Are you grateful for the blessings I bestow upon you? Can you see my hand in the events of your daily life, and offer thanks? Have you encountered people who object, saying that my intervention in the minor details of your life pales in comparison to the suffering of multitudes and calls into question my goodness and impartiality? There are two issues here. You have not been called to be an arbiter of cosmic justice.
Do you see your life as an ongoing journey? This implies progress through a series of waypoints along the way. Your understanding of truth should always be open to growth and refinement. How do you respond to intermediate levels of understanding when you acquire greater truth? Some people spend the rest of their lives in reaction against immature levels of understanding, but this is itself immature. Take what was good from your journey so far and move forward, realizing that this is part of the process.
I asked you to follow me, and walking in my footsteps is a matter of imitating my life. If you do this you will start to look like me. So does my image that you present to those who encounter you look like me or you? John the Baptist declared that he must decrease that I might increase. He knew that there was too much of himself present for him to represent me well, but his willingness to decrease made room for a fuller expression of me in him. He who seeks to increase his own life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake will find it.
Have you met people who are angry and bitter? Do you draw a distinction between the two? My word tells you to be angry and sin not. Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath. The first part is spoken by way of permission. If you feel that anger is a necessary step in dealing with issues, then go ahead, but don’t remain there. Unresolved anger that is retained becomes bitterness. Anger can be directed at an offense, but bitterness is a characteristic. The bitter person may be blind to this, but other observers can see that the bitterness is no longer attached to the original offense.
Does your church have one-true-church mentality? Some churches are famous for this, but the same issue can be found in any church. Every church has a unique identity, and the people who go there rather than to some other church do so for a reason. There is nothing wrong with this as far as that goes, but there is a temptation to think that if you are doing it right then others are doing it wrong if they are doing it differently. You can do what is right for you and they can do what is right for them, and each will answer to the same master.
Do you think it is important to identify and name evil? Are you as committed to identifying and naming good? Which do you think is more important? I have called you to be as wise and serpents and as innocent as doves. Do those who specialize in naming evil and neglect naming good seem out of balance and lacking in redemptive purpose? You are not to ignore evil, but neither should you be fascinated or fearful of it.
Prophetic prayer begins by hearing God’s voice in your heart. For me, this comes as flowing words which just appear. For example, as I was wondering how to pray for a situation in which there was animosity, the following phrase appeared effortlessly within me as a spontaneous, flowing thought:
“My peace which surpasses all understanding shall fill their hearts and their minds, their sleep, their dreams, their bedroom, their home and their office.”
It was clear to me that I was to pray and speak this prophetic reality into the situation. This was the way God was moving in that situation. The phrase came to me day and night over three weeks, and each time it came, I declared in faith that this was God’s will, purpose and promise concerning this situation. This is prophetic prayer. In each case the timing of the fulfillment comes from the Lord. In this case, after three weeks I received a wonderful letter of peace! Prayer answered! Thank You Lord!
Do you believe in believing? This is a powerful theme throughout the Bible and the history of the faith. Do you evaluate people as being in or out depending on their confession of faith? How do you evaluate people whose lives show evidence of love who do not profess the same beliefs you do? The question of ‘who is my neighbor?’ arose in response to my affirmation that the way to eternal life is to love God, and to love your neighbor as yourself. My response about the Good Samaritan implied that loving actions were more important than right beliefs.
Do you like to get a bargain? High quality goods are more expensive than common ones, and people are willing to pay more when quality matters. But everyone likes to get high value for low cost, which is a bargain. Were you a bargain? Do you understand that you were bought with a price? Are you aware of how much grace was lavished upon you to bring you to the point where you are now? Perhaps the concept of a bargain does not apply in this case. If you want something badly enough, you are willing to pay whatever it costs to get it, and that is how much I wanted you.
What is your understanding of rewards for your devotion and faithfulness? Do you expect to get your reward in heaven? What is the essence of your faith? Doesn’t every Christian describe it as a relationship with me? What do you have on earth that is more valuable than your relationships with your friends? In my time on earth my disciples followed me, but at the end I changed the relationship from servants to friends, and this is available to you. Do you understand that the relationship itself is the reward, and that it is available to you now?
