The Call to Duty

Fresh Manna2007© by Pastor Tim Burt
http://www.freshmanna.org

Today’s Fresh Manna was written by one of my dear friends and fellow Pastors who is also a military Chaplin and about to be deployed to Iraq. I hope it will bless you!
In His Love,
Pastor Tim

The Call to Duty by CH (CPT) Buddy Winn / Battalion Chaplain

“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1

Paradox: A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true.

Here’s my current paradox as it pertains to our pending deployment: I can’t stand the thought of leaving, and at the same time, I can’t wait to leave.

I sometimes guilty for thinking that way, because in my mind it may be interpreted that I might actually want to be away from those most important to me. Nothing could be further from the truth! Duty calls, and the motive for leaving is to complete the mission and get back home! I’m pulled between the two concepts – wanting to stay vs. needing to go – and have trouble finding middle ground or a happy medium.

No one wants to leave certainty and comfort for danger and a hardscrabble existence, but we also can’t stand idly by when our comrades have served with honor and need to be spelled. Recently I was talking with a friend about the war in Iraq. We concluded that most people are anti-war. The difference is that soldiers have to have a jump off point where they understand that after all options have been exhausted, when evil will not relent, armed force must be implemented. War is ugly, and among the least desirable of all possible options. But capitulating to or not confronting evil is even less desirable. Soldiers do the job that others can’t or won’t, and pray every day for war to end. It doesn’t mean we like it, but we do it. And because we’re doing it, we want to do it well, with honor, and while looking out for each other.

I know that in all things, God’s promises are with me. He promised to never leave me or forsake me. He promised a plan to prosper and not to harm me. He promised to meet my needs according to His riches. In spite of the challenges or combat, because I live IN HIM, and BY FAITH, I walk free from any condemnation that tries to say that I’m abandoning my family or forsaking my responsibilities. In fact, not only am I standing up for the cause of freedom, I’m walking out the great commission – taking the good news of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. As I do, I stand confident in God’s promise to watch over me, and my family, no matter where I am.

Prayer of the day:

Today I pray for the Platoon Sergeants of 2/147 AHB. I pray that they would be rooted and grounded in God’s love. As they lead their platoon and manage their mission, soldiers, and equipment, may they be given over to His wisdom and guidance. I pray that no one under their influence would go astray in manner or behavior, knowing they can turn to their competent and willing leaders for help, assistance, and assurance. I pray that they would seek God’s protection and rest confidently in His ability, because He will not turn His face from those who return to Him.

In His service,
CH (CPT) Buddy Winn
Battalion Chaplain

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt
http://www.freshmanna.org

Published by Pastor Tim Burt
Copyright© 2007
All rights reserved.

What is Fresh Manna? God’s Word – the Bible, should be exciting and alive to us. God wants to speak to us through His Holy Spirit and give us a fresh word from heaven every day. Fresh Manna is a daily devotional – that nourishment of daily bread from His heart to ours!

Part Four: Learning to Hear God’s Voice

Fresh Manna© by Pastor Tim Burt
http://www.freshmanna.org

Romans 8:12-13 “So, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you keep on following it, you will perish. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds, you will live.”

A college student says, “I’m in a constant struggle. I find myself swearing too often and I know it’s wrong. God has spoken to me about this area of my life. But then I have the thought, “everyone swears – they are just words – you are making way to much out of this – lighten up.” “It’s almost as if I had God on one shoulder and the devil on the other.”

That is a real life experience that many people experience – Christians and non experience. In learning to discern between Satan speaking to you trying to deceive you or God trying to lead you, you have to understand the voices in your life. First you have to understand that God uses your voice to speak to you. God is a Spirit and He indwells within us by our invitation – by receiving Jesus into our lives as Lord and Savior. http://www.freshmanna.org/road.htm But, He is not the only one using our voice. We are also contending with demonic influences. Satan is called the “god of this world.” in 2 Cor. 4:4 and for every way God is trying to draw you near to Him, Satan is trying to draw you into his eternal destiny – Hell. He hijacks your voice.

We have God’s voice speaking to us from within. We have Satan attacking us from without. Both are spirit beings and both use our own voice to speak to us – God by permission from us, and Satan usurping himself into our lives. That is where the confusion begins.

As we think through things, we hear our own voice in three areas. First, we hear our own voice in the reasoning process of thinking and human conscience. (You either think in your head or talk to yourself out loud.) Secondly there is the voice of God’s Holy Spirit. He speaks to us in and through a variety of ways – some which we have discussed and some will look further into. And thirdly there is the voice of temptation, lies and deception, and accusation from the devil.

Christians really could discern Satan’s voice easier if they learned some simple truths exposing his character and remembering them. Satan will most often tempt you to go the route that is most satisfying to your flesh and personal gratification or selfish wants. If you will think in terms of the big picture, his goal is to lead you away from God and toward an every increasing carnal life eventually leading to personal destruction.

Of course there are exceptions in his leading to fleshly desires. He will also attempt to lead people into religious confusion – religious beliefs, practices, and behaviors that sound good but are contrary to scripture. For example, radical jihad extremist who blow up people including themselves as martyrs for God or men or women who do not marry because a religious institution tells them they cannot and still serve God in the same way. Neither of these are rooted in scripture and God is not the inspiration behind these beliefs. I’m not saying someone can’t chose to remain single to serve God more wholeheartly. I am saying that God does not demand it. God never speaks to us in ways that contradict scripture and that is the safe guard for knowing what is and what isn’t His voice and His ways.

For the most part, Satan speaks in seducing voices that attempt to lead us away from God and His will revealed through scripture saying things like “Go ahead, one drink isn’t going to hurt anything – drinking in moderation is okay isn’t it?” or ”God won’t care if you have sex if you really love each other.” Or, “It’s really not sex because we aren’t having intercourse.” The majority of the voices people wrestle with are the desires of their flesh with what their Holy Spirit taught conscience is telling them is wrong. This becomes true from the larger issues of life down to the smallest.

Today’s Fresh Manna says, “So, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you keep on following it, you will perish. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds, you will live.” It doesn’t make a difference if you hear the voice of God if you will not learn to follow and obey it.

Someone emails you a video or joke that makes fun at someone else’s expense or that crosses the line using profanity or sexual humor. If you were sensitive to the Holy Spirit, you might hear the Holy Spirit speak to you saying, “Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. “ Phil 2:3 OR “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Eph. 4:29 The majority of humor comes at the expense of another and God wants you to resist evil not see it as a joke, embrace it and pass it on. But, there will be other voices that say, “Lighten up will you? It’s only a joke. Don’t be so serious. There is nothing wrong with a little humor. Every one jokes about other people or sex, and face it – swearing is mainstream.”

The continuation of today’s Fresh Manna verse says, Romans 8:14 “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.“ When your heart is open to the truth, God will expose Satan. When it’s not and you simply want your own way, you will be deceived and confused by the voices you hear. More next week…

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt
http://www.freshmanna.org

Published by Pastor Tim Burt
Copyright©
All rights reserved.

What is Fresh Manna? God’s Word – the Bible, should be exciting and alive to us. God wants to speak to us through His Holy Spirit and give us a fresh word from heaven every day. Fresh Manna is a daily devotional – that nourishment of daily bread from His heart to ours!

Part Three: Learning to Hear God’s Voice

Fresh Manna© by Pastor Tim Burt
http://www.freshmanna.org

James 4:8 “Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you…”

When I was sixteen years old, I met who would become my first girlfriend. She happened to be an identical twin. She didn’t tell me at first. When I went to pick her up for our first date, her twin sister came to the door leading me to believe she was my date. We got into the car and started to drive away. She kept chuckling and I asked her what was so funny. She told me she wasn’t who I thought she was and laughingly told me the truth. I was in shock. In the beginning, I could not tell them apart and was slightly concerned every time I went to pick her up, that I might be driving away with her sister.

After about six months, there was no fooling me anymore. Even though the majority of people that knew them struggled to tell them apart, I didn’t. To me, she no longer looked the same. I could tell the difference in many little ways that others would not have noticed. Even though they were identical twins, they were two different people. Because we had become close caring friends, the differences become apparent.

For some people, it would be almost as if God and the devil were twins. I know that almost sounds sacrilegious but at the same time, it’s understandable. I say that because since we can’t physically see either, it is their voices that remain that we hear. I am continually told by people that they have trouble discerning if the voice they hear – “Is God or the devil they are hearing?”

The reason I could eventually tell the difference between my girlfriend and her twin sister was because of intimacy. No, I am not meaning sexually. It is because we “fell in love.” It was because over the period of three years, we came to the place as young boyfriends and girlfriends do, where we talked through everything. I knew her heart, her dreams, her struggles, her insecurities, what made her laugh, what made her feel special, and what she was sensitive to. I knew her. We were the best of friends and we cared for each other. This is the place where you truly know someone and in that place you know their voice.

When Jesus was teaching His disciples about Himself, He called Himself “the good shepherd.” John 10:4-5 “After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they recognize his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from the stranger because they don’t recognize his voice.”

Please understand when Jesus is talking about His sheep recognizing His voice – He isn’t just talking about the sound of a voice or voice patterns. It is through a voice that you get to the heart of a person. It’s where you discover their purpose, their character, who they are and what they believe. You get to know their manner – how they conduct themselves – what they would and would not ever do. This is all a part of “recognizing His voice.” That only happens between any two human beings through true intimacy.

We live in the day of tabloids and “star mania.” People seem to crave reading and hearing about movie stars and singers and famous people. They read magazine after magazine and watch television show after television show about these people. After a while, they begin to think they know them. You can read all day every day but you will not truly know them. That only happens through true personal intimacy between two people.

Many Christians are casual at best reading their Bible, If we could play back the video tape of one’s life, we might see ten to a hundred times more time spent reading and watching stars compared to reading their Bible. And then, even if you do read your Bible all the time, that alone won’t produce the ability to distinguish between God and the devil’s voice. Why? Because again, reading about someone – even Jesus, does not produce intimacy. The theological halls of seminaries are filled with those that have studied Jesus but don’t know Him.

Jesus has given those that would draw close to Him the most phenomenal gift – the ability to have an intimate relationship with Him and to learn His voice and follow Him.

Jesus disciples followed, learned from, and did what Jesus asked them to. They knew what His voice sounded like, but more importantly, they knew Him. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, and religious leaders of Jesus day also followed Him around. They were continually trying to catch Him violating the law working to prove He was a false Christ. They knew His voice but they surely didn’t know Him. They confused Him with the devil and accused Him of being Satan’s aide. It turned into a divisive issue amongst them. Why? Because some knew the true signs of God and knew the devil and God don’t mix. Others were blinded by their own bias and jealousy. John 10:19-21 “At these words the Jews were again divided. Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?” “But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

So how do we learn to discern between Satan speaking to us trying to deceive us or God trying to lead us? Why is that such a struggle? We’ll work through that tomorrow but for today; know that it’s not the physical voice Jesus wanted you to follow. It was Who He was, What He was, and What He wanted for us that He wanted you to know. In that you would come to know His voice which really represents His. That is why James wrote today’s Fresh Manna verse, “Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you…”

More tomorrow….

In His love,
Pastor Tim Burt
http://www.freshmanna.org

Published by Pastor Tim Burt
Copyright© 2007
All rights reserved.

What is Fresh Manna? God’s Word – the Bible, should be exciting and alive to us. God wants to speak to us through His Holy Spirit and give us a fresh word from heaven every day. Fresh Manna is a daily devotional – that nourishment of daily bread from His heart to ours!