I TOOK A BREAK…oops

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-is not of the Father but is of the world. And this world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of the God abides forever.” 1 John 2:15-17

The drive to work is about 30 miles, so for me, that leaves a good 45 minutes for mediation, reflection or prayer. Some mornings it can be all three but recently I had the aforementioned verse running on a constant play back loop.

I had been asked by my Pastor to fill in for him on his Wednesday night Bible study. I picked the topic of Biblical friendships when I happened upon this verse in my Bible. It was highlighted. And I remember standing in the Colony chapel sharing this very same verse the night I graduated from my stay at the colony.

I did not know what God had in store for me after that night but I knew that conforming to the world was no longer an option but this time John’s words were coming across in a different way. I began to pray these words for a good week. I began to feel convictions in areas of my walk that were not being maintained and then my phone rang. It was Bill Welte. WHAT!? Bill asked if my wife and I would fill in as pray partners for a recent couple’s conference. Of course we said yes. To serve Jesus in this way is a blessing. Besides, my brothers, my prayer life was not everything it should be and one of the areas I had felt conviction. (I wonder if God spoke to Bill about this.)

After I returned Bill’s phone call worldly things no longer mattered. I felt at peace. My Heavenly Father was listening to me and had answered me. Saying no to Bill was not an option (for those of us who know him it never is anyway). Doing the will of the Father was all that mattered and He chose my wife and me.

When John penned this letter he was defending the Church.
Jesus’ Church! And I had taken a break from the battle for the Gospel.
John however took no break. Even on Patmos, he continued on. So who was I to go on cruise control? What was I thinking? Thank God the adversary got a poor foothold.

Martin Luther said “If the devil were wise enough and would stand by in silence and let the Gospel be preached, he would suffer less harm. For when there is no battle for the Gospel it rusts and it finds no cause and no occasion to show its vigor and power. Therefore, nothing better can befall the Gospel than that the world should fight it with force and cunning.”

Break time is over Brothers, break time is over. – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy

Great Quote: “I am most joyously content that Christ would break all my idols to bits. It renews my love for Christ to see that he is jealous of my love, and will have it all to Himself.” – Samuel Rutherford

DAVID’S SOUL CARE

“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the OUTWARD appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.'” 1 Samuel 16:7

Yesterday I shared about the need to take care of not only the outward appearance, but how important it is to take care of your soul.
Unfortunately today there is some confusion in the church about spiritual formation. There are some that have traced back the concept of spiritual formation to the Catholic church, and because of that, they are ready to disregard the concept of soul care saying it is a bad thing because it is rooted in Catholicism or even Eastern mysticism.

While one must be discerning in this area, it is quite a biblical concept to take care of one’s soul. To refuse to look at this just because of the misuses would be wrong for us. We need to be like the Bereans and search the Scriptures.

Samuel was in the process of looking for the next King of Israel. He was looking at the sons of Jesse for the position – seven of them in fact.
Reading between the lines they must have “looked” kingly, but the Lord had Samuel looking for more than someone that “looked” kingly. He was looking for someone whose “heart was fully devoted to Him.”

One of Saul’s servants recognized something different about this David.
David was a “skill musician, a mighty man of valor, a warrior, one prudent in speech, and a handsome man; and the Lord is with Him.” 1 Samuel 16:18. And I believe that the part that intrigued him was not the outward stuff, but the things going on inside of David.

If you want to get a glimpse of what was going on in David’s soul, one just needs to read through the book of Psalms. David meditated on the law of the Lord day and night. (Psalm 1:2) Now there is a concept that has become misunderstood. Meditation in today’s circles has come to have a negative connotation because of its roots in Eastern religion.

Great men of the Bible meditated on the Word of God. Joshua was told that if he wanted to be successful – to be the man that God wanted him to be – he was to meditate on the law of the Lord. Meditation is a discipline that we have forgotten, but one that I believe is necessary in taking care of our souls. Meditation is “chewed on the Word of God”
throughout the day. When was the last time you took a verse and throughout the day, prayerfully chewed on it, allowing it to infiltrate your heart and mind?

Here is something to think about: The average male according to the research, thinks about sex once a minute! I think that might be a slight exaggeration, but we think about it often during the day. How often do we meditate on the Word throughout the day? I wonder what our lives would be like if we were to practice meditating on the Word of God even five or six times a day.

Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators, taught the principle of writing a verse of Scripture on a 3X5 card, and then several times a day, take the card and re-read the verse, meditating on each word and allowing it to sink deep into your soul. Not a bad idea. Can I challenge you today, my brothers – let’s make a commitment to meditate on the Word more intentionally. Grab a 3 X 5 card, jot down a verse, and allow the truth to sink deep down into your soul as your meditate on it. Will you join me? I trust you will. – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK and is available to speak at your church for missions conferences, pulpit supply or men’s retreats. You can contact Bill for more information: 732-350-1187 ext. 22

Great Quote: “God, harden me against myself, the coward with pathetic voice who craves for ease and rest and joy. Myself, arch-traitor to myself, my hollowest friend, my deadliest foe, my clog, whatever road I go!” – Amy Carmichael

TAKING CARE OF YOUR SOUL

“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance (concerning
David) or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

I want to piggy-back on Pastor John’s last two Freedom Fighters and share some additional insight about soul-care. I have shared with you in the past that I struggle with my weight, and quite frankly these past several months have been not so good. I could make all kinds of excuses and justifications, but the bottom line is that I have not done my part in being as intentional about my exercise as I need to be.

It isn’t like I don’t have the place or equipment to do so – I have a treadmill and a total gym in my basement, and shoot, I live at America’s KESWICK where there are plenty of places to walk and even use the gym.
But if all I do is think about it, and never do something about it – it will never happen.

On Saturday evening we had the Talley Trio in concert and it was a dress-up event. When I lost my 50+ lbs, I got rid of all my “big” clothes which was a good thing. They say if you hold on to your big stuff, it is easier to have your weight bounce up and down (no pun intended) because you have the freedom to fit in various sizes. Well I am at the point where stuff is tight. So I went down to Robert Hall at the Colony to see if I could borrow a sport coat for the evening. There was one on the rack that fit perfectly. Much to my dismay, it turned out to be one of my BIG coats that I had donated to Robert Hall!

The amazing thing is that numerous people came up to me before and after the concert and commented to me how good I looked and it was good to see that I had lost the weight again. It was all I could do to laugh! The coat camouflaged what was really going on underneath. The scale certainly didn’t confirm their observations.

Our society spends an inordinate amount of time getting us to think about the way we look. Just turn on your TV and see the hundreds of infomercials ranging from exercise equipment and programs to diet fads that will give us the abs of a 16 year-old jock. Outward appearance to most of the world is an important thing.

But what matters to God is not what is happening on the outside as much as what is happening on the inside. It isn’t that He doesn’t want us to care for the physical temple He has created for us, He is more concerned at what is happening in our hearts – in our souls. The problem with the outer you is that it is easy to cover up what is going on inside for everyone else. We can fool everyone else into thinking we have it all together – but for many guys, what is going on in our souls is not so good.

Taking care of the outside is good. It may even extend our earthly life!
But think about it – our soul is something that will be with us for eternity! God is much more interested in that part of you and me!

So what is REALLY going on underneath the outward appearance? Is there something that you need to take care of today? Something that nobody else knows about but you and God? Then why don’t you take that first step and begin today to take care of your soul! It really does matter to Him! Think about it. – Bill Welte is the President and CEO of America’s KESWICK and is the general editor of Freedom Fighters.

Great Quote: The purpose of fasting is to loosen to some degree the ties which bind us to the world of material things and our surroundings as a whole, in order that we may concentrate all our spiritual powers upon the unseen and eternal things. Ole Kristian O. Hallesby

Don’t forget our Men’s Fellowship Night coming up this Thursday evening with Pastor Don Meckley. Come and bring a friend. I’d love to meet you!
Call today to make your reservation. 732-350-1187

“As for me, I will call upon the God, and the Lord shall save me.
Evening, morning and at noon, I will pray, and cry aloud.” (Psalm 55:16&17)

“And when He had sent the multitude away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.” (Matthew
14:23)

How do we take care of our souls? I’ve suggested four words for our thinking this weekend and next that can frame our soul care plan. We thought about hunger yesterday. I hope you’re joining me in praying that God will give us great hunger for Himself and for healthy souls that are satisfied in Him.

The word for today is time. Soul care takes time. In Psalm 55, the writer tells us that his soul was in trouble (It needed redemption according to vs. 18.), and he cried out to God morning, noon and night for the help he needed. That kind of praying takes time.

The Psalms devote themselves to soul care. If we’ll know the help they offer, we’ve got to read them. That takes time. We won’t know how they help us without investing time in reading, meditating and praying them.

The whole process of examination and watching over our souls (Proverbs
4:23) takes time. We choose to give intentional time and effort to examine, care for and nurture out souls.

A lot of people who read Freedom Fighters spend hours each week taking care of their jobs. Many who read these words will spend time in a gym each week taking care of their bodies. Others, come spring, will spend hours each week nurturing their lawns and plants. We spend time for all those things that we consider important.

It’s time for men who want to live in freedom to catch on. Freedom, like jobs, gyms and yards, has a “time price.” That time is spent doing the things that nurture our souls. We’ll read God’s Word and other nurturing literature. We’ll “go up on the mountain alone” like Jesus did. We’ll spend time with God in prayer and meditation. We’ll take time to sit with others who hunger for healthy souls and share the journey to soul maturity. It all takes time.

Add these few sentences to yesterday’s prayer. “Lord, by Your power, help me make time for my soul. It will profit me nothing if I gain the whole world and lose my soul. I choose to set aside time for soul care.
I choose spiritual health over spiritual neglect. Help me, O Lord, I pray. Amen.”

I pray God’s gracious work in your life and mine as we take time for our souls. – Pastor John Strain is Pastor of First Baptist Toms River and is our weekend Freedom Fighter contributor

Great Quote: You may rest assured that God will not allow you to be tried beyond your strength. It is when we are powerless that God does all, and thereby manifests His power and goodness in a striking manner.
John Baptist de La Salle

HE RESTORES MY SOUL

“He restores my soul.” (Psalm 23:3)

We’re thinking about soul care during the February weekends. During the first two weekends, I’ve tried to establish what soul care is and why we need it. One of the foundation verses for our consideration comes from
Proverbs: “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

Let’s think for the rest of the month about how that soul care happens.
I’ve got four more editions of Freedom Fighter, and I’d like us to think about four words: hunger, time, discipline and accountability.

Soul care begins with hunger. We have to come to a place where we know our souls aren’t as healthy as they should be and not accept that condition. The more we read Scripture (especially the Psalms), the more we discover the reality of a healthy soul. In discovering the potential of a healthy soul, we gain a hunger for that reality.

The psalmist said, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God . . ..” (Psalm 42:1&2) That brings us to our first hard question. Have we allowed God to awaken in us a hunger for His presence and work in our souls?

Soul care begins by asking God to give us a hunger for the care only He can give our souls. An honest examination (We thought about that last
week.) will tell us that our souls need care if we are to know God as intimately as He wants to know us.

Pray this prayer with me this week. “Heavenly Father, I confess that I’ve neglected my soul. I ask for soul hunger like that of the psalmist. Create in me a deep hunger for a healthy soul. Lead me to the scripture verses and other reading that will help me know my need and help me learn to give my soul care. I yield to Your ongoing work in my life as I begin to watch over my soul. Amen”

I promise to pray for you (even though I don’t know you by name), and I ask you to pray for me as we commit to care for our souls. – Pastor John Strain is the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Toms River and our weekend Freedom Fighter contributor.

Great quote: There are no shortcuts to holiness. There is no easy way to conquer the flesh. Christian character is a matter of growth, not of secrets or formulas. Growth takes time. It also takes the discipline of prayer, of study, of heart searching, of sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s pleading, and of consistent obedience. It must always begin with a renewed thankfulness for the never-ending grace of God, and a sense of being set free repeatedly to a life of holiness. — John White

What in the world is surety??

Surety has to be one of the most misunderstood and least taught principles in the Bible. Proverbs alone has a number of passages that warn against surety. By adding Solomon’s warnings to the other passages in the Bible, we quickly realize we better pay attention to surety. Proverbs 17:18 says “A man lacking in sense pledges, and becomes surety in the presence of his neighbor”

Webster defines surety as being legally liable for a debt. Larry Burkett used to say it was taking on an obligation without a sure and certain way of paying it. In other words it is owing more on stuff than it is worth.

In today’s financial culture, it is basically any debt that you do not have full collateral to satisfy. In explaining what surety is, let us start by explaining what it is not. In most cases, a mortgage is not a debt of surety. If you cannot make your house payments, the bank will take your house as full satisfaction of your mortgage.

However, what happens when your car is only worth $5,000 and you still owe $8000 on your car loan? You have a debt of surety and we have not heeded God’s caution.

We must understand this is a principle and not a law. However, statistics tells us that as high as 90% of believers have violated the principle of surety. Let’s look at the two most common violations of surety in today’s culture.

Cosigning:

Proverbs 11:15 “He who is surety for a stranger will suffer, but one who
hates being surety is secure”. NKJV How many times do we as believers
cosign for another’s loan? To be a little more specific, how many times do we cosign for our children’s school debts or their first car?

Maybe we don’t want to disappoint our close friend, or we want our children to get started on their own financial journey as soon as possible. Or maybe we just are not familiar with what the Bible says about cosigning. Regardless of the justification or reason, pledging payment as a guarantor or cosigning for another’s loan is not an acceptable practice for God’s people.

In most cases, when we cosign for another’s loan, we are allowing them to borrow beyond their ability to repay without negatively affecting their financial health. Statistics tell us that a high percentage of those who cosign end up making the payments and becoming responsible for the debt.

Credit Card Debt:

Have you ever gone on a nice vacation and put it on your credit card?
When you come back and get the bill from the credit card company, you start to make monthly payments on the vacation. Guess what, almost all unpaid balances on your credit card are debts of surety. Proverbs 17:18 says “A man lacking in sense pledges and becomes surety……”

Surety is a principle-not a law. Although the violation of the principle does not carry with it punishment-like violating a law of God-its violation does have negative consequences.

Debts of surety are just too risky in God’s eyes. Did you know that many of the sub-prime loans that have started the credit crisis our country faces today are debts of surety? God’s Word is full of good solid financial principles. – George Hutchison is a financial counselor and instructor with Crown Financial Ministries and a member of the Keswick Board of Trustees

Great Quote: Who stumbles at Christ? All that teach you to do works, instead of teaching you to believe. Those who hold forth Christ to you as a law-maker and a judge, and refuse to let Christ be a helper and a comforter, torment you by putting works before and in the way of God in order to atone for your sins and to merit grace… For if you desire to believe rightly and to possess Christ truly, then you must reject all works that you intend to place before and in the way of God. They are only stumbling blocks, leading you away from Christ and from God. Before God no works are acceptable but Christ’s own works. Let these plead for you before God, and do no other work before him than to believe that Christ is doing his works for you and is placing them before God in your behalf. In order to keep your faith pure, do nothing else than stand still, enjoy its blessings, accept Christ’s works, and let him bestow his love upon you. You must be blind, lame, deaf, dead, leprous and poor, otherwise you will stumble at Christ. That Gospel which suffers Christ to be seen and to be doing good only among the needy, will not belie you.

This means to acknowledge Christ aright and to embrace him. This is true and Christian believing. But those who intend to atone for sins and to become pious by their own works, will miss the present Christ and look for another, or at least they will believe that he should do otherwise, that first of all he should come and accept their works and consider them pious. Martin Luther, Sermon on Matthew 11

Do you ever wonder why God discourages debt?

In more than 30 Bible verses, God talks about debt. Although He never forbids it, He certainly does discourage it. Did you ever wonder why?

Let me offer you three of God’s principles that we violate when we go into debt. But please don’t stop with these three. Continue to look for other principles in God’s Word that are violated when we incur debt.

Here are three to get you started…

Debt presumes upon the future: How many of us have ever gone into debt with the payment terms being: “pay in the future as the Lord provides and blesses?” I would be pretty surprised if any bank would offer anything like that. Usually payments are due on a certain day each month with some pretty nasty things happening if we don’t make those payments on time.

Going into debt presumes upon our future that we will make those payments. James 4:14 says: Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

Debt blocks God’s direction in our lives: Did you ever think that one of the easiest ways for God to lead us is through providing or withholding money? If God owns everything (Psalm 24:1) and if He loves us (1 John
3:1) and He wants the best for us (Jeremiah 29:11, Psalms 84:11), why can’t He provide us with the money to get it? Maybe it is not His timing or it is not His will for us to have it.

Suppose we want to buy a car. If God owns all the gold and silver (Haggai 2:8) He certainly has the resources to give us what we need to buy that car.

Maybe God knows that car will take us to places that are not honoring to Him. Maybe God knows that car will take too much of our time that belongs to our family or serving Him. Maybe God knows that car has bad brakes and we will be in a serious car accident.

Just as God directs us to move forward by providing (Philippians 4:19) He also tells us to wait by withholding (Galatians 6:9). How often do we miss God’s direction in our lives by going to the bank for a loan instead of praying and waiting on God’s timing?

“You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:3).

Debt puts us in bondage: When we borrow money we become slaves to our creditors (Proverbs 22:7). “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave”. Slavery is a yoked relationship.
(Galatians 5:1) “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery”.
The Bible is clear that we should not be yoked to non-believers (2 Corinthians 6:14) “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?”. (NKJV)

We rightfully focus our attention on business partnerships and marriage as yoking relationships, but how many of us look at our creditors in the same light? The Bible tells us it is a yoking relationship and we should look at it as such.

1 Corinthians 7:23 “You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men”. – George Hutchison is an instructor and financial counselor with Crown Financial Ministries and a member of the Keswick Board of Trustees

Great Quote: “If we are true Christian believers, we are called to a life of faith, and the faith-principle is meant to cover courtship, married life, career, finance and Christian service, indeed everything.
It never impoverishes our life; it enriches and transforms it!” – Dr. J.
Sidlow Baxter

Why should I care about my money?

For starters we saw yesterday that God cares about how we handle our money. With over 2000 verses in the Bible about how we should handle our money and our possessions it is pretty obvious that God is very concerned about how we are handling money.

Statistics tell us that in 2005 over 2,000,000 households declared bankruptcy. In 2005 and 2006 we had a negative savings rate. This means that we as Americans spent more money than we made. (This is the first time this has happened since the Great Depression)

Daily we listen to the news and hear about the sub prime mortgage crisis and increased foreclosures on houses (Up 79% last year over 2006) and how this is now spreading to the credit card industry.

For many years handling the families’ finances was usually done by the wife. He made it and she managed it (or should I say spent it). I do not believe this is the norm anymore. Now it is much more of a joint venture, with many times the husband and wife both working and sharing the responsibility of managing the families’ budget.

So how about us men, should we care about how we and our family spend our money? We saw yesterday that God cares a lot about how we handle our money, and by the way it actually does belong to Him. Those statistics above tell us that the money management in our society is in deep trouble and with our wives asking for help in handling our money, I think the answer is obvious.

Why does God care so much about money? I think the answer is found in Matthew 6:21 where Jesus says “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” Jesus is telling us that how we manage our money reveals heart issues or the state or our relationship with Him. Let’s look at our personal finances for a minute.

Do we have a lot of debt? Does this mean we always want more and are not content with what God has given us? Hebrews 13:5 says “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have”.

Do we have too much savings? Does this mean we are trusting in our portfolios and bank accounts and not God for the future? Proverbs 23:5 says “Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle”. Or are we trying to get significance by big bank accounts? Luke 12:15 says “… a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Are the needs of our family being met? God gives us some pretty strong words about not meeting the needs of our family. 1 Timothy 5:8 says “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever”. Our families will have emergencies and the question is are we ready to meet those emergencies? We better have an emergency savings account.

Do we want our family to be spiritually blessed? If God is going to bless our family with spiritual blessings we better handle our money God’s way. Luke 16:11 says “So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?

Men, as the spiritual heads of our families, managing money is not a financial issue, it is a spiritual issue. Get involved in your family finances.

George Hutchison serves on the Board of Trustees of America’s KESWICK and is an instructor and counselor with Crown Financial Ministries

Great Quote: We are called to live Coram Deo, defined as: before the presence of God, under the authority of God and to the glory of God. — R. C. Sproul