thecrump

Living for Eternity

9:04 AM

Keep Bugging God

Posted by thecrump | Labels: , ,

If you are a parent you have most likely experienced the continual questions and petitions from your child.  This is a right of passage for all parents and will either drive you into the wilderness screaming for relief or turn you into a mute zombie of some sort. For those who are not parents let me enlighten you to how this works in my house.

David: "I'm hungry."
Me: "You're always hungry...you can wait for dinner in 10 minutes."
David: I'm hungry."
Me: "I already told you son, you can wait until dinner...you're not dying."
David: (with added drama) "I'm so starving."
Me: "You are not starving. You just ate a banana 20 minutes ago. Go play until dinner."
David: (rolling on floor gripping stomach) "I'm sooooooo hungry."
Me: "FINE! Get an apple!"
David: (smiling victoriously) "Ok"

This conversation has looked fairly identical with each of my kids. They ask the same question a thousand times and then finally I either ground them for a year or give them some food. What's interesting is that as I have grown in my faith I have realized that I do NOT do this enough with God.

Now hear me out.

In Luke 11:5-8 Jesus paints a picture of this very conversation between friends.
Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, 6 ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ 7 And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ 8 But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.

 Get what just happened here.  Jesus is speaking about praying.  He then shares how a friend will get something from another friend not because of the relationship but because of his boldness and persistency. Let's take that to my example. There in the kitchen I would not have given David that apple but because he was persistent I ended up giving him one.

Jesus is saying...."keep bugging me."

That may be a bit trite but it's true. Jesus desires for us to come to Him constantly in prayer and when it comes to the things of God we should be praying with boldness and persistence.

Do you have a lost loved one? Pray daily for them.
Do you have a need for God's provision? Pray daily for the resources needed.
Are you seeking God's direction for a big decision? Pray daily for wisdom.

God knows our hearts and our needs and is not needing us to remind Him.  The point of the repetition is what it does for us.  It builds in us an understanding of our dependence on God.  My son was hungry and needed food and had no other means of getting it (the job thing for a 5 year old is limited) so he did the only thing he could...he went to his father.

The same is true with us.  We are limited but our Father is not. Let's go to him in reverent persistence seeking His help and provision.  After all, I am a sinful father and I provided for my son...He is perfect and will care for His children perfectly.

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6:48 AM

Power, Signs & Wonders

Posted by thecrump | Labels: , , , , , , ,

"9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

You know the phrase, "stand for nothing, fall for anything"?  There is much truth in that statement.  After all, if you do not have a set standard in which to direct your life you are going to chase after every fad or teacher who comes along with something "bigger and better."  This is really obvious in the world of the church.

We are living in an age where most people do NOT read their Bible's, do NOT believe that it is the inspired word of God, do NOT submit to it's words as authority and do NOT orchestrate their lives based on it's principles.  Part of the blame of this goes to the postmodernism that is plaguing our country and even invading the church.  Postmodernism says that whatever you believe is true no matter what reality or another "truth" may say.  For instance:

If I said, "my god is a giant twinky in the sky who will one day rain creme filling on the earth" you cannot refute my claim because I REALLY believe it.  Regardless of how ridiculous it sounds it is my truth and so therefore you cannot deny it.  The problem is...truth is truth.  There is either a giant twinky or there isn't.  The question is...what is truth.  Well Jesus made it quite clear:

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

So what does this all have to do with the 2 Thessalonians passage?  Well, without a standard to filter our lives (and our experiences) though we will be deceived by anything.  When the man of lawlessness comes to power he will use signs and wonders to deceive people all over the world.  The problem is, if they had read their Bible's they would have seen that this would come to pass.  They would have been able to filter what this mans words (which are more important than the signs) are through what the Bible says and know whether he is from God or from satan.

Last year a man named Todd Bentley came into Lakeland Florida spouting words of "power" and claiming to be healing people.  The sick and handicapped flooded his "revival" with great anticipation waiting to get their healing.  The problem was - Todd's words did not match up with scripture.  He was not proclaiming the gospel, but was more focused on angels he has "seen" and trips to heaven where he had been operated on.  NONE OF IT WAS IN THE BIBLE.  Yet people came.  All it would have taken is a look into scripture to know that he was a false teacher.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! Galatians 1:8

Sadly, in the end, Todd had to quit because he was having a questionable relationship with a co-worker.  It then came out that he had been drunk several times on stage when he was proclaiming "healings and power".  It is sad that in this day and age people know more about Simon Cowell than they do Jesus Christ and His word.  

One last thought before I close todays verses.  In verses 11-12 of 2 Thessalonians 2 we see that it says that God will send them a strong dilution.  Why would God do this?  Well, I do not have the mind of God (not even close) but His words says, "that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness".  Just like God has hardened Pharoah's heart in the book of Exodus in order to display his power and justice; He does the same here.  Those who are being deceived in this passage did not want to know the truth, so the Lord gave them what they wanted.  He sent them someone to "tickle their ears" and in doing so locked in their future condemnation so that He would be glorified as perfect judge.  While some people may think this is unfair:

1) He gave the opportunity for these people to repent and trust in Christ (they rejected it)
2) He is God (and has right to do with His creation as desired and needed)
3) They are sinners and deserving of punishment (just like the rest of us)

So as we close these verse on the anti-christ (though more is to come) let's remember to stay diligent.  Filter everything we see in this world through the truth in God's word.  That is the only way to know if he/she/it is form God.  There are more and more false teachers and less and less decernment in our world and out nation.  May we keep an eyes on Christ and our lives anchored to His word. 

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