Author: cardscoffeeandgod

I remember the last time I spoke with my youngest daughter. It was several years ago, when she informed me that she never wanted to see or speak to me again. Her reasons? They were vague. She never really told me what sins I had committed to deserve such a harsh punishment. It left me breathless and puzzled. I knew I had not been the kindest to my own mother. I had often said things to her I deeply regret now. I had occasionally been harsh to her, but my mother was from another era and she always bore my reproach with kindness. However, I would never have considered cutting my mother off just because I had issues with her. If you love someone, as I did her, you don’t deliberately hurt them. 

Sadly, my youngest is not alone in her judgements. Several of her siblings have followed suit and also cut me off. I won’t go into family dynamics here, because that is not the purpose of this article. Suffice it to say that my heart is broken. This is a particularly hard week as I have back to back birthdays to deal with emotionally. Two of my children were born a week apart. My heart aches for them and I find myself breaking down sometimes. Tears flow from my eyes even as I write this. I long for reconciliation. I long for a chance to talk with them and hear their accusations. I long for a chance to tell them how sorry I am that I failed them. I know that I am not alone in my pain. I have heard statistics that 30% of the younger generation have chosen to do exactly the same thing to their parents, cut them off. 

With this pain in my heart, I turn to the Lord. He has promised me that my prodigals will return to me. But it has been years. It would be easy to give up, to lose hope. As I spoke to the Lord about my children this morning He gave me some Scripture that renewed my hope. If you are waiting on the Lord, waiting for prayers that have still not been answered, hope that is beginning to fade, sorrow that is overwhelming at times, then let me encourage you with what He has shown me. 

I was reading in Psalm 27 today when I encountered verses 14 and 15: “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!” As I read these verses I decided to write them in my journal so I would remember them. But then I added something else to my journal. I wrote, “So here I am Lord, waiting on you. Show me your goodness in the land of the living. But I feel as though I have already seen your goodness. How can I wait for more?”

It is true. God has been good to me! He has been faithful to me. He has never forsaken me. I look at my life, and I have learned to trust Him, even with the things that do not or did not make sense. Do I dare ask for more of His goodness?

As I sat there writing in my journal, I heard Him say to me, “why do you limit my goodness?” He then showed me another psalm, also written by David, one that I am sure many are familiar with. Psalm 23:5-6 tells us: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!” That word “follow” is quite interesting. It means to pursue, to run after and to chase. Let me paraphrase that. God’s goodness and mercy runs after me, chases me and pursues me. It’s not just walking behind me, slowly. No, it means He is running after me with intention to bless me. 

At the moment that I heard Him say that to me, “why do you limit my goodness?”, I wasn’t sure whether to rejoice or to feel rebuked. Perhaps it’s both! All I know is that as I read the verses He showed me, I felt renewed hope. It strengthened my heart. I am reminded that the prodigal eventually came to himself, remembered his father, and went home. Luke 15:11-32

This promise of God’s goodness and mercy in the land of the living, is not just about prodigal children however. It is about everything in our lives. David was being hunted down by a madman called King Saul, hiding in caves and running for his life, when he wrote these verses. David saw the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Eventually, he was made king and God called him a “man after his own heart”. (1Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22) Why did God call Him that? Because David never gave up hope and always trusted God. David believed in God’s  goodness and did what God told him to do. We might not be running for our lives, we might not have prodigal children we wait for, but it doesn’t matter. We all have things in our lives that are painful, even agonizing at times. What we do with those things is what matters.

Do we give up? Do we lose hope, and become bitter? Do we become offended with God? It’s not hard to do that! But I would suggest a better way. I would suggest that we strengthen ourselves in the Lord. I would suggest that we sit at the Lord’s feet and allow Him to comfort us with His word. That’s what He did for me. He comforted me and strengthened me with His word. I choose to believe Him. I choose to wait. I choose to believe that His goodness and mercy is running after me and chasing me down. I encourage you to make the same choice. 

Several years ago my husband and I retired and decided to move to warmer weather. We chose an area of the United States that had very little history of hurricane activity, yet was still close to the ocean. When we arrived in this region, we were reassured by the natives, that a hurricane had not come in decades. With this assurance, we settled in without worries. Oddly enough within just a few short years, 3 or 4 to be exact, we had two hurricanes within one year. To say that we were frightened would be an understatement. Perhaps the most terrifying part of the ordeal was the constant alarm going off on our phones; the government was warning us to evacuate town and get to safety. 

During both of these situations, I remember very clearly what the Lord was saying to me. He told me that no harm would come near my dwelling. He told me, not to be afraid! In both cases, there was terrible destruction in our neighborhood, both with flooding and with downed trees and home repairs. But our house remained completely safe. I’ve seen images of tornado damage where an entire neighborhood was destroyed, except for one house. Although not quite that dramatic, it was similar for us.

We are living in unprecedented times. There is turmoil, plagues, fears, rumors of wars, food shortages, everywhere. You would have to be living under a rock, not to see that there is a proverbial “hurricane” coming to this earth. With the internet giving us live information and misinformation, there is never any doubt of what is coming. Just like those loud government alarms on my phone, the world is shaking with fears and turmoil and the internet will not let us forget it. Nor should we. The Bible warned us that these events would happen in the last days. Just read Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. In each one of these, Jesus talks about the end of the age. Therefore, none of these things should take us by surprise. God has certainly not been caught off guard. 

So what are we to do? This morning as I was in prayer, talking to the Lord, He reminded me of those two hurricanes and how He kept my husband and I safe and protected our home. He reminded me of what He had told me back then, “Do not be afraid”. 

It would be easy for me to respond with, “but Lord, look at this person, or this situation, or that country”! And I have done exactly that. If it can happen to them, why not to me? 

Let me share another story with you, this time from the Bible. After Jesus’ resurrection, He spent some time with the disciples eating breakfast on the shores of Galilee. The story is found in John 21. After they had eaten, Jesus walks with Peter and asks him several times if Peter loved Him. He was of course restoring the heart of Peter to Himself, during this conversation. But that is not my focus here. My focus is on something that Peter then said to Jesus at the end of this conversation. Peter noticed that John was following them and he turned around, to look at John and then said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” John 21:21

I find this question rather intriguing. I’m not sure what it was that Peter wanted Jesus to do with John, but the most obvious thing is that he was comparing himself to John. Instead of focusing on his own situation, his own restoration, and his own sin in this case, he wanted to know what Jesus would do with John. 

Is that not so easy to do? We look at other people, we look at other situations, and we question what God is doing in their lives. I’m not suggesting that we can’t learn from others, but I am suggesting that we first and foremost look at what Jesus is doing in our life, in my life. What is Jesus saying to me? What is He saying to you? And that is where it gets interesting, doesn’t it? Jesus responded to Peter like this, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” John 21:22 (Have you ever considered the fact that John did in fact remain on the earth until He saw Jesus come back a second time? He saw it during his vision in Revelation! John saw it all before he died: “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war…And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” Revelation 20:11-16)

However, back to my original point.  It is easy for us to focus on all the evil happening in the world; all the people dying, all the people starving, being locked in their homes, bombed from the air, etc. It is easy for me to look at all these situations and ask, “but Lord, what about all these people”? Should I pray for them? Absolutely! Should I help, if I feel led to do so? Absolutely. 

But just like this conversation between Peter and Jesus, with John listening in the background, we need to focus on what Jesus is saying to us. What is He telling me? What is Jesus telling you? If you don’t know, perhaps you need to sit quietly and ask Him! 

The Bible tells us in Psalm 91:1-2 “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” 

In order for me to dwell in the secret place of the Most High, I first have to find that secret place. It’s secret for a reason! You don’t find it by listening to other people. You don’t find it by running around looking for it. You can only find that secret place, by being still. “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.” Psalm 46:10-11

I would encourage you to find out what the Lord is saying to you personally during this storm. He has promised that He will be our refuge, our strong tower. He will protect us, but we need to trust Him. Never mind what is happening to others. I need to follow Jesus. You need to follow Jesus!

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Have you ever been deceived by someone? When I ask this question, I’m not talking about a used car salesman, or a one time event. I’m talking about someone who deceived you over a long course of time and led you to believe that you could trust them, because you thought they cared about you. I’m sure you will answer yes if you’re part of the human race. We all have had someone like this in our lives.  Now, let me ask you another question. What did you do, once you saw the truth? Did you look back and realize the signs were there all along, you just didn’t see them? Did you realize there were red flags, but you, for some reason chose to ignore them? I bet you answered yes to that as well. I know I did.

With these questions in mind, I find it fascinating that Jesus, during His earthly ministry, chose Judas to be one of His closest friends, one of His disciples. Judas was a part of the Lord’s inner circle of 12, someone so trusted, that he even took care of the money box. (John 12:3-8) Why would Jesus do that? Did He not know that Judas would betray Him?

If we look at the Scriptures, it becomes very clear that by choosing Judas to be one of His disciples, Jesus was in fact fulfilling prophecy. Psalm 41:9 gives us a foreshadow of the last supper, when Jesus hands Judas a piece of bread while telling the disciples that one of them would betray Him:

“Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me”. 

Zechariah 11:13 tells us of Judas’ selling Jesus out for 30 pieces of silver and then in remorse, throwing it back into the temple:  

And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD for the potter”. 

Judas hanged himself when he realized that he had betrayed innocent blood and the money was used by the priests to buy the potters field. (Matthew 27:6-7)

Scripture also tells us in Luke 6:12-16 that Jesus spent all night in prayer, before picking His twelve disciples. Even if you argue that Jesus didn’t know what Judas would do, which I don’t believe is true, the Father certainly did. Therefore, Judas was chosen very deliberately.

So why did Jesus, other than fulfilling prophecy and knowing that Judas would betray Him, still invite him into the inner circle? The Bible warns us in Matthew 7:15-23 that there would be many false teachers among us. Jesus calls them “wolves in sheep’s clothing” in verse 22 of this passage. In Matthew 24, Jesus tells His disciples that one of the greatest problems of the last days would be deception. 

“And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you”. Matthew 24:3-4.

I do not believe that the 11 other disciples recognized who Judas really was and what was in his heart, until after he had betrayed Jesus and killed himself. We know that they had no idea at the last supper because they were confused when Jesus told them one of them would betray Him. John tells us in John 13:22  “Then the disciples looked at one another, perplexed about whom He spoke”. 

Fast forward to many years later, and the Apostle John gives us the benefit of his own hindsight as he looks back to the events of those years and the ultimate crucifixion of his Lord. In 1 John 2:18-19 he tells us the following:  

“Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us”! 

I want you to read this passage slowly. John is telling us that the reason why these antichrists, (notice I’m not saying The Anti-Christ, but small antichrists,) went out from among us, is so that we would recognize that they were never one of us. Let me rephrase that. These deceivers, these wolves in sheep’s clothing, who were once among our inner circle of friends, perhaps even our pastors, or someone in leadership or ministry, became mature in their lies and deception so that it would be revealed to us who they really were. They were never one of us, because if they had been, they would “have continued with us”!  They were never believers and sooner or later they will reveal their true colors to us, just as Judas did!

John also tells us, years later when he wrote his gospel, that Judas was a thief who always took what was in the money box. (John 12:3-8) Hindsight is 20/20!

So what can we learn from these events? What could the Lord possibly have taught the disciples and ultimately us, by allowing this man, Judas, into His inner circle, knowing full well, that he would deceive the disciples and eventually betray Jesus?

First and foremost, I think the lesson we can learn from this situation is that God is in control. He is not afraid of wolves in sheep’s clothing and He even uses them for His own purposes!

Jesus was in full control of when He would be crucified! He tells the disciples at the last supper who would betray Him: “It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it.” And having dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.” (John 13:26-27) 

I think another reason Jesus chose Judas to join them was to open the eyes of the disciples to the fine art of deception. Think about the parable of the wheat and tares that look alike until maturity (Matthew 13:24-40). Judas looked like one of them. He talked like one of them and he most definitely acted like one of them by doing the many miracles that they did. He was for all intents and purposes, a true believer. Did you know that tares have no fruit? They look identical to wheat, until maturity. Only then can you tell the difference. 

Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 7:15-20 that the way to discern a wolf from a shepherd is through their fruit: 

“You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them”.

Fruit is an interesting concept in the Bible. There are so many different explanations for what fruit could mean. However, I would suggest that we keep it simple in this case. No one would argue that what Judas did is “good fruit”. I’m sure the disciples looked back and saw the red flags, the little warning bells that they ignored about Judas. I guarantee you that they were much more careful in the future about who they trusted. Once you’ve been deceived by someone over a long period of time, it changes the way you look at people.

Let’s learn from the disciples and from Judas. When you see red flags, pay attention. When you catch people being deceptive, don’t dismiss it and make excuses for them. Keep watch, read the Word, spend time with the Lord and use discernment. Only the Lord will keep us safe in this evil generation!

Does the Lord ever talk to you at night? He does to me. It’s almost funny when I think about it. I’m heading to the bathroom around 1 or 2 A.M. and suddenly I hear Him tell me something I didn’t know. That’s usually how I know it’s Him. I didn’t know it. Let me give you an example from the other night. I had been pondering on the behavior of my two cats. I had noticed that they would sleep in one of their beds for 3 or 4 days, and then on day 5 switch it up and sleep in a different bed. And they both do it. It might seem silly, but I had wondered why. So this particular night, coming back from the bathroom, I heard Him tell me that it’s because of instinct and fear of predators. If they stay in one place too long, their scent gets too powerful and a predator might find them while they are sleeping. So, they switch it up regularly. Makes sense, right? But, my real question from all this was, why did He tell me the answer? After 46 years of knowing Him, I know that He never wastes words and if He tells me something, there’s always a good reason. I probably could have looked that one up on google and found the answer. So why did He tell me the reason? 

When I got up the next morning, I wrote my question in my journal. Not the answer to the cats, but the question of why He had answered me about something so simple. And that’s where it got interesting for me. Never ever assume. If God tells you something, don’t dismiss it. He usually has something deeper He wants to teach you. That morning when I asked Him why He had told me what He did, sadly, I didn’t wait around for the answer. My mistake. The next day, He admonished me about not waiting for an answer. I confessed to Him, that I wasn’t really expecting Him to tell me, so I had moved on. His response to my confession took me by surprise. He told me that I had allowed my doubts about hearing His voice, to protect me. I know. You’re wondering what on earth I could mean by that. Let me explain. Fear of deception is a constant struggle for me. What if I’m wrong, what if what I heard was my own imagination, or worse, the enemy. What if it’s not really the Holy Spirit talking to me? So, in my fear of being deceived, I doubt. Hence, I allow fear and unbelief to guard my spiritual ears and my heart. Lack of faith is never a protection against deception, because it is based in fear. Fear does not protect you or me. Ever!

The only one thing that will protect me against deception is the Lord. His Word, His Holy Spirit, His wisdom will guard my heart and mind “But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.” (2 Thessalonians 3:3) and  “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 1:24). 

But if that was not bad enough, the Lord went on to tell me that I was allowing pride, or false humility from actually trusting that I could hear His voice. Surely, I am not so special that the Lord would talk to me? And why wouldn’t He talk to me? Why wouldn’t He talk to you! He tells us in John 10:3-5 that those who are His sheep know His voice:

 “But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

Notice that He not only tells us that His sheep follow Him because they know His voice, but that they DO NOT know the voice of strangers! Hello. 

The Lord protects us, but in order for Him to do that, we have to know His voice. Knowing His voice requires work on our part. First, we have to believe that He wants to talk to us. Second, we have to believe that He is talking to us. Fear and unbelief do not guard and protect us. They actually keep us from hearing His voice because fear is always from the enemy. God does not use fear to guard us. I want to point out that this is not the fear of the Lord I am talking about here. That is something entirely different. Fear of the Lord is actually part of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah tells us this: 

There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,  And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”   Isaiah 11:1-2

So, if you’re still with me, are you interested in knowing why the Lord used the cat’s behavior to teach me all this? There is actually a connection between what I was doing and what the cat’s are doing. We were both allowing fear to protect us. The cats move to different sleeping locations out of fear. In the wild this would be wisdom. In the wild this would actually protect them from a predator. However, these are not outdoor cats. They live in my house, a safe place, free from predators. Yet, they still allow fear to guide them. I live under the shelter of His wings. Psalm 91 makes this very clear: “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust. “He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.” (Psalm 91:1-4) 

Am I suggesting that I could never be deceived? Absolutely not! However, to protect me from deception I will ask for wisdom and discernment. I will not allow fear to guard and protect me. That, honestly is like asking the fox to guard the hen house. I mean, think about. Would fear, the fear that comes from the enemy, really protect me? No, of course not. Jesus rebuked His disciples far too often for their fear and unbelief. I hope that I have the faith and the courage to trust Him in the future when I hear His voice. 

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One of my favorite parables in the Bible is the story of the Prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32. I’m not sure why I love this story so much, but it gives me so much hope. In it I see the love of a Father, our Father in heaven, who loves us unconditionally and waits for us to return to Him. I see a Father who has given us everything through Jesus, even if we don’t recognize it, as the older brother did not. I see compassion and mercy, no matter how much we have a bad attitude towards the Lord. But I also see the power of redemption when we return to God Almighty and confess our sins to Him. This parable is so rich with meaning and in my opinion filled with mysteries that we could probably spend a lifetime contemplating and never get to the bottom of. It expresses so wonderfully how much God loves the world, how much He loves His creation and that His one and only desire is for reconciliation and even more important, that He Himself has provided the way for that reconciliation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, His only son. We are all sinners. We all have fallen short and acted like the prodigal, spat in God’s face and told Him we could manage our own lives, thank you very much. Even those of us who hang out in the church, often act like the older brother, feeling self righteous and superior because we’ve always gone to church. Simply put, we all need a savior!

Perhaps you’ve never read this story, or it’s been a long time since you did. Jesus tells us about two brothers in the Gospel of Luke. The older one stays at home and helps with the family business, but the younger one hates his father so much that he tells his dad that he wants his inheritance now, even while dad is still alive! An inheritance is for after someone’s dead, certainly not while they are still alive, so the implications of that are troubling to me. The astonishing thing is that his father says yes, divides up his property and gives the younger son his share. The younger son takes all of it and goes off to another country and wastes all of it, and I mean all of it. “Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.” (Vs. 13) Not only has he wasted every dime, but a severe famine arose and there was nothing to eat for him. He goes and works in a pig farm feeding pigs. If you know anything about the Jewish people, you will know that they don’t have anything to do with pigs. In other words, the younger son hits, what in modern language we would call, rock bottom. But even as he feeds the pigs, he still has nothing to eat. And this is where it gets interesting for me. In verse 17, Jesus tells us that something changed in this young man’s heart and mind. While he was starving and feeding the pigs in the field, it says, “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” Luke 15:17-19 

The story continues with his return: “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’

There are two things that really stand out to me in this story that I want to focus on today. The first is the phrase “when he came to himself”. For years that expression has puzzled me. Although I understood that it caused him to go home and repent for his sin, I never fully understood what exactly happened in this young man’s heart and mind. Recently I believe I had what you could call a light bulb moment. I think that what happened is something we call self awareness. He became aware of his own sin. He saw himself through the eyes of God, realized the horror of what he had done to his father, and went home. He is so ashamed of his actions that he actually tells his dad “I’m no longer worthy to be called your son”. Self awareness seems to be a characteristic that is sadly lacking in our society. We hear phrases like “you are enough”. Actually, none of us are enough. We all fall short and need to repent, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23.

So why does this stand out to me so much? Two reasons. First, if you have a prodigal in your life, you will know how to pray more accurately for them. Pray that they would become self aware of their own sin and return to the Father. Second, if you are a prodigal and you have no self awareness of your own sin, you need to realize that you are dead in your sins and lost, as the father in this story so succinctly says about his younger son. Those are not easy words to hear, but I would suggest that they are easier to hear while you are still alive and have the power to change. 

But I also want to point out the father’s reaction and the depth of his emotion and compassion that he held toward his younger son. Remember, this is Jesus telling us the story. He is describing how the Father, our Father in heaven feels when we walk away from Him. Jesus tells us “But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” In other words, the father was watching the horizon, scanning the horizon and saw him far in the distance, even as he was making his way home. Not only did the father have compassion, he ran to him. The father ran and met him and kissed him. If you have a prodigal in your life, you will understand the agony of scanning the horizon, searching for that lost child, waiting and praying and hoping for their return. And you will also understand the joy that the father felt when he saw his son come home. 

If you are that prodigal, just know that there is not only a Father in heaven, watching and waiting for you to come to yourself, and recognize your sin, there are no doubt others, watching and waiting, hoping and praying, that you will come home. You are loved. It’s time to come home. 

Have you ever taken a “spiritual gifts test”? They have become quite popular in many churches. Basically, it’s a test where you answer numerous questions about your attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. At the end of the test, you are told what your main spiritual gifts are, thus helping you to know how to better serve the church you are in. I guess since I’m a curious person I’ve taken this test several times, each time in a different church or denomination. Since I’ve moved many times in my life and lived in many places, I’ve been everything from a Pentecostal to a Southern Baptist. That’s quite a range of different beliefs. Since I’ve taken the test numerous times, I began to notice an interesting phenomenon: My gifts changed according to the church I was attending at the time. At first this confused me, because I was pretty sure what my gifts are. I thought perhaps I was mistaken in what I felt God was calling me to do. But then when it kept happening, I saw a pattern. Please understand that I’m not trying to suggest that these tests are bad. They are not. But I do want to suggest that you take them with a pinch of salt. 

So what was the pattern I saw? The questions and therefore the different gifts were slanted towards the beliefs and doctrines of the particular denomination or even church that I was attending. For example, one church we attended, although they believed in the 5 fold ministry gifts and claimed to be Pentecostal, had taken every single question out of their test that related to prophecy. How did I know? Two reasons. I was familiar with the test they were using and they had been sloppy. Every question related to prophecy, although the number was there, was left blank. They couldn’t change the number because that would have changed the outcome of the test results, so they simply deleted the question. When I pointed this out to the woman who was leading the church growth class, she appeared shocked. They had a prophet as their leader and I guess there wasn’t room for any other prophets. Another church we attended had a pastor who also didn’t like the prophetic gifts. It was a charismatic church by the way. When he saw my results, which were slanted towards the prophetic, he told me point blank that those gifts were not needed at his church. I should have walked out right then and there, but I didn’t. Another church we attended simply changed the test so completely, that they made up their own version. Their questions focused only on certain gifts talked about in Romans 12:4-8, namely Shepherd, Exhorter, Teacher, Giver, etc. The gifts discussed in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 which deal with the spirit realm, such as word of wisdom, word of knowledge, discerning of spirits, faith, speaking in various tongues, were conveniently left out of their test. These people were leaving nothing to chance.

So what is my point? Why am I sharing my observations? I am sharing this because the church is asleep and needs to wake up. Paul tells us plainly in 1 Corinthians 12:15-21 that each of the gifts represent different parts of the body of Christ. He tells us that the eye cannot say to the hand that it’s not needed. Nor can the head say to the feet, I have no need of you. But that is exactly what the churches have done. They don’t like certain gifts. They don’t like gifts that see, or hear, or perceive what’s going on, and so they silence them. It is now the hands and the feet that are telling the eyes and the ears, we have no need of you, be quiet. Consequently, the church is fast asleep! No one is able to call out sin, no one is able to correct or admonish people. No one is able to say, “this is what the Spirit is saying to the churches” because we don’t believe in “ears that hear” or “eyes that see”. If anyone tries to use those unwanted gifts, they are called critical and unkind. 

How do I know that the church is asleep. Because Jesus tells us so in Matthew 25:1-13 in the parable of the ten virgins. Jesus shares this parable right after telling His disciples about end time events and what would happen before His second coming. The Greek word used here is “tote” which translates as “at that time”. At the time of the end, the call will go out that the Bridegroom (Jesus) is coming. I’ve been hearing this since the day I became a Christian back in the 1970’s. He’s coming back soon, has been the clarion call for decades now. But then life happened, and I, like everyone else in the church, fell back asleep. Not that long ago, the Lord woke me up. He told me He’s coming soon. He told me to look up, that my redemption draws near. And He also told me that He still has things He wants me to write before He comes to get us. I’ve been pondering on this parable for days now and I noticed something I had missed in the past. Matthew 25:5-7 tell us “But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.” Did you see it? All 10 virgins arose, all of them woke up! Every single one of them. I also noticed that the cry came at midnight. It came at the last minute, when it was already too late. The 5 foolish virgins did not have enough oil and while they were busy getting it together, Jesus came and they were left behind. Do you see why it’s important for the church to wake up now, before it’s too late? 

If there were eyes that were allowed to see in the church, if there were ears that could hear and warn the church, perhaps more could be saved. Yes, I said saved. Jesus tells the 5 foolish virgins, left behind, “I do not know you”, verse 12. Maybe I’m a dreamer. Maybe I think that my feeble voice can make a difference. Only God knows. But I do know this. Someone in that parable was shouting, get up, get ready, be ready, He’s coming back. If you’re awake, if you see Him coming on the horizon, use your gifts. Warn people. Don’t let the leaders silence you. Don’t let a test silence you!