MAKING RIGHT DECISIONS

Karen and I just returned from Ashville, NC where we stayed at a great Bed and Breakfast (North Lodge) and visited the Biltmore House, America’s biggest home, paid for by our wonderful kids as a birthday present for Karen. As we travel we always travel with what we call a bum bag. A bum bag is a paper bag filled with three dollars, a bottle of water, an apple, a granola bar, a piece of Dove chocolate, and a chick track to help someone who just needs a bag of love to make it. While in Ashville we saw many bums, but sadly we met not a bum who deserved of one of our bags. To be honest we were shocked to see how the homosexual community has conquered the City of Ashville. I think Billy and Franklin Graham and their folks need not travel around the world to evangelize the lost, but just travel less than 30 miles from the Cove and have a heart for the City of Ashville. Karen and I were surprised by the lack of spiritual churches and just a general lack of a spiritual attitude and presence in the city. It was evident everywhere we went from restaurants to stores, local parks, the Biltmore House, and gas stations. The streets were filled with bums panhandling or playing instruments for money I thought I was in San Francisco. Now we had the bum bag we could have given it out, but the bums were young, healthy even the dogs they had were well fed, but they were just dirty, lazy, and lacked a desire to work worst though was their lack of a desire for the things of God in their lives. We never passed out our bum bag (there was no one we saw that deserved them), but as I reflected on these folks I wondered how they could end up like this and of course the answer is because of the ungodly decisions they made they were brought to this ungodly condition. Now some would say Pastor Dave you are too judgmental you should have given them all a bag, well this is not in keeping with the Bible. The Bible says if a man does not work then he should not eat, “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. 11For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.” (2 Thessalonians 3:10-11) God expects us to work and be accountable for our actions there are consequences for our actions and decisions. We are where we are today in life based on two things; God’s grace and longsuffering and our conscious decisions. Our place in life is not based on our parent’s wealth, color of our skin, our intelligence, or our skills and abilities we all can get a job if we really want one, but the driving force in our lives is the choices and decisions we make. Each bad decision we made will require us to make two right decisions to get us out of harm’s way. These homosexuals and bums in Ashville have turned their back on God and only when they turn towards a loving God will they be able to get their life back on track again. I wondered why our four kids did not end up like these homosexuals and bums in Ashville. And the answer quite clear is Karen and I loved our kids enough to take them to church and put as much of God in their lives as we could. This was a decision we made when they were small and today it has paid off for them, us, their spouses, and their families. Most often our decisions impact more on the lives of others than on us alone. Little do we know the true impact of each insignificant decision we make. If we knew we would be more careful in what we decide. Not the big decisions we make, but the little ones. We think God is more concerned about the big things we do and about the big decisions we make, well not so. God is more concerned about the little decisions we make and the little things we do; the smaller the decision the more God is securitizing us in it. God is always watching us move and operate in small things because He knows if we can function correctly (He can trust us then) in small things then when we make big decisions we will also move correctly in them. So too in our spiritual life, we are where we are in God today based on the decision we have made over time. The collections of correct Godly decisions will end us in a place of great prosperity (to push forward in God) in God. Our spiritual life (the level of spiritual maturity to which we have attained) is far more than the sum of the spiritual information that we have gathered or any compilation of our spiritual experiences. Rather, the core and substance of our being “spiritual” relates to the level of inner peace and harmony that results from our making right choices and decisions along the pathway of our spiritual journey. Because the Lord is seeking those who are willing to go beyond that which they have freely received through redemption, our making these right choices and decisions will never be easy. Paul tells us in Philippians, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14) No matter who or where we are, we must make decisions as to what we will see, hear, do, or where we will go or not go. The ever present temptation is to compromise and go along with the questionable or difficult situations that we often find in our path or circumstances, but we must never forget it is not the church or a denomination that is God’s work, but us. Again Paul tells us, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10) Notice that our response to and cooperation with these “good works” is conditional “we should walk in them.” These good works are preordained testing points that will determine how far we will follow the LORD. We make few major decisions, but each day we make many “minor” (seemingly to us) decisions that feed either the carnal or the spiritual aspect of our being. The accumulation of these choices will result in our becoming predominantly carnal or spiritual. As our spiritual decisions begin to outweigh the negative pulls and responses we become an “overcomer.” To the extent that we rise above carnal soulish desires we are lifted into a place of communion with our LORD and we grow spiritually. John tells us, “To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My Throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His Throne.” (Revelation 3:21) Our position with Jesus in this “throne” relationship is the result of our overcoming (rising above) all that is earthly and carnal. The more decisions that we make which are toward the Lord and His purpose the easier it will become to continue making these decisions. The further down the road that we go in our walk with the LORD we will progressively become more detached from all that is either carnal or a temptation to us. In the beginning it may be difficult, but as we progress it will become easier. The pathway of our spiritual life can be considered as being an upward spiral. If we take a large wood screw and place a finger nail in the groove near the point and run it along the surface we will gradually progress toward the head. Though it may seem to us that we are going in circles, as we continue to make right decisions, we are progressively moving upward. If we do this in reverse and feed the carnal aspect of our being, it will lead us ever downward. There are those who have within them a quality of spiritual life (divine substance that permeates their being) and it may not be apparent as to why this is so, but if inquired into these would testify that through the struggles of life they have been making quality decisions which brings them into an ever increasing levels of fellowship with the LORD, in His Throne. Too often we think the Kingdom of God is a place we can get a job or exercise power and authority over someone, but this is so far from the truth. Paul in Romans tells us what the kingdom of God is, “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serves Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.” (Romans 14:17-18) The Kingdom of God begins with “righteousness.” As we make the right choices, we place ourselves on a platform called righteousness. Due to an accumulation of these righteous choices, we discover that there resides within us an abiding “peace.” This will also result in the approbation or the favor of God resting upon us and “joy” is then manifested. Our submission to divine government will lead to our becoming a partaker with the LORD, in His Throne. In this realm our decisions do not relate only to right or wrong, but with the motives that underlie right or wrong. It is here that the final test of our union with the LORD will find its outworking. We are tested concerning the choices and decisions that we make. As we progress up the spiral we will be tested concerning the motives of our heart which provoke the things that manifest as right or wrong. It is not enough to deny our self, but we must overcome the very principle that allows it to abide within us and assert itself. Those who are satisfied with being blessed and eventually going to heaven have their reward the streets of gold and mansions, but for those who intensely hunger for this higher level of spiritual reality, there is much more. These in the place of pressure will deal with the issues of their heart, they will be found in the Throne, seated with Jesus. As Karen and I were touring the Biltmore House the LORD impressed these words on me, “and yet he died.” I shared these words around the breakfast table at the Bed and Breakfast table where we stayed and things really got quiet. Mr George Vanderbilt had it all, yet he died. He had over 120,000 areas of land, a house of over 250 rooms with four acres of floor space, and over 1,800 employees, yet he died at age 51 in Washington, DC from complications from appendicitis and the surgery that followed. The building of the Biltmore House was a marvel in 1895 when it was opened and happened out from decisions Mr. Vanderbilt made, yet he died. Nothing is discussed about his spiritual condition this too was made out from the decisions he made. My hope is that He is with the LORD, but I do not know. What I do know is if he is with the LORD he made the right decisions and if we too desire to be with the LORD now on earth and when we die we too must make the right decision. Witten by David Stahl

OUR ESTABLISHED HEART

I wonder why we tell God things He already knows?  In church we often sing songs telling God just how worthy He is as God or how holy He is.  Do we not think God already knows this?  My friend telling God  things He already knows does not impress Him one bit, but now moving in obedience, greater commitment, and dedication to Him and His word now that impresses God greatly.  We sing these songs telling God how wonderful He is (and He is wonderful) trying to establish a belief in us that we think will allow us to see God in a greater way when all He wants is for us to come to a place of knowing Him by spending time with Him and submitting to His dealings and judgments.  But spending time with God takes too much of our daily time and submitting who wants to submit and endure God’s dealing and judgments in their lives?  Oh no it is easier singing about God’s holiness and worthiness than coming to knowing about God’s worthiness or holiness. We lack this understanding (so we sing and do other things instead) because of the lack of our heart being established in God.  Bill Pepper (a wonderful friend who often ministers China) tells the story of a Chinese pastor and his family who was captured by Chinese authorities and at the trial the Chinese pastor was told unless he confessed to some lies about him and God the authorities would kill him and his entire family starting with his children.  With tears in his eyes and in a calm and collected voice he replied to family and the Chinese authorities, “my family I will see you in the morning.”  And with that the Chinese authorities did as they said they killed him and his family beginning with his children. One by one they were executed his children, next his wife, and lastly himself.  Now the Chinese pastor could only do this if his heart was established in God and he really knew he would see his family again in their next life.  Today very few people come to this knowing because they have been deceived by “divers and strange doctrines” like the prosperity teachings of today and word of faith folks that teach another Christ and another Gospel that is not the message of the cross.  They have come to know God only in song or through a mental approach blindly going to conference after conference or worse yet hoping what they are doing is correct, but never coming to an experiential knowledge of knowing God out from an established heart.  I wonder why we sing songs about things we do not know about? The Writer to the Hebrews shares with us, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. ⁹Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.” (Hebrews 13:8-9)  In the Psalms David takes it much further, “Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. ⁷He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD. ⁸His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies.” (Psalms 12:6-8)  My friend this is to be the depth of our relationship with God not in song singing about God’s greatness, his holiness or his worthiness, but it is in experienced knowledge where we come to know Him and the power of His resurrection.  Paul told the Church at Philippi, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;” (Philippians 3:10) Not just to “know Him,” but also to come to know “the power of his resurrection” and “the fellowship of his suffering.”Not too many people want to know God if they have to suffer and die, but to know God’s resurrection power we must be dead.  The purpose of resurrection is to bring us back from the dead. We must die to be resurrected and along that way of death is suffering, persecution, and tribulations as Jesus promised. In John we read Jesus’ words, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”  (John 16:33) Now why and how can we be of good cheer while going though tribulation?  Because our heart has been established in God and we have come to place of knowing God.  The Scriptures have much to say about this established heart.  Peter tells us, “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. ¹³Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; ¹⁴Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. ¹⁵Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.” (2 Peter 1:12-15)  Can you hear Peter’s heart here? Peter knew his physical death was at hand his desire for the people was that they not mourn his death, but that the people would be established in the truth.  When we are established in the truth of the word of God and our heart is established in God to endure whatsoever God brings our way we will truly have life eternal.  It is nice to know we do not have to wait to die to have eternal life.  Jesus, in the real LORD’s prayer, tells us,  “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son (Jesus was to be crucified in days), that thy Son also may glorify thee: ²As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. ³And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”  (John 17:1-3)  Eternal life is not just living forever in which we will if our heart is established in God, but Jesus told us eternal life is, “that they might know thee the only true God.” Who cares about tomorrow when we really come to know the only true God?  Who cares what we have or do not have what food we eat or do not eat when we come to know the only true God? All of this life’s many trials and tribulations all pale in compassion to knowing the only true God.  This is the reason we have been created not to glorify God, but to come to know Him. Many Christians try to glorify God in song, talent, and deeds, but God is not after that He is after our established heart.  Paul tells the Church at Ephesus “In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: ²²In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”  (Ephesians 2:21-2)  We are to have an established heart so that we can be that eternal “habitation of God through the Spirit.”  God desires we be His eternal abode, His eternal place of habitation not Heaven or the heavens, but our established heart.  Now I do not understand why God would chose our hearts I cannot explain it no one can.

It is easy to see and hear who has an established heart and who does not. Did you know there is a huge difference between professing something we know about God and really coming to knowing God?  The difference is always seen in our words (what we profess) or our character and conduct what we have come to know.  It is one thing to profess we know Jesus, but it is something all together different when our character and conduct reflects the character and conduct of Christ.  Remember our testimony is not what we say about ourselves, but what people see and yes even hear about us.  I can profess to you how much I love God, how much He has done for me, how much He is using me, but if my character does not reflect my words I am a liar and the truth is not in me.  We must be careful here in this area. We often take people in our circle of trust and friendship based not on a time of observation, but usually based on their profession.  In God time will bear things out to be true or not.  Time always marks commitment and dedication in lives.  We sadly see this in the increasing number of Christian divorces and Christians living together outside of marriage. Most main-stream denominations will allow you to move your Church Membership (I cannot find this concept in the Bible) from church to church based on a letter of introduction or on their profession of their faith.  No wonder there are so many church splits and such great division in most churches today there was no observation of their character or life-style the desire to add to the rolls of the church, get their tithes and offerings, and get more helping hands to fulfill the mission vision and statement of the church seems to override the caution and attention to detail to the spiritual things of God. There is wonderful story in the Bible that reflects an established heart in God and ones character and conduct truly being what God is looking for.  In 2 Samuel we find God lining up David (and the people) for punishment for his disobedience.  I wonder why we think God is only a loving God and would not punish or disciple us?  Here we read of David’s sin, “And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.”  (2 Samuel 24:10) David numbered the people of which God told him not to, so the Holy Spirit convicted David of this sin.  What a wonderful blessing to have a soft heart (an established heart) where the Holy Spirit can convict us of our sin a most precious promise from God.  So God answered David’s (not a prayer) beseeching by Gad the Prophet, “Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will give you three choices. Choose one of these punishments, and I will do it.” ¹³ So Gad came to David and asked him, “Will you choose three years of famine throughout the land, three months of fleeing from your enemies, or three days of severe plague throughout your land? Think this over and let me know what answer to give the Lord.” ¹⁴ “This is a desperate situation!” David replied to Gad. “But let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great. Do not let me fall into human hands.” (2 Samuel 24:12-14)  David knew it is far better to fall into the hands of an angry merciful God than to be at the angry, merciless hands of man.  Please notice David’s words here, “But let us . . .”  David was the one who sinned, but all of the people will pay, it matters who your leaders are.  But because of David’s established heart he had the ability in God to choose righteous judgment.  In the end, “And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.  ¹⁷And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s house.” (2 Samuel 24:16-17) Yes God sent the pestilence as promised and yes 70,000 men died (God means what He says), but in the end God’s anger was satisfied and why?  Because of David’s established heart, he knew of God’s wrath he has experienced it first hand and David knew of God’s mercy he too has experienced this first hand.  An established heart knows God. Written by David Stahl