A Life Worth Dying For

By Gobel Brockman

   There’s a verse of Scripture that many Christians can quote from memory. It is found in Revelation 12:11, and it says this:

"They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony..."

   That is a powerful statement indeed. There is overcoming power in the blood of Jesus Christ that will cleanse us from all sin, as stated in 1 John 1:7. There is also power in the word of our testimony when we proclaim the greatness and the glory of what the Lord has done in our lives. But what I have been thinking about lately is how that there is another part to Revelation 12:11 that we don't hear quoted as often:

"...and they loved not their lives unto the death."

   Yes, there is power in the blood of Jesus. Yes, there is power in our testimony. But that verse - when read in its entirety - tells us of another power to be found: the power of the crucified life. As Christians, I believe we sometimes forget that the call of Christ involves a cross for us to carry. If I may be so bold, I'm going to make a strong statement here that I believe needs to be made:

   We Christians are sometimes far too attached to this world.

   German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer stated it well when he said, "When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die." Jesus said it even better in Luke 9:23:

Then (Jesus) said to them all, “If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."

   Note that He said "daily." In what we refer to as "The Lord's Prayer" Jesus told us to ask for "our daily bread." We seem to be quite OK with that, but I can't help but ask myself if I'm just as ready to accept "His daily cross" as I am "His daily bread." If I'm going to truly be His disciple, I can't separate them. You see, we are told in Hebrews 9:27 that "it is appointed unto man to die once, and after this the judgment." The simple truth is that this life that we are trying to hold on to will one day end. But as disciples of Jesus Christ, our hope will NEVER end. The Bible tells us that "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." Paul also said in 1 Corinthians 15:19 that "if in this life only that we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most miserable."

   That's not to say that there is no hope or joy in this life for those who follow Jesus. In 1 Peter 1:8 we are told, "In (Jesus), though you do not see Him now, you believe and you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." I'm not sad, depressed, or discouraged in my walk with Christ - I have unspeakable joy! The power and presence of the Holy Ghost is with me every moment, and it is that joy that enables me to consider taking up my cross and following Jesus a worthwhile journey. There is great joy, peace, love, and hope in my faith in Christ - a hope that this world that I often try too hard to hold on to could ever give me. My prayer for myself - and for you - is that we will always remember that and be willing to live our lives for Jesus with absolute abandon and no reservation.

   It truly is a life worth dying for.

How Do You See Things?

By Gobel Brockman

"Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together." - Psalms 34:3

   I know the accompanying picture looks a bit silly (OK -it looks VERY silly!) I included it because I want to ask a simple question:

Are both eyes in the picture the same size?

   Some might say “No” based on what they see. Others might say “Yes” based on what they know. The simple and obvious truth is that what you're looking at isn't changing sizes at all. So what's happening? The object isn't changing; your perception of what you're seeing is what's actually changing. An object that seems small can become much bigger in your eyes with just the slightest movement of the magnifying glass. In the Scripture quoted above, we are told to "magnify the Lord." For me, that poses an interesting question: how could we possibly make God bigger? Isaiah 66:1 tells us this:

   "Thus says the Lord: Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where then is the house that you could build for Me? And where is the place of My rest?"

   If Heaven and earth can't contain Him, then how can we make Him any bigger? The obvious answer is that we can't. So just what does it mean to magnify the Lord? Simple - we change the way we look at Him! So many people look at God as some kind of cruel taskmaster who can't wait for us to mess up so that He can destroy us. Others see Him almost as a "foster father" who only tolerates us for what He might receive from us. I say to you that God is nothing like that at all! He is loving, gracious, kind, and as II Peter 3:9 says, He is "not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance." When the Bible tells us to "magnify the Lord" I believe that one aspect of that is simply to change the way you view Him.

   Whether we think of it in these terms or not, we're always magnifying something. The problem is that far too often we magnify the wrong things. We look at out financial situation and think it's way too big for us to handle. We may look at our health issues and think that our physical problems are too difficult for us to endure. Sometimes there may be a family member facing an addiction or difficult situation and we're tempted to think that it's hopeless. My point is that in those times we are magnifying the wrong thing. Rather than seeing our problems as too big, perhaps we should instead begin seeing our God as more than big enough to handle them, and big enough to give us grace to make it through them. Many times we come to God feeling as though we need some kind of miraculous breakthrough, when all we really need is to, if you will, "move our magnifying glass" and start seeing God differently. Instead of increasing our doubt and unbelief, why not begin to see God in His holiness and love and begin watching our faith grow? If you are a Christian and you're presently facing a serious situation for which you have no answer, my advice to you is simple:

   Move your magnifying glass. Point it in the right direction. God's already big enough to help - just start seeing Him that way.

"2020: The Year of...."

By Gobel Brockman

   At the end of 2018 I jokingly stated that I was giving everyone a year’s advance notice that if they labeled 2020 as “The Year of Vision” I would have a hard time taking it seriously. I know many have done so, and in all seriousness I have no problem with that whatsoever. I agree with them in praying that God will indeed increase our vision to see everything that He wants to do this year.

   At the end of 2017, I stated that 2018 was going to be “The Year of the Vanishing Comfort Zone” and, at least for me, it was truly prophetic. I’ve said all of that to say this: I have no label or title for 2020, but I do have some desires that I want to see come to pass for this year:

May 2020 be a year that the church rediscovers the joy found in the prayer closet.
May 2020 be a year that the church not only dives into the word of God, but may we live like we believe that it actually means what it says.
May 2020 find the church spending less time focused on things like trying to identify “Jezebel” and more time simply pursuing the presence of the Holy Ghost in our lives.
May 2020 be a year that we grow in our understanding that “praise and worship” is more than the songs we sing.
May 2020 be a year that we’re willing to say “Yes” to Jesus before He even asks the question.

   Simply put, may 2020 be a year that the church proclaims the gospel of Jesus, and then lives like we believe what we’re saying. If that makes 2020 “The Year of Vision” then I’d be OK with seeing that happen.

And may it start with me.