Christian Hope – It's about Him!

As this election season gets more and more heated, the posts and articles filled with hate and misinformation are on the increase. But, the Lord has dealt with me again on this matter and reminded me that I’m not to judge or speak evil about anyone – including members of the government – and that I need to be praying for our leaders.

“Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.”  Eph. 4:31

“Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. For

‘He who would love life
And see good days,
Let him refrain his tongue from evil,
And his lips from speaking deceit.
Let him turn away from evil and do good;
Let him seek peace and pursue it.
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their prayers;
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.’” 1 Peter 3:8-12

There is certainly a way to deal with and discuss issues at hand, but being rude, calling people names, and even saying that it would be better if so-and-so were dead, is not it. We can stand against ideas and actions in a noble way – we can, and should, do things differently than the world.

Return with me to praying for those in authority in our country as Paul directed in 1 Timothy 2:1-4:

“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Bickering isn’t going to solve anything; neither will complaining. But, entrusting ourselves and our nation to the Lord by doing what He says (because we’re showing Him that we trust Him by obeying Him) CAN solve EVERYTHING. Let’s quit wasting time! 🙂

PS – you can click here for an excellent example of how to pray for your government!

– Tammy

Hey folks! This is the last part of the “Division in the Body of Christ” series. If you missed the previous three, or just want to re-read, click below.

Part One – Love One Another

Part Two – What is Division?

Part Three – Judging

 Division in the Body of Christ – Part 4, Wheat and Tares

There’s a really critical portion of scripture that gives us believers a major clue on how we are to handle people who we think might be “false prophets” or “wolves in sheeps’ clothing.” Often times we think we need to spread the word about such persons. I used to think that. Then I got some revelation. And then some more. The piece of revelation that got to me most was the passage where Jesus tells the parable of the wheat and the tares. Let’s take a look in Matthew 13:24-30.

²⁴ Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; ²⁵ but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.”

Okay, so here we see some good wheat gets planted (believers). Then, an enemy comes in (the devil) and plants nasty tares (not believers) among the wheat. It takes a bit for anyone to notice that something isn’t quite right…

^26″ But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. ²⁷ So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ ²⁸ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’”

The servants ask an important question. “Boss, do you want us to get those tares outta there for you?” One would think that having weeds cropping up in your garden means it’s time to grab your trowel or weed killer and get to work. But that’s not what the owner tells them to do.

^29 “But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.”

He tells them to leave them alone! But why?

“Lest…you also uproot the wheat with them.”

Sure, the tares are bad, but the biggest danger here was obviously not the tares harming the wheat by sucking up nutrients and such. Nope. The biggest concern was that the wheat might be disturbed if someone were to rip up the tares. This is exactly the sort of thing I was talking about when I said we need to quit judging so we don’t harm others (you can read the previous posts by clicking the links above).

In the next verse, Jesus makes it very clear when the tares will be dealt with, and by whom (and it’s not us):

^30 “Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

At the harvest, the reapers (angels) will gather together the tares to be burned, but the wheat will be gathered into the barn.

The last thing I want to note here is that not once does a believer have any role to play in this parable except to grow, grow, grow. The wheat wasn’t standing in the field having a panic attack over the tares. So, let’s stop worrying about what other believers are doing, or how they believe, and focus on your own growth in the Lord. If we don’t agree with or like a certain person’s teaching, then we don’t have to listen to it! 🙂 Instead of “warning” people about those we don’t agree with, let’s put that energy into encouraging them in their walk with the Lord instead. The result will be the advancement of the Kingdom of God—which is what we’re here for!

-Tam

My battle buddy, Tammy, continues her amazing series on Division in the Body of Christ!

Division in the Body of Christ – Part 3, Judging

Some years back, just when I thought I was doing pretty good as far as living the way God wants me to live, God started dealing with me about judging others. I was listening to a teaching by Keith Moore at the time, and as he taught, he pointed out that judging is “making a call.” In other words, when we “judge,” we’re making a decision about someone or something. I’d never heard it put that way, and it struck home.

What happens in a court of law? Arguments are presented by both sides, evidence is brought forth, and then a “judgment” is passed down. A decision is made – guilty or not guilty. Without realizing it, we do this to other people and entire ministries. We look at all the outward evidence and weigh it against what we currently believe is “godly” or “right,” and if it doesn’t line up to what we know, we jump to judgment. We might say they’re “of the devil” or that it just “isn’t right.”

Believers generally know that Jesus said “Judge not, and you shall not be judged.” (Luke 6:37) But there seems to be very little obedience in this area because we’ve grown accustomed to making excuses for our behavior. We think we’re defending God, but when we judge, we’re actually harming the cause of Christ. I know all of this because I wasn’t obeying God either. I was pushing people away from God. I had no qualms about proclaiming how much of a liar or jerk someone was, all the while not even realizing I was judging! But, thank God, the Lord opened my spiritual eyes and ears to it. One of the main things He showed me at that time was that He wants us to “judge with righteous judgment” by looking beyond what we see with our eyes, and get to the heart.

“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’” 1 Samuel 16:7

This verse is right in the middle of the portion of scripture that tells us how David was chosen of the Lord to be anointed as king. If you read verse six, you’ll see that Samuel was ready to anoint David’s brother Eliab. But the Lord told Samuel to ignore what his eyes saw and follow His leading. Samuel had to stop going by what his eyes saw and listen inwardly for the direction of the Lord. If Samuel had judged according to how things looked and made his own “call,” things would have been very different.

And now, in the words of Jesus:

“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” John 7:24

I believe that “righteous judgment” means looking at things the way God wants us to look at them – that we take the time to “look” inwardly and hear what God has to say to us. When we catch ourselves thinking a critical thought, we need to turn our focus from what we’re seeing or hearing in the natural and turn it to what God has to say about it. (And most of the time, God seems to think it’s none of my business! )

Another aspect of this is what Jesus said on Luke 6:41: “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye?” When we put ourselves in judgment over another, we are indeed ignoring our plank to try and pick out their speck. Judging is a really bad thing in God’s eyes. A judgmental attitude produces strife, because having a judgmental attitude involves being prideful and haughty – like we know so much better than they do, and well, gosh darn it – someone has to set them straight! That, my friends, is a PLANK attitude! If we are to speak to someone about anything, it’s to be done in LOVE. Not simply because we think they need to hear it.

That new girl at church who wears mini-skirts almost every Sunday? If we look at that evidence alone, we might be tempted to think she’s a hussy. What we don’t know is that she was raised in an environment where short skirts were the norm. Her heart attitude isn’t to draw others to stare at her and lust after her body, but to come to church and learn about this new Father of hers that she barely knows yet. She doesn’t even realize there’s a problem with her skirt length. It’s quite possible that she’s not even ready to hear about her choice of attire yet. My question – do we want to hurt her and possibly push her away from God over a mini-skirt, or do we want to express the love of God to her and let God show her she needs to re-think her clothing choices when she’s ready to hear it?

That preacher that teaches things you disagree with? Well, if you go by only what you know about God and the Bible right now, you might not agree with them. You might even think they’re, as I said before, “of the devil.” My question – did you ever once have a moment in your life where you realized something you believed about God was wrong? At that moment did you recognize that there was so much you didn’t know yet? Just because we don’t agree with someone’s preaching gives us absolutely no biblical right to judge them. I’ve done this one plenty of times. Some of the ministries I used to be so against are some of the ones I follow closely now. God took me from hating them to a point where I feel like they’re family (and they are). It’s nice to not have to pry my foot out of my mouth so much.

You might be thinking, “Yeah, but what about the verse that says that judgment should begin in the house of God?” (That’s from 1 Peter 4:17, by the way.) Yeah the Bible says that, but this verse does not say we should be judging others. This verse comes in between other verses about trials and being persecuted for being a Christian, and it mentions nothing about us as individuals judging another person.

We don’t want to be the reason anyone stumbles in their faith – and when we cast accusations against other people and ministries, we may cause someone to stumble.

“Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.” Romans 14:13

And Paul continues on in that chapter to say that we’re all going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and answer to Him. We won’t answer for other people – only ourselves.

Now here’s where the Holy Spirit really got a hold of me on this:

“Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.” Romans 14:4

Oh, boy. I took this one very personally. I had been judging someone in my life at that time, and God made it very plain to me that it needed to stop. “Who are you to judge my servants, Tammy?” In other words, I wasn’t given the role of being their judge, so I needed to get back in my place! God is their judge. Not me. Interestingly, this scripture is found where Paul is going over how we’re to treat other believers who believe differently than us. To me the last part of this verse says, “Hey, you can judge all you want, but understand that I will cause my child to stand despite your judgments. So quit judging and get back on My side so that you won’t be judged. Then I can make you stand too.”

So what are we to do, then? There are definitely things that the Bible says are wrong. Thing is, the Bible says judging is wrong, so we need to steer clear. First, we need to learn to zip our lips concerning other people and stop making “judgment calls.” We don’t know their heart. If we don’t agree with them and start blabbering to everyone we know about how wrong they are – we’re in sin. That causes division, not unity. If someone asks you about preacher so-and-so, and you don’t agree with them, you don’t have to say anything negative at all (we’re going to deal with this more specifically in the next post)! You can simply say, as Kath likes to say, “They’re not for me” and leave it at that. Don’t let people pressure you into speaking negatively about anyone else.

There’s so much to this topic, but what it really all comes down to is learning how to see things from God’s perspective rather than going by what we see in the natural – walking in the Spirit rather than the flesh.

I encourage you to start a hunt in your Bible and let the Holy Spirit speak to you!

– Tammy

Part Four – Wheat and Tares

Here is part 2 of the study on Division in the Body of Christ by my friend Tammy!

Division in the Body of Christ – Part 2, What is Division?

There are many different Hebrew and Greek words used in the Bible that convey the idea of division and separation, and you should take the time to study them out on your own. It’ll help you. As Kath said to me once, there is good division and bad division. Right now I want to point out some Scriptures on both types so we can start to get an idea about what the differences are and how they apply to us.

“Therefore ‘Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.’” 2 Corinthians 6:17

Here Paul was talking to the Corinthians about how darkness has no fellowship with light, and that we’re not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. We’re supposed to separate ourselves from the world – we do things differently now that we’re members of the Kingdom of God.

“And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:11

The word “sanctified” carries with it the idea of being set apart to God. You’re still living in this world, but you have been set apart and made holy.

For both of these scripture references, this sort of “division” is more like being part of a different family. It’s not about being right or wrong, it’s about being God’s, or not.

While the verses above are examples of good division/separation, the Bible also talks a lot about bad division…

In Proverbs 6:16-19, the writer lists seven things that are an abomination (disgusting) to the Lord. Included in that list are lying, murder, devising wicked plans…and then…

“And one who sows discord among brethren.” (v. 19)

Someone who sows (plants) discord among brethren is something that the Lord HATES. The word “discord” means “strife, contention.” Now, this is going beyond just being in a different family. This is talking about people who start trouble in their family or between members of another family. Think about what we learned in the first post. We have a lot of “in-fighting” in the Body of Christ that makes us look “disgusting” to the world. No wonder God hates it!

If that’s not enough to convince you that this sort of division is always wrong, look at this verse:

“For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.” James 3:16

See that phrase “self-seeking”? The King James Version translates it as “strife,” and the Greek word used here means “electioneering or intriguing for office.” Hello? While we may not all be running for any actual office, isn’t the majority of division and strife about proving oneself to be “right” and someone else “wrong”? I’ve heard of church splits happening over everything from doctrinal disagreements to which side of the church the organ should be on. When we behave like this, we’re inviting every form and manner of evil into our laps. (You can read an EXCELLENT post on strife by Kath here – there’s actually a whole series on it – you should read them all!) When I think of all the nastiness going on amongst believers, my heart echoes our brother James, “My brothers and sisters, this should not happen!” (James 3:10 GW)

Biblically, godly division has to do with, among other things, us separating ourselves from operating and thinking the way the world does because that’s not who we are anymore – we’re new creatures! Just like God made a distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians in Exodus, He wants the world to be able to see that He has made a distinction between Christians and those who aren’t born again.

Bad “division” is so much more about the heart of a person’s actions…why they do what they do. It makes God look like a cruel Father, and it only serves to exalt one’s opinions and interests above another’s. Bad division separates the closest of friends and destroys lives, which reminds me of Jesus’ description of the devil.

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” John 10:10

Let’s stop letting the enemy use us to kill, steal, and destroy! Instead, let’s do what God told us to do (see the first post in this series) so that the world sees us living what Jesus said He came to give us in the last half of John 10:10:

“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

Do you see the difference?

-Tammy

Part Three – Judging

Division in the Body of Christ – Part 1

Imagine, if you will a family. You’ve got your mom and dad, and that set of parents has several children. They do their best to raise their offspring with a sense of honor and respect. Despite their best efforts, some of their kids end up hanging out with the wrong sorts of people, and all of the parents’ teaching over the years becomes crowded out by the negative attitudes of those the children surround themselves with.

They argue until they’re blue in the face over the smallest of matters with anyone and everyone and may the force be with you if you even dare challenge them on how they treat other people! As they get older and go from college to the working world, their behavior keeps them from making friends with anyone but those who act and think like they do, leaving everyone else clucking their tongues and wondering “Just how did their parents raise them anyway? Geesh.”

Folks, this is what a large part of the world’s population thinks of the Body of Christ in general. We’ve spent so much time and effort fighting amongst ourselves that we’ve given the world just one more excuse to ignore God. Who wants to follow a God who seems to be raising some pretty nasty kids?

Jesus never told us to “Go ye into all the world and tell them how this and that preacher are of the devil and they need to stay away from them and their false teaching.” No, He told us to preach the GOOD news – the Gospel!

Right now you may be thinking, “Yeah, but someone has to warn people about the heresies these people are teaching!” Nope. Wrong. Not your job. We’ll get to that in part two of this series of posts on division in the Body of Christ. For now, we’re going to go into a little more detail about what Jesus told us we should be doing in our time here on earth. I ask you to put all thoughts of correcting others and keeping them from what you see as deception out of your mind – along with any “yeah, buts” – as you read. I want us to start at the basics – with what Jesus told us to do first, and build on the other stuff from there. It’s important we hear what the Bible has to say, even if it challenges our beliefs. We’ve obviously gotten off course as the Body, and we can fix it by going back to the foundational stuff. Are you ready? Let’s go.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35.

The first thing I want to point out is that Jesus used the word “commandment” not “suggestion.” If you know even a little bit about military practices, you know that when a commander gives an order, they aren’t suggesting a course of action. They expect it to be done. If the order isn’t carried out, well that’s insubordination. If we sincerely want Jesus to be the Lord of our lives, then we need to say to ourselves what Mary said to the servants at the famous wedding feast when they ran out of wine, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (John 2:5 – and please note that their “doing it” resulted in a miracle.)

Jesus commanded us to love one another the way He loved us. Well, He went so far as laying down His life for all. And He didn’t just do it for those who were following Him at that time – He did it for the vilest of sinners and everyone in between. That makes yesterday’s annoyance over a dish not being put away again seem pretty darn insignificant. But I digress…

So why would Jesus put such an emphasis on walking in love? Verse 35 answers that question. He said that the world would know we’re His disciples because of it. I know I asked you to put thoughts of warning others against “false doctrines” and stuff like that out of your mind…but I want to point out here that Jesus didn’t say people would know we’re His disciples by our doctrinal debates.

I’m going to let us chew on all of that for a bit here. I know I needed this reminder just as much as anyone, and I suggest we all meditate and reflect upon what Jesus did for us “while we were still sinners” as well as take a gander at 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 with fresh eyes and see how our current actions and attitudes have been lining up with God’s kind of love.

When you’re ready, and maybe you’re ready now, you could pray something like this:

“Father, I repent for not walking in love as Jesus commanded me. Thank You for showing me how important it is, and I ask you to help me learn how to love others the way You love me. Give me my first step on this path, and I’ll follow it. In Jesus’ name, amen!”

I’ll leave you with a quote that I read recently from Jesse Duplantis:

“God’s love command is ground zero for Christianity. If we don’t get this right, we don’t get anything right.”

– Tammy

Part Two – What is Division?

I recently received some questions about a previous blog post where I stated that Yeshua/Jesus will return on Rosh Hashana (Festival of Trumpets) and how can we know this in the light of this scripture:

Matthew 24:35-37: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.”

and How I can know when Yeshua was conceived and born.

I want to give you two links of indepth study of both topics. But first, briefly, Rosh Hashana is called “the day in which no man knows the hour” and it lasts two days. That explains why we can’t know the “day” or “hour”. But I will encourage you to take these link studies and do indepth study yourself of course!

Always being cautious to let the Spirit lead your study and avoid the letter of the Law, keep your eyes on Your King! 🙂

Here is the first study link for you, it’s quite in-depth and you can and should verify the scriptures yourself always! :

Festival of Trumpets (Rosh Hashana)

And here is a good one about how we know when He was born and conceived:

Yeshua’s birthday and conception

There are many more studies out there to be found with info, be cautious and enjoy learning more about your King! He is glorious!

Be blessed in your studies and following Him!

-Kath