To be Seen of Others

Matthew 6:1-4 (NIV)

"Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2 "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Have you ever been challenged by these words of Jesus? 

In this scripture, there is an implication that we are already giving to others in need.

As humans, when we do something for others, there is an immediate temptation that follows "to be seen of others." 

James calls this the Pride of Life.

I think the problem comes from that issue of Identity. When our eyes fall off of Jesus, we seek significance in all the wrong places.

So in this scenario, you could actually be walking in obedience to the scriptures, doing the right thing, with a totally wrong heart.

That is exactly how the Pharisees lived their lives. 

We like to get mad at them as we read the Gospels and Acts, but if we are not careful, we find the heart of a Pharisee within ourselves.

So rather than struggle in these areas of having a hardened heart, let's put our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith!!

He said, your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you!

Pledge or Faith Commitment?

I am writing from Tulsa, OK. 

Juli and I had come down for a conference this week. 

It has been full of revelation, anointed worship and great teaching. 

One area that the Lord spoke to me this week was in the difference between making a "Pledge" vs. a "Faith Commitment."

If you are a follower of Jesus, at some point the Lord will challenge you in the area of Giving and Generosity. The reason for this is that God is a Giver and He is abundantly Generous...and He expects us to become like Him!

When we make a "Pledge" to give, what we do is look at our budget, and decide "what can I afford to give without messing with the status quo of my finances?"

However, God does not call us to make these kind of pledges. The Lord always wants us to be operating out of a place or position of Faith.

So a "Faith Commitment" is where we ask the Lord, "What is it You want me to give?" The answer to that has nothing to do with your current financial status. 

I heard a minister this week give testimony to this. 

He asked us all, "Have you ever been in a situation where you wished you had a lot of money so you could help someone or give generously into an offering?"

When he was younger he was in that exact situation where he wanted to get behind another ministry's Kingdom endeavor, but quite frankly, he did not have the money.

It was in his heart to give $1000.

At that time he felt he could only believe for $100.

Honestly that was where his Faith was then.

So the Lord told him to believe for $100...TEN TIMES!

We all got a laugh at the story, but that is exactly what he did. 

He made the Faith Commitment for $1000. 

Following that meeting, every time God brought him $100 above his normal resources He sent it to that ministry. 

He ended up meeting his Faith Commitment in 4 months! 

This in the natural was a miracle!

You see, when we put ourselves in a position of Faith, God can then begin moving on our behalf.

Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is (exists), and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

The Effect of No-Frills Worship

2 weeks ago we had a great worship service at LifeTree!

In case you weren't there, we had major sound issues right as we were starting the service. Everyone rolled with it. 

Svanna just so happened to have brought in her new acoustic guitar, Andy started leading, we pushed the grand piano over, Jeff played his bass through the amp, Jadyn jumped on the congas and somehow John's electric still worked...

...and we had CHURCH!

It was so beautiful hearing all the voices worship the Lord without all the frills of full sound and a full band. 

It reminds me of Paul and Silas in prison, as they began worshipping the Lord...now they didn't even have an acoustic guitar! 

However, I heard the acoustics in that prison were pretty sweet for a cappella singing! hahaha.

Seriously, talk about no-frills worship!

They had just been beaten with rods, their backs were bleeding, their feet were fastened into stocks, it was dark.

The result of that pure worship before the Lord was:

      atmosphere-changing, 

           bondage-breaking, 

                freedom-making, 

                     foundation-shaking Worship!

Acts 16:25-26 (NKJV)

But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and EVERYONE'S chains were loosed.

Wow! Their Worship lead to EVERYONE around them being set free from their chains???

Think about that one!

The god of this world?

The Lord brought something to my attention this past week.  

Most of us are aware the the devil is called the "god of this world" or the "god of this age" in the Bible, depending on which English version you read.  (2 Corinthians 4:4)

When we look at the news media and the reports of evil around the world we can surely see why he has such a title. His influence seems to be everywhere, from  politics, media, entertainment, academia, war, terrorism, religion,  peoples' opinions, conversations...etc.

However, what does this really mean, the "god of this world?"

Is he the owner?

Is he in control?

Is God trying to get it back from him?

The Bible says,

1 Corinthians 10:26 (NKJV)

...for "the earth is the Lord's, and all its fullness."

That means the earth and everything in it!

The Lord, in His wisdom has set certain boundaries for the devil to operate because of the rebellion of mankind, but NOTHING is outside of God's control.

We, as Believers, are no longer under the rule of Satan. 

The Bible also says,

Colossians 1:13 (NKJV)

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.

Jesus through His death and Resurrection gave authority over the devil to His Church that we may walk in Victory!

Jesus said,

Luke 10:19 (NKJV) Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

We exercise this Authority when we Pray in Jesus' name.

John 14:13-14 (NKJV) And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

Wow! What a Promise!

I pray the Lord give us greater Revelation of this Promise and Truth from His Word!

Walk in it!

I read this proverb this morning.

Proverbs 24:16 NLT The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.

You've probably heard it before. The People of God are marked by their resilience...a refusing to give up and quit when we fail. Just like in Joseph's life, we was sold into slavery by his brothers...he was falsely accused of attempted rape...he was thrown into Pharaoh's prison...

Yet the Bible says, the LORD WAS WITH JOSEPH AND HE SUCCEEDED IN EVERYTHING HE DID.

Joseph kept getting back up. 

The next scriptures in this proverb I feel are very significant when it comes to our observation of the wicked...

Proverbs 24:16 NLT Don't rejoice when your enemies fall; DON'T BE HAPPY WHEN THEY STUMBLE. 18 For the Lord will be displeased with you and will turn his anger away from them.  

Wow. Enough said. 

Think on that today.

Move of God

With every move of God, the enemy lies waiting to kill, steal and destroy. Whether it be your joy, your peace, the revelation you received...Satan wants to snuff out the flame before it begins to really burn in you.

As you grow in your walk with the Lord, and gain experience, you will develop a peace in the midst of Satan's very predictable behavior. You will also develop an attitude that refuses to accept his "push-back" to the Goodness of God in your life.

Matthew 18:18 NLT "I tell you the Truth, whatever you FORBID on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you PERMIT on earth with be permitted in heaven."

Jesus has given the Keys of the Kingdom (Authority) to us, His Church. We must exercise that authority so the Gates of Hell do not prevail. 

Exercise your authority today. Speak His Word, the Promises of God over your situation and refuse to accept (forbid) the adversity in your life to prevail.

It is your right as a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven!

Endurance

The last few years of my life God has been teaching me about different types of Faith...or perhaps better put, different aspects to our Faith.

I often preach about using our Faith to move the mountains, to overcome adversity, and to gain the victory over the enemy.

There is however, another facet of our Faith that we must develop or we may come to the conclusion that our Faith has failed. 

I'm talking about Enduring Faith.

Enduring Faith is needed when we are standing on a Promise of God's Word that has not yet been fulfilled. Enduring Faith is also needed in the face of loss and disappointment. 

James 1:2-4 NASB - Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your FAITH produces ENDURANCE. 4 And let ENDURANCE have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Faith would be easy if we always quickly received the answers to our prayers. Time and unexpected circumstances can cause one to lose hope, give up and even become angry with God. In some cases, people have rejected Him altogether. 

Consider the life of Joseph. He had the Promise of God to be a great leader one day. Yet, he was hated by his brothers, thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused of rape, thrown into prison...and in all that, he ENDURED. He chose to trust God and keep his Faith in the Promise of God.

If we are to be successful in our Christian walk we must develop mountain-moving-trial-enduring-Faith!