Archive for God’s love

Apr
18

Prayer Convinces God to Bless Us (Misconception #4)

by newhope

by Jennifer Kennedy Dean

Misconception #4: Prayer is the means of cajoling God into releasing His carefully hoarded riches.

What makes prayer work the way God says it will work? How can we experience the power in prayer that Scripture promises? 

In this series, we have been exploring the myths that have crept into our prayer theology, robbing prayer of its full potential to release the power and provision of God in our lives. We have looked at 3 myths: (1) Some pray as if prayer is the way to get “things” from God; (2) Some pray as if prayer will give God new information or inspire in Him new ideas; and (3) Some pray as if God sometimes forgets or tries to renege on His promises and is depending on pray-ers to remind Him of them. Today we add a fourth. Some pray as if prayer is the means of cajoling God into releasing His carefully hoarded riches.

“Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance, but laying hold of God’s willingness” (Martin Luther). God offers us His resources. He invites us to take His gifts. He does not have to be convinced to let go of His blessings. His Word says that He lavishes on us the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:8) and that He lavishes His love on us (1 John 3:1). He is extravagant in His gifts. He pours them out. He showers us with them. He doesn’t trickle them out or sprinkle them on us. Scripture never uses language that would portray God as stingy or hesitant to give. Instead we read that He “richly blesses all who call on him” (Romans 10:12 NIV1984)*.

When we pray as if we are trying to wrestle goodness from God’s grasp, we expend spiritual energy needlessly trying to convince God of something of which He is already convinced. Giving you every good thing gives Him joy; it delights Him. Jesus assures us with these words: “‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom’” (Luke 12:32; author’s emphasis). He has set His heart on you.

In prayer we are cooperating with God. We are not working to try to persuade Him. God does not need to be cajoled into wanting the best for you and for the ones you love. Rather, we are yielding to Him, letting our hearts be pliable and moldable so that He can recreate His own desires in us.

“Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). The word translated “delight” in this statement is a Hebrew word that means soft or pliable. To delight in the Lord means to be molded by Him. To be compliant to His desires. To be open and available to His transforming presence. When He has access to your malleable heart, He can shape it to match His. He can imprint His desires on your yielded heart. When you pray the desires of your heart, your prayer is the expression of His desires.

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14–15).

The primary focus of prayer is God’s heart. His heart’s desires are all for your benefit and for your good. He does not need to be convinced to love you and will the best for you.

So, turn your attention from trying to persuade Him and, instead, allow yourself to be persuaded by Him. Move from working to get Him to yield to your requests and, instead, yield your heart to Him. Allow Him to make your heart the repository of His desires.

This is the fourth in an occasional series on misconceptions about prayer. Adapted from Live a Praying Life by Jennifer Kennedy Dean. A Live a Praying Life journal and trade book are also available, as well as a leader’s kit (DVD).

Jennifer Kennedy Dean is executive director of the Praying Life Foundation. Among her latest releases are Altar’d and The Power of Small.

Free mobile app at http://www.techrepublic.com/software/praying-life-live-10-mobile/2497525.

*All Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

0 Categories : Articles, Columns, Jennifer Kennedy Dean
Feb
14

Is Love Missing from Your Church?

by newhope

by Tom Blackaby

Fellowship is the natural result when church members love one another. It is lost when love is absent.

The kind of fellowship (koinonia as in Acts 2:42) that the New Testament church knew was not another word for “potluck dinner” or “coffee time.” It was a deep and sacrificial commitment of loyalty toward one another based on the unifying character of the Spirit of God residing in each person.

How do you know if koinonia is missing from your church? In many ways it is like going through the motions without the meaning. The actions are there but the heart is not.

The worship may be lively. The bulletin can be full of activities and programs. The pastor will smile and shake people’s hands. The parking lot is often mostly full.

But the auditorium will empty quickly after the service, very few people will loiter in the foyer, there will be an absence of laughter, little or no hugging, and every family will go directly home or out to lunch alone. Visitors rarely come back twice. The polite social interaction in the foyer rarely gets past the surface. People feel disconnected.

The pastor wonders what is really going on in the hearts and minds of his congregation, and the congregation wonders if anyone really cares what is going on in their lives. People are reluctant to share prayer requests because it seems the prayer list is more for information or gossip than a means of lifting one another up before the throne of grace.

What breaks my hearts is to know for a fact that this is what many people feel is “normal” for church. It is not. It may be normal for some churches, but it is a far cry from what Christ expects from His people.

Walking in the Light

Koinonia is more than working together. It is more than accomplishing goals and projects together. It is a deep and abiding love for one another that includes and unreserved and immediate willingness to sacrifice for one another.

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship [koinonia] with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7 NKJV). Walking in the light represents being filled with God’s Spirit; when He is living in us, we will then be able to truly fellowship with other Christians.

Koinonia was essential to the survival of the early church. It was love in action and the bond that helped church members survive in the midst of tremendous persecution. It should be the glue that holds the church together today. When all else fails, love won’t.

Editor’s note: This article was adapted from Experiencing God’s Love in the Church: The Missing Ingredient in Today’s Church and How to Bring It Back. The first chapter, which includes “Simple Steps to Revive Love in the Church,” is available as a free download here.

Tom Blackaby is director of international ministries for Blackaby Ministries International. In addition to Experiencing God’s Love in the Church, Tom has also written The Family God Uses with his wife, Kim, as coauthor. They and their 3 children live near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Feb
7

Coming Clean: 3 Benefits of Confession

by newhope

by Vicki J. Kuyper

I believe confession is a God-given touchstone.

In the Middle Ages, chemists and alchemists used touchstones to test the purity of gold and silver. When they dragged the black, flintlike stone across the surface of a potentially precious piece of metal, the mark that remained helped them differentiate between what was genuine and what was not. God’s touchstones serve the same purpose. They point to what is real—even if it’s beyond the scope of our senses.

Confession is like a compass I check now and again to make sure I’m still headed in the right direction. It doesn’t require a confessional, a priest, or an appointment. All I need to do is set my pride aside so I can come honestly and humbly before God’s throne, and then agree with what God has to say about how I’ve missed the mark He’s set for my life.

Talking to God about where I’ve blown it does three things:

  1. It helps me realign my perspective with God’s.
  2. It removes any false guilt I’ve been lugging around by reminding me that I’m forgiven.
  3. And it helps lead me toward repentance. To repent means to “turn around.” God’s compass of confession is a gift that sets me straight by literally turning my life around.

A Vision of Love

I still vividly recall a time of confession I shared with God almost a decade ago. Being a rather visual person, and since God is such an invisible Sovereign, as I talked to God about how I’d missed His mark in my life, a picture began to develop in my mind’s eye.

I was standing before Jesus, relaying to Him all of the guilt and shame I’d been lugging around for way too long. Some of it was unjustified. Much of it was well earned. I wanted to hand all of these transgressions, big and small, real and imagined, over to Jesus. I didn’t want to carry them any longer. I didn’t need to carry them at all.

When I looked at my hands, raised as if to present Jesus with an offering of repentance, I saw that they were filled with ashes. My heart broke as I came to the deep realization of how unworthy the offering I was presenting was to One so perfectly holy. Ashamed, I slowly raised my eyes from the ashes and looked into Jesus’ face. What I saw was unabashed love and acceptance.

As I placed the ashes into Jesus’ outstretched hands, His face broke into a wide smile. He raised His ash-filled hands to the sky—and the ashes transformed into a snow-white dove that disappeared into the clouds. To this day I remember how pure, free, and loved I felt at that moment.

“But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”—1 John 1:9 (NLT)

Editor’s note: This article was adapted from Breaking the Surface: Inviting God into the Shallows and the Depths of Your Mind.

Vicki J. Kuyper is an author and avid traveler. When Vicki and her husband, Mark, are not on the road, they reside in Phoenix, Arizona. They have been married 30 years and have 2 married children, Ryan and Katrina. You also may be interested in her book Wonderlust.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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Jan
25

Edna Ellison: Love Note from a Perfect Groom

by newhope

Listen as author and speaker Edna Ellison expounds on Zephaniah 3:17, an absolutely riveting verse that tells of God’s great love for us.

  • God is with us.
  • God is powerful to save us.
  • God takes delight in us.
  • God will quiet us with His love.
  • God rejoices over us with singing.

Interested in a Bible study on our (the church’s) bride-and-groom relationship with Christ? Check out Chosen and Cherished: Becoming the Bride of Christ by Edna Ellison, Joy Brown, and Kimberly Sowell.

A people lover and humorist, Edna Ellison will tickle your funny bone as she teaches spiritual truths. Award-winning author of 23 books and more than 400 magazine articles, Edna is a well-known keynote speaker who loves leading prayer retreats and writers conferences across the United States and overseas. Holding a PhD from the University of Alabama, she is the author or coauthor of several New Hope books, including Women of the Covenant, Woman to Woman, and A Passion for Purpose.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Jan
4

Living in Light of God’s Healing and Forgiveness

by newhope

by Brenda Poinsett

James wrote, “Is any one of you sick? He should call for the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up” (James 5:14–15 NIV). His words remind us that sometimes you just can’t pray through your ailments alone.

In your pain or fear, your faith is almost zilch. You can’t bring yourself to articulate your need, let alone believe that God would heal you. James’ solution was to “call for the elders.” In other words, share that need with others.

For some of us, with very personal needs or with a hesitancy to share, we may need to call for strong faith-believing women to pray for us. We can lean on them to offer faith-believing prayers on our behalf.

James also implies that sin may be part of a sick person’s problem. He encourages us to confess those sins to each other (James 5:16a NIV)—something that may be harder to do than to ask for physical healing. But confession may be just the avenue we need to experience God’s forgiveness.

Extending God’s Grace

As we confess, other people can be His instruments for learning God forgives us. Long ago, God granted the power to express His forgiveness to His followers. It was during one of Jesus’s resurrection appearances. As Jesus showed His followers His hands and side, he said, “‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven’” (John 20:21–23 NIV).

This doesn’t mean that we do the actual forgiving of another’s sins, but it does mean that it is our privilege to convey God’s forgiveness. If we recognize a woman is repentant, then we can assure her of God’s forgiveness.

This can be through words or actions. As we interact with each other, we may actually voice words of forgiveness, but God’s grace may also be extended in a woman’s eyes, in her facial expression, in the touch of her hand or the hug she gives on parting.

Unexpected blessings, confirmations, reassurance, answered prayer, an experiencing of God’s presence, healing, and forgiveness are among the spiritual possibilities that may transpire when we meet with others in the name of Jesus.

I say may because we can’t predict which of these will occur, and neither can we demand that any of them occur. What we can do is prepare an environment where God can work. To prepare that environment, we need to talk.

Editor’s note: This article has been excerpted/adapted from The Friendship Factor: Why Women Need Other Women.

Brenda Poinsett is the author of Can Martha Have a Mary Christmas?, The Friendship Factor, and Wonder Women of the Bible. Passionate about sharing knowledge that changes lives, she organizes retreats on topics such as women in the Bible, spiritual transformation, and dealing with emotions. Brenda and her husband, Bob, have 3 grown sons and reside in Union, Missouri.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

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Jan
3

Download the First 2 Chapters of Rhonda Rhea’s Enlightening New Book

by newhope

Download the introduction and first 2 chapters of  Rhonda Rhea’s new book, How Many Lightbulbs Does It Take to Change a Person? Read chapters “God Is Light” and “Jesus, the Light of the World” today.

Fruitful, joy-filled, victorious living happens only as we are spiritually enlightened through the truth of the Word of God and by the inner working of the Spirit of God. With humor and stories, Rhonda Rhea explores many of the almost 300 references to light in the Bible. Her goal is to draw us back to the only light that can produce real change in our lives and in the lives of those we know and love, Christ Himself.

Rhonda Rhea is a humor columnist, radio personality, and author of multiple books. You may enjoy her article for New Hope Digital: “Skittles: The Secret Measure of a Person’s Love.” (Watch for more content from Rhonda this month.)

She lives in the St. Louis area but enjoys travelings to every corner of the nation speaking at all kinds of conferences and events. Rhonda says her favorite and most adventurous roles are as wife to Richie Rhea, senior pastor of Troy First Baptist Church, and as mom to her 5 nearly grown children.

1 Categories : downloads
Dec
8

What They Will Really Remember About Christmastime

by newhope

This is the third in a series of articles from New Hope authors this month on the theme Celebrating Christmas in a World of Need.

by Martha Singleton

Christmas.

The word brings me visions of my childhood home, wonderful food, and repeated rides around our small town to see lights on neighbors’ houses and the Nativity scene in the park.

And then there was the decorated tree. One hundred percent real and the cause of croupy coughs that plagued me every year (though we didn’t make the connection until much later!)

In our own home, Greg and I tried purposefully to all our decorations, festivities, and traditions focus on God’s great love in sending Jesus to live and die for us.

We talked about the symbolism behind evergreens and gifts and lights as we decorated. We made the Nativity scene the focus of it all. We worked together as a family for the entire month of November to create yard decorations that would be a joy to our neighborhood and that would proclaim the good news of Christ’s birth.

In our giving and worship and service, we made sure our kids knew it was all because of Jesus and all for Him.

My Daughter’s Memories

Last week, my now adult daughter and I took a fun “girls” trip to Houston’s Nutcracker Market. As we rolled down I-10, with a new CD of Christmas music playing, I asked her, “When I say ‘Christmas,’ what pictures come to your mind?”

Her answer was immediate.

“Our whole family in the garage, sawing and painting for the yard scene. Devotion times every night at the manger scene. And getting in the car and looking at all the lights, singing along with the Christmas music on the way home from the Christmas Eve service.”

It was a thrill to me that what she remembered, what she treasured, and what she seeks to carry on in her home, with her husband and son, are the very things that we tried to emphasize. The time spent together, working on shared outreach projects, talking about Jesus, singing, reading the Bible story, and worshipping together were what made Christmas a special, holy time for our family. These activities served as a point of encouragement and inspiration in following Jesus throughout the year.

Sometimes as parents we can get swept up in the frenzy of preparation and fail to see the significance of our little conversations and interactions with our children. But if we are faithful and create an atmosphere that focuses on Jesus, Christmas can become for our families—and for those we seek to include—truly the holiest and happiest time of year.

Martha and Greg Singleton are the authors of Let It Shine! and Setting Up Stones. They have, for more than 30 years, met the challenges of balancing successful professional careers in journalism and marketing while raising a faith-filled family (a son, Matt, and a daughter, Annie). Together, they creatively share their experiences and insights on family life at conferences, seminars, workshops, churches of various denominations, schools, and businesses. They live in San Antonio, Texas.

1 Categories : Articles
Dec
7

Return to Christmas Joy

by newhope

This is the second in a series of articles from New Hope authors this month on the theme Celebrating Christmas in a World of Need.

by Daniel Darling

Lately many Christians in the US seem to have developed either one of two attitudes about Christmas.

Either we get hooked into the overheated “war on Christmas” rhetoric fueled by conservative media outlets and certain activist organizations that feel it necessary to justify their existence around the holidays. We get cranky. Christmas means whining constantly about the tired and overworked Walmart cashier who didn’t say merry Christmas.

This means we’ve reduced our interest in the story of the Incarnation (and our concern for the world) to a mostly meaningless phrase at the checkout line. Not good.

Or we take the opposite approach to Christmas. We get sucked into the consumerist, gotta-get-all-those-gifts mentality that makes the season of God’s miraculous entrance into the world about last-minute deals, scarves that nobody wants, and plastic gift cards. Of course, gift-giving can be redemptive and point to the story of the ultimate gift of Jesus, God’s Son. But often the greatest Gift gets shoved into the closet because it (actually, He) gets in the way of so many other seemingly important gifts.

Ouch! Immanuel treated like the aftershave bought for that cranky uncle who whines about the Walmart greeter.

A Different Way to Celebrate

I think both approaches miss the majesty of Christmas. Yes, the Western world is increasingly secularized and dismissive of Jesus. But that’s why we are still here. We are the ones who have been eternally transformed by the Incarnation. And we are to bless others in His name.

If we want the guy at the checkout to be excited about the real story of Christmas, why not let the gospel pour from us so he visibly sees Christ in us? If the message of Christmas is getting obscured, let’s shout it joyfully from our own little platforms. Maybe, just maybe, the secular world would take notice.

And let’s reset our priorities. Yes, there is an element of holiday stress we can’t avoid. I don’t quite recommend following John Grisham’s advice and skipping Christmas altogether. But we don’t have to let gifts, trees, and parties overwhelm the real story.

Let’s marvel that our calendars still force us to pause, one month out of the year, and stand in awe of God’s breaking into our world, deity in the flesh. Let’s not shove the breathtaking mystery of Jesus’ birth to the side.

Let’s put that front and center, in our own heartsLet’s beam with the joy of knowing the God-man. Let’s be the people who light up on Christmas and delight to tell the world about God’s love expressed in the Savior.

Daniel Darling is the senior pastor of Gages Lake Bible Church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. His latest release is iFaith: Connecting with God in the 21st Century. He can be reached at www.facebook.com/danieldarling; www.twitter.com/dandarling; www.danieldarling.com.

1 Categories : Articles
Dec
1

Celebrating Christmas in a World of Need

by newhope

by Jason C. Dukes

Let this soak in: Americans spend $400 billon annually on Christmas expenses while at least one estimate indicates that only $30 billion could provide clean water and sanitation for every person on earth (assuming competent, responsible implementers could be found to do the work).

Now consider these 2 words: Advent conspiracy.

The two words are an odd pair no doubt. But not so odd to 4 local church expressions in Houston, Texas, who, in light of Jesus’ love and the reality of the worldwide water crisis, decided to conspire together during the Christmas of 2006 to “worship fully, spend less, give more, love all.” Advent Conspiracy has now blossomed into a movement of many thousands of Christ followers across the globe who are spending less on themselves in order to bless others with clean water.  

Westpoint Church near Orlando, Florida, the local church expression of which I am a member, got involved during the Christmas seasons of 2008 and 2009. We were able to raise enough money each year to help support 2 different clean water well projects in partnership with Living Water International. (By the way, my fellow New Hope author Dillon Burroughs will be donating a portion of the proceeds from his book, Thirst No More, to this same organization.) 

Unified to Make a Difference

But the story got a whole lot more exciting for me in 2010. Last year, the Church of West Orange, a diverse group of several local church expressions being the church together to West Orange County (central Florida), joined together in an attempt to raise $11,000 for a village in Ethiopia that lacked easy access to clean water. (The story of the Churchof West Orange, which includes Westpoint Church, and our desire to live out the unity Jesus prayed for His followers in John 17 is highlighted in my new book, Beyond My Church.)  By God’s grace, we were able to reach our goal of $11,000 and now that Ethiopian village has clean water.

Even better, an existing gospel partnership in that particular village—focused on loving families and orphans—now enjoys greater influence with the people there as a result of the water ministry. Our together effort in Florida—deciding to get less stuff and give more hope—is yielding eternal fruit in a remote area of Africa thousands of miles away from us.

It didn’t come without both unity and sacrifice, though. Unity was on display not only through 6 local church expressions on the west side of Orlando, but also through several local businesses who took part. This got people—both those connected with a church family and those not connected with a church family—to come together around an important project, which in turn sparked some awesome conversation about the real meaning of Christmas and the generosity of the God who came near as Emmanuel. 

Sacrifice was on display, as well. But when you really stop and think about it, was it? In no way do we ever want to take away from how special Christmas is to all of us, and in no way do we want to diminish the significance of the church cantatas and celebrations and pageants that are held each year, but is it really a sacrifice to spend less on those gifts and those celebrations in order to give a gift so basic as clean water to someone in need? That’s not sacrifice. That’s compassion.

We are empowered to show compassion to both the local and global needs of which we become aware because of the gracious sacrifice that was made for us through the arrival of a Baby whose tiny, smooth-skinned hands and feet would not remain unscarred. 

In fact, as churches and individuals we were grateful to get less and give more. I am not telling this story out of pride to gain your applause. Rather, I am sharing it in hopes that it will encourage you to worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all this Christmas. There’s joy to be found!

May you stir up some conspiracy in your town this Advent. Unite together around a local or a global need, or both if you can, and then spend less so you can give more hope away. 

By your living in such a manner, perhaps someone else’s heart and mind and life will be changed in just the way you may have hoped for had you brought them to a big cantata. And maybe that’s the conspiracy. Christmas was not intended to be about presents and presentation, but about presence. Compassion. God coming near to us. Then we go and do the same together. 

Jason C. Dukes, author of Live Sent, Cartas Vivas, and Beyond My Church, has a passion for equipping the church to make disciples. Raised in New Orleans, he is a Christ follower and a leader, a husband and a father, a learner and a teacher, a servant and a brother. Since 2004, he’s been on an amazing journey cultivating a local church expression in the Orlando, Florida, area: Westpoint Church.

 

0 Categories : Articles, Columns, Jason C. Dukes
Nov
23

In the Midst of Change, Refreshment for a Thirsty Soul

by newhope

This is the tenth  in a series of brief articles from New Hope authors this month on the theme Thirst No More: Satisfied in God and His Word. 

by Angie Quantrell

“‘For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.’”—Isaiah 44:3 (NKJV)

Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”—Mattthew 18:2–3 (NKJV)

After a drastic change of direction in our life plans, the last few years have been challenging. The abrupt about-face left us reeling and scattered. Scrambling to recover, our hearts have been as dry, cracked ground.

Mercifully, though, His Spirit has poured down into us. He has provided and cared for us as we walk the new trail of His leading. Rebuilding our hearts with love, He is still refreshing and preparing us to continue our journey.

My new teaching job is a direct blessing for my thirsty heart. The delight I receive as I teach students about the love of God fills my soul. The amazement I witness when they grasp spiritual truths—truths many adults are too busy to consider—is wonderful. The thoughtful questions from these 5-year-olds leave me speechless.

As I watch the little children in my class and peek into their open hearts, I remember Who fills my dry ground and blesses those who seek Him.

I am filled.

Angie Quantrell is currently teaching kindergarten at Harrah Community Christian School on the Yakama Indian Reservation in Washington. She is the author of resources for both adults and preschooolers. Her work includes Families on Mission and the 4-book I Can series (I Can Pray, I Can Give, I Can Do It!, and I Can Be More Like Jesus).

Angie lives in the Yakima Valley of central Washington with her husband, Pastor Kevin; they have 2 adult children. She loves life and growing closer to Jesus every day.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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