Visitation vs. Habitation: Is Jesus Your Guest?

By David Ryser

The traveling preacher was driving down the road going to his next scheduled church.  He redeemed the time by praying about the upcoming services.  He prayed, “Lord, I don’t want to preach some canned sermons in these meetings.  I’d like to preach something that would speak to this group of people.  I need to hear from you.  Would you please tell me what this church is like?”

God’s answer startled him:  “I don’t know.  I’ve never been there.”

The little boy had to stay home from church one Sunday morning because he was recovering from a minor illness.  When his family returned, his parents and siblings were carrying palm fronds.  He asked what the palms were about.  His parents explained that this was Palm Sunday.  Palm Sunday was when Jesus rode into town, and the people cut palm branches from the trees and laid them in His path.  The palm branches they’d brought home were a reminder of the occasion.

The boy had a look of disgust on his face.  He said, “Wouldn’t you know it?  I miss church one time and Jesus shows up!”

When I heard these stories, my first reaction was to laugh.  Then I sighed.  Then I thought for awhile.  Then I cried.

There is some discussion in Christian circles these days about visitation and habitation.  Visitation is when God shows up among His people and churches, and He demonstrates His presence and power in remarkable ways.  Habitation is when God takes up residence among His people and churches, and He abides with them.  The whole discussion strikes me as somewhat moot, because the sad fact is that most of God’s people and churches are experiencing neither.

And it’s not God’s fault.

Tommy Tenney tells a wonderful story that illustrates the difference between visitation and habitation.  A man he knows is the pastor of a church.  This pastor loves the people in the church, and they love him.  The pastor, because of a genetic abnormality, has always been grossly overweight.  As a twelve-year-old child, he weighed 300 pounds (about 140 kg.).  Now he weighs 550 pounds (250 kg.).  His duties as a pastor often require him to go to the homes of church members, perhaps to drop off some Sunday School material or some such thing.

The people are always delighted to see him.

After completing his business at the door of the home, the pastor often will spend time just standing at the door and enjoying the company of the people he is visiting.  As he makes as if to leave, the people regularly ask him into the house to stay for a while longer.  When this happens, the pastor will take a quick glance into the home.  He is looking to see if anything has changed since the last time he was there.

He is looking for a place to sit.

All of his life he has been embarrassed by getting stuck in a chair that is too small for him.  Or, worse yet, the chair might break because of his weight.  If he doesn’t see a place where he can sit, the pastor will make some excuse about needing to go on his way.  He wants very much to stay and fellowship with the people he loves, but he can’t.

So he leaves.

Through reading the Bible, and from personal experience, I have discovered that God is very much like this pastor.  He comes everywhere He is wanted.  But He only stays where He is accommodated.

People and churches all over the world are praying for a visitation from God.  What will happen when He comes?  And what if He wants to stay for a while?  There is a difference between a visitation and a habitation.  Jesus will visit us if we want Him.  But He will dwell with us only if we accommodate Him.

We say we want Jesus to inhabit our lives and our churches.  Do we really?  I’m not so sure.

When we have visitors in our home, they are expected to be good guests.  We expect them to respect our home and not disrupt it.  They do not have the right to rearrange the furniture or redecorate the house.

Inhabitants are different.

When Jesus comes to stay in a life or a church, He makes a mess!  (Read the gospels and the Book of Acts.)  He begins to rearrange the furniture.  He begins to redecorate.  He begins to remodel the place.  He even begins to change the rules!  Change, change, change!

How rude!

You see, we want Jesus to come and abide in our lives and our churches.   But we want it on our own terms.  We want things to be neat and tidy.  We want Jesus to abide as a guest.

It doesn’t work that way.

If Jesus comes to stay in our lives and churches, He comes as a King.  He is no longer simply a guest in the house.  He is the Master of the house.  That’s the price we pay for having Him abide with us.

If we want Jesus to live with us, we should be prepared to embrace change.  Jesus lives where He is comfortable.  Our comfort is of relatively little importance.  If Jesus is not accommodated, He won’t stay.  If He stays, things will change.

And not everyone will appreciate it.

“But if Jesus comes, everything will be peaceful and wonderful!”  What Bible have you been reading?  Mine includes the New Testament.  When Jesus came on the scene, He upended the religious system.  And a lot of people got upset.  Upset enough to kill Him.  The same was true for the early Church.  My friend Tim describes the Book of Acts as “Holy Ghost chaos.”

And he’s right.

And throughout Church history, God has visited and dwelt among His people for a time.  Inevitably He leaves when His people go back the way they came…back into dead religion.  The reasons for going back are legion.  Some were tired of the opposition to what God was doing and wanted to be accepted by the religious system.  Some contended so vigorously for what God was doing, that they fell in love with what He was doing and lost Him.  Some fell victim to theology and touted the move of God as evidence of the end times rather than an attempt by God to restore His Church to health.  And others merchandised the move of God.

Whatever the reason, they ceased to accommodate God…and He left.

But God never gives up.  He continues to visit His people when they want Him.  He continues to dwell with them when they accommodate Him.  And sometime before Jesus returns, the people of God will turn to Him with pure hearts, seek Him with all of their strength, and will do whatever it takes to have the One they love remain among them.

Why not you?  Why not now?

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

Vessels of Gold: Refined in the Fire

By David Ryser

My personal “dark night of the soul” began with an unthinking moment of religious fervor.

I had just left the church I had attended for a number of years.  Leaving was painful for me.  I had departed under less than ideal circumstances.  I was disappointed, hurt, and angry.

And self-righteous.

Over the next few weeks, I began to sort through the rubble of the situation in an attempt to process and resolve what had happened.  I felt that I had been unfairly treated.  I felt abused.  I wanted vindication.

So I did what anyone else in my position would do…I prayed.

I prayed, “Father, this was wrong.  I pray that you would reveal the hearts of all those involved.”  Then, in a moment of religious zeal, I added, “including mine.”

Oops!

Why does God answer some prayers so quickly when other prayers seem to go unanswered?  I suspect, in this case, it was because He had waited so long for me to pray this prayer the first time.  He didn’t want to wait for me to pray it again.  He had wanted to show me my heart for a long time.

And now He had my permission.

Over the next few weeks, months, and years God revealed my heart to me.  And I didn’t like what I saw.  He not only revealed my unrighteous actions and attitudes, but He revealed my motives as well.  He revealed my motives by doing something He very rarely does.

God allowed me to see the motives of others.

For the next 6 months or so, I could not only see the actions of other people, I could also see their motives.  I would observe someone’s actions, and God would say, “Did you see that?”  I would answer, “Yes.”  Then He would ask, “Do you know why they did that?”  Again I would answer, “Yes.”  And He would say, “Good.  Now let Me show you how this works in you.”

And He did.  And it hurt.

I’m not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but it took only a couple of times for me to figure out what was happening.  So I was ready the next time God asked me, “Did you see that?”  I answered, “No!”  He said, “Well, if you had seen that, here’s what you would have seen.  And here’s how this works in you.”

You have to get up pretty early in the morning to fool God.

In 2 Timothy 2:20, 21, Paul tells us that there are a variety of vessels in a house.  And the master of the house uses them all.  But some vessels are more useful than others.  A wooden bowl is useful for common household purposes.  You can use it to serve snacks while watching football with your buddies.  A silver bowl is used for formal dining occasions with family and friends.  A gold bowl is used when entertaining esteemed guests or royalty.

“I want to be a gold bowl!”  Don’t we all?  But are we willing to pay the price?

A wood bowl is made without heat.  Fire would destroy this bowl.  A plastic bowl is molded using a low level of heat.  A stainless steel vessel is forged in the fire…but it might come out as a chamber pot.  Vessels of silver and gold are refined in fire until there is no impurity left in them.  Then they are carefully crafted.  When this process is complete they are valuable, prized, and utilized for honorable purposes.

Do you still want to be a gold bowl?

All of these “bowls” are in God’s house.  They are all a part of His Kingdom.  God accepts all of them.  He uses all of them.

You don’t have to go through the fire.

You don’t have to experience the pain of refining if you don’t want to.  God will still love you.  He will still use you.  You will go to heaven when you die.

That’s good news…if the Kingdom of God is all about you.  And not about Him.

If you want to be a vessel of gold, you will go through God’s refining fire.  You will not be allowed to live like other people…even like other Christians.  You will not get away with attitudes and behaviors that others seem to get away with.  The refining process won’t be very much fun.  There will be pain.

Do you still want to be a gold bowl?  How badly do you want it?

You will be misunderstood.  People will accuse you of being a spiritual snob.  They will criticize you for your “holier than thou” attitude, even though you don’t feel this way at all.  You will feel like the greatest of sinners as God continues to reveal your heart to you and burns out the impurities with His fire (Matthew 3:11, 12).  People will attack you to cover up their jealousy and feelings of conviction.

What a great way to live!  Really!

Because eventually the life of Christ will shine through the ashes of your life.  You will come out of the refiner’s fire.  And your life will shine with the reflection of His glory.  You will no longer hear the unkind words of others.  Your ears will be attuned only to your Master’s “Well done.”

You will be a vessel of gold.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

Theology: Inescapable and Limited

By David Ryser

Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. (Soren Kierkegaard)

“I don’t care about theology.  I only care about what the Bible says.”

These words were uttered by a young Christian woman.  We had been talking; and in the course of our conversation, I mentioned that I was a theology student.  She was obviously not a big fan of theological studies.  (She referred to seminary as “cemetery”)  After our visit had concluded, I thought about her words for a couple of days.

“I don’t care about theology.  I only care about what the Bible says.”

A few days later, I was reading my Bible.  In 1 Samuel 2:25, the Bible says--concerning the sons of Eli--that “God desired to kill them.”  I took my Bible to this young lady and asked her to help me understand this verse.

It was a set-up.

She took my Bible, and read the verse.  She stopped, and then reread the passage more slowly.  Then she put her face close to the page, squinted her eyes, and read the verse again.

Why do we think that if we get really close to a printed page and squint our eyes, the words on the page will change?

Finally she pulled her face out of my Bible, looked up into the air, and sighed.  I waited.  She thought for a moment and said, “It’s a mistranslation.”  “A mistranslation, ”I asked?  “So you’ve studied Hebrew?”  She responded in a tone of voice normally reserved for addressing a dimwitted child, “No, I haven’t studied Hebrew; but it’s a mistranslation.”  Since I’m a curious sort, I asked, “Then how do you know it’s a mistranslation?”

I found her answer to be quite informative…and very helpful.

“Because God doesn’t act like that.”

I thanked her, took back my Bible, and left as quickly as possible.  I badly needed to laugh, and didn’t want to laugh in her face.  That would have been impolite.

“Because God doesn’t act like that.”

This sincere young lady--who disdained theology--when confronted with a Bible verse she didn’t like, declared it to be a mistranslation based upon a theological statement.  So what happened to, “I only care about what the Bible says”?

The fact is, everyone has a theology.

An atheist has a theology.  An atheist states that there is no God.  But to state this belief with certainty, the atheist must know everything and have experienced everything.  Otherwise, God might exist outside of this person’s limited knowledge and experience.

To be an atheist, a person must be God.

The agnostic has a similar problem.  The agnostic states that it is impossible to know if there is a God.  Again, to hold this belief with certainty, the agnostic must know everything and have experienced everything.  Otherwise, God might be knowable outside of this person’s limited knowledge and experience.

To be an agnostic, a person must be God.

Since everyone has a theology, we don’t have the option not to have one.  The issue is not whether we have a theology.  The issue is whether we have a sound, biblical theology.

Did I mention that everyone has a theology?

Even the devil has a theology.  According to James 2:19, the devil and his demons believe in God.  And their theology is accurate.  They could correct our theology.  So why aren’t they Christians?

And now we are brought face-to-face with the limitation of theology.

Theology is a good and useful tool.  The Bible commends the study of God’s written Word, and we are exhorted to rightly divide it (2 Timothy 2:15).  And we are told what our study of the Bible is useful for:  doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness (2Timothy 3:16).

But it is only a tool.

Imagine you have a hammer.  A hammer is useful for pounding nails.  It can even be used to pull nails.  But no matter how good the hammer, you cannot use it to tighten a screw.  Why?  Because a hammer is not designed to tighten screws.  What would people think if they saw you cursing your hammer because it wouldn’t tighten a screw?

They would think you were a loon.  And they would be right.

Like a good hammer, a good theology is a useful tool.  But it has its limitations.  It cannot save us.  It cannot make us children of God; otherwise, the devil would be a Christian.

Theology has limitations.

In order to become children of God, we need to go beyond theology.  We must go beyond what we believe about God…to God Himself.  We must put our faith in Him and enter into a personal, intimate relationship with Him

What child relates to their father only by reading about him in a book?

A sound, biblical theology is a good thing.  It aids us in our walk with God.  It keeps us from errors in doctrine and practice that would take us away from Jesus.  It helps us believe God for the promises He has made to us.  We have confidence when we experience God because our experience is in accordance with the Bible’s teachings about God and our relationship with Him.

Theology is a wonderful tool that we can use to build upon the foundation of our faith.  But our foundation is Jesus (1Corinthians 3:11).  Theology must never take the place of Jesus in our lives.

It is, after all, just a hammer.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

Prayer: An Alternative to Obedience?

By David Ryser

Recently I received an e-mail in response to one of my articles on how we need to love Jesus more.  In the e-mail was a suggestion that I compose a prayer of deliverance for the Body of Christ.  The goal of the prayer would be that the people of God would love Him.  This is an intriguing request.

But I don’t know how to respond to it.

Many years ago, I was talking with a young man in our church.  He and his wife were having problems in their marriage.  He said that he didn’t love his wife anymore.  He asked me to pray with him.  He wanted me to pray that he would love his wife.

What?

I didn’t know how to react to his request at first.  Certainly prayer is a good thing.  The Bible is in favor of prayer.  So am I.  We all would do well to pray more.  But I found myself disinclined to honor his request.

My response surprised him.  “I’m not going to pray for that.  I don’t think this is a matter for prayer.”  He began to blink like a toad in a hailstorm.  Obviously, he was confused.  I continued, “The Bible commands us to love our wives.  I don’t think this is something we can, or should, pray about.  We just need to obey God.”

“Do you want me to pray for you to obey God?”

Prayer is a wonderful thing.  What a delight to come into the presence of our loving heavenly Father and spend time just hanging out with Him.  These times can become quite intimate and are a source of fellowship, comfort, and revelation.  When we are in trouble or in need, we can come to God and ask for His provision and deliverance.  Answered prayer in a time of crisis is a blessing from God that we’ve all experienced.

But prayer is not a substitute for obedience.

Joshua is a biblical example of someone who was rebuked for praying when obedience was the issue.  In Joshua 7:6-9, he is on his face in prayer because Israel had been defeated at Ai.  God appears on the scene, rebukes Joshua, and commands him to get up (Joshua 7:10).  The cause of Israel’s defeat was disobedience (Joshua 7:1, 11, 12).

No amount of prayer will compensate for disobedience.

Many times we are too quick to minister prayer to people who ask for it.  The Bible forbids this (1 Timothy 5:22).  This may be one cause for ineffective prayer.  Ineffective prayer can be worse than no prayer at all.  Ineffective prayer places an additional obstacle in the way of someone who needs something from God.  Now they not only have to approach God in faith, they also must overcome having a prayer fail.

We need to be discerning when ministering prayer to people.  It is not unspiritual to ask questions.

Prayer is not called for when we know the will of God.  If the scriptures command us to do something, we should do it.  If the scriptures command us not to do something, we should not do it (or stop doing it!).  When God speaks to us, we simply need to obey.  It may be hard for us to obey, but it is simple to obey.

Simple should never be confused with easy.

So here I am in a quandary because I’ve been asked to compose a prayer that the people of God would love Him.  I find myself unwilling to do so.  We are commanded/instructed to love Him.  We are called to be the Bride of Christ.  We don’t need prayer…we need to obey.

Besides, I no longer know how to pray.

I didn’t have this problem a few years ago.  I had been trained to pray for all kinds of things.  I had a prayer formula to meet every circumstance and occasion.  I could pray, intercede, and rebuke. (“Rebuke until you puke!”  That was my motto.)  Whatever was needed.

Then I met Jesus…really met Him.

Ever since I discovered Who, I no longer know how.  I don’t know how to pray.  I don’t know how to do anything.  I assume nothing when I meet someone who needs ministry.  I have taken to heart the words that God spoke to my friend Kevin.  He told Kevin, “You are like a doctor who prescribes the same medication for every disease.”

We would do well to heed these words.

So I’m going to respectfully decline the suggestion to compose a prayer for the people of God to love Him.  The person who asked me to do this did so from a sincere heart.  But loving God is not a matter of prayer.  It is a matter of obedience.

But if I did….

If I did compose such a prayer, it would go something like this:  “Daddy, I’m so sorry I don’t love you like I should.  You are so awesome.  You pour out your love on me every day.  In return, I’ve given you ingratitude, indifference, and disrespect.  Please forgive me.  How about I climb up on your lap and let you hold me until it’s all ok again?  Thanks.”

I know…it’s not much of a prayer.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

Do You Want to be a Chosen Vessel?: Are You Sure?

By David Ryser

Sometimes when you're in a dark place you think you've been buried, but you've actually been replanted. (Christine Caine)

Have you ever heard of someone being referred to as a crackpot?  Did you wonder where that term came from?

In Jesus’ time, pots and other vessels were made by hand.  The potter would fashion the pot on a potter’s wheel.  Moist clay would be molded into the shape desired by the potter.  Then the molded vessel would be placed in an oven where the heat would dry and harden it.  When the firing process was complete, the vessel would be removed from the oven and allowed to cool.

Then the vessel would be inspected.

All vessels looked good on the wheel.  Flaws in the vessel were invisible until it was subjected to the fire.  Flawed vessels would crack under the intense heat of the kiln.  Some pots were cracked so badly that they were ruined.  They were unusable.

The fire did not create the flaws.  The fire revealed the flaws.

Some vessels were cracked in the firing, but the cracks were small.  The potter would apply wax to the cracks and seal them.  These pots would then be decorated and displayed in the shop for sale.  They were good for most household uses, but not for holding hot liquid.  If hot liquid was put into these pots, the wax would melt and the vessel would leak.

The vessel was useful.  But its use was limited.

When someone came into a pottery shop, they would browse until they found a pot they might want to buy.  They would select a vessel and then take it out of the dark pottery shop to inspect it.  They would hold it up to the light of the sun.  If the pot had a crack that had been filled with wax, the light from the sun would shine through the wax in the crack.

Our English phrase “shine the light of day on…” might come from this practice.

A cracked pot would be valued according to the number and size of the cracks.  If the buyer intended to place hot liquid in the vessel, it would be rejected.  If the pot would be used for common household purposes, the buyer might purchase this pot…but at a reduced rate.

The light did not cause the cracks.  The light revealed the cracks…and the wax patch.

Other pots had come out of the firing oven without flaws and cracks.  The potter would inspect them.  Finding them to be without flaws and cracks, he would decorate them.  Then he would place them in his shop for sale.

But he would not display them.

These were chosen vessels.  They had come through the fire without defect.  They could be used for any purpose.  They would even hold hot liquid without leaking.  The potter would take these pots to the back room of his shop and place them on a shelf.  Then he would cover them.

And there they would remain.

These chosen vessels would stay under cover on the shelf until the right person came into the shop.  This person might want a pot that would hold hot liquid.  Or this person might need a beautiful, flawless pot to decorate a home.

When this customer came into the shop, the potter would say, “I have just the pot for you!”  Then he would go into the back of his shop, select one of his chosen vessels, and present it to the customer.  The sale would be transacted.  The pot would be taken from the shop and be used for its intended purpose.

Until then, it would sit in the dark…on the shelf…under cover.  Waiting.

In Acts 9:15, Paul was called a chosen vessel.  He had been molded by God for a special purpose.  Upon his becoming a Christian, he attempted to begin his work of preaching the gospel (Acts 9:20, 29a).  But plots to kill him (Acts 9:23-25, 29b) cut short his preaching career.  For his own safety, Paul was sent to his hometown of Tarsus (Acts 9:30).

And there he sat on the shelf…under cover…for somewhere between 3 and 14 years.

Sitting on the shelf with the call of God burning in your heart is hard.  Every time the cover is lifted off of the pots, you cry out, “Pick me!”  When another vessel is chosen and the cover is replaced, it hurts.  And it’s even worse when a pot that has been on the shelf for less time than you is chosen.

There is no such thing as seniority in the Kingdom of God.

And the whole time you are sitting on the shelf, God is working on your character.  All He seems to want to talk about is what He wants you to be.  You want to talk about what you will do…and when you will do it.

You could try complaining….

I was whining to God one day about not having a purpose in His Kingdom.  He said, “I thought you said I was everything to you.”  I protested, “You are everything, Lord!  I love You more than life!”  He asked, “Then do you have the right to complain about not having something that isn’t Me?”

That shut me up.  For awhile.

Later I was complaining about having to sit on the shelf for so long.  He asked, “Would you rather sit on My shelf or be on display in the religious brothel?”

He does have a way with words.

But one day He will come for you…or not.  If you had to choose between being what you were created to be or doing what you were created to do, which would you choose?

“Do I have to choose?”

I don’t know.  Maybe.  I did.  You may not have to.  But don’t bet on it.

We want to be chosen vessels, but we don’t want to go through the process necessary to become one.  I understand.  It’s not much fun.  But if we love God and trust Him, we really don’t have a choice.

Then, one day….

Barnabas needed help.  The church in Antioch was growing.  He needed someone to assist him.  But it couldn’t be just anyone.  Antioch was a unique situation that demanded a special person.  Barnabas remembered Paul and went to Tarsus to find him (Acts 11:19-26).  He found him and brought him back to Antioch.

And Paul’s ministry was born.

Are you on the shelf?  You might try giving thanks to God and submitting to His training.  Anyone can be on display.

You are a chosen vessel.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

Burying Your Talent: A Bad Investment Strategy

By David Ryser

“Will you at least give it a try?”

I was attempting to convince a high school student to make an effort to complete his class work.  Or even to start on it.  He was in danger of failing the class, in great part because he refused to complete any of his assignments.  He seemed to be capable of passing the course if he would just do the work.

Didn’t he know he could fail the class?  Yes.

Over time, I realized this young man was failing the class because he was afraid he might fail it.  This didn’t make much sense to me at first.  If he was concerned about failing, why didn’t he work hard to succeed?

Then it hit me.

This young man wasn’t afraid of failing.  He was afraid of being a failure.  If he put his best effort into the class and failed, he would be a failure.  But if he put no effort into the class and failed, he could always tell himself that he could have passed the class if he had tried.  He was willing to fail…but on his own terms.

He was afraid that his best wasn’t good enough.

I thought about this young man recently while I was reading the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30).  In this familiar parable, a nobleman is preparing to go on a long journey.  He calls his servants together and distributes money to each of them to do business with until his return.  He doles out the money to them according to their ability.  To one he gives 5 talents.  To another he gives 2 talents.  To the third, he gives 1 talent.

Then he leaves.

It helps us to understand this parable when we realize that a talent is a lot of money.  A talent was the largest unit of money in Jesus’ day.  One talent was worth 3,000 shekels.  3,000 shekels was approximately 10 years’ wages for the average working man.  So even the man who had 1 talent was in possession of something that had great value.

Then one day, the nobleman returned from his journey.

The nobleman calls his servants together to give an account of what they did with the money he had given to them.  Each of the first two servants had done business and doubled his money.  The third had buried his talent.  He had not lost it.  But he had not increased it.

His explanation for his failure sounds familiar to me.

The third servant defended his failure by explaining that he was afraid to fail.  He feared his master’s displeasure and was afraid he might lose his talent if he did business with it.  He was afraid that his best might not be good enough.  So he didn’t risk the talent he was given.  Instead, he buried it.  He returned the unused talent back to his master.

The master was not pleased.

I run into this kind of person both in life and in the ministry.  Many times they have big dreams about what they will be and what they will do.  They have the call of God on their lives.  God has deposited spiritual gifts, a measure of faith, and the Holy Spirit into them.

And they do nothing with what God has given to them.

I spoke recently with someone who has the call of God to preach.  This call burns in him.  He is frustrated because he is not doing what God called him to do.  I could hear the frustration and pain in his voice as he told me about it.  He confided to me that recently he had been approached by one of the pastors in his church.  The pastor asked him to preach.

The young man said no.

How can this be?  God has called this young man to preach.  An opportunity to preach has been presented to him.  And he refused!

How did this happen?

In the time since God called him, this young man has had a number of disappointing things happen to him.  People he trusted let him down.  Promises made to him were broken.  Things didn’t work out like he thought they would.  Over time, all of his dreams have died.

Except for one.

The dream of being an evangelist is the only dream he has left.  It is his sole source of hope for his life.  As long as that dream is alive, he is not a failure.

What if he accepts the invitation to preach and makes a mess of it?  What if his last dream dies also?  It would devastate him!

In the Parable of the Talents, the servant who buried his talent ultimately suffered everything he feared.  He is proclaimed as wicked, lazy, and worthless (verses 26 and 30).  He loses his talent (verse 28).  And he is thrown out of his master’s house (verse 30).

Do you suppose he felt better about himself because he failed on his own terms?  I think not.

What if he had invested his talent and lost it?  How would his master have reacted?  We will never know.  But could his fate have been any worse?  It may help to reread the parable and note that the servants were never commanded to make money.

They were simply told to do their master’s business.  So are we.

So whatever happened to the high school student who was afraid to fail?  Did he pass the class?  Did he succeed in life?

I don’t’ know.  I was just a substitute teacher.  I was with him for only a few days.

I never saw him again.

What will happen to the evangelist-to-be?  Will he risk his dream?  Will he put his talent to use and possibly fail?  I hope so.

And what about you?

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

Where are We Going?: Does it Matter?

By David Ryser

It was my eight-year-old son who taught me about walking with God.

I was pastoring a church in a small town.  One of my duties was to pick up the mail and take it to the church.  (Ah, the glamor of ministry!)  I would often take one of my children along with me.  We would walk to the post office, get the mail, go back home, and then I would go on to the church.  It was a routine my children were quite familiar with.  We did the same thing every day.

Until one day.

On this particular day, I decided to go from the post office directly to the church.  This involved taking a different route than usual.  My eight-year-old son was with me.  He was enjoying our walk together as we went hand-in-hand toward the church.  He walked happily along with dad.  He never slowed his pace.

But as we got farther from the post office, he seemed a bit confused.

I noticed his confusion and realized we had broken our routine.  I looked at him and said, “You don’t know where you are, do you?”

I will never forget his answer.

He looked up at me with a big smile on his face and answered cheerfully, “It’s ok!  I’m with you!”

And in that moment, I learned how to walk with God.

One of the difficulties in the most recent season of my life has been a sense of purposelessness.  This seems to be an issue especially for men.  We tend to be purpose-driven.  We need to have a purpose.  We need something to do.

I want to know where I am going.  And I want to know what I’m going to do when I get there.

But walking with God is an adventure.  We often have little idea of where we are going.  We have even less of a clue about what we will do when we arrive.  And even if we do have a notion of where we are going and what we will do, God manages to take us by a route we could not have predicted, and many times would not have chosen.

Has God always been like this?

Consider God’s call to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3).  God spoke to Abraham one day and called him to uproot his entire life.  Abraham was commanded to leave his country, leave his family, and leave his home.  And God didn’t even tell him where he was going!  God promised to bless Abraham if he obeyed, but wasn’t specific about what the blessing would be.

What did Abraham do?  What would you have done?

Abraham did what any self-respecting child of God would do.  He left his country along with his family and moved half-way to where God had called him (Genesis 11:31).  And when he finally did go where God had told him to go, he took a member of his family with him (Genesis 12:4).

Does that sound like anyone you know?  And it gets worse.

When Abraham arrived in Canaan, it was not what he expected.  There was a famine in the land (Genesis 12:10a).  Apparently thinking God had not foreseen the famine, Abraham promptly left Canaan and went to Egypt (Genesis 10b, 11).  He wasn’t in Canaan for even one whole verse!

Now does this sound like someone you know?

When God speaks to us, we are so excited!  We are anxious to get where we are going.  It never occurs to us that the reason God spoke to us so clearly and gave us such a great revelation is that we’re going to need it.

Because things are never what we think they are going to be.

Abraham’s trip to Egypt was a disaster.  (Surprise!)  It took God’s miraculous intervention (and 14 verses) to bring Abraham back to where he was before he went to Egypt.  But Abraham learned his lesson.  Didn’t he?  Not according to Genesis 20:1-18).

Are we reminded of ourselves yet?

We start out with such zeal when God speaks to us.  But when we encounter the unexpected along the way, we too often abandon God’s plan and work to engineer our own deliverance.  And then we wonder why everything turns into such a mess.

And then we blame God.

We claim to believe God is omniscient.  We say He not only knows everything, He knows everything in advance.  We walk with God, confident in this belief, until something unexpected happens.  Then we become confused and begin to walk in our own wisdom.

God doesn’t tell us everything in advance.  (I’ve often suspected this is because we wouldn’t start on the journey if we knew what was ahead.)  The Bible tells us that we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:17).

If we are going to walk with God, we must trust Him.  We often will not know where we are going.  We almost never know how we will get there.  And we have only the faintest idea of what we will do when we arrive.

So why do we choose to walk in our own ignorance and confusion?

Wouldn’t it be simpler just to take God’s hand and walk with Him?  We don’t have to know anything.  We just need to hold His hand.  God knows where we are going.  God knows the best way (not to be confused with the shortest or easiest way) to get there.  And He knows what we will do when we arrive.  It sounds like a good plan, doesn’t it?

So why is this so hard for us?

My son didn’t know where he was that day, but he didn’t feel lost.  He wasn’t lost because he was with someone who knew where they were, knew where they were going, and knew how to get there.  He didn’t have to do anything except hold onto my hand and keep on walking.

If we are walking with God, we are not lost.

Where are we going?  How will we get there?  What will we do?  And how will we do it?

If we’re walking with God, does it matter?

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

So Full: Yet so Empty

By David Ryser

“Here!”  And with that one word, my two-year-old son taught me a lesson about the Kingdom of God.

I was serving as a full-time associate pastor.  With four children between the ages of 2 and 9 to house and feed, money was tight.  We had just returned from the grocery store.  We’d splurged on two bottles of soda and were going to enjoy them as soon as the groceries were put away.

“I’m thirsty.”

The two-year-old had been an angel at the store.  But now he wanted something to drink.  My wife answered, “Hang on a minute, honey.”  He was in no mood to wait and made his displeasure known in typical two-year-old fashion.  “I’m thirsty!!!”  Unable to convince him to wait, my wife poured a glass of water and gave it to him.

He was happy…but not for long.

In a couple of minutes, we had put up the groceries.  My wife laid out some glasses, put in the ice, and poured out the soda.  She passed out the glasses to everyone…except the two-year-old.  He had observed the preparation of the soft drinks with increasing interest and anticipation.  He was obviously disappointed he had not received one.

“Where’s my pop?”

My wife answered, “Sweetie, I’d love to give you some pop.  But your glass is already full.”  I’ve mentioned my son was two years old.  I never said he was stupid.  It took him no time at all to pick up his glass of water and hand it to his mother.

“Here!”

In Luke 4:1a, the Bible tells us that Jesus was filled with the Spirit.  This verse occurs in the time between Jesus’ baptism by John and His temptation in the wilderness.  The implication is that Jesus was filled with the Spirit when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him at His baptism (Luke 3:22a).

If Jesus was filled with the spirit at His baptism, then what was He filled with before His baptism?

Nothing.

According to Philippians 2:7, Jesus emptied Himself (literal Greek translation) and took on human form.  Emptied Himself of what?  Theologians have argued this question for centuries.  Whatever it was He emptied Himself of, we are encouraged to have the same attitude as Jesus (Philippians 2:5).  The same attitude will produce the same results.  So we should empty ourselves also.  Empty ourselves of what?

Have you ever heard a person being described as “full of himself/herself”?

The scriptures command us to lay aside our old nature (Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:5, 8, 9).  We are told to cleanse ourselves (2 Corinthians 7:1a; James 4:8b).  Our effectiveness as carriers of God’s life depends upon our doing this (2 Timothy 2:20, 21).

How can any vessel--a glass, for example--be cleansed without first being emptied?

God desires that we be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18b).  We are called to be carriers of the treasure of God’s presence (2 Corinthians 4:7a).  We are commissioned to pour out the Spirit of God from within ourselves (John 7:38, 39).

How can we be filled with the Spirit without first being emptied of ourselves?

Even a two-year-old child knows you cannot fill a glass that is already full.  If we are going to be God’s wineskins, we need to follow Jesus’ example and empty ourselves.  Then, and only then, can we be filled with the Spirit.

Jesus is described as filled with the Spirit (Luke 4:1a) before He is described as empowered by the Spirit (Luke 4:14a) and anointed by the spirit (Luke 4:18a).  This empowering and anointing of the Spirit is what enabled Jesus to fulfill His ministry.

Spirit empowerment and Spirit anointing flow out of Spirit filling.  Spirit filling follows emptying.  Jesus emptied Himself.  Then He was filled.  Then He was empowered and anointed.

If Jesus is our example, then this works the same way for us.

“Here!”

My wife took my son’s glass, emptied it, and rinsed it out.  Then she put ice into it, filled it with soda, and handed it back.  As my son enjoyed the fruits of his wise decision, God was speaking to me.

I wish I had listened then.

So what do we want?  Do we want to be filled with the Spirit?  Do we want to be carriers of God’s life?  Do we want to touch the lives of others with God’s power and anointing?

And how badly do we want it?

Are we willing to be emptied?  Will we hand our glass over to God?  What is in our glass so precious to u, that we would rather have it than have Him?

It’s so simple.  Just hold out your hand to God and repeat this simple prayer:  “Here!”

By the way, I have an idea for a faith-based reality television show.  I’m going to call it “Are You Smarter than Two-Year-Old?”

Would you like to be a contestant?

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com