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This week I am pleased to share an article written by a friend, which was sent out on his mailing list a few days ago. I felt it was an appropriate follow up to our Reflection last week since it really reinforced what God has laid on my heart. I pray that you take seriously the challenge I proposed last week - “Can you take up the challenge to stop pointing your messages at the people, and start pointing your people to Jesus? We don’t do this by directing the message at what people are doing or not doing. We do this by preaching about what Christ has done, is doing, and will do! It should always build up, encourage, and inspire.” I would like to hear from you, on what God is doing in you and through you as you re-center and bring your focus more fully on Him! Please feel free to write, and I will share your words through Living Reflections in the coming weeks! Shalom, Mike Offering Our Best Living Loved means offering a redemptive answer when temptation, custom or the crowd would call us to do otherwise. A recent radio broadcast claimed pornography to be the new battle ground, and expressed alarm over the possibility that this war will be even more intense than the abortion issue because of the intensity with which lust has saturated our society. Urgent voices pleaded for creative, dedicated minds to respond now. My heart’s immediate and painful response was, “No! No! No! That’s the wrong focus! Jesus says, “If I be lifted up I will draw all men to me.” Jesus is the focus, not pornography! We have pornography because we have quit lifting up Jesus!!” I shake my head and wonder. When are we going to get it?! When are we going to learn?! Satan has to be dancing to his heart’s delight because the more we battle issues, no matter what they are, the less we focus on Jesus. We thoughtlessly rush into what we can do instead of trusting God for what He can do. Just look prayerfully, tenderly and appreciatively at His promises: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.” John 3:16,17 You gave him [Jesus] authority over all things. Now when it says “all things” it means nothing is left out. Hebrews 2:8 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so I, the Son of Man, must be lifted up on a pole,„T so that everyone who believes in me will have eternal life. John 3:14,15 “Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had.” Phil. 2:5 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no partiality and is always sincere. James 3:17 Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save everyone who comes to God through him. He lives forever to plead with God on their behalf. Hebrews 7:25. For every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory. And the ones who win this battle against the world are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I John 5:4,5 And we can be confident that he will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything in line with his will. And if we know he is listening when we make our requests, we can be sure that he will give us what we ask for. I John 5:14,15 These are promises! Promises!! God’s Word does not go out and come back empty. Not now, not ever. In the same way He looked for a watchman on the wall (Ezekiel), He is looking today for people to appropriate (act on) His Word, and the way we do that is to lift up Jesus, the Son. When we battle pornography, abortion, gambling, war, the environment, immigration or any other issue here on earth Satan has a heyday because we are battling on his turf and he’ll welcome those approaches any day. Why? Because he’ll use up and destroy resources that could be used for spreading the gospel, and he’ll gleefully use up and destroy people because people are what make up the Kingdom. We must fight the battles in the heavenly realm, and we do that by lifting up Jesus Christ. As we lift up Jesus Christ and pray for people to be more Christ-like, a strange thing happens: they become more Christ-like. As we lift people up for healing through Christ, another strange thing happens: they become healed. Prayer lifting up Christ has changed the tides of battles, the outcomes of wars and the directions of nations, and that should not surprise us because scripture tells us that the king’s heart (and everything else) is in the hand of the Lord. What is the key? Jesus Christ through the power and work of the Holy Spirit. When we lift up Christ in our personal lives, regardless of how hopeless or filled with turmoil we may be, things change. We begin to see hope and we begin to experience peace. The same is possible, and promised, in our social and communal lives. When we battle pornography or any other evil at the earthly level, the level of what we can do, we make a statement about what we are willing to settle for, we are willing to encourage Satan to a long and protracted war on his level because he never runs out of trickery and deceit. But when we immediately determine that we are lifting up Christ over the situation, we are in that moment tapping into all of heaven’s resources and at the same time declaring victory because total victory is assured. “If I be lifted up I will draw all men to me.” And when Christ draws people to him then Satan runs out of resources because people are his only resource. Need a starting point for lifting up Christ in any situation? Try this: “Jesus, may Your name be made holy in this situation. May Your Kingdom values reign in this situation and Your will be done in this situation, just as in heaven. May everything I do and say glorify Your Name, and may this whole situation be resolved in a way that totally honors You and brings glory to Your Name.” That is a prayer that is always answered. Pray the prayer, lift Him up, then let Him lead. The issues, whatever they are, will ultimately be resolved in a way that does bring Him honor. Lifting up Christ begins with me, because it is the attitude of the one doing the loving that makes the difference. If Jesus lives forever to plead with God (intercede) on my behalf, then I must do my part on His behalf. Lift Him up. Pornography, and its many brothers and sisters and cousins, is not the problem; sin is the problem. Jesus is the redemptive answer. And Living loved requires lifting up a redemptive answer. In all things. That’s our best. For eternity. We can offer no better. Never should we offer any less. Chuck Tooman Chuck & Barb Tooman Friends of Jesus, Living Loved |
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