How to please God

Ezra was a great man of God and had been given an enormous amount of treasure and goods from King Artaxerxes for use and provision of the new temple to be built in Jerusalem.  The king knew that Jerusalem was a long journey from Babylon and offered Ezra a military escort for his protection on the trip.  But Ezra made a bold statement of faith in God and told the king:

"The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him."

Ezra 8:22b

Essentially he told the king, thanks but no thanks, God has my back.

But as the trip progressed something happened, something that the bible doesn’t reveal but something caused Ezra to fear for his safety, those around him and the goods he carried with him.

As Christians we often find ourselves in a place or time in life that we too make bold statements of faith.  During a time of spiritual renewal or great fellowship with others, we find the strength to lean fully on the finished work of Christ and feel charged to take all from life that God and a relationship with him promises.  But then something happens, something thats different for all of us, but something happens to shake our faith.  The world throws us a curve ball that causes us to rethink everything.

We find ourselves in a place where the very real problems we see in front of us, seem too large to be overcome by faith and a God we can’t see so clearly at the time.  We find ourselves at a cross road of faith much like Ezra was facing.

We have an excellent example of what to do provided for us from Ezra in his response to a similar set of circumstances, when he needed reassurances from God.  The threat of robbers and bandits was real; the need for protection couldn’t be overlooked, but Ezra sought to overcome his and his men’s fears in another way:

So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.

Ezra 8:23

They put their faith into action and ask God for the strength to believe and trust in His provision.  Biblical Commentator, John Trapp said, “They put their holy resolution into execution: purpose without practice is like Rachel, beautiful but barren.”  

The book of Hebrews tells us without faith that it isn’t possible to please God.  And our faith can’t be strengthened if we don’t put it to the test when it seems like the last thing that we should do, trust God.  And God listened to the prayers and plea from Ezra and his men and He will listen to you as well.  Take a leap of faith today and place your trust in that area that seems to be impossible on your own.  Faith is strengthened by God providing for you when no one else will.  God is waiting to provide an answer to your prayer right now if you will only place your trust in Him.

Peace my friends,

Jeff

Does God really speak to us?

Art forgery has taken place for centuries and is BIG business.  And as the quality of these forgeries increase, so has the demand for qualified professionals who can authenticate true works of Master Artist from clever forgeries by deceptive con men looking to make a quick buck.  A professional Authenticator uses many tools to bring forgeries to light, but by far the most effective is identifying the brushstrokes of a particular Artist.

An artist brush strokes are as definitive as an individual finger print and can’t be completely duplicated.  While Forgers can come close, there are always subtle differences that the trained eye will catch.  Professional Art Historians can only achieve this level of expertise by spending years studying every detail of a particular Artist and a broad spectrum of their work.  Only by spending hours and even years analyzing the true works of an Artist can forgeries be seen for what they are, fakes.

As Christians today we have an enormous tool that wasn’t available to the early church in the finished work of the Bible.  God has spoken to His people plainly, definitively and completely.  Without the finished work of the Bible, God’s people were given the Old Testament Prophets and Christ and the Disciples in the New Testament to reveal God’s plan to His people.  Along with the treasure of God’s Word we also have the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us to the truth that God will reveal to us individually.  And like an authenticator of fine art studies the work of a Master Artist, we must study Gods Word everyday so we too can identify His brushstrokes and character when we ask Him to speak to us.  The Apostle Paul tells us:

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15 NASB

As Christians God has promise to speak to us, if we knock He will answer.  But a diligent study of the Word of God is needed to accurately hear the truth God would reveal to us.  We must have and intimate familiarity of the Word of God to hear His voice over those that will also attempt to answer when we enter into prayer. 

What?  Someone other than God will speak to us and attempt to answer our prayer? Without question the answer is yes.  But let me explain before you get a rope to hang me.

In John 8:44 Christ tells us that “Satan is the father of all lies”.  And according to the Apostle Paul we are in a very real war with very real demonic forces.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12

Spiritual warfare is a reality that every believer is going to be effected by.  If you’ve given your life to Christ you cannot sit on the side line as you are an active participant, like it or not.  If you choose not to accept the reality of spiritual warfare you open yourself up for attack and make yourself easy prey for the enemy.  While someone that chooses to not acknowledge spiritual warfare in their life can be saved and can have Heaven as an eternal destination, you can sure have your time in this world thrown into turmoil. 

Once your eternal destination is sealed in Christ, all the dark forces can do is attempt to make you ineffective for the kingdom of God.  Christ told us we will have trouble in this life and I believe as Christians the forces of Satan steer most of the difficulties we face.  The dark forces we encounter will attempt to confuse us and make us worry, even question Gods provision and sovereignty. And while Satan and his forces are not omniscient and able to hear the prayers of our heart, they are deceptive enough and understand the difficulties we are facing and try and confuse our attempt to seek Gods help in prayer.

The Bible is full of examples of godly men on godly quest being challenged by Satan and his forces.  Good men encounter a path that on the surface appears to be right but upon further examination are just distortions of the truth.  And we must prepare ourselves to know the difference.  We must make the study of scripture a top priority in our lives.  We must spend hours and even years looking at the brushstrokes of God’s Word so when we are presented with a forgery from our enemy, we will know the difference.  God’s truth is waiting to be revealed to us all:

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.

2 Corinthians 4:3

As born again Christians we are not perishing and God has lifted the veil of His desires for our lives.  It’s our duty and responsibility to become experts in the Word of God to successfully navigate the world we presently reside in.  To become intimate in God’s Word and to become an expert at identifying His voice over the voice of the other forces that will attempt to confuse us requires a commitment of time from us and we must find a daily time to spend in the written Word of God to do this.  There is no other way to do this, there are no short cuts.

Are you having trouble discerning the voice of God over other voices that may be speaking?  The voice that God will speak to us in will never challenge the Word as written in the Bible.  If it’s from God it will be complementary to His Word. If it contradicts the teaching in the Bible, chances are it’s the wrong voice to listen to.

I personally feel that God has spoken to me in a clear and distinct voice on very few occasions.  But when He has, there was no question the voice was in line with written Word of God.  But there have been many times in my life where I did hear a voice, a voice that gave me some very good direction, on the surface at least.  But once I tested the direction given against the Word in the Bible I found a simple distortion of the truth, a fake. 

God’s Word is always the safest way to hear Him speak.  There is no substitute for the written Word of God in finding direction in our lives and there is no doubt we should all be ready to receive the Word of God should He choose to speak to us.  But if we are going to listen for God’s audible voice, we need to be confident it’s the real thing.

Start today, make getting into the Bible a daily event and let God reveal Himself to you in an intimate way.  I promise you won’t be disappointed!

 Peace,

Jeff