The earthquake and tsunami are not a judgment sent by God against Japan. God clearly told us what His judgments look like. In II Peter 2, God tells us that His judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah would be “an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly”.

You can find the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18 & 19. When God told Abraham that he was going to destroy the cities, Abraham asked, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” After some negotiation, God agreed that if He could find 10 righteous people in the cities, He would not destroy them. However, God could only find one righteous man, Lot. So did God sweep away the righteous with the wicked? No, He sent two angels to rescue Lot before He sent judgment.

Also, II Peter 2 also says that God’s judgment is seen when He judged the earth with a flood. God “brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness”.

When God sends His judgment, He does not “sweep away the righteous with the unrighteous”. God’s judgment is the execution of His divine justice, that satisfies the wrath of God. However, I Thessalonians 5:9 says, “God has not destined us for wrath”. Christians will suffer during this life, but they will not suffer as the result of God’s judgment.

In Japan where Christians are less than 0.2% of the population, biblical Christianity thrives in the eastern regions. The every same areas that were devastated by the tsunami waves (More information here). This wasn’t God’s judgment.

My daughter’s (7 and 9 years old) have been praying lately “God please help the people in Japan and bless them.” My prayer is “God, please listen to my girls and ignore those other people who misrepresent You to the world.”

Image by The Gospel Coalition at http://thegospelcoalition.org

or are you…..?

If you have trusted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour you are so much more than that. Yes, you were a sinner, but when grace came you became a saint (See Romans 1:7).

Your old sinful nature is now dead and in its place you have been given a new life in Christ. You are free from sin, you no longer have a sin nature. You are now (not becoming) – you really are right now a saint with the tendency toward good and holiness.

¹ What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ² Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? ³ Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
⁵ For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. ⁷ For he who has died has been freed from sin. ⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹ knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. ¹⁰ For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹ Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:1-11, New King James Version)

Here are some more wonderful things that the Bible says about you now that you are a saint.

• A new creation (not just a forgiven and cleaned up old creation). See II Corinthians 5:17
• You are accepted (just as you are, right now) in Christ. See Ephesians 1:6
• You are seated in heavenly places. See Ephesians 2:6
• You are reconciled to God, and God does not count your sins against you. See II Corinthians 5:18-19
• You are (right now) the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. See II Corinthians 5:21
• You are one spirit with Him. See I Corinthians 6:17
• You have the mind of Christ. See I Corinthians 2:16

Image by mamnaimie at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mamnaimie/

II Peter 3:18 says to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” You don’t grow in the grace of knowledge of Jesus by studying books. It happens through relationship. If you pray for patience, God doesn’t just drop it into your character, He gives you an opportunity to develop patience by leading you into a circumstance that requires patience. When you want to grow in grace, He gives you the wonderful gift of grace-growers.

Image by Aunt Owee at http://www.flickr.com/photos/aunto/

Grace-growers are people who are sent your way that allow you every opportunity to display the character of Jesus in grace. Not only will they expose every part of your character that needs to be worked on they will give you the perfect set of circumstances to grow and develop. If left to ourselves, our growth in grace would be a long, slow and arduous process. That is why God sends us the incredible blessing of grace-growers that accelerate your character development and propel you toward your destiny.

This is what the LORD says:
“In the time of my favour I will answer you,
and in the day of salvation I will help you;
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people,
to restore the land
and to reassign its desolate inheritances,
to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’
and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’
Isaiah 49:8-9 (NIV)

There are three types of inheritances that have fallen desolate.

The first is those that have been lost or stolen from us as individuals. These can be promises given to us that have not yet come to pass, but should have. The work of the enemy and a lack of passionate pursuit have stolen the inheritance from us. It is time to revisit and renew the prophetic words and promises given, even years ago, and contend once again for their fulfilment.

The second are those that belong to your family line. Things like wealth, skills, talents, influence and promises that have been lost or stolen. It is time to reclaim and reassign them back into the family.

The third are those that have been lost, stolen or simply cast aside by churches and ministries. Movements birthed in revival, with great miracles, wonders, healing and salvation now lie dormant, stagnant or even dead.

God intends us to restore the land and reassign the desolate inheritances. God wants someone to occupy yesterday’s victories – will it be you?

Image by worldrevivalnetwork at http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldrevivalnetwork/
Early Pentecostal Worship in California

Now if you access www.stals.com.au with your smartphone, the site will be tailored to suit your mobile device.

For all you clearly disappointed people who do not have a smartphone, here is what you are missing out on.

This is how it seems to go. You hit bad news, sickness, suffering or loss. You mine God’s Word for something, anything to cling to. Without fail, the Holy Spirit comes through with a promise for your life.

It is now that you have the privilege of stewarding the promise of God in the face of contradictory circumstances. It is only in this life that you get to present one of the most precious things you can ever offer Him; praise, adoration and love to God in the midst of pain, confusion and mystery.

Even if you never see the promises fulfilled, is Jesus Christ still enough for you?

Or just the audio

By the way, I didn’t finish the story about David and his men from my last post on Facing Giants.  After David had strengthened himself in the LORD, he pursued his enemy and “Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken. David brought back all.” (I Samuel 30:19)

Some people tell you that the way you respond to a giant in your life is to do what King David in the Bible did, run right at it in the power of the Most High God and chop its head off. Generally I’d say that is good advice. But what do you do when it feels like you can barely get out of bed, let alone face a giant?

Again, David’s life gives us some good advice. Read the account in I Samuel 30. David and his men had returned home only to find it burned to the ground and their families taken into slavery. They were so overcome with grief that they wept until they had no strength left. What’s more, the men were upset; some even spoke of killing David. But, David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.

There is a place in the Spirit of God where the life and strength of God gives life and strength to you (see Romans 8:11). There is a place in the Spirit of God where you swap your heaviness for His rest (see Matthew 11:28-30).

There are two versions of reality vying for your attention. One is grounded in the circumstances you experience in this world, the other is grounded in the truth of what Jesus speaks. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” Matthew 24:35. You get to choose which one you are going to believe and pursue. I choose to pursue that which is eternal.

Strengthen yourself in God by spending time in His Word. Spend time intentionally connecting with Him in worship. Strengthen yourself in meeting together with each other. Discipline your thoughts to rest on what Jesus Christ is speaking to you, not the intimidation of the giant of your circumstances.

Image by DerrikT at http://www.flickr.com/photos/derricksphotos/

There was something real special about sitting down with my youngest, sharing about our lives as I sipped my café latte and she her baby cino.

We’ve found that in the midst of our hectic schedules it can be hard to find the time to spend in quality interactions with our kids.  So, we push back the schedule once a fortnight to connect with our children and create a tradition that will keep the lines of communication open before they are really needed (I’m thinking teenage years here…).

As parents, we need to move beyond a model of raising our children whose goal is simply compliant and obedient kids.  We must intentionally cultivate our heart-connections with our children in such a way that they begin to treasure in their hearts what is important to ours.

I highly recommend you check out Danny Silk’s ministry, Loving on Purpose. Especially his resources on Loving Our Kids On Purpose.

Image by Meg Lessard http://www.flickr.com/people/megleo/

Several times in the gospels Jesus warns against drawing a line from suffering to judgment.  Jesus warned His disciples about coming to this very same conclusion in Luke 13,  “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?”

Can we blame God?

No.

I John 4:10 says, ”In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (ESV)  The word propitiation “properly signifies the removal of wrath by the offering of a gift.”1  So if all God’s wrath was poured out on Jesus, how much is now left for us?  (Hint: try the word ‘none’ on for size).

Yes, there is a “day of judgment” coming for people (notice how it is a day, not days or a season).  However, today we have been given our mission which can be found nicely summed up in II Corinthians 5; that Christ “gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” (NIV)  We are living in an age of grace in which God is reconciling the world to Himself.  The message we have been given is not one of judgment against people but of reconciliation with God.

So, is God judging today?

Yes.

And John 16 tells us exactly who is being judged during this age.  “And when he [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:… concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” (ESV)  It is Satan and his demons that are now being judged.  Before Jesus came, they had a kingdom and authority over the nations of the earth.  Jesus triumphed over them in the cross (Colossians 2:15).  Jesus said that all authority in heaven and on earth was His.  If Jesus has all authority, is there any left for Satan?

So now the enemy is being judged through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, as Satan watches powerless to stop God’s people dismantling his old kingdom piece by piece, person by person until “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

The 2009 Victoria Bushfires Royal Commission found that “most of the major fires that burned in late January and in February 2009 started as a direct or indirect result of human activity.”

The fires in Perth were started by a guy using an angle grinder when he shouldn’t have.

And finally, a tropical cyclone in the tropics…

1. The New Bible Dictionary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.), 1962.

Image by Dave Hog http://www.flickr.com/photos/davehogg/