OUR SELFISHNESS

Karen and I (and even Connie and Joshua) like Boxers as pets. Over the years we have had many boxers. When we moved to Germany in 1996 we brought two dogs: one named "Rocky" half Cocker Spaniel and Lhasoapso and the other of course a Boxer name "Annie." Both were great dogs and we enjoyed their company and affection, but over the seven years we lived in Germany Annie got cancer twice and had to have surgery. Both times she beat the cancer, but the third time it popped out on her it took her life. When we returned home from Germany we got another boxer named "Grimme More Bacon" or "Grimme" for short. And he too got cancer and it took his life, but when both dogs died I cried alike a baby. When my dad (2010) and mom (2014) died I cried. Any time someone we know dies especially if we are close to them like our parents (and that is understandable because we will miss them) or we lose something we cry. Now do not get me wrong here I am not saying we should not cry when our parents or our favorite animal dies, but we must recognize the source of our sorrow if we are to get over the loss. At the center of our tears is the realization of the loss we will experience in the passing away of our family and friends. The sorrow and tears are not based in anything, but our selfishness. Yes I loved my father very much, but he was an extremely sick man living a full life laying his life down for his family and seeing action in three wars. What else could anyone ask of a man? And my mom. Oh how I love my mom who was bedridden, had Alzheimer's, and a host of other medical problems: gave birth to six children (had 11 pregnancies in all), cooked and cleaned, cared for her husband and children what more could you ask of a woman? Yet my dad, mom, even my dogs died and I cried because of the loss I had experience. My tears were not about their death, but about what I was going to lose in those relationships. Now do not say that Dave Stahl how heartless can a man be, because this is true of us all. At the heart of all of our tears believe it or not is our selfishness. As a matter of fact it is our self-centerness that is at the center of our grief. And the sooner we realize this the sooner we will be able to prevent our emotions from taking over our thought life and our heart. The true Christian battle is not the devil (he is defeated my mom would not even call his name in any form) or our sin (Jesus died for that), but it is our thought life that must be aligned with what God has said about us and what He wants for our lives. In 2 Corinthians Paul tells the Church at Corinth and us, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) God says we are, "a new creature old things are passed away; behold (or look at this) all things are become new" and we think "who me?" Yes you! Our salvation is not based on our good works or religious performance, but on what Christ has done for us on the cross. We must allow the Holy Spirit to open up our understanding to the truth about us and what Jesus did for us. My friend the battle is between our mind and our heart. In that we come to realize what Jesus did on the cross for us and that we really believe it. So too the sooner we realize the center of all of our grief is our self-centeredness the sooner we will be happy when the so called bad things that happen in our lives come our way. Often our inability to recognize it is our emotions and feelings (our selfishness) that are deceiving us and is based on our lack of judgment. Jesus again and again all throughout the Gospels tells us to judge. Judgment must be a part of our Christian walk if not then we will not have the ability to separate ourselves from things that are not godly, things that are unholy, and things are unrighteous. In John Jesus tells us to, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." (John 7:24) "Judge not according to the appearance" to what we think or feel (again our emotions and feelings), but "judge righteous judgment." Well how can we do this? First we must have a sense of righteousness within us and God must be able to put it there. Then we must exercise our ability to look at a situations and even certain people (their motives and intentions) and align it up with the word (both written and spoken to us) of God. Did you know there are some people you cannot be around and still serve God? Did you know there are some places you cannot go and still be called a Christian? There are some things and people you cannot stand for and be called a Child of God? Most Christians do not know this and are deceived and get over in many areas that get them off track in God. In Matthew Jesus said, "Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." (Matthew 7:1-5) Many Christians would say, aha see Jesus said not to judge so they stop reading and miss the message Jesus was sharing while running their lives into a deep ditch because of their lack of discernment and inability to judge . We must continue reading to find the message. Jesus was saying take heed to how you judge not what you judge. In Christ it does not matter what we do for God that counts, but what matters is HOW we do it. Do we do things for the right reason, with the right motives, and with the right intentions? How do we judge? Do we have the right heart condition to judge righteous judgment or are we judging things after the flesh? If we have the right heart condition then we will easily be able to see the speck in our brother's eye because we have allowed God to remove the beam from ours. Unless we allow God to judge and deal in our lives in our lives we will never be able to judge righteous judgment. And when we have under gone God's dealings and judgments to varying degrees we will be able to see even the selfishness in our heart that causes all of the grief in our lives. In the Proverbs we read, "Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.' (Proverbs 13:10) The word "pride" here talks about our selfishness, self-centeredness, and self-seeking. It is all of that selfishness that causes "contention" or Strong's #4683, all of our strife, debate, and self exaltation. Jesus was telling us to judge righteously and when we can do this our self will be put to death. We will have allowed God to give our selfish nature and character a death blow. Once our self is put to death we then will be able to see what is right and then be able to do the right thing. Paul knew where the battle raged, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." (Romans 7:18) Paul knew it was in our flesh (our emotions, the soulish man. our feelings, our selfishness, etc) where nothing good dwells, not our spirit because if we are a Christian the Holy Spirit dwells within, believe it or not. I do not know about you, but the older I get the more selfish I seem to become. The older I get the less grace I seem to give other people who mistreat or wrong me. The older I get the more I seem to be less tolerant I seem to be with people who do not agree with me. All this really means is the older I get the more selfish I am becoming and the more I need God to work the more in my life and kill my flesh. True happiness is not found in material things, a sense of well being and good health, popularity, and the list goes on, but true happiness is only found when we can abandon ourselves in God's all knowing hands where no selfishness can exist. Written by David Stahl

THE INTENT OF OUR HEART

No matter what we do (even for God) does not matter if the intent of our heart is wrong. All of our service and good works in the church, money given, even our perfect attendance will not matter to God if our motives and intentions are impure. It is the intent of our heart God is looking at and nothing more. Now the performance based religious folks will doom me to hell for such words, but that is okay because deep in their heart they know I am telling the truth yet they lack the heart to speak the truth. The Son of God (from the beginning of eternity) held a position of equality with God. Nevertheless He willingly set this equality aside that He might take on an identification with mankind in order to pay the penalty for man’s sin. It was through obedience and suffering that He experientially entered into this position as Saviour yet the intent of His heart was never to ascend above His Father will for His life. In Philippians we read the heart intent of Jesus Christ, “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8) His intent of His heart was settled and established not on the cross, but in the Garden of Gethsemane (which means where oil is pressed) where the Father pressed out the life and heart of Jesus. I am reminded now of the story from Bill Pepper who shares of the Chinese father who attended an underground church until he was caught by the authorities. The entire family was arrested and the authorities said they will kill each one of his family members, starting with his wife, unless he told them who the leader of the church was. The father with tears in his eyes looked at his wife and family and said, "I will see you all in the morning." The father had an established heart and his faith was settled in believing though God or the government would slay him (or his family) yet I will trust Him. Willfully Jesus submitted Himself to the disciplines and the testings of life so He might qualify through experience as well as by His identity as our Savior. The writer of the Book of Hebrews writes, “Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him.” (Hebrews 5:8-9) Is the student greater than the Master? Jesus had settled this issue within His being and His heart was right toward God. Inwardly He was determined to pay the full price for the outworking of the will of God though it would cost Him His physical life. We often say brother or sister give me your testimony well guess what no test no testimony. Jesus now had a testimony because He endured the test. Because of His obedience to the will of the Father Jesus humbled Himself and became the Lamb of God upon Calvary’s cross and then died in our stead shedding His precious blood that our sin might be cleansed. Because of this the Father brought Him forth in resurrection life and then highly exalted Him. Again Paul in Philippians helps us here, “Wherefore, God also has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue confess He is Lord.” (Philippians 2:9-10) God cares not of the stature of a man, his abilities, skills, or talents. I find it sad (wrong thinking) when sports players point up to the heavens after they score as to give God thanks for their ability to run the football or shoot a basketball, well God is not looking at their sports ability God is always looking at the intent of their heart. We see this truth painfully play out in I Samuel, “And it came to pass, when they were come, that he (Samuel) looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him. But the Lord said to Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (I Samuel 16:6-7) Samuel would have chosen the one who outwardly appeared to meet every qualification. However the Lord revealed a different method of qualification -- the intent of the heart. This principle is exemplified in God's rejection of Eliab and in the selection of David for the throne of Israel. But later David was severely tested when Saul turned against him; but under extreme pressure David chose the LORD and His ways. His experience (his test for his testimony) during this time of testing is recorded in Psalm 27:1-4. God saw that David would choose Him in the difficulties that he would face and later declared him to be “ . . . a man after His own heart.” (I Samuel 13:14). Another example of this principle is revealed in the choosing of Jacob, a deceiver over his Brother Esau. “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” (Romans 9:13). At first glance this Scripture seems to indicate that divine approval is an arbitrary choice made by God. However the LORD’s choice is based upon a divine principle. Outwardly it appears that Esau should have been the right choice. He was the firstborn and when his father requested meat he willingly went to get it for him (Genesis 27:1-4) But previously when under the pressure of intense hunger Esau despised the blessing of God and sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of soup and received a present temporal satisfaction (Genesis 25:29-33). Jesus faced this same test of hunger in the wilderness, but refused to turn stones into bread in order to feed His hunger when He said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) a continual truth that must grip our hearts today. While Esau was seeking meat for his father Jacob deceived his father into imparting the blessing to him rather than to his brother. But later when Jacob was under intense pressure the true quality of his character came forth. Jacob had fled from Esau and was now returning home with all of his possessions. In Genesis 32:6-8 he was told that everything that he owned was in jeopardy as Esau was coming with 400 men toward him. Then Jacob humbled his heart before the LORD and asked for His help (Genesis 32:9-12). He sent all of his possessions toward Esau in two separate companies and then remained alone to see what would happen when the first group came to Esau. His plan was that if Esau destroyed the first group he could take the second group and escape still the deceiver, but in the end after wrestling with an angel (some people say it was man and others say it was even God) Jacob received a change of nature, along with position, and power. The Bible says he "wrestled" well if it was God why would you want to wrestle with God? I wonder what Jacob would have gotten if he would have not wrestled, but submitted to God? Maybe God had something much better than a name change One thing for sure he would not have received a limp he carried with him all the days of his life. Make no mistake my brother any time we wrestle with God we will come out on the short end of the stick. Make no mistake my friend any time we wrestle with God He will have to break our heart to get our attention so that we can align our intention up with His intention. In the end Esau who had sought rather to satisfy the present hunger of his stomach lost out, but there was a change of his heart condition towards his brother (over the years of separation) Jacob now called Israel. I want to believe even though the Bible really does not say it, but I hope there was a real time of reconciliation between Esau and Israel. God's heart is never for brothers to be at odds with each other even in the face of their heart condition towards God and God's heart condition towards them. Funny how God deals with us according to the intent of our heart, that is according to what we truly desire to be. The present state or condition in which we find ourselves will be changed by the LORD if we truly put Him first and then trust Him. The Bible is full of examples like with David and Israel. At the end of the day is does not matter what you do for God it matters how you do it and the intent of your heart. Written by David Stahl

SELF-WILL MUST GO

Obedience is found in denying self's will. This was so for Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. He (Jesus) became obedient. He (Jesus) humbled Himself. He (Jesus) became a servant. He laid aside His own will. Thus, we must suffer death to self before we can take up our cross and follow this wonderful man and savior from Galilee. Jesus said. "And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Matthew 26:39) Here the work of salvation was settled in the heart of Jesus so now He could go to the cross on Calvary. Jesus had to die Himself before he could be brought to the cross. Did you get that? Many believers will fight the cross for the sake of their own self-existence, but once we become willing to die to self and our desires then God can bring us into the sacrifices which lie along our paths of obedience. Do not rush too far ahead of the Lord's will. Training and learning are first necessary before coming into some aspects of His will. There must be a denying of self before there even can be a learning. Jesus said, "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." (Matthew 16:24) The denying of self is necessary for your learning. Taking up your cross is necessary for your learning. All three: denying, taking, following are indispensable to fulfill the learning process. "Disciple" means "pupil" -- one who is a learner. Self-will does not function in revelation whether it has it or not. So why should the Holy Spirit introduce revelation into such a condition. Insisting to push forward in self-will lowers the possibility of Holy Spirit revelation. Elisha learned this when dealing with the sons of the prophets, "And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. 16 And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest peradventure the Spirit of the LORD hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send. 17 And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not. 18 And when they came again to him, (for he tarried at Jericho,) he said unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not?" (II Kings 2:15-18) There is a direct ratio between obedience and victory. The more laying aside of self-will the greater the learning of obedience. The fuller the obedience, the more numerous are the victories in Christian living. Obedience brings victory. There are many examples in the Bible which reveal the truth that obedience brings victory. Along with these examples of obedience bringing victory, there are also the injunctions, an order or command, of the Lord. "If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:" (Isaiah 1:19) Obedience carries to victory and victory carries to fulfillment. Obedience must move with the cooperation of man's will. "If ye be willing" In willing obedience there is an appetite being created, "Ye shall eat the good of the land." The appetite is for fulfillment. Therefore the extent of willingness is also being increased. Obedience keeps you on the road to greatness in God. Why did not the children of Israel possess the promised land after two years in the wilderness? Why did they die in the wilderness? Disobedience. By obedience, fulfillment, and possession finally were achieved, by the next generation and they moved into the things, the promised land, the Lord had prepared for their fathers. After generations in the promised land, the Israelites went back into disobedience and became servants to those who they were to rule. "Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it:" (Nehemiah 9:36) Instead of possessing and ruling that which God gave them, they were conquered and ruled. Obedience must be constant if victory is to be constant. "But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries." (Exodus 23:22) God will oppose those who oppose you. He will afflict those who afflict you. Obedience aligns you with God. In that relationship He will relate to others just as they relate to you. Obedience is far reaching. "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." (Romans 5:19) What is the extent of the results of our obedience. We will never know in this life on earth. In our obedience to the Lord small things become big things, big things become bigger things, but all things in obedience to the Lord have eternal consequences. The extent of the results of obedience becomes a very serious factor. Because of the disobedience of some, others will suffer. Many attempt to gain some self-comfort by inventing doctrine which they believe relieves them of their responsibility before the Lord. Nevertheless the Word of God still speaks, "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners." More sobering than that are the words recorded in Ezekiel, "When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand." (Ezekiel 3:18) Again, "By the obedience of one, many shall be made righteous." By the obedience of one, a person comes to Jesus. By the new convert's obedience, two persons discover the Christ who saves. Then four come. How far does obedience go to which God has called us? Unto eternal life! Obedience is so very important that God will take us through extreme difficulties to instill it in us by hard knocks or bumping our heads. Who can fathom the importance of the life of obedience to which God has called us? This training is to project us into awesome fulfillment. If we are to get there we must learn obedience in our training program. Where the Lord has to speak only once to us. Do not despair in your rigorous training circumstances. Remember their purposes. Always keep in mind the goal, to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ, and then, plod on. The race is not to the swift, but to those who are faithful in obedience win the prize. Written by David Stahl