Walking Thoughts

So I've returned from my trip to Pakistan and I hope to post some pictures and possibly some short videos.  It was an amazing trip and God opened up so many doors to witness to all my family.

That was probably the biggest lesson I learned on this trip.  God worked out every single detail and my mother and I visited with about 9 different famililes in a matter of a week!  Every family we visited with, God opened an opportunity to witness to them in some degree.  Most of the time, I wasn't even aware I was until I had already started!  For example, I was sitting around with a couple of my cousins playing guitar for them and they asked me to play a Lifehouse song.  I had the opportunity to explain that they were a Christian band and how the lyrics pointed to Christ!

It makes sense that He would do that, after all, it was His sovereignly ordained trip.  He used me everywhere, even when I wasn't really "in the mood" or I was hesitant.  At my uncle's house on my mom's side, I was asked to play guitar for them.  My other uncle had bought me a guitar and so I was able to.  My mom's brother is a very devout muslim and both his son's (and their families) live with them.  So, during this private concert to an audience of about 20 muslims - my mother (who is also a muslim) started prodding me to sing for them.  I didn't especially feel like singing unrehearsed and sidestepped the request.  Then she started prodding me again to sing a worship song! I said I didn't remember any, although I was actually singing one in my head... and she just wouldn't stop asking me to!! So I finally gave in to God and sang Holy Fire (as done by Jeremy Camp).  When I finished, my mother told me to explain it!!! And so I was able to explain what the song meant and why I sing it!

He accomplished so much.  The whole trip was prompted by circumstances He put into place.  He provided the means, worked out the logistics, and accomplished His goal of proclaiming the gospel.  It's humbling because I know what kind of sinner I am, yet He still used me.  By His grace, God can glorify His name in the worst of sinners who humbly submit and are willing to do anything and go anywhere He leads.

But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:12-13

Here is something that astounds me.  Three men who have nothing to gain by doing this, spend their lives and their fortunes helping those in the world to whom death is a daily adversary.  They go to nations that would be considered hostile nations - enemies of world good.  They don't claim to be born again evangelical Christians yet they are doing more for less, sacrificing, serving, and loving the unloved more than many Bible-believing Christians, myself included.  It's humbling - God is so kind and gracious.

It makes me think and wonder, for all my own spiritual rantings coupled with selfish worldly living... would I be willing to do what these men do? For somebody who claims to be called by God unto salvation and a life dedicated to glorifying Him, the willing and the available sure do put a selfish Pharisee like me to shame.

Still, we can praise Him because it shows that He is sovereign and His grace is for everybody - He, in His grace, cares for and feeds those who don't know Him, will use those who don't purpose for Him.  Their eternal destination is still determined by their relationship with Christ but He is so gracious to let the rain fall on every man's field and the sun to shine on every man's face.  He is faithful in our lives to do the same and He will for He is sovereign, good and kind.

Beyond the Call (warning mild language)

"But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.  For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?"
Matthew 5:44-46

   
 23"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall call his name Immanuel"

   (which means, God with us). 24When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
Matthew 1:18-25

 1In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2This was the first registration when^[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5to be registered with Mary, his betrothed,^[b] who was with child. 6And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.  8And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

   
 14"Glory to God in the highest,
   and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"^[c]

 15When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." 16And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

 21And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Luke 2:1-21

This past Sunday, Ken Sande from Peacemaker Ministries spoke at a Peacemakers conference.  He relayed a story of God's faithfulness.

He had just had a conflict with his wife and was at the store when he saw something that he knew His wife would love.  His immediate thoughts, however, were, "I would get that for her if she hadn't been acting the way she did." Quickly, by God's grace, he recognized the horrid wickedness of his thoughts toward his wife.  He recounted the conversation he had with himself of why he should or should not get it for her.  He knew that grace would dictate that he love his wife and bless her regardless of her treatment of him, but he was still struggling with his sinful thoughts. With God prodding and poking at his heart, he decided to take some time and pick up the item just to look.  As soon as he did, he said God's grace met him where he was and filled him with an overwhelming love for the wife He had given him.  He wanted nothing more than to run back home as fast as he could to give her the gift.

God is so very faithful.  He knows our frailty, our weaknesses, our inabilities and sinfulness that hinder us from pursuing Him fully.  By His grace, He pursues us and will abundantly bless us even with the smallest of steps we take toward Him.  Take a step toward God, He's calling and waiting for you.  Jesus has His gift of redemption, grace, and good for you if you're willing to accept it.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man who trusts in Him
Psalm 34:8

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you
James 4:8

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace
Ephesians 1:7

See how he scatters his lightning about him, bathing the depths of the sea.
Job 36:30

He fills his hands with lightning and commands it to strike its mark.
Job 36:32

 
He loads the clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them.
Job 37:11

He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies , great bolts of lightning and routed them.
Psalm 18:14

The voice of the LORD strikes with flashes of lightning.
Psalm 29:7

His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles.
Psalm 97:4

At a conference I attended recently, God gave me the opportunity to be richly blessed by a brother's testimony.  He had flown to the conference (in Virginia) from California and God's providence would have me give him a ride to the airport at conference end.

During the ride , Johnny shared his amazing testimony with me. He was a 22 year old skater dude who had grown up in a Christian environment and though he knew that "Jesus died for our sins," he did not know Him.  During three years of highschool, he spent the majority of his day high on marijuana wasting his life away in the skate/snowboarding culture.  Then one day he went out snowboarding with a friend of his who had just started getting into the Word.

Throughout the day, Johnny's friend was telling him that he was wasting his life and missing out on real life - that he had no clue.  After a day of snowboarding they returned to his home where his friend began to tell him what and why he was missing out.  Johnny was brushing off most everything that his friend was saying until he said, "You're a slave to your sins man.  Look at you, you're just a slave to your sin." As soon as he heard that, Johnny said God's Spirit came down on him in heavy conviction and he started questioning himself, realizing that he was indeed a slave to his sins.  He said he just zoned out, didn't hear what his friend was saying but just the thought of being a slave to his sin was coursing through his mind and humbling his heart.  When he turned his attention back to his friend, he heard him say, "I'm going to pray for you now."  So his friend prayed for him and then said, "Ok, now you pray."

His heart clutched by the Holy Spirit, soul under conviction and tears streaming down his face he could say nothing but, "Help me."  So he turned his life over to Christ.  Over the course of the next year or so, God put it in his heart to find Christian fellowship.  Having none around (the friend who witnessed to him fell away from following God), he would drive 45 minutes to hang out with his Christian cousin and her friends.  I think he said he may have lived there for awhile too.  Later, though, he realized that they weren't truly seeking the Lord, but were just good kids not acting up... too much.  They never talked about God and never truly sought Him with their all (aside: isn't that convicting...).

When he came back to his hometown he was at a loss of fellowship yet had a strong desire for God and was on fire to seek Him.  Before becoming a Christian, his mother would plead with him to go to Bible College.  She even bribed him at one point.  His vehement response was, "I'm NEVER going to Bible College... and even if I do, it won't be because you told me!" Shortly after moving back to his hometown, earnestly seeking God and His people, he enrolled in Bible College!!

Matriculated in Bible College, learning of His love, he would go out and regularly street evangelize.  Now this is truly amazing and a testament to the power of God:  I'm not sure if you are aware of the result of prolonged, continual use of marijuana, but a primary repercussion is loss of memory and capacity for critical thinking.  While in Bible College, Johnny memorized three entire books of the Bible in a matter of a few months!! Praise God!  Filled with so much of His word, he said that he couldn't keep it to himself.  So while he was evangelizing, he would just pour out the Word that God had so gracioulsy poured into Him and written on his heart!

It was such a blessing to meet Johnny and hear how God had redeemed and transformed his life.  The Lord is so gracious, so kind, so faithful, and so powerful.  Never understimate God's grace for He will glorify Himself through and in anybody who humbles themselves to Him.  Johnny was a man completely sold out to Christ, redeemed, transformed, made new to shine the light of His glory.  God's grace was evident in his humility.  With every word, Johnny gave God the glory.  Praise be to the Lord Jesus Christ, author and perfector of our faith!

A member of my church was sharing how God gave Him a car. Working at an icecream shop, his parents would drop him off three hours early due to car/scheduling issues.  He would do devotions and even help out at the store without even being on the clock.  His Christian manager, who was thinking about selling his car, noticed him and lead God to give him the car!

He's currently in Bible school on his way to becoming a pastor.  In the mail, he received a letter from a person he knew that the Lord had directed to give him all of his tuition for the upcoming spring semester!  A little bit after that, he received another letter from a person who God directed to give him all of his tuition for this fall semester!!! So his tution for the whole next year is now completely paid up.

He said that He doesn't understand why God blesses him so much in these ways, all he does is do what He says...  Praise God for His faithfulness!!

So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul- then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
Deuteronomy 11:13-15

A few weeks ago a member of our congregation was finally able to attend Sunday morning service after several months of being near death due to severe medical conditions.  As he stood at the pulpit with his wife, he said that, at this point, he was trying to find the reason why God had saved him again (this was the third time he nearly died).  His wife stood by him and shared their testimony of God's faithfulness through the trial; His presence and His hand.

She shared that every time a new complication arose or reports came back worse than before, she could always say "but God..."  No matter what happened, God had his hand in the situation for his purpose to bring good.  The doctor would report something grim, but God brought hope.  The progressing hours looked bleak, but God brought security.  Disease and sickness were dealing death, but God brought life!!

It was quite a testimony from a couple who have been through some very difficult times.  The hardships came and threatened to overwhelm but God delivered them through it all, and He does the same for me and you everyday of our lives.  What a faithful God we serve!

The next time a trial enters your life, big or small, look for "but God..." Remind yourself "but God..." Proclaim "BUT GOD..."
 

But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and He sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.
Genesis 8:1

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
Genesis 50:20

Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, He devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from Him.
2 Samuel 14:14

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:26

 For God so lo(V)ed the world, 
       that He g(A)ve 
            His on(L)y 
            begott(E)n 
                 So(N), 
                     (T)hat
 whosoever bel(I)eveth on Him
           should (N)ot perish,
        but have (E)verlasting life.

- John 3:16

Ever wonder what the Bible says about eternal life and heaven?

The Bible says heaven is a free gift. It says “for the gift of God is eternal life.” Because it is a gift, it can not be earned or deserved. There is a passage that says “For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”  And according to the Bible, man is a sinner. The Bible says “for all have sinned.” That includes everybody. We can’t earn or deserve heaven because God’s standard is perfection. He says “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

The Bible says God is merciful – it even says “God is love” – so He doesn’t want to punish us. But the same Bible says God is a just God ( "He will in no wise clear the guilty"), so He must punish our sins. This creates a problem for us, because we have sin in our lives. God solved this problem in the person of Jesus Christ.
           

God’s Word says Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Jesus had many names in the Bible, one of them being “the Living Word” of God. There is a passage that says “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same put on flesh and dwelt among us.” So He was God and yet became man.
          

The reason He came to earth was to die on the cross to pay the debt we owed for those sins and then rose from the dead to offer us eternal life. Because He was without sin, He did not deserve death, but He chose to take all of our sin on Him and pay our debt. The Bible says “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned each one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
         

So Jesus took all our sin on Himself, died for those sins, paying our debt, and rose from the dead so we might have eternal life. He offers us eternal life as a gift and this gift is received by faith.

Faith isn’t just temporary faith or having a lot of head-knowledge about Jesus; true saving faith means placing all your faith and trust in what Christ alone has done for you.

The Bible says “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”

It means placing all of your trust in Jesus Christ alone and what He has done for you, and not counting on anything of yourself to get you to heaven. You might wonder “Then what is the point of doing good things?” While our good works don’t save us, they are more of a “thank you” to God for what He has done.

So, here is the short story: 

Heaven is a free gift God offers us and we can not earn it or deserve it because we all have sinned. God is Holy and Just, so He must punish the sin, but because He loves us, He sent Jesus to pay for our sins so we wouldn’t have to, by dying on the cross and rising from the dead to offer us eternal life. He extends this gift to you today and it is received it by faith, by trusting in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life.

If you want to accept Jesus Christ right now, to invite Him into your life, you can do that and He will hear and heal your heart.  He will deliver you from the things in your life that are keeping you from Him, giving you the power to turn away from ungodliness as you turn toward Him.  If you are willing to listen and follow Him, you can ask Him into your heart right now by praying, that is just talking to Him like you'd talk to your best friend because He wants to be your Best Friend.  Here is a suggested prayer; remember though, it's not the prayer that saves you from eternal separation from Him, it's your conscious decision and will to let go of everything in your life that hinders you from following Him into heaven by faith.

Heavenly Father, I want to thank you for the free gift of heaven. I know I don't deserve it and there's nothing I can do to earn it. It is impossible for me of myself to reach it and I want to thank you for giving it to me for free.  I understand that it is my sin that has kept me from you, and there's nothing I can do to make up for it, so I thank you Jesus, for taking the punishment for my sin so I can get to heaven. I accept Your forgiveness for my sins and I accept you into my life to lead me and guide me by the Holy Spirit from this day forward.

If you've decided to put your faith in Christ today, or if you have any questions or would like to learn more, please e-mail me at haider@collegebereans.org

May God richly bless you!