R-R-RESOLVE!

 

"The LORD turned to [Gideon] and said, 'Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?'"
– Judges 6:14 (NIV)

 

Strength? What strength!?

Gideon's curious encounter with the Angel of the Lord (God Himself) starts in verse 11 of that chapter.  Gideon hiding in the winepress. Gideon contradicting God, accusing Him of handing the Israelites over to their enemies.  When the Lord responds with His divine call in verse 14, "Go in the strength you have," Gideon patiently explains to God how he's the youngest member of the weakest family of Manasseh. "Remember, God?  The tribe that's literally split in two! So, like ... weakest of the weakest of the weakest? Am I getting through??"

We all know how this story has a happy ending. But, just WHY did the Lord choose Gideon in the first place?  What extraordinary "strength" did He detect, that He overlooked all the human-splaining and persisted in calling this young man to command the army?
. . .

To better understand, we must take a short detour ... back to around the year 1952, where we'll meet my father -- a pastor in Chile, South America.  To be precise, a burnt-out, jaded pastor without a church.  You see, after a miraculous conversion while in his early thirties, he had quit the university (abandoning his quest for a fifth doctorate) and launched into building a church, then adding a Christian school ... which blossomed into three Christian schools within a few miles' radius. 

 
But then World War II struck, as well as an earthquake that destroyed one school and left the others badly damaged. He reached out to large church denominations operating in the region, but they had their own problems.  Nobody had time for a rural pastor with a hurting church and three damaged schools. 

So he threw in the towel.  Abandoned what was left of his church and settled into the secular job world.  Until one night there came a heavy-handed knock at the door.  

On his threshold stood a short, middle-age fellow of native (Quechua) physiognomy.  "I hea-hea-hearrr you t-t-t-teach me Spanish?"

He went by the name Simón Molina.  Said he was called of God to preach the gospel.  In Spanish.  To do that, he would need better Spanish, of course.  

"The Spanish I can help with, but you can't even f-f-f-finish a sentence, buddy!" my father thought ... but kept it to himself.  "Sure, you can come two nights a week, and we'll see how it goes," he responded.  "But, can't you just preach to people in your own language?"

"No, it's to b-b-b-b-be S-s-spanish."

As the months dragged on, the young man showed up faithfully to his private classes. With only a second- or third-grade education, the going was slow.  But he bravely fought to understand the fine points of Spanish grammar -- preterite vs. imperfect tenses, irregular verbs, gender-specific nouns ... and on and on. When he hit a wall (which was often), he would just fall to his knees mid-lesson and pour out his soul in Quechua to the God who hears and understands. Then he would return to his seat and pick up with the lesson, a pool of tears still twinkling where he had knelt.

One night Mr. Molina said, "I've come to say g-goo-goodbye.  It's ti-ti-ti... I'm ready now."  So they parted ways, and my father tried to put the whole matter out of mind.  Though he'd come to marvel at his tenacity, the fellow would never be the first Quechua Billy Graham.

Half a year later came another late-night knock at the door, and there stood his short friend.  He chatted for two hours, still in questionable Spanish, about his adventures itinerating around the countryside.  There were two new churches in a nearby town, one over the mountain, three more a day's journey down the highway.  And they were all urgently needing seasoned workers, pastors, schoolteachers.

Suddenly it struck my father what was different about Simón.  He wasn't stuttering at all!

"It happened one night as I was trying to preach," he explained.  "The harder I tried, the more my tongue got in the way.  Until I just broke down crying before the dismayed audience.  But then a miracle happened.  I knew I was cured ... healed.  When I rose and began to speak again, it just flowed.  And it's been this way ever since!  The Lord carried me over to the victor's side!" he said.

"And now I've come to deliver a word from God.  He says, 'What are YOU doing with the gifts and abilities I've given you?'"

The teacher had become the pupil, and it was his turn to shed long-overdue tears of repentance.
. . .

And now, as we reach the end of this detour ... What "strength" did our Lord detect, that called Gideon out of his cowering in the winepress?

The "strength" was his RESOLVE.  Once he was certain that his messenger was truly God, and that He really meant what He said (which required the whole fleece thing, you'll remember ...), NOTHING thereafter could derail Gideon from fulfilling the purposes of God.

See, it's rare for God to choose someone pre-qualified.  Remember, "... Not many wise ... not many mighty, not many noble, are called" (I Cor. 1:26b).  But it's rarer yet for Him to give us all the wisdom, power, and nobility we need for the task right up front.

Rather, what He's looking for is bullet-biting RESOLVE. Unwavering COURAGE and STICK-TO-IT-NESS. Like the priests who stepped into the flooded Jordan across from Jericho with no evidence that they'd make it out alive.  Like young David (later to be king) grabbing that first lion by the beard to rescue a lamb, not knowing how the affair would turn out.  Like the three Hebrew children being tossed into the fiery furnace for refusing to bow down to the king's idol.  None of these people was quite sure of what the outcome would be, but they faced their circumstance with RESOLVE.  And that's when GOD shows up!

When a coworker shares about a meltown with their teen.  "Would you like me to pray with you?"

When a friend calls and says grandpa took a fall and is in the hospital.  "Can I go with you and visit him?"

When that feeling comes on strong, that God is calling for action ... stepping out of our comfort zone takes RESOLVE.  It takes COURAGE.  We're not so sure He's going to show up ... that it's going to have a happy ending.  But we swallow hard, grit our teeth, and start doing what He's told us to do ANYHOW.

Why not pray ...  

"Dear Father, often I'm frozen, discouraged by my history of failure.  I can't take a step, speak a word, make a decision to act when I know You're prompting me.  Please change that.  Give me RESOLVE to act even when I can't foresee the outcome.  I can sure use some of what Gideon had.  And Simón Molina.  Give me faith to expect that You'll meet me with the goods -- the power and grace -- at the point where it's needed. 
In Jesus’ name. Amen"

---
Originally published as a “Bradstix” devotional on the National Minute of Prayer Facebook page 8/16/2020.

Copyright © Brad Fenichel 2020 All Rights Reserved

DROPPIN' THE BUCKET

 

"...So that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being..."
– Acts 17:27-28a (NKJV)

 

“Water!! For the love of God, PLEASE, do you have any WATER!?”

As the legend goes, a 16th-century Spanish sailing ship had lain becalmed far off the coast of South America for many days, with all hands near death of thirst.  When a small craft with a group of native Brazilians passed within hailing distance, the crew bellowed and made frantic gestures, begging them to share some drinking water.

The Brazilians -- after recovering from a fit of laughter -- just pointed to the water below.

"No, no!  Sea water will kill us all.  Please ... FRESH water!"

But, as their new acquaintances persisted with the same reply, the Spaniards finally dropped a bucket and hauled it back up with ... miracle of miracles! ... FRESH WATER.

What these explorers didn't know, nearly killed them!  First, that they had reached the vast mouth of the Amazon, and furthermore, that mighty river is so powerful that it projects its freshwater flow nearly 100 miles out to sea.

What’s this got to do with us five centuries later??

In his Mars Hill sermon of Acts 17, the Apostle Paul speaks of groping to find a God Who "is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being."  

Of course, finding and meeting this "Unknown God" was essential to the question of where these Athenians would spend eternity.  That is, what -- or WHO -- they didn't know ... would deprive them of eternal life.

But, Paul's "groping and finding" message is just as vital to us believers today, as we seek God's presence and power, both in the prayer closet and beyond -- becoming salt and light in an age when the storms of darkness are closing around us, when make-believe prayer and make-believe spirituality will no longer keep us afloat.

Quoting from my book When We Pipe, God Shall Dance (2011):
# # #
"Surely, the sprout of hypocrisy emerges from the honest soil of man’s desire for substance.  And when he discovers that substance has vaporized, or that it’s never quite been there in the first place, that’s when the games of make-believe begin.  

"At first, these may resemble a rain dance—a zealous, if misguided, outpouring of human enterprise in the hopes of divine response.  And as the days pass into years without a drop of rain, eventually, the dance itself becomes an acceptable end, so long as all the dancers keep up the scrupulous delusion of great downpours which are visible only to those who have attained their rarified level of consciousness.

"In Jesus’ words, 'The men of this generation … are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, "We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept."’  Why, it was essential that the whole generation keep step with all the piping and the mourning and the weeping and the dancing, for in so doing, they should carry on the fantasy that God himself was dancing to their ditty."
# # #

You see, the Spanish sailors in our legend could have performed a rain dance in their time of need.  Maybe they did.  Maybe they drank deeply in their fevered dreams, only to wake and find themselves still dying of thirst in the doldrums.  But, they were saved in the end when they finally tasted the fresh water in which they had lived, moved, and had their being all along!

What does this look like, as it relates to my prayer life?

Think of it!  MOST of us spend MOST of our prayer time "seeking God." (As if He were lost!)  And, when we tire of "seeking God" ... and not FEELING like we're "finding Him" ... well, that's when the games of make-believe begin, as described above.

No!! STOP AND DROP!  Drop the bucket into God's infinite presence, Who is WITHIN US!  

"Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"
- I Corinthians 3:16 (NKJV)

And, what was the very nerve center of the Jewish temple, to which Jesus compared our bodies, if not the Holy of Holies, that inner sanctum where God Himself met with man -- listening, speaking, ANSWERING PRAYER?

Why not pray ... daily! ... 

"Dear Father, thank You that I needn't 'grope' to find you, that I needn't do a rain dance and 'cry out to the vast unknown' in hopes that You're somewhere out there listening. Now I realize that You're right here inside -- the presence of Your own Holy Spirit, within the Holy of Holies, within Your temple, which is my body.  So, I'm dropping my bucket at last ... entering boldly beyond the veil of Your temple within my heart, through the precious blood of Jesus, with a quiet voice and unwavering faith, uttering my prayers into Your loving ear ...
In Jesus’ name. Amen"

---
Originally published as a “Bradstix” devotional on the National Minute of Prayer Facebook page 7/19/2020. 

Copyright © Brad Fenichel 2020 All Rights Reserved

ANCHORS AWEIGH!

 

"When a gentle south wind began to blow, they saw their opportunity; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete."
– Acts 27:13 (NIV)

 

“Ne'er a sweeter south wind blew!  Anchors aweigh, boys, ANCHORS AWEIGH!” 

I cannot read that poor, deluded captain’s words without a shiver.  Relying on the first century Roman Weather Service forecast, he blithely departed the safe harbor – ignoring the Apostle Paul’s heavenly forecast – right into the jaws of a ruthless cyclone.

By verse 29, nothing could save the ship from catastrophe … no matter how many anchors the crew dropped.  And they dropped four!

Moral of the story:  An anchor provides security through a storm, but only if it’s dropped in a secure place.  (Like the harbor, where they should have waited out hurricane season, as Paul had warned them.)

What’s this got to do with us, two millennia later??

In his 1834 hymn, My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less, Edward Mote included this timeless phrase: “In every high and stormy gale / My anchor holds within the veil.”

So … what’s this “veil”?  Nineteenth-century spelling of “vale”—a peaceful valley?  Nope. 

Oh, I get it.  An archaic word for harbor!?  Wrong again.

Mr. Mote dug deep into the book of Hebrews to come up with this metaphorical gem:

“That … we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.  This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil...” - Hebrews 6:18-19 (NKJV)

The full sixth chapter of Hebrews deals with our place in prayer, in God’s covenant relationship … everything.  And it’s all anchored sure and steadfast – no matter the “high and stormy gale” that seeks to wrench it loose – to God Himself, the “Presence behind the veil.”  

To prevent any confusion, the writer of Hebrews goes on to say that it’s the veil where Jesus himself entered first as High Priest.  That is, before the mercy seat of the Presence of God.  With His atoning blood.  Remember the veil that was “rent from top to bottom” as He shed that blood?  Yes, and amen!  

So, I can enter anytime, through prayer, and set my anchor in His presence.  Then, as I walk out of the prayer closet and face a chaotic world … disease, riots in the streets, hatred, hopelessness … my anchor HOLDS sure and steadfast back there WITHIN THE VEIL!

On the other hand, I can whoop, “Anchors aweigh!” and charge into yet another prayerless morning.  Then, by lunchtime, I’m frantically tossing anchors astern … gripping nothing but starfish on the sandy bottom, as my day hurtles toward shipwreck.

Why not pray --- daily! ...  

"Father, thank You for the blood of Jesus Christ that ushers me within the veil.  Please set my anchor today to the one truly IMMOVABLE OBJECT, Yourself!
In Jesus’ name.  Amen"

---
Originally published as a “Bradstix” devotional on the National Minute of Prayer Facebook page 6/28/2020. 

Copyright © Brad Fenichel 2020 All Rights Reserved

Are These 5 KRYPTONITES Sapping Your Power and Will to Pray for America?

Kryptonite #5: "GOD IS THROUGH WITH THE U.S."

If God were through with our nation, He could rapture us all today, and then turn America into a really, really wide Panama Canal. Fact is, Noah preached right up till it started raining. Jonah, on the other hand, had it all figured out: "God is through with Nineveh!" So, which model shall we choose? It all comes down to obedience -- doing our part, and letting God be God.

Kryptonite #4: "BUT I DON'T SEE AMERICA IN END-TIME PROPHECY."

Anyone who feels qualified to unlock every detail of Biblical end-time prophecy is under a delusion. Christ Himself explained (John 16:4) that certain prophecies are given so, WHEN THEY'RE FULFILLED [and not generally before], we'll finally understand what God meant, and be at peace knowing that all is happening per His plan. Besides, God's prophetic language doesn't always speak in terms of Man's political boundaries, but rather He speaks of Tribes, Tongues, and Nations -- i.e., people groups. And most importantly, the Glorious Bride that He is sovereignly preparing. Are we, the American Church, not part of that Bride?? Indeed we are, Hallelujah!

Kryptonite #3: "LIKE, I'M GONNA MAKE A DIFFERENCE? WHO AM I KIDDING?"

God is not impressed by numbers as we are. In fact, He's chosen to work through the faithful few. Remember how Gideon had to send all those strapping volunteers home so God could prevail against the enemy host with just the ragtag few -- the guys armed with bean pots, sparklers, and noisemakers? Furthermore, New Testament Arithmetic is clear: "Two or three." That's all of us it takes, for Him to show up. And when He does ... THAT'S what makes the Difference!

Kryptonite #2: "YEAH, BUT NO ONE ELSE CARES."

You are in good company if you feel that way. It's Elijah's Disease, a.k.a. LMSS ("Last Man Standing Syndrome"). See I Kings 19:10. But in fact, there is a groundswell of Christians with a heart to pray for America. Countless thousands support the National Day of Prayer each May. And, throughout the year, ministries like Capitol Hill Prayer Partners, Intercessors for America, and National Minute of Prayer partner with myriad believers crying out to God for national repentance and revival. And again... "Two or three" is a majority, because He is with us.

Kryptonite #1: "I'D LOVE TO, BUT I JUST DON'T HAVE TIME."

The Number One thing that hinders us from consistently praying for our nation is just that: TIME. But, the good news is that it's also the easiest problem to solve. Because Jesus made it clear that the NUMBER OF WORDS we pray is of no consequence (Matthew 6:7), while the New Testament Arithmetic -- "Two (or three) -- IN AGREEMENT" (Matthew 18:19) -- makes all the difference. Here's where the National Minute of Prayer comes in. It's the SAME simple "Big Ben Minute" prayer strategy that defeated Hitler 70 years ago.
To find out more, visit: www.MinuteOfPrayer.org

by Brad Fenichel, Founder of the National Minute of Prayer

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Copyright © Brad Fenichel 2015 All Rights Reserved

"If My People...?" What People?

"When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time."
– 2 Chronicles 7:13-16 (ESV)


Have we taken II Chronicles 7:14 out of context?

Shortly after Solomon had completed the first Temple in Jerusalem, God appeared to him in the night and personally delivered a message that contains, among other things, those words that have become the rally cry of all great revivals: "If My people, who are called by My name..."

Surely, this passage stands as one of the most colossal promises made by Him Whose mercies endure to all generations and eternity beyond.

But, have we taken it out of its context?

Let's have a closer look at the full Scripture....