Month: June 2020

We're living in some unusual times. They're complex, and a bit alarming.  But, we knew these days would come; right? 

Just as our Lord Jesus prepared his disciples for what was coming then (his betrayal and crucifixion), he has prepared us for these days. 

Don't be paralyzed by the events happening around you.  Don't allow the times to stop you from enjoying life and doing the greater works you were created to do.

Find something you enjoy, and do it. It can be something as simple as reading a good book to increase your knowledge, or as complex as getting involved in some type of volunteer work that feeds your passion.

When we do things we enjoy and love, it fulfills us by meeting an internal need we have to be useful.

So do not allow your heart to be overly troubled or afraid. You and I have a great eternal future, and the help we need in the Holy Spirit who is walking right alongside us (John 14). 

Quite a few years back, I had a rather unique experience to witness first-hand how our perception flavors what we see.

I was at a church meeting that ended by breaking people up into 5-member prayer groups. Each group was given one specific subject to pray about, and each of the five members was to pray.

At the time, I was involved in a deep study of five-fold ministry gifts, and it just so happened that group contained people who confessed to each of the five-fold ministry gifts. I know this because they each had a name tag with their spiritual calling, as they believed it to be.

In this particular group, one person identified as an evangelist, one a pastor, one a prophet, another a teacher, and the last an apostle.   

What I witnessed was quite amazing!

As I listened to each person in the group pray, each one prayed about the same subject but from a different perspective. Here is how it went.

1. The teacher prayed that people would learn and be enlightened about the situation. 
2. The prophet prayed that people would be warned about the situation and rectify it. 
3. The evangelist prayed that the situation would yield a harvest of souls.
4. The pastor prayed compassionately for the protection of the people; and 
5. The apostle took a warfare stand against the situation. 

The dominant gift in each person flavored the perspective from which they approached the subject matter.  Even more interesting was the fact that each perspective was necessary.

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I was reading the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3, as he described the nature and attitudes of people in the last days. Here is how he described them.

He said they would be totally self-centered.  These are people who genuinely do not care about others. They are overly concerned with getting things and as much money as they can get, and they do not care how they get it.  They will break a window and take what they want.

They are full of contempt and hatred for others, such that they will not even listen to reason.  You can't talk to them because they are not interested in reason or hearing what anyone has to say.

They lack human feelings for others because their hearts are hard having no knowledge of God, and this makes them fierce. Caring produces discipline, and they have none.

As bad as they are, they will get worse.  So what do we do?

Paul told us three things to do:

1. He said to maintain our faith in what we have learned;
2. Continue to declare the truth and goodness of God; and
3. Be prepared to suffer for righteousness.