Don't Tell Me What to Do!!

The skinny on Authority. Are we drowning without it?  Authority - The power of or right to give orders, make decisions or give orders.  What is missing in the modern day church.  It could be authority.  In the course of an apathetic world that is spinning out of control, authority is just another symptom of a deep, deep problematic mindset.  In the core teachings of the Bible we as Christians have to bow to an authority to truly follow and be prepared for true, Holy Spirit filled living.  That authority is our Heavenly Father and He is a jealous God who wants our all and nothing less.  Ooops....That's where our world's beliefs and God's Word clash big time as we see on a daily basis.  Remember, when we admit, believe, and confess and become a follower of Jesus there is something huge that happens and that huge thing is CONTROL!!   Control- we give it up when we accept Jesus and surrender our life to His will and way, and receive eternal life in heaven.  Some may think this sounds like a robotic type of life, but it isn't at all.  We just surrender all our wants over to His way and truly give all our life over to His authority.  We are no longer free, but chained to his way of living.  It's all His. Paul wrote the church in Ephesus about his position as a disciple and it is very telling for all  who call on the name of Jesus.  Ephesians 6:18 [g]With all prayer and petition [h]pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view,[i]be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in [j]chains; that [k]in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.  EEarlier Paul writes about the "Armor of God" and the importance of having it on and using it. Even earlier in the chapter Paul addresses that children should follow their parents instruction, Fathers should not provoke their children to anger and bring them up in the discipline of the Lord, and then he even says slaves be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ, not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.  Hmmm, the heart.  I guess that's the same heart that Jesus is changing through our daily walk, and that heart is to become more like Jesus every day.  So authority is to be a way of life, and the one in authority is to be Christ-like in their implementation of that authority.  The one under the authority is to find their place in their submission and grow in that protection and direction.  But as with almost everything else, we are living in opposite world when it comes to authority.   If a man of God exerts his God given authority in most cases he will be asked "who do you think you are?"  If a husband tries to lead his wife and children as a person in authority, he will be burned at the stake,  Only if those who under his authority are not following the teachings of God's word.  The authority thing is a problem at the core of everything we know and do.  Parents try to get their children to follow their instruction and after the third try give up.  This should not be.  Husbands try to protect and lead their families in the right directions and they are accused of being abusive and mean.   This should not be.  Pastors and church leaders are ignored when they say "you committed to this, now please do it." This should not be.  BUT IT IS!!  In 2 Corinthians 10 Paul is writing to the church to address a problem that he has heard about.  The church there says he is bold in his writing and weak in his presentation when he is with them face to face.  He explains his attitude in being this way like this in 2 Cor. 10: Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent! 2 I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, 6 and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.  Paul wanted them to just listen and do, don't fight the messenger, which really means they are fighting the message, but obey and move on.  I don't think leaders want to lord over others, so they don't follow through with their full authority.  We get more worried with people's impressions of us being servant-leaders and that we are not tre harsh in our efforts to get followers to do the right thing, so we come across as too passive when we should be firm and forthright.  Like Paul, it is easy for me to write this blog and not follow through face to face with people who may or may not even heed my words of leadership, but it doesn't lessen my authority because, whether I like it or not, that is given by God. Yes, by God!!  That's scary isn't it?  You should be on this side of it.  I relate to Paul's problem of being meek face to face in verse 1, but I can't relate to his standing strong and firm in telling those early Christians what to do and how to do it.  In today's world no one is listening, so there is very little following.  And the following is temporary and based on having the perfect conditions for doing it....which is impossible.  Marriages would not fall apart if Biblical authority was followed by both people.  In Ephesians 5:23 Paul wrote  For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the Body. I always explain away this verse by saying,   Well, Christ gave himself up for the church, so I should give my life for my wife.  All of that is true, but the authority doesn't lessen at all so it doesn't get me off the hook, or my wife.  Biblical authority is just that Biblical authority.  It either is or it isn't.  

So whatever authority you have been placed in that is Biblical authority should be exercised or you will lose it.  Then it is the choice of those who are to follow and those who are under that authority as to whether they will follow or not.  End of story.  In other words, someone stand up somewhere and do something because we are drowning here and there is no reason to be drowning.  The Lord has put everything in order and we are the ones putting the pieces in the wrong places, so the puzzle picture looks different than God intended.  How difficult will it be to assert this authority?  It will depend on the servant attitude and the Bible following attitude of those you are over.  And whoever you are under in authority.  Make this task easier by being more Godly in your approach to following.  All will go much better if you are living your life that way.

Hebrews 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.

The Pilgrimage continues...

David Warren

Time to Leave the Mountain

In the movie "The Hobbit, The Battle of the Five Armies" a key figure by the name of Thorin Oakenshield had reclaimed the mountain from the dragon Smaug.  The dragon had long held the mountain riches as his own.  ( and how was a dragon going to spend the gold?)  Anyway, as the dwarf king and his men took over the mountain, Thorin came down with a terrible sickness, Gold fever, resulting from greed.  It caused him to become very possessive of the gold in the mountain and selfishness followed close behind and changed him from who he was to this new sickening person.  The very thing he wanted to get back as his own took control of his life to the point that he wouldn't leave the mountain for fear someone would take control of it.  Soon after the dragon Smaug was defeated word got out and others came to the mountain hoping to get their riches from the depths of the mountain.  It's lure on their lives was like a huge magnet drawing them to go to battle for what was inside.  One such group, the elves, brought a great army to get their precious white stones from the mountain lair, but Thorin was so "eat up" with his sickness that he was determined to protect the treasure at all costs.  All the while the Orc army was gathering to defeat the dwarfs, and the elves, and the humans while they were arguing over the treasure in the mountain.  The deep desire to get the treasure inside the mountain distracted all the other armies and the Orcs caught them unaware and almost defeated them while they were transfixed by the lure of the mountain treasure.  Thankfully Thorin had a vision of the gold destroying him and he woke up and led his dwarf brothers to victory, along with the other armies.

What can we learn from this great story of the battle of good and evil?  First, Christians get distracted by shiny things.  You know we do!!  The next best, greatest thing comes down the road and we sacrifice all to get it.  And when we pursue it, we think we deserve it.  It's the shiny things in life that lead to the sickness of pride and selfishness.  We use statements like:  Have you heard the latest this, that, or the other?  If we haven't, we feel left out.....PRIDE.  Secondly, the sickness causes us to feel comfortable in our church and we don't want to let anyone else in.  We are so proud of our church "family" and "fellowship" and we will do anything we can to protect our community. SELFISHNESS The early church had a wonderful fellowship, but God allowed persecution on them to scatter them to other places so the Gospel would continue to be shared in all areas.  He wouldn't allow them to just live in the mountain and enjoy the riches of a closed fellowship. He broke down the barriers that kept them from sharing the Gospel.  We build walls to keep others out, even though we say we are reaching out to others.  We will never admit that the reason we don't  reach out is because we don't want others in.  The sickness of selfishness has caused us to exclude the field of souls and not include the field of souls.  Those walls are built as a defense against any who might come and take away my "position" in the church.  Thirdly, we are so busy trying to get "our" way and not consider others first, that the enemy, satan, comes in behind us and starts tearing us apart while we are distracted.  He is defeated, but we allow him entrance into our flank without watching out for him, and he is winning little battles against the church while we fight among ourselves.  All the while, those in the mountain, the church, are trying to protect it from outsiders who we think might upset our way of life and take away our precious standing.

It's time for all who have acquired the gold mountain sickness to look at the effect of that sickness on their life and wake up to the fact that we are losing too many battles because of distraction. We are no longer a place that is open to all to come in, but a place that has erected high walls of protection to keep a  lost and dying world at bay.  It's time to awaken from our sickened, selfish, prideful, attitudes and come out of the mountain (church building) and move forward in battle to defeat evil where it is.  The Orc leader orchestrated their attack from a high vantage point and he knew if they would just keep fighting among themselves he could defeat them, so he kept attacking at their weakness.  It wasn't until Thorin overcame his sickness and charged the hill that the Orc's started to fall.  It's time to leave the sanctuary of the mountain and charge the hill of the enemy and open the mountain (church) up for all who may want to enter in and allow the riches of God's grace and mercy to be experienced by all who come seeking.  When we do that our armies will be united in one purpose, living in peace and enjoying the victory that has already been won by Jesus Christ.  He is the warrior king and He has defeated all evil.  Our strength and power is found in Him alone, but we must advance forward in that power to win many more victories in people's lives.  We don't have five armies, we have one united army of saints who know what it takes to win battles.  Put on your battle raiment and we will see victory after victory.

The Pilgrimage continues...

David Warren

Interruptions-Ride the Wave

It's amazing how good intentions can become so distracted by interruptions in our lives.  I am the kind of person that when I start thinking about something I get going and then "bam" another thought leads to another and then "bam" it happens again.  I like to call it "thinking in the flow!"  But I am also a little "squirrel!" type of person, like the dog on the kid's movie Up!  I can get distracted so easy and lose focus, and even though my heart is in the right place, my thought and direction get "interrupted."  Paul deals with this very thing in 2 Corinthians 8:10-12 (The Message) So here’s what I think: The best thing you can do right now is to finish what you started last year and not let those good intentions grow stale. Your heart’s been in the right place all along. You’ve got what it takes to finish it up, so go to it. Once the commitment is clear, you do what you can, not what you can’t. The heart regulates the hands. This isn’t so others can take it easy while you sweat it out. No, you’re shoulder to shoulder with them all the way, your surplus matching their deficit, their surplus matching your deficit. In the end you come out even. As it is written, Nothing left over to the one with the most, Nothing lacking to the one with the least.
Too many times those interruptions get us off track and off task enough to cause us to doubt ourselves and then the faith goes out the window...Tragic!  One thing leads to another and the very "fluid" thing you were working on is also the very thing that leads you down the wrong path.  The path of doubt!!!  The doubt path leads to mediocrity and apathy and when those have taken their toil there's not much left.  I think we call them "scraps." 
As Paul told the church at Corinth.  "Don't worry about the things you can't change, just concentrate on those things you can.  Come back to God and come back to a life of victory and purpose.  Pray for God to stop the interruptions from people, circumstances, society, etc.  Our world is on a massive wave that will end in destruction.  There are plenty of people being gobbled up by this wave and it gets worse every day.   I say, "Surf the wave itself and stay above all the faithless, hopeless, nay sayers that can keep you from living the life of freedom Jesus died for each of us to experience.  If you are on task and serving God and you see His hand guiding your life, then keep on going and surf on His board for awhile.  The view is awesome!!!
As I continue to try to stay ahead of the apathy that is increasing at a fast rate, I am always trying to see what I can do to be effective for God in my daily life.  The best thing I can do is "fix my eyes on Him" (Hebrews 12:2) and ride the wave, instead of letting it overwhelm me.  I know there are sharks out there just waiting for me to ride that wave, so they can devour me, but with God's help I can avoid them and see the horizon of victory through the power of God's love and grace.  Since this is shark week, I thought this word might be encouraging to those of us who are still believing for God to intervene and spark a great awakening in our land.  He will!!  Keep the interruptions at bay!!  'Fight the JAWS!!

The Pilgrimage continues,

David Warren

Easter Is a Great Time to Jump In!!

Why do so many people, even in the south, just come to church on Easter.  It could be that their only identification with the Lord is the crucifixion and the resurrection story.  It’s what I like to call “getting your toes wet” but not jumping totally in the water.  When I was a young lad my family had a lot on Spring River in northern Arkansas.  On that lot we could camp, and use it as a place to swim in Spring River (which year around is about 58 degrees).  The most fun for me at the start of the year was jumping into the river by running as hard as I could and going in all at once.  Of course, the shock was very real as the 58 degree water hit my body.  Usually a very loud “oh my goodness” would force it’s way through my teeth and I would immediately come up and say, “C’mon in.  The water is great!”  To which the others in our family would say, “You are crazy!”  Then I would watch as some of them would approach the water at the bank and stick their foot in and say, “no way!”   Basically their big toe was telling the rest of their body to stay out of the water because it sensed it was too cold.  Most of the time the message sent by the big toe was well received, so they would not swim at all, and I ended up swimming by myself.

You may say, “sounds like their big toe was smart!”  To which I would reply, it just kept them from enjoying the water.  No swimming because of a lack of faith and a lack of want to.  Those people who attend church only on Easter is kind of the same scenario as the river story.  They are sticking their big toe in but not willing to totally immerse themselves in the “church thing.”  They begin to feel like they want to come to church on Easter, but that is it.  Their church life is on hold until the next year.  So they go about the rest of the year watching others participate in their faith and never immersing themselves in the action of serving and ministering through the local church.  Of course, we give them information about things that are going on, asking them to reconsider, but they think it is too much of a shock for their lifestyle.   So they stay on the shore and never get to “swim.”  Sad, because the water IS so great and the fellowship is so awesome.  So, what do we who are in the church (water) do?  We keep on serving (swimming), and we continue to invite them to try it out.  Every year, without missing, I would jump in to the river and then invite the others to jump in also.  Why?  Because it was more fun to get them to swim and then spend time together.   In church life we should do the same thing.  Keep serving and keep inviting.  Never stop!!!  This year is no different.  We are going to have a great time of celebration on April 5 at 11:00 a.m. and it will be a great time to invite someone, once again, to try church out.  I can assure you your efforts to get others to come to our services will not be a waste of time.  You will give them the opportunity to hear some great music and hear the Word of God preached in a very special Easter message.  Of course, every year we are going to invite them to jump in!!   They may say no, but they may say yes.  Lifting up the name of Jesus is always worth the effort and the sacrifice.  Happy Easter!!  He is risen!!!   He is risen, Indeed!!

The Pilgrimage continues

David Warren

McFarland: The dream that could be....

I watched a great movie last week, entitled McFarland.  It is based on the true story of a high school cross country team in California at McFarland High School.  The movie tells of the struggle of a high school football coach to redefine his career in coaching and in that redefining he finds himself again a coach.  Kevin Costner, of course, makes his character come to life and and the movie takes us through the inception and continued development of the cross country team at McFarland High School.  McFarland school has long since been considered a high school without much hope for improvement and is written off as a school that cannot succeed in much of anything.  But then the dream...   Costner's character suddenly finds a new sport called cross country starting in high schools in California and births a cross country team made up of young men who are sons of migrant workers in that area.  In fact, the population of the town is known as a location to be the home of "pickers" who are mostly mexican.  The cultural divide between Costner's character and the members of his cross country team is wide, but over time narrows as Costner's rediscovers what it takes to coach anyone.  The dream he has for the boys he coaches comes to fruition as the team goes on to win the first ever state championship in cross country in California.  The dream is realized.....

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Senior, was a doctor. As such he was very interested in the use of ether. In order to know how his patients felt under its influence, he once had a dose administered to himself. As he was going under, in a dreamy state, a profound thought came to him. He believed that he had suddenly grasped the key to all the mysteries of the universe. When he regained consciousness, however, he was unable to remember what the insight was. Because of the great importance this thought would be to mankind, Holmes arranged to have himself given either again. This time he had a stenographer present to take down the great thought. The either was administered, and sure enough, just before passing out the insight reappeared. He mumbled the words, the stenographer took them down, and he went to sleep confident in the knowledge that he had succeeded. Upon awakening, he turned eagerly to the stenographer and asked her to read what he had uttered. This is what she read: "The entire universe is permeated with a strong odor of turpentine." 

Some times dreams are not all they are propped up to be.  But dreams are still important.  We dream, but then what happens?  We wake up.   J.M. Power said, "The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up."  Acts 2:17 says  "in the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams."  Costner's character in the movie McFarland was in the latter years of his coaching career, but he was able to find a way to coach in an area, a sport, and a society that he didn't understand.  He had a dream and went to work to see it happen.  There is no doubt that most Christians believe these are the "last days" and that the Lord will return soon.  I agree.  So the Acts 2 scripture above is not outdated, it is current and relevant.  But where are the prophecies, where are the visions, where are the dreams?  All are locked in a sleep cycle that needs to wake up each of us to participate in that part we are made for.  

T.E. Lawrence once said, "All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds awake to the day to find it was all vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for the many act out their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible..."

Can it be true?  Can day dreaming be a good thing?  Apparently so.  The definition of the word dream is-a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind 

during sleep.  The dream for me is what could be if I would apply myself to something and see it through.  You first see the dream, then put yourself in a position to affect the dream, and then see it come to pass.  That is the dream that could be...  Could be if we applied ourselves to it and worked to make it happen.  The first thing that drains the life out of a dream is the lack of hope.  For believers, hope is our necessary ingredient for everything we do.  Romans 5:3-5 says, 

The pilgrimage continues....

David Warren

Where is the Precedent?

If you watch tv much or cruise on Facebook you will see people from our top leader to the lowest newscaster use huge words like unprecedented, never before, unheard of, and many other words that are meant to push their point with the most effectiveness.  The one I hear our top leaders say the most is unprecedented and it is used so much I don't even believe it anymore.  (As if I believed it in the first place?)  These are "power words" and the intent is to garnish the most power in making a point, but when used as much as they are now, actually weakens the words themselves.  We have very few unprecedented things to mention anymore, so the words themselves have no bite, because they are mostly untrue.  Pure truth is something people cannot seem to handle and when it is brought up intimidates most to the point of causing a riot.  Pure truth actually gives substance to the word unprecedented and the many other power words.  God's Word is that pure truth and the sooner our world realizes and acknowledges that, the sooner these words will have more depth and meaning.  You may say, "David, what's your point?"  Here's the point.  God's Word speaks to many different issues in one area or another, but the base core issue of eternity is the one that should cause anyone who has an ear or a brain to listen to very closely.   Here is some precedented truth from God's Word.

Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  What is the precedent?  Man is a sinner and that sin originated in the garden of eden.  That's the precedent.

Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates His own love toward us, kin that while we were yet sinners, Christ dies for us.  What is the precedent?  God sent Jesus to be born of a virgin and live on this earth and then go to the cross giving the ultimate sacrifice for our sinful condition and Jesus defeated death, hell, and the grave to give us hope of eternal life in glory.  God's demonstration of His love for us by giving His Son is the precedent.

Romans 10:9,10 - That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness,  and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.  The precedent is "we must believe and confess" for life change and eternal life in heaven.  That it the precedent for eternal life in heaven.

Romans 10:13 For whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.  The precedent for the lost person is we have to call upon God for our new life in Christ.  That is the precedent.

Do you get it?  In reality, we must all adhere to the teachings of God's Word as our precedent to truly receive all of God's promises.  Eternal life, abundant living, vibrant witness, etc..  GOD IS THE PRECEDENT!!!  God in His great love has been reaching out to us since the beginning of time and He set His pure truth as the precedent.  A pure truth that must be followed and confirmed by action on our part.  That action is realizing we are sinners, realizing that God loves us, realizing that Jesus died for the penalty of our sins, realizing that we must believe by faith and confess our sins to the Lord for our salvation, believing that God's plan for our life is better than ours by following the Bible, and then living that life.  Our faith is not unprecedented.  Our faith is VERY PRECEDENTED!!

Prophets foretold it and it happened and is still happening as God's Word is revealed in the reckless world we live in.  There is nothing new under the Son.  God created this world, He created us, and now He reaches out to us with pure truth.  His Word is new and fresh every day, but His Pure Truth isn't anything that hasn't already been in place since the beginning of time.  A thinking person would start to realize that God really is all in all and the I Am.  A thinking person would start to evaluate who they are following and what is pulling their chain.  A thinking person might consider that this world and the great thinkers of this world are truly ignorant when compared to God's wisdom.  That great thinker would suddenly realize that without God there is no hope, but with God there is freedom and pure hope.  The only thing really in life that is unprecedented is man's ignorance to the pure truth of God.  We see that lived out daily in the news and it should be no surprise that the world's temporal attempt at living life to the fullest is most miserable when built on our own weak reasoning from brains that are tainted at best.  So, if you are coming from a human reasoning on a worldly foundation, your continued lack of wisdom in choosing Christ over the world IS unprecedented and it is now time to change your thinking.  There is power in God's Word only....Not mans' words.  Read it and weep, and after weeping turn your life over to the only hope we all have for peace.  Turn it over to God....

The Pilgrimage continues...

David Warren

What is your water temp? The Blessings Of An Aggressive Faith

What is an aggressive faith?  It is a faith that runs to good works and affects the kingdom with a good offense and not just a good defense.  Living a life of defense only, is living a life that just deals with what comes your way as you wait on it.   Revelation 3:16 So, because you are lukewarm-neither hot more cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

What causes us to get into a "defensive" mode, or get lukewarm? 

1. Getting your heart beat on when you stepped out from the crowd and tried something God-sized.  Something that reminded critics that they are supposed to be living that kind of life and they don't like the reminder.

2. Trusting God for something and he came through in a different way than you were planning.  This is a tough one for me because I like to map out everything in my sight lines and proceed knowing what I am facing.  Remember, trusting God means we trust Him to do things His way and accepting that result.  This should build our faith and not cause us to fall back from being aggressive in our faith.

3. Hiding safely in a group of non-aggressive believers and using their lack of faith to mask our lack of action.  It feels nice and comfortable, but we are actually moving backward and not forward in faith.  This the trend of the new "relevant church movement" and it is dangerous!!

Whatever causes it for you, God wants more, and He wants to guide us to a whole new level of belief that involves really trusting Him for the results.  All of that sounds great, but in order to move to that level of belief we are going to have to get out of the water we are in (and it is not hot water, more like lukewarm)  You may say, "Why is that going to be so difficult?  Well, our world is spirally downward in an apathetic coma and our Christian faith has been caught in that spiral and the constant indoctrination of an apathetic, fallen world, is taking it's toll on what should be a vibrant Christian group of people.  In 2 Kings 19, the Word of the Lord says that Hezekiah was king of a people who had lost their zeal for serving the Lord, but Hezekiah came to his senses and called out to God through the prophet Isaiah to help them because the Assyrians were mighty and all around them, ready to defeat them. God spoke to Hezekiah through Isaiah and assured him that He was still in control and that he would use a remnant to reestablish a people who will follow God.  In verse 30 he said a surviving remnant of Judah shall take root downward and bear fruit upward.  In other words, the depth of their commitment to God the Father will be very deep and the fruit they will bear will be offered up and given to God.  Now that's what I call WORSHIP!!  Right after that promise God goes into the camp of the Assyrians and strikes 185,000 of their soldiers with death as they slept.  God used the remnant and God came through.  I can't imagine the shock of the Assyrian leaders waking in the morning to find 185,000 of their men dead in their beds.  At this new development Sennacherib, King of Assyria, departed and headed back to Nineveh, AND STAYED THERE!!  Hezekiah made the right move. He pleaded with God to help them, and believed that God would not allow the Assyrians to defeat His army and take his people captive.  He saw what was happening all around him, but he saw the lack of any movement of the house of Judah to do anything about it  In verse 3, He said, "children have come to birth and there is no strength to deliver."  Now that's pretty bad.   It sounds like what we hear all the time in our lost and defeated world view.  Christians saying, "I don't want to birth any children into this crazy world", when God wants more children to be born to Godly parents who will raise them to take hold of the fight of the faith.  You guessed it.  An aggressive faith means having children and raising them to take up their armor and live for God also.  We live in a world where we are having to talk people into not killing their children before birth, much less raise them in the ways of God.  Just like Pharaoh's desire to kill the Hebrew children in the time of Exodus because they were having more and more children and growing faster than he could control.  Our world today is led by the ambition to snuff out any children before they even get out of the womb.  The parallels are uncanny.  When Isaiah brought the word of God to Hezekiah, it was not only a warning, but a plan of attack, with God leading the way.  The Word of God through Isaiah showed Hezekiah the best way, and then God acted and their enemy was defeated.  How does that translate into an active faith today?

First off, we need to believe in God.  Yes, truly believe in God, and believe that His power is just as real today as it was in the Bible.  Secondly, we need to see our condition, and respond to how God's Word addresses that condition.  Thirdly, we need to act, believing God is going before us, and then watch the God-sized miracles that follow.   Yes, don't freak out.  I did say "miracles." They still happen you know.  The miracle of God killing 185,000 of Hezekiah's enemies in their sleep was a huge miracle of God and the remnant that looked on saw God's hand moving for them.  In our world today, we would have the tendency to explain away any miracles God performs.  We would call it an over emotional response by holy rollers, or a money making scheme by televangelists, or just an unexplained phenomenon.  All of those would be an insult to God in any form, and the end result would be lukewarm faith at best.  Hezekiah messed up by limiting God and when he  realized his only hope was in the Lord he did the right thing by calling out to His God, even when many did not trust God anymore.  Sound familiar?

So, what is the temperature of the water you are swimming in right now in your faith.  Is it hot, cold, or lukewarm.  Just remember, lukewarm water has just enough of a hot feel to make you think you are in hot water, but you aren't!  Lukewarm has to have some cold to make it lukewarm, so the cold is in there.  What is the cold water in your life that is stopping you from having total faith in God doing a mighty work?  Remember, at the same time we are learning to walk with God, the world is indoctrinating us.  The world!! You know ...satan!  You won't find this reasoning at any Catalyst conference in the future, because we have tasted the kool-aid and reasoned that it doesn't taste that bad.  But, our life after drinking the kool-aid of the world is lukewarm and doesn't taste very good to our heavenly Father, to which He replies, "I will spit you out!!"  We must come back to God and believe again that He is who He says He is, I AM!!  Just like the children of Israel facing the waves of the Red Sea, we are facing a huge wave of worldly reasoning, but God has called us to a new life of freedom from the world and a life eternal promised for those who persevere.  In the same way God parted the Red Sea for the children of Israel to walk on dry land and escape the Egyptian army, He is ready to part the waves of unbelief for us to step out of a world that hates Him and live a life of freedom in the "promised land" he has prepared for us in heaven.   As Moses led the children of Israel, Jesus leads us and goes before us showing us the way to live an aggressive faith that changes lives. What a blessing!! The lukewarm water doesn't feel so good now does it?  Then turn up the heat and get serving in your daily life, and through your church, and make a difference as the remnant of the faith.  We don't have to have any more plagues to know that God is calling us NOW to leave the land we are now living in.  Move and quit serving the world and getting leftovers! Live an aggressive faith and make a difference today.

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren