained and maybe even yelled at them to stop, but yet they persisted because they had hope something would change, they had a vision of the future for their friend. Let us be willing to persist on behalf of our neighbors in the same way.

i’m Social Porter and this has been brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, Area 22 Guitars, Cannie Ledbetter at Oakdale Cemetery, Skyland Battery and Ignition, Mr. Jack Johnson at Johnson’s Gulf Service, Elmo and Mary Hogan, and Trinity Bakers where there’s always something good in the oven.

Be persistent this week, press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus. Persist! Persist! Persist! Be at peace and let Jesus be your rest and comfort. Until we meet again, Amen

John 5, The Politics of Bethesda: Jesus asked the man, “Do you want to be well?” The man said, “Sure!” Jesus said, “Take up your bed and walk.” So the guy did, and he had no idea God had just visited him. The Pharisee’s, who seemed to be screening things, tell the guy, “Gahh! Don’t you know it is WRONG to work (carry you bed) on the Sabbath!??!? What’s a matter with you?!!?” The guy sez, “Well, the man who made me well said to pickup my bed, so i did.” Pharisee’s, with condescending exasperation, “ARGH! Do you do everything you’re told?!? Who is this “person” who said pick up your bed!??” The guy sez, “I don’t know.” Later, the guy who was healed was in the temple (he evidently was not ignorant of who God was, he just didn’t actually know Jesus), there he meets Jesus, Jesus gives him some advice, then the guy goes and tells the Pharisee’s (“Look!, Look!, right over there! That’s the guy!”). Then Jesus makes an incredible statement about working on the Sabbath, He sez, vs17, “My father is working today, so i’m working today.” Very upsetting! Jesus was a lot of things, but “nice” wasn’t one of them.

“Nice” is VERY subjective you know. Ummm … ok, wait. The law says it is illegal to work on the Sabbath, but the Father works on the Sabbath, Jesus works on the Sabbath. Wait a minute! So if God didn’t make that law, then who did? The lawyers and Pharisees were more concerned with obeying the rules, and who cares if anyone got healed after 38 years of being incapacitated, just keep the rules, by all means. Following God’s lead is far more important than being a good rule keeper, checking off all the performance accomplishments. Prayed today, Check!, read my Bible today, Check!, Went to church today, Check!, Witnessed to someone, Check!, Spent an hour with my spouse (how gracious of me), Check! Was nice to people at work (feeling piously benevolent about that), Check! Didn’t work on the Sabbath (oh man, i’m doing the stuff now!), Check! i should be ok ’cause my list is checked off right? But why is my job, my marriage, my relationship with my folks/kids, why does all that just seem kind of, i don’t know, tilted?? Off balance, unfulfilling.

Why do i always spiritually feel like my arm is out of joint and i’m out of breath? Why do i feel like i’ve been holding my breath all day? i’m doing the formula, and it’s just not cutting it anymore! Oh bother, What will we do, what will we do?? i’m fairly certain that in the life of every believer, at some point, doing the formula (pray/read/fellowship/tithe) is not enough, and there’s nothing wrong with doing those four points, of course not, it’s just that being good little law keepers isn’t enough. Toeing the line of a moral code will eventually inspire the best of us to be double-minded simply because the pressure to constantly perform is more weight than we can bear. God wants a relationship not just rule keepers, he doesn’t want to do it FOR us, He wants to do it WITH us. Do you believe that y-o-u-r well being is directly tied to y-o-u-r ability to be obedient?? Be honest!

That means when you get life wrong you don’t deserve to be well or do well, and when you get it right enough, ahh,now you are worthy of blessing and well being.

Ships captains of 150 years ago used to have a phrase that everyone recognized as a command to come about to the given nautical heading. They would say, “Come to”, meaning to change your old heading to the new. Maybe you don’t exactly know who is gently knocking on the door of your heart. Maybe you think you do and it terrifies you. Maybe you think if you could get your life together better things would go more smoothly, always reaching to be a little more obedient in hopes of a better result. Maybe some of that is generally true in the sense of just paying attention to the details, like washing your clothes, doing the dishes, or showing up for work. But thinking we can be obedient enough that God will give us what we want is another story. We must cease our mindset of giving to get, always needing a little bit more in order for you to be OK.

Being a rule keeper may make us acceptable to our peers, but what if we did the right thing simply because it was the right thing, not because the rules said we should do the right thing? You know, people tend to mandate acting correctly and also feel the need to add a penalty at the end, like a threat to all rule breakers everywhere.

The Pharisee’s of John 5 demanded the minions keep the rules and do what they were told. They made up rules the minions had to keep that they, themselves, had special excuses as to why they didn’t have to keep the same rules. On one hand they demanded the man be obedient to their rules, but on the other hand when the man obeyed God instead of keeping the rules, they wanted to know if he always did what he was told. Oh, so, it’s like the attitude is: i’m glad you do what you’re told as long as i’m the one doing the telling, otherwise you’re just disobedient? Church leaders set a standard tithe as 10%, but God moved that forward and said something bigger, He said, “Follow me”, which is a present, active, imperative verb. It’s imperative, meaning “do it!” It doesn’t mean keep the rules, nor did He add a penalty afterwards saying, “and if you don’t, i’ll make you pay.” That’s not what God said. Acts5:29, “But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” and Acts4:19, “But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you decide.” i didn’t say don’t respect authority, but i am saying our ultimate responsibility is to God, first, with a continuous upward pointing to the sovereignty of God as a platform for where we plant our feet, on the entire word of God, not just the parts which support our agenda.

What do you think?

Friend, “you are not nowhere, nor are you living in nowhere land with nowhere plans.”

i knew a man who shared with me some of his early life story. As he talked and i listened, i began to realize what a phenomenal story i was hearing, and how miraculous it was that he’d managed, with God’s help, to overcome such staggering odds to be where he was. He wasn’t rich, but he was prosperous. He wasn’t a hero, but he was strong and courageous everyday. He didn’t have a title, but he was a leader. He could probably buy most anything he might want, but the beauty was he didn’t really want anything. He’d had a lot of things and gotten rid of a lot of things and just didn’t want things anymore. What he wanted was Jesus and it showed in all he did and in every word he spoke.

His son had recently found one of his dad’s old 10^th grade report cards, and sent him a photo of it on his phone. When the fellow saw the picture, it was a shameful thing with nothing but d minuses, f’s, zeros’, and some teachers notes indicating the young man of many years ago, was smart, but just seemed indifferent to doing any better. In the moment he texted back to his son saying at that time of his life, his own father had told him he was born a zero, and he’d probably die a zero, and the boy heard it enough that he finally decided if his father believed that about him, he might as well just go on and be a zero. So… he did. As a young man he joined the Navy to escape a bleak life, only to enter into an even more bleak life. He was in good shape, and had learned to fight pretty well, he said he actually enjoyed being a back alley pugalist. He put in to join the Navy Seals. Surprisingly, he got the assignment to go to training, but the end of his tour had come up and the Government wanted 6 more years out of him. Also, at the end of his tour in the Navy, he met Jesus and his life changed by degrees every day.  The Lord told him not to sign up but to get out, which he did. Later in life he learned the wisdom of God’s counsel when he realized there were four things he didn’t have which would have caused him to fail as a Navy SEAL. He was too big, his knees would never have taken the challenge, he didn’t know how to be a team player, and more than anything, he didn’t possess the heart of a champion.

Then he said something amazing which woke up a realization about myself. He said, for so much of his early life, in the back of his head, there was always a song playing, an old Beatles tune with the words turned personal, “i’m a real nowhere man, living in my nowhere land, making all my nowhere plans for no one.” Over and over until he believed it and adjusted his life to live like it. Thankfully, his story didn’t end there, leaving the listener in such a place of despair.

As i said, at the end of his tour of duty, he met Jesus and life began to change. The Lord told him different things, better things, truer things, life giving things. God said he was proud of him, and told him over and over and over he was smart, and he was strong. Seemingly every day, God reversed the words of the “nowhere man” song, saying, “You’re a real somewhere man, living in My somewhere land, making all your somewhere plans for everyone.” Over and over until he began to believe it and live like it. The turn around wasn’t over night, and in fact, it was a long… slow… turn because the Lord solved many things on the way back home. Just like many things were solved on the way home for the prodigal son, God solves many things in us on our road back to the Father.

So what am i getting at? i’m here to tell you, remind you as often as necessary, you, yes you… were not, are not, and never will be a nowhere man, living in your nowhere land. God has always had a plan for you. The enemy of our souls may whisper lies to us, but God, yes, But God says you are NOT a nothing, NOT born a nothing and WON’T die a nothing. You have so much value in you God was willing to die for you and give you life beyond your wildest dreams. But i must add though, here’s the catch, you’ve got to live it, not just call it out by faith, but put it into action and live it. Do it! Let your mother’s negative words which are stuck in your head go, tell the influencers in your ears that they are FIRED and are not allowed to have any impact on your life.

Friend, quit giving your ears to all the badness that’s been spoken to you. Buy into, set your sights on, purchase with all you have, all the things God says. You are NOT a nowhere man, and from before you were born, you were NOT destined to live in nowhere land. If you are in Christ, you are always, always, always somewhere and are a someone. To call yourself a nothing and a zero is to call God nothing, and that’s another lie we’ve swallowed. Your calling is to Christ. You can do right business. You are empowered to get those invoices out, on time, to the right person. You are smart enough to know how money flows through your business. You are big enough to learn to close your mouth and open your mouth when necessary, acting like a mature adult with good filters and solid boundaries. Yes that’s you. You are because God says you are. i don’t know who you are, but i’m here to tell you, as a person who has heard the “nowhere man” song in my own head, all my life, it’s a lie. Repeat this with me, “i am not nowhere and i won’t buy into the nowhere man song in my head any longer.” Say it again, “i am not nowhere and i won’t buy into the nowhere man song in my head any longer.”

What do you think?

What is it with us and our inclination to be contrary? Even when it’s to our exclusive advantage to agree with God, we’ve got in our heart a big fat “yea but” which prevents us.

The Lord brought something to mind while i was praying this morning. It was just a snippet of a memory. Many years ago, another fellow and i were cutting tobacco, and as we were cutting and stacking the crop which needed to go hang in the barn to cure, we were talking about getting some help, wherewith i mentioned hiring one particular guy but didn’t know if it was a good idea. As i remember the conversation, the other fellow said to me, “He’s a pretty good fellow alright, but he’s just… contrary… and i’d just as well leave him at home as to have him around.” In the moment it was a pretty good chuckle, but this morning, God brought it all back to mind. Yea but…

We hold church at the jail every Thursday night, and the other night in particular i heard some very familiar words, “Yea but” this, and “yea but” that. We would say, “Jesus is the answer” and one fellow would say, “Yea, but if He would only…” Almost no matter what was said, that guy would tag in a “yea but”. He was just … contrary. By nature, not that he didn’t agree necessarily, but it was his nature to be contrary. Yea but this, and yea but that. Contrary.

How often, in your life, do you read something from scripture, and even though you may generally agree, somewhere in your heart is a “yea but”, which adds a condition to the Lord’s words? He said He will never leave us and is always with us, yet we add “yea but, i feel so alone.” You know, as Kevin says, “If we’d simply be honest about ourselves and situation, many things would resolve themselves, simply by being honest.”

One time a very angry lady said she truly believed Jesus was Lord and God, and when i agreed with her she then added, while slamming the Bible with her hand, “Yea but, there’s so many contradictions in the Bible i can’t bring myself to believe it.” Upon further discussion, the r-e-a-l issue was that the Lord has righteous boundaries, and says, very plainly, some things are simply wrong. Well, those very things were things she, personally, didn’t see anything wrong with doing, and rather than agree with God, she re-decided that HE was being contradictory. In the moment, i told her i was not a hammer and she didn’t look like a nail, but if she was going to follow the Lord, then follow Him, and if she wasn’t then don’t. But she really should consider to get herself out of the torturous position of indecision. If she would simply be honest about herself it would go a long way to not being angry and conflicted.

1 Kings 18:21, “And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping around between two different paths, sitting on a fence? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word and nobody made a move.”

The word for “limping” is used in the sense of someone who is on crutches who hobbles around or dances around something, and the phrase “two different paths”, as in two points of view, is used in the sense of either going left or right. The entire verse is about being conflicted, being di-vided, or having di-vision. Hobbling around an indecision without making a decision is a big “yea but”, which means we are dancing around deciding whether to go left or right, and Elijah was addressing the painfulness of being at the crossroads of indecision. Is He God or not? Yes. Then act like it. And if you don’t want to believe He is, be honest about it and don’t. We can’t go left AND right at the same time, it still leaves us wrecked in the middle, still hovering around not being able to come to a conclusion. i think for a large part of my life i’ve been the Chief of the Yea But tribe, whose favorite phrase is “yea but” “yea but” “yea but”, living on the ever desolate high plains of the mountains of indecision, slamming back and forth like clothes in the washing machine, being beaten back and forth, coming to no particular conclusion.

A constant stream of “yea but’s” from us is an indicator of confusion, and in 1 Corinthians 14:33 Paul writes that the Lord is not the God of confusion. The Greek word for confusion refers to being caught up by a “contrary wind which blows this way and then that”, can’t make up it’s mind, popping the sails of the boat back and forth. It is a word indicating unrest, turmoil, and disorder.

The guys at the Mebane Freedom League gave me a good example once. They said living in the momentum of our “yea but” is like trying to force a square peg through a round hole, and the problem with forcing a square peg through a round hole is that there are “leftovers”.  If you do actually mange to force a square peg through a round hole, it shaves off certain portions of the peg just to make it “fit”, and sure, after you’re done with all your forcing, it can be said that it “fits” in the end, but what about the bits that got “shaved off”?  Afterall, this IS the truth we’re talking about and even the “shavings” matter!  Except “yea but” people end up with a HUGE pile of shavings and when asked, what about the HUGE pile of shavings, they attempt to “explain it away” or divert us.  “Yea but” is like forcing that square peg through a round hole, and it rips chunks out of the truth to make it work.

Is the Lord God or not? If He is, then act like it, and if you don’t want to believe it, then don’t…. stop dancing around two ways to go, and get on with it.

What do you think?

          Never. Just as there are several important things for us to know of the Lord which are always, there are several important things which are “never”, meaning at no time in the past or future; on no occasion; not ever. “Never”, as God uses the word is an absolute negative.

One of the first things that is never is that God is never man, and inversely, man is never God. Numbers 23:19, “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” We may work to reduce the Lord to being on equal footing with us imagining the Lord to struggle with things like we do, but that is only what we may wish except in no wise is it true, ever. He is always God and there is never a time He is not, i am never God and there’s never a time i am.

The Lord God does not sin, and if there is no sin, there is no transgression, nor is there iniquity. 1 John 3:5, “You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.” Jesus did not miss the mark, fall short in any fashion, nor was there or will be a place for death and dying to find a foothold in Him.

God is never late, and as long as we live it is never too late. In Luke 11 there is a story of Jesus showing up right on time. i heard a preacher call God “God of the last minute”, implying the Lord waits until the very last moment to move, and that’s not true. He is always on time, the perfect time, and nothing less. A mothers son had died and was being carried out to be buried. The young son had obviously been dead for a least long enough to be prepared for the burial, so it wasn’t like in the last minute or two he stopped breathing. No, the boy was dead, real dead. What did Jesus do? He encouraged the mother to not worry, and told the boy to get up from his death bed. Jesus was not late, but right on time. God is not the God of the last minute, he’s always on time, perfectly, and never late.

Love never fails, and God never fails! 1 John 4:8, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love”, and 1 Corinthians13 tells us that Love never fails. In addition, God is never envious or a braggart, never arrogant or rude, He is never irritable, resentful, and never, ever, ever is glad anyone does the wrong thing.

The Lord will never betray us. Psalm 89:33, the Lord says, “… but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness.” This is important because we often want the Lord to be guilty of the things we are guilty of, but He is not. God will not ever descend to join us in our iniquity so we don’t have to be guilty, but we should ascend to join Him in His righteousness instead. Even though Jesus became flesh and took our sin to Himself, He had no sin, never did He sin or transgress, nor does any of our sin stick to Him that He would be defiled.

God is never tired, He never grows weary and never needs a nap. Isaiah 40:28, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.” Oh, and that last part, his understanding is unsearchable, that means the wisdom of God is never ending, He understands all things so perfectly, there is no end to His insight. The Lord never gets tricked, never is manipulated, and never is out maneuvered. Never.

The Lord will never leave you. We who are believers tell each other He will never leave us, forsaken like orphans, but once again, the details of our lives tell another story. How often do we talk ourselves out of God’s promises? God never lies, so it is true, He will never leave you, so let’s cut out this “woe is me” attitude saying one thing but then, when we do something wrong or act out inappropriately, stop acting like, “The Lord has left the room. You know, God can’t be where sin is, so he’s not with me.” Gosh, what another lie, an absolute colossal lie at that. If God can’t be where sin is, then how could He be where you were when you got saved? Forgive me for using such a forceful word, but it’s the truth, that’s just stupid and self-validates our attitude of, “If i were God i wouldn’t like me either.” Well … lucky for you, you aren’t God, because that’s not how He is.

God never wastes, not one little piece, of all that we go through. There are no extra words in the Bible nor and there any spare people in Heaven. Remember Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”? That’s no fooling around, the Lord never speaks glibly, saying stuff He doesn’t really mean.

Lastly, God will never die, or fade away. He is everlasting, unending. Psalm 90:2 says the Lord is “from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” He came from eternity and He stretches into eternity. God never made application to some ethics board or to some corporate or government agency for Him to be God and operate as He does. He never asks their permission to be the Lord, they should ask His permission to be an agency or a government.

Set these things in stone in your heart and mind, bank on them, and re-think how you see the Lord. We truly must address our twisted ideas of the Lord.

What do you think? There are actually more than 18, how many can you find?

          The Lord wants us to reconsider our downward spiraling attitude about ourselves. i don’t mean lifted up in pride being arrogant and boastful about how great we are, but lifted up by the goodness of God which is humbling, and uplifting all at the same time.

When i went to high school, within the culture of high school in general, there were all these little sub-cultures. There were the athletes, the athlete-wannabe’s, the popular girls and popular girl-wannabe’s, the middle people who weren’t popular or unpopular – just kind of non-distinct. And then there was the lower echelons, some were farm kids who were typically pretty good kids but tough as nails, and then, yes, and then there were those who found identity in the hippy-type posers. We wore bell bottom jeans, refused to wash sometimes, and pretended to rebel against authority. That is… until authority came knocking on our door, then we quickly hid behind our parents who we previously told people we hated. We didn’t make good grades, we didn’t do our homework, we acted like we resented class, reading, learning, or anything which we felt was an imposition. i was one of those. i made d’s and few f’s, and i wore them, outwardly as a badge of rebellion, but inwardly i was continually crushed by the dishonor of my poor grades. It’s an absolute miracle i graduated. Maybe the teachers just wanted me to go away, i don’t know. i felt stupid, and little by little i became as i felt. i saw myself as a “d” person, going “d” places with other “d” people, having “d” conversations, doing “d” things for “d” reasons. i operated on a “d” and “f” platform, and was clueless about so much. Hey, i just wanted to fit in someplace, and it was easiest to fit in at the bottom of our little sub-culture.

Later in life, as i reached the bottom of everything, in general, as an alcoholic and a drug addict, i met Jesus. Well, let me tell you, yes it was life changing, but He didn’t change my victim mentality and all of my grief’s right away. Little by little, i learned to become responsible for my actions. Inch by inch life did began to change, until one day i had the brilliant idea to discover how God saw me, and i want to tell you what He told me. i found out that God, actually, has a lot to say about what he thinks about us.

One of the first things is “you are prized and treasured”, valuable. He gave us His breath so we could breath and created us in His image and reflection. He knows the number of the hairs on your head, and says you are more valuable than the sparrows, valuable enough He gave His life, and that’s saying something. He has, oh this is good, has crowned you, yes you, with glory and honor and calls you the pinnacle of creation. Yes, yes, yes, i know you know you fall short, children of wrath and corruption, but in stunning gestures of love He gave it to us to believe in Christ if we want out of dying and death with all the falling down in between. Our state of fallen grace doesn’t have the last word. Grace does.

He says you are no longer orphans, alone in the dark, held in a prison cell made only for violent offenders, but He calls you His own.

Ok, now the next one is really important, so let’s get it worked down in our head. If you have asked the Lord to take over your life, then you really need to know…He says you… are… new. The old has passed away and the new has come. You are no longer a slave to wrongness of character and as weightless as a shadow. Again, if you have believed in Christ as Lord, then God says you are now righteous in His sight…no sir, no condemnation for you.

And as if that wasn’t enough, He gave you His Holy Spirit so you don’t have to live under your own power and dismal understanding, and He is with you, God is on your side! The Lord promises He will guide you into all truth, and all means all. He also promises to help you do what He says, and even, yes even empower you to do His work. He didn’t say you’d just be changed, He said you’d be transformed! You may say, “well, i’m just not seeing it.” Ok, then let’s ask Him to open your eyes to see Him and to see you through His eyes. Ask Him, what have you got to lose?

Not only is God so, so very confident in His ability to get you where you need to go, He has even given it to you to go forward in a manner that is worthy of your calling, representing Him in all He is. Oh yea, You, are a citizen of Heaven and an ambassador of Christ.

Now, you may not believe all that. You may say, “I am so unworthy, I don’t deserve such goodness.” You’re right! But aren’t we lucky that the Lord didn’t ask us if we thought we were worthy, He just said we are and didn’t ask us if it was ok.

Let this sink down into your head. How God sees you supersedes how you see you. You are not a slave, not, not, not, and if you think you are and “that’s just the way it is because i’m so bad and far away”, the Lord is reaching out to you saying “My friend, it doesn’t have to be that way. i have made a way for you to be free.”

What do you think? Consider, life may not have worked out well, so far, believing “i’m just a “d” and “f” kinda person, so i’m sorta’ resigned to living a “d” and “f” life”…. why not take a chance with God and do something different?

18 Things Which Are Always

          In this life, there are very few things which are always. Unless we’re speaking about strict identities, like man, woman, up, down, etc, most everything else can change it seems.

i realize we’ve spoken of the words “always” and “never” before, but it seems the Lord wants us to know more about the “always” things which are alive in scripture.

In Romans 1:9, Paul writes, “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers.” And Luke18:1, Jesus said that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

Always, meaning every which way, waking and sleeping, in a way which says, “you are always on my mind”. i used to wonder how anyone could pray without ceasing. Can you hear it? i can. In the back of my head, by the power of the Holy Spirit, it is entirely possible there is a song and prayer continuously going on. Listen, it is there. Does a lack of prayer in the heart and soul of a believer imply somehow there is also a loss of heart?

Jesus said in Matthew 26:11 the poor are always with us. Now that word “poor” means more than simply without monetary means, God means something larger, as in poor in spirit, poor in common sense, beggarly allegiances, poverty stricken in self-control, peace, and rightness of character to name a few. Let us also note that the reason the poor are always with us is that oppressors, the unjust, and manipulative to gain a personal agenda are also always with us.

John 8:29, “…for I always do those things that please him.” Jesus is speaking of the will of the Father. The preferences and standards of the Father are the preferences and standards of Jesus. Let us also adopt an attitude of heart which is determined to own Gods standards and preferences for ourselves, always doing the things which please the Lord.

In John 11:41-42, Jesus made a statement which we need, NEED to believe and know as He knew. He said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me…” He made this statement so those around Him would believe also that God hears us when we pray, Always. He knows it, it isn’t a suspicion which would indicate unsureness lurking around in His head. He said, always, meaning without a doubt, at all times; on all occasions, without fail. We n-e-e-d to know this one in particular.

2 Corinthians 2:14, “But thanks be to God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ...” Those in Christ will not triumph mostly, not pretty much, but are ALWAYS caused to triumph, singing the honor of His great name. Believe it! Gods always means exactly what He said, always. When we are sure we are water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again, we need to know there is nothing SO dead, God cannot grow life out of it. He ALWAYS causes us to triumph.

2 Corinthians 5:5-6, “He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage.” God has prepared us, we are equipped, going forward with His guarantee, therefore we always are of good courage. Gods guarantee means “always”, without a doubt, by which the result is brought about that we are no longer slaves of fear. We bank on Gods guarantee that Jesus has overcome the world, going forward in the power of the Spirit. Be of good courage to stand up in His name.

David describes a heart posture that is necessary for us when he wrote in Psalm16:8 that he has “set the Lord always before him, therefore he will not be shaken.” To set the Lord always before us, means to purposely, put God first, always, surrendering to Him the pre-eminence in all things… before my ambition, before my self-advancement, before my objective for building a church… before everything, i have set the Lord before me. To “set God before us”, means we make Him the standard. As a result, when i am cornered and chaos surrounds my house, the shalom of God encapsulates me and i will not be moved. All my days are before the Lord.

Paul declares in 2 Corinthians 9:8 that God is able to make all grace abound towards us, that we would always have all sufficiency in all things in order to super-abound in excess in every good work. It is always good to be zealously affected for a good purpose, bound and driven to thank God always, without fail, continuously with joy.

By the power and guarantee of God we can set ourselves in a continual position for our speech to always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that we can know how we ought to answer each person. 1 Thessalonians 5:15, “always, always, always follow after that which is good, that is Gods version of what is good, looking to do good to one another and to everyone.”

Friends, let us always labor, in all things, for the glory of God, rejoicing always as it says in Philipians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice.”

And the creme-dela-creme, the cream of the cream, Jesus said He will never leave us, and is always with us, and i’ll say it over and over until i get it down in my head, God means what He says, and always means always, and there’s never a time He meant something other than always. As a result, He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Christ, since he always lives to make intercession for us.

What do you think? There are actually more than 18, how many can you find?