KLOVE Radio Features – March 2021
PROCRASTINATION –
Time is the most precious gift we have. You can lose a house or even a friend, and get them back in the end. But our priceless time on Earth we can never get back. That’s why procrastination is probably the greatest time waster. If we believe there is something God wants us to do, then, if we can, we should, because one day we can’t and we won’t. This principle is vital to all aspects of health: our spiritual, mental, emotional and physical wellbeing. We put off until tomorrow what, at times, is critical that we do today. Procrastination always robs our present and, in time, steals our future. Tomorrow is promised to no one. The Bible says, “Today, if you hear His voice, don’t harden your heart.” Our time on Earth will soon be past, only what is done for Christ will last.
HEAVEN’S FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE –
Asking someone if they’ve ever felt financial pressure is like saying, “Have you ever lived on Earth?” Everyone, at times, struggles with their finances. That’s why we need a heavenly perspective when it comes to earthly finances. James, chapter one, actually stunned me when I read that Christians who are poor should embrace the fact that God has honored them. While Christians who are rich should realize He’s humbled them. Wow! Poor Christ-followers are being honored, while wealthy Christians are being humbled. I don’t think I’ve ever read verses that defied conventional wisdom in a greater way. When I’m poor, through no fault of my own, I should see it as a blessing; and if I’m financially wealthy, I should be humbled, realizing all of my wealth was given to me by God.
KEEPING YOUR EYES SINGLE –
Here’s an odd physical reality we all have in common. Our ears and nose continue to grow throughout our lifetime, while our eyes remain the same size. As I have pondered this enigmatic fact, I came to a few spiritual conclusions. Jesus said, “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light.” (Matthew 6:22, NLT) It takes more effort to stop smelling and hearing, while stopping seeing can be almost instantaneous when we close our eyes. It’s likewise more difficult to remember a smell or a sound, but visual images are branded in our brain. Counselors don’t show up to help first responders because of what they’ve smelled or heard, but to assist them in processing what they saw. Keep your eyes healthy, and your life will be filled with God’s light.
STAYING IN EVAN ROBERTS HOME –
In 2012, my wife Suzie and I went to the nation of Wales and made a film about the Welsh revival of 1904. It’s considered by many as the greatest spiritual revival of all time. Ninety thousand people were converted in two years, and crime, for a season, virtually vanished. While there, we spent a night in the home of Evan Roberts, the 26-year-old Bible school student and coal miner God used to spearhead this planet-shaking move of God. We even stayed in the bedroom where he had a three-month long, nightly visitation with Jesus. Getting up early the next morning, I spent time with the Lord. I spent time with the Lord. The verse “the Kingdom of God is within you” stirred my heart and the God reminded me that Christ in me is my only hope of glorifying Jesus. “Lord, revive us as we seek You fervently with all our hearts!”
WHAT THOSE I LOVE WANT MOST FROM ME –
Of all the words spoken on Earth, few are memorable, and fewer still are eternal. Of all the voices speaking, only One voice transforms every time we hear it, and likewise, why the words of Jesus are in red. The Bible says, “Be quick to listen, and slow to speak.” (James 1:19) And there is no One we should be listening to more than God. You will notice He never asks a surface question or engages in small talk. His voice is profound and memorable; brief and amazing. Of all the words ever spoken to me during my life, the simple sentences from God’s heart have changed me most. Though I’m not very good at it, those I love would rather me be a good listener with them, than a great talker. And I’ve found after nearly a half-century of following Jesus, God feels the same way.
PRAYING FOR MY WILL TO BE DONE –
Recently, I began to think that there is so much prayer going up by the saints that God would certainly answer them in the affirmative. I was wrong. In retrospect, some of my prayers have in essence been, “Lord, I can see clearly what needs to happen. So, I thank you for answering my prayers.” Now I see that much of my disappointment in life comes from me playing God and asking Him to merely sign off on what I consider to be best. In the end, it’s called my will. “So, I ask you to forgive me, Lord! I want my hope to be in You alone. The disappointment I feel at times comes from not receiving what I was hoping for, instead of trusting that You are already committed to give me what is best for me, and only You know what that is.”
THE GREATEST PRAYERS EVER PRAYED? –
Is it possible that the greatest prayers ever prayed were never recorded in Scripture? Consider this! Christ’s disciples had failed to believe the two greatest events in history: they fled the Crucifixion and disbelieved the Resurrection. Those were BIG misses. All their boasting and self-confidence had done was bring 120 of them, broken and disappointed, to an Upper Room of embarrassment and repentance. There, I believe, cries of humiliation birthed tears of joy. They transparently acknowledged both their failings and God’s faithfulness. What asking of forgiveness took place between the disciples? What revival launching prayers were prayed? Only eternity will tell. “Jesus, lead us to Your upper room of repentance and revival, for only there will You have all of us fully surrendered to all of You.”
MYTHOLOGICAL MORALITY –
The problem with humans playing God is that we’re really bad at it. The only kind of morality we can create is mythological, founded in fantasy. All “new” mythological morality can do is repackage “old” immorality. The very same delusional presumptions that have destroyed past civilizations since the beginning of time. The wages of sin is always death. Mythology only seems real until it is confronted by reality. And reality always shows up at an inconvenient time. Paul the Apostle wrote, “I say this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive [but thoroughly deceptive] arguments.” (Colossians 2:4, AMP) The Bible’s safe and healthy morality has always been considered outdated and dangerous, and in the years to come, probably “hate speech.” It’s nothing new. “Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.” (Romans 1:22, NLT)
THE GIFT THAT CHANGED OUR DAUGHTERS LIVES –
On our twin daughters thirteenth birthday, they got all dressed up and I took them to a special restaurant celebrating this memorable milestone. At the end of the meal, carefully crafted fortune cookies were brought out. Before opening them, I shared that as their father it was my responsibility to do all I could to protect their lives until they were married. I then read a heart-felt statement expressing my commitment to watch over them. When they opened each cookie, inside were beautiful opal rings. It was a moving moment! They wore them for the next fifteen years until I walked each of them down the aisle and they symbolically gave their rings to their husbands. Some people thought I was putting a burden on Deborah and Havilah that they couldn’t live up to, but in reality it assisted their own desire and commitment to moral purity.
WHAT WOULD KILL ME? –
If there was one temptation that could destroy me, it would be giving into pornography. Therefore, I guard my heart most in this area. Exodus 19:12, in the Message Bible, describes the danger of giving into sin, “Post boundaries for the people all around, telling them, ‘Warning! Don’t climb the mountain. Don’t even touch its edge. Whoever touches the mountain dies a certain death.’” That’s how I perceive pornography. It will kill me dead if I even touch it. I embarrass myself regularly by sharing this because I know how critical it is for each of us to acknowledge before God and man the areas in our lives where the enemy could destroy us. What temptation could kill you: alcohol, drugs, food, whatever? Accept that if you allowed it to get a toe-hold in your life, eventually it would have a foot-hold and then a strangle-hold.
ADDICTED TO FAMILIARITY –
When Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, after a long time, the Israelites thought he wasn’t coming back. Giving into fear, they constructed a golden calf. It was an idol from their past that gave them a false sense of comfort; a tendency each of us have. We backslide into the familiar, rather than press forward into God’s glorious unknown future. Faith always seems foolish. Moses then ground the idol into powder, and made them drink it. Thousands died. They even lost the gold they’d put into the fire to make the calf. In the end, idolatry is a bitter pill that accomplishes nothing, and leaves us filled with pain and regret. Familiar addictions are a loss on every level, while believing for a faith-filled future is a prayer God always answers.
HOW MANY LIKES DO YOU NEED? –
Could you imagine if Moses waited for a book deal before he decided to write the first five books in the Bible? Or David refused to write the Psalms until he had a few thousand Instagram followers? It’s no more silly than for us to wait to put on paper, or post, a revelation that God has given us. Are we really primarily writing or singing or speaking for an audience of One, as we sometimes say, or is Jesus just a doting grandparent we pat on the head when they affirm us? How many gems are never displayed, songs are never sung, words are never written, speeches are never spoken, or hearts are never opened, because someone believed the lie that what the God of the Universe had given them wasn’t special enough or worth sharing?