Reboot

                                                                                                    

                                                                                                                                                           

Aloha Dearest Family,  

                                                                                          

                Every so often, when my wife and I are watching television, our TV will freeze up. After a while a message will come up saying that our server is not connected to the network (whatever that means). Then we will have to reboot the system in order to regain our connection. This is very frustrating and it always seems to occur when we are watching a murder mystery and they are about to reveal the killer. I also find this problem with my cell phone as well. Unless I am in an area where I can pick up network connection, I won’t have any service (Grrr...).

                This is also true when it comes to God. Jesus died and rose again so that we can have continual access to God. “For through him (Jesus Christ) we both have access by one spirit unto the Father.” (Ephesians 2:18) This is so tremendous! We have the awesome privilege of having continual fellowship with our Daddy and He is able to communicate with us (Wow)! This is because the connection between us two is unbroken.

                But what happens sometimes, is that we get caught-up with the things of the world and allow ourselves to get distracted from the ways of God. At these times we may lose our sweet connection to God. Not that He has moved away, but we have. It is not until we come to right thinking and go back to our Father, that we can be reconnected to God’s heavenly ‘Network’. (Reboot)

                A great example of this is Samson. Samson was a great man of God, and God made him a one-man army, doing feats of strength that would boggle the mind. But Samson let himself be deceived by a woman named Delilah and allowed his connection to his power source to be broken. In Judges Chapter 16 we read about how Delilah constantly begged him every day to reveal to her the secret of his strength. And when Samson could bear it no longer, he told her. He said that if his hair was shaved, then he would become weak and be like any other man. (Samson what have you done?)

                “And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he knew not that the LORD was departed from him.” (Judges 16:19 and 20)

Some may consider this record just a fairy tale, for how can someone lose their strength by losing their hair? Maybe we should read the record a little closer to learn more. In verse 17 it says,

                “That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” 

                   Samson was a Nazarite from the time of his birth. What does this mean?  Many people of the ancient East, at certain times, would vow the vow of a Nazarite. This means they would fully dedicate themselves to God for a certain amount of time. In fact the word Nazarite means “consecrated” or “separated”. This is spoken about in the book of Numbers chapter six. The tenements of this vow include, 1) abstain from all consumption of alcohol, 2) not become impure by coming in contact with a dead body, and 3) must refrain from cutting the hair. Following this time period of the vow, this person would go through a special ceremony where he would offer certain sacrifices and his hair would be shorn. (The prophet Samuel was under the vow of a Nazarite his entire life). Samson was under this vow from his birth so he could never allow his hair to be cut. His long hair represented this vow and his total dedication to God. This is also how God could endue him with supernatural strength when he needed it. When Samson allowed his hair to be cut, his connection with God was lost and he lost the source of his great strength. How costly this mistake was, for the Philistines then blinded him and took him prisoner.

                Fortunately for us (and especially for Samson) the story does not end there. 

              “Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.” (Judges 16:22) 

This is an important verse because it means that over time he was able to renew his vow and regain his connection with God. This also meant doom for the Philistines that held him captive for in the next scene Samson brings down the temple of Dagon, killing thousands. (You can read the rest of this dramatic story in verses 23-30).

                God has always desired intimate, day by day, fellowship with His children. Jesus Christ made this available to us. This is one of the keys to living the more the abundant life; to stay connected to the ‘network’ of power. But God knows that we will screw up at times so He has made a way to reconnect with Him. At these times we must ‘reboot’. We must come to God and tell Him we are sorry for our wrong doing. At this point God forgives us of all of our sins and brings us into perfect fellowship with Him again.

                “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9)

What a good Father we have! I think it’s just tremendous that God has made this available to us so we can stay connected to Him and His son. And when we stay connected to the Father, the impossible becomes possible and we are able to continually live in the realm of the miraculous.

                                 Love Always, Ray      

Boasting In Our Infirmities

                                                                                                                                           

Aloha Dearest Family,

                I want to share with you some of the things that God has been showing me in His Word.  In II Corinthians Paul 9 writes that he “boasts in his infirmities”. I didn’t really grasp what this meant for a while. Why would the Apostle Paul boast in his infirmities, his troubles. It seems like one wouldn’t want to tell people of the troubles and trials he was dealing with.

                I was first made aware of this verse when I learned of Paul’s ‘thorn in the flesh” (II Corinthians 12:7). At that time I learned that this ‘thorn in the flesh’ that Paul was dealing with, were the “people” that were causing him distress. He states that this ‘thorn in the flesh’ was sent from satan to buffet him, or to finish him off. These people that Paul had to deal with day after day, and in every city, made his life very difficult. So Paul went to the Lord three separate times and asked Him to remove this thorn from him. But instead of this ‘thorn in the flesh’ be removed from him, the Lord told Paul,

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”                         (II Corinthians 12:9)

The Lord told him, don’t worry Paul, for my grace is all you need. This is a great lesson in life. God’s grace is more than enough to get us through any situation we may be faced with. But Paul’s next statement puzzled me for a long time.

                “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my infirmities, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (II Corinthians 12:9 and 10)

For a while I couldn’t wrap my head around this statement. How could Paul “boast in his infirmities”?

                God then led me to what Paul had said in the previous Chapter, when Paul first used the phrase ”I boast in my infirmities”. In the later part of this chapter, Paul mentioned some of his infirmities that he experienced throughout his travels,

                “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.” (II Corinthians 11:24-27) 

We can clearly see that Paul had faced his share of trials and tribulations. Few of us can say that we have been through even some of what Paul had experienced in his travels to bring the Gospel to others. But in verse 30 he writes,

“If I must needs boast, I will boast of the things which concern mine infirmities.”

When we read about his trials and tribulations, how can he “boast concerning his infirmities?”

                If we look at verse 32 and 33, we see that Paul recounts a time in his life when he was in Damascus and a contract was out on his life.

“In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.” (Also see Acts 9: 23-25).

I always wondered why Paul would tell us this story at the end of this chapter? It is because Paul could boast of how God helped him when his life was in danger. Throughout his life Paul had many stories to tell of how, in every situation that he went through, God was there to help him. This is what he boasted in. Not the horrible circumstances that he found himself in, but how in every one of them, the Lord was there. The Lord’s grace was surely all he needed.
 
Anyone who has walked with God for any amount of time can tell you stories of God’s saving hand in situations of life that come up. My wife and I can tell you numerous examples of God’s help and miracles throughout our lives. And it’s not because we were so special, but we believed in His loving kindness toward us and we knew that we could trust Him that He would come through when we needed Him. And He does. Every time! This is what we boast in and tell others about. I think of the following verses,

 “You exalted me above my foes; from a violent man you rescued me. Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name.” (Psalms 18:28 and 29)

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” (Psalm 34;19)

“He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me,” (Psalm 18:17-19)

This is worth boasting about. God and His eagerness to help us and rescue us when we call out to Him. This is truly how Paul could say ‘For when I am weak, then I am strong’. Because the power was not his, but the Lord’s .

It always amazes me to think that, in ourselves, we are really nothing special. We are just ordinary people. But we have an extraordinary God!!

“Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;” (II Corinthians 3:5)

                                                                Love Always, Ray  

Access

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Aloha Dearest Family,

                    I would like to show you an incredible verse from the book of Ephesians, 

                “For through him (Jesus Christ) we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” (Ephesians 2:18)  

Many have taught on this verse and many have been blessed by it. But I think many of God’s children take this for granted. They do not realize that full access to God was not always available to man, or the enormous privilege that has been made available to them. I will attempt to shed some light on this scripture and it’s meaning.

                When God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden, they both enjoyed perfect fellowship with God. They could freely speak to Him about whatever was on their hearts and God could in turn, talk with them and show them many incredible truths. This kind of relationship was available because they were created with God’s spirit upon them, which allowed them to communicate with God. But sadly, this sweet fellowship did not last long because Adam was tricked by satan into disobeying God, and on that very day, Adam and Eve lost that spirit that God had placed upon them. Their access to God had ended. From here on out, access to God would be very limited.

                The Tabernacle

One great example of this is the construction of the tabernacle that God directed Moses to build in the wilderness. The tabernacle was basically a big tent where the service of God could be performed. First of all, around the tabernacle, was a curtain to restrict most of Israel from coming near. Only certain people could go beyond this curtain. Out of the twelve tribes of Israel, God chose the tribe of Levi to transport and take care of the tabernacle, and from this same tribe He chose the bloodline of Aaron to be the priests to offer offers and sacrifices to God.

                This tabernacle consisted of two compartments. The first compartment was called the ‘sanctuary’, or ‘holy place’ where the priests would perform certain services on behalf of the people. The second compartment was called “the Holy of Holies” or ‘Holiest of All’. Only the high priest could enter, but only once a year, and only to offer a blood sacrifice for the nation of Israel. This is where God would meet with His people, by way of this high priest. But as soon as the high priest made an end to offering to the Lord, he needed to get out and not stay in the presence of God.  

                Now between these two compartments hung a huge woven curtain, or veil, that further restricted men access into the ‘Holy of Holies’; into God’s presence.

                Do you see how heavily restrictive access to God was in the Old Testament? Such a far cry from the sweet fellowship that Adam and Eve enjoyed in the garden. How could sinful man ever be able to approach a holy God?

                Enter Jesus Christ

                The moment Jesus gave up his life for us on the cross, the veil of the temple was torn from top to the bottom.

                “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.“ (Matthew 27:50 and 51a)

Our sin died with Jesus Christ. The sin that had separated us from God was gone forever (Hurray!!). And on the day of Pentecost, God poured out His spirit upon mankind (Joel 2:28), which now gave us direct and unrestricted access to God. What was severed by Adam’s disobedience, Jesus Christ regained for us (and so much more).

                Because we have the spirit of Christ dwelling within us, we have unlimited access to the Creator. The word “access” is best described as “entrance into the presence of a king or dignitary by way of an intermediary”.  For instance, if I wanted to go and speak to the President, I couldn’t just show up at the White House and expect to meet with him. I would have to find someone who had ’access’ to the President who would take me in to see him. I would have no access on my own credentials. I have to rely on one who already had access. Let me give you another example.

                When I was young, I remember a time when a friend of my father’s invited us to use the indoor pool in a nearby town. This was a real treat because we grew up in Illinois and it got quite cold in the wintertime, and to be able to use an indoor heated pool during the winter months was special. My father’s friend was a member of an organization where one of the privileges was to be able to use this pool, and they could invite friends to utilize it as well. The only catch was, the member had to be present in order for us to swim there. We couldn’t just show up there and expect to use the pool without my dad’s friend being present. He gave us access.

                Jesus Christ is this special friend that gives us access into the presence of God Almighty.

                 “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:2)

    “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.”  (Ephesians 3:12) (‘Boldness’ in this verse means ‘boldness of speech’.  We can now come to God and discuss any situation and pour out our hearts to Him). 

Now whenever we have a need, we can come boldly before His throne to obtain help. Not by our own credentials, but by the credentials of Christ who resides within us..

                “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”  (Hebrews 4:16) 

                Now that is the kind of access we need. It is an enormous privilege to be able to come into God’s throne-room and tell Him everything that's on our hearts, just like Adam and Eve did when they were in the garden. Now that’s cool!.

                Love Always, Ray

Free Indeed

                                                                                                                                                       

Aloha Dearest Family,

                Today we are going to examine a record from the book of Acts about true freedom. It is a record of physical freedom, but more importantly, spiritual freedom. There are many, many men and women who are in physical prisons today. But the prisons of physical ailments and disabilities, chemical addictions and mental depression can be just as confining. What wouldn’t people give to be released from their prisons?

                In Acts chapter 16 Paul and Silas are in the city of Philippi preaching the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Before too long they came across a slave girl who was possessed with a spirit of divinity and she was used by her masters to predict people’s futures. After following Paul and Silas for many days, mocking them, Paul casts the spirit out of the girl. Now when the masters saw that their means of profit was now gone, they promptly had them arrested. The officers then ordered to have them stripped and beaten with rods. They were then thrown into prison.             

“After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.” (Acts 16:23 and 24)

            What a predicament! All they were doing is what God had sent them there to do. Preach God’s Word. Now, they find themselves stripped, beaten, thrown into the inner prison and their feet put in stocks. At this point what would your attitude be? Would you feel dejected? Would you feel sorry for yourself? This is not the attitude of Paul and Silas.

                “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God…” (verse 25a)

How many would feel like singing at a time like this? The joy that these men felt must have had nothing to do with their situation. Their joy came from within. Their prayers and hymns to God not only lifted them up, but the other prisoners as well.

                “..and the other prisoners were listening to them.” (verse 25b)

Think of the wonderful healing these sweet words of prayer and hymns did for the other prisoners. Some may have even known some of the hymns that they sang. Then the miraculous occurred,

                “Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.” (verse 26) 

If you were a prisoner, now would be the time to escape.

                “The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.” (verse 27)

This jailer knew the penalty was for letting prisoners escape. It was death, and probably not a merciful one. But God loved this jailer and gave him a miracle too.

                “But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” (verse 28))

Now the question that we must ask ourselves is why didn’t these prisoners escape? The freedom that they desperately needed was not just physical. They must have had a deep hunger for the food that only Paul and Silas could provide; the true freedom that could only be supplied by knowing the savior of the soul, Jesus Christ. (John 8:32)

                The next question asked by the jailer was so heartfelt that you can almost hear the cry in his voice.

                “The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

  Even though the jailer was physically a free man, he needed this kind of freedom which he did not have. 

              

“They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”  Then they spoke the Word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.”

Joy had come to this house for they all found what they needed most; true freedom that only Christ can give. Think of the story they could tell to their friends and relatives.

                Thoughts that we have held at one time about all of the wrong doing we have done and our rebellion against God can feel like shackles in our souls. And being separated from God is, in itself, it’s own type of prison. But there is freedom in knowing that we don’t have to pay for the sins that we have committed. Jesus Christ paid the penalty that we deserved. He has brought us to God’s side and bestowed on us the gift of holy spirit. (Hurray!!)

                We can now step out of our prison cells and, for the first time, breathe in freedom.

                           Love Always, Ray

                “If the son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36)

A Brand New Life

                                                                                                                                   

Aloha Dearest Family,

The other night I had a bad dream. For twenty years I had been in the US Navy serving on submarines. And for many of these years I was in charge of the food service division on my ship and was the leading petty officer for all galley related items. In my dream, I was back on the boat, running the galley. I instinctively knew that I was behind in everything and all of the old anxieties came back. The ship was leaving port and I knew we didn’t have enough food on-board. My menus were behind, my receipts could not be found and the divisional training was behind schedule. And besides this, my inventories and food orders were due. I thought that if I worked through the night I could get caught up (maybe). The pressure was on and I started to sweat. Then somewhere in back of my mind, I came to the full realization that that part of my life was over- I was now living a new life. I cannot describe the sense of relief that I felt. I awoke with joy and thankfulness. 

Many Christians do not fully realize the drastic change that took place when we changed Lords in our lives.  Each of us, at one time, decided that we were not too good at being the lords over our own lives so we changed Lords. We confessed Jesus Christ as our Lord and that God raised him from the dead and we were saved. At that point we were rescued from our old lives and given brand new ones.  The life we now have is not just an improved old life, but an entirely new, out of the box, sparkling new kind of life. Every aspect of this life is different from the old one. Here are a few examples:

New Identity – Most people find their identity in something, whether it be in their race, their family’s place of origin or their political affiliation. But Christians find their true identity in Jesus Christ and what he accomplished. We acknowledge that when he died on the cross our old life died with him. And when he was raised from the dead, we were raised too. We can now walk in “newness of life” – just like Jesus Christ. We now walk in his righteousness and every charge against us has been cancelled. (Romans 6:4-11)

New Goals – When we start living this new life, we find that our old goals in life become secondary to God’s goals. We find that we have been incorporated into the ‘family business’; the business of winning men and women back to God. He now works within every Christian so that we not only desire to do His will but He also empowers us to accomplish His will. (Philippians 2:13)

New Power Source – In our old life each person relied upon their own strength to get things done, which wasn’t that much (unless you’re a super-hero). In our new life we have the unlimited resources of God Almighty at our disposal. Just look at what Jesus Christ was able to do - this is the kind of life that we have been called to. We have been given holy spirit which gives us access to God and every Christian has Christ dwelling within. (Colossians 1:27, Ephesians 1:19) 

New Future – Before God rescued us, we had no future! We were without God and without hope (Ephesians 2:12). The joy of this new life includes living forever with new perfect bodies. God’s Word says that we can earn crowns and rewards today for our life to come and we will have the privilege of living in the New Jerusalem (Now that is quite a future!) (Revelation 21)

We need to keep reminding ourselves who we really are and what we have received from God. If we don’t we could be talked out of it. For example, let’s say that we are living in poverty. We live in the slums of the city, we don’t have decent clothes to wear and we have to scrounge for food each day just to survive.  Life is a struggle. Then one day we discover that we are rich – super rich! We now are able to buy new designer clothes and eat in the best restaurants. We also buy a big house in the best part of town to live in. But our old landlord keeps calling us up trying to get us to move back to his slums to live. So why aren’t we enticed to move back? Because we are now rich  and we don’t have to live there any longer. Our old life is now a thing of the past.

  The landlord in this story is the devil. He’s trying to get you to go back to your old life – even though a brand new life has been given you. Don’t be fooled! Satan wants you to live a defeated life - a life without purpose and without hope. But we no longer have to live this way.

  Much like my dream, we now have a new life to live. We don’t have to be burdened down by the cares and fears of this present life any longer. We can now fully enjoy a life with purpose and meaning. A life where we can make a difference and change people’s lives by bringing them back to God. A life that concludes with us living forever with Jesus Christ and enjoying the rewards we have earned. Wow!! what a life we have been given.

                                                                                Love Always, Ray

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”               (II Corinthians 5:17)