Hi Everyone
Since we're still getting to know each other I need to tell you first that one of the things I enjoy doing
most in ministry is writing and encouraging others in some way. Hopefully that's what this letter will
do. I feel that I can better express who I am and what is really inside of me when I write and it has been
a real healing of the dreaded foot in mouth disease over the last few years, although I did snapple at
Phil tonight oops :) I just finished talking to a friend from Arizona and felt impressed to share some
encouragement/exhortation with you that I shared with him. At first glance it may not seem
encouraging but it really points to the Lords faithfulness to His own word and to his unfailing love to
us as His beloved children.
I've known my friend Gene for 16 or 17 years - maybe longer. In the past,we've sat in his car
sometimes till 2 or 3 am, praying, crying and laughing, we've shared the good and bad together as
friends. He's an incredibly gifted writer and has written 2 Christian/family movie scripts that he is
trying to get accepted and in fact, when they do get accepted, he wants me to come out to Az and be the
photographer for the movie. Tonight he was really discouraged because nothing seems to be going the
way he had expected and along with that, someone at his job is trying their best to make him look bad
probably so that he will lose his job. As we were sharing with each other about our individual tests
we're going through I shared a little bit with him of what I believe the Lord gave to me about 3 or 4
weeks ago that has continued to remind me of the Lords faithfulness and goodness. After we finished
talking I couldn't help but think of all the intense testings that Christians around the world are going
through at this time. People who really love Jesus are being stretched in ways that would make a
bungee cord jealous. We all have heard about the persecution in other countries that Christians go
through, often giving their lives for the gospel. Here in America people of faith are being tested with an
intensity that I've never seen in my 30 years as a Christian/Minister/jack of all trades. I've never heard
of a Christian being murdered in America for their faith but there is definitely intense
persecution/testing going on here. I've heard of others wondering where is God at in the middle of all
this testing and in the past I've asked the same question and am ashamed to say that at times I was
angry with the Lord for seemingly forgetting my address. Christians who are being tested so intensely
are saying “ I'm paying my tithes, I go to church, I pray, I treat people as much like Christ as I know
how, so why am I going through all this at work, at church, at home, in my marriage, at school and so
on.
One type of persecution we don't think of much -or like to think about - is the type that happened to
Job, which is what seems to be happening within my circle of Christian friends as well as in America,
yours truly included.
Before I share this part you need to know that I am not a demon chaser or look for a devil under every
rock but I know he's real and I know he operates like those terrorists that flew into the Trade Center
buildings. He stays as much in the background as possible, doesn't draw attention to himself and trys
to con people into believing he's doesn't want to hurt them. Todd mentioned the shield of faith Sunday
that is used for quenching the fiery darts of the devil. There are times when the devil has to be engaged
and put in his place and reminded that he is defeated by the blood of Christ and the word of our
testimony.
Job was never physically beaten for his faith, he obviously wasn't murdered, yet he definitely was
being persecuted. In an instant this giant of faith lost his family, wealth, joy, and even the support of
his wife. His friends came along and, with typical male hubris, started trying to fix his problem and
said it was his fault because of some sin in Jobs life. Just what Job needed in his suffering, a good dose
of condemnation ! He sunk into depression for a while and started questioning his own reason for
existence. I'm not totally sure but it seems he even got a little upset with the Lord. The backdrop to all
this is Satan asking for permission to “ persecute” Job. I know the book of Job doesn't say specifically
that the devil persecuted Job but the meaning of persecution is to pursue and harass someone with
hostile intent. Looking at what Satan was allowed to do the conclusion is that Job was definitely being
persecuted. When Paul was pursuing and harassing the church it was really satan inspiring Paul through
a misinterpretation of Gods covenant, because later Paul said he had done it in ignorance.
I was telling my friend Gene that I had asked the Lord what was going on in my own personal life. At
times I've started having some doubts about this whole covenant teaching that I've been learning about.
I've learned that Jesus has pledged and obligated himself to be our shield, reward, strength, helper,
friend, comforter, peace, our light in darkness and the list goes on forever. All of these are covenant
terms and words especially God being our friend and helper. However, at the same time that I'm
learning about covenant, my dear wife has been lied to by some people and now thinks I'm practically
Charles Mansons twin brother. I asked the Lord for some encouragement and He led me to Revelation
2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into
prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I
will give thee a crown of life.
At first my attitude was this – THE DEVIL IS GOING TO THROW ME INTO PRISON !!!!!!!!!! -
gee, thanks for the encouraging word Lord, you really made my day :) After calming down and reading
the rest of the verse and hearing other scripture the Holy Spirit was bringing to my remembrance, I
began to see the reward ( the crown of life in this verse) after the testing and also the purpose of God
through it. It seems everyone in scripture was tested in some way yet they remained faithful because
they knew that God could not lie and that in the end it would be the covenant promises that would be
fulfilled because of Gods love, whether in this life or the next.
I remembered Joseph and the dreams the Lord had given him and the cruelty of his own family and the
confusion and pain he must have felt. Psalms 105:19 says Till the time when his word came true; he
was tested by the word of the Lord. I was reminded of the children of Israel and their bondage in Egypt
yet God had made an unbreakable promise to Abraham that his seed would inheirent Canaan and not be
imprisoned in Egypt. They all must have thought at one time or another “ where is the promise” why is
this happening, where is God, does He care? Then along comes Moses the prophet who spoke to God
face to face and speaks the word of the Lord to Pharaoh “Thus saith Jehovah, Let my people go that
they may worship me”. Yippee were gonna be free today, right Moses? Not ! If this were happening in
todays world I can see Moses picking up his cell phone and calling one of the elders back at the slave
camp and saying - Well folks I have good news and bad news. The good news is God is faithful to His
promise to Abraham and the land is positively yours. The bad news is Pharaoh is a little ticked off and
said the persecution (testing) is going to get worse because of the promise. You guys are going to have
to work harder in the heat while I'm in this air conditioned office praying for you and Oh, by the
way,have a nice day ”– click.
Moses went back to Pharaoh with the same unchanging message of Gods love for His people, “ Let my
people go that they may worship me”. I know the King James says serve me but the word serve means
to be a bond slave and/or worshiper. A bond slave was one who wanted to be a slave for his master
because he loved his master because of the masters goodness towards him. The Lord wanted Israel to
go out of Egypt and get the revelation of how good and gracious He is. He wanted them to see the love
of God through the blood covenant, He wanted them to see how patient and loving and kind He really
was. Moses saw it:
Ex 34:5-7 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name
of the LORD.
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and
gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin …..
He wanted to love them into loving Him so that they could fulfill their original destiny, to love God
with all their being and to love each other and worship Him. If we really think about it the real battle
through all of our testings/persecution is for our love worship towards Christ and for the revelation of
Christs goodness and who He is. Todd was right on the money about the armor of God and putting on
the weapons of our warfare. One of those weapons is the shield of faith. Have you ever wondered what
holds up the shield of faith? I tend to get a picture of a person with a shield on their arm and think it's
the arm holding up the shield of faith. But, faith is invisible. It is absolutely real, essential and powerful
but invisible to the naked eye. The thing that really holds up the shield of faith is our love for Christ
which is based on the revelation of His love for us. Isn't that what the scripture says,
1 John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the
propitiation for our sins.
( For Sherryl - you might like this - the word propitiation means atonement or mercy
seat - I was going to share that tonight but didn't – sorry. Jesus is the fulfillment of the mercy seat, He is the New
Testament mercy seat and the presence of God rests upon Him as it did the mercy seat in the old covenant.)
Gal 5:6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which
worketh by love.
1 Thess 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for
an helmet, the hope of salvation.
The ultimate purpose of God through our suffering is for us to see His goodness in Christ and the blood
covenant in order that we might love Him more. Look at the end of Jobs life. Job had heard of the Lord
but now He saw the Lord: Job 42:5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye
seeth thee. He was given his family back and all He had temporaily lost. Job worshiped and was more
in love with God than before the test began and became a forgiver of His friends and applied the blood
covenant to his friends lives. He didn't reject his friends because of the words they spoke. The snapple
contest with me and Phil tonight doesn't change my relationship with him. Through the blood of Christ
we are eternally bonded as brothers and if the Lord asked it of me I would give my life for Phil because
of this blood covenant. I'm sure Phil would do the same – Hey - he better - I gave him a 100,000 dollar
candy bar tonight ;)
Joseph finally saw or understood that all his tests (rejection by his own family) was the plan of God to
bring Him to Egypt and become ,literally, the savior of not only Egypt but the very people that had hurt
him so badly – his own family. But it was also a test of his love for Jehovah and because Joseph
continued in his love, through horrible conditions and circumstances, his faith remained active and the
word of promise given to him was fulfilled.
What about the children of Israel? Yes I know, the first generation ultimately failed, nevertheless the
battle in Egypt was still for their love and worship and the promise. Even though that generation failed
their children did not fail. They were smart enough to put two plus two together and say, All these tests
are for our worship and love towards the Lord. He delivered us from slavery, fed us, clothed us,
protected us and his presence has remained with us through the mercy seat, even though our parents
failed to believe, let's not make the same mistake they made.
After Jesus healed a blind man he saw Christ and fell down and worshiped.
One of the devils fiery darts is to try and distract our vision of Christ and try and get us to quit loving
and trusting Him. But Christ is always there to reveal more of Himself, as He did to Moses, and cause
us to see His amazing love and favor so that we will love him more. Our health may not be the greatest
at the moment, our children, or other family members, may be putting a dagger in our hearts, or we
may be putting one in their hearts, our wealth may not be what we want it to be, our friends may
snapple at us or we at them yet Christ is revealing his love to us, in us, and through us in the middle of
all the chaos and storms. His love is unfailing therefore His word cannot fail. He always cares for us
and is always planning good for us in spite of the persecution or tests we go through in this life. It's his
amazing love that sustains us and give us the ability to carry on in our faith. Paul said we have this treasure
in earthen vessels.How amazing is that- we carry within us the His love, His grace, His mercy,
His power to be used to change lives even while we are going through fiery tests. Even though we may
not have all the answers, Paul called it seeing through a glass darkly, we know and have tasted that the
Lord is good and that His mercy endures forever and that he will never leave us or forsake us. Nothing
can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. No test or trouble, no demon, not even
death can separate us from His goodness, love and care over our lives.
Take as an example of pain nobly undergone and of strength in trouble, the prophets who gave to men
the words of the Lord.
We say that those men who have gone through pain are happy: you have the story of Job and the
troubles through which he went and have seen that the Lord was full of pity and mercy in the end.
James 5:10-11
Bless you all and love you all – Dan
