Category Archives: Bible & Ministry

Has Your Faith Failed?

Living a life for God is full of joy, excitement, hope, and blessings. Yet, many Christians might not agree with that statement. Some from a biblical understanding and some from an experience viewpoint. Both the bible and your Christian life experience give evidence that a life for God is also full of hardships, haters, times of confusion or dread, and going without. Many of us are not really quite ready for the latter. I think there are two main reasons our faith can get shaken and two ways we can stay grounded.

Problem #2: We live in a world that is broken. Genesis 3 describes sin entering into the world. It destroyed the relationship between God and man, between one human and another, between humanity and the earth, and between God and the earth. Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, and ascension brought restoration to many of these relationships. However, heaven is not here on earth yet. Jesus’ second return and the entering of the new heaven and the new earth will finalize the restoration of these relationships. Even though sin has lost it’s power, it is still prevalent in the world. Christians can still sin and often do. On top of that, the world has plenty of people who are greedy, liars, cheaters, idolaters, haters, full of jealousy, full of envy, sexually immoral, etc. This is the world’s natural tendency and it often trips us up.

Solution: It’s wise for us to remain deeply rooted in Jesus. We need to surround our thoughts with truth. Don’t allow the pressures of this world, or hardships, or selfish ambitions, or wealth keep you from being daily connected with Jesus. It’s during those times, that we need that connection the most. Jesus promised that if we would stay with Him, He would be with us (John 15). It is through this relationship that Joy can be had. It is through this relationship that we experience the Hope will not disappoint us. It is through this relationship that we are blessed with Every Spiritual Blessing in Heaven.

I have told you this so that my [Jesus'] joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (Joh 15:11 NIV)

Problem #1: Satan desires to mess with you. It’s shouldn’t be any surprise to know that Satan is as real as God is. Satan was involved in deceiving Eve and Adam in Genesis 3. He is still that ancient serpent that is sly and crafty. He is still prowling the earth, seeking whom he may kill, steal, and destroy. Only at Christ’s second return will that beast be bound from his deceptive works. We are given much proof of this in God’s word. As recorded in Luke 22, Jesus warned Peter:

31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked [or demanded] to sift you as wheat.
32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
(Luk 22:31-32 NIV)

Solution: The “you” in verse 31 is in the plural form. Jesus was warning more than just Peter (Simon). In fact, Peter writes a similar warning in his letter for all believers (1 Peter 5:8). Peter did indeed experience Satan’s desire to mess him up, even though Jesus warned him shortly before the incident. The amazing thing to catch in this conversation is that Jesus didn’t desired or pray that Peter would escape Satan’s schemes (that may be nearly impossible). The thing that Jesus desired for Peter was not to lose faith.

Not losing faith allowed Peter to hold onto a piece of that Hope and Joy and Love he knew existed between him and God in spite of Satan’s attacks. The point I want to make is that no matter what you have experienced in the way of living in a broken world or in the way of Satan’s fiery darts, there is always a way to turn back when you hold on to believing that God is doing something in you, with you, through you, and for you. Hold onto believing. Hold onto the faith. It will not fail if you don’t let it. And who knows, maybe your best life happens once you’ve fallen, but got back up.

I Want To Feel Productive

People of all ages regularly feel the desire to be wanted. Just as teenagers want to be recognized among their peers, adults don’t grow out of the desire to belong. We all desire to be noticed, to be given attention to, to be recognized, to be noticed…to feel important. This doesn’t have to come from pride or selfishness either. I think when we boil it down, we desire to know we are being productive. We desire to know we are an important piece to the whole. This is good.

Longing to make a difference in our life, with our family, in our careers, in our church, or in our culture is a part of maturity. Think about people who would be viewed as foolish, naive, simple, young, or “wild and free.” They have a careless way about their life that doesn’t see how God has given them things in order to be productive for Him. They enjoy life to the fullest, but only for themselves. They don’t seem to care at all.

There is this other dangerous side to wanting to be recognized, to feel important, and to know we are providing something productive. In this sense, we care too much. We make everything a big deal. We tip the scales to believe that we are to make a difference because it needs to happen right away. We have an urgency about problems around us, which is good. We should be aware of issues and have some urgency in seeing these corrected. However, I’m amazed at how God views productivity and time.

Productivity in God’s eyes is different for every person. He never supports the lazy person, but He doesn’t see productivity as the same for all people. This is because He doesn’t necessarily equate productivity with results. Your level of productivity is not defined by the amount of results. Your level of productivity is also not necessarily defined by your type of results. Your productivity should bring results, but we must be careful how we believe the results should look like.

I think about how my life is where it is today. There were people in my life that contributed to me devoting my life to vocational ministry. There were messages and events by pastors that spoke to me. There were messages and events by pastors that I don’t remember. They never knew which message or event would be used by God for anyone listening and participating in. They were just being faithful to being productive for God. I think about the faithful testimony by my parents of going to church. I think about their concern for me to develop a desire to read (I saw them always reading and I learned never to say “I’m bored…” Answer: “Read a book”). They developed the desire in me to learn that contributes to my desire to learn about God. I think about the faithful testimony of my grandparents that influenced my parents. The dots to connect for my life probably go way back to people I’ve never met. And I pray that those dots continue to influence people I connect with.

God’s plan of productivity is focused on long term results. Our seemingly “little” piece is so important. Don’t beat yourself up to perform. Don’t be lazy either. Do what you can and know that God is working it all together to make a difference not only in this generation, but the ones to come. That makes me feel productive. How about you?

So God Gives AND Takes Away?

The book of Job in the Old Testament is a fascinating glimpse into the faithfulness of Job towards God. Yet, as a book in the Bible, it is first and foremost about God’s character, thought processing, and a view of how God operates in this world. In the first couple of chapters, we get a behind-the-scene view of God and Satan talking about Job’s faithfulness and integrity. In a proof testing, God allows Satan to take away Job’s business, possessions, sons and daughters, and health. Of course Job is affected by all this, as well as is his wife.  Although we really don’t get her perspective much in the book, we do see her frustration in Job 2:9

“His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”" (NIV)

This response by Job’s wife is commonly our response when bad things happen in our life. Job’s wife is most likely very faithful to God as well, but in this moment of confusion and hopelessness, she responded like a “foolish” (or godless) woman (2:10). The ideal (though not easy) response seems to come from Job. Job’s response was to remain in faith no matter what the issues.

“…Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.’ In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.” (Job 1:20-22 NIV)

Job was very confident in his faithfulness to God. Job believed that he did everything God asked of him and more. Job believed this was not punishment for some wrong-doing. He was also confident in the God that he was faithful to. He believed that God wasn’t a cruel God, nor a God that could make an oversight, nor one that could make mistakes. God couldn’t be accused of doing wrong. Job held his belief that whatever was going on, God was not against him nor was God absent from what just happened.

To believe that it was God Himself who could take those things away sounds correct in the understanding of God being in control over everything, including Satan’s activities. This story illustrates God’s Sovereignty. It also illustrates God’s ability in being God, by doing whatever He desired (an ability none of us have). These qualities can bring us both assurance as well as humility. But to believe that God Himself would take away doesn’t always set right with our idea of God blessing those who are faithful to Him. Isn’t blessings suppose to be about getting more of something? Isn’t God about GRACE (giving gifts we don’t deserve) and MERCY (withholding the punishment we do deserve)? So, is a God who would take away from me simply being cruel by making life difficult on purpose?

There are many “reasons for” God taking things away that we could talk about. There are “results from” God taking things away that we could talk about as well. I talked a little about this earlier in pivotal circumstances and giving God the benefit of the doubt. However in one sense, I feel that the more we talk about the reasons for or the results from things happening, we tend to talk about it from a selfish perspective. We want to be blessed. We want to gain from the loss. As much as I’m for believing that God is doing something in us, through us, with us, and for us, we must question whether we will remain faithful to God. Are we willing to not accuse God of wrong-doing? We must believe that no matter what happens, we are going to respond in God, through God, with God, and for God.

He does work out all things for good according to those who love him (Romans 8:28ff). He has worked before the foundations of the earth to bring us salvation through the blood and sacrifice of His one and only Son (Ephesians 1).  He does all these things to bring Himself glory. He desires to see you happy…in Him. The things that we can control are our responses. How good are we at responding in worship when God takes away? These are the only things that we could change, but would we? Can we respond to God when He takes away in the same fashion as when He gives?