Can You Count To Ten?

Sitting in a restaurant in Chattanooga, Tennessee I overheard an interesting conversation.  So, blatantly eavesdropping, I listened to two men talking about the 100 verses that every Bible-believing Christian should know.  The discussion was passionate and heart-felt and it got me thinking.  

Since the Word of God is a living, dynamic book which God uses to speak truth into our hearts through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, it is an extremely personal thing to consider what verses have most impacted your life.  What a blessing it’s been to contemplate the last 44 years and meditate on how God has used the Scriptures to quite literally change my life.  What specific verses has God used to teach, comfort, challenge, or convict me?  

Thinking of a list of 100 is overwhelming, BUT I would suggest that every Christian who claims to be a person of the book should be able to point to at least ten places in the scriptures that could be called “life-changing.”  Can you?  Can you count to ten?  Sit down with a blank piece of paper and write a verse that’s meant a lot in your life.  Maybe you can’t quote it word-perfect but you know where it’s found and you understand what it has said to your Christian experience.  I promise, it will be a blessing, a praise to the Lord, and just plain fun. 

And just for fun, I’m giving you the ten verses (or sets of verses) that have, with Christ’s help, changed my life.  They are NOT in any kind of order of importance, but each one is significant to me and my Christian walk. 

1.  (My life verse) The importance of God’s Word in my life - Ezra 7:10 - For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.  

2.   My assurance that I have eternal life because I have Jesus - 1 John 5:11–13 - and the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.  

3.   God is able to do anything with me - Luke 1:37 - “For nothing will be impossible with God.”  

4.   God is able to do anything through me - Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.  

5.   I should be ambitious to lead a life at peace in order to have a good testimony to those outside the faith - 1 Thessalonians 4:11–12 - and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.  

6.   I should consider Christ as THE power controlling my life – 1 Peter 5:6 - Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 

7.   Nothing that happens to me will negatively impact my faith in the Lord - Job 13:15a - “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him…  

8.   I make my plans BUT God is in charge of my life - Proverbs 16:9 - The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.  

9.   Even when times are hard and my family doesn’t understand, God renews His blessings in my life – I have confidence in Him - Lamentations 3:14, 21-24 - I have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their mocking song all the day. --- This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.”  

10.   When I’m surrounded by tough circumstances and I don’t know what to do – I just look to Jesus – He fights my fights - 2 Chronicles 20:12, 17 -  “O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.” --- ‘You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you.”  

Well, that’s my list.  What’s yours?  Spend a little time reviewing your life and the times when a verse really spoke to you.  For me, it turned into a real time of worship and thanksgiving.  What an amazing God we have!

Count to ten - have fun and let me know what happens.

 

Think about it….

 

 

About A.W. Tozer and My Battle

A.W. Tozer was an author who spent 44 years pastoring churches, writing books, editing Christian magazines, and mentoring fellow believers.  He received two honorary doctorate degrees in recognition of his contribution to our Christian world view.   

Although he wrote in the 1950’s & 60’s, his words make me think.  He wrote about the church of 2012 as if he was sitting at a computer tapping out Biblical warnings to those of us in the spiritual fight against the world today.  He wrote:

A Great Loss: Power to Wage Spiritual Warfare

And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.  1 Timothy 3:7  

The Christian should always be aware that the devil’s master strategy against us is to destroy our power to wage spiritual warfare! And he has been succeeding, we must add. 

The average Christian these days is a harmless enough thing, God knows. He is a child wearing with considerable self-consciousness the harness of the warrior; he is a sick eaglet that can never mount up with wings; he is a spent pilgrim who has given up the journey and sits with a waxy smile trying to get what pleasure he can from sniffing the wilted flowers he has plucked by the way. 

Such as these have been reached! Satan has gotten to them early.

By means of false teaching or inadequate teaching, or the huge discouragement that comes from the example of a decadent church, he has succeeded in weakening their resolution, neutralizing their convictions and taming their original urge to do exploits; now they are little more than statistics that contribute financially to the upkeep of the religious institution. 

There can be complete victory for us if we will but take the way of the triumphant Christ, but too many have accepted the low-keyed Christian life as the normal one. That is all Satan wants. That will ground our power, stunt our growth and render us harmless to the kingdom of darkness—and we sons of eternity just cannot afford such a thing! ^[1] 

Think about it….

 

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^[1] Tozer, A. W., & Smith, G. B. (1991-). Renewed day by day : A daily devotional. Camp Hill, PA.: WingSpread.

Are You A Code Talker?

Recently I was talking with my daughter-in-law.  She was explaining some of her course work for her doctoral studies in statistical analysis.  I was completely lost after the third word.  It was as if she was speaking a completely different language – so I glazed over and phased out.  My son looked at me with a smile and said, “Welcome to my world.”  As I was thinking about our conversation, if you could call it that, I wondered how many times, when sharing my faith, I used that same kind of non-understandable language.  

In World War Two the Japanese began to listen in on allied radio communications.  The American army began to look for a way to use the radio without the enemy being able to understand.  They recruited a number of Navajo Indians and trained them to use their very obscure native language for military radio dispatches.  When the Japanese listened they couldn’t understand a single word.  This detachment of Navajo radiomen became known as the Code-Talkers and in the entire war not one of their transmissions was ever “de-coded.”  

So, I’ve been thinking, am I a Code-Talker when it comes to communicating with non-Christians in my life?  Do I use a language that has no meaning for them, so they just glaze over and phase out?   

Imagine something like this…an acquaintance asks, “How ya doing?” and I answer, “I’m blessed, because my salvation is assured, I’m covered in the blood, sanctified, glorified, and praisin’ the Lord for His propitiation and intercession.” I would have sounded very spiritual but, just like a Navajo Code-Talker, I’d have lost my friend after the second or third word.  

In 1 Corinthians 14:9-11 the Apostle Paul said, “So also you, unless you utter by the tongue speech that is clear, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air. There are, perhaps, a great many kinds of languages in the world, and no kind is without meaning. If then I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be to the one who speaks a barbarian [Code-Talker], and the one who speaks will be a barbarian [Code-Talker] to me…  

Paul is talking about communicating not just babbling some unknowable words which are totally meaningless to the hearer.  Later in verse 19 he says he’d rather speak five words that he understood and that were understandable by others than ten thousand that were not.  I feel challenged as a Christian to think through the real meaning of “Christian Buzz Words” so that I can more simply communicate what God is doing in my life.  In the church we get so used to Code-Talking that often we don’t even communicate with other believers.  We can hear words so often we just smile and nod but never learn their meaning. 

I meet with a number of people every week to discuss what the Bible says to them.  When we read verses I find myself regularly asking, “What does that word mean?” and more often than not, I get blank stares.  It becomes obvious we’re using words that sound good but that have no real meaning in our lives.  If that’s the case, are we teaching anything? – or learning anything? 

I can remember one of my early spiritual mentors asking me to explain the meaning of a Bible text as if my audience was from a completely different planet, with none of the usual cultural or social references.  It was very difficult to do.  Yet, non-believers are actually from a completely different worldly realm.  They speak a different language and, unless we take great care in our conversations, they will have no idea what we’re talking about.  No wonder our efforts to tell people about Christ can be so weak. 

In a recent article by “Money Talks News” it listed a number of things for which kids born in 2011 would have no experiential understanding.  If a teacher referred to things like video or cassette tapes, movie rental stores, paper maps, wired telephones, long distance calling, dial-up internet, encyclopedias, film cameras, fax machines, or handwritten letters – the student would have no idea what they were talking about.   

Every year, Beloit College in Beloit, Wis., releases its Mindset List to give a snapshot of how the incoming freshmen class views the world. The list for the Class of 2016 includes the comment, “The Biblical sources of terms such as "forbidden fruit," ''the writing on the wall," ''good Samaritan," and "the promised land" are unknown to most of them.” If a young person doesn’t know where the Good Samaritan comes from he certainly won’t know what “saving grace” is all about. 

Can you communicate the good news about Jesus without using code words?  Ask yourself if you understand them.  If you don’t the non-believers in your life certainly won’t.  

The Barna Research Group has reported that one third of Americans have never been to a church of any kind.  Do you think these neighbors and friends understand spiritual jargon?  No!  

The Bible clearly commands Christians to “Go and Tell” the people around us the good news Jesus offers.  But are we clearly going and telling – with no code-talking? 

Think about it….

 

 

I Can Ride In On My Own Abilities - Can't I?

This story is absolutely true…  My father’s older brother – my uncle – wanted to be a great architect and, although he was from a small town in South Dakota, he left home to study at a fancy school “out East.”

Discovering that most of his fellow students were from the upper-classes, he quickly began to feel very much on the outs as the country bumpkin.  He couldn’t play tennis; he didn’t know how to golf or play bridge, so when it came to the finer social activities, he was left out.

He desperately wanted to “belong” so one day, at a fancy country club, he knew he had his big opportunity.  As my uncle was following a group of his school mates, a screaming young girl on a runaway horse rushed away from the stables.  He thought, “Finally, something I know how to do… I’ve been riding since I was a kid.  I’ll show these snobs what riding is all about and save the girl to boot.” 

 

Looking around, he saw a horse grazing quietly next to the riding club and took off at a dead run yelling, “I’ll save you.”  He confidently sprinted up to the horse, placed both his hands on its rump and vaulted up onto the horse’s back grabbing its mane in a single movement.  Thinking this looked like it was right out of a movie scene, my uncle was confident he’d be seen as a real hero by his classmates and finally be accepted into their social circle.

It turns out that the horse was a very old, very gentle child’s riding horse that had been put out to pasture a long time back and as this big man ran up, slapped its rump, landed full on its back, and screamed “HEYAH!” it was too much.  In shock, the old horse passed gas and died where it stood – leaving my uncle sitting on a stinking, dead horse with its mane still clutched in his hand.  So much for playing the hero! 

I’ve been thinking that every time I perceive a circumstance that I believe I can handle in my own strength and with my own abilities, I end up sitting on a stinkin’, dead horse.  

This happened to Israel.  God had been showing them His wonderous power by defeating the enemies of His people… against huge odds God had provided victory over Jericho.  Obviously it was totally God – but Israel got cocky.  One day Joshua sends some spies to look at a little town called Ai.  The story is recorded in Joshua 7:2,3.     

Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” So the men went up and spied out Ai. They returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the people go up; only about two or three thousand men need go up to Ai; do not make all the people toil up there, for they are few.” 

In other words, the spies said, “Ai is just a little town.  We can handle this battle.  Let’s just send a few guys up there and we’ll defeat ‘em.”  So, trusting in their own military ability they attack and end up sitting on a dead, stinkin’ horse of defeat. 

Look at Joshua 7:4,5.  So about three thousand men from the people went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai. The men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of their men, and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them down on the descent, so the hearts of the people melted and became as water.  

When it comes to being used of God for anything, even the smallest service or ministry, I must always remember NOT to rely on my own talents and abilities, because without Christ I’m nothing and able to accomplish nothing.   

Jeremiah 9:23 sums it up for me,  Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches…

It’s not what I know (wisdom) – it’s not what I can do in my strength (might) – it’s not what I have (riches).   

They only thing you and I have for successfully living the Christian life is summed up in the next verse Jeremiah 9:24… but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.  

Do you notice who does the “exercising” in that verse?  That’s right – God does it all.  I can only rejoice and glory that I know God personally through His son, Jesus. 

If you ask me how I’m going to accomplish something in my life, my answer will be Philippians 4:13 and ONLY Philippians 4:13… 

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.  

NO DEAD STINKIN’ HORSES FOR ME!  How about you?

 

Think about it….