Are You the Preacher?

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; ...

2 Timothy 4:2 KJV

Sometimes being 'instant in season and out of season' is easier quoted than practiced. We usually want to know exactly what the task is before we make a commitment to do it. Being a preacher...I can tell you for sure it is easier to preach than to practice. However, after having said that, I do have many stories of where I died to self in order to do what I was sent to do.

Such was the case one Sunday morning when the Lord told me to drive to a town about an hour and a half away from where I lived. I had never been to the church where the Lord was sending me so I did not know anyone there. I was not sure why I was going but I knew it was important for me to do what I felt the Lord was saying. I drove to the town, found out where the church was, pulled up in front and got out of my car. It was a rather large church and a lot of people were going up the steps to the sanctuary. I noticed a lady standing on the top step looking at me as I approached the steps. She asked "Are you the preacher?" and I said, "I am." Then she said, "Come on in and I will take you to the pastor's study and tell the elders you are here." I walked into the pastor's study and sat down. In a few minutes the office door opened and there stood the lady with the elders of the church. They asked "Are you the preacher?" and I replied, "I am." The elders said, "She (referring to the lady) said you had a word for us" and I said. "I do." They said, "It is time to start the service so are you ready?" I said, "I am," and then we walked to the platform.

Up until then I was so busy saying "I am," and "I do" that I forgot to ask the Lord what I was suppose to preach. When the realization hit me that I was the man of the hour I did some serious praying (you might even call it begging) for God to give me a word. Nevertheless, that morning I preached to a packed house...then left the church and never went back again.

By way of explanation, this church had just lost their pastor and one of the elders was supposed to preach that morning. This lady had been in intercession with God when He gave her the word that He was going to send someone special that morning with a specific word for the church. The elders brushed her off when she told them what the Lord had said and went into another room to pray. She told them, "You can go and pray if you want to, but I am going outside and wait for the preacher." She then waited on the top step for me to drive up.

There are two very important points here that are worth mentioning. The first point is that it was her faith that drew me from an hour and a half away. She had mountain-moving faith and proved it. The second important point is that your answer to God should always be, "Yes Lord," my desire is to be "instant in season and out of season."

Father,

Thank you for allowing me the privilege of meeting such a woman of faith. She was a woman that would not allow the ridicule of others to hinder her faith in Your word. I pray that we will all learn to be obedient to Your word as this woman.

Amen.

FATHER EXPECTATIONS

For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

1 Cor 4:15 KJVA

Do we have unrealistic expectations of what a father is supposed to be? If not, then where are these men? Perhaps this is another one of Satan's tricks to get us off course so we will feel sorry for ourselves and thus fall into some sort of idolatry by judging all men. After all, it doesn't seem reasonable that we are supposed to have fathers and can't find them. However, if Satan could mess with our mind enough to get us to start judging all men, then he has just hit a home run. This would of course cause us to raise our expectation of fathers to standards that are unattainable.

Does man start out in life unhampered by the burden of flesh? No, every man starts out in life unredeemed, self-centered, full of lust and completely undisciplined. His thoughts are entirely on himself and things that feel good to him.

Mothers, on the other hand, have the rare privilege of giving birth to that little lump of clay as well as starting the process of forming it into what is hoped to be one day, 'a man'. However, I must admit, sometimes the clay that mother has to work with is not potter's clay at all, but just plain old road-bed clay. What a revolting development that is!

There seems to be two significant extremes found in fathering. I want to explore them in order to show the right father example.

One of the extremes is the 'Weak -weenie- Daddy,' who only provides food, clothing, and shelter…while "Strong -I'm wearing the pants around this house- Mother," takes full responsibility for raising the kids. This method is dysfunctional to say the least. When there is a role reversal contrary to God's order, it weakens the very fiber of any child that is raised in such a home. The above method also reveals the father's fear and weakness, as well as the mother's insecurity and possible mistrust of men.

The second extreme is the dominate father who rules by intimidation. This man has misunderstood his role in the home and feels that God somehow has given him the right to rule in such a way. The child, as well as the mother will become brain-washed victims of this man. There will be a growing insecurity and an almost guarantee that the child himself will grow up to be an intimidator.

Over the years, I have heard many well meaning people say there is no such thing as victims. I only wish that were true. I've never known anybody who wanted to live a life of fear and being rejected because they didn't measure up. It's absurd to think that people want to be under-achievers or less than conquerors. No one wants to be less than what God has ordained him to be. The fact is, there are thousands of children being raised everyday that are dysfunctional and under-achievers because they have been victimized through intimidation by a dysfunctional dad.

This is certainly not God's best. According to Matthew 10:8, He has a plan for such problems. "He has anointed and appointed us to preach the good news, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the leper and cast out demons". If you will notice, 80% of what God tells us to do in that scripture has to do with healing and restoration. God has always had a plan to heal us from our dysfunctionality and victimization when there is a decision on our part to let Him.

One of the most beautiful pieces of human artwork is that of a Godly father functioning with his wife and children. His movement and speech seem to produce a heavenly sound that would match a master violinist playing a Stradivarius.

Since God has high expectations of fathers, maybe our expectations of fathers are not unrealistic after all. God sees more potential in us than any of us realize. I think every man that reads this should shout from the house tops. "Heavenly Father, I am going for it. I want to reach my full potential as a man and a father."

Father,
Let this be the time when all of us men press into the father potential that you have placed in us. Help us to give off sounds of peace, comfort and protection that make our families secure. Father, we want to be pure men who know how to cover our families with love and not with intimidation and fear.
Amen.

Better Than I Expected

And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not.

Ruth 2:16

I don't think any of us know how much the Lord is working behind the scenes on our behalf. Often times when unexpected blessings come our way we either think we had something to do with it or that we're just plain lucky. Rarely does the thought cross our mind that our heavenly Father enjoys blessing His children.

In the case of Ruth, as she was going about serving and honoring her mother-in-law Naomi, God was setting the stage for her coming blessing.

I have noticed over the years that there is a relationship between serving others and receiving blessings. Ruth may have looked like the others while gleaning the grain from the field but she wasn't. Without knowing it she was in fact the future Mrs. Boaz, the owner of the same field she had been gleaning. God is the only one who knows the end from the beginning. There is something about having a servant's heart that moves the heart of God. Gleaning from the fields one day and owning the fields the next is quite a blessing.

In Ruth's case there is a great lesson to be learned while studying the process in receiving the full blessing. She started out by gleaning grain from the field with others. The second step in her blessing process was that of gleaning handfuls of grain that was left in the field by the instructions of the owner. Her last step in the blessing process was marrying Boaz the owner of the field. There's always a process to receiving the full blessing.

When I first came to know the Lord, well meaning Christians continued telling me how much I was going to have to give up and how hard it would be to live the Christian life. I believed them and for a long time I waited for the hammer to drop - but it never did. I discovered it wasn't me who paid the price, it was the Lord. The only thing I gave up was a miserable hopeless life. I was also told I would never have any more fun and I certainly couldn't have any of the so called good things in life.

After spending many years studying the Christian life, I've become convinced that the Body of Christ has bought into a lie by claiming to suffer for Christ when they in fact have not suffered. This lie is better defined as false pride.

I do not intend to minimize the price some have paid on foreign fields of ministry by giving up their lives. Nor do I want to minimize the price the early church paid for establishing the freedom which I enjoy today. The point I'm making is that the majority of Christians here in American have not paid any price for their relationship with the Lord.

It costs us nothing to serve God. We are on the receiving end of this deal. When I think about being led by the Holy Spirit into the fullness of life and light I can't even imagine there being a better life. As a matter of fact you couldn't take a baseball bat and chase me away from the Lord. I've never been loved this much before.

Life in Christ is like finding handfuls of blessings left for us to glean on purpose. Praise you Lord!

Father,

I admit your love is far beyond my understanding. It seems as soon as I need something you've already laid it before me by the handfuls. All I have to do is go out to the gleaning fields and pick it up by faith.

Thank you Lord for opening my eyes that I might see you as a loving Father.

The Christian life is much better than I expected.

Amen!

The One Room School

Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.
Proverbs 19:20 KJV

The older I become the more thankful I am for all who have influenced my life. Over the years I have learned so much from others that I wonder sometimes if I personally contributed anything to my own makeup? Perhaps I am only a conglomeration of everyone else. Either way I am still a thankful person.

The other day while reminiscing and thanking God for those who had influenced me, I remembered a very special school teacher. She taught in a little one room school that I attended in central Texas. This one room school served the children of the local ranchers as well as the children of the families who worked on those ranches.

As I think back on those early days in the one room school there really did seem to be an old-fashioned romance and innocence about them. But on the other hand when I remember those cold rainy winter days of walking several miles back and forth to school the romance fades fast.

The student body was twelve to fifteen students who were all taught in one room. If you missed something one year, you could make up for it the next year because the same lessons were taught over and over. It seemed to be a great concept even though some of us were not known for our scholastic achievement. However after having said that, it is worth noting that a high percentage of the students went on to graduate from the University of Texas.

Our teacher drove back and forth from town where she and her husband lived. She was probably the kindest and most patient lady I had ever met. She must have had a divine call from God to teach in that school at that particular time. I am sure the Lord sent her there just for me. The things I learned from her I cherish to this day. I was especially influenced by the light of her life.

To this day I still try to emulate the life lessons I learned from that precious one room school teacher who drove for miles each day to teach children like me. Perhaps the more valuable lessons in life are not always learned in the university while listening to a brilliant professor, but through the simplistic teaching of a dedicated one room school teacher.

Father,
Thank you for the lessons I learned from this wonderful God-sent teacher. I learned through her that virtue, patience and commitment would one day help me to serve a cause higher than myself. These qualifications were the qualifications I would one day need in order to fulfill my call as a minister. Lord, help me to always be as dedicated to others as my one room school teacher was to me.
Amen.