Personal Responsibility

My wife and I were different than most of the people at her American Baptist church that she grew up in and I, along with her, participated and served in leadership positions for over eight years… before and then after we got married. 

If you were to read the doctrinal Statement of Faith on the back of the weekly bulletin, we could put a check of agreement to every bullet point… but we believed in more!  To us, there were things missing from that list.  There were parts of the Gospel message that were seldom… if ever… talked about.  We believed that our precious friends in that wonderful congregation were missing some of the most exciting and powerful promises in the Word for the daily events of their lives.

After our high school graduation, we were drawn to the Charismatic Movement that was being reported on in the local newspaper and was beginning to stir up long forgotten discussions amongst the denominational churches in our area.  There was a growing congregation in our city that held weekly “Prayer” meetings where attendees talked about seeing the manifestations of the Gifts of the Spirit that had not been widely seen or experienced by the Christian denominational churches since the great Healing Revival of the 1940’s and 50’s.

To make a not-too-long story short… we jumped in with both feet and have never looked back since!  We were always very discreet about it at church, but yet… lived out our beliefs as vividly as we could in front of the youth and young adult groups that we ministered to, as well as with our friends and fellow congregants of that church.

Following the birth of our second child, Piper and I both knew that we had a major decision to make.  She and I hungered for more teaching and involvement in this exciting part of the Full Gospel message and also wanted more for our kids.  So, we prayed (a lot) and made the difficult decision… taking PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for our Christian growth… and left the Baptist church to join a small, Full Gospel, Word of Faith congregation that met in a rented space at a resort/motel on the far southern part of town.

And I know that Piper would vigorously nod her head from heaven today and TOTALLY agree with me… that it was the BEST decision that we ever made… for both of us and especially for our family… which continued to increase to four kids over the following years!

We learned a lot about PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY in and for the APPLICATION and consistent ACTIVITY of our faith in our daily lives over the 48 years of our covenant relationship.  And I can say without a moment’s hesitation… the portion of Scripture that I have employed most often when it comes to taking PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY in my Christian walk (for every area of my life), is found on the most torn, stained, wrinkled and smudged… worn-out page… in just about every Bible I own… in the first chapter of the Old Testament book of Joshua!*  I have found that it makes more sense to me to read some of the verses in a reverse order, beginning with Joshua 1:9 and then Joshua 1:5… where the Lord instructed Joshua after the death of Moses, as He handed the reigns of the rulership of the Jewish nation over to him saying,**

“Have I not commanded you (add your name here)?  BE strong, diligent, confident, disciplined, assertive and courageous!  Do not tremble, BE timid nor BE dismayed or discouraged, for I the Lord your God am with you wherever you go.  And thereby NO one nor NO thing will be able to oppose you successfully as long as you live. For I will be with you just as I was with Moses. I will never (never, never) neglect you or abandon you.” (Ryrie Study Bible – New American Standard Bible - 1978 / God’s Word ©)

But the good Lord didn’t just leave it there.  He not only gave Joshua a direct command and a word of encouragement… He also told him EXACTLY what he needed to do in order to be successful in the job that the Lord had anointed him for.  In Joshua 1:8 He basically told the new leader that this is the KEY to make it all work… He pointedly told Joshua,

“This book of the law (or for us current day Christians – having the addition of the New Testament, ‘This Revelation of the gospel of Jesus Christ’) shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure that you practice everything written in it.  For then you’ll get where you’re going and will make your way prosperous and you’ll have great success!” (a combining of the NASB/The Message)

I can’t tell you how many times my determined obedience and practice of these specific verses brought troubling circumstances into the realm of victory in my life… Like a discrepancy in my monthly income that I had to deal with this morning!  I found myself bouncing around the kitchen… audibly Praising the Lord… a couple of hours ago when I hung up the phone after a conversation with my financial consultant… with tears beginning to form, as I thanked the Lord profusely for His hand in the affairs of my life. 

But then… for a fleeting moment… I stopped my child-like response to the Lord’s faithfulness to His Word thinking that “I should be used to this by now…”  But then broke out laughing in the solitude of my kitchen declaring… “I’m glad that I’ll NEVER get used to His tangible involvement in my life!”  I mean… After all, doesn’t Ephesians 5:1 tell us: “Therefore be ye imitators of God as beloved CHILDREN?” (KJV/EMTV)  Is there anyone else out there who responds to God’s faithfulness in this same manner?

So now… bringing us back to the thought and/or practice of us taking PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY in and for our Christian faith, I want us to take a peek at what always tends to catch my attention whenever I study these verses… and that is… the number of times the words “You” “Yours” “You’re” “Ye” and “You’ll” is inserted into the Lord’s command and encouragement to us… the students of His Word… throughout all these verses.

I count about 16 times… How about you?

And with that in mind… I can’t help but to think that The Lord is trying to emphasize a point here!  To me, He is wanting to bring us back to the foundational Biblical truth… that each one of us… yes… both you and me… are directly and PERSONABLY RESPONSIBLE to how well these promises from God to us… are activated and there by allowed the freedom to work in our lives.

I know how in my past… it usually seemed easier to blame someone else or some extenuating circumstances… including God Himself… when things didn’t go as I had prayed and/or as I would have preferred (or for what I’ve heard called “a Faith Failure”) in my life.  But you know… I don’t see that way of thought in these verses.  I see the Lord teaching us to take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for our daily faith walk.  And to do so, by pondering, meditating and SPEAKING out the Word and accordingly, the results that we’re EXPECTING to come to past (by faith) in our lives… both day and night!

How about you?

The Lord made it pretty clear to Joshua back then… and to US today… that He wants us to “MAN or WOMAN UP” and take the PERSONAL RESPONSIBILTY necessary to experience victory and thereby “to get where you’re going and make your way prosperous and have great success!”

Then who knows… you might just find yourself dancing around your kitchen… like a gleeful little kid… JUST LIKE ME… as you too experience the FAITHFULNESS of God to the promises in His Word… happening in your life… Today, Tomorrow… and to Infinity and Beyond!

Have a FANTASTIC week!  We are in the midst of a thunderstorm out here in Tennessee… so we’ll see how it progresses.  Now that Fiver has left us (and in particular, without having to deal with his panic and discomfort during noisy weather)… I’ve discovered that I actually enjoy the soothing ambiance a good heavy rain - complete with the dramatics of thunder and lightning!   Weird huh?  I’ll see ya all next week…

*A New Testament equivalent of Johsua 1:9 (also worn out in my Bibles…) is found in 2Timothy 1:7.  I especially like the translation in The Remedy New Testament.

**and I have added many of my notated words that have given me a greater depth of knowledge for the practical application of these verses in my life over the years.