Is Your Faith Completely Naked?

My friend, Leesa Barnes, is hosting a blog series featuring faith-centered professionals providing advice on how to add more naked faith to your business.

These faith-centered workers are men and women who are bestselling publishers, success coaches, association directors, solopreneurs, online community managers, motivational speakers, professionals who have been on their own journey to add more faith to their sales, marketing and customer service.

Beginning on April 2, 2012, Leesa and her guest authors (including yours truly on April 4th) will provide you with tips over a 30-day period. You’ll also get action steps that you can take each day to help you on your journey to reintegrate more faith into your business. Whatever your work (paid or volunteer), you can benefit from these insights.

Are you ready to get naked with your faith?

Click here to add yourself to the announcement list so you can join the community of other faith-centered men and women.

K.R. Pent

Christian Militia

What is coupled with the name Christian never ceases to amaze and frustrate me. Recent headlines proclaim the arrest of a “Christian Militia” group in Michigan. The ironic fact is that this arrest took place just before Easter.

The disciples of Jesus were equally amazed and dismayed before Easter some 2000 years ago, but for polar-opposite reasons.

They had expected a King, a Ruler who would come and wipe out Israel’s enemies and set them free from Rome. They watched their Messiah get arrested, charged with blaspheming and rabble rousing, and sentenced to die, all without a fight. They must have felt they had somehow they’d pinned their hopes on the wrong man.

Yet Scripture, hundreds of years earlier had predicted this scene:

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)

When questioned by Pilate, Rome’s Procurator of Judaea, Jesus answered: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm." (John 18:36)

The word “Christian” originated in the Near East city of Antioch (in modern day Turkey). It meant to be a follower of Christ, one who adheres to Christ’s teachings.

“A new commandment I give to you,” Jesus had instructed His disciples, “that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Blowing up synagogues, as some have done in the name of Christ, killing abortion clinic workers or police, gathering soldiers to crusade against those of other faiths—none of these are what Christ taught His followers to do, none have anything to do with love. All these actions derive from an earthly kingdom estranged from God.

This is the Ultimate Blasphemy: to call yourself by the name of Christ and to live like the devil.

A Walk Through The Valley

I sit to write this evening with too much I'm learning and little feeling of resolve. It is like I am in a valley with mountains climbed behind me and mountains to climb around me. Yet, I can't apply directly what I've learned to the place through which I'm traveling. I'm on a journey through a Death Valley I've never seen before. I don't know what will bite or attack me around the next bend in the woods. The comfort of the moment is surrounded by strange noises from the bush.

Do you ever go through times like this? The pain of the Haitians is almost too much to consider. You may be able to quote chapter and verse of God's love and sovereignty and can rest, as I am doing, on the mystery that God is good all the time. Yet, you're reminded of the horror of suffering in other countries, the co-worker who is killed leaving a young family behind, the door you longed to enter slammed, and the uncertainty and bleakness of tomorrow still to be faced. It leaves you numb.

I'm thankful that times like these are not the norm. Joy does come in the morning. Yet, as Ecclesiastes reminds us, wisdom is more often gained in the house of mourning than the house of revelry.

I'm praying there is something supernaturally wonderful in store for the souls of our Haitian friends. What are your thoughts as you hear of those in Haiti?

Philippians 4:6-7 and Proverbs 3:5 have been verses I've clung to this past week. What promises comfort you through life's valleys?

A Secret Agent

What I love about secret agents is not the popular fiction rubbish. I'm not enamored with the fast cars, steamy romances, or a glittery life.

In fiction, I like the calm, cool-thinking of Danger Man John Drake or the poetic melancholy of George Smiley. For reality, I enjoy the accounts of war spies or more recent agents.

Yes, my pulses race with the secret gadgets, master disguises, and living-on-the-edge escapes; although, most of their tasks, like ours, take place in the mundane, daily routine.

I also appreciate their loneliness. Unlike James Bond, their exploits are rarely applauded. Most of their life-altering decisions are archived in the never-see-daylight vaults of agent history.

In the States, it is common for various governing authorities to undermine these agencies, to criticize, to tie their hands, to demand the impossible. When a traitor is exposed, the taint reflects on the faces of all the service.

So, why these reflections?

Several friends and aquaintances of mine are fighting silent battles. Some have diseases with names that attack muscles or joints; some are a nameless torture of the body and mind. Some are mental illnesses. All work as isolators, making their victim feel cut off from the rest of the world...alone.

In a way, I think every individual feels this aloneness. Sicknesses of mind or body excentuate the reality that already exists.

True communication demands mental alertness, emotional sensitivity, and the unity of verbal and non-verbal signals. When exhaustion dulls one aspect of this combined effort, misunderstanding glares out of another's eyes. If the exhaustion persists, one may shy away from this affect and simply pull inside themselves.

How does this tie in with thoughts of a secret agent?

In the Christian realm, more than in general life, I think we're all like secret agents. All have a goal from an authority the watching world can't recognize (albeit a Perfect One). We have assignments that are given to us individually. We live all over the world, but are not regular citizens of any place. We have weapons that are silent and unseen and may look harmless, such as our sword—the Bible; we alone have experienced the power it can wield against unseen forces.Our unity of purpose is vital for success. One traitor, hypocrite, in our midst casts years of angry accusations on Christianity as a whole.

As fellow agents, it is vital that we back each other up in the fight.

But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:13)

We must provide each other with the equipment that will allow for the success of the mission.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. (Hebrews 10:24)

We provide the celebrations and the mourning for successes and failures, because our work depends on each other. We are not islands.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. (Romans12:15)

This is where the sick agent, the mentally worn agent needs the most support. We are not to quit reaching out, because we seem to have no success. We need to bear with them in suffering, even if we go around in circles.

Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. (Romans 15:1)

The difference is our Director of Intelligence doesn't retire us to the shelf when we are weak, when our best years are behind us, when we have nothing left to give.

This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

The world believes in survival of the fittest. But for those born again by Jesus, the weak are indispensible.

Every Christian community must know that not only do the weak need the strong, but also that the strong cannot exist without the weak. The elimination of the weak is the death of the community. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Do you feel weak today? Jesus said, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."

Do you feel strong and full of hope?  Wrap your arm around someone who is discouraged and help to lift them. Leave off the advice and learn to listen. Your hope will infuse them best by listening to their heart.

If you feel alone, reach out to a community of Christians around you. While we complete our missions here, we will always carry around the loneliness that sin has brought upon this world, but some day our unity with God and with each other will be complete. Some day, He will wipe every tear from our eyes. "There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:4)

You are here on assignment. Be faithful to the mission He has made you to do.

Can My Faith Survive In the Twenty-First Century?

Our world gets noisier all the time. Have you noticed? So many messages: billboards, text, instant, skype, mobile phones, e-mail, Facebook, radio, TV, You Tube, Twitter, Ipods.... It's endless. Even if you just scan and don't take the time to study, your brain picks up a plethora of messages and many get filed away.

Most messages we'd classify as neutral. Yet even the neutral ones have a reason behind them, an angle on life that may or may not match up with your own. Once received, one must analyse the material: Is it true? Is it a lie? If one doesn't, the default is that whatever comes in becomes part of the filter for seeing life.

For example, morality. Is it only natural for a guy and girl to have sex? In fact, if you're listen to most messages, it is unnatural if a couple were not to have sex. If you hear it enough times, doesn't God's verses on waiting and keeping the marriage bed pure seem idealistic? Why wait?

At seven years of age, I watched my older siblings reading the Bible. That year a desire awoke in me to follow in their steps. Many years I struggled at being consistent. One of my best friends in high school was probably my greatest help. We not only kept each other accountable, but we'd wrote notes of encouragement for the other to find in the morning, we'd pray together for our favourite musicians wherever they'd be performing, and, on vacation, we'd wander of to a quiet spot and start the day in private devotions.

These times of constant practice have become a part of me. Routine is now calculated around the time needed to spend in God's Word. Are they always deep spiritual times? Sadly, no. Often I have read just to read and my prayers may sound more like wish-lists. I try not to let this be the case, but I come regardless of how mechanical it feels. Even those times, dry though I may be, have helped to build a solid wall of truth in my heart and mind.

I know they have, because of some questions on good and evil that have come to my mind. Questions that you'd know the answer to in Sunday School, but in the private of your heart you hear a voice that sounds so convincing. Then, suddenly, it's as if the light of God's Word shines on the question and you see it as the Old Serpent of Genesis. No direct verse may come to mind, but you know the truth, because it is daily filling you, renewing your mind.

"And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Romans 12:2

Do we think that Satan sleeps? That he takes days off? Why then do we think that we can skip what God describes as the armour that protects us (Ephesians 6)?

I'm thankful that circumstances worked to make daily Bible reading and prayer part of my life. I don't take credit for that. But I am convinced that unless you spend time daily with God, your faith will die or become so sick, it will not function.

No, I do not believe in losing your salvation. I do believe that if you truly want to follow God, you have to make a disciplined effort to pursue Him ("You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart" Jeremiah 29:12). If you do not seek Him daily, the messages all around you will crowd out His Word until your heart is cold and unbelieving.

We are in a constant spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:12). If we do not pick up the sword of the Spirit, the shield of faith, the breast plate of righteousness (practicing giving, fasting, compassion, encouragement, worshipping in church), and the helmet of salvation daily, we will be exposed and hit by the flaming arrows of our enemy. He has no love for us. He does not have mercy on us when we are unprepared to fight. He'd gladly kill us in our sleep. To have us live without an active faith is his best weapon to hurt the heart of God.

It's much easier to hear those loudly babbling in our ears or before our eyes than it is to pursue the True and Living God. But is it worth it? Gain the whole world and yet forfeit our soul?

In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul talks about those who waste their life and then face God. Verses 14-15: "If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames."

Life is so short and eternity so long, let us do now what we will wish for all eternity we had the chance to do again.

Who's Side is God On?

One of the things heavy on my heart this week is the state of my nation. I am actually not thinking directly of the present administration, which you may or may not like. I'm reacting to the people.

Two things have disturbed me: some of those supportive of the present administration here in the States and some of those against it. Let me begin in reverse--with those against it.

Someone I work with, who speaks to large groups of Christians, reported an alarming attitude amongst the majority of those to whom he talks. They seem to be arguing that our only option is to form militias. This is disturbing on many levels.

For one, the conduct of a Christian as taught in the Bible is expressly contrary to rebelling against authority. Paul urges us strongly to pray for our leaders and respect those in authority as God's agents.

The Apostle Peter argues: "What credit do you deserve if you endure a beating for doing something wrong? But if you endure suffering for doing something good, God is pleased with you. God called you to endure suffering because Christ suffered for you. He left you an example so that you could follow in his footsteps. Christ never committed any sin. He never spoke deceitfully. Christ never verbally abused those who verbally abused him. When he suffered, he didn't make any threats but left everything to the One who judges fairly." (1 Peter 2:20-23)

We have an unusual right to peacefully make our voices heard. When we know something to be wrong, we can try to vote against it or entreat our leaders to follow their consciences. We are not, however, called to take violent action (even if things get worse) to take back what we have had.

We are promised persecution. As hard as it is to accept, what we as citizens of the West have experienced is unusual to most of the world. PRAY we keep it! But don't, by your thoughts, conversations, and potential actions CAUSE persecution for all Christians, because you choose to take the law into your own hands (the devil's delight!). Don't be such a pawn. Be a Christian, if you call yourself by His name.

On the other side, I worry when I hear people twisting definitions in order to make something that's unconstitutional palatable. I'm thinking here of the right of the President to go against Fox News. Whether you like them or not is immaterial. I have heard over and over those in journalism saying Fox does not qualify as news, because they do not present their material with the appearance of objectivity. Because it is not news, they say, it is perfectly right for the President to close them down.

I see freedom of speech slowly being redefined to fit a narrow definition of what is allowed. I hear of it in the UK--a couple imprisoned, because they said they believed Islam was wrong, and that offended the Muslims who heard. There is less tolerance for truth and more applauding of twisted, mutilated truth that has a pretty face and good PR.

When we seek to know which side of the political line God is on, I'm reminded of Joshua 5:13 - 15. Joshua was leading the Israelites into a battle God had told him to fight. Before the battle he saw, "a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, 'Are you for us, or for our enemies?' And he said, 'No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.'

As Oswald Chambers said, God is not on any side. The question is are we on God's side. If we claim the name of Jesus, let us follow the example of Jesus, wherever it may lead.

Deja Vu and Amnesia

Do you ever have days when you feel what you conquered several hours before is back defeating you now? For me, this is one of the hardest parts of life.

I'm not one for repetition. I hate song lyrics that repeat and repeat. I get impatient with hearing long stories of trite origin retold.

This is one of the reasons I didn't last as a piano student. I hated scales. Maybe it's because I'm task-oriented; I love to accomplish something and check it off my list. Likely too, I'm just lazy.

Regardless, in my image of how life should play out, I should learn something, master it, and move on; I should not be trying to emotionally grasp it a week, a day, an hour later.

Someone aptly quoted a Professor Clair Davis saying that the Christian life is "a combination of amnesia and deja vu, but I'm not sure if I've said that before!" It correctly sums up this feeling of learning and relearning.

I've been reading through Genesis, Exodus and now into Leviticus. One of the things that struck me this time, while reading of the rituals of the sacrificial system, was how interactive it was. It cost something. You had to bring one of your own animals or purchase one, lay your hand on it, and kill it. It cost financially, but it also cost emotionally. That animal was taking your place, dying because you sinned. The physical interaction had to leave an indelible impression. There was the smell of incense, not to be burned anywhere else; the feel of the lamb's head under your hand as you held it while it was slain; the sight and smell of the blood and burning...

Our sins have cost Jesus the utmost price; dying for sins He never committed, and for people who never loved Him (and most who never would). Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls it costly grace. Jesus paid the ultimate penalty so that we would be free. Free to do what we want? No. Free to serve Him from our heart.

This all comes back to the battle. We are free to fight now. Free to win by the Spirit of God in us, who belong to Him. Yes, it is wearying to fight and re-fight, but we have the chance to win a battle that before Jesus we had no hope to win.

This fight is the cost of our faith. It does not win us salvation, but is a result of being saved.

My nephew said it this way: "Just when I think that I cannot go on, I look up and see Your cross."

And the writer of Hebrews says, "In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood." (Hebrews 12:4)

The trials and lessons of life are God's way of discipling us as His sons, Hebrews goes on to say. We are disciplined out of love, so that we won't be spoiled children.

What about you? Are you relearning a lesson you thought you'd learned? Don't lose heart. There is a point to this deja vu. He teaches us again, and He doesn't give up on us.

"Let us not get tired of doing what is good, for at the right time we will reap a harvest-if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9)