Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The Love of God

Dear friends,
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I had a thought that might encourage someone so I decided to send it out. May you ever be encouraged by the love of God.
It has been my personal experience and my experience in counseling that many people have difficulty really believing that God loves them. This is often because of their past. They may have done things that they feel make them unworthy to receive God's love. Though they are Christians they have not fully appropriated the work of the cross. They still carry the burdens of self-condemnation, guilt, shame, and regret. I was thinking about this as I prepared my Sunday message and the prodigal son came to mind. We have all heard it preached various and sundry ways, but I felt the Lord was giving me a fresh application. Think about this for a moment; the prodigal son spent his inheritance in riotous living. He consumed his living with harlots and on a life of debauchery. As wicked as he had been, living totally contrary to the things he had been taught, he finally came to his senses and returned home content to be just a servant in his father's home. When the father saw him, he ran and embraced him even before he could speak his prerehearsed speech of repentance.
I'm just thinking as I write and here's what comes to mind:
Because of his wickedness, he could no longer perceive himself as a son. The guilt he bore caused him to be willing to settle for being a lowly servant instead of a son. He did not understand the love of his father. He felt he could never again have an intimate relationship with the father.
The good news is that regardless of what he had done, his father still loved him. In fact, when he was doing his worst the father never stopped loving him.
It was God's love that put Jesus on the cross and His sacrifice was sufficient to cover what ever you have done. If you are still carrying guilt and shame, it may be unrecognized by you, but you are still trying to pay a debt that was fully paid. When He said it was finished, it was. It is time you took condemnation, guilt, shame, and regret to the cross and received the Father's embrace. He loves you and He desires intimacy with you.
As the old song says, "The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell." Of faith, hope, and love the greatest is love. Hope sustains us; faith will make you an overcomer, but love will make you more than a conqueror. Nothing can separate us from the love of God and today God wants you to hear His words,"I love you."
I know many of you are secure in God's love and I praise the Lord for that, but there are still many who need those yokes broken off to receive His yoke. May God's richest blessing be yours and may you know the height, depth, and breadth of His love.
In hIs love,
Herb Dean

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

The Silence of God

Dear friends,
I hope you are well. It has been quite some time since I have written. I don't like to write for writings sake, and there hasn't a lot that was fresh and burning in my heart. I believe I am in a place of transition and the Lord is not giving clear direction at this time. I want to share a few thoughts about this time of silence because in conversations with other leaders there are many others going through a similar thing. What does it mean when God is silent? Here are some ideas I feel the Lord has given me.
1. His silence is a summons. I once heard someone say that hearing is matter of proximity. If someone is whispering in the back of a large room, you cannot hear them, but if they are whispering in your ear you can.
I believe God speaks even in His silence and one of the things He is saying in His silence is," Draw near".
John could hear the heartbeat of Jesus because his head was on Jesus' chest.
2. His silence often preceded great change. When Eli was judge the word of the Lord was rare in those days. There was no widespread revelation. Then came Samuel who as the next judge of Israel would anoint its first two kings which ,of course, included David. Before the coming of Christ there was a period of four hundred years of silence. A minister blogged recently and said he knew of at least twenty-five people that had walked with the Lord a long time and heard the Lord but were receiving no directional instruction from the Lord right now. His blog title was "What If" and basically what he said was, what if these people are in a holding pattern because something is about to happen that will change the whole landscape of things. Could it be that our lives as we have known them are about to change? Could it be that how we operate is about to radically change?
3. His silence is to get our attention. Have you ever had a teacher or preacher who would get very silent and would wait for you to get silent as well before they would speak because what they had to say was very important and they wanted to be sure you heard it? There are many voices vying for our attention and sometimes it is only in the quietness that we hear the voice of the Lord. It seems the Lord is waiting for our attention before He speaks.
4. His silence causes us to revisit what He has already said. Sometimes we fail to walk in the last thing He said. If we are not walking in the things He has spoken why should He give us more. Sometimes we are guilty of heaping unto ourselves prophecies without walking in obedience. The word to Israel did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith.
5. His silence cause us to refocus. Hebrews says, "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.." The psalmist said that God would guide us with His eyes. Too often, I find myself looking for His hands when it is His face I should be seeking.
So what are we to do during this time?
1. Continue in what He last told you to do.
2. Seek the Lord with your whole heart. Draw near to Him.
3. Take time to listen. Wait on the Lord.
4. Read and meditate on His word. It is often in reading and meditation that the logos becomes rhema.
5. Do not lose heart. God has not forsaken you; His plan is about unfold.
I hope that encourages you. These are exciting times and regardless of what our eschatology may be, we can say with surety that our redemption is much nearer than when we first believed. On a personal note, I have felt that I was to go other places and minister. I am not one to promote myself and I simply ask if we have ministered to you over the years, that you prayerfully consider having us come. My calendar is open and I have a great deal of flexibility. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.
In his love,
Herb Dean