The Post-Creation Creation

Yesterday, I had one of my favorite "God-at-work" experiences. I follow several blogs and two of my favorites are Lynn Mosher's Heading Home and Nicole O'Dell's blog. They were to play key roles in my experience.

In my daily Bible study, I've been considering the middle chapters of Isaiah. Yesterday I read this section: Isaiah 48:6b&7, "From this time forth I announce to you new things, hidden things that you have not known. They are created now, not long ago; before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, 'Behold, I knew them.' " (ESV)

Verse 7 gave me a shock. "They are created now, not long ago." I thought that God did all of His creating on six days in the beginning. Genesis 2:1&2 states: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done." (ESV)

I wanted to write about this idea that God had created something after the six days of creation, but I wanted confirmation first. With the help of Nicole and Lynn, I got it. Nicole used Ecclesiastes 1:9, "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun." (ESV) and Lynn used Isaiah 43:19 "Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" (ESV). (I'll let you link to these ladies' excellent articles to see their contexts for the scripture verses they quoted.) The scriptures used in their blogs set brackets around my topic; I had my confirmation.

Now came the interesting part. How could I reconcile the verses in Genesis and Ecclesiastes with the verses in Isaiah? What did God create? Does He continue to create today?

Right here, I want to stop and confess a terrible habit. I sometimes read a passage in the Bible and assume a meaning without thinking about what it's really trying to say. Take Genesis 2:1&2, for instance. When I re-read that, I recognized that God wasn't necessarily saying what I thought He was. I thought He was saying, "Well, that looks good. I'm through creating forever." He was probably saying, "There, that job's done. It looks good, so I'll take a break."

What about the verse that says "there is nothing new under the sun?" Ecclesiastes was written in the time of King Solomon's reign; in fact, King Solomon may have written it. He may have come to this conclusion from his study of history and his personal experience. Without God's intervention, this passage is always true, humanity repeats the same sinful lives.

Isaiah wrote his prophecies about 300 years after the words in Ecclesiastes. In that time, God created a process to free the Israelites from captivity in Babylon and farther in the future, to free them from slavery to sin through Jesus. Isaiah proclaimed both these newsworthy items about God's creation of new things sometimes around 700 B.C.

This leads to my final question: in the 2700 years since Isaiah spoke of God creating new things has God continue to create new things? According to the New Testament, the answer is a resounding "Yes!" Next time, we'll look at some of the things He is creating now.

Faith and Healing

Doctors diagnosed my friend Mike with hepatitis B and pancreatic cancer last year. As people prayed for his healing, he had pneumonia, several hospital stays, and many setbacks. While going through this experience, Mike learned lessons about faith and healing that I want to pass along. I edited part of a newsletter that Mike sent out, but the general content is his.

We know the Bible is the Word of God. In that context the original word is "Logos," the general revealed will of God. It spells out the parameters of God's plans and purposes for His children. It speaks of His promises, the things that are possible for us: some conditional, some not.

The Bible is the general revealed Word of God because there is no guarantee that every time we have a need, that we will receive exactly what we expect from the way God worked as shown in the Bible. We cannot locate verses in Scripture that promise something, assume that the promise is meant for our circumstances, "stand" on it, and repeatedly, mechanically confess it, and hope that eventually we will get what we want.

The Bible contains a general provision of what is possible. Based on what we read in the Bible, we can go to the Lord and ask Him if it applies to us. However, one more process must take place before we can express true faith and confidence that what God says in general applies to our specific circumstances.

The partner word that goes along with Logos is "Rhema." The original meaning of this word is the specific will, plan and purpose of God. In other words, the Rhema is God's specific purpose and plan for the specific need that you have. It is the personal Word of God about the nature of your needs and His plans to meet them.

We go through a process from understanding the general will of God to the specific plan of God for us. When a need arises, we go to the Bible (Logos) to determine what God says about that need in general. Once we determine it's in God's plan to provide for that need, we then go to the Lord and begin to seek His specific direction (Rhema). We wait on Him to show us His specific plan so that we can walk in faith and confidence because we heard from God specifically. We're not trying to force something to happen just because God did it once that way in the Bible.

Let me illustrate this principle with my circumstances. (A disclaimer here, do not use what I experienced, or anyone else has experienced, as a pattern for yourself. Every situation is different; each person must walk with the Lord, following his own specific, Bible-based, God-given plan.)

When I was diagnosed with hepatitis B and pancreatic cancer, we had no panic or fear even though we knew that both were extremely serious, and that pancreatic cancer is often terminal. God gave my wife and me a certain level of confidence in our spirits that we could trust Him to take care of us. That special gift of grace that God gave us carried us for a period of time. We knew from the Logos that God could heal me, but we did not know that He would because we had not received a Rhema to that effect.

From the beginning, we pursued medical treatment while we waited on the Lord for a specific word as to what He was doing. Over time, the diagnosis changed from pancreatic cancer to lymphoma, which is easier to treat successfully. We knew that God was answering prayers.

Our prayers were not aggressive all the time. We had this Peace of God in our spirits; many times we were in a neutral, waiting mode - just waiting on the Lord. "Terminal" was still on the table, but not a pre-occupation.

After a while, I noticed something had changed in my spirit. I no longer had just a general level of grace and confidence in God. God had imparted into my spirit a "Gift of Faith." Suddenly something would start welling up within me that I knew that I knew that I knew I was going to be totally healed and restored. I didn't know when or how, but "terminal" was now off the table, and my focus was on divine healing. NOW, I could boldly confess and declare that God was healing me, and I would eventually experience the finished product. Since that time, my liver specialist reported that he could find little or no trace of hepatitis in my system. One down and one to go; I am trusting God for the rest of my healing.

Remember, saying you have an illness or need is not wrong. How can you ask God to meet your needs if you don't confess that you have them? The enemy has convinced many believers that they must not make negative confessions. Other believers are confessing the Logos and their desire, but they have not received a Rhema from God, and their confession is based on a general principle and not the specific purpose of God. Many believers are disappointed that their expectations are not met because of this.

If you have a need, spend as much time as possible reading the Bible, waiting on the Lord to show you His will, and obeying what you already know is His will. God has a specific plan and purpose for every circumstance in your life. He wants you to know His will so that you can cooperate with Him by walking in faith. For that to happen, you need to stay close to Him.

Why was Jesus Baptized?

Have you ever wondered why Jesus was baptized? I have. Just last month, when we began studying the gospel of Mark, I realized – again - that I really didn't have a good answer to the question "Why was Jesus baptized?"

In class we reviewed the facts about His baptism:
1. His cousin John baptized Him in the Jordan River.
2. John was reluctant to baptize Him.
3. Jesus insisted, "To fulfill all righteousness."
4. As soon as He was baptized, He left the river.
5. The heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended on Him.
6. A voice from heaven was heard saying, "This is my Son whom I love; with Him I am well please."
7. His baptism appears to be the formal beginning of His ministry.

Knowing the facts didn't get me any closer to understanding the reason He was baptized. As is my custom when I fail to understand something in the Bible, I asked God for help in understanding what was going on. Nothing happened at that time, but several days later, while I was reading the ESV Study Bible, the Holy Spirit light went on in my head.

For this story to make sense, I need to tell you what I was learning as I read my way through Psalms and Proverbs with the ESV study notes. The Hebrew authors used a rich set of literary devices in writing the Bible. They used ones we would recognize like similes and metaphors and some we would not recognize like inclusio.

Let me give you a word picture of inclusio. Picture several Bible verses as paperback books placed on an open shelf. To keep them from falling over, a couple of "books" are laid on their side and placed at either end. The "books" holding all the other "books" on the shelf are the inclusio.

Hebrew writers really liked using this literary device. The Hebrew Old Testament contains an abundance of them. Many instances of its use are lost in translation, but some of them made it into the English translations. Let me give you two examples. Psalm 8 has nine verses. Verses 1 & 9 are the inclusio for the Psalm. They both say, "Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" (NIV)

The whole book of Ecclesiastes is held together by an inclusio. Ecclesiastes 1:2 states, " Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." (NIV) Twelve chapters later, Ecclesiastes 12:8 proclaims, "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Everything is meaningless!" (NIV)

I'm sure that you can see where I'm going with this. If we look for bookends in Jesus ministry, we have the picture of His death, burial and resurrection at the beginning of His ministry and His actual death, burial, and resurrection at the end of His ministry.

That day, without preaching one word, Jesus proclaimed His dedication to fulfilling the purpose for which He had come to earth. He said in effect, "I know what You have planned for me, God, and I am willing to obey." By His actions that day, He proclaimed the same prayer He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before He was arrested, "May Your will be done." To which God responded, "This is my Son whom I love; with Him I am well please."

When I saw this beautiful harmony in the testimony of Jesus, I was amazed. Even the most obvious events in His life have depths of meaning we cannot understand without divine illumination. May we have a hunger to see His beauty in every Word.

Loved Too Much to Leave

Last time I wrote about the horrible spiritual condition of condemnation. Based on what I see around me, it is an epidemic. The cure for this painful malady requires more extensive treatment than I have space for here, which is why I pointed you to the excellent resource that Elyse Fitzpatrick has written.

Today, I want to write about another condition that may exhibit somewhat similar symptoms, but has a completely different outcome. We call this condition CONVICTION. Conviction produces guilt when we become conscious of our sin. The only thing that conviction has in common with condemnation is this feeling of guilt. Unlike condemnation, conviction is not contagious, and Satan stays as far away from it as he can.

Before I write anything more about conviction, I want to talk about something that happened when you accepted Christ as the one who died in your place. In Romans chapter 5 verse 9, the Bible says, "Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!" The word "justified" is bolded because that is the concept I want to emphasize.

While theologians have long discussions on the concept of being "justified," in English the definition is easy to learn and to remember. Think of "justified" as a coin. On one side we find the words, "Just as if I'd never sinned." Turn the coin over and the other side says, "Just as if I'd always obeyed." That's it. That's the definition. That's what happens to us when we are saved. God sees us "just as if I'd never sinned" and "just as if I'd always obeyed." God forgets our sins because the punishment for them was poured out on Jesus on the cross – all of them from your birth to your death.

Did this question just pop into your mind: "If God sees me "just as if I'd never sinned and always obeyed," then why do I feel guilty when I sin?" That's where conviction comes in.

As long as we are on earth, we will have sin in our lives. However, God loves us too much to leave us in our sinful habits. He wants – as much as possible on this sinful earth – for our experience to match His reality. His Spirit tells us when we sin, not because He is angry with us or because He wants to punish us. Just the opposite is true. He speaks to us about our sin so that He can relieve us from it and from its effect on our lives. When His light shows us the sin, that same light will show us the way out of it. Rather than condemn us to frustrating repetitions of the same sin, He gives us His power to overcome it.

That's what conviction will do when we trust in God and His love for us. Turning toward Him when we sin instead of turning away from Him and agreeing with Him that the issue causing our guilty feeling is sin, frees us to stop sinning. Remember that God is NOT waiting for us to mess up so that He can condemn us. He is on our side, by our side - living in us - shining the light of His mercy on our sinful ways that will cause us pain if we continue in them. He loves us too much to leave us where He finds us.

Crushed or Loved?

I want to ask you a question, today. Do you think that God is angry with you or disappointed in you? Do you avoid reading your Bible, praying or going to church because you feel guilty enough already? OK, so it was more than one question, but does this describe you?

If these symptoms do sound like you, then let me tell you the name of your condition: you are suffering from CONDEMNATION. Condemnation is contagious. People in your life can infect you with it when they judge the way you act as unacceptable. Satan, your enemy, uses condemnation as part of his germ warfare arsenal to fight against you. You can even infect yourself when you fail to meet your own expectations.

If you attempt to self-medicate to recover from this malady, the cure adds to the burden of the condition. The most common self-medication used for condemnation is "I'll do better tomorrow. I failed, today, but I can start over." This OTC medication may work for changing bad habits. For this spiritual disease, however, while it may appear to be effective, what it is really doing is changing the symptoms. If you "do better" the next day, you get relief from the weight of condemnation, but you break out in a rash of pride and self-righteousness. If you "fail" the next day, the weight of condemnation becomes the crushing burden of despair.

Only one cure exists for the condition of condemnation – John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Once you saw the reference to that Bible verse, did you just skim over the verse because you have already accepted Jesus' sacrifice in your place and acknowledged Him as your Savior? If you did, then join the crowd. Most of us know the significance of Jesus to our eternal salvation, but we end right there.

Let me introduce you to Elyse Fitzpatrick, who has made the trip past the point of Jesus being only the source of our salvation. She wrote Because He Loves Me to share what she learned on her own journey to cure the condemnation disease. Listen to what she says in her introduction:

"If I asked you, "Where did the ongoing incarnation of Jesus Christ intersect with your life yesterday?" would you have an answer? We all know the crucifixion is important for our initial salvation, but what did it mean to you this morning? Does Calvary inform and warm your heart when you're waiting in line at the grocery store or hearing bad news from the doctor? Does his sinless life comfort you when you realize that you've just sinned in that same way again? In other words, is he significantly relevant to you in your daily walk with him?"

Only when the love of God in Jesus Christ is significantly relevant in our daily walk are we immune to the condition of condemnation. Begin your journey to a cure with Elyse Fitzpatrick as your guide in Because He Loves Me.

Why Does God Test Me?

Last week, I posted the account of my friend Ve's trials. Scroll down a few inches if you want to read the full story. When she asked God why she was having such a hard time with her back, He gave her four reasons for her trials that can apply to all of us.
1. Trials and tests bring us back to God when we stray.
2. They prepare us for greater trials in the future by teaching us to trust Him.
3. They show others that trusting in Him and having His peace in our hearts does not depend on our circumstances.
4. God gives us trials and tests to prove His faithfulness to us.

God had not finished teaching me lessons on trials and testing, though. My blogger friend, Lynn Mosher, posted a piece on her blog Heading Home about building faith. She made the point that tests and trials cause our faith to grow.

Lynn said, "When a heart receives eternal salvation by accepting the sacrifice of Christ's blood, righteousness is imparted into each heart, along with the seedling of faith. In order for that seedling to blossom and grow, it needs watering and, well, er, fertilizer (emphasis added).

"What does the Bible say about the process through which faith grows?

"James said, "Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing." (James 1:2-4 NLT)" (You can read Lynn's complete post here.)

From Lynn's blog, I see another reason for trials and tests.
5. Trials and tests cause our faith to grow, developing endurance as it does.

I had to think about the difference between trust – of which Ve spoke – and faith – Lynn's point. I think there is a clear distinction between the two. Trust is confidence based on experience. People learn to trust me when I keep my promises and meet their expectations. Faith, on the other hand, lacks proof and works from belief. From previous experience, I trust that elevators will take me safely to the floor I want, but each time I get on an elevator I use faith because I believe that this elevator will work safely this time.

My final lesson for the week, I learned from my Mother. In her daily devotions, she read Luke 13: 6-9 (NLT) which says, "Then Jesus told this story: "A man planted a fig tree in his garden and came again and again to see if there was any fruit on it, but he was always disappointed. Finally, he said to his gardener, 'I've waited three years, and there hasn't been a single fig! Cut it down. It's just taking up space in the garden.'

"The gardener answered, 'Sir, give it one more chance. Leave it another year, and I'll give it special attention and plenty of fertilizer (emphasis added). If we get figs next year, fine. If not, then you can cut it down.'""

In another place, (John 15:16 NLT) Jesus said, "You didn't choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit…" Therefore, if your life is not producing any "lasting fruit," you might prepare yourself for some extra fertilizer – in the form of more trials and tests!

Mother's insight provided another reason why God may put trials and tests in my life.
6. They provide what is missing in our lives to make us fruitful.

God is the ultimate multitasker. He usually does more than one thing with the same set of circumstances. Look at your own set of trials and tests to see which purpose(s) God may be addressing. As you do, remember the promise He gave to encourage us not to give up (Isaiah 43: 1b -2 NIV): "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze."

God will give you strength for today.

Not Another Trial!

My friend Ve is suffering, again. She has a weakness in her back so that when she turns just a little bit wrong or over extends herself she has terrible pain for several weeks.

I called her that day because I knew that she was having another bout with her back. She was crying so hard when she answered the phone that I could hardly understand her.

"Lynnda, if I could get off this bed, I would crawl into my closet and shut the door," she said between sobs.

This was more than back pain. Ve was just this side of hysterical.

She proceeded to tell me that someone from the company's home office in Chicago was coming to New Orleans to see her husband. Everybody in the company was cut to a four-day workweek several months prior to this. Now she was afraid that he would be laid off. It was one of her worse nightmares. The more she thought about it, the more panic took control.

Ve has spent her whole life battling the fear and panic that set in when she would think things like what if this or that happens, I need to have my eyes checked -am I losing my vision or has this mole become cancer? Her overactive imagination fed every fear she had until it became a monster in her life.

In years past, she would literally shut herself off from everyone - including her husband - and live paralyzed by her fears. This time was different. Panicked though she was, she reached out.

First, she reached out to her husband and asked him what he thought the visit meant. He told her he didn't know. Then she reached out to me. Together, we looked at the worst possible outcome. Suppose her husband lost his job; what was the worst thing that could happen?

QUESTION: "Would they still have each other, their home, their health, resources to keep food on the table and the bills paid?"
RESPONSE: "Yes, all of that was true."

QUESTION: "In the forty-one years they had been married, had her husband ever failed to take care of her and their family?"
RESPONSE: "No, he is a prince among husbands."

QUESTION: "What about God, had He failed her when the Katrina floods hit them or the following year when her Mother died unexpectedly?"
RESPONSE: "No, God had never failed her."

"So," I asked her, "what does your fear and panic say about how much you trust God and your husband to care for you?"

In the silence, I could sense her thinking about the answers to that question.

RESPONSE: "I think I need to hang up, find my husband, and apologize. Then I'll ask God to forgive me for not trusting Him."

Ve took action on her words. While a little apprehension about the unknown remained, the overwhelming fear and panic were gone, which was good because the worst happened. Her husband lost his job.

By the time Ve learned about it, she had already spent much time alone with God and the news didn't shake her. Her back was slowly getting better, but the marvelous miracle was the healing of her emotions.

A day or two later, she was in her quiet time with God when she asked Him why she had the painful times with her back. I will let Ve tell you in her own words what she learned.

"During prayer time with the Lord, I asked, after having been basically bedridden with a bad back for several weeks, "Lord, just tell me why you put me through this? Why over and over do you put me through this?" Just as fast as the words were out of my mouth the Lord replied, "I will give you four reasons why I keep placing you under these trials. The first is this. I do it to drive you to your knees because when everything is going along comfortably, inevitably, you stray from me and I have to bring you back to My side. The second is this: I give you these trials as a training ground to prepare you for the greater trials to come. The third is this: I do it so that in the trials in which you find yourself, you may be a witness to others by the attitude you carry in those trials. The fourth is this: I do it to create for Myself yet another opportunity to prove myself Faithful!" Awesome, huh? I just sat there a moment and let it sink in."

Ve's example, her courage to change and the insights she gained from her trials, may be just what you need. If not, I still challenge you to ask yourself the questions I asked Ve. Then ask God to teach you to trust Him more.