One Abnormally Born

Eureka! The verse I was looking for this morning is verse 8 (highlighted) but I think the whole context might shed some light on some things we were talking about this morning. I Corinthians 15:1-11

Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter,[b] and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

Has Anything Even Remotely Like This ...

... Ever Happened In Your Walk?

I fell Sunday. I really stumbled in my walk with Christ. I saw and heard some things come out of me against someone that I dearly love that I hope and pray that I never will see again, in any circumstance, at any place, with any person.

The who, where, what, when or why doesn't really matter. What matters is that I saw Satan—in me, through my eyes and in my actions and in the eyes and reactions of one I love.

It was ugly, so ugly that I will not forget it. Reflecting on my mental images of it, it must be a little of what hell is like. It was gut-wrenchingly awful. Beauty and purity of two people who love each other, turned utterly foul and disgusting in hurt, anger and rage. It was not at all Christ-like. No. It was the antithesis of Christ.

How did it get so bad?

I'm still trying to figure that out. I tried to avoid it. I walked away from a confrontation. I cooled off before I might have popped and flown off-the-handle. I went for a long, solitary walk, and I prayed. I came back and turned to Scripture. I meditated and prayed about Ephesians 4:17-24, about the "new" man, and vv 25-31, about being angry, but not sinning; about not giving a place for the devil; about no corrupt word proceeding from your mouth, but only what is right for edification; about letting "all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you... forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." You know how it goes.

I recalled how Jesus referred to Sciptures when he was tempted by Satan. I thought that would help me.

Oh, how I prayed for counsel and guidance on how to handle the situation. I had been offended. Three times. Publicly. The last, loud enough and emotionally enough for the entire restaurant to notice.

Or, so I had thought. The final curse cut me deeply.

Over the next 3-4 hours, I thought that I was handling it fine, not saying a word. Just smiling. Not really me, but just being there. Polite. Courteous. Not very giving. Yet, not making a scene. Then, after 23 minutes of silence on the ride home, the lid blew off. Coolness abandoned me as I responded to more verbal attack. I was not about to take any more.

So, I reacted in kind. Did I ever! It was like I have never acted before. In anger. In hate. In rage. I was wronged and wasn't about to be made the whipping post. I was so loud and vociferous and angry that even I didn't know me. And, I actually felt justified!

Out of our mouths come overflows of our hearts; or at least, our hearts at the time. That, I thought, was what started the episode hours before. Why couldn't it have been left alone? Instead, it festered, it brewed, and emotions exploded. Things were said in anger, things that never should be thought, let alone uttered.

The words of Jesus have been reverberating in my brain: "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things."; and, "the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts ..." (Mt 12:35, 15:19)

Nothing good came from my mouth. Only rage and anger. After all, I was the one wronged and I was irritated and I was offended. Or, so I thought.

What does my reaction say about my heart? What does that say about me?

I tell you, I am disappointed. Deeply.

It was like I stepped on a landmine—a landmine placed by Satan, and it exploded on me and on all those around me.

And, do you know what I sense? I sense the prince of lies laughing, mocking and scoffing. "See, Jesus, he ain't changed. Not one bit. In fact, he's worse because now he thinks that he is righteous."

So, chalk one up for the big prick. He worked it. He worked us. He won. I failed. I dishonored my God, my Savior, my faith, my loved ones, a beloved one, myself. I am not proud of what I did. And thinking of pride, I wonder how much did pride have to do with the way that I acted. How could I let myself become so offended, and later, so enraged?

Where was I coming from?

Better yet, where should I have been coming from?

I was blindsided. I did not see this coming. Not at all. What's more, both of us have an insatiable love for Christ. It blindsided both of us, and neither want to see anything like this happen again. I feel that we were manipulated. I feel that it was a spirit-world battle in real time, real life.

And we lost. Oh God, how we lost!

Has anything like this ever happened to you?

The war, however, is not over. I've confessed and I'm asking for grace, strength and wisdom. See, I believe now that I might have been getting fairly haughty over my abiding in Christ. Maybe I do not abide in Christ as much or as deeply or
as firmly as I had thought.

We, no, I, need to know that I, no, we, are secure in the Lord only at those times when we remind ourselves of His presence in us and in the other person(s) around us. On Sunday, we became like two demons posessed. Unreal. Surreal.
A different zone, altogether. Or, how about this: like two people might act if they were existing together in a place called hell!

That's how awful it was.

When the two of us could gain wisdom and strength from this weakness, from this fall, then the tide of battle will turn.

This morning, I was lead to this:

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,

To God our Savior, Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power,
Both now and forever. Amen. -- Jude 24-25

He is indeed able to keep us from falling. He alone can present us faultless, not by our will, but by His.

Has anything like this awful event ever happened in your walk?

In my life, I'd like to be able to see something like this coming the next time and to stand strong against it. If you can identify with that need, if you would be willing, I'd like to recommend studying Charles Stanley's "Landmines in the Path of the Believer". I believe that it would supplement our current study of "Respectable Sins" that is coming to a close.

From the cover jacket: "Satan doesn't usually hit us with an all-out frontal attack. It's the subtle landmines that do the most damage. They are hidden just below life's surface where they are the hardest to detect. At the slightest misstep, they explode beneath us tearing emotional holes in our lives and leaving us feeling as if we are separate from God and His eternal love. But this is never the case. While sin has consequences, God's restoration is ours the moment we turn to Him and seek forgiveness.

"In Landmines in the Path of The Believer, Dr. Charles Stanley addresses nine primary landmines that every Christian must identify and defuse in order to live a victorious life: Pride, Jealousy and Envy, Insecurity, Compromise, Unforgiveness, Disappointment, Fear, Immorality, Laziness.

"... Dr Stanley provides biblical principles for clearing the landmines out of your life. Once you do this, you will be able to experience a host of God's greatest blessings including peace, joy, contentment, and hope that never fades."

The book is 12 chapters long, and we could cover one chapter each week. I don't know that a study guide exists, but I could check it out; or, even create one.

I just want to be able to detect such subleties, know when they might be approaching, strengthen the weakness to withstand them, and defuse these things before they explode.

What say ye?

IBG / JF

How Do We Know If It Is God Telling Us ...

... and not ourselves declaring what should be?


(Father, please guide me in this.)

I believe that we may be missing in our lives many things, many blessings, many opportunities, many victories and many successes because we fail to ask for them in prayer.

We fail to communicate effectively with our Lord God.

We may ask; we may plead; we may supplicate day-in and day-out. We may babble.

But do we take the time to listen? Do we bother to ask Him for a sign that might point us in His guidance of our lives so that we know that it is Him answering us, and not just our desires?

Guilty, I am!

I think, too often, that I can do it alone and figure things out for myself. That's tallies to a lot of mistakes that have collected in my basket! Boy! What am I missing?

A lot of people argue that it is difficult to know God's will in His direction of our lives. It really is not.

In the same way, it is not impossible or impractical to do God's will in family, social, and business life.

How can we be sure that it is God's will that is guiding us, and not our own desires?

Well, in believing the Bible, we must accept all of Scripture, not just parts of it.

How about this from Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."

That's pretty convincing. And convicting.

Or this one from Jesus, himself: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you will be My disciples." John 15:7-8.

Or, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. . . How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him?" Matthew 6:7,11 (Both, NKJV)

I have found that how I ask and what I ask for are paramount. If you are anything like me, you cannot ask flippantly. God deserves our devotion and worship and respect and honor. Nor can you ask for something against his nature, and then expect it to be granted. In the same way, you cannot ask for something that is not in His will and purpose or time for you, and have it tomorrow morning when you wake up.

James is pretty darned explicit about that: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God , who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." James 1:5-8

So, who of us wants to be double-minded; or like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed?

Then, why are people like me so ... so ... so ... (what, foolish? Or just plain dumb?)

If I could just recall Proverbs 3 when I should (which really is most of the time)!

I'll practice and learn. Sooner than later, I hope. No, I pray.

When I do apply this way of living that is still new to me, when I seek the Lord's guidance and blessing, I do pour out my heart and try my best lay the difficulty and stress I'm in before God. As I do that, I feel that I can ask Him for clear guidance. I can even ask for signs so that I won't mistake what I see or interpret. You know, we are allowed (and maybe even encouraged) to do that. Remember the fleece story?

In the Bible, we are given many examples of this path of success. Abraham's servant Eliezer could be one of the first. Remember him praying after his long, arduous journey of faith and service? When he finally arrived at the well of Padan Aram? Well, he got there all right. If I had been in his sandals, I would have wondered, "Okay. I'm here. Now what?"

Not Eliezer. He knew what do. Do you remember the characteristics of his prayer? Eliezer (a Syrian, not a Hebrew):

• prayed passionately to God for Abraham and Isaac;
• he was specific;
• he was expectant; and,
• he covered everything that his mission encompassed.

Was he answered?

Wasn't he ever!

Could the secret to success in knowing God's will for our life lay in the prayer(s) that we make with Him?

A good part of it does, I believe, because that's the heart-to-heart communication, the worship, the confession, the thanksgiving, and the supplication.

There are six paths of conviction and confirmation that we can see in the Eliezer prayer and God's response to it. We can and should apply them in our journeys, as well as he did.

First, faith, and what faith means to an individual. Refer back to James 1:5-8, above. This exhortation is reinforced in 5:16, "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much," and then James goes on to highlight Elijah's prayers for drought and then rain, giving us other examples of God's answer to genuine, believing prayer.

Eliezer had it. Elijah had it. Others had it. It is a faith so genuine that it expresses itself in believing prayer.

Oh, do we need that! We need to seek it, cultivate it, and nurture it in our lives. I don't know that could come without an active relationship with Jesus. He started us on the journey. We need to stand up and do our part.

Second, the prayer itself. I suggest that we look over and learn the characteristics of Eliezer's prayer, making our prayers just as passionate. We should model our prayer after the four characteristics of his. (They're listed, up there.)

Third, we need to be alert and receptive to circumstances that confirm or deny our requests. In Elizier's case, God gave every sign for which he had asked. Have you ever experienced God's answer in such a manner? In such immediacy? Wow! God can do that!

Fourth, we need to confirm that the circumstances or the sign(s) are indeed in keeping with God's principles, with His purposes, with His will.

If they are congruent with the principles we learn from God, then fifth, we should sense an inward peace in our hearts about the answer; then, give God the glory for any success we may have achieved. That should come all by itself. If it's missing, we're in trouble and need to go back.

Remember, it is His gift to you for His glory, not for your glory. His. (That's fair warning not to claim the glory for yourself. I found that out the hard way—only once.)

Finally, I'd like to add a sixth point. Act upon the results swiftly and diligently, as did Eliezer. Don't waver. Don't dally. Don't second guess yourself. Don't be that "wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind". (James 1:7)

Instead, act on your faith, standing firmly and trustingly upon it. Over time and invariably, you will find that the decision God helped you to reach was the proper one. Remember that God gives liberally to all who ask Him, especially, it would seem, if we ask for wisdom (James 1:5). Solomon did that.

So, trust, as we are told in Proverbs 3:5-6.

Not convinced? Check Isaiah 48:17-18:

"Thus says, the Lord, your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel.
'I am the Lord your God,
Who teaches you to profit,
Who leads you by the way you should go.

'Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!
Then your peace would have been
like a river,
And your righteousness like the
waves of the sea.'"

Thank You, Lord.

IBG / JF