February 1st
Shall We Waver At the River…?
The Israelites in the wilderness chose to embrace all the negative reports and the “safe” counsel of men instead of the “riskier” counsel of God. As a result, an entire generation died homeless. They never stepped into the water of transition from the deliverance of bondage to the possession of God's promise. It's time for this generation to dive into the river ( The God Catchers , p. 46, emphasis mine).
Those who follow the living God constantly move forward. If you are a follower and a chaser, you know that if you expect to follow Him, then rivers are not purely recreation stations where you can dip your toes in the water while remaining securely on the apparent safety of the bank. As God Chasers, we all must understand that “ … Rivers are to cross and transition through ” ( The God Catchers, p. 46).
When you are going nowhere and have nothing to accomplish, then wavering, hesitating and stalling become a way of life. If you dare to deny your fears and selfish motives and instead pick up your cross and chase the Savior, then “crossings, transitions, change, and challenge” are your constant companions. 1 Stopping midstream and looking back are not options for you. 2 If you choose to life this kind of life, then it becomes mandatory that you live by faith.
Have you done your share of “wavering at the river”? Are you ready to cross the waters of uncertainty and possess God's purpose for your life—no matter what the cost? Describe what some of the cost may be…
There is nothing wrong with stained glass or well-trained choirs, and preaching is obviously a thoroughly biblical foundation of the Christian life. However, I don't mean to burst a cherished bubble, but God isn't impressed with any of these things. They are for us , not Him ( The God Catchers, p. 47).
According to Paul, Jesus gave the leadership gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher to the church for one major reason: to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. This is where we find the proper place and function of preaching, teaching, exhortation, instruction, and discipleship.
Our problem is that we've grown so fond of our earthly teachers, classrooms, and curriculum that we refuse to graduate from God's prep school and enter the spiritual workplace (the harvest). In other words, we are wavering on the riverbank of temporary comfort and refuse to cross by faith into the land of purpose and promise.
It is not my place to predict what will happen, but we do know that when the Israelites pulled the same stunt, they exchanged their promise from God for a lifetime of purposeless wandering instead.
This is what I was referring to when I said: He only comes to our meetings in response to our worship and our hunger. Remember that earthly brokenness creates heavenly openness. For that reason, I am compelled by the Spirit of God to say what may be one of the oddest statements you will ever see in a Christian book: Don't let church obscure your view of God ( The God Catchers, p 47) .
Do you think a “biblical” church, one framed and operated on the true New Testament model, would “obscure” your view of God? Does the church of this generation “obscure” and block the passionate pursuit of God, or does it fan the flames of god-ward passion and urge forward everyone who would pursue Him?
Our chief function within the church is to love and worship God, and our secondary internal function is to buildup, encourage, and love one another. Our chief function outside the church is to be a witness to the city, to the whole nation and neighboring countries, and to the end of the world” and make disciples of all nations.
In your study of God's Word, have you ever found the task of “Pleasing Self” noted on God's list? So who put it there? Since the apostle Paul told us to examine and test ourselves, ask yourself this question: “If I remove that illegal entry from my God Chasing list, how am I doing as a disciple of Christ? How is my local church doing?
What Do You Think?
I didn't see any use in “gathering” at the river if I couldn't float on it, fish in it, cross it, or jump in for a refreshing swim. I never really understood the songs we used to sing until I met the One we were singing about. I wonder how long, in our collective immaturity, we have sung about His presence without ever diving in? (page 46)
1. What do you think? How many times—or how many years—have you sung about entering His presence without even sensing it, let alone “diving in”? How desperate are you to experience the Real Thing?
2. What do you think? Did all of this talk about “His presence” begin to make more sense after you experienced your first encounter with God's manifest presence—or are you still waiting for that encounter?
Scripture Reading
Hebrews 3:14–4:1 and Numbers 13:17–14:38; where we discover the danger of wavering in unbelief when God command us to jump into His purpose by faith.
14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,
15 while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?
17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
4:1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.
The New King James Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1998, c1982.
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Prayer
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Dear Lord, by Your grace I will deny myself daily, take up my cross, and chase after You. Grant me the grace to be graceful to those who refuse to chase with me, or who may even try to hinder my pursuit of Your presence. Have mercy on the church and continue Your purifying work in her, Lord. We desperately need You.
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February 2nd
Go Ahead: Laugh And Cry
(You're In a Good Place)
Once you reach the point where it is all you can do to maintain your composure, my question is, Why try? (The God Catchers, p. 36).
There is a certain security for God Chasers who come to “the end of themselves.” This is important to understand because since becoming a God Chaser (or even a God Catcher from time to time) offers no guarantee that trouble or difficulty won't come your way. In fact, God's Word guarantees it will arrive at your address. Paul said, “… all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
Have you read this passage before? Even if you have, does the reality of Paul's words still possess the “voltage” to shock you into a new level of thoughtfulness and reevaluation? (Do you think God planned it that way?)
True God Chasers have no regard for “pie-in-the-sky” theologies or false concepts of “rose garden discipleship.” If life is that easy all of the time, then there may be more of you than of Him at the center of it all. He is the God who loves, sacrifices, and gives much; those who follow Him must be prepared to do the same.
God Chasers don't chase comfort, although they often receive it in abundance. They don't even chase joy, although it is theirs almost without limit. They don't chase the gifts, provisions, and prosperity of God, although they are all delightful, necessary, and much appreciated. They ask for them when necessary and where required in the Scriptures, but their chief desire is set on Him and His manifested glory. (They know that everything else comes with Him anyway.)
If these passages offended you, do you know why? Did they catch your attention because some of these characteristics apply to your own life? What do you sense the Holy Spirit is saying about it?
It is inevitable that at many points in the chase, a God Chaser must come to the end of himself. Most of the time it comes at the point where human strength and ability ends and divine provision begins. At other times, the end comes when obstacles or storms stirred up by the Adversary overwhelm a God Chaser and make him despair for life and hope—but for the grace of God. To be honest, the end sometimes comes because of our own sin, delay, disobedience, fear, or unresolved problems we refuse to let God solve.
Have you ever reached the end of yourself only to ask, “Is it just me? Am I destined for failure or is there more?” Sometimes it's good to ask those questions, but where did you go from there?
Regardless of how you reach the end of yourself, God is able to transform it into a new beginning and gateway to joy. I read somewhere that “… all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” I'm convinced that “when you don't know whether to laugh or cry, you may be in a good place” (p. 36).
We should be reassured and encouraged when God brings us to the point where we don't know whether to laugh or cry. If nothing else, it means that God is at work in you “both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” A holy hunger is being fired up inside you that will take you to the edge of dissatisfaction and joy at the same time … ( The God Catchers, p. 35).
Are you (or someone you know) at the end of yourself right now? Have you hit bottom so hard that you don't know whether to laugh or cry? God is at work, and He has more than failure in store …
More Erroneous Assumptions, Presumptions and Misaligned Paradigms
Christians in general seem to have an obsession with the erroneous assumption that they must “maintain their composure at all costs.” Do you see evidence of this happening in the life and ministry of Jesus? List some examples from the Gospels where people “lost their composure or ditched their dignity” to receive something from Jesus. (Hint: See Matthew 15:22-28, Mark 2:1-12, 10:46-52; Luke 19:1-10.)
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Prayer
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Lord, it's come to this: I don't have anything left to give. I'm tired, discouraged, and over my head in troubled waters. If You don't show up, no one else should even bother. I'm hungry for You—at any cost. Nothing less than You will do this time. I don't need just a miracle, I'm after the Miracle Worker Himself! I'm on the edge of ragged dissatisfaction and unspeakable joy, and I'm determined to cross over the line.
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February 3rd
For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. --Hebrews 10:36
When God needs a person for His service-a good person, an effective
person, a humble person-why does He most often turn to a person in deep trouble? Why does He seek out a person deep in the crucible of suffering, a person who is not the jovial, "happy-happy" kind? I can only say that this is the way of God with His human creation....
Ezekiel did not come out of pleasant and favorable circumstances. The light had gone out in his heart. He probably thought that God takes a long time to work out His will.
Does not this same view surface in much of our Christian fellowship? We do not want to take the time to plow and to cultivate. We want the fruit and the harvest right away! We do not want to be engaged in any spiritual battle that takes us into the long night. We want the morning light right now! We do not want to go through the processes of planning and preparation and labor
pains. We want the baby this instant!
We do not want the cross. We are more interested in the crown.
The condition is not peculiar to our century. Thomas a Kempis wrote long ago, "The Lord has many lovers of His crown but few lovers of His cross." Men Who Met God, 115.
"Lord, make me a lover of Your cross as well as a lover of Your crown.
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Prayer
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Dear Lord, please give me the gift of patience..
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February 4th
This morning I woke up to singing – I felt HE WAS NOT JUST SINGING OVER ME BUT HE WAS SINGING OVER ALL OF US.… I did nothing… He was just singing … and to be honest I didn’t feel worthy…….. but it is not about me it’s about HIS LOVE – FOR US!!!
Luk 15:3 So He told this allegory to them, saying,
Luk 15:4 "What man from [among]go after the one having been lost until he finds it? you*, having a hundred sheep and having lost one of them, does not leave behind the ninety-nine in the wilderness and
Luk 15:5 "A having found [it], he puts [it] on his own shoulders rejoicing.
Luk 15:6 "And having come into his house, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, because I found my sheep, the one having been lost!'
Luk 15:7 "I say to you*, in the same way [there] will be [more] joy in heaven over one sinner repenting than over ninety-nine righteous [people] who have no need of repentance.
Jesus takes the initiative to come and find us – we were and often aren’t looking for him we are in the “wilderness” lost, confused, and just wandering around. It says He looks until He finds us.
He immediately says nothing but says everything – He picks us up and puts us on His shoulders (demonstrating His deep love and making sure we get home) it says He is rejoicing. We were lost, He searches for us until He finds us, picks us up carries us home and He is rejoicing. Then He calls all of heaven to come and rejoice as well. This concept is expressed in Zephaniah 3 as the Lord goes and rescues Israel (again) Zep 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice(sing) over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
The result of His loving us is that there is a change of heart (we repent – we turn away from our sin and turn to His affection/forgiveness. Isn’t this an on going process? Oh there we go again…… wait isn’t that Him coming toward us… is that a smile on His face……. Yes it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Prayer
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Dear Lord, please grant me the gift of divine joy.
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February 5th
Not Yet "Due Time"
But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. --Job 23:10
God has said He will exalt you in due time, but remember, He is referring to His time and not yours!
Some of you are actually in a fiery furnace right now. You are in a special kind of spiritual testing. The pastor may not know it and others may not know it, but you have been praying and asking the Lord: "Why don't you get me out of this?"
In God's plan it is not yet "due time." When you have come through the fire, God will get you out and there will not be any smell of smoke on your garment and you will not have been harmed.
The only harm that can come will be from your insistence that God must get you out sooner than He plans.
The Lord has promised to exalt you in due time and He has always kept His promises to His people.
As children, we can always afford to wait. A saint of God does not have to be concerned about time when he is in the will of God. I Call It Heresy! pp. 116-117
"Lord, I pray this morning for anyone who is 'actually in a fiery furnace right now.' Give great grace to endure until the 'due time' when You bring release and exaltation.
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Prayer
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Dear Lord, like Job, help me to wait until my change come.
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February 6th
It’s Better To Be a Hungry Baby
Than a Stuffed and Complacent “Maybe”
[God] has noticed that the repetitive falsehoods are fading away, and He’s waiting for them to be replaced by a new vocabulary of honesty: “No, I am not all right, and everything isn’t fine—I’m hungry! (The God Catchers, p. 63).
On rare occasions, instinctive human behavior appears to faintly resemble divine behavior. For instance, when was the last time you saw a flock of adults rush toward another adult to coo, ooh and ah, and make a big fuss over them? When was the last time you saw this happen when a little baby was brought into a room?
Is it wrong to imply that Christians should remain babies in some way? Is it possible or desirable to somehow “grow up” in Christ while retaining a baby’s total dependence and crying need for Him? (Are you interested?)
Perhaps you noticed that there is something about childlike dependency, trust, and urgent need in the human heart that captures the heart of Divinity. Jesus had His “little ones” in mind when He issued some of the New Testament’s strongest and most severe warnings about misuse and abuse.2 He was talking about more than natural babies and toddlers—He was referring to everyone, young and old, who cried out to Him with juvenile cries of desperation and dependency.
Are you convinced that His words apply you? Why or why not?
God loves us all without showing partiality; but He does extend the extra care and protection found in His presence to those who openly demonstrate their urgent need for Him.
Hungry babies just aren’t intimidated by the people around them. They put their total focus and energy on their hunger and the source of their satisfaction. At the height of their hunger, they make no room for distractions of any kind (The God Catchers, p. 62).
In contrast, many Christians do their best to demonstrate their independence and self-sufficiency in public worship gatherings. They would never think of “going forward” in a public invitation for prayer. Such a transparent admission of need is unacceptable because it would reveal politically incorrect cracks in their carefully cultivated façade of Christian perfection. In their determined effort not to attract any attention to their need, they’ve also managed to totally lose God’s interest and attention!
Where do you fit in this picture? Are you a “bold and hungry baby” in His presence or a “stuffed and complacent maybe” who approaches worship on a whim, willing to worship Him as long as you feel like it?
Some of us have “faked fullness” for most of our Christian lives. Whether in church or on the job, we live with a “pasted-on smile,” and we refuse to leave home without it. The truth is that more and more Christian “fakers of fullness” are saying, “I’ve had enough of that.” Their inner hunger is beginning to get the best of them, and God is beginning to get interested once again (The God Catchers, p. 63).
Have you had enough? Is your inner hunger level beginning to get the best of you?
Remember where you have been, but always dare to dream.
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Prayer
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Dear Lord, revive me to be real
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February 7th
God Doesn't Do
“Out of the Box Revival”
God has to break through our programs before He can break out and manifest His presence among us. He has to demolish our artificial intelligence (our dim and sometimes haughty imitation of His omniscience) and artificial spirituality (our programs) to bring in the real thing and take a city or nation.
Unfortunately, it is a rare church that can handle the divine call to self-demolition and re-ignition by the fire of God ( The God Catchers , p. 48).
No one seems to know whether our fixation with repetitive formulas and fixed equations stems from our earliest experiences in elementary schoolrooms or from our innate search for unchanging security in our ever-changing world. (It makes me wonder why people don't set their sights on the unchanging God of eternity instead of the lowly world of human repetition.)
In what areas can you see this compulsion for “sameness” operating in your life? Is it necessarily wrong? Does it belong in your times of praise and worship to God?
Professional athletes do it when they carefully tuck a “lucky rabbit foot” in their pocket or wear their “lucky T-shirt” from the 1996 championship season under their uniform for every game. Why? They want to experience the same success they experienced in 1996.
Marketing researchers do it every time they design an advertisement or product package using “tried and proven” colors, shapes, and appeals that worked the year before.
Churches and worshipers do it when they insist on reproducing the exact song, the same order of service, or the prime preaching mode that worked last year or in another city where revival broke out. We instinctively repackage the success of yesterday to produce a program for today in the hope that somehow it will bring revival.
Have you ever seen this “repackage the anointing” mode at work in your life or anywhere else in the Christian world? What were the results? Did God reveal His manifest glory because of these things or in spite of them?
It seems to me that even if our habitual “repackaging and programming” tactics worked, God would go out of His way not to endorse them by showing up. Why? His track record throughout recorded history reveals His ancient hatred for anything that separates Him from His children. That includes anything and everything that encourages us to take Him for granted or act presumptuously toward things holy (and I can't think of a better definition for this bad habit of dressing up memories of yesterday's visitations as today's manifestations).
He wants to preserve the joy and freshness of our encounters together, and equations and formulas do exactly the opposite.
… God wants to “break outside of the box.” That means that our hunger has to get bigger than the religious box we've built over multiplied centuries of man-centered religious practice. We must have an uncontainable hunger to entertain our uncontainable God . That automatically disqualifies the religious program ( The God Catchers, pp. 49, 50).
Are you tired of trying to satisfy your spiritual hunger on the meager feast provided by yesterday's revelations and visitations? Is your hunger great enough to propel you past the obstacles of tradition, rigid programs and lowered expectations?
Will you let Him overturn your table of religious trinkets in return for the Real Thing?
Erroneous Assumptions, Presumptions and Misaligned Paradigms
Yet the fact is that rivers are to cross and transition through. The Israelites in the wilderness chose to embrace all the negative reports and the “safe” counsel of men instead of the “riskier” counsel of God. As a result, an entire generation died homeless. They never stepped into the water of transition from the deliverance of bondage to the possession of God's promise. It's time for this generation to dive into the river (page 46).
1. For centuries, the church has viewed the twin rivers of “change and challenge” as obstacles to be avoided, and enemies to be feared. Can you name specific instances in your life where a local church has “stalled at the river of challenge” and failed to cross into God's blessings through unbelief or fear?
2. What command of God to individuals or entire congregations does not include a commission to change and a call to meet a challenge? Given a choice, will most people embrace change and tackle a challenge or escape change and sidestep a challenge?
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Prayer
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Dear Lord, help me to change and tackle the challenges it brings.
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