mixed, murky and manipulative motives…

the bible says in 1 john 4.1 (niv), dear friends, do not believe every spirit.  but test the spirits to see whether they are from GOD.  we make decisions on totally human bases and throw out a whole assortment of ouija board methods.  and then we will tag on to that, that’s how GOD is leading my life.  all these weird circumstances happen.  that must be GOD leading my life.

i heard about the college student needing a car.  he didn’t know which car GOD wanted him to purchase.  one night he had a dream.  in his dream everything was yellow.  so when he woke up the next morning, he believed GOD had given him his answer in that dream.  so after going to several used car lots, he found a car that was yellow inside and outside.  everything about the car was yellow.  he bought it without even test driving it.  appropriately it was a lemon.

we do try to know GOD’s will in some crazy ways.  “LORD, let this next traffic light be green and i know i should keep this appointment…  LORD, let my telephone ring by 9 p.m. and i’ll know this is the guy i should date.”  some of you are asking, “can’t GOD speak like that?” 

i believe that GOD can do anything HE wants.  in numbers 22 the bible says that GOD spoke through a donkey one time.  but that doesn’t mean i go to a barnyard every time i want to make a decision.  good decisions are not usually made in these weird fashions because so much of that can be manipulated and controlled by us. 

“he didn’t call by 9:00.  ok, GOD, if he calls by 9:10 it’s still your will for me to go out with him.”  we impose our motive into those weird kind of circumstantial things.  our motives are so mixed and so murky and can be so manipulative.  we say, “it’s GOD’s will for me to go to that college because the academics are so strong.”  but the truth is that’s where our boyfriend/girlfriend has decided to go to school.  we say, “i believe it’s GOD’s will for me to take that job.  i’ll use the extra money to support charity.”  but the truth is we want the extra money and we want the promotion.  we say, “i think it’s GOD’s will for me to do this now.  i have to catch the wave.”  but the truth is we’re bored and we just want extra stimulation in our lives.  some waves should be caught and the truth is no surfer catches every wave.  that’s why we need GOD’s help – to know the difference between waves, to know whether we should do it now or later or at all.  because we have such muddy motives.

proverbs 16.2 (ncv) says, we may think we know what is right, but the LORD is the judge of our motives.  the first decision we can all make that will help all the other decisions in our life is to be willing to live life GOD’s way.

just a thought from the front porch… 

how to pray effectively…

james mentions in his book some conditions for praying effectively.

one condition is i must ask. 

that sounds simple but in a lot of our prayers we never ask for anything.  we say “thank you for...” and “bless...” and that's it.  we never pray specifically. 

the more specific your prayers are the greater you’re going to be blessed in the answer.  james says in 4.2 (niv), you do not have because you do not ask GOD.  be specific. 

throw away all your cliches.  i love to hear new CHRISTians pray because they don’t know all the language, and they’re so honest.  it’s refreshing.  do you ever listen to your kids pray?  they say the most honest and genuine things that are really meaningful.

another condition is to have the right motive.

james 4.3 (niv),when you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.  if you’re going to ask in prayer, make sure your motives are right.  not for selfishness but for a genuine reason – the glory of GOD or another way to say that is to make GOD look good.

just a thought from the front porch

are you sure you really know?…

have you ever stopped to think that we have no right to judge other people’s motives and question why they do what they do?  of course we haven’t or we wouldn’t do it.  but the bible advises us against doing it.

1 corinthians 4.5 (niv) says, therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; (nothing) wait till the LORD comes.  HE will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart.

now to understand this you have to understand the verses around it.  what is paul talking about?  he’s talking about motives.  everywhere paul went his motives were constantly being challenged, questioned.   he is saying don’t judge people’s motives, wait until the LORD comes.  it’s premature to judge people’s motives.

why is it premature?  nobody really knows what’s in somebody else’s heart.  you can guess but you don’t know.  to judge somebody means we’re judging without the facts.  only GOD has the right to judge because HE can see in the heart. 

the bible says that someday when the LORD comes back HE will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart.  i have a hard enough time just trying to figure out my own motives about a lot of things, much less making a good guess at yours.  so do you.

a lot of times we don’t know why we do what we do.  what makes us think we can figure out what makes other people do what they do?  we have a hard time just judging our own selves but one day it’s going to be brought to light.

you can never judge anybody’s motives, what they're doing.  you don’t know what going on in their lives.

just a thought from the front porch…

overcoming your fear of failing...

motivation.  why do we play it safe?  why don't we use the talents that GOD has given us?  the answer is fear.  fear keeps me from using my talents.  matthew 25. 25 (niv), i was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground.  afraid and hid are satan’s favorite tactics.  “i could never do that.  i’m not qualified.  i have this fear of failure.” 

remember in school when the teacher would ask a question and you’d think, “i think i know it, but i don’t want to raise my hand because if i give the wrong answer i’m going to look dumb” so you didn’t raise your hand.  self-consciousness.  it’s fear that keeps us from using our talent.  you say, “i failed in the past so i’ll never try again.”  it doesn’t matter where you’ve been.  it matters what direction your feet are headed right now. 

peter and judas were two disciples.  they both committed the same sin.  they both denied CHRIST.  one of them went out, got depressed, and committed suicide.  the other went out, repented of it and said, “i want to start over” and fifty days after peter’s biggest sin, GOD used him on the day of pentecost to preach and 3,000 people were brought into the family of GOD on the day the church was born.  fifty days after peter’s greatest failure he has his greatest success.  he kept on going. 

1954 opening day of baseball season.  milwaukee braves playing the cincinnati reds.  two rookies were in that game.  the first was a guy named jim greengrass.  he got up to bat four times and hit four doubles.  four for four, an incredible start to a career.  but nobody remembers him.  another guy started his career that day.  he went 0-4.  he struck out all four times in the first game.  hank aaron had a slow start.  but who do we remember? 

never let the fear of striking out keep you from taking a swing. you keep on going.  you say, “what will other people think?” don't worry about what other people think! 

the bible says, the fear of man is a snare.  it's a trap.  often we excuse ourselves by pointing to other people saying, “he/she’s more talented. they’ve got all the ability.  if only i had ability like so and so.  if only i had the education/looks like so and so i’d serve GOD.”  no, you wouldn’t because you’re not using what you’ve got.

the point is:  just because i can’t do the spectacular that doesn’t excuse me to do nothing.  one day i’m going to stand before GOD and HE’s going to say, “what did you do with your life?  what on earth did you think you were there for?  I had a plan, I had some things for you to do.  it’s called a ministry. and I made you just right for it.”

just a thought from the front porch…

the motivational power of obedience…

we all need models, somebody to show us how. when we look at the book of genesis in the ot in the bible, we see some people whose lives were driven by GOD’s purpose and one of them was a man by the name of noah.

this man noah was asked to do things by GOD that were so absolutely absurd that they were almost amusing. but when we take a second look at him, we think, “wow! what faith! what an example! what a person to follow!” there’s a longing to learn how to have faith from him.

now i want us to see the different parts of noah’s life and how we can learn about motivation from each of those things that happened in his life.

here’s one: noah built an ark and that teaches us the motivational power of obedience.

genesis 6.13-16 (msg), GOD said to noah, “it’s all over. it’s the end of the human race. the violence is everywhere; I’m making a clean sweep. build yourself a ship from teakwood. make rooms in it. coat it with pitch inside and out. make it 450 feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. build a roof for it and put in a window eighteen inches from the top; put in a door on the side of the ship; and make three decks, lower, middle, and upper.”

so noah begins to build this ark, this ship and it’s huge. the length of it was one and a half football fields. GOD gave noah an incredible project. and in this project, HE allowed noah to have a SPIRITual experience in his life like none other. but it was an experience of obedience. every foot of width, every foot of length was obedience to GOD. he had to be thinking, “what am i doing? what’s going to happen?”

genesis 6.22 (msg), noah did everything GOD commanded him to do. that’s a dream of my life. i’d like to get there someday. did everything. that’s exact obedience. what incredible obedience.

noah was motivated because he was obedient. there are days in my life when the only thing that motivates me to serve GOD is my obedience. i don’t feel like doing it, nobody’s telling me i'm doing a great job in doing it. they might even tell me i'm doing a terrible job in doing it. satan’s throwing lots of temptations at me. there are days like that in all of our lives. there are days when the only motivation is obedience to the ONE who loves us the most. i trust HIM more than i trust me. noah had that. that’s why GOD was able to use HIM to change a world – literally.

just a thought from the front porch…

when hurt can help...

in confronting someone you love in a loving attitude you start with the correct motivation. what is the right motive? to help, not to hurt. the reason you speak the truth in love, you confront with a loving attitude, is to help the person, not to hurt them. you’re doing it in love.

we see this in paul’s letter to the corinthians. in 2 corinthians 12, he has just brutally been honest with them about things that were out of whack in their lives. he says you need more commitment, this is wrong, it needs to be changed. in chapter 12 verse 19 (nlt) he says, we tell you this as CHRIST’s servants and everything we do dear friends is for your benefit. he says, i’m not saying this just to get a kick out of it. i’m saying it for your benefit.

proverbs 27.6 (Gw) says, wounds made by a friend are intended to help. before we can talk about how to confront someone in love, the issue is, who do i do it with? the answer is real simple – only people you care about. if you don’t care about the person, you don’t go around making yourself the policeman of the world or pointing out error in stranger’s lives. that’s not your job. but if you have proven you love a person, you have a right to point out things that would be for their best. you only do it for people you love. so you only do it with people you want to have a relationship with. if you don’t want a relationship, you don’t do it. you just avoid it. you don’t confront the clerk who’s being a jerk, you just avoid him. or you point out things in people you deeply care about, you see them heading the wrong direction and wasting their life.

if you never confront anyone, you’re never going to be close to anyone. because closeness only comes through conflict and confrontation.

just a thought from the front porch…

why do you need to do it?...

paul the writer of much of the nt in the bible is a particularly good example of confronting someone you love in a loving attitude. he wrote two books that modeled this for us. we’ve been studying 1 corinthians 13 for the past few weeks. and that chapter is right in the middle of two letters that paul wrote – 1 and 2 corinthians.

corinth is a city in greece. paul had started a church there, and he’d moved on, and he was writing back to friends who had major problems in their lives. these people had really messed up their lives. he wrote two very tough letters. he was brutally frank. almost every chapter of 1 and 2 corinthians is about a different problem. he says, you’re blowing it here, you need help here, you need to work on this… he had to deal with one issue after another in brutal honesty, speaking the truth in love.

one thing we learn from these two tough letters that paul wrote is before you ever confront anybody in love, you must first check your own motives.

check your motivation. you have to make sure you have pure motivation. why do i need to talk to this person about this issue? why do i want to confront this person with the truth?

honestly, there are a lot of bad motivations, bad reasons for confronting. you might want to confront somebody just because you’re jealous of them. you might want to confront them because you’re irritated by them, frustrated by them, annoyed by them, angry. you might want to confront somebody just to get even with them. you might want to point out something wrong in their life to make yourself feel spiritually superior. or out of envy or many, many other wrong motivations.

so you must check your motivation.

just a thought from the front porch…