Do You Feel It?

Author Unknown 

 
I visited a doctor today, a man I have known for some time.  He is a quite remarkable man, Chinese, but devoutly, incredibly Christian. He is the sort of man who makes me stop and pause when I consider a life truly lived out for Christ.  He travels the world, going to various places as a preacher.  He has also raised two doctor children – one an eye surgeon, the other an internist.  His father had been converted by missionaries before WWII, who also helped his father overcome his opium addiction.

My doctor friend came to this country a little over 30  years ago.  He remarked to me today, that at that time, the U.S. seemed overwhelmingly Christian.  Christian almost in an “in your face” kind of way.  It was who we were.  Businesses were shut down in much of the country on Sunday – widespread repeal of blue laws did not begin until the early 80s.  Now, he notices a great change. Many people are not Christian, and of those who claim to be, only a limited number practice their faith to any real degree.  More and more people are not just agnostic, they are militantly atheistic.  It’s not just that they don’t want to practice Christianity, they don’t want you to either, and they are more and more willing to try to drive Christianity from the public square.

Then there is the persecution of Christians in other countries.  The doctor and I share a mutual friend who is Iranian.  She converted to Christianity a few years ago. She is really on fire.  She has gone back to Iran a few times to distribute clandestine Bibles.  She was going to go back again, soon, to help coordinate some underground Christian groups, when a fresh persecution fired up in Tehran. Christians were crucified, children dragged from their homes and thrown in prison.  Things like this haven’t happened in centuries, because……well, for numerous reasons.

Then we discussed the militant homosexual lobby and the efforts to have “hate crime” laws expanded and then, the ultimate vehicle of the persecution – state recognition of gays simulating marriage. Churchmen have already gone to jail in Canada for simply reading various bits of Scripture condemning homosexual acts and doing nothing more.  If so-called “gay marriage” becomes the law of the land, here, the floodgates will be open for denying the Church its rights and a great state-empowered effort to finally and completely drive Christianity from public life.

That’s when he said “Do you feel it?”  At first I didn’t understand what he was saying, so I had to think, but then I got it – the persecution.  It’s coming.  I have had a number of Christians of all stripes relay to me their concerns that there is a mighty persecution coming in this country.  Perhaps we’re just doomsayers, but I feel it. I’ve written about it, primarily in passing, from time to time on my blog. Pastors have been warning us about this for 120 years or more – specific references to how the culture is de-Christifying and becoming something very much darker – a sort of new, high tech paganism.  My doctor friend, using his spiritual sensibilities, believes this coming persecution means end times.

No one can be certain of the exact day or the last hour, but we do know from the Book of John that there will be a great falling away even before the antichrist comes.  Do you feel it?  Do you read the signs of the times and come to the same conclusion?  Or do I travel in some wacked out alarmist circles?  If Obama is re-elected, should we all stock up on food items for remembrance of the Lord's Supper?

But, even if the above is true, it is no reason to fear.  We should hold fast in the Faith, and actually thank God for being so lucky as to suffer for Him.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Ye are the salt of the earth... ~Matthew 5:10-13a

A Doorknob

The Pharisaical approach is the epitome of legalism. It occurs when we obey God's Moral Law to "earn" God's love and "attain" God's righteousness. 

Key symptoms may include:

• Striving 
• A lack of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)
• A consistent lack of motivation for things like prayer or Bible reading
• Quite often, the commands of God feel like a curse
• Obedience feels hard
• God routinely feels distant or perhaps disinterested

On the other hand, we have the grace-driven approach. This occurs when we understand God's free gift of grace. Shockingly, our righteousness has nothing to do with our behavior. God scandalously applies righteousness to our sin-drenched souls out of pure generosity.  

Key symptoms may include:

• Feeling like you just won the lottery 
• A desire to shout and scream like a crazy person
• A strong desire to meet with this God over and over in prayer

In a grace-driven approach, we don't obey because we have to but because we want to. The Moral Law, which condemned us outside of Christ, has now become our worship list. Obedience is now just one of the fun ways we say thanks to Him while He drenches us with favor; it naturally flows from our lives. Christianity is not a process in which we earn love; it's a process in which we reflect love. Or as it's often said, "We are not saved by good works. We are saved for good works!"

For the Christian, the Bible isn't a list of requirements but a list of results after experiencing God's love. Righteousness is not the reward of living rightly. It's the unmerited gift that, once understood, irresistibly results in right living. And suddenly the motivating energy that drives our quest for morality changes from striving to being thankful for what God has already done in and through us. This has a profound effect on how joy-filled and grateful your faith becomes and has a dramatic effect on how you motivate those around you to serve the Lord.

So which of these two approaches do you live out more? If you're like me, you probably vacillate between the two of them quite often. So the real questions become: How do we stop this craziness? How do we tip ourselves into the grace-driven approach once and for all?

Truth be told, it's incredibly easy to pick up burdens that God never called us to carry (Matthew 11:28). Even more, there's still a part of us that wants to earn God's righteousness. And why? Grace just doesn't seem fair! And, honestly, it's not fair. But you're lying to yourself if you think you can start earning His love. So allow me to give you a better analogy of who you are in Christ. I hope this will thoroughly persuade you to abandon all of your legalistic pursuits once and for all.

I've always liked celebrity auctions because they reveal how silly we all are. Some famous person blows their nose, and the rest of us immediately start bidding on the tissue. Then we can brag about our majestically framed snot-rag (and how it reveals our tight bond with the blower) when our friends come over. Our secret hope is that it will make them want to be our friends even more. (At least that's how it worked for me in fifth grade when I got my favorite professional wrestler's autograph.)

A while ago the news reported that someone spent a fanatical amount of money purchasing a creaky old doorknob from the estate sale of Marilyn Monroe. It was mind-blowing what this stupid old doorknob sold for. Of course it wasn't even a high-quality doorknob, not that I'm a doorknob expert. But I certainly know it had no intrinsic value except for the fact that it belonged to Marilyn Monroe.

It's the same way for those of us who belong to Christ. On our own, we're just another doorknob. What makes us special is that Jesus touched us. Just as the doorknob in the auction had gained merit by being associated with Marilyn Monroe, our merit comes from being associated with Christ. Now you might still be tempted to say, "But God: Look at me! I'm a freaking great doorknob! I read my Bible more than others. I even return rogue shopping carts in the grocery store parking lot." May I lovingly remind you that you're still an old doorknob.

by Peter Haas

Excerpted from Pharisectomy: How to Joyfully Remove Your Inner Pharisee and other Religiously Transmitted Diseases by Peter Haas. Copyright 2012 by Peter Haas. Published by Influence Resources.

 

Rejoice in the Lord Always and Again I Say, Rejoice

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:  

~Habakkuk 3:17

In verse 17 things seem to be rather bleak. The prophet's subject is famine -- referring to a widespread scarcity of food. After reading that verse I thought about another famine -- a famine of the worst kind. Listen to this verse found in Amos 8:11-12: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.” Doesn’t this, in some ways, seem to apply to the world today?

While trying to get the Word of the Lord out through this blog and Facebook it seems a famine of "true" Christianity plagues our land. People would much rather see a joke or funny video than hear and read God’s Word. They may see a verse that makes them feel good and pass it on while not even realizing the true power in it, causing its impact on their life to be short-lived. Even people who call themselves “Christian” or religious would rather talk about ballgames, shopping, and what award their child received this week than getting the Word of Life out to a lost and dying world. People are searching and seeking for significance and meaning to this life, but are looking in the wrong places, to the wrong things, and the wrong people. It is up to us – to those who love God -- to show them the way.

It gets discouraging when there seems to be a lack of love for the One who died for us even among those who are supposed to be our brothers and sisters in Christ. And as I try to minister to others it seems that satan will give me no rest in his whispers of, “Why don’t you give up? No one cares about what you are doing.” BUT, what satan hates is just after he has enticed me to look at bleak circumstances and get discouraged then my Deliverer comes along beside me and shouts, “Don’t give up! I am with you and I care!” Just when I’m about to give up God shows me what to do to overcome the enemy.  And this is what He showed me: 

Verse 18 of the same chapter reveals what the prophet Habakkuk did during this time of famine. He found joy!

3:18  Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  

Though satan seems to be getting the upper hand, everything seems to be gone, and there is a famine in our realm of existence, we CAN rejoice in God. Though circumstances reach their lowest point, and things seem to be so out of kilter to the way we think they should go, we can have joy because He has promised to deliver His children—and HE WILL. He has assured us many times, "Child just endure this period of trial. Trust in Me. I love you and I am with you. I am working all for your good. Joy WILL come in the morning!" 

When Habakkuk rejoiced in God, even in this difficult time, something happened – he found strength.

3:19  The LORD God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places.

And when he found strength in the Lord he was given the ability to overcome his circumstance. The last part of verse 19 gives us an imagery of the herald, the runner (an official messenger and representative of a king in former times) running to get the word out to whomever the king demanded -- and of the deer -- a deer is known for its fleetness of foot and its ability to bound over any obstacle in its way. For us, while running the race set before us, God is our strength. (Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. ~Hebrews 12:1)

He enables us to overcome. He helps us to climb the high hills, an image of our reward in the Kingdom of God. He is the One that will bring us our reward. He is the One who enables us to run and to leap over our obstacles. God is our strength! Hallelujah! What a Savior! 

And in that...

Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. ~Philippians 4:4

These scriptures and this word from the Lord sure blessed me. I truly hope they will do the same for you and be a help to you in your daily walk with the Lord.  May He bless you today over and above what you are able to receive! 

With Much Love, 

The Princess Warrior

P.S. This was written on a Sunday morning the day it was posted while going through a bought of food poisoning. The Lord is with us always...even with our head hung over a toilet...again I say, Rejoice!  =)

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Copyright © 2009 The Princess Warrior Ministries. All articles are copyrighted on the date they are posted, unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved. Permission granted for not-for-sale reproduction in exact form including copyright and web address. Other uses require written permission. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture references are taken from the King James Bible.