It is amazing to me how mixed up many Christian concepts of heaven are.  They seem to be a blend of what the world believes, what superstition says and what they might have been taught at church or in bible study group.  I think the average believer spends very little time in scripture and consequently they don’t voice their beliefs with other Christians because they can’t defend those beliefs. We live in an age where the average person, whether Christian or secular, has access to many different translations of the Bible and yet we still seem to know so little of what the word of God actually says about the subject of heaven….other than it’s preferable to going to hell.

Sometimes we read scripture and assume we understand topics and words that may mean something we don’t understand, or mean more than we understand. I think the throne of God is one of these subjects. Since we don’t live with kings and queens today the concept and function of a throne is often lost to us. If that is the case, how are we to understand when God uses the idea and function of his throne room in his word?

In history, the throne room was where a ruler conducted business, dispensed laws and took actions, like making proclamations. It was also used to greet dignitaries coming from other countries wanting to do business. On occasion it would be used to dispense justice or mercy when prisoners were presented, or when a legal decision was needed in a public forum. I found a good, concise biblical explanation and thought I would include it here:

Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

In this passage there are a few key elements I want to address, especially as I see God challenging his followers to be engaged in them. The first is the challenge to draw near to God’s throne room of grace. The writer of Hebrews is telling us that God’s throne room is a place of power for all believers. That we can, and should, desire His power to handle every situation in life.

Second, if the believer is not aware of how to approach God in this setting, then one can be most assured they will not get the help they seek. Intimacy with God is not a given, but only for those who seek God on his terms and not on ours. I think that often we fail to evaluate our spiritual condition before approaching the throne room, and fail to honor God correctly as well.

Proverbs 3:32

The devious are a abomination to the Lord: But he is intimate with the upright.

If we don’t show the proper respect we are not granted a audience with God. How many times have we sought out God’s presence only to feel like God is not listening or not responsive? Could it be we try to run into God’s presence for help and yet have not shown the proper respect and honor? Could it be we are neglecting the “Protocols” of God’s throne room? Remember, the first thing Jesus taught his disciples in how to pray was to show proper honor to God before anything else.

Look at what David wrote about the “Foundation” of God’s throne room: He says that it is founded on “Righteousness & Justice,” meaning its primary function is to dispense rulings and help based on the merits of ourselves and our cause. It is to this end that he moves on our behalf.

Psalms 89:14

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.

David seems to say that love and faithfulness “Follow” the principles of righteousness and justice. If that is the case and we try to barge into the throne room for grace, but we are not first honoring our king, then his love and faithfulness will not be given or released as we desire.

The prophet Isaiah says that God declares that heaven is his throne room. Many believers seem to think that church is God’s dwelling place, or where his throne dispenses assistance. Isaiah says otherwise. Is it possible that we miss the “Pass Key” into the throne room, whether in church or not, that opens to us access to his power and help? I think it could be the attitude and posturing of our hearts that moves God the most and either honors him or doesn’t.

Isaiah 66:1-2

Thus says the LORD, Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? For My hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being, declares the LORD. But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.

God is declaring that, though we are challenged and called to “Boldly” come into his throne room, he assumes we have done the basics of respect and honor before doing so. God is not encouraging sloppy behavior just to be a blessing to us. He wants to encourage good behavior, especially when we approach his throne room.

Jesus, when referring to the throne room, paints a picture of great and awesome power where angels are gathered with him. It is in front of the throne of God that justice will be handed out to all the people of the earth. It is at the throne of God that those who have showed love and respect to the Son of God will be rewarded, and those who have not will be cast out into utter darkness. Jesus defines the throne room as being majestic and awesome, not a casual place to hang out in.

Matthew 25:31-3

But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;

The prophet Micaiah was asked by Israel’s king should they go to war? The answer was not favorable to the king because he did not honor the Lord, he only wanted God to rubber stamp his desire to beat his enemy. Listen to what the prophet saw in God’s throne room, and the kind of dynamics that God was revealing about how he operates. When we don’t honor the Lord properly we are at risk of the throne room not being a blessing but a curse.

2 Chronicles 18:18

Then Micaiah continued, Listen to what the LORD says! I saw the LORD sitting on his throne with all the armies of heaven on his right and on his left.

Lastly, in Isaiah 6 the prophet gets a glimpse of the throne room of God and the majesty, and he realizes how unclean he is. He cries out about his sin and the sin of his people. At this point an angel brings a hot coal and cleans his mouth. That is the Lord purifying his sin.

1] In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2] Seraphim were standing above Him, each having six wings: with two each covered his face, and with two each covered his feet, and with two each flew.3 ]And one called out to another and said,

4] And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. 5] Then I said,

6] Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.7 ]He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your guilt is taken away and atonement is made for your sin.”

In conclusion I am so glad we are encouraged to bodly come to the throne of grace, but let us not do so in ignorance of the place we seek the Lord nor his generosity in offering us his help. Let us come with love and honor in our hearts and show the proper respect an audience with the King of kings deserves lest we be found wanting, like Isaiah did, and realize we have mouths that are unclean before the Lord.

Questions:

1) Have you realized the throne room of God is a majestic and powerful place to meet God? How you approach the throne room will determine your outcome.

2) How often do you seek the Lord in his throne room? Hebrews seems to state that we should do so as often as we have a need. In my mind that means daily.

Seeking to understand God and his ways more clearly,

Pastor Dale

I wonder how many believers communicate Christ’s love through their lives, or do we communicate legal truth as a hammer to hit people to condemn their sin? Paul spoke about imparting Christ to people around us by having his Holy Spirit imparted to our hearts. Our lives should change because our hearts are truly impacted, rather than just intellectually informed. Our changed lives should then impact those around us. From my observation much of Christianity either revolves around judging other people of different styles of faith, or being wrapped up in our own personal edification rather than caring how we affect others. Paul said we are called to be ambassadors not just spectators.

This heart change that Paul talks about was “MANIFESTED” in the early believers so people who did not know God could tangibly see the love of God by how his followers acted in public and private. Secular people saw the transformation that Paul talked about in 2 Cor 5:17 where he says that the old things have passed away and new things come when people are born again. He calls it “Transformation” because Paul wanted people to know that being born again is not just a mental enlightenment, but a total change in our core that captivates our hearts. Paul talked about salvation in terms of “Conversion” rather than from a philosophical or theoretical perspective.

2 Corinthians 5:17-18

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature (creation); the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

The change that Paul talks about in this New Covenant is one in which we are reconciled to God. Our forgiveness is “Predicated” on the idea of reconciliation. Unless we are reconciled to God there is no forgiveness, regardless of any sinners prayer or declaration by us or others. In our modern church forgiveness has become such a cheap commodity that anyone can receive forgiveness, regardless of their relationship with God. This is something the scripture totally denies.

2 Corinthians 3:1-3

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again?  Or like some, do we need letters of commendation to you or from you? You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

When Paul uses the illustration of a “Letter” of Christ he is talking about a means of communication. Paul says this new covenant letter is possible by and through the power of the Holy Spirit in which life happens from the inside out. It is an impartation of God himself coming to live in harmony with us because we surrendered our selfishness and self- will which, in reality, was killing us. It is sad if we settle for a cheap form of grace that changes nothing other than our insecurity.

2 Corinthians 3:6

Who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Paul goes further in this chapter and says if the Holy Spirit lives in our souls we will find liberty because Jesus has set us free from being controlled by our selfish passions. How foolish for people to speak about Jesus being in their souls while holding on to selfishness and self-interest above God. We all have seen and heard of people claiming to have Jesus Christ as the Lord of their lives yet are still in rebellion to God and his word. Confession doesn’t make their salvation real unless they are living a surrendered life. This kind of life won’t happen by our strength of will, but rather by surrendering our will daily to the Holy Spirit, who keeps us free. Our choices make a difference and should never be minimized, but if God did not offer us help, our will and choices would be irrelevant. Paul states very clearly that “IN” the Holy Spirit is true freedom and liberty.

2 Corinthians 3:17

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Ask yourself this one most important question about this new covenant: Are you experiencing liberty to do what you want, or experiencing true liberty to do what God wants? The answer will either confirm who Christ is to you, or who he is not. My hope is that your confession will confirm the Lordship of Christ and declare to the world around you who your Lord is.

Additionally we need to understand that this transformation is not a one-time event or experience. Rather, it should be a daily journey as long as we continually yield our life to the Holy Spirit. My belief is that many who come to Christ for transformation get stuck in the initial encounter with Christ and are forever trying to live off that first experience. But, the fact is, we are called to experience Jesus in our lives freshly every day.

2 Corinthians 3:18

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

Remember that scripture always refers to salvation from three perspectives: Salvation from our past, salvation over our current life issues and our salvation when Jesus comes back to earth to claim all who love him. To think of salvation as a one-time experience is totally contrary to how God presents it in his words, and is nothing more than the doctrine of man.

Real Christianity is about discovering the lover of our soul in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, who manifested the Father’s heart for humanity. It is in this revelation that we discover how to walk day by day.

May Jesus be the light that we manifest.

Questions:

1) Have you experienced the transformation Paul talked about in which the love of God changes you? This is what Jesus talked about in John 3 about being born again. Don’t be fooled by just embracing doctrines as if Christianity is just about theology.

2) Have you embraced the Holy spirit for empowerment in your personal life, or are you trying to live the Christian life by shear willpower? Many people live like orphans rather than children of God – read what Jesus said about not leaving us as orphans, but giving us the Holy Spirit in John Chapter 14.

May we enjoy the manifestation of the Holy Spirit daily,

Pastor Dale

As you get older, hopefully you gain a different perspective on how life really works. When we are 18-20 we think we can do anything and that anything is possible, which is true but with a catch. What you don’t know is how much those ideas and potential dreams will cost you, or the challenge of what you will need to sacrifice in order for those dreams and ideas too manifest.

In the book of Romans Paul links everything in the Christian faith back to Abraham, who was the father of the Jewish nation. Abraham set the tone for trusting God even when he couldn’t understand his future. Trusting God is often a very hard concept when you give your heart to God because, like Abraham, we may not understand what or why God is leading us to do something or go somewhere. Faith and trust are linked together and if a Christian wants to please God we have to put our faith and trust in what God says just as Abraham did so many years ago. The pathway to a healthy relationship with God starts and continues with trust, in spite of a lack of information or revelation.

Hebrews 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

At the foundation of faith and trust is the purpose He gives all believers to “Be a Blessing” to those around us. This idea of purposely being a blessing challenges us at the core of our self-centeredness and the Holy Spirit will work on this attitude all of our lives. Building our life around loving God and loving people are the two many principles Jesus talked tirelessly about. It often means giving up resentment and bitterness over offenses. Abraham understood that God was calling him to be like his Heavenly Father and we have the same calling.

Genesis 12:2-3

And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

God blesses mankind so God expects and directs us to follow in his footsteps. I am reminded of the scripture in the book of Matthew where Jesus is talking about loving not only your neighbor but your enemies as well. I confess this is a hard value and principle to follow but it is incorporated within seeking the kingdom of God directive. God implies that since He is perfect in loving people, even the bad ones, we should strive to love as God loves, even the ones that seem difficult to bless because of their conduct. God knows we are broken because of sin in the world and yet He still loves us as John 3:16 declares. Every time it rains it does so on both the good and bad among us.

Matthew 5:45

So that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Let’s go back to Abraham. God shows him that the calling in his life is to be a blessing to those around him and impact the world.  God also says that Abraham’s greatness will be tied to that purpose. Since Abraham is our father of faith, we should follow in his footsteps and be a blessing to those we encounter in life each and every day.  It is certainly not always easy to do yet God promises us we will be blessed if we act as he does. It may be easy to bless those who seem to desire it or who are kind and generous to us but what about those who are unfair or cruel to us? That’s why having faith in what God says is often difficult to do. We must trust, even though we can’t always see the why.

After being freed from slavery in Egypt, Abraham’s brother Aaron was given the responsibility and privilege to be the head priest over Israel. If you look at the character of Abraham’s brother, he was anything but a solid believer in God and yet God chose him to set the example for Israel by verbally blessing them. Likewise, we may have come out of the world with bad habits and flawed character yet, as born again believers, we are now to order our steps like Abraham and his brother Aaron.

Aaron was given the calling to “Bless” God’s people and that same purpose is our calling.

Numbers 6:24-26

The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make His faceshine on you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance on you, and give you peace

There are over 500 direct verses that speak to the importance this practice of blessing and being a blessing. The disciples of Jesus, when going out to preach and heal, were instructed to have this same attitude of imparting a blessing and even to verbally bless those they encounter.

Matthew 10:12-13

As you enter the house, give it your greeting. If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace.

Blessing others may not always be received with open arms but, in the end, our attempt to be a blessing to people we meet will impact the world around us. Today could be that day the Holy Spirit puts in your path a person who desperately needs your blessing. Will you be obedient to the call of God and be the light of God through your actions or will you sit on your blessing and close your heart?

Questions:

1) Do you purposefully try to be a blessing to others? If we are not intentional regularly, we will most likely fall into the rut of thinking the world around us is for our benefit only.

2) How do you prepare to be a blessing to others? Look at your own talents and endeavor to naturally be a blessing to others with your gifts. Don’t just do what others do.

Pastor Dale

As we approach Christmas so many people get caught up in the stress of trying to find the perfect gift for family and friends, but what if we thought “Outside The Box” this Christmas and consider doing something special for a complete stranger or for a person we don’t know well? What if we prepared something unique and special that would demonstrate God’s love to this person? When we think about sharing our faith in God, or witnessing for Jesus during December, we often get intimidated by the complexity of the story rather than keeping things simple and to the point. Jesus made it simple for all of us when he said:

If we read the scripture without a social or commentary bias, this story about Jesus sending his 12 disciples to the next city when evening was approaching is very interesting. Little did the disciples know there would be a strong storm coming that evening, though they knew the sea of Galilee was known for storms happening quickly. The question I have is: did Jesus know he was sending the disciples into trouble or did this just happen?

Mark 6:45

Immediately after this, Jesus made his disciples get back into the boat and head out across the lake to Bethsaida, while he sent the people home.

Things to remember in answering this question is remembering Jesus always was led by what he saw the Father do.  In other words, this was the Father’s will to send the disciples into this storm.  Doesn’t that bring comfort to your heart! Secondly, Jesus often would put problems in front of the disciples in order to evaluate their heart and perception about doing God’s will. Often, these problems exposed hidden issues in the disciple’s hearts and their thinking.  Jesus wanted to address things they should have learned earlier and facing problems helped to sort out where the disciples trust was weak in their Heavenly Father. Without tests, there is no true evidence of faith.

Within this story, scripture says Jesus went to pray alone while he disciples herded for Bethsaida, which was about 4 miles along the coast. Considering what happened to the disciples, was Jesus praying for them or just praying about other things? My best guess is he knew this would be a test and they would either lose ground in their spiritual walk because of it or they could advance in their walk with God, which I believe is always God’s heart for us. So, I think Jesus was interceding for them to pass the test the father had laid out in this storm.

Here is the thing. Somehow many believers think that if they pray for safety or protection then nothing bad will happen to them. In some cases that is true but certainly not in all cases. Sometimes God has to let us walk independently into harms way in order to awaken us to our need of him. Our personal independence from God often is a problem for every believer and thus the Holy Spirit develops ways to manifest it to us so we can address it. The sad thing is the more we get to know God and his word the tendency is to act more independently because we “Assume” God is always with us and therefore we don’t need to pursue him as hard as when we were more immature.  It is paradoxical how knowledge can make us foolish or wise.

This story is in all four of the gospels so it must have greater importance than other stories or principles in scripture. That being said, I think we all have heard this story in sermons and thus it’s easy to think we know all it has to give us and therein is another problem. Shutting down our hunger to know more prevents us from seeing more, especially when it comes to our self reliance in reading scripture or hearing God’s voice. If our souls are not constantly adjusting to new revelation from the Holy Spirit we get stuck in religious thinking instead of flowing in the spirit. We fool ourselves into thinking we are more mature than we really are.

Verse 48 contains one important fact.   It says Jesus was going to them but then he started to go past them. Why? Why go to them and then seemingly decide to go past them? Maybe the disciples’ ability to overcome their fear of the storm would be exaggerated by the fear they saw a ghost. Fear is the opposite of faith and they were swimming in it with the storm.

Mark 6:48

He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three o’clock in the morning he came to them, walking on the water. He started to go past them,

Is it possible Jesus felt they would just freak out by seeing him walking on water so much so he figured it’s best to pass them by and then just meet them at their destination? I wonder how many times I didn’t have an encounter with the Lord because my heart and mind were so captivated by my problem or my trial?  Likely more than I realize, just like the disciple seemed to be. Maybe your fear clouds your ability to hear and feel the presence of the Lord, just like it did the disciples on that stormy night.

Near the end of this story, I think there is a hidden truth that applies to the disciples and to us. It states that the disciples didn’t get the “Significance” of the previous miracle of feeding the 5,000. Scripture literally says their “Hearts” were hard, which means not open to what God was trying to teach them. Again, they often react to miracles like you and I do. We forget the significance rather than having it build our faith and relationship with God.

Mark 6:51-52

Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped. They were astonished at what they saw. They still didn’t understand the significance of the miracle of the multiplied loaves, for their hearts were hard and they did not believe.

I hate to say it but many times my heart is hard or resistant towards what God is trying to speak to me.  Therefore, he has to allow hardship or trouble or great struggle to happen so that my heart becomes broken and moldable all over again. I’m sure the Lord doesn’t desire harm to come to us yet he knows if it does it will help us have a soft heart so he can teach us the secrets of the kingdom.

Psalms 34:18

The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.

You and I have the ability to have a “Teachable” spirit or a stubborn one. We can stay moldable in the Father’s hand or we can become stiff and resistant to what he wants us to learn.  Sometimes we are ignorant because we want to be and sometimes we are ignorant of what God is saying because we have become entrenched in our habits and ways of thinking.

I hate to say it but the disciples were just like us in some ways. They wanted to understand the words of Jesus but there were times when Jesus spoke and thy just couldn’t comprehend his words.  An example of this is when Jesus told them that the son of Man was going to be killed.  They heard his words but didn’t understand them because in this area they were not moldable because it went against what they wanted. They wanted a king that would overturn Roman rule, not a king that would be sacrificed for their sin.

Mark 9:32

But they didn’t understand what he was saying, and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.

That inability to understand Jesus hurt them more than they understood because when the time to stand up for their messiah came in the garden, they all ran away.

I pray you and I will constantly ask God to help us be moldable like clay so that his words to us will be understood and we will bless his heart because of it.

Questions:

1) Can we point out troubles that have come our way because we lacked the ability to see some weakness in our character without it? Confess your desire for God to make your heart soft and pliable like Isaiah did ( Isaiah 64:8)

2) Do you regularly ask God to keep you from testing? The Lord’s prayer encourages us to pray that we would not be led into temptation – that word is about “Testing” (Matthew 6:13)

May the Holy Spirit help us to keep soft hearts and open minds so our tests would be few rather than great,

Pastor Dale

I have learned there are a lot of people who claim they hear from God or from the Holy Spirit who told them to do something, but often times it’s nothing more than justifying their own desire. It seems they just want to say it’s ok to do something they want to do and God’s voice becomes their “Rubber Stamp” of approval. Granted, there are people who do hear from the Lord but maybe, just maybe, there are more pretenders than practicers in the body of Christ than we realize.

Today we often hear in church that God wants to heal our broken heart but have we ever thought God might want our hearts broken instead? Is it possible that God requires a brokenness in our souls in order for us to be truly healed? In scripture we often get confused when understanding how and when God restores us and thus we may in fact fight against the process He designed for our own restoration.

When you read books about Christianity written before the 1900s, or even the early 20th century, they often used different words to described what a person coming to Christ should look like and act like. Generally, they did not use the word “SAVED” or even ”Born again” but rather they used a word like “Converted” to describe the change in a person’s life. Why is this important and and how should we look at our own salvation or the experience of others who have been “Born again?”