Help, I'm in the Belly of a Whale.

Help! I’m in the Belly of the Whale

      Almost everyone has heard the story of Jonah and the whale.  Hearing the story for the first time, most people think how scary it must have been in the darkness and how no one would ever find him.  Poor Jonah!  Let’s look at Jonah from a different perspective; not ‘Poor Jonah’, but ‘Foolish Jonah’. 

      One day the spirit of God spoke to Jonah and told him to go to the great city of Nineveh; then tell people to repent of their evil ways or they would be destroyed.  Jonah was pretty upset; not only was Nineveh eight hundred miles away, but the people were Assyrians – pagans.  They had brought trouble on Israel for many years.  As far as Jonah was concerned they should be punished severely and not given mercy.

     So Jonah decided to get out of town and not obey God.

     “Been there, done that” is a popular cliché that says it all.  I’ve been in that same situation and you have too.  God gave us a direction and we didn’t want to go that way because it might mean giving up things.  What did we do?  We went in the opposite direction.  Let’s face it – it didn’t work!  When we don’t follow God’s direction we become the most miserable people on earth.

     This is the state Jonah was in.  He left town, jumped on a boat and headed in the opposite direction from Nineveh.   There he was, on a boat in the middle of the sea and God sent a terrible storm.  It was so bad; the boat was breaking into pieces.  The captain found Jonah asleep down in the lowest part of the ship.  (I think he wasn’t really asleep, but was probably hiding)  The captain told him to get up and pray to his God.

     By this time Jonah was so terrified of God, he thought he might be better off dead, so he told them to throw him overboard and the storm would stop.  The sailors were afraid to do that, in desperation they called out to Jonah’s God not hold this against them so they threw him into the sea.  When they did, the storm stopped and the sea became calm.  (I wonder if they became Believers?)

     As the icy waters closed over Jonah, what went through his mind?  Maybe his life passed before him as his body spiraled downward.  He knew death was the reward of his disobedient heart.  Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a huge fish glides silently through the murky depths.  As its cold eyes scanned its surroundings, they land on what appears to be a tasty dinner.  One gulp and it was all over; Jonah was down in the belly of the fish. 

     The fish was an instrument used by God to create a series of miracles and it came along at just the right time – God’s time.  We can’t explain things like Jonah being able to breath inside the fish, or that the gastric juices didn’t eat him up, but God is able.

     When we’ve been swallowed up in circumstances and see no way out, we call on God to deliver us.  Why does it take something this drastic to turn our hearts toward him?  There are three answers; self, self and self.  Like self-centered Jonah, we be can become so wrapped up in our own selves, we have nothing left over for anyone else; not love, emotions, compassion, forgiveness; nothing but self.  It was strictly Jonah’s selfishness that put him in the belly of the whale.

     Now, Jonah called out to God, “Help!  I’m in the belly of the whale.”  Then the truth hit him – God was in control.  He should be dead but he was alive, so he began to praise God for deliverance and made a vow to him.  After a certain length of time, God knew Jonah was ready to be spiritually free and he delivered him.  The fish vomited Jonah out onto dry land and then he was physically free.

     If you are in a situation and helpless to get out of it, don’t despair.  You may be exactly where God wants you.  He wants to set you spiritually free before he sets you physically free.  God wants your attention; he wants you cry out to him; he wants you to praise him; he wants you to follow him.

     When Jonah came out of that whale, he was squeaky clean, bleached white as snow.  He was given another chance at life.  God wasn’t finished with him yet.  He still had to travel the eight-hundred miles.  As he traveled he had lots of time to think over and meditate on what God had done for him and he was grateful.

     Next week we will continue with Jonah’s story.  In the meantime, why not read this short book in the Old Testament of the Bible.  Do you see a little of Jonah in yourself?  If you do then you better read “the rest of the story” next week.

The King's New Clothes

The King’s New Clothes

By

                                                      Wanda Ritter

Once upon a time there was a king who was very vain.  He was going to have a great procession through the village and lead it himself.  He wanted to look so grand.  Two tailors came to the palace and told the king about this beautiful new cloth that was invisible.  Only royalty and important, intelligent people could see it, so he had the tailors making him a suit of the material.    When it came time for the king to try on the new suit, they asked the king what thought of it.  The king just stared at it with a strange look on his face.  He could see nothing, but couldn’t say so because if he couldn’t see it, who could?

      The day of the procession came and the tailors pretended to help the king into his new suit.  Believing he looked magnificent, head high, he walked from the palace into the street.  Everyone was making remarks about the wondrous new clothes.  But a young boy sitting on his father’s shoulder pointed and cried, “Look, there comes the king and he hasn’t any clothes on.” Soon all the people began to laugh and point at the king marching down the street in nothing but his crown and long underwear.  The king realized he had been made a fool of; all because of his pride.
      How easily we can be deceived because of pride.  In the book of Acts we read about King Herod who sat on his throne and mouthed great words.  So the people began to claim he was a God.  Herod must have been pleased and the Lord sent an angel to strike him down and he was eaten alive by worms.  God saw through to his heart.
      During the time of the apostles, there was a magician who boasted how great he was and the people called him a god.  But Phillip came and preached about Jesus, so the magician went to Peter and offered money if they would give him the Holy Spirit  so he would have power to build his reputation.  People can appear to be soothing they aren’t.
      When Paul was preaching in Ephesus there were men (the sons of Sceva) trying to cast out evil spirits.  The evil spirit overpowered the men and beat them so they ran from the house naked and bleeding.  Even the Holy Spirit knew these weren’t real believers.
      We can look like we are Christians by talking the talk and yet live a life of deceit.  I John 1:6 says, “If we claim to have fellowship with him, yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.”
      We have a daily battle in which we are tried; tested and tempted.  But the bible warns us how we should behave and not think about how to gratify the desires of our sinful nature.  (Romans 13:13-14)
      If we took a person from the gutter and dressed them in expensive clothes, taught them how to walk and talk properly, but never gave them a bath – they would still smell.  They would look good, but the dirt would still be there.  Up close the truth would be revealed.    We laugh at the story of the King’s New Clothes and think how foolish he was, but before we laugh to long, let’s look at our own parade.  We may think we are dressed in a marvelous suit of Christianity, but if we still dabble in the ways of the world, Satan is making a great fool of us.  God sees our nakedness.
      We need to ask God to show us our hearts and if there is some sin there.  Then when he shows us we must repent.  “Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.  Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.  Anyone who listens to the Word but does no do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”    James 1:21-24

The Compromising Church - Part 2

The Compromising Church

 Part 2

“I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.  To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 18-22  

      Continuing from last week’s Blog about the Laodicean church:  We ended with verse 17, “Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing; and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.”    As in the world today, our hearts have become hardened to the things of God and we can’t see it. 

      I read this quote and although it was meant for a health change, I believe it really fits a spiritual meaning.  “IF YOU ALWAYS DO WHAT YOU ALWAYS DID, YOU'LL ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU ALWAYS GOT.” There are hungry hearts longing for a closer relationship with the Lord, but in order to have that something has to change.  That something is YOU and ME.  Just because I have studied the Bible and taught on it for over 30 years, doesn’t mean that I am a spiritual person.  It doesn’t assure me a place in heaven!  WHAT?  It’s simply a matter ‘of the heart’.  Our heart has to change in order to love God more.  He already loves us to the maximum; He doesn’t need to change – we do. 
    As in verse 17, we must recognize we all have a great need for God.  Without Him we are lost and He is waiting for you to realize it and call on Him for help.  How do we know what to do?  In verse 18 he tells us what to do: 

1.               God counsels us to buy His gold refined in fire.  This means when we accepted Jesus as our Savior, this ‘gold’ already went through the fire with his death on the cross, which paid the price for our sins to be blotted out forever.  Then when we do that, we become spiritually rich.

He gives us ‘white’ garments so the shame of our nakedness won’t show.  What are these ‘white’ garments?  Years ago we sang a chorus in church: “I am covered over with a robe of righteousness that Jesus gives to me. I am covered over with the precious blood of Jesus, and he lives in me. What a joy it is to know, my Heavenly Father loves me so, He gives to me my Jesus, When He looks at me, He sees not what I use to be, but He sees Jesus.” I guess I can’t explain it any better than that song does.

2.               It says to ‘anoint your eyes with eye salve’.  There was a medical school located nearby Laodicea that made an eye salve to treat eye diseases.  This salve was greatly sought after in those times.  I doubt this scripture referred that, but was to point out the fact that a person could be spiritually blind which was worse than physically blind.  With modern medicine we don’t see as much blindness as was in earlier times, but spiritual blindness is on the up rise today.

3.               In verse 19 we see the clear ‘Father’ image of God:  “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.”  Let me put it in modern language the words ‘rebuke and chasten”.  Rebuke means to scold sharply for something we have done wrong.  Chasten means to then punish for what we have done.  Earthly fathers love their children enough to not want them to be hurt, so when they are naughty, they scold the child and then punish them by not letting them watch their favorite TV show, or not ride their bike the rest of the day.  Our Heavenly Father shows his love to us through Rebuking and Chastening.

4.               Now comes the wonderful words of Hope and Promise in verses 20-21. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.  To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”  I still marvel each time I see a picture of Jesus standing at a door and knocking, because there is no handle on the outside of the door!  What a story that picture tells; Jesus cannot come into the house unless the person on the inside opens the door.  That door represents our earthly body and no one can come inside if we don’t open the door. 

 ‘Come into my heart, Lord Jesus’ are only words.  Something has to happen on the inside of us in order to open that door and let Jesus in.  When we do that, he will step right in and from that moment on we will be promised heaven and eternal life.  However, it does say, “to him who overcomes”.  That means there may be many obstacles put in our way as we try to become more like Jesus.  Will we ever become perfect – no?  But with repentance when we get off track, comes purity. 

      

5.               “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”  Jesus is saying in our words, “Listen, come back to me; take off your blinders and repent.  I am waiting for you!”  When you read this you may think it was written for sinners and unbelievers.  No!  This was written to Believers, not just in Laodicea, but for all generations to come.  It was written for YOU and ME!

It’s time for a heart transplant!  Psalm 51:10 says it best.  “Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit within me.”

The Compromising Church

“And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.  So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.  Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing; and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked; I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.  To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”    Revelation 3:14-22  [TLB]

            This is a difficult subject to address, but for the last year I have felt compelled to write this teaching.  It begins with much negativity, but it ends with glorious hope!  I wish I could share this with the world, but only the Holy Spirit can do that, for “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” 

            I write this not only to you, but to myself, whom I have found to be neither hot nor cold.  It is no wonder God chose to place the Laodicean church as the last church he speaks to in the book of Revelation.  We are living in the last church age and as we read these scriptures we can glimpse what we are like today.  Many Believers today are living a lukewarm, compromising Christianity.  Because I have lived many years, I can look back and see how far we have fallen.  I will list a few things and then follow them up:

1. Lack of respect for the House of God (the physical church)
2. Use of suggestive language without shame
3. Wearing clothing in church that shows enough skin to fit in a burlesque show
4. During church service chatting and texting on phones or other devices
5. Having little or no reverence during communion
6. Lack of response during praise and worship

1. This is one you all see (I hope) and that is people getting up and going out, not once but several times during a service.  If you have children with you, it’s understandable; if you have a kidney problem, it’s understandable, but if you just want to get up and down and out; then stay out.  You can’t even imagine how many are irritated by this.  If you are there to worship God and listen to His Word, this behavior is disrespectful. 
2. Hearing people use bad language in church and not even appear to be ashamed is disgraceful.  I am not talking about young people only; I have overheard parents and grandparents doing it.  The terminology people use today can have double meanings and this is not acceptable in the Lord’s house.  Why do the young people talk this way?  Because they hear it at home.  We need to be the same in church as out of church:  that’s called “a double standard”.  More than that it shows how lukewarm we are.
3. I know it’s the style today (as it was in my youth) to wear as little as possible to show off as much as you can without appearing to be provocative.  Sorry, girls – it doesn’t work that way.  To show you the compromise, what used to be street-walkers clothing is now what girls wear to church.  Church services are to worship God Almighty, not show your body to the congregation.
4. There are times when it’s necessary to talk to someone around you, but Try to hold it back until after the service is over.  I know we have all kinds of devices we carry with us and some of us have the Bible on them, but during a service is not the time to text, play games or get on the web.  This is God’s time.  We need to respect that.  Don’t do what the world does.
5. I had someone call me this week about the way we take communion.  They were honestly disgusted about it.  I will do another teaching about communion later, but for now.  Communion is a time (or should be) of reverence for Jesus Christ.  He commanded us to do this in remembrance of Him and what He did for us.  That means:  Keep your mind on Him; don’t carry on conversations about other things and give Him these few minutes to thank Him for dying for us.
1. Lastly, but not least is during the time of Praise and Worship, our hearts and minds should be on our heavenly father.  This is the real reason we should be coming to church every week; to worship God.  We aren’t singing just to see who sings the best or the loudest.  If your mind is on God you won’t even notice those things; you’ll be focused on Him. 

       Why do we think these things are alright, if we think about it at all?  God gave us the answer to this question in verse 17,  Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing; and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.”  We don’t even know how blind we are to the things of God.  Wake up, Church!  Jesus is coming back for a church “that He might present her to Himself; a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”  Ephesians 5:27
      The time for compromising is over; let’s get serious about God!  He loves you – can’t you love Him back?


I will pick up on this next week, because it can be pretty depressing and thats not what God wants us to be.  He is our Hope and we can be assured He will do what He says.