Thoughts of a Servant

Man, that was such a relief.  I had sat down at lunch and just started reading my Bible.  I continued my bible-in-hear plan with Joshua 1, and I couldn’t tell you how hard it hit me.  God knew I needed this word, and he spoke it directly to me.

I have been dealing with this warfare on whether it is my own ambition wanting to go to Tanzania or if it was actually my calling.  I now know that its, in fact, my calling.  Check it:

Joshua 1 talks about Joshua assuming authority after Moses dies.  He is bringing the people into the land of Canaan. He keeps repeating and repeating these simple words:

Be strong and courageous (v6)
Be strong and very courageous (v7)
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. (v9)

and ends with:

Only be strong and courageous! (v18)

Clearly he sees Joshua trembling with the fear of if he is capable, if he is worthy, if he can drop everything and lead these people. This is exactly where I am in my questions about Tanzania. And God just keeps pounding this message into him saying he needs to be strong and courageous and not to be scared because the Lord will be with him:

Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.

Jos 1:9.

It also says that God will not be pleased with partial obedience (only us talking about it):

Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; …

Jos 1:8a

And then explicitly ties success with our obedience in the second part of that verse:

… meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.  Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Jos 1:8b

That calmed another fear that I have about success.  I have been brainwashed with the world’s idea of success– and that sometimes influences my decisions to do God’s work.  But looking at this passage it is very clear that success (not of this world) is given as a gift of obedience and having that special relationship.

When God’s people unite around the core duty of obedience, they can rest assured that God will bless them in wonderful ways.

Roger Ellsworth, Opening Up Joshua (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2008). 36.

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, sometimes I get caught up in facts, history, visual / mental / spiritual definitions and presence within their cultural context, etc.  But I have been taking time to just sit and listen, watch and learn.  Let me say, you may think God isn’t present now, but just sit and watch…  I was eating dinner at the mall today and I saw several things that just blew my mind.  So I got to thinking about our surroundings and our influence on each other…  The best way to get evidence that God is present, isolate yourself from us.

But in all honesty, you have to look around you– if you want evidence of God, go into the wilderness.   In the wilderness, let me ask, what is evil?  What will distract you?  The only answer to that is yourself, your mind, your presence.  You are the only presence of distraction in the midst of amazing evidence of God’s existence.  This means two things: (1) You are not good, you have fallen and cannot seem to think good thoughts and your mind wanders, and (2) You are the most complex living creature on the face of this planet, you are Christ’s masterpiece.  It makes it much more simple if you take the factors of the world out and just look at nature and yourself.  Man was created to rule over the earth (Genesis), and Man was also the pinnacle of creation.  But that fall explains why we can’t go into the wilderness without thinking of power, survival, etc.

Going back to the context of the wilderness comes the concept of faith.  Faith seems to dwell in our minds as a source of foundation.  Faith actually stems from the Hebrew word emunah which means “firmness,” “steadfastness,” “fidelity,” and  ”faithfulness.”  It is also derived from the word aman which means “confirm,” and “trust.”  Some of us choose to blindly follow it and others need scientific proof for faith to be concrete.  Of course, there are different types of faith:  You have faith that your eyes are telling your brain exactly what you are seeing– you have faith that each time you go under a freeway overpass, that it will not collapse on you– you also have faith that when you sleep you will wake up knowing exactly what you knew the night before rather than having to relearn everything.

Atheists have plenty-a-beef with Christianity because there is basically no written hard evidence.  They will say that Christianity is good thinking (faith)– in a sense.  And the Atheists that I have talked to come across as rational and informative individuals who have, basically, convinced themselves that they cannot prove any existence. In the conversations that I have had, they bring up inconsistencies with the Bible and factual misinterpretations of historical events– all based around “evidence.”   And I can completely understand it, Christianity does require a whole lot of faith.  And most of them do not want to believe in faith because it is not rational or it deems contradictory.

But lets look at faith..  Faith is obviously a very prominent part of the Bible:

 

By faith Enoch was taken up so he should not see death (Heb. 11:5); by faith Noah built an ark (Heb. 11:7); by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called (Heb. 11:8); by faith Abraham lived as an alien in the land (Heb. 11:9); by faith Sarah received power to conceive (Heb. 11:11); these all died in faith (Heb. 11:13); by faith Abraham offered up Isaac (Heb. 11:17); by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau (Heb. 11:20); by faith Jacob blessed Joseph’s sons (Heb. 11:21); by faith Joseph made mention of the exodus (Heb. 11:22); by faith Moses was hidden (Heb. 11:23); by faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter (Heb. 11:24); by faith Moses left Egypt (Heb. 11:27); by faith Moses kept the Passover (Heb. 11:28); by faith they passed through the Red Sea (Heb. 11:29); by faith the walls of Jericho fell down (Heb. 11:30); by faith Rahab did not perish with the disobedient (Heb. 11:31); by faith they conquered kingdoms (Heb. 11:33).

Colin A. Day, Collins Thesaurus of the Bible (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009).

 

But one of the key things that struck me is that Faith is a key structural component in this relationship (between God and man) in the Old Testament.  God had created the bronze snake to remind people that they needed to have faith… It is also mentioned several times in the passages above…  God was with his people, and they had to believe in him.

 

The author of Hebrews defines faith as the assurance in our heart and mind of what we hope for, the certainty of what we do not see (Heb. 11:1). And the author also notes that it was “faith” that was the “basis” for the approval of the saints in the Old Testament (Heb. 11:2). The author of Hebrews was right, for without faith it is impossible to be approved by God.

Eugene E. Carpenter and Philip W. Comfort, Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words: 200 Greek and 200 Hebrew Words Defined and Explained (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000). 56.

 

Its interesting.  Because God said that He created us in his image…  The Bible talks about God’s faithfulness to his people, which means that, being in his image, he would expect us to be faithful to Him.

 

We do not respond to the grace of God with perfect faithfulness. The grace that gives us faith also allows us from time to time to see how weak our faith can be. So our faith is never of an even quality. It is subject to degrees. When our faith is great, we must praise God. When it is weak, we must not despair (weak faith is still faith), but cry to God for greater grace.

Roger Ellsworth, Opening Up Joshua (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2008). 103.

 

I have been completely absent from Reno (my hometown) since 2007, making it almost 3 years since I have been there.  I was looking through some pictures of Reno from some friends on Facebook, and I have to say– it is gorgeous, it is fun, active, and plenty of outdoor opportunities in which I am in love with.  Lots of friends still live there, lots of church family there, but honestly– I don’t think I miss Reno.  For me, Reno was a safe zone– it was where I felt secluded from the world.  I didn’t fear anything, I felt like a big fish.  I felt like I could succeed there.

I don’t really know where I am going with this, it is just something that is evolving in my mind.  Say someone goes abroad to a nation where they don’t know the language…  They don’t have friends.. They don’t have a community / history with the people there.  They look back home and they see comfort, friends, etc.  They look forward to where they are now, and they see a big cultural, mental and maybe even physical battle ahead of them.  It looks like things are going to change, and they have to start their life from scratch.

I can’t help but think about losing myself.  In order to find your purpose and your value, you have to lose yourself.  I know it sounds crazy, but once you get your pride, your possessions, your image out of the way, you will see that you are worth nothing more than the ground you walk on and that you are in need of a Savior.

Russell brought up a point about fasting that should be emphasized.  Fasting from something clears your mind and allows you to see where your heart’s desire is.  Say you fast from food, you begin to see how much of a security it is, and how much you depend on it, and that you might actually be worshiping it.

Well I consider my move from Reno a form fasting.  Since I have been there I have grown to an unbelievable position in my faith after being severely tested, and still have unfathomable lengths to go (along with much tribulation).  But being outside of that position where I felt like I could succeed and into a position where I was the least of many in Los Angeles,  being outside of my zone of similar interests and language and into a melting pot of fascinating multi-cultural exposure, has better equipped me for whatever God has me doing next.

Throughout the Bible we see stories of people having to start over.  Each of the disciples had to drop their families, careers, and community ties upon following Jesus.  Paul had a major restart in life from being a persecutor of Christians to being a beloved follower of Christ.  Noah obviously had the whole world die around him and he had to start over with just his family and a couple of animals.  If you were in any of those situations wouldn’t you think the future is going to be difficult?  But isn’t it so worth it.

Each time we are put out of our comfort zone, or put into a position of fasting, we should act like the dog and the ball.

What kind of love.

So I got really bored on the way back from LA.  Riding a bike can be really fun, but on long distances– you see the same thing over and over again– you try speeding up, slowing down, still, the same cars… like the Flintstones scenery.

So naturally, I start thinking about tough questions to ask myself and whatnot.  I came across this analogy:

I found myself trying to drive directly on a line / groove in the road for as long as I could.  Sometimes this line would trick me and I would have to shift my lane position to accommodate the change– sometimes the road would curve and I would be thrown off the trajectory of the line, and sometimes the line would disappear for a bit and I would be left completely oblivious as to where the line would return.

But the one thing I noticed is that I was looking at the wrong part of the line… I was only looking fractions of a second ahead to see where the line would be–  But in fact, I should be looking far into the distance.  If I had been looking at the destination of the line, I would see the line change along with the surroundings and abrupt changes… Even when the line disappears, I wouldn’t lose the direction of the line since I am looking past the broken part.

So applying this to my faith, sometimes I tend to get caught up with the facts, knowledge, learning, etc.  I love to live in the moment but sometimes I follow this moment too closely.  Don’t get me wrong, its important to know where you are at the moment, but we need to have our focus on the eternal offering.  Keeping your eyes looking far ahead at God will make sure that even when life gets tough and the direction is unclear (when the line disappears), you will still know where you are going.  Even when your mission changes abruptly with a job switch, death, or even a relocation, that you will be able to counter that change and still know where you are going.

While staying on the road analogy…

13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easyd that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. 14 For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989). Mt 7:13–14.

Consider how many lanes I could have been riding on, how many freeways I could have been on, how many exits I could have taken, but only one way would bring me home.   The road that will bring you home (Heaven) is narrow, and few will find it, but the options to do otherwise (Destruction) are copious in amounts…

This line analogy reminds me of the story of Jesus on the ocean–  The disciples were on the boat with Jesus (Mark 4).  They woke Jesus from his sleep while at see (during a storm).  They were frightened,  ”Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” (Mk 4:38).

Let me pause there, the disciples asked Jesus if He cared…  What a loss of faith?!  But I can definitely relate to it.  I often wonder if Jesus cares, but then he displays his love and immediately I am like the disciples, “They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”  Mk 4:41.

In Matthew 14, when Jesus was walking on water, He asked Peter to come to him.  Peter left the boat just fine, he was looking at Jesus and walking on water! But then he started looking around him and got frightened!  Jesus immediately reach out and grabbed him.  Now this is exactly the analogy of the bike on the road following the line– If I had lost focus on the destination of the line, I would have been all over the road trying to find the line.  We lose that focus, but we have to remember that the line is going to disappear, but if we affix our eyes on the destination, then we will not lose direction.

What kind of love is that?!

So I had a post that I wanted to do, but there are so many posts hahaah.  I hadn’t planned on doing a post on this, but it definitely interested me.  I read it in Numbers 21 NIV.  The basic story behind it is that Israel was becoming disobedient towards God (although He had provided food, water, life, etc) and Moses… They were actually complaining that they always have to eat the same thing… Haha- what a minor concern, but we do it now don’t we? So God had Moses put a bronze serpent in the middle of their camp in the desert, and if anyone was bit by a snake– all they would need to do is look at the serpent and they would live.

Kind of interesting right?  I am curious as to why it was a snake / serpent which is a major symbol for the fall of man in the garden…  Its kind of ironic that the people started worshiping this bronze snake after a short period of time– they began burning incense to it…

It is referenced again, but it is mentioned in 2 Kings 18:4

4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was calledb Nehushtan.c)

The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996). 2 Ki 18:4.

They called it Nehushtan, which is Hebrew for several meanings: bronze, snake, and unclean thing.  According to HIBD, the bronze serpent had a large symbolic meaning to the people:

Archaeological evidence from Mesopotamian and, more importantly, Canaanite sites reveals that the crawling serpent was a symbol of the fertility of the soil. The serpent was often represented associated with the fertility goddesses, the bull, the dove (life of the heavens), and water.

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003). 239.

But something so much more is behind this symbolic reference. The snake was a representation of their safety and God’s right hand as he remained with them.  It was also a sign that they must obey, but moreso that God was with them– and each time they were bitten by deadly serpents, they would look to this bronze snake and live.  It became a source of life and a representation of healing.

With that said, the bronze snake is mentioned a third and final time in John 3:14

14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996). Jn 3:14–15.

So Jesus then turned another symbol upside down!  He became what that serpent was to the people.  He became the redeemer, the symbol of fertility, life, and healing.  He then became the one person that people would look to when they have been, symbolically, bitten by a serpent.  I also believe it trumped the significance of the snake lifted on a tree in the garden that influenced us to know evil.  He was lifted on the cross as that snake was on the post, and in turn flipped yet another strong symbol in the world.

It never stops. God is so good. I am blessed to be a part of what he is doing in my life. Today has been a great day and I have only been awake for 4 hours. I had breakfast with my friends of two+ years. They have come to Easter service but have never really asked questions about anything serious. But of them has been having a really difficult time with her job and career and schooling and really, life. She came to breakfast this morning, and I guess one of her really good coworkers (who had two kids, a beautiful wife, great job, etc) had recently committed suicide. It is a tragedy to her and people around her, and people are questioning whether he is in Heaven or not.

Continuing on, we were having a nice conversation about dancing (what else is new) until she interrupted with the question, “Where do we go when we die?” which I guess was God’s way of using that gentleman’s death as a tool (while still a tragedy, and I still feel deep grievances for her and the people around her– but He is using it to stir up our hearts causing us to ask the right questions).  And we sat there and talked about salvation (just being a real conversation, no preachy stuff).  And I am just blown away.  Because first of all, you have to realize the context of which this happened…  My friend has always believed that you have your belief, and I have mine, and we’ll leave it at that… But what I love about her is she is always open to discussion on any topic of choice.  So this makes it very easy to share what I believe and listen to what she has to say about her beliefs. We concluded the conversation on a good note, but I can only imagine the transformation that can occur.  This is a progression, nothing is instant– but it is the start of something beautiful.

To top it off, I come on home to find two Jehovah’s witnesses standing outside my door.  I ask them how they are doing, one of their names was Marvin–  I guess they were witnessing to Hispanics because they didn’t really want to talk to me.  I walked inside, but I felt that God wanted me to say something or talk to them.  So I found some water and walked back out to offer it to them…  If they asked a question or initiated some form of welcoming of the water, I knew that God would want me to talk with them.  But unfortunately they respectfully declined the water and waited for me to return inside.  Maybe I was ill-prepared for what they had to say and God was protecting me, or maybe it was not God’s timing on what they needed to hear.  Either way, just being open to God’s will is the key.  And he will work His wonders regardless.

I went to a leadership training the other day, and there was a Bible verse that just killed me.  I believe it was in Colossians 1:5-14…  Its kind of long, but well worth it.

5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on oura behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified youb to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption,c the forgiveness of sins.
The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996).

How Great!  God has stored our treasures up in Heaven, and he has “qualified” us to join in on the inheritance of a life tha is full of endurance, patience, joy, thanks, as he has recued us from the darkness, and forgave us of our sins.

Praise God for another wonderful day.  I am nothing, I am but dust– but He is the Creator, and my Savior.

ADDED: I found a cool passage that analysis the Colossians verse.. check it out:

1:5. Paul thanked God for their faith and love that spring from … hope.
This trilogy of virtue—faith, love, and hope—is a favorite of Paul’s (cf. 1 Cor. 13:13; 1 Thes. 1:3) and Peter’s (1 Peter 1:3, 5, 22). Faith is the soul looking upward to God; love looks outward to others; hope looks forward to the future. Faith rests on the past work of Christ; love works in the present; and hope anticipates the future. Even though “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6), and “hope does not disappoint us” (Rom. 5:5), nevertheless “the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13). The Colossians’ love extended to “all the saints” (Col. 1:4), or all believers, probably not only at Colosse but everywhere (cf. 1 Thes. 1:7-8 for a similar commendation).

John F. Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck and Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983-).

I just ran across this really cool note today in the Bible Knowledge Commentary of Genesis.  It shows an awesome parallel between Abram’s journey and his descendants journey.  Take a look:

One cannot miss the deliberate parallelism between this sojourn of Abram in Egypt and the later event in the life of the nation in bondage in Egypt. The motifs are remarkably similar: the famine in the land (12:10; 47:13), the descent to Egypt to sojourn (12:10; 47:27), the attempt to kill the males but save the females (12:12; Ex. 1:22), the plagues on Egypt (Gen. 12:17; Ex. 7:14-11:10), the spoiling of Egypt (Gen. 12:16; Ex. 12:35-36), the deliverance (Gen. 12:19; Ex. 15), and the ascent to the Negev (Gen. 13:1; Num. 13:17, 22). The great deliverance out of bondage that Israel experienced was thus already accomplished in her ancestor, and probably was a source of comfort and encouragement to them. God was doing more than promise deliverance for the future nation; it was as if in anticipation He acted out their deliverance in Abram.

John F. Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck and Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983-).

 

 

There are several branches that fit under this category, but I have decided to generally group them– Some of the notes below are associated with some branches and not others.

First of all, they believe that the Bible is just another history book, no supernatural inspiration.

One of the most interesting things is that they believe that this world, the people in the world, emotions, etc. are all illusions.  They believe that God is everything, God created everything, God is everywhere, and in Everything– Heaven, if it exists, is already within us.  Sin does not exist because it is only an element of imagination.  God is not love, God is not powerful, God is not of intelligence, but he is everything.

This religion takes on a more pantheistic point of view where God is in and of all things.  So technically speaking, we are already saved, but we must save ourselves through Metaphysical principals.  This is because we are already in possession of a divine mind (we don’t sin), and the only sin is to believe that there is sin.

I read that Love, Truth, and Life is the trinity of this religion… But I don’t readily understand and will need to do more research.

They believe that there isn’t a hell, but we posses a divine mind– so we can create a hell if we believed in it.  Some branches of this religion believe in reincarnation.

Very interesting.

This, in my personal opinion, is by far the most organized/structured religion out there.  It just blew me away.  Generally speaking, they must attend meetings at least 5 hours a week in which they will review strategies and techniques on how to convert non-believers.  They will also cover topics from their weekly newsletter (The Watchtower) (over 22,000,000 prints each issue) that cover belief information and whatnot.

This religion has a headquarters in Brooklyn, which districts, branches, circuits, congregations around the world.  They have a Kingdom Hall where the congregation would meet to discuss their newsletter.

They believe that Jesus is Michael the archangel.  When he came to earth he became Jesus, and then went back to being Michael when he was resurrected. The Holy spirit is actually a form of energy, kind of like electricity.

They do believe in the bible, but have interesting takes on the application of the Bible today.

Its heard that they don’t celebrate birthdays, holidays, etc.  This is because they believe it gives the individual too much credit.  For example: people celebrate birthdays, but that kind of praise is only reserved for Jehovah.

One of the scary beliefs that they practice is the fact that there will only be 144,000 people that get to enter heaven.  Only under 9,000 people that will enter heaven are alive today (out of the 6.69 billion people in the world!!!! Thats nearly 0.0000013 × 10^-6 % that will be saved!!!) which kind of puzzles me on why they are witnessing to people…  They believe that the other 135k people are dead right now, and will be resurrected when the time comes.  If you are not one of the 144,000 people– you will just perish, no life after death.

There are times where things just don’t seem to be going anywhere.  Thaaats pretty much where i’m at, but thats not a bad thing.  There are other times when you are on fire!  And nothing can stop you–  But what would those times be without these dull times to compare?  It kinda the same thing as if: How do we know good without knowing evil?

I sat in the RH library yesterday just praying, and that felt so good.  I love just getting away and spending time with God.  I found this sheet of paper in one of the Bibles I was using:

I thought this was hilarious!  The sheet of paper was talking about how we get distracted when we are trying to pray and how we never really give 100% of our minds to our Father because we are so busy planning what we are doing after church or after group.  The notes that were taken on that sheet of paper were listing what was going on after church of something, how disneyland was coming up, and then pizza, etc Haha!  How true.

But I did get away and did a tailgate in the truck with my lunch at a place overlooking the valley.  That was awesome…  Just turn up the music and enjoy what God has given.  Even in the dull times, the hard times, we can’t forget how Great our God is!