Returning Good for Evil

And he said again, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. 

 But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives.

Joseph Sold into Slavery

 (Genesis 45:4b-5 NLT)

There is a natural tendency in the human heart to be treated fairly, yet Joseph marched to a different drummer.  He responded not just humanly, but divinely. He showed his brothers mercy instead of justice by returning good for evil.

At times in my life, I have reminded the Lord that it is tough to show grace to people when they are not showing much to you. After I made these reminders to the Lord, there would generally be a pregnant pause in the conversation. After a few moments, I would get the feeling that the Lord was saying to me, been there done that.  At that point, Christ was referring me back to the Cross where he said, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34 NLT). In this life, people will spitefully use you. Jesus taught us in Matthew 5:47 that if we are only kind to our friends, is this different than anyone else?  Even the non-believers do this.  What distinguished Joseph from his brothers was his willingness to return good for evil. As Christians, what sets us apart from the world, it’s our willingness show grace to those who don’t deserve it. Not doing so, contradicts who we are.

As believers, are you surprised in how you have been treated by the world?  Read the Book, it is part of the territory.  Take courage, people may have meant it for evil, but God intended it for good.

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

Never Despise the Ordinary

Then he (Jesus) said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!” So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it.(John 21:6 NLT)

The Disciples casting their nets.

We often complain about the mundane circumstances of our lives.  Jesus did his best teaching in the commonplace venues of peoples’ lives. Never despise the ordinary.

Someone once said that the thing that is difficult about Christianity is that it is every day.  Some of us are always looking for that spiritual pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and we miss those spiritual lessons right in front of our nose. We look for God in the unusual or spectacular events of our lives.  At times they do occur, yet most often God is in the ordinary or mundane experiences of our existence.  Jesus spoke to people where they lived.  The scene in our scriptural reference had been replayed by his disciples’ numerous times, yet Jesus invaded the natural with the supernatural.  This appears to be how God works. In the feeding of the five thousand (Matthew 14:13-21) he asked his disciples for what they had, five loaves and two fish, and then he gave them what they did not have, enough food to feed the multitude.  Miracles are a combination of the ordinary and the extraordinary.  At a common event like the wedding at Cana, they gave Jesus water, and he gave them wine.  God asks us to do the possible, and he does the impossible.

We may miss God in the ordinary because we are not looking for him to show up in the details of life.  God does not just live on the mountaintop, but in the valley also. 

Image used with permission by Google.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

The Tamarisk Tree

Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. (Genesis 21:33 NLT)

The Shade of a Tamarisk Tree

Abraham planted a tree, but not just any tree.  It was a tamarisk tree.  Abraham was making a statement of faith.  He would never sit under the shade of this tree, but future generations would because of his great faith.

Faith is seeing past what we can observe with our natural eyes.  He never owned one acre of the Promised Land, save the burial plot for his family, yet by faith he did possess the land. Based on God’s promise to him, he saw it as being done.

In the Middle East, the tamarisk tree was a very slow growing.  You never planted it to benefit yourself, but those who would come after you.  In the Bible, honor was expressed by passing the blessing from one generation to another.  Abraham was blessed through the promise of his son Isaac.  David praised God when he was told that his son Solomon was to build the Temple and not him.  He saw it as God blessing him through future generations.  

This process of extending the truth and the blessing from one generation to another goes on today.  It may be through your natural descendants, or spiritual offspring like Timothy was to the Apostle Paul.  Like Abraham, we must plant our own tamarisk tree, by doing things for the Lord that may not benefit us directly, but will profit those who come after us. When told he could not build the Temple, David went about collecting materials so his son could complete it.  Some plant, some water, and some harvest (1 Corinthians 3:6-8) but the rewards are equally shared.

Planting your tamarisk tree will provide shade for future generations and will bring the ultimate blessing, world evangelization and the return of King Jesus.

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes, the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

The Silver Tsunami

Then the Lord told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering.  Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.”  (Genesis 21:33 NLT)

Ten thousand people are turning sixty years old every day in our country.  It has referred to as the silver tsunami.  For Christians, what is God purpose in having this vast number of people come to this stage of their lives?  Maybe, God is ready to raise up a sleeping giant for world evangelization. 

In our Scripture above, Moses was eighty years old when God spoke to him to lead his people out of Egypt.  Yes, eighty years of age was a little different in those days than today, yet age has never been the limiting factor in our usefulness for God. 

Moses spent forty years in the best educational environment the world had to offer. Then, he labored the next forty years learning to be a servant.  God never wastes any of our experiences.  For some of you reading this blog, all your life experiences may have been to prepare you for what God wants you to do now.  If you are retired, you have a precious commodity, time.  If you have planned well, you have some financial resources, and you have experience.  You know how the world works and how to get a job done.  Don’t waste those resources.

You can spend the rest of your days having breakfast at McDonald, discussing the good old days.  God may have more for you.  Get on that wave of the silver tsunami and see what God does.

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

God or Mammon

 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and ^[a]mammon.  (Matthew 6:24 NKJV)

 

The Bible does not say we “should not” or “must not” but we cannot serve God and mammon. You will always end up loving one and despising the other.  It must be God or mammon.

Mammon literally means “gain.”  Including, money or wealth, but also, anything in this world that is considered gain that is gotten by the lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16).  It might include power, influence, or fame.  

The Church today preaches that you can only have one God, yet some have created a theology where you can serve God and mammon. This is done by telling us that God wants all believers to be prosperous or successful, which is always defined as being wealthy. Some reading this are probably thinking that this writer has a poverty mentality.  It is not about being rich or poor.  Saying that all believers should have meager resources is just as wrong as believing that all Christians should live in luxury.  The crucial word is all.  The Bible tells us of many righteous people such as Abraham who were wealthy, yet, the Apostle Paul praised the church in Macedonia which was known for its poverty. Biblically speaking, concerning material possessions, one size does not fit all.

It is not about how many things we have, but do they have us?  If what you have or what you can do rivals God, you are trying to serve two masters. You will love one and hate the other.

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!”Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20 NLT)

In the Year of our Lord

As 2019 is upon us, what does it tell us at the end of the Book?  It reveals to us that Jesus is coming soon and what our response should be. 

The great Bible commentator, Matthew Henry once said of this verse, “What comes from heaven as a promise should return to heaven as a prayer.”  The coming of Christ should motivate us to words and deeds.  King David said, “Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God.  Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me.”  We owe a debt to all believers who have gone before us, yet, we pay this obligation forward not backward.  As we were taught, encouraged, and had godly role models, so must we do likewise for the emerging generation.  It matters not if his return is this generation, the next, or a thousand generations from now, our mentality must always be the same, the soon return of King Jesus.  We must plan like it will be many generations from now, but work like it will be tomorrow. It does not matter if you are a full-time Christian worker or pursue another career path, every believer has a role in hastening the return of Christ.

 Paying our debt forward to emerging believers is actually paying it backyards for our ultimate indebtedness to the goodness and mercy of Christ.  It is not really about how successful we are in our ministry pursuits, but are we doing it to bring the King back. If we are, we can say, Amen, come, Lord Jesus!

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes, the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places”  YWAM Publishing
Email:  kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/

Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com

            http://gleanings757.blogspot.com