All of us are called for a purpose.

Some years ago when K.P. Yohannan was in North India, had a small conversation with a little boy about eight years old.
KP – What are you doing?
Boy – I go to school.
KP – Why do you go to school?
Boy – To study.
KP – Why do you study?
Boy – To get smart.
KP – Why do you want to get smart?
Boy – So I can get a good job.
KP – Why do you want to get a good job?
Boy – To make lots of money.
KP – Why do you want to make lots of money?
Boy – So I can buy food.
KP – Why do you want to buy food?
Boy – So I can eat.
KP – Why do you want to eat?
Boy – To live.
KP – Why do you want to live?
At that point, the little boy thought for a minute, scratched his head, looked at K.P. in the face and said:
- Sir, why do I live?
He paused a moment in mid-thought, then gave his own sad answer:
- To die!

The question is the same for all of us: Why do we live? What is the basic purpose of our living in this world, as we claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ? Is it to accumulate wealth? Fame? Popularity? To fulfill the desires of the flesh and of the mind? And to somehow survive and, in the end, to die and hopefully go to heaven?
No. The purpose of our lives as believers must be to obey Jesus when He said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel….” That is what Paul did when he laid down his arms and said, “Lord, what do you want me to do?”
If all of your concerns is about your own life, your job, your clothes, your children’s good clothes, healthy bodies, a good education, a good job and marriage, the your concerns are no different from a heathen’s in Bhutan, Myanmar or India.
(K.P. Yohannan)

During the Second World War, the British showed themselves capable of astonishing sacrifices (as did many other nations). They lived on meagre, poor rations. They cut down their railings and sent them for weapons manufactures. Yet today, in what is more truly a (spiritual) World War, Christians live as peace time soldiers. Look at Paul’s injunctions to Timothy in II Timothy 2:3-4, “Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs – he wants to please his commanding officer.” We seem to have a strange idea of Christian service. We will buy books, travel miles to hear a speaker on blessings, pay large sums to listen to a group singing the latest Christian songs - but we forget that we are soldiers.
(George Verwer)

BANK FOR NATIVE MISSIONARIES – 5.00$ / as of February 26, 2006

Remember.

Hebrews 13:3
“Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”

As you might have noticed, I am concerned for the saints all around the globe. I don’t want to alienate them from me because they live in a different culture or because they’re so far away. I’ve seen a person being frustrated because we got some Christian newspaper from Calgary (which is about 10 hours from here – Saskatoon) the person was frustrated because we don’t need to know what’s going on out there, it’s not here. I must say that it is probably (and hopefully) not the view of most people. But I feel that I cannot forget the children of God right here in North America who are suffering for Christ (I don’t know many of them… tell me if you do), not can I forget those I’ve never seen, those that are mistreated for Christ anywhere else on planet earth.
So what I want to write here, is a simple question. You have read that verse in Hebrews 13:3. Now what does it mean? Should we take it and live it literally? What does it mean, how can I remember the prisoners because of Jesus, as if I was myself in prison? And how can I remember those who are mistreated as if I was suffering like them? What does it mean? Does it mean that I should pray for them (obviously), does not mean that I should somehow find ways to suffer (in my own hands) to somehow experience what some people are going through? By this I mean, should I decide to sleep on the floor or drink water from the tap (that is gross but drinkable) for a day, or fast or lock myself up in my room without any entertainment, no even a bible… for 4 hours etc. In order to experience a tiny bit of what some saints are going through and pray about this whole thing? These ideas might sound “extreme” for some of you or totally dumb or fake. I don’t know, I try to think about ways I can remember those in prison as if I was their fellow prisoner, and those who are mistreated as if I myself was suffering.
Please, leave me some ideas about this. Leave a comment, email me gabeleroux@yahoo.ca … Give me more verses about this subject. Minister to me.

BANK FOR NATIVE MISSIONARIES: 5.00$ / as of February 24, 2006

on Faith

I’ve always liked to read Hebrews 11 :29-40. Most people know what Hebrews 11 is about. Faith. Now here’s an overview of this passage (Hb. 11:29-35a))
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land… By faith the walls of Jericho fell… By faith the prostitute Rahab… was not killed… who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice and gained what was promised… shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead…
The victories of the faith! Through faith, God does marvellous things and even though we’re weak and have no ability to bring about changes or accomplish such miraculous things. By faith God does great things.
Now let’s see the overview of the rest of the passage (Hb. 11:35b-38)
(By faith)… Others were tortured and refused to be released… some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated… They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
On one hand we are told that God will do great things by the faith of His children. On the other hand, we are told that by that same faith, people went through extreme suffering, poverty and persecution.
Maybe we are called to experience both. Or maybe if we experience one of the two, the other one will come as a result… I don’t know, that’s not what it says anyway. I like this passage because it reminds me that living by faith on earth won’t bring me pleasures and victories over victories all the time. It won’t grant me success and always keep me safe, providing me with clothes and a roof over my head. To live by faith won’t change the world’s mind about me and make people love me. Yes God in His will, does awesome things through our faith, but we can’t believe that half-truth, and we can’t preach it either. Often I hear that the gospel we offer will bring an end to everybody’s problems and will make them successful and accepted. That’s wrong, that’s not the gospel of Jesus Christ. To live by faith, to obey God in all He calls us to, will yes, allow God to work great things for us, but we must not forget that those who live by faith will go through suffering as well.
“In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (II Tim 3:12) I sometimes wondered about this. It seems like I live at peace here in my Canada and I am a Christian and I live a generally godly life… so what’s wrong? This verse or my view of godliness and faith in Jesus? No need to answer the question. I wonder if I really know what Jesus means when He says that I must carry my own cross and follow Him (Lk 9:23). I believe that God grants peace to His children when it pleases Him, but to live my everyday life around unbelievers and never be rejected for Christ or accepted and see people come to the faith, then… I wonder if that “peace” is from God. Not making any impact on other people’s thinking about Jesus, being of a good smell or a smell of death to them makes me believe that we are at “peace” with all, but aren’t fulfilling God’s purpose for us, or not allowing Him to work through our faith. That’s maybe why I am not persecuted. It may be why we live in such a “peace” here in North America, because we aren’t much different than our neighbors, we live in ways that will keep us at peace and comfortable. I’m not saying that we should all be persecuted and put in prison as a result of our faith. Yes, it is true for numbers of faithful believers in the world, but I mean that maybe we should act much more different than our fellow country people. In the way we live our daily lives, what kind of possessions we have, what we do with our money, what kind of reaction we have when people around us say stuff against our Savior, people should all know we are Christians… We can’t compromise our “Christian” lives and live half in the world and half in the Lord and try not to make any waves because we’re scared of what will happen to us or we don’t know what to say or etc. that’s not living by faith at all. That’s doubting the power of God, that He is able to rescue us and put words into our mouths.
I say all that, but you would not find me acting it out very much. It’s much easier to step back and be at peace with the world, to laugh when everyone laugh instead of speaking up against the joke or the bad talks. I don’t know if what I wrote goes well with the passage… As we strive to obey God and live godly lives by faith, we shall go through lots of difficulties, but we’ll see neat things as well. If we don’t, well let’s still be strong and remain faithful, reminding ourselves of our father in the faith, Abraham.
“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their won. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had the opportunity to return. Instead they were looking for a better country – a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, he has prepared a city for them.” (Hb. 11:13-16) “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them receive what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” (Hb 11:39, 40)

BANK FOR NATIVE MISSIONARIES : 0.00$ /as of February 22, 2006.

Please Consider

“God has not given this superabundance of blessings to American and Canadian Christians so we can sit back and enjoy the luxuries of this society – or even in spiritual terms, so we can gorge ourselves on books, teaching cassettes and deeper-life conferences. He has left us on this earth to be stewards of these spiritual and material blessings, learning how to share with others and administer our wealth to accomplish the purposes of God.
What is the bottom line? God is calling us as Christians to alter our lifestyles, to give up the nonessentials of our lives so we can better invest our wealth in the kingdom of God.”
- K.P. Yohannan (Gospel for Asia)

I put together a « Bank for the Native Missionaries » Gospel for Asia (http://www.gfa.org/) has a list of things we can purchase for native missionaries to help them to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who never heard His name and to ease their daily life.
Since we are so blessed here in North America, I thought that it was our duty to help provide for our brothers and sisters who toil for the gospel of Jesus very often traveling form village to village in the cold or lacking New Testaments or other literature to tell the people about Jesus. There are different ways of helping them, we can sponsor a native missionary for 30$ a month, but if you can’t commit yourself to such a sharing of God’s resources to you, but still want to help, I encourage you to look at the list of things you can purchase for these missionaries, to send the money to Gospel for Asia (245 King St E, Stoney Creek, On, L8G 9Z9) with a note telling them what you want to purchase and leave them your address. Something else I want you to think of is this: many of us just don’t have much money, but still want to help our brothers and sisters out there. I believe that if lots of us would put our few bucks together, we would have enough money to buy something… So if you feel like me, send your few bucks to me and I’ll keep the money of everybody in that bank for the native missionaries, when we have enough money for anything you guys want to buy, I’ll send it to Gospel for Asia, who will in turn send it to the mission field and buy the article we want and give it to the missionary who needs our article the most. For more info, leave a comment or email me gabeleroux@yahoo.ca
Here’s the list:

1 bible: 3.60$
1 set of 8 New Testaments: 5$
1 Bicycle: 130$
1 Bullhorn: 135$
1 Pack of 250 gospel tracks: 1.50$
1 Kerosene lantern: 29$
1 Winter clothing packet: 45$
1 tambourine: 6$
1 drum: 27$
15 min. radio program: 53$
* There are other things, but they are much more expensive.

Let me know if you are thinking of sending something to Gospel for Asia! It’ll be an encouragement for me. As well, I encourage you to get your church giving a few bucks here and there and help our brothers and sisters overseas. I’ll keep a record of how much money there is in the bank for them on this blog at each entry.

BANK FOR NATIVE MISSIONARIES: 0.00$ / as of Feb. 19 2006

It’s about God, not me.

“And now the Lord says – He who formed me in the womb to be His servant to bring Jacob back to Him and gather Israel to Himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength – He says: ‘It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
Isaiah 49:5-6

To me, it is obvious that the “servant” spoken of here is the Messiah God appointed to save those of Israel He has kept, namely Jesus Christ. What is interesting to read is that to Jesus, it’d be too little to bring home His people only so God extended Jesus’ salvation to the ends of the earth. In the past few years I’ve been reading a few books written by John Piper, the best way to describe Piper’s thought about God and why He granted us salvation is best summed up in this phrase he wrote: “He (God) is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him”. The reason why I am thinking about Piper’s words is because this passage of Scriptures reminds me of these words.

In this passage of Isaiah, we read that God extended salvation to all nations on earth because “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant (Jesus) to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring those of Israel I have kept.” Providing salvation to His people Israel only seemed to be of little value… or of little glory (I’m not using the right words), God had in mind a greater work for His Servant, He would offer salvation to all people on earth. In God’s eyes, this was of a higher value, a greater glory to Him.

God could have saved His people only, but He provided salvation to all men for different reasons but here in Isaiah, we read that God’s reason for granting us, Gentiles His free salvation in Jesus Christ is to bring glory to Himself. The purpose of God in the salvation of men is to get glory for Himself. I’m not saying that God is desperately seeking ways to receive glory from men. He is already more glorious that we can bear to know. What I am saying is that, just as God created men for His glory, He saved men for His glory as well.

I know that there are many different reasons why God chose to give His Son Jesus as only Savior of all men. We can think about His love for us (John 3:16), His grace (Eph. 2:5, 8), His desire to make sinners right with Him (I Tim 1:15; 2:4), His mercy (Titus 3:4) and many other reasons. But if I focus on these reasons alone, it could make me feel like God is all about me and He saved me for my sake. I can totally believe that I don’t deserve anything from God and without Jesus I’m lost, but think that all God did was for my sake. I think I must keep in mind that God extended His hand to all men to receive free salvation in Jesus for His own sake, for His own glory.

It’s not about me, it’s about God.

I don’t want anybody to feel like God is using us and is actually very cold towards us. That goes against Scripture. God deeply cares for us and He knows that outside Him, beauty and love are only reflections of true beauty and true love that are found in Him, He is beauty perfect and love Himself. And He gives us the best we can get: Himself. He doesn’t leave us with only an image of what is good, He calls us to experience true love, true beauty, true goodness, that’s found in Himself, not in anything the world offers or any other created things. They are only reflections. By delighting ourselves in God, we make Him look great to the eyes of men and angels and Satan. That brings Him great glory and that’s why He saved us. So we would love Him and glorify Him.

In Response to a Comment / ARE YOU WEARIED part II

I just got a certain comment from a “friend blogger” (www.randomnesssignedgibbons.blogspot) and even though this friend sort of gently warned me about things I thought, I went to bed and praised God for shaping my thoughts and views through people. In my last post I wrote about a verse I felt very different and interesting, “Yet you have not called upon me, O Jacob, you have not wearied yourselves for me, O Israel.” (Isaiah 43:22 NIV) and I wanted to understand what God meant by “wearied yourselves for me”. Anyways, just read the last entry to know more about my thoughts. I was totally aware that my thinking could raise some “Wait a minute Gabe…” kind of response from people. Here’s a comment I got (I didn’t ask the writer permission to publish it but… I guess, it’s already published in my comments so… what’s the big difference hey?!)

I like what you've written, it's very challenging. But I'd like to raise a "warning flag." When I read what you wrote about being tired from waking too early or praying during the night, I wondered, "Is this safe?" Yes, it's right and good that you are obeying God's call to holiness by these actions. But I feel it can be dangerous to ignore the signs of weariness your body gives you. Pushing past these signs as if they are only obstacles to your walk with God can lead to health problems, if you don't take care. So many pastors and Christian leaders burn out, maybe because they keep going, pushing themselves to the limit in seeking after God, but not taking time to check if their bodies are holding up under the strain. It seems to make sense that we need to take care of our bodies (by sleeping enough, eating enough, and relaxing enough) to be able to serve God and pursue him in the long run.

I totally agree with all of what’s written up here. I did not really talk about this issue of being wise and careful that our devotion should not lead us to the point where it makes us unable to continue to obey Christ, or isn’t helpful in our walk with Him (If I get up early to read and pray but I feel grumpy for the rest of the day… well that’s not good and some things need to be readjusted). It’s true that our bodies need rest and food, and we cannot alienate these needs from us totally “because we want to follow Christ”. Christians were always called to live lives that are pure so to set an example for unbelievers (Col 4:5; Titus 3:14; I Peter 2:12) and anyways when we read the New Testament, it’s obvious that God wants us to live healthy lives to the best of our means.
But at the same time, we read about a Paul talking about learning to be content being fed or hungry, having plenty or being in want (Phil. 4:12), we read that we must flee the desires of youth (II Tim. 2:22 – could laziness be included in here?), about devoting ourselves to doing what is good (Titus 3:8), we read about people struggling and being sick but still working for the cause of Christ (Phil. 2:25-30) and above all, the life of Jesus Himself, many times we read that Jesus would spend the night praying, getting up when it was still dark to pray, be alone with God, he was all day long busy with people around Him, healing and helping and speaking and preaching and… why is He sleeping while the disciplines are freaking out because of the storm that is overtaking their boat? Is it because He was physically drained? Maybe.
Anyways, what I mean to say here is simply that I think that we must be careful about the way we live our lives. I do not want to put any burden on anybody’s back, or say that all should do the things that Gabe feels called to do. But I believe that very often we love comfort and health more than doing the things of our Savior. We obey God as long as we feel good and keep our bodies healthy. I don’t know for you, but I have seen many Christian parents being reluctant to send their child on a mission trip because of the lack of comfort, because things could go wrong, because it’s humiliating to do door-to-door evangelism and so on. I am really not pointing at anybody, seriously. And then I hear of missionaries, who were beaten and persecuted and stoned in some area and now have a son reaching out to the same area, and they say that if their son must be persecuted or even be killed, they’d be the first to thank God for the privilege to partake in the cause of Christ. I hear of people giving up their jobs to go live in the slums to reach the people there, they eat their food, they live like them, they’re probably dying along with them, but they tell the people about Jesus, and souls are redeemed. I’m not saying that we are all called to deny all we have, even our health in order to reach the lost or live a godly life. Having less stuff and no money does not make us more spiritual people, otherwise, Africans and Indians and slum people and street kids are more spiritual than us.
But what I am saying is that I desire to be ready to put aside some of my usual comforts and things I’m used to do my way and a littlebit of my sleep and a meal here and there not to do godly things, but because I yearn to know God, because I seek His face in prayer, because I love Him and I want to be with Him and learn from Him.
I must learn that if I’m tired or hungry for doing things for God, out of love for Him, it’s okay. How am I going to show any real devotion to my God if I can’t spend a meal praying for the lost world instead of eating? I don’t know, but it shows a great deal of devotion. I’m not saying that we should do these things because we feel we have to. We should obey God as He reveals Himself to us, as He gives us ideas and compels us by His Word. “Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.” (Gal. 6:4-5).
I don’t know if anybody understand what I’m trying to write here. Basically, I want to say that because of the overflow of our love for Christ, we’ll be longing to know Him more and we’ll use all the means we have to serve and know and learn and love Him. I feel like we forget a world out there that is suffering for Christ, and oh I am not worthy to even pray for such saints who give all to Christ, they deny comforts and better health and jobs and status to remain faithful to Jesus Christ. Do not think that I’m mixed up with two context (persecution and peace)… I have a question for you that I need to ask myself as well:
Knowing that some people have to go through sufferings to remain faithful to Christ because their country rejects Jesus’ teachings, do I really remain faithful to Christ by being a tiny bit different from the world because I go to church and am a generally good person who lives in a country or religious freedom?

It took me forever to write and rewrite this question… Please answer me, leave a comment, send an email gabeleroux@yahoo.ca … May I pray for you? May I answer any questions? Send me an email. I hope you are challenged and you won’t do anything more for Jesus out of duty (although…) but out of a genuine and true love for Him. Let us not be legalistic. ( I’m sure I’d do one of the best Pharisee in Jesus’ time if I’d actually live in His time and if I’d be a man!)

are you WEARIED?

No I didn’t spell the word wrong. I did not mean to say “Are you worried”, but really “Are you wearied”. I’m not thinking about the fatigue and tiredness you feel after spending much time with your children or after a day at work, or too much studies or some accumulated stress. Well, as I think of it, what I mean, is that I don’t want to write about the weariness that is found with us when we work as working as an end in itself, or as studying as an end in itself… Are you confused? I am for you, so I’ll simply explain myself in a clearer way, then, hopefully, you’ll get my idea.
On Feb. 12 I read the verse 22 of Isaiah 43. It says “Yet you have not called upon me, O Jacob, you have not wearied yourselves for me, O Israel.” I never really noticed the verse before and I thought it was an interesting idea that I didn’t really understand.
Chapter 43 starts with words of encouragement from the Lord to His people Israel, that He will stand by them and keep them safe, that He will bring the nation back together, that there is no other god besides Yahweh, He reminds them of all the good things He has done to the Israelites when He brought them out of Egypt and He tells them of amazing things He promises to do. Then comes verse 22.
Even if they had seen and experienced and been told of so many great and wonderful things, they did not weary themselves out for Him. They did not lift a finger in response to the blessings of God. If you read the rest of the chapter it tells you about their response: they bothered God with their sins instead of giving thanks and obeying the Lord.
Now I wondered about myself. I was interested in the word “wearied”. I thought it was a very different verse that we use to memorize and hear preached about, like the verse “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (often forgetting the next verse that says: “take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.” Mat 11:28, 29). I guess these two verses (Matt & Isa) are talking two different things and have different context, but I simply don’t hear much about the cost our bodies and our souls must pay in our holy service to Christ. It is important to seek encouragement from the Word, but we need to seek to obey as much, if not even more than to be encouraged.
Anyways, as I said, I was (and I’m still) interested by this verse. “… you have not wearied yourselves for me…”. What does it really mean? These are just thoughts I have, nothing’s been proved with Scripture (?). I think that yes, God expects His people to respond to His goodness, His blessings, or anything He says or does or did. He wants a response from His people. Our response can be to ignore Him and continue in our own ways, or we can decide to obey His commands and seek Him. I think that in a sense, if we respond by obedience and thanksgiving, as we seek and strive to obey, we will “weary” ourselves for God. I’ll give you an example. That same day I was thinking about this verse, I felt so tired at the end of my shift at work and for the whole evening. I did not feel that way usually. But I understood that my body was tired because I had got up during the night to pray and got up early in the morning to read and meditate God’s Word. My body wasn’t happy with that, it was weary. I think that God expects us to respond to His great gift in Jesus Christ and all His blessings, not only by saying “thank you” and go to church and set a good example as a Christian. But by consciously seeking, running after Him to serve and know Him more, to climb the tree as Zacchaeus did in order to see Jesus (see entry entitled “Train yourself to be godly” Feb. 5/06). By doing so, our bodies might grow weary.
I do not mean that we should always be tired and never sleep and become blind because we’ve read too much. I simply think that if God opens my understanding on things I could do to know Him more, to respond to His gifts in tangible ways, I should obey and act. When it’s out of my comfort zone, when I don’t feel like it, when I am tired, when it’s hard, when it takes work. I think I show no real devotion to my Master and Savior when I am lazy to take up the cross He calls me to carry and tell Him I’ll go at church and give a part of my income and the usual good things that we are all called to do. But there’s a higher obedience.
As well, the first part of the verse says “Yet you have not called upon me…” So it made me think that maybe God is saying that because His people did not pray or call upon Him, they did not weary themselves. Maybe God calls us to call out to Him, to pray, to fast, to seek Him through prayer, and that, would weary us.
I don’t know, my thoughts are clear to me, I hope it is the same for you. I pray that I am sensitive to God’s teachings and God’s mind in His Word. I pray that I would seek Him more than my own health or needs or comforts. It makes me think of a verse. Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Please post comments or email me about that. Am I a maniac or what? gabeleroux@yahoo.ca

Pony Express

It’s been gone for more than a century. Yet, if it weren’t for TV commercials, more people probably would have heard of the Pony Express than of Federal Express.
The Pony Express was a private express company that carried mail by an organized relay of horseback riders. The eastern end was St. Joseph, Missouri, and the western terminal was in Sacramento, California. The cost of sending a letter by Pony Express was 2.50$ an ounce. If the weather and horses held out and the Indians held off, that letter would complete the entire two-thousand-mile journey in a speedy ten days, as did the report of Lincoln’s Inaugural Address.
It may surprise you that the Pony Express was only in operation from April 3, 1860, until November 18, 1861 – just seventeen months. When the telegraph line was completed between two cities, the service was no longer needed.
Being a rider for the Pony Express was a tough job. You were expected to ride seventy-five to one hundred miles a day, changing horses every fifteen to twenty miles. Other than the mail, the only baggage you carried contained a few provisions, including a kit of flour, cornmeal, and bacon. In case of danger, you also had a medical pack of turpentine, borax, and cream of tartar. In order to travel light and to increase speed of mobility during Indian attacks, the men always rode in shirtsleeves, even during the fierce winter weather.
How would you recruit volunteers for this hazardous job? An 1860 San Francisco newspaper printed this ad for the Poney Express:

WANTED
Young, skinny, wiry fellow, not over 18.
Must be expert riders willing to risk daily.
Orphans preferred.

Those were the honest facts of the service required, but the Poney Express never had a shortage of riders.
We need to be honest with the facts about the discipline of serving God. Like the Pony Express, serving God is not a job for the casually interested. It’s costly service. He asks for service to Him to become a priority, not a pastime. He doesn’t want servants who will give Him the leftovers of their life’s commitments. Serving God isn’t a short-term responsibility either. Unlike the Pony Express, His Kingdom will never go under, no matter how technological our world gets.
The mental picture we have of the Pony Express is probably much like the one imagined by the young men of 1860 who read that newspaper ad. Scenes of excitement, camaraderie, and the thrill of adventure filled their heads as they swaggered over the Express office to apply. Yet few envisioned that excitement would only occasionally punctuate the routine of the long, hard hours and loneliness of the work.
The discipline of serving is like that. Although Christ’s summons to service is the most spiritually grand and noble way to live a life, it is typically as pedestrian as washing someone’s feet. Richard Foster puts it starkly: “In some ways we would prefer to hear Jesus’ call to deny father and mother, houses and land for the sake of the gospel, than His word to wash feet. Radical self-denial gives the feel of adventure. If we forsake all, we even have a chance of glorious martyrdom. But in service we are banished to the mundane, the ordinary, the trivial.

Taken from “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian” by Donald S. Whitney

All at Once

Since I work in a Bible College, students have chapels three times a week (Mon. Wed. & Fri.) and since my work schedule changes from week to week, I have my days off either on the weekend or during the week, so I’ve been convinced that simply reading and meditating the Word by myself and going to church when I was not working was not enough, since I had the opportunity to attend chapel on my days off. So I started doing that, to hear the Word preached and to worship as a community of people.
Anyways, this morning I was in chapel and the students who had gone on a mission trip to Thailand this semester, were doing a report on it with pictures and everything. At the end they put a list of prayers requests and needs up on the power point. And all the students and staff were invited to stand up and start praying out loud, all at the same time. So when the student told us to start, then most people started to pray about Thailand and etc. People were not loud or wild about it (I’ve experienced that in a church and it was pretty… different.) they were just praying using a normal tone and volume. I don’t really know what I think about that. People praying out loud all at the same time. I know that God understands each prayer, but I don’t know how good it is to do that as a congregation (obviously, you need to be more than one person to do that kind of thing!) I understand that prayer is prayed to God, not to people around, but shouldn’t we be able to understand what people say? It makes me think of the gift of “speaking in tongues” Paul told the Corinthians 14:26,28 “… When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two – or at the most three – should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.” I know that Paul is giving instruction to the church of Corinth so they would know how to behave and do things in the church and that the students and staff at Bethany are not called a church when they have chapel. But if we just look at the text Paul says “When you come together” so it makes me think that anytime believers gather together for any kind of meeting (Sunday morning, evening, Wednesday night and else) we should behave ourselves in these manners. I know that praying and speaking in tongues can be two different things (meaning that people who spoke in tongues, sometimes were praying in tongues and sometimes were speaking to the brothers in tongues or etc.) so here I’m saying that since Paul said that people speaking in tongues should be 3 at the most, that these 2-3 different people should speak up one at the time, one after the other, with the translation / interpretation of what they said. Why? So the people around would be able to understand what is said, and be strengthened. And Paul ends basically saying that if people can’t understand what you say, then you should keep quiet and pray to God in your heart.
I don’t know if I can compare prayer in a community of believers and speaking in tongues… But I think that all of the gifts and everything we do together as a congregation should be done for the strengthening of the people around and with order. Just look at the beginning of the passage, Paul writes about singing hymns, words of instructions (that could include church bulletin info?!), revelations from the Word / exhortations, a tongue or interpretation. Then Paul says that all of these should be done for the strengthening of the church. The he gives further instructions on speaking in tongues. So I don’t know, but if we gather together and start praying out loud all at the same time, will the contents of the prayers strengthen the people? Well, apart for what you are praying, you won’t understand a thing. You could be strengthened by your own prayers, but still, that’s not the goal of getting together as a group of believers.
I’ve said some cons about this issue. Now I’ll share to pros.
I must say that I did not pray at all while people were praying out loud. I was sitting at the back of the chapel where seats are reserved for staff (I feel important sitting there… well not really actually) and so I was not in the midst of the crowd and I just kind of watched and thought about this whole thing. Since it was done in some type or order and nothing was too loud or wild, I thought that it was actually neat. I just had the picture of God looking down to these 170 students and staff praying to Him standing up. I thought that it was rather a glorious image. I mean, when people all pray at the same time together but in their hearts, God listens to as many people at the same time, so it doesn’t change much for HIS understanding. Nobody is strengthened either. I don’t know actually. Anyways, I have no biblical support for this things, I see more biblical support against it. But still I don’t know everything so.

That was my little experience this morning. Anybody has any thoughts on that? There is much more I could write, but I realize that my entries are sometimes pretty long. Please leave a comment, email me gabeleroux@yahoo.ca say something about what you think, either to strengthen the pros… or the cons!

IT TEACHES US TO SAY NO

Since years I had the habit of reading a few chapters of the Bible in the morning. During the two years I spent at Bible School I had a little devotional book in which I had to answer two questions “What is the author saying?” and “How can I put it into practice today?” about the passage of Scripture I had to read. Most of the time I did it very quickly and couldn’t find much to “flesh out”. My answers were always very general, not so practical for me, today. Anyways, since several weeks I’ve been thinking and convinced that simply “reading” the Word of God was not enough. My time in the morning was more like a spiritual fast-food than a real good, healthy meal. It’s not that I would never take the time to meditate and journal on certain passages, I would take the time to do that when I felt like it, maybe one a week or less. These were good times. But I’ve been realizing that to meditate on the Word only when I feel for it, kept me from many blessings when I started (a week or so ago) to take the time to meditate on what I read, every morning. I knew since long that I should take the time to meditate more, but it meant getting early in the morning, I guess I had the excuse that I was already getting up early enough to spend 30 minutes reading the Bible (to be able to read the whole book in a year) and that I spent a little later 20 minutes reading and praying, and all of that in the morning before going to work. I did not feel like getting even earlier, but I felt that my routine was not so good, or lacked something. I did not want to cut my 30 minute reading ‘cause I would not be able to read the whole Bible in a year, something I’ve done since years and that I find very precious for me to keep doing. I would get up at 6:30am to read for 30 minutes and then go back to sleep and get up at 8:00 to shower and etc. and then have my 20 minutes. (My lazy nature likes the idea of going back to bed for an hour again) so a certain morning, I got up and read my 30 minutes, then I thought I’d read the two chapters I was going to read in my 20 minutes right now instead of going back to sleep. I found myself with a whole hour before showering. I took the time to read closely and to be interested by the words. I wrote down what I was taught and continued on to pray about what I read and thanking God for the blessings I had found in His Word that morning. My spirit was light and bold, ready to apply His instructions. It was good. So I decided to give up my sleep since, and I journal on what the Lord teaches me, and He does, every morning.

Here’s my entry for this morning, February 9 2006. I was delighted to read about godliness and self-control… since I’ve been thinking about these a lot these last several weeks. It’s about Titus 2:11-end

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. … Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good.”
These last several weeks I have been thinking about godliness and self-control and disciplines. I’ve always believed that being self-controlled was good but I never really fought for it, until a few weeks ago. I realize that disciplining myself is based on two things, if one is practiced without the other, I am incomplete and not really self-controlled. First, discipline pushes me to “do” godly things and second, it pushes me to “say no” to ungodliness. I know it sounds obvious, the thing is that it’s very easy for me to “do” good things, but it’s very hard to “say no” to ungodliness and worldly passions. By writing “to do good things” I’m not saying that I do them heartlessly just because I have to or acting as a Pharisee, just for outward appearances and to receive praise from men, but I mean that I do good things pushed by the Spirit of God, but it’s something terribly hard to say no to things that are not good, to be self-controlled. I don’t know what it says about me when I push myself to fast and give up some sleep, but I fall so easily into sin, choosing to disobey the Spirit of God because it gratifies the desires of my sinful nature. I am learning to say no, and I trust that disciplining myself to meditate and pray and journal and flesh out God’s teachings, will give me strength and a renewed mind to say no to ungodliness.
Why would I want to starve my appetites for laziness, selfishness, pride, unbelief, evil? Why? I mean, why do I want to be godly and obedient to God’s will? Why would “I beat my body and make it my slave” (I Cor. 9:27)? Yeah Jesus died for me and saved me, but really, what’s the reason? Christians might say stuff like “We want to be like Jesus because He gave us so much” or “We obey Christ out of love for Him” or etc. these things are totally true and proper and should be the reasons why I want to obey God and live a godly life. But the point Paul makes in Titus, or the reason he gives us why we should “say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled and godly lives” is because Jesus saved us (1) to REDEEM us from all WICKEDNESS and (2) TO PURIFY for Himself a people that are His very own, EAGER to do what is good. So basically I am saved to be purified from wickedness, being zealous (/eager) to do what is good. I am not saved so I would live a happy life on earth and in heaven (even though I will experience great joys by fighting for godliness), but I am saved because Jesus wants to purify me from all evil, He wants me to be His own. So if I want to be godly, it should be based on the truth that it is why Jesus came on earth and died for me. He died so I would become holy, not in order to give me back parents and siblings and friends who died when I go to heaven. Jesus died so I would be eager to do what is good.
I know that many times, I am not eager to do what is good, because my sinful nature is in the way and desires what is opposite to the Spirit of God (Gal. 5:17). So, can I be eager without desiring to be eager? In the sense that I am zealous to obey God without really feeling like obeying? I don’t know. But I think that this is part of what it is to live by faith. I trust God will honor me if I say no to ungodliness, simply because I desire to obey Him. Well, actually I guess I am eager to do what is right if I desire to obey God’s will… but still. Anyways. I guess that if I look at my flesh, I will get the feeling that I don’t want to do good, and if I look at my renewed mind in Christ, I will get the feeling that I eagerly want to obey God’s Spirit. So.

I encourage (strongly) that we spend more time meditating on the Word of God, I find many blessings in doing so and I think it’s regrettable that I spent so many years just reading every morning without thinking and seeking God’s teaching every morning.

Feel free to leave any comments or email me about this entry. Do not take any of what I write as being the truth. These are only my thoughts about what I read and meditate on in the Bible. I hope it is a challenge to you. gabeleroux@yahoo.ca

Quick Thoughts About Prayer... maybe I did not really take the time to really think about it...

A prayer by a Puritan, from the book “The Valley of Vision”
Lord Jesus, give me a deeper repentance, a horror of sin, a dread of its approach. Help me chastely to flee it and jealously to resolve that my heart shall be Thine alone.
Give me a deeper trust, that I may lose myself to find myself in Thee, the ground of my rest, the spring of my being. Give me a deeper knowledge of Thyself as saviour, master, lord, and king. Give me deeper power in private prayer, more sweetness in Thy Word, more steadfast grip on its truth. Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action, and let me not seek moral virtue apart from Thee.
Plough deep in me, great Lord, heavenly husbandman, that my being may be a tilled field, the roots of grace spreading far and wide, until Thou alone art seen in me, Thy beauty golden like summer harvest, Thy fruitfulness as autumn plenty.
I have no master but Thee, no law but Thy will, no delight but Thyself, no wealth but that Thou givest, no good but that Thou blessest, no peace but that Thou bestowest. I am nothing but that Thou makest me. I have nothing but that I receive from Thee. I can be nothing but that grace adorns me. Quarry me deep, dear Lord, and then fill me to overflowing with living water.

I love the prayers of the Puritans. They are like old hymns. The words of the old hymns are always very meaningful and profound, so sincere. It’s very easy to repeat the kind of prayer we hear at church and the words we grew up with. For some of us our prayers are empty of all sincerity and are just the same words repeated again and again. I’m not thinking much about the fact that lots of people tend to use the words “God” and “Lord” so many times when they pray that kids who are bored in prayer meetings have fun counting “how many times Mrs White said ‘Lord’ while praying”, but I’m more thinking about generally praying the same words every time we pray. It might be at mealtime or when asked to pray at the offering time at church or in a prayer meeting for someone. It seems that a lot of our prayers are without much depth. But even as I write these words, I confess that I pray very simply and probably with the same type of prayer, and attitude all the time or so. I’m not saying that being simple in our prayers is wrong. I believe God delights in the prayers of children who do not use big words and theology to pray. I think what we might be lacking is sincerity. It doesn’t really matter the words we use, but rather the attitude of our hearts. And I think that often our prayers are so usual and lacking reality because we are not diligent in seeking Jesus our Master everyday through meditation on His Word and praying more. If you have a discerning spirit, you can know a whole lot by simply listening to the prayers of some people because usually it is obvious when someone has a real, day-to-day relationship with Jesus. Although, many people pray as hypocrites and like to use nice prayers to impress the world around them. Anyways. I should go back to where I first started: I love old hymns, I love the prayers of the Puritans. I would like to pray to our God like them. I memorized one of their prayers and, it’s been good to pray these words at the end of my day at work when I’m locking up by myself, or when I go to bed. At first it seems to be pointless since you memorize someone else’s prayer to God, but when you know it well and you believe in what you say, man, it’s sweet to the soul and it gives us a greater appreciation for what God has done and who He is and so much more. Even, just reading these prayers to God and making them our own challenges us and I think God delights in hearing such devotion from His children (when it comes from their hearts). Just think of the book of Psalms. These Psalms were written as a hymn book / prayer book for king David and the other writers and the people of Israel. People used these prayers, sang these songs to God. I once had a notebook where I wrote down different passages from the Bible and I would pray them to God. It’s a neat thing to do, I can’t really explain. It teaches me, encourages me, it humbles me, I believe God loves to hear his children praying His Word, since His Word is always according to His will. I need to do that more.

PS: RAY, thank you for your comment, I have indeed been reading through prayers of the Puritans and the lives of some of them. I wrote this blog even before reading your comment. Is that interesting hey.

TRAIN YOURSELF TO BE GODLY – I Timothy 4:7

I’ve always thought that discipline was good. And indeed, it is good. I guess it’s easy for me to say that because I naturally tend to do things in an orderly way, at the right time and the right place, that’s just who I am and I recognize that people do struggle with self-discipline. As I spent time reading God’s Word and thinking (or we could say, meditating) about it, God once again spoke to my heart. I don’t know about you, but for me, when I start reading the Bible and meditate on some verses, God likes to open my understanding and speak to me, He teaches me through His Word. Usually God makes me realize new and old disciplines that I should introduce to my daily life. What I mean by discipline, well, let’s say, self-discipline, is simple things found in the Bible that we are commanded to practice. God calls me to obedience. What usually happens is that I know I should change things in my life to obey God, but the act of obedience doesn’t really happen. It’s neat to have these great thoughts about God’s Words and standards of the Christian life and spiritual disciplines, and I realized that even though I was usually disciplined in life, well I was not for the things of God, or at least, it was much harder to practice and did not come to me naturally.
When I look around me and listen to what people say and the way they live, I realize that lots of us “Christians” think that discipline is good, but we are too lazy to actually “flesh it out”. I say lazy because that’s a good word to describe the main idea. We think discipline is good, but we are always excused for not practicing the spiritual disciplines, because we’re too busy at home, work, church activities, school or discipline doesn’t come naturally to them, so it’s too hard. In one word, we are a lazy people that doesn’t make time for obedience. I say “we” but I know very well that many Christians do make time and do obey Christ. Something else I’ve noticed is that lots of us think that practicing disciplines will make us boring little nerds without a life. But I realize that without discipline, we are not real disciples of Christ. Did you notice the word “disciples” isn’t it interesting how it looks like the word “discipline”? (I’m a bit sarcastic here). Jesus said “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me” (Mat. 11:29) and “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). True disciples, true followers of Christ are people who take up their cross, daily. Nobody dumps a cross on you and say “Hey! Here’s a cross for you!”. No we have to go after it. I believe that it is a big mistake to think that we are following Jesus when we do not seek to pick up our cross everyday and follow Him. I’m not saying that we have to do things in order to be saved, I’m not saying that we have to work for our salvation. We are saved only by the holy blood of the Son of God, Jesus who died and was brought to life again by God’s power. No one can claim to be a disciple of Christ without following Him daily.
Though our desire to become godly and like Jesus, should automatically dwell in us when we come to Christ for salvation, to practice spiritual disciplines, like reading and meditating on the Word of God, praying, fasting, making friends with unbelievers to set an example and tell them about Jesus, giving of “our” resources etc. these things do not flow from us naturally. I guess, for some people, it’s easier, but for most of us, we have to decide to set the alarm at 6:30am instead of 7:00am to have a time, or a longer time to meditate on the Word of God, we choose that next Thursday, we’re fasting, etc. That is discipline. It is our choice to take up our cross, the cross won’t happen to be on our shoulder.
Yes, it is hard work. Because we go against what we are used to. It is not easy at first, but I realize that we will never be free in our walk with God if we don’t seek to obey Him radically. I think that a lot of Christians struggle so much in their walk with their Savior because they do not discipline themselves. We have a hard time praying for more than 5 minutes, giving up our riches and desires to help others, it’s hard to read and find anything we can put into practice when we read the Bible, why is it? Because we do not discipline ourselves to be godly. That’s why we can’t pray with freedom and understand and “flesh out” the Word of God. When I first started playing the guitar, it was hard on my fingers and it was painful. Remembering how to do the few chords I learned and play them one after the other was so hard. Then I didn’t know how to strum and I was frustrated with that, I felt stuck. But I kept on practicing day after day and now, I play with much ease and it sounds very good. If I would have thought “Man, it’s hard, I give up” then today I would still struggle with chords and strumming. There’s no fun. I think it’s the same with the spiritual disciplines, yes it is hard, but if we stay there, thinking to ourselves “Man, it’s hard, it’s boring, it hurts me” then we will struggle all our lives, not being able to really spend good time with God, meditating, putting His Word into practice and whatever God calls you to. We won’t bear much fruit and be stuck.
I realize that if I do not seek and obey Jesus with all the means I have, like Zacchaeus, who climbed in a tree to see Jesus, I will stay behind the crowd without seeing, experiencing anything, I will simply hear people’s shouts of joy from afar because of the amazing things Jesus is doing for them. Who wants to live that kind of life? I don’t. That’s way it is so important to strive to obey Jesus.
It will cost us a lot. We might lose some of the things we always had, we might lose some comforts, it will cost us time with people we love. The call of Christ was never to live, but to die. Why do we think our call is to become better people and live to improve our comforts and what we have? The call of Christ on our lives is not to live, but to die. To take up our cross, daily and obey Him. We die to ourselves, our base inspirations, our flesh, to become alive to God in Jesus. And that is done by giving up our desires and start obey God’s Word.
These are things I’ve been thinking about and I am excited, because I am starting to obey my Lord in tangible ways, and it feels good. Obedience is tough, but it is so good to my soul to read and meditate and find God meeting with me every morning, teaching me. I used to read and pray every morning, but now I take the time to meditate in between reading and praying, it makes so a neat difference.

Anyways, if any of you would like to share with me how you discipline yourself to be godly and know God better, or if you would like me to pray for you, or anything else, just send me an email or leave a comment. Let us provoke one another to godliness!