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THE DEAD ZONE I would like to tell you that I am the kind of person that has it together all the time, but the truth is that I hit some rough spots in my relationship with God. In reality, I think all of us do. I know when we are around church folks that we would like people to think that we have our act together all the time and we’re just a step away from perfection when the truth is that we all go through difficult things in life. We don’t maintain that high level of intensity all the time. We even have those occasions when our prayer life isn’t what it needs to be and our enthusiasm isn’t as high as we would like it to be. I think it is in those times that are described when Phillippians 2:12 says to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Sometimes it doesn’t come easy. We have to work at it. Not that we are setting our own doctrine but that we have to put forth an effort at times to push through the difficulties we face in life. Whether it be with outside pressures from our jobs, family, health or finances or from our own battles which rage within us. There are times in my life when I seem to get into a spiritual “dead zone”. It seems that God isn’t listening to my prayers and I’m not hearing from Him either. There doesn’t seem to be anything happening. I might even go a period of time without any communication at all. I don’t like those times. I feel like the guy on the cellular phone commercial who is walking around asking “Can you hear me now?” My employer recently gave me a cellular phone. This is the first time that I have personally been in possession of this modern technological device. At times, it is a nice convenience to have. With a cell phone, you have instant communication without having to use a pay phone or fine the nearest phone. Even with that availability, there are still problems with cell phones. They are not always 100% reliable as some would make you believe. There are times when you can find yourself in what they call a “dead spot” or a “dead zone”. This is a place where you can’t send or receive phone calls. There are a lot of reasons for this such as geographic problems, tower locations and weather conditions. When you are in a dead zone, there are only two ways to improve your communication – either find some way to boost your signal or get out of the dead zone. Spiritually, we can find ourselves in a dead zone. When we are not able to utter a prayer or read our Bible, we are only making matters worse for ourselves. Our prayers then become hindered because we lack the faith that God is listening or we feel condemned that we have been in a dead zone. The ONLY way we can get out of a dead zone is to physically make the effort to get out of it! You MUST get to a place where you can establish the communication again. You have to make it happen. If you sit in a dead zone with your cell phone and continue to dial numbers, you are only going to get more and more frustrated. It isn’ t until you move that things will change with your reception to where you can get a signal to make your call. Sometimes we are in situations where our prayers are hindered and instead of trying to find out why, we continue to frustrate our prayers by praying and not seeing any results. When we get in those times, we need to examine the situation from the most basic point. If we are desperate enough, we will get serious about it and make a way. How do you get out of the spiritual dead zone? Have faith in God that He hears your prayers. When the disciples couldn’t cast the demons of a man in Matthew 17, they asked God why. He responded by saying that they had unbelief and if they only had faith as a grain of a mustard seed, it could have been accomplished. (Matthew 17:20,21) Put emphasis back on worship. If you can’t seem to get a prayer going, put on a worship CD and let your mind get into the lyrics. You will find that pretty soon, the worship will flow from your own lips to God’s ear. If you don’t know what else to do, just start praising Him. You won’t ever go wrong in praise and worship unto the Lord. If anything, it will boost your signal and get you out of the dead zone. Nothing breaks the dead zone like your worship. Are you walking in the Spirit? It is so easy to get into the flesh. Sometimes we can get out of the Spirit and into the flesh without even realizing it has happened. Did you know these two are at war with each other constantly? If not, then why is it so hard to get up and go to church on Sunday when you are in the dead zone? Check out Galatians 5:16-17. Finally, you need to evaluate who is controlling your life. We can become such control freaks and wrestle control for ourselves instead of allowing Christ to be in control. (1 Corinthians 9:25-27) If our schedules are too busy for God then He doesn’t have control of our lives. Someone once said that if we allow time for God then He will settle us to where the rest of our schedule will fall into place. You won’t find books on that in the business section of the book store. Wall Street won’t teach you that. It’s only found in the control Christ can bring to your life. Instead of walking around frustrated and asking “Can you hear me now?” in your prayers, get out of the dead zone and make it happen. The “cell phone” plan that Christ has gives you free, anytime, anywhere minutes. Things won’t get better by just doing nothing. Call upon Him and have faith that He hears your prayers. BACK TO INDEX......... |
RADICAL TRUST Have you ever been discouraged? Have you ever encountered a time in your life when nothing seems to be going your way? It can be a most frustrating time in the life of a Christian. It happens to everyone – young and old – at some point. There will be times when it seems that even God isn’t listening to your prayers and your enemies are gathering on every side of you. What can you do? The next church service is days away. So who else are you going to turn to? Trust in God. It sounds like a cliché doesn’t it? When you are in this dilemma what do you have to lose? If you ever find yourself in this situation – and believe me – you will, remember the story of Jehoshaphat and commit it to your memory. The first thing that happens when we face a discouraging situation is fear. There’s nothing wrong with fear unless we let fear overcome us. A famous president is known for his statement that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. Sounds kind of corny doesn’t it? The point is, there is nothing wrong with the emotion of fear. The problem is when we give into that fear. Fear can actually be a great motivator. When Jehoshaphat heard the reports of vast armies gathering to attack Judah and Jerusalem, notice the first thing that the fear from this news caused Jehoshaphat to do. He called a prayer meeting! He cried out to God on behalf of the people. You can never go wrong with prayer. Sometimes we wait until we have run out of options and use prayer as a last resort. We have that thinking backwards. Prayer should be the first item on the agenda. Jehoshaphat got down to business. When it’s crunch time in your life, you don’t have to use eloquent words to get God’s attention. You only need to pour out your heart to Him. In addition to prayer, you increase your prayers’ effectiveness when you are in agreement with other Christians. It’s not always possible to get together with others from your church to pray but it certainly helps. When you need help in a situation, call some of your friends together that you can trust and have them pray with you. When you have prayed, leave it in God’s hands. We often make the mistake of praying about things and then after we finished praying, we start worrying about the situation again and go with our own plans anyway. When Jehoshaphat finished his prayer, everyone stood before the Lord and then the Spirit came upon Jahaziel with the word from God. God told the people not to be afraid and that the battle was His. What an awesome response! Can you imagine God responding to your prayer the same way He responded to Jehoshaphat? The truth is, He does it all the time. We just fail to listen to Him. We need to get into the habit of praying and trusting in God. Leave it in His hands until the result comes or until God gives us further instructions. Although the situation had not be resolved immediately after they prayed, the people fell to the ground and began praising God for the victory. It seems kind of silly doesn’t it? The battle has yet to be fought and won but the people are already celebrating. They may have not seen the results with their natural eyes but they have confidence in God and His word that He will bring the victory. If this had happened in our church and the Spirit moved upon someone with a “word” from God would we believe it and trust in it? It’s so easy to doubt it. Especially when we don’t see the results come to pass in a few days. However, if nothing else has worked, then what do you have to lose than to trust in God? The people of Judah and Jersualem still had to march against the armies coming to attack them but they did so with the knowledge that God was going to fight the battle for them. There may have been some fear within the people but they still obeyed God. Instead of sending out the biggest troops in front, they sent out the worship leaders to lead the people in praise and worship unto the Lord. As they were singing, the attacking armies became confused and panicked. Their fear and confusion caused them to fight each other. Some think that God used angels or some other supernatural means to ambush them. Whatever God used, He stood up to His word and He fought the battle for the people. Not only did God win the battle for Judah and Jersualem, but the word spread to other kingdoms in other countries when they heard how the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel. When you trust in God and let Him fight your battles, the word will spread and that, in itself, will be a witness to others. See, we don’t always have to figure out how God is going to do it, our only job is simply to trust in Him. When you don’t know what to do, immerse yourself in worship. You will be surprised on how it will uplift you and change your outlook on things. Remember: The battle is not yours, the battle belongs to the Lord! BACK TO INDEX...... |
GIVE THANKS: Don't Forget To Say "Thank You" One of the first things I was taught by my parents during the years I learned to talk was the importance of saying “thank you”. If I ever forget it, they would remind me by saying, “...and what do you say?” That was always a cue for me to remember to say “thank you” for whatever the occasion was. As thoughts of Turkey, dressing, pumpkin pie and football fills our heads, let’s not forget to say “thank you” to our heavenly father. He gives us such wonderful gifts throughout the year. There is nothing more fundamental to faith than thanksgiving. While Paul was in a raging storm aboard a ship, he began praying and thanking God. Wow! What a statement of faith. Sometimes we race immediately to the situation at hand and pleading our way out instead of giving thanks. It is difficult for us to remain grateful when things aren’t going our way. The world wants us to have faith in man and what we can do on our own instead of having faith in God. Without God the world is a happy, hopeful and positive place when things are going well, but when things aren’t going well, the world is discouraged, resentful and depressed. It is faith that enables us to keep our hope and our peace in God when things around us are not going our way. He sustains us because He loves us and faith in Him is not in vain. Paul said, "Always be full of joy in the Lord. Don't worry about anything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done." Thanksgiving isn’t Turkey and football, God is the key to Thanksgiving! Every day, when we go out into the world, we carry our personal baggage with us. If there is no God, that bag becomes very heavy. We walk around hopelessly in the remembrance of things past and being bound to the past mistakes. We are burdened down with guilt or resentment or, at very least, with a feeling of helplessness. Romans 8:1 tells us that “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus”. That doesn’t me that we can’t do anything wrong but it means that we don’t have to be a prisoner to our past mistakes. We can get past the past. Christ will NEVER throw up your past to you. People will do that but Christ came to give us life. Living in the past is death. The fact remains that there is nothing you can do about your past. Mistakes were made and people may have been hurt by them. It’s there. It’s a part of your history. Instead of wishing you could have corrected those mistakes, fast-forward your mind to the present. What can you do today? Instead of letting today slip away into a past of something you will regret in the future, fix it along the way. Take care of the day you have to live right now. Sure, you will continue to make mistakes; however, you have the opportunity to make wiser choices. Take advantage of that opportunity. So, if we believe there is a God, and that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Then we may have a way to escape from our histories. To put down that bag. For, with God, we learn to take the past, wrap it up, and give it to Him. In the same way we give him our uncertainties in the present and our worries about the future. And he carries them for us. And, for our part, we thank him. We can’t pay Him for it or give Him anymore worthy than our thanks to Him. God will still bless us even if we don’t remember to say “thank you” but it’s a lot sweeter when you do. Remember the story of the 10 lepers that Jesus healed. (Luke 17:12-19) Only one returned to say “thank you”. The other nine were still healed although they didn’t come back to thank the Lord for their healing, but isn’t it nice to know that someone remembered and was grateful enough to the one who healed him? Think about this past year and what you’ve been through........now, what do you say to the one that has been there with you ALL the time? Thank you Lord. BACK TO INDEX...... |
