Passion Conferences founder Louie Giglio and songwriter Matt Redman intertwine devotional insights with scientific facts to awaken the mind and spirit in Indescribable: Encountering the Glory of God in the Beauty of the Universe, releasing this month. They hope to compel readers not only to learn about the universe, but also to worship its Creator and to understand their own place in the world.
Just in time for the holiday season, Questar has released Four Christmas Classics. The DVD set includes Mary of Nazareth: From Nativity to Calvary, a feature directed by Cannes award-winner Jean Delannoy; Mystery of the Three Kings, a behind-the-scenes look at the story of the magi who traveled in search of the baby Jesus; The Story of ‘Silent Night’, which tells of the writing of one of the world’s most famous Christmas carols and includes a performance by the Vienna Boys Choir; and An Old-Fashioned Christmas, a presentation of 35 seasonal songs with accompanying holiday scenes.
In The Encounter: Sometimes God has to Intervene, veteran author and counselor Stephen Arterburn combines two of his own personal experiences into a parable of how God supernaturally assists in the process of healing and restoration. In the chapter “Truth Behind the Fiction,” Arterburn invites readers to confront their personal pain and explains the parable and its truths. A quick but inspirational read with a unique ending, The Encounter shows how God may intervene to guide, but also how we must make the decision to follow, when He does.
Filling up Pasadena’s famous Rose Bowl might seem like a mammoth undertaking. But a diverse group of individuals and churches in Southern California believes it can be done. Tens of thousands of people are expected to gather on 11-11-11 for prayer and worship at an event dubbed “A Line in the Sand,” which is calling Christians to raise the bar of their faith by committing to living an uncompromised life.
Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” —1 Peter 3:13-14
Jacob the manipulator had met his match. Let me introduce Laban. Jacob got what he deserved. Little did Jacob know that God was doing two things at the same time, and He will do it for every believer.
1. He gives you something to live for.
2. He will be in the process of breaking you.
Jacob needed to be broken. We all need to be broken. What does that mean? It means God has to break us of having a hard heart and walking over everybody. Jacob did not realize it then, but for the next twenty years, after falling head over heels in love, he would see what it was like to be on the other end of manipulation, because Laban proved to be one of the most ruthless manipulators the Bible describes.
Do you know when we are broken? It is when we are treated unfairly and learn to keep quiet about it. God wants to bring us to the place where we can take pain and injustice without complaining, because that is what Jesus did. On the cross, He who knew no sin was made sin. Jesus did not deserve to be crucified and could only say, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). He knew what it was like to take injustice, unfairness, and hate.
You see, it’s one thing when you suffer because you deserve it—it’s quite another thing when it’s unfair. Perhaps you are wondering why you have been treated unfairly. It’s so that you can accept what is unfair and keep quiet about it. This is the goal, and that is brokenness. If you are in a situation where what you are having to endure is very unfair indeed, then do I have news for you! That means that God has great plans for you, because the greater the injustice, and the quieter you are, the greater the blessing you are going to be to others.
Excerpted from All’s Well That Ends Well (Authentic Media, 2005).
May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land … —Genesis 28:3-4
Do you remember the time when you discovered God for yourself? I don’t necessarily mean remembering the time and place where you were converted, but remembering the intense power of that experience. There’s nothing like discovering God so powerfully for yourself that if every other person in the world renounces their faith, and you were the only believer left, you would still trust Him.
Jacob had been so dependent on his parents, especially upon his mother; he had never wandered far from home. He was not like Esau, who was a man of the fields. Jacob had never done anything like this before, so he must have been afraid.
Here was a man scared to death, having to leave home because his brother wanted to kill him. Perhaps you are away from home. You’ve been thrust out and are wondering what life is all about and what is happening to you. Yet, perhaps God has set this up so you may learn to know Him and to discover Him for yourself for the first time.
At this time in Jacob’s life, if he had any relationship with God at all, it was secondhand. Are you like Jacob? Is your religion secondhand? Maybe you were spoon-fed something from your parents or from your grandparents and have a long Christian background.
Could it be that you are wrestling with the question, does God exist? “If He does,” you may say, “He certainly wouldn’t like me because of all the wicked things I have done.”
Jesus died for those who have a guilty conscience, who know they don’t deserve anything good. The only way you can come to know God is to recognize you are a sinner and repent and ask God for mercy. Perhaps you were never willing to hear the gospel before, but God has you in such a state you are hemmed in and willing to listen now. God may have brought events to such a situation where all you can do is just see His mercy.
Excerpted from All’s Well That Ends Well (Authentic Media, 2005).
For by it the elders obtained a good report. —Hebrews 11:2, KJV
The vast possibilities of faith described in Hebrews 11, then, are derived from experimental faith. Why call it “experimental”? Because it is a word that not only implies our experience but also invites being tested at the empirical level. The marvel of faith is that it derives its strength from believing God without the evidence of things “seen” but produces works that are clearly visible to anybody who cares to observe.
The question of order is at stake in Hebrews 11:2. If we fail to see the nature of faith, as it is indicated in this profound verse, all that follows in Hebrews 11 will mean much less to us. The writer simply says that by faith these people “obtained witness” (v. 4, KJV). It is to be seen that faith produced the witness, not vice versa. The things that they did, then, are not what produced faith; what they did came as a result of their faith. Thus by believing and not seeing, a great many things happened. But their doing these things did not earn them salvation. They were not trying to earn salvation—the opposite is true—it is because they were already assured of God’s integrity and faithfulness that they accomplished what they did.
Yet, it was experimental faith, not saving faith, that produced the commendation. Saving faith is intangible; experimental faith is tangible. Hebrews 11 contains one graphic demonstration after another of what one can do experimentally if one already feels accepted by God. God motivates men by accepting them. Our wills are not set free to explore unlimited possibilities through faith until our hearts are first persuaded that God loves us. In short, saving faith must come before experimental faith.
So by saying that faith obtains a good report, our writer shows that what is at first saving faith should become an experimental faith. For the things that experimental faith demonstrates are not accomplished with a view to proving to ourselves that we are saved; we should already know that and be beyond the need for that assurance. Nevertheless, a good report gives proof that saving faith is there.
Excerpted from Believing God (MorningStar Publications & Ministries, 1997).
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. —Matthew 6:14-15
Do you have a problem forgiving people? Perhaps you cannot forgive an unfaithful spouse. You cannot forgive your father because he wasn’t a good parent, and when you think of praying to God and calling Him Father, something inside you just switches off. Perhaps you are angry with your mother because you were not her favorite. Perhaps that boss of yours wouldn’t give you that recommendation. Maybe someone was unkind or unfair to your child, and you can’t forgive them. Perhaps you have a son-in-law who has mistreated your daughter. You live with the feeling of being let down. Someone gave you a promise; you believed it, but he or she didn’t keep it.
Do you know what it is to want to see another person hurt, smashed, humiliated, or put down? You’d like him to get sick, or you would love to hear of somebody falling into sin, all because he did something to you that wasn’t very nice.
What a way to live! We can never come to terms with ourselves if we are unable to forgive others. When I can’t forgive, I am the one who is hurting; I am the loser. And yet, because I have such a wicked, sinful heart, even though I know in my head I’m hurting myself, I still want to hurt someone else.
The truth is that the degree to which you hold a grudge will be the degree to which you damage your own health, and not just mentally. A person who holds a grudge and doesn’t deal with it eventually gets out of touch with reality, not to mention the physical effects. The point is this: is there someone you need to forgive? Then do so; do it quickly, because the only one you are hurting is yourself.
Excerpted from All’s Well That Ends Well (Authentic Media, 2005).
Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. —Romans 14:19
When we speak of the impulse of the Spirit, we are in some sense talking about feelings. I admit this is dangerous, because feelings can lead people to do strange things. This impulse may take the form of an insight that is based upon accumulated knowledge. It may be a suspicion that is based upon knowledge experienced. But the impulse of the Spirit, when obeyed, always leads to a feeling of immense peace.
One of the most helpful verses in this connection is Romans 14:19. The proof that the impulse of the Spirit lies behind our feeling that we ought to do something is the peace that obedience brings. This verse applies not only to a situation where tensions among people need to be defused, but also to our own inmost feelings. God will never lead us to do what violates our conscience. When I am really following Him, I will have an inner peace that testifies to the fact that I have been true to myself. When heaviness or a feeling of oppression exists, I know that impulse was not from God.
God wants to communicate with us not just at an intellectual level. But God wants to communicate with our whole being—our emotions and senses as well as our minds.
We are to use our minds, yes, but we must also be careful not to quench the Spirit. We are to be harmonious, whole, and balanced people.
Excerpted from Worshipping God (Hodder & Stoughton, 2004).
As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him. —1 John 2:27
The anointing stems partly from the natural—the way we were made. Our parents, our environment, and our background are all ingredients of no small consequence that figure into our anointing. These are the natural gifts that we operate as a result of the way we were raised, for the gifts we had before we became Christians don’t disappear once we are saved.
But the anointing is also that which comes from above—the supernatural. The Holy Spirit comes on top of natural gifting; He is superimposed, and that is why we call the gifts supernatural. In fact, the word anointing is used in 1 John 2:20, when John says, “You have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.”
This anointing will do something for you and will do something for others. If that anointing flows as it should, it will be almost impossible to tell who is blessed more, you or other people. There is no such thing as an anointing that is just for you, so that you can soak it in like a sponge. No. The anointing will bless you, and it will bless others.
Not everybody’s anointing is the same, and no one person has every anointing that is possible. Only one person who ever lived had every conceivable anointing, and that person was Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus had the Holy Spirit without measure, that is, without limit (John 3:34). When you become a Christian, you receive the Holy Spirit. Don’t you dare let anyone tell you that you can have the Holy Spirit and not be a Christian.
But the point is, I only have the Spirit in limited measure. I don’t have all there is. Only Jesus had all there is. Not everybody’s anointing is the same, and no one can do everything. That means we need each other.
Excerpted from All’s Well That Ends Well (Authentic Media, 2005).