Coffee With The Lord

Trying to please God by simply keeping a list of religious rules and regulations can be a frustrating, discouraging and unsatisfying proposition! Not only that, if you succeed at keeping the rules to any degree, it can feed one of the worst sins of all – pride!

There is a better way according to Apostle Paul! Here is what he recommended under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit…

“You have died to the law [i.e. trying to please God by simply keeping a list of religious rules] through the body of Christ [i.e. What Jesus accomplished for us through His death for our sins on the cross], so that you may belong to another – to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God! … Now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, SO THAT WE MAY SERVE IN THE NEW WAY OF THE SPIRIT and not in the old way of the written code!” (from Romans 7:1-6 ESV)

Have you ever been prompted by God to believe Him for something seemingly impossible – something absolutely incredible. The Holy Spirit seemed to drop the idea into your heart or there was an authentic prophetic word that came and you were left speechless. You found yourself saying, “No way! That can’t happen! How could it? It’s impossible!” You almost laughed out loud… You did inside!
Well that very thing happened to a very old couple in the Bible – Abraham and Sarah. Here’s the account straight out of the Bible…
“And God said to Abraham, ‘I will bless Sarah, and I will give you a son by her. I will bless her and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah who is ninety years old, bear a child?’
“And the Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold three men were standing in front of him… They said to him, ‘Where is Sarah your wife?’ And he said, ‘She is in the tent. The LORD said, ‘I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.’ And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” The LORD said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ IS ANYTHING TOO HARD FOR THE LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.’ But Sarah denied it, saying, ‘I did not laugh,’ for she was afraid. He said, ‘No, but you did laugh!’
“The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, ‘God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.’ And she said, ‘Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.’” (taken from Genesis 17, 18 and 21 ESV)
So don’t laugh! If God has truly spoken to you and prophetic words spoken over you are authentic and real, God will fulfill them as promised in His time! (In some cases the promises are fulfilled even beyond our lifetime, as some of the promises given to Abraham and Sarah.) Just believe… and keep on believing! After all, “IS ANYTHING TO HARD FOR THE LORD?”

Every year during my Bible reading when I work my way through the book of Job, I find myself saying, “There is much truth spoken by Job’s “friends” in this book, however, so much of it is misapplied to someone that God referred to as, “My servant Job…there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears [reverences] God and turns away from evil!” (And that was God’s assessment of Job on more than one occasion in the book!)  His friends criticize him, accuse him, and give him all kinds of advice about the challenges he is facing, often using “truth” but cruelly misapplying it to a righteous man going through terrible trials.

Just let me say, that is not a problem unique to Job!  It has happened to righteous, godly people down through the centuries and it happens today!  Sometimes so called “friends” can inflict the worst pain with their advice to fellow Christians going through severe trials!  Phrases like, “If only you would…” or “Perhaps if you were…” can lead into painful, unjust, accusations from those who are living in relative comfort while their friends are going to difficult trials.

So today, as I was reading Job again, I found myself praying, “Oh Lord, I never want to be guilty of that!  I don’t want the phrase “miserable comforter” (a phrase used by Job for his so called “friends”) to ever be used to describe me!  I never want to be guilty of using “truth” in such a way that it inflicts additional pain on sincere, godly friends who are already hurting.  I want to practice what Paul’s epistle to the Colossians recommends: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience…And above all of these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (Colossians 3:12-14)  Help me Lord!