Waiting Does Not Mean Wasting Time

I came across this meme on social media tonight:

I think it is good. I would, however like to clarify what "waiting" is about in this context.
Keep in mind I have not remarried yet in almost 7 years. I have had no steady relationships in that time since I was abandoned, and my first marriage ended. Yet I am really involved with ministry more and more. My miracle ministry that survived divorce has been preserved by the Lord. I am to teach and to preach and to minister in my local church. That is my privilege and honour. Whether I get married or not, this is my calling. It is the cross I bear. What is the cross you bear for Jesus?

So to this meme I say:

Yes of course waiting on God is important.

But... It is also important to position oneself for receiving. One must keep praying in Jesus' Name, and keep asking and keep seeking. It's not enough to just sit back and do nothing. When some people think of waiting they imagine themselves sitting in a doctors office, waiting to be called. No.

In this context, "waiting on God" means working for Him in your calling. It means you do not act outside His will, but you DO act according to His will. Waiting on God does not mean standing around doing nothing, wasting the gift of singleness. The more years one can get in doing the work of God, the better. Because once marriage comes, your time will be divided and you will have to please both The Lord and also your spouse. Believe me, that is no easy task.

(1 Cor. 7:32-33)

 

Wait on God by praying for your future spouse to come. Then ....get back to work! Serve Jesus. Spread the Gospel. Love one another in the churches. Serve God in the ministry you have. All Christians have a ministry. Be faithful.

Go all out for Jesus as a single. NOW is your time to serve and bless Him and bless others. You will never again have this THIS level of freedom to please the Lord. You will never again get this many options where you are free to make choices in Christ without considering a spouse's plans or feelings.

 

You have a commission. Serve God in it, and really press into your love relationship with Jesus Christ our God and Saviour. Don't think that waiting means wasting. Not a chance. Waiting means you position yourself thankfully and prayerfully, and then get busy and do what God called you for in ministry.
Yes, you keep putting yourself in position for meeting a special person. But your focus must remain on your calling. The only way you will ever know who to marry is by cultivating your calling in Christ. Jesus does not call us to marriage or singleness per se. He calls us to love Him, to spread His Gospel, and to die to self and follow Him. THAT is the call. In a word, the call is DISCIPLESHIP. And, regardless of your marital status, marriage cannot ever be more important than discipleship. And the geographic details of your call will vary from mine. Nevertheless, now is the day to serve God and worship Him and love Him.
Love those He puts in your path. Feed the sheep with the truth of Jesus Christ, who is the Bread of Heaven and the Living Water. In 1 Corinthians 7:7, Paul calls marriage and singleness "gifts". They are not the call, but gifts. The Call is always discipleship. And discipleship is always an individual experience before the Lord. Discipleship cannot be blocked by marriage or family or past or current condition. As you read through 1 Corinthians 7 you realize the key is not found in marriage OR singleness. The key is this,

 

1 Corinthians 7:171599 Geneva Bible (GNV)

¹⁷ But as God hath distributeth to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk: and so ordain I in all Churches.

 

 

God bless,

Pastor Curtis

Completion Vs. Loneliness

Colossians 2:6-10 GNV

⁶ As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.

⁷ Rooted and built in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving:

⁸ Beware lest there be any man that spoil you through philosophy, and vain deceit, through the traditions of men, according to the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

⁹ For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

¹⁰ And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.

 

I would like to make a bold declaration. And you can join in with me if you want to.

 

I have been battling a bit of depression and loneliness lately. It comes and goes, and I only experience it in certain places. So I make sure to fellowship with others at church. It helps. And I commune with the Lord's Spirit too. His presence is so special to me.

 

And today, in church, our lead pastor read a Bible chapter that hits home for me (Colossians chapter 2). As seen in the passage above, The Apostle Paul declares "ye are complete in him". The Him, is no one other than Jesus Christ the Lord!

 

So I am going to encourage myself by not only being with my church family, but by also declaring the word of God over my life. Are you ready to join in these declarations with me?? Here we go...

 

Say this along with me....

 

My emotions sometimes feel lonely and unloved.

BUT MY REALITY, FROM GOD's WORD IS:

1) I received Jesus Christ (v6)

2) I walk in Jesus Christ (v6)

3) I am rooted in Jesus Christ (v7)

4) I am established in the faith of Jesus Christ (v7)

5) I have been taught in the faith of Jesus Christ (v7)

6) I have been abounding (producing much fruit) in the faith of Jesus Christ (v7)

7) I am thankful for Jesus Christ and all His blessings to me (v7)

8) I will keep my faith and my thinking pure in Jesus Christ. (v8)

9) Jesus Christ contains ALL RICHES and ALL the fullness of God. (v9)

10) I am COMPLETE in Jesus Christ who is the Head of all power and authority. (v10)  

 

So we have said these statements of truth together. I want us to dwell on each one. What does it really mean?

 

See, I am a well connected man. I am an established church leader of 16 years and I have been in the retail industry for over 20 years. I suffered abandonment from an unbelieving wife because of the ministry and the faith. So I am divorced.
I am well-connected, but I still feel loneliness on occasion. You might feel the same way. 

I know you have probably suffered for Christ as well.

So, I have come to a realization:

 

Loneliness, for me at least, is a feeling of incompletion. I feel like something -someone- is missing from my life. I feel like there could be more to it. And if left unchecked, loneliness can turn sour and develop into unhealthy habits for us, like watching the wrong kinds of videos or eating too much. Or it could turn into ungratefulness and extreme self-centeredness. If left unchecked, loneliness could make you blind to the current reality of your blessings. Loneliness, if we dwell on it too long, could create a victim mentality which has us letting go of our responsibilities, claiming our circumstances are too difficult for us to be responsible in. That is the OPPOSITE of what the Bible calls us to be: Overcomers. (See Revelation chapters 2 and 3).  

 

We don't want this feeling to turn sour. And yet, there is no shame in feeling lonely and I am coming to realize it is ok to feel this way. Many people seem to be able to relate. But I also tend to hold those feelings back because I don't want people to worry. Why worry when you could pray? Worry is a topic I may get into later, but all it does is slow you down and make the problem bigger than God. Bad idea. God is bigger than any problem and prayer is bigger than worry. Faith is bigger than fear. I got off on a little tangent there, but I needed to say those things. I hold back my feelings because I can't stand to see certain individuals worry. I know it is a waste of their time to worry so I simply don't discuss it. If however these individuals happen to read this: just remember, worry is unproductive and the idea of someone worrying about me makes me feel horrible and sick. I just do not like to see my loved ones in turmoil. 

Pray for me instead. Prayer in faith and in thankfulness is powerful. Your prayers would encourage me!     

 

So... back to the topic at hand: rather than wallow in loneliness, and let it go sour, I allow the Sweet Holy Spirit to come in and transform me. Rather than let it motivate me to seek comfort in the wrong places, I have determined to turn it all over to Jesus Christ and combat this feeling with the word of God which declares that I am COMPLETE IN HIM. I am complete, lacking nothing in Jesus. I am rich in Christ, who has all wisdom and all knowledge. Colossians chapter 2 talks all about that. I am a VICTOR in Jesus.

 

SO let's get practical. If I truly am complete in Christ that means I do not NEED those other things in life that I currently don't have.

I do not need a wife, or children, or home ownership,  or a car. I do not need a huge paycheque or a lot of close friends (I do not have a lot of close Christian friends outside of my family and my church.).

I need Jesus. HE makes my salvation and my walk complete.

His body, the church, helps me to grow every week. He is the Head of the Body (which includes all local churches)!

 

 I am VERY satisfied with what I currently have. I can honestly and truly say that.

 

But, of all those earthly things I mentioned there is only one thing I do desire: a wife. I want to be remarried, to a woman with a ministry mindset. Like me, she will be someone who has chosen to forgo the natural family in order to serve the spiritual family, the church. I believe we will be powerful in service to Christ, with little holding us back in this very troubled world (Luke 23:28-29). And yet... I remind my soul that according to Paul, I do not need a wife to be complete. The Bible says so. Paul lived that example. He chose not to marry (1 Corinthians 9).  

 

What I have come to realize is that when my emotions start going down the drain into feelings of loneliness, it is because I am starting to believe I am somehow incomplete. It is a LIE! I am not incomplete. Why? Because I received, and walk with, Jesus Christ!

Now of course I would still enjoy getting married again. But I don't depend on it like some kind of life-jacket in a sea of uncertainty.

No, instead, Christ is my steady rock upon whom I stand.
I keep running the race, and telling myself what God says about me: I am complete in Christ.  

 

I encourage you, and challenge you to do the same. Run the race set before you- be true to the call to fellowship with and walk with Jesus Christ. Declare Colossians 2:10 over your own life, as often as you need to. Ask Him for your desires, and ask Him to help you navigate the times of loneliness or depression. Those feelings will still exist from time to time. It is nothing to be ashamed of. It is part of the disciple's walk.

The difference is, we can now refuse to come to a wrong conclusion based on those feelings. We can now come to the correct conclusion, and declare with Paul:

 

¹⁰ And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. (Col. 2:10)

 

 God bless,

Pastor Curtis

Sun Apr 17 2016 2:31pm EST

 

Your Ancient Identity

Only the Creator, God, can tell you who you are and what your identity is. Humans came from Him! All created things, the earth and stars, and matter itself, came from Him.

God knew you and loved you and planned for you long before you existed.

Jeremiah 1:5 GENEVA

Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee, and before thou camest out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and ordained thee to be a Prophet unto the nations. 

Psalm 139:13 ESV

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

Psalm 139:13 GENEVA

For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.

He will give all overcomers a new name! Your earthly identity is from Him. But so is your heavenly identity!

Revelation 2:17 GENEVA

Let him that hath an ear, hear what the spirit saith unto the Churches. To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the Manna that is hid, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it.

Revelation 2:17 ESV

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’

You might try to manufacture or manipulate your own identity, apart from God and Christ. And yet, despite all our attempts to find out who we are APART from Christ, we always seem to fall short.
                                                      

Apart from Christ, we are never truly satisfied. We never really know "for sure" who we are. That is why some worldly-minded people go through a mid-life crisis and have a flip-flop. They attempt to answer the question of "who am I" without first asking the question "Who is GOD?" Once we know who God is through reading the holy Bible, we can begin to rediscover our ancient identity in HIM.

The reality is that we will never be complete apart from Jesus and His identity. It is IN HIM that humans find their true identity. Once you know who He is, you can learn and rediscover who YOU are in Him. Identity leads to purpose. Purpose gives us hope.

God bless you!
April 3, 2016 4:31pm EST

Of Marriage and Ministry

I just saw an excellent question posted on social media to a group of Christian singles. The question, in essence, was: could you marry another believer who had a different view of End Times (eschatology) than you?

I thought I should reply to it, because I am an Assistant Pastor for a local church. I am also currently single and willing to get married again someday. I wrote:

I'm a Historicist, like Kelley Varner, Steve Wohlberg, Charles Jennings, and Robert Caringola. (Christians usually subscribe to one of three eschatology views: Historicism, Preterism or Futurism).
I would rather be married to someone who sees things more the way I do, but I can be flexible. HOWEVER, such a woman might have trouble accepting me if she is a futurist because I teach Biblical Historicism at the church and she would end up being there (if she was married to me). If you are going to be married to a pastor/Bible teacher, I think it makes more sense for the two to be on the same page with some major doctrines. Things are a little more complex when you are in the ministry because everyone is watching you and your spouse. Unity is important to being effective leaders.

For instance, my pastor (whom I am assistant pastor to) is married and he is a historicist as well. His wife fully supports his teaching from Scripture and his ministry. She does not handle eschatology much in her own sermons. That is more what he does. I teach eschatology too. But if his wife was to show disagreement with him, that would detract from his message. So if she DID disagree with a major doctrine, she would have to be careful not to make that public in the church or it would undermine her husband.

See, I am in a pastoring and teaching ministry. I need a show of solidarity from my future wife... so that my leadership is not undermined. Even if she does not agree with every point. Now disagreements do happen to every couple.... of course. But a healthy couple can work through things together in private. Then in public ministry, they can be unified and function as a team. This will help breed certainty amongst the congregants. No one wants to follow a pastor whose wife is always disagreeing with him. That is a recipe for confusion and weakness and dissention in the church.

Things go much smoother when BOTH the husband and the wife are in agreement about major doctrines of eschatology and soteriology and pneumatology etc. It is needed in order for a pastor and his wife to be an effective leadership team. Even if the wife is not a "pastor" herself, she IS a leader. Being married to a pastor automatically brings her into a prominent leadership role that other women will follow, whether she realizes it or not.