CONSULTING THE FOREMAN

(MATTHEW 9:38)
Jesus heart was moved with compassion when he saw the multitudes, they  fainted (tired and lay down) and they were scattered (as sheep with no shepherd).  He described this as a harvest, and that the harvesters were few.

What does this mean for us?  We, as harvesters or disciples or laborers, should look around and see that there is a need for a harvest and have a concern for the harvest, i.e. a need to reach the lost.  We should train ourselves to have eyes to see a need and bring it to the attention of the foreman who would be Jesus.  He who may be waiting for us to do so.  The laborers part was to ask the harvest foreman for the harvesters.  By this I mean not to get their for themselves more capacity to harvest (although this could be part of the Foreman's answer).  It is not for my hands in the work but for other (more) hands in the work.  It is that will be sent forth, given a charge to go to the harvest and that God will personally direct more people to the work.  Presumably these harvesters will be equipped with harvest tools, scythes, rates, etc.

We can view it from both sides of the desk in the Foreman’s office:

Laborer – Gets the Work Order - - Foreman – Gives the Work Order
Laborer – hears “Go to the harvest” - - Foreman – Has the intent to assign
Laborer –  needs the tools - -  Foreman – Knows what tools to issue
Laborer – Perceives and reports the need - - Foreman – Hears and evaluates the report

PREPARING THE COURTROOM

(Psalm 9:3) When my enemies are turned back they shall fall at God’s presence. 

What a wonderful thing to know that the enemies fail because God is there at the judgment.  The wicked will have to deal with his face, his hands, his words, his agents. 

I think many of us will see good, experience fruitfulness and prosperity in our lifetime.  But there are others who are not seeing it, and will not see it on this earth.  These, like us, will see the justice of God.  It may be, because of their tribulations in this present life, their cases will be placed first on the docket before ours.

(7) God has prepared his throne for judgment.  He conceived of the idea of the throne;  He had it built; He had it delivered; He had it set up; and he is making plans for the judgment that will take place while he is sitting on it.  The crew of angel attorneys are preparing the papers.

Even if the country falls in economic ruin (18) and a swamp of lawlessness “. . . the needy shall not be forgotten:  the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.”

JESUS THE VENDING MACHINE

The religion of the vending machine is a cold thing.  It asks God for actions by plugging the nickel in the slot and expecting the gumball out the bottom (the older of us will remember what gumball machines were – all others:  Google it).  As I sat in churches before I was saved it seemed to me people were carrying bags of nickles.  They were plugging in $2.50 before God finally dropped the gumball.  My thought then was:  why spend $2.50 here when you can go to the store and buy a gumball for 5 cents?

We have to be careful not to deal with God in our thinking, becoming requisitioners seeking for stuff, and not being children talking to their father.  We pay with nickles, we plead with nickles, we sweat with nickels when God just wants to give us the gum. 

I can’t come at Scripture with preconceived ideas, imposing them on the word.  Yet I can’t get so analytical that I won’t listen to the voice of God.  For example, I came at Psalm 26 and said, “What are these words saying?”  But I can get so argumentative about what this and that verse says that I don’t hear, or put away from me, what the Holy Spirit may be saying.  “This verse shows that a man does this and expects God to do that.”  “but God is not supposed to be that way.”  “do not bring outside things to the Word, look at what the Word says.”

Maybe being in some other part of the Word than what is being taught in church is good because you are not likely to bring the pastor’s teaching to the Word.  You are in the Word yourself and God can talk without (much) interference.  To balance:  hearing the viewpoint of others, particularly those practiced in the Word, can provide value you would not otherwise get.

PERFORMING CHURCH MUSIC

While I was performing at a worship service one night I asked the Lord to help me, and he did.  It seemed to me that the worship went well.  When the Lord is in even one of the performers does not the Spirit use that to inspire the congregation?  It is a powerful thing if one can depend on the Lord to do the reaching.  But the performer has to want only the furtherance of the Kingdom of God, and not glory for himself.

Music seems like such a frivolous thing.  We would peal away music from our lives before we would peal other things away (like clothing and food).  Yet it is so enjoyable. 

Perhaps it is like the way percussion is beneficial for music.  Percussion would be one of the first to be pealed away.  Melody and harmony are needed more.  Yet percussion adds much of the spice to the musical presentation.

What is a life that is only food and shelter?  It doesn’t seem if there were much enjoyment.  Music may add some enhancement that makes the living enjoyable.  Just as a life of legalism without the Spirit is dead, the Spirit through music can add the joy of the Lord to our worship.

I am not seeking God’s kingdom if:

- - I am concerned that the people react to with pleasure to my performance.
- - I am worried overmuch about my performance.
- - I am too casual about my performance, being lazy and expecting God to work through me.
- - I concentrate so much on the performance that I miss worship myself.

RICH AND POOR

I published this same post on 20 November 2017.  I just read the book, Hillbilly Elegy by J.D, Vance which supports much of what is said below. 

RICH:  GET RICHER      POOR:  POOR GET POORER

RICH:  Come from wealthy family      POOR:  Come from poor family

RICH:  Taught how to handle money, assets      POOR:  Not taught how to handle money, assets.

RICH:  Have education, specially advanced education      POOR:  No or little education.

RICH:  Thinks of the future      POOR:  Thinks only in the present.

RICH:  Has positive attitude      POOR:  Has negative attitude

RICH:  Keeps good company (i.e moral and like-minded friends and associates)      POOR:  Keeps bad company (may not have a choice of the type of company).

RICH:  Seeks competent advisers      POOR:  Does not seek advice.

RICH:  Sees seeking advice as helpful     POOR:  Sees accepting advice as a sign of weakness.

RICH:  Has supportive, uplifting family      POOR:  Has a non-supportive family, or adversarial family.

RICH:  Comes from stable community      POOR:  Comes from unstable and possibly dangerous community.

RICH:  Has some money or position from which to start and the vision to use it      POOR:  Has nothing to start with and no idea of how to change, or even that change is possible.

RICH:  From a community that seeks to advance it’s own (there many good communities, but the Mafia would also qualify)      POOR:  From a community that seeks to keep it’s members at the same level.

RICH:  Has been helped and is willing to help others      POOR:  Has not been helped and restrains self from offering help to others.

RICH:  Willing to accept help      POOR:  Will not accept help; sees accepting help as sign of weakness.

RICH:  Thinks about wealth a lot (perhaps to the exclusion of more important life/family issues)      POOR:  Gives no thought to wealth, or thinks it is not possible for people like him to obtain.

RICH:  Time and chance: they were in the right place at the right time      POOR:  No luck - - not just the excuse, “I’m not lucky”, but actually is not in the right place at the right time.

RICH:  Recognizes opportunity, taught what opportunities are possible      POOR:  Does not recognize an opportunity, does not believe any are available.

We, all of us, have the opportunity to change.  It is sad some of us don't know it, or don't believe we can take it, or just won't do it.

THE BATTLE FOR THINKING

The Other day, while indulging in some negative self-talk, the Spirit of God corrected me.  I had thought something like: “You idiot!”  Then immediately the thought came, “You are not an idiot.”  I am convinced this was from the Holy Spirit.  Thank you God.

Another time when I was working I saw a fit engineer dressing himself after his bike ride to work.  I thought, “My boys do not have a fit father who succeeded in a difficult discipline like engineering; I misused my educational opportunities in Secondary Science Education.”  Then the Spirit of God made me think:  “My boys like me because I am the only father they know.  They probably would never choose another man.”  Besides,  I chose education as a field of study because I wanted to do something noble that would have significance beyond my own life.  I wanted to have “real” impact, not just a comfort for my own being, my own self.  There is certainly nothing wrong with that motivation even though I never became an educator. 

Satan speaks is subtle ways.  Many of us are not aware it is happening.  It easy to overlook the “You idiot”.  The arguments in my mind, or in the circumstances of my life that cause me to put off something good are in reality very small and inconsequential.  Sometimes they are just not true, they are lies.  They are so “small”,  so “natural”, so “quiet”, so much in the background.  We even may not recognize they are not for our good, and certainly not good for the Kingdom of God.  We do not stop and think, “Where is this thought coming from?  Does it match who I am?  Does it match what I know God wants?  Is it good for my Family, my job, my nation?  Who is really at work here?”  Once we realize wicked spirits speak this way, and that it is easy for the flesh to accept them, we can be watchful, vigilant.  We can think more carefully, more critically and say “no”, “that’s not true”, or “I will do what benefits God, myself and my family!”

The battle for right thinking must be engaged the moment it starts.  If it is easy in the failing, it is also easy in the success.  The apparent power of sin is an illusion.  At the inception of the battle the fleshly influences are weak.  Do not let them gain strength.  Fight against them while they are weak.  They can not stand against Godly logic.  What choice is there between knowing the true way and not knowing it?  None; nothing is better than the true way.

Often I disparage myself but I bet I do not deserve the downgrade.  I don’t remember what the thought was but I do know I was not an idiot for whatever it was.  Under truthful light of examination I could not be called an idiot.  I have been foolish in the past, but Jesus has covered my sins with his blood.

FAKE BILLS

(14 August 1991)
Last night (that is last night 27 years ago) I had a dream I was in a diner-like place sitting at a booth by the windows.  There were six or eight naked women lined up at the counter.  One of them started dancing in the fashion of the topless bars.  They intended to get me excited.  I made up my mind to leave.  Then the scene changed and I was home (I guess) with Liz.  I had in my hands a VISA bill from the topless night club owner.  I knew I had paid the past bills off, but he was saying I owed $3000.00 and seemed to be threatening to make trouble.  I was worried about letting Liz know about the bill, even though it was in the past and the bill was obviously wrong.

The topless bar owner is Satan trying to tie my past to me and make me feel guilty.  But he has no authority or power;  the bills have all been paid off by Jesus.  It was not fair for Jesus to pay off my VISA bill for topless bars, but he paid them for me.  Satan is still trying to collect, but I will not pay – the bills are payed. 

This is an encouraging dream for it shows God is enabling me to pull free from the past.  I need to refuse to pay bad bills!

“. . . pass not by it, turn from it, go not near it, run from it and go away from it.”  Do not pay bad bills.

Put your money in heavenly real estate.

WHY IS BAD NEWS GOOD NEWS?

Who Is to blame that “good news is bad news” and “bad news is good news”? 

- - The reader who will not buy “good” news because it is not stimulating or interesting?  Who will read “Faithful Father Faithfully goes to work for 20 Years as Mother Drives Kids to School”?

- - The Journalist, who wants to see his story printed?  How can he make his living as a journalist if he is not published?

- - The Publisher who wants to sell his publication and knows “bad” news sells?  How can he stay in business if he can't sell newspapers or broadcast TV?

Who is to blame for offensive advertising?

- - The ad man who motivates with sex, power and consumptive wealth,

- - or the consumer that runs eagerly after sex, power and consumptive wealth?

GOD IN MARRIAGE

The family and marriage are the foundation to all that we are in life.  Most of our character is formed in family and marriage.  Yet these things are fragile for much has to do with thoughts and feelings.  They are built on the quality and consistency of relationships.  But human fragility raises the need for God to hold together families and marriages.  Where thoughts and feelings are weak, he is strong.  Where they are ephemeral, he is everlasting.  Where they are misdirected, he shows the way and helps us along it.

This illustrates the spiritual nature of life and also shows why exclusively human systems of thought are weak and prone to failure.

THE LAW OF THE LORD

In Psalm 1:2 God says of a blessed man that “. . . his delight is in the law of the LORD . . .”  How is the law of the Lord a delight?  All of us want to have an order a sequence or organization to our lives.  We don’t want things messy and confused; we want some sort of map.  God’s word is a map.  We appreciate standards:  a definition of what is right and what is wrong.  We may have some sort of nebulous sense of this but it’s best to have a well concrete, established and proven guide.  We are comforted to know the appropriate ways of health, building and restoration.  Moreover, as we read the Bible, we are glad that Daddy (as in our heavenly Father) talks to us .  Some of us did not have Fathers that provided active direction.  We are happy he is interested in us.  We are privileged that he shares with us the inside workings of the universe.

IMAGE CONTROL

I have been trying to do away with my imaginations; not the good ones, but the bad ones.  You know they are bad when they compare negatively with what you know the Bible says - - or the law of the land says for that matter.  Bad imaginations are wrong because they entertain unlawfulness.  They are wrong if they make predictions about people of which you have no absolute assurance. 

But I wonder if good imaginations undeveloped can also be harmful?  I wonder if they do not sort-circuit some good that I might do.  I imagine it, therefore (in my mind) I have “done” it, therefore I do not really do it.  The imagination of an action or event in some vicarious, not actual, fashion becomes a pseudo reality.

God says without vision the people perish.  Some sort of thinking about what might happen is good.  But I wonder if some of my imagining takes away from the positive action.  Certainly the negative imaging is not good for it sets an evil cast upon events which have not yet happened; or sets an evil cast on happening events that are not evil.  Sometimes it puts future events in the framework of the way we are familiar with events happening, but things don’t always happen the same way.

We need to be aware of how our imagination is guiding us.

PSYCHOLOGY

The field of human study called psychology is at times helpful and sometimes has benefited from scientific methods.  However, it is one of those areas which can be abused by men either unintentionally or intentionally, like religion.  As a group of humans psychologists become highly specialized in their knowledge, that knowledge becomes less attainable by the common man who does not, or can not, spend the time to gain the knowledge.  As a specialized group psychologists get to define standards and methods of what is, and what is not, acceptable in their field and what is acceptable, in their opinion, for mankind.  This is one of those areas where we must be vigilant to know what God says about the nature of mankind so we can judge if a given psychologist is helpful, or dangerous.

This is not to say Psychology is devious or evil.  But we can also realize mankind got along for thousands of years without it.  One the ways it can become troublesome is that it is (like many academic studies) self promoting.  As a field of study it is promoted by its own (other psychologists) and may try to exclude anyone else from providing help because others are not psychologists and therefore unqualified.  It may assume qualified people must have attended only recognized schools, and recognized courses of study.  Some may make the assumption that humans always need help.  It can make the assumption that the subject to be helped will not be able to function without the help.  It may denigrate any other kinds of help.  It may oppose other means of obtaining help.  It may uphold only the types of support groups psychologists recognize.  There is a danger of promoting a cycle of constantly studying a subject and never finding a cure.

Negatively it may foster a group of people who attempt to profit from every unfortunate situation.  They could seek to actively prevent any other kind of help. They might use earthquakes, wars, divorce, alcohol as reasons people need to have psychological help. They might seek to develop an income stream by becoming professional witnesses.  Some might try to do away with the "inconvenient" notion of GOD because God establishes ethical and moral standards outside of their definition.  They may actually promote sin to prolong treatment.

A few of us may find we need the help of a psychologist.  An honest professional with that type of training and experience may prove a help that no other human has provided.  But I suspect most would not need this type of help if we simply read the Bible and were connected to family and church.

BIRDS AND PRAYERS

Yesterday, while praying, I had the impression that sometimes God will not answer while we are listening for him.  It may be like going for a nature walk with another: that person may be expecting you to keep quiet and observe your surroundings as he is trying to do.  Perhaps God wants us to observe.  Maybe he gets exasperated if we are always chattering, never listening.  We do not stop to think perhaps he does not always have to be talking to us.

Do we even listen for God’s answer to us?  Do we expect it right away like lightening?  If we don’t get an immediate answer do we grow impatient and fly away?  If the answer is not the answer we were expecting would we even recognize it?  If we recognize an answer are we polite enough to thank him?

While thinking this I saw two sparrows fly into the tree next to me.  They came in high and chirped for a while (to establish territory? to attract interest?)  Then they were quiet and eventually came down lower on the branches.  After a while they flew to the ground.  Were they watching for danger?  The Bible says Got takes thought for all the sparrows (Luke 12:6, 7).  This illustrates that he cares for each (I say again, each) of us.

THE GATE

Imagine yourself outside a high stone wall in front of an iron gate.  Without knowing anything else, what assumptions are we tempted to make?  We may think by the wall we are meant to be excluded and have no right to be inside.  We may think a rich man lives in there and wants nothing to do with us.  We may suppose he is high-minded, exclusively snobbish, someone with an aristocratic, elitist attitude.  We are supposing things about someone else' life, not our own.  Perhaps we take no thought at all that we have done nothing to earn admittance and possibly have not recognized any opportunity for admittance if it was offered.

We might be tempted to be jealous.  Why is he rich and I am not?  He must have advantages I do not have.  His advantages are unfair, I should have had them.

We see a limo come out and it drives right by us.  We assume He wants no contact.  But in reality we know nothing (or at least little) about him.  We know nothing about his attitude toward charity.  We know nothing about how kind or unkind he is. We know nothing about how or what he desires about contact with other people.

How often do we think of ourselves a bit like Lazarus the beggar outside the rich man’s gate as in Luke 16:20?  We are the poor and needy: ignored by the rich and powerful.

But what if we had the gate advantage? 

We, in fact, do have advantages over others.  In our own ways we have advantages, though perhaps not in money.  Do we stop to think of what these are?  Can we name them?  Are we proud of them?  Do we position ourselves among others by using them?  How do we handle these advantages?    Do we use them well or do we use them to dominate?

It didn’t play out well for the rich man who drove past Lazarus day-by-day.  Let’s be aware of what is around us as we drive out our gate in our limousines.

CLIFF WALKING

Prov 2:7 – "[God] holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield for those who walk blameless . . .”  But there are those who do not walk “blameless”; in fact hardly any of us do.  As we walk near or into areas where we could be tainted by things or actions that might cause blame, we are putting at risk what success God has “in store for the upright”. 

God has been generous to give me a degree of success.  Yet for the success I have I know I have not been blameless.   This leads me to wonder:  How much more success might I have had? 

This is not a time to regret things of the past, but a time to concentrate on being upright, to avoid paths I know lead past items of “blame”. 

To flirt with areas for which you could be justifiably blamed for sin is to risk your success.  It is like walking too close to an edge of a cliff.  You don’t hear happy stories about people who walk too near the edges of cliffs.

UNTIL THE HARVEST

The ant provides her meat in summer and gathers her food in harvest. (Prov 6:8)  To provide means she had taken forethought to make sure it is there, available for use.  It is there for use in the summer when no other crops are available, for they are growing.  There will be no food available until the crops get ripe for harvesting.  This means there have to be plans to store and ration some of last year’s harvest until the new harvest is ready; and so on for all harvests. 

We can not be sluggards but must be like the ant.  We must protect the seed for planting and protect the crops as they grow.  We must keep our harvest tools prepared.  We must understand there is a constant rate of consumption and a cyclic rate of planting/harvest.  We have to match these together properly.  We have to be actively aware and plan and be ever vigilant of efficiency and avoidance of waste.

FRUIT OF THE ADULTEROUS WOMAN

(Prov 5)
Many hard things will happen to the man that goes after the strange woman.

- Gives his honor to others.  If “honor” means his act of giving his respect and consideration to another, he has given it to a person who certainly does not deserve it.  He has directed his attention to a thief:  a thief who is not only stealing what the man should have been giving to some one else (i.e. wife, mother, sisters . . . ) but who herself is stealing from those who should have been close to her (i.e. husband, father, brothers).  He shows very poor judgment to give his honor to such a person.  If “honor” means the receiving of respect from others, he demonstrates he deserves none.  He is breaking a fundamental law of God:  one of the ten commandments.  He demonstrates poor character.

- Gives his years to the cruel.  His time spent with adultery will last longer than the act itself.  Even if the adultery remains hidden from other people it is open and plain before God.  It will always remain in the adulterer's memory:  either with a sense of regret or with a wish to commit more sin.  If the adultery is known he will live with the fruits of ruined relationships and perhaps a ruined reputation.  He will be seen as one who is not reliable.

- Strangers filled with his wealth.  His financial wealth is taken minimally by whatever it costs to spend time with the adulteress: hotels, meals, doctors’ bills, abortionists, etc.  He is risking the loss of what he may have built up in law suits and lawyer’s fees.  If he was married and gets divorced he may face the loss of joint holdings:  houses, lands, automobiles, bank accounts, etc.  But worse of all he will have lost the wealth of his reputation as a stable well grounded man.

- Labors are in the house of a stranger.

If he comes to his senses he will [v11]  ‘mourn at the last, when [his] flesh and thy body are consumed, [v12] and say, ‘How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; [v13] and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!  [v14] I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.’ “

You can also think of the “Adulterous Woman” in a figurative way rather than the literal way (as an actual flesh-and-blood human).  You can think of the right way of reasoning as God’s way; and the Adulterous Woman’s way as the World’s way.  You do not want to “honor” that which God says is not honorable, nor be honored by such.  You do not want to give your years to the cruel.  You do not want strangers filled with wealth which belongs to you.  Your labors belong in your own house, which God owns but allows you to use as if you own.  So stay away from the world’s way of thinking: the Adulterous Woman.

KEEPING THE MIND IN ONE PLACE

My mind easily wanders, straying from this thought to that, roaming down different rabbit trails.  Many things pass over the mind only to be replaced by other things, none getting developed too much.  It is like watching a train roll past that has many fascinating and beautiful cars.  There may be ugly cars too but it is best to ignore them if you can. 

Three things can keep the mind stayed:  writing (like this), a conversation with another and a book.  However I find my mind can easily wander while reading.  One thought brings up another which brings up another still.  It can wander while writing too, but not so much.  What I have written is right there in front of me to remind me where my thoughts were.  A conversation stays yet more focused because the other person has part of the control of it.  He can easily see if you have lost focus and call you to account.  But I find I can easily stray while someone is giving a speech as in the Sunday sermon or a TV broadcast.  Those mediums can establish no eye contact and no accountability and they will not stop to get your attention, rephrase or repeat.  A medium like Netflix is good because I can pause, backup and turn on the subtitles.

DEVICE DEMANDS

Information can come to our devices (Telephones, Laptops, etc.) from diverse places such at the Internet, email. or Facebook.  When we see the information we can use the device quickly to respond, almost a reflex, often without thinking too deeply.  The sources can be your family, friends, acquaintances, organizations we belong to, or some entity that wants to influence our thinking or to sell us something.  Some of these sources can be annoying or at their worst dangerous. Often they give you mandatory instructions.  One email I recently received had the header "Read it", "say Amen", “Forward”, “Tell all your friends”, etc.

These things are rude and inconsiderate.  Other examples are, "A MUST READ", "IMPORTANT".  Such instructions mean to me:  “I will not read it because it is insignificant.”

Some times the information can be advantageous as in the case of an emergency or an urgency.  Cases of urgency do require response.  The best course is to give some thought before responding.

Let’s face it:  many times the urgency is really not necessary, meaning it is not really urgent.  It just seems that way because of its appeal to respond right away. We feel the pressure to provide an instant reply as if the requester were talking face-to-face with us.  An instant response may lead us to say something careless, something ill-thought out.  We may regret the answer when given time and hindsight.

We have complete control over most of the time we are given.  Let us not be bullied by appeals through our devices masquerading as emergencies.

BULLIES

What are bullies?  They are people who try to get you to do , or think, something they want, knowing that you do not want that same thing.  The dictionary defines a bully as:  “A person who is habitually cruel or overbearing, especially to smaller or weaker people”.

We might ask, “Is God a bully?”  God wants us to do (or not) some things we would rather not do (or would rather do).  The difference between God and bullies is that he created us and all the world around us.  He gets to set what is right and wrong, what is fair and what is unfair.  A bully did none of that.  A bully intrudes into your world with demands.  He did not create your world and has no right to make changes in it.

Sometimes a plane flies overhead.  Many times you can see it. But sometimes you can’t.  When you can hear one you know there is at least one person, the pilot, inside. Maybe there are more.  The plane’s sound has some sort of dominance in your life.  Is the plane’s pilot a bully?  In some way the pilot is infringing on your life when you did not ask for it.  However the pilot is not flying the plane for the purpose of infringing on your life or in any way to control you.  Most likely he does not even know you.  The pilot is not a bully; the bully would fly the plane for the purpose of annoying you.

What about the car playing loud booming music that is plainly heard in the cars driving about it.  Is the driver a bully?  I can’t imagine he does not know how loud it is and that all around him can hear it.  I believe he is making a statement to everyone although no one has requested it.  He is a bully.