Pleasures

Psalms 16:11

“You will show me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Recently, in one of our staff prayer meetings was a couple who had served as missionaries for years and are now semi-retired. She has been suffering debilitating pain for the past year that has made it difficult for her to do much. As we prayed around the room for missionaries and nations, I could see the pain in her face, but when it came to her turn, I was struck by these words in her prayer; “Lord, I so enjoy your presence.”

We are so often performance-oriented that we often fail to enjoy God’s presence. In fact, when we pray our minds can become so full of what we need to do that we really can’t enjoy the pleasure of His presence. Our heavenly Father, however, is more interested in spending time with us than our performance. We are His delight!

The Psalmist reminds us that the path to life is not in what we do, our accomplishments, or what we accumulate. The path to true abundant life is found in God’s presence; that true joy and perpetual, on-going, eternal pleasure is found in Him. What gives you pleasure today? Is it a temporal pleasure that can evaporate in changing circumstances? Jesus said in John 14:6, 9, "I am the way, the truth, and the life….I am the door.” Jesus says, “I am everything that you need. Our relationship is not based on your performance but upon my character.”

King David said in Psalms 27:4,

“One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek:

That I may dwell in the house of the LORD

All the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the LORD,

And to inquire in His temple.”

What is the one thing that you desire of the Lord? What causes you to get up in the morning? What is the driving passion of your life? When you face obstacles and challenges, what gives you the drive to overcome? Or, like the missionary lady, what gives you fulfillment and joy when all else is stripped away? God desires to become our life, our reson de etre (reason for being).

There is a song I learned in Kenya that I love to sing. In His presence, in His presence there is peace. In His presence, in His presence there is joy. I will linger, I will stay in His presence day by day, till His likeness shall be seen in me.

Spend time with Him and you will find that He is all you need.

Andy

Running With Purpose

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

Lately, I have become more aware that I need to work with purpose, God’s purpose. So often we become so absorbed in the multitude of things that demand our time, that we lose sight of God’s purpose. People, jobs, and circumstances put demands on us. Most of those things are good and often necessary but steal away our time from what is most important. I’m reminded of the illustration where you have sand gravel and stones to put into a jar. If you put the sand and gravel in first, you will not have room to get all the stones in. But if you put the stones in first, then pour in the gravel and sand, it will all fit.

Paul challenges us here not to run aimlessly and not to fight like a man beating the air. Sometimes we need to step back and check to see if what we are doing or thinking about getting involved in fits into our gifting and what God has called us to do. And be careful about the fights you pick. Satan often wants us to get so occupied in spiritual warfare or putting out fires, we don’t have time to do what God has called us to do.

God told Jeremiah, “ For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:11-14

God prospers His plans. When you are in His plans, he will prosper you and give you a hope and a future. As I shared in my devotional God is in Control, we need to ask: “What are you doing, God, and how do you want me to participate in what you are doing?”
It is interesting to note that in God’s promise to Jeremiah that “God knows the plans He has for you,” verse 12 says, “THEN you will call upon me and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” The condition of our prayers being answered is to be in God’s plan.

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”

I pray today that God will help you to step back from the urgency of the moment to re-affirm what He has called and equipped you to do and realign yourself with His plans and purpose for you.

Andy Clark

Now Is the Time

John 4:35

“Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!”

Of course, we understand from the context of this Scripture that Jesus is referring to the salvation of the Samaritans. He had just finished talking with the Samaritan woman, and because of her testimony the Bible says, “many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him.” The disciples who had just been in the city to buy bread failed to see the harvest because of their prejudice, religious practices, and doctrinal beliefs.

However, there is a greater principle we can also learn from this story in the life of Jesus. The disciples did not understand what Jesus was saying because they were looking at things from a natural perspective. When they looked out over the wheat fields, it was still four months until harvest. The wheat fields looked like green grass that was about two feet high. There was no head of grain ready for harvest. Yet, Jesus saw a harvest where there was no grain.

God’s perspective of things is so different from ours. Many times we are waiting for the right circumstances and time to act. We are waiting for just the right time to tell someone something. We are waiting for adequate resources before we do something. If we are not careful, we keep projecting into the future what God has spoken to us today, because we are waiting for everything to come together before we do whatever it is God is speaking to us to do. We believe God is going to do it, but the time is not quite right.

The writer of Hebrews warns us saying, “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:12-13) We see here that unbelief causes hardening of the heart, which inhibits us from responding to the voice of God. As a result, like Israel we fail to enter into the promise because we are overwhelmed by our circumstances.

2 Corinthians 4:18 says, “We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” If we only act when our circumstances are right, the enemy will make sure we never act. We live in uncertain times, but we cannot be paralyzed by uncertainty. We are told to “exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today!”

I want to encourage you today to begin to act on what the Lord is speaking to you. Take those beginning steps, speak what the Spirit prompts you to speak, and begin to do what God is asking you to do. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day of harvest.

Andy Clark

Kingdom Conflict

Hebrews11:32-35

“And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again.”

As I read the above portion of Scripture from the chapter of faith, I see action, conflict and miracles. As I look over the mission fields I am involved with and over the world that we live in today, there is ever-increasing conflict. Over the past thirty years the kingdom of God has experienced unprecedented growth, and we are beginning to feel the backlash of the enemy. Our response to this backlash and increased opposition is critical to the future of what God is going to do. We can pull back, become politically correct or engage the enemy.

Our natural tendency of self-preservation oftentimes causes us to avoid conflict, go with the flow, and maintain silence. We can become deceived into thinking that through compromise or peaceful coexistence we can somehow preserve ourselves and draw people into the kingdom. However, as you read and meditate on the portion above, we see that true faith produces confrontation and conflict resulting in the supernatural demonstration of God’s power. It is that demonstration of power that destroys the power of the enemy, delivers us, and draws others into the kingdom.

Jesus put it this way in Matthew 11:12-13, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force.” John the Baptist came to prepare the way of the Lord. Jesus came to usher in a new kingdom. When you usher in a new kingdom, the result is kingdom conflict. The two kingdoms cannot coexist, nor can they run parallel to one another, for they are complete opposites. There is no compromise, and as the day of the Lord approaches, the clash and conflict will increase.

“The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force.” We cannot run away from conflict. It is not time to pull back. It is not time to be silent. It is time to rise up in faith and take on the enemy. When we do, God’s power will be revealed, and we will subdue kingdoms, work righteousness, obtain promises, be made strong, become valiant in battle and receive back the dead. “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” (Revelations 3:21)

May God grant you the wisdom, grace, and strength to stand up for truth and righteousness in an ever-darkening world.

Andy