True Light and Peace

Coming to the end of a year, a question often arises. Do we look back before looking forward, or do we face only the future closing the door on the past? To answer that question, we must ask another. Is the fear of pain from the past too great to consider when thinking about the new year? Let’s conjecture that looking back helps prepare us for the future and helps us see and experience both joyful and hard times with balance, with peace. How can these be?

Consider what John said in John 1:10. He spoke of Jesus, the “true Light,” when he said, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.” The Son existed before He created the world, and yet the world did not know Him. Still, God did not count that against humanity completely. He desired to have a relationship with each person, who though sinful was loved by Him. God’s desire for a relationship led Him to plan a way for each person to receive complete cleansing from sins and renewing of a right relationship with Him. This plan is God’s provision of salvation from sin’s penalty by the pure sin sacrifice of Jesus, His Son, the Light John spoke of in John 1.

John said more in verse ten. He said, “The world did not know Him.” This word “know” comes from the Greek word ginosko. It means to realize something through personal experience. If you recall meeting a person unfamiliar to you, first you may have seen the person, but not known the person’s name. Next you would have heard the name of the person, but not met the person. The following step in an experiential relationship of knowing a person was being introduced to the person or meeting and introducing one’s self to the person. The next step of knowing this new person was to look purposefully for the person where you expected him or her to be, like at school or the shop. The following step would be to call the person to get to know him or her better. Later you may have planned together to go jointly somewhere. As you spent more time together, you learned of the person’s likes and dislikes. You strove to give him or her what he or she liked. Finally, you committed with your heart, mind, body, and soul to be best friends, husband and wife, or some other close relationship. This is what ginosko means. It means a gradual, experiential knowing someone.

Moses taught this same understanding of our verb “to know” to the Hebrews when he returned to Egypt and led them from Egypt to the Promised Land. The word he used was yada. Yada has the same meaning. Moses showed the Hebrews the power of his God when he proclaimed the plagues over Egypt. Next, he showed them the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night telling them it was God’s presence protecting and guiding them. The Hebrews learned to recognize and expect God in those ways. As Moses set up a tent of tabernacle wherever they encamped, the people learned that meeting with God is real. He is as near as your own being and as far away as the heavens. They saw Moses’ face glowing from being in the presence of God’s glory. Moses continued to make God known to the Israelites throughout His forty years as their leader. By the time the Israelites entered the Promised Land, they knew God and covenanted with Him that He would be their sole God and they would be His people. The Israelites came to know God experientially, too.

This understanding of “knowing” is what John meant when he said, “The world did not know Him (Jesus).” Through the Old Testament period, the Jews had the commandments of God, which were to lead them to Him to have a relationship with Him. Still, the Jews often strayed from a relationship with God. They sinned, and He disciplined them. The Israelites enemies captured, scattered, and/or took some of them into captivity. Their national land size decreased. The Israelites worshiped other gods. Finally, during the 400 years before Christ’s birth, silence reigned over the land when no prophets of God spoke for Him to the Israelites. “The world did not know Him.” John was right. Even the Jews did not know Jesus. “Jesus came to His own (the Jews), and they did not know Him,” John said in verse eleven.

We each need to consider our first question and answer it for ourselves. Do we look back before looking forward, or do we face only the future closing the door on the past? Knowing God is not just an intellectual action. It is a response of faith and acceptance of Christ, the One who made God known. When we consider our first question, we must decide if we know God through Jesus Christ. Can you hear His questions?

“Did you know Me when happiness came to you this year? Did you seek Me to thank Me for what I did for you and for being in a relationship with you? Did you seek to use the blessing I gave you for My purposes or did you withhold it?”

“Did you know Me when the dark abyss knocked at your door? Did you seek Me and My will or did you turn your back on Me doubting My love for you?”

In each of these situations, you can do God’s will. What is His will? That we know Him, love Him, and show our love of Him by our obedience to Him. That we glorify Him, not ourselves or what we own, will do, or will become. Oswald Chambers surmised that if we follow God’s will and experience pain, then we are being pulled by other things and God. We are torn in two. Chambers says that comes from lack of trusting God to take care of us. Pain, also, comes to grow us. God allows pain to occur. Sometimes we grow more when walking through pain. When Peter saw Jesus walking on the water in the storm, he immediately climbed from the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. While he kept his eyes on Jesus and not the storm-tossed waves, he walked. When Peter took his eyes off Jesus, he sank. (Matthew 14:22-33)

God allows storms to grow us. We have a choice in how we will approach each storm. Will we trust God and walk while keeping our eyes on Him, or will we take our eyes off God and flounder? How well we know God, ginosko, determines the answer to this question. If you only know God when someone points out what He did, then you might succumb to the storm. If you know God as your personal Savior and have a deep, personal relationship with Him through regular Bible reading and studying, praying, and listening to Bible teaching and preaching, then you will grow stronger in the Lord as you walk with Him. A close relationship with God includes loving Him and doing His will. Paul said in Romans 8:28, “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” From this close relationship with Him, trust grows. When trust grows, then the peace of God, given through Christ becomes part of a person’s life through the joys and trials. Jesus spoke of this peace He offers in John 14:27 when he told the disciples He would soon go prepare a place for them. He said, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

As we consider the new year coming, we return to our first question. Do we look back before looking forward, or do we face only the future while closing the door on the past? Are you afraid to look back at this year when looking ahead to 2019? Do you only consider the future and slam the door on the past because you don’t want to face it again? If you know God, you do not have to fear the past or the future. You do not have to make resolutions to ensure the upcoming new year is better than this year. Instead, trust God to take care of your new year and your pain from this year. Allow yourself not to be self-sufficient, but to trust in God. How do you do this? How do you trust God with your year and your life? Get to know Him, really know Him. Knowing God starts as an intellectual exercise, but it must go beyond the mind to the heart and soul. Oswald Chambers said, “Belief is a deliberate act of my will, not an intellectual act, where I deliberately commit myself to God and obedience to Him.” (My Utmost for His Highest, December 22^nd) Truly knowing God is a deliberate act of your will. Jesus told us to love the Lord with our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Once you begin truly knowing God through seeking Him with your whole being and through belief in Jesus as your Savior, then you trust Him more and receive the peace He gives to every believer.

When you get to the start of the new year, looking back helps you recall where you walked with your eyes on Jesus and where you did not. It helps you gauge your relationship with God so you can grow closer to Him with each day of the new year. Looking back at the last year helps you see where you had peace because of knowing God.  It helps you see where you did not have peace because you tried to manage in your own strength. You can experience peace in the new year when life is stormy and when calm. Knowing and trusting God through Jesus Christ gives peace for all situations.

Are you ready to slam the door on this year thinking next year has to be better? The new year can be better if you seek the Lord to know Him with your heart, soul, and mind, and obey Him. Knowing and trusting God does not mean you will not experience storms. It means you can live with peace during the storms.

Knowing God grows trust and gives peace.

"Twas the Night After Christmas

‘Twas the night after Christmas.

When candles and flick’ring lights went out,

Presents unwrapped and carols sung,

No one gaily dancing about.

Trees’ piney branches drop needles;

Winter wreaths and flowers droop.

Cinnamon candles still alight.

Mothers make second day soup.

Conversations tell of wishes met,

Children’s racing dreams came true.

Paper and boxes lie empty

Revealing the special day is through.

In the corner one thing lingers

Wrapped merrily with vibrant bow.

Not one person has beheld it,

That the kindly Giver did bestow.

Hidden among the shredded paper

Lay the gift desired above all;

This gift so often forgotten

Yet most important though unheeded its call.

Nothing shiny, nor newly bought,

But a precious gift given free,

The breath of heaven come down

As the gift given for those who believe.

Neither under the green fir tree,

Nor atop the grandest of thrones,

This present of Holy Father

Born in the humblest of abodes.

The child born that holy Christmas night

Laid under the star’s shining gleam

Lived and died within humanity’s vision

Raised up willingly on a tree.

How fitting we yearly put up a tree

Place a star for each to remember

The stripped tree on which He hung

And died for all to enter.

With this gift no paper remains;

No day after blues, no gift unclaimed.

With this gift, joyful carols still peal

Laughter and joy eternal remain.

Candles and lights shine brightly still

While nature lives yet to proclaim

The glories of God on the throne;

His mercy washes out the stain.

‘Twas the joyous night after Christmas

Gaiety danced because of His love.

Laughter echoed, whispers shouted

Each telling of His love from above.

--Gail M. Suratt Davis

Trusting Peace

"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” John 14:27 (NASB)

So often we fail in having/experiencing peace where we have no control over a situation or outcome. Yes, we believed in Jesus for our salvation and we have peace about our sins and salvation, but as we grow, we find other areas of our life that we withhold from God, maybe not intentionally, but withheld it is. How do we know we do this? We are frantic, agitated, and have no peace and no rest. We scramble trying to make “it” work or trying to change an outcome. We worry about a person, a job, a home, anything really. This shows us we are not at peace. It shows we have not given everything to God to take care of. We haven’t entrusted that person, situation, or thing into His care wanting His perfect will. Why? We are afraid and don’t trust God. We are afraid pain may be involved-pain in our hearts. We are afraid God won’t give us what we want.

This fear, this being afraid, does not come from God, but from Satan. He uses our humanness to desire things knowing they contradict God’s perfect will for our lives. Satan uses our human frailness of desire to lead us not to trust God completely. He leans into us and we lean away from God. Fear becomes a resident emotion. It stays until we trust God and give to Him that part of our lives-the person, situation, or thing with which we wrestle for our own outcome. To grasp the peace of God, we must let go of our desire for these finite things and instead desire God, trust Him and hold onto Him. We should pray for the strength to grasp the peace of God. God’s peace is everlasting and is not fleeting like the peace the world gives. Getting that thing, conquering that situation, or gaining that person’s trust, allegiance, and/or covenant gives peace only for a time, not for eternity. Fear then will return. If we grasp onto God by trusting Him in that situation instead of trying to take care of it ourselves, then God’s peace given to us will carry us through as we trust Him and follow Him with obedience.

Often it seems easier to get the peace the world offers because we can work at it for ourselves. The work ethic has taught us self-sufficiency. “Why ask God for something I can do myself,” is often what we think. When we do this, we make ourselves our god instead of seeking God’s will and letting Him provide what we need and sometimes what we want. When we gain what we want through the actions of our own hands, we have peace, but it doesn’t last. We realize too late we didn’t seek God, trust Him, and get His peace. It seems hard to keep hold of the trust in God that gives His peace. Our trust is imperfect; yet we say, “But I trust Him, I trusted Him for my salvation. Doesn’t that mean I trust Him?” Trust in God grows in us as we seek Him and His perfect will. God permits us to make decisions. Those times of decision are where we can exercise trust in Him, grow more like Christ, and gain peace.

How do we do trust God more? How do we re-orient our minds so that we seek God first instead of striving for ourselves to gain what we want? We must go back to the time of our salvation and then walk through our memories recalling the times God worked in our lives. These spiritual markers remind us of who God has been for us, what characteristics of God we saw at work in each of those situations. To trust God for our current situation(s), we must remember His love, grace, and mercy that provided salvation for us. He still loves us and wants good for us. Paul stated this same thing in Romans 8:28 when he said, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

As we continue our walk through our memory garden of spiritual markers, we arrive at a marker that reminds us of God’s power, might and dominion. That marker came from the moment we recognized God created us with His creative power and provided for and protected us with His mighty hand. He is greater and mightier than all things created. That is when we also realized He is Ruler; He has dominion over all. We realized we could trust Him to do what He said He would do. We realized He would take care of all our needs. Now we must take that trust that comes from believing these things and more. Don’t let it be hidden from our hearts and minds. Receive God’s peace because of it. He is Lord over all. Nothing defeats Him or surprises Him.

God already has the plan to take care of our situations for which we thought we had to strive. We must trust His heart and receive the peace He gives through His indwelling Holy Spirit. Remember, Jesus said to His disciples in John 14 He would send His Spirit to teach and bring to remembrance all He said. The Holy Spirit is the Helper. He will remind us of God’s truth.

Trusting God and receiving His peace sounds easy when we step back to gain perspective. That process of stepping back from our situation is the first step toward peace. Our humanness gets in the way of seeing and/or obeying God and skews our perspective if we don’t step back. When we step back, we realize we are not the god of our lives. We realize we will not receive lasting peace if we seek our own will. When we step back, we recognize God is bigger than our circumstance and our desires. These do not define or limit Him. He is still Master and defines and limits our situation. God provides the correct way and that gives perfect peace. Doing this, stepping back and letting God take control of the situation, grows our trust in Him. It gives us another spiritual marker upon which to look back in the future to remind us of when God led the way, gave us the better way, and gave us lasting peace.

Having peace requires effort on our part. That effort is stepping back and trusting God’s perfect will to effect the best plan for our situation. Christ offers peace. He said in John 14:27, “Peace I give you.” We must accept and grasp Christ’s peace by stepping back and letting God be Lord of our lives. We are each works in progress. None of us on this side of heaven is completely remade into the image of God. We are daily being made more like Jesus. We must daily set our hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1). We must take to heart, and put into our minds and spirits, the final phrase of John 14:27. He said, “Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” Jesus gives peace, lasting peace, unlike what the world gives. Will we step back from our situations, see God as our Lord, the mighty, powerful Ruler, and trust and obey Him in the situation? We should not trust in ourselves to deliver us from our situations and desires, but rather we should trust in God who raises the dead, creates all things, and loves and saves us from our sins. (2 Corinthians 1:8-10) Trusting and obeying God gives perfect, lasting peace.

“Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”

NEW BOOK!

Chosen Woven-ness: 

Obeying God, Ministering to Refugees

God gives each person free will when He creates them. He loves us enough to give this freedom to us. We must decide with the free will God gave each person if we will obey this internal and written mandate to care for the oppressed, widowed, poor, orphaned, and alien. We must decide if we will weave our weft threads on the loom with the refugees’ and asylum-seekers’ warp threads to make a beautiful tapestry with God. This tapestry woven together is stronger than the individual, singular weft threads or warp threads. With this woven tapestry, “we” and “them” become “us” that supports, encourages, helps, teaches, feeds, and walks alongside as the family God envisioned humanity to be. We each get to choose to be woven by God into the beautiful tapestry of community and love. This is chosen woven-ness. You get to choose; God does not force you. If you choose not to weave into the lives of others in your community, you force the gifts God gave you to stagnate or extinguish. You become the weaker person in the community because you do not have the strength of the whole community, only your own. 

Will you choose to be woven by God into His tapestry of a compassionate and loving humanity? 

This is a decision each person must make for him or herself whether you are a Christian or not. Will you choose to care for your neighbor, the refugee who lives near you? Or, will you ignore them?

Get your copy of this book from Amazon Kindle for $4.99 + tax. 

Click on this picture to go to the website.

More than Prayer

“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.” Colossians 4:2 [NASB]

Paul wrote this verse is written in the letter to the church at Colossae. He wrote it because of a heresy that was causing problems in this Gentile Christian church. Paul wanted to expose the heresy, stop it, and encourage the church in their faith.

Notice Paul did not write to them and command them to keep praying, being vigilant and thankful when things were good. He commanded these three things when things were gray and troublesome in the Colossae church. What Paul specifically told the Colossian Christians is very important.

He told them to devote/persist, that means to persevere steadfastly. This command uses an active verb. Don’t let something or someone cause you to stop praying. Don’t make your request to God once. Be persistent. Pray and keep on praying. Once you have a relationship with someone, you don’t just suddenly stop relating to that person. That is not relationship. Relationship requires work from humans. It requires commitment and determination to keep on relating. Prayer is relating with God. It is seeking Him, speaking to Him, and asking for His will to be done. Therefore, from the first part of this verse, Paul commanded the Christians of Colossae should pray and keep on devoting themselves to prayer. Don’t stop when you ask once. Keep praying because you are in a relationship with God. Keep praying because God hasn’t answered your prayer yet. Keep praying because asking is not the only part of prayer.

Next in this verse, Paul said, “keeping alert in it.” Again, this is an active continuing verb. This command means you don’t just make your request then go about your business. It goes along with persistently devote yourselves to prayer. Pray and keep praying. Keeping alert or being watchful is an active verb that means to be on the alert, be awake, expect God to act upon your prayer to Him. When you pray, God hears and will answer. Expect Him to answer and wait and keep on waiting expecting Him to answer. This vigilance is like the watchman on the wall of a fortress. He knows the enemy is out there and so he will keep watching so he is not caught off guard. When we pray, we know God is there listening to us and with that knowing-our faith in God-we can expect and should keep on expecting that He will answer in some way. Don’t ask and then walk away. Don’t ask and say, “Oh well, God doesn’t really love me.” He does love you. God might have a bigger plan in action than what you asked for. Watch and He will often surprise you in how He answers your prayers.

The final command of this verse Paul wrote in his letter is “keeping an attitude of thanksgiving.” This verb denotes activity, too. It comes in relation to “keeping alert.” If one does not expect God to answer, one does not anticipate having to give thanks. Keeping alert anticipates God answering prayer. Keeping alert gives an impetus for us to be thankful. As we pray, we can be thankful we have a relationship with God. As we pray, we can be thankful for what God is going to do, though we may not know how He will do it. Devoting ourselves to prayer and being alert should mean we are ready to give thanks when God answers and for how He answers. Finally, being watchful and alert means we thank God afterwards for hearing our prayers and being faithful to His relationship with us.

Without anticipation of God hearing and answering our prayers, we don’t stay alert and watchful and we are not thankful for whatever happens in life. Sometimes God appears not to answer prayer. Sometimes God’s answers seem contrary to that for which we asked. Other times, God’s answers are so beyond anything we could think or imagine, and we are amazed at how He answered our prayers. The first scenario when it seems God does not answer our prayers reveals that we have either not been alert after we prayed, or we have not been thankful and so are blinded by our lack of growth in relationship or self-centeredness. The second scenario when God seems to answer our prayers in ways contrary to what we want or expect reveals the smallness of our thinking and pettiness of mind. We have not grown enough in our relationship with and faith in God to see that how God answered was for our good, though it may have hurt when He answered because He was growing us. The third scenario reveals a person who prayed and kept on praying, stayed alert and watchful expecting God to answer, and was always ready to thank God for who He is, what He was going to do, and what He did to answer our prayers. God answers prayer in ways we expect, in ways we can’t fathom and leaves us amazed, and sometimes waits to answer so that we can grow in our faith and relationship to Him.

Paul taught the Colossian Christians to steadfastly and persistently pray. He taught them to be ever watchful and expect God to answer prayer. Keep alert, he commanded. Finally, Paul taught the people always to be ready to give thanks to God because of His faithfulness to you. You can do this knowing that in whatever way He answered, His love for you and His will are perfect. God is to be thanked and praised for being omniscient, omnipotent, loving, merciful, and faithful to you.

Let’s put this lesson of Paul’s into perspective. This year has been one of the hardest, if not the hardest, my family has endured in almost twenty years and possibly the whole 30 years of my family’s life. We’ve experienced eleven major life stressors this year-illnesses, surgeries, torn ligaments, three deaths, family members walking away from their faith, and a handful of other things. Going through each of these stressors is hard. Going through them back to back is almost life-crushing.

As the year unfolded, we periodically looked back at the year at what happened. We saw where God’s hand entered into our lives to undergird, sustain, protect, guide, and provide for us. We didn’t enjoy going through the stressors. Some of them were downright painful to our hearts and minds. Still, we kept up our relationship with God. We persistently devoted ourselves to prayer daily minute by minute. We know Who reigns over all and Who will always be victorious. We trust God completely. That is how we were able to stand up during this year. We knew God would answer. We didn’t know how, when, or where, just that He is faithful and would intervene. We watched and waited for Him to answer and intervene. It did not seem at times as if He had, but those times of looking back helped us gain perspective to see where God had walked with us and sometimes carried us through the storms. Because of this year, our faith in God is stronger and our relationship, love, and trust of Him has grown exponentially.

Our faith in God made us persistent pray-ers and made us stay alert because we knew God had a plan and would answer. Our faith in God meant we could be thankful even before God answered prayer because He is always faithful to His children. He always does what is best for us though at the times it may hurt and seem not to be the best way. Perspective often comes when you look back over that time and recognize God’s hand intervening in places. Only then can you see a better picture of what God was doing for you and in you.

We could thank God for what He would do and Who we know He is. We could also thank God for how He was going to get us through the stressors. When we think we have it all figured out, God often surprises us with His ways because our view is so limited. He sees all possibilities and knows what is best for us, which is to grow us closer to Him and for us to be more like Him. Finally, we can be thankful after going through these stressors because God led us to the stressors and through them. He did not shelter and pamper us from hardships. God loves us enough to want us to grow and allows trials and testing to come into our lives to mold us and make us stronger. He does it because He is stronger than the trial and expects to help us go through them. You see, often people can’t get through hard times because they have forgotten to hold onto the One Who is greater than the trial. We humans lose focus and see the storm instead of the Master of the storms. When we lose our focus, we become like Peter who began to sink into the sea as he looked at the magnitude of the storm instead of the love and power of the Savior. He let troubles blind him to the power of God.

Paul did not teach the Colossians, “Do as I say and not as I do.” He taught from his personal experience with God. Paul had lived through persecution, flogging, imprisonment, and a myriad of other things. Yet he could still say, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.” Paul still had a relationship with God as he went through a trial and afterwards. He expected God to answer his prayers and so he kept alert. Paul even praised and thanked the Lord before He answered his prayers. He was bold as to preach while in prison knowing preaching the gospel was what got him put into prison. Paul had learned the reality of an active alert, and thankful relationship with God. He prayed without ceasing because he knew Who is Lord and Master over all things and people. As some say today, Paul had an “attitude of gratitude.” He expected to thank God and so began immediately.

Have you kept your relationship with God during everything that has occurred in your life this year? Have you persistently prayed? Have you actively watched for God to work and answer your prayers? Have you thanked God for what He has done and, even before that, for who He is and what He was going to do? Each of part of this verse, these three commands, is active and continuous. They do not exist in isolation from each other. I encourage you to look back on your year and see where you kept up your prayers to God, where you actively sought Him to work, where you stopped expecting Him to answer your prayers, and where you have given or not given thanks for what He did. If at no other time in this year, this time of Thanksgiving should strongly encourage us to reflect on this year to see how we fared in our relationship with God.

Dear Lord, I am so fallible and sinful. I am selfish and see only my needs and my ways of fixing them. Please forgive me of my sin of self-centeredness. Forgive me of my laziness in relating to You. Forgive me of my lack of thankfulness and praise of You. Teach me, nudge me, remind me to devote myself to our relationship, to actively wait and watch for You, and to keep thanking You even when it seems You are silent. I thank You now for what You have done this year, and what You are going to do now and in this next year. I trust You completely. Let Your will be done.

Choosing to Love

In John 14:15, Jesus said to His disciples, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Before this verse, the disciples questioned Jesus about how to get to where He was going. Jesus explained if they knew Him, then they knew the Father and His love. He also said, the works He does, the disciples would do, too, because He goes to the Father. Next, Jesus instructed them to pray to the Father in His name asking for anything. He said He would do it-answer their prayers.

Notice, keeping Christ’s commandments comes after Jesus told them the Father loves them, He is going to the Father, the disciples would do works like Him, and they could pray asking the Father for help. Each of these assumes a personal, impacting relationship with Jesus. Without Jesus, they would not know the Father. Without Him, they would not know the works to do. Without Jesus, their prayers would have no intercessor. From this, Jesus next spoke verse fifteen.

With verse fifteen, Jesus made a profound statement for which the disciples possibly had not connected all the dots. He spoke a conditional statement with a command. Jesus said, “If you love Me.” Jesus never demanded love, obedience, or people to follow Him. Love should never have to resort to these, for these are not love. Demanded loved is involuntary slavery. Jesus never required the disciples love Him. Love of Jesus is willful; it is voluntary. Each person chooses to love or not love Jesus. It is not a requirement for living on earth. What kind of love, then, did Jesus speak about in this verse? This love is agape love. The love of Christ by any person is a preferring of Him over all others, including one’s self. This kind of love is a choosing to embrace Him and what He stands for in our hearts and our lives. Each person who chooses to love Jesus and live in this kind of relationship with Him prefers to do what Jesus wants and loves. This kind of love prefers the other person over one’s self. It is a putting of self after loving the other, a doing what the other wants instead of what you want. This love is self-sacrificial, voluntary, and submissive.

When we consider this kind of love beside the other part of this conditional command, we understand better what Jesus said to the disciples. Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” If you love me self-sacrificially like I love you, you will choose to follow and do what I prefer, which is, in a nutshell, love the Lord with all your being and love your neighbor as yourself. What Jesus said was more than that. His commandments to the disciples involved that love, but it went further. He told them to go to their Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth, make disciples of all nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything He commanded them. Basically, Jesus told them to do what they saw Him do-love God, love people, and obey the Father by living in His power and with His direction. “Keeping” as Jesus told the disciples is guarding, preserving, and doing His commandments. “Keep” involved hearing the command, then deciding it worthy enough to make one’s own so you act upon it. “Keeping” is hearing, accepting, and acting upon.

“Loving” and “keeping” are choices for something that requires understanding with our minds, and accepting in our hearts and minds, which then results in actions because of, in line with, and in the power and direction of God. “Keeping” comes out of “love” for Christ and the Father. Loving Christ and keeping His commandments first changes our hearts, then changes our lives.

By loving and keeping God’s commandments, we become more like Christ, see the Father’s face/presence more because we are closer to Him in relationship, and the people around us experience God in our actions and words. Our “keeping” shows our love of God. Our love of God shows itself to people around us. When we truly love God, the “keeping” is inconsequential; it becomes an automatic result of our love for God, so of course we will obey Him. Our deep, devoted connection with God means we will do His will…period. There is no waffling on this; our love for Him overwhelms us so we cannot not do His will. Our will becomes His will and we must act upon it. It is who and Whose we have become. God’s will becomes our will when we live as one with Christ. In doing God’s will, we fulfill God’s plan for our lives and affect other people’s lives, so they see and hear about God and have a choice to love and follow Him, too.

Verse fifteen speaks of the preference to live with God, to choose to live with Him in His power and direction, and to choose to do His will, knowing His will is perfect and leads to others seeing, knowing, and loving Him. First, we must decide for ourselves, do we love Jesus? Do we have such a deep, devoted relationship with Him that obeying His commandments is second nature to us? How will people hear about God and His grace unless we have a deep, impactful relationship with Him? Paul stated it this way in Romans 10:14-15a,

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵ How will they preach unless they are sent? [NASB]

Lord, please help me love You so deeply and profoundly that You impact the lives of people around me with Your love and presence. Teach me to love You completely and make my words and actions come from obedience to You and Your commands. Use my life to help people know You and choose to be in a relationship with You. Amen.

Continuation and Conclusion: Enhancing Work with Refugees

Introduction

With this final chapter of learning how to hear from God where He wants you to join Him at work and how to begin a faith-based ministry, we will learn about steps each organization must consider after the first month or year of the ministry organization’s life. These steps are evaluation, adaptation, continuation, expansion, and discontinuation. After remarks on these phases, a conclusion to this project will be made.

Summation of Chapters

In previous articles, we learned the most important part of any faith-based organization is prayer, staying in intimate contact with God, the Giver of the vision for the ministry program. Before, during, and after each stage of creating and enacting the ministry, prayer must enwrap the participants, recipients, resources, and leadership. No changes or removals of any part of the ministry should occur without intentionally seeking God’s will. Recall each stage of the inception process with the below summaries.

Stage One-Getting to Know the Refugees

Besides prayer, the most important element of a faith-based ministry, for refugee work, is getting to know the refugees. This stage requires

• ·         Seeking the need of the refugee groups in your city,
• ·         Speaking to them, building trust with them
• ·         Asking their perception of their needs
• ·         Your noticing of their needs
•        Asking general questions about a good day and time for the refugee group to meet for ministry
• ·         Determining who are the gatekeeper, leader, activist, and caretaker of the refugee group
• ·         Researching the refugee’s people group and national histories
• ·         Putting yourself in their shoes.

Stage Two-Founding a Faith-based Ministry

After getting to know the refugees, the next stage for working with refugees is founding a faith-based ministry. What does it entail to set up the organization’s structure? Along with prayer throughout the process, this stage requires:

• ·         Deciding if the organization will be an NGO or NPO
• ·         Recalling the vision God gave you, then creating the mission statement
• ·         Setting long and short-term goals and objectives based on the help you will give refugees
• ·         Determining what services the faith-based ministry will offer such as English classes, skills training, peace-building and integration between refugees and the community, emergency material relief, marches and learning-sharing dialogues between refugee leaders, ministry leaders, and community leaders including the government, orientation sessions to teach about refugee rights and access to services, psycho-social assessments of refugees, job training, and counselling services
• ·         Looking within the Christian community for resources to help meet the refugees’ perceptions of their greatest needs, their practical needs, and spiritual and emotional needs.

Stage Three-Connecting

The third stage of beginning a faith-based ministry to refugees is connecting. This stage involves meeting people in the community and working with them. It includes casting vision to them, so they will accept the new ministry program and want to join it. There are several reasons for connecting. These include:

• ·         To get volunteers
• ·         To get funding
• ·         To enlarge the ministry
• ·         To get added expertise
• ·         To advocate about refugees in the community, city/town, state, province, and country

While working in this stage, you will learn of and visit, call, or email community leaders, professionals, and businesses who can help the people with the aim of developing relationships for the future to help refugees. These connections could lead to volunteers joining the ministry team, getting partners, and gaining more funding sources. While doing this stage, you will want to visit or interview other NGOs and NPOs like A21, World Relief, USAID, churches, homeless shelters, UNHCR, a refugee center, etc. to see how they work. You might need their help, input, or connections while working with refugees. While you are connecting with these organizations, advocacy for refugees begins and continues in the community with the help of legal advocates, government, immigration businesses, teachers, doctors, principals, other mission organizations, etc.

Stage Four-On Your Mark

When the earlier stages are complete, you are ready to begin doing the practical things to get the faith-based organization for refugees started. These include

• ·         Praying
• ·         Finding a venue
• ·         Acquiring resources for the ministry through NGOs/NPOs, corporations, churches, small companies, UNHCR, etc.
• ·         Buying supplies for the ministry-stationery, books, food, blankets, copies of lessons or intake sheets, etc.
• ·         Finding volunteers-workers, prayer supporters, experts
• ·         Advertising the ministry to refugee via flyers, word of mouth through the refugee community leaders, and notices on boards in the community
• ·         Advertising the ministry to the community to get their acceptance of the refugees and their help with the ministry to the refugees
• ·         Praying

Stage Five-Being and Doing

You have done all the background work, connected with potential partners and community leaders, talked with and become acquainted with the refugees in the community, established the ministry program as either an NGO or NPO, and set up the mission statement, goals, and objectives. Now is the time to begin the actual ministry to refugees. This stage has six parts.

• ·         Prayer-begin the day of ministry with prayer and continue it throughout the day
• ·         Prepare-lessons, clothes closet, food pantry, rules, policies, and train the volunteers
• ·         Present-open the doors and do intake with each refugee treating everyone as a created child of God.
• ·         Assess-at the end of the day, week, and year, assess what went well, what did not go well, and where adjustments and expansion of ministries can occur
• ·         Adjust-adjust the ministry as determined by the assessment.
• ·         Prayer-close the day, week, month, and year with prayer. Pay careful attention to each worker to determine if they are getting overwhelmed so you can talk to them and pray with and for them.

Evaluation and Adaptation

Stage five teaches evaluation and adaptation as part of day one’s work. The leader of the ministry should do it at the end of the first weeks, month, and year to ensure the help needed by the refugee is being provided. It helps the leaders and other workers decide if the perceived and expressed needs are the real needs and if they are being met by the ministry. Evaluation and adaption are a continuing cycle of any positively impacting organization. Whether the ministry is one week, one year, or ten years old, evaluation and adaptation should occur.

Expansion, Continuation, and Discontinuation

Because of regular assessments of needs, funds, and partners, the leaders of the faith-based ministry to refugees could see the necessity and viability of expanding the ministries to refugees. A ministry that only offered English classes can now offer food or clothing assistance. Where before they could just help with used clothes, the ministry leaders see an opportunity to teach the refugee how to write a resume (curriculum vitae), and how to look for and interview for a job. Expansion assumes the refugee ministry will continue. Keeping things stable also assumes the ministry will continue.

Situations exist where a ministry needs to be discontinued. Possibly it was an added-on ministry to meet felt needs, but when put into practice, the need was not great enough to warrant using resources. Other situations may exist where the ministry should be discontinued. Reasons for this could be the refugee population dwindled because they returned to their home countries, the venue was not convenient to refugee habitation sites, the ministry’s reputation fell and refugees, volunteers, and funders no longer wanted to work with the ministry. The other reason a faith-based refugee ministry should cease to exist is when God says it should. We cannot fully comprehend the reason God tells us to do or not do something, but we must always obey and then seek His will for other areas in which He wants us to serve.

Conclusion

Wherever you are in the process of obeying God by serving Him in ministry, prayer is always paramount. Through prayer you grow closer to God, can hear more clearly from Him, receive the conviction and courage to act on His vision for you at the time, and gain strength, direction, and motivation to do what He asks of you. Without prayer interweaving and enwrapping a ministry, it will unravel. The weave will fail, the colors will bleed, and true support, encouragement, training, and help will not happen.

God created each person. He loves everyone whether they are from our own country or one 30 hours away by plane. God loves each person no matter what their religion or culture and wants everyone to come to know His as their Lord and Savior. Peter stated it this way in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” John also spoke of Jesus dying for all people in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” God’s gift of salvation and eternal life with Him is for everyone who believes. God loves every person, even the aliens/refugees.

Before we became Christians, we alienated ourselves from God because of our sin and rebelliousness. Yet, He did not want that to be. God provided the perfect sacrifice through the death of His Holy Son, Jesus Christ. No other sacrifice for sins was needed after it. If God loved us that much before He formed us in our mother’s wombs, even though we alienated ourselves from Him, then we, as Christians, should love those who are alien to us. God taught this to the Israelites in the Old Testament and Jesus taught it to the people of the New Testament. In Leviticus 19:34, Moses told the Israelites what God commanded him. He said, “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.” In Deuteronomy 10:19, God reminded the Israelites they once lived as aliens in Egypt. Moses said it this way. “So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.” Jeremiah recorded in Jeremiah 22:3,

“Thus says the Lord, ‘Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place [Judah, the place of God, as is our hearts the place of God].’” [NASB]

Other key passages in the Old Testament about aliens/sojourners in the community include Deuteronomy 14:29, 24:14, & 17-21, 26:12-13, and 27:19.

In the New Testament, the Jesus translated for the Jewish lawyer commandments Moses taught the Israelites. The lawyer tried to trick Jesus by asking how he can inherit eternal life. Jesus answered him with a question, “What is written in the Law?” The lawyer replied stating the first and second greatest commandments. He said in Luke 10:27, “You shall love the Lord your God will all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus told the lawyer he answered correctly, now do it and live. The lawyer, being trained in debate, wanted to justify himself (most likely because he had not loved his neighbor). He asked Jesus in verse twenty-nine, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied with a parable, a story with a meaning. The parable is of the good Samaritan in Luke 10:30-35. After telling the story, Jesus asked the lawyer in verse thirty-six, “Who proved to be a neighbor to the beaten man?” The lawyer replied with truth in verse thirty-seven saying, “The one who showed mercy toward him.” Jesus commanded him, “Go and do the same.” Works earn no one salvation, but works are evidence of a person’s salvation and proof of a life showing the love of salvation.

Whether you call refugees and asylum-seekers neighbors, aliens, or sojourners, God commands us all, believers and unbelievers, to care for them because He created and loves them. As Christians, this mandate is even stronger. We show our love for God by our obedience to Him. John taught this in 1 John 5:3 when he wrote, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.” He also taught this in John 14:15. In this verse John recorded Jesus saying, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Jesus brought it closer to home when in Matthew 7:12 He said, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this in the Law and the Prophets.”

We, Christian and non-Christian, have God’s natural and written laws, and the moral laws instilled in our consciences. They should lead us to care for refugees and asylum-seekers. Along with the instilled conscience and God’s written laws, we have the God-given capacity for compassion, love, and care. Within each of us, we know the right thing to do-care for the aliens/refugees and asylum-seekers.

With this understanding, we must decide with the free will God gave each person if we will obey this internal and written mandate to care for the oppressed, widowed, poor, orphaned, and alien. We must decide if we will weave our weft threads on the loom with the refugees and asylum-seekers warp threads to make a beautiful tapestry with God. This tapestry woven together is stronger than the individual, singular weft threads or warp threads. With this woven tapestry, “we” and “them” become “us” that supports, encourages, helps, teaches, feeds, and walks alongside as the family God envisioned humanity to be. We each get to choose to be woven by God into the beautiful tapestry of community and love. This is chosen woven-ness. You get to choose; God does not force you. If you choose not to weave into the lives of others in your community, you force the gifts God gave you to stagnate or extinguish. You become the weaker person in the community because you do not have the strength of the whole community, only your own. Will you choose to be woven by God into His tapestry of a compassionate and loving humanity?

Joshua said in Joshua 24:15, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

We can change that for this project and say when we choose to obey God in His mission to the refugees and asylum-seekers,

“As for me and my house, we will (weave) with the Lord.”

In Their Words: Jospain's Story

What was life like in your home country?

When I left the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), socio-economic instability and many obstacles affected it. The leaders and government would not allow young people to make use of their potential skills. First, the big issue in my country is the corrupt government. There is no justice or respect of human rights conditions in all the sectors of society. The potential wealth for the country does not trickle down to profit the communities. There are many, many people still living in great poverty. Two mining companies surround some small cities. None of the wealth goes to the local people, but instead to politicians who live the good life. People of the DRC remain poor and affected by diseases caused by air pollution. Towns centers have no good infrastructure at all. Wars and poverty propel people to migrate, searching for a better life. When I left the DRC only the eastern part of the country was experiencing war, but now rebel groups hostile to the government affect all the provinces.

What made you decide to leave your country?   

After I completed grade 12 in school, while in my first year at a university, I requested to join military training. In my country, military service is not compulsory. It’s a job with the poorest wage; even a security guard here has a better life than a soldier in the DRC. A soldier in the DRC can’t survive from his. Sometimes soldiers attack their own people at night to get something from poor people. The government knows of this, but it doesn’t act on it. Since the country was unstable because of rebel groups, the government needed young people to join the army. Before, in my area, young people went for military training voluntarily believing good could come with a high grade in the military as promised by the government. Those young people never returned home, and no one knows their whereabouts. The people heard the young men and women who went were not going through training, but the government sent them straight to the battlefield with no training. After we heard that, the government forced young people to join the military for training with fake promise. The government realized the young people of the country didn’t trust them. These young people were being kidnapped at night or being arrested for wrong reasons to bring them to the battle field in the eastern part of the country. My brother-in-law was working as a secret agent in the government. He advised me to leave the country, so I decided to cross the border to Zambia looking to get to South Africa.

What has life been like in your host/adopted country?

I arrived in South Africa after leaving the DRC. The urban settings are intriguing and very different from my home country. Unlike the government of the DRC, the South African government works, but being a refugee here is a big problem. They make you feel like you are the problem. South Africa has great potential to emerge in the international world. Still, they make it very hard for foreign people, particularly refugees and asylum-seekers, to get access documents (Green ID book, work permit, and residence document). The people who work in the government offices make the process of getting the required documents much longer and more involved. Often, the workers deny you access to the proper channels and documents. In general, South Africans are hostile to foreigners. That makes me feel like the hell in my home country is still with me. Part of that hell stays within me even away from my home country. Still I feel the hell that was at home. Part of that hell stays within you away from home. The xenophobia attacks in 2008, 2012, and 2015 make that hell feel much more real.

Because God Chose You

Remember every day, God chose you.

He chose to love you before you were in your mother’s womb.

God chose to lavish His grace on you, so you would be saved from your sins and not be separated from Him.

He chose you to “be all things to all people” so that you can tell them the good news–the gospel–so some could be saved (1 Corinthians 9:22).

God chose you to bend, break, and remold you into His image because of His love.

He tells you to cast your burdens on Him because He cares for you, and to take up His yoke, which is lighter (1 Peter 5:7, Matthew 11:28-30).

Why does God allow difficult things to happen? That is a common question.

        Possibly to remind you He is God.

Possibly to cause you to seek Him so He can grow you and reshape you more into His likeness.

More than anything, difficult and easy times provide an opportunity for us to learn a big lesson we and reinforce our deep connection-our personal relationship with God.

Abraham had just received God’s promise that Sarah, his eighty-year-old wife, would have a son in less than a year. He had a relationship with God then God told him, He had to see if the outcry in Sodom and Gomorrah was accurate. Abraham had a close enough relationship with God that he began to intercede for the people of those cities (Genesis 18).

Closeness to God makes us intercede for others,

not only supplicate for ourselves.

Paul had a close relationship with God. It came through many a blinding light on the road to Damascus and through many trials of beatings and persecutions. His closeness to God brought a dramatic change to the Roman world of the first century and to humanity since then.

Closeness to God creates the heart of God in us for lost people.

It gives us love, God’s love, for all people so that we “strive to become all things for all so that we might win some to Christ (1 Corinthians 9:22).

Joshua was a strong man of God. When God sent him and 9 other men into the Promised Land to spy it out and report back to the Israelites, he told the people it was a bountiful land and that Yahweh was almighty enough to give it to them. As they prepared to enter the Promised Land, Joshua challenged the people. He reminded them who God had been and would continue to be for them. Joshua called them to renew their commitment and service to the LORD.

Closeness to God leads people to commit and serve the Lord.

A genuine heart of God in a person for other people-to serve Him, to intercede for them, and to try to win them to Christ-cannot be manmade. Nothing we can do causes us to be good enough to be acceptable to God and for His service. Only God can make each person acceptable-holy. He provided this way through His Son’s death on the cross and resurrection.

Why can God’s people do these things?

Because God chose them.

God loves them.

God empowers them.

And they love the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Do you have a heart for God? Have you heard Him calling to you to come to Him? Did you go? Did you give your heart to God, so you can be saved from your sins and have an eternal relationship with the God who created and loved you before you were ever formed? Today is the perfect day for you to stop running and answer His call to your heart. Today is the perfect day to turn around from striving to survive, succeed, make it one more day in this world. Each of us sins. Whether you are saved or not, God is calling you to turn back to Him today…now. What will you say to Him? He is there calling and waiting.

Lord, we do not understand this love of Yours. We do not understand how one man dying, even Your Son, can erase our sins and make us holy. But, Lord, we want to leap in faith to You and ask You to hold us, forgive us, and remold us into Your image for Your service. Please accept the sacrifice of my sin-broken heart and make me clean and new for You. Amen.