May 22

NUMBERS 31
A war is raging in the spiritual realm for control of the church. Outright physical assaults on the church usually result in tremendous growth of the church. Witness China, which now has more raw numbers of believers than does the church in the USA. Or witness Iran where the secret church is growing by leaps and bounds. It is the subtle spiritual attacks on the church that usually lead to its death. Witness the church in western Europe. The attack upon the foundations of the faith in 19th century led to wholesale pursuit for meaning and fulfillment elsewhere. The USA is not far behind. Abandoning clear Scriptural principles of the word, churches have sought to attract people through more fleshly appeal. About 10-15 years ago a pastor friend of mine went to visit one of those churches to see what it was like. He said, “I can see why that church is popular. . . It was better than a topless bar.”
Should Israel have gone to war? Clearly the text states that the LORD commanded them to attack the Midianites and kill them. Is this vicious, if so, why? What does it tell us of His glory? First, let us always remember that the LORD is the Creator. As Creator, He has the supreme right over life and death. He can decide who lives and dies, and it is just, for He has that right as Creator. Second, let us remember His reasoning for commanding the death of the Midianites. It is found in Moses’ response to the captains when they returned from battle leading a host of captive women and children:

15–16 And Moses said to them: “Have you kept all the women alive? Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.”

“The Midianites were among those who practiced sexual immorality as part of the ritual of their idolatrous religion.” The incident of Peor was leading young men away from the glory of the Lord. Can you imagine how popular a church would become in a college town if part of the worship included sex? I could see it right now—a wave of churches vying for the highest number of attendees through adding a ministry of sexual adoration.
When there is a high probability that the whole congregation can be led astray, the Lord occasionally acts in what we would call severe forms of discipline in order to prevent the falling away of the larger group and to preserve His people. By commanding Israel to begin this war, the LORD demonstrates how serious He takes our not trading His glory for anything!
This does not mean that there is no forgiveness for those who have fallen into that trap. Forgiveness, mercy and grace is always foremost in the plan of God, but if there is a recalcitrant group that will prevent that forgiveness from being received by the larger group, such as those whom Balaam counseled, then the LORD sometimes moves viciously to prevent it. I wonder if some of our congregations had been around in Balaam’s day, if the Lord would have lumped them in with the Midianites?
Note that they only dispatch 12,000 warriors to deal with the Midianites, and afterward not a single warrior was missing! That is astounding in ancient warfare! Our warfare as the church is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers in heavenly places. Our weapons are not human, but are spiritual and have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments. Should we not be at war upon our knees? If we would war on our knees, I think we would have far fewer warriors missing in action, and love would reign supreme. He is zealous in His love for us, and desires us to be zealous in love for each other. Indeed, that love is glorious! Indeed, we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 141
How does being a person who is ‘safe to correct’ relate to the glory of the Lord? When I was a sophomore in college, I was involved in the central action group (CAG) of Campus Crusade for Christ. One of the things that the staff asked of us was that we each fill out a weekly ministry report and turn it in. On the report were various questions like, “The number of people with whom you shared the 4-Laws? . . . the Holy Spirit booklet? How many people came to your Bible Study/Action Group? What are you studying in that group? There were a few other questions, but the one that always made me most uncomfortable was, “What are you reading in the Word in your Quiet Time?” One week during CAG, our campus director brought to our attention that many of us were not filling in the question as to what we were reading in the Word. He wanted to know why. My immediate response was, “Well that is a very personal thing between God and me.” Immediately one of the other staff members guffawed and said, “O come on! If we can’t share with one another on that level, then we really don’t have a discipling relationship at all!”
I was immediately angry and embarrassed, but I held my tongue. He went on to explain the importance of being open with each other about our relationship with the Lord. Later I began to think on it. He was right. If I cannot open up and share with those who are ‘righteous’, then it isn’t much of a relationship. If the truth were known, it wasn’t so much about my privacy as it was that I was really inconsistent in reading the word and did not want to admit it. Also, when I did read the Word, its words often seemed silent, and it became a check on my checklist of things to get done. I did not want to admit that to anyone else, especially those discipling me, lest I be seen as less spiritual. You know, for a while I really thought that the staff member who guffawed was arrogant. But eventually I came to see that it was a wound of love. The next year, he became the who was discipling me. The year after that, I met Laura. It was to him that I went for advice when I was seeking the Lord’s will about asking Laura to marry me. You know, he gave me a number of good questions to ask about our relationship that really helped me understand what the Lord wanted. He was trustable because he was righteous. A large part of my recognition that he was righteous was that I learned that he loved me. By that I mean that he genuinely wanted the best for me. For him to have held his tongue would not have been love. His correction was followed up with genuine interest in my life, in helping me grow in my relationship with him.
I have learned through this experience and a multitude of other experiences, how to determine whether a correction is from a person who is righteous and a person who is not. The unrighteous seek only to wound. The righteous seek to wound for the purpose of bringing healing. The righteous will continue to remain in the life of the one they wound in order to help them heal. The unrighteous wound and run, or wound and drive away the victim, or wound and kill the victim. As a possible victim, the Psalmist pleads with the Lord to protect him from the wounds of the unrighteous. He also pleads for the grace to receive the wounds of the righteous, “Let the righteous strike me; It shall be a kindness. And let him rebuke me; it shall be as excellent oil; let my head not refuse it.”
But how does that relate to the glory of the Lord? I do not think that I could possibly have the humility to allow someone else to correct me unless I knew that ultimately my life was in the hands of a great God who was shaping and directing my life through the wounds of others. I need the assurance that He is the sovereign God who is in control. When I have entered His courts to view His glory and allow my prayer to rise up before Him as incense, and when I have lifted up my hands before him in the evening sacrifice of praise, I am reminded of the greatness of His glory. I am reminded that I can trust Him in His sovereign directing of my life. You see, even in my being corrected, it is still all about His glory. The same is true for you. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ISAIAH 52
Last night a friend of mine and I spoke of the lack of passion for the Lord in our hearts, not others but our own. We have become as though we really don’t care anymore. This morning I began reading Isaiah 52 and I was reminded of yesterday’s reading in 51. I looked at yesterday’s meditation as it dealt with the desert for righteousness in my heart. Yesterday the prophet called upon the Lord to,

“9Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD!” The calling for the Lord yesterday was for Him to break the power of sin over our lives, to make the desert of righteousness in our hearts to bloom once again. Today the prophet calls for us to:

Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come to you. 2Shake yourself from the dust, arise; Sit down, O Jerusalem! Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion!
Calling upon God to awake and save us, there is still a responsibility upon our part to awake, to get out of the dust, to loose ourselves. But honestly, I feel like I have been awakened in the middle of the night and the monster in the bed has wrapped his arms around me holding, preventing me from awaking. I know I should arise and put on the garments of joy to greet my Lord, but I am just too tired!
In the midst of my struggle against the monster of spiritual sleep, the prophet cries out,
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

8Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, with their voices they shall sing together; for they shall see eye to eye When the LORD brings back Zion.9Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem! For the LORD has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. 10The LORD has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

There is good news! He who has the power to restore the waste place of the desert of my heart has come and is coming. He has made bare His holy arm. He is ready to go to work. His glory is about to be revealed. It is His servant, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will restore the desert places. That is His glory! He asks one thing of us,

11Depart! Depart! Go out from there, Touch no unclean thing; Go out from the midst of her, be clean, you who bear the vessels of the LORD. 12For you shall not go out with haste, Nor go by flight; For the LORD will go before you, And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

Get out of my eyes sleep! I will purify myself in the blood of the One who died for me! That is His glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
Let it blossom forth!



JOHN 7:25-52
Where are you from? I sometimes do not know how to answer that. Do I tell them where I have reside now? Do I tell them where I was born? Do I tell them the town in which I have resided the longest? Let’s see, I have lived in Ft. Wayne 6.5 years, in Glencoe 5 years, in Stillwater 13 years in Portland 5 years, in Oklahoma City 9.3 years, in Southport 13.3 years and now in Stillwater again 7 years. Those don’t include a few months here and there. Maybe I should answer the state in which I lived the longest. Maybe I should say, “I’m from Indiana, Oklahoma, Oregon, North Carolina.” Perhaps I should just stick with where I live now. Of course the sarcastic answer would be, “From my Father and Mother.”
Jesus knew where He came from and where He was going. To the earthlings at the time, He was just the carpenter from Nazareth. The people didn’t quite understand how He fit into the Messianic prophecies. The Old Testament prophecies were a bit confusing. After all there were:

• Out of Egypt did I call my Son.
• But you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler Who will Shepherd My people Israel.
• Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, As when at first He lightly esteemed The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, And afterward more heavily oppressed her, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, In Galilee of the Gentiles.
• And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.

So where does Messiah come from—Bethlehem, Egypt, Galilee or the clouds of heaven? Any one of them is correct. He was from His Father in heaven. He was going to return there. He has been glorified upon returning. Upon returning He sent His Holy Spirit to live within us. Because of Him those who walk by His Spirit experience His living water. Now that is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John