Prove What’s Best in the Land of “Anything Goes”

How can we judge what is right when now we live in society where anything goes?

Over the last eighty years the American culture transformed dramatically.

In the 1930′s and 40′s most of the United States lived in rural areas and the number one commerce was agriculture until the war. The war changed things. The men came home with a new perspective of the way things work in other places. The family farm wasn’t the only way to do things anymore. They also wanted more for their families then had ever been known. They knew how to work hard because many of them had seen the Depression yet had, through the sheer guts and muscle of the united military forces, conquered an evil unlike any they’d ever known. Hitler. They were ready for a new life and had the energy to make it happen. The baby boom was underway and in 1951 television was born then in 1954 it transformed again and went to color. Soon the news was coming to the average American’s dinner table and spreading faster than in times past. Other things were coming as well. The sitcoms and family entertainment showed us a perfect world, expectations and constrains on behavior were defined in the way the “Leave it to Beaver” family did things. This produced a generation of men and women who grew up with their televisions and an arranged set of “what is best.” Unfortunately it didn’t include many multi-cultural situations and or women excelling in the workplace. There were holes in this “what is best” arrangement.

Let’s fast forward over the stormy sixties and seventies.

Let’s zoom past all the turbulence and uncertainty of troubling wars and administrations. We know the invention of the internet substantially, like the television, changed our perception of the world. Now, instead of looking up information in encyclopedias, information was a mouse click away. They say that if the internet was a book it would make a few laps around the earth with its thickness and volume. Wow, humans have come a long way! Communication, media and international travel and trade are the big commerce now. You can go anywhere, do anything, and learn what ever you have a passion for and all for a relatively small price; broken down in interest-laden payments of course. If you are in your seventies or eighties now, you deserve a well-earned rest! Our race went from having little or no communication and media to having a glutton of it. And anything goes! But where has all these metamorphoses taken us? Are we in a better place of rightness? Has this leap made us more able to prove “what is best?”

Thankfully, through all the giant transformations we’ve seen, one thing remains the same. God has not changed. Oh, some will debate me because the face of religion looks far different now than ever before, but I’m sticking to my guns. Spiritual guns that is. Nobody is older than God and nobody knows more than He does. God has seen more change, improved more generations of people in a single act and affected a larger number of the human race than all these technologies combined. He’s done it with style, with love and without offense and Philippians, shows us how.

In the last post, I covered agape, and our walk in love. I covered the precise and accurate knowledge of God and how having those two things gives us spiritual insight. That hasn’t changed in all of the eons before us. It is still as poignant today  as it will be three thousand years from now, should the Lord tarry. God has us beat on communication too, but that subject is a whole week’s worth of blogs.

Here’s today’s verse.

“That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;” Phil 1:10

Here is the literal translation of that verse according to usages.

“So that you will be able to distinguish those things which are spiritually best. Then you will be pure and spotless, without being offensive until the day of Christ.”

Times will remain ever-changing. Until the day Jesus Christ returns and amidst the wind-blown economic and social environment, we children of God, must be able to judge what’s best. How can we do that? Look back a verse with me and read this with meaning.

“And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and [in] all judgment; That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;” Phil 1:9-10

The walk in love is a timeless rightness. It gives us effortless sincerity. The precise and accurate knowledge of the one true God will forever give us insight, making it easier to distinguish what is spiritually best despite the physical changes around us. Do you see the scope of what God did in us? He made us equipped and able to handle anything! No human invention can duplicate His genius and efficacy. We owe Him a debt of gratitude and all the love we could give.

One truth remains in center stage, though we live in a time of excessive supply of opinions, God has always been able to help us prove what is best for our lives.

God bless you today!

How Can Spiritiual Precision Bless My Life?

How could someone have spiritual precision? Why does it matter? I’ve never heard anyone talk about it, so it must not be a big deal…right?

(Note: Our verse today covers a lot of ground in about a thousand words. You may want to read it on a lunch break or 15 minute break somewhere in your day).

We all know that the accurate and rightly divided Word of God is a precision instrument. It is so precise, God compares it to a two-edged sword dividing the thoughts and intents of the heart and the soul from the spirit. That sounds precise enough. But how does one use that precision?

Well, let’s start at our verse in Philippians.

 

“And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and [in] all judgment;” Philippians 1:9

I’m excited because God defined what He wants us to abound in by the Greek words He uses in the verse above.

Let’s look at the literal translation.

“I pray that your love (agape, love by your freewill decision to be obedient to God) may abound (perisseuō, exceed and overflow) yet more and more (even more than that) in knowledge (epignōsis, precise and accurate knowledge of spiritual things) and in all (pas, individually, each, every) judgment (aisthēsis, cognition, discernment).”

I heard a phrase that I’ve made my own over the years. “The faster you go, the faster you go.” An olympian once said it after competing in several events and finishing the last race faster than all the others. We have that same opportunity! Our ability to “check-in” with God on what to do in each situation, which is walking in agape, abounds more and more by doing it. We get better and better at walking in love. That is a relief to me, I don’t always know what to say, but someday if I keep at this, I’ll get there. That is how we are perfected or matured in the faith.

Then we have the word “knowledge” which is epignosis. Let’s look at a few other places this word shows up. Remember it means, precise and accurate knowledge of spiritual things.

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:” Ephesians 1:7

“And have put on the new [man], which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:” Colossians 3:10

“Who will have all men to be saved , and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:4

Wow! These verses amaze me! We receive the accurate and precise knowledge of God from God Himself!. Then we can put on the new man by renewing our mind after we know the accurate and precise knowledge of God and God wants all men to come to the accurate and precise knowledge of the Truth which is Him!

As long as I’ve been in the Word in know that if there’s a right way to do something, there’s also a wrong way. Look at this verse.

“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.” Romans 16:7

There are people out there preaching doctrine contrary to the precise and accurate knowledge of God. The word “contrary”, above, is the Greek word, para. We get our English word “parallel” from this word. This means that their doctrine is so close to the accurate knowledge it could seem like it is that knowledge, but in fact it is error.

Wait just one minute Terri!

How am I supposed to find out what is accurate and what is error if the doctrine or teaching is so close like that? Well, how does one find out if you have a counterfeit oil painting on your hands? They say you have to know the real thing so well, that the counterfeits are easy to spot. God asks us to get to know Him so well that if the devil comes in with a forgery of any kind, you can “resist the devil and he shall flee.”

God helps you too. There are certain plants for your garden that repels pests. Likewise the precise and accurate knowledge of God repels, counterfeits. For instance, when you realize that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all, you’ll begin understanding where all the trouble is coming from. It’s not from God, He loves you. See now it’s easy to spot the lie that God is testing you. The truth repels that pesky little lie. Do you see how easy it can become. Just match up the counterfeit next to the real thing.

“We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” 1 John 4:6

This word “knoweth” is ginosko which means to know by experience. What have we experienced? The precise and accurate knowledge of God.

Cool huh!

The last phrase in Philippians 1:9 is “and in all judgment (aisthēsis cognition, discernment)” This word compliments everything we’ve learned already in this verse. This is spiritual insight and after what we just read it’s spiritual insight on steroids. Wow! Can you believe all this wonderful precision was in one verse? Spiritual insight and precision starts with honing of our ability to walk in love. That walk helps us weed out the error and wrong doctrine. The Love helps us with our precise knowledge of God and it will give us spiritual insight.

God bless you today!

Friendships That Span Distance & Time

“For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:8

Isn’t it wonderful to hear from a friend. I’ve often marveled at how easy it is to pick right up where you left off with someone. It might’ve been years since you saw them last, but when you talk, not a day passed by. How cool! Koinonia the Greek word for friendship is like that. When you are with that person you trust that you can fully share with them and you’re safe to do so. They feel likewise. These kind of friendships are healthy, boundless and enriching. When a friend asks God what to do to bless you, that friend has walked in great love. What a treasure! When you do that for others, there is no limit to the depth of love you can have for them.

For God is my witness, how greatly I long after you all with the same tenderness of Jesus Christ.

God Bless You Today!

Are You In the Fight for Your Better Life?

Imagine a soldier out on a torrential battlefield. He’s exhausted from fighting, charging, running and shooting. When he finally gets to a place where he can sleep for the night, he takes out his pencil and paper to write a letter to his family. Literally the stench of battle is still rising from his body. He writes in vivid paragraphs of description. Then suddenly a bomb goes off nearby and dirt from the explosion falls into the folds of his finished prose. When his mother opens the letter several weeks later, she sucks in that air. It’s air from the his night, air from his suffering and his joy. The end of the letter says, “I was able to stop the war and get the information we need to a new place for peace. Please know I love you all.” You can imagine the tears that flow as she reads, and the joy!

I imagine that the Philippians felt this way when they opened Paul’s letter. He was captured, laying in a filthy prison. He was accused and slandered like the warfare that was used by the Vietnamese or Germans. But they knew it would be okay because he had fought a good fight.

Even in those moments God hadn’t stopped working in him. Here are his words. (I’m backing up so we can read the whole sentence as one thought.)

“Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ: even as it is meet (right) for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.” Philippians 1:7

When I look at this wonderful sentence, I see heartfelt love and tenderness towards his family. They were fellow laborers along with him and members of the household of God. Paul yearned to encourage them in their work. He didn’t want them to stop just because he wasn’t there, and of course they didn’t.

You and I have to honor this work as well. It’s a work that was started in you the moment you were born again and will continue until the day of Jesus Christ. We don’t have to stay in the dirt, fear, worry or bondage of this life. God gave us a way out. He rescued us that day and he will continue His work in you until the day He sends His son back to gather us up. What will that day be like?

Every single person from the day of Pentecost forward, who believed Romans 10:9-10, will be raised from the dead with a new spiritual body. Those who are alive at that time will be changed instantly and meet us in the air. We don’t have to sit and wonder if this will occur, we know it will occur. God promises it will. He promises to continue working in this gift of Holy Spirit in us completing and perfecting it. Wow! What would I rather focus on? I’d rather focus on my better life and the great things that are coming in the future.

God Bless You Today!

God Sure Hands Out A Lot of Character These Days

Have you ever heard that? I told a friend of mine about some of the life lessons I’ve experienced and she smartly told me that God was just giving me more character. In other words He allowed those things to happen so I’d learn…right? Why does something feel so not right about that statement. Here’s our verse today.

“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ:” Philippians 1:6

Does this verse make me feel better or worse? Worse! If I think God is going to hand out more character anyway. Doesn’t it make me dread the future and fear new situations. Wouldn’t it make me wonder when I’ll ever be worthy of the “CHARACTER” badge. I would know, down in the depth of my heart, I didn’t have enough character so every time something terrible happens, I’d jump in line just so I could grow in my character.  I’d want to let people know what I had just gone through too so they could repeat the mantra that God is just giving me character. I’d go home feeling better for a few minutes until I looked again at the sickness, disease, financial ruin, or general lack of happiness in my life. As I sat down and pulled out my Bible, I’d glare at it. Resentment would build and maybe even bitterness. This bitterness would callous until unbelief would sneak in. God isn’t going to change my circumstances, or make me an overcomer if He’s busy dishing out character.

Unbelief is the believers biggest enemy. If a believer isn’t believing, will they see miracles, signs and wonders? What has this “character” statement now done to me?

First, I won’t see these verses happening in my life.

“And these signs shall follow them that believe;” Mark 16:17a

“And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Matthew 21:22

How can I believe for a miracle if I think it’s God’s will that I lose my pants financially, or physically, or mentally?

Okay, so where is this statement coming from if it makes a person a martyr for God. God only asked one man to die for us, Jesus Christ. How many of us are willing to live for God? If God is not done with “building our character” then we stay in our victumhood, oppression and depression.

Does the “character” statement hold any water with God?

First we need to expose the lie. Then we expose the liar. The devil wants to steal from you. He’s the Father of Lies. That alone should explain where this statement came from, but I think I should just take you to the Word of God.

“We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” 1 John 4:6

There is a spirit of error out there and it’s our job to uncover it and know the truth. God helps because we are of Him. The biggest lie here is that you shouldn’t believe for miracles, signs and wonders in your life. The devil wants to talk you out of your abundance, protection, blessing and power. Christians who don’t stand up for themselves are powerless to stop the adversary from ruining their life. Better yet if they think they deserve to be stolen from, it makes the devil’s job that much easier. Why believe the devil? Why not believe your father, the God of Peace and Prosperity!?

“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I (Jesus Christ) am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.” John 10:10

We have three promises in this verse. We are promised life, abundant life and a MORE abundant life. Wow! Jesus Christ won our life back for us. We’ll never have to do that again! We’ll never have to suffer until we bleed for our salvation. Jesus Christ did that already. Then we receive it as a gift of grace.

What else does God promise us for our life here?

“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” 3 John 2

WOW! “I wish above ALL things!” Wow! It pretty much knocks out the character building trauma doesn’t it. But wait Terri, doesn’t it say in the Word that I need to persevere and be tested?

That is two things.

“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore,” Ephesians 6:13-14a

What do we stand on? The truth. The truth that God made us free, abundant and strong. We’ll believe we don’t deserve to be stolen from, killed or destroyed. We have the right to a more abundant life. We need to gird ourselves with the whole armor of God just to believe and keep standing on that truth because the devil’s sly lies will constantly try to talk you out of it. How do we keep standing? Let’s go back to our series in Philippians. I’m going to skip ahead.

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:8

We think on the truth. What’s the truth?

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Phil. 4:13

And…

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” vs 19

These are the verses we believe. And the biggest thing is, of everything that God did for us when we got born again, the most important is He made us righteous in His eyes. Righteousness is our sonship right and a gift out of God’s grace. We can’t do more good deeds or survive more hard times to earn it. We just have it. I’d say righteousness tops character any day of the week.

God Bless You Today!

What is the Right Kind of Friendships to Have?

Aren’t good friends amazing? Believing friends are the best of all kind. So much so that God defined them in His word. There is as many different kind of people as there are molecules in the world. We’re all different. So how can we create friendships that will last throughout eternity?

Today we’re going to talk about fellowship and how good fellowship is at the center of any good friendship. We’ll talk about what kind of fellowship makes the best friendships. What kind is most profitable to us?

Here is our verse for today in bold.

“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;” Philippians 1:5

Paul was obviously many hundreds of miles away while writing this heartfelt statement to the Philippians. He couldn’t be close physically, but one word in this verse indicates that he had an extremely close friendship with these people.

The word “fellowship” is the Greek word koinōnia. This word is intensely important when you want to talk about friendships. Koinonia means full sharing. I go over this word in greater depth in my book called the “5 Basics for Growth” in the chapter 6 called, “Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone lived this way?” What does God mean when He says full sharing? Full-sharing is a safe place to open your whole heart on any matter. God wants full sharing with us, and in fact He should be the only one who gets the fullest sharing in your life. But there are people who won’t condemn, complain or criticize you. You can share your dreams, your outlooks, your goals and your failures with. They do the verse above. They fellowship, koinonia, in the gospel to you and vice versa. This kind of fellowship is rich with possibilities and incredibly powerful.

Granted, there will be people in the world who never come close to this kind of sharing. Partial sharing around a craft, talent or skill can be very helpful, but it is only a partial sharing because you may not be able to share the gospel back to this person. Or, they may take offense if you start full sharing and they are only willing to partially share. There are also those who want you to full share just so they can use the information against you. These kind of full-sharings are not koinonia they are the devil’s twisted agenda and extremely dangerous. Why? Because the sacrifice is your heart. If the person with an evil agenda gets a fiery dart deeply embedded in your heart, you can lose everything. God says in Proverbs to…”guard thy heart with all diligence,”

It’s incredibly important to check in with God on who will genuinely koinonia with you. The element that is always present in koinonia is accurate, godly communication. They will point you back to the Word of God.

Let me show you what I mean. Each of the verses below has translated word from the Greek word koinonia in bold.

“That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.” Philemon 1:6

“If [there be] therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, [being] of one accord, of one mind.” Phil. 2:1

“If we say that we have fellowship with him (God), and walk in darkness, we lie , and do not the truth:” 1 John 1:6

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7

Wow! These verses definitely help define koinonia for me.

The book of Philippians should almost be a study on friendships and fellowship. We’ll get in to that as the book unfolds but it’s helpful to know the scripture build-up. As we go along you’ll learn more and more Greek words. They will define and expand on themselves as the Word unfolds. I know for me, doing a little extra study helped to add layers upon layers of understanding. For instance, look up any scripture about David and Jonathan in the Old Testament. They are a perfect example of friends operating in koinonia or full sharing.

“Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” Proverbs 27:17

We counsel with many,

We koinonia with few,

In the end we alone decide with God

which way we should go.

God Bless You Today!

What is the Catalyst to Growth?

“Grace [be] unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and [from] the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,” Philippians 1:2-4

Our verse today is the last statement starting with “always”. Have you struggled with your attitude? I know I have. There are times when I just don’t feel like praying, reading or doing anything.

It’s funny that I live in the freest country on earth, enjoy fruit and vegetables practically off the plant, have every need met almost as soon as I realize I have one and if Paul saw my life today, in comparison to what he lived through, he would think I already lived in heaven. We live in the time of touch-button convenience. We sit in a car instead of walk, we type instead of write, we pick up the phone instead of send a messenger to deliver our handwritten scrolls. Yes, we live in a wonderful time. I almost don’t want to mention that Paul was sitting in a prison cell while writing Philippians. He was falsely accused, beaten, alone, scorned by his old life and in this particular book he mentions wanting to be dead instead of living the life he was in.

And here I sit behind a beautiful 21 inch screen Macintosh, complaining? I don’t think so! Suddenly, my attitude changes. What is amazing about this verse?

“Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,” Philippians 1:4

The gladness and joy. Paul had a light heart. He deliberately thought of things that made him thankful. How could Paul have joy? Have you ever heard the phrase..

“When the pressure is on, give.”

This statement seems contradictory. Almost like the statement, the faster you go, the faster you go. Or if you’re tired, run around the block. Why does this work? It’s all based on principle.

Giving equals receiving. But it’s not just any giving. It’s giving like God gives. God in all His knowledge and wisdom tenderly reaches out to give to a person whether they deserve it or not. He gives the right thing at the right time. This kind of action is above and beyond our human inclinations. It is a deliberate decision of our will to listen and then obey.

Why is giving so important?

Giving creates momentum for the soul and traction for our spirit or inner man.

Our soul, (our likes, dislikes and personality,) stays in a state of inertia (a constant rate of self-propelled growth) until it is struck by an outside force causing propulsion into faster growth, thus giving us momentum. When our soul has momentum, our inner man reaches out grabbing onto things like, hope,  agape or love and faith. All of these are spiritual principles. When our soul submits and gives (a spiritual principle also), it puts the pedal to the metal of our growth.

Most importantly, giving surrenders the pride of the giver. In order for the giver to deliberately ask God for the recipe of the right giving action at the right moment or the exact right thing, word, deed or prayer, they must surrender their pride. They must think outside of themselves. They must be humble and humility is the catalyst to growth. Every chemical compound needs a catalyst for change. To see the power of gun powder add the catalyst of fire. To see flour, sugar and yeast react, add warm moisture. These may see like silly examples but they relate. Humility is the catalyst to growth. Add humility to giving and boom you’re in a new time zone of growth.

WOW! What revelations could we learn tomorrow? Or the next day? Or the next?

And all this from a verse and a man, (Paul) who was so joyful and blessed that he could see past all the darkness in his situation. Wouldn’t that be a nice way to live, no matter how good or bad things were? I’d say so. What an inspiration! We can say he was an inspiration now, but he had to grow before he could do this too. On the road to Damascus he allowed humility to be a catalyst in his life. For that he changed the world. How powerful is this concept? So powerful that Jesus Christ died out of humility to a greater plan. I’m very thankful for that choice aren’t you?

God bless you today!