TRUST AND OBEY

When we think of love, the picture that comes to mind is that of the latest celebrity couple kissing each other at some party at some exotic locale. Then when they finally speak to the press about their relationship they talk about “how much in love” they are. Therefore when we think about the word love, we somehow seem to associate the word love with the word sex. And that’s why we somehow find it hard to understand the love of God. It’s hard to make a sexual association with someone you can’t see. However God’s love (and love generally) has nothing to do with sex but it is a deep and abiding commitment to our welfare and our well-being. God’s love is predicated on his deep desire to have fellowship with his creation and he understands that his creation cannot have a meaningful life without fellowship with him. Therefore, the reason for the fact that he seeks fellowship with his creation is not so much that he is looking for someone to worship him, it’s because God desires the best for us. Therefore the relationship that he seeks is not for him but for us because he realises that we cannot be all that we can be without him.

In his word, God is constantly telling us of his love but it seems we are either hard of hearing that we can’t hear him or we just don’t believe him. In the end God gave us the ultimate proof of his love. He sent his one and only son to die for us so as to rekindle the relationship that we had let die. He was so heartbroken at the separation that sin brought about between us and him that he sent Jesus to show us the way back. Jesus said unless we exercised faith like little children we would not see the kingdom of God. The Bible tells us that God is so concerned about his word that he watches over it jealously to bring it to pass. He even has more respect for his word than his name. We need to take him at his word about his love. Trust him. And lean on him.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/.

The Gates of Hell Cannot Prevail

I believe that there is something in man that wants to worship God as his Creator, his God and sustainer. When we refuse to give in to that desire or refuse to recognize it, we end up worshipping other things. We end up worshipping cars, houses, sex, and status. All these things only give momentary pleasure or happiness but can never satisfy. I also believe that there is something in all of us that tends toward depravity and we can go either way. In God’s word we not only find hope for our souls as the Word points to God, we also find strength to fight off the demons that seek to lead us to the dark side.

Apart from having an on-going relationship with God, I believe one of the greatest things ever to happen to us is the Bible. In the thousands of years since the Old and New Testament were written, the sacred words in them have given hope, strength, peace and joy to those who adhere to the words written there. Not just the letter of the words but the spirit. The words were not written for our comfort but they are a template for us to live our lives by. The words are light which show us the state of our heart and lives in relation to God and how they should be. Thanks to the fall in the Garden of Eden, man has developed a great aversion to light. The natural tendency of man is to hide from the light and pretend that all is well.

The words written in the Bible were those men like Paul the Apostle, John Knox, Charles Spurgeon, Smith Wigglesworth, Charles Finney, John Wesley and Watchman Nee all lived by and they found God and lived great and fruitful lives. These men did great wonders and saw great revelations of God’s power as a result of these wonder. It is therefore no wonder that I marvel at the arrogance of the men of this age who say they are “Christian” but hide from the light of these words. These people say the sacred words are outdated and we should jettison them and look for other words that agree with our predilections and proclivities. We should look for words that agree with our depravities and which do not show us the wrong that we do. Because they are condemned in their hearts by the sacred words, they want to away with the words. In this they have as allies those who hate God. Those that say they as Christian do not see any wrong in the alliances they have formed because they are moved by their senses.

Ever since the birth of Christianity, several people have risen up with the stated aim of killing it. In the intervening period, they are the ones who have died and the Church has gone on. I am convinced above all that the Church can never die. Jesus declared that the gates of hell would never prevail against the church. I believe this with all my heart. Therefore when I see hell rising up against the Church, while it worries me because I remember the persecution the Church will suffer before Christ returns, I am consoled and strengthened in knowing the Church has prevailed.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers, http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal. 

Parental Discretion Advised

"Col 3:8 - But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth."

I had a friend while I was in school who I considered to be more spiritual than I was. He was the kind of person people looked up to. If the Bible didn't enjoin us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling I would say that I would have loved to be like him. There was however something about him I didn't like or understand. He, like quite a lot of other Christians I have met since then, thought it was okay to swear.

You'll have to forgive me but I have never been too impressed by the desire to be cool or belong. The Bible says we should be different. I have therefore never understood how Christians think it is cool to swear or use the "F" word. The interesting thing was that my friend felt he had a ministry calling. That used to give me a funny feeling. Not that I didn't think he wouldn't make a great pastor, I was afraid of what he might say in the process of operating in his ministry. Whenever I think of the topic, I think of a scenario where a pastor is preaching to his congregation and he tells them, "Jesus "f-----g" died for you, that's the message of the gospel" or something like that. I have told myself if something like that were to happen, I would get up and walk out of that church.

I believe that there is a place for big open door outreaches where a great number of souls who are hungry for Jesus can come to and meet with him. However I think we are too fascinated with numbers. The Bible tells us that heaven rejoices over one sinner that repents but we want to see as many as possible repent at once. A thousand people become saved at the outreach and we rejoice. The person leading them in the prayer of salvation tells them to lead new, holy lives but we don't really tell them how. No one is there to model the new life for them so they wing it. They live the life they want to live or feel they should live not knowing the life God wants them to live in the Word by the help of the Holy Spirit.

Because society has become inured to the meaning of a word or it's root does not take away the meaning. Also because it acceptable in normal society doesn't mean it's acceptable in Christianity. When a rappers's CD is labelled, "Explicit Lyrics, Parental Discretion Advised", it not only relates to the content explaining what they want to do with the Uzi, it's also about the swear words used. It is believed that the words are not proper for children to know or hear. Jesus told us that in this new life that we have, we should be like little children. I wonder, how many of us who are parents would love it if our or our neighbour's four year old daughter walked up tp us and asked "Who the f--- are you?"

Exactly.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal.  

Can I Do All Things Through Christ?

I honestly believe that there is no substitute for reading the Bible ourselves. The book of Joshua enjoins us at Chapter 1, verse 8 that “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein; for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success”. The simple fact is that if we want to ensure that the book does not depart out of our mouths or and that we meditate on what is written in the word day and night and observe to do all that’s in the word, there is no substitute for us to read the word and understand it ourselves by the help of the Holy Spirit. While our pastors, friends, colleagues and other Christians are there to help us with our understanding of the Scriptures, it does not absolve us of the responsibility to check if what they are saying is the truth.  

 

The Sun Shining

While I was in university, I remember that when examinations came around we were urged to pray and declare that our memories were blessed and that we would remember all that we had read. I really didn’t think much of this and I happily and fervently prayed along with the rest of the congregation that my memory was blessed and that I would remember all that I had read. No matter how little I had read or understood. However when I got round to reading the verse of scripture that gave rise to the prayer point, I discovered that we had been applying the scripture in error. Proverbs 10:7 says: “The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot”. Immediately I read it, it occurred to me that the verse had nothing to do with my memory or examinations. It also occurred to me that it had been taken out of context. I realised that what the verse was talking about was about how men who were considered just or wicked would be remembered when they’re dead. Case in point, Saint Francis of Assissi and Adolf Hitler. While people are grateful for the life of the former, a lot of people probably wish the latter had never been born.

Which then leads me to the verse of scripture that I think has been quoted of context the most, probably because a lot of Christians have not taken time to read it and understand it for themselves. They’ve heard their pastor, parents, friends, colleagues and even new converts to Christianity all quote it and so they’ve accepted it. Philippians 4:13. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”. However, when people misquote it, the “which” somehow changes to “who”. What they then mean is that thanks to Christ who strengthens them, they could become a brain surgeon, an architect, an intrepid explorer, you name it. For a while, I accepted this misquote. But then, I began to wonder, why would Christ strengthen you to be able to do all things if he has a specific purpose for your life? I then went back to read the verse and I found out that people were quoting the verse all on its own. The more I read it, the more I was convinced that verse 13 was linked to and could not be divorced from the verses above it, especially verse 11 & 12. Verse 11 talks about how Apostle Paul has learnt to be content in whatever situation he found himself. Verse 12 talks about how he has learnt to abound or be abased, be full or be hungry. Verse 13 then talks about how he is able to all those things he talks about in verses 11 and 12 through Christ. The question then is, is it Christ that strengthens him to go through those experiences? Probably. However, I believe that in using “which” instead of “who”, I believe what he was saying was that the things he goes through strengthen him for the other trials that are to come. In short, they build character in him.

The Bible is full of rich texts which if we faithfully apply and follow, our lives will be full of joy and prosperous, just as God intended. However, we can’t continue to receive revelation on a second hand basis. We need to dig into the word of God ourselves and unearth it’s rich resources.      

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO, a thriller published by WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers. DECEPTIO is available here http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU-000194087/Deceptio.aspx. He is also the author of LOST, BUT FOUND, a story of love and redemption. LOST, BUT FOUND is available on Amazon,  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on @CruzJC_Real.

While we wait ...

"But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." - James 1: 4

"Patience is not the ability to wait, but how you act while you're waiting." - Joyce Meyer.

There are things in our lives that we are hoping on God for. When the Bible talks of waiting patiently for God, the idea most of us have is that of waiting at the bus stop of life twiddling our thumbs hoping that God does his "magic". That gives us an out and lets us off the hook with regard to taking responsibility for our lives. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Patience in the context of the Bible has nothing to do whatsoever with being idle. Even as we wait for God for certain things that our out of our hands which only he can provide, there are things we need to do. Reading and meditating on the word as revealed in the Bible is one of the things we need to do while waiting patiently. Through the word, we build up our faith and our trust in God. Through the word we gain insight and receive revelation on what to do. Through the word, we find inspiration for living one day at a time.

Prayer is one of the things we need to continue to do in the time of of waiting. Going to sleep will not bring what we are trusting God for any faster. Neither will worrying about it. Prayer will help to build our faith and hope that what we are hoping for will come. In prayer, we receive direction. Through prayer we might even find out the solution to that problem we are waiting on God to "supernaturally" solve.

Another thing we need to do while waiting is to act in faith. The Bible at James 2:20 reminds us "that faith without works is dead." When we are believing on God for something, there are corresponding actions we need to take to show God that we are ready for what we believe he is about to do. Using myself as an example, I believe that God has called me not only to be a lawyer and do justice, but he has also called me to write books. From following people like Michael Hyatt the Chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers on Twitter, I have come to understand that getting published is not all cut and dried as I would like it to be. While I have written a novel, I don't know whether someone will think it's good enough to represent as a literary agent let alone publish. I have sent proposals out and I have already received two rejections. (It seems there is an opinion that unless you have been rejected many times, you're not really a writer yet). I have told myself that because of what I believe, I am not going to let a rejection stop me. I am going to keep sending proposals out because I believe that someone will have faith enough in my work to represent me. I have also told myself that I am going to keep writing novels, in the hope that I'll get better at it and I might just write something someone wants to represent. That is my act of faith by my works.

What else do you think one needs to do while waiting patiently?

"What Do You See?"

We all remember the story of the man in the Bible who was taken to see Jesus in Mark 8 vs. 22-26. When he met with Jesus, he was led out of the town by the Master. At the outskirts of the town, Jesus spat on his eyes and laid his eyes on the man. He then asked him if he could see anything. The man then gave the famous answer of "I see men as tress, walking." Jesus laid hands on the man again and his sight was fully restored.

There are quite a few things in that passage. The first was that for most people when Jesus met them they got healed immediately or delivered instantaneously. Yet here was a man who was walking with Jesus in the full glare of people and yet wasn't healed. Walking with Jesus doesn't guarantee that all will be fine and dandy. Anyone who says that is a liar. We will have our own share of troubles.


The second thing was that when Jesus asked the man if he could see, the man had a choice of trying to gloss things over or be pessimistic. He could have complained that he wasn't seeing well. We don't know how long he was blind or what caused it. However we do know he had an expectation of Jesus which was why he came to him. He could have expressed disappointment at the fact that he couldn't see well. "Is that all you can do?" might have been a valid question. But there are two things here. The man acknowledged that he could see but he also made it known all was not well yet. 


While we wait on God for something, the situation might not change at once. The change might be incremental. But we need to stop and thank God for the incremental changes even as we keep trusting and asking him for the total deliverance we are looking for.

 

Let Christ Be Preached!

The Apostle Paul said that there were those that preach Christ out of strife while he did it out of love. But he said that either way, whether Christ is preached out of love or out of strife, the important thing to him was that Christ was being preached.

Thanks to people like Tim Tebow and Jeremy Lin who have not been shy about their faith, a lot of commentators have said a lot of things about God and Jesus and Christianity, most of it bad. There have been rude and downright insulting things said about them and Christ. However if we are to apply Paul’s statement here, then the important thing is not what they are saying about Jesus, but the fact that they are even speaking about Jesus. These are people who on a normal day would not even deign to talk about faith or Christianity but because people like Tim Tebow are not afraid to speak about Jesus, they also talk about Jesus. These are people who a lot of people listen to and even though they speak about God and Jesus derisively, in the end some of the people listening will take the step of wanting to know more about Jesus. I pray they find out the truth.

Paul prayed that God would help him not do anything that would bring shame on the name of Christ. We will all have an opportunity either today or sometime in the future, to speak about Jesus either verbally or by our actions. I think that should be the foremost thing on our minds. Not to do or say anything to bring shame to the name of Christ or to misrepresent him. This is because in the end, people will look at us and what we say or do and want to “preach” Christ. The least we can do is to put forward the truth so that people can make up their minds.  

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBow Press (www.westbowpress.com), a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal

What's Love Got To Do With It (Part 2)

I have recently been learning about the grace of God. I have come to understand that love is the most powerful thing on the face of the earth. Not guns, not missiles. not atomic weapons. They can all cause massive destruction but in the end, they really cannot cause change like love has the potential to. Like I have said before, I'm not talking about Hollywood's portrayal of love, but the real thing.

I once read a quote by someone who said that all the major wars and troubles have been caused by religion. While I believe that is untrue, I do not dispute the fact that there have been some wars fought based on the premise that they were "Christian" wars. But a war that is unleashed in the name of someone who is called the Prince of Peace cannot be a true representation of him. I believe that there would be less wars if there was more love. But unfortunately, we don't know what love looks like so we can't recognise it when we see it. We can't even express it because we have never felt it ourselves.

Love is not about who is right or who is wrong. It's not about what we deserve or don't. It's not even about why, who or what. It just simply ...is.  When you desire the good of someone other than yourself, it shouldn't be because of something they've done or have don't it should be because you love them. The Bible tells us that we love God because he first loved us. We are only able to love Him because he showed love to us first. His love was and is unconditional and without any strings. We didn't do anything to earnn it. In fact, we were quite unloveable. But it spite of this, God still choose to love us.

The essence of the Word was that He came to show us what the father is like. He broke down a list of rules and do's and dont's into two and asked us to love God with all our heart, soul, might, strenght. He asked us to love others as we love ourselves. We cannot really achieve the second without understanding and living out the first. We need to understand that there is nothing we can do or say to make God love us more. It's time we accepted that fact and accept the free gift of God's love. until we do, we will never really know what it means to be loved. Or to love. Unconditionally.

What do we need to do to understand and accept God's love today?


JC Cruz is the author vof DECEPTIO out now from WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers (www.westbowpress.com). You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal