Category — What’s new?

Another benefit of hardship is that it drives us to depend on God. When we are brought to the end of ourselves and see how frail and limited we are, we recognize our need for God. The apostle Peter explains what our response should be in hardship and suffering, “So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.” (1 Peter 4:19)

When I was a sophomore in high school, 23 of us young men embarked on a 1300-mile bicycle trip around Lake Superior. We had transported our bicycles from Minneapolis, MN to Superior, WI and launched our trip from there. We rode counter-clockwise around the lake through Wisconsin, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and into Ontario, Canada. After the first three days of sore muscles and butt fatigue we were all feeling pretty confident and energized by the challenges of the trip. [Read more →]

With our economic downturn, rising costs and joblessness, hardships are on the rise. Yet hardships provide fertile ground for personal growth and blessing. Wait a minute, there are benefits to hardship? Yes! Really? Hardship, trials, suffering—who in their right mind would want those!? Our natural response in any trial or suffering is to pray first for deliverance. We shouldn’t feel bad for wanting out of a painful situation, but all too often we seek only deliverance without considering first how to extract the benefits of our hardship.

A short time ago, I prayed with an individual in the hospital who had been there nearly three weeks. I challenged that person not to miss the good things God might have for them in the midst of their suffering. Predictably, this individual blurted out, “I just want to get out of here!” That response is okay. It’s normal. But there’s more to any such tough situation that we won’t want to miss! [Read more →]

In her short book, The Liberty of Obedience, Elizabeth Elliot reveals a code for obedience to Christ espoused by the prominent Christian schools of the second century. Students were told they must: abandon all colored clothes and opt only for white; stop sleeping on a pillow; sell their musical instruments; stay away from white bread; and refrain from bathing and shaving. “To shave is to lie against Him who created us, to attempt to improve on His work.”

Those second century rules seem ridiculous to us now, just as our own rules will no doubt appear foolish to others in the future. Since the beginning, mankind has always tried to establish our own rules to define what obedience to Christ looks like. The Christ-followers in Colosse fell into this trap and Paul dealt with it head-on: [Read more →]

I’m excited to announce that my new book, Enthralled with God–Cultivating a Joy-Filled Relationship with Him is available on Amazon.com! You will find the book in both soft-cover and e-version.

Below is the brief introduction from this book that I’m sure you’ll want to read.

Introduction

A few years ago, a young woman named Amy was living with us. One evening we heard the front door open and my wife and I went to the top of the stairs to greet Amy. She was returning home from discipleship training at our church. I called down to her and asked her how it went.

Amy had a huge grin on her face and stood there speechless for a moment. Then she blurted out, “I’ve been a Christian for many years, but tonight I discovered that I can enjoy God!—This changes everything!”

It’s true! Enjoying God, being enthralled with him does change everything! My experience and that of countless others have been every bit as dramatic and life-changing.

If you long to know God more deeply, seeing him as your joy and delight, then this book is for you! You are embarking on a great adventure with God!

© 2010 Rob Fischer

To order your copy of Enthralled with God please click on the link: http://www.amazon.com/Enthralled-God-Cultivating-Relationship-ebook/dp/B004CRSSZ6/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1290529603&sr=1-4

As we saw in the last post, we often misunderstand God’s motivation for seeking our obedience. But we also confuse our own motivations for obeying Christ. Based on God’s love-motivation for our obedience, our motivation should reciprocally flow from our love for him, but often it does not. When we suspect God of lesser motives, our motives become perverted as well.

One of the greatest lies many Christians have come to accept in the context of obedience is that it is simply our duty to obey Christ—no more, no less. That statement may shock you and certainly there is just enough truth in it to make it sound reasonable. But sheer duty to obey Christ fails to recognize Christ’s complete and selfless love for us. Let me explain what I mean. [Read more →]

God is very clear on his motivations for requiring our obedience—it’s because he loves us and wants the best for us! Deuteronomy 5 and 6 provide a classic passage in which Moses rehearses with Israel the “commands, decrees and laws” of the Lord. The context for this passage is God’s loving, merciful, gracious deliverance of his people out of Egypt, his loving care for them for forty years in the wilderness despite their constant rebellion and fickle hearts, and his benevolent promise to bring them into a rich fertile land. Over and over again, God expresses his motivation in wanting his people to obey him, “so that it might go well with them and their children forever!” (Deuteronomy 5:29)

“So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days.” (Deuteronomy 5:32-33) God’s motivation for our obedience is for our good. His great love for us motivates him to instruct us for our good. Our obedience gives strong testimony to God’s love and brings glory to him. [Read more →]

Obedience to Christ is a hallmark of his followers. We cannot claim to follow Christ and not obey him. To those who think otherwise, Jesus asks, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46)

When Jesus gave his disciples (us) the Great Commission, he told us to, “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20 emphasis mine) Jesus’ disciples obey him. [Read more →]

Isaiah 43:18-19, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”

We all have many things we hang on to from the past: hurts, regrets, broken relationships, failures, patterns of sin, poor choices, etc. Sometimes we even hang on to good memories or the way things were, but in an unhealthy manner always longing for what once was. But when we turn to God and put our trust in him and follow him, he invites us to “forget the former things” and to “not dwell on the past.” [Read more →]

Have you ever had a pebble in your shoe? From time to time I’ll be out hiking and a pebble flips up and lands in my boot. Of course, I could stay home and sit on the couch and avoid the possibility of getting a pebble in my boot, but then I’d miss out on so much enjoyment in life!

Instead, I choose to go out hiking and occasionally get a pebble in my shoe. Sometimes, if I’m in a hurry, I try to ignore the pebble. And before I know it, this tiny remnant of a rock or twig is causing me to walk with a limp. This wayward pebble is irritating, annoying and impairing my ability to walk and enjoy the beauty around me.

So finally, I’ll stop, untie my boot and shake out the offending particle. And often I’m amazed at what a tiny particle of stone or bark it was that caused me so much discomfort! Why hadn’t I stopped to remove it sooner? [Read more →]

We’re here at the eighth and final posting in a series dealing with the trend among US Christians who are abandoning the church. I’ve mentioned before that when Christ saved us and reconciled us to the Father, he introduced us into his family. We now belong to his community of Christ-followers. Look at how Peter describes our new identity in Christ: “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.” (1 Peter 2:9-10)

The point is, Christ saved us and called us into community with him and with all others who call him, “Lord.” Our initiation into the family of God, to the church of Jesus Christ is not a sentence! Jesus Christ has liberated us into identity with our heavenly Father and all his children. He introduces us into fellowship with each other in which we can enjoy love, care, unity and the thrill of working together to see a lost world reconciled to God through Jesus Christ! [Read more →]