Today's Encouraging Word

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Be silent and listen to God. Let your heart be in such a state of preparation that His Spirit may impress upon you such virtues that will please Him. Let all within you listen to Him….

Don’t spend your time making plans that are just cobwebs – a breath of wind will come and blow them away. You have withdrawn from God and now you find that God has withdrawn the sense of His presence from you. Return to Him and give Him everything without reservation. There will be no peace otherwise. Let go of all you plans – God will do what He sees best for you.

Francis Fenelon

Today's Encouraging Word

Today is indeed the first day of the rest of my life –
Today is a day of resurrection, renewal, and restoration and I greet this day with enthusiasm, confidence, and passion.

This confident passion arises from my acceptance that in Christ I am a new creation and that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Today I know that the old indeed is passing away and that the new has been born. I am a being of light and love, committed to my spiritual growth, service to others, and becoming the optimal version of myself.

Today I declare, along with the Great Apostle, that with the power of the Holy Spirit, I am forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press forward into the future toward the goal and the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

In Christ most blessed name,

Amen

(Prayer composed by L. Dwight Turner / All Rights Reserved)

Accepting God's Promises: It's Your Choice

L. Dwight Turner

Christ calls us and, through the presence of the Holy Spirit, empowers us to live lives of glory and significance. Many of us have spent years accepting a gospel that is only partially presented. Yes, we may have grasped the importance of the cross and what Christ accomplished in terms of atonement, justification, and putting us back in right standing with the Father. This is, of course, the essential foundation of the gospel message, but it is far, far from the whole story.

Through the events of the Cross, the Resurrection, the Ascension and Pentecost, Christ accomplished far more than many of us understand and, to put it quite frankly, far more than any human may be capable of understanding. The real tragedy in all of this, however, is the reality that so many of us have failed to grasp even those aspects of the whole gospel story that are clearly understandable. As a result, many sincere followers of the Master are living far beneath their God-given and Christ-ordained potential. I am certain this must be a cause for great sadness in the heavenly places.

I have hope, however, that this situation can be rectified and that more and more of us can come to a place of understanding of the complete gospel message. I firmly believe that part of God’s purpose for the age in which we live is to have increasing numbers of Christians come to understand and apply the divine principles that will allow us to appropriate the full measure of the blessings the Lord has already provided. These principles are clearly outlined in scripture and once we consistently put these teachings into practice, our lives can and will change dramatically.

Although there are many aspects of life that are beyond our control, the one place we do have control is in our reactions to life events. Let's face it, life can be difficult. Each day we face myriad responsibilities, problems, challenges, duties and tasks. Each of these realities has the potential to derail us if we let them. Each of these daily realities can drain us of vital energy and cause us to lose sight of our goals and dreams. Yet the amazing truth is that, even though we have to face many challenges and difficulties in life, we do not have to allow them to send us off the tracks. Granted, there are many circumstances that flow into our lives that are beyond our control. But equally true is the fact that we can control how we respond to these events.

We have it in our power to respond to events in our lives in either a negative manner or a positive manner. It is up to us to choose. The sooner we learn that our quality of life depends on our quality of thought, and that the quality of our thought depends on what we choose to think, the sooner we will find ourselves rapidly accelerating down the road to self-improvement and spiritual fulfillment.

In my case, it took me far too long to accept responsibility for what I could control in my life. As a result, I wasted valuable time spinning my wheels and basically feeling miserable and desperate. It was only through God’s infinite patience and steadfast pursuit of me that I finally woke up and came to my senses. I finally came to understand that I have a choice about how I react to things. Shortly after this revelation, another important truth dawned in my mind.

I realized that I had a choice about whether or not to accept Christ at his word as revealed in scripture.

Now, please, understand what I am getting at here. I have come to realize that many of us say that we believe and accept what Christ tells us in those red-letter sections of our Bibles. Christ said it so it must be true, right?

Well, the fact is, we may say that we believe it but our actions and our emotions tell us otherwise. If we believe, for example, that if we have faith we can say to a mountain be thou removed and it will be removed, why are we not doing so? If we believe that it only takes faith the size of a mustard seed to accomplish miracles in our lives, why are we not exercising that tiny grain of faith? If Christ promised that we could do everything he could do and even more, then why are we walking around under the weight of so much spiritual oppression, allowing the enemy and his minions to hammer us like a birthday piñata?

The fact is maybe we really don’t believe what Christ told us.

This was the second revelation that came upon me, shortly after the first awareness dawned that I, in fact, had a choice in many things that happened in my life. I also realized that I had a choice whether or not to accept Christ at his word. And you, my friend, also have that choice.

So the question becomes: What will you choose?

We all have our mountains in life: mountains of illness, poverty, betrayal, persecution, addiction, disharmony in relationships, employment – the list goes on and on. If you choose to take Christ at his word, it is time to start speaking to those mountains. It is time to pick up the mantle of authority that Christ left for you and start using it in your daily life. You have a lot more power and authority than you realize. The only thing standing in your way is your failure to choose correctly. So it is vital to ask yourself once again: Do I believe, really believe, what Christ said?

If in the final analysis you find that you don’t believe it, I would encourage you to pray for insight into the issue. If you do believe it, however, then it is time to start dealing with those mountains.

In my younger days I was an avid bicyclist and specialized in doing long distance rides. It was not uncommon for me to go out on a weekend and take part in rides of 50, 80, and occasionally, 100-mile century rides. The hard part, of course, involved hills and/or mountains. I found that the best way to deal with these obstacles was to get a running start. That made the first part of the climb much easier.

The same principle holds true for dealing with the mountains in your life. Get a good running start by becoming completely familiar with the promises God has made in the Bible. Spend some significant time studying passages of scripture where your rights, privileges, inheritance, and blessings as a child of God are discussed. You will be surprised at things you may have missed or forgotten – promises made by Christ and by the Father. God is a God of integrity and scripture tells us he cannot lie. You can count on those promises. You can take them to the bank.

So begin right there, by studying scripture and get yourself a good, running start. Then start speaking to those mountains in your life and remove all doubt from your mind. Believe the spiritual laws and principles Christ taught you and you will not be disappointed.

© L.D. Turner 2009/All Rights Reserved

Reflections on Faith, Hope, and the Christian Journey

L. Dwight Turner


“Faith” is one of those terms that get thrown around quite often in spiritual circles, especially Christian circles. The fact that faith gets talked about so much points to something extremely critical: whatever it is, faith is at the core of the Christian spiritual journey. We can see the centrality of faith in many ways, not the least of which is the fact that the whole undertaking of living as a Christian is often called a walk of faith.

The problem is, there seems to be a great deal of confusion out there about what faith is and what faith is not. Some see faith as synonymous with hope, while others see faith as pretty much the same thing as belief. Yet others, especially those of the Word of Faith movement, see faith as a physical substance, a kind of energy which can be molded and directed to respond to our wishes and desires. With all of these options out there, it is easy to see how Christians in general and new believers in particular can come up gasping for air whenever they get caught in the whirlpool of a discussion on faith.

I have found, however, that discussions of faith do not have to be so perplexing and, whenever I find a writer who puts forward teachings about “faith” in a straightforward and understandable manner, I feel obliged to share those teachings. Erwin Raphael McManus is one such writer. Recently, while noting several key passages in his book Wide Awake I reread some of his ideas of faith in general and the connection between faith, hope, and positive expectation in particular. As these three concepts are part of such a tightly interwoven pattern, I want to share with you in some detail a few of his passages on these critical themes, starting with:

A life of faith is a life of expectation. The book of Hebrews gives us snapshots of individuals who lived a life of expectation, internalized optimism, and refused to give up. We are called to emulate the lives of women and men who kept leaning into their future. Through their stories, we are given clues about how we can begin to expect more and live bigger than ourselves…..

McManus describes the Faith Hall of Fame from the 11th Chapter of Hebrews as folks who:

Lived lives of expectation

Possessed an internalized optimism

Refused to give up (tenacity)

Without elaborating too much on this from a personal perspective, suffice to say that I have found that this trio of character traits are essential to an effective Christian life. As Christians we have every right to be radically optimistic, based on the scriptural revelation of the God we serve. This optimism is more than fleeting, but instead, is internalized and forms part of the bedrock of our Christian worldview. It is this internalized worldview that forms the matrix through which we filter and interpret the events in our lives.

What I am saying here is this: we serve a God of integrity who has made promises to us that he cannot break. Further, he has demonstrated to us that he intends our greatest good to unfold and, from this, we can be both radically optimistic and expect good things to happen in our lives. When bad things happen, we can still remain optimistic and expect the best, because, again, God has promised this and will not lie to us. In fact he cannot lie to us. Thus, we can be very tenacious in pursuit of godly goals because we know deep in our hearts that:

.... God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose

At its core and depth, the Christian life is about living for something much greater than ourselves. It is not only about self-transcendence, although that is part of it, it is more about the death of self and rebirth into a much larger story than the petty dramas in which we lived before. We see this in the stories of the heroes of faith that we meet in Hebrews 11. The vital background of their lives is encapsulated in these words of scripture:

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what was seen was not made out of what was visible.

Speaking of the ancient faith of these biblical figures, McManus goes on to say:

A life of expectation is the result of living in the dynamic tension that exists between faith and hope. When you begin to live a life that integrates faith and hope, you begin to internalize optimism. Faith, we are told, is the substance of things hoped for. There is an interconnection between faith and hope.

As stated earlier, faith seems to be a somewhat nebulous commodity when it comes to definition. Yet it is this very faith that God has placed at the center of his plans of salvation, reconnection, resurrection, and restoration. According to scripture, faith is the dynamic catalyst for conversion, salvation, and even sanctification. Paul understood this clearly, as did most of the early church fathers, and most certainly Martin Luther and the reformers of the 16th Century.

Why is it that we have grown so confused about the centerpiece of God’s plans to restore this world to its proper alignment with his will and purpose? I think one reason for this is that more than a few teachers try to make “faith” fit their own agenda. They should know better and to tell you the truth, most of them do know better. Perhaps these “teachers and prophets” have yet to die to their own schemes and get on board God’s plan. Thus, we are bombarded in the Christian media and from the pulpit with concepts of faith that miss the mark. McManus continues:

We find that faith is different from what we oftentimes thought. Faith isn’t so much about having a big idea. Faith isn’t about how much belief you can muster up. Faith isn’t like spiritual childbirth, where you experience the pain of labor. It is not about trying to create the future by believing it will be so. Faith is not the Christian version of a wish. It is not about speaking something into reality. Faith is different. Faith is about substance. It’s about knowing what has not happened will certainly happen. Not because you will make it happen but because God has promised it will be so. It is a conviction about things unseen. It is the promise of a better world, a better future – a better you.

As you can see, the concept of faith espoused here by McManus is far different that much of what we see and hear today. Faith is not so much dependent upon who we are, but who God is. Faith is not so much concerned with what we say, or believe, or speak….it is more about what God has said and done. I firmly believe that God has already provided all that we can ever need to live the kind of holy, godly life to which we are called. I firmly believe that I can do exactly what God say I can do – again – not so much because of who I am, but because of who He is.
It is for these reasons that I can trust God and begin to lean into the future with confidence and even boldness, knowing that God has provided for my journey in ways both great and small. Returning to McManus:

Faith is about conviction, while hope is about confidence. Faith grounds us in the certainty of God’s faithfulness, and hope pulls us into the mystery of God’s future.

Think about it.

© L.D. Turner 2009/All Rights Reserved

Radical Optimism

L. Dwight Turner

More than a few Christians go through their days as if dark clouds were hanging over their heads and exhibiting a countenance that indicated they began each day being baptized in vinegar rather than water. Some of the worst scowls I have ever seen draped the faces of Christians as they sat like rigid corpses in their Sunday sanctuaries. These good folks had come together to make a joyful noise unto the Lord but believe me, if one of these stone-faced soldiers of the Living God ever cracked a genuine smile on the Sabbath, the ensuing shock waves would register over 7.0 on the Richter Scale.

This is not how God intended those of us who consider ourselves followers of the Master Jesus to live. On the contrary, I firmly believe that being a Christian is synonymous with being an optimist.

Both scripture and common sense screams that negativity and pessimism are not what God intended for his children. The Christian life was meant to be a joyous affair instead of an ordeal to be endured. Granted, life will always have its difficulties, but even when we face trials, I believe that God desires that we do so with as much optimism and hope as possible.

Personally, I have come to believe that one of the fundamental keys to a life of Christian optimism is to have positive expectations based on scripture and the integrity of God.

Think about it. In Romans Paul tells us that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God. In and of itself, that promise should keep us in a positive frame of mind, even during times of difficulty and trial. In case you are not familiar with this passage, or if you have forgotten it, let’s take a look at what Paul says in Romans 8: 38-39

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below – indeed, nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NLT)

If we trust God and believe what scripture tells us, then we have every right to be completely optimistic about the present and the future. This is not a false, “pie in the sky” optimism nor is it a Pollyanna style denial of reality. No, this biblical optimism is based entirely on scripture and God’s character. God is a being of integrity and further, he cannot lie. Our optimism is based on the firm foundation of God’s promises and his character.

The enjoyment of life flows from trusting God and, through that trust, to have positive expectations in life. We have every right to believe deep in our hearts that God truly desires our happiness because he is the Father of Lights and we are Children of the Light. Indeed, scripture affirms that God wishes that we “prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” (3 John 1:2)

This has nothing to do with what has come to be known as the “prosperity gospel.” Here I think John is speaking of the fact that God desires our happiness and enjoyment of life and we proper in life. Yes, this can mean financial wealth, but it can also mean emotional and spiritual wealth. We have every right to expect the best because God wants the best for his children.

John mentions here the fact that our soul prospers. What is he talking about? In brief, as humans we are tripartite beings, meaning that we have three aspects to our being. Just as God exists as a Trinity, in a real sense, so do we. Our three-part make up consists of body, soul, and spirit. The soul consists of our mind, our emotions, and our will. God’s original intention was that our spirit be in the driver’s seat and in direct communication with God. Based on this divine connection, our spirit governed our soul and our bodies. Due to the Fall, this arrangement was distorted and, because of our spiritual death, it became necessary that the soul take up the command of our lives. The results of this, of course, are quite negative and adverse to God’s intentions.

When we accepted Christ into our hearts, ideally the original order of things was restored, at least on a spiritual level. When we live from our spirit (walk according to the Spirit, not the flesh), our soul does indeed prosper and we can enjoy life and expect the best.

Having positive expectations based on scriptural promises leads to a realistic and practical optimism which impacts all aspects of life. That is why at Sacred Mind Ministries we often refer to the Christian brand of optimism as “Holistic Optimism.” Rather than a vague, generic form of positive thinking, true holistic optimism is a dynamic force that affects the believer’s life on all levels. Further, the Christian optimist is a person who is highly practical, very resilient, and enjoys life, even at times when things may not be going as we desire. The Christian optimist knows that God wants her best and wants her to prosper and enjoy life in all its magnitude and glory. Also, she is well aware that God has said very directly that nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate her from God’s love.

How can we justify anything less than positive expectations which flow from a biblical worldview and dynamic optimism? Personally, I think to expect less or expect the worst is an insult to God. It is telling God you do not trust him or his promises.

Even when we feel disappointed, discouraged, or overwhelmed, we can still respond in a positive manner. It is vitally important that you understand that optimism is not a denial of the pain one encounters in life. Remember Scott Peck’s runaway best seller, entitled The Road Less Traveled? The opening statement of Peck’s book was, “Life is difficult.” Peck was right in his assessment. Life can surely be difficult at times. Buddha, over two and a half millennia ago, was even more pessimistic. The first of his Four Noble Truths said that “all life is suffering.”

Even more relevant to the Christian optimist is the fact that Jesus told his disciples they could expect trouble in life. They did experience trouble and so do we. However, Jesus also gave them two important reasons to not let these troubles dampen their optimism. The Lord said two things that are of great comfort to those with ears to hear:

I have overcome the world.

I am with you, even until the end of the age.

Armed with these promises, the Christian optimist can face any difficult situation might throw his or her way. I know that when many of you read this, the first thing that pops into your mind is, “But….” Chances are whatever words come after the “but” is an attempt on your part to either justify why you are a pessimist or to explain why what Christ said may be true for some, but not for you. For some, this process of rationalizing away what the Master Jesus clearly stated is an attempt to hold on to our negativity. I have met more than a few folks who cling very tightly to their pessimism and dark moods. As unhealthy as this sound, and it is quite unhealthy, this trend is fairly prevalent, even in the Body of Christ.

In some ways, pessimism is a coping mechanism that a believer might misguidedly employ as a means of emotional protection. I have a good friend Jeremy who fits this example. Generally a decent, caring, and devoted Christian, Jeremy is quite prone to finding a dark cloud in every silver lining.

On several occasions I have talked with my friend about this issue and surprisingly, he is quite aware of his chronic pessimism. In discussing the matter with Jeremy, I discovered that his thinking was quite different from a positive thinking Christian who expects good things in life. In fact, Jeremy expects the exact opposite. This came to light during a three-day workshop Sacred Mind Ministries taught at Jeremy’s church. Already aware of just how negative a mindset he had, I was interested in how he might respond to the training program.

On the second day, Jeremy’s team leader gave each person a scriptural affirmative statement to work with. The idea of the assignment was to see how creative each person might be in finding ways to incorporate frequent repetition of the affirmative statement into their busy schedule. When we went around the group, the various team members shared the methods they had devised and how it felt to tap into this new way of renewing the mind.

The scriptural affirmation assigned to Jeremy was, “And there shall be showers of blessing for me.” (Ezk. 34:26) The teams broke for 10 minutes of individual quiet time, during which each person would experiment with repeating the scriptural affirmation. Jeremy, however, declined to participate.

I asked my friend why he did not want to take part in the exercise. He was quite direct in his response:

“I just don’t think I can do that, mostly because it might just work,” said Jeremy. “You see, I always try to not look for or expect too much out of life. That way, when I don’t get what I expect, I am not so disappointed.”

I understood what Jeremy meant because I have heard the same words come out of the mouths of more than a few sincere believers.

“Let me ask you something, Jeremy,” I responded. “Do you figure that’s how God wants you to live?”

“Well, I never really thought about it in that context.”

“Let me ask one more question,” I pressed. “Do you figure that’s why Christ left his home in heaven, came down here into this broken world, fulfilled his mission, and allowed himself to be put to death – just so you could live in fear of expecting too much.?”

Jeremy didn’t respond, but he didn’t engage in the exercise, either. You see, Jeremy has built up a stronghold of pessimism in his mind and it has literally become a part of his coping skills. Changing this perspective will be difficult, but it can be done. I have walked through that difficult terrain myself, but that is another story. Suffice to say that with God’s help and with a person’s sincere cooperation, this type of “defensive pessimism” can be transformed into a dynamic, radical optimism.

Please don’t misunderstand what I am saying in this article. I am not suggesting that the Christian life is a bed of roses or any kind of journey that is without pain. M. Scott Peck begins his landmark book The Road Less Traveled with these three reality based words: “Life is difficult.” It is rare that three little words can contain such a profound and accurate view of life, especially in these challenging economic and social times. Peck then goes on in the book to express the theory that most emotional problems, especially neurosis, can be tracked back to a person’s multi-faceted attempts to avoid accepting the stark reality that “life is difficult.

The Christian optimist would generally agree with Peck; life is, indeed, difficult. The difference between a Christian optimist and a person who views life through a more neurotic lens is the Christian’s gut-level acceptance that no matter what he or she faces, the Master they serve has overcome the world and therefore, in the final analysis, has provided a way through life’s difficulties. Further, the Christian optimist has a habit of turning life’s difficulties into positive opportunities. This is no “pie in the sky” response, but instead, the Christian optimist takes to heart the scriptural promise that God will not burden any person with more than they are equipped to bear. This is especially true for the Christian.

© L.D. Turner 2009/ All Rights Reserved

Realizing Divine Potential and Purpose: A Fundamental Question (Part One)

L. Dwight Turner

The issue of realizing our divine potential gets quite a bit of ink these days, and rightly so. Each of us has been provided with a God-given purpose for our lives and we have also been gifted with the divine potential to realize that purpose – to make it manifest in the world in which we live. Yes, the current focus on discovering a realizing our potential is no doubt justified.

With that being said, I would like to spend a bit of time looking at a related issue, one that perhaps underlies all the popular hubbub about our purpose, potential, and spiritual mission. In fact, the issue I am thinking of relates to an important personal decision each of us has to make when we take on the mantle of “Christian” and further, what we do with that decision may well determine whether or not we actualize our potential and realize our purpose. Cutting right to the chase, the decision we all have to make is in answer to the following question:

How far am I willing to go in following the call of Christ upon my life?

I think there comes a time in the Christian walk of faith when individual believers make a choice to go no farther with Christ. Let’s face it, Christ has called for such a radical transformation of character and world view, to fully follow his teachings would be suicide, given the realities of our post-modern world.

“Taking up the cross and following Him is not the same now as it was back in the day,” a friend of mine once said. “If I really did what Jesus said to do, I would wind up the poorhouse along with my whole family. I love Jesus, but hey, I am not an idiot. All in all, I think He understands.”

There is really nothing wrong with this logic. The problem lies in the fact that once we begin to make this compromise, a dozen more usually follow in its wake. Listen, my friend, to follow Christ in our day and time is suicide. And guess what? That’s how it’s supposed to be.

What is suicide? In a very real sense it is a voluntary death. And what is it that Christ asks us to do? We are to take up our cross and die daily. Each day, we are to undergo a voluntary death. That doesn’t mean that we literally attempt to end our lives. Heaven forbid. No, it means that we place the demands of our ego, our lower self, our flesh, on the cross. They die with Christ so that we may be raised up in new life. It cost quite a bit to be a Christian and this faith is not for the weak of mind or faint of heart. It takes a real hero to be a true Christian.

The question before us, and the antidote to the complacency that like a leech, is sucking the very life out of the church, involves each of us on an intimately personal level.

The ultimate question facing Christians in this difficult but exciting age is a question each believer must answer individually. Will you take on the yoke of Christ in all its implications and allow him to live and fulfill his mission through you? Recognize that this question involves taking an assessment of the true costs of discipleship. Yes, God’s grace is freely given but real discipleship comes with a price. And in the end, my friend, that price is yourself. How each believer answers this ultimate question will determine how effective the church will be in its mission. Dallas Willard remarks:

So the great issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or by culture, are identified as “Christians” will become disciples – students, apprentices, practitioners – of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom of Heaven into every corner of human existence. Will they break out of the churches to be his Church – to be, without human force or violence, his mighty force for good on earth, drawing the churches after them toward the eternal purpose of God?

If you think about it, the words of Willard are both motivational and frightening. Yes, most of us want to be true disciples of the Lord. We all want to learn from him and profess the willingness to do whatever he requires for the furtherance of his kingdom. However, do we really want that? Are we really willing to go to whatever lengths it requires of us? The question before each and every one of us is fairly simple to comprehend.

In my daily life, where the rubber meets the road, how far am I willing to go?

Each of us must settle this matter for ourselves. It is ultimately between the Lord and the individual believer when it comes to answering this vital question. However, our individual answers, taken collectively, largely determine the nature, the character, and the future of the church as a whole.

I am not trying to be fanatical here. I am not saying that unless you go all the way, you are not what God wants you to be. If that were really the case, I would be the first to admit that I would be toasted and toasted quickly. I think what Jesus is asking is, “How far will you go given your current circumstance?”

Also keep in mind, to avoid answering the question is to answer it. God, however, sometimes refuses to allow some of us to rest unless we answer this vital query. I know in my own life, whenever I avoid God for any length of time, particularly something he wants me to do that I don’t want to do, I can make Jonah look like a piker. Still, the Lord indeed comes after me and, in the final analysis, I am grateful.