Blessed Reassurance

Part One

My title today is a play on words.  Many of you know the old hymn Blessed Assurance (link here, just in case you don’t), which sings of the assurance that we can have of our salvation.  The same people who feel strong assurance about salvation are some who have trouble believing in the full message of grace or a pre-tribulation rapture.

Grace

The people preaching against “hyper-grace” believe in grace, up to a point.  They believe that they are saved by grace, but then they must take over and work hard to live a holy life.  And if they’re discipling somebody, they stay vigilant over that person to make sure that they dress right, live right, talk right, etc.  They believe that the grace of Jesus Christ got them into Heaven, but they need to work hard to stay there.  They teach a God of rules that watches to see if we are going to continue in sin.

Read 1 John 1:5-2:17.  Anyone who continues in sin proves that they are not really born again (1 John 1:6).  But John continues by explaining about what happens when believers sin, which we do.  Remember that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).  We are in perfect agreement about the fact that there must be repentance.  What we disagree about is the power to live out that repentance.

They believe that it’s now up to us, and so mix law in with the message of grace.  “Oh, you’ve got to watch out for sin,” and they teach daily confession and repentance.  The law has never saved one single soul.  That’s because the purpose of the law was to demonstrate our need for a Savior.

How do we get saved?  It is as easy as believing.  Here are some sample verses (there are many!):

John 1:12 – Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.

John 3:16-18 – For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.  Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Acts 16:30-31 – He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

Romans 3:20-24 – Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.  But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 11:6 – And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

Galatians 3:6 – So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

That last one is so good and appropriate for this discourse that I’m going to expand it:

You foolish Galatians!  Who has bewitched you?  Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.  I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?  Are you so foolish?  After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?  Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain?  So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?  So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” (Galatians 3:1-6, emphasis mine).

You know what I think?  I think that it’s all just too easy for some folks.  After all, there are lots of religions out there that require their followers to live by a set of rules: don’t eat this, don’t touch that, etc.  Christianity breaks that mold by being simple and easy.  It’s simple and easy for 2 very important reasons: 1. God is almighty and He has done it all for us; and 2. Since we didn’t do anything besides believing, we can’t take any of the credit.

So what is the power of grace?  Love!  Just as it was love that kept Jesus on that cross when He could have called down countless angels to save His life, it is love that gives us the power to live a life that pleases God.  We love God because He first loved us (I John 4:19).  When full grace is preached—that is preaching that gives us an idea of how long and wide and high and deep is the love that Jesus has for us—then we respond with a love that seeks to please the lover of our soul.  At that point, sin loses all its appeal.  And it’s not because we confess and repent daily.  It’s not because we dress right, talk right, act right.  It’s because we think with a completely different mindset.  Instead of doing this or that based on what we want to do, we do things based on what would most please or honor God.

Most days I wake up with a love song to God playing in my head.  Nobody told me to do that.  I just love Him, so my heart wakes up singing love to Him and my head overhears it.  Here’s a link to the one I woke up with today: Amazing Love.  God is good—believe it!

Enthusiastic Encouragement

Day Nine

There is a lot of work going on at my house in the last couple of weeks.  I have given my friend Nina the job of finishing the work of furnishing the apartment.  She has been out of work for about 6 months, so was thrilled at the opportunity—especially since it means that we see each other every day until the work finishes, and weekly after that.  There are many handyman jobs to be done here as well.  Nina’s brother, Manuel, is a handyman who is also currently without work, due to the seasonal nature of his work (which is usually outdoor handyman work).

It is really nice to be able to bless these 2 friends, and ministry always moves ahead because the apartment is more and more ready to host missionary guests.  Every day the apartment looks better and better.  I can even begin to look forward to the day when I can have a grand opening party.

So, with all this work going on, I have also been emptying those remaining boxes, and finding all sorts of treasure.  Here’s one from a Women of the Harvest retreat that I attended (By the way, Bethany hates the term retreat.  She says that we’re Christians, and we should always be advancing.  We should call them Advances, not Retreats):

15 Ideas to Encourage and Empower Missionary Women

5 Needs of Missionary Women

1. To be spiritually mentored
2. Feel connected
3. To be known, understood, and prayed for
4. To have a close friend
5. Time away from ministry/life responsibilities

5 Simple Ways to Meet Their Needs

1. Take 60 seconds to reply to their newsletter so they know you read it!  Better yet, ask for more information regarding one of their prayer requests.
2. Take 5-10 minutes to ask an intentional question about their personal/spiritual lives.
3. Surprise them with a cash gift for a night out (or a weekend away)!
4. Send cards via postal mail—a rare treasure in the day of electronic communication!
5. Introduce them to the free resources of Women of the Harvest.

5 Ways to Advocate for Missionary Women

1. Share with your church and friends what you’ve learned about the needs of missionary women.
2. Ask your Missions Committee how they keep in touch with your missionaries.  Do they Skype regularly?
3. Ask if each of your missionary women have a spiritual mentor in their lives.
4. Encourage your Missions Committee to take the Member Care quiz.
5. Contact the parents or extended family of you missionaries to understand their needs.

These are all really good suggestions, and I have done most of them in my ministry of encouraging missionaries.  In fact, I would add that for missionaries serving in Europe: educate people that Europe is a mission field.  Whenever I return to the US, I bang that drum long and loud.  I am tired of having my ministry minimized just because I live in Italy.  It happens every time I return to the States.  I hate to think of the missionaries who desperately need support, and their Christian brothers and sisters put their ministry down just because they’ve got indoor plumbing.

(Sorry, can you tell that it gets under my skin?!)

Speaking of encouraging missionaries, this came in my inbox this morning from Guideposts online:  Be Enthusiastic! Be Full of God.  The Greek root of the word enthusiastic means full of God.  The mark of the Gift of Encouragement is enthusiasm.  I can’t help it!  It just comes bubbling up out of me.  And my genuine enthusiasm often helps people see their ministry in a whole new light.  I love having the Gift of Encouragement!

And finally, as most of you know, this is day 9 of my fast for understanding of these times—End Times, to know what’s ahead and how to prepare for it.  So with that in mind, here’s an excerpt from a prophecy newsletter that I received this morning:

Follow Me, and I will lead you to the wells of life.  I will give the living water to you abundantly.  And, I will also feed you with the hidden manna.  Not only will I feed you with that which has not been revealed, for it shall indeed become revelation to you, but I shall also walk with you in fellowship.  You will know Me even more intimately than you know Me today and understand by way of revelation My purposes for this season.  I am about to bring you higher than ever you have been before.  Come to Me, walk with Me, be one with Me, and drink the waters that I give to you and eat the manna that I feed you.  In the days ahead, you will realize what a great treasure is given to you at this time.  Follow Me now.  Come on, let’s go on a journey, you and I together; a journey of joy in which you will experience the power of the kingdom of God; a journey in which your righteousness will be elevated and thus the power of it shall flow out before you; a journey in which you will have victory over all the works of the enemy, says the Lord Almighty.  (Emphasis mine.)

Well, who can help but be enthusiastic with encouragement like that straight from my Father?  God is good!

The Nasty-Tasting Medicine of Truth

Stop and discern.  Can you see that the enemy has released an attack to bring division among My people?  You, My faithful ones, must stand against this attack.  Do not entertain the temptation to be offended or to point the finger in accusation.  You must deal with your own heart and be righteous.  This is a time to refocus your attention away from yourself and look to Me, says the Lord.  For, I will extricate you from offense if you will allow it.

Proverbs 18:19 A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a castle.

The quote above was taken from today’s Spirit of Prophecy Bulletin (http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=yymmtrbab&v=001gZhKK2h2Be_D6yGxuKPSManqENpntnNJlJ2b6XiUDhnVJYpfDdKCpc92c-vJDRui5GH_DexOGdk7VBoAUQ5Ey2tvETSInK3oPxpu_KPRRw-b1LRmHF895LlJ8Wb2q6EC6wc3hl8gy8g%3D), which I subscribe to.   Frequently, these prophecies are not only right on target, but speak personally to my current situation.  Today’s prophecy is a perfect example.

Both me, personally and this ministry have been attacked by people I had thought were my friends.  And it is no surprise that these attacks were prompted by an offense that I didn’t even know that I had committed.  Instead of coming to me to find out the truth of things, these people took offense and talked about me behind my back.  Hidden in the dark, fed by supposition and goaded on by the enemy things fester and grow and rage is the result.

Over the course of this year I’ve seen other people, ministries, and churches attacked in similar manner.  Things that could easily have been resolved by honest and loving confrontation instead blew completely out of proportion and into all-out vindictive war.

The thing that shocked me most of all was to find myself being the offended person.  I thought that this person had damaged this ministry.  And so I launched all-out vindictive war on somebody who is flawed, but no more so than myself.  I tried to “save” this person from the worst of my anger by avoidance.  And in explaining my position to a mutual friend, I pointed out how much I have sacrificed to be here: “I sold my house and gave away virtually all of my belongings.  I have left behind my family—my grandson!—and friends.  This ministry has cost me a lot, and not just in terms of money.”  I continued to explain my all-consuming passion for seeing Europe come back to Christ.  Obviously, there was only one right way to look at this thing.  The person who had offended me knew that I was angry, so there was two-way avoidance going on, and my outrage grew.

Then, when I could no longer contain my anger, we finally had a confrontation yesterday.  I didn’t listen at the time, but this person’s words rang inside my head after we parted.  They got through to me, and suddenly I felt horrible about the way I had treated this person.  On top of that, God showed me that my problem was not this person, but my own pride.  Then my eyes were opened to see that I was calling it my ministry, and that I had promoted myself as being so righteous because of all the things I had sacrificed for the ministry.  I had taken my eyes off Jesus and was focused instead on the ministry and on myself.

I saw that this person had offended me, just as I had offended the others, without knowing it, and without meaning to do so.  I was finally seeing myself as the angry, unreasoning aggressor, and I didn’t like what I saw.  But I confessed my sin to God, and then to this person.  Both graciously forgave me without hesitation.

I want to reiterate: where I had gone wrong was in taking my eyes off Jesus.  So often we get caught up in Christian service that we forget that the point is not the service, but Who we serve.

And this enlightenment has helped me to have more understanding and compassion for those who I had unwittingly offended.  I forgive them and hope someday for the restoration of those relationships.  That’s not an empty hope because Jesus is all about restoration.  He is God of a Second Chance.  We all need a second chance!