When What You're Seeing is Different Than What You Saw

By Gobel Brockman

"For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay." Habakkuk 2:3

     Many times when it comes to the promises of God, we get what I have referred to before as "The Microwave Mentality." Thanks to microwave ovens and fast food restaurants we can get things "on the fly" with little or no waiting. Bringing that mindset into our relationship with Christ, however, will bring nothing but instant frustration. When God gives us a vision, it is not an instantaneous answer to prayer; it's the beginning of a journey - a journey that may sometimes be a long a difficult one. I remind you that in Luke 9:23 Jesus didn't tell His disciples to take up their recliners and follow Him; He told them to take up their cross.

     Another truth we don't like to think about: don't be surprised if what you SEE isn't what you SAW. Many times, the first thing that happens when you receive a vision is the exact opposite of what the vision says:

*Joseph received a vision that he would rule, and was immediately betrayed by his brothers and sold in the slavery.

*Moses was told by God to tell Pharaoh, "Let my people go." Pharaoh immediately made their slavery much more difficult.

*Jesus, after being baptized, saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Him as a dove and a voice from Heaven proclaimed, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." That same Spirit immediately drove Jesus in the wilderness to fast for 40 days and meet the devil face-to-face.

     We must recognize that there is a difference between sight (what we see) and vision (what God shows us.) What sight sees as defeat, vision sees as training ground. Joseph was given a vision that he would rule. His "rule" began in a slave owner's house and in a prison. As he was faithful in little, God eventually gave him more and brought the vision to fulfillment. In the meantime God was preparing Joseph for Egypt- and Egypt for Joseph. But through it all, in spite of every opposition he faced, Joseph never lost his faith in the power of God-given vision. Neither can we. What God has said, in His time He will perform.

     With all of that being said, what destiny has God set before you? What calling has He placed on your life? Has He given you a dream, but yet everything has gone backwards ever since? If so, I'll ask you to re-read the paragraphs above and remember Joseph, Moses, and Jesus.

     You're in good company. Don't let you present sights keep you from your God-given vision.

Are You Truly His Disciple? (Part 2)

By Gobel Brockman

MATTHEW 10:37-39 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

     I wonder sometimes what the “Family” sections in Christian bookstores would have looked like in the days of Jesus. Would there have been books titled “How to Leave Your Family in the Dust” on the shelves? Jesus blatantly told His followers, “If you love your family more than you love Me, you can’t be My disciple. Do you see these twelve men standing here? I told them to leave everything and follow Me. I may very well tell you the same thing. If you’re not willing to do that, you can stay where you are, but you won’t be following Me. You see, to follow something requires you to leave something else behind.”

     Don’t misunderstand – the New Testament is filled with instruction on how we are to live our family lives. We are clearly commanded to love and take care of our families. The point that I believe Jesus was making is that He will not take second place in our lives to anything or anyone else. He told the disciples – and He tells us – that if we are going to follow Him, we can’t love anything or anyone else more than Him. He also said that we must be willing to “take up our cross” if we want to be His disciple. What I want to focus on with that point is this: when someone took up a cross, it was a one-way trip – they weren’t coming back. With that thought in mind I ask you these questions:

Is your faith in Jesus Christ a one-way trip?
Is there anything or anyone in your life that would cause you to turn back from following Jesus?
Could a family member’s decision or lifestyle, a financial situation, or opposition to your faith cause you to second-guess your commitment to Christ?
If (more accurately, when) you are placed in a situation where nothing makes sense, no answers are coming, your future is totally unclear, and the only answer you get from God in prayer is “Trust Me” – can you?

     In his book "Radical" David Platt said it this way: "I can't help but think that somewhere along the way we have missed what is radical about our faith and replaced it with what is comfortable. We are settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves." Strong, powerful, and very true words. With that thought in mind, I ask the question of all of us once more:

     Are you truly His disciple?

Are You Truly His Disciple?

By Gobel Brockman

     MATTHEW 4:18-22 “And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.”

     Try to imagine this: Jesus passes by Simon Peter as they are fishing. Jesus calls Peter over, sits down with him, and tells him the following:

     “Peter, I would like for you to follow Me, and I think it’s only fair that I tell you what’s in store if you do. I’m asking you to forsake your livelihood. I’m asking you to leave the familiar and step into the unknown. I want you to go with Me wherever I go, but I’m not going to tell you where we’re going. On this journey, you’re going to see a lot of amazing things – people being healed, those possessed by demons set free, and many miracles that will be difficult to believe. You’re also going to experience pain, loss, and opposition like you’ve never imagined. Eventually you are going to see Me arrested, abused, and executed. Soon the very kind of people who took my life will seek yours as well – and they will eventually succeed. You are going to be used mightily to touch the lives of untold millions, but in the process, you will have to leave everything else behind, live your life completely by faith, and trust Me. You are going to be sent to many strange places, and when you get there you’ll be beaten, arrested, and eventually killed. So what do you say, Peter? You ready to go?”

     The course of human history has been changed because of Peter’s life and ministry. The question I have, however, is this: Had Jesus told Peter what lay ahead of him while they were still standing by Peter’s nets, would he have said “yes” to the call of Jesus? Only God knows the answer to that question. In that moment, Peter had no way of knowing what life was going to be like for him. He was about to go from financial security to soon having to find a coin in a fish’s mouth to pay his taxes. He was about to leave a familiar home life to pour out his life for complete strangers. And that conversation I mentioned? It didn’t happen. All Jesus said was, “Follow Me.” THAT’S ALL HE WILL SAY TO US AS WELL. If we are truly going to be His disciples, we are going to have to do it with uncertainty as to what lies in our futures. THERE IS NO DISCIPLESHIP WHERE THERE IS NO TRUST.

     HEBREWS 11:1, 6 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

     True discipleship is a life of faith and surrender. One thing we must come to terms with is the truth that God isn’t going to give us a clear picture of what our futures hold. Where there’s no uncertainty, there’s no need for faith, and the Bible says that if we want to please God that faith is necessary. So, with that thought in mind, I ask you again:

     Are you truly His disciple?

Carpe Diem ("Seize the Day")

Gobel Brockman

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." I Peter 5:8

     The news is seemingly filled with continuous stories of human tragedy. Reports of mass shootings happen all too frequently. In taking some time to think about this, there is plenty to say about the causes of these events, but that's not what's at the forefront of my mind right now. What I'm thinking about is how the victims in these tragedies were simply going about their day-to-day lives - attending a concert, having coffee at a local cafe, or enjoying the company of their co-workers at a Christmas party. Without warning, they were ushered into eternity. This got me to thinking of the simple fact that every single day we face that same possibility. It doesn't take a deranged person with a semi-automatic to bring us to the end; any number of accidents, injuries, or illnesses can accomplish the same thing.

     In the Scripture quoted above, the apostle Peter told us to "Be sober, be vigilant." That doesn't mean that we are to live our lives in constant fear - fear is an enemy within itself, and I refuse to give it place in my life. It simply means that we are to be aware that we do indeed have an enemy, and our enemy takes the battle much more seriously than we often do. Phillip Doddridge, a contemporary of the great preacher John Wesley, is quoted to have said the following:

"Let us be very careful that the day of the Lord will not overtake us as a thief. We must maintain a continual watch. How many are at this hour speaking peace and safety to themselves, over whose heads instantaneous destruction is hovering? Let us endeavor to awaken ourselves and each other. Let us rouse ourselves, and be on guard against the most sudden attacks from our spiritual enemies."

     My point in this is to remind us all that we do indeed have an enemy, and he's playing for keeps. For the Christian, our call is to be on guard against his attacks, and as the apostle Paul said in II Corinthians 2:11 to "not be ignorant of his devices." But I also remind you that as a child of God, Jesus Christ has already permanently defeated him. Yes, we are to be watchful, sober, and vigilant, but we are to do so in a spirit of victory - a victory that Christ has already won for us. We can live in joy and peace because we know that Christ dwells in us, Simply put, I am a child of God. I am saved by the blood of Christ and I live in the power of His Spirit. My life is in His hands and I am continually in His care. As Paul also said in Romans 14:8: "So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's." So while I will be on guard against the attacks of the enemy, I will also choose to live in joy and expectation that God is going to do great things in me and through me while I'm here. Yes, when this life is over I know that I shall stand in the presence of the Lord. I also know that as Proverbs 27:1 says, "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring." But until that day comes, I am going to be about my Father's business. I'm going to preach, play music, and write about Jesus with every opportunity I can take. I want to live out my faith so that others may see "Christ in me, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1:27) I want to be an example of what Jesus can do with a life surrendered to Him. I will indeed be watchful, but I will also indeed be joyful. Jesus is with me, and He shall be for eternity. There's no room for fear in that knowledge.

     I will indeed "Carpe Diem." How about you?

Sometimes You Just Need a Good Cry

By Gobel Brockman

     As a young father I learned an interesting thing; kids have different cries for different occasions. There’s the whiny "I'm tired" cry, the angry "I want my way" cry, and the sad "Don't leave me" cry. I also learned that different cries called for different reactions. Sometimes it meant just picking them up and walking them around until they went to sleep, sometimes it just required gentle reassurance, and sometimes it required a strong resolve to let them know that “their way” wasn't happening and the crying needed to stop. As my parents would say in those times, “Either stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about!”

     But I also learned that there was a completely different cry: the "I'm in pain" cry. Any parent will tell you that hearing THAT cry has a completely different sound - and gets a completely different reaction. That cry will stop a parent in their tracks. At that moment, nothing else matters but fixing the pain. Why? Because a parent's heart is bonded to their child in a way that can't be explained in mere words. In Psalm 61:1-2 David said to the Lord:

“Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”

     I've noticed in my Christian life that my cries to God have been different as well. Sometimes it's been out of frustration and confusion, sometimes it's simply been "I don't know what else to do." But there have been times when the grief and despair have been overwhelming, and crying out to God has been an act of sheer desperation. David also said in Psalms 34:18, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” I have found that to be true. I think it's a shame that we sometimes treat God - our Heavenly Father - like He doesn't care about our brokenness. We would never desert or ignore the honest, painful cries of our children, but we seem to think God does it to us all the time. How tragic. We will never understand just how deep is the Father's love for us. If we mere human parents can be immediately moved into action by the cries of our children, how much more will a Father Who dwells in perfection come to us in our hour of need?

     I believe one of the reasons America's in the mess it's in is because we're not crying out to God. We've either convinced ourselves that He doesn't care, or we’ve became so comfortable with (or resigned to) the way things are that it doesn't hurt us enough to cry anymore. May we cry out to God. Because we ARE in pain, and we need our Father to help.

     Cry out to your Father, child of God. He will indeed hear.