How does one knows about Heaven's Will? One just need to introspect intensively. Once one understand and appreciate the uniqueness of oneself, one already know how Heaven's Will manifest on oneself. It is akin to know the purpose of your existence though it is less intellectual. Once you know what you are good at and what you are bad at, then you know the purpose of existence in Heaven's Will must be related to your ability to perform certain action under certain situation. Although it is difficult to tell exactly what the Heaven-given-goal, it is however to logically infer Heaven wouldn't prefer a cook to do a sailor's work if it 'want' that to be done nicely. Heaven's Will is more like a general direction of how humanity develop but not how individual of us develop, and it is reflected in the individual psychological level.

A couple of weeks back, I wrote a blog - "When God Says No..."

The question for me this week is "What if God Says Go...?"

"But I don't feel like it..."
"But it doesn't make sense..."
"But you can't forgive just like that!!!..."
"But...but...but..."

We can come up with our 'buts'... Some have big ones, some have negligable ones, while some have ones that stink. However, our "buts" won't prevail. He is sovereign.

As we embark on our new series, "Finding Jonah", this week in many of our Victory churches in the Metro, we are going to study the life of a runaway prophet who was called to speak to a group of people he didn't like (a grave understatement).

While studying it, there were a couple of lessons I gathered...

1. You can run but you can't win.

Jonah wanted to run away from what God wanted him to do. He tried... very hard... like travelling 2500 miles the opposite direction, but ultimately God prevailed on him.

It's virtually impossible to run from God. We can try, but we all know who will win. The Bible says that a man plans his course but it's the Lord's plan that will prevail.

2. You can always find a boat sailing the wrong direction.

Jonah didn't try very hard to run away from God. His escape route was readily available.

When we try to go the opposite of God's plan, it's not hard to find ways to do so. For some darn reason, the enemy will always try to make it easy to step away from Him. Though it will be a fight to stay in the center of His will, His grace will often be overwhelmingly available.

3. Your worst nightmare may exactly be what you need at the moment.

Jonah became dinner. The Bible says that "God provided a great fish" (Jonah 1:17). Provided? Jonah's nightmare was a provision from God? That really doesn't make sense, it seems.

But what he got was what he exactly needed.

To many of us, the things we go through may not necessarily be the most ideal but probably the most beneficial.

Remember God knows what's best. His ways are higher than ours.

Paolo Punzalan overseas more than 700 Kid's Church volunteers every Sunday at VCF-Fort Bonifacio and is the author of "All About the Next Generation."

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding."

"The ‘knowledge of God’s will’ is more than simply an insight into how God wants his people to behave: it is an understanding of God’s whole saving purpose in Christ, and hence a knowledge of God himself.’ (NT Wright, p 57)

"For a theist who believes that God’s active purpose determines the ordering of the world, lies behind events on earth, and shapes their consequences, one of the most desirable objectives must be to know God’s will. The corollary, spelled out in the following phrases, is that such knowledge gives insight into and therefore reassurance regarding what happens (often unexpected in human perspective) and helps direct human conduct to accord with that will." (James Dunn)

'For this reason' means something like, ‘because of what I have just said, thus…’. It means Paul had just given reasons for his actions on their behalf, namely, his constant prayers for them. Paul has taken time to reflect on the circumstances of the Christians in Colossae. He has noted that these are people marked by a peculiar love who have been forged in a hostile environment, who have been created by the Gospel. These are people who are like and not like the world. They have dual citizenship: They live in Christ and in Colossae. This unique living arrangement has its own unique set of problems that the apostle insists the Colossians can survive. In fact, he seems to be of the particular opinion that not only will they survive but they will also thrive: They, like the Gospel, will (and must!) bear fruit and grow (see verses 6 & 10).

But his constant prayers, it seems to me, are not merely some form of congratulations or some form of ‘hey I hope these get you through the night and day.’ If Paul prayed for the Colossian Christians it was not necessarily for their moral character or their physical well-being or that they would have some profound philosophical insight into their circumstances or even that they would have wisdom to make ‘hard decisions concerning life’. His prayers carried with them certain specific, precise, and unambiguous goals. This is not to say that the aforementioned categories are wrong or unnecessary or that they should be neglected. To be sure, they have their place as Jesus taught us to pray, "Father in heaven…give us this day our daily bread…" God’s kingdom people, shaped and formed, expanded and contracted as we are by the person of Jesus, cannot begin to function apart from grounding all aspects of our lives in prayer.

Thus he says, "we have not stopped praying for you and asking God…" Where does our ‘knowledge of the will of God’ come from? This knowledge that Paul is praying for must be the sort of knowledge that comes from some place outside of themselves. And neither is he content that this filling be fleeting or partial. I sense that he desires this knowledge to be complete. There is a divine element here: Paul is not praying for them just any kind of knowledge or wisdom or understanding. Paul is praying for a deep interaction between their brains and the Spirit of God. How else can we properly know the will of God unless it is God who gives us clarity? So he is constantly ‘asking God’ to fill them (for the important motif of fill/fullness in Colossians see 1:9, 19, 24, 25; 2:2, 9, 10; 4:12, 17.)

I think it is significant what Paul prays that they might be filled with. We often asked to be ‘filled’ with the Spirit; Paul prays that the Spirit will fill them with wisdom, knowledge and understanding. In other words, it is not just some spiritual experience that Paul is praying for the Colossians, but rather he is praying for the working of the Spirit in their lives. He wants them to experience the Spirit’s work which is itself a spiritual experience. I can see that, to an extent, a mere filling of the Spirit, progressing to some euphoric experience, could possibly be rather meaningless. But what about being filled with the fruit of the Spirit (Knowledge, wisdom, understanding) so that we might understand the will of God? And if we understand the will of God is this not a ‘Spiritual experience’? Note also the passive nature of the verb ‘to fill:’ we can seek it, but it is God’s prerogative to fill. This is why Paul is constantly praying and asking God to do just that.

Again I have to note that his prayer in this respect is most significant: knowledge of the will of God. This knowledge will be demonstrated in all, spiritual wisdom and understanding. ‘All’ and ‘spiritual’ govern both nouns: ‘wisdom’ and ‘understanding.’ In all things the will of God is to be determinative and it is fill us. Not an aspect of our lives is to be lived or thought apart from the will of God. However,

The reason so many Christian’s lives are messed up is because they did not take the time and do the work to discover God’s will for them. If you want to avoid life’s hardships, wrong turns and missteps, then I strongly advise you to find out what God’s will is for your life. (Here)

This is naïve at best. Knowing the will of God in our lives does not prevent hardships, wrong turns and missteps. Nor is the will of God something that we have to ‘find out’ about; the will of God is what God fills us with. There is a profound difference between ‘knowing about’ and being ‘filled with’ something. I defy this silly notion that we have to be slaving away on some great quest to know what God wants us to do or be in life. He has told us what we must ‘do,’ he has demonstrated to us what he expects, and he has shown us the steps he took to make that will known and efficacious. Frankly, the mystery is part of the adventure. Finally, the will of God is not something that is merely ‘for your life.’ The will of God, it seems to me, is far more comprehensive and expansive than the simple things in life that are summed up in one person’s daily decisions. There is a will for our lives but that will is wrapped up in the person of Jesus Christ. Our faith rests not in making every choice correctly, which is a dangerous and false doctrine called perfectionism, but in trusting the One who qualifies us (12) and rescues us (13) and redeems us (14) even when we make the wrong choices.

What we must not do, however, is assume here that Paul is constantly praying that God reveal his will for them in the sense that he wants God to tell them what step to take today, what road to travel tomorrow, or what highway to avoid on Friday. It’s not that he is asking God to show them which path to take in order that they can avoid hardships, wrong turns, and missteps. He is rather praying and asking that they will know God’s will which reassures, guards, and protects them regardless of how many missteps they take or hardships they encounter. Christianity is a combination of two lives lived: In Christ and in Colossae. Too many people, Christians foremost among them, wrongly assume that knowing the will of God is equivalent to ‘having all the right answers.’ It is not. I don’t think it is designed to either. Knowing the will of God, being filled with the will of God, means that we are filled with the strength, wisdom, understanding, and motivation to live our lives according to God’s purposes for all life in Christ. Being filled with knowledge of God’s will means having the singular focus of living for God’s purposes in life as opposed to our own.

Filled with the knowledge of God’s will is closely akin to ‘growing in the knowledge of God’ (v 10). What is the end? Well, it is actually several-fold and I will unpack these in subsequent posts, but suffice it to say that when we are fully in tune, constantly reminded of, and always anticipating God’s will in our lives we will a) live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way and bear fruit and grow in knowledge of him (10); b) be strengthened so that we might have great endurance and patience (11); c) give thanks to the Father (12). Knowing God’s will for us in Christ even while we live in Colossae gives us the courage we need to ‘walk about’ (‘live a life worthy’) in a manner that pleases Him in every way. This all, in other words, has something to do with our sanctification in Christ which is an ongoing process that will not culminate until death or the return of Christ.

I wonder if the Colossians were surprised at the contents of Paul’s prayer for them? He doesn’t pray that they will be magically shielded from all sorts of dangers. He doesn’t call down curses on the heads of the so-called ‘visitors.’ He doesn’t pray that God will heal them of all physical maladies and ailments. He doesn’t even pray that they will be protected from danger while they reside in Colossae. Instead, he prays simply that they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, that no part of their existence would be left unscathed by his purposes, that they, like water jars filled to the brim with water (see John 2:7) would have no room left in their lives for the will of anyone or anything else. Filled. Completely.

I suppose it would shock most Christians if the preacher came to their hospital bedside and began to pray something like this, but here we see the ordering of priorities in church prayers: What matters? Does sickness and difficulty in life matter? Yes. Should we pray about it? Yes. The real question is not, however, if we should pray about such things but rather what are we going to pray about such things? If we have prayed that God fill us with the knowledge of His will, and He does it, then is there anything else left to pray about at all? I wonder if the church, as naïve as this may sound, can be content with a prayer the content of which is merely "I pray you are filled with the knowledge of His will." If we are filled with His will then there is no room left not even for our own.

.....

“God seems to choose leaders who don’t want to serve, and when they do follow God’s call, they often do so in a way that creates new chaos.” ....................Dan Allender, Leading With a Limp

.....

In the first place, Moses didn’t want the job.

In the second place, his first day on the job ended very badly. I've had tough days, but none that have ended in death-threats.

When Moses followed the Lord’s command to confront Pharoah, the hard-hearted ruler reacted by withholding straw from the Israelite brick-makers, while demanding the same daily quota.

The Israelites’ response to Moses’ failed attempt: “May the Lord judge you” (v. 21).

Moses’ response to all of this?

“Why did you ever send me?”

.....

Here stands a man who received God’s call face-to-face, yet questioned it. In Moses’ mind, God must have made a mistake, but in response Yahweh would assure him that there had been no divine errors (6:1ff).

.....

This exchange should be of great encouragement to the spiritual leader who finds discouragement at every turn.

The old adage, “If you want to know if you’re a leader, turn around and see if anyone is following you,” does not apply to Israel’s finest pre-Christ leader. Hundreds of thousands walked behind Moses, but less than a handful followed him. The rest spent their lives griping and questioning his leadership.

It is interesting to me that the thing that finally disqualified Moses from further leadership was not a decrease in followers, but disobedience to God.

It never mattered to God what the people thought, and God's opinion was the only one that mattered.

God’s person for any position of leadership (pastoring, teaching, parenting, etc.) may discover that chaos among the people is the strange fruit of his obedience, but as long as he remembers that obedience (not more followers) is the heart of spiritual leadership, he will find himself in the company of a First Testament legend.

Over the years I've witnessed many people come down the aisle to the altar to "accept Jesus into their heart" (where's this expressed in Scripture?) and I've also noticed that many of those same people do not come back.  Or they come back, weeks upon months go by and there is no change in their lifestyle.  They assume the Christianese language but they live like a worldling.  There are MANY who profess faith in Jesus but are not really disciples of Christ.  There are many fakes.  They are wolves in sheeps clothing.  

I submit to you that UNLESS GOD FIRST DOES SOMETHING IN YOU, YOU WILL NEVER COME TO HIM IN TRUE, CHRIST EXALTING FAITH.  

Let look at the following passage of Scripture in 2 Chronicles chapter 30 and break it down together:

30:1 Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel.  2 For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the Passover in the second month— 3 for they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem— 4 and the plan seemed right to the king and all the assembly. 5 So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come and keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it as often as prescribed. 6 So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his princes, as the king had commanded, saying, “O people of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. 7 Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were faithless to the Lord God of their fathers, so that he made them a desolation, as you see. 8 Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you. 9 For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.” 10 So the couriers went from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. 11 However, some men of Asher, of Manasseh, and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. 12 The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the Lord.

King Hezekiah sent to have the people of Israel and Judah come to Jerusalem to keep the passover to the Lord, and in essence return. (repent of their evil deeds)  He goes on to give several conditional statements, such as "return to the Lord, so that He might turn away His anger from you."  One usually reads these statements and concludes, "see;  it says that if they return to Him then He will be merciful to them..."  I do not deny these statements for a second!  Yes, we must repent...  we must come to Him...  so that He might turn away His anger...  

But...  we must also finish the passage and keep it in context.  (We must read the "rest" of the Bible.)

In verse 10 it says that, "the couriers went from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them." - Which is the default response for everyone apart from a heart change from the Lord. 

But verse 11 says, "However, some men of Asher, of Manasseh, and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem."  Now what distinguishes these men from the other men??  They all heard the same message.  Read verse 12: The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the Lord.

That word "also"  in verse 12 indicates that not only was the hand of the Lord on Judah to give them one heart but His hand was on the men of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun in verse 11!  They still had to come...  but all I'm saying is that the "reason" they came is because God gave them a heart to "want" to do what was commanded by the word of the Lord.  This is simple cause and effect.  God changes the disposition of the heart... so that we "will" to come to repentance and faith.  Otherwise, we as sinful, unregenerate man will never come because we don't "want" to.  Prior to regeneration, we are God haters...  we want nothing to with God because we "love" darkness and hate the light. - (John 3:19-21.) 

This seems pretty clear to me...  What do you think?  I'm open to your comments on this,  I welcome them. 

Devotions

1 Peter 4: 1-2 (again)

1. Therefore since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.  2. As a result he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.

• v1:  arm yourself with the same attitude:  I need the changing of my attitude about how I look at my day.  About what I value.  About how I conduct myself and for what motivation?
• v2:  ...live..for the will of God:  Help me today to live for a the will of God and not for fleshly desires.

..Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind

Thank you Lord that my mind and thinking can be transformed.

Like the proverbial frog, the church for years has been sitting in the pans of the world. Over time, ever so slowly, the evil one and his minions have been increasing the temperature of the water to be more in line with the world’s desires. The church has been lulled to sleep and is either dead or at best, lukewarm!

The frog never saw the danger arriving until it was too late, but sadly the same cannot always be said about the church. This is particularly true over the past few decades. Pastors who at one time would have stood for the truth have succumbed to the need for a paycheck and no longer preach the entire counsel of God. And the temperature increased!

Members who were willing to be part of that blood-bought throng and stand in the gap where it counted became more interested in being entertained. The more they wanted to be entertained, the more entertainment they had to have in the church in order to keep them happy and willing to come. And the temperature increased!

Bible schools and colleges that were once bastions of the truth and solidly in the ranks of evangelical fundamentalism have watched their enrolment numbers decline. To compensate for the lack of this revenue, worldly courses, worldly standards, worldly music, etc. was introduced in order to attract more students. And the temperature increased!

As the temperature increases in the church, the people and the pastors are often becoming lethargic. Nobody seems to really be taking notice of the real problems as to why they are in the mess they are in. Instead of realizing the danger and jumping out of the pan, they are calling for “icecubes” to be added because it is easier and requires no effort on their part.

Lukewarm describes the problem in many churches. They are not on fire for God, but are being cooked to death by the fires of apathy, complacency, liberal theology, and worldliness. Many churches should be sitting up and heeding the warning found in Revelation 3 when the apostle John speaks to the Laodicean church. God said that He wished the church was either cold or hot, but because they were lukewarm, He was going to spew or vomit them out of His mouth!

Why have these things happened? Why are so many believers glibly swallowing the ½ pills of poison? I believe the answer is in the next part of the verse found in Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

We have spoken already about being conformed to the world, and many believers would readily agree that to do otherwise is bad. But because they fail to follow the next command, they are failing miserably. They are swallowing more and more pills. They are being cooked to death as the temperature increases.

The truth is that in all of these areas we have covered and more, the evil one and his minions realize they can win many of these battles and will continue to do so as long as we are convinced to deal with his attacks through our emotions. They want to convince us that, “This isn’t about your brain. Your heart and your feelings are what matter the most!”

But this does not line up with the Word of God which reminds us in Jeremiah 17:9 that, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”

The church is being stewed to death in the pots and pans of the world because they have surrendered their minds to the fickleness of the heart.

Get to the heart of a person and you can often influence the direction they are taking or should be taking. The evil one knows what it has taken to get the church lulled to sleep. Make emotions more important than the mind. Make sure those in the pew react to what the pastor says or doesn’t say based on how they feel, NOT on what they think or what they KNOW the truth is!

The apostle Paul knew dangerous changes would occur in the lives of believers if they just stopped at trying not to be conformed to the world. That process involves reform or even conformity to a set of rules, laws or regulations. So, he continues in his charge to the Roman church by instructing them in what it was that truly needs to be changed – THE MIND!

He speaks of the transforming of the mind and uses a Greek word that we know in English as metamorphosis. The word literally means to change form. In other words, if we as unbelievers were thinking like the world, then when we become a new creation in Christ, we must begin to change the form of our mind. We must begin to think of Christ and as Christ would have us to think.

It is not possible for us to say that we belong to Christ, to say we love Him, that we worship Him, and that we want to serve Him when our minds are filled with the pollution of the world!

I readily admit that not only desiring this, but truly living in this frame of mind that is completely foreign to the world and the natural man is EXTREME! It is difficult, and the more time passes, I am convinced it will not become any easier until the day we find ourselves standing in the presence of the Lamb Who was slain for us from before the foundations of the world! This is the direction that the evil one, the world, and the flesh do not want you to go. For to do so means you will start resembling Christ!

Part of this transformation or metamorphosis means we must stop thinking of our sin like the world does. It means we must stop trying to categorize our sin like the world and like most believers tend to do. It means we must remember that every time we sin, we must start remembering (thinking, meditating) on what that sin cost God the Father and God the Son!

Let’s shoot straight here – every time we enjoy a movie and the ½ pill of poison that comes straight out of Hollywood and ultimately the pit of hell, we should remember the sin of our enjoyment which lasts but for a moment was enough to crush the Son of God beneath the wrath of the Father!

Every time we listen to that which does NOT bring honour and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ, every time we watch that which demeans the God-given institution of the family, or demeans the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman, or demeans the authority God commands be established in the home, in the church and in human authority, every time we speak a word that is a foolish talking or jesting or a euphemism (a substitute curse word for the real thing), every time we cannot be bothered to be careful what we allow to enter our minds – WE HAVE SINNED!

That sin is the cause for why we are told in Isaiah 53 that it pleased the Father to bruise His precious Son! Next time, the world plays its romantic music or digs in its heels with some lame excuse as to why that sin is acceptable – REMEMBER, THINK, CHANGE YOUR MIND, MEDITATE, BE TRANSFORMED!

Friend, do you want to know the will of God? Stop searching high and low for what is already revealed in Scripture! Doing these things which we have spoken about is the ONLY way to “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

God will NEVER reveal to you more from His word when you are NOT WILLING to obey what He has clearly commanded from you and ALL who have been bought by the blood of the LAMB!

One final thought – a larva that does not change into a beautiful butterfly was never a butterfly to begin with. You cannot make a butterfly out of what is not present!

A life that is not changing and has no desire to change does not possess the ability to change to be more like Christ for there is none of Christ present!

Desiring to be Transformed into His Image,
The Desert Pastor

• (in) opposite
• (tangent) touching at the outer edge i.e. a straight line just barely touching a circle
• (iality) the “fluff” part of the word – sounds good but doesn’t mean a thing

A recent sermon, “Under-Construction Priorities”, was interesting. Referencing Eph 5:15-21, the sermon related to establishing God-honoring priorities which will help stifle human folly and establish spiritual wisdom. The NIV Topical Bible breaks chapters and verses into a general context and the theme for this passage, which actually begins at Eph 4:17 (and ends at Eph 5:21) is titled, “Living as Children of Light”. A cursory reading reveals a lot of “to-do’s” including:

· Don’t live as the Gentiles do

· Put off the old self (deceitful desires)

· Put on the new self (righteousness and holiness)

· Speak truthfully

· Don’t let the sun go down while you’re still angry

· Don’t steal

· No trash-talking (unwholesome chit-chat)

· Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit

· Lose the bitterness, rage, anger, brawling and slander

· Be kind, compassionate, and forgiving

· Be imitators of God

· Live a life of love

· Live a life of purity (not even a hint of sexual immorality)

· No obscene or foolish talking or coarse joking

· Exercise caution – be wise

· Make the most of opportunities

· Don’t be foolish

· Understand what the Lord’s will is (emphasis mine)

· Don’t get drunk

· Be filled with the Spirit

· Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs

· Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord

· Always give thanks to God for everything

· Submit to one another

Why does Paul mention something about God’s will in the middle of all this “behavior” stuff? Is the placement of the phrase, “understand what the Lord’s will is” - between “don’t be foolish” and “don’t get drunk” significant? I’m not sure. However, my overall sense is that the will of God is not something tangent to one’s faith. Rather, the will of God can be easily recognized and understood and is front-and-center in how we conduct our lives. Paul isn’t teaching us to discover God’s will for some decision we need to make (here or in other passages such as Romans 12) by “praying in earnest”, “seeking wise counsel”, or “accurately interpreting one’s circumstances”. Many Christians talk about the will of God as it relates to a whole host of non-moral decisions in their lives such as:

• Should I go to a Christian college?
• Whom should I marry?
• What career should I pursue?
• Is it the right time to buy (or sell) a house?
• Should I get my tubes tied?
• Is God leading me to attend a Baptist church?

Regarding all the “stuff” that makes up our lives, does the grace of God allow believers to make decisions they deem best? Is the passage evidence that God is more concerned with how we live instead of how (or whether) we seek His direction on non-moral “things”? I like a comment from a previous post and think it’s applicable: “It’s grace. All grace.”

Criticisms invited if you think I’m in error.

     God's will is His game plan.  He will win.  The Kingdom of Light will overtake and destroy the kingdom of darkness.  Like Gideon's army, He will use human beings that are weak and powerless in their own eyes.  "Not many mighty" according to the flesh will He use.

     His will is to magify Himself in a body of many sons and daughters.  He is the Seed, and there will be a great harvest of "many sons unto glory." 

     This is what the scriptures are all about--the overcoming of evil, which Yahweh created (Isa. 45:7), by humans who know they need Him to overcome the adversary the devil.

     Through this victory of good over evil, He will receive great glory as He helps His body of sons and daughters do this.  His name will be honored and glorified.  All will know that Yahshua means "Yah Is the Savior."  And He shall enact what His very name means as He saves us from destruction in the latter days.  Yah will deliver us out of the ashes of a smoldering world system.

     Christ wanted us to think about this and pray to Yahweh with this understanding.  This is why  He included "the Father's will" and how it is coming to pass in the earth as it is in heaven.

     But to comprehend His will, one must understand and believe pre-destination and pre-determination.  In short, they mean having a destiny lined out, determined, and known before it takes place. 

     Thus it is with the sons of God.  Being in in His heart, their destiny is all written out in  heaven before it takes place here on earth.  It is scripted.  The book of life has been penned in heaven.  He is the "Author ...of our faith (Heb. 12:2).  

     Many will reject this truth because it is not politically correct.  It disagrees with the tenets of secular humanism, the sly opiate that dopes humans into thinking that because they exist, then they must be the center of the universe.  But "my thoughts are not your thoughts," warns Yahweh.

     The apostle Paul knew that he was an apostle only  because God had willed it.  He starts many of his epistles saying that he is an apostle "by the will of God" (I Cor. 1:1; II Cor. 1:1; Eph. 1:1; Col. 1:1).  He understood that God had ordained and pre-determined him to be "conformed to the image of His Son."

     Make no mistake about it.  God's will includes Him purposing in Himself to insure that He multiplies Himself through many offspring. 

     We are "the called according to His purpose.  For whom he did foreknow, He also did pre-destinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:28-29). 

     His will is His purpose in the earth, which is predicated on what He wrote down in the book written before the foundation of the world.  He chooses them because He knew them before, like  He did the prophet Jeremiah (1:5).  He gives these elect a destiny to become a son before they get here on earth. 

     These He calls and justifies through the cross experience.  They grow up spiritually until sanctified.  And finally, He glorifies them.  This process of spiritual growth is encripted in several key scriptural phrases that come in "threes": "the blade, the ear, full corn in the ear;" "children, young men, fathers;" 30, 60, and 100 fold fruit (Mt. 13). 

     Christ spoke plainly about the Father's will.  "And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that He has given me, but raise them up at the last day."  He promised us that He would raise us up at the last day!  He would raise up God's sons; none would be left behind; none would be forgotten, whose names were written in the book of life.

     So, when we pray, Christ want us to have the Father's will in mind about the coming of the sons of God, encapsulated by these words: "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."  KWH

Whether we believe it or not, there is a devil. His role during your life is to get you out of the will of God. Why? Because he knows that God loves us and has arranged for us to spend all of eternity with Him. The devil is still ticked off that he got kicked out of Heaven and will not get to spend all eternity with our Maker. So he wants to prevent people from spending eternity with God. He uses different tactics to accomplish this.

1. Distraction - The devil tries to distract you from what you ought to be doing and who you ought to be being. When we know God's will and operate in it, we are blessed and prospered. Simply said, the devil knows if he can distract you, you will have lost your focus. When you lose your focus, you lose direction and go off course. Consequently, out of the will of God.

2. People - The devil can't make anybody do anything. We do what we do because we choose to. Some circumstances are provided to us without our consent. However, we always have a choice how we will function or respond. When others get "enthusiastic" about their own motives, ideas, and projects, they can say and do things that are not necessarily in the will of God. This may affect us. What do we do? As I said, some circumstances are provided to us without our consent. Generally these circumstances will find their origin in people out of the will of God. The devil is all for planting "out of the will of God" ideas. If it takes root in someone, then the devil has succeeded and the person doesn't even know they are being used in an evil way.

Brethren, we need to be led of the Spirit in all things. Asking ourselves what is our motive in what we are doing, does it glorify God, have I laid down my preconceived notions of what is right or wrong, am I copying the world's methods instead of the Lord's . But wholly(heart, mind, soul, strength) put ourselves on that altar of sacrifice and God will show us what he expects, approves of, and consequently blesses.

Rom 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

(Genesis 21:8-21)

Now you’ve probably all heard the expressions: “Truth is stranger than fiction,” or “You can’t make this stuff up!”  Consider the following example.

In yesterday’s AJC there was an article about Gloucester, Massachusetts, a small town up in New England which has been particularly hard-hit by declines in the fishing industry.  Besides the serious economic problems they are facing, it also seems that within the past year seventeen teenage girls have become pregnant out of wedlock.  And town officials were, at first, hard pressed to explain it given that, on average, only four girls per year normally turn up in the “family way” (as they used to say).

Even more disturbing than the four-fold increase in teenage pregnancies, however, was the startling revelation that, apparently, these girls had made a “pact” between themselves to purposely get pregnant, and then raise their babies together!  According to yesterday’s article, this story exploded after Joseph Sullivan, principal of Gloucester High School, was quoted by Time magazine as saying that the girls – all 16 years old or younger –actually confessed to making just such a pact.

In the past, of course, a typical teenage girl who suddenly discovered that she was expecting would immediately worry about what to do next, and how she was going to support this child if she decided to keep it, and whether or not she was going to be able to finish school. But none of these traditional concerns seem to have fazed these young women.

And in trying to understand and explain this startling, sad, and strange episode, Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk noted the recent glamorization of teen pregnancy in pop culture.  Similarly, Sarah Brown, the chief executive of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancies, suggested that some of the blame lies with the nation’s Hollywood-obsessed culture.  “It’s not surprising,” she said, “that teenage girls can get confused or even seduced by the allure of celebrity pregnancy.”  Which is to say, perhaps, that these girls were merely imitating celebrity examples like Ashlee Simpson or Jamie Lynn Spears…  

Well, just to show you that issues related to pregnancy and family planning are not unknown to the Bible, and that, even in scripture, “truth is often stranger than fiction,” we have this morning’s first lesson as a perfect example.  In fact, after reading through it the first time, my initial reaction was, “You can’t make this stuff up!”  Moreover, you wouldn’t!

And what I mean by that is simply this: if the Bible was pure fiction, and if the writers were just making this stuff up as they went along, I seriously doubt they would have ever written a story that is first so disturbing, and second casts those classic biblical heroes, Abraham and Sarah, the patriarch and matriarch of our faith, in such a bad light!  Yet here it is in living color, out in the open; a troubling and tragic tale…

Now how many of you have ever heard a sermon about Hagar and her son Ishmael (although you may have noticed that he is never referred to by name in our passage this morning)?  I certainly haven’t.  Nor have I ever preached one before (which was actually part of the attraction this time around, I have to confess.)  That’s because I can’t ever remember this passage being part of the lectionary.  As a matter of fact, it’s only the alternate reading even today.

But there was something compelling, albeit troubling, about this particular story when I looked at it again this past week.  Not only do these towering biblical heroes, Abraham and Sarah, come across as being so obviously human, they are also portrayed as utterly lacking the faith and understanding that we normally and automatically ascribe to them.  In other words, not only are they just like us, in some respects they are actually even worse than us!

However, in order to get a complete picture of what we’re talking about here, we have to backtrack a few chapters in the story to see how the events in today’s reading actually came about.

It’s back in Chapter 12, for instance, that we are first introduced to Abraham (then known simply as “Abram”), and learn that God has called him to leave his country and his father’s house, and journey to a land that God will show him.  And it is here, says God, that he will make a great nation of Abraham, and make Abraham’s name great, and, in so doing, also make Abraham a blessing to others.

Now that’s all well and good; but there was just one little problem, wasn’t there?  Abraham, and his wife Sarah, had no children.  Even more than that, they were now too old; for both of them were well beyond the normal childbearing age.  So how was God going to make a great nation from them if they had no offspring and no heirs?

So, therefore, in Chapter 15 Abraham points out the obvious to God, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?  …You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.”  Without much luck in the “getting pregnant” department, Abraham naturally begins to assume (and also to regret) that apparently a mere slave is actually going to be the vehicle through whom God will make of Abraham this great nation.

But God immediately takes Abraham outside, and shows him the night sky, and challenges Abraham to count the stars – if he can. And then God simply says to him, “So shall your descendents be.”

Then some more time passes, but still no child.  We can safely assume that Abraham and Sarah, despite their advanced age and decreased stamina, were still having fun doing their best to conceive – it’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it! – yet nothing.

And so it’s at this point that they begin to lose patience with God and even go so far as to decide to take matters into their own hands.  And by doing so, they actually sow the seeds for what was to come in our lesson this morning.  You see, instead of “hanging in there” and trusting that God would somehow make good on his promise to them, Sarah says to Abraham:  “This just isn’t working.”  And so she convinces Abraham to sleep with her Egyptian-born slave-girl named Hagar saying, “You see that the Lord has prevented me from bearing children… it may be that I shall obtain children by her.”

Now this sudden turn of events is completely foreign to us, I know. But it was not at all unusual in the ancient world.  Indeed, these kinds of relationships, such as the one between Hagar and Abraham, were both an accepted and legal custom at that time.

Therefore, it was a perfectly legitimate and reasonable way of supposing that the promise that Abraham would have an heir might be fulfilled.  It just wasn’t what God had planned.

Now do you remember my sermon series back in Lent about the “will of God”?  At that time, using the insights of Leslie B. Weatherhead, an English pastor during World War Two, I suggested that one way of thinking about this is to consider that God’s will is not a single, all-encompassing, master plan, but actually can be broken down into God’s intentional will, God’s circumstantial will, and finally God’s ultimate will.

As we noted at the time, God’s “intentional will” is simply what God intended for his creation from the very beginning.  But because God gave us the gift of free will, and therefore, we have the opportunity, as well as the ability, to resist God’s will, it is also possible for us to talk about God’s “circumstantial will” in which God is forced to respond to the circumstances, we ourselves have created – and not all of them are good.

For instance, Weatherhead dealt with the question of whether Christ’s death on the cross was God’s original intention.  Probably not, he concluded.  Rather, the cross was clearly the result of human rebellion and sinfulness. However, God took these circumstances; that is, the human evil which then led to the cross, and then completely transformed the event bringing victory out of defeat, love out of hate, hope out of despair, and life out of death.  And in so doing, God also brought about, and revealed to us, his ultimate will – which absolutely nothing we do can ever change or deny…

Well, I think Weatherhead’s attempt to understand the will of God in this way is also helpful here.  You see, the Book of Genesis makes it perfectly clear that it was God’s will for Abraham and Sarah to have a child, a son from whom there would descend this great nation.  Not a household slave.  Not even a son born to Abraham and a servant-girl.  But a child born to both Abraham and Sarah.

But, again, when Sarah proposed that Abraham father this child and heir through Hagar, not only were they revealing their lack of trust in God, they were also taking matters into their own hands and creating an entirely new set of circumstances for God to deal with; circumstances that were not a part of God’s original plan.  And the interesting thing for us, now, is to see how God actually dealt with these circumstances.

One more note before we reach today’s lesson itself.  According to Chapter 16, Hagar became pregnant almost immediately which resulted in two things.  Number one, since Hagar had no difficulty getting pregnant it was now obvious that the problem was with Sarah, not Abraham.  And number two, it was pretty much inevitable, then, that Hagar would now hold this pregnancy over Sarah’s head.  “…when she saw that she had conceived,” says the Bible, “she looked with contempt on her mistress.”  (That is, Hagar, herself, is not without blame in these events.)

The irony here, of course, is that all of this was Sarah’s plan – no one else’s, although Abraham was certainly a willing co-conspirator.  She brought it all upon herself, so to speak; she had no one else to blame.  As the Bible says, “what you sow, you shall reap.” And that was exactly the case for Sarah.

Fearing, now, that Hagar might take her own place as mistress of the house, and ancestress of that great nation of God’s people he had promised them, Sarah goes to Abraham to complain, and to his detriment he tells her, “She’s your slave-girl.  Do with her as you please.”  (Abraham’s not such a nice guy at this point either.)

And so Sarah “dealt harshly” with her, says the Bible, forcing Hagar to run away.

Now that might very well have been the end of it.  You see, if Hagar had simply run away and never returned, we never would have had the events which were recorded in this morning’s reading.

But even though these were circumstances of Sarah and Abraham’s making, and not God’s; God, nevertheless, intervened in a loving and gracious way.  Knowing that she was unlikely to survive by herself, pregnant and alone in the wilderness, an angel of the Lord found Hagar by a spring of water, and told her to return and to submit to her mistress.  But this angel of the Lord also promised Hagar that she would have a son, and that his name would be “Ishmael” which means “God hears” for “the Lord has heard of your misery.”  And that, through this son, her descendants would be too numerous to count.  Almost the very same promise that God had made to Abraham and Sarah.

In response to God’s mercy and grace, Hagar refers to God as “the God who sees me,” and, in a delightful play on words, she exclaims, “I have seen the One who sees me!”

We are told that Abraham was 86 years old when Ishmael was born, and now more years go by during which Abraham and Sarah still remain childless.  Finally, one day, God, in the form of three strangers, approaches Abraham’s tent.  And after Abraham feeds them and allows them to take their rest under a tree, they ask about Sarah and then one of them says, “I will surely return to you in due season and your wife Sarah shall have a son.”  Of course, Sarah, listening from just inside the tent, and knowing that this was impossible, given her age, can’t help but laugh at the preposterous idea that she and Abraham might actually become parents after all.

But as Chapter 21 opens, we hear that, in fact, “The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised.”  And so Sarah conceived and bore Abraham’s son in his old age. Abraham was now 100 years old.  And Abraham named this son, Isaac, which means “he laughs.”  Sarah laughed at the idea of giving birth to a son in their old age, but God had the last laugh…

And so finally we’ve have reached the point in the story recounted in today’s passage.  As we heard, it was time for Isaac to be weaned, which – in the ancient world – meant that he was now about three or four years old.  And during the party that Abraham has thrown to mark this happy milestone, Sarah suddenly notices Ishmael “playing” with her son Isaac.  So, once again, she goes immediately to Abraham and demands that he now get rid of both Hagar and her son.

“What gives?” you might very well ask.  Granted there has been some bad blood, insecurity, and jealousy over the years; and in the past Sarah has been pretty touchy about anything having to do with Hagar or her son.  But to demand that Abraham kick them out just because Ishmael was playing with his little step-brother?  Come on.  That’s a bit much – even for Sarah.

Yet, as is so often the case, the issue here hinges on a translation – in this instance, the word “playing.”  For example, there are scholars who see the word as referring to some sort of “rough-housing,” and therefore propose that Sarah is merely concerned for her young son’s safety.  Keep in mind that if Ishmael, as previously noted, was born when Abraham was 86 years old, and Isaac when he was 100 years old, and this is some 3 or 4 years later, it would then make Ishmael 17 or 18 years old at this point.  A little too big and strong, especially if he wasn’t careful, to be horsing around with a little pre-schooler.

But the problem with this interpretation, however, is that Sarah’s reaction and remedy are undeniably a little extreme.  After all, all she had to do was simply break it up and then warn Ishmael to be more careful around Isaac.

Probably the best explanation I’ve read comes from Mark Throntveit, Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at Luther Seminary.  Dr. Throntveit points out that the word translated as “playing” in verse nine, is – in other instances – often translated as “laughing.”  Now that seems pretty harmless as well.  But then Dr. Throntveit reminds us that Isaac’s name, “he laughs,” comes from this very same word.  “We might literally translate ‘playing’… as ‘Isaacing,’” writes Dr. Throntveit, “that is, Sarah saw Ishmael ‘playing the part’ of Isaac, pretending to take Isaac’s place as heir of the promise.  Certainty is impossible,” he adds, “but the view that Ishmael was pretending to be Isaac and usurping his future role would explain Sarah’s actions.”

If this explanation is correct, then Sarah clearly saw Ishmael as Isaac’s rival.  Sarah Buteux has written, “all her old fears and her old hurts rose to the surface.”  And as long as Ishmael remained in Abraham’s household, he would forever be a threat to Isaac’s inheritance.

So Sarah demands that both Hagar and Ishmael be sent away.  And actually her demand was not without precedent.  In her culture, she was well within her rights as the primary wife, now that her son had survived the early years of life.  Furthermore, in some parts of the ancient world, the children of slaves – who were not made heirs – were actually required to be set free in order to give them an opportunity to make a life of their own.  So what, at first glance, seems utterly cruel and heartless on Sarah’s part was not really all that unusual under the circumstances.  Although it still doesn’t make it right.

There’s that word again, though, circumstances. God’s original plan and intent was simply for Abraham and Sarah to have a son from whom there would emerge this great nation that he had promised them.  But they had a problem believing in this promise, they lost patience with God, and they finally took matters into their own hands.  And now they’ve created, not only a complete mess of things, they have also created a set of “circumstances” to which God must, once again, respond.

Because, you see, the simple, undeniable fact is that Abraham loved Ishmael, his first-born son.  What father wouldn’t?  “The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son,” said our lesson in understated fashion.  Another way of putting it is that Abraham was truly torn over what to do.  You see, Ishmael was never second best in Abraham’s eyes.

But Abraham was, nevertheless, being forced to choose.  There was Isaac and Sarah and God’s promise on the one hand, and then Ishmael and Hagar and the love he had for them on the other.  And apparently Abraham simply wasn’t able, or willing, to choose between them.

But then, as we heard, God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed… whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you.”  In other words, even though Abraham and Sarah have made a complete mess of things, God now repeats his promise to Abraham and reminds Abraham of his ultimate will – and that not even these unfortunate circumstances can, or will, change it.

And yet God’s words to Abraham are not without grace as well.  Ishmael must go, it is true, but “I will make a nation of him also,” says God, “because he is your offspring.”

So Abraham rises early in the morning, either to simply avoid Sarah or to perhaps give Hagar and Ishmael a head start while it was still cool out, and he sends them away.  And once again, just as we saw earlier, it all could have ended right here.  In fact, Hagar actually feared and, frankly, expected that it would.  After wandering aimlessly in the desert, she and her son ran out of bread and water.  Leaving Ishmael behind under some bushes, she then walked away from him so that she would not have to watch him die.

But once again, God heard the cries of Hagar, and the voice of Ishmael, whose name, remember, means “God hears.”  And God opened Hagar’s eyes to a well of water, and she gave her son a drink.  And then God, we are told, “was with the boy and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow.  He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.”

As Sarah Buteux has written, “And so, in Hagar (and Ishmael’s) story, as awful and tragic as it might be, we actually find hope.  Hagar brings us face to face with our God, a God who sees us, a God who hears us, a God who does not, who can not, who will not turn away from our pain.  We know, through her experience, that our cries do not go unheeded.”

We also see in this story the fulfillment of God’s will… even, at times, in spite of us.  God’s intended and ultimate will was for Abraham and Sarah to be the parents of his chosen people.  It was an honor for which they were hardly prepared, and, as we saw this morning, completely unworthy.  But that’s the nature of God’s grace.

And it is also the nature of Gods’ grace that when we lose patience, and take matters into our own hands, and totally screw things up, that he will respond to the unfortunate, and sometimes tragic, circumstances we create with love and with mercy and with caring.

Amen

• God has so many ways to teach patience - and all of the other Fruits of the Spirit. Keep remembering that you are all doing God's work right now. What a blessed job you are called to do - what an awesome job you all are doing! Thank you for being faithful servants. What an example you are to the rest of us. Rose

Although I’m sure Rose is well intentioned, her comments (to me, at least) raise a number of questions about who she believes God to be and how He interacts with us. Perhaps Rose is a “Godwillian” – someone who believes that whatever happens, God desires it to be, and we need to figure out what it is that God wants us to learn.

I’m guessing that John Piper is a Godwillian. He’s quoted in Greg Boyd’s book, Is God to Blame (pg 48) as saying, “From the smallest thing to the greatest thing, good and evil, happy and sad, pagan and Christian, pain and pleasure – God governs them all for His wise and just and good purpose.”

Greg Boyd responds on pg 53:”Not once did Jesus suggest that a person’s afflictions were brought about or specifically allowed by God as part of a 'secret plan'. Nor did He suggest that some people suffered because God was punishing them or teaching them a lesson. He didn’t ask people what they might have done to get in the sad predicament they found themselves in – even when dealing with demonized people. Jesus never suggested that a person’s suffering was brought about to contribute to a 'higher harmony'. To the contrary, Jesus consistently revealed God’s will for people by healing them of their infirmities".

I’m told that my thoughts on will-of-God issues tend to put God in a box. We mere mortals simply can't understand the nature of God and how He interacts with His creation. Fair enough. But I can't help but think that people, such as Rose, who posted about God using leukemia to teach patience, often make God out to be something He isn't.

I think we need a reality check because Jesus makes it clear in Matthew... "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven." (7:21)
He also proved that God's Will isn't always easy in Luke, but that we need His help to get it done... "And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done." Then and angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. The His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground." (22:41-44)
Can you imagine agonizing about a task you have to complete so much that you're sweating blood? But Jesus was praying and God sent Him help.

Many people question though, "Well how am I supposed to know God's will for my life? Jesus already knew and it was clear to Him what He had to do?" Well in John, Jesus in so many words says, if anyone is seeking to do the will of God should accept His (Jesus') teaching (7:17). Paul also prays for the church of Colosse concerning the will of God. "For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light." (1:9-12)

Paul seems to say that in being filled with the knowledge of His will, the actions that follow are that we walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. It seems pretty simple to me that its saying reading the Word of God and doing what it says... I mean how else will we be filled with the knowledge and wisdom and have spiritual understanding? Doing what the bible says includes praying, (1 Thessalonians 5:17) fasting, (Psalm 35:13) and doing good (Isaiah 1:17).

Of course there's a host of other things we who wish to follow the will of God must do but why list them when it's your duty to seek them out for yourselves? "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15)

Malachi 4:5-6 (ESV) ⁵ "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. ⁶ And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction."

Turning the hearts of the Fathers to the children has such far reaching implications that we can not cover here in a few words. However, we must indeed turn the hearts of the Fathers to the children or else the hearts of the children will never be turned to their Fathers. So, where are all of the Fathers?

The answer to the above question, where have all of the Fathers gone, will answer the title question of where have all of the children gone. Simply, the children have and are going away, from the Lord Jesus, the church, the Body of Christ Jesus, from the Living and alive Word of God, etc. Why? In a nutshell, it is simply because the Fathers (those in authority and those who are actually their Fathers) hearts are not genuinely turned towards the children.

Having hearts turned toward the children is not simply about bringing home the bacon, as it were. No, having hearts turned toward the children is about having hearts that are so burdened with preparing our children for life in this world, that they, the Fathers, do and keep doing something proactive about it. This is, as opposed to the Fathers just doing what Fathers do normally, work, eat, sleep, play golf, watch TV, etc. All too often we see them leaving the raising our children up to the mothers, or others, and doing whatever else Fathers do. In fact in this day and age, more and more mothers are gone as well. They may not all be gone physically all of the time, but many more moms are gone emotionally, spiritually, relationally, socially, and yes, physically, joining the men in this regard.

The buck stops with us Fathers (leaders). Unless we change what it is that we are doing and how we are doing it, we will continue to loose our children. So many professing Christian Families leave the responsibility of raising their children for the Lord Jesus, up to the local church. The local church far too often, struggles to have sufficient quality help to instruct the children. The church's approach to this instruction is, in too many cases, outdated and historically ineffective in truly training and equipping our children to grow up into the Lord Jesus Christ; living their lives sold out and radical for Him, always, and all the way through to the end. Regardless, if that which takes place, righteously, in the church environment is not faithfully supported and reinforced at home, then the effectiveness of whatever church training and equipping is greatly hampered.

Our children are growing up with far too many unanswered questions, far too many poor examples of quality Christian life and living, at home, at school, at work and in the church by those who are called to be their key or primary role models. Our children are growing up with far too many examples of compromised and morally corrupt Christians, Christians Leaders and Parents. They grow up in an environment that is all too frequently Biblically Illiterate and lacking a clear and faithful Biblical Worldview.

Too many of our children are growing up in a Politicized Christian World born of fear, paranoia and alarmist thinking instead of authentic faith, hope, peace and faithfulness in the sovereignty of their Lord and God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Or they grow in a church world that has inculcated the cultural messages and values as their own. Thus, too many of our children are growing up in Churches and Professing Christian homes that have been shaped and too severely impacted by our secular society.

Too many of our children are growing up in homes that no longer have a stay at home godly Father or Mother, because their home life and families have been shattered by immorality, unfaithfulness, lust, self centeredness, abuse, and just plain unrighteous life and living. Too many of our children are growing up in homes where the genuine relevance of Christ Jesus is deeply questioned and unanswered genuinely and experientially.

Too many of our children are growing up in environments that teach them that words and actions are two very different and too often very conflicting realities. Too many of our children are growing up in a society that is increasingly hostile to Christianity and Christians in specific, with no true strength of authentic faith and hope at home.

Is it any surprise that we are loosing our children? What is surprising is that there remain any children at all. Please do not take some kind of false comfort in comparing your home, family and or church with all that has been written above and thereby excusing yourself from this incredible issue and overwhelming concern. Whatever positive strides you or those you know may have made in this regard, the need far, far exceeds the positive exceptions. We're loosing another generation, seemingly across the board, with few but yes, positive exceptions.

You may seemingly have a wonderful children's ministry, but the real test is found when those children grow up and begin to live their lives in the world, such as in adolescence, for example. Are they following through, in Christ Jesus, unto the end? It appears that all too frequently this is not the case. It isn't only, not the case, but our adolescent youth statistically are lining up right with the values and morals of the unbelieving youth and society around them. We continue to loose ground here, in overwhelming numbers. Unless we honestly and painfully come to grips with this epidemic, we will continue to loose, this generation in increasingly record numbers.

So, where have all of the children gone? They have gone out into the world, into society, inculcated into this all too secular society, feeling betrayed, arrogant, prideful, disillusioned and hurt, ill-equipped, untrained in righteousness, in the vital Word of God, in spiritual warfare, in apologetics, in thought life, in prayer life, in family life, in married life, in personal morality, in the foundational truths of God's Word and severely lacking in a viable and dynamic personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Regardless of what specific issues dominate their lives, they are going forth lacking sufficiently transformed lives, in Christ Jesus, to stand against the tide of this world and all that it is and offers.

So Fathers and Church Leaders, what are we going to do about it? How will we change this? Will we continue to stick our heads in the sand in blatant denial hoping some how it will all just turn around and change? Will we continue to look elsewhere for someone else to make the tough choices and make the great sacrifices and fix this thing, all the while remaining where and as we are? Will we continue to project the blame and responsibility on someone else while we continue to take comfort in whatever it is that we can hide in or take comfort in, until some crisis hits our children's lives that we no longer can ignore? Will we continue to point the fingers of our self-righteousness and hide behind our diluted denominational lines taking false comfort in our thinking that we are better than them (whoever), more doctrinally sound, more righteous, spiritual and whatever, etc?

Of the many churches that I have worked with and am so very aware of, I see, all too clearly, what I have written above and I am desperately alarmed and deeply grieved for our children. While I am no longer Pastoring, it is enough to make me want to go back into Pastoring, just for the children and their families alone. I look down the road to the generations ahead and I see that which is severely alarming. I hear the cries of the children as too many of their hearts are turning not only away from their Fathers and of the Fathers hearts turning away from their children, but I also watch as their hearts harden into disillusionment regarding Christ Jesus, His Scriptures and His Body in the earth. Oh Lord grant that we might have ears to hear and eyes to see, genuinely, what it is that you are seeking to reveal to us regarding our children and their Fathers, regarding the Fathers and their children, that we might repent, and turn once again the hearts of the Fathers to the Children and the hearts of the children to the Fathers that our land and our children will not come under the curses of our sins of neglect and abandonment. Lord have mercy.

Lord Jesus, open our eyes and ears that we might hear the truly deep and yet all too real cries of the children, "why won't you help us" followed by, "why didn't you help us"?

An architect's blueprint contains blue lines and white paper that to the trained eye reveal what the building should look like. 

The Lord's prayer is a spiritual blueprint that shows us what the temple of God looks like and how to build it.  And that temple is us (I Cor. 3:16).  We, His sons and daughters, born from above, born of the King, are now His princes and princesses in training to rule with Him.  "To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne" (Rev. 3:21). 

So what do we do with a blueprint?  A building contractor would not stand around repeating the dimensions found in the blueprint.  The edifice would never get built.  Rather, he has to study it, visualize it, believe in the vision of the architect for the building, and get to work in order to make it a reality.  This is what God's children need to be doing--studying out His example prayer and understanding what it means, and then do it. 

To illustrate, the disciples asked Jesus (Yahshua in Hebrew--the same name as the anglicized name "Joshua"... <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/joshua> ).  "Teach us to pray."  And He told them, "After this manner pray," and then He spoke the model prayer.

"After this manner..."  After this way.  Make your communication to God based on these precepts I've given you in this example prayer, He was saying.  And the precepts are based in selflessness. 

But many prayers that are offered up to God are shameless petitions for self--asking for material things.  These prayers cannot penetrate the brass of heaven's dome. 

To be heard by the Almighty, we must get on His wavelength.  And God's all about reproducing Himself.  We are now "born of that incorruptible seed, the word of God."  But that is just the start.  We must grow up into him, no longer content to be little babies in Christ, always wanting something from Him. 

We must study to unlock the secrets of HIs kingdom, secrets held close to the heart of God, secrets that He will reveal to them that are in awe of Him, secrets encrypted in a spiritual blueprint called "The Lord's Prayer."

So, let us dig into it, line by line, phrase by phrase, extracting HIs thoughts about how He is going to get Himself down into His temple, us.  This I hope to do in the next few posts, beginning next time with "The Lord's Prayer--Our Father."  Kenneth Wayne Hancock   

            You see, I also know that your house never looks as good as it does when you are selling it, and that seems strange.  I remember when we moved from the other side of Maumelle, the house we had grown tired of looked so good when we cleaned it and moved out that I wanted to keep it.  So I have decided if we keep our house in the kind of shape that we would need to sell it, then we would get the benefit now and enjoy it more instead of just getting it nice for someone else.

            Now the de-cluttering thing has been a project for a while.  It has helped that Emily is married and has moved out, but there is a whole truckload of her stuff that will be with us always, even to the end of the age.  To make matters more crowded, Eric will likely move home again in July or August and he has a whole apartment of stuff that has to go somewhere.

            But despite our adult children’s things, the real problem is that Dianna and I have too much stuff.  I had a short lived rule that I want to get back to, the “one-in-two-out” rule.  That is whenever we buy something we have to get rid of two things.  The other rule we need at our house is the “seven rule” whereby every week we get rid of seven things. Otherwise, de-cluttering is a daunting task at our place.

            But one has the most success de-cluttering when they move, it is then when one is motivated the most to clean out their closets.  My grandmother used to say that three moves equals one fire.  I guess that might be true in terms of getting rid of stuff.   Dianna and I have not moved in a long time, therefore we have lots of stuff. That and the fact that we like everyone else constantly fight the trend to be greedy Americans who believe in conspicuous consumption.  But as I looked at what my friend had to pack, I was terrified and paralysed by the fact that we probably have four times the stuff that she does, and that is a lot of stuff.

            Now moving can be very good and very exciting.  We all have an innate sense of wanderlust, especially when we get to a certain age in life.  Things can be better somewhere else, although on the front end of the deal that is always an unknown.  And bigger houses and better jobs are not always the panacea that they seem.  When one leaves the comfortable and the familiar to the unknown it can be stressful, and it is a risk. However, one has to sometimes risk in order to get to where they want to be in life. And some moves that look good on the front end can turn out to be not so good deals on the back end.  I am also convinced that many people move do so looking for a geographical cure for something in their life, sometimes something that they cannot even articulate. 

Moving can be an arduous enterprise.  It is a lot of work, the kind that most of us are not use to doing.  And on the other end of the move unpacking and getting everything in its place is no picnic either.  Throw in the emotional toll of the move to complete the difficult picture.  Even in the best of the “grass is greener somewhere else” scenarios, there is the grief of letting go, of permanently cutting ties, of saying goodbye.  And even though we moved two miles away last time to a much nicer house, we had begun our family there and we were symbolically leaving some important memories behind.  Oh, I am very glad we did move, but you always have to be willing to shut the door on some important things in order to do so.

And one must factor in the fact that moves are also tough on those left behind. Since I have known this close friend was moving for several months, the experience was sort of analogous (not to be insensitive, but on a much lesser scale) to someone dying in an intensive care unit and not knowing when to pull the plug.  But now that this friend is gone, I can start to throw dirt on the grave and get on to whatever is next.   

            So today we have in our lectionary text from Genesis chapter 12 (yeah, I know, I am stuck in the Old Testament and I can’t get out without help) the introduction and calling of the patriarch of patriarchs, Abram or Abraham to use the retroactive nomenclature. It is a heck of a moving story, the quintessential move for no discernable reason story, the story of the call of Abraham.  And I think of some of the things I have spoken of this morning has to apply to his big move in a far away culture, in a far away world a long time ago.  How much harder would such a drastic move be?  In his day, unknowns were life threatening.  I mean to go to a land that you know not of, was full of perils including maybe not having anything to eat and dealing with hostile peoples.

            Abraham is the patriarch of three of the world’s great religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.  Abraham was first called to leave his geographic place and everything that was familiar and go to an unknown place of God’s choosing.  He was to leave his home, his daddy’s place, and to venture out presumably on faith to wherever God led him.  Now Abraham was obviously convinced he had heard the very voice of God and followed this call at the ripe old age of 75 years young.  Again, like Noah last week, we know little of Abraham before his call.  He simply received the call from God; he obeyed, and went where God told him to go.  There was no questioning that we know of, he had frightfully too few details about what the heck God was up to, but he just upped and left.  In return God pledged him a big promise, such as making him the father of a great nation, making him extremely famous, and making him a blessing for untold nations. And not only that, God also promised to “have his back” by blessing those that blessed him and to do in those that would do him in.  And the text simply says in verse four that Abraham did just that-- he grabbed his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the stuff and people, yes people, that he had acquired in Haran and packed up the whole mess and left.  Just that simple-- just like that. 

            Now there are several stories in Genesis about Abraham where we learn more about him, and some of them are kind of peculiar. Who understands the whole sacrifice of Isaac on Mt. Moriah deal?  That episode raises more questions than it answers, and just the possibility of human sacrifice of one’s offspring is one of the most disturbing things in the Bible, even if God was just joshing about the whole deal.  Or the thing about Sarai laughing about getting pregnant at 99?  That doesn’t sound funny to me, sounds like a nightmare. 

But today, we have the pure and simple call of God to Abraham, and he straightforwardly obeyed.  And because of it he was blessed and promised much more than 15 minutes of fame– it was a deal too sweet to pass up. God called-- Abraham left-- God blessed-- Abraham became famous as promised, and the Middle East if not the world has never been the same since.  And the implication for us is that is the way that God works in our life’s journey as well. 

Our spiritual journey is a common metaphor for our faith experience, and that terminology is based on the ultimate faith journey, the journey of Abraham. The New Testament writer of the Hebrews give us a little more light on Abraham in chapter 11 verse 8-10 in that great roll call of faith:

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

            So the writers of the Hebrews lets us know what we have already suspected that Abraham was a man of great (even though it seems to be blind) faith from the information we are given.  So what made his faith so great?  God told him to move and he did.  Is that it?  Is that all there is too it? Come on, there has to be more to this story?  A simple command to pack up and move and you are the most blessed person in the annals of history.  We typically think that is enough, it is the quintessential lesson on obedience.  And who is to argue with the results?  Abraham’s decision to follow God has altered the course of history and birthed three major world religions. 

            But we want more than what we are given here.  What does this mean for our own spiritual journeys?  I confess that I struggle a bit at this point.  To be obedient to the call of God is about a mystical experience that us mere mortals might encounter. How do we discern God’s call and how do we obey? To hear some talk about following God is just about as vague as these verses, and sometimes as radical undertaking without any ironclad guarantees that they are really hearing God’s voice. I mean many have claimed to be acting by faith and have preached they were following God when clearly the voices they were hearing were anything but divine. 

            The greatest of societal evils from the Crusades of the middle ages to Adolf Hilter to 9/11 had at their basis those who were convinced that they were doing God’s bidding-- that they were obeying the call of God.   And heck, no one carries bigger Bibles that the Ku Klux Klan, who are all convinced of the same.  There are all kinds of things done in the name of God with great zeal by people on a proverbial mission.  People who were simply deluded into believing that they were hearing God’s voices and obeying his will. 

            So how do we know God’s will and how are we to be obedient?  I know many people who hear such voices.  People who base major life decisions on the belief that something is God’s will, and I don’t always get it.  Yet, we all talk this way.  God wants me to do this, or is leading me to do that.  And while I don’t want to discount what God does, as God did after all call me, I don’t understand the logic behind this at times. 

            You see, it seems like the will of God is a hard concept for many to understand.  People (myself included) struggle with its concept, especially the specific, itinerary type interpretation of the will of God that is so prevalent today.   The “in the know folks” of our day have God’s will all figured out, or have reductionistically packaged it into their curricula.  Granted, this type of knowledge is “spiritual” knowledge, but some people seem to understand it a little too well.  Like my friend in seminary who ask a woman out on a date.  She said that she would get back to him she had to pray about it.  She called him the next day and said that God said that she could meet him in the cafeteria for dinner.  Now that is understanding the mind of Christ a little too well for me. 

            We do talk about the will of God a lot, and it means everything from who I should vote for to whom one should date or marry, to as another friend I had use to say, “God wants me to have that parking space.”  The will of God becomes a convoluted system of understanding the minutia and the trivial in our lives for some.  I am amazed at how clearly and how easily some understand the mind of the almighty.  They act like it is a much easier thing to comprehend than say, programming a VCR or figuring out their computer or doing their taxes.  I am here to confess that it just hasn’t been that easy for me.  And God forbid that you should ever miss the perfect will of God in your life, because you will have to settle for God’s second best, at least according to some.

            One author I read this week puts it this way:

The truth is that this belief that God will whisper in your ear all kind of particulars that pertain to you and His will for your life is very appealing to Christians. Even though when you look at the Scriptures, the specialized directions are rare. They are unusual. They are usually unsought. And they are always crystal clear. None of this "I think the Lord is telling me" business. People are still gravitating to the suggestion that we can develop a sixth sense that can tie us into a hotline to God so that we can have certitude about the things of life and the decisions we ought to make. Why is this appealing? Because it's easy. It's easy. You know Americans are given to quick fixes and this is the American Christian quick fix. We are also given to individualism and this is the American individualistic view of Christianity--guidance decision making. It fits the American mentality, not the Biblical mentality, not the Christian mentality, the American mentality. And that's why this point of view is distinctly American. It's a quick fix. It's an easy way out. It's kind of like Cliff Notes, only worse. (“Stand to Reason” Gregory Koukl, 1994)

            I recently attended an event for one who is moving to another state to accept another ministry position, which at least initially will be a much lesser position in many of the tangible ways that one might measure such a thing.  Someone at the event asked her to talk about her move as it seems counterintuitive to the direction most of us aspire to in life and ministry, and she shared something along the lines of the following– “I am moving to be obedient to God for that is the thing that has always been most important in my life and what we have taught our kids.  That we are to discern the will of God and be obedient to God’s will and when you are obedient to the will of God you just have a such a peace and things seem to fall into place because when you are obedient you are in God’s will, even if it means that things are not better for you there is the peace from doing God’s will.” 

            As I listened I had a couple of reactions.  One, the reasoning didn’t make sense to me, it sounded like circular reasoning.  You do God’s will be being obedient which in turn reveals God’s will.  But the second thing that got me was that it was just too vague to be making life changing decisions on.  Is that it?  Is that what you give up a job you love, and nice home and life for?  And at least on the surface simply to do the same kind of thing in just another place geographically.  It is not like she is being called to Outer Mongolia to work with some lost tribe. Thirdly, I don’t buy the peace thing, many have followed God at a high cost and their life was anything but peaceful.  The converse also implies that if your life is not peaceful then you have missed the obedience to God factor in your life, and that simply is not true, I have seen a million contradictory examples to that in 27 years working in an acute care hospital.  This thinking is nothing more that a type of the prosperity gospel.  But her desire to follow God got my attention none-the-less. 

            How do you know God is leading you, I wondered? So the third thing I felt was “am I missing the boat?”  She has found something that I don’t know about.  Am I missing the simple will of God in my own life? Why have I been where I am for so long?

            I have heard no voices saying “move” for a long time, or go do this Stanley for a long time. Surely God has called me to minister, God has called me into the chaplaincy, and God has called me to this church and to Baptist Health.  But the other side is I have been at Baptist 27 years and here as your pastor seven years, both eternities for ministry positions.  My boss at the hospital has indicated that he wants to know what it will take to keep me happy and at Baptist until the day I retire, maybe 15 years from now, so a move is not likely. Is that steadiness and comfort possible for one open to God’s leadership?  Am I not hearing God’s prompting in my own life? It is a good question. 

            I do react strongly against vague and Pollyannaish views of the overly intimate God of some people, but what does the call of God sound like and how do we obey?  It is an important spiritual question. About the best I can explain my calling is in describing my yearnings and in my sense of purpose and fulfillment, and these are very ethereal and not very practical commodities.

            So maybe we would do well to give a second look to Father Abraham for help.  And we amazingly find that he simply obeyed.  He gave up the familiar, he gave up the comfortable, and he totally changed his way of life because God told him to in some otherwise unidentifiable way.   That is the story. Like it or not, that is his journey-- and who knows, maybe ours too.

Dan Clendenin explains it this way, that

Abraham defied both the inner propensities of human nature and the outer pressures of cultural conformity that call us in the opposite direction. We like to journey from the unknown to the known. We want to move from what we do not have to what we think we want and need, away from the strange and the unpredictable and toward the safe and the secure. Unsatisfied with mere promises, we demand absolute guarantees. While we demand clarity and act timidly, Abraham acted whole-heartedly without absolute certainty. The story of God's call upon Abraham's life is a call that's repeated to each one of us today. Clendenin says that this Abrahamic call from God subverts conventional wisdom, and so it can feel counter-intuitive. It's a call to move beyond three deeply human and unusually powerful fears — fear of the unknown that we can't control (ignorance), fear of others who are different from us (inclusion), and fear of powerlessness in the face of impossibilities (impotence) (JourneywithJesus.net, Dan Clendenin)

Even though my friend could not articulate her new call very eloquently, who could blame her with such a weighty subject, I never-the-less think God is in her move.  And I think God is in it for me as I have already come to grips with some new direction in my own life and ministry, changes that were inspired by her leaving.  And truth be told, Abraham is no different from my friend. When he left Haran for Canaan, Abraham left all that was familiar — all custom and comfort, family and friends, all regularity and rhythm of his life. The only thing he retained of his homeland in Haran was the power of memory. His journey moved from present clarity into a future of genuine and profound ignorance. Abraham journeyed from what he had to what he did not have, from the known to the unknown, from everything that was familiar to all things strange.  Do you think he could articulate what the will of God was all about? Not likely is my guess, or it would have been spelled out for us in this narrative. He simply learned the will of God from doing, a very important point.

I have indeed learned the lessons of obedience, and I learned it from an unlikely person.  We will call him Sam, and Sam was a cocaine addict in one of my groups I lead for them.  Another person in the group asked me to interpret step 3 of the infamous 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous which says, “Made a decision to turn my life over to the will of God as we understood him.”  He went on to say that he had no clue as to how to understand the will of God.  Well, I was stalling, because my Sunday school answers didn’t seem to satisfy him, when another person spoke up in the room.  He said, you don’t have to figure out the will of God.  Just DO steps four through twelve and at some point you will wake up spiritually and know that you have been doing the will of God every step of the journey.  WOW, I thought, what a simple but profound answer!  Just DO what you know that you ought to be doing, and the parts you don’t understand will fall into place. 

This “go before you know” theology sort of sounded like the quintessential leap of faith, you know the one where you don’t know what to expect, you don’t know what the fine print is before you sign on the dott