What Do You Do When Attacked By A Dragon

Fire-breathing dragons, beautiful damsels in distress, brave knights in shining armor. As a child, I loved those stories. Then someone told me – and I just HAD to believe them – that dragons are fictional, they don’t exist. So I chalked it up to yet another childhood fantasy ruined by the growing up process. I resigned myself to the fact that dragons don’t exist.

As I have grown older, I have been enlightened to the REAL TRUTH – dragons DO exist! I know they exist because I have been burned by them on more than one occasion. These modern day dragons breathe the fires of criticism, sarcasm, and negativity out of their mouths. They burn with their words and the manner in which they use their words. Consider what the Bible says about these dragons:

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. – James 3:6

You have probably experienced these kinds of dragons yourself. You may even have a face in mind as you read this. They criticize what others do while doing little themselves. They spew the flame of insinuation and innuendo. Their words blaze with bitter sarcasm. I have felt the singe of their fire and so have you. Whoever said, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me,” never met a dragon.

We are not called to be dragon-slayers, that job belongs to God, but we have been given the shield of faith in order to quench all the fiery darts of the devil – including the stinging burn of the dragon’s words. The shield of faith reminds me WHOSE I am. James reminds us that the fire from the mouth of our dragons originates from hell itself and anything that emanates from hell is nothing but a lie.

The shield of faith reminds us that we are children of the KING. He is the One we aim to please, not the dragon. What the dragon has to say to us and about us is inconsequential to what God thinks about us. If we let the fire burn us, if we begin to believe what those dragons say about us, we are in danger of becoming dragons too, and using our words to hurt others.

So the next time a dragon breathes fire at you, just take a moment to remember where that fire originated – the home of all lies. Turn that fire around and use it instead to ignite a sacrifice of praise on the altar of your heart. Thank God that what that dragon says is a lie, but that what God thinks about you is the TRUTH. Here is one little dagger from God’s sword that you can use to stab the next dragon who attacks you:

The Lord your God is in your midst,
    a mighty one who will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness;
    He will quiet you by His love;
He will exult over you with loud singing. – Zephaniah 3:17

Are You An Obliviot?

1 Comment

I love neologisms. A neologism is a newly coined term, word, or phrase slowly making its way into mainstream language. My oblivitotfavorite neologism of late is obliviot, someone who is oblivious to his surroundings and makes an idiot of himself. Unfortunately, if I am not careful, I become a spiritual obliviot and miss God when He comes to me in the almost unnoticeable details of life.

Consider Moses as he was going about the daily routine of herding his father-in-law’s sheep just as he had done for 40 years. Not much changed in the daily scenery or schedule for a 15th Century BC sheepherder. Then, suddenly, one day, something peculiar caught his eye. He almost missed it, but he didn’t.

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”
– Exodus 3:1-3

What if Moses had not noticed this phenomenon? What if his profit margin had been foremost in his heart? What if, in boredom or frustration, he had been daydreaming of a better job? What if Moses had missed God?

What about us? How many times do we miss God each day because we are not looking for Him? What if that schedule “interruption” is actually divine initiative as God positions us so He can use us in someone’s life? What if we slowed down to notice the grandeur of God’s creation all around us and recognized Him in our day? What if God is trying to come to us in a gentle breeze, a child’s laughter, or a “chance” encounter (if there were such a thing)?

Let me encourage you to look around you today and look for God to show up. We understand from His Word that His presence is inescapable (Psalm 139:7-12), but today, tune into that presence and look for God to reveal Himself to you in some ways. There is an old saying, “The devil is in the details.” Although I loathe bogging down in details, I do not believe that saying is true. On the other hand, often God is in the details of our lives, lurking quietly hoping someone will notice Him and enjoy the blessings of His revelation for that day and time. Open your eyes; you don’t want to miss anything.

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. – Ephesians 5:15-16

Stop and Think

yogiBaseball is 90% mental, and the other half physical.” – Yogi Berra

“Stop and think.” – Jim’s guide to spiritual growth

OK, sure, Yogi’s math was a little off, but he expressed the important concept that baseball is a thinking man’s game. Every pitch requires each player on the field to instantly process and think through a myriad of choices. The pitcher and catcher must think about which pitch to throw. Then the hitter must determine the speed, location, and direction of a pitch, then decide whether to swing or not. (By the way, a hitter has 0.4583333 seconds before a 90 mph fastball reaches home plate!) As the pitcher delivers the pitch, each player reviews various assignments depending on if and where the batter hits the ball. That is why players and coaches devote a good part of practice to situational drills. Yes, baseball is a thinking man’s game.

So is our spiritual life. We cannot expect to grow or thrive in our spiritual development by accident. We grow by thinking about and pondering the right things. We call this discipline MEDITATION.

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. – Joshua 1:8

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. – Philippians 4:8

To meditate on something is to look deeply into its meaning and ponder its application. Quite simply, meditating is taking the time to stop and think about what God has said in His Word – what He has said specifically to you. In other words, stop and think.

Read it several times, each time emphasizing a different word to shine light from every angle and to observe the many reflections of God’s truth in the passage. After pondering the verse’s meaning, determine at least one specific way immediately to apply the verse to your life – your behavior, thoughts, or attitudes. Then to secure the truth indelibly in your mind, memorize the verse so that you can recall it at will and remind yourself of its truth on a regular basis.

With apologies to Yogi:

Spiritual growth is 90% mental, the other half behavioral.

The Devil’s Up to his Old Tricks Again

2 Comments

I had the privilege Tuesday of attending a rally at the Georgia State Capital for former Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran who was recently fired because of his Biblical beliefs. If you are not aware of the story, feel free to click here when you are finished reading the blog and you can catch up on the events of the last couple of months.

At the heart of the conflict is an increasing view in our culture that the Bible is not the authoritative standard for faith and morality. This, of course, comes as a shock to no one since we have all witnessed over the last several decades the decline of moral accountability and the rise of moral relativism. This attack on the authority of God’s Word is not new; in fact, the devil has used this strategy since his first encounter with Adam and Eve.

When tempting Eve in Genesis 3:1-7, the devil first created doubt as to the content of God’s instructions to Adam and Eve (“did God actually say…), then the truthfulness of God’s instruction (“you will not surely die…), and finally the intent of God’s plan (God knows that …you will be like God…). For millennia, the devil has used the same strategy – create doubt, distrust, and disobedience.

At the core of our culture’s moral relativism is the denial of the authority of God’s Word. Chief Cochran wrote and self-published a book to help men understand the grace and forgiveness available only through a relationship with Jesus Christ. The book is based on Biblical truth, and as is often the case, Biblical truth offends those who do not wish to live under God’s authority. If you would like a copy of the book you can purchase one by clicking here to go to Amazon.

So, what can we as believers in Jesus do in these times when God’s Word is under attack? Let me suggest 3 important practices.

First, we must KNOW God’s Word so that we do not fall prey to the devil’s trick of doubt, distrust, and disobedience. Now more that ever, we need to regularly READ and STUDY the Bible. The best way to recognize the devil’s lie is to be confidentially acquainted with God’s truth.

Second, we must OBEY God’s Word. We cannot expect others to uphold a standard to which we do not hold ourselves. We must not rationalize and marginalize the Bible, but rather submit ourselves to ALL of its teaching.

Finally, we need to unashamedly STAND for the principles of God’s Word, encourage others who publicly stand in that Word, and challenge our leaders to lead according to the TRUTH of God’s Word. Jesus has called us as His followers to be a positive influence and a shining example to those around us (Matthew 5:13-16).

Do not let the devil trick you with his oldest scheme of doubt, then distrust, and disobedience.

Beware of Kilogram Christianity

scalesI have found a way to lose over 50% of my body weight immediately.  I don’t have to eat a special diet or engage in grueling exercise.  I don’t have to take pills, spend $500 on extremely small portioned meals mailed directly to my home, or spend hours in front of my TV working out to the latest exercise DVD.

All I have to do to reduce my body weight by 50% immediately is to stop weighing myself in pounds and instead weigh myself in kilograms.  There are 2.2 pounds in a kilogram.   A 200 lbs man weighs 90.7 kg.  No, I haven’t lost my mind, I know that 90.7 kg = 200 lbs, and I know that my weight in kg = my weight in lbs. Changing the standard of measurement does not change the reality of the weight.

How many times, however, do we think we are so much leaner spiritually because we measure ourselves with the wrong standard, when the reality is that we are spiritually out of shape?  We look around and see that we act better than most folks around us and think we are in good shape.  The problem with that measurement is that others are not the standard by which we are to measure ourselves, God’s Word is.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.  – 2 Timothy 3:16-17

The devil has won a tremendous battle in believers’ lives by keeping us from the Bible.  Do you treat worship as though it is optional and escape the penetrating preaching of the Word.  Do you neglect small group Bible study and avoid the tenacious teaching of the Word.  Do you rarely pick up your Bible lest you stumble upon some convicting truth that forces you to deal with your unhealthy spiritual condition?

We are in desperate spiritual condition because we have grown comfortable with the comparison of ourselves to others who are not as “spiritual” as we think we are, when an honest look into God’s Word will perform spiritual surgery even in the heart of the best among us.  We easily and loudly lament our culture’s abandonment of the Biblical principles upon which our founders established our country, yet we are reluctant to let the Word of Christ pierce into the inner chambers of our heart.

What are you doing to measure yourself by God’s standard? Do you regularly read, study, and meditate on the Bible? Do you let God’s truth, revealed in the Bible provide both the framework and fabric for your life? All other standards of measurement leave us sorely lacking.

Does God Grieve?

We’ve all experienced grief. Grief may be the deepest and most painful of all emotions. We grieve loss – the loss of a loved one, a relationship, our health, a job, a possession, or anything else held dearly in our heart. The pain of grief is far more intense than anything else we may feel physically, emotionally or spiritually.

We experience emotions because we are created in God’s image, and He is an emotional God. He feels – even grieves. We find one such emotion described in Ephesians 4:29-30:

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Imagine that: God feeling a pain as intense as grief. Sadly, He does, and it comes as the result of those of us who are His. Sadly believers and churches regularly grieve God because we run our mouths needlessly.  Let’s look at how we can avoid grieving God with our words.

First, be careful WHAT you say. We are too quick to exonerate ourselves because we do not use foul language, but that is not exactly what the verse means. The word “corrupting” does not speak necessarily to the content of our words, but rather to their effect. We grieve God when our words have a destructive, discouraging effect on others.

Second, be careful WHY you say what you say. Do we use words to “build up”? The English alphabet has 26 letters that combine to form, so far, over 1 million words in the English vocabulary. We have plenty of words to use, let’s be more intentional about using words that are building blocks rather than injurious stones.

Third, be careful WHEN you say what you say. In the list of things for which God has appointed appropriate times and season we find there is a time to speak and a time to keep silence (Ecclesiastes 3:7). Do I need to say this? Do I need to say it now, or would things be better if I kept my mouth shut? Sometimes we grieve God because we speak “out of turn.”

Finally, be careful HOW you say what you say. May our words always impart grace to those who hear. May our words soothe the hurting, encourage the down, challenge the complacent, and bless those otherwise feeling cursed.

So many times the Bible encourages us to bless the Lord. May our words never cause Him to grieve, but always bless Him. THINK before you speak.

T – is what I am saying TRUE

H – is what I am saying HELPFUL

I – is what I am saying INSPIRING

N – is what I am saying NECESSARY

K – is what I am saying KIND

To the Tired, Weary, and Fed Up

Have you ever wanted to give up? Sure you have; in fact, we all have and will from time to time. When we grow weary and we are ready to give up, we do well to remember the encouraging words of Paul in Galatians 6:7-10, 

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

This passage reveals three very important principles about sowing and reaping.  You reap WHAT you sow, you reap AFTER you sow, and you reap MORE THAN you sow. In this context, sowing refers to how we use our time and resources, and reaping refers to the results of our use of time and resources.

The “WHAT” refers to what we put into life.  The best way to insure a great harvest is to invest positively in the lives of others. We all have 86,400 seconds per day, and we must choose whether to spend them or invest them. That decision determines the outcome. The “MORE THAN” refers to what we get out of life.  Positively or negatively, we get back from life exponentially what we put into it.

Of the three principles, the second principle – you reap AFTER you sow – is often them most challenging.  This principle requires us to exercise patience.  No gardener plants a seed one day and expects a harvest the next day.  Results take time, and often that time is a “silent” time when nothing appears to be happening. It is during these silent times we are most tempted to give up.  We have given it our best shot, but seemingly, no results are forthcoming.

When the silence tempts you to give up, let me encourage you to hold on just a little while longer and to keep doing good, keep investing positively in the lives of others.  Every word of Scripture is true, including and especially the promise in verse 9 that assures us that we WILL receive a harvest for the good investments in life.  The promise comes with two caveats, however.

The harvest comes in “due season,” or literally “in its own appointed time.”  We may wish to experience the blessing sooner, but it will come at just the right time as determined by God. The second caveat is that we will receive the harvest if we do not give up.  The word translated give up, in first century secular usage, referred loosening the string on a bow, abandoning the hunt, giving up.  Don’t unstring your bow.  Hang in there.

What Do You Do When Your Dream Takes a Detour?

God planned an incredible work in and through Joseph, and communicated that plan to him at an early age. Lacking the maturity to handle the vision of such a glorious dream, Joseph shared it with anyone and everyone who would listen…and even a few who didn’t want to listen?

His brothers didn’t take too kindly to hearing Joseph boast of God’s plan to exalt him over his brothers and to make Joseph a ruler over even his own family. They took matters into their own hands, at first plotting to kill him, but eventually satisfied to sell him off as a common slave to a caravan headed for Egypt. They thought distance would derail Joseph’s dream, and it almost did.

Joseph began at his father’s house, the favored child of his father, and a future brimming with promise. He eventually ascended to second in command to the most powerful ruler of his time – the Egyptian Pharaoh. The road from daddy’s house to Pharaoh’s palace took some disappointing and odd twists and turns, but he eventually wound up in exactly the same position God had promised him.

Joseph probably never would have chosen to leave his father’s house. He would have been pleased to inherit Jacob’s extensive holdings and to take over for his father – one of the wealthiest men of his time. God’s plan for Joseph however was not to preside over a family business but to administer the most powerful empire of his time.

Consider this, however. Joseph could not have made it to Pharaoh’s palace without a pit, Potiphar’s house, and prison. God led Joseph through some really dark times before fulfilling His promise.

Things did not end at my previous church the way I would have chosen, but God necessarily allowed it to happen to prepare me for what is next. Without my present circumstances, I may not be as open to whatever God may choose to do with me next.

As for you, do not be quick to despise unexpected and unwelcome circumstances in your life. God may have you in your pit or your prison to prepare you for His version of your Pharaoh’s palace. Let God reveal Himself to you in your present circumstances. Let God prepare you for what He has in store next. Know that the “various trials” James writes about make us complete and ready for what God already has planned for us.

Letting Go and Pressing On

2015 promises to be a year of newness for the Duggan family. We do not yet know WHERE God will lead us, only that He WILL, and of that we are certain. As the New Year rolled in, my meditation was (and still is) on the truth of this verse:

Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 3:13-14

I will not let my past – especially the immediate past – ruin the future.  I recently read a powerful quote from Andy Andrews, “Don’t let the last few moments affect the next few moments.” I can learn from my past, but I cannot live in my past.

So many times we allow our past – good and bad – to cripple us. We look back fondly at “the good ol’ days” and miss out on the new and fresh God wants to bring to our lives. We fail to recognize that everything has a season and every season has a reason (Ecclesiastes 3:1). While the past season may have brought us much joy, God has even greater glory to reveal in us as we grow in our walk with Him. I can learn from and give thanks for the good past, but I can’t stay there.

Sometimes we let our painful past obscure our view of the promising future we have in Christ. We hold the hurt, harbor the bitterness, and hang on to the offenses. We should rather give thanks for the difficult circumstances and people in our past, knowing the God uses them to refine us and develop our faith (James 1:2-4).

So as 2014 closes and 2015 dawns, I face the New Year with a thankful and expectant heart. I thank God for His sustaining grace that I have experienced over the last two months in ways I never knew were possible. I would not have experienced God in this way without the hurt.

I am putting the past in the past and I am pressing on. I am excited about what the coming year will hold. God has used the events of the latter part of 2014 to put my family and me in a position to go somewhere or do something that we might have never considered otherwise. Yes. 2015 is going to be a great year.

What about you? What do you need to release from 2014 so you can receive in 2015? How has God positioned you so that He can work in and through your life? Worthy consideration for all of us as we begin this year.