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Whose Voice Are You Listening To?

A messenger for the 400 heathen prophets got to Micaiah before King Ahab did. “Hey, look Micaiah. All the prophets are promising Ahab he'll be victorious in battle. You'd better say the same thing.” Talk about pressure! Four hundred to one!

But Micaiah responded that he would say only what God told him to say. He approached King Jehoshaphat and King Ahab and told them to proceed into battle. Why did he say that after he had just promised to give them the Lord's message?

Before Micaiah gave the kings God's message, he first let the kings know he was mocking the heathen prophets, acting in sarcasm and telling Ahab only what he wanted to hear. Ahab caught on immediately and asked Micaiah again what God's message was.

So Micaiah gave it to him straight. He told Ahab that he would die in battle. Although Ahab repented temporarily, he still maintained his system of heathen prophets. These false prophets were eventually instrumental in ruining him.

Ahab was determined to conquer Ramoth Gilead, so he decided to disguise himself in battle to keep him from being recognized. He was trying to escape God's judgment. Many people today are trying to escape reality by having plastic surgery, relocating themselves, even changing husbands or wives. And many are also trying to escape God's judgment by filling their lives with good things-volunteering in charities, making financial donations or organization neighborhood gatherings. But filling your life with good things isn't the same as filling your life with the power of the Holy Spirit. When He controls our lives, we begin to live in radical obedience to His Lordship.

Sure enough, King Ahab was killed in battle. A strong reminder to all of us that it doesn't pay to do things our way. Whose voice are you listening to? Your friends may tell you what you want to hear. Your parents may give great advice. Your teachers and counselors may share their wisdom. And your youth pastor may even make you think. But guess what! If they don't have the voice of the Lord, you're not listening to the right voice! And just as Ahab's 400 wrong voices eventually led him to ruin, the wrong voices you tune in to will eventually lead you to ruin as well.

Know It!
We're in danger today of being surrounded by good people saying good things. But good things aren't necessarily godly things. God doesn't always have good things to say! Often times what He has to say makes us uncomfortable. Whose voice will you choose to listen to?

Read It!
1 Kings 22; 2 Timothy 4:5; 2 Timothy 4:18; Titus 1:16.

Pray It!
Tell God you're committed to hearing His Truth. Ask Him to help you discern when you're not hearing His voice. Tell Him you want to be as discerning as Jehoshaphat; even when hearing 400 people saying good things, you want to know if the message isn't from God.

Have a MARY Christmas! Part II

When Mary said, “I am willing,” she didn't know about the tremendous blessing she'd receive. She only knew that God was asking her to serve Him, and she willingly obeyed. Will you react the same way? Don't wait to see the bottom line before obeying God. Don't think, Wait a second, what will I get out of it? Offer yourself as a willing servant-even when the results of doing so look disastrous.

• Mary allowed herself to be accountable. If Mary needed accountability, you need accountability. She made herself accountable to her spiritually wise and older aunt Elizabeth. These two godly women shared deeply with one another. We can imagine them praying and rejoicing together in their godly obedience. Make it a point to share your deepest questions, needs, requests and victories with another Christian who is solid enough to ask appropriate questions and who is willing to pray with you and invest time in your life.

• Mary never lost faith that God was in control. When Caesar Augustus, the Roman Emperor decreed that a census be taken throughout the nation, it meant that Joseph and a pregnant Mary would have to make the trip to Bethlehem. She knew the 70-mile trip wouldn't be easy, and she could have easily begun questioning God's plans. But she moved steadily onward, trusting that God was in complete control. Can you trust that God controls all of history-even when you don't understand it?

By the decree of Caesar Augustus, Jesus was born in the very town prophesied for His birth (Micah 5:2) even though His parents didn't live there. God was quietly working behind the scenes, even though Mary and Joseph couldn't see His hand.

• Mary trusted in the midst of discomfort. While in Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary soon discovered the inns were filled with other travelers who had reached the destination much earlier. Mary was reduced to giving birth to her first child in a cold, dark, damp cave. No other women were there to help her. No medical staff. No medicine or sterile environment. Just a frightened young girl, her frightened husband and a few noisy animals.

When we don't understand to begin with, and when our situation becomes uncomfortable on top of that, we often tend to question whether we heard God correctly, or we question God Himself. Mary simply continued to trust. If you can learn to trust in the midst of hardship and discomfort, God will bless you by teaching you things you couldn't have learned otherwise.

Know It!
God doesn't always reveal His plans right away. Often, when it seems as though everything is going wrong, He is quietly working behind the scenes. Can you trust Him when you can't see what's ahead?

Read It!
Lamentations 3:25-26; Micah 5:2; Matthew 1:18-24; Matthew 2.

Pray It!
Ask God to deepen your faith this Christmas.

Have a MARY Christmas! Part IV

Are you discovering how you can have a Mary- type of Christmas this year? Let's recap! To have a blessed Christmas like the Mary, the mother of Jesus had:

• Trust God for the impossible. Even when you don't understand God's ways, maintain your faith in His wisdom.

• Be obedient. Display a willing spirit in spite of the risks.

• Make yourself accountable. Find a wise and older Christian who's willing to invest time and prayers into your life this year.

• Remember that God is in control. Even when it doesn't appear that God is even working, have faith that He IS in control. When you can't see His hand, trust His heart.

• Continue to trust in the midst of an uncomfortable situation. Your faith may not cause your situation to suddenly become better. In fact, you may become even more uncomfortable. But God can and will change your heart if you'll maintain your trust in His perfect will.

• Allow God to make good things from your mistakes. A few years after Christ was born, Mary lost Him! She and Joseph thought Jesus was in the caravan of family and friends they were traveling with, but soon discovered He was missing. Mary lost the Son of God! Yet Jesus was exactly where He was supposed to be, and Mary maintained a teachable spirit.

• Ponder some things this Christmas. Instead of doing all the talking, consider being quiet for a while and thinking about Christ's birth and all that it means. Be willing to ponder some things as Mary did. Learn to become comfortable with silence. Start a journal. Memorize some Scripture. Learn to truly meditate on God's Holy Word This Christmas.

Know It!
God's best servants are often plan people available to Him. Mary was available. Are you? God's plans involve extraordinary events in ordinary people. This Christmas, will you let Him use you in a way He's never used you before?

Read It!
Isaiah 59:17; Isaiah 65:24-25; Luke 1:38; Luke 2:41.

Pray It!
Give God a merry Christmas by asking Him to help you celebrate a Mary-type Christmas. And if you're wondering what to give the King of Kings on His birthday . . . the very best gift is always yourself!

Is it Tough to be a Christian? Part I

Is it becoming more and more difficult for you to be a sold-out 100 percent-committed Christian? If so, you're on the right track! The apostle Paul warned his young mentor, Timothy, that in the last days it would be very difficult to live a Christian life. Was Paul trying to discourage his young Christian friend? No. He was being truthful.

If you're truly living in radical obedience to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, you're well aware of the fact that it's . . . tough! It's not easy to take a stand against abortion when the entire class is saying it's simply a woman's choice. It's hard to express why you're saving sexual intimacy until marriage when you're surrounded by friends (even church friends) who are playing around sexually. And it's difficult to say no to a certain movie you know God doesn't want you to see-especially when all your church friends are seeing it!

When you take a bold stand against sin, it's likely you'll be labeled a judgmental. But it's important for you to know that those who call you that doesn't really understand the concept of judgment. Do you realize the Bible says there are times when we should be judgmental? Many Christians have the mistaken idea that tolerance is always a virtue. Guess what-it's not! There are times when God expects you-just like Jesus- to take a bold stand against sin. Jesus never had an open mind toward sin. He called it for what it was-SIN. He loved sinners, but He never made excuses for the wrong in their lives.

God doesn't want you to be tolerant of sin. He wants you to tolerate people but not sin. There's a huge difference. And when you speak out against sexual intimacy outside of marriage, bisexuality, abortion or any other sin, people will point fingers at you and call you judgmental. Even Christians will accuse you of judging others.

But labeling sin for what it is isn't being judgmental; it's being factual. When you point to an apple tree and say, “Look at those apples,” are you being judgmental? No, you're being realistic. You're stating what has already been proved. “That's an apple tree. It bears apples.”

When you call sin, sin . . . you're simply stating what God has already declared as Truth in His Holy Word. That's not judgment. That's reality.

Many Christians want to focus only on God's grace. “God will forgive,” they say. And yes, God will forgive a truly repentant heart. (For a reminder on what true repentance is, flip back to...) But God is also a God of wrath. There are two sides to our heavenly Father. If there weren't, He would be imbalanced. And we serve a perfect God. It's much easier to simply overlook His wrath and focus only on His grace, isn't it? But to do so isn't living a spiritually mature life.

Know It!
Being made fun of by other Christians? Good news! You're on the right track.

Read It!
1 John 2:20-22; 1 John 4:1-6; 3 John 1:11; Jude 1:5-7.

Pray It!
Ask God to strengthen you and help you continue to stand in boldness against sin-no matter how difficult it gets.

Is it Tough to be a Christian? Part III

Satan has been playing the same deceptive game ever since he deceived Adam and Even in the Garden of Eden. Oh, come on! How could it be wrong to make love to someone if you really care about him? Bisexuality? What's the big deal? People are just trying to express themselves in different and creative ways. Do you really believe that could separate you from your heavenly Father? Is that really sin?

Do you realize the Bible says that no other sin affects a person as sexual sin does. Every time sex sin is mentioned in the Bible, it's connected with a death sentence. God has given us some important rules to live by. They're known as the Ten Commandments. (For a quick refresher on those laws, flip back to August 10- 19.) He expects us to live by those laws, and when we don't, it's considered sin.

As this year comes to a close, maybe it would be a good idea for you to ask God to help you get back to the basics. To take His laws seriously. To commit yourself to living in radical obedience to His Lordship. And when you do? Know it will be tough to be a Christian.

Count on people giving you a hard time. Even other Christians will give you a hard time. They'll call you straight and narrow- minded. That's okay. You're walking a straight and narrow road! And yes, it's tough. It would be much easier to walk the wide road filled with thousands of other travelers. But you have a much higher calling on your life. God calls you to be a dynamic sold-out disciple living in radical obedience to His Lordship.

Know It!
The Bible tells us that everyone who wants to live a godly life will be persecuted. In other words . . . if it's tough for you to be a Christian, you're doing something right! If those around you are making fun of your morality, you're on the right track. Rest assured that God will never allow you to experience more than you and He together can handle.

Read It!
Matthew 7:13-14; 1 Corinthians 6:18; 1 Timothy 3:13; Revelation 21:8.

Pray It!
Ask God to strengthen you and mold you into the dynamic disciple He needs you to be.

Letter From Satan Part II

Hey, Christian!

Yeah, I'll go ahead and call you that. I know you like it, but you have no clue what Christianity is really about. If you did, you wouldn't be hanging out with me and listening to my lies I've so carefully crafted. Ha! You're such an idiot.

Do you have any idea how much I loathe you? Do you know I'm working overtime to make sure you spend eternity with me in hell? Yeah, you've heard about hell. I talk it up as the big eternity party place. And you know what's funny? You've believed me! I heard you telling someone last week, “Maybe hell won't be so bad; I mean, I'll finally get to do what I want.”

You moron! That's what I want you to believe. But I have a big surprise for you. Hell will be nothing like that! It will be eternal damnation. Do you have any idea what that means? You're going to be in physical, emotional, spiritual and mental torment forever. And I'll be laughing my head off! Party time? No way. You won't even want to open your eyes to see who's standing next to you. The demons will surround you in fear and torment and mockery and all of HELL will break loose in your little soul.

Why am I even bothering to write you? I'm sarcastically sending you a letter of thanks for letting me use you for most of your foolish life. You are so gullible. You have no idea how much I laugh at you throughout every day. When I tempt you to sin, you give in. HA! HA! HA! You make me sick. You're so stinking weak!

Sin is beginning to take its toll on your life. You're angry. Bitter. Obsessed with stupid things . . . like your weight and people liking you. If you had any idea how temporary that stuff is! But I've got you convinced it's really important. I am so good at what I do.

Of course, morons like you make my job really easy. If you were smart, you'd run somewhere, confess your sins and live for God with what little time you have left. What a stupid jerk you are! I HATE YOU!

Know It!
Satan will try to convince you that wrong is right and right is stupid. Don't listen to him. Keep your eyes focused on Jesus and your ears tuned in to the Holy Spirit.

Read It!
Zechariah 3:2; Mark 4:15; Luke 22:3; Romans 16:20.

Pray It!
Ask God to help you memorize Scripture, so when you're tempted by Satan you can use the Bible as ammunition.

Details Matter

Most of us don't like to get bogged down with the fine print. We enjoy seeing the big picture but don't want to take the time necessary on the small details. Take a peek at the result in overlooking some of the finer details (such as word placement and spelling) in the following church bulletin announcements.

• “Bertha Belch, a missionary from Africa will be speaking tonight at Calvary Memorial Church. Come tonight and hear Bertha Belch all the way from Africa.”

• “The cost for attending the Fasting and Prayer conference includes meals.”

• “The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.”

• “Don't let worry kill you -l et the Church help.”

• “At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice.”

• “The senior choir invites any member of the congregation who enjoys sinning to join the choir.”

• “Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.”

• “This evening at 7 p.m. there will be a hymn sing in the park across from the church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.”

• “Weight Watchers will meet at 7 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.”

When it comes to establishing an intimate, growing relationship with Jesus Christ, it's important to pay attention to the details. God knows how busy you are. He's not interested in burdening you with so many details you become spiritually frustrated and give up.

In fact, I've only discovered two really important details on which He wants us to focus.

1. Being committed to God requires 100 percent.

2. Being committed to God requires meeting with Him daily.

So let's take the next year to develop these two details. In fact, go ahead and make this part of your New Year's resolution, okay? If you'll stick with it - meet right here every single day for a year - next year at this time, you'll not only have a solid handle on how to grow closer to Christ . . . you'll already be closer to Christ.

Wow! Think about it: In one year, you could be closer to God than you've ever been before! Ready? Let's go!

Know It!
God loves you and wants to empower you to become spiritually victorious.

Read It!
1 Chronicles 22:19; Colossians 4:2; Titus 3:18.

Pray It!
Father, I commit this year to You. I really want to know You better and to become all You want me to be. So with Your help, I pledge to meet with you every single day. I'll trust You to develop my spiritual muscles and mold me into solid spiritual shape.

Details That Cost

Jehu was a zealous guy, wasn't he? He was obsessively focused on one thing: Removing Baal worship from Israel. He was so obsessed with his goal, he couldn't see anything else.

God wants you to have goals. Without goals and strategy you won't be able to accomplish anything that really matters in life. Can you imagine this conversation between a coach and his football team?

“Go get 'em, guys!”

“Yeah! We're fired up, Coach. What's the strategy?”

“Strategy? Ah, we don't need a strategy. Just go win.”

“But what about specific plays?”

“Uh, I never got around to that this week. Just do the best you can.”

“But what do we do? How do we play?”

“Just win!”

That's crazy, isn't it? It would never happen! Just as an athletic team can't be successful without goals and strategy, neither can you be spiritually successful without goals. Again, God wants you to have goals - they're a good thing. But He doesn't want you to become so intensely focused on the goal that you can't tell if the strategy (the way you accomplish your goal) is good or bad.

Jehu's goal was wonderful. His strategy reeked. But he couldn't see that, because (read this aloud): He was too obsessed with the goal.

When we become obsessed with anything other than Jesus Christ, we're obsessed with the wrong thing - even if it's a good thing!

Jehu deceived a large gathering of Baal worshippers (we'll call them the First Church of Baal) into believing a huge Baal rally would be held at their facility on an upcoming Friday evening. But when they turned out for the festivity, Jehu bolted the doors and locked them inside their own sanctuary. He then had all of them brutally slaughtered.

Check out the result in 2 Kings 10:28: “So Jehu destroyed Baal worship in Israel” (NIV).

Wow! That's an incredible feat. We applaud him for that. But Jehu's victory was short-lived. Why? Because he overlooked a really important detail: Being committed to God requires 100 percent. Jehu forgot that. How do we know? Sneak a peak at 2 Kings 10:29: “However, he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit - the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan” (NIV).

Uh-oh. He destroyed Baal worship throughout Israel . . . but there were a few golden calves in the cities of Bethel and Dan that Jehu didn't bother to remove. Isn't that just like us? I'll give God this and that . . . but when it comes down to my dating life, well, that's a different story, we rationalize. It has to be 100 percent.

But that's not the end of this sad story. Check out 2 Kings 10:31: “Yet Jehu was not careful to keep the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart” (NIV).

Jehu did a ton of good - he wiped out Baal worship in Israel! But he wasn't living a 100 percent committed life to God, was he? There was one area of his heart that simply wasn't in God's control. And now the sad ending begins to take shape: “At about that time the Lord began to whittle down the size of Israel” (2 Kings 10:32 TLB). Shortly afterward, Jehu died.

When the Lord starts “whittling down,” spiritual death is on the horizon. Don't be a Jehu - committed in outward appearance - but overlooking an important detail of the heart. And what's that detail again? Repeat after me: Being committed to God requires 100 percent.

Know It!
We serve a jealous God. He wants to give you life abundantly, but it requires submission to His authority.

Read It!
2 Kings 10

Pray It!
Dear Father, help me not to become so obsessed with my own goals that I can't see Your will. The truth is, I want Your goals and Your strategy for my life. I give You 100 percent.