Be strong and courageous

A few quick questions.

1. This one is probably going to seem like an obvious answer - but - in the bible, how many commandments are there?  

2. What are some of them?

3. Do you think there are any other commandments that God has given us?

Here's one:

Joshua 1:9 (NIV):Have I not commanded you?  (There's that word - command) Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you where ever you go.

Here's another:

Deuteronomy 31:6:Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you, he will never leave you nor forsake you.

So, here's another question - in these verses, are these verses only telling us to Be Strong and Be Courageous or is there something more?   I think there is something more that God is telling us here.   I believe God is also telling us to not live in fear and to let go of our fears.   The reason we need to let go of our fears is that they hold us back.   Our fears keep us from moving forward in several areas of our lives and may keep us from living the lives that God wants us to have.

You see, John 10:10 (NIV) tells us that The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I (Jesus) have come that they may have life; and have it to the full.   In the KJV this verse ends with "have life more abundantly".     Would you agree that fear, in some ways, holds us all back from living as abundant a life as God wants for us?

You see, we can take the above verses either as a recommendation OR we can take them to heart and take God up on his promises.   God is so invested in us getting over our fears and insecurities that He doesn't just command strength and bravery, but he backs up His command with His attendance in our lives. 

However, we all find various reasons to be afraid and the result is that we let that fear hold us back.    You see, fear tries to call God powerless.  It actually says to us "You may have God, be He is not enough.   You really should still be worried.  The worst is going to happen.   You WILL fail!"   Can you see how fear is at odds with God and God's plans for us?   God loves us, and that perfect love casts out all fear.   That is what makes God our perfect Kind and is also why he is so dangerous to the enemy. 

1 John 4:18 says "There is no fear in love.   Bet perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 

God can command us to be strong and courageous because He alone is the insurance policy for our success.   God is not encouraging us to be strong because we're great, but because HE is great.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

I leave you with this really good news: these verses deliver us the freedom to do more than any of us have ever done.  Being courageous means that we are no longer afraid to fail.  Being courageous means doing and attempting things that we ordinarily wouldn’t try. 

Does it mean we won’t fail?   Of course not.  There will be times that we may fail for a variety of reasons but God will be there to catch us we will continue to grow through those failures and our experiences will allow us to experience a greater, more abundant life, than we would by letting fear stand in the way.

Demon - A Memoir

It's been a very long time since I have done anything similar to a book report - and hopefully - this doesn't come anywhere close to being one.  However, I recently completed a book titled: Demon: A Memoir written by Tosca Lee.   I will admit that I approached this book with some sceptisim given the approach taken in writing this book - but it is a very good read and one that I found - I couldn't put down.

The story revolves around a character named Clay.  Clay is - more or less - just an ordinary guy.  He's been throught a divorce, has more than he can handle at work and is really searching for answers.   Things pick up when a mysterious meeting invite shows up in Clay's email.  This is where Lucian - the demon - enters the story.  Lucian has chosen Clay to tell his story to and expects Clay to write it down and publish it. 

It's from here that the story really takes off - and I don't want to spoil it for anyone.  However, Lucian does appear to Clay in several forms to tell the "demon's side of the story."  Tosca Lee keeps this book tied to scripture and at the end of the story provides the scriptures she used as a basis for many of the areas discussed in the book.  These areas cover the the time before the creation story, the fall of satan and his demons, the crucifiction, and a few other areas. 

On a side note - I did want to follow up on a point I was attempting to make in my prior posting.  In it, I was trying to express why God doesn't want us to live in fear of jugement and last night I was reading a book on Angels written by Billy Graham.  In this book, I have found exactly the point that I was trying to express.  To quote it: "Do you fear the judgement of God?  Or do you know that Christ has taken your judgment upon Himself by His death on the cross?  When you know Christ, you need not fear God's judgement, for He has full purchased your salvation."   I thought this point summed things up perfectly.  To know Christ is to know peace.  That doesn't mean that we as christians are perfect - far from it, but it does mean that we are covered by God's grace and that is enough. 

If anyone is interested which book from Billy Graham I'm talking about it's titled Angel's God's Agents in Judgement.

How do we see God?

My family and I had a rare chance to attend a church service on Christmas Eve this year.  This is something that we’ve only had an opportunity to do a few times and is – admittedly – something I’ve only done a very few number of times.   The subject of the service was about barriers and the various reasons people use as excuses to keep from attending church or getting to know God/Jesus.  Among these reasons/excuses are:

1.      I’m not perfect and church is only for those who are perfect

2.      I don’t want to be like the rest of the hypocrites who attend church

3.      I’ve done too much.  There’s no way God could forgive me

4.      Church is too far away

5.      I’m too busy

and many others.  I could likely write a blog entry for most of the above, and may in the future, but the thing that got me thinking during this service was a question the pastor asked at the end of the service.   It was something similar to “How do you see God?  Is it as an almighty judge who is just waiting to bring judgment when we step out of line OR is at as a loving father?”

I’ve spent a good bit of time thinking about this question the last couple of days and have determined the answer to this question has a large impact on how we view our relationship with God.   For example, if you see God as an almighty judge who is waiting to bring judgment any time we “step out of line,” then we likely only doing the right things out of fear.  We tend to follow the “rules” because we are afraid of angering Him and being punished.  This living in constant fear can lead us to think that we are never good enough – that we could do something so terribly wrong that we are destined to Hell with no way to return.

However, if we see God as a loving father, then we realize that He knows we aren’t perfect and we are going to mess up.   We can then go through life do the best we can to live a moral life and get to know him.  We can take comfort in knowing that He will forgive us.  This is the God that Jesus spoke of in the New Testament and is one that knows you and provides comfort.   He loves you regardless of your shortcomings and is interested and loves each of us individually.  From this point of view, you live out your faith freely and without fear.

I think God wants us all to see Him as the loving Father.   This is the one area that – as a parent – I understand more as each day goes by.  Regardless of how much my kids “screw up” or “don’t follow the rules,” I will always love them and will forgive them.  Just as God does me.  We know that regardless of how hard they try, our kids will make mistakes as they grow up and mature.   I think that God knows the same thing about us.   Regardless of how hard we try, we are imperfect and will make mistakes as we grow and mature in our faith. 

God wants us to live a life that demonstrates and responds to His love not live in fear of punishment.