Inception: Working with Refugees, Stage Three: Connecting

Introduction

Four articles about faith-based ministry to refugees precede this one. The article titles are The Warp and Weft of Life[1], Conception: Empowering to Serve Refugees[2], Inception: Working with Refugees, Stage One: Getting to Know Refugees[3], and Inception: Working with Refugees, Stage Two: Founding a Faith-based Ministry to Refugees[4]. Besides these, others of my refugee articles relay stories directly from refugees about their lives. These articles begin with the title In Their Words.[5][6][7] One other article on working with refugees teaches about the importance of letting the person tell his or her story. The title of this article is Just Listen[8].

In earlier articles of this series, we learned who refugees are, how many refugees are in the world and that they come from many countries. For faith-based refugee work, we must receive the vision from God, pray continually, and depend on God for strength. Further, we must get to know the refugees by talking with them, and then determine their needs based on those conversations with them and from your own inspection of their lives. Another part of working with refugees is setting up a refugee ministry organization with a clear mission statement, and clear goals and objectives. These will keep the ministry focused. They will allow people working with you to help refugees and people outside the organization to understand God’s vision for you and your goals for the refugee ministry.

This article will focus on the third stage of beginning work with refugees under the banner of Inception. Its focus is on connecting with people. Connections include the gatekeeper, the activist, and the caretaker of the refugees. Further, connections must occur besides these for effective and possible expansion of ministries and for acceptance of refugees by the community in which they live.

Prayer

As in each of the earlier articles of this series, prayer must enwrap any ministry with and to refugees. God is the One who must give the vision and empower the work, so the workers will not grow weary, heavy-hearted, and give up on the work to which He calls His people. Additionally, prayer must weave throughout each part of the refugee ministry to know directly from God to whom or to which organization to meet with to get volunteers and funding. Prayer will help you determine when to change the work, and when to enlarge it. It will also help you know to whom to reach out for added expertise. Prayer, too, opens people’s hearts as you and the refugee organization advocate for refugees. Without prayer throughout the entire process, the ministry weakens because it rests upon the limited wisdom and knowledge of people instead of on all-knowing God.

Researching

Why should you want to connect with other people and organizations instead of being a lone ranger working with refugees? First, God intended the community to help the sojourners and aliens. Deuteronomy and Leviticus were both written to the Israelites as a people, a nation. To them God commanded to love the aliens because they, too, were aliens in Egypt (Deuteronomy 10:19 and Leviticus 19:34) Additionally, in Deuteronomy 14:28-29, Moses taught the Israelites to take care of the aliens by keeping their third-year’s tithe in their town to feed the widow, orphans, and aliens who lived among them. In each of these passages, no one person helped all the poor people. It took a community concerned for the poor to take care of them. Because of this, you should strive to work alongside other people and organizations who already work with refugees and the poor in the community.

If you live and want to work with refugees in a city or town, most likely other people and organizations already work with refugees or poor people in the community. Based on your mission statement, goals, and objectives, decide from which experts and skilled people you potentially might need help in the ministry to refugees. These may include churches, social workers, counselors, doctors, lawyers, immigration officials, educators and the education department, nurses, and job skills teachers. Note, these areas of skills could include individuals or organizations, and businesses or government employees. Do not scratch off an expert because you do not need them now. Keep them in a file for the future in case the refugee ministry expands in that direction. Develop a relationship with these experts.

Once you decide which skilled people or organizations you should look for, start your search with the following methods. A good place to begin your searching is by talking to the refugee leaders. They will know some organizations already because the grapevine is effective among poor people. Another way you can find out who and what organizations help poor people and refugees is by talking to local church pastors. They are active in the community and, if they are not new in their positions, will know of organizations and people who work with refugees and poor people. Next, look through an internet browser for organizations who help the poor and refugees in your community. Finally, do not overlook your own connections: your doctors, people you know through your child’s school, connection through your church or your spouse’s job, etc. Even if these people will not be helping currently or soon, they may help in the future. Keep a file of their details and skill. They could become a useful connector, skilled volunteer, or board member.

Meeting

Once you have a list of people and organizations who help refugees and the poor of the community, email or call them to ask for an appointment to speak with them about the vision God has put on your heart. Be specific about that vision, such as saying you want to help refugees in your community by teaching them the local language, or providing blankets, food, school uniforms, etc. If they do not respond to your email, then call and ask for an appointment to meet with the director of the organization.

Before you arrive at your appointment with a person or organization, prepare what you will tell him/her/them. Do not go in without an agenda. Your presentation and questions should include:

1. The vision God gave you.

2. Your mission statement, goals, and objectives.

3. Your needs to make this ministry operational.

4. Ask how they began their ministry.

5. Ask what their main ministry focus is and to whom.

6. Ask them questions about areas in which you are weakest, so you can gain from their knowledge.

7. Ask if you can spend a couple hours in their ministry learning what they do.

8. Ask if you can call them should a need for their expertise arise.

9. If the organization is a business, ask if they would be interested in setting up volunteer days for their employees to work with your organization monthly or quarterly

10. Additionally, if the organization is a business or a funding agent, ask if it would interest them to contribute funds to help with ministry to refugees of the community.

Once the first meeting with the people or organization is complete, you will have a better idea of other assistance ministries in the community. These assistance ministries will know about you and your organization. An initial bridge with them will be in place by which to get help in the future. These connections will enable you to re-enter their sphere to be an advocate for the refugees in their community.

Advocating

Besides connecting with the community to learn, to find other ministry individuals and organizations, and to seek volunteers and funding, another big reason exists for getting into the community. Advocacy for refugees is very important to the organization’s/ministry’s success. It must happen on many levels: in neighboring streets, churches, and schools around the ministry site, with local NGOs/NPOs, with government offices, and in churches and schools in the city/town. Advocacy occurs not just to get funds and volunteers. It must occur to help an established society accept a ministry and a people group, especially a ministry to “the least of these.”

In general, people dislike associating with or seeing people who are “lower” than themselves in society within their living and working spheres. Several reasons exist for this. They are: possible decreased property value, fear for personal safety, fear of jobs being given to people willing to accept a lower wage, and personal prejudice. Advocacy can help ease these issues and help a community accept the refugees and then take initiative in tangibly helping them. Without advocacy, a ministry to refugees will struggle. Roadblocks will arise because of the above reasons. This will cause the organizers of the ministry to spend a large amount of time fighting fires instead of ministering to the refugees of the community.

Conclusion

For a ministry to refugees to make a difference and grow, connecting with local community leaders, professionals, and organizations is paramount. These connections can help you learn quicker about how to make the refugee ministry stable and grow. They can provide a base of volunteers and funding, too. Additionally, connections can provide a skill base of expertise for utilization in the refugee ministry. These professionals and skilled people can prove helpful to expand the ministry and be the experts on the organization’s board when the organization grows, too. Besides these reasons for connecting with the community, another exists. Connecting with the community is advocacy for the ministry and for refugees. It helps the people of the community, the community leaders, professionals, and organizations to understand the lives of the refugees, their needs, and to get past their own personal fears and prejudices. Without this advocacy, a ministry to refugees will not grow and may even die.

As a final note, recall what Moses taught the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land about their tithe to God in Deuteronomy 26:5, 10-11.

⁵You shall answer and say before the LORD your God, ¹⁰‘Now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground which You, O LORD have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God; ¹¹and you and the Levite and the alien who is among you shall rejoice in all the good which the LORD your God has given you and your household. [NASB]

God mandates throughout the whole Bible we are to care for the alien, sojourner, and our neighbour. Refugees are these people about whom God spoke. Will you choose to obey this command by God?

---

[1] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/04/warp-and-weft-of-life.html

[2] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/05/conception-empowering-to-serve-refugees.html

[3] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/07/inception-working-with-refugees-stage.html

[4] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/07/inception-working-with-refugees-stage_27.html

[5] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/05/in-their-words.html

[6] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/05/in-their-words-mataas-story.html

[7] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/06/in-their-words-petras-and-fabrices.html

[8] http://tcmhome.blogspot.com/2018/05/just-listen.html

A Birthday and a Callling

A Birthday and A Calling

Today marks 41 years to the day since I accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord. I wasn’t naughty. If you lived in my home, you didn’t dare be naughty. I didn’t take drugs or drink alcohol. I made mostly A’s in school. I was working on being self-sufficient. It’s necessary in today’s world to take care of yourself because no one else would, right? Still, I was like most people; I ran from God as He pulled on my heart.

I don’t know of what I was afraid; I had experienced love in the church and from the church staff for years. No one in the church had ever hurt me, but instead showed and taught me about God’s love. I learned the endearing songs “Jesus Loves Me” and “Jesus loves the little Children” as a preschooler in church. I heard the stories of Jesus’ birth, Lazarus’ resurrection from the dead, Jesus turning water into wine, and His healing of people-the leper, the blind man, the woman who bled for years. Still, when God called to my heart and mind, I ran. When I say I ran, I mean I literally ran. I couldn’t tell you who was at the door, but I knew it was church people when the bell rang. I ran upstairs to my room, out the back door, and down the fire escape.

Why did I run? I really don’t know still. Maybe it had to do with that drive to be self-sufficient. Maybe I didn’t want to lean on anyone. It’s possible, the Father figure of God scared me, like my father scared me. I think the biggest reason I ran from God is why most people run. I was afraid of what He would ask me to do.

Remember all the stories in the Bible of which you’ve heard. God called Abraham to be His man. He told Abraham He would make him the father of a great nation, then told him to go to a land he would show him. God told Moses to go to Egypt and set His people free. God called Samuel while a little child and used him to be His prophet. He called Isaiah, convicted his heart of his sin, then sent him out to be a prophet. Jesus called each of the disciples to follow Him. They didn’t know they would follow Him to the cross. You get my point here. It seemed when God called people, He called them to sacrifice themselves, their lives, and their stuff. I had my whole life ahead of me. I was afraid of what God would call me to do. I was afraid. That’s how I re-entered my parent’s house at 14 years old.

I remember nothing else about that night except that I didn’t run from God anymore. My life started revolving, by my choice, around church-choir, youth group, Sunday School. I didn’t go to church anymore just for a haven or to be with people who loved me. I went to church to know God more. I couldn’t get enough of Him. When the youth played on a Friday night, I read my Bible on the church steps. When a special youth week occurred, I was there devouring the Word. During that week, I sensed God telling me I would be a minister’s wife. That was the second time I realized God was speaking to me. Then I remembered, when I was nine years old and in Sunday School, I felt God softening my heart for missionaries. My teachers taught about them that day and the page they gave me to color was about Thailand.

That fourteenth summer of my life one other thing happened that brought me to the foot of the cross. A young adult woman took an interest in me. She was ten years older than me, but she decided to include me in her life. This young lady picked me up and took me to the mall, to burger restaurants, to choir, and to church. One snowy day, we arrived at her apartment to sled down the hills around her apartment complex. After sledding, we made hot chocolate in her kitchen and then sat on the floor. After some quiet (remember, God was working on my heart), I asked her why she cared about me. I had never known her before she chose to care about me. Her response changed me forever. She said, “I love you because Jesus loves you and me.” My glass wall shattered! Why? Because someone loved me when she didn’t have to.  She chose to love me.

God’s love through Jesus Christ shattered my wall and I have never been the same. His love shattered my defenses of self-sufficiency and fear. I realized without Him I could do nothing. Paul said this positively in Philippians 4:13 when he said, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Jesus stated it explicitly in John 15:5. He said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

At that time, I realized I need not fear. God loves me more than anyone. His love wants only the best for me, so why should I fear what He may call me to do. The greatest Bible verse we all have memorized expressed God’s love. John 3:16 tells us how great God’s love is for us. It says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Since God loves me enough that He sent His Son to die for me (for my sins), and for the whole world for all time, then I can trust Him and not fear. David wrote about the coming Messiah throughout the Psalms. In Psalm 27:1, he declared his faith in Yahweh. He said, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; whom shall I dread?”

At that point in time, when I was 14 years old, God told me He loved me enough to send His Son to die for me. He told me He is my light and salvation; I have nothing to fear. Through the Bible, God also told me that without Him, I can do nothing. Faced with these three absolutes, I realized my mortality, sinfulness, and need of the Savior and Lord. Without fearing to what He would call me in the future, I walked into His loving, open arms and gave my heart and life to Him. God gave me a new birthday, a spiritual birthday. Today, I say, “Happy birthday, to me. Thank you, Jesus.”

We don’t know to what God will call us. Neither do we know what we will face in the future without God. The future without God is unknown. A future with God, we understand, holds love, guidance, strength, and provision. There is nowhere we can go that God won’t find us. Likewise, there is nowhere God can send us that He won’t love, protect, provide, and guide us. What is fear? It is fearing the unknown. With God, nothing is unknown. We realize He loves us. That is what is important. I didn’t know where God would call me to walk or work in the future, but I trusted Him and His heart implicitly.

Where do you stand today? Are you afraid of the future? Do you feel unloved? God loves you now, just as you are. Go to Him and His love and you will never need fear what will come against you, or of being alone and unloved. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31 [NASB])

We know that God causes all things to work together for the good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Just as it is written, “For your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:28-39 [NASB])

Lord, God, I realize I am a sinner in need of a Savior. Thank You for dying for me and for Your forgiveness. Thank You for Your love that never gave up on me and never will give up on me. Please take my heart today and make it anew for Your purposes. I trust You and have no fear. You are God and know all things. Whom shall I fear? I am Yours for Your purposes. Amen.

Welcome Home, Dad

When I was asked to write something for Dad’s funeral, lots of memories came to mind. You each have a different memory of dad, and I’m glad you knew him and have those memories. Those memories are what we will hold on to for the rest of our lives.

As I thought about dad, a few lessons he taught me came to mind, but I wasn’t sure which I should include. He had a long life and so I can’t speak about everything. I prayed and asked God to tell me what He wanted me to share with you on this day. God reminded me of a phone conversation I had with Dad earlier this year. I have mulled that over for a day, and it seems like the memory that would serve well for this time.

Earlier this year, my phone rang, I looked at the caller ID and noticed it was dad. So, I answered the phone and here’s how the conversation went.

Me: “Hello, this is Gail.”

Dad: “This is your dad.”

Me: “Hi dad; how are things going?”

Dad: “Oh, fair. When are you coming home?”

We spent a while shooting the breeze even while he had a hard time catching a deep breath. Finally, we arrived at what I think was his purpose for calling me.

Dad: “God called me to be a preacher. I didn’t do it. I think these past 18 years have been His punishment on me.”

<Pause>

Me: “Dad, I think it was God’s grace that gave you these 18 years, so you could come back to a close relationship with Him.”

<Silence>

We then spoke about unessential fluff things. After that, we said good bye.

Dad never talked about his calling to the ministry before, or ever again. I truly think these 18 years of being frail was God’s gift to dad because of His love and grace.

God gives each of us freedom to choose-either Him and His will, or our own ways. Dad chose to make his own way and be his own man. Many people do that. I think he was trying to prove something to himself, and to other people, to an extent. Don’t we all do that? We all want to make our own way and prove something to the world-that we are important and should be regarded highly.

During that time of choosing to live our own way, God asks each of us what dad asked me in every phone call, “When are you coming home?” Dad never stopped asking. God never stops asking. We all sin, and He calls to each of us to come home, come back to Him. God kept calling dad, too. He was a sinner just like us. His sins may have been different that yours or mine, but we each are sinners.

What dad didn’t seem to understand, and the reason he kept asking me to come home, is that I didn’t know when God would tell us to return to America. We chose to answer His calling upon our lives to go to South Africa and tell people about Him. If we are going to be faithful, we also must choose to continue to follow Him whether it’s staying here or going to some other place. What dad didn’t understand, and what we have come to understand is wherever God puts us is home because we are at home with God in that place.

“When are you coming home?” Dad asked. My answer was always, “When God tells us to go back to America.” It should have been, “We are home already because God is here with us in the place to which He called us.”

God called to dad throughout his life and said, “When are you coming home?” It took Dad’s frail health for him to return to God, to return to the God he knew as a young man and to Him who called him to serve Him in ministry. God called to Him. He never let him stray far. God wanted that close relationship with dad again. It was precious to Him; Dad was precious to Him.

God calls to each of us, “When are you coming home?”

Will you turn around today and run back to Him? Dad ran into God’s arms last Thursday and God said, “Welcome home, my son.” Dad didn’t become a minister; but God welcomed him home because he was His son. God waits to welcome you home, too. Will you hear Him today and choose to return to Him?

“Welcome home, Dad!”

(For Bob Ray Suratt’s Funeral, August 16, 2018; died August 9, 2018)

Uncircumcision and the Law

Introduction

As we consider Romans 2:25-29, we must look back at Romans 2:17-24. The first word in verse twenty-five, “for,” makes us look back to those verses to understand what Paul said in the final five verses.

Paul told the Jews in verses seventeen through twenty-three they had the name “Jew” because of God’s calling them to be His people, not because of something they had done or were. He told them they bore the name “Jew,” relied upon and boasted in God, knew His will, and approved the things that are essential because of receiving instruction in the Law. Paul challenged the Jews when he said they were confident they were guides to the blind, a light to those in darkness, correctors of the foolish, and teachers of the immature because they had the knowledge of the Law and the truth. These Jews had inflated egos because of their knowledge and circumcision.

Paul challenged the Jews in verses twenty-one through twenty-three. He said, 

You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? [NASB]

Paul used rhetorical questions in these verses. Rhetorical questions are a teaching tool used to make a person dig deeper than surface level to search for the true answer. In these verses, Paul challenged them on their sins. By doing this, He pointed out they were no better than the Gentiles and pagans. The Jews who boasted in their circumcision and being called Jews were not better than other people because they broke their covenant with God by sinning against Him.

Paul ended this section with the glaring statement to the Jews in verse twenty-four. He said, “For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” Why? The Gentiles saw the self-righteous Jews were no better than themselves. The Jews sinned just like the Gentiles, so why should the Gentiles honor and follow the God of the Jews? Ouch! This is a pointed charge!

Circumcision’s Value

With this reminder from verses seventeen through twenty-four, let’s learn what Paul continued to say to the Jews in verse twenty-five. He said, “For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law, but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.” Wow, did you understand that? Paul told them outright the Jews who sinned were just like the uncircumcised people. They were unclean heathens, too. The Jews who sinned were no better than the Gentiles and pagans. They prided themselves on being good. The Jews had the Law, God chose them, they kept the letter of the law, mostly, and they were circumcised. How much more Jewish could you get, right? Paul said, “Wrong!” The Jews’ circumcision of their foreskin was not beneficial to them.

In verses twenty-six through twenty-eight, Paul turned the Jews’ world upside down. He said,

So, if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. [NASB]

Paul said if the non-Jew, the Gentile and pagan, kept the Law without even having a covenant with God like the Jews, isn’t that Gentile or pagan really circumcised inwardly, in his or her heart, even though his skin is not? Circumcision was a bragging point for the Jews. It was an outward sign of their covenant with God. The Jews used it as a sign to say they were better than other people. If you weren’t circumcised, God didn’t choose you, is what they said and meant with their lofty-mindedness. The Jews of the time that Paul spoke to thought they were the elite because of being chosen by God and bearing the mark of their covenant with Him. Yet, they chose not to keep their covenant with God.

Paul took this idea one step further. Besides saying the physically uncircumcised who kept the Law really were circumcised (in their hearts), he said they would judge the circumcised, the Jew. “What? How dare they?” the Jews would have thought. “They are filthy pigs, rotten heathens. They could not touch my robe because they are so low,” a Jew might have said. Yet, those who kept God’s Laws, though they were physically uncircumcised, showed they were righteous and obedient to God’s Law. They obeyed the Law of God revealed to them and so were circumcised in their hearts and had a covenant with God, too. Therefore, these Gentiles and pagans who obeyed God’s revealed Law, would judge the circumcised Jews who were disobedient to God’s Law given in their covenant with Him.

Judgment and Rhetoric

Paul continued in this passage with verse twenty-eight. He brought a stinging statement of judgment to these Jews. He said, “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.” A Jew is not someone who has circumcised flesh or who routinely goes through the motions to follow God. Genuine circumcision is not of the flesh.

What is genuine circumcision? Paul brought the biting revelation and the final truth to the Jews and his other readers and hearers with verse twenty-nine. With this verse, he reminded everyone who reads and hears this letter of what he taught in verse four. He said in verse twenty-nine, “But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, and not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.” The Jews, Paul said, got it wrong. They wanted everyone to see they were Jewish, the chosen people. They boasted about it and judged others because they sinned, all the while they, themselves, sinned, too. Paul taught them circumcision, true circumcision that showed evidence of a covenant with God, is not a cutting of the flesh. True circumcision is a circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit. When a person truly is circumcised by the Spirit of God, the old hardness of heart that comes because of sin and rebellion is cut away to make the person new and moldable by God. This circumcision removes sin and the guilt of sin, so the person can walk in newness of life. The person whose heart is circumcised seeks only to please God by obeying Him and growing closer to Him. He or she does not seek the praise of people by outwardly showing and stating how good he or she is. That is a sin.

Verse twenty-nine takes us back to a fact Paul taught with a rhetorical question in verse four. He asked in this verse, “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” The initial answer to this rhetorical question would be a resounding, “No,” by the Jews. The more considered answer would be, “Yes.” Paul taught that the Laws of God were to lead people to recognize His kindness and love, and to follow Him in righteousness by faith. Remember, “He is a Jew who is one inwardly” by circumcision of the heart by the Spirit, not by the letter (vs 29). God’s kindness should lead you to give your heart to Him. He will circumcise your heart to remove its hardness caused by sin.

Conclusions

Doing right acts for the wrong reasons does not make a person righteous. A wrong reason could be doing good things so people see you doing them. It could be giving great sums of money to a charity so you can take a tax deduction. There’s nothing wrong with doing good things. What is wrong is seeking glory for yourself? Who gave you the ability and desire to do the good things, whether giving time, money, or skills? God. So, He should be the One who gets the glory, not you. Right acts with wrong motives is not righteousness. They are good deeds. Right acts will not make you righteous and clean before the Lord. You cannot earn your way to heaven by doing good deeds. Only righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ the Savior will do that. Paul called this being justified by faith. Read what Paul wrote in Romans 3:21-30.

Now, apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for these is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God, He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one. [NASB]

God is the God of all who by faith accept the salvation He offers through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. None of us has anything to boast of in ourselves. We cannot keep the Law 100% of the time because we are sinful. Still, we must remember, God did not create the Law to make us perfect; only Jesus Christ can do that. He created the Law to lead us to Him, to see His kindness and love, and then to follow Him as ones He made righteous by our faith in Jesus. We have every reason to boast of God, to give Him all the glory.

Do you practice moralism, doing right things? This doesn’t prevent your heart from sinning. Being religious is no answer and has no power to keep you from sinning or to remove your sins. It has no power to make you clean and right before God. Does your moralism prevent you or other people from knowing the Lord?

It’s now your time to decide. Are you circumcised in your skin or your heart? Have you accepted God’s salvation through faith? None of us can do enough good works to earn our way into heaven. Only God’s grace and love make it possible. Will you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior today?

God, I am unable to do right all the time. I’m a failure at it. Please forgive me for the wrong things I have done, thought, or said. Please make be clean and right with You. You alone are the only way to salvation and righteousness. I give my heart and life to You, today. Amen.

Perspectives and Portents

One day the sun rises, the birds sing, the air is sweet

And we breathe a sigh of relief.

Another day the sun rises, the crows caw,

And we wonder what will go wrong.

Is it the change of days that makes things appear good or bad?

Or is it a change in perspective that brings about this perception?

The real question should be,

Is God the Master of the day in which the birds sing

And the day in which the crows caw?

Without delay, the resounding answer is, “Yes!”

But, do we live our lives as if we believe that answer?

Do we allow our fears of what may come or what is happening determine our emotions?

Do we allow our fears of what may come determine how we will step into our situations?

Remember, fear is not from God. God casts out all fear.

John said this in 1 John 4:18 when he said, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”

Is it not the same God who creates both days, one when the birds sing sweetly and the other when crows caw?

Is not the cawing of crows just another bird’s song, maybe not as beautiful to some ears, maybe yours, but still a bird’s song?

Then what causes us to fear and our emotions to change?

It is not God because God made both these days, and these birds and their songs.

The fear comes because of our skewed perceptions. One bird’s song is beautiful and the other is not. Thus, a legend passed down leads us to hesitate in our day, fearing and wondering what bad may befall us.

Fear comes because our perception, our focus, does not remain on the Master, but instead on the matter.

If our eyes, inner and outer, remain on the Master, we will see the day as one He made and then rejoice and be glad in it knowing He is the Maker of it with His creative love. Since He is the Maker, He is the ruler and we have nothing about which to be afraid in it.

It does not matter what occurs during our day, the Master is in charge of the day.

Whether a light breeze whisks by or a storm rages, God is the Master of the day. He is in control of it and He loves us.

God is Master of the matter, created things. The matter is not master of God.

Does that mean He will make the storm cease raging?

Sometimes. And that is a great testimony of God’s power.

Still, other times the storm does not cease, and the winds keep raging.

Does that mean He is not merciful or is not strong enough to calm the storm?

Never. God is still the Master of the storm. This time, He wants to walk with us through the storm.

There is a reason He doesn’t calm the storm as well as why He does.

Both times can bring us closer to God and grow us in our walk with Him. Because He loves us.

How we confront the day determines our growth from it.

The day doesn’t determine our growth, but instead our faith in God does.

One day, Jesus put the disciples in a boat and told them to go ahead of Him to the other side. He went to pray. While the boat was a long way from the shore, the storms raged on the sea. Shortly before dawn, Jesus went to the disciples by walking on the water. By this time, the disciples trembled with fear since they had been in the storm on the sea. They saw Jesus and thought He was a ghost and so were more afraid. Jesus identified Himself and told them to be courageous and not fear. Peter told Jesus, “Lord, if it is You, tell me to come to You on the water.” Jesus said, “Come.” Peter stepped onto the water and began to walk while keeping his eyes on Jesus. When he looked away and saw the raging sea, he became afraid and began to sink. Peter said, “Lord, save me!” (Matthew 14:22-33)

Isn’t this like so many of us? We have faith until the storms of life come against us. Then we remember Jesus and His power and love for us. This causes us to have great faith, so we can step out and follow Him despite the storms. Yet many of us, most of us initially, look at the storm instead of the Savior. We consider how great the storm is and forget how great the Master is, the One who created the matter.

Just as Jesus did for the disciples, He does for us. He reaches out His hand, catches us, chastises our little faith lovingly to teach us, and gets into our boat with us calming the sea as He does.

God wants our love for Him and faith in Him to grow. He allows circumstances to happen so we will trust Him more and grow in our relationship with Him-so that our faith will grow.

What is the difference between when Jesus told Peter, “Come” and when He climbed into the boat?

The difference is Jesus first took Peter out of his comfort zone to grow him. He walked with Peter through the storm.

The second is Jesus calmed the storm. He took Peter and the other disciples out of the storm by bringing stillness and calm back to their surroundings.

God can answer prayer for help during storms in two ways: remove the storms or walk with you in the storms.

God didn’t change. His love for you is the same.

What changes is your perspective. The days of storms are like the days you wake up and the crows caw. God created them and is Master of them, but to you, it portends a bad day.

The days of calm winds and no storms are like the days you wake to birds singing. Once again, God created them and is Master of them, but to you, no challenges seem to be on the horizon.

What changed with each? Did God change? No. God is still the Master and in charge of everything.

What changed is your perspective. We see the beautiful day and know our God can Master that. The circumstance does not define God, but God defines the circumstance. God’s got this, we think.

On the other hand, when we see the stormy day, we begin to question God’s might and mastery. The circumstance, in our minds, defines God. That should never be!

God defines all circumstances and is Master of them all. Nothing defines Him.

God is the definer-the Creator-of all things.

What changed? Our perspective.

We each must grow in our faith. God does not always calm the storms.

Because of His love for us, He wants us to grow stronger in our faith.

Because of His love, He walks with us in the storms.

Did you hear that? God walks WITH us in the storms. That is perfect love. And remember, “Perfect love casts out fear.”

The next time you wake up to a day and feel like it will be a bad day, or you are going through a stormy time in your life, remember…

God loves you. His love is perfect. His love casts out fear.

God walks with you through your storm!  He loves you!

Lord, sometimes all I see is the storm. I cannot see You. Help me see You and trust You. Walk with me through the storm and grow me to be more like You. Make me faithful and strong in You and Your love.