Does God Challenge You? 2

THE UNTAMED GOD

It isn’t uncommon to hear about a pastor who experiences the gifts of the Spirit to be asked to step down or even leave the church. 

People filled with the Spirit have been asked to refrain from such actions or leave the church for far less… such as raising their hands during worship, speaking in tongues and even coming to the alter to pray… and it’s the alter for crying out loud.

Why do you suppose this is?  One explanation is no matter if we like to admit it or not, people like to control.  We like to stay away from anything that might make others feel uncomfortable or look “messy” or “out of place.”  We control for reasons from power to comfort to erroneous thinking.    And what we can’t control or doesn’t fit within the confines of our worldly doctrine or religious doctrine we want to get rid of.

JESUS CHRIST is LORD and SAVIOR.   He is the only way to heaven- to the FATHER. 

 Jesus said to him, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me.”  JOHN 14:6

He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” HEBREWS 3:18

Does God do ANYTHING that is unorthodox in your understanding?

Ask yourself- Do you honesty think you know how God works? – Do you really have Him ALL figured out?  Do you think any man or woman has Him ALL figured out?

Thus says the LORD:

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes flesh his strength,
Whose heart departs from the Lord.
 For he shall be like a shrub in the desert,
And shall not see when good comes,
But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
In a salt land which is not inhabited.” JEREMIAH 17:5-6

"Then Jesus told them, 'A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.' And because of their unbelief, he could not do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them.   And he was amazed at their unbelief." Mark 6:4-6 

Is there also any root "Unbelief"?  Is there unbelief in the church?  Is Jesus, our LORD, not fully honored amongst HIS own relatives and own family (The children of God)? 

How have you and I excused, rationalized and explained away the things of God?

Again…. Why do you suppose we do this?  Does it go against what we feel God should do or not do?  Are we fearful of what we don’t understand?  Are we more comfortable in the religious doctrines of man then what God wants to reveal and show us outside the doctrines of man?  Do we not have the faith?  Are we putting emphasis on us then on God?  

I was telling a brother in Christ about a present day pastor who suddenly began to speak in tongues from the pulpit.   He was just as surprised as anyone else but the leadership of the church told him to step down and leave the church.  After the pastor left, God told him to share the gospel in the streets but he was barely making any money… so he decided to go farm.   He and his wife both received visions telling him to go back and preach the gospel in the streets but he stubbornly refused.   God seeing the man’s stubbornness, sent an angel before Him that put a double edge blade to his throat and said, “You will do as the Lord as commanded you to do or you will die!”

This idea of God sending an angel to put a blade to someone’s neck challenges our traditional thinking of God.  We want to claim it is a lie or a trick of the devil because it doesn’t relate to our understanding of a “loving” God.  And yet we say we believe God is the same yesterday, today and forever but do we really believe it?  

What was the purpose of this pastor in God's plan?  What is just about the pastor or the people God wanted to save through the pastor's words? 

My brother in Christ wanted to dismiss this challenging idea but then the Spirit of God quickened inside of him and reminded him of Balaam.  

Balaam in Numbers 22:31-33 

 ^“Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the roadway with a drawn sword in his hand. Balaam bowed his head and fell face down on the ground before him.

“Why did you beat your donkey those three times?” the angel of the Lord demanded. “Look, I have come to block your way because you are stubbornly resisting me.  Three times the donkey saw me and shied away; otherwise, I would certainly have killed you by now and spared the donkey.”

 

These challenging awakenings break the walls of our understanding about God.   We see just how little we know about the ways of God… We think we have Him somewhat figured out but we don’t.

This same modern day pastor was confronted in the streets by those practicing witchcraft.   They told him, “ If you don’t leave we will kill you…”

The man of God rebuked them and told them,” No! You will die if you do not leave”.

The next day those who threatened to kill him were either found dead or gone.    

This sounds like something out of the Old Testament but it is from this day and age yet God challenges our understanding and we want to disregard it. 

We read, “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom” Proverbs 9:10. 

So what kind of rational do we characterize as fear of God/the Lord?  

Where on the scales of the human mind do you weigh the fear of the Lord?  What kind of “loving” bias do we think God has towards us when we read in his word, “God has no bias?”

 ^“For God does not show favoritism.” Romans 2:11