by donfinto | Sep 18, 2019 | The Good Report
Authority, biblically, is from the ground up, not the top
down – not someone up on top handing down commands and expecting to be served.
Biblical authority is rather an inverted pyramid, with the leader on the bottom
serving those whom God has given him. Think Jesus!
Listen to the way Jesus admonished the leaders and rulers of
His day: “The rulers of the Gentiles lord
it over them, and their high officials exercise
authority over them. Not so with
you! Instead, whoever wants to
become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must
be your slave” (Matthew 20:25). Pretty strong words, wouldn’t you say?
“Lording it over” others is ungodly. “Exercising authority over
others ” is against the will of God.
Yes, we are to walk in the authority God has given us, and
we are to exercise that authority, but we are not to “lord it over” or
“exercise authority over.” In other words, we make no demands. We love and we
serve.
Yes, Paul tells wives to submit to their husbands as unto
the Lord, but he precedes that admonition with advice to both husband and wife:
“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” When both husband and wife
submit to one another out of a desire to love and serve, there exists a healthy
loving marriage. When a Godly woman has a husband who loves and serves her, she
will willingly submit to that authority, knowing that he has her best interests
in all that he does. The day a husband says to his wife, perhaps in the middle
of a heated argument, “You are supposed to submit to me,” he has already walked
away from the spirit and nature of Jesus.
May we walk in our God-given authority – yes! But let us do
it as chief servants to those around us, not as chief usurpers of that
authority.
Have a blessed life!
by donfinto | Sep 4, 2019 | The Good Report
What if you had a fiancé or a husband who was away on a long trip, and he wrote letters to you daily only to find the letters unopened when he returned three weeks later? Would you think you would have a hard time convincing him that you really do love him?
And yet! We have a “Lover” who is on a long trip and He has left us all kinds of letters and communication that often lie unopened on our coffee tables or on the bookshelves. Not only that, sometimes some of us say, “But He would not think that way,” when we have rarely picked up His “letters” to find out what He likes and does not like.
Even among believers, sometimes even pastors, there is a dearth of Bible reading. As a result, we have whole denominations who are calling righteous what God calls sinful.
I love the way Isaiah talks about the word of God. “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth, and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire, and achieve the purpose for which I sent it”(55:10-11).
Rain and snow! That describes my Bible reading. Sometimes His Word is like rain, and makes me “green and flourish” immediately. But sometimes it’s like snow. I don’t get any immediate result. His Word just piles up on top of my head! But when the sunlight of His Presence hits that pile of snow, it melts and runs down inside of me and empowers me!
Do you have a plan for reading the entire Bible? Even if it takes you five years? Read the whole thing! Sometimes you may feel you are getting nothing immediately (like snow on top of your roof); other times you will feel totally refreshed and restored (like the refreshing rain).
The world’s bestseller! Really a remarkable book! Life-changing!
Read the book!
by donfinto | Aug 7, 2019 | The Good Report
When you’ve heard from God, but it’s an answer that you really did not want to receive, don’t ask twice.
Read Number 22 about the prophet Balaam, and you’ll understand.
The king of Moab wanted to hire Balaam to curse his enemy Israel. Balaam may not at the time have known much about Israel, but he was a servant of the LORD, so he inquired. The LORD said, “Do not go with them. You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.”
The Moab princes went home and told their king, but the king did not want to take “no” for an answer, so he sent more princes and offered greater rewards if Balaam would come to curse his enemy Israel.
Balaam’s response was outstanding, but his heart was not with his words. “If Balak were to give me his palace full of silver and gold, I would not go beyond what the Lord tells me.”
That should have been the end of the matter, but those rewards were so enticing that Balaam told the princes, “Wait here and let me ask God again.” The LORD had already told Balaam he was not to curse Israel, and Balaam had no need to ask again.
So what happened? The LORD told Balaam to go ahead, but “God was very angry” (22:22) with Balaam for even asking. You’ll have to open your own Bible if you want to know the rest of the story, but it wasn’t pretty, and Balaam ended up in dangerous territory in Moab before he’s learned his lesson.
The moral of the story? When you hear from God, and you’re sure you’ve heard, but you’d like to have a different answer, don’t ask twice.
Has God been talking to you with an answer you did not want? Don’t ask again. You may not like what happens.
