Untangling Opponents

How often do you face opponents? How do you approach an opponent? Do you look to annihilate them? Does it depend on what kind of opposition it is? Do you know there is instruction provided for handling opponents?

As we go through life, especially as we make our following of Jesus known, we will face people who oppose us. They will attempt to trip us up, knock us down, make us look like a fool, and generally thwart our plans.

There are people in this world that want nothing to do with religion. Of course, that is part of the problem. They have a bad attitude toward organized religion, which has given God a bad reputation in some cases. Our instruction from the Bible is not to convince someone to follow an organized religion, but to follow Jesus Christ. As we face people who don’t want to talk about church, we should not be offended, rather we should talk about Jesus. Notice the small “c” rather than the capital “C” in that sentence. The capital “C” Church is Christ’s Church, which is His body of believers who follow His commands, not simply man’s tradition.

Paul’s instruction to Timothy is to gently approach the person who opposes God. I can imagine this being like approaching a horse that has gotten tangled in barbed wire. You must keep the horse calm, talking to it in a soothing voice. Gently untangling the wire one strand at a time. You can’t rush in expecting to release the horse in just a few moments. It takes time. You must assess the situation, identify all the tangles, develop a plan to remove them one at a time, all while keeping the horse calm knowing it will continue to try to get up from time-to-time.

Untangling the resistance of a person who opposes God is not a fast process. It may require us to ask many questions over several conversations before we can begin to address the tangles. We must be patient and understanding. We must keep our goal of bringing them to Jesus, saving them from destruction in the forefront of our mind. We will likely get frustrated and need to take a break while praying God grants us patience and wisdom to continue untangling the arguments offered by the person.

Chipping away at arguments can seem to like pounding our head against a brick wall. Might I suggest looking at it more like being a sculpture. We chip away one small piece at a time with the goal of creating a masterpiece. God does the same with us and He will guide us as we assist Him in doing the same with someone else. Once we have freed the person from the devil’s trap, we will experience a joy we have never felt before.

I pray we all approach those who oppose God with gentleness. I pray we ask God to open our eyes to see the tangles the person is dealing with. I pray each one of us will be patient and keep our goal in mind. Be patient with opponents. Be gentle with opponents. Ask God for guidance. Ask God for wisdom. Trust God to lead you.

2 Timothy 2:25-26 Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

Lost Seed

How well do you listen? Do you retain what you hear? Can you hear something being said and remember it? Do you hear instruction and know how to apply it in your life? Have you tried to be better at listening and applying?

We are inundated with new information every day. It may come to us verbally from someone we know or while watching the news. We may read information in books, newspapers, or on our computer or phone. We must filter and determine what to do with it all.

The information we hear or read is filtered into two basic categories—useful or not useful. Of course, those two categories are often replaced by two more desirable categories—those we are interested in and those we are not. Notice the difference? We often trade what is useful for what we are interested in. We translate our interests into being useful, which is not always the case.

We can argue about why we do this, but it all boils down to one core reason—we are being fooled. The devil entices us to be selfish, lures us away with shiny objects, hooks us with addictions, and generally pulls us away from what is most useful. His sole purpose is to keep us from learning more about God. Don’t think it is true? Take a look at what you spend your time doing. Log the time you spend watching television, what you are looking at on your computer or phone, and what types of books you read. How much of it is furthers your knowledge of God?

Jesus explains this in the parable of the sower as the seed that falls along the path. The devil snatches it away or squashes it, much like a boot might pick up the seed or trample it so that it won’t sprout. Satan’s desire to keep us from believing God, believing in Jesus Christ, and from being saved. Unfortunately, we see him being far too successful.

What can we do? We can consciously spend more time reading God’s Word, reading books by trusted Bible scholars or Christian authors, and listening to trusted Bible teachers and preachers. The more we put God’s Word and teaching into our minds and hearts, the better we can identify the distractions and avoid them.

I pray we all spend more time with God’s Word. I pray we spend time feeding our minds with God’s teaching. I pray each one of us will decide to be the seed that fell on good soil. Read God’s Word. Read trusted Christian authors. Spend time listening to God’s Word. Choose what you feed your brain wisely. Don’t be fooled. Trust God.

Luke 8:11-12 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.”

Resist Evil

Do you face opposition? Do you know who it is who is opposing you? Do you know why you are being opposed? Are you resisting? Do you know who or what you are resisting? Do you understand the opposition and resisting?

We face opposition in more forms than we can count. There is physical opposition, verbal opposition, thought opposition, cultural opposition, and social opposition. We resist using the same forms in which we face opposition.

With all the opposition and resistance going on, is it any wonder we see so much frustration, disgruntlement, and hatred in our world? Opposing forces in constant combat. It seems we are continually in a struggle. But where does this struggle come from? What is going on behind the scenes that causes this struggle?

Ultimately, the battle is a continual struggle between good and evil. Unfortunately, our world has distorted the perspective of good and evil. It has devolved into each person developing their own definition of good and evil. When this happens, it is no wonder we see people opposing one another with righteous indignation, fully believing they are in the right.

There is only one who can rightly define good—God. In today’s passage, we see that God opposes the proud. We often believe being proud of our country, our school, our team, or our company is good. When we are filled with pride, we are being opposed by God and we are in opposition to Him. And…we wonder why we suffer. There are consequences for opposing God.

On the other hand, we see we are to resist the devil. You see, the devil is the one who entices us to be proud. He entices us to oppose God. For what reason? Simple…apostasy. That’s a big word. It means to depart from or desert your religion or principles.

As people who claim to belong to God, who follow Jesus Christ, pride becomes apostasy. We are called to be different, to be humble. We see that God is on the side of the humble. What does being humble require? It requires us to submit to God’s will, His instruction, His guidance. It requires us to stop looking down on others. It requires us to stop being selfish. God desires us to be humble and allow Him to reward us.

I pray we all submit to God. I pray we resist the temptations of the devil. I pray each one of us will humble ourselves before God. Trust God to provide your reward. Resist the devil’s temptations. Humble yourself before God. Submit to God.

James 4:6-7 That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Confess Your Doubts

Do you have hidden doubts? Are you unsure or insecure about something? Are you hoping no one sees what you have covered with an outer shell? Has your hidden doubt led to fear? How would you feel if it was revealed?

We sometimes have doubts we don’t want to reveal. Those doubts eat away at us and cause us to be fearful of exposure. We desire to keep our doubts buried under a façade we have developed for others to see.

We may doubt if we can complete a college degree. We may doubt we are suited for a specific job. We may doubt if we are cut out to be parents. We may doubt if we are good enough. Our doubts may develop into fears. Fear we will be discovered. Fear others will think less of us if they know we have these doubts. Fear our friends will reject us because of our doubts and insecurities.

Sometimes, the best thing that can happen is for our doubts to be exposed. In fact, it may be that everyone already knows, but has been keeping it hidden as well. Bringing the doubt to the surface can clear the air, allow for healing, allow for the doubt to be removed.

Take the example from today’s passage. Though it was unsaid, I’m sure the apostles were wondering how the people who were following Jesus were going to eat. We are told there were five thousand men, besides women and children. That’s a lot of people. Jesus knows the apostles are wondering about it and have doubts as to how the people will eat. Perhaps they were especially worried about the children. So, Jesus exposes their doubt. Once it is exposed and the apostles confess they cannot feed them, Jesus works a miracle and feeds them all with five loaves of bread and two small fish.

It often works the same way for us. Once we confess our doubts to Jesus, He works in our lives to remove those doubts. However, it is up to us to take the first step, which is confession. He stands ready to intervene on our behalf.

I pray we all confess our doubts to Jesus. I pray we open ourselves up and allow Him to intervene for us. I pray each one of us are willing to look at ourselves and see the doubts we have buried. Trust Jesus. Confess your doubts to Him. Allow Jesus to intervene for you. Take the first step.

John 6:5-6 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

Looking for Proof

What does it take for you to believe something you hear? What if it sounds a little outrageous? Do you need to have proof? Do you need to see it with your own eyes? What does that say about your faith?

We all want proof for some claims we hear. If we hear of someone surviving a horrendous automobile accident, we want to see them and the vehicle. If we hear of someone making an amazing catch, we want to see the video.

Some of us simply won’t believe without seeing with our own eyes. We may even say, “I’m from Missouri, show me” as a way of indicating we don’t believe it. Others of us will acknowledge we heard but still won’t believe. We may say nothing, but in our minds, we are thinking, “That can’t possibly be true. It’s an exaggeration.”

Jesus ran into this same skepticism when people heard about Him. Some might have a small inkling or hope the stories were true, but they wanted additional proof. Others may have believed and wanted Jesus to perform a miracle for them, out of their own selfishness. Are we like this sometimes?

If we are looking for proof that Jesus is who He says He is today, we cannot simply run up to Him and ask Him to perform a miracle. So, how do we get proof? How do we get proof of Alexander the Great’s conquering of nations? How do we know Aristotle or Socrates wrote what they wrote? We trust these historical events have been written down and passed down. Yet, we have more written historical proof about Jesus than those three combined and still don’t believe.

Why don’t we believe? The simple reason is this, Jesus causes us to make a choice. We can acknowledge and even believe what we read of Alexander, Aristotle, and Socrates without it changing our lives one bit. But Jesus demands a choice and our lives to change if we believe in Him.

We don’t want to make the choice. We don’t want to live different. We don’t want to be different than our friends and the rest of the world. We prefer to fit in than stand out. We say we want to stand out, yet our actions say something completely different. Believing Jesus is who He says He is requires us to change. It requires us to allow Him to make the change in us.

I pray we all believe Jesus is who He says He is. I pray we believe deep in our hearts. I pray each one of us will allow Him to make changes in our lives, so we stand out in the crowd. Believe in Jesus. Know that He is who He says He is. Allow Him to make a change in you. Trust Him.

John 4:48 “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

Questions to Doubt

Do you have questions? Do you have lots of questions? Is your tendency to question everything and everyone? Or do you only question what you disagree with or do not like? Do you question it, even when you know in your heart it is true?

We all have questions. In fact, we may question many things in our workplace, our homes, our neighborhoods, and even our churches. We may be correct in questioning those things we question. Then again, we may not.

Asking questions to learn is a wonderful thing. We need to ask questions, especially if we are attempting to learn a new trade, learn history, or better understand what is going on around us. But we get in trouble when our questions are meant to stump, belittle, or otherwise cause the other person to look foolish.

In today’s passage, the priests knew Jesus was speaking with authority. They knew He spoke with an authority far above theirs—and they didn’t like it. They wanted to hear Him boast about where His authority came from in order to make Him look foolish in front of a crowd. It was done so they could point their finger at Him and call Him a blasphemer. They wanted to put doubt in the minds of the people.

We are called to put our faith in Jesus. There will be times when others will ask questions, just like these priests, to cause us to doubt. We must stand strong in our faith, not allowing them to put doubt in our minds. We must be prepared for questions designed to make us look foolish in an effort to shame us into crumbling in front of others.

Standing firm in our faith can be difficult at times. Peer pressure, being uncomfortable, and in the spotlight can be challenging. Yet, if we lean on Jesus, lean on the Holy Spirit, we can persevere through it. Continue to put your faith and trust in Him.

I pray we all hold on to our faith. I pray we prepare ourselves for being questioned by others. I pray we don’t allow others to put doubt in our minds about who Jesus is. Hold on to your faith. Hold on to Jesus. Put doubt out of your mind. Don’t allow others to cause doubt.

Luke 20:1-2 One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?”

Healing Power

Is there a significant worry in your life? Have you tried several different possibilities without any success? Are you thinking there is no one who can help? Are you about to give up? Will you turn to the One who can help?

There are times in our lives when we come up against a significant issue. Some are of our own making. Others appear to come out of nowhere. It is the second version that knocks us off our feet. It is the one that baffles us and may leave us desperate.

Often, those second type of issues are health issues. Some may argue the health issue comes from bad choices when we are young. Yet there are many that are not a result of choices. They are a result of a broken world where disease strikes in unexpected places. It seems to be random. We become a victim. We may go through a variety of treatments. We can become exhausted and ready to stop trying. The options of future treatment become grimmer and grimmer, more tiring with little chance of success. They wear on our psyche, emotional health, and physical health.

In today’s passage, we see a woman who was experiencing just such a health issue. She had spent all her money on doctors with no healing. Due to Jewish law, she was not allowed to be in contact with the general public, which meant she couldn’t even shop for groceries. She wasn’t allowed to go to the temple or synagogue to worship. Her family was not allowed to be in contact with her without becoming ceremonially unclean and having to go through a cleansing process and waiting period. Twelve years of isolation had likely exhausted her to the point giving up. But she heard about a man named Jesus who had miraculous power to heal. Her desperation and a small bit of hope led her to touch His clothes. She was immediately healed.

Jesus offers all of us hope. He offers the hope of healing. The healing we need may be mental or physical or spiritual. Do we have the smallest bit of faith that Jesus can heal us? Jesus stands ready to heal, though he is not a genie in a bottle. Go to Jesus in faith and ask Him for healing.

I pray we all turn to Jesus. I pray we dig deep for that small bit of faith in Him. I pray each one of us will trust Jesus, not only in times of desperation, but every day of our lives. Turn to Jesus. Trust Jesus. Turn you troubles over to Him. Reach out to Jesus.

Mark 5:25-28 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.”

Faith in Miracles

Do you sometimes wonder if there is anyone who can help? Are you in a place, right this moment, in which you doubt there is a way out? If you were required to give up your past to get help, would you?

Sometimes, the downward spiral we are on appears to be never ending. We may think we have dug a pit and continue to dig ourselves into a deeper hole. Our perspective is nothing but darkness. But then again, we are looking down into the hole rather than up.

It is when we are in our deepest despair that we often don’t see a way to regain our joy. When we find ourselves in a bind that appears to have no way out, we may get to a point of giving up. Rather than give up, we need to look up. God has an answer. He can pull us out.

Can you imagine being the father or mother of the child in today’s passage? A young boy is possessed by a demon who throws him into fire and water in an attempt to kill him. Your child is being tortured for no apparent reason. You can do nothing about it. You are powerless. You grasp at one last hope. You have heard of a rabbi who can cast out demons. You hope it is true. But your hope is razor thin.

We may find ourselves on razor thin hope. One small slip and we tumble into the abyss. The good news is this, Jesus can still work miracles today. What does it cost us? Full commitment to Him. We must be willing to give up our wayward lifestyle. We must be willing to give all we are back to Him. We must put our faith, no matter how little it may be, into His redeeming power.

It may sound simple. It may sound absurd. It may sound like too high of a price to pay. But if we are willing, He will work the miracle. It has happened time and time again. Today’s passage is just one example of what He is able to do.

I pray we all put our faith in Jesus. I pray we are willing to give up our old ways to take on His way. I pray each one of us will fully commit to Him. Trust God. Put your faith in Jesus. Be willing to start anew. Ask Him for the help you need.

Mark 9:21-23 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

Ye Of Little Faith

Do you have a tall task ahead of you? Are you procrastinating taking it on? Do you have a feeling of dread when thinking about it? Have you allowed the task to grow in your mind? Have you asked God for His help?

Sooner or later we all face a task we believe will be difficult. We may believe it will be an unpleasant task. The mere thought of it may cause us to shudder with apprehension. We may even ask others if they are willing to help or take it on for us.

As we face difficult or challenging tasks, our minds can make a mountain out of a mole hill. We may get to a point of deciding to take it on, get it over with, so we can move on to something else. Sometimes, that task turns out to not be as bad as we originally thought. We may also find that we learned something new in the process.

We see in today’s passage that Jesus tells His apostles they can move mountains with just a little faith. The qualifier to this is having no doubt. It means trusting God completely. It sounds simple, and it is in one respect. Yet it is hard for us in another.

Why is it hard? We believe we must be able to handle things on our own. We have allowed science to convince us the supernatural no longer exists. We believe only what we can see. Our dependence on God has waned as we have gotten materially richer. If someone talks about a supernatural encounter, we look at them as though they have three eyes in their head.

Trusting God has become, “I trust God, but only as far as I can see Him.” But I can tell you from personal experience that God is active and working in this world. I can tell you He has worked in my life. I can tell you when I’ve cried out for His help with a task I could not do on my own, that He has stepped in.

God wants us to reach out to Him. It is unfortunate that we often won’t reach out until we have nowhere else to turn. It is unfortunate that we must get to a point of frustration and even anger before we reach out. God allows us to get to that point. He won’t step in until we reach out and fully believe He can help.

I pray we all put our faith in God. I pray we turn to God before we get frustrated. I pray each one of us trusts our all-powerful God to help us when we ask for it. Increase your faith. Have no doubt. Trust God. Reach out to God. Ask God for help. Receive God’s blessing.

Matthew 21:21-22 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Eliminate Doubt

What kind of doubts do you have? Do your doubts catch you off guard? Do they appear suddenly, out of nowhere? Do your doubts only occur when you are confronted with an unexpected situation?

We all have doubts at different times in our lives. Doubts are a natural part of life. Being skeptical can be a healthy attitude for us to have. It can also be a detriment to our ability to achieve success. It can hold us back and even paralyze us.

You may wonder how doubting can paralyze you. Doubts can grow into fear and fear can become paralyzing. Fear may come all of a sudden, but it can also grow from something much smaller, such as a doubt. We may have doubted we would make the basketball team and it manifested itself into a fear so strong we didn’t perform well, and our doubt turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Doubts can become worries. We fret over our doubts to the point they affect our health and our decisions. We may choose to hibernate in our homes out of fear. We may choose to not go on a date because we don’t feel we are good enough for the other person. We can all point to doubts we have had that kept us from doing something we wanted or someone else was encouraging us to do.

Today’s passage comes from the end of the encounter the apostle Peter had with Jesus walking across the lake. The apostles were instructed to go across in a boat while Jesus went up on the mountain to pray. In the middle of the night, Jesus is walking across the lake when they see Him, thinking perhaps he was a ghost. Peter told Him to call him out on the water if he was not a ghost. Jesus calls Peter out to Him. Peter is fine until the wind kicks up, then he was afraid. All of a sudden, Peter is sinking and cries out to Jesus to save him.

You might view Peter’s reaction to the wind as fear. It is a classic case of doubt turning into fear in a heartbeat. The process starts with Peter initially doubting he could walk on water, which turned to fear, and caused him to lose faith in Jesus.

Doubts spring up and can manifest themselves into fear quickly. It can happen so fast; we cannot identify the process by which it occurred. How do we counter it? Jesus tells us Himself—increase our faith. We need to step out in faith more often and grow in faith. This doesn’t mean we need to attempt to walk across a lake. We do need to take small steps in faith and grow into taking bigger steps.

I pray we all take steps in faith. I pray we rid ourselves of doubts with faith. I pray each one of us will face our doubts and believe Jesus will be with us each step of the way as we conquer them. Trust Jesus. Trust God. Increase your faith. Rid yourself of doubt. 

Matthew 14:31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”