A God that Can Be Trusted

      Sometimes God limits Himself to our level of trust. Other times He does exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think. Years ago I planted a church. The church had been going about three months. I had a fulltime job working about 50 hours a week. The effort required to plant the church was being hindered by the number of hours at work. I began to pray about going full time with the church. One morning as I prayed I heard the Lord to say that He would pay as much of my salary as I was willing to trust Him for. My response was to go for it and the Lord provided the necessary income. He demonstrated His faithfulness over and over to me.

       A couple of years later we had a number of families leave and start another church. They were all tithers and the church took a hit financially. My salary was now more than was coming in on a given Sunday. I knew we could not continue to do that. I began pray and ask the Lord what I needed to do and He gave me a plan to take a percentage of the morning offering. Based on averages it was a nine hundred dollar a month pay cut which would put me in a deficit spending situation. I heard the Lord speak in my spirit again," You are looking at this as a pay cut, but I am taking the ceiling off so I can bless you." I made more money that year than I had before or since. It was an exciting time seeing the creative ways God provided for us.  The next year I went back on salary.

     It is important that we don't take a testimony like this and get into presumption. In each case the Lord spoke to me and I responded accordingly. Hearing and obeying the Lord is essential in the area of finances. Money is often a heart indicator. When the brook Cherith dried up, Elijah needed a new source of provision. The Lord told him to go to Zarephath where he had commanded a widow to provide for him. Obedience was required both on the part of Elijah and the widow. He had to make the hundred mile journey and the widow who was gathering wood to cook her last meal for her and her son had to give of her last little bit to Elijah. When Elijah asked her to cook him a little meal cake first, she told him her situation, but she did as she was asked. The cruse of oil and the bin of flour did not run out until the famine was over. God did not need her resources; He just wanted her obedience. God is a God who can be trusted. What he says He will do. He loves to demonstrate his faithfulness in ways which stretch us and build our faith. He is a good Father.
      

Forgiving Others

I've found that one of the great issues among Christians today is unforgiveness. Paul tells us to forgive as we have been forgiven. Jesus says in the model prayer to pray for the Father to forgive us as we forgive others. He said to not even give our offering until our heart was right with an offended brother. He gives a parable saying the kingdom is like and tells the story of a servant owing a massive debt and the king forgiving him. He then goes and shakes down and puts in jail a fellow servant for a very small debt. The king found out and threw him in jail turning him over to the torturers until the debt be paid. Many Christians are dealing with the torturers because they have not dealt with the unforgiveness in their heart. They have been entrapped by the enemy and they have lost their peace and short circuited their destiny.

The word offense is "skandalizo" in the Greek. We get our word scandal from this word. The noun that relates to this word actually means a bait stick. John Bevere wrote a book called The Bait of Satan in which he describes how the enemy uses offense to take Christians captive. I would recommend that book.  When we are offended we have a choice to receive God's grace to forgive or we can reject the grace of God and take the bait and the trap is sprung. Why do we allow hurt to keep us from God's best? The cross of Christ was both vertical and horizontal. Our forgiveness was purchased, and the enabling grace of God was extended that we might forgive others. Someone said that holding offense was like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

Many people are offended with people that are close to them. This is especially true in marriages. Rather than truly forgiving they just stuff it and move on. Walls are gradually built and their spirit is shut down. If they keep stuffing stuff eventually they'll be overstuffed and will explode and quite often vitriol will spew out. Often times their health will be affected. Unresolved offense will result in a root of bitterness and it defiles everyone around them. It becomes increasingly destructive and the torturers are at work. We must truly forgive from our heart those who offended us.

I could go on and on about the necessity of forgiveness. It is the foundation of all deliverance; there is no freedom apart from it. I want to leave you with some practical application for ridding yourself of offense. I am not into formulas, but I have found these steps to be helpful. Remember that forgiveness is an act of the will. It is the blood of Jesus and washing with the water of the word that cleanses our conscience from dead works and renews the mind. Here are the steps of a forgiveness prayer:

1. Father, by an act of my will I choose to forgive _______________ for _______________ (Be Specific)
2. Father, I ask You to forgive me for the offense I have held toward _________________.
3. Father, I choose to forgive the debt I felt was owed to me and I release ______________ to you.
4. Father, I speak blessings over __________________ in Jesus name.

Take a red pen and line out the offense as you pray specifically through each one. That is just symbolic of it being covered by the blood of Jesus. Satan may try to remind you of the hurt for a season, but resist and dismiss. I hope this will be helpful to someone.
                            In His service,
                            Herb Dean

Full Circle: Back to the Altar

    As a young man I ran from the call of ministry. I couldn't see myself preaching nor did I want to do so. Finally, at the age of 30 as a broken man, I said, "Here I am Lord; whatever you want to do with me, do it." At that place of surrender, He filled me with a peace that I had never experienced. The circumstances that had brought me to my knees did not immediately change, but I now had purpose and direction for my life. In those early years opportunities were few and far between. I ended up preaching in jails and nursing homes and taught Sunday School. The thing that I had feared had now become a burning desire and my joy. I seized every opportunity I had. I begin to put out resume's to churches, but because I did not have a seminary degree they would not consider me. The desire to preach had become the greatest focus of my life.

    It wasn't long before God dealt with my heart about idolatry. My desire to preach had become greater than my desire for Him. Isn't it amazing that God can take something I didn't want to do, change a heart, and the thing that was feared becomes a passion so great that I slip into idolatry. I had to lay my Isaac on the altar and kill it. I laid it down. Someone once told me that the greatest act of faith was to put to death the promise at the request of the promiser. I continued to preach and teach as given opportunity, but my focus was no longer on my desire to preach, but my desire for Him. It was ten long years before God would send me out to plant a church. Still, there was ego that had to die. I thought He was sending to a place to set it on fire for God when, in fact, He was sending me there to kill "Me".

    Over the last two years I stepped away from pastoral duties only to find myself in that place of few opportunities to exercise the gift God has given me. I attempted to begin a prayer ministry only to become frustrated because there is still such exclusivity and insecurities that many churches won't come together for kingdom building. Then there were a number of serious issues which developed, some of which I have shared and others I don't have liberty to mention. Very sporadically I would get to speak somewhere and God was always faithful to show up, but invitations were far and few between. I could see my finances draining away and I so missed preaching, teaching, and praying for folks. I began to send out resumes'. I have probably sent out over a hundred. I sent a cover letter to help weed out churches where I knew I would not fit. I found the same rejection I had found early on with an added reason now. Not only did I not have a seminary degree, I was 62 years old. I put my name on a couple of search engines and was contacted by a few churches. Some were not a fit and some thought I was too old. You can probably understand my being a bit frustrated and discouraged. I have realized in the last few days (and I probably knew it all along but it has just now hit my heart) that I had come full circle. I am headed back to the altar with Isaac. When the exercise of one's gift becomes a greater focus than the Giver we are in trouble. When our service for God becomes the thing rather than our service to God, we have missed it. He is to be the object of our passion. So just as God told Moses to throw down his rod, today again I throw down the ministry. God gave the rod back to Moses, but it was never again the rod of Moses, it was the rod of God. I know God has made a deposit in me, but after all it is His deposit and His vessel and He can do with it as He pleases. That being said after thousands of hours of preparation, teaching, and preaching I am back at the altar. I am open to whatever He wants me to do, but my first and greatest priority is Him.

Tim Tebow and the Plan of God

Dear friends,  

     I hope things are well with you. As a sports fan who pulls for Christian athletes I was not happy when Tim Tebow ended up in New York. I didn't feel like it was a good fit and they never really gave him a chance. Even when it was obvious they were going nowhere with Mark Sanchez, they didn't let him play. When I heard he was cut yesterday I was disappointed that they would do him they way they did. I wanted him to go somewhere and excel and to show all the critics. The Lord gently reminded me that this is not about football. Ultimately it is about Tim Tebow being conformed to the image of Christ. God reminded me that he was perfectly capable of handling Tim's situation and that I was to pray for him as a brother.

 

     There are times in all of our lives when we like Moses must throw the rod at God's feet and see it turn into a snake. Anything we are not willing to throw at God's feet has a snake in it that can ultimately destroy us. When God told him to pick the snake up by the tail and he did, it became a rod again. No longer was it the rod of Moses, it had become the rod of God and was used in the working of miracles. For you it may be your job, your church, ministry, etc. We must be willing to throw it down and whether we pick it up or not depends on God. If He tells us to pick it up it is no longer ours, but God's. If He tells you to pick it up, He will bless it. Abraham grew in faith to the place where he was willing to sacrifice the promise in obedience to the promiser knowing full well that God was faithful. There are times we must be willing to place our Isaac on the altar. This could well be a chairos moment in the life of Tim Tebow. Pray for him that he will remain steadfast and that He will know that God will bring good out of this, and for discernment to make the right choices.

 

    As always my desire is to encourage you. If you have prayer needs, I will be honored to pray for you. I also am available to minister at your church or ministry group. Thank you for your encouragement.  May God bless you richly.

 

                                                     In His love,

                                                     Herb Dean

Deliverance from the Cave

Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low; deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Your name; the righteous shall surround me, for You shall deal bountifully with me. Psalms 142:6,7 For all you cave dwellers out there, of which I am one, this was David's prayer in the caves. The cave was a place of hiding, but it was also a place of preparation. It was in the cave that people began to gather unto David. These people were in distress, in debt, and they were discontented but it was out of these malcontents that the mighty men of David arose. One day as I prepared to teach on David and those who gathered to him and the Lord impressed me with this thought. "If you want to come out of the cave as a mighty man you must deal with the issues in the cave." The issues that brought you to the cave will keep you there if not dealt with. God is able to take the malcontents of this world and make them mighty men of God.

Bells and Pomegranates

The robe of the high priest had bells and pomegranates sown around its hem. There was a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate alternating around the hem. The high priest had to go into the holy of holies once a year to sprinkle the blood of a lamb upon the mercy seat for the sins of the people. Tradition said that a rope would be tied around his ankle in case he was smitten dead in the presence of the Lord. No one else could enter. They knew the high priest was still alive because they could hear the bells ringing. I believe that the bells represent the gifts of the Spirit and the pomegranates represent the fruit of the Spirit. There is an individual application and a corporate application. If the bells stopped ringing they knew the priest was dead and they had to pull him out by the rope. If the gifts are not active in the church the church is dead, but the gifts must always be balanced by the fruit. Both are necessary for the church to come to maturity. We are out of balance if we emphasize gifts and not the fruit and we are out of balance if we emphasize fruit and make no room for the gifts. The robe of the priest is a wonderful example of God's order. Paul says in the letter to an out of balance Corinthian church chapter 13 verse 1," Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I have become a sounding brass and a clanging cymbal." Let everything be done in love.

Pray for Our Nation

Dear prayer warriors,

     We find ourselves as a nation at a critical juncture. On the one hand a man who is intent on destroying Israel and the U.S. is developing nuclear weapons and is unstable enough to use them and on the other the leader of North Korea has basically declared war on South Korea and the United States. A weak economy has millions out of work. 600,000 gave up looking for work just this past month.  The national debt is like a burgeoning monster threatening to consume all productivity and  the quality of life we have come to enjoy. The news mediums spend little time on the threats to our nation and instead promote gun control and same sex marriage. What shall we do? The psalmists asks a similar question saying, "When the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do?" The next verse says, " The Lord is in His holy temple...."  God has not abdicated His throne. He is not in heaven ringing His hands. Nothing has taken Him by surprise.

 

     In the Old Testament one of the duties of the priest was to burn incense. The altar of incense was in front of the veil. The incense was to be lit every morning and every evening and was to burn perpetually before the Lord. So day and night the sweet aroma of incense was wafting over the veil. This is a picture of our prayers rising to God. The golden bowls in Revelation are the prayers of the saints. As Paul said that we should pray without ceasing. Jesus made this statement after telling the parable of the unjust judge, " And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.  Luke 18:7,8a  God  has called us to prayer.

 

    Please be in prayer for our nation and our national leaders. The agendas of men won't fix the problems. In most cases they just exacerbate them. We need the intervention of God. North Korean pastors of the underground church have requested prayer and have said the nation is in a state of preparation for war. I am sure there is much prayer in South Korea and we must stand with our brothers. Pray for our courts to make the right decisions on same sex marriage and abortion. Pray for each other. I covet your prayers. As I was trying to link intercessors I kind of met an impasse, but sometimes we have to go through the death of a vision so that God can resurrect it in His time. I will be posting requests and sharing a word from time to time but I am looking to pastor again whether here or in a new location. I miss preaching and teaching very much and God has put that in me. Thank you for your prayers. Let us set our hearts in agreement for a great revival and restoration in our land. May God richly bless you.

                                       In His love,

                                       Herb Dean