Authority

Authority is a principle that’s known to most people.  Some people appreciate it because they understand that without any authority in our lives, things would be chaos.  Yet others, detest the idea of anyone having authority over them.

Authority is seen all through Scripture.  It is an attribute of God.  It is a part of His nature. He has authority over everything and everyone.

I was reading through the book of Matthew this week and thinking this week about the authority of Jesus.  Jesus continually demonstrated His authority.  Matthew 7:28-29 comes right after Jesus has preached the Sermon on the Mount.  “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law."

Jesus taught with authority.  In the culture of that day, most of the teachers quoted other people.  Jesus didn’t quote anyone. He just spoke the truth and did it with authority.

In Matthew 8 we find the story about Jesus calming the storm.  You remember the story.  The storm was raging and the disciples were afraid. Jesus was asleep and they went and woke Him up.  Jesus then rebuked the winds and the waves and it immediately got calm.  The disciples were amazed that the even the winds and the waves obeyed Him.

That chapter goes on to tell the story about Jesus driving the demons out of a man and into a herd of pigs. In this story, the demons recognized Jesus and obeyed Him.
In Matthew 9 we see Jesus healing the paralytic man.  In this story, Jesus shows His power over sickness and disease.

Then He calls Matthew to follow Him.

As I thought through these passages, I came up with these ideas.  If I really believe Jesus had authority over the wind, the waves, the demons, and sickness, how could I not follow Him?

This is not a “have to” follow Him.  This is - “WOW! God chose me to follow Him!”  This is - I “get to” follow Him.  What is there to be afraid of?  Everything is under His authority.  He created it all.  He’s in control of it all.

And He calls me to follow Him, just like He called Matthew. So what are my choices?  I have the freewill to choose to get up and follow, or to refuse and go my own way.  But I must choose.
 
I choose to get up and get moving and follow Jesus.  There’s more to having a relationship with Jesus than just praying a prayer.  There’s more to it than just studying His Word.  Although both of those things are important, I’m saying there’s more.  There’s obedience and action.

If you continue to read through Matthew you find that Jesus calls 12 disciples. Then in Matthew 10, He tells them that He is sending them out like sheep among wolves.  He is cautioning them about the world in which He is sending them into.  This is true today as I go out as a disciple of Jesus. The world wants to tear me apart. Sometimes it is even people in my own family that come against me. But what choice do I have – I either follow, or I turn my back on Jesus.

My decision - I simply have to follow Jesus – it’s all I want to do.  I trust Him completely. I believe everything He has promised me.

In Matthew 24, Jesus tells us that many people will turn their backs on their faith, but he that endures to the end will be saved.  It’s all going to be worth it.  It might not be easy, but the rewards will be amazing.

Soul Searching

I’ve spent the last month doing some real soul searching.  I was wrestling with God about continuing on in my current job.  I want more than anything to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord.  At age 55, I am still wrestling with where is He leading me?  Am I where I am supposed to be?  I am finding that this is really a lifelong pursuit of God and seeking to stay in the center of His plan for my life.

How can I know that I am doing what I am called to do?

The first thing to consider is, am I walking with God?  Am I seeking to grow in my relationship with God? Am I spending time in the Word and in prayer?  Am I seeking to know Him and not just seeking to know about Him?  Am I taking advantage of opportunities in my church for Bible study and growth? 

Proverbs 3:5-6  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

I need to be willing to surrender my will to God’s will.  I need to be committed to doing whatever it is that He desires for me to do.  I can’t try to manipulate God.  I can’t tell God what my plans are and just expect Him to put His stamp of approval on them.  Jesus died for me, I should be willing to live for Him.  When I surrender my will to His, He will direct my steps.

Romans 12:1-2  “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

I need to be willing to be obedient to what I already know to be God’s will.  God reveals a lot of what His plan for our lives is through His Word.  Do I know His Word?  Am I living obediently to all I know? If I don’t obey what I already know to be true, why would He want to reveal any more of His plan for my life?  Obedience is a key beginning step.

Another key step is to seek the input of godly advisors in my life.  I need to seek out men and women who I know have a close walk with the Lord.  People I know will give me sound Biblical and godly advice.  I am trying to surround myself with five people who are living in close obedience to the Lord.  Then when they give me advice, I need to listen! 

Proverbs 11:14  “For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers.”

I have been created to fulfill a specific role in this world. (And not just me - you were, too.) There is no one else who can achieve completely what God has created me to do. God has gifted me to perform some specific ministry/ good works which I alone was created to do. 

Ephesians 2:10  “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

I need to pay attention to how God has gifted me.  His plan for me will most likely be related to the gifts He has already given me. 

1 Peter 4:10  “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”

I need to be quiet and listen to God’s Spirit.  I need to pray and I need to lay my heart out before the Lord, but then I simply need to shut up and listen.  I need to pay attention to what God might be saying to me.  I need to ask the Lord some key questions and then be still.

•What is my next step in my job?
•What is my next step in my ministry?
•What is my next step for my marriage?
•What is my next step for my education?
•What is my next step for my finances?

I need to spend time meditating on these kinds of questions.  I need to listen and allow God to speak to me.  Then I need to write down what He speaks to my heart - I can’t trust my memory!  What an amazing experience as His Spirit guides my thoughts and words.  I long for those times when He speaks to me like that!

John 10:27  “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”

I need to listen to the Spirit, but I also need to listen to my heart. 

Psalm 37:4-5 "Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass."

As I am walking with the Lord, He will actually allow me to do things that I love to do.  When I am close to Him, He shapes my desires so that I desire the things that He has already called me to do. 

For example, I never knew that I liked to speak to groups of people about my faith.  As I sought Him, He opened the doors for me to speak at a women’s retreat.  I never knew I could have that much fun!  Then pretty soon I got another opportunity and then another and then another.  His plan is amazing and exciting!  I have the most fun in life when I am doing His will.  All that is because He is changing me and my heart to want to do the things for which He created me.

God often shows His plan for my life by lining up circumstances in obvious ways. And, He also shows me what is not His will for me in the same way.  He’s a master of opening and closing doors.  This is not to say that every open door is definitely God’s plan for me, but it does help give me some basic direction.

Does all of this mean it is easy to discern God’s will for me?  Not always.  But it does give me somewhere to start?  These principles help guide me in my pursuit to do and to be exactly what He wants me to do and to be.  As I seek Him with my whole heart, I will find Him.

More information on my ministry at carolhorner.com

A fresh look at the garden

Easter was different for me this year.  I know it was a couple of weeks ago, but I am still thinking through some things I was studying that week.  Really thinking through what my sin cost Jesus.

I read through the account of the events preceding the crucifixion and this year my attention was caught on the garden.  Specifically from Mark 14. 

In Mark 14:34 Jesus says, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” Jesus is so sad, upset, etc. that he felt like He was going to die.  Yes, He knows He is going to die on the cross.  But, right here, in the garden, at that moment, He felt so much agony that He felt like He was dying. 

It goes on in verse 35 and tells us that He fell to the ground.  He collapsed under the weight of this burden and there He prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. 

Jesus was a real human person. He was saying here that His soul is killing Him and then He took a couple of steps and fell on His face and asked His Father to take this away from Him.

In verse 36 He says, "Daddy, all things are possible for You, take this cup from me."  He's saying "I know You can do anything.  Can't you find another way to do this?"  Jesus was so upset that He was sweating great drops of blood (Luke 22:44)  The gospels tell us that Jesus made this request of His Father three times.

I’m imagining my own child saying, "Mom, I feel like I’m dying right now. Come on.  You can do anything. Don’t make me go through with this. Take this away from me."  I’m picturing her screaming out to me three times to help her, to not make her go through with this.  What would that have done to my heart?

But Jesus also says, not My will, but Yours be done.

So what was God’s will?  Isaiah 53:10 says, “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him.”  (Isaiah 53 is a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah.)

Jesus is begging God and says "not My will but Yours be done."  And God the Father looks down on His Son and says, "it is My will to crush You. You are going to be that guilt offering." 

God sees Jesus crying out for Him. He sees Him sweating great drops of blood. He sees Him in agony.  He hears Him begging for another way. But it is God’s will to crush Him, so that He can save me (and you).  God looked at us and loved us so much, He crushed His own Son.  He allowed Him to beaten and crucified for me. 

And Jesus willing went through with the plan. The plan that had been in place since the creation of the world. 

So, how can my response be anything other than praise?  How can I want anything or anyone else?  

Everything is about the cross.... my salvation, my joy, my rest, my peace, my security.

What’s my legacy going to be?

I just finished taking a graduate course in evangelism.  As a part of the course, I was challenged to write a "Vision Paper".  What are my plans for carrying out the Great Commission?  How am I going to be obedient to God’s command to reach others with the gospel?  How am I going to live my life?  As I thought about this, I thought about the idea of "what is my legacy going to be?"  And that led me to thinking about Abraham.

There was only one person in Scripture that God referred to as his “friend.”  And that was Abraham.  (James 2:23)  Abraham was from the Ur of the Chaldeans.  He loved God completely.  He obeyed Him with questioning Him.  I sometimes have hard time relating to Abraham because his life of complete faith in God is so amazing.

However, if we take a closer look into the life of Abraham, we find that he was not perfect. But, he persevered with God and he became a godly man.  Genesis 15:6 says that he “believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.”

When Abraham was 75 years old, God told him to leave his family, his homeland, his livelihood, and move to a new land.  This required a lot of faith, but Abraham didn’t waiver.  (Would I be able to do the same?)

“The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you;

I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.”  (You can read the whole story in Genesis 12)

So what did he do?  He left his family and went on his journey. “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” (Hebrews 11:8).  He trusted God and he went.

He made some mistakes along the way. The end of Genesis 12 tells us about how Abram got into trouble because he lied and said Sarai was his sister instead of his wife.  This is an example of Abram’s fearing man instead of trusting God.

Then there was time Abraham and his nephew, Lot, split up.  Abraham told Lot to choose which piece of land he wanted and in doing that Abraham gave up his rights to the land God had promised him. Peace was more important to Abram than being right.  (Ouch – can God say that about me?) 

Next we find Abram wanting to help God fulfill His promise.  God said he would be the father of many nations, but Sarai was barren and they were old.  In their impatience to wait on God, they made a horrible mistake.  Abram slept with Hagar, Sarai’s handmaid, and she bore him a son, Ishmael.  This act of disobedience still plagues the world today.

Sometimes I make mistakes similar to Abram.  And, like Abram, I have to reap what I sow.  This doesn’t mean God is finished with me.  It only means that sin has consequences, and even though God forgives the sin, I have to live with the consequences of my actions.

God, in His own time, fulfilled His promise to Abram and Sarai.  Abram was 100 years old when Isaac was born. Sarai was 90 years old.  When it seemed impossible, God stepped in and did the supernatural.  It’s the way He often works.  God gets all the glory because there’s no doubt it was God at work. 

Then, after that long wait to get Isaac, God tells Abram to offer him up as a sacrifice.  Try to imagine that.  You’ve waited for what seems like forever for God to fulfill a promise to you and now He’s asking you to give it up. Abram obeyed God.  Hebrews 11:17-19 tells us that Abram believed God could raise him from the dead.

Just as Abram was about to plunge the knife into his son, God stopped him.  God said, “Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son” (Genesis 22:12).  It is interesting to note that God says, “Now I know”.  I was not until Abram was willing to give up his only son, that God knew that he would be completely obedient to the end. 

What about me?  What’s God asked me to give up?  Have I been obedient?  Did God call me to something?  Did I obey? Did I walk away from my calling, or stand firm for Jesus?

Abraham’s legacy – he believed God!  What’s my legacy going to be?  What’s my story going to look like when my life is over?  Did Abraham make mistakes?  Yes.  What is he known and remembered for?  His faith.

Thoughts on prayer ...

When I think about prayer, I think about some of the great people of prayer that I have read about. There’s George Muller who started each day with several hours of prayer. He was begging God to meet the needs of his orphanage. Martin Luther devoted 2 – 3 hours to prayer each day. There are many more, Susannah Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, etc… I think about a lady that took care of me as a child, Theresa Berkebile. One time when I was staying with her, I witnessed her on her knees in her bathroom early in the morning praying. I know she prayed for me.

Then I started to think about the prayers lives of a lot of people I know. They will say that prayer is important to them, but if asked how long they pray, most would say less than ten minutes. And, I would venture to say that most would not really find satisfaction in their prayer lives. It’s just something they see that they need to do. They feel guilty if they don’t, but their prayers are shallow. Many aren’t anything that they really need God to take care of. Many are so vague, they would never even know if they were answered.

Why the difference between Luther, Muller, Edwards and people today? Why could they pray for hours and we get fidgety after 10 minutes?

Do we really pray prayers that show our dependence on God? Do we ask Him to do the supernatural? Do we really trust Him? Do we really believe He listens and hears every word? Do we really believe that prayer changes things?

Do we acknowledge our need for God? Does our prosperity affect our prayers? It seems unnecessary to pray for our daily bread when our pantries are full of groceries and our checkbook has plenty of money in it. Are we really relying on God to take care of us? Or are we the rich person that Jesus spoke about?

Then I think about how the world of technology has affected us. We rarely have conversations with people any more. Go to a restaurant and watch how many times the people sitting around you are on their phones during their meal. And conversations themselves are changing due to the text message/ Twitter mentality. Can we sit and have really have meaningful discussions anymore?

We are a society that is on the go. We are so busy! There’s never enough time in the day for everything we need to do. Where does God fit into a life that is already that busy? We say prayer is important, but isn’t it one of the first things we cut from our schedule?

Is prayer about changing God? Or changing me?

I want more than anything else in the world, to “know” God – intimately, deeply, and passionately. In order to do that, I must spend time with Him. I must seek Him wholeheartedly. I must be disciplined to not cut that time short. I must remember what I am doing. I am speaking to God - the God that created not only the universe, but the God that created me. He is the same God that parted the Red Sea, that saved Daniel from the lion’s den, that spoke to Moses from a burning bush, and that raised Jesus from the dead. I must never forget who He is - never take Him for granted. I must never take my relationship with Him lightly. Praying to God is a privilege. It demands my full attention, my concentration, my honesty, and my heart.

Praying today that I will have a heart that earnestly desires to spend time in the presence of God.  

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"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God".
Philippians 4:6

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." Colossians 4:2 "Come near to God and He will come near to you."
James 4:8

"The point of prayer is not to get answers from God, but to have perfect and complete oneness with Him." ~ Oswald Chambers

Women’s Day

We have a tradition at our church where the women do the entire service one Sunday in October in order to help celebrate appreciation for our pastor.  I was honored to be asked to give the sermon.  The link below will take you to the video at YouTube.

Living by Grace

Be different in order to make a difference

The world we live in measures success by things like how many “followers” do you have and how many “likes” did you get.  Success values results and production.  The end result is all that counts no matter what you have to do to get there.

It’s all about the “return on investment.” and it doesn’t matter whether the investment is money, time, or talents.  We measure our success by how many came to our event, how much money we raised, or how many raised their hands to accept Christ.  My success isn’t about the results. Jesus didn’t measure the disciples success by their results. He gave them grace when they failed. He had patience with them while they were learning.

Success for the disciples (and for me) Is an internal thing, not an external thing.  It isn’t something that can be seen or measured.  It’s a matter of changing me.  It’s about my character becoming what it needs to be.  It’s about continually being conformed to the image of Christ – because that is the ultimate goal for my life.

The world would have me sacrifice my character in order to reach my goals. What Jesus wants to do is refine my character. He knows if I handle what’s going on in my life from an eternal perspective, I will be what is changed.  As I change and am different, I can then make a difference in the world around me.

Forget success based on measurable results. Success is about character transformation. Let God transform you into the person He created you to be so that you can impact the world in the way He imaged you could from the start.