Faith or Fortuity

“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ ” Acts 17:26-28

Jesus said that He is the way, the truth, and the life, and that He came into the world to testify to the truth. I believe that; particularly the truth part. If as Christian’s we all believed this, we would without equivocation stand by every single word of the Bible. In view of this passage from the Gospel of John, we’ve no other option:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1 & 14

I say that to say ‘in Christ’ there aren’t any coincidences. How can a Christian believe otherwise? The declaration in Acts 17 is clear: God made us and He has determined our preappointed times. That’s a far-reaching pronouncement and from it we may deduce that our encounters are orchestrated by God.

The question is, “Do you believe it?”

Either God’s hand is in each situation or it is not. Either God has a plan for each encounter or He does not. Either in Him we live and move and have our being or we do not. It truly is this plain.

I’ve opted for the former over the latter–that every appointment is divine and that God has a specific and unique outcome in mind for each one. The embracement of the tenet is changing my life.

Praying More

Initially, I was overwhelmed. I prayed and God gave me peace.

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light…Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Matthew 11:28-30 & Matthew 7:7

So now I’m learning to anticipate get-togethers. I tell God where I am going (as if He didn’t know) and specifically ask for encouragement, discernment, and empowerment. To my relief I discovered that not every encounter was designed to be directly evangelical.

Here’s a sampling of some recent engagements:

At the gas station, the Spirit moved me to ask the attendant if he had read the Bible tract I had given him the week before; specifically the smaller-print on the back. He said he hadn’t. I handed him another tract and listened as he read it aloud. When he finished I said, “So, what do you think?

He smiled broadly and enthusiastically said, “This truly is good news!”

At the hardware store the cashier welcomed me and said, “How are you today?”

I’ve gotten into the habit of answering these queries with, “I am blessed more than I deserve! How are you?” Her response gave me an indication that she too was a Christian.

Our brief exchange was uplifting and encouraging.

A while back a rough-and-tough looking twosome appeared at my door and asked if I wanted my driveway coated and sealed. I was leery, but we agreed on a price and I gave them the go ahead. As they finished up, the Lord prompted me to ask if I could pray for them.

Not only did they agree, the one said, “We’re born again too! Mind if I lead?”

Amazing

Admittedly, not every meeting bears fruit I can readily see. Sometimes a shared word is rejected. Other times the Spirit plainly says to my heart, “Just say ‘God bless you!’ to this soul and leave him be.” Nevertheless, it’s evident to me that with every encounter, God does a work, with the purpose and glory always His.

No Accident

If we can agree that physical encounters are not accidents, then we can likely agree that impersonal, internet exchanges such as these aren’t coincidental either. I’m not sure why you’re here, but I have a sense why I was, and I further believe God determined and prearranged the time of this meeting.

Therefore I’d like to encourage you to treat every encounter as a divine appointment, even if you don’t entirely believe it to be so. There is truth in His word and as we step out obediently God will make His glory known.

“ He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” John 14:21

Testify

Can you bear witness to these truths? Please leave a comment as an encouragement and as a testament to His rightness.

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War? What War?

The Battle That Never WasAnd I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh. Revelation 19:19-21My Yoke is Easy…My Burden is Light

The Book of Revelation is not a difficult book to comprehend when we understand that there is a God-inspired outline laid-out in Revelation 1:19. Pressing forward, the Christian discerns that chapter one deals with those things ‘seen’ by the Apostle John (the truth of who Jesus is), chapters two and three with the way things ‘are’ (church history), and chapters four through twenty-two addressing the ways things will be ‘after’ the church era. Chapters six through nineteen specifically deal with the Tribulation period, a phase that comes to a screeching halt in the last three verses [of our opening Bible passage] above.

Don’t Blink or You’ll Miss it

Oh, it will not be Christ’s second coming that the church will fail to see, for that will be nearly impossible. As He rides in on His white horse, His eyes like flames of fire and His head adorned with many crowns, we shall be right behind Him! No, the thing we might miss is the final conflict that the last thriteen (13) chapters of Revelation (six through nineteen) have been building up to. Read the above Bible passage again.

In the first sentence: satan the beast, the kings of the earth and their armies have assembled, ready to wage war against Jesus. If this were a Spielberg movie, we would all be poised on the edge of our seats, chins on palms–elbows on knees, everyone shushing their neighbor. But what’s this? The very next scene satan is captured and done away with. That was it? No battle? All satan had was nothing? I tell you, if this were a Spielberg movie, we might all demand a refund.

But It’s Not a Movie…It’s Jesus

And the crowd (the church) will be euphoric when the beast is defeated. So we might ask why all the build up for a seemingly anticlimactic conclusion; why a ‘thirteen chapter’ lead-in for a one-sentence finale? Recall the audience–the Apostle John is writing (then and now) to a persecuted and (as time goes on) chaotic church. And while it is true the Christian church will not suffer the Tribulation period, we will undoubtedly face tribulation daily. Jesus said…

In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33a

Appraising the concise, one-sentence account of satan’s defeat; absorbing its implications, we might better understand that our solution; ‘the solution’ is found in Christ Jesus alone. Battle? There is no battle; satan was knocked-out before he put on his boxing gloves. Combat? What combat; notice that Christ’s army comes to the conflict unarmed! When we ride-in with Jesus, He alone has the sword…and it comes forth from His mouth! One swipe; one word and it is all over.

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword…You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. Hebrews 4:12, John 5:39

Jesus is the Word

Jesus is the way—the only way and we need to share this truth. We need to tell our families, our friends (and our enemies), our co-workers, and carry the message across the globe.

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Three Amigos

For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one. 1 John 5:7-8Bingo!

If anyone comes a knocking upon your door with any other false doctrine, just show them this passage from God’s Word the Bible. There is no doubt, God the Father, Jesus the Word, and the Holy Spirit are one and the same. There is no need to explain it (I have yet to find anyone who could); this Biblical truth stands alone—no explanation is necessary. Jesus is God and not a created being; period.

Part two

“But what about the second sentence of this passage; what is it all about?”

John is declaring that there are three things on earth that bear witness to a Christian’s faith and that they are made known to us by the Spirit, the water, and the blood. These three elements combined are proof-positive for the believer that the first remark made by John is true ~and~ that our faith is real. But what are those three things referring to?

The Spirit

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God Romans 8:16

By God’s miraculous implanting of His Spirit within us, we intuitively know what is right and what is wrong. As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, ‘we might not always be able to express it in words, ’ but that reality does not negate the fact that we ‘know’. As we grow in faith and leap into His word, He will continue to impart to us words to express this discerned truth, but until that time ‘knowing’ is sufficient to continue in our faith walk. I am often reminded of the formerly blind man who had a similar understanding—we recall his assertion when ‘cornered’ about his faith…

One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.” John 9:25

The Water

The water of course is a reference to our baptism; that outward declaration we made of what we inwardly believe. I should say however that it is an outward declaration that we ‘continue to make’ (or express in some manner) every single day of our lives. Certainly our initial baptism was a statement to the world that we believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, but if our outward display ceases as we exit the Jordan, there is a problem. I know without any doubt [that] when the Christian daily dives into the water (outwardly expressing his or her faith), there will be a renewing of this our spiritual recognition everyday.

The Blood

It may sound kind of creepy initially, but all this is referring to it the communion of the saints—the gathering around a common table to remember what Christ Jesus has done for us and for mankind. Like the outward expression of baptism, I believe this should be done as the Bible says (and for most of us, that would be three times a day).

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. 1 Corinthians 11:26

The Message

These three things are our witness on earth that Jesus is Lord, is Savior, and we (by His grace) are apart of His family. These are also the very things that Jesus commanded us to share in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. What does that look like practically?

Simply put, Jerusalem is our home (and similar areas), Judea are those friendly places we have contact with, and Samaria are those not-so-friendly places we tend to not visit often. “How, ” we might ask, “do we reach the ends of the earth with this Good News?”

Well for certain, there are many ways–pray about it.

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