Make a Move

As a young Christian, I read many books by Kenneth E. Hagin and his son Kenneth Hagin, Jr. One of the latter was titled “It’s Your Move”, which compares our walk with the Lord to a chess game. When we make a move, then He makes a move. Dad Hagin often said, “It is easier to steer a car when it is moving than when it is parked.” I’ve seen this truth manifest many times during my missionary travels.

Back in 2003, I flew to Berlin, Germany. After staying in a prayer house for nearly three weeks, two women invited the caretaker and me to go on a road trip with them to Nuremberg. I was reluctant to step out until one of the women said she knew a hotel owner that would provide a room for two nights. Upon our arrival in Nuremberg, we attended a church service. The first worship song I heard was based on Romans 8:1-2. I had read those same verses out loud in the car moments before. I also heard a minister say, “God moves with those who move.” That assured me I did the right thing. The next night, I taught on evangelism at this church. God later opened doors for me to minister in other German cities.

Last month, I moved to San Antonio, Texas. A couple that had been missionaries themselves hosted me the first few nights. However, they questioned the way God was leading me. Without having other lodging possibilities, I rented a motel room to fast and pray. A breakthrough developed after I took a bus downtown one day to go for a prayer walk and evangelize. Across the street from The Alamo, I met a woman playing guitar and singing worship songs. While we fellowshipped, this woman told me about the church she attends. I felt led to go there the following Sunday. The pastor asked me to speak for a few minutes. After the service, his assistant offered me a place to stay.

Are you seeking divine direction? Abraham had a promised land set aside for him but didn’t find it until he left his home country. Unless He specifically tells you to wait on Him, the Lord is likely waiting for you to do something. Jesus is the “great Shepherd of the sheep” (Hebrews 13:21) and will let you know if you’re going the right way or need to adjust your steps, but not until you start moving.

“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” 

- James 2:17 (NIV)

Check Your Heart

When someone has a physical checkup, the doctor will use a stethoscope to examine their heart. It’s also important for people to know the status of their spiritual hearts. Sometimes when I’m evangelizing, sinners try justifying themselves by saying, “God knows my heart.” Yet Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?” 

Fortunately, one who becomes born again has a supernatural heart transplant. Ezekiel 36:26-27 promises, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

Believers should still occasionally examine themselves to maintain a clean heart. An excellent time to do that is when taking communion. 1 Corinthians 11:28-29 commands, “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”

Other verses that talk about examining our hearts include…

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting..” - Psalm 139:23-24

“Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.” 

- 2 Corinthians 13:5

“Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else.” - Galatians 6:4 (NIV)

The late John Paul Jackson stated, “We are life long students of the ways of God...trouble starts when we think we have graduated.” If the Lord reveals you’ve been doing things for the wrong motive, there’s no reason to feel condemned. Just repent and move on.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.” - Psalm 51:10 (Amplified Bible, Classic Edition) 

Armchair Pastors

A new NFL regular season begins in a few days. Armchair quarterbacks are already discussing how their favorite teams and players should do things differently this year. These self-appointed experts seem to think they know more about football than the coaches. 

Sadly, this sort of thing happens in the Body of Christ. “Armchair pastors” criticize ministers for doing or not doing certain things. This past week, the Internet has been (pardon the pun) flooded with unChristlike remarks regarding a well-known pastor in Houston, Texas. Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church receives enough flak from heresy hunters who disapprove of his ministry. Now Joel has been lambasted for his response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey.

Lakewood Church was criticized for not having services last weekend. Their website stated that was done due to “…concern for the safety of our members.” Many streets in Houston were impassible by flood waters. In the Upper Midwest where I’ve lived most of my life, churches of various sizes often cancel services because of inclement weather. 

Joel was also criticized for his church not immediately offering shelter to hurricane victims. Watchdogs make judgments without knowing all the facts and logistics involved. Lakewood Church’s website stated early on they are working with Samaritan’s Purse to provide disaster relief. Until a public announcement was made offering shelter, the church itself experienced flooding despite false reports stating otherwise. There are shelters in Houston better equipped to take in displaced residents. As Joel pointed out in a Fox News interview, “When the big shelter filled up, people started coming here [Lakewood].”

On a related note, I’ve seen a photo gone viral showing the Lakewood Church sanctuary with the caption: “Instead of building mega-churches, how about building mega-homeless shelters?” How about these critics put their money where their mouths are? Few of them probably do anything to help homeless people get off the streets. Romans 2:1 says,“Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”

Among those in the fivefold ministry, pastors in particular have a time-consuming job that pays very little if their congregations don’t give in the offering like they should. Immature Christians expect pastors to be at their beck and call whenever they have a problem. This includes individuals who aren’t even committed members of a church. Then they often get offended if their problem isn’t addressed right away. 

If you don’t agree with how a pastor conducts his ministry, pray for that brother (or sister). If you believe he’s not doing something that should be done in his church, maybe God is calling you to help him out in that area. To put it bluntly, armchair pastors should either put up or shut up.

“Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.” - Romans 14:4

Crying “Wolf”

A story you might have heard growing up was “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” In this Aesop's Fable, a shepherd boy repeatedly tricks nearby villagers into thinking a wolf is attacking his flock. When a wolf actually appears, the villagers ignore the boy’s cries believing it’s another false alarm. As a result, the boy’s sheep gets eaten by the wolf. Variations of this story have been told including a Sesame Street parody called “The Boy Who Cried Monster.”

The Oxford English Dictionary defines cry wolf as a “call for help when it is not needed, with the effect that one is not believed when one really does need help.” Sadly this sort of thing happens within the Body of Christ. Self-appointed watchdogs believe their calling in life is fault-finding preachers they don’t agree with. They flood the Internet with web sites attacking various ministries without mentioning those they actually approve of.

A popular Scripture used by Christian critics is Matthew 7:15, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” Recently I received an email from a man who labeled one TV pastor “a proven false prophet” without citing any examples of false prophecies made. To the best of my knowledge, this pastor has never claimed to be a prophet.

Another wolf warning can be found in Acts 20…

28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 

29 For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 

30 Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.

According to this passage of Scripture, wolves are not pastors. Pastors are spiritual shepherds looking out for the welfare of the sheep within their fold. In the natural, it’s normal for wolves to attack sheep. What’s not normal is for sheep attacking wolves.

If a spiritual shepherd is living in sin, God will expose him if he doesn’t repent. Heresy hunters tread on dangerous ground if they knowingly slander ministers doing the Lord’s work. Twice the Bible tells us, “Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm.” (1 Chronicles 16:22 and Psalm 105:15)

So the next time you hear a preacher saying things you disagree with, don’t cry wolf. Pray for that brother or sister but also pray for yourself. It’s possible you’re the one that could be in error.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” - John 10:27

Unspoken Requests

Occasionally when I get together with other Christians for a prayer meeting, the leader will lift up “unspoken requests.”  While this may sound holy and religious, it is unscriptural.  Philippians 4:6 commands us to “let your requests be made known to God.”

It’s true that our Heavenly Father “knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.” (Matthew 6:8)  Sometimes we might get blessed with things we didn’t specifically pray for simply because He loves us.  But notice what Jesus said in Matthew 7:11; “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”  


If you were in line at a McDonald’s drive thru, would you expect to receive an item on the menu that you didn’t order?  Of course, you wouldn’t.  Likewise, we need to be specific in what we want something from God.  Look at what happened in Mark 10:51 after blind Bartimaeus called out for Jesus…

So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?”  The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.”

Had Bartimaeus replied, “Lord, I have an unspoken request”, he probably would have remained blind.  James 4:2 (KJV) says, “…ye have not, because ye ask not.”

There are times we might perceive a leading to pray for someone or something but don’t know how to put words to it.  That’s when we need to pray in other tongues.  As Romans 8:26 (NLT) says, “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for.  But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.”

God has many promises for us in His word.  But they won’t manifest in our lives automatically.  The first step is to ask.

“Ask the LORD for rain.  In the time of the latter rain, the LORD will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone.” - Zechariah 10:1