Publication | ‘Article’

By Dr.  Bill Bright

If you do not already know of the power and importance of fasting, here are some very important facts:

• Fasting was an expected discipline in both the Old and New Testament eras. For example, Moses fasted at least two recorded forty-day periods. Jesus fasted 40 days and reminded His followers to fast, “when you fast,” not if you fast.

• Fasting and prayer can restore the loss of the “first love” for your Lord and result in a more intimate relationship with Christ.

• Fasting is a biblical way to truly humble yourself in the sight of God (Psalm 35:13; Ezra 8:21). King David said, “I humble myself through fasting.”

• Fasting enables the Holy Spirit to reveal your true spiritual condition, resulting in brokenness, repentance, and a transformed life.

• The Holy Spirit will quicken the Word of God in your heart and His truth will become more meaningful to you!

• Fasting can transform your prayer life into a richer and more personal experience.

• Fasting can result in a dynamic personal revival in your own life-and make you a channel of revival to others.

• Fasting and prayer are the only disciplines that fulfill the requirements of II Chronicles 7:14:
• “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

If you fast, you will find yourself being humbled as I did. You will discover more time to pray and seek God’s face. And as He leads you to recognize and repent of unconfessed sin, you will experience special blessings from God.

Receiving God’s best blessing from a fast requires solid commitment. Arranging special time each day with God is absolutely crucial in attaining intimate communion with the Father. You must devote yourself to seeking God’s face, even (and especially) during those times in which you feel weak, vulnerable, or irritable. Read His Word and pray during what were mealtimes. Meditate on Him when you awake in the night. Sing praises to Him whenever you please. Focus on your Heavenly Father and make every act one of praise and worship. God will enable you to experience His command to “pray without ceasing” as you seek His presence.

As you enter this time of heightened spiritual devotion, be aware that Satan will do everything he can to pull you away from your prayer and Bible reading time. When you feel the enemy trying to discourage you, immediately go to God in prayer and ask Him to strengthen your resolve in the face of difficulties and temptations.

The enemy makes you a target because he knows that fasting is the most powerful of all Christian disciplines and that God may have something very special to show you as you wait upon Him and seek His face. Satan does not want you to grow in your faith, and will do anything from making you hungry and grumpy to bringing up trouble in your family or at work to stop you. Make prayer your shield against such attacks.

My major reason for fasting is for personal revival, revival for our nation, for the world and for the fulfillment of the Great Commission by the end of the year 2000. But praying for our own needs and interceding for others are also important reasons to fast and pray. Bring your personal needs before the Lord, intercede for your loved ones, your friends, your church, your pastor, your community, your nation, and the world. By your prayers of humility, as you fast, you will help the Great Commission be fulfilled.

However, do not become so caught up in praying for yourself and others that you forget about simply reverencing and praising God. True spiritual fasting focuses on God. Center your total being on Him, your attitudes, your actions, your motives, desires, and words. This can only take place if God and His Holy Spirit are at the center of our attention. Confess your sins as the Holy Spirit brings them to your attention and continue to focus on God and God alone so that your prayers may be powerful and effective.

A renewed closeness with God and a greater sensitivity to spiritual things are usually the results of a fast. Do not be disappointed if you do not have a “mountaintop experience,” as some do. Many people who have successfully completed extended fasts tell of feeling a nearness to God that they have never before known, but others who have honestly sought His face report no particular outward results at all. For others, their fast was physically, emotionally, and spiritually grueling, but they knew they had been called by God to fast, and they completed the fast unto Him as an act of worship; God honored that commitment.

Your motive in fasting must be to glorify God, not to have an emotional experience, and not to attain personal happiness. When your motives are right, God will honor your seeking heart and bless your time with Him in a very special way.

A discussion on prayer would not be complete without including a subject that is an important companion to prayer in the Bible: fasting.
Combining fasting with prayer can result in a spiritual atomic bomb that pulls down spiritual strongholds and releases the power of God in your life and the life of your church, its pastor, its leaders, and its members.

How you begin and conduct your fast will largely determine your success. Permit me to suggest steps to take that will help make your time with the Lord more meaningful and spiritually rewarding, while at the same time enhancing your physical health.
Set an Objective
The first step is to set a specific objective. Why are you fasting? Is it for spiritual renewal, for guidance, for healing, for the resolution of problems, for special grace to handle a difficult situation? Keeping your goal in focus will help you sustain your fast when physical desires and life’s pressures tempt you to abandon it.

I personally believe the Holy Spirit has given all believers an urgent call to humble ourselves through fasting and prayer so that He may stir our souls, awaken our churches, and heal our land according to 2 Chronicles 7:14. I urge you to make personal, local, national, and world revival and the fulfillment of the Great Commission your primary purpose for fasting.

Lay a Spiritual Foundation
The second step is to prepare yourself spiritually. The very foundation of fasting and prayer is repentance. Unconfessed sin will hinder your prayers. In Scripture, God always requires His people to repent of their sins before He will hear their prayers.

As you begin your fast, I encourage you to confess every sin that the Holy Spirit calls to your remembrance. Include the obvious sins and those not so apparent, such as leaving your first love for the Lord, worldly-mindedness, self-centeredness, and spiritual indifference–being unwilling to share your faith in Christ with others, unwilling to help at church, unwilling to spend time in God’s Word and prayer. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal anything in your heart that is not pleasing to God and claim the promise of 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (NKJV).

Make Physical Preparations
The third step is to prepare yourself physically. Do not rush into a fast. If you plan to go without food for several days, you find it helpful to begin by eating smaller meals before you abstain altogether. This sends your mind a signal that you have entered the time of the fast, and it helps to “shrink” your stomach and appetite.
Preparing yourself physically makes a drastic change in your eating routine a little easier. Then you can turn your full attention to the Lord in prayer.

Plan Your Prayer Time

The next step is to set aside ample time to be alone with the Lord during your fast. The more time you spend with Him in fellowship, worship, and adoration and the more you read and meditate on His Word during your fast, the greater your effectiveness will be in prayer and the more meaningful your fast will be.
Seek God in prayer and as you meditate on His Word each morning before you leave home or go about your daily routine. Return to prayer at lunch, and come before Him again in the evening for unhurried times seeking His face. Of course, you should practice His presence and continue to have fellowship with Him constantly as your pray without ceasing throughout the day.
There is not set formula for how to pray when you fast. You may wish to pray aloud or silently, asking the Lord to grant specific requests. I suggest you make a list and add to it daily as needs come to mind. Pray earnestly for your family, your pastor, your church, your community, and our nation. Pray for revival in our land and a great worldwide spiritual harvest. Pray for the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
You may wait before God in quiet meditation as you invite the Holy Spirit to minister to you and bring to mind those things He wants you to pray about.
You should go about your daily activities mindful that your are still fasting and seeking the Lord. Some of my deepest spiritual insights have come as I continue my ministry responsibilities while seeking His face and practicing His presence.
If you do not know what to pray for, or you feel “prayed out,” wait quietly before Him. Turn to the psalms or other favorite passages of Scripture and pray the Word of God back to Him. For example, pray each verse of Psalm 23 aloud, thanking Him for performing each of those promises in your life. Worship and praise the Lord. Tell God how much you love Him and want to serve Him. Invite His presence into your life in a fresh way.
You may wish to approach God with the Lord’s Prayer recorded in Matthew 6:9-13. Generally, this prayer covers everything we could possibly ask or say to God. As an introduction to this prayer, Jesus reminded His disciples that “your Father knows the things that you need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8 NKJV).
Now that you have an idea of how to go about fasting, it is time to fix your gaze upon the One who sees you and knows you–the One who delights in you and is waiting for you to come before Him.

The practice of making New Year’s resolutions goes back over 3000 years to the ancient Babylonians. There is just something about the start of a New Year that gives us the feeling of a fresh start and a new beginning. In reality, there is no difference between December 31st and January 1st. Nothing mystical occurs at midnight on December 31st. The Bible does not speak for or against the concept of New Year’s resolutions. However, if a Christian determines to make a New Year’s resolution, what kind of resolution should he or she make?

Common New Year’s resolutions are: to quit smoking, to stop drinking, to manage money better, and spend more time with family. By far the most common New Year’s resolution is to lose weight, in conjunction with exercising more and eating healthier. These are all good goals to set. However, 1 Timothy 4:8 instructs us to keep exercise in perspective: “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” The vast majority of New Year’s resolutions, even among Christians, are in relation to physical things. This should not be.

Many Christians make New Year’s resolutions to pray more, to read the Bible every day, and to attend church more regularly. These are fantastic goals. However, these New Year’s resolutions fail just as often as the non-spiritual resolutions, because there is no power in a New Year’s resolution.

Resolving to start or stop doing a certain activity has no value unless you have the proper motivation for stopping or starting that activity.

For example, why do you want to read the Bible every day? Is it to honor God and grow spiritually, or is it because you have just heard that it is a good thing to do? Why do you want to lose weight? Is it to honor God with your body, or is it for vanity, to honor yourself?

Philippians 4:13 tells us, “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” John 15:5 declares, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

If God is the center of your New Year’s resolution, it has chance for success, depending on your commitment to it.

If it is God’s will for something to be fulfilled, He will enable you to fulfill it. If a resolution is not God honoring and/or is not in agreement in God’s Word, we will not receive God’s help in fulfilling the resolution.

So, what sort of New Year’s resolution should a Christian make? Here are some suggestions:

1. Pray to the Lord for wisdom (James 1:5) in regards to what resolutions, if any, He would have you make;
2. Pray for wisdom as to how to fulfill the goals God gives you;
3. Rely on God’s strength to help you;
4. Find an accountability partner who will help you and encourage you;
5. Don’t become discouraged with occasional failures; instead allow them to motivate you further;
6. Don’t become proud or vain, but give God the glory. Psalm 37:5-6, “Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.”

Recommended Resource:

Read the Bible in One Year.

Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

As the tall, stately angel rose and walked toward the front of the chapel, there was a buzz among the cadets. Gabriel was a living legend. He cleared his throat.

I’ve been asked to speak to you today about what I’ve learned throughout my career. Foremost is this: we are servants of the Most High God. This lesson I learned not during my days here at the academy, but from a human being, a girl.

I had been summoned before God to be briefed on a new mission. He told me:

“Gabriel, you have a most delicate assignment. I am sending my Son to redeem the earth. To do this he must become a human himself. Your mission is to announce this plan to the young woman I have chosen to be his mother.

“Her name is Mary. She lives in the village of Nazareth in Galilee. She is betrothed to be married. That means that she is already considered a wife, though she is living at home until the final ceremonies a few months from now. And Gabriel … she is a virgin.”

He went on to describe my role and brief me on the various contingencies, concluding with these words. “Gabriel, by all means, be gentle.”

I arrived one spring morning as Mary was climbing the path from the well and came to where I was sitting on a large boulder.

She’s only a child, I thought when I first saw her — only twelve or thirteen. Betrothed at that age? But such were the customs of that place and I was assured that the Father knows what he is doing. As she approached, I stood, dressed as I always dress — long white robe, golden sash, and so forth.

“Greetings, Mary,” I began.

She gasped.

“Hail, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you!”

All the color drained from her face. I motioned for her to sit. She carefully removed the full water jug from her head, set it down, then eased herself onto the far end of the rock.

“Don’t be afraid, Mary,” I said. “You have found favor with God.” I waited a moment for her to calm down.

“You will conceive in your womb and bear a son. You are to name him Jesus.” She appeared stunned by these words, but I continued.

“Your son will become a great man. He will be called the Son of the Most High God. What’s more, the Lord God will give him the throne of David his ancestor. And he will reign as Messiah over Israel forever. Of his kingdom and reign there will be no end!”

I paused. The message shocked me; I couldn’t imagine the impact it must have had on her! She was quiet for a time. Then she asked in her young teenager voice:

“How will this happen, since I am not yet married?”

I answered:

“The Holy Spirit will come to you,

The Power of the Most High will overshadow you, Therefore your son to be born will be holy, He will be called ‘Son of God.’”

Amazing! The Father was prepared to rest his entire Christ-enterprise on this young girl — her response, her whim, her decision. She was to be the mother of God’s own Son — so young. I continued to reassure her.

“And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has conceived a son.”

Mary murmured, “Old Elizabeth? Really? Oh!” I could see just a glimmer of a twinkle return to her eyes.

“Yes, they called her ‘barren,’ but she’s already six months pregnant.”

Mary was almost grinning for a moment. Then I saw her smile fade. I couldn’t read her thoughts, but could only imagine what she must be thinking.

How could she ever explain this to anyone? Who would understand? Who would ever believe her? Her father would be furious, her mother deeply hurt. And Joseph? There would be no wedding. Her dreams of marriage and family vanished in an instant. And the town fathers? Would they try to stone her?

I had been given one sentence by the Father with which to respond: “Nothing will be impossible with God,” I said. “Nothing!”

She was quiet a moment longer, lost in her thoughts. Then she looked up at me with clear eyes and said intently: “Here I am. I am the Lord’s servant, his handmaid. Let what you have said come to pass.”

She stood up. As she began to lift the heavy water jug to her shoulder and then hoist it up to her head, I reached to help, but she shook her head and lifted it up herself. As she made her way up the path to the village, her steps were assured, almost a spring to them. At the top of the hill she steadied the jar with one hand and waved to me with the other. Then she was lost from view.

And that is how I met Mary. She taught me what it means to be a servant when it’s hard to obey, when there seems to be no hope except God’s promise. Mary took the words, “For nothing will be impossible with God,” and believed them. Whenever I struggle with obedience, I think of this young girl who began a servant’s journey with the words:

“I am the servant, the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be! Let it come! I am His servant.”

The tall angel touched the corner of his eye for a moment, then stepped down and took his seat. Gabriel had learned servanthood from an even greater servant than himself — a young virgin from Nazareth named Mary.

Chris Rule

As a little kid, I remember being bundled up with the rest of my six siblings and piling into our van and driving through the cold, slushy Ohio weather to attend a Christmas show called “The Living Christmas Tree.” Part pageant, part musical extravaganza, thousands would crowd into Grace Brethren Church to celebrate Christmas together. Another year, a similar scene was reenacted as we saw CCM all-stars perform Handel’s Young Messiah. It certainly wasn’t the music, it wasn’t the performance; rather there was something about celebrating Christmas in musical community that was simply right.

December brings a lot of things that people don’t enjoy and love to rail against: commercialism, “Happy Holidays!” instead of “Merry Christmas,” and Kenny G releasing yet another holiday album. But there is also the Christmas spirit, when “Faithful friends who are dear to us, gather near to us once more.” Even if you are sick of Christmas carols by the time Dec. 25 arrives, these songs continue to be played because they touch on eternal truths buried in the commonplace.

There’s a reason that Christmas peels back the layers of life and shows community in a unique way. We celebrate Christmas in honor of Jesus Christ being born a baby in a manger, of God being made flesh. One of the many beautifully painful things the incarnated Christ did was to knit together a patchwork of people from very different cultures into His church. Just look at the motley crew of apostles—a tax collector, a couple hardheaded brothers, fishermen, a former Pharisee. Even within the “homogeneous” land of Israel, this ragtag group became the builders of the early Church.

This community was built through the life death, and resurrection of the child born in Bethlehem, the God-man Jesus. There is a reason friends gather to sing Christmas carols. We don’t gather to sing Thanksgiving songs or even Easter songs, but we do for Christmas. Perhaps it is because the birth of Jesus was celebrated in community and with song. When the birth was announced to the shepherds, pastor Russ Ramsey says, “It was as if there were millions of angels hiding just behind some celestial corner, and once they heard, ‘Unto you is born this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!’ they were unable to contain their joy any longer and all rushed in, praising God, singing, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased.’” And then the shepherds, en masse, went to celebrate with Mary and Joseph. I don’t know if shepherds can carry a tune, but I am sure if they could, they probably tried to imitate those angels.

Christmas is meant to be celebrated in musical community

and there are artists out there who are doing just that. This year, among others, there is the fantastic Salvation is Created compilation by Bifrost Arts And Andrew Peterson, of the Square Peg Alliance, released a 10th anniversary re-mastered version of his Christmas masterpiece Behold the Lamb Of God.

In the yearly tour, he recreates what was so beautiful about my childhood Christmas concerts; not only has it told the tale of Christ with artists like Derek Webb, Alison Krauss, Pierce Pettis, Randall Goodgame, Bebo Norman, Buddy Miller, Mindy Smith and two-thirds of Nickel Creek, but it is done in a way that connects the audience to the story.

Perhaps that is why it is so fitting that the concerts end with the audience singing “O Come All Ye Faithful” and the band dimming the lights and walking off the stage while the singing is still going on. They become part of the community that is not there to worship them, but to worship the One who inspires the songs.

Peterson says that in the five years of shaping what became Behold, he “began to discover the blessing of artistic community. You see, by then I no longer felt ownership of the project. I was compelled to tell Jesus’ story with the gifts He gave me–the biggest of those not being my songwriting at all but the community of the Kingdom itself. And telling that story hundreds of times has changed me. I love the Gospel more for it.” Perhaps that is part of the reason Christmas is so special. We cannot take ownership of Christ’s birth; we can’t point to what we did to help it come about or the program we planned to release it to the masses. All we can do is celebrate God’s plan in action.

Before you really enter into this full surrender with the Lord, you really need to think about this and really chew on the ramifications that making this full surrender will entail. This will be the most life-altering decision you will ever make in this life.

If you turn your life over to the Lord for Him to completely handle - your life will take a completely different course as versus the one your life would take if you would decide to control your own destiny and call all of your own shots.

Once you make this full surrender with the Lord, there is no turning back - no matter what hell or the devil may try and throw your way. You can obviously always bail out on God anytime you want to as He will never force you to stay loyal to Him and fully serve Him. You are free to go anytime you want.

If you decide to serve God and fully surrender and commit your life to Him, then you must set your face like flint, draw your battle line in the sand and march forward determined that you will stay true, loyal and faithful to God and Jesus for the rest of your earthly life - no matter what the cost, and no matter what life, hell or the devil tries to throw your way to try and knock you off course. This is a full surrender to the death! This is simply a conscience decision that you will make with your own intellect operating out of your own free will with the Lord.

The Bible says that with the “measure” you use, will be the measure that will be measured back to you. In other words, if you only give God 50% of your life and your efforts, then He will only give you back His 50%. But if you are willing to give God 100% of your life and your efforts, then He will in turn give you back His 100% in the way that He will work your life. It’s “your all for His all.”

The apostle Paul says we have 3 parts to our beings - body, soul and spirit. He then says we are to have all three parts of our being “completely sanctified” in the Lord. The only way that can happen is if you are willing to completely surrender all three parts of your being to the Lord for Him to sanctify.
Here is the verse from Paul that is specifically telling us to do this: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

Some Christians may surrender their job lives over to God, but not the choice as to who they should marry. They then marry the wrong person as a result of making this decision all on their own, and as a result, they end up throwing a monkey wrench into the course that their life had been taking in the Lord and sometimes they are completely knocked off the course that God had initially set them up for.

This is why the Bible tells us that God has to be the One to build the house that you are attempting to build in this life. One wrong move, one wrong choice on your part could cause the whole house to completely unravel and fall apart.

When you tell God you are willing to surrender your entire life over to Him - He will take you very serious and assume that you literally mean everything and anything in your life - no holds barred!

Here are the two specific prayers. Obviously feel free to add any of your own personal words when making this commitment to Him. But the specific wording in these two prayers, if truly done from your heart, will break you into a realm with God that will completely change the course your life has been taking.

1. Making the Initial Full Surrender
   “ Father, In the name of Jesus, I am now willing to place my body, my soul, my spirit and my entire life into Your hands. I now ask that You place me into Your perfect will for my life. From this moment on, I will choose to stay fully surrendered to You all the days of my life and will allow You to lead and direct my life in the direction that You will want it to go in. Thank You Father. Thank You Jesus. Thank You Holy Spirit.”
2. To Stay in the Full Surrender
   “ Father, In the name of Jesus, I continue to place my body, my soul, my spirit and my entire life into Your hands. I am choosing to stay fully surrendered to You all the days of my life and I ask that You continue to keep me in Your perfect will for my life. Thank You Father. Thank You Jesus. Thank You Holy Spirit.”

If you are willing to make this full commitment and full surrender to the Lord, then you will now have forever changed the course your life has been taking, and God will now start to take control of your life and steer it in the direction that He will now want it to go in. You have now just stepped from the dugout out onto the real playing field of life - where God can now use you to complete His purpose for your life.

By Francis Chan

I think it’s time we stop asking ourselves the question: “Am I a good Christian?” We live in a time when the term Christian has been so diluted that millions of immoral but nice people genuinely consider themselves “good Christians.” We have reduced the idea of a good Christian to someone who believes in Jesus, loves his or her family and attends church regularly. Others will label you a good Christian even though your life has no semblance to the way Christ spent His days on earth. Perhaps we should start asking the question: “Am I a good Christ?” In other words, do I look anything like Jesus? This question never even entered my mind until a friend of mine made a passing comment to me one day. Dan is a longtime friend of mine. In fact, he is the pastor who performed my wedding. He was talking to me about a pastor named Von. Von has been working with youth in the San Diego area for decades. Many of his students have gone on to become amazing missionaries and powerful servants of God. Dan described a trip to Tijuana, Mexico, with Pastor Von. (Von has been ministering to the poor in the dumps of Tijuana for years).
Dan didn’t speak of the awful living conditions of those who made their homes amidst the rubbish. What impacted Dan the most was the relationship he saw between Von and the people of this community. He spoke of the compassion, sacrifice and love that he witnessed in Von’s words and actions as he held these malnourished and unbathed children. Then he made the statement that
sent me reeling:

“The day I spent with Von was the closest thing I have ever experienced to walking with Jesus.”

Dan explained that the whole experience was so eerie because he kept thinking to himself, “If Jesus were still walking on earth in the flesh, this is what it would feel like to walk alongside of Him!” After that discussion, I kept wondering if anyone had ever said that about me—“The day I spent with Francis was the closest thing I have ever
I think it’s time we stop asking ourselves the question: “Am I a good Christian?” We live in a time when the term Christian has been so diluted that millions of immoral but nice people genuinely consider themselves “good Christians.” We have reduced the idea of a good Christian to someone who believes in Jesus, loves his or her family and attends church regularly. Others will label you a good Christian even though your life has no semblance to the way Christ spent His days on earth. Perhaps we should start asking the question: “Am I a good Christ?” In other words, do I look anything like Jesus? This question never even entered my mind until a friend of mine made a passing comment to me one day. Dan is a longtime friend of mine. In fact, he is the pastor who performed my wedding. He was talking to me about a pastor named Von. Von has been working with youth in the San Diego area for decades. Many of his students have gone on to become amazing missionaries and powerful servants of God. Dan described a trip to Tijuana, Mexico, with Pastor Von. (Von has been ministering to the poor in the dumps of Tijuana for years).
Dan didn’t speak of the awful living conditions of those who made their homes amidst the rubbish. What impacted Dan the most was the relationship he saw between Von and the people of this community. He spoke of the compassion, sacrifice and love that he witnessed in Von’s words and actions as he held these malnourished and unbathed children. Then he made the statement that
sent me reeling:
“The day I spent with Von was the closest thing I have ever experienced to walking with Jesus.”
Dan explained that the whole experience was so eerie because he kept thinking to himself, “If Jesus were still walking on earth in the flesh, this is what it would feel like to walk alongside of Him!” After that discussion, I kept wondering if anyone had ever said that about me—“The day I spent with Francis was the closest thing I have ever experienced to walking with Jesus.” The answer was an obvious “no.” Would any honest person say that about you?

What bothered me was not that I hadn’t “arrived,” but that I was not even heading in the right direction. I hadn’t made it my goal to resemble Jesus. I was not striving to become the kind of person who could be mistaken for Him. Isn’t it ironic that a man can be known as a successful pastor, speaker and Christian—even if his life doesn’t resemble Christ’s?

1 John 2:6 says, “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did” (TNIV).

When John made that statement, he wasn’t speaking about how to be a church leader or even how to be a “good” Christian. He merely stated that anyone who calls himself Christian must live like Jesus did. So how did Jesus live? You could make a list of character traits to compare yourself to, but it would be far more beneficial to simply read through one of the Gospels. After you get a bird’s-eye view of the life of Christ, do the same with your own. Are you comfortable with the similarities and differences?

It is easy to get caught up in the pursuit of “success” as American churchgoers define it. The thought of being well known and respected is alluring. There have been times when I have been caught up in the fun of popularity. I have even mistaken it for success. Biblically, however, success is when our lives parallel Christ’s. Truth is, there are many good Christs that you will never read about in a magazine. They are walking as Jesus walked, but they are too focused and humble to pursue their own recognition.

May we make it our goal to someday have someone say of us: “The day/hour/15 minutes I spent with ______ was the closest thing I have ever experienced to walking with Jesus.”

Christians in America often complain about how antagonistic people are toward Jesus. Personally, I’m not sure that Americans are really rejecting Christ. Maybe they just haven’t seen Him.

Try to be completely honest with yourself right now. Is the following true of you?

You passionately love Jesus, but you don’t really want to be like Him. You admire His humility, but you don’t want to be that humble. You think it is beautiful that He washed the feet of the disciples, but that is not exactly the direction your life is headed. You are thankful He was spit upon and abused, but you would never let that happen to you. You praise Him for loving you enough to suffer during His whole time on earth, but you are going to do everything within your power to make sure you enjoy your time down here.

In short: You think He is a great Savior, but not a great role model.

Many of us have abandoned the most simple and obvious truth of what it means to follow Jesus: You actually follow His pattern of life. I pray for those who read this article—that we do not become cynical or negative toward the Church. Instead, let’s make the decision to stop talking so much and begin living like Jesus. Then we can truthfully say, as the apostle Paul said, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1,).

Francis Chan

There is an epidemic of spiritual amnesia going around, and none of us is immune.
No matter how many fascinating details we learn about God’s creation, no matter how many pictures we see of His galaxies and no matter how many sunsets we watch, we still forget. Most of us know that we are supposed to love and fear God; that we are supposed to read our Bibles and pray so that we can get to know Him better; that we are supposed to worship Him with our lives. But actually living it out is challenging.
It confuses us when loving God is hard. Shouldn’t it be easy to love a God so wonderful? When we love God because we feel we should love Him, instead of genuinely loving out of our true selves, we have forgotten who God really is. Our amnesia is flaring up again.
It may sound “un-Christian” to say that on some mornings I don’t feel like loving God, or I just forget to. But I do. In our world, where there are hundreds of things to distract us from God, we have to intentionally and consistently remind ourselves of Him.

I recently attended my high school reunion. People kept coming up to me and saying, “She’s your wife?” They were amazed, I guess, that a woman so beautiful would marry someone like me. It happened enough times that I took a good look at a photograph of the two of us. I, too, was taken aback. It is astonishing that my wife chooses to be with me—and not just because she is beautiful. I was reminded of the fullness of what I have been given in my wife.

We need the same sort of reminders about God’s goodness. We are programmed to focus on what we don’t have, bombarded multiple times throughout the day with what we need to buy that will make us feel happier or sexier or more at peace. This dissatisfaction transfers over to our thinking about God. We forget that we already have everything we need in Him. Because we don’t often think about the reality of who God is, we quickly forget that He is worthy to be worshipped and loved. We are to fear Him.

A. W. Tozer writes:
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us … Worship is pure or base as the worshipper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.”

If the “gravest question” before us really is what God Himself is like, how do we learn to know Him? We have seen how He is the Creator of both the magnitude of the galaxies and the complexity of caterpillars. But what is He like? What are His characteristics?
What are His defining attributes? How are we to fear Him? To speak to Him?

God is holy. A lot of people say that whatever you believe about God is fine, so long as you are sincere. But that is comparable to describing your friend in one instance as a 300-pound sumo wrestler and in another as a five-foot-two, 90-pound gymnast. No matter how sincere you are in your explanations, both descriptions of your friend simply cannot be true.

God is eternal. Most of us would probably agree with that statement. But have you ever seriously meditated on what it means? Each of us had a beginning; everything in existence began on a particular day, at a specific time.

God is all-knowing. Isn’t this an intimidating thought?
He knows our thoughts before we think them, our actions before we commit them, whether we are lying down or sitting or walking around. He knows who we are and what we are about. We cannot escape Him, not even if we want to. When I grow weary of trying to be faithful to Him and want a break, it doesn’t come as a surprise to God.

God is all-powerful. Colossians 1:16 tells us that everything was created for God: “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.”
God is fair and just. One definition of justice is “reward and/or penalty as deserved.” If what we truly deserved were up to us, we would end up with as many different answers as people who responded. But it isn’t up to us, mostly because none of us are good.

Gina Delapa - ReleventMagazine.com

Do you know why adults always asked us when we were kids, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” They were looking for ideas. And while I say that tongue-in-cheek, I think there’s some truth to it. As we get older, the questions go something like this: Where are you going to school? What are you going to study? What are you going to do with your degree? And then as we graduate, we get the dreaded, “What are you going to do with your life?” It seems our culture is always wanting to know what we’re going to do next.
Yet I think the deepest and most profound questions are the ones that rise from the silence of our own hearts: Where is God calling me? How can I find meaning in the mundane? Or better yet, how can I trade in the mundane for something exciting: a grand mission that glorifies God, fulfills the deepest longings of my heart and sounds good at parties? These questions seem to hit hardest when we’re just out of college. I won’t pretend I have all the answers—I don’t. But I can share some things I’ve learned about how to live a meaningful life, especially when it seems most difficult:

1. See your life as a mystery to be revealed, not as a problem to be solved. Moving on from college is a huge transition. You have to find new ways to make friends, adjust to a new job and possibly a new city, and in many cases, you now have to be somewhere at 8 in the morning. It’s a whole different world, and it takes some getting used to.As Christ-followers, we have the assurance that even when our lives don’t make sense, Christ does.
2. Figure out what role you want work to play in your life. I don’t mean, “Figure out what time you want to show up,” But where does work fit in with your overall calling? We know God calls us to pay our bills, live responsibly, and further His Kingdom. But you may find work is not the only way to live out your calling—it may not even be the most important way. As one Gen Xer put it, “We were not put on Earth to work for United Glop. We work to do other things besides work.” If you’re not sure about where work fits in, pray about it. After all, we’re here to follow Him, not simply our own desires.
3. Upgrade your time management skills. One of the best books I’ve read on the subject: First Things First by Covey, Merrill and Merrill. The premise of the book, or one of them, is that we’re not meant to cram our days with activity, but to schedule our most important priorities. This book has helped me identify my priorities, write a mission statement, and live it out.
4. Find a mentor. Find someone who can help you grow, and at the same time, offer encouragement. Your mentor doesn’t need to be a guru—in fact, it’s better if he or she helps you draw your own conclusions. But a mentor can serve as a sounding board, a guide and a trusted friend.
5. Pursue your grand vision, but don’t hinge your whole happiness on it. I believe in making my life as meaningful as possible. In fact, whenever I need a dose of inspiration, I watch this clip (called “Believing in Yourself”) from the movie Walk the Line. Dallas Roberts’ speech about “one song that would sum you up” reminds me of what kind of life I want to create, under God. But I also know that that the “grand vision,” lies beyond this world. Even our grandest visions for this world can take a long time to achieve—and once we attain them, they don’t always satisfy. So it’s crucial to enjoy the everyday blessings: a smile from a stranger. A cold drink on a hot day (or a hot drink on a cold day). Belting out your favorite song. Eating good food, and having someone to share it with. Dying laughing with an old friend over something only the two of you understand.
6. Be strategic about your activities outside of work. For example, if you’re a CPA, you may be asked to lend your accounting skills to a nonprofit. If that sounds rewarding to you, have at it. But you may find it even more rewarding to do something outdoors, or otherwise get a complete change of pace and scenery from your professional job. Another lesson, from Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend’s book, Safe People: If you want to make new friends, choose activities where that’s the primary goal, not the secondary goal. For example, the primary goal of a relational Bible study is to connect with fellow believers and discuss the Word—the primary goal of serving at a soup kitchen is to feed the hungry. Both activities have value, but the first one is more likely to lead to friendships. So just be clear on your true motives.
7. Practice good self-care. I asked my grad students last night what helped them to transition out of undergrad. They mentioned things like eating well. Getting enough sleep. Taking time to pray, meditate and exercise. Writing in a journal. These things not only help us function and deal with stress, they can be rewarding in and of themselves.
8. Please don’t think self-care is optional—or worse, selfish. There’s a reason flight attendants tell us, “If you are traveling with small children, secure your own oxygen mask before assisting others …” It’s pretty hard to help others if you can’t breathe. Or as one of my former professors used to say, “Nobody can protect you like you can protect yourself.”

Finally, when they ask you “What are you going to do with your life?” smile and have a ready answer. A few possibilities: I’m going to work out my salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).

Tuesday, May 19, 2009. The “creep” factor shoots pretty high when you start thinking or talking about hell. “Hell no!” seems to be the only appropriate response to the topic. Definitely disturbing. It surprised me to discover God is uncomfortable with the subject too. Scripture suggests that He hates hell and He hates that people are going there (see Ezek. 33:11). God’s dream is for all to experience eternal life. But the problem still exists: the Bible says there is a hell and people are going to go there forever. I still can’t get my mind around that.

The Bible is clear: there is a hell. And whatever it is like, it is a real and horrible place. That being said, there are varying opinions on whether or not the descriptions of hell given in Scripture are to be taken literally or symbolically. Saying a description is “symbolic” is not to say the place being described is not real.

When examining the descriptions of eternity (heaven or hell), we find the imagery given to us in Scripture a little confusing. The literal view of hell has produced some pretty wild imaginations in the past. In the fourteenth-century Dante imagined a place of absolute terror where the damned writhe and scream. The descriptions of hell come complete with loud wails of sinners boiling in blood, terrified and naked people running from hordes of biting snakes, and lands of heavy darkness and dense fog. In Dante’s hell, people must endure thick, burning smoke that chars their nostrils, and some remain forever trapped in lead cloaks, a claustrophobic nightmare.

Descriptions like Dante’s have proven somewhat effective at jolting folks to repentance, but the Scriptures do not explicitly teach what he imagined. Certainly, the Bible teaches that hell will be a place of frightful judgment, but precisely what it will be like physically is really questionable. “It would be a mistake to think that [hell isn’t that bad]. It is a loss of everything, and it’s meant to stand for the fact that hell is the worst possible situation that could ever happen to a person.”

GOD IS LOVE

This discussion seems important to me because many push back from faith because they cannot justify the idea of a loving God sending someone to an unimaginable torture
chamber for all of eternity. But what if we are missing the point here? The Bible says 49 times that God is a rock—none of us think He is literally a “rock.” Thinking so would make us miss the point.

What if the point of hell is not torment?
What if it is actually proof of God’s respect for the human race and a compliment to the reality of human freedom? Remember, God’s will—His great longing is that no one perish, not a single person. So, why does He allow anyone to do so? Because He created human beings with free will, and He has no intention of violating that. We are not modified monkeys, subject to instinct alone; we are unique creatures who have the power to cognate, reason, and choose. God will not force his purpose on us (though the purpose He set for the human race is one that causes us to flourish in a way nothing else can!). We can choose to reject God’s purpose for us (and to ignore or reject God). God created us with that right. Sadly, many choose to ignore and reject God. This is the worm that has curled its way into the apple of the human condition.

Here’s the deal: we humans either have free will or we don’t. If we do, then God cannot strip us of the right to choose, even if we choose something He did not want for us. That means it would be a violation of our free will for God to force us to be with Him for eternity if we don’t want to be. By allowing us to say no to Him, God is actually showing respect for us and keeping human dignity in tact.

The formation of hell is not an indication that God is mean, angry, or capricious, like a spoiled child who is hacked off about not getting his own way, so He’s decides to make the disobedient pay. It is evidence that God will never force Himself on the human race. It evidences that He honors human will by choosing to create a place where He is not. There is a hell (whatever it will be like) precisely because God loves the human race.