11 Points on Responding to Current Events

1.) Respond not react - The social media an internet age is cultivating a culture of reaction, instead of response. Reaction is just the first thing that comes out, whereas response is very carefully mediated and well-thought out. Responding allows for actual follow-through, whereas reacting generally changes with the wind and makes you unreliable and therefore difficult to trust or have authority in the eyes of those around you. It also generates the atmosphere of the emotions it was birthed in.

2.) Choose your battles - Not everything is worth your time and energy. You do not have to have an opinion about everything, and even if you do, you don't have to say it. Decide what will be helpful and go with that.

3.) Pick the most important things - In the last few weeks I have seen people walk away from God, talked to people who found someone who committed suicide, loved on people who just buried their father from coronavirus, and talked to people who are suffering from severe anxiety, isolation, and depression. When I see these things, I understand that compared to these, many other issues everyone is fighting over are trivial.

4.) Pour into other people and personal relationships. One of the problems is that many people do not have deep relationships and they are filling that need with social networks and are somewhat out of touch with what is really happening with real people-- and are even out of touch with their own selves. In isolation, we have to fight for relationships and not fill that need with social media. 

5.) Publicly emoting causes you to lose the authority of your voice. If you want to be heard and for your voice to count, don't publicly spew out everything that is going through your heart and mind. Create a group of safe people around you that you can share those things with, and with the Lord,  then when you come say something publicly, you will be heard. There is a saying, "A wise man once said nothing." It is true. That is why people listen to wise men when they speak. 

6.) If you are struggling with anxiety, depression, fear, panic -- get off media for a while. Detox from it. Then set limits on it. You will be amazed at the difference. As with detoxing from anything -- it takes a few days to "kick the habit." Give it 3 or more days and then you will start to notice a difference. I recommend everyone to take a regular detox from media. Put it in your schedule. 

7.) Right now, we all need to help each other care for our spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical health. No one has it easy right now. Real lives and hearts are at stake. In all of our efforts to be right, let's not forget to be kind.

8.) True justice starts at the Cross of Jesus Christ and will culminate when He returns as King. The first commandment must be in first place in our lives for the second commandment to happen. Anything else is idolatry. (Matt. 22:34-40)

9.) Your view of the state of the world at the return of Jesus will affect how you respond to current events. Get your Bible open and study it.

10.) Everything high will be brought low and only the Lord will be exalted. If it's not humility, then it's not safe.

11.) I've heard so many ask, "Where are the Prophets?" The real ones are mostly on their faces weeping,  because the message hasn't changed,  "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, and heal their land." (1 Chron. 7:13-14) And "Rend your hearts, not your garments." (Joel 2:12-14) That message won't change until we do it. And until we do it, nothing will change. 

The Stories God Writes

Have you ever thought about the fact that God is an Author? It says in Hebrews 12 that He is the “Author and Perfecter of our faith.” God is actually a writer and He writes amazing stories.

The stories God writes are full of every element of a good story—suspense, drama, thrill, excitement, pain, sorrow, loss, romance, joy, despair, hope, life, and death. God does not write boring stories. He writes stories that take us on a journey of hope and trust in Him, stories that stretch our faith and perfect it.

Why did God write “history” like He did? Why did He have to grow through the promise of the Messiah, the long wait, the first Coming, His death and resurrection, and the long wait again for His Second Coming? It seems like God could have done it all quickly and gotten it over with—of course He could. But, God is an author who is writing one of the most spectacular stories ever written. When we look back over His Story, we will see the remarkable leadership of the best Author who has ever written. God writes beautiful stories.

Have you ever thought about the Book of Life being more than just a list of names? What if it is an actual “Book of Life”? What if it not only has our names written, but also has our stories written? Can you imagine God writing down Your story? Psalm 139:16-17 says, “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!

God keeps tracks of every person on the planet. He knows about the little decisions we make for Him and He writes them down in His book.

When I look back over my life, I can see the amazing way God writes a story. Even in the most tragic of experiences, God can turn into something beautiful. He gives beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning (Is. 61). God is an amazing Author. The bible even says that He keeps all of our tears in a bottle and writes them down in His book (Ps. 56:8). Psalm 69 says that the wicked will be blotted out of the book of the living that the names of the righteous are written in. In Malachi 3:16, a Book of Remembrance was written before the Lord of those who feared His name.

During the suspense, drama, waiting, and longing, we must remember that God is an amazing Author who is writing one of the best stories of all time. We must remember that He is the Author of our Faith and He will bring it to completion. Even through the ups-and-downs of a wild, thrilling story, we must learn to trust the Good Author and know that this story will have the happiest ending ever.

Call of God: The People God Picks

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty… (I Corinthians 1:26-27)

Think about the people God picked in the Bible. Moses who could not talk very well. David who killed a man and had an affair with his wife. Elijah who ran and hid in a cave. Gideon who hid in a winepress. Paul who persecuted believers. James and John who were a bit on the cocky side, and of course, we all know about the many flaws of Peter. Jesus even picked Judas to follow Him! How wild is that?

It is so amazing that God seems to pick people with so many flaws. And yet, the truth is that every single human being is flawed (besides Jesus), so He really does not have that many to choose from.

In some strange way, this should bring comfort to us. One of Satan’s main attacks against believers is lying to them about how they are so disqualified. He makes accusations day and night to get us to back away from the call of God on our lives.

However, the most amazing reason that God chooses the weak things and not many noble is so that no flesh should glory in His presence (I Cor. 1:29). God chooses the weak ones (which is all of us) so that He is the one who receives the glory for all that we do.

There are two things we can learn from this fact. Number one, give God the glory. Do not take God’s glory for yourself. Number two, God is the one who gives you the ability to do it in the first place. Anything we achieve that matters in eternity happened because of His hand on our lives in the first place.

If God has called you and given you an assignment, then He is the one who is going to bring it to pass. He is the one who will accomplish it in your life anyway.

Of course, we must partner with the Lord and be obedient to His Word and plan. However, Satan’s lies of accusation should have no effect on us, because the blood of Jesus qualifies us. We could never qualify ourselves. When Satan says that we are failures, he is right. In our own strength, we fail. But when we are hidden in Christ and identified as His child—we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus!

Not only that, but the opinions of man should not sway us either. Most of the people throughout history who did anything great, did it in spite of opposition from everyone around them. Anytime something great is accomplished through a person, there will always be other people telling them it cannot be done.

Again, God does not need the most talented or the most intelligent; He just needs the most willing.

Mark of True Call of God: Perseverance

Many people say that they want great experiences from God—encounters in the throne room, angelic visitations, burning bush experiences—but they do not realize the responsibility that comes along with these types of encounters.

Yes, God wants us to be captivated with Him and truly experience Him not just with head knowledge, but with actual revelation. However, many of the dramatic encounters we see in the Word of God were a commissioning to do a great work of God. These commissionings were given to strengthen the person to do great exploits in the face of grave danger and hardship over long periods of time where it seemed the promise would never come to pass.

Any believer can go preach the gospel—the Lord calls us all to do this, but there are certain assignments set aside that are so difficult that the Lord will grant specific experiences to sustain that person over the long-haul.

Most people so covet the experience, but they do not realize that God gives those encounters, because He knows that person is going to have so many difficulties that they will want to quit over and over again.

The world, Satan, and even our own human nature are constantly pushing us to give up and quit. However, God will come strengthen us with His grace so that we can persevere.

I have heard Mike Bickle say, “Perseverance is the mark of a true minister of God.” Everything in us and around us says, “Quit, give up, you’re a failure anyway.” However, God’s Word says that we have already won. We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus, and the God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet.

Encounters into the realm of heaven give us a glimpse into eternity, and pull us out of our present circumstances into the vast expanse of God’s redeeming plan. When life gets mundane, difficult, or we are in danger of losing our very lives, we can remember those times when God met us in such a way that we will never forget it. Those times strengthen our hearts to persevere.

I can imagine that when things got hard for Moses, he remembered the bush that burned with fire, but was not consumed. He remembered the voice that came from the bush and sent him to deliver Israel from the land of Egypt. An encounter like that is difficult to forget no matter the circumstances. I am sure that encounter sustained him in the journey.

Even Paul had a dramatic encounter on the road to Damascus. He met Jesus and was blinded by His glory. Meeting the risen Christ sustained Paul through beatings, shipwrecks, stonings, scourges, hunger, thirst, and miles and miles of endless road. He had been captivated and could never turn away.

God comes to strengthen the weak hands and the feeble knees. He comes to tell us, “Do not grow weary in doing good, for in due season, you will reap a harvest, if you do not lose heart!”

Message of the Apostolic: Apostolic Gospel

Several years ago while living in a closed foreign nation for a few months, I came across many people who had never heard anything about Jesus Christ. They had never heard of the Bible. They had never heard of sin, and they had never heard of Adam and Eve. They did not even know about the need for a Savior.

Growing up in a western culture, this came as a shock to me. These people had no background knowledge of the message I was carrying. Suddenly, I came face-to-face with my inadequacy at being able to properly deliver the message of the gospel from beginning to end.

This began a journey and a passion of mine to preach the Gospel from Genesis to Revelation. In Genesis 3:15, God gave the first promise of the Messiah—the Seed that would crush the head of the serpent, and the serpent who would bite His heel. This promise is known as the proto evangelium or “first gospel” in Latin. From that point on, the message of redemption and the promise of the Messiah has unfolded through scripture—and continues to unfold even today.

As I began to walk these pre-believers through the story of redemption, I began to fall in love with the Big Picture of God’s unfolding story. I spoke of Isaiah and his message of the Suffering Servant (Is. 53). I spoke of David and his messianic promise of the one who would be crushed (Ps. 22). I spoke of the Messenger who would come and turn hearts of fathers and children (Malachi 4).

Then, I spoke of John the Baptist and Jesus, of the Gospels and the Apostles…of the Epistles and the Promises of the Second Coming in Revelation…As I began to tell the whole story from beginning to end, I was getting a vision for eternity and beginning to see our little part in the Big Picture.

I began to realize that the Story of Jesus is much bigger than us, and the true Apostolic Gospel is to tell the whole story from beginning to end—calling people to step into the big picture and take their little part. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is Good News. It is Good News from Beginning to End, and the whole world needs to know about it!

Perspective Change

It is necessary for us to constantly lift our eyes back to Jesus. Under every circumstance, He is still sitting on His throne & He still reigns supreme. Everything in the world exists for His glory. Everything revolves around Him. Praise God that the world does not revolve around us! What a mess that would be.

Realigning our focus back on the glory of Jesus is absolutely necessary on a daily, hourly, minute-by-minute basis. We have such a tendency to focus on ourselves, & this causes way more pain than is necessary.

Setting our focus back on God actually lifts a huge weight off our shoulders. It is only then that we realize how small we really are & how big God really is. When we get things into perspective, all the difficult circumstances seem smaller & the preeminence of God is restored in our hearts & minds. It is actually a place of rest, life, & peace when we see Him as He is.

Devo 66: The Parable of the Talents

Devo 66: The Parable of the Talents
August 31, 2010

I really got some significant revelation today concerning the parable of the talents in Matthew and Luke. In college, I remember this parable really stuck out to me and I had this fear because I knew I had been given many gifts, calllings, talents, and a very good Christian upbringing, and it made me nervous because I was afraid that there was no way I could sow everything I have been given.

As a result, I have been feeling for the last four years that I must always be sowing every gift and talent I have or I am not being a faithful steward. Because of that, I continue getting into cycles of overcommitting, working myself into the ground, and trying to do too many things at once. A friend called me out last week and said that I cannot possibly focus on everything I am called to at every moment of my life.

So last night, I realized that this mindset I had was a result of a wrong view of the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, and the minas in Luke 19. This morning I was asking the Lord about it and got some major revelation. I’m going to unpack it here.

So the context of the parable of the talents in Matthew is within the chunk of Matthew 24 & 25. This is about the endtimes and how Jesus was actually not going to take over the kingdom on earth right then, but he was going to wait a while, and the people needed to watch, pray, and be faithful until He comes.

He gave many different signs that would happen before He came and made it clear that it wasn’t Him unless they saw the flash across the sky.

Then, he shifted into talking about faithfulness until He comes. The parables of Matthew 25 are in the context of waiting for His return.

There are three parables in Matthew 25. The first one is the parable of the wise and foolish virgins (Mt. 25:1-13). The second is the parable of the talents (Mt. 25:14-30). The third is the parable of the sheep and the goats (Mt. 25:31-46). (It is actually more of a real story of what will happen).

The first parable is about watching for the Lord’s return, not being burned out when He comes, but being full of the anointing that comes from an intimate relationship with Him.
The third parable is about taking care of the poor, oppressed, blind and naked. It is about works of justice. The master said that he threw the goats out of the kingdom because they thought they knew Him, but they did not take care of people, therefore he cast them into hell.
The first parable is about intimacy and the third parable is about works of justice. And right in the middle is the parable of the talents. The parable of the talents is not just about DOING good works, nor is it just about BEING intimate with God and the knowledge of God, but it is about both. It is about being faithful in being intimate with Him and doing works out of that intimate relationship with Him. This parable is about being faithful in all that he has commanded us to do until His return—being faithful to sow in the Spirit in relationship and deed.

I read David Pawson’s commentary and it was saying that the primary focus of Matthew is the balance of word and deed. He says that we must balance the indicatives of what Christ does for us with the imperatives of what we do for Him. If we only focus on what God does for us, it can lead to license (how I live does not matter), but if we only focus on what we do for God, it leads to legalism.

The parables of Matthew 25 balance intimacy and works of justice, which shows us where the grace for what we do for God comes from.

John 15 talks about abiding (Gk. menene; abiding, being verb) in the Spirit and the love of Christ which is where we find the grace to do what He did in giving up His life (in John 15:13). This is the “being” of remaining in His love.

Galatians 6 uses the word “walking” in the Spirit which incorporates the act of doing (Gk. peripateo; walking, action verb). Walking in the things of the spirit comes out of being in the Spirit. This is what the first and second commandment is about and what the first and third parable of Matthew 25 is about, and the parable of the talents right between them ties it all together. Be faithful in what He has given you while you are waiting for His return.

The statement Jesus keeps coming back to throughout these parables is reference to the coming of the Son of Man and eternity. The beginning and end of each new thought in Matthew 24-25 occurs with the reiteration of looking for His coming and a perspective of eternity. We have to realize that what we are sowing is not just for this age, but also the age to come.

A parable similar to the talents in Matthew is the minas in Luke 19, and this parable gives perspective on the relationship between this age and the next. The owner gives each servant minas and sees how they invested it, then when he returns, he gave them each authority over the number of cities that corresponded with how much they gained from their investment.

This is what the reign of Jesus will be like when He returns and gives authority to those who sowed into the kingdom in this life. He will give them authority over cities and nations.

Another similarity between the parable of Luke and Matthew is that the Lord told this parable in both instances to reveal to His disciples that He was not going to take over the kingdom and overthrow Rome at that exact moment. He was warning them that it would be a while before He comes back and does that, and that they needed to be faithful in the meantime because they might lose their way in the waiting.

Even though he was giving this revelation in Luke, he still got on the donkey right then and had the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. But, he still warned that he will not be taking over now but it was a picture of His coming return. All of the followers were crying out “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” When the Pharisees protested and told Him to rebuke His disciples, He said no that even the rocks would cry out if they were silent.

The basic point of all three parables is to be faithful until He comes, and that He is not coming until the events of Matthew 24 happen. Right now, we are in the waiting period and we must be faithful to “get oil” in a relationship with Him and also do the works of the kingdom until He comes. Basically, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.

©Copyright Amanda Rich 2010
Written on August 31, 2010

Devo 30: Absolute Truth

If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.

John 8:31-32

Everyday we hear talk of tolerance and coexistence—on the news, in our schools, in our colleges, and (worst of all) in our churches. We hear a message of false peace and that we can all get along if we unite around helping each other and the poor.

This past election, America chose leaders that will lead our country into deeper immorality on a variety of issues, specifically the area of abortion. Within the next four years, approximately four Supreme Court justices could be put in office that will change the course of our country for the next 40 or 50 years.

America has chosen these leaders, and while we need to now pray for those in authority over us (I Tim. 2; Rom. 13:1), we must also realize that this is not a time of peace. This is a time of war. Yet, our battle is not with flesh and blood, but principalities and powers in high places (Eph. 6).

Currently, there is an uproar in California over Proposition 8 being passed (making homosexual marriage illegal). Churches are being vandalized and pastors threatened.

From our own group, thirteen people were almost killed worshipping on the streets of San Francisco last week. The police had to escort them out while an angry mob of several hundred was pouring hot coffee on them, screaming profanity, doing perverted acts, punching them, and blowing whistles in their ears. All they were doing was worshipping and praying on a street corner in the Castro district like they have done every night for 3 years.

I am not saying this to make you angry; I am saying this so that you will feel an urgency in your spirit about the true state of our country at this time. We need to fast and pray. We need to be holy. We need to know the truth.

Over and over again, Jesus warned us to watch and pray (Mk. 13; Mt. 24). He warned against false christs and those who would deceive many. He made it very clear that He was the only way to the Father (John 14:6). He is the way, the Truth, and the life. We have to know Him.

The spiritual climate is rising tremendously. Opposition from witchcraft is increasing right here in our own country; yet much of the church is sleeping. It is time for watchmen to rise. It is time for the church to get on their faces and ask God for mercy, and it is time for us not to be silent on the truth of the Gospel.

We are called to exemplify lives of holiness, hold the line on the truth, pray, and fast. Then, we will see an increase in the activity of the spirit in our own lives, as well as an increase in the spiritual opposition against us.

“Abide in the Word.” This is about more than reading the Bible. This is about living it, and it is about communion with God on a daily, hourly, and minutely basis. It is about abiding in His love and obeying His commandments (John 15). It is about knowing God and having a relationship with Him (John 17:3).

“You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” Abide in the Word (abide in Christ) and then you shall know the Truth. The Spirit of Truth will come to teach you all things and guide you into all truth (John 14:26; 16:13).

Many voices are saying a variety of things across the board, in every arena; yet there is only One Truth. It is Absolute. He is a Man. His name is Jesus. If you get to know Him, you will know Truth and it will set you free. When we know Him, we can rightly discern all things that are false.

Ask the Lord to give you wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (Eph. 1:17). Ask Him for your love to abound in all knowledge and discernment (Phil. 1:9). Ask Him to grant His servants boldness that they may speak His word with power (Acts 4:29). Ask Him to teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance that He has taught you (Jn. 14:26). Ask the Spirit of Truth (Holy Spirit) to guide you into all Truth (Jn. 16:13).

Bless you all.

Amanda

Copyright © 2010, Amanda Rich, All Rights Reserved