Empowered

John 8 : 7 - 11, So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." NKJV

There is a time for every purpose under heaven. Jesus tells us in Acts 1 that we will know when it is the right season or timing to share either the Word of God or the love of God with someone. The Lord has called us to be witnesses of Him to a world that is trapped in spiritual darkness. As His witness, we have to know when to speak out and when to just “be there” for them when sin kicks them to the curb.  

Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will come upon us and give us the authority to be His witness to whomever He sends our way. However, authority isn’t enough when it comes to knowing HOW to minister a word to someone who is in darkness or rebellion. We must ask the Lord for discernment. Allow me to explain further. When someone is in sin or has rebelled against God, it also means that they have hardened their hearts to the voice of God. Some people may need to hear a truth from God’s Word that will awaken them from sin, but others may require that we show them grace first. For this, we need to ask the Holy Spirit for direction because He discerns the heart and knows the mind of the recipient.  

Before I continue, let’s bring this down to where you and I live for a moment. How do you feel when someone approaches you and tries to correct you with the Word, but seemingly has no love or compassion? You will probably want to erect emotional walls to protect your heart from being hurt even deeper. However, there are two approaches that the Lord has directed me to share with you today that will enable us to be a more effective witness for Christ.  

Throughout the gospels, you can see that Jesus showed great compassion, mercy, love, and grace to the sinners. Nevertheless, when it came to those who thought they were “saved” but lived in religious rebellion, Jesus seemed always to speak the truth directly to their hearts. He never minced words when addressing wolves in sheep’s clothing. However, we can see that Jesus used two totally different approaches because He knew the hearts of the people that He was ministering to with the word.

In John 8, Jesus addressed some people in another way… very differently than we might think. Early, one Sabbath morning, Jesus was ministering in the synagogue. As He was teaching the people, some scribes and Pharisees brought a woman to Him that had been caught in the very act of adultery. According to the Law of Moses, if she were to be found guilty, this woman was condemned to die.

Consequently, since she was taken in the act of adultery, the evidence was overwhelmingly against her. However, instead of Jesus telling the men to stone her, He turned the tables on her accusers. Please note that Jesus didn’t condemn her in front of her accusers. Instead of quoting the Law of Moses to her, Jesus directed the subject of sin to her accusers, and they became convicted in their hearts. He spoke the truth to them, but He extended grace to the accused woman.

After every man had departed from His presence, He asked the woman where her accusers were. She told Him that there were none, to which Jesus replied, “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.” After the accusers were gone, Jesus spoke the command to obey to the freed woman. He first gave her grace, while in the company of her accusers, and then He spoke the truth into her heart that she was required to obey. His love empowered her to receive the truth that she needed to live a life without immorality.

If our hearts are hardened because of the accuser, the Lord will show us grace so that we might experience His love, and then He will reveal the truth to our softened heart. What I am describing generally takes place during a difficult trial where you feel nothing but guilt and shame; that is when God’s grace is released. If you respond correctly to His grace, then He will speak the truth so that you can begin to obey by faith and please the Lord.

Are you living under a cloud of condemnation that makes you feel guilty and ashamed? If so, then turn your heart to the Lord in humility and love, and allow the Holy Spirit to cleanse your conscience through His grace.

But for the Grace of God,
Pastor Asa Dockery

God Conscious

Romans 10: 1 – 4, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. NKJV

Is there a test that a Christian can take that determines whether they’re self-conscious or God-conscious? Even though the people of Israel were God’s chosen people, they still didn’t know the God that had chosen them. Had they known Him, they would have also known what God required of them as it pertained to them being righteous before Him.

The Jews in Jesus’ day rejected Him as their Messiah because they believed they were correct in their service to God. There is a way that seems right unto a person, but its end is the way of death. We can see that Israel being chosen by God wasn’t enough for them to inherit eternal life. According to scripture, they didn’t know God or His ways. The very reason that God sent His Son, Jesus, is so that He might show Israel and the gentiles the WAY to know the Father. Even so, His chosen people rejected Jesus because they were convinced He was a fraud, and were convinced that their way would lead them to the Father.  

Let me ask you a question before we continue. Were the Jews self-conscious or God-conscious? Satan had blinded them from seeing the Light of the gospel because they chose not to believe in Jesus as the Christ. When anyone rejects the truth of God’s Word because they’re convinced that they know the way to the Father, it gives Satan access to their mind to deceive them. Ultimately, without repentance, they will believe a lie and perish.

There’s an old adage that goes something like this… “You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.” Today, I want to use that saying but with a twist. “You can fool people into believing that you are holy because they see your outward appearance, but God isn’t fooled because He looks on your heart.” Just because we may be accepted by people in “religious circles” doesn’t mean that our righteous deeds are acceptable in God’s sight. It is easy to learn what a certain group of people will accept and what they won’t, simply by hanging (very quietly) around them for awhile. Once you find out their “likes” and “dislikes,” all you have to do is perform in order to please them and be accepted.  

Although you may have acceptance and can make the presentation of “self” look pleasing to people, are you living a life that is holy before the Lord? This is by no means a word intended to diminish anyone, but is only to be used to illustrate how easily we can be deceived by our own hearts. It has never been about pleasing people, but rather about pleasing God. If your focus is on pleasing self or people, then you are self-conscious. If the focus of your heart’s desire is always to please the Father as Jesus did while on earth, then you are becoming God-conscious. When you boil down all that we’ve covered today, it comes to this one truth: the Jews were religious and self-righteous, but they were ignorant of God and His ways.

How can anyone please the Lord and not hang out with Him during their day? How can we know God or His ways so that we might please Him if we never seek His face with our heart or invest time in His Word? There must come a time in everyone’s walk with the Lord when we must decide not to place any confidence in what we believe about God and begin to discover who He is through intimacy with Him. The Jews who rejected Jesus believed in God, but Jesus knew God as Father because He had been with Him. In the end, Jesus was accepted, and they were cut off. However, if they should ever turn to the Lord in faith, the veil that covers their hearts will be lifted.

But for the Grace of God,
Pastor Asa Dockery

 

 

 

Divine Understanding

Hebrews 11 : 3, By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. NKJV

Faith requires us first to trust God, and, in return, He will give us understanding of His ways. However, we can’t know or understand God through man’s knowledge. There is only one Way to understand the Father and this is accomplished through a relationship with Jesus, His only-begotten Son. If you’re a believer in the Lord Jesus and know that He is, indeed, the Son of the living God, then you can rest in the assurance that you have been born again.

In today’s devotion, you will discover that if a person tries to understand God through knowledge, they will eventually fall prey to the spirit of offense and walk away in spiritual darkness. There is only one way to know the Father or understand His ways and that is through faith in Jesus. After you place trust or confidence in Christ as your Savior, the Father will begin the process of revealing His ways to you.

The Scribes and Pharisees constantly persecuted Jesus and rejected His truth because they didn’t understand Him. To come to faith doesn’t mean that you understand God; it means that in spite of sometimes not understanding Him, you choose to trust Him. The Scribes and Pharisees sought understanding apart from faith in Jesus, and this caused them to stumble at His teachings. It wasn’t because Jesus was speaking to them in a foreign language. They stumbled because they didn’t believe He was the Son of God because, if they had believed He was the Christ, they would have understood and received His teachings.

In John 6, we read where Jesus was teaching some Jews about Him being THE BREAD from heaven. He told them that their fathers had eaten of the bread that God through Moses gave them, and they (their fathers) were dead. He went on to tell them that if they would eat His flesh and drink His blood, they would never die. When He told them to eat His flesh and drink His blood, they MISUNDERSTOOD Him and began to walk away. Remember, I said earlier that if we don’t walk by faith, eventually we will take on the spirit of offense; this is the very thing that occurred with them. Between you and me, they were probably more offended that He had said they would never die than they were over Him commanding them to partake of His body…simply because they refused to believe that Jesus was the Christ.

Let’s address the problem of unbelief. God is spirit, and we are carnally (fleshly) minded. Humans believe in what they can see, and God is invisible. The just are to walk by faith and not by sight in order to have eternal life. It is the same as someone from a foreign country coming to your homeland and trying to communicate to you in their native language. You wouldn’t understand their words. So how do we come to understand the Word of God? Faith is our interpreter. The writer of Hebrews wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit: By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

If you truly desire to know the invisible God as your heavenly Father, you must first be willing to trust in Jesus as the Son of God. As you begin to implement this principle in your walk, the Holy Spirit will enlighten your understanding to be able to comprehend the hidden wisdom of God and to know His ways. By this, we will know that we have eternal life.

Understanding God through Faith in Jesus,
Pastor Asa Dockery

Your Heavenly Father Loves You

Acts 17: 26 – 28, And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being… NKJV

When testifying about their faith in Jesus, I often hear people say things like, “I just don’t know where I would be today if the Lord hadn’t saved me.” However, before we address that statement, let’s go back to the origin of all mankind. If it hadn’t been for the Lord God, none of us would even be alive. Is it not amazing that, although man originated from God, only a small portion of people will dare to acknowledge God’s existence, and even fewer will acknowledge their faith in Jesus?

If we only live, and move, and have our existence in God, then how much of our life or what we own should we be willing to attribute to Him? ALL OF IT! If this is true, and the scriptures bear it out that it is, then why don’t more people give more honor and glory to God? When Satan caused man to sin against God, he accomplished far more than just getting them to eat a piece of fruit.

Through sin, we also became separated from the life of God in our minds because of spiritual blindness. The Bible records that after they had eaten the forbidden fruit, the eyes of them were opened, and they knew they were naked? Sin does separate us from God, just like death separates us from life. Nevertheless, sin goes much deeper than separating us from God; it also separates our minds from knowing the mind of God. 

If we don’t know God or know how to walk in His ways, then how will be able to please Him? The writer of Hebrews reveals that without faith, it is impossible to please or agree with God. We must believe that He exists, and He rewards those who diligently seek Him. Here is where the problem lies: Because sin had separated us from life, the heart of man became darkened through the deceitfulness of sin. Consequently, we learned to lean on our own understanding and stopped seeking God. 

Thus, man began to take the glory and honor for his or her accomplishments and denied the existence of the living God. We were blind and lost in the “pit of sin,” without hope. But God! Had it not been for God and His infinite mercy, we all would be headed for an eternity of torment and unimaginable anguish. Now, we, who have been saved can also testify as to where we would be had it not been for the Lord saving us.

The Lord invites us to call upon Him while He is near and to seek Him while He may be found. It’s not that man is reaching up to God, but rather God is reaching down to man. Salvation never began in the heart or mind of man; it began in the heart of God. He is, indeed, our heavenly Father. Even so, will man allow Him that place in their life? Even though man missed the will and destiny of God in the beginning, today, we can get back on track by humbling ourselves and seeking His face. 

No one has the promise of life beyond the breath that you just breathed. Therefore, we should be willing to accept the gift of eternal life while we have the chance and acknowledge that life begins with God. After we accept this gift, we must also remember that God is the one who authored it, and it will be God, who will complete that work in us. As a result, our response to God should always be one of humility and brokenness along with a deep desire to know Him as our heavenly Father. God is not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. The Lord gives grace to those who are humble before Him.

Seeking the Lord,
Pastor Asa Dockery

To God Be All Glory

Genesis 1 : 26, Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." NKJV

Did you know that worship, and dominion are interconnected? If we make the choice to worship God, then He has promised that we will walk in dominion in the earth. Whenever Lucifer was created by the Lord, He made him with timbrels, (tambourine) which is a sign of merriment in the Old Testament.

When Lucifer rebelled in his heart against the authority of God, it was for the sole purpose of glorifying himself over God. He desired to exalt his throne above God’s throne, and this cost him his dominion as an Arch-angel. We see Satan make his first appearance in the New Testament when Jesus was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness. Satan promised Jesus that he would give him great authority over his kingdoms and the glory of them if He would just worship him as “god." To this, Jesus quoted a portion of scripture from the Law of God, “You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve."

Satan will offer people this world’s pleasures and fame as long as they make a commitment to worship their “self” nature and not God. Nonetheless, it is not hard to see that the price a person pays for listening to Satan far outweighs any short-term fame, wealth, or authority because they soon become enslaved to his lies. Jesus tells us in Mark 8, “What shall it PROFIT a man if he should gain the whole world, and lose his soul?” Once again, we can see that worship, and dominion are connected.  

It is God, who has given us the right to have dominion over the earth, and it was Satan, who stole that right through man’s sin. As man made the decision to worship self in the place of God, he has slipped deeper into bondage and depravity. The key to remaining faithful to God is to avoid hardening your heart to His voice. If you truly desire to live with authority, then you must see to it that God has the proper place of priority in your life over self.

The more a person or a people harden their hearts against God, the more they will turn their worship toward self…this will produce bondage in their lives. Instead of having dominion over the creatures that God promised us in the beginning, men will worship them as god.  

Romans 1 : 18 – 23, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man -- and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. NKJV

They didn’t worship or honor God because they rejected or suppressed the truth that God had revealed to them. As a result, they chose to worship the very thing that God had given man dominion over. Do you honor the Word of God in your heart? When the Holy Spirit speaks the truth into your life, do you listen? Each time we deny the authority of God to speak into our lives, we are giving our dominion over to Satan to hold us in bondage. Let us give all praise and glory to God, and walk in dominion over our fleshly nature.

Worshiping God through Obedience,
Pastor Asa Dockery

Are You Waiting On God?

Genesis 15 : 1 - 4, After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward." But Abram said, "Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" Then Abram said, "Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!" And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir." NKJV

If you don’t know the story of Abram’s life up to this point, I invite you to read Genesis 12 – 15. When God spoke to Abraham, He told him to leave his kindred and to get away from his father’s house. We know that Abraham obeyed God; however, he only partially obeyed. He came out and left all of his family behind, except for Lot, his brother’s son.

While Abraham walked with God by faith, God blessed him with great possessions and favor. By the time we catch up with Abraham in Genesis 14, he has accumulated much wealth, cattle, and possessions, but he was yet to have an heir. It is here that we see Abraham confronting God about the barrenness in his life.

Although God had blessed Abraham with all the natural blessings he desired, Abraham was not content because his heart’s desire and God’s promise of giving him a son had not been fulfilled.  

There is a vast difference between being blessed and being fruitful. In the past, Christians have mistaken the meaning of having the blessings of God. We have taken them to mean that we are fruitful, but that just isn’t the case. As we walk with God, His presence becomes so evident in our lives that we begin to receive favor from people. However, this is not a true indicator that we have been obedient to God’s will, nor does it mean that we have become fruitful in the Spirit.

Blessings come from walking with God or walking by faith in Christ, but fruitfulness, can only occur one way- through obedient faith, or faith that is followed through with action. We know that Abraham came out, just like God commanded, but he brought Lot with him, and this was disobedience in God’s sight.  

You can be a born-again believer, not be obedient to the Lord, and still be blessed. We’ve already established this truth in the life and story of Abraham. While walking with God by faith, but in disobedience, the blessings flowed into Abraham’s life. Even Lot was blessed tremendously because he walked with Abraham for twenty-five years. It is equally important that we see Abraham had a “problem” of lying when it came to his relationship with his wife, Sarah. So we know that, besides the fact that he was disobedient, Abraham also had character flaws.

None of Abraham’s weaknesses or sins kept God from calling him out to live a blessed and fruitful life by faith. It really doesn’t matter who we were when God called us or what weaknesses or character flaws we have when we come out of bondage to sin… all that matters to God is that we obey and leave behind what He tells us to leave.

Finally, Abraham has gotten to the point in his walk with God that he challenges the Lord about the previous promise He had made to him of having a son of his own. We too, must get to the place, if we’re not fully cooperating with God’s will, where we begin to apply pressure on God to keep His promise to us about being fruitful in our walk… not just blessed.

Once Abraham confronted God about the barrenness in life of not having the ability to have a son, God began the process of separating Abraham and Lot. One year after they finally separated, Sarah gave birth to Isaac, the son of promise. Through this story, we should get a glimpse of what it really means to be obedient to God and of the result of our obedience. You must know that fruit comes from obedient faith…not our works. Abraham tried to twist God’s arm with the birth of Ishmael, but God rejected him because he wasn’t the son of promise, but of works.

As I leave you for today, ask yourself this question, “Am I blessed and fruitful?” Now ask the Lord the same question? He will reveal to you whether or not you’re being fruitful in the spirit. The Lord has truly blessed the body of Christ, but are we bearing the fruit of obedience?

Lord, Make Me Fruitful,
Pastor Asa Dockery

Need Peace Today?

Hebrews 11 : 6, But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. NKJV

Even though God initially didn’t give Abraham any details concerning the land that He had promised to give him and his descendants, it didn’t keep Abraham from believing in God (Genesis 12).

Likewise, even though I don’t know where God is taking my family and me, I choose to move forward in Christ. I may not know any details of the journey or the destination; nonetheless, I am not discouraged from continuing to walk on, through faith in God.

The New Testament believer is commanded to walk by faith and not by sight. Even so, what exactly does that mean to us who have placed our trust in Jesus? It simply means that we have chosen to surrender control of our lives to Christ on earth, both now and in our future, and to allow the Holy Spirit to guide our steps. What are we really giving up or surrendering when we finally yield our plans and desires to the Lord? Do we actually have the ability to determine just how long we live or how well our life will be in future years? We absolutely do not! We are not God; however, we can be rewarded if we will seek God first and please Him by faith.

When we’re young and filled with zeal for life, it is normal to have visions of grandeur and high aspirations for ourselves. Even though we may have plans for our lives, we also know that life doesn’t always go according to our plans. Depending on what time of day you opened this email, you may have already realized that today isn’t cooperating with your schedule. However, we are learning  to place our plans and our lives in God’s control, and He will work all things for our good.

I bring up the issue of having plans to point out to you a deeper truth. Even though you have plans for your life, and though you may be on track to fulfill most, if not all, that you have purposed in your life, it doesn’t mean that your life is pleasing to your heavenly Father. There is no eternal value in our plans unless  we come into an agreement with God’s plan and will for us.

The Word of God tells us that we have no promise of tomorrow. God only promises us today. “Today, if you will hear His voice and not harden your hearts..." Just having plans doesn’t mean we will have a hope or a future, but when we surrender our agendas and dreams to include God’s will, then He can guarantee us both fulfillment in this life and eternal bliss in the life to come. The great reward that I have learned from trusting the Lord and obeying His plans over my own plans is this: I don’t have to sweat the details. I simply obey what He requires of me, and I leave the rest up to Him to work out for me and my family.  

A life that is surrendered to the Lordship of Christ is one of peace, security,  reward, and of hope for the life to come. “Won’t it be wonderful there, having no burdens to bear?” When we enter His rest, we cease from our own labor.

Peace Beyond Comprehension,
Pastor Asa Dockery