Category Archives: Inspirational

June 12, 2009 · 10:11 am

Swimming Upstream: “The Best Testimony Ever”

As a young Christian, when I was sharing my new-found faith with others, the only thing I could talk about was my testimony . The Bible and other Christian books were foreign to me.

So, over and over, I told how I met Jesus on a bathroom floor and how He had changed my life.

One time, I shared my testimony with another believer. His reply eventually became my favorite testimony of all time.

The forty-year old man shrugged his shoulders after listening to me. “Wow! What a testimony,” he said. Then, he added, “Mine is not much.”

“Really?” I asked with my chest puffed out, buttons popping off. “What’s yours?”

“Well, I gave my life to Jesus as a five-year old boy and have loved Him ever since; and I guess, that’s about it.” His eyes looked down as if he were embarrassed by his words.

At the time, I did not think much of his testimony. After all, he was not as big a redeemed sinner as me. I was the worst of the worse and he was this little five-year old boy. How much sin could he possibly have, right?

But as the months and years passed by, I realized his testimony was the best one I have ever heard. A young boy falls in love with Jesus and just keeps on faithfully walking with Him. Wow! How awesome!

We need to hear more testimonies like his.

And they overcame Satan by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. (Revelation 12:11)

Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s a little of this and a little of that, all written to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian journeys.

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June 11, 2009 · 8:14 am

Big Macs, Bubba and Waterboards

How many of us Christians are excited about fasting? “Oh, yea Lord! I’m so happy about going on a forty-day fast. No Big Macs. No pie. Just water and nothing for the next one hundred and twenty meals!”

Give me a break, will you?

Or how many of us Christians are enthusiastic about being thrown into prison for our faith? “Hooray! I’m looking forward to Bubba and the boys showing me a good time behind bars. Maybe, I can write an inspirational book!”

Yeah, right!

Or what about being tortured? “O Lord, along with flogging, could you let me have lots of waterboarding? Please!”

I don’t think so, do you?

So, how do we handle these unpleasant possibilities? By His abundant grace. Period.

The Lord will never ask us to undergo any hardship without His first supplying us with enough grace to endure whatever we are going through…all the way to the end.

Now, don’t go expecting the grace to drop on you ahead of time. It won’t. Sufficient grace is waiting for you in the hardship. There it will cloak you and comfort you. This awesome grace is what Paul referred to as “the fellowship of His sufferings” in Philippians 3:9.

How do we prepare ourselves?

This is the perfect time to memorize, meditate on and believe the following scriptures to the nth of our abilities:

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weakness so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

This post was inspired by ransom33’s honest comment on That’s Not The Jesus I Know.

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June 10, 2009 · 8:21 am

Swimming Upstream: “Watch Out For Deliverance Flakes…But yet-“

Hearing someone say, “I have a deliverance ministry,” causes my underarms to drip with a fearful cold sweat. My eyes dart here and there like a cornered cat, looking for an escape route.

Without thinking, my hand reaches into a pants’ pocket, searching for car keys. Where are they, I think to myself. O Lord, where are the keys? Help!

“Uh, well, uh, you know,” I stammer, edging toward the door. “I need to check prices on alligator burial plots. You just never know when you might need one, right? And Forest Lawn has a big sale going on now. So, bye!”

Then, Larry Who exits stage left or stage right or jumps over the orchestra pit into the audience. But whatever, he’s gone.

Okay, I admit this is slightly exaggerated, but not by much.

Most (98.3%) believers who announce they have a specialized ministry of casting out demons are Flakes, with a capital F. They’ve read a mumble-jumble “how-to” book like Pigs in the Parlor …and now have it all figured out.

My advice: beware of specialized deliverance ministers, especially if they mention Pigs in the Parlor once or twice. Who knows, they may be cousins of the seven sons of Sceva (Acts 19:14).

But yet, many believers in the Body of Christ need deliverance from drugs, alcohol, porn, perversion, insanity or whatever. They are still slaves of sin (John 8:34).

So, what can we do? Pray according to Luke 4: 18 –

Lord, send Your Spirit to deliver the captives.

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June 9, 2009 · 9:17 am

That’s Not The Jesus I Know

Fifteen or so years ago, I heard Larry Burkett tell about a Chinese man he heard speak at a church. The story changed Burkett’s whole life. I’ve tried to get a tape of this program from Larry’s ministry, but I have not been successful. So, the following is the story as I remember it.

In 1949, when Mao Zedong took over the mainland of China, his first acts included the elimination of all possible enemies. Christian missionaries were expelled. Then, a murderous rampage swept across the nation. Christian pastors and leaders, all government officials, people educated in or who had visited America, business leaders and others were executed. Millions were murdered.

A young lieutenant was dispatched by Mao to the rural villages of China. His job was to carry out Mao’s orders. Like all of Mao’s close associates, he was an ardent murderer.

But the young lieutenant came upon a village populated by enthusiastic Christians, taught by Watchman Nee. These Christians fasted and prayed for the lieutenant; and the lieutenant was saved.

In fact, the young lieutenant was gloriously saved. So much so, that the young lieutenant decided to return to Peking (now Beijing) and tell Mao the good news about Jesus.

Mao’s reaction to the young lieutenant’s testimony was instantaneous and gruesome. The dictator had the lieutenant’s wife and children brought in and a soldier stood behind each loved one with a pistol to the head.

“Reject your faith in Jesus,” said Mao to the young lieutenant.

The young man fell to his knees and wept. “I can’t. What’s happened to me is real,” he said.

His family was executed before his eyes.

Not satisfied, Mao brought in the lieutenant’s father, mother, brothers, sisters and all of his relatives. Each with a soldier’s pistol to the head.

Once again, Mao said, “Reject your faith in Jesus.”

The man pleaded and wept. “I can’t,” he said.

His whole family was wiped out.

Then, every friend that this young man ever had was brought in. Each suffered the same fate as his family.

Mao decided the young lieutenant was not worthy of death. He ordered him stript naked and thrown into the worst prison in China. Then, on a regular basis, he was brutally beaten.This nightmare continued for the young lieutenant for more than fifteen years, until the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960’s.

The young man’s legacy at the prison was that he led over 90% of his guards to Christ. These converted guards smuggled Bibles and books into prison for the man.

When Larry Burkett heard the Chinese man speak, the man was on an American speaking tour, visiting large churches. The man concluded his speech by saying, “I have seen your American Christianity; and that’s not the Jesus I know.”

He stood at the podium and wept for us American believers.

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June 8, 2009 · 12:15 pm

Swimming Upstream: “Satan’s Waterloo”

How do armies figure out battle strategies? They study past battle tactics of their foes; and then construct plans to defeat these tactics.

Warfare rule #1: know your enemy.

At the Battle of Waterloo (June 18, 1815), Napoleon faced an allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington. Napoleon’s army was largely manned and staffed with veteran soldiers who had voluntarily returned to fight under the tri-colours. They were tough, confidant fighters.

Wellington admitted his allied group was “an infamous army, very weak and ill-equipped, and a very inexperienced-Staff.” Not exactly, a morale boosting statement, right?

As the battle raged back and forth, the pivotal moment arrived. The battle and future of Europe hung in the balance. Napoleon knew it was time for his best men to be thrown into the battle – the Old Guard. This group of veterans had never known defeat. Just their appearance on a battlefield was enough to send their foes into a hasty retreat.

But yet, Wellington knew his enemy.

He had 1,500 British soldiers hidden away, lying down on the side of a hill, waiting for this exact moment. As the Old Guard approached, the soldiers stood up and fired point-blank volleys into the midst of the oncoming French soldiers. The Old Guard was devastated. Though the Old Guard bravely tried to rally, the battle was lost; and history was forever changed.

At this precise time in America and throughout Western civilization, it looks bad for the Church. Division, confusion, apathy, lethargy and compromise reign in the Church’s midst. Satan is walking toward the victor’s podium.

But don’t lose heart! Jesus knows the enemy.

The Lord God of Hosts has been telling a group of hidden-away prophetic soldiers for years, “Wait. Don’t do anything. Just wait.” Over and over, He has held these battle-ready soldiers back from the fight.

Now, He is sending out new orders to these hidden-away soldiers. “Stand up and fire.”

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June 6, 2009 · 10:54 am

God’s Smuggler…a Book Review

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There are just a few books I have bothered to read more than once. God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew is one of them.

God’s Smuggler was first published in 1967 and has since sold over ten million copies. By comparison’s sake, the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown sold a little over five million copies and was on the New York Time’s Best Seller’s list for two years. So, as you can see, 10,000,000 copies is a mega-monster, smash-hit book.

Why has it remained so popular for forty-two years? The answer is simple: the book is an inspirational master-piece for us ordinary believers who dream about doing extraordinary works for God.

The hero of the book, Brother Andrew, is a Dutchman without much education and little money. After he gives his life to the Lord, he believes the Lord has called him to be a missionary. His mission field: the Communist countries behind the Iron Curtain.

Now, you must remember that during the 1950’s and 60’s, the Communist countries of Romania, Yugoslavia, Poland, Albania, Russia, Hungary and others were repressive ant-Christian countries. The governments imprisoned people who smuggled evangelistic pamphlets and Bible into their nations.

And yet, Brother Andrew was able to successfully smuggle millions of Bibles into the Iron Curtain countries. He succeeded without always knowing who his Christian contacts would be or what city they were in. He did it under the searching eyes of secret police and soldiers. His KGB file was over one hundred and fifty pages long, and yet, they could not stop him.

He prayed this prayer when guards were ready to search his auto: “Lord, in my luggage I have Scripture I want to take to Your children. When You were on earth, You made blind eyes see. Now, I pray, make seeing eyes blind. Do not let the guards see those things You do not want them to see.” And they never did.

For myself, I like to randomly open the book up and read a few pages every now and then. When I do, I’m blessed.

If you need to be inspired, read it. You can buy it here, here and even used here.

If you want to know more about Brother Andrew and his Open Doors ministry, go here.

A Pirate’s Prayer

Francis Drake, Privateer made a comment on one of my posts which contained a nugget of pure gold…a prayer by the Elizabethan pirate, Sir Francis Drake:

“Disturb us Lord, when we are too pleased with ourselves. When our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little. When we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us Lord, to dare more boldly. To venture on wider seas. Where storms will show your mastery; Where, losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes; And to push into the future, in strength, courage, hope and love.” (SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 1577)

Amen.

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June 3, 2009 · 8:36 am

Swimming Upstream: “A Two-Front War Is Unwinnable For America!”

Looking back at the 2008 Elections, I really did not think the Lord would have us Christians fighting a two-front war.

Now, by using the phrase two-front war, I’m not referring to its normal usage: warfare taking place simultaneously at two geographical positions. This strategic maneuver forces a combatant to split its armies, and thus reduces its odds of success.

But instead, I was referring to a two-front spiritual war. On the one front fighting us Christians are Satan and his forces.

Who do you think is backing the Islamic jihadists? Whose backing the homosexual agenda? Or abortion? Or national debt? Or illegal aliens? Or the dumbing-down of our children by school systems?

Hello! Is anyone home? Satan is behind these attacks.

Okay, so why do you think Satan has boldly gone on the offense against America? Maybe, he has inside info, right? What is it?

Satan knows that God is opposing America on a second front. That’s right! We Christians are caught in a cross-fire between Satan who hates us and God who loves us.

And guess what?

Though it looks like we believers should mount all-out efforts against Islamic terrorism, homosexuality, abortion, illegal aliens, national debt and the dumbing-down of our children by school systems, we better drop everything and seek God.

We need to know why God is opposing us. Is it our national sins? Or corporate church sins? Or personal sins?

If we Christians don’t find out the answers to why God is opposing America, our nation is doomed. Period.

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. (Isaiah 55:6)

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May 22, 2009 · 7:44 am

Swimming Upstream: “Grace Is Not Fair!”

Early in our marriage, Honey and I faced some tough circumstances. Answers were needed…as in now.

I did what I normally do when there are problems: I crawled out of bed early in the morning and sought the Lord. An hour passed. Two hours passed. Three hours passed. And yet, I heard no answers from heaven.

A little before 8 a.m., Honey awakened and walked into the living room. She was wearing pajamas and yawning, stretching her arms in the air. After slumbering over to the coffee pot and pouring herself coffee, she came over to the sofa where I was praying.

“Oh sweetheart,” she said, “I had the best night’s sleep and the greatest dream. Do you want to hear it?”

I nodded. She told me her dream.

And of course, her dream was the answer we needed from heaven for our problems.

Now, is this the only example of my seeking the Lord for hours and Honey seemingly spending little time doing that, but yet, somehow, the Lord favors her with the answers? Oh no! Of course not! I have dozens of examples.

It seems unfair, right? And it is, until you factor in the Lord’s grace.

The measure of grace on my life for prayer and seeking the Lord is different than what Honey has. Period.

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think…(Romans 12:3)

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May 20, 2009 · 2:17 pm

Awesome Quote About Christian Maturity

I read this quote in Post Charismatic, a book which I may review sometime:

If there is anything that characterizes Christian maturity, it is the willingness to become a beginner again for Jesus Christ. It is the willingness to put your hand in His hand and say, “I’m scared to death, but I’ll go with You. You’re the pearl of great price.” (John Wimber)

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