KLOVE RADIO FEATURES – MARCH 2024
WHINING WHEN DOORS CLOSE –
Each of us, at times, will experience doors closing that we desperately wanted to stay open. But if we wait on God and trust Him, we’ll see He wants to open better doors. In Acts 18, many Jews were rejecting Paul’s teaching about Christianity. This must have initially hurt Paul very much. But a short time later, God showed Paul He was actually giving him an extraordinary promotion: becoming the Apostle to the Gentiles. Here again, some saw this turn of events as a demotion. Now, two thousand years and billions of Gentile-Christians later, few people see it that way. What’s the point? When you think you’ve lost a great opportunity, trust God and look again because you’ll likely see an even better one coming your way.
BEWARE OF REVENGE
In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned for preaching about Jesus. But when the city leaders discovered Paul was a Roman citizen, they begged him to leave and not press charges. Paul and Silas could have enacted revenge against them for their mistreatment, but they chose to move on instead. In this age of rage when, too often, hurt people choose to hurt others rather than forgive them, Jesus said, “…love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you…” (Matthew 5:44) Sure, it will take great humility and confidence in God for us to offer mercy and not judgment. Yet, it is what each of us hopes others will do to us.
GOD PROMISES MORE, NOT LESS
The more I follow Jesus, the more I realize reality is often stranger than fiction. In Acts 12, after the Apostle James is executed and Peter is imprisoned under heavy guard, he’s miraculously set free. Stunned by what’s transpired, Peter goes to a home where he knows a prayer meeting is happening. Knocking repeatedly on the door, a servant recognizes Peter’s voice. Excited, she returns to the prayer meeting and tells everyone that Peter’s at the door. Initially, they think she’s crazy but are soon amazed to see Peter standing there. We all tend to disbelieve what God promises to do. That’s why Paul, in the very next chapter, reiterates God’s promise to do something in our day that, even if someone told us, we wouldn’t believe it. Trust Him!
THE GIFT OF INCONVENIENCE
We are conditioned with convenience: instant this . . . immediate that. I want it now, sooner, faster. Yet, God’s leading is often inconvenient. He’ll have to interrupt us. Our lives are full: work, play, travel, sleep, rinse, repeat. We’re busy with full schedules. Our lives are planned. Therefore, allowing God to take His liberty and move in our lives is often exasperating. The fact is, we have the relationship with God we’ve chosen. James, the brother of Jesus, says it this way, “…you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.” (James 4:2). God doesn’t want to give us the life of our dreams; he wants to give us the life of His dreams. But it will take a change of heart and a transforming commitment to allow Jesus to really become the Lord of our lives.
WHAT WE’VE EACH BEEN GIVEN
Until we wholeheartedly embrace the selfless sacrifice God made for us, we’ll never be able to experience the extraordinary adventures He’s planned for us. Only by fully appreciating what we have graciously been given can we believe for the blessings yet ahead. Jesus took our sins and placed the punishment we deserved upon Himself. As we each have been given so much, Jesus said, “When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.” (Luke 12:48). Adding on another occasion, “To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.” (Mark 4:25) Learn to appreciate God’s grace.
GOD’S FOOLISH PLAN VS. MANS
Every day, media airwaves are filled with boasting pundits espousing higher truths that are not true at all. Their efforts merely affirm God’s Word, which states, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.” (1 Corinthians 1:19). Truly, God’s foolish plan is wiser than man’s seemingly brilliant schemes. I love how the Message Bible affirms this, “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you and develops well-formed maturity in you.”